MAIL ORDER BRIDE
Mokuba kaiba stares out the wide window of his brothers cold sparse bedroom, wondering what has
happened to his elder. Heaving a heavy sigh, he wonders if Seto left on purpose or if he knew something would happen to him. It seems so much that way since the day he was announced as a missing person cps showed up at the kaiba estate to take Mokuba into custody, the social worker was thwarted when they found that despite what they thought kaiba trusted someone enough to leave Mokuba in their care.
One of the estates maids, her name was Ella and she had assisted in the upbringing of both boys since the day of their arrival. Even in her title as guardian, she remained only as Mokubas maid peeking in on him more often than usual to see to it that he was well. The younger kaiba had taken to spending as much time as possible with Yugi and company, since they helped ease his pain a bit. Today he was supposed to go over and watch movies with them.
Mokuba had been reading every update to his brothers case file, the police search was spreading further and further and further out- now ravaging the very edges of the country of japan a few searching parts
of china. No luck.
His gaze fell to the blonde strolling past the large wrought iron gates with his hands shoved in his pockets, brown eyes glancing up to where he knew the security cameras where. Mokuba felt a slight smile tweak the corners of his mouth, as he hopped off his brothers bed and darted down the stairs skidding to halt just as Ella opened the door to greet Jou. The small raven haired boys momentum sent him careening forward into Jous body causing them both to topple to the ground.
"ahhggg, hey mokie- ja miss meh?"
Jou snorts giving a slightly pained laugh and pats Mokuba on his fluffy head, the boy squirms off of him stranding up with a wide grin. The blond pushes himself up, dusts himself off then grins down at Mokuba before picking him up and setting him on his broad shoulders.
"ready to go?"
Jou says looking at Mokuba who now rests his chin over his crossed arms which sit on top of Jous head. He grins as he bounces on the blonds shoulders while they trot the long way back to Yugi's house, Mokuba always offered a ride but Jou always said they could have more fun this way. They always did, the last time they went to Yugi's the duo played freeze tag the whole way over. This time Jou damn near ran the way with Mokuba giggling and bouncing on his shoulders, it never failed whenever he missed his brother too much Jou would appear. When the boy mentioned this to Jou all the blonde said was
"but I am a big brother"
The two of them arrived into the small apartment above the game shop surprised to find it rather quiet. They rounded the corner of the narrow kitchen and found the remainder of the group huddled together in a circle, obviously not noticing either Jou or Mokuba. Small furtive whispers permeated the air
"no way that's not..."
"but it looks just like him..."
"how would he have ended up in here though?"
Jou snuck over peering over their shoulders and deftly snatching the object of their attention, he blinks at it when realizes what it is. Once pulled from their grasp brown eyes go wide when he sees a nude busty woman sprawled out on the bright colored cover, giving a coy smile to the reader.
"what are you guys doing!"
Mokuba catches a glimpse of the cover before Jou hides it behind his back and glares at the group.
Honda blinks at Mokuba then back to Jou
"ads on the back page look at em"
Jou glares refusing to look at porn while Mokuba is in the room. Anzu waves her hand lightly at the blond
"seriously look I think we found kaiba!"
Mokuba dives for his surrogate brother quickly wrenching the book of lewd images from his hand. The blond yelps as he is bowled over, by the time he gets back to his feet he finds the boy staring with glistening eyes at the open book
"nii chan?"
Jounouchi strolls over to find a full page ad for mail order brides, splayed out beneath the phone number and web address is a small selection of thumbnail images. Each image is a one and a half square inch,making the portraits rather difficult to appreciate but blue eyes glow on the glossy page bright as day. Jou gawks in shock to see the brunette with hair that touches his shoulders, upon which is what appears to be light blue kimono.
"that's him alright"
Mokuba tugs on Jous sleeve
"lets call the number!"
The blonde stares at the name beneath the image 'so yung li'. Jou picks up the thin book of glossy images folding it in half to hide its foul interior, he walks across the cozy room back into the kitchen where he plucks a yellow cordless phone off its receiver where its mounted on the wall. The group surrounds them as jou dials the number from yugis house phone. A dull ringing noise continues until a mechanical voice asks for a bride order number and pin. he places the phone heavily down on the receiver, glaring around the room.
" I think we have to order a bride before we can call."
Anzu stares in disappointment along with the others, Mokuba blinks around
"Yugi do you have a computer?"
the small blonde squeaks and nods
"in my room!"
