HowtoLaughOutLoud

Remember My Love
By Misster Cackles
Rating: M
Warnings: Yaoi, profanity, sexual content, abuse, character death, religious hints
Pairings: Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and a few OCs

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Chapter Four – Replay

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Katsuya woke up in his bed with a tear-streaked face, shivering, for seemingly no reason. The blonde man sat up carefully, wiping the cold sweat from his neck and forehead, and lifted the covers around his bare shoulders, gripping his arms. He glared at the quilt patterns as though it were their fault he was having this re-occurring dream; about half a month ago the dream stopped at the grave maker, but since then they’ve taken a new turn for…comfort.

After the third time this happened, he realized it didn't take a genius to know that it was Seto at the end of his dream. He growled to himself, why him out of everyone else? What’s so special about Seto that he had to be the person to comfort him in his nightmare? Why does Seto act so differently now!?

Why is it affecting him so...?

Katsuya looked to his left to read the digital clock - 5:16 - and sighed heavily. Time to get up, no use sleeping to the alarm when it was due in a few minutes. It was a routine for him to wake at five-thirty in the morning to begin his day; it didn't matter if it was a Saturday or Sunday, raining or snowing - he always got up at this time. Putting on his bifocals, he allowed his eyes to roam the room before letting the blankets fall into his lap and maneuvering his legs over the edge of the bed. The room was spacious, decorated with earth tones, but it wasn't that noticeable with dawn just now breaking the night. Béni was at the foot of his bed, head tilted backwards on the quilt to watch him curiously. Katsuya smiled at the golden retriever and made his way to the bathroom.

Emerging from the master bath clean and fully clothed, Katsuya grabbed his long tan coat, and swiped his keys from on top of the dresser, gathering the small writing utensils and lesson books he would be needing for today's classes to dump them unceremoniously in the brown leather messenger bag. He snaked his arms through the knee length coat and straightened it out over his rather small figure, watching himself in the full length mirror on the back of his bedroom door. This Monday, Katsuya wore the regular dark blue jeans and a white, high collared, almost smooth, angora sweater. He grinned his liking to his reflection, but the reflection frowned back, leaning in close to fiddle with his hair. He left the front of the coat open.

Katsuya ruffled the top of Béni’s head before leaving the room, a glaze over his eyes. The dog whined softly, looking towards the dresser where his master's silver cross lay, the retriever’s bed-matted-head cocked to the side; the human had always put on that necklace before leaving the room - it was a routine... The blonde quickly made it down the stairs two at a time, to the study where his books and computer were stationed; he needed to check his e-mail to see if he’d received anything from Yuugi or Honda, or perhaps Otogi or Mai yet.

Logging in and waiting for Gmail to load, the shiny spine of a new book gleamed in the sunlight and caught his eye and when he looked at the title, Katsuya rolled his eyes twice. It was Desperation by Steven King. He glanced around to the other section of authors (he'd ordered his books by author, then alphabetically) on the bookcases wrapping the walls and found the rest of his new books as well. He could of sworn he left them all on the living room table (which was the main reason why he didn't go looking for them in his small personal library); Katsuya scratched his head and coughed in slight embarrassed and turned his attention back to the computer monitor. A sad smile worked its way on his lips despite himself when the inbox said no new messages.

‘They've got important careers now, Katsuya; you're going to have to learn that they need to start putting friends second if they want to be successful,’ his reasonable side offered gently for his sinking heart.

‘Yeah, I know...’

After shutting down the computer and sliding Desperation off the shelf to stuff it in the messenger bag, he decided it was best to head off now than wait; he would have more time to spend with his sister before going off to class. He almost smirked as he stepped out side the door, locking it with the house key; when Katsuya was younger, about twelve years ago, he swore that if he ever saw Domino High School it would have been too soon. Lo’ and behold, he was right! Look at him now, teaching at it! The blonde slammed the motorcar door, turning the engine on with a satisfied purr.

