Chapter 37

"Let's go," Jounouchi said, his eyes worried. He could easily imagine all kinds of things that could be done to Anzu while Honda looked on, helpless. He pushed that out of his mind for now and prayed for a better outcome.

"One minute," Seto replied. He pulled back the left sleeve of his blue jacket and revealed a thick, silver cuff bracelet with the image of a Blue Eyes White Dragon in the center.

"I never took you for being much of the jewelry type, Seto," Jounouchi said, other than the locket you're wearing right now with Mokuba's picture in it."

Seto smirked a little. "This is something that I came up with." He pressed the dragon down until he heard a click and an electronic chime. "From this point on, my people will know where we are and can find us anywhere. If I click twice, that's the emergency signal. Now, we can go."

"Why didn't I get one?" Jou pretended to pout.

"Because I couldn't make a Red Eyes Black Dragon design for you quickly enough." His voice was laced with sarcasm.

Jou forced a little smile on his face as he walked. "It's a good story," he said sincerely, "even if it isn't true."

"Thanks" was followed by a chuckle.

Jou and Seto reached the door but, before they could go through it, Taka rounded upon them. Two of his three cohorts were behind him as well.

"Now, let's see," the middle aged yakuza behind Taka said authoritatively, "this one here, I believe, is Kaiba Seto."

Gritting his teeth a littke, Kaiba gave a nod in response.

"So, that one must be Jounouchi." The tone was different, somehow, with Jou's name.

The blond nodded. "We're here to get our friends," Jou said, his voice even. He knew how to deal with these types of people. No manners. No honorifics. And, most of all, he knew that he had to keep eye contact while using a steady voice.

"We decided to let the girl go," Taka lied. "So, we're not all that bad, right?"

Jou and Seto exchanged glances. It didn't make sense to let Anzu go.

Maybe she talked them to death about friendship until they were begging to cut the ropes and push her out the door, Seto thought tartly.

"But, you," Taka said, pointing to Jounouchi, "I'd say you are a bit more interesting. Not like that other guy we have here at all." Taka glanced at his boss. The man gave him a slow nod in return. So, Taka carried on.

Seto bristled. He definitely did not like some lowlife yakuza calling Jou "interesting." Jounouchi, on the other hand, missed that part completely and had jumped to another topic. "Other guy?" He must be talking about Honda, Jou thought worriedly. Good, he's still alive! The Jounouchi's hazel eyes drifted to the floor as he thought about his friend. It was still possible to negotiate for Honda's life, after all. Maybe, they would be reasonable. If he could only find out what they really wanted, negotiation was possible.

"Oh, come on! You know that I'm talking about. I saw you on the rooftop and how you acted. It's your body language. I can recognize one of my own kind," Taka boasted giving Jounouchi a particularly stern stare close up to his face—definitely, a little too close for Seto's tastes. "We all come from the same background: poor, criminal, misfit... You are a misfit, aren't you blondie—in a Japanese world of dark hair? Your skin color doesn't quite match, either." He stroked Jounouchi's face with his hand and Jou cringed, but didn't move. "You could have been one of us, though," he said soothingly, talking to Jou but watching Seto's face twitch. "If you'd stayed in that middle school gang long enough, we would have recognized…talent. You've got it. We would have found you." He smiled in Jounouchi's face this time. "Maybe, I would have found you. You would be calling me 'aniki' (兄貴分, "brother") instead of that 'suit' over there controlling your every move." He pointed to Seto.

"He's more than a 'suit' to me," Jou said back, crossing his arms. His eyes caught the windows from up above. They were now in the wee hours of the morning. The pitch black sky was now navy blue.

"Loyalty is a good quality. I like that." Taka eyed Seto again, giving a viper's stare. "But I just can't imagine what kind of business relationship you'd have with him. You're too different." He studied Jou again, hand stroking his own chin in thought. "Just what has he got on you that would make you keep working for him?" he thought out loud.

"Nothing. You're wasting your time—and ours," Seto said coolly.

"No, there's gotta be something. Maybe you gamble when you play Duel Monsters…?" Jou rolled his eyes. Nope not it. "Nothing, huh?" Taka smiled a crooked grin. "Oh, yes—you both attend the same high school. That's how Jounouchi-san," he said while putting a hard emphasis on "san"—"became your friend and won your loyalty." Taka said it with a disingenuous tone, sappy sweet. He turned his attention back to Jou. "But, you know what? Somehow, in my mind, I see rich boy over here beating the crap out of you for being poor…for being second rate. Oh, I'm sure that his excuse is that you are annoying. You don't quite measure up to his definition of "winner," huh? Has he ever called you names?"

Jou looked down for a second.

"I thought so." Taka smiled openly at Seto.

Seto clinched his fists and started beating up Taka in his imagination. This is how a yakuza recruits, Seto thought to himself.

