Title: Catnip Dream

Summary: The only thing Kaiba and Yami enjoyed more than dueling was dueling each other. But when the game they play changes, what will happen between them? Dreams begin to intersect with reality and the two are forced to confront not only each other, but their feelings as well.

Pairing: Yami x Kaiba, Kaiba x Yami

Rating: Starts off T for language and slanted situations, progresses to M for heated encounters. This means that there will be graphic lemons in later chapters, but I will always post a warning at the beginning to let you know when and to what extent they will be present.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! does not belong to me.

Chapter 01: The Duel Begins

"How much longer do you intend to keep running away?"

The man turned to face his accuser, only to discover there was nothing but more darkness behind him. Straightening himself to his full height, he crossed his arms with a derisive snort as he defended himself, "Kaiba Seto does not run away."

He was met with a deep rumbling laugh, causing him to narrow his eyes. The disembodied, and decidedly male voice spoke out again, "And yet you refuse to face the truth. Is this not the same as running away?"

Kaiba began to laugh at those words, although it lacked both in warmth and humor. "Who are you to talk? You won't face me at all!" It was said as a challenge, daring the owner of the voice to reveal himself. There was something familiar about the voice and Kaiba grew more irritated as the moments passed, scanning his memory trying to figure out who was speaking to him.

"Why should I reveal myself to you when you repeatedly say that I don't exist?" the voice taunted him playfully.

Kaiba, however was in no mood for games such as this; he wanted answers and he wanted them immediately, even if it meant pacifying the unseen entity. "I'm speaking with you now. Does this not prove you exist?"

Suddenly there was warmth against his back as the figure pressed his body against Kaiba's, startling him, although he refused to give it the satisfaction of hearing him gasp in surprise. He found himself unable to turn and face the person behind him as an arm slowly began to encircle his waist, pulling him closer. Before he could protest, the low laughter, now so close to his ear, caused a shiver to run through him. "Oh, you say that now," the voice began again, the softly spoken words still colored with amusement, "but in the end you always run away."

He growled in frustration, stating in measured tones, "I do not run away! From anything or anyone."

"I think I will allow your pride to have that point, since I know it to be true. Kaiba Seto faces any and every challenge head on, isn't that right?"

"Allow my pride to have that point?" Kaiba repeated indignantly, ignoring the second half of the statement. "Who the hell do you think you are that you can 'allow' for anything? And why won't you face me?" he questioned, once against trying to turn around and failing. He frowned at this; the person behind him was obviously shorter than him, and yet for reasons he could not understand, he was effectively pinned in place.

"Ah, but I've faced you many times in the past," the voice pointed out, infuriating Kaiba further.

Shoving back against the body, he clarified, "I meant right now! Show yourself."

"Why should I?"

"Because that was an order."

Once again, the laughter in his ear caused a small shudder to run through him. "I'm not one of your employees. I don't take orders from you."

Kaiba tried changing tactics, his voice becoming increasingly arrogant as he lifted his head. "Hn. As if I would hire the likes of you, coward."

The body behind him tensed and Kaiba allowed himself a small smirk that the other couldn't see. All amusement and laughter was gone from the voice; instead, it dropped in pitch and became almost threatening as it coolly stated, "I am not a coward."

"Prove it by revealing yourself" Kaiba demanded, ignoring the fact he sounded like a petulant child. "Stop hiding in the shadows behind me."

There was a moment of silence and the body behind him shifted slightly. The tone was neutral as he predicted, "You'll just deny me, make up some excuse like, 'You're not real because this is just a dream,' or something."

"Deny you?"

And suddenly the voice was light again. "You can't possibly be having problems hearing me this close, Kaiba," and to prove the point, suddenly warm lips were on Kaiba's earlobe, sucking lightly on it, a tongue playing against it, causing him to gasp aloud. "Unless of course this position is…distracting you?"

Eyes widening in shock, he didn't allow his voice to betray him as he asked, "What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

The other didn't bother answering, instead it lightly nipped the ear causing Kaiba's breath to catch before lips descended onto his neck, allowing him to feel the other's smirk. "Having fun," it said simply before continuing exploring his neck.

"At my expense?"

"It's not at your expense if you're enjoying it," the voice stated, one of his hands beginning to drift downward before being caught by Kaiba.

Using it to his advantage, Kaiba spun himself around to come face to face with the man behind him only to find nothing there except for darkness. Looking down at the wrist he knew he had hold of, he was shocked to see that there was nothing but air between his fingers. Clenching his jaw as he tightening his fist, he yelled out, "Enough!"

And there it was again, that disembodied laughter. "But I thought you enjoyed playing games?" he asked in an innocent voice that somehow sounded like it was mocking him.

Kaiba refused to answer; instead he crossed his arms once more and tried to pinpoint the exact location of the voice. He didn't know how it had disappeared so quickly, but it obviously had some corporeal form, given how real the contact had been. He was determined to find it and the thought of giving it a sound beating was tempting.

