Title: From the bottom of the well
Characters/Pairing: Puppyshipping (Kaiba/Jounouchi)
Disclaimer: I do not own YGO and I'm not making any profits from this fanwork.
Rating: M for language, violence, sexual content, and character death.
Summary: Some appointments shouldn't be missed; others can never be kept. Kaiba experiences both in one day. Kaiba/Jounouchi, post-series.
Notes: I know this has been done before - and better - but I had it stuck in my head so I wrote it.
Ten
Seto Kaiba glanced at the white and chrome clock on his slowly lightening office wall, noting the way the minute hand seemed to be at pains to move in any kind of orderly fashion as the first pale gold of the sun started to creep its way into the darkened room. It didn't matter. The spreadsheets open on his desktop beckoned and the precise second of the hour didn't matter much to the amount he still had to do before he could turn the folder over to Hagaware. He sat in silence a moment longer, affording himself one more glance at the clock before he bent himself again to the task, the faint light of his monitor reflecting absently the dark smudges under his eyes.
"I fucking hate you, Kaiba. Mind your own damn business."
"Gladly, as soon as you stop blocking the hall, Mutt."
"Jesus, Kaiba, just go around. Can't you see Yugi's upset?"
"Oh? Did someone finally break it to him that all of his friends are imaginary?"
"Don't even, Moneyba-"
"Just get out of the way, Mutt. I don't have time to waste on you today."
"Don't touch me-!"
"Ah-!"
The sound of a swung fist connecting with a jaw, bodies hitting the ground, and then the air is electric and everyone is yelling as a dozen pairs of hands are trying to pull them apart. Jounouchi's swearing and trying to break free, and when Kaiba starts to laugh Jounouchi spits in his face. The crowd surges forward and there's blood and saliva on the checkered linoleum floor.
Nine
A knock on the door, and Kaiba glanced reluctantly from his computer screen to the large cherry wood door of his private office.
"What?" His tone was glacial, not appreciating the interruption.
Hesitantly his secretary stepped into the office, glancing at him with a strange expression on her face as she gripped several sheets of paper tightly in her hands. Outside the dawn had been replaced with the rippling sunshine of a real hour of the morning. He hadn't noticed.
Megume shifted uncomfortably in the doorway and glanced at her papers.
"Sir, um... I..." she trailed off and Kaiba regarded her coolly, not understanding the sudden incompetence. The woman was usually quite good at her job; this was why he paid her and kept her around.
"Just give me the day's agenda," Kaiba instructed her coldly. "I have a lot to do today so don't waste my time."
Glancing down at the pages again she nodded hesitantly and tightened her grip still a little more. The look of concern still hadn't left her face.
"You've got that meeting with the board this morning, about the reissue of the special edition of the dragon duel disc, and... and... lunch with Mokuba..."
"Mokuba won't be coming," Kaiba informed her in the same tone, his interest now entirely fixed back on his screen.
"Sir you c-could just go h-home," Megume stuttered out, "everyone would understand…" Kaiba simply acted as though she hadn't spoken.
"Read me the afternoon."
Swallowing, Megume looked like she felt like anywhere would be better than here.
"A-at one you've got t-that appointment with the... the Naratane Co. people... and." She paused and took a breath, continuing to read as evenly as she could manage. "At five you have..." It looked like all the breath had been sucked out of her. "...a meeting with... Katsuya Jounouchi. Sir..."
"Good," he simply answered. "Now get out. I need to finish this presentation."
He didn't look up or think twice about it when the door clicked closed behind his secretary, instead just letting silence and the faint patter of his fingers across the keys fill the room and his head.
"Now what do you losers want? I don't have any treats for you, Mutt."
"Try to be civil, Kaiba, the gang just wanted to know if you had heard anything about Yugi..."
"And why would I have heard anything about that little twerp?"
"Fine, I knew this was a waste of time. You could at least pretend to be concerned that the guy who saved your skin more times 'n you probably like to count is missing."
"I'm sure he isn't dead. I still haven't beaten him yet."
"Is that the only thing that fucking matters to you?"
