Guard Dog
By Icka! M. Chif
Alternate Universe. Takes about 3 years post end of series.
Rated: Teen / 15+ for swearing and some adult themes.
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"Congratulations, Mokuba." Kaiba Seto looked over the rims of his computer glasses to look at his embarrassed looking younger brother. "You have broken your previous record of scaring away bodyguards within a one weeks time."
"S'not my fault." Mokuba mumbled, crossing his arms and not-quite sulking in a way that only someone on the grasp of being a teenager can.
"And what was wrong with this last one?" Seto's tone border lined between annoyed and exasperated, but still held an undercurrent of fondness for his mischievous younger sibling.
"He wouldn't let me go anywhere!" Mokuba exclaimed. "He said it was too 'potentially hazardous' for me to go out and play with other gamers, but he wouldn't let anyone come in and game with me, and he didn't know anything about Duel Monsters!" The last was spat out like it was the most inconceivable thing in the world.
"Uh-huh." Seto sat back in his chair. "And what was wrong with the one that -did- play Duel Monsters?"
"He treated me like I was some baby!" The long dark haired boy grumbled. "And he tried to put me in footie pyjamas. FOOTIE PYJAMAS!!!"
"The horror." The sarcasm was so thick you could cut it with a spoon.
"I'm NOT a little kid anymore, ''Niisama." Grey eyes glared at dark blue ones. At fourteen, almost fifteen, Mokuba was rapidly catching up to his brother's reputation in the industry. While he may not have shown the same interest in business, he had long surpassed Seto in information gathering and more recently in programming. The two often teamed up on projects for Kaiba Corporation, Seto building the hardware while Mokuba creating the software.
"I'm well aware of that." His brother assured him. "But I am also aware of the fact that members of Kaiba Corporation Security would rather swim in a tank of hungry sharks than to guard you for an hour. In fact, I've gotten several offers to personally go and watch as they hang a piece of raw meat around their necks and jump into the water."
Mokuba's face darkened slightly at that. "They're all lame." He muttered, clenching a fist.
"They're also necessary."
"Feh."
Seto sighed, sliding off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. The threat and risk of the youngest brother being held hostage in exchange for money or power over Kaiba Corporation had greatly reduced within the past few years. He was practically subdued around his assigned bodyguards in comparison to what he had done the past several attempted kidnappers.
They'd actually made money twice, the would-be ransomers paying -him- to take the youngest Kaiba back.
But the risk of extortion was still present, no matter what reputation for wildness Mokuba may have had. Hence, the need for bodyguards. Or more specifically, backup.
"You've got that look again." Seto slid the glasses back on his face, peering over the rims again to raise an eyebrow at his brother, who had a glint in his stormy eyes. "What have you got on your mind?"
A small smirk curled up in the corner of the younger boy's mouth. "A proposition for you."
"A proposition?" While it wasn't un-heard of for Mokuba to purpose a 'business deal' between the two of them, it wasn't common either. "What sort of proposition?"
Gone was the surliness as Mokuba bounced towards the desk. "It's like this, see? I don't need a full fleet of bodyguards, I'm safe enough at school, at home and here-"
"-Except for the occasional turncoat." Seto pointed out. While his screening procedures were strict and most of his employees were loyal, there were the few rare dissenters. Corporate espionage at it's best.
Mokuba nodded, taking it in stride. "And that, I just really need one in transit from home to school, or to here. And when I go out to play-" There was a strong emphasis on his 'going out to play'. There had been a few fights about Mokuba not spending all of his time at Kaiba Corporation, that he should go out and spend time playing with children of his own age as well. After all, Seto's goal in taking over Kaiba Corporation in the first place, to allow Mokuba a normal childhood.
.... Or at least as normal of a childhood as one could get while being a Kaiba...
"-So therefore, I'm thinking all I need is one bodyguard, who doesn't look and act like an android and scare everyone away. Someone that has experience with kids and Duel Monsters and will test out our latest improvements on the Duelling Systems and isn't afraid of helicopters and travelling like that one stupid one. And most of all, is willing to have FUN."
Seto leaned forward, resting his elbows in the desk and intertwining his fingers together. "Sounds like you already have someone in mind."
He got a not-quite innocent smile in response.
"All right." He sighed, knowing this was a losing battle before it even started. "But they have to pass my standards first, otherwise it's back to Kaiba Security Officers for you. And I don't want to hear about any problems."
"Understood, 'Niisama!" Mokuba shot him a cheeky salute, a broad grin on his face. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome." He smiled back, the small curving of his lips a fond expression for his younger brother alone. People may have viewed him as a dragon, cold sleek and cunning, but those same people often failed to look past his brother's innocent appearance to realise that Mokuba was a dragon as well. Granted, a dragon kit still, slowly testing and growing into his wings, but already a force to be reckoned with.
Mokuba dashed around the desk to give Seto a quick hug, despite the fact that he often claimed to be too old for such displays of affection. He returned it, messing up the long black strands as he did so. Mokuba shot him a mock-glare for his troubles, smoothing out his hair with affronted dignity before smiling at him in a silent laugh. With one last wave, he trotted out the door, closing it behind him. "Later, 'Niisama!"
"Don't get into too much trouble!" He shouted back, knowing it wouldn't do any good. It was like his brother had changed dramatically and hadn't changed at all in his minds eye. He was, and probably always would be the snot-nosed brat he had been when they were younger. And yet at the same time, he was growing up.
He spared a moment to marvel at the changes in both of them since their parents had passed away before reluctantly shaking his head and returning to work.
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"You're joking."
Mokuba crossed his arms, a stubborn look on his face. "Nope."
"Hey!" The person underneath Seto's knee wiggled in a futile attempt to break free. "What the hell is going on?!"
He ignored the person. "Him?!"
"Yes."
"Get off me!"
"Why?"
Mokuba began to count the points off on his fingers. "He's got fighting skills, we already know we can trust him, he likes us-" Both he and the other made a muffled sound of protest in the back of their throats "-and he's proved in the past to be a reliable protector."
"He's brainless."
"It's not nice to talk about others when they CAN HEAR YOU!" The other man snapped, attempting to hit him. Seto shifted his grip, immobilising the person further.
"He's stubborn and refuses to give up, AND he's the number three duellist in the rankings, right after you and Yuugi." Mokuba crossed his arms. "Plus he's got street smarts, which is something none of the rest of those lame-brains have."
Seto looked around at the fallen still groaning bodyguards around them. Mokuba had a point. A very good one at that.
"What's going ON?!" The other boy spat, trying to futility jerk his arms free.
"He'll need additional training." Seto pointed out, mentally reviewing the fight scene he'd walked into, leading to their current position. At the time he'd thought he had walked into another attempted kidnapping, which he had. But instead of the sweatshirt hooded ruffian attempting to beat his men to kidnap Mokuba, said ruffian had been preventing the kidnapping at the hands of his supposedly trusted 'security guards'. "I took him down easily."
