Injuries to Add to the Injuries
Getting to school the next day was a very, very interesting event to say the least. First, Katsuya had woken up and almost punched the poor maid who came in to do so for him in the face, which sent the woman screaming off. Then, after Mokuba came in and asked what the hell happened, it finally registered what had happened the night before, and he began panicking about school. Completely. Ignoring the kid's question.
Mokuba had rolled his eyes and said that he had it covered, a butler coming in with breakfast and watching as their guest stared at for no less than fifteen minutes before finally wolfing it down. Much to the boy and the butler's amusement both it seemed.
The plan was this: Apparently he was going to have one of the servants drive him until he was two blocks away on his side of the city from the school, where he would be let off in some discrete area and no one would be any the wiser. All in all, a really cool morning, given his normal ones- he probably pinched himself five times wondering if it had been a dream, and was still doing it as he walked down the road towards the school.
An amazing morning, with a flawless plan... And for a moment, Katsuya had thought it had really worked. At least until he ran into Yugi in the entry way. "Jonouchi-kun," the boy cried, Katsuya turning to blink as his friend attempted to regain his breath. "Jonouchi-kun, are you alright," he finally managed to get out. "I saw you get in that car with Kaiba-kun yesterday, and... Well, I couldn't really go to your house to check..." No. No he couldn't and awww fuck. Alright... Alright, time to fix this. Somehow.
He blinked, swallowing for a moment as a frown briefly came over his face. Wait, hadn't Yugi been gone by that point he asked himself. How did he see that? ...AUGH. Whatever. "Nhh... I'm fine," he muttered, quickly replacing the expression with a somewhat forced smile. "'S nothing-"
Yugi shook his head, frowning slightly. "Jonouchi-kun... I know he doesn't seem bad but last time we spoke, he stole Grandpa's card. I can't remember what happened after that but..."
Another blink, this time a head shake. Wait, so the reason why Yugi ended up facing Kaiba was... Because he stole that blue eyes card? Wasn't that thing worth lots and lots of money and so freakishly rare/powerful that people literally killed for it? (According to 'Grandpa', at least.) Oh b- Wait, how did he not remember... "You can't remember," he said with a slightly worried look. "Whadya mean Yug', you've got a better memory than half the people I know!"
He gave the teen a wry smile, before sighing. "No...Nothing... It's probably nothing..." Katsuya frowned- something told him it wasn't 'nothing', but at the same time, he didn't want to flat out accuse his best friend of lying; hell, it couldn't be that bad if Yugi wasn't telling him right? They trusted each other! Momentarily, his mind blanked out to a conversation he'd had with Mokuba the night before, which had ended up centering on Yugi. Likely for the reason that it was the only thing they had 'in common' at the time. That conversation...
'Nii-sama is always going on about how, right before he was challenged to the duel, Yugi 'changed'.' Katsuya had of course, asked what the hell that meant, which got nothing more than a head shake from the boy. 'I don't know- all he said was that he was suddenly colder, more confident... I don't know exactly what happened after that, but something changed that day. Not much, but a little.' Weird... Katsuya drifted off into thought, wondering what Mokuba had been talking about. A different Yugi? How was that even possible..?
He was snapped back to reality by Yugi's shouts, blinking as he looked down. "Eh? What was that Yug'?" He paused, before grinning embarrassingly. "Err... Must've spaced out huh..." Yea. That tended to happen.
Yugi shook his head, smiling. "Shouldn't you at least wait until class for that Jonouchi-kun? I said the bell rang. Come on, or we'll be late!"
"Right!" As Yugi ran ahead of him, the teen turned to follow, shaking his head. Right. He had to focus, the teen reminded himself. After what he'd spent half the night talking about, he had a bunch more things to add to his report, and even more things he'd need to actually research.
Ugh... Sitting in class, he mentally shuddered at the thought. At the same time though, he really needed that mark. If he didn't get this done, he'd probably end up flunking the class. And that definitelywouldn't fly too well with his dad.
He sighed as he tried to keep himself from falling asleep, mentally recalling the only scrap of information he had at something on Kaiba he could research. They'd been talking about the whole situation of being in charge of a company while being in school. Mokuba had admitted to convincing his brother to enroll himself as well as the boy into school, at their exact age level, for a chance at a 'normal life'... To which, Katsuya mentally wondered what Kaiba wanted with one. Because he certainly wasn't getting one. Granted, once his classmates heard the name Kaiba and linked it to KaibaCorp, everything had gone down the drain in that aspect but... All problems aside, when Katsuya had asked what they did about school before hand, only one name had come up.
