Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Behind Blue Eyes ❯ Day Seven: Unexpected Return ( Chapter 24 )

Behind Blue Eyes

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Recap:

“Katsuya.” He looked back over his left shoulder and our eyes locked for a moment, “I trust you. I trust that however you decide to handle this situation, things will work out okay because. . . I’ve got you and Mokuba, right?” He turned away again, “Whatever happens, happens.” He disappeared into my room, closing the door softly behind him.

He trusted me to make a decision like this?

“Well?” Yami asked, his arms now crossed over his chest.

Where could I even begin?

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He trusted me?

I could feel my entire body tense up from the new pressure I was now under. Seto said that he trusted me. . . but what exactly did he mean by that? I mean, did he trust that I would tell the truth, or did he trust that I would keep his secret?

Yami and Yuugi looked at each other and then back at me.

“Well Jounouchi?” Yami repeated, raising both eyebrows with expectation.

“He said that you could tell us, Jou.” Yuugi informed me, as if I hadn’t heard.

“He said that,” I confirmed, “But. . .”

“But what?” Yuugi pried, holding his hand up to hush a rather impatient Yami.

I pursed my lips, turning my eyes to the floor so that I could concentrate more on my train of thought. “I think that maybe this is a test.”

“A test?” They both appeared puzzled.

“Yeah. I know that he doesn’t want people learning about his personal life. I once lost a notebook with some of his information in it and I thought he’d kill me for sure. He probably would have if I had not been able to find it.”

“But this time he told you that you could tell us.” Yami sounded frustrated. “He gave you permission, so he won’t get angry with you.”

“That’s what he said,” I countered, “But I don’t think that’s what he meant.”

“Kaiba has always been pretty straight-forward, Jou.” Yuugi was giving me a funny look.

“Not always. Not when it comes to his personal life.” I clenched my fists down at my sides. “Listen guys, I’ve made up my mind.” I looked Yami in the eyes and then did the same with Yuugi. “Whether this is a test or not, I’m not telling you anything.”

Yuugi almost looked. . . upset? “But Jou-”

“No Yuugi.” I shook my head and closed my eyes. “I’m sorry, but it isn’t my story to tell. If Seto really wanted you to know, he’d tell you himself. He said that he trusted me to talk to you guys. He trusts that I’ll make the right decision, and that’s really saying something when you consider how we used to be towards each other before this whole thing began. I’m not going to ruin this. I’m not going to tell you.” I felt a wave of satisfaction wash over me. I stood up to two of my best friends and it actually felt amazing. I felt stronger, smarter. Would Seto be happy about my choice as well?

“Jounouchi,” Yami’s eyes narrowed, one brow twitching slightly as his emotions likely moved closer to anger. “The two of you have only been under the same roof for a little under a week. What could possibly have happened during such a short amount of time that has drawn you two so close together?”

I could feel the corners of my mouth turn upward in a sad smile. “More has happened in these last few days than you could ever imagine. It’s as if I’ve known Seto for years, and I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface of learning his life history.”

Yuugi sighed, defeated. “You’ve always been known for being stubborn, Jou, and that’s definitely one of your strong points.” He hesitated for a moment and then, “Like I said to you yesterday, if things get out of hand or if things get too dangerous for you to handle, please seek our help. We’re your friends, Jou, and we want to be Seto’s friends too. I hope that eventually you’ll change your mind and tell us what is going on, but I know that neither Yami nor myself are going to be able to sway your decision when you seem so confident.”

“Yuugi!” Yami couldn’t believe that his other self was giving in.

“Yami, as his friends it is our duty to trust him, just like Seto trusts him.” Yuugi had also gotten stronger over the years.

“It is also our duty to keep him from making poor decisions!”

“I’ve changed a lot since I first became friends with you guys.” I really had. I used to be much more reckless and stupid. “I used to be unsure of many decisions that I made. I used to rush into things without thinking.” Yeah, okay, I still do that last thing. . . “This time, though, I’m positive that I won’t regret my decision.” No regrets. . .