Weary amber eyes lazily watched the road, knowing the directions all to well to bother giving any thought to it at all, but even though he wasn't recalling directions, neither was he brooding over anything – he wasjust totally blank. Katsuya didn't think of the reoccurring dream of Shizuka and Seto, or of how many questions he should give on the pop quiz in class, nor did he think of if life was different than it would have been - if he’d never met Seto again, if his friends had stayed in Domino, if Shizuka never died, if he never lost his voice, if his father hadn't been the arsonist, if his parents had stayed together, if he’d never joined in with any gangs...if he'd never thrown that last piece of Yuugi's Puzzle into the pool outside the school.

He'd have time to converse it all with her - she'd want to hear it for herself, no matter how deranged it sounded, so no use trying to make a speech. Not like he could say it anyway...

Katsuya, about ten minutes later, pulled on to the gravel path under the wrought iron arch, the large iron ceremonial bell appeared haunting. Ignoring the raven's crowing, he slowed down considerably to five miles an hour, barely giving the names a second look - he knew where he was going; he'd been there too many times to not be able to memorize like the back of his hand. Besides, with the little sun out and all the long shadows, he could hardly make them out. His eyes darted from behind the glass, no one else was here, it seemed, and he was slightly thankful - he always liked to be alone even in a cemetery this huge. It made him feel as though they were coming to come hear his prayers... Katsuya finally came to a stop near the end of the graveyard, head turned to the left to stare at the tombstone of his little sister, the sun reaching the smooth surface of the rock.

Kawai Shizuka - a wonderful sister and friend to all. Rest in peace. Below had the dates and such, and under that was a Bible verse, one that took little time to remember, "I am with you. I will watch over you wherever you go - Genesis 28:15" For all those dreams he'd been having, he couldn't help but realize that irony had a sick sense of humor. Or perhaps it was only his mind thinking it was out of the norm, having probably read the scripture first and his unconsciousness playing tricks on him repeatedly.

No matter what anyone else said, about howthe pain will dull with time, it was tremendously hard getting out of the car to know that your loved one lay six feet under. There was that strong urge to go home and grab the shovel, thinking that they might still be alive after all that time - but no matter how hard you wished, or how hard you cried, they could not come back. He slowly unlatched the door handle, and one way or another he pulled himself to his feet and walked steadily in front of the grave maker. Suddenly, he fell to his knees and doubled over to cry into the ground, taking no heed to the stiff, browning grass scraping lightly the lenses of his glasses.

"I-I'm s-sor-r-ry, S-Shi-hi-zu-zuka...!" Katsuya whispered, his whimpers muffled only slightly. A chilled wind brushed his hair in response, a shiver running down his spine. "S-so, so s-sor-r-ry..." Even though it wasn't his fault, he still felt as it was, that he should have done something more to save her; probably warning her that their father was a psycho would have been a good place to start. Another breeze, this time warmer, brought him to look at the etched rock. He crawled to lean against it, facing his car, head tilted to the sky as though searching for his sister.

"Hello again..." Katsuya mouthed, closing his eyes against the morning sun that finally showed. He knew the routine, and when he would get situated, a seventeen-year-old Shizuka would be standing next to him, taking her seat to listen to another tale. He continued to mouth words.

"Remember how I told you I saw Kaiba at Barnes&Noble? Yeah, well, I had that dream again - you know, the one with him in it. Two freakin' weeks now - ever since I saw him... But do you know what he does? In my dream? He freakin' holds me; Kaiba Seto, making human contact with someone other than Mokuba - strange, don't you think? But it’s just a dream - and I hate it!" He opened one eye to his sister, an amused look on her face, brows arched and a small smirk on her lips and he realized his mistake, "I mean, the dream is reoccurring - so far it's been with me for eight days out of fourteen; I just want to sleep normally! I don't want to see you in that fire... The other ones are just as bad - not of the fire, but when I wake up, it's like I'm trying to remember something I've long forgotten..."

