This was the final straw. Jonouchi had been snubbed, defeated, and kicked around for the last time. He wasn't going to tolerate Kaiba anymore. He was seeing so much red it was invalidating anything else in his mind. This last defeat had been that painful. Challenging Kaiba in such a crowd had been a bad idea. He'd been sure he was good enough now. He had been so damn sure that his skills had gotten better.
But now he was the laughing stock of the dueling world. Every time he'd faced Kaiba they'd been somewhere isolated. This last time he'd ordered him to duel right in the middle of a big press event. He'd ruined the event, which had been half his intention. He couldn't take the way that smug bastard went on about how awesome his corporation was and how much stuff they were making thanks to his own smarts. It had been the perfect time. Defeat Kaiba then and he'd be famous forever.
It had ended in disaster. And ever since he couldn't think right. He couldn't breathe without tensing and getting angry enough to shake. No one took him seriously anymore. No one wanted to duel him after such a beating- and it had been extremely brutal.
When he'd tried to talk to Yuugi, his best friend didn't want to take sides. Enough pushing and Yuugi admitted that it just hadn't been the best idea. Provoking Kaiba by ruining his biggest press conference of the year had been a poor idea. Yuugi had warned him but as usual he didn't listen. He didn't like the way Kaiba beat him and trashed him in front of all those cameras, but what could he really do about it?
He thought Jonouchi was a great duelist. And to that fact, his friend had lasted a lot longer than he had in any other duels with Kaiba. But it wasn't enough. Kaiba was a great duelist, after all. And now that Jonouchi was mad enough to act again, he found himself with his arms around the other duelist, desperately struggling to keep him back.
"Jonouchi-kun! This is worse than your idea before!" Jonouchi had discussed an idea about ambushing Kaiba's next release and telling the press how awful he was. Or something like that. It sounded positively stupid. Words didn't stop him though, pleading didn't stop him, so now he was reduced to struggling to pull him back as the blond stomped down the sidewalk.
Jonouchi didn't want to hear it. And Yuugi's small form was easy enough to support as he made his way towards the skyscraper. "I've had it. This isn't even about what happened!" That was a big fat lie. But he wanted to cover himself somehow. "He's gotten away with so much shit! That theme park that tried to kill us? Nearly killing your grandfather? The list goes on!" It kind of didn't really but. Those were bad enough. If he said all that in front of the cameras Kaiba would be ruined.
Forever.
He'd never have to see that smug asshole on TV again.
Normally he would never, ever do this. This plan was heartless. Kaiba Corporation wasn't just Kaiba. It was Mokuba. It was technology. It was the game. It didn't deserve to be dragged down with Kaiba's piss poor behavior.
But he just couldn't take it after his humiliation.
"Please rethink this Jonouchi-kun! Please!" He struggled harder trying to pull him back but it didn't work. Soon they were approaching the mass crowd, the flashing cameras, and Kaiba's voice echoing around the square.
"This latest release of solid vision-" He sounded really proud of whatever garbage he was spewing, in Jonouchi's opinion. It was the perfect time to take him down.
"Ey! Kaiba!" The cameras turned in his direction. Yuugi let go of him. Everything went quiet.
Kaiba seemed less amused. Two ambushes in a row? No. This time he was prepared. As amusing as shoving the mutt into the dirt had been and as gratifying it was for the world to see what he'd seen from the moment he'd laid eyes on the nobody, he couldn't take another interruption. This was an important product that had to get on the market as loudly as possible. Else no one would really see the need to upgrade.
Security was on him with a simple blink of those blue eyes. "Get off of me!" He was tackled to the ground, screaming something about murders and people needing to listen to him. The guards then found it necessary to tase him in the side. That certainly shut him up rather quick.
Kaiba couldn't quite mask the smirk. Yuugi lost what little sense he'd had being dragged into this. "Kaiba-kun! That's not necessary!"
"It's necessary enough to put frothing dogs in their place."
Jonouchi was hauled to his feet and dragged away. "This is disrespectful and too much force!" Yuugi still was trying to argue, little fists balled at his sides. If the spirit were still here…
Kaiba's head tilted up condescendingly. "Now, if we're finished with the unscheduled stupidity." The remaining guards turned in on the shorter.
He knew he was outmatched here and as stupid as Jonouchi had been acting, Kaiba deserved his peace too. He hadn't gone out of his way to attack the other, after all. Jonouchi… as sad as it was, had done this all to himself. As usual. "I'm going."
"Hn."
Now he just had to figure out how to bail Jonouchi out of whatever prison Kaiba was going to put him in. Maybe if he was lucky he could duel Kaiba after the press conference for his release.