Seto sent Keith away after seeing him standing at the gates with a box of protein mix.
God, could Yami's predictions get any less accurate?
He was trying not to have any more dead agents inside his house.
He could only protect Yami so much.
The woman he was peppering holes into might be a sliiiiight issue.
He'd wait 12 minutes and let Yami come to him.
Sitting down on the couch by the window, he gestured for Isono to sit too, and the manservant sank into a formal, seated position across from him, his brow wrinkled.
Outside in the garden, Yami snatched up the phone and dialed...Bakura.
To his pleasant surprise, Bakura picked up and snapped, "who is this and state your amount."
"2 million," Yami said coolly, and Bakura on the other end, hissed. "Traitor."
"Hear me out. It's for pig heads, and a fun, creative message. I haven't betrayed anyone. I merely know some information and I'm taking action, for once, when I really should be staying out of it," Yami said evenly, so Bakura paused and gave him room to speak. "Fine. Go."
Yami nodded and spoke fast, "there is a pig named Ken Iwata. He will be receiving the message at his desk. The message will be…the head of his superior, who you can find in a van when I give you coordinates. Kill only the supervisor."
There was a silence and then a quiet growl, "okay. Where do I deliver the head?"
"I have the address, and the building code so you can slip it in with their incoming mail," Yami said easily, rising to his feet and realizing Seto wasn't going to bring him Keith. "Wait for more details. Thanks for picking up."
"3 million," Bakura said flatly, and Yami replied, "happily. Do it well and I'll add more on top. Really. They've been sniffing around me since Strings as I'm sure you know."
"Strings was you, wasn't it?" Bakura snapped and Yami lied fluidly.
"No. But nice to know that's the rumor. Do it fast and don't get caught."
The dial tone blipped in his ear, and Yami lowered the satellite phone, feeling tears building behind his eyes.
What thehell...was he doing?!
He had an agent bleeding from five wounds in the garden shed.
He had put out a hit on Keith's supervisor and...was currently thinking about causing explosive damage to the building Anzu worked in.
He was out of control!
The woman bleeding in the shed would have to die.
She would talk and be an annoyance forever.
….Where was Seto? He needed Seto to center him...!
He was thinking about murdering an agent in the gardening shed and needed to be stopped.
He was thinking about setting an explosive in the building where two of his friends worked.
He was fixed on the explosive imagery.
Staggering to his feet and hating the angry tears that streamed down his cheeks, he stumbled into the house and ran painfully shoulder-first into the sliding doors, calling out, "...Seto?!"
Seto tensed and gave Isono a solemn nod, whispering, "take your firearm out and put it on the table. Show him we are on his side."
Isono nodded and hastened to obey while Seto called back, "In the living room! ...Alone!"
Yami appeared in the hallway, visibly struggling with himself with the gun hanging limply in one hand, and Seto's heart went out to him. He swallowed thinly and patted the couch beside him.
Yami shook his head and pointed at the stairs. "No windows."
Oh, shit, we're back there, okay, Seto nodded and slowly stood, walking up the steps and feeling Yami follow him. A warm hand grabbed his fingers and hung onto him, making him pause in the middle of his steps and was horrified to see Yami openly crying while leaning against the banister, his grip dangerously tight on the gun.
W-Whoa hey...
"Can I have that? Hey... Come here..." Seto knelt and pulled Yami into a crushing hug, gently inching his hand down to give the gun a light tug. "Give it to me. Please. I won't ask again..." He could feel Yami vibrating in his arms and his anger rose steadily.
He'd known Yami for almost 4 years now.
He knew Yami needed several, absolute things: a safe place to land, someone to trust at all times, and a weapon in hand when that didn't work out.
"I-I can't-t ...t-trust... ANYONE!" Yami's furious, half-sobbing shout was muffled into Seto's shoulder and the arms around his body tightened further. "I-I can... Can I...t-trust...y-you?!"
"Yeah, of course, yeah...fuck," Seto bit the inside of his cheek and leaned away to graze his knuckles against the bottom of Yami's chin, catching a few, wet droplets of tears. "Give me the gun. What are you thinking about right now?"
