Forbidden Fruit
by: Wareta Shooki
All notes at bottom.
Thanks to all who reviewed.
Read the damned prologue for the disclaimer.
Forbidden Fruit
Chapter 4
Walking the Killing Edge
Part 1
The room was silent, eerily so, as the silence of the midnight hour stretched on. Only slight moans echoed now and again as the figure on the bed beneath the window tossed and turned, caught in the throws of some dark dream bent on haunting him from now until eternity. White sheets glittered silver in the moonlight that spilled in through the window, bathing the room in a dancing silvery-glow.
A soft moan of what one might consider pain echoed from the figure on the bed's mouth as he continued to toss and turn. Finally, the midnight hour of the night was silent once again in that lone room as the figure laying upon the half-torn-apart bed lay still and breathing deeply. Honey-brown eyes glowed amber in the moonlight as they stared wide and open at the ceiling.
"How is it I'm always haunted by him in my dreams?" Katsuya Jounouchi whispered, his eyes closing briefly before he sighed, throwing back the sheets of his bed and sitting up, clad in only his black boxers as he let his feet hang off the side of the bed, his hands gripping the sheet-clad mattress beneath him. Sighing dejectedly, he rose stiffly, stretching lithely before glancing out his window at the moon.
Then his honey-brown eyes travelled to the clock on his dresser and he groaned lowly in irritation. It was only twelve fifteen and he knew he'd never get back to sleep. Not after a dream like that. Jeez, who'd want to go back to a dream like that? Jounouchi shivered as he searched his floor for his discarded pair of jeans before slipping them on. That dream had just been plain wrong, there was no other word for it.
"Damn it, I'm still shakin'." Jou muttered as he crossed his room to the door, opened it and slipped out into the hall. His feet didn't make any noise on the carpet as he walked down the small hall as he walked towards the kitchen. A grunt sounded from the living room as he walked behind the couch, causing the blonde teen to freeze mid-step, eyes almost impossibly wide with fear.
When no other sound but the sleep-laden breathing of his father echoed after the grunt, Jounouchi heaved a silent sigh of deep relief and continued on his trek towards the kitchen. He hissed through his clenched teeth as his bare feet made contact with the bare-tile floor. It was cold, damn it! Very cold!
Rubbing his now goose-bump covered, bare arms, Jou expertly opened the refrigerator door with his left foot and searched through the contents, trying to ignore the smell that wafted from the interior. Finding a clear bottle of equally pure, clear liquid, he grabbed the water bottle and silently, but with extreme haste, closed the refrigerator door and backed away.
"Che, dat shit smells." He cursed softly, popping the top of the water bottle off and drinking some. As he tip-toed past his father, he held his breath hoping against hope the bastard wouldn't randomly sit up and catch him out of bed at such a late hour. His honey-brown eyes subconsciously glanced down to the bruise that covered half his right wrist, dark and purple, angry and evil looking.
Even Kaiba had commented on that after they'd been interrupted some fifteen times after Mokuba had left to get dinner. Jou had told him he'd fallen in the kitchen, his stupid father having scared the living hell out of him. The way he told the story, it made it sound like his father scaring the hell out of him was habitual. And it was. . . just not as bland and easy-going as Jounouchi had made it out to be for Kaiba.
Walking calmly, silently down the hall back to his room, Jounouchi slipped back inside, closing the door behind him. Sitting down on his bed, staring at the closed and now locked door, the blonde drank the water he'd "stolen" from the fridge calmly. That dream still unnerved him, not to mention scared him beyond all reasoning. He wondered briefly if he should call Kaiba.
Then he scoffed. 'Yeah right, Jou. Get a grip. It was a dream, nothing more or less.' He chided himself before finishing the water bottle, throwing it in the trash can by the dresser to the left of the door and shucked off his jeans. Climbing back into bed, he stared out the closed window at the moonlight that caused his hair to shine and his eyes to glow amber in the surrounding darkness of his room. As his eyes drifted closed, he hoped - no prayed - that the feeling he was being watched was only his imagination.
Lucky for him, he didn't see the flash of cerulean eyes gleam in the shadows before they disappeared entirely.
