Fixation

Chapter 21


Mokuba took Jou by the arm and led him to the elevators. Jou followed without a word. Mokuba pressed the button for the top floor, then led Jou down a hallway lined with cubicles and desks to a closed wooden door at the corner of the building.

“Come on,” Mokuba said, shoving the door open. Inside was a corner office with wall-sized windows covering both outside walls. The office was ornately decorated with a main desk made of polished red cherry, with matching leather trimmed chairs set in front of it. A messy work area was set up in a far corner of the office and Jou noticed some of the same paper coffee cups that he had seen in Mokuba’s in-suite dining room. A formal sitting area with leather sofas was set up in the other corner and a small fountain and flowered plants decorated the very center of the room.

“Wow,” Jou said simply. “How come your office is so nice and Seto’s is so utilitarian?”

Mokuba chuckled and headed for the desk. “I hired a decorator to make it look elegant. Seto commissioned his furniture to be made out of sheet metal, to be as functional as possible. Have a seat, tell me what happened.”

Jou sat down in one of the leather trimmed chairs in front of Mokuba’s desk. “I was a bit too forward with a question. Roland thought I was threatening your brother. But, well…”

“Whatever it is, just come out and say it,” said Mokuba, his features taking on a severe cast.

“I’ve seen the safe room at your house,” Jou began. “I’m starting to get a general idea about the type of life you and Seto lived, before your step-father died.”

Jou watched Mokuba’s face carefully. The other man’s expression didn’t even twitch. He showed no emotion whatsoever.

“I’ve spent too long as a cop to ignore some of the rumors running around among your staff. Rumors about old security guards getting killed… Rumors that Kaiba Gozoboro didn’t commit suicide… I need to know what’s going on. I’m crazy about your brother, but I can’t… I can’t keep going like this, not without knowing the truth… I mean, self-defense is one thing, but sixty people… I need to know… Can you help me?”

Mokuba stared at him for a moment, then slowly nodded. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, loosened his tie, and pulled a small chain out from around his neck. Attached to the chain was a locket that Jou remembered seeing on Mokuba and Seto when they were younger. Mokuba opened the locket and pulled out a micro SD card, found a small adapter for the card inside his desk, and then strolled towards his computer, motioning for Jou to follow him.

“This is the only copy of this that still exists,” Mokuba said conversationally. “And while it’s in that locket I can wipe it clean in an instant... Not that I think you’re likely to blackmail Seto, but… Well, give me a moment.” Mokuba inserted the SD card into the laptop set up on the work desk. He opened an old black and white video file. The first scene was familiar, because Jou had been in the room shown just a few days before. It was a still image the conference room where Hiroshi had commanded Kaede and his co-conspirators to have an orgy so he could watch. The still image at the beginning of the footage was also a sexually perverse scene, but this one made Jou’s stomach churn.

An older, familiar looking man in a pin striped suit knelt in front of a small boy with long spiky black hair, wearing a polo shirt and a padded vest. A seven year old Mokuba was trapped on the screen, crying. Mokuba pushed play without a hint of emotion. The scene came to life, complete with audio. The boy on the monitor was crying, rubbing his eyes. One of Gozoboro’s hands was shoved so far into the boy’s open zipper that all the camera showed was his forearm. On the screen, the young Mokuba squirmed and pleaded for his step-father to take his fingers out of him. Gozoboro’s other hand was stroking his own freed erection.

“Mokie,” a familiar voice echoed over the speakers. “Gozoboro-sama is stressed and you’re not being very enthusiastic about helping him. Why don’t you go down to the arcade and leave this to someone who knows what they’re doing…”

“Seto?” Mokuba’s young voice whimpered.

On the screen, Gozoboro pulled his hand out of Mokuba’s pants and wiped his fingers on the boy’s shirt. “Get the fuck out of here,” Gozoboro said to the younger brother.

After the door closed, a very young Seto strolled towards Gozoboro, swaying his hips and smiling as he walked. He dropped to his knees without instruction and took the old man’s cock in his mouth. Jou watched in horror as the old man grabbed Seto’s hair and began to roughly fuck the boy’s mouth.

