Skin
Chapter three
As Seto came out from the bathroom, he took a look at the clock. 1am. He saw Yami asleep in front of his computer, and he assumed he was reading that survey on the page. He put something comfortable on, (which were only blue vertically striped pajama bottoms) and moved to wake Yami up. “Hey, Mutou, wake up,”
Yami slowly opened his eyes. “Wh-what? Seto?”
Seto raised a brow. Yami was still calling him by his first name. “Go to bed, I’ll take over,” but it seemed that Yami was too tired to even lift his head. “Dammit. I’m going to have someone sleep in my bed,” he said, carrying Yami to the bed and putting the sheets over him. Good thing he had Yami use the bathroom first. But damn. When he said pajamas, he didn’t mean shorts like the previous one and an oversized shirt. Only difference was the previous one was jeans, this one looked like boxers for women. But hell. These are for men! He shook his head.
Still topless, he sat in front of his desktop and continued research. The research Yami was doing was not the one that caught his interest. But Yami himself. He couldn’t help but think that the steady form on his bed was female. “Snap out of it, Seto,” he told him himself, and went back to what he was supposed to do.
Hours passed by quickly, and Seto felt that. He can’t seem to find anything else about their topic since like…two hours ago. Yami awoke due to Seto’s cursing. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, looking to his side to find out what time it was. 4am. He stood up and approached the figure sitting in the other side of the room. “You’re still awake, Seto?” he asked, putting a hand on the other’s shoulder. “You should get some rest. This project can wait,” he yawned.
“Nah, besides, the internet is running out of site to provide us with information. All the pops up are porn sites featuring teenagers.” He said irritably. “You go back to sleep. I’m used to working up late,”
“Whatever, Seto.” He said, turning away. “I’m going to make some coffee or tea, want some?” Yami asked before he went out.
“Get me coffee. No cream. No sugar. Black.”
“Uh-huh, and put something on, Seto. You’ll get a cold,” he left.
There was silence for a few moments. “Why the ******** is he still calling me Seto?!” he asked particularly at nobody. He stood up and grabbed a shirt from his walk in closet.
For Seto, it seemed like Yami has been gone for something like forever. But when he looked at the clock, he was only gone less than fifteen minutes.. A few moments later, there was lightning. Then thunder. Milliseconds after that thunder, Seto heard Yami scream, then the sound of something like plates and glasses breaking. “SETO!” he heard him as hard rain poured down. Then it blacked out. He heard the wind howling outside.
“********!” he cursed as he stood up. “Mutou?!” he hadn’t saved almost a fourth of their project.
“Ow! Seto! It hurts!”
Seto grabbed his phone ran out his room, assuming that Yami was just in the hall. He used his phone’s light to find him. With in a few yards from his bedroom door, he saw Yami in tears on the floor. The thunder and lightning startled him, causing him to drop the tea and coffee, spilling them on his feet and burning them. “s**t,” he cursed softly.
“How am I going to walk now?” he asked, putting his arm around Seto’s neck as Seto put his arm under Yami’s legs in a move to carry him. “I’m sorry I’ve caused you trouble, even though I said that I wouldn’t,”
“No harm done, Yami, it’s no problem,”
“Did you just call me by my first name?!”
Seto ignored him. “Mokuba?” he said, seeing light at the end of the hall, approaching them.
“Seto! I heard someone scream!” he said, with a few servants behind him. “What happened?” Mokuba asked, following Seto in his room.
“Yami was supposed to get tea and coffee. Startled by the lightning and thunder, he dropped the drinks and burned his feet,” Seto explained, putting him down on the bed. “Give me that flashlight.” He kneeled and examined Yami’s wound.
“Can you do something about it? It stings badly. Ah,” the problem is, Yami burned both his feet. And the even bigger problem is, how are they going to tell Yami’s grandfather? “How are we going to tell this to Jiichan?”
“He’ll understand,” said Seto, “Mokuba, get some cold water in a basin and a cloth from the bathroom. And alcohol and betadine. Also a rug. Or get the servants to do it,” now there was something Seto noticed. All this time, Yami always kept his legs together. While other teens like him don’t care if they have their legs spread widely or not. Hm. Maybe Yami just had one hell of an etiquette.
“No, I’ll get it. The servants are trying to get the generator working,” he ran to the bathroom.
“A-alcohol?! That would hurt like hell!” Yami protested.
“Well, either it would hurt like hell, or get your feet infected,” Seto looked up at him.
“You’re so mean!”
“Thank you,”
“Here, Seto,” Mokuba slid the rug under Yami’s feet and put the basin, alcohol and betadine on the floor.
“Mokuba, get my belt,” the boy reached it on Seto’s desk. “I know we’re not going to fix a dislocated bone, but here, bite down this,” he gave the belt to Yami. “If you need to, as hard as you can. Mokuba, hold the flashlight so I can see Yami’s feet,”
Yami nodded and bit the belt as Mokuba sat beside him and held his hand. “It’s ok, I’m here,” Mokuba hugged him.