"Fighting multiple people at once is different than fighting one on one." Mokuba countered. "And I never said he was -perfect-, just that I think he's the perfect person for the job."
"Leggo already!"
Seto debated for a moment while the teen beneath him continued to futilely struggle. Personal opinions aside, it was the best solution around. Things certainly couldn't continue as they were.
Personal opinions aside...
"Three months training, I approve afterwards." He said.
Mokuba nodded, accepting his terms. "Takes both of us to fire him." That way neither could accuse the other of getting rid of him in a bout of anger.
"Oi! Don't make me kick your butt!"
"Agreed. But until he's on, you behave for the normal guards."
Grey eyes narrowed at that, but his brother nodded. "Anything else, 'Niisama?"
"Hellooooo-?"
"We can decide later, if he passes."
"He will." Mokuba appeared confidant. Seto nodded curtly and released the lanky limbed teen beneath him, rising quickly and stepping out of the way.
Mokuba moved forward, a hand extended to help him up as he smiled. "Sorry about that."
"What the hell is going on?!" The other boy growled, brushing himself off.
"Well..." His brother's grin grew wider. "How'd you like to work for me, Jounouchi-kun?" He asked innocently.
The Mutt just stared.
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The chimes on the front door of the Kame Game shop rang, signalling the arrival of another customer. "Irrasshai!" Yuugi called, not looking up from the poster he was attempting to put on the wall.
Years had come and years had gone, his Other Self had passed on to the other world, friends stayed and left and he had finally accepted the fact that he was never going to be much taller than 'Jiichan.
"Tadaima." A familiar voice called back, causing him to pause.
"I'm home-?" He echoed turning around to see who was at the door, thus causing the poster to fall over, draping across his head and temporarily obscuring his vision. He grappled with it, attempting to pull it off his head, muttering obscenities to the people who created such paper menaces.
The obstacle was removed by a familiar and long missed grinning face. "Yo!"
"Jounouchi-kun!" He smiled back in delight. Jounouchi was back! Poster forgotten, he flung his arms around his friends waist holding on to him tightly. It had been ages since he'd seen his friend!
"Whoa, Yuugi, gimme a second here." His taller friend laughed, reaching up and fastening the thrice-cursed poster to the wall, slightly hampered by the fact that Yuugi refused to let go. Jounouchi laughed, then wrapped one arm around him and rubbed the knuckles of his other hand into Yuugi's spiking locks as they play-wrestled like they were still in High School.
"You've gotten stronger." Yuugi noted from the headlock, using a free arm poking at a restraining arm. "And taller! Where have you been? I've missed you!"
"Yeah, well..." The tall blond dropped him, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Sorry 'bout that. Ya did get my postcards right?"
Yuugi crossed his arms, raising an impatient eyebrow. "Yes I got them." About one a week on average, sometimes two. It had been about the only thing that had kept him from tracking down Jounouchi in a completely panicked state. "'I'm alive, see you soon' doesn't quite explain where you've been for three months. Was starting to wonder if you had gotten eaten."
"Yeah... heh heh, not quite..." Jounouchi shrugged. Unfortunately, with their past with the strange and unusual, the 'eaten' comment was meant more literally than metaphorically. "I was training for a new job. It came up kind of suddenly, so I didn't have time to tell you before I left."
"Jounouchi-kun." An eyebrow was raised, meaning the small boy meant business.
Jounouchi sighed, shoulders slumping as he gave up the veneer of secrecy. "I'm working over at Kaiba Corporation." He muttered.
"Kaiba-kun?!" Yuugi's eyes widened. Jounouchi -hated- the eldest Kaiba with a passion. Well, perhaps it had muted slightly with time, but there was still a spark of animosity between the two. Yuugi never quite understood the purpose of it, or why both of them went out of each other's way to barb the other, but he still considered Kaiba Seto among his friends.
Even if no one else thought that way.
"Is everything all right?" He inquired. If Jounouchi was working for Kaiba, then it was probably very serious indeed.
"It's not what you think!" The blond hastened to assure his friend. "I'm working for Mokuba, not Kaiba. Well, Mokuba's a Kaiba too, but Kaiba... eh, you know what I mean. I'm his bodyguard. Mokuba's. That's where I've been, training. Not here, I mean, I was somewhere else, training. Cause I'm a good fighter, but I still can't kick Kaiba's butt, so I was off learning how to wipe the floor with him. Or try to anyway... ...I'm not explaining this too good, am I?" He ended it with a slight wince.
Yuugi frowned. "Jounouchi-kun."
"Yeah?"
"Are you doing this of your own free will or because you had no other choice?"
Jounouchi chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well... Little bit of column A, Little bit of column B..."
"Jounouchi-kun..."
The blond chuckled, taking a step back and holding his hands up in supplication. "It's like this, see? You and Honda and Ryou and everyone else is smart, does well in school, right?"
Yuugi winced. Actually, his grades had been barely passing due to the fact he spent so much time way from school because of Duelling, but he wasn't about to point that out at this exact moment...
"So when we gotta outta school, you all had some place to go. Anzu to New York, Otogi and you to your game shops, Ryou to England, Honda with his automotive, but me? I'm not so good with school. Part time jobs are great and all, but I only got two things I'm good at. Fightin' and Duellin'. And neither one are exactly something I can get a steady pay check with. And this..." Jounouchi grinned, a light turning on in his eyes. "This is something I'm -good- at."
"Duelling and fighting?" Yuugi echoed, just a bit of a smile escaping.
"EXACTLY." The light turned into a full-blown megawatt lighthouse, the grin stretching from ear to ear. "Not to mention it gives me a place to live AND food and get to check out the latest duellin' stuff before it goes on the market! And Mokuba's a good kid, I don't mind hanging' out with him."
"But..."
The grin faded. "But I gotta deal with Kaiba. My room's next to Mokuba's, Mokuba's is just down the hall from Kaiba's. Just in case of emergencies. Those two have a separation complex or somethin'. Not that I blame them or anything..."
Both Kaiba brothers had been through a lot. Yuugi still didn't know all the history behind them, but he knew enough to understand their reasoning. Yuugi nodded. "So you're not being coerced or forced into this?" He asked carefully.
"None what so ever." Jounouchi met his gaze levelly. "Yuugi, I WANT to do this. Excited about it, actually."
"Obviously." He couldn't help but to tease. It earned him another headlock, his hair being messed up despite his laughing protests. It was good to have Jounouchi back, where he knew where he was. He had really been concerned when no one else seemed to know where he had disappeared to.
"So, what have you been up to, Yuugi?" Jounouchi grinned, one arm still wrapped companionably around his shoulders. "How's everyone doing?"
"Well... if you have the time, Mister Jounouchi 'I'm Employed and Disappearing for Months at a Time' Katsuya-kun..." There. He'd stop teasing him about it there, but it had stung that Jounouchi had left without a word.
Jounouchi chuckled nervously again. "Sorry about that, Yuugi... Tell ya what, though. I don't have to report in to work until tomorrow, so you have all night to fill me in, okay?"
