Adult-FanFiction.org : Yu-Gi-OH

Deliverance	By : thelostogg Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 8811 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I don't profit from these ramblings.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
A/N: Don’t ask about military moves, housing waiting lists, in-laws, the biochemical processes that regulate the human immune system, jogging strollers, or caves. Or HTML tags. I know the formatting on all of my AFF stories has gotten messed up, I’m going to work on them during those occasions when I have access to the internet and/or a computer. Real life has been weird.
Just to warn ya, this chapter is long. It was either going to be two short chapters or one long chapter, and I figured it worked better as one long chapter. But by long, I mean about 9000 words.

Chapter 6

                Seto wasn’t looking forward to coming into the office today, but a dozen angry emails he’d read last night made it clear that some kind of turf war had erupted between his R & D team and the Board. Again. Even with Seto fast approaching thirty, he was still the youngest member of the Board of Directors and the younger than the lead engineers designing his games. Seto hated the he fact that his job, for at least four hours of every week, was to quell the temper tantrums that arose when his employees broke down and threatened to punch one another if they didn’t get their way. When he was a teenager, he suspected that they did it just as a way of mocking him because he was so young. He knew from his father’s records, though, that the fighting was just part of the business. It had taken several months before Seto figured out that every time his father wrote ‘Appointed Inter-department liaison’ he really meant that someone had started throwing things at the last progress meeting.
                He was actually pleasantly surprised to see Temari waiting for him by his private elevator in the parking garage. She hadn’t changed out of the clothes she wore the night before, and the concerned expression on her face was one that he had never seen before, but anything was better than standing between engineers and executives and daring any man among them to be the first to throw something at him.
                “If you keep showing up on my premises looking so disheveled, people will start to talk,” said Seto, pushing the button for the elevator.
                She entered the elevator beside him, her expression becoming more stoic. He knew that look. She was trying to figure out how to say something he didn’t want to hear.
                “What is Mokuba worried about this time?” Seto asked.
                She opened her mouth, choked on the half syllable that escaped, and closed her mouth again.
                “Whatever it is, it’s alright,” Seto smiled. “I promise I’ll keep my reaction civil.”
                “Do you care about Jounouchi Katsuya?” she asked, very carefully.
                “Yes,” said Seto. He was surprised by how easily the word came out, and how it resonated in his chest.
                “Do you care enough to deal with some pretty major issues?”
                “Yes,” he said again, just as quickly.
                “Then I think you need to come with me.”
                “Why? What’s going on?” Seto glanced out when the elevator door opened. He pushed the button for the lobby again.
                As the elevator began to carry them back down, she smiled and shook her head sadly. “I don’t really know. If you had asked me yesterday if someone could engineer a personality disorder, I would have thought it was impossible, but…. You just need to come with me.”
                Seto rode with her, silent until she turned on to the expressway and headed for Tokyo. “I didn’t think you meant a road trip,” Seto muttered. “I do need to get some work done today.”
                She just shook her head and kept driving.
                Seto pulled out his phone, thinking he might answer a few emails if nothing else. Instead, he ended up running a credit check on Jounouchi. He was a bit surprised to find that the other man had excellent credit, an address in New York, and employer contact information that seemed to originate from Eastern Eurpoe.
                He also tried to pull up Jou’s sister’s credit, and after everything Jou had said the night before, he wasn’t too surprised when he found a record stating that she was deceased. He ran a quick web search for her and learned that she had committed suicide nearly eight years ago, after a long and exhaustive medical battle to try and saver her sight. Her obituary said that she was pre-deceased by her husband, and Seto made note of her married name and then cursed under his breath. She had married a Sasano. From the obituary, Seto gathered that Shizuka had ended up married to the oldest son of Jou’s boss.
                Seto cursed out loud and turned off his phone.
                Temari took him to an upscale apartment building, whispered something to the doorman, and then led Seto up to a huge western style penthouse condo. She opened the door with a key that was separate from her key ring and motioned for Seto to go inside.
                “Ladies first,” he bowed slightly. He still couldn’t stand to have anyone walk close behind him, even someone he knew.
                She walked in without a word and stopped in the middle of a pristine living room. Seto followed her cautiously, glancing to each side to make sure the living room was empty.
                “What do you notice?” she asked, folding her arms defensively across her chest.
                Seto looked around. “Nothing,” he said simply. “It’s a nice apartment, so what? You dragged me into the city to look at an apartment?”
                “Does it look like an apartment someone lives in?”
                Seto looked closer. The living room was beyond pristine. The white carpet looked like it had never been walked on, even by bare feet. The dark brown leather furniture was free on rips, stains, and even wrinkles. Even Seto’s own furniture had wrinkles and lines where he had sat on the couch. The glass coffee table in the center of the room was spotless, too. There was no television set, no stereo, no stack of newspapers or mail. An old roll-top writing desk was wedged against the far wall, between two windows with panoramic views. Seto slipped off his loafers and went to investigate the desk. The numerous drawers were all empty.
