Vanishing Support

Snow had started to fall as Trunks and Goten reached the towering building that was Kaiba Corps. They were half an hour early and decided to just sit and wait in the waiting area, rather than go to a nearby coffee shop. As they sat and waited, Trunks tried to resist the urge to look over his shoulder or let his chi lash out. The last thing he wanted was for Goten to think that he really was losing it and tell his mother or father. He would never hear the end of it and it would be even worse if his younger sister, Bra, found out. Unfortunately, Trunks was so focused on not appearing crazy that he failed to notice his tapping foot.

"You sure you're okay?" Goten asked after five minutes of Trunk's foot tapping.

Trunks nodded as he uncrossed his legs. "Yeah. I'm probably just tired. I kept dreaming about the dragon balls spinning around my head except they were pink with red hearts instead of yellow with orange stars." He leaned back in the chair and started pulling papers from his briefcase. "Must be the stress."

Goten nodded and grinned as he watched his friend flip through his reference material. "Cheer up. Remember, v for victory."

"That's easy for you to say. You don't have to give a presentation to a board of directors and another CEO in an attempt to branch out your company because sales aren't as high as they could be and your mom found out."

Goten put his arms behind his head as he leaned back in his seat. "I guess but why did you decide to join up with another CEO?"

"Believe me. If I didn't have to get sales up ASAP, I'd be making contacts overseas myself." He shrugged. "But mom wants them up ASAP."

Goten nodded as he looked around again. "I still don't get why you picked this company. Kaiba Corps is all about gaming."

Trunks nodded as he put his papers back in his case. "But it also has around the world contacts and since they only do gaming they'll probably want to branch out now that people have less time and money for gaming."

His friend frowned. "I guess but isn't the CEO supposed to be cold as ice and a perfectionist? How are you going to survive working with him?"

"Actually he's only a pain if you get on his bad side," a female voice said, "which, unfortunately, is easy."

Both men looked up to see a young woman standing in front of them. She smiled and turned to Trunks. "Hello. You have the 3:00 appointment right?"

He nodded as he stood up and shook her hand. "Yeah. My name is Trunks."

"And I'm Goten."

The woman smiled again. "We had a cancelation so if you're ready, Mister Kaiba could see you now."

Trunks nodded. "That'd be awesome."

"Great." She grinned and leaned in while putting her hand to the side of her mouth. "But my advice is to ditch the presentation and just say what you want and foresee," she whispered. "His prototype exploded earlier and he's a bit edgy."

Trunks nodded and turned to Goten. "This shouldn't take too long."

The long haired man nodded with another grin. "I'll wait around and see how things turn out but I have a date at five and today I will get there on time."

Trunks grinned as he started to follow the secretary. "Duly noted."

Within seconds he found himself in a large office. The view from the window was amazing, and with a sigh of relief, Trunks noticed that there was only one other person in the room. As fate would have it, the man standing behind the desk wasn't much older than Trunks but he was also familiar.

As they shook hands, Trunks noticed the barely visible fatigue in the blue eyes and the faint twitch of the man's shoulders as if he was tempted to look behind him. However, Trunks also noticed the almost freakishly neat desk and the way the man didn't even have to look as he reached into his desk to remove a piece of paper and a pen. Finally, when the man introduced himself as Kaiba, Seto, Trunks remembered that he had been locked in a tree house with this man. Sensing that blurting something along those lines would probably get him kicked out of the office and another lecture from his mom, Trunks wisely kept his mouth shut and sat down. Although the idea of having the deal not go through seemed more and more attractive as the man glared at him like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Right off the bat, Kaiba said that he wasn't convinced that capsule technology wasn't as usable as Trunks had claimed. Prepared, Trunks pulled out three capsules and opened them with a simple push of a button. In four small clouds, a cooler, TV, the dragon ball radar, and car appeared in the office. After Kaiba inspected each one, Trunks returned them to capsules just as easily. Convinced, Kaiba then asked why he, a gaming company, would be interested in such a device. When Trunks replied that making gaming more portable would increase sales, Kaiba replied that it would also make the objects easier to lose.

"And then they'll have to buy new ones."

Kaiba nodded but said, "If that's true, then why are the Capsule Corps' sales so low?"

Not wanting to weakened his argument, Trunks moved in his seat to become more comfortable before saying, "If you lose your car, would you really go buy a new one? Plus all capsules come with a case that has a small tracker in it."

