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 10

Seto woke with the feeling he’d forgotten something. Then he remembered, Joey had asked him to tend to his wrists and between teasing and shock he’d forgotten. He rolled over in the super twin bed and looked at Joey. he was flat on his back and sleeping with a little frown line between his eyebrows. He shifted, then rolled over and started to snore softly. Seto looked at his (lack of ) watch and sighed, stretching out his neck he managed to get a look at the bedside clock. It was too early to get up but too late for him to go back to sleep. So he flopped over onto his back and started to go over everything he could think of about the Letter Man.

He was starting to doubt his own sanity when Joey gave a snort and woke up. He sat straight up in bed and looked around wild eyed. Then he flopped back down on the bed groaning.

“Damnit. Fuck I’d like to sleep just one night without having dreams about shibari and . . .” Joey slapped a hand over his mouth and then rubbed it over his face. He rolled right out of the bed and headed for the bathroom grumbling under his breath.

Seto waited until Joey was in the shower before he took a much needed break. Joey stuck his head out of the shower just in time to keep him from flushing. Yelping. “Hey . . . no! I don’t need to be parboiled.”

Seto laughed, “Sorry, I’m used to my plumbing. Mokuba took forever to wash his hair and actually used up the hot water once or twice. So every bathroom I’ve got has its own hot water heater. And the plumbing is set up to keep that sort of thing from happening.” Seto shook and tucked and turned around to catch Joey glaring at him. “What?”

“Trust you to have something like that.” Joey stepped out of the shower and went to the sink. Seto was dismayed to see that he looked thinner than ever. “Seto, are you checkin’ out my ass?”

“Did that long time ago. You’re way too thin. I want you to eat more. If you’re not done eating when I am that’s ok. I’ll wait.“ Joey just nodded his understanding and fished around in his shaving kit then sat down on a little stool that he took from the corner near the Furo.

Seto caught Joey’s hand before he could use the scissors there to butcher his hair again.

“Look Seto. I got to cut some of this off. It’s getting in my eyes.”

Seto took the scissors and smacked Joey’s hands. “I’ll cut it. I cut Mokuba’s for years until he found someone who would do it the way he wanted.”

Seto took a comb and gently ran it through Joey’s bangs. Then he gathered up a lock of hair and started to cut it. Joey ducked away from the scissors, flinching so hard he banged his head on the wall. Seto waited for him to settle back on the little stool. When Seto tried again the same thing happened.

“Damn it, Joey. Sit still. I can’t cut your hair with you jumping around like a cricket on a hot brick.”

Joey ducked his head and grumbled. “Damnit Seto, I’m tryin’ but havin’ you fiddlin’ around my face with steel is makin’ me really jumpy.”

“Well, what the hell do you expect me to do, chew through it?” Seto eyed Joey for a second, then nearly bit through his tongue as Joey took the belt from his robe and wrapped it around his eyes. “Joey, what the hell are you doing?”

“When I was in the pen in Louisiana, they did this to some of the guys who were really flinchy. It works . . . as long as I don’t see the knife I’m all right. Just hurry up. Ok?”

Seto felt really weird cutting a blindfolded Joey’s hair. He felt like some sort of pervert, but he also found that he had an odd reaction to the situation. He clipped carefully and managed to trim Joey’s bangs out of his eyes without making it look like he’d just chopped it off from under a bowl.

“Ok Joey, I’m done. It doesn’t look too bad. But you need to go to a regular stylist soon. I’m not going to cut the back. It’s ok as it is.”

Joey ran a hand through the back and snagged a tangle. “Ow! Seto, you have to cut some of that off. I’ve got tangles all through it. Damn. owowowow! Fuck.”

Seto pulled off the blindfold and poked Joey into standing up. He sat on the stool and fished around in Joey’s kit until he found his hair brush. He realized that Joey was too tall for him to reach sitting down.

“Joey, can you kneel between my feet? I can’t reach.” Joey knelt on the floor with his back to Seto and waited as he ran the brush through his hair finding tangles everywhere.

“Wheeler, damnit. You can’t just give hair like this a lick and a promise. You need to brush it well every night and braid it, or at least put it in a tail. Here, stop that. I can’t brush the hair on a galloping goose. You’re wiggling around like a . . .”

Joey made a gagging noise, then his shoulders started shaking. Seto eyed him with some concern, but when Joey got the whoops he had to laugh too.

“Damnit Seto. I never heard you say stuff like that before. Cricket on a brick? Galloping goose? Where did you get that?”

“From my mother. I barely remember her, but she used to say stuff like that. Now are you going to hold still or do I have to tie you to the bed.”

Joey stiffened so suddenly it was astonishing. For a moment it was like touching a stone statue, then he relaxed again.

“No. I’ll hold still. Sorry . . . you know I can tell when you’re aggravated with me?”

“Yeah. But how?” Seto wasn’t sure what had happened, but he was willing to let it slide, as Joey so obviously wanted.

“Uuummm.” Joey tipped his head back to allow Seto to brush his bangs away from his face. “feels good . . . You call me Wheeler instead of Joey, when we’re in private. When we’re in public it’s harder, but you kind of get a funny look on your face. . . . Seto, you better stop that. I’m going to go to sleep right here on the floor.”

Seto had just finished brushing when Joey told him that. He rummaged in his own kit and found an elastic. He gathered Joey’s hair into a short, thick tail and banded it.

“You’ve got good hair. You need to take better care of it. What the hell do you wash it with anyway.”

