Mysterious Mistress Kura: -bows repeatedly in apology- Gomen! I am so sorry for not updating when I said I would but things have been pretty hectic lately. First of all, I came down with a terrible cold that kept me bed-ridden for two days, so I wasn't really doing much of anything during that time. Secondly, I've been helping my mom around the house, what with cleaning and laundry and such. But nonetheless, I'm back with a brand new chapter so I hope you enjoy it! I tried to make it half-decently long to make up for the delay. So without further ado, read on!

Chapter Eight: Planning

While the group of carefree teenagers continued to watch their movie in peace, they were completely unaware of what was happening elsewhere…

In another area of Domino City, one that would not be considered the friendliest of neighborhoods, Mr. Wheeler sat in his poor excuse for what he called a home. For what seemed like forever, he persisted in telling himself that it was his son who had made his whole life a living hell…or at least, that was how he saw it...

"When I get my hands on that good-for-nothing little punk, he'll regret everything he's ever done..." While pacing the floors of his rickety, old apartment building, the only thoughts running through the elder man's mind were those of revenge. He wanted to be the one to punish Joey, for it was his son after all. The possibility of getting caught and being thrown in jail didn't scare him in the slightest; he had beaten and abused the teen for many years without ever having been suspected of anything. He figured that this time would be no exception.

A few younger men, who looked to be in about their late twenties to early thirties sat amongst the one that appeared to be their leader. They all reeked of the combined stench of alcohol and cigarette smoke; the house was a complete disaster area and the walls, which were once a beautiful, pearl white had now faded to a dull, lifeless yellow. Trash was littered all over the floor and there were shards of broken glass strewn everywhere. With one quick glance, you could easily tell that no one in the group cared to clean up after themselves. They seemed to enjoy living life as it was; it was as if they had lived that way forever. In fact, some of them probably have…

"So boss, what did ya want us ta do about the kid?" The man who had popped this question and broken the silence took another swig of the beer in his hand. He looked to be rather scrawny, yet had quite a bit of muscle around his arms and legs. Even though he didn't look the part, there was almost no doubt that he could take down a man twice his size.

Mr. Wheeler took another drag on his cigarette before replying. "You remember me tellin' ya that the boy ran away with some other punk?" The man nodded his head wordlessly. "Well, what I want you guys to do is to track 'em down. Find out where they're hiding and bring 'em both back here. That's where things get interesting…"

"What are you plannin' on doing with 'em, boss?" one of the larger men questioned as he downed the last of his beer.

"You'll see in time, but for now, just go and find them."

"Sure thing boss." With the whole plan agreed upon, the men, being four in total, left without another word. Even though they had had no idea of where to start looking, Domino City was small town and it would not take very long to track someone down. If only the couple knew about the event that was about to unfold…

"Joey?" The brunette tried to shake his lover awake, yet he was not having the best of luck; trying to wake Joey was like trying to stop cats and dogs from fighting, it just wasn't going to happen. "Joey!" Amazingly, raising his voice directly into his ear did not have a very high success rate; the only thing he got out of the blonde was a loud groan and him rolling over onto his other side. Seto heaved a heavy sigh; he was running out of ideas and he needed to talk with his boyfriend right away. He had just had a dream and could not figure out why it happened. He figured that if he talked to Joey about it, everything would make sense…at least, he hoped it would. Seto Kaiba was never one to ask for anyone's help no matter what the circumstances, but this was different. The dream that he had had seemed as though it was depicting the death of someone very close…and he hoped that that someone was not who he was thinking of…

"JOEY!" That certainly woke up the blonde, yet it was not Seto that had said it. When the CEO turned his head towards the sound of the voice, he saw Mokuba's small figure standing directly in front of him, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. Yugi was positioned next to him, looking just as tired as his blonde-haired friend. Brianna had vacated to the kitchen after the movie was over to prepare something for dinner.

"Mokuba, what are you doing?" the elder Kaiba inquired questioningly.

"I wanted to know if you and Joey were up yet," the raven-haired child chirped happily.

"We're up all right…" the blonde moaned as he pulled his face out of the pillow that it had been currently lying in. He sat upright and began rubbing the sleep from his eyes, yawning as he did so. He wished that he could have had five more minutes of rest and relaxation, but he knew that in a house inhabited by Mokuba Kaiba, that was not an option.

"Great! Now you can take me to the park!"

"Wait, hold on a minute Mokuba. Who said that we would take you to the park?" As Seto spoke those words, the child's smile turned into that of a pouting frown.

"Well…" He looked to his feet and then back up to his older brother. "Since we haven't been out lately, all of us I mean, I just thought that we could do with some fresh air," he stated innocently. The brunette rose his index finger in mid-air and opened his mouth to speak.

"Mokuba, we already went to the park before, remember?"

"But Seto, that was a long time ago!" Okay, so that was an exaggeration but in order to convince his elder sibling, the young child had to pull a few strings.

Seto looked over to Joey who, at first glance, appeared to still be half asleep. The CEO than turned back to his brother. "I don't think it would be such a wise idea seeing as how he doesn't look overly energetic." Using his lover's tiredness as an excuse was a lame one, even he had to admit that, yet it seemed as though it would work…at that time anyway…

Joey yawned and stretched his arms way up in the air. "It's okay, I'm fi…" His sentence was cut off by another loud and weary yawn.

