WOW. I just went a read all the review for 'Fake' so far... and they're all so great!
You readers are certainly awesome~~! I do believe you deserve a piece of cake or sugary item of your choice for being amazing people, but sadly... I can't give a pice of cake or sugary item of your choice to you. D:
Well, I think the story should get started now, don't you all! :D
Disclaimers: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. I'd be rich if I did. :) Oh, and no Hellsing, either. And no Metropolis. ):
(Verantwortung=Responsibility)
Kaibcentricity, plox. :3
Also, I'm speeding up the puppyshipping agenda. Either now or next chapter. You guys have waited patiently long enough. (I sense the words 'Mokuba Catalyst,' Even though he hasn't been in this story. ._.)
[Verantwortung]
Seto stumbled out of bed; he was exhausted, gummy-eyed, stiff, and with so much dread at what the day would hold for him.
He walked across a curtained window, hissing a bit when his flesh his a small ray of sneaky dawn. The seared meat smelled odd, closing up quickly and leaving no trace it had been here before.
Hurried footsteps echoed quickly around the room; brisk and with purpose. He went from his room to the hallway and started checking the guest rooms. He didn't remember Leda telling him where she was holed up, but it didn't matter. He needed to find her.
Another room, and another, and another... was his house really this empty?
After the fifth room or so he found her. She was laying in bed with Hiram. She looked asleep, but her breathing... the pattern was different. She was definitely awake. He walked over to her, making sure not to wake up her companion.
"I know that you are awake. And I would never have thought you for one to sleep with your partner."
"Well," She turned over with a groan, dragging out the 'll'. "That's kind of what 'Partner' means, isn't it? Someone you're intimate with. Which means you should be waking up next to our little suspect now, right?"
Kaiba kept an unamused look on his face.
"Why, pray tell, would I want to do that?"
"Because he is the one person you have to get close to to win this war. It's not to hard, Kaiba."
"Then why don't you do it?"
Pale green eyes gave him a look of amusement.
"Am I sensing a hint of irate, short-tempered resentment at the prospect of getting laid? Which you desperately need, by the way."
Seto had talked to multiple vatican employees in his time, but Leda was, by far, the crudest of them all.
"Look, that is not what I am here to talk to you about. I have valuable information."
This made the agent sit up, the comforter sliding down her chest. Her very naked chest.
"Would you put a shirt on?"
Kaiba couldn't help but wonder how in the hell she had ever gotten a job with the Vatican, of all places.
"Nope, can't get one without showing you my naked ass. What's the info?"
Kaiba's blue eyes rolled; This- this here- would make his day very stressful.
"I saw him."
"Saw who?"
"Jonouchi."
Leda gave him a confused look.
"Isn't that what people normally do? See others?"
"Not like that! No, I saw him feeding."
"So does he crudely consume mass quantities of raw beef or does he just go for the whole cow?"
"That's not the point! Be serious! He fed off of some hobo- Vampiric feeding, not normal eating!"
"And where's your proof?"
Kaiba knew this would come.
"I was an eyewitness, Leda; Doesn't that count as proof?"
"No. Not that I think you would, Kaiba, but people lie. You may be older that anyone on the planet, but vampires lie. I'm sure you lie- or you have lied. While your word is something to go on, it's not hard proof. We need to catch him in the act."
Leda drew her knees up against her chest, resting her chin on them. On her back, a giant black tattoo of a celtic cross was printed, touching her top and bottom vertebrae and her shoulders.
"I would love to jump on this, but I'm just here to help when we knew exactly what our situation is. And then-Only then- can we get this over with."
Kaiba stood, sighing. He had a practiced frown on his face; transfixed there for God knows how long.
"There's other evidence. There's what you looked up for me. He's dead, Leda, and he's walking around displaying vampiric tendencies. When are you going to do something about it!"
"I would love to, Kaiba, but Jonouchi's just a part of it! There's a nest of them that need to be eradicated, and we need the whole might of the organization and the whole black ops forces at the Vatican and various other organizations world-wide backing up up to put this in motion! We need one hundred percent hard proof before we can move, because not everyone's sold on this idea. It's not a simple matter. I can't do anything until we actually get the information from the horse's mouth. I can't go out of my way for your pet project."
"So you want me to incarcerate him and then torture him," Kaiba asked.