                The kitchen was separated from the living room by a bar, which had nothing on it. The kitchen counters were just as empty, as were most of the cabinets. There were no dishes, no small appliances. The refrigerator was spotlessly clean, and totally empty. Beneath the sink were two large bags of cat food and an empty garbage can. Down a short hall were three doors, two of which were open. One led to a bedroom that looked like it belonged in a magazine, and one to a bathroom that was cleaner than any Seto had ever seen. There was a dresser, which was empty. On either side of a comfortable looking bed were two nightstands, with several empty drawers. The closet contained two suits on hangers, complete with an undershirt, and socks and briefs draped over the center bar of the hangers inside the dress shirts.
                Stacked in the closet on the floor were several briefcases, suitcases, and trunks, all made out of the same rough black plastic. Seto knelt down and opened one on the top of the stack. Inside were gray-blue fiberglass pieces of a large gun. Seto pulled out what looked like a gun slide and hefted it in his hand. It was made of fiberglass. He was going to put it back, but then noticed that he could see his finger prints reflected off of the surface. He wiped it down, then held it by the corners and carefully slid it back into place.
                “I was wondering why you brought me to see a model apartment, but now I’m guessing that this is Jounouchi’s,” he admitted. “Though I never would have pegged him as neat freak.”
                “It’s not neat, Seto. It’s sterile. Did you notice the bathroom?”
                “Yeah, what about it?”
                “No finger prints on the faucet, the sink, the mirror, or even the toilet handle. There’s a hair brush with no hair in it. A comb with no hair in it. A toothbrush that has never been used. There is no trash, either. Not even in the bathroom. This isn’t a place someone lives, Seto.”
                Seto shrugged and climbed to his feet. “So what? Everybody’s got their quirks.”
                “Most people’s quirks don’t involve getting rid of every possible source of a DNA sample or finger print,” she pointed out.
                “Well, he hasn’t exactly worked in legitimate jobs. I suppose he might have been paranoid about getting caught. He’s got a sister who wouldn’t take it well, believe me. Well, had a sister,” he corrected himself.
                “I don’t believe you. This isn’t the way someone lives, even if they’re hiding from something. And then there’s those two monsters…”
                “Hm?”
                “I told him I’d feed them, but they’re out of control He even warned me that they’re a handful, but I didn’t realize how bad they would be…”
                “What are you talking about?”
                “Come here,” she said grimly. She led him to the closed door in the hall, carefully put her leg in front the door, then inched it open, wedging her leg into the gap as she did so. “No!” She shouted, as a furry white head appeared over the knee of her sweatpants. An elegant, fully grown white angora cat glared at her for a moment, then disappeared into the room. A moment later a scruffy looking brown and black cat peeked over her knee. “Stay!”
                When the brown and black cat just stared at her, she relaxed and opened the door another two inches. The brown and black cat didn’t move, but as soon as the door was open wider, a white ball of fur launched itself off of the other cat’s back, then off of Temari’s head, and down the hall like a bolt of lightning. “Damn it, not again! Don’t let that one out!” she pointed to the door and then took off into the living room after the white cat.
                Seto stared down into the open doorway, and the cat on the floor sent him one of the most knowing looks he’d ever seen on an animal, then laid down on top of his feet. It had golden eyes and a notch seemed to have been taken out of its right ear. It’s tail also had a strange kink, where it looked like it had once broken and healed badly. A moment later, the white streak of lightning shot through the hall, into the bedroom, over the bed, over the dresser, up the mini-blinds, and then back into the living room. On his feet, Seto felt the dark colored cat sigh.
                Seto shifted his feet until the cat moved, then he pushed open the door. He recoiled at the smell emanating from the second bedroom, then got himself under control and stepped inside. The bedroom was the only place in the house that wasn’t filled with pristine furniture. Instead, he had so many cat trees that it looked more like some kind of warped feline jungle than a bedroom. In one corner, an overflowing litter box had been pushed away from the wall. Near the window was a large bowl full of cat food and an automatic water bowl that had most of a new bottle of water hooked to it. Seto noticed that the window was open, but that it didn’t seem to have any impact on the smell. He took two steps towards it to get some fresh air before the white blur streaked passed his feet and out the door again.
                “He was worried about feeding his cats,” Seto said to himself, trying not to laugh. The dark haired cat had followed him into the bedroom and was rubbing against his leg, purring. “And who are you?” he asked, kneeling down to the cat. Around its neck was a back collar with the word ‘Pest’ written on it in what looked like marker. “Are you a pest?” he asked, rubbing the creature’s notched ear. It turned its head into his hand and purred more.
                “Get down you little shit!” Temari shouted from somewhere in the living room.
                There was a thud from the living room, followed by another lap around his feet and into the bedroom by the streak of white fur. “I’m surprised you put up with that thing,” Seto told the dark cat. It tuned it’s head to the other side. Seto had a feeling that if a cat could roll it’s eyes, this one would. The cat gave a languid stretch, rolled up to its feet, and then strolled towards the bedroom door again. It sat on its haunches, apparently oblivious to the world as the white streak blurred by again. The dark cat licked its paw for a moment, and then, right as Seto saw the white blur rebound out of the bedroom, the dark cat leapt. It barreled into the white blur and both tumbled into the wall, hitting it hard enough that the thump echoed. The dark cat leapt back to its spot by the door and continued to lick its paw as though nothing had happened. The white angora picked itself up off the floor, shook its head and then tripped to the side. It picked itself up again and then slunk into one of the little holes in the nearest cat tree. The brown cat stared up at Seto.
