Forever Scarred

Chapter 15

"You agreed to fill me in, so what are you thinking up right now?" Yami asked, keeping his eye on the silent other.

He glanced at Yami, mulling over his next move. He already had his plan all set up; unfortunately he didn't have Yami as an important party in this scheme. But Kaiba admitted, to himself, that snagging these things from two of Monuten's men was quite clever, and well, good. "How did you get these again? Where are these guys at now?" He questioned.

Yami sighed, "I can't give you an exact location but I'd say they're somewhere worse than Hell." He replied honestly, without any sort of emotion.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. 'Alright…' This was one reason he hated talking to Jyonouchi and his friends-they were always weird and even 'darker' than he was, of course they never saw themselves as anything other than high and mighty. "Right." He simply commented, rolling his eyes. 'I'm guessing he means they're dead. Great. So, Monuten has just lost two men, which will result in tighter security, he'll obviously be wary and keep a close eye on me. So basically,' "You've just made things so much harder for me." He muttered with a small-exasperated chuckle.

"Excuse me?"

"Hm. This is very interesting but it's nothing we can really use."

"What are you talking about? With these cell phones we can find out where and who their boss is."

Kaiba nodded, "True. But," But in truth, Kaiba already knew who the main guy was and where he could be found. Of course, tell that to Yami and he'd run over there and kill the guy one, two, three. And that was the last thing Kaiba wanted- the guy was doing something illegal and killing him would only cover that up and they'd be back at square one. For as long as this sleazy operation was in tact, Jyonouchi would remain a target and vital part of it. They needed to uncover this now, with Monuten still in charge. "We need to be a bit more clever than that. Whoever this guy is, he's going to be prepared for the worst-case scenerio. If one of his men turns up missing, he won't call and will most likely disconnect the phone connection. Yami, a cell phone won't do us much good in finding this man. However," He smirked as he stared at the keys, "I wish you would've called right when you decided to kill these guys. Well, if we can get to the vehicle-or vehicles- before they find out these two are out of commission, maybe we'll have more to go by."

The tri-colored other nodded, "So you think they'd have something incriminating in their car?"

"It's highly possible. Anything from a number on a piece of paper can be worth something, but this car would be in a very good hiding place-I'll have some of my men search the area near your house."

"Where do you think they'd hide it?"

Kaiba smirked. "Right in front of you."

Yami flinched back slightly, unsure of the statement. Kaiba stood to his feet and checked his watch. "I think that's enough for today. You should leave."

The crimson-eyed other frowned as he stood, "We're working on this together. I'm not leaving until we come up with a plan." He reminded.

The brunet rolled his eyes, he was grading on Kaiba's last nerve. But he exhaled slowly, calmed down before he turned and faced the other. "I have a ton of things with my own company to think about and get done. Come back later tonight and we'll discuss the matter thoroughly and appropriately. At the moment I don't have the time."

Crimson and blue peered into each other before Yami closed his eyes and nodded. "Fine," He stared intensely back at Kaiba, "but, I'm warning you Kaiba, don't be jerking me around."

Page 25

Why am I still crying? Why do I hafta be so weak? That's why I'm worthless. That's the reason nobody likes me. Nobody cares about me…Well, Yugi and them do but, they don't know how disgusting and pathetic I really am; I'm a whore… A stupid whore!

Totally not worth it…

Jyonouchi drummed his hand along his desk. Ironically, he didn't have anything to think about. Ever since the morning, all his little pity parties seemed to die down. He couldn't focus to play games with Mokuba because he was stuck thinking about, well, nothing in particular. He couldn't concentrate so he decided to spend some time alone in his room; the truth was he couldn't get Kaiba off his mind.

He swallowed hard, 'He said I mean something to him. I actually matter.' Jyonouchi wanted to revert back to his self-destructive ways, remind himself of what he deemed himself to be, but this time he couldn't. 'Kaiba is the one person I can count on to tell me the truth and he thinks I'm worth all of this. He's so smart and strong an' he doesn't need me here-he's probably getting some unwanted attention from the media just having me under his roof.' "But he wants me to stay."

He wanted to not feel so good, because part of him thought he was being selfish. And yet, feeling like he belonged in a place like this, with Mokuba and seeing a side of Kaiba he thought wasn't real, it was like a dream. The blonde smiled, continuing his drumming.

Speaking of The Great Seto Kaiba, he felt a much deeper respect for the guy. 'He's so cool. So awesome.' He relaxed a little more, "The most amazing person I've ever met." He thought out loud.

He liked Kaiba so much now. "I wonder if he could-would ever- see me as a friend." Oh no, here came the little voice back to criticize and injure, 'Back up, Jyonouchi. He's helpin' you out because Mokuba would be pissed at him if he didn't. This friendship crap? You've been hangin' out with Anzu too much-he doesn't want to be your friend, idiot.'

Jyonouchi laughed. Even after was said, he still found a way to make himself feel lower than dirt. But it was lighter this time-it was like the negativity, as harsh as ever it was, didn't affect him like it did just yesterday night. And then it amazed him; right then, just how strongly Kaiba's words had hit him.