Joey stood up and sauntered to the shower, reaching inside he retrieved something.

“Soap. What else?”

Seto picked Joey’s kit up off the floor, along with his own. He put his on the counter but kept the other. Seto shamelessly rummaged Joey’s shaving kit and set everything from it out on the counter.

“Shaving foam, razor? Razor? Joey, where’s your . . . Holy hell! You use a cut throat? Never mind. Where the hell is your shampoo?” Seto turned to Joey who was holding a bar of soap in his hand.

He waggled it at Seto and gave him a goofy grin, just like in the old days.”Soap, Kaiba-chan. And yeah, I shave with a cut throat. Not a ‘lectrifryed sissy buzzer like you.” Joey puffed out his chest in an exaggerated manly pose and Seto couldn’t help it, he started to laugh. Joey laughed too.

When they were finished laughing, Seto took one of Joey’s wrists in his hands. “I could use that razor to trim these a little. I’ll have to be careful, but if you keep it sharp enough” Joey made a rude noise. “Ok. It’ll make a good scalpel. Sit down again and I’ll see what I can do.”

So Joey sat cross-legged on the floor and let Seto trim the callouses on his wrists, rub in salve and, after some discussion, bandage the damaged members with roll gauze. Joey caught a look at them sitting with their heads together and sighed.

When Tristan came looking for them, he was greeted by an interesting sight. Joey was laying flat on his back on the floor, Seto was seated on the little bath stool with one of Joey’s feet in his lap. He was rubbing his ankle and fussing at him for digging at them.

“Oh . . . sorry . . . ummm when you’re done there. Breakfast will be done in about ten minutes. Come down when you’re ready.”

Joey tried to retrieve his foot but Seto gripped his ankle firmly. “Joey hold still. I want to make sure all that salve is absorbed and I’m going to bandage them too.”

So Joey submitted with good grace to Seto’s ministrations and had to admit it felt good to have someone fuss over him. Even if it did tickle when he put the salve on his back.

They got dressed and Seto finally solved the riddle of the vest. Joey put on boxers, jeans and a t-shirt. Then he took the vest off the dresser. It was thinner than Seto thought it ought to be, so he watched carefully as Joey put a curved piece of hard plastic in a pocket in the front of it and then tossed the thing over his head and tugged it down over his chest. He settled it at the shoulders and wriggled around, pulling the straps around his torso.

The vest fit Joey like a second skin, but it was half an inch thick and added a visual fifteen pounds or so. So when Joey was wearing it he looked heavier than he really was. Seto came over to Joey and poked him in the chest with a finger.

“What the . . . what is that?” Seto fingered the plate in the front of the vest, tugged on the velcro straps and found himself stroking Joey’s arm absently.
.
Joey smirked at Seto and just mumbled “stab plate.” like he was distracted.

Seto snapped back to the present “stab plate? What’s that?

“If someone stabs a vest, the knife will go right through it. It’s not meant to stop something moving that slowly. Or anything sharp for that matter. So . . . I just feel . . . creeped out. So I put in the stab plate. I wish I had one for the back too. But . . . this vest is the best available. Thin, light, and cool. It’ll stop a .45 at close range and, with the stab plate in, it’ll stop anything short of a katana or a naginata. I just hope . . .”

“Hope what and why are you creeped out.” Seto was worried now.

“I don’t know. I just . . . I felt like we were being watched yesterday. And . . . uuummm.”

“Tell.” Seto curled a lock of hair that had escaped the elastic around his finger and tugged gently.

“I just hope that any shooter don’t decide to shoot me in the head.” Joey untangled his hair and turned around heading for the kitchen, Seto stood for a moment and felt a crawling sensation slide down his back.

~*~

Joey stood in the middle of the kitchen door fiddling with the ring Mai had given him. He was hungry and didn’t want to settle for miso and rice. He knew Tristan always had a traditional breakfast and that wasn’t enough for him. He was going to try to put on some weight. He’d looked at himself. Really looked. And he knew he was really too thin.

“Tris’ you’re my bestest bud in all the world, but if you think I’m gonna settle for miso for breakfast; you got another think coming. I’m starving. I want an American.”

“Where the hell did you learn to call bacon and eggs an American? You sound like a damn cannibal or something.” Tristan made a disgusted face.

“In the Kin Koumaru Gumi. Now that you mention it, I guess it does sound kind of strange. But that’s neither here nor there. I’m starving and you’re quibbling.”

Seto gave Tristan a quirk of the lips and poked Joey in the side. “Scoot.”

Joey obligingly scooted and let Seto into the room. They both settled at the table and watched as Tristan dished up soup and rice. It wasn’t much and Seto silently vowed to make sure that Joey ate something more.

“Umm . . . I got to get a watch. I’m going nuts . . . “Seto managed to swallow and talk almost at once. “There’s a good jewelry store in that mall down the street from the train station. I’ll stop in there and see what they have.”

Joey started to pull the watch Seto had given him off.

“No Joey, I gave that to you. I’m not taking it back. It . . .”

“It’s way too expensive. I don’t know what I was thinking. Here.”

Seto settled his long fingers around Joey’s hand, stilling his efforts to take off the watch.

“It only cost forty thousand. You take it off and I’ll throw it out the nearest window. Don’t be an idiot.”

Joey blinked. Forty thousand yen? That was expensive by his standards, but not by Seto’s. It was about three hundred and seventy American dollars. Or two hundred ninety euros.

