Additional Chapter Disclaimer:
Or maybe a "claimer" this time… The name of the jazz club as well as the band is made up. And the song lyrics are mine this time (that's why they're so weird). But unfortunately I still don't own Yami…or Seto…
Author's Notes:
As mentioned in the chapter there are national sign languages that are different for a lot of countries. Obviously Yami speaks JSL, Japanese Sign Language. However, I couldn't find a dictionary for JSL, so, since I'm writing the whole story in English though the characters would speak Japanese as they're living in Japan, I am going to use ASL, American Sign Language whenever I describe a sign.
Ah, and just in case anyone who really knows sign language reads this – of course I have no idea what I'm doing. If my descriptions of the signs are completely wrong and unacceptable I'd appreciate help and hints…
Information on this site: http / www. masterstech-home. com / ASLDict. html
5. Defenseless
The room was stuffed with flowers from the lush carpet in light green to the low ceiling. Bright and friendly it welcomed the visitors with a soft breeze blowing in through the open window. There seemed to be a park outside as bees and even butterflies managed to whiz into the room and feast on huge exotic blossoms.
Seto felt a bit out of place as he was sitting on the plush couch of the same colour and design as the carpet, his feet crossed, indignantly lifting the stem of a white and pink lily that kept falling in front of his face.
Mild annoyance showing on his features, he again doubted it had been a good decision to come here. On the other hand he still felt the yellow envelope in his pocket, reminding him that time was short. He counted on himself being a fast learner but two weeks…
The door opened and a young woman stepped into the room. She was no older than Seto and had brown hair, a different shade as his own, though, very straight and reaching down to her shoulders. She wore light blue jeans, a matching denim jacket and a pink shirt underneath. Not that type of girl, Seto thought, slightly horrified.
The girl smiled at him and held out her hand for him to shake it.
"Welcome, Mr Kaiba", she greeted politely. "I am Mazaki Anzu. We spoke on the phone yesterday evening. I am teaching ASL, which is American Sign Language, and JSL, Japanese Sign language. I know a few other sign languages, but I don't have a teaching license in them. Over the last two years I have specialized in JSL and varying forms of it, this is why I am currently teaching here in Japan. You want to learn sign language, I believe?"
Nodding curtly Seto wondered how such a young girl that didn't look extremely bright in his opinion had managed to learn so many different sign languages. Upon coming home from Yami's yesterday evening he had opened the laptop, done some research and finally found a teacher right here in Domino whom he had instantly phoned, not allowing himself any second thoughts.
Thus he was sitting here, in the office of his new sign language teacher, flower-loving and brightly smiling Mazaki Anzu.
"So, since you are capable of speech yourself, who are you learning sign language for?"
Seto snarled, his glare ruined by the annoying lily that slipped back into place, hiding his eyes from the girl. "Is that any of your business?"
"It is, as a matter of fact", she replied, unfazed. "I have to know if the person is speaking ASL or JSL, or even some other sign language, if they are deaf, deaf-mute, mute, if they live in this part of Japan or another."
Busy with the task of removing the bright flower from his face he only gave her a weak glare although he answered more politely.
"The person is Japanese, mute and in fact lives right here in Domino"
"Alright, thank you", Mazaki Anzu nodded, smiling again in this infuriating fashion. "It's JSL then, with a southern accent. I do courses with many students or private lessons. Which would you prefer? Of course, private lessons are more expensive than the courses, but they have the advantage that you can freely choose the time."
"Private lessons", Seto decided instantly. He definitely couldn't see himself in a class with other students, any class, not even this one and not even for Yami when he could have it more comfortable.
Anzu's smile didn't waver. "Very well, we will arrange a time together. How many lessons a week do you want to do?"
"That depends on how fast I can learn this. Is it possible to learn sign language in two weeks?" Unconsciously, his hand wandered to the pocket of his trousers, where he knew the yellow envelope to be.
"I'm afraid no, Mr Kaiba. But I can teach you some basics you might need in certain situations for a start. That is manageable in two weeks if we take a lesson five days a week."
