The next morning, as the to-be executive's lids lifted to greet the morning sun he noticed the small being was no longer underneath his arm and jolted upright to result in hitting his head on the roof of the tunnel and cursed under his breath.

"Mokuba?" The concern in his voice was audible as he stuck his head out of the opening to see the very figure of choice on the ground with his hand clamped firmly in a much larger one.

"Seto! Lookie who came to take us home!" With the blissful smile across his face, and him being only the naïve age of six, he was completely unaware of his older brother's predicament with the very man of whom which he was holding onto firmly. Gozaburo of course had no fight with Mokuba, and as such the only view the small one had was that he was the father he never had, or never remembered.

Upon seeing the firm face Seto quickly retracted back inside the tunnel as his chest started to heave and fall rapidly. 'Oh god, oh god, oh holy god with shit and crap. Why? Why me? I thought I'd finally gotten away...' He scooted further backwards and took the blanket that was still spread out and shoved it back into his backpack. 'I'll just go out the other side. Run away, make a break for it, and he'll never be able to catch me.'

But then he stopped, and another string of curses came to his lips. 'But what about Mokuba?'

Pulling his backpack on he scooted forward again to pierce his gaze between the distance of him and Gozaburo. "What do you want?"

Mokuba cocked his head and blinked a couple of times as he noticed his brother tensed, and rather, well, angry. "Seto, I told you, he's come to take us home..."

This didn't grant him with the gaze of his older sibling however, but more just a terse order on the side. "Mokuba, I didn't ask you, I asked him. Shut up." 'Don't make this any worse for me...'

Gozaburo gave a rather smug smile. "Come down here my boy. Mokuba's right, I'm just here to take you back home. To where you belong."

'Bastard...' "Don't tell me where I belong!" He clenched his fists and despite how strong he was feeling, his body began to shake. Whether it was through his anger, or from his just plain fear of the man was a mystery... After all, this was his first attempt, his first defiant act. He had no idea what he was doing and there was absolutely no solid ground to stand on, especially with Mokuba already in his adversary's possession.

"Oh come on now. I'm just here to take you home. Don't you want to go home? With your nice warm bed, some food... I'm sure you must be hungry. Wouldn't you like some scrambled eggs and bacon for your growling stomach? Now be a good boy and come down here. You know you want to..."

Seto couldn't help but cringe. It was a tempting picture that was being painted inside of his head, but it wasn't what he was going to really get... Sure, he got to eat, but not in the homely way that this was being expressed. It was more of a tense situation with him silently placing the food inside his mouth and mechanically chewing as Gozaburo waited impatiently in the corner with his arms folded. Waiting for him to finish, so that he could give the next assignment, or look over the one that he's given two minutes ago that wasn't finished. After which generally... there came a beating.

And the whole concept of a comfy warm bed was unimaginable. Sleep? That was a concept that Seto didn't understand. 'Sweet dreams' was not a phrase that entered his vocabulary. The brief moments of respite that he received always resulted over his keyboard in the ungodly hours of the morning, after which came more beatings.

"All right... I'm coming." Reluctantly, and fully expectant of yet another beating coming his way as soon as Gozaburo had him alone at home, Seto made his way down from the play equipment and walked stiffly over to his adoptive parent with a hollow expression and half closed eyes. 'I'm doing this for you, Mokuba. I told you that I'd take care of you and that's just what I'm going to do... Even if it kills me...'

**************************

Kaiba snorted. "Yeah, and a lot of good that did me..." Walking around the metal fence he sat down in one of the swings and let his legs rest calmly against the ground beneath him as he rested his head against the chain.

Okay, so maybe there was a slight possibility that Seto wasn't really mad at Mokuba. Just the simple knowledge of how many times the little one's mere spirit of being had kept him from killing himself during that whole ordeal.

"But what do I owe him? That would have only made us even on favors, not tipped the scales. This last act would make it crossed, so he owes me, not the other way around... But then why-.. Why do I feel so guilty?"

The auburn bangs came to shadow his eyes as he hung his head. "Yeah, I know... I've pledged myself to him and now, because he did one thing wrong, I'm turning back on that, and giving up." His chest rose and fell as a sigh escaped his lips. "Alright then, I'll apologize tomorrow, when he gets back home."

Resting his cheeks in his palms a sharp reminder was made from his right cheek and he pulled his hands away quickly to stare at the crimson liquid that had appeared.

"Oh... I'd forgotten about that." Bringing his right hand up gently he brushed across his face and closed his eyes. 'Tea... another person in whom I'm indebted to for life. She's saved mine, quite a few times actually, and now she's here to remind me again.. That life is pain, and all of us suffer.'