“Come on Yami.” Yuugi locked arms with his taller counterpart, “The others are probably waiting for us back at the game shop.”

Yami took one last look at my bedroom door before finally turning away and walking toward my front door with Yuugi.

“Just remember that you can always count on us, Jou!” Yuugi called back to me.

“See you later, guys!” I called back, releasing the breath that I didn’t know I was holding as I heard the front door open and then close. I even peeked at that location to make sure that they had really left. Damn, now I was getting suspicious of my closest friends.

I turned the knob on my bedroom door and shoved it open, only to have it soon collide with something (or rather, someone) on the other side.

“Ow! Stupid mutt!” Seto was sitting on the floor with his legs sprawled out in front of him, one arm holding him up while the other hand rubbed furiously at his forehead.

“Eavesdropping? The great Kaiba Seto? Surely not!” I placed both of my hands over my heart in fake shock.

“Tch, whatever.” He shot me a weak glare. There was a short moment of silence and then, “Why didn’t you tell them?”

I sat down next to him, not bothering to shut the door back. “Because you’d kick my ass if I did.”

Seto raised a brow at me.

“Okay, okay, you’d murder me if I did.” Perhaps that was more accurate.

“Brutally.” Seto added, smirking at me as he did so. “But honestly,” Seto began again, “I don’t know what I expected you to tell them. I guess that I just figured that if it was you, you’d make the best decision and things would turn out okay.”

“Considering what you used to think of me, you sure have an awful lot of faith in me.” I was always the stupid mutt or the dumb blond, and yet now he trusted me with his secrets.

“I guess you’re right,” He admitted, “But I just have this gut feeling that you’ll never betray me, so I’m not really worried about letting you say what you please. I mean, you even went against the wishes of two of your best friends just to keep my secret safe.”

“A gut feeling, huh?” I leaned back on my arms and gazed up at the ceiling. “I’ll do my best to be dependable.”

I felt a hand rest on top of my own and my entire body began to tingle with heat. I didn’t have to look over at him to know that Seto’s face was at least as flushed as my own.

Using that motion as an initiation, I turned to the side and used my free hand to gently cup his chin as I guided his face and his lips toward my own. He simply closed his eyes in response as we closed the gap together. Had Saki ever been so gentle? No, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that son of a bitch.

With the correct amount of leaning, I was able to coax him into laying flat on the floor. Still seated next to him, I leaned over him with my hands on either side of him to support me as I claimed his lips again and again without any protest.

His hands found their way to my chest and clutched my shirt as he pulled me towards him. It was great that he was being so passionate and all, but it was quite strange coming from someone that had just been. . . you know. . . raped.

I managed to pull away from his grip and look down at him.

“I love you, I love you, I love you. . .” He kept repeating the words. His eyes were clenched tightly shut and tears were threatening the corners of his eyes. He just lay there, repeating those same three words that had long lost their meaning for him. His hands rested lifelessly on either side of his head. Was he saying those words to me, or was he saying them to himself?

“Seto.”

As I quietly said his name, he fell silent. His eyes opened just slightly and there was a confused look in them.

“With every word I say, with everything I do, with every breath I take. . . with every beat of my heart. . .”

As I went on, his eyes grew wider and wider.

“. . . I love you. I really, truly love you.” Using my elbows to prop me up this time, I put my hands under his back and pulled him up toward me, giving him the tightest hug physically possible at such a strange angle. When others had said that they loved him, did any of them hug him afterword? Did any of them say something as hopelessly romantic as I had said?

After a moment of the two of us together like that I lowered him back down, wiped the wetness from his half-lidded eyes, kissed his forehead, and lay down beside him with my hands clasped together over my stomach as I stared at the ceiling once more.

“You’re something right out of a chick-flick, Katsuya.”

I smiled, “I know.” Was that a good thing? Either way, it was good to hear him back to normal again. “Do you like chick-flicks?” I asked jokingly.

“No.” His to-the-point reply made me wonder until he added, “But I like you.”