Seto smirked. "Make it six days a week and I'm paying up to ten percent more than the original price."
"A businessman and an eager student", she commented. "Well, I am mostly free in the evenings if that's comfortable for you."
"Not many students in a city like Domino, huh?"
The young teacher grinned. "Oh, quite the opposite, actually. I have twice as many students as my friend Honda who teaches in Tokyo. It's because they have more teachers there and I am the only one in Domino. I grew up here, that's why I chose to come back."
Seto couldn't help but give in to his curiosity. "Are there a lot of people who can't speak in Domino?"
"Well", she mused, "There are ten people I know of who are deaf-mute, and five who are still studying the language in the surrounding countryside. There might be more who already know sign language. As for deaf persons, there was only one I knew, but she went away to another city after one year of teaching. And there are three mute persons."
"Wow", he mumbled, absently brushing the pink lily out of his face, "that's more than I expected." Then he remembered who he was talking to and looked up to meet her eyes. "Well, what about starting tomorrow evening at 6.30 pm?"
"That's perfect, Mr Kaiba. We will meet right here, in my office. My classroom is right behind that door" she answered, pointing her index finger at the door through which she had entered the room earlier.
"Very well" Nodding his head politely at her, Seto rose, about to leave the room when she called him back. "Wait!"
Turning around he frowned slightly at Anzu, who was silent for a second, a strange expression on her face. Then the trademark smile won out and she added cheerfully,
"I just wanted to wish you good luck with Yami"
Seto's heart jumped in his chest at the name but he forced himself not to show any reaction except for narrowing his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about"
"Oh, come on", Anzu laughed and for the first time the typical job-oriented teaching tone faded from her voice and gave it exactly the jovial character Seto had imagined it to have, judging by her smile. "It is pretty easy to guess. There are only three mute people in Domino, one of them is an old man already and the other an eight year old girl. Besides Yami told me he had met someone, and I'm pleased to see he made a good choice."
An overwhelming wave of anger assaulted Seto and he ground out. "So you and him are close?"
Instead of an answer he received another laugh. "But of course! Yami and I have been friends for years. I met him when he and his brother transferred to my school and I made friends with Yugi. He introduced me to his brother. Yami is actually the reason why I learned sign language at the age of 10 and decided to make it my profession."
"Hn." Seto grunted, still angry and too stunned to produce another sound at this new revelation.
Giving him a wink, Anzu suddenly leaned a bit closer. "No need to be jealous, Mr Kaiba. I have to say I am the girl closest to Yami and if he was into girls I'd be the one he'd choose. Fortunately, though, he prefers boys and I prefer his younger brother who I am engaged to. So no need to worry, I am the living proof that you don't have any female rivals"
Inexplicably, Seto found himself tempted to smirk. He instead raised his eyebrow and drawled, "That's it, I'm leaving"
Anzu, though, held him back a second time. "One more thing, Mr Kaiba. As for you wanting to learn JSL in two weeks, I assume Yami invited you to the concert on Wednesday, 4th August, am I right?"
Instantly, Seto's hand went to the yellow envelope in his pocket.
"And what if that was the case?", he stalled carefully, not really trusting her despite everything she had said.
She grinned. "Just wanted to know if I guessed correctly. I always wanted to become a detective as a child." Suddenly her face grew serious. "Promise me you won't hurt him. He doesn't need that."
There was tense silence for a moment, while Seto regarded her, carefully searching her eyes. Then, without knowing why he did it he mumbled softly, "I won't", before leaving the room in a rush.
"Not quite, Mr. Kaiba, move your arm a little more to the side."
Eyebrows drawn together in concentration, Seto again performed the required motion, this time more elaborate and received a "Very good!" from Anzu.
"Alright", she continued as he nodded contentedly. And now you want to ask me if I am thirsty. Remember the sign?"
He did. They had had that one just yesterday, together with hungry, sleepy, hot, cold and the simple "Where's the toilet?". Pointing his index finger at Anzu he then put it onto his throat, just below his chin and drew it downwards until it almost touched his collarbone, making sure to raise his eyebrows in inquiry.