                Seto stifled his chuckle when he heard Temari’s footsteps.
                Temari stalked into the room, scanning for the white cat, her expression furious. “Where is that thing?”
                Shaking with laughter, Seto pointed to the cat tree where the white angora was pouting. The angora stuck his beautiful head out of the hole, glanced between Temari and the dark cat, noticed the way the dark cat, and then slunk deeper into its hole.
                “He needs them,” Temari said to Seto. “They’re psychotic, but they are the only things in this entire apartment that make me think a human being lives here. And I got the feeling that they’re all he has.”
                “What are you talking about?”
                “Your friend Jounouchi. There are no pictures on the wall, no receipts in the garbage, no nothing! He told me that he had arranged for someone to take care of them, but that you screwed it up. That man is not okay, Seto. He is resigned to death, but not because he’s depressed or sad. This is the home of someone who has systematically detached himself from the world, isolated himself from everything that might remind him that he’s human. Last night he mentioned something in passing, about how attachment was just another mechanism… I think he said to control him… He’s paranoid, Seto, and even though he’s very intelligent, I suspect he has a severe personality disorder. I would predict extremely violent outbursts if things don’t go the way he expects, and I think these two demons are only hope you might have of controlling him. He may very well try to kill you or Mokuba if he thinks you could actually stop him from killing himself. He is more than capable of it.”
                “You mean those weapons?”
                “Weapons?”
                “You didn’t look in the closet?” Seto asked.
                “You mean all those boxes?”
                “Disassembled guns. But, as I said, he made a living dabbling in illicit activities. Well, I say dabbling, but I suppose organizing might be a better word for it. He…”
                She waited for him to finish, but when he didn’t, she folded her arms again. “How did you get mixed up with him, Seto?”
                “Honestly?”
                “Yes, honestly.”
                “We went to high school together. We dueled together. We almost slept together, but we had some communication issues. And, well, you know we talked about what happened…”
                She stared at him until he felt compelled to fill the silence. “He was the guy the kidnappers brought in towards the end.”
                “I have a feeling that would be the part you never did tell me about. Did he hurt you, Seto?”
                “Ah, no, not really.” Seto knelt down to pet the dark cat again. It had taken sat down on his feet again.
                “Did he rape you?”
                “No. They suggested it, he refused.”
                “So feel indebted to him? Protective of him now because you feel like he protected you then?”
                “I’m not suffering from Stockholm syndrome so don’t you dare suggest it!” Seto snapped. “He pumped me full of antibiotics, and pain killer, and amphetamines. He called search and rescue. He loaded his gun with blanks and insisted on being the one to shoot me. He even set me down on the edge of the pier so the force would throw me into the water before the kidnapper had a chance to inspect the wounds. I am not being irrational.”
                “It’s not even remotely possible that he did those things to manipulate you? That he set up your kidnapping so he could sweep in as your savior?”
                “I doubt it. “
                “So he didn’t manipulate his way into your home?”
                “No,” Seto said calmly remembering how he had carried the unconscious blonde up the stairs himself. “I had to go to a lot of trouble to accomplish that.”
                “Seto, you need to distance yourself from this. If he wants help, he needs to be in a facility that can actually help him. If he really has done the things you say, he needs to be in prison where he can’t hurt anybody else.”
                “If he has cut himself off from everybody else, than that’s the last thing I should do, isn’t it?”
                “From his point of view, or yours?”
                “Can I bring these guys back in your car?”
                “Them? They’ll tear my upholstery to pieces!”
                “But you said he needs them.”
                Temari ran a hand through her hair. “You have to keep that one under control,” she pointed to the cat tree.
                Seto looked around the pet toys and supplies in the room. In the corner was an open pet carrier that was big enough to fit both cats, if they were willing to sit on top of one another. Seto opened the pet carrier, held the opening against the cat tree, then tilted the entire thing. Nothing happened. The white angora was dug in with claws extended and muscles tense, holding itself into the small carpet covered box. Seto set the pet carrier down and shook the cat tree, trying to dislodge the animal. He thought about reaching in and grabbing it, but the moment his hand crossed into the thing’s den, it hissed in warning. Seto stared down at the dark cat for a moment, wondering if it might have another diplomatic solution for dealing with the white cat. It yawned.
                “Not helpful,” Seto scolded it. In self-confident cat fashion, it rubbed up against his legs.
                Seto took apart the pet carrier and pulled out his keys. The multi-tool on his key chain had a pair of pliers in it, and he used the pliers to bend back the metal prongs of the cage door, then wedged each one into the opening of the carpeted box. The angora, as if realizing that it had somehow lost this game, inched forward and meowed.
                “Not a chance,” Seto told it coldly. He made sure the make-shift cage would hold tight, then picked up the dark cat and handed it to Temari. He picked up the entire cat tree and ignored the panicked whining coming from inside the mass of plywood and tan shag carpet. “Shall we?”
                “I suppose. I just hope they don’t have to use the litter box in my car.”

*

                “Is that my cat?” asked Jou. He was reclining on the bed when Temari dropped Seto off at home. He obviously wasn’t expecting anyone, as he had changed out of his regular clothes and was dressed in terry cloth bathrobe from the guest bathroom. Over three dozen books were stacked on the bed around him.
