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 9

Joey finished his breakfast by the simple expedient of sandwiching his scrambled eggs and sausage between the last of his toast and stuffing it into his mouth.

Seto unashamedly gawked at this display of, not exactly bad manners, as Joey chewed with his mouth closed. But it was still startling.

“Wheeler, don’t do things like that. You’ll choke.”

“Won’t. Come on. You want a web connection, don’t you?”

Seto considered what he needed to do and nodded. He did need one but he didn’t want to go back to Kaiba Towers to get it.

“Where can I connect? I don’t want to go back to the apartment and I don’t like the setup here.”

Joey grinned, Seto wouldn’t like it as it was just a tiny desk, like a library cubby, and it was way too much like a urinal stall for either of them.

“There’s a Net Café down the mall a way. We can go in there and I can have a latte. You can do whatever you need in comfort. How’s that?”

Seto had watched Joey while he talked. He showed no signs of distress from yesterday and that had Seto very worried. He shouldn’t have been able to put himself back together like that. All that emotion had to go somewhere. Seto worried about what would happen when the dam finally broke. Would Joey break too?

“Boss?” Joey poked Seto on the shoulder. “You ok?”

“Huh? . . . oh, yeah. Just thinking. Sorry I wandered off like that. This Café sounds good. But you drink way too much coffee. Isn’t there any tea?”

“Couldn’t tell you. I’ve never been in. I just noticed it in passing. Let’s check out and take a look.”

While Joey was changing back into his street clothes, Seto sneaked a peek at him. He was so thin now that Seto could actually count his ribs and the scar on his back was still a red, puckered gash over his right kidney. He reached out and took Joey by the shoulder, stilling him and holding him gently in place. He knew it was rude in the extreme to ‘see’ in a changing room, but his concern for Joey left him without compunction.

“Joey, that scar isn’t healing like it should. What’s wrong? Are you doing what the Doctor said you should?”

Joey had let himself be touched and examined. He found that his reaction to Seto touching him was completely different to anyone else touching him. Seto’s touch was cool and comforting; anyone else touching him was liable to get punched.

“The Doctor gave me some salve to put on it, but I’d like to know how he thought I was going to get salve on that. I can’t reach it well enough to rub the stuff in, and I hate the greasy feel. Let’s get dressed and get out of here. People are starting to stare.”

“I don’t care. They can stare all they want. You give me that salve and I’ll rub it in for you now.”

Joey rummaged in his saddle bags and handed the tin to Seto who opened it and scooped out a pea sized glob. He dabbed it into the scar, which absorbed it like water into dry earth.

Joey sighed, “Damn that felt good. The fucker itches like a bitch.”

“And your wrists and ankles itch too?”

Seto wasn’t sure exactly what to make of that, so he added it to his list of research items.

They got dressed, checked out, and into the mall without incident. Seto was actually happy to see the crowded mall. He hadn’t been out of Kaiba Towers, except to go into another building, in more time than he liked to think about.

“Joey, just off the top of your head . . . why would you stalk someone?”

Joey gave Seto a sharp look, but realizing that his question wasn’t implying anything, thought about it for several moments.

“Control.”

“Mm mmm . . . why?”

Seto walked beside Joey in companionable silence as he thought.

“Because I don’t have any? Seto, you’re asking the wrong person.”

“Not really, but we’ll drop it for now. Here’s the café. You get your latte. And see if you can get me a decent pot of tea.”

“Seto, I’m not a waiter. I’m not gettin’ that far away from you.”

Joey sat down next to Seto and signaled a waiter. As Seto connected to the Net, Joey ordered for them both. Tea for Seto and a double double shot latte for him.

“Joey, no wonder you’re so wired. A double double? You’re demented.”

“I know. I’ve got to decompress soon or I’m going to be getting a visit from the men with the long sleeved jacket.”

Seto turned his head and raised an eye brow questioningly.

“Seto . . . you know.”

“No . . . I don’t. Educate me.”

“A straight jacket and let me tell you, they ain’t comfortable.”

Seto just turned back to his laptop. His researched included abnormal psychology of stalkers, his castle/fort and what was making Joey’s scar and callouses itch.

He down loaded several papers on psychology into his hard drive. He found out that the fort was bought along with some property that he’d acquired for a subsidiary complex and had been more or less a ruin. Mokuba had spent an astonishing amount of money on it, but it was now completed and ready for occupancy. And found out that Joey’s problems were probably a combination of stress and poor diet. Several different micro nutrient deficiencies could account for it.

“Joey? Damnit. Wheeler, you look like you’re going to vibrate right out of that chair. What is it?”

“Don’t know. Can we leave now?”

Joey was nervous and couldn’t say why. He just . . . didn’t like something. He felt as if someone was watching them. He wanted Seto to get out of the Café and go somewhere else.

“Seto? Someone’s watching us. I don’t like it. We need to leave.“

Seto just nodded, finished his last down load, and closed his laptop. Stuffing it and some paper notes into his backpack, he shouldered it and turned to follow Joey.

“Where are we going? You have a destination? Can we go back to the Greene Plaza?”

Joey rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t want to go back to the Plaza, they’d be cleaning and the help didn’t like working around patrons. He had a good reputation there and didn’t want to spoil it.