The voice became thoughtful as it continued, "Although for you, I suppose it's less about the game and more about the opponent."

There were few opponents out there that Kaiba even considered worthy of the distinction. And even then, Pegasus had cheated and Yuugi had that annoying split personality he insisted on believing was perfectly acceptable. He rolled his eyes at that thought, at all of that ridiculous talk of ancient Egyptian lives and tacky gold artifacts. But much as he hated to admit it, the little brat was the closest he came to a real challenge.

It suddenly clicked in his mind and his blue eyes widened in realization. "So you're tired of our normal games," he called out, watching carefully for a response in the darkness, "is that it, Yuugi?"

Slowly a body stepped forth from the shadows, materializing right before Kaiba's stunned eyes. Despite the lack of a golden puzzle, the tri-colored hair was unmistakable, but gone was the ubiquitous blue school uniform, nor was he clad in his trademark leather; instead Yuugi was in jeans and a simple white button down shirt that was left mostly unbuttoned, allowing for a perfect view of his tanned chest. As he came closer to Kaiba, it became more apparent that this Yuugi was taller and slightly older than the one he knew and instead of the violet he was expecting, dark crimson eyes were carefully watching him.

"As much as I enjoy the way you say that name, it's not the one I wish to be called."

Kaiba's eyebrows furrowed in frustration as this Yuugi came to stand before him, still laughing. Annoyed, Kaiba smarted off, "The only thing I should be calling you right now is a pain in the ass."

"I can be," he retorted, coming close enough to wrap one arm around Kaiba's neck, his other hand sneaking around Kaiba's waist to firmly grasp his ass with a knowing smirk, before continuing his ministrations on Kaiba's ear where he had left off earlier, "but I guarantee that you'll enjoy it."

Kaiba's heart was pounding and he struggled to untangle himself from the other's grasp. There was no way he was going to allow himself to enjoy this or let the other continue with such outrageous behavior, dream or not. "I sincerely doubt it," was his only reply, but the breathy quality of his voice made the words sound false.

Regardless, the hand that had previously been on his ass began slowly moving up along his spine to join the other around his neck, causing a soft sigh to escape him. "See?" came the infuriatingly confident voice, causing Kaiba to curse himself. He could at least take solace in the fact that this wasn't reality; he would never allow himself to behave in such an uncontrolled and undignified manner in the real world. The voice pulled Kaiba from his thoughts when it spoke once more, "I'd be more than happy to prove you wrong."

Kaiba glared down into those eyes that were dancing with amusement. He had to find a way out of the situation, or at the very least a way to victory, but at the moment his mind was at a loss as to how. So he said the only thing he could think of, "I have no doubt about that, Yuugi," with an extra emphasis on the name.

"Even in your dreams, you're a complete bastard," he said, but there was no malice in his words. "But there's one way to solve that problem."

"Wake up?" Kaiba suggested, something that was increasingly beginning to sound like the best option.

Instead of answering with words, any further argument was silenced with a kiss. Kaiba was taken aback at the sudden boldness of this Yuugi, but he was not to be outdone. No, he would meet this challenge just like he met every other one—with the intention of winning the battle. Not waiting for an invitation, Kaiba began to seek entrance to the other's mouth with his tongue and it was quickly granted. Pulling the shorter man closer with his left arm, Kaiba brought his right hand to his opponent's cheek as he deepened the kiss, quickly forgetting his original purpose as he lost himself in the feeling.

Kaiba was proud that he wasn't the first to pull away and he watched in amusement at the surprised expression that was battling with a lust filled one of this Yuugi, who may have started it, but Kaiba was sure he had won that round. Letting his hand drop to his side, Kaiba watched as the other began to regain his composure.

"Yami," the other finally said, breaking the silence.

"What?" Kaiba asked, having not been entirely paying attention as he plotted out a successful way to carry out round two to his advantage.

"Yami. Not Yuugi."

Now it was Kaiba's turn to taunt. "So all it takes is one little kiss for you to lose the ability to form a complete sentence?"

Glaring, he haltingly said, "I want you to call me Yami, because I'm not Yuugi. Better?"

"Much better," Kaiba said simply, leaning in for another kiss. Well, he had one thing right—there was no way he was Yuugi, because there was no way in hell Kaiba would ever imagine doing anything like this with that kid.

Kaiba didn't get the chance because he was stopped when Yami's hand inched up the inside of his shirt to brush lightly across his bare stomach. His breath caught as his muscles tightened and he barely noticed when Yami questioned, "Do you believe me?"

His mind was rapidly supplying him with images of all the possible things he could be doing with the boy at the moment besides talking, so he couldn't bring himself to respond with anything more than, "Sure."

"Now who has lost their ability to form a complete sentence?" Yami asked with a satisfied grin, his hand moving away from the stomach to rest on Kaiba's hip.

