Title: Shadow Wars Inc.
Author: Me, Fairyfae
Pairings: SetoxYami
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Minor gore, cussing, and violence
Spoilers: I unfortunately have not been able to get a hold of the whole series. What I know, I know from ya'll.
Disclaimer: Geez. Wish I did but I don't. Way to make a girl cry.
Chapter 7:
A raging cover of black and gray obscured the sky making the world look like a black and white made-for-T.V. movie…one with bad reception. Rain pounded the roof of the limousine with enough force to eliminate the possibility of casual conversation, not that there would have been any if the afternoon had been peaceful. Kaiba's mood was dark, so dark that the worst storm to hit Japan in five years seemed pleasant in comparison.
"Damn! Nothing." he slammed shut his laptop and threw it onto the seat next to him, startling the figure seated across from him and by the window. He had been searching relentlessly since they had gotten off the plane and; still, he could not find the end of the money trail leading into his company, his own goddamn company. He was already frustrated by the necessary delays he had encountered once arriving and this lack of success did not improve his mood.
Once in the air, Yami had joined Bakura and himself in the back of the jet. Then the arguing had commenced. They argued about that damned fairytale Yami weaved about needing to get in his head, they argued about Yami's need to protect him, they had even argued about fashion, the weather and other completely irrelevant subjects. For eight hours straight they did nothing but argue. In the end, nothing had been resolved. As a result, when they arrived at the airport, he still had no way to shake Yami's company. The damned nuisance stuck like a leech. Part of Seto felt happy about Yami's persistence while the other half was furious with himself for being happy. He was not dependent on anyone. He was used to being alone, one of the most powerful, independent men in the world. He did not need or want to need, the other's company. Seto sighed quietly. He just couldn't help himself. Even after two years of being alone, he still felt excited and oddly comforted by the other's presence, the presence of the only man who had ever successfully humbled him since reaching his majority. Seto sat and wondered, where the hell he had gone wrong.
"I won't say that I told you so, but I did," the figure across from him uttered without turning to face him. Seto studied Yami. He was looking out the window, studying the rain as if he had never seen a thunder storm before, arms and legs crossed. One of the delays had been a trip to get his new 'private bodyguard;' appropriate attire. If Yami was going to follow him everywhere, he damn well wasn't going to do it dressed as a bum. At the moment, Yami was dressed in a red silk shirt, a snug black vest molding to the contours of his, oddly, well-developed chest. Seto had always thought that Yami's figure was somewhat feminine until he helped him in the dressing room earlier, an incident that he was NOT going to think about again in detail. His thin physique was deceptive, hiding firm, defined abs and strong, wiry shoulders. His pants were tailored black slacks, similar to the ones that Kaiba sported in charcoal grey. His own shirt was also new, a blue silk button-up. Instead of a vest, however, Seto wore a closed blazer and his customary trench coat. Seto liked to wear layers; they made him feel less exposed. With as many enemies as he obviously had, exposure was bad.
"Shut up Yami. As if I want to hear anymore of your ignorant opinions." Seto snapped, his frustration increasing the tension that already permeated the car. He spared scant notice for Bakura when the wise-ass turned around in the front passenger seat and said, "You know I enjoy your bickering as much as anyone else's, but I thought you should know, before you start up yet again, I have a tape recorder and I'm not afraid to use it."
"Don't start with me Bakura or I'll shove that 'tape recorder' down your throat and see if that shuts you up for a while. Just turn around in your seat and tell the driver to drive up to the front door." Seto growled.
"I still don't think this is a good idea. If you absolutely have to go in today despite your half-dead appearance, you should use your private entrance to the building. No point in making yourself a target." Bakura grumbled, "If you never listen to my advice, why did you even hire me."
"I hired you, as you so inaptly put it, in a moment of temporary insanity. A moment for which I am still paying." Seto turned to stare out at the rain, his arms crossing over his chest in an unconscious imitation of the figure across from him, "I am not cowering in my own place of business. I am not some thief that needs to slink in the back door. I am in control and the sooner that everyone remembers that, the better."