“Nah. Better not . . . say. You said Tris’ stayed with you when he was in Tokyo, but I know he’s got . . . or had . . . a house in Jiyugaoka. He sell it or what?”

“Tris’ stays with me when he’s in Tokyo proper. Domino is closer to the places he has meetings in. So sometimes he stays with me, sometimes he stays at his house. It’s a long haul from there to Domino. You know we’re clear on the other side of the Edogawa river from Jiyugaoka. It’s got to be . . .” Seto paused to figure. “At least thirty miles by the roads. You want to go there?”

“Yeah. You make it ok?” Joey was still not sure of Seto’s ability on a bike, but Seto just grinned at him and started for the parking.

“We’ll see, won’t we. Let’s get going.”

They made the drive without incident. No thanks to Joey. He rode like there was no one else on the road. Seto’s constant radioed demands that he slow down were ignored except for one time, when he replied to Seto’s ever more persistent demands by replying, “Don’t be a baby. Keep up!” Seto didn’t bother. He was probably more familiar with where Tristan lived than Joey was.

When he got there, Joey was sitting on his bike in the drive way waiting for him. Seto could tell Tristan was home by the way the curtains were half open. If he wasn’t home, they would be closed.

Joey suddenly clutched Seto’s sleeve. “What if . . . what if, at the track . . . I . . . broke down a little . . . what if he thinks I’m a wuss, what if he . . . I . . .”

Seto shrugged in irritation, all this way and now Joey was having some kind of implosion.

“Joey, you can ‘what if’ until dooms day. Let’s go in.” Seto put one arm around Joey and gently but firmly escorted him to the front door where he knocked sharply then had to clutch Joey’s jacket as he started backing away like the door was the gate way to hell. Seto had to knock again, Tristan was taking a long time to get to the door

Tristan snatched the door open and grabbed Joey by the front of his jacket.

“Hold it Wheeler. You’re not slippin’ away now. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to the door. I’ve got company. Come in.”

Joey started babbling. He was suddenly scared as he’d ever been, what if . . . “Uuh, sorry Tris’ if we’d known you had company we’d have gone somewhere else. I just thought . . . I mean . . . um . . . Seto . . . ”

Seto just pushed Joey from behind and shut the door. He kicked off his boots and knelt to help Joey off with his. Tristan nearly swallowed his tongue.

Joey just stood waiting for Seto to finish. He couldn’t have gotten his boots off for anything short of a death threat.

“Come into the living room. There’s someone that wants to see you. Umm . . . Joey? . . . Is that a hold out? You ok?”

Joey nodded ‘yes’ but answered, “No. I’m not ok. I hate surprises. Haven’t had a pleasant one in years.”

Tristan looked at Seto who just shook his head behind Joey’s back and hissed. “Tell you later. I know. It’s ok” Tristan shrugged and followed Joey into the living room with Seto right behind him.

Joey was standing right in the middle of the wide door, staring at Tristan’s company. Seto nudged him farther into the room so that he could get by.

Joey grimaced, rubbed the back of his head and then sighed. “Hey, Yugi . . . Hey, Tea. Ummm . . . Tris’? I gotta’ be goin’. Seto this was a real bad idea.”

Yugi and Tea, who’d been sitting together on the couch, had completely different reactions. Tea squeaked and scooted back into the cushions. Yugi jumped up and reached out to Joey.

“Joey, no. don’t leave . . . please . . . I want you to stay. Please. I don’t know what I did to make you mad that day. Please don’t be mad at me any more.”

“Aaawww, fuck. Yugi. Yug. . . . I wasn’t mad at you. Come here.”

Joey crossed the room and pulled Yugi into a bear hug. Yugi, he realized, had grown in the four years since he’d hung around with him. He was only about four inches shorter than Joey’s six foot two or so. After a hard hug and the usual let-me-look-at-you they settled into seats around the low square table.

Seto settled on a love seat on one side, which left Yugi and Tea back on the couch, with Joey in a large chair. Tristan took an identical chair on the other side of Joey. That put Joey in between Seto and Tristan, facing Yugi and Tea.

“Yugi, I’m so sorry about dissing you. But . . . I’m not sure where to start. But first . . . “ Joey pulled out his badge and tossed it to Yugi, who caught the wallet with one hand and flipped it open. Tea let out a tiny moan. Joey gave her a sharp look but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to get her started on one of her friendship speeches.

Yugi eyed the badge and then tossed it to Tristan.

“How long?”

“Since before graduation. Four years undercover . . . Seto could we, like get this printed up? I feel like I’ve told this shit every day for months. It’s gettn’ kinda old.”

Seto laughed gently. “Don’t be an ass. Just let Yugi ask questions.”

But Yugi wanted to hear it all from beginning to end; so Joey talked and talked, Tristan made tea and Joey talked. Seto noticed that there were significant omissions. When he was finished, all Yugi could do was sigh. “Well, I still don’t understand why you didn’t want me to meet that man.”

“Yugi, he was a yakuza with a taste for boys.”

“Excuse me?” Yugi’s eyes got big, he wasn’t near as innocent as Joey thought. “Boys? How young?”

“Man’s a damned pederast. But you look young enough to interest him.“

“Ugh.” Yugi shuddered. “Well, I’m just glad you weren’t mad at me. I couldn’t figure out why you didn’t email me later to explain.”