“Well . . . ok. I’d never thought that you’d wear a watch that cheap. It’s . . .” At Tristan’s face he stopped talking and pinned Seto with a glare that would have taken the paint off. Tristan started snickering.

“You tell or I will.”

Seto snarled wordlessly then gritted out, “Forty thousand American.”

Joey nearly fainted, he really felt light headed for a second. Converted to yen it came out to 4,289,640 yen.

“Umm . . . Seto?”

“Don’t even say it. I gave you that watch because I wanted you to have it. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

Joey slipped a finger under his sleeve and stroked the band for a second. “Ok. Thanks. I really like it.”

Seto blinked for a second.

“What? I can’t accept a gift from a friend? You give, I take.”

Seto felt a warm bubble expand in his chest. Of course he wouldn’t have admitted it for the world.

“What?”

“Gas.”

Tristan watched the whole thing with a jaundiced eye. If those two didn’t quit dancing around each other like two tom cats after the same fish, they were going to drive him and each other crazy.

“Look I’m sorry to be such a poor host, but I’ve got a meeting in about two hours and I need to get to my office and prepare. If you want more than miso and rice for breakfast, I’m afraid you’ll have to eat out.”

Seto just nodded and Joey grunted, it was unusual for a Japanese host to do more than offer tea, so they both didn’t think much of Tristan more or less pushing them out the door. They had places to go and so did he.

They gathered up their belongings and after the usual pleasantries, which included Joey giving Tristan a Dutch rub, they headed for the mall to find Seto a watch.

~*~

Seto walked into the store like he was going to buy the whole place. The clerk was one of those fussy little men, small in mind and body. He looked at Seto in his biking leathers and snorted.

“Excuse me, . . . Sir. I think you may have made a . . . mistake. We don’t cater to the . . . er . . .”

The man froze as Seto walked up to him and just stood, nearly chest to chest, waiting for him to get out of his way.

Seto looked down his nose at the man, which was relatively easy as Seto was nearly six foot, four now. And inquired in a soft dangerous voice. “Do you like your job?” Joey shivered, that soft velvety-rough voice. “If you do, I’d humbly suggest you get out of my way.”

The man squeaked indignantly, Seto snarled haughtily and Joey stood slightly to one side and watched as Seto overpowered the man with the strength of his personality. When he finally got out of the way, Seto moved to the back of the store and sat down in the area reserved for favored customers. Joey thankfully put himself between Seto and an unnerving expanse of glass.

“Seto, I don’t think mouse man likes you very much.”

Seto smirked. “Do I care? There’s a little girl in the back who could use a nice commission, or I miss my guess. You watch.”

Seto sat for a while, then told Joey to check the back, ask whoever was there for tea and then watch the fireworks. Joey did as Seto asked and, sure enough, there was a woman in her early twenties there making tea. Joey asked her if she would please bring the tea to Mr. Kaiba when it was brewed. She gave Joey a deer in the headlight’s sort of look and nodded.

“Hai, Gomen. Moshi waki ariemasen. My engerishu . . .”

Joey disabused her of her impression.

“I’m Japanese. My mother was American, but I was raised here. Would you please bring the tea to Mr. Kaiba now.”

Joey led the way back to Seto and stood behind him again. The woman served tea and started to leave.

Seto turned on his charm and Joey stared. His face softened and his lips curved up in a gentle smile.

“I’m sorry, what is your name please.”

“Oh! My name is Kasumi, Sir. Is there anything else you need?”

Seto let her stand up from where she’d knelt to place the tea things just so.

“Yes. I’d like to look at some watches. But Mr. . . . I didn’t catch his name . . . but never mind he’s busy. You could help me, if you would.”

“Oh but . . . Mr. Kaiba, sir . . . I’m not . . . I mean.”

Kasumi stuttered to a halt, twisting her hands together in embarrassment.

“Oh . . . I see . . . I’m sorry to be a trouble. I didn’t realize you were busy. I’ll wait for you.”

Joey watched as Seto manipulated the girl into doing exactly what he wanted. She blushed and bowed, then went to find a watch she thought was worthy of ‘the’ Seto Kaiba. She came back with a velvet tray on which she had arranged four very nice watches and knelt at his feet to present it.

Seto reached out and touched one of the watches

“That one.”

Kasumi took the watch off the tray and fastened it around Seto’s extended wrist. He eyed the fit and sighed. It was too loose.

“I’ll adjust that. It should fit very nicely. If you like it, it’ll only take a moment. But perhaps this one would be more to your liking. It’s much thinner. It has a calender, a stop watch, and an alarm.” She unfastened the watch, set it aside and placed the other one on Seto’s wrist. “It’s very nice and it has a matching bracelet. Very fashionable just now. I like this watch particularly because it’s not so obtrusive. And it’s very nice if you wear the watch and your friend wears the bracelet.”

Joey nearly choked on his own spit. Seto turned his head at Joey’s strangled grunt. The smirk he aimed his way was . . . proprietary?

Seto turned back to the girl remarking kindly. “You’ll have to forgive my friend he tends to . . . er . . . over react to things. I think I’ll take this one. I like the sliding fastener. It makes it more comfortable if my wrist swells. I tend to do too much typing and that tends to cause problems.”

Seto gave Miss Kasumi his credit card and waited as she rang him up. She brought him the slip for his signature and after he wrote in a tip and signed she looked at it and nearly fainted.

“Oh sir. You put in too many zero’s. I’ll just run . . .”

Seto snapped his fingers and when she gave it back to him added two more.

“Close your mouth, my dear. And make sure Mr. What’s his name see’s that. Yes?”

