julia: Thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter.

Candy world: Awww, thank you for your most caring review, dear. It definitely made me feel all fuzzy and happy inside for the rest of the day after I read it. I know this update wasn't as quick as the last one, but I hope it makes you smile just as much as your review made me smile.

Fleeting Illicit Delicious: A new reviewer? How wonderful! Welcome to my fanfiction. I'm glad you're enjoying the story thus far. I hope you like this chapter just as much!

Afiong Bassey: Yes, Ms. Morgan finally got what she deserved. But let's see what the after math is.

FROD O BAGANS: I LOVE YOU.

AmePiper: Thanks for letting me know about the story; I'll definitely have to check it out sometime when I'm not busy writing chapters or doing homework. It's got a lot of chapters, but I'm sure I can find some time to read it. Here goes Chapter 20!

Mystical Sand: Thanks for the review! You know I love each and every one of them.

Chapter 20

A Decision and the Mistake

Mokuba wasn't quite sure what time it was when he awoke. He pushed back the blanket that lay on top of him and sat upright. He looked down and saw that Seto had fallen asleep on the floor right next to the couch. Mokuba also spotted the glass of water that sat on the coffee table. He slowly grabbed it and started to drink when Seto started to wake up. Seto rubbed his head and looked over at Mokuba.

"Mokuba…" Seto sat up as well, "How… I…" Seto wasn't quite sure what to say. He was fearful that whatever he might say could trigger another emotional break down for his dear little brother.

"Nii-sama?"

"Yes, Mokuba?"

"I'm hungry." Seto held out his hand and held Mokuba's in his.

"I'll make you some dinner." Seto led him the kitchen table and let him sit down. Mokuba sat there with a tired face and yawned. "What do you want to eat?" Seto asked, looking around in the fridge.

"Can I have some cereal?"

"Is that all you want?" Mokuba nodded. Seto grabbed a cereal box, a bowl, milk, and a spoon from various places and set them on the table. Mokuba served himself as he poured the cereal and milk into the bowl. He lifted the spoon and dipped it into the bowl. When he took the spoon back up, his hands were shaking. Mokuba tried to place the spoon in his mouth, but ended up spilling the cereal in his spoon on the table. Mokuba observed his hands, watching them shake non-stop.

"Do you… do you want me to help you?" Seto asked in a quiet voice. Mokuba nodded as tears filled his eyes. Slowly but surely Seto began to feed his younger brother and when the bowl was empty, they sat in silence once more. Mokuba's mind was racing almost as fast as his heart was. "Mokuba… do you… do you want to talk about what happened?" The tears flowed freely down the boy's face.

"There's nothing to talk about…" Mokuba whimpered, but he's saddened face now turned to one of anger, "She ruined my life." Seto took both his brother's hands in his and held them tightly. Mokuba looked up at his elder brother as Seto brought his hands up and kissed them.

"I'm so sorry Mokuba… this has to be all my fault… I wasn't able to protect you."

"Nii-sama… it wasn't-"

"It was. I should've kept a closer eye on you… I should've been around more. I fucked up Mokuba; I honestly fucked up. And I really though… I really thought that if we moved here, our lives would finally be free of all this tragedy, and that you would finally be safe and we could live happily for once in our lives…"

"Wait a second… you moved here because you wanted to protect me?"

"Well… yes. Couldn't you see, Mokuba? Your life was in danger every single day when we lived in Japan, everyone knew my name and knew how to hurt me. And that was by hurting you. After that incident with Hanzo… I almost lost you, Mokuba, and I couldn't stand the thought of ever being in that situation again. I had to do something."

"So you moved us halfway across the world?" Seto was taken back by Mokuba's angry voice.

"Well, yes. How else could I have protected you?"

"Nii-sama, don't you think this is a little extreme?"

"Mokuba, I needed to take extreme measures. You kept getting kidnapped and getting injured. There was bound to be a point where someone would actually kill you."

"I can't believe this… I can't believe you would put me through all this, just because of… of all those bad guys. I mean, I know it sucked, but ever since we've moved here everything has just been total crap and practically worse than before! I can't believe you would do this all to me…" Mokuba stood up, moving away from Seto.