“Yugi, I couldn’t. I didn’t have a secure connection. Then, when I had one, you’d blocked my addie. And Tea and Serenity blocked theirs too. I gotta tell ya, that was tough. Got me my first isolation. They got rules against trying to contact a name blocked email. It put my investigation back by weeks. Not to mention that thirty days in the hole is no picnic. The first time they put a prisoner in solitary they usually stick a suicide watch on them. That includes a straight jac . . . “
Joey shut up suddenly. Seto picked up on it immediately but everyone else missed it.

Then Tea had to stick in her two yen worth.

“Joey, you just sat there and told us that you went undercover in the Mako’s . . . before you were old enough to work legally. I wish you wouldn’t fib to us. Friends don’t fib to friends. Shame on you.”

Joey picked at his wrist and softened his voice so he wouldn’t snarl.

“Tea. I got a special dispensation from the Chief of Police himself. There was no other way to get into the Mako gang. Anyone old enough didn’t have the juice. I had the juice and Hirutani really wanted me back; so the Chief gave my commanding officer special permission to use me.”

Tea pressed her hand over her mouth and made a little whimpering sound. “Oh my god. Oh Joey. I’m so sorry. I did it for the best, really I did.”

Joey watched as Tea turned to Yugi and started crying on his shoulder. Yugi just put his arms around her and patted her on the back, making soothing noises. Finally she got herself under control, blew her nose and sniffled. Then she confessed.

“I’m the one who blocked your email. I knew that you were fooling around with Hirutani again. I saw you by accident one day. It was just before graduation and I wanted some of that caramel pocky, you know the kind. You could only get it at that one store. I was in there and saw you shoplifting cigarettes and giving them to him. So, when you were so rude to Yugi later on, I . . . well . . . I just blocked your addie on my computer and told your mom how to do it on theirs. When Yugi kept taking about how mad you’d been I sneaked in and blocked it on his too. I figured all you’d do was leave him something rude. After a few bounced emails, Yugi stopped trying to reach you . . . I’m so sorry.”

Joey looked at Tea for a frozen moment then just sighed. He wasn’t going to say anything. He really couldn’t think of anything, but Seto was a different sign in the equation.

“I see. So. . . . let me get this straight. Instead of trying to get your friends back together. Help them make up. You decided the best thing to do was make sure that neither one could get in touch with the other. Even if they wanted to . . . My, my . . . How . . . friendly. Yugi, do remind me to take lessons from Hannibal Lecher . . . on friendship. Next time you call me antisocial that is. Interesting, very . . . er instructive.” Seto examined his fingernails with interest. He had never thought much of Tea, she was too strident for him. Now he was sure he wasn’t fond of her. “Your fiancee is a very . . . social person. Isn’t she?”

Joey grimaced at Seto. He’d always gotten along fairly well with Tea, but this was a little more than he could quite comprehend. He tucked his foot against his buttock and started digging at the callous on his ankle. His hold out got in the way, so he just ripped the velcro fastening open and pulled the holster off. Tossing it on the table, he pushed his sock down and revealed the callous to them all. It was really nasty looking now. He’d dug at it until the edges were pulled away, leaving reddened skin behind. He’d actually pealed it off in a few spots, drawing blood.

Seto snarled. “Stop digging at that.”

Tea tried to mend fences a little and squeaked. “Leave him alone. He can scratch if he wants to.”

Yugi gave tea an irritated look. That didn’t make sense everyone knew that scratching something like that was bad. Where did you get marks like that? I’ve never seen callouses like that before.

Joey was short with Yugi, this was one of the things he’d skipped over. “Leg irons. Damnit. Tris’ do you have some of that salve your Gramm used to make?”

Yugi got up and scooted Joey’s gun out of the way. “Let me see.” Joey tried to pull his foot out of Yugi’s hands but the little guy had a good grip and he just looked at Joey with his big eyes and waited.

“Damnit, Yug. I never could refuse that chibbi look of yours. Why you want to look at something like that I’ll never know. But there.” Joey extended his leg and let Yugi gently finger the callous. Seto looked over Yugi’s shoulder and bared his teeth.

“Joseph, if you don’t quit digging at that you’re going to get an infection. Then where will we be?”

Tristan told Tea where the salve was and sent her to get it. Seto poked at Joey until he could sit beside him in the chair. He looked at Tristan and, when Tris’ realized what he wanted from Joey, he gave a warning look that had Seto raising his eyebrow in a most arrogant way.

Yugi looking from one to the other made a decision. “I want to talk to you, Joey. But not now. I don’t want Tea around. I love her, But she just isn’t programed for some things and this is one of them. Seto, I’m not sure what’s going on with you two, but . . . don’t make me have to make a fool of you. Tris’, I’ll see you next week. Joey, I’m so sorry about all this . . . But this isn’t the time to indulge in heart burnings. I’ve got a duel in” he looked at his watch. “four hours and it’ll take an hour to get there. Plus soothing Tea. Seto, fix the mail, will you.”