                The dark cat had settled on to Seto’s shoulder during the trip over, and Seto was worried he might have to get a crowbar to get the damn thing to let go of his suit, but it leapt down on its one when it saw Jou. It’s sprint to Jou was the fastest Seto had seen the cat move since it had tackled the white angora in Tokyo.
                “Hey you,” Jou whispered, rubbing the cat’s head affectionately. “I see you haven’t starved to death. Where’s your better half?”
                Seto snorted and dragged the cat tree into the room. “Temari told me you called this one Buddha. Either you got their collars mixed up or you have a seriously fucked up sense of humor.”
                “I did not get their collars mixed up. I didn’t name them, though. Pest mellowed with age, that’s all. Is Buddha in there?” Jou looked at the make-shift cage.
                “Yes. Is it safe to let him out?”
                “You brought my cats?”
                “Well I couldn’t very well leave them there. They were so desperate for attention that they nearly mauled Temari when she showed up to feed them. They need more than food and water, you know.”
                “I do know that. Do you?”
                “What do you mean?”
                “Did you bring their food? Or their litter box? And they are a bit of a handful, even with a whole room to themselves.”
                “I sent the maid out to get new stuff.” Seto bent down the metal prongs and released the terrified white cat while he tried to ignore the fact that Jou was laying on the bed in nothing but a bathrobe.
                The angora shot out of the cat tree, moving just as fast as it had when it was released from the bedroom. It made two quick laps of the guestroom, then froze in mid-leap over the bed. After a strange, mid-air summersault, it landed on the bed beside Jou and rubbed itself against Jou with a loud purr.
                “Somehow, I never had you pegged for a cat person.”
                Seto folded up the multi-tool and returned it to his key chain. Pest had left Jou’s side, but rather than exploring, it stood on the back of the wingback chair, staring at Seto. “Come on,” Seto sighed, turning sideways. The cat shifted then jumped back up on to his shoulder.
                Jou’s open-mouthed stare made Seto freeze. “What?”
                “He likes you?” Jou asked, as he scratched the suddenly docile angora.
                “If you’re going to make some kind of Can’t animals sense evil comment, you can save your breath. Mokuba already said something along those lines when I got home.”
                “What possessed you to bring my cats here?”
                Seto thought about how much rage Jou must have brushed aside when he found out what Seto had done to his boss, his sister’s father-in-law. He needed to stop making assumptions about everything as far as Jounouchi was concerned. “Was it a mistake to bring them? There are vet offices that board pets, if you’d prefer something along those lines.”
                Jou raised a single eye brow in his direction, then his expression softened. “If you don’t mind them being in your house, I suppose it’s a solution.”
                “This one’s not so bad. Who named him pest?”
                Jou looked away. “My sister. Buddha was hers. She’s a purebred, and from a champion blood line and all that. When she brought her home, she had a fat little belly and Shizuka thought she looked like a mediating little Buddha. But then Shizuka couldn’t get her to stop running around the house, and then she got out of the house and just kept running. Shizuka chased her half way across Manhattan, and when they got to the park, this little feral black kitten hopped out of a bush and jumped on Buddha. Shizuka brought Buddha home, but that little pest followed right on her heels. She left it outside their building, but an hour later Buddha was going nuts again. So she ended up having to put up with this worthless feral tom cat because he was the only thing in the world that could slow Buddha down.”
                “It’s nice of you to take care of them,” said Seto, sitting down on the bed beside Jou. “After listening to Temari’s horror stories from feeding them this morning, I don’t think anybody else on the planet could stand them for long.” He shifted his shoulder down and Pest reluctantly dropped on to Jou’s lap, then rolled to the side and stretched out on his back.
                “I think I’m going to have to buy a bookstore or something if you keep burning through my library at the same rate.”
                “Sorry. I know I’ve overstayed my welcome, but there are still so many…” Jou motioned to the piles of books around him.
                “How much do you usually read?”
                “Usually, seven or eight books a week. Depends on the language, of course. French and German take me longer than English or Japanese. I can manage Spanish, but the vocabulary changes between French and Spanish throw me off, so I need to keep a dictionary nearby. When I’m working a job, I don’t have time, of course.”
                “Would you mind if I ask why? You used to be more into games, if I recall.”
                “Games too often require people. Social interaction is tricky. And useless if it’s the same stuff over and over again. Even role playing games are typically written by programmers who are too afraid of people to actually interact with them. ”
                Seto let his fingers trace along Jou’s calf, then down to his ankle and back again. “What’s so tricky about being social? Some things just aren’t as much fun alone, after all.”
                “Don’t,” said Jou, though he didn’t move to stop Seto’s hand. “And social interactions just lead to weakness.”
                “You don’t feel weak,” Seto insisted, massaging the tight muscles along Jou’s thigh.
                “I don’t believe I am. I used to be.” Jou shook his head slowly. He closed the book in his lap and set it aside, then gently pushed the cats away. “I used to be. In fact, you helped me to see just how weak I was…”
                “Oh?”
