Chapter 21
They stopped at a thin spot in the grass that Anzu picked. Pegasus Crawford's white, sprawling mansion was several meters away—but, even so, it looked enormous.
Seto put Jounouchi down on the ground. But, to everyone's surprise, he wasn't exactly as gentle as they'd expected—considering the fact that he'd carried Jou the whole way. Jou's butt hit the ground hard.
"You know, I'm still annoyed as hell that you didn't let us know how injured you are," Seto said, hands on his hips.
Yes, I'm going to be harder on you now that I know how we feel about each other. And you're not going to like what I have to do next. Deal with it.
Jou looked to Yugi for support, but found an equally annoyed look on his rounded face, too.
"You could have just told us," Anzu said with a shrug in a gentler tone. "We're your friends."
"Sorry, guys. I really wanted to come, though."
Seto pulled out his mobile phone from his trouser pocket and tossed it lightly to Jounouchi, who caught it with both hands.
Hmmm… this phone's still warm. Nice. Hey, wait a minute…
"Nice catch," Seto said smugly. Jou blinked up at him. "Mutt, give us fifteen minutes and then call the number marked 'mission.' That will send in our people."
"Kaiba" Jou began angrily, "you promised that we'd be the ones to get in there first, not those jerks in black."
"I did tell the truth. The four of us are going in first."
"Four?!" Jou shot back, livid.
Jou was challenging him, which was starting to annoy Seto to no end. "You can't expect to go in there considering the condition you're in." Kaiba's voice was getting deeper and more stubborn with each word. "I had to carry you the whole way here. A few minutes ago, you didn't have the strength to get back across the fence to the helicopter."
Jou stared daggers at Kaiba. Anzu hid a smile behind her hand and Jounouchi glared at her, too.
"As I said, give us fifteen minutes to get to the house. If I can, I'll call you from there. If it's safe, you can join us."
"And if you don't call?" Jou said, growling down at Seto's phone.
"As I said…Do I have to keep repeating myself? Call the number marked "mission" and my people will be here in another ten minutes."
"And just how could your 'people' get here so quickly?" Jou asked, waiting to catch Kaiba in a lie.
"They're on standby just off shore. I called them before we left the airport. But, you've probably guessed that by now."
"Kaiba, I'm so mad at you!" Jou said between clenched teeth.
"Spare me," he said with a shrug. "I'm used to you being mad at me." I know you think I'm abandoning you. But I just can't risk it. Go ahead and hate me if it makes you feel better, he thought Seto began to walk away, "If the rest of you are coming, then fine."
"Hey," Jou called after Seto as he walked away, "wait a minute! Didn't some of these jerks in black once put a gun to my head? Like the Death-T games? I seem to remember that. Now, I'm the one calling them to come."
"Yes," Seto said, still walking away, "it's this little thing called 'irony.' I'll explain the concept further to you the next time I see you."
Mutt, can't you see that I'm protecting you? It's going to be dangerous in there. I can't protect you and fight the way I need to. It will be hard enough having Mokuba with me.
Jounouchi was fuming. His fists were balled up at his sides. "Kiss my ass, Kaiba!"
Kaiba Seto stopped in his tracks and turned around with a dangerous expression. The others stopped, too, and watched them. Seto's eyes seemed to say, "Do you really want a response to that?"
"Just go," Jounouchi said, defeated, throwing a pebble toward the house, knowing that it would never make it.
"Fine," Seto said and made his way toward the house with his three companions.
Jounouchi watched them go. Their figures grew smaller and faded away. Thanks to the tall grass, there came a point when Yugi's hair couldn't be seen, either.
Jounouchi felt lonely. The story of my life, he thought. He was waiting for the fifteen minutes to pass. But part of him didn't want to. A part of him wanted to be with Yugi—to look out for him the way he always did. What if Yugi died? He cared about Anzu and Mokuba, that was true. But a lot of who he was now came from his friendship with Yugi. Namiko said she'd be after him and, most likely, she was there, too. But, Jou also wanted to be with Seto. No, he needed to be with Seto—for better or for worse.
Jounouchi opened the cell phone and called the number stored inside marked "mission." He began walking toward the house—stepping around tall weeds and stumbling on the uneven ground.
"Yeah, I'm one of the guys with Kaiba Seto," Jou said in a serious tone. "There's been a slight change in plans…"