Disclaimer: Katsuya Jounouchi, Seto Kaiba, Shizuka Kawai, and all related indicia are copyright to Kazuki Takahashi and Shounen Jump. No money is being made off of this amateur work.
Notes: This is what you get when you watch Alien Nine, Legend of Basara, and old reruns of Eureka in one day... Looking for a beta! Please PM me if interested!
Salamander: Chapter One
Shizuka Kawai was a pretty, kind-hearted girl, if a bit stubborn and naïve for her age. She had a soft, cheerful face with a dainty pink nose and rosy lips, and an average, gentle build with fair complexion, and long auburn hair that cutely framed her face with a tuft falling in the centre of her forehead. She attracted a myriad of admirers but was too inexperienced to recognize their adoration, and so her brother, Katsuya Jounouchi, fought off their advances without her ever realising. Shizuka's greatest feature, however, was her eyes. She had large, stunning, hazel eyes, delicately framed by long lashes and forever wide with love and compassion for everything around her. It was her eyes that drew people to her rather than her soft face or gentle body.
It was her eyes that had Katsuya Jounouchi standing in front of the reception desk of Kaiba Corporation Medical Engineering Facility, tapping his foot nervously as the sharp-nosed secretary sniffed through the daily appointments to find his. Shizuka Kawai's eyes were going blind.
Jounouchi waited for the secretary to find his appointment in the computer database, fidgeting uneasily. He was well aware of how he stood out in this pristine, grandeur monolith of a research centre, a scruffy and second-handed scarecrow next to the marble floors and metal reception desk. The secretary herself was marble and metal: a stern, elegant, pencil-skirted grey figure pursing her razorblade lips at his own straw and potato-sack outline. Jounouchi felt inadequate in his old, yellow-white collared shirt and sagging khaki slacks, a musty manila folder tucked under one arm. He felt his honey-mustard, perpetually chaotic hair rise in defiance against the secretary's own tucked back iron-grey bun.
"Mr. Jounouchi?" the secretary confirmed flatly. "Dr. Kaiba will see you shortly. Please take a seat."
"Thank you," Jounouchi said, taking a seat in a metal chair behind him. He released a mental breath of relief. He hated stuck-up, snobby rich places like these. But this was his last resort. He opened the manila folder, tracing the crisp portrait of his sister with a finger. He'd already been to at least twenty other specialists, each of which had examined Shizuka and declared her incurable. "I'm sorry, Katsuya," they'd said, "but not even corrective laser surgery would cure her eyes." The last specialist he'd seen, however, a small man with huge, insect-like glasses and strange blue-green hair, had said something in addition to the denial. "There is… someone else you could talk to," he'd said hesitantly, sounding strange with his nasal voice. "You've heard of Kaiba Corporation? They have a facility run by their CEO, Seto Kaiba… He's actually a doctor besides being a CEO… I've heard he's made incredible advancements in the medical field… you could talk to him." Jounouchi had thanked him then, and only later wondered why the doctor had sounded so hesitant, as though he was handing him a potential death-sentence. He could see now why the doctor had been so cautious in releasing the information.
"Katsuya Jounouchi?" He blinked, looking up from the folder. An attendant, as severe and metallic as the secretary, peered out from the door leading to the doctor's office. "Um, yes," Jounouchi fumbled, hurriedly closing the folder and standing up. "Follow me, please," the attendant commanded. Jounouchi fell into step behind her and was led around a white maze of corridors, winding and twisting endlessly. This place is confusing as hell, he thought to himself, keeping his eyes trained on the attendant. She stopped suddenly at a white door as they turned the corner. Room B203; Seto Kaiba, PhD, the sign on the door read. The attendant knocked on the door briskly. "A Mr. Katsuya Jounouchi here to see you, sir," she said into the intercom.
"Come in."
The attendant opened the white door and gestured for Jounouchi to step inside. He adjusted the folder under his arm tensely and stepped through the door, getting his first glimpse of the enigmatic Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation.
Seto Kaiba was sitting in a grand blue office chair behind an equally grand metal desk, but he seemed to tower over both and fill the entire room with an oppressive presence despite his thin frame. He wore his dark brown hair hanging low over his forehead, highlighting arrogant deep-set blue eyes and a thin mouth. His clothes consisted of an immaculate, white, collared trench coat that was out of place in the medical facility, though it suited him perfectly, and a black turtleneck. He sat stiffly in his chair, hands laced together superciliously on the desk, taking in Jounouchi's yellow appearance. Jounouchi hated him on sight.
"Mr. Jounouchi?" Seto Kaiba queried, a hint of slime under his voice. Jounouchi nodded from the door. "Take a seat."