Apparently, it was the name of a tutor that Kaiba had had directly before coming into full possession of the company; said tutor was now volunteering at a university library, as the money earned from the job had been more then enough to retire in peace once Kaiba had let the man off. It wasn't much to go on, Katsuya told himself. However, even his teacher would have to admit that it was something of a leap for him in terms of getting class work done.
"Jonouchi-kun!" A ruler snapped on his desk, and the English teacher, 'Chono-sensei' quickly narrowed her eyes at him. "What is it that you're grinning about right now," she said with a sickeningly sweet and definitely not healthy smile. "Would you like to share with the class? Hnn..?" Shiiiiiiiit that tone was never good with the crazy 'expulsion teacher'. Though she hadn't been doing that much as of late, maybe he'd be let o-
He blinked, briefly tensing up under the woman's gaze before frowning slightly. "Er... Your face is..." The teen coughed, nervously leaning back as it appeared to flake off into puzzle pieces. "Breaking..." And anything underneath did not look good. Those bags were hideous. And. What was with her skin!
The woman froze, jerking up and running up to the front instantly. "On second thought, I'm sure that it was nothing," she said in a fairly loud, if not higher than normal tone. She hurriedly went back to the front, replacing the ruler on the desk as she covered her face. "I'll be right back!" As the door slammed behind the woman, about half the class had to wonder if this was what happened before, with that puzzle thing...
Though weird as that was, the rest of the day passed so uneventfully, that quite frankly, Katsuya couldn't help but wish he'd fallen asleep for once.
Domino, in terms of 'fame' was generally known for two things. Games, and for some reason, museums. A strange duo, but it seemed to go hand in hand. So really, it was no surprise that the university that this 'Tanaka-san' worked at was all the way in the next district. Katsuya groaned at the thought, mentally recalling the address. Damn it...
He opted not to voice his complaints, instead biting his lip as he trudged on. The fact was, he couldn't even afford the subway right now, things were so tight- he had no clue how much money his old man was going to end up loosing in his next gamble, or on alcohol, and the fact was, no one was hiring a person with a broken arm. As it was. He'd be waiting for the guy to fall asleep before re-entering his house for the next bit, unless he wanted to play a game of 'dodge x number of whatever he was holding when the door opened'. And of course, for that same reason, until the end of at least the next two months he was stuck scrounging up any penny he could find. All while praying that his dad didn't end up throwing it away.
Katsuya sighed, rubbing his head with his free hand before shaking it. "Maaan... Why couldn't this guy work closer," he muttered to himself as he finally made it to the university grounds, pushing the door to the library open with a sigh. A rush of air hit him from the air conditioner, and he winced- now that it was spring, he'd been getting used to the absolutely insane humidity that had, as of late, been arriving earlier and earlier in the year. Entering a room so well air conditioned was almost as much a shock as it had been at Kaiba's mansion however... At least there, he'd been too nervous and distracted to notice. Though this place admittedly, was pretty big too.
Wandering a little ways in, he looked for the main library desk to find Tanaka so that he could get out of there; before the cold air made the outside that much more unbearable, preferably. Spotting the man at a desk with (thankfully) at sign bearing his name, he walked over with a relatively confident smile. "Oi," he said as he came to the desk, the man looking up with a jolt. "You Tanaka-san?"
The man blinked, putting down a book he'd been reading to nod. "That is correct," he said with slight hesitancy. "...Are you looking for something in particular," he asked the teen, giving him a skeptical look. "You don't seem to be a student..." At least he wasn't looking at him like he was trash. That was a relief.
Quite frankly anyone could tell he wasn't a university student though; that, he was pretty sure of. "That's 'cause I'm not," he said as he shook his head, before continuing. "I was wonderin'... I was talking to a friend named Mokuba, he said yah taught his older brother at one point?" There was some visible recognition at that name, and he grinned. "Name's Seto, 'm I right?"
He raised an eyebrow, before looking around. "That depends," he said before swallowing, getting up out of his chair to look at the boy. "What is it that you want to know?"
Katsuya blinked. "Errr..." Shit, not that line! That meant-
The man continued, crossing his arms. "And for how much?" The blond continued to shift nervously as the second half of the dreaded question came up.
"Eh... W-Wait a sec here, I never said..." Man, there went that plan...
The gaze continued, Katsuya momentarily wondering if he should get the hell out of there, before the librarian abruptly burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh dear me, I'm pulling your leg! Possibly your arm too, but from what I can tell you need it," he said with a wink. What. What... Ignoring the intensely confused look he was now getting from the blond, Tanaka gave a chuckling sigh before putting an arm around Katsuya's back. "Over here- no doubt that if you know Kaiba-san, you came from Domino, and given your current state, it's fairly evident that you walked." The elderly man shook his head, an expression of evident shock and disbelief on his face. "Though god knows what possessed you to do that!" Thanks? What the hell kind of guy pulled that kind of joke?
