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Memories of the Past	By : Raiethstar Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 3502 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Yu-Gi-Oh GX and don't make money from this story

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
Update Note: (Oct 12/12) Chapters 1 & 2 have received minor updates. Mostly spelling, grammar and a really minor plot point rewording. Nothing major.

This chapter contains a version of Gozaburo’s death that is blended from both the anime and the manga and is therefore technically AU for both.
I apologize in advance for the hard to follow perspective shifting in the beginning. This is intentional, and will level out into mostly Seto pov by the end of the chapter.
Note: * 45 Kilograms is roughly equivalent to 100 pounds.

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Seto woke all at once as he usually did. The world crashed into his senses, hunger and the need to pee overshadowed by the shear warmth of the body draped over his chest. It was like holding a fire in his arms, all consuming and dangerous. He looked down into the thick black, red and gold hair spread like sin over his white chest. For a heart stopping moment he thought he was holding the Pharaoh, before the events of the day before, and the sleepy murmur in the back of his mind caught up with him. He relaxed back onto the pillows and looked over to his clock. Five in the morning, too early to phone his secretary and let her know he wasn’t going to be in.
Not that being out of the office would change his workload at all today, he never scheduled office appointments the day after Family Day after all. But, he would let his secretary know, so she could plan her day accordingly. It was only polite, and he had learned long ago that happy employees are productive employees, that and she would chew him out if he didn’t.
Besides, his digital inbox was likely to be a war zone after an entire of day of neglect, like every year previous. If he started now he could probably have it mostly dealt with before Yugi woke, then he could focus on getting him settled in.
Seto stared up at his ceiling, pointedly not moving, listening to Yugi breathe. He couldn’t move he realized with shock. Yugi likely didn’t even weigh 45 kilos* in soaking wet leather and his pointy bones were digging in and Seto couldn’t move him off to the side.
It was a strange feeling, knowing he had work to do and doing nothing instead. A tight chested panicky feeling, like his step-father was about to charge in and ‘correct the problem’.
Yugi stirred against his side, fingers clenching into fists with a pained moan.
Seto rubbed a hand across Yugi’s shoulders. Would every one of his emotions be transferred through their link? He quashed the earlier feeling of panic, the only thing that would happen if he didn’t do his work, was that it wouldn’t get done.
A trembling ran down Yugi’s thin frame. The sleepy murmur turned dark, fear, and panic swept through the link.
“Shit.” Seto swore quietly, his momentary lapse in control had triggered a nightmare in his light, and not just any nightmare, one of his own. He shifted to hold the dreaming man tight to his chest, stroking the wild hair the way he had vague memories of a kind nanny doing once when he was a child. She hadn’t lasted long, he never did find out what had happened to her.
“It’s not real Yugi.” Seto whispered into Yugi’s ear. “Gozaburo can’t hurt anyone anymore. He’s dead.”
Terror, panic, doubt, Gozaburo was a huge, intimidating man, more so to a small desperate child, whose plan for a better life had backfired spectacularly. Larger than life and immortal like a god, Mokuba’s life always held in the balance.
Seto dug his fingers into Yugi, clutching him almost violently, he knew exactly which nightmare Yugi was trapped in. He also knew the way out; rolling over the smaller man to use his own body as a shield, pressing his forehead against blonde bangs, Seto led his light through the darkness of his past.
“We were in the board room, the results of the task he set me, plain on the long table.” 49% shares of Kaiba Corporation through his own efforts, every former share holder guiltily avoiding looking at the man sitting in front of the wall of windows, face cast in deep shadow. The sunlight had been streaming through the windows in patches, the overcast grey sky a fitting view for the young teen who was about to get revenge for all the wrongs committed against him and his. Gozaburo had quickly bypassed angry and gone straight to cold, enraged fury. Over confident in his own power and blind to the danger, he called in Mokuba. Still believing the eleven year old to be on his side, and willing to give Gozaburo the two percent he needed to ensure control.
