Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Behind Blue Eyes: Seto's Story ❯ Day Five: Mysterious Stranger ( Chapter 16 )

Behind Blue Eyes: Seto’s Story
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Disclaimer: I still don’t own Yuugiou.
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Recap:
With my head on his shoulder I put my lips close to his ear. . . and the words came out without a fight or even an ounce of regret.
“I love you.” This time, the words and the voice sounded like my own.
- - -
Ever since I said those three little words I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t a feeling of excitement or a feeling of anxiety or fear; It was just a feeling, a feeling that wouldn’t go away no matter how much I willed it to. Things were going to be different from then on out, and perhaps my body was trying to tell me so.
Dinner went well and we returned back to his apartment. I was about ready to fall asleep on the floor the moment we entered the door, but I managed to remain awake until I changed, took my medicine, brushed my teeth, and wriggled under the sheets next to Katsuya. He felt warmer tonight than he had any other night, but then again maybe that extra warmth was coming from my burning cheeks. Yes, things were already different.
When I was on the line between sleep and consciousness, I felt an arm wrap tenderly around my waist. It felt strange at first, but I was slowly able to get used to it, unable to move in my current state. . . not that I even wanted to move.
Sleep began to creep up on me. . . that is until the blond began to snore very loudly. I tried to scoot away, but the bed was too small to move very far. It would be impossible to sleep with that kind of noise.
I slid from the bed and slipped across the room to my computer, plugging it in and turning it on. The light from the screen made me feel at home. Why on earth was I getting on the computer anyways? I glanced back up at Jounouchi, who now had his hands stretched up against the headboard, the sleeves to his pajamas sliding down his arms. He really needed new clothes.
That was it! Opening up an internet browser, I made my way to the Domino City mall website and did a search on apparel. The usual stores that all of the preps in town shopped at were the first to come up, but one store in particular caught my eye. Why? Well that was easy enough; it had a flashing red ‘new’ written next to it. ‘Club 160’, what a truly crappy name. The description? Something akin to ‘fashion for everyone, even dorks.’ Wow, that sucked, but it was worth a shot, right? Some of the sample images looked decent. Hey, anything was better than what the boy had now. I felt kind of sorry for him, as much as I hated pity.
I shut down my precious machine and went back to the bed. The puppy’s snoring finally subsided as he rolled onto his back to make room for me.
I was finally able to slip completely into the dark abyss that was sleep. . . and I had a dream that I was reluctant to wake from.
I was in a room that was so familiar and yet it wasn’t. Light filtered in through a tiny window that I couldn’t reach. I was shaking as though I was cold, but I wasn’t cold at all. In fact, I was burning hot and sweat was forming at my brow. I was afraid of something, but what? This terrible feeling of dread and worry was balling up within my chest and just begging to be released. I wanted to scream and to cry, but I didn’t know why I wanted to. . . and I didn’t know why I wouldn’t.
Footsteps neared the room in a calm pace, the noise growing louder and ringing in my ears. I stood up to face it even though my own body fought against me. My arms and legs were skinnier than I remembered, my stamina hardly good enough to maintain a standing position. I tried my best to appear brave, but instead I shook like a frightened dog or a wet cat. Who was coming? I had no idea, but apparently my heart knew.
The door swung open and slammed against the wall, breaking the stopper. A smile greeted me, but it was anything but welcome. That smile and those eyes, those cold eyes that reminded me of a prison.
Within an instant he was right in front of me, wrapping both of his hands around my neck and lifting me up to his level, laughing and licking his lips as his eyes danced across my body. That’s when I noticed that I was naked. Exposed, vulnerable, shaking. . . in a room alone with Saki. So long ago it was something that I would have longed for, but now. . . now I just wanted to die, to die so that nothing could happen to me.
Katsuya. Katsuya would help me, Katsuya would save me.
I clenched my eyes tightly shut, praying silently to whatever deity existed that Katsuya would come to me. . . and he did. I opened my eyes as I hit the floor, the death-grip on my neck gone. Saki was lying on the floor, his arms spread out as though to mock the savior, but he didn’t fool me. His eyes were closed and his mouth hung open. Crimson. . . blood looked so good on him, and it looked best when Katsuya stood over him, gun still cocked and pointed at my offender.
