My Home is Yours
In the aftermath of that evening, a lot had changed for Katsuya. Granted, he thought idly as he put his shoes in the box at the school building with a frown, a lot had changed recently thanks to that 'one night', but really he decided, sighing as Kaiba walked past with a warning glare, that was beside the point. Repressing a shudder, Katsuya grabbed his bag and repressed an aggravated groan. Damn it, why did things have to be this way? Confusing, confusing... His faith wasn't wavering, but because of that things seemed to have gotten even worse! He knew that it would get better in the end- hell, he certainly hoped it would get better. But in the end... Well...
After calming Mokuba down, two things had happened really. One, he'd been shown the security room he'd work in, along with being handed a few things he'd need for the job. Essentially, he was going to be paid 1000 Yen, 250 more than the average pay, per hour to sit at a desk and make sure no one weird came on the camera screen. Which quite honestly, as a really big jump from his usual work. Granted, Mokuba had said once his arm healed he'd be switching for grounds-duty occasionally... But whatever; nothing he couldn't handle after all. He had a job again, he was getting paid, and maybe after he had all of his dad's debts paid off they could actually be a family again.
Speaking of healing, he thought as he headed for class. The kid had managed to pull a fast one on him with some sort of hidden slip in the form he'd signed; namely that if he was severely injured (a category including broken arms), he was essentially forced to stay at Kaiba's house. At first, he figured this was just another way of keeping him quiet... However, he decided as he sat down in the class room, it could also just be Mokuba being weird, like he had the day they met. It meant sneaking into his house once the arm was healed but... Well the paycheck would probably distract his old man long enough.
Until then, he tried not to think about why the hell Mokuba wanted him to stay at the house so bad.
Leaning back on his chair, he jumped slightly as Yugi came over. "Good Morning, Jonouchi-kun," he said in his usual cheery tone. For a brief, very brief moment he hadn't answered. He'd just stood there, frozen, looking at the kid that was his best friend and remembered what Mokuba had cried out during his emotional breakdown. Which brought him to fact number two. 'Dark', he'd said, Katsuya not knowing what the hell he was talking about. 'So dark... Dark...'. It wasn't until he'd asked about the kid's favorite game, CapMon, that he'd really figured out what dark meant though.
Trapped in a CapMon capsule... How the hell was that even possible? For a week especially; apparently it'd been as easy as handing him the food 'through' the wall, which no one else had seen, but even so. Mokuba had completely believed he was stuck in a tiny egg-shaped capsule for all that time, and he had believed on top of this that there was no way for him to escape. The boy would probably not be touching that game for a while... Not at all. As Katsuya stared at his friend however he blinked, before shaking it off with a small laugh and smile. No way... No damn way Yugi could do something like that. It sounded so impossible, so god-damned bizarre that it had to be a nightmare, and yet... And yet there was something in that kid's voice that just couldn't convince him he was lying either. It was just so... So...
"Mornin' Yugi," he said with his usual, slang filled accent, smile widening despite current worries gathering in the back of his mind. "How are yah?" Hopefully his voice didn't completely betray his feelings right now. Because that would be really bad.
The boy beamed, apparently missing the depressive mood his friend had briefly held. "I'm great Jonouchi-kun!" For a moment however, Yugi looked slightly saddened despite this- And for a brief few seconds, Katsuya wondered if he'd caught the pause in his words. In the end however.. No. "It was kinda boring with out you yesterday," the boy began. "Honda-kun kept on staring at passing girls, so Anzu-chan spent most of the night hitting him on the back of the head... I ended up just watching it over and over again, aha..." Oh alright. So it was just that then. Yugi blinked, before looking back from the ground to Katsuya. "That reminds me," he said with an encouraging smile. "How did the job interview go?"
"Er..." He blinked, completely caught off guard for a moment. Job interview? He didn't even know he'd have one that d- Ohhhh yea. He'd told Yugi he was goin' for a job interview that evening. And... Ironically that kinda, sorta happened. Boy... Fate had a hell of a way with things didn't it? Well, he figured with a laugh, no time like the present. "It was great! You'll never guess where I'm workin'!"
A voice from behind Yugi appeared, and Katsuya turned as Anzu showed up. "Hn? You got a job Jonouchi-kun..?"