Yami thunked his head back on the banister, tears streaking his makeup as he gazed up at the ceiling and whispered, "hurting...people. Everyone in the building Anzu works in, for starters. I...can't let the woman in the shed live. I'm thinking about killing her too!"
Seto said nothing and sat down across the way from Yami to lean his head against the wall, nodding in silent understanding.
"You sent him away...knowing I would kill him here on the spot," Yami said as he lowered his head to hang it between his knees. "...T-Thank you..."
"Well," Seto let out a sigh and took out his phone, weighing it and turning it in his hands. "They fucked up. And like you said, Anzu doesn't know about it. She knows better than to...do that shit, you know? She's not dumb. She's at the top for a reason, and she knows being friends with you is better than being...not friends."
Yami nodded steadily and pressed a knuckle under his eyes, thankful that he'd stopped crying. Seto...calmed him greatly.
"I'm going to call the defense lawyer and make sure our contract with him is tight. I'll take care of it, okay? Can you...take a shower and just...let me take care of it?" Seto asked gently, reaching forward to rest his hand on Yami's knee, seeing his grip on the gun finally loosen, so he also grabbed it slowly, inching it closer to himself and putting it on the step in the middle.
"I...undid so much healing," Yami lamented, resting his forehead on his knees, a churning nausea curling in his stomach. "I called a hit on the supervisor. 3 million, and if the delivery goes well, 4."
"Okay, what else?" Seto asked evenly, completely unalarmed. "The explosives thing. You still want to do that?"
"Yes," Yami breathed, raising a hand to smash it to his forehead, his fingers curling into his spiky-bangs. "Make me stop. You're right. I am better than this."
Seto narrowed his eyes and gripped his phone again.
"No, you're right," Seto said warmly as he reached forward to take the gun and rest it on the step above, beside his own elbow. "This is you being you. Now let's...get you in the shower. Don't think about hurting yourself, okay? ...Hey, I have an idea. Let's call your grandpa."
Yami blinked and shook his head. N-No! Why?
"Yes," Seto nodded sternly, rising to his feet and taking the gun with him. "I'm taking this, okay? And I'm getting the satellite phone. Where is it?"
"Outside...with guard kappa..." Yami replied slowly, and he watched Seto walk away. "...Are you coming back?"
"Yes, with the phone so you can call him. Think about telling your grandpa about what happened today," Seto said calmly, resting his hand on the banister. "Okay? Take a second to think about it. Don't move, I'll be right back. Isono will keep you company. Isono... stand by the base of this staircase. Yeah. Right there."
He grit his teeth and strode through the first floor, aiming for the guards still standing outside with all the staff. He needed to clear the house, for Yami.
And be more vigilant about protecting Yami.
This incident was unacceptable.
He'd take responsibility for it.
Keith was his personal trainer that he'd hired.
He'd invited the danger in.
He'd help the danger out.
The satellite phone was in the guard's hand, so Seto reached for it, took it and addressed the group of staffers, "thank you for your time. Please take a week's vacation off my property. If you are staying in a rental, feel free to charge it to the staff card. I will pay for your living accommodations off my campus. Please leave now and remember you signed an NDA."
Yami could hear Seto giving this order, and he let his breath out slowly, palming his face and trying not to cry again, but the tears were coming again.
His face, chest, and shoulders were hot. He felt like he was burning from the inside out, with shame, anger, fury...too many negative emotions, so he just let himself cry.
Footsteps of the staff dispersing around the house were fast, and he could hear them rolling their suitcases of clothes out the door in the next minute. If none of them came back after a week, he'd know why.
It was all his fault.
It was all his fault.
It was all his fucking fault.
Everything was always his fault.
Outside, Seto hung up with the lawyer and grimaced at the Kappa guard, asking, "Where is the Alpha?"
"In the shed, sir," the man grunted, and Seto nodded, angling his head at the structure in the distance. "Join him. I'll be with you all shortly."
He turned on his heel and walked the satellite phone back inside, seeing Yami curled up and hugging his knees to his chest while having an obvious breakdown, so he pressed the phone to Yami's arm and said quietly, "call your family. He will help you. Just talk to him, okay?"
