Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Time on a Chain ❯ Chapter 18

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Disclaimer. I don't own Yugioh. Be nice if I did.

Chapter 20

Willow had looked over the plans and schematics Seto had gotten for her. When she was
finished, she'd nearly laughed her self breathless. Joey, looking over her shoulder got round eyed
and just mumbled, "Cheep skate cocky idiot."

Now she and Joey were crouched in the bushes a few feet from the wall of the Underwood estate.
The wall was twelve feet high and topped with concertina wire but the wire was old and rusty
easily thwarted by simply throwing a blanket over it.

"Joey, would you look at that. The electric wire is inactive. I can't hear it humming. Do you see
any reason it's out?"

Joey listened, he knew that Willow's senses were enhanced but he could usualy hear a high
voltage hum and he didn't hear anything either. He looked up and down the length of the wall
they could see and finally saw it.

"Look, there. A broken insulator, the wire is shorted out. I wonder why they haven't answered
the alarm . . . Willow? " Willow grunted and the whites of her eyes showed in the moon light as
she looked back at Joey. "You don't think they turned off the alarms do you?"

"Yeah, I do. They're in real financial trouble, so they probably don't have a good security team
anymore and the kind of help they can afford would do exactly that."

They ghosted across the cleared strip between the woods and the wall clearing the wall easily.
Willow jumped to the top and draped a canvas square over the wire then Joey climbed up by
jumping to grab the top of the wall and scrambling up. They dropped over Joey first while
Willow kept watch then Willow landed by Joey with a soft plop.

Getting into the house was easy, someone had forgotten to lock the French doors to the library.
The doors that Willow had decided would be easiest to jimmy open.

"Joey is this Underwood retarded? This is crazy. Be really careful. I don't trust this, we may be
lucky but Lady Luck is a bitch and tends to be fickle."

"Yeah, tell me about it. But Underwood isn't retarded, he's just complacent. He's a real second
class duelist and if his dueling strategies are any example, we're home free."

They drifted up the master stair case, Joey keeping an eye out behind just in case. Willow lead
the way to Weevils bed chamber and slipped inside.

"Need me?"

"No, it's better if you don't know exactly what I'm doing. I may have to make a mess and you
don't need to see it."

Joey shook is head unseen. "I don't want to know what you're up to exactly. I just want to know
if you want me inside or out."

"Out. Keep your eyes pealed."

"‘K."

Willow slipped into the room and waited while her eyes adjusted to the lighter ambiance of the
bed room, after the darker hallway she was actually squinting.

The bed was situated right in the middle of the room on a dais of all things, the curtains
surrounding it were slightly thread bared and the carpet was slightly worn. Some blank spots on
the wall indicated where paintings had been removed. Sure signs that the family was in trouble.

Out in the hall Joey was discovering, on his own that things were truly bad for the Underwood
family. The hall runner was thread bare in the door ways, paintings were missing from the walls
and dust was beginning to coat flat surfaces. There were no nicknacks on the table in the hall and
opening a door showed a room empty of any furniture at all.

{Man are they in trouble. I never saw anything like this.}

Willow climbed onto the bed with Weevil, crouched over him and poked him in the chest with
her finger. He shifted and mumbled, another poke and he woke up startled and disoriented.

"Wake up! I want to tell you something."

Willow watched as he shifted from confused to indignant in an instant. She was going to have
fun with him.

"Who are you and what do you think you're doing here in my room? I'll call the guards I'll . . ."

"You'll call nonexistent guards to do what?"

"There are guards. I'll have them throw you out. You can't . . ."

"I'm Shinigami. I can. Shut up and listen. I'm not happy with you and when I'm not happy no
one else is happy either. Call off the hit on Kaiba Seto and Muto Yugi. If you don't, I'll be back
and you won't like it."

"Hit? I don't know anything . . . " Weevil shut up as Willow produced a knife and pricked his
Adams apple with it.

"Don't lie to me. I don't like it. My contacts are telling me that you called a hit on both of them
because of a debt you incurred. If you don't have it, don't bet it."

