Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Emergence ❯ Payback's a B!tch ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius. I get nothing from this except giggles and sore fingers.

READ CHRYSALIS. There I said it. I know if you haven't done it by now you just aren't, but I still feel it's my karmic duty to put that there. So, anyway, karma is now satisfied, on with the story.

Emergence

Chapter 12: Payback's a B!tch.

~*~*~*

Kaiba

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Kaiba tossed his socks into his half full suitcase and walked into the closet. He looked around, idly running his fingers along the tops of his silk shirts, musing over how long he was going to stay at he convention. I should remember to call Jame, the Quistcell take over will have to be... He stopped, frowning, shaking his head. I don't have time to go to the convention. I have work to do. He stepped back out of the closet and looked at the suitcase, then shrugged and went back to the closet. Its my time, I'll do as I like. He randomly pulled out a couple of shirts, then stopped looking at them hanging from his hand. I really don't have time. I have an entire take-over to deal with this week. I wanted to work on the new VR schematics, and on a new module to the Legendary Heroes Scenario, too. He hung the shirts back on their hangers. Then there's all the equipment requests from R&D.

He walked out into the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to the suitcase rubbing his temple, thinking. I want to go, though. And why not? It's my company. Who's to say I can't? But I need to work, there is just so much.

"Hey! Kaiba!" A hand touched his shoulder. "You listening to me?"

He looked up into Jonouchi's eyes, then jerked his shoulder away from Jo's touch. "What!?" He snapped, shaking thoughts out of his head. How the hell did he…I didn't hear him come in.

"Marik was at the hospital." Jo stepped back, frowning.

"So?" He stood up and walked back to the closet, pulling out the shirts that he had just hung up.

"He was in Duke's room. He said that…" Jonouchi stopped and watched him confused. "What are you doing?"

Kaiba pulled out a couple pairs of slacks. "I'm going to the convention."

"You're leaving?" Jo looked at the suitcase on the bed. "Don't you have stuff to do?"

"I can do it from the hotel." Kaiba tossed the pants into the suitcase, then stopped and blinked at him for a second. "Most of it." He shook his head, running one hand through his hair, ruffling it. "Why do you care?"

"What?" Jonouchi blinked. "You're taking off for no reason and you want to know why I care?" He gestured toward the suitcase. "What the hell is going on?"

"I'll do what I want." Kaiba quickly started folding the clothes neatly into the luggage. "Sooo, how's Duke?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jo reached out and caught Kaiba's hand.

Kaiba snatched it away, snarling, "Just go back to Duke. You know you want to."

"Jealous?" Jonouchi shook his head. "I can't believe it. You're jealous."

Kaiba snarled, "Leave."

Jo shook his head, laughing, "Your jealous of Duke?"

Kaiba stepped closer, hissing, "Get out."

Jo stepped back. "You honestly think I'd go to Duke?"

"Didn't you?" Kaiba turned away flipping his suitcase closed and zipping it shut.

"No!" Jonouchi reached out and pressed down on the suitcase, preventing Kaiba from lifting it off the bed. "What's with you? Do you think after everything that's happened I'd choose him over you?"

"Didn't you?" Kaiba lifted his hand as if he was going to shove Jonouchi back, then dropped it. "Get out Jo."

"Tell me what's going on." Jo kept his hand on the lid of the case, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Nothing is going on." Kaiba jerked the suitcase out from under Jo's hand. "Go back to Duke and leave me alone."

"Kaiba, don't…" Jo reached out and caught his hand.

Kaiba growled and lashed out, his fist striking Jo hard across the cheek, sending the slighter blond sprawling half on the bed, half sliding off. Kaiba stepped back startled, looking at his hand as if he'd never seen it before. I just hit Jo. I hit Jo. He started shaking, dropping the suitcase backing away. "Jo, I..." His voice was low, strained. "Get out. Get out now."

Jo sat on the floor, looking slightly dazed, a smear of blood across his cheek. "Wha' the hell?"

Kaiba kept walking back till his back hit the wall, looking at Jonouchi with wide disbelieving eyes. "Jo… You need to leave."

Jonouchi stumbled to his feet. "Kaiba?" He touched his own cheek, then looking at the smear of red on his fingers. "Why did…" He looked up at Kaiba who was now pressed back against the wall. "What the hell is going on?" He stepped closer to his lover, who tried to press himself even farther back.

"Go. Get away, Jo."

"Nuh-uh." Jonouchi shook his head. "I ain't leaving." Jo walked forward, reaching out, watching Kaiba flinch, trying to avoid his hand as he walked closer. "Tell me what's going on, love."

