Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Psyche ❯ Ties ( Chapter 9 )

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki.Takahashi, who is a genius. Everything that isn't his or someone else's is mine.

 

This is the third part of the Chrysalis series. You will enjoy this more if you read Chrysalis and Emergence first. You will get lost!

 

AAN: (Annoyed Author's Note) While I admit, I am not the world's best author and my stories could use some polish, especially in grammar, I am not responsible for readers' bad reading habits. If you skip things in the story because “It's boring,” don't complain if you can't figure out what's going on. Contrary to what you may believe, it is obvious when someone is skipping things, then leaving completely clueless reviews. All I have to do is look at the reviews of people who ARE reading the story, and compare them to the reviews of people who obviously are not reading it. This is a complicated story, with a complicated plot. I put things in the story for a reason, not because I like to waste space. Do all of us both a favor, if you don't like reading a complicated story, don't read it. I am not going to waste anymore space trying to clue in the clueless. End of rant. To all of you who do read the whole story and review it: I really appreciate all of you. I carefully read all the reviews I get and, in some fashion, do tailor the story for you (not the plot, just the pacing, and sometimes I shift some details to make things clearer if you all sound confused). I consider all your comments, wishes and criticisms, when I write, hoping to become a better writer for all of you. As I have said before, I am writing this not just for me, but for you too, so I do pay close attention to everything that you say. I sincerely thank you for reading my stories and spending a minute or two to review them!

 

Psyche

Chapter 9: Ties

~*~*~*

Kaiba

~*~*~*

 

Kaiba sat at his desk, thanking Yami silently for handing him a set of ear plugs. His new assistant's voice was enough to make is ears want to detach and run. He couldn't fault what she was saying, though. She was easily one of the best assistants that he'd ever had.

 

The files on the acquisition of a small software firm in Tokyo were meticulous, with all the paperwork needed present, filled out, placed in order and ready for him to review. A dramatic change from having to stalk through the corridors of Kaiba Corp. searching for wandering paperwork, snarling at inept handling of simple forms, or having to decipher the scrawled, often out of order notes that usually were hastily jammed into unlabeled file folders.

 

The voice though was enough to make him shudder at the thought of what else his little treasure had hired for him. He even, briefly, very briefly, considered reprimanding her, gently. Not that he would ever do that. No. That might give her ideas, encourage her to continue her quest to join the ranks of the employment challenged.

 

“Should I set up a meeting for the 15th?” The voice pounded into his head.

 

He made a mental note to buy a better brand of earplugs. “Schedule it with Jame. She'll make all the necessary arrangements.”

 

His new assistant frowned, but got to her feet and glided elegantly out of the room. He sat behind his desk frowning at the door. Voice lessons. Note to self: Get your new assistant to sign up for voice lessons… Maybe under the guise of … presentations. Yes, she will be needed to give presentations and will need to learn to…project her voice. Not that it doesn't project now. How about saying that she needs to be able to… project in a crowded outdoor setting? Hmmm.

 

He whirled around in his chair staring out the window behind him. It was slightly overcast today. The bay was slate grey and the boats that usually skimmed around it, were huddled at the docks. Only the large freighters ploddingly lumbered through the dull waves. Jo would have taken one look at the clouds and cheerfully scampered off to the arcade today, if he was here.

 

Kaiba shook his head with a sad smile. Odd, it didn't hurt as much now. Somehow, all the frantic worry, the numbing terror, the nearly hopeless desperation were gone. He didn't know how, or why. They were just gone, as if something had snapped, and set him free. In their place was something else, something just as consuming, but cleaner. Grief and love. While they wrapped around him like an old wool coat, they didn't crush him. They didn't destroy or devour. They showed him Jo in a thousand little ways, like bright clear jewels glittering through his mind. They let him treasure those little memories, let him weep for them, but left him his true self.

 

They also demanded things of him. First, take care of family, and because of Jo, because of the love he had for his lost lover, his family had expanded to take in Jo's tired, worn down father and his wayward sister.

