Jounouchi enjoyed the privileges that came with working for KaibaCorp.. As a high level employee, he didn't have to deal with all the hassle that inevitably came when docking a ship at a spaceport. Taking care of the tags, the admittance and clearance codes in the system was now done by a low-level grunt that would bow and almost salute when seeing Jounouchi's employee card. His special 'membership' card, as Jounouchi liked to call it, cleared the way for him as if he had as much power as Kaiba himself. The card was equipped with all kinds of electronics to grant him immediate access to any spaceport, quick clearance and always the first in line whenever the Time Wizard was to be launched. Otogi and Honda had a smilar pass, guarding it with their lives. Kaiba didn't take kindly to anyone who was foolish enough to lose such a treasure. Not many got the chance to work themselves up this high in the ranks of KaibaCorp.. It came with great perks, but also with great stress. Jounouchi flipped his card, looking at his digitized goofy picture. He had a good reason to work for Seto Kaiba. A reason good enough to keep his mouth shut and to do what he was told to do.
The huge skyscraper doomed up in front of them when they took the special transport to the heart of the city. The entire city reminded him of a huge campus, with nothing but KaibaCorp. drones living here. Jounouchi owned a small apartment downtown but he was barely ever at home. Why would he be, when he was hardly around anyway? He didn't like sitting behind a desk, he didn't like spending his time between four walls. He needed to be free, to go out, to go away. His job gave him the freedom to travel around, to avoid being cooped up in a cubicle, to get fresh air whenever he wanted. He slouched a little, reclining into the chair. The private driver was another privilege; no public transport for employees of his level. Otogi and Honda looked a little tired; space travel took a lot of energy out of the body. Jounouchi knew his friends owned an apartment as well, somewhere at the outskirts of the city. He had visited Honda's place a couple of times, as they had been friends as long as they knew each other. He didn't know a thing about Otogi's dwelling, though - he had been the last one to join the team, and though Jounouchi considered him a good colleague and a friend, they didn't know each other on a real personal level yet. Jounouchi stretched his long legs. Returning to KaibaCorp. always felt like returning to some kind of imprisonment and he usually staved off reporting in as long as possible. With such a high-profile case like the Ishtar family, he didn't have much of a choice. Kaiba would kill him if he didn't keep him up-to-date.
The others were talking, something about an advertisement they'd seen along the way. It probably featured a scantily clad woman, otherwise it wouldn't have gotten their attention. Jounouchi had to grin. No matter what the others thought of him, he regarded them as friends. The team was completely adjusted to each other and they had brought in many renegade criminals. All the reason more to celebrate their success, but something didn't settle well with Jounouchi. The Ishtar case… he wasn't disturbed by the insanely high bounty. He was disturbed by the strange elements surrounding it. The pilot with weapons on display. The kidnapped young man with bone-white hair. Something wasn't adding up, and usually he didn't care, it usually was just work…
An electronic panel lit up and the car came to a halt. Jounouchi actually liked old-fashioned cars; the sound of their engines reminded him of the engines of the Time Wizard. If life had taken a different direction for him, he might've ended up an engineer.
"Guys, we're here!"
Both Otogi and Honda made a non-committal sound and grabbed their duffle bags. Stifling a yawn, they climbed out of the car.
"Oh man, we have to look lively when we meet the boss," Honda said and rubbed his eyes. Otogi flicked with one smooth movement his raven dark ponytail over his shoulder, smirking at his friend. "Fortunately, I always look lively."
"Yeah, yeah." Jounouchi retrieved his own duffle bag and walked towards the entrance. The height of the building gave him shivers, for some reason. He'd been here often enough and had nothing to fear; still, he quickly crossed the lobby while the others hurried after him.
Their shoes creaked on the spotless marble floor. The lobby was huge and a cleaning crew was busy picking up flyers and taking down huge banners and posters.
"Another career day, huh," Honda said as he walked past the busy workers. "Kaiba needs his fresh meat."