"Mokuba, you have to understand, I was scared. Can you imagine what I went through, watching you bleed and suffer like that and knowing there wasn't one goddamn thing I could do about? Imagine if you died… Mokuba, you know I wouldn't be able to live with myself than to know you died and I could've protected you."

"Nii-sama, I swear… you don't get it do you?" Seto gave Mokuba a confused, yet angry look. How could his brother be so angry with him when he had done it all for him in the first place? Seto didn't understand what he did wrong, if anyone should understand Seto's own actions, it would be Mokuba.

"Don't get what?"

"Nii-sama… it's impossible what you're trying to do. You can't protect someone from getting hurt or feeling pain all their lives. Pain is part of life… life is pain in the long run. Life is about struggles and hard ship… and the idea that you thought you could actually protect me from the rest of the world was just irrational." Seto sat astonished by what his brother had just said. Although Mokuba was only a child still, there were times where it seemed as though he were wiser than the older brother. "I know you love me and I love you… but… moving away from all the pain those kidnappers put me through wasn't worth the pain I felt here, in America or the abuse I had to suffer."

Mokuba left the room. Seto sat completely still, feeling as though all that he had tried to do was nothing more than a failure or a complete waste of time. Seto wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad after hearing Mokuba tell him the plain and simple truth of the matter. He had lost his company, his position, and practically his dignity to protect Mokuba, and now it seemed as though it were only a waste.

How could he have been so stupid as to actually believe he could make things right for Mokuba? From his very birth, life had gone wrong for him, what made him think that another country would make any difference? Was Mokuba destined to a life surrounded by pain and suffering? Seto was confused and wasn't sure what to believe anymore. He thought listening to his own head would only lead to more and more mistakes and stupid decisions.

"Mr. Kaiba? Are you okay?" Seto looked up to see Steven standing at the doorway of the dining room, his eyes filled with worry. Seto looked away.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine… you look like you're about to fall apart."

"As if you could ever understand what I'm going through… I've made so many terrible mistakes in the past…"

"See, that's why you're unable to move forward. Because you're so caught up in what happened in the past, you can't focus on making good decisions in the future. How can you possibly expect to move forward in life if you only focus on the mistakes you made years ago." Seto stood up, a deadly look in his eyes. He walked right up to Steven until their faces were only inches away from one another.

"How dare you comment on the way I live my life; you don't have a clue of what I've gone through and what I've done to try and survive on my own. No one has ever taken care of me; I've been trying to save my own ass since I was 12 years old. I think I know how to live my fucking life. My past has made me who I am."

Steven opened his mouth to protest and counter his statement, but Steven held back. Seto was going through an incredibly hard time, and Steven felt as though he preach anymore to Seto about his thoughts. He decided it was best to just leave him be. "You're right… I'm sorry." Steven reached into his pocket and handed him the envelope, "I want you to have this… I hope it'll help." Seto took the envelope and looked at it for a moment, before tossing it to the ground.

"You're fired."

"…What?"

"You heard me, you're fired. I want you out of my house in the next 3 hours." Steven stood there, and blinked one or twice before shaking his head.

"You… You have to be kidding me, where will I go? I don't have a home, I just gave you all the money I had."

"You can keep you're worthless money." Seto left the room, leaving Steven stunned and hurt. When he snapped back to reality, the fact that Seto had fired him had destroyed his self-esteem. Steven turned his head and looked at the enveloped, untouched and unused, as it lay on the floor. He pondered whether he should take the money back or not. After all, he, himself, was now homeless. Steven reached down to pick it up, but stopped halfway as he remembered his pride. With dignity, Steven stood back up and left the room with his head up high.

Seto walked without regret as he headed towards his office. Seto wasn't one to feel much guilt in situations like these, he felt as though that life was cruel and that one must deal with it. Seto stopped when he stood in front of Mokuba's room, wondering if he should go and talk to his brother, but decided against it. Seto decided that Mokuba would come to him when the time was right. Therefore he walked on, and headed into his office.

