Chapter 16: Discussions
Kaede had decided that it was okay to untie 'Mr. Mutou' so he could eat the cereal Javas made him and implied to the plants to release him, only after T.R made sure all the doors and windows were locked. She was surprised by how comfortable she felt with the man completely free. She supposed it was that he hadn't made any escape attempts or started screaming in anyway for help. Nor had he tried to hurt anyone. Still, she was sure he was very dangerous. Just by looking at Javas's paper white face and the sunken way he was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels, trying desperately to pretend that everything was just peachy when he was really scared out of his skull.
Looking at T.R, she puzzled over how dangerous he could be since he held the regular 'This is the dullest thing in the world and I'd love to bash my head against the wall than be here' look with his arms crossed loosely and yawning next to her was enough to mix conclusions.
"So is there something we can call you?" she asked him after a while of watching the channels blink from cooking shows to really old cartoons about some rabbit out smarting a police dog called Funny Bunny.
"My name is Yami." He replied after he swallowed, and then from the shocked look on her face added, "Yes, the one and the same Pharaoh of Egypt 5025 years ago."
"That is why he's been calling me Pharaoh if you wondered." Yami continued, nodding toward T.R as he took another bite.
"Not that you deserve that title." T.R retorted, his eyes narrowed in a fierce glare. Yami seemed not to hear his comment, or, more accurately, probably ignored him. Kaede could tell he was trying to be polite. He had to be hungry. She could bet that if he was alone he'd probably be eating the meal a lot faster. It made her feel a bit guilty that they were detaining him.
As for the whole identity ancient king spectrum, she was dead sure he was telling the truth, despite Javas's mouthing of 'wacko' several hundred times. It was too much of a coincidence for him to make it up, with all the weird ancient Millennium items (she was sure the ring was one, now. It had that freaky eye on it, after all.) and T.R calling him Pharaoh the first time he'd spoken to him, and even when that cloaked guy called T.R a thief. T.R could actually stand for 'Tomb Robber'…he had called him that a couple of times and it would explain the expert lock picking. T.R did say he was from 5025 years ago. Looking at his hostile nature she knew they had to have known one another. It was conclusive. The only question was how did Yami get here?
"No. My spirit dwells inside the ring. It is now your ring."
Kaede blinked at the memory and for the first time examined it. Could Yami be a spirit of Mr. Mutou's puzzle? T.R said he was a spirit, but that didn't make sense. He's solid. Spirits are usually transparent, go through walls and things.
"If you're a spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, and that's a big if, and you say it can do magic, then did it give you a body?" she asked him in a puzzled tone. T.R tensed slightly before giving Yami and harder more violent stare. The Pharaoh looked thoughtful as he chewed for a few long moments before he swallowed.
"No. I've only had my own body for the last decade or so and that was only possible with your mother's help. If she hadn't made me a body I'd still be stuck sharing-"
"MY MOTHER KNEW YOU!" Kaede asked incredulously. Javas jolted at the sudden volume and gave her a look of shock. One that implied he didn't even know she could be that loud. Yami hadn't thought that either. He flinched so strongly that the bowl fell from his hands and bounced off his lap onto the floor, flinging milk and cereal onto the carpet as well as himself.
For a moment they simple stared at the spilled milk. Then Yami sighed when he took a look at the white liquid quickly seeping into his clothes as Javas went to the kitchen for a towel.
"Better not to cry over it, Pharaoh." T.R remarked. He was smiling widely at Yami's expression, enjoying how uncomfortable he looked, until Kaede had to ruin it.
"Better ask where some clothes are for you. You're soaked." She followed Javas into the kitchen.
"I hate how she has to wreak everything." The thief grumbled, his mood souring again.
"I wouldn't say she wreaks everything for you." Yami replied. He crouched down and started to pick up the bowel and the little stray pieces of cereal.
"What do you mean?" T.R queried with a snarl. Yami had a tone about him, a smug tone, a tone you learned to be wary of after a short period of time.
"Nothing. Nothing at all." The Pharaoh replied in the same smugness, now with a hint of laugher about him.
"Are you mocking me?"
"No."
