Lost in Translation
Disclaimer: CarrCarr doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or handguns, or laptops, or the lapels of winter jackets. But I do own some Yu-Gi-Oh cards. beams
A/N: My goodness this chapter took me forever. I ended up rewriting two of the scenes twice over because I didn't like how they went. But alas I finally have my own laptop to dedicate to fanfiction and no one can stop me. I actually doubt I could even stop myself. I wanna know how my story turns out so bad. Why is it taking so long!
Italics Japanese
Regular English
Chapter Seven Monday 10:55amWhen the steel door opened admitting gray light into the room, Seto didn't bother to raise his chin from where it was dropped to his chest. Taryn couldn't have removed herself from the room more then ten minutes past and he wasn't about to cut that time short by voluntarily looking at her. With his luck she would assume the action was proof of him succumbing to her will and start another one-sided make-out session.
"Seto….." his name was gasped allowed in the one voice Seto never expected to hear.
He jerked his head up with a mix of relief and animosity at what he already knew. Before the billionaire stood a disheveled, wide-eyed Anzu in rumpled clothes. Strands of brown hair had escaped from her hair clip and fell framing bloodshot eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in a week, but that mattered little to Seto. All he saw was her small hesitant smile jumpstarting all urges to escape.
"Seto," her voice was stronger the second time.
Outsmarted by a teenage stalker, it was humiliating to be found in such a pathetic position by none other then his girlfriend. There were few people whose opinions mattered to Seto, which only made it even more probable that she be the one to discover him. It would have been worse if it had been the mutt or Yugi but what could he do?
Seto's favorite guard, Ponytail guy, shoved Anzu further into the room to allow space for Taryn and Delaney to enter behind them.
"Get your hands off of her," he growled, low in his throat, boyfriend reflexes kicking in. No one was permitted to treat Anzu like that, especially in his presence. Luckily the guard left her to go stand at his station by the door.
Anzu rushed forward, her eyes doing a quick scan for any other injuries before zoning in on his prominent bruise. She dropped to her knees beside him and removed her mittens to cup his cheek. "Please tell me you're okay," she whispered.
Seto nodded. "Nothing I can't handle. They were only trying to scare me. You shouldn't be here." Anzu was bait. From the moment he'd seen her he knew she would be used against him. It was the oldest trick in the abductors handbook for dummies.
"What did you expect me to do? Stay in your penthouse and brush up on duel monsters until the police found you? You matter too much to me."
"You worry too easily," Seto replied, unwilling to throw out some lovingly poetic lines and sweep Anzu off her feet while they had an audience, contrary to the fact that no one understood them.
The dancer's face became grief stricken. "Worry easily? Seto you've been missing for two days. Two days! We didn't know where you were or what had happened to you!"
It was nice to know he had lost all sense of time courtesy of Taryn. If she made him lose the deal with Thorten Enterprises there would be hell to pay, for her and anyone considered a close relation.
"Hold on, we?" The billionaire didn't like the sounds of that. "Is there anyone else with you?"
Anzu dropped her hand to his leg. "No, but….." she trailed off, clearly uneasy with where the conversation was heading.
"Alright. Times up. Josh," Taryn's annoying voice cut through the room, interrupting their alone time. For just a moment it had been nice to pretend the blonde bitch didn't exist.
Ponytail guy, or Josh as he had been addressed, grabbed Anzu by the arm and dragged her away from Seto so quickly she nearly landed on her buttocks. With a look that made Seto proud his girlfriend attempted to yank her arm free. When that failed she resorted to a fast hand maneuver he had taught her a while back, and pinched the nerves in Josh's wrist until he let her go.
"Touch me again and I'll sue you for physical harassment," Anzu threatened, hurrying behind Seto's chair. Before he could add anything to her threat she let out a very unladylike snort. "Handcuffs? Why did you put him in handcuffs? Too much man for you to handle?"
An intimidating smirk spread across the young CEO's face. "The handcuffs are her way of feeling powerful. Isn't that right, Sinclair? You're running scared."
"I'm not afraid. Least of all from you," she retorted, "Pretty boy here just likes it rough." Her smug smile faltered at Seto's raised eyebrow. Bad move.
"Rough!" The word was hissed behind him, from between clenched teeth. "Just what have you done to my boyfriend besides the obvious? I swear to you now if I hear of even one more mishap your dance career is as good as over. I will personally see to it."
"Just her dance career?" Seto glanced over his shoulder. For the first time since her sudden appearance he was truly glad to see Anzu. Her angry resolve was just the motivation he needed to free himself from Taryn's clutches.