Kaiba frowned. "That was not listed in the information you gave me."

"If we are only making one set of capsules for you, then why would we need to make a case for it?"

"And supposing that I decide not to take this deal?"

"If you come out with anything close to a capsule, we will not hesitate to sue you." Trunks leaned back in his chair. "Of course that's assuming you'll waste 10 to 20 years developing it."

Kaiba nodded and Trunks sighed. Now came the part he really hated. Negotiating the price and cut of sales. As Kaiba named his first offer, Trunks stiffened. For a second, he could have sworn that he felt that insanely strong power from on the walk over again. When it vanished, Trunks allowed himself to relax and reply to Kaiba. However, when Kaiba made his next offer, Trunks was once again distracted. Goten's energy, which he was sure had been in the office up to when he felt that power, had vanished. While half of him concentrated on coming to a reasonable deal with Kaiba, the rest focused on trying to find Goten. Figuring that he couldn't have gone far since it was only 2:47, Trunks 'checked' the surrounding blocked but felt nothing.

After a good five minutes, they finally reached a half-way point, and Kaiba pushed the button on the intercom so that his secretary could come in with the proper papers. A couple of seconds passed but the door to the office didn't open. Frowning, Kaiba got up and left the office. Still worried about Goten, Trunks followed, hoping to see where his friend had gone or if he had left a note. Goten and the secretary were nowhere to be seen.

For a few seconds, Kaiba flipped through the papers on the desk before turning to Trunks and saying that he'd send him the necessary paper work when he had it.

Trunks nodded. He had to find Goten, and he had a very strong feeling that he wouldn't find his friend by waiting around Kaiba Corps. However, as he passed where Goten had been sitting, he found a small, heart shaped pendant with a ruby heart in the center on a golden chain. Without really thinking about it, Trunks picked it up, put it in his pocket, and went to find his friend.

Vanishing Aid

This was the last thing he needed, Kaiba thought as he pushed open the door from his office. Takahashi usually was alert and ready whenever he buzzed for her. But of course, the day that he really needed her to be paying attention, she wasn't. Of course, there were other possibilities for why she hadn't come when he had buzzed. The first was that the intercom was not working. (Takahashi had been complaining yesterday that she heard more static than what he said.) The second was that Takahashi was ignoring him in retaliation for not letting her go early. (However that was too childish for her personality.) The third was that she was talking with the man who had came with Trunks and didn't notice the buzz. (Unlikely but possible.) However, the fourth reason seemed most likely. She had left without telling him and ignored him when he told her she couldn't leave early.

Now as he pushed open the door and saw that she was nowhere in sight, he felt his stomach turn over. It looked like she wasn't quite as valuable as he had thought. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to find the paper he wanted, he still tried to locate it in the mess on her desk. When he was proven correct, he turned to Trunks and promised to fax him the information. He barely noticed when the other man agreed and left. Kaiba was too focused on the fact that Takahashi had actually done something so stupid. If she had interrupted the meeting to say that she was leaving, then he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. She could have gotten off scot free. Instead she left without telling him and, mostly likely, was going to be looking for another job tomorrow.

He rubbed at his eyes with one hand as he tried to figure out what she had been thinking. When he removed his hand, he noticed a small necklace sitting on the edge of her desk. It was a small locket on a silver chain with an amethyst heart on it.

Probably some gift from her boyfriend, Kaiba figured. He thought he had told her to keep personal items out of sight so that they wouldn't get taken but Takahashi rarely listened to him, so he wasn't surprised. However, as he walked towards his office a ringing noise distracted him. Turning back to her desk, he noticed her black cell phone sitting on the desk, the screen glowing. Knowing that he was going to regret it, he answered the call.

"Hello?" he said.

The voice on the other end was male and annoyed. "Who are you? Where's Naomi?"

"She isn't here and I'm her boss." He paused before asking, "Can I take a message?"

"For a second there I thought I wasn't the only one cheating. Of course Naomi wouldn't do that. Yes. I was hoping to tell her in person but I guess you'll do. This is Kenta, her boyfriend." The man paused and Kaiba nodded although he was aware the man couldn't see him. "Tell her not to bother coming to airport. I'm going to my girlfriend's."

Kaiba's frown grew. "Pardon?" he said, attempting politeness.

