Chapter 21: Turmoil

"I must say, I wasn't expecting this," Ogata commented as he entered the dojo, soundlessly gliding over the wood floor as he approached Kaiba.

Rather than saying anything, Kaiba answered with his fist as he lashed out at Ogata the instant he was within range. Ogata dodged, immediately going on the defensive from the first volley of attacks, blocking punches and kicks as Kaiba attacked. Only once he saw an opening did Ogata return the favor, kicking out at Kaiba hard enough to drive him back to form a bit of distance between them so he could regroup. "Hell of a hello, Seto," Ogata teased, his chuckle ending in a grunt when Kaiba landed another blow to his stomach. "Come on, say something."

"Shut the fuck up and fight me," Kaiba growled as he started another round of attack, viciously going for Ogata's weak points and hoping it would inspire the older man to come at him just as hard.

Figuring that there would be time for words after they were both too exhausted to continue the physical fight, Ogata obliged his boss and started his counterattack. Setting a brutal pace, Ogata was shocked when he realized how many of his blows were landing. He experimentally threw a punch that he knew Kaiba could easily block, but there was only a half-hearted attempt to block it. Ogata was immediately suspicious and he wondered what was going on to make his boss act out in such a way. "What happened?" Ogata questioned, earning him a hard kick for his efforts.

"Nothing that concerns you," Kaiba snapped, displeased that Ogata had slowed down to start talking again.

"That's almost as weak as your left hook," Ogata insulted, earning him a defiantly hard punch from Kaiba's left fist just to prove otherwise. "Did you find out something about Yami?"

"I'm not here to talk about that," Kaiba spat, forcing Ogata to once again go on the defensive to stop him from running his mouth off further.

"Obviously," Ogata dryly replied before returning the favor and trying to do a sweeping kick to throw Kaiba off-balance. Kaiba jumped away from it and did a back handspring out of it with such grace that Ogata was convinced his boss was showing off just to annoy him. "Seriously, when do you practice this shit?"

Kaiba didn't bother answering and instead he started on the offensive again, infuriating Ogata. "Are you trying to get me to punish you for what happened earlier with Yami?" Ogata challenged, narrowly missing a blow that was aimed to his face.

On a deeper level, Kaiba suspected his actions were more complicated than just hoping to blow off some steam with his favorite punching bag. Between finding out about all of the priest's failings, the depths of his follies, combined with Kaiba's failures with Yami and Isis' infuriating attitude—there was a valid argument for wanting to take some abuse that no one else would dish out to him. "Stop trying to analyze me," Kaiba snapped, shocking Ogata enough that a hard kick to his stomach went undefended.

Ogata wheezed from the air being knocked out of him, but he dropped and rolled out of the way of the next kick. "Then stop acting so stupid," Ogata shot back, feigning with his left fist only to land a hard hit to Kaiba's shoulder with his right. "If this is about Yami—"

It hurt, but it still wasn't enough to absolve Kaiba of the sins of his soul. "If I wanted a therapist, I'd hire one," Kaiba said in a haughty voice that rubbed Ogata the wrong way. "So shut your damn mouth, Ogata!"

Once again narrowly dodging a punch aimed to his mouth, Ogata narrowed his eyes at the younger man in irritation. Moving faster than the teen had been expecting, Ogata got behind him and kicked Kaiba's legs out from under him. Before Kaiba could reverse himself out of the fall, Ogata grabbed the teen's arm and twisted it hard behind his back for leverage. The grunt of pain Kaiba let out when he landed was almost enough to make Ogata loosen his hold, but he knew his sparring partner too well to fall for such a trick.

"No, you shut your mouth and fucking listen to me," Ogata growled in a tone that was menacing enough to make Kaiba temporarily cease his movements. "As your friend, I'm not going to—"

"Spare me your friendship speech," Kaiba interrupted, wincing when his comment made Ogata twist his arm at a more awkward angle.

"I'm not going to be your weapon of self-flagellation," Ogata continued, not giving an inch when Kaiba started trying to struggle to free himself once more. "This isn't helping Yami at all, so—"

"Why don't you let me up, then?" Kaiba challenged, growing more and more irritated by his inability to free himself.

"I will when you stop acting like an idiot," Ogata told him, earning a rather rude snort from his captive. "Tell me what happened. Did you hear from Hoshino again?"

"I doubt I'll be hearing from her any time soon," Kaiba muttered, knowing that she was probably frantically regrouping after Yami's disappearance.

The comment confused Ogata and he asked, "What's that supposed to mean?" Silence was his only answer and it disturbed Ogata; he knew how ruthless Kaiba could be and it was cause for concern. "Seto, what did you do to her?"

"Nothing yet," Kaiba honestly stated, but there was a darkness in his voice that Ogata hadn't heard in a long time.

"What are you planning?"

"Her demise," Kaiba replied with a humorless laugh that chilled Ogata.

Sighing heavily, Ogata looked down sadly at Kaiba as he warned, "You can't kill her."

"Death would be too good for that whore," Kaiba spat, his voice full of a venomous hatred that was reserved for only two other people. Besides, he knew that Yami would never forgive murdering her; there were still other ways to punish her, though. "I will make her suffer. I will take away everything she cares for and leave her in utter ruination, completely penniless and publically humiliated with no chance of recourse. And when she tries to recover, I will decimate her. She'll wish for death by the time I'm done with her."

Ogata could only imagine the elaborate schemes Kaiba had planned out to wreck the woman's life and it made him ask, "But is that what Yami would want?"

Kaiba took advantage of Ogata's loosened grip and wrenched himself free, rolling over rapidly and sitting up to face the older man. "It's what I want," Kaiba answered, his blue gaze hard and unforgiving as he stared at Ogata. "I will punish her for this and—"

"And it doesn't bring him back," Ogata finished the sentence, half-expecting Kaiba to try and kick him for it.

"Don't you think I know that?" Kaiba snapped, feeling the burn of Ogata's words despite knowing that he technically already had Yami back. "And if you won't help me—"

"I'm not saying that," Ogata quickly interjected, although he was honestly a little surprised that Kaiba wasn't insisting on doing it all himself. It made him wonder what exactly Kaiba was planning if he couldn't take care of it by himself, but those were questions for another time. "I'll do whatever you need, but—"

"Let me worry about Yami," Kaiba said, knowing that it was his sole responsibility and task. "I'll bring him back myself, no matter what it takes."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Ogata pressed, wondering what else Kaiba had planned.

"At any cost," Kaiba grimly answered, knowing that it wasn't going to be easy or pleasant. But there was nothing that would stop Kaiba from accomplishing his task; he would get Yami back at any cost and that was all there was to it.

A/N: Gotta love a throw down~.

NEXT CHAPTER:

"Are you trying to ask if you can spend the night here?" Yami asked, holding back a smile that he knew would only make Kaiba's frown deepen.

Update should go up on Sunday, April 17th, so enjoy!