Ningyo
Summary: While exploring a newly inherited house, Mokuba stumbles across a life sized robotic doll in the attic. The odd, yet beautiful creation arouses Seto's interest, and the tragic love story behind the house's origin begins to unfold. Mild YAOI
Rated: T
Genre: Mystery
Author's Note: I told you I'd be quick on the updates. The story starts here…my stories always seem to start when Malik comes into the picture.
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I'm getting close.
-
2 – Awakening
"So…then you knew what I was…"
"Well, you weren't exactly doing a very good job of hiding it…I just put two and two together and…" A weak smile. "But I don't regret it, not one bit."
"But because of me you–"
"It's not your fault…you couldn't have known that–"
"I was the one who brought you out here!"
"I don't blame–"
A series of throaty coughs ensued, bringing up more phlegm tinged blood. The smaller body lied down tenderly, shivering. The blonde pulled the covers tighter around his frail frame, but was unable to fight off the unseen frigidness only he could feel.
"I came because I wanted to," he continued, eyes moist. "I wanted to follow you. I wanted to be with you. From the moment you walked into our café, I knew that you…"
"Don't!" Pale hands grasped limp bronze, squeezing them tightly. "Don't leave me, please! I'm sorry…I'll take you to town, I'll give it all back, I'll fix everything, just please don't…!"
There was a final exhale, followed by a mournful wail that rattled the aging trees to their roots.
-
Seto dropped the last heavy box from the back of the overloaded truck onto the leave-strewn ground and wiped his brow. He wasn't used to sweating, and he had to admit that the idea of your body secreting a salty fluid was more than a little unsettling. Checking his watch again, the privileged brunette stooped down to begin lifting the boxes into the house when a shrill scream pierced through the brisk autumn air, disturbing a flock of crows settled in a nearby tree. Recognizing the noise to be Mokuba, the elder Kaiba rushed into the house, bringing the crowbar just in case his brother had come face to face with a rabid raccoon dog.
The boy's footprints were clear amongst the decade old dust, and Seto immediately ran up the stairs, ducking under hanging cobwebs. He looked around frantically for his little brother, breathing a relieved sigh (and then coughing) when the thirteen year old raced out from an open door, pale as death and covered in sweat.
"Mokuba!"
"Seto! Up…Upstairs in…in the…attic!" He panted, bracing his legs. "There's…there's a…!"
"A what?"
"You…you know those robot dolls that they used to make? The kinds you always see in museums and commercials and stuff?"
"Those Actroid things?"
"Y-Yeah…there's one in the attic; it had to be up there for a long…for a long time but…it's still working!"
"That's impossible. At most a robotic doll from that era should only last…" Seto said slowly, looking past his brother and into the empty bedroom. "Are you sure it moved? Maybe it just fell over and you–"
Mokuba shook his head fervently. "It didn't fall over, it moved! I thought it was broken so I was looking it over to see if we could scrap it for any parts and then all of a sudden it opened its eyes and it…it…!"
"It what?"
"Eh heh, actually I don't know," the younger Kaiba said sheepishly. "I kinda ran after that part."
"Amazing."
"Hey, you would've done the same thing if you…a-actually, nevermind."
Seto smirked. "So is it still up there?"
"I guess so," Mokuba shrugged. "There's only one way down and unless it's behind me right now," he took a panicked glance over his shoulder, "then it's where I left it. It's so creepy Seto!"
"But…?" The other Kaiba said expectantly.
"But nothing! I won't be able to sleep in this house knowing something like that is hanging around in the attic! Maybe if you can reprogram it to do housework or something then it wouldn't be so bad; honestly, I dunno what gender that thing's supposed to be, but it'd look damn good in a skirt! Hey, you okay?"
"Oh it's nothing; I'm just trying to digest the fact that my little brother wants to see an ambiguous looking doll in a maid outfit," Seto muttered, voice deadpan. "Either way, we can't just have it staying up there; if it's still working we can always have it help us maintain the house. Or, as you suggested, try and get some parts from it and sell them to collectors."
"Sounds good to me," Mokuba nodded, walking awkwardly towards the stairs, "tell you what; I'll go outside and deal with all the boxes while you figure out what to do with that…perfectly harmless robot! Gotta go!"
The brunette shook his head as his brother sped down the stairs like a cat after a mouse, wincing when he heard the inevitable trip followed by a string of words a boy his age shouldn't know. Turning his attention to the ladder that led into the attic, he rubbed his hands together and made his way up.