 

He reached over hand hit the intercom. “Jame, I need legal in my office. Now.”

 

“You have an appointment with R&D in twenty.” She sounded a bit miffed.

 

He grinned, finding small ways to disrupt her carefully organized world was starting to have a certain…appeal. “Reschedule. Get legal here now.”

 

He could almost hear her teeth grind together. “Fine. Right away.”

 

He clicked the intercom off and leaned back in his chair, looking back out at the bay. “You always said I needed a hobby, love.” He smiled at the memory of Jonouchi's laughter.

 

~*~*~*

Ryou

~*~*~*

The game shop was quiet. Most of the after school customers had scampered quickly home, to get out of the muggy, overcast day. A couple of wilting souls had wandered in earlier, drowsily poked around, bought Performance of Sword and dragged themselves back out into the humidity.

 

Yugi, sitting behind the counter, luxuriating in air conditioned comfort, worried about what his fellow hikari told him. “He won't explain anything?”

 

“Nothing.” Ryou swirled his iced tea around in his glass with a spoon, listening to the soft clink of the ice against the sides of the glass. “He just shows up like… like… that and won't tell me what happened. He's rarely home. He doesn't even watch his soap anymore.”

 

Yugi's eyes widened. “Then he doesn't know about…” He looked furtively around, and leaned across the counter to whisper, “Jessica's baby?”

 

Ryou shook his head. “We taped it, but he hasn't watched the tape yet.” He slumped dispiritedly. “I couldn't even tell him that Tad was sent to a mental ward after speaking with Meredith's ghost.”

 

Yugi shook his head sadly. “That's serious.”

 

“It was the only thing we really bonded over.” Ryou's soft, brown eyes teared up. “And he's getting violent again. Yesterday, I got a package in the mail and he yanked it out of my hands, and when I tried to get it back.” Ryou flinched. “He started yelling and shoved me into a wall.”

 

“I could talk to Yami…” Yugi worried at his lip.

 

“No. I don't… He apologized immediately.” Ryou shook his head, then looked thoughtful. “Honestly, Yugi, I think he's frightened of something. But what could scare my Yami?”

 

“I didn't think Bakura could be scared. Well, except for that time Marik swore he'd lock Bakura in a room with Mokuba and a thousand pixie sticks.” Yugi grinned slightly at the memory.

 

Ryou nodded and sipped his tea. “He said something about the Millennium Eye.”

 

“The Eye?” Yugi sat up straighter. “What about the Eye.”

 

“He was in his room, really tearing the place apart and he yelled for me. When I went up he asked if I had seen the Eye. He said he lost it.” Ryou looked away.

 

Yugi looked at him shocked. “He had the Eye?”

 

“I guess so.” Ryou studied his iced tea intently. “He was really upset and told me that I had to stay away from it, that it was dangerous.”

 

Yugi nodded. “From what Yami told me, it is. It belonged to his uncle and he said that it drove his uncle crazy.”

 

Ryou sipped more of his tea. “Bakura went to talk to Pegasus about it and when he got back he started going out late… Do you think, maybe, the Eye is doing something to him?”

 

Yugi looked off into the distance for a few moments, then shook his head. “No. Yami says no. Bakura is bound to the Ring, so the Eye can't really do too much to him on it's own. It would need to have someone holding it to even affect Bakura a little bit, and even then it would only be able to read his mind or send him to the Shadow Realm.”

 

Ryou sighed in relief. “Well, that's good to know. He doesn't really have that much on his mind worth reading, and he likes the Shadow Realm.”

 

“So the question is, what is he worried about?” Yugi leaned against the counter, propping his chin on his hand. “What could the Eye really do?”

 

Feeling a bit better, Ryou shrugged. “Ask Yami.”

 

Yugi shook his head. “He won't say. When I asked him about what the Eye could do to Bakura, there was a feeling, like he didn't really want to talk to me about something.”