"Just tell her that I'm tried of chasing two girls and I've decided who I'm staying with and it isn't her. Okay?"

"You mean that she isn't with you."

"Why would I be calling her cell if she was with me? I've been waiting for her at the airport with my gal for half an hour. Just give her the message, okay?"

Without answering, Kaiba hit the call end button and closed the phone. If she wasn't with her boyfriend (now was her ex-boyfriend), then where was she and why did she leave her cell behind?

Vanishing Shield

Four months ago spending time alone with Yusuke was a treat. He used to spend hours with his friends, training or just teasing them. Within a normal two weeks, she would probably only be alone with him for an hour total spread out over the period. In an abnormal week, she wouldn't see him at all because he'd be off fighting or solving problems between demons and humans. It wasn't all his fault though. Since going to Dai-ichi School for Girls, her workload had increased greatly. However, as she and he walked side by side down a crowded street, Keiko could see how too much of a good thing was a bad thing.

Yes, Yusuke was trying very hard to be on his best behaviour. He hadn't really caused any trouble or complained while she shopped for groceries and then paused in a jewellery store because she saw some things she thought the other girls would like. He hadn't really started a fight with anyone, and he was walking beside her like a good boyfriend would.

However, either he didn't believe her lie about her dreams or he felt danger coming because every time someone Yusuke didn't know walked by, he would glare at them as if daring the person to make a move. Already he had reduced two middle-school girls to tears, nearly got into a fight with a kid at Kasanegafuchi Junior High, and caused a store owner to kick him out when he started asking another customer odd questions.

Although to be fair, the last person he was glaring at was rather weird. As Yusuke asked him questions about where he was from and what he was doing, the man just kept grinning and looking back and forth between her and Yusuke. Keiko was almost glad when the store owner asked her and Yusuke to leave since Yusuke didn't seem to have any intention to do so. Not that she would ever let him know.

"Yusuke, you can't pick fights with people like that."

He had his arms behind his head and looked across the street as they started to walk back to the Yukimura's restaurant. "Give me a break Keiko. That guy was obviously up to something."

She shook her head. "You aren't a spirit detective anymore. You should just let it go. If that person was a demon, he has a right to be here."

Yusuke glared at her and shook his head. "He wasn't a demon."

"Humans have a right to live too."

He shook his head. "Damn it, Keiko. That guy wasn't normal!"

She glared back at him. "And you are?"

"Hey! We are talking about that weirdo in the store not me!"

Keiko paused to put her key into the lock of her front door. "Sure Yusuke."

Behind her Yusuke let out a growl. "I'm going for a walk!"

Before she could even turn, Yusuke had started walking down the street. Sighing, she walked into her house. It had occurred to her that Yusuke was feeling stressed from being on guard all the time, but she didn't really think that it would affect him so much. Normally, he would just growl and then be quiet for a little while. Of course, maybe he just needed some alone time and some person to fight. Since he had started guarding her three months ago, he hadn't gotten into one fight except for a few training battles.

'He's probably missing it,' she decided as she started to put her groceries away.

Once she had finished, Yusuke hadn't appeared so she decided to wrap the gifts she had gotten for the other girls for White Day. She finished the task quickly and put the gifts into her desk drawer so that she would remember where she had put them.

By then Yusuke still hadn't returned to the house. Starting to get worried, Keiko looked out the window, expecting to see him coming around the corner. Nothing. Rather than wait for him to show up, Keiko slipped back into her shoes, and walked down the way she saw Yusuke go. She half-expected to round the corner and see a trail of unconscious bodies showing where Yusuke had went. Nothing. When she asked one of the storeowners if they had seen him, she said that he had been approached by a young man in black leather with blonde hair.

"They probably went over to the empty lot to fight or something," the woman had said.

Keiko thanked her and quickly went to the lot. The description sounded a little too much like the stranger in the store for her taste. When she arrived at the lot, signs of Yusuke were all over the place. Craters littered the area, showing that Yusuke had been right when he said that the stranger was not normal. But Yusuke was nowhere in sight. Neither was the unconscious body of the man he had been fighting. However, Keiko did find a small pendant with a silver chain with an emerald carved into the shape of a heart on it. Thinking that the other man had dropped it, she picked it up. After all, maybe he would be willing to tell her where Yusuke was if she returned it. However, before she started talking to strangers who were able to beat up Yusuke, who was a level S Demon, she wanted to look for him herself.