It had been an easy choice after the military. Service had been hard; he was more of a technical manager than an all out warrior. And it was hard, fighting for an abstract ideal, a forced brotherhood. Fighting for something tangible, real would be easier. A child. He could protect that.
His mother had been delighted when he was selected as a bodyguard for Kaiba Corp.
It would be great for his resume. She didn't know what they did when she had said that. After they found out about the military contracts, a tense silence settled over their correspondence. Neither of them really knew where they stood but on one thing neither wavered: protecting a child was the right thing do, regardless of the company he would inherit.
He had prepared to talk to children, wandering around with his sister and her new baby to see how they were handled, talked to. All of these were easily applicable to Mokuba. He was like a Labrador puppy, bouncy, sweet and easily disappointed. Seto, on the other hand, was no child. He was a wan unhappy young man in a body that hadn't grown up as quickly.
They didn't talk beyond Isono respectfully taking orders and Seto giving them in an inflexible voice. But that didn't mean Isono didn't know what was going on. The boy was exhausted. His eyes were always drawn in fatigue, graying in misery.
He at least contented himself that the boy was just overworked and not abused. At least until one evening.
Mokuba was in his room, Isono helping him put together a puzzle of a tree. He heard one of the tutors snapping from the kitchen. Isono had been scowling behind his customary glasses. He hated the tutors, unfeeling miserly people. They always talked to the kid like he was an aggressive dog. Then he heard a soft smack and a grunt. Isono was moving before he could control himself. They were sitting in what amounted to a cozy living room in this house. The tutor was pressing Seto's hand hard palm down onto the table. Seto's eyes were ringed white with pain. Isono straightened his shoulders and attempted to look menacing.
"He won't be able to do his typing tomorrow, if you hurt his hands."
The tutor levered his beady eyes at Isono from the wrinkled pit of his face. Isono remembered his drill sergeant and stayed resolved. The tutor released Seto's hand.
"That will be all, Mr. Kaiba. You would do well to check your attitude next time. And fight your own battles." The evil little man left and neither moved until the front door slammed, the maid apologizing profusely in a high voice. Isono moved forward and Seto leveled his slitted eyes on him.
"Don't interfere."
Isono felt taken aback. He then decided that this performance was for the cameras that littered the central rooms.
"I was only thinking of your productivity Master Kaiba" said Isono, collecting his books for him. He headed for Seto's room which he was sure had no bugs or cameras. Gozaburo might be paranoid and controlling but he was also shockingly frugal. Why watch a boy sleep when you could make him too tired and run down to plot against you? The rationale was shockingly effective; Isono knew it from the service. Lack of sleep killed the body; lack of hope killed the spirit. The door shut and Kaiba sat down on the bed. His feet didn't reach the floor. Isono felt an intense wave of fond sadness.
Isono dug into the closet for one of the house's many first aid kits. He could feel Seto's hackles rising.
"You can't wrap my hands. It will just make it all worse."
Isono stood with antibacterial cream and gauze in his hands. Seto's eyes were enormous.
"I'm telling you no."
Isono knelt down in front of the boy and took his defensive curled hands out of their stranglehold on each other. He turned them over. They were burnt. Peeling and bubbling like a chemical had corroded them. He applied the cream to the gauze and then gently started to rub it into his palms.
"You can be taken care of for five minutes without the world ending." Isono said.
Seto said nothing, watching him with bated breath.
The moment was heavy with unspoken questions and impossible wishes.
He finally backed away and stood.
"Get some sleep." Isono murmured heading for the door. He expected sarcasm, indignation from Kaiba. It never happened.
But the next day, Gozaburo informed him that he had been assigned to Mokuba full time. He couldn't tell what the man knew, if it was cruelty or Seto himself pushing him away personally. Either way, he couldn't help but feel slighted but Mokuba's affection and enthusiasm was a good balm.
Years passed and the work was easy. But the Kaiba's were imploding. Seto was getting taller and even thinner, cruelty tempering him into something sharp. Mokuba was miserable, stalling against the change. Much of his job became building Mokuba back up with games and stories after someone, too often Seto, cut him down.
The time came for the yearly Kaiba seduction of the competition and Isono was ready. He was always placed with the other body guards in overall security detail after Mokuba had been put in his room early ( with some contraband hot cocoa from Isono's mug). His job was to protect the guests but he usually spent his time talking to the bodyguards and security of other megalomaniacs was….enlightening to say the least, especially as he would have left the job if not for the little boy's attachment to him. The camp self proclaimed Adonis, Pegasus, had a bodyguard named Croquet who was genial enough, giving him tips on stoicism and impossible requests. They were talking about their mutual dislike for Gozaburo when Seto Kaiba in his chilled white suit, rushed past the room.