"Oh I'm sure we can come up with countless ways to sabotage her. Rumor has it she's been sleeping with one of our dance instructors."
Witnessing the color drain from Taryn's face was rewarding, and goaded him on to scare her more so. It was helpful enough that she hadn't a clue as to what the couple was saying to one another. Of course Seto could have been wrong and instead her breaking out in a cold sweat could have been due to the matching smirks and plotting glints in the couples eyes.
"Cut the shit," Delaney ordered, moving away from the door, "You got your wish Anzu and for that you and you precious boyfriend are going to listen to everything we have to say."
"Don't even think of questioning us," Taryn added. She made to approach Seto stopping short at the sight of Anzu's hand on his shoulder. Too bad the little tiny public display wouldn't be enough to discourage her. Blasted handcuffs!
"Josh," the punk dancer motioned to Anzu, "You know what to do."
With no time to react to what she meant the bodyguard made his way around Seto's chair and caught Anzu's hands in one fist, ordaining them with her own set of metal handcuffs. Not prepared for that move she didn't put up a struggle until it was too late and her arms were trapped behind her back.
"You must be getting desperate if you don't think you can trust me at my word," Anzu spat, taking a step in the girls direction.
Josh quickly blocked her path, tripping her with his foot and sending her reeling backwards. Unable to regain her footing Anzu landed face down across Seto's lap with a wheeze, her down feather jacket being the only thing to break her fall.
"Anzu? Are you hurt?" Everyone in the room had better pray she wasn't and pray hard.
She shook her head to gather her bearings. "I just want all of this to be over." It was whispered so quietly he almost didn't catch it.
"Stop talking in Japanese! Get off of him!" Taryn yelled, turning red with envy at the well-timed mishap.
The blowup set Josh into action, but for once Anzu was a step ahead. She rolled off of Seto's lap, not letting the slight drop to her back on the floor slow her down and threw a booted foot up between the bodyguards legs with enough force Seto cringed inside. He would remember never to anger Anzu past rational thought for his own safety. Josh dropped to his knees in pain, hands cupping himself and narrowly missed crushing Anzu before she crawled out of the way.
Having reached her limit Delaney hauled Anzu to her feet none too gently and led her towards the door with every intent to separate them. "Anzu, smarten up or you boy toy over there will suffer the consequences," she reprimanded and was ignored.
"Whatever they say, Seto, don't do it!" she hurried to convince him, "They don't now what they want at the moment! Don't believe them! Promise me!"
"I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe!"
"I'll be fine. Just promise!"
A set of hands belonging to Taryn roughly grabbed Seto's hair. She had stepped over her bodyguard without a second thought to him groaning in agony on the floor only to yell at the billionaire again. "You listen to me! Remember! Me!" her voice rose to screeching levels with each word.
The last glimpse Seto caught of Anzu was the last bit of encouragement he needed. Who knew his girlfriend had perfected such a bone chilling stare, bared teeth and all? "You just made the biggest mistake of the game," he told Taryn.
For a few seconds she appeared lost at his calm composure. "What?"
"You gave me back my queen." 1
Monday 12:00pm - noonJou's body froze in place where he stood a scant dozen feet from Detective Paul Jones' desk and the increasing number of cops crowding around it. They all talked in as hushed voices as they could in the noisy police station, which made it quite easy for the blonde to over hear their conversation, and over hear he did.
There was no way in hell what the officers were discussing was true. Kaiba was going to kill him and probably escape his captors just to do it. He had been so stupid to let Anzu go off with only the protection of Delaney. Protection that apparently failed and got her kidnapped along side Kaiba. No. Detective Jones was wrong. Period. After all they had only mentioned Anzu falling captive not her punk friend. That had to mean something. It was supposed to be for safety sake that the girls went by themselves. Delaney had enforced it. Not even Taylor was able to stop them….. No way. Not freakin' possible! Damn it!
Spinning on his heals Jou stormed towards the quiet redhead seated beside Mokuba. "You!" An incriminating finger was pointed in Taylor's direction. "You're behind this! You bastard! You were in on it!"
Taylor rose from his chair, hands held in front of him in a harmless manner. "What are you talking about Jou? I don't understand."
"Like hell you don't!" the blonde grabbed Taylor by the lapels of his jacket and hauled him close. "You've been behind all of this! You helped kidnap Anzu!"
"I would….. never….." Taylor clutched at Jou's wrists in an attempt to break free from the hold. He may have been strong but not strong enough.