The grins that flashed across the faces of the two men pressed forehead to forehead, body to body, would make even trained killers cower, lost in the dream-memory, minds so tangled they were like one broken whole.
“He made two very fatal mistakes that day.” The first had been trusting Mokuba. Never a child, never an innocent. Just as devious and cunning and ruthless as the brother he protected. The second had been picking up the phone.
“Delayed, contact neurotoxin that leaves no trace is extremely expensive.” And worth every blood soaked penny. The reaction delayed just long enough for Mokuba to announce his brother the recipient of his shares and thus majority share holder and owner of KaibaCorp.
“He turned the most beautiful shade of blue as the toxin slowly froze his lungs.” A cry of false panic from a predator in children’s clothes and a young teen’s artfully fearful dash across the board room, cries of ‘heart-attack’ and ‘paramedics’ on his lips.
Leather and linen and skin rubbed together, bodies aching for contact, the memory of his sweetest victory always made his blood pound and his endorphins flow, touching on that very human need to prove he was alive. Tongues met and danced as long fingers traced paths of fire and ice across pale skin.
Dying hands tried to retrieve a gun, Gozaburo not willing to go down without a fight; but was hindered by falsely panicking, barely preteen, hands that took the weapon and slid a suicide letter into it’s place.
The letter had been a work of forensic art in itself, the perfect balance of pathetic and bile.
‘There is nothing left for me now that the child I took into my home has betrayed me and tried to take my company. I give everything to that motherless bastard in the hopes that the pressure breaks him, like taking my company has broken me.
I declare Seto Kaiba my sole inheritor and heir to my legacy. May it destroy him.’
Herded by two determined brothers, the dying man choked out one last sentence as he stumbled backwards.
“It’s not a victory unless the loser dies.”
Still so sure that his power would force them to stop, that they were still innocent children, that someone would save him. If there was one thing Gozaburo should not have forgotten, it was that if Seto couldn’t win, he cheated.
The look on the dying man’s face when his body touched the window and the whole sabotaged frame shifted slightly out of place was one of the brothers’s most treasured memories. The instant that Gozaburo realized that he had trained them far better than he realized. That they were playing for keeps. That he was about to die.
Lungs almost shut down and body going numb from the toxin and still the old man had fought to keep his footing, to survive.
All he had needed was a little push.
A kaleidoscope of emotions surged through their shared mind. Bodies twisting around each other, trying to share the same skin, fingers clenched and teeth drawing blood.
Yugi’s eyes flew open, deep pools of blackened amethyst blood in the dim light, “Checkmate.”
Overwhelmed with emotion Seto claimed Yugi’s mouth once more, reaching into opened leather pants to grab hardened flesh. The last words Gozaburo Kaiba ever heard on his light’s lips was almost too much, the taste of remembered victory driving him to the edge. His Hikari’s skin hot and silky smooth, arching into his touch with a low moan.
The sound sent a shiver down his spine, echoes of a past life urging him to worship the living God in his grasp. To prostrate himself, crawl on his belly and show his undying devotion, his love in the blood running down his skin.
But Seto Kaiba was not High Priest Seth, and the echo was faint, twisted around by a cruel life of forced submission into a far different desire. To see his Hikari writhing at his touch, to taste sweat soaked skin, to give him the pain filled love they both craved, that they both needed.
But there was something shadowed in the deep violet-red eyes under him, a twisting tangled fear of familiarity; memory and need and desire, warped and stained by the void forever lurking behind vibrant eyes.
Their minds still tangled into knots, Seto realized that Yugi was physically far worse than he initially believed. Thin, frail body in the first stages of consuming itself to survive. Yugi was dying in his arms even as he arched up, body growing impossible hot, before spilling over the edge with a great shuddering gasp; the shared sensations bringing Seto right along with him, mind and body overwhelmed.
Breathless, he managed to not fall on the smaller duelist, instead landing just beside him. Not entirely sure where he ended and his other began, and not sure he cared enough to find out, he curled around the warmth, ignoring the sticky mess between them.