“Katsuya.” Was all I could manage to say, and I wasn’t so sure that I had actually said it.
He simply smiled back at my grateful greeting and dropped the gun, coming close to embrace me. His powerful arms wrapped around my shoulders and-
“Seto, you need to wake up.” A voice and a nudging at my arm woke me from my precious dream. “We have to eat breakfast and go to school, Seto.”
No, you need to leave me the fuck alone so that I can go back to sleep and finish my god damned dream. “No.” I huffed out loud. Sleep. . . must sleep. . .
“Seto,” Katsuya persisted, “we have to go. I thought you were ‘Mr. Punctuality’.” I could feel him sit next to me on the bed, his back resting against my arm.
“Fuck punctuality.” I stared up at him with my recently-opened eyes, “I’m not going to school today. I don’t feel like it.” I really didn’t, though. School was just a waste of my time.
I could see the grin gradually form across his face, “Well in that case, rich boy, I won’t go to school either.” His right hand came down and ran through my hair. I closed my eyes and let him do it. No harm in it since my hair was still a disaster from sleeping. His hand, however, began to venture a little further, his finger tips lightly tracing my jaw and-
What in the fuck was that smell?
I jerked away from his hand by accident, my face scrunching up in disgust, “Do you smell that?”
“Wasn’t me!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, something that Mokuba would do (then again, he usually really was the culprit).
I rolled my eyes, urging myself to sit up, “That’s not what I meant. It smells like something is burning.”
Without so much as a warning, Jounouchi stood from the bed and fled the room. “Jounouchi?” I called out to him, but he was already gone. Something burning. . . did he catch our food on fire? What if the apartment was on fire?
I leapt from the bed and bolted down the hallway, arriving at the kitchen in a flash to find. . . Katsuya grinning, “What the hell?” I questioned, not quite piecing together the situation. Studying the room for only a moment, I discovered a smoldering black blob of something just a few feet away from him, an upside-down skillet lying not to far from the blond’s feet, “What in the hell?” I repeated, “You weren’t planning on eating that, were you? Or worse, you weren’t planning on trying to feed that to me were you?” It was really too early to be joking. I pursed my lips to keep from chuckling at myself.
“Not unless you really want it.” He smiled and attempted to pick up the lumps with his bare hands like only an idiot would do. “Damn.” He hissed, pulling his hand away and shoving his fingers in his mouth after he had found the mess too hot to touch.
“Taste good?” I asked, smirking.
He only smirked in reply, removing his fingers from his mouth, “Yeah, wanna taste?”
A wild shiver ran up and down my spine, ending in a strange sensation in my fingers, toes, and even my face, “You’re one sick puppy, Jounouchi.” I told him, and yet. . .
“Jou-nou-chi?” Katsuya stuck out his bottom lip, making a puppy face that was very fitting for him.
I stepped close to him, “Ka-tsu-ya.” I corrected, poking his nose with my index finger to emphasize each syllable.
“Nice shirt.” He commented, smirking. I looked down at myself, wondering why he was suddenly saying that when I had been wearing the same one to bed for the past couple nights. . . then I saw why; the shirt must have come unbuttoned while I was sleeping. I pulled my hand away from his face and held my shirt closed.
“No, no, no.” Katsuya insisted, “Leave it the way it was. I like it that way.”
Normally I would have beat the shit out of someone that said that to me. . . then again I normally don’t end up in such a situation. I normally don’t stay at someone else’s home, I normally don’t sleep in someone else’s bed, especially with the other person in it! The entire situation was completely abnormal and yet. . . and yet I didn’t know whether or not I was alright with it.
I made my way to the kitchen table and took a seat, leaning on one hand. He sat across from me, “Something wrong, Seto?”
“It’s weird.” I said simply.
“What’s weird?”
“You and I. . . it’s weird.” Did that sound harsh? Hopefully not. What would he say in response to that? Judging by the look on his face, he was getting very flustered very fast.
“Seto?”
“Yes, Jou-er-Katsuya?” Whoops, almost slipped.
“How do you get in your pants?”
I nearly choked on the air I was breathing. I laid my hands flat on the table in front of me to display my surprise, “What?” I all but screamed, “Why in the hell would you want to know how to get in my pants, you fucking pervert?!”