Yugi tugged Joey up into another hug, shook hands with him, then Tristan. Seto he pinned with a level look then shook his hand. He turned just as Tea came in the room. He took the jar of salve, gave it to Tristan and urged Tea out the door. He accomplished this all so smoothly that Joey was sure that Tea never realized that both Seto and Tristan were furious with her. He wondered idly if Yugi would ever explain to her how angry he was.

“Guys. Forget it. She’ll never realize all that she did and it would only make Yugi unhappy. I wanted to visit with him some more, but if he had a duel . . . Well, you know Yugi, if he made a commitment, not much will keep him from fulfilling it . . . “ Tristan reached out to move Joey’s hold out before it got knocked off on the floor. “Ummm . . . Tris’ gimme that . . . Please. I don’t know what I was thinking to let it get out of reach.”

Tristan handed Joey the .38 and smiled. “That you’re safe here?”

Joey grinned back and nodded. “Maybe. You going to put that on or shall I?”

Seto pushed Tristan out of the way and took Joey’s feet in his lap. “Tris’, I need a towel and a wet washrag. If you’ve got any antiseptic, I’d like that too.” Seto slid a fingernail under one edge of a callous and gently lifted on it. It was still tight.

Joey hissed softly. “Easy there, that’s still attached. Damn I wish . . .”

Tristan came back with the towels, after tossing them to Seto, he disappeared into the kitchen calling over his shoulder, “The salve is antiseptic as well as soothing. I’ll get you some more tea.”

Seto called after him. “Bring me something to trim the edges of this with. He’s going to catch a loose piece and peal it right off. He’s got bloody places all ready.”

Joey sat in his chair and watched Seto fuss with his ankles. It felt good, having someone take care of him, touch him without hurting. By the time Tristan came back with tea, Joey had fallen asleep. Seto motioned to Tristan to go back into the kitchen.

“Tristan, how long have you known about this. Did he ever try to get in touch with you?”

“When you two came out to the track he told me some. Oh . . . and you never thanked me for not busting you”

Tristan grinned at Seto and sipped his tea. Seto grinned back. They weren’t exactly friends but they got along well. Mokuba had nearly thrown them into each others arms about three years ago, but all that had happened was they became close.

“Thank you for not busting me. Now question two.“

“I traveled around so much that I probably missed any paper he sent me. It wouldn’t have had my personal code on it. And while I did get a few emails from him, I’m sure I missed most of them. I changed servers and went from dial up to broad band. Changed my email addie twice. I lost a lot of contacts between one thing and another. I’ll always feel guilty about losing contact with him. I feel like a real ass. He’s one of my closest friends and I just loose track of him. Shit. Like he . . . and then Yugi told me about Joey dissing him and Tea started in on one of her snits. I just . . . let it slide, . . . you know.“

Seto waited for a second to get his temper under control. “No, I don’t. You know damn good and well that I have few friends. If I had a friend like Joey was to you, I’d have made a greater push to keep track of him, and if he disappeared I’d be looking for him. I don’t understand how you could just let it slide like that.”

Tristan sighed. “Well, I really don’t either. I feel so bad. . . . hell. I’m going to be spending some time making up, aren’t I?”

Seto just nodded. He reached out to pick up the tea pot. That was his only excuse. Tristan suddenly straightened up, Joey was talking in his sleep.

“No. . . . I don’ wanna. Boss, I’m not gonna. . . . no. It’s too tight. . . . it hurts . . . let me go . . .”

Tristan hurried into the living room. Seto put the tea pot down and followed him, but he was too late to prevent what happened next.

Tristan bent over Joey and took him by the shoulder, shaking him to wake him up. The smack of Joey’s fist against Tristan’s face was loud in the silence of the room. Joey blinked at Tristan, who had staggered back a few steps and was thanking his lucky stars that Joey only managed a glancing blow. His cheek was numb, but he could tell it was going to bruise.

Joey scrambled out of the chair and just headed for the kitchen, snarling. “Tris’ I don’t know where your head is. I’ll get you some ice.”

Seto took Tristan by the arm and got him settled in the chair Joey had vacated. “You ok?” Seto reached out and gently touched Tristan’s cheek, he flinched back and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll live. I didn’t know he was on such a short fuse.”

Joey returned with a zip bag full of ice and a clean towel. He gave them to Tristan, who wrapped the towel around the bag and pressed it to his cheek.

Look Tris’ I’m really sorry. You shouldn’t have bent over me, or shook me for that matter. Keep the ice on that for a few minutes, then I’ll take a look at it.”

Tristan just shook his head mumbling around his sore cheek. “No it’s ok. I should have known better. You were touchy enough when we were kids. Forget about it.”

Joey sighed, ran a hand through his bangs, and then started for the front door, scooping up the jar of salve on the way. “Seto we better leave now. I’ll figure out where we can spend the night before we hit the main highway.”

Tristan stopped Joey by taking the boot out of his hand and nodding to the .38 still on the table.

“Forgetting something?“

“Damnit, Tris’ put that ice back on you. You’re going to have a hell of a bruise.”

“Yeah.” Tristan looked in the mirror on the wall “it’s gonna be as bad as the one you gave me for telling Seto you hated to be called Inu. I never thought that he would use it against you.”

Seto leaned against the door and sighed. He was going to suffer for that for a long time. He’d been so angry back then; fighting not only his orientation, but his attraction to a boy he was sure was straight. So he’d taken it all out on everyone around him now, he’d pay the piper.

