I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or it's characters. Just the OC.
The ambulance had come for Akira as well as police. The police arrested Satoshi and took witness statements from Yugi, Teá, Tristan and Joey. They tried taking them from Mokuba and Ito; but the two of them were frozen. They couldn't speak. They just stared at Akira until the paramedics came to take away his body. They had to pry their hands off him, Mokuba was easier to pry off with his hand just resting on his shoulder hoping he would wake up. Ito sobbed loudly as her hands were pried off, she grew hysterical as she held her head in her hands, clenching at her hair and doubling over. Screaming and sobbing, filling the streets. It was mournful.
Mokuba felt empty as he stayed sitting on his knees on the ground, letting the rain pour over him. He was numb but not from the cold. He had never felt emotional pain this bad in his life; not one he could remember anyway. The tears continued to fall down his cheeks, mixing with the rain. Unlike Ito, who was hysterical, he couldn't utter a sound.
Seto quickly came running towards them having heard what happened and the state it had left his brother. He was worried for the younger Kaiba. He was the more cheerful of the two, full of life, full of hopes, laughter, joy, something Seto did not express. He wanted to keep his brother like that but after learning what had happened with Akira; he feared his brother would go off the deep end and shut down entirely. Seto stood frozen for a split second before looking over at Yugi and the others. Yugi had explained briefly on the phone what had happened. Even Seto couldn't deny he was saddened by the news. He was not as close to Akira as his brother but he still saw him as his brother even if he wouldn't admit it; nor show it...it was too late now.
The older Kaiba quickly went to Mokuba's side, kneeling in front of him, placing his hands onto his shoulders to try and grab his attention. Mokuba however just continued to stare, completely ignoring his brothers presence as he listened to Ito's screams.
"Mokuba...say something." Seto demanded from his brother who had dropped his head by now. His hand gripped Akira's deck as he pushed himself, shrugging off his brothers hands from his shoulders. He slowly walked towards Ito standing in front of her, staring down at her.
"You..." Mokuba began saying gaining Ito's attention, forcing her to look up at him, her vision blurred, eyes puffy, face red. She had cried hard and none-stop once she figured out it was not a joke.
"You... it's because of you his gone." The teen muttered at her, his voice breaking as his lungs struggled to in take air from his anger. Her eyes went wide as she listened to his words.
"Mokuba... no one's to blame..." Yugi said to him gently and as sympathetically as he could, although it seemed like his words had fallen onto deaf ears. Ito scrunched up her face as she looked up to Mokuba, just watching him stand over her, a mixture of sorrow, anger, guilt mixing into his face. He was finding it hard to control his emotions that much was obvious.
"If you hadn't shown up again Akira would still be here! But you decided to show up, do you know how much it hurt him?!" Mokuba yelled at her losing all control of whatever composer he had left.
Seto quietly stood up behind Mokuba, he couldn't bring himself to glare at his brother and could understand why he felt hurt and most likely betrayed; but he did not agree on him yelling at Akira's sister who was just as upset and broken as he was feeling right now. Ito opened her mouth to speak however she was quickly shut down by Mokuba once more.
"He was determined to find you again! And as soon as you were found you treated him like dirt! He loved you so much and you showed nothing until now! What's wrong with you?! Why didn't you show up earlier or not at all?! Why couldn't you have stayed hidden?! He was happy! He would still be alive!" Mokuba yelled at her more, making the girl flinch at his words and drop her head, her eyes shut tightly. She didn't have answers...at least not right now. They couldn't come to her head right now, she wanted to answer so badly. She wanted to explain everything so badly, but the grief wouldn't let her.
"Answer me!" Mokuba yelled once more, pulling the girl up from the floor and onto her feet. Ito knitted her brows together, she knew in the back of her mind to expect something like this; but the feeling still hurt. Mokuba kept a tight grip on her arms until Seto intervened and pulled away his hands.
"That's enough Mokuba. No one is to blame. Calm down." Seto said as calmly as he could while his brother continued to glare at the brunette who kept her eyes shut tightly and hands wrapped around her body holding where she was grabbed.
Mokuba pressed his lips tightly together once more, gritting his teeth as he dropped back down to his knees; his hands flat on the floor staring at the ground. She looked so much like him, it hurt to yell at her. It was almost like he was yelling at Akira...he felt more guilt than ever as he came to the realisation that he had already denied Akira's words back in that field to look after Ito. While he did not say he would, he couldn't not do it. Akira was his best friend, his brother; he couldn't betray him like this. He was just so angry, guild filled, upset; so many emotions filled his head he didn't know where to place himself and Ito...Ito... She was his twin, she must be feeling the same if not more.