“Ready?” Seto asked. Mokuba gave him thumbs up. Seto put alcohol on his hands before he poured water on Yami’s feet with his hands. And it already started to sting. Yami bit onto the belt hard. He didn’t like pain. Mostly because he never really did experience any wounds or cuts before. Grandpa told him to be careful of his legs, not to get them scratched. And Seto noticed that. Yami’s legs were flawless. Beautiful. No wonder he had the courage to wear shorts. “Yami, I’m going to put alcohol now. If you wanna scream, you scream,”
Yami nodded furiously as tears streamed down his face. He let go of the belt. “Jiichan is going to kill me,” he cried as he felt Seto hold his feet together with one hand. “He told me not to do anything to my feet or legs. And now look at them. They’re burned and they won’t look the same way a-GAAAAAIIIIINNNN!!” he screamed a high pitch as Seto poured alcohol on his feet. He wanted to kick him, but Seto’s grip on his feet was too tight and strong.
“Shush, Yami, shush, it’s over,” said Mokuba, rubbing circles on Yami’s back.
“Mokuba, get some bandages and cotton,” Seto told him. “They’re in the drawer by the sink,”
Mokuba let go of Yami. “I’ll be back, ok?”
“Jiichan’s going to kill me for this,”
“No, he won’t, I’ll send a US dermatologist or some other doctor to you to make the scars disappear. I promised your grandfather I won’t anything happen to you while you’re here in my house and as of the moment you’ve stepped into this house, you’ve become my responsibility. A responsibility that I promised to take care of. That’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Mokuba handed him the cotton and bandages. Seto put betadine on Yami’s feet before bandaging them. “There. Done.” Yami didn’t say anything.
“Seto, we don’t have a wheelchair around. How is Yami going to get around the house?”
“I’ll think of something,” said Seto. “I’ll also get you a wheelchair and a servant, no, a nurse or a medical person to tend to your needs,”
“What?!” Yami said in an almost protesting tone. “You don’t have to do that!”
“I do. That’s what I told your grandfather,” Seto replied.
“I’ll leave you two alone. I’ll check up on the generator,” Mokuba took the flashlight and ran out the room.
“So tell me,” Seto sat on his rolling chair and faced Yami. “Why ‘Jiichan is going to kill me,’ phrase?”
“It’s because he told me to take care of my legs. My body. To not let anything happen to them,” Yami wiped his tears away with the sleeve of his shirt. “I’ve never had any cuts before, so I was really scared about you cleaning my feet,”
“So what’s the reason for the legs?”
“He said I looked so much like mom,” he stared to explain. “He took care of me and my brother very much so that the image of my mother that I carry will never fade. He didn’t want a scratch on me. He never let anything hurt me,”
“And where are your parents?”
“They were archeologists like Jiichan. That was how they met. They died in an excavation site in Egypt. The ruins collapsed on them.”
“Oh. I shouldn’t have asked,” he said, regretting had he had asked.
“No. It’s ok. You’re the first one I’ve told this, actually,” Yami gave him a teary smile. Then the lights went back. Only this time, it was from the generator, since it was still raining hard outside.
“Good news, we have electricity. Bad news, no internet,” Seto turned his desktop back on, hoping that the document recovery had auto-recovered the documents they were working on. “Damn winds must’ve brought down the antenna. ******** it. You lie down. I’m finishing this s**t. We’re only going to have the servants answer some kind of survey and copy-paste a few pages of info. I don’t care if we get a 78 or 80. This project is pointless.”
“A-are you sure, I mean I-”
“Mutou, lie down and don’t move your feet. They’ll heal faster that way. I’ll take care of everything. Especially making an explanation to tell your grandfather about this incident,”
“Ha-hai,” he said, backing up to the pillows. “D-do you have any music, Seto?” he asked, watching the other do their project.
“What kind?”
“Like…something David Cook would sing,” Yami suggested, pulling up the covers with difficulty. “Or Eagles,” it seemed like Seto was searching for something, because Yami could hear the clicking of the mouse.
“David Cook? The guy who won American Idol?” Seto asked, and saw Yami nod in the corner of his eye.
We were as one babe, for a moment in time. And it seemed everlasting that you would always be mine. Now you wanna be free, so I’m letting you fly. Cuz I know in my heart babe, our love will never die, no.
“That’s Cook?”
“Yes.” Yami replied, sitting up on the bed. “I like that song.”
“I can’t believe I’m listening to this. Or better yet why I have this in here,” Seto shook his head.
You’ll always be a part of me. I’m part of you indefinitely. Girl, don’t you know you can’t escape me? Ohh darling cuz you’ll always be my baby. And we’ll linger on. Time can’t erase a feeling this strong. No way you’re ever gonna shake me. Ohh darling cuz you’ll always be my baby.
“His voice is so low that he sounds like he’s drunk,” Seto commented. Yami gave a big laugh. “What?” he looked at him.
“I can’t believe you’re right,” said Yami, catching his breath. “I haven’t noticed that! You’re right! He does sound drunk!”
“Your laugh, it’s like I heard it before,” Seto looked down on the floor. “Sounds like the laugh of the orphan girl I used to laugh at back in the orphanage.” He chuckled.
“You a*****e!” Yami threw a pillow at him. “You’re mean!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know,” Seto picked up the pillow as he saved the documents. He threw the pillow on the sofa. “Damn. I’ll do this tomorrow afternoon.” He shut computer down. “Now, I have a reason to sleep. I’ll stay here,” he pulled up the sofa, and unfolded the seat. A bed.
“H-hey! Aren’t I supposed to be the one who sleeps there?!” Yami asked, surprised.
“You’re already in the bed. Not like I can push you out of there,” Seto pulled up the sheets as he snapped his fingers and the lights went off.
“Since when do feudal Japanese homes have sensory lights?”
“Go to sleep, Mutou,”
Lt Honeybee Community Member 
|
|