"I should have won. They cheated. My all powerful insect deck should have won. But they didn't
let me use it. They made me use a deck I'd never seen."

Willow just shrugged, she didn't know anything about Duel Monster cards and said so. ". . . but
if it was good enough for Kaiba-sama and Muto-san, it was good enough for you."

Weevil whined and snarled for a while, threatening her with the power of his family and various
other useless things.

"You can't scare me. I'm the one that the scary people are scared of. If I hear of you trying to put
out another hit I'll be back. And this will be the least of what will happen to you. You'll die a
slow and very painful death."

Willow flicked the knife and nicked Weevil on the throat, cheek and forehead. Not deep, just
deep enough to sting like crazy. Then she left as quietly as she'd entered. Leaving Weevil
shivering in his bed with the covers pulled over his head like a little kid scared of the dark. But
Weevil wasn't scared of the dark, he was terrified of the dark side of a slender red-haired girl.

"Joey, come on. I'm done. Let's get out of here. This place gives me the willies."

"You get the willies. That's scary. What's giving you the willies?"

"Desperation. And stupidity."

They quickly slipped out the way they had come in. There were no guards, not of any kind.
Willow drifted around the side of the house making sure of that and eyeing the grounds. They
were unkempt and overgrown. The whole family was in trouble, not just Weevil.

"Willow, let's get outta here. ‘K? I'm gettin nervous." (It came out noivous)

"Sure, I'm ready if you are."

Willow lead Joey to the wall where they'd come over. She knew they could walk out anywhere
they wanted to but the car was through the shallow finger of woodland just here, so it was easier
to go back over here than it would be to exit somewhere else and try to find the car.

In the car, Willow leaned back and thought, while Joey drove, her offer to drive had been
rejected with a shudder. {I'm not a bad driver it's just people are so easily frightened.}

"Joey take me to the Ecco. I need to talk to someone."

Joey nearly slammed the brakes on he was so startled. How did she know about the Ecco? If you
wanted Yakuza, you went to the Ecco.

"You sure you wanna go there. It's not the kind of place I want to go without a backup. I'm not
good enough to back you up in a place like that."

"You don't need to back me up. I've been in there a few times between assignments and they
know me. I won't have any trouble. I just don't want you here alone."

{Fuck}

Joey just turned at the next intersection and headed for the bar. Willow called Seto and told him
they would be a little later than expected.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

"Seto, sit down. You're driving me nuts."

"Mokuba, that's not a drive, it's just a short putt."

"Oh, ha, ha. I'm worried too. Joey could be hurt or dead or. . . ."

"Mokuba, if Willow's there Joey is ok. I'm not worried. I'm just impatient." {Hell I'm not
worried. When she gets back, I'm going to shake her good}

Mokuba sat down, opened a large bottle of Ameritto de Sorono and poured a small glass. Seto
noticed but didn't say much. He didn't try to keep Mokuba from drinking but he made it clear
that drunkenness was it's own punishment. Mokuba was a responsible drinker and hadn't
disappointed Seto yet.

Seto wandered from one place to another until he finally drove himself nearly crazy.

In order to take his mind off his worries he decided to work on a project that he'd been leaving til
another day. This was the day or rather night. Seto turned on his computer and started working on
his long delayed new game.

Mokuba sat on the couch and worried, his stomach started to ache so he got up and took some
medicine, he usualy didn't take it as it made him sleepy but he felt so aggravated he decided to
take it. Maybe it would help him sleep

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Willow looked Joey over. He was dressed just like her. They were both wearing black, black and
more black. Black BDU's, black long sleeved shirts, black boots; Joey was wearing a light
weight black jacket to hide the shoulder holster he was wearing. The carry permit he'd been
issued allowed him to carry a concealed weapon. He was carrying a 9mm Glock. She was
carrying an assortment of sharp things that would have made a porcupine jealous.

"Well, let's go in. I'm not going to get my information sitting out here."

Willow started unbraiding her hair, finger combing it out until it was a rippling, silken mass
flowing to her waist.

"What'er ya doin'? Ya never let your hair down before."