"Get it through your head, Jounouchi, he left because he realized what a waste of space all of you and your little playmates are. People will always let you down."
Silence. A beat.
"I'd kick your ass again but I just feel too fucking sorry for you, Kaiba. You're a real piece 'o work, you know that?"
"What would you possibly know?"
"You've never had anybody give a shit about you in your whole life, have you? It's exactly what you deserve but it's still fucking tragic."
Eight
Taking the crisp black and white pages from the printer, Kaiba aligned them perfectly against his desk before picking them up and scanning the cover page. It would do. The board wasn't pleased about the idea of a reissue; they wanted a brand new product to sell to the kids over the summer. His business analysis left no room for questioning, however, and he would have them in a metaphorical arm lock in about seven minutes. Tops.
Satisfied, he moved to the office door and opened it, brushing past his secretary's desk without once glancing at her. He hoped whatever was bothering her wasn't going to last long or he would shortly be looking for a new secretary.
The halls seemed unusually empty today as he swept along through the weakly sunlit corridors towards the biggest conference room on the top floor. Maybe it was a holiday, and that's why Megume looked so perturbed, for having to work it. But no, it was only a Wednesday. Strange. He'd follow up on it later because there was no room for slacking off on the production schedule they were going to be on for the next quarter. Pausing outside the conference room to go over his strategy one more time, Kaiba glanced at his watch and collected his thoughts.
"Why are you still following me? I didn't realize you were a stray as well as a mongrel."
"Since Yug's gone I thought I'd test out one o' his theories and one o' mine. That way when he gets back I can tell him all about it."
"Thrilling. Should I bother to ask or just send for the flea bath?"
"See, Yugi was always sayin' that you just needed a friend, someone to show you what it's like to actually give a shit. That's his theory I'm testing."
"You've been following me around for three days. I can't see why you would possibly be bothered."
"Because, Kaiba. MY theory that I'm testing is that it pisses you off more when I'm nice to you than when I'm wailin' on ya."
The biggest grin in the world is reflected in the afternoon sunshine and Kaiba can feel a headache coming on as footsteps follow after his own.
Seven
The meeting went strangely.
He'd been preparing for a fight for the last twenty-four hours, and instead all he got was static resistance. The idiots just sat around looking uncomfortable while he showed them the evidence that – as always – his way was better than anything they had possibly managed to scrounge together. Maybe they'd finally realized that there was no way they'd ever be able to best him at a game where the playing field was limited only by the intellectual handicaps of his adversaries.
As he delivered his rather scathing closing arguments he scanned the room, inspecting the faces of the members of his board of directors. Several of them refused to meet his eyes while most of the rest did so with a rather irritating despondence. He'd wanted a victory he could savor, not this kind of passive aggressive bullshit.
"Are we finished?" he asked, closing his briefcase with a harsh snap.
Silence hung over the room, and then Michaelson, the imported American who thought rather too highly of himself, leaned back in his chair.
"Kaiba-sama, perhaps we could re-discuss this matter another time? I think I speak for all of us when I say that today is... perhaps not the best day..."
"Don't be absurd. I just finished laying out exactly why we should go ahead with the reissue. Do any of you have a problem with the numbers?"
"No, no of course not, it's just-"
"Then we're finished here. We'll proceed as planned."
"Kaiba, stop this. We should discuss-" Kaede, usually one of the most reasonable, was apparently trying her luck today. Too bad she'd get nowhere at all.
"I said we're finished. Good day to you all."
"Hey, Kaiba. Where do you think we'll be in five years?"
"Hopefully you'll be somewhere far away so you'll stop dogging my footsteps."
That same shit-eating grin, and Jounouchi crosses his arms behind his head before lying back in the grass and gazing up through the branches of the tree. Doing his best to ignore the boy, Kaiba returns to his laptop and the code open on the screen.
"I'm gonna go to Domino U, so don't hold your breath there, Moneybags."
"As if you could get into college. Your grades are as mediocre as your dueling."
"Heh, jokes on you. I've been takin' night classes and I already got my early acceptance."