"That's right, just a little faster"
Nodding again, he repeated the movement, inwardly sighing. It was more complicated than he had expected, for it weren't just the hands that spoke but the whole body as well as facial expressions. Often there were only tiny differences between two words, but they needed to be remembered anyway. Anzu assured him he was making fast progress, but he couldn't very well believe it. Probably Yami was going to laugh at him should he ever try to converse with him in this way. He was convinced he wouldn't show him what he had learned at the concert as he had originally planned, but wait until he fully knew the language.
Seto's thoughts drifted to the invitation in the yellow envelope, lying in the top drawer of his office desk together with the other letters Yami had written. The concert he was invited to would take place in Domino's biggest jazz club, the "Melody River", but he didn't know the band playing.
"The Moonbirds" was written in the left hand top corner of the yellow poster Yami had sent him. The band homepage he had found showed five silver birds circling the full moon in front of a starry night sky, who winked at him. When he clicked on them he received weird descriptions of the band members.
"Mai, our songbird and saxophonist, loves dancing at night, motorbikes and purple drinks…."
"Bassist Malik's favourite song is 'Let's do it' and that seems to be his attitude in life…."
"Believing that she owes her talent on the piano to her boyfriend Rishid, Isis wrote him a beautiful song…."
"We all live in terror of Bakura's fiery nature which makes it impossible to believe our ears when we hear how soft he can go on his drums…"
"Atemu's voice is different indeed, for it is his guitar that speaks louder and more clearly than any of us ever could…"
Sighing, Seto had given his search up, finding nothing of interest on this weird site. Frankly, he didn't care about the band as long as he could spend an evening together with Yami.
"Mr Kaiba?"
His train of thought being roughly interrupted by his teacher, Seto glared at her, then remembered that she wasn't to blame for him getting distracted for the first time in his life.
The "Melody River" didn't leave any doubts as to which jazz club was the biggest and best in town. Divided in two floors, it managed to make the otherwise spacious building seem comfortable, the blue painted walls with the silver and white waves calming, open and free, while the light blue transparent curtains added an air of mystery as they separated the sitting facilities that were arranged in a semicircle around the stage and the dance floor from each other.
Almost automatically, Seto approached the marble staircase leading up to the second floor. Blue walls and curtains continued on the balcony that allowed you to look down at the stage, while left and right doors of dark wood invited curious patrons into the smaller rooms and who knows where from there.
Since he didn't have any idea where Yami wanted to meet him, Seto took his seat on the gallery so he had a good look at the stage and the room below. The "Melody River" had two bars, one for each floor, and a lot of busy waiters and waitresses. One of which he immediately recognised.
"Good evening", the white-haired boy bowed to him with a smile, dressed much more formally than last time.
Seto inclined his head. "Didn't we meet at the 'Bluebird's Nocturne' last time?", he then asked without delay.
The young waiter's smile widened. "I am pleased to see you recognised me, Sir. I am Bakura Ryou and I was helping out at the 'Nocturne' that night, as they had more customers than usual due to the well-known band playing. The same band that's playing today, it is. This time I may serve you a drink. What would you like? I can recommend the 'Moonbeam', which is tonight's special, with coconut, pineapple, Bailey's, milk and honey."
"Honey? Well, I'll try it" Seto decided, resigning himself to the weirdness of the evening that was sure to start anyway as soon as Yami arrived, the way he saw it.
So far, yet, there was no sign of the other, which of course didn't say anything since he might just as well have overlooked the smaller boy in the crowd.
He was early and therefore could watch as the flood of patrons pouring in through the doors of the "Melody River" grew until all the seats were occupied, until the bar was besieged and the dance floor one squirming mass of human bodies, which Seto found altogether revolting.