"And for you to do the same." He agreed, easily escorting his friend into the back rooms. He had some tea brewing there earlier, and he was sure he had enough snacks to last them a few hours at least...
Wait, this was Jounouchi... Who was he kidding? They'd be out of them in an hour. He grinned, causing the blond to look at him with a bit of trepidation.
Yuugi ignored it. After all, snacks weren't important as having his friend back.
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Kaiba looked down at the object that had been placed next to him as if it were a live rodent. "What is this?"
"I would think..." Jounouchi raised an eyebrow. "-that you would be able to recognise a turkey sandwich."
"I know what it is." Kaiba frowned back. "What is it -doing- here?"
Jounouchi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "It's for you." He explained not quite so patiently. "To eat. Y'know? Food?"
The executive's frowned deepened. "You were hired to guard Mokuba, not act as my nanny." He said dismissively, turning to go back to work.
"Anything that affects you affects Mokuba." The blonde retorted stubbornly. "If -you- pass out from low blood sugar, -I'm- gonna hafta deal with a panicked little brother. Eat."
Kaiba just raised a disdainful eyebrow at him before resolutely ignoring him and resumed typing on the keyboard.
"Fine." Jounouchi growled. "I'm going to pick Mokuba up from school. We should be back in half an hour. If the sandwich isn't eaten by then, I'm shoving it down your throat."
With that, he turned and stalked off, the dubious sound of a snicker following.
Half an hour later, a suspicious Jounouchi returned. The sandwich remained in its original position, untouched.
He did exactly what he said he was going to do.
Mokuba helped.
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Jounouchi hated mornings. It was the worst part of the day.
Here he was, working a stable, steady job, which is more than anyone thought he could ever do, and doing a fairly good job at it too, if he did say so himself. But was he allowed to lie around in the morning, relax and maybe take in a cup of coffee? No.
Mornings were what he was beginning to refer to as 'His Blue Period'. As in 'Black and Blue'.
Because every morning instead of waking up, stumbling around to get dressed and eat breakfast, he was woken up by that obnoxious jerk Kaiba and dragged off to one of the holographic practice rooms for quote 'practice' unquote.
Or, as Kaiba would put it, in dog terms: Being tossed around the room by one stuffed shirt millionaire named Kaiba Seto under the guise of improving his fighting skills. Privately, Jounouchi thought it was Kaiba Stress Relief.
But he couldn't deny that his fighting was improving between the three months under Sensei and these morning 'Sparring Sessions'.
And right about now, from his position eating practice mat, neither could Kaiba.
Funnily enough, the first thought through his head was not victory or triumph at his finally pinning Kaiba, but a faint bit of horror that he was -really- going to pay for this later.
In the background, he could hear some of the early morning techs, who were used to watching him get tossed into the mat on a daily basis talking, making a faint buzzing sound in the background. A few of them had joked with him at various times about placing bets on who was going to win. He'd teased back that it was rigged, no one was going to bet against the boss, to which they had readily agreed. Well, now it seemed like at least some were going to bet against the boss from now on.
Although, new bets were probably going to be placed on his life span after this...
He released Kaiba and quickly backed up, giving the volatile businessman plenty of room to get up in. Which Kaiba did quickly, the gleam in his eyes reminding Jounouchi of the Blue Eyes White Dragon just before a big attack.
Then Kaiba did something even scarier than facing down the wrath of one of his dragons.
He smiled.
A smug, self-satisfied twitch of the lips that was more terrifying than any loud shouts and death threats could have been.
"Good job." Kaiba commented mildly before straightening his clothing in that prim way of his and walking off towards the showers.
Jounouchi stared after him. Good job? Good JOB?! Well, yeah, he supposed that's what Kaiba was training him for, to be able to fight someone and win, but still... Good job?
All things considered he would have preferred a pat on the head and some cryptic comment about him being a well-trained mutt.
Less disturbing.
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"Jounouchi..." Small hands shook his shoulder "Jounouchi!! Wake up! Please wake up!"
" Mmmplgh." He rolled over, waving a lazy arm in the direction of the voice. "G'way."
"Jounouchi, PLEASE!" The insistent voice was enough to finally snap him out of his slumber. Sheesh, it felt like he had just gotten to bed...
"Mokuba?" He grumbled, opening his eyes and sitting up, grateful he'd put on pyjama bottoms over his boxers. Although if late night visitors were going to be come the norm, he might want to debate about sleeping in a shirt as well, like Mokuba was wearing. Although he'd really prefer to skip the whole pyjama thing all together. The youngest Kaiba was staring at him, dark hair and eyes wild and chaotic. "Wassup?"
"It's..." The younger boy hesitated, as if uncertain what to do now that he had his attention. "It's 'Niisama. He won't wake up."
"It's the middle of the night, Mokuba." Jounouchi pointed out logically. He'd hope that Kaiba was asleep. Like he'd hope to be.
"No, you don't understand!" Mokuba was practically vibrating with distress. "'Niisama... 'Niisama has nightmares. Bad ones. Really bad ones, from like, before. They got REALLY bad after the Other Yuugi made him experience death and even worse after he made 'Niisama put his heart back together, but they'd been getting better. He used to wake me screaming..."
"Okay," He wouldn't admit it, but the hairs on the back of his neck were starting to stand upright from just the sheer amount of terror and panic the small boy put into the descriptions of the nightmares. He'd -been- there when Yuugi had broken the elder Kaiba's heart to fix it. And after some of the situations and duels they'd been in, even he'd had some real doozies of his own when it came to nightmares. "Okay. Whaddya want me to do?"
"Come on." Mokuba grabbed his hand, like he was much younger than his fourteen years and dragged him out of the bed and down the hall to Kaiba's bedroom. Jounouchi followed with some trepidation. He was getting used to Ol' Blue Eyes, as he lived and learned about him, but that didn't necessarily mean he was exactly -fond- of Kaiba Seto.
"In here." Mokuba tugged him towards to the giant four poster bed that was the central feature of the master suite. "He usually calms down once he knows I'm here, but it doesn't seem to be working. You sleep on his other side."
Eeeeeeh? Sleep? Next to Kaiba? What the hell?
Heedless to his reluctance, Mokuba climbed into the big bed next to his brother, careful not to pin any limbs or actually restrain his brother. Just be near enough for his presence to be noticeable. Jounouchi took a few steps closer, keeping an eye on Kaiba, just in case. The brunette was pale against his sheets, beads of sweat beading against his forehead, making Kaiba look ill instead of caught in the throws of a nightmare. Even if he was tenser than a twig ready to snap.
However, the messed up stated of the bed spoke otherwise. A keening noise escaped from Kaiba's clenched jaws, causing Jounouchi to jump.
"Jounouchi." Mokuba looked up at him. He sighed. Damn it all. He slowly climbed onto the bed, careful of where he put his hands and feet as Mokuba began to talk, explaining that he was here, Gozaburou was dead, Jounouchi was here as well, 'Niisama was safe now, he could sleep easier. After a while it seemed to work, the stiff-corpse like posture of Kaiba melting into a more natural approximation to sleep, some of the colour returning to his face. Mokuba's voice trailed off into a slow whisper as he fell asleep as well, his body curling up against his brother.