Honda as well came over, rubbing his head. "About time man... But who the hell hired you with that thing," he asked, pointing at the cast on Katsuya's arm with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously, I thought you were only getting hired for labor work."
He laughed slightly, grin still in place. Yeaaaaa... Labor work. Well! Regardless of location, it was still pretty decent pay; compared to the usual costs, he might stand a chance at salvaging the bills now, not to mention stave off the lone-sharks. "Got a job on a security team," he said with a grin, though it was partially forced as he continued. "At rich-boy's mansion..." Shortly after he said 'rich boy', he tensed slightly, as though having been smacked over the head. Right he told himself, not a boy not a- wait, he was supposed to pretend she was a boy anyways, so 'still a boy, still a boy'... Er. Shit. This was hard. This would probably be even weirder once the lady pulled her weird voice changing act. Damn it. And she was in the classroom too so...
He chose not to even think of that for the moment, instead watching the reactions of his friends.
The three balked, Yugi blinking a few times as the other two took over in terms of shocked responses. "Wait... What?" Honda was first, scowling. "You got a job with him? That asshole?" Katsuya ducked slightly, as his friend's voice had almost certainly reached Kaiba's ears- in fact, given Yugi's worried glance, said teen was currently looking over at him now. And the look was probably not something he would want to see; actually, it was probably best he not turn around for the entire day if he valued his life in the end.
Granted, since Mokuba had hired him he couldn't really get fired for this, as Kaiba wasn't about to fire his brother and replace him with someone that might actually argue about worse things... And Mokuba wasn't budging on this job offer, something that appeared to actually disturb the elder of the siblings to no end. Still. The silver lining on the cloud was really tempting right now, given that his next option was returning to paper delivery. "H-Hey," he said, rubbing his head with a nervous laugh. "I know he's pretty out there but... Could y' try not t' dis my boss when he's right there?"
Anzu blinked, looking over at Kaiba a moment before turning back. "HE hired you? I thought you two hated each other Jonouchi. Not to mention," she added with a narrow-eyed frown, "How is he the one who hired you if he's in class?" YES. That question! Aha. Well. If he could answer that properly without getting everyone shot, he probably would.
For the moment however, he just shrugged it off, shaking his head as though it were nothing at all. "Long story, trust me," Katsuya said with a slight yawn. Damn it, he hadn't gotten any sleep last night, he muttered in the back of his mind. Oh well. "Anyways," Katsuya continued to mutter, "He technically isn't the one that hired me, but he's still my boss in a way..." As the others shrugged, the blond looked down at Yugi a moment. "Oh hey, tha' reminds me... Kaiba's kid brother, Mokuba... He mentioned you at one point Yug, what was that about?" Please please please don't say anything about forgetting...
His friend jumped slightly, eyes wide as if remembering something rather horrific before frowning. "I'm not actually sure," he finally said after a short bout of silence. "He'd forced me into playing CapMon with him but..." the boy paused a second, before continuing. "We never did..." Looking at Yugi's eyes, there was no trace of any deception. Hell, Katsuya told himself as the teacher came in to begin the class, there was never any trace in those eyes. Yugi was innocent, childlike. He just wasn't capable of harm. Yet the 'magic memory jump before a game' still held true. Damn it. Yugi wasn't lying, that was for sure...
And yet, he thought with a shudder, Mokuba's reaction was... Far too haunting, far too real to be a lie as well. It was so confusing... The thoughts ended up transferring even as he left the others at school's end to head off to Kaiba's mansion for his first night at work, leaving his friends with a slightly false smile.
He really liked his friends, and saw them as nothing else but... Why did it feel like something was going to go terribly wrong sooner or later? To the point where things like Hirutani became a laughing matter?
Work was pretty cool, he thought to himself a few days later. In fact, he decided with a grin as he left the doctor's office, it was really cool. Mostly because he had his cast off... Not that this had anything to do with his job.
Katsuya flexed his right arm with a grin, intending to take his first day off with his healed arm to every advantage possible. "Alrigh'!" He cheered as he ran beside Yugi, the boy grinning as he ran slightly to keep up with him. "Finally rid of that thing!" He would never ever see it again! Never! Which was good because he'd been getting a little tired of the invisible glares he got at Kaiba's house; actually seeing the woman when she was pissed was one thing after all. But for the entire time he was there it felt almost like she was just leering at him from behind the last corner he turned or something.