"Your drink, Sir. And there are the "Moonbirds". It's starting"
Following Bakura Ryou's pointing index finger his eyes found a solitary figure onstage, half covered in shadows, wild hair glittering silvery in the gentle stage lights. Two silver drumsticks were raised high before they came down onto the resounding surface of a snare drum. Soft beats rose to a crescendo, faster and always more challenging in rhythm until they broke off leaving the steady pounding of the base drum. Suddenly the base drum increased in volume and became harder. It took a couple of minutes and a blond boy sitting down on the edge of the stage to make the audience realise that the louder beats weren't due to the base drum but to the bass guitar the newcomer was playing. Then the bass rhythm changed and a tall, dark-haired woman took her seat in front of an electronic piano, finally adding the chords of a fast modern jazz song.
And then Seto's mouth dropped open. That hair. It couldn't be, could it? Yami had to be a fan of the band, styling his hair the same way as this boy. And yet, every confident stride as he entered the stage seemed familiar to Seto. Numbly, he realised the crowd was suddenly applauding, but he had eyes only for the boy on stage, whose hands were now clasping a purple electronic guitar. But then Seto stopped thinking at all when the boy began to play. Damn, he was good! Slender fingers of both hands, fast as lightning, were running up and down the neck of the guitar, as the other musicians, good as they were, faded to the background. Seto was mesmerized until the song ended.
In the middle of furious clapping and cheering, a blonde woman walked onstage, a microphone in her hand.
"Good evening!", she greeted the audience, "The Moonbirds welcome you at the 'Melody River'! It's great you're all here to have fun with us. I'm Mai and this is the band, Bakura, Malik, Isis and Atemu!"
Seto shook his head. No, it wasn't Yami, she had called the guitarist Atemu. It couldn't be his brother either, his name was Yugi, he remembered. So Yami had to be a crazy fan of that band. Would he be down there, with the screaming crowd?
Just when the second song started and Seto prepared to leave the gallery to find Yami, Ryou approached him again. Only then did Seto realise he looked exactly the same as the drummer of the "Moonbirds".
"Is that your brother down there?", he asked, curiously.
Ryou laughed softly. "Yes, this is my brother. But I'm afraid I can't talk to you now, Sir, we are getting busy at the bar. I'm supposed to give you this, though."
Taking the small sheet of paper out of Ryou's hand, Seto opened it and read.
My dear Seto,
I will explain everything later. If you have time, I'd like to meet you after the concert, at the backdoor (have to stay away from those screaming girls). I'll try to get out earlier than the other band members. I hope you're enjoying the concert. The last song's for you – I wrote it only two weeks ago.
Sending you a kiss,
Yami
Seto took a deep breath and let his hand run through his hair distractedly as he directed his gaze at the guitarist on the stage below. Then he made his way towards the stairs. He had to see for himself now.
The song was slow which made it easier to pass trough the crowd at the edge of the dance floor, but it took two more songs until he managed to get to one of the giant amplifiers and stand behind it. There was quite a large crowd as well, but being the tallest by far he had a fairly good view of the stage.
Watching the young guitarist he didn't have any doubts that it was indeed Yami. The way he moved, so gracefully, bending over, his hair falling into his face and tossing it back, eyes shut, completely entranced… everything was screaming at him to climb onto the stage and kiss the smaller boy senseless.
Blushing, Seto looked away just as a new song began. Soon he lost himself in the music, felt the parting waves above him, around him, the guitar's sound breaking through all of them, like a leaf floating in a river. And then he heard the blonde woman's voice again.
"This is our last song, our newest song. It was written only two weeks ago by our guitarist Atemu for someone he met. It's called "Doubts".
A guitar chord was struck softly, tenderly and she began to sing, a capella, without any of the other instruments accompanying her. Her voice was beautiful and the melody was not too slow, not too sweet and not too melancholic. Just perfect in Seto's opinion, as he stood, listening entranced.
If we meet again,
Could you be my biggest fan?
Could you be the one to stand
All my moods and all my pains?
The guitar and piano began to play, and after some time bass and drums followed until in the second verse they all were playing.
Would you hold my hand,
Would you listen to my band?