Joey's accent went into the toilet, he'd never seen Willow's hair down like this and it was
making him very uncomfortable, it seemed indecent somehow.

"They won't let me in with it braided since I pulled a knife out of it and stabbed the doorman. I
was a little impulsive back then. Here, put this in your pocket."

Willow had, unnoticed by Joey, extracted a number of objects from her braid. One of them was a
length of prima cord, another a garotte. As well as throwing pins and a small sheathed knife.

"Ok, un . . . what else do you have in that hair of yours? You know you're scarey as hell."

"Yeah, I know. So are you, Master Wheeler."

"Thanks for the compliment. Let's get this over with before I lose my nerve. By the way, what
did I just stick in my pocket?"

"Length of prima cord. Don't get too rough with it."

{Prima cord. What have I gotten my self into now?}

Willow greeted the doorman with a slight smirk, he opened the door hastily and just gave Joey a
long look.

Joey looked around the bar and noticed several men looking at them like they weren't sure
wether to get up--or hope she didn't notice them.

Willow went straight to the bar and pinned the bartender with a look that promised doom and
disaster. He paled and started polishing a glass to hide his shaking hands.

"Yoshio, I want to see the Boss. Tell him Death is here for some information."

"Miss, you know I can't do that. He'll have my head. If you want to talk to him you gotta make
an appointment."

Willow just looked sad, Joey standing behind her saw several men in the room start to get up. He
nudged Willow, who didn't even turn her head.

"Yosh, Yosh. You know I don't like to argue with you. Just tell Crane I'm here and want to talk.
If you don't want a midnight visit get to it."

Yoshio paled even more and pushed a button under the bar mumbling, "Boss'll see ya now. Go
on up."

Willow walked to the side of the bar where a door had opened. Joey followed her keeping his
eyes on the mirror behind the bar, he noticed that all the men who'd started to get up were sitting
back down, most of them looked relieved.

They were met at the top of the stairs by a large man who blinked then stepped aside without
comment or any attempt to search or even touch either teen.

"Oyabun, I am going to shock you. I'm in love with Seto Kaiba. I believe you have accepted a
contract on him and one Muto Yugi. Cancel it, now."

The Yakuza Boss looked at her for a second and then sat down with a very shocked expression
on his face. Then he just mumbled, "Oh shit" and punched a button on his desk.

One of the men in the room started and stared at Joey. Then he signed his death warrant.

"Boss, I recognize that kid. He's Wheelers butt monkey. I . . ."

Willow didn't even blink, she just watched Joey as he turned his head so slowly that you could
hear his neck creak. Then he moved so fast that the only one who could follow him was Willow.

He slashed the man across the neck, cutting him just deep enough to bleed, but not to kill.

"Yeah, I'm Wheelers son, and his whore. But you wouldn't know that unless you were a john,
would you?"

The man paled and started stammering. Yakuza bosses are old fashioned and rigid, they don't put
up with certain things and homophobia is rampant.

Joey turned to look at Willow, who was watching the room in the mirror behind the boss.

"Sorry if I messed anything up."

He managed to look shamefaced and dangerous at the same time.

"That's ok Joey. Crane understands." She turned to look at the Oyabun. "Don't you, Crane? I
didn't think you had that kind of men working for you."

Crane managed to get his mind on the current problem, the other matter was big trouble, this was
only mildly annoying. He'd handle this in any way the Battosai wanted so he wouldn't have
trouble with her too.

"Wheeler-sama, name names if you would. I'll see to it that everyone you name is punished. I
don't hold with that sort of perversion for exactly this reason. It just brings more trouble that it's
worth. I maintain a stable of certified and willing girls for my men. Those who chose to defy me
and go else where need to reconsider their line of work."

Several men in the room gulped and paled. Most of them began edging for doors. Joey glanced
around and started pointing. "Him . . . him . . . him . . . and him. I don't know any names. They
were all ‘master' to me. But I'll never forget their faces. Crane-dono, I'll be grateful for my
vengeance. I'll leave it to you as I'm sure you're much more inventive than I could ever be."

