Chapter Four:
Warning: Abuse.
"Get down here!" Gozaburo's voice shouted through the intercom.
Mokuba had been about to go to sleep when he heard his adopted father's order. He had already been in bed, but his exhaustion was not enough to keep him still.
He immediately jumped out of bed and ran to the door. If Gozaburo was shouting at him at such a late hour, something had to be wrong. Either that, or he was drunk. But with the two options came one result.
His adopted father's bedroom was on the floor below Mokuba's, so he had to run in order to reach it in a timely manner. While he was sprinting through the hallways, he tried not to think about the fact that he was moving as quickly as he could just to be abused. Mokuba knew what was coming.
Once he had ignored Gozaburo's order to come. Mokuba had assumed that if Gozaburo couldn't find him, he could avoid the abuse. But what he failed to realize was that the punishment would be far worse if he did not obey. That was a mistake he never made a second time.
He knocked at Gozaburo's door. When it opened, Mokuba bit down on his lip. Gozaburo stood in front of him, but that wasn't what increased Mokuba's concern. The young Kaiba was focused on the bottle in his adopted father's hand. And Gozaburo was not just holding the beer bottle, but also his copy of Seto's letters. The combination terrified Mokuba.
Gozaburo silently stepped aside and Mokuba carefully walked in, doing his best to keep some distance between himself and his adopted father. Mokuba understood that he was just delaying the inevitable, but he couldn't help himself. He didn't want to know what had upset Gozaburo.
Gozaburo pointed to the center of the room. Mokuba had to draw in a shaky breath in order to develop the courage he needed to do as ordered. Even when Gozaburo was drunk, he followed the same series of steps. His routine never wavered.
Mokuba stopped in his usual spot and waited. He heard Gozaburo circling behind him, then the sloshing of beer as he took a large gulp.
"Dear Mokuba," Gozaburo began, clearing reading Seto's letter. His words slurred, indicating that the beer he was holding was not the first of the night. Mokuba couldn't help but flinch as Gozaburo attempted to mock Seto's voice.
"He keeps asking me about the scars on my back. Earlier, he was lying behind me and tracing them," Gozaburo read. As he did so, he stepped in front of Mokuba to catch his eye. Mokuba turned his head away, but Gozaburo used the bound pages to slap Mokuba, pulling his gaze back to him.
"Tell me Mokuba, why is it that his man can see your brother's scars?"
Mokuba didn't answer. He had read the letter more than once, and every time had tried to ignore that fact.
"Come now, boy. Tell me. Why is your brother lying naked in a bed with this man?" Gozaburo asked. His tone revealed his annoyance with Mokuba's lack of response. When Mokuba kept quite once again, Gozaburo grew angry and threw his bottle across the room. As it hit the wall, Mokuba flinched with the impact.
"Answer me!" Gozaburo shouted, then slapped Mokuba again.
"It isn't his choice," Mokuba whispered.
Gozaburo moved closer to Mokuba and used the letter to lift Mokuba's chin up. One glance into his adopted father's eyes proved to Mokuba that Seto's condition was not the cause of his anger. What Gozaburo was leaving out was the very fact that Seto mentioned his scars. It was evidence that he had been abused by someone other than his kidnapper. It was information that was causing a great deal of trouble for the CEO.
"No? You don't think your brother has become a slut?"
Mokuba bit down on his lip once more to keep from saying something stupid.
"Tell me Mokuba, what is your brother doing for that man? What do you think they are doing right now?" Gozaburo asked, moving even closer to Mokuba. He only stopped when he was inches from his adopted son. Mokuba slightly leaned away, an action that did not go unnoticed.
Gozaburo reached out a hand and pulled Mokuba back to his original position. "No ideas? I can tell you what they are doing. Your brother is on all fours, crying out as-"
"Stop!" Mokuba shouted, much to the surprise of his adopted father.
"You can't handle the truth? You can't accept the fact that your brother is nothing more than a bed slave? Go ahead, admit it."
Mokuba shook his head.
Gozaburo pushed him backwards, nearly sending Mokuba falling to the ground. But Mokuba caught himself and held his gaze with Gozaburo.
"Get back here," Gozaburo ordered.
Mokuba stepped forward, only to have Gozaburo push him back again. This time he fell. As Mokuba tried to get back to his feet, Gozaburo swiftly kicked out, knocking Mokuba flat on his back.
"Say it," Gozaburo ordered. "Call your brother a slut."
Mokuba shook his head again. "No."
Gozaburo knelt down next to Mokuba and raised his hand as if he was going to strike. Mokuba closed his eyes and waited for the impact, but it never came. He gently cracked his eyes open to see Gozaburo still staring down at him, hand raised.
"He practically said so himself. He knows what he has become, Mokuba," Gozaburo said. The hand he had raised descended to grab at Mokuba's jaw, pulling him up from the floor. "You seem to be the only person who doesn't accept that," Gozaburo added.
"Seto is not a slut," Mokuba forced out. Words were hard to form with a hand clenching his jaw closed.
Gozaburo laughed and threw Mokuba down. Gozaburo remained kneeling as he brought the letter back up to where he could read it.
"He tried to get me to talk about how I got them, but I refused to answer. I'm just tired of thinking about them. Even when I'm kidnapped I can't escape the scars. I hate them," Gozaburo continued. He snorted as he read Seto's last sentence.
