"The police have finally released the names of the other members of the group abducted along with Seto Kaiba, and as many members of the public have rumoured, one of the victims is none other than the famous "King of Duels", Yuugi Motou. The sixteen year old is considered the most accomplished Duel Monsters player in the world, having won the recent Duelist Kingdom and Battle City tournaments, the latter of which was organised by Seto Kaiba himself.
Also among the victims is the younger brother of Seto Kaiba, twelve year old Mokuba Kaiba. The other members of the group have been identified as friends of Yuugi Motou, as have the two teenage girls left behind in the abduction. The police have still refused to allow the press to talk to or even see the two witnesses, but maintain that they are uninjured, and are helping the investigation greatly. Stay tuned for further updates"
With a dismissive click of the remote control, the newscast disappeared, and Higuchi rose to his feet from the couch. He didn't feel much like "staying tuned".
The public now knew the names of the boys, and for the first time, so did Higuchi himself. Not that their names mattered anymore, as he had told them himself, their previous lives were irrelevant. "The King of Duels"? He knew nothing about this Duel Monsters everyone seemed to constantly blabber on about, nor did he want to. Some silly card game was a ridiculous thing to be famous for in his opinion, and apparently world renowned no less. Total insanity.
In any case, the public knowing their names would make little difference, they couldn't help in the slightest, especially now.
He'd gotten quite lucky in the end; he had certain connections to the police department they had revealed to be assigned to the investigation, through one of his clients. It was a fortunate coincidence, one he was most grateful for. Now he could throw the police off their trail easily, leaving himself safe once more. The demand for the new group was gigantic, meaning he could up the prices to high, wonderful levels without fear of customer dissatisfaction. Things were looking up once more.
Snapping from his train of thought, he briefly glanced towards the clock, before striding to his desk. It was already late morning and there was a lot to organize; the night's clients would be there in mere hours, and he couldn't keep them waiting.
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Jounouchi was not smart. He knew this, he accepted this, and he didn't much care about it. He knew he made up for it elsewhere. However, it was now finally having an effect on him, due to his inability to think of a way out of this.
For the first time in a very long time, he found himself wishing he were intelligent, a genius even. Perhaps then, he could think of some ingenious plan to free himself and his friends. Jounouchi had often dealt with self doubt, but he had always had faith in his luck. Maybe he was receiving punishment for relying so much on luck and not enough on skill in so many situations. For his luck was certainly not holding up now, and he could only count on himself inventing a solution with his own mind, which he didn't hold much stock in. Elaborate plots were not his specialty.
But he had to do something, he couldn't take seeing the people he loved suffer like this. He'd seen them abused right before his eyes, dragged around and chained up like animals, used for sick, disgusting games, and now being forced to be some kind of sex slaves. On top of that, he still had no idea what had happened to Shizuka. He would never forgive himself if something like that auction was inflicted on her. Never. It was his duty to protect her, and after he'd failed her in the past, he'd vowed to never let anything happen to her ever again.
He glanced over to his left. Mokuba was asleep, curled tightly into a ball, shivering slightly. He reminded Jounouchi of Shizuka in a strange way. He had often felt his sister was too devoted to him, too attached. She had even refused her eye surgery as long as he was absent. Such dependence wasn't healthy, and he had felt the same vibe between Mokuba and Kaiba for a long time, indeed more than ever now. Mokuba seemed to think of nothing other than his "Nii-sama", even through the abuse he received mere hours ago from Higuchi. Though it was likely that the boy's thoughts of his brother were comforting, and helped to shield him from the sheer torture the abuse would otherwise inflict on his mind, Jounouchi couldn't help but feel Mokuba's personal wellbeing hinged far too much on Kaiba's presence. All the same, that was not really any of his business; Mokuba could work through that problem in his own time. For now, the boy needed support and comfort, more than anyone else in this place. He was far too young for these atrocities.
Beyond Mokuba, also asleep, slumped against the wall, was Otogi. He had barely said two words since they had arrived at the mansion, most of the time he simply stared blankly at the opposite wall, his expression almost melancholy. It was like he had been struck into a daze by the experience at that auction. Jounouchi supposed each would react and deal with it in their own way.
