Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Daze of Paradise ❯ Precious Declaration ( Chapter 14 )

Authoress' Notes: Kali is back with yet more in the exciting war called Seto and Joey's love-life - or lack thereof. XD Besides which I'm sure you're interested in knowing what happens to Joey after the last chapter, anyway, right? So without wasting more time…

 

Disclaimers: *yawns* It'll be another 5,000 years until I own it. Until then I write fanfiction and pretend…

 

Warnings:The usual.

 

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Chapter 14 - Precious Declaration

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“My only love sprung from my only hate!”

— William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, I. v. [142]

 

“Mr. Kaiba! Sir…”

Kaiba didn't even glance up at his secretary as she came busting into his office. He held up a hand and continued to stare at his computer screen, trying to make the numbers agree with his wishes.

“Not now, Rachel. I have a meeting in ten minutes that I need these projections for.”

“But, sir! There's been an accident down in testing!” Rachel exclaimed, noting that now he looked up at her with a frown.

“What kind of accident?” He asked, standing up and closing his work.

“The computer in the VR room exploded and blew out the glass viewing panel of the control room. The fire was quickly put out, but…” the secretary hurried after him as he strode from the room.

“Injuries?” He demanded in a clipped voice, pausing to wait for the elevator.

“Yes. The techs in the control room when it happened, and…Joey Wheeler.” Rachel watched Kaiba's face pale drastically and wished she could offer some sort of reassurance. “I think your brother was there, too, but no one mentions him as among those who were hurt…”

“Mok…Mokuba!?” Kaiba sucked in a sharp breath and cursed at the slow elevator viciously. “What was he doing down there? He told me he was going to the library to do research for a school paper!”

Rachel cringed, recognizing the cold, furious expression that came over her boss whenever his baby brother was threatened. She fell silent, hoping Mokuba would be able to calm the CEO and explain before Kaiba did something he'd surely regret.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the floor of the VR room, Mokuba hovered anxiously at the sidelines while the medics looked Joey over and prepared to load him on a stretcher. He was trying not to start sobbing hysterically, but it was getting harder and harder.

And then he heard his brother's voice barking out commands sharply and immediately he felt better. Seto would take care of everything. Seto would help Joey and make him wake up again.

“Mokuba!”

The youth turned at his name and threw himself into his brother's arms, the flood-gates opening and the tears pouring down his cheeks in torrents. Now he sobbed into Kaiba's strong shoulder, shivering violently in the comforting embrace. “Seto! It was horrible! Joey is…look!”

Kaiba kept his brother held tightly to his side and looked where he was pointing with a shaking finger. He swallowed a gasp and looked away, feeling just a bit dizzy at the blonde's injuries. “Holy Ra above…” If it were possible, he paled even more, his face gone sheet-white. He had to take several steadying breaths before he could open his eyes and take control of the situation again, shoving all his emotions and the desperate urge to scream at the gods for cruelly doing this to not only him, but Joey and Mokuba, too.

Instead, he knelt down carefully, wary of the glass crunching under his feet, and looked Mokuba in the eye.

“Listen, Mokie. I need you to be strong, okay? I need you to do something for me - for Joey.”

Sniffling, Mokuba wiped at his face, nodding.

“Good. You need to go call Yugi. Tell him what's happened and ask him to bring Ryou, Malik, and Ishizu with him to help Joey if they can. And I need you to go find…I don't know…Taylor or Tea and go get Serenity. She needs to know about her brother and she'll want to see him. Can you do that?”

“Yes. I'll go right away.” Mokuba dashed a couple of steps then turned. “Wait! Where are you going to take Joey? The hospital?”

Kaiba gave an indelicate snort. “No way. Those bunch of fools wouldn't help much. I'm taking him home.” Mokuba nodded then ran off to do his assigned tasks, strengthened now that he had a purpose.

The brunette crossed the room and knelt beside the fallen blonde, carefully avoiding the broken glass around them. “Status?” He demanded of the medical team working on Joey.