Teary-eyed and drained, Yami paused in his spiraling to take the satellite phone shakily from Seto and he dialed the number from memory, seeing Seto stay standing on the lower step and nod encouragingly.
The rings sounded in his ear and his grandfather picked up in two rings, speaking Arabic, "Who is this."
"I-It's me...Atem..." Yami whispered as more tears curled down his cheeks, and a handkerchief was handed to him. It was Isono's, with the classic, white stitching around the edges and the stiff black color.
"My boy. What happened," the old man sighed and it sounded like a chair creaking when he sat down. "I knew something was wrong when you didn't talk to me at all for the past 4 months."
"...I-I'm sorry, I thought you were t-trying to break us up!" Yami insisted, and his grandfather sighed again.
"Your pet is quite nice. I approve of him, you should believe me," the old man grunted. "Why are you crying? Tell me now. You always have to call grandpa when you're hurting, yes? Good boy."
Yami nodded slowly and said in Japanese, "...they bugged my upstairs, and Seto's physical trainer turned out to be a pig in disguise. I put out a hit to get his supervisor's head, but...one pig is a maid. I shot her four times and... I don't know what to do now! I can't kill her! I-I'm broken..."
There was a silence and the old man said gruffly, "your pet is there?"
"H-He's right here," Yami said nervously, eyeing Seto who was leaning casually on the banister with the gun tucked under his arm, the safety on. "Why?"
"Pass the phone to him and go wash your face," the old man commanded, sounding like his old bossy self. "You should take a nap and don't think about hurting that woman anymore. You did the right thing, calling me."
Yami blinked rapidly and felt a rush of gratitude to his grandfather, and then to Seto, for suggesting this call. That was exactly what he wanted to hear and he felt so much better.
"Okay, I love you," he said, and he heard a grunt, so he handed the phone over and whispered to Seto. "Thank you for telling me to call him. I feel...so much better."
Seto's expression was grave as he took the phone up and pressed it to his ear. "Okay, what."
"My boy is burned out. You must take care of him now," the old man said coldly, and Seto hissed in reply, "I fucking know that, you old nutsack. What do you think I've been doing?"
Yami's mouth dropped open.
Such language Seto was using with his grandfather...!
He watched Seto walk down the stairs and disappear around the corner, so he twisted the damp handkerchief in his hands and apologized to Isono first thing.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," Yami began, and the manservant held his hand up politely and bowed.
"I want to express that I will remain loyal to you and the master no matter what," Isono said, remembering Seto's advice to remind Yami that they could be trusted. "You had a reaction, similar to the way someone would if they ate food they had an allergy to. You don't need to apologize to me, sir."
Yami's heart swelled and he calmed down even more.
W-Wow... That was touching.
"Thank you for your understanding—" Yami began, and he jumped when he heard a gunshot echo from the outside.
"You're welcome," Isono sniffed, completely unfazed by the sound.
He turned to face the door again, just in time to see a notification chime for Mokuba's car coming in through the gate. "Young Master has returned." And he walked robotically to answer the door, leaving it open and helping Mokuba out of the limousine by carrying all his things.
Yami blinked, unable to move as he listened.
There was another loud pop, and another.
Three total.
The room swam in his vision and everything suddenly felt...extremely...far...away...
Mokuba dashed into the house with a joyful air and gave Yami a peace sign.
"Yo—oh! I'm...s-sorry. Are you okay?" Mokuba asked uncertainly as he noticed Yami had been crying in the middle of the stairs. "Need a ...hug?"
Yami shook his head bleakly and couldn't even speak.
He couldn't believe the gunshots he'd just heard.
D-Did Seto just...kill that agent?!
And Isono was just closing the door behind him like it was any other day, emotionless, perfectly fine with it.
"Well, I smell like my friend's 7 dogs, so...shower," Mokuba said awkwardly, jerking his thumb up the stairs. "F-Feel better soon, okay? Love you, no matter how many people you've killed!" And he ran away.