"I...know I'm to blame." She choked out, refusing to look at him as she kept her eyes shut tightly and head down. She couldn't say anything more...she didn't know what to say. Sorry wasn't going to change anything, she felt terrible. Everything she had done...if she knew it'd be the last she wouldn't have done any of it.
Yugi quickly looked at Teá who seemed to be a lost to what they could do. She briefly looked to Yugi, her brows knitted.
"Maybe we should let Ito stay with us for a while." Teá muttered to him, making Yugi nod his head in agreement. It didn't sound like a bad idea, and from what Mokuba and Akira explained a few weeks ago it didn't sound like she would have anywhere to stay now.
"I'll take Mokuba back now... Ito is staying with us." Seto said, pulling Mokuba off the floor by his arm. It wasn't like he was going to put up a fight now. Yugi looked at Seto surprised, his eyebrows raised.
"Is that wise? We can put her up." Yugi said to Seto who looked over at the limo that was pulling up. Seto gently pushed Mokuba in that direction, sending the raven haired boy to the dry at least. The older Kaiba looked back at Yugi once he saw his brother entering the limo.
"Listen, Yugi. You have good intentions but I think it'll be good for them to stick together. She'll stay with us until something is figured out it's not up for debate." Seto said to him, gently pushing Ito over to the limo. Ito briefly looked up to him before looking back to the car unsure if she should. He nodded his head over, keeping an eye on Yugi and his friends.
"The tournament will continue as normal in a couple of days. I'll be making an announcement. I don't want any more deaths in my tournament." He said to him, before turning on his heel and walking towards the white stretched car.
Joey huffed through his nose as he crossed his arms watching Seto climb in and the limo begin to drive away. While he would agree with the rest Seto had mellowed out since Mokuba became a teenager, he still didn't like the man. He continued to act high and mighty. The current situation didn't help, it didn't sit right with Joey or Tristan.
"Dat jerk. Didn' he see how Mokuba acted? Dey shouldn't be around each other for a while." Joey commented as the limo disappeared into the rain. Yugi shook his head as he looked to where Akira was, spotting the duel disk. There seemed to be a few card Mokuba dropped or didn't realise was there. Yugi went over and picked them up, looking them over; they were soaked through he could dry them out at home.
"I think I know where Kaiba is coming from. They need to heal their wounds; in a way if Mokuba and Ito stick together they can heal each other. They're both broken from this... We should give them space and let them figure everything out." He said as he stood up, walking back to the others. He still had to look up at them a little; they might have been adults now, but he was still the shortest out of them all.
"I think Ito or Mokuba might like to keep a hold of these; they can decide if they want to return them to Akira or not." He said as he placed the cards into his own deck holder. Teá sighed, her brows still knitted together in worry. They hadn't known Ito, just met her in fact! But she couldn't help but worry over the younger twin.
"Let's get back before we get a cold... I think I still have some of my old clothes; we should bring them to Kaiba's if I can find them at my parents." Teá said looking at Yugi or nodded his head in agreement knowing exactly why she suggested it. If Ito was going to be staying at the Kaiba household she'd need some clothes and Teá doubted that the two boys had any clothes that would fit her considering they were both quite tall and lanky.
-x-
"What are you going as for Halloween Mokuba?" The brunette asked his friend. They were fourteen years old and had been invited to a Halloween party. Seto had said Mokuba could go and they managed to convince Akira's parent's to let him go promising them he'll stay safe. The teens were at the local shopping centre, looking at the costumes; pondering what they could go as.
"I'm not sure...maybe a vampire?" Mokuba commented, placing his hand on his chin as he held a look of concentration on his face. Akira hummed slightly as he stood beside him.
"I think I'll go as a pirate...a vampire pirate! Vamprate?" Akira said, growing more and more confused with what he should actually go as he finally came to "Vamprate." Mokuba looked at him, doing his best to hold back a laugh.
"Pipire!" Mokuba blurted as if coming to a conclusion making Akira snort laugh at just the simple play on words.
"That's a fruit!...We should go as fruit vampires!...They're called fruit bats right?" Akira suggested, the two of them not getting any closer to what they should actually dress up as. It was Mokuba's turn to snort laugh, as he lightly punched Akira's arm. Fruit bat's weren't scary; but they'd be the best fruit bats around!