He hadn't even noticed his own reaction yet. He dropped back against the wall, staring up at the night sky, through the barred window. It had hurt tremendously, for certain, and being held down, unable to do anything to stop the perverted assault, had been truly humiliating, but he had not felt himself breaking up inside because of it. Physical pain wasn't anything new to him, he had felt more than enough in his life to be nearly numb to it by now. He only felt rage and hatred towards the bastards that had done this to his friends. Even Bakura, whom he retained a healthy dislike of, and Malik, whom he was not quite ready to forgive yet for his actions in Battle City, had his sympathies. No one deserved this.
"Jounouchi?"
The sudden break in the silence sent a brief jolt through his body, he spun his head back to the left, to find Mokuba awake.
"Mokuba? Are you alright?"
He already knew the answer, of course. One single glance at the boy's mournful eyes said all.
"Do you think Nii-sama is still alive?"
Jounouchi was taken aback by the abrupt and brutal question.
"Huh? Why d'you ask that?"
"I thought he'd have come by now, he's always come for me, when I needed help. It's been over a week, and he's not here. What if they...I-I just can't see why...w-what if they d-did it...?"
He trailed off, tears beginning to form in his grey eyes.
"No, Mokuba, absolutely not, do you think a stubborn bastard like Seto Kaiba would go down that easily? Your brother is tough, don't worry about him, Mokuba, you need to look out for yourself right now. He can take care of himself, wherever he is. Maybe they even left him behind. He's famous, they could have recognized him and thought it wasn't worth the trouble to take him. But have faith that he's ok, Mokuba, you need to keep your hopes alive more than ever, in this place"
Mokuba looked up, still on the verge of breaking down, lifting his eyes to meet Jounouchi, who held his own gaze steady, brimming with confidence. He seemed to slowly relax, much to Jounouchi's relief, and opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly there was a load click on the other side of the room.
Both turned, startled, to see the door opening, and a man stepping inside. He shut the door behind him, and slid a key below the handle, locking it, before he turned. Jounouchi recognized him immediately, the sight causing an unpleasant lurch throughout his torso.
It was Carter, one of Higuchi's two right hand men, who had almost never seemed to leave his side, and also the same pair that had abducted them in the first place. A very special surge of hatred for the man before him washed over Jounouchi as he recalled this knowledge.
He stepped casually towards the three boys, his gaze moving between them with near indifference.
"Myself and my partner have a bit of an understanding. We both take what we want of whatever group is here at the moment, when we're at the mansion, and neither of us tells on the other. It's an easy deal, plus it means we can cover each other's backs if something goes wrong. And believe me, it has in the past. Blain's not what you call gentle, from what he tells me, and he ended up doing some serious damage to one kid a few years back, needed medical treatment in the end. Certainly took a lot of careful sneaking to get out of that one, since the boss wouldn't be too happy if he knew what we were doing."
Jounouchi felt a wave of confusion flow through his mind. Why was he telling them this?
Carter seemed to read Jounouchi's mind, for he continued quickly.
"I'm telling you that so you can be thankful it's me standing in here, and not him. I think he's interested in the other blonde, your darker friend. I feel pretty sorry for him, Blain's got a bit of a grudge, and when he goes for payback, he means it. Luckily for you, though, I'm not in it for the whole "torture" thing, I'm just in it for the ass."
Jounouchi felt dumbfounded; this guy was surely not so stupid as to try something with one of them, right down the hall from his boss? This wasn't adding up.
"Course, I won't have any problem with hurting you if you try and rat me out. I'll personally kill all three of you, if it comes to that, got that much?"
"You're crazy, we're next door to your boss and you're gonna try it on with us?"
Carter smirked, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Soundproof walls, kid, no one hears nothing, no one knows nothing."
Jounouchi felt the bottom of his stomach fall away, as he realized this guy meant business, and they would be powerless to defend themselves once again. His eyes darted from Carter to his left, coming to rest on Mokuba. The boy couldn't go through that again, just hours after it had last happened.
He turned back to Carter, ready to take anything he threw at him.
"Alright then, asshole, if you want it, try me. Hell, I'm practically offering it to ya, come on and take what you want"
Carter shifted to the side, his expression bemused.
"You're pretty quick to throw yourself at me, aren't ya? Did you sell yourself for a living before we picked you up?"
His teeth clenched tightly, Jounouchi forced himself not to retort violently.
"Just come on and take it...come on!"