Taka's eyes took on a hard edge to them. "If you had to make a choice between your 'boss'—um…I mean…your 'friend, Seto'—and your other 'friend'—who would win?"

"Kenichi, bring in the bastard!" Taka yelled over his shoulder.

The fourth yakuza entered the warehouse with his prisoner. Yugi, his hands tied with the yellow rescue rope he'd gotten Anzu out with, was being dragged by his wrists across the smooth warehouse floor on his stomach.

"Yugi!" Jou shouted.

"Oh, hell," Seto said, recognizing the pointy-haired teen.

"What happened to Honda?" Jounouchi demanded.

Taka smiled when Yugi said, "I helped Honda and Anzu get away. They got me. But it was worth it."

"Let Anzu go, huh?" Jounouchi said angrily. Somehow, the lie wasn't exactly a surprise.

"What does it matter? We still have your friend here." Taka leaned his head to one side and smiled. "You do want him back, right?" His eyes darted to Seto who had the unmistakable look of jealousy. Seto folded his arms and stared daggers at Yugi. And the young yakuza didn't miss the muttering of "idiot," either.

Slightly confused at Seto, Taka shook it off. Must be some bad blood or a business deal gone wrong, knowing how he's a CEO and all.

"With your permission?" Taka said to his boss and got a nod. "Thank you for letting me handle this little…problem. And, believe me, they won't be much of one when we're done." Taka walked over to the boxes of Duel Monsters cards and retrieved his Duel Disk from behind the last box. He grabbed a second Duel Disk in one swift motion. Then, he walked back and shoved the second Duel Disk into Jounouchi's stomach. The blond made an "oof" sound but tried not to reveal much more—keeping his face blank and neutral.

"I challenge you to a game," Taka said. "It's probably the most important game of Duel Monsters that you'll ever have in your life."

The blond didn't move. He just squinted at him in confusion.

"Do you have your deck with you?"

"Always," Jounouchi said, pulling it out of his pocket. "But what I don't get is this 'important game' part. So, what are you talking about?" Jounouchi asked, feeling his heart beating harder.

Taka nodded to the yakuza closest to Seto. "Take him," he said.

Seto found someone wrestling with him from behind. He tried to resist but saw that the man had a gun to back. "Work with me," the man growled with breath that reeked of frog sashimi, "or blondie over there is going to watch you bleed to death." Seto was about to retort when his eyes caught something on the floor. He was standing over the bleached spot—the very same place where Jounouchi's precious person had died. He took a sharp breath an allowed himself to be tied down. The yakuza laughed at him and pushed Seto down to his knees.

"Now, here's the rules of this game," Taka said. He watched his boss out of the corner of his eye take out a brown folding chair, open it, and settle down. This was going to be grand entertainment for him.

"This game is called 'Lamp Flame Before the Wind' and you," he said to Jounouchi, "will be that Divine Wind."

"I don't get you," Jou said, but even that was a lie. He knew what it meant. Hazel eyes found Seto kneeling down, helpless. It was almost impossible to breathe now.

Taka gestured to his right, Yugi, and then to his left, Seto. "The Duel Monsters game is simple. Of your little group, you decide…who dies."

Mokuba sat next to his guard and clicked his seatbelt. "You and I are going to talk to my older brother about why you suddenly didn't do your job," he said, fishing for answers. The raven haired child eyed him sharply. "Your job is to guard me. Do you stink at this, or what?"

Being one of Seto's "people" was considered to be an honor in the elite world of Japanese big business security. However, bratty little brothers, such as this one, were not part of the bargain.

"I'm sorry," the man grumped back insincerely. "I'm just following the information that I got. Now, I'm needed elsewhere, okay?"

"Nope, I'm coming with you."

"I'm going to take you back to the mansion. We've got two people stationed out there. They'll watch you."

Mokuba frowned deeply. "You'll take me to my big brother, or I'll have your head!" When he didn't get agreement, the dark haired child shouted, "HAVE I MADE MYSELF PERFECTLY CLEAR? NO? WELL, THEN!" Mokuba whipped out his cell phone threateningly and began scrolling down phone numbers.

"Don't tell me you're trying to call him." The remark was snide and in a childish, sing-song way.

Thanks for telling me. That means I can't reach him right now. But, that's okay, too.

"Nope," Mokuba said, calming himself down as he scrolled through the list on his phone log, "I'm calling your boss. Kageyama, isn't it? That is her name, right?"

A glare.

"I'm going to tell her all about you." Scroll. Scroll. Scroll. "Ah, here it is!"

"I hate this job," the man groaned and put the car in gear.

"Don't want it? That can be arranged, too."

"Okay! Okay, you win Kaiba."

"What was that?!"

"Sorry…Kaiba-sama."

"And you're buying me a chocolate parfait on the way."

"What?"

"I've got Haagen Dazs on speed dial."