Chapter Twenty-Five:

Seto slowly folded the letter that had arrived that morning from Mokuba. They were still on their honeymoon, just about to leave Hawaii for Kyoto. Mokuba promised they'd visit shortly after arriving before heading on to England for college.

The note had come with a souvenir, a small conch shell with a picture of a Hawaiian sunset painted on the side. It wasn't normally his kind of thing to have, but he rested it on the corner of the desk anyway. He knew Marianne would be happy to see it there when they arrived in a few days.

He glanced at his clock and saw that it was half-past six. He shut down his computer and got up to go home. It was day before Christmas Eve and Kaiba Corp. was closed until 9 a.m. on the twenty-eighth, Tuesday, giving them a four-day weekend. He'd promised Mokuba before he left that he'd uphold that break for the employees, though if it were up to him, they'd just work straight through all holidays.

Returning to the house, he found it empty. His household staff was off for the next four days as well and that left him to his own devices. He made himself some dinner and ate it in the dining room before heading into the living room. He wasn't usually one to watch TV, but his work was done for the weekend and he settled in to watch some of the news.

A knock at the front door surprised him. He slowly turned off the TV and got up, instantly alert. He didn't expect Takanawa to ever show his face, but maybe he'd gotten tired of waiting and had siced that ridiculous Buck on him. He walked slowly over to the small table beside the front door and unstuck the small key from its hiding place taped to the back of the mirror above it. He unlocked the little desk and pulled out the revolver kept there. Mokuba had no idea, but there were three guns in the house. Seto didn't like the idea of using one, but he was smart, practical, and paranoid. You could never trust anyone.

Holding the gun at his side, he took off the safety and approached the door. Looking through the peephole, he was surprised to see who it was and unlocked the door, opening it.

Yami was standing on the front stoop, his hands in his pocket and snow dusting his hair. His nose and cheeks were red and if he'd walked the entire way from his own apartment, he had to be half frozen to death.

"What are you doing here?" Seto demanded.

"They know where I live!"

Yami pushed past him and into the house. Seto glared, but shut the door to stop the cold air from rushing in. Yami was standing with his arms folded but as soon as the door shut he turned and walked into the living room. Seto followed, irritated.

"Who knows where you live?"

"Takanawa!"

"What?! You saw him?"

"N...No. But Sentoryou was there. He followed me home."

Seto blinked, then scowled, folding his own arms. "You came over here just to bitch that your boyfriend followed you home?"

"He is not--What's that for?"

Yami's eyes had spotted the gun in Seto's hand. Seto stalked over to table, automatically putting the safety back on and shoving it into the drawer, which he locked again. Ignoring the look Yami was giving, he waved his hand impatiently.

"Well? Is there a reason you came over here?"

"Didn't you hear me? Sentoryou was at my house! If he knows, then Takanawa knows! And that means that Yugi and Joey are in danger. You made me do this for you--"

"I paid you, therefore I didn't make you do anything."

"You were the one set up that horrible incident in the hotel, which I will never forget--"

"I shouldn't think you would. You were so good at it, I wouldn't be surprised if you had a lot of experience with--"

Yami's hand cracked across his face. Seto was so startled that he didn't react for a second; despite the episode in the car before, he hadn't expected Yami to hit him. As rage finally started boiling, Yami had already started to go off.

"How dare you talk to me that way?! You may have paid me the money I need, but you went out of your way to use and humiliate me and I am done with it! And now you have brought my family into this--"

"They're not your family!" Seto shouted back. "Guess what, and pay attention. You have no family, you have no life, because you're nothing but a ghost who won't die! You took my money and for that I owned you. I saw my advantage--Sentoryou's obsession with you--and, like any good businessman, I used that!"

"This is not business! Aibou and Joey are in danger because you can't get this resolved! No, you need me to pretend to be a whore just so you can get close to someone lowest on the pole! You are pathetic and weak and you haven't--"

Seto slammed Yami against the side of the archway between the front hall and the living room, his voice turning soft and lethal.

"Don't you ever talk to me that way."

Yami looked up at him coldly. "You don't scare me, Kaiba."

