Hello guys~!
I'm back again this week with an update! I was rather excited about this chapter and I hope you are too. For some reason it just flowed rather fast and then it slowed sadly. If the end seems rather rushed, I'm sorry. I was trying to fix it but I couldn't think if anything else to write. It was a bit frustrating. But anyway, here it is! I hope you like it!
Once again I want to shout out to itsallguchicauseyolo for reviewing the last chapter. I do hope to hear from you for this chapter. You are just great! I also want to give a shout out to cadeharrison16 for now following/favouring this story. I hope to hear from you soon~!
Anyway, without further adieu, on with the fic!
Chapter Three: Then I Watch It Explode
"Keep that thing down, will you?" Anzu quietly squawked at Yami, "If Pegasus hears your phone getting messages we are all going to be in trouble."
Yami sighed as he set his phone on vibrate, "I still don't see how Yugi can be out there while we have to be hiding…We work here just as much as he does."
"It's not Yugi's fault, it's just how Pegasus is. You know that he likes to hide us unless we are useful for him in some way," Jou said.
They were currently in one of the back rooms with the door opened up just a crack so they could see just who the hell it was that was coming over here. What shocked them the most was exactly who that person was.
"Seto fucking Kaiba?" Jou whispered in shock, "We have to hide like rats because of Seto fucking Kaiba?!"
Pegasus smiled broadly as the Kaiba brothers came into view. With his two sons next to him, making sure they looked perfect. He wasn't going to be talking to the young man about the shop with his sons looking like crap. Hence the reason that he hid the other three away, they were icky and sweaty from their hard labour. What would the head of KaibaCorp think if he has seen those three little ragamuffins? He suddered inwardly, he didn't want to even think about it, especially as the young man in question was coming close to him with his little brother in tow. Apart of him couldn't help but wonder why he had brought his little brother with him to a business meeting. Surely he could have found a sitter? Maybe he could offer one of his little children to watch the brat next time? That sounded like a great idea.
"Oooh Kaiba-boy!" Pegasus exclaimed as he outstretched his hand for the other to shake, "It is so great to see you after so long. I have to say you are looking rather great! Wait, don't tell me that this young man next to you is the illustrious Mokuba Kaiba that you speak nothing but praises about? You know I can see the resemblance. Have you met my sons Kaiba-boy? They go to your school! This is Malik and this, this is Marik. I've mentioned him before. "
Yugi excused himself the moment Pegasus began to speak in order to go into the same back room that his friends were hiding in. This particular storage room was soundproof so once he closed the door, he broke out laughing hard. The other's followed suit and also laughed as hard as they could, thanking the soundproof walls.
"Ooooh Kaiba-boy," Jou said in his best imitation of Pegasus which wasn't that far off, "Ya know? I kind of feel sorry for Kaiba-boy right now. Having to endure Pegasus calling him that all night? I would shoot myself if he went 'Oooh Katsuya-boy!' to me or something like that."
Yugi tried his hardest to catch his breath with all of the imitations that Jou was doing, "You should have been there to see Kaiba's face when Pegasus did that. I kind of expected him to turn around and leave or something. But I kind of feel bad for Marik, did you hear him trying to force him onto Kaiba?"
"He was mentioning something like that in the car. But judging by the look of Marik's face, he wasn't too enthusiastic about the entire plan," Anzu said as she finally caught her breath and took a few deep breaths for extra measure.
Yami reopened the door slightly so he could hear the rest of what was going on, "I didn't know that Kaiba had a little brother… He's rather innocent looking."
No one bothered to answer Yami as they thought he was in one of his moments again and kept making fun of Pegasus as quietly as they could. Meanwhile, their crimson eyed friend was busy keeping his eyes on that young boy and how he was so comfortable around his older brother in a way that no one else ever was. It was rather nice to see some sort of result of Kaiba's soft side. But he also noticed just how sneaky this young boy was as well. Kaiba was whisked away by Pegasus and Malik while Mr. Moto and Marik followed them all into the office. It seemed that Mokuba managed to not be noticed by them all as he looked about the room in extreme fascination of what the shop had to offer. Like all of the other children Yami had seen come in here, Mokuba also had those wide eyes as he wandered about touching everything he could get his hands on and he couldn't help but be reminded of when he was that small. As much as it was creepy that his eyes were on this young boy, he couldn't help keep them there.
