No Way In Hell (a Yu-Gi-Oh Fanfiction) by Seth's Kiss:
A/N: Hello again, dearies! So sorry it took this long to update! To those who are reading this, thank you so, SO much! Very big thanks to jasblue97, talyak and Niro0812 for following! Here's a quick response to the reviews and then on with Chapter Two, which I sincerely hope you'll enjoy!
Responding to your reviews:
To Cooks: Hello there and thank you for your review! I'm glad you chose to read this fic and I am deeply honoured that you like my writing style! Very sorry though if the summary was too bland; I'm fairly new at this and, as I'm a person who likes creating suspense, I didn't want to give away too much. I hope the other two chapters won't disappoint you! Thank you for reading!
To talyak: Hi there and thank you for your review! Wow...for you to ask more, I'm so happy! So here's more and I hope you'll like it! Thank you for reading!
Chapter 2: No Way...
After a pit stop at the CEO's enterprises to collect what they needed - which essentially was Kaiba's infamous heavy briefcase of doom, with heaven knows what was in it - they headed off to where Mokuba had last been located, at an outing orchestrated by the school for this Saturday, near the National Library of Domino City (1).
With the exception of the noises one would normally hear in a car, the drive was eerily quiet, even Ronald, Kaiba's bodyguard and chauffeur, remained dutifully silent during the ride, before something abruptly drew his attention and so he voiced it, addressing his boss formally: "Excuse me, sir, but we are being tailed."
Glancing over his shoulder, Kaiba immediately cringed, before turning back around and burying his face in a hand as he groaned aloud in utter exasperation.
"What up?" asked Jounouchi, curious as he too peered through the back window, catching sight of an extravagantly eccentric limousine, of the flashiest pink that ever existed, right behind them, and the blonde male could only shudder. Like, seriously, who would want to own a car like that?
"More likely who," seethed the brunet through clenched teeth, his face still within the safety of his hand, as if removing it would be his doom "It's Pegasus."
"Seriously?" snorted the blonde with a loud laugh, before clearing his throat at the withering, dark glare he received from the CEO from behind the fingers of his hand "What does he want?"
"For me to sign a contract I want absolutely nothing to do with" hissed Kaiba in displeasure, the notion of the other man's existence bothering even further than the blonde's. And that was saying something.
"He's the persistent type, huh?"
"You have NO idea" grounded out the brunet irately, before he addressed Roland, tone firm "Lose him."
"Yes, sir," complied the driver dutifully as he hastened to fulfil the order, shifting gears and hurriedly accelerating.
Settling back against the rich leather seats, Jounouchi inquired the other: "So, what's the contract about exactly? 'Cause he ain't lookin' like he's givin' up, like at all."
"Some, I quote, 'innovative and futuristic' way to play Duel Monsters," answered the young CEO jadedly, while rolling his blue eyes at the mere thought.
The mere mention of the renowned game, however, immediately perked the blonde's interest: "Oh yeah? How?"
"Don't look so thrilled," stated the brunet disapprovingly with a shake of his head "Sorry to disappoint, but it's not that fascinating."
Jounouchi's eyes narrowed challengingly: "Why don't you tell me and I'll be the referee of it, yeah?"
Kaiba raised an eyebrow as he eventually responded: "Would you play that game against your opponent whilst both drivin' in separate vehicles - 'CAR D-uelling ', he calls it."
"Uh, no," deadpanned the blonde incredulously "That is so not safe. Or sane. ...Is that guy crazy?"
"Hn..." uttered the other in mock surprise "Who would have known that a reckless guy like you would understand about safety?"
Brown eyes instantly narrowed in response: "Watch it, rich boy. And I'm not reckless."
"Oh, you are."
"Ugh, no, I- Hey, so are you."
"I can be at times," admitted Kaiba smugly with a smirk "I won't argue that."
"Good!" snapped Jounouchi heatedly, irked that it took nearly nothing from the other guy to make him burn with anger.
The blonde opened his mouth to throw an even better comeback, when Roland suddenly took a sharp turn to evade their pursuers, causing the two young men to crash straight into each other.
"Oi, watch it!" shouted out the blonde furiously, wincing at the brutal bang his forehead received as he collided with the windowpane.
"My apologies!" called out the chauffeur as he continued his mad eluding manoeuvres.
Rubbing at his bump with a hand as he braced himself with the other, Jounouchi slowly became aware of the position he and Kaiba were in. He found himself straddling the young CEO, who was sandwiched between the blonde and the car's windowpane. And, while Jounouchi had a hand upon the window right beside the brunet's face, Kaiba had a hand on the blonde's waist - probably to keep him from falling - and the other clutching the backseat.