 

“Oh, one of those things.” Ryou set his tea on the counter.

 

“Yeah, one of those I'm-A-Yami-And-I-Have-To-Protect-My-Fragile-Hikari things.” Yugi snorted “This from the guy who freaked over finding himself wearing a paper dress in a doctors office.”

 

Ryou snickered, “I still like to watch that…”

 

He was interrupted by the phone ringing. Yugi shook his head, held up one finger to tell Ryou it would only take a moment, and picked up the receiver. “Kame Game Shop, how… Oh, Kaiba, how are…No, I …” Yugi looked alarmed. “I'll tell Yami. Can you… okay.” He hung up the phone, looking bewildered.

 

Ryou reached out and touched his arm. “Yugi? What…”

“Mokuba, he's missing.”

 

~*~*~*

Yami

~*~*~*

 

Why am I not surprised the Thief had the Eye? I swear to Ra, he's like being around a sticky fingered kid in a candy shop. Yami scowled at where the white haired thief, who was sprawled lazily across the sofa in Ryou's apartment.

 

“… the roach hit me in the face and I couldn't see anything.” Bakura waved his long fingered, tanned hand around dramatically.

 

While it was fascinating to hear about the lifestyles of the weird and depressed, Yami was more worried about what the thief was leaving out. Mainly, the entire part about why he was roaming around the gloomiest parts of Domino City. If the Eye was missing, then someone, someplace, might fall victim to it, and with all the chaos that they were presently dealing with, having another crazed loony like Pegasus, just didn't appeal. However, they really didn't have time to go hunt the thing down.

 

“…that's when I realized that I had my old body back.”

 

Marik looked up from where he was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the couch, snorted. “I thought you were cuter before.”

 

“You can't believe how relieved I am to hear that.” Bakura flicked Marik's ear. “Maybe now you can go back to ogling your hikari.”

 

“But you were so fun to ogle.” Marik grinned sadistically. “The way you blushed. The way you threatened my life.” He wiped away a fake tear. “You were just so adorable.”

 

“Go fuck yourself with a axe.” Bakura snarled lazily.

 

“Perverted sex life aside,” Yami pulled himself up from lolling in an overstuffed armchair. “We need to go up to where Jonouchi was killed and investigate the area soon.”

 

Marik nodded. “I can probably head up there tonight, but who'll stay and watch our lights?”

 

Bakura yawned. “I'll stay. I still have a bit of searching to do here.”

 

“For the Eye.” Yami watched as Bakura made an almost unnoticeable jump.

 

“How…” Bakura glared at the pharaoh.

 

“You've been worrying Ryou, so he went to Yugi, who asked me about what the Eye could do.” Yami got to his feet. “Look for the Eye later. We're busy enough as it is.”

 

Bakura narrowed his eyes. “Get your head out of your ass pharaoh. I'm betting the Eye is our present troubles.”

 

“What the fuck would…” Yami growled, prowling toward the thief.

 

Marik, eyeing the two other yamis, grinned happily, scooped up a bowl of popcorn that had been sitting on the coffee table and retreated to the sidelines to watch the show.

 

“Pegasus.” Bakura stood up. “If what he said is true, the Eye might be self aware and a Millennium Item that can think for itself is not something that I want roving around.”

 

“The attacks have focused mainly on Kaiba.” Yami stopped, still glaring, but also tipping his head thoughtfully as Bakura continued. “And who did Pegasus target last time? Sure, dear, old Grandpa got his soul sucked out, but let's really take a look. The whole attack centered around Kaiba. Pegs was after Kaiba Corp., he tried to kill Kaiba, he sealed Mokuba's soul into a card and taunted Kaiba with his brother's soulless body, then he took Kaiba's soul. Ego deflating as it is, you and Gramps were nothing more than a sick diversion, while he was taking apart Kaiba's life.”