“You’re so fucking hot…” Jou heard the old man gasp. “I love seeing you on your knees… Both of my boys are becoming so pretty… Do you know what we’re going to do tonight when we get home?” Jou could see Seto’s shoulders rise and fall as the old man continued to violently thrust his cock down his throat. “We’re going to break in that pretty brother of yours. He’s so tight, I think you’re going to have to stretch him out a bit before I fuck that little ass of his. But I’m sure his mouth will be just as talented as yours, with a bit of practice. So tonight I’m going to fuck his mouth while I watch you rip that little ass of his open and fuck him until he can’t take anymore. I can’t wait to get you both…”

Jou heard a chuckle from the tiny laptop speaker. “Get too excited about tonight and it’d be a waste of a perfectly good afternoon,” he heard Seto whisper. “You and I are here, now… The office might be empty, but the streets outside aren’t… Why don’t we go outside, you can lean me over the balcony and do this properly? Out there in the open wind where everybody down on the sidewalk can hear…”

Gozoboro growled and pulled Seto to his feet, striding for the door quickly. Jou noticed the shift in Seto’s body weight before the door even opened. Seto tensed his shoulder as the door opened and stepped forward, leading the way. He brought his free hand up to Gozoboro’s hand on his other wrist, shifted his weight at his hips and swung one leg back in a circular motion. Gozoboro didn’t even have time to scream.

On the monitor, the very young Seto stared at the rail of the balcony for a moment, straightened his clothes and looked directly at the security camera. He strode out of the conference room, his features focused and determined.

“Seto never cared what Gozoboro did to him,” said Mokuba calmly. “But he never let him hurt me. The footage the police found…” Mokuba pulled up another file and pressed play. “Well, it’s a bit different.”

This time the video showed Gozoboro molesting a seven year old Mokuba, who cried and ran away. The video showed Gozoboro standing there, rocking back and forth. The camera angle made it look like he was jacking off. There was no audio. Then Gozoboro strode out on to the balcony and somehow threw himself over the rail.

“I found the original on a secure backup about a year later. I knew Seto wouldn’t have left the copy if he’d known it existed, so I deleted it. Or rather, I replaced it with a text file, in case Seto ever found it. I had to find some way to tell him how sorry I was. He protected me so many times…” Mokuba shook his head. “He spent four years protecting me, and then afterwards I was still too weak to protect myself. First Pegasus’s goons, then Marik, and Noa… I was always so weak… And Seto was always the one who had to protect me.”

“So you became focused on getting stronger,” Jou nodded.

Mokuba smiled softly. “I decided to become strong enough to protect him for a change. Unfortunately, protecting Seto turned out to involve a lot more than I thought it would. Those security guards,” the look on Mokuba’s face hardened again, “shared old VHS copies of Seto being raped, not only by Gozoboro, but by a half-dozen of Gozoboro’s business associates down in that safe room. They made copies and were using them to blackmail Seto. Roland paid them, he made sure Seto never knew about the tapes. But I made Roland tell me about them, and the money. I assessed the different options for protecting my brother,” Mokuba explained calmly. “I could let the extortion continue, I could make the entire mess public and destroy Seto’s life, or I could destroy each of them.”

Mokuba smiled innocently. “I have never hurt anyone who didn’t harm my brother first.”

Jou stepped back, feeling dizzy. “Didn’t you think about what would happen if you got caught? What Seto would do if you went to prison? That they might have families?”

Mokuba shrugged. “Why would I care if those bastards decided to breed? I don’t consider their spawn to be any more human than they were. As for the rest, yes, of course I thought about it. I am a Kaiba, after all. If I got caught, I decided I would plead guilty. There would be no point in a drawn out trial where I would have to explain my motives, where everything Seto went through to protect me would be put on display for the entire world to see. I’ve got a few associates in jail anyway, so I suspect I’d manage just fine.”

“Gods, Mokie, do you realize what you’re saying? That you don’t have any problem killing people?”

Mokuba shrugged, though his face was still passive. “I considered the ethical implications. It was the best option, given the alternatives.”