The small mob climbs the narrow stairs with Mokuba and Jou in the lead barging into Yugi's small room, lewd magazine in hand folded open to the bridal ad with neon blue eyes glowing out. Jou plops into the small black swivel chair with the boy hanging on his shoulder watching as the blond quickly types the web address into the long bar atop the screen. As the screen loads the room grows heavy with anticipation and anxiety. In a flash the screen bursts with a red back drop white squares in places where images slowly load, a navigation bar to the side topped with a small search bar. Jou clicks the search bar typing the name in the ad
'so yung li'
He mumbles as his fingers tap across the keyboard before he hits the search key with more force then needed. The results page is just a red back drop accompanied by the navigation bar and a single link in the center of the page.
'bride number 6487, so yung li'
He could hear the group behind him take sharp breath as he guided the small arrow icon over the link, which turns blue as the arrow goes over it. The screen turns white then a light pink with a sakura branch rising from the corner of the screen, at the top of the page was his name in elegant curling text. Beneath the name was a series of statistics, missing the birth date. Between the stats and the name was a single picture of the brunette's profile, again only showing up to the shoulders.
The profile was taken against a dark purple backdrop causing the pale flesh of Seto's face to appear paler and more delicate. The image was spectacular, it showed off how long and curved his lashes were, from here Jous eyes glided down the length of his smooth perfectly straight nose... then to the full plump rose tinted lips. He moves the cursor over the image to find the edges light up, a link, he taps it the screen changes. Again the familiar backdrop with the branch loads first, this time coated with several white thumbnails slowly loading their individual images. Mokuba stares completely bewildered with the strange images of his brother, he points to one that's only half loaded
"that one"
Jou clicks on it, the screen goes white to accommodate the size of the file, it loads in a flash. Seto, staring at the camera wearing a long deep blue and violet kimono, it covers from his ankles to his long slender neck. His legs neatly tucked beneath him, hands on his lap folded neatly, the sleeves of his silken kimono covering all the way up his knuckles. The room he sits in is a very traditional looking Japanese living room, with the simple futon he sits upon, behind him a mellow cream colored wall with a circular window. Jou clicks the arrow to the left of the image seeing again the beautiful profile, along with the stats and this time a price tag.
"half a million dollars? That's USD..."
Anzu mentally tries translate that into yen.
Bakura mumbles just loud enough to be heard.
"sure is pretty though"
Honda just gulps loudly, Yugi blinks trying to banish the curiosity of what other things might be in the image gallery. Mokuba grins wildly digging his hands in his back pocket for the charge card his brother let him carry on occasion. He holds it out to Jou pointing to the 'marry me' link. Jou takes the card numbly with one hand clicking with the other. The payment page with a large image dominating the left side of the screen, similar to the profile but this time with blue eyes half open pink lips lightly parted. Jou feels his heart beginning to race until he lands on the text box asking who is marrying this bride.
"mokuba, if we're bringing him home this way-he has to marry someone. So who is it?" Mokuba looked around
He knows that in his brothers situation, it would be easy for anyone to take advantage of him. Even if he didn't know it. Anzu while mostly mature still has quite a grudge against the brunette and is liable to be unpleasant with him. Honda is very average in his inability to control his hormones. Bakura is home to the psychotic thief spirit therefore not an option. The half American blond however, while having his own problems with the brunette has proven his ability to look past himself and what it is he may want. He is good and loyal and more than anything in control of his boy despite how much its hormones rage. So in the raven haired boys mind, he's reached the safest possible conclusion.
the boy grins before asking
"how old are you Jou?"
"17"
"17 is old enough here. So you can marry him for now okay."
Jou blinks quirking an eyebrow at Mokuba, wondering if he should protest- then looks around the room at the very interested faces. On his own the he comes to the same conclusion as the other and nods with a slight sigh.
a few disappointed grumbles emanate from behind them, Jou begins typing his name
"whose address do I use?"
"duh, ours"
Mokuba says quickly. The information is quickly typed and before he can give himself a second thought clicks 'submit'. A strange word. It sinks into Jous mind, submission. He tries not think of it but find himself imagining 'li' underneath him letting out soft mewls and moans. Furrowing his brow he banishes the thought just as the screen turns red with a small paragraph written in dark blue text. Jou reads it out loud
"please call the number below to be interviewed. We like to ensure the safety of our brides, and do so
by conducting a thorough interview with the suitors. Please call as soon as possible so we may bring you your dream bride."
Mokuba chews his bottom lip, Jou plucks his gray outdated cell phone out of his pocket and dials the number, typing 'so yung li's' bride number into the keypad along with the last four numbers on the credit card. He then hurries of to the bathroom across the hall to have his interview in solitude.