"Then why are you smirking like that?" He asked threateningly. He was loosing his temper faster than usual. He could feel the bubbling sensation in his gut beginning to intensify as he made his hands into fists.
"Don't get upset. You'll only cause trouble for both of us." Yami retorted his voice also darkening. His fuse was also short. Being tied up in a chair for more than six hours with nothing to eat will do that to a person, faster in someone as old as he was now. He was starting to get arthritis in both hands. Stiff limps made the pain worse.
"By the way things are going we'll both cause trouble."
"It'll cost more than you can handle."
"And what is that suppose to mean!"
"What you think it does."
"And what could that be?"
"Guess."
"Sorry it took so long." Kaede said as she walked into the room, making both spirits jump in surprise. She had a neatly folded bundle of clothes in her arms, her expression slightly moody.
"I took me forever to find something that looked like it might fit." She gave him the clothes carefully. The spark of the argument was still as hot as a burning coal in Yami's mind, no matter how he tried to cover it at the moment. T.R was clenching his teeth in frustration, knowing damn well that she was lying. Javas was probably talking circles around her, since he had failed to show his face for such a brief task. There was no stopping the boy. When he got his hands on him-
"Javas wants to get some clothes for us while we're here. He figures he and I can take care of it-"
"Tell him I'll do it." T.R replied placidly. Kaede furrowed her forehead for a moment.
"…Ooookayyy… I will." She walked into the kitchen again, a baffled look spreading.
Yami smirked again.
"What are you staring at!" He scowled getting up off the couch, pretending to hunt for his shoes. Yami shrugged casually, leaving T.R to his worry about his smooth smile widening.
"Why in Ra's name does this always happen to me?" He grumbled to himself as he found his shoes in Javas's room, a mirror to Kaede's, under the bed since he had been using that part of the floor to sleep on and muttered as he shoved them on.
As he was tying them Javas entered the room, the bowl and spoon in his hands looking a bit angry, but not angry enough to challenge him. T.R was sure he had a decent bruise from the couch. Still, it would've been interesting to at least to see what he'd say. All he got out of him was a bundle of cash he seemed to produce from no where slapped into his hand and a threatening glower. He disregarded the expression and tucked the money into his pocket as he trudged to the door and turned the knob.
"You aren't leaving with out me are you?" she asked him, hopping over to him with one shoe on the other being jammed onto her foot.
"I guess not." He replied snappily. He was dreading it. There was no escaping whatever god that loved to see him tortured was there?
(…)
Seto Kaiba brushed his graying brown hair back with his hand and used every chord in his being to remain completely calm. Right now he had the house to himself. It was quiet for once, nothing was crashing to the floor and no one was yelling. He hadn't the mind to work, though he was sitting in his home office. No matter how much the police said to think of other things, he couldn't. Instead, he found himself tapping his index finger on his desk rapidly, worrying his guts out.
It had been two days since he had last seen his son, about fourteen hours that he had been missing, and the police still couldn't find anything useful to where Javas could possibly be. Of course they weren't happy when he demanded they find him now, but how could a father think straight when his only child was missing. He was ashamed of doing that. He was content enough to hack into their files and see what was going on and send a team of highly paid detectives to find him instead. Unfortunately, they too hadn't found anything yet.
When he had first found out, he had been pretty angry for an hour or so. However, after the end of the second hour he had forgotten any fury and was worrying sick. Hoping to god that he was okay and he'd come home soon.
He hadn't figured out what to tell Serenity yet. Telling her flat out that they might not ever see him again was just plain stupid, but he couldn't even think clearly enough to think of a calm way of telling her Javas was missing. He was lucky she was out of town visiting her mother right now. So far he had her believe he was staying over a friend's and the police were just here checking the house because he was sure some one tried to break in last night. She believed him. She was gullible, but it was one of the things he loved about her. Still, lying didn't help him feel any better since the guilt was also doing him in.
He was slightly glad when the door bell rang and told one of the butlers to bring whoever they were in right away. He brushed back his hair several times more and wiped his sweaty palms on his pants before he faced the large spinning chair toward the door and considered putting his feet up and quickly decided against it. It would be something his idiot brother-in-law would do. Instead he took a pen and started scribbling and doodling on the post-it note his wife had left, saying to remember get someone to mow the lawn this week since the man who usually did it quit recently. He had that affect on people.