They took a seat, Katsuya looking around the room with wide eyes. For a small university, this place had a really, really tall ceiling. And a lot of books. More than he'd ever seen, that was for sure. It was a little similar to Kaiba's mansion honestly... But with a lot more people and furniture. Just as quiet though, which made sense he supposed. A cough from Tanaka pulled him from his thoughts, and he jerked his head back around to face the man.
Tanaka chuckled, shaking his head. "Easily distracted are we?" Ignoring the scowl on Katsuya's face at the comment, he continued speaking. "No wonder you came all the way out here just so see me... You realize," he said with a slightly raised eyebrow, "That while I did indeed tutor Kaiba-san for a majority of his time in the Kaiba house, it's still only four years of experience... And I can hardly say I know the boy from teaching him English!"
He blinked, frowning. Ignoring the fact that Tanaka had just said he was wasting his time... "Four years? But Kaiba's sixteen, how's '4' a majority of 'is time?" At least he assumed he was sixteen. Because... He doubted he was any younger than that. That would be one hell of a growth spurt.
The old man shook his head, smiling. "Ahhh, so Mokuba-kun didn't tell you then?" It was interesting, Katsuya noted, how as soon as Mokuba was mentioned among adults that knew him (Or at least among the maids and butlers at his house when neither were in the area), the reference was fairly informal, if not 'normal' but once his older brother came into the picture... Huh. Another point he supposed. "You see..." He paused, frowning. "Oh my, I never got your name..." No, no he didn't.
"Ah... Jonouchi Katsuya," he said, rubbing his head. "Nice ta meetcha I guess." Mind as well be polite about this. (This was polite right?)
He smiled. "Nice to meet you indeed," Tanaka said with another chuckle. "As I was saying now, you see Jonouchi-kun, Mokuba-kun and his older brother were adopted six years ago by the late owner of Kaiba Corporation, Gozaburo Kaiba-san. He is the one who hired me to tutor the boy in English," he continued, frowning slightly. "Now that I think about it, it was one of the few classes that he bothered to have a tutor present for... From what I recall, Gozaburo was responsible for almost all of the boy's schooling."
Katsuya nodded slightly, a little taken aback by the revelation that 'money-bags' didn't start out that way. But how did that factor into being such an ass? Though maybe that was this 'Gozaburo' guy's fault... Probably rubbed him the wrong way, or just convinced him that other people weren't worth his time or some crap like that. "Hnnn... Well. Tha's somethin' new. Uh..." Blinking, he tried to think of something to ask Tanaka about that wouldn't sound too strange. Or stalkerish. Or... Well anything that wasn't newspaper fodder really. Even though that was kinda what he needed. "Say, what was he like back then, Kaiba I mean?" A jerk? He'd bet he was!
"Well," Tanaka began, silent for a moment before answering. "Before I answer that Jonouchi-kun," the elderly man said with a quizzical expression. "How exactly do you know Mokuba-kun? You seem to be far closer to Kaiba-san's age from what I can tell..." That was always a good point. He guessed. (Wasn't that weird was it?)
He blinked. "Er... Kaiba invited me over f'r somethin," he began, attempting to keep it as vague as possible, "And I ended up shoutin' at him for ignorin' his brother... So I ended up spending th' afternoon with Mokuba instead..." Now that he said it out loud, it sounded kind of pathetic.
Rather than the expected frown, this instead elicited another laugh from Tanaka.
"Oi," he said with a growl, "What's so funny about that?"
He shook his head, quickly calming himself. "Oh nothing, nothing... The very image of Kaiba-san rejecting his brother like that..." He fell silent, smile vanishing all too quickly. "Though I suppose that given his behavior after those few weeks... I can't say I have much else to compare it to after all..." What was he muttering about..?
Katsuya frowned slightly. "Heh..." Idly, he glanced at a clock that was on the wall behind Tanaka, inwardly wincing as he realized he would have to leave in only a few minutes. "What 'few weeks'? What, was Kaiba not always a jerk 'r somethin?" Blasphemy! Lies! It was against the laws of nature! (Wasn't it?)
Tanaka blinked, before responding. "Or 'something'... You see Jonouchi-kun," he said seriously, "When I first met the Kaiba brothers, they were very close. Extremely close actually... One would not be seen without the other outside of classes; to be frank, one could say that not even two peas in a pod were closer than they. Though time outside of classes was considerably rare, so I suppose that could have been a factor in their relationship... Nonetheless," he continued, "There was always something hidden there, something incredibly private that I could never hope to grasp. Not in all my years of teaching." Before he explained more, he sighed. "How does Kaiba-san sound? He's doing well I presume?" Er... How was he supposed to know? (Wait, he was talking about him, of course.)