“It's severe, sir. But he'll live. He's very, very lucky. It looks like he's just barely missed having his spinal chord severed by a couple of the shards, and none of the others appear to have hit anything vital.” The EMT reported briskly, working as he spoke. “Someone up there likes this young man.”

Somewhat relieved, but still worried, Kaiba sighed and replied grimly, “You don't know the half of it. Do what you do and transport him to the mansion. My brother is…calling in specialists to treat him.”

The EMT (if he thought it was a strange order) was wise enough not to comment. “Yes, sir. We should arrive in 15 - 20 minutes.”

“I'll have a room prepared for him.” Kaiba gave them a final nod and headed for the exit, pulling out his cell phone to begin issuing orders

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaiba was overseeing the preparations being made in the room he'd had readied for Joey, the blonde lying on his stomach on the bed with several of Kaiba Corp's medical staff hovering and bustling around him.

“Mr. Kaiba, sir, I'm afraid there's nothing more we can do until those, ah, specialists you've called in arrive. We aren't qualified to perform the necessary surgery to remove the glass still imbedded in Mr. Wheeler's back.” A young woman in an EMT uniform said quietly, coming to stand near her boss.

“Just make him as comfortable as you can and keep an eye on his vital signs until they arrive, then. Thank you.” Kaiba added, his voice equally quiet. It was sincerely making his chest ache to see the blonde in such a state. And he felt so incredibly helpless himself…well, that annoyed and angered him to no end.”

A few minutes later he heard familiar voices from the hallway. A sense of relief washed over him as Yugi, Ryou, Malik, and Ishizu were shown into the room, their ever-present darker halves conspicuously absent.

“Oh…” Yugi paled on seeing Joey past Kaiba from the door, but he drew himself up and looked up at his rival bravely. “How bad is it?”

“It looks worse than it is. Nothing vital was hit.” Kaiba reported. He looked around the room at the medical staff and raised his voice to kick them all out - politely. “Alright! Thank you for all your help. You can all go home now!”

Silently, they packed up their stuff and marched out, not saying a word about the new arrivals or the fact that Yugi and the others didn't look like medical professionals of any kind - though they did receive a few strange looks.

Kaiba closed the door behind them. “What do you want to do, Yugi?” he asked, leading the group of hikaris to the bed.

Yugi closed his eyes for a moment to brace himself, then opened them to study the injuries carefully. “We'll have to do each one at a time. Someone will need to pull the glass out as we go.” He glanced around at the others, stopping on poor Ryou, who looked like he was either going to throw up or pass out, or possibly both. “Ryou? You going to be able to handle it?”

“I…I want to help.” The white-haired hikari swallowed hard, beginning to look a little green. The Ring flashed brightly around his neck and there stood Bakura in his place.

“I'll do it. Ryou's not very good with needles or blood and stuff like that. He'd probably pass out on you.” Bakura shrugged.

{Bakura! That's not fair! I want to help!} Ryou's voice echoed in his head, protesting loudly from his soul room.

{And what would be the difference between you helping Joey and me doing it? It's part of the reason I'm here, love - to be and do the things that you are not able to.} Bakura smiled at Yugi quite peacefully - for Bakura. “Blood doesn't bother me. And you need a pair of steady hands for this. I'll do the dirty work, you lot patch him up, okay?”

Yugi nodded, ignoring the frown on Kaiba's face and the exchange of glances between Malik and his sister. “Thank you, Bakura.”

“Yeah.” Bakura waved off the gratitude.

They all put on scrubs and masks - except Bakura, who just looked at them and said, “I'm a spirit. I don't have germs and I can't catch them. I am not wearing those ridiculous things.”

“Fine. No magic, though.” Yugi warned. “Shadow magic could foul up my work - no offence.”

“None taken. If we yamis were meant to heal we wouldn't be yamis.” Bakura turned to the tray of medical instruments and went about choosing what he was going to use. Yugi sat at the head of the bed on a chair. Ishizu stood nearby waiting patiently for directions from Yugi.