Carter seemed both perturbed and slightly fascinated by the display, and stepped towards Jounouchi slowly, head cocked to one side. Good, thought Jounouchi, as long as he left the others alone. Carter came to a halt several feet in front of Jounouchi's mattress, and crossed his arms.
"You've either got a lot of guts or a lack of brains, kid, or maybe even both. Either way, you might as well drop it, cause I'm letting you know now, you're not my type"
With that, to Jounouchi's horror, he turned to face Mokuba.
"That's more like it"
"Hey, stop, leave him alone! He's only a kid!"
"Keep yammering and I'll break your jaw"
Carter stepped swiftly to his right, stopping only when Mokuba was right at his feet, cowering against the wall, with panic and fear in his eyes.
"First time I've really got to see you up close, kid, you really are a cute one, aren't ya?"
"Hey, leave him the fuck alone! What the hell's wrong with you?"
Carter paid him no heed, instead he crouched down, drawing himself closer to Mokuba, a horrid smile splayed across his face.
"What the...what the hell!? Get away from him you sick freak!"
Otogi had awoken from the commotion, and was animated for the first time since the auction, an angry red beginning to cover his face.
"Leave him alone!"
"Get off him you bastard!"
Carter disregarded them completely, and seized Mokuba by both shoulders, before pinning him down. The boy attempted to struggle and squirm free, but to no avail.
"Stop...no....no stop, please....stop!"
Tears flowed from his frantically pleading eyes, even as Carter dropped onto him, pressing himself into the desperately thrashing boy. His hand snaked under the white clothing, over Mokuba's torso.
"STOP IT! Fucking stop it!"
"Don't...please...."
"Get off him!"
Carter lowered his face to Mokuba's, before forcing his own lips against the boy's, compelling him into a brutal, disgusting kiss, even as he slide his other hand between Mokuba's legs. Horrible, muffled screams of protest could be heard even through the crushing embrace.
"LET GO OF HIM YOU SICK FUCK!"
"GET YOUR FILTHY FUCKING HANDS OFF HIM!"
Carter pulled his face back, releasing Mokuba from the repulsive kiss, and slowly withdrew his hands out from underneath the boy's clothes. He let out a short, barking laugh as Mokuba tried to cover up his face beneath his hands, sobbing heavily. Carter climbed up, back to his feet, still seemingly on the verge of laughing.
"You're a weak little shit aren't? A bit of fumbling and one kiss and you're off like a fucking baby"
His condescending smirk returned, and he took a step back, eyes still fixed on the crying boy before him.
"You're lucky I'm not gonna fuck you tonight, I was just testing the waters. You'd best toughen up by Saturday, kid, cause if you're gonna be bawling after that, you'll probably bring down the whole mansion when I bend ya over"
"I'm gonna kill you for that, I swear"
He turned back to Jounouchi, looking slightly surprised. His almost startled face quickly reverted to it's prior sneer.
"Really? How are you gonna manage that, eh? Even without the chain, I'd break your neck before you threw a single punch, kid."
Without a further glance, he walked away, straightening his clothes as he moved.
"See ya on Saturday, kiddo"
He didn't look back once, he simply opened the door and vanished through it silently.
Jounouchi could not recall a time in his life when he had felt this much sheer fury coursing through him. He was literally shaking, his whole body shuddering from burning anger.
"Mokuba, are you ok? Are you hurt?"
Despite feeling very much like screaming every word that came from his mouth, he managed to keep his voice steady, and calm. Mokuba was lying on his side, with his knees drawn up against his chest, his body heaving with huge, trembling sobs.
"Mokuba?"
"Nii-sama...nii-sama...please...help me"
It was little more than a whisper, but Jounouchi heard it perfectly. He paused, trying to think of the way to approach such a plea.
"Mokuba...he's not here right now...I know he won't stop until he's found you, wherever he is right now...but that's probably gonna take a while...until then, I'll take care of you, I promise"
"Me too"
Otogi seemed to have gained new life from the anger brought on by Carter's abuse. He was gazing determinedly at Jounouchi, eyes full of conviction.
"We'll both take care of you while your brother is gone"
He nodded at Jounouchi, who returned it, a silent pact forming between them.
