Zie: Thanks for the reviews everyone! I really appreciate them!

Cerah: That's nice and all, but after this, we'll only talk after the action. Here's chapter two.


Chapter Two

You Have Been Transferred Out of Domino High School

Here's more: I nearly got my skull crushed because of Seto! My old bodyguard's son attacked me at my locker. The gym teacher got him at the last second, but I don't think that's the last I'm going to be seeing of Jeffrey. But more on my brother, whose reliance on money and power is the root of all the torment. I want--even for just one day--to know what life would be like if I wasn't associated with Seto. Maybe I'd be treated like everyone else. Not that that seems so appealing at times. I

I jumped when I saw the knob of my door turn out of the corner of my eye. Panicked, I threw the journal under my bed, grabbed a random book from my shelf, and landed in a chair just before the door opened.

There stood Seto, and obviously forced calmness surrounding him. For a long time standing was all he did, his blank expression never wavering, not even when I glared. Finally, his eyes flashed and he spoke. "Mokuba, I think our conversation had a bad start."

I jumped straight in at his pause. "Do you really?" I asked as darkly as I could manage.

My brother's face remained totally emotionless as he replied with as simple, "Yes." He drew in a long breath. "Since you're obviously not going to listen to my reasoning first, I'll get straight to the point."

Surprised, and unintelligible, "Nuh?' escaped my lips. "You mean you didn't take me into your office to talk about--"

He cut me off. "Did you really think I would waste precious time waiting for you just to discuss one insignificant bully? I thought you knew me better than that, Mokuba."

"Why...? What...? Then..." I couldn't wrap my mouth--or brain, for that matter--around the right words to communicate my thoughts to Seto, who waited with uncharacteristic patience for me to pull my head together. I finally did. "Then why were you waiting for me? What is so important?"

He took another deep breath before answering. "After the principal hung up, I called the private school and transferred you."

I almost could have sworn that I anime-fell at Seto's statement. If my mind had been a mess before, before paled in comparison to the jumbled chaos it was now. "Y-y-y...y-y-you..." If Seto was talking about the same school I was thinking of, then he had enrolled me in Kotonashi Kinko, established by its namesake to educate only the most brilliant of young minds. It's not like I believed I was stupid, but I was almost certain that more than a few strings had been pulled that morning. I growled before beginning to shout. "How much did it take to bribe them to let me in?"

"Surprisingly enough," my brother replied calmly with a lacing of sarcasm, "they were eager to have you at no cost--excluding standard tuition." Seeing my look of disbelief, he continued. "I didn't believe them either. However, as things are, you have been transferred out of Domino High School and are not expected at Kotonashi until next Monday. Until then, I'm going to allow you some freedom. You can go wherever you want--within reason--as long as you stay with Winan. He will report straight to me if you try to run off. So don't."

"Have I ever even hinted that I would want to? I've had plenty of chances that I never took."

"I'm not taking any risks."

"You're overbearing!"

Apparently not wanting to get into another argument, he turned his back on me and started toward my door before speaking. "It's for your own good." The door closed behind him, only to reopen a few moments later. "By the way, Mokuba," my brother said, so close to giving me a wry smile, "your book's upside-down."

I looked down to the page I was opened to; he was right. When I looked back up, he was gone. Damn. Seto knew I didn't want him to know what I had been doing. Having a genius for a brother could be more than inconvenient. Sometimes it was just a downright pain in the ass. That was one of those times.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. In exactly one week, I would be starting at Kotonashi, one of the most prestigious schools in the country.

---

I didn't really take much advantage of my freedom. I mostly spent the time catching up on some much-needed sleep. The only time I really left the building was on Saturday. I crawled out of bed at about noon to get dressed and brush out my hair, which only came down to my shoulders now. Seto had forced me to cut it off before starting high school. My hair, according to him, made me look like a girl, and he didn't want people to think he had a cross-dressing sister. Bastard. I nearly ran into Winan when I walked out my door.

He jumped. "Um, M-Mokuba. Mr. Kaiba has instructed me to take you to Kotonashi to get a uniform. He wants us there and back by two o'clock."

"No time to waste then, ne?" I said as I tried to lead the way to the elevator.

Winan overtook me, so I was forced to follow him, as almost always. My bodyguard opened the limousine door and got in after me. He seemed as nervous as he had been Monday.

I decided not to make any attempt at conversation; he was clearly not in a talking mood. Not knowing what else to do, I stared out the window. I didn't know how far Kotonashi was from Kaiba Corp., but it couldn't be too far if I wasn't boarding. Or at least I hoped I wasn't. It didn't sound like my brother to allow me to stay somewhere alone, but I suppose he would permit it if he thought the school was safe enough.

