Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Evading Destiny ❯ Chapter 8
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: Murasaki Rose 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Shounen / Romance / Fantasy / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 07.30.2010 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 579 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Shounen / Romance / Fantasy / Hentai / Adventure | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 07.30.2010 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.2K | Visits: 579 | Status: Work In Progress
Title: Evading Destiny
Part: 8/??
Author: Murasaki Rose
Beta: none
Genre: Romance/Fantasy/AU
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Yami Yuugi's real name
Warnings: Yaoi (male x male), implied Mpreg
Pairings: YYxY, SxJxS, DxT, YBxR, YMxM
Minor Pairings: BMGxA, BMxK, TxCxH, HxO, PxC, IxM, VxA
Disclaimer: Here we go. Yu-Gi-Oh and all its characters are the property of Kazuki Takahashi, Shueisha, Konami, Toei, and unfortunately, 4 Kids Entertainment. In other words, I don't own them and I'm not making any money off of this, I'm just a fangirl having some fun.
A/N: "text" = speech, 'text' = thought, ((text)) = telepathy
Summary: Sequel to Retrieving Destiny. Months after their fateful trip to Egypt, Yuugi and his friends have adjusted to life with their ancient soul mates. Things appear to be going well, until just weeks before graduation, a series of bizarre accidents and seemingly random attacks begin plaguing the lights and their protectors! When the teens learn the "accidents" were planned by the same ones responsible for the attacks, their ancient lovers are forced into action. In order to protect their mates, the yami must determine, not only the location of the "lost" city of Atlantis, but also the true fate of their entire species! With new enemies coming at them with increasing power at every turn, will they find the answers they need before it's too late?
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The following morning at school, Ryou and Malik told the others about their frightening, near-miss with the reckless driver. Their friends' reactions ranged from shocked and horrified to angry and outraged. (Kaiba was disappointed that they hadn't gotten a look at the license plate. He'd hoped to track the reckless bastard down.)
Neither Ryou nor Malik were really concerned about revenge though. The two hikari were just happy that talking about it with their friends helped to calm their nerves. It had the reverse effect on the yami, making them all anxious and edgy.
x-x-x-x-x
Later that day, their class had gym and the teens got to enjoy a rowdy game of basketball. Today the coaches had both the boys and the girls playing together so Yuugi and Hanasaki played cheerleader for Jonouchi, Honda, Malik, Kaiba, Ryou, and Anzu. With all their friends split between both teams, their cheers kept confusing their other classmates.
After the game, Honda ended up being one of the students charged with putting up the equipment. The teens quickly gathered all the balls and Honda volunteered to put away the cart. As he entered the dark storage room a fissure of unease rippled down his spine but he shook it off and continued further in. The uneasy feeling persisted and by the time the brunet hikari had reached the back of the room his danger senses were jangling wildly. Hurrying to leave the room, the soft sound of canvas sliding was the only warning he got before one of the dangerously high stacks of exercise mats collapsed on top of him! The force of the tumbling mats flattening him to the ground his head striking the floor hard enough to stun him in place.
Shaking his head to clear the fuzz, Honda suddenly realized that he was completely buried. 'What the hell!' he thought, trying to move his arms. Struggling under the weight, he quickly determined that it was going to take him quite a while to wiggle his way free. The sound of shifting canvas caught his attention again, this time above his head, where one of the mats had tipped off the top of the pile and was sliding straight for his neck. "Oh shit!" he cursed, struggling wildly to free one of his arms as the mat picked up speed.
SMACK!
A strong palm slapped against the mat stopping it in its tracks. "Man you've got to have the worst luck ever," Jonouchi quipped, grinning down at his trapped friend.
Minutes later, the blond ms-n hwi had freed the brunet hikari and was helping him to his feet.
"Thanks man. Death by suffocation was not on my "to do" list anytime soon."
"No problem," the blond replied. "Any idea how you managed to nearly get yourself killed in a closet?"
"It's not like I had anything to do with it!" the brunet exclaimed, punching Jou in the arm. "I didn't even touch them and the whole stack just collapsed on me."
x-x-x-x-x
Friday arrived and once more, Yuugi was in the auditorium watching the drama club rehearse their upcoming performance.
