Disclaimer : I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, GX or 5Ds in any way, shape or form.

Warnings : AU, violence, gore, death, racism, torture, yaoi, mpreg. Rated M for mature.

Year of The Dragon

Arc 1 : Legend of Red-Eyes

Chapter 3 : Sticking Together

Even though the mutt was ever present on his mind, he somehow managed to maintain his focus as they grilled him for information. Apparently, when the old woman had called authorities, they had contacted some other agency which was apparently responsible for these…unusual cases. Cases, he came to find out, were referred to as dragonkin and Dragon-Blight. If there was some established center to go to concerning this matter, then Jonouchi was not an isolated incident though they were probably infrequent enough to be so far off the radar that it had evaded his notice.

Despite threats to sue them back to the stone age, they had badgered him into an examination before they declared that despite a scratch, he was Blight free. Now they were asking him anything and everything about Jonouchi. Where would he run, where would he hide, how dangerous was he, was he feral, what was his level of intelligence, who else would he go to. It was likely they would now be watching him like hawks, waiting for the blond to possibly reach out to him again.

As she and her employees called her, Dragonstalker Sunako, a tall and willowy Japanese woman with waves of curled black hair as dark as her lips and eyes joined him in a white walled room devoid of decoration besides a stainless steel table and matching chairs for further discussions once the initial drilling was done by her cohorts. When he heard the self-appointed title, he wanted to scoff and mock her, but his presence there with a dragonkin had him looking suspect and he couldn't afford to be immediately off-putting, his lack of answers would probably be damning enough. Placing a glass of water before him, she slid into the sleek steel chair on the opposing side of the table. He took notice that she looked less than pleased with him and his reported tightlipped answers.

"You've wasted precious hours of my time here…Are we quite done yet?" The brunette growled at the dark haired woman with the pale chiseled features, picking up the glass of water they had finally decided to give him after what felt like forever. She was rather dangerous looking herself, he noted. Her black leather ensemble sported an impressive cache of weapons, from knifes to handguns. It made him wonder as he drank some of the water, how many of those items on her person had she used on others since her company had started its work.

Sunako glared at him maliciously, pegging him as a sympathizer with the animals she had tasked herself with rounding up. Seto Kaiba. She had hoped he was infected, it would have given her some pleasure to see him dragged through the rigors of their testing and experimenting. "Now, Kaiba-sama, I know you have some manner of dragon fetish…But these animals aren't something to idolize. If they get out of hand, humanity will eventually die out. And they will go with us…They lack females, they can't make them, they'll never reproduce because they aren't viable with human women. The only way to make more is by going around biting people. We can't have that. We can't have any running free, and that includes your boy toy."

"Tch, that idiot isn't my boy toy." Even though the comment should have made him angrier, for some reason it didn't but he couldn't dwell on it for now. Why couldn't women become dragonkin let alone breed with them? He recalled Jonouchi's missing navel. Perhaps that was why, technically it was two different species, but that hardly explained why women did not change. To his surprise, she wasn't withholding as much as he expected. Then again, he was notorious in his skill with computers. Perhaps she figured what he couldn't scavenge off the internet, he would from their databases via hacking. Even with what she was willing to provide, he was mentally making plans to hack their company's systems, if not to glean more information…then to possibly destroy their databanks out of sheer spite and disgust. "You're being rather straight forward with your information…"

"I do my research. You have a few hacking loops in your belt of infinite infamy and I will inform you now that K-Tech's online security is quite resilient. And even if you were to set about somehow wreaking havoc, it will in no way hinder us."