"As long as he's not thinking of replacing us," Otogi said sharply. Jounouchi pressed his thumb on an electronic pad to call for an elevator. His fingerprint was screened in a millisecond; the elevators were only accessible to employees. The doors went open soundlessly; the three men got in and Jounouchi said: "Kaiba's office."
"You have clearance, Jounouchi Katsuya," a mechanical voice answered and the next moment, the elevator shot up. Otogi groaned as his stomach tumbled around sickening. Honda didn't mock him for his obvious discomfort and instead whistled a non-descript tune. Otogi groaned louder. Fortunately for him, the elevator arrived at the right floor before his stomach could get any worse. Otogi all but jumped out of the elevator. Amused, Honda and Jounouchi followed him. Kaiba's office was at the end of the hallway and while they were approaching the huge doors, Jounouchi couldn't help but to look out the window and admire the view. It was a good thing he wasn't afraid of heights; the upper floors of the KaibaCorp. building were almost literally in the clouds.
Kaiba's secretary was Rebecca Hopkins, a woman with great power: she controlled Kaiba's schedule and arranged his appointments, and she knew exactly who he wanted to see or not. Her office was located before Kaiba's, at a respectable distance; despite her position and her power, she didn't walk into her boss' office just as easily. Whoever bothered Kaiba, and he perceived a lot of things as bothersome, could count on being fired immediately.
"Hey Rebecca," Jounouchi greeted her cheekily. She was quite a nice looking woman with long blond hair, and the glasses looked cute on her; if he hadn't been involved with Mai, he probably would've made a move on her.
"Jounouchi," her voice was as cold as her usual demeanor, "you're late, reporting in."
"I know," he answered, irritated. It was hard to escape Kaiba's control. "How's the boss?"
His team might have special clearance, but that didn't give them the power to overrule Kaiba's current meetings. She shook her head.
"He's free at the moment, you got seven minutes."
"That should be enough." Jounouchi whistled as he continued walking. Honda and Otogi followed suit, greeting Rebecca as well as they passed her, without receiving a greeting in return. In the barely two minutes it took them to arrive at Kaiba's office, Rebecca had already announced them - the huge door slid open, revealing the interior of the huge room, its size twice as big as Jounouchi's apartment.
"Jounouchi," Kaiba said from behind his desk. Jounouchi quickly scanned the room for Mokuba; Kaiba's younger brother always took the sting out of the conversation. He wasn't there. "You're late."
"I know." He was unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. Kaiba always scolded him, making him feel like a kid who just had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Jounouchi knew this was Kaiba's usual behavior and that he was treated like any other colleague; however, Jounouchi had the faint suspicion that Kaiba had a personal dislike for him. He didn't bother inquiring about it. "We left Wremmoor this morning at…"
"I know. I can see your tags, remember?"
"Yes sir," Jounouchi answered, forcing himself to stay calm.
"I allowed you your silly ship, but if it can't keep up…"
"I can assure you that the Time Wizard is operating functionally and completely," Jounouchi said, cutting the other short. He saw how Kaiba's eyes narrowed; the big boss didn't like it when he was interrupted.
"Fine. What's the news you've got for me, concerning Ishtar?"
Jounouchi took a deep breath and started to recite his report. He had send Kaiba an electronic copy of course, but for some reason Kaiba demanded to hear it in person. Maybe he based his own decisions on what he got to hear from his team leaders, Jounouchi wasn't sure. He kept talking, focusing on a point on the wall behind Kaiba, to avoid looking into his piercing blue eyes.
"So basically, you've got nothing." Kaiba laced his fingers together. He didn't even look at Jounouchi while he uttered his words, dripping with disdain.
"We need more time to investigate." Jounouchi had since long learned not to let his volatile temper flare in Kaiba's vicinity. No matter what he said, he always lost. "The abduction of that young person opened up another can of worms. Through this lead, we can learn where Ishtar gets his money from. He has to finance his endeavors somehow, and-"
"Mai had no more useful information?" Kaiba snorted. "And when you arrived on Wremmoor, the guy simply wasn't there. Why didn't you go in pursuit?"