"It wouldn't be a far stretch for you, but there are other ways to get information."
"...Alright. Until then, I'll take responsibility for it."
He was almost out the door when Leda's voice called him back.
"Do you know what that means, Kaiba?"
He turned.
"Do I know what what means?"
"Responsibility."
"Of course I know what it means!"
"Really? Are you sure?" Leda only received a glare as a response.
"Do you see this tattoo on my back, Kaiba? Of the cross?"
No reply.
Leda gently turned a snoring Hiram on his back.
"You see Hiram's tattoo? It matches. This means I take full, complete responsibility for him. Everything he does, I account for because I made the descicion to help him. To keep him here with me. If you follow through with your investigation of Jonouchi, if you get close to him, you have to accept abject responsibility for everything that you both do. No matter what you have to do, no matter what happens. If you get close to him, are you sure you can do what you must to end all of this?"
"What, you think he's going to be my boyfriend," Kaiba snorted, leaning against the doorframe. He pulled out a silver gun.
"I can do what I need to," He said, gazing at the menacing piece of metal. "It won't be a problem."
"I wouldn't be so sure," A smirk to rival Kaiba's appeared on Leda's face. "I see that look you get when you talk about him. Just don't get in over your head. Now. Don't you need to get to school? Go on, Shoo!"
Kaiba quietly pocketed the gun and walked out of the room closing the door behind him.
What day was it...? He didn't much care. He wouldn't go anywhere today. School could wait. Work. He needed to work. His mind was too frazzled with the minuscule and odd-hours of sleeping and wanting to jump at what he had uncovered. He was becoming too impatient. He remembered multiple people saying something along those lines. It didn't much matter now, though.
Stepping into his study, he sat down behind a computer console. Souped-up Mac's and a modified KaibaCorp mainframe. His personal system. Opening up a project file, he felt his mind calm a bit.
[-_-_-_-]
Kaiba checked the digital readout on a small clock. It was eleven. He missed Mokuba coming home from school. The kid would definitely be in bed now; he should go check up on him. Shutting his office door behind him, he quickly made it to Mokuba's room. When he opened the door, he noticed that Mokuba wasn't there.
Jesus Christ.
He didn't even bother to shut the door- he automatically started speed-searching the house. Mokuba wouldn't be in any of the guest rooms- he could eliminate almost the entire upper floor. Time to check downstairs.
He ran through the library, dining room, living room, even checked in the bathrooms. All dead ends. The only places left were the kitchen and the TV room. The TV room was just down the hall, He would check there on the way to he kitchen. If Mokuba wasn't there, hopefully he would just be getting a nighttime snack. If not, well... He had no patience for kidnappers and felons.
The door to the TV room was closed. He grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open, hurriedly conducting a visual sweep.
Shoulders relaxed and vertebrae curved at Seto saw Mokuba sitting right in front of him, in his pajamas, playing, of all things at this ungodly hour (Especially for a grade schooler), Xbox.
"Mokuba, what are you doing?"
"Xbox Live."
"Get yourself to bed now."
"Hold on! I'm almost done."
"Now, Mokuba!"
The boy muttered a quick goodbye, shut of the console, and trudged wearily up to his brother.
"I've never seen you sleep."
That threw Seto for a moment.
"...Well, when people start paying you not to sleep, then you can stay up as long as you want. Until then, you need to go to bed, okay? You have school tomorrow, right?"
"Yee-ess."
They reached Mokuba's room. Slowly, he opened the door and shuffled over to his bed. Seto walked in there with him, giving him a hug and tucking him into bed.
"Hey, Seto?"
"Yes?"
"Can I invite a friend over tomorrow?"
"Can you ask me tomorrow at breakfast? It's eleven thirty right now. You need rest, okay?"
"Alright... 'Night, Seto."
"'Night, Mokuba."
He walked out of the room and shut the door. His nerves were still tense. He needed a bit of a stress reliever. Heading back into his study, he pulled out the bottom drawer on the right. Removing a few folders and a notebook, he opened up a false bottom. There sat a knife, another gun, and a small modified bayonet blade. He grabbed the knife and the bayonet and headed out.