-x-
Mokuba watched the rain pelt against the window of the limo as he leaned his head on the glass, his eyes half closed and mouth slightly agape. He had managed to stop his crying; he didn't feel angry any more but he still felt upset and guilty. He would need to apologise to Ito later for what he said to her. He tiredly turned his head slowly to look at Ito, who was slumped into the chair, her head also leaning against the window the same way he was. She looked out of it. Totally out of it. Mokuba turned his head back onto the window staying silent through out the journey.
Seto sat on the other side of them, his arms and legs crossed over as he glanced between both the teens. He could see the uncanny resemblance of looks between Ito and Akira. Same brown hair, same brown eyes. She was a little shorter than him. If it weren't for the fact she was a girl Seto would have mistaken her for Akira in a heartbeat. He turned his attention to Mokuba, who just continued to watch the rain water flow down the window. The limo stopped. Seto looked out of the window Mokuba was leaning his head against and could see they were at Kaiba mansion. He patted both of their shoulders gaining their attention, even though it wasn't full and looked dim. Whatever light they held in their eyes was not around right now. Seto didn't say anything as he hopped out of the limo, Mokuba following behind and then Ito.
The three of them walked into the Mansion, soaked from the rain water. The maid came and took Seto's trench coat and Mokuba's puffer jacket. Ito just had a black turtle neck number and black shorts, plus the mask that was still strapped to her face; she must have been freezing.
"Get Ito some of Mokuba's clothes for now. I'll deal with it in a bit." He ordered to the maid, who bowed politely and quickly wondered off into the mansion. Seto turned his attention at the two broken teens, watching as Mokuba took off his shoes and Ito stand there looking lost and confused as to what to do.
"Mokuba, Ito. I'll be in my study if you two need anything. I do not want to hear you two fighting each other." He said to them, trying to act as normal as possible although that was hard to do. Mokuba nodded his head making Seto turn his attention to Ito.
"You're staying here; Stick with Mokuba." Seto said to her, making her look up at him slightly before nodding her head a little. She bent down as she began taking off her soaked through black combat boots. Everything was soaked through. She felt cold in more ways then one. Once she was standing she felt the mask being taken away from her face; she dared not look at whoever touched it.
Seto look at the mask, tucking it under his arm as he turned his attention to his brother, who just continued to look at the floor. His eyes half lidded, dim and sorrowful. His hands hung loosely to his sides; the deck that once belonged to Akira still held in his hands. Seto gently took a hold of it, prying them from his hands; he rarely showed emotion, or even gentleness but right now was a full exception. He would keep the deck in his study to dry it out and give it back later. Right now, they needed a distraction. The maid came up behind Seto, clearing her throat and gaining his attention. He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder.
"I managed to find some clean trousers and a shirt that looked like it could fit her." She said to him gently as he nodded his head towards the brunette. The maid held out the clothes to her, receiving nothing more than a quick glance before she bowed her head and hunched her shoulders.
It made her think; just a few hours ago, weeks or days even, years! She was cold and emotionless, part of a hive mind that thought as one and suffered greatly for being away too long. Now...now she was her own person again but at a great, great cost. All the emotions had flooded back at one, hitting her hard emotionally. She could hear talking but didn't know what was being said and then felt her body being pulled somewhere. She quickly glanced at the person, raven coloured hair. Her brows knitted together as she was led to a bathroom and then handed the clothes once more, being ushered into the bathroom.
"Seto said we need to stick together...so hurry up and get changed..." He spoke to her quietly through the door, struggling to keep himself in check.
Mokuba was trying his best to keep himself together. The car ride home gave him time to think. He couldn't stay angry at Ito. Up until recently, she had been part of a group called a hive mind. He thought back to the duel and what happened just before they entered that field. She had ran to him first, something sparked on her face as she looked at Akira. Fear. But before that it was blank and emotionless. That fear came out of know where... something must have happened somewhere in that duel. She tried to take the brunt of the attack the same as him. He shook his head as he leaned his back against the wall. He had to apologise, that much he told himself in the car. He also needed to be strong, make distractions for themselves. In a way prove that he didn't mean what he said and keep Akira's words.
He heard the door open and looked to the left to watch Ito come out, her soaked clothes held in her arms. She now wore a pair of his grey sweat pants and a large baggy yellow t-shirt; only that it looked like he wore for sleeping in in the winter. Mokuba nodded his head to follow him, leading the girl to the utility room so she could chuck them into the wash. Once there she gingerly placed them into the washer the silence between them growing. Mokuba kept a watch on her, his eyes darting off to the floor before looking back at her.
