Shadow Rising

Not sure how many chapters are left for this. Not too many, I don’t think. The plot for the third one’s coming together, finally, and hopefully I’ll have it fleshed out enough by the time this is done.

Oh, I have another story, too, unrelated to these ones. It’s called Rulers and Rogues, so check it out, if you want to.

And this chapter is dedicated to Ayachan, cause her review helped me figure out the items. You’re right. The scales are reasonably suited to Mokuba. He’s seen the light and the dark sides of life, after all, and still manages to come off as more or less innocent.

******

Kaiba was, by anyone’s standards, smarter then Jounouchi. So when he awoke to find himself tied up in the back of his limo surrounded by armed guards, he immediately saw the futility in putting up a fight. That wasn’t to say he didn’t cause some trouble, but he had other ways of doing it. Besides, pissing off idiots with more muscle than brains was always fun.

In any case, his capture went a lot smoother, for everyone involved, than the blond’s had, which might have been why he found himself locked in a room a couple hours later, the unconscious mutt and a first-aid kit at his feet.

“Idiot.” The brunet muttered, looking down at the other boy. He had no doubt, knowing Jounouchi, that he had given as good as he had got, which kind of made him feel sorry for the other guy. Or guys, he supposed.

Jounouchi, at least, looked terrible, bruised and scraped up all over. It seemed someone had had a knife, and hadn’t been afraid to use it, though none of the cuts seemed to be too dangerous. Except for maybe that one near his eye. He’d be lucky if it hadn’t caused any serious damage.

For a few moments, the CEO considered leaving him to deal with it by himself. He knew, after all, that it would take far more than that to keep the mutt down for long. A duelist who had stood up to a god’s attack and remained standing afterwards wouldn’t be brought low by a simple fistfight. But, then, as troublesome as he was, he probably would be.

It didn’t take long to clean and bandage the cuts, and except for a few mumbled complaints at the feel of the antiseptic, Jounouchi remained asleep.

Finally the job was done, and Kaiba dragged his patient over to a pile of pillows that looked to have been there recently. He checked through them, just in case, then sat down, folding his arms, closing his eyes, and settling in for a long wait.

After a few minutes he opened them again, though, frowning at the idiot. Shouldn’t he have woken up by now? And at that angle, it almost looked like… Kaiba put a hand in front of the blond’s face, relieved to feel a soft breeze. He was still breathing then. He could just imagine the trouble the Pharaoh would raise if Kaiba let the shrimp’s comic relief sidekick die.

Muttering under his breath, he pulled Jounouchi up to lean against him, watching the light rise and fall of his chest a moment. His breathing was really too light. He hoped those idiots hadn’t done any real damage. He was a president, not a doctor.

Finally, wondering if Jounouchi would actually decide to be annoying enough to die practically in his lap, Kaiba reassumed his previous pose and was soon asleep.

******

If Kaiba seemed obsessive when Mokuba as missing, it was nothing compared to the way Set was acting. The Priest was currently pacing back and forth in the living room, Yami watching him unhappily.

“I’m sure he’s fine, Set. Kaiba’s smart. He’s probably figuring out a way to get free as we speak. And with Jounouchi, and… and Yugi, no one yet has been able to stop them.” Set stopped, turning a furious glare on him. The Pharaoh withstood the onslaught without even flinching. Finally, Set dropped into the couch he stood in front of.

“I shouldn’t have let him go by himself.”

Yami just sighed, closing his eyes.

“Five.” He said, thoughtfully. “Five items and five captives. Yugi, Jounouchi, Malik, Ryou, Seto. Who’s next?” He blinked and looked over at Set, his eyes wide.

“Who?” The Priest queried.

“The only hikari left. Anzu.” Set stood.

“We’d better get going then.”

“Wait. I want to get ahold of Bakura. They’re after the Millennium Items, after all, and the Ring and the Rod are the only ones left.”

“We’ll find him on the way. If I extend the Rod’s power enough, he’ll notice.” Nodding after a minute, Yami followed him out the door.

******

Anzu sneezed.

“Bless you.” Sagira muttered, doing one of the quizzes in the magazine her other half had bought earlier.

“You could help, you know.” Anzu snapped at her, scrubbing at a pot.

“I could.” The Princess agreed, but didn’t move from the table. Anzu rolled her eyes and finally decided to just leave the pot to soak, drying her hands and coming over to the table.