Mentally shrugging that off, he snorted. "Feh! Aside from an apparent lack of sleep?" Not that he noticed earlier, not until Mokuba mentioned it. Though now that he thought about it, it did explain the sudden silence. "As high-n-mighty as ever. Acts like he rules the world, jerk," he said with a scowl, not caring at the moment if Tanaka's opinions matched his own. (Though the man seemed to be giving a humored smile if that was any consolation) Now that he thought about it though... Eh, whatever. "Even when he isn't actin' like it, he still sounds like a smug creep!" It was really, really hard not to swear in front of this guy, at least with Kaiba on the brain.
The old man smiled wryly, shaking his head. "I see... To tell the truth, he used to sound completely different." At Katsuya's 'nyeh?' expression, he clarified. "These 'few weeks' that I'm speaking of... I'm sharing this with you only because I trust you not to share it with anyone else, understand?" Um. Ok. He hadn't gotten that kind of trust before, not outside of Yugi but... Ok. Tanaka waited for the teen to nod silently, before nodding in return. "When Kaiba-san was 14 you see, rather, right before it, he sounded quite young. In fact," he said with a nostalgic chuckle, "One could almost say his voice was 'feminine'. It didn't even give a crack, which was apparently, given what happened, a fact that annoyed his father to no end... Regardless of the standard path a voice would take around that time." As Katsuya continued to listen in confused silence (Voices... Kaiba with a lady voice... Uh...), the man went on. "On Kaiba-san's birthday, I was given a notice to take the next number of weeks off. It was the first time I had ever been told such a thing, so needless to say, I was shocked. Particularly when, after all that time, I was given notice not to allow him to partake in any oral activities for the next two weeks. Apparently," he muttered, "His voice had been strained by some sort of activity, and it was now healing."
He frowned. What the hell was this old man getting at... What, did Kaiba randomly have a shouting match or something? (He both could and couldn't see that actually. Huh. Weird.)
Tanaka continued, giving an almost regretful sigh. "During this time, the brothers were close as ever of course. Occasionally, Mokuba-kun would slip into the class as I taught his older brother; sometimes, I wonder if that was the only time they ever got with each other..." He drifted off, before shaking his head. "However, during that time, I didn't see what it was that Kaiba-san had completely bandaged around his throat. So as you can likely guess," he said as he rubbed his head, "It was a complete surprise when two weeks later, the bandages came off- and my student, who had given absolutely no signs of any vocal progression, was suddenly speaking with the voice of a young adult male. No cracks, no stumbling... It was flawless, as though he had sounded like this all his life. Classes continued as usual of course, but I couldn't help but notice that in the place of the bandages he wore a collared shirt, or a turtleneck. It was almost as though," Tanaka slowly said, the teen across from him wondering if he was talking to himself or not, "As though he was hiding something..."
"Wait..." Katsuya shook his head, eyebrows furrowed in his continuing confusion. Hiding something on his neck... Wasn't there something on the TV he passed to get to school about that? Some kind of operation a guy had gone through because of voice issues? "You're sayin that Kaiba's voice... 'S from a surgery?" That... That couldn't... That couldn't be possible right? He swallowed, unconsciously grabbing at his throat at the thought. "His dad had his voice changed just cause it hadn' broken yet..? Tha' what yer sayin'?" Heck, disappearing for a few weeks to come back with a bandaged throat, that had to say something right? At least, when it was completely hidden, right?
He nodded, sighing again. "Indeed. Though... I can't be completely certain... After all, I'm hardly sure that's legal but... That day, I noticed for the first time that when Mokuba came in, he was instantly turned away. You should have seen the poor child's face," Tanaka said as he shook his head. "As though someone had murdered his brother right in front of him. Mokuba-kun never came into the room during classes again after that, and from what I could tell, something had snapped in his brother; something small, but just enough so that it affected... Well, to be perfectly blunt... Everything," he said with almost a whisper.
As Tanaka fell silent, Katsuya found himself looking at the clock again and standing up. "Er... Th-Thanks for yer time, Tanaka-san..." He bowed slightly, turning away. "I gotta go so..." The teen gave one last look at the professor, a clearly forced smile in place. "I'll keep this b'tween us, alrigh'?" Us and the paper, he added mentally, a knot forming in his stomach with the thought. Them, the paper, and the teacher reading it. Maybe he should nix that last part of the 'interview'.
Leaving the library, Katsuya wondered what kind of events he'd set in motion by talking to the old man- he seemed almost... Haunted after that. Like the corpse of someone he'd killed had been pulled up before him and the man had been forced to fess up to what he'd done. And now it was his problem.
Walking home, Katsuya had never felt so cold in the middle of April ever before in his life.
