Joey watched the butterfly, just opening and closing its wings for a few more seconds, when suddenly there was a raspy voice heard.
"Sir, please move along, these are secure grounds," the voice warned over the loudspeaker. Joey hadn't even noticed the speaker and camera above his head. His eyes trailed along the edge of the bush, and he walked as his eyes met with a pair of iron gates, painted white. Between the locking gates, there were two giant golden letters interlocked; they looked like initials. KM? Joey wondered. Who was KM?
The voice spoke again, gruffer this time. "Sir, continue to move along." Joey looked at the camera with a little suspicion. He looked for a call button to talk back to the voice. He found the little red button and pushed it. "Yea, I dunno wha' ya mean by secure. Dere's about fifteen holes in ya defense, and I coulda easily broken in," he said haughtily.
There was a sound like the smack of someone's head being reprimanded by a hand. The voice was much more disgruntled when it spoke a moment later. "Beat it, punk," it growled venomously. Joey put down his box and crossed his arms, sending a clear message to the camera. He heard the gruff voice having an argument with somebody, and as it sighed, he picked up the box.
A younger, higher pitched male voice spoke. "Would you mind coming in for a second?" Joey's eyebrows perked as he thought it over. "Gee, I'd, uh, really love to, but I got somewhere I gotta be right now." There was a pause. "Please?" the voice began to plead. "I need to see where you saw these holes, so I can get this taken care of." The shift caused Joey to drop his head, although there was a hint of a smile on his face.
"Sure, kid. I got a minute o' two." There was a squeal of excitement and the gates opened. Joey shook his head and chuckled, walking along the long path to the front door. There were quite a few lovely dragon tapestries, and several more unique flowers unlike any he'd ever seen. The whole front area was lush and Joey realized that whoever lived here had money, and a lot of it.
The door was even painted white with gold doorknobs, and he was a little afraid to touch them. He rapped his knuckles on the door, and almost immediately a very large man came up to him and told him he'd need to search him. Joey eyed him apprehensively, but allowed the man to look through his things in the box and the scanner over his person. The man spoke into a walkie-talkie, quickly saying, "all clear," to the other party.
The doors opened slowly, and there was a short teen, with long dark hair and gray eyes. He could have only been 12 at the most. Still, he carried himself like he was tougher than he looked, despite the excitement and big smile on his face. "Hi," the young man squeaked happily. "I'm Mokuba! Welcome to the Kaiba Mansion!" With that, the kid extended his hand and Joey took it. This Mokuba had a strong grip and shook his hand quickly.
"I'm Joey, Mokuba. Joey Wheeler." Joey tried to be polite and attempted to slow the growth of the smile on his face. Mokuba noted this. "Care to come inside, Joey? I've got snacks," he said as a few men appeared and uncovered plates of finger food. Joey stifled a chuckle, and stepped in. He grabbed a triangle shaped sandwich and looked around.
"Mansion" had been no exaggeration. This place was huge and immaculate, tastefully decorated with gold and white. "Wow," Joey said between bites. "Your home is beautiful." Mokuba's face brightened. "Thank you. It was decorated according to what my mother wanted."
"She has nice taste in things," Joey remarked as he ate another sandwich. Mokuba's face fell. "She had nice taste," he corrected in a whisper. Joey reflexively felt bad for the kid. "I'm sorry, Mokuba."
Mokuba sniffed, but held himself. "No, it's okay. It was what she would have wanted for the house. My brother really stayed true to her vision. I like to think he really built all of this for her and my dad. This is the bigger version of their dream house." The older teen listened, understanding as he ate another triangle. Mokuba seemed to think for a moment before snapping back to reality. "Anyway, I called you in, Joey, because you found flaws with the security system around the mansion."
Joey shook his head, his cheeks full with delicious triangle. "I wasn't bein' critical—" he tried to defend.
Mokuba shook his head in response. "No, I'm glad you said something. Let's take a look, shall we?" Mokuba began walking, and Joey grabbed another handful of triangle sandwiches, following. They quickly came upon a large table with a map of the ground. Joey nearly choked on the sandwich he snacked upon. The property this mansion was on was huge, and he thought the front was big.
Mokuba gestured to the map. "Go ahead and point away." Joey slowly swallowed. He pointed to four corners, calling them sniper vantage points. There were 6 areas that the cameras missed, blind spots of the system. There was a big hole in security just above where the gardens and front door met. And Joey also pointed out that the rose bushes in the front, though having thorns, would not stop a determined assailant.
Mokuba nodded. "As soon as Seto comes in, I'll point these out to him. Thank you so much, Joey." Mokuba reached in his pocket and pulled out a $50 bill and handed it to Joey, who only gawked at it. Mokuba frowned. "What's wrong? Were you expecting more?" Joey shook his head slowly. "I wasn't expecting anything," he whispered, the accent dropping from his voice. Mokuba looked at Joey with confusion, but then he shrugged. "You performed a service for me, so I paid you for it. Keep it," he said as Joey tried to return it.
"Consider it a learning experience for both of us. So. Want to play a video game really fast?" Mokuba's face lit up. Joey had begun to answer when the doors opened and behind him stood a tall, lithe man, though man may have been a stretch. He looked about like a slightly older teenager, although the white-blue pinstriped suit didn't fit his age; he easily could have been 18, like Joey.
Mokuba was the first to break the silence. "Hi, Seto! This is Joey Wheeler. He was showing me some flaws in the security system," he described, giving the older brother some context. "And Joey, this is my big brother, Seto Kaiba."
Neither Joey nor Kaiba showed any sign of movement or acknowledgement. Kaiba's cerulean eyes were locked intensely on Joey's chocolate brown eyes, with no sign of either letting up. Joey couldn't quite tell what had happened, but something was there between the two teens. Joey then felt a vibration in his pocket, and snapped him back to reality. It was from Yami, asking him about Lucy. Joey inwardly cursed; he had forgotten about her.
"Mokuba, I have to go. Here's my number if you need me for anything," he sloppily jotted down the 10 digits "call first and I'll be happy to help." He began walking back toward the door. "Bye Mokuba! Nice meeting you, Mr. Kaiba," he nodded politely to the silent man. The blue eyed man said nothing. Mokuba waved, friendly. He watched Joey grab a few more sandwiches and wave as he ran out and toward east of the mansion.
"I saw the way you looked at him, Seto," Mokuba smirked as the doors closed.
Seto snapped from his thoughts and shrugged. "He certainly is…something, I'll say that much." Mokuba tried not to grin. "I think I'll invite him over tomorrow, around 5…try to be home, big brother. And try to not be so…aloof. It scares people."
Seto shrugged, still unable to shake his mind off the blond teen. "I'll try. No guarantees. I'll go decompress and then we can eat. Had a long day."
Mokuba snorted. "Of course you did. You work at KaibaCorp." Seto's face hid a flicker of a smile. "Go wash your hands, brat. I'll be down in a few minutes." Mokuba started off, shaking his head. When he was alone, Seto's shoulders fell forward a little as he trudged up the stairs. Mokuba was right; there was something about that Joey…he just wasn't sure what.