“Here's how we'll do this: Ishizu will tell us where the glass is that needs to be removed and Bakura will take it out. Then I'll heal the wounds as best I can.” Yugi instructed, amethyst eyes moving from one of his friends to the other as he spoke. “Malik, you may have to hold him down, and if I start getting tired, you'll have to take over.”

“Got it.” Malik nodded.

“What about me?” Kaiba asked. Everyone looked at him in surprise, having almost forgotten he was even in the room.

“Since when have you ever wanted to help Joey?” Malik demanded. He'd heard the tale from Ryou and wasn't particularly fond of Kaiba at the moment.

“He's my employee and my responsibility.” Kaiba snapped back, glaring at Malik. He turned his fierce gaze on Yugi. “You're not keeping me out of this.”

Bakura smirked to himself and said, “Leave him be, Malik. If Joey wakes up, he'll need to be distracted, and Kaiba's probably the best one for that.” He turned to the bed, scalpel in one hand and sponges in the other. “Can we do this, please? Before he does wake up? It'll just be that much harder if he's awake.”

“Alright. Start with the bigger shards first, and the ones near his spine.” Ishizu stepped up and held her hand over Joey's back, a few inches above, in the air.

For half an hour they carefully worked in tandem, removing the glass shards and slivers that Ishizu pointed out, and then healing the wounds. Some of them wouldn't even scar. Yugi knew Joey would be grateful for that.

At one point, however, Joey began to regain consciousness. Almost immediately he tensed up and tried to shake them off. He made pitiful, pained noises.

Yugi moved to the head of the bed again, positioning himself so Joey could see him.

“Joey…hey, pal.” The tri-haired duelling prince reached out and stroked the blonde's hair gently out of his eyes. “Look at me, Joey. That's it.”

“Yu-gi…hurts…” Joey managed to rasp in a hoarse voice as tears streamed down his cheeks. Yugi nodded sympathetically and took the washcloth Malik handed him to bathe Joey's face.

“I know, buddy. I know. You've got a lot of cuts and gashes from the glass you were showered with. We're taking it out and healing you but it's slow going. No!” Yugi stopped Joey from trying to reach out to him. “Don't move, Joey. Every movement you make uses your back and we don't want the glass making things worse. So you have to hold very still, okay?”

“Try…” Joey croaked. Yugi grasped his hand for a moment and smiled reassuringly.

“Good.” Standing, Yugi motioned to Kaiba to take his place. “Just sit with him, please, Seto.”

Hearing Kaiba's name, Joey tensed up again and nearly broke Malik's hold on him. “No! Not…Kaiba…not…”

Stealing himself, Kaiba took Yugi's seat and stared right into Joey's amber eyes unflinchingly.

{Relax, Joey. Be mad at me all you want, but please relax and stay still until Yugi and the others are done fixing you.} Kaiba said, keeping the words between himself and the blonde. Joey fixed agonized, angry eyes on him and tried glaring. It didn't work so well, considering.

“You…jerk…” he let out a whimper when he felt someone's hands near a painful spot then the cold sting of metal on his flesh. “Gods!”

{Shh…} Kaiba wanted to flinch along with Joey, but managed to keep his face impassive. His eyes, however, held so much emotion and all the words he wanted to say but couldn't. {Look at me, pup, and listen. Mokuba's fine. He explained what happened and I…you saved my little brother.} Kaiba had to fight really hard not to look away from the wary, surprised eyes regarding him silently.

“I…care about him…too.” Joey gasped, jerking slightly as Bakura pulled another shard free. Then he felt a soothing warmth on his cold, aching flesh and realized it was Yugi - Yugi's energy. It made him feel just a little bit better and certainly calmer, and his muscles relaxed a bit.

“I know.” Kaiba sighed. “I'm only going to say this once, Mutt, so you'd better be listening to me.” He waited until he held Joey's gaze once more before continuing. “Thank you.”

The blonde couldn't do much else but stare at him silently, hoping to convey his acceptance of that with his eyes.

