Shadow Rising

Hmm, I’ve noticed I haven’t put a whole lot of sex scenes in this story, really… But, they just don’t seem to fit all that well. Sorry if that’s irritating anyone.
Ah well.

******

Set stood staring out the window, sighing, watching as the sun began to light the sky. A soft murmur came from the bed he stood next to and he turned his head slightly to watch the sleeping Pharaoh, holding his breath. But Atemu didn’t wake this time, thankfully, finally seeming to have exhausted himself to the point where he could sleep peacefully.

“Speaking of sleeping…” He muttered, tilting his head slightly and looking inward, frowning. He was still up. Of course, he had expected it, really. Given half a chance, or less, Seto would work until he dropped from exhaustion. But Set had hoped he would have changed, would have gotten used to the new schedule Set had forced on him, which had involved a decent amount of sleep. He should have known better.

But, there hadn’t been much of a choice. Set was loyal to Atemu, and he couldn’t leave him to his nightmares. A sleep-deprived Pharaoh was a weak Pharaoh. And anyways, much as Seto would have hated to hear it, when it came to importance, the son of God ranked far above any mortal man, whether that mortal man was a king in his own right or not. And Seto was a king. Maybe not in name, the Priest supposed, but what was a name, anyways.

Set felt eyes on him and looked over again, but it was only Kuriboh, watching him warily from the bed. The monster seemed to think he was responsible for the nightmares or something, having gone far enough to try to attack him last night. Not that it had bothered Set much.

He actually hadn’t meant to pull the creature out of the shadow realm. It had just been too close to Atemu when he had called. It wasn’t like Set had called a non-monster out before, after all. He could send him back easily enough, was actually providing the small amount of power required to keep him here. But he remembered the card that had chosen to harbour the lookalike. He hadn’t chosen the cards himself, of course, they had offered themselves. There had actually been a fair amount of fighting, and, to the last, even he hadn’t known what Jounouchi’s card would be. But the underdog had won out over the dragon. Funny, that, and strangely fitting. Seto, as well, had been the source of much trouble, the blue eyes having been extremely upset because of their inability to serve their master.

Yugi, though… Yugi’s card had been chosen surprisingly easily. Yes, the monsters were as loyal to him as to the Pharaoh, as loyal as Jounouchi’s and Seto’s were to them, but they had all decided together, without any fighting. Shocking, really.

And now, the Kuriboh held a little of its master’s soul. Not much, not enough for anyone to notice, but if the soul found itself unhoused, if it was forced out, or, Ra forbid, the body died, it would immediately try to seek out the missing part and be trapped in the card. And maybe that little bit could help Atemu cope.

Enough of such introspection, though. Now he needed to deal with his own hikari.

Sighing tiredly, the Priest turned and left the room, leaving Yami sleeping peacefully.

******

It had started out being a wonderful day, Kaiba thought to himself.

He had, finally, caught up on all the work that had been piling up, thanks to that damned Spirit, and the stocks were going up, and that merger he had started on last week was finally complete.

And then, said Spirit chose just that time to stalk into his home office in a fit of righteous fury.

Wonderful. The CEO thought, rolling his eyes.

“You haven’t slept at all.” Set growled, and Kaiba put on his best ‘you’re not worth my notice’ expression. But, like most of his best expressions, it had no affect. Kaiba wondered sometimes if the Priest even noticed.

“I’m not tired.” Kaiba lied, considering. He was tired, and had actually planned on going to have a quick nap, but if he went now, it would look like he was giving in.

But, as usual, Set picked up on his thoughts.

“Seto, bed, now.” Kaiba’s eye twitched.

“I’m not tired.”

“Don’t lie to me. I don’t even need the mindlink to see you’re exhausted.”

“I can sleep later. I have work to do.”

“The work can wait. You can either go to bed, now, Seto, or I’ll make you go.”

That was it. The Kaiba death glare was out in full force as the CEO stood, obviously intending another faceoff.

