Deliverance

Wow, an actual update...  Six months late...  sorry...

 

Chapter 7

 

                Seto knew he should have gone to work.  Nothing kept him away from work, especially not a little thing like waking up in an empty bed.  But as he wandered out of his own guestroom in search of coffee, he found that he couldn’t force himself to do more than pull on a pair of black sweat pants and sit at the table in the kitchen, staring at a full cup of coffee while his household staff got on with life around him. 

                When Pest casually followed him, he pretended not to notice.  When Pest took up a position on the table next to his coffee, Seto tried glaring at the cat.  The cat had an unnatural immunity to Seto’s glare.  Buddha soon streaked through the kitchen, found his way into the formal dining room, and began to do cat things.  Seto found himself smiling into his cup as he heard the clinking of glass followed by shouting.  “No!  No!  Bad kitty!  Get down off of that, right now!”  The shout was followed by a hiss, a yowl, and a scream. 

                The butler entered from the dining room, his posture and bearing as professional as ever.  He quietly retrieved a washcloth, a bottle of carpet cleaner, and a long handled broom.  The sound of breaking glass came from the dining room again. 

                “Was that the china cabinet?” Seto asked. 

                “The chandelier, Kaiba-sama.”  A crash came from the other room, carrying a symphony of breaking glass and snapping wood.  “That would be the china cabinet.  I shall file appropriate insurance claims and arrange for replacements immediately, sir.  Might I suggest, if Jounouchi-san will be staying with us for some time, some kind of arrangements be made in the household to properly accommodate his animals?”

                “He did have a lot of cat trees for them.  And a lot of toys.”

                “I was thinking more along the lines of a tranquilizer gun, sir.  Or a small caliber rifle.”

                Seto matched the man’s serious expression and considered him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was joking or not.  The light twinkle in the older man’s eyes was a bit of a relief, but the way he had to tie the washcloth around his wrist to cover several long, bleeding cuts gave Seto enough reason to suspect he might be serious. 

 

                “I understand you’re frustration,” he said slowly.  “But it would be terribly rude to shoot the pet of a guest in my home.  Everything in my home is adequately insured, and I assure you, you will be duelly compensated for any extra trouble they might cause you.”

                “Of course,” the butler bowed.  “It does not do to let the standards of courtesy and hospitality slip.  If you require anything, sir, I shall be herding the animal away from the Louis IVX vase.  As you say, it is adequately insured—but it is quite irreplaceable, regardless.”

                Seto finally took a drink of his coffee as the butler strode out, holding the broom like a baseball bat.  He set the coffee down and pet Pest’s curious gaze.  His hand automatically rose to scratch the cat’s head.  “Your friend needs a tranquilizer,” he whispered to the cat. 

                “Seto?  What are you still doing here?” Mokuba asked as he nearly sprinted into the kitchen.  He grabbed a cup of coffee and a pastry and tried to finish both in a single bite. 

                “I live here,” Seto said drolly. 

                Another crash sounded from somewhere near the ball room. 

                “What the hell?  It’s nine in the morning and you’re sitting there without a shirt on petting Jou’s cat.  And what was that sound, are we remodeling?”

                “That sound…  Seeing as it came from the ballroom, it was probably a vase.  Or the candelabra.  Jou’s other cat seems to like climbing on anything that hangs from the ceiling.  The cable holding it up is new, but I doubt it can handle swinging from side to side.  I’ll take him in there in a minute, I’m sure he’ll sort it out.”

                “Jounouchi?”

                “No, this cat.”

                Mokuba drained his coffee and stuffed the last bite of his breakfast into his mouth.  “Are you going in to work at all today?”

                “No.”  Seto swirled the coffee and allowed himself a sad smile.  Last night had been fun, sure, but nothing about it felt right.  Being with Jou drove home just how much Jou had changed since highschool.  The fire and warmth that Seto remembered in Jou’s eyes, the same warmth that Seto had thought might be affection, was just a con.   Jou could conjure it up as part of the mask he wore, but that was all it was—just an illusion. 

                For a few moments, Seto had wondered if he was reading too much into his memories of Jou from school.  Had Seto imagined that light from the start?  He wasn’t positive about anything concerning the other man, not his character, his thoughts, or if he even had a heart left inside his morbidly scarred chest. 

                And he really wasn’t sure why that bugged him so much. 