On stage Anzu and the other girls twisted and danced with abandonment, their joy infusing their every move, oblivious to everything but the music. Above them, the heavy theatre curtain that was swaying lightly in the breeze from the air conditioning, gave an ominous creak just before one of the supporting cables snapped! One of the stage hands yelled out in warning just as the remaining over-taxed cables gave in and the entire curtain and rod assembly came crashing down on the stage.
"ANZU!!" Yuugi screamed in horror as the curtain appeared to crash down on the girl he considered a sister. Running as fast as his legs could go, the small teen raced to his friend, vaulting onto the stage and reaching the girls even before the people backstage could.
To his immense relief, Anzu was fine, laying sprawled awkwardly where she had managed to fling herself a mere foot away from the heavy curtain rod. Relief washed over him like a tidal wave and he launched himself at the brunette girl and hugged her tight. With his arms around her, he could feel the fine trembling of her form. This had scared her badly.
Nearby the teacher and some of their classmates were lifting the heavy rod off another girl who hadn't been able to dodge in time. The girl was crying and in a lot of pain, but her injuries were far from life threatening. The teacher could tell her leg was badly injured, if not broken, and was taking her to the hospital to have it looked at.
Still holding Anzu, Yuugi carefully scrutinized the downed curtain rod, the supports looked sturdy enough. Why had it fallen?
x-x-x-x-x
The following Wednesday, Dartz and Hanasaki had an even nastier scare than Honda and Anzu had. The Atlantean couple had been going to a movie with their daughter when they were almost crushed. The family of three had been walking by a high-rise building when a cleaning scaffold came crashing to the ground just feet ahead of them. Had they not stopped to let Chris re-tie one of her shoes, they would have been killed.
Their run of bad luck even extended to Mai, who had a disturbing incident while waiting for a subway train. As the train was pulling into the station, she felt a hand give a hard push to the middle of her back. Had it not been for her own magic, she would have tumbled off the platform and onto the tracks below. Isis had tried to locate the perpetrator but they had mysteriously vanished without a trace.
With all these incidents plaguing them, the group of friends couldn't help but be a bit suspicious and their guardians were getting down-right out-and-out paranoid.
It wasn't until the incident involving Seto and Yuugi that they truly believed that someone was targeting them.
x-x-x-x-x
Weeks ago at the conference, Kaiba had run into Pegasus Crawford and the man had suggested that they host a tournament in Japan to cross-promote the upcoming booster packs for Duel Monsters and the newly updated Duel Disks. Knowing that a joint tournament with Industrial Illusions would be advantageous for Kaiba Corp, the young CEO had readily agreed.
Today Seto was having a press conference to announce the tournament before the live interview he and Yuugi were doing for late-night TV. At Jonouchi's suggestion, Yuugi and Atem had come to Kaiba Corp so that they could ride to the station together. Seto hadn't been too keen on the idea until Katsuya had reminded him that Mahaado and Kisara would be with them and neither ms-n hwi had any experience in dealing with the modern media. So in order to stave off a potential disaster, as Seto prepared to stand in front of the crowd of reporters outside the Kaiba Corp headquarters, the reigning King of Games and his lover stood alongside his brother and boyfriend off to one side.
Seeing the go-ahead signal from Isono, Mokuba gave Seto a quick hug for luck while Jou gave him a kiss before the brunet hikari stepped up to the podium.
Standing in front of all the snapping and flashing cameras, Kaiba gave them his best media smile while resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He knew, even without looking, that Mokuba and Katsuya were struggling not to laugh. He'd caught them doing it before and both of them had admitted to finding his "media face" hilarious.
Eventually the flashes slowed and the young CEO was able to begin. After making his announcement, he answered all the typical questions, both business-related and the inevitable relationship ones too. Like every press conference before, the background noise from the reporters was a constant drone, drowning out everything much like white noise. It was so loud that Seto barely registered the crack of the gunshots before he was being knocked to the ground as a warm body slammed onto his own. Twisting around, Seto was horrified to find that the body sprawled on top of him was his blond lover.
