Fixation

Chapter 12


The awkward silence that filled the boardroom brought a sneer to Kaiba Seto’s face. The flustered face of each of the four board members who had tried to force his resignation was priceless. He had been able to sway everyone they had counted on for support, either through persuasion, bribery, or blackmail, and Kaiba Corporation would remain under his control for another five years.

“Ladies, gentlemen,” Seto moved around the room with a fluid grace, making eye contact with each of the four for just a bit longer than was comfortable for each of them. Every single one of them dropped their eyes. “Now that the formalities are out of the way, you’ll find the next item on our agenda is solidifying our R & D schedule for the coming year.”

“Kaiba-sama,” one of the treacherous four spoke up, “If we could put our personal issues aside for a moment, I sincerely feel that you are betraying Kaiba Corp’s best interests by ignoring the funding offer for the sensory immersion technology.”

“Kaiba Corp designs and produces games. The infrared projector was incorporated into the design to induce a mild sensation of warmth to make flame and light-based holographic attacks feel more realistic. I see no reason to accept funds from a foreign government so they can use my technology to char hundreds of people at a time.”

“I think char might be a bit inaccurate… Their projections said an acute burning sensation, to assist with crowd control, riots and such… Hardly a military application at all.”

“Because their scientists, having read about the theory in an article I authored, would know so much more about the technology than I would. I’m just the man who designed, built, and extensively tested the technology and provided them with the only data they have regarding it… Feel free to take their word for it.” That actually earned a few chuckles.

Kaiba let out a slow sigh and rubbed his eyebrows, as though trying to explain something to child who probably wouldn’t understand anyway. “I’ll try to make this simple. Ladies and gentlemen, under my guidance, Kaiba Corp has become the most profitable game and entertainment company in the world. Under the guidance of my dear stepfather, Kaiba Corp was a mediocre arms manufacturer at best. Right now, our annual profit margin is higher than the operating budget of the government that wants to help us with funding. I think it would be foolish to give up the position we’ve reached just to go back to only making a profit when there’s a war to be fought. Wars are unpredictable, and are going to be fought more in public opinion forums on the internet than with the weapons my stepfather designed. The one thing you can always count on, though, is that there are always going to be more kids in the world. If anyone here really wants to dedicate their lives to a different market, I suggest they look into joining the board of directors of a different company.”

“Hang on to your stock options, though. You wouldn’t want to wind up without any reliable income when your new venture goes bankrupt,” said Mokuba, with a boyish grin. “The economy is so fragile, after all, it’s easier than ever to wind up without a single yen to your name if you’re not careful.”

The four members of the board who had tried to overthrow Kaiba stiffened. In the two years since Kaiba Mokuba had finished his business degree and showed up in the vice president’s seat next to his brother, they had learned that the youngest Kaiba brother was not someone they wanted to turn into an enemy. The younger Kaiba was seldom willing to negotiate or be diplomatic—he was much more likely to buy the bank that held your mortgage and raise the interest rates to such an extreme level that anyone who defied him found themselves homeless, if not entirely bankrupt. In all fairness, he had only actually done so once, but that once was enough to lend his thinly veiled threats an edge. And everyone knew he was fiercely protective of his older brother.

There were rumors, although they were seldom even whispered aloud, that the youngest Kaiba would go far beyond financial ruin to destroy his brother’s enemies. Few people wanted to test that particular theory.

“Kaiba-sama,” a neutral voice spoke up. The woman was older, but still had a razor edge that Seto had always thought made her fun to work with. “Since we’ve already deviated from the agenda, I was hoping you could address an accounting oversight that was brought to my attention…”

“Accounting oversight?”

“I presume it is an oversight. The poor man who brought it to my attention said he had attempted to talk to you about it, but was told that you were too busy and that he had no authority to question where you spent our money. Apparently, four million dollars had been ear marked for a special project by your office about three and half years ago. The money had been withdrawn in small increments, with receipts from various agencies, until recently. Approximately three million American dollars—I know, hardly worth the concern—was deducted, by your office, with nothing to account for where the funds were spent. Since this board does have the authority to question where you spend our money, I am now asking you to address this issue.”

One of the four who had rallied against him was scribbling notes frantically.

Seto reviewed various meetings in his memory but could not remember hearing of anything odd from the Accounting Department. It took him longer to recall all of the memos and reports that he had read within the past month, but nothing had been reported about missing millions of dollars. He would remember missing millions of dollars.

“Nakamura-san,” he said with a smooth smile, “I am afraid that this is the first I have heard of this oversight. My secretary does try to address minor staff concerns without my assistance, but she may have been over-zealous in this case. If you could provide some information about the transaction, I promise you that I will find the problem and resolve it promptly.”

“Thank you,” the woman inclined her head in a gentile bow. Seto returned the gesture automatically. He caught the way her eyes flickered to the man taking notes, though. She was not exactly providing ammunition to his enemies, Seto knew. She was just making sure that he knew how much was riding on his promise to investigate.

“Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, the design schedule for the coming year…”

After the meeting, Kaiba collected a small sheet of paper with names, dates, and transaction numbers from the older woman and promised, once again, to let her know as soon as he has sorted out where the money went. Kaiba stayed still, smiling as she left, until the door shut and latched behind her.

“Well, that could have gone better,” said Mokuba, tilting his chair back and letting himself slouch low in the seat.

Seto shrugged. “There have been closer votes before. So long as I can come up with two hit videogames and a new release of Duel Monsters in the next five years, I’m fine. I think you’ve made a few new enemies, though.”

Mokuba gave Seto his impish grin, the one that always got him ice cream when he was a little boy. “I haven’t even begun to make enemies here, Seto. You always said that anything worth doing is worth doing well. Give me time and you’ll see that I intend to make enemies like a craftsman.”

“So you’ve said,” Seto leaned against the window and stared out over the city of Domino. “I just wish you could give me a better explanation.”

“Easy,” said Mokuba. “I want you to keep your job. If they see you as the lesser of two evils, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“With you being the greater evil?”

“Yes.”

Seto nodded with a grin. He shouldn’t be proud of his brother for growing into a more bloodthirsty businessman that him, but he was. “Well, I feel like celebrating, want to go get a pizza?”

“Can I invite a couple of friends?”

“I assumed Yugi was coming. Who’s the other one? Please not another potential girlfriend. It’s not that Naomi girl again, is it?”

Mokuba shook his head. “No, she said no amount of money could make putting up with you worthwhile.”

“She was definitely charming.” Seto sighed. “So who is it? Not Shizuka again,” Seto insisted, “I don’t know why you and Yugi keep trying to set me up with her, but that’s just… it’s too weird.”