“I will go to bed when I decide I will go to bed.” He snarled venomously. “And I don’t remember giving you permission to call me by my first name.” That was an honour that was reserved only for Mokuba.

“Stubborn fool.” The Priest growled, tired himself and in no mood to deal with his recalcitrant hikari. A slight surge of power and the CEO vanished, forced into his soul room. Set gazed at the rod a moment, then sighed and went to get some sleep himself.

******

“Get your dirty paws off of me.” Jounouchi kicked out, knocking one of his captors on his ass, and glared at the other two. If he wasn’t tied, then they would have been in some trouble, and the pair seemed to know it, exchanging nervous glances.

“What in Ra’s name is going on?” All three turned to look at a furious Nui. Jounouchi stared.

“You? The little pipsqueak from the party? You’re behind all this kidnapping shit?” The blonde took on a suitable puzzled expression. “Why?”

“Because I deserve to be a God.” The evil Pharaoh answered, stalking down the hall. Jounouchi was forced to follow.

“Yugi!” He exclaimed as he entered another room. “Thank the Gods. Are you all right?” But it was obvious even to Jounouchi after only a second look that he wasn’t all right. The teen had an odd look in his eyes that Jounouchi had never seen before, and he didn’t even seem to see Jounouchi, looking right through him.

Malik had a similar look, he realised, and then managed to place it. It was a look of terror, as if they had seen, or been through, something so frightening that neither could escape it.
He had seen that look before, but…

“What did you do to them?” Jounouchi lunged towards the dark-haired teenager, held back only barely by the two guards at his side. Nui glared.

“I heard that other one call you a dog…” He smirked and turned away. “Teach him to heel.”

Gangs had never bothered Jounouchi all that much. Kaiba would say he was too stupid to be scared, and, while that wasn’t entirely true, he did have trouble occasionally in determining what he could handle and what he couldn’t. So, while half a dozen guards, one apparently with a pocket knife, probably would have worried anyone else, even if they were untied, Jounouchi didn’t hesitate to try to return their attacks,

In hindsight, he decided, lying on the floor after a beating that, he was sure, rivalled any he had gotten from any of the shadow games he had been forced to play in the past, fighting probably hadn’t been a good idea. He could tell he was in rough shape, and it hurt to breathe too deeply.

“I didn’t tell you to nearly kill him.” He recognized the little punk’s voice, but couldn’t seem to make his body move enough to look for him. “Idiot. Take him up to one of the rooms. I’ll have someone see to him later.”

The blond let out a low moan as one of the thugs roughly lifted and tossed him over his shoulder, gasping from the pain of the sudden pressure on his chest. At least Ryou seemed to be all right, so far, he thought, his vision starting to blur. Though the white-haired boy was chained with the other two, and he was obviously scared, it wasn’t in the same way as Malik and Yugi. Probably, Jounouchi thought to himself, being around Bakura had erased his ability to feel real terror. Then the thug who carried him started up the stairs, and Jounouchi passed out.

******

“But why would they want Jounouchi?” Anzu asked, bewildered. She, along with Yami and Sagira, were holding yet another unofficial meeting in Kaiba’s mansion, in one of the more seldom used sitting rooms. Bakura and Honda had been there earlier, but Honda had had work, and Bakura had disappeared a while back, probably heading out to wander the streets again, or check in with Marik. Kaiba, having managed to escape from under the Priest’s thumb again, had his laptop, and was trying hard to ignore them, though it wasn’t working that well. “He doesn’t have anything to do with the yami or the millennium items.”

“He probably got on someone’s nerves too much.” Kaiba snapped, seeming more irritated than usual. Yami looked over at him silently, and the two rivals exchanged a long look before Kaiba turned his eyes back to the computer screen, though the Pharaoh knew he wasn’t doing anything on it.