                Jou shut his eyes and shifted his hips, almost unconsciously. “You used my own pride to force me into ridiculous things so often that I hated you. I didn’t understand all of the different mechanisms of social control the way you did. I certainly didn’t understand well enough to resist. Pride, guilt, shame, attachment, culture, traditions, whispering behind someone’s back, even laws… It was remorse that got me saddled with those two. Stupid emotions that hang over us like a hammer and dictate what we can and cannot do…” Jou groaned. Jou’s eyes closed and his head dropped back against the pillow.
                “Mechanisms of social control,” Seto parroted the phrase back and swallowed hard. He was having a hard time listening to the groaned words coming out of Jou’s lips. The other man’s body was responding to the slightest touch in a way that Seto had only fantasized about. Ways Seto had explicitly fantasized about, in fact. He let his fingers travel up over the fabric of the robe and over the growing bulge of Jou’s cock.
                “I started reading books as a way of analyzing all the ways people let emotions control them, let society control them. That’s why I read these,” Jou held up the Victorian novel. “So many of the characters are driven to do desperate, stupid things because of shame, because of a few glares and glances from the people in their community.”
                “I think I see. I tried to use your pride that night,” Seto admitted, exploring the sharp angles of Jou’s hip. “It had worked every other time when we were in high school… calling you a mutt, an idiot, a coward, even a whore… I was so mad when you didn’t give in. I don’t always stop to think about things when I get that mad. I…”
                “You made me think about pride as an emotion. In fact, when I pulled you aside after the graduation, I had meant to say goodbye. Don’t know why I tried to ask you out instead. You cracked my cheekbone with that one punch, you know. And I never did thank you for it.” Seto noticed that Jou’s fingers were stroking the same spot on his cheek.
                “I really am sorry about that. I had heard the same damn thing a hundred times that week. Every girl in our class insisted she loved me, and three other guys, and the biology teacher.”
                “I said thank you and I meant it. The pain helped me focus, kept me alive.”
                Seto shifted through his drunken memories of the night of Motou’s party, but he didn’t think that was the night Jou was talking about. “You liar,” he accused with a half-hearted smirk. “You didn’t even have a bruise the next night.”
                Jou started at him for a moment, then barked out a laugh. “Yeah, I know. I had to look presentable the night you punched me, so Hirutani stuck a needle into the bruise a couple times to let it drain.”
                “Hu?”
                “Bruises are just internal bleeding,” Jou explained. “Specifically where the blood pools around the damaged tissue. Drain away the blood and the bruise fades. The injury is still there, but it looks a lot better.”
                “Oh. You were with Hirutani that night?”
                “Not like that. That was a stressful night. You weren’t the only one who had figured out what buttons to push to rile me up. He had gotten picked up to be a body guard to one of the local bosses, and he was too much of coward to go alone. He figured that if he didn’t bring at least one underling of his own that no one would take him seriously. When I told him what had happened, he went on and on about what an asshole you were, and how you wouldn’t be so quick to brush my off if I had money. And, of course, he had just the job lined up to earn me some extra cash. All I had to do was stand behind him and keep my mouth shut.”
                The nostalgic look in Jou’s eyes didn’t match the grimace on his face. Seto wasn’t sure he wanted to know what type of memory could evoke both disgust and happiness at the same time. Seto stopped his fingers and crept up the bed. He lay down beside Jou and propped himself up on his elbow. “What happened that night?”
                “Things went wrong,” Jou said simply. “I learned to control my fear.”
                “But no one can shut off their emotions, just control what shows on the outside.”
                Jou turned a soft gasp into a chuckle. The tension in his hips relaxed, his eyes shifted from smoldering to dead in an instant. Seto saw the way Jou’s cock, which he had been a single layer of terry cloth away from touching, shrank and withered. .
                “That doesn’t prove anything,” Seto insisted. “It just proves that you can control your reaction to the things you’re feeling very well. It doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
                “Did I argue otherwise?” Jou countered, his voice flat.
                “No, you didn’t,” Seto admitted. He gave up on molesting Jou for the moment and plopped down on the bed beside him. “Why are you suddenly willing to talk to me?”
                “Putting up with you groping my ass is not talking to you.”
                “But you’ll put up with the groping?”
                “You brought my cats,” he said with a half-smile. “Of course, this means that little girl you brought over here last night has about as much sense of patient confidentiality as a hair dresser. You might want to be careful what you say to her.”
                “Oh, she’s more into blackmail than gossip. And least, she always says she’s waiting to find something I wont do without blackmail. Then she discovered that ganging up on me with Mokuba produced the same effect without the personal threats. I don’t think she considers pets to be some deep mental secret.” Although she had gone out of her way to bring Jou’s stark apartment to Seto’s attention, he reminded himself. That wasn’t the same as revealing something told to her in confidence. Not completely, anyway. “And their litter box nearly made her throw up. She said she didn’t think she could stomach getting close to their food bowl again just because of the smell.”
                If Jou could tell that last part was a lie, he didn’t show it. He just laughed.
                As his laughter died, he smiled and glanced at the window. Both cats had nervously taken up stations on the window, obviously torn between being near their master and drooling over the birds in the back garden. “Attachments, in my line of work, can be a dangerous thing. So many people can’t keep their emotions in check, they take every little job so personal, and personal retaliation is the norm, I’m afraid. A—“ He froze for a moment, his eyes unfocused. “A friend knows about them, and he was stupid enough to mention them when he shouldn’t. Half of my colleagues think I’m hiding a wife and kids in Budapest, thanks to his attempts at damage control.”