                He was used to being the one in charge of any situation, the one in control of everything, including everyone around him.   It had always been so damn easy to manipulate the people around him that doing so had gone from a survival trait, to a habit, and finally had become something that he did without really thinking about it.  With Jou, every time he thought he knew how things were supposed to go, the other man surprised him.  Every time Seto thought that he had a solid picture of Jou in his head, Jou did something to throw the entire image out of whack.

                As he stroked Pest, he wondered if Jou hadn’t been conning him the entire time, just so he could escape and pawn his white monster cat off on some unsuspecting victim. 

                No matter how clear it was to Seto that he didn’t have a clue who Jou really was, he didn’t want to believe that everything he’d seen had been a mask.  Seto was determined to find out, by whatever means necessary, just how much of what he had seen in Jou was real and how much was a con.  He would take both fir balls back to Jou’s apartment and tell him he could deal with the little monsters himself, for one. 

                Another scream came from the foyer and Seto found himself smiling again.  He pushed himself to his feet, drank the rest of his coffee in a few quick gulps, and then calmly picked Pest up off of the table.  The cat draped itself over his arm and snuggled against his bare chest.  He nodded for Mokuba to follow him and he strolled into the foyer.  As they crossed through the dining room, Seto had to admit that he was both surprised and impressed by the amount of damage the thing had done.  The crystal chandelier had fallen and shattered, but it had also fallen on his glass table top, which had also shattered.  Shards of glass covered the chairs, floor, and what was left of the table.  Along the far wall, a high china cabinet had tipped over, spilling its contents over a quarter of the room.  The stained glass doors set in the china cabinet had broken and left bits of colored glass scattered in the rest of the debris. 

                “A cat did this?” Mokuba whispered.   “It is a demon cat?”

                Seto shrugged.  He carefully stepped into the foyer right as Buddha darted through en route to the sitting room.  Seto gently set Pest down and watched as the golden eyes followed the other cat back and forth.  After the white monster’s third lap, Pest struck. 

                He pounced on the angora while the other cat was leaping through the air.  Pest drove Buddha down into the floor, grabbed the scruff of her neck in his teeth and held on until the other cat let out a pathetic meow, then released her and sat back, looking pleased with himself. 

                The angora crept to her feet and nonchalantly rubbed herself against Seto’s legs. 

                “That’s it?”  Mokuba laughed.  “That thing managed to destroy our dining room?”

                Seto nodded and held his arms open slightly.  Pest leapt back to his perch on Seto’s arm without hesitating. 

                “I’m not so sure they’re Jou’s cat anymore,” joked Mokuba.  “Where is he at, anyway?”

                “Gone,” said Seto simply. 

                “Ah,” Mokuba nodded.  “With all the noise you made last night, I was wondering why you were in such a shitty mood.”

                “I am not in a shitty mood,” Seto insisted. 

                “You’re calling in to work so you can stay home and sulk,” Mokuba reminded him.  “You don’t call in sick unless you can’t physically move.”

                At that point, the butler hurried in, still holding the broom.  “Ah, you’ve caught it.  Well done, sir.  I have just finished closing off the rest of the house to prevent any additional damage.”

                “Excellent idea.  I’ll be returning her to her master as soon as possible, so it might be best to wait to replace everything until she’s gone.”

                “As you wish, sir.  I would, however, like to order replacement panels for the ballroom windows directly.  Rain is in the forecast.”

                “The windows?”  Seto shifted to try and set Pest down, but the cat just stretched it’s way up on to his shoulders.  He picked the angora up by the scruff of her neck and held her, paws and claws splayed in front of him.  “The windows?  How?”

                “The candelabra, sir.”

                “Bad kitty!” Seto waved his finger in front of the angora, but from the dull look she gave him, Seto guessed she didn’t care. 

                “Sir, if you would be so good,” the butler ushered a main forward.  She held an open pet carrier in front of her like a shield.  Seto gently set Buddha inside and closed to the door. 

                “Leave her here for now,” Seto instructed.  The maid set the carrier down and scurried away.  Pest hopped off of Seto’s shoulders and went to the door of the pet carrier, then stared expectantly at Seto.  Seto opened the door just wide enough for Pest to slip through.  When both cats were settled, Seto stood and found Mokuba staring at him. 

                “What’s going on, Set’?  The big brother I know and love would have stuffed both of those things by now.  Why the sudden burst of sentimentality?”

                Seto shrugged again. 

                “Are you worried about Jou?”

                Set shook his head. 

                “So why are you keeping his cats?”

                “I’m not.  They are going home.  Jou lives in Tokyo, so it’ll take me most of the day.”