[-_-_-_-]
His reaction time was slower by a half of a second. Still much faster than any fake, but God... why was he getting so slow? It was ridiculous. There was one coming from behind him. Pulling up the bayonet in his right hand and the gun in his left, he turned on his left heel. The effect was two-fold- One fake was decapitated, and the one coming from a shed top behind him was shot in the transitional area between the abdomen and the groin... no, wait, it was slightly lower... he had hit him in the groin. It almost merited laughter. He walked over to the place where the fake had fallen. It didn't look to feel any pain... and why would it? It was just a corpse. It couldn't really feel anything.
But it might know something...
Walking over to the writhing corpse, he aimed a gun at it's face and pinned it's hand to the ground with the bayonet.
"What is the Mausoleum planning?"
The fake gasped and sputtered, sucking in wind but not breathing out any carbon dioxide. Little founts of blood spurt up as he stuttered; he was bleeding into his lungs... But that wasn't right. He had been shot in the groin. That was no where near his lungs. He pulled out a small knife from his pocket. Making a "V" incision from shoulder to shoulder, and a line from the intersection to the bellybutton. He cut a line across the bottom of it to make an upside-down "T" shape. Blood and fat welled up around the cuts; This was always one of the worst parts. The blood was a dark, coagulated color and highly viscous. It was like glue. Digging his fingers into the cuts, he pulled back the skin. The fake brought up hands to stop him; its eyes were whited out and blood was frothing around its mouth. Seto grabbed the hands at the wrist, pushing them down and pinning them to the dirt with the bayonet. He continued his crude examination. The ribs were stark white and the muscle was withered. Arteries convulsed and writhed with the task of squeezing blood through. Eyes turned to the lungs. Bone was fractured. Arteries were ruptured. His bronchioles were torn and serious damage was done to the esophagus. There was a small metal capsule in all the gore; battery-like. With a glowing orange cap. He went to dig it out.
As soon as it was in his hands, the cap turned green for a moment. Then a blinking red. 'Blinking Red' being universal vernacular for 'Very very bad'. Seto guessed he had a minute, at most, to ditch it all. Dropping the capsule back into the chest cavity, he ran around the corner of a brick building. Not two seconds later, there was a warm orange glow. Peeking around the corner, Seto saw the corpse enveloped in warm orange flame. The damn thing had been rigged. The rest of the corpses, though, were still whole. He dragged them into a pile on top of the already burning body. It created a small bonfire.
Taking a few steps back, he turned to go back to his home.
[-_-_-_-_-]
Something was wrong. Jonouchi felt eyes on him for the millionth time that day. Kaiba kept glancing at him out of the corners of his eyes. Good God it was making him feel nervous. He scrunched down a little bit more in his seat, gripping his pencil hard enough to split the wood. Crap. He looked at his hand. There was a splinter. a deep one. He raised his uninjured hand.
"Yes, Jonouchi?"
"May I please go to the nurses office," He inquired.
"Do you feel sick?"
"No, I've got a splinter in my hand. It's pretty deep..."
"Alright. Go get a bandaid." The teacher looked at him questioningly. He could explain later.
"Thank you."
"You and Kaiba head down ot the nurses' office together. I'm not having one of you run off without the other telling me."
Ah, crap.
"Yeas ma'am."
He stood up to go. Beside him, Kaiba looked tense. They walked out of the room silently; feeling everyone's stares on the back of his neck was almost as bad as feeling Kaiba stare at him. Almost.
The door shut and they walked down the clean hallway together. The sky was overcast again.
The nurse's office was on the ground floor by the office, where as they're classroom was on the third. There was an elevator, but that was only for disabled kids. Didn't much matter; stairs it was.
The silence as they descended said staircase was uncomfortable. His hand out before him, Jonouchi decided to stare intensely at the splinter in it. It would bleed when he pulled it out.
Shit, shit, shit!
"Are you okay?"
The question hung in the air.
"You keep staring at me," Jonouchi looked away from his hand and at Kaiba. The brunette looked uncomfortable.
"Why does that mean anything's wrong with me?"
They stopped.
"Because you don't stare at people, you stare at a computer screen or a book page. You're not interested in people."
You're not interested in anyone. You're not interested in having friends, or getting to know me. Even though he put forth the effort to know him.
"I don't see how you can just sit there and be all to yourself."
"That's none of your business."