He sighed and started to keep his lips closed, thinking inside his head, knowing that she would hear his thoughts anyhow.

Which reminds me - I found my books this morning, by the way - they were in the library. I don't remember putting them in there, but I feel like I have though. I'm still experiencing these - er, what should I call them - uh..."black-outs", but they're not like that - it's more like you know what you're doing, but don't pay attention to it, like you're dazed and dozing through the whole thing, but you still hear and see bits and pieces of it. They're not happening as frequently as they were when I first came out of the hospital; this is the fifth one in, what, six years? I'm still having some side effects from those drugs; the docs said that any side effect might become permanent.

As he finished telling this, Katsuya's mind raced just then, eyes widening at the sudden clipped flashback or the images of one - like having heard a few familiar tunes bars of a song then cutting it short, then trying to remember the rest of themusic.

A doctor leaning over him, a tall man watching over from the corner with an intense look. Turning a small colorful cube over in his hand, twisting the sides and becoming frustrated, throwing it to the side, embarrassed as the other chuckled. A man sitting in front of him, fisting his hand to make a letter in sign language, then pointing to him for him to copy his movements. Soft green grass was below him as he reclined against the trunk of a sturdy tree, watching an early teen climb a plastic structure with a few of his friends, taking warmth from the hand that overlapped his, turning it over so he could entwine their fingers…

Katsuya gasped sharply when he came back to the real world, hand over chest to try to ease his racing heart. He growled softly to himself when he saw his sister looming over him with a concerned expression; he'd worried her.

Yeah, and the memory comes back sooner or later, just like that. Damn. Now, what was I talking about before? Oh yeah, Kaiba... Hey - listen to this; The newspapers say Kaiba's back behind the desk in Kaiba Corporation once again, starting thirteen days ago. He announced to the press that he only returned because Mokuba and his fiancé are finally arranging the marriage. You wouldn't guess who it is though, his fiancé. Shizuka gave him a pointed look, and in return, he chuckled. Okay, so you probably do know... Can you see everyone from up there, dang - I better not hear that you've become a peeping tom, sis; I know you had your eyes set on Otogi. You and a thousand others. She stuck her tongue out at him with a giggle. He grinned back at her, but it faded away.

...I miss everyone, Shizuka; Yuugi, Honda, Otogi, Anzu, Ryou, Mai... Howard thinks I should move from Domino, but I don't know where I'll go, or what I'll do with my life - If I go to America or Egypt with one of the guys, I'll just be in the way - and I don't even know where Mai and Varon are, and they have kids, anyway. And I haven't got much of any other skill than keeping my mouth shut. The strawberry brunette frowned at Katsuya when he thought that, her eyes far away. Watching Shizuka, he noticed how she bit her lip, knowing that meant she was trying to word something without giving too much away. When they were younger, she would usually bite her lip when telling him a secret about a few of her friends while asking for advice.

This had him interested to say the least, and he anticipated her response when she leaned over to whisper in his ear.

Katsuya's other eye shot right open, squinting at the sun, picking himself up quickly enough to give himself a slight dizzy spell. He turned to stare at the headstone and Shizuka stared right back, sitting on the curve of the stone, brows raised in either surprise, question, or amusement again. He mouthed to the angel of his little sister, forgetting how she was biting her lower lip earlier.

"No fucking way, Shizuka. I am not going to Kaiba for work - I have a job already, thank you." She frowned and gave him a meaningful look, but he retorted with, "Look here, I was just telling you the reasons why I can't follow doctor's orders." Shizuka crossed her arms and frowned at him like a pouting child, then she started moving her lips silently - too fast for him to read. Katsuya raised his palm for her to stop, in doing so catching a glimpse at the watch strapped on his wrist - it was seven-thirty-five. He groaned - he wasn't late, but later than he would have liked to be - he's usually at the school at seven. Now he signed to her.

