Fixation

Chapter 11 – Almost three years later

Jou felt his pulse race as he spotted a small dull reflection in the crowd. There were too many people, too much noise, and his nerves were frayed enough that he’d been jumping at shadows for weeks. Eight feet away, the ridiculously dressed teen pop singer, the one and only Chantel, who had insisted she needed the best security money could buy, was ignoring all of his instructions and hugging random fans from the screaming crowd.

Someone noticed how jumpy he was, though. “Location?” A woman’s voice came from his radio’s earpiece.

“Three to the left, blue baseball hat,” Jou replied quickly, moving a bit closer to the singer and placing himself between the girl and the quiet fan standing where he’d caught sight of the reflection. In his peripheral vision, he noticed three of his agents throwing people out of the way to get to the man in the blue ball cap. Jou kept his eyes moving between the singer and the man. The man was moving, too. He’d moved to the front of the crowd and was pushing against the rope barricade, holding up a large sheet of paper in his left hand, as though asking for an autograph. His right hand stayed hidden behind the paper.

If Jou had been able to see his right hand, he might have relaxed. If Jou had a bit less experience with handguns, he might not have panicked at the angle of the other man’s arm. If Jou had been a bit less paranoid, he wouldn’t have seen the angle of the man’s arm shift as he pulled out the gun, and then he never would have moved in time. Jou had become a very paranoid person as a body guard. The first shot hit him in the chest, hard enough to throw him backwards into Chantel, and to throw both of them into the side of the girl’s limo.

The next five shots were quieter, muffled by silencers. Jou knew they had to have come quickly, but the world around him had slowed down and narrowed into an adrenalin-induced tunnel vision and each pop seemed to trail a minute or more behind the previous one. Jou forced himself to climb to his knees and crawled over his client’s upper body, covering her head and upper body with his chest. He shut his eyes and took slow, deep breaths. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that breathing hurt, but the pain was just a distant ache, like a sharp pain being dulled by medication. Probably broken ribs, and Jou knew it would hurt like hell if he survived.

Sharp, perfectly manicured nails dug into his shoulder and neck and hoisted him off of the client. Esmerelda, his only female agent, took the girl by her shoulders and dove into the limo with her. As the tires squealed, Jou rolled on to his back and took several deep breaths. The client was safe. The edges of his vision kept blurring, and he vaguely recognized uniformed police officers with weapons drawn swarming around him, some kneeling and shouting without words, as though the world was a television show and somehow he’d found the mute button. His chest burned every time he took a breath. He knew he should be worried, but he found himself relaxing despite the fact that the world was fading away. The client was safe, so whatever else might happen now was not his problem. The client was safe. Nothing else mattered.

He shut his eyes and let the world go. His life didn’t flash before his eyes, thankfully. He didn’t have many regrets to look back on, and he had done nothing he wouldn’t do all over again. The one thing he truly regretted was running away after his father died. Leaving Japan and all of his friends was at the top of the list of things he wasn’t proud of. It had not been the right thing to do, but it was the best choice out of the options he’d had at the time. He still regretted it. Regretted not staying and fighting it out with Kaiba. Of course, he regretted not opting for the thicker bullet-proof vest, too, but there was nothing to be done about that now.

* * * * * *


The sunlight filtered through thick bamboo window blinds, making a pattern of bright and dark lines that penetrated Jou’s tightly closed eyes and made his head throb. He yanked the pillow over his head turned away from the obnoxious reminder that it was morning. A tugging sensation at his left elbow pulled him the other opposite direction as he rolled on to his side, but with a grunt of effort he managed to turn on to his stomach despite the resistance. He kept his body rigid when the tugging at his elbow started to hurt, and when his chest started to burn. He took a deep breath and rammed the pillow down over his head with more determination than ever.

Someone near the window chuckled. “The kids weren’t joking, you really aren’t a morning person.” Jou went rigid when he realized he didn’t recognize the voice. He fumbled under the pillow, hoping to find a weapon, but felt nothing. That meant he wasn’t in his own bed. He controlled the panic rising in him by taking a few more deep breaths.

“It’s alright,” the voice said. “It’s me, Luke. Joey, I know you can hear me. It’s Luke. You’re in the hospital, but you’re okay. You cracked three ribs and you’ve got some major bruising, but you’re going to be fine. Esmerelda went home to make the kids breakfast and drive them to a sitter. She was going to pick Mario up on her way back. They should be here any minute now. It’s Wednesday, so it’s our nanny’s day off... and I was on the night shift last night so I couldn’t get home in time.”
Jou pulled the pillow off his head and squinted into the morning sun. At the foot of the bed, still in his police uniform, was one of his closest American friends. His boots were propped up on the bed and his hands rested on his thick duty belt.

“You should be home sleeping,” Jou muttered, knowing the man had another twelve hour shift in the evening.

Luke shrugged. “The more I hang out, the more overtime I get, so I’m not complaining.”

Jou huffed. “What, I don’t pay your wife enough, now you’ve got to do overtime? Wait a minute, how is hanging out with me overtime?”

“Ha! Thought you’d catch that sooner. You are under police protection, until you elect to refuse it, of course.”

“I refuse it. Go sleep.” Jou pulled the pillow back over his head. “Why am I on it?” he asked, through a tiny hole he made between the pillow and bed so he could breath easier.

“You’re going to get a kick out of this… The kid with the blue ball cap had no identification on him, no money, no wallet, no nothing. Just three guns, a nasty little knife, a set of ear plugs, and a dossier on you.”

