(Mokuba)
I sighed, rolling onto my back and reaching under my pillow to make sure that the note was still there. I had gotten it from Miyuki earlier; that was usually how Seto made sure I got news of what he was doing. I was supposed to get rid of them when I was finished with them, but… Keeping it seemed important, especially now that Seto had his plan underway – more than ever before. Before it had been just been an idea, and I didn't expect anything to come from it. I loved my brother, and I had faith in him, but there were so many factors against us. Now…
I worked out a few issues; things should work out a little smoother from here on out.
How could good news leave me so scared?
"Are you still awake?" Nao muttered, his voice half-muffled by his blankets. I looked over to the boy in the bed right beside mine; I'd known him since I'd been in the orphanage, and for as long as I could remember, he had been in a bed beside me – Niisama had been in a room with boys his own age. He wasn't Niisama, but he was a good substitute if there weren't any other options.
"Yeah; I'm just thinking," I admitted softly, taking my hand out from under my pillow and crossing my hands over my stomach. "Beats nightmares."
"Lemme guess – you're thinking about Seto, right?"
I shrugged, forcing a yawn and closing my eyes. "I don't really want to talk about it, Nao. Go back to sleep."
He grunted, and I heard him shifting around on his bed. "Of course you don't want to talk about it – you don't want to talk about much of ANYTHING, Mokuba, do you realize that? In the entire time I've known you, you've said less in the past two months than in the past… I dunno, however fuckin' long I've known you."
Telling him that he'd be the same in my situation wouldn't help – I wasn't about to announce that my kidnapping was being planned in a roomful of boys, and family was never a good topic in the orphanage… so I just kept my mouth shut, hoping he would give up.
I wasn't so lucky.
"Do you realize that you're not a day over five?"
"What?" I bristled, shooting upright and glaring at his back, even if he wouldn't notice in the dark. "I'm the same age as you, so – "
"Sure, sure," he interrupted dismissively. "I know THAT, but you still look at the world the same as when we were kids: that it revolves around your brother. Do you acknowledge that he's gone, and you're here? I just think it's time to start living in the now, not the past, or the future. Time to be you, Mokuba – not you, Seto's little brother."
"Whatever," I retorted, falling back onto the bed and rolling onto my side. He was wrong – I was the same whether I was Mokuba or Seto's little brother. There had never been a distinction between the two, and there never would be, not when Seto was the only world I had. After all, an orphanage is a shitty place to attach your life to, and if Seto hadn't let me for so long, I wasn't going to start because he was gone.
Maybe that was why he wanted me to leave; maybe he was afraid that I WOULD.
I kinda was too.
"It's not like I'm tryin' to piss you off or anything," Nao said. "I just think that clinging to family is a stupid thing to do."
"Go to hell," I replied, staring at the wall in front of me. I couldn't blame him – in some way or another, everyone at the orphanage felt that way. I didn't think highly of family either, except for Niisama. "I'm going to sleep now."
"Night," he grumbled.
Still, Nao was wrong. Clinging to Niisama was all I'd ever had; it was the only thing that had been constant for me besides the orphanage. It was a great and terrible thing, because I knew Seto would be beside me always that I could depend on him, no matter what the costs.
Even if it cost him everything.
(Seto)
Malik's promised week turned out to be closer to two, but eventually they arranged a night for me to meet their friends. At 8:15 that night, I was faced with what Malik was calling my 'conspiratorial staff'. I recognized Bakura and Ryou, but after that, I was lost. Ryou was talking to a short boy with the strangest hair I had ever seen – it was three different colors and sticking up in all directions.
"I didn't think hair could be a birth defect," I murmured, and Malik laughed.
"Don't say that to Yami's face unless you want a black eye," he replied.
"Yami?"
"You'll know him when you see him; he looks just like Yuugi, just taller." Malik gestured toward Ryou and his companion as he spoke.
Bakura was sitting on the couch with a lanky blond sprawled out between his legs, head on Bakura's knee. The blond didn't even look up to regard my presence, but Bakura nodded in my direction, scowling. I was ready to make a comment about his choice of company, but I didn't get the chance.