Not that he was letting that bring him down when he'd just gotten out of course. "This is great," Yugi said as he ran beside his friend. "You can finally start writing things properly, and play duel monsters again!" The amount of time the pair had for gaming had decreased considerably since the broken arm, and at the moment, the friendship was feeling considerably renewed with the cast's removal. Though he wasn't so sure about Duel Monsters at the moment...
He nodded, before turning to his friend and holding his completely honest grin in place. As days had passed during his short, albeit forced stay at Kaiba's, the topic of Yugi had faded fairly quickly. It seemed almost as though Mokuba was attempting to distract him with something else whenever he got off work even, the boy pulling him off for some kind of game until it was time for the younger of the pair to turn in. Amidst all this however, it was almost as though he was planning something, something that continued pushing against the more paranoid areas of the back of his mind from just a year and a bit prior... In the end though, he hadn't bothered acting on those theories. Mostly because the fact was, the kid truly believed that his best friend had somehow trapped him in the equivalent of a giant egg. So he could understand why the topic should probably be dropped, along with why there would be looks just shy of what could be called loathing when the topic returned. "Hey," he decided, continuing the conversation he had with Yugi as he shook the thoughts from mind. "You wanna go to the arcade? Yah know, t' celebrate?"
The boy beamed, immediately nodding in response. "Hah! Do I ever!"
As they approached the place, Katsuya flexed his right arm a few times more before pushing the door open to let them both in. "Heheheee... Now that my right arm's in workin' order again, I'll have a clean shot at beating 'KAI's records!"
Yugi blinked. "Kai..?" The unsaid question was a little obvious really. 'Who was Kai..?' "Are those the initials on the machines..?"
He put his hands in his pockets, nodding. "Yea- an' he holds a complete monopoly over the arcade th' jerk!" Katsuya gestured over to a nearby shooting game, where 'KAI's high score was currently flashing to an annoyed player. "An' since all these are connected throughout th' country wirelessly, this KAI guy is the best gamer in all Japan! Racin', fightin', you name it!" He grinned, moving over to one of the fighting games and continuing. "So... If I beat 'm, that'll make me the best gamer in Japan!" And then people would be complaining about 'JOU'! Or something along those lines.
A pair of kids burst into a fit of laughter as they passed, catching the last few words of the conversation. "Seriously," one of them said, eyebrows raised high in amusement. "You think you can beat Kaiba-sama at these games?"
The shorter of the teens blinked, while Katsuya reeled back. Oh come on... "Kaiba," Yugi began in obvious surprise. "As in Seto Kaiba-kun," he asked politely. Katsuya in the meantime was inwardly groaning; it was her, he told himself as he winced. He would have to beat HER. Damn it damn it damn it, she would have the top scores in all of Japan, wouldn't she? Obsessive bitch.
The boys nodded, ignoring Katsuya's grimace and mutterings as they answered Yugi's question. "That's right," they began eagerly. "The older of the Kaiba brother's is a gaming GENIUS!" The one beside the first grinned, continuing to mutter away with praise as Katsuya frowned. Huh. Kaiba was oddly famed among small children, wasn't she...
"Kaiba-sama's our hero," the first of the children was cheering, face red with what was likely childish adoration and awe. "Although," he said, trailing off as he shared a glance with his friend. "Recently, he's stopped playing the games here..."
The other one shrugged. "Probably because it's so boring... There's no opponent worthy of Kaiba-sama after all!"
The first boy smirked, nodding. "Got that right," he said as he looked up at Katsuya. "If you plan to beat any of these scores, you'll be here forever! Though if you're interested," he added with a somewhat thoughtful expression. "I heard a rumor recently..."
The teens blinked, sharing a glance. A rumor..? "What kinda rumor," Katsuya finally asked, voice as loud as ever. "C'mon, spit it out!" Damn it, he'd only heard the word 'rumor' and he was latching on! What was he a girl?
Don't think of that.
The boy's grins widened, short laughter coming from both. "Supposedly," the second began, "Kaiba-sama has been working on 'The Ultimate Game'..! Something the world has never seen ever before..!" 'Never before seen' eh..? As the pair suddenly turned to see something and run off, Katsuya blinked, briefly staring up at the ceiling in thought. Hn.