"I agree." Yami stated in a firm voice, turning to face Kaiba, "Cowering is not your style."
Seto's anger increased at the rush of warmth he felt at Yami's support, causing him to lash out blindly, "Don't speak as if you know me. You don't know a damn thing about me."
Yami sighed and turned back to the window. In a voice only slightly tinged with jealousy, "No wonder you and Bakura get along so well. You are two of a kind." Words slightly bitter, "Its amazing how two years is long enough for me to forget what a bastard you can be."
Seto drew in a sharp breath and fought to hide the small flash of hurt that dashed across his face. Bakura caught and, for once, kept his mouth shut.
"We're here." Bakura's utterance caused Seto to automatically shift into professional mode. He turned to the door just as it was opened from the outside.
"Welcome back, Sir," the doorman greeted while holding a large black umbrella over the car's entrance. Seto stepped briskly out of the car and moved towards the revolving doors at the front of his headquarters, not once looking back to see the others as they moved with predatory grace out of the vehicle. Seto entered the building and paused as Bakura moved to frame him on his right, Yami on his left.
The inside of the building also had changed as if to reflect its owner's mood. The monitors surrounding the ceiling were imageless, blank sentinels guarding the room, reception blocked by the rampant storm outside. To his left, behind Yami, the image of a Dark Magician seemed to waver, shadows gathering around a pointed staff. To his right, behind Bakura, the mural of Just Deserts loomed, a menacing presence. A glowing image of the Blue Eyes, Ultimate Dragon flew across the building's floor, the majestic beast's countenance cast by the flash of lightning through the stain glass window in the ceiling. Even the normal hustle and bustle of busy executives seemed hushed to a creeping shuffle of feet across marble, words few, and whispered. Impatiently, Seto watched as a short, efficient looking woman bustled up to his side.
"Mrs. Sang." Seto greeted the woman briefly before continuing to walk across the lobby towards the public elevators, his trench coat flapping behind him, "Report."
"Yes Mr. Kaiba." The woman opened and examined one of the folders in her arms while walking along side her boss. "All the repairs you've ordered are completed. The contract sealing the merger with Aim's Corporation is awaiting your signature. We are also almost completed with the Alco and Sons takeover. Mr. Wang called with a with questions concerning the launching of the new gaming system and the bug we detected last week in the Fairway consol has been cleared up. Also, Mr. Shokun is currently in Conference Room Three awaiting your pleasure."
Seto nodded his head once. At least he had one organized…he looked at Bakura… and sane employee. Looking back at Mrs. Sang, "Very good. Hold my calls for the time being. I'll inform you when I finish my meeting with Mr. Shokun." Having arrived at the elevator, he was about to dismiss her when he heard someone on his left clear his throat, looking back he saw Yami, eyebrow raised. Sighing deeply, he turned back to his secretary, "This is Mr. Yami." he paused for a moment. Yugi's last name was too well known. He had to think of something else. A smile crept along his face, "This is Mr. Yami Noballz. He's my new personal bodyguard. He will be joining me in all my subsequent activities for the time being. You are to treat him appropriately. Thank you, that is all." As Seto walked onto the elevator, he could hear Bakura's low, evil chuckle and he could feel Yami's glare. Smirking, Seto turned to Yami, "What's wrong? You always said you were a noble."
Seto swept into the conference room followed closely by his two colorful, and currently cussing, shadows. Yami at least was cussing, under his breath; he hadn't stopped since they had gotten onto the elevator. Seto was actually kind of impressed although there was no way he could do some of the things Yami was suggesting he once had. They were simply anatomically impossible, even for a genius like himself. Tuning him out, Seto leveled a glare at the only other person in the room, a trembling, and foolishly seated, Mr. Shokun. At Seto's look, the security guard shot to his feet, his new position making his trembling even more evident.
"Mr. Kaiba, Sir." The guard managed to garble out, "I have your reports." He shoved a folder towards Kaiba.