Joey bowed to the Yakuza and then turned his back to him, letting him know that the
conversation was over and he was going to watch Willow's back. Crane chose not to take offence
at the slight, it was rude to turn your back on him, but it also showed trust; that Joey had decided
that he wasn't going to jump him. Crane chose to take it as a compliment.

Turning to Willow again Crane just made a motion with his hand, several of the higher up
Yakuza moved in on the offenders and forcibly removed the now begging men from the room.
Willow got right to the point with Crane. She wasn't beating around the bush, bargaining or
arguing.

"Call off the hits. Now. I'm not messing with you. I take your handling of Joey's dispute as a
gesture of good will and I'll allow for that good will. But thwart me on this and I'll be paying you
a visit. You know I can and you know the results of one of my visits."

Willow blocked the punch from the side without even looking at the man foolish enough to
actually attack her. She knew the man was trying to build a rep but she also wasn't in the mood
to fool with him.

A quick look around made her smile. She missed her sword and had decided to replace it with a
more appropriate size as soon as things settled down some. But there, in a display case on a
stand, was a perfect sword, with a nice saya racked underneath it. It was not steel, she wasn't sure
what it was, but it was black and had a dull finish that would keep it from shining at an
inopportune time. She moved so quickly that even Joey didn't see it. She just blinked and wasn't
there anymore, she was by the case; smashing it, she snatched the sword and saya.

All hell broke lose as men scrambled to get to Willow, Joey got in the way of as many as he
could and Crane shouted for everyone to freeze. Men farthest from the action froze, but many of
the ones closest didn't obey so--Joey cut several, putting them out of action with flesh wounds to
arms and hands, getting his gun in play he shot two. Willow blooded her new sword, putting the
rest of her attackers out of the fight and two out of action for a long time.

In less that ten seconds Crane's office had gone from a very elegant, serene room to a battle
ground: four men sported switch blade cuts on arms and hands, one was shot in the calf, another
had a sword cut across his belly that bled sluggishly, six more had sword slashes on shoulders or
necks and one was shot in the gut.

"Damnit! Willow-dono, every time I see you this happens. What is it about you that causes this?"

Willow ignored him to clean her new sword, it was some kind of alloy and she liked it. The
balance was perfect and it was almost guardless which suited her better that having a large guard
to spoil the balance for her hand.

Joey looked around remarking, "You need to get these men out of here and taken care of. That
guy I shot in the gut might die on you. . . . if you really want to know why this happens, I'll tell
you." At Crane's nod he continued. "You don't respect someone like me, or Willow, because
you're all about power. No subtlety to you at all. But Willow is faster than anything I've ever
seen, and I'm no slouch myself . . . don't look at me like that. The only reason your guys ever
got to me was because my Pop had a PD on me the size of a house. So your guys make the
mistake of assuming that Willow can be overpowered like a weak woman. But she's not weak,
she's stronger than I am and a lot meaner. I'm just a junk yard dog. She's a Hitokiri and a damn
good one. You want to call off those hits or you're in real trouble. Also, not that it makes you any
difference, if she don't get you, I will. I may not be a hitokiri but I got a good chance of gettin'
ya. ‘Cause no one'll be looking for a street kid to go kamikaze for your worthless ass."

"JOEY!! You will not. I'm sure Crane understands exactly what is expected of him. Especially
after this shameful exhibition of ineptness and stupidity . . . oh . . . I'm keeping the sword."

Willow was shocked at Joey, not that he would kill Crane but that he would sacrifice his life to
do so. He was worth more than ten Crane's and she said so.

"Yeah, but if he gets Seto he had to go through you and Mo' and that means both of ya are gone
and Yugi too. I won't live without my best friend, my lover, and my family. Everyone I care
anything about will be gone. What would I have to live for?"

Joey's bleak look scared Crane almost as much as Willow's thousand yard stare did.

"Look, I'd like to oblige you but the hits were blind offers. I don't know who took them up, all I
know is, the money is in numbered accounts and the numbers have been taken. I can't do
anything about it. I would if I could. I promise you. I don't want a midnight visit from you or a
knife in the back from your young lover here."

