Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh! Any plot holes are there for ventilation.
Ch 1: In which Kaiba discovers that things are not as they seem.
(–)
Jonouchi gasped as Kaiba punched him in the gut and he sank to the floor, trying to catch his breath.
Kaiba smirked as he looked down at the stricken Jonouchi gasping on his knees before him. "That's a good look for you, mutt," he sneered, then he turned upon his heel and walked away, satisfaction apparent in every stride.
Jou waited until he judged that Kaiba was far enough away, then he stopped gasping and got to his feet with no difficulty. He knew that Kaiba would not look back; he never did, but Kaiba should count himself lucky that he always held back during their little altercations. To be brutally honest, he could have wiped the floor with Kaiba without breaking a sweat, but he could not bring himself to do so. If he did and he bruised Kaiba's ego, then potentially he might never see Kaiba again, and Jonouchi was not ready for that.
He had wondered on several occasions why he felt that way, why he cared so much, but had quickly come to the conclusion that it wasn't something he wanted to face right now.
But he would keep up this subterfuge for as long as he could.
(–)
"Hey, there's a call for you, Jonouchi," his boss at the supermarket called him. "Says it's urgent."
"I'll be right there," Jonouchi called back as he finished placing the product upon the shelf. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. These calls were getting ever more frequent and he had lost more than one job due to the fact that he felt he had to respond to them. Satisfied that he was done, he jogged to the office and picked up the handset.
"Hello?" he answered the call.
"Your charge is being taken to the old warehouse by the docks," a mysterious voice said. "They say that he will have a new guardian."
"No he won't," Jou growled, "and anyone who thinks otherwise..."
"I am but the messenger," the toneless voice said. "You know what is expected." The line went dead.
Jonouchi swore internally. He had been hoping that this day would never come, but he supposed it had been inevitable with the way that he had always let Kaiba get the upper hand in their spats, something that had carried on ever since they had left school. He cursed that the businessman seemed driven to seek him out in order to make sure that he still knew his place as a 'worthless mutt'.
Oh, if only he knew. If Kaiba had just left him alone he could have protected him from the sidelines and he wouldn't have to lose so many jobs answering these stupid challenges and sorting out threats. He had considered telling Kaiba about it, but he knew Kaiba would never believe him and at best he would be laughed out of Kaiba's office, if he even made it that far. He guessed he could stop it all by not holding back and putting Kaiba down in public, but that would likely bring a whole new set of problems, so he was conflicted.
However, this was the first time that they had dared to actually involve Kaiba himself. That meant that the whole situation was about to come to a head and he could not afford to leave it be.
"Hey boss, I gotta go," Jou called, taking off his uniform as he made to run.
"Again?" Jou's boss was aghast. "I'm sorry, Jonouchi, but this is too much. I'm afraid that if you leave now then I'll have no choice but to let you go."
Jou sighed. He'd expected as much, but he had to do what he had to do. He turned to his boss with a crooked smile. "I understand," he said. "Thank you for giving me this much of a chance." He bowed lowly and left the store, breaking into a run in order to reach the docks as quickly as possible.
He only hoped that Kaiba wouldn't be too roughed up by the time he got there.
(–)
Kaiba raised his head defiantly as the thugs surrounding him sneered and cracked their knuckles, and he wondered how things had ended up like this.
He had got into his limousine at KC in order to go home, a lonely place now that Mokuba was usually out with his friends, but instead of the driver taking him home, he had been shocked to find that he had been driven to some godforsaken abandoned warehouse on the far edge of Domino City dockyards.
Before he could register what was going on, he had been dragged from the car, restrained and tied to a chair. He had not been physically assaulted beyond that restraining, but he supposed that it was only a matter of time. He was sure that things would change when the thugs started making demands of him, but they seemed to be waiting for something. That could only be to his advantage as it would give his security time to make it here, that was if they even knew he was missing.
He continued to eye the thugs around him with utter contempt, earning himself a backhand from one who had clearly had enough. That caused a minor scuffle to break out, but it abruptly stopped as the mood changed and whispers swept through the group of assembled men, fear replacing the atmosphere of confidence that had surrounded them moments before. He watched warily as most of the thugs, including the one guarding him, melted into the shadows and he wondered just how much worse things were going to get if they were all so scared. But that worry turned to surprise as the door slammed open to reveal Jonouchi at the entrance.
What the hell? The useless mutt? But then he had to re-evaluate as it became clear that this was not the same happy and bumbling clumsy Jonouchi that he thought he knew so well. No, this Jonouchi was hard and angry looking, someone that even he would hate to engage.
"Someone has been steppin' on my territory," Jonouchi said darkly, "and I'm here to claim my due."
"And what territory would that be?" a taunting voice came from the shadows.
"You all know full well that anythin' to do with Kaiba is my territory," Jou snarled, "so I'm gonna take him out of here and not one of you had better argue."
There was some murmuring from the shadows as Jou strode forwards with an aura of dangerous confidence that Kaiba had never seen from him before. He watched Jonouchi approach warily. Surely this would not be so easy? The fact that he had been taken and, if what Jonouchi had said was true, then this was very obviously a direct challenge to Jonouchi. But why now?
He jumped slightly as couple of extremely hard looking goons jumped from the shadows, placing themselves squarely between Kaiba and Jonouchi, confirming his suspicions that it would definitely not be that easy.
"Word has it," the first goon said, "that Jonouchi has gone... soft." There was a taunting challenge in his voice.
"What gives you that idea?" Jonouchi said, eyeing the pair dangerously.