Yugi’s laugh sounded more like a madman’s giggle, “I never would have guessed you were a snuggler Seto.” Quickly buried horror of a past revealed, terrified satisfaction of a life taken, guilty shuffling of a body abused and a creeping exhaustion that cried out for more rest.
Seto burrowed closer, trapping the other man within his limbs, wanting to shut the world and the past out. “Warm.” Was all he replied, unknowingly sending thoughts of darkly tarnished silver scales curled in a sunbeam, content, satisfied, fiercely protective and territorial of things that were his.
“You’re such a dragon Kaiba.” Rolled eyes and teasing affection, wispy feelings of embarrassment drifting by as the sensations of sweaty skin and drying seamen registered. All distracting from a growing gnawing of worry and painful truths.
Yugi was far too experienced at turning away from things he’d rather not think about. “Ask Yugi.” No lies between them, no hidden paths, every dark corner of his soul willing laid bare for the embodiment of Ra in his arms. Anything to keep that light close and his, the need deeper than rational, bordering on blind obsession.
A great shudder ran through Yugi’s thin frame, his fingers tracing familiar hieroglyphs engraved on the white gold bracers encircling him. “Was he the first or the last?” No need to elaborate on who or what given the shared dream.
“Neither.” Impressions of hidden strength with no bark, only bite when pushed. Territorial to a fault and a clean conscience.
“Mokuba helped.” Less a question and more a world view sliding sideways. A fundamental truth shattered on the rocks below and reality re-orienting itself around the pieces.
Coiling sibling/parental pride, the lines between brother and son long since blurred into something unnameable within his mind. “Mokuba is the very best at what he does.” A sharp smirk, “I believe the technical term is ninja.” The ability to hide in plain sight, normal and unassuming. Trusting, innocent, vulnerable. The snake in the grass, the wolf among the sheep, never suspected, never questioned, and all the more dangerous for it.
“Was he ever my friend?” Crushing loss and a faint hope.
“Yes, you were probably the only friends he really had.” Slinking guilt, and the knowledge that it didn’t start that way. “He still asks about you.”
An embarrassed flush swept through their link, “What are we going to tell him?”
“That you are mine.” Seto hummed low in his throat, “What else do we have to say?”
“But…” Hot embarrassment swept away by cold amusement.
“He will understand.” A raised eyebrow, “Unless you don’t think that you are mine?”
Warm hands immediately reached out to soothe cool skin, “No, no that’s not what I meant.” Owned meant protected, cherished, wanted, loved. “But he’s your brother.”
Seto let the sensation of being wanted sink into his skin, “And that is why he will understand.” He tightened his hold, semi-aware of flooding the link with ‘mineminemineminemine’ “There are only two kinds of things in this world Yugi Mutou.” ‘Protectguardloveneedwantmine’ “Mine and not mine. You, are mine.”
Yugi trembled, cocooned in Seto’s darkness and flooded with his brand of protective, possessive love. For the first time in five years the void relaxed it grip on him, and the thought that perhaps everything would be alright didn’t seem so ephemeral.
The itch of unfinished work intruded on the moment, and Seto sighed.
Yugi closed his eyes and examined the feeling. “It’s a real problem isn’t it?” He frowned, “I don’t think I can fix something so deeply ingrained. I’m sorry.”
Seto shrugged, “It’s what makes me such a good CEO.” There were lingering feelings of regret about the way that turned out, “Would you like a shower before going back to sleep?” Seto would brook no argument, his light needed rest.
Yugi shook his head. “Just a cloth will be fine.” He stiffened, “How long will you be gone?” ‘aloneleftbehindforgotten’
Seto smoothed his hands over his light’s tense shoulders. “Give me twenty minutes.” He began untangling their limbs. “Would you like me to leave you with company?” The impression of tarnished silver scales ghosted through the link once more, this time coiling around something precious, tail twitching in mischief.