"Do you like games?" He asked suddenly, making her turn her head towards him, her brows knitted in confusion. Mokuba pulled a face as he shuffled on the spot.
"You know...like video games." He said to her, continuing to coax her onto saying something. Ito thought for a second, turning her face away in thought. She turned her head back to look at him, seemingly taken back in the first place that he asked something like that.
"I like Harvest Moon." She told him. Come to think of it, that was about all she played when she was younger.
The pair had set up camp in the entertainment room. Mokuba had gotten changed before they settled in the entertainment room so he could prevent himself from getting a cold. He knew he had to keep them distracted if they were ever going to move on. Distractions were normally a good way to help with mourning. Mokuba knew that was what Seto had intended when he told Ito to stick with him. He had set up Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley; having made a quick purchase of the game online for a digital copy. He was meaning to get a new game anyway he just wasn't sure what, this seemed like a perfect time. Mokuba handed the controller to Ito, much to her confusion.
"It's probably been a while since you played; I think you might like this." Mokuba said to her, giving her a small smile however forced. Ito stared at him briefly, before nodding her head giving a small forced smile back to him and turning her attention back at the screen. It was better than nothing in his mind.
Ito played around during the opening cut scenes. She was gaining a grip on how the controls worked in this version. The raven haired boy could only guess the last one she played might have been on Gamecube. Mokuba sat silently on the floor with Ito, his legs crossed, leaning his elbows onto his knees as he watched. He felt something poke his arm and quickly glanced at it, before looking at Ito who was holding out the controller to him.
"We can take it in turns." She gently said to him although now daring to look at him. Mokuba took the controller, nodding his head as he went on to play for a while. Even though there was silence between them, he felt better knowing they were doing something. He glanced at Ito occasionally, who watched the screen with pure amazement and wonder. Wherever she was, they must have not had anything like this.
Their separate game play turned into more of a team play, Ito pointing at various things on the screen and asking Mokuba to either go there or plant something there. It seemed like she had more fun watching what was happening rather than actually playing herself. Ito had made herself more comfortable, sitting with her legs kicked out to her side and hands in her lap when she wasn't pointing at the screen.
The two teenagers were too focused on the screen and what was happening there to notice they were being watched by Seto, Yugi and Teá. Teá held a couple of bags in her hands. She kept a small smile on her face as she watched them interact; Ito pointing to the screen and Mokuba debating if he should actually do what she had asked.
"They've calmed down, I'm glad." She commented to Seto. The older Kaiba brother nodded his head quickly as he leaned himself against the door frame, his arms crossed over one another. Yugi looked at them calmly. He kept a small smile on his face as well, knowing this will be the beginning for them to start their healing. He turned his attention to Seto, who kept a watchful eye on the teen.
"We'll leave you be, tell Mokuba and Ito we said hello and wish them well." He said to Seto, being as friendly as ever to the cold CEO. While Yugi knew the CEO would never open up to them, he never thought of him as anything less then a friend. Seto just nodded once more.
"Leave the bags there, I'll get someone to take them up to her room." He said to Teá, prompting her to leave the two bags of clothes against the wall. There was a mixture of jumpers, shorts, skirts, jeans, all sorts. It would be enough to tie Ito over for a while until she had some of her own; not that Teá was expecting them back. They didn't fit her anymore anyway she had matured a bit more since her teenage years. The two waved their goodbyes and left the Kaiba household.
Several hours had passed by since they began playing Harvest Moon. Mokuba placed the controller down and stretched his arms above his head, grabbing a hold of his arm and pulling it slightly over the top of him. He stretched out his back after having being slumped for so long. Ito stretched her arms and legs out in front of her, hunching her shoulders and curving her back as she leaned forward. She sighed slightly to herself and turned her attention to the raven haired boy. She watched him slightly, taking small notes about him. He was tall, very much like that brunette man; he was only a little bit shorter. His hair was incredibly long and messy. His skin had some colour, more than that brunette man's anyway. He was of a slender build with some muscle on his arms, Ito could only assume that was normal for teenage boys.
He noticed her staring and quickly looked at her, an look of questioning on his face. Ito continued however, before moving her eyes back to the screen, staring at that instead.