“Ear plugs means professional… Why would he have a dossier on me? It doesn’t matter who’s standing between him and Chantel, if he gets a clear shot.”

“I was hoping to ask you why he had a dossier on you. Part of it is Japanese and part’s in Spanish. I can’t read the damn thing and even the department translator has had trouble. I would send it out to the university, but…” Without putting his feet down, Luke tossed him thick red file. Inside was a brief account of Jou’s entire life, from his birth in New York, to his violent childhood, his dueling career, and his college education and career in security.

“I must have another obsessed stalker, to put all this together…”

“Well, the English part in the back is stuff I pulled from Interpol. I’m not an obsessed stalker, though—no offense or anything, but you aren’t my type. I just couldn’t resist finding out what the infamous Joey Wheeler was like as a kid.”

Jour turned passed the printed kanji pages and found several clippings from his Duel Monster days and a translated version of his juvenile criminal record from Japan, and a copy of his father’s criminal record, too. The last page was a warrant for his arrest from the Domino Police Department.

“What the hell? A warrant? I never stole a thing in my life, Luke, you know me! I might have been a knee breaker, but I never stole anything, much less enough for a felony warrant! The rest of this is true, though. I disclosed it all when I went to the academy, and on my security license application, it’s all there.”
“No, no you didn’t, I checked. You never listed Geek anywhere on your application with the department, or your license application. Man, you played Duel Monsters until you were nineteen! What’s worse is now the kids are both mad because Uncle Joey never told them he was The Jounouchi Katsuya. You know how crazy they are about those damn cartoons.” Luke raised a single eyebrow when Jou winced at how badly his friend mangled his name. “Got it wrong?”

“Everyone does. That’s why it’s Joey over here.”

“Got it. Do you know how annoying it is to have two three year olds waking you up asking to watch Duel Monsters on TV again?”

“The way those two can obsess about things, I can only imagine.”

“So, is the rest of that true?” Luke nodded down towards the folder.

Jour turned passed the single page that listed his childhood arrests, to the page after page that listed his father’s assault and child endangerment charges. “Yeah. The rest is all true. But I never stole nothing!”

Luke shrugged. “The warrant’s expired. There was a hand written note from an Officer…” Luke pulled out a small notebook and double checked. “Officer Honda Hiroto saying the charges were made by an old enemy of yours and are probably bullshit—someone by the name of Kabia Seto. Besides, it’s eight years old and way the hell out of my jurisdiction, so what do I care? But shit, Joey, when you said you had it rough as a kid, I… I never thought you meant like that.”

“My dad wasn’t so bad. He was a drunk. He had good days and bad. But Kaiba… He was asshole straight through. We weren’t exactly enemies when I left, but we definitely weren’t friends. I didn’t think he’d sink so low as to make up shit about me, though. I have never been a thief and he knows it!”

“And we know it. But, Joey, you’re missing the point,” came a deep, familiar voice from the doorway. “You were the target of that hit, not our client.” Mario and Esmerelda stood in the door.

“Hi baby,” Luke waved. “Are the kids alright?”

Esmerelda nodded. “They’re fine. I’m picking them up at five and our plane leaves at eight thirty.”

“You taking the kids on vacation?” Jou asked, noticing the uneasy tone of Esmerelda’s voice. In the years they had all worked together they had learned to read each other like few others could. Even Luke couldn’t always tell when Esmerelda was upset, and Mario and Esmerelda were always the first to notice when Jou felt something was off about a job.

“Taking them to their grandma’s for a bit,” Esmerelda said simple. “Until we know what’s going on.”

“The detectives who are investigating the shooting think it’s related to some of your work in Mexico,” Luke said simply. “They want you and all of your agents under police protection, or to take a long vacation. We figured now was a good age for the kids to spend a summer with my mom.”

Jou nodded slowly. Most of his work was in Mexico. The drug cartels had spent decades building up private armies, and in recent years the hostage situations had gotten worse. Jou had built up quite a reputation in the last few years, working with Mario down there. Being fluent in Japanese, Jou was one of their top choices for a bodyguard for any affluent tourist from Japan, and the first person most went to when it came to negotiating the release of a hostage. He had made more than his share of enemies South of the boarder. He’d taken Chantel on as a client so he could stay in the States for a while to let things simmer down.

“What else has happened? If it’s Wednesday, that means I’ve been asleep for four days.”

Mario and his sister exchanged a look, but said nothing.

“Something else has happened, hasn’t it?”

“They hit our office when we would have been right in the middle of shift change. Everyone was providing coverage for clients or here, so no one got hurt. But, well, it’s a good thing you never scrimped on insurance.” Mario explained, his tone gentle.

“Also a good thing you never wasted money on a full time secretary,” Luke muttered darkly.

“Fuck, I’m sorry. We’ll get things sorted out, you’ll see. In the mean time, we’ll have to outsource our local contracts to other firms. I’m not going to make anybody work through this shit and we can’t jeopardize our clients.”

“Already done,” said Mario.

“Thank you.” Jou glanced at Luke curiously. “The only advice your department had was to take a vacation?”

“You know what the Mexican gangs are like as well as I do. They don’t forgive, they don’t forget, and when they’re not fighting each other they’re dangerous. I know you can take care of yourself, but, well, a vacation might not be a bad idea.”

“Change jobs and relocate, you mean.”

“If it comes down to that, yeah.” Luke nodded and reluctantly let his boots drop to the floor. “Alright, then I’m heading home to bed.” He rose from his chair, kissed his wife on the cheek, and waved at Jou. “Stay safe, Joey.”

