Summary: Joey Wheeler escaped from a secret organization in the USA to Domino, Japan and resumed a life as Katsuya Jounouchi, but is still being pursued. What will Seto Kaiba do once he is asked to take down his long time crush and rival? S/J
Disclaimer: Yugioh and it's characters do not belong to me. (no matter how much I wish they did)
Warning: Contains mentions of child abuse and mild violence
Chapter 6- That Time Again
-Seto's Place; Thursday Night-
Seto Kaiba, teen millionaire and current CEO of the esteemed KaibaCorp finally managed to make his way home after several hours at the office. Everyday after school he would return to his office in downtown Domino in one of his limos and work incessantly for hours, only taking a small break for some coffee or a small sandwich to keep up his stamina. Mokuba would sometimes come by himself after school and simply start on his homework in Seto's office, but sometimes the raven-haired boy just went home to play some video games since Seto wasn't around to stop him.
Seto removed his trademark trench coat and hung it in the entrance closet. He went to his room on the second floor, wanting to make himself comfortable before greeting his little brother. The blue-eyed teen entered the spacious room and flicked on a light switch. He walked over to his wide office desk, which he seemed to have everywhere he went, and placed his steel briefcase upon the wood surface. He never really carried anything in there other than his laptop and a few other personal items. He never had to carry books home either since he found it more beneficial and practical to have an extra set at home. Sure at school he had to lug his books around, but he really didn't mind as much as people assumed he did. It was one of the little pleasures in life. It made him feel more normal, more like a teenager.
Seto may be an incredibly mature person for his age, what with having to take care of his younger brother since their parents died and they lived in the orphanage, and of course, taking over a multi-million company would always give someone the incentive to grow up faster than normal. But all that did not mean that he wouldn't like to feel like a normal teenager every now and then. Every day for him was filled with work, except Saturdays in which Mokuba insisted that he take the day off. The wide, puppy eyes were just so hard to say 'no' to. Holidays were sometimes off too, mostly to please Mokuba as well, but if a crisis arose then he'd most likely attend to that first.
'Business before pleasure' had grown to be his motto as he always applied himself fully to everything he did. That's just the type of man he was. He cared deeply for his younger brother and would do anything in the world for him.
In order to fulfill that promise he had to take on the night job of KaibaCorp. He had to handle all the dirty deeds that came with running a successful company. Game making or not, a multi million company is still a multi million company and certain obligations came with making it stay that way.
He did not enjoy what he had to do, and if there was a way around it he wouldn't do it to begin with, but he had inherited the company after his father had mysteriously died and along with that he also inherited all the information, the contacts, and the obligations of running a company successfully.
It wasn't easy transforming a world-class weapon making company into one that specialized in video games, but he had done it, and he was damn proud of it too. It took the normal blood, sweat, and tears to accomplish what he had. People had to be fired and new employees had to be hired to take their places. New buildings, mainly for research and testing, had to be built and he had to gain the acceptance from the Board of Directors. His stock holders had to be happy and all his contacts had to be informed about the well-being of his company. It was a lot of work, but somehow through endless nights with no sleep and constantly working he had managed to over take the company thoroughly and change it around completely. It was his greatest accomplishment and his second most precious thing, right under Mokuba.
The reason he had even tried so hard in the first place was because he had wanted to have guardianship of his younger brother. He would not stand by idly and watch as he was carted off to another orphanage or foster family after their 'father', Gozaboro Kaiba, had passed on. He had to admit that part of the reason he did want to take over the company so badly was for revenge against that monster, but it was truly for Mokuba. If he was unable to provide for his grey-eyed younger brother then they would take him away since he wasn't exactly of age yet. He still had three months to go before he could officially adopt Mokuba and nothing would threaten that guardianship anymore.
Despite the pure intentions of why he kept his precious company running there was still all the dark deeds that had to be made in the shadows. There was still all the money transactions, all the assassinations, and all of the underhandedness that went along with keeping his company number one in the nation, and hopefully, the world one day.