"Ultimate game..?" And boy, didn't those kids leave at a convenient time! Now this would be bugging him for the next month... And he had just gotten out from under Kaiba's roof! Not that he would be attempting to ask the woman anyway... And he doubted Mokuba had a clue, given how much time the boy had with his sister to talk about anything to put it lightly.
Yugi looked up at him, blinking as well. "You know anything about that Jonouchi-kun? I mean, you do work for him..."
He snorted, shaking his head. "Yea I work for 'm, but I only report to his kid brother remember? I don't have a clue what those two were goin' on about..." Katsuya growled as he turned to one of the games, before cracking his knuckles. "I'll show those twerps," he said with a scowl, before grinning. "C'mon Yug', lets play some games!" Linking 'KAI' to Kaiba just had him more determined!
The shorter one nodded, smiling. "Yea!"
It really figured he thought as he trudged home, that he didn't come close to beating ANY of the scores. "Maaaaan," he said with a groan, kicking a can as he came up to the house. "What's with that lady an' being the so called King-a-everythin' anyways?" He adjusted his grip on his bag, before looking up the stairs to his apartment with a gulp. Here it went... It'd been a week and two days since he'd been home, his dad would be livid. With luck, he'd be asleep... There was a crunch of cans from inside, and Katsuya winced. Nope. Not asleep.
Maybe he should stay out for- He shook his head, steeling himself. What would come would come, he'd just take it like a man, as he always had. Sides, he told himself as he walked up the steps, keeping a careful eye out for his old man, the worst that had happened in the past had just healed over right? Couldn't get any worse than that! He'd just have to dodge the bottles and whatever else was in the way and get into his room as fast as possible. Nothing. Would happen.
As he walked into the room, he didn't know how wrong he was. "There yeh are," the drunk slur of his father stated from around the corner, Katsuya hurriedly ducking as a bottle flew his way. Holy shit that was fast..! "Where th' hell have yah been these past days," his father moaned, half hanging off the kitchen counter across him. Well. Earning money for the bills mostly. But... "I try an' cook... Try an' cook, so tha' you c'n eat," he continued to slur, pointing the frying pan he held almost accusingly forward. "An' instead yer gone f'r a week... An... An..."
He thought he'd defended himself pretty well in terms of excuses; very well actually, given the brief moment his father stumbled forward in his ramble about how worried he was. But then the frying pan ended up flying out of the man's hands... And as he fell over the railing to the stairway of his house, a faded scream coming through his ears as the blow that the pan left on his stomach pushed him back, Katsuya didn't know how damn lucky he was that he'd forgotten his textbooks with Yugi again. Or that the neighbors had thrown out their futons, leaving them piled at the bottom of the stairs. And it was especially lucky that he'd only been semi-conscious falling down... Apparently he clipped his head on the railing as he went, rendering him unable to hear anything but dull white noise for a few moments as he keeled backward. Nonetheless, he had to idly thank whoever sent the sirens as he swam in and out of consciousness, the worried cries of realization from his father only dully acknowledged by his currently stunned brain. Either way... Whether it was Yugi borrowing a cellphone or a moment of sobriety from his depressed dad, he was glad to pass out knowing that he wouldn't end up sleeping there.
Something told him that if they hadn't, getting to work on time the next day would have been the least of his issues.
White light. Katsuya squinted as he blinked against the harshness of it, idly wondering how many times he'd wake up to this before he could just sleep and get up in his normal, tiny-ass bedroom for once. But no.
He had to be here. In a fucking hospital bed. He blearily looked around, before frowning. Hang on what? Hospital? Who called him in? His dad might have if he'd gotten sobered up but he was more likely to pull him back into the apartment and lay him on the couch to recover or something in the end; so that couldn't be right. Then again...
That's right he thought to himself with a frown, he'd heard someone shout as he fell. So then... Yugi? The teen shot up at the thought, before instantly regretting it as he grabbed his middle. GH-! "Achkkk..." Oh god... Oh god his stomach... It was on fire...
"Yea," came a familiar voice beside the bed, sounding notably annoyed. "I wouldn't try sitting if I were you." Katsuya turned, frowning as he recognized Mokuba's usual mop of hair. Him..? Why was he here though? He opened his mouth to speak, before noting that the boy was currently the only one in the room. Alright. That was even weirder he thought to himself. Yugi was the one that called an ambulance for him wasn't he? So why was Mokuba here then? He was pulled from his thoughts as the boy began speaking again, a thick scowl set over his face. "You know," he growled darkly, "Generally when you have something fixed, you don't break it the day it's fully repaired!" Oh come on, not his fault... The boy sighed as Katsuya again winced, before continuing on. "Jonouchi... Do you know how close to dead you were? Two words, Jonouchi," the boy stated with a frown. "Internal. Bleeding. What hit you, a truck?" Close?