"Yeah, both of us will do our best to protect you, and keep you safe, we promise, together"
Mokuba lowered his hands from his face, turning around, looking at both of them. After a moment, he gave a tiny, grateful nod of his own, much to Jounouchi's relief, before closing his eyes, seeming to be falling back to sleep once more. None of them said anything further; there was nothing to be said really. It would be enough work just holding it together.
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Yami yearned to grow beyond the ability to ignore the hands groping him, and progress to the skill of forgetting them so thoroughly that he could not feel them at all. But until then, he would be required to force himself to disregard the fat, stubby fingers exploring his skin, as he stared into the dark red fabric an inch from his face.
It seemed like it was only an hour ago, or even less, the terrible screams he had heard as Blain had brutalized Malik mere minutes old, the same screams that had echoed through his nightmares the entire night. After that restless, disturbed sleep, they had all woken to find it was nearly afternoon, and Higuchi's men were already there to take them through the same ritual of food and water, then the thorough washing. Malik's severe bleeding had all stopped by that morning, but he had still been left a mess, something the men had paid no attention to, seeming to attribute it to their abuse the previous evening from Higuchi. Yami hated seeing him wince over and over as he cleaned himself in the bath, almost feeling every bit of stabbing pain himself, across the water. There were also slight red marks on his neck, though his tanned skin made this difficult to see. Despite these injuries, the men seemed to act as though he were in perfect health.
Yami himself had a faint bruise to the side of his forehead, where Blain had kicked him, and Yuugi had a noticeable red score on the side of his face. Yami wondered if Blain intended on giving them all similar injuries every week, and thought that someone would realise they weren't from Higuchi eventually. A pang had gone through his body at that moment, as he had realised he was now thinking about "every week" in this mansion, as though he had accepted the grim fate of staying here, in this hellish place, indefinitely.
Following the cleaning, they'd been returned to their rooms, to await each of their respective "clients" for the night. Malik had been very withdrawn, saying almost nothing, while Yami and Yuugi had been able to exchange words of comfort for the first time in several days.
The Sun had turned red on the floor, a deep, blood red, by the time two men entered the room, and left with Malik silently. The Egyptian had almost seemed to be in a trance as he was led away, staring blankly at the ground, paying no heed to his surroundings.
A few minutes later, they had come for Yami, but after they had taken the chain off his wrist, a third man had entered, motioning for them to leave him. Apparently his client had opted for a bathroom break first, delaying the ordeal for a couple of minutes. The men had left the room during this time, but had not enchained Yami once again, leaving him unbound at long last. He had immediately rushed to embrace Yuugi, as they were alone together for the first time since they had been abducted. Eventually shifting in their tight grip, they had shared a kiss of only a few brief moments, before the men returned to haul Yami away. But even those few moments were enough for Yami.
It was of that he thought of at this moment in time, not the greedy hands groping his backside, as he lay face down on a bed, his hands locked behind his back as always. The sweet embrace with his Aibou, the soft lips, the enchanting eyes a mere inch from his own; they were the ultimate comfort in this room.
His "client", was a short, balding and overweight man in his fifties. Yami did not watch very much television, but he was sure he had seen the man before; he was a politician of some kind. There was certainly none of the obligatory niceties and manners required of a politician on display here; the man was lecherous, crude and perverse. Yami did not put him as quite sadistic like the man who had won his auction, or Blain, but certainly he was not interested in the wellbeing of his victim, he was only interested in getting his fill. For the first time in his life, since neither the auction winner nor Higuchi had done so, Yami was forced to take a full member into his mouth, almost down his throat. While the thought of such an act with Yuugi seemed natural, and even ideal, here, it simply felt wrong. There was something so incredibly humiliating about being forced to do such an act, even if it seemed almost logical when it was done by choice. He suspected the extreme degradation experienced was from the sense of power loss he felt flow through his body during the act, the total lack of control.
Following this, the man had wasted no time in pinning Yami face down once more, and taking him deftly. As before, it hurt terribly, though he did not feel himself bleeding this time, to his surprise. The man was clearly not one for stamina, for he only lasted a few minutes before finishing with a grunt.
Soon after, he found himself returned to their room, now empty. It felt strangely larger with no one else occupying it, cold and sterile. Not that it had been happy before, but now, it felt positively barren. Staring at the white moonlight flowing through the window, it took him a number of minutes before he realised, with a start, that they had not placed the chain back on his wrist. It must have been deliberate, for they had been quite particular to leave him sitting on the mattress. Perhaps it was to see whether he would try anything stupid if given such a chance, or maybe even some ludicrous idea of a reward for a "job well done". Whatever the reason, he was grateful.