Would you carry all my weight
When I'm sleepy and it's late?
Louder and louder the guitar became, rising to a solo that had the audience floating on the sound, drowning in a sea of jazz chords. But all Seto had eyes for was the guitarist whose hands were dancing on the neck of the guitar, up and down, high and low. For the third verse the guitar was joined by the piano and they held a gentle conversation with each other, carrying the blonde's voice.
Could you hold me dear
Even when I can't be near?
Could you let me go
When at times I need it so?
Again a guitar solo followed, faster this time, technically certainly even more difficult until, closing his eyes, Seto could feel the music wash over him like the sea, like the tide. And then, the guitar slowing and fading, the voice, a capella again, ended the song.
Do you think that I could be
Just the one you want to see
Every morning, every day?
Then I'd promise you to stay.
For a moment there was utter silence and Seto could feel the goose bumps the song had produced on his neck and arms. Then loud cheering, applauding, even screaming broke loose and made him snap out of his trance-like state.
Suddenly the stage lights went out leaving the room in total darkness, and when the normal lighting was switched on the "Moonbirds" were gone.
Turning on his heels, Seto went up the marble stairs again, looking for Ryou and asking him for the back door. He was shown an emergency exit leading there and left through that door with a wink and a goodbye from the white-haired waiter. Following yet another staircase his thoughts went back to the song. He had to admit he had liked it a lot, but it had also made him think. Yami had doubts about him and about where they were standing. Where were they standing anyways? Did he want what Yami had offered, did he want to be all that to the little punk? Could he….
Suddenly there were loud voices coming from the door at the end of the corridor. It sounded like someone was fighting at the back door of the "Melody River". Where Yami should be waiting for him.
Without thinking, Seto began to run, throwing open the door and stumbled into a barely illuminated backstreet.
"…pretty face", he heard a deep, alcohol-slurred voice, "Someone so pretty is all but looking for a good fuck, don't you think so?" Spotting a huge dark shape pressing someone into a wall, all rational thought left him and Seto lunged forward, roughly jerked the man back and punched him in the face.
Everything was a blur. He barely registered Yami standing next to him, still in his stage clothes, holding him back as he attempted to attack the unconscious man again. Only when Yami had managed to pull him back and held him against his body he noticed that there were two other men lying unconscious on the street.
Panting harshly he held the smaller boy closer. "Did you finish them off?" he wanted to know. Yami nodded and again Seto was struck by the fact that it was ironically Yami holding and comforting him when he was halfway out of his mind with rage at those torturing the other.
"Yami", he whispered, "I don't want you to be alone tonight. Do you want to stay at my house? You can sleep in our guestroom and I'll drive you home tomorrow."
Again Yami nodded, snuggling a little more into Seto's arms. He stayed there when Seto called Isono and only parted from him when he picked up his guitar, that had been lying on the floor, fortunately wrapped in a strong leather case, and when they climbed into the limo, where he promptly leaned his head against Seto's shoulder.
The Kaiba mansion was dark when they arrived there, parking in the garage. Isono bowed to his employer and when he had left, Seto took Yami's hand and lead him up into the guest room. He couldn't explain why he was doing this, couldn't see a single logical reason for Yami to be here with him, but he also knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep for a second tonight if he didn't know Yami was safely asleep in his house.
After he had undressed and donned a black bath robe he went to Yami's room and saw that the other was still awake, kneeling on his bed and looking at him with those incredible eyes. He swallowed. The room was dark, curtains drawn shut in front of the large window and it was silent but for a night bird's voice somewhere in his garden.
Allowing himself to step closer Seto came to stand in front of Yami, staring down at him. When he saw the insecurity in the other's eyes, barely visible in the light streaming out of the hallway, he was reminded of the words of Yami's song. Acting on impulse he leaned down and kissed Yami's forehead, then, frightened by his actions, he turned and walked towards the door.
Before he left, though, he murmured with his back to Yami, "You were breathtaking tonight. Thank you for the song." Then he left as quickly as he could, his heart beating at twice its usual speed.