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 18

Ecstatic thanks to Skippyscatt for the excellent beta. (I’m so happy!)

~ * ~

Seto woke the next morning to the smell of bacon and coffee. He rolled over and hoisted himself up in the bed enough that he was half propped against the head board

“Mmmm. Morning. Coffee? Thanks.”

Joey settled on the edge of the bed and waited for Seto to manage the coffee. He knew Seto was still tired, he wouldn’t have taken the coffee otherwise.

“Roll over and push down your bottoms. I want to see your . . . “ Joey snickered. “Bottom.”

Seto obeyed without protest.

“Well, I didn’t mark you. I was afraid I had. I hit you too hard, you say. You hear?”

Seto gawked over his shoulder. “Yeah, I hear. Un . . . Joey?”

“Don’t start. This is embarrassing enough as it is. I want to do what you like, but . . . just shut up. Ok?”

“Ok. Bedroom rules.”

Seto groaned piteously when he was told that they were going back to the range again today.

“Joey. I’m dying here.”

“No, you’re not. I actually know what I’m doing. You’ll hate me by the time I’m done, but you won’t make a life-threatening mistake again. Come on. Breakfast, then range.

You’re shooting today . . . sort of.”

“How can I sort of shoot? Either I am or I’m not.”

“Sorry. Draw, dry fire, repeat. Ad infinitum.”

“Oh god, Latin. I’m doomed.”

“Sorry, Lover.”

Seto flapped his hand. “No sorry. Let’s get this done.”

Joey gave Seto’s retreating back a satisfied grin. He was so proud of Seto. It had to be a lot harder for Seto to put up with this kind of training than it had been for him. He truly hated hurting Seto, but he didn’t know any other way to make an impression on ‘Mr. Hardhead.’

~*~

The range officer was keeping an eye on his employer and his lover. He didn’t want a repeat of the incident, but he didn’t want another accident either. He drifted over to watch as Joey adjusted the harness carefully and checked the Taurus. When he handed it to Seto, Seto checked it again. He didn’t want more swats for carelessness. The range officer snickered softly, careful that neither Joey nor Seto heard.

“Ok. Draw, fire, reholster. I’ll correct every mistake you make. You pull the trigger too soon, you’ll ‘shoot’ yourself in the chest; too late, and you miss the target. At first I’ll tell you ‘pull’, then you’re on your own . . . every time you pull too soon, you’ll get a swat. This is too important to slack over . . . Go.”

Seto only gained himself two swats.

Then Joey gave him live ammo and told him to work on simply hitting the target.

Seto spent the next hour firing his Taurus. He’d worked on shooting before but hadn’t really taken it that seriously. Now he really worked and realized that it was going be harder than he thought to really do it right.

Joey rubbed at the sharp pain in his chest and watched Seto. He was getting better very quickly. Joey sighed as Seto got careless, or was he too tired? He decided it didn’t make any difference. He called Seto to heel sharply.

“Seto, don’t holster that way, you’ll bend the edge of the holster just enough to bind at the wrong time.”

Seto made a face but corrected himself. After what seemed an eternity, Joey started Seto on draw-fire-holster and made him work on that until his ears were ringing with weariness. Seto wondered at the training Joey had undergone and vowed if Joey could do it he would too.

By the time Seto had satisfied Joey that he was ready for the next step the range seating was full. Everybody who wasn’t on duty was watching Joey train Seto. A few made remarks about Joey, unfortunately he heard some of them.

“Ok, you ass holes. I don’t train what I don’t know.”

Joey stepped up to the firing line and told Seto to go to the back of the bay. He did and watched as Joey drew and fired almost without looking. The Berettas barked and the target shredded. He holstered the pistols and suddenly jumped into the air. He hit the next set of targets before he hit the ground. He hit rolling and demolished the targets in the next bay.

He emptied the Berettas into various targets set around the range. Each pull of the trigger fired three rounds, emptying the clips quickly.

He dropped the empty clips with the simple push of a button, slapped new clips into their places and jumped over the tables into the inner range. He ran down the range firing at the mannequins lined up along a ledge in the back of the range. They jumped and fell, pieces scattering over the floor.

