Chapter 5: A Promise
There was a sharp knocking on the door of Yuugi Moto's home. Bursting out of bed quickly, since he was a light sleeper, he tiptoed to the door, making sure Grandpa wasn't awake yet. He checked the eyehole first, and noticed a small boy and a mysterious woman. That was strange. At first, he turned, because it was too dark to really know who it was, but when the knocking continued, Yuugi gave in and opened the door. And what a surprise it was.
The raven-haired boy leaped into his arms, clasping him tightly around the waist. Surprised, he noticed the Egyptian woman at his door, Ischizu Ishtar, the woman whose brother, Malik, had faced off against him. His hands were strangely at his sides until he noticed that this little boy, who was actually slightly taller than him, was Mokuba, Kaiba's brother.
"Hi," he said, a little embarrassedly. "It's kinda late, you both. What are you guys doing here?" He asked, rather frankly. Mokuba unclasped his hands from Yuugi's waist and wiped at his eyes. They both looked tired and matted with dirt. There was a fine amount of dirt stains on their clothes and on their bodies, and Yuugi could only imagine what had happened to them.
"Yuugi, it's my brother," Mokuba turned his head to the side, as if it was difficult for him to say what he needed to say. "These men, they came and.." his voice hitched. Concerned, Yuugi held his shoulder supportively. "And they took him away!" Mokuba buried his head into Yuugi's chest. Ischizu brushed stray hair from her face. The smallest boy looked up at her.
"It is true, Yuugi." She said, softly. Her face and voice looked as if filled with regret. Yuugi smoothed out the small boy's hair, and Mokuba would remember that was exactly how his brother would thread his hand through his hair in the mornings. Yuugi mentioned that they both could start telling him everything they knew when they were ready. Shyly, Ischizu gripped the hem of her shirt and twisted it when she spoke. When Mokuba had gone in Yuugi's room to be 'alone', she quietly requested to take a shower.
"Yeah, it's um, okay!" He said, rubbing the back of his head. He directs her to the bathroom located near his door. At this point, Grandpa has woken up and requests to talk to the boy alone. "Um, there's soap in the soap dish near the sink, and a fresh towel already hung there. Shampoo and the other stuff is near um..the towel rack. If you need anything else, just ask me." He blushed forty-three different shades of red.
"Yuugi, what's going on here? It's one A.M.!" Grandpa exclaimed, pointing at the clock above the darkened hallway. Yuugi explains briefly that one of his friends is in trouble, and that it is urgent. "All right, I understand. Don't make too much noise now, I'm sleeping." The older man headed back to his room, and closed the door to minimize noise. It is then that Yuugi heard small sniffles from his room. He pulled gently at the hem of his Dark Magician pajamas and headed into the room.
"Hey," Yuugi paused by the door when he saw Mokuba had sat on edge of his bed, wiping feverishly at his eyes with his sleeves. "Mokuba, I know you love your brother. That's why we're going to save him." Mokuba looked up at him with glazed eyes. "We're going to find out who those men are, and we're going to get your brother back. I promise." He hugged the small boy, even though he was slightly bigger than him in height only.
"Thanks," he hiccupped, "Yuugi." Mokuba then heads out of the room and says that he wants to eat, because he hasn't eaten anything in hours. Yuugi says that he too, is hungry. They both headed out and passed by the bathroom when Ischizu called out softly.
"Yuugi? I need proper clothing, but I cannot wear yours, as they would not fit me." She said, rather worriedly. Yuugi blushed sixty-seven shades of red, and Mokuba only twenty-two, and they both sweatdropped as they realized that neither of them had any female clothing in the house. With a bright idea, he told Ischizu to wait. She agreed, and shortly after, Mokuba heard the soft fall of water. Heading back to his room, Yuugi picked up his phone and dialed Jounouchi's number.