And not just his words; everything was opening and coming down on him at once without stopping and it was surprisingly enthralling and intense. Not only did Kaiba admit there was small importance in him but, he had actually comforted before that. 'I swore never to cry in front of'em. I would never be weak and cry in front of Kaiba but that night I did. And he didn't even laugh at me; he didn't do anythin'. He only' -He gulped hard and his face became so deeply serious, "Held me, he just leaned over and held me..." He remembered the feeling well, he was safe and warm for like the first time on the inside and it was because of Kaiba.

He quickly exhaled with one deep huff, smiling and laughing lightly. "Why am I thinking this now?" He questioned with a shake of his head.

He stared at the monitor and sighed. He wasn't paying attention to his work - something totally unlike him. His mind was too busy thinking about well, the only thing at the moment that would distract the young and powerful CEO-Jyonouchi and his dilemma. He had his idea on how to do this, it was quicker than what the police were planning on, with them it'd take years if they ever caught on, but it could end in a few months with Kaiba running the operations.

Although it wouldn't be easy with a wild card loose, like Yami, who went around killing people without any notification beforehand. He sighed. Well, despite the tri-colored interference raising the 'difficulty' on this 'game' being played between Monuten and Kaiba, things would still go as planned. Unfortunately, that was just for the time being. Who knows what else his partner could screw up?

One thing was for sure, to get near Hinoto; Kaiba couldn't have Yami killing his guys all over the place. He sighed, "And everyone calls me the heartless bastard." He murmured but understood the other's emotionless response in the other twos' deaths. After all, those men had done sold their souls to the devils-they were in a way already dead.

He put his hands against his forehead honestly he was beat. He hadn't been sleeping too well since Jyonouchi began staying with him and thinking about this situation brought back some memories from his past. Which was stupid because this had nothing to do with him.

He checked the time and smirked, it was barely past noon. How insanely astonishing, he stood up, turned off the monitor and left his office. His posture became quickly rigid and tense as he climbed the stairs heading towards his room. 'I have a lot of calls to make.' He stated non-too-happily.

'I wonder what Kaiba and Yami were gonna talk about. Mokuba rushed me to play games with him, before I got a chance to speak to'em. I hope everything went okay; Yami didn't seem to happy when he was leaving. I should've asked him when I saw him coming down the stairs.' Jyonouchi chided himself on his hesitation. He'd come down to find out where Kaiba and Yami were talking and he barely caught glimpse of his dear friend rushing down.

His first instinct was to approach him and insist to know everything but then he froze and couldn't bring himself to move further. Part of him didn't want to know what was going on, how Kaiba planned on handling the situation.

He sighed defeated, "Man. This is my mess, I shouldn't be afraid to know-" he stood to his feet. "I need to know, dammit, if Kaiba an' everybody wanna help me then I should be helping myself too." He walked over to his desk and swallowed hard. "I need to be like Kaiba. He's so strong and brave, everything that I'm not." He took a deep breath and left the room in haste.

Jyonouchi headed for Kaiba's office. He was ready to face his problems, he wanted to help in any way he could. He smiled, if there was one thing he'd learn from Kaiba besides what it felt like to be 'safe', he'd learn to be stronger. Strength; he never was strong enough for anything.

He knocked on the door and waited, his heart was pounding in his chest at an alarming rate. He didn't understand why he was trembling maybe because he'd never gone up against his dad before.

The door opened and for a second that fast-pacing heart stopped. Jyonouchi's determined spirit was faltering, he was starting to think what help could he really be to the other? "Jyonouchi? What- did you need something?"

He clenched his fists, "I wanted to know what you and Yami talked about earlier. Ya know, right after breakfast."

"You want to know?" He asked rather surprised.

The blond stood straighter and relaxed slightly, "Yeah. Kaiba, I was thinking and I wanna help you. It seems only right since it is my problem and-"

'Is he serious? There's nothing I really need from him. Still, he has to know something for Monuten to be so worried about Jyonouchi being here. Maybe he can help me…'

"Anyway, if there's anything I can do please-"

Kaiba went back into his office. "Come in." He quietly ordered and the other complied. "Take a seat."

"Okay." He sat. Kaiba walked over poured some water into a glass, which he then handed to Jyonouchi. "Uhm, thanks…" The brunet sat across (in his desk chair) and gave the other his full attention. "Like I said, I wanna help. Is there something you-"

"Actually, if you really want to help," He cut in, and the blond sat up with a smile, hoping it was indeed something he could help with. "Tell me everything you know about Hinoto Monuten."

Jyonouchi's calmness dissolved. His body began to tremble and all of that determination washed away. Kaiba's face flushed with slight concern; obviously the name brought back some horror to the blond. "Jyonouchi." He called, but the other looked away, as in ashamed by something. "Jyonouchi, what is it?"

"Do we hafta talk about him? Please, do we hafta talk about him?" He asked painfully desperate and fearfully.

'What could Monuten have done to get this reaction out of him. He didn't even look this frightened when I mentioned his Father's name before.'