Joey examined the mess, reloaded and holstered his arms then turned to rake the watching men with an imperious glare.

“Anyone have any more smart remarks to make?” Joey looked around at the spectators. He saw a bunch of shaking heads and respectful looks. “Anyone think they can do better?” more head shaking. “Ok, if you have duty, get out of here. Anyone stays they keep their mouths shut.” Joey turned to Seto. “I don’t expect you to be that good. You don’t need to be. But I expect you to meet or exceed the standards that the Police Department set out for me. Now, you’ve done pretty good with the Taurus. It’s time for you to work on the .32.”

Seto balked at last. “I don’t know where I’ll hide it. I don’t wear sloppy legged pants like you do. So where will I hide it? If I change clothing styles I might as well just point to it.”

Joey sighed. Seto was right, so he gave in with good grace. “Ok, but you know how to load it. You might as well learn how to fire it. You can keep it in the bed side table as a sleeper.”

Seto laughed. Joey was determined that he know guns. He didn’t mind, Joey was right, he needed to know more about them, especially safety. He’d made his last mistake. Shooting Joey had scared him, even if he hadn’t wanted to admit it.

Joey gently gathered his t-shirt into both fists. “Think it’s funny do you? . . .” Seto grinned “Well? Do you?”

Seto kissed Joey on the nose, completely ruining his grim look. They wound up kissing to the laughing and howling of the onlookers.

“I give up. Seto you ruin my . . . mmm mm m.”

Seto shut him up with a kiss.

Joey gathered up guns and ammo. They took the equipment back to the armorer. Joey gathered up his working harness and his guns. He’d left them at the armory for Kishimoto-san to clean and retool. He’d shot them so much that the slides were getting sloppy and needed to be reset.

“I’m glad to get these back. You have no idea how uncomfortable I was without them.”

Seto snickered. “I do too. You look like a monkey picking fleas. Constantly reaching for them and getting that look when you realized what you were doing. Talk about a tell.”

Joey laughed and took a swat at Seto who took off running for the donjon. Joey caught up to him and scooped him up, running several steps before he over balanced and they both fell in a tangle of arms and legs. Seto squirmed around until he had Joey on his back, but Joey hooked a leg with a quick reach of his arm and flipped Seto.

They wrestled around for a few moments and wound up on their backs, side by side, laughing.

Joey sighed quietly. This was nice, if only this was all he had to do.

“Seto? I meant it when I said I wanted to be a kept man. Not like I won’t do a job, but I’m really not going back to the force if I can get out of it.”

“I know. I don’t want you to go back. I’ll keep you if I have to, but with your savings being invested well, and one thing and another, you’ll be well off. That game is good.”

“I gave that to you.” Joey rolled his head to look at Seto.

“Joey, dammit, I’ve got more money than I know what to do with. I could keep you in a style that would make some Arabian princes boggle and never miss a yen of it. But I know you’ve got your pride and I honor you for that. So the game goes on the market with you as writer/developer. But, if you want . . . “ Seto gave Joey an evil grin. “No one needs to know about it just yet.”

Joey grinned back. “We better get back to the house. I want to take a shower then give you a rub down. You can take a nap while I go over some stuff. Then . . . “ Seto yawned right in Joey’s face. “Never mind. Come on . . . shower.”

They showered, which took a while longer than strictly necessary.

When Joey got Seto onto the portable massage table from the closet, Seto grumbled a little but soon relaxed as he realized that Joey was good. “Might have known you’d be good with your hands.”

Joey ran a hand down Seto’s spine and gently caressed his buttocks. Seto gulped from a suddenly dry mouth. This was different from the play in the shower. Joey gave him a light smack. Seto whimpered, not in pain but in need.

“You talk to Doctor Higa?”

“Yeah. I’m trying to get my head around things. Be patient.”

“I’ve got the rest of my life. I’m in no hurry. Don’t feel bad if you can’t do this. I can still go to Madam . . .”