"Hello? Jounouchi! I need you to come over quick. Yeah, I know it's late. But Kaiba's in danger, and we need to help him. Oh, and um..can you bring a set of your sisters' clothes? Or something? No, no, it's not for me. It's for Ischizu. She and Mokuba came here and told me what happened to Kaiba. Thanks Jounouchi!" He clicked the phone shut, and heard Mokuba laughing softly at the door. This time he only blushes twenty-one shades.
"Jounouchi!" Moments later, Jounouchi appears at the door, looking rather soppy. It had begun to rain. Ushering him in, Yuugi asks him where the clothes are. He hands him over, somewhat embarrassedly, and then demands to know more about what's going on. Mokuba appears by the stairs.
And even though Mokuba hasn't taken a liking to Jounouchi until today, he hugs him warmly. The tall blonde looks rather confused, but rubs the small boy's head. Yuugi heads over to the bathroom, holding a stack of clothes, and knocks on the door. The door opens, rather wide, and there is Ischizu, wrapped in a rather small, beige towel that reaches towards her knees.
"Thank you, Yuugi." She says, and taking the clothes, she smiles warmly at him. Yuugi achieves a record of eighty-six shades of red, blushing madly until he reached his room, where Jounouchi and Mokuba were talking together in hushed whispers. He heard the door from the bathroom swing open, and Ischizu, donned in her flannel pajamas, rakes her fingers through her wet hair and follows Yuugi.
"I should take one, too. I feel kinda dirty." Mokuba exclaimed, and it is then that Yuugi realizes that Mokuba and him probably wear the same size of clothes, and thus he buried himself in his drawers, and Ischizu watched with much amusement as he pulled out a plain white t-shirt and some cotton pajamas, covered entirely with miniature Dark Magicians. Jounouchi laughed as he reminded Yuugi that people wore undergarments under their clothes. He blushes eighteen shades of red this time, and shoves some clothes underneath the shirt.
"I like them." Mokuba wraps his hands around the clothes and heads to the bathroom. After he leaves, both Jounouchi and Ischizu burst out laughing, and Yuugi shuffled uncomfortably by his bed. Then, there was a deadening quiet, in which one might've heard a pin drop. The water from the bathroom was heard in the room, filling the crevices and the quiet that covered their fears in a gentle, comforting blanket.
"So what happened?" Jounouchi asks, because he is probably the only one that doesn't know what's going on. Ischizu bears a solemn look, and sits down next to Yuugi. "All Yuugi told me was that Kaiba was in danger. I just wanna know what's happened." He brushes his hair out of his eyes with his hand, much like Kaiba does, and this, Ischizu notices.
"There were men, dressed in dark clothing. They came into the mansion, and held Mokuba to gunpoint. Kaiba offered himself in exchange for his brother, and so he went with them. Those men said that we could not call the police, either. I am afraid they might kill Kaiba." She says, rather softly. "I think he knew about it all along."
"What? You mean Kaiba knew these men were coming?" Yuugi asks, putting a comforting hand on her arm. "If he knew, then why would he..?" He trailed off into nothing. Even Jounouchi, who has said nothing, looks up at the ceiling as if he's trying to find answers. Answers. That is what everyone wants right now.
"It seemed as if he knew about it. He looked as if he knew that they were coming. And when they held Mokuba by gunpoint, Kaiba was calm, as if he had rehearsed that same look several times before. I know it sounds strange, but that is what I think." She's still toweling her hair, and Yuugi is deep in thought. Jounouchi had thrown himself across Yuugi's bed, looking up. It's been a long night. He wonders whether it would be inappropriate to just ask everyone to sleep for now, and then, in the morning, figure out what to do. It might even be a good decision, considering how tired everyone is.
"Yuugi?" The young boy looks up at the door, where Mokuba is standing, clad in pajamas, shifting his feet side to side. "We can't help my brother right now. Not even if we tried, because we don't know where he is." Yuugi nods, understanding that perhaps the boy is right. "I just want to get my rest, but in the morning, I want to help. I know it sounds selfish, but right now, I don't feel so well anyway." He looks at the floor the entire time. He doesn't want everyone to think he doesn't care about his brother. He does. More than anyone and anything else in the world.