                The way Jou’s smile softened and became both more wistful and somehow sultry made Seto’s stomach clench. He turned towards the cats on the windowsill, trying not to replay the way Jou’s voice said the word ‘friend.’

                “You know that there is no hammer,” Jou looked up, revealing a surprising amount of fire in his eyes. “You see those emotions for what they are. You even see the police for what they are. If you had the same fear of the police that everyone else has, you never would have dared to plant that bomb. You know that when push comes to shove, the police are a few hundred people trying to keep order in a city of over a million people. They don’t even have the man power to compete against the larger gangs. But every single one of them, whether they’re cops or criminals, gets so caught up in the emotions that they keep playing the same stupid games over and over without ever realizing they’re nothing but pawns.”
                “My father drilled that idea into me early,” Seto admitted. “Though he also insisted that everyone else in the world was meant to be my pawn. To be honest, I think you might be the first person I’ve known who sounds like you understand. Even Mokuba didn’t get it. Or he has enough humility to pretend he doesn’t.”
                “I wouldn’t expect him to,” said Jou. “He always clung to his feelings. They might just have been feelings about you, but he clung to them, regardless.”
                “I don’t think your control is as iron-clad as you like to pretend,” said Seto, inching down until he was straddling Jou’s knees. He looked up to see Jou roll his eyes at him. “I think it might be worth putting it to the test.”
                “Trying pride, again. I’ll give you two points for being subtle about it, though.”
                “I’m not manipulating you, you’re just trying to change the subject because you know I would be able to break that mask of yours.”
                “Two more points for persistence.”
                “What?” Seto snapped. “You expect me to be honest? Because I honestly am curious about just what it would take to get you hard if you don’t want to be. And I think I could do it.”
                Jou shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m even listening to this…”
                “Where’s the problem? If you can control yourself as well as you claim, then you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
                “You know what? Go on, knock yourself out.”
                “Ha! Your pride is still your downfall!” Seto declared, throwing the bottom of the robe off of Jou’s hips.
                He was determined to move so fast that Jou wouldn’t be able to resist. He positioned himself between Jou’s thighs, saw Jou’s flaccid cock twitch slightly, and dropped his head to lick the other man. He watched Jou’s eyes as he licked the entire length of his cock, again and again. He watched Jou’s face as he sucked the entire length of Jou’s cock into his mouth, trying to coax it to harden by running his tongue around the head, where Seto knew his own cock was the most sensitive. For five minutes, he tried in vain to get Jou hard. Then, his lips still around Jou’s cock, Seto smiled up at the other man and reached his hands beneath Jou’s thighs to cup his ass. He kept attacking Jou’s cock while he massaged Jou’s ass, and then brought a single hand up to gently rub Jou’s sack. He went back to licking Jou and, without warning, shoved three of his finger’s inside of Jou, forcing his ass to stretch quickly and painfully. Seto felt the muscle contract around his fingers, but he didn’t remove them. He kept working his fingers in, feeling along the slick hot walls for the tiny nub of Jou’s prostate. He was sure when he found it, because of the way the muscle clenched once around his fingers.
                Spurred on by that single twitch of muscle, Seto showed Jou no mercy. Or he thought he did He licked, sucked, bit, and hummed around Jou’s cock, he rubbed Jou’s prostate in a fast, punishing rhythm. And the other man, for all of Seto’s effort, still wore the same dead expression.
                Seto hated that dead look.
                Whatever had driven him to attempt this, had inspired him to try and coax some fire into the other man’s eyes, died with the look in Jou’s eyes.
                “Are you done?” Jou asked, his voice even and calm.
                Seto withdrew his fingers and sat up.
                “You’re pouting,” Jou said levelly.
                Seto refused to look into those eyes again. He shrugged.
                “Are you done?” Jou asked again.
                “Yeah,” Seto admitted. “You win, you’ve got nerves of steel. Or no nerve endings at all…”
                “Kaiba?”
                Seto pushed himself off of the bed and turned away. “I get it, oaky? I use your pride to try and manipulate you, you take the opportunity to crush mine. I’m going to nurse my ego back to health.”
                Something that felt like a wrecking ball plowed into him, tackling him face first to the floor. As he tried to breath despite the weight on his back, he noticed slender fingers unbuckling his belt. He also noticed that every single part of the body behind him was rock hard. “You said you were done with your game,” Jou breathed into his ear. “But it’s kind of selfish to walk away without even giving me a turn, don’t you think?”
                Jou’s weight disappeared from his back and Seto felt his pants and boxers being slipped down around his hips. He felt Jou settle between his legs and turned his head over his shoulder. “Ah, I think there’s some lube in the nightstand. Condoms, too.”
                Jou didn’t move, but the sound of tearing plastic came from behind Seto. A crumpled condom wrapper landed a foot in front of his head on the floor.
                The surge of lust that overcame him was tempered by the slightest bit of suspicion and fear. “How much of this did you plan?”
