Yu-gi-oh

Disclaimer: I don’t own Yugioh, or the characters there in. I just borrowed some of the characters. Rated: NC-17

To Serve and Protect

Chapter 6

“Seto. Seto! I need you to wake up. I gotta go.”

Seto managed to pry one eye open. He was still on the bathroom floor or rather on Joey on the floor.

“Wha’?”

“Real intelligent. I need to get up. Get offa me.”

Seto realized that he was on Joey for the first time. He flushed a shade of red that was near combustion.

With a groan he rolled off Joey and curled up on the floor. He still felt nauseous and his stomach hurt but he didn’t feel like he was going to vomit, thank goodness. Joey wasn’t being as standoffish as he had last night, why else would he wake up on him? [Oh, my god I woke up on Joseph K. Wheeler’s chest. What is that?]

Joey took care of business and turned to Seto, who was struggling to sit up. The towel he was wrapped in was tangled around his legs and one arm. Every time he tried to lever himself up he managed to put himself off balance.

“Here . . . ” Joey efficiently untangled Seto and got him to his feet, wrapped in the towel. “I want you to head straight for that bed. No foolin’ around. You’re weak and I won’t have you falling.” Seto got his arm over Joey’s shoulders, that put their heads together. Seto waited for Joey to make some smart remark or other. But Joey just dumped him gently on the bed and tucked him in. Sometime in the night Torrance had sneaked in, made the bed, gathered the soiled clothing and linens, and disappeared again.

“I’m going to make you some miso with tofu. I don’t think you want to try anything more.” At Seto’s mutinous frown. He tried to reassure Seto. “If you get sick, don’t worry about it. But you need to try something.”

“Joey, I don’t want to be a bother. I’ll just lay here in the bed until I feel better. I don’t really want to endure another bout of . . . . “ Seto paused trying to think of a better way to express himself.

“Pukin’, tossin’ your cookies, hurlin’, heavin’ your socks. Pick one. They’re all good.” Joey laughed in Seto’s face. [I’m not gonna’ sweat this, I’m not] “There’s no nice way to discuss the current situation, so give up.”

“Ok, I’m not eating anything until I’m sure it’ll stay down. I don’t think I can handle another round of projectile vomiting. It’s gonna hurt too much.”

Joey just nodded, “Ok, I don’t really blame you. Un . . . Seto? You want some pj’s or something?”

“I usually sleep in boxers. There’s a drawer full over in the bureau. Get me a pair will you?”

“Sure. I’m gonna go in the kitchen and make coffee. I’m hungry so I’m gonna make an omelet and toast. If the smell gets to you just shout and I’ll come shut the door. I still got that baby monitor in the kitchen.” Joey paused at the door. ”If you’re a good boy, I’ll let you sit on the couch this afternoon.”

Laughing at Seto’s pseudo-aggravated snarl he left, running his hands through his hair to get it out of his eyes. [I really need a hair cut. It’s getting almost long enough to make a tail]

Joey rummaged the refrigerator and gathered up eggs, cheese, bacon, and chopped ham. Torrance had left some diced mushrooms and onions as well, so Joey sauteed the mushrooms and onions in bacon fat and added ham, he was breaking eggs when he heard Seto calling him. He put the pan aside and went to see what he wanted. When he got to Seto’s room, he wanted to smack the stubborn fool, he was sitting at his desk blinking blearily at the computer.

Seto raised his head from his fist, where he had supported it to keep from falling into the keyboard.

“Joey, I think you better get me back to bed. I don’t feel so good. Damnit, I wanted to see if I couldn’t figure out how . . . Joey you can’t.” Seto’s yelp was cut short as Joey scooped the lanky six footer into his arms and started out the door. “Where are you taking me?”

“I”m taking you into the main room where I can keep an eye on you. If you don’t settle down, I’m gonna resort to hojo jutsu, damnit.”

Joey bit his lip, that had just slipped out. Seto was going to have his head on a plate. When Seto just remarked that he wasn’t up to games just now, Joey nearly dropped him.

“Ok, that wasn’t the wisest crack I’ve made lately. Here.”

Joey settled Seto on the couch with the remote in his hand, admonishing him firmly that any funny business and he was resorting to ‘stern measures.’

Seto sneered, “I’m scared. Joey, you can’t do much to me.“

“Yeah?” Joey gave Seto a hard look, only it didn’t work too well, as Seto could see the laughter in his copper eyes.

“Yeah. I’m an invalid, you can’t be cruel to me. I can’t take it. “ Seto managed to get a quaver into his voice. Joey could tell it was from laughter not weakness. He was glad Seto hadn’t noticed his withdrawal last night. It could only cause trouble between them, trouble he didn’t need on top of everything else.

“I’m gonna’ finish making my breakfast. You want a piece of dry toast? That might go pretty good.”

“Yeah, I’ll try it.“ Seto decided that dry toast sounded better than miso.

Joey efficiently made toast; buttering one piece and leaving the other dry. He plated up his omelet and hauled the whole mess into the main room.

He handed Seto the dry toast and started shoveling his food down like he was afraid someone would take it.