"I understand. That makes perfect sense. Your home is not safe, though. Yuugi?" Ischizu turns to the smaller boy, and he blushes slightly. Do they want to stay here? It doesn't bother him at all. Perhaps Jounouchi won't mind staying either. They all need to sort out what's going on and figure out what to do next.
"You guys can stay here. Jounouchi, please stay. It would really help." The blonde nods, and together, they have formed an unwritten pact, even though they don't know it. They want to save Kaiba, and that, even though each one of them has different views of Kaiba, is clear. "Ischizu, there's a guest bed down the hall where the bathroom was. Mokuba, you can sleep here, and Jounouchi..um..you'll have to sleep on the couch." His friend topples over, rather disappointed that Yuugi gave him the infamous couch to sleep on.
"Good night." Ischizu says, but before she leaves, she kisses Mokuba on the forehead, as she has done so many times today, to tell him that she will find out where Kaiba is, and she will save him. The younger boy blushes substantially before she leaves, and the taller blonde argues all the way to the couch. At least he isn't alone. He gives Yuugi a half smile.
"I'll sleep on the floor, okay?" Yuugi starts spreading a bedroll on the floor. Mokuba watches him rather sadly as he does so. He doesn't want to sleep alone, even if Yuugi is in the same room. It feels childish; he has slept alone most of his life, but some nights he would sleep with his brother, holding onto him rather tightly.
"Yuugi, can you please sleep here? Please?" The boy stops spreading the bedroll on the floor and places it in the closet, and while he does this, and unknown to anyone else, Yuugi blushes six shades of red. Closing the closet, he turns of the light and hops into the bed, where Mokuba has already lied down. "My brother would always sleep with me when I would ask him. But then, as I grew older, he told me to conquer my fears." The dark-haired child buries a hand underneath the pillow, as he always does, curls up his legs and puts his left hand underneath his left cheek.
It is quiet now. Yuugi has left substantial space between them, to make sure he doesn't kick the boy or push him out of bed by accident. Much to his surprise, Mokuba pulls himself over on Yuugi's side of the bed and wraps his arms around his neck, placing his head on his chest. Blushing an indescribable amount of shades, the other boy holds Mokuba by his waist. Placing his hands on his shoulders, Mokuba feels safe and loved in Yuugi's arms.
"Remember my promise." Yuugi says, as he begins to drift off to sleep, but before he can, Mokuba clasps Yuugi's face in his hands and kisses him gently on the forehead, and rolls on top of him. "Mokuba," he says, in a short gasp. And the boy collapses on top of him, burying his head into Yuugi's chest and curling his arms around his neck. They were sound asleep in minutes.
"Mokuba. Listen." Yuugi rubbed his eyes the next morning, when he awoke to the noise. Stretching his arms, he heard it again. "Mokuba." Confused, he began to look around wildly at the source of the sound, but found none. It sounded strangely familiar, and Yuugi could not get it out of his head. "Mokuba!" With a wild swing of his head, Yuugi found the source of the sound. It was a glinting sphere, half-covered by Mokuba's collar. Shaking Mokuba, and explaining that he had heard Kaiba from the sphere attached to his neck, Mokuba voiced confusion.
"It's on your neck! It looks like a tracer." Snapping it off, he held it up in the light. It began to emit the same sounds. Perhaps it was Kaiba trying to contact them! "Jounouchi! Ischizu! Wake up!" Mokuba snatched the tracer from Yuugi's hand and began to shake it, hoping that he could hear his brother's voice again. Just one more time, he thought. That's all he needed.
"Listen carefully." Mokuba could feel the tears edging out of his eyes. His brother! He could hear him again! "If you're hearing this, you got out safely. I'm proud of you." Yuugi leaned forward to listen better. Ischizu appeared at the door, and when she heard Kaiba's voice being emitted from the object in Mokuba's hands, she could barely believe it. Edging near the bed, she hoped that Kaiba was safe.
"I don't have much time. Push the red button on the bottom and tell me where you are." Mokuba turned the small, disc-shaped tracer around and noticed the button, pressing it, he spoke into the small, gray circle in the middle.
