Chapter III

It was a very sour-looking Jonouchi that made his way down the aisles of the super market on this special day, pushing a carriage in front of him, and now and then picking something or another from the shelves to throw in it, a task he normally performed with joy and eagerness.

Jonouchi Katsuya in the super market was not an unusual sight these days; ever since he had moved in with Seto Kaiba, he had been in charge of certain parts of the household, mainly the kitchen and food supplies. Honda's and Bakura's favourite hobby these days was thinking up new names for him; "housewife", "Kaiba's cook", and "mommy" were just a few of the names they had come up with, and far from the most colourful. But when it came down to it, they couldn't deny the fact that Jou was by far the best cook in the gang, and certainly fit for the job.

Either way, this particularly day, Jou was not as perky as he usually was during shopping-time. Two facts could easily explain this. First of all: the night before, he had had a fight with Seto, and was feeling guilty as hell, and secondly; his three sons, who usually went with him, and liked shopping just as much as their dad, was not with him, and he missed them!

For what must have been the thousandth time, Jou cursed the fact that he was such a bitch sometimes. He had to admit that dumping the kids on Seto, when he knew that the brunette was working his ass of in the office, had been unfair and jerk-ish. But truly, Seto's comment about him not doing anything, when they had three kids in the house, had set him of like few things could. Not only was he working his ass of to take care of the kids, there was also the fact that Seto had been the one who wanted him to quit his work when they got the boys.

Jou had been more than a little surprised to learn that Seto Kaiba was actually very old-fashioned when it came to home and family. When it was just the two of them, it was okay with the many different jobs Jou had; instead of sitting around in the mansion, waiting for Seto, he had something to do. But when the triplets came along, Seto had naturally put the task of raising them on Jou, expecting him to stop working for them, while he made all the money.

This hadn't really bothered Jou: after all, he only had his part-time jobs, while Seto was the manager of a large company, and he was more than happy to spend all of his time with the three bundles of joy and hyper activeness that was his rug rats.

More importantly, he knew instinctively how important it was for Seto to feel like he was doing something worthwhile. It was actually because of the kids that he spent all those long hours at work.

Because no matter how hard it might be to believe, Seto was one whipped parent.

All the triplets had to do was point at an object, no matter how big, exclusive or expensive, and use those big puppy-dog-eyes on him, and the object was theirs. And Seto would work for years without break to keep it that way.

Not that Seto really saw his children that often these days. The first year and a half, Seto had been so thrilled and shocked at being "turned into" a father that he had spent all of his time with them. Jou remembered a time when Seto barely remembered he had a company, and when he could be sitting beside the crib, simply staring at the small boys for hours at end. The memory of Seto's expression when the nurse had placed the three boys in his arms for the very first time still made Jou laugh.

But when that time had expired, things almost went back to normal. Sure, Seto had started spending a few more hours at home, eating breakfast with his family almost every day, but then he disappeared and didn't show up until late at night.

And quite frankly, it scared the shit out of Jou; what if he missed the triplet's whole childhood? What if he came home one day and realised that he didn't know shit about his own kids? What if the triplets forgot about him?

Thus, leading up to the fight they had had the night before.

Maybe I'm simply spoiled; Jou mused and put a package of cereals in the carriage. Maybe I've gotten too used to having Seto around. Maybe that's what bothers me so much, and not at all the fact that he might be missing out on our children's lives?

Because Jou could honestly say that he missed those times with Seto.

The sound of his cell phone woke him from his thoughts. He hadn't realised that he had almost reached the cash desk. Quickly he pulled the cell phone from his pocket (the wallet was in the other, he still carried his things in pockets rather than in bags; a habit he kept from his teens. Besides, he might be gay, but what man goes around carrying a purse anyway?) and pressed the 'talk'-button.

"Yeah, Jou here."

"Mr Jonouchi, sir?"

Jou frowned and pulled a hand through his hair.

"Isono? What's up? Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on the mansion security?"

"I'm afraid something… ells came up." Isono almost sounded insecure.

Jou felt the colour drain from his face. Something… ells?

"Tell me," he demanded. And Isono did.

Two minutes later, he left the super market on top-speed, with screeching tires and two thoughts ringing in his head.

The first:

I knew it! I fucking knew it!

And the second:

I'm gonna kill those rug rats!

Aiko had been really angry at his dad when Seto had forced him to return those jingling, shining things to the big man in the car, with a huge apology and the promise that he would never do anything like that again. Then, Seto had proceeded with telling him that he was never allowed to sit up front again.

Honestly! How was he supposed to know that those things were needed to start the car? He wasn't some kind of Albert Weinst… Alfred Einst… He wasn't a smart person!