Willow snarled, she knew that he couldn't do anything about a blind contract. She did know
some of the people who took that sort of offer and she wasn't going to have any luck finding out
who had the contracts. All they could do was wait for them to show.

"I told you I love Seto . . . Joey's with Mokuba . . . so you really have a problem. I'm making you
this offer, if you put the word out that the contracts are cancelled, take the money out of the
accounts, donate it to charity and keep your people out of my way, I'll give you a pass on this.
"However, I do expect to have prof that the men who abused Joey have been appropriately
punished."

"Of course. You'll get pictures, at the least, and anything else you have asked will be done.
Please accept my apologies for any trouble you have been put to." Crane sighed. He was going
to have some really harsh words with some of his men. "I'll see to it that the next meeting we
have doesn't result in this kind of unpleasantness."

Willow just walked out the door and through the club as if nothing had happened, although the
people in the club couldn't have missed the sound of gun shots even with the loud music. Joey
followed closely muttering about mess and trouble all the way.

"Joey, you scared me in there."

Joey interrupted Willow before she could finish, "What? I didn't want you to fight alone. What
was I supposed to do, just stand there?"

Willow sighed and rubbed her forehead. This was weird, "Joey, you fight better that lots of men
twice your age. I'm honored to have you by my side. But . . . you have an unpleasant propensity
for threats that scare Shinigami and that's not easy."

"Oh. Wills if anything happens to all of you . . . what do I have to live for. I can't live on art for
art's sake and without friends life's not worth it. I don't make friends easily or really at all. So.
Don't get killed or let anyone kill Mo' or Seto. It's easy."

"Ok. If they're dead, I'm dead too. I get it. It won't happen . . . it won't!"

"Willow, I didn't mean to upset you so much. What's wrong?"

"I don't usualy have to think things through this much. I'm given an assignment and I do it. End
of story. The repercussions of success or failure don't affect me. Or they didn't. Now if I screw
up, we're all fucked and it's unnerving to say the least."

"Well if you need planning, Seto's the man. He's number two in the world in Duel Monsters.
Yugi's number one. So, to say that Seto can plan is an understatement, beside the fact that he
runs a super company. So I'd say he plans and we carry out."

Willow watched Joey's face as he started the car; as he talked, put it in gear, and pulled out into
traffic. All without missing a beat. She nodded at what Joey was saying and let her mind wander,
when they got back she wanted a strategy session with everyone.

"Joey? You're always talking about this Duel Monsters and someone wants the program badly.
That's the other thing that has me worried. Weevil can't be behind all of this. It's too much for a
hit. Something else is up, but I'll take one thing at a time, so tell me about this. As much as you
know. Like Seto's one and Muto is two. Who's three and would he have something to do with
any of this?"

"Yes he would. But not how you might think. I'm number three. I'm really as good as Seto says
I'm not . . . I mean . . . well hell, that really got messed up, didn't it?"

Willow snickered, she had understood, Joey was good, she'd heard Seto apologize to Joey and
tell him that he was. So that knocked out one theory but she had several others.

"I"m tired and so are you. Tomorrow we'll brain storm this and make some plans. Right now all I
want is sleep. It's really nice to be able to go home to a real bed and stuff. Not what I'm used to
at all."

"Yeesh, what are you used to? If you don't mind me asking."

"Oh, kill someone, run like hell, sleep in a hay stack if I'm lucky. If not, a hedge row or a ditch.
Sometimes just keep running til I can't run anymore. Getting to a gate can be a real bitch."

"You know, I didn't like that Onna before, now I really don't like her. What the hell were they
thinking?"

"Get the job done no matter who gets wasted. I'm glad I'm out of it. This is much nicer. Back up
and everything."

Joey watched the slow-moving traffic. It was late night Tokyo which meant bumper to bumper
moves an inch and wait. Willow snuggled down in her seat and dozed. Joey thought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Seto grabbed Willow the minute she got off the elevator and nearly got himself sliced up for his
efforts.

