Read and enjoy.
Note: This story takes place well after the actual ending of the series with the characters we are all so familiar with, quietly nestled in their own lives.
Communication between them, though not very frequent, still takes place.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
1. Strangers. Definition: Everyone.
Ah! That was it.
With the last of his work for the day finished, the pair of firm hands which had been so busy with work until this moment laid down on the table to rest, supporting a head with a tousled mop of brown hair on it.
The surprised boy jumped up with a start as the sudden noise of a blaring horn came blasting at him from the nearby window. The confused boy sat on his bed until things came into focus and his mind finally decided to respond to him instead of the urge to sleep.
Standing up to investigate, he got up and walked over to the window and looked out, eyes searching for the source of the sound, only to find no one on the roads. Of course whoever made that sound must have left by now, but why he chose to suddenly blare his horn in the middle of the night on an empty road in front of his house of all places, he just couldn't comprehend, and so he decided to dismiss the driver as another fool whom you met in your day to day life before walking back to the bed.
Looking at his bedside clock, which beamed out a constant 4:45 AM, he decided to go and take his usual morning shower.Dismissing his tired mind, which begged for another hour or so of sleep, he stepped in the shower, and sighed as the cold water splashed down on him.
Recollecting the memories of his dream that night, he smiled, ' I must be going crazy if I've actually started to dream of my work.'
"Can I look at that, please?" asked Mokuba, pointing towards the entertainment section of the newspaper.
"Go ahead." Answered his older brother, who wasn't particularly fond of reading the paper in the breakfast table, instead, preferring to enjoy it in peace on the way to work.
This morning had begun as normal as a normal day in the CEO's life could be, with the exception of his brother asking for any portion of the newspaper, which otherwise, he would've dreaded to even look at.
Well, some habits die hard, they say. Seto still can't stand reading a paper during a meal and Mokuba still can't stand to read them, period. But then, why the sudden interest in that particular section today?
Seto had thus taken a particular interest towards the very piece of newspaper which his brother pretended to be reading, but was, quite obviously to the older and more experienced family member, trying desperately to hide something which might prove to be chaotic in the near future if the other sibling caught a glimpse of it.
Of course, this was quite obvious to the CEO, (why wouldn't it be? He had to handle such cases every day, after all) but he decided to do nothing about it now, instead, choosing to deal with it later on in the day.
"So, Mokuba." Asked the CEO, a gentle smile wavering on his lips as he looked at his now college attending brother, who, still clasping the newspaper in his hands was busy listening to a random song on the radio and humming to the tune of it.
"Hmm, yes Seto?" he replied, opening his eyes and removing the stray lock of black hair from his face.
"Can I see that newspaper?"
"Umm… no." Mokuba quickly flicked open the paper and started to look through it himself, meanwhile doing a very bad impression of reading it. After all, who can even pretend to read a newspaper when their favorite song was being played in the background?
"I think, yes." Said the olderman as he gave the younger one a look which meant give-it-to-me-or-else…
Mokuba meekly handed over the paper and quickly closed his eyes, feigning sleep.
'There must be something really strange written in this paper for him to give me that kind of an impression.' Thought theman as he flipped through the paper, conveniently missing the first page and finding nothing unusual with the rest.
Raising an eyebrow and looking at his brother, he found the boy returning his gaze, except with one eye closed.
Deciding that there was nothing wrong with the paper, the man closed theit which was when he saw the piece.
Andright there, on the first page in all his shining glory stood a blonde man who seemed strangely familiar to him, and on a table beside him, stood a book displaying it's proud name… 'Careless Bastards'.
What the title implied, he wasn't entirely sure off, but he only knew too well who the book was about. Of course the picture below it of a tall teenager with brown hair, blue eyes and the tattoo of a blue dragon on his wrist was just too obvious, any idiot who knew him would know who the book was so specially written about.
It's a good thing that not too many people knew him then.
'Or not.' He thought as his thoughts drifted to the various people he met through his lives, stupid partners, worthless girls and a bunch of dorks who never failed to surprise him, which was when his thoughts drifted to a certain blonde he always hated.
'Of course!'
Another look at the blonde who just a minute ago seemed to him another familiar stranger, now turned out to be a boy whom he not only was familiar with, but hated with a singular passion.
"I didn't know that that fool in life could write..."
"Bye Seto!" said Mokuba as he hopped out of the car and raced to the college.
Seto, who was too busy reading the newspaper didn't look up, but gave a small wave and a nod of the head.
'One of the best novelists of this century, Joey Wheeler always manages to surprise the readers with each new book. A writer or rare talent, he has been keeping his fans at suspense for the past two years about the release of his latest book….'
'Joey Wheeler? Uses a pen name does he?' he quickly put the paper aside and looked out the window, dismissing all he read.