"I suppose it is rather convenient that your brother didn't mention exactly how he gained so many," Gozaburo stated.
Mokuba turned his head away. He wished that Seto had been straight forward and said that they were from Gozaburo. It that had happened, Mokuba knew he never would be lying on the floor at Gozaburo's feet.
"But are you ready? Here is where Seto gets sentimental," Gozaburo said. With his words, he stood and kicked Mokuba, but there was little force behind the blow. All it resulted in was to force Mokuba onto his side.
"I don't regret anything that lead up to them. I always understood that each mark was one less for you," Gozaburo read, putting his version of sentiment in the sentences.
Quickly, Gozaburo kicked out at Mokuba again. "Too bad your brother wasn't here to take that one for you. He's too busy getting his kicks from someone else," Gozaburo said, smirking with his double meaning.
Mokuba wrapped an arm around his stomach, as if that would protect him from another kick. There would be no escape from Gozaburo until he was ready. And Mokuba knew how much longer the letter was. Was Gozaburo planning on reading it all?
"They would have been for you, most of them at least. I did earn several myself. Maybe I regret those a little."
Gozaburo adjusted his position so he was standing directly above Mokuba. Mokuba knew what was coming next in the letter, and he tried to mentally prepare for what he knew was coming.
"I don't want to think that you might end up with scars like mine," Gozaburo quoted. Once he finished the sentence, he sent a kick harder than the last to Mokuba, bringing a groan to the teen's lips.
"I don't think Seto would like that very much, would he?" Gozaburo reached down and grabbed a fist full of Mokuba's shirt and pulled him to his feet. Mokuba's own hands grabbed at Gozaburo's but the attempt was useless. Even with his older age, Gozaburo was far stronger.
Gozaburo leaned close to Mokuba until his lips brushed against Mokuba's ear. "I guess it is a good thing he isn't here."
Mokuba jumped back as soon as he was free to do so. His arm returned to grab at his stomach, which was pulsing in pain. Mokuba knew better than to complain. He knew better than to beg. He knew better than to cry.
"You are my little brother and I am supposed to protect you. I can't do that from here, and I can't handle that, Mokuba," Gozaburo continued. His words were harsh, although the meaning was far from.
Again, Gozaburo filled the space that separated the two Kaibas. Mokuba was not even given a moment to flinch before Gozaburo's fist slammed into his face, forcing Mokuba back several steps.
"Can Seto protect you from that? No, can't even protect himself."
The next time Gozaburo moved forward, Mokuba moved back. He couldn't help his body's reaction. Gozaburo smirked. As Mokuba continued to back up, his foot hit the bottle Gozaburo had thrown, and Mokuba realized that he had walked into a corner. His head fell when he noted the mistake.
"Am I failing you as a brother? My every decision has been for you. Now what?"
Gozaburo moved closer. "What do you say, Mokuba? Do you feel like you've been let down by your brother?"
Mokuba kept his mouth closed. The question was absurd. Of course he didn't feel that way. It wasn't as though his brother had abandoned him. Gozaburo was simply trying to break Mokuba's attachment, as he had done many times before over the past four years.
"Answer the question!" Gozaburo shouted, reaching a hand out to grab at Mokuba's throat.
"No sir!" Mokuba said, although he struggled to keep from choking.
"Now what?" Gozaburo repeated, holding the letter up where Mokuba could see it clearly. "You have to take my place?"
Gozaburo's grip tightened. Mokuba clutched at Gozaburo's hand, desparate to get a breath. Just as his vision began to fade, he heard Gozaburo whisper, "You know where Seto's place was?"
For a brief moment, Gozaburo's grip let up, but only long enough for Mokuba to draw a breath. As soon as Mokuba had taken a gasping breath, Gozaburo squeezed at his neck again. Gozaburo moved his head closer so that his face was all Mokuba could see. When he was certain that he had his son's complete attention, Gozaburo said, "It was chained to the foot of my bed."
In a swift movement, Gozaburo threw Mokuba across the room. The force of the motion was powerful enough to have him slide across the carpeted floor. It was also enough to make Mokuba cry out in pain.
He lifted his head up to watch Gozaburo approach once more. On his way to his adopted son, Gozaburo stopped by his desk to pull a pair of handcuff out. Upon seeing the object, Mokuba tried to crawl away, but only made it a few feet before Gozaburo grabbed his hair and dragged him to the bed.
Within seconds, Gozaburo had cuffed both hands around one of the legs on the bed. Mokuba was trapped on his back, staring up at Gozaburo as the man looked back at the notebook once more.
"Stay safe, Mokuba. Do it for me, or for yourself - just do it. If I get out of his, I am going to need you to be okay," Gozaburo read, stopping at several points throughout to laugh at Seto's words.
Then he threw the copies of Seto's letters to the floor. His face twisted into a sneer as he kicked out one final time, his foot coming into contact with the side of Mokuba's face. "Be safe, Mokuba," he spat.
The CEO sent one last glare towards his heir before turning to walk away. When he was out of sight, Gozaburo said, "I hope you found some manner of comfort in your brother's words."
As Mokuba closed his eyes and let his throbbing face fall to the side, he realized that for the first time, he didn't.
All of that to show how Gozaburo is handling Seto's letters. And I wanted a different way of showing the letters and to set up the next chapter. I'll try to have the next chapter up within the week.