“You will not! I’ll figure out how to reconcile myself. I just need a little time. I don’t want to hurt you so . . . “

“I thought I made myself clear in my . . . scenario . . . thing. Not much interested in pain. Just . . . dammit . . . read. Write down your questions. It’s stupid but I just can’t do this face to face.”

Joey kissed the back of Seto’s neck. “I know and that’s why I want to be extra careful. I said and I’ll say again . . . I don’t want to do anything you don’t like.” He started in on the massage in earnest. He was embarrassed too.

~ * ~

Joey left a sleeping Seto on the massage table covered with a sheet. He got his laptop and booted it up. Searching for files he stopped for a moment and grumbled, “damn . . . I almost had it. There’s something dancing around in the back of my head. I’ll get it sooner or later.”

Joey spent the next hour or so working on finding the Letter Man. He reread all the e-mails and checked the ISP addresses. There were several different ones, which meant something, but Joey wasn’t sure exactly what. Also, taken in one light the messages weren’t threatening, they were all warnings ‘you could’, ‘you shouldn’t’ etc. But everything they warned about happened, either before or after the warnings. It was just plain creepy. Joey shuddered and put his laptop on hibernate.

“Seto . . . Come on, love. Wake up.” Joey rubbed Seto’s back gently. “You’ll have trouble sleeping tonight . . . Seto.”

Seto rolled one eye at Joey and grumbled. “If you’d do . . . something. I wouldn’t have trouble sleeping. Ever.”

Joey laughed and helped Seto off the table. “I will . . . Do something, I mean. As soon as I’m sure what I do is right for both of us. Ok?”

Seto gathered Joey into his arms and they kissed with gentle passion. Seto nuzzled into the curve of Joey’s neck and sighed. He didn’t want a Dom/sub relationship. He didn’t need that. But he needed ‘permission’ to let go and explaining the difference was just too much.

“Seto, I think we need to talk to Doctor Higa together. Can you do that?”

Seto nodded. “Sure, I don’t pay him an outrageous retainer for nothing. But I did write down what Madam does for me.”

“Yeah” Joey pushed Seto to arms length. “But is it really what you want or is it just ‘ok’? I . . . Madam is good, expensive, and discrete. But she don’t love you. You’re just another client to her and I don’t think you really got through to her what you want. We got the rest of our lives to make love together and I want everything to be perfect. You’re worth every effort . . . you understand?”

Joey gave Seto a little shake and turned away, red faced and embarrassed.

Seto sighed. He was a difficult lover at best and a pain in the ass at worst. He was horny and frustrated but he couldn’t help the wide grin plastered over his face. Joey had to be as frustrated as he was but he was still making sure that every thing was good for both of them.

“Joey, love? Don’t . . . don’t be upset. I agree, . . . we need to wait until we both know what the other wants especially with me being so crazy. “ Seto jumped as Joey snatched him by the back of the neck and got in his face. “What? Joey?”

“You’re not crazy. Don’t ever say that again. We both got kinks, is all. We got to be sure that neither one of us . . . pushes the wrong buttons. I’m still not sure what you need. It doesn’t sound like either B/D or D/s, so I’m stuck for an explanation. You wrote down what Madam does but not wether you really like it or not. You try again. Don’t write down what you think I might like. Put down what you want and why. Think about it. I won’t be offended. There may be some stuff I just can’t do, but we both have to compromise, or this relationship is doomed. Don’t throw our chance away because you’re shy. I’m having trouble with this too. I’m trying hard to . . . aw, shit.”

Seto just slipped into Joey’s arms and they cuddled for a while. Joey finally broke it off, bending down to dig at his ankle again.

“Joey, dammit, stop that. You’ll . . . you already have. . .you’ve made it bleed. I’m pissed at you now. Come into the bathroom and I’ll take a closer look at that.”

Seto made Joey sit on the bath stool and knelt at his feet. He peeled Joey’s sock off and examined the raw patch, gently poking at it.

It was about the size of his palm; raw and nasty looking. Something was definitely wrong with Joey and Seto was more and more concerned. He was going to get Joey to a doctor as soon as he could. But knowing Joey that was going to be a fight. Joey didn’t like Doctors much, and resisted visits with a sullen stubbornness that Seto wasn’t sure how to combat.

