Chapter 38: Encounters

It had taken some coaxing, but Yami finally was ready to go home, even if he wasn't quite ready to leave. There still felt like there was so much left to be said and yet in a weird way, he felt like he had more answers than when he went in, even if it meant he only had more questions in the end.

Walking out of Kaiba's office—and feeling a bit heady at the thought that it belonged to him and not Gozaburo—Yami was startled when he almost walked into who was waiting on the other side, their hand poised to knock on the door. Yami's initial apology disappeared into a startled noise as he instinctively took a step back, his eyes wide in disbelief. His mind was racing almost as fast as his heart, but nothing could have prepared him for the shock of seeing the smirking man in front of him.

When he had left Egypt for the final time, Yami had never thought he would have to lay eyes on Bakura again. Their complicated relationship was one reason amongst many that Yami was glad he had left his homeland, even if he would have preferred it under any other circumstance than his parents passing. To see him again so suddenly without warning was jarring, but there wasn't time to think about it because Bakura was taking another step closer to narrow the distance between them as he tutted, "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

"Bakura," Yami growled, his hand tightening on the door knob for fear that he would either betray his emotions by showing the shaking of his hands or the pummeling of his fist. It didn't matter that the teen had gotten a little bit taller or that his hair had grown out further; there was no way Yami would ever forget him or his trademark scent that immediately made him think of long, hot afternoons in Egypt after school.

"Oh, how I've missed the sound of my name on your lips, Yami," Bakura hummed as he reached out to brush his fingers against Yami's cheek.

"Don't you dare touch me," Yami hissed, jerking away once again and hating himself for the flush that rose to color his face at the innuendo. He was still in disbelief that this was actually happening, let alone where it was occurring.

The disturbance had Kaiba on his feet and walking around his desk toward the two feuding teens, his gaze flicking between the two as he tried to assess the situation. He didn't understand why Yami was glaring so hatefully at the person in front of him or why he was almost vibrating with constrained emotions that Kaiba wanted an immediate explanation for, no excuses accepted. There was no way for Yami to know his employee's real name and Kaiba suddenly had a very bad feeling about the situation—all the more so because Bakura knew who Yami was.

Neither teen paid Kaiba any attention as he drew near; they were too busy focusing on each other, the tense moment drawing out even longer. "What the hell are you doing here?" Yami finally asked, feeling almost sick over the whole thing and yet still needing answers about his mysterious appearance.

"Earning a paycheck," Bakura glibly commented, gesturing at his costume for emphasis. He was dressed in a loose fitting ivory overshirt and a red skirt, neither of which covered more than what was socially acceptable; there was still too much bronze skin on display for Yami's comfort. Yami didn't understand what Bakura was supposed to be, but he wasn't that interested in finding out any details—he had seen enough as it was.

"What, Marik wasn't enough for you?" Yami retorted, sounding more bitter than he had intended. It was a hurt that ran deeper than Yami cared to admit, but he wasn't surprised in that regard at how Bakura was attempting to slake his insatiable lust by working in a brothel. "Or did he go back to Rishid again?"

Shrugging at Yami's question, Bakura didn't feel the need to elaborate on his former lover's psychotic break in the form of a split personality disorder and his subsequent institutionalization enforced by Marik's on again off again lover, Rishid, and by the teen's sister, Isis. It was a victory that Bakura didn't feel like giving Yami, so he airily said, "Oh, you know how it goes," and left it at that.

While Yami may have understood what Bakura was referring to, Kaiba was at a complete loss over the developments that were unfurling before his eyes and it was infuriating him. He had no idea who Marik or Rishid were, but he was damn well going to find out later; for now, he had his priorities to focus on first. Shutting the door to his office so that none of their personal business would be further privy to potentially prying eyes, Kaiba noticed how Yami immediately took up a more defensive position by crossing his arms over his chest with an angry tilt of his chin to convey his attitude. "And how exactly does it go?" Kaiba questioned, too busy observing Bakura's reaction to spare another glance at Yami's, even though he wanted nothing more than to touch him and reassure him that everything would be fine.

Smirking wickedly and drawing himself up to his full height, Bakura's eyes drifted over to Kaiba and languidly looked him over from head to toe before licking his lips and returning his gaze to a barely controlled furious cerulean. "It's just one of those situations," Bakura dismissively replied, not interested in expounding any further on it with his employer.

"You're about to find yourself in a situation," Kaiba threatened, bristling at Bakura's demeanor.

"One that I have no objections to," Bakura purred with a perverse rumble that made Kaiba want to roll his eyes at that blatancy.

"You say that now," Kaiba warned, his patience starting to come to an end.

"Oooh, are you going to punish me again?" Bakura asked, sounding far too excited by the possibility for either Kaiba or Yami's tastes. It also sent off warning bells for Yami, who suddenly burned with a need to know what Bakura meant by "again" and hoped desperately that it wasn't anything close to the twisted image his mind was trying to supply him with of the two teens together.

Narrowing his eyes dangerously at Bakura, Kaiba coolly said, "I wouldn't recommend finding out," mostly because he didn't trust himself to hold back if he found out what it was about the teen that was causing Yami to react so poorly.

"I bet it's kinky," Bakura predicted with a flirtatious wink that caused Yami to make a small growl of annoyance that immediately drew the white haired teen's attention back to him. "Still uptight about that, eh?"

"None of your damn business!" Yami shot back, the heat in his cheeks deepening from a blush to a full out flush of rage. It was one thing to have to deal with Bakura after almost two years of not seeing him, but it was quite another to see him trying to flirt so openly with Kaiba; it just frayed the last of his nerves.