We both turned our heads to smile at each other at the same time before we erupted into laughter in unison.

“Just listen to us!” He exclaimed between miniature fits of laughter.

“We sound like characters in a mushy romance story!” I finished for him. It really did feel that way. . . except that our story wasn’t so perfect. . .

“What’s the matter?” Seto was propped up on his side now and was looking down at my face. I must have frowned at the thought that had come to mind.

“I was just thinking about everything that has happened this week. . . it all seems so unreal. I mean obviously it all really happened, but so many crazy things have happened in less than a week.”

“I know what you mean. . .” He looked sad now and I mentally slapped myself for being the cause of that mood swing. “To be honest, though, the only thing that I’m still surprised about is us. I mean, never in a million years did I-”

I made a pouty face.

“Oh would you quit that!” He playfully shoved me with the hand that he wasn’t leaning on. “Anyways. . . it’s a nice change. You’re a nice change.”

“So are you.” I smiled up at him and he just blushed and looked away. “You also look great in my clothes.” I quickly jumped to my feet and bolted from the room to escape the slap that I could feel coming, leaving an embarrassed Seto scrambling to his feet behind me.

I ran around to one side of the coffee table just as my brunet entered the living room.

“I don’t like this game.” He stood at the entrance to the hallway with his arms folded across his chest.

“Only because you suck at it.” I taunted, smirking.

“No I-” He stopped suddenly, eyes darting to the location of the door before opening wide.

“You can’t trick me that easily.” I informed him, but he didn’t budge.

“What the hell is going on in here?” An all-too-familiar voice came from the direction of my front door. “Katsuya?”

I spun around at my own name, only to see. . . “Dad?” I think that all of the color probably drained from my face. “Y-you’re home early.” I laughed nervously, not exactly sure of what I should say.

“Yeah, lost all my money.” He looked a little pissed. “Why the hell didn’t you talk me out of going there?”

“I tried too.”

“Well you didn’t try hard enough.” He looked around the apartment as though he hadn’t seen it before. “I had to rob a damn hooker just so that I could buy a ticket to fly home.” His eyes finally landed on me, “Why is it so clean in here?”

“Because there is a guest here.” I tried to use the tone of my voice to hint that he needed to behave himself, but he didn’t seem to catch on.

“You never cleaned up for any of your other friends.”

“He’s different than my other friends.”

“What, is he your boyfriend or something? Did you turn into a fucking faggot while I was gone?!”

I cringed at his words. What could I possibly say to that?

Seto stepped up next to me. “My name is Kaiba Seto. Perhaps you’ve heard of me.” He folded his arms and stood very straight, his chin tilted upward with pride. “I’m chairman and CEO of Kaiba Corporation.”

My dad stared at him for the longest time as though trying to assess Seto’s honesty. “You do look kind of familiar.” He decided. “What brings an attractive, rich young man such as yourself to the Jounouchi home?” As he spoke I could see his eyes trailing up and down Seto’s body very slowly. Oh sure, he can do that, but I get called a faggot. Fucking hypocrite.

“I’m a classmate of your son.” He motioned his hand toward me, but his eyes never left my father’s face, “We’re working on a lengthy project for one of our classes.”

With that, my father went past us and down the hall, “Whatever. I have a hangover from the deepest pit of hell. I’ll be in my room, Katsuya.”

I rubbed at my temples and glanced at my favorite brunet. He was still staring after my dad, a worried look on his face.

“Hey Jou?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you ever clean up his r-”

“What the fuck?!”

Oh shit. Did I only clean up the living room? I could hear my father stumbling around and by the time I made it over next to Seto to take a look, my father had run across the hall to. . . oh shit, the fucking bathroom!

“Katsuya!” I could hear him gagging. Was he seriously throwing up?

I stood just outside of the bathroom, not daring to look in. Seto followed me, standing a little bit behind. “Dad, I know that it looks really bad but I swear I’ll clean it up right away!”

I could feel my whole body trembling and as Seto grabbed my hand, I knew that he could feel it too.