“This is the last of the big pieces.” Yugi said from somewhere around him. He didn't try to look, though. “It's going to hurt.”

Kaiba glanced up at them then back down at Joey. “I can help with that.” He offered cautiously, giving Joey an opportunity to protest. He was a little surprised when the blonde didn't, however.

“Please…if you…don't mind…” Joey whispered, closing his eyes against the ache of his body. They snapped open again when he felt Kaiba's hand on his, and he watched the brunette ease his white-knuckled closed fist open and clasp it firmly, covering them with the other hand. “Kaiba?”

“Relax, Mutt. I have to be touching you for this to work.” Kaiba closed his eyes and concentrated, his thumb absently rubbing over Joey's hand. In his role as High Priest, Kaiba knew he could call upon the powers of the gods he served in that capacity. As such, he now called on the great goddess, Sekhmet, to take away Joey's pain and help to heal his injuries through a spell he barely remembered.

He shuddered as his call was answered and power spilled into him. Kaiba's frown deepened and he let the power flow down his arms and into Joey, who cried out once then sighed, his body going totally lax.

“How are you doing?” Kaiba inquire, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth at Joey's heavy, relaxed expression.

“That's better than any drug.” The blonde nearly purred.

“Go ahead, Yugi. He won't feel a thing now.” Kaiba advised. The others went back to work, moving as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Eyes heavy-lidded with blissful oblivion to the pain of his body, Joey watched Kaiba lazily, barely registering that the brunette had yet to release his hand. Kaiba just returned his gaze steadily, a faint hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

And then, once more, Joey started at the unexpected voice in his mind when Kaiba spoke.

{I'm an ass, Joey. I know it. And I know I've never said it before for all the other times you've saved my brother, but I'm saying it this time.} Kaiba's ice-blue eyes seemed to be looking right through Joey at that moment - eyes that were illuminated yet from Sekhmet's power which still rode them both. {Thank you for protecting Mokuba and saving him from harm's path at the expense of your own safety. I'll never forget what you did for him.}

Joey made a whimpering sort of groaning noise as he struggled against the warm, fuzzy sensation of sleep trying to blanket his consciousness once more, and his hand in Kaiba's squeezed reflexively, then tightened deliberately.

“Do it…again. Like…own little…broth…er.” The blonde managed to mumble before he succumbed to the weight on his mind and fell asleep again. Kaiba sighed and closed his eyes wearily, keeping hold of Joey's hand tightly.

I know, Mutt. I know. I only hope you'll be willing to talk to me again when you recover, because I think there's a lot that needs to be said.

Yugi and the others finished a few minutes later, and while Malik and Bakura cleaned up the mess, and Ryou and Ishizu left to go find their rooms for the night to get some rest, Yugi sighed and slumped into a chair near Joey's bed in exhaustion and lightly ran his fingers through his best friend's blonde locks with a fond sort of gentleness.

“He should be fine in a week or so. The minor wounds will heal on their own eventually, and while we did better than simply stitches and his own body's natural healing ability could, he will end up with a few scars, I imagine.” The dualist Prince spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb Joey - though it was doubtful anything could rouse him from slumber at this point

Kaiba opened his eyes after a short prayer of thanks to Sekhmet and all the gods for their help. The power rush was fading away, and now all he wanted was to sleep like a rock. “I doubt he'll care about a few scars, Yugi. He'll be too busy thanking you with every breath for healing him.”

“I know.” Yugi yawned, and his own violet eyes began to droop.

“Call for Yami, and go to bed, Yugi. I'll watch over Joey tonight. You've expended enough energy for a decade.” Kaiba shook his head when Yugi opened his mouth to protest. “No. Just go.”

“Alright. Thank you, Seto.” Yugi gave in and dragged himself out of the chair, heading for the door as he sent a mental call for his darker half. “Get some sleep, too, please?”

