Chapter 12: Imposter

A dark shadow loomed over his work desk, making him freeze and start at it, knowing who it was. A hand pressed down onto his shoulder and breath tickled his ear as the message was spoken. Slowly his eyes widened in anger but the wave of worry drowned that, and he was upon his feet before the spiky-headed shadow disappeared from his mind and opened his office door to find two policemen, one with his hand raised to knock, but both stunned. It took them a moment to regain their composure.

"Mr. Kaiba-"

"Where is my son?"

Kaede started up at what had been her father's friend, wading through a thousand endless thoughts, all whispering to her in wondering voices. Suppose he was always like this? Maybe he is possessed by some sort of evil spirit? Maybe an alien took out all his insides and used his skin like a suit? The more and more she listened, the more and more they shifted into the bizarre. Surely the truth couldn't be that crazy.

She waited tensely with Javas, looking a bit whiter but obviously trying to be braver, and T.R on her left, as cool as icy and fiddling with something in his pockets. She was a bit more at ease with both of them with her. She knew if she had been alone she would have been the vulnerable one. It seemed that with the two of them, she felt he couldn't trick them. Well, not as easily anyway.

Hanging about five feet from the ground, the man at least had the wall to lean on now, due to the fact the weeds were now growing like some sort of vine type plant. She was pleased to see the foliage wasn't crushing him, but had a tight enough grip on him. He shifted his hands around before looking down at them with his unusually dark eyes. He remained silent.

Nervously she rubbed her right arm with her left hand, glancing between T.R and Javas. They both remained silent and didn't look back. No saves here. Sighing she looked back up and tried to speak bravely.

"Who are you?" It came out nothing like she wanted. He stirred again, shifting his arms again and shaking his head a bit, as if he'd been a sleep too long.

"You know me. I'm Mr. Mutou." He said in the same dark voice. She felt incredibly silly, and almost stupid. It didn't stop her.

"No you're not. You may look like Mr. Mutou, actually I could see how you could be his twin, but you don't act like him. Er…I guess you could say, you don't have his nature." She was scratching the back of her head anxiously and was avoiding Javas's looks.

"What are you talking about? This is Yugi Mutou." Javas said. Kaede shook her head.

"This isn't Mr. Mutou I know. His eyes weren't so dark. He was a happy sort of guy." Javas started at her like she was crazy.

"What the hell are you talking about?! Yugi Mutou was the strongest and most dangerous duelist in his time! He dueled in this character, how can you say he wasn't dark?" Kaede looked at into his blue eyes and saw that it was the truth. He believed in every single word. That was frightening.

"…Who told you this?" They both looked up. T.R started to laugh. All eyes averted to his soft chuckling with, the confusion still building.

"Looks like your work is ahead of you, Pharaoh." T.R smirked as the imposter's purple eyes narrowed and tried in vain to shift the bonds on his wrists to a comfortable position. Kaede looked from him to the bond man with a mystified gaze.

"I'm aware." He said in a careful tone of voice.

"Where did you hear about me?" From eye contract, it was Javas's turn to take the floor. Javas looked into his steady gaze, pulling at the neck of his shirt a bit, like it had gotten too hot in the frosty wind blowing about them.

"I…" He stared into the blinking stare.

"Alright," he replied in an annoyed voice, glaring up at him coldly, "my father told me." The man's face twisted into an expression to match her confusion, but go beyond it with a clear vision of disbelief.

"…your father?"

"Yeah." Javas agreed impatiently. The man shook his head.

"No…no. He wouldn't. He was our friend…Joey wouldn't do that." His dark violet gaze searched the ground as rapid thoughts passed. She could tell; her father had often looked like that. She turned to Javas wonderingly, but by the look of his face, the confusion was contagious.

"Who's Joey?!" He asked in an outburst. The man's brow furrowed.

"…Do you have the name Wheeler?"

"WHAT IS A WHEELER?!" he snarled.

"Wheeler is a last name… you're father's name isn't Joe or Joey?"

"NO!"

"Hmm…then who was your father?" Javas's face paled considerably and his eyes lost a lot of their annoyed frostiness. Kaede, after a long pin-pong movement from between them, finally rested her eyes on him and saw T.R still grinning evilly in the corner of her eye, like it was burned in the corner of her head. She shook this off. Javas sighed.

"…my father is Seto Kaiba," he said carefully, and then added in a side note, "yes, the owner of the company." Seems he gets that question a lot.

The man showed no sign of reaction. He didn't twitch, didn't glare, didn't even blink. He took the information in as calmly as being told where the bathroom was. He didn't even move, well, except moving his wrists. Kaede was wondering if she had made the bonds a little too tight there. Mr. Mutou's puzzle swung slightly, making the plants constrict into his torso a little more. The man glanced at it with an expression she couldn't make out and looked seriously back at Javas.

"…you have his eyes." The man replied. Javas just started at him in disbelief. Kaede could see that he was probably wondering what the hell this guy was thinking. For what reason Kaede hadn't a clue, besides, she wasn't even sure what he meant by dueling. They didn't do fencing, did they?

T.R moved slightly, making her look at him for a moment. A glimmer of humor was peppered in his eyes before they turned away down to the ground. She wondered what was funny. She was wondering a lot of things today.

The man coughed, and brought their attention back.

"Could you either let me out of these binds or please continue with this interrogation?" He gritted his teeth as he spoke, altering his wrists in the bonds. Kaede flinched at the look on his face. Looks like she was right to be worried. She looked at the stems.

"Excuse me." The vine like greenery twitched to her voice, responding to her.