The place didn't turn out to be very far away at all: barely ten minutes had passed before the car stopped and Winan ushered me out. Kotonashi Kinko was not a large school, but that didn't make it any less impressive. The red brick driveway that led up to the jet-black building was lined with beautiful, well cared-for cherry trees. Above the sliding glass doors, engraved and painted red, were the words Kotonashi Kinko Private High School. Inside was even more striking: the white-tiled floor was in sharp contrast to the black walls and a large silver chandelier lit the entire lobby. The place resembled a hotel more than it did a school, and that set me on edge. I had always associated schools that were this nice with some sort of torture chamber or secret experimental testing lab. Maybe I'd just played one too many video games, but I didn't trust the place at all. Silent but alert, I followed Winan to the desk where a woman sat reading a magazine. Professional.

Almost as if she'd heard my thoughts, the lady put the magazine away and stood. "What do you two young men need?"

Winan answered. "I am here with Mokuba Kaiba to get a uniform. His older brother enrolled him on--"

"Oh, yes, of course," the woman--I saw that her name tag said Melissa--said hurriedly. She took us to a door and opened it before going back to her desk and pulling her magazine back out.

Through the door was a long hall with several doors on either side. At the end was a door with a sign identifying it as the registrar's office. After waiting several moments for Winan to unfreeze, I pushed past him and walked down toward it. It was very quiet. I guess I should have expected it--after all, it was a Saturday. How many people could be in a school on Saturday? It still bothered me. I was used to hearing everything from noisy machines to noisy people who never shut up, and the silence just didn't fit into those familiar sounds. The end of the hall finally arrived and I reached out to open the door in front of me.

To my surprise, it was pulled back from the inside to reveal a short, plump woman wearing a pleasant expression. "Hello, Mr. Kaiba, come in. Is this young man going to enter as well?"

Winan shook his head when I motioned for him. "Orders from your brother."

"Oh." I stepped into the room and watched as the door was shut in front of my bodyguard.

The woman turned to me and smiled. "You may call me Ms. Yimori, Mr. Kaiba. You are here to pick up your school uniform, correct?"

I nodded. The lady kinda creeped me out, just like everything else had so far. "Yeah, and my brother wants me home by two, so--"

"Oh, yes, of course, I quite understand. Then I suppose we should hurry this along. I have it right..." Ms. Yimori went over to a closet and opened it to reveal several identical--save their sizes--uniforms. "...here," she said as she pulled out what appeared to be the smallest and handed it to me.

The uniform was made up of two pieces. The first was a long-sleeved shirt with a neck that faintly resembled that of a Chinese woman's dress. It was mostly red, but had two distinct black pieces: one was the right sleeve from the bottom of the cut in the turtleneck to the armpit, the other was a large stripe running across the middle. The other piece was a simple pair of black slacks. "What about shoes?"

"I have a few pairs, but you'll have to try them on. What size of shoe do you normally wear?"

I hated that question. "A six," I replied.

Ms. Yimori's eyes widened. "Pardon? Did I hear you correctly? A six?"

I sighed in annoyance. "Yes, ma'am."

She looked through the closet for several minutes before standing and walking over to another one. This one was filled with pretty much the same thing, except the bottom halves of the uniforms were skirts. I guess that she saw my expression when she finally pulled out a pair of shoes, because she quickly dove into an explanation. "The shoes are the same, it's just that I don't have any boys' pairs that small. These should fit, though."

Apprehensively, I examined the shoes--a women's seven. They appeared to be nothing more than a pair of sneakers the same shade of red as the shirt, not any different from what I'd seen of the boys', so I reluctantly swapped my own shoes for them; they fit fine. With a nod from Ms. Yimori, I took them off and slipped my own back on. "This it?"

The woman nodded. "Yes it is, Mr. Kaiba. Kotonashi looks forward to seeing you on Monday. Have an excellent weekend."

I returned the well-wishes quickly before hurrying back out to the hall, where Winan was waiting.

Without speaking, he pushed back from against the wall and led the way back to the limousine.


Zie: Yea! Chapter two! I guess I forgot to metion this, though it should be fairly obvious, but Winan belongs to me, along with Jeffrey, Ms. Yimori, and any other OC I decide to put in here. Kotonashi is mine as well--or at least it is to the best of my knowledge. Also, before anyone else asks what's up with Mokuba, I'll answer--horomones. He's fifteen now, for Ra's sake, not eleven. He won't be the same as he was on the show.

Cerah: What she can't seem to get to saying is that we hope you enjoyed the chapter and you should review immediately. Don't hesitate to tell others who might enjoy it to R&R as well.

Zie: I've also decided that five reviews--at least as of yet--is bit of a harsh wait for my more devoted readers. I'll try to update as quickly as possible. But, like Cerah said, spread the word!