“I will.” Kaiba assured him. The door closed behind Yugi and Kaiba moved his chair closer to the bed, where he took up his vigil for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day Serenity sat with her brother at his bedside. Everyone else went home and returned to classes. The hikaris promised to let their profs know the situation and to get any assignments for Joey that he would miss, and Yugi said he and Yami would stop by every day to check on Joey also.

When Mokuba got home from school - bringing Serenity's homework with him - he attempted to cheer Serenity up and keep her occupied by discussing a play Mokuba was going to be performing in at school for an upcoming festival.

Kaiba, himself, stayed home, too, and worked from his home office, and when he'd finished his work for the day, he took Serenity's place at Joey's bedside and watched over him.

This went on for three days after the accident. Kaiba hardly slept at all during that time, except for the short naps his body forced him to take when he was sitting next to Joey in that semi-comfortable chair.

It was late on the forth night - or early morning of the fifth, depending on one's view - that Joey finally stirred into consciousness once more.

Feeling groggy, shaky, and faintly dizzy, the blonde slowly, cautiously, pried his eyes open with great effort. He blinked away the sleep-heavy grit from his eyes, trying to focus in the darkened, moonlit room on the person in the chair next to wherever it was he lay. He moved his arms, intending to push himself up a little, and winced, groaning at the stiffness of his whole body and the twitchy feeling he was experiencing from the muscles in his back and shoulders.

Kaiba opened his eyes wearily when he heard the groan and a bit of rustling, and looked down at the blonde who'd managed to prop himself up on his forearms a little. He sat up and said quietly, “Awake, pup? How are you feeling?”

“What? Kaiba?” Joey frowned in confusion looking up at the brunette from an awkward angle. “Where am I? And what…?”

“Relax, Joey. Please.” Kaiba moved his chair closer and into a better spot so Joey could see him without straining. “There was an accident at Kaiba Corp, remember?”

Vaguely remembering the sounds of an explosion and shattering glass, Joey's frown deepened and he licked his dry lips. “Yeah…sort of.”

“We brought you here, to the mansion, and Yugi and the other hikaris healed you. Well, Bakura removed the glass from your back and Yugi, Ishizu, and Malik healed you. Ryou couldn't handle it or he'd have helped, too.” Kaiba told him, watching the blonde's expression. “Serenity's been here, too, since we brought you here. I knew she'd want to know you were going to be okay.”

Joey let himself fall back onto the bed, resting his head on his folded arms and tuned to Kaiba. “Thank you.” He said so softly Kaiba almost didn't hear him. “I'm sorry to have caused you so much trouble, Kaiba.”

“Trouble? This is the least I could do for you, Joey, for keeping Mokuba safe like you did. Let's just…call it even and leave it be, okay?” Kaiba sat back in his seat with a deep sigh. “How are you feeling? Any pain?”

“Not really.” The blonde shifted a little, testing himself and thinking about it. “Just kind of sore and shaky. And I can feel a muscle twitch here and there sometimes.”

“Yugi said muscle spasms were normal and good. As long as it doesn't hurt anywhere.”

“No. But…” Joey stopped, feeling his face heat up in a wild blush. Kaiba eyed him questioningly, and the blonde was grateful it was dark enough in the room to hide his red face.

“What?” Kaiba asked. “Something wrong?” He didn't even notice he'd moved closer and was reaching out to pull the covers back from Joey so he could see his back and look for any problems. As his hand touched Joey's skin, the younger man shivered and a tiny gasp escaped.

“Nothing wrong.” Joey managed to croak, trying not to wriggle in an effort to get closer to the warm hand running slowly up and down his back as Kaiba checked for problems. “I…I just…could use a bath and something to eat…and maybe to sit up?” He hated how pitiful and helpless he sounded, especially with the cold CEO there to hear it. To his surprise and confusion, however, Kaiba didn't make any comments or remarks, simply nodding and with a gentleness Joey hadn't thought he was capable of helped the blonde to slowly ease over onto his back and sit up properly. The brunette even fluffed up the pillows to prop him up more comfortably.