Joey smirked at the blushing Miss Kasumi and then jumped as Seto took his right wrist in his cool fingers. Seto fastened the bracelet around Joey’s wrist and said softly “There. Very nice. You’re a marked man now.”

Miss Kasumi bowed them to the front of the store and tucked the charge slip into the slot on the register. Seto smirked at the nameless idiot who’d missed out on a thousand dollar tip and motioned Joey to open the door. (He’d given up on being the first out any door)

Joey opened the door and went out first. He turned to check on Seto and felt an impact on his back. When he turned to see who was hitting him he got another shot right in the chest.

“Fuck! Seto back inside . . . now.”

“I can’t he’s locked the door. What the hell is going on?”

“Mother fucker locked the door? Break it down.”

Joey blocked Seto with his body. And took another shot in the chest.

“Get. Ow.”

The third shot pissed Joey off completely. Seto was in danger, the door was locked and he didn’t have time or space to open it. Joey drew his Taurus .9 mm and returned fire. Only he didn’t take the chance that his opponent was wearing a vest. He shot the assailant twice in the head.

Seto stopped trying to open the door and turned to Joey, the sound of the .9mm going off in the contained space of the door way had been so loud that his ears were ringing.

“Joey what? That . . . fuck.”

Joey was investigating the holes in his coat.

“Mother fucker. I liked this jacket. I’ll shoot that asshole again just for ruining this. Damnit. Ow. Ow. Fuck. Seto stay behind me until I’m sure there aren’t anymore. We’ll stay just like this until the cops come. Don’t . . . damnit stay there.”

Seto suddenly realized that Joey’s jerks and grunts and been in response to bullet strikes. He tried to get Joey to lie down until the medics could get to him but he refused snarling, “What the hell do you think a damn vest does? He shot me three fucking times at fairly close range with a fucking .38. If it had been any damn smaller I might not even have noticed. Now stop that. I’m not going to be flat on my damn ass when the cops get here. And while I’m at it I want that little fucker in the store for dessert.”

Joey leaned on Seto, who leaned on the window. “Joey you’ve been shot. I . . . damnit. Will you sit down or something?”

“Seto, I don’t need to sit or lie down. I’m not bleedin’. The fucker shot me between the damn shoulder blades, right in the thickest part of the vest. Then the stupid fucker shot me right on the stab plate. I’m fine. I’ll be sore in the morning. Just. aaww fuck!”

The last remark was brought about by the arrival of two foot patrol officers who took one look at the bloody mess and started pushing the crowds back. Most people had already, quite sensibly, gotten out of the area, but there were always a few people who couldn’t be convinced that they shouldn’t be there. Some, because they couldn’t conceive of any danger to themselves, others just too curious for their own good, and the paparazzi.

Joey waited as the Officers cleared the area while he kept an eye on everything in a paranoid funk.

When they were through setting up a perimeter, they turned their attention to Joey. He’d been quiet, just standing watching as they stretched tape letting Seto half support him while he calmed his nerves and wished desperately for a cigarette.

One of the officers approached carefully. “Sir, please put down your weapon. We have certified Officers on the way.”

“I’ll put this down when they come. I’m not puttin’ my side arm on the concrete and leavin’ it. You don’t do anything I don’t like with that taser you’ve got hidden behind you. I’m reachin” for my shield.”

Joey holstered his piece and, holding his right hand away from his body, took his shield from his hip pocket and showed it to the officer. “I’m Mr. Kaiba’s body guard. The . . . er . . . perp shot me three times. Call Tanaka-sama at Central Offices. He’ll vouch for me. When the Certified Officer comes, he and I will discuss my armament.”

The officer took a good look at Joey’s shield. After examining Joeys credentials the officer finally realized what he was really dealing with and called in for a detective. He was told that one was on the way.

Joey leaned into Seto’s arms, “God, I’m so tired. Seto, don’t poke at me. I’ll let down when the time is right and not before. Just let me lean on you for a while.”

Seto carefully tugged Joey back into his arms, Joey’s back against his chest. He put his arms around Joey and just held him gently as he sagged against him. Seto watched over Joey’s shoulder as paparazzi snapped pictures and reporters arrived. The detectives showed up and tried to sort things out. Medics pushed their way through the news media frenzy and started to approach Joey.

“Seto, we gotta get dis over wit’ quick. I’m not gonna be able to handle a buncha . . .”

Seto realized Joey was on the verge of breaking, his accent went to hell when he was upset.

“Officer. Do you recognize me?” Seto went all CEO on their asses and sorted the whole mess out quickly. The detective did recognize him and he got all the cooperation an awe-struck suck up could give him.

Seto managed to get Joey to realize that the fact that he’d been shot was to their advantage, if he’d work it a little. When Joey realized that Seto was going to get a lot more results than he could, he just gave in and let Seto handle it.

He’d never actually had to do any follow up in his career before. He’d get busted for some minor offence, get hauled in, debriefed, and released. Follow up’s had always been someone elsies problem.

The medics managed to get Joey to strip to the waist and let them look at him. He had three bruises the size of a fifty-yen piece, one on his back and two on his chest. The bullets hadn’t hit the stab plate after all. But one shot was over his heart and the other on the other side of his chest lower down.

Seto informed the detectives that Joey was in pain and needed to go to the hospital. Then he suggested that they both leave in the ambulance. When the first officer started to insist that Joey stay, Seto merely inquired wether the officer wanted to be responsible for a fellow officer, who’d been shot, having a serious flash back in public.