"Well, maybe I'm trying to make it my business! If you weren't so short-sided when it comes to things outside your work, maybe you wouldn't be such a bastard to everyone!"
"And how can I be such a bastard to everyone if I never talk to anyone? They aren't worth my time, anyway. They're-"
"This is why you're a bastard! You don't need to talk to people to be a bastard to them!"
"We're supposed to be going to the nurse's office. Shouldn't we stop arguing so that we can get your hand taken care of, or should I leave you here? I've got better places to be that babysitting you. Or better yet, maybe I could just rip that splinter out of your hand and send you back to the classroom."
Jonouchi was silent. He didn't really know what to say to the threats.
It only lasted for a moment.
"Fine. Fine. Go if you want, I'll head on the the nurse's office. This is what people mean when they call you a bastard, Kaiba. And you are a god-damned bastard."
He walked off, glaring down at his hand and leaving Kaiba on the landing. If the guy was going to be an ass, fine, he would let him.
He was half way down the staircase when he thought someone was behind him. He looked back to see Kaiba there, trying to look uninterested, but his eyes didn't match with the rest of his expression. They were... confused a bit.
"Alright then."
Jonouchi turned back around and kept walking, arm still bent, hand still open, palm-up.
They reached the nurses' office without incident.
Opening the door, Kaiba walked in, looking around before turning and saying "She isn't here."
"We can get out a splinter by ourselves, Kaiba, the nurse doesn't have to be here."
"It doesn't matter whether she's here or not, Jonouchi. Come here."
Kaiba walked over to a rolling set of drawers, looking through them before pulling out a pair of tweezers.
Jonouchi swallowed. It really kinda scared him- maybe Kaiba would poke his eye out with the tweezers. The guy probably didn't like him all that much anyway.
But he did come with him after their little spat...
The blonde felt like a black snake was curling at the pit of his stomach; it was anxiety.
He walked up to Kaiba anyway. The brunette took his hand- the snake curled itself tighter, knotting itself together. If Jonouchi had a heartbeat, it would be ten times faster than normal. Kaiba's hands were abnormally cold.
The rest of the feeling was quickly murdered by the pain of the splinter being pulled out. It went in at and angle, away from the skin, poking down into his flesh. He hissed as a small bit of blood welled up, oozing like half-congealed glue. It looked black, collecting together on his palm.
He looked up to see Kaiba staring at it, looking enthralled.
It lasted a moment before the wound was wiped with a napkin and then a sanitizing napkin and had a bandaid put over it. Jonouchi didn't feel a sting as the alcohol from the napkin slid into the wound.
Kaiba stood up after he was done, tossing the napkin and bandaid wrapper, along with the splinter, into the trashcan. He turned to leave.
Jonouchi didn't move; he stared dazedly at his hand.
"Are you going to stand there all day like an idiot or are you going to come back to class?"
The blonde started.
"Yeah. Yeah, sure."
He followed Kaiba out of the room.
[-_-_-_-_-]
Seto climbed in his car, turning the engine over and backing out of the school parking lot. He had to get down to the lab. At a particularly long stoplight, he checked his pocket to make sure that the napkin with Jonouchi's blood was still there, folded up quite nicely, thank you.
It was.
The light finally turned green. He sped on, trying not to kill anyone in his excitement. He finally reached the building, pulling into the parking garage and hurried inside, barking at the receptionist to move all the appointments for today to next week and not to disturb him. Getting into the elevator, he pressed the buttons to go down to the lab complex. His foot tapped impatiently on the linoleum. The elevator could not move fast enough.
Walking through the hallway, going through the motions to get into the lab, he stormed into the room and pulled out the napkin. Franz was at a microscope, examining something, while Rotwang was working on a schematic.
Seto slammed the napkin down onto the table next to the scientist, startling him out of his reverie.
"Yes," Franz was irritated. "I'm studying a photo-resistant enzyme. What is it that you want?"
"Blood sample analysis. Get it done, fax the results to me. I'll be at my home."
With that, the CEO turned and left.
"Whose blood is this!"
"Jonouchi Katsuya!"
And he was gone. He wanted to get home. He was tired, he felt sluggish. He wanted nothing more than to go to his room, shut the blinds, draw the curtains closed, and curl up in his dark bedroom to sleep. He was getting damn lazy. He couldn't though- he had work to do.
