A/N: As this is my first fic, I'd appreciate any feedback possible, even negative feedback. Let me know what's good, what's not and what needs fixing. Much obliged.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragon Ball Z, Resident Evil, any work of music or the rights to any of those things. If I did, I'd probably have more expensive things to do with my time than writing fanfiction.
Chapter One: Assault
There was a thin fog covering the early summer ground as Seto Kaiba rode home in his limo. He was in an unusually good mood. Work was progressing smoothly on the latest Kaiba Land motion simulator, and the next generation holograms were nearly finished the debugging process. Yes, Kaiba had good reason to be in relatively high spirits as his limo approached the Kaiba Mansion.
"Uh, Mr. Kaiba?" his chauffeur asked, turning to look back at Kaiba.
"What is it, Kent?" Kaiba replied.
Kent gestured to the main gate in front of the limo. "The gate isn't responding to the remote."
Kaiba rolled his eyes and pulled out his cell, "I'll call security and have them disengage the locks."
Kent nodded, and then suddenly convulsed. Kaiba dropped his cell in shock as he saw a fine spray of blood cover the inside of the windshield. Grabbing his steel briefcase, Kaiba opened the door and stepped out of the limo. Slamming the door, he took a few steps forward, and then one backward.
Off of his wall dropped four cloaked men, all of whom, Kaiba realized, were carrying rather large katana blades. Watching them carefully, Kaiba reached his free hand into his pocket to find his cell. It wasn't there! He'd left it in the limo.
"Damn." Kaiba muttered under his breath as the cloaked men surrounded Kaiba, blades at the ready. They were cowards, he deduced quickly by the fact that the four of them, armed, were planning on attacking the unarmed Kaiba. If they were cowards, he thought, they would likely scare off easily. A plan began to form in his mind. Here's hoping my years of fencing training come in handy for once, Kaiba thought to himself. Those katanas would be heavier than foils, though, and heavier meant slower. More pieces began to fall into place in his head, but he needed a bit more time. I only have one real weapon: they've seriously underestimated Seto Kaiba.
The four men were in position, each on one side of him, and time was something he no longer had. The first one came from behind. Kaiba dropped his briefcase and reached back, grabbing the man's hands and bringing the blade forward to parry the other three's blades. Bringing his elbow back, it connected with the first one's chin and he let go of the blade. Shifting the blade solely to his left hand, Kaiba picked up his briefcase and swung it, knocking the three interlocked blades away and connecting with the jaw of the first assailant. He tumbled to the ground, incapacitated, and Kaiba shifted his focus to the other three.
Now attacking in earnest, it was all Kaiba could do, both briefcase and katana working, to keep them from breaking his defences. The katana was slower than he had anticipated, and he was taking small nicks on the arms and legs even as he moved back to try and keep his defences up. He had passed the unconscious body and was getting further away from his limo, the gate and his cell with every step. Finally, he scored a mild hit on the assailant to his right and he dropped back. The hit cost him, however, as the assailant to his left saw the opening and brought his blade through Kaiba's calf and right up against the bone. Kaiba fell back and the middle assailant thought to use the opportunity to finish him. Heading for a vertical slash as Kaiba landed on his backside, Kaiba slammed his foot into the man's chest and used his momentum to heft him over his head. The assassin's head hit the ground with a sickening thud, and Kaiba used the remaining momentum to continue his roll and land on the downed man's chest, cracking a few ribs in the process. A groan of agony assuaged Kaiba's fears that he had killed the man. Kaiba was many things, but he was not a murderer.
With two of them incapacitated, the other two would be assassins finally re-evaluated the threat of the elder Kaiba. One sprinted to get behind Kaiba, and Kaiba knew he would have to find some way to get his back to a wall. Using his blade to drive the assailant in front's blade to the side, he slammed his briefcase against the assassin's skull. It didn't connect as well as he'd hoped, but the attacker was stunned and it would serve his purpose. With a goal in sight, Kaiba sprinted for the wall. Where's the other one? The thought ran through Kaiba's mind a second too late as the blade of the other assailant raked down his back. Kaiba cried out in pain and stumbled against the wall. Turning to face his attacker, Kaiba quickly realized he was fighting a battle of attrition, and it was not on his side.