Yugi’s curiosity peaked, “Company?”
Seto chuckled quietly, heard more through the link than the air. He slid off the bed and onto his feet, the lights of the room brightening automatically even as he called to his monsters.
Yugi watched in fascination as the shadows of the room seemed to shift and coil around the taller man before taking a shape he knew all too well.
The shadowy Blue-eyes White Dragon filled the room, ghostly and insubstantial, except for those burning blue eyes. Calculating and intelligent, the piercing gaze weighed and measured him as Seto lovingly stroked the smooth white head. The great dragon must have liked what it saw as it looked over to it’s summoner and pushed against his chest with it’s nose, seeming to forget about the leather clad duelist. It coiled protectively around the half naked CEO and blocked him from view.
There was a strange twisting feeling, as if the room itself was being pulled, before a tiny squeaking noise filled the air. The great white dragon crooned softly before fading away, revealing Seto with an armful of shifting white scales.
Yugi crept closer to the edge of the massive bed. “Is that?” The tiny bundle uncoiled and blinked open large, round, sky blue eyes. He could feel an ‘awww’ coming on. It was possibly the cutest creature he had ever seen.
Stroking the smooth head, the brunette walked closer, shifting to offer the tiny white dragon to his light. “It’s okay, he doesn’t bite.”
Tentatively Yugi reached out, the dragon chick was surprisingly warm, the scales sliding under his fingers like well oiled metal. It made a happy squeak and butted against his fingers, demanding proper scratching. “It’s not a hologram.” Something in his mind shifted as he took the dragon from his darker half, suddenly aware that if he sacrificed it a full grown Blue-eyes would be summoned in it’s place.
He blinked as the weight of the dragon settled in his arms, tiny little claws catching on his shirt as it clung to him. Breath warm and moist, tiny scaly body thrumming with life. “It’s alive.” He looked down into round blue eyes with a sense of sadness. “Who was he?” Only children tended to become young monsters.
Seto watched the hatchling trying to wriggle free, shaking his head, a slight curl to his lips, affection easy to read for those who knew how. The question rolled off him without registering and his reply of, “No one”, was dismissive.
Yugi felt his anger rise, arms curling protectively around the white dragon chick. “How can you say that? Not even you could be that cruel.”
There was a quickly hidden thought of ‘yes, yes I can be’ before Seto turned calculating ice-blue eyes on his lighter half, emotions held behind walls of clinically distant ice. “He is not someone’s Ba.**”
Confusion loosened Yugi’s grip and the squirming chick managed to wriggle out of his grasp to explore the bed, like a curious kitten. “What?” He finally managed, looking at the very much alive and sentient shadow monster. Weren’t all monsters once people?
Seto tilted his head ever so slightly to the side, assessing the situation like the genius he was, thoughts following every permutation and deviation faster than Yugi could keep up with. It was like watching an office tower light up, lightning quick and cascading in nature. Beautiful and mesmerizing to watch, leaving behind the distinct impression of casual effort, the simple flipping of a switch. Yugi suddenly wanted to see what solving a real problem would look like.
“Of course, you only know what he could remember.” Seto muttered almost to himself. Sharp eyes focused once more. “Only a percentage of duel monsters were once people, Yugi. This chick was never human.” He swooped to prevent the clumsy dragon from falling off the bed. His voice turned wry, “However his mother once was, so I suggest you keep an eye on him.”
Yugi accepted the complaining chick from his Yami. Suddenly he got the distinct impression that he didn’t know much about duel monsters at all. “I have a lot to learn don’t I?”
Seto smirked, “Yes, yes you do.” He straightened, and headed for his tiny on-suite bathroom for a wet cloth, returning just in time to watch the hatchling pounce as Yugi pulled his soiled shirt off.
There was an undignified squawk as Yugi fell back, completely unprepared for the attack, tangled in his shirt and pinned under the surprisingly heavy dragon. “You little bastard.” Yugi laughed as the dragon sat on his chest proud as a cat with a mouse. The sound was like a balm to the CEO’s nerves, clear honest amusement without any shadows of the past. Summoning the hatchling was a major drain on his Ka but it seemed that it had been worth it, if only for a moment of his light’s happiness.