K-Tech, or Knightly Technologies, was a small but growing company that worked with reigning in the strange new epidemic, or so they called it. Kaiba was pleased that he had been right in thinking Jonouchi was not a lone case, but the fact that there was a company reaping in the benefits by basically committing genocide disgusted him beyond belief. As if to further impress something on him, perhaps intimidate him even, they had walked him through the facilities. What he had seen had been horrific…Dragonkin were stuffed in cages with no more than a foot or two worth of space to squirm around. Many of them were bloodied and bruised up, some missing their newly grown limbs among other things, like an eye, claws or teeth. What had hurt the most to look at was one dragonkin in the laboratories. The poor bastard was obviously dead if the glazed over, unblinking stare was anything to go by…The rib cage was pried wide open was another obvious factor as one of the technicians examined the remains. He was thankful it wasn't someone he recognized as they moved on. It was apparent K-Tech was harvesting various materials from them to study, they were most likely examining everything about this Dragon-Blight phenomenon down to the cellular level in order to manufacture some manner of anti-virus. The way they went about it though…it turned his stomach. He wondered whether this was a government sanctioned operation or if it was some covert radical group who were taking the mantle of humanity's saviors undo themselves with the misguided belief that what they were doing was right. The only thing he could give them credit for doing right was how well they hid their activities.

"When you say they can't make females, what exactly do you mean?"

"Well, Mr. Kaiba, if one were to come up and bite me, in the end I would either wind up crippled in some way or dead. It has an adverse effect on women." She refrained from pointing out that they were studying said effect to determine if there was a way to counter or protect from the Blight. "Now…Back to the matter of your wayward friend…"

"I've told you all I know. So deal with it." Kaiba scowled, glowering at her. "And even if I knew more, I wouldn't tell a bunch of sadists like you anyway."

"We are ensuring the continuity of our species, Kaiba-sama. I work for the people…including you, even if you're too much of a dracophile to appreciate all we do. The means will justify the end when we succeed in purging the Blight off the face of the planet."

"And why this way?" The brunette scowled, his tone demanding and angry. He lowered the glass slightly, leaning forward. While Kaiba was not exactly a gentlemen by any means, he typically adhered to what seemed like a cardinal rule that hitting women was not a good thing to do. But he could turn beating Sunako black and blue into a hobby he'd enjoy as much as Duel Monsters. "You can't tell me there wasn't some humane alternative to explore. You can't sit there and lie through your teeth and expect me to believe that kidnapping and murdering these people is ultimately for the greater good…There's nothing good about what you do here."

There was a subtle twitch in her brow and he had a feeling she was fighting the urge to fling the table aside and show him how she dealt with dragonkin herself with every fiber of her being. Standing as a sign that she was done with him, her dark grey eyes shifted towards the glass of water which was now half empty and she gave him a calm yet dark smirk. "You're free to go now…"

Seto sat the drink down, eying her warily. His eyes flicked towards the glass then back to her before he stood up with his briefcase in hand. Something about that look in her eye was raising red flags for him but he couldn't place why. Whatever it was, the damage was probably already done. "Hmph. You'll be hearing from my lawyers soon enough."

"I look forward to it." The Dragonstalker chuckled lightly, watching the irritable CEO leave the room with two of her knights escorting him away. Once he was gone, her smirk faded as unmitigated hatred filled her eyes. If there wasn't something she hated more than a lizard, it was a damned sympathizer and lover of lizards. Sitting on the edge of the bolted down table, she lifted her wrist to adjust something on her watch. 'In two week, Kaiba-sama, I'll be paying you a visit…'


Jonouchi's nap had been relatively short lived, woken up by the furious rustling of flora and the occasional flash of light that swung by. Holding himself down low, his crimson streaked brown eyes darted back and forth. The sun was in the midst of heading down, bathing the remaining daylight orange. It left just enough light in the thick forest for him to see several of the heavily armed goons from earlier stalking around, flashlights in one hand and handguns in the other. 'Mallorean Arms Gunblades? Ouch…' He squinted at the coat of arms patches on their shoulders. Their attire was similar to swat cops, though the shoulders looked much more like plate and their helmets reminded him of knightly helms. 'Huh. Never seen that before…' Definitely not cops, they had to be something worse. When one seemed to turn in his direction, he bowed his head down, pretending to be part of the foliage and lifted his head back up when it felt safe. Once night fell, it would be nearly impossible for them to find him but he wasn't sure he could wait that long.