It wasn't a long drive to his home. After pulling into the driveway, he checked the mail. Tax notices from the IRS, a utility bill, and a census survey. They would be dealt with later.
Walking into the entrance hall, his ears seemed to twitch as they picked up the slight sound of yelling.
He walked towards the source of the noise; the TV room. The door was open; inside was the most raucous group he had ever seen. Mokuba, Jonouchi, Leda, Yuugi (Whom Seto thanked the heavens for, as he was-at this moment- the one quite person) and Batchi. Good lord. Mokuba turned to look at him, smiling and greeting him. He waved back, unsmiling, tired. Mokuba saw, and, excusing himself, pulled his brother back to talk to him.
"Are you mad with me," He asked.
Seto just shook his head- he was getting more and more tired.
"No- no, I'm to out of it. I just want you to tell me before you have friends over."
"I did, remember? This morning."
Mokuba had most likely told him. Seto just couldn't remember.
"Okay. Okay, that's fine."
"Are you alright, Seto?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You look," The boy paused, unsure. "Overworked. You look... beaten."
Beaten.
No.
God no. Not yet.
Not Seto Kaiba.
"It's just work. Go on- get back to your friends."
"Okay," Mokuba gave him a hug that he half-heartedly returned. "You get some sleep," The boy said before heading off.
Seto headed up the stairs to his room.
He pulled off his jacket and shoes,keeping the lights off and flopping down on the bed.
Sleep. He just wanted sleep right now...
It felt like he had just closed his eyes when he heard the door open and close.
Probably Mokuba.
Whatever; too tired to care.
Rolling over, he pulled a pillow down to sleep on.
A careful weight settled on the side of the bed. Someone was leaning over him.
His eyes opened slightly. The presence was cold. It was nonexistent, almost. He never relied on intuition or some mystical 'sixth sense,' but he could definitely say something was out of the ordinary here.
Turning over to get a good look at who had disturbed him, he was almost surprised to see Jonouchi leaning over him, mouth open, inscicors one-fourth of an inch long and sharp, and with a look of utter surprise on his face. The boy had just twitched in an attempt to flee when Kaiba reached up and grabbed his neck.
Jonouchi may have been engineered by super-scientists, but Seto Kaiba had countless years of experience and practice behind him. The boy didn't have a chance.
"What are you doing?" he ground out, relishing the fearful look he got.
"I-I... uh-"
The hand tightened. Jonouchi flinched, trying to draw in a breath.
"Shove it. You don't need to breathe."
The motions stopped.
"How do you know," Jonouchi rasped. His eyes were wide, stressed and confused. He looked mortified.
"No reason for you to know."
"How do you know, Kaiba?"
Should he tell him? He made no motion to, completely relaxed.
"If you want to feed, then you'll want fresher blood. Go downtown or something."
"How do you know, Kaiba?"
"I just know."
"Bullshit."
Kaiba just grunted as a reply.
"It doesn't feel right."
Fell right? Feel right? Sure. Okay. Fine. Sixth sense. He could play along.
"And you feel dead," He replied.
"So do you. You're one of them, right?"
"One of what?"
"The vampires."
The statement hung in the air for a while. Neither was willing to answer, neither was willing to talk.
"What I am is no concern of yours," Kaiba replied. "You'll want to leave."
"Maybe if you let go of my throat-" The hand promptly dropped. Jonouchi didn't move.
"Leave."
Jonouchi made no move to go. He knelt over Kaiba, watching him.
"What are-"
A shrill beep from a small fax machine interrupted the question.
Kaiba groaned, sitting up and sliding off the bed. The machine sat on a shelf next to some books, and was there just to be sure he got messages. Trudging over to it, he pulled out the paper the machine and read over the important parts of what it said.
Results from Lab Test
Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine are mixed into the blood.
Plasma is deteriorating. Red blood cells are deteriorating. White Blood-cell count is abnormally high.
No discernable blood type.
Preservatives are present in the blood at abnormally high levels.
Traces of organic nanites and transistor metal threads present.
After scanning over the rest of the report, Kaiba folded it and put it into his pocked. Jonouchi was still there on his bed.
"Weren't you leaving," He asked.
"Weren't you answering my questions?"
"No. I have nothing to say to you. Leave."
"Not until I get answers. Tell me."
"No."