Tossing the cooling cloth at the pinned duelist’s face earned him a loud ‘hey!’ and a half-hearted glare he didn’t see as he opened his closet in search of something for the other man to sleep in.
A simple, dark blue, silk yukata landed on the bed next to Yugi’s a moment later. The shadows were lurking behind vibrant eyes again, “Do you have to leave?” He sat up, cradling the hatchling in his lap.
Seto looked away, he couldn’t put off his work any longer, the creeping feeling of an anxiety attack was pressing in with every second he delayed. “I just have to send a few messages. Shouldn’t be more than twenty minutes.”
Yugi’s fingers clutched the hatchling closer without realizing it. He took a deep calming breath and then Seto felt Yugi pulling at the link between them. It was different than the passive contact of before, the unusual impression of long fingered hands pulling thin shadows around unevenly sun-bleached leather and rusted metal, flashed across his thoughts.
Seto blinked and shook his head. What an unusual image, was that Yugi? Or a reflection of himself? His eyes focused on the other once more, something of his confusion must have transferred through the link as Yugi tilted his head in thought.
“What did you see?”
Seto focused on the impression once more. “Sun-bleached leather and rusted metal wrapped up in shadows.”
The curl of Yugi’s lips deepened into something mischievous. “Tarnished silver scales bathing in a sunbeam.”
“I wonder why?” If the impressions were of each other than why not just see each other? Why the vague impression?
Yugi shrugged, “I don’t know. Me and-“ That soul deep pain tore through the link once more. Torn leather and smashed metal, broken bones and a bowed head, life blood slowly seeping away into the endless void, drowning in the blinding light. “It wasn’t like this. This is different, more about impressions than words.” He drifted off, curling around the suddenly subdued hatchling.
Seto wanted nothing more than to storm back across the room and curl around his light, but the burning need to go back to work clawed at his thoughts. It was like burning ice, painful and guilty and he nearly whimpered in pain and frustration.
Yugi smiled a small, sad smile just for him. “Go. I’ll be fine until you return.”
“Twenty minutes.” He promised darkly, backing towards the door. He had never felt so torn before, never felt the drive to work as such a handicap. But now he felt it like an open wound in his mind. Angry and raw and painful.
“Go Seto. I’m not worth that kind of pain.” Deep loss lurked behind averted eyes.
Seto swept back into the room his mental snarl snapping violet eyes back to him. He fisted both his hands violently in Yugi’s crimson tipped hair before smashing their lips together, sucking the groan out of his light’s lungs. “Never say that again.” His voice was more growl than whisper.
Yugi’s eyes watered from the pain, breath shortened to gasps.
His fingers loosened to cradle rather than harm. “I protect those that are mine.” He let his thumb trace the line of Yugi’s lips. “Even from themselves.”
A whispered gasp, “Yami.” Sun-bleached leather drowning in the light, burned and raw and dying. So afraid of accepting the darkness, afraid it’ll be taken away, afraid of drowning in it’s cool embrace.
“I won’t let you drown.” Yugi’s forehead was fever hot against his own. He smirked, “Not until I de-throne you anyway.”
A weak smile curved under his thumb. “Liar.”
Seto sighed, some of the tension in his body draining away at the ghost of amusement. “Try to get some more rest.” He pulled away, fingers lingering on smooth skin, “I’ll be just down the hall.”
Violet eyes flickered open, deep and dark, holding his gaze with an intensity that stole his breath. “I will be here.”
Seto nodded once, understanding without words that Yugi had found some measure of balance, and was no longer in danger of collapsing in on himself.
He left the room without looking back, there was no need to.

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** The anime says that a monster is called a Ka, but this makes no sense in regards to actual Egyptian belief.