 

“True. The Eye needs a wielder, though. No matter if it can think for itself or not, it can't do much without someone to work through.” Yami still looked at Bakura, but his eyes were lost in thought.

 

“Yeah, that's where my whole theory falls apart. The thing was locked away, and believe me, no thief in this era could have taken it. I can't figure out where it went or how it went there.” Bakura eyed the pharaoh warily, but the other seemed still lost in his own mind.

 

Marik, seeing his entertainment sputter and die, chomped a mouthful of popcorn. “If it can think for itself, could it have the ability to move by itself?”

 

“How roll itself out of the locked box? Roll down the stairs, sneak past me and Ryou and roll out the door.” The white haired yami shook his head. “I can just see it now, rolling merrily down the sidewalk, plotting to destroy Kaiba's life. Maybe it stopped at Starbucks and had a Mochachino while it called a group of whacked out assassins on it's cell phone.”

 

“Sarcasm,” Marik sighed dramatically, “you were cuter when you were sarcastic in the other body. I just loved that little sneer you'd get on those sweet little lips of yours.”

 

“I wonder what would happen if we gelded you with your own Rod.” Bakura thumped back down onto the sofa.

 

Yami pulled himself out of his musings. “So the Eye is after Kaiba.”

 

“Nice that you agree with me.” Bakura smirked.

 

Yami shrugged, “You occasionally say something intelligent. Remind me to write this down someplace. I've been keeping track.” He sat back down in the armchair. “You used to say something smart about once a week, you've slipped lately to once every three months. I think your brain's decaying.”

 

“Gee, feel the love.” Marik chomped more popcorn.

 

“Alright, then Bakura stays here and keeps an eye on the lights and searches for the Millennium Eye. Marik and I will go up to the cabin and see what we find up there.” Yami nodded thoughtfully. “If Kaiba is being targeted by the Eye, then we should probably watch him and Mokuba too.”

 

“Humph. He's not our responsibility.” Bakura grabbed the bowl from Marik and took a handful of popcorn. “Let him get his own yami.”

 

Yami shook his head. Something was nagging at him, a feeling. “I'd rather not have to deal with Seth. How did Anzu once put this, reverse PMS? Only nice one week a month.”

 

YAMI! The mental yell was loud enough to tumble him off his chair. Yami, you have to come home! They have Mokuba!

 

Marik, glowering over the loss of his treat, watched as the pharaoh hit the floor and the thief winced, holding his head. Retrieving his bowl, he started tossing one fluffy kernel into his mouth at a time as the two other yamis, with pained looks on their faces, stared off into space. That's what happens when you don't tell your hikari to use a phone. Great things cell phones. You can give one to your light, get great sex for doing it, and never have to worry about sudden nagging headaches.

 

“Well, so much for keeping an eye on the little Kaiba.” Bakura rubbed his temples.

 

“Marik, come on. We've got to get to the store.” Yami wobbled to his feet.

 

“Why should I?” Marik clutched his popcorn, and pouted. It wasn't that he really felt like pouting like a stupid child, but he loved the look on the pharaoh's face when he did something like this. It was almost as priceless as flirting with Bakura. The two older yamis really needed to lighten up.

 

Bakura grabbed him and hauled him towards the door. “You get to be babysitter, while we big people go track down that damn Eye.”

 

~*~*~*

Kaiba

~*~*~*

 

I can't let them take Mokie. I won't have anything. Jo's gone, my parents are gone, even Yuai is missing, and now Mokie. I can't let them take him. It's my fault, if anything happens to him, it's my fault. I can't let them hurt him, when I'm the one who should be hurt. Oh, gods, it's all my fault. I'm sorry Jo. I'm sorry Mokie. I'll get you back. I can't let them have you. They can have me, but I can't let them take you away. His mind chased itself around and around, as Kaiba watched the world outside the limo windows slip past. He'd be at the game shop soon. He just had to hold on for a few more minutes. Then he'd surrender. He gave up. It was over. He'd roll over like the pathetic fool he was, and let Yami take over and save his worthless hide…again. He was just so tired.