"So that's a yes, then," Bakura deduced, his gaze softening with a fondness that immediately had Kaiba tensing up on full guard. He knew that look and didn't like the implications one bit.

"Enough of this," Kaiba decided, realizing they were getting nowhere with their fragmented conversations. "What's going on?"

"You would know," Bakura dryly stated, giving Kaiba a knowing look before his eyes returned to rake over Yami's form in a rude leer. "After all, he's my reward."

Yami's protest was once again lost when unwanted hands reached for him, pulling him closer, causing him to bump against the person he wanted nothing more than to be oceans apart from once more. "Never!" Yami growled as he shoved away, willing himself not to lose control in front of Kaiba. "I don't know why you're here or what you think you're doing, but—"

"Explain yourself," Kaiba demanded, forcing himself to keep his eyes on his employee. It wouldn't do to betray his interests in Yami to the man that he still knew so little about—especially since his instincts were telling him that things were about to go from bad to worse very fast.

"Aww, did Daddy forget to fill you in?" Bakura mockingly questioned, using the opportunity to once again move closer to Yami. "I agreed under a certain set of conditions to come here. They were most…explicit."

That bad feelings mutated into cold dread when Kaiba realized that he was quite possibly staring at Gozaburo's final trump card. "Meaning?" Kaiba asked through gritted teeth, wanting to reach out for Yami and pull him to safety, to put himself between his lover and the advancing teen that was too interested in what didn't belong to him. The dual meaning of Bakura's words were a warning to Kaiba that he didn't like in the least, but he had to calm himself before jumping to any conclusions; that wouldn't do him any good either.

Ignoring Kaiba, Bakura explained to Yami, "You were to return to my side," as he once again forcibly pulled him closer. When Yami tried to yank free, Bakura held him that much closer, grinning victoriously when he felt uncertain fingers twitch on his bare chest as the scarlet eyed teen continued trying to escape. "After all, I've been so lonely without my favorite Pharaoh to keep me company."

"I doubt it and don't call me that," Yami snapped, reacting on an almost volatile level as he struggled for release. Hearing the old pet name was enough to get him free, because he couldn't stand to hear it said, let alone so close to his ears.

Something inside of Kaiba burned darkly at what he was witnessing, the implications of Yami's unknown past suddenly becoming a major point of contention for him. "You will refrain from further contact," Kaiba ordered Bakura, finally finding a way to get between them physically without arousing too much suspicion from his employee.

"Saving him all for yourself?" Bakura teased, noticing far more about the exchange than Kaiba realized. The unchanging stoic expression that was laced with a hint of anger made Bakura hum with interest as the situation suddenly became far more fascinating to him. "That's it, isn't it? Ha, as if somebody like him would be interested in someone like you!"

"What are you implying?" Kaiba demanded, his voice taking on a threatening tone. He didn't know what Bakura was insinuating or why he thought he knew about such things, but it was pushing Kaiba dangerously close to action. After all, he didn't need the guy around to get answers.

"If he knew everything, he'd never let you be this close to him again," Bakura airily replied, although his grin was practically predatory as he looked down at Yami. "Isn't that right, Pharaoh?"

With a vicious growl, Yami started to launch himself at Bakura, but was restrained at the last moment by Kaiba. "Let me go, damn it!" Yami yelled at Kaiba, yanking against the hold and unable to break free. It only made him fight that much harder, anything to try and escape in order to make Bakura stop saying such horrible things.

Taking advantage of the fact that both teens had their hands occupied, Bakura closed the distance between them and reached out to stroke Yami's cheek, half expecting him to try and nip at him for daring to do so. "I bet he tells you such pretty lies," Bakura murmured in Arabic as he caressed Yami's cheek, making the teen flinch away.

"What would you know about it?" Yami spat back in turn, unaware of how the switch in languages was making the situation worse on Kaiba.

"Because he's just like me," Bakura answered with a cruel laugh that set Yami's nerves on edge. "Maybe even worse, who knows?"

When it looked like Bakura was going to try and steal a kiss, Kaiba instinctively shielded Yami from him with his own body. "Get out of my sight," Kaiba commanded, needing the white haired teen gone before he did something regrettable.

"You can't escape the fact that you and I are the same," Bakura told Kaiba with a knowing look.

"We are nothing alike," Kaiba snapped, unaware of how his grip on Yami tightened once more.

"You keep telling yourself that," Bakura said with a cackle as he turned to walk away with a casual wave. "I'll be seeing you, Yami."

The shutting of the door left an ominous silence that was just waiting to explode.

A/N: So who saw that coming? *wicked grin*

It seems like I just can't keep Bakura away from my stuff or even a hint of ancient Egypt from this. Believe it or not, this has been planned for awhile. See references in Chapter 6 and Chapter 9 (although that is addressed more in Chapter 39).

I also liked the idea that Bakura and Yami could speak in a language Kaiba couldn't; it's fun changing up tropes once in awhile.

Uh yeah, so in summation: please don't kill me?

NEXT CHAPTER:

"Do you really think you can handle knowing what happened that night?" Kaiba questioned in a sad voice as he reached out and brushed his fingers against Yami's cheek. "Would you ever let me touch you again if you knew everything I've done?"

Confrontation time! It's about time Kaiba started fessing up some answers and we'll get a few about Yami's past, too.

Answers are forthcoming in next week's chapter that will be posted on Sunday, July 25th. And for those of you that missed it, don't forget to check out the Entangled update I posted on Wednesday, Gifting. It's just my way of saying, "Thanks," for the last three years of support and many more to come! Although I feel like I need a special Forbidden related something to thank you guys for over 600 reviews on this fic alone! Maybe there's hopes for a sequel yet. *grin*