For just a second Kaiba stops typing, but then he continues as though nothing has happened. Nothing has.
"If their admissions criteria have really dropped that low then I'll be sure Kaiba Corp. withdraws its funding immediately."
Jounouchi snorts and unearths his arms in order to pick a piece of grass, twiddling it between his fingers before tearing it into bits and letting it scatter into the light breeze.
"Hey, we're gonna go put up some posters about Yugi after school. You wanna come?"
"Quite frankly I'd rather drink poison."
"Right, just like how you hate me following ya' around."
"Correct."
Pushing himself up, Jounouchi stands and then brushes the little bits of grass off of his creased and grass-stained blue uniform pants. There's a certain amused light in his eyes as he digs his hands into his pockets.
"Which of course totally explains why you tell your security to ignore me every day." Shooting Kaiba a smirk that makes Kaiba's hands itch to use a fist to erase it, Jounouchi turns away.
"See you after school, Kaiba."
Six
The sushi was uninspiring at best. The elegant black and white dishes on his desk did absolutely nothing to help with the fact that the usually perfectly edible rolls tasted more like nothing than empty air itself managed. Placing his chopsticks on the little plate before him, Kaiba pushed the rest to the side. Wasting food was something he didn't tolerate, but there was no eating this. He usually insisted on eating at least a small, balanced lunch for the increased productivity that resulted, but today his appetite was as absent as the flavor of the fish in his mouth.
He turned instead to his computer screen, opening his email. The usual drivel, and nothing from his brother. Good. They weren't speaking today.
No, he was mistaken. There was one personal message outside of the everyday pileup of meaningless bureaucratic gibberish. From Yugi.
The title – Kaiba please read this. How stupid did they think he was? It took less than a second and it was done. Deleted.
"I don't fucking know what to do."
"Calm down. I can't think when you're pacing like that."
"Like hell I'll calm down! Kaiba there's a fucking DRAGON out there that's after all of us, after Yugi. What if it's... Jesus I can't think about that."
"I told you he's still alive. Now shut up and let your betters do the real work."
"Don't test me, Kaiba, not now. If you get in my way I will level you."
"You are the biggest idiot I've ever had the inconvenience of being stalked by. I'm trying to help so please – shut up. Even better, get lost and never come back."
"You want me to get lost, asshole? Is that why you wait around for me every day? Why you tried – and failed – to beat the shit out of me the day I decided helpin' Honda not flunk his exams was more important than your stuck-up, shitty little games?"
"Don't test me, Mutt. You don't know anything about anything, least of all me."
"Oh I know more than enough about you. Enough ta' know that you're a piece of shit who thinks he's better than everyone else when in fact he ain't worth a minute, even a second of my time. Who isn't even worth the dirt he stands on. You are worthless, Kaiba, you son of a bitch and I have never cared one jot about what happens to you."
Kaiba steps towards him, eyes flashing. His hand automatically closes around the collar of Jounouchi's jacket, his knuckles white with fury. They stare at each other eye to eye, Jounouchi caught mid-snarl like a wild dog and Kaiba's face as pale as the moon rising slowly outside. They're close – too close. He can feel Jounouchi's breath on his fingers, and a knee brushing against his leg. His grip tightens a little further and then he lets go, moving back jerkily.
"Either sit down and shut up or get out. I have to concoct a plan to make sure all of us don't end up dead and killing you and hiding your body is going to put me behind schedule."
His eyes look anywhere but at Jounouchi. For his part, Jounouchi sits down and shuts up.
Five
The phone startled him. The documents for the acquisition were already polished and ready to go, checked through by his lawyers and then again by his best mergers people. Still, it never hurt to be completely prepared, and to make sure there were no chances for anything unplanned and unpleasant to come up at the last minute. Which was why the sudden ringing in the dead silence took him by surprise.
One glance at the caller ID was enough to tell him all he needed to know – Mokuba. Immediately he turned his eyes back to the screen, his thoughts already back in the clauses and the nuances of various wordings. A small part of him still wanted to reach for the phone – after all it was his brother, his little brother, and you never knew what could go wrong. It was his job to protect Mokuba, it was his job to protect the people he cared about, especially given that their numbers were nearly non-existent.