"The October isn't a registered vessel," Jounouchi all but snarled. "It docks without tags, without being entered into the system. That-"
"Leaves only two other options: Ibistapola and Kraten Six."
"We couldn't make it to either planet from Wremmoor without re-supplying."
"Then re-supply," Kaiba made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Investigate that abduction. Maybe the family doesn't know he uses ransom money to get around, if that's really the case. I hate to not have my facts straight."
Otogi took a step forward, handing the printed pictures of the possible abduction victims to Kaiba. "These are the matches my network came up with."
He sat straighter in his chair, spreading the pictures in front of him, all over his desk.
"What's this?" He said, frowning as he tapped on the second picture from the right. Otogi took a quick look.
"Identified as Bakura Ryou," he said. "Like Jounouchi said, we still have to investigate…"
"He can't be abducted," Kaiba said and all but threw the picture on the floor. Otogi quickly picked it up. "Take him off of your list."
"But.. why? We have to verify…"
"This is a wild goose chase," Kaiba snarled. "It must be some kind of administrative error. Bakura Ryou is alive and well, and he's in my service for personal reasons."
"In your service for personal reasons?" Jounouchi repeated.
"It's none of your business," Kaiba was quick to answer. "I don't owe you any explanation. It has nothing to do with current cases, and certainly not with the Ishtar case. Ignore his missing persons report and carry on."
"Well, that wasn't too bad," Honda said as soon as they were out of the office. He tried to break through the sullen atmosphere, and Jounouchi was grateful. He could always count on his friend to soothe the inevitable aggravations after talking to Kaiba. "At least we can cross off one person of our list."
"And he still wants the other three investigated." Otogi looked pensive, he was already thinking on how to get more information. "I think it's a good lead to look into."
"All right." Jounouchi waved at Rebecca in passing, but the secretary didn't deign to return the greeting. Otogi and Honda looked curiously at their team leader, awaiting his decision. "Take a few hours off, gentlemen. Get some rest, take a shower for crying out loud, and change clothes. I'll take care of the re-supplying and then we'll set out for Ibistapola."
"And you're going to do the same?" Honda quipped. "Taking a shower, I mean? I'm not sure how it'll improve your face."
"Shut up," Jounouchi stomped him against the shoulder, not too harshly. "I have to go to the HR department for some stuff and I'll meet you back at the Time Wizard."
"All right, see you later boss!" Otogi rubbed his hands, pleased with the unexpected, but very welcome time off. Honda nodded at Jounouchi before leaving with his colleague; Jounouchi took the other elevator.
KaibaCorp.'s Human Resources department took up at least three floors, but Jounouchi knew exactly where he had to be. Row after row of cubicles took up the work floor, and surprisingly enough, Kaiba allowed people to personalize their desks. Jounouchi had expected the department to be sterile, with people working in grey suits at clean, meticulously kept desks. From this distance, he could even see some potted plants - small ones - to bring some color and liveliness into the environment. Employees walked around, with files, laptops, mugs or other objects in their hands, talking to one another in hushed tones. A few women looked up when Jounouchi passed them, one asking him if he knew where he was going. He grinned at the stern woman with big glasses, telling her that he came to visit someone; his employee card effectively made her blush and mumble an apology.
Her cubicle was tucked away in the corner, next to the window. He was glad, even though her cubicle was smaller than everyone else's; he knew how much she enjoyed the view, and how that view was more important to her than the size of her desk. She was present, he could see the top of her red-haired head as she was just whipping her hair around, tilting her head for a cute, kind smile. A colleague was standing next to her, showing her something in a file. Jounouchi approached the cubicle, and a surge of happiness went through him when he saw her brown eyes flicker towards him. She didn't recognize him, of course. She dealt with so many employees that she couldn't be expected to recognize them all immediately. Her eyes darted to his employee card, clipped to the collar of his jacket, and her smile was just as kind to him as to anyone else. It turned a little bit warmer when she finally realized who he was; Jounouchi always made sure to look her up once in a while with a simple question.