"Katsuya?!" he cried out, carefully shifting the unresponsive blond onto his back, then staring in horror at a growing patch of blood on the blond's chest.
"Kaiba-kun! Jonouchi-kun!" Yuugi cried out as he and Atem ran to his side.
Tearing off his jacket, Seto balled the fabric tightly and pressed it onto Jou's wound. Gods there was so much blood! "Call an ambulance!!" he roared while Yuugi cast a shield spell around the four of them in case the shooter was still in the area. Standing close-by, Mahaado and Kisara did the same for Mokuba, the dark mage scanning the crowd for further threats while the shifter tried to calm the terrified boy.
x-x-x-x-x
While Jonouchi was being rushed into surgery, Mokuba began making a series of frantic phone calls to their friends, informing them of where they were and what was going on. In the meantime, Seto was filling out the immense stack of paperwork he needed for Jou's admittance into the hospital while Yuugi and Atem spoke quietly with the police officers that had accompanied them. Seth stood silently nearby, offering support to both his light and his younger brother while trying desperately not to think of his husband's condition. He had left the Sennen Rod the instant they arrived at the hospital and after reappearing in a nearby bathroom had stormed out to join his family.
By the time Jonouchi's doctor came to give them an update on the blond's status, the waiting room was filled with teens all anxiously awaiting the news. He was happy to inform them that Jou's surgery had gone without a hitch and that his family could see him tonight and the rest of them could visit tomorrow.
Seto had no intention of leaving his wounded lover alone in a hospital, especially with someone making attempts on going after his life and had already made arrangements for his own security forces to remain here overnight. In addition, Seth was preparing a series of protective spells to cast on the blond and his room.
"Doctor, how soon could he be moved?" Seto asked, wanting the blond to be safely ensconced in their room at the mansion as soon as possible.
"With an injury like this, I would say forty-eight hours minimum, but I would prefer he not be moved at all," he answered not flinching under the icy, venomous glares he received from Seto and Seth.
"Glaring won't make me change my mind," the doctor retorted, fixing them both with a glare of his own. "I want Jonouchi-san to make a full recovery and the longer he stays in the hospital the better his chances are."
Knowing that belligerence would get him nowhere, Seto forced himself to calm and address the older man politely. "Doctor, I can assure you that I want nothing more than for Katsuya to return to his full health. I know you are aware of who I am, so you should also know that I can easily afford to have a full-time nurse at the mansion and my private physician is already on-call twenty-four hours a day."
Sighing, the doctor shook his head. He recognized the young CEO's stubborn determination and knew that the teen would go over his head if he had to. "Fine. I will check Jonouchi-san's progress in two days and if I feel he has healed sufficiently, I will release him to your private physician for the remainder of his care."
x-x-x-x-x
Seated next to his sleeping lover, Seth tenderly brushed a lock of Jou's blond hair behind his ear before taking hold of his hand again. Seto smiled softly at him from the other side of the bed, his own hand brushing lightly through Mokuba's spiky locks before returning to Jou's other hand.
Jonouchi had been awake when they had first come in and had endured their frightened ranting and lecturing good-naturedly until his nurse threatened to throw them out. Then the injured blond had to calm both his lovers AND his nurse while Mokuba watched on in amusement. Eventually Jou was able to make peace and his nurse, reassured that neither brunet would be quiet and not upset her charge, administered the blond's painkillers, knocking the teen out for the night.
Neither hikari nor yami had felt comfortable leaving Jonouchi alone and vulnerable for the night, even with Seth's protective spells, so Seto had convinced (read: threatened) the staff into allowing them to stay. Jou's nurse had even brought an extra blanket for Mokuba who had promptly curled up on the bed and fallen fast asleep, snuggled up against Jonouchi's uninjured side.
x-x-x-x-x
The next morning, everyone had arrived to visit Jou as early as visiting hours would allow. Due to occupancy restrictions, most of their friends only stayed for a few minutes before leaving to go to school. Jonouchi took their sympathy and scolding in stride, taking a little guilty pleasure from all their worry. It showed them just how much his friends cared for him. But he was also glad they weren't all staying. All that attention was tiring and he knew he wouldn't be able to handle it for long. Fortunately, the only ones that had stayed were Yuugi and Atem, who kept the conversation light for a bit before bringing up the attack.