Perhaps, but that voice was quiet today, as if from the end of a long corridor, and it was easily overruled. The phone continued to ring, unheard by the man at the desk. Outside the cherry wood door, Megume watched the flashing light on her phone set and put her head in her hands, remaining that way long after silence reigned once again within and without.
"We're gonna make it."
"Shut up."
"Kaiba, I don't care what you say. I'm not leavin' Yugi behind. I'm not leaving anyone."
"You idiot, I don't plan to leave anyone behind either. But sometimes you have to make hard decisions."
"Yeah? And what if it's Yugi out there, about to get flame-throwered? What if it's me? Do you give a shit if it's anyone but Mokuba?"
"Not really."
"You're such a fuckin' liar." Jounouchi's snarling again, teeth bared like he could bite at any moment. Kaiba can't look away.
"You really think I care what happens to Mutou? To you? How delusional."
"You really don't give a shit? Then why am I here, Kaiba? Why are you here?"
"Because you're pathetic, Jounouchi, and it amused me for a while to let you follow at my heels like the animal you are. But now I'm sick of it, and you should go."
"You are sick of me?" Jounouchi starts to laugh, then, and before Kaiba knows what's happening his back is slamming against the wall and there's a fist colliding with the wood paneling about a quarter of an inch from his right jaw.
"Fuck you, Kaiba, I fucking hate you and I don't give a shit if you die. If it's you or Yugi, I'm leaving you to burn."
They're so close. Too close. Anger and insult and bitterness are raging through his veins, and Kaiba has his hands on Jounouchi before he can stop himself. In less than a second it's Jounouchi's back, Jounouchi's head crashing into the wall and Kaiba doesn't care if he kills him. They're less than a heartbeat apart.
"Likewise. I hope you die."
And then Jounouchi's mouth is on his and Kaiba doesn't give a shit anymore because there are teeth and fingers tearing at him and all he knows is that he won't lose. Not now, not ever.
Somewhere between the wall of the study and Kaiba's bedroom Jounouchi punches him in the eye and they both lose their clothes. All he can think about when he fucks the blond face-first into the mattress is how much he hates him and how much he belongs right where he is.
Even later, when they do it again as dawn is pushing against the windows, Jounouchi kisses him without teeth or claws, and Kaiba can't remember how the first part of the refrain went.
Four
"It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Kaiba-sama."
"Likewise."
The two men shook hands, the grip of each strong but not overpowering. Although Naratane Co. was currently floundering – due largely to the challenging economic climate and increasing competition from Kaiba Corp. – the restructuring plan was solid and the intellectual property was valuable.
"I was skeptical," Yoshiro Sato, former CEO of Naratane admitted, his serious, thin mouth set in a line.
"Oh?" Kaiba asked, lifting an eyebrow slightly as he reclaimed his hand.
"Despite your success, your youth worried me. I am pleased to see that I was wrong."
Kaiba allowed himself a brief smile. The candor was unexpected and rather gratifying – even if it did come too late in the game to make any difference. He could still respect that in the man he had just bought out for millions of dollars.
He concentrated on collecting his papers as the lawyers and the other executives began to file out of the room. At least one thing had gone according to expectations today.
"Oh, and Kaiba-sama?"
Kaiba looked up. Sato stood by the door, hanging back. There was the faintest hint of something like a smile around his mouth, and his eyes were both hard and probing. When Kaiba said nothing, the man continued.
"Your reputation preceded you, but I must say that you really are as cold-hearted as everyone says you are."
The same strange smile still playing at his lips, Sato nodded his head before turning and exiting the room as well.
With papers half in hand, Kaiba watched after the man with no expression on his face.
"Look, I… uh… jeeze, Kaiba, I'm sorry about the black eye."
Jounouchi's buttoning his shirt in the half-light, and he's misaligned the buttons and hasn't noticed yet. Kaiba doesn't feel the need to enlighten him.
"Don't bother."
He's already dressed – was an hour before Jounouchi woke. It's safer this way.