“Aren’t you worried that I’m going to turn you in?”

Mokuba shrugged and replaced the micro SD card in his locket, then tucked his locket back under his shirt and straightened his tie. “I wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t prepared for the possibility. But I don’t think you will. Consider the position Seto and I are in. There was no way to work within the justice system—not with these cretins. To press charges for the blackmail would have meant that the blackmail material would become public, or at least have to be played in court. And the world wouldn’t see a twelve year old boy who decided to protect his baby brother—they would see a willing participant, because Seto worked very hard to appear that way. His reputation, his company, his entire life would be destroyed. It’s one thing if the world thinks that Seto is a gay eccentric playboy, but it’s another entirely if the world thinks that he was a manipulative twelve year old whore. I decided that I would protect my brother, in every capacity. I feel no guilt or shame about doing so, even if I have to go to prison to do it.”

Jou took a deep breath and paced back towards Mokuba’s desk, trying to clear his head. He had never stood there and heard someone calmly confess to killing sixty people as easily as he might confess to having gotten a parking ticket.

That meant that Seto hadn’t killed all those people. He had killed Gozoboro, but after seeing the security footage, Jou wasn’t sure he could blame him for that. What would he have done, if he’d been trapped in that same situation with Shizuka? Would he have put on a fake smile and quickly plotted murder? Jou knew he would have, although he never would have been calm enough or methodical enough to get away with it. That was different than killing a bad guy after they had surrendered, after they were helpless—but what Seto had done amounted to killing the bad guy in the middle of committing a crime. It was a very different matter. But where did Mokuba’s conduct fall in that spectrum?

The boy showed no remorse, no compassion for his victims. He didn’t even seem to think of his victims as people, but as objects.

“Besides, you’re here now,” Mokuba said simply. “You are what Seto needs. And you can protect him just as well as I can. So what happens to me doesn’t matter anymore.”

“What? How can you say that? Mokie, taking care of you has been Seto’s entire life! You’re everything to him! You always have been. Mokie, Seto did all of this for you! Gozoboro, Kaiba Corp, all of it!”

“I know,” Mokuba said simply. “But I never asked him to. I’ve repaid that portion of my debt to him that it’s possible to repay, but I’ll never need to protect him the way he protected me… He’ll always be stronger than me… And I’m not everything to him. I think you and I have tied, as far as that goes. But if you can’t stay with him without turning me in, then by all means, turn me in. I told you, I’ll do anything I have to in order to protect him.”

Jou stared at the younger man, hardly able to believe that he was having this conversation. People denying crimes and lying to him, that he could deal with. People trying to redirect him or bribe him, that was easy. People weren’t supposed to easily confess to murder. It was just one of those rules that everyone knew, everyone agreed to, and no one ever deviated from. If felt like just nonchalantly confessing was somehow not playing fair.

“What part did Roland play in all of this?”

“Roland?” Mokuba laughed. “After years of working for Gozoboro, that man has more issues than Seto and I combined. Roland did nothing. Honestly, I wanted him fired along with the rest of them, but for some reason Seto trusts him. He’d done nothing to indicate any treachery since Gozoboro died, but I still think we’d be better off without him. That’s why I’m glad Seto finally pulled his head out of his ass and confessed how he feels about you—he needs someone in his life that he can really trust. Someone other than me, that is.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll clarify things with Roland. If I know Seto, he’s hard at work on something or other and ignoring his lunch. I’m going to go join Yugi for what’s left of mine. You should go bug Seto, he’d like that. His office is straight down to the left, you can’t miss it.”

Jou shook his head. He ran his fingers through his hair, crushing the tiny bit of hair gel that he’d bothered with yesterday. “Does Seto know?”

“About the blackmail? Of course not. The point of dealing with it for him was to keep him from ever having to worry about it. It’s be a bit silly to tell him now.”

Jou felt every muscle in his body sag in relief.

“Like I said, why don’t you go Seto just how much fun a lunch break can be. I’d like to go join Yugi for what’s left of mine.”