Seto let him go and waved his hand at the door. "Go. Get out of my house. I don't care if your stalker knows where you live."

Yami walked away from the arch, but didn't leave the house. "If anything happens to my family--yes, my family!--because of you, you would rather Takanawa got to you than I."

Seto snorted at him, folding his arms again. They glared at each other, neither backing down. They were equal in their rage, their bravery against each other. They were so intent on each other that they both jumped when the phone rang. Seto glanced towards the living room before finally turning away from Yami to walk across the room and answer it.

"Yes?"

"Hello, Mr. Kaiba!"

Seto froze where he was standing, his hand gripping the phone tightly. "Takanawa," he breathed.

Takanawa chuckled. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry I missed your brother's wedding, I was off visiting relatives for the holidays. I'm sure the bride was ravishing."

"What. The hell. Do you want?"

"Come now, kiddo. I've missed you. Haven't you missed me? You've done such a good job so far, I thought I'd ask you to do me another favor."

Seto growled into the phone, barely aware that Yami had come into the room and was standing beside the phone table, staring at him intently. Takanawa only laughed at him again.

"Let's ring in the New Year with a bang. And let's kick it up a notch. I have a rival--friendly, I promise you--that has this fabulous diamond-and-emerald brooch in the shape of a peacock. I know, because it used to be my mother's. He stole it, so now you're going to steal it back. A little poetic justice, don't you think? My mother would have been so happy to know I had it back. Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?"

"I can't think of anything that I care about less."

"Be nice. You've got eight days from now. I'll fax you the address. I'm sure you can come up with something brilliant by then. I have to admit, I'm impressed you've managed to do all of this. You shouldn't have gone into toy-making, you should have been a professional thief."

Seto said nothing. The less you said, the less your enemy had to work with. But he was also being quiet because something was occuring to him.

"Okay. I don't care if you keep up your strong, silent type attitude as long as you have that peacock brooch on January first. Because, unlike you, I know how to get someone's address. Your brother's house is quite nice. 'Bye, kiddo."

The phone was hung up on him this time. Seto slowly put his own phone back down, turning to look at Yami, who was looking back at him. A smile suddenly crossed his face.

"Another heist?" he asked. "Well, good luck with that."

He started to turn and head out. Growling, Seto grabbed his wrist, yanking him back hard. "No way."

Yami glared up at him. "Let go of me. I am done helping you. Now that--"

"Shut up. Look at this logically. Takanawa has never made a single mention of you. He doesn't know you exist."

"He could be playing you."

"Maybe. But what about this Sentoryou? You're standing here, so he didn't hurt you, did he? Did he make any threats? I don't think he's actually part of this."

"You don't know anything about this. And even if he doesn't know now, he could later. I will not endanger Aibou and Joey. You always like working by yourself, anyway."

Yami jerked his arm out of his grasp. He started to walk away, then paused and Seto waited, watching him. He hated this, needing his help like this. If only he could get Takanawa!

Yami turned slowly back to look at him and his eyes were angry and somehow defeated. "Aibou has a chance to walk again. There is a surgery. Pay for it in its enterity, right now, and I'll help you."

"So nothing's changed."

Yami's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Seto shrugged and found his checkbook. "How much?"

"Five-hundred thousand dollars."

Seto blinked and looked up. Even for Kaiba Corp, a half-million dollars was not something to just throw around, especially since he'd already paid nearly that much in Yugi's other bills. Finally he wrote the check out, tore it off, and handed it over to him.

"What changed, though? Just a second ago you were shouting about how you're done."

"Yugi deserves to be happy again and you're the only person who can afford it. Believe me, I'm going to make sure Aibou and Joey are out of harm's way before this happens. Sentoryou may not know anything about what we're doing. Takanawa may not know anything about me helping you. I don't know, but I'm not going to take the chance. There are too many coincidences."

"Enjoy your Christmas. We've got until the New Year. Now get out."

Yami glared at him before turning and stalking out of the house. Seto crossed the room and locked the door after him. Once the bolt had shot home, he punched the door.

tbc…