Mokuba then sits in the seat Jou left behind, curiously clicking trough the other brides available, all very attractive but none quite the way Li had been presented.
Also none costing half as much as Li was apparently worth, bored with the remaining brides Mokuba went back to Li's page and began flicking through the image gallery with the small mob staring over his shoulder, oohing and aahhing over the images he presented. Almost an hour later the group sat nervously in Yugi's bedroom listening to Jous muffled voice, waiting for him to be done.
The door clicks open Jou slips into the room with his finger on his lips tapping Mokubas shoulder, hinting for him to move. They all hush before they where able to make a sound following him to the computer. He types a new address into bar atop the screen finding another image of seto this time facing slightly upward, hair caught in a slight breeze. Underneath the image is a camera icon, Jou clicks it quickly chewing his bottom lip as the screen loads. In a moment they see a pale blue room, seto sitting with his legs tucked beneath him hands folded neatly on his lap. The brunette looks at the camera, gives a slight bow of his head before reaching over to a corded phone set down beside him.
"hi"
"hello there, you are to be my husband?"
"um yea, I passed the interview so they said I get to interview you now"
"ah yes, I am very happy you chose me."
The brunette gives a small smile at the camera, that goes only one way.
"your r- really pretty, not much competition I guess- heh heh"
Jou laughs nervously every one tries to lean closer to hear the other side of the conversation as they watch the brunette place a sleeve over his mouth trying not to laugh.
"oh is that so? How kind of you to say such a thing."
"oh uh I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to ask right now"
the person on the screen lowers their hand, looking at the wood paneling of the floor.
" I'm not really sure either, no one has ever passed the interview to get to me."
"oh ? Why not?"
"it would appear that most people with the money to afford me are not men of quality. So I've been told."
"ah, I see"
" Is there anything you would like to know about me?"
Jou glances over to Mokuba
"are you good with kids?"
They watch as Li's eyes go wide, then fall to a more curious expression.
" I'm unsure, I haven't seen any children recently. Do you have any?"
"yea sorta, I have a little brother see."
He ruffles Mokubas hair
"oh? I'm sure I can help care for your brother very well."
"oh that's good..."
"is there something else?"
"I was just curious."
"yes?"
" they said that I could bring you home on Sunday-"
The brunette's face lights up, face flushing red. Jou grins at the image
" they did?"
"is that unusual?"
"yes, normally they have at least three more interviews before they permit us to meet our husbands, your interview must have been impressive."
"I felt kinda goofy"
They hear seto give a light chuckle
"what is it you meant to ask?"
"ah yea I wanted to know if you wanted anything- like cause I don't know what you er like n stuff. Ya know to be comfortable and yea"
the brunette's face is riddled with confusion just before flushing bright red.
"oh my, I can see why you passed your interview."
"huh?"
" I only wish to meet you."
Jou cant find himself able to hide the wide grin that flies up his face at these words, nor the nervous laugh that falls out of his mouth.
"ah well then I guess I'll see you Sunday huh?"
" indeed you will, my husband."
Seto places the phone gently back on the receiver giving another small smile to the camera before it shuts off.
The group at large stares at Jou, Mokuba quirking an eyebrow at him
"Jou..."
"what...?"
he jumps in his seat and stares at the boy
"do you...like my brother?"
Jou stares back at mokuba not answering, instead Bakura says in the background
"so very pretty, I wonder how he'll be in bed."
They all turn and stare at him as he muses out loud.
The week crawls by, even though the order was placed on a Wednesday. Jou fights with himself trying to think of kaiba as kaiba not as 'so yung li', the images of the stoic C.E.O. In his mind are harsh and cold. He thinks back to the way he knew kaiba and wonders how a change of attitude can make him so attractive.
When left to think about it, that really was the only problem... he lay in bed musing. In his mind he figured that someone surrounded by so much good had to have some bad, so his bad was his wretched attitude. He looked through a mental gallery of the brunette and found that while he was physically attractive the images made him want to throttle someone and break things that didn't deserve it.
Sunday rolled around eventually and Jou found himself sitting in the living room with Mokuba waiting patiently for someone announce the arrival of seto. Mokuba looked on the verge of tears, until he saw Jou who just looked deeply conflicted, so lost in his thoughts that he jumped out of his seat when Ella came to announce the arrival of a guest. As requested of her she goes to answer the door, escorting a tall brunette with shoulder length hair and a shorter woman with black hair. The woman wears her sleek black hair in a tight bun, pink plastic glasses sit on her nose, a white button up shirt clings to her breasts which are held back by her tight black blazer.