“You too,” said Jou automatically. “I’m so sorry, both of you.”

“You’re not responsible,” Esmerelda insisted. “We’ve helped a lot of people, Joey. Scare tactics like this are almost a tradition with street gangs. Think of it as a vote of confidence—shows you’re doing a good job. We’re just being careful with the kids, that’s all.”

“She’s right,” Luke agreed. “We’ve got a whole pack of dogs at home because of my job, seems only fair that we should have to become paranoid over yours, too. You coming, Esme?”

“Yes. Mario’s car is at our place, so he’s taking mine from here. I’ll give it a few days and then call to check in, Joey.”

“Adios.” Mario watched the door close and then sat down on the side of Jou’s bed. Jou was surprised to see him looking ruffled. His curly brown hair was longer than it had been three years ago, and Jou often joked that Mario would look like him if he didn’t get it cut. He was dressed in a trim gray suit with a patterned vest, but the suit jacket was open and every inch of fabric was wrinkled.

“What’s our client’s status?”

“Annoying.”

Jou nodded. That meant she was safe. “So what happened? I kinda blacked out.”

Mario’s perfect smile twitched for a moment. A look of deep pain flashed through his eyes only to be crushed in a moment. “I was moving towards the target when I heard the first shot. The crowd scattered. I was three feet away and had a clear shot… Esme got him first. She’s gotten faster. The man died on the scene. You covered the client, I got her into the limo and took her back to her hotel. I didn’t find out about who he was until three detectives showed up at the hotel.” Despite his calm expression, Jou noticed that he was holding his hands in tight fists. “I know she’d kill me for saying it, but I really wish Esme would back off every now and again. She shouldn’t have to deal with stuff like this. So what’s the plan?”

“Nothing,” Jou tried to sit up, only to find that the IV sticking into his arm didn’t have enough slack. He ended up propped up on his elbow. “Take time off, lay low, get the hell away from me, that sorta thing.”

“What are you going to do?”

He shrugged. “Leave the country for a while, I suppose. Maybe go back to Japan and find out why there is a warrant out for my arrest. Maybe assault the bastard who says I stole from him. Maybe enroll in culinary school and open a little bistro, who knows?”

“You never told me why you left Japan… Whatever you were running from must have been big, if someone was willing to make up charges like that.”

“It’s personal.”

“Joey, if you can’t trust me, who can you trust? Besides, how can I help if I don’t know what’s going on?”

“Who said you get to help? You’re on paid vacation just like your sister, you should go spend it with your brothers.”

“And let those bastards kill you? Not a chance.” The glint in his eyes contained all of the loyalty and devotion that Jou had come to rely on. “So what were you running away from?”

Jou felt his stomach clench at the sight of his worried frown. “It doesn’t matter. I wont be in trouble back in Domino. I was in a gang as a kid, but I never made the kinda enemies I’ve made here. All I’ve got back in Japan are worried friends, I’m sure.”

“Worried friends, a felony warrant, and someone named Seto, you mean.”

“Kaiba. His name is Kaiba. Seto’s his first name and I don’t use it. Only friends are supposed to call people by their first name and he was never my friend. But the warrant, well, that’s just Kaiba. I don’t—“ Jou was going to say he didn’t know what had crawled up Kaiba’s ass that could have made him so obnoxious, but that wasn’t technically true. He felt the blush start near his stomach and shoot through his cheeks to stop at the tips of his ears. There was no way to stop it, so he didn’t bother trying.

As Mario took in Jou’s blush his smile cracked open into a look of shock. “Kaiba’s the one who introduced you to all that kinky shit… Well, I kinda had that figured out. You stole a hundred thousand dollars from a boyfriend?”

“No! Yen, a hundred thousand yen. And no, I didn’t take a dime of his damn money. He sorta offered it, though.”

He folded her arms across his chest. “Did you get him drunk? He not remember or something?”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“So what was it like? Come on, I’ve got all the time in the world and I need something to take my mind off of the fact that I’ve got all the time in the world.”

“I’m not going to tell you about it.”

“Oh yes you will,” said Mario, confidence radiating from his grin.

“Or what?”

“Or I call Esme back and tell her to torture the information out of you.”

“That’s really not fair.” Jou settled back into the hospital bed, wincing as his ribs protested. “You remember me saying I used to play Duel Monsters as a kid, right?”

Jou told him the whole story. Leaving the gang, finding Yugi and making real friends for the first time, dueling to save his sister, and earning enough money from dueling to help pay bills throughout high school. He described how he and Kaiba always fought at school, mostly because Jou was too dense to figure out just what his teenage hormones were screaming at him every time the brunette would pin him to the ground. Then he told Mario about the day he had woken up and found that his father didn’t survive whatever cocktail of drugs and alcohol he’d taken the previous night. He told him about going to the Nakamuras, and then about going to Kaiba’s once he’d made up his mind to leave.

“An’ he left a note on the pillow saying he was leaving me a hundred thousand yen and he expected me to be waiting for him when he got home from work. I listened to my dad call me a fag whore since I was thirteen, but I never felt like one until that moment. So, I grabbed my clothes, sold a few of my favorite Duel Monsters cards, and bought a plane ticket to New York. You know the rest…”

He stopped when he found himself pulled into the larger man’s shoulder. He held him in a tight hug, rocking slightly. “It’s alright, Mario, really… I was a naive teenager, I got over it.”