"What were you thinking, blocking an attack with your body instead of using a re-direction spell?" Atem asked, staring levelly at the former guard. He'd thought his friend knew better.
The blond blushed embarrassedly under the gentle rebuke. "Well I just-"
"You just what?" Seto broke in, glaring at his boyfriend. "Thought that you could die in my place?"
"NO!" Jonouchi exclaimed in horror. How could Seto even entertain that thought?!
"I didn't think that! All I wanted to do was protect you so I reacted instinctively!"
Seeing the blond's stricken expression tore at his heart and drove the young CEO to pull his boyfriend into his arms, "I'm sorry, Katsuya."
"It's all right, I know ya were just upset," Jou replied, hugging the brunet hikari with his good arm.
"We are missing the primary concern here," Atem interrupted, getting everyone's attention. "We must learn the reason behind this attack. If it is connected in any way to the strange accidents our friends have been experiencing lately, then we are all in danger."
Seto shook his head dismissively, "I've had people try and kill me before."
"Not while you had potential enemies like ours," Seth argued, knowing what his cousin was getting at. "There are far worse things that fellow magic wielders can do to harm us as opposed to a disturbed or disgusted human."
"And you weren't the only target."
Seto stared at the other hikari in shock, "You mean you . . ?"
Yuugi nodded, "I was shot at too. If it hadn't been for Mahaado . . ."
"Why didn't you say anything before?!" Mokuba asked, staring worriedly at the small teen.
"You had enough to worry about and Yuugi was uninjured," Atem answered for him.
"We did report it to the police officers that came with us yesterday," Yuugi reassured them.
"I will have Mahaado and Kisara attempt to track down our would-be assassin. In the meantime, Jono should remain under guard until he heals enough to return to your home."
Seth and Seto nodded in agreement while Jonouchi grumbled under his breath about pushy, over-protective royalty.
"As for the rest of us, I suggest we remain vigilant. I spoke with the others last night and they agree; these accidents have been occurring far too often to be brushed off as coincidence."
-
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
July 30, 2010
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Part: 8/??
Author: Murasaki Rose
Beta: none
Genre: Romance/Fantasy/AU
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Yami Yuugi's real name
Warnings: Yaoi (male x male), implied Mpreg
Pairings: YYxY, SxJxS, DxT, YBxR, YMxM
Minor Pairings: BMGxA, BMxK, TxCxH, HxO, PxC, IxM, VxA
Disclaimer: Here we go. Yu-Gi-Oh and all its characters are the property of Kazuki Takahashi, Shueisha, Konami, Toei, and unfortunately, 4 Kids Entertainment. In other words, I don't own them and I'm not making any money off of this, I'm just a fangirl having some fun.
A/N: "text" = speech, 'text' = thought, ((text)) = telepathy
Summary: Sequel to Retrieving Destiny. Months after their fateful trip to Egypt, Yuugi and his friends have adjusted to life with their ancient soul mates. Things appear to be going well, until just weeks before graduation, a series of bizarre accidents and seemingly random attacks begin plaguing the lights and their protectors! When the teens learn the "accidents" were planned by the same ones responsible for the attacks, their ancient lovers are forced into action. In order to protect their mates, the yami must determine, not only the location of the "lost" city of Atlantis, but also the true fate of their entire species! With new enemies coming at them with increasing power at every turn, will they find the answers they need before it's too late?
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The following morning at school, Ryou and Malik told the others about their frightening, near-miss with the reckless driver. Their friends' reactions ranged from shocked and horrified to angry and outraged. (Kaiba was disappointed that they hadn't gotten a look at the license plate. He'd hoped to track the reckless bastard down.)
Neither Ryou nor Malik were really concerned about revenge though. The two hikari were just happy that talking about it with their friends helped to calm their nerves. It had the reverse effect on the yami, making them all anxious and edgy.
x-x-x-x-x
Later that day, their class had gym and the teens got to enjoy a rowdy game of basketball. Today the coaches had both the boys and the girls playing together so Yuugi and Hanasaki played cheerleader for Jonouchi, Honda, Malik, Kaiba, Ryou, and Anzu. With all their friends split between both teams, their cheers kept confusing their other classmates.