“Hey, Wheeler! Take it easy. You’re making me sick just watching you. Chew, before you choke.”

“Mmmm sorry. I’m always in a hurry it seems. I used to have to eat fast or I didn’t get to finish. The bosses were always finished first because I invariably had to interrupt my meal to search someone or break a finger or something.”

“Ack. That’s . . . that’s just . . . Joey? It’s a wonder you don’t have an ulcer. I still don’t know how you could fuck up a scholarship like you did. You had the world in your hand and you threw it away.“

Joey decided he wasn’t going to lie to Seto, neither could he tell him the truth just yet. He had to do that just right or he was going to piss Seto off no end. Then Seto would have one of his hissy fits and probably throw him out on his ass, Letter Man or no. Seto did have a penchant for cutting off his nose to spite his face.

“Seto, just don’t bother me about that. There’s an explanation, but I don’t think you’ll care for it much. So, instead of getting into a fight while you’re so weak, I’d rather it wait for later. Please?”

Seto let his head fall back onto the back of the couch. Seeing Joey in shackles had hurt and his rejection had hurt even more. Especially since Joey hadn’t even been using his real name. [He was using his old gang name. Something is very wrong here.]

“Ok Joey, but when you finally get around to explaining, it had better be really, really good or I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“You’re welcome to try. I doubt you’ll get it done. Remember, I’m a knee breaker. Some guys aren’t that eager to have their anatomy rearranged.” At Seto’s sigh Joey just picked up the plates and took them to the kitchen. After cleaning the kitchen Joey returned to the main room with a cup of coffee and an uneasy conscience.

“Joey, I’m giving up prying. I’m too tired and too sick. But I’ll say this. I don’t care what you’re hiding as long as I doesn’t put Mokuba or my company in danger. If it does. I’ll hunt you down. We understand each other?”

“Yeah Seto, I swear there’s nothin’ I’m hiding that’ll do either. And it’s . . . well. . .damnit, Seto.”

“Don’t hurt yourself, Wheeler. I’ll admit I’m disappointed. I was hoping we were getting to be friends. At least a little.”

Joey sipped at his coffee to hide his eyes. He could read Seto as well as Seto could read him. Seto was disappointed, but willing to wait, at least for a while. Joey hoped he could decide whether to trust Seto or not. He wasn’t sure yet. He thought it was just his paranoia. He’d watched Seto at the bargaining table, tried to look at him through other eyes and had liked what he’d seen. Tristan was right, Seto was stone faced as he was. [I don’t understand how we can read each other so well.]

“Seto? I so don’t even want to go there. When the time is right, I’ll tell you everything I’m allowed to. Just now, I can’t tell you anything without compromising . . . damnit.” Joey slammed his cup down on the table and bolted for the gym, leaving Seto to put things together in his aching head. The picture he came up with put Joey in a very – odd – light. [Why do I not like what I’m coming up with?]

Seto decided not to worry himself about this anymore. His stomach was beginning to settle, but his abdominal muscles still hurt like he’d done too many sit ups. Joey had promised that his secret didn’t endanger Mokuba or Kaiba Corp. and he was sure it wouldn’t endanger him. Why would Joey keep it if it would endanger the very person he was trying to protect. That didn’t make any sense at all. So Seto decided to just let it go until Joey was ready to tell it.

Seto got the remote and changed the channel, the news was on its second go round and he’d seen everything he was interested in. As he channel surfed, he found a documentary on the American prison system that looked interesting. Maybe he could find out some of the things Joey had done.

As the narrator discussed the system, they showed things that made Seto shudder. Solitary confinement naked in a concrete ten by ten room without even a blanket, forced sedation, other things that all Seto could do was wonder about. Then the commentator remarked calmly that many of the preceding segments were no longer part of the penal system but that some old fashioned concepts were being re evaluated, and the chain gang was one of them.

Joey walked back in just then and sat down next to Seto. “You really want to watch that old thing. Half of it is scare tactics and the other half . . . shit.” Joey grabbed for the remote but Seto shoved it between the cushions and Joey realized that it was too late. He’d seen enough that he might as well see the rest.

There on the tv screen was Joey himself; wearing prison clothes, a straw hat and leg irons, glaring into the camera like he wanted to go after the camera man with the scythe he was holding. After a few seconds he curled his lip, turned back to the road side he was mowing and went back to work.

Seto’s mouth went dry. One, he wanted to smack Joey for the waste of his life; two, his sweaty shirt had stuck to his back and the play of muscle as he swung the scythe was . . . sexy as hell.

“Seto? You all right? You look like you swallowed a bug. You gettin sick again?”

“Joey, how can you be so damn calm. Look at you. I . . . leg irons? What the hell. You try to run away or something?”

“No, Seto. That’s not the way it works. It’s a privilege. Only those on good behavior can go out. I’ll admit I wasn’t too fond of the irons. They left a hell of a callous. I’ve still got them.“ At Seto’s horrified look, he shrugged. ”It’s only been about, what? A month? Little more than.”

Joey started to get more comfortable squirming around. Seto held out his hand. Joey gave him an odd look

“Let me see.“ Seto reached out and got hold of one of Joey’s ankles. “Please? I need to see.”

