IV

Kaiba walked out first, approaching the guards of the underground parking lot at a slow, innocent pace while Isono instructed Seto in a hushed voice to comb his hair back with his fingers as far as possible to look different from the Other. The guards saluted Kaiba and informed him that the premises were safe. Kaiba casually remarked that the two people coming through are with him. That was their cue.

"Follow me, Sir, and don't look around," whispered Isono.

They strolled through, the guards giving them but a cursory glance. Seto could barely see in the glasses and anxiety made him shrink; in Kaiba's all-commanding presence, he and Isono were equally bland and undistinguished. Thankfully, nobody saw Seto reaching out to pinch up a fold of Isono's jacket; the further they went, the less he could see but dared not take off his glasses.

"Is home very far away?" he asked, keeping his voice down.

"Fifteen minutes by car, Sir."

"Will I like home?"

This gave Isono pause. He had been charged with remodeling one of the upper stairs master bedrooms into an apartment for Seto and he had done everything in his power to make the new residence habitable and functional, but all the construction work in the world cannot fashion dead space into a home unless it becomes a place of comfort and safety, and he as of yet felt incapable of vouching for either.

"I hope you will, Sir," he replied, suppressing a sigh.

"Get in the car," came Kaiba's voice behind them, impatient once again. Isono quickly opened the back door for Seto and helped the young man shift into his seat, but the moment he stepped back, Kaiba reached out himself to slam the door shut. Isono closed his eyes.

"Sir."

Kaiba was about to open the right front door but stopped abruptly at the tone.

"Isono." His employee cleared his throat.

"If you will permit me, Seto-sama," he began, cautious yet adamant, "your clone has only been alive for a few hours. He is still very young compared to you, he has no family, and he has just been entered into the custody of a stranger who has complete power over him."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed, his lips drawn into a cold sneer. Isono adjusted his glasses.

"Perhaps, Sir, you should consider being more patient with him. He is already very conscious of the fact that he has failed to impress you."

Kaiba lowered his head, his hands clenching into fists as his eyes leveled the ground. Isono performed a bow and kept his posture. Kaiba let out a small sigh.

"Take us home, Isono," he spoke at last, turning around. He walked to the left back door, opened it more carefully than he had shut the other, and slipped inside without another word. Isono allowed himself a relieved smile as he crossed at the front to get into the driver's seat.

They found Seto scooted as close to the door as possible, arms in his lap and feet tucked firmly together. It was the end of October; after the optimal temperature of the pod and the relative warmth of the holding cell, the parking lot and the car seemed unnaturally cold to him. Yet even so, had the weather been hot as sunny summer, he would have rather endured his current discomfort than sit nearer to Kaiba. He felt it very evident that the Other did not like him.

Kaiba could guess the reason of Seto's reserve and for a moment almost scolded himself for it. Isono's comparison inflicted serious injury – the very idea that such a comparison had to be made mortified him. He would not allow it. Any possible resemblance shall and must be prevented.

"Seto," he said, his voice softened from its usual hard lilt. His clone lifted his head ever so slightly but would not budge otherwise. "You may take off your glasses."

Seto did find the glasses taxing at this point; his world was cold and dark and he felt he should be glad if it were just cold. His hands, however, could not oblige him, still fearing the approach of his eyes. Kaiba sighed.

"Here," he said, lifting his own hands towards him. Seto reeled back and once again hit his head against the inside of the car, letting out a small hiss as Kaiba reached for and gingerly slid the glasses off his ears. Seto unscrewed his eyes. The world was still dark, but not the pitch black blindness of moments ago. He glanced around to note the differences, eyes carefully lowered from the Other.

"You will be taken to the Kaiba Mansion," began Kaiba, figuring that new information would eventually dissolve the tension or at the very least convert it into healthy curiosity. "Isono has prepared an apartment for you inside the Mansion and it will be your home as long as you live. It has been modernized and fitted with every necessary convenience and I expect you to spend the majority of your time there while you are on the Mansion grounds."

Seto nodded, lips parting to ask if Isono lived at the mansion. Kaiba failed to notice and carried on.

"There is one person you have not met yet. My younger brother Mokuba lives at the Mansion as well and he is the only living relative I've got, my only family. He means everything to me. Therefore, he must be at least as important and dear to you. He has his… reservations about your person, which is natural since you are a stranger to him. You must be on your best behavior so that he may warm up to you. I should like to see you two on good terms, even though you must remember that he is not your brother. You, of course, have no conception of what it means to be a brother so that can make no difference to you."

It means having a family, thought Seto, hardly knowing why that idea gave him a bitter chill in the pit of his stomach. Of course he has no family. The team never made them.

"And Seto," continued Kaiba, his voice now growing authoritative and tense, "I must have you understand that Mokuba means the world to me and I would do anything to ensure his safety. If you so much as lay one finger on him, we will be forced to terminate you on sight."

"Sir..!" cried Isono in the front. The car skidded for a moment.

"I suggest you pay attention to the road, Isono, unless you mean to get all three of us killed right now," replied Kaiba, leaving no room for argument. Isono shot a worried glance at Seto in the rearview mirror and then stared ahead again, his hands clutching the steering wheel unnecessarily tight.

Seto sat frozen in his seat. Terminate. 'To end' – to end him on sight. Hanji told him how he was grown from a microscopic clump of cells; that must have been his beginning, but there was now so much of him – would ending him mean hacking away at this body until nothing remained, not even those tiny cells? Would they really do that if he so much as touched Mokuba? The idea was horrifying. What if he touched him accidentally, brushed up against him? Would they cut off his hand? Would they touch his eyes…?

"Seto." Seto's breathing had grown shallow, his arms now protectively curled around his own frame. Kaiba straightened and fixed his eyes on the road. "Believe me that it would be a severe loss to us all and that is why I want to prevent it at all costs. We have no intention of harming you while you belong to us. It is in your best interest to never, ever give us a reason."

The moment the silence became definite, Seto quickly turned his head to the window, unable to look at either of them, and Isono drove on in bitter silence, fighting feelings he felt too old for and wishing fruitlessly that Seto-sama had never come with him at all.