He stood and rubbed at his eyes to hide where his former tears had been and started heading back in the direction of the game shop.

'I've hurt her, and I can't live with myself knowing that I've left that. I can barely live with myself right now... In fact I don't want to live with myself right now, I'd rather die with myself right now. Maybe I should.. But we'll hold off our suicidal desires until later, and we're home alone.. all alone. God I wish I had that belt...'

Of course the belt he was referring to was from his most recent reminiscing back into the corridors of his mind, the belt in which he'd come quite accustomed to. The thick black leather that had come to meet with his raw flesh almost every night of his young adolescents. And his wishing for the object was from his inner wishing for controllable pain instead of the fiery roller coaster that he was going to crash in hell one day.

This twisted sense of vision was almost sickening to his stomach as he kept going forward until he came to the game shop door. The time had changed quite dramatically since he'd been there in what seemed like a few moments ago.. In his space out the sun had however, had plenty of time to set, and had been in that state of fashion for a good couple of hours.

Without bothering to knock on the door he opened it and the small bell jingled. Yugi's grandfather, at the time, was in the back room and therefore had no idea that Kaiba had entered... he was grateful.

Seto walked through the doorway in the back that lead into Yugi's living room, where in fact the very boy was with his friends and setting up sleeping bags. Nobody had noticed his entrance, and his gaze first locked onto Mokuba who was in the corner quite happily chattering away with Christa.

Kaiba didn't have the heart nor the patience to deal with him right now, instead he let his eyes wander to Tea who was unrolling her sleeping bag. At this very point in time the young executive thought it would be in his best interest to announce his presence.

"Tea, could I please talk to you for a minute?"

At this point six pairs of eyes snapped up and silently locked to him.

Closing his eyes Seto folded his arms and sighed as he flatly repeated the request once more. "I need to speak to Tea for a moment, could she please come outside..."

With a frozen crank working it's way inside her brain Tea left off of her sleeping bag and stared at him. "Um, ... Why?"

'I don't have time for this.. I just want to go home. Alright then, fine. Let them all laugh at me as I humble myself, I don't give a shit.' Lifting his lids, icy crystals formed their way inside his heart, preparing for the oncoming onslaught. "Tea, I came to apologize for insulting you earlier. I had no right to do that. And I'm sorry." Turning to the side with his hand placed on the edge of the doorway he gazed off at the floor. "As for the rest of you I apologize for my intrusion... And Mokuba..." His inner soul quivered and he closed his eyes in pain as his voice dropped to a low whisper. "I'm sorry that I wasn't a good enough brother for you..."

Without bothering to find their reactions, and without waiting to think the emotions over that were playing with his head he left the doorway, and the soft jingling of the bell in the doorway was heard a few moments later.

******************

Home, the very destination in which Seto had reached at this very point in time. He ignored locking the door, he ignored fixing dinner, he ignored the work he'd neglected to finish on his desktop, and most of all... he ignored his better judgment.

Walking into the bathroom upstairs he turned on the water, and cranked the knob all the way to the left side until it wouldn't go any further. Hot, he wanted hot, very hot.

As he stuck his hand underneath the faucet and immediately recoiled his arm back as the sting touched his fingertips and he smiled. 'Good.'

Taking off his shoes and socks he stepped into the shower and loved as he felt the burning liquid pour over his person and soak through his clothing.

'Now this I can deal with. This I'm used to. Holy crap it hurts, but at least I can handle this.'

Of course it didn't take long for the heat to reach and unbearable degree, and Kaiba knew, even if he didn't want to, that he'd have to remove himself from the shower. So stepping out he watched the steam rising off of his self and let a slim smile trace his lips as his head spun.

'It's not permanent damage, just a one time thing... everybody needs a nice warm shower everyone once in a while right? Oh, who cares, this is good.'

Walking out of the bathroom he left his shoes in there and his cloths stuck to him, keeping the burning feeling coursing through every vein in his body and his breathing started growing to a rapider pace as his body tried to cool itself down and react to the extremity of the temperature it was being forced to put up with.

He cursed at himself for not having a stronger person, even though all considering, any other body that had been put through what he'd done to himself would have been no longer functional at this point. But Seto ignored that and just wished that he wasn't so weak, since that was what he thought himself, and he made his way down the hall to his room and collapsed down on his bed as colors skipped past his vision.

Closing his eyes he tried to calm his breath but found it rather impossible as he was forced to clench down his jaw to avoid the urge to scream out in pain. So maybe he was going to wake up in the morning with third degree burns, but for now he was