Kaiba shook his head. "Jo… Just …" Distantly, he watched Jo's hand reach for him. He felt trapped, fear and blind rage coiling in his stomach, along with the nearly overwhelming need to strike out again. No. He forced his hands to remain still, pressing them back against the cool surface of the wall. He felt Jo's hand touch his shoulder.

"Seto, look at me." Jonouchi's voice was nearly a whisper. "Marik, at the hospital, he said…" The blond paused, hesitating over saying the name, "he said it was shadow magic. Someone used shadow magic to wipe out Duke's mind."

Kaiba's head jerked up, ice blue eyes narrowing, his mind twisting around itself. "Shadows," his voice was barely more than a breath, "shadows."

~*~*~*

Yuai

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Yuai gently herded Yugi back to his room. His body guards, who finally came striding in to the coffee shop just as she returned to her seat, trailed along behind them, looking irritable and muttering softly into their walkie talkies. Yugi bounced happily along, chattering and smiling, occasionally laughing. Unfortunately, he wasn't talking to the people that were in the hall with him. He was once again talking merrily to Yami. Yuai trudged down the hall watching it with tired eyes. It's not even three o'clock yet. We've only been here for four hours and it feels like I've been in this hotel since the last ice age. Sort of reminds me of that creepy old movie with that axe wielding nutto and the kid on the big wheel. I swear, if Mokuba appears with a big wheel, I am so out of this place.

"Yuai?" Yugi smiled over his shoulder at her. "Would you like to play Duel Monsters with me and Yami?"

Yuai tried to summon a smile, but it seemed it was backordered and the supplier wouldn't be shipping anytime soon. "Sure, Yugi."

He bounded ahead, "Great! How about coming over to my room in an hour? Yami wants to…" Yugi suddenly blushed. "I can't tell her that!" He looked over at her sheepishly.

I don't want to know. I don't want to know. I don't want to know. Yuai whimpered, wishing she would just wake up and find herself back in her room; with Mokuba running around the house in his Blue Eyes tee-shirt trying to find his favorite game cartridge; Kaiba dashing up the stairs with a piece of toast in his mouth and knotting his tie; Jonouchi sleepily slouching at the breakfast table, stirring his cereal into mush. "Don't worry about it Yugi. I'll see you in an hour."

He grinned happily as he pulled his key card out of his pocket and opened his door. "Okay, see you in an hour."

"Yep." Yuai waved goodbye as the door closed.

The security guards looked at the closed door and then turned to her. It always worried her when security looked clueless. She sort of liked Kado, Kaiba's head of security. He might be pushy, annoying and often down right rude, but at least the man always looked like he knew what he was doing.

She shrugged back and waved them away, opening her own room. "Bye, thanks for coming." She closed her door, refusing to meet their eyes or answer their questions. What was she going to tell them? Her boyfriend hit his head and flipped out and was now talking to an invisible friend, who apparently had something in mind that made Yugi blush? That she really would love to call for a doctor, the one in the hotel didn't have anything he could really prescribe except aspirin and the phones were down? Heck, she didn't even have a car to drive Yugi down to see a doctor and the hotel management didn't want any of their precious employees stuck in a vehicle with someone who was hearing voices?

She stepped through the spacious suite that she'd been given, dropped her purchases on the coffee table and flopped down on the couch. She sunk into the cushions, wondering what to do. She checked the time on the small table clock that sat next to the TV and looked over at the wall that was between her room and Yugi's. I have one hour to figure out what to do. This was not covered in school.

She suddenly shot to her feet. Kami! I am such an idiot! Cell phones! I just need to find someone with a cell phone!

She bolted down the hall and ran down to the front desk at what felt like light speed. A young woman with large soft eyes smiled helpfully at her. "Hello, how can I…"

"Cell phones! Does anyone here have a cell phone that I could use? My friend is…uhh, not feeling well and I really need to call a doctor." Yuai panted holding tight to the counter as if it might get ripped out of her hands at any second.

"Oh, you must be Mr. Moto's friend." The helpful smile wavered slightly. "I'm sorry, but cell phones don't work up here. The nearest tower is over twenty miles away through the mountain passes."

Yuai moaned resting her head against the counter, wondering if her day could get any worse, then froze and looked over her shoulder as the receptionist gasped and suddenly darted out of sight. Yugi was standing in the hall, tears streaming down his face.