Mokuba couldn’t meet Seto’s gaze. “Well, she looks a lot like Jou, so we just figured… But no, I’m done trying to set you up with girls.”

“Finally!”

“So I asked Yugi if he knew any guys you might be interested in.”

“You what?”

“Don’t worry, I told him to be discrete about it.”

Seto’s eyes narrowed. “Can we just agree that you wont meddle in my personal life and go have pizza?”

“What personal life?” Mokuba huffed.

As they headed for Seto’s personal elevator, his secretary raced to catch up to them. “Kaiba-sama, here are your messages from this morning.”

“Thank you, Kaede-san.” He took the small stack of paper and carefully flipped through them.

His secretary twirled her hair as she walked beside him. “I’ve updated your afternoon schedule on your blackberry, confirmed your attendance at the museum fundraiser with Miss Ishtar, you’ll need a date, and I’ll have the minutes of the board meeting transcribed by tomorrow morning.”

“I am not bringing a date. Get a dress and show up. In addition, I’d like the sketches and storyboards for the new RPG, they should be done by now. I want to leak some screen shots to start building up hype for the November release. Also,” he handed her the sheet of paper from the board meeting, “Look into this transaction. I would like a complete report regarding it by Tuesday morning.”

“I’ll see to it, Kaiba-sama. Enjoy your lunch.”

When the elevator door closed, Mokuba glanced sideways at him. “She’s crazy about you, you know.”

“I know. I’ve done nothing to encourage it. Unfortunately, trying to find a secretary who’s not obsessed with me has proven to be more trouble than it’s worth.”

“You could hire a man.”

“No.” Seto tried to fight down the blush as he remembered how complicated things had gotten the last time he’d hired a male secretary. He had ended up with a secretary who hit on him all the time with the added curse of actually being attracted to the man. That had blown up into a personal and public relations catastrophe, and it had taken a lot of money and the threat of a legal action to keep all of the details of his sex life from ending up in a first-hand tabloid interview. It had not been one of his better moments. After that fell apart, Seto had decided he was better off with adoring female secretaries who assumed he was too noble to pursue them.

Kaede had always been professional, but lately she was hitting on him a bit more insistently than she had when he’d first hired her. Seto had not been forced to deal with a single administrative nightmare in the entire four years she had been working for him. She had even persuaded him, once she had learned about his obsession with tracking down Jounouchi, that it was time to stop paying the private investigators their monthly stipend for never finding any trace of the Mutt. He was lucky to have found her.

“At least you weren’t such as ass the last time you had a male secretary.”

An hour later, Seto was sipping a beer and watching Yugi beat Mokuba at an electronic chess game. It had taken three years of watching Mokuba and Yugi sneak around before Seto had finally given in and told Mokuba he didn’t care who he shared his bed with. Since then the smaller man had been a permanent fixture in his life, no matter how much he hated the idea. Once that annoying Mizaki girl had gone off to school in America, Yugi’s friendship speeches had mellowed and eventually disappeared altogether. Seto didn’t know if he’d just given up or if he somehow saw Seto’s willingness to put up with him as another victory. But Mokuba was happy—that had always been the only thing that mattered.

Seto’s business phone rang and he answered it automatically. “Kaiba.” Seto listened for a moment, then dropped the phone as the color drained from his cheeks. He felt like his brain shut down completely when the prosecutor said the one name that had been his obsession for nearly a year when he was younger.

After Jou had vanished, Seto had spared no expense trying to find him. Because Jou’s own mother wasn’t concerned about him vanishing, the police hadn’t taken Seto’s attempt to file a missing person’s report seriously. He’d hired every private investigator in Japan and spent weeks driving through seedy neighborhoods from Domoino to Tokyo looking for the lost Mutt. In retrospect, he might have got a bit carried away with the theft report. Seto thought if the police would just actually look for Jou that they would have more luck than the private investigators. Since the police wouldn’t look for Jou as a missing person, he figured they might look for him as a criminal. He had been wrong about that. When Jou decided to vanish, he was thorough about it, disappearing so completely that it was as though there was no record of Jounouchi Katsuya existing beyond their small high school and his ranked duels.

He picked up his phone as fast as he could. “I’m sorry, could you repeat that? He just showed up and offered to repay the money?” Despite years of careful training by Gozoboro in maintaining composure under pressure, Seto couldn’t help squeezing his eyes shut and hitting his forehead against the table. Jou finally came back to Domino only to find that Seto had proclaimed, to the whole world, that he was a miserable thief. He’d have to move quickly to have any chance of talking with the Mutt. And unless Jou had mellowed with age, he’d probably want to beat the shit out of him rather than talk.

He motioned for Mokuba’s attention frantically. “Yes, I’m aware that the statute of limitations has expired. I… No, I intend to forgive the debt, but I would like to tell him that personally. Thank you for letting me know.” He set a wad of money down on the table and grabbed his brother by the wrist, pulling him towards the door and calling his driver. “Hurry up, both of you! We have to go right now!” He threw his brother into the limo and let his brother’s boyfriend crawl in behind him.

He called his secretary as soon as they were moving. “Kaede, it’s Kiaba. I want my schedule cleared for this afternoon and tomorrow.”

“Kaiba-sama, what’s happened?”

“The police have found Jounouchi Katsuya. I have to find him, have to apologize while I have the chance.”

“Jounouchi Katsuya is alive? And in Domino? Don’t worry Seto, I’ll take care of everything. I’ll reschedule your appointments and inform the staff that you’ll be out of the office tomorrow. If you need more time cleared this week just let me know.”

“Go ahead and clear the entire week. Post everything I requested on the server, I’ll work from home,” said Seto, disconnecting without another word.

Across from him, Yugi and Mokuba were staring at him with open mouths.

“Is it true, Seto?” Yugi asked, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Jou is back?” Yugi was the only one of Jou’s friends who had not assumed he was dead. He alone had never lost faith in Jou returning.

“I don’t know. Someone showed up at the Domino Police station claiming to be Jounouchi Katsuya. I figured it was worth checking out.”

“Definitely! It would be so exciting if Jou were finally home!”

Seto would be excited just to find out if Jou was still alive.

He didn’t expect his heart to be racing. The familiar streets of Domino passed by outside the limo window quickly, but the short drive seemed to be stretching on for an eternity. He tried to make the time go faster by scripting out possible scenarios in his head. He was not counting on Jou being willing to speak with him. He had given up on that fantasy years ago, letting his hopes whittle away to illogical possibility that the Mutt was still alive somewhere.

It had taken nearly a week after Jou disappeared before Seto even realized what he’d done wrong. Seto had only spent a grand total of six months in the orphanage as a boy, and during that time, he was only exposed to the difficulties of poverty among the very young.