Mokuba had been as nice and as sincere as he had promised to be but if he spent more than the necessary time with these people he was going to hurt himself. So when Seto was preoccupied, he snuck away. It wasn't like Pegasus wanted to talk to him, he wanted his Kaiba-boy only. The boy laughed lightly at how the man had greeted his brother. He knew better than to laugh out loud in front of those people and his brother but he was going to be mentioning it in the car. Although he didn't plan on pressing that option too much, he noticed his brother winced lightly in annoyance when Pegasus greeted him. Knowing his boundaries, he knew that if he mentioned it too much, his brother might just be annoyed for a few days and possibly won't let him have any desserts. The thought of that alone was more than enough to keep the young Kaiba on the straight and narrow.
For a moment, the young boy was rather enthralled at the how some of these heavy looking boxes full of games were so intricately stacked like that. Deciding to play a little adventurous, he decided that he was wanted to go into the middle of these shaped boxes to get the full effect of how it looked. He couldn't help but let out a surprised gasp. Whoever helped make this had to have been around his height or something close to that. There was no way someone as tall as his big brother could fit into something like this. The boy kept turning and turning simply fascinated. How could they make all of these boxes look like some sort of gazebo? Apart of him wanted to show this to Seto and ask him if they could make something like that at KaibaLand. Maybe it could be in the small children's section or maybe the teen based section, teens were more lovey-dovey and he could imagine girls dragging their boyfriends underneath it. Maybe they could even charge for them to take pictures underneath it or something. For sure his brother would like that idea if it involved it making some sort of money.
Perhaps he was too excited about the concept that he didn't notice what he was doing. He didn't realize he was backing up and then he crashed into one of the boxes. It was a light crash and he moved as soon as he had done it but the damage was done. The entire structure was going to fall and it seemed that everything was moving so slowly. His heart was pounding out of his chest and he closed his eyes, took a deep breath then yelled for his brother and braced for impact. He fell to the ground but…the boxes weren't hitting him. Why weren't they hitting him? Why did it sound like other people were in the room and yelling some other name? Who was Yami?
When Seto noticed that his brother was missing from the office, it was too late to leave the room and bring him in there. He figured his brother wanted to give him some sort of space, smart kid, he couldn't help but thinking. It was always so surprising that his brother knew so much about him but he was grateful. He never did like to close any deals in front of his brother. It always made things feel so awkward. Looking around, he noticed he wasn't the only one feeling that awkwardness. He could see the General Manager looking a little out of place as well as Marik. He didn't have Marik in the same class, and he was thankful he didn't have Malik for class, but he did notice Marik in school. He seemed like a nice person but there was something about him that simply seemed rather ordinary. He wasn't too crazy about ordinary and if Pegasus was trying to set him up, he would have to choose the next person wisely. If he thought that Malik was his type then the older man definitely had some screws loose in his head.
"I have to admit, as nice as this shop is, I would have to wonder why it would be beneficial to me?" Seto asked as he raised an eyebrow.
It was a fair question but the other's hesitation was more than enough reason for him to have some sort of doubt forming into his mind. It was a question he asked anyone who wanted him to buy something from them. That was how he weeded out one place from another but before he had a chance to even think about something else smart to say, he heard a crashing noise and then…
"SETO!"
That was more than enough for him to get out of the chair and out the door with everyone else trailing behind him at a slower pace. He hadn't noticed all of those boxes before and now he was looking around to see what else he might have missed for a moment but shaking his head and walking toward the boxes he called out to his brother and got a muffled reply. He had heard something else and when he looked up, he saw three other people. He had seen Yugi earlier but he was sure he missed Anzu and Jou. He would have recognized them the instant he saw them as they were in the same class as he was. But then if they were here…
"Are you alright?" asked a weak voice.