Joey levered himself around and let Seto take his feet into his lap. [My feet are in Kaiba Seto’s lap!] Seto pushed Joey’s pants legs up to his calves and gently fingered the bands of callous on his ankles. They were slightly rough and the edges were peeling. Joey reached down and clawed at one of them. Seto caught his wrist and stopped him

“Don’t do that. You’ll make it sore.”

“It’s already sore and it itches like a bitch.”

“Don’t dig at it!” Seto swatted at Joey’s hand and finally grabbed it. Holding Joey’s hand away from his ankle with his left hand, Seto ran the fingers of his right hand over the callous.

“Seto don’t!” Joey pulled his feet away and quickly tucked them against his hip “You shouldn’t even look at that. It’s not a fit sight for you.” Joey wondered if his face was as red as it felt. “Leave it be.”

“Damnit to hell! What a waste! Joey, I could just . . . I really could. You . . .”

Seto sputtered and swore for a few seconds. He wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to do. He was torn between swearing at Joey, swearing in general, and slapping the hell out of Joey. He settled on swearing at Joey and in general, ending up short of breath and still furious.

Joey jumped up from the couch and growled through gritted teeth, “Seto, if you’re done . . . I’ll be in the gym. I don’t think you want me around just now. If you want me out, I’ll go. I’ll get a capsule and just come in for the day. I’d rather not. I really need to be with you. [In more ways than one, but that ain’t happenin’] I’m sorry you’re disappointed in me, I really am. . . . fuck!” Joey turned and left the room at a dead run so Seto wouldn’t see the tears.

Seto started to call Joey back but decided not to. He still felt terrible, and his recent explosion had left him exhausted and feeling incapable of arguing, or even reasoning, anymore. He wrapped the afghan around himself, settled himself more comfortably and started to add two and two, again. He kept coming up with facts that didn’t fit in with the picture that Joey was trying to project.

He knew Joey’s personality, his intelligence, and couldn’t reconcile those with his admission that he was a common knee breaker. Joey’s temper was volatile, but he was capable of extreme patience if he felt it was justified. And he knew that Joey was capable of great sacrifice, especially if it benefitted his friends. Things weren’t adding up. [What the hell is going on?]

~*~

Seto called in sick the next day, which was Monday, and spent it just lounging around and eating small meals every two hours to get his strength back up. He still felt wobbly and Joey told him that he needed to eat to regain his strength.

Joey cooked for Seto and waited on him without comment. Seto couldn’t believe that Joey was going to act like their little confrontation had never happened, but that was exactly what he was doing. He decided not to force the issue, Joey was walking around him like he was a bomb on a hair trigger. Seto didn’t want Joey to act on his threat to go to a capsule, whatever that was.

So they spent the next week circling each other like two cats cooped up in a small room. Joey did his job with ruthless efficiency and fierce determination. Seto cooperated and held his temper, even when Joey’s nit picking drove him to distraction. They ate breakfast in the apartment, lunch in the office, and late dinner at a restaurant. A different one each night at Joey’s insistence.

That weekend was spent with Seto treading on egg shells and Joey doing his best not to be in Seto’s way. They both nearly snapped themselves in two trying not to step on the others toes. Finally Seto took his courage in both hands and cornered Joey in the gym. He spent at least three hours each day in there, working himself into exhaustion.

“Joey?” Joey let the machine he was working ease into its supports. “Joey, look at me please. “Joey turned his head to look at Seto. From where he was laying on the bench of the leg press, Seto looked very tall and commanding. ”Joey, we need to talk.” Joey frowned, he didn’t realize that even flat on his back that particular expression was threatening.

Seto only managed to keep from exploding by a hair. “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t know exactly what to say other than that. I shouldn’t have sworn at you. You made a mistake and you paid for it. I should have just let it rest. Please. I can’t stand this tip-toeing around anymore.”

Joey sat up and wiped his sweating face with a towel Seto handed him. He pushed a hand through his hair and grunted as he stood.

“Ok Seto. I’m sorry too. I didn’t realize that you . . . um . . . well, that you’d be so upset or I would have warned you . . . I . . . shit!”

Seto shrugged. “How were you to know that that stupid thing was going to be on? It was disgusting. Things like that don’t go on in Japan. Thank God.”

“Yeah . . . It wasn’t really that bad. I got to go to school. Trade school . . . but I learned a lot of useful stuff. Computer programing and black smithing. Lots of stuff. American prisons are really crime schools. I can hot wire a car and break-and-enter in under two minutes. Really useful; especially now.”

“Excuse me?” Seto was getting ready to blow up again.

“Yeah . . . as a body guard it’s good to be able to see how to break in. It helps me keep people out. Everything I learned, I can use on the right side of the law. Look, I’m sweatin’ like a cotton picker. I’m going to take a shower and we can go out to an arcade or something. The Letter Man doesn’t seem to plan for spur of the moment stuff.”

Seto followed Joey as he headed for his suite and the shower.

“How do you know how much a cotton picker sweats?”

“Spent two weeks hand picking seed cotton for the U of G.” Joey walked into his room without looking back

If he had; he’d have seen Seto’s stricken look, as it was he heard the thump as Seto punched the nearest wall.