“I am being selfish,” he said simply. “I’m hugging you to make myself feel better, so deal with it. So, you were only with him once?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’d rather go back and face him than stay here and be blown up?”

Jou tilted his head from side to side, considering. “I can’t say for sure that he’s the lesser of two evils, but that warrant will ruin my reputation when word gets around. And if Luke knows, word has already gotten around. I’ve got to deal with it.”

“That settles it. You’re going to Japan to deal with the warrant, and I’m going to Japan to look sexy and make this Kaiba guy miserably jealous. With any luck, Luke will hear some good news about whoever is trying to kill us, you’ll work out your issues and jump into my bed, and we’ll be back within a week.”

Mario always managed to make Jou laugh when things got too intense. “Kaiba’s got the tightest security in Japan, you’d have your work cut out for you getting in. Besides, you don’t even know where to find him or what he looks like.”

He let go of him, stood up, and straightened his suit. “About one to four inches taller than you, skinny but muscular, short brown hair and light blue eyes. He’ll have harp features and be a bit on the melodramatic side. Right?”

“Okay, so you might have seen him on TV, but that doesn’t change the fact that Kaiba has more body guards than the Emperor.”

Mario smiled again. “I was guessing. Actually, I was describing every boyfriend you’ve ever introduced me to, except myself, of course. Seriously, though, someone wants to see you dead, so even out of the country you’re going to be better off with someone to watch your back and I’m the only one who will not make fun of you for blushing over your high school crush. You know Esme would never let you live that down. Plus, we’ll need everyone else to keep Chantel covered.”

Jou stared at him for a moment, before understanding finally dawned on him. “You really hate the pop singer gig, don’t you?”

“More than you can imagine,” he said, without missing a beat.

“She’s not that bad,” Jou insisted.

“She doesn’t use you as eye candy. You just have to deal with her being spoiled rotten. I get to deal with her being spoiled rotten and clingy. Do you know how weird it is to have a fifteem year old girl grabbing my ass on the job?”

“Alright, I get it. But this wont be a picnic, either,” Jou warned. “The police in Japan aren’t like they are here, and if whoever hired that guy at the concert follows me, we’ll be on our own.”

“I think we can deal with the police, and even count on their help if things go bad.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. You always assume that it’s you verses the whole world—and given how you grew up, I suppose that there is a valid reason for that point of view—but it doesn’t have to be that way. Just play to their sensibilities and the police will go out of their way to help out, you’ll see.”

“Play to their sensibilities?” Jou felt the familiar dread that came whenever things were about to grow way beyond his control.

“Of course. As an upstanding member of the private security sector, you were shocked to learn that a warrant for your arrest was still on record from something in your… rambunctious childhood. It was so long ago you can’t even remember the offense, but you’re flying home at great personal expense to take full responsibility for your childhood transgressions. Cops are naturally suspicious, but they all hope the kids they pick up will turn things around. Seeing it happen is the type of thing that makes old cops turn away so no one catches them smiling. It’s why a lot of them do the job in the first place.”

“You really think I can pull that off?”

“It’s the truth, Joey, there’s nothing to pull off.”

“Mario…”

“It’s true enough.”

* * * * * *


Downtown Domino felt crowded after the sprawl of Los Angeles. In terms of sheer population, Domino couldn’t compare, but the millions of people who called LA home were spread out over hundreds of miles. In Domino, like the rest of Japan, people were packed tightly everywhere. For Jou, who hadn’t been home in eight years, it felt like slipping on an old fitted coat—things were comfortably constrained. If it bothered Mario, he didn’t let it show. Despite Jou’s promise that they were safe, he was in full bodyguard mode, so he didn’t let anything show at all. Jou knew that the frantic movement of his eyes behind his sunglasses would have looked creepy with the fake smile plastered on his face. Jou was scanning the crowd for familiar faces as much as he was for threats, and occasionally acting as tour guide and translator for Mario, as they made their way to the Domino Police Department.

Jou felt stupid. He had grown up fighting on these streets, and walking down them now with an escort made him feel ridiculous. “This is dumb. Nobody wants me dead bad enough to follow me around the world to see the job done. Stop acting paranoid and start acting like a tourist, will ya?”

Mario glanced around them cautiously, then pulled off his sunglasses and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Tourist, got it.”

“By the way, I agreed to let you teach Chantel some basic self-defense when we got back to the States. The poor girl needs a bit more self-confidence after that attack—hey!”

“Oh!” Mario jumped. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Joey! That was your foot, wasn’t it?”

Jou gritted his teeth and stamped his foot several times, trying to dull the sharp pain from where a three hundred pound martial artists had just stepped on it.

“I was so busy trying to think like a tourist that I completely spaced out! Are you okay?”

“No I am not okay! That hurt!”

“I’m really sorry. I’m such a clumsy ox sometimes. So, were you saying something?”

“Not a thing.”

“Ah,” Mario nodded, but wouldn’t meet his gaze. “Glad I didn’t miss anything, then.”

Jou led him up the broken concrete stairs into the same Police station he’d been booked in himself as a kid. Even after all these years he felt his own hands twitching at the memory of being trapped, completely immobile, in a pair of hinged handcuffs. Unlike regular handcuffs, the only position someone wearing hinged cuffs could keep their hands in was clasped together, as though in prayer. That had really bugged him at the time. Between his mixed Japanese American heritage and all of the creepy Egyptian stuff he’d dealt with for Yugi, the only solid opinion Jou had formed about religion was that it was something that was better left to other people. And, of course, being a fourteen year old boy had made everything a dramatic insult in his head, including what he saw as a jab about his Christian mother. He had to really fight the urge to shove his hands in his pockets like he always had when he was a teenager.