They came at him at the same time, and Kaiba's blade and case worked frantically to keep them off him. Even with his seemingly inhuman speed, Kaiba suffered numerous hits, and was quickly losing a lot of blood. If I can separate them I can beat them.He thought, and, sacrificing a rather deep cut that ran along his ribs, he struck the left assailant with his briefcase. Using his katana, he pressed the other's blade down and stomped on the flat, jarring the blade out of his foe's hand and into the dirt. Pointing his blade at the unarmed assassin, he made a bestial grunt of rage. The assailant wisely decided to flee.
He turned to the last one in time to parry a lethal face shot into a deep chest shot, and winced at the sound of the blade running along his ribs like a xylophone. The adrenaline seemed to negate the pain, but he knew that he was seriously injured, and needed immediate medical attention. Somehow, it didn't seem like his attacker would care. Dropping his case, Kaiba locked blades with the assailant and grabbed his hands, locked tightly on the handle of his katana. He spun the two of them around and drove the attacker against the wall. Holding his opponent's hands up in the air with one hand, he took his katana in the other and drove it through the man's right shoulder and into the wall, being rewarded with a cry of pain from the attacker. With him pinned, Kaiba grabbed his case and clocked the attacker across the face with it, rendering him unconscious.
Kaiba ran to the car and threw the driver's side door open. "Kent? Kent!" He shook the chauffeur, and only then noticed the dagger protruding from his chest.
"Damn it." Kaiba swore, and walked over to the gate. He gulped, and choked out, "Voice authorization Seto Kaiba." The gate didn't respond. He looked over to see that the control panel was fried. The shock and adrenaline were clearly blurring his mind, he thought to himself.
Grabbing another katana from one of the felled assassins, he screamed as he swung the blade between the two gates. The blade proved stronger than the lock bar, and it cracked under the force of the blow. Throwing his shoulder into the gate, it broke open. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and Kaiba's mind was clearing, although the blinding pain he was starting to feel was a hindrance.
"Mokuba!" Kaiba shouted suddenly. What if they had gotten to him? Face contorted in agony, Kaiba sprinted to his front door and swung it open. The head butler looked toward Kaiba, and turned ghost pale.
"Mokuba!" Kaiba shouted, unable to form any other words.
Instinctively, the butler understood. "He's upstairs, sir, he's fine."
Kaiba breathed a profound sigh of relief, and collapsed on the floor.
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Yugi and his friends were gathered around the television, watching a rerun of Dragon Ball Z. Joey was getting excited, as Vegeta gloated over how he was going to defeat androids 18 and 17.
"Oh man, this is going to be sweet. He's going to own those two machines!" Joey shouted, hopping up onto the couch.
"Feet off the couch, Joey!" Tea reminded from the next room, as she was mircowaving a bag of popcorn.
"Joey, you've seen this episode three times already. He gets creamed!" Tristan admonished.
"Aw, let him dream Tristan!" Serenity retorted.
"We would, Serenity, but then he gets all depressed again when he loses." Duke commented passively.
Yugi simply chuckled, then reached for the phone as it started to ring. He was glad to have his friends together like this. It helped him take his mind off of the nameless threats he had been getting recently. A note in his locker, a message on his cell, a threatening letter, they had begun to add up, and he was uneasy about it. Somehow, he knew it had something to do with 'the other' him, but he didn't know what.
"Hello, Moto residence."
"Hello, Yugi? Can you come down to the mansion, Seto's been attacked and… and I'm afraid."
"Mokuba? I'll be right over." Yugi said, throwing on his jacket and standing up.
"What is it, Yug?" Joey asked.
"Kaiba's been attacked, and Mokuba's asked me to head down there."
From the kitchen, Tea asked, "Attacked? By who?"
"I don't know," Yugi replied, heading to the door, "But Mokuba sounded really shaken up. This looks bad."
"We'll come with you. Mokuba's our friend too." Tristan said, hopping off the couch.
Joey nodded, "Yeah, he's a good kid even if his brother is a jerk. We'll all come."
"Mokuba will be glad to see us." Serenity added.
"Yeah," said Duke, rising with a smirk, "And Kaiba won't, so I'm in too."
