I can see when you stay low nothing
happens. Does it feel right? Late at night, things I thought I put behind
me haunt my mind. I just know there's no escape now once it sets its eyes
on you, but I won't run; have to stare it in the eye.Stand my ground, I won't give in. No more denying; I got to face it. Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside. If I don't make it, someone else will stand my ground
Chapters
Thursday, December 22, 2005e i g h t "Because he tried to rape her at Battle City."
Ryou found himself wondering how the hell Seto could say that so calmly despite the ice in his voice. The paler teen turned his head to look over at Bakura; she was standing so stiffly that one could almost mistake her for a statue. He turned back towards Seto and Katsuya before finding his voice.
"W-we're talking about the same Malik Ishtar, right?" he asked uncertainly. "The kind of spacy Egyptian kid?"
"Try the psychotic bastard bent on world domination and humiliating Atem," the brunet replied, one hand absently combing through Katsuya's hair as he spoke. The girl was much calmer than she'd been earlier in the day, but he could still feel her trembling slightly as he spoke.
Bakura crossed her arms, her eyes flashing in anger. "He's male, yadonushi," she fairly snarled, as if that were the only answer to why or how. "So what happened? And how the hell did you get involved, Seto?"
The brunet shot the woman a glare that didn't have any effect on her other than her eyes narrowing to slits as she waited for him to answer her question. Seto turned from the Bakuras to glance back at Katsuya; she buried her face against his shoulder and merely nodded slightly, indicating that he could tell what he knew. He sighed so quietly that only the blonde could hear it and dropped a kiss to her hair before turning back to the others.
"I don't know the whole story, and I may never know what really happened. So far as I know...."
"Kaiba-san," came Isono's voice over the two-way communicator in Seto's lapel pin.
Seto groaned mentally before answering. "Yes?"
"You asked to be informed when Jyonouchi left the infirmary. He left for the arena not ten minutes ago, down the east corridor."
The brunet couldn't help but nod slightly; that route was the quickest and easiest way to get to the dueling arena from the infirmary, and considering that the doctors still weren't sure why the other's heart had stopped it was best for Jyonouchi not to overexert himself.
"There's a slight problem, however," Isono continued, causing Seto to stop in his tracks.
"What problem?" he snapped. "All finalists are to report to the arena for the duel between Ishtar and Mutou."
"Malik Ishtar was spotted a few moments ago heading down the east corridor as well. The location of his rooms would suggest that the west corridor would be the quickest route for him to take to the arena."
"Damn it," Seto growled, turning quickly towards the wall and punching up the cameras for the east corridor. There were only three cameras on that particular section of the ship: one at the entrance, one at the exit into the arena and one about halfway through. It would take one about fifteen minutes to briskly walk through that corridor, and seven minutes would take one past the central camera. If Ishtar was stalking Jyonouchi, who would be moving at a slower pace, he would be able to catch the other blond just outside the camera's range.
He punched up the screen just in time to see Ishtar catch up with Jyonouchi and drag the weaker boy out of view of the camera. What made Seto's blood run cold was the way the Egyptian glanced up at the camera and sneered at it before dragging his captive out of sight.
"Fuck!" the brunet swore, slamming his hand against the wall. He wasn't one to use that sort of language, especially with an impressionable younger brother following him around most of the time, but right now he wasn't thinking about that. What he was thinking was that, since this was his competition, he was responsible for the safety of everyone on board the ship. And right now, one of his acquaintances was in danger.
"Isono, get everyone to the arena now," he snapped as he turned towards the east corridor and broke into a run. "I'll deal with Ishtar."
"Kaiba-san, I can have security there in--"
"Do it now!" With that he clicked off the communicator and picked up his pace. Within minutes he was heading down the corridor, eyes searching for any sign of the two duelists.
The lighting in this section is horrible, he mused to himself as he approached the central section of the corridor. Ishtar should be right about--
His thoughts came to an abrupt halt as he caught sight of his quarry. In the time it had taken Seto to get from his rooms, the Egyptian had shoved Jyonouchi to the ground and had used his--no, her shirt to bind her wrists above her head. One hand was pressed tight to the girl's throat and, as Seto started moving forward again, the other casually undid the snap on her jeans.
He couldn't hear what the other boy was saying, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. "Ishtar," he snapped, voice completely void of emotion, "report to the arena immediately." He kept himself from lunging forward as the wild-haired blond glanced up, eyes seeming to look through him.