Ignoring the bait, Kaiba simply answered the original question, "Yes, I believe that you are not Yuugi."

He went to resume the kiss but was denied by another question. "So are you finally ready to admit that I'm real?"

Torn between finding a way to shut him up and telling him to fuck off, Kaiba gave a weary sigh. "Back to this necklace bullshit again, are we?"

"Puzzle, not necklace."

"Whatever."

Yami seemed ready to say something, but paused and tilted his head to the side as if hearing something. Kaiba heard nothing and waited, his face expressionless. Finally Yami spoke, his voice laced with disappointment, "Aibou is about to wake up for school."

"Which means…?"

"Yuugi is going to wake up and that means I have to go," Yami explained patiently.

"Why?"

Yami shrugged, finally stepping out of the embrace. "It's just how it works. But the better question is, when will you stop running away from all of this?"

Kaiba grabbed him roughly, pulling him closer and initiating a heated kiss. His hands sought out and started to fondle Yami's ass, causing him to moan softly and press against Kaiba harder. They continued hungrily, the occasional gasp and sigh escaping from them both as their hands wandered aimlessly, chasing the feeling. "Does this look like I'm running away to you?"

"Yes," Yami said, but began kissing Kaiba again in earnest before a protest could be uttered.

Not one to let such a comment go, Kaiba bit down on Yami's lip, though not quite hard enough to draw blood. Yami cried out, but said nothing as Kaiba traced his lower lip with his thumb. The look he gave was almost tender, almost kind, but his words, though softly spoken were still harsh, "It's impossible to run away from something that doesn't exist, Yami."

Instead of the hurt tone of voice he was expecting, Yami was once again laughing, confusing Kaiba. "And yet you call me by my name, Seto."

Before Kaiba could say anything, Yami gently kissed him before dissolving away into the darkness, in the same manner he had appeared. Blinking, Kaiba stood alone, trying to find some sort of logic to explain what had just happened, but currently he was finding nothing. "Just what in the hell –"

"—was that all about?" Kaiba found himself asking aloud, sitting up in his bed.

"That's what I'd like to know," a voice to his left said.

Startled, Kaiba turned quickly to his left, his eyes coming to rest on the figure in front of him. He half expected it to be Yami and then cursed himself equally for allowing such an idiotic thought to cross his mind. "Mokuba! What are you doing in here?"

"Well, I thought you were having a nightmare," he began before trailing off, staring at the floor, "because I heard moaning and stuff."

Running his fingers through his hair, Kaiba sighed heavily. "You could call it that," he muttered, still mulling over what it all meant.

"Yeah, but you sounded like you were enjoying it," Mokuba said with a grin as he began to run out of the room to dodge the pillow he knew was headed his way.

It hit the door instead and Kaiba yelled out to the footsteps that were receding quickly down the main stairs, "You better be done with breakfast by the time I get down there!"

Still, he made no move to get out of bed, instead he ran his hand over his forehead, but there was no sign of a fever. He'd just have to blame such a dream on too much work and not enough sleep, because that was the only excuse for it, really. And if he was being honest with himself, he'd much rather have that dream than his normal nightmares about his past, so with that consolation, he got out of bed and headed to his bathroom to get ready for school.

Well, if I'm still a bastard in my dream, Kaiba thought, then he's just as arrogant. Where does he get off calling me 'Seto,' anyway?

As he got into the shower, he dismissed any memories or thoughts that were associated with the dream and instead focused on the comfort of his morning routine.

A/N: Ahaha, if it were only that easy for poor Kaiba. The man has no idea what he's in for, really. And it's only the beginning of it all! :laughs:

My not describing what Kaiba was wearing wasn't an oversight, so much as it was a result of the perspective. Since it's from his point of view (albeit, in third person), it makes sense that he notices what Yami is wearing, but in dreams you tend not to notice those types of details about yourself. You just assume you're wearing clothing—unless of course it's one of those kinds of dreams where clothing is optional or completely not required…

One important note: I'll be using the Japanese manner of addressing people and keeping it as consistent to the series as possible. It'll be important a few chapters down the road, but for now, it's just a formality. The only deviations will be the manner in which Bakura is addressed to make allowances for the Bakura/Ryou differentiation as well as Yuugi using 'Yami' instead of 'mou hitori no boku,' for convenience.

Any questions or comments? Feel free to review and I'll be sure to get back to you. (Why does that sound like a voice mailbox message, haha) Now, onwards:

NEXT CHAPTER: Reality Sets In

Kaiba's determination to ignore the situation is at war with his desire to figure out what just happened to him. Unfortunately he keeps getting distracted not only by the memories, but also by a certain group of people in his homeroom. And what exactly is Yuugi hiding from them all? Plus, a little bit of Bakura antics on the side!

I should have it posted sometime around Sunday, so please look forward to it!