"You're fine?" Seto raised an eyebrow at the blonde's statement. "I don't think you're fine if you look as though you're going to pass out any minute. You'd better stay here and get some well-needed rest. Sorry Mokuba but it doesn't look like Joey is fit to go to the park today; maybe some other day, okay kiddo?"

"But Seto!" the pre-teen whined, turning the ever-so-lovable puppy dog eyes on the CEO. This was the one thing, and possibly the only thing that Seto Kaiba could not resist giving in to, except for Joey of course.

"No buts Mokuba. I'll take you to the park tomorrow, if Joey is feeling up to it."

"Fine…" The young Kaiba hung his head low so that his bangs covered his eyes as he walked up the stairs to his room, Yugi in tow. Once they were both out of sight, the brunette turned back to his lover and gestured for him to lie back down.

"You really should get some more sleep puppy, you look awful," Seto commented as he reached over to brush the blonde's bangs out of his face. Joey merely smiled as his eyelids began to flutter open and closed.

"I guess…you're right…" Joey replied between random yawns. Eventually, however, he fell into a deep sleep, snoring all the while. Seto smirked before he stood up and headed upstairs, hoping to get some of his work done that he had been neglecting to do for a few days. He had just been so caught up in spending time with Joey that he completely forgot about his duty to his company. He prepared to fulfill that duty now, even if it took him all night. If he managed to finish everything that needed to be completed, that would give him more time to spend with Joey and that was time that was never wasted.

Meanwhile in an abandoned alleyway somewhere in the middle of the city, Mr. Wheeler's group of cronies were all gathered together and discussing their plan of action to kidnap Joey and his savior, as the gang often referred to the one that helped the blonde escape his father's clutches.

"So, what's the plan?" one of the more well-built men asked as he leaned up against the side of one of the brick buildings closing in on them.

"We find the punk, what else?" the apparent leader of the gang replied expectantly.

"But we don't even know where to start looking."

"That's why we're going to split up and track him down that way," the headman stated while folding his arms across his chest as if to look intimidating. He quickly scanned the group, stopping on one individual in particular. "Mark, you and Benny search the north end of the city while Steve and I take the south end. We'll meet back here in a few hours to report our progress. Let's move!" With those last two words spoken, or more so yelled, the foursome broke off into pairs and headed in the direction of the area that they were responsible for. Let's just hope that Seto and Joey remain safe within the mansion, otherwise they'll be in for a heap of trouble…

Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba was still busily preparing the many reports that he needed to complete for Kaiba Corp. when a thought struck his mind: he had completely forgotten to tell Joey about the dream that he had had. Then again, the blonde seemed awfully tired the last time he was downstairs so the brunette figured that it would be best to just let him sleep; he would eventually tell Joey everything that he had dreamt when he was more awake.

Suddenly, the door to the CEO's room flew open and Mokuba came bursting in.

"Seto!" he exclaimed, sounding thoroughly overjoyed.

"What is it?" the brunette replied, refusing to take his eyes off of the computer situated in front of him.

"Brianna's taking Yugi and I to the park! Do you want to come with us?"

Seto shook his head. "Sorry kiddo but I still have some work to complete and I think I've put it off long enough. Maybe we can all go to the park another day, with Joey of course. What do you think of that?"

"Yay! That would be awesome! Thanks Seto!" and with that, the raven-haired child ran from the room and what sounded like down the stairs. Seto merely rolled his eyes at his younger brother's enthusiasm; sometimes he wondered just how the pre-teen got so…hyper. Then again, when he thought about it more clearly, he didn't really want to know. He then returned to hacking away at his laptop, determined to finish the rest of his work.

In the kitchen with Brianna, Mokuba and Yugi…

"So did you tell your brother that we were going to the park?" Brianna asked while she finished packing the remaining sandwiches and snacks that they were planning on bringing.

"Yep!"

"And?"

"He was cool with it!"

"Good. Now, do we have everything we need?" Brianna looked to the picnic basket on the counter and then to the duo in front of her.

"I'm not bringing anything with me. There's enjoy stuff to do at the park as is! We'll have lots of fun, right Yugi?" Mokuba nudged Yugi's shoulder to snap him out of the trance that he looked like he was currently in. "Yugi?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Mokuba. I guess I kind of zoned out there. What were you saying?"

"Brianna was making sure that we have everything. I'm not bringing anything because there's plenty to do at the park, what with everything they have there!"

"That's true. I'm not bringing anything either. All I need is the clothes on my back and good friends like you guys." Yugi flashed a bright smile as both Mokuba and Brianna couldn't help but return the emotional gesture.

"So if that's all settled, let's hit the road!" Brianna exclaimed ecstatically as they all piled into the entrance hall where they slipped their jackets and shoes on. Once they were all set, they exited the mansion and walked over to where Brianna's car was parked, right beside Seto's limo.

"Hop in guys," the female urged while motioning for them to get in. The pair of males did just that and strapped on their seatbelts once they were properly seated. Brianna got in last and buckled up her seatbelt as well, sticking the keys into the ignition beforehand. Once the trio was ready to roll, Brianna slowly backed up out of the driveway and onto the street where they turned in the direction of Domino Park. They were definitely prepared for a day of fun in the sun! Unfortunately, they were not aware of the events soon to come. We can only hope that they're ready for anything life has to throw at them…