A/N: I know it's been ages since I wrote something for the original Yu-Gi-Oh, so here's a little something. Enjoy, and remember any and all flames will be ignored, though reviews would be appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters, Kazuki Takahashi does.
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Thirteen-year-old Seto Kaiba glared down at his textbook. It was well after midnight and he was still hard at work. His stepfather, Gozaburo Kaiba, had told him that he was not to even go to bed until every last assignment he had given the boy had been completed.
Seto didn't understand, why did he even need to do this anyway? After all, he had already proven he was a child prodigy. And there were times that some of the assignments given him by Gozaburo seemed to have no purpose at all.
'Maybe the old man just wants to control what I do,' the teen thought to himself. 'He's probably just still pissed that I beat him.'
That was somewhat true. Gozaburo did seem to have some resentment that he had gained two stepchildren; Seto and his six-year-old brother, Mokuba. When Seto had challenged him to a game of chess at the orphanage, the man had laughed at the boy, until he threatened to tell everyone that Gozaburo Kaiba, noted chess champion and CEO of KaibaCorp, had chickened out and refused to play against a kid. Determined not to be made a fool of by a child, Mr. Kaiba had accepted...and lost.
As was their deal, he adopted Seto and his brother.
Seto had thought that he was doing the right thing for his baby brother. Ever since the deaths of their parents, the two brothers had been abandoned by their relatives and left in the care of strangers.
While the orphanage was fairly alright, the caretakers somewhat qualified and the facility itself in decent enough shape, it was still a rather grim place to grow up. Especially given the fact that poor Mokuba was often bullied, most of the time by children bigger and older.
'They just wanted to feel powerful by picking on someone weaker and smaller than them,' Seto thought bitterly as he solved equation after equation.
But while Gozaburo was a pain and a bully, Seto knew he left Mokuba alone. In fact, aside from making sure Seto did all of the worked he was tasked with, Gozaburo acted as though there were no children in the mansion.
While Seto was angry at Gozaburo for being like this, he was grateful that Mokuba was fed and reasonably well looked after. At least he didn't have to deal with those bullies at the orphanage or the caretakers acting like it wasn't that big of a deal.
'Gozaburo says I can't trust anyone,' Seto told himself as he finished his math work and began another assignment. 'The only ones I can't trust are him and his pathetic lapdogs.'
Seto looked over at the window. The brunette could see a light coming from a room on the other side of the mansion. He sighed. That light was coming from his little brother's room.
Ever since their adoption and the beginning of Seto's rigorous studying, the two brothers had hardly ever seen each other.
'This is his way of getting back at me,' Seto thought bitterly. 'He decided he'd keep us apart, knowing it would bother us both. Well I'm not going to give that creep the satisfaction.'
That's when Seto came up with a plan.
Gozaburo had said that Seto would someday take over the company. He had even tested Seto's business skills three months ago on the boy's birthday, a test Seto had passed with flying colors.
Seto smirked and put down his book. Hobson wouldn't be coming in to check on him for another hour, so that should be enough time to follow through with his plan. And if he should happen to be a minute late, which was unlikely, he would find an excuse.
His plan was to speak with five men who all clearly felt underappreciated by Gozaburo. Seto would let them know that they weren't using their full potential and neither was Gozaburo. Then they would aid Seto in his plan to oust Gozaburo and then KaibaCorp would be his.
'I'll take it all,' Seto said to himself. 'Then I can give Mokuba the life he deserves.'
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Well, I hope everyone enjoyed that. And feel free to leave reviews.