He grunted, wincing as he tried to move again before giving up and laying back on the bed. "Ehh... Ground I think..." And a crappy futon, from three floors up. Which in hindsight, probably saved his ass. ...Wow, he really had some fucked up luck didn't he? And besides that, what was it that Mokuba just said? Internal bleeding? He didn't break anything, but he managed that?
Mokuba rolled his eyes at the 'smart' remark, shaking his head. "Tch. Well, whatever I guess. I had my guys get your stuff from that place and move them to mine," he told him with a grin, watching Katsuya's face shift into an expression of horror.
"H-HEH?" He stared at the boy, shaking his head. What- "Are... What the hell are yah sayin," he protested, eyes wide. "I can't move out! I gotta pay off the bills first, get th' loan sharks off my Dad's case-" He froze, noticing that Mokuba's look was becoming increasingly murderous as he spoke and drawing back. "Nyhhh..." That look was way too familiar to a certain other relative of this kid...
But come on, wasn't this just a little bit overkill..! This would only make things worse, not better, his dad was worried damn it! Nonetheless his only answer was a furious scowl, the boy grinding his teeth in more than obvious rage. "Tch... I don't care," he said, shaking his head. "Do you ever even think about what's in that place?" Not really... But evidently Mokuba had decided that the bottles on the floor along with the sorry state of most of their furniture made for a reason to pull him out, regardless of what he thought. The boy's tone, however, was serving as more than enough of a barrier for complaint. "I... I don't care what my 'brother' says this time," he hissed, shaking as he spoke. "No one should live in a place like that! No one!"
Katsuya blinked, unable to find something to say. Something in his voice... Something deadly familiar in his voice seemed to be preventing him from making a complaint, but why? "Mokuba," he finally said, looking up from his flat position on the hospital bed. "Why are you..." Why was he so set on this..?
A silence fell over the pair, before the boy got off the chair with a huff. "Hn! Whatever," he said. "No arguments! From now on, you live at my house, understand," he said 'commandingly'. As Katsuya groaned from the pillow in response his employer turned to leave the room, continuing on. "I... I take care of my employees," he told the teen, back turned to him as he bowed his head. What..? The blond frowned, turning somewhat to look at where the boy stood. Shaking... He was shaking, but why was that? "I take care of them... Just like my big s... My big brother told me to before he... Before..." His fists clenched, and he turned to look at Katsuya with a fierce stare. "Get better, alright," he shouted, eyes wide. "Promise me, Jonouchi!"
Silence again, Katsuya too shocked to speak for a moment. Obviously something had this kid set on this... And in the end, he'd probably be stuck in this bed a while before he could settle things. Finally, he nodded, lips curling up in a weak smile. "Yea," he said with a short nod. "Promise." Whatever happened... He could at least honor this kid's word he supposed.
Katsuya didn't know which was worse of the three things that happened when he finally got out of the hospital. 'Finally' of course being a loose term here. Though internal bleeding was severe, and he now had one hell of a bruise on his stomach, he'd apparently been semi-conscious enough that nothing had been broken. Because of that all they'd really had to do was stop the bleeding, replace his lost blood, and give him two days to recover.
There went his weekend. Still; his dumb luck sure had a habit of coming at the weirdest of times.
So that was issue one; it was Monday, his homework wasn't done, and school was otherwise as crappy as ever. Not that he ever... Really finished his homework, but damn it he'd been close this time! He was going to do it!
Someday.
Issue two on the other hand was more the fact that as soon as he entered, he was tackled by Yugi. And as much as he liked the guy, being tackled around the waist, which was bruised enough as it was, hurt like hell... So he'd spent the rest of the day constantly being asked if there was something he, rather Yugi, could do to solve matters. Which resulted in constantly reassuring Yugi that no, it was fine. He'd... Just be sitting out of gym class again.
Karita was going to have a fit damn it.
