Work Text:
When you work the mean streets of Domino, you meet all sorts of strange folks. Most of them are working stiffs like you, just moving through life trying to make a buck and survive. Those were the people I make my living from, from wives trying to find their husbands, from husbands trying to find their wives' boyfriends, from desperate people desperately clinging to hope.
That's why, when the richest man in Domino walked into my rundown office, I was only thinking in dollar signs. I wasn't thinking I'd have to stake my life out for him.
"Katsuya Jounouchi?"
I looked up. Age hadn't made him any less stuck up than he'd been when we were in high school together. I could tell by the sneer on his lips what he thought of my place. Too bad. He came here to find me.
"Seto Kaiba," I said, staying seated at my desk. It was a cheap power play, sure, but it was all I had. "What brings you down from your ivory tower?"
"I need help."
"That's the understatement of the year."
His gaze fell to me, lidded and dark, like I was beneath him. I always hated that look.
"Mokuba's missing."
That wasn't new, except Mokuba had to be into his twenties now, at least. "Maybe he just went off somewhere. You know how kids are."
"He's not a kid anymore." There was something in the hardness of his jaw that said he was disappointed at that. Poor kid. No wonder Mokuba was missing.
"So why's that bring you here?"
He finally sat down. "I was sent these," he said, pulling out something from his briefcase. They looked like photos.
"Can I see them?" I asked, reaching across my desk. He hesitated, but handed them over.
They were all photos of Mokuba at various parties. He looked happy and healthier than his brother. I stole a glance at Kaiba. He looked even more skeletal than he had when we were kids. I was about to hand back the photos when I noticed something odd in the background. In every one of them, there was a man somewhere in the background watching Mokuba. Something about his face rang a bell, but I couldn't bring up why.
"You think this guy had something to do with Mokuba's disappearance."
"I'm certain of it," Kaiba said.
"Why me? Why not get your bodyguards to do it? Why come all the way down here to me?"
I wanted him to say something about how he always knew I was trustworthy, how my reputation had somehow punctured that cloud he was living on and brought him down to this little corner of Domino. I wanted him to say something that meant he saw me and my work as important, important enough to find his precious little brother.
"Mokuba would listen to you," Kaiba said, "if he's just on a bender. If not, you're suitable to track this man down."
"Again, why not your own people?" I asked, wanting to hear more. "Doesn't Mokuba trust them."
He exhaled loudly through his nose and looked at me. "There's some sort of breach in my security. Someone was supposed to be with Mokuba at all times. They weren't. I can't trust my usual channels anymore."
"But you can trust me."
"You're expendable."
"Fuck you, Kaiba," I said, with less force than I'd intended. "You want me to find this guy or what?"
"I. I want him found, yes," Kaiba said. "I want to know what he has to do with Mokuba. If he knows anything about where he is. And I want Mokuba brought back."
"And if he doesn't wanna come back? Let's say, best case scenario, this guy just happens to be at every party, doesn't know anything about Mokuba because he's living it up at some other place, and Mokuba doesn't want to come home. What do you do then?"
"Then you tell me where he is and I'll collect him myself."
I laid the photos on the desk and sat back in my chair. "Alright, Kaiba. You've got a deal. But this ain't gonna be cheap."
"Money is no object, you know that."
"Alright. Let's see, for equipment, for stake out service, for any potential brawling I might have to do.... You're looking at about five Gs."
"Are you always so expensive?" he asked, glancing around the crummy office.
"Like you said, money's no object for you."
"Don't push your luck," he said, writing the check anyway.
"Hey, luck's the only way to get by in this gig. You want him found or not?"
He ripped out the check and handed it over to me, tugging on it as I grabbed it. "You have one week," he said.
"A week?" But damn, that money was good. "Alright, fine. One week. I'll have him back in no time."
Kaiba let go of the check and stood, snapping his briefcase shut. "Find him, Jounouchi. I'm depending on you."
"He'll be found. I promise you."
Kaiba sniffed haughtily and walked out my door, leaving me alone with a bundle of photographs and a bad headache.
"Bastard," I muttered, pouring myself a drink. Trust Kaiba to come down and start me on the road straight to Hell.