That was when everyone looked down. Now that the dust finally settled, they noticed Yami had protected Mokuba from the falling boxes. Knowing that those boxes were heavy, the teen rushed to help the boy, not wanting him to get hurt. The boy looked rather shocked that someone he didn't know had saved him but Yami simply smiled brightly as he tried to catch his breath.
Mokuba nodded, "I'm fine. The question is are you going to be alright? The boxes looked heavy."
"Oh they were but no worries, I'm going to be fine!" Yami smiled as he stood up and helped the boy get up, "See? I'm perfectly fine."
Of course Yami was lying through his teeth but you know what? He didn't want to worry some kid into thinking that he was going to die or something. He knew he wasn't so there wasn't going to be any fuss now was there. Once the room came back into vision the two noticed everyone else around them and that was when it actually hit Yami that he really saved Kaiba Seto's little brother. He tried not to focus on everyone staring at him or the fact he was going to wake up with bruises tomorrow. He wanted to be sure that young Kaiba Mokuba was going to be alright. At this moment, that was all that seemed to matter.
Seto found his voice once Mokuba was in his arms, "Well then Pegasus. This store might be a little small, too small for my liking but these employees seem to be the only thing that is keeping my interest in it. I'll be in touch with my offer by the end of the month. Although, unless Yami's a ninja, I don't understand how he managed to keep my brother from getting hurt if I didn't see him or the other two earlier…can you care to explain this?"
"We were in the back doing inventory," Anzu remarked before Pegasus could come up with something, "That's why you didn't see us earlier."
Jou nodded, "We finished faster than expected because Yugi came in to help us. We were about to leave when we heard a noise. Yami went to go check and…well you can see the rest."
"I figured that much but that still doesn't explain why you three are here and doing inventory…unless you guys work here," Seto remarked, "Personally I don't see why anyone would hire you, Mutt."
Out of all the times that Pegasus decided to open his mouth, he was lucky to have found one of the opportune moments to speak up. Jou looked as if he was about to murder Seto and Seto looked as if he was getting ready to start something. It might have been his saving grace. Might. Still, no one had expected the man to speak up or anything of the sort. So they were shocked more because of this than they were over anything else.
"Actually, Kaiba-boy, these three are my foster children," Pegasus said gracefully, "You did know I had three foster children right? Oh my dear Yami-boy are you alright? You are such a brave young man! I'm so proud of you son."
Yami knew that he was now in the position to play happy family with his foster father but a part of him didn't want to play happy family. His back was hurting and standing up was more of a bitch than he expected but, for the sake of young Mokuba, he didn't want to make a scene by being honest. It wasn't like he was going to see the young child ever again after this moment. So why was he panicking? He played pretend before, it's not going to hurt right now was it?
Looking up at his foster father, Yami smiled sheepishly, "I'm fine Father. Really, it's the young boy you should be concerned with. I was only doing the right thing, as you always encouraged. Kaiba, we like to help our dear Father out with the store so we normally come here but today we were running late. But the rest is as Jou and Anzu said, we were doing inventory as we always do."
Seto might not have known how art of acting worked but he was sure that Pegasus was putting on an act of some sort. He didn't doubt that the three where his foster kids but why weren't they paraded around or at least told not to be late? Perhaps this happy foster family thing was fake but he didn't expect Yami to go along with it and be more convincing than Pegasus. He could have pointed out a few things that were off with this but he decided to not push it and pretend to be fooled for right now. It might prove to be useful later on.
"Well that was something I wasn't expecting. Well, this was certainly an interesting evening," Seto said as he kept Mokuba close, "Like I said before Pegasus, I will be in touch with you with a proposal at the end of the month. Now come on Mokuba, this has been more than enough excitement for one day."
Then as fast as Seto entered the building, he left it. As soon as the teen was out of the hearing and seeing range, everyone let out a deep breath. Not only did they fool Kaiba, but they were all safe from Pegasus' wrath. He had gotten what he had wanted and managed to get a proposal. Deciding that Yami needed to go see a doctor, he gave Mr. Moto his credit card and sent the old man and the young boy on their merry way and told them to call him with the results of the check up.