His eyes went wide and it suddenly occurred to me that he was probably speaking without thinking again, “Woah, woah, woah! I didn’t mean it like that, I swear!” He threw his hands up as he confirmed my suspicion. “I meant that they’re so tight, I don’t understand how you put them on!” He scooted as far back into the chair as he could like a frightened child. Amusing.
I tried to play off my sudden outburst. “Ha, I knew that. I was just. . . joking. . .” I sighed, thinking about his question. How did I get in my pants? Hell if I know. I just kind of. . . “I just kinda slide into them.”
“Slide?” He asked, causing me to regret using that particular verb. “And how, dare I ask, do you slide into them?” Yup, he was definitely being weird.
“Well they’re leather.” I continued, trying to turn the conversation away from perversion, though I could feel a blush burning holes in my cheeks, “My legs are smooth enough to slide. I use a lot of lotion. Have you felt them?” I covered my mouth instantly, but it was too late. I had already said it. What in the hell was I thinking?! I was getting to be like the ditzy blond now; speaking before thinking.
He leaned across the table, “No, but I would love to.” He then sat back and watched with satisfaction as my cheeks turned as dark as physically possible, maybe even darker than that.
“You’re a trip, puppy.” I shook my head, still trying to play the entire situation off. What on Earth was happening?
“So then, Mr. Genius, what are we doing on this wonderful day off of ours?” He put his hands behind his head and propped the chair up on its two back legs. Hm. . . what were we going to do? I’d like to get some work done, but that really didn’t seem appetizing at the moment. My stomach let out a tiny growl. Oh yeah, we still had to eat.
“We could go get breakfast.” I suggested, only to realize that he wasn’t hearing me at all. He was just staring at me with some goofy smile on his face. Creepy. “Katsuuuuuuuuuuuuyaaaaaaaaa.” I dragged his name out until I was able to lean close enough to flick him right between the eyes and knock him out of his weird trance. “Honestly, mutt, I’m sick of repeating everything I say just because you like to get lost in your own head.” I folded my arms, frustrated.
“Sorry. What did you say, honey?” Honey?! I swung at him, but he jumped from his chair too quickly, knocking the cheap piece of furniture over in the process. “Too slow!” He chimed, fleeing the room.
I sat perfectly still, waiting for him to eventually find his way back into the kitchen. I used this technique against Mokuba all the time when I didn’t feel like chasing his wild ass. The same thing would very likely work against someone such as Katsuya as well. Sure enough, he came moseying in.
“Why didn’t you come after me?” He asked, his tone a bit crestfallen.
“Why chase after you when I know you will eventually come back to me?” I smiled in an attempt to bring back his cheery mood.
Jou smiled back, but his body started to sway dangerously as he stood in the doorway. I nearly jumped up to catch him because he looked as though he was about to faint.
“Are you alright, Jounouchi?”
“Oh, sorry. . . it’s just that I’m touched.”
I couldn’t help but raise a brow at that, “Touched? By what?”
“What you said.” His smile faded quickly.
I didn’t understand what he was talking about, “What is so touching about it? It’s fact. If I sit there long enough, you’ll eventually give up and come back in here.” Then it hit me and I coughed up a laugh, “Did you think I was going all poetic on you?” Again I laughed, but I really didn’t mean to, “Come on now! Sure, I’m acting strange. . . I’m just going to blame the medication switch. . . but I’m not going to start spouting off love songs or pouring my heart out in long, pathetic speeches.”
His eyes darted to the floor and I felt kind of bad. Thinking back over my words, I guess it was pretty easy for him to take them in a romantic sense. I slid back my chair and stood up to break the lingering silence, “Let’s go out to breakfast.” I stepped over to Katsuya, resting my hands on his shoulders, “We’ll go wherever you want; My treat.” As he looked up into my eyes he didn’t seem so sad anymore.
“There are some things that I would like to discuss while we eat breakfast.” He decided to randomly inform me, “Project things.”
I looked away from his piercing brown eyes. Great, project things. “I’ll do my best to answer what questions you may have.” Actually, I would do my best to divert his attention from that topic.