Kaiba paced slowly to the far side of the table, dragging the folder along its surface until he reached the long, rectangle-shaped table's head. Seating himself, he gestured for Yami and Bakura to do likewise. For the time being, they had both promised to remain passive and let him handle things. This, after all, was his company. Letting the guard stew in his nervousness, Kaiba carefully reviewed the contents of the folder, his eyes becoming narrower by the moment. Shutting the folder, he focused his gaze on the guard, "Mr. Shokun, is there anything in this folder that the police could not have told me."
Mr. Shokun stared religiously at the table's surface. The poor man looked almost as if he was about to pee his pants. "No sir." The soft whistle of air made the nervous guard look to the side where Bakura was periodically throwing and catching a knife. The guard gulped. "Please Sir, I tried everything I could..."
Seto abruptly cut the guard's teary protest off, "It wasn't enough. You're fired. Now get out of my sight."
The guard stumbled out of the room, almost grateful to have lost his job. Seto fumed, only slightly registering Bakura's voice in the background of his thoughts, "Now I remember why I like working for you."
Seto huffed inwardly, why were his only competent employees sadistic bastards. Maybe his employment checks should start requiring that employees have a criminal background. Its not like hiring people who didn't have a criminal background had stopped him from being surrounded by people who wanted to stab him in the back.
"You've still found nothing I see." Yami's patient and annoyingly knowing voice cut through his brooding.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Kaiba stood up abruptly causing his chair to fly back and hit the wall as he stormed out of the room. He had resources everywhere. He would find these bastards without any hocus-pocus even if he had to go out and comb the streets himself.
Walking quickly, his long-strides eating up the distance between the conference room and his office, Seto quickly out-paced Yami and Bakura.
"Seto! Wait!" Yami's shout went unheeded. Stopping only briefly in front of his secretary's desk, he snapped, "Keep them away from me."
"Mr. Kaiba," Mrs. Sang's voice followed him to his door, "Your little brother has come for a visit. He's in your office right now."
"Damn." Seto cussed before leaning both hands against the closed double doors to his office. He would have to calm down. Taking a deep breath, he straightened and proceeded to open the doors, walking blindly into yet another nightmare.
In his office stood another child, this one a petite red-head girl, her eyes as blank as the boy's had been in Egypt. She stood to the right of his desk, by his white mole-skin couch, the words "Kill Kaiba" a steady litany on her lips. The nightmare, however, was to the right to her. The scales of a giant sickly, green serpent glistened in the light cast by the desk lamp, the only light in the room. Outside the windows, the false nighttime created by the storm was banished by the flash of lightening revealing the full horror of the current situation. In that brief second, Seto saw that the serpent, draped partially across his desk, was wrapped tightly around his unconscious brother. What the darkness had disguised as a black pool at the base of the desk, was nothing other than his brothers blood, blood that was oozing out of a nasty shoulder wound.
"Mokuba." Seto's face twisted in pain as he moved to launch himself across the room only to be stopped by an iron grip on his arm. Seto turned abruptly and struck out at the person restraining him, smacking Yami solidly across the face.
Unperturbed, Yami grasped Seto's other arm and shook him hard. "Wake up Seto. You can't defeat that monster by attacking straight on. Use your strength. Analyze the situation and come up with a solution. I know you can do it. We will work together to save your brother."
Seto's mind kicked back into gear. He felt himself become detached, almost as if the emotional part of himself, the part of himself that loved his brother more than anything, had moved out of his body to watch the scene from elsewhere. Yes. He had to think.
Seto turned back and analyzed. He knew from Egypt that the child had some kind of control over the monster. To stop the monster, he had to stop the child. It was also likely that the monster would move to defend the child. The little girl seemed to be obsessed with killing Kaiba and she was in his office. It was a distinct possibility that the Kaiba she wanted to kill was him and his brother had just stumbled onto the situation. "Yami, can you attack with any of your talismans."
Yami let go of his arm, and went into what Kaiba remembered as his dueling mode. "I can attack but at that moment, the monster is in a defensive position. I will not be able to do a lot of damage."
"But if the monster went into an attack, could you take it out." Kaiba studied Yami hard. He was about to put his life, and that of his little brothers, in Yami's hands.
"That would work, but…"
Without further notice Kaiba launched himself at the child, "If you want to kill a Kaiba, try taking me on."