He knew he wasn't supposed to just bring up Yami's past, but it was obvious Yami was struggling with a flashback or something. He'd never seen Yami full-on breaking down crying in the middle of the house before.
Hopefully he was getting better and not worse.
Yami sat stunned on the step, unable to cry anymore.
He heard footsteps approaching and saw Seto circling the banister while still talking on the satellite phone, and his heart skipped a nervous beat. What...was he talking about?
"What coordinates? Oh. Right, I'll get that to you now," Seto said evenly as he raised his head to call for Isono, "bring me one of the basement laptops! And you'll have your money, shut the fuck up you white-haired degenerate. ….What? I don't know the building code! ….Oh, does he?"
Seto glanced up at Yami still sitting mutely on the middle of the stairs, asking him steadily, "building code?"
"Don't hurt her," Yami said through numb lips, and Seto gave him a funny look.
"Who?"
"Anzu!" Yami cried, and Seto let out a barking laugh that made the hair on the back of his neck raise.
"Why the fuck would waste my time with her? She's your friend," Seto sneered, rolling his eyes. "Building code. Your other friend Bakura is asking."
Yami blinked slowly and nodded, "2254604, palm scanner and...also a card..."
"Done and done," Seto turned to accept the laptop that was coming up from the basement and he walked into the first-floor kitchen, still talking, "...I can coordinate that. Yep. 225...4604. I'll let the old man know."
Stunned beyond belief, Yami stayed sitting on the step.
What was happening?!
Isono dug his phone out and saw a text from the master. Odd.
"Tell Yami to get in the shower. A van is coming to pick up some compost from the garden."
Isono cleared his throat and said quietly, "...sir? Master Kaiba requests you take a shower."
"What did he say verbatim?" Yami demanded, so Isono shakily read the text aloud, "Tell Yami to get in the shower. A van is coming to pick up some compost from the garden."
Yami blinked and his heart dipped into his stomach with a flutter. W-What...?!
Wow...
That was so...thoughtful of Seto!
I'm going to kiss him! Yami thought wildly as he rose to his feet and slowly trudged up the steps to take a shower.
His body felt physically heavy, but his heart had lightened. Earlier, he was almost going to turn the gun on himself, for being a monster, and for being called one.
Seto had come to lovingly talk him down.
Incredible.
It was possible to have it all.
It no longer mattered that his home had been threatened.
Seto was his home, and Seto had stood up for him just now.
He was going to fuck Seto senseless to thank him later for that.
Anzu sat down at her desk and wondered if Yami was mad at her.
He said he'd come to their girl's celebration dinner, and he ghosted.
Everyone was disappointed, but they agreed in the end that he was an 'asset' and essentially...a criminal. A criminal living peacefully in their country but still a criminal...
Opening her email, she sighed when there was a red-flag notice first thing.
It was a missing persons alert, and the person who had filed it was an agent named Ken.
The Ken that Yami had been talking about.
Crud. Did whatever operation they were doing fail?
Yami rarely failed though...
Just as she was about to click it, but then her email refreshed, and the item vanished.
Anzu blinked.
W-What.
Hang on...
There was a low frequency boom that made her eardrums hum, and the entire floor shook.
Horrified, she threw herself under the desk and braced for more shaking.
E-Earthquake?!
…
Ringing silence.
Then there was chaos on the first and second floor.
People were rushing around to grab fire extinguishers when three trash cans began emitting smoke, and all the glass on the doors and windows had been blown out.
The lobby chairs all caught fire and began burning.
Agent Keith sat at his desk, unmoving because he had just opened a small, square box that had a pink bow on it, and inside, was a gruesome sight.
The head of his supervisor, sitting atop two bags of ice, with a note taped to his forehead written in thick black ink, "you're fired", and the drawing of a workout dumbbell.
S-Seto Kaiba?!
No. ATEM.
People were running around him, shouting and telling him to put on a mask, because the fumes coming from the first floor were toxic.
His nose, eyes and throat stung, but he realized it didn't matter.
He was next.
It was obvious.
Yesterday, in their surveillance van, they'd heard Atem taunting and torturing their agent inside.