“Joey, you have to see a doctor about this. It’s getting bad. Doctor Higa gave you some cream. Have you been using it?”

“Yeah, but it don’t do no good. I still itch. And I’m not gonna see no quack about a little itch. It’ll go away sooner or later.”

“Joey, dammit. It’s raw. It’s starting to really bleed.”

“No! Not a chance in hell. Shut up about it already.”

“Why?”

“Last time I got close to a doctor you saw what happened. Not a chance. You take care of it. Or let it fester, I don’t care. No hospital no doctor. Fuck them! Get offa me.”

Joey jumped to his feet and backed away from Seto with a dangerously wild look in his eyes.

“Ok, Joey love, calm down. It’s ok. No doctor, I promise. Come . . . sit back down. Let me put some stuff on it and . . . how about a bandage. That’ll remind you not to dig at it . . . ok? . . . please?”

Joey calmed himself taking several deep breaths and reminding himself that this wasn’t the Farm. “Ok. Seto Nushi. I’m sorry . . . a dressing would be a good idea. If I can leave it alone long enough, it’ll heal.”

Joey allowed Seto to smear cream on the wound and apply a wrapping of gauze.

Seto rose to his feet and grumbled ‘stubborn, stupid, mutt-faced. Dammit.’

“I heard that. I know I’m stupid about doctors, but if you’d had as much trouble as I have, you’d hate them too. If Higa would treat me, that’d be good. I trust him, but I’m not going to be treated by some strangers. Forget that. I’d probably wind up shooting someone. That’d be really good, don’t you think?”

Seto grimaced and allowed that the neighbors would probably talk.

~ * ~

Seto took a few minutes to call Mokuba and decided that, since it was break, he wanted Mokuba to come to The Cedars.

Mokuba replied that he was planning on coming ‘home’ for the break and stated his intention of being there by late afternoon. Seto snapped his phone shut and realized that he had missed his brother greatly.

When he informed Joey that Mokuba was coming to The Cedars, all he said was ‘ok. Bout time.’ Seto was a little miffed until he saw the complicated stream of data scrolling on Joey’s screen.

“What are you doing?”

“Running numbers. There’s something about these ISP’s. There should be only one, but there’s about forty. It’s starting to look like either a conspiracy or a prank. If it’s a prank, head’s are gonna roll, literally. If it’s a conspiracy . . . well, they just better watch out either way.”

“Let me help?” Joey nodded. “Let me see. Here. Why not put them in numerical order. Then search each ISP for key . . . “ Seto mumbled off and started typing.

After an hour of ever more frustrating collating and sorting Joey completely lost his temper, and Seto was treated to the terrifying sight of Joey in full yakuza mode. The first thing to go was the laptop which Joey slammed shut then threw across the room. After that he slammed both fists down on the desk so hard that its legs buckled. He kicked in the side panel then tipped it over with one fierce flip of a hand. He followed the laptop to its resting place, picked up the cracked case and proceeded to snap the display from the body and smash it against the wall, shattering it into fragments. Then he broke the body over his knee and tossed the pieces aside. Seto made some sort of abortive motion or sound and Joey slowly rounded on him.

“Get out . . . now.”

Joey sounded so calm that at first Seto didn’t move then he saw Joey’s eyes. His pupils were so blown that his eyes were black. He looked almost blind. Seto realized that Joey had tunnel vision so bad that he was lucky he recognized him.

Seto unashamedly ‘meeped’ and ran.

Roland met him in the hall

“What the hell is that racket?”

“Joey lost his temper. I wouldn’t go in there for anything if I was you.”

“Well . . . “Roland hesitated for a second, then decided that he wasn’t going to mess with an armed and angry Joey for anything short of a very large fortune. Beside the two Berettas, Joey carried an astonishing array of sharp things; none of which Roland wanted decorating his body.

The sound of destruction coming from the room escalated to furniture smashing level. Seto wondered if he should go to Joey, but he was . . . not scared of Joey . . . but of what might happen if he startled him in this mood. He decided to just let Joey get it all out of his system. The furniture wasn’t expensive nor did Seto care if it was.