Logically, he knew that he and Jou came from very different worlds, but it took a week of sitting on the steps outside of Jou’s apartment for Seto to get a feel for just how different. He hadn’t moved for days, having his driver bring him take out, when one of Jou’s neighbors finally sat down and spoke to him. She had been an older lady with a small tabby cat who rode around on her shoulder. She explained to Seto that Jou was more at home out of the streets than he had ever been in his father’s apartment. Then she told him stories of the times Jou had shown up at her door with cuts, bruises, or broken bones and begged her to hide him for a few days. She was the one who told him that Jounouchi’s interest in him had been genuine and not just a fluke born out of grief. When he told her about the night he and Jou and spent together, how he had left a not apologizing for taking advantage of him and left money to help with the expenses Jou was going to face, she had slapped him hard enough to leave a pink hand print on his cheek. When he still looked confused, she had been kind enough to explain what the gesture would have meant from Jou’s perspective.

Seto had increased his efforts to find Jou after that. He hired a private investigator to watch the apartment, hired more investigators to search for the Mutt, and tried to file a missing person report. As weeks passed without any sign of Jou, he cut back on the private investigators and hired three who had the best reputations when it came to locating missing people. He told them that he didn’t care how long it took, or how much it cost, he wanted them to find Jounouchi. After weeks turned into months, and then months blurred together, even the private investigators had all but given up. At the one year mark, they all agreed that the Mutt had either completely changed his identity or was in an anonymous grave somewhere.

Little by little, he had given up. The sharp edge of the guilt that ate away at him was hard to bare. For a long time he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he had driven Jou away when the Mutt was an emotional wreck and had nowhere in the world to call home. Jou had only just graduated from high school and Seto knew he didn’t have a job yet. Since Jou had spent his share of time on the streets as a kid, it was only logical that he’d go back to the streets when he ran out of other options. The best private investigators in Japan agreed he had probably died on the streets. Before he returned home from work and found that Jou was gone, Seto had hoped that Jou might have realized Seto wanted to give him another option—even if it wasn’t with him. Instead, a miscommunication left him responsible for driving Jou away, maybe even killing him.

Seto leaned on his window, watching the door of the police station as soon as it came into view. Unless the Mutt had already gotten away, Seto would at least be able to spot him if he decided to make a run for it. When the limo finally stopped, Seto leapt out with Yugi on his heels. Mokuba told the driver to stay near by and followed behind them at a leisurely pace.

Seto froze inside the door, scanning the room for any sign of Jou’s familiar hair. Finding no one, he straightened up and strode to the counter. When the officers working at their desks noticed him, one went running, presumably to find someone in charge. A moment later an older gentleman in a three piece suit hurried toward the counter, bowing as he came. “Kaiba-san,” the man bowed low once he stopped, “How may we be of service?”

“I was just notified by the city prosecutor that a Jounouchi Katsuya had come here to turn himself in and pay restitution for stealing from me many years ago. He has been missing for some time, and as it happened, I was having lunch with my brother and one of Jounouchi-san’s oldest friends when I was told that he was here. We came here at once, so that my associate might be able to catch up with his friend before he loses track of him altogether.”

“Ah, yes, of course! Jounouchi-san and his American friend are in our gymnasium. I’ve just come from watching them, actually. Please,” the man lifted the gate for them, “Come this way.”

The man in the suit led them through the office and through a small wooden side door. Inside was an old gymnasium with blue mats covering most of the floor. The room was filled with police officers, some in uniform, some in shorts and t-shirts, and others in suits, and all standing in a circle, staring at a grappling match in stunned silence. Somewhere in the tangle of limbs, one of the grapplers was breathing very hard. The other wasn’t even winded. Seto found himself staring, too, wondering how such a gigantic man could move so easily. Seto did a double take when he realized that the man the giant was fighting was Honda. Honda was no amature, having spent years training in judo and karate as a boy, and years more teaching and studying defensive tactics as an officer. In one swift motion, the giant sent him flying. In an instant, Honda was face down on the gym floor, his legs locked under the other man’s, his upper body completely immobilized by a carefully balanced joint lock.

Mokuba froze beside Seto. His brother stared at the scene and folded his arms in concentration.

“He wont surrender,” came a familiar voice, although it spoke English and not Japanese. Seto searched for the source of the voice and found Jou standing in the first ring of spectators, wearing an expensive, although poorly tailored suit. His suit jacket was draped over his shoulder and his shirt clung to him awkwardly. The fit body that Seto spent so long drooling over looked more defined than he remembered, although an odd angle at each of Jou’s shoulders made him look like he had shoulder pads on under his dress shirt. His messy blond hair now looked professionally styled, and even though a day of blond stubble decorated his chin, he still had the same infectious smile.

Seto resisted the urge to move towards him, to touch him and make sure he was real. He just watched, trying to memorize every detail of Jou’s golden smile before Jou noticed he was there.

“He wont give in,” Jou said again, a chuckle in his voice.

“Joey, stop trying to help your friend by distracting me. You’re wasting your breath.”

Joey? Seto glanced between Jou and the man balanced on top of Honda. Jounouchi had changed his name, and had obviously gone to America. He looked like he was successful, whatever he’d ended up doing. Seto was glad that Jou had returned to Domino as a success, but he felt his stomach sink as he realized that Jou had also returned home with a man who had the body, face, and hair of an action movie star.

“I’m just saying… You could sit there all day and he wont give in—not the Honda Hiroto I know.”

“Ironically,” said the man, “I could sit here all day. But I’m already getting board. Let’s see if this made it across the professional channels…”

The man rotated Honda’s arm so his upper arm was against his ear, then moved in a flash, wrapping his arms around both Honda’s neck and his arm and squeezing fairly hard. In a matter of seconds, Honda’s clenched eyes fell shut and his body went limp.

Around them, the cops in the room let out a series of groans and curses.

“Will he be alright?” asked a female officer whose conversational English was far better than Honda’s.

“He should be,” said the man softly. “I’m applying pressure, and counter pressure, to the carotid artery. The counter pressure is provided by the arm bar, makes it effective with less force. The idea is to pause the blood flow just long enough to knock him out, but he’ll be awake again in a few seconds,” he explained in the patient voice of a practiced instructor. He still wasn’t even breathing hard.

The man maintained the hold for another few seconds, then released Honda and gracefully rose to his feet. He gently turned Honda over on to his back, checked his pulse and physically pushed him into a sitting position. With one hand holding him steady, he raised the other and slapped him on the back hard enough that the sound echoed through the gym. Honda’s head shot up as though someone had just poured water on him. He took a few deep breaths and brought both hands to his head.

“LAPD banned that little trick,” Jou muttered.