Joey ducked his head and blushed a very attractive (to Seto) shade of crimson. He remembered socking Tristan. He’d been so mad that Tristan had told Seto and so ashamed that his mother had nicknamed him Inu-chan. She was American and hadn’t known what it meant, she’d only thought it was cute.

“Joey . . . “

Joey’s head jerked up and he pinned Seto with a look that could only be classified as pissed.

“Do not say it. I don’t care about that anymore. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You helped me when no one else would. I’m grateful. Shut up about it.”

Tristan blinked, he wasn’t sure what that was about. “But Joey, you’re not undercover anymore. You don’t need help.”

“Tris’, that’s how I got on with Seto. We set it up that I was gonna be violated. He took me into his home when most men like him woulda let me swing. He wasn’t supposed to know I was undercover. So I’m grateful for what he did.”

Seto shifted uncomfortably and started to object, then decided to keep his mouth shut. Joey didn’t need the added stress of argument. If he wanted to be grateful, Seto would let him.

Joey settled down on the couch and asked Tristan if it was all right to turn on the tv. Tristan just tossed the remote in him direction and went back into the kitchen. His face was feeling better, but he knew if he didn’t renew the ice pack, he was going to have a hell of a bruise. As he was making it, Seto asked if he could use the Net connection.

“Sure, you can use my computer if you want. It’s in the den, right through there.“ Tristan indicated a door through which Seto could see a very nice den complex which hadn’t been there the last time he’d visited.

“You got it done. Very nice. Who set up the system?”

“That guy from central offices. He did a good job. You like?”

Seto sat down at the desk and examined the desk top.

“I like. I’ll be in here for a while . . . um . . . could you keep Joey out? See if you can’t get him to go back to sleep. He’s been having a lot of nightmares. I’m sure he isn’t getting enough sleep. I’ve got a bunch of reading to do and some business to conduct. I may be all afternoon, if that’s ok.”

Tristan just laughed. “Seto, it’s fine. You do whatever you need to. I’ll keep Joey entertained. Maybe we can sneak in a duel or two.”

Seto blinked. Joey didn’t seem too interested in dueling anymore. Seto hoped Tris’ could renew his interest at least a little. He thought Joey’s duel at the new arcade had been brilliant and hated to see him give up on something that used to give him such pleasure. Tristan left and Seto set his mind to business.

First he got in touch with his Computer Department and instructed the Head to cooperate with the police in every possible way. Then he told the poor man to lock all ISP addresses, he didn’t care who had what address just that they were now permanent. Then he emailed the staff at his fortress. Mokuba had named it Cedars after the small grove of ancient cedars nearby.

He told the staff to prepare the place for occupancy immediately never thinking that they might have difficulties. Which they did. No one had ever thought he would ever actually stay there, so it was under archaeological investigation. There was a small staff of American archeologists there with several Japanese experts. They were digging where the moat had been. This was actually to Seto and Joey’s advantage but they weren’t to know that yet.

Seto snarled and then sighed; it wasn’t fair to these people to ask them to leave, they’d set up a dig and the season was rapidly coming to an end. He could pay for their wasted time but the dig still had to be shut down properly, so he decided to ask Joey what he thought they should do.

After listening to Seto, Joey decided to let them stay. They knew each other and there was no reason to believe that their stalker was one of them. In fact, since six of them were Americans with little knowledge of Japanese, they were ruled out; and the other four were prominent Japanese archaeologists. Joey decided that they could just let them go. They weren’t even in the walls of the compound their dig was outside the outer bailey.

Joey reached out and picked his hold out up off the table and strapped it back around his ankle. He wanted to stay here and visit with Tristan but if they were going to get back to the Green Plaza they had to get going soon.

“Tris’ it’s been really good to see you. Don’t lose touch again. I’ll hunt you down this time. Seto we better get going.

Tristan stood up and caught Joey by the arm, taking the chance of another punch.

“NO! Joey, you and Seto are spending the night here. You’re not slipping through my fingers so easily. We haven’t even got around to dueling yet. Seto, you said you were going to be most of the afternoon. What happened?”

“I got done sooner than I thought I would. One of the things I wanted to do was already done by one of the police experts. So I got a break for once. You going to let Joey beat the pants off you? I want to watch.”

Seto settled down to watch Joey and Tristan duel. Tristan just grinned and made a wait motion. He disappeared into the den. Joey gave Seto a questioning look, but Seto shook his head, he didn’t have a clue.

Tristan came back with a small evidence box. “Here. I think you might want this. It’s your stuff.”

“What stuff?” Joey reached out and took the box from Tristan with a questioning look

“All the stuff they took from you when you went to America. It got put in the evidence locker. Pop brought it to me. He was afraid it would wind up in the wrong place. You know how that goes. If stuff is there long enough it just kind of wanders around until it gets lost.”

Joey opened the box and smiled. His deck was in there, along with a knife he was fond of. As well as one item that made Seto raise an eye brow questioningly.

“Ok. It’s one of your buttons. You lost it on the island. I found it and just stuck it in my pocket. I never found time or place to give it back to you. Kinda felt like it was lucky. Ok now laugh.”

Seto looked at the button then Joey. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Joey took out his old deck and started going through the cards.

