Chapter Five- The Offer

AN: Hiya. Review.

Disclaimer: The devil has your soul!…Sorry, I just wanted to see if anybody still read these.

YAMI'SPOV

Yami entered the club a bit conspicuously, the outfit he wore making it sort of impossible to blend in. Add the black fringed pants, mauve tank top, dripping with chains and silver Imperial choker to the half-foot hairstyle and people all but cleared a path for him.

Mingling as little as was polite with the customers, the Egyptian made his way to the six-foot pillar.

Since he was fourteen this had always been his and Seto's meeting place, though back then all he'd been doing was message relay. Now his hands shook as his body tried to break free of all the toxins he had resolved to stop renewing in his body, and his mind burned with memories of all the sordid things he'd done…will probably do…all in the name of his mad devotion.

He knew it was pathetic, the way he smiled before he even saw him, and how his heart quickened with a foreboding nervousness.

" Seto, I-"

But he broke off. Standing before him was not his master, but two of the more prominent drones, Honda and Devilin. Embarrassed at having looked so excited, Yami clenched his fists and yelled over the loud music.

" Whatthe …did YOU page me! HOW DARE YOU!"

Devilin held his hands up defensively.

" Look, we knew it was the only way you'd come." He stammered. " We have a proposition for you."

Yami's eyes narrowed. " I don't listen to the bottom of the barrel." He snapped, and started to go, but Honda caught his arm.

" You're pale and shivering." He observed. " You're trying to quit, aren't you? I mean, why else would the lutennient of the biggest smack dealer in Asia restrain himself."

Yami's shoulders sagged minutely. " And why is that your business?" he asked heatedly, his heart heavy with weariness and disappointment.

He hadn't called him. He'd never come; never love him; never recognize his feelings. Devilin's response was hollow in his ears.

" Because, like you, we want out or up. I heard what Kaiba did to you this morning, and judging from your quick bounce back, I'd say it was commonplace. Do you really want to work for someone who treats you like shit?"

Yami spun around and pinned Deviling against the pillar. The techno was nothing compared to his voice now.

" You speak betrayal! I should report you! Besides, I owe him EVERYTHING!"

Devilin fought hard to hide his fear.

" Everything you don't want." He said as quietly as he could and still be heard.

" You're scared, Yami. you're seventeen and all alone with an addiction you can't control and a related criminal history the length of this tower. To top that off your boyfriend's a scumbag, and it'll only get worse. Do you really think you can quit on your own? I'll tell you the answer; you can't. Because part of you loves the person you become and knows that he likes it as well. And when he's nice to you, everything's okay."

Yami took away his hands slowly, and grasped for a response. Finally he settled on:

" I have pledged myself to him. I will NOT go back on that pledge just because two lower-class goons in the Army want to play hard ball."

Honda placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling the tremors.

" He doesn't care anything for you, Yami. When you joined this, you were under the impression that you'd have someone to turn to in all of it; a friend. Nobody can do this job without a friend. It's too nerve-wracking."

Yami let out a slow breath. " I can't stop seeing those kids. Do you know how many I've led into his hands? Too many. But, I, the grief I feel if, if…"

He stopped. He was stuttering. Devilin, sensing the lutennient's weakness, seized his chance.

" Seto's power, fortunately, lies not in the loyalty of his consumers or employees, but in his money. If we take him out, spot of boss is free game. Join with us, and if we succeed we promise we'll take care of you and get you into the best rehab we can. After that you can walk, no obligations, no strings, just a fresh start at the life you deserve. The love you'll get over, but this-"

Devilin took Yami's arm and ran a finger along the scars there.

" This will kill you."

Yami was silent for a long moment. His head throbbed with the music and the glaring light. And the offer. His eyes were wet again.

" So what do you need me for?" he finally asked. " Why not just do it yourselves?"

Devilin grinned. " Because you are the closest thing he's got to a friend. Up until yesterday I thought you were in love. Not to mention the fact that you're his lutennient, and know every branch of his empire, all his secrets, annoyances, and habits."

Yami coughed and nodded slightly. " Sure, but he's angry with me at the moment. He probably won't invite me in with him for a month."

Devilin waved this away. " That's okay. My plan doesn't include a discreet knife in the throat while in the privacy of his home. We need witnesses in the Army in order to earn their respect. His will be a famous death, and very public underground. You can be sure of that."

Yami looked at these two scumbags, feeling sick at their eagerness, seeing past their lies. But he couldn't take this anymore.

"…So what do you want me to do?"

AN: Will Yami really betray Kaiba? Will Kaiba ever stop being such a raging asshole? Will Honda and Devilin get their heads handed to them? Find out in the next sadistic installment.