Yugi smiled. "Thanks guys. Alright, let's get going."
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The group arrived at the Kaiba mansion and were ushered in by a ghastly looking butler. "Master Mokuba is down the hall, on the third door to your left. If there is anything I can do for you please don't hesitate to ask."
The group rushed down the hall and turn into the relatively small (given the above average size of rooms in the titanic mansion), immaculately white room, equipped with all the state of the art medical equipment. Mokuba was practically standing on a stool, next to a middle-aged doctor. What shocked them most was who they were hunkered over.
Kaiba was wearing nothing but a pair of black, cut-off shorts that were most likely his pants from earlier that day. The bed on which he lay was soaked red, and the sheets hung chaotically off of either side, stained with Kaiba's fleeting lifeblood. He was hooked up to at least half a dozen tubes, and the doctor was working furiously sewing up the various gashes on Kaiba's body. None of them, except perhaps Joey, had ever dreamed of seeing Kaiba in such a state. His torso was marred with over a dozen cuts, including two particularly vicious cuts in an extended 'X' on the left side of his chest. Some were covered in gauze, already stained a dark shade of red. Others were stitched, bound tightly in order to staunch the bleeding. To each of these, Mokuba was applying a liberal amount of a white lotion, and rubbing it in, firmly but delicately. The worst looking gash was on Kaiba's left leg, and it had already been sewn tightly. Kaiba had been sedated, but he was sweating profusely, adding to the acrid stench of the room.
Mokuba noticed their shocked faces and gave them an apologetic look. "Please wait in the living room. We're trying to stabilize him."
Yugi lead the group out of the room and they walked back to the main foyer. The butler was still waiting there, and shot them an expectant glance.
"How is he?" The butler asked, trepidation clear in his voice.
"It's… hard to say at this point." Yugi ventured. "The doctor's doing everything he can."
The butler nodded slowly, then gestured toward a door to the right of the entrance. "Perhaps you would care to wait in the living room?"
Yugi nodded, and the butler ushered the group in.
The room they found themselves in was enormous. It was painted a dark green, with wooden baseboards and a dark tan carpet. It was split into two main sections, one with a large entertainment centre surrounded by three large leather couches. The television itself was enormous, and the entire room was rigged with surround sound speakers. The second section of the room was filled with various games and gaming equipment. There was a full size pool table, a Blue-Eyes themed pinball machine, several arcade games and a card table that looked as though it had been stolen from a casino.
"Whoa, guys! Would you look at the size of that tv?" Joey yelled, running over to ogle the new object of his affection.
The rest were slightly more subdued. Tristan was more than eager to check out the arcade games, and Duke took a firm liking to the card table. Yugi and Tea sat on the couch, half out of exhaustion and half because they didn't trust Joey near the undoubtedly expensive entertainment centre. Serenity shuffled in and sat on one of the couches.
"Whoa, he's got the Resident Evil arcade game! I looked all over Domino for this thing!" Tristan shouted.
"You're telling me," Duke said running one hand over the table, "This is like, a five thousand dollar card table. They don't sell these commercially."
Yugi laughed as each of his friends checked out another piece of recreation equipment, nobody wanting to talk about the elephant in the room. Finally, he decided he had to breach the subject. "Who do you think could have done that?"
His comment had hit exactly what Serenity had been dwelling on. Every time she'd seen Kaiba, from the incident at the docks, to the blimp and even in Noah's virtual world, he had seemed so in charge, so in control, so… untouchable. And yet, now he was lying in the other room on the verge of death, clearly… touched. And the look on Mokuba's face had been heart-wrenching.
"Hard to say." It was Duke who had broken the awkward silence following the question each of them had been contemplating. "Kaiba's one tough guy. Mokuba will probably be able to shed some light on it."
"Damn, though, he's in rough shape." Tristan muttered. "Do you think he'll be okay?" He asked.
"Of course he will!" Joey answered, flopping down on one of the couches. "Kaiba's way too stubborn to just die."
Tea laughed, "You're probably right. He'd hate us talking about him like this."
Tristan hopped up and sat on the pool table. "Hard to say if there's anything he likes, though."
Yugi shrugged and motioned to the table. "Pool apparently."
Duke nodded toward the tv. "And I think tv's a fair bet too."
