WhiteAsukalover: Thanks for your review! Enjoy the chapter!
Yugi's Girl006: Hahaha, I wasn't going to actually have Seto play football, but upon reading your review, I decided to anyway:D Your feeling is correct, it is about to get pretty good. I like how you ended your review with 'Peace out,' well played! Thanks for your review!
AmePiper: Yeah, I guess I have to move on to the double dashes now. Pieces of crap… oh well. I'm so glad Ryo and Marik make you chuckle… considering I really have no purpose for them in this fic, really. They're kind of the failure children of my life. And gosh, I had forgotten about that line. Usually I remember all my funny lines. Oh well. Chillax… cool. I haven't heard that word used in a long time, but for some reason upon reading it in your review, it makes me think it's cool again. Thanks for the review!
Rena Redhead: Hahaha, Yugi not knowing what he wants makes me think of him as a teenage girl. Ha, he has periods. Anyways, yes, Mokuba truly is the perfect younger brother for any ideal anime character. Yeah, I'm so surprised you found that so funny, but whatever brings you joy, my love, I shall bring it. I hope this chapter is everything you ever wanted and more. Thanks for the review!
Chapter 13: Family Reunion
A football field was the last place Seto Kaiba would actually expect himself to be on. What was even less expected was him playing the actual game. Somehow the world as he knew it was beginning to surprise him almost every waking moment. For there he stood, a tall and lanky man, whom had never played a sport in his life, was leaping through the air in all directions in attempt to catch an oddly shaped ball. Truth be told, this was not an easy task.
"Fumble!" Noah yelled, laughing hysterically afterwards. Seto looked down in shame, the damned football lay by his feet. Somehow, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch the football. Seto was physically unable to catch the ball, it seemed. His father could be heard laughing as well, running over to his son's side and patting him on the back in forgiveness.
"Ah, cheer up son. We can try again."
"But Father, I'm not good at this, can't you tell?" His father let out a laugh.
"Course I know that! Anyone with eyes could see that!" Seto felt even more of a failure with that being said. Seto's father must've been able to sense his son's disappointment, for he had wrapped his arm around him afterwards and kissed him on the head in return. "Don't worry Seto, we'll get'em. With a little practice, you'll do just fine."
"How can you be so sure?" Seto asked with much doubt.
"I'm your Dad, of course I'm sure," He said, "Now come on, we'll do a new play. Something they won't expect!" Seto stood for a moment in shock. It was just… baffling, how his mood and thoughts could change so quickly with the encouragement from his father. Seto was use to never getting compliments or reassurance, he had been raised that way. Sure, Mokuba would always tell Seto nice things and encourage him, but he had been his younger brother, so it was a little like he had been programmed to do so.
But to have a higher up, someone more mature, an older man, tell him he was going to be okay, that he did fail… it changed him and his entire thinking. And most of all, it felt good. Seto was really experiencing what it was like to have parents… and he loved it. Seto, filling with feelings of joy and good cheer, decided to re-join his team and get ready for the next play.
"Okay Seto, if you just follow my lead, we'll get a touch down for sure," Mokuba whispered up to Seto. Seto nodded with understanding. The group broke and got into position. Before Seto knew it the ball had been passed to him, and he was scanning the field for someone to throw to.
"Over here!" Mokuba called from the far end of the field. Seto put in all the energy he could into one throw, and watched as the football shot through the air. Mokuba reached out his arms to catch it, but tripped on something all too suddenly and fell to the ground badly. The game was paused immediately and the other teammates gathered around him on the field. Seto pushed through everyone and knelt by Mokuba's side.
"Mokuba!" Seto said, "Are you alright??" Mokuba was shaking a bit, holding his left arm with his right hand.
"My… arm… it hurts," Mokuba whimpered, gritting his teeth.
"Don't worry Mokuba, I'll make it better. Just hold tight," Seto scooped the mangled boy into his arms and lifting him off the ground. It was obvious that Mokuba was in some extreme pain, but was trying to hold back tears as much as possible. Seto looked down at the boy and gave him a friendly smile.
"It's okay to cry, Mokuba, no one's going to think any less of you." Mokuba stared up at him with disbelief.
"Noah… will…" Mokuba squeezed his arm tighter, the pain only seeming to get worse, "I don't want him to make fun of me." Seto had already entered his home and placed Mokuba safely on the couch, pulling out his first aid kit from underneath it and examining Mokuba's arm.
"I'll see to it Noah doesn't say a word. If he does, I'll give him a good punch to the gut to show him whose boss." A small trace of tears could be seen slowly trickling down Mokuba's face, but had been halted with Mokuba's laughter from Seto's statement.
"Would you really do that to your own cousin?"
"You bet I would. That brat deserves it if he makes fun of you." Mokuba laughed again, distracting him from the pain in his arm. Seto managed to clean, disinfect, and bandage Mokuba's arm within only a minute or so. Seto tightened the bandage one last time before looking back up into Mokuba's face.
"Feel better?" Mokuba nodded.
"Yeah, much better." Mokuba got up and off the couch, heading towards the door. He stopped and turned back towards Seto. "Hey Seto?"
