Chapter 12: Those Hateful Eyes

"Talk!" Jounouchi demanded, his grip tightening on Seto's school top. "Just who are ya anyway?"

Seto's intense gaze remained on the dirty blond, his body unflinching. "How do you even know that I'm even lying?"

"Maybe 'cause ya claimed yerself as one thing when yer actually another," Jounouchi answered through clenched teeth.

Seto shut his eyes for a moment. "The truth is that Hirano is my true name, but 'Kaiba' is my legal name."

Jounouchi's grip loosened. "Ya hate yer parents that much, huh?"

"They're dead."

He completely released the brunet from his hold. "Oh...Damn; uh, that came out wrong..."

Seto frowned. "You're very good at putting your foot into your mouth."

Jounouchi scratched the back of his head uncomfortably."It just came out wrong, that's all."

"Hn." Seto folded his arms, his left lanky fingers drumming against his opposite forearm. "This revelation may be a problem. As you may or may not know, you are considered to be the biggest loudmouth at Domino High...and that's certainly not hard to believe...you know who I am. If word of who I am gets out—"

Jounouchi waved his hands in front of his chest. "Hey; don't worry. I can keep it on the low. Ya know, that Kaiba name sounds awfully familiar..."

"You don't game much, do you?" Kaiba sighed. "The company used to be just another financial group, like the Mishima Financial Empire in Tokyo. However, after I took over the company a year ago, I remade it into a gaming company that specializes in creating advanced gaming hardware and gaming accessories."

"Oh..." Jounouchi nodded, appearing clueless. "So yer some rich kid, huh?"

Seto made a slight twitch. "Let's get one thing straight, okay? I may be packing a shitload of money, but I will not be referred to as a 'rich kid' like some spoiled brat, is that understood?"

"Gee, someone's a little touchy." Jounouchi turned his head to spit. "'Least ya didn't threaten to break my arm. Anyway, that Amelda sounds like a serious bastard. Ya know 'im?"

"Of course not!" Seto denied.

"Well, considerin' that ya keep loads o' secrets...I'm not even sure what to think...yer leadin' some kinda double-life, so who knows? Is there anythin' else that yer hidin'?"

Seto folded his arms. "Mostly unimportant things, like my childhood and my measurements..."

Jounouchi scratched his head. "Measurements? Yeah; with a chest like yours, I guess ya get asked a lot about that. What are yer measurements?"

Seto did not appear amused. "Jounouchi, please. This is a very dire situation...that man is looking to kill me, and I've got to figure out why he's after someone such as myself, before he's able to kill me." The brunet reached for his briefcase.

Jounouchi eyed the briefcase. "Shit; that's one hell of a briefcase ya got there. What's it made with, adamantium?"

Seto cocked his head to the side, a rather perplexed look on his face. "That kind of metal exists only in comic books. This briefcase is made with steel...it's thick enough to stop bullets, but not so much that I can't carry it." He picked up the briefcase.

"Ohhh...makes sense, I s'pose," Jounouchi nodded. "Well look; if there's anythin' I can do—"

"Jounouchi, you have your own problems, or did you forget? I suggest that you look out for yourself before worrying about me. I will have my situation under control."

Seto walked past Jounouchi, one hand in his pocket and the other clutching his briefcase. Jounouchi watched as Seto left. He mouthed a curse to himself before speaking out.

"Hey...Kaiba!"

Seto stopped dead in his tracks, and turned around.

"I just wanna know...how did ya know that Amelda guy was gonna shoot at me?"

Seto smirked for a moment. "He was using a red-laser sight targeting on you. If you bothered to look down, you would have noticed too, mutt." He turned around and continued on his path. Jounouchi smiled to himself.

"Thanks..." the dirty blond spoke softly.

"Miruko!"

Amelda bolted into a seated upright position as he heard the humming sound of his fax machine. He glared at the contraption as it printed out its information as he slowly rose to his feet. His clothing was disheveled from having slept in it, and his hair was mussed. Amelda ran a hand through his hair and could feel the cold sweat that had gathered upon his brow.