"Look, just do whatever you do to get in my head tonight and talk to me then - I'm sorry, Shizuka, but I've got to go. I'll see you later tonight, or next week, I guess." Her frown disappeared to something more worrisome, but she gave a silent sigh and nodded slowly. He nodded back with a small smile, headed back to the car, and drove off.

Katsuya was not going insane, or talking to himself and imagining conversations between him and his sister.

Jounouchi Katsuya talked to angels.

It had started the same day he went to her funeral - she was standing next to him and laced her fingers in his, smiling sadly. Her body bore the same scars his own did, scars from the fire. At first he thought it was the medication the doctors had prescribed to him (they had said it might cause hallucinations) and didn't take much mind to it at first, although it upset him quite a bit. He had gone to the cemetery everyday to see if the grave would strike up another image, but none came, until the same day the next week - Monday. For a month, he'd come on Mondays and sit still to only look at her, sometimes crying his apologizes; and after that, he began to talk to Shizuka little by little. Once he had become comfortable, he was having conversations! Not only would she reply, but she was also the one who taught him sign language.

To Katsuya, it was as though he really had Shizuka back with him. That made him happy, truly happy. He didn't care what other people said; His doctors didn't like the sound of this, most thinking Post Traumatic Stress Disorder while the others thought he was just plain delusional. He even had a priest come in, for Christ's sake, and even he couldn't sense anything unusual - it was holy ground anyways, said the priest, lingering spirit energy might be messing with his head.

Katsuya thought he preached more like a ghost hunter than a messenger of God.

Let them believe what they want, they're no different from the rest... That had to hurt him the most after Shizuka died. His friends hadn't believed him, couldn't see his little sister, when he took them to the cemetery on a Monday - seven months after he first saw her himself and returned to normal (other than the fact that he was scarred and couldn't speak and was found reading novels when he entered school).

Sighing, the Japanese Sign Language teacher pulled into his usual parking spot while leaning forward to turn the key and gather loose graded papers on the dashboard. He shuffled them into a neat pile, letting his eyes roam over the name - Shonoma Zeke - and period number - fifth. Taken aback, he hummed in curiosity; Katsuya didn't even recall correcting his fifth period class' assignments, but at the red marks on this paper in his hand, he couldn't deny that was his handwriting while giving the right answer. And, his honey almond eyes went back to the name; he has the same family name as that Misa girl... If I had seen his name sooner, I would have asked if he was related to her. Don't tell me I had another blackout earlier this week!

Katsuya groaned this time, falling back to the seat and flipping to another sheet to see if he recalled the other papers. He frowned in disappointment; No, he didn't - they were the right lessons and everything, but he never remembered getting around to actually scoring them over the weekend. He switched the papers into his left hand to unlatch his messenger bag with the other, reaching inside for the standard teacher's grading book and opening it to Friday's date. His frown deepened when he saw that their scores had been marked in the thin book. Katsuya placed the papers in that page before returning the grade book in the bag. He clenched his eyes shut, trying to withhold a sound that was awfully close to a whimper... His burned fingers made their way to his shirt to hold his cross.

His fingers continued down his chest.

Honey orbs snapping back open in a flash, he glanced down to find that his golden cross was gone, angora fuzz sticking up randomly. Katsuya pulled the collar on his sweater to see if it had somehow gotten underneath his cloths, but only saw the patched colored skin. Katsuya's eyes widen from behind the glasses, recalling how he kneeled on the ground earlier - could it have slipped off? Inside he doubted it - he would have felt it and seen it as he left, but it was worth a shot, right? What if the chain had caught against something and had broken? He was very attached to that cross.

Katsuya geared the sedan into reverse, drive, and drove back to the cemetery.

---

Another automobile?

When Jounouchi Katsuya entered the graveyard, he was definitely not expecting Shizuka to have another visitor, by the looks of it the person had just arrived there in a black Scion 2008 xD. How fancy... It wasn't so much the car that got his attention, but the fact that no one else in Domino City actually knew Shizuka. Katsuya drove his own car down another path that led the bottom of a small hill, breaking at some random grave, twisting the key and cutting the engine. He waited a moment before getting out, just in case the person saw him and ran. Katsuya tracked the gravel, cursing at the crunching underneath his shoes, before coming to the twiggy grass which was almost as bad.