The next morning, Anzu and Jou were shocked that Yami had gotten up and went to school with them. Even their friends were shocked but Yami reassured them that his back was fine and the medicine for the pain was working miracles. He didn't tell them that the doctor was shocked that he didn't have more than minor injury that wouldn't take any sort of operation. Just hearing those words made everything that he went through so much easier to deal with. With all of their thoughts put aside, the group of teens made it to their classroom. No one was surprised that Seto was there, he was always there early but he was shocked to see Yami there for some reason. With this day only getting stranger and stranger, Seto got out of his desk and made his way toward the crimson eyed teens' desk. Ryou simply stared at the two staring at each other for a moment, quite unsure what the hell to say.
"Good Morning Kaiba," Yami said calmly, "How's Mokuba doing?"
Seto replied simply, "He's fine, thanks to you. He had no injuries other than shock but he's fine. I'm surprised that the doctors decided to let you come to school…and your beloved foster father for that matter."
"My real parents always encouraged education and nothing is going to change that. Besides, the doctor said I was going to recover quite nicely by the end of the week and the pain medication helps wonderfully," The other said with a joke at the end.
Seto rolled his eyes at the last comment, "Only you would mention the medicine…."
"Not to sound rude or anything…but is there a reason that we are talking? We normally don't make any sort of conversation. Not even when we worked on that poem together," Yami said with a lift of one of his eyebrows.
The brunette sighed for a moment, "Mokuba thinks that it would be rude of me if I didn't somehow replay you back for helping him out. So my little brother wants me to invite you to have dinner with us on Friday…I'll give you until tomorrow to decide your answer."
Yet again, Kaiba Seto surprised everyone who heard that by showing some sort of courtesy but now this was going to be leaving Yami with an interesting decision to make. He wasn't sure if he should accept the invitation or not. A part of him wanted to yet another part of him didn't want for Pegasus to find out. Surely if that drama queen found out, then all hell was going to break lose. It was good thing he was going to have some time to think it over, he was going to need that time to mull things over. He looked over at Ryou for some sort of advice.
"You should go," Ryou whispered, "You might just have fun. Who knows? He might not be as bad as we think…"
Atem walked as confidently as he could to court. So far, he hadn't gotten into any trouble as he was on his merry way to fetch Mahado back from being shipped off, even if he was at no fault of his own. It broke the young man's heart that his dear friend and father like figure was suffering so and there wasn't much that he could do about it…until now. He noted how people got out of his way hurriedly and as quickly as they could. Surely, they thought, this young nobleman was here to do something important. If not then he wouldn't have been walking so quickly, most nobles walked slowly or had horses pulling a carriage or simply rode a horse. The people thought it peculiar but they deducted that the young man just had to be from out of town. It was the only way their minds could have made some sense out of it.
While Atem was fussing over the coins and getting his clothing picked out by Mana, Seth had managed to save a painting from some gypsies and returned it to the artist. The artist was a lovely lady by the name of Kisara and she was an honoured guest at the palace. In some strange turn of fate, they were heading to court at the same time Atem was.
"A strapping young man as yourself is bound to have taken the heart of someone," Kisara spoke.
Seth sighed, "If only it were that easy. I'm being forced to marry someone I've never met before. It's quite… quite annoying to be honest."
"You make it sound so complicated when the only problem is that you just haven't found your match yet," She said reassuringly.
He turned to her and faced her with a lifted eyebrow, "How am I going to know just who that person is if I've never met them?"
"Trust me, that person will definitely appear when you least expect it," She replied to him.
Seth didn't believe her and Kisara was sure that he didn't but they were distracted by the young man some ways away from them. He was dressed nicely but it was the hair that Kisara was enthralled with. She had never seen that many colours of hair on one person and with that sun kissed skin of his, she was tempted to draw him. The young man was arguing with a man who was in charge of taking debtors to a ship where they will work off their wages for the remainder of their lives. The man seemed to be getting frustrated with the young man and finally let his anger out at the other. That was when Seth decided to step in for some reason.