He had been sent home and told to keep his cover after knocking on the mansion gates to deliver a 'protein shake' in hopes of diffusing the situation inside. But no, Seto Kaiba sent him away and said he wasn't needed on off days.
So...he had to leave.
The smoke was already clearing because someone turned on the fans at full speed, and some of the janitorial staff had even brought out portable fans to move the smoke out the windows.
If the agent inside hadn't been heard from, she was most likely...dead.
His stomach twisted and he decided to take the head right up to Miss Mazaki on the 8th floor.
This was...horrifying!
"Evacuation!" A man wearing a bright orange vest called, "everyone please wait outside while the smoke clears! Please continue to wear your mask! ...Everyone...! Slow and steady to the doors!... No panic...!"
Walking out with everyone else, he was floating out of his body with shock. The early sunshine hit his cheek and he sat nervously against the curb, holding the box in his lap, his mind churning.
His supervisor got intel that Atem was living inside the Kaiba Mansion, and they were going to gather enough evidence on both Kaiba and Atem, to put them both away. Their operation was only 6 months young.
And all they had was a bunch of audio of maids cleaning the upstairs bathroom, audio of the two targets having rigorous sex, and visual of Miss Mazaki visiting the premises, meaning she knew Atem lived there.
Her chief in command, Jounouchi knew as well.
The entire department was corrupt from the head down.
This gym-trainer plant was supposed to bring down Miss Mazaki and her partner Jounouchi for being accomplices with Atem and Seto Kaiba.
But here he was, holding his supervisor's head...in his lap!
While the building was being smoke-bombed, as a warning!
He knew this was a warning.
A black car rolled up to the curb, and the door opened a tiny crack.
Keith glanced up glumly and was shocked to see the barrel of a gun pointed right at him, and in the hands of...Seto Kaiba, dressed in a dark blue suit and a pink tie.
The pink matched the bow on the box.
Sicko.
"I think it's time for you to move," Kaiba said casually, eyeing the box in the man's lap. "How does Canada sound?"
Keith could only grow numb and nod.
If it meant he could live...anywhere away from thispsycho couple would be good!
"I'll send you the details, check your junk folder in your email," the CEO said, and the car door shut. The car rolled away from the curb while a man in the orange vest was busy directing traffic in the middle of the road.
No one noticed.
Completely stunned, Keith could only sit there and hold the box in his lap while feeling the ice melt and drench the bottom of the box in a terrifying way. He needed to report this death, and the person to report it to was Anzu Mazaki, who was Atem's lieutenant as far as he was concerned.
And she didn't know about their operation to bug the Kaiba Mansion because she had disapproved of it last year, citing that the CEO was lawsuit-happy.
Well...
He glanced down at the box again, his heart stuck in the back of his throat.
It was time to fess up. And then attempt to leave the country with his life and hope Atem wouldn't come for him later when he was bored.
Filled with a heavy cloud of survivor's guilt, he walked back into the building that had been cleared and headed straight for the top floor.
Anzu was in the conference room, being briefed by three officers who were panicking.
The room was filled with their best agents, strategizing and speculating who or what the attack could mean, and another noisy group in the back was trying to feed a favorable story to the press.
The agent named Keith lumbered into the room, ignored by everyone until he set a soggy box onto the table and spoke in a voice so quiet, no one heard him until someone shouted, "SHUT UP! An agent is speaking..."
And Keith hung his head heavily, afraid that he might vomit, so he pressed a fist to his mouth and talked down to it instead, "...My supervisor has been murdered, and his head was sent to my desk. A co-worker who was on our job is also missing. I'm...I came to r-request a transfer..."
Anzu blinked.
Did that man just say a head...was delivered to his desk?!
"T-There is a human remain in that box?" the man nearest to him asked shakily, standing out of his chair to back away. "Y-Your supervisor? That's...T-Tanaka-san! ...Oh-OH my god..."
The man stumbled backwards and stayed against the far wall.
Someone brave inched towards Keith's elbow. They bowed and reached forward to peel the flap back, then turned around to promptly throw up.