Holding his collar with one hand the blonde pulled back his fist, preparing to follow through with the ass beating of a lifetime. There was no way Jou would go easy on him for betraying Anzu's friendship. She deserved better then that.
"Jou!" Mokuba latched onto his free arm right before getting pulled back behind Roland for safety reasons. "Is it true? Did-did Anzu get kidnapped?"
Hearing what he already knew the blondes anger increased. "Of course it's true! And this pansy ass dancer is behind it! He and Delaney kidnapped Anzu!"
"What's going on here!" a deep voice boomed.
None too gently a uniformed officer jerked Jou off of Taylor. Definitely not a good sign. Nor was the sight of Detective Jones standing in front of him with his arms crossed and a displeasing frown on his face that made him look on in his years.
"Mr. Jounouchi! We do not tolerate this type of behavior in our station. If you intend to continue you will be removed from the premises. It is solely up to you. What would you like?"
"I want you to arrest him," Jou growled low in his throat, "He kidnapped Anzu. Arrest him!"
Bloody hell! How many times did he have to say it for them to believe him? Taylor was guilty and deserved to go to jail. They were in a building swarming with cops, cops who did absolutely nothing to arrest Taylor.
"Those are strong allegations, Mr. Jounouchi," Detective Jones calmly replied, "But without proper evidence we can't do anything about it." The detective was freakin' blind.
"He helped Delaney kidnap Anzu! He tricked her into leaving! Let go of me! I'm not gonna do anything!" Jou shrugged his shoulder, batting the officer's hand away. "Well? Don't just stand there, do something!"
"You're just as much at fault for letting Anzu leave as I am," Taylor finally countered in his defense.
"I wasn't planning on kidnapping Anzu once she left!"
"Where were you all morning? I never left the station!"
"What about when you went to the washroom!"
"I was in the washroom!"
"ENOUGH!" Detective Jones bellowed, "Mr. Jounouchi, until you can uphold yourself with proper decorum you will not be permitted here. Show him the door."
And just like that he was standing on the front steps of the police station, getting covered in a light sheen of snow. The cops had treated him with complete disregard, ignoring what Jou had told them. They were all bastards, Taylor and every single blasted police officer in the city of Toronto. If no one believed him then he would just have to solve Kaiba and Anzu's kidnapping on his own.
"Jou!" Mokuba followed the blonde out of the building with Roland on his heals.
It was a good thing they caught him. Jou, too enthralled in his anger, had completely forgotten the rest of his group was still there and was about to head off in search of his friends, questions be damned.
Mokuba stared up at him with pain filled eyes. "What are we going to do? We need to get Nii-sama and Anzu back. We just have to!"
"And we'll do that," he assured the young Kaiba, stuffing his hands into his pockets. They most certainly would. "Come on Mokuba, lets get out of here."
"But what about Taylor?" he asked.
The blonde scoffed, glancing back at the doors just as Taylor appeared. He pinned him with angry brown eyes. "If he's smart he'll stay away from me. Far away from me."
Mokuba's gaze shifted between the two, but he asked no more questions and hurried after Jou down the stone steps.
Monday 12:30pmDidn't he already go through this not too long ago? Not even a day before? And they were making all the same mistakes a second time over. It only enforced Seto's theory of getting kidnapped by morons. It hadn't worked the first time, what were the chances of a second go at it?
Impatiently Taryn pushed the laptop closer to him, stupid enough to have had one of the bodyguards remove his handcuffs. "I said transfer the money!" she snarled, very unbecoming.
A subdued Anzu sighed and shook her head. "You might as well give it up, Taryn, he won't listen to you."
"Shut up!" she spun on her heals to face Anzu, "One more word and I'll make you shut up myself!"
Much to Taryn's misfortune Delaney stepped between the girls. "Hey! Calm down. She isn't why we are here."
"Don't you dare-"
"Get. The. Money."
With an anger huff Taryn went back to her station beside Seto in an attempt to persuade him. Some people just didn't understand the definition of no. If it weren't for the gun Josh held against his back Seto would have taken Taryn down. He was officially sick of her shit.
"Seeetooo," his name was uttered in a sickly sweet voice.
Oh that was a nice ploy, sweat talk the billionaire in front of his girlfriend. Just because Anzu's hands were cuffed didn't mean she wasn't deadly. Before the couple had started their relationship, hell with in the first week they attended the same high school he had figured it out. Maybe Taryn was underestimating her because she was just another girl.