"H-he's gone." Yugi ran over to Yuai and wrapped his arms around her waist, sobbing against her shoulder. "He's gone. I can't find him. We were just…" he broke off to sob softly in her shirt, then pulled away. "Yuai, help me find him. Something has to have happened to him." He tugged at her arm, pulling her toward the winding labyrinth that led to the convention hall. "Please Yuai, you have to help me find him."

Yuai looked into the sad, lost, insane eyes of her boyfriend and allowed herself to be hauled away.

~*~*~*

Jame

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This is why some mothers eat their young. Jame watched the pompous idiot stride back and forth in front of her desk, waving his hand dismissively around the office. She wasn't entirely sure what his name was, something like Michikogo, or Mikogi, or maybe Mikoki. She had figured out that he was one of Kaiba's executive assistants. She had also figured out in the first minute of his rant that Kaiba must be hard up for employees if this was the best he could come up with. Maybe that's why I'm still here, with morons like this running around the building a fourth grader with a passable vocabulary would look like a god send.

"…it's really very simple. We just want you to keep us informed about Mr. Kaiba's itinerary. After all, we are his assistants and it is our right to know what we should be assisting him in." He paused, smiling condescendingly down at her. "It must be terribly hard on you, my dear, to make so many decisions." He sighed dramatically. "Mr. Kaiba is quite intelligent, but still, he's so young, so flighty. It must be difficult to deal with his complete undependability."

Jame vaguely wondered if he had ever met his boss. She leaned back in her chair, put on her most vapid expression and pondered how anyone could call Kaiba flighty. Admittedly, his blowing out of here to head up to a convention at the last minute had been rather spontaneous, but then, if she'd been working as hard as he did, she'd want a break too. She watched the man's eyes dart toward the file cabinets behind her, then skitter nervously back to her. His voice and manner didn't change, but his eyes kept darting around.

"You know, my dear, we could make your life so much easier. All this filing, and typing and drudge work can't be good for you." He leaned forward, placing his hands on her desk and trying to look concerned and fatherly. "And on a weekend! You really shouldn't let Mr. Kaiba treat you like this. Demand your rights, my dear. Mr. Kaiba, I promise, won't dismiss you for asking for a little consideration."

I'm starting to get that idea. She nodded stupidly as the man stepped back looking pleased with himself. I wonder how many other secretaries you've had this little chat with, hmm? Did they believe you? Is that why Kaiba won't fire me? She suddenly grinned up at him. "You know, you're right. I'll call him right now and tell him I'm taking the rest of the weekend off." He nodded, looking like a proud parent.

She picked up the phone and dialed Kaiba's mansion, grinning brainlessly up at the dimwit in front of her. The phone rang three times before a harried voice snapped, "What?!"

"Mr. Kaiba? It's Jame, I was just having a lovely talk with Mr. Mikoki, one of your assistants." The dimwit under discussion smiled down at her with a superior look on his pallid face. "Can I get rid of him?" The smile disappeared fast.

"Yes. Fire anyone you want." Kaiba sounded a odd, his voice a bit too high pitched, younger sounding, but since he just gave her permission to basically reorganize his executive staff, she didn't think too much about it. The possibilities spun out in her head and a neat list of things to do started taking form.

"Thanks, you." She grinned evilly up at the now worried looking man as she hung up the phone. "Guess what moron? You're fired."

~*~*~*

Jonouchi and Kaiba

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Jonouchi hung up the phone and shook his head. At least something nice happened today. Kaiba was probably kill him later for giving his secretary permission to fire his assistants, but then, maybe not. He sighed and looked back down at the phone replaying the phone call with Marik he'd just finished when Jame had called. That call had been far less pleasant. He still couldn't get the old feeling of raw terror out of his system when he heard Marik's voice. Yami, when you get back, we gotta talk. Couldn't you have left…well, okay, maybe not Bakura… and Pegusus is a loony…well, how about Isis…except there is that whole manipulative bitch thing, and Shadi is pretty much out too. But come on Yami! Marik?

Jonouchi walked down the hall and peered into the bedroom. The room looked peaceful enough. The suitcase still lay where it had fallen on the floor. The blue silk bedspread was slightly askew from where he had fallen against it. The only thing that had changed was that Kaiba now sprawled diagonally on the bed, one foot dangling nearly to the floor, his forearm covering his eyes. He stepped cautiously closer, not entirely sure what to expect. "Kaiba?"

The brunette lifted his arm and looked tiredly across at Jo. "What did he say?"

Jo shuffled uncomfortably, "Marik said, um…I'm quoting here…If the stupid priest can't deal with a little shadow attack. He deserves to get his mind eaten."