He was greeted by a wave of falling dust as well as by the glassy lilac eyes of the strangely beautiful doll that Mokuba spoke of. It now sat a few inches away from the trap door, kneeling in a sort of loose seiza position. Seto paused to see if it would allow him to enter; when no obvious movements against the gesture were made, he pulled himself up and sat on the opposite side of the door, long legs dangling into the room below. They stared at each other for a long time, cerulean into unblinking purple.
"What are you doing here?" The human said finally, seeing this conversation was going nowhere fast.
"Waiting." It replied simply, feminine voice echoing slightly. Despite this, it didn't sound too artificial.
"For what?"
"For him."
"Him?"
"The one who owns this house."
Seto started. Was there someone else who was supposed to be here? How long had they been gone? When he opened his mouth to pose another question, a loud clank startled both of them out of their respective worlds. Seto stared dumbly at the doll's bronze arm, which was now laying motionless and detached from its body. The blonde looked mildly surprised as well, as it noted it now empty shoulder socket with what could be taken as an irritated look.
"Um…does that happen often?"
To his astonishment, the doll gave him a small smile.
"Yes."
It was the oddest and most pitiful thing Seto had ever seen; a broken robot with a human guise grinning sadly at its own misfortune. He almost felt the urge to hug the poor thing.
But that would be weird.
"That's why he left," it continued, referring to that mysterious 'he' person mentioned earlier. "To fix it."
"I…see," the brunette replied uncomfortably. "What are you…what did he call you?"
"Malik," he said automatically. "Sensei named me Malik."
"Sensei…so you were created by a doctor…"
A frown found its way onto Seto's pale face. He was piecing together the information given to him by the doll called Malik, and was now genuinely intrigued at the mysterious toy found inside his attic. What was it doing up there? Why was it made? And what made the doctor abandon both it and the house?
"But why are you here?" The blonde asked, tilting its head to the side. "I don't think I've seen you before."
It was unnerving to be fixed with such an involuntary piercing stare.
"Why am I…?" He debated whether to tell Malik the truth, lest the doll take violent measures to keep the Kaiba brothers out of its house. However, it did have a rather sweet disposition, and with only one arm at the moment, what was the worse it could do? "We're moving in; I inherited this house when my stepfather died." A pause. Could Gozaburo have created this doll?
"But this house belongs to sensei…"
"Well, it's been a long time since–"
Malik's eyes narrowed. "That doesn't men that sensei doesn't own it anymore."
Seto's mouth twitched. This wasn't going as well as he'd hoped. How'd he find himself arguing with a machine? "Yes, but you have to understand that–"
The blonde somehow managed to stagger into a standing position, looking insulted. "Who was your stepfather?"
"What?"
"He was the one that said you could have our house, right? What was his name?"
"Why is that important?"
"Because there were some people who wanted sensei d–!"
A static pop delayed the answer as Malik's leg suddenly buckled, bringing the doll forward with a yelp. Acting on instinct, Seto grabbed its arm and carried them both backward, the malfunctioning machine now lying heavily on top of him; it was cold, the touch of covered metal upon skin, but the way the blonde clung to his now grey jacket was uniquely human. If he ever found this missing creator, he'd have to congratulate him for such flawless mechanics.
"Maybe we should get you fixed up a bit before we continue this conversation?"
"Fix? Do you know how?"
"I've dabbled in and out of the technology business. Why knows? I might even make you better."
"Better? I-If you think so…then…"
"Look, I won't mess with your programming, alright? So if that's what you're worried about, then just drop it. Now could you please get off me? You're crushing my lungs."
"A-Ah! Sorry!"
-
Mokuba didn't know exactly what he was expecting his brother to do when he encountered the doll, but he certainly didn't expect Seto to reappear in the dust-drenched living room carrying the blonde bridal style with a gaping socket where his arm was supposed to be.
"Can you check to see if Jounouchi has a tool box in the back of his truck?"
"Will I get an explanation if I do?"
"If you want."
"I'm on it," the boy saluted, walking briskly out the front door.
"I saw him earlier," Malik said thoughtfully as he was lowered onto the filthy couch. "But he ran away before we were properly introduced."
"You kind of scared him…"
"Am I scary?"
"Did I say scared? I meant startled." Seto corrected sheepishly.