"Could I propose you to bring his hands down and loosen your grip? The sun is more to the left you know…" the plants jerked to live, bringing his bonded hands to his chest. The Man relaxed his face.

"Thanks…that's all you do, just tell it to do things?"

"Well…I don't tell it to do things, I make suggestions. I've found things don't like to be told what to do. That and it's better to be polite…I guess." She started to scratch the back of her head again, understanding that Javas was off the stage, so to speak.

She wasn't scared. She was actually more weary than frightened. Probably since he didn't react in the ways she had feared as she had gotten older and saw how cruel the world could be. He didn't run away from her, or immediately try to take advantage of her. Then again, she had to remember that it was still early, and the thought dishearten her.

She glanced at T.R, taking in his placid look, but feeling very different about how he was feeling. His eyes were burning with such heat she was a little concerned that this man may burst into flames. She watched and waited, not listening to anything, not even the mutter of the weeds as she unconsciously did. It felt like her eyes bore into him and they could see inside his head. Or maybe it was more like a phantom touch or something. For a moment, she had the craziest thought. I can see his mind

"So you've been given the ring." Kaede flinched.

"What?" The man looked at her with the sternest face she had ever seen. It made her want to put everything down and tell him everything, like it had been Aunty Marie demanding to know what happened to her favorite hat. You didn't contradict this sort of face.

"Yes."

"Don't even start." T.R suddenly growled fiercely next to her. His teeth were tight together, and seemed to look more fang-like when he was mad. Javas realized quickly by the way he took a small step back. The look on his face would've made Kaede laugh if T.R wasn't so angry. She could feel it, like a hot coal bubbling up somewhere inside her chest. It was so fast she grabbed at her shirt in surprise. The man stared at her with a grim expression.

"That was all the answer I need." He said gloomily, looking at the ring hanging around her neck.

"You feel his anger?"

"Shut up." He retorted viciously. Kaede looked from the two of them puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't say a word, Pharaoh. I'm warning you." The-once- Mr. Mutou looked at him with stormy purple orbs. The puzzle suddenly looked brighter.

"She has a right to know." He said in his dark voice, "And I can't let you take advantage of her." T.R glowered up at him with such hatred that Kaede could feel it, like a thick fog, muffling anything around them. He was seeing red, a deep dark blood-color crimson, in his sight. She didn't know how she knew this. It was just there, floating in the top of her senses, unable to ignore, calling so forcefully you had to feel it. Bubbling hotter than any liquefied metal. Burning more heatedly than the magma coursing through the planet. Such heat.

"If you tell her a word of it," T.R said slowly, trying to control himself, "I will kill you and your aibou." He meant it. He'd kill. He'd kill without a guilty thought. It was there, surging so strongly underneath his skin that it was terrifying. The memory of how he saved her by breaking that girl's arm flew in so clearly it felt like it happened seconds ago. Spinning her around and twisting her pale arm the wrong way. The loud horrible crack that sounded. A shriek so loud it sliced air like a knife and wanted to make your ear drums bleed. All with the coolest and sadist face.

She wanted to faint. If she could have made herself, she would have without a second thought. But she was stuck in the present, starting at him with eyes unable to get any wider, sweating so much to be soaked, with nothing but that strange and frightening heat she had never felt before in her life. Her knees where buckling, and the world was blank to her eyes. She felt trapped in the desert with a heavy jacket and snow boots that were stuck on her. Like she was tumbling head over heels into the sun. Then suddenly the world flickered images, like an unpredictable slide show.

Bodies. Everywhere. Scattered. Half buried in the sand. Blood. Desert sand. So much death. Stench. Everywhere. Everyone is dead. He killed them. Soldiers. Blood on my hands. HE KILLED THEM. Make him pay. Sweat and blood. Killed everyone.

Except me…

The heat lifted so suddenly it was a light switch turning off. A flick of thought the flames were dowsed and the world slammed right up into her face as the slide show stopped. Her blurred sight turned normal with a flick of the veil, exposing hard dark brown eyes, staring straight at her. Pressure was on her, a cooler warm on her arms, even though it did hurt a bit. Blinking out of the daze, she noticed he was closer than a few minutes ago. Way closer. She was shaking. She could feel his breath on the bridge of her nose as his eyes searched hers. Worried? She felt it in a tight knot, replacing the hatred a moment before. His arms where around her. Way closer than usual. Is that worry swimming in his eyes? Or is that annoyance?

Too close.

Kaede pushed him away from her and held herself for a second, taking a few deep breaths of cold air. Her eyes were closed and she was forcing herself not to shake, her fists tightly closed. She recovered slowly, listening to the leafy whispers, not knowing what just happened, whether it was a mental breakdown or…something she didn't want to consider at this point. She lifted her heavy lids and saw all three of her company where staring at her.

"I'm alright." She said as calmly as she could, and noticed she was now soaked from perspiration. Morbid pictures still danced on the edges of her mind, where they would remain until she either slept or even drink. She was hopping sleep would do it. She had a hand to her eyes, wanting to sleep now. God those pictures where horrible.

"I'm…tired." She said slowly, looking up from her hand at the man hanging above them, only for a second before looking at Javas's white face.

"Can we go to…where ever you're taking us for the night?" He started at her puzzled.

"What about…" A silence settled among them for a moment.

"We'll take him with us." T.R said flatly. Kaede could think of no other way either. Javas looked even more nervous from that, but he said nothing, just sort of jerked his head in what could have been a nod and shifted his backpack. It was agreed.

Book Dragon: "Please Review."