                Mokuba considered him for a minute, then rubbed his temples.  “Seto, tell me what’s wrong or I’m going to call Temari.”

                “Nothing’s wrong!” Seto snapped.  “I am fine!  I just…  Last night was just kind of a let down, that’s all.  I feel weird about it.”

                “Sex with Jou was a let down?”

                “No,” Seto chuckled.  “Sex with Jou was phenomenal.  I just…  Have you ever wanted someone so much that you sort of lose sight of everything else, including what they’re really like and what they want?”

                “Seto, did you force—“ 

                Seto clapped his hand over Mokuba’s mouth. 

                “Not like that!  No, he was…   Well, he was in control of everything.”

                “Hm.  Kinky.  So what?” 

                “So he was okay with sex, but he…  It became really obvious that he wasn’t who I thought he was.  He was interested in sex, but he wasn’t interested in me.  The first time he turned me down, I figured it was just him being stubborn, but it didn’t make me feel any better about it.  I…  I may have systematically destroyed any hope he had for a normal life on his own because I was upset about it.  But it turns out he didn’t even care about that!  So this time, I figured if I could just get him to sleep with me, then he’d get over it and admit that he…  well, he’d stop being stubborn.”  Seto felt himself shrink inside as emotions he didn’t want to bother with assaulted him.  “And he left.”

                Mokuba, being the ever supportive and loving family that he was, was supposed to commiserate with him and help him figure out how to proceed from there.  He was definitely not supposed to throw his head back and laugh.  He was really not supposed to keep laughing while Seto glared at him and tapped his foot, waiting for his kid brother to get over whatever he thought was so damn funny.  After two minutes of being laughed at, Seto had had enough. 

                “Stop it!”he growled.  “What is your problem?  You asked me what was wrong and then when I tell you, you laugh at me?”

                “No, no, Set’, it’s not that.  It was just unexpected, that’s all.  I mean, no one turns you down, you’re the Kaiba Seto, after all,” Mokuba gasped.  It took several more deep breaths before he got himself under control.  “But really, when I see Jou again, I’m going to have to thank him!”

                “What?”

                “Oh, come on, Seto!  You’re trying to come across like some heartbroken lover, but I know you.  Jou is the one person you’ve ever met who you couldn’t coerce, manipulate, charm, or bully, and it has always pissed you off!  I know what you did after high school, Seto, and I know you did it to try and control him.  He is still beyond your control and you’re still throwing a damn tantrum about it!  You don’t expect me to actually feel sorry for you, do you?  Or to believe that you actually love him?”

                “I never said—“

                But Mokuba wasn’t done.   “Oh, boo hoo, someone finally turned Seto down!  Well, congratulations, big brother, now you know how the rest of us feel when we have to live in your world!  If I had to count the number of times I’ve watched you go after someone I really thought I could have something special with—“

                “Who?”

                That stopped Mokuba’s tirade. 

                “I have never gone after anybody I knew you were interested in, I swear it.  If you liked someone I did have a relationship with, all you had to do was say something.  So who was it?”

                “It doesn’t matter,” Mokuba shook his head sadly.  “Take his damn cats back before one of the maids does decide to stuff them.”

                Seto watched as his brother slipped out the front door and left.  He didn’t dare follow him out wearing nothing but sweat pants, but he also couldn’t let things end there.  A meep from the pet carrier by the door reminded him that he had more urgent things to deal with, however.  He would go into the office after he dropped off Jou’s cats and try to talk to his brother after he had time to cool off a bit. 

 

  *  *  *  *  *

 

                Getting the cats back to Tokyo proved to be far easier than getting them out of Jou’s apartment the first time.  As long as both cats were together, and Seto occasionally talked to them or kept the radio on, they were quiet and happy.  They got excited when Seto had to move the pet carrier into the lobby of Jou’s building, and Seto wondered if they recognized familiar territory.  “You guys missed him, hu?” Seto asked.  “You’re just stressed, aren’t you, not really that bad at all…” 

                Getting himself back to Tokyo was not as easy as it should have been.  Seto sat in the back of his limo, holding up traffic, for a good ten minutes before he persuaded himself to get out of the car.  Then every step towards the door made him feel like he was dragging heavy weights along as he walked.  Somewhere in the back of his mind, he conjured an image of Jou’s pristine apartment with Jou’s body laying across the carpet.  Now that he had gotten rid of his cats, there was nothing to stop Jou from following through on his commitment to kill himself.  Seto didn’t want to face that possibility.  But if he didn’t see Jou’s apartment and find the blonde alive, the image would haunt him forever. 

