Chapter 3: Knife Madness

Gozaburo leaned over and kissed Seto's lips gently, ignoring the cloth that kept the boy from crying out. Seto stiffened at first, but, slowly, warmed to the alien touch. ~Now, if he'll only let me go...~ Seto thought, finally allowing himself to enjoy what Gozaburo was doing to him.

Seto didn't notice the glint of cold steel in Gozaburo's hand. If he had, he'd have been panicking. After all the man had put him through already, one would have thought that Seto would have been resisting to everything Gozaburo did. Gozaburo pulled lightly away. "Little angelic one..." He mumbled, running a hand over Seto's now-scarred chest. Seto shivered, leaving his eyes closed. "Time for pain..." Gozaburo hissed before running the blade in his hand across Seto's chest.

Seto let out a piercing scream, barely muffled by the cloth over his mouth. ~Kami!! What has he got this time?! A bloody knife?!~ He opened his eyes painfully to see. ~That's it, I absolutely hate being right!~ He decided, fighting his bonds.

Gozaburo took his eyes from the blood now on Seto's chest to look up at the boy's face when he heard the handcuffs rattling. The boy's eyes were open and looking at him with complete hatred. If Gozaburo had glanced up at Seto's hands, he'd have seen that one of Seto's hands were almost free. Instead, he watched Seto's face. "You little brat! Never look at me that way!" He jabbed the knife into Seto's side.

Seto screamed again. His hands stopped moving above his head and he slammed his eyes shut, closing them tightly. His side burned. His chest burned. His wrist burned where he'd scraped some skin off from trying to free his one hand. His ankles hurt from the strain against the ropes. His mouth was dry from having the cloth in it. ~I have to get out of here! I have to take Mokuba with me... At least get Mokuba out of here... I have to get Mokuba out of here!~ Seto's eyes flew open again. He met Gozaburo's eyes as he continued trying to free his wrist.

"Bastard..." Gozaburo hissed, then placed his hand over Seto's neck and push the boy against the bed, strangling him. "What did I tell you about looking at me that way? I'll make you live in hell, Seto."

Seto's hand came free. ~The knife!~ Gozaburo held the knife in a limp hand, all his attention on Seto's eyes and throat. Seto's hand flew out and knocked the knife from Gozaburo's hand. The knife went skidding across the floor. ~Now, go get it, you moron.~ He thought at Gozaburo.

Gozaburo turned around, watched the knife slam against the wall, then come to a stop. He looked back at Seto, his hand having freed Seto's throat when he turned. "You know what, that was clever. I'll give you that. If I was stupid, I'd go after that and you could use that time to free your other hand." Gozaburo grabbed Seto's sore wrist, making Seto cry out into the cloth. "I'm not stupid, Seto. Never forget that. I am not as stupid as you seem to think I am." He pulled the cloth from Seto's mouth. "Well? You obviously have something to say."

"Let me go." Seto hissed. "Just let me go."

Gozaburo grinned. "Oh, are you tired of me hurting you?"

"Yes."

"At least you're honest." Gozaburo pointed out before squeezing Seto's wrist with the hand that held it and placing his free hand over Seto's mouth.

Seto cried out, but Gozaburo's hand muffled the sound. ~Bite him!~ His mind told his mouth. Seto bit Gozaburo.

Gozaburo let out a hiss and slapped Seto across the face. "No biting." He placed the cloth back in Seto's mouth. "I was going to free you, too. Oh well." He punched the spot that he'd jabbed the knife into Seto's side.

Seto screamed. His throat was starting to hurt now too. He closed his eyes, an attempt to keep from glaring at Gozaburo and receiving another painful blow. ~Mokuba...~ He thought before he passed out.

~~^**^~~

When Seto woke up, he was in his room, in his own bed. The birds were chirping outside and the sun was trying to get through his drapes. Gozaburo stood in his doorway. "So, you're finally up." He growled.

Seto glanced over at the clock. 11:00 it told him in bright red numbers. He shifted and bit his lip to fight a scream. ~Damn, but my side hurts!~

Gozaburo walked over. "I treated your wounds last night. They'll hurt for a while, and you'll probably have scars, but you'll live. Now, get up."

"Where's my brother?" Seto asked darkly, not moving.

"Downstairs, wondering why the hell you aren't up yet." Gozaburo's voice was cold. "Get up, Seto."

"Why?" Seto asked angrily. "Why should I follow what you say?"

"You little-" Gozaburo started.

"Oniisan?" Mokuba poked his head in the door. "Are you awake?"

Seto groaned and forced himself to sit up. "I am now." He mumbled. At least Gozaburo had put a shirt on him too.

"Yeah!" Mokuba ran over and rammed into Seto, hugging him.

Seto had to grit his teeth to keep from screaming. Gozaburo, noticing this, grinned and picked Mokuba up. "Mokuba, let's move out so Seto can get dressed."

"But I always stay in here while oniisan gets dressed!!" Mokuba whined. "Oniisan doesn't mind!" He looked at Seto sadly, hoping for his brother's support.

Seto shook his head. "Not today, Mokuba-chan. Go downstairs with Otosan Gozaburo. I'll be down soon." He closed his eyes against the pain in his abdomen where Mokuba had, unknowingly, reopened one of his wounds.

Mokuba started crying as Gozaburo walked out. The man paused at the door to look at Seto one last time. He frowned where he noticed the tears Seto was trying desperately to hide from his little brother. Gozaburo put Mokuba down. "Hey, Mokuba, why don't you go downstairs and tell chef to make Seto his favorite breakfast? I'd do it, but I don't know what it is. When chef is done, I'll bet Seto'll be glad for a little room service." Gozaburo suggested.

