Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Chrysalis ❯ Why Me??? ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of someone else. I can only humbly worship the artist. Grim and Evil also belong to someone else, but I'm not worshiping. And Tarzan isn't mine either.

Chrysalis

Chapter Twelve: Why Me???

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Kaiba and Mokuba

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Kaiba stood looking at his little brother, hoping that for once, just once, the kid would be calm and reasonable and not give Yuai hell. He really didn't have much hope, after all Mokuba was his brother, and calm and reasonable just wasn't part of the Kaiba genetic package. Still, if monsters on a deck of cards could come alive, if a white haired, cartoon crazed, loony could trap souls in the same damn cards, if an ancient pharaoh could share souls with the school bully magnet, and if he could be the reincarnation of an Egyptian High Priest, hoping that his brother could behave himself for two days didn't seem to be all that unreasonable. At least he managed to get Mokuba to promise not to `borrow' any public vehicles or tie Yuai up in one of the back closets.

"Look, we need Yuai. Don't frighten her off." Kaiba pulled irritably at his shirt collar making a mental note to tell the staff to air out the mansion and keep the temperature down, the place felt like a sauna.

Mokuba scrunched his face up, "Why can't I just come with you? It's only a couple of days."

"The last time you came with me, you mooned a Beefeater at Buckingham Palace, remember? And the time before that you tried to liberate the cart horses in Central Park. How about the little incident with the baby monkey in Seoul? Or then there was the cable cars in San…" Kaiba watched the scowl fade from his brother's face to be replace by a look of…oh, Ra help him… fond remembrance.

"Okay, okay!" Mokuba crossed his arms and glared at his brother, "But that little monkey needed me."

Kaiba did not want to get into this, he had a plane leaving in two hours and arguing with Mokuba about a rabid baby money was not on the agenda. Truth told, he didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay home. He hadn't slept much since Jonouchi left and fatigue was settling around his shoulders, blurring his mind and dragging at his footsteps. Then this morning, to make the joy in his life complete, he woke up with a headache and feeling like his throat had been sanded. Aspirin and a large cup of citron tea had gotten him through the morning, but now all he wanted was to fall onto the sofa and drag a pillow over his head and sleep and dream and pretend, if just for awhile, that when he woke up Jonouchi would be there, his blond hair flopping into his eyes, his back against the sofa, watching Grim and Evil.

"Do you want anything from California?" Kaiba asked, watching as Mokuba turned and grumbled his way across the living room to drop melodramatically on the sofa.

"No."

"Fine." Kaiba nodded and turned away. His bags were packed and stowed in the limo, his briefcase and trench coat sat near the door, all the arrangements checked and double checked. All he needed was Yuai and he'd be out the door. He considered pulling out his laptop and doing a bit of work while he waited, but the persistent thump of pain in his temples was making concentration difficult. He opted for settling into a recliner and closing his eyes.

"Mr. Kaiba, sir, Miss Fujimora is here." A rather proper and annoying voice jerked Kaiba back from the edge of sleep.

Kaiba opened his eyes and winced at the sudden brightness. Damn, what was wrong with the lights in the house. What, were they now using 120 watt bulbs in all the fixtures? He rubbed his eyes and focused on his butler, who stood in the door with a small Yuai shaped shadow lurking behind him. Kaiba shoved his headache away, he had no time for it now, and got to his feet.

"Thank you." He motioned for the butler to disappear and walked over to where Yuai stood.

Mokuba pried himself off the sofa and came to stand next to him. "Hey, you're Yugi's friend."

Yuai nodded, "Yes. Nice to meet you."

Kaiba picked up his coat, then decided against wearing it. It was just too hot in here. He`d put it on when he got outside. "Okay, the contact list is on the table, no parties, dinner at six, bed at nine, wake up at six."

Yuai nodded and set her backpack down on the floor with a thump. "Would you mind if Mokuba had friends over?"

Kaiba shook his head, carefully, "Better not. The last time he had friends over while I was away, I had to have workmen replace most of the staircase."

"The staircase?" Yuai looked over at the grand sweep of mahogany that lead up to the upper floors of the house. She studied it a moment then looked at Mokuba "Sledding?"

Mokuba grinned, "Yep, we just finished watching Tarzan and we wanted to give it a try."

"Ummm, didn't someone die doing that in the movie?" Yuai looked back at the stairs speculatively.

"Yeah, but he was old." Mokuba shrugged, still grinning.

"What did you use for sleds?" Yuai looked curious.

"He used real sleds." Kaiba scooped up his briefcase and slung his coat over his arm. He wanted out, he wanted the crisp fall air outside, he wanted away from the too bright lights and the stale air inside the mansion that seemed to press his throat closed, making it difficult to draw a breath. He pulled distractedly at his collar, feeling a light coating of sweat on his throat. "I'm leaving. Are you sure you don't want anything, Mokuba?"