                The doorman’s face broke into a relieved smile when he saw Seto carry the pet carrier through the door.  “You’ve found them!  You’ve really found them!  Thank the Gods!”

                “Them?” Seto raised the pet carrier curiously. 

                The doorman nodded.  “Mr. Grayson was adamant that they be found.  He was very, very insistent.  Please, go right up sir!”

                “Mr. Grayson?”

                “Yes, sir.  Shall I call to tell the gentleman you’re coming up?”

                “No, I am expected.”  Seto strode to the elevator before the doorman could question him.  Had Jou used a Western name when he rented his apartment?  If the doorman had thought for a moment, he might have found it odd that Seto didn’t know the name of the man he was returning the cats to, so it was best just to hurry through as though he was in charge. 

                As he approached Jou’s penthouse, he wondered if he should have risked trying to get some more information from the doorman.  The door to Jou’s penthouse was ripped off its hinges and Seto could hear the sound of someone rummaging inside.  Seto strode in, half expecting to see Jou’s furious glare greet him. 

                Instead, he saw a slender American man in a conservative tweed suit.  The man had wire rimmed glasses, a hair cut that reminded Seto of an American politician, and leather elbow patches on the jacket of his suit.  He looked like a librarian.  Or he would have looked like a librarian, if he hadn’t been wearing a bullet proof vest and holding what looked like a half-assembled assault rifle. 

                As soon as Seto stepped into the door frame, the half-assembled rifle hit the floor and the man spun around, bringing a small silenced pistol around in a straight armed grip.  The man’s eyes widened as he took in Seto’s appearance, but he fired despite his surprise.  A spot in the door frame, just a fraction of an inch away from Seto’s ear, exploded. 

                “Oh.  Sorry about that, I was expecting someone else.”  The man relaxed but he kept the pistol pointed at Seto.  “Are the cats unharmed?”

                “They’re fine,” said Seto. 

                “Seto them down and leave, I will deal with them from here.”

                “They don’t belong to you,” Seto said carefully.  He set the pet carrier down and shifted to the side slightly.  The muzzle of the pistol followed his movements. 

                “Nevertheless,” the man said politely, “I will deal with them.  Thank you for finding them and bringing them back up.”  The man kept the pistol pointed at Seto and reached into a pocket inside his jacket with his free hand.  “I do appreciate it,” he explained as he tossed a wad of money at Seto. 

                “They don’t belong to you.  Where is Jou?”

                The man’s eyes narrowed.  He still didn’t lower the gun.  “You belong to Sasano?  Is this a joke?”

                “I don’t belong to anyone.  My name is Kaiba.  I am a friend of Jou’s.  Where is he?”

                “He doesn’t have any friends.  Who hired you?”

                “No one.  I am his friend.  Who are you?”

                The man’s passive features melted into a bright, almost breathtakingly beautiful smile.  “If you’re a friend of Jou’s, prove it.”

                Seto had to think fast.  “His first name is Katsuya.  He grew up in Domino.  He played Duel Monsters as a teenager and was a world class duelist.  He had a little sister named Shizuka.”

                “Something you can’t find on the Internet, if you please?”

                “He reads the way most people breathe.  His self-control is so iron clad that he can torture and kill an old friend without blinking an eye, and he can stay limp through a blow job if he wants to.  He says he only keeps these two because this little terror belonged to Shizuka, but he lets them curl around his feet when he sleeps.”

                Both of the man’s cinnamon-colored eyebrows were raised and a smile danced in his eyes.  “What does he read?”

                “What?  I can’t keep track!  Yesterday was Ivahoe, and a stack of paperbacks, before that Victorian detective novels, and then eighty different novels by some dead British mailman!  I said he reads the way most people breathe, and by that I meant he reads all the damn time!”

                “Dead British mail man?  Well, you got me there.  He’s not reading Hardy again, is he?”

                “Thomas Hardy?  I don’t know,” said Seto.  At his feet, both cats meowed to get out.  “I don’t think so, though.”

                “Well, that’s a relief.  If ever there was a person from history I’d kill for free, it’d be Thomas Hardy.  Joey made me read something called Jude the Obscure one summer when I was bored enough to start flaying small animals, and it was the most depressing thing I’ve ever done.”  The man casually put the pistol into a harness that seemed to be built into his bullet proof vest then adjusted his jacket to cover it better.  “You may as well close the door and let them out.  Give them a minute and they’ll be right as rain.”  With that, the man bent to pick up the rifle he’d been putting together. 