As Katsuya sat a block away from Kaiba's house, he wondered what possessed him to go there. He had enough, more than enough, for his assignment to be finished. In fact, he thought with a frown, he'd actually handed it in already, and had come to the conclusion that he was still going to fail Japanese. Namely because, in the end, all he'd really succeeded in doing was revealing a few facts that most people probably knew anyways (He never really did pay attention to pop-culture after all), and likely raise a few really fucking weird questions. Not to mention his guilty conscience had eventually convinced him to hold back half of the information he'd gathered to begin with.
And yet, he thought idly, he was still standing here. In the now setting sun. Outside of Kaiba's mansion. The fact was though, he really wanted to know what that briefcase thing was all about. Another sigh, and he dropped his bag and jacket in a bush along the fence before rubbing his arm. When was the last time he'd broken into a place, one year, two years? He didn't think he'd done anything since Hirutani's gang but you never knew. He gulped, looking around nervously as he slipped into the alley created between the fence and the street itself. Fence being a loose term- more like wall really.
Nonetheless, the blond thought as he scaled it with considerable difficulty to land behind a tree in the mansion's yard, he hoped he wasn't out of practice. Especially since he would have to do all of this with one still broken arm. Not that he couldn't, given the bet he'd taken years before to climb a tree with one arm and leg. That was hard. However back then, he'd still had two good arms... If he hit anything, he was in for a world of serious hurt.
Now then, he thought to himself as he looked around the tree. It sucked that he'd lied to Yugi about what he was doing, but the fact was, this whole Kaiba thing was really, really starting to bug him. Not to mention, he added mentally as he watched a guard to his round through the yard before hopping into a nearby bush, the guy had been returning his drifting stares during gym with a really, really, REAAAAALLY scary look that wasn't smug, or angry or... Damn it, he didn't know what it was, but it reminded him of all the wrong things to say the least. Like... Like confusion or... Well, some kind of emotion that he was pretty sure Kaiba didn't feel. (Actually, he was beginning to wonder if the jerk had emotions.)
He pushed a few leaves aside from his face, looking at the cameras installed along the house. Sheesh, Katsuya thought as he ducked back into the bush. This place was a damned fortress. How the hell was he supposed to make it to one of those open second story windows? He waited for the motion sensing camera to hone on the watchman as he walked past, before quickly and (Hopefully) silently making it to the next bush. Right, he thought as he scaled the tree beside it, taking cover in the leaves. So. Ground obviously wasn't gonna work with all the camera's and guards but- He froze, looking past the trees in the fading light as he spotted one near a window.
And of course, all of the windows on the upper floor save like... Three, were open. He grinned, hardly believing his luck. Yes, he thought as he slowly fell back down to 'bush hop' between camera rounds to that same tree. Yes! Now he could just hop in and with luck, find something to explain all this weird crap! All he'd have to do was make it to that tree without getting caught!
As to what he expected to find, he wasn't sure but eh. It wasn't like it wouldn't be good, whatever it was. Well, he added mentally as he waited for the guard to distract the camera again before scaling the tree. It couldn't be mind crushingly horrific at least... Right?
Fairly glad for the fact that said tree had branches that just about touched the ground, he quietly made his way up through the branches. His cheer however, was cut rather short. Katsuya pushed the leaves of the tree aside, scowling as he was met with glass. "Damn it," he hissed under his breath, wincing as he accidentally hit a branch with his cast. Ow. Ow fuck that hurt. For a moment, he heard whispering below, and he tensed. Shit shit shit shit shit if he was caught he was so screwed..! He watched as flashlights began heading his way, screwing his eyes shut until the sounds vanished. Instead, he realized with a frown, the shouts had... Increased. What... He frowned, shaking his head. Whatever, he thought. It couldn't mean anything right..?
He turned to look at the window again, sighing. Man. This meant he'd need to find something e- He froze as sounds came from in the room, a light suddenly pouring into what he could now identify as a bedroom. S-Shit, he realized, this was Kaiba's fucking bathroom! No wonder the window was shut! Katsuya froze where he sat, completely tense as Kaiba's figure came out into the room. Well, he thought with a sigh, at least this meant he'd probably get to see something in the room that cleared things... Up? The blond's eyes widened as a robe fell to the ground. Oh. Fuck.
Katsuya couldn't contain his shouts, falling out of the tree as the light from the other room illuminated more than enough to confuse the teen thoroughly. Shouts came from below as he fell to the ground with a sick, loud thud noise, the window he'd been looking into opening as well. The last thing he saw as his vision spun was a series of guards appearing to hold guns to his face. Thankfully... Not shooting, he idly told his throbbing head as he began to black out. The last thing he heard was, from above in the window, Kaiba's usual insulting voice telling them not to shoot, seeing as how they were obviously too late as it was. Thanks Kaiba, he appreciated being kept alive.