"Damnit Seto, let me get in the door before you give me an ass chewing. I'm sorry we took so
long but stuff happened. Now it's nearly four A. M. and I'm tired. If you want to yell, couldn't
you wait until we have a debriefing?"

Willow wrapped her arms around Seto in an apologetic hug, feeling the slight trembling of his
body. Seto hugged back and eyed the sword she was carrying. It was new, obviously ninja and . .
. just where she'd gotten it was going to make a good story.

"No! Debrief now. Then sleep. I can't get any sleep until I know what is going on."

"Seto I'm tired, and the days of me trying to tell a coherent story while I'm half asleep are way
over. You'll sleep if you try. Now, bed everyone. Joey is about to crash and burn. And Mo' isn't
much better. Seto if you've been . . ."

Seto froze for a second, wondering what she was talking about, then he realized and snorted.

"My mother drowned all her stupid children. I'm just hyped on sheer fear I guess. I'll sleep if I
try hard enough. You all go up, I'll be there in a minute . . . Willow, you can search the office if
you like. I just need to calm down some. I'll be there in five. I promise."

Willow waited exactly five minutes after she got changed into a pair of Seto's old flannel
pj's.and braided her hair into a loose night braid, then she left her room ready to look for Seto.
She met Mokuba on the open balcony, looking down into the great room she couldn't see Seto,
but he'd said he was going to his office so she wasn't too worried. The look on Mokubas face
changed her mind.

"What is it? What's wrong? Mo' . . . talk now. You're scaring me."

"If Seto thinks most of this is his fault, he'll do something bad to himself. I got to find him and
try to stop him. It could be really bad."

Willow had a good idea of what Mokuba was talking about. Things that had come up in idle
conversation while they were on the streets had given her some idea of Gozaburo's idea of child
rearing.

"Don't worry Mo'. I've got a handle on it. Go back to bed. Joey, take him. Make sure he doesn't
come down. I'm going to take this over. Mo' probably won't like it. I know my methods will
work, but they're a little rough and ready . . . Go! Now . . . before he gets a head start on me."

Willow made her way to the office and heard the distinctive sound of a smack of leather on flesh.
{Son of a bitch. Seto, I'm gonna so fix that.}

Seto was kneeling in the middle of the floor naked to the waist, as she watched he snapped a
wide leather strap over his shoulder raising a welt and cutting himself with one edge. The smack
was loud in the quiet of early morning. He already had three other marks running from shoulder
to waist.

"Ok. That's enough of that. Give me that right now!"

Willow strode into the room and took the strap from Seto before he could do more than sprawl
across the floor as he lost his balance trying to stand up and turn around at the same time.

"Give me that. You don't understand . . . I need it . . . I deserve to be punished . . . "

Seto snatched at the strap, scrambling to his feet, but Willow held it out of his reach.

"Maybe, but who are you to decide if, when, and how you should be punished. I didn't think even
your ego was that big. You're stupid. You could hurt yourself too much . . . or not enough. And
how are you going to doctor those cuts. Let Mo' see it? Or Joey . . . how about letting Joey patch
you up. That's nice. He just gets over being abused and has to fix you up. Great. Really good
parenting on your part."

Willow's scornful remarks made Seto hang his head. He knew she was right but he was in need
of correction and who was going to do it if he didn't. Gozaburo had always made it clear that he
was going to be responsible for his actions right or wrong. He was just trying to take
responsibility

"I'll take responsibility for myself. I always have. If you . . . "

"Shut up. Kneel." Seto looked at Willow. The look on her face was inscrutable, cold and distant.
He decided he'd better do as he was told, but he'd waited too long. Willow reached out and
jerked him backward, kicking him behind the knees, which dumped him onto his knees with his
back to her.

Willow pushed at the back of Seto's head until he leaned forward, bracing himself with his hands
on the floor. She gave him two hard smacks across the back, right under the shoulder blades, on
the meaty part of his back.

"From now on I'll decide if you need to be punished. You haven't got the brains of a peanut
sometimes. I swear, if you try this shit again you'll regret it for a week. Seto? Are you listening to
me? You think you need punishment you come to me and I'll decide what and how much. I
won't have you cutting yourself up like this. Turn loose of it. Let me take it on."