Joey hopped up and jumped in front of the tv. "Watch how you talk to the tv, she's my new lover."
They all broke out into a hearty laugh.
"Say, you alright Seren? You haven't said a word in a while." Joey asked.
"Uh, yeah." Serenity replied, "I'm just… a little shaken up. I would've never expected to see Kaiba of all people in such a state."
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Duke added. "I guess he really is human. He bleeds and everything."
"All I know is it's probably just someone Kaiba pissed off. He's does that a lot, I'd say. Probably just someone he fired, y'know?" Joey said.
"I wouldn't be so sure…" Yugi sighed.
"Whaddaya mean, Yug?" Joey replied.
Yugi shook his head. "Nothing." He muttered. Could this have something to do with the threats I've been getting? I can't just be a coincidence, can it?
"H-hi… guys." Mokuba said, entering through a set of doors at the opposite side the gang had entered through.
"Mokuba." Yugi said, rising. "How is he?"
Mokuba took a few steps into the room and glanced around. The gang was spread out, but they were all focussed intently on him. "He's stabilizing, but he needs constant supervision. He's beat up pretty bad."
Tea looked at him with a soft expression across her face, "How are you?"
Mokuba was shivering, she realized. He pulled his eyes away from the floor, where they'd settled, and his eyes were already blurry with tears. "I'm scared." He rasped.
Tea ran over to him and hugged with gently. Yugi joined, and so did the others until they were one large group hug. Mokuba began to cry softly, until finally he stopped and the hug broke. Mokuba smiled. "Thanks, everyone. I really appreciate you being here. I don't know… don't know what I'd do if I had to be alone."
Mokuba cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. "Dr. Watanabe is with Seto now, like I said he needs constant supervision, in case his breathing becomes erratic or he de-stabilizes, but he's going to need some rest soon, so I'm going to go watch him. Yugi, Duke, Tristan, could the three of you go over the security video and see what we can find out about the attackers? Kaiba's going to want information as soon as he comes to. Joey, Tea, Serenity, why don't you have Cecil, oh Cecil's the butler, by the way, have Cecil show you to the guest rooms, and give you a quick tour so you can help everyone else find their way. It's kind of easy to get lost in here. If anyone's willing, I'm going to need a replacement watching Seto in a couple of hours." He muttered.
Each nodded as their name was mentioned. Yugi smiled inwardly. Mokuba was definitely a Kaiba. If he hadn't expressed his emotions at the beginning of the encounter, he could've sworn it was Kaiba himself who'd given the orders. Mokuba motioned to a DVD player sitting on a shelf beside the colossal tv and muttered, "The security disc is in there." With that he moved to exit.
"Wait, security disc?" Duke asked. "Where was he attacked?"
Mokuba sighed. "Outside the front gate. I should fire the chief of security, but I don't think now's a good time. Besides, Seto will probably have something worse in mind, once he comes around."
"We didn't see anything outside the gate on our way in." Yugi commented.
"Yeah." Mokuba sighed again, "The police came through, cleared out the bodies and the limo."
"Bodies?" Tea this time.
Mokuba just gestured at the DVD player. "Watch the disc." He exited through the door he'd come in through.
The group gathered around in the couches and turned on the disc. It was set to the correct camera, at the appropriate time. What ensued was not at all what they had expected. Each of them visibly winced each time a serious hit was scored. They watched Kaiba execute the roll that ended in the cracking of the neck and ribs, and most likely paralysis of one of the assailants. The surround sound made the crack of the neck a particularly sickening experience. There were stifled groans, and 'Oohs' as the blade raked Kaiba's back from behind. Finally, they cringed as Kaiba ran his blade through the last assailant's shoulder. The assault ended, and Duke turned off the player.
There was a stunned silence for a few seconds before, "I guess that explains why he was in such bad shape." Joey commented dryly.
"Yeah… nice moves, though." Duke added.
They were diverted by the sound of a throat clearing from the door. "Would you care to be shown to the guest rooms now?" It was the butler, Watanabe.
"Yeah, sure." Joey said as he, Serenity and Tea made their way to the door they had entered from.