"At least answer one of my questions!"
Jonouchi was pouting a bit, his arms crossed and his back straight. His eyes narrowed menacingly.
It was an odd mixture of funny and cute.
"Fine. Fine. I'm a vampire, I'm tired, and not in a very good mood. Will you leave now?"
Smiling, the blonde got off the bed and walked towards the door, stopping just short of it.
He turned, giving Kaiba a curious look.
"Sorry."
"For what?"
"You finding out about... y'know."
"What is there to be sorry about when it comes to that? If you're going to be sorry for anything, it should be tresspassing in parts of my home. Who invited you over, anyway?"
"Mokuba."
That's right.
Something clicked in Kaiba's mind. He could find evidence this way! Jonouchi was here, now, he could ask him-
"Come back again tomorrow night."
"Why?"
"... Important matters need to be discussed. That's all you need to know."
Jonouchi was silent for a moment before smiling a bit and nodding.
"Sure."
He left, and Kaiba closed the door and climbed back into bed. That was just awkward. His eyes shut and he fell asleep almost instantly.
[-_-_-_-_-]
Jonouchi breathed heavily as he leaned on the wall outside of Kaiba's room. He held his hand over his mouth to try and calm himself down. Kaiba knew now. Good lord, he knew. He knew that Jonouchi wasn't exactly... human. Jonouchi knew that Kaiba wasn't human, either. A fair trade, he guessed. It's wasn't a spontaneous, made-for-two movie moment like you'd always see in movie. It was subdued. It was awkward.
He was coming ack tomorrow, to. Walking back downstairs (He had told everyone that he was going to the bathroom- the need for blood was starting to get to him) he felt that same snake that was there earlier came back, wending it's way down his intestines and twisting tighter and tighter.
He almost couldn't wait for tomorrow.
Going back into the TV room, he remembered why he left earlier. Apologizing to Mokuba and Leda and Yuugi, he excused himself by saying he felt sick and then went to go home. He could get a meal there.
[The Next Day]
The end of school came slowly. It was close to torture. When the final bell rang (To everyone's pleasure and relief) Jonouchi was out of there. He wondered how he would get back to Kaiba's house. He would probably catch a bus, he saw Kaiba leave during lunch. The bust stop was downtown. It wouldn't take him to long to get there. He ran around other students, out the gates, and down the street. A small crowd of people were gathered around it. He waited near the back, holding onto the loop that hung don from piping running along the celling of the bus.
The stop closes to Kaiba's house was still a few blocks away from the house itself, but it wouldn't take to long to get there. No problem. Kaiba himself, though... A vampire. Honest to goodness vampire. Jonouchi had been wondering-
How old was he?
Did he have powers?
Was it anything like the movies he watched with his _ _ _ _ _ _ sometimes?
He remembered his _ _ _ _ _ _ telling him he was something like a vampire. He drank blood, he burned in the sunlight, he had above average strength and speed and stamina... but something was different about him... He stood at the bus stop, his fingertips feeling discretely at the USB port on his hip. _ _ _ _ _ _ Called it a USB port. All he could feel of it right now was a slight imprint. A small panel slid back and revealed the slot.
The bus pulled up, and he stumbles up the steep steps with everyone else. The stop nearest to Kaiba's house was a few blocks away from his actual house.
The stop came up quick enough- Jonouchi hopped off, jogging down the street. The mansion wasn't hard to find- the biggest house near the end of the block.
He walked up the driveway and knocked on the door. A diminutive, pudgy butler that Mokuba had identified as Roland answered. The man creeped him out- a weird smile and the glasses that hid his eyes. And the fact that he never seemed to make a noise when he walked. maybe Roland wasn't human.
"Katsuya Jonouchi, correct?"
"Y-yessir. I'm here to see-"
"To see master Kaiba," Roland opened the door and stood off to the side. "Do come in. Master Kaiba is in his office. Follow me."
And they set off up the stairs.
When they reached the office, Jonouchi heard muffles shouting.
Roland raised a small, pudgy hand to knock on the door. As soon as the flesh would have touched the wood, the door flew open. A volupitous, strawberry blonde girl was standing there, yelling at Kaiba, who was standing with a very calm, scary rage behind the desk. The girl was either very brave or very stupid.