“Hey . . . you ok?”

“Fine . . . Fine, just tripped. Come on, hurry up. If we get going soon, we can take the bikes.”

“Ok, I’m goin’”

~*~

Joey and Seto parked their bikes and paid the attendant for the spots.

Seto eyed the attendant. He wasn’t sure he trusted the man. Looking down his nose at him, Seto pinned him with what Joey called the patented Kaiba-put-down look.

“These bikes are extremely expensive, very dangerous and not yours. I will expect to find them exactly where they are now, without any extra miles on the odometers. Do I make myself clear?”

The attendant, who had been planning on taking both bikes out for a run around the neighborhood, gulped, nodded, and mumbled, “Yes sir. I understand.” then softly enough that he thought Seto wouldn’t hear ‘asshole.’

“I heard that. Joey explain how I’ll have his job if he annoys me. I’ll wait right here.”

Joey eyed the attendant for a second while he rubbed his chin. With his left hand. The attendant’s eyes widened even more as he realized what Joey was.

“Mr. Kaiba is a very kind man. I’m not. You fuck around with those bikes and I’ll break every bone in your body. Do you understand me?”

The attendant nodded vigorously, ”Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. No taking them out. Leave them right there.”

“And they better be in pristine condition. Not so much as a finger print on either one of them. And, anything goes wrong with either of them in the next few hours and I’m lookin’ you up. Got that?”

Joey didn’t bother to wait for more from the man, he just caught Seto up and laughed. “That’s the Seto I remember. You’ve been pussy footin’ around me since you took me out of jail, now that I think of it. So what gives?”

“Mokuba reminded me that night that I didn’t want to piss off my body guard. He’s right and besides, I find that I really don’t want to fight with you. There’s something . . . never mind. I couldn’t explain it to save my life.” Seto shrugged, turned and walked away.

Joey watched as Seto walked a few steps ahead of him wishing he knew what was going on. He was wanting something from Seto that he’d never get. He hoped that he could at least have his respect when this was all over. [Probably not, Seto hates a liar and that’s all I’ve done.]

Seto turned to see what was keeping Joey and caught the sad look on his face.

“Joey, I’m sorry. Did I embarrass you? I didn’t mean to, but that guy had that look . . . you know the one. He was going to take our bikes out. I just know he was.”

Joey scrambled himself back together. “No, Seto, you’re right. He woulda. I was just thinking about stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Oh, like how you’ve changed. Helpin’ me out. Even when I’m such a mess. And not draggin’ me over the coals a dozen times a day, just because you can. I . . . well. You’re different than you were in school.”

“Yeah, I am. Thanks to some therapy. And the friendship of Yugi and Tristan. Four years of growing up will make some changes. You’ve changed too, you know. You’re harder and cold . . . never mind . . . It’s not for me to say.”

Joey sighed, this was not going the way he wanted. They were supposed to be having fun instead of walking down a Tokyo street angsting.

“I’m different too. And you’re right; four years is a long time, and makes lots of changes, not all of them for the better. Damnit! Look at that line.”

Seto allowed the change of subject; it was getting too dark for him as well.

“What line?” Seto strode to the head of the line, his long legs carrying him quickly. He noticed that, while Joey was slightly shorter, he didn’t have to struggle to keep up.

Seto approached the door man and barked in a voice that made hardened businessmen cringe. “Open the door.”

“But you have to. . . .”

“I’m Kaiba Seto and I don’t have to do anything. Move!”

The doorman gave up without a struggle. Joey smirked evilly at him as he followed Seto into the new arcade. Sometimes it really paid to work for someone like Seto. He was going to miss this particular perk when he left. In fact, he was going to miss a lot of things.

There were the obligatory hack and slash games, and the driving and such; but the real attraction was the computerized Duel Monsters game. It was a full size arena with everything a regular arena had, except you dueled against a computer. Joey vaguely wondered where his deck was, but didn’t worry about it much. He hadn’t touched a deck in four years. In fact, the only use he’d had for his knowledge, was figuring out the card code of the yakuza.

Seto turned to Joey. “I’ve been waiting for this to open for weeks. I’m going to duel that computer into an electronic funk. You should have let me construct your deck again. You could duel too.”

Joey looked at the arena and shook his head. “Seto, I told you. I haven’t touched a deck since high school. I don’t even know the new cards. My deck is out dated. Just go ahead and duel, have fun. I’m still working. Watching your back.”

Seto shook his head. One thing Joey had loved more than almost anything else was dueling. What had happened to take that away from him? There was something seriously wrong. Joey hadn’t contacted Yugi or Tristan in over eight months. That wasn’t like him. Even if he’d had a fight . . . well, he wasn’t going to think about that just now. He was going to duel, and win.

Seto gathered his thoughts and smirked as he put his name on the list. The attendant gulped and motioned frantically to his boss. When the man came over, he looked at the name Kaiba and decided he might as well just get it over with.

“Ok folks, we just got a real celebrity in here. Kaiba Seto has challenged the computer, so everyone gather around for the duel of a lifetime.”

