Daisy
Yugi woke up extra early the next morning to go see if Joey and Seto had found anything. He'd wanted to help them as well, but Joey insisted that Yugi go to bed and sleep for the night. It didn't take much convincing, though, since Yugi hadn't slept much lately and was beyond exhausted. The bedroom was still dusky, and the clock on the dresser told him it was just going on five-thirty in the morning. He yawned and stretched, then tumbled out of bed and into the hallway. Before going downstairs, he stopped to check on Mokuba, who still appeared to be fast asleep. Satisfied that he was okay, Yugi continued down the stairs, where he found Seto sitting on the couch, staring at his laptop. Joey was passed out on the other end of the couch, slumped over with his arms tossed over his head and his shirt bunched up just above his navel.
"Hey, Kaiba," Yugi said quietly, wandering past Joey to sit next to the brunet in the middle of the sofa. Kaiba acknowledged him with a quick glance, but otherwise didn't say anything. Yugi shifted nervously, looking over at the sleeping blonde before saying anything else.
"Can I help? It might go faster."
Seto leaned over and pulled the laptop Joey had been using off the coffee table, booted the system up, and handed it to Yugi. He briefly explained that Joey had been looking at the cameras on floors 1-8, while Kaiba took the all basement cameras and floors 9-14. Yugi nodded, and started watching the videos.
"So how long did Joey stay awake?" Yugi asked after awhile, slightly amused as the blonde started mumbling something about some video game in his sleep.
Seto smirked slightly and shifted his screen to the next floor, adjusting the view. "Up until about an hour ago."
Well, that was probably better than either of them had expected. The shorter duelist smiled a bit and returned to watching in vain for a little while before trying to offer some good news. "I think Mokuba's starting to get a little better. The past few nights he's been waking up almost every hour, but I think he finally slept through the night."
"I'm aware of that," Seto responded after a quiet moment. "I checked on him several times." He stopped the video he was scanning through and placed the laptop on the coffee table. Yugi watched him curiously, unsure of what to do or say.
"I noticed you left your door open last night."
Yugi blinked, confused, but nodded anyhow. "Well, if Mokuba needed something while you guys were working, I wanted him to know I was there..."
"...I know." Seto paused again. "Thank you for being there for him. You will be compensated for your time."
"I don't want compensation, Kaiba, no matter what you mean by that..." Yugi said, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I don't want anything from you."
Seto closed his eyes for a moment, attempting to kill his frustration and the horrible sensation of gratitude. "Yugi, as I've been told, you've taken care of my brother like I should have. I highly doubt anybody else would have been there for Mokuba to the extent that you were."
"That's not true, I'm sure that you've got someone on your staff who would have cared for him-"
"No, not like you did, they wouldn't have, and I know this because even I wasn't there for him." Seto finally glanced at Yugi out of the corner of his eye, and realized that the typically pacific duelist was actually full-on glaring at him; oddly, a proud feeling flared up somewhere deep inside the brunet, and he would have started cackling if he hadn't been so set in his serious demeanor.
"You know how you can compensate me, Kaiba?"
"Hnh."
"Next time you need help, ask me," Yugi said, turning back to the video. "We always get involved after you're in too deep, but maybe if you came to me first, we could help before things get so serious. Wouldn't asking for help early on help things go smoother in the end?"
"No. That won't be necessary. I never ask for help."
"Why?"
Seto shot him a quick look of surprise before covering it with a scowl. For years, the whole little group had been shaming him on his complete disregard and ridicule of friendship, but to his memory, none had ever really asked Yugi's question until now. Not that it would have ever done much good before, but still. He remembered how furious they used to make him, but deep down, they hurt him when they scolded his attitude. They didn't understand why he couldn't trust people, or open up to anybody. Kaiba let out an impatient breath and crossed his arms over his chest tightly.
"Yugi, I'm grateful to you for taking care of my brother, but I don't need anyone to take care of me."
"...I think you do."