"I'm still sorry...for what happened." Ito said to him, quite literally out of know where. Mokuba knitted his brows together as he shook his head. He opened his mouth to speak again but was cute off by the brunette once more.
"You were right, he might still be here if I didn't show up...I'm so sorry." She said to him, her eyes staying fixated on the screen. He could tell that it looked like she wanted to cry again, break down. The guilt must have been over whelming for her as well. Mokuba shuffled himself closer to her, moving the controller away from the two. He watched her, hesitatingly placing an arm around her shoulders, bringing her close to him.
"I wasn't right. What I said wasn't right. I shouldn't have said it. It's not your fault, don't blame yourself. If anything I should be sorry and I really am." Mokuba said to her calmly. He felt her move a little under his arm, feeling her lean her forehead as best as she could on his shoulder. Mokuba gently rubbed her arm sympathetically. This was fine. It was best to get everything out of their system. He took a deep breath just letting her stay there.
She wasn't so bad. He had said he was sorry and meant it. Maybe now...just maybe, they could help each other move on. Maybe they could become friends; while he doubted they'd ever be as close as him and Akira was sure going to put effort into their friendship. He had to keep his friend's word, look out for Ito. That was what he exactly planned to do from now on.
The teenanger felt her shuffle once more, and glanced down quickly at her from under his arm as she pulled her head away from his shoulder and looked up at him, giving an apologetic look to him.
"Sorry...I got your shirt wet." She said to him making him quickly glance at the shirt and then shake his head.
"It's fine I wouldn't worry. It's just water." He said to her looking up at the clock. The time was close to ten in the evening. They had been playing for a long while. They weren't called for dinner as far as Mokuba knew and if they were they certainly didn't notice. Mokuba looked at the brunette.
"Let's get some dinner, I'm starving." He said to her making her nod her head in agreement. Mokuba removed his arm from her shoulders, gently patting one of he dropped his hand away from it. The two stood up and exited the entertainment room, leaving the console to continue running with the game still active. As far as they knew nothing drastic would happen if they left the game unattended for a while.
Mokuba quickly thought to himself and turned his attention to Ito. The girl looked at him as he begun to speak.
"We need to find your room too. I don't think Seto would be too happy if you shared my room." Mokuba said to her attempting to make a joke. Ito however didn't get it, and instead tilted her head slightly as the joke went right over her head. He just shook his head, it wasn't a very clever joke...nor very funny now that he thought about it.
"Nevermind...lets get some food first and then find your room." Mokuba said to her, a small smile appearing on his face. Ito nodded her head and went back to following Mokuba closely again through the mansion.
She took a good look at it, it was huge! There seemed to be many corridors and many rooms. She couldn't help but wonder, what was in those rooms? Were they all entertainment rooms? Maybe they were dungeons! No...Mokuba seemed far too nice to live in a place with dungeons. Maybe they were filled with things not meant to be witnessed by humans! So many thoughts flooded her mind as her eyes darted around the place frantically. She began counting on her fingers how many doors she passed following Mokuba, beginning to feel overwhelmed by the place. It was then she accidentally walked straight into his back as he had stopped; her hand getting caught up between her chest and his back. Mokuba turned his head slightly to her, checking she was okay as she backed off from him.
"This place is huge!" She said to him in surprise. He couldn't help but chuckle at her surprise and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders as he wondered over to the fridge.
"Well it is a mansion. You'll find your way through it." He said to her, opening the fridge.
The humming of the appliance filled the room as the light shined on his face. There was two plates in there, Seto must have eaten earlier. Mokuba took out the plates and walked over to the other counter, the fridge door gently closing as he began taking off the plastic wrap. Now that he thought about it, since he had gotten older him and Seto spent less time as a family together. That was partly his fault; he didn't want to be around Seto all the time now that he was seventeen, he stopped with that attitude once he was thirteen. Still, sitting down together for a meal would probably be nice sometimes. It did get lonely eating by himself.
But Ito was here now. That was a good thing really it meant the two teens could keep each other company. He smiled gently to himself as he placed the second plate in the microwave. Ito had looked around the kitchen at all the different things. Spices and herbs in a spice rack all neatly lined up. Cooking equipment hung from hooks on the wall. Everything was well organised in this kitchen... in this house in general!
It made Ito think...would she enjoy staying here? There was only one way to find out really. There was another thing on her mind too. The Hive Mind. She -needed- to take them down. Ideally alone. Ito was determined to avenge her brother and free the others. She just had to.