The fax had barely arrived when the redhead snatched it up. The first page was that of a note, sent to him by his mysterious employer. Amelda tried to make out the handwriting; his employer's handwriting was almost frustratingly illegible.

Here is the information on the target. I meant to send this to you much, much sooner.

"Unprofessional,", he muttered as his ashen eyes skimmed over the details that were contained within the white sheets. "Let's see...sixteen years of age, six-foot one, born in October 25, 19xx; et cetera et cetera...'retired champion of Magic and Wizards'...what the hell is 'Magic and Wizards'? ...'won in the Guilty Gear and Virtua Fighter game tournaments in Evo 20xx'...Cripes, this kid's a fuckin' gamer geek."

He tossed the sheet aside as he reached for the second page.

" 'Current CEO of Kaiba Corporation; took over in 20xx at the age of fifteen after the founder, Gozaburo Kaiba, leaped to his death from the 48th floor'—Christ...the economy must have been real bad." Amelda paused to clear his throat. " 'Company was transformed from a financial group to that of a gaming company that specializes in state-of-the art gaming hardware, gaming accessories, and lifelike holographic technology, invented by the CEO himself'—shit; this kid's a genius of some sorts," Amelda concluded as he tossed the second page towards the first one and reached for the third page.

" 'Currently attends Domino High School, second year, under the name Hirano Seto; presumably this false family name is taken from his deceased mother. No relatives are known, though he may have a cousin that he is unaware of that attends the Mishima Polytechnical School which is owned by-- ' pfft! Useless shit right here." Amelda rolled his eyes as he crumpled the sheet at tossed it over his shoulder, and reached for the other two pages.

"Says here that his gaming genius has earned him fame amongst children everywhere...might explain that kid I saw him with the other day, which means picking him off at the school is out of the question indefinitely. No matter, anyway. I rather like this cat-and-mouse game. I just gotta figure out the best way to do this; my employer isn't getting any more patient."

Amelda slouched in the soft leather chair for a moment, the pad of his thumb slowly brushing against his chin, his ash-coloured eyes shut in concentration.
"Jounouchi!" Honda, Anzu, Otogi, and even the reserved Miho rushed to Jounouchi the instant he entered the classroom.

Jounouch shot the quartet a dumbfounded look. "Uh...what's goin' on, guys?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Otogi answered.

"Anzu told me how she had been attacked the other night," Honda explained. "And then last night, three more students were beaten up real badly."

"You must have really fucked Hirutani up if this is his idea of retaliation," Anzu stated.

Jounouchi pulled out his chair and slowly seated himself. "So, Honda told ya about that, as I asked...it's true. Hirutani never was a gracious winner, especially when it's one of his own subordinates that kicked his own ass. He's just thinkin' that by messin' with you guys that it'll get me to come out and play."

"So why don't you stop being so nonchalant about this and just settle the score with him so he can stop targeting us?" Otogi inquired, his arms folded.

"He knows exactly where to find me," Jounouchi countered. His lips tightened into a frown as his eyes narrowed. "He knows I ain't afraid of his punk ass."

"We know you're n-not afraid, Mr. Katsuya," Miho stammered. "W-we're all just really afraid. Not just for our own safety, but yours as well." She blushed when Honda rested a hand on her shoulder.

"We hate that you have to deal with this just as much as you do," Anzu stated.

Jounouchi leaned back in his chair. "I know. I hate that this is happenin' to people who ain't even involved in my shit, but are just 'cause they got the tiniest of ties wit' me. If Hirutani won't come out, then I'm gonna have to force him to."

"By using bait or something?" Otogi questioned.

Jounouchi briefly turned his head towards Otogi. "Naw; I'm gonna do it the same ol' way I did it last time...I'm gonna march down there, and beat however many of his cronies I gotta beat senseless before he comes out and play."

"That may not work this time," Honda noted. "Especially since they know you're going to react in that way."

Jounouchi glanced up at Honda. "So what yer sayin' is that I play it more calm-like? Ain't my style."

"You may not have much choice, though. Something has to be done to put a stop to this mess before someone could be hurt or even killed," Anzu stated.

The bell rang. "Don't worry. Nobody's gonna get killed on my watch." Jounouchi smirked. "I'm gonna go in there and remind that son of a bitch Hirutani just who's the best."