Ducking behind a weeping angel, Katsuya carefully looked out behind from its stone robe, noting that Shizuka was no where to be seen, and watched the man lay a yellow rose at the foot of the headstone. The blonde man gasped quietly; every month there had been a yellow rose on his sister's grave, but because of personal privacy, he ignored the unknown visitor. Katsuya could have rolled his eyes - so much for personal privacy now, eh? He leaned further to the left, unable to see much because of the car blocking his view.

When the mystery man stood straight, the back of him gave off some distinguishable clues - he was tall, had short, brown hair, and he wore a white business suit. But before Katsuya could place the image with a face, he remembered something similar, flashes of a memory returning at the worst possible time while he was spying.

'Kawai Shizuka - a wonderful sister and a friend to all. Rest in peace.' Jounouchi Katsuya couldn't stand those words in front of him, they made him angry - and so, as a result of thatanger, he kicked the stone with all the strength he could muster - and lost the fight. He hissed sharply, grabbing his foot, and fell over from the sudden loss of balance. Katsuya couldn't help it, but nor did he want to (almost as if he was looking for more reasons to) but he just broke down right then, crying out through silent lips, hunched over on all bandaged fours. At the moment, he didn't care if his all-time crush cum temporary caretaker was standing behind him probably smirking his ass off because "make-inu" had fallen.

It was a Monday, and kindly (not to mention surprisingly), Kaiba Seto agreed into stopping by the cemetery before they headed to Kaiba Corporation. Because of Katsuya's state of health, Seto had decided to take time off from work to make sure he got proper care, leaving Mokuba in charge of the office, but now was the day Seto took back his title since Katsuya had become mobile recently. His brain might still be working slow, but it was faster than it had been since the fire, meaning that Katsuya wouldn't really remember, or his brain wouldn't register, kicking the headstone until later on that night, sooner if lucky. What was controlling his body for now until he did register, so he wouldn't be unresponsive, was his sub-conscious. His true self.

Katsuya started sobbing harder, sore fingers clawing the ground, and screamed in his head for Shizuka. He raised his fists and brought them back down violently, the pain throbbing dully up his arms. He did it again, and again, and again, and ag-

A firm grip on his right wrist held it tight in the air. "Enough," Seto said with a stern voice, but it was soft and gentle at the same, and with that, all the anger in Katsuya deflated and became limp and heavy in Seto's grasp. Katsuya brought his head up to face him, the salty tears streaming down his broken-hearted face.

"It hurts..." The blonde nineteen-year-old mouthed up the other. "It hurts..." As though Seto hadn't understood him, he started to whimper, his other hand grabbing his abdomen and face pressing into the grass. He started to shake when the brunette dropped his arm. Rejection... He brought that arm closer to himself as well, still crouched over in a fetal position, preparing the defenses for when he was to be called a pathetic mutt in much cruller tones.

There was a digital tune ringing from somewhere, but it didn't distract Katsuya.

What Katsuya did not prepare for, however, was Kaiba Seto himself to kneel down behind him and wrap his lean, strong arms around Katsuya's chest and draw him back to sit practically in his lap. Katsuya was too stunned to do anything, but he melted right away with the warmth, too tired. Besides, it wasn't as though Katsuya was complaining... He leaned back into the elder's chest, who hummed in disapproval at the continuing tears. He thumbed them away.

"I know," Seto said softly in his ear as Katsuya drifted between varying levels of consciousness, "I know." His voice was so kind and soft, so different from any normal situation, and lulled him closer to sleep. "It'll be alright; I'll take care of you." Katsuya rolled his head to see the other's face again, but he was only met with blue.

The most fabulous blue ever and he took the dive right in it and allowed sleep to overtake him.