"But, what if he comes downstairs before chef is done?" Mokuba asked sadly.

"I'll make sure he stays up here." Gozaburo promised.

Mokuba smiled widely, warming to the idea easily. "Okay! Arigatou, Otosan Gozaburo!!" He fled down the stairs.

Gozaburo turned and walked back into Seto's room. Seto still sat on his bed, crying softly to himself. Gozaburo closed the door behind him softly, leaving it unlocked. Then he walked over to the edge of Seto's bed and sat down. "Seto, don't cry..." He mumbled, reaching out to brush away one of the boy's tears.

Seto's hand flew out to smack his hand away, his eyes opening. "Don't touch me." He hissed.

Gozaburo drew his hand back. "Mokuba's getting you breakfast. I need to check your wounds."

"Why?" Seto asked, not trusting the man.

"You're hurt, and Mokuba didn't know. He rammed into you a little hard. I'm afraid he may have opened something." Gozaburo said calmly.

"You didn't tell Mokuba?" Seto asked, surprised.

Gozaburo rolled his eyes. "You think I'm telling your little brother I'm beating you up? You can come up with your own reason as to how you got hurt. Tell him you got in a fight with a bully and you don't want me to know, or something." He narrowed his eyes. "You tell him it's my fault, I'll make sure he can't tell anyone else."

Seto swallowed. "You wouldn't kill him, would you?" He asked sadly.

"Take off your shirt." Gozaburo ordered.

"You would..." Seto sighed and did as he was told. He had to bite back another cry as he stretched his hands above his head and stopped moving.

"Button-up shirts for you, Seto." Gozaburo growled, standing to pull the shirt off Seto. He then leaned down and inspected the places he knew the wounds were. He sighed when he saw the slight bit of red soaking through, telling him that something had, indeed, opened. "I'll be right back." He told the boy, then walked from the room to where he kept the first aid kit.

Seto glanced down at where the cut on his chest was and sighed. "Damnit." He stood from his bed and walked over to where he kept his clothing. He and Mokuba had gotten a lot of new stuff since they'd moved in with Gozaburo, so Seto had plenty of things to wear. His only problem was that he didn't have enough button-up shirts to last him a week. "At least he's making sure I get better each time." Seto thought aloud, his mind traveling back to his tormentor. "I just don't understand! He says he loves me, then he goes and hurts me! Next thing I know, he's caring for me, making sure I'm not hurt, bandaging my wounds, giving me excuses for Mokuba... I'm so confused..." Seto leaned his head against the wall next to his dresser and started crying.

Gozaburo stood in the doorway, watching Seto silently. He'd heard every word. 'Don't touch me.' Seto had told him. 'Why should I follow what you say?' Gozaburo shook his head. "When I was your age, my father did to me what I am doing to you." Seto's eyes widened, but he didn't look at the other. "At first, I hated him for it. I despised him, but he was my father, and the only real family I had. He used that against me, just as I use Mokuba against you."

"Then why?" Seto asked suddenly. "If you know what it's like to be in my position, why are you doing this? Why are you hurting me?" He looked up, his eyes red and swollen from his crying.

Gozaburo sighed and closed the door. "Come here." Seto walked over to him and let him start on the bandaging. "I do this because I know this is the best training for the real world. How do you plan to run Kaiba Corp? Cry everytime something doesn't go the way you want it to?"

"I'm eleven." Seto growled. "Of course I'd cry now."

"I'm teaching you to never cry, no matter your age. I took charge of Kaiba Corp. when I was nineteen. My father died from a heart problem he'd been having two years later, leaving me alone to run Kaiba Corp., without his help, at twenty-one. Even at nineteen, you cry when things don't turn out right. I cried as my father died, then I cried at his funeral. I haven't shed a tear since. I know people twice my age who will still cry over the slightest thing, because they were spoiled rotten as kids, never punished once. It makes me sick. I refuse to leave Kaiba Corp. to a crybaby."

"I'm not spoiled. I've lived over half my life in an orphanage, where we only got what we needed." Seto pointed out.

"You're spoiled, Seto. You've never been forced to do anything against your will. If you didn't want a bath, you didn't have to take a bath. If you wanted to be left alone, you were left alone. If you didn't want to go with that family, you didn't go with that family. If you wanted to go down the street and stare at a book in a bookstore window, you went down the street and stared at that book. Even better, you could go in the store and just sit in a corner, reading it, for hours on end, because your parents weren't there to tell you to move."

"That doesn't make me spoiled." Seto countered.

"Close enough." Gozaburo growled. He nodded. "All done." He picked up the first aid kit and moved back towards the door.

"Gozaburo." Seto said suddenly.

Gozaburo looked back at the boy, his hand on the doorknob. "What is it?"

"I don't have enough button-up shirts to get me through a week." Seto grumbled.

"So, wear a dirty one every once in a while." Gozaburo shrugged.

"But..."

"See what I mean? You're spoiled." Gozaburo shook his head at the tears threatening to spill from Seto's eyes. "We'll go out later today. Get dressed and stay in here. When Mokuba comes in, act surprised." Then he left.

Seto shivered. ~Now I'm even more confused!~ He thought to himself, then hurried to change, before Mokuba came in.

-

~~A/N: Spooky, neh?

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu-Gi-Ou! I love Kaiba Seto. He's my favorite character. I'm only writing this because his adoptive father was cruel to him, and I hint on this in almost all my fics. I felt the need to explain my reasonings. Please, don't flame me. If you do, I shall only use those flames to light my candles and oil lamps. I like burning things, even Seto... *evil laughter*