Seto crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t look like the crowd expected him to. Instead of his trademark, full-skirted coat; he was wearing cycling leathers. Soft, supple, black leather encased his slender, broad-shouldered form from neck to feet. The jacket was open, showing his dark pearl grey t-shirt. He smirked around and motioned to Joey to join him. Joey stepped up beside him, pushing his hair out of his eyes.

“Ok Boss, I looked around and there’s no problems. “

“I’m not worried about that. This is too public. . . .uh oh . . .Look over there.”

Joey looked where Seto pointed and his heart sank into his boots. Mai Valentine was standing at the juice bar staring at him with angry eyes.

“Go talk to her before she incinerates you. I don’t know what you did to her to make her look at you like that, but you better make it up. Even I don’t fancy a tongue-lashing from her. Quite the experience.”

Joey eyed Mai with disfavor. He’d had a serious crush on her in high school but she’d wisely put him off. She was almost four years older than he was. In high school that meant that, when he was a freshman, she’d already graduated. In a few more years the four years separating their ages wouldn’t make that much difference, but now, it was a lot. And she was probably still mad at him for other things; like ignoring her advice to stay away from Golden Ball, one of his Okishiras.

Mai’s cold “Hello Joseph” made Joey jump. He didn’t remember her coming up to him. [Fucking great. Now I’m totally distracted. She shouldn’t have been able to get so close]

“Hey, Mai. Long . . .”

“Joseph, don’t butter me. It won’t work. And don’t think I’m not going to tell Kaiba everything I know about you. You’ll . . .”

Joey held up his hand to stop her.

“He already knows plenty. He got me out of jail. I’m released into his custody. I’m working as his body guard. He’s seen my rap sheet, they make you read them before they’ll do a custodial.”

Mai sighed, she really didn’t want to be mad at Joey. She’d liked him from the first. He’d helped her a few times and she regarded him as a younger brother. She realized that he’d had a crush on her and done everything she could to discourage it without cutting him off from her. She’d always hoped to help him stay out of trouble and make something of himself.

“Oh, Joey, don’t lets fight. I don’t want to. I’m glad to see that you’ve straightened yourself up. If you stay out of trouble, maybe Seto can help you to . . . Oh. Frank. Hi. “ Mai turned to the man reaching out for her and found that she was looking at the back of Joeys head. “What? Joey!”

Joey got between Mai and the strange man. He put his hand on his side arm and then realized that he knew him. He had worked the arms smuggling assignment with him.

“Damnit.”

Frank eyed Joey and then made a face. He fixed a snarl on his face and muttered without moving his lips “You still under. You can trust Mai. She won’t tell anyone anything.”

Joey glanced around then made a placating gesture and said loudly. “Sorry pal, ya gave me a start. I’m an old friend of Miss Valentine’s. Just wanted to say hello. Let me buy you a drink to make up.”

“Ok, Mister. What’d you say your name was?”

“Didn’t say. It’s Wheeler.“ Joey led Mai and Frank to a booth where he could keep an eye on Seto and got seated.

Mai slapped Frank on the arm and gave Joey a warning look

“Ok. I want to know exactly what is going on here. Frank, if you know Joey, when did you arrest him? You tell me almost everything, so spill.”

Frank looked at Joey who rubbed his face with both hands and shrugged. “Mai, if you bust me Seto could get killed. So this is purely on the QT. Swear.”

“Ok Joseph, I swear. But could you . . .put that hand under the table or something. That tattoo really just . . . breaks my heart. So go ahead and laugh.”

Joey tucked his left hand under the table. The red line around his little finger gave him a twinge every now and then too.

Frank blinked. “I wondered what that old fuck did about that little slip of yours. But they took me off the case just then. I wonder . . . you . . . you were supposed to do me, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. That’s what this was about. I couldn’t . . . I’d rather not talk about it. Letting you escape . . . It’s over and done . . you and Mai. You . . .a couple?”

Frank nodded, he was beginning to put a few things together, Mai had always talked about Joseph and wondered about him. He had only known him as Katsuya or Genkotsu (Fist) now he wondered “Umm Joey? . . not my business and you can tell me to fuck off. . . . how old were you on your first assignment?”

Mai turned startled eyes to Joey. “Assignment? Joseph Wheeler! Do. Not. Tell. Me . . . ”

“Ok” Joey eyed Frank sourly. “I won’t tell you. Frank will. I’m gonna get a drink. There any . . . no. Damnit! I’m on duty. Fuck! I so want a drink.”

Joey headed for the juice bar and left Frank to tell Mai whatever he could. He knew he faced a barrage of questions when he came back and the only thing that kept him from bolting like a scalded cat was the fact that he still had to guard Seto.

He let Frank have several more minutes than it took for him to get a drink, then went back to the table. Checking on Seto, he saw that he was in the middle of duel two of three. He’d won the first. Joey plopped down on the bench and waited for Mai to say something. Her eyes were suspiciously red. And her nose was running.

“Mai. Don’t cry! I’m not worth it. Everything is so screwed up, you wouldn’t believe it. “

“Joseph. I’m so sorry. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt . . . kept in touch somehow.”