"You dare speak to a nobleman like that?" Asked Seth.
The man lowered his head as he was on his horse, "Your Majesty! I'm simply doing my job but this-this young sir is making my job rather difficult."
"I'm only making it so because I have more than enough money to free my servant yet he refuses to comply with me," Atem argued back.
Of all of the things he had ever heard in his life, Seth had never heard of a nobleman ever come down to court to free his servant from debt. This was a sensation and the young man was something of a sensation as he had never seen the man before. Feeling that this was going to be some sort of entertainment, he decided to gather more of an idea of why a nobleman was going this far for a servant. There was also the fact that he wanted to have a reason to hear the other speak more. There was something about that voice…it was familiar? That was strange, he would have remembered hearing the face which held the voice like that. He snapped back into his reality as both old and younger men were staring at the young prince as if looking for guidance.
Seth cleared his throat, "Tell me, why do you want that servant back when you can simply buy a new one? Surely if you had more gold than the price of the debt you could have gotten another one, a younger one."
"This servant has been in my family since I was a small boy. I am very loyal to my servants and they are loyal to me. If I can't bring one of their own back, then I lose their trust in me and if they cannot trust me then who can they trust? Certainly not anyone else in the world but themselves," Atem rationalized, "The money doesn't matter to me, I would pay more if I have to in order to get my servant back."
Kisara smirked from behind Seth and found herself liking the fire behind that boys eyes. He was so different from the other's she had seen throughout her lifetime. Of course, she wasn't interested in him for herself. He was much too young for her and she had a feeling about this young boy before her but she wasn't sure if she was right about it or not. She would just have to wait and see but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to say something.
She turned to the prince and said, "My prince, I do believe that the young man has a point and he's also portraying his compassion. Unlike others that could simply leave the servant here, he's choosing to get that servant back. If that's not admirable then I have no clue what is."
Atem tried his best not to smirk, he didn't know who that woman was but it was a good thing that she was here. The prince seemed to take her advice into some sort consideration but he couldn't help but get nervous. The prince was taking a milling years to respond and he knew that patience and being firm in your beliefs were going to the be the key that wins everything over in his favour. He knew that if the prince asked to pay more than what he had in his hand that he was going to be screwed big time but that was a chance that he was going to be willing to make. Biting his lip for a brief moment and looking over at Mahado, who was trying to play everything cool. The young man knew that he was going to be questioned about this stunt the moment he and Mana were in private with him but for now he could just sit back and relax while waiting for the prince to decide the answer.
"Well then, Sir if you can release that servant in question-" Seth said before he was interrupted.
The man on the horse exclaimed, "BUT YOUR MAJESTY!"
"What I say goes. The young nobleman is going to pay you what he has in his coin bag and you let that servant go or did I not make myself clear?" Seth asked in a commanding tone.
Begrudgingly, the man ordered one of the other men that was with him to release Mahado while he was receiving the coins from Atem who by now was thanking any deity he knew for letting his dear friend be released.
Mahado walked up to the younger man and whispered, "Atem what are you doing here?"
"I'll explain later. Meet me at the bridge and we'll walk home okay?" He whispered before saying out loud, "Prepare the horses, we'll leave at once!"
Mahado nodded and walked off while smirking ever so lightly. Atem's parents would have been impressed with that performance, he sure as hell was but still, what the young one was doing was rather illegal so he was going to get a scolding as they were walking home but for right now, he was going to enjoy stretching his legs and basking in the sun and the letting himself relax just a bit.
Meanwhile, Atem was walking another way, he was going to change out of these clothes and walk home in his usual wear so Dartz wouldn't get too suspicious of anything. If the man had any inclination about Atem having anything to do with Mahado being free, the plan would be ruined. Yet, fate had another plan for the tri-coloured young man at the moment. Before he managed to get far, he was followed by the prince. It was the strangest thing he had ever experienced so far and apart of him felt nervous about the man recognizing him. Seth, as it turned out was rather persistent and the young man didn't want the other to follow him home so he walked slower. The prince was about to give up when this strange noble walked at a decent pace. Now he was going to at least talk to the other, even if it was going to be for a brief moment.