The nightly wind outside echoed a single phrase:
Haunted dreamers beware, it's time for the ultimate scare.
Seto Kaiba shot up in bed panting heavily and listening as his brother screamed shrilly down the hall. It wasn't the screaming one would expect to hear when another was caught in the throws of a nightmare. No, these were the screams of one caught in the grips of real-life terror. The screams of one whose life was being threatened and they'd be damned if they were helped before they died screaming.
Without thinking, Kaiba shot out of bed, clothed in only a pair of black, draw-string pants as he flung open his bedroom door and ran down the impossibly long hall to his little brother's bedroom. The door had been literally blown off its hinges and half lay on the floor, being held on by only a few pieces of splintered wood. Icy midnight eyes widened as he saw his brother staring at a cloaked figure that stood over the bed with a gleaming dagger raised. Black liquid already coated the blade, dulling its silver beauty somewhat. Enraged that some idiot had dared to attack his brother, and furious beyond words that his guards allowed someone past the security, he lunged forward, kicking the figure in the stomach.
It doubled over, groaning in a soft voice before recovering way too quickly and returning the favour only to find the older Kaiba brother gone, only to feel a blow to the back of the head as it fell to the floor. It rolled onto its back, the knife poised and ready for the angered Kaiba to fall on it, but only found itself staring into the flashing icy midnight eyes of Seto Kaiba. An odd aura danced around the CEO as he stood there, illuminated solely by the moonlight from outside as it poured in through the shattered window at the foot of Mokuba's bed.
The air currents split and danced, sang and screamed as the brunette CEO stood there, his eyes glowing. He all but openly dared the other to move. Because the moment it did, its life would end. Fuck going to jail, fuck the cops, fuck everything else. This creature had threatened his brother's life. . . It was going to pay for it with its own.
Then that idiotic, cloaked figure made one mistake; it twitched. Kaiba lunged forward, forcing the knife off to the side, but didn't dodge the kick to his shin fast enough. Hissing as pain shot up his leg and up the left side of his back, he growled and levelled a punch to the figure's face. It groaned again before kicking Kaiba in the stomach, throwing him into the wall opposite them.
With a sickening thud Kaiba landed, barely able to see straight. It was no wonder if he had a bad head wound now, but he didn't care. Anger and something else pumped through his veins as he lunged forward again, feeling the blade of the knife cut along his bare chest, stopping just below his clavicle. Ignoring the burning pain, Kaiba did a magnificent upper-cut whilst half laying atop the figure, knocking it to the floor, hard.
Another groan met his ears, but it wasn't from the figure. Looking up briefly, Kaiba saw his brother collapse limply onto the shredded sheets of his bed before his eyes returned sharply to the figure beneath him. Except. . . there was no figure. Growling in irritation, he snapped his fingers, the lights shimmering to life instantly afterwards. Jumping to his feet, Kaiba ran to his brother's side, and touched the big pulse-point in his neck, sighing in unimaginable relief when he felt it beating against his fingers, thick and strong.
When he pulled his hand away, it was sticky and felt odd. Looking at it in the light, his eyes widened and he realized exactly why the knife that cloaked intruder had been holding had been covered in a black substance. It was his little brother's blood. Cursing loudly, he picked Mokuba up and ran through the house, calling for any servant that was in the main mansion to hurry and call for an ambulance. When he reached the front doors, Iwamoto and Roland, his two heads of security, were standing there, wide-eyed and banged up themselves.
"Get him to a hospital. If you fail to do that, I will personally kill you, cops and gods be damned." Kaiba hissed, pain clear in his voice, but it wasn't enough to override the pure fury and fear in his voice. But it was close. When Roland had Mokuba's paled, half naked body in his arms, Kaiba collapsed to his knees, the scene of his front lawn bathed in moonlight, his little brother bleeding in Roland's arms, and Iwamoto's concerned gaze in his line of vision fading slowly.
Until nothing but sweet, cold darkness remained.
A soft chuckle sounded in the shadows to the fair side of the huge space of green lawn, half concealed by the darkness of the midnight hour, and half bathed in moonlight. As Kaiba's body fully collapsed as dead weight in Iwamoto's arms, the clock struck twelve-thirty, and already the plot of two people's demise had begun.