"Word has it," the second goon said, "that this one," he indicated Kaiba by pointing his thumb over his shoulder, "regularly beats you without even trying."
"Meh, is that all?" Jonouchi snorted as he sneered openly, an expression that Kaiba thought looked rather out of place on his face. "You should have known by the fact that you took him so easily that I'm just playing with him. Kaiba's never hurt me, but I gotta keep his ego stroked, ya know?"
Kaiba lowered a glowering look at Jonouchi as he took in that last, but Jonouchi resolutely ignored him.
"We shall see the truth of this," the voice came from the shadows again, having lost the taunting edge. "If you can beat these two, my best fighters, then we shall know that you are telling the truth and you may take Kaiba with you. But if you lose, the you also lose your... territory."
"Bring it," Jou said, raising his head defiantly. The two goons eyed each other, then with a barely perceptible nod, they both tensed and sprang straight for Jonouchi.
Kaiba had initially watched them approach each other with fatalistic curiosity, knowing that there was no way Jonouchi could possibly win against these two large and brutal looking men. But before they met he looked away, fearing that he was very much done for and also not wishing to see Jonouchi beaten to a pulp. The sounds of the fight were brutal and his stomach sank.
"Is that good enough for ya?" Jonouchi's voice came with a shout, causing Kaiba's head to shoot up with surprise. Jonouchi had not come out unscathed by any means as he currently sported a black eye and a split lip, but that was nothing compared to the two lumps of flesh lying on the ground and groaning.
"Your claim is recognised," the voice came once again, all businesslike this time. "You retain your territory and word will be spread that Jonouchi is not to be bothered."
The unsaid 'for now' hung heavy in the air, but Jonouchi simply stepped over the two downed goons and walked to Kaiba with a grim expression upon his face. He untied him and removed the gag.
"Come with me," Jonouchi said lowly. Kaiba could not bring himself to argue, knowing that now was definitely not the time, but all bets would be off later when they were safely away. "Don't look back," Jonouchi instructed, leading Kaiba from the warehouse and out into the light. Kaiba looked at Jou, noting that the other man was on high alert. They clearly weren't out of danger yet.
Jou led him to the limousine, where the driver was conspicuously absent. "Wait here and keep your eyes on me."
"Why?" Kaiba growled, his natural stubbornness coming to the fore.
Jou whirled on him and fisted his hand into Kaiba's shirt, lifting him. "Because if you don't, you will be in a lot of trouble," he growled. "Now shut the fuck up before you destroy us both."
Kaiba took in the look in Jonouchi's eyes with some shock. He could tell that Jou meant exactly what he said, but he also knew that after what he had seen inside the warehouse that Jou could easily wipe the floor with him.
"Fine," he ground out reluctantly. Jou was obviously satisfied with that answer as he let him go and turned to go to the limo.
Kaiba watched carefully as Jou quickly yet methodically searched the limousine as he did not want to take any chances with their safety due to a double cross. As this occurred, Kaiba could not help but begin to muse over the fact that Jonouchi had very obviously been holding back on him and by doing so had put them both in danger today.
But why would he do that? Jou had made no secret of his dislike for him, so why had he not just... dealt with him and had done with it? Well, once they were safely out of here, he would want answers.
A few more moments and Jou was giving the all clear and beckoning Kaiba over. Kaiba warily approached the car.
"Get in," Jou said, clearly indicating that Kaiba should get in the back.
"No," Kaiba said as he eyed Jou with wary annoyance. "I will drive."
"No you won't," Jou stated in a tone that brooked no argument. "Now get in before I shove you in." Jou glowered at Seto who hesitated a moment, but then he complied. Now was not the time.
Once Jou was satisfied that Kaiba was safely inside, he jumped into the driver's seat, started the car using the conveniently left keys and wasted no time in driving away.
"Where do you want to go, Kaiba," Jou asked as he took down the privacy screen.
"Home," Kaiba said tersely.
"You got it," Jou replied grimly.
Soon they were drawing up outside the gate to the Kaiba Mansion. The gate swung in for the car and Jou frowned, worried that there hadn't been a check as to who was inside. He looked in the mirror, noting that Kaiba had noticed the same thing. That was good as it meant that he didn't have to bring it up and potentially set Kaiba off now that they were 'safe'.
Jou pulled the car up outside the house and exited. He didn't spare Kaiba a glance, simply making to walk out of the estate.
"Where do you think you are going, mutt?" Kaiba growled.
"Home," Jou said simply, not rising to the bait.
"Why?" Kaiba sneered. "I'd have thought that..."
"I'd wanna lord it over you?" Jou cut him of, shaking his head and chuckling, but never turning around. "Not my style Kaiba." He waved a hand dismissively as he began to walk again. "I'll leave that kind of thing to you."
Kaiba watched as Jou began to leave. It wasn't his style to chase after anyone, but there was something he needed to know. "How long?" he called before Jonouchi got to the entrance.
Jou paused momentarily and looked back over his shoulder. "You're the genius," he said, "you work it out." He walked on out of the estate and this time Kaiba let him go.
Kaiba pulled himself together and stalked back into the house. First order of things was to call Isono and undertake a massive shake up of his security, then he had a lot to think about.
His world had well and truly been turned on it's head today and he did not like it one bit!
(–)
A/N This is something I intended to be a one shot that I wrote in *checks folder* 2013. It's been finished a while so I figured it was past time to tidy it up, edit and and post it. I split it into 4 parts for ease of editing and decided to leave it that way.