"Yeah?" Mokuba gave a small smile.
"Thanks a lot. You have been really kind to me lately and... maybe I was wrong about you. You aren't the person people say you are. I think you're someone else… someone much nicer and good." Seto said nothing and watched Mokuba leave the room. Seto almost wanted to call Mokuba back, to try and convince him once more that he was his brother. Mokuba was known to be the only person that ever saw his true character, the only good side he had. Somewhere deep down, there had to be the Mokuba that saw Seto as his brother.
"Honey!" Seto's mother called all of the sudden from outside, "Look!" Seto ran out of the house, thinking there was some kind of danger coming their way. All eyes were turned to the front gates that were being opened. Three figures walked through the gates and entered onto Kaiba territory. Seto didn't know the people whom were walking on his lawn whatsoever, but from the look on everyone's face, it seems they were more well known to everyone else.
"Ah! There he is!" Seto's father called, walking over to the tallest man of the three, "Aknamkanon! My favorite brother!" Seto's father embraced Aknamkanon with open arms. Gozaburo had already made his way to great Aknamkanon as well.
"I thought I was your favorite brother," Gozaburo asked, chuckling afterwards.
"Ah Gozaburo, you think too highly of yourself," Aknamkanon said, hugging Gozaburo tightly as well. Two other people followed from behind. Seto's father's eyes brightened upon seeing them both.
"Wow, look at this! Your kids have all grown up!" Seto's father said, smiling and offering hugs for the both of them. "Mana, you have become even more beautiful then when I last saw you." Mana giggled.
"Thanks uncle." Seto's father also eyed the boy standing beside his sister, although he seemed much too tall to be considered much of a boy, but a teenager none the less.
"And Mahado, you have become a strapping young lad as well." Mahado seemed calm and collected the whole time. Mahado's hand shot out and shook his with a strong grip. "My goodness, the boy has some muscle going on as well!" Seto's father said in surprise.
Aknamkanon laughed once more. "Yes, he has become a fine boy indeed." Aknamkanon looked around and spotted Noah throwing the football up in the air and catching it by himself in the field. "Noah, my little nephew, what are you doing over there? Come here and give me a hug!" Noah stopped and ran over to Aknamkanon and gave him a hug.
"You've also grown as well, haven't you?" Aknamkanon asked once he had broken away from the hug. Noah was staring up at him with curious eyes, and a question begging to be asked.
"Um, Mr. Aknamkanon, how are you my uncle if you are clearly from Egypt?" The laughter and talking completely stopped and tension filled the air. Gozaburo and Seto's father looked at one another before looking back at Aknamkanon.
"I'm so terribly sorry for my son's rudeness, I…" Gozaburo began, but was stopped by Aknamkanon himself.
"It's quite alright Gozaburo," Akanamkanon looked down at Noah, "You see, Noah. I was adopted from Egypt into the Kaiba family. I am not technically of your blood."
"But you are our brother all the same," Gozaburo stated, easily the conversation into a less awkward state. Aknamkanon nodded in agreement.
"Indeed I am." And just like that, the reunion flowed back into it's normal state.
"Brother, how was your flight here from Egypt? Did everything go smoothly?" Gozaburo asked. The brothers continued on with their small talk and catching up, as Seto was eyeing the two children of Aknamkanon. The girl, Mana he presumed, was bounding up and down, as if she were about to explode with excitement. And Mahado… Seto just didn't like Mahado.
"What are you looking at?" Mahado asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.
"You, what else would I be looking at?" Seto stated with confidence. Mahado moved in closer, both were now standing directly in front of the other. Mana came up from the side of both of them.
"Mahado! Will you quit it already? We just got here!"
"Shut up Mana, stay out of it!" Mana crossed her arms.
"No way!" Mana was ignored completely after that, the two teenagers staring each other in the face. They were both practically the same height, although one could never be certain. It seemed Mahado might've been slightly taller than Seto, but only by a couple inches. Seto was someone who never let their guard down or over power them, but his death glare was not working and he felt small even if he was only a couple inches shorter.
"Seto Kaiba! Look at you! The big business man, I see," Aknamkanon said, breaking the silent battle between Mahado and Seto. Seto gave Mahado one last glare before turning to his Egyptian uncle.
"Yes sir, I am."
"Now tell me dear Nephew, where might I find my son? I hope he has taken to Japan quite well." Seto cocked his head to the side, unsure of what Aknamkanon was referring to. Aknamkanon picked up on it and said, "Antony, of course. Where is he?"
"Oh! Him, right. He's in the hospital." Just like that, the awkwardness returned. Seto, to his misfortune, was unable to sense the tension whatsoever.
"The hospital? Whatever to you mean?"
"The hospital, yeah. He went into this burning building to save Yugi, and he ended up burning his back pretty badly. So he's been there for about a night or so." All eyes were on Seto now. This was around the same time that Seto was starting to understand that something was supposedly wrong with what he had said.
"Seto, when did this happen? Why didn't you tell us about Antony's condition??" Seto's mother asked with surprise and concern.
"I didn't think it was such a big deal. I mean, the guy was acting pretty stupid." Gozaburo was glaring at Seto.