                “Plan? Kaiba, my plans for the day included Ivanhoe. Besides, isn’t this what you’ve wanted from the start? For me to chain you up again and actually fuck you this time?” Jou shoved a slim finger inside of Seto without any lube. He hissed, but relaxed and shifted himself hips back against Jou’s hand.
                “Want to see you,” Seto gasped.
                Jou paused for a moment, withdrew his finger from Seto’s ass, and quickly rolled the other man over. He sat up straight between Seto’s legs, propped Seto’s legs wide, then continued to stretch him. Seto found his eyes travelling over that toned body again. There was no denying how turned on Jou was now, and Seto had to admit that he was impressed by the sheer will required to have that much control over one’s body.
                He felt his heart skip a beat as his imagination injected that degree of physical control into his fantasies, but he didn’t have too much time to think about it. In a flash, he felt Jou’s cock ease inside of him, stretching him so fast it burned even as it left him craving more. He pulled his legs up higher to give Jou a better angle. Jou wasted no time settling in to a fierce, impossible pace. Seto found himself panting as Jou’s hips slapped against his ass and rammed into his prostate with each trust, driving into him with a strength and brutality that made Seto focus all of his effort on just holding on. He couldn’t imagine how embarrassing it would be to finish after just a few seconds with the other man inside of him. His fragile control was shattered when he felt Jou’s hands wrap around him. It took two hard, demanding pumps of Jou’s fist before Seto exploded.
                Seto’s orgasm washed over him in waves, driven by Jou’s body still thrusting inside of him, and every muscle in his body quivered in time with the motion. The blinding sensation that shot through him with each wave of pleasure had him resonating between grunts and screams. He rode out the tremors that followed, only vaguely aware of it when Jou shuddered and collapsed on top of him.
                “Damn,” Jou breathed into his ear. “I always figured I’d have to fight you to be on top.”
                Seto chuckled and held on to Jou’s shoulders. “Yeah, so did I. I’m not complaining, though.” He trailed his hands down Jou’s back and rubbed his ass, pulling the other man deeper inside of him. Jou hissed and shut his eyes tight as another slight tremor vibrated through him.
                When Jou opened his eyes, the fire and light that Seto remembered was there again, along with a smile that made his stomach tighten all over again. How had he not fallen for that smile back in high school?
                “We’re on the floor,” Jou said slowly.
                “So?”
                Jou’s smile turned into a smirk. He braced on hand on the floor beside Seto and wrapped his other arm around Seto’s waist. Seto panicked and clung to the Jou as Jou bent up at the waist and jumped to his feet, taking Seto with him as though he weighed no more than a doll. The jarring motion rammed Jou against Seto’s prostate again, and the shock of it made Seto gasp again.
                “Hey, stop it!” Seto practically shouted when he realized Jou was headed for the bed. “My clothes are… well…”
                “Sticky,” Jou filled in. “Are you afraid your housekeeper will wonder what you’ve been up to she finds your cum-covered clothes tangled in my sheets? Because I could leave the condom on top of the bedspread along with a few Victorian novels if you want to see some really interesting rumors in the tabloids.”
                Seto laughed as he squirmed out of Jou’s grip and landed on the bed. “I own a controlling interest in every major Japanese tabloid. I just thought that it would be hard for me to return the favor if I’m still half dressed.”
                Jou tossed the condom in the garbage can and stretched out on the bed. Seto tossed his jacket on the floor, unbuttoned his shirt just far enough that he could pull it off over his head, and then joined Jou on the bed. Seto felt his chest tighten as Jou leaned in and kissed him without any hesitation. He pulled Jou close and shifted so he was on top of him. When Seto was solidly in control of the kiss, he slowed it down to a languid, relaxed pace and ran his fingers through Jou’s hair. He took his time and kissed his way down Jou’s neck and chest, licking and sucking on each hard ridge of muscle and the abrupt dips between them. His tongue traced around a small leathery patch of skin and when Jou hissed at the contact, Seto pulled back to examine the spot. He found himself staring at a small light pink scar. Jou had probably gotten more than his share of scars, working with the Yakuza, and so Seto went back to exploring Jou’s chest. In a moment, however, he came across another scar on Jou’s left side.
                “How did that miss your heart?” he whispered.
                “Heart, lung, and major arteries,” Jou laughed. “He didn’t miss. He wasn’t trying to kill me.”
                “Did you boss do this?” Seto asked, using his hands to trace a long curved scar that ran along Jou’s stomach, from one hip to another.
                “What? No, Sasano couldn’t. Do you know many major organs and arteries are in those two locations? Even a expert marksman would have trouble pulling off those shots.”
                “I meant this,” Seto traced the long, curved scar again. He ran his fingers lower and rubbed Jou’s hips and thighs.
                “Same deal. It looks bad now, but it probably saved my life at the time.”
                “I fail to see how.”
                “After Shizuka died, I was kind of out of it. I tried to overdose twice, and each time it didn’t work. I managed to fuck my liver up, but the rest of me just wouldn’t let go. A friend of mine got tired of it, he said if I didn’t smile he would do something about it. And, well, we’re both a bit stubborn.”