                “Hu?”

                “The cats.”

                “But you haven’t told me who you are yet.”

                “Look, if you’re really a friend of Joey’s, then you know it’s not wise to leave a door open anywhere near my Buddha.  They also aren’t terribly patient when it comes to waiting for a litter box.  Close the door and let them out.”

                Seto took a deep breath.  If the man had wanted to kill him he wouldn’t have pulled his shot to the left when Seto walked in.  He shook his head and decided to try to shut the broken door.  It took him a moment to get the door back on the hinges, and then another to piece the knob assembly back together.  “If you’re a friend,” he said slowly, “Why did you break in?”

                “I didn’t.  I have a key.  The door was like that when I got here.  Judging by the three different reflections coming from those roof tops, and the one outside the bedroom window, I would say that you and I might be the only friends he has at the moment.  Have you seen him since the it on Sasano?”

                “I saw him about twelve hours ago.  Reflections?”

                “Yes.  Cowards and amateurs.  One of them took two shots at me when I came in!  Me!  As if I can let that kind of lazy bullshit go from someone who’s supposed to be a professional!  Thus…”  He nodded to the rifle that was quickly growing larger.  He was mounting a very large scope on the top of it.  “If they were eliminating the competition, I’d say fine, heaven knows I’ve done the same, but they stopped shooting when they saw I wasn’t Joey.  Idiots didn’t wait to ID their target before they started shooting and they didn’t bother to ID their target after they started shooting.  I hate sloppiness like that.”

                “Three snipers?  Are you going to shoot them with that?”

                “I know,” the man scoffed, “Ridiculously low class.  But,” he hoisted the rifle on to his shoulder and moved toward the outside wall of the apartment, then crept towards the window, “these vermin just make us all look bad.”

                The man crouched near the window and peered out between the curtain and the wall.  He pulled a small knife from somewhere in his bullet proof vest and cut a small slit in the screen of the open window.  Still staying behind the curtain, he gently nudged the barrel of the rifle through the slit.  He peered through the scope for a few moments then pulled the trigger.  He shifted to the side slightly and pulled the trigger again.  A bullet hole appeared through the outside wall just above the man’s head.  He shifted to the side as another bullet hole appeared where he had been, aimed quickly, and fired again.  He dropped to the floor and pulled back the bolt on the rifle, waited for a long moment, then returned to his crouched position. 

                “See what I mean?  Amateurs.  Exposing their position all to try and avenge a competitor.  As if  a corpse is capable of giving a damn one way or the other.”  He fired again, kept his eye to the scope for another moment, then straightened up and slung the rifle over his shoulder and turned towards Seto with a bright smile.  His smile faded as he wrinkled his nose.  “I told you to let them out,” he admonished.  With that, he dropped to the floor and crawled across the room, staying out of sight of the window.  When he reached the other side of the living room, he pushed himself up into a crouch and unlatched the door of the pet carrier.  Both cats slunk out of the pet carrier looking guilty. 

                The white angora, much to Seto’s surprise, began to rub itself affectionately against the other man.  “I’m sorry Buddha baby,” the other man cooed to the cat.  “We’ll find your daddy and get you a clean litter box and a clean kitty bed and make it all better.”

                Pest sniffed the other man and then hopped up on to Seto’s shoulder.  The other man’s eyes grew wide as he saw the cat drape itself around Seto’s neck. 

                “That’s a neat trick,” he said mildly. 

                “No trick,” Seto admitted.  “I don’t know why he does that.”

                “He rides on Joey’s shoulders,” the man explained.  “I’ve never seen him tolerate anyone else, though.  Do you know where he might be now?”

                “I assumed he’d be here.  That’s why I brought his cats back.  Can’t you call him or something?”

                The stranger gave Seto a look that suggested Seto had just said something unbelievably stupid. 

                “What was his last known location?”

                “Ah, Domino, about an hour away.  In my home.”

                “Why did you have his cats?”

                “He’s been staying with me for a few days.”

                “Since that catastrophe with Sasano, you mean?”  The stranger didn’t wait for confirmation.  “Well,  something must have happened while he was en route to tip him off.  He’ll likely go back to your place for the cats.  He wont move without them—pain in the ass though that has been a few times, I suppose it’s a plus now.”

                “He left the cats with me,” Seto tried to explain.  “I don’t think he intended to come back for them.”

