Chapter 6:

Title: Shadow Wars Inc.

Author: Fairyfae

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: SetoxYami

Genre: Action, Romance, Angst

Spoilers: None of which I am aware.

Warning: Cussing.

Disclaimer: Me no own...TT (Snuggles Seto plushie

"That's the biggest load of unmitigated crap I have ever heard." Seto angrily crossed his arms over his chest, fists clenched.

Bakura wrapped one arm around his waist, bent over and slapped his knee. Voice choked with spiteful laughter, he said to no one in particular "Call the press. We have a new god of denial. The guy gets chased around a ransacked building by nightmare beasts and still, he does not believe in the supernatural." Straightening up, he ignored the warning flashing across the Seto's face, "So tell us Kaiba. What do you think is happening? Science project gone wrong? Canines'R US is testing out a new brand of puppy chow guaranteed to make your pooch grow big as a house and as homicidal as Jeffery Daumer." Gasping, "Grief! I haven't laughed this much since I hung all Mai's underwear outside of Joey's window."

Joey jumped, waving his arms manically, "That was you! You little punk! I had to listen to 'You wear women's underwear' jokes for a month. Not to mention the beating Mai gave me for that little incident."

Needless to say Joey's outburst only managed to increase the volume of Bakura's laughter.

"Calm down Joey. We need to talk about more important things." Yugi raised his voice enough to be heard over the commotion while restraining Joey from lunging over Kaiba to strangle Bakura."

"What's more important than hearing that Joey got his ass whooped by a woman." Bakura taunted.

"Shut up Bakura. You're not helping." Yami glared at the other ex-spirit. "We need to focus on the matter at hand." Striking an authoritative pose, Yami faced Seto, "You have to listen. I know listening to me is not a habit of yours and I know that this is all hard to believe but for once, we cannot afford to sit on our haunches while you dig in your heels. This is bigger than you, me or your bloody company. I have to look into your thoughts while your sleeping. It's the only way to find who is behind all the turmoil lately. You'll just have to trust me."

Seto stared at him in disbelief, before biting off clear and yet hot words of denial, "You're right. There is a lot a stake, for starters, my sanity. As if I would trust anyone that I have not even seen for two years. You say that you're my monster. Well fine! I hereby order you to cut the crap, monster.'" Seto's short, abrupt movements betrayed his agitation, "Shut up about the shadow realm, shut up about your heritage, and most of all, shut up about getting into my head because it's not going to happen." In a violent movement Seto picked up some of the talismans laying on his bed and hurled them at Yami, "Furthermore, I can't believe you have the nerve to say I need your protection. If anything, you need my protection. If I remember correctly, it's you that needed the protecting, hence, my current situation. Don't expect me to help you any further. You can just go hang yourself you delusional…Wheeler wannbe." Seto gestured wildly at the clothes Yami was wearing.

As always, Yami could not leave Seto's challenge unanswered. Pointing an accusing finger at Seto he declared, "Don't you dare place all the blame for your injuries on me! If you didn't rush head first, alone, into every dangerous situation, you never would have been in trouble in the first place. Anyway, it's hardly my fault if your state of dress… or should I say your state of undress, distracted me."

Seto's face turned beat red and Bakura's ears perked up, "Did I hear state of undress? Do tell."

Seto turned to face Bakura for a moment and yelled, "Shut up!"

Bakura smirked, "Ooooo. Snappy comeback company man. I don't know if I can accommodate you. I feel in need of a little," he released an evil, insinuating chuckle, "distraction."

"One more word, monkey." All Seto got for his threat was a mockingly exaggerated shudder from Bakura. Turning to Yami, his voice dripping with passionate anger, "And you," the word 'you' became a cuss word as it exited Seto's mouth, "you have no right to say anything about my state of dress. You're state of dress deserved an adult rating."

Indignant, Yami questioned, "Are you insinuating that I was naked?"

"Insinuating nothing! You were buck naked." Seto threw back.

Yami's voice started to escalate with his own anger, "If I recall correctly, it wasn't me who was bucking Kaiba."

