I know it's been a while, but here's the new chapter.
I am so sorry-by this originally was lost when there was an incident with my laptop and then real life became such a pain.
I'll try to get the chapters for this out more often.
Please enjoy.
Summary: Questions are asked, answers are given...but still mysteries remain.
Sitting on the single bed in the cabin of the small fishing vessel, while Mako Tsunami tried to wrench a first aid kit out of a metal cabinet that had somehow wedged itself shut, wasn't quite how the blond had expected his night to be going...but it could be worse.
He could still be in the alleyway, fighting a losing battle against an insane former United States Duel Monsters Champion-Thanks for THAT one, Marik. Really. Thanks for pushin' 'im off-a the fuckin' deep end, ya bag-a-dicks.'-who had decided that HE was the source of all of his problems instead of Maximillion Pegasus. Though, if he were honest...he kind of saw the 'troll logic' there-he'd stopped Keith from getting his rematch against the Duel Monsters' creator-but trying to beat him up and strangle him in a dark alley seemed a little extreme.
'Has-been should be more pissed at Pegasus or Marik than me. I see 'im again, I'll be ready.' The blond told himself as he waited on the fisherman-his own thoughts tuning out the random swear and final pained screech of metal giving way under brute strength.
"Ah. Finally." Came Mako's voice as he extracted the white plastic case from the cabinet. 'My apologies, Joey-"
"No need for dat, Mako. 'S cool." Joey said, staring down at the drying blood on his knuckles. 'Keith's face must be harder than I thought.'
Mako sat down next to the blond-opening the case once he set it down on the bed between them. He picked up one of the younger teen's hands and began cleaning the split knuckles first. Uneasy silence quickly settled over them like an old, wet woolen blanket as Mako worked on the left hand-bandaging it before moving on the the right.
"Joey." Mako started, finishing bandaging the blonde's right hand, but continuing to hold it firmly in one of his. "Who was that man and why did he attack you?"
"Huh?" Joey said, wrenching himself out of his head to stare at the older teen. With a frown, he shook his head. "'Bandit' Keith Howard. He was the US champ 'fore he got humiliated by Pegasus. Guy had the brass ones to sneak into Duelist Kingdom-wanted a rematch-but...he's a cheater. Durin' our match in the semi-finals, he kept pullin' power-up cards outta his wristbands and, I won, but...he didn't take the loss or bein' called out as a cheat well."
Mako's expression hardened-everyone lost every once in a while, he had lost to Yugi Motou and Joey, but he didn't try to harm either of them for it. "That-"
"He pulled a gun on Pegasus." Joey said and the fisherman's jaw snapped shut-how in the hell does someone fall that far from losing? This man sounded like more of a sore loser than Seto Kaiba-not that very many people would ever say that the Kaiba Corp CEO was a sore loser to his face if they didn't want to be financially ruined.
One does not piss off an individual who has more than enough money to hire the best of hitmen and pay off any judge and jury the world could conjure up.
Chestnut eyes raised to lock with navy blue. "Pegasus dropped 'im through a trap door and dumped 'im in the ocean. All I know after's that he, uh, got picked up by someone and 'somethin' 'appened that drove 'im batty. He tried to kill Yug' in a warehouse fire a week or so 'fore Battle City."
Mako was no fool-he caught the stress on the words. "Joey...even if you do not know the specifics, you have an idea of what happened to him."
The blond looked down at his bandaged hands, slowly pulling his right hand free of the fisherman's grip. "I...I ain't allowed to tell ya that, Mako. 'm sorry."
None of this was sitting well with the nineteen-year-old-if anything, shouldn't they call the police about a mad foreigner in the country intent on murder? One look at the blond, told the ravenette that the sixteen-year-old may have considered that once upon a time, but now, he didn't want to bother. With a heavy sigh, Mako began dabbing the damp cloth over the still red scrapes on the blonde's cheek, earning only a weary grimace of pain.
"Joey." Mako started as he finished with the scrapes. "What were you doing out at this hour anyway?"
"Can't sleep." Was all Joey muttered, not even resisting when his face was turned so that his split lip could be cleaned.
"When was the last time that you slept?" Mako asked-noting the dark circles under the blond's eyes and cautiously wiping a clean section of the cloth under them, keeping his touch as gentle as possible.
"I don't know."