"Hello, Shizuka," he said.
"Hello, Jounouchi," she answered. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Oh, I was just wondering about my bonus," Jounouchi grinned even though he darn well knew that bonuses were only rewarded after a case was closed successfully. Shizuka's smile was still there, she probably thought he was a little bit goofy, but harmless. The colleague excused himself but Jounouchi had already dismissed the other from his mind, as he leaned over a wall of the cubicle. He'd already noticed that she was looking in good health, and that her eyes were open and vibrant. Shizuka Kawaii didn't know she was his sister. She didn't know that the money for her extensive eye surgery had come from his account. She also didn't know that he had pushed and used some leverage to get her this job. Jounouchi liked to keep it this way; he could check up on her casually like this, and she was safe, in plain sight of the 'enemy'. If Kaiba knew Shizuka was Jounouchi's sister, he would hold her against him, and use her to his advantage - the kind of advantage that made people kill for.
"I'd love to help you, Jounouchi, but I'm in the middle of helping someone else," Shizuka said. "If you want to put in a formal request…"
"Someone else?" Jounouchi looked around exaggeratedly. "I don't see anyone else."
She laughed politely, mirth shining in her eyes. "He offered to get me some tea."
"I didn't know you were so happy to take a bribe," he winked at her. She blushed, embarrassment showing. She was as honest as a newborn, and just the thought of taking a bribe made her all flustered. "Just kidding," Jounouchi added.
"Jounouchi, you shouldn't make such jokes," she said, hiding her flushed cheeks behind her long hair. She moved her slender fingers over the desk as if she was searching for something, but he knew she was only trying to distract herself. She was probably wondering why he searched her out and made such horrible jokes; he knew their mother had never mentioned his existence.
"Excuse me, Miss Kawaii," a soft, polite voice flowed past Jounouchi's ear. He would hardly have noticed, but his sharp eyes recognized Bakura Ryou immediately from his picture. The young man put a cup of tea on the desk, the steaming hot liquid giving off an exotic blend. He had also brought tea along for himself and he only noticed Jounouchi's presence when he looked up.
"Ah! I'm sorry! If I knew Miss Kawaii had a visitor, I would've brought…"
"It's all right, I just popped up to ask something," Jounouchi showed a goofy, disarming grin. "Jounouchi Katsuya. I'm on one of the special teams of KaibaCorp.. And you are?"
"Bakura Ryou," the other answered, chocolate brown eyes impossibly innocent and trusting. "I'm.. sort of an advisor."
Jounouchi couldn't help it; he arched an eyebrow. This… kid was in Kaiba's service as… well, as Kaiba had said it himself: a personal advisor. What the hell did he need him for? He was the one with the penchant for Earth studies, right?
"I'm sorry, Jounouchi," Shizuka said, "I have to finish up some paperwork. Drop by any other time?"
"Sure, of course." Jounouchi kept his grin firmly in place. He knew by now how to do that, without any faltering. He brought up his hand to his head, as if he was going to tip his hat if he'd been wearing one. "Bakura, Miss Kawaii."
He left the department without looking back.
"Yuugi… the food won't hurt you."
"Hmmm?"
"The food won't hurt you." Yuugi's grandfather looked with a mixture of amusement and fear at him. Sugoroku wasn't used to seeing his grandson poking at his food; Yuugi knew not to waste it. Their budget was tight enough as it was, they couldn't afford to be slack with food. Not that either one of them was a good cook. Sometimes Anzu made dinner to share between the three of them, but tonight she was at her own home, with her parents.
"Oh, I'm sorry, jii-chan." Yuugi put down his fork and stared at his plate with unrecognizable ingredients. It had to be mashed potatoes with a little bit of vegetables and a small sausage, but it looked like… the engines of a spaceship had fried it and then dumped it out of an airlock. Yuugi shivered lightly. He'd been thinking of spaceships a lot lately.