The two young men stared at each other in a brief yet uncomfortable silence, before the brunet broke it, clearing his throat and raising an eyebrow in apparent annoyance: "Is there something on my face, Make-inu?"
As Jounouchi didn't seem to register the other's irritation, instead of retorting or just backing away, he unconsciously drew closer, blurting out something rather...unexpected.
"No, it's just- I never really realized how blue your eyes were. They...sort of have like the glow that make you feel...like bein' lost in the ocean and the sky at the same time."
Initially going to ask him if he had earned, at some point recently, a degree in poetry, Kaiba remained utterly silent, with wide eyes, as he seemed to fully grasp that the other had openly and genuinely complimented him. Right in his face.
Literally.
Jounouchi also didn't appear to realize right away what he had just said, and when he did, his face burned up into fifty shades of red: "That, sounded weird, didn't it?"
"Very, if I may say so, Jounouchi-san."
"Nothin' was asked of you, man," snapped the blonde with embarrassment, his voice overlapped with the other's stern tone.
"That'll be all, Roland."
"Yes, sirs."
And the rest of the drive went quiet, again. Only this time, it was more of an extremely awkward silence.
000000000000000000000000000000000000
Arriving at the National Library, it didn't take long for the two Duellists to find their siblings - thanks to the latter two's teacher, who had turned to compliant mush just at the sight of the young CEO - and now the two older brothers hid behind a bookcase, not far from where Shizuka and Mokuba were.
"There," whispered the brunet as he discretely gestured in a specific direction once he had spotted them "We'll be close enough to observe."
"But to not hear," pointed out the blonde absentmindedly, as he gawked at the two teenagers up ahead in sheer incredulity.
Shizuka and Mokuba were both seated at a table, with a few books and a late unfinished lunch in their company, whilst facing each other and holding hands.
Jounouchi had pinched himself just to make sure, but he still couldn't believe what he was witnessing.
"I've got that covered."
"Oh yeah? How? With your supersonic hearing?" snapped the blonde irately, angry now that the initial shock had worn off. Angry that yet another dared to even think of dating his baby sister.
Merely raising an elegant eyebrow at the other's snappy and sarcastic tone, the brunet replied coolly: "With Mokuba's communicator. I can activate it on my end in case of emergencies."
Wide chocolate brown eyes darted over to Kaiba, before they narrowed critically: "You're really sneaky, aren't you?"
"It's for when he gets kidnapped," pointed out the brunet firmly through clenched teeth, though to the blonde it sounded more like the other was justifying himself.
"Right," drawled out Jounouchi acerbically with a roll of his eyes, before he did a double take "Wait, hold up, hold up. When you said before that he'd been 'kidnapped in a way', you were implyin' my sister?! This is not her fault, you frigid block of ice!"
"Quiet now," shushed the CEO irritably with a finger to his lips as he activated the device wirelessly connected to Mokuba's communicator "Don't make me regret bringing you along."
"She's looking over," resounded the smooth grown voice of the youngest Kaiba sibling, seemingly informing Shizuka of a girl their age who she couldn't see, as the obvious classmate in question was staring - or rather glaring - at them from behind her.
"And?" inquired Jounouchi's sister, amusement in her soft and sweet unchanged voice.
"If I had my hands free, I would have pulled out my phone and taken a picture," admitted Mokuba with a snort, which caused her to giggle quietly.
"What's her face like?" asked Shizuka, still laughing softly.
"Like..." the raven-haired teen hesitated as he tried to figure a way to describe what he was seeing "Like a mix between constipated and about to throw up."
Crinkling her eyes in disgust, Shizuka quickly stifled a laugh with her free hand before it got out, and got out loud: "Sounds gross."
Frowning at the very...odd choice of conversation, the two older brothers exchanged bewildered looks, before they raised their eyebrows at the same time at Mokuba's next words: "It certainly is. Oh. She's leaving. Angrily stomping away, but definitely leaving. Thank God. I really owe you one."
"Not at all. I'm glad I could help," she replied sweetly, before she raised an eyebrow curiously at the teen sitting across her "Though I have to ask, since this is roughly the 30th time we did this in last eight months...are you not into girls?"
Whilst Jounouchi's jaw dropped at the amount of times that had actually gone out together and Kaiba's eyes widened at Shizuka's implication, Mokuba laughed: "No, it's not that at all. I just...don't like girls, who are after me for superficial things. It makes them...well, superficial."
"I definitely agree."
"I wouldn't mind dating you, bae. Any day," admitted the young Kaiba in a suave voice and it took all of the CEO's strength to keep an incensed Jounouchi from dashing off to throttle his little brother.
"Oh, Mokuba. That's so sweet. You are so sweet," cooed Shizuka with a genuinely pleased blush, before she grimaced apologetically "But, honestly, I don't think it'll work. Sorry."