'Shit…' There was always the option to go down fighting. That was not an appealing idea. Never mind whether he had to kill them or not, he just didn't want to die. Before he could further ponder that option, a heavy, spastic rustle of leaves broke him out of his frightened worrying. The grunts froze, all aiming in the direction of the noise before they started to rush in that direction, barking commands back and forth. 'Fuckin' sweet…!'

Once they had moved far away enough, Jonouchi took advantage of the distraction and bolted from his hiding spot to charge off in a different direction. They must have heard him, as there were shouts and gunfire. Thankfully, running on all four put him at a hell of an advantage, letting him put some considerable distance between himself and them despite some of his old injuries flaring up painfully. Deciding this time that he did not have the luxury of rest, he maneuvered through the woods, heading for a place he could hide that wasn't as out in the open. Getting inside would be hard…But hopefully Gramps had closed shop early.

Scrambling through the woods that began to thin out the further he went, he eventually came to the portions that had become the park. Yugi's was just across the way, but he knew he couldn't go springing over until it was dark enough. Much to his chagrin, he was shaking from fear and adrenaline, hunching down in the bushes. He turned his head from left to right, checking for any activity. So far, it seemed fairly dead in the area with a few pedestrians here and there. Once it was dark enough that the street lights would soon kick on and no one was looking, Jonouchi vaulted across the pavement to clamor up against the back door of the shop house. With trembling hands, he tried to open the door, finding it locked. 'I ain't got time for this!' Snarling, he turned the knob hard enough that the locking mechanism gave way. Jonouchi practically threw himself in and kicked the door shut behind him, panting and shivering on the floor. It was almost tempting to kiss the linoleum under his face, he was so glad to be there.

"Is…someone there?" Came a confused but familiar voice. Yugi, who was back for a short visit, stepped into the kitchen doorway from the hallway, drawn by the commotion. He had been busy doing some studying while manning the store counter when he heard the door open and slam shut in the back. His voice had deepened to sound much more like Atem's and he had even gained a few inches as well as muscle. Blinking with wide, slightly more narrowed purple eyes, he looked around, having expected it to be his mother but saw no one there. He jumped back as his old friend's head quickly poked up from behind the counter. "Oh…! Geez, Jonouchi! Give me a heart attack why…do you have horns? And pointy ears?"

Tiredly, Jonouchi tilted his head so his cheek rested on the counter. "Look, it's a long story, Yugi…Could you do me, ah, a few favors?"

"Um…" Tentatively, the King of Games circled the counter for a better look and his jaw went slack. That was either a really awesome costume or something went horribly wrong. His eyes were almost as wide as plates as he looked over the changes. Clamping his mouth shut, Yugi managed to compose himself. It seemed Jonouchi needed help so he had no time to sit there gawking. Even so, he moved closer but very slowly. "Okay…What?"

"First, I got shot a couple times and it hurts like a bitch-"

"SHOT? What-!"

"So I need some medical assistance. Second, I kinda need to, uh, hide here for a while. And lastly, I need ya to call Kaiba-"

"What does Kaiba have to do with this?"

"-and make sure he's okay."

Why did he need to make sure Kaiba was okay? Now he was doubly concerned. But the first thing on his list was to take care of Jonouchi. Yugi combed his fingers through his wild hair. "Okay, okay, okay…Just, geez, I…Look, let's deal with your injuries first." Words could not describe how confused and flustered he was feeling as he warily approached his transformed friend, who started to use the counter to lift himself off the floor. He ushered the blond upstairs to attempt using the bathroom, but to his shock it was hard enough for Jonouchi to get up the narrow staircase let along properly fit into the bathroom with him as well. Yugi's home wasn't exactly spacious for the likes of the blond. So instead he had the dragonkin sit in his room while he brought a large bowl of water, towels, disinfectant and bandages as well as a pair of tweezers. Thankfully, Yugi only had to pry out a few bullets, a couple were much too deep. Occasionally, he found himself flinching back from the inhuman yowls Jonouchi gave when he had to pull one out. While he worked, the whole story was divulged, leaving him worried about Kaiba as well now.