"I didn't mean to…he was the one that woke me up actually. If he didn't try to grab my…" He looked at his still functioning had and grimaced. "Wow, this place is really dirty! How long have I…?" A look of concern crossed his face. "Seto, right? What…year is it?"
"Twenty-eighty. Why?"
"E-Eighty? So it's been almost…"
What's wrong?" Seto asked, concerned at Malik's sudden attitude shift. Another malfunction with its program?
"All the furniture's still here, so that means sensei never…" The shine in the doll's lilac eyes seemed to dull as his expression fell. Without looking up, he grabbed his other arm from Seto's lax grip and literally forced it into place, flexing his fingers to assure they were working properly. Then, as the brunette watched, mouth slightly agape, Malik stretched his leg into an unnatural position until there was an audible pop. Standing up like nothing had happened, the doll muttered a sharp 'excuse me' and walked out of the living room, disappearing after turning a sharp corner.
"Seto, there wasn't a toolbox," Mokuba announced loudly, opening the door with a slam, "but I found this weird wrench thing by the…hey, where'd it go?"
"First of all, that's the truck's stick shift," the elder Kaiba grimaced, sensing a lawsuit on his hands. "Second, I think that thing's wiring is messed up," a sigh, "or maybe it's got dust where it shouldn't have."
"Huh, there's a lot of places on the human body you'd never wanna find dust…NOT that I would know of such things," the boy said hastily.
"As soon as we get this place cleaned up, I'm washing your mouth out with soap."
"So while we're waiting for Jounouchi, are we just gonna sleep in his truck or something? Because it smells like guy in there."
"Well unless you'd rather give yourself premature lung cancer by breathing in this dust," Seto shrugged.
"Point taken. Every room in this house is like, a biohazard. Except…there's this one room upstairs that I couldn't get into; I think it's locked from the inside."
"The one closest to the stairs, right?"
"Yeah, that one! Did the doll say anything about it when you passed by?"
"He said it was his creator's study, but I don't think he's ever been allowed inside."
"I say we break it open and raid it for gold!" Mokuba said, pumping his fist. "There's a lot of good stuff in here that people would go insane over if we ever held an auction!"
"Mokuba, what's past the dining room?" Seto changed the subject so abruptly it caught his younger brother off guard. "I think I saw Malik walk past it…"
"Its name is Malik? That's…exotic. Oh," he blinked. "Um…There's a sunroom with an old baby grand in there and some music books. Why?"
"…It's nothing. Listen, stay here while I try to convince him to help us clean up; I don't know what set him off, but having a doll mope around the house isn't particularly helpful."
"Gotcha," Mokuba called after, sticking his hands into his pockets. "I'll wait right here! Yup…all by myself…in a creepy old house with a robotic doll. Because that's not terrifying at all."
He looked around nervously, having just weirded himself out. A small scrap of white wedged between the pillow cushions caught his eye, and he recognized it as being the piece of paper Malik was clinging to when they had been in the attic. Checking to see if the blonde doll was looming over his shoulder, he ducked down and picked it up, unfolding it quietly and discovering it was a scratched up, faded photograph. The color had long since been washed away, presumably by the sun (as the doll was sitting in front of a window), but he could still make out some vague features. A knowing smile, and pale hair that fell into batlike bangs over sharp eyes. Scribbled in the corner was a signature in the same language as the book pages Mokuba had found in one of the upstairs rooms.
"Call me crazy, but I think we found sensei…"
-
Seto found Malik sitting alone on the piano's bench drawing circles in the dust, knees pulled up to his chest. His blonde bangs fell over his eyes, but the elder Kaiba knew that his expression was the same as when he had left the room. The way the sunlight played on his artificial body was so natural it was hard to believe he was composed of wires and silicone instead of flesh and blood. His emotions were certainly human enough.
"So, did you play that broken doll routine with your creator too?" Seto said stiffly, crossing his arms.
"All the time."
"What a morbid hobby."
"He never came back, did he?" Malik said quietly. "That's why your stepfather gave you this house…because it was abandoned."
"That's right. What of it?"
Malik smiled before lowering his head even further and turning away. If he were capable of shedding tears, Seto was sure he'd be crying right now.
"That means sensei abandoned me too, doesn't it?"
-
Hm, I rewrote this chapter a few times, and there's still something about it that doesn't make me completely satisfied. Huh, oh well, review anyway and I'll notify you of any major changes (if there are any).
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