"Jounouchi katsuya?"
The woman queries, jou nods absently whilst staring at seto who's gaze floats around the room. This time wearing a lovely red kimono in several layers, again all hiding every bit of creamy white flesh from sight.
"MR. JOUNOUCHI"
Jou blinks back to look at the woman who attempts to look angry, a small smirk tugging at her lips. She quirks an eyebrow at him when she finally gets his attention. He flushes bright and warm
"er sorry"
"Li is very beautiful no?"
Jou nods, the woman announces
"alright you did so well on your other interviews but alas we need to conduct one more"
Jou looks up, Mokuba peeking out from behind him.
"you do?"
"yes Li informed us that you have a younger brother. we would like to have short interview with him as well."
Jou looks down to Mokuba who currently clings to his hip, the blonde quirk's an eyebrow
"okay then lets go! You can show Li around the grounds and stuff."
Jou looks over to Li who has only just looked in his direction
"its a lovely home you have."
Jou grins, then looks to the raven haired woman
"so how long will this interview be?"
"about an hour"
he then looks back to Li
"ah, erm d'you wanna see the garden or you want me to show you around the house."
blue eyes glitter slightly
"you have a garden? I would love to see that."
Jou sticks his hands in his pockets nervously
"this way then."
The tall brunette follows him through the hall way to the left through the kitchen and out the back door. The yard is a wide green field lined with tall fruit trees, behind the trees is gray wall hiding them from the world. Li stares in awe at the amount of greenery, quickly spotting the large garden a few yards from them. Jou however stares at li, wondering what caused this change and who to thank for it.
"Li."
The brunette pauses looking at Jou with a meek smile
"yes dear?"
"um, I just- you look really..."
The brunette turns slightly pinks and looks down, the sun catching in chocolate locks causing them to show off reddish highlights.
"really beautiful."
Grinning Jou makes a discovery that at this point he'd say pretty much anything to watch 'Li' turn red like that. They continue toward the garden in a pleasurable silence, one occasionally glancing to the other until they get the vegetable garden.
"ah! You can actually harvest your plants!"
"yea its actually the cooks garden but I like to come out here cause it smells kinda nice."
The hour passes quickly enough, Mokuba leads the way for the interviewer past the garden to a side path that leads to the courtyard with its massive fountain where they spot both the blonde and brunette. The woman pauses, placing her hand on Mokubas shoulder, halting him as well, she plucks a small pen and pad from her breast pocket watching the two interact.
They sit together beside the fountain on the small ledge separating the small flower garden from the rest of the courtyard. She watches as Li brings a sleeve covered hand over his mouth trying not laugh, only to have jou grinning widely. The laughter dies down and li shifts in place, jou looks around furtively before saying something that only just barely carries across the courtyard.
"li"
"yes?"
"um is it okay if..."
"if what?"
"if I kiss you?"
Li turns to look at Jou who hasn't looked away, he give a slight nod. Jou leans forward pressing his mouth softly against the others soft warm full lips, meek hands reach up to hold his forearms. They separate for only a moment before they press themselves together again. With his face just slightly flushed, a light rosy tint on his cheeks 'Li' says in a low whisper.
"I'm happy you picked me."
In the distance the woman smiles as she taps the pen on the pad then tucks it into her pocket before walking into their line of sight.
"I'm happy to see you two working out so well. I don't mean to interrupt but we do need to get your marriage certificate signed."
The two turn to look at the woman quickly separating, their faces flushing a bright red. Mokuba peeks out from behind the woman, one of his eyebrows arcing upward at the image they made together.
In this instant he wishes he could show this scene to his brother a few months ago, just to watch the muscle beneath his eye twitch violently.
The pair stands up and follows the woman and Mokuba back to the living room, staying nervously quiet the whole way. They four retake their earlier places on the couch, the woman pulling a small manilla folder out of the large purse she had left by the couch earlier.
From it she pulls an elegant blue edged eggshell white paper, written in curly black text along the center of the page are the words ' on this day we_and _are united in holy matrimony. Beneath the first line is the word 'groom' and beneath the other is the word 'bride', the woman plucks a a heavy black pen with a gold tip out from the hidden breast pocket inside her blazer.
She holds the pen out to so yung li who takes the pen carefully in his pale delicate left hand, he writes in long spiraling letters- something that Mokuba grins at. He carefully passes the pen to Jou who finds himself surprised at the weight of the pen, he sets the gold ball point to the page scratching his name down in short jagged motions. The woman stares for a moment at the vast difference in their handwriting wondering if their marriage will last very long with such an odd couple. She looks for just a moment at Li who peeks from underneath long curved black lashes over to the blonde who heaves a heavy sigh as he hands the weighted pen back to its owner.