Mokuba was grinning at his new sitter like a jack-o-lantern. "Nah, I don't want anything." He turned and gave Kaiba a hug, "Just come back quick, big brother."

Kaiba nodded, hugging back. "I will and I'll call you when I land." He pulled free, nodded again to Yuai and headed out the door, desperately needing the cool autumn outside.

Mokuba stood frowning slightly at his brother's retreating back, "Bye, Seto."

Kaiba turned and waved, "Bye. I'll see you in a couple days." Then he turned and escaped out the door.

Mokuba stood, still frowning at the now closed door. That had been…odd. Seto had nearly run out the door. Usually goodbyes were a bit more lingering; Seto would ask if he wanted anything, he say no, Seto would ask if he was sure, he'd say he just wanted his brother back, Seto would promise a surprise, he would say that would be okay, they'd hug, say goodbye, say how much they'd miss each other, Seto would promise to hurry back, he'd promise to be good, they'd hug, they'd say goodbye again, they'd walk to the door together, Seto would get in the limo and wave, he'd wave back from the doorway, the limo would pull out and he'd wave till it disappeared. Seto bolting out the door was odd.

Yuai watched Mokuba for a few moments, then bent down to pull things out of her pack. "When I told Yugi that I was staying with you, he made a few suggestions about things you'd like to do while your brother is away."

Mokuba looked down at her, "Really? What kind of suggestions?"

"How about a game?" She pulled out a brightly colored game cartridge, "Yugi said you hadn't played this one yet."

Mokuba's eyes widened, "Oh wow, Super Annihilation Death Match 4. I didn't think that would be out for another week."

Yuai grinned, "It's a store promo copy. Wanna play?"

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Jonouchi and Mako

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Jonouchi had to admit it. Mako was a idiot. A good looking idiot, but still he was a few fish short of a school. He vaguely wondered if there had been a terrible accident that might of cut oxygen off from Mako's brain. Could happen, water, large fish, one stupid `let's ride on the back of my best friend the gigantic, oversize, guppy', one huge fin out of line and Mako would be floating face down. Couldda happened a lot of times. All things considered, Jonouchi felt pretty comfortable saying it probably happened a whole lot of times.

He hadn't expected much when he asked Mako out. Dinner, maybe a few games at the arcade, then spend the rest of the night pounding into Mako's ass. It seemed a good way to show Duke that he hadn't given a damn what he did. That Duke could fuck Roba on the teacher's desk for all he cared. That, however, was before Aunt Betty's Old Fashion Sushi Palace.

Aunt Betty believed in giving her clients the freshest seafood possible. You actually walked by your meal on the way in. The menu basically swam in huge beautifully decorated tanks at the front entrance. All the little fishies, innocently and placidly swimming around the bright fake corals and plastic plants of their happy home away from home. Before you got seated, you had to point to the critter you wanted to doom, then sit back and watch the chef slice and dice the still wiggling fish into small bite size morsels.

Jonouchi admitted, it wasn't the best way to start a meal, but he could have dealt with table side fish murder. What had made him wince was Mako flinging himself into the tank and catching their dinner himself, in his teeth. Mako's flamboyant capture of the sea perch was…well…different, the tuna had been…special, but the whole battle with the squid was a memory he could have lived without. Jonouchi was just glad they hadn't ordered eel, he was pretty sure he would have run screaming out of Aunt Betty's Old Fashion Sushi Palace at the sight of Mako with a live eel in his mouth.

The defeated squid had been flung from the tank with a flourish and quickly cut to pieces with a side dish of hot pepper sauce, but still had wiggled and squirmed menacingly on the platter throughout dinner, each little tentacle still writhing in outrage. Mako had emerged form the tank to a series of applause and a couple of cat calls from a group of teens in the back and had taken a few bows before flinging himself wetly into Jonouchi's arms and squishily kissed him. He'd tasted like a fish.

Things had gotten worse once they had been seated. Mako had decided that the chef needed a few pointers on knife wielding. After nearly being gelded when a knife accidentally slipped out of his soggy date's fingers, Jonouchi had quietly retired to the men's room to calm down and reassure himself all was were it should be. He only emerged when the screaming and yelling had calmed down, to see his date sitting at their table sulking at the manager. The urge to flee, to run to Kaiba, to throw himself at his love's feet and beg for mercy had surfaced, but he had shoved it down. Just the thought of seeing those eyes looking at him, icy and distant, had slid a cold dead feeling down his back. Kaiba wouldn't forgive, it wasn't in his nature. So back to the table he went.