                The man shifted to hold Buddha in his lap and stroked her absently.

                “I’m sorry,” Seto shifted and tried to rearrange Pest without looking stupid.   “But who the hell are you?”

                “Lynn Grayson, at the moment,” the man said with the same beautiful smile.  “And you said your name was Kaiba.  Never heard of you.  You said you freelance, but who trained you?  I assume you like games and took the name from one of the big manufacturers…”  He rubbed the angora’s ears.  “Don’t tell me you talked Joey into training you?  I figured he learned his lesson about taking on protégés by now.”

                “What are you talking about?  I am Kaiba Seto.   I own Kaiba Corp. Games.  It is not a pseudonym.”

                “What?”  Lynn was on his feet again, this time looking obviously agitated.  “You’re a civilian?  But you didn’t flinch when I fired at you!  And Joey…  Well, Jou over here, he can be a lot to handle, even if you’re prepared to—“ the man frowned deeply and seemed to reconsider what he was saying.  “He can be a lot to handle.”

                “Tell me about it…”  Seto sighed despite how uncomfortable he felt.  “I had to sedate him, restrain him, and bribe him with an entire library to keep him from hurting himself.”

                “You drugged him?” Lynn laughed.  “And expected him to stay in restraints?  How’d that work out for you?”

                Seto blushed.  “He got out.  Then he knocked me out with chloroform and strapped me to a chair.  Then he watched and laughed as I tried to get out of the straps when I woke up.”

                The man who called himself Lynn folded his arms across his chest, the amusement vanishing from his eyes.  “I must admit, that is unusual behavior for him.  He must like you.  Did he actually try to hurt himself?”

                “Yes,” Seto whispered. 

                “I see.  Look, you’re better off leaving the cats here with me and taking a vacation for a few months.  Whoever took out Joey’s boss was pathetically grandiose about it, doing it so damn big that it’s plastered across every paper from here to New York.  Naturally, his family has to take a very public and equally grandiose approach to revenge or they’ll lose face.  Word has gotten out that Joey survived and everyone who doesn’t know better has assumed he was responsible.   Joey wouldn’t be that sloppy, but there are plenty of guys out there who need the money and don’t care.  And if Joey’s determined to hurt himself again, I suspect that he’s more dangerous than all of the men who are looking to kill him at the moment.  You’re better off getting out of the way and letting my handle it.”

                “And how do you intend to handle it?”

                “Kill the rest of the front runners, trust that the gangs are too stupid to keep up, pack up the cats, find Joey, incapacitate him and get him out of the country until I can talk some sense into him.”

                “You said he’s hard to handle, though.”

                Lynn smiled.  “I can handle Joey.  I dare say I am the only one who ever could.”

                Seto felt a shiver of realization run through him.  Pest felt it and jumped off of his shoulder, but he didn’t go far.  “The scars on his chest.  The…”  he shuddered as he remembered the way the scar tissue on Jou’s body had felt under his fingertips.  “The smiley face…”

                “Oh, yes,” Lynn’s eyes danced with a mixture of amusement and lust.  “That was a fun night.”  The man’s smile faded slightly.  “Until he passed out.” 

                Seto forced his face to stay neutral.  There was no way he was going to lose his compose around someone who was heavily armed and completely unpredictable.  Something of his jealously obviously showed in his eyes, though, because Lynn glanced sideways at him and smirked.  “But if you’ve seen my work, and you know he can stay limp through a blow job, then that would make you a bit more than friends, wouldn’t it?” 

                Seto shrugged.  There was no point in claiming there was something between them that Seto had apparently imagined, and no point in staking a claim that didn’t exist just to rile this guy up.  “I don’t think he’d even say I was a friend, to be honest.”

                Lynn laughed at that.  “Sad but true.  Like I said—he doesn’t have any friends.”

                “Just because he doesn’t acknowledge them, doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any friends.”

                Lynn’s laughter faded and Seto saw the other man nod his head slowly.  “ Well, I’m going to go get a clean pet crate.  Watch yourself on the way out.”  The man dropped to the floor again and crawled back passed the window, then turned and headed down the hall toward the bedroom that had become the cat’s playground. 

                “How are you going to find him?” Seto persisted. 

                Lynn rolled over on to his back and stared at Seto from the floor.  “I’m going to look.”

                “I could help you find him,” Seto insisted.  “I have money, connections, and I’m a citizen.”