Taryn reached out to touch Seto but he caught her wrist inches from his face and squeezed with enough force for her to wince and pull away.
"If you want me to do anything you say, don't even think of touching me. It isn't an option."
The gun was pressed harder between his shoulder blades but Taryn waved Josh away, telling him to ease up on pointing the weapon at Seto. Another bad move. One glance at Anzu showed that she had picked up on it as well. She stood silently watching his interaction with their attackers while casually looking over at the closed door where the two remaining guards were posted on the other side.
Snapped fingers in his line of vision drew Seto back to the problem at hand. The blonde bimbo looked none too pleased that he had been staring at Anzu and even less so when he smirked at her. It was always best to keep his attackers on their toes. Especially when it was the only upper hand they had.
Taryn settled for glaring at the billionaire. "Either Anzu or money. It's your choice, Seto. And if you don't make up your mind within the next few minutes I'll make it for you."
"How do you plan to do that?" It was Anzu who asked the question, curiosity winning out.
Opting to show her captives she pulled a slender white bottle out of her pocket and poured a few pale blue capsules onto the palm of her hand. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they would be used for. She was desperate if Taryn choose to use such drastic measures against them.
"Drugs? That's original," Seto muttered to himself.
"Where the hell did you get those?" An angry Delaney demanded.
Anzu swayed on her feet. "You…..you were going…..to….." her voice trailed off and she fell as if the life had been drained from her body.
When she hit the floor Seto involuntarily jumped in his seat, fear gripping him. The girls stared down at her still body too stunned to react, though probably wondering where they were going to hide her body when it was all over.
Josh raised his handgun to take aim at Anzu's still body officially crossing the line. No way in hell would someone get away with threatening his girlfriend. Lunging from his chair, Seto grabbed the bodyguard's wrist and with a quick twist broke a number of important bones. Seto caught the gun as it slipped from Josh's hand in one move, smashing it over the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. And it had only taken ten seconds of his time.
"Move one inch and I won't hesitate to put a bullet threw either of your heads," Seto threatened, holding the gun parallel with the floor.
"Seto, what are you-"
"Get away from her. Get away from Anzu! Or so help me I won't be held responsible for what I will do!"
Yelling finally moved the girls into action, one pressed up against the wall behind the table to get away from him and the other shuffled towards the door. Taryn was stupid enough to think she could get away.
"Tell your men to stand down."
"But why-"
The young CEO couldn't believe she was still trying to win him over or just keep him there. With a snarl he cut her off. "You are in no position to question me. Tell you men to stand down." It took more effort then he knew to keep his hands from shaking.
Begrudgingly she followed his orders and informed her bodyguards that they weren't permitted to harm either Seto or Anzu in any way and if they happened to do so their jobs would suffer for it. Of course she worded it a lot nicer then he was custom to.
"There. Are you satisfied?" Taryn pouted.
"Hardly," he sneered, "Uncuff Anzu."
It was a simple plan Seto had concocted that kept changing for every minute that passed. But the overall of it was to get as far away from Taryn and the building as they could manage. How he would deal with the two backstabbing friends and their lackey's would have to come later.
After little resistance, thanks to being armed, Seto pocketed the key to the handcuffs and stood to admire Taryn and Delaney cuffed together with the metal chain going behind a water pipe in the corner of the room. It wouldn't give the couple that much time but whatever they could use would be appreciated.
He knelt down beside Anzu and softly shook her shoulder. "Anzu, wake up. We need to get moving…..Come on, open those baby blues and look at me. Insult me for all I care, just wake up." Panic started to set in a few seconds shy of Anzu groaning and a flutter of eyelashes.
"Seto? What time is….." She bolted upright, eyes wide in recollection. "You-how-did I just-"
"We're getting out of here," he told her, offering a hand up.
It took a few seconds for Anzu to regain her balance, instantly noticing what position Taryn and Delaney were in, but she asked no questions and hurried with Seto towards the door. He double-checked that the gun was loaded before stepping into the hall. The two remaining guards eyed him with caution, their hands just itching to remove their guns from their holsters, but no one said a word. The couple proceeded down the hallway at a slower speed then Seto preferred due to Anzu, not that he would ever leave her behind. She gripped his hand when they made it to the bottom of the stairs and squeezed for reassurance. Then they were outside in the bitter February wind. They may have been out of the building but they weren't free, not by a long shot.
to be continued………………..
1 Seto's reference to getting back his queen is metaphorical and in relation to a game of chess. Taryn bringing him Anzu was like giving back the queen in a game of chess. Now that he has her he will win.