He snorted softly to himself. Both Kaiba looked more innocent like this, younger. Heck, even Kaiba looked more like his actual age instead of an old man in a young body.
He yawned, stretching out to sleep. He'd catch a few zzz's here, then take Mokuba back in a few hours, to make sure they wouldn't have a repeat of this tonight.
In the meantime, he'd guard their slumber.
It was in his job description after all.
... wasn't it?
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His office door opened, then shut quickly, footsteps approaching the desk, then stopping in front of him. Seto snarled silently. He'd given his secretary explicit orders not to allow anyone in here, upon pain of decapitation. Or some other severe body-reducing event.
However, when he glanced up to rip who ever had interrupted his work a new one, the words stopped dead in his throat.
Ass.
An ass so tight you could bounce coins off of, clad in a pair jeans so worn that denim had turn into a soft flexible material that covered those curves in an all-revealing loving grasp.
Seto found himself drooling like Pavlov's Dog.
Then that ass turned around, to reveal an equally as impressive crotch in the front, with a not insignificant bulge pressing against the zipper. The jeans rode low, flashes of smooth belly teasing over the top of an equally worn leather belt.
Oh... my...
"Dammit, Mokuba..." The muttered voice startled him out of his revere as he jerked his head up out of crotch level to look up into the face of one slightly annoyed looking Guard Dog. Jounouchi turned in a circle again, arms reaching behind him to mess with the belt, something furry obscuring his view of that ass. "-How the hell am I supposed to attach this freakin' tail?!"
Belatedly, Seto noticed that the mutt was also wearing a pair of dog-ears, similar to the golden-retriever blond hair on the crown of his head. And a leather vest. Where the hell had those come from?! More importantly, why was the mutt actually wearing them?
And was that a dog collar wrapped around the mutt's neck?
He pointedly cleared his throat, stopping the mutt from completing yet another circle in front of him. While it was highly amusing and made for wonderful entertainment, it was also very distracting.
"Oh. Kaiba." Jounouchi looked at him from under that mop of golden hair, looking more puppy-like than normal. "Just wanted to let you know Mokuba and I are on our way out. We should be back around midnight."
"Dressed like that?" He inquired loftily, allowing himself to lean back in the chair and take in the entire ensemble. Rips and tears in the jeans he hadn't noticed before gave him glimpses of solid muscles under the soft material and were probably the only thing that were allowing the mutt to move in pants that tight.
Jounouchi rolled his eyes. "It's a -costume- party. I'm a werewolf, Mokuba's a vampire-? Your brother's only told you what? A dozen times every day for the past week?"
Of course. How ridiculous of him. He'd finally given permission for his brother to go, only if the guard dog went along with to watch over things.
... in that outfit, there'd be no problems at the party, every one would be too busy watching HIM.
"Right." Seto nodded, long used to not showing what he was thinking on his face. Not that he worried about the puppy actually reading his facial expressions. He was well aware of exactly what the mutt thought of him.
He did -not- have something stuck up his ass.
Now Jounouchi's ass...
"Have a good time." He dismissed the guard dog and bent his head back to his task, pretending to be absorbed in his work. "And tell Mokuba I said eleven-thirty, no later."
"Yeah, yeah." The mutt grumbled, heading back to the main doors, muttering to himself about being polite and ungrateful heartless brainless dickless bastards.
Seto didn't feel too bad. After all, the original agreement had been for them to be home by eleven. But he was used to playing these games with Mokuba. However, the mutt in the middle was a new twist to their minor power plays.
But the view as the mutt left was very nice... The jeans clung to those curves very well. Just how long had the mutt had those pants?
. . . .
It was very nice the mutt was leaving, yes, that was it. No thoughts about tight denim or leather or the like in his head. Business.
Besides. It wasn't like he found the annoying blond -attractive- or anything.
His secretary was watching the mutt leave as well, a glazed expression falling across her face as the blond gave a friendly wave good-bye. He saw her then proceed to lean off the side of her desk, to further watch the mutt's exit before his doors shut, blocking his view of them both.
He hit the intercom button. "Do you require a bucket?" He inquired icily.
"Bucket?" She stammered.
"For the drool?"
"N-no."
"Good. Keep it that way." With an angry jab, he turned off the intercom.
Damn fools, staring at HIS mutt.
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Seto looked down at the object that had been placed next to him as if it were a live rodent. However, this time instead of wasting time asking about what was obviously a tuna sandwich, he glanced up at the bearer of food. The mutt had a dark scowl on his face, jaw set determinedly.
Mindful of what had happened the last time food had been brought to him, he glanced away, resuming typing. "I do not require a nursemaid."
"Yeah, well maybe if you didn't spend all yer time nursemaidin' everyone else, ya wouldn't need someone to act as one." The blond was obstinate.
"Is that a threat?"
Jounouchi leaned forward and -grinned-. "Just remindin' ya of what happened last time. I'll see ya in half an hour. With Mokuba."
With that, the mutt sauntered out.
Seto snorted in disdain as the doors shut, pointedly not watching the other boy's exit.
However, once he was certain that he was in no danger of being observed, he began to eat. But only half the sandwich.
No one ordered a Kaiba around. No one.
+
The next evening, upon retiring to his rooms, he found an outfit laying out on the bed. It was remarkably similar to his clothing from Battle City. A black turtleneck, buckles, belts and a white over garment with studs around the flared shoulders.
That was where the similarities ended.
Because despite the similarities, it was obviously a maid's uniform, the white garment in question a rather dangerous looking apron over what would clearly be a tight black dress.
The Mutt was extremely unsubtle when it came to getting his point across.
... Mokuba probably helped.
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"C'mon, Mokuba. Help me out here." Jounouchi muttered as he hefted the fourteen-year-old out of his brother's bed. Kaiba would be getting up in about a hour, which meant it was time for them to get back into their own beds before Ol' Blue Eyes rose and found them there.
Which would be a lot easier if Mokuba was still the cute LITTLE eleven-year-old he had been when they had first met. He wouldn't be the slightest bit amazed if Mokuba ended up taller than his brother in a few years. He was almost halfway there as it was.
In the mean time, it was a good thing that Jounouchi had been working out lately or he wouldn't be able to do this at all. It was a very good thing he could catch a few hour naps while Mokuba was at school, or he'd never get through the day.
Although just getting through the morning sparring sessions with the Blue Eyed Dragon there was interesting. One of these mornings, he was just going to leave Mokuba on his brother's bed and let him explain.
Eh, Mokuba could probably talk his way out of it, saying it was a nightmare.
Yawning, he deposited Mokuba in his bed, pulling the blankets over the sleeping kid. This was probably what it was like to have kids of your own, the strange wake up calls in the middle of the night. This certainly hadn't been part of the job description when he signed on.
Course, neither was sleeping with the ice bastard Kaiba either.