Mario noticed his hesitation and tugged on his arm. “Remember, you’re all grown up and taking responsibility for a rambunctious childhood.”

“Right. All grown up.” Somehow that didn’t make him feel any less like terrified kid being arrested for the first time.

The front office of the police station was dead quiet. Posters about neighborhood watch programs, drug awareness programs, and a half-full signup sheet for a charity marathon decorated the walls. A long, empty desk sat opposite the front door and a locked gate was the only access to the office filled with busy desks beyond. Jou relaxed a bit as the door closed behind them. Mario pretended to look at the posters, positioning himself so that he could see Jou, the door, and street immediately outside. A few men in uniforms glanced up as they heard the door close.

Jou didn’t even have a chance to ring the bell on the counter before a woman in a corporal’s uniform hurried up to the counter with a smile. “Good morning! How may I help you today, sir?”

Jou put on his most professional smile. “Good morning Officer. This is a little bit embarrassing, but I’m afraid I am here to turn myself in.”

The officer took in his professional appearance, tailored suit, and confident baring. Her smile didn’t fade for a moment. “Do you have your parking citation with you, sir?”

“Ah,” Jou let himself blush this time. “I’m not here to pay for a parking ticket… I’m afraid you’re going to have to arrest me. I am an American businessman but I grew up here in Domino. I got into some trouble as a kid, and I thought I’d taken care of all of it before I left after high school, but it turns out I missed something. I’ll be glad to wait while you run a warrant check. My name is Jounouchi Katsuya.”

“Well, I’m sure there’s been some mistake. Please give me a moment and I’ll run the search.” She bowed before stepped away from the counter.

Jou joined Mario by the posters. “Do you have any idea how weird this is?” he hissed.

Mario just smiled.

“You know they really might arrest me, right?”

“You should give me your credit card now so I can bail you out.”

“Good idea,” Jou said, handing the other man his visa card.

The card disappeared inside Mario’s breast pocket.

“Jounouchi-san,” the officer returned, looking more terrified than authoritative. “It seems there is an expired warrant for theft on your record. Because it is expired we’re not authorized to place you under arrest at this time.”

“It has been a long time. However, I’m afraid the existence of the warrant will have a significant impact on my career. Is there anything that I can do about it?”

“It’s an odd request, but if you would like to address the charges I can call the city attorney on your behalf. With his authorization, we can clear the warrant. It may take some time to sort out, though.”

Jou nodded. “I would appreciate the help, and I don’t mind waiting.”

The Corporal bowed once again. “I’ll see what I can do. Would you like to sit down and have a cup of tea while you wait?”

“Thank you, but I’ll stand.”

The officer disappeared again, leaving Jou and Mario to wait at the front counter. Jou settled into the wide stance he used while he was working so he could stand still for hours without getting sore. Being a bodyguard meant standing still and staying focused for up to twelve hours at a time without getting distracted. It was the part of the job that led many bulky martial artists to start whimpering as their muscles cramped in the first shift, and led many would-be tough guys to quit because they couldn’t stop day dreaming about action long enough to watch the people around them. Unfortunately, Mario and Jou fit both stereotypes, and is was sgeer will power that kept them both at it. It made the job hard.

Even Jou occasionally got distracted, trying to think of new ways to make his automated security systems more efficient and less obvious. Large visible camera were great for making an amateur thief think twice about breaking into a building he’d secured, but he was planning on branching out of commercial security and designing security systems for private homes—no one wanted a bulky camera box or motion sensor mounted next to their china cabinet. Jou’s most detailed professional fantasy involved all the things he could do if he ever got inside the Kaiba mansion again. He remembered the bulky camera boxes and motion sensors in Kaiba’s hallways and he’d been ignorant enough to be impressed by them at the time. His technology could make poor Kaiba’s place more secure and less tacky all in one go.

In his peripheral vision, he saw a movement by the counter. A tall man with brown hair and a shoulder holster over a heavy dress shirt stood at the counter staring at him. As if a switch flipped in the other man’s head, he moved. He was around the counter fast, moving towards Jou with a furious look in his brown eyes. Jou raised a single hand in Mario’s direction. The man turned what was going to be a sprint and tackle into a nonchalant step towards Jou, stopping only when Jou was within arm’s reach. The brunette grabbed Jou by the collar and hauled him off the ground. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Jounouchi!”

“Gee, it’s good to see you too, Honda.”

“Where the hell have you been!”

“Ah, around. New York, LA, Mexico City, San Francisco. Guess I probably should have called, hu?”

“Probably should have called! We thought you were dead! Damn straight you should have called!” With that, the larger man pulled Jou into a tight hug, lifting him off the floor with ease. “I never thought I’d see you again! What happened? Not a word to anybody! Even Yugi and Shizuka! We thought you were dead Jou!” Honda paused, patting Jou’s shoulders in a friendly gesture, and then like an officer doing a pat down. Honda moved his mouth close to Jou’s ear. “Explain the harness now. I don’t want to throw your ass into the wall in front of your friend.”

“Don’t do many pat searches do you? It’s a vest, not a harness,” Jou said simply. “I’m unarmed. And Mario would probably get a kick out of seeing that.”

Honda let him go and stared at him, as though searching his eyes for something.

“I left my harness back in the states,” said Jou, scratching the back of his head.