Roland admitted that it was probably a good idea for Joey to get the frustration out of his system.

“You ought to take him to a ‘smash’ club. He’d feel a lot better. Although, this will work just as well.”

Seto leaned against the wall and waited for Joey to calm down. He wanted to smash things too, but it was against his training to let go enough to express himself like that. He wished he could, the frustration and worry were eating at him too.

When the sounds tapered off to loud swearing and a few thumps, Seto opened the door and frankly goggled. Every stick of furniture in the room was smashed, cushions ripped to shreds; stuffing strewn all over the floor, every breakable shattered, and blood splattered over it all.

Seto stood in the door and watched Joey as he stood in the middle of the carnage and panted. He turned when Seto cleared his throat.

“Fuck, Seto, I . . .”

“Shut up. I don’t care if you smash every stick of furniture in the whole place . . . you feel better?”

“Yeah . . . I guess. I’m so frustrated I could . . . well. Shit. And ow!” Joey clutched his wrist. He’d managed to cut the palm of his hand open on something.

Roland peeked in the door, unashamedly ready to run. “You ok? Can I come in?”

Seto motioned for Roland to enter. He just reached for Joey’s hand, carefully making sure that he knew what he wanted. He really, really didn’t want to startle Joey just now.

Joey took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. “I’m going to let Roland fix up my hand. Then I’m taking the bike out. I won’t be back until real late. Don’t wait up for me. Seto, love . . . I . . .”

Seto just smiled at Joey. “You need to get your head clear. Between me being . . . what I am. And you trying to cope with that, and find the Letter Man, and deal with being suspended, and Maeda, and Watanabe, and I forget what else. So go, ride your bike, whatever. Call me if you need me.” Seto gave Joey a fierce kiss. “Get your hand fixed.” Then he wheeled on his heel and walked out without looking back.

Joey touched his swollen lip, grinned then went with Roland to get his hand bandaged.

~ * ~

Seto met Mokuba at the door, gave him a hug and started talking before the poor boy had time to drop his luggage in his rooms.

“Joey is losing it. Bad. I’d show you the room but the servants have already cleaned it up. He trashed the office completely. I mean completely. I’ve never seen anyone break a desk by slamming their hand down on it before. You’ve got to do something about getting him off the shit list at HQ.”

Mokuba waited as Seto ranted and raved for several minutes about ungrateful and inconsiderate officials and the Commissioner being an idiot, or a fool. When he stopped to take a breath Mokuba managed to get in two words. ‘It’s ok.’

“Ok?! How can it be ok? I want something done . . . soon. Mokuba, he’s getting very near an edge I don’t want him to go over. He’s . . . dammit!”

“Ok, Big Brother, calm down. I know he’s in a bind. But I got it all worked out with the Commissioner. He was shocked by the fight, he doesn’t like fight clubs but was invited by an important person and went. Then he did some research, and . . . I think some jobs were lost over this. He’s going to give Joey an Administrative Leave of Absence, then assign him to your personal security . . . permanently. That makes you responsible for his salary. It’s effective before he resigned. In fact, his resignation never was which puts him back on the rolls and makes him eligible for benefits and insurance and retirement and . . . stuff. All good. And he’s independent. So we don’t have to worry about him having trouble with some asshole-stuffed shirt. He’s a Commander now. That puts him at the top of the chain of command. The only one over him is the Commissioner himself. . . . How’s that for a fix and a half?”

Mokuba smirked at Seto, looking most self-satisfied. Seto smirked back.

“Great. He’s out on his bike, trying to outrun his temper. He’s so tightly wound it’s down right dangerous. Be careful around him for a while. This, however, should really take the edge off. . . . you did good . . . Mo’?”

Mokuba looked at Seto for a moment, then just grinned.

“Whatever you want, Big Brother. Just hide the body for me.”

“Not that bad. I need for you to look up records from The Farm in Louisiana. I need to find out what made Joey so . . . not exactly afraid, but . . . he doesn’t trust Doctors. I need to know why.”