"Well, I'm sure it's beyond tasteless now," the elderly man said dryly. "You better throw it out and make yourself a sandwich or something. I won't let my grandson go hungry to bed."
"It's my fault," Yuugi said. "I'll eat it, don't worry." He had to give up after a few bites, simply because his stomach wouldn't allow him to eat more.
"Then tell me what's going on. You're only mashing your food when something's bothering you, Yuugi. No, no don't deny it, I've known you longer than today, so don't give me those 'I don't know what you're talking about' eyes. They don't suit you, Yuugi."
"Sorry, jii-chan."
"And stop apologizing," Sugoroku muttered. "What is it, do you think I'm made out of spun glass? Spit it out."
"You know I've visited Atemu-kun on his ship," Yuugi said.
"The Datura," his grandfather nodded. "Beautiful name for a ship. Yes, go on?"
"I…he asked me to leave with him."
"What?"
"Not like that," Yuugi hurried to add. "He just wants to do something in return for the help and hospitality we've given him, he says. Just a few days, jii-chan? I know it's hard to keep the shop open on your own…"
"It's not like we're being overrun with costumers, Yuugi." He grumbled. "And it's not like I can't handle myself for a few days. It's just that…"
He didn't know what to say. Yuugi looked at him expectantly, but the older man simply couldn't find the words. "It's too big of a gift," he finally said. "It's not proportionate. We gave him something to drink, offered him food which he declined by the way, and we offered him a place to stay, which he also declined. I don't see why he should… look Yuugi, it's not that I don't want you to go. It would be good for you to see some other places than your home planet. If you really want to go, you have my blessing."
"But..?"
"But I think Atemu-kun isn't the right kind of company for you." Sugoroku felt the weight of over seventy years of life experience heavily on his shoulders. He was very young when Earth had been destroyed, and he knew he was clinging to old traditions and customs, such as teaching Yuugi the honorifics of his maternal language, now replaced by a universal language. When Yuugi had been born, he vowed that nothing would happen to his grandson… and his promises had turned to ash. Voided by death. "Maybe I'm too careful," he continued. "I know I've been too protective. I tried to raise you to the best of my abilities."
"Jii-chan?" Yuugi asked confusedly, not used to his grandfather's all too serious tone of voice.
"Your kindness is your strength and weakness," Sugoroku said. "I taught you to see the good in people, the kind heart in people. But there will always be people around, out there, who'll try to abuse that kindness."
"Jii-chan, Atemu-kun isn't that kind of person," Yuugi said, almost in shock. "Is that what you really think of him? He invited me aboard of his ship, and nothing happened. He showed me around and honestly wanted to do something in return for our help."
"You don't know him that well." He sought out Yuugi's face, meeting his eyes, returning his gaze. "You know him for a few days, Yuugi. He's not your friend. Anzu's your friend. I'm your friend, and your grandfather to boot. I've seen people coming and going, and someone emerging from the shadows, who doesn't know his name at first and walks around with a pure, silver cartouche around his neck, isn't your friend."
"Why not? He has done nothing to harm me or you!"
"Just take your grandfather's word for it. Something about him doesn't sit well with me. And if I'm correct, your fiancée isn't all too smitten with him either."
"I know," Yuugi said, deflated. "Or at least, I think so. I'm sure she doesn't want me to go on a trip with him."
"Maybe it's for the best if you just let him go." Sugoroku didn't like the sullen look on Yuugi's face, but there was nothing he could do about it. Not now. "We can always save up to make a commercial space trip. You've never been outside of Vertregg 12, and you've never been on holiday."
"Jii-chan, the shop…"
"We'll think of something. You work hard, and you take care of everything and everyone. You deserve it."
Yuugi didn't answer, but showed his grandfather a watery smile. Somehow it felt like he'd been dealt a blow to the face, and he remained sullen for the rest of the evening.
Chapter 8 | Chapter 10