"Damn it Kaiba, Celtic Guardian Appear." Yami yelled as the snake uncoiled from around Mokuba, its head striking out towards Kaiba. Kaiba just missed being struck by the snake's dripping fangs as he jumped behind the couch, the secretary's chair hurling by him to strike the side of the animal's head. The snake's saliva instead fell on his couch, burning holes into the upholstery. He scrambled, close to the ground; back out from behind the couch and towards the girl. In front of him he saw the tall figure of an…elf. Damn! The elf cleaved the snake in two. Both halves writhed until they seemed to dissolve. In the background, he heard Yami mutter thanks to someone before he uttered the word disappear.
Taking no chances, Kaiba stood, strode over to the girl, and knocked her out with one punch before rushing to Mokuba's side. In the background he heard Bakura mutter, "Damn, He just sucker punched a girl. Gods, I love my job. Gratuitous violence and a good floor show."
He felt Yami kneel down next to him. "How is he?" Suddenly, Seto felt overwhelmed as his emotions settled back down around his shoulders.
"I don't know. I can't tell. Shit, he's bleeding so much." Seto's words poured out of him as he tried to stem the bleeding, some slime burbling out of the wound to coat and burn his hands. "You said the boy wasn't evil. Well what about that girl! Are you going to tell me that girl wasn't evil, that she was some kind of victim! Are you going to tell me that this whole damn situation isn't fucked up?" Seto yelled, his voice as venomous as the poison on his hands.
"Mr. Kaiba," the, for once, timid voice of his secretary carried into the room, shock evident in the tone.
"What are you standing there for, call an ambulance."
She turned to obey the order when Yami snapped, "No," the authority in his tone causing her to abort her movement.
Seto turned blazing blue eyes on him. Yami was almost stunned by the hatred he could feel emanating from those icy orbs. "Who the hell do you think you are? Never order my employees around. There mine! Do you hear me! Mine! And what the fuck do you mean 'No!' Do you want my brother to die!
"Kaiba…"the name escaped from Yami's lips on a breath.
"Don't be a fool Kaiba. Human hospitals can't help him." Bakura's scorn was hard enough to bite. "Will you let your pride take that boy away from you?"
For the first time, Yami felt gratitude towards the thief. Maybe his time with Kaiba had helped him to grow the semblance of a heart. Maybe everyone had been changing into someone else while he had been gone.
Seto closed his eyes, Pain evident in every line in his body. "No." He looked at Yami. "Can you help him?"
Yami knew what it cost Seto to swallow his pride. His heart swelled at witnessing the depth of Seto's devotion. "Of course. Mokuba is my friend. I will do whatever is necessary to help him but you must trust me." Yami took out another one of his talismans and prayed to the gods that the poison had not progressed far enough to kill the boy in front of him.
In a resigned tone, "Alright. Tell me what to do."
"Why isn't he awake yet? You treated him two hours ago!" Seto snapped while pacing back and forth along the left side of Mokuba's sickbed, the clicking of his heals a dull accent to the beeping of the life support systems, a sound that stood in discord with the otherwise cheerful surroundings of Mokuba's own room. Seto's agitation had only increased since that morning. Now, guilt also contributed to his anger. He could not believe that he lost control so much as to say such hateful things to Yami. If Yami did not hate him before, his rival was sure to hate him now. Now being the time that his brother's life depended on him having Yami's help.
Yami leaned against the bedpost opposite Seto, studying the disconcerted figure across from him. He lowered his head and modulated his voice in an attempt to not further aggravate the other room's occupant, his heart still aching from the harsh words thrown at him earlier. He tried not to take them personal. He knew what stress Kaiba had been under but…his hopes for his short time on earth had been so much higher. He did not know what had gone wrong. From what he had seen in the mirror, he knew that the other loved him…had loved him anyway. Now, he wasn't so sure anymore. But then again, it was his uncertainty that made him give up on the man across from him the first time. "Calm down, Seto. You know, nothing about this situation is easy."