“Alright then!” He practically yelled, shoving an arm into the air like going out to eat was so damn exciting, “Get on your most casual slacks and shirts, boy and girls, ‘cause we’re going to McDonalds! Yay!” He clapped his hands and dashed down the hallway.
I chased after him, and for once in my life. . . going out to eat felt pretty damn exciting.
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Katsuya wore blue jeans and a brown t-shirt while I decided to go out in all black. What can I say? I look sharp in black.
By the time we actually arrived at the restaurant, they were serving lunch. I suppose that I took a little longer to get ready than the bitchy blond did. He kept whining about me “taking forever” to get ready. Anyways, we eventually did get there. . . just not as soon as he would have liked. What kind of stupid restaurant stops serving breakfast by eleven? That’s just crazy. . .
We sat in a booth by the window. I loved window seats, they made the room feel bigger because I could see outside. I nearly fell into a trance just staring out at the trees and sky, before my stomach let out a rather loud gurgle. I turned to Katsuya, who sat across from me, “Are you going to get us some food or are we going to just sit here like dumbasses?”
“Uh, sure.” He answered, though he didn’t sound so sure. He stood from the booth, “What do you want?”
That’s a damn good question. “I don’t know. Get me a salad or something.” I resumed staring out the window.
“A Big Mac?” He questioned in that annoying manner of his. “Alright then.”
I glared at him this time, “If you get me one of those nasty grease cakes I’ll shove it down your throat.”
“You’ll shove your what down my throat, Seto?” He asked in an obnoxiously loud voice. People gawked at us in disbelief, covering their children’s ears and shaking their heads in disgust. Stupid blond mutt.
“Shut up!” I hissed, “Just get me a salad.”
“A Big Mac.” He countered, leaning across the table to bring our faces just inches apart. His breath was warm on my face, such a close proximity bringing out an electric feeling.
“Big Mac’s and salads are very different.” I got closer to him, tempted to close the gap, but not exactly understanding why. I didn’t care who was staring anymore.
“Not really. Both have lettuce, tomato, onion, and thousand island dressing.”
“What?” I raised my eyebrows.
“The ‘secret mac sauce’ is just thousand island dressing.” He shrugged at me as though I should have already known something so useless.
I sighed, tired of arguing with him, “Fine, get me whatever.”
“You must really like that kind of dressing, eh?” He bolted to the food line before I could connect my fist with any part of his body.
I waited for a long while, my stomach constantly reminding me that it hadn’t been fed yet. I resorted to taping my fingers along the edge of the table, my sight shifting from the window, to my watch, to Katsuya, and then back to the window again. A cycle of waiting.
He came running back to me and I felt a wave of relief. . . that is until that I saw he was empty-handed and asking for money; what a moocher. When he finally began to head back to our table with the food, however, I wasn’t feeling quite so hungry anymore.
A single tray loaded with two wrapped sandwiches and two heaps of grease-soaked french fries. Somewhere during my moments of gazing out the window and checking how many seconds had passed on my watch, the blond had managed to fill and load to large drinks with what I could only imagine was probably some highly-caffeinated soda. Great. Just what I need. . . caffeine. Actually, yeah, I could use some caffeine. I had missed out on my morning coffee. . . my multiple morning coffees.
Katsuya dropped the tray several inches to the table, “Here ya go, Mr. Bitchy. Eat up.” He sneered, reaching for one of the drinks as both of them began to fall. He managed to save the one, but the other became a raging river of brown and ice as it raced across the table and inconveniently toward me. I was able to move out of the way, luckily enough.
“You idiot!” I screamed, pointing an accusing finger at him before checking myself to make sure none of it splattered on me. . . then I remembered that I was wearing all black clothing and nothing would have shown up on me anyways.
“Sorry.” He laughed, picking up the tray and moving to the booth just behind us. He actually sat the tray down this time rather than allowing it to drop. I waited to sit down just in case. “Oh darn!” He exclaimed in a voice that was ridiculously fake, “Now we have to share a drink.” He grinned and my face felt strangely warm.
Stupid mutt. Then again, I had to admit that his little trick was clever. Clever, but annoying.
“You son of a fucking bitch.” I cursed, trying my best to sound furious, “I’m going to buy a water for myself.” I made to leave, but was stopped as Jou grabbed my wrist.