"We can only hope that this goes over well," Honda nodded. The quartet retreated for their seats as Ms. Chono stepped into the room, dragging Seto by his arm. He appeared amused.

"—I should expel you for that declaration in the hall; do you hear me, Mr. Hirano?" Chono scolded as she stepped in.

"If I say 'no', will you actually do so?" Seto poked with a smirk.

Chono gnashed her teeth as she pointed to Seto's seat.

"Didn't think so." Seto smirked as he casually strode to his chair. Jounouchi leaned over.

"What did ya just say out there?"

Seto sneered. "'Jounouchi is a dumbfuck'."

Honda stifled a laugh as Jounouchi glowered back at the brunet. "Ya know, you can just go fuck yerself, K—Hirano..."

"If I had a cunt that would be possible; otherwise I'll just stick to petting the dragon," Seto whispered matter-of-factly.

Jounouchi glared at the brunet, appearing perplexed. Seto glared right back. "In case you didn't understand, I was referring to mas—"

"Hey fuck you; I don't want you finishin' that sentence," Jounouchi threatened as he tried to maintain his whispering tone.

Honda shifted his eyes between the arguing pair, his right hand pointed at Jounouchi and his left crossing over his right to point at Seto. "Okay; you're both weirdin' me out here."

"Mr. Hirano, Mr. Honda, and Mr. Jounouchi, would you care to divulge to the class what you were discussing that is apparently much more important than this lesson?" Chono inquired with an annoyed tone.

"As a matter of fact; I would," Seto replied. "Blondie here and I were trying to figure out how many layers of makeup it would take to make it so that our eyes wouldn't hurt just looking at you. Oh; and I started the discussion so if you're going to punish someone, punish me."

Chono made no effort to hide her disdain for Seto's false confession as the class immediately burst out in hysterical laughter; Jounouchi and Honda included. "If you're so willing to take the fall for the other two, then that's just fine by me. See me right after class!"
"So did she expel yer ass?"

Seto shot a threatening glare in Jounouchi's direction. The dirty blond was casually leaning against the outer gate of the school, a grin on his face.

"No; I was only suspended," Seto answered with sarcastic disappointment. "Just what brings you here, mutt?"

"Oh; nothin'. Just wanted to know if ya got expelled, was all."

Seto folded his arms as he studied Jounouchi's expression. "Liar," he coolly stated as he quickly turned away.

"Okay; okay...ya got me there," Jounouchi confessed as he grabbed Seto's arm. Seto turned around, his surprised gaze catching Jounouchi off guard. Jounouchi glanced down and realized that he was holding Seto's arm. He immediately released it and looked away, his hand held up to his face to hide the slight rosy hue that had gathered on the dirty blond's cheeks.

"Jounouchi, despite the fact that I take several jabs at your...intelligence, you're not stupid. You know I got myself into this on purpose."

"Because of—" Jounouchi was interrupted by Seto making a "hush" gesture. He lowered his voice. "Because of that Amelda guy, right?"

Seto nodded. "Your situation is placing students here in danger. I don't want to be another, more dangerous risk to them."

Jounouchi raised a brow. "How did you—"

"I overheard your conversation with Anzu yesterday."

"Ah. Since when did you care—"

"I'm a little too young to be responsible for somebody's death."

Jounouchi nodded. "Figures. But uh, what're ya gonna do about yer kid bro?"

"I haven't figured that out yet," Seto answered softy as he looked away, only to surprisingly meet with the impatient stare of the aforementioned little brother, Mokuba.

"You're late."

"Mokuba, I...will explain later," Seto sighed.

"Aw; I'll leave ya to explain things to yer little bro," Jounouchi replied with a slight chuckle. "I gotta take care of some stuff anyway." He departed in the opposite direction as Seto stared back at his wild-haired brother.

"So, is he your friend or something?" Mokuba inquired with a coy smile as he began to walk ahead.

Seto rolled his eyes as he followed. "No. Just someone I choose to annoy at school."

"Oh, so you've finally made a friend! What's his name?"