                As those words sank into Seto’s mind, his entire body froze. His half-hard cock went limp and he had to close his eyes as a wave of nausea swept through him. He didn’t sat back on his knees, between Jou’s legs, and opened his eyes to take in the pattern of scars across Jou’s chest. When he ignored Jou’s nipples, muscles, and belly button and just focused on the scars, the pattern solidified and a face-like mask of scar tissue smiled up at Seto from Jou’s chest. “Oh,” he whispered, “I see. Your nipples weren’t in the right spots for eyes… And here,” he traced a small, arrow shaped scar about four inches above Jou’s belly button.
                “Yeah, he’s a perfectionist,” Jou said with a bright, and somehow terrifyingly honest smile. “But if he wasn’t such a perfectionist, he would have killed me. I don’t think there’s another guy in the world who could have managed those first two shots, given the circumstances.”
                “Circumstances?”
                “I might have been a bit confrontational with him.”
                “He shot you. Twice.”
                “Let’s see,” Jou’s smile softened. “I kicked him out a window, shot him in the leg, threw up on him, and then tried to slit his throat.”
                Seto forced himself to stay still. He wasn’t going to jump away from Jou when the other man could talk about something so violent as though it was nothing. “Who started it?”
                “I think I did. I usually do. But, to be honest, I was sort of groggy.”
                The happy, nostalgic look on Jou’s face left Seto feeling hollow, like he really didn’t know anything about the man beneath him. The way Jou’s cock hardened and grew at the memory made Seto bite back every outraged response that threatened to burst out. Seto bit his lip and stared at the smiling face of scars on Jou’s body, wondering how such a memory could turn Jou on. He didn’t want to think about it. And he didn’t want Jou to think about it, either.
                Seto ran his tongue down Jou’s cock again, sucking it into his mouth with a frenzy that bordered on violence. He inserted two fingers into Jou’s already relaxed body and stretched him slightly. When Jou didn’t bother trying to suppress his reaction this time, Seto pushed in deeper. He released Jou’s cock from his mouth and ran his tongue up Jou’s abs, over the scar-tissue smile, and around his belly button. As soon as he was sure he wouldn’t tear Jou, he moved forward and pushed his cock into him hard. He didn’t bother giving Jou a minute to relax against the bulk of Seto’s cock stretching him. He moved fast, snapping his hips so he could drive into Jou hard enough to make the other man gasp. Every time Jou opened his eyes a bit wider, Seto thrust in harder. He wanted to catch Jou off guard and to force Jou’s thoughts and eyes to stay on him, to replace whatever twisted memory Jou was caught up in with his own face and his own body.
                Seto was moving so hard and so fast that it was only a minute before he was panting and beginning to sweat, but the look of shocked bliss on Jou’s face thrilled Seto so much that he wouldn’t let himself slow down. It took all of his focus to keep himself from tumbling over the edge again. When he felt the tight walls of Jou’s body clench around him, he couldn’t hold himself back any more. His second orgasm ripped through him and he thrust deep into Jou, emptying himself into Jou’s body just as he felt Jou’s cum squirt onto his chest.
                “Fuck,” Jou gasped, panting and clutching the sheets.
                Seto pushed deeper into Jou and settled himself on top of the shorter man, nuzzling his neck as he began to relax. He glanced down at Jou when he felt Jou’s chest shake with a chuckle. “You should probably move. We’re going to be very sticky here soon.”
                “Don’t want to move,” Seto insisted. He rocked his hips to keep his limp cock as deep in Jou’s ass as possible. “Want to rest.”
                “You’re not sleeping inside of me,” Jou insisted. “I want to get cleaned up.”
                Seto groaned and braced his legs so Jou couldn’t move his hips. “I like being inside of you. I want to wake up fucking you.”
                Jou shifted one of his legs and threw Seto to the side as though he didn’t weigh anything. Seto pouted as he felt the cool air against his wet, and he had to admit very sticky, cock. “If you’d rather nap after having sex with a guy, you should consider one of these next time…” Jou held up an unopened condom between two fingers.
                Seto glanced between the condom and the drawer in the night stand. “There’s no way you can move that fast. Did you stash them in the blankets?”
                Jou shrugged. “Yes. This has been weird. I didn’t know how far you were willing to go to get what you wanted. Do I need to worry about any embarrassing surprises?”
                “No, of course not. You thought I would…” Seto stopped as he realized Jou hadn’t just ‘thought’ Seto would rape him, he had been certain of it. “I wouldn’t,” he said quickly. “Not like that.” He sat up and moved to the edge of the bed with Jou. “Can I join you for a shower?”
                Seto took Jou by the hand and led him into the bathroom and into the shower. He let Jou have most of the spray and simply enjoyed touching the other man, caressing and holding him, trying to show Jou everything that he knew he would never be able to say out loud. By the time they were both clean and dry, Seto had managed to get his arms around Jou and was determined not to let go of him. He led Jou back to bed and pulled him close, spooning his body against Jou and resting his forehead against Jou’s shoulder.
                Unfortunately, he wasn’t too surprised when he woke up later in a cold, empty bed. He didn’t need to look around to know Jou was gone. He shut his eyes, ignored the emptiness and pain seeping out of his chest, and tried to curl into a ball. He nearly screamed when something white and fury launched itself off of his back and flew around the room. Seto opened his eyes and saw the dark, golden-eyed cat sitting on the pillow where Jou should have been.
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Deliverance