My dad stepped a little ways out of the bathroom. I could smell the vomit on his breath as he spoke, “What did you do, Katsuya?! I’ve got blood on my sheets, blood on my pillow, bloody handcuffs on my bedposts, blood in the tub. . . not to mention that smell!” He threw his hands up in the air, “You’d better have a goddamn good explanation for this or I’ll beat the shit out of both of you! I don’t care how rich or famous your little friend is!”

An explanation? There’s no way in hell I’d ever tell him what really happened, but then what could I possibly say? Thinking on my feet was never my strong point.

“I swear to God, if you tell me that you’ve killed someone. . .” I could see my father fuming, his face red.

“Alright, you caught us.” Seto spoke in my place, his grip on my hand tightening even though my father could see. Caught us? What was he saying?

“What the hell are you talking about?” My dad glared at him, which just pissed me off.

“You caught us.” Seto repeated. “Kat-chan and I were in your room having kinky, rough sex because you have a bigger bed than he does.”

WHAT?! Was he trying to get me killed? To make matters worse, he draped one arm over my shoulder across my back and the other over my shoulder across my chest. I had always thought that Seto was very intelligent, but. . .

“Kat-chan is just such an excellent lover that I couldn’t help but writhe in pleasure and the handcuffs cut my wrists really badly so I bled all over the place. See my bandages? I washed up in the tub. We were going to clean it up, but we forgot and ended up making out in Jou’s room and then fell asleep. . . in the same bed.”

I slowly turned my head to come face-to-face with a smiling Seto and then turned back to find my pale-faced father. What in the hell was Seto thinking?

“You had sex in my bed?!” Dad was back to being furious as the realization finally hit him.

“Did I mention that I killed my father?” Seto was still grinning, but now it just looked creepy.

Dad’s mouth snapped closed.

“I killed a guy when I was a kid too. I got away with both murders. I wonder if I could get away with it a third time. . .” Seto slowly tilted his head as he spoke, his smile fading into an intense glare.

“W-what were you two doing when I got here?” My father asked. Was he trying to change the subject?

The creepy smile returned, “We were about to have sex on the coffee table.”

How did he come up with this shit so fast? Never in a million years did I expect for something like this to come out of Kaiba Seto’s mouth.

“Oh, well. . . go ahead then. . .”

“Oh no, the mood is quite ruined now. Feel free to sleep on the couch while we clean up our love mess.” He continued a closed-eyed grin as dad obediently went back into the living room. Seto then pulled me into his bedroom and shut the door behind us.

“Seto?”

“I know, I know, but it worked, right?” He was blushing a little bit. Had he embarrassed himself?

“My dad thinks I’m a kinky gay sex fiend. I wouldn’t say that it was an entirely bright idea.”

“That may be true, but at least he won’t be telling anyone else about it. Well, he’d better not tell anyone.” He glared at nothing in particular, pounding one fist into his other open palm.

I stood beside the bed, “Man, he wasn’t kidding about the smell.”

The bed wasn’t as big of a mess as my dad made it out to be. I mean, sure there was blood on it, but it wasn’t like someone had been brutally murdered or anything.

Seto inspected from the other side, a sad look on his face. “It’s no good. We’ll go out and buy him some new sheets.” He pulled up the sheet a bit and took a peek underneath. “And a new mattress as well.”

“Do we just throw this stuff away?” I questioned, new to this kind of thing. Even though we hadn’t done anything wrong, I still felt like a criminal trying to dispose of evidence.

He shot me a surprised look, “You’re joking, right?” He sighed and shook his head as he picked up my father’s pillow, examining the stain of his own blood for a long while. Perhaps he was lost in thought. “No, I’ll have some of my men come and take it tonight and dispose of it properly. I don’t think that your garbage men would take too kindly to a blood-stained mattress.”

“That’s true.” I admitted, then a thought came to me. “Wouldn’t your ‘men’ be bothered by it too?”