 

He had actually had the nerve to think that nothing more could happen. That with Jo's death, all the troubles that had been chasing him around for months were finished. He had honestly, and arrogantly, believed that he once again had control of his life. There would be no more Shadow Magic nonsense. He could go back to work and deal with the controlled insanity that passed for Kaiba Corp.. He could rebuild what pathetic shards of his life still remained and deal with whatever future was still open to him.

 

It had taken less then three minutes for that naïve illusion to be blown to pieces. Kado's voice, sounding as close to panic as he'd ever heard it, had yanked him back to reality. In three minutes, Kado had told him about the armed man, who had blasted his way through Mokuba's school, killed three of the body guards that had been assigned to his brother, shot two school security guards, murdered the teacher, and grabbed his brother. The only good to come out of this mess was that the one surviving body guard had doggedly followed the kidnapper. Once he found Yami, he could turn the mess over to him, before he, in his moronic, inept arrogance, managed to kill the only thing left in his life that kept him from taking the express way down from Kaiba Corp.'s roof.

 

The limo slowed to a stop in front of the game shop. The sign on the door had been flipped to closed, but he could see a group of people moving around inside. As the driver opened the door, Kaiba dragged himself out of his seat. It wouldn't be long now, just a few more steps and it would be over. He stepped out of the limo, nodded absently to the driver and walked toward the door. He didn't even have time to lift his hand to knock before Yugi opened the door and crushed him into a hug.

 

“Kaiba! We've been so worried. Hurry and get inside. We're all here.” The little light was nearly crying into his shirt.

 

Kaiba nodded mutely and let Yugi haul him inside, just to be nearly decked by a weeping Ryou.

 

“Are you okay? We tried to call your cell, but you didn't answer.” Tears leaked down Ryou's face. “Bakura and Yami are getting ready. Here, wear this.” He pulled out what looked to be a shoestring necklace with the toe of a sock tied on the end. “It's supposed to protect you from Shadow Magic.”

 

Kaiba let him put the thing on. He didn't care. If wearing the toe of a sock was what Yami wanted him to do, he'd do it. It wasn't like he'd come up with any great ideas. “Thanks.”

 

Malik came down the stairs, and some corner of Kaiba's mind silently gave thanks that the third hikari didn't hug him and cry on his shirt. The violet eyed blond did look anxiously at the CEO, but seemed more interested in scooping up a small pile of origami paper that sat on the counter. “They're almost done. Since Kaiba's here, we need to all go upstairs. They only placed the wards around the apartment.”

 

Ryou, still wrapped around Kaiba, nodded soggily. “Okay.” He looked up at Kaiba, giving him one more quick squeeze before letting him go. “Don't worry. Our yamis aren't going to let anyone hurt Mokuba.”

 

Kaiba refrained from saying that they hadn't managed to save Jo from months of torture or being tossed into a river and killed. How could he, when he was the one who had been so arrogantly sure he could save Jo all by himself? How could he? Maybe if he had just turned the whole mess over the Yami the second Jo disappeared, if he'd handed Yami all the information that his detectives had gathered, if he'd swallowed his damn pride and begged for the pharaoh to help him search, maybe Jo would be home right now, and Mokie would be at school pretending to listen to the history teacher drone on about The Tale of Genji.

 

“Ready?” Bakura strode down the stairs, his blue eyes still gleaming from residual magic.

 

Kaiba nodded, “The limo's out side.” Yugi and Ryou scampered up the stairs, as Yami came down to stand next to Bakura. Kaiba bowed his head, looking down at his shoes, not finding it in himself to meet the ancient spirit's eyes. “What do you want me to do?”

 

“We'll know when we get there.” Yami walked across the shop and pulled open the door. “Let's go. The sooner we get Mokuba back, the sooner this whole nightmare will be over. Do you know where he's been taken?”