Removing the pen and looking at what he had written and drawn had surprised him. On the yellow sticky note was a perfect triangle, the base facing up and a point pointing south. In the center of the shape were a couple of jagged lines and a large Egyptian eye on it. There was also a half circle on the base of the triangle and a long line leading up to the end of the paper made it actually look like something someone would wear. Next to the object, much to his annoyance, in large capital letters were the words:
YOU IDIOT!
Kaiba crumpled up the note and threw it into the waste basket fumingly and started looking for a cigarette in his desk, hoping maybe he'd find one that he had hidden before Serenity had made him quit, glancing at the basket every couple of seconds, until finally, to his relief, the door swung open.
His relief was very brief. Actually, it imploded the moment the two men entered the room.
"What are you two doing here!" he asked them bitterly. The shorter of the two men, the spiky tri color haired man with big violet eyes and a kind face was of course his long time rival Yugi Mutou, the man he hated with all his heart. Yugi, however, didn't look like his cheerful self today. He actually looked very tried and for the first time ever, irritated. The second man, however was about three feet taller than him with a painfully awake look in that annoyed gaze in those brown eyes. It also looked like he'd been driving for a while.
"We've come for your help, Kaiba." Yugi said wearily, holding his puzzle with one hand as he sat down.
"And what makes you think I'll help you?"
"Don't and I'll make sure my sister hears' about that." Said his stupid brother-in-law. Kaiba rolled his eyes as Joey Wheeler, the tall blonde man in the black leather biking jacket sat in the other chair next to Yugi.
"You don't know what kind of hell I've been through biking all the way back here. I've gotten about forty tickets just entering Japan alone."
"Well, that's smart of you puppy." Joey growled but didn't attempt to hurt him. He was far to tired, which was good since Yugi didn't look like he was in anyway capable of holding him off.
"Look, Kaiba we really need your help."
"Where have I heard this before?"
"Shut up, will yeah?"
"Bakura's ring went missing about a week ago. He called me he was so worried about it."
"Three days lata his littlest girl went missing." Joey added
"He must have been really upset because he drove to my house. I found his car parked outside. I figured he was inside so I walked in."
"The shop was completely trashed. Everything was tossed all over the place. I'd say there was a struggle, probably between three real heavy guys."
"And of course you'd know that." Kaiba retorted.
"Don't push it, Kaiba."
"Anyway, I looked and looked and looked."
"No Bakura anywhere."
"Yami went out to look for them but I haven't heard from him in hours. So I called Joey."
"And I came whipping down here. End of story."
"So we need your help to find him, his daughter, and maybe the ring. Yami said she probably had it and the spirit talked her into leaving." Yugi said sadly, "Can you help us?" Kaiba stopped tapping his fingers and folded his hands on the desk.
"I actually have my own problems right now, Yugi, so no." he replied curtly.
"Fine! We don't need a heartless bastard like you!" Joey screamed at him, pounding his fist on the desk. Unfortunately, Kaiba wasn't in the mood to deal with him.
"GET OUT!" the CEO roared. Suddenly the door opened. The three men froze as a middle aged woman peeked her head in the door.
"Um, Mr. Kaiba. The detectives have called back. They've found some interesting news."
"Put them on line two."
"Yes sir." Joey and Yugi shared a puzzled look as Kaiba grabbed the little black phone the minute it rang.
"Talk to me. Yes. Yes. Is that so? Interesting. Call me if anything else comes up." He replaced the receiver.
"I'll help you."
"Really? Oh thank you Kaiba!"
"Why the sudden change?" Joey asked him suspiciously.
"Because," Kaiba replied, speaking in a cold smooth voice, "I've just been informed that three teenagers, two with white hair and one with blonde and blue eyes, were sighted with a tall man who had spiky tri-colored looking hair on fourth avenue yesterday at about four in the afternoon. When I find Yami, I am going to kill him."
Book Dragon: "Please Review"