Syaoran

Chapter 17-Seto Kaiba

It was actually during dinner when Touya told me about the sensing act.

" Each person has an aura." Touya had mentioned. " I use to have one, but because my sister wasn't strong enough to support Yue and herself at once, I had to give all of my powers to Yue, otherwise, he'll just disappear. You probably never noticed, since Syaoran wears green all the time anyway, but he has a green aura. Sakura has a pink one. It's not really something you can see, exactly. It's more of combining all of your five senses, mixed along with some mysterious sixth sense. A person's aura can tell you many things."
" Like what?" I had asked. " I mean, I know Mokuba's more or less...brown...is brown a good color?"

At this Touya smiled and shoved me playfully.

" Still a child, eh?" He teased. " The truth is, the color of the auras does not determine what kind of person he or she is. It's just a kind of identity. Like a wordless name. Think of Syaoran. Syaoran's name in Chinese is ' Little Wolf'. Well, wolves were not the most favorable in China. They were considered evil. Is Syaoran evil? Iie, it's only a name. He was a brat, of course. But there's no vice in him. Your aura is black. You're not evil either. It's just your identity."

Well, I didn't really like the color. I mean, to dress in black, that I can handle. But black, well...

" The aura can tell you how powerful this person is, where this person is, how he or she is feeling, whether he's sick, and so on and so forth. But of course, auras go for objects too. Right now, the card book is green. The lasin board is reddish. Objects tell you the same thing; although it won't tell you if its broken or not."

I learned a great deal of things from Touya that night. Magic, undoubtedly, is a dangerous business. Touya told me that there are incantations for several spells, and of course, later that night he took me out to try one of Syaoran's moves. The minute I said " Lightning!" Two bolts of light struck near Kero, who was startled out of his wits. I actually liked that act, and decided to remember it. Touya nodded in approval, then warned me not to use it too often, as the consequences were made apparent by Pegasus.

There is no more to talk about that night, nor the period when Syaoran was sick, because Jou had made it pretty clear. I think I did go a little insane though, all thanks to the bastard in Duelist Kingdom, although I guess it was my own foolishness to play right into his game once again. I didn't take Syaoran to the Duelist Center, but I was very amused when Honda and Anzu gave me the full report on the conditions. Sometime later, Syaoran accidentally stepped on my foot, and from then on he earned the nickname ' kaijuu', only he was my kaijuu this time.



The incident Jou had mentioned happened in my office building. I forgot to eat breakfast and lunch, as well as dinner the other night, which proved to be a disadvantage. I was discussing company matters with a couple of other business owners who wanted me to assist them in something that will bore you totally.

I knew what they wanted and we were going to negotiate. It happened to be that the automatic door had some problems and closed right on my left palm. It was very hard, although it wasn't sharp, and it hurted a lot.

I had thought that the pain would ebb sooner or later, which it did, but not before darkness swirled around my eyes and all of the sudden I was dreaming.

Fainting is not fun. If any retard tells you that, he's wrong. In truth, my kind of shock is more or less of falling asleep while walking. It really didn't make sense, because from the best of my medical knowledge I had assumed that a shock meant your body systems shutting down, including your brain. If your brain shuts down you're not supposed to dream. But I did dream, I knew I did, because although I forgot what they were now, when I woke up I remembered the dreams. I remembered the feeling of the dreams. And I dreamed a whole bunch of weird things, in those few minutes. When I woke up, I was pretty confused, because I was partly expecting to be in bed. When I saw the face of one of the trust CEOs, I thought I was dreaming. For a brief second I forgot what had happened and I started. And then I basically said, " What happened?"



They said, " It's alright. You fainted."

And that's how I got my memory back.

Fainting is not fun. It's not because the actual fainting is not fun. It's what comes after that. You faint, you fall, that's that, because you don't know anything, everythings alright. When you wake up, everything's cold. When I spoke, I was surprised at how weak my voice sounded, and then nausea took over the stomach and I felt dizzy.

" Lie him down. Call the ambulence." I heard someone call.



I knew my hand wasn't broken, but it was the source of the problem. At that moment my mind was very clear, I knew what was going on. I wasn't scared, I wasn't confused, but I was very very sick. I told them I was going to throw up. One of the trust bosses called to one of the employees to get the garbage can. I threw up into it, and one of them remarked that ' it's all liquid'.