There was a stunned, fearful silence, and Anzu's voice cracked as she held her hand out, "let me see it...and please get a bio-bag for this, someone? Right now."
The man who had thrown up stumbled out of the room with his partner helping him, and the box was slid across the conference table, leaving a horrid streak of wetness that had a red tinge. Everyone stood up from the table to back away from it, their faces pale.
Anzu bent over it and used the back of a pen to push the flaps back, dreading the worst.
Peeking inside, it was a severed head of the supervisor, and...an extra ear, when both of his ears were intact. Okay, horrific. Sheesh.
"Whose ear is that?" She asked delicately, and there were more people who were turning green, having to leave the room.
"I-I...d-don't know...m-maybe...F-Fukui-s-san's..." Keith was ashamed as he hung his head and bent himself into a low bow, almost shouting at the table underneath him, "I'm so sorry! Tanaka-san disobeyed your direct order not to poke Mr. Kaiba's residence, and-and-and...This was the result! W-We have audio of a terrorist staying with him and there was...an incident where h-he found out and started...t-torturing her!"
There was a stunned silence and Anzu's heart skipped a painful beat.
"You...did what?"
Oh fuck. That was why Yami didn't show up to the girl's celebratory test-passing at the restaurant.
He had been pissed, and it was a good thing he didn't take it out on her because...
I didn't know! Anzu blanked and sat down heavily, recalling Yami's angry phone call with her.
"So you went against...direct orders from me, not to poke one of the world's most...dangerous men, who isallegedly living with one of the world's most...richest men," Anzu clarified slowly as all heads in the meeting room turned to face her, with terrified, pale expressions. "Did I get that right? And you got a box with a head in it, for all your troubles. You know Interpol has claimed jurisdiction on that case? Why waste department resources doing that? And now, we have the deaths of two, amazing agents. For speculated reasons. You're at fault, Agent Ken."
The room grew stony and cold.
"The terrorist allegedly living in the Kaiba Mansion is listed as a green asset and is protected by an immunity contract," Anzu continued, her ears burning as she spoke. "By attempting to covertly surveil him without his consent, that violates the two-way trust we are legally obligated to keep in order to maintain a peaceful relationship."
Keith stood there, melting into a puddle.
By what Anzu was saying, it sounded like he and his team had unknowingly broken this contract.
"Mr. Kaiba, has opened a lawsuit to sue Maximillion Pegasus, who wrongfully drew a weapon on his house servant," Anzu continued, aware that the entire room was listening to her. "He specified that if we were to ever bother him without probable cause, a lawsuit will come for us too. He is not guilty of anything, and there is no proof there is such a person living with him, and we have no reason orcause to obtain a warrant to search or even go near his property."
The room grew even colder, and Keith was hanging his head so much, his blond hair covered his eyes, falling in messy strands around his cheeks.
"The fact that you went and breached an agreement, one that we had...with him! That is already grounds for us toall lose our jobs," Anzu began warningly, seeing a team of people in scrubs walk up to the door with a yellow hazard bin. "You are going to be transferred so he doesn't sue us, because of what you did. What other cases were you three working without my knowledge? I want a report on that before you leave today."
Arms were reaching across the table to pick up the box, bag it, and place it in the yellow bin, almost making her feel like a villain that was cleaning up after Atem's messes, but...
She had specifically instructed all her supervisors NOT to poke the bear.
Being lower-case 'f' friends with Atem was already risky enough.
This was what happened when a boundary was overstepped.
Now she needed to apologize...to him.
To re-establish that trust she'd worked so hard to build for the past year.
She knew the ear meant the other agent was probably dead or vanished somewhere.
This man, Ken, was only alive to deliver the message.
And the soft tear gassing today with the strategic smoke grenades...
That was Atem, sending his own message, right next to the head.
It was: I could easily bring your building down and kill everyone.
And get away with it.
Anzu folded her hands in front of her and spoke quietly, "I'm going to say this one more time. Bother Seto Kaiba, and you will be served with a lawsuit you'll fight for the rest of your life. Am I being understood?"
She raised her head to see everyone at the table nodding fearfully and then avoiding eye contact.
