Hito Hata Ageru
ひとはたあげる
.
"I summon Flame Swordsman," Jounouchi Katsuya said as he held up the warrior/fusion card with the character's name, 蒼炎の剣士, written boldly upon it.
Along with the other monsters already in position, a warrior in full armor appeared on the field wielding his oversized blade and the onlookers in the battle arena mumbled in the background with approval.
"Sorry, pal, but I'm going to attack with it." He chuckled modestly with a hand behind his blond head as he spoke the words. He glanced around the Kaiba Land Advanced Dueling Arena—looking for the people he wanted with him to share this moment. To his delight, he saw Yuugi, Anzu, and Honda sitting on folding chairs at the ground floor base of the platform where other duelists, awaiting their turns, were milling around, chatting, and trading cards—trying not to pay attention to Jou, but couldn't help themselves otherwise. Then, Jou's gaze moved up. Something, a kind of instinct, just told him to do it. On high, leaning over the decorative iron balcony railing was Kaiba Seto in an ivory suit. His black laptop case was clinched in his right hand. With his blue eyes flashing dangerously, the CEO stormed away, exit stage right.
He looks kind of… mad. He must be going to a meeting were the thoughts that floated to Jou but quickly died away as he turned back to his opponent. It really was rude to make him wait.
The young man across from him, Jounouchi's opponent in this semi-final round, was Tanaka Yuuta—someone he'd never dueled before. This guy must go to the same tailor as Kaiba, Jou decided, because the clothes seemed to be a knock-off copy of what the young CEO habitually wore—a long, white trench with a black shirt and dark trousers underneath. The lack of "KC" on the clothing wasn't missed at all by Jou, who didn't like having any advertising or designer logos on clothing anyway. Tanaka's features, he noted for the first time because he had calmed himself down enough to take a good look, really did resemble Kaiba with the exception of having lighter, almost mousy, brown hair and light, almost watery blue, eyes. They lacked the strength but not the determination…or was that hatred?
Maybe, it's because he's gonna lose…?
The glare across from him darkened—which made it all the easier to lose sympathy. Bad losers had no place in Duel Monsters. Jerks took the fun out of the game.
Jounouchi smiled broadly. It felt good. Yes, he was going to win this round of the Kaiba Corp Charity Tournament. Not only his friends but other duelists and the people at home watching the action on TV would see. Best of all, everyone would have to acknowledge him as a serious duelist. He was skilled and deserved the right to stand by his friend Yugi's side.
In the next moment, it would be over. In his imagination, he could see the life points spinning down to zero.
Jou's armored monster raised his sword and was about to attack Tanaka's monster, Kaibaman, when a single shot rang out. And the crowd silenced, all eyes staring unbelievably before screaming broke out and people fled for the exits, pushing and shoving. The world was moving but Jou wasn't a part of it. But, he knew it, too. In that single, hideous moment, Jounouchi thought someone had hit him with a fastball. He found that he had to struggle to breathe and, suddenly, blood was seeping through his shirt—dripping down like red tears. A fine spray-splatter was all over the elaborate control panel and the cards, forever ruining them.
With effort, Jou lifted his head up to see Tanaka still standing on the dueling tower across from him holding a smoking handgun.
"Now, you'll never cause Kaiba-sama a problem ever again….third-rate duelist…"
He laughed.
Men in dark glasses tackled him against the control panel, having climbed up the thin emergency ladder leading to the top of the left dueling tower. But, there was no resistance. He continued to laugh just the same—the laugh of a devoted young fan who had done single-handedly what his merciful god had failed to accomplish.
A world too bright, too loud, and too colorful suddenly bled to black. Jounouchi collapsed against the control panel. Blood seeped into the controls, making the sophisticated machinery buzz and hum repeatedly.
The hand holding the deck opened, letting his precious cards escape.
Yugi, Honda, and Anzu, held back by three of Kaiba's security men in black sunglasses, shouted at them in a torrent of words as Kaiba Seto scaled the emergency ladder upwards onto the dueling tower and approached Jounouchi's side. The young CEO had a mobile phone stuck to his ear, clearly demanding something from the person on the other end. He flipped the phone closed, pocketed it, and took the bleeding duelist in his arms. Seto had to wipe the blood from the controls with the side of his hand in order to find the right button to push to reset the controls and move the twin dueling towers back to their pre-dueling position at the opposite ends of the field.
