Chapter 7
-Jounouchi We Hardly Knew Ye-
As promised, Yami was on his best behavior over dinner but Yugi could see that it was due to some sort of distraction, because of his behavior. Yugi watched Yami shift in his chair and glance at his watch several times. Who was he waiting for? He began to feel a bit jealous; who was it that occupied Yami's time so heavily?
"…that no good cheater." Jou's voice was suddenly loud and it occurred to Yugi that Jou had been talking for some time now. He glanced over at him. "Jesus, I've been talkin' for a half hour and you weren't even listenin' ta me."
"Sorry I was just thinking about something, besides I was there when you caught him." Yugi added, his eyes sliding over to see if Yami was watching. He wasn't. "It was Mai." Yugi told Yami.
"Huh? That's great." Yami said lazily and waved them off as he stood up. "I have something…. I promised I would do." He took a long sip of his drink and headed out the door.
"What's that about?" Yugi asked carefully.
"How come no one ever listens ta me?" Jou pouted, not caring that Yami had just left.
"Maybe if you had anything interesting to say someone would listen, Mutt." Yugi's face paled as he glanced up at Officer Seto Kaiba. Jou clenched his hands around his fountain drink, if it had been a paper cup, Yugi was sure it would have burst. "Your friend sure left quickly. What are you guys up to?"
"What do you care?" Jou snapped.
"Jou…" Yugi looked up at Seto apologetically.
Seto scoffed, "I am doing my job."
"Ha! Your job." Yugi pushed his chair from the table slightly as Jou stood up. "You couldn't catch a thief if he were stealing off your desk in front of ya."
"Oh that's rich, you know I have solved every case I have ever been given."
"Except for one." Jou glared. Yugi watched as Seto took a step back. "Oh, you remember that now, don't ya? I hate you; get out of my fucking sight."
"Jou, please." Yugi grabbed Jou's wrist and pulled him to sit back down.
"Watch what you say to me." Seto said and was out the door in an instant.
Jou sat back in his seat in a huff and glanced over at Yugi. "That guy is a mega prick." Yugi played with his bangs and glanced up at Jou from under his eyebrows. "Anyway, Yami is actin' really strange, isn't he?"
"I'll ask him later." Yugi said and suddenly someone turned up the T.V. in the far corner. Yugi hadn't even noticed it until then. It seemed to be the news.
A recent outbreak of crimes has struck Domino as the Red Letter Gang take over the streets. And the weather report calls for heavy showers…
As the weather report continued, Yugi noticed Jou's body had become tense and his hands practically strangled his drink, he was reacting angrier than he had during the incident with Seto. "Jou, are you alright?"
"I want ta watch that report." he said simply. "You should head on back. Honda will want ta have you around to bring in the cows before it rains."
"You're right. But you'll be going home too, right?"
"Yeah. A bit later." Yugi left Jou knowing that something was up but he didn't want to pressure Jou into telling him.
"Be careful." Yugi whispered and headed out the door.
Jou looked up at the T.V. and his glass finally gave way to the pressure of his hands and cracked slightly. How dare they show their pathetic faces again? Jounouchi finished his drink, left his cash on the table and walked out the door.
Jounouchi looked toward the warehouse district; parts of Domino were slowly drifting into the modern age. The new buildings towered over everything, it was dark and sinister and it was just the place to look. Jou took a breath and started his journey down the street.
He sighed in melancholy as his old life flashed before his eyes, the day of his first initiation into his group, Blue Letter Gang. While most of his gang mates died or were in jail, Jounouchi managed to stay out of the way. Then he met Honda and his life changed.
He smiled. Honda brought him from this dump and gave him a place to stay, then Yami came, then Anzu. They were all happy and when Jou had discovered he had a long lost sister he changed his ways and his family welcomed him back.
They wouldn't take his new life away from him. He would stop the Red Letter Gang; but one thing was bothering him. Why now? Why would they show up now, five years after the both gangs had disbanded? He would find out.
A call for help stopped him. His senses were on high alert. The voice belonged to someone very important.
"Please! Someone help me!"
"Now now, you can stay here and have fun with us or we can take you to our new boss." said another voice.
"Please, stop!"
"You heard him, Valon." Valon turned to face Jounouchi, a smirk plastered on Valon's face. Valon's captive smiled and wiped the tears from his blue eyes.
"Mokuba, you'll be alright now." Jou said.
"This is all my fault! I wanted to come back early and surprise Seto… I should have let him know I was coming. I could have been killed and he would still think I was away."
"Don't worry now, Mokuba." Jou turned his attention to Valon. "Let him go."
"Sorry, my boss asked me to fetch him."
"Your boss? I thought that you were the leader of the Red Letter Gang?"
"Yeah, well we are currently under new management."
"Someone hired you, that's why you are back."
"Aww, and everyone says you aren't that smart." Jounouchi stomped over and grabbed Valon by the collar of his shirt causing the gang member to let go of Mokuba.
"Mokuba, get out of here." Jou said without taking his eyes off of Valon.
"What about you?" asked Mokuba.
"I'll be fine. Go. Seto will be excited to see you. Go." Mokuba nodded and ran out of the alley as fast as he could. "Good, now it's just me and you."
"Let me go, Katsuya." It was a warning.