The man, who was dressed in a tight pair of slacks and a skin tight white undershirt, was easily one of the most attractive men Seto had ever seen. He had deeply tanned skin, glittering dark hair, and the toned body of a professional athlete. When he smiled at Jou, Seto swore he could actually hear sighs from the female officers in the room.

“They did. The sheer number of officers working in LA mean they’ll have some idiot would-be heros who use the technique incorrectly or abusively. If you hold the choke too long, or if your positioning is wrong, people die. There are over ninety thousand officers working in LA… About eight people died, over a fifteen year period. Honestly, it was statistically impressive given the risk, but it was still a public relations nightmare.” He smirked. “Glad it’s not my problem.”

“You didn’t think about using something a bit safer?” Jou asked, though his voice was calm.

“No,” the giant said simply. “The alternative was pain compliance or a submission technique. If his ego can’t survive surrendering when he’s pinned, how horrible would it be to make him squeal like a girl?”

Jou shook his head.

The man knelt down beside Honda and checked on him again. With a friendly grin, he offered him a hand. Honda took it and accepted the help getting to his feet, rubbing his neck all the while. He was the first to notice that Seto, Mokuba, and Yugi had arrived. “Yugi, Mokuba, Kaiba, nice to see you again.”

Jou froze, his entire body tensing to run away or attack someone. The man who had been fighting with Honda strolled over to Jou, letting his hips sway slightly as he walked. He placed a massive hand on Jou’s shoulder and whispered something in his ear in a language Seto didn’t recognize. Jou’s whole body relaxed.

Seto refused to let himself feel anything at the sight of the man holding on to Jou’s shoulder. He and Jou had never had a relationship, never even a real friendship, and eight years had passed since he’d last seen the man. It was completely irrational for him to feel jealous. So, he reasoned, he just wouldn’t let himself feel jealous. Jou turned towards them looking just as hot as he did in high school and Seto had to ball his hands into fists to remember that he was a completely rational person.

“Yugi! Mokuba! I was hoping I’d get to run into you! Kaiba,” Jou nodded in Seto’s direction, locking eyes with him for a single moment, then turned back to the circle of police officers. “Please excuse us”

When Jou turned back he focused his eyes on Yugi and wouldn’t meet Seto’s gaze. “How you doin’, Yug’?”

“Jou!” Yugi was so excited he was bouncing. “Jou, it’s really you!”

“It’s me. Mario, these are the friends I told you about, Motou Yugi and Kaiba Mokuba. Guys, this is Mario.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Yugi, shaking his free hand.

“Likewise. Joey talks about you so much that I feel like I’ve known you for years,” he lied. “Please forgive the lecture a few moments ago, I’m afraid I got carried away.”

“Not at all, it was very interesting. We saw a portion of the fight. Honda-kun is no easy opponent, either,” said Yugi, beaming. “That was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen! Are you a police officer, too? Where did you learn all that?”

“I’m not a police officer,” Mario’s eyes flickered in Seto’s direction. “I’m afraid I’m just a humble teacher. Although my sister was Joey’s partner, when he was on the force.”

Seto watched Jou open his mouth, then shut it again quickly.

“What?” the giant smiled at Jou.

“Training officer. I didn’t stay long enough to be assigned an actual partner. She taught me the ropes, though.”

“So you were a police officer, Jou? Wow,” Yugi looked at Jou a bit uncertainly, “I can’t believe you’re standing right here. We have to hang out and get caught up! We should call everyone and get the whole gang together!”

“Easy, Yugi,” Jou patted him on the shoulder, “I’d love to, but there’s something I’ve got to clear up here first. I can’t leave the police station until the prosecutor decides to clear an old warrant for my arrest, and I think I owe Kaiba some money before that’ll happen.” Jou pulled out his wallet and checkbook. “It was a hundred thousand yen, wasn’t it, Kaiba?”

Seto’s mouth was so dry he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to speak. He was torn between wanting to throw up and jump the blond right there. He was Seto Kaiba, he told himself. He did not lose control of himself, he did not give in to base emotions, and he was never at a loss for words.

He swallowed and smiled at Jou. “This is a first for me, Jounouchi. I am more sorry than you can possibly imagine. The theft report was a misunderstanding, and one that I forgot to clarify until the city prosecutor called me a few minutes ago. I came as soon as I could so that I could apologize in person. I hoped you might be willing to talk to me about it, and to forgive me.” Seto sank to his knees and leaned forward until his brow touched the gym floor.

“Seto!” Mokuba hissed, obviously embarrassed.

Seto watched the blond as he stood up. The look of open-mouthed shock on Jou’s face was worth humbling himself a little, he decided.

“Joey,” Mario leaned down towards Jou’s ear again. Again he whispered something in Spanish, and Jou responded in the same language, chuckling and shaking his head.

Jou sighed and finally met Seto’s eyes. The uncertainty, pain, and guilt Seto was hiding inside himself was reflected in Jou’s eyes. But Jou’s eyes still had the same fire they always had, the same life, and the same smoldering invitation that had been the subject of so many of Seto’s wet dreams when he was a teenager. Seto smirked when he realized that look wasn’t in Jou’s eyes when he looked at the man hanging off of him. Whoever he was, he and Jou were definitely not together. The fact that Jou was willing to use a handsome friend to try and make Seto jealous was promising, as far as Seto was concerned. It never occurred to him that the Mutt might not be trying to make him jealous—he was Kaiba Seto, after all.

“You don’t mind?” he whimpered.

“Nah,” the man looked serious for the first time, “I think you’ll be just fine on your own. Besides, I’ve got a sparring partners, a five star hotel to go home to, and your credit card to order room service. What more do I need?”

“Just remember not to max out my credit card, will ya?”

“Don’t know… If I get board I might go online and order you a replacement for that undershirt you’re wearing. It’s full of holes, if I recall.”

“Ah,” Jou nodded and appeared lost in thought. “Don’t bother. I’ve got a spare.”

The man shrugged, let go of Jou’s shoulder, nodded to Yugi, and returned to the growing circle of law enforcement martial experts waiting for him.

Jou stood in front of Seto like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Seto held his gaze, refusing to look away. He knew the Mutt’s pride would never let him back down and look away first, so he kept his eyes locked on Jou’s, hoping the other man could still read him as easily as he had when they were younger. If the blush rising on Jou’s cheeks was any indication, Jou still didn’t have any trouble guessing what was on Seto’s mind.

“Why don’t we all go have a drink,” Mokuba interrupted their silent conversation. “You and Jou obviously need to clear the air and it will give us a chance to organize a party to welcome Jou home properly. Honda, can you join us?”

“Yeah, I can take a break. Coffee for me, of course.”