Both parties were distracted when a loud, incredulous voice echoed through the room, "My god! Ya'll were doing it in front of the dogs!"

The sound of something hitting the floor echoed in from the hallway, even over Bakura's riotous laughter. Seto leveled a deadly glare at the foolish teen as he stated in a clear voice, "I assure you Wheeler, your hopes are too high. I would never, how did you say it…do it in front of the dogs."

Seto fought with himself until he was calm and all the color had drained back out of his face. "None of this is important. You have nothing important to tell me so I have no time for you. The truth is, someone is after my company… yet again… and I don't need the help of you fools to deal with that. I especially don't need any of you in my head and that's final."

Yami uncrossed his own arms and barely restrained himself from stomping his foot. "You stubborn idiot. Why must everything be a battle with you."

"Because everything is a battle for me Yami." Seto's voice began to raise dramatically, "My life, my company, my abandoned hobby, everything. I don't know anything that doesn't have to do with battle. Even you. You were a battle for me Yami…One that I lost. Unluckily for you, some time since you left, I learned to leave all hopeless battles behind me. I've had no other choice."

The room was silent, even Bakura and Joey settled down at that statement.

Eventually, Mokuba, unable to bear the silence, piped in, "Seto…?"

A deceptive calm settled over Seto, "Yes Mokuba."

"I brought Dr. Lowe." Mokuba presented his words like a gift, eager to please, "I knew you wouldn't want to stay in Egypt even longer than you needed to. The plane has also been equipped with everything they might need to help you on our journey home. We can leave whenever the doctors release you."

"Thank you Mokuba. You did good. Could you see to it that the plane is ready to take off by tonight. I'll arrange to be out of here by then." Seto looked over at the others in the room. Sweeping his finger around to encompass everyone but Bakura and Mokuba, "You three will be booked on a commercial flight. I won't be forced to deal with you on the way home."

"But Setoo…" Mokuba whinned.

In a firm but gentle voice, Seto stated, "No buts Mokuba. Between me, the equipment, the doctor, Bakura and yourself, the jet will already be crowded."

Everyone looked over at Yami in amazement when he stated unequivocally, "You are not going anywhere without me." Seto recognized the tone from the days when Yami and him dueled. The diehard conviction came through loud and clear. Briefly, Seto felt the sparks of instinctual rebellion before sheer exhaustion collapsed on his shoulders like a tone of bricks. "Fine. Yami may also join us on the jet but that is all. Make other arrangements for Joey and Yugi."

"Hey! Wait a minute man…"

Seto broke in, "Shut up Wheeler. I know you've watched over my brother. Kaiba Corp. will cover the cost of your tickets. I'll even let you fly first class."

Joey's face lite up. "Really man. That's so cool."

Kaiba grumbled under his breath, "Enjoy it mutt. Its likely to be the only time they ever let you sit anywhere other than the cargo hold."

"Hey! Your lucky your sick or I would kick your butt for that."

"Keep dreaming, Wheeler."

"Come on guys." Mokuba jumped off Seto's sick bed and grabbed Yugi and Joey's hands. "Lets spend big brothers money on something really cool."

Seto huffed as Mokuba dragged the two boys out of the room.

Silence again descended on the room until the door closed behind the three departing boys.

Slowly, Yami walked across the room to take hold of a curtain hanging on the right side of Seto's bed. "There is one other thing that we have to talk about before we leave Egypt."

Seto snorted, "I have nothing more to say to you."

Unperturbed by Seto's uninviting demeanor, Yami stated in a polite, questioning tone, "Oh? Then you have nothing to say about this?" Abruptly Yami pulled back the curtain revealing another occupied bed.

Glancing over, Seto leapt out of his bed with such speed that his legs got tangled in the sheets causing him to crash into Bakura.

Bakura was barely able to keep himself and Kaiba from crashing to the ground, "God's priest, I know I'm irresistible but try to control yourself."