“Hey! You have to look at your deck? What’s with that?”

Joey absently mumbled. “Haven’t dueled since before graduation. Didn’t have time. Little busy trying to keep from gettin’ my ass killed. . . . mmmmm . . . Seto, would you mind gettin’ me . . . never mind, it’s in my pocket. Damn, I’m losing my mind. I can’t keep track of anything. First, my hold out; then, my deck. Shit.”

“Joey you ever think that you’re overloaded. That’s why you forget stuff. Just don’t sweat it until you forget something really important . . . like your name.” Seto shrugged Joey’s mistake off.

Joey gave Seto a funny look and then grumbled. “Which one. Jonouchi Katsuya, Joey Wheeler or Katsuya Genkotsu. I answer to all of them. I’ll even answer to Inu-chan.” At Seto’s look and Tristan’s groan Joey just snarled, “fuck” and went into the kitchen.

Seto shook his head at Tristan and sighed. “He’s getting worse instead of better. I don’t know what to do. It’s some kind of . . . .I’m not sure exactly what.”

Tristan sighed too. “He should never have taken this assignment. His Supervisor is an idiot. He’s been undercover so long and so deep. So much pressure and abuse. He should have been allowed to take as much leave as he needed and gotten counseling and . . . damn . . . he’s so on edge, it’s a wonder he don’t self destruct. But you know once he’s taken something on there’s no way he’s going to give up on it. You’ll just have to watch him.”

“I’m doing the best I can. But you know babying him is just going to put his back up. He needs . . . help. But he isn’t going to take it until this is over. I’ve got the police experts on computer fraud and stalking on the case now. If we could just trace the email. Damn!”

“Well, lets go see if Joey’s calmed down yet. Get his mind off this for a while. I’ll duel him and you kibitz. That ought to keep him happy for the rest of the afternoon. And I’ll make okonomiaki for supper. You like that and, if he hasn’t changed too radically, Joey’ll eat anything that doesn’t bite him first. Come on.”

So they went into the kitchen, got Joey, and started out by spreading his new deck and his old one out on the kitchen table. Joey melded the two decks and sorted through for what he though was the best combination of cards, new and old.

“I hate a big deck, you never draw what you need in time for it to be any help. Here, Seto, how many cards do you have in your deck.”

Seto smirked “Forty-one.”

“Tris’?”

Tristan gave Joey a shamefaced look. Joey had always told him his deck was too big. “Sixty-eight.”

Joey’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit. Tris’ you’ll never draw what you need. Damn, boy. Give me that thing and let me weed some out for you.”

Tristan handed over his deck and watched in amusement as Joey went through it and discarded about a third of his cards. Seto argued with him genially and, between the two activities, they managed to keep Joey happily occupied with cards for most of the afternoon.

Seto dueled Tristan while Joey groaned and moaned. Tristan wasn’t up to Seto’s level and got thoroughly thrashed. Then Joey dueled Tristan, and Tris’ remembered why he hated dueling Joey. His smart mouth wasn’t the problem, he didn’t trash talk friends, but his luck was phenomenal, he could draw shit and still pull a win out of nowhere.

“Ok. Now that you’ve humiliated me. Let’s see how you stack up against Seto.”

Seto smirked. “I”m saved by the proverbial bell. If we don’t do something about supper soon we’ll have to go out and I don’t want Joey all flinchy before bed. I’d like to see him get a good night’s sleep for once.”

Joey sighed and stretched. “I’ll admit I get really tense when we’re outside for too long. You never know who might be the bad guy. I’m always evaluating everyone around and it does get tiresome. I’ll admit that it would be a relief to stay in for once. But if you want to go to a good restaurant we could go to that mall we saw down the way.”

“Not a chance in hell buddy. You need to relax and you aren’t going to if you’re looking for assassins under every bush. I’ve got the stuff to make okonomiaki. You like that don’t you.”

“It’s food, isn’t it.” Joey grinned and blushed. He wasn’t too picky about what he ate. Early childhood had broken him of any food preference. He’d eat anything that wasn’t spoiled.

“Yeah, it’s food. Wheeler, you’re a walking stomach.”

Joey laughed. “Aren’t we all? Come on, I’ll do KP. Umm . . . don’t let Seto touch anything. His cooking . . .”

“Toxic. I know. Made that mistake a long time ago. Come on, Seto, you can sit and watch. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

“Yes.” Seto smirked, putting on his most arrogant face and looking down his nose. “Maybe Joey will succeed where you failed.”

Joey made a snorting noise. He’d seen Seto in the kitchen and he didn’t have much hope of his being able to do much more than burn a steak and nuke a potato. “Tearing up salad greens is about his speed. Let me show you some stuff.”

“Stuff?” Tristan started setting out the ingredients for the food. “Like what?”

“Give me the shrimp.” Joey took the fish from Tristan and started pealing them. “Hand me that knife. You know I had to make my own living while I was working on the Mako’s case . . . ” at the encouraging nods he continued. “I worked at Beni Hana number one. See?”

And, twirling the knife around his fingers, he cut the shrimp into bite size pieces with a flourish that made Seto gasp and Tristan clap his hands.

“Joey, that was great. You always were good with a knife.“

“Thanks. Now, how about burning that properly and giving me my reward.”