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Serenity had volunteered to supervise Kaiba after Mokuba had come back, looking rather terrible, and asked for a replacement. Now that she was sitting there, she had no idea why. She didn't hate Kaiba like her brother, but she was uncomfortable seeing anyone in a state like Kaiba's. He had been unconscious since he'd collapsed on his own doorstep, and his breathing had to be regulated by a respirator. He was hooked up to two IV's, one helping to replace the massive amounts of blood he'd lost, the other administering a painkiller to try and allow him to sleep.
Serenity's job was to supervise, and to apply more of the white lotion they had seen Mokuba using every two hours to each wound. In between, it was nothing but silence, brooding and wondering how Kaiba could have ended up in such a state. She finally decided she couldn't stand watching the machine breathe rhythmically for him, so she got up to look around the room. She found there was a stereo on the wall, recessed into the wall, actually, with a collection of CDs.
"Hmm, what kind of music does the great Seto Kaiba listen to?" She wondered aloud as she browsed the CDs. Techno/Dance, Classical, Opera. "Guess he doesn't like words in music too… At least, not words in a language he can understand." She paused. Somehow, the thought of Kaiba speaking German and Italian didn't surprise her.
"Well, let's find something to at least generate some background noise. Hmm… how about this! Shubert: Unfinished Symphony. Sounds nice." She said, popping the CD into the player.
"Nice choice," said a raw voice from behind her.
Serenity nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to see Kaiba, eyes slightly open, awake and looking at her.
"I… er, Mokuba… called us, and-"
Kaiba nodded his understanding, at least, as much as he could nod. "You won't like it though. It doesn't have a happy ending."
Serenity screwed up her face in confusion, "Huh?"
Kaiba motioned with one hand toward the CD player. "The symphony. The end of this movement is sad. You seem the happy ending type."
"Oh." Serenity said, sitting in the chair. Kaiba was silent, and she listened to the piece of music and found herself beginning to understand what Kaiba was talking about. The flow of the music shifted from happy to dark, and the ending seemed altogether tragic. She stood and walked to the CD player.
"I told you." Kaiba muttered. "Try Pachelbel's Cannon. It's probably more to your taste."
"Do you like music?" Serenity said, as she popped in the CD he had mentioned.
Kaiba was silent, but seemed to be trying to raise an eyebrow. His body was still recovering.
"Right." Serenity nodded, and mentally kicked herself for the stupid question. Everyone likes music, and he wouldn't have the CD player if he didn't.
Serenity sat down again and strained her mind for something to talk about. The silence was becoming increasingly uncomfortable and she decided to go with the first topic to come to mind.
"So do you study martial arts or something? I saw the security video of you fighting those guys and you had some pretty good moves."
This time Kaiba managed the eyebrow raise.
Stupid, Serenity, stupid! Yeah, he wants to talk about the attack while he's still bed-ridden from it. She chuckled nervously and tried a topic change. "How's school going? You're in Joey's class, right?"
"Summer," was the one word out of Kaiba's mouth.
Again, Serenity kicked herself. This was getting ridiculous. Why was she getting so tongue-tied around the arrogant CEO. Finally, she came up with an idea, "How's business going? Any great new inventions from Kaiba Corp?"
She saw a glimmer in Kaiba's eye, and he cracked a genuine smile. Well, as genuine as a smile can be while on heavy painkillers. "I'm working on a new holographic motion simulator for Kaiba land. It's nearly done. I'm really excited." Now it was Kaiba's turn to kick himself. Why did he tell her that? It must be the painkillers. He simply wasn't up to being dark and reclusive when it felt like there were bunnies running through a field of roses in his head.
"Cool!" bubbled Serenity. She'd never been to Kaiba Land, but she passed it on the way to school and had always wondered what it'd be like to go.
Kaiba grunted and shut his eyes.
That was weird. Serenity thought to herself. One minute he actually seems friendly for once, the next he's back to the great Seto Kaiba who speaks with no one.
"Good." She stated tersely, not sure whether she meant about him being grouchy or him going back to sleep. "You could use the rest." She added.
Inwardly, Kaiba grimaced. Tomorrow, he was coming off the painkillers, no matter what the doctor said. He knew it would be a few days before he was fully recovered, and Mokuba would want the nerd brigade around until then. It was going to be a long week.