“Yeah and got me killed. I’m sorry I dumped you like I did, but the job was really dangerous. The yakuza smuggling guns were bad enough. But after Frank got burned, I found out that the gun runners were a link to a bigger operation smuggling drugs. I couldn’t let that slip, so I got traded to that boss and went on from there. I had to cut Yugi hard and I haven’t heard from him since. He may have tried to get in touch. But Kaiba Mokuba was the only one who could get in touch with me, outside my lawyer, who was one of my contacts. I don’t know who Mokuba bribed and what with but he’s as stubborn as Seto. I’ll say I was glad to get the letters, I kept up with you all through them. Mo’ didn’t tell me you was datin’ but I shoulda known. . . Frank, you be good to her or you’ll answer to Katsuya Genkotsu.”

Frank just held up his hands in a warding gesture. “I’ll be good to her, don’t worry. She’s something really special. Look, what’s going on here? I thought you were supposed to be on vacation or something.”

“I’m really near snappin’. I shouldn’t even be talking to you but I’m so tired.“ Joey put his head in his hands. “I just want to . . . I’m not even sure what I want anymore. After that whippin’ I kinda lost myself. I’m scared I’m turning into a real monster. Pretend something long enough and it turns into the truth. I . . . just want this all over.”

Mai looked like she might cry again. She took a silver band off her finger and gave it to Joey. “Here, put this on. It’ll hide that damn tattoo. I can’t stand the sight of it. And . . . what! I missed something . . . “

“Mai, don’t even think about asking, because I won’t tell you. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. Just . . . I wish I could . . . I miss Yugi. I saw Tris’ at the race track a while ago and we talked, but I haven’t seen him again. I think he went to race in Italy or something. Seto says that they both visit him when they’re here but Tris’ wasn’t staying with . . . of course. Seto wouldn’t let him with the Letter Man around. That . . . it’s why I’m still under. We’re hoping to draw the man out. I can’t tell you much more, but since you know I’m a cop . . .”

“Joey. You really are a policeman I’m . . . I mean . . . you’re so young. Damn I . . . that didn’t come out right.”

Joey laughed bitterly. “I started undercover breaking up the Rintama Makos and a yakuza lord saw me with Hirutani and sponsored me. I couldn’t refuse and blow my cover. Then my Captain, Tanaka -san, read my report and realized that I had an in with a clan that was suspected of smuggling. So I went on from there. I’ve been under way too long. . . . Oops! Gotta go. Seto just beat the computer . . . ”

Joey got up and shook hands with Frank and gave Mai a kiss on the cheek. “Not mad at me anymore?”

Mai smacked him gently on the cheek. “Yes, I am. I wish you would have told me when I jumped all over you. I’m so sorry. Keep in touch, or I’ll hunt you down and turn my Harpy Ladys loose on you.”

“Ok Mai. I’ll do that. I’m scared of your Harpys.“ Joey smiled at Mai and nodded to Frank. [Two down, one to go. Yugi . . . little pal. Don’t be still mad at me!]

Seto was looking very self-satisfied he’d beaten the computer hands down. Its AI just wasn’t up to an original thinker like Seto. It was able to handle duelists up to and including intermediate easily, but when it came to someone like Seto, it just choked.

“Joey, you wouldn’t believe it. I really want a look at the program. It had me on the ropes for all of three seconds. I wish Yugi was here. I’d like to watch the AI duel him. I could really get a handle on the algorithms if I could see it duel someone I know . . . Joey . . . damnit. I . . . we . . .”

“Seto, if there’s a real thought in that babbling; find it will you. You’re making me real nervous.”

Joey couldn’t help teasing Seto, He was as excited as Joey had ever seen him.

“Joey, I remember every card you had. I can get you a deck easily. There’s a card shop here and I know they’ll have them. I want to watch you duel the computer. Will you? I’ll . . .” Joey shook his head. “Look . . . you won’t lose. If you do, which I doubt, I promise I won’t rag you. I swear.”

“Seto, I don’t want to . . . “

“Come on, Joey. Don’t tell me you’re afraid. You were third in the world.”

“Active word: were. Seto . . . “ Joey sighed, he couldn’t refuse Seto, he looked so eager. “All right. All right. I’ll do it. Damnit Seto, I . . . can’t refuse you. I. . .just get the damn cards. I’ll go put my name on the list. We’ll have to wait at least twenty minutes after I hit the list, so I’ll go stand in line now.” Joey ran his hand through his bangs making them even more messy than ever. “Damnit I got to cut this mess.”

“Joey, do you really think I’m letting my friend wait in line like some common duelist. Think again. Now come on. I want you to pick out some new cards to add to your deck. And leave your hair alone.”

Seto and Joey went into the card shop and Seto watched Joey for signs of eagerness, but Joey seemed detached, distant; almost hesitant. Seto reached over to touch Joey’s arm, “If you really don’t want to do it, that’s ok. I shouldn’t have pushed you. It’s just that you use to love dueling so much. And I’ll admit I enjoy watching you pull some totally outrageous save out of . . . Er ... wherever . . . ”

“My ass. I swear, sometimes I’m so lucky it’s just plain magical; and sometimes I’m in such a mess, it’s practically criminal. Damnit Seto. All right, I’ll duel, but I get to pick some new cards too.”