After the game, Honda ended up being one of the students charged with putting up the equipment. The teens quickly gathered all the balls and Honda volunteered to put away the cart. As he entered the dark storage room a fissure of unease rippled down his spine but he shook it off and continued further in. The uneasy feeling persisted and by the time the brunet hikari had reached the back of the room his danger senses were jangling wildly. Hurrying to leave the room, the soft sound of canvas sliding was the only warning he got before one of the dangerously high stacks of exercise mats collapsed on top of him! The force of the tumbling mats flattening him to the ground his head striking the floor hard enough to stun him in place.
Shaking his head to clear the fuzz, Honda suddenly realized that he was completely buried. 'What the hell!' he thought, trying to move his arms. Struggling under the weight, he quickly determined that it was going to take him quite a while to wiggle his way free. The sound of shifting canvas caught his attention again, this time above his head, where one of the mats had tipped off the top of the pile and was sliding straight for his neck. "Oh shit!" he cursed, struggling wildly to free one of his arms as the mat picked up speed.
SMACK!
A strong palm slapped against the mat stopping it in its tracks. "Man you've got to have the worst luck ever," Jonouchi quipped, grinning down at his trapped friend.
Minutes later, the blond ms-n hwi had freed the brunet hikari and was helping him to his feet.
"Thanks man. Death by suffocation was not on my "to do" list anytime soon."
"No problem," the blond replied. "Any idea how you managed to nearly get yourself killed in a closet?"
"It's not like I had anything to do with it!" the brunet exclaimed, punching Jou in the arm. "I didn't even touch them and the whole stack just collapsed on me."
x-x-x-x-x
Friday arrived and once more, Yuugi was in the auditorium watching the drama club rehearse their upcoming performance.
On stage Anzu and the other girls twisted and danced with abandonment, their joy infusing their every move, oblivious to everything but the music. Above them, the heavy theatre curtain that was swaying lightly in the breeze from the air conditioning, gave an ominous creak just before one of the supporting cables snapped! One of the stage hands yelled out in warning just as the remaining over-taxed cables gave in and the entire curtain and rod assembly came crashing down on the stage.
"ANZU!!" Yuugi screamed in horror as the curtain appeared to crash down on the girl he considered a sister. Running as fast as his legs could go, the small teen raced to his friend, vaulting onto the stage and reaching the girls even before the people backstage could.
To his immense relief, Anzu was fine, laying sprawled awkwardly where she had managed to fling herself a mere foot away from the heavy curtain rod. Relief washed over him like a tidal wave and he launched himself at the brunette girl and hugged her tight. With his arms around her, he could feel the fine trembling of her form. This had scared her badly.
Nearby the teacher and some of their classmates were lifting the heavy rod off another girl who hadn't been able to dodge in time. The girl was crying and in a lot of pain, but her injuries were far from life threatening. The teacher could tell her leg was badly injured, if not broken, and was taking her to the hospital to have it looked at.
Still holding Anzu, Yuugi carefully scrutinized the downed curtain rod, the supports looked sturdy enough. Why had it fallen?
x-x-x-x-x
The following Wednesday, Dartz and Hanasaki had an even nastier scare than Honda and Anzu had. The Atlantean couple had been going to a movie with their daughter when they were almost crushed. The family of three had been walking by a high-rise building when a cleaning scaffold came crashing to the ground just feet ahead of them. Had they not stopped to let Chris re-tie one of her shoes, they would have been killed.
Their run of bad luck even extended to Mai, who had a disturbing incident while waiting for a subway train. As the train was pulling into the station, she felt a hand give a hard push to the middle of her back. Had it not been for her own magic, she would have tumbled off the platform and onto the tracks below. Isis had tried to locate the perpetrator but they had mysteriously vanished without a trace.
With all these incidents plaguing them, the group of friends couldn't help but be a bit suspicious and their guardians were getting down-right out-and-out paranoid.