So he had been really angry at his dad back then, but now, he wanted nothing more than to find either him, or Natani again. He had no idea when he had lost track of his identical, twenty-minutes-older-brother, but being alone in Kaiba Corp. was really scary. Even more so now, when all the windows and exits had been covered in metal and was impossible to open.

Everywhere he went, people were running around like headless chickens, and he had lost track of all the times he had been forced to find a place to hide, just so that they wouldn't find him. Right now, he just wanted to find Natani and go back to his father's office, before anyone noticed that they were missing. Maybe the nice lady was done talking in the phone by now.

He rounded another corner, and felt a small, electric tingling at the base of his spine. One of his brothers, probably Natani, was close by. He could feel it.

BAM!

And Natani truly was close by: he came running from a corridor to the left, and ran straight into Aiko, ending with the two boys in a heap at the floor with Natani on top of Aiko.

"Aiko?" Natani looked down at his brother with huge eyes.

"Natani?" Aiko answered. He was a bit dizzy from the impact. "I've been looking for you."

"Can't talk now!" Natani quickly got up and reached out a hand to help his brother. "They're after me! We need to run!"

"Run? They?" Aiko automatically took his brother's hand and let himself be pulled to his feet. "Who's after you?"

"There he is!!!"

"And look! There's the other one!"

As one, the boys turned around to stare wide-eyed at the two large men rushing towards them like a pair of crazy mammoths or something.

"Run, Aiko! Before they catch us!" Natani shrieked and pulled his brother with him when he turned and ran. "Run like hell!"

"We're not allowed to swear! Dad's gonna kill you!" Aiko called as he tried to match his brother's steps. He glanced over his shoulder. The mammoths were still there. "I wanna go home!" he cried, but was way too scared to stop. The men were so heavy that they made the floor shake as they ran. No wonder the two four-year-olds were scared shitless!

"Quick, in here!" Natani suddenly turned to the left, ran into a room and slammed the door shut. Then he bent over slightly, and cupped his hands in front of him. "Lock the door, Ai!"

Aiko nodded and put his foot in Natani's cupped hands. When Natani straightened, it was just enough for him to reach the lock. They had done the same thing countless of times at home, when they were running away from their baby-sitters or dad.

Click! Aiko turned the lock.

One second later, one of the large men grabbed the handle and began pulling at the door. Natani and Aiko fell backwards against the door, and gave a relieved sigh.

Too soon.

"Give me the keys."

The boys stiffened as they heard the command on the other side of the door, followed by the jingling of a keychain. They looked at each other.

No way!

"What are we gonna do!" Aiko whispered hoarsely. He looked like he might start crying soon.

Natani looked around wildly for an escape route, but all he could see were desks and computers. And the floor was wet. Otherwise, there was nothing…

Then he noticed the shutter in the wall to his right. It was a round metal lid and on a sign next to it, was the word "refuse chute" written.

"Come on!" He said and grabbed a chair from the closest desk to stand on as he reached for and opened the lid. "We'll escape through this."

"It looks very tight," Aiko commented after a look down their dark escape tunnel.

"Can't be that bad," Natani assured him. "It's better than being eaten by those giants."

"You think they'll eat us?" Aiko asked breathlessly.

"It's not impossible. You go first."

Natani helped his brother into the hole with his feet first, until only the head was visible.

"It smells down there," Aiko commented weakly.

"I'll be right behind you," Natani answered confidently. "And once we've gotten away from those monsters, we'll find daddy, okay?"

"…Okay."

The next moment, the lock turned, and the door slammed open. The security guards came rushing in, and as they spotted the two boys, one standing beside the refuse chute, the other actually in it, they both turned deadly pale.

"Wait! Stop!"

"Kiddos, come here!"

"Go, Ai!" Natani cried and pushed his brother completely into the hole. "Save yourself!"

"NO!"

One of the guards launched himself at the hole, but was too late. With a high-pitched 'whiiiiiiiii' Aiko slid down the dark passage and disappeared. And they couldn't follow.

"Mr Kaiba's gonna kill us," the one with his hand down the refuse chute stated weakly.

While the two guards were still trying to comprehend what had just happened, Natani jumped down from the chair and hid beneath one of the desks. They had him now, for sure, but he couldn't help but feel a little proud.

Well, at least Ai's safe.

Man, did it take time to get these 8 reviews together or what?! It's really depressing when you only need ONE MORE to post, but people just seem to be unable to review! Oh well, I'm not changing my mind! I still want 8 more to get this baby going. Hopefully, it will not take as long this time...

Hope you liked it!

8 reviews for chapter four!

R&R!!!

NOTE: Some people have been asking me about the history behind the triplets. I'm not gonna reveal that in this story, since it won't fit in with the plot, BUT! keep an eye open for my One Shot: "The downside of happiness". In that piece I'll reveal how Natani, Kiichi and Aiko came along.

Chiao!