"Jounouchi, and he's not my friend--just a barking mutt that won't stay off my heels."

"Yeah, right. It's okay to have a friend...your secret's safe with me!" Mokuba exclaimed as he rested his hands behind his head.

"How about we change the subject before little brother gets to carry the big heavy briefcase, hrm?"

"Aw; no way!" Mokuba frowned. "But if you wanna talk about something else, well...I can't believe that you got suspended!"

Seto gave Mokuba a wide-eyed stare. "You overheard that?"

Mokuba giggled. "Aren't you supposed to be setting a good example for me?"

Seto nodded. "This particular teacher is entirely too incompetent."

"Doesn't mean you should go outta your way to insult her, bro."

Seto put a hand to his head. "Mokuba, just who's supposed to be the adult here anyway?"

"Me! And I say I get ice cream because of my great parenting skills!" Mokuba put on a wide smile.

"All right; but only because you managed to get one over on your big brother," Seto conceded.

"I think you're losing your touch," Mokuba stated with false concern.

"I think someone's smart mouth is going cost him that ice cream," Seto stated with a smirk.

"Hey!"

"The master has regained his title," Seto declared triumphantly as he mussed the younger Kaiba's hair.

"I'll make my comeback, just you wait," Mokuba promised.

Seto smiled back at that child, but that smile instantly shifted to concern when he looked ahead. Blocking their path were three high school students, each wearing gray school uniforms. Two of them appeared like most stereotypical punks in Japan, sporting either partially-bleached hair or a slicked-back style. The exception lay with the punk that stood in the center of the trio; he wore a beanie cap and glasses. Seto presumed that he was their ringleader.

"Mokuba, stay behind me," Seto whispered as he held his arm out in front of the boy.

Mokuba, appearing unafraid, complied.

"Ain't it sweet how he's protective of the kid like some kinda woman?" The ringleader asked rhetorically.

"Bet he ain't much in a fight," The punk to the ringleader's left declared.

"Well, we could be wrong. After all, he's been seen with Jounouchi, so who knows? He may have some guts to him," the ringleader snickered.

"If it's a fight you're all looking for, then why don't you simply ask Jounouchi himself?" Seto suggested with a tone of indifference, his intense stare remaining on the trio.

"We're targeting you Domino losers in order to get to Jounouchi," the ringleader pointed out.

"Hey, he probably doesn't want to get beaten up in front of his kid bro there," the punk to the ringleader's right piped up.

Seto scowled the instant they mentioned Mokuba. "I beg your pardon, but I do not want him to bear witness towards pointless violence."

"Tch, skinny here's actin' like he's all hard and shit," the ringleader sneered. "Hey! Take care o' the kid!"

Suddenly, an unseen member of the Crashers jumped from behind a corner wall and grabbed the youth from behind. Mokuba struggled to escape, but he noticed a glimmer from the corner of his eye. Seto turned around; it took him some effort to disguise his fear with anger as he witnessed the unexpected turn of events.

"Hey creep; don't you threaten me with that knife!" Mokuba exclaimed defiantly; he hoped the boldness in his exclamation hid his fear.

"Now ya got no choice. Ya either try to take us on regardless of the kid bein' here or not. Otherwise, we slit this kid's throat," the ringleader threatened as he pointed to the punk that had taken Mokuba hostage.

Seto growled as he turned a hateful glare at the beanie-capped punk. "That was the absolute last place you wanted to go." He dropped his briefcase.

"Ohhh! Now skinny's gonna try to throw down!" One of the punks announced as he raised his fists.

"This shouldn't last very long," the ringleader stated as he cracked his knuckles.

"Believe me, it won't," Seto agreed as he glanced at the Crasher with the knife. "I did not want that boy to bear witness to violence, but your cowardly act has dried up any other alternatives."