The night was almost singing with happiness:
Haunted dreamers beware, it's time for the ultimate scare.
Prepare your weapons, prepare your friends.
Because the darkness has come, and its time to make amends.
Cerulean eyes flashed happily before a swish of black cloak, a soft sound in the wind, and a glimpse of ruby tresses and then it was gone. Fading into the very night itself, leaving behind a stabbed, bruised, and beaten Seto Kaiba, and a fatally wounded Mokuba Kaiba.
'Now,' it thought darkly, 'if only to get to Katsuya Jounouchi.'
Jounouchi woke up to his cell phone ringing loudly. Cursing dark enough to make a sailor blush madly, he flew out of bed and grabbed the offensive thing, answering it before his drunken father heard the noise and came at his bedroom door with a knife. He'd done it before, why not try it again?
"Moshi moshi." He said rather breathlessly.
"Jounouchi, man, get to the Domino Hospital quickly." It was Otogi.
Honey-brown eyes blinked rapidly, trying to clear the last trickles of sleep from them before confusion overrode anything else. For the moment at least. "Why, Otogi? What's wrong? What happened?" He asked, his fear growing with each silent second from the other party.
There was a deep sigh before another voice answered, "Katsuya, there's been an accident." That was Yami, and he. . . Sounded - No. It couldn't be fear and worry in that deep voice, could it? Jounouchi's fear did a summersault in his stomach before kicking him in the heart and cackling evilly. The gods must really hate him now.
"W-what kind of an accident, Yami? Gods, tell me damn it! What's happened?" He all but yelled into the phone, his eyes wide and darkening to a feral molten amber. No trace of stupid innocence remained in those depths by the time Yami's answer echoed over the phone and into his ear.
"Someone attacked the Kaiba Mansion last night, Katsuya. Both Mokuba and Kaiba were injured." A pause that was probably meant for Jounouchi to yell and curse, but only silence greeted the ancient Pharaoh who stood in the hall outside Kaiba's hospital room. "Kaiba was the first to wake, and he asked that you be called immediately, to make sure you weren't attacked as well." Again, silence greeted his words. Concerned now, Yami voiced, "Katsuya, are you still there?"
"Y-yeah. I'm - I'm here." Was the shaky reply. Jounouchi's voice had gone dark and deep, echoing with an intelligence that no one had ever heard there before. To say it caught the crimson-eyed ruler by surprise would be like saying it snowed in July. A vast understatement. "I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Do you need someone to pick you up? Because I can -"
"No, Yami." Jou cut in, his voice sharp and dark. That intelligence had thickened and his tone was deeper, smoother. The fear and fury mixed as one and Yami could have sworn the air around him at Domino Hospital had just gotten way colder than it had been two minutes before. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Just - Just - . . . ." Silence and Jounouchi bowed his head, thankful Yami wasn't there to see the silent tears in his eyes. "Thanks for calling me. I'll see you in a few."
With that he hung up sharply, not even waiting for the other to say anything. He took a few steps back until his knees hit the edge of his bed and he collapsed, falling heavily onto the mattress, his eyes staring blankly at the floor.
Someone attacked the Kaiba Mansion last night, Katsuya. Both Mokuba and Kaiba were injured. Kaiba was the first to wake, and he asked that you be called immediately, to make sure you weren't attacked as well
Yami's word echoed endless in his head. And they wouldn't stop. Fury overrode his fear and he threw his cell phone at the wall, not caring when it shattered into a thousand pieces, not caring that he shouldn't have been strong enough to have done that to his phone. Standing up sharply, swiftly enough to make him light headed, but surprisingly he didn't faint, he grabbed a pair of black jeans, slipped them on and promptly began searching for a shirt. Finding a button down, oxford-collared white shirt, he threw it on, buttoning it as he stepped into his black tennis-shoes.
Grabbing his house keys off his dresser, he shoved them in his pocket, and opened the door, not wondering how it had magickally gotten unlocked when it had been just a few hours before. Walking swiftly down the hall, he rolled up the long sleeves of that business shirt and ran a hand through his sleep-tousled golden hair and was just five feet from the door when his father appeared out of nowhere.