Assassinations…Seto hated the word, he hated the work more. While growing up as Gozaboro's heir he went through many things. Hell being one of them. And it truly was like a fiery pit of darkness. He had spent endless nights studying all the material his father had demanded of him. His tutors were cruel and more like boot camp instructors than fine-minded educators. They would whip him in the back every time it seemed like he was dozing off. They would keep him from his meals whenever he didn't finish his lessons in time and all the while his father had been in the background, grinning an evil smile as he saw all the pain his precious heir had to go through to become perfect.
Not everything was all physical though. He was also mentally trained and was always emotionally unstable. He would secretly hate this man called his father, so much that he longed to choke him in his sleep with his bare hands, but even that emotion he wasn't allowed to have, at least, not toward him. Seto had to respect that bastard, and had to show it too. He responded with 'Yes, Sir' and 'No, Sir' each time, but had to refer to the man as 'Father' whenever there was a company party, or with other prominent people in society, and Seto hated that the most. That false image his father projected to the outside world, and him as his pawn.
Seto had been taught from a young age that emotions were useless and that they made you weak. Things like friendship, love, and even trust were worthless, and if he wanted to feel something it could only be anger and hatred; the only worthy emotions. Despite the belittlement he received whenever he did something to displease the adults around him and the teachings about how emotions were for the weak he still desperately clung to his love and care for his younger brother, and craved those kind words that only his brother would utter to him. The only one who ever did.
Aside from becoming as intelligent as he could be, and as charming and emotionless as a painted doll, Seto was also trained in his body. And that is where the dark part of KaibaCorp arose.
While some nights had focused mainly on his intellect, other nights were filled with constant training. Mokuba didn't know of them of course, and he still didn't, and Seto wanted to keep it that way.
His father had hired the best that money could by to train him, and even spent several nights training him personally. He had told him that nothing in the world was free, and that everything was stained in blood and filled with lies. He could almost say that that was his second motto. Everything was stained in blood…
At times it seemed that this mantra was the only one that kept him from becoming insane from the overwhelming guilt and pain he seemed to always lead back to, but that was only when he was hired to do a 'job', a hit, as you will. All he had to do was remind himself that this was for Mokuba, all for Mokuba. And besides, after living like this for more than half his life he was reluctant to say that he was used to it.
To the guilt, the loneliness, the overworked and overstressed nights, and though it made him sound materialistic and a little arrogant, he was still attached to his fortune and company. He really couldn't imagine his life without having such a large mansion to live in, nor the ability to buy almost anything he wanted on a given whim, but still, the blood-stained hands would make him want to give it all up if he could.
And that was probably the worst thing about the whole situation. That he couldn't leave the whole thing. He was trapped to be a puppet assassin. And he hated it.
After receiving all the training his body and mind could take before his father had died, several men had arrived to greet him. Their faces were dark with shadows and despite their normal businessman appearance Seto had picked up on their inner nature. He was trained to be able to do such a thing just as he had been trained to kill.
They met with him in his large conference room where they discussed the under workings of the company and what his father had done before him. It was true, and convenient perhaps, that Gozaboro had a small team of hired assassins to do his dirty work for him, but Seto didn't have that pleasure. The assassins that his father were now older, not as fast nor as efficient, and even if they were they wouldn't listen to him. It was too risky to bring new people into the bloody fold of assassinations, but he would have done it regardless in order to prevent his hands from being stained further, but the sick men were in charge of everything. They were the power behind the most influential companies in the world and even then it was said that they were being controlled by another group of people that Seto hadn't been able to discern. He probably would be able to find out who they were if he was sure they wouldn't kill him or Mokuba after he found out.
Those men that commanded him as a puppet on strings would not allow him to hire anyone else. Not mercenaries, and not trained assassins, and was forced to do everything himself. With his hands, with his mind clear, and with his face emotionless. He had to do it perfectly.
And he still hated it.
They didn't call upon him to do that often though, and would probably hire others to take care of their business for them, but when it was something that threatened KaibaCorp itself, or something within the region he lived in then it was up to him to take that threat out.
And that's the situation he found himself in now.
They had contacted him as he had settled into his office, since they already knew his schedule by heart. Despite being demanding, underhanded bastards, he had to thank him for at least waiting until he was out of school to contact him.