It wasn't until the incident involving Seto and Yuugi that they truly believed that someone was targeting them.
x-x-x-x-x
Weeks ago at the conference, Kaiba had run into Pegasus Crawford and the man had suggested that they host a tournament in Japan to cross-promote the upcoming booster packs for Duel Monsters and the newly updated Duel Disks. Knowing that a joint tournament with Industrial Illusions would be advantageous for Kaiba Corp, the young CEO had readily agreed.
Today Seto was having a press conference to announce the tournament before the live interview he and Yuugi were doing for late-night TV. At Jonouchi's suggestion, Yuugi and Atem had come to Kaiba Corp so that they could ride to the station together. Seto hadn't been too keen on the idea until Katsuya had reminded him that Mahaado and Kisara would be with them and neither ms-n hwi had any experience in dealing with the modern media. So in order to stave off a potential disaster, as Seto prepared to stand in front of the crowd of reporters outside the Kaiba Corp headquarters, the reigning King of Games and his lover stood alongside his brother and boyfriend off to one side.
Seeing the go-ahead signal from Isono, Mokuba gave Seto a quick hug for luck while Jou gave him a kiss before the brunet hikari stepped up to the podium.
Standing in front of all the snapping and flashing cameras, Kaiba gave them his best media smile while resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He knew, even without looking, that Mokuba and Katsuya were struggling not to laugh. He'd caught them doing it before and both of them had admitted to finding his "media face" hilarious.
Eventually the flashes slowed and the young CEO was able to begin. After making his announcement, he answered all the typical questions, both business-related and the inevitable relationship ones too. Like every press conference before, the background noise from the reporters was a constant drone, drowning out everything much like white noise. It was so loud that Seto barely registered the crack of the gunshots before he was being knocked to the ground as a warm body slammed onto his own. Twisting around, Seto was horrified to find that the body sprawled on top of him was his blond lover.
"Katsuya?!" he cried out, carefully shifting the unresponsive blond onto his back, then staring in horror at a growing patch of blood on the blond's chest.
"Kaiba-kun! Jonouchi-kun!" Yuugi cried out as he and Atem ran to his side.
Tearing off his jacket, Seto balled the fabric tightly and pressed it onto Jou's wound. Gods there was so much blood! "Call an ambulance!!" he roared while Yuugi cast a shield spell around the four of them in case the shooter was still in the area. Standing close-by, Mahaado and Kisara did the same for Mokuba, the dark mage scanning the crowd for further threats while the shifter tried to calm the terrified boy.
x-x-x-x-x
While Jonouchi was being rushed into surgery, Mokuba began making a series of frantic phone calls to their friends, informing them of where they were and what was going on. In the meantime, Seto was filling out the immense stack of paperwork he needed for Jou's admittance into the hospital while Yuugi and Atem spoke quietly with the police officers that had accompanied them. Seth stood silently nearby, offering support to both his light and his younger brother while trying desperately not to think of his husband's condition. He had left the Sennen Rod the instant they arrived at the hospital and after reappearing in a nearby bathroom had stormed out to join his family.
By the time Jonouchi's doctor came to give them an update on the blond's status, the waiting room was filled with teens all anxiously awaiting the news. He was happy to inform them that Jou's surgery had gone without a hitch and that his family could see him tonight and the rest of them could visit tomorrow.
Seto had no intention of leaving his wounded lover alone in a hospital, especially with someone making attempts on going after his life and had already made arrangements for his own security forces to remain here overnight. In addition, Seth was preparing a series of protective spells to cast on the blond and his room.
"Doctor, how soon could he be moved?" Seto asked, wanting the blond to be safely ensconced in their room at the mansion as soon as possible.
"With an injury like this, I would say forty-eight hours minimum, but I would prefer he not be moved at all," he answered not flinching under the icy, venomous glares he received from Seto and Seth.
"Glaring won't make me change my mind," the doctor retorted, fixing them both with a glare of his own. "I want Jonouchi-san to make a full recovery and the longer he stays in the hospital the better his chances are."