“Move.” She ordered, picking up a map from under the phone and spreading it out over the table.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know. No one else seems to know where they are… maybe, somehow…” Frowning, she looked over the map, wondering where they could be. There were so many places. She sighed, then blinked, noting that her gaze had returned to the same spot three times now. Deliberately she looked away, only to find her gaze returning to the spot again.

“Odd.” She thought aloud, straightening. What was there? She touched the spot and gasped as a wave of images passed before her mind. Jounouchi and Kaiba, sleeping side by side, the blond having obviously been beaten up. Yugi, and Marik and Bakura, together on a pile of pillows. The five of them, and Mokuba, blank expressions on their faces, holding six of the Millennium Items, in a ritual of some sort. She blinked as the seventh person came into view. It was herself, the Millennium Necklace tied close around her throat. Then everything faded and she found herself gasping for breath.

“Sagira… I saw them.” Suddenly she moved, grabbing the pen from her Yami’s hand and quickly drawing a circle around the spot. “They’re coming for me, and for Mokuba. You have to tell Yami.” There was a sudden banging at the door, and Sagira bolted to her feet, surprised by her hikari’s strange behaviour and confused. Before she could ask, though, the door caved in, a gang of would-be kidnappers rushing in at them.

Sagira screamed and hid under the table, while Anzu made some attempt to fight off the men. Her attempts, though, were fruitless, and she was soon rendered unconscious.

Chaos reigned then, as Yami and Set jumped into the fray, the Priest putting his rod to good use. While he captured five of the minds, he used the blade to slash at one of the remaining pair.

Pair? Weren’t there three more?

“Set, watch out!” Yami lunged forward, and Set turned, just as a heavy vase was brought down on his head. The Priest collapsed, and the minds were released, blinking before they quickly knocked Yami out as well, capturing their prizes and escaping in a dark van.

******

It could have been minutes, or hours later when Kaiba awoke again, tilting his head to meet a pair of puzzled half-closed brown eyes. Their owner didn’t seem in any hurry to move, and Kaiba, for once, found himself not caring. The annoying fools were wearing off on him, it seemed.

“I hurt.” Jounouchi mumbled after a moment.

“Idiot.” Kaiba answered, looking away. “Only you would try to fight off a dozen armed guards.”

“There wasn’t a dozen.” There was an odd kind of breathlessness to his voice that Kaiba was sure wasn’t a good sign. “There were only… half a dozen. I think.”

“How’s your eye?”

“My eye?” Maybe they had beat him over the head too much, Kaiba thought. He seemed even stupider than usual.

“Are you going to repeat everything I say?”

“Why are we moving?” Really not the answer he had wanted to hear.

“You really are a complete moron, aren’t you?”

“Wasn’t this a game we played in class?” Kaiba blinked, wondering where that had come from. Frowning, he reviewed their conversation and rolled his eyes. There had been a game like that, he remembered. They had had to see how long they could maintain a conversation with only questions. Jounouchi had always lost. It was a stupid game anyway. Irritated, Kaiba fell silent.

He could just imagine what Set would be saying right now, if the Spirit could reach him. He’d never get any peace and quiet now, he was sure.

The CEO sighed, actually missing the familiar feeling. He felt… lonely. It wasn’t a feeling he was used to. He always had Mokuba around, after all, and the Yugi-tachi were always dragging him into something or other. What he wouldn’t give right now for one of their simple ‘somebody wants to take over the world, but will go away if he’s beaten at a duel’ plots. Of course, they hadn’t seemed simple at the time, but at least with them, you knew the rules of the game.

Ha. A game. He sounded like Yami now.

“Did I get rescued?”

“No.” A long thoughtful silence as Jounouchi puzzled that answer through.

“That means you got kidnapped, then.”

“Yes.” Another long silence.

“You two are good at that, aren’t you?”

“Mutt, shut your mouth before I decide to knock you out.” Surprisingly, he obeyed.

******

“Hey. Wake up, Runt.” Yami groaned as the foot roughly prodded him again. For a moment he debated sending the owner of said foot to the shadow realm. Then he remembered he didn’t have his Puzzle.

“Earth to Pharaoh.”

“Bakura?” Well, Bakura never stayed in the shadow realm anyway.

“You look a mess. What did you do, take on a whole gang?”

“Actually, yes.” Yami tried to sit up, lying back down quickly as he felt the world spin. “I don’t think we won.”