Jounouchi Katsuya snapped out of it in a hurry, but he wasn’t concealed by the weeping angel anymore. He blinked and saw he was standing straight, gripping tight on one of the angel's forearms as some kind of support. Quickly, to see if he'd been noticed, he whipped his head to the stranger to find it was no stranger at all. Katsuya just stared, eyes growing wide, and the other stared right back, his cellular phone pressed to his ear.

"Katsuya...!"

---

It was the third Monday of the month.

The only Monday in the month where Kaiba Seto's schedule was not so filled with board meetings, and he wasfree enough to take a visit to the grave. Who's? Kawai Shizuka. Seto sighed and laid the bright rose blossom on the short step of the stone - he didn't do this for everyone, but Shizuka was a special case; everything that was happening now (sans the problem with the Yakuza) was her doing. Well, not everything, but she was to blame for the feelings he'd developed for her older brother.

Seto sighed again quietly and bowed his head for asmall dedication to the brave young woman. It seemed like only yesterday she had come into the Kaiba mansion with Mokuba. Oh, what a day that had been; in his office, Seto had been working until he heard Mokuba raise his voice and a female's voice retort right back just as loud, so naturally, Seto went to investigate. He stood on the stairs where he was able to witness the situation and not be seen. They were still talking in loud tones even then...

"What happens between my family and I is not your business, Mokuba!" The girl's voice sounded familiar to Seto, but he wasn't used to hear it so loud and defensive. His little brother reeled right back without skipping a beat.

"I never thought Jou would hurt his sister...!” Before Seto became repulsed that the mutt would lay a hand on his own sibling, he noticed it sounded more like a taunt than an accusation.

"Katsu' wouldn't do that! You don’t know anything, Mokuba - it wasn't Katsu'!" Despite himself, the eavesdropper found himself curious as to what injuries the mutt's younger sister had.

"Then your father -"

"This was the first time he's done something to me - it's not his fault! He's just gets carried away sometimes..."

Seto watched as his brother stood in anger, towering over the strawberry brunette girl as much as his height would allow. "So, where was Jou when your father did this to you!?"

Shizuka was close to tears, not looking at the raven-haired boy anymore. She took in a shaky breath and said as evenly as possible, "Kaiba Mokuba, if I promise to tell you everything, could you try to help Katsuya?" The rage left Mokuba's face and he sat back down on the long couch, and Seto edged closer to hear more - they'd stopped yelling and were talking rather too softly, as though of secrets.

"'Everything'...? Why just Jounouchi, why not help you, too?"

Instead, Shizuka answered the earlier question, "Katsu' was unconscious from the beatings that he took before our father went for me. This time, just as Pa grabbed me, he passed out - he's usually down before he ever reaches me.”

Seto frowned deeply; the mutt was a victim of child abuse? But that would have meant the times he showed up late for school; bearing bandages on his face...they all couldn't have been from pointless gang fighting, right? His heart hammered a little faster as he leaned in closer to hear what came next - how much could he learn about the mutt and probably use against him later? He could have congratulated Mokuba for his next question if he wasn't trying to be discreet - not to mention it would be un-Kaiba like.

"You're making it sound as though there have been more attacks - ones earlier then when you got your bruise," he said, pausing momentarily "Speaking of which, would you like some ice for that, Shizuka?"

Seto straightened and walked into the lounging room casually, sitting in the arm chair opposite from the two teens. From this angle, he could see large, painful looking bruises on the girl's wrists. He ignored the slightly panicked, anxious glances his way.

"Whatever you're problem is, it's not ours - Phone the police," Seto said, legs and arms crossing.

Thin lips smirked humorlessly; it became the Kaiba family's problem as well rather quickly, and he watched as everything became too surreal and too close to the edge. More than once had they crossed the lines of danger. Yet it was that same danger that brought him to respect Katsuya, even it was just a little bit – later in time, he realized that he might even lo –

Seto's cell phone started ringing, vibrating in the breast pocket of his white suit jacket. With a short growl, and another sigh, he reached into the pocket to grab it, barely looking at the name before answering it in a hurry - it was Aizaki.