She accepts the pen with a light smile, placing back in her breast pocket before informing the newly formed couple.
"I'm sure this wont be an issue but just remember you have to consummate your union by midnight tonight or it's void. Also here you are, a small gift to commemorate what I'm sure will be a very happy marriage."
Mokubas eyes go wide at the word 'consummate'. He looks over to Jou who's eyes are wide as saucers his hands tossed on his lap frozen in place, Li who merely blushes at the boldness of the statement. The woman plucks a small red square box tied with a gold ribbon from her purse, she sets it down on the table with a light 'thuk'.
The object sits on the table in a suddenly awkward silence that now fills the room. She smiles as she plucks a second copy of the certificate off the first and placing it in the manilla folder which she tucks back into her purse with a sly grin.
Jou stands as the woman does to escort her to the door, Mokuba and Li follow along on their heels. The woman turns at the door to look at li, she pulls him into a light embrace with slightly teary eyes.
"oh my dear I'm going to miss you so much, you are such a pleasure."
Li gives a meek hug in return
"thank you so much for all you've done for me- I don't think I can ever thank you enough."
The trio watches the woman trot down to her small blue sedan, she gives one last wave just before she pulls out and drives away. Mokuba grins at the semi sort of couple before announcing
"okay since this is all done we have to get to Yugi's now!"
Jou blinks at Mokuba, Li places the hem of his sleeves together effectively hiding his hands.
"what for nyeh?"
"who is this yugi person?"
The boy smiles crossing his arms over his chest.
"hes our friend and were going because we promised we would go over after all this stuff was done didn't we?"
Jou furrows his brow as recalls the skirmish that took place in yugis room, the way the small mob had bombarded him to bring 'so yung li' to meet them immediately after arrival. The subtle threats Anzu let out if jou failed to do so, recalling these words particularly left a series of chills racing up spine as if he'd walked over a grave.
"yea... didn't really get a choice though."
Mokuba snickers and shouts for one of the maids to call a driver, jou looks to Li who stares at him with a fairly confused expression.
"are they unpleasant?"
twenty minutes later the long sleek black limo pulls up to the kame game shop where a small crowd stares out the window, Bakura at the forefront before he ducks down and bolts to the front door. Mokuba runs in just as Bakura rips the door open causing the boy to slam into his legs sending them both toppling backwards. Marik grins from the window unsurprised to find Otogi at the door before anzu and honda,the tall boy grinning as jou steps out.
The blond pauses and holds out his hand for 'Li' to take hold of, he does. The mob beside the door croons at the vision that pulls himself up beside Jou, tall pale with voluminous glossy dark chestnut hair- ominously bright blue eyes.
He steps out walking with a gracefulness that anzu had dreamed of possessing since she saw her first ballet, only to discover that she didn't seem to be capable of such graceful movements. She had settled since then to move her body to hip hop songs or something with a loud bounding rhythm. She could do that, jagged motions that could be pieced together with enough effort.
As the new wife tucks his hands in his loose sleeves pressing the hems together, the small crowd parts like the red sea, doing anything to make things just a bit simpler for blue eyed brunette's sake. Jou strolls in pausing at the door to glare at the group trying to peer over his shoulder and get a good look at this new seto, catching his glare Otogi Marik Honda and Anzu scurry off to the living room. Bakura following along his hand rubbing his now sore hip where mokuba had plowed into him. The blond looks over to his wife sensing some extreme confusion and discomfort.
" are you alright?"
He jerks his head up to look at Jou pressing his hidden hands against his chest, trying to stop wringing them.
"ah? Yes I am well, it's just... I find myself quite nervous."
Jou steps toward the tall brunette wanting to calm his nerves
"why are you nervous?"
"these are your friends... I wonder if they will approve of me as your wife. Or if they will tell you I am of poor quality."
Jou lets a grin slide up his face as he crosses his arms over his puffed up chest.
"are you kidding me? They nearly killed em' selves to get a look at cha. I think you'll be fine so calm down kay- got nuttin to worry about."
So yung li's mouth curves into a smile as he gives a small nod in agreement before following jou through the storefront up the narrow stairs and into Yugi's living room. The couple is shocked to see the room filled with presents and white streamers held to the wall with white tissue paper flowers. The group jumps up in place and shouts (minus marik)
"congratulations!"