Almost everyone who knew Kaiba and Jounouchi thought they hated each other. Yami knew better. Set had had a best friend, back in Egypt, and they had acted much the same way. Well, not exactly, he supposed. Kaiba acted much the same way as Set had back then. Jounouchi… well, he was sure his friend would hate the reference, but Jounouchi reminded him of the animal Kaiba named him as, a stray mutt nipping at the CEO’s heels. Yes, Kaiba’s remarks were often cruel and biting, but Yami was sure, if he was really that annoyed, he would have long since done something about it. And Jounouchi would probably be the first to arrive in the unlikely, very unlikely, event that Kaiba ever needed help. Of course, he would be making rude remarks the whole time, but that was just the way he was.

Anzu sighed, watching Yami, feeling thoughtful. They all had their roles to play, she supposed, an eternal dance that had, admittedly, taken some time to perfect. Kaiba and the Pharaoh, occasionally fighting for the lead role, occasionally sharing, but always graceful and adept. And Jounouchi, more and more often intruding on their dance, forcing them to fit him into the steps, clumsily at first, but growing, like the other two, more graceful as time went by.

Yugi and Mokuba, sometimes venturing force to attempt to follow their mentors’ footsteps, but more often content to slip away and serve as support, aiding the leads with the steps they couldn’t make on their own. And Honda was Jounouchi’s support, she supposed.

Ryou, Malik, and their yami had to be the chaos. The misstep that tried to bring the leaders down, or the sour note or mistimed curtain. Not a nice part of the dance, but, in its way, just as important as the rest. And then, on occasion, they too switched roles, helping rather than hindering.

And the secondaries, the dozens of faces that were there and then gone, or who stayed on the edge, dancing their own steps to the timeless music.

:Where does that leave you?: Sagira murmured.

Where indeed? Anzu thought. Was she a support or a secondary, or something else altogether. Stories had to have a narrator, was that her place? Or perhaps she was like a good fairy, showing them the proper steps, the right direction. Foolishness, she thought. How could she lead on a path she didn’t know herself?

“Anzu?” She blinked, coming out of her thoughts and noticing Yami’s worried frown, smiling soothingly to him. The roles didn’t really matter anyway, after all. She supposed, really, they all played lead, and support and secondary in their own turn. And, sometimes, the chaos.

“Just thinking.” She answered, and he nodded slightly, sighing and looking back towards Kaiba, who was now typing on the computer again. After a minute more, he frowned and pushed his chair back, making an annoyed noise.

“I let you wander around the mansion, and don’t think I don’t know you’ve been sneaking into the business systems. Stay the hell of my laptop.” Anzu blinked, confused.

“Set’s looking for you.” Noah’s voice came from the computer and Kaiba huffed.

“As if I didn’t know that. Why do you think I’m…” He cut off abruptly, closing his eyes and thinking deliberately of the repairs to the pool out back, feeling relieved when he caught a flash of irritation. Still, he kept the image in his mind until he was sure it was safe. “Why do you think I’m here with the geek squad instead of in my office?”

Just then Mokuba peeked in. The younger boy seemed to have an uncanny ability when it came to tracking down his older brother, and Yami wished, not for the first time, that it worked the other way as well. He knew Kaiba loved his brother, but occasionally he did wish he’d keep a closer eye on him. But then, Mokuba acted so mature most of the time that it was easy to forget he was merely a child, he supposed.

“That other guy-”

“I know.”

Yami tuned the conversation out, turning his attention to the nightmares that had plagued his sleep. The first bit had been easily recognizable. He had seen them before, rarely, in Yugi’s own nightmares. But the second part, with the child-Yugi. There was the obvious meaning there, of course, but he was trying to find something else, anything else. It could have been just his own worries, and he hoped, prayed that that was the case, but…

He looked up again, after a moment, noticing that Kaiba was looking back at him. The CEO looked away after a moment, and Yami sighed. So his searches still turned up nothing. Even trying to find a possible ritual, or any mention of the name Nui, had brought nothing, which Kaiba has said it would, again refusing to believe this was anything out of the ordinary. It must be a gift, to be able to ignore facts even when you were repeatedly beaten over the head with them.