Tristan laughed and started cooking the okonomiaki. Joey finished cutting up the rest of the vegetables and started cleaning up. He turned around and nearly bumped into Seto. Seto reached out and steadied him. Tristan noticed that Joey didn’t flinch when Seto touched him. To be sure of his suspicions he turned around and reached across Joey to hand Seto a dirty plate. Joey flinched away without even noticing. Seto blinked at Joey then gave Tristan a dirty look.

Tristan just ignored the by play and smiled to himself.

After eating and cleaning up the kitchen, they settled around the table to finish the last pot of tea. Seto, curious, questioned Joey about Beni Hana and the knife techniques he’d learned there.

Joey explained that there were some standard techniques that all the cooks were taught, but that each had a signature technique that was theirs alone; like the one where the man pealed a lemon for lemon chicken.

“Did you have one?”

“Sure. Wanna see?”

“Yes, sure.”

Joey reached over and picked up a knife and a radish. He tossed the radish up in the air and with several quick stabs turned it into a rose. He caught it on the tip of the knife and presented it to Seto with a flourish.

“There. How’s that?”

Tristan immediately stuck his foot in his mouth. “You always were one for stabbing tricks.”

Joey grinned at Tristan but Seto looked puzzled. “What? Stabbing . . . ummm. . . who?”

Joey blinked at Seto, snickered and then took him off the hook. “Tricks. Not Johns.“ At Seto’s even blanker look Joey just took the recovered butterfly knife out of his pocket and showed it to Seto and Tristan. It was not your every day, pierced handled number. It had steel slabs for grips. They were standard shape but instead of two pieces riveted together, the handles were solid blocks machined into shape and diamond cut.

“Very nice. Where did you get that?”

“Made it in shop class.”

Seto covered his eyes with one hand and muttered “Figures.”

“Don’t be a smart ass.”

“But then I wouldn’t have any conversation at all.”

Joey flicked the knife open and proceeded to give Seto a display of knife handling that made him gasp. He snapped it open, rolled it around his fingers, clicked it closed and rolled it over his wrist. Then he did it again and again, until the knife was a glittering blur of clicking handles and sharp blade. Then he smacked his hand down on the cutting board and started to stab the knife point between his out spread fingers. The blade flashed from one gap to the next, perilously close to the webbing between each finger. The soft ‘tonk, tonk, tonk’ made Seto shiver. The knife sped up until Seto was sure Joey was going to chop off a finger or at least cut himself seriously. Finally Tristan snarled “Fuck Joey. Enough already!” and slammed out into the garden

Joey stopped and watched the door as it slammed open again, then he just sighed, folded up his knife, and tucked it into a pocket. Seto didn’t bother to say anything, he just gathered Joey into his arms and hugged him. Gently pressing his face to Joey’s, he sighed. “Damn it Joey. You . . . “

“Don’t bother. I know. I’m certifiable. Just let me be for a sec. Then I’ll go out and make nice with Tris’.”

Joey settled against Seto’s chest for a few precious moments when no one wanted anything from him that he wasn’t willing to give. No one wanted to hurt him or have him do anything but be. No one wanted to do things to him he didn’t want done and then make him say he liked it. It was nice. He was going to be sad when the assignment was done.

Seto breathed in the scent that was peculiarly Joey. He smelled of cinnamon, sandalwood and thyme. And something else that might be gun oil. He held Joey gently lest he have a freakout and need to get away. He didn’t what Joey to be afraid that he’d have to fight to get away.

“Ok. I”m good.”

Seto turned him loose and watched as he went into the garden and found Tristan.

“Tris’?”

“Yeah Joey . . . look, I’m sorry. I just. . . I never thought I’d ever have to watch you do that again. It gives me the creeps.”

“Sorry. Come on back inside. Make me some of that tea your Gramm used to make.”

“Ok.” Tristan heaved himself up and tried to hug Joey. He found that it was like trying to hug smoke. Joey slithered out of his grasp without thinking. Tristan sighed.

They went back inside and Tristan brewed a pot of Gramm’s Special. What Joey laughingly called Nighty Night tea. It was a little early to be going to bed, but Tris’ said it would only relax them.

So they settled down to watch the news and try to unwind. After Joey’s display Tristan and Seto needed it worse than Joey. The news was interesting, especially the Society Page. There was a very short piece about Seto going into the country to get away from ‘unwanted attentions.’

“Well. That was . . . short. To say the least.” Tristan remarked with relief.

“I’ll be speaking to the Broadcast Director tomorrow morning.”

“Why?” Joey yawned and stretched like a tawny cat. Lazily stretching out each leg and then curled up on his side. Seto forgot what he was going to say.

Joey reached out with a foot and poked Seto in the belly. “Hey. Why are you calling the Director guy?”

“Oh . . . ummm . . . I own the station and my directions are . . . well, I thought they were clear. No mentions of me at all.”

“Why don’t you call him right now and make nice. Find out what he was up to without scaring him into lies to cover his ass.”

Seto tipped his head back against the back of the chair, trust Joey to answer questions he’d had for years. So he called the Broadcast Director and asked if he’d forgotten the instructions. The answer he got was interesting.

