Skin Deep
by Shadowesque13
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst
Summary: Someone doesn't like what they see in the mirror day after day after day…
Dis: YGO! (c) Kazuki Takahashi

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He hated his body. He despised his sickly pale skin. He abhorred his thin, frail form. He hated the shade of blue his eyes were. He hated the way his dark tresses fell on his head. He tried not to. He tried to love his body, his image.

The mirror told no lies.

Kaiba, the proud and perfect Seto Kaiba himself, stood before his naked reflection, trying his best not to start crying at the sight. Instead of tears, his eyes held one of his usual glares. Glaring at his stark body. He raised an arm and stared at it, running a repulsive hand over it.

He hated the way his skin felt. He hated how he was so obsessed with his looks, finding himself stripping and examining every horrid pore. He hated how he always tried to cover up his worthless body. He hated his gross weight. He hated his grotesque limbs.

So why couldn't he tear his eyes away?

Kaiba, the cold and callous Seto Kaiba, saw himself. But knowing that this was him only deepened the scars he had made in his mind about it. It was bad enough that he saw this terrible being. What made it worse was the fact that the mirror image was his own.

He hated everything. He hated his bare nakedness. He hated the glare that was sent back at him. He hated knowing. He hated knowing that he couldn't change. He hated that his body would never be perfect. He hated knowing that all was flawed. He hated knowing that every night he would still let the cool air of the mansion wrap around him, making the hairs on his deplorable skin stand straight.

The lean body shuddered.

Kaiba, the sophisticated and stony Seto Kaiba, shut his eyes. No longer did he wish to see. Hands, with each imperfect finger, brushed across his lanky form. Across his revolting chest, down his gristly sides, feeling himself up and down. He felt it. He felt how disgusting his naked body was; he need not see it. It nearly made him sick to his wretched stomach. Every flaw was made all too clear. His cobalt eyes reopened and gazed once more at the reflection, not quite meeting its eyes. A sigh of his loathsome breath from his weak and wimpy lungs was released as he turned away gloomily. He wandered over to his bed, thankfully covering the frame he despised so with the sheets. The next day would be the same. Find his body appalling, cover it with as much as possible only to end up ripping it all off during the night and spending his time before the mirror. He fell into a restless sleep, mind wandering from his gangly appendages.
He hated trying to love himself.

Because the mirror never lied to him.

Kaiba, the ugly and unloved Seto Kaiba, hated his body.