Sleep. As in just sleeping. Not sharing a bed for any recreational purposes. Nothing like that. Not that he -wanted- to do anything in a bed with the bastard Kaiba...
Jeez, it was too early in the morning for this. He hadn't even woken up yet and his mind was already playing tricks with the innuendo.
He shut the door to Mokuba's room and wandered over to his own, stretching absentmindedly. Sleep. Sleep was good. He still had about an hour of rest before Kaiba woke him up to get sweaty and grapple.
Again with the innuendo!
Eh, fack it. The lack of sleep was getting to him.
+++
+++
"Oi, Mokuba..." Jounouchi didn't bother looking away from the large television screen as he trounced the younger Kaiba in a racing video game. "How come your brother wears all those buckles and stuff? He tryin' ta outdo Yuugi in the bondage statement department or something?"
The dark haired boy snorted, not quite breaking out into full laughter. "Didn't you know? 'Niisama's got this anti-gravity problem, from a lab accident. If he doesn't strap his clothing to him, it'll all go flying off."
"Yer kidding." The blond tore his gaze from the screen to stare at the wild haired teen. "Tell me yer kiddin'."
"Yup!" Mokuba laughed, using the distraction to pull his racer ahead of Jounouchi's. Jounouchi muffled a curse and turned his attention back to the game.
"Brat."
Mokuba snickered in return, even as Jounouchi regained his number one spot on the track. "Nah. Honestly, it's the intimidation factor. Can you see anyone else wearing that?"
Yuugi in Kaiba's clothing... "No." Jounouchi cut off that train of thought, remembering that werewolf costume Mokuba had talked him into for the costume party. Mokuba had ended up playing -his- bodyguard, not the other way around. It seemed like everyone and their mother had been trying to pet him. Too weird. "Wait... So you're the one responsible for those outfits? I would have thought you'd have everyone running around in stripes."
"What's wrong with stripes?!" Mokuba demanded, making an effort to pull ahead. Jounouchi blocked him with a mad cackle. "Better than that purple trench coat of his. -I- certainly never would have chosen that. Can we 'grape'?"
"Yeah, that was a little fruity, wasn't it?" Jounouchi smirked. Mokuba ran his car into his in retaliation. Jounouchi grinned. "So is he colour blind? Y'know, why you put him in black and white so much."
"That's cause it's dramatic." Mokuba explained. "And it freaks the hell out of the Board Members. He's been running the company for how many years now and they still can't get him into a suit and tie?" The smaller teen chuckled with malicious amusement. There was no love lost between the Kaiba Brothers and the Kaiba Corporation Board.
"Hafta agree on the dramatic part." He agreed. The strange flared outfits certainly leant to the frightening air that caused many of the weaker duellists to run screaming at just their first sight of Kaiba. He grinned. "-Or it could be that he simply doesn't like ties."
Mokuba snorted, drawing attention to their own causal clothing --neither of them would ever voluntarily be caught dead wearing anything resembling a tie.
"Point." Jounouchi conceded.
"You know..." Mokuba said thoughtfully "We're going to have to go shopping at some point. If I gotta go to some fancy shindig, that means you've gotta go too and I know for a fact you don't have anything formal enough to wear in your closet."
The word was little more than a squeak out of his throat. "Shopping?"
"Yup." He didn't have to look to see Mokuba's grin turn fierce, predator like. He'd seen it well enough when the younger boy had talked him into wearing his oldest, worn pair of jeans for the werewolf costume. The younger Kaiba had something already planned in that devious little brain of his, something that did NOT bode well for what remained of Jounouchi's sanity. "It'll be -fun-."
Mokuba's car pulled ahead of his, beating his to the finish line.
"...Shit."
+++
+++
"Yuuuuuuuuugiiii!!" While the smaller man was expecting a joyful welcome from his best friend Jounouchi, he was not expecting the double tackle he got from his best friend AND the younger Kaiba as soon the door opened to the Kaiba household.
The younger Kaiba who was now nearly as tall as him, with a great deal more mass as well.
"Aah! Nice to know I'm welcomed..." He commented weakly, the breath nearly squeezed out of him.
Jounouchi was a hands-on, easy to read person. If he liked you, you got hugs, play-wrestling and hair mussings. If he didn't like you, you got fists in the face and feet in the gut. Mokuba in the past had been affectionate only towards his brother, but several months in Jounouchi's influence had obviously changed that.
Both ends of the 'Yuugi sandwich' snickered happily, shaking him slightly as they broke apart, pulling him to the warmth of the mansion.
"Wasn't sure if you'd really come or not!" Mokuba grinned; bouncing around him as Jounouchi took his pack. "Cause 'Niisama's gonna be here too, but I made him promise not to challenge you to any duels. It'd be a shame to ruin a perfectly good movie night fighting."
Hint hint, nudge nudge. "I'll do my best not to challenge him to any duels either." He promised.
"You'd think Duellin' was all anybody ever thought about in this household." Jounouchi grumbled good-naturedly. This earned him wide-eyed incredulous looks from both the still Number One Ranking Duellist and the Number Two Ranking Duellist's younger brother.
"It's not?!"
Yuugi found himself being pulled through the maze of the house by Mokuba, both of them laughing madly as Jounouchi chased them, mildly-cursing all the way. The blond chased them around a large room obviously meant as a comfortable living room, the three of them ducking, dodging and scrambling over furniture, their laughter punctuated by the occasional yips and yells until they collapsed in a snickering heap on the sofa.
He glanced up in time to see the elder Kaiba standing in the doorway with a dispassionate eye. "Yo, Kaiba-kun!" He waved.
Kaiba inclined his head and walked away.
"Don't take it personally." Mokuba suggested from his sprawled position, pinning Jounouchi's legs to the sofa. "He's just not used to having other people in the house."
"Oi, Mokuba." Jounouchi prodded the dark haired boy with a leg. "Is he? ...Y'know."
The younger Kaiba seemed to know immediately what the blond was saying. "He should be fine."
"Okay." Any apparent worry dissipated at Mokuba's words. Yuugi raised an eyebrow. Jounouchi? Worrying about Kaiba? When did this happened?
Of course, he supposed that having lived under the same roof as him for the past several months might have had something to do with it. And Jounouchi had yet to show up at the game shop cursing and sputtering like he used to after an encounter with Kaiba, so that was a positive sign.
Yuugi grinned. It was always nice to see his friends get along.
"So, food first or movie first or just grab snacks to watch during movie?" Jounouchi was practically crackling with glee, nearly pushing the two smaller people off the sofa onto the floor.
"Food!" Mokuba cheered, hopping off. "We can bring it up here and watch the movie!"
Jounouchi just grinned, glancing over with a slightly apologetic shrug. "What can I say? Kid after my own heart."
"You've trained him well, Jounouchi-kun."
"Hey!"
+
Several hours later, the spiky haired boy glanced down at his best friend, who was sprawled out over two of the three futons they had put on the floor and snoring. Mokuba wasn't much better, using Jounouchi's rising and falling chest as a pillow, snoring in counterpoint to the blond.