"There…Just relax here, Jo. I'll go call Kaiba, then I'll bring something for you to eat…" Leaving his friend to curl up where he was once the last bandage was wrapped, Yugi tore down the stairs for the kitchen. He hurriedly snatched up the phone there and dialed Kaiba's cell number. His right foot bounced on the heel rapidly as he placed his free hand on his hip, fingers drumming while he waited for a pick-up which came after a few rings. Yugi smiled with some relief. "Kaiba?"

The CEO's voice answered him, the same gravelly sound he remembered, it was almost nice to hear him again even if the likelihood of him saying something snide was high. "Did your dog come home?"

Yugi tilted his head, blinking with a confused frown. What dog was he talking about? He didn't have a dog he was aware of. Maybe he had been expecting another call and didn't realize it was him seeing as his own voice had deepened a little. "Wha…Kaiba, it's Yugi."

"I am aware of that, caller ID is a wonderful thing, you know. Now…did that golden retriever of yours that went missing show up or not?"

"…"

"Honestly…"

"Oh, oooooh…" He had wondered what was with the question and the CEO's tone which was now exasperated, but he still didn't understand why Kaiba wasn't directly asking him about Jonouchi. That didn't stop him from feeling silly that he hadn't caught on immediately. Still, he played along with the conversation, rubbing the back of his neck uncertainly as he answered. "Yeah, Bingo made it home. Never thought I'd see him again and all that. Y-"

"Good, that means you don't have to pester me anymore. Keep your dog on a tighter leash next time." Yugi blinked as Kaiba hung up on him. That was weird. With a sigh, he pressed the back of the hand holding the phone against his brow as his shoulders slumped. The entire situation was weird and he wasn't sure how he was supposed to sit there and explain it to his grandpa or his mother. Putting the phone back in place, he made himself busy with fixing Jonouchi a plate of food to take upstairs, deliberating on what they would wind up doing next. If what the blond said was accurate, and Kaiba's evasive questions concerning said blond, were anything to go by then the people that had been hunting for him would be keeping their eyes peeled. 'I guess normalcy is too much to ask for, huh?' This was one of those times he wished the Pharaoh was still with him. This was a 'Let him deal with it' situation if there ever was one.


"Seto, you don't look so well…"

If it was anyone other than his little brother, then he would be tempted to snap at him for stating the obvious. Regardless, the brunette leaned over to look at himself in the reflective metal surface of a nearby pillar, adjusting his azure blue tie as he did so. Most of the color had drained from his skin, leaving him very pale save the reddened coloring around his eyes. His head was plagued with a dull ache as was the whole of his body. 'It isn't…Or could it be?' Perhaps that was the witch's little ploy. She had given him water spiked with Blight. That had to be it. A newfound lightheadedness overcame him as anxiety caused his stomach to twist in knots. As if he didn't already have enough to worry about, now there was this. 'They kept droning on and on about bites being the only thing that transmitted it…'

Apparently that was not the case and he had a suspicion he was the test subject.

'Tch! How hypocritical! Oh by all means, purge the Blight but turn around and infect someone on purpose?' Obviously he had rubbed her the wrong way enough to make that the case. Even though he was not wholly certain it was Blight, he knew he would have to proceed as if it were, which meant he would be hearing from K-Tech soon enough. If he had to give his foe more credit than he cared for, then he was inclined to say they must have figured he would not be a feral, run amok biter. 'No, they know I'll take precautions once it dawns on me that I'm infected. Clever worms.'