Silence reigns in the bedroom as Jounouchi figures out his mistake, frowns, and restarts the whole process. Kaiba decides not to watch him any longer, and starts flipping through some paperwork he needs to get notarized.
"...are we gonna talk about this?"
"No. Why bother?"
There's a dark growl, though Kaiba still doesn't bother to look up.
"You're still the same prick alright, even after getting laid."
"There's nothing to discuss, Jounouchi."
"Yeah well, I disagree."
Suddenly there's a hand in front of his vision where Jounouchi has slammed his palm down on top of Kaiba's work. Gritting his teeth, he glares up at the idiot who never knows when to let well enough alone.
"If you want to talk, make an appointment with my secretary."
"You have got to be kidding."
"Why would I possibly waste my time doing something like that?"
Jounouchi holds his eyes, fire licking just behind them. With a muttered curse he digs his hand into his pocket and fishes out his cell phone, which he uses to promptly dial a number. Kaiba just watches impassively.
"...Hey, Megume, yeah it's Jounouchi. Great – yeah, still no news. Listen, do me a favour will ya'? Can you schedule me an appointment with his holiness? I need to punch him in the fucking mouth. ...yeah? Great, make it at Anna Miller's, he hates that place. Okay, perfect. Thanks."
He hangs up the phone, and turns on his heel with a snarl.
"Check your calendar, asshole."
Returning to his work as though nothing has happened (it hasn't), Kaiba doesn't even shrug.
"I always do."
Jounouchi turns to look at him in the doorway, and for just a moment there's something less angry but more unreadable in his eyes. It looks suspiciously like understanding.
Three
"I'll be in late tomorrow. Hold all of my calls that aren't urgent."
Megume nodded, her lips pursed slightly. Apparently she'd rediscovered professionalism somewhere in the past seven hours.
"Of course, sir. Do you want me to go ahead and send out the briefing about the acquisition?"
"Yes. Have a copy on my desk when I arrive."
"Yes, sir." There was a beat, and then a more unsteady breath from the woman. "Do you... want me to call someone to walk out with you?"
He stared at her balefully, not needing any words to underline the ridiculousness of that question.
"...goodnight."
"...goodnight, sir," she murmured, her eyes now fixed firmly on her desk.
Shaking his head, Kaiba walked out from the office and towards the elevator. It took only twenty seconds or so to review the agenda for tomorrow, and then he turned his thoughts to his off-site evening meeting.
Right on time, the elevator doors opened, welcoming him in.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"If you think I'm trusting our lives to more of Yugi's magical mumbo-jumbo then you're dreaming."
"Kaiba, this is the only chance we've got! If we don't get Yugi out of there then we're all done for."
"I'm well aware, Jounouchi. But I've found in the past that relying on the mechanical as opposed to the insane gives better results."
"Fuck you, Kaiba. One of these days you're gonna believe in something you can't see and the whole world will spontaneously combust."
"I wouldn't hold my breath."
Holding the gun up to the light to examine it more carefully, Kaiba twists it just so that the polished barrel catches and reflects the glare right at Jounouchi's eyes. Smirking, he unlocks the safety.
"...do you have another one of those?"
"By the door." Kaiba points vaguely.
"Fuck."
"Been there, done that."
Jounouchi glances at him swiftly, his eyes narrowed as he tries to assess whether or not he really just heard Seto Kaiba making a personal joke. They hold each other's eyes for a moment, and when Jounouchi finally glances away there's a hint of a grin playing at the corners of his mouth.
"Asshole. Let's go get Yugi."
"Let's."
Two
The parking lot was alight. From the street lamps just switching on, the car headlights sweeping down the street, the yellow glow spilling out the restaurant doors and the last of the sinking sun trailing across the pavement, the city was alive and ablaze.
As his car drew into the corner of the empty lot, Kaiba was not aware of any of it. He checked his watch and sat silently, waiting for the minute hand to move. It was in no more hurry than it had been that morning, and he tapped his fingers on the door's side panel impatiently.