While the blonde finally stilled upon his sister's - comforting - words, the raven-haired sighed softly with a shake of his head: "Don't apologize. It's because of my brother, right?"
As he slowly began to retrieve his hand from hers, she quickly reached out and took hold of it again, leading Kaiba to now frown disapprovingly before hissing to the blonde male at his side: "Not her fault was it?"
"Shut it, Kaiba. She's just nice like that."
"No. Because of mine. He'll freak at the very concept of me dating at all," she paused for a moment, before adding with an awkward smile as she absentmindedly ran a thumb over the back of Mokuba's hand "And probably will try - and succeed in - murdering anyone who tried."
"Sounds like him alright," snickered the other teenager with mirth upon his features - he had had enough adventures with Yugi and the gang to know of the blonde's temperament.
"He's just...overprotective. Emphasis in bold on the 'over' part. And it's great to have that in a brother, that smothering unconditional love. I'm not complaining. Only..."
"Sometimes you wish you could breathe a little?" finished the raven-haired knowingly with a smile, making her nod and smile back.
"Yeah. Kaiba-san is like that also?"
"You have no idea. I understand it, but sometimes, I can't quite take it. Plus, he's like my father, mother and brother in one person at times...if not all the time."
"A three-in-one package deal!" giggled out Shizuka whilst Jounouchi stared hard at Kaiba...for he would have sworn that a faint blush had briefly flitted upon the brunet's face.
"Exactly!" agreed Mokuba as he joined her laughter before he sobered, his features now a little pained "But it's fine, really. With all that's happened to us, our parents, the orphanage, Gozaboru and all...I couldn't ask for a better brother."
Here, the brunet brother snapped his now hardened blue eyes in the blonde's direction, daring the latter to question what his little brother had stated, but, much to his credit, Shizuka's brother didn't react at all, instead focusing on his sister's words: "Yeah, I know the feeling..."
The two teenagers stayed in a short marked silence, when suddenly young Kaiba spoke up again: "By the way, weren't you asked out by Honda? And then Otogi? Or was it the other way round? I don't recall. What did Jounouchi do about them?"
"Send them death threats," declared Shizuka flippantly with a straight face that made Mokuba laugh again, whilst Jounouchi smirked smugly and Kaiba raised an eyebrow in amusement at her next words "Long ones. Tons of them. Through every possible means of communication. Until they were wise enough to give up."
"So..." began the raven-haired as he tried to contain his laughter "No Otogi and no Honda, that it?"
"That's it. Besides-" she instantly halted in her sentence, casting wide eyes in Mokuba's direction, drawing his immediate interest.
"Besides?"
Shizuka paused significantly, before she leaned slightly forward to whisper even quieter than before: "Do you know the real reason for them even wanting to date me in the first place?"
"No, I don't. There was a specific reason?" he inquired, imitating her stance, before he chuckled "To annoy Jounouchi, maybe."
Giggling at the suggestion, she shook her head: "No, though that was my first guess too," she hesitated again, before she bit her lip in an adorable fashion "You...won't tell?"
"Don't worry. I'm good at keeping secrets. Very good," reassured Mokuba with a waggle of his eyebrows, making her giggle again shortly, before she calmed down.
"Truth is, they were just looking for a cover-up because they're, well, together."
"Together?" echoed the youngest Kaiba sibling in confusion, whereas the two prying elder brothers' eyes went wide as they instantly understood, with Jounouchi's jaw literally dropped to the ground.
"Yes. You know...Together?"
"No, I don't kno- Oh, wait. I think I do. They're...?"
"Yep. Together."
The young blonde man couldn't believe his ears; Honda was his best friend and he didn't tell him?! Kaiba seemed to recover a little faster from the initial kick to the teeth, before glancing towards the other: "You didn't know."
It wasn't a question, but the blonde confirmed it anyway, nodding wordlessly.
"Wow. Wasn't expecting that," uttered Mokuba, disbelief etched upon his features.
"Neither was I. At first, I thought they were kidding. Figures they weren't."
"That's weird though."
"You're against it?" inquired Shizuka with raised eyebrows "I think they go well together."
"What? No, I'm not against it, not at all. I respect others and their choices," reassured Mokuba quickly as he waved his hands in a placating manner "I just...can't imagine two guys that fake hating each other's guts to actually...be into one another, you know?"
"Clearly you have no insight on yaoi fangirls' point of view," she smirked gleefully, leading Kaiba to stare wide-eyed at her brother who seemed to be just as taken aback by that comment.
Figures there were lots of things the blonde didn't know about those surrounding him, his own sister included.