“He’s been under a considerable amount of stress for some time and isn’t able to handle large crowds and, quite frankly, I want to get out of the open before brainless there has a friend show up. Oh, I’d also suggest that you request any films or dvd’s be collected from the . . . er . . spectators. There’s a lot of cameras around you know.”

So Joey was gently helped to lie down on a Gurney and tucked into an ambulance in which Seto insisted on accompanying his ‘friend’.

When they reached the emergency room, Seto had it all to do again. He managed to awe everyone in the emergency room, especially after one of the head nurses recognized him and assumed that Joey was Mokuba. Joey was wheeled into a trauma room and Seto was lead away to fill out papers. Joey waved him out with a short, “Get it done. I’m fine.”

When Seto finished the paper work, including correcting Joey’s name, he went back to find Joey had been moved.

“Where is he?”

The nurse cringed. “I’m sorry Mr. Kaiba, but security . . . they took him to the psych ward.”

“They what? . . . Why?” Seto snarled, he was so angry that his face actually flushed. “Who. . . what incompetent ass allowed them to take a man who’s just been shot to a psych ward. I’ll have his head on a plate.”

The nurse sighed. This was her last day here and she decided that she was going to do what she wanted for once. She’d be gone before anyone realized she was the one who’d helped the young man.

“One of our older doctors has an odd method of handling this kind of situation . . . er . . . well he puts a suicide watch on anyone who’s been involved in a shooting. That means they go to the psych ward, wether there’s a need or not. I’ll show you up.”

Seto followed the nurse, hoping against hope that they hadn’t done what he thought they had.

Seto kept up a constant stream of phone calls while he walked. In the elevator he called Mokuba then his Psychiatrist. By the time they got to the floor, he’d called his impressive battery of attorneys into play. And at the nurse’s desk he was talking to the director of the hospital.

“I don’t care if he’s diagnosed as a multiple-personality serial-killer cannibal with bipolar disorder. I want him released into my custody . . . now. He’s got enough problems without being traumatized by this bunch of quacks. Do you understand me? I contribute an exorbitant amount of money to this cracker box and I’ve never asked for so much as a band aid. Think about it.”

Seto snapped his phone shut. As he turned to the desk, phones started ringing all over the floor and, he was sure, in several other places in the hospital.

It took his psychiatrist exactly two minutes to show up. He had an office here and had been catching up on some paper work; so, when Seto had called him, he’d decided to just go to him and see what he wanted. The attorney whose turn it was to be on call, had just called his father-in-law, the judge; gotten a writ of habeas corpus, and faxed it to the desk. By the time Seto finally got the head nurse’s attention, she already knew the score; cooperate with Mr. Seto Kaiba or the hospital would lose one of its major contributors and they would have stepped in something that would stink for, maybe, years to come.

“Mr. Kaiba, I just got in. I’m not sure exactly what is going on. But if it was one of Doctor Sakumoto’s diagnoses, we don’t need all this other stuff. And that damn intern is a pest and a brown-noser. He . . . well, frankly he doesn’t know his ass from his elbow.”

Seto gritted his teeth and snarled, “Where the hell is Mr. Wheeler. I want him here . . . now. I mean, right now.”

“I’m trying to locate him.” The nurse tapped at her key board, searching for a room number. “ He came in about an hour ago and . . . oh . . . dear . . . “

“Do. Not. Say. Oh. Dear. Where is he?”

Seto felt his stomach fall and his heart clench. If they’d put Joey on suicide watch there was no telling what had happened. And the way Joey was armed there could be some real consequences.

“He’s in observation number three. Right here.”

Seto moved to enter the door the minute the nurse pulled it open and Doctor Higa was right behind him.

Seto groaned Joey was laying on the floor of a bare, padded room. He was barefoot and wearing a tightly fastened straight jacket. He was curled up in a corner with his back to the room. At first Seto thought he was drugged as he didn’t turn around, but when Doctor Higa started for him he snarled at him, “If you think you’re gonna get pills down me, think again; and I’ll break another needle off if I have to. Call Mr. Kaiba or Tanaka-sama, Tokyo Police.”

Seto dropped to his knees, scooping Joey into his arms and snarling. “Let me get this thing off you.” He started unbuckling the heavy leather belts holding the arms of the jacket in place. ”Damnit, I’ll have some jobs. I swear I will. Joey, I’m so sorry.”

“Well, start with that damn Doctor. Seto get me the fuck out of here. I want my damn weapons back . . . now. And I want as damn far away from here as I can possibly fucking get as fast as damn possible.”

Joey was so calm about this that Seto was truly frightened. He’d never seen Joey like this. He turned to Doctor Higa, the Doctor just pushed the nurse into the hall and started signing the check out papers.

“Mr. Kaiba. I’m going to give you some advice that I’ve never given anyone before. Take him as far away from here as you can get him. He’s . . . homicidal or I miss my guess. And this hospital is the trigger. Go. I’ll call you.”

Seto finished getting Joey out of the straight jacket and hauled him into the hall. There was an intern and two orderlies there. They jumped Joey the minute they saw him. They didn’t stand a chance. Joey went quietly and thoroughly berserk.