“So you’re a cop?” Honda looked suspicious.

“No, not any more. Never could make ends meet, so I moonlighted in security for a while. I built a name for myself in the private sector and pretty soon I was making ten times what I was as a cop.”

“Private sector? Rent-a-cops must get paid more in America than they do here…”

“More dangerous in America than here,” Jou said simply. “But I tend to work in close protection and automated security myself. I hire uniformed security for clients, but otherwise I kinda like not having to work in a uniform. Honda, this is Mario Delgado, he…” Jou smiled at Mario and switched back to English. “How do you want to play this? Are you my employee, co-worker, assistant, friend, or lover?”

“No blue eyes… Can I’m assume he’s a friend and not Kaiba?”

“One of my best friends. Honda Hiroto, or Hiroto-san, I guess.”

“Your call, Joey. The only Japanese I’ve learned so far is how to order a beer and ask if someone speaks English, so I can’t blow whatever you choose.”

“Okay,” Jou shrugged. No sense in being dishonest if there wasn’t a good reason. “Mario Delgado, he’s sort of my partner. Or rather, his sister was my partner. I spent a couple years on the LAPD. Mario here is a Ju-jitsu sensai who works with me when he’s got time.”

“Ju-jitsu? You know Brazilian Ju-jitsu?” Honda asked in pathetic English.

Mario smiled brilliantly. “I do. When I was a student I was scrawny, so I had to find some way to defend myself from the bigger kids.”

“You were little?” Honda stared at the mountain of a man, gazing from toe to hair and back again.

“Yup.”

Honda looked a bit confused, but Jou could tell from the suspicious look in his eyes that his friend was just adding things to a long list that he would no doubt demand an explanation about later. “Well,” he said, returning to Japanese, “Why don’t you both come back and join me for some tea. We can catch up on old times.”

“Alright, but don’t let me forget I’ve got to clear up some old warrant, too.”

“Yeah, I know a bit about that.”

Honda held the gate open for them and let them through into the main office of the police station. He led them through several rows of desks and to a desk, secluded from the others by two cubicle walls. Documents were pinned to most of the available cubicle wall, along with a two year old calendar. On the desk were framed photos of most of Jou’s old friends from high school.

A picture of Yugi, Mokuba, Otogi, and Honda together at a theme park. Jou did a double take when he noticed that Mokuba’s arm was wrapped around Yugi’s waist. In the picture, Honda and Otogi stood next to each other, Honda with his arms crossed and Otogi with his arms straight at his side. Something in the way the two men were leaning and the way they looked at each other struck a familiar cord in Jou—he’d seen that same posture more than a few times in bars when two gay men were trying really hard to look straight. There was a framed snapshot of Anzu, dressed in the outfit of a Broadway chorus dancer. Looked like she finally made her dream come true, after all.

Honda got them each a cup of tea and sat down behind the desk. The nameplate said he was a detective now, and he looked the part. The brunette had finally let his hair collapse into a less noticeable style, had filled out through the shoulders, looking for all the world like every detective who ever tried to pawn Jou off on the foster care system. Honda sipped a cup of black coffee and stared at Jou for a moment. “You do have a lot of explaining to do. Why did you leave? Why didn’t you call or write to us? Do you have any idea how much money Kaiba’s spent over the last eight years trying to find you?”

Jou chuckled. “Figured the ice prick would have learned that I’m a waste of money by now.”

“So you knew we were looking for you?”

Jou shrugged. “I figured someone might. But I had to get away, had to prove that I could survive without being… I had to prove I could survive by myself. The day my dad died, my whole world fell apart,” said Jou honestly. “I didn’t have a home, my only family didn’t want me, and, well, Kaiba drove home the point that if I stayed here in Domino the only way I’d be able to survive was on the streets or as a charity case. So I caught the train to Tokyo. I sold all of my cards to afford a one way ticket to New York. Because of my dad, I’ve always been an American citizen. I always meant to drop Yugi an email or something, but, well, I didn’t really get into computers and electronics until I went to school, and by then Yugi had stopped publishing his email address cause of fan mail. But I went to work, started Ally Solutions, and the next thing I knew it had been years and I still hadn’t found time to call anybody.”

“Ally Solutions?”

Jou dug out a business card for him.

“Automated and Monitored Security Solutions for Your Business, Licensed and Bonded Security Officers, Industry Leaders in Close Protection,” Honda read aloud.

“That’s us. Mostly, we work out of LA, some celebrities like to have body guards to make themselves feel more important, and we provide security for a lot of executives and foreign tour groups who want to vacation in Mexico. That’s where we got into trouble, I think. For two years now, we’ve also been doing some hostage negotiation in Mexico. The Mexican mafia has spent decades targeting business men and wealthy travelers, so their companies or families hire us to handle ransom negotiations and to make sure their employee or loved one gets back alive. I admit, things have gotten messy a few times, but we never had a problem once we got back into the United States—until recently.”

Jou told Honda about the attempted hit, about the investigation that followed, and about finding the arrest warrant he hadn’t known existed. “It seemed like a good time to get away for a while, and having a warrant on my record will damage my reputation if I don’t take care of it. Reputation is everything in my line of work. So what about you? I always sorta figured you’d follow your dad into police work. But how did you and Otogi get together?”

Honda’s mouth was hanging open.

Jou waved his hand in front of Honda’s eyes. “Honda, man, you in there?”