"I'm at Yuugi's, Seto. Are you okay?" His hand trembled, and he pushed the red button again, assuming it would allow Kaiba to talk. He didn't want to really talk. All he wanted to do was hear his brother's voice and be sure that he was okay. What proceeded was a volley of short, brief comments between Yuugi and Seto.
"Is Yuugi there?" He asked, and Mokuba heard the soft clank of something in the background. Metal? Maybe his brother was being held somewhere. But what did those men want from his brother? Those men had said they didn't want money. What more could they have wanted?
"Yes, Seto. He's right here." Mokuba replied, deep in thought. His brother still hadn't mentioned where he was. Perhaps it was too dangerous. That's probably why nobody had even bothered to ask. Jounouchi walked in, rubbing his eyes, and when he noticed the tracer, kneeled close to Mokuba to listen in.
"Yuugi, I need you to do something for me." Kaiba had a strange tone in his voice. Had they hurt his brother? He would make them pay. Mokuba's lip trembled. Perhaps they had tortured him. They might not have killed him because they needed him for his 'skills'. That's what that man had said. But why wasn't his brother telling him anything? He chewed his lip.
"Anything, Kaiba." Yuugi held onto the tracer, as Mokuba handed it to him. Kaiba hadn't asked Yuugi of anything before in his life, much less anyone. Jounouchi was irked at what Kaiba was forced to do. Perhaps..perhaps he was in greater trouble than anyone of them could imagine. He brushed his blonde locks out of the way and leaned forward towards Yuugi. He didn't want to miss a thing.
"It is my duty to protect my brother, but I'm unable to. Protect him." Seto's voice is stern and clear even though his voice sounds distant. Mokuba wants to cry, because his brother hasn't forgotten him just yet. And he hasn't forgotten Seto, either.
"I will." Yuugi nods his head. He knows that he's been given a very important task. Protecting Mokuba at all costs. Yuugi had never had a younger brother, or an older one, and thus he didn't know what it was like to protect a sibling. He felt slightly warm inside, thinking that he, perhaps, could make Kaiba proud of him. Maybe then they could be friends, too. Maybe.
"Good. If anything happens to him, I will hold you responsible." Jounouchi does a near double take on Kaiba's statement. So the guy really hasn't changed at all! The blonde began to think – perhaps even if they did find out where Kaiba was, how would they save him? Calling the police was off, as apparently Mokuba and Ischizu both confirmed that a call to the authorities might mean Kaiba's death. He sighed. They were definitely going to have to think this one through.
"Seto! Please, tell us where you are!" Snatching back the tracer from Yuugi's hands, he speaks into the voicebox, unsure and uncertain of whether they would be able to save his brother. Would they? What! Of course they would! Why had he begun to question himself? He wanted to save his brother. He did. He just didn't know how. If only…
"I can't. I have to go. They're coming." Seto says, silently, much more hushed than the rest of his statements. Perhaps he's contacting him without the men knowing. Yes, that's probably it. His eyes begin to water. Mokuba doesn't want to stop talking to his brother. He loves him. He loves him so much Seto probably doesn't even know how much.
"I love you, Seto," he says, and it's almost a whimper. And there's static on the other line for a while, and a soft sigh. Yuugi hasn't heard Kaiba sigh in a long time. Or ever. That's strange. He wonders whether Kaiba will tell his brother that he loves him, too. Yes, that's what a good brother would do, wouldn't he?
"Be safe, Mokuba." And there's a definite click on the other end, as if he has hung up. Pressing the red button frantically, Mokuba finds it no use. The connection has been cut from the other end. His lips twitch briefly and it then that he gets up and runs from the room. Be safe? That was his way of saying 'I love you' wasn't it? Of course it was! He'd known Seto all his life. He was his brother, after all. But why..why..why did it seem as if Seto was keeping something from him? Why didn't he trust him? A lone sob racked up his throat as he collapsed on the couch, burying his head into his hands.