The way I will be interpreting this going forward will be as follows (Based heavily on the wikipedia article on egyptian souls):
Ren = Name. Without your name you cannot enter the afterlife. Your true name is stripped from you when you become a monster. You don’t forget it, it’s just not yours anymore, this is the number one reason duel monsters cannot go to the afterlife.
Sheut = Shadow. Shadows are what forms the physical aspect of magic, summoned monsters and living people as well. It is formless and merely exists to be shaped, much like the realm that shares the name. It is by manipulating Sheut that monsters are summoned, hence the reason it is called shadow magic.
Ka = Vital Spark. Without it you are dead and this is what powers summoning/magic. You use it up you die. Is naturally regenerated through food, drink and rest. Some people have more than others. Fusing Sheut with Ka allows one to cast spells.
Ba = Essence. This is your inner duel monster. Every living person has a Ba and it forms a large part of who you are (one of the reasons no one ever seems to turn down a challenge, their inner duel monster won’t allow it). Not every person possesses a unique Ba and the form it ultimately takes can be influenced by outside factors, although it rarely changes in any significant way (born a dragon, always a dragon). When you die your Ba moves on to the afterlife unless you become a monster.
Someone with great control and power can bring their Ba to the surface and ‘wear’ it. This process aids in becoming a willing monster (and is usually the last step), but is also useful for avoiding the destructive nature of the Shadow Realm and allows one to use their monster powers without summoning their Ba directly, greatly improving reaction time. With practice, this can be easier than actually summoning a monster.
Ib = Heart. Source of emotion, thought, will, intention and instinct. Ib is divided into two halves, light and dark. Each half being responsible for different things. (Note: light does not equal good, and dark does not equal evil.) The balance within a person’s Ib generally does not change without great effort and people seek that balance in the relationships they have with other people instead. When a person chooses to become a duel monster their Ib is joined with their Ba and allows them to retain their personality as well as the ability to refuse orders or act without them.
When someone’s Ba is forcibly removed their Ib does not always survive. It takes a strong minded (or just a very stubborn) person to retain their Ib under these conditions. There is a portion of Ib that is ‘copied’ and reincarnated once it has spent enough time in the afterlife, becoming the template that the new Ib is formed from. Millennium items seem to have great power over a person’s Ib, and can complicate everything to a huge degree. (Whenever someone’s ‘soul’ was removed it was probably their Ib that was affected.)
Spirit Partner = Ib possessing monsters that have ‘attached’ themselves to a particular person. The ability to see duel spirits is dependent on the strength of your Ka. People with strong Ka are more likely to see/sense duel spirits and even those with weaker Ka may see the spirit that has attached to them. It is unclear if a strong Ka draws a spirit or if a spirit helps boost Ka, or some combination of the two, and what, if anything, the monsters get out of the deal. Generally spirits are attracted to people who possess Ba of the same or similar typing to themselves. Exceptions are likely to be abundant as spirits are individuals with freewill. Not all spirit partners were once human, some were born in the duel monster spirit worlds and as living creatures possess their own Ib.
Just because you can see spirit partners does not mean you can summon them. And just because you can summon them does not mean you can see them.
Duel monsters cards = Not all cards have a corresponding monster, and not all monsters have a corresponding card. The cards themselves are actually a paper-like plastic containing a woven microchip that the duel disks use to register and identify cards. The chip is woven into the card itself and tearing a card in half damages this chip beyond repair, rendering it unusable in a holographic duel. The cards by themselves are not magical, instead the ability of the cards to accept and release energy (how the cards are identified by the duel disks) aids the caster in casting shadow magic. It takes a skilled and powerful shadow mage to cast any spell/summon a monster without the card in hand and without the aid of KaibaCorp Solid Vision holograms. Many spirits are summoned unintentionally by people with power, this generally results in the spirit possessing the hologram and being restricted to the parameters the hologram functions under (can only harm other holograms), manifesting as unique behaviour only. Intentional summoning can bypass this restriction.
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Memories of the Past