The three Crashers that surrounded the brunet initiated the fight by trying to attack him at once. However, their fists only managed to hit the air as Seto grabbed one of the crashers by his shoulders and vaulted over him, landing behind him. He the then grabbed the ankles of punk and pulled him toward the ground then stepped over him to meet with his other assailants. Another punk lunged at him with a clumsily thrown side kick; Seto grasped the punk's leg and pulled the punk to the ground and twisted the leg in a counterclockwise motion. The Crasher cried out as Seto continued to twist. Suddenly, Seto was grabbed from behind. It was the punk the brunet knocked over when the fight began; Seto cursed at himself for the careless move. The punk's hold was like steel as it forced Seto's arms to be pinned to his sides, thus disallowing any struggling or even elbow strikes for an escape tactic.

Seto grimaced as he struggled, and soon realized that he had no other alternative; he threw his head backwards, knocking into the forehead of the Crasher. The force of the blow allowed Seto to break free from the hold. As the Crasher reeled from the surprise attack, the brunet elbowed the punk in the gut, causing him to double over and then delivered a swift chopping motion to the back of the punk's neck, removing him from the fight.

Right then, the second punk whose leg Seto nearly broke swung a discarded wooden board at the brunet, who easily dodged the clumsy attempts. The punk knew he was at a disadvantage due to the damage already done on his leg, but he was relentless. He took another swing of the board, but simultaneously Seto countered by thrusting his right leg outwards, the heel breaking the board in half and knocking the punk in the jaw at the same time, taking the fight out of him. Seto then turned his attention to the ringleader, the punk with the beanie atop his head.

"Heh; not bad, considerin' that they weren't no good to begin with." He raised his fists. "However, it ain't gonna be easy from he—"

"Shut up," Seto growled as he thrust his left palm forwards, the heel of the palm striking the beanie-capped ringleader in the face. The force of the blow almost completely crushed the bridge of the beanie-capped punk's nose. However, the brunet was not done; he grasped the ringleader by his right wrist and landed five consecutive side kicks; four of which were mid- level kicks to his side and the fifth being a high-level kick to the punk's head. The ringleader was unconscious before Seto even released his grip.

He then set his azure gaze on the final Crasher that remained standing.

The knife-wielding punk sneered as he brought the shaking knife closer to Mokuba's throat. Seto thrust his right arm forward so quickly that it appeared like a blur and grasped the punk's arm, twisting the punk's wrist clockwise to force him to release the knife. The punk howled with pain. Seto immediately released his hold and before the punk could react further the brunet thrust his foot towards the punk, the heel crashing against the brick wall. The toe on his steel-toed boots rested gently on the punk's neck.

"I will only say this once, so you better listen well," Seto calmly stated. "You are not to fuck with my brother, nor are you to threaten his life as a means to get to me. If I ever have the displeasure of seeing you or your kind again, I will not hold back and my heel will crush your necks. Do we have an understanding, little man?"

The punk nodded.

"Good. Think about what you did, and go home to your parents." He almost wanted to smile for making such a "parental" comment, but deemed the current situation inappropriate for such an action. The punk slumped to the ground, shaking with fear and muttering to himself about how he would turn his life around. Mokuba, happy to that his brother saved him, ran up to Seto, but when he saw how unusually pale his elder brother appeared, he stopped.

"Seto, are you okay? You look kinda pale," Mokuba observed.

"I'm just fine," Seto dismissed sternly as he looked downwards to face the boy. "You are not to tell anybody of what you just saw, is that understood?"

Mokuba nodded as he gulped.

"Good. Let's go."

Mokuba shot a worried glance at his elder brother before placing his focus on the ground as he slowly followed.

On top of an apartment building, Amelda rested a foot on the edge of the flat rooftop. "Heh...this may work out a hell of a lot better than I planned." He glanced upwards, his eyes tightening shut for a moment as his face appeared strained. "That kid...reminds me too much of Miruko, though." He jumped back and ran towards the opposite side of the rooftop.
Jounouchi dashed around the corners and bends of the areas surrounding Domino High, his amber eyes quickly scanned each alley that he passed in hopes of finding answers. He received several glares from various people he passed by, but they knew well not to bother someone who appeared so menacing and determined.

He cursed to himself; his results were coming up empty thus far. Higashi said that he had not seen much Rintama activity in the eastern parts of Domino, but suggested the obvious—check the downtown areas. However, Jounouchi was sure that so long as the Crashers remained good on their threats, they would be waiting at the bay for any unfortunate Domino students that happened to walk by them. It would just be a matter of him getting to any of the Crashers before they could lay harm to another student.