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to take down K-Tech as soon as he wanted or now needed. As planned, he had hacked into their systems, it proved a mild challenge at best, and was now as knowledgeable about dragonkin as they were which wasn't by much but it was vast compared to before. As much as he wanted to thrash their systems and delete their files, deleting the files would accomplish little if they had back-ups as he suspected. But that didn't stop him from leaving them a little present of a nasty little virus. Or two. Or three. The more the merrier in his opinion, provided it wasn't his system.

Legally, he had lawyers working diligently to dismantle the small company but apparently the legal battlefield was a difficult one to conquer. Sunako was apparently a cagey opponent and she was diligent in covering every track possible. It made him question whether the operation was government sanctioned even more. A covert operation with minimal press or an operation that was keeping the inhumane activities it performed in the dark to avoid ruffling its supporter's feathers.

At least there was one blessing he could count and it was that Jonouchi had found a safe haven somewhere. It seemed that he had managed to make his way over to Yugi's, even though with how thorough K-Tech was, that would not prove safe for long either. He had wanted to speak with his old rival at length and maybe even reconnect after so long; however he didn't want to send K-Tech sniffing in their direction. They didn't need any assistance there. He didn't put the remote possibility of phone bugs past them, no matter how unlikely though they had confiscated his phone and had probably done something to it. That being the case, personal and business matters were going to be very limited until he disposed of it and picked up a new line and phone.

As interested as he was to see what sort of half-dragon he would turn into, the alarming prospect of K-Tech on his heels overshadowed it. Technically, he had seen them in action when they stormed Jonouchi's apartment. They weren't exactly stealthy. But coming after a wealthy CEO would be much more challenging than a run of the mill mongrel. Not to mention, Jonouchi had been unaware while he himself had foresight. He could plan accordingly or at least try, as he wasn't sure what their game play was in regards to someone knowledgeable with the money to put up a defense of any sort.

"Seto?" His silence seemed to be making his brother worry a little more. Looking over at him, the brunette took a moment to take in how much Mokuba had grown. He did that often, but something about doing it now felt more…wistful than anything. Like a weed, he had sprung up in height rather well. His long, black hair was still an unruly mess. Usually it was pulled back in a somewhat tasteful ponytail when he had to do work in the rebuilt Kaiba Corp. tower. Since they were at KaibaLand, Mokuba didn't see the need for it to be up. His taste in clothing had matured slightly, less sloppy striped sweater and more business casual with an emphasis on casual. "Are you okay? You look like you need some rest."

"…" Having not told him about Jonouchi and the related events recently, Seto pondered how he would set about doing so. Not to mention, he glanced around at the park goers and his own men, such a public place was not the right setting to go around declaring one might be Blighted, even if most of them wouldn't understand. It pained him to add any of his problems to his brother's plate, but with what was involved, he had no choice. Now that he might become a dragonkin, he couldn't properly run Kaiba Corp. in the light of day anymore. Of course, he would be just fine managing well behind the scenes and out of sight, but the burden of putting in face time would fall to Mokuba now. "…Walk with me, Mokuba. I have a lot of deep information to go over with you."

When that was said and he shot them a look, his men knew that was when they were meant to give the brothers ample speaking distance, though they never left their sights. He and his brothers walked through the park in silence, at a slower pace than the younger Kaiba was used to since his brother wasn't putting on his long, swift gait like he normally did. That only happened when his brother was tired, if even then. Entering a section that the park goers were restricted from and ensuring they were alone and unheard, Seto stopped leading Mokuba along to face him with his arms crossed. With his ill look, it wasn't as imposing a stance as it should have been, further cementing that something was wrong. Despite his brother's observations into his less regal state, Seto fixed him with a weary stare, azure eyes half-closed. "Mokuba, have you heard much about something called Dragon-Blight?"

"Um, no. I heard there's some weird virus going around and people go missing after they get it for some reason but that's about all I know about it." The younger Kaiba's brows knit together as he studied his brother. There wasn't a heap of coverage on the virus or how it spread, but there were warnings to avoid things that appeared incredibly unusual as well as to avoid wilder areas around the cities. That had not been much to work with. "Is that the name of it? You have it? What happened?"