As I had once thought very unfortunate, many people knew my age, but at that time I was pretty grateful for the knowledge. One of the managers came to me and rubbed my back, and tried to relieve the stressed tendons for whatever reason as I threw up. I was shivering and shaking, and wondering why the heck isn't shock just faint, wake and everything's over. I knew I did not need to go to the hospital. Did they listen to me? Iie, they called the ambulence anyway. I told them I need to lie down; I was too tired to vomit anymore. I closed my eyes but the ambulence came quickly, so I didn't fall asleep.

I stayed nauseous and cold for two and a half hours after I had fainted. After the two and a half hours, in which they took x-rays of my hand and decided everything's fine, and had called Syaoran in who looked at me, greatly amused and sympathetic, sent me home, I've never felt more embarrassed.

I had fainted because I smashed my hand. I still can't believe I did that. The Duel Monsters Champion and the CEO of Kaiba Corps fainted because he smashed his hand. I was bitter a few days later, and very grumpy, because although I didn't faint again I was truly embarrassed and my hand was still sore. I went to work after that and everyone asked if I was alright. I smashed my hand, for heaven's sakes! You can't die from smashing your hand! Especially since it didn't bleed or anything, good god!

But the good thing was, I was fifteen years old. I've never been more thankful that I was young, I mean, I hated being called a ' kid', or ' Kaibaboy', as Pegasus had named. But I guess the name came in handy, because if I was Kaibaman I probably would have been jeered and sneered at by everyone once this got out.

But did they have to put ' Fifteen Year Old Seto Kaiba Fainted on Tuesday' in the newspaper?



Syaoran did not help my confidence very much, although he didn't mean to. He didn't exactly make fun of me, really. I mean, if he were any other person, such as Jounouchi, maybe I would have shrunk into a hole by then. One look and he knew that my hand wasn't broken. But he gave me this look that said ' You fainted because of this?'

If I had been any other person, I wouldn't have thought much of it. But since they did publish that cursed newspaper, and I was by no means unfamous, I couldn't help but feel queesy at the thought of fainting. I silently vowed never do that again, unless it was something very serious. I had fainted because I smashed my hand! What kind of excuse is that? But Syaoran at least was able to prevent me from commiting suicide.

" At least you know you're capable of fainting." He mentioned, in front of everyone, even Pegasus, who had come over just to ' make sure I'm okay'. " I mean, if you can't faint, that would be a really bad thing."

This caused laughter among everyone, especially Touya and Pegasus. I was feeling mighty grumpy and Syaoran wasn't helping. But he gave me this bright smile so I couldn't snap at him. I felt so lousy. I never felt so lousy.

" Un, Kaiba-sama." Honda joked. " But it really must have hurted."
" Hai." Syaoran agreed. " The hand is very sensitive to pain."

I did not like that. But at least that is an excuse.
" Arigatou." I said gruffly.
" Not to mention, I wouldn't be surprised." Pegasus added good naturedly, with Syaoran sitting like a five year old on his lap. Syaoran is pretty small, a small child, really. " I doubt that you ate much, Kaibaboy."

" Hai." Syaoran nodded. " My aunt once fainted because she didn't eat breakfast and lunch. You're better off than most people, oni-chan-' He called me that ever since I called him kaijuu- " It's better than fainting out of fear. There's this one time my sister hit her head against the wall. They took her to the hospital, with my mother holding her bleeding head. When my mother saw how they wove the stitches into her head, she fainted instead of my sister. At least you fainted because you didn't eat much plus the pain you had. If it had been because of fear, then you have a reason to be embarrassed."

Somehow this comforted me a little, although it didn't really boost my confidence. The employees at Kaiba Corps were decent enough not to mention it at all. My friends, on the other hand, weren't as nice, and except for Pegasus and the remainder of the Tomoeda Gang they teased me ceaselessly for weeks.



The discussion on Syaoran's education happened sometime after Jounouchi and his group decided to quit the jibberish.

" It's not like in Tomoeda." He said quietly. " In Tomoeda, everything's under control. But here, I mean, I don't know if it's the same for elementary school. I don't want to get into any trouble."

It was here when I saw danger that even Pegasus never guessed. What if he goes back to Tomoeda? I never really did understand why I was trying so hard to keep him here. But somehow I was, and I knew it, full well.

" The truth is," Syaoran sighed. " I don't know what my future is going to be. I mean, the immortals, they are still out there, waiting, crouching under the bushes..."



Now that I think of it, Syaoran talked less and less of his own problems, because our problems began to surface. Yami, Akira, everyone started to recognize their own lives. The fainting attack-that wasn't a coincidence. Yami's memories-that wasn't either. Syaoran did go to school in this town. But soon that school, well...



In actuality, this was the point when everything took a turn.