 

“Yes, the guard is still tailing them. It's a house over on the east side of the city, near the old shrine.” Kaiba dully followed the two yamis out the door, wondering if he should even go along. He didn't have the best track record for these rescues. Whenever he tried, the situation got worse and someone either had to save his useless ass or wound up dead.

 

The two spirits, however, seemed to take it for granted that he'd be coming, so he followed after them into the limo. As they spent the trip speaking to each other in stings of rapid Egyptian, that some linguist or Egyptologist would merrily kill to hear, he kept his mouth shut and waited for them to tell him what he needed to do. He was distantly interested in noting he could understand a few words here and there. He couldn't quite grasp the whole conversation, but what he could understand was either about someone's red kitten being folded, or someone's eye had run away. Since neither really made sense to him, he went back to watching out the window, letting their voices wash over him.

 

The neighborhood was a small twisty street that wound up the side of steep hill. High walls surrounded the houses, enclosing small gardens and presenting the street with grim, grey concrete walls. The houses, for the main part were one story buildings, with large front windows that faced into their private gardens, and flat rooftops. A few twisted, ornamental trees peeked over the tops of the stern walls as if waving frantically for help.

 

A block away from their destination, Mokuba's surviving body guard, sat in his car keeping a careful surveillance of the house. As they pulled up behind him and got out, he walked over to the limo.

 

“There's been no activity since my last report, Mr. Kaiba. Everything looks quiet.” The man glanced appraisingly at the two spirits, then shifted his attention back to his employer. “No one has entered or left the property.”

 

Kaiba nodded, and turned to see if Yami had anything for him to do yet.

 

“I'll go take a look.” Bakura slipped off down a small alley and disappeared with amazing suddenness.

 

Yami nodded absently as he looked at the walls that surrounded the house. “You only saw one man?”

 

The guard nodded, “Yes. I couldn't see if there was anyone in the house when they arrived, but there was only one man with Mokuba in the get away vehicle.”

 

Yami pursed his lips thoughtfully together. “We'll wait to see what Bakura finds.”

 

Kaiba shifted impatiently, then quieted himself. It wasn't his decision. It was Yami's and if the ancient spirit said to wait, he'd have to wait.

 

He bowed his head and looked down at the sidewalk. Surrender. He'd fought it for so long, but now that he'd laid down his defenses and given up, it was almost peaceful. He didn't have to fight, or struggle, or desperately cobble together a plan. He could just wait, till someone better suited for these situations thought the whole thing over and told him what he needed to do.

 

Yami looked over at him. “You've been quiet.”

 

Kaiba looked up at him, questioningly, but kept his mouth shut. He'd have to practice that. It would be easy for him to say something sarcastic, something arrogant. For far too long, his own mouth had alienated everyone around him, and he couldn't risk it driving away the one person that could save Mokuba, so he stayed quiet, wondering why Yami made the comment.

 

Yami carefully studied Kaiba's eyes. He didn't like the look in them. Jo had once said all you needed to know about Kaiba was in his eyes. His soul was reflected there, and if you looked, you could see everything the brunette tried to keep hidden. Right now, they were a dead, dull blue, the color of frost burnt ground in the heart of winter. Too much, too quick. He had no time to recover from having his mind ripped open from the shadow spell, then Jo died, and now this. I wonder if he's even sane anymore. “Tomorrow, you and Mokuba should take a vacation.”

 

Kaiba nodded and returned to his inspection of the sidewalk. Tomorrow was tomorrow. He'd have to get through today first. Still, if that's what the spirit thought he should do, he'd look into it. He idly let his mind wander through the possible places to go, not really paying much attention when Bakura slithered back to them, brushing a stray leaf out of his white hair.

 

“Just the two of them.” The thief nodded over his shoulder. “Should be easy enough. The kid's in the back room and the twit's in the front.” He made a disgusted sound in his throat. “There's even a window open at the back. With a small diversion, we can snatch the kid and be out before the moron figures out that we're there.”