Though the thought briefly crossed his mind, he opted to not bother attempting to escape the room. He had only seen the corridor outside the room, he had no real idea where to go if he got out, and the fact that the hall would be full of guards, made the idea positively suicidal. He would need more information, and more preparation, if he wanted to get out in that way.
Just as he banished that foolish idea, the door opened once more, and Malik entered, held by two men flanking him on either side. They deposited him roughly on his mattress to Yami's right, and exited. Malik stared at Yami blankly for a moment, before too realising they had not been chained up. His eyes already beginning to tear up, and his expression wounded, he scrambled over, meeting Yami halfway.
Yami hugged his friend tightly, seeing, with a fresh surge of anger, that there was a fresh bloodstain forming on Malik's clothes, over his backside. The wounds from the previous night must have been all reopened. He felt a new wave of sympathy and pity for the boy clinging to him, who seemed to be doomed to suffer in his life.
They stayed in the same position for several minutes, saying nothing, only hearing their hearts beating. Yami was eager to offer any comfort he could to Malik, not just out of his natural instinct, but also out of guilt, over the fact that he had been unable to help Malik as he was raped mere feet from Yami, the previous night. Chained or not, kick to the face or not, he should have found some way to help him, somehow.
"It was so disgusting..."
Malik had finally spoken, speaking almost directly into Yami's ear. His voice was shaking slightly, a barely surpassed emotion was plinly evident.
"He just kept touching me...all over...I felt so filthy..."
"I know, Malik...they are filthy, that's why it feels that way. Complete filth"
"...I could feel it tearing open again...that was almost worse than the pain...the tearing, I felt like throwing up...it felt so horrible"
Yami closed his eyes, he knew Malik needed to say this out loud, thus he would listen, no matter how horrible it might become.
"But it didn't hurt as much as...as...l-last...last night...l-l-last n-nigh-night..."
Malik began to tremble, and Yami could feel his shoulder slowly getting wet. He could hear the quiet sobs starting, and he moved his hand to pat Malik's back, in an almost desperate attempt to give some, any comfort, to his distraught friend.
Malik's hug tightened, as his cries increased gradually in intensity. Abruptly, he shifted over, and pressed his face into Yami's chest, stilling weeping, though their gravity was falling slightly.
Yami did not know what to say, all he could think of were empty promises of "everything being ok"; these would do nothing to help Malik, they both knew things were not ok, and they would only get worse the longer they remained here. Suddenly, Yami's trail of thought was cut short, as he noticed with a start what Malik was doing.
The boy had slowly slid his face up, over Yami's chest, and now had it pressed into Yami's throat. He moved his face slowly to the side, his soft lips brushing over Yami's skin in a manner that he was in no way prepared for.
"Malik...what are you doing?"
This almost uneasy question seemed to snap Malik back to reality; he hastily withdrew his face from Yami's neck, before pulling one arm back from around Yami, and covering most of his face with his hand, apparently close to crying heavily once more.
"Gods...gods I'm sorry...sorry Yami...I...I don't...I just..."
"Shh, it's ok, it's alright...just relax, Malik, I can't protect you all the time here, even if I try, but right now, you're safe, I can promise you this much, just concentrate on that"
He slid his arm around Malik's shoulders, holding him closely, just as the door opened once more. They both looked up to see Yuugi shoved into the room almost contemptuously, before the door was shut once more, and a loud click told them it had just been locked. He wasted no time waiting, and flew across the room to the two boys.
Yami caught him in a firm, one armed hug, and a chaste kiss on his cheek.
"Aibou..."
The three said nothing more, they simply remained locked in their embrace, finally able to give the comfort they had so recklessly needed.
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The chapter ended up being shorter than originally anticipated, because a section that was going to be in it, is being moved to later in the story. I think too many viewpoint changes in one changes just make it messy to read.
Of course, Mokuba isn't really weak, he's a strong character, but he is weak physically, however, and being only twelve and seperated from his brother, it's going to have a seious effect on him, so I hope it didn't seem OOC or anything that he was breaking down so easily.
Do tell me what you think, I appreciate any concrit and feedback, it helps a great deal with writing, and thanks very much for reading.