Mokuba just nodded. “I need the name of the farm. And anything else you know would be helpful.”

“Louisiana Correctional Facility. They call it The Farm. I don’t know much more than that he was there. Just find out what you can. Ok?”

“Sure . . . um Seto? I haven’t had lunch yet and it’s almost three.”

Seto took Mokuba to the kitchen, introduced him to Sakura, and watched as he devoured a respectable lunch, much to the delight of Sakura.

“Yukari has probably unpacked for you by now. I wonder where Joey is. If he’s not back by . . . 2 a.m., I’m sending people out to find him.”

Mokuba hid a smile behind his hand and followed Seto to his quarters.

~ * ~

Joey rode as if all the devils in hell were out to get him. He muscled the bike around hairpin curves at speeds that should have put him into the sheer cliffs on one side or over the deep drop-offs on the other. He rode until the motor coughed and died. Swearing, he flipped the reserve valve and started looking for a filling station. He had to go slow or he’d be out of gas before he found someplace.

That was how he noticed the small restaurant, mini-mart, filling station set back from the road.

He pulled in and examined the place. Deciding that it wasn’t that bad he approached the pump and started filling the tank.

“Nice bike.”
Joey didn’t even flinch he’d seen the man approaching out of the corner of his eye.

“Thanks. That restaurant any good?”

“Yeah. Food’s good. But you might not want to go in there. Someone else will be riding that bike. Place is a yakuza hang out . . . Hey!”

Joey had just locked his helmet in the trunk and headed for the eatery. He turned to look over his shoulder.

“I’m ex-yakuza myself. They won’t fool with me. If they do, they’ll regret it for the rest of a very short and painful life. I’m in a shitty mood and . . . well. But thanks for the warning . . .” Joey started to turn back then stopped. “Watch that bike for me. There’s twenty thousand yen on it. If something does happen to me, see that Kaiba Seto gets it back. Ok?”

“Yeah, sure. Anything you say. I’ll just wheel it over here where I can see it from the desk . . . ummmm. Sorry . . . I don’t want any trouble . . . but . . . could you pay for the gas now? Please?”

Joey just shrugged, followed the man to the station desk wheeling the big bike himself, and paid for the gas. He also gave the man ten thousand yen, telling him the other ten was in his hand when he left, if the bike was ‘cherry’.

When he entered the small restaurant, the first thing he noticed was that every man in the place stopped talking and turned to look at him.

He glared around then went to a booth. When he started to sit a man got up with the clear intent of telling him he couldn’t sit there but another man at his table yanked him back down and whispered harshly in his ear. He gave Joey a startled look, then turned his back and ducked his head.

Joey settled in the booth putting his back to the wall, then he stretched one leg across the booth to rest his foot on the opposite bench. Clearly indicating that company was unwanted and unwelcome.

After watching the server for a few minutes, Joey motioned him over. The server ignored him, an attempt to force him to move on. Joey sneered at the room then whistled sharply. “Hey, menu here!”

The server scuttled over with a small folder. When he dropped the menu in front of Joey he hissed “You better leave. This place isn’t healthy for boys like you.”

Joey eyed the server for a second, then announced in a voice that carried to every corner of the small establishment, “Katsuya Genkotsu goes where he wants to, when he wants to, for as long as he wants. Anybody who doesn’t like it can fuck off. . . . I’ll have soba with spinach and tofu, shrimp paste rice balls, and tea. And don’t keep me waiting.”

The entire place was so quite you could hear the proverbial pin drop.

Joey snarled the server into motion and settled deeper into the booth, watching the room and jiggling his leg irritably.

The server brought all his food at once, obviously serving him someone else’s order. Joey didn’t care as long as he got his food. He was hungry and irritable, he wanted to eat then get back on the road. That was why what happened next happened at all.

“Hey, Genkotsu! Look this way. You going to work for the new boss? I . . .”

Joey looked up. It was Hotohori; the idiot with the camera and he had it pointed at Joey.

“Get that damn thing out of my face before I shove it up your ass.”