“Ah, Mokuba, you don’t need to go to any trouble. I’d love to go get a drink with ya, but I’m not really up for a party, anyway.”

“Let’s go, then,” Yugi took Jou by the shoulder and retraced their steps through the maze of desks with Seto, Mokuba, and Honda following close behind.

“How about a dinner party? If you say you’re not up for food, then you’re not the real Jounouchi.”

“Ha! I wish! My metabolism ain’t what it was when I was seventeen. I gotta watch my girlish figure, now.” Jou rubbed his hand over his abs.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about there,” Seto muttered. Jou cast a glare his way but Seto kept his features as blank as he could manage. Jou tried to pretend he didn’t hear the comment, but he pretending so hard that he ended up tripping over his own feet.

Jou turned and began chatting with Yugi, falling into the same easy pattern they had always had. Honda walked beside Seto, discretely trying to get his attention. “Yes?” Seto said at last.

“You actually going to apologize, or are you just fucking around?” asked Honda in a whisper.

“I’m going to apologize,” Seto whispered, without looking at Honda. “Fucking around might also be involved, but that’s up to Jou.”

“Don’t count on it. You saw the boy toy he brought home. Even you can’t compete with that.”

When they reached the front counter, Honda held the gate to the office open as they all filed out. The tinkle of broken glass made Seto look up just in time to see Jounouchi diving towards him. Seto tried to brace himself as Jou tackled him, but the Mutt efficiently swept his feet out from under him, sending them both to the floor. Seto clenched his teeth, certain his head was going to hit the ground hard, but instead his head bounced off of something soft. The sound of breaking glass came two more times, followed by the screech of tires and the revving of a car engine.

It took a moment for Seto to realize that the soft thing his head landed on was, in fact, Jou’s arm. The Mutt had wrapped both his arms around Seto’s head and was hovering over his body, but wasn’t looking at him. He was staring at the door they had nearly walked through. Seto followed his gaze. Three holes were in the glass door at about chest height. Around them, the police department was erupting with frantic activity. Honda ran passed them and out the door. He held his pistol ready, shouting orders at a half dozen officers who were trailing behind him.

“What just happened?” Seto stared at the door, then at Jou.

“Are you alright?” Jou asked, trying to look over Seto’s body without moving. “Are you hit?”

“I’m fine,” said Seto, pushing Jou off him. “Mokuba!”

Mokuba held Yugi to the floor, glaring at the door as though he was trying to will it to burst into flames.

“Mokuba, are you alright?” Seto demanded.

“Yes. The second and third shots are in the counter,” he said in a board voice.

“Second and third?”

Mokuba shot a glance towards Jou. Seto turned and checked on the smaller man. He was on his feet, talking rapidly with the old captain, but a dark streak of blood had formed on the Jou’s left sleeve. His arm was still moving, so it was presumably not broken.

Seto listened to Jou’s conversation for a moment, assembling the basic facts quickly, then pulled out his phone. Within minutes, his own security was en route and Seto’s private doctor agreed to meet them at the Domino hospital. The man Jou had introduced as Mario appeared by Jou’s side dressed in one of the tightest suits Seto had ever seen, but with a shoulder harness and handgun peeking out from beneath his jacket. While the rest of the room was acting frantic, he was standing still, his eyes darting between Jou and the street outside. He recognized the posture and the baring. Seto had spent most of his life standing next to men who mastered that exact pose and expression.

“He’s a bodyguard,” Seto said aloud, torn between being surprised and amused by Jou’s choice for protection.

“What?” Mokuba asked. He was in the middle of helping Yugi to his feet.

“Nothing,” said Seto. He strode towards Jou and Mario, determined to restore some semblance of order to the chaos. “Mario, was it?” Seto asked.

He nodded but didn’t look at him.

“My security is on the way. They will be transporting all of us to a secure location where Jou’s can receive medical attention. You’ll need a radio and vest to work with them effectively, would you prefer I have them loan you the gear, or outfit you once Jou is secure?”

Seto was impressed when the man paled but didn’t stop scanning the street. “We have enough equipment to deal with the situation ourselves. And I don’t think Joey would be comfortable accepting anything from you—whether it’s help or money.”

He didn’t mean to flinch. He really didn’t. The idea that Jou had told his bodyguard about Seto’s mistake made him angrier than he had any right to be. “He told you… So you’re more than his bodyguard…”

“I am not his bodyguard,” the large man insisted.

“I am Kaiba Seto,” Seto said harshly. “I do not explain myself to anyone. But, since you seem to care about him… I intended to pursue a real relationship with him. I admit, I made a mistake not making my intentions clear all those years ago, but I think this is slightly more important than that. Jou has no choice. My home is the most secure location in the city, I employ enough security officers to staff a small army, and I can arrange for on-site medical care. He needs to see a doctor. I was inviting you to work with my staff on this, but if you’re not willing to cooperate, I’ll have them see to matters themselves.”

Mario turned slightly. “Gay Billionaire Kidnaps High School Crush…” he said, just loud enough for Seto to hear. “It would be one hell of a headline, don’t you think?”

“That’s going a bit far. After all, you’ll be working directly with my staff to insure that no one molests Jou while he’s in my home. Unless he wants to be molested, of course. He needs to see a doctor, either way.”

Mario kept the glare up for another moment, then agreed. “Joey, we’re relocating once Kaiba’s security gets here.”

“What? No, we are not! There’s no chance in hell I’m leaving here with Kaiba!”

“Get over it, Joey, you’re going. You said it yourself, he’s got tighter security than the Emperor,” Mario reminded him.

Seto’s security stormed into the station like a swat team. They had scanners in their cars, and Seto was fairly confident that his security chief would have heard about the shooting, and the persuit that was no doubt under way, on the radio. Seto barked an order at them and they quickly surrounded Seto, Mokuba, Yugi, and Jou.

Three minutes later a dozen men were struggling to surround Jou and Seto and still fit through the police department door at the same time.

Jou was not helping matters. “Let go of me, you bastards! I don’t need your friggin’ help!” Side kicks sent two of Seto’s security flying, a knee to the groin from Jou sent another to the ground in a fetal position. “I would rather get shot through the head than go with ‘dat prick! Let me go!” Despite the injury to his left arm, Jou still managed to punch two more men and elbow one in the temple. He got a hold of another’s arm and broke it efficiently. Seto was surprised he could hear the crack over the din.

“Joey, I’m officially disappointed…” Jou’s protests died on his lips when a skilled hand grabbed his uninjured arm and squeezed into a pressure point. Jou dropped to his knees screaming. Keeping his grip on Jou’s pressure point, Mario hoisted him in one arm and dragged him toward the limo, tripped him as he got close to the door, and shoved him into the car head-first. “I apologize in advance for Joey, you seem to bring out the worst in him,” Mario told Seto, then physically shoved him into the limo too, “And he’s going to bleed on your upholstery.”