“I’m going to the office. Those movers should be here for that stuff in the basement later this afternoon, Mokuba. Make sure they don’t ‘accidentally’ pick up anything they shouldn’t.”

“Movers?” Yami queried. Mokuba nodded, Kaiba ignoring the question.

“There’s a bunch of old stuff down in the basement, and Seto told the local museum they could have what they wanted out of it.”

“Oh.” The pharaoh answered, immediately losing interest. Mostly likely the city had decided to honour the family by having a memorial to them or some such thing, and wanted some of their relics. It certainly didn’t cross his mind that a large key to his problems was merely a few floors beneath his feet.

******

“Seto.”

“I’m leaving.” Damn it. He had almost been out the door too.

“No, you’re not.” All right. Move the left foot… he could do this. And, apparently he couldn’t, as the foot might as well have belonged to someone else for all the attention it paid to his command.

One of these days, he was going to take that irritating toy and… probably better not to finish that thought. It might give him ideas…

“I slept, I ate, now I have work to do. Or do you want me to put aside some time to play tiddlywinks too?”

“Well, you are being childish lately.” Set pointed out, in a voice, that, had he remembered his mother, Kaiba was sure would have reminded him of her. It certainly sounded parent-ish enough.

“And what’s your point?” He was in charge of a multi-billion dollar corporate empire, had been raising his own younger brother, or close enough, for most of their lives, and he wasn’t even old enough to vote yet. If Kaiba Seto felt like being childish, he had every right to be, and he was damned well going to enjoy it, whether some annoying 3000 year old spirit liked it or not. Especially if it meant he was pissing someone off, which was almost as enjoyable as being the best duelist. And with that damned Pharaoh around, Lord knew he wouldn’t be regaining that title any time soon.

“What am I going to do with you…” Set muttered, gaze turned skywards as if asking for some sort of advice from those gods he believed in. If any came, Kaiba didn’t see it.

“Tch. I am going to the office. You can stay here and help those fools think up imaginary doomsday plots or something.” He picked up his briefcase again and moved past the Priest towards the door, not surprised when his feet again refused to obey.

:Go annoy someone else for a change.: Really, it was worse than having Gozaburo back. At least with him it was out of sight, out of mind.

There was a long moment of tense silence, and Set suddenly released him. Kaiba was confused, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and hurried out.

The Priest stared after him, shocked. Seto was comparing him to that… that monster?

“Am I truly so harsh?” He wondered aloud, moving to sit in a nearby chair. Of course, he reasoned, there was a very large difference between him and Seto’s stepfather. The man had abused the young boy, physically and mentally, for his own ends. Set wanted no more than to protect his hikari, to see him properly cared for. But did the ends justify the means? He had used underhanded tactics himself, he knew. The headaches, controlling him with the rod. Perhaps he should merely wait, let Seto come to him willingly. If that would ever happen.

Suddenly, a hot flash of pure rage smashed through his mind, followed by an equally short burst of pain, before the link fell still.

“Seto!” The Priest exclaimed, fearing the worst, and hurried out, just in time to see that mechanical horse, a car they called it, speed away.

“Seto!”

******

For anyone who might not have noticed, or forgotten, the ‘large key’ would be the tablet Nui found in Kaiba’s basement in chapter 12. I figured it would be easier for it to be stolen from a museum than from Kaibas mansion.


Kiyomi – there you go. One Kaiba kidnapping. Alright, it was admittedly a little vague, so far, but I’ll have more next chapter.
Ayachan - *Peeks in on the imaginary Set.* Yes, that would be quite amusing. *Has another sudden image of him dressed in a chicken outfit with an apron thanks to the mother hen comment.* lmao. Anyway, yeah. I feel sorry for Malik, too. Actually, I know what’s going to happen, so I kinda feel sorry for all of them, but, anyway… Don’t worry too much about Jounouchi. He’s in rough shape, but he’ll live.

Shamise & dragonlady222 – Thanks a lot.