Of course, following this there was issue three, which didn't completely take effect until after school. Bad enough that Kaiba had been giving Katsuya the strongest equivalent to a death glare he had ever been at the other end of... A statement that was certainly saying something, considering the crap that he'd been used to before meeting Yugi. Not to mention the stare he'd gotten before, when he'd already been staying at the woman's house. Evidently the worse had yet to come as the gaze had only increased in intensity when, as he said good bye to the others and began to walk off, Kaiba's car pulled up beside him with the back window rolled down. "Get in." That was about all the woman said as she sat in the passenger seat, back door opening forward while she leered in the shadows. "Now." She'd also said that, he supposed. There was also that.
"Nyhh..." He opted against walking, deciding to humor the possibly murderous woman for the moment. Swallowing nervously before hopping in, the drive proceeded with relative silence until they got to the mansion.
As soon as they got out, Kaiba motioned for the blond to follow, Katsuya frowning in response. Ok, now that couldn't be good... Why did this feel kind of like when he was 5 and his mom was about to ream him out for- Ok bad thoughts, bad thoughts! Don't compare Kaiba to a mother, ever! As he followed the teen to another room however, he quickly went pale. Alarm bells were ringing in his mind as Seto closed the door behind them, Katsuya quickly flushing as the 'death glare' was fixed on him again. "What did you tell him," the woman stated bluntly, dropping the disguised voice and replacing it with her usual hoarse one.
He blinked. "W-Wait what?" Ok... He wasn't dead. Just... Just calm down and...
Seto grabbed the nearest chair, sliding it over to Katsuya before taking a seat herself. "My brother, you moron. What. Did you do."
The teen frowned. Oh, so that was what it was about eh? In that case, everything was fine. FINE. "Nothin' that you shouldn't have Kaiba," he shouted with a scowl. "Ain't my fault your kid brother saw fit tah pull me into your life some more!" Honestly, you couldn't just toss someone a cake and then tell them off for eating it! ...Wait that made Mokuba the cake, he should re-think that.
She scoffed, rolling her eyes before fixing her target with the 'look' again. "Shut up for a minute Mutt, and let me explain. Seeing how it's clearly so complex, your brain can't wrap around it at all." Crossing her legs and arms, the teen continued. "What I want to know is why my little brother is so enamored with you Mutt- just what it is that suddenly has him so obsessively clinging to someone like YOU, who essentially came off the streets!"
Katsuya growled, clenching his fists. Oh so this was it then? Tch! "Yea yea yea, so I'm a 'back alley mutt'... I got it!" Ignoring the large number of relatively identical insults tossed at him, he huffed before slouching back on his chair. "Sheesh, I don' know why he's doin' it! That's your job ain't it?" At Kaiba's still increasing glare, he silently pondered that random quote Anzu had mentioned from an English text of hers. What was it again, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? He was probably seeing it right now. Or something at least a little close in any case. "Look Kaiba," he finally said after scratching a bit of hair out of his face. "I don' know what's wrong with yah, and quite honestly, I don' think that I'd care normally. But why the heck does someone who doesn't even care about their little brother suddenly jump up when that little brother says he's bringing a friend home?" Yes, please tell him... Because that was bugging him as well. What was it, some sort of possession deal?
...That would just be weird.
The woman's knuckles were white, her fingers digging into her arms before she stood. "Because," she said with a scowl, "That 'someone' just happens to be a no good stray who can't keep his nose out of someone else's business!" She walked forwards, grabbing the arms of Katsuya's chair and leaning in to look the blond in the eye. "My brother is MY brother, MUTT. You'll do well to remember your place as his employee, and not some pathetic friend to drag him back from what matters." Was that care, or just the 'CEO' talking again? And- Oh hey, she was really close, he noted with an awkward cough. Really close right now.
For a brief moment, Katsuya couldn't stop looking down; sure, whatever should have been there was still bound tight against Kaiba's skin but... By all definitions, Seto's boobs were in his face. And it was starting to turn him on, which he really wished wouldn't happen, because it made things really, really, really awkward. Really. Awkward. Um.
He swallowed, turning to look back up at the woman's face with a glare. Alright. He'd probably sign his own death certificate for this, but whatever. "Yea, I'll r'member," he said with a snarl. "Just so long as you remember your place as his older sister..." He paused, before smirking. He was living here now, mind as well get his kicks before Kaiba killed him of. "...Seto-chan~." First name AND degrading honorific. Take that! Oh shit...