Mokuba and Yugi followed without any protest. Inside the limo the four of them were seated on the center of the seats, with a bodyguard by each door. Seto explained Mario’s presence to Rolland, his own security chief.

“Rolland,” he said, extending a hand.

“Delgado,” he replied, taking a radio and ear piece offered by another guard.

“Delgado? Not Mario Delgado? Of Ally Solutions?”

“The one and only.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to have you on the team. We hired Ally deal with a few mishaps our people have had abroad. You’ve got a hell of a reputation. You and your boss. After hearing about that Guadalajara thing, and then that rescue in Cabo, I was really eager to meet Joey Wheeler myself, but I never get to the States these days.”

“You’ve heard of Joey Wheeler?” Mario looked a bit surprised.

“It pays to keep up with the field, and Mr. Wheeler is certainly the leader of the field at the moment. I wish we could call on him, too, he’s got a reputation for being able to manage… difficult clients…” Rolland smirked towards Jounouchi. “This one was always a handful, though. If I’d known Jounouchi was involved, I would have been better prepared. The first time we had to deal with him he was only sixteen and he still insisted on taking me on personally.”

“You might be disappointed if you get to meet Joey Wheeler,” Mario glared at Jou. “Joey Wheeler is not as professional as his reputation makes him out to be.”

“Traitor,” Jou hissed. He sulked in the corner with his arms folded across his chest.

“Sir, this is a lucky break,” Rolland turned to Seto. “Ally Solutions can handle anything from securing a bank to protecting the Pope—hostile environments and paramilitary recovery is their specialty.”

“I wouldn’t call it lucky,” Seto said with a nonchalant smile. “Joey Wheeler just took out six of your men.”

Rolland’s mouth dropped open as he looked at Jounouchi. “But that’s Jounouchi Katsuya, Mr. Kaiba. Joey Wheeler is an American, and he’s a professional. We wouldn’t have been able to get Joey Wheeler in this car if he didn’t want to be in it.”

“You didn’t get Joey Wheeler in this car,” Seto pointed out.

“He’s right,” Jou muttered. “I was born Joseph Wheeler. I just went by Jounouchi Katsuya here because my dad didn’t want me to feel like an outsider in school. How’d you figure it out?”

“Genius,” said Seto, as though no other explanation could possibly be needed.

Seto was mentally taking notes, and despite being shot at ten minutes before, he was having a lot of fun watching Jou be pushed around by his own bodyguard. Despite his initial urge to crush the other man, he was starting to like him a bit. Seto had been paying attention to their conversations. He had heard Mario refer to Jou as Joey several times. The private investigators had been looking for Jounouchi by name and by general description, but they had been searching arrest records and trying to get information out of street gangs—they had never bothered to search for a reputable businessmen. Seto was angry with himself for assuming the Mutt would never make anything of himself. No one else, including the Mutt’s closest friends, assumed he would make anything of himself either.

“I see.” Rolland pulled more equipment out of various pockets inside his suit. “Mr. Wheeler, sir,” he said in politely, “I apologize for the misunderstanding back there. I’d have likely done the same. How bad is your arm?”

Jou relaxed a little, despite still looking angry. Seto watched as Jou’s eyes dropped to his own arm, as if he was becoming aware of the injury for the first time. “It’s just a scratch,” he said simply.

“That’s a lot of blood for a scratch, sir. On both sides of your sleeve.”

Jou bit his lip and looked gently pulled at his sleeve. “Hu…”

Seto moved into the seat beside Jou. “Are you saying you didn’t even notice you were injured?” He grabbed the sleeve and shoulder and pulled the shirt apart at the seam. He gently worked the sleeve down until he found a deep wound where a bullet cut through the top layer of skin. It wasn’t deep, but there was a lot of blood. More blood than there should have been, really. “It’s not actually that bad, but it’s going to hurt once the shock wears off. We should get you to a hospital before we go back to the manor.”

“I’m sick of hospitals,” Jou whined. “Mario can stitch it up, can’t you? And I’m still taking the other pain meds, so I can’t get more anyway.”

“Other pain meds?” Seto couldn’t keep the concern out of his voice. Jou motioned towards his coat. Seto dug through the pockets until he found two small prescription bottles. “These are a narcotic, Jou. And an anti-inflamatory drug that’s also a blood thinner. They’re strong. Are you on them now?”

Jou nodded, then let his head fall back onto the seat. He looked pale and exhausted.

“Well, that means your arm wont hurt for another four to six hours,” Seto corrected himself. “You’re still bleeding, though.”

“Blood thinner… Didn’t think about that.”

Seto rolled his eyes. Judging from Jou’s voice, he was getting weaker by the minute. The adrenaline was wearing off, Seto realized. Worse, the Mutt was sweating and was cold to the touch. Seto was not a doctor by any means, but he did have an excellent memory, good enough to remember the symptoms of shock. “Tell the driver to take us to the emergency room, now. Mokuba, call my doctor and tell him he’s to meet us there instead.”

“Seto, I don’t want your help.”

“You need my help, Mutt! You’re blood is not clotting properly. You are in shock and you are not thinking clearly, so this time I’m not giving you a choice. You can bitch about it later.”

Jou’s eyes swiveled. Seto touched his cheek with gentle fingertips, his touch ghosting over the bruise that was forming on Jou’s cheek. “Why were you on the pain mediation?” he whispered, running a finger over Jou’s brow. His pupils were dilated, but that could have just been from being inside the dark car.

“Got shot,” said Jou, closing his eyes and leaning in to Seto’s hand. “Hate you,” Jou whispered, as his head fell backwards again.

“I know, Mutt. I know.” Seto wrapped his arm around Jou’s shoulders to keep his head from falling backwards. “Guess it just goes to show you haven’t changed. Only a low class dog would let a little scratch like this knock them out.”

Jou’s eyes shot open and tried to focus on Kaiba. “You asshole, you can’t even stop the insults while I’m bleeding to death in your damn car!”

Jou looked like he was trying to shout, but it just came out as a labored growl. He was panting now, too. Seto thought about the comments he could make about that, but he didn’t want the Mutt to try to kill him when he was already having trouble. Still, some things were just hard to resist. “You still growl like a dog when you’re really worked up, too.”

“You might wanna leave me at the hospital, Moneybags, otherwise I’m going to kick your ass as soon as my arm is stitched up!”

“Please, you were never a match for me when you were fit and healthy, Mutt. It would be cruel to humiliate you while you’re injured.”

“That’s it,” Jou tried to crawl out of the seat.