It was almost a scene out of a Steven Sagal movie. The forms were similar but the performance was so low key that Seto wasn’t quite sure what exactly had happened. All he knew for sure was that one orderly reached for Joey and wound up slamming into a wall. Joey allowed the force of the orderlies attack to spin him completely around which brought him into combat with the other orderly. This man slid on his stomach to Seto’s feet. He just looked at the man for a moment then realized that he wasn’t going to do much with a broken jaw. The intern didn’t fare as well as either orderly, Joey stepped forward, bringing his left foot up to his right heel three times to close the distance between him and the intern. This put him in position without alternating his weaker leg with his strong one. Unfortunately for the intern that put all the weight of Joey’s body into the first punch, which cracked his sternum, then Joey swept his feet out from underneath him and brought his heel down on his upper back, breaking his clavicle and his scapula.

“Joseph . . . enough!!” Seto put all his force behind the command and Joey just looked at him for a second, then shuddered.

“Ok. Let’s get owda here. I need to pick up my stuff. They brought it up with me. What took you so long.?”

“I filled out a bale of paper work. When I got back to the ER, they told me you were here. I’ll get you new. Let’s go.”

“No! I want my stuff. Tell ‘em to bring it here or I’ll tear the place to bits . I’m not foolin’ around I’m sick of layin’ down and gettin it up the ass. Next time I get fucked, I better get a kiss too.”

Seto wasn’t sure exactly what Joey meant but he was glad to see that Doctor Higa had Joey’s belongings and was bringing them to him. He didn’t want the delay it would take to find his things if they’d been sent somewhere else.

Joey took the bundle without comment, opened it and started dressing. He just put on his shirt, eyed the vest, muttered “That’s shot . . . Heh, . . . in more ways’ than one.” dropped it on the floor, tossed his jacket down with it, and started loading up on weapons. He put his shoulder harness on over the shirt, ignoring the bullet holes. Then he checked his Taurus, snarled, then rummaged through the box of weapons for the clip. He inserted the clip, jacked the slide to chamber a round, checked the safety and holstered it. He snorted when he realized that whoever had safetyed his weapons had just dumped the .38 rounds in the bottom of the box. He reloaded the snub-nosed .38 and strapped the holster around his ankle. Then he took out the butterfly, slid it into his pocked and slid the longer commando into the sheath on the back of his shoulder harness. Seto realized that Joey hadn’t really resisted or there would have been a lot more damage in the ER

“Joey. How did?. . “

“I wasn’t expectin’ any trouble, so I let ’em disarm me. Thought they were just a buncha Nervous Nellies. Then they tried to get me to take some pills. I don’t do pills at the best of times. When they tried to sneak a shot inta me I broke the needle off. I think most if it’s still in my leg. So some fuck wad bopped me on the head. I’ve got a hell of a headache. I wanna get outta here. Now.”

Doctor Higa decided he’d better intervene a little or they’d never actually get Joey out of the ward. Little did he know.

“If you’ll come this way, I’ll check you out . . . let me get that needle out of you and we’ll have you on your way in no time.”

“Fuck you.”

“Now let’s be reasonable”

“I’m done with reasonable. I tried that and look where it got me. I’m a cop and I’ll get respect if I have to beat it outta you. Assaulting an officer . . . I’ll think of some more when I’m not so mad. Touching a fire arm without a licence . . . kidnaping. Seto, get your legal eagles to puff the charges and start proceedings if I’m not out of here in three minutes.”

“You got it.” Seto was worried. Joey was so near a complete melt down it was scaring him. “Doctor, we need to get him out of here now. If he trusted you before; he sure doesn’t now. And forcing the issue wouldn’t be good for any of us, as I’m sure you can see.”

“Yes, I can see that we’re not going to do any good here. In fact, I may not be able to be of any help. He may connect me to the hospital too strongly. Get him out of here. We’ll see what we can do a little later . . . When he’s calmed down.”

Seto had kept his voice soft so the Doctor did too, but Joey was so wired that it didn’t make any difference.

“I ain’t crazy . . or deaf. I’m leavin’ this . . . place. You’re Seto’s shrink?” at Seto’s nod the Doctor nodded too. “Ok. You wanna talk? Start with that psycho doc downstairs. I got shot. I’m not crazy. I’m stressed to hell. And I may be neurotic as a monkey; I know I’m homicidal, but I’m not looney. Now, I’m leaving, and the man, woman, or child that tries to stop me is gettin’ shot.. . . Seto, I’m gone.”

Seto followed Joey on his rampage down the hall. He seemed to have slipped into some kind of trance. The doors that should have kept him in didn’t stand a chance. He jerked on the door and it opened; or actually the lock slipped the jamb. Seto followed him into the main hall and just hoped that anyone seeing him wouldn’t get in his way. No one did and Seto found them in the main foyer, headed for the front doors, with Joey on his recovered phone telling Roland that there had better be a car in their near future or he was going to cut off things that Roland was more than attached to.

While they waited for the car, Joey paced and cursed. Seto stood and watched. Joey looked relatively calm outwardly, but Seto could see that one wrong move and Joey was going to do something stupid.

Hospital security nearly precipitated the unwanted incident.

After hearing that Joey had beaten up a Doctor and two orderlies, several of them decided to take it into their hands to return him to the psych ward. Seto waylaid them before they could do more than get in each others way. Heading them off with snarls and a flash of his id, Seto prayed that the car would get there soon.

The car finally arrived, driven by Roland himself. He got out and opened the door, watched as Seto, then Joey, scrambled in and shut the door carefully. He got behind the wheel and drove off.

“Ok, Mr. Kaiba, Sir; you want to tell me about this or do you just want to go somewhere and hole up for a while.”

Seto considered. Joey was hunched in the corner of the car like he was never moving again.