Yuugi smiled serenely at his friends. They had worn each other out, watching the movies, munching on popcorn and junk food, wrestling like kids and chattering away at each other. He should really be asleep like them as well, he'd been just as bad as the two of them, but he wanted to enjoy the peaceful moment a while longer.
Jounouchi seemed happy here. Yuugi was both relived and uneasy. Jounouchi and Mokuba got along well, but he had a few unanswered questions. Most of them dealing with the taller man standing in the doorway watching them.
He slipped out from under Jounouchi's sprawled arm and quietly padded over to Kaiba. Once again, he wished he were just a little bit taller. It was hard to feel intimidating when you barely came up to someone's chest. They stood in silence for several minutes, watching the sleepers, before Kaiba finally acknowledged him.
"Yuugi."
"Kaiba-kun."
Yuugi sparkled at the stoic businessman. "It's nice to see my friends finally getting along."
Kaiba grunted.
Yuugi smiled wider. "And I just wanted to let you know that while I may not have a puzzle any longer, I do have a shovel." He said sweetly. He had a frying pan too, but that didn't sound nearly as threatening. "And a former tomb robber that owes me a favour or two."
Actually, it was more like he owed Ryou a favour or two, but the former past-life tomb robber would probably be more than happy to help out...
And if he didn't, Malik knew the -best- places to hide a body.
An eyebrow lifted, Kaiba turning the full force of his attention at him. "Is that a threat?" The words were a low hiss, a menacing rumble from a not-quite slumbering dragon.
"No. Just letting you know." He smiled cheerfully. "Jounouchi-kun is my best friend. I don't want to see him hurt."
He liked to get see his friends get along. However, that did not mean he was going to stand by and do nothing if his friends were hurting each other. And Jounouchi was far less likely to hurt Kaiba then Kaiba was to hurt Jounouchi. Although, granted, Kaiba was more likely to do it without realising it.
"I have no interest in the puppy." Kaiba said disdainfully, returning his attention towards the slumbering boys again. "He's Mokuba's concern, not mine."
Yuugi nodded. And that would be why Jounouchi talked about the older Kaiba as often as he did Mokuba. And why Kaiba was staring at Jounouchi as much as he was his brother....
Well, he supposed some things never changed. Kaiba was and probably always would be stubborn, especially when it came to letting people in close around him. It was just one of those things that made him Kaiba.
Just as Jounouchi was stubborn when it came to the people he cared about.
It would be interesting to see who would win the clash of the thick skulls.
"Just as long as we both know where the other stands." He smiled genteelly and patted Kaiba on the arm. "Good night, Kaiba-kun. Sleep well."
Kaiba grunted in response. Yuugi merely bowed his head and returned to the futons, curling up next to Jounouchi again.
He was aware of the taller boy's presence lurking in the doorway for a while.
+
Yuugi woke up again a few hours before dawn, glancing around the unfamiliar surroundings. To his surprise, he counted three heads beside his own on the futons instead of two.
Jounouchi was next to him, snoring away softly. On the far end he could make out Mokuba's wild locks.
And Kaiba slept peacefully nestled in between the two of them, Mokuba now partly sprawled across his brother instead of his keeper. Jounouchi hadn't seemed to have noticed, one of his arms draped across Kaiba where it had earlier been around Mokuba.
He hid a grin; silently wishing his Other Self could see this, their fearsome rival looking not quite so fierce, in a peaceful way.
One thing his Other Self had taught him was that there was an art to sharing a bed with other people. It had been awkward, the first several times his Other Self had slept outside of the puzzle, for one reason or another. Didn't matter that they were two parts of a whole, or that they were similar sizes, it was just... odd, to be asleep and roll over and find someone there. Limbs didn't match up, waking up with hair, non-corporal or not, in your face and mouth.
Not to mention buckles getting tangled up...
But after a while, they just kind of figured it out. Yuugi always slept better with his Other Self nearby, feeling safe, protected.
He'd fallen out of the habit, his Other Self having passed on, but none of his current bed companions apparently had any of that awkwardness.
Almost made him wonder. Maybe they were getting along better then either was saying.
A yawn blind-sided him and he lay back down, snuggled contentedly next to his larger friend's side. It was nice, almost like when his Other Self had been there....
+
When Yuugi woke up again, long after the sun had risen, it was just the three of them again; Yuugi tucked up against one of Jounouchi's sides, Mokuba against his other, pinning the blankets covering Jounouchi down.
Perhaps he had just dreamed that Kaiba had slept with them last night.
Then again, perhaps he wasn't.
He smiled, sleepily betting on the latter. Especially when Mokuba stirred and whispered his brother's name.
On the other hand, perhaps it wasn't any of his business. But it would certainly be interesting to see what came of this.
+++
+++
Wake up.
Climb out of Kaiba's bed.
Put Mokuba back in his bed.
Go back to sleep. In own bed.
Wake up.
Glare at smirking bastard Kaiba.
Go to spar.
Hand Kaiba his ass.
Get ass handed back to several times.
Take shower.
Get dressed.
Wake up Mokuba.
Eat breakfast.
Finally wake up. Coffee good.
Notice something odd in reflection of coffeepot.
"WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM?!"
"Language, Jounouchi." Mokuba scolded from over his bowl of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.
"Yeah... but... but... " Jounouchi gestured empathically towards his reflection, then reversed the motion and tugged at the leather collar around his neck.
The collar with the initials 'KC' hanging from the front like tags on a dog's collar. It certainly hadn't been on him when he went to sleep last night...
"Oh. Cool!" Mokuba grinned. "I see you got a communicator!"
"Communicator?" What did that have to do with dog collars?!
"Yeah." Mokuba turned the collar of his school uniform to one side, to show off the 'KC' pin displayed there. "'Niisama and I use them to communicate, usually while hosting a duel. Its easier than a phone, cause all you have to do is press it once to start talking, so it's hands free, which is nice when we're looking for trouble. It's pretty much for emergency use only. Since you got one, think this means that 'Niisama finally accepts you as my guard."
Oh.
Well, that still didn't explain how the dog collar got there...
Note to self: Get more sleep. Obviously messing with awareness levels.
"Couldn't I have gotten something round? Something that screams less 'Property of Kaiba Corporation'?"
+++
+++
"Yer fooling me."
Mokuba smirked. "Nope."
Jounouchi's eyebrows disappeared into his hair as he looked around the volcanic island Mokuba had dragged him to. "Kaiba's startin' a Duelling School?" On a possibly dormant volcanic island, no less.
"Academy." Mokuba affirmed.
"Ya mean that ownin' the rights to the duelling equipment, the theme parks and the tournaments aren't enough? He's gotta start his own school too?"
"Yeah, well..." Mokuba shrugged. "Look at it this way. The really -good- Duellists do really bad in school, right?"
"Well..." The blond scratched his head. "I prolly wouldn't have done much better even without ditching to attend tournaments. But Yuugi went from being one of the highest ranking students to one of the lowest after startin' Duel Monsters."