"Where ta fuck d' ya dink yer goin'?" The drunkard growled, his brown eyes almost feral, and would have been scary if the blonde even gave a shit right then. And perhaps if he wasn't drunk.
"Sod off, bastard." Jounouchi hissed, shoving the older man away none too nicely before flinging open the door and storming out. The wood shut in the older Jounouchi's face and the younger didn't even hear the angered cursing and promises of pain when he returned home echoing from his father who was seemingly trapped in their damned apartment. Fuck it all, someone was going to die. Starting with the person who'd attacked Kaiba.
They'd definitely be the first to go.
Crimson orbs shot upward as he sensed an angry presence coming closer and closer. Yuugi, who sat on his lap in the chair outside Kaiba's room, stiffened and snuggled closer to the crimson-eyed ruler. Ryou laid a hand on Bakura's, whose Sen'nen Ring began to glow. The glow faded but Bakura's expression said he wasn't happy about it.
Honda stood beside the door to Kaiba's room, his arms crossed over his chest. Anzu sat beside Otogi in the chairs across from Yami and Yuugi and to the left of Ryou and Bakura. It wasn't long before they spotted the presence that was beyond being furious walking down the hall purposely towards them. Upon realizing who it was, Yuugi stood up and made to run to the enraged blonde, but Yami caught the back of his shirt, stopping him.
"You feel his anger like electricity, Yuugi. Don't test it." Yami whispered in fearful warning, though his voice was utterly calm and collected, his eyes gave him away. The amethyst-eyed teen nodded before returning to Yami's lap, where he sat docilely, but wasn't too thrilled that he couldn't at least hug his best friend.
Jounouchi stopped a good five feet from where Honda was standing, but none of them really seemed to notice anything but the raw fury in those shimmering eyes. The innocent honey-brown hue was completely gone, replaced by a fearful, feral-looking amber that held an ominous spark that promised death to any that dared oppose him right then.
"Where's Roland and Iwamoto?" Jounouchi asked so suddenly, they all jumped. Neither of them expected to hear him speak, much less in a voice that low and that dangerous. Just imagine seeing a friend you've known practically your whole life go evil and feral on you in a matter of hours. Just goes to show how much one phone call can change everything.
Bakura's ruby-chocolate eyes glittered. "They're two rooms down, Jounouchi." He replied, getting a smile that wasn't too nice in return. He stood, ignoring Ryou's hissed protests and walked forward, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "Shall I accompany you?"
"Yes." Was the nearly purred, hiss-like reply.
When the two disappeared into the room two doors down from Kaiba's, everyone, including Yami shivered as fear skittered down their spines. Damn, who knew Jounouchi could get like that? As Yuugi opened his mouth to comment on the scariness of their blonde friend, yelling echoed down the hall. The bits and pieces the small group of friends caught didn't sound pretty and they could only pray Jounouchi didn't tell Bakura to banish Roland and Iwamoto to the Shadow Realm. All six of them knew the ancient thief would be more than happy to oblige.
That was perhaps more scarier than Jounouchi had been a few moments before. Nope, definitely Jou had been scarier. Yuugi shivered, hugging himself and feeling Yami wrap his arms around his lithe form, silently telling him through their mind link that it was alright. Though Yuugi knew this wasn't true, he allowed himself to wallow in the feeling of safety that lie warranted him.
And by the looks of his friends, they felt the same.
"You IDIOTS! How could you let that damned thing get past you, much less into the house!" Jounouchi yelled, Roland and Iwamoto just looking up at him helplessly afraid, and wondering whether it would be wise to answer an otherwise purely rhetorical question as the one Jou had just asked.
Bakura placed a gentle hand on the fuming blonde's shoulder. That rage was shielded immediately, gone just like that. (A/N: Eh, snaps fingers.) The two heads of security blinked, the fear in their eyes dulling slightly, but not by much. Jounouchi looked at Bakura and sighed deeply, dejectedly.
All three guys watched as the blonde turned from them and walked to the door. Jounouchi paused, a shaking hand on the doorknob before he turned and levelled a glare that could kill if he had the power at Iwamoto and Roland. A long silence sprang to life between the gathered 'group' and it only grew until Jounouchi's voice sliced it like the knife that had hurt the brunette he was slowly, but surely, falling in love with.