Just then a bell sounded, Joey and Seto turned to see a flashing light over the arena.

“What? . . . What’s going on? Hey you, what is it?”

Joey grabbed a nearby boy who turned and grinned at Joey. “It’s the new deck challenge. The sponsor offers a new deck every night. All you have to do is use it and win the match. Three duels and you’ve got a deck of the best cards around. But no one has won yet.”

Joey looked at Seto. Seto headed back for the arena, striding through the crowds like he was the only one in the room; not surprisingly, people got out of his way. Joey followed smiling.

Joey signed up for the new deck duel and was third to duel. [Three. My magic number] When it was his turn, he took a minute to try to look at the cards, but the judge stopped him. He found out that he wasn’t allowed to. But he’d been watching two other duelists use the deck and had a fair idea of what was in it. After all, the first boy had made it through the first duel and had gone through nine turns in the second. The girl who’d dueled second, hadn’t done very well but she’d pushed her way through eighteen turns. That meant Joey had seen most of the cards.

The first duel didn’t last very long, the AI played a card that left Joey drawing two cards every hand and that left him with every magic and trap card in play. Bistro Butcher made it unnecessary to discard to keep only six cards in the hand. So Joey pulled some fancy moves, doubled up on power up cards and had a card with three thousand attack points. One turn later he ran the AI out of life points.

The second duel was even worse, as Joey drew a magic card that let him summon any card he wanted to his hand. This card would be wasted on most new duelists, but Joey remembered his cards and summoned a new card ‘Lady Pure Justice’ with thirty five hundred points. He managed to beat the AI in three more turns.

“Well, we have a winner. Mr. Wheeler has beaten the computer. Here you are young man, your new deck, including a deck box and a very nice playing field fold out.”

“Thanks.” Joey tucked the deck into an inside pocket and returned to Seto’s side. “Seto, it’s almost time to go. Last call is in twenty minutes. I’d like to get out of here before they make a big fuss out of my win. I don’t want to attract too much attention. I really shouldn’t have dueled at all but the temptation was just too much.”

Seto smirked at Joey and headed for the door. “I knew you couldn’t resist and it was thrilling to watch you. You duel with a flair that always made me jealous. I . . . well, I find that I’m still apologizing to you for the way I used to treat you. It wasn’t . . . I . . . my . . . ”

“Seto, forget about it. I was so cocky, I don’t blame you for trying to take me down a notch. Then I fuck up my life, so what do I expect. I’m just glad you gave me a second chance. And this conversation is getting old and tired and I don’t want to have it again. Ok? Let’s just go home to bed. I’m tired.”

Seto nodded, he was tired too. It had been an exciting and wearing day.

The parking garage attendant was so anxious to prove that he hadn’t touched the bikes that he nearly fell all over himself. Joey checked them out and nodded to Seto. They drove out of the garage and headed for Kaiba Towers.

The trip was made quickly, with Joey following Seto and admiring how quickly he’d caught on to driving.

When they got to the Kaiba Towers garage, they went through the usual routine. Joey put himself between any threat and Seto, who cringed again. [I can’t stand this. He’s going to get hurt doing that.]

“Joey, I need to talk to you. This is getting on my nerves.“

“What is, Boss?” Joey started making tea while Seto seated himself at the kitchen table. “You don’t look happy. What’d I do?”

Seto reached over to the rack on the table and got out two cups. He placed them opposite each other so Joey would be forced to face him, instead of sitting on the side. He hid way too much with his bangs and side ways glances.

“Everything and nothing. You take chances I don’t like. I want to know what you really want. This is so . . . I’m not sure what I want to say. I don’t want to insult you, you’re doing a good job under less than optimal conditions. Your record . . . and I saw that Mai has dropped you. I’m sorry . . . I’m tired and I’m not expressing myself very well. I.. . .”

Joey took pity on Seto as he struggled to do something he wasn’t very good at.

“Look Seto. My record and my attitude pushed Mai away. I knew she probably wouldn’t want anything to do with me. She’s with Frank now. He’s a good guy and a great cop. He’s . . . “ Joey cut off what he was going to say as it was a clear bust. “As to what I want. It don’t make any difference. It’s what you want that counts.”

Seto filed another fact away and got to the point of his questions quickly. “I want this Letter Man caught. So far I followed Mr. Patrick’s advice, which was to keep this as private as possible so as not to alert the man. But it’s not working. We’re not catching him. I want him caught. Now! He poisoned me and, you read the report, he only poisoned my favorite dish. It got four of us. I resent the fact that he’s still on the loose. Catch him! I don’t care what you have to do!”

“Ok, Seto. Here . . . have some tea and we’ll brain storm.” Joey poured tea and they sat drinking tea and thinking. Joey wanted to catch this guy so badly he could taste it. Ducky was still trying to find out where the bacillus had come from. And he was still trying to trace the emails. Roland was having fits, as the paper letters continued to appear in the building. So far, they hadn’t gotten another bomb, but things were definitely out of hand.