                Lynn chuckled.  “You’re not that bright, are you?  I know I’m Joey’s friend.  The only thing I know about you Mr. It’s-not-a-Pseudonym-I-really-am-Kaiba is that Pest doesn’t hate you and Buddha’s not afraid of you.  Everything else is information you volunteered and so it is suspect.”

                “The cats don’t seem to mind you, either,” Seto pointed out.

                “Which just goes to show how fucked up these cats are,” Lynn nodded.  “But there isn’t time for a long chat about trust issues.  More people are coming,” he said slowly.  “People who have the balls to actually come up and play instead of hiding across the street.  If you really are a civilian, I strongly suggest you run.”

                “Fine,” Seto shook his head.  “I’ll find him myself.” 

                He spun on his heel and strode out the door, thinking about how ridiculous this way.  This American stranger, whoever he was to Jou, couldn’t possibly find him in Japan.  And he certainly wouldn’t find him before Kaiba could.  He was so busy thinking of how to begin searching for Jou that he walked straight into a very large man dressed from head to toe in black body armor.  He barely had time to register the KC logo on the man’s shoulder before he was tossed over the black-covered shoulder and carried away.  “Kaiba is secure.  Kaiba is secure.  Heading for the elevator.”

                Kaiba was set back on his feet in the elevator and found himself surrounded by six men in identical body armor.  He was vaguely aware that his personal security had increased in number, and that there was always at least one SUV full of heavily armed men following him since he was kidnapped, but he had never been tossed around by them before. 

                “Forgive us, Kaiba-sama,” one of them said through his helmet.  Kaiba recorgnized the voice.  His head of personal security, Roland, raised the visor of his helmet and saluted.  “The situation escalated so quickly that it was necessary for us to fight our way into the lobby prior to searching the building for you.”

                Kaiba straightened his tie and jacket, then rolled his shoulders.  “What is the situation?”

                “Gunfire was reportedly exchanged between windows of this building and several locations across the street.  After we noticed the gunfire, several heavily armed men entered the lobby of the building.  Gunfire broke out in the lobby within fifteen seconds of the second man entering.   The men appeared to be shooting at each other.  After gaining access to the building, it took us several minutes to secure a path to the elevator.  Tokyo police are responding, but we need to get you out of the area immediately.”

                “Didn’t you just say you secured the lobby?”

                “I’m sorry, Kaiba-sama.  With the help of the doorman, we secured a path to the elevator.  We have been unable to neutralize any of the gunmen.  They’re fast and very heavily armed.”

                “The doorman?  The old man with the mustache?”

                “The old man with the mustache, the machine gun, and the presence of mind to pick up a grenade and throw it back in the direction it came from, yes.”

 

                “What the fuck is going on?  I just came to return Jounouchi’s cats!”

                “Regardless, we need to evacuate.  I dispatched a helicopter, but this far from Domino it will take quite some time to reach us.  The car—“ Roland froze as an impossible sound echoed through the elevator car.  A faint, almost timid knock came from the top of the elevator.  Roland pulled back the slide on a pistol and pointed the gun up.  Above him, Seto heard a soft, whinny meow. 

                “No!” Seto motioned for Roland to lower his gun.  “Mr. Grayson?”

                “The panel,” Roland pointed towards a small access panel in the corner of the elevator.  Another security officer shoved the panel up.   The panel disappeared and a moment later a very tightly packed gray pet carrier that had been turned on its end was lowered down. 

                “Do take them, wont you, Mr. It’s-not-a-Psedonym-I-really-am-Kaiba?”

                Seto took the pet carrier and carefully turned it upright.  Inside, both cats rolled, limp and unresponsive, on to the floor of the pet carrier.  He poked a finger through the front grate.  The closest piece of fir he could feel was still warm, at least.  “What did you do to them?” Seto growled. 

                “Valium.  The last thing I need is two stressed out cats in my rental car.”

                “Are you responsible for what’s happening down stairs?”

                “Not yet.”  The man’s smile gleamed from the top of the elevator.  His head came through the panel and the rest of him followed as he slowly flipped over and lowered himself to the floor.  A small automatic rifle was strapped to his back, along with four magazines.  He casually dusted himself off and tossed a thin length of cord back on top of the elevator.  “I did tell you more people were coming, didn’t I?  Frankly, I was only expecting only one or two, since it’s Joey they’re after, but from the looks of your rent-a-cops, I’d guess there were more?”