His last thoughts however, once Kaiba's voice had come over again, were more concerned with what he'd seen when Kaiba dropped the robe to likely set up a shower.
Namely a pair of small, but very much natural breasts, and a lack of anything male below what had been visibly curved and (he hated to admit it) very... Hot... hips. Actually, everything was... Pretty... Hot. Damn it... Those words should not be entering his mind right now... And definitely not about that person. Definitely not.
And yet, he thought as he finally welcomed whatever sleep he was getting through the hazed pain, there was no doubt about it.
Seto Kaiba was... A girl.
And he was so glad he'd already handed that report in now, even if he wasn't likely to see what he got on it.
The first thing he saw when he woke up was a blinding, mind numbing light. This cleared quickly however as he blinked, attempting to move only to find himself in more pain. Katsuya winced, recalling his fall from the tree. Fuck, where was he anywa-
Shit. The tree. The tree that had been in Seto Fucking Kaiba's yard and oh yea, 'he' was a 'she'. Screwing his eyes shut, he wondered if he could possibly just die right there, before a clicking noise drew his attention to the side.
He probably shouldn't have turned, now that he thought about it. "Hi-HIHHH!" Katsuya jerked back, the barrel of a gun held almost directly against his face. Talk about answering to his thoughts really quickly! As he attempted to regain his breath, he looked at the one who was holding it.
It was Kaiba. The woman was wearing pajamas now but... Ohhhh god, he thought as his face flushed red again, why was it that now that there were boobs there everything made so much sense... He should stop thinking of the boobs. Now.
Seto's voice (Which sounded so very, very wrong now. Not to mention less 'manly' and more 'hoarse woman's voice tired of fucking speaking'. Wait... So it wasn't a surgery? That made things better actually.) snapped the blond from his thoughts, as did his... Rather her glare. "It took you long enough, Mutt." Kaiba's voice was filled with more loathing than he had ever thought possible, with a hefty dose of I WILL KILL YOU in it. It was actually almost as frightening as... Well... When he thought that professor guy he and Honda spent the night being chased by was a zombie.
Now that was fucking scary. He swallowed, looking around the empty room in an attempt to look at something other than the barrel of a gun. "Ehe... Heh... Y-Yah know," he said nervously, having a feeling that attempting to argue with Kaiba for the moment would get a bullet through his skull for his efforts, "You look... A lot different than I expected. And... Sound different too..." He had a feeling that was the wrong thing to say, given that the gun was suddenly right against his temple. "Oh god..." Well shit, regardless of the fact that he wasn't one for 'I don't hit girls', he was just to beat for all this crap!
"Just. Shut. Up. MUTT." As Katsuya gulped audibly, he slowly turned to listen as Kaiba continued speaking. "Normally, I wouldn't hesitate to pull this trigger now, but lucky for you," she said with a sneer, "Not only do I know enough about you that I can make sure you won't say anything, but I'm actually wondering how the hell you made it to my bedroom window undetected with a broken arm!" She drew back, the gun held less-than-threateningly at the ceiling now as she narrowed her eyes. "So speak, or did your 'masters' not even teach you that trick?"
The blond sat up, growling. Alright, the dog joke had done it. Come on, Kaiba couldn't get away with murder, and he could take hi- her out with even one arm! YEA. "Kaiba... Gk!" The gun was quickly pointed back, and he swallowed again. Scratch that thought. Scratch all those thoughts. Right. Now. "Alrigh, alrigh'! I'll talk but... All I did was jump the fence and hide in the bushes..." Kinda pathetic actually.
Her eyes continued to narrow, the scowl a seemingly permanent fixture on the woman's face. "I have cameras, and guards Mutt. How did you do it?" Yes, how did he do that?
Katsuya tensed, drawing back against the headboard of the bed he was in. Idly wondering if this was how all 'prisoners of war' were treated by Kaiba, he frowned. "I told yah! The only other thing I did was wait for th' cameras to follow the guards! After that I was just looking for a way in!" Wait, he probably shouldn't have said that.
"And what for," she said with a snarl. "Besides the little unintentional peep show you found at my window? For which, just so you know, you WILL be punished for..."
Oh shit oh shit oh shit... Another swallow, before he muttered something under his breath.
Kaiba crossed her arms, body-contrasting voice giving off a low and unimpressed growl. "What was that, dog? I didn't hear you over the barking."
"I said I was wonderin' what the heck the briefcase thing was about alrigh'!" Fucking dog comments... He silently prayed that Kaiba didn't go too much deeper into this; if she found out that this all started with a makeup assignment for Japanese, he was not only royally FUCKED, but so was his teacher. And... Well, he kinda liked that teacher. "It was buggin' me..." Thankfully, this much was true at least.