 

“Any sign of the Eye?” Yami tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the roof of the limo.

 

“I didn't get close enough to the twit to check.” Bakura shook his head.

 

“Fine.” Yami motioned to the guard, “You will be the diversion. Give us five minutes, then go to the front of the house and pretend to sneak around. Make sure he can see you.” The guard nodded as Yami continued. “Bakura, try to find the Eye, and if we need more distraction, be distracting.” Bakura flowed away like a liquid shadow, as Yami turned to Kaiba. “We get Mokuba.”

 

Kaiba nodded and followed as Yami slipped down the alley, trotted down a tiny back street, where a small brown cat glared at them from behind a pile of dead tree limbs, and stopped behind a wall. Yami lightly leaped to the top and waved Kaiba to come join him. He didn't manage it with Yami's effortless grace, but he managed to haul himself up.

 

The house was a square, light green building made of concrete, with two white rimmed windows facing toward them. A carefully mowed lawn with a couple of stunted bushes stretched between the wall and the house. To one side a cracked concrete walk marched down the side of the house and the other was lost in a tangle of an old gardenia bush.

 

“There's the window.” Yami whispered into his ear, pointing to the window on the right. “It's time for the distraction to begin. Let's get over there and get to Mokuba. You go in and get him. I'll be keeping watch outside. If anything goes wrong, get as close to the window as possible and I'll deal with the rest.”

 

Kaiba nodded and whispered back. “If something goes wrong, take care of Mokuba. I'll worry about myself.”

 

“Kaiba…” Yami started, but Kaiba shook his head.

 

“This is the only thing I ask. Take care of my brother.” Kaiba jumped down from the wall before Yami could answer him.

 

He could hear the spirit hiss at his back. “Fine…stubborn…”

 

They quickly darted across the yard to the window and checked inside. The room was empty, except for Mokuba, who was irritably picking at a handcuff that shackled him to a rather rickety looking metal cot. It appeared that the kid had nearly dismantled the headboard the cuffs were looped through and was trying to work the cuffs' chain between the gap he'd created in the bars. Kaiba smiled to himself. Not bad, considering his brother's hands were cuffed behind his back.

 

“Come on, come on.” The black haired boy whispered to himself, glancing occasionally at the door. The man had dragged him in here an hour ago and hadn't come back since. A small squeak from the window caught his attention and he looked over in time to see his brother slip through the window. Yami peeked in after him, winked, then disappeared. “Seto!”

 

His brother put his finger to his lips, silencing him, then looked quickly out the door before coming over and giving him a quick hug. “I'll get you free, then we go out the window.” He whispered, pulling the bed frame farther apart, allowing the cuffs to slip free.

 

Mokuba nodded, and quickly scampered to the window. He paused as a sudden gunshot rang through the house. The man in the front started yelling, then more gunshots.

 

Kaiba shoved Mokuba from behind and hustled him toward the window. “The guard is out front distracting him.”

 

Mokuba shivered, but Kaiba scooped the child up and tossed him out the window as more gunshots and running feet approached the room. “Yami, get him out of here!”

 

“Kaiba!”

 

“No, big brother!”

 

“I'll be fine. I can get out the other way. Go!”

 

As the man dove into the room, Kaiba ducked to the side, trying to get out of the direct line of fire. The man turned to him, grinned, winked and aimed a few shots out the window. Through the now shattered glass, he could see the pharaoh and his brother disappear over the wall.

 

“Hello, Kaiba. I was expecting you.” The man smiled happily at him, lazily waving the gun around. “I really expected you to be by yourself, but, hey, this works. I've got a message for you, “Enjoy hell.”

~*~*~*

 

Bakura slipped out the kitchen window as the first shots rang. He'd taken one look around at what was pinned to the walls and decided that he could look for the damn Eye later. He was up, over the wall and jogging quickly towards the limo, absently noting the limping guard that seemed to be leaving a trail of blood behind him. A moment later the pharaoh raced around the corner dragging Mokuba with him.