Jounouchi sat nervously on the edge of a metal chair, clutching the folder in his lap. The hair on the back of his neck was rising. This 'Seto Kaiba' was dangerous. And arrogant, self-confident, rich, and looking down his pointy nose like Jounouchi was scum under his perfectly polished boot. "Mr. Jounouchi," Kaiba said smoothly, "You requested an appointment with me."
"Um," Jounouchi fidgeted, cursing the tightening of his gut. Seto Kaiba was a bastard, he could tell, a rich bastard that he shouldn't give a damn about, but Kaiba made his gut curl in fear and dislike. "I heard you could help me…"
"I already presumed that to be the case, Mr. Jounouchi, or you would not be here," Kaiba sneered. "What do you need my help for?"
Bastard, Jounouchi growled under his breath. "I heard you had the most advanced medical facilities in the world." He stood up with the folder in his hand. "I do," Kaiba said. He gestured for the folder, which Jounouchi handed over almost rudely. Kaiba opened the folder swiftly, flicking through the contests with a quick, apathetic hand. He read over the contents in silence, his haughty expression never changing as he glanced through Shizuka's medical record. Jounouchi knew what he would find in it. 'Early onset of advanced glaucoma.' '…delayed condition for approx. six years…' '…surgery ineffective…' '…eventual onset of permanent incurable blindness within three years…' He kept his eyes on his hands as Kaiba shut the folder, mouth tight.
"It is possible." Kaiba said finally. Jounouchi startled, looking up into Kaiba's eyes. Kaiba scoffed. "But I would not waste valuable equipment and money on someone who could not even afford it." He set the folder on the desk carelessly.
"W-what?" Jounouchi curled his fingers into fists, struggling to keep himself from decking the man. "You bastard!" he snarled, surprising himself. He slammed his hands on the table, feeling the knot in his gut rise and threaten to escape from his throat. "You – you can't say that! What kind of person are you?!"
Kaiba stared at him coldly. "The procedure costs three million," he said condescendingly, "I doubt you could pay for it."
Despair flickered in Jounouchi's eyes at the words, and his fingers uncurled from their fists. "Three – three million?" he whispered, balancing himself weakly against the desk. Three million dollars. He didn't even have a quarter of that. He'd – he'd hoped Kaiba could help him, could tell him that there was something that could cure Shizuka, even if it cost fifty thousand, even a hundred thousand – not, not three million. Three million. Kaiba's arrogant voice echoed in his head. Three million.
"Three million," Kaiba sneered without sympathy. "I suggest you go elsewhere."
"I can't go elsewhere!" Jounouchi burst out hoarsely, "You bastard! I've asked everywhere—" His voice was desperate and high. "—you're the last one! You're the only one that said it was possible! They told me she'd never be cured! You're the only one that said – that said 'it's possible!' She's my sister!" He took in a shuddering breath, relaxing his again harsh grip on the metal desk. "I—" he whispered, lowering his head until his eyes were hidden beneath his bangs. "I can't afford it, but please, you're the only one left!"
"No," Kaiba said apathetically. "Unless you steal the money from somewhere – which I do not doubt you could – there will be no treatment."
"Bastard," Jounouchi whispered hopelessly, "You utter, cold bastard." He leaned over the desk, hands clawed against the metal. "Please…" He hated begging, and his gut was rolling turbulently in protest. "I'll do anything. Please. She's my sister."
Kaiba was silent. Jounouchi stood hunched over the desk, hands trembling and breath short in apprehension and disgust. Bastard! he thought savagely. Bastard! How could he act so cold? Didn't he care about human life?! He glared at the table viciously until Kaiba picked up the medical records by a corner and opened it slowly. Shizuka's portrait stared out with cloudy eyes and a sunny smile.
"She has your eyes," Kaiba said abruptly.
Jounouchi blinked, confused, shoulders relaxing from the tension they'd wound themselves into in preparation for another refusal. "What?"
"You said you will do anything?" Kaiba's narrow eyes were suddenly calculating. The knot that had moved into his throat suddenly dropped into his intestines. "Uh, yeah, within reason," Jounouchi replied warily.
"Within reason? Then no," Kaiba said flatly.
"And… if not?" Jounouchi asked hesitantly, his stomach throbbing warningly. The room suddenly seemed cold and foreboding.
"Then we will perform the treatment," Kaiba replied cruelly. "But it is a harsh price."
"What… do you want me to do?" Cautiously.
"You will agree to become a willing human subject for Kaiba Corporation's medical treatment program." Coldly.