"Yes?" an irate Seto looked at his secretary who had been giggling at him every single time he came and went down that path. It brings to mind whether she did it deliberately to annoy him or if it was just a habit.
"Nothing sir, but I was wondering, have you read the book, 'Careless Bastards.'?" She answered, giggling again.
Not bothering to answer, the CEO merely turned around and once again, decided to continue the journey to his office.
"Well?" she asked again, but never got her answer as the familiar figure vanished behind the wooden door.
Seto sat at his desk, and continued typing at a furious pace.
He himself hadn't been able to forget about the book and he didn't need people bugging him about it either.
Of all the people in the entire world, he never understood why he had to be the one stuck with a stereotypical secretary who makes an appearance in almost every romance story with the word ,'management' or 'company' in it.
Of course he couldn't be expected to read any such book.
But the pictureon the booknever left his mind, if it had something to do with him, as he tried time and time again to not believe, he surely had the right to know?
Soon afterwards came a soft but firm rapping on the door.
'None to soon either, another minute alone, and I might've actually wanted to read that book'
"Come in."
A man, clad in a black suit with a briefcase in his hand, thus made himself known and was added in Seto's book of exceptionally talented worthless people.
"Hello there, Mokuba. Hope you had a nice day in college." Said a particularly scary looking CEO as he stopped in front of his younger brother's open bedroom door and gave his daily greeting.
"Yeah, things are going great!" said Mokuba, suddenly sitting down on something, in a desperate effort to hide it.
"Okay, what's that?" said the older of the two as he made his way in the room and held his hand out.
"Nothing really." Said Mokuba, regaining his composure, "Just a book."
"Really? Can I see it then?" asked the CEO
"No."
"Show it here, now. It better not be a porno magazine."
"It isn't."
"Then show it."
"No."
"Oh! Hello there sir. Good evening." Said a boy as he entered the room and gave a polite greeting to the man, complete with a bow.
"Ah, Mokuba? What are you doing? You realize if you sit on that book, it might tear. Get off. Now." Said the boy, trying to push the other over, but Mokuba sat there, stock still.
"Don't worry, It'll be okay." Said Mokuba.
"Get off, I still have to finish it before I give it to you." Said the boy.
"Your book is it?" asked Seto
"Yes sir." Said the boy, not looking up at the tall figure in front of him, trying to stifle the sudden outburst of laughter which had been threatening ever since he entered the room, but much to his dismay, he failed miserably.
"Which book is it?"
"Oh! Joey Wheeler's latest novel, 'Ca…" said the boy, now looking at the ceiling
"I know, I know." Said Seto, massaging his forehead lightly.
"Mokuba?" he asked his brother.
"I'm not moving."
"Can I read it after you're done?"
"Ye…What?"
"I said, can I…"
"Okay, sure!" said Mokuba as he finally stood up, the book in his hand.
'I need another aspirin' said Seto as he sat down comfortably in his bed.
The past two days had been horrible, practically everyone in the city seemed to be laughing at him, observing him from every single corner.
He hadn't been able to concentrate properly on his work and to top it all off, he almost went and bought the book himself!
Reachingout tohis bedside table where he kept most of his medicines, he realized that an aspirin was nowhere to be found.
What else could he expect? He usually takes them more than necessary, but for the past two days, he had been devouring them, carrying them around in his pockets even.
Inwardly groaning, he let his head touch the soft pillow as he opened the book which he had been so desperate to read in such a long time, regardless of the fact that it was a fool who wrote it.
The book had been delivered earlier that very evening to his room by a sniggering Mokuba, who vanished just as fast as he came, much to the bewilderment of his older brother.
It took him exactly 7 hours and 35 minutes to finish the book, and by the time he did finish, he gave the color scarlet a bad name.
Halfway through the book, he had had the urge to destroy it, but it was his will that kept him going.
The moment he was done, he stood, went up to the mirror to try tolocatea black spot on his face, and finding none, he went over to the phone, picked up the book, and dialed the number of the publishing house.
Of course, he couldn't find anyone who could actually help him, and after a very heated argument with the person who picked up the phone about useless call at 2:00 AM he finally settled down, and decided to sleep.
He would deal with such useless people in the morning.
"Sir, for the umpteenth time I'm telling you, we can't give you his number."
"And why not?" asked Seto, extremely annoyed at this point.
He had called up the publishing house early in the morning to ask for a certain soon-to-be-killed author's number, and had had no success as of yet.
"We cannot give out personal numbers, if you wish to contact him, then kindly do so by using his main site as a medium and not us!" and with that, the phone went dead.
'Power means nothing these days, does it?' wondered Seto as he thought of another way to contact his long forgotten 'friend'.