"Well, I fired him… Isono? Are you on the phone?" Isono jumped at the sound of Seto's voice and twisted around.

"I'll call you back," He said quickly into the receiver before hanging up. Seto eyed him.

"Who was that?"

"Oh, that was just my Aunt…" Isono replied. Seto walked over and picked up the phone, he searched and looked at the number on the caller ID.

"It says it's a restricted number."

"Oh, she makes her phone do that sometimes… I'm not sure why." Seto stared at him, then shrugged before placing the phone back down.

"Whatever you say… but as much as I love talking about your family, we need to talk about mine. I think Mokuba's mad at me… I told him the reason why I moved and he got really upset. He told me that my decision was wrong and that we shouldn't have moved just for his protection and that people can't be protected forever… and just… a lot of other things. He just basically beat me down about living here and now I just feel terrible… what do you think I should do?"

"That's a lot to be dealing with Mr. Kaiba… I do feel for you," Isono walked over and stood beside Seto, patting him on the shoulder, "I don't know if action is the right path to be taken right now. I think you should just try to relax for a while. You've been under so much stress, and right after this whole incident with Ms. Morgan, you can't possibly be expected to make another life decision at this very second." Seto pondered the suggestion and sighed.

"I suppose you are right…"

"I know what we can do… I think we should both go and grab a bite to eat, what do you say?"

"I'm not sure I want to leave Mokuba's side after all that's happened in only the last day…"

"Mr. Kaiba, you're overprotective. I mean, your brother eve told you that you're way too overprotective. You need to learn to let go. No one's going to be coming after Mokuba anytime soon and you need to get out of this house before you lose your insanity completely." Seto scratched his chin and thought.

"Well… I guess it can't do any harm…" Seto and Isono walked out of the office and down the stairs. They pasted Steven just as they were about to head out the door when Steven stopped them.

"Wait, where are you guys going?" Seto turned around and glared at him.

"That's none of your concern. Just make sure that you're packed and out that door by the time I get back."

"But what about Mokuba? Who's going to watch him?"

"I told you, it's none of your concern." Seto left the house and the house echoed with eeriness. Steven kicked the door in anger. How could Seto be so heartless? Or better yet, how could he be so careless? His brother goes through a traumatic experience, and the next day, Seto is out the door. Steven didn't understand this former CEO, not one bit. This was supposed to be the brother that left his home country for his younger brother, and now he was gone. Steven shook his head and headed back to packing his things. He decided that there was nothing he could do except gather his things and leave.

The car pulled into the driveway a couple hours later and Seto and Isono got out. But when they entered the house, they found Steven laying on all his suitcases and belongings. Seto slammed the door and Steven awoke. "What are you still doing here?"

"I-I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, I was just sitting here-I was going to-and I guess I just fell asleep-"

"I don't want anymore excuses Steven," Seto headed up the stairs to Mokuba's room, "If you're not gone by the time I come back down here from checking up on Mokuba, I will call the police on you." Seto stomped up the stairs and disappeared on the second floor. Steven shook his head and looked over at Isono. Isono stood in the corner of the room with a blank expression and a pale face.

"Hey… Mr. Isono… are you alright?" Steven asked walking towards Isono.

"He's gone!" Seto ran down the stairs over to Isono and Steven, "Mokuba's been kidnapped!" Steven gasped while Isono stood motionless. "Isono, Hanzo, he left a note. He has Mokuba. He has my brother Isono… I have no idea how he could've found us… how could he have found us in America? …Isono… why won't you speak?" Seto stared at him. "Isono?"

"I…" Isono started, he turned his head away from Seto in shame. "I told Hanzo where your brother was!"

A/N: Hey guys, Kari here with another wonderful chapter! Well, hopefully you all think it's wonderful. Lately I haven't been feeling very confident about these chapters, maybe you guys could reassure me that I'm doing okay? Never hold back constructive criticism though, if you have any for the story! Every writer loves to know how she can improve. Well, I'm hoping you guys did like this chapter and that the next chapter will be updated much more quickly than this one. Toodles!