"Kaiba," he started, but he didn't really get much out before his hired investigator started rambling frantically. Seto barely managed to grasp the rushed information.

"Donovanocalled!SaidthattheYakuzaarefollowingKatsuyaaswespeak!Watchinghimevennow!"

Panic seized Seto for a second before realizing that he had to hold himself together for Katsuya's sake, "The Yakuza won't attack the school; they aren't that stupid." At least, he hoped not.

Aizaki replied without hesitation, still frantic, "Katsuyadidn'tshowinclasstoday!Donovanosaidthatsomemembersfollowedhiminacartothecemetery!"

Knowing Katsuya wasn't in class brought back that panic a bit, but Seto forced himself to stay calm, and he turned around to head back to his car, "I'm at the cemetery now, Aizaki, right at his sister's grave - he's not here! I come here after Katsuya leaves."

"Hecameandwent,andcamebacktothecemetery!DonovanosaidthattheYakuzaarefollowinghimnowatthecemetery!" He yelled again.

Seto was getting annoyed with him; Katsuya would have probably made his presence known by now if he saw him standing in front of his sister's grave. Though the thought of the Yakuza actually watching the grave yard now was making him slightly tense - he looked left, no one. Seto turned and looked behind him into the trees, then proceeded to the right - no one there, either. He nearly shouted back at the other.

"Listen, he's not here! Check by his home, and I'll go by...the...library..." His sharp azure eyes caught instantly the familiar short blonde mop, and saw the man to cause the alarm beside a stone angel, the glazed brown amber eyes behind glasses widening. Exactly two seconds they stood like that, Aizaki's speeches coming to an end as his thumb slipped to the 'end' button. His own eyes shot wide with realization; Aizaki - Katsuya in thegraveyard - Yakuza watching...

"Katsuya...!"

The blonde blinked, "Seto...?"

A tiny part inside of him was doing a small victory dance, but he wasn't going to get distracted by his center of attraction's sudden remembrance - he was Kaiba Seto for God's sake, he had more control. Automatically, he swerved around the front of his car to reach out and grab Katsuya by the arm, "Come with me, we've got to get out of -"

But as soon as he started to reach out, the younger shook his head quickly like a child and turnedand ran.

"Son of a bitch!" Seto cursed more when he heard the sound of an engine, and he hurried into his own automobile, throwing the cell phone on the passenger seat. For the love of God, where the hell were his keys? Oh, in the ignition already... By the time he floored the gas peddle Katsuya’s car was speeding out the iron gates and on to the streets. Tailing him close behind, Seto looked in all his mirrors to see if any of the vehicles around them appeared suspicious. The thing that scared him most at that moment was how Katsuya was speeding even faster.

---

Katsuya couldn’t think straight at all, and when he tried, all that came to him were countless, rushed thoughts of Seto. What the hell was that memory of?! Knuckles turned white when he clenched the steering wheel with more force than needed; he jerked the wheel to go into the next lane, not bothering with the turn signals. Horns blared at him.

Everything about Seto confused him so much, and it made his head hurt when he felt so many things towards him; if Katsuya didn’t know any better, he would have believed he loved Seto…!

“…perhaps love-like?” Howard’s words reminded him of the possibility.

NO FREAKIN’ WAY!

With that, Katsuya swerved on to the shoulder of the road, earning more honks and insults, and slammed on the breaks. He turned off the engine and threw himself back into the seat, taking large gulps of air in an attempt to calm himself. Katsuya sighed deeply; he really had not been expecting any of this when he woken up only three hours ago. Katsuya tensed, thinking; he hadn’t even put on his cross this morning… He smirked bitterly – this was all becoming quite a turn of events. He let out a breath and started the car up again, turning on the radio.