The woman scoffed, crossing her legs. "Of course a mongrel like you would do something so stupid over that." She rolled her eyes, before re-aiming the gun at Katsuya's head. "Now then, seeing how that's over-"
"Nee-sama!" A panicked, half-ear piercing shout came through the air, a thunder of footsteps interrupting the woman. "Nee-" The pair turned as Mokuba ran in, a few maids running behind the boy worriedly. Katsuya had to blink a few times before he realized it was him- the boy was haggard, and looked as though he hadn't gotten any sleep for at least a week. Not to mention the tear-stains on his face. As the boy came in to look at the two, he frowned. "I mean," he said with a cough. "Nii-sama, what's going on here..?"
Another scoff, and she waved the maids off with a hand. The women appeared to freeze for a moment, before scurrying off to leave their employer with her business. "Just 'work' Mokuba," she said dismissively, before turning back to Katsuya. Her expression was cold, and almost so emotionless that for a brief moment, the blond thought his captor to be robotic. "Nothing more." Well fuck, he wasn't seriously going to die was he!
Mokuba looked between the two with an open mouth, as though about to say something. Katsuya however, decided to speak first, plucking up a small bit of courage with the boy's presence. "'S alright Mokuba," he said with a pained shrug. "I know about th' whole sister thing..." While the younger of the Kaiba's fixed the blond with a surprised, if not possibly impressed stare, his older sister's gaze merely hardened. He coughed awkwardly, before looking at Mokuba again. "Nyh... What happened to you though?" It felt much better to speak to the boy as if Kaiba wasn't there. Even if it likely increased his death sentence. A lot.
The boy was silent for a moment, looking at the ground. "...Yugi... He..." Before he could deign Katsuya's expression of shock and disbelieving horror with a response, he placed himself between Kaiba's gun and the blond. Frowning, the boy managed a false look of courage and determination. "But that's not the problem," he said tensely. "What I want to know is what's going on!" This kid... Had balls. Facing an armed Kaiba in his condition. (Granted, they were related but... Did that... Actually register with this guy, ER, girl's mind?)
For a moment, Katsuya wondered what the hell had happened that made it so that not seeing each other for a week wasn't more important than 'interrogating him'. For the moment however, not being shot in the face was a little higher on the priorities list though, so the blond decided to press the matter later. When the kid's older sister wasn't there. And... When he'd had some sleep, because his entire body was really sore now that he thought about it. Kaiba scoffed as Mokuba stood firm between them, but nonetheless put the gun down. "Hnp," she said with a scowl, evidently willing to humor the boy this time. "This MUTT managed to get past our clearly incompetent cameras and guards to make it to my bathroom window." The gaze intensified, Kaiba crossing her arms and clutching them in her fists tightly. "He then managed to get caught by falling out of the tree once he spotted me inside..."
She wasn't mentioning that he saw her naked. That was always good. Um, Mostly. At least. Bathroom still kind of implied something. Mokuba turned to look at Katsuya again, before turning back. "He made it past the cameras AND the guards?" At the disgruntled frown he received in response, he shrunk slightly. "Right... Well..." He turned to look at the bed-ridden teen, crossing his arms. "Even I have to admit that's pretty impressive..." Well. He did have a broken arm, so it was either 'impressive' or... Security was seriously worth crap here.
"Impressive isn't my word for it Mokuba," the boy's sister said curtly. Aha! They had the same thoughts- Wait, that wasn't good.
Mokuba appeared to ignore his sister for once, shrugging to the woman's surprise. "Maybe so, but doesn't that say something about what a professional could do? We need to up our security Nee-sama! I told you that!" There was some grumbling, and Katsuya raised an eyebrow at the exchange. He turned back, smirking. "Hey, Jonouchi," he said with an odd look in his eyes. "You're the school's exception to the 'no jobs rule' right?"
"Yea, tha's ri-" He tensed up, scowling. "Hey, how th' hell did you know that!" After all, that was probably not a common subject that these two shared.
Behind the boy, Seto rolled her eyes. "Please Mutt, you can tell just looking at you." Ignoring the questioning shout about his appearance, Mokuba rolled his own eyes.
"Oh come on," he said with a groan. "Just listen! Now then, Jonouchi," he continued, smirking again. "What would you say to working with the security cameras during the after school hours of the week? Maybe even an evening on the weekend?" ...What.
As Katsuya's eyes practically broke out of their sockets (He was being offered a job at KAIBA'S? Because he unintentionally peeped on her? Who he didn't even know was a 'her' until now?), Seto snarled. "Excuse me," she said as she stood up from the chair. "You're offering this moron to WORK here?" Yessss. Yes Mokuba was, and he was very very happy about it. ...Or he would be, if he didn't die soon.