“Oh now, Katsuya. You never objected before. Why now? The cops confiscated all my old stuff. I don’t have any footage at all. And . . .”

At the disgusted look on Joey’s face Hotohori stopped babbling and just shrugged. Joey wanted to smack the idiot, he couldn’t believe that he was that stupid. His videos were prime evidence against, not only Watanabe, but Maeda and Honda.

When Hotohori pointed the camera at him again, he lost his temper for the second time in one day.

Instead of trying to argue with the man, he threw a ‘movie star’ tantrum, except he went a lot farther than any star would.

He stood up and grabbed the camera. He gave it a back handed toss that smashed it right through the front window. Several men got up and left with undignified haste. Joey grabbed Hotohori by the lapels and slammed him into the doorframe, snarling, “You little shit. You filmed stuff that you should have stopped or at least reported. I’m a cop, stupid. You understand that every thing you shot is interred in evidence against Maeda, Watanabe and Honda. I’d be headed for Canada if it was you. The minute they realize where some of the best evidence came from you’re a dead man if I don’t kill you myself. Get out of here. Now.”

Joey dropped Hotohori back to his feet like he was something nasty he’d accidentally picked up.

“But . . . you broke my camera. . . and the window. I’m going to get the boss on you. He said I could.”

“Then he’s as big an idiot as Maeda.” Joey tried hard to get his temper under control, he almost had it when Hotohori messed up in a big way. He tried to fight Joey.

Joey just grabbed him by the back of the neck and slammed his face into the doorframe. Something broke with a sharp crack and Joey dropped the unconscious man on the floor. He wiped his hands on a towel from a nearby table. Then he turned to survey the remaining men in the room.

“Anyone else want some? I got plenty to go around.”

Not one man even acted like he was thinking of accepting the offer. In fact, several more men made themselves scarce.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Joey whirled and got ready to fight again. He was going to take out everyone who touched him luckily for him he didn’t go for a gun.

He was faced by the Oyabun Hyoe flanked by two men with mini-Uzis. He raised his hands and froze without needing to be told.

Hyoe eyed Joey for a second, then sighed. He made a motion with his hand that had one of his men whispering harshly in his ear. He whispered back which made the man shake his head, but the Uzi toting minions left.

“We should sit.”

Joey shrugged and sat.

The server brought tea to the table and served with shaking hands.

“It’s a shame.”

“Yes?” Joey settled down for a conversation that would try his nerves to the breaking point, but it would be easier on everyone if he went along with conventions.

“That foolish boy is just that . . . foolish. His tapes don’t make any difference anymore. I make sure of that.”

Joey shrugged. “Ill replace the camera, but my temper is uncertain of late. I wouldn’t like to see another incident.”

“Yes, I’m afraid he’s going to be in clinic for a while.”

Joey sipped tea and changed the subject.

“The moon is full tonight.”

“A full moon can be lucky, or not so much so.” Joey grunted and eyed the man, wondering what exactly he really meant. He made a decision that was to make everyone’s life much easier.

“Look, I know that you hate putting anything in plain words so that you can’t have something come back to bite you in the butt. I’m a plainspoken kind of guy so why don’t we take off the kid gloves and say what we mean. I’m on suspension right now and not in the mood to break your chops as long as you don’t break mine. Ok?”

Hyoe studied Joey for a moment then nodded. “Fine with me. I have an ulcer from all the dancing around I do. I’ll take you at your word that none of this gets to people I don’t want it to.”

Joey grunted and nodded again.

“Maeda has put out a contract on you and Kaiba-sama. I expressly told him not to, but he did anyway. As you know, he’s the only one who can withdraw it. If it gets out that I can’t control my men, the loss of face will cause problems for me that I’m not prepared to deal with at this time. Not your problem. But the assassination is.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Joey knew that it would be almost impossible to connect Hyoe with the hit.

“Because I don’t want to anger someone who could destroy me without even noticing. Kaiba-sama and I have an agreement. I will not be the one to breach our peace. You may not understand how ruthless someone like your master can be.”

Joey didn’t even blink when Hyoe called Seto his master.

“I also know that if you decide to take me out there’s not a thing I can do about it. I don’t want the both of you after me or my family. I make myself plain?”