Knowing that belligerence would get him nowhere, Seto forced himself to calm and address the older man politely. "Doctor, I can assure you that I want nothing more than for Katsuya to return to his full health. I know you are aware of who I am, so you should also know that I can easily afford to have a full-time nurse at the mansion and my private physician is already on-call twenty-four hours a day."
Sighing, the doctor shook his head. He recognized the young CEO's stubborn determination and knew that the teen would go over his head if he had to. "Fine. I will check Jonouchi-san's progress in two days and if I feel he has healed sufficiently, I will release him to your private physician for the remainder of his care."
x-x-x-x-x
Seated next to his sleeping lover, Seth tenderly brushed a lock of Jou's blond hair behind his ear before taking hold of his hand again. Seto smiled softly at him from the other side of the bed, his own hand brushing lightly through Mokuba's spiky locks before returning to Jou's other hand.
Jonouchi had been awake when they had first come in and had endured their frightened ranting and lecturing good-naturedly until his nurse threatened to throw them out. Then the injured blond had to calm both his lovers AND his nurse while Mokuba watched on in amusement. Eventually Jou was able to make peace and his nurse, reassured that neither brunet would be quiet and not upset her charge, administered the blond's painkillers, knocking the teen out for the night.
Neither hikari nor yami had felt comfortable leaving Jonouchi alone and vulnerable for the night, even with Seth's protective spells, so Seto had convinced (read: threatened) the staff into allowing them to stay. Jou's nurse had even brought an extra blanket for Mokuba who had promptly curled up on the bed and fallen fast asleep, snuggled up against Jonouchi's uninjured side.
x-x-x-x-x
The next morning, everyone had arrived to visit Jou as early as visiting hours would allow. Due to occupancy restrictions, most of their friends only stayed for a few minutes before leaving to go to school. Jonouchi took their sympathy and scolding in stride, taking a little guilty pleasure from all their worry. It showed them just how much his friends cared for him. But he was also glad they weren't all staying. All that attention was tiring and he knew he wouldn't be able to handle it for long. Fortunately, the only ones that had stayed were Yuugi and Atem, who kept the conversation light for a bit before bringing up the attack.
"What were you thinking, blocking an attack with your body instead of using a re-direction spell?" Atem asked, staring levelly at the former guard. He'd thought his friend knew better.
The blond blushed embarrassedly under the gentle rebuke. "Well I just-"
"You just what?" Seto broke in, glaring at his boyfriend. "Thought that you could die in my place?"
"NO!" Jonouchi exclaimed in horror. How could Seto even entertain that thought?!
"I didn't think that! All I wanted to do was protect you so I reacted instinctively!"
Seeing the blond's stricken expression tore at his heart and drove the young CEO to pull his boyfriend into his arms, "I'm sorry, Katsuya."
"It's all right, I know ya were just upset," Jou replied, hugging the brunet hikari with his good arm.
"We are missing the primary concern here," Atem interrupted, getting everyone's attention. "We must learn the reason behind this attack. If it is connected in any way to the strange accidents our friends have been experiencing lately, then we are all in danger."
Seto shook his head dismissively, "I've had people try and kill me before."
"Not while you had potential enemies like ours," Seth argued, knowing what his cousin was getting at. "There are far worse things that fellow magic wielders can do to harm us as opposed to a disturbed or disgusted human."
"And you weren't the only target."
Seto stared at the other hikari in shock, "You mean you . . ?"
Yuugi nodded, "I was shot at too. If it hadn't been for Mahaado . . ."
"Why didn't you say anything before?!" Mokuba asked, staring worriedly at the small teen.
"You had enough to worry about and Yuugi was uninjured," Atem answered for him.
"We did report it to the police officers that came with us yesterday," Yuugi reassured them.
"I will have Mahaado and Kisara attempt to track down our would-be assassin. In the meantime, Jono should remain under guard until he heals enough to return to your home."
Seth and Seto nodded in agreement while Jonouchi grumbled under his breath about pushy, over-protective royalty.
"As for the rest of us, I suggest we remain vigilant. I spoke with the others last night and they agree; these accidents have been occurring far too often to be brushed off as coincidence."
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July 30, 2010
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