"Have you ever taken a moment to reflect on the psychological aspects of these games of yours?" he asked, voice almost seeming to echo in the quiet of the corridor; Jyonouchi attempted to wrench herself away from Ishtar only to gasp harshly as he tightened his grip on her throat. "How well do you think the Pharaoh would play if one of his friends was dragged, bleeding and completely broken, onto the playing field just before the duel?"
"You have one minute to get to the arena," Seto replied as if the other had never spoken. In all honesty, the other boy's words had chilled him to the core; this version of Malik Ishtar was more than capable of doing what he was alluding to, and he didn't doubt that, had the cameras not been present, he would have done just that with no one the wiser... until he arrived at the arena. "If not, you forfeit the duel to Mutou."
That got the Egyptian's attention, and he snarled at the brunet before turning his attention back to the blonde for a moment. "We will finish this later, hemet," he hissed just loud enough for Seto to hear before shoving the girl away from him as he stood. Ishtar quickly vanished down the corridor, but Seto watched until he was out of sight to make sure he wasn't coming back anytime soon.
Letting out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding, the teen turned to find that Jyonouchi had managed to free her wrists and was yanking her shirt back down into place. She was slightly turned away from him, and Seto wasn't sure if the slight hitch of her shoulders was a trick of the ill light or if she was fighting back tears. He took a step towards her, only to stop short when she finally looked up, brown eyes blazing with rage and unshed tears.
"Stay the fuck away from me," she growled, and Seto noted that her voice was a few octaves higher than he usually heard it. He shifted back a half-step, giving her time to compose herself as he wondered how much effort she generally put into deepening her voice. The blonde kept her eyes locked on him even as she adjusted her shirt to cover her properly once more, only glancing away when she pressed her hands to the ground before struggling to her feet.
She lost her footing for a moment, and before he could think about what he was doing Seto caught her arm. The girl's body tensed, as if she were preparing for a fight; he fully expected her to wrench away from his grasp and throw a punch. Which was why it came as a surprise when Jyonouchi instead turned and leaned heavily against him; with her height her head fell just against his shoulder, and he felt rather than heard her breathe a ragged sigh.
"Give me a minute, huh?" she asked, voice cracking slightly. Seto wasn't sure why, but he reacted to the question the same way he would have if it had been Mokuba asking; he drew in a breath, let it out then wrapped his arms around her almost protectively.
"Alright," he said quietly.
"After that, she asked me to keep it quiet; something about her father forbidding her from dueling if he knew what had happened. This is the first time I've mentioned anything about that aspect of Battle City to anyone who wasn't involved," Seto concluded, still lightly petting Katsuya's hair. The girl hadn't said anything while the brunet had talked, merely nodding in spots and curling closer when he got to the attack.
"I knew I should have gutted the little bastard when I had the chance," Bakura snarled, slamming her hand against the wall. As she turned back, she realized that Ryou had grabbed his coat and was pulling it on. "Yadonushi...?"
The white-haired boy glanced at his other half, eyes blazing. "School should be over in a half hour," he said evenly. "I'm going to go find him."
The woman frowned. "And you're going without a weapon?" Before the boy could answer, she pulled a switchblade from her pocket and tossed it to him. "Take that; might come in handy."
Ryou caught the knife easily and looked it over. "This is new."
"Yeah. I went shopping yesterday."
"Most people would call that stealing," Seto deadpanned. Katsuya lifted her head and lightly smacked her companion.
"She had a five-finger discount," she said with a tiny shrug. "It's not like I've never done it. Not lately, of course," she added quickly, "but I have in the past."
"We'll discuss this later, yami," Ryou said, shaking his head slightly. "Right now, I need to go have a long talk with Malik." Everyone noticed that lack of an honorific this time, a sure sign that he was not happy with what he'd learned this afternoon.
"Be careful," Bakura said, her concern absent from her expression but crystal clear in her voice and most likely the link she shared with her other. Ryou nodded and offered her a faint smile before heading out the door. Bakura shook her head slightly and turned back to her guests. "What about you two. Sticking around for a while? Because if you're expecting me to feed you I have to inform you that I'm still not quite clear on how the stove works."
Katsuya actually managed a soft laugh. "I'll take care of dinner, Bakura."
((And there's another chapter over and done with. Next chapter we'll go back to where I left off in seven, with the confrontation between Malik and Ryou; after that it'll be back to Katsuya again. And possibly, maybe, her view of what happened in Battle City.
Happy Holidays to everyone who's been reading. Thank you for visiting, and I hope you continue to read.))
Updated 10:25 AM
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Stand My Ground is a story set in Eternal SailorM's Jillian universe; for better clarity it's advised to read both works in conjunction. Yuugiou and all characters appearing herein are © Takahashi Kazuki.Affiliates
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