Seth cleared his throat, "Will you speak? You spoke your heart out earlier so why be silent now?"
"To speak," Atem replied sarcastically, "Why are you even interested in speaking to me? You don't seem like the kind to be too keen for casual conversation. Unless you have an ulterior motive…"
The prince stopped in his tracks, "I don't have one of those either. I'm just wondering where you have been hiding…I've never seen you at court before. I would definitely have remembered someone with your spirit. It would have made court like less boring to be rather honest with you."
This was one of the reasons why Atem didn't want to speak to the prince, as grateful as he was for him to step in when he did, he didn't want to have to deepen his deceit. He tried to think of an answer as fast as he could without the other being suspicious of him. That was when he remembered something, more about himself that might just be his saving grace. He simply prayed that the other male wasn't going to notice this lie as it was the only lifeline he had at the moment.
"I'm not from this land. I'm visiting my cousins for a few days," Atem said confidently in order to make it believable, "I'm from Egypt."
Seth raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Well, you do have an exotic look about you so I figured that much. No one in Domino looks like you that's for sure. Yet, I have to wonder, why don't you have an accent when you speak this language? One would expect someone from Egypt to have some sort of accent…"
"My mother grew up here and after she married and had me, she taught me her native language. She only spoke to me in this language so I grew up learning both languages roughly around the same time. My parents were both perfectionists so if I didn't speak either language perfectly, there was issues to be had," Atem explained, trying to make it sound convincible.
He wasn't really lying. He did know how to speak his parents native tongue and this one well because of his parents being perfectionists. All he needed to do was to convince the prince this but at the moment it had to be easier said than ever achieved. At least he was making the effort and looking confidently into the other's cobalt blue eyes. They were very nice eyes, he found himself thinking, he wished his eyes were as lovely as a clear sky. Seth on the other hand, was beginning to like the eyes of the 'Egyptian' before him, they were simply hypnotizing. As unbelievable as the story was, he knew just how perfectionist his father was/is.
Seth shrugged, "I guess that's understandable. I have something similar to that in my father but to have two parents like that? I surely don't envy you at the moment. That must have been difficult to grow up with…anyway, I'm going to have a chess match at the court yard of the palace tomorrow if you are interested in going to see."
Atem wasn't expecting the invitation but he was going to take what he got. Of course, during that time, he was going to be helping out Mana and Mahado at the farmers market but he wasn't going to say that to the prince. It might encourage him to looking for him and that was something he wasn't interested in, as entertaining as it might be.
"We'll see. I think I might have other plans for tomorrow but if I can I might make the effort to see you," He replied inclining his head out of respect for the other, "Thank you kindly for the invitation your majesty."
The other rolled his eyes gently, "I also respond to Seth, if you don't mind. May I ask for your name?"
"You can call me Akai," Atem replied nonchalantly, "Anyway, I must be off, but it was nice meeting you. Thank you for helping me out today…"
Akai was the name of a friend he had in his youth before his father had passed. He wasn't sure if the young man was around anymore but it was a risk he was willing to make. As he walked away, he was surprisingly alright with what happened. Secretly, he wanted more days like this and so did Seth.
What were your thoughts on this chapter? TELL ME VIA REVIEW!
Once again, I see that people are reading this but they don't review. As alright with it as I am, I would love to know what you think about this story. But, I don't want to sound like I'm nagging you all as I feel like I am. I just like it when someone reviews and I get all happy, it's just great and helpful.
Anyway, I'm glad you are reading this wherever and whoever you are, now if you've read my other things and are waiting for updates, those are in the process of being updated. I just kind of lost my inspiration to do those or I'm not sure where to go with it anymore. I re-read one of my other fics and I am thinking of how to update it and where I want to go with it but I need time to sort it out. But I haven't forgotten about them they are still in my mind. I promise. Now with the holiday season now upon us, I might have to update less frequently. But not to worry! I will update and I will let you know if I have to delay the update.
Anyway, have a great day and I hope I made you smile.
With Love,
SanguisRubeus