“I'll be back in a few minutes. I'll go find something for you to eat.” Kaiba ran a hand through his already mussed hair, ignoring the wide-eyed, confused stare the blonde was watching him with and walking out of the room - quietly - before Joey could say anything.

Alone in the relative darkness with only his thoughts for company, Joey sighed deeply and took an inventory of his body, wondering just how badly he'd been injured in the first place. It hadn't really hurt to move when he'd turned over and sat up, but he did feel a little sore - like he'd pulled a muscle or something. He was tired and hungry, too, not to mention he really could stand to have a bath.

He blushed hotly, pressing his hands to his cheeks in pure embarrassment. He knew he wasn't going to be able to make it to the washroom by himself, not in the weakened state he was in - and even if he did somehow manage it, he'd be so exhausted by the time he got there that he wouldn't be able to do anything else. He was going to need assistance…and the only one who was around to do so was the one person in the universe who'd rather cut off his own hands then offer one of them to help him.

Joey sniffed, appalled at the tears that slid down his cheeks unbidden. He didn't know why he even cared what Kaiba thought of him anymore, and he really didn't want to be so pathetic and helpless anymore. Hey, he'd survived an attack by an enraged God Card, so this should be nothing…

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the door open and close quietly as the brunette returned with a tray of food and some tea. Kaiba set the tray on a table and glanced at the blonde on the bed when he heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a muffled sob. Frowning in instant concern and shoving the automatic reaction of pretending he wasn't off a bottomless cliff (figuratively), he left the tray and went over to Joey.

“Something wrong, Mutt?” He inquired gruffly, leaning down a bit to study the blonde carefully. “Are you in pain somewhere?”

Joey's head shot up, narrowly missing Kaiba's jaw and he cried out in surprise. “Ah! Damn it, Kaiba!”

“Shh…!” The brunette scowled and shushed him. “You're going to wake up my brother and your sister!”

“Don't sneak up on me like that!” Joey laid a hand over his heart and sucked in a couple deep breaths. “Ra…”

“I didn't. You were just off in your own little world, no doubt.” The brunette straightened and went back to the tray, turning on a small bedside lamp, too. “I asked if you were in pain. You were making noises like you were.”

The light, though soft and easy on his eyes, didn't really make Joey feel better. Now he had an insane urge to hide under the bed and away from Kaiba's view. “I…I'm fine.”

“Hmph. Well, I brought some broth, crackers, and tea. It'll have to do for now, and should be enough to keep your stomach happy until breakfast in the morning.” Picking up the tray, Kaiba carried it over and carefully placed it on Joey's lap.

“Uh…thank you, Kaiba.” Joey stared at the food for a moment, a warm tingly feeling washing through him. He looked up at the brunette with this lost puppy look that Kaiba found rather endearing - which made him frown. “I…I don't understand why you're doing this or…being so…kind?” It was the only word Joey could think of to use, though it didn't really fit, and so came out as a question.

“Because you kept Mokuba safe at your own expense.” Kaiba sighed, folding his arms over his chest and sitting on the edge of the bed, being careful not to jostle the tray. “Because who else is going to take care of an injured puppy at this time of night…” A small smile graced his lips when Joey automatically growled at him. “And…because…I've been a supreme asshole and owe you an apology - which I've been trying to make for weeks now, by the way.”

Joey flushed and looked down at his soup, picking up a cracker and nibbling to hide the redness staining his cheeks. “Yeah…well…you are an ass.” He muttered, picking up his spoon and stirring the soup in the bowl unenthusiastically. “And I'm sitting here unable to get away, so you may as well take advantage of it and say whatever it is you've been trying to corner me to say.”

“Alright. You eat, I'll talk.”

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Authoress' Notes: Hmm… Next up, the big `talk.' O.o I wonder how that'll go… (Caitlin: *sweatdrops* Honestly, yami. You've got the last chapter written and the first three to the sequel written already…) *coughs* So we know. They *points at readers* don't. Share your thoughts, folks! Please R/R!!!!