“So push the seats back a little further, I can see the headlights coming, so push the seats back a little further, roll the windows down and take a breath…”

Katsuya gave the radio the strangest of looks – what the hell was an English song doingon a Japanese station? He reached up and pushed the button to silence the thing…

He happened to look out of the rear view mirror as he did so, and for the second that it was allowed, his heart was drowned in dread.

…right when another vehicle rammed into his rear bumper, sending him forward into the rail guard. Katsuya’s head hit the wheel, and for a moment all he could see was stars, but he quickly rubbed his eyes under his glasses at the sound of a familiar roar, and he looked behind him out the back window and gasped in fear. Stay calm, stay calm…!

The other car was caught in flames.

He reached for his door, but the latch didn’t open. It wouldn’t open! Someone was holding it closed – they were laughing darkly from the other side as the fire spread even closer… Katsuya cried out in fury, and forced himself to remain calm – this was not his old bedroom, his father was dead, there was a chance to get out!

“This is ‘ow yer bitch of a mother died, ya know!”

No it’s not! Katsuya willed, pressing his shoulder against the door, trying to force it open with all his might. There was a faint sound of sirens and that brought hope to him, even though the blaze had swept over his vehicle now; there was only a limited amount of time before the whole thing just blew up. That was when he startedpanicking; he only wished he had something heavy enough to smash the already-cracked window so he could at least crawl out. Smoke was leaking in from somewhere in the backseat.

The sudden pounding brought his attention to his brave rescuer, not caring if it was the last man he wanted to see at that moment.

“Se’o!” Katsuya screamed over the roars, throat tight with strain and terror, “’Lease, hel’ me, Se’o!”

The brunette yelled back, but Katsuya couldn’t hear him correctly, and as though understanding this, he pointed at the blonde then to the next seat. Katsuya nodded and leaned away from the door, and then there was a loud crash as the window shattered to hundreds of pieces.

“Come with me!” Seto yelled urgently, his arm reaching into the car to yank on Katsuya’s sweater. The younger of the two nodded again, wrapping his hand around the other’s as he stumbled to stand hunched over – which was very difficult considering the time and space he had to move in – and came out of the window head first, mostly draggedout by Seto. His foot caught on the corner and a sharp loose glass piece, and he hissed in pain as it cut into his leg.

Putting an arm around his shoulders, Seto helped guide Katsuya far from the wreck before an explosion was to happen. The blonde only mumbled back ever so often when Seto kept asking if he was in any extreme pain, but he was spacing out; God, what a morning…

“Sss-et-oooo, wh-tsss ha-pen-en wit me-ehh?” Katsuya asked in the other’s ear, and he could have sworn the other had just shivered.

“Shh, nothing’s happening. It just an unfortunate turn of events, Katsuya,” Seto whispered back.

A good far distance from the crash, the brunette eased Katsuya and himself to the asphalt, leaning against the guard rail of the road. Seto was still looking Katsuya over, especially since he’d noticed blood dripping from the younger’s pants. He gave the injury a disgruntled expression before yanking out his blue handkerchief from his suit pocket. He began to wrap it tightly around the ankle, but Katsuya sharply gasped.

Seto glanced briefly with sympathy to the other, but didn’t stop his doing, “Just wait a minute so the ambulance can come our way. They’ll take you the hospital then.”

Katsuya shook his head and groaned when he saw stars – the extra adrenaline that had been pumped had caused his head to feel as though it was about to burst through his ears. He didn’t know what it was, but he felt he’s never been the same when he leaves hospitals.

“’O ha-sssss-pit-llaw…” Katsuya breathed hot air, making it difficult for Seto to hear over the traffic. He leaned in, sitting next to the blonde closely.

“Then I will hire a doctor to check you over, then we’ll send you right home, Katsuya.”

Katsuya shook his head slowly this time, “’O… I r-unt t-ooo gooo t-ooo y-or ha-oom… R-ee knee…t-ooo ta-llch…” He let his head slide and fall on Seto’s shoulder, missing the other’s look of surprise.

Katsuya lost consciousness.

 
TBC
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