"If you ever let something like this happen again, so help me, Bakura and the gods as my witnesses, the police won't find anything less than a fine powder when I'm done with you." He said, his voice surprisingly calm. But the undermining tone of it suggested other things were flashing through the blonde's mind. Things that echoed in those amber eyes. The eyes that, in that one moment, didn't look even relatively human.
Bakura shivered involuntarily when the door shut behind the blonde. Those ruby-chocolate eyes turned to the two shivering heads of security for KaibaCorp.
"I wouldn't take him too lightly, because if he does come after you. . . No way in the Seven Hells, nor in the name of Ra, will I willingly step in his path." The white-haired thief said softly, but loud enough for the others to hear before slipping out of the room himself.
It seemed the world was in for more than it was worth in surprises.
He groaned, the sound catching the attention of the one who sat by his bed. Icy midnight eyes opened slowly, blinking once before focusing on the world around them. It was a very white world, and he instantly knew he didn't like it. Turning his gaze around the inexplicably white room, he paused seeing a pair of amber eyes staring at him.
Amber eyes? he wondered. Then realization hit him. Flashes of the night before moved across his mind's eye and he sat up slowly, his chest feeling like it was on fire. Two soft, slightly calloused hands were there instantly to help him sit up and rest against his pillows. Those amber eyes stared at him and Kaiba barely took in the golden hair before soft lips were pressed against his own, a need so great in that touch alone, it was enough to send him reeling.
When the other pulled away, Kaiba watched as the blonde lowered his head to his shoulder and shivered. Jounouchi? He, what was he doing here? How had - then he remembered, that he'd woken up briefly, and told the doctors in the room at the time to call Katsuya Jounouchi to make sure he hadn't been attacked as well. After that, it was all a black haze and he didn't want to decipher any of it.
"Damn it, Seto, don't scare me like that again." Came a soft voice laden with deep emotion. He recognized most of it. Anger, fear, sadness, joy. . . and something else he couldn't - or didn't want to - recognize. Gently, he pushed at Jounouchi's shoulder, letting the blonde sit back and stare at him before he spoke, his voice raspy from hours of sleeping and lack of use.
"You weren't attacked?" he asked, his eyes shining.
Jounouchi shook his head and sighed, sitting on the hospital bed beside Kaiba, his left hand resting on the brunette's leg, his right on his own leg as he stared at the floor with a faraway look in his eyes. They had bled back to honey-brown but still held sparks of amber in their depths that were amazing in and of themselves.
"No, I wasn't." Jounouchi finally replied and lifted his head and gaze to stare at Kaiba. "Who could - would - have done this to you and Mokuba?" He asked, his voice hesitant, like he feared the fact that Kaiba may very well have the answer.
"I don't know." Came the whispered reply.
And for the first time in the years that Jounouchi had known him, Kaiba had actually admitted to being wrong. Guilt flooded him for no reason as the blonde realized that the CEO's sense of safety in his own home, the safety of not only himself, but his little brother, had been shattered in a matter of minutes. Sure, his brother was fine and so was he. . . .
But who was to say they would be so lucky a second time?
No one, exactly.
End Chapter 4 of Forbidden Fruit
Okay then . . . . well the evil that was promised to make an appearance in this story has finally 'awakened'. Jiro, the evil plot bunny serving as my muse for this story, is quite happy with this chapter, and so am I. Who is this evil? Is it male, or is it female perhaps? Ha ha! I'm not tellin', no I am not. You all will have to guess.
Anyway, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter, and please, review! I need reviews. Oh, and whoever can guess who the person is that attacked Mokuba and Seto will be awarded a special part in this fanfic. It will no longer be some thirteen chapters. Roughly twenty, depending on how slow or fast it moves. Or how long my muse, Jiro, wants it to be. After all, I'm only a mere slave to the evil plot bunny from hell.
:she dodges a thrown cookie and snickers:
Arigatou, minna-san!
-Wareta Shooki
Last Edited 2 / 20 / 05