Seto snarled into his cup, he was tired of dancing around, Patrick hadn’t helped matters he realized now. He tried to hire the best there was and then follow their instructions. This whole matter was so out of hand he wasn’t sure how to fix it.

“Seto, I’m just a knee breaker . . . “

Seto slammed his cup down on the table so hard it broke.

“Shut that up! Now! You’re smart. You couldn’t duel like you do if you weren’t. I’m sick and tired of you knocking yourself. I’d like to know what happened to you to make you so unsure of yourself . . . Damnit!”

Seto braced himself on the table, shoulders hunched, as he tried to get his temper under control. He’d been watching himself around Joey since he’d gotten him out of jail. The sight of him sitting so beaten looking had affected him greatly. Now he was taking off the gloves.

“Stop second guessing yourself. If you want something done, tell me. You need anything, ask for it. Patrick is gone, so that makes you head of my personal security. I’m transferring Roland to Kaiba Corp. security in the morning. He’s been trying to do both and he’s over loaded.”

Joey sat openmouthed in shock, as Seto had one hell of a temper tantrum, all in that quietly intense way of his.

“Ok, Boss! Whatever you say! Calm down before you have a stroke or something.”

Joey sat watching as Seto cleaned up his mess and didn’t offer to help. Seto was a big boy and he could clean up his own messes. He also thought quickly, applying his intelligence and experience with yakuza to the current problem. He’d been on a mono minded campaign to protect Seto personally and secondarily trying to catch the stalker. He realized that this was not working. In order to truly protect Seto he needed to have help from outside. He needed to catch the Letter Man, not just protect Seto from him.

“Ok, Seto. I need to really change my method of attack. I . . . I’m too tired tonight. I want to sit down and really think this through. Let’s go to bed. I’ll get on it tomorrow.”

“Ok. I’m tired too. If we try to think up anything tonight, it’s sure to be stupid.”

“Really, all I can think of now is how much I’d like to stick a knife in him. . .” Joey stretched and yawned. “g’night s’to.” He patted the last of the yawn back with the back of his hand.

~ * ~

As they nearly staggered down the hall, Joey started digging at his wrist, the callouses were peeling badly now and itched worse than ever.

“Damnit Joey, stop digging at that. You’ll make it bleed.”

Joey looked at where he’d pulled a strip of loose callous off and sighed.

“Too late, Boss.”

Seto took his wrist in his elegant hands and started to examine the bleeding spot.

“Don’t.” Joey tried to pull away.

“Give. Me. Your. Wrist. Now!” Seto was tired of Joey hiding everything. He was keeping secrets, hiding something important. Seto had determined to let him keep that secret but he wasn’t going to let him hide this. “You’ll get an infection if that isn’t taken care of. Stop hiding everything.”

“I’m sorry! It’s just . . . they’re ugly. You shouldn’t have to see ugly things. You . . . I . . . “ Joey sighed, he kept pussyfooting around his feelings and he was making himself crazy. “Look. I promise I’ll clean it up before I go to bed.”

“No . . . you won’t. I’ll do it.” Seto didn’t bother arguing any more, he just dragged Joey bodily into his bathroom and made him sit on the commode. Joey was too tired and too needy to argue much.

Seto got out disinfectant and a roll of gauze. He pulled Joey’s wrist over the sink and dumped disinfectant over the bleeding spot, then turned Joey’s hand back and forth, examining the callous.

“This needs to be trimmed. You’ll only do the same thing in another place.” Seto rummaged in a drawer until he found a pair of scissors. They were supposed to be used to trim mustaches, but they’d do the job. He poured disinfectant over them and used them to trim off the loose callous.

Joey watched with his head on his fist. He had propped his head up with his other hand and was patiently waiting for Seto to finish doing whatever he wanted, which included trimming off the callous and wrapping gauze around his wrist.

“Let me see the other one. I want to trim it too.”

So Joey let Seto cut the loose callous from that wrist too. But when Seto started to kneel and work on his ankles, Joey kicked over the traces figuratively.

“No! Seto you’re not . . . I can’t . . . stop that.”

Seto stood up, the tone of Joey’s voice proved that he’d had all he could take. [Why the hell can’t he see I just want to help. His pride. . .my pride. Damn]

“Ok Joey, if you want to suffer, who am I to stop you. I’ve got some cream I’ll give you. . . use it!”

Seto stomped out of the room, leaving Joey sitting staring after him with a look of longing on his face. All he really wanted was to get his life back, being real friends with Seto would be so nice. When he was done doing his duty maybe he could do what he wanted to.

Joey headed for bed, but while he was still in the middle of the room, Seto knocked and opened the door only long enough to toss a tube at Joey. It smacked the middle of his chest and he only caught it by reflex. Seto glared at him and snarled “use that!” and slammed the door.

~*~
Authors Notes:
I have won duels in less than six turns and battled it out for more than thirty, finally winning by decking my opponent. So in the shortest of the three duels that Joey watched he could have seen no less than eighteen cards. Nine from his deck and nine from his opponents. In the longest it’s more likely he saw the whole deck as each turn would show him two cards. One from each deck. With identical decks just from my description he saw 53 cards I assume that some were duplicates.