Stopping abruptly, Seto whipped around, "What do you mean, not easy. If you can bring yourself back from the dead, how hard can it be to wake up my little brother!"
Yami reminded himself to hold his temper in check. He tried to force himself to hear the desperation and not the anger in the others words. After all, he, more than anyone else, was aware of exactly how much Seto loved his little brother. "Seto wasn't it you that said anything worthwhile is not easy to gain." Yami's tone rose, "Saving Mokuba is worthwhile so it not bloody easy!" So much for keeping his temper in check, Yami winced inwardly.
Seto told himself that the color in his cheeks was a sign that he was pissed off. In no way was it a sign that he was embarrassed at having been caught saying something so…he didn't know…sentimental, idealistic. "Yes. I said that but I never said it to you. How the hell did you hear that?" Despite himself, Seto was beginning to wind down, the day's events, his wounds, and exhaustion taking their toll.
Now it seemed to be Yami's turn to blush, "I already told you. I've been watching you."
For a second, Seto found himself stymied. There was that bloody feeling of exhilaration again. When would his heart learn that it wasn't supposed to jump in joy at signs that Yami had cared? He was not obsessed with his rival. His rival now hated him and he wasn't obsessed with anyone. CEO's do not get obsessed. As usual, Seto's discomfort manifested itself in the form of sarcasm. "While, I hope you at least had enough decency to look away while I was in the shower.
Yami's blush went from bashful to mortified as he flashed back to one scene he had watched when his mother had not been with him at the pool of all-seeing. Even now, he saw Seto, in the shower, arms braced against the wall in front of him, back arched into the warm stream of water, attempting to loosen muscles cramped from a long day at work. Droplets of water oozing down his pale, perfectly sculpted body in a suggestive display, mouth open in an approximation of ecstasy. One hand leaving the wall to trail down his chest and a whispered name escaping parted lips…Yami's attention was yanked back to the present by a strangled noise. He returned to focus on Seto's red face and the gaze that was directed at Yami's crotch. Yami awareness of his own…discomfort…increased and, regrettably, he redirected Seto's attention back to the subject at hand.
"Seto, the only way to save Mokuba is for you to cooperate with me. We have to find and stop whoever is tampering with the shadow realm. The poison traveling through your brother's body is unlike anything occurring naturally in this world. Although I have stopped it's progression, I cannot purge it's hold. As long as the barrier between the shadow realm and this one is weak, the monster's poison will stay in effect. When the barrier is gone, Mokuba will die. I have already been here a week. At best, we have only three weeks left to stop this disaster. You must let me see into your mind. It is the world's, and now your brother's, only chance."
Yami's heart ached as he witnessed the struggle going on in Seto's face. There is nothing he wants less than to force his beloved priest to revisit his worst nightmares, but for his and everyone else's good, they had to do this. This time, Yugi's help is not what he needed. He needed the indemonstrable strength of this man, his secret love, to defeat the monsters in both realms. No matter the pain, he cannot let these people destroy Seto and all for which he has worked.
Seto lowered himself gracefully onto Mokuba's bed. Taking his brother's hand in his own, spine straighter than any ruler ever thought of being, Seto stared straight ahead, "Fine. I will allow your damned spell. You can parade through my nightmares on one condition. I don't know what demons live in my head but, somehow, I know that I've done things, evil things, that are so dark, even my own mind refuses to accept them. You must promise me that no matter what you find, no matter how despicable you find me afterwards…you must promise me to see this through to the end. Save Mokuba." Seto raised defiant eyes to the seemly passive figure still leaning against the post at the side of the bed. "Can you promise me that at least?"
Yami did not dare to offer the compassion or platitudes that he would offer to any other person. No, his passion was made of stronger stuff. "Of course." Yami pushed off the post and began to walk to the door.
He was reaching for the doorknob when Seto's voice stopped him, "Meet me at nine o'clock sharp, in my room, two doors down from here. Don't be late."
Yami turned back to object to the tone of Seto's 'request' but Seto was not even looking his way. Instead, Seto's forehead was resting lightly against his brothers, his eyes obscured shadows his bangs cast. Yami turned and left the room without a sound.