“Is this normal?” Mario asked, gaping at everyone else’s calm expression.

“Yes,” Mokuba, Yugi, and Rolland all said together.

“I’m gonna kick your ass right now!” Jou lunged at Kaiba, but instead of the headlock it looked like blonde was attempting, he shut his eyes and swayed, losing his balance.

Seto swept Jou up and cushioned his fall, lowering him to the floor of the limo gently. Seto lifted Jou’s eyelids. “Shit.” Cradling the smaller man close to him, Seto activated the intercom to talk with the driver. “If we’re not at the ER in two minutes, you’re fired.”

“We’re pulling in now, Sir.”

Seto carried Jou into the emergency room and followed the nurses as they took him away. “Are you a family member, sir?”

“Yes, or rather, I am the closest he has to it,” said Seto.

“The hell you are,” Mario snapped.

“I can help with his registration so you can stay with him,” said Seto levelly.

He followed the nurse to a desk, acutely aware of Rolland following behind him. He answered all of Jou’s personal information from memory and provided a credit card to cover the charges. He explained the injuries he knew about, the medication he was one, and told the nurse that his own doctor, Nakamura-sensai, would be treating Jou once he was discharged.”

Shortly afterwards, Seto was ushered into a waiting room where Mokuba and Yugi were pacing aimlessly in front of a row of vending machines. Mario stood outside a set of steel and plastic double doors. Seto sat down in one of the chairs and used his blackberry to look up Ally Solutions on the web. After the company’s own webpage were several articles about their exploits, the most recent involving a shooting in Los Angeles only a week earlier—company founder Joey Wheeler had been shot in the chest, but survived the attack thanks to a bulletproof vest. LAPD Captain Lucas Boyle refused to comment, apparently. Seto cross-referenced the names and found that Jou employed a Boyle on his staff. They even had a family website with photos of twins in soccer uniforms. Seto was a bit surprised to see Mario in many of the pictures, and Jou in one as well. The family, and Jou, were in a small group of hikers, each wearing a backpack and sporting dark tanned skin. Jou held one of the children—Seto couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl—on his shoulders above his pack. Seto checked the company’s stock, then purchased all of it that his online brokerage firm would allow. He checked the stock again ten minutes later and found that it’s cost had skyrocketed. Assuming Jou held a majority of the stock, Seto had just made him an instant millionaire.

Board, and never good at being idle, he kept digging. Joey Wheeler had graduated from a small college in New Jersey with a degrees in criminal justice and political science—he was even near the top of his class. He worked as a police officer for a grand total of two years before striking out on his own and had been astoundingly successful. He seemed to avoid social networking sites, but he showed up in local newspapers a lot. Joey Wheeler spent his time leading groups of at risk youth on back country survival adventures, organizing neighborhood watch groups, teaching self-defense seminars, and even finishing a couple of marathons. That made Seto smirk. He had always dreamed of having a dog to go running with him each morning.

Finally, he checked his email, sorting though work as quickly as he could. Kaede already had the meeting minutes transcribed and had tracked down the transaction Tanaka-san had been so concerned about—something about a construction lien. Rather than reading it, he forwarded the email to Tanaka-san and promised that he would look into it personally when he got back to work. With that sorted out, Seto was officially getting board. He started a math game on his phone to keep himself busy.

It was still two hours before Nakamura came out to speak with him. The old doctor was still a petite, slender man, with thin glasses and even thinner hair. What he lacked in size he had always made up for in sheer presence, and at the moment, the man was glaring at Seto. He was one of the few people Seto had met other than Jou who dared to glare at him.

“What? I didn’t do it!” When the doctor’s stern gaze solidified, Seto stood up. “This time, I really didn’t do it!”

The glare continued.

“No, I really didn’t do it! He got shot in the arm! I’ve never shot him! I might have gotten him a bit riled up in the car, but that was just keep him awake!”

The glare softened a bit, only to be replaced by a surprisingly gentle smile. “Kaiba-sama,” his doctor closed Jou’s file. It was nearly an inch and a half thick. “Jounouchi-san is awake.”

“Is he alright?”

For a moment, sympathy flashed through Nakamura eyes. “Kaiba-sama, listing yourself as his next of kin on his admission paperwork does not relieve me of my duty to maintain my patient’s confidentiality. And despite Kaiba-san’s instructions, and Jounouchi’s own threats to my life, I cannot authorize his discharge until his blood pressure recovers—tomorrow at the earliest. He is on the ninth floor. He is not to become excited or physically exert himself.” Nakamura glanced at Seto over the top of his glasses.

“I see. Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Of course. The nurses will page me if his condition fails to improve. Do you intend to run away again, Kaiba-sama?”

Seto’s posture sagged. “Not this time,” he said in a small, pathetic voice.

“Good. Have a good night, Kaiba-sama.”

Seto told the others and trailed behind them as they hurried to Jou’s room. He waited outside with Roland while Mokuba, Yugi, and Esmerelda turned off the cell phones as the nurse instructed then hurried inside.

“Assign two of Kaiba Corp’s security officers to be here at all times,” Seto said quietly. “I don’t know anything about the shooting, but Jou and his bodyguard reacted as though they did, so I think I can safely assume that Mokuba and I were not being targeted this afternoon.”

“I believe the police have someone on the way, too.”

“I’m sure they do,” said Seto, knowing that it had to be Honda. “Let’s at least offer to help them.”

“Yes sir. Are you going to go in?”

Seto leaned against the handrail that ran the entire length of the hallway. After all the effort he put into finding the stupid Mutt, he wasn’t supposed to be standing outside the door to Jou’s hospital room, too afraid to go in and face him. He was Seto Kaiba. He wasn’t supposed to be afraid of anything.

“Yes,” he said, after a silence that stretched on for far too long. “I thought I’d give him time to talk to Yugi, that’s all.”

Roland didn’t say anything.

“But you’re right—there’s a line between being reasonably patient and wasting time.” Seto stood up, straightened his suit, and pushed the door open without knocking. The hospital room was dark, lit only by a dim heat lamp over the bed. Mario caught his eyes when he came in but stayed glued to a spot near Jou’s headboard. Yugi sat in a chair that was pulled close to Jou’s bed, finishing a joke that already had Jou laughing.

Mokuba gave Seto what might have been the most mischievous look he’d ever seen from his younger brother.

“Yugi,” Mokuba draped an arm over the smaller man’s shoulders. “We should let Jou get some rest. He’s had a busy day.”

Yugi didn’t budge. “What if someone tries to get to him here? I think we need to stay. I’ll be quiet so he can sleep.”

“He’ll be safe here tonight,” Mokuba said gently. “I’m sure Seto and the police will make sure that Jou lives to see tomorrow morning.”