Yugi's voice was as quiet and gentle as ever, but it dripped with a point. Seto tried to ignore him, but something wouldn't let that happen. He had picked up the laptop and resumed the surveillance videos again, but he couldn't focus on it. He slammed the laptop shut, and turned to fully face Yugi.
"I never ask for help because I've learned that it's just a waste of time. Not just from Gozaburo, but from literally every other person I've ever trusted in my life. After my mother died, my father proved to be a useless parent. In fact, I'm still not entirely convinced that the "accident" he died in was an accident." Kaiba flung his laptop into the wall furiously, where it shattered, and sound of the impact caused Joey to wake up with a start and fall off the couch. "Every single person from then on has done everything in their power to get rid of me, or exploit what I've worked so hard to gain, or just steal it from me. Excuse me if I'm not exactly ecstatic to jump on the damn Friendship Express."
"Kaiba, what the hell did I say to you about being rude to Yugi?" Joey growled, leaping from the floor to his feet and moving to loom above Kaiba. But Yugi held up his hand and shook his head at the blonde, signaling he wanted Kaiba to go on, and the brunet did as though Joey hadn't even spoken.
"Gozaburo forced me into studying and working day in and day out, with no sleep most days and never a break. Trust me when I say that friends have always been the last thing on my mind. Nobody will ever understand what I've been through, and don't even try, because you won't. You're not...broken enough. You could never understand, Yugi."
Tears of compassion unwittingly filled Yugi's eyes, but he managed to get rid of them before looking back at the suffering brunet, who was trembling with rage as he gripped the side of couch.
"You're probably right. Maybe I can't understand exactly what you've been through," Yugi practically whispered, wringing his hands in his lap as images of the bullies from school flooded his mind. He had his friends to help him with those demons, and he truly could not fathom how Kaiba survived his own demons without anyone to lean on. "But I know that you know I've never tried to use you or take anything from you. Plus, when Pegasus, your board members, and Dartz tried to get rid of you, I was there to save you. I don't expect you to suddenly be my best friend. But I do expect you to know that I'm not going to try anything to hurt you."
Seto's eyes were unreadable, and he turned away and fixed them on the shattered laptop before standing up and stepping back.
"I know you couldn't harm a fly, Yugi."
His voice was flat and cold, but he meant what he said. He trusted Yugi, but wasn't interested in investing that trust. It simply just never worked out well in the end. The three of them remained silent for a few moments before Yugi spoke again.
"Kaiba...why don't you go lie down for a little while? You look like you could use a break. Joey and I can go through the last few surveillance videos."
The brunet just grumbled and walked away, too emotionally drained to even argue. The other two watched him leave, sitting in silence for a moment before Joey slapped his arm around Yugi and gave his shoulders a quick squeeze.
"He's just a jerk, Yug. Don't feel bad about it."
"He's not and I don't," Yugi said softly, still feeling the despair from Kaiba. "He needed to vent, and now I think he needs some alone time. Let's just watch these cameras."
The blonde ran a hand through his messy hair, frowning as Yugi started zoning out into the cameras. He joined him, and a few more hours went by before anything happened. Even though they weren't really concentrating on the videos, neither missed when Roland finally turned up on the screen.
"Wow, he sure took his sweet time..." Joey muttered, and Yugi made a noise of agreement. "Who's this woman? Does she work for Kaiba?"
"Uh...hold on," Yugi said, zooming in on a chubby blonde woman's face. "I don't recognize her."
The video continued to play, and the two people on the screen started making all kinds of wild gestures, obviously arguing. That went on for a while until Roland turned around to storm away, but the blonde chased after him, drawing a pistol.
"Next room, hurry up!" Joey urged, and Yugi hastened to do so. As it turned out, the "next room" was outside; unfortunately, it wasn't an area outdoors at Kaiba Corp that consisted of any cameras. The two sat there and stared at each other until the blonde stood up.
"Okay, Yug. You go talk to Moneybags and get more information on whatever this guy's trying to say Kaiba did, and I'll go find out what really happened."