A half-smile danced across his lips, “I inherited many employees from my adoptive father, Gozaburo. Originally Kaiba Corporation was a military corporation. While most employees refused to work for a gaming company, several remained with me. The men that I will call had to deal with my father’s work. I don’t know how many people he murdered, and I don’t want to know. But I do know that these men are capable of destroying evidence.”

“Oh. Wow.” I wasn’t really sure what to respond with to that.

Together we began pulling everything off of the bed-frame and tossing it to the floor.

“Katsuya, come here!” I could hear my dad calling from his place in the living room.

Seto flashed a weak smile, “Go on, I’ll finish up here.”

I hesitated a moment, “Well. . . alright. I’ll be back in a second.” I left the door open as I went and made my way to stand a few feet away from my father, who got up from the couch as I entered the room.

“Katsuya.” He ran his hand over his face as if contemplating what to say, “Katsuya, all of your life I have done nothing but bring home woman after woman after woman.” His gaze grew intense, “Why the hell are you with a man?”

I should have known better than to think that Seto’s threat would shut him up.

“Because I love him, dad.” I could feel my heart pounding in chest so hard that I thought for sure it would burst. “I love him.” I repeated, reassuring myself that I had actually said the words.

“No son of mine would turn out to be a faggot!” He got within inches of my face, still not laying a hand on me. . . yet.

“Th-then I guess I’m not your son.” I couldn’t help but smile through my stuttering.

“Bullshit!” He shoved me hard and I stumbled backward, falling to the floor. “I fucking raised you!”

I didn’t recognize the pained noise that left my mouth as he kicked me in the side. I hoped that Seto couldn’t hear. I didn’t want him to see how pathetic I was against my father.

“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear.” An icy voice rang out from my right, the tone thick with untold threats. A chilling ‘click’ followed it that almost seemed to echo over and over throughout the room, though I knew that wasn’t possible.

My so-called father backed away from me instantly, his hands in the air, “Woah, wait!”

“I’m going to make a deal with you, old man.” Seto’s eyes were darker than I have ever seen, the irises seeming to blend in perfectly with his pupils. “I’ll give you the money to buy your own damn sheets and then Katsuya and I are going to pack our things and go to my house for the second half of our project.” His hand that held the gun didn’t so much as quiver as he spoke. I bet he has amazing aim. . . “So then, you’ll keep your mouth shut about all of this, right?”

My dad’s eyes moved from Seto, to me, then back to Seto. “Fine. Damn Bastard. It’s not like my life is worth a damn anyways . . .” The last part was barely audible.

“I’m sorry,” Seto sounded eerie now, a creepy smirk forming on his face. He lowered the gun . . . to point at me?! “What did you just say?”

I stared at the gun from my place on the floor. Was he trying to spook my dad into keeping quiet? My dad didn’t give a shit about me . . .

“Okay, okay! You have a deal! I won’t say anything, just don’t hurt my son!”

I couldn’t help but stare at him. What? It didn’t make any sense. Was he just putting on a show? After all of the shit he has put me through, there is no way that he could expect me to ever believe that he actually cared.

“Good.” Seto finally lowered the gun to his side and started down the hall, “Come, Katsuya.” Oh gee, thanks, just call me like a pet.

I scrambled to my feet and with one last glance at my bewildered father I followed after the one I love.

When I got to my room, Seto was already going around making sure that he hadn’t left any of his belongings out. “You need to get your things together too. Do you have any suitcases?”

“Seto, what has gotten into you?” I grabbed his shoulder and forced him to face me.

“What?”

“You know damn well ‘what’! You pointed a gun at us!”

“I only pointed it at you to make him keep quiet. You know that I would never shoot you.” He looked genuinely hurt.

“But if he blabbed, would you shoot him?” Seto seemed to have quite a bit of trust in me, and I felt bad for not trusting that he wouldn’t have actually shot anyone.

“No. You wouldn’t want me to do that.”

“Is that the only reason you wouldn’t kill him?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment, “Yes.”

“Not because killing is wrong?”

“No.” He looked away from me, “I’m sorry, but if word got out about what has happened here . . .”

