Chapter 2

The Aftermath of Injury

The doctor sighed.

"I know this isn't the first time Mokuba has been severely hurt… or put in an extremely dangerous situation… believe me, it pains me every day to see innocent children like Mokuba come into this hospital in his kinds of conditions. It's… sickening. To think that anyone would hurt a child as badly as him." Seto wished to God that this man would just leave him be. He wanted nothing more than peace and quiet, his brother and himself.

"…Well, anyways. The point that I wanted to make was that… due to your current position as CEO of Kaiba Corp… and the power you hold being the largest gaming company in Japan… your brother is an easy target. Everyone is well aware of the incredible love you have for your brother and the actions you would take to ensure his safety…" Seto was only half paying attention now. The doctor was only telling him what he knew and didn't really care for the man's thoughts to begin with.

"That's why… I think you should leave Japan for good. You and your brother." Seto lifted his head and twisted around.

"What?"

"Your brother will never be safe on the streets of Domino, or any streets in Japan. Everyone knows your name and everyone knows about your brother."

"Leave Japan? Are you fucking mad? I've lived my whole life here; I've invested my whole life into this company. I can't simply leave it behind."

"Take it with you."

"What?"

"I said, take it with you. Take your company with you. Start it up in America. The card game craze has just barely hit the American people. You could be the first to start it up, you'd be making more money than you are now."

"America? Who said I was going to America?"

"America is the best place to go. It's the easiest place to run to in situations like these, anything is possible there." Seto glared. How could this person simply walk in here and tell him to runaway to America? To leave everything that meant so much to him? He had no idea what he was going through, what pain he had endured to get to where he was.

"You probably think I don't know how you feel when I tell you to run to another country. I do, believe me. I've done it once or twice. It's the best way to get away from what you fear most."

"I'm not the type to runaway. I never run, I stand up for myself and fight my way to the top."

"Stand up for yourself, huh? Well, is this what you want to happen every time you stand up for yourself? Have your brother in the hospital?" He said, pointing to Mokuba. "Yeah, you really fought your way to the top alright. By nearly killing another man only after he stabbed your brother and then having a critical mental break down."

"Is that what you came here for?! To mock me?!" Seto yelled, getting right up in the doctor's face and giving him a deadly glare. This did not faze the doctor at all. He appeared totally calm and unaffected by Seto's angry reaction.

"Not at all Seto Kaiba, not at all."

"Than what are you trying to prove by telling me this?"

"I'm not trying to prove anything. I'm merely trying to save a life or a boy's childhood." He glanced over at Mokuba, but only for a split second. "Have you ever thought of what memories he'll have growing up? Getting kidnapped here or there, getting stabbed or wounded. Will it even stop when he's grown up? How can he possibly fend himself against a world that out to use him for revenge?"

"That's enough! I've had it with you and your lectures."

"Have you now?"

"Yes I have. Now leave." And with that, Seto twisted around and faced his brother again. The doctor stood there for a moment, waiting to see if he had anything else to say to him. A few seconds went by and a loud and commanding "Now!" was the last response he got before walking out of the room without another word.

The second he heard the door shut, he collapsed onto the floor. There was only so much he could hide from the rest of the world, and so much he had already lost that would make it even harder to hide.

"Mr. Kaiba…" Voices echoed in endless darkness. He felt as though he were floating in air and nothing to hold him down. His brother's face appeared, healthy and happy. "Mr. Kaiba!"

Seto's body jumped with the rise in his teacher's voice. "What?" He said angrily, giving her one of his usual Kaiba glares.

"I asked you a question while you were daydreaming. Do you think you could try to pay a bit more attention?" Seto leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed as if he were above her.

"I don't need to pay attention, I already know all of this."

"If you know all of this how come you were the only one in the class that didn't turn in last night's homework?" Seto opened his mouth to give another smart-ass answer, when the bell rang. "Alright students, make sure to start on your projects. I'll be checking on your project two weeks from now." Seto stood up with his books in hand and headed towards the door. "Not you Mr. Kaiba, we need to talk." Seto gave an annoyed groan and stood back as everyone else funneled through the door.

"Seto, what's wrong dear?" She asked in a sweet voice, one that he had never heard her talk in before. Never the less, he still remained cold.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Seto, you've completed every single assignment I've ever given you and always paid attention in class. It's very unlike you to be daydreaming."

"So? I can do whatever I want." Seto spat, only getting more and more frustrated with his teacher when he knew she just wanted to help. However Seto Kaiba was known for not accepting help from anyone.

"Well, I think it's best if you go see the school counselor." Before Seto even had a chance to protest, the teacher shoved the note into his hands and gently pushed him out the door. "The counselor is expecting you so don't think about not showing up." She said before closing the door. Seto crumbled the note in his hands and shoved it into his pocket in anger as he started his way down the hallway to the counselor's office.

Seto sighed once again and looked at the ground as he walked. His mind wandered back to Mokuba. He wished he knew if he was okay. Guilt was beginning to come back to him and the sight of Mokuba's state made his heart ache in pain. How could he have let this happen? Why didn't he do something sooner? He imagined so many other things he could've done to help him, but every time he remembered how he didn't. Seto balled his hand into a fist and punched it hard into the palm of his other hand. He continued doing this for a while, letting the pain increase with every punch.

Yugi, Tea, Tristan, and Joey walked out of the classroom, books in hand as they headed down the hallway. "Can you believe that test she gave us? I hadn't a clue what any of the right answers were!" Joey complained.

"Well, maybe you should consider studying more." Tea replied. Joey glared at her.

"I study enough."

"Oh no you don't, I've seen the way you study Joey." Tristan said, beginning to laugh. Yugi looked up and saw Seto punching his hand repeatedly into his palm and stopped.

"Look guys, its Kaiba." Tea, Tristan, and Joey stopped as well and directed their attention towards Seto.

"I wonder why he's doing that… he looks kind of upset about something." Yugi thought aloud.

"Do you think we should ask him what's wrong?"

"I'll handle this." Joey stated with much confidence as he walked up to Seto. "Hey money bags, how's it goin?" Seto stopped and looked up. He put on another one of his cold faces.

"Get out of my way, Wheeler."

"Hey now, I just wanna know what's up. You looked pretty upset over there, anything you wanna talk about?" Joey said, giving Seto a friendly gesture with a smile on his face. Seto grabbed Joey by both his shoulders and shoved him hard against the wall.

"Don't you EVER speak to me again? Got that? I will hurt you." And with that, Seto dropped Joey to his feet and started walking again towards the counselor's office. Yugi and the gang both stared at Seto until he entered another hallway and he was no longer in sight, then they all turned back to Joey.

"Joey, are you okay?" Tristan asked, walking over to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" he grumbled, rubbing his shoulders with a disgruntled face, "I wonder what the hell is up with him."

"Me too… I've never seen him act so violent towards you, Joey. I wonder what's wrong with him."

"Well, whatever it is, it must be pretty bad for Seto to act so unorthodox towards Joey."

A/N: Well, another chapter, posted only 2 days after I first published it. I think I'm doing pretty good for someone who hasn't written in almost a year, don't you think? Thanks a lot for all your reviews, they sure made me happy to know that I still have it and your all still reading. I've already started on the third chapter, so stay tuned for more anime adventure very soon!