Kaiba snorted and let his arm fall back across his eyes. "He's right. I can't believe I let this get so bad." His voice was a bit hoarse and he looked pale. "It's obvious now that I know it's there."

Jonouchi watched as Kaiba suddenly tensed, his breath hissing between his clenched teeth, his head pressing back into the mattress. "Seto?" He climbed onto the bed, stretching out next to the rigid form of his love, sliding one arm under tensed shoulders the other sliding around his lover's waist. The spasm only lasted a few seconds, then taunt muscles relaxed again.

Kaiba took a deep breath and turned his face into Jonouchi's shoulder. "I'm sorry Jo. This should never have gotten this far. I should never have hit you."

Jonouchi pulled Kaiba closer, turning him and pulling him slightly till his love lay across his chest. He ran his hands through soft brown hair, lightly kissing him. "Hey, you weren't yourself." He stroked his hand down Kaiba's back, soothing stressed muscles. "Just glad I got here before you left."

Kaiba hummed softly back, nuzzling against Jonouchi's neck, his breath evening into the soothing pattern of sleep. Jo looked out the window frowning, someplace, someone was causing this and as soon as Kaiba woke up, that someone was going to be hunted down. Then it was going to be a race between him and his love to see who could kill the bastard first.

~*~*~*

He flung himself into his library, the door slamming violently against the mahogany wainscoting, as he stalked across the room and grabbed a crystal decanter of brandy. His hands shook in fury as he poured the amber liquid into a delicate snifter. He nearly pounded the bottle back down on the polished wood of the bar, leaving dents in the fine grained wood.

"Damn you Kaiba." He muttered, fingers tightening on the short goblet in his hand. "There was enough magic to mind control half the city into going on vacation and you shrug it off."

He ground his teeth together, picturing Kaiba sneering at him, laughing, taunting him with that insufferable smirk. His hands tightened more, shattering the fragile crystal, imbedding small shards of it into his hand. He paid no attention as the sweet alcohol and his own blood mixed, twining together in red and gold ribbons down his arm.

"You'll pay for this Kaiba. I'll crush you. I'll make you beg as I destroy everything you have ever loved. You will pay."

~*~*~*

Reviews please!

I'll be taking ideas for things you hate most in bad fan fics. for a few more chapters. I probably won't write the companion to Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit till after I finish with Emergence, but the more ideas I get, the better… If you want to know, this time I'm going to be picking on Yami (as if I haven't tortured the poor darling enough) and I'm kicking around the idea of calling it "Just Kill Me".

DemonandGoddess: You had some great ideas, thanks. Yep, that's the Dark Magician, aka Mahado, making his appearance in the last chappie. You'll see more of him soon. As for torturing Yugi, well, I guess you'll just have to suffer along with him `cause I'm not quite done making him miserable yet.

DaeBird: I caught your fics. OMG you're absolutely wonderful! I adore all of them! I particularly love Amaranthine. I actually found a Jou/Seth/Seto fic. It's called Five Rod Draw by Ballroomblitz. It's a PWP. I started looking because of a piece of fan art that I saw with the three of them sitting together. Jo was sitting in the middle looking…shall we say… a bit anxious, Seth was sitting to his left smirking and Seto sat on his right looking away. It was great and it got me wondering about a threesome.

Sakiyama: I'm really glad I took the time to finally get off my lazy but and read your work. You've got a lot of talent for dialog and humor! I was really feeling kind of down when I started reading your fics and they really made me happy. Yep, Yugi's let Yuai know about Yami, but so far she still thinks of him as her crazed boyfriend's invisible pal. You'll have to wait to see if that changes.

Amunra: I haven't read that fic yet, but as soon as I have a moment, I'll give it a try. Thanks for the ideas and feel free to share more if you want to. For now, Yugi and Yuai are on their own. Kaiba as you've seen, has just cancelled his travel plans and is going to opt for a relaxing weekend of hunting down the fool who was messing with his mind and torturing them to death. At least till I spring the next surprise on him…

sorceress sarrkh: Wow! I don't think anyone has ever considered this a work of art. Thanks! But plot bunnies? *authoress squishes a passing bunny, looking innocent* What plot bunnies? ^-^ As you command, more Mahado coming up soon. I have to admit, I do love that character.

Velvetina: You're welcome! You want Yugi to go mad? O.O Well, okay…one totally nutty hikari coming right up ^-^ Thanks for all the great ideas. I need all I can to truly make my next short story fun. Oooh, I saw that fic with Grandpa and Pegasus! I wasn't brave enough to read it. I chickened out and read "My Little Tea Pot" instead, which was odd, believe me, very, very odd. I might need therapy later.