“Trust me, dude,” He began, his tone absolutely serious, “you really don’t want to drink water with fries and a loaded burger.”
“Why the hell not?”
“It will taste like you’re drinking piss.” His mouth scrunched in various directions as he contained his laughter.
I shook my head, wondering just how exactly he knew what piss tasted like, “You really are a freak, you know that?” I wasn’t trying to be insulting at all. . . well, maybe just a little.
My cell phone rang out of the blue and Katsuya finally released my arm so that I could pull it out of. . . somewhere. . . “Hello?”
“Seto!” Mokuba’s voice. Why was he calling?
“Hello Mokuba, what’s wrong?” I leaned back against the seat so that I would be comfortable.
“What’s wrong?!” He yelled, “Gee, I don’t know, big brother, maybe the fact that you didn’t even bother to call last night and I’ve been worried sick ever since!”
Ah, shit, “I know, I’m sorry. I forgot all about it. You know how my memory is sometimes.”
“You never forget to call me though, Seto. Whenever you’re on a business trip or whenever you have to work really late, you make sure to call me, even if you’re in the middle of a meeting! What on Earth could you have been doing that caused you to forget?”
I sighed, “I was busy.”
“Doing what?!”
“Uh. . .” I could feel my cheeks growing dark. We had been about to go out clubbing when. . . oh boy, I couldn’t tell him that! I glanced over at Jou for some inspiration, “Helping the dumbass dog with his homework and answering e-mails for work. Updating the website and calling clients.” Yes, that was believable!
“Homework, huh? Did the subject happen to be sex ed?”
I must have jumped in my seat, “What?! What in the hell gave you that idea?” My cheeks were burning hotter.
“Yeah, yeah, Seto, deny it all you want, but I know how you really feel.” A frightening little laugh.
“Listen Mokuba, I’m in the middle of lunch right now and-”
“Lunch? Where at?”
“McDonalds.”
“McDonalds?!”
& #8220;What? Katsuya wanted to come here.”
“Hah! You said his first name!”
I slapped my hand over my face for letting that slip, “I said Jounouchi.”
“You said Katsuya!”
“No, I definitely said Jounouchi.” Then it hit me, “Wait a second. Shouldn’t you be in school?” Mokuba broke out into childish laughter that got my blood going. He was such a rebel these days, “You little shit! Get your ass to school right now!” I stood up, realized I was doing it, and sat back down. “I’ll call you tonight, I promise.”
“You better! Hehe, I love you Seto.”
“Love you too, Mokuba. Bye.” I finally hung it up and returned it to its hiding place.
“Sorry about that.” I whispered to Jounouchi as I grabbed the sandwich and box of fries from the tray. The smell was horrifying.
“Nah, it’s alright. I wish I had a kid brother.” He smiled, biting into his food.
“Yeah, he’s wonderful.” I couldn’t help but smile back as I thought about how lucky I was to have my little brother. He was my reason for living. I unwrapped the sandwich, thinking that I was ready to brave the disaster, and then I caught sight of the thing I was supposed to be able to consume. “This is fucking gross.” Was my conclusion.
The punk laughed with his hand over his mouth, mumbling “Jush ee ert” over chewed burger.
“I don’t want to eat it.” I stared at the filthy mass that lay before me and sighed, mustering up the courage to lift it from the unfolded wrapper. Opening my mouth as wide as I physically could, I chomped down on it, displeased with the texture, and began to chew. I think my eyes started watering right about then.
“Very good!” Jounouchi praised.
I was only able to eat about half of my food before I was ready to burst at the seams. The blond appeared to be proud of me nonetheless.
“Hey Seto? Do you have a picture of you as a child?”
Though the question was innocent enough, it had nothing to do with anything we had been previously talking about and therefore made me a bit suspicious as to what this was leading to. I took a sip of our drink, “Uh, not on me. Mokuba has one around his neck.”
“You mean in that card locket?”
“Yeah. I have one too.”
“Back in Duelist Kingdom, he kept looking at that thing. He really loves you, Seto.”
Duelist Kingdom, that was a long time ago. Mokuba used to idolize me so much. “Really? He shouldn’t.” I stood up, throwing out my trash, not willing to discuss the matter further, even though I told Jou that I would do my best to talk about anything he wanted. “Let’s go shopping now. I want to change your wardrobe into something a bit more acceptable in public.” I did my best to force a smile, but gave up and just walked out with my partner following me close behind.