He suddenly heard the clang sound of a knife falling to the ground. Jounouchi turned around and saw a Crasher sluggishly retreating from around a corner. Jounouchi quickly closed the distance between them, his left hand finding the Crasher's gray uniform, and his right poised to inflict physical violence.

"So; lookin' to beat up on some Domino Students, huh shithead?" Jounouchi demanded.

The Crasher glanced at the dirty blond with a terrified look in his eyes. "N-not me, man! I can't be doin' this anymore!"

Despite the confusion the punk's words caused Jounouchi, his anger did not subside in the least. "Just what in the hell are ya talkin' about?"

The Crasher turned his head, and pointed to what lay behind the corner with a shaking index finger. Jounouchi hurriedly jogged around the corner, dragging the punk behind. He was shocked at the sight that lay before him.

"Takeshi's jaw got broke and nearly got his leg broke...and Ubusuna's nose was practically crushed, and I think I could hear some of his bones gettin' broke...dude nearly crushed my neck!" the Crasher explained hysterically.

"WHO did this?" Jounouchi demanded. "If ya like yer face as it is, tell me who did this?"

"I-I don' know! He was real tall, had blue eyes..."

Jounouchi blinked. Kaiba? No way...he don't fight this violently... "Liar! I know that kid enough to know that he don't fight with violence."

"I swear, it's the truth!"

Jounouchi took a moment to backtrack; his eyes lit up with a haunting realization as he turned his gaze back upon the Crasher. "Did you threaten him?"

"Us? Y-yeah...kinda. He didn't want to fight so we threatened to knife his kid bro...we weren't really gonna knife him, really, Jounouchi!"

The Crasher trembled as he could hear a deep growl emitting from Jounouchi.

"You bastard!" Jounouchi knocked his head directly onto the punk's, knocking him out instantaneously. Jounouchi took a closer observation of the unconscious bodies that lay around him.

Kaiba once nearly broke my arm...but then he wasn't fighting like he meant it...but this...this is just too violent. Then again, if someone threatened to kill Shizuka, I wouldn't hold back, either.

He recalled the final explanation the punk gave.

"...dude nearly crushed my neck!"

Jounouchi bit his lower lip.

"Hey, Seto? Seto, can I come in? I need to talk to you," Mokuba said softly as he slowly opened the door. He peeked inside the bedroom and noticed that Seto was sprawled on his bed as though he had passed out on it.

Mokuba sighed, and silently closed the door.

For the eighth time since he had arrived home, he replayed the events of the late afternoon in his mind. The punks. The knife at his throat. His big brother single-handedly defeating the punks. The hateful look in his eyes. His sudden feeling of weakness; that unhealthy paleness that accompanied the strange weakness.

Mokuba shook his head.

But that wasn't a hateful look...that...that was a scary look. The boy shuddered as he retreated down the long hallway. He turned around to get one more glimpse of the closed door that separated Seto from the rest of the world before walking down the stairs.
AUTHOR'S COMMENTS

Just another fight scene, but come on—there just had to be a moment where Mokuba got into trouble, and Seto came to save the day. Of course, who knew Kaiba was capable of fighting so violently...

Now, for those of you about to jump down my throat telling me that Kaiba Corp produced weapons and was not a financial group before Seto took over—let's be real. You think a company that made weapons would go over well in the public eye? I think, though horribly clichéd that it's for the best that the old Kaiba Corp under Gozaburo kept that weapons production undercover...besides, it plays an integral part in the Contrast series (as well as provide tie-ins for the Tekken half of this series). Oh, and Kaiba Corp doesn't do much work with the Duel Monsters game. Like I said, I want to keep that game as much on the lowest priority as possible (but as you can see, there was a brief mention which will be delved into in the future).

Also, someone asked if I have studied Aikido and Tae Kwon Do. Yes, and no. I don't actually practice the arts, but I have studied them through reliable sources on the internet, books, and various fighting games that accurately depict such styles. Thank you all again for reading and reviewing—pay close attention to the foreshadowing here, because the next chapter will be quite intense.