Seto had stiffened when Willow hit him but he was now almost limp, kneeling on the floor ready
to fall onto his face. Willow kneeled in front of him and put her arms around him carefully so as
not to press on the welts on his back.

"Willow, I try so hard, but this is such a mess. I should have known what was going on. It's my
responsibility . . . "

"To take care of all the world and outer space. Yeah . . . yeah . . . not in this fucking life time. I'll
tell you what. How in hell were you suppose to know what was going on. All I got was a gut
feeling that you really needed me. My source only said; take care of the boys. Okufuro didn't
even know exactly want was going on. Now . . . we're going to bed.

"In the morning we'll all get together, have some of Joey's great omelets and get to the bottom of
this best we can . . . understand me?" Seto just nodded weakly. "Ok. Come on to bed."

Willow steadied Seto as he got slowly to his feet. She knew that her ‘fix' wasn't in the
psychology books but it was quick and would work better than years of therapy. If Seto thought
she was really going to beat him with a strap every time he messed up a little, he had another
think coming but it would keep him from abusing himself. She could think of much more
inventive punishments, punishments which were a lot less harmful. And since he'd turned it over
to her he would come to her and she'd be able to help him overcome the damage Gozaburo had
done.

"Willow, I can walk by myself. I'm ok. "

"I know but that is part of your punishment, you lean on me . . . Mo'! Come on, he's not hurt
much. Let's get to bed. Joey, take him to bed and keep him there."

Joey looked from Seto to Willow and back, Seto looked calm but Willow looked like she needed
another round with Crane's goon squad. He moved to the other side of Seto and wrapped his arm
around him. The soft hiss of indrawn breath made him look at Seto's back.

"Stupid asshole. I'd like to get my hands on Gozaburo for two seconds. He may have had a PD
on Seto but never me. I . . "

"Shut up Wheeler. It's too late for that. I'm tired to death and I want to go to bed. We'll discuss
everything tomorrow morning. . . or afternoon. I . . "

Seto sagged wearily. Willow just started for the door, leaving Joey and Mokuba to follow or not
as they chose.

At Seto's bedroom door Joey left them and dragged a now nodding Mokuba into his room with
him remarking, "Du asshole dat wakes me up is a dead man walkin'. I mean it. No wakin' me ‘r
Mo'"

Seto shook his head in mock sadness. Willow laughed tiredly and yawned.

"Bed, now. I'm about to fall over. It's nice to come home to a clean, warm bed." She leered at
Seto suddenly. "Especially one with such a pretty ornament in it."

"Huh? Ornament? What are you talking about? What are you doing? . . . Willow, that's my bed."

"Yeah. If you think I'm gonna let you sleep alone after that little trick you just played, you're
nutty as a fruit cake. Get in the bed."

Willow tugged Seto into the bed but, he rolled right over and off the other side, scrambling to his
feet and looking very confused.

"Willow we can't I'm . . . it's . . . what are you doing?"

Willow had rolled right along with him and had hold of his arm. She twisted it behind his back
and pushed him back onto the bed, pouncing on him and pinning him flat on his back.

"You are staying in this bed with me, and not arguing. I'm tired . . . I want to sleep . . . and I
don't trust you not to do something stupid. This is part of your punishment. You aren't sleeping
alone until I can trust you. So lay down, or do I have to tie you down."

Seto's mouth dropped open, then Willow realized what she'd just said. They both started
laughing, holding onto each other weakly.

"Oh. Damnit Seto, see what you do to me. If that was any sillier . . . go to sleep. Move over and
give me some covers. Where's a pillow?"

Seto just crawled between the covers, pulled Willow into the curve of his body, scrambled the
covers in to some semblance of order and promptly fell asleep with Willow a split second behind
him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Again I'm apologizing for slow posting but I don't have a beta for this and I go over and over it
trying to get all the mistakes. And Ranma is being his stubborn self so there you are. I'm writing
two fictions as the same time and it's getting to be hard going.

If you read Ranma you might go take a look at Shades of Home.