Mokuba shrugged again, turning to his sister. "Of course... Besides maybe getting things done with the security, it might help with 'other things'," he said. Katsuya idly noticed that the boy had purposely placed emphasis on those last two words... But he couldn't tell what that really meant. It didn't sound good but...
It must have been something though, for at that moment the woman smirked. Although when he thought again, anything that got that reaction from Kaiba wasn't likely good for him, "Alright then," she said, walking over to the door. "Do what you want..." As she left the room, she sent a narrowed glare to Katsuya before continuing. "But keep in mind that dogs who can't learn to obey their masters will find themselves on the streets without a home. And as for you," she said as she turned to her brother. "We'll talk about where you've been later." With that, the woman left, presumably to continue to her bed, The chilling tone she'd used still hung in the air however, leaving a cold room in its place.
As the woman left, Katsuya turned to watch Mokuba climb onto the bed with a miserable expression. "Hey," the blond said hesitantly. "That job... Are yah..." He choked, attempting to prop himself up on his left arm before continuing. "Are yah serious?" Hell, he couldn't be right?
He nodded. "Course," he said with a detached shrug. Damn, that was awesome. "Keeps you alive doesn't it? Now that Nee-sama has leverage over Yu... You after all." He leaned back in the chair, giving a shudder. Leverage over 'Yu'? He was going to pray that didn't mean Yugi and just nod.
"Hey kid," the teen said as he got closer to the boy. "You alrigh'? I mean..." He swallowed, before continuing. "If you've been gone for a week... How did... I mean, yah said Yugi. What did he..." Was Yugi even capable of anything? Seriously? Because... Mokuba looked broken to say the least. And while he didn't even hesitate in the thought that Yugi wouldn't hurt a speck of dust... That look was genuine. You could not fake that, not matter how hard you tried.
The boy sighed, shaking his head. "I wanted to... Prove to her that I could be strong too..." He sniffed, wiping his eyes as his listener frowned. "I wanted her to look at me and smile like we used too back then. So I thought, if I won a game against Yugi..." A choking noise, and Mokuba curled in on himself with wide and distant eyes. "It.. It was so dark... I couldn't see anyone, or hear anyone, and no one was coming for me... I called for my big sister," he said as he cried, shaking at the memories of the last week. "I called for someone, anyone, but no one came..! No one could come..! No one..."
Mokuba tensed as he was pulled over by one healthy arm and one relatively uninjured one. "Hey," Katsuya said, using comforting 'big brother' tones that he hadn't used since he was younger than 10. "I's alrigh, ok? Everythin's alrigh... Whatever happened, 's over now..." Damn it, Katsuya thought as the boy clung to him, acting the age he should have been if not possibly younger. Everything was so messed up now. Yugi forgetting things, Yugi's forgetting what was happening during a supposed match with Seto, that match spurring Mokuba to create one, said end result doing... This to Mokuba. Seto being a girl, him seeing Seto NAKED, him getting a JOB for seeing Seto naked... (Kaiba was showing up an awful lot in these messed up memories... And he was not liking where his thoughts were going.)
As he held the boy close, Katsuya felt himself stare off to the wall, unsure of what to do. All he could think of really, was that he regretted ever wishing for more excitement in his life.
AN: If you give a Katsuya an assignment... He'll probably do a lot of weird shit to get it done if he really gets into it enough. Thankfully however, he won't ask for anything further than that, not like that greedy little rat you gave a cookie the other day. We all know how THAT went down.
Before anyone goes 'I thought there was a surgery?'... Well, aside from that being REALLY AWKWARD. (That would be akin to making Kaiba transgendered; while I'm sure there are headcanons out there and similar, this isn't the place for it, and it would probably be insulting to a lot of people if I tried it.) It's as Tanaka said. ILLEGAL. No matter how much money Gozaburo has, no doctor in the world will do this. Too dangerous, too pricey, and most of all it involves a child. Not to mention, Gozaburo's going with the cheaper solution here, and the one that is much much much easier to hide.
It's also conveniently the one that I don't need Gozaburo to re-read Seto's medical records for. Because quite frankly, if he actually bothered to do digging (Which he didn't, or so the fanfic says right now), he'd find out (very quickly) that son is not son. Son is daughter.
There's a limit to protecting/watching over your brother at an orphanage Seto! You've crossed it! (Even though that's my fault. Ohoho~)
And to clarify the end here; Mokuba just got out of the penalty game he was subjected to in the manga. I always wonder what kind of therapy these people need... Because quite frankly, you never find out how long the punishment lasts, and if the Kaiba brothers are any sign, those penalty games don't always work. They make things WORSE. Needless to say, subjecting a young child to that... Well shit. The ends really justify the means for early Yami Yugi, don't they!