"Exactly. The good Duellists, the serious ones, don't tend to do as well in school -because- they spend all that time away from it for Tournaments and Duels and such. So if you have a school -for- Duelling..."
"...Then the serious Duellists have a way to Duel, go to school and even possibly graduate."
"You got it." Mokuba's grin lit up his entire face. "And Kaiba Corporation has an immediate target audience to test and give us feedback on the latest duelling innovations too."
"Beta testing and feedback, all in one centralised location." Jounouchi grinned, putting his new-found business knowledge to work. Mokuba had been a patient teacher, teaching him jargon and behind the scenes of the business world once he'd admitted he was clueless as to what exactly everyone was busy with. Suddenly what had seemed like mindless meetings made sense. Or some of them anyway, some of them -were- really mindless. But it was really surprising to realise just exactly how hard Kaiba worked. "Smart."
"Yes!" Mokuba cheered. "He -can- be taught!!!"
"Eh, shaddup." It wasn't nice to hit your boss... it wasn't nice to hit your boss... However, hair noogies were okay. Which he then quickly proceeded to do, gleefully wrapping an arm around the wild-haired boy's neck and proceeding to rub the knuckles of his fist into Mokuba's scalp. The teen squawked, laughed and proceeded to attempt to squirm his way out of Jounouchi's grasp.
Which is how Kaiba found them when he stepped back into the entrance way to the school to see what was holding them up. One perfectly arched eyebrow rose at the display of roughhousing. "If you're done molesting my brother..."
"'NIISAMA!!!!" Mokuba's screech would have been pure comedy in motion, if it hadn't come from less than a hand's breath from his ear. He quickly released his grip so that the younger teen could charge and attempt to strangle his older brother.
Which was a sight that more than made up for the temporary deafness in one ear...
Grinning slightly to himself, he followed the Kaiba brothers into what was shaping up to be... well, a school. Dorms, Classrooms, Cafeteria, Gymnasium, Auditorium.
Duelling Arenas.
Sweet.
Kaiba grunted upon noticing Jounouchi's attention to the large platforms and hologram projectors. "They should be working. Still need to do some testing to see if the new modifications work."
Mokuba got that look that meant he just went from zero to forty in two brain cells flat. Jounouchi held up a hand as he began to look between the two taller men with a calculating gleam in his eyes. "Oh, no..."
"Aw, come on..." Mokuba wheedled.
Kaiba glanced nervously between the two of them.
"It's perfect." Mokuba continued blithely. "You both have your decks, don't you?"
"The Mutt?" The sound out of Kaiba's mouth is halfway between a squeak and a growl.
"Oi. I could kick your butt."
"Unlikely."
Jounouchi grinned, wolf like. Gotcha. "Put yer skills where your mouth is, Dragon-boy."
Slight pause from Kaiba, then the Blue Eyes look came over his features, the one that said that someone was going to be on the end of a dragon driven Burst Stream soon. "You're on."
A cheer from Mokuba, a wave to the technicians and they were on their way up the raised platforms to duel it out. Jounouchi glanced down at his charge, realising that Mokuba was looking back and forth between them with obvious conflict.
"Oi, Mokuba!" He waved. "Cheer us both on!"
Panic disappeared from Mokuba's eyes as the kid waved back. Mokuba may have liked him, but Kaiba was his brother. It wasn't fair to make him choose between the two of them in who to cheer on.
Then it was time to duel.
+
"YE-AH!!" Mokuba cheered, bouncing around. "That was so cool!!! Both the Blue Eyes White Dragon AND the Red Eyes Black Dragon!!! At the same time!!! Whoooooooo!!!"
"Yeah!" Jounouchi grinned, slapping Mokuba five on one of the hyper kid's passes. He was feeling pretty darn good about the duel too.
Kaiba gave them both a stony look. "You lost." He pointed out, clearly not comprehending their obvious enthusiasm.
"Yeah, but it was a close loss." Jounouchi's grin grew wider. He'd had a blast up there. It had been a while since he'd gone head to head with someone who was stronger than he was and wasn't Yuugi. "If Time Wizard hadn't landed on the skull, I would have kicked your ass and you know it."
This earned him a disdainful snort. "Placing the outcome of the entire duel on one spin-"
"Works well fer me, so shaddup about it." Jounouchi drawled lazily. "You got yer techniques, I got mine. And next time, we're gonna cream ya."
"'We'-?" Oooo... the Imperial tone was back. He must have struck a nerve.
" Me and the rest of my deck. Why? Ya nervous?"
"Hardly." But there weren't any comments about not wasting the energy on a lower ranking worthy duellist, so Jounouchi took that as a positive sign. Sometimes when dealing with Kaiba, it was more what he didn't say than what he did say.
"So what's with the colour scheme around here anyway?" He asked, changing the subject. "Red, Blue, Yellow. Your designer guys forget the rest of the colour palette?"
"The three levels of classes, actually." Kaiba informed him mildly, although there was still a touch of distain in his tone. "Ra Gold, Obelisk Blue and Osiris Red."
"Who's top?"
"Ra, actually. Obelisk is middle level and Osiris is left for rabble-rousers and lower class players."
Jounouchi paused. Waaaaait a minute... Ra being top he could understand, something about him being the top Egyptian god or something. The God of the Sun, which accounted for the yellow.
But Osiris had been Yuugi's card, before he got the other two. And Osiris was the lowest level...
"Still got some animosity there, huh Kaiba?"
"I beg your pardon?" Kaiba's eyebrow rose again. Mokuba snickered, evidently having also caught this slight.
"Never mind. Where's the Yellow's classrooms?"
"Gold. They're not complete yet."
"Right over here, Jounouchi!" Mokuba volunteered, bounding off.
"Perfect." He quickly followed, losing Kaiba in the process. Kaiba would probably kill him for this, which was half the fun.
"What are we doing?" Mokuba giggled, glancing back.
"Being a deviant high school malcontent." He grinned.
"Sweet!" Mokuba bounced. "Which room do you want, Jounouchi?"
"Toilets."
"Just past the Egyptian room." Mokuba lead the way.
"Egyptian room?" He echoed.
"Since many of our... past adventures kinda originated from Egypt, 'Niisama thought it was a good idea to teach students exactly where the game came from, to prevent it happening a second time." Mokuba shrugged. He had a bit of an easier time accepting the strange magical occurrences than his brother, but he was still more a child of science then magic. "Toilets?"
"Here we are." Jounouchi spotted the toilets and ducked into the men's room, noticing the nice clean walls. On the third stall, he crouched down, pulling a pen out of his pocket and began to write.
"Graffiti?" Mokuba's eyes were wide and incredulous.
"Every school has it." He agreed. "Doesn't seem like one if it doesn't. There. Tell me whatcha think. It ain't no 'They paint these walls to stop my pen, but the outhouse bandit has struck again', but I think it's appropriate."
He didn't have to ask twice, Mokuba crouching down to read it. "Hail to the Sun God, He's a Real Fun God, Ra Ra Ra..."
