Disclaimer:
Guess what?? I STILL don't own Yugioh! Can you believe it??Author's Notes:
Everybody seems to have reacted positively to the "God" references...I thank you for that! Also, as usual, thank you to all the reviewers, and my beta reader Hyatt Insomnia!Warnings:
Mild violence and language, so far.Listening With The Heart
Chapter Seven: Speed Bumps on The Road of Life
The man who had tried to kill Kaiba and ended up shooting Joey instead was now deceased. He had killed himself. In his suicide note he stated the reason why he had tried to shoot Kaiba is because he felt that Kaiba had ruined his life. He also apologized to "the kid who got shot." Kaiba was disgusted when he heard the news. The man had committed a crime, and now he was blaming Kaiba for it. Typical, thought Kaiba, Can't take responsibility for your own actions, even in death.
Joey was now living with Yugi and his Grandpa. They had fixed up a spare bed that they had. Yugi and Joey now shared a room. Yugi was thrilled with the arrangement, but Joey was not so sure about it. He sometimes felt like he was intruding. Not that the Motous had ever made him feel that way. On the contrary, they went out of their way to make sure he felt welcomed in their home. They had even thrown a party for him when he was finally released from the hospital. Even so, there were times Joey's insecurities would get the best of him, and he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to be living with the Motous. But he didn't want to go back to his father, either. So Joey stayed.
At least they didn't have the burden of trying to pay for Joey's hospital bills. Kaiba had offered to pay all expenses associated with Joey's care. He felt he owed the blonde haired youth at least that much. He was a man who hated to be indebted to anyone. The only problem was....how do you ever manage to pay back someone who took a bullet for you? Even paying Joey's hospital bills didn't seem like enough.
Kaiba had thought about that night several times. He ran it over and over again in his mind. He had asked himself the question if the shoe had been on the other foot, would he have done the same thing that Joey had? For Mokuba, he would. He would do anything for his little brother. But for Joey? He honestly didn't know if he would.
Kaiba had never been very nice to Joey. It actually amused him how easy it was to get a rise out of the boy. But since that night......it just didn't seem very amusing to him anymore. If someone had treated him the way he had treated Joey, would he want to save them? Hell, no! He would probably want to make some popcorn and have a ringside seat to watch them getting what he would have felt was their just desserts. Joey had reacted a total 180 from the way Kaiba would have acted. For some unexplained reason, this bothered Kaiba to no end. He'd said it himself....he wasn't like most people, so why should be expected to act like most people? It still ate away at him. Why the hell would a person save someone that was supposed to be their enemy?? He had been taught by his foster father that an enemy was something to be defeated at the very least, preferably to be crushed if you could. It was this philosophy that had catapulted Kaiba Corp. to the top, leaving all its competition in the dust.
The only place he had ended up coming in second best was in Duel Monsters. He once was the World Champion. But now, Yugi Motou had taken that title away from him. Being second best was unacceptable in his eyes. He would defeat Yugi one day, just as he had defeated all his other enemies. Including his foster father. Yes, Gozaburo had taught him well. He had taught him so well, that he had been able to defeat one of his greatest enemies...Gozaburo Kaiba himself.
He smiled. He couldn't wait for the day when he would utterly crush Yugi and regain his title as the number one duelist in all the world.
Is that what's really important in life?
He blinked. Where the HELL had THAT thought come from??
Damn it.
If anyone was going to save him that night, why of all people did it have to be Joey Wheeler?? Then he wouldn't be thinking about these things right now. Even if it had been a business associate, he could understand. It would be someone who would stand to lose something if he got killed or hurt. He tried to reason that perhaps Joey wanted to get money out of him. That would be sufficient motivation. But there was a problem with that....Joey had never asked him for money. He had even seemed hesitant to accept Kaiba's offer to pay for his hospital bills. Joey finally told him he would accept it because he didn't want to take a chance that with Yugi's Grandpa being his legal guardian he would get stuck paying for the bills. Which lead to another point....Yugi had won three million dollars in Duelist Kingdom, so why was money such a problem?
Kaiba had decided not to ask, but rather to investigate the matter himself. What he found out had utterly shocked and amazed him. Yugi had given the money to Joey. It wasn't as though Yugi and his father had money to begin with.....but to give three million dollars to someone after you had to prove yourself to be one of the top duelists in the world to get it??
Joey, in turn, had ended up giving the money to his mother and sister. Apparently, she was losing her eyesight, and needed an operation. Since it was a rare condition that his sister had, the insurance wouldn't cover it. Joey had used the money to get his sister one of the best eye surgeons in the world. He had him flown in especially from the Mayo clinic in the United States. The operation had been successful, so Kaiba knew that Joey no longer needed money for that purpose. Was there something else he needed money for?
Kaiba felt a strange tugging at his heart. It had been so long since he had felt anything in his heart, aside from his love for Mokuba. But all of these thoughts in his head had started to stir him up.
He knew, somehow he KNEW Joey didn't do it for money.
"Damn it," Kaiba murmured softly, "I'm losing my mind."
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A pounding at the door awakened Yugi and Joey. Joey looked over at the clock on the nightstand. "Geez, it's two in the morning; who the hell...?"
"Open up in there! I know you've got my son!" Joey froze. He would recognize that drunken voice anywhere. He'd had enough nights of hearing it. Yugi sat straight up in bed eyes open wide. "Oh my god, Joey is that...?"
"I said, open up! Or I'll knock the door down!" Even more violent banging ensued. "Do you hear me??"
The two boys stared at each other. They were literally frozen with fright. Both of them nearly jumped out of their skins when the door to their bedroom opened. Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God it's you, Grandpa."
Solomon Motou held a cordless phone in his hand. "I'm on the phone with the police. I don't want either of you boys going downstairs, is that understood?" The two nodded.
The pounding on the door continued. Suddenly, there was one final loud crack. They heard someone running up their stairs.
Solomon immediately jumped up and locked the door to the boy's bedroom. "Hurry!", he shouted into the phone. "The intruder has just broken into the house!"
"NO!", Joey cried, "I can't risk either on of you getting hurt!" He jumped out of bed and ran to the door. Solomon blocked it. "You can't go out there, Joey.", he said firmly.
Joey's father had now reached the bedroom door and started pounding on it. "Let me in there! Or do I have to knock down this door, too!!??"
Joey looked at the elder Motou sadly. "I'm sorry, Gramps," he whispered. He grabbed Solomon and literally threw him on Yugi's bed. The blonde then whirled around and unlocked the door. He quickly slipped out, shutting it behind him.
He was face to face with the man he had desperately hope he would never see again. His father. "All right, all right, I'm here! Whaddya what?"
Joey's father roughly grabbed him by the arm, and began dragging him down the stairs. "You're coming with me, you ungrateful little punk!"
Yugi and his grandfather rushed out of the bedroom. "Unhand him!" Solomon shouted. Joey's father ignored him and dragged him towards the door. Just before they left, Joey looked back one more time at the horror-stricken faces of Grandpa and Yugi. "Joey!" Yugi cried.
Joey's father threw him into his car. He heard the police sirens coming down the street. He quickly jumped in the car and took off at full speed into the dark night.
Yugi ran outside screaming after the fleeing car. "Joey! NO!"
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Hee...Hee...Sorry...I know it's a cliffhanger...I like to call them evil cliffys......*ducks rotten tomatoes*
Please read and review! Arigato!