 

“We have to go back! Big brother is still in there!” The kid was writhing and twisting in Yami's grip.

 

Bakura turned to look over his shoulder at the house. “Kaiba's still in there. Shit!”

 

“I'm sure he can take care of himself.” Yami pulled Mokuba over to the thief. “Can you take the cuffs off?”

 

“Fuck the cuffs, we've got to get the hell out of here.” Bakura grabbed the staggering guard and shoved him into the limo.

 

“We'll wait for…” Yami scowled.

 

“That house was wired with enough explosive to level this block. Shit. Kaiba had better be out of there and taking shelter.” The white haired yami snarled grabbing Mokuba and shoving him toward the limo.

 

For a half second, there was a sudden, terrible silence, then a wave of sound, force, heat and magic slammed through the neighborhood. Bakura was flung forward onto Mokuba, both flattened to the ground by the blast. Yami was thrown back against a wall, cracking the back of his head against it with enough force to black out the world.

 

Then it was gone. Bakura picked himself up, still shaken. He wasn't sure if the physical blast or the magical one had been worse. He liked to say that he was darkness incarnate, but the wave of foulness that had crashed him to the ground was far darker than he was. Compared to that, he felt as light and innocent as Ryou.

 

Mokuba rolled over, still partially stunned, and looked back at the flaming wreck that had been a house a few seconds before. “Big brother…”

 

~*~*~*

 

Kaiba opened his eyes and looked around at the shifting shadows that surrounded him. He didn't bother trying to get up. He sighed and closed his eyes. The Shadow Realm. Yami said he needed a vacation and, though he would have like a nicer place, with Mokuba, he was content enough. His brother was safe and that was all he had wanted. He could stay here and sleep.

 

“Master Seto?” A soft polite voice interrupted his downward slide into unconsciousness.

 

He opened his eyes and found himself looking into the gem blue eyes of a young white haired man. He blinked wondering if, when the wacko banished him to the Shadow Realm, if he'd hit his head, or maybe he was hallucinating again.

 

“Master Seto?” The young man bowed respectfully to him. “I am Koori. If you would permit, I would like to take you to Master Jonouchi. I think he would be happy to see you.”

 

~*~*~*

See, no evil cliffie! I'm so proud of myself. Now you can all stop worrying about Mokuba and take a breather. If you look carefully, the bad guy never said he was going to hurt Mokie.

 

MediaMiner

 

dragonlady222: You'll have to be patient. The gang is no place near finding out who's doing all this, though they are at least nosing around in the right direction. Thanks for the great reviews!

 

Daebird: I have seriously considered writing Captive Passions out, but considering how slowly I'm writing this, I'll have to place it after the long string of other fics I want to do first. I've read a few stories that have the Shadow Realm monsters with personalities. I personally like the one with The Magician of Black Chaos running a pet sitting service. It was never completed, but it was hilarious.

 

Velvetina: Welcome back! All I can say is I'm twisted. I look at a nice simple plot, then I start picking at it and before long it's a twisted, strange thing that should probably be shoved in a cage and fed raw meat.

 

FanFiction

 

Doomed to Ekko: There, there, I never meant to harm Mokie. He's really far to cute to do nasty things to.*authoress wipes off flaming lard* Jo refers to Kaiba as Kaiba because he thinks it's fitting. Kaiba, as nearly everyone who reads YYO fics knows, means seahorse. In Japanese myth, a seahorse is a baby dragon. Since I don't really see Kaiba allowing even Jo to wander around calling him “baby dragon” in public, Jo says Kaiba. When he's very serious, he'll call Kaiba, Seto. If I ever find time to do the prequel to this trilogy, I'll explain all this there.

 

Clarity: Mokie's all safe and sound, maybe has a minor bruise or two, but otherwise he's okay. Also, most of the angst is done, Mokie is going to have a few moments, but then it's all bad guy hunting.