“Joey . . . Joey, you have to talk to me. What do you want to do?”

“I want to crawl into a hole and never come out.”

“Ok . . . not real helpful.” Seto sighed, Joey wasn’t going to put himself back together from this. Wrong.

Joey leaned back in the seat and sighed heavily. “How much trouble are we in?”

“None.”

“Seto . . . don’t shit a shiter.”

“I’m not. I’ll just buy them all off. You have rights. And they violated most of them in the first ten minutes we were there. They had no right to put you on suicide watch. You got shot. And . . . oh, fuck . . . Joey. I . .”

“I killed a man. Big deal. He shot me three times! I’ve got no sympathy for him at all. I’m tired of pussy footing around. I don’t have to take that sort of shit from anyone anymore.”

Joey dropped his head back on the seat back with a soft plop. He rolled it back and forth then started digging at his wrist again.

“Joey stop that. Talk to me.”

“What the hell is there to talk about? Seto . . . I shot a guy who shot me. He was trying to kill both of us. If you think I’m gonna suffer from some kind of miss placed guilt or. . . . whatever. Think again. Can we please change the subject? . . . unless you’ve got objections, I’d like to get to The Cedars fast as we can. It’s defeasible. The population is small and under control. It’s big enough that we won’t be in each others pockets. Ok?”

Seto just gave the order to Roland. He was going to call Doctor Higa at the first opportunity. He had a good idea of what was wrong with Joey but he wasn’t sure what to do about it. He wanted to consult with the Doctor before he did anything irreversible.

“Joey, I . . . damnit.” Seto’s cell phone started to ring. “Kaiba. . . . Yes . . . I’m fine. No, he’s not. He’s having some sort of . . . look . . . I don’t want to discuss it over the phone. I’ll tell you all about it later. If you want to visit, you’ll have to come to The Cedars. We’re going there now and we’ll be staying there until the Letter Man is caught. Just watch the . . . oh . . . ok . . . you’ll take care of it yourself? Good. Thanks.”

Joey sighed and reached out to Seto. “Man, I’m sorry I’m turnin’ into such a psycho. I’ll . . .” Joey let Seto tug him to lie down on the seat. “God . . . I’m just so tired. Sometimes I think I died and this is hell.”

Seto managed to get Joey’s head in his lap and started stroking his hair. “It’ll be ok. Joey. Mokuba is really good at spin control. He’ll have this covered up or fixed in no time. My lawyers will get with him and it’ll all just go away. I promise.”

“You can’t do that. My superiors. . . they’ll . . .”

“Joey . . . throw around a little money and they’ll publish anyway. Throw around a lot and it’ll disappear like it never happened. Believe me, I know.”

Joey started shivering. “Oh god. Seto I killed a . . . I . . . I’m so cold. All of a sudden I’m so fuckin’ cold.”

Seto realized that it was really starting to hit Joey. He’d been so involved in getting out of the mall, then the mess in the hospital. He hadn’t had time to come to grips with what had happened. This time Seto didn’t think Joey was going to be able to get it back together.

Joey gave up. He huddled in an almost fetal curl on the seat, his head in Seto’s lap, his knees to his chin and shivered like his bones would rattle apart. Seto scooted into the far corner so Joey had more room. He managed to get the afghan out of the front seat storage and wrap it around Joey. Then he just cuddled him. He couldn’t believe a man that wouldn’t let anyone touch him first would let him handle him like a child. But Joey did.

Joey shivered until he fell asleep. Seto sat thinking and stroking Joey’s hair. Finally he reached a decision. He started making phone calls, talking quietly so as not to wake Joey up.

Most of the people he called were cooperative in the best sense of the word. The only one who wasn’t, was intimidated by Seto’s very softness. He wasn’t sure why this rich, important man would be so quiet, but it made him very nervous. He agreed to do what Seto wanted and Seto hung up.

Joey woke up slowly. He snuffled, rubbed his nose, and tried to stretch. “Nnuugg. Mmm. Seto? what time is it? I . . . mmmm . . . . damn. I’m starving.” Joey looked at his wrist and snarled, “My watch. . . and my ring. Fuck . . . and that silver bracelet you just gave me.”

Seto had expected this reaction, he reached into his pocket and gave Joey back the jewelry he’d retrieved. “It’s just after noon. Sun highest time. I’m hungry too. You realize that we missed breakfast. We fooled around at the mall too long before we went to the jewelry store. Then everything went to hell, and we missed lunch. Or nearly did.”

Seto told Roland to find some place to eat. Just as he pulled off the highway, Joey saw some place he wanted to go. He told Roland to drive through the take out window. When Roland did, he rolled down his window and ordered a Milky Way. Seto didn’t understand why Joey wanted a candy bar just before lunch, but in the interests of getting calories into Joey he didn’t object.

Joey rolled the window down and handed the server money and accepted a cup of coffee.

“I thought you wanted a candy bar. What the hell is that?”

Joey smelled the coffee with appreciation and hummed. “Mmmm. Java, joe, jamoke, Kave, coffee. Caffeine. Yum. And enough sugar to kill a horse.”

“Damnit. Joey. You’re wired like a Christmas tree now.”

“Seto, I’m gonna have t’ run. I need . . . I can’t go back to prison. I just can’t do it. I’m turnin’ inta someone I don’t even recognize. Oh. . . and we need to stop at an ATM before they cut off my funds. Seto, don’t fuck around . . . do it, now.”