Officer Seto Kaiba sat at his desk looking over the details of the case before him, one dead wife and a suspected husband who had vanished. That damned group of vigilantes must have taken key evidence. He placed his forehead in his hands and let out a long sigh. It was all because of his first case; the case Jounouchi was referring to at the diner.
It was a cloudy and dark day like this one. Seto had climbed his way up the ranks to Detective in only a year; though, according to the other officers it was due to his rich family. Seto hated them. What he accomplished he accomplished on his own. He didn't want his success defined by his asshole stepfather's fortune. No, it was time for Seto to prove himself and that is why he left the station that day.
As his car pulled up to the remains of what was once a house, he spotted two people speaking to another officer. One was a young man about his own age and a younger girl perhaps only five years younger; being that they looked alike in many ways, Seto assumed the two were siblings. The young man was gesturing with his hands while the girl cried.
Seto finally saw fit to get out of his car, he strode over to the two and watched them for a moment.
"We were at the corner store when we heard da blast. Can ya just tell us if our parents are safe? Please we don't know where dey are."
"What's going on here?" Seto finally said.
"Seto, about time you showed up. These kids are key witnesses to the explosion." A random officer said. Seto didn't know his name, he didn't bother with friends when there was work to do.
To this day Seto couldn't remember the officer's name and it still didn't matter. Seto reached in his top drawer and pulled out the crime scene photos of his first case. Katsuya and Shizuka Jounouchi stood near the house they had grown up in. A mad man had targeted their father for unpaid loans, or at least that's what was determined at the time.
Seto pulled out pieces of an old note written on Industrial Illusions paper, it had been attached to the bomb. He knew he never should have shown it to Jou, but the boy was breaking down in front of him. Now, Jou made it his life's work to catch Pegasus. This irked Seto to no end, it was his case. Pegasus was his to catch. Jounouchi was always in the way! He snarled and shoved the case evidence back into his drawer. What was important was the case in front of him.
"Seto!" Seto looked up, his eyes wide. His brother was out of town, no, he was standing right there in front of him. "Seto, Jounouchi is in trouble!"
"What?" Seto stood up and walked over to his brother, he was frantic. "Mokuba calm down. What happened? Why are you back so early?"
"Look, don't get mad but I was helping Yami and the others." Seto clenched his jaw. Traitor, he thought. "They needed me to translate a map for them. Anyway that's not why I am here. I came back early because I got a call from someone about the map I translated, I thought it could help Yami out so I came back early to meet the guy." Mokuba took a breath; he was swaying from one foot to the other. "The next thing I knew I am being thrown into the back of a limo. They were trying to kidnap me."
"Who was it?" Seto snarled.
"Red Letter Gang."
"What? They have already disbanded." Seto leaned on his desk.
"I don't know, I think the guy who called me about the map hired them. It doesn't matter. They took me to the Warehouse District and were going to kill me, but Jounouchi stopped their leader. He's there now, fighting him, but I am afraid that the others will gang up on him. You have to help him."
"I will Mokuba, stay here and lock the door." Seto grabbed his coat and was out the door in an instant. Leave it to the Mutt to get into trouble.
Dammit. He couldn't run any faster, the knife in his hand dripping with blood making a path, they would find him but he couldn't get rid of the evidence. His prints would be on the knife and given his record he wasn't inclined to believe that the judge would go easy on him or hear him out for that matter.
Running, all Jounouchi had done his entire life. He ran from his sister when their parents were murdered by Pegasus. He ran from the truth whenever Pegasus got away. He was in a gang, he ran from cops and victims. It was all he knew and he was good at it. Except… except for now.
Jounouchi grabbed hold of the chain link fence in front of him. Shit, this was the end. Who would find him first: the cops or Valon's followers? Jou turned around, leaning back against the chainlink fence behind him, ready to face his pursuer.
"Figures we'd meet like this. What have you gotten yourself into now?" Jou's eyes went wide, he knew that voice. Seto Kaiba was right behind him on the other side of the fence. He was finished.
"I didn't do it… he pulled the knife, I defended myself. I stabbed him…."
"No one is going to buy that. No one thinks a no-good street punk is gonna do the right thing. No, you murdered him." Jou leaned back against the fence; he never looked over his shoulder.
"I know that."
"Pass the knife through the fence; I'll get rid of it."
"Wh…" It took Jou a moment to think about what Seto had just said. This was a man so in tune with the law that he would stop jay walkers. This was a man who hated every fiber of Jou's existence. "Why are you helping me?"
"I won't repeat myself. Hand it to me or face the death penalty." Jou didn't need any more incentive than that. He was more than happy to face up to his own crimes but this… this was not his fault. He handed the bloody knife to the capable hands of Detective Seto Kaiba. Jou finally looked behind him and caught sight of those piercing blue eyes.
"Thank you."
"Shut up. I am only repaying you for helping my little brother. And if you tell anyone about this, I can assure you, you will be facing something much worse than the death penalty." With that, Seto walked out of the alley on his side of the fence. "There is no one down here, boys. Let's keep searching." Seto said. Then his voice was gone.
Jou closed his eyes and slid down the fence; the rain came down like clockwork. He let the water wash the blood from his clothes and his face. He leaned his head back and looked up at the sky. Rain fell onto his cheeks, mixing with his warm tears. Would his life always be this way? Cold, dark, unloved and forgotten?