Kaiba's face went red with rage as she stepped back, fists clenched. Okay, he'd hit the 'scorned' part, Katsuya thought in the back of his mind, that much was true. Maaaaybe he shouldn't have called her... Eh, whatever. The jerk could use a downsize by at least ten thousand pegs. The woman stood there, silent for a moment before finding the words to say. "If you weren't already recovering from the injuries your suicidal leap off the stairs gave you, I'd have half a mind to throttle you right now Mutt..." She clenched her teeth, whirling to leave the room. "As it is, savor the moment, for the next time you even think of referring to me by that name, you'll find out just what someone of my position can do, Mutt." The door slammed behind her, leaving Katsuya in the room alone.
Briefly, he kept silent, before shaking his head. Ok. Heart was still beating, stomach still hurt like hell but that was expected... Shit. Kaiba had let him live after all! "Man... That was creepy." Yea. Not doing that again.
AN: Holy shit guys! So many hits and it's only two days in~ This chapter is shorter because many many things happened that just did not mesh well HERE. AHAHAHA. It's one of the things that actually bugs me a little. Oh well. From now on, I'm going to put a tiny summary of manga related business here for those anime-only people, as well as responses to Anonymous Reviews. I know that before I got an account, it bugged me when I couldn't review something I liked, and now that I leave it open, it bugs me that I can't respond as easily as I can to people logged in... I should rephrase that. I just don't want to feel like I'm favoring people with accounts when I answer reviews. With that, I answer to the two anonymous reviews I got from a short bit before. Order will be this! Comment, Reviews, Manga Guide!
Which means you have to dig through my rambling... Or maybe not. Some of you might notice that Mokuba has already latched on to Jonouchi really really tightly; there's a good reason for this, and it's touched on a lot more later... So I'll leave you guys to think on it for now. On another note, I'm currently looking for a 'real world' example for Seto's 'fem' voice. It can't be too high of course; but at the same time, Kaiba is no Dike! (-shudder-) It's more one of those voices that really... Really gets under your skin, in both ways depending on the tone.
Needless to say as someone who spends all their days listening to Vocaloids... I am completely stuck. Oh ho ho~ This is what I get~
Review Responses
The first review holds true to the 'anonymous' in 'anonymous reviews'; there's no name! But that's ok~ Thank's for the review anyways my unnamed reviewer, I hope that my writting continues to impress you!
For our second review today, we have 'Iona'. Thanks very much for the compliment on my writing style! I always find myself self-conscious about it, mostly because I know my grammar is atrocious, and it if wasn't for spellcheck, my spelling would be too... As for manga details, I like to pride myself on that- though I sometimes wonder if all the research I do is just a little obsessive... (I remember trying to figure out something on Shizuka's eyes, only to find that her condition and surgery are both impossibly written. NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Needless to say... I'm ignoring that for the sake of keeping things 'correct' to manga. Also to prevent heart attacks. AHAHA.) I'll try not to keep you waiting!
Now that those are over, a few manga points from this chapter and the last ones. (Mostly this one)
Yugi, for one, is completely un-aware of his 'other self', 'Yami Yugi'. In fact, it's eerily similar to DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) how this is played up, to the point that later on when someone actually HAS DID (Namely Malik), a lot of people believe 'Yami Malik' to be a separate entity... When it's literally another part of Malik's persona. In any case, because of this unaware existence, Yugi has blackouts whenever Yami Yugi takes over... Something he keeps secret.
Mokuba's 'Penalty Game' is as stated above; after losing to Yami at Capsule Monster Chess, Yami makes him believe that he's trapped in a capsule; even more frightening about this forced solitary confinement is that while Mokuba's stuck there, everyone else can see and hear him. So while Mokuba's screaming in this tight egg, he's the only one aware of it; everyone else is just watching, unable to help at all. Talk about your Nightmare Fuel.
Some of you might have caught the 'chapter within a chapter' up there if you're really familiar with the manga; occurring directly before the next major arc in the manga, you just saw the skip-over of 'The One Inch Terror'... While that chapter technically led directly into the next arc, I opted to skip over that for the sake of the scene you see above. Because trust me when I say, those familiar with the manga (I feel like I'm catering to you guys.) will know exactly how little time Jonouchi has to speak with Kaiba before then.
Until then, see you next time!