Joey took a gulp of coffee so hot that it was still steaming. Seto flinched and waited for Joey to realize that he’d burned his mouth. He hadn’t.

Joey noticed the look and laughed bitterly, “Seto, I got an iron mouth. I can drink it nearly boiling. Come on. Get a move on. I need money. Just in case.”

Seto reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills that made Joey blink. He took them from Seto’s fingers and ran a thumb over the edge expertly.

“Seto, that’s nearly . . . five hundred thousand yen. You sure?”

Joey eyed the money doubtfully. He didn’t want to take charity, but he didn’t want to get caught flat footed either. He was really going to take off if they tried to arrest him. He could head for America or Australia and blend in easily.

“Joey. You don’t have to worry. You’re in the clear. The only paper that might cause you trouble now belongs to me. And television is easily controlled. I just payed the copy writer on one station twenty thousand dollars American to cut the raw footage to our advantage.” Seto smirked at Joey’s astonished look.

“Seto, that’s a hell of a lot of money. I can’t pay you back. Not all at once, anyway.”

“Shut up, idiot. You just put yourself between me and three bullets. And don’t tell me ‘it’s ok I had a vest’ you’d have done vest or no. Don’t say you wouldn’t, I know better. So I throw around a lot of paper. Big deal–not. In comparison to what you did, it’s nothing.”

Joey gulped the rest of his coffee while he though about what Seto had said. “Ok, you take care of this, fine. But I’m still gonna be ready to run at a seconds notice . . . damnit . . . I . . . that fuckin’ thing.” Joey fished his cell phone out of his pocket and snarled. “Talk to me . . . yeah . . . I’m not at a computer just now . . . soon as I can. . . . I swear . . . ” Joey rolled his eyes and sighed. “On my oath as an officer of the law, I swear that my actions were the only ones possible under the circumstances. . . . Tanaka-sama? . . .thanks. Really.”

Seto waited patiently as Joey curled around himself and sat on the seat with the heels of his boots ruining the leather. Finally, Joey raised his head from his knees. “Seto, between the two of you and Mokuba, you’ve really managed to make this go away . . . totally. That was Tanaka. He told me to watch tv. I’m a hero. This doesn’t make sense. I’m no hero. I just do my job to the best of my ability . . . shit. I think I’m gonna really cry.”

Seto gathered Joey into his arms again. (This is getting to be a habit) He made those noises that people make and let Joey get it all out of his system. After several minutes Joey mumbled something that included the words ‘sissy’, ‘wuss’, and ‘idiot’ then sat up, tugged a bandana out of his pocket, wiped his eyes, blew his nose and sighed.

“Thanks. For everything, . . . the save, the shoulder. And savin’ my ass. But I’m still hungry. Really, really, hungry.”

Seto smiled, tapped on the partition and told Roland to quit driving around in circles and find a place to eat. Roland just called, “Sure thing, boss.” and turned at the next corner. He’d been circling a four-block square, waiting for Seto to tell him what to do.

So they finally wound up at a sports bar. Roland just eyed Seto for a moment when he said it was ok.

“You sure, boss?”

“Yes, I’m sure. The food’s plentiful and quick. I’ll eat fish and chips. Or if the beef is Kobe I’ll have that. It’s ok. Roland . . . I’m not my father. I’m perfectly happy with just plain and good. You stay with the car. I don’t want Joey to eat you out.”

Roland sneered, “Boss, he doesn’t eat a fellow out. He eats around it and lets it fall out. He’s as good as you are.”

~*~

Joey went straight to a back booth and slid in. Seto sat across from him and watched him carefully. Joey had managed to pull another save out of somewhere. The more Seto thought about it the less he liked it. Joey’s ability to make his emotions disappear was troubling to say the least.

When the waiter came with the menu, he remarked that all the local sports shows had been pre-empted for news. Joey was ignoring him in favor of the menu, but Seto listened absently as the man nattered on about some event that morning.

“And he just jumped right in front of the other guy and got shot right there in the door. That guy who locked them out is in a lot of trouble. And the mess . . . you never saw anything like it.”

Seto clicked in just that much too late. Joey sighed and put down the menu just as the waiter recognized them.

“Oh . . . OH . . . you’re them. I mean they . . . hey, everybody . . . everybody, they’re here. Right here.”

Seto cringed, but Joey looked around like he didn’t have a clue.

When people started filing by to bow and thank Joey, he looked at Seto with a puzzled expression. He finally realized that they were thanking him for saving Seto. Seto relaxed and watched with some amusement as Joey accepted thanks and shook hands even signed an autograph. When everyone in the restaurant had been by, the waiter brought them the best steaks in the house.

“How’d you know? I mean . . . I don’t understand.”

The waiter took a remote control from his apron and turned on a tv hanging from the ceiling. “I told you. We saw it all. It’s been on the tv all morning. There’s a repeat in just a minute. Watch. I can’t believe that he was so brave.”

So Seto and Joey were treated to a complete report on the mornings events. It wasn’t that biased. In fact, it was relatively factual. After watching from the outside, including a rather nasty little piece on the hospitals mishandling of their end of the situation, Joey looked at Seto blankly.

“Well. Hell.”

Seto just smirked. “I told you so.”

~*~

Authors notes. Moshi waki arimasen literally means ‘there is no excuse for me.’ It’s only used by servers or someone who’s really made a bad mistake. If the waiter spills tea on you, that’s what he’ll say.

Habeas corpus is a legal term and translated directly from Latin means have the body. This order comes directly from a judge and means to release someone into another’s custody.