Anzu pulls the cord on a small blue confetti popper,speckling the air with brightly colored star shaped paper bits. Honda and otogi wolf whistle at the bride that now has his connected sleeves raised up over his mouth.
"oh my..."
Jou laughs nervously not really knowing what to do with the situation. Mokuba sits on the gift laden table his gaze falling over each occupant of the room, wondering they realize what the plan actually was.
He meant to get his brother back- he just wanted his brother back any way he could have him. Hopefully with enough time in his own home he would begin to remember things. Perhaps what is known to bride currently could be helpful to find out exactly what happened to kaiba in the first place. Li smiles at the cluster of people now waiting to be introduced to him, pulling one hand from his sleeve and reaching to shake yugis smaller hand.
One hand safely hidden in his right sleeve which he keeps near his chest, the other only revealing his long delicate looking fingers. His grip is gentle on the others hands just barely setting his finger tips into their palms in greeting, otogi however lifts Li's hand up to his mouth pressing his lips against the small amount of exposed flesh.
Jou catching this from the corner of his reaches over with one hand and flicks the raven haired mans ear with his middle finger, the contact making a light 'thuk' sound.
"ah!"
He slaps his hand over his ear and glares at Jou with a sly grin
"didn't think you where looking."
Jou's brown eyes go wide in shock at the blatant statement
" That ain't no good reason to do anything to ANYONES wife you jackass!"
The argument erupts from all corners of the room- causing the whole room to raise its volume and ending with honda slapping otogi clean upside the head sending his stumbling forward.
Mokuba laughs as he motions for Li to stand next to him while the others get out their nervous energy in small brawls and arguments. Marik smiles at Li while he saunters lazily over, firmly ignoring Mokubas intense glare
"so whats your name?- I didn't get to meet you like the others did. Afraid I don't like standing in line."
He then leans casually against the wall only a few feet from the obviously uncomfortable bride. Li keeps his hands tucked in his sleeves rather than reach out and politely shake hands with the dark skinned devious looking fellow before her.
" ah, my name is So Yung Li."
The narrow grin on mariks face grows just slightly longer almost touching his ears, looking as dangerous as if the thing had been slashed onto his face.
"how pretty, it suits you so well."
Jou marches over grips Mariks forearm and flings him off to Bakuras side- the force of which tips the white haired boy right over the arm of the couch. Honda and otogi break into hysterical laughter before Anzu claps her hands loudly together, more announcing that asking.
"who's ready to eat!"
They group takes up various seats around the room, a small table with a white cloth tossed over it and two wooden folding chairs set up special just for Jou and Li.
Anzu and yugi stand on either side of a long table set off to the side of the room, the contents that lay on its surface hidden by a long red table cloth set over it. The two lift the ends of the cloth, whipping it off the table with a loud snapping sound to reveal the small banquet laid out for the unexpected reception.
Anzu serves Jou and Li their plates and yugi places down two tall wine flutes filled with sparkling white wine. The meal goes on in relative calm as faint chatter permeates the cozy atmosphere, this time yugi and Honda pick up plates and carry them down stairs placing them in the sink and chattering as they continue back upstairs. They hurry back up in time to find Anzu pulling three small bright red hair clips our of her small white and pink hello kitty purse, she raises them up into the air announcing with much excitement.
"its time for the GAMES!"
Jou cringes slightly wondering exactly what it is Anzu might consider a game in this situation, even more so when he see how red yugis face turned at the sight of the seemingly innocent hair clips. She then plucks a long wide hair ribbon from her purse and steps toward a rather frightened looking Li
"okay honda get that table out of the way, its time to play 'roman hands and russian fingers!'"
honda grins all the while as jou and Li stand so that he can remove the collapsible furniture from the room. The girl grins smiles widely at the tall brunette before saying
"hold out your hands okay Li"
He looks over to jou unsure if he should do as asked, the blonde shrugs as if it doesn't really matter so Li untucks his hands from his long wide sleeves and cups his milk colored hands together. Anzus smile finally hides her too white teeth as she places the three cold metal bright red hair clips into Li's hands, moving to stand behind him.
" hold these while I get your blind fold on okay"
Li's eyes go wide when she says this, then blurts
"what? Blindfold- whatever for?"
The ribbon slides over his face while she loops the ends over Li's soft brown hair, she waits to answer until the ribbon is tied in a neat bow and she has taken the clips from his hands
"now you know what the hair clips feel like, I'm going to stick them on Jou some where and you have to find them without looking! The rest of us will give you hints if your close to one we'll shout 'hot' if your far we'll shout 'cold'. Get it?"