Seto reached blindly for any weapon that might be close by. Grabbing the phone sitting on his bedside table he lifted it above his head as if he was preparing to strike at any moment, "Either I'm crazy for seeing this or your crazy for bringing him here but know this…someone in this room other than just him" Seto jerked the fingers of his free hand towards Bakura, "is crazy. You have exactly five seconds to tell me what the HELL that psychotic freak is doing here before I take this out of your hide."

"Calm down Seto. I don't think this child is evil." Yami made soothing motions with his hands.

"WHAT!" Seto slammed the phone back down on the table, "That proves it! You are the crazy one. I never before thought you were stupid but now…"

"I understand your concern but I assure you, as he is now, he is no danger to you. You want to know who is harming your company right? What better way than to question the only living person you've meet that might be able to answer some of your questions." Yami shook his head, "This child is almost soulless now. Look at him. He has been someone else's victim. We need to find out who is pulling his strings."

Seto started to pace, stumbled and had to grab the edge of the nightstand. Casually, he swiped at the sweat beading on his forehead. It was hard to think of that child as a victim. Seto could still hear the word 'Destroy,' the same word that landed him in the hospital. Nevertheless, he was the only person he had meet so far that had a connection to the weapons factory he was inspecting. "Fine. Have it your way. Well fly him to Japan for questioning but he is not flying in my jet. As it is I'll have to pull massive strings to get him out of the country in his condition." Seto placed his other hand on the table and leaned over panting. Even this small bit of exercise seemed to exhaust him, a weakness that he couldn't afford. He had to get back to the helm of his company. Things were too insecure at the moment for him to be gone long. "Damn," he slammed his fist down on the table, "I can't stand being this weak."

Yami moved to help Seto, but stopped when his advance drew a glare, "You need to rest."

Seto leveled a superior gaze at Yami, "If you think I am going to stay a moment more in the same room with that… thing you better think again."

Yami smiled secretively, "Really? You may want to look behind you."

Seto craned his neck around only to see Bakura, standing with an opportunistic expression dominating his face and posture, a disposable camera clutched in his hands. Immediately, Seto became aware of the gapping back of his gown and his own compromising, bent over, posture.

Bakura's smile widened until it was almost a grin, "Well, well, well. How much do you think you'll pay to keep…how shall I say this…Kaiba Corps. 'private assets' off the internet?"

Yami walked calmly past Kaiba's flabbergasted and now seated form on the way to the door. He winced in sympathy. Kaiba's butt was going to stick to that plastic chair. "I'll snag some of the lawyers lurking in the hallway. That way you can clear up the necessary legalities and finish our travel arrangements."

"If everyone could please take their seats and securely fasten their seatbelts, we are about to proceed to the runway. It is now 3:00pm and we should be arriving at our destination in…."

Kaiba took the seat next to Bakura and leaned back, only wincing slightly at the friction between his back and the seat. Mokuba was busy showing Yami the cockpit. Since they had yet to return, Kaiba assumed that they were going to stay there during take off. The doctor was seated further down the jet; examining the medical charts he received moments before, when his patient had arrived seemingly spontaneously at the airport. This was likely the only chance for private discussion with his head of security he would have for a while. Fastening his seat belt, he directed his conversation at Bakura, "I assume that your visit means you've found something."

With his usual charm, Bakura replied, "Of course I've found something. Its not difficult to find people that want to kill you Kaiba. My only difficulty is figuring out which ones had the balls to try it."

Kaiba snorted, "Well what are you waiting for. Report your findings now."

Bakura glanced over at the figure next to him. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of admiration at what he saw. Despite the pain Kaiba must be feeling, his face and body were as icy and emotionless as ever. None of that admiration was reflected in his voice, however, when he sneered, "I'm happy to see you've returned to your usual frozen self."

Impatiently, Seto snapped, "What are you talking about. I don't have the time or inclination to deal with your nonsense."

"Don't rush me, priest. Some things are meant to be savored, the recounting of all the people that hate you being one of them. Anyway, this is not a short flight. We have all the time in the world." Bakura ignored Kaiba's frigid expression. Working with him for two years had taught him how to ignore his eternally dark moods. "Can I ask you a personal question."

"No."