                Even as he spoke he began to load, cock, adjust, and ready four different weapons.  Each one appeared out of the man’s jacket or bullet proof vest and disappeared back inside with a practiced ease.  Finally, he pulled out the pistol he had fired at Seto earlier.  He didn’t seem at all upset about the six armed men taking aim at his head in the tiny elevator.  He was certainly aware of them, but he just kept glancing at them sideways and smirking.  “So, which of you gentlemen is the fastest shot?” he asked, trying not to giggle. 

                “Sir, place you weapons on the floor!” Roland shouted. 

                “No,” he said mildly.  He glanced up at the glowing dial on the elevator.  They were a few seconds away from the lobby.  “I’d consider the question, gentlemen, because the fastest among you will hit me, but then that lucky young man, along with the slowest two of you, will likely get hit in the cross fire.  Along with Mr. I-really-am-Kaiba, don’t forget that he is in your line of fire.”  Six rifles wavered and slowly dipped down towards the floor. 

                “Excuse me, gents.”  Lynn ripped the pet carrier out of Kaiba’s hands and leapt out of the elevator the moment the doors opened.  The world seemed to explode around him as he moved, but somehow he made it to a large decorative pillar in one piece.  Seto found himself thrown to the floor and then being quickly dragged out into the lobby, his suit buttons popped off as he scraped over the seams in the tile floor. 

                “Get the cats!” Seto shouted to one of his security.  He was pretty sure they ignored him, because a square of riot shields surrounded him and soon he was being carried towards the door.  Bullets flew around them.  Through the riot gear, Seto caught a glimpse of a couple of men in suits firing pistols at one another.  As he watched, a Japanese man who was firing across the lobby was hit by something that threw him off his feet and pinned him to the wall behind him.  He saw Lynn’s back as the man sprinted towards the pinned shooter.  He tossed aside what looked like a power tool and flew at the pinned man with a knife, slashing up and rolling to the side as more bullets followed him.  There was a smile on his face as he rolled out of sight.  Seto’s security pulled him out through the front door and into the chaos of the street outside just as Seto recognized the cast off weapon as a nail gun. 

                A quick glance back into the lobby was all Seto had as he was shoved into the back of his limo.  Roland flew through the door behind him and another security officer dove inside with the pet carrier clutched to his chest.  From what Seto had seen of the lobby, the entire place was a mess of broken tile, glass, and bullet holes.  The part that was genuinely unsettling for Seto was that no matter how bad the destruction already seemed, it became a blood bath as the man who had introduced himself as Jou’s friend sliced his way through every single person left in the room. 

                Seto shifted in his seat and adjusted his suit, hands trying to button his suit jacket out of habit.  He laid his head back and shut his eyes, trying to force his brain to stop spinning long enough to actually think. 

                “Are you injured, sir?” Roland asked, his voice remarkably calm.  

                “I don’t think so.  What the hell was that about?  They weren’t shooting at us.  They looked…  They looked like they were having fun.”

                “The man from the elevator certainly seemed to be enjoying himself,” Roland agreed.  “The Tokyo police will be contacting us for a statement, I’m sure.  What would you like to do?”

                “When they call tell them they can come take a statement at my office.  I’m not staying in this city.  I need to find Jou.  I have a feeling he’ll still be in Domino, and I have to find him before that psychopath does.”

                “You think they were after Jounouchi?”

                Seto nodded.  “I know they were.  I have to find him.”

                Roland picked the pet carrier up off of the floor and gazed inside.  Buddha rolled over, stretched a paw towards the front of the crate, and yawned.  “I admit, I didn’t give the butler enough credit when he said these cats were trouble.  I thought he was complaining about stains on the carpet.  May I place them in a boarding facility until we’ve located Jounouchi?”

                “That sounds like a good idea.  See if you can board them at a veterinarian’s office, some place where a doctor can take a look at them.”

                “Right away, Kaiba-sama.  Also, if I may ask, who was the American from the elevator?”

                Kaiba bit the inside of his cheek. 

                “Kaiba-sama?”

                “I’m not sure.  Jounouchi’s lover, from all appearances.  Or his ex, maybe.”

                Roland looked like he was lost in thought for a moment, then he pulled out a cell phone and began typing out a text message. 

                “What?” Seto demanded.

                “I am reassigning additional security, Kaiba-sama.  Just until this infatuation with Jounouchi-san has run its course.”

                “I am no infatuated with Jou.  I’m…”  Seto looked around the limo desperately.  The carefully blank expression of the other security officer wasn’t helpful.  His eyes landed on the pet carrier.  “I’m pet sitting.”