Doesn’t look like it. You’re short a bitch.”

“Excuse me! I’ll have you know I am-”

“Shut it, Princess.” Bakura moved to nudge the Priest, receiving only a groan.

“Hey, Shrimp. Where’s the Rod?”

“Fuck.” Bakura blinked. He considered thoughtfully, deciding finally that that was the first time he had ever heard the Pharaoh use that word. Which probably wasn’t a good thing.

******

Nui held his newest stolen Item thoughtfully. The boy had said it could control minds, right? Did they all have a power, then?

“You!” He pointed to Malik, the Egyptian cowering instantly. Yes, this one he had well-controlled. “What do all these do?”

“The Rod can manipulate people’s minds, the Necklace can see the future, the Key can read a person’s soul, the Eye can read their mind, the Scales measure a person’s wickedness, the Puzzle houses the Pharaoh’s spirit.”

“You can use this Rod?”

“Yes, Master.” Nui shivered. Master. He liked the sound of that. Maybe he’d keep this one around. Just then, two of his thugs came in, rolling something heavy along on a trolley. Nui laughed. Everything was coming together. A third thug followed after, carrying the younger Kaiba.

“Why did you bring him?”

“He sneaked into the van.” The man answered.

“Where is my brother!” Mokuba demanded with a snarl. Nui studied him a long minute. If the older one had powers, than maybe the brat had potential too.

“Put him in an empty room. I’ll deal with him later.” Right now he was more interested in his stone.

******

Ryou gasped, his eyes wide, staring into the darkness as he fought for breath. Malik had spilled his secret, probably. Not that the blond had had a choice, really, as screwed up as he was at the moment. But it resulted in the same thing anyway. The silver-haired boy now kneeled in the locked room, arms tied behind his back, a thick rope knotted tightly around his neck.

You’re such a wimp. Ryou flinched.
“B-Bakura?” He gasped. The yami’s sharp tone answered him.
It’s just a damned collar. What are you so afraid of? Ryou shuddered, closing his eyes, remembering. A smaller Ryou, only five years old, playing with a string, catching it on something and choking himself unconscious before someone had noticed and come to free him.
You’re too soft, Hikari. I’m going to have to toughen you up some. It didn’t sound like the mindlink, though. It sounded more like… memories.
Stop that. Faintly he could feel the pressure of a light slap on his cheek. Ryou closed his eyes, forcing himself to relax. It was just a rope. Bakura’s collars had been more dangerous, at times, and he had survived them. His breathing slowly began to come easier. He had survived the abuse, mental and physical, from his other half. What could anyone do that hadn’t already been done?
“Bakura.” He murmured, opening his eyes, calm again. “Thank you.”
You’d tempt anyone, Tenshi.

******

So, there. Only one piece unclaimed. Unfortunately, it’ll probably be the hardest one for Nui to get ahold of. And we finally get to see where Ryou’s phobia comes from. Who would’ve guessed that it’d actually be Bakura’s abuse that helped him through it. Well, besides me, obviously.



Dragonlady222 - Thanks. Rather thoughtless of them to leave Mokuba all alone to deal with the movers, wasn’t it?

Kiyomi – Double Kaiba kidnapping. It’s Duelist Kingdom all over again. Lol. I can definitely forsee much coddling for Seto in the close future, at least.
Yeah, I feel kinda bad about that. But, though I’m not a basher, Anzu’s just not one of my favourite characters, and, by default, neither is Sagira. I know I’ve been neglecting them, but really, except for standing on the sidelines and cheering, she doesn’t add all that much to the story. Honda seems to have disappeared too, actually. Hmm…

Ayachan – Skipped a chapter? Huh. Oh well, you found it again, anyway. ^^ And I’m glad that you found the line. It is a little obvious once you see it.
Whew. That makes me feel better. The plots are easier than the sex scenes anyway.
The training was another of those things that just sneaked in there. It was originally going to just be a conversation that was started somehow about why Yami hadn’t taught Yugi, and then it morphed to that. Just another example of Kaiba and Yami’s undying rivalry in all things. It’s a little puzzling, though that Kaiba’s seemingly as strong as Yami already, but then, I suppose he could have been drawing on the rod a little, too.
Well, Set did freak out a little, but he’s a lot like Kaiba that way, so as soon as he’s got a direction to go in, he puts all his attention to that. And I’ll admit Kaiba was being a bit harsh with his judgement. He was just irritated by other various things.