They had told him that they wished to meet with him in two days time to discuss the details. All they told him was that this was a major assignment and he should see it as an honor to be able to participate in it. They did warn him however that this wasn't going to be like his previous assignments and that it was to be more difficult and backbreaking than usual.
Seto was tense ever since and his jaw was constantly shut as he ground his teeth against one another. He didn't speak a single word as they introduced the new job.
It had been months since the last hit he did. They liked to call upon him at least every three months in hope that his skills were still up to par, and to see him suffer of course.
Sick bastards.
And so now he was home. He changed out of his office clothes, which was usually black pants and a black turtle neck that was always decked with his famous white trench coat. Sometimes he would settle for his purple one, but only when he wanted to blend in more with the night.
Seto sighed as he bid his brother good night. Mokuba had insisted that they play some video games together, reminding Seto that he had failed to hang out with him last night as promised. Seto had reluctantly agreed, wanting to get the impending meeting out of his head. This was the reason he was doing this anyway, for his brother right?
What would it be all for if he didn't spend any time with the younger boy? It would be all for naught. And so he had played until Mokuba's bed time. Seto then retired to his room, following his nightly ritual. He decided on taking a nice, long bath instead of his usual shower tonight; it gave him time to relax and think. Yet thinking was the last thing he wanted to do. Before heading to sleep himself, which he was sure that he needed, but he still had his class assignments to do. Luckily it was something that would only take him twenty minutes or so to complete. Times like this he was grateful that his father had literally pounded all that information into him, but only sometimes.
After finishing off his class work for the day he was looking forward to tomorrow. It was finally going to be Friday, and despite Mokuba making him take Saturdays off, he also insisted that Seto work less on Friday nights and would usually drag the elder Kaiba to do something fun inside or outside the house. Despite his grumbling Seto had always looked forward to these nights as well.
Seto lay upon his bed between the satin sheets and stared at his ceiling. Although looking forward to tomorrow he also dreded it. All it meant was that he was one day closer to meeting with those men to discuss his new assignment. It was all the more reason for him to enjoy his time with Mokuba he supposed, since he was going to break his promise and 'work' on Saturday. It wouldn't be the first time though.
Mokuba would always look sad and a little disappointed, but he was used to it. The thing that Seto hated however was that he didn't want his brother to simply 'get used to it'. He wanted to be able to keep all his promises to his little brother, but when you had powerful people pulling your strings and seemed to control your company from the shadows, the only thing that Seto could do was obey.
And he hated it.
A/N: Okay, finally for this chapter to come out. Sorry so very much for the lateness. I haven't been into YuGiOh all the much and was really not able to come up with any ideas to continue this story, but I think I might have gotten back in the swing of things. So, here's a much needed update. As you can tell it's all about Seto and his childhood, giving background information on why he is the way he is and all that. One of my other reviewers mentioned that Seto needed some more character development in the anime/manga, and I couldn't agree more, so I typed up this chapter focusing on dear Seto Kaiba.
Anyway, enough ranting and such. I'd just like to thank anyone who is still reading this and any new readers that happen to come across this too. Special thanks, as always, goes out to my reviewers, for who this chapter is for. Seriously, if I saw that no one was reading this I probably wouldn't continue writing it, so thanks!
DarthAnimus-Thank you so much for your well rounded review. I really appreciate it and I completely agree about Seto always being the nice, strong savior. I really love these two characters (especially together) and I mainly like Jou when he's cool and strong.
Journey Maker-He'll eventually face those DS guys, but it'll take a while to get there. Thanks for the review!
Dragonlady222-Yeah, but I hope Otogi finds happiness somehow (any suggestions with whom?)
Pennypigeon-Thanks!
YaoiYaoiYeah-I know what you mean, this is completely AU, but I couldn't help and try my hand in one of those with the YuGiOh characters. Thanks for the review.
Tyrant Dragon Knight- Thanks for the review and I'll really try to update sooner next time. 4 months is really really bad span of time. I promise not to wait that long next time.
Till next chapter!
