THERE was no worse torture that anyone could ever conceive than this. Chinese water torture was a nap in the park compared to this. The rack was a peaceful stroll through a field of flowers. A whip was a butterfly's kiss.

"I...will never again...trust a doctor..."

Mokuba let out a nervous chuckle in response to this. "C'mon, Noa, is it all that bad?"

"It's worse!" Noa snarled between clenched teeth.

"You have to do it, you know, or they'll never let you out."

"I'll find my own way out."

Mokuba set down his book and leaned forward in his chair. "I dunno 'bout that, Noa. If you can't do this, how're you gonna escape?"

"I can do it! If I'm gonna be in this much pain, it's gonna be toward getting out."

"But this is toward getting out, Noa."

"I'm not playing their sick games! I'll torture myself on my own terms!"

"If it's too much for you, you can tell Seto. He'll talk to the doctors since you don't trust them."

"Are you kidding me? Seto would mock me incessantly for this!"

"No, he won't."

"Yes, he will! Look, Mokuba, he doesn't do that to you because you're his little brother. Everyone else is fair game."

"But you're his brother, too!"

"Yes, but I'm technically two years older than him. Just because my body is ten or eleven doesn't mean my mind is. Besides, I don't think he considers me his brother just yet. You're his blood brother. That's different."

"All that doesn't mean he'd mock you."

"Yes, he would. I can hear him already. 'Oh, what? Big, strong, world-dominating Noa can't handle a little exercise?' Don't try telling me he wouldn't. I know he would."

Mokuba frowned. "Okay, fine, I can hear him saying that, too...that doesn't mean he'd do it."

"It's going to happen if you or I tell him that this is torture. Besides, I think I can handle it."

"I'm wondering how long it would have taken you to notice me if I'd kept quiet..." came a deep voice from behind Noa's back. Noa flinched and turned around slowly to see Seto standing there, arms folded across his chest, his lips slightly curved to show his amusement.

"How...long have you been there?" Noa asked.

"Long enough to discover that you can see the future and know what I will do before I do."

Mokuba flinched slightly. "Sorry, Seto, but...you've done it before."

"I mock Wheeler because I find it amusing when he screams obscenities at me. I mock Gardner because I hate her self-righteous preaching and still hold some far-off hope that perhaps one day I will be able to convince her of her idiocy, and if I can't...it's still amusing to watch her dance. I mock Motou because...because he's short."

I think that might have been a joke, Noa thought wonderingly. But the way he'd said it...he wasn't sure if it was a joke. In fact, from what Noa knew about Seto's character, he would have ventured a guess that it wasn't...the reason Seto mocked Yugi Motou was because he was short.

Noa wasn't sure which of those two scenarios was more disturbing. "What are you getting at, exactly?" Noa asked.

"I have my reasons for mocking the idiot brigade," Seto replied, and he delivered the insult with the same matter-of-fact tone he always used, making it sound less like an insult and more like a statement of truth. "I find amusement in it. I find enjoyment in it. I would find no enjoyment in mocking you."

"You wouldn't?" Noa asked incredulously.

Seto's expression was unreadable. "No, I wouldn't. Poking fun at your physical condition would not benefit me in the least; it would most likely make you angry, thus causing you to strain yourself in order to prove you can handle the therapy. Overworking yourself in your current state could prove disastrous, perhaps fatal. I would end up wasting money, time and effort, in addition to your life."

He probably cares more about those things than he does me, Noa thought, and that might have made him angry, had it not been for the overwhelming relief of being able to slow down.

As it stood, Noa could only feel grateful.

He slowly, laboriously worked his way toward his hospital-provided wheelchair, leaning heavily on the two metal bars which did most of the work holding him up. "I'm not sure I want to walk again, if this is how things are gonna go," he muttered bitterly to no one in particular.

As he reached for the chair with one arm, Noa's other arm gave out, and he collapsed. Before even his knees reached the floor, which was covered in carpet but provided no padding whatsoever, a strong hand gripped him and held him up.
Seto helped Noa into the wheelchair, and even though Seto's grip on his arm made him want to scream in pain, Noa figured that the arm was preferable to a close encounter with the pseudo-carpet, and felt thankful. He gasped out an acknowledgment of that thankfulness as he closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath.

A white-clad female doctor approached Seto and tapped his shoulder. "Mr. Kaiba, might I speak to you outside?" Seto studied the woman for a moment, then followed her out of the room.

Unfortunately for the doctor, her plan of keeping the conversation from Noa's ears (which obviously was the reason for wanting to speak outside) didn't work. He could still hear them clearly.

"I told you he couldn't handle such strenuous therapy yet!"

"I waited until I knew that for myself."

"I'm a doctor, Mr. Kaiba! I have a degree; I know what I'm talking about!"

"A degree does not necessarily qualify you to make decisions on every circumstance. The government may believe that, and the majority of the cattle herd we call society may believe that, but I don't. I trust only one person's judgment: my own. I know firsthand the limits of the human body. I now have decided myself that Noa obviously cannot handle his current regimen and it needs to be modified."

"You couldn't see that from the first day of it! Have you no pity?"

Seto took a moment to answer. "...No."

There was a gasp of shock from the doctor as Seto strode back into the room. He saw Noa looking at him, stopped a foot in front of the boy, and stood stone-still with his arms crossed.

"We'll modify your therapy so that you can handle it," he said.

The doctor stalked into the room, her eyes flaring with indignant anger. She looked about to lash out at Seto, but Noa stopped her before she could.

"Don't," he said. "If you're implying by your anger that it's wrong for Seto not to feel pity for me, I don't want you around me. Pity is the last thing I want. To have pity is to condone weakness. I've seen the way you look at me. You think of me as a helpless cripple, don't you? Well, I'm not, and that you thinkof me like that is an insult. Don't you dare demean Seto for treating me like I'm still human."

The doctor stared in shock at him, her mouth opening and closing like a fish. Eventually, she gave up and whirled on her heel, walking out of the room without another word. Noa glanced back at Seto.

"Sorry...I know you wouldn't want someone else defending you, but...I couldn't just sit there."

Seto nodded in acknowledgment, lips curved slightly. This time, though, it wasn't amusement that brought on the attempt at a smile, but appreciation.

Well, another installment for you all...however many people are actually still reading this. I humbly beg that you leave a review, regardless of how undeserving of such attention I might be. If you can find it in your hearts to review, I'll, uh...uh...be thankful. Oh, never mind. Review if you're bored, I guess.