"-If you're not going to do anything-"
"I have put an immense amount of effort and money and, most notably, blind faith into this matter. Into your handling of this matter. What are you doing with it, Leda? What are my resources and my money going into?"
"If you knew-"
"If I knew anything about this I would be more reassured that I'm putting MY FAITH into the right person! Give me some indication that this is the case and I will gladly let you resume your activities."
The girl, Leda, stood there, staring angrily, before muttering a dishearted 'fine' and stomping out of the office.
Kaiba sat back down and looked up at him, Waving a hand for him to come in. Roland waved his through the door before shutting it.
Time to dance, then.
"Have a seat."
Kaiba motioned to a set of well-worn victorian-style leather chairs. The shiny substance was soft and firm when he sat down on it, not at all plasticky. It felt quite comfortable.
The sat in silence for a small wile, neither talking, just staring at each other.
It was an uncomfortable silence, but it lasted for only a short while.
"So... what's up?"
Kaiba stayed silent. Jonouchi tried to remain as relaxed as possible; the question seemed awkward. It hung in the air, unanswered, before Kaiba spoke.
"I need information, mutt."
"I'm sorry!"
"Jonouchi. I need information, Jonouchi."
"On what?"
"You."
If it worked, Jonouchi's heart would have skipped a beat. Kaiba wanted to know about him. Kaiba wanted to know about him. It wasn't nearly as flattering as Jonouchi would have liked it to be.
"What information?"
Kaiba pulled a drawer open, flipping through what Jonouchi presumed was filed before pulling one out. He opened it up, pulling out a few sheets of paper.
Jonouchi leaned forward to get a look.
"Your job application."
"Oh. What about it?"
"Your birthday."
Needless to say, the bold wasn't following.
"What about it?"
Kaiba handed the paper to him.
"Take a look at your birthday."
"What about it?"
"The ninth of October? This year? If you're going to lie, at least come up with a good one."
The ninth... the ninth... how could he have...?
"Is this going to be just about business?"
Kaiba replaced the file, giving Jonouchi something of a mild incredulous look.
"What else would it be about?"
"I was hoping it would be more... personal."
Kaiba was taken aback for a moment.
"Personal? What would it be personal for?"
"Well... Y'know, it's... It's just that..."
Jonouchi rubbed his hand up and down his arm, not looking at Kaiba and trying to screw up the courage to say it...
"You like me."
Well, that certainly was not expected.
"I what!"
Jonouchi certainly hadn't expectedKaiba to say it.
"You like me. Harbor feelings of attraction. Infatuated. Crush. What term would you like to use?"
"What term would I like to use!"
"I would think that you have a preference."
Jonouchi still couldn't say much to that. It was true- his more-than-somewhat neglected feelings had grown like mold- not to say that he had the same feelings towards mold that he did in this particular case. He rather liked Kaiba, obviously.
"I-I don't... know..."
"Whatever those feelings are, you can consider them reciprocated. Now-"
Pale hands slammed loudly on the mahogany desk. Jonouchi jumped forward in his seat, sitting even more on edge than before.
"That's all you've got to say? 'Consider them reciprocated'! That's- that's cold."
Kaiba, who had picked up the papers again, put them back down on the desk, looking coldly over them to the blonde.
"What do you want me to say? Do yu want it to all come out in some sappy, made-for-two movie moment?"
"W-well, no, but-"
"Jonouchi, I do share in those feelings. I do not nescicarily want to get down to it right this moment, as mean as cold-hearted as that may sound. There is enough time for relationships later There are more pressing matters at this moment."
"Is that what you were arguing with the girl about? Something..."
"Daywalkers. So-called daywalkers. I'm putting money into research. At least, I was. It's a genetics research program. There wasn't a whole lot to it before I pulled the funding. The money can be diverted to more useful things now. Now..." Kaiba steepled his fingers. "I want to know about you."
Ende part 10
Sooo, yeah. I'm watching "Blade" right now (Since I've seen "Trinity" And I've wanted to watch the first one), so, yeah, It's the craziest piece of sh*t I've ever seen, but a rare 90's cinema gem, I think. It's a fun movie, though, I would definitely reccommend it for people who like gore-fests. :'D
And Frost is one of the coolest over-the-top villains I've ever seen. P:
So, yeah, I think "Blade" Will be a fair influence on this. You've been warned.