"A – human subject?" Jounouchi whispered, the room growing colder and the knot in his intestines worming violently through his gut and into his liver. "You want me to be a human experiment?"
Kaiba laced his fingers together. "Essentially," he confirmed, smiling cruelly. "Medical advancement does not happen with lab mice and fruit flies, Mr. Jounouchi. It happens on people."
"What… what would I have to do?" Jounouchi wavered bravely, eyes fixing on Shizuka's smiling face.
"Whatever we tell you to do," Kaiba replied. "Anything, everything… in the name of science."
A 'willing human subject'. Oh god. Jounouchi shivered violently, feeling the bile rise into his throat. Kaiba wanted him as a test subject to… what? Try new medicines? See if they had adverse effects on humans? He didn't know much about medicine, but it sounded so strange, so suspicious. Shouldn't treatments be tested on those sick? Why – why did Kaiba want him? He was healthy – Oh god. Maybe that wanted him because he was healthy. Maybe they'd infect him with a 'treatment'. Virus testing? Were they going to test viruses on him? Diseases? Kaiba was looking at him with a maliciously apathetic gaze, as though he didn't really care whether or not Jounouchi agreed, whether or not Shizuka would go blind, whether or not any of this mattered to anyone. But—
Shizuka needed him. And the treatment. And her eyes. She needed her eyes. Jounouchi willed his hands to stop trembling, and straightened from his cower over the desk. He could do it. He would do it… for Shizuka. "I—" he wavered. "I'll – I'll do it."
Seto Kaiba, CEO, smiled thinly at him, as though he knew exactly what Jounouchi had just agreed to. Jounouchi couldn't stop himself from paling when he saw the sinister, cold, knowing sneer. "Then it is agreed, Mr. Jounouchi," Kaiba said smoothly, closing the folder and sliding it toward Jounouchi. "My secretary will call you to make another appointment when the papers are made ready. Ms. Kawai's treatment will begin once the legalities are settled."
Jounouchi nodded jerkily and took the folder with a steady hand. Legalities? He felt like he was signing his soul away to the Devil. "Uh, thank you, Dr. Kaiba," he said dubiously. "But I was wondering… how will you cure Shizuka?"
Kaiba simply stood up and pushed his chair in. "Do not worry, Mr. Jounouchi," he replied, side-stepping the question, "It has a one-hundred percent success rate." He pushed a button on the intercom. "Please escort Mr. Jounouchi back to main lobby, Chono."
Jounouchi stood in awkward silence with the folder tucked under his armpit until a knock on the door signified Chono's arrival. The white door opened to reveal the severe attendant that had led him here. She stared at him expressionlessly and gestured for him to follow. Again he trailed the attendant through the maze of white doors and corridors, until another door led to the main lobby.
"Do you have a future appointment?" Chono asked him, walking behind the lobby desk to sit next to the other secretary. They looked so similar, like clones, Jounouchi thought absentmindedly. "Uh, yeah, but Kaiba—" At Chono's pointed look he realised his slip. "—Dr. Kaiba said he would call when it was confirmed…"
"Very well," Chono said, turning to face her computer. "You are Katsuya Jounouchi?" She rattled off his phone number when he nodded. "Is this correct?" Jounouchi confirmed with a yes. "We will call when Dr. Kaiba is ready." Jounouchi nodded again, and adjusted the medical records under his right arm.
There… there was no going back on this. I won't tell Shizuka, he thought, not yet. Not yet… maybe not ever. As he stepped out of the cold and cruel Kaiba Corporation Medical Engineering Facility, his mind turned back to Seto Kaiba. Damn, manipulative, cold bastard, Jounouchi swore, though his gut still churned uneasily. God, what did I sign up for? He clenched his fists to calm himself. It's for Shizuka. Shizuka. She'll be so happy once her eyesight is back. "But will she be happy when she realises what you paid for it?" a voice asked ominously in the back of his mind. "Will she be happy when she realises you gave your body away to corporate experimentation?" Jounouchi shivered. "I won't tell her," Jounouchi whispered to himself, walking around the corner to wait at the bus stop. "She won't know what I did. She won't know how much it cost, or what I'm going to have to do. She can have her eyesight back. She'll be happy."
He sat on the edge of the metal bus bench, gripping Shizuka's medical records in his lap. I can't change this. She needs her vision. He stared at the folder, its manila yellow blurring everything around it, until he heard the bus sputter and brake at the stop. As he boarded the Greyhound, he glanced one last time at the outline of the hospital. It stood grand and white and glorious against the morning sky, reflecting light into his eyes and momentarily blinding him. But its shadow was long and black and stretched over the neighbouring buildings, so he turned his eyes away and focused on finding a seat.