Early, when he woke up this morning, only one thought was present in his mind, ' Find Jounouchi Katsuya. Sue him. Murder him.'
'Of course!'
After making a few quick calls to verify the location, Seto Kaiba set out to Jounouchi Katsuya's house to find him.He had thought of contacting Yugi, but only knew too well that the man would neither give him his friend's number, nor his residential address. Probably fearing his best friend'shealth.
Stepping out of his car, he asked the driver to wait and made his way into the apartment complex, and approached the guard.
"Where do the Katsuya's stay?" he asked, expecting to hear the number in reply, but all he got was a confused look.
"Whadd'ya expect? Me to kno' everyone's residential numbers o' something?" came the reply.
Realizingthat he would findno help this way, he tried a slightly different approach, " I meant Joey Wheeler's apartment number."
"Oh! Why didn' ya say so? I'm afraid he moved out abou' five years ago, but his pop still lives here! Block C Number 24."
"Thank you" said Seto but almost regretted saying it, as the man added another wad of spit, which always seemed to come out when he talked, to the CEO's face.
Still rubbing his face with a handkerchief he resolved to throw away the moment he entered his house, he knocked on the polished wooden door upon which was written, 'Jounouchi' on a nameplate.
He heard a crash inside and winced.
Soon, a man came and opened the door, his breath reeked of alcohol and Seto had to cover his nose thanks to the over powering smell.
"I am a 'friend' of Katsuya's and I was just wondering if you could give me his phone number or his residential address so that I could contact him?" said the CEO, his nose covered and his breathing in a momentary halt.
"Sorry? I didn't get that." He said, urging the man to repeat himself, his former sentence had been quite if not very, unintelligible.
"I shaid, sure. Always glad to help a friend of Katsuya's."
After getting what he wanted, he briskly entered his car and was soon out of sight, vowing to never return to that place again.
"Why are we flying all the way to Osaka again?" asked Mokuba, yawning for the umpteenth time since the plane took off.
"I told you. So that we can go there, see the dog, kill it and come back."
"I know that, I meant why do I have to come with you?"
"I just can't leave you there alone, now can I?"
"Seto! I'm in college now."
"And I still need to help you to cross a street."
"That's besides the point!"
"Hush."
And that is where the conversation ended.
Anyone who knew the older Kaiba brother would know that once his mind was set on something, he would usually keep fighting till he got it.
"I still can't believe I'm doing this." Said Mokuba, pushing a stray lock off from his face and looking around him for the hired car.
The Kaiba brother's were known to do things in style, and no matter what. That is one thing that just would not change.
"Seto? Can we stop for ice cream please? It's too hot."
"Fine."
After paying for the two scones, Mokuba had insisted that they finish it before entering the car, claiming that he had motion sickness if he ate anything in the car.
Seto, grudgingly agreed and as the two stood beside the shop due to lack of vacant seats, neither noticing the figure which slowly came from behind.
"Hey!" yelled the stranger in Mokuba's ears causing the boy to jump in fright and his brother to feel the full effect of cool ice cream on his face in the middle of May.
Wiping his face he took one look at the stranger who stood before him and suddenly forgot his speech, and after making sure to memorize it thoroughly too.
Seto Kaiba had written a speech to be delivered to a certain Jounouchi Katsuya.This speech not only contained the most degrading words he knew, but also some colorful once he had discovered after research.
The familiar blonde stranger stood before him, face curved into a smile, and hands outstretched, offering a scrap of paper.
He took it and suddenly, his face twisted itself into a familiar smirk known to other by heart.
"I'm really busy now, so I really have to leave. Seeya later then!" he said, and after a wide wave, Jounouchi Katsuya, known to the world of his fans as 'Joey Wheeler' started to make way into the sea of people.
"And what makes you think that I would even dream of wasting my time by 'seeing' you later?" said the CEO in a scornful voice.
The blonde figure suddenly stood,and then very slowly,turned around, Seto could see that familiar look of anger in his face, but that suddenly changed into a smile.
"Call me." He said, pointing to the piece of paper in Seto's hands, which turned out to be avery dirtypiece of paper with a number written on it, which he presumed to be the soon-to-be-dead novelists's phone number.
"Joey?" suddenly came a female voice
" Coming!"
And with a wave, Joey vanished into the sea of people with a particularly good looking young lady.
Seto Kaiba has seen a great many things, but one thing he hasn't seen is Jounouchi Katsuya smiling at him after a rude comment or Jounouchi Katsuya running away from a confrontation, but then again he could be wrong, so he said the two words which escaped his lips.
"Wait. What?"
Litaiki: Hope that wasn't really boring. I tried to make it good. Tell me if there was anything wrong, okay?
Anyway, hope you enjoyed reading this, I sure enjoyed writing it.
Read and enjoy!