It took Jou’s brain a moment to catch up. “Eh, what?” he shook his head again, hoping that this warped vision might somehow disappear if he just kept doing it. He could hardly believe that the little boy he remembered could confess to murder as easily as another may might admit to owning a cell phone, and then just dismiss him as though none of it mattered. “You can’t be serious!”

“I can’t be?” Mokuba finished straightening his tie. “I’m hungry. You’re always hungry. Why on earth can’t I be serious?”

“You have no idea what you’ve done, do you? You can’t just talk about killing nearly a hundred people and then go to lunch like it’s nothing!”

“Sure I can,” Mokuba tried to pat him on the shoulder but Jou took two large steps back. “And you can, too. I don’t think you realize the position you’re in, Jou. Do you have any idea how important you are to Seto? I think you’re starting to realize just how much I am willing to do to protect him, and that includes protecting him from heartbreak, Jou.”

“Don’t you dare threaten me, you little—“

Mokuba silenced him with a raised hand and a calm smile. “I’d never dream of threatening you. Seto would fall apart if anything ever happened to you.”

“Good, because that sounded like—“

“What are the twin’s names again? Rosa and Matthew? Apparently they’re having a wonderful time at their grandma’s ranch in Colorado. Your old partner is back at work already, putting your company back together again. It’s such a dangerous line of work you and her brother coaxed her into… I understand that the street gangs in Mexico are quite ruthless. They wont hold their fire because she’s a woman, Jou. Although they might prefer more entertaining methods of dealing with her, if the need should arise. But I think, if you place her in charge, she’s be quite safe in an administrative role… It’s in everyone’s best interests for you to take over Roland’s position, Jounouchi. Then you and Seto can live happily ever after, your friend Mario can go home, and your partner’s children can live long enough to grow up. It’s the best solution for everyone.”

Jou felt a smile creeping up on him. It was the type of smile he often caught himself wearing at work. “Mokie, I’ve been threatened by scarier people than you,” Jou growled, “and I’m still here. Do you really think this half-assed theatrical crap is going to make me overlook the fact that you’re a murderer?”

“No, of course not. Like I said, whatever happens to me is irrelevant. If you need to turn me into the police, by all means, go ahead. However, even if you handcuffed me right now, the only evidence that anyone would ever find is the video footage linking Seto to Gozoboro’s death. And, assuming that hearsay and conjecture are enough to convince a jury to send me to prison, I think I would be able to manage just fine. Why, I think I could even manage a phone call to Colorado from a booking cell.”

“You should be smart enough to know those calls are all recorded.”

“And you should be smart enough to realize that hard evidence linking me to the deaths of two foreign kids isn’t going to bring them back to life.” Mokuba chuckled in a way that reminded Jou of Seto. “I have to congratulate you, Jounouchi. You’ve finally learned how to control your temper. That’s a skill that’s going to prove invaluable for you in the future. Now, you’re going to go persuade Seto to eat lunch. Then you’re going to go back to the mansion and tell your American friend to book a single ticket home for as soon as possible. If you do or say anything to upset my brother, well, you’ll learn about the repercussions after they’ve been carried out. Have a nice lunch, Jou.”

“Was Keade really working for Hiroshi? She seemed a bit too bright to settle for a role like that…”

“You want to know if she really tried to frame Seto for ordering your death,” Mokuba nodded with understanding. “Poor Kaede. That didn’t work out quite the way I hoped it would. I obviously had to bring you back, you must see how necessary it was. Seto was becoming suicidal as he gave up hope of finding you. I had to do it.

“Hiroshi was just a bonus. When I saw the way that traitor’s eyes lit up when Nakamura noticed my bad accounting, I knew I could nail all four of them if I just played things right. Hiroshi and his little friends are in jail instead of mucking up my brother’s board meetings, Seto and the police are satisfied with Kaede’s explanation about you’re involvement in the whole affair, and now life can get back to normal. Losing Kaede is a pity… Making Seto’s secretaries fall in love with me is easy, but finding one who’s actually competent is damn hard.”

And then Mokuba strolled out of his office, still smiling.