“I thought you said that you promised yourself that you wouldn’t kill anyone ever again!”

“I wasn’t thinking straight at that time.”

I grabbed his chin and forced him to look at me, “You aren’t thinking straight now!”

“Jounouchi!” His eyes narrowed dangerously as he called me by my last name. “In this life you can be one of two things: The killer or the killed.”

“Did Gozaburo teach you that line or is that fucked up philosophy of your own creation?” I know that it probably wasn’t a good idea to bring up his adoptive father, but he had brought up my dad plenty of times, usually when he suspected that my dad was at fault for one of my actions. He could say that I was just returning the favor.

He didn’t say anything for the longest time, though his powerful glare didn’t look as if it was fading. Was he actually thinking about what I said?

“I think . . .” His expression softened, “I think that he taught me that . . . but it was a lesson worth learning. If you don’t obliterate your enemies, they’ll surely take you out.” He smirked, “Heh, that’s the fatal mistake that Gozaburo made.”

“Will Saki also meet the same fate?” When I had mentioned killing Saki before, Seto had freaked out. It was during that conversation that Seto said he would never kill anyone again. What would he say now?

Apparently nothing.

“Do you have any suitcases?”

I sighed loudly, “They’re under my bed. I’ll pack them myself.”

“Just bring clothes and a toothbrush; everything else will be provided for you.”

“Maybe I don’t want you to provide for me.” I pulled a suitcase out from under my bed and opened it on the floor.

“Excuse me?”

“I said,” I stood up and brought our faces within inches of each other, “Maybe I don’t want a cold-blooded murderer to provide for me!” I instantly felt bad about what I had said when I saw his face contort into a look of shock and hurt. I really needed to learn to think before I spoke . . . how many times have I said that now?

“So that’s what I am now, huh?! A murderer?! Let’s see you try to live how I have lived without killing someone! Go through the shit I’ve been through and then try to judge me!” He went to his belongings, rummaging around for something, “You’re an ungrateful bastard! Just be glad you haven’t had to kill someone for the sake of someone you love!” He pulled out his cell phone, but I grabbed his hand before he could dial anything.

“For someone you love?” Who did he mean?

“For Mokuba.” His tone quieted down drastically and he wouldn’t look at me, “I had to kill Satoshi, my close friend, for Mokuba’s safety.”

Satoshi . . .

“Satosh. I’m so sorry! So, so sorry! I didn’t want this! This was the only way! I had to! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Mokuba, I did a very bad thing; he made me do a very bad thing. Don’t ever be like me, Mokuba.”

Oh yeah. That time when we were back at his office. And also . . .

“Beautiful . . . I like blond hair. That’s why I like you so much, Satoshi. I like blond hair. Brown eyes too. Big brown eyes. I like big brown eyes like yours Satoshi.”

That night in his limousine on the way back from that club . . . beautiful? A close friend? I wonder what the history truly was between them.

“You look a lot like Satoshi, Katsuya. That’s why I like you, Katsuya. I like Satoshi, so I like you. I think I like you better, Katsuya. I like fools . . . I like fools like me, Katsuya . . . fools like me. . .”

“If I hadn’t been able to kill him,” Seto continued, “Gozaburo would have trained Mokuba in my place. I couldn’t let that monster hurt my only family.” He was staring at the hand that I had placed over his own.

“Seto.” Man, he really knew how to make me feel like an insensitive ass, “Seto, I’m sorr-”

“No, it’s my fault. I’ve never really explained anything to you so you didn’t know. I’ll fill you in during our time at my place, okay?”

“Alright.” It was true that I really didn’t know much about the circumstances surrounding his actions. I couldn’t help but feel excited that he was going to open up more about his past. It was like I was finally getting to read a new chapter of my favorite story. “Who were you going to call?” I moved my hand away from his so that he had access to his phone again.

“I’m going to call my driver to come pick us up.” He glanced over at my suitcase and then smiled at me,
“Just bring clothes and a toothbrush; everything else will be provided for you.”

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