“Same old Jounouchi. You sit there and talk about someone trying to kill you as though it’s the most normal thing in the world, then drop a question like that. After everything we helped Yugi though, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. How did you figure me and Otogi…?”

“The picture. You both look like you got caught with your hands in a cookie jar or something. I assumed you had just let go of him a moment before.”

“What about Yugi? What’s that little guy up to these days?”

“Yug’ took over his grandpa’s shop when he passed away, he still duels in expos every now and then, and he’s a Kaiba Corp. consultant, of course. He and Mokuba have been hanging out a lot over the last year or so. It took him a while to get over losing Yami. Bakura and Malik are on retainers for Kaiba Corp, too, but I think Kaiba just didn’t want them wandering around and getting into trouble. They both play in a band at a local club, too. Otogi… is still Otogi…” Honda shook his head with a smile. “Anzu is working as a real life dancer in New York. Last time I talked to her she was thinking about coming back to Domino and opening up a dance studio of her own.”

Jou nodded. He was glad to hear that Anzu had made it as a dancer. So many girls set out to become dancers, singers, or actresses only to end up doing far less savory things in order to survive. It was a cut throat business, Jou knew. “Sounds like she must have worked hard.”

“I bet she ended up dating a casting agent or something,” said Honda. “She was never that good of a dancer.”

“Kaiba still a bastard?”

“Oh yes,” Honda said automatically. “Some things never change.” Honda set down his coffee and leaned forwards, his voice dropping to a whisper. “And some things do. Since you were in the same line of work, I’ll give you a fair warning so you don’t end up pissing him off. Turns out Kaiba Seto was never so bad compared to Mokuba. I’m not saying this right now, but since you’re back, you need to know what’s been going on. As soon as he was old enough to defend himself, he made it very clear that he could and would destroy anyone who tried to hurt him or his brother. He’s taken over businesses and banks to bankrupt people he sees as a threat. A few of them have even been found dead after ties to the Yakuza mysteriously came to light. The rumor is that Mokuba is the one who plays with the Yakuza, and that the only favors he ever calls in are to completely ruin his enemies, starting with their reputations and ending with their lives. Some even say he earned his way in as a street fighter, if you can believe that.”

Jou really tried to keep the shock from his face. The last time he’d seen Mokuba, the boy had been thirteen. He had still had his playful long hair and a bright smile. Of course, as a kid he had tried to kill them all to help his brother Seto, and he’d always been at Seto’s side in his quest to defeat Yugi. Mokuba was just such a nice kid that it was often easy for Jou to forget that little detail.

In the end, he could not keep a straight face after hearing that. His laughter came out more like a giggle. “Mokuba’s become a wise guy? The richest brat in Domino holding his own with Yakuza?”

“Yeah, the little bastard grew up to be a bigger bastard than his brother, and he’s got a soft spot for the underprivileged, so the local Yakuza like him. You know how things are.”

Jou did. In parts of town where the police didn’t dare travel, the Yakuza often watched out for people. They also extorted them, sure, but they liked to see themselves as defending the people on the very fringe of society. When Jou had been too little to defend himself against his dad, it was the local Yakuza who kept him safe. At five they had him running little errands in exchange for snacks and spare change—always things that kept him out of his dad’s sight and out of harms way. Like everybody else, his dad respected the local boss enough that he didn’t complain. His old man had even been proud of him, for a while.

“You’ve got to see Yugi while you’re here, so you’ll get a chance to see for yourself.”

“I believe you, Honda. He was always a sweet kid, but he was kind of a badass back then, too. At least, when he wasn’t being kidnapped, he was. I guess he got tired of it always being the victim. I don’t suppose you know anything about Shizuka?”

Honda shook his head. “I think she’s still in college. The last time I talked to her was a couple years ago, and then she said she was thinking about medical school. You should give her a call. It crushed her, when you disappeared.”

A familiar guilt knotted Jou’s stomach. Mario hadn’t been following the conversation, but he could read Jou well enough. He touched his arm and met his gaze. “Just asking about my kid sister, Shizuka. When our parents split, she went with our mom and I went with our dad. Our mom figured I’d grow up to be just as much of a drunk as our dad, so we didn’t really get to see each other much. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her when I left.”

“So…” Mario’s voice took on a sharp, accusing tone. “You left her to deal with your dad’s funeral alone…”

Jou felt himself pale and the knots in his stomach tighten. “Yes,” he said through gritted teeth. “I’ve felt bad about it ever since, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did it. It’s not like I could have contributed much anyway. I had enough money to my name to buy instant ramen. Funerals are expensive. I hope Shizuka didn’t go to too much trouble for the ol’ man, she didn’t have much money either.” Jou glanced at Honda and switched back to Japanese. “Dad’s funeral…” he explained. “It would have fallen on Shizuka to take care of it. I’ve always felt bad about that.”

Honda shrugged. “Kaiba dealt with it, believe it or not.”

“Joey,” Mario whispered. The other man made let his jaw drop open and made an expressive show of closing it again. Jou shut his mouth.

“Kaiba…” Jou huffed. “He’s the reason for the warrant, isn’t he?”

Honda nodded. “He came in about two weeks after the funeral and filed a report saying you stayed in his guest room the night after your dad died and that you took a hundred thousand yen from his home office before running away in the morning.”

“A hundred thousand yen?” Jou smirked, wondering why he was so surprised by the coincidence. “Right about now, I think I’d be willing to take on Mokuba just for the chance to kick Kaiba’s rich ass. I did not take that money, Honda. He offered it, but I left it there!”