"…I think so. At the very least, I am going to prepare as if I do."

"Prepare?"

"It's not fatal as far as I know, but it has extreme effects. That's not what I'm worried about though…The reason people who have it go missing is because some institution is taking the liberty of plucking them out of the public eye in order to cull the virus. If I'm sick with it, it's because one of their leaders purposely infected me through a means the virus isn't conventionally transmitted. If that is the case…"

"They'll come after you." And to get at Seto, people often went through Mokuba. When his brother nodded, the dark haired teen scowled. Apparently they couldn't catch a break, even with something that wasn't tied directly to the company itself or its past. "But why would they infect you on purpose? For some sort of example?"

"I think a vendetta." The brunette sighed. "When they dragged me off to their facility for questioning, I had gone to Jonouchi's to see why he had been avoiding my calls. It turned out he had the virus and had suffered its effects. K-Tech had been called and they stormed the apartment to get him, however he fled. They tried to grill me for information on him, but I was less than cooperative and I believe it pissed their leader off enough that she would resort to such a low blow. That and maybe my critique of her operations…"

Mokuba scoffed, smiling with a soft laugh at his brother's triumphant smirk despite the severity of the situation. Trust Seto to be his smug self even while being ill from such a low tactic as poisoning. Quickly, he got serious again. He didn't know what K-Tech was, what they did or why they felt the need to target his brother…but he made a mental note to find some way of getting even for what they did. Now, however, he was concerned for his brother's wellbeing. Revenge would come later. "What did the virus do to Jonouchi? It doesn't sound like something bad if he's all right. Or is he?" For the blond's sake, as well as his brother's, he hoped so.

"Healthier than ten horses, I wager. The virus mutates an individual into some sort of dragon-like humanoid, and painfully from the look of Jonouchi and his apartment floor. Interestingly enough, it's a Duel Monster dragon. Jonouchi's features bore a resemblance to the Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon."

"Wha…Serious?"

That would explain why his brother wasn't so alarmed with being sick then, if anything he was probably looking forward to it. His brother confirmed with another nod, leaving him to digest that information for a moment as the other Kaiba continued. "I have a general timeline as to when the most severe effects take place and roughly how long it takes to finish…But we'll have to take measures to guard against K-Tech, whether they opt to use force or stealth, to come after me. I have absolutely no intention of being taken to that hell hole alive…"

Mokuba's dark blue eyes flashed as he looked up at his brother from his thinking. He wasn't sure what the facility Seto had seen was like, but he didn't like the sound of any of it. If his brother would rather die than go there, it was anything but good. Now he was feeling tired, worn out by this information and by the terrible fear for his brother. It was so much to process and it opened the way to so much work ahead that he suspected they had limited time to do it in. He reached up, rubbing his eyelids with a sigh. 'Soooo much work…'

Seto's brows knit together slightly, looking somewhat disturbed. He knew this was all a bit much to press on his brother's shoulders and he hated it. Going the ordeal alone would be much more ideal, but it seemed unlikely he could do that and there was too much risk trusting anyone besides his brother. Slowly, ignoring the dizzy feeling in his head, the brunette uncrossed his arms to lower them at his sides. "I'm sorry, Mokuba, this-"

"No. You didn't do anything wrong, Seto." No, the person who infected his brother…They were the one who had to be sorry. Dropping his hand, he reached out and grabbed his brother's wrist to pull him along. The older Kaiba blinked at him, looking slightly surprised but he didn't argue with the gesture. Maybe he was too tired or already in enough dull pain that it became a trivial matter. He planned on taking him home so they could start preparing for the worst of it all. Mokuba wanted to make sure he would be able to make the whole process as painless as possible as well as make sure they were ready for whatever K-Tech decided to throw at them to get Seto. "You've spent your whole life taking care of me, now it's time for me to take care of you…And trust me, Seto, they'll find out I'm not as easy to fuck with as I used to be."

End of chapter 3