“Oh,” Yugi deflated a little.

“It’s alright, Yug’,” Jou assured him. “I’m not helpless, you know. Besides, it’s the middle of the day in California, so I should make some phone calls and find out if the police there have found anything.”

“Alright, Jou. But you’d better be here in the morning.”

“I’m not going to disappear on you again, Yugi. I promise.”

“Okay.” Yugi stood up and let Mokuba guide him to the door.

Mokuba stopped when they passed Seto. He didn’t even turn in Seto’s direction, but Seto heard his whisper clearly. “I’ll have answers by morning.”

Seto strolled towards the chair Yugi had just been sitting in and sat down, slouching. It was already the middle of the night and he was tired. “The police have officers downstairs, and Roland has assigned Kaiba Corp security to watch your door.”

The news didn’t seem to surprise Jou.

“Are you alright?”

Jou tried to shrug. All he could manage was a wince as he tried to life his left shoulder.

Already feeling annoyed, Seto took the Mutt’s chart from the foot of his bed and scanned the file quickly. “Four broken ribs, severe bruising on your chest, a torn muscle in your shoulder, twenty-five stitches, swelling to the left side of your face… And you still took out six of my security guards! Did you always pull your punches with me, or have you just gotten that much better since high school?”

Jou chuckled quietly. “Hey Mario, could you give us a few minutes?”

“Sure, Joey. I was thinking of calling it a night, anyway. It sounds like you’re covered ‘till morning and I wont be any good to you without some sleep. I’m sure you’ll be sa—”

“No! Don’t you dare! You said I’d be safe this afternoon and you ended up jinxing it!”

“Not possible. If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times. You make your own luck, Joey. Good night.” Mario waved and slipped out the door.

“So which was it?” Seto asked, when the door shut behind the other man. “Were you always holding back with me?”

“A little,” Jou admitted. “I never wanted to hurt you back then, just prove that you weren’t any better than me at something.”

“You never fought hard enough to win,” Seto reminded him.

“Yeah, well, it would have been a shame to scar that pretty face.”

Seto didn’t care that he was blushing. Despite himself, he was at a loss for words. Desperately, he said the first thing that came to mind. “Eight years ago, Mrs. Arashi asked me to say hello to you, if I ever caught up with you again. She said to tell you that you were always welcome to stay on her couch if you didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Mrs. Arashi!” Jou’s face lit up. “Oh, man, I ain’t thought about her in years! She made extra rice balls every day and always left some for me. I should go back by the old place and see if she’s still around.”

The infectious silence was back again.

“So are you just hanging out?” asked Jou after nearly a minute.

“Yeah, I think so.”

Jou shot him a furious glare. “If you wont start, then I will. What the hell, Kaiba? I refuse to be your whore so you try to ruin my life? Do you have any idea how much damage that warrant would have done if it had come up on a regular background check?”

“Yes,” said Seto immediately. “I didn’t expect you to be going through a law enforcement background check, though. I assumed that, if you got arrested somewhere, they’d find the warrant and then send you back to Domino before they released you. Then I thought I’d rush down the jail, bail you out, drop the charges, sweep you off your feet and… well, I hadn’t actually planned beyond that point.”

Jou nodded, considering Seto’s explanation. “Actually, that is a fairly decent plan. If I were a criminal it probably would have produced results within a month or two. Thanks for the vote of confidence about my future, by the way. Really means a lot to me that you assumed I’d do so much with my life.”

“I am sorry about that,” Seto said honestly. “I am sorry about everything that happened, Jou.” Seto found his fingers twitching as though he were sending a text message, he could feel sweat beginning to bead on his forehead, but he blamed it on the heat lights above Jou. “Believe it or not, it took Mrs. Arashi to tell me about the whole I’ll leave the money on the dresser thing.”

“Yeah, right.”

“No, seriously. Come on Jou, do you really think I’ve ever had to pay someone to sleep with me? I am Seto Kaiba. All I have to do is pull out one of the old trench coats and walk into a club if I want sex. Every time I have been in a relationship with someone, they usually don’t work because it’s hard to keep up with my schedule and work normal hours, so I take care of expenses. It was the one time in our lives when I haven’t been trying to insult you.”

Jou still looked skeptical.

“I am sorry.”

“Okay,” said Jou, leaning back and shifting uncomfortably.

“Okay?”

“Yeah, you’re forgiven. Now let me sleep, Moneybags.”

“Really? Just like that?”

“Tired.”

“You can sleep all night. How long are you planning on staying in Japan?”

“Thought it wouldn’t be that long. Course, I thought that I was leaving my problems back in the States.”

“It sounds a hell of a problem to try to run away from…”

“So now I’m a coward because I’m not suicidal? I was suppose to stay and put my clients and staff in danger, is that it? Well, guess what Kaiba, I am here because I’m a coward. If my people die, I’m the one who has to go tell their kids, or worse yet, their parents! I don’t think I’ll ever find the guts to do that again.”

Seto swallowed his irritation and stared at Jou until he was finished.

“I have never called you a coward. You are an idiot, though.”

“If you’re so damn smart then go find someone intelligent to insult and let me sleep!” Jou pointed to the door.

“I meant,” Seto leaned closer and rested his elbow on Jou’s bed, “I would have stayed because there were more resources to deal with a death threat. More staff, more police, police who know about more about the situation, and who you know aren’t bought off. I would have been worried that, if something like a contract on my life followed me to another county, that I wouldn’t have anybody I could count on and I’d be totally screwed. I would be terrified. But then, given that it would put your clients in danger for you to stay, I suppose leaving was the best option from a business stand point.”

Jou gaped at him for a moment.

“This is my way of working up to asking who is trying to kill you and if I can do anything about it,” Seto went on.

Jou’s eyes were already dropping. “I don’t know and I doubt it. Tired…”

“Of course. I’m going to go get some coffee then come back and make sure security is in place.”

“Alrighty,” said Jou. “Thanks for earlier. The unyielding bastard thing…” Whatever else the blonde might have said was smothered by a yawn.

Outside the door, two Kaiba Corp security guards and two uniformed police officers were standing around chatting. The Kaiba Corp guards froze when they recognized Seto. He smiled, nodded to all of them, and headed off to hunt down coffee.

It was a good hour before he came back. He returned laden with four gigantic cups of coffee in a drink tray and a small coffee of his own, with a bag of creamer and sugar packets. He handed all but his own coffee to a stunned Kaiba Corp guard and slipped back into Jou’s room silently. The Mutt was already asleep, his blonde hair and skin glowing like gold under the heat lamp. Seto sat down beside him and took small sips from his coffee, determined to leave as soon as he finished the cup.