In the background bakura and otogi say at the same time
" I like where this is going."
Mokuba huffs crossing his arms over his chest, in his mind he wonders what causes things like this to fill Anzu's empty head. His jaw tightens and his lips purse into a tight thin line as he watches the girl place the first clip on jous zipper.
"and YOU cant move not one inch."
She instructs jou as she places the next clips into the hair over the back of his neck, he wonders if she put there knowing it happens to one his erogenous zones. She smirks watching his skin prickle at the contact before crouching down and clipping the last one to the laces of his left shoe.
"Anzu."
"yessss?"
"I hate you."
She laughs at jous venom-less words, then places her hands on Li's shoulders guiding him to stand right in front of his new husband. She steps away grinning widely
"okay GO!"
Tentatively the brunette reaches out placing one hand flat on jous chest, he can hear a sharp intake of breath before honda bellows
"pretty cold there!"
The light touch travels upward to his shoulders, followed by his second hand caressing his bicep to feel for the clips that might be on his sleeves. This time bakura decides to be helpful
"icy cold there!"
Jou watches Li's lower lip disappear from view as he worries it while his hands slide back upward. Yugi squeaks
"warmer"
The timid touch slides up the side of his neck over his cheeks through his messy nags and both hand tangle into his hair gently combing it backward. Marik smirks as otogi says in loud voice
"pipin hot"
The hands slide down the back of his head until a finger nail catches against the cold metal. Jou suppresses a soft moan while nimble fingers work the clip free, unsure of where to put the thing Li slide the metal clip into the wide obi wrapped around his waist. Anzu smiles
"ooh your good, now lets see if you can find the next one!"
Again his palms are flat against jous chest roving over and down his flat belly, moving to his hips when marik chirps
"lukewarm"
His palms glide over jous belt loops around following the seam gently letting the pads of his finger tips go over the lip of jous back pockets, again marik is helpful
"cold now"
Li follows the seam line back to the front of jou, finger tips skating over the top of jous front pockets, neither is paying attention to who says what now.
"warmer"
Excruciatingly slowly those same fingers follow the seam to the small metal button holding jous jeans shut. The blond shuts his eyes and tries top think of as many foul unpleasant images as he can, in order to avoid arousal.
"much warmer"
Li follows the seam line downward, but his fingers don't catch on anything so they continue down to where the seam stops
"getting cold"
The touch flows back upward to the middle of the seam.
"hot"
The fingers tentatively slip under the narrow panel of denim, to glide over the zipper, moving upward until he feels too smooth metal.
In the back Mokuba grimaces as he watches Jous gears turning, knowing that hes trying desperately not to feel it. In his own vast mind the boy wonders if he should find a way to punish Anzu for bringing in such a ridiculous game, what kind of pervert would think of this anyway?
In the center of the room Jou swallows nothing loud enough to be heard while Li pinches the grip of his zipper in order to remove the hair clip, neatly tucking it away underneath his obi. Having already allowed his gentle touch to skate over the entirety of Jous torso, Li come to the conclusion that the last clip must be lower. Still with tentative hands the brunette places one hand flat against the inner part of Jous thigh, the other hand mirroring it on the other side, the touch flows gracefully downward following seam lines all the way down to the right hem. Jou can hear the brunette emit a slight
"hmm"
A thoughtful noise, he smirks when he see Li simply press his hand against his shoelaces. Not on this side... rather than go through the torture of touching his new husband with immense restraint he simply moves his palm over to Jous left shoe quickly finding the cold metal clip. Li Jou reaches over to take his hand and help Li into a standing position, the brunette slips his finger beneath his wide obi pulling out the other two hair clips and holds the trio up in one hand while pushing the blindfold up with the other.
"smart cookie ya got there."
Its Anzu who says it as she struts forward taking both the ribbon and hair clips from Li who now blushes furiously. Yugi steps forward with a meek smile and a small thin CD case in his hand
"well its my turn now- I thought musical chairs would be fun."
Honda and otogi take their place on either side of the couch and push it backward til it sits with its back flush against the far wall. Marik and bakura dart down the hallway returning with armloads of collapsible chairs and big wide grins.
The game goes on to a song plucked off the radio Anzu being the one in charge of pausing the music, this game goes on for all of twenty minutes, honda being the first to lose a chair having been hip checked out of the way by otogi. Next was bakura who simply wasn't as fast as mokuba next was Li who had gotten distracted and wound up trying to to giggle as he watched from beside honda. Then yugi was shunted off his spot by a very determined mokuba who giggled as his feet swayed in the air underneath the chair.