"Great! I will then." Bakura, being who he was, could not help but throw Kaiba's orders back in his face occasionally. It was a compulsion. Really. Unfortunately, this time Bakura felt himself assaulted by good intentions, a situation with which he was neither accustomed nor comfortable. As such he rushed his next words. "Now, don't get me wrong. We're not friends. I hate you, you hate me and that works for us but I am wondering something." Bakura looked out of the window at the passing scenery to avoid both Kaiba's gaze and his own discomfort, "What I want to know is, what happens to your legendary cool when you talk to Yami. I mean, its not the fact that your angry with him. That's funny. And lets face the facts, you're angry with practically everyone. The problem is that your anger with him is…you know…hot. I've never seen anyone else affect your cool like he does. You can't be distracted like that with all the shit that's going down."

Kaiba glared dangerously at his errant employee, "Don't you think I know that. Do what you do best and mind your own business. Butting into mine is not part of your job."

Falling back into character, Bakura snapped, "Dammit Kaiba, that stick up your ass cannot be comfortable. It's not like I care about you or anything. It's you that made me head of security."

"Keep your voice down you idiot. As my employee, your job is to do as your told. Now tell me what you've found out or I am moving you out of the widow's house and into the dog house." The precise, clipped quality of Kaiba's words told Bakura that he had crossed a line. As such, he abandoned his ill attempt at helping his employer…see if he ever did anything that stupid again…and returned to the business at hand.

"Fine. You and Yami can continue to act as idiots. As far as the assassination attempts, with which attempt would you like me to begin."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about. What have you found."

Bakura's voice dripped with sarcasm, "You're an even more popular guy than I had anticipated." With a sinister eagerness he continued, "A Gorilla group that operates out of South Africa orchestrated the shooting. Why they want you dead, I don't know yet. What I do know is that they recently became the 'big dogs' in the constant fighting going on down there. Apparently they've gotten a hold of some really impressive weaponry recently and everyone is too afraid to go against them. I was able to trace a payment that moved from one of their cover organizations to someone in Kaiba Corp. but I cannot pinpoint who received that inflow yet. Also, I can't pin point where the rest of the money went, Kaiba Corp. only received about half of the whole money shipment. Here's where things get interesting. That information you found, the stuff on the plant from hell you just visited." Bakura let a tense silence draw out.

Kaiba fed up with the dramatics broke in and prompted, "Get on with it."

Bakura barked, "I am, I am. You know some people would show a little appreciation. This is not easy information to get a hold of."

"Really. Well that must be why I pay you so damn much money. Now hurry up." Kaiba's foot began to tap in annoyance.

"Geez." Bakura huffed, "That information was fed to you and it wasn't fed to you by just anyone. It was fed to you by an organization know as Expire."

Kaiba's brow wrinkled in thought, "Expire? Who the hell is Expire?"

Bakura scoffed in amazement, "I can't believe that you've lived in that cut throat world of yours for so long and you don't know who Expire is. Expire is an 'organization' that hires its services out at a high price. They only take on high profile cases, like yours, and their work is creative, permanent, and practically impossible to trace back to them much less their clients. You give them a high profile name and at least $100 mil., and they make sure that the person expires before the end of the week." Bakura continued on in an almost reverent, excited voice, "And here's the best part. Expire only hires its services out to other organizations. Hell, it could have been other Kaiba Corp. executives that hired these guys or it could be the executives in this mystery company that received the rest of the payment sent by the Gorilla group. Again, I don't know."

Ticking off a checklist of enemies in his head, Kaiba questioned, "Have you checked into Pegasus?"

Slightly insulted, Bakura responded, "Of course. Who do think I am. Pegasus may want your company but he hasn't made any move to kill you in ages. Anyway, I could find no connections between Pegasus and weapons. None whatsoever. He just doesn't fit the profile of our current prey."

Kaiba thought for a few moments more before snapping, "That's not enough to work with Bakura. Keep looking," He turned to face forward in his seat.

Bakura ground his teeth together as he turned back to face the window. Sometimes he wondered if getting the body was really worth working for this jerk.