"Okay!" Malik said, clapping his hands together. Everyone looked up to him, and he grinned, pointing to me. I stood tall; I didn't fidget, didn't look nervous… I disregarded the funny feeling in my stomach, as they all looked me over. If I was going to command these people, they had to see me as authoritative. "This is Seto. Seto, Yuugi is the one talking to Ryou, the whore in Bakura's lap is Jounouchi," that earned Malik a middle finger from Jounouchi and a hearty laugh from Bakura. He looked around and frowned a little bit. "And… Where the hell are Otogi and Yami?"
Jounouchi said, "Yami ran out to get some food, since – "
"We're here to discuss business, not eating habits," I interrupted, my tone cool. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get this started." Jounouchi glared at me, but I ignored him and took a seat, looking over my companions. No, they weren't companions, they were my employees – I had to make sure they knew who was boss. "Exactly what good are any of you to me? This looks more like a teenage party than a group of criminals," I sneered.
"Hey, fuck you," Jounouchi replied heatedly. "We're puttin' our asses on the line, so the least you can do is be a little grateful."
"I'll save gratitude for when the plan succeeds."
A smooth voice added, "That's the way to look at life." I looked over to a see a lean man with dark hair enter. "You're Seto, I presume." He held out a hand, and I shook it. Nice handshake, good presence – someone looked useful after all. "I'm Otogi; I've got the house to hide your brother in."
"I see," I said. Otogi took a seat beside Bakura, and I continued. "Now I know why he's here. The rest of you?"
The boy named Yuugi timidly piped up, "I'll be watching your brother. Otogi's too busy, and we figure he's too young to stay alone, right?"
I nodded.
"Jou and I will be the ones doing the deed," Malik said. I was of two minds on that from the get-go. Malik was too excited about it; I could see the anticipation in his eyes, the way he rubbed his hands together. And Jounouchi seemed entirely too arrogant – despite how little he'd said, I didn't like him. Still I had to look for the virtues in them… or at least try. Malik seemed to know what he was doing, and Jounouchi… well, I would have to wait and see.
"Yup," Jounouchi replied. "Yuugi's also gonna be my alibi. Bakura, Ryou, and Yami are gonna be yours, and Malik isn't even gonna bother."
Listening to them… in a way it made me angry. They had already pieced together a whole plot, MY whole plot, without waiting for my opinion. But I couldn't get that in; they were talking so quickly all of a sudden – something about the air had gotten them going, and they were pitching in their plans faster that I could grasp. I kept my face even, but my mind was racing, trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together, trying to make sure they would complete the picture I needed – the picture of Mokuba and me, leaving Japan.
Finally, one string of conversation stuck out to me: Ryou's.
"We'll have to spend some time cultivating a friendship; people around here notice when you go out with new people – so you'll have to spend some time with us. On the day of the crime, Bakura, Yami, and I are going to take you somewhere on the other side of town," Ryou explained. "Something public."
Public. Friends. I cringed inwardly. Also, it was the second time someone had mentioned this Yami guy, but I had yet to see him. It was unnerving to have them talking about him as if he was an ally. I made sure my voice was louder than anyone else and began explaining, "In the summer the orphanage takes the kids out to the zoo – something of an annual field trip. That doesn't take place until July, and as much as I don't want to wait, it's going to be the safest for all involved." I glared pointedly at Jounouchi. I may not have liked them much, but that didn't mean I want them in jail, especially not for my deeds. "I don't want anyone caught."
A voice interjected, "You do realize that if they're in public, they're likely to keep track of the children."
"Yami," Yuugi said brightly, and I turned to see a carbon copy of Yuugi standing in the doorway. Well, not a copy, not exactly – he was taller, leaner, and his eyes were more striking… He definitely looked more criminal than Yuugi. "What took you so long?"
"Run in at the gas station. Your food is in the kitchen, Jounouchi."
Jounouchi's face split into a grin. "Perfect timing, man; I was going to die if I had to wait much longer."
"We're not done here," I interrupted before he got up; he was already halfway out of Bakura's lap. "You'll have to wait."
He groaned and flopped back down, adding, "By the way, Yami, this is our oh-so-fearless leader. Careful; he's a hard-ass to rival all hard-asses, even you."