Croquet gave Isono a pointed look from behind his glasses, which forced him upon onto his feet. Honestly he didn't want to offer help to the kid only to get rejected especially when he had most likely had too much champagne foisted on him ( Gozaburo had spent a straight month forcing Seto to delegate intoxicated much to Isono's horror).
Seto had retreated to one of mansion's more public bathrooms downstairs. He was washing his face in the sink. When he lifted his head, dripping, he looked gray in the mirror. His severe blue eyes cut to Isono in the mirror and he stiffened.
"I'm fine. Go back to your work."
"Mr. Kaiba…" Isono began but Seto made a cutting motion with his hand and Isono backed out into the hallway. Seto was usually more polite than that. He must be ill. Isono went back to the security station. Croquet was already watching the monitors.
"That man will end up killing him," Croquet grumbled. Seto had reentered the party and Gozaburo was shoving another glass in his slender hand. Even in the grain of the cameras, Seto looked sick.
Croquet pointed out fondly that Pegasus was hitting on three women at once and Isono let his eyes skate to the long haired maverick for just a minute. Subduing a laugh he looked back at Seto. Seto was gone again and Isono felt a strange dread. Ignoring Croquets question, Isono was rushing out of the room. The security room was almost directly next to the ball room, the stairs only a few feet away. Seto Kaiba was standing at the top of the stairs, looking over the rail into the lobby.
"Mr. Kaiba?"
Seto turned to look him slowly. His eyes were unfocused and sad. His eyes held the faint concern of someone freezing to death.
"I can't see." the boy whispered and dropped backwards down the stairs.
Isono had never had the best reaction time in the military. He often had mental jetlag wherein his body moved but any and all plan was left far behind. He was running down the stairs after Seto before he could catch his breath.
Seto was curled on the landing, in an awkward fetal position, his face twisted in pain. Isono reached for him and immediately tried to move him, even as his brain screamed about neck injury and stabilization. Isono tried to straighten his legs and Seto shrieked in pain.
"No, no, don't touch me!"
Isono stopped and Seto settled, shuddering. His inner arm brushed Seto's forehead and the bodyguard flinched. Seto was searing hot, clammy. It had been viral meningitis. Gozaburo had been furious to have to inform his guests. He'd been angrier that Isono had rushed Seto to the hospital without clearing it with him, the boy's skinny limbs curled tightly against all movement. He had seized in the car in Isono's arms. Isono had been so afraid he'd thought his heart would explode, ignoring the phone buzzing on his hip. The driver had watched his emotion with passivity. Isono didn't care. The doctors had dragged them apart when he'd cleared the door and Seto's wide feverish eyes tracked him even as more doors shut between them. Gozaburo had fired him immediately over the phone with a snide and simpering tone. In a voicemail. The prick. Isono had waited at Seto's side until his hasty and block jawed replacement kicked him out with a wide shark smile. In those hours before Seto woke, Isono realized. He had failed. This should never have happened. And it didn't matter to anyone that he had held Seto's hand. The boy would still be ruined. Forever.
Isono shook himself out of memories. The doctor was talking to Seto about biopsies. Isono had not been allowed in during the MRI. Seto looked like he was about to collapse to Isono. To the doctor he would have looked uncompromising and assured.
"We will keep watching the masses, Mr. Kaiba but in all likelihood the biopsy will come back positive for cancerous lesions."
All the breath left Isono's lungs. Seto's face didn't change. He shook the doctor's hand stiffly and scheduled the next appointment.
They walked to the car side by side. Seto opened the door before Isono could get to it and so he awkwardly got into the driver's side and started the car.
He expected a breakdown. Something. But instead, Seto pulled out his phone and started talking to his secretary, moving meetings. They were almost home when he hung up. And leaned forward looking at Isono in the mirror with his electric eyes.
"You are to say nothing to Mokuba if he visits."
"Mr. Kaiba…"
"Nothing. The issue will resolve itself with or without his anxiety." And then in a less businesslike tone, "I don't want him to know."
"If you say so, Mr. Kaiba" Isono said, allowing a little irritation into his voice.
Kaiba leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes tightly.
"Are your eyes bothering you, sir?"
"Yours should be on the road." Kaiba snapped, his hand placed lightly over his right ear. The side the tumor was on. The side the cancer was on. Cancer.
They came to a stop at an intersection. Isono flipped off his glasses and handed them backwards.
"Take them."
Kaiba stared at him blankly in the mirror.
"I don't want your pity."
"Your discomfort is my problem" Isono said, trying to keep from barking. "Take them. Please, it's bright outside."
The light turned green. Isono was going to have to retract his hand. The glasses were lifted out of his fingers.
Isono pulled the personal mirror down in a shade for the first time in years. The sun in his eyes was satisfying, Seto's relaxing shoulders more so.