Otogi knocks marik off his spot, letting him stand smirking beside the others. Two chairs left, the music stops Jou plops down before otogi can get in, mokuba taking other chair. The raven haired boy laughs with his hands on his belly as he tries not to keel over. One chair left! They circle the single space like vultures the music stop jou plops over but mokuba grabs the chair out from under him before he can sit in it, his rump just hits the floor. The blond laughs from the floor as he watches mokuba leisurely take his place on the chair of victory.
"you little brat!"
Jou darts upward snatching the boy off the folding chair, he lays the boy on the floor lifts his shirt and blows a loud raspberry right in his belly. Mokuba erupts in a hysterical fit of laughter as jou blows one raspberry after the other onto his stomach, he tries in vein to get him to stop. Swatting at jou s head with his small arms and little balled up fists, yugi snorts at the scene adding
"that was a dirty trick mokie this is your penalty game!"
The only response is choppy word from between fits of laughter
"no -cant-gotta pee!"
They all erupt in a fit when Jou quits and the boy scuttles away as quick as he can to yugis small bathroom. various other games go on, mokuba and otogi having chosen of all things freeze tag. They play until the group find's themselves quite exhausted, deciding now is a good time to open presents. Jou and Li sit on the couch, the brunette smiling contentedly as Jou slings an arm over his shoulder. Honda grins as he plucks his own gift off the table leaning over in his spot and hands it of to jou who tips it toward Li. Using his left hand to pull back his right sleeve a bit he uses the revealed hand hand to reach out and grip the tail of a red bow on a white box, tugging slightly to unravel the bow. Jou then plucks the lid up revealing a heavy silver frame laying flat against a bed of blue tissue paper tufts.
" A digital picture frame?"
Honda smiles lopsidedly, rather proud of his gift choice.
" I know you like to keep your pictures by the bed and I figure you guys will make a lot of memories together. This way you don't have to pick just one to keep by you, it holds like a whole gig of pictures."
Jou smiles at it wondering how long his time with this person beside him will last, rather than voice his worry he grins.
"so cool!"
Li smiles warmly to honda
" Thank you, that's so thoughtful."
Anzu smile as she plucks a large heavy pink bag with corners of floral printed tissue paper jutting out the top off the table, she happily sets it down in front of the couple. Yugi stands between honda and otogi taking a series of continuous snapshots hoping to put their wedding album together. Jou sticks his hand down into the bag, his fingers hit the jar near the top rather quickly, he grunts before plucking a clear jar of teal crystals out. Around the lip of the jar in a glossy orange ribbon, Li blinks at it
"bath salts?"
Anzus chests puffs up with pride at the quality of her gift.
"yea, my mom says being married is super stressful, which is why shes single now. So I wanted to make sure you guys have a way to relax, I picked all kinds of em-"
Sure enough jou plucks out three more pickle jar sized containers of salts as the girl continues talking, fitting perfectly at the bottom of the bag is a rectangular white box. Jou plucks it up curiously.
" I picked out one that's for sore muscles and aches, cause I know Jou does a lot of manual labor.
There's some for exfoliating your skin, one for getting rid of headaches and mental stress and- Those are my favorite scented candles! They don't do anything they just smell really nice."
The brunette turns the jars of salt smiling at the various colors, finding the labels on the very bottom of each jar in curly green letters.
"oh my, this must have costed so much... these particular salts have to be shipped in from guangxiou."
Anzu smiles at Li's awareness of the product.
"you've used them before?"
"um yes, its required upon our purchase"
Not quite understanding what Li blurted she simply continues
" I been shopping with these guys since I was like twelve so I get a super awesome discount- but this is the biggest order I ever made! I think I might have gave the receptionist a heart attack when I placed the order!"
Anzu laughs as Li tucks them back in the pink bag.
"thank you very much."
The gifts continue in this manner opened, then explained and thanked for, until Jou notices mokuba edging back into the room with a slight grimace. He decides not ask about it until they have a moment alone, some one hands him the last gift. The small box from the woman that escorted Li to the kaiba estate. Jou blinks at it curiously as his wife plucks the bow off, removing the lid jou finds a small black velvet pouch with red drawstrings. Rather than allow them embarrass them selves otogi says quickly
"you guys should probably open that when you guys are alone... I mean I'm just sayin."
Jous face flushes red when realizes what might be in the bag. Li just arcs a single slender eyebrow at the two. Mokuba then pipes up
"you guys its kinda late, past my bedtime you know."