“I’m so sorry Mr. Kaiba but . . . the policeman. The Commander of the Stalker Division asked me to make the announcement. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

“I see. Did he give you a reason?”

“He said it might make him slip in some way. He was very definite about exactly what I could say. Did I do wrong?”

Seto grumbled, he wished the police would have told him about it before he heard it on the tv, it would have avoided him scaring the Director.

“Yes, you did right. Next time however, I’d like you to call me first. To avoid another call like this one.”

“Yes sir thank you sir I’m sorry sir Mr. Kaiba sir . . . “

Seto snapped his phone shut cutting the man off in mid grovel. Seto nearly bumped noses with Joey, who’d again put his ear next to Seto’s so he could hear the phone. They were eye to eye, nose to nose, and nearly lip to lip. Seto inhaled sharply. Joey sighed.

“Hey you two! We gettin’ an update anytime soon?”

Joey jerked back and so did Seto.

“Tristan Taylor I’m gonna kill you so dead it’ll hurt your grand kids.”

“What? . . . What did I do? . . . Joey . . . no. . . . Seto . . .”

Seto watched in irritation and amusement as Joey chased Tristan around the living room finally pinning him against a wall and tickling him until he collapsed on the floor giggling like a girl.

“No . . . Joey, I give . . . I give . . . No more. Please . . . Seto, help me.”

“Not a chance. If Joey wants to beat up on you, who am I to stop him?”

“His boss.” Tristan grinned at Seto

“Who. Me?”

Joey helped Tristan up off the floor and snorted. “He’s not paying me, the department is. But he’s the boss anyway.”

Tristan gave Seto an odd look and then smacked his forehead with his hand. (Ohmugod. What did Joey just call Seto?”)

Seto snorted. “Whoever pays you is the boss.“

Joey shook his head. “I’m the boss of me. But I work for the police. I do what Seto says when we’re in a situation that he knows more about. I expect the same from him. And I get it. ‘Nough said. . . . I’m tired.”

Seto looked at his wrist laughed and remarked. “I need to get a new watch. Remind me will you?”

“Sure thing, Boss. You want this one back?”

“Hell no, I gave it to you. You need a good watch. I’ll just pick one up in the morning . . . Taylor, it there a bed in my future?”

“Sure.” Tris’ swallowed his astonishment. He knew how much that watch had cost. “Come on. You two will have to share a room, but it’s got twin beds. So it should be ok.”

Seto grunted. The idea of sharing a bed with Joey, just now, was not that attractive.

Joey followed Tristan up the stairs with Seto right behind him. When they got to the top of the stairs, Tristan pushed open a door and Joey saw why there were only two bedrooms in the house. The bed room was a combination of bed/sitting room, with a huge bathroom clearly visible through the open door across the room.

“Wow Tris’ really nice. Comfy.“

“Thanks. You two make yourselves comfortable. G’night.”

“Night.”

“Sleep well.” Seto had to pat a yawn back.

They both started getting ready for bed. Joey checked to see if the beds were far enough apart that he wouldn’t feel pressured in his sleep. He decided to move the beds a little farther apart. So while Seto undressed and put on clean boxers and a t-shirt, he moved his bed against the wall, which put about four feet between them.

Seto came out of the bathroom and nodded that he was finished.

Joey went to the bathroom and fished his shaving kit out of the saddle bags he’d brought with him then he tossed them into the corner and started stripping off his clothes.

“I’m gonna just dump my dirty stuff here for tonight. You wanna . . . Seto?” Joey stuck his head back into the bedroom looking for Seto. “What are you doing?”

Seto had put his saddle bags on one of the beds and was digging through them.

“I’m looking for that tin of salve. You put it in my bags. Where . . . damn . . . yeah, here it is. Come here and sit on that chair.”

“Seto, you don’t need to do that . I can take care of it myself.“

“Yeah, since when? Don’t be an ass. If you don’t come here, I’m gonna start calling you Inu-chan.”

“Ok” Joey came over and sat down in the indicated chair, turning it around so he straddled the back.

Seto scooped out some of the salve and dabbed it on the scar; again, the scar absorbed every bit of the medicine, so Seto put some more on it and gently rubbed it in.

“God, that feels so good. Seto . . . um . . . I . . . ”

Seto continued to gently rub the scar. “I know there’s a thought in there somewhere. Wrestle it into submission will you.”

“Yeah. You keep doing that and my brain is going to melt and run out my ears . . . oh . . . will you do my wrists? It’s hard to do this one handed.”

Joey propped his elbows on the back of the chair and extended his hands to Seto.

When he saw Joey’s wrists, he wanted to hurt someone. They were in much worse shape than his ankles. Probably because he could get to them when he couldn’t get to his ankles. The callouses on them were pealing and the edges were bloody almost all the way around where he’d scratched the callouses off, taking live skin with it.

“Damnit Wheeler, you quit digging at that. You’re going to get an infection.”

“Yes Boss.“ Seto blinked, (what? He called me Taisho?)

“Don’t you boss me, you. . . idiot.”

“You rather I called you master?”

“Depends on how you mean it.”

“I could call you Nushi.”

“Wheeler, you’re an ass. Go to bed.”

Joey hitched at his boxers and smirked at Seto, who just crawled into the bed he’d chosen.

“Ok, Nushi.”