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We took a cab out to the mall again. In fact, we had the exact same drive as the other day. Guess he decided it was best that he didn’t say a word to us this time, though.
With most adults at work and most minors in school, the traffic was at an absolute minimum and the mall looked like a ghost town. The only people in the building were housewives, senior citizens, and the occasional dropout or flunkie.
“So where exactly are we going?” The blond finally asked after we had been walking for a couple minutes.
“There’s a new store that opened up that I found out about. It’s supposed to have nice clothes for all different types of people. I figure that even someone like you can-” I took a peek over my shoulder to find that he wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to a goddamn word I was saying. “Blah, blah, blah. . .”
“Are you alright, Seto? I think you’re losing it.”
“Well, I started to answer your question, but it was obvious that you weren’t listening to me, so I just decided to say ‘blah’ instead.” Okay, perhaps I really was losing it, resorting to such a childish method.
“That’s weird, Seto.” He told me, laughing a little with amusement, “But really, what was your answer? I was too busy admiring your body to hear you.”
“I said that we’re going to a new shop that they just. . . you were what?!” I stopped to confront him, but the mutt sped up and went ahead of me, laughing like a brat.
I broke out into a steady jog to try and catch up and Katsuya watched me over his shoulder. He ran into some guy by mistake, and it looked like they had an exchange of words. The only thing I caught was my partner say “What an ass.” Was someone being rude to him? I stared at the stranger long and hard. He had black hair and was really tall. Could it have been. . . ?
“You alright muffin?”
I attempted to slap the blond puppy’s face, but he blocked me with his hands, “Don’t call me that, you dipshit.” I tried my best not to smile. “For a second there, I just thought that that guy was. . .” I couldn’t help but stare at the store that the man had entered for a little while longer. “It’s nothing.” I concluded. “The place we’re going to just opened. I looked it up on my laptop yesterday after dinner.”
“I thought that you went to bed at the same time I did.” He scratched at his head in confusion. How cute.
“I did, but I couldn’t get to sleep. When you started snoring, it became an even harder task.” I shot him a smirk.
“Heh, sorry.” He apologized, though his grin kind of negated it.
- - -
Okay, so I knew that the store wasn’t going to be anything special, but when we finally arrived, it was worse than I could have imagined. Loud music blared from the wide doorway, neon lights adorning the walls and clothing displays, and the store itself wasn’t brightly lit. It was like Hot Topic minus the gothic theme. How did I even know about Hot Topic? Mokuba dragged me in there once. . . once.
The two of us stood outside of the place for probably a good five minutes just making fun of it like two goofy teenagers. Some bimbo that wandered by looked at us funny so I decided to make a face at her. . . she didn’t seem to like that too much, heh. Stupid bitch.
“I definitely didn’t expect something like this from you.” Katsuya told me.
“Like what?”
“All of this! This shop, the face you made at that girl. . . you’ve been acting like a normal teenage guy ever since you came to live with me.”
Now that I thought about it, he was right. I hadn’t acted this way until I had begun staying with Katsuya, “I guess it’s something about you, Katsuya. Does it bother you that I’m acting this way?”
“No! Not at all!”
“Then quit your bitchin’.” I grinned to let him know that I was joking and then entered the depths, passing by the pathetic sales racks and wandering to the back of the store.
My puppy- er, the puppy followed me as I wound my way through the mountains of apparel. He pretended to look for an outfit, but I could easily tell that he was completely lost. Either way, I let him get away with it. I, for one, was actually searching for something that would make him stand out in a crowd, something that would bring out his good qualities. What were his good qualities? Hm. . . physically he was just average, I guess. Maybe I’d find something that resembled his personality. Katsuya had a great personality, I suppose.
As I searched through one rack in particular, I felt a random slap on my behind, eliciting a yelp from my lips and causing me to freeze up. It was no doubt Jou, as he suddenly became very enthusiastic about finding something to wear. I decided to just ignore the action. Would I normally do that? No, maybe not. . .