“Yes and no. I’m not much of a one to blame your family for what you do. But I can see that Seto ruining you would affect your family too. So what am I missing?”

I’m about to break one of the oldest rules in the Yakuza.” Hyoe went to the door and called to someone. He spoke softly to him then came back to the table and sat back down.

He offered Joey more tea, which he accepted. They sat sipping tea in strained silence until three men came in, carefully bowed to both Joey and Hyoe and stood in front of the table waiting.

Hyoe waited for a moment obviously organizing his thoughts.

“I disavow Maeda. I disavow all his men. They have put us in an untenable position. Through Maeda’s stubborn foolishness there is the distinct possibility that Kaiba Seto may decide to take an uncomfortable interest in our doings. If that should happen, he will eat us alive. Do you gentlemen understand?

All three of the men had gotten unhappy expressions on their faces at the mention of Seto. Then one of the men recognized Joey. He gulped and paled.
Sir, that is Kaiba-sama’s man. Katsuya Genkotsu-ryu. He’s. . . .”

Here under my aegis. He will leave in peace. He is going to carry a message to Kaiba-sama. Apologizing for Maeda’s idiocy. Go now. Tell the others that they are to have nothing to do with Maeda or any of his people they are to be shunned. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Then there was lots of bowing and scraping. Also, lots of apologizing.

Joey grumbled, he’d never gotten his food, but he decided that discretion was the better part of valor. So he left.

~ * ~

Seto looked at his watch. It was 1:45 A.M. and he was more than worried. He was nearing frantic.

“I am so going to positively and completely annihilate his posterior. He said he’d be back by now. I don’t. . . “ Seto stopped in the middle of another round of pacing. The sound was barely there. No one else would have even noticed it. “There. That’s his bike. Come on.” Seto left the room long legs eating up the length of the hall.

Mokuba smiled tossing down the magazine he’d been reading. He followed Seto so he wouldn’t miss the fireworks.

Joey pulled the bike up to the front of the donjon and yanked it up on the stand. He dismounted and headed for the front door only to be met by a thoroughly pissed Seto.

“Where the hell have you been?”

“Talking with Oyabun Hyoe. He told me some interesting things. Straight out.” Joey mounted the stairs to the first floor.

“Dammit, Joey. If you’ve alienated him I’ll . . . told you things straight out. What the hell?”

“There’s another contract out on us; Maeda and Watanabe. I think. Anyway, he’s disavowed them both. I’m gonna take them both out. Now what did you want?”

Seto thought about it for about two seconds then grinned. Joey blinked at the fierceness. “That means I can have a go at them. And I intend to hurt them bad . . . now get in the house.”

Joey blinked at the sudden angry snarl. He headed for their quarters, smiling bemusedly at Mokuba as he walked by the snickering boy.

The minute Joey closed the door Seto smacked him on the back of the head. “Bedroom rules. Only I’m top this time.”

“Huh? Seto?”

“You heard me. I’m not messing around with you. Sit there.” Seto pointed at the small desk against the wall.

Joey pulled out the chair and sat facing Seto.

Seto proceeded to throw a cat fit. He spent nearly five minutes dressing Joey down. Ending, “If you ever scare me like that again, I’ll . . . there is still a real dungeon here you know.”

Joey sat through the whole thing with an odd look on his face. When Seto threatened to lock him up, he just laughed.

“What? You think I’m not serious. I mean what I say, dammit.”

Seto glared at Joey, trying to impress him with how serious he was.

“Oh, no. I believe you mean every word you say. Seto, love. I’m truly sorry I scared you. But you know that messing with their money is going to cause them to go berserk, don’t you?”

Seto nodded the shrugged. “If they do. You’ll do whatever you’ll do. I’ll hide the bodies. Swear.”

Joey got up, went to Seto and wrapped his arms around him. “No one threatens what’s mine and gets away with it. I won’t tolerate that.”

Seto snuggled into Joey’s arms and wrapped his own around Joey’s waist. He nuzzled Joey’s cheek with his own. “Neither will I.”