"Seto Kaiba! He is still your cousin and your family! You should've protected him!"
"What? No way! That guy's annoying!" The perfect family reunion seemed to turn against Seto all at once. The event was about to explode, when suddenly the gates were opened once more, symbolizing another visitor had come. The family directed their attention away from Seto just in the nick of time to see who was coming. To everyone's surprise and disbelief… it was Yami himself whom was limping across the lawn. He stopped when he saw all the people that were present and staring at him.
"Was there something I missed?" Yami said. Just then, Mana wrapped her arms around Yami and squeezed him tightly.
"Oh big brother! I missed you! Why would you scare us like that?!" Yami raised his eyebrow.
"Dark Magician Girl?" Mahado walked over and looked down at Yami sternly.
"Antony, you know better than to run into a burning building what on earth were you thinking?! You could've been killed!" Yami raised his eyebrow even higher when he saw Mahado.
"Dark Magician?"
"What are you calling us?" Mana asked, pulling away from her knot around Yami. The whole family came and began to gather around Yami. Yami pushed and pulled, and then winced with the pain from all the hugs. His back still hadn't fully healed, and technically he had run off before he had been suppose to from the hospital.
"Kaiba! What is going on?" Seto shrugged, rather enjoying the sight of Yami being hugged and such with his family.
"Beats me. What took you so long?"
"I had third degree burns!" Yami responded.
"Oh come on, don't be such a wimp." Mahado turned and glared at Seto.
"Don't call my brother a wimp. He is to be referred to as no such thing." Seto didn't like the way Mahado was talking to him. A fight was only seconds away from being released.
"I can refer to him in whatever way I please." Mahado cracked his knuckles.
"Okay, that's it!" Mahado pulled his fist back in the air, but Yami pushed Seto away.
"Hold on guys, just give me one second. I need to talk to Seto alone!" Yami pulled Seto over to the house where there was less people. "Okay, seriously, what is going on? Who are all those people? And what's your-"
"Did you just call me Seto?" Yami blinked.
"What?" Then Yami thought about it, "Oh-Yeah, I did. Whatever, it was a slip of the tongue. But listen-"
"Don't call me that again." Yami groaned with annoyance.
"Will you answer the question already?! What's going on??" Seto sighed.
"Apparently our family decided to have a little reunion at my place. Gozaburo is apparently my uncle, and your father is my other uncle. In other words, we seem to have one big, happy family together. Isn't that great?" Yami rolled his eyes.
"Look, Kaiba, not that I don't love being in your family, but we have bigger problems to worry about."
"Oh really? Like what?" Seto said with sarcasm.
"Like Yugi. Where is he? Have you seen him? He left the hospital and I haven't seen him," Yami tightened the grip on his fist, "I fear the worst has happened to him." Seto showed no signs of concern.
"Oh please, as if I really care about Muto. He's my rival, remember? So for all I care, he can go get hit by a train or something." Yami was filled with rage.
"Kaiba! How can you say that about Yugi?!"
"I'm really annoyed that this is still a surprise to you."
"What I don't understand is how you can possibly be so selfish! All you care about is yourself! Malik and Bakura probably already have Yugi, they might've already killed him!" Seto crossed his arms and glared at Yami.
"Like I said before; whatever happens to Muto is really the last of my worries. And it's not that I don't care about anyone! I just only care about Mokuba and that's it." Yami and Seto continued to glare at one another with intensity. It seemed the tension was about to overcome the situation once more and a fight was anticipated, but was intercepted.
"Um, guys…" Ryo said, "I think we have a problem." Seto and Yami turned to Ryo and Marik that were standing nearby. Yami wanted to ask how long they had been standing there listening to them, but decided against it.
"And what might that be?" Seto asked, once again, with much sarcasm and little concern with what the actual answer might be.
"Mokuba's gone," Marik said. Seto's heart stopped.
"…What?" Ryo nodded.
"It's true! He disappeared. Marik and I have searched everywhere, we can't find him! Do you think Malik and Bakura have him?" Seto growled with anger. Not again. Not after the moment Mokuba and him had just shared only a couple minutes before. Not even in another universe would he let those goons run off with his brother without punishment.
"We have to find them!" Yami said, stating the obvious.
"And we will find them… if it's the last thing we do. No one takes my brother away and gets away with it." Seto and Yami looked at one another and there was an understanding between the two. They were going to leave together and find Yugi and Mokuba. No matter what it took, and no matter what they faced along the way. Malik and Bakura didn't know what they were dealing with.
The fact that they were arch rivals didn't exist in that moment. Just the strive for revenge and justice alone.
A/N: And here I am with another chapter! Okay, if you are wondering where that sequel is… yeah, sorry about that. I keep thinking I know how I'm going to write it, but then it all keeps getting confused. But don't worry, I'm going to keep at it if it's the last thing I do! But in reference to the actual chapter, sorry for the utter lameness of the ending. At least I felt it was kind of… lame. But just you wait, this story is just about to get good! Thanks for all your reviews!
P.S: This chapter is dedicated to Blink 182. If you are a fan, you might see the connection between that band and the title. Remember, if you can't blink it, it ain't blink!