"'Niisama's probably gonna kill you for that." Mokuba informed him soberly, although his face was scrunched in mirth. "I like it."
"Glad to be of service." Jounouchi snapped a sloppy mock-salute, causing the smaller boy to finally break down into giggles. "Now just need to think of rhymes for 'Osiris' and 'Obelisk'...."
+++
+++
Crap.
Crap crap crap crap with a whole plate of crapolla on the side.
He'd woken up late. The sun was up, lighting Kaiba's room through the closed curtains just enough to see easily.
And here he was, pinned by Mokuba on one side and Kaiba on the other, their body weight pressing against him, holding him down and preventing him from getting the hell out of there.
Trapped. Crap.
He nudged Mokuba with an elbow the best he could. "Wake up, Mokuba." He hissed, deliberately -not- looking at Ol' Blue Eyes at his back. He was dead. D-E-D, dead. "Wake up."
The tangled mass of black hair that was Mokuba stirred and mumbled a bit, then settled back down, one arm flopping over Jounouchi. Dammit. "Wake UP." He nudged the teen again. "Dammit, I -so- don't wanna know what your brother's gonna say when he wakes up and finds me here."
"He's going to say it would be a shame to waste the one morning this month that can be used for sleeping in late arguing." Kaiba's sleep-rough voice rumbled at his back, causing all of his muscles in his body to freeze. Oh... shit.
"Go back to sleep, Mutt." Kaiba ordered drowsily, shifting slightly and somehow managing to press closer. "Mokuba will most likely wake in a few hours and demand to eat sugar laden cereal and watch cartoons in bed."
"Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs." Mokuba murmured sleepily. "And that new duelling anime."
Jounouchi's head hit the pillow. He wasn't dead. He wasn't getting his ass kicked from here to Pluto.
When had he stepped into the Twilight Zone?
"Sleep, Mutt." Kaiba ordered again.
Oh... kay...
Well, sleep was good. He obviously wasn't going anywhere anyway. And if Kaiba wasn't going to beat him bloody for finding him in his bed, he wasn't going to argue.
And when they woke up in the morning, they'd watch Saturday morning cartoons, get hyped up on sugared cereals and Mokuba and him would team up and skunk Kaiba in a pillow fight.
All and all, that actually sounded like a pretty good start to a weekend to him...
+++
+++
To say that Kaiba Seto was annoyed would be a vast understatement.
He was -livid-.
After taking Kaiba Corporation from Gozaburou and then later wrestling it from the Big Five, he had done many many through background checks, searches and examinations of Kaiba Corporation and it's subsidiary companies and dummy corporations. He thought he had dug up the last of the military related projects and destroyed them all years ago.
But no, like a bad trap card that popped up at the most inconvenient time, another one had been discovered.
It was a good thing that Gozaburou was already dead, twice over, or Kaiba would have gleefully taken care of the bastard. Again.
This one was a research and development site, nothing was completely authorised to be produced unless checked with the head of Kaiba Corporation. Research was not due to be completed for several years, meaning he wouldn't have even learned of it's existence until farther down the road. -If the facility hadn't been discovered during an audit of a sub-company far down the subsidiary chain when someone realised that no one in that branch of Kaiba Corporation made small cutesy plush animals.
Animals were about the only thing that the cover did have in common. Mokuba and Jounouchi hung close to him, their eyes both hard and soft in outrage and sympathy as they looked at the creatures in the cages. They had stopped to pet some of the friendlier ones at the front of the building --he'd have to remind the Mutt to wash his hands before they got home, he was quite sure the blond now smelled of the Golden Retriever he'd petted-- but the farther in they got, the more they subtly clung to each other.
Seto had been informed that the company was experimenting with something that had been shelved decades ago by a different company, some sort of mysterious splicer formula called 'MixMaster' in the hopes of re-created it and fixing some of the flaws.
End result: War beasts. Juggernauts. Hideous creatures designed to be released onto the battlefield, sowing terror and destruction wherever they were seen.
That was something Seto was not going to allow to come to fruition. Not after seeing the grotesque results. Some of the resulting mangled creatures were poorly suited for life, such as the frog with wings. Other concoctions were simply terrifying. Nothing should ever be crossed with either a piranha or a badger. The resulting misshapen creatures were ill tempered to say the least.
It made his chest ache and his stomach roll to look up on the creatures. The nightmares his brother and the guard dog were going to have was not something he cared to think about too much.
The labs themselves were sterile and clean, up to date on the safety codes that seemed to be blatantly ignored when it came to the animals themselves.
Seto was not impressed.
"Regular little shop of horrors around here." Jounouchi muttered under his breath to Mokuba. Mokuba gave a soft chuckle, some of the tenseness in his expression fading at the humour, but he continued to press close to their taller forms, his gentle soul recoiling at the horrors.
Their gracious hosts seemed to pick up on their attitudes, scurrying around like mice, soft muttering sounds in the background while they strolled through the rooms. When the cats were away, he supposed.
"What's that thing do?" Mokuba questioned, motioning towards a large complicated device, that looked more like an instrument of torture more than anything else, a large vicious looking nozzle-like contraption on the front.
"Nothing after we dismantle it." Seto growled.
Mokuba nodded in accord. The puppy didn't say anything, but there was a stubborn set to his jaw that Seto thought was in agreement.
Seto dismissed it from his mind, continuing walking through the laboratories, mentally preparing lists, things that would need to be taken care of to close this facility down. Therefore he was totally unprepared to be abruptly shoved into the wall. "Look out!"
His perception of everything seemed to slow down as the Mutt grabbed his brother, interposing himself between Mokuba and the machine they had just commented on. Clear translucent liquid, tossed from the direction of the machine impacted against the back of the blond's head, a smaller second glob striking Jounouchi in the lower back.
For a second, he thought it was water, or something mixed with water to make it somewhat thicker in consistency. A random attack, nothing to get pushed over about.
Then the Mutt's eyes rolled to the back of his head as the blond pitched backwards, knees obviously collapsing under him. Seto reached out, an arm cradling the back of Jounouchi's head, interposing himself between the blond and the floor. The impact of the dead weight drove pushed him into a half crouch, still supporting the blond's head and torso.
"JOUNOUCHI!!!" Mokuba shrieked, his face white, giving stark contrast to the dark hair and grey eyes wide in horror.
"He's fine." He spared a breath to assure his brother, using his free hand to check Jounouchi's pulse at the neck. The pulse was there, fast, but stable. The Mutt seemed to whimper in response, face pinched in a grimace of pain. Dammit. The machine dripped another glob of goo, dropping to the floor in front of the machine. "Turn that thing off NOW!!" Seto roared. "And get a Medic here!!!"
Mokuba shook off his horror, running to the large machine and tearing what appeared to be the power cords out of the wall, causing the whine of machinery to fade. The shouts and footsteps of people running to see what the commotion was about echoed in the room instead, filling it with general chaos.
Seto's jaw twitched as he glared, stoically ignoring the tingling feeling in his arm where the blond's head rested.