I kept looking back and forth between the blond and various shirts, trying to determine by eyesight alone what would look best on him. A few times, I took a shirt and its hanger from the display and held it up to him, eyeing him up and down and then changing my mind. This entire thing was beginning to get on my nerves.
Finally I found it; the perfect shirt for Jounouchi Katsuya. It was mostly black, but with green around the collar and wrist-cuffs and a wild flame-like design that followed the buttons down the middle of the shirt in the same color green as the rest. “This is definitely you.” I couldn’t help but grin at my discovery as I held it up.
“Woah.” Was all Katsuya said, not sounding so happy about it.
I pulled the shirt against my chest, “You don’t like it?” I felt a bit. . . crestfallen. Why would I feel like that just because someone didn’t like a shirt that I picked out? Mokuba always liked the outfits I chose for him. . . I looked the shirt over again, wondering what it was that Katsuya didn’t like about it.
“No, that’s not it at all!” Much to my shock, he snatched it away from me, “It’s just that I’ve never worn something like this. You really think I could pull it off?” He held it up to himself and it certainly looked better than that shitty brown shirt he was currently wearing (no pun intended, by the way).
“Absolutely.” I smirked, venturing towards the pants.
“What kind of pants are you looking to get me?” He asked needlessly, grimacing slightly as he saw what I was reaching for.
“Do you really have to ask?” I shoved some black-leather bottoms into his arms.
“These might not be the right size.” He whined, stalling for time to keep from trying them on.
“Oh, they’re right. I checked your trouser size last night when I couldn’t sleep.” I folded my arms across my chest. Okay, so I was actually just guessing at what size pants he wore just from looking at him, but it wouldn’t hurt to tell a tiny lie every now and then, right?
His eyes grew wide, “What else did you do while I was sleeping?”
“Hurry up and try it on!” I demanded, urging him toward the direction of the only dressing room in the store.
“Alright, but pick out a new outfit for yourself too!” He called back to me as he entered.
A new outfit for myself, huh? I looked around a bit, not really wanting to purchase anything for myself. It was actually kind of fun, shopping with someone. I was having a good time. Mokuba would be very happy to hear that. I would definitely have to remember to call him tonight, otherwise he’d just give me hell again. Hopefully the runt went to school after I told him to. He really could be such a hassle sometimes. In more ways than one, Jou reminded me of my little brother, and yet. . .
“Seto!”
I turned to the direction of the entrance as someone screamed my name. At first I had feared that it was some whacked-out fan, but the voice was too familiar. I came to find out that it was the one who had been frequenting my mind.
“Mokuba?”
“Seto!” He ran to me, grabbing my shirt and yanking me towards the entrance, “Come on, you have to come home!”
“What? Why!” I shot a look at the dressing room; Jounouchi hadn’t come back out yet, “I can’t leave right now, Mokuba, Kats-Jounouchi is still in the dressing room.”
Mokuba stopped for a moment and cocked his eyebrow at me for a long while, “Big brother, there’s been some tall guy with black hair wandering around on our property. The guards said he never got in through the gate; they can’t figure out how he could have gotten inside! When they went to go get him, he was gone! He could still be in the fences!” He pulled on my shirt yet again, “So you have to come home right now!”
Black hair. Wandering around the house. Disappeared. Black hair. . . black hair. . . “No.” I believe I said, but I wasn’t entirely sure. “Tell Jounouchi that I’m at my house!” I yelled to the clerk behind the desk, not entirely sure that she heard me, but in too much of a hurry to check.
I fled the store and ran through the mall just slow enough that Mokuba could keep up. My driver, Saehara was parked just outside in the limousine that apparently Mokuba had arrived in. I hopped in and my brother followed. “The mansion.” I ordered my employee, and away we went.
I had forgotten about Jounouchi for the moment. Right now, the only person on my mind was. . .
Saki.
- - -

Okay, so this version is a couple pages shorter than the original. That’s because this one doesn’t have the ‘OMG Seto is missing’ scene. Hehe, now you get to see why exactly Seto randomly left poor Jou behind. Seto freaks when Saki’s involved and falls into a one-track mind.
Sorry for taking so long! I reread this one by myself and fixed any errors I could find. Grammar isn’t my high point, so expect errors in that department. I’ll get to work on BBE 21 and BBESS 17 immediately!