I felt his gaze sweep over me, as though he was searching for something, and I didn't like it. It was intruding. After a second Yami shrugged and said, "Nice to meet you." He offered a small nod.
"Likewise," I replied curtly. "But you're assumption that the kids will be guarded is off. At least one kid runs off a year, and there's so many of us… By the time they realize Mokuba is missing, we'll have him somewhere far away from the zoo."
"So your plan is to use their own carelessness against them," Yami clarified, still standing in the doorway. His words seemed to be just as probing as his eyes, and it was frustrating as hell to deal with. I hated the idea of him picking me apart as though I was some sort of puzzle.
"Precisely."
"It's perfect," Malik said, interrupting the conversation; we both turned to look at him. "There's nothing suspicious about being at the zoo in summer. All we need to do is lure the kid away for a couple of minutes – "
"It won't be that easy," I cut in. "Yes, it's going to be easier, but that doesn't mean it'll be some walk in the park. You can't just leave a public place with a stolen kid; they'd recognize him – and you – a mile away on security tapes."
Malik challenged: "Do they have security tapes in the zoo?"
"Better safe than sorry," Ryou said, and I nodded.
"So we'll bring him a change of clothes and have him change in the bathroom," Jounouchi suggested. "How distinctive can he be?"
"He…" I leaned forward on my knees, thinking. I hated it, and Mokuba would hate me for it, but… "You'll have to cut his hair in the bathroom too."
"I'm no barber, man," Jounouchi groaned. "Hair is just hair."
"It's not just hair when he has a thick mass of it. Trust me – it'll need to be done. It doesn't have to look nice, it just needs to be gone and look different. Hack as much of it off as you can and do something with it – flush it, or whatever."
"Fine," Jounouchi retorted. "Cut the hair, get some clothes – anything else?"
I thought, counted off on my fingers. Not that I could think of. For the most part, what else was there to do? We'd have to talk about the plan, and refine it before the day came, but we had the fundamentals down. It was too late for me to back away from them; I'd gotten too swept up in it, told them too much – they were my allies, whether I liked it or not. Seven pairs of eyes were on me, waiting for my next word. Seven people who had my brother – and me – in their hands.
It was a kindness I was unaccustomed to from strangers, and a liberty I was afraid to have given them too quickly.
"I have one more question," I finally said. "Why? You've never met me, and I doubt that Malik is such a smooth talker that you all followed him without reason."
Bakura was the first to answer. "Sounds like a challenge." Ryou shot him a glare, and he added, "And I respect your devotion."
Ryou, Yuugi, and Otogi mirrored that second reason, and I looked to Jounouchi. He was important, much as I already disliked him; he was going to be one of the biggest players in this game.
"And you? You're the biggest at risk here."
Jounouchi shot me a crooked grin. "I've got a baby sister myself, and in your shoes, I'd do the exact same thing. And I'm not the only one riskin' my neck – Malik's helpin' me."
"Well, I've been a runaway," Malik replied smoothly, before I could turn to ask for his answer. "I know how hard it is, and if I can make it easier… Well, I wouldn't want to see some kid suffer unjustly."
After that, an awkward silence filled the room, and I turned to look at Yami, still perched in the doorway of the room. "And you?"
He shrugged. "I have my reasons." He was watching Yuugi, who had started talking to Ryou. Perhaps they were brothers – I could understand that, but I didn't bother to ask. So long as he stayed loyal…
"So…" Malik said, looking around. "Do agree to this rag-tag group of shits?"
I looked them over for what must've been the millionth time that night. They weren't criminals, probably not even mean people; the idea of them teaming up on my behalf was boggling, even after I knew their reasons – it all just didn't add up. But the plan seemed efficient, and they seemed suited to their roles. The reasons were straight forward, and I was pretty good at reading people – I didn't see a Judas in the crowd.
When it came right down to it, what choice did I have left?
"Sure."
notes
continuous ultra-thanks (hmm, I think I made that up) to purkledragon, for being such an awesome beta. smile
umm... I can't think of much to say. It occurs to me when in the third chapter that we've got all these plans already coming out at the third chapter... yeah, it's really quick. Hopefully that isn't going to kill the overall mood of it.
also: thanks to Sakata Ri Houjun, for pointing out an error I'd missed. heh, sorry about that. :)