"And I really wouldn't want to," stated the raven-haired teen with a nervous laugh, before he did a double take and his jaw dropped "Wait. Would that mean...? No FREAKING way."
"What? What is it?"
"Do you...? Do you think that our brothers are dating?" the young Kaiba whispered to her with an expression that was half-stunned, half-horrified, whereas the two older siblings froze, their faces flickering emotions that ranged between various degrees of shock, dismay and aversion at the mere thought.
What. The. Hell?! Where did that conclusion come from?!
"What! No!" cried out Shizuka in surprise, quickly glancing around to make sure she didn't disturb anyone, before she paused with a frown "But, now that you mention it-"
"-I can't get the thought out of my head," the two teens voiced together, faint blushes adorning their features, whilst Jounouchi went red with mortification and Kaiba went pale with horror.
"They'd make a cute couple," she gushed suddenly, causing the older siblings, still in aghast shock, to unconsciously take a lengthy step away from each other.
"You did not just say that. They hate each other!" reminded the raven-haired vehemently, before he faltered a little in confusion as he recalled Honda and Otogi "I think..."
"Yaoi fangirls' point of view, remember?"
"No, no, no," groaned Mokuba as he buried his face in his hands, making Shizuka giggle again "Don't remind me."
"That aside, it could make sense in a way," she commented pensively with her head tilted to the side and a finger to her chin in thought, causing Kaiba to seriously believe that the blonde needed to question his sister's common sense, whilst Jounouchi himself was just gobsmacked by everything.
Even the raven-haired raised his head back up to stare at her incredulously: "How can it make sense?"
"Can I make an analysis?" she offered with a sweet smile that made the others sweat-drop for it seemed very out of place given the awkward turn the conversation had taken.
However, Mokuba could only relent with a sigh, smiling: "Sure, knock yourself out."
Nodding contentedly, she began voicing her thoughts: "They have many similarities and yet harmonizing differences. They're both overprotective brothers and have had paternal problems that affect them even today. They hate losing and are both recklessly driven to win, unmindful of the cost. Also, personality-wise, they are determined, big-headed, stubborn and headstrong. Then, you have the differences. Kaiba-san is sophisticated and methodical, sarcastic and sharp, distant and defensive, whilst Katsuya-chan is blunt and happy-go-lucky, compassionate and fierce, friendly and pushy. See? Congruent differences. Even physically they have an alluring fit, so I can actually imagine them on a date together. Their arms wrapped around one another, gazing at each other deep in the eyes in a wordless amorous silence, before slowly leaning in, inching closer, their breaths intermingling as they move forward to ki-"
"Nope. Just PLEASE no," interrupted Mokuba abruptly, his face red with discomfort "I love my brother, and I rather like your brother - you do realize that you're talking about your brother, right? - I really do. But the images popping in my head have to stop."
"Oh, sorry," she apologized ruefully, holding back a smile, before she tilted her head innocently "Who do you think would be the uke though?"
"SHIZUKA!" the raven-haired teen cried out quietly, still mindful of where they were, before he actually thought about it "Well, definitely not my brother."
"Katsuya-chan neither."
"Then they can't date. They'll most probably kill each other trying. Case closed. Can we please stop? I might not be able to look at Seto in the eye for a while...yet alone without blushing."
Giggling again, Shizuka pointed out giddily: "It's something to keep in mind though."
"Yeah, I guess..." accepted the young Kaiba hesitantly, before he looked around and then glanced at his watch "We should head back. It's getting late."
"Oh. Ok. Thank you for the late lunch," she thanked graciously as they both stood up together, grabbing their stuff and ditching the rubbish in a nearby bin.
"Thank you for saving my life," grinned Mokuba genuinely, before grimacing jokingly "And for giving me weird thoughts for later on."
"You're welcome. It's free," laughed Jounouchi's sister sheepishly as she tucked her hair behind an ear and walked off, waving to him with a broad smile "Bye, Mokuba!"
"Bye, Shizuka!" called out the raven-haired teen, responding to her gesture, as he took off in the opposite direction.
A strong silence weaved itself in the air as the two older siblings, stock still where they hid, slowly locked wide doubled eyes with each other, far too flabbergasted to utter a single word.
To be continued…
(1) National Library of Domino City is...completely made-up. My geographical knowledge of Yu-Gi-Oh is seriously lacking, good gosh.
Next Chapter: Come Again?
A/N: I'm REALLY having fun writing this. It's a far cry from what I usually write about, but this is still SO amusing! I sincerely hope you're enjoying this as much as I am! Next chapter is the last one (as this is a three chapter project)! There'll also be an epilogue, but I don't know yet if it'll be separate from next chapter or included in it. I'll think about it... So, if you liked the first two chapters, please look forward to it and see you soon!