The tower complained in low vibrated tones before it lurched into motion.
Holding the blond close to his chest bridal style, Seto looked out upon the arena—the last of the shrieking crowds were running out, Jou's opponent had been dealt with, the Domino City Police informed, and, turning his had downwards, he could see the absolute terror in Yugi's eyes.
Someone had to be strong in this situation. Seto chose himself.
The chestnut haired CEO could hear his phone ringing in his pocket. From the ringtone, a theme song from Mokuba's favorite TV show, he knew who it was. There was always voicemail and his brother would just have to use it this one time.
Hands cupped to her mouth, Anzu was shouting out something he chose not to listen to.
Seto could feel Jounouchi's struggled breathing and the warm blood seeping into his white suit. He'd have these clothes burned once this day was over with.
"Kaiba?" Jou whispered.
Shocked, Seto tilted his head downwards to see him, stepping onto the second story platform that opened out with glass doors leading to the multi-story carpark.
"I hurt…Kaiba…hurts…" He was shaking hard now and his face buried itself against the shallow of a warm neck. "…Cold…never be warm again…" The blond swallowed thickly and Seto could feel the gentle motion against his skin.
"Stay with me," he ordered, expecting nothing less than total compliance by the blond.
Now, on the platform, the young man made large strides for the side exit with the burden in his arms, but not before giving a nod to his men—telling them that it was acceptable to have Yugi and his pals take the glass elevator up so that they could follow him.
Jounouchi moaned weakly before opening his honey eyes again. "I don't know why… you're doing this for me, but…" he breathed against what he had thought before this day was an enemy.
Suddenly, Seto glanced down in shock as he felt Jounouchi sag in his arms.
"You'll be fine," Kaiba could hear himself say as the ambulance that he had on stand by outside the glass doors next to the cub (just in case someone had fainted at the event) opened the double doors in back. The team rolled out a stretcher. Another one of Kaiba's men held the left door open, being of some help. The man, who was obviously half Japanese and half Korean, put two fingers to the piece in his right ear, monitoring the situation from his end through BlueTooth.
"His friends are almost here, Kaiba-sama," he reported followed by the unmistakable sound of running feet on the white tile floor.
"Just put him down here, sir," the EMT said, eyeing the patient with a professional air. Immediately, he turned and began a whole new conversation with the other EMTs, getting to work. The driver was set and ready to go.
Gently, Kaiba placed Jou onto the stretcher as Anzu put a hand to her right eye to brush back a tear. As much as she needed to see Jou, she also needed to keep a respectable distance and let the ambulance workers do their jobs. Yugi looked lost and Honda put his wide paw on his friend's shoulder, giving a comforting squeeze.
Seto motioned to his man by the ambulance door. "Give these two," he pointed at Anzu and Honda, "a ride to the hospital." He turned to the closest of the three EMTs while wiping the rest of the tacky blood on his side, "We will ride in the ambulance."
"I want to go with him," Yugi affirmed, eyes determined as though he were dueling.
Kaiba sighed openly. "I knew you would. That's what I meant by 'we.' So, let's go."
______
For Yugi, the ride was harrowing—sirens blaring, the ambulance easing through red lights and soaring around traffic. There were two people working on Jounouchi and all he could do was sit there and feel useless.
Once or twice, the spiky-haired duelist looked to Kaiba Seto and marveled at how, unblinking, he could watch it all—the blood pressure cuff pumping, the IV drips, the endless chatter that seemed like a foreign language—and not change his expression beyond something that appeared to be a mix of boiling anger and concern.
"Kaiba?" Yugi ventured, his spiky hair wilting.
Covered in dried blood that was not his own, the CEO looked to his rival, cold blue eyes cutting through him. "Don't ask. Don't say another word."
Because, even now, I'm only holding on.
Jou's face was turned towards him—eyes closed, skin bluish, lips parted. The blond seemed as though his body had crumpled into the stretcher.
"Jounouchi Katsuya-san," one EMT said in an annoying tone. He squeezed the duelist's hand. "I need you to wake up. I need you to talk to me. Stay awake."
But Jou didn't.
Note: "Hito Hata Ageru" is a Japanese idiom that means "to make a name for one's self" or "to gain fame."