"I know who did the smoke bombs and I will take care of it," she said, seeing Joey walking up to the doorway, looking confused and bit frightened. "Joey and I, we'll take care of it. Everyone, back to work. Tell the press it was a training exercise gone wrong. And Egawa-san? Please ready flowers and our usual condolences for our fallen officers."
She grimaced and gestured for Joey to meet her outside.
He nodded and dipped out, rushing down the hall to the elevator, and on second thought, took the stairs.
He wasn't gonna trap himself in a box right after the building was just smoked out.
Waiting anxiously by the trees planted in the concrete by the side entrance, Joey tapped his shoe against the ground in distress. Scariest shit to happen this year, aside from Shizuka being kidnapped, was this smoke grenade thing inside the building.
Maybe he ought to ask Atem, because that guy knew his way around things...
"Joey! We're in trouble!" Anzu cried, dashing out of the damaged front doors to meet him under the shade of the tree, her cheeks pink with exertion. "Good thing you're always late, because you missed the mini earthquake on the 8th floor from that."
"Ah gad..." Joey shrugged and shook his head. "Was gonna head over to see Yami—"
"NO! Oh my fucking god, no," Anzu panted, hanging onto Joey's arm to shake him. "He is...dangerous right now. I wanna even say 'volatile.' He might be angry with us, becausehe sent that bombing message!"
"WAT!" Joey cried, shaking his head in disbelief. "Nah. Yami is a softie. He don't do stuff like that. Shizuka loves him. I don't see him comin' around at 3AM to plant smoke grenades under our desks, yaknow?"
"You don't know that!" Anzu replied with a sigh, pinching her brow. "Okay, well he also sent a head. A severed head, Joey! Open your eyes! We need to go apologize to him and offer him our necks! Because the head belonged to a guy who had been surveilling Yami secretly! Remember our solid promise to him about how he can trust us? Well that guy went around me, and then got himself killed."
"Then...it ain't your fault you didn't know!" Joey exclaimed, scratching his head. "Did he ask ya if you knew?"
Anzu had to sit down, so she sank into the nearest bench by a row of potted flowers and hung her head. "Yeah, he called to ask me...and I thought he was talking about Seto cheating," she muttered, palming her face and feeling her eyes burn with tears. "God... This sucks so much. Two people are dead, Joey! Supervisor Tanaka and Fukui-san!"
Joey bit the inside of his cheek and sighed, ruffling his hair in frustration.
"I ain't makin' excuses for him, because killin' our guys is wrong," Joey said with a furious nod. "But... We promised he wouldn't be bugged or nothin'. Eh... Y'know how in zoo's they got the sign that says don't feed the lions? Don't throw anything against the glass or in their pens?"
"You're saying Yami is that lion?" Anzu breathed, feeling her headache ease up marginally.
"Yeah, and I wanna say..." Joey looked thoughtful before adding. "That Kaiba is that zookeeper. And the house...? That's the zoo. We get tickets to go inside, and pet the lions. That's it. Call Mokuba a baby lion or somethin'. He's a little shithead too. If Yami wanted to kill us, we'd be dead. But we ain't because my baby sister loves him. So... Take it how you wanna."
Anzu nodded and nodded again. Holy shit.
What a stressful fucking morning.
And flowers were supposed to be arriving today.
Sick. Nauseating.
Yami was delivering heads and celebratory flowers on the same day.
"We have to apologize to him," Anzu said hollowly, staring at her manicured thumbs while her hands were laced together. "Or we are so fucked. We might already be fucked."
"I'll just ask Shizuka to talk to him this weekend," Joey said carelessly, already sending a text, and Anzu let out a frantic protest, "no! Don't do that!"
"Why not?" Joey challenged, frowning in concentration, waving his phone. "He won't ever hurt her. She's our best bet at gettin' a straight answer. I'm askin' and you can't stop me. Sending. … Sent."
Anzu sighed and felt as if a thousand tons of bricks were crushing her from above.
This friendship she held with Yami was definitely a double-edged sword.
Author's note:
Joey insights.
bandit keith gets a head and goes (back to) canada
Seto takes care of his baby lions