Finally, a small twitch. It was enough. The door to the car opened and Kaiba stepped out into the evening air. Checking his watch one final time he closed the door behind him with a muted thud and walked steadily towards the front doors of the disgusting chain restaurant. His jacket rustling slightly in the breeze, Kaiba stopped briefly before the doors, perfectly aware of the figure behind him that lurked in the twilight.
The shadow hesitated, said nothing. It was enough. Ignoring it, Kaiba pushed open the doors and stepped inside.
"YUGI!"
Yugi's on his hands and knees in the middle of the pavement, his teeth clenched and one eye shut with the pain. Anyone can tell that his leg's probably broken and he's not getting up anytime soon.
The scream from the dragon rends the night, makes the earth itself seem to shake with the creature's fury as the bright magical circle slowly extends around it. It's going to work, but there's no time...
"It's not fast enough, it's gonna get out!" Jounouchi yells above the cracking and shaking, and Kaiba stares it down coldly, trying to assess their best options. There's no time.
Before anyone knows what's happening Jounouchi is running as if all the hounds of hell are after him.
"Yugi, you've gotta get out of the way!" It seems to happen instantaneously. The ground cracks under their feet and Jounouchi grabs Yugi and pulls him to something like standing as the world is suddenly a pyrotechnics show. "Kaiba, you've gotta catch him!"
And then he's pushed – almost thrown – Yugi, and Kaiba's bitterest and dearest rival is falling towards him and within a few steps he has his arms out to catch him, to pull him out of the way. If Yugi goes they're all fucked.
Jounouchi turns towards them, and with a rip the world explodes as the street rips itself into pieces and the dragon flaps its wings. Jounouchi, on the other side of the growing rend, raises his arm, yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Kaiba-!"
"Jounouchi-" Kaiba raises his own arm to reach for him, but he's much, much too far away. There's a brief second where time stands still, and then fire. Jounouchi's eyes widen, and his arm is still raised as the air shimmers with the heat of it and in a sudden overwhelming blast of white heat, he's simply gone, dissolved or disintegrated like ashes in water.
"JOUNOUCHI, NO WE HAVE TO HELP HIM!" Yugi's screaming, tears pouring down his face.
Kaiba stares at the dragon and levels the barrel of his gun.
One
"He isn't coming, Kaiba."
Yugi wore black. He stood by the table, and the restaurant was deserted.
Kaiba for his part, said nothing.
"Nii-sama…" Mokuba stood further away, by the door. He looked like someone had sucker punched him in the gut.
"I have an appointment. Neither of you were invited."
"He isn't coming, Kaiba," Yugi repeated more softly. The crutch under his arm wavered slightly, though Yugi himself did not. "He can't. You should come home with us."
"He's not dead."
"Kaiba-"
"We have unfinished business."
"If I've learned anything from you dweebs, it's that standard definitions of life and death mean very little when applied to incompetents like you."
"Kaiba, this isn't..."
"If you're going to insist on staying, then at least sit."
Expressionless, Kaiba shifted seats so Yugi could sit beside him. There was silence for a moment before - very slowly - Yugi lowered himself to sit down in the indicated place. When Yugi spoke again, it was low and defeated in a way that was completely unlike him.
"...we can wait together."
"Hey, Kaiba. Where do you think we'll be in five years?"
Mokuba neared the table slowly, though he refused to get within a certain radius of them. Kaiba didn't look at him.
"You are worthless, Kaiba, you son of a bitch and I have never cared one jot about what happens to you."
The long hand of the clock ticked forward again.
"See you after school, Kaiba."
"Nii-sama," Mokuba repeated again softly, no colour in his face under the cheap fluorescent lights.
"Ten more minutes," Kaiba answered calmly.
Pacing across the parking lot in his tattered jeans and brightly-coloured sneakers, brown eyes smile up at the dark sky as the stars come out one by one, visible only briefly before they're obscured by the inevitable light pollution. He takes a long slow breath while the wind ruffles his hair, and then – still smiling- he reaches for the door.
The three of them sit and stand in silence, their ears listening as hard as they can for the sound of footsteps that aren't coming.
Zero