Mako had brightened up when Jonouchi had reappeared, which made Jonouchi feel like slime. Was it really Mako's fault that he had the brains of a herring? So Jonouchi had sat down and smiled at his dripping date, telling him that all was fine. Just fine. He had just wanted to make sure his pants hadn't been cut. Mako had apologized and they had sat down to eat their meal, Mako babbling happily about fish and the ocean and seaweed. It had been dull, but Jonouchi had gritted his teeth, smiled, pictured Mako hot and sweating beneath him and managed to even ask a few questions about fish teeth.

Mako had nearly pounced on him once they were outside the restaurant, hands pulling him to a near by bench, pulling his head down for a kiss, pulling his shirt free of his pants to skim over his back. It hadn't done much for him, he had made all the right sounds, his body moved in the expected ways, his hands had stroked and encouraged as his mouth and tongue and done their thing. On the way back to Mako's apartment, he had flirted, nuzzled and kissed. When they had got in the door, he had pulled and pushed and slid and burned and cried in pleasure. In the end, when Mako sprawled snoring next to him the only thing he could think of was…slut.

"You just want a fuck, a meal, and a place to crash for the night." Kaiba's voice snarled at him from his memory.

"What's wrong. The Great Seto Kaiba doesn't want to admit he owes…" his voice shouted back at Kaiba, defiant, desperate, trying to divert the truth from striking too close. Wasn't that what he was doing now? Getting a fuck, a meal and a place to crash for the night?

Blue eyes darting down to see Duke's mark still fresh on his neck, then flickering back up to meet his, pain, betrayal, despair.

"You were just looking after your meal ticket, weren't you." This time Kaiba's voice didn't snarl, or shout. It whispered, softly, edged with tears, loss and terrible grief.

"I barely got cleaned up from fucking Kaiba and already had Duke drooling on my cock. If the word fits…" Slut.

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Kaiba

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Kaiba knew he shouldn't be down in the hotel's bar. His headache had gone past being a nuisance, it was now an entity of it's own. A living, growling beast that was trying to slam it`s way out of his skull. His throat was raw, his sinuses burned as if he had tried to inhale acid, and the air felt thick and stifling, hard to breath. He wasn't entirely sure where he was, or why he was here, but, he was thirsty. He wanted something cold, sweet and bitter. Something that would sooth his throat and this dark, quiet place offered that.

The plane ride had been a nightmare, the pain in his head escalating to the point where he had mercifully passed out shortly after take off, only to wake him as the plane descended into Oakland. Customs, finding the limo, driving to the hotel were just a blur of faces and voices, till he finally fell onto a soft bed, listening to his assistants talk in the outer rooms of the suite. He had laid there panting, looking at the ceiling, wondering what he was doing there. Shouldn't he be home? With Mokuba? What was he doing here?

One of his assistants had bustled in and asked something. Kaiba couldn`t make out what he said, but he didn`t want anyone, didn`t want to move, didn`t want to talk. He had shaken his head no and the man had left. He had lain there watching the light dim in the room, his mind drifting, when thirst had wrapped itself around his throat and tongue. He stumbled to his feet and managed to find the bathroom, drinking water from the tap with his cupped hand. It tasted awful, all chemicals, chlorine. He wanted a real drink, so he had dragged himself down to the bar.

A icy, red drink appeared in front of him. He blinked at it a moment then passed some money to the bartender. The man gave him a professional smile and his change before disappearing back into the growing haze that seemed to surround him. He lifted the drink and sipped, strawberry daiquiri. He hated those, Mokuba liked to order them without the rum, when they went out to eat. He looked around, why had he ordered a drink for Mokuba? Still, it was cool and sweet and slightly bitter with a soft burn of rum. He sipped again, liking the cool sensation of the crushed ice sliding down his throat. It wasn't so bad. He drank it down, then set the glass on the bar, the world tilted dizzily for a moment, then straitened.

His head cleared just a bit, for just a moment. Something was wrong, very, very wrong. He needed to get back up stairs, lay down. He needed to go now. The air was getting thicker, heavier. He walked unsteadily out of the bar and inserted his pass into the correct slot for the penthouse suite. The elevator lurched upward, sending him reeling into the wall. He grasped the side railing, keeping himself upright as the elevator sped upward then swayed to a stop. The elevator dinged open and he staggered to the door of his room.

Part of his mind calmly noted that his peripheral vision was gone, all he could see was things directly in front of him, and that wasn't looking too good either. He fumbled with the key card a moment, dropping it from clumsy, inept fingers. He bent, swaying, down to retrieve it, then the door clicked opened.

The world tilted again, and he found himself on his knees. He used a chair to steady himself as he stood and half falling, half walking made it to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed gasping for air. The calm part of his mind told him he needed help. Whatever was wrong, was very wrong, and he needed help. He turned his head and looked at the phone. It seemed so far away, so far…

Dazed, blue eyes drifted closed.

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Okay…I'm evil, leaving you guys hanging like this…

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