Honda said nothing. A tiny part of Jou’s mind screamed that he was being hit with an old interrogation tactic—saying nothing almost always forced a would-be criminal into a full explanation, just to avoid an awkward silence.

Jou didn’t listen to that part of his brain. He dove into a full explanation of that night, before discretion could persuade him to hold his tongue. Honda just listened, nodding occasionally. When Jou finished, Honda kept staring at him, but he had a mischievous grin on his face.

“Jou,” Honda tossed his empty styrofoam cup in the trash, “You know Kaiba’s occasionally an idiot, right?”

“His IQ is off the charts, Honda. Kaiba’s no idiot.”

“I said occasionally. He’s a genius, but everyone has stupid moments. I’ve gotten to know him a bit more since high school. Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of his stupid moments. Mokuba says that sometimes his brain just gets moving so quickly that it’s physically impossible for him to stop and think things through. I doubt that money meant what you think it did.”

Jou rubbed his eyes. How could one of his oldest friends think he’d over reacted? Honda couldn’t really be suggesting that Jou should have stayed in Domino and been Kaiba’s prostitute.

“Honda,” Jou shook his head, “I don’t want to understand what moneybags meant. I don’t want anything to do with him. I just want to deal with the warrant, hang out with you and Yugi until things quiet down back in the states, and then go back to work. I did not take that money, but I’ll pay whatever I’ve got to in order to make those charges disappear.”

“Just think about it, Jou. Kaiba has always been able to solve his problems by throwing money at them. Your dad just died and you didn’t have money for food, much more for a funeral…”

“He didn’t know my dad died. Kaiba knew what he was doing,” Jou insisted. “He had always been a manipulative asshole. He brought me down as far as he possibly could, then he left the money to rub it in. How could I have stayed here when he had turned me into the whore my father always said I was? The truth is, I couldn’t face you or Yugi after what happened. I felt so worthless I figured you would both be disgusted by me. And my dad would have come back from the dead just to kick my ass if I had used that money for his funeral. I left because I couldn’t deal with the shame of telling you all. I never wanted to see another familiar face again because I figured you’d all know what I had become just by looking at me! And now you know exactly what I am.”

When Mario sighed, Honda turned towards him. They shared a look that spoke volumes, despite the language barrier between them. He pushed himself to his feet quickly, grabbed Jou by the wrist, and dragged him out of his chair. Honda half-dragged Jou through the police station, passed rows of empty desks and uniformed officers struggling to write reports. He led them through a break room with a dozen cafeteria-style tables, then out a rear entrance and into an alleyway. The rage in Honda’s eyes was strong enough to rival Kaiba’s on a good day.

“Honda?” Jou glanced towards Mario, who had followed, but was keeping his distance. Her folded arms and stoic features told him that he had no intention of interfering, even if Honda ended up beating him to a pulp.

Jou didn’t really expect Honda to hit him. He also rationalized that if Honda hit him, he would inevitably pull the punch. He always had when they were kids. When Honda hit him in the cheek with a full-force round house punch that sent him flying into the brick wall behind him, Jou was caught a bit off guard. The sharp pain in his cheek and the back of his head where he hit the wall were nothing compared to the jolt to his broken ribs. He held his hands up in front of him while he fought to catch his breath.

“Damn it, Jou, don’t you ever talk about yourself that way again! I am sorry that Yugi and me weren’t there for you, I’m sorry Kaiba is the stupidest genius asshole on the planet, and I am sorry that your dad was an ass, but if I ever hear you call yourself worthless or a whore again I will personally shut you up! We were best friends, Jou! Yugi and I knew about the shit you dealt with at home, and in the gang, and we never thought less of you for it! You were always the noble one, even though you had every reason to be a bully and a criminal. As for what happened with Kaiba—Jou, if you wanted it than there is nothing wrong with what happened. I doubt you were thinking clearly at the time, but wanting someone you’re attracted to is not a bad thing!” Honda stopped yelling and stared at him for a moment. He unclenched his fists and seemed to deflate before Jou’s eyes. “If that’s really how you feel about yourself, I know I’m not going to be able to change your mind, but you will not say it out loud again.”

Jou had to shut his eyes to block out the pain. “I get it.”

“Good. Let’s go see about that warrant,” said Honda. He reached for Jou but froze when Jou cringed away from his touch. “Oh come on, I didn’t hit you that hard. You might end up with a bruise, but it doesn’t look that bad.”

Jou was still having trouble taking a deep breath. Ever since he was a teenager, his ribs had always cracked easily, and they always took their time healing.

Honda looked at Mario desperately. “Broken ribs,” he explained simply.

“You haven’t even had time to heal yet?”

“Sure I have,” Jou coughed. “Had about a week.”

“You let me hit him when he was hurt?” Honda glared at Mario.

Mario stared right back.

“He’s mad because you let him hit me when you knew I was injured,” Jou translated.

“Ah… Suppose I shouldn’t tell him that I smack you around all the time, hu?”

Jou touched his cheek with gentle fingertips. “Ya don’t count. Esme is the one who usually manages to leave a bruise on me. Besides, you always hold back because you think I’m going to rape you or something if you go all out.”

Mario opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again.

“Ha! I knew it, you do hold back!”

He stepped closer and patted him on the shoulder. “Not going to happen, Joey. I’m not going to try to throw you when you’re hurt, even if there’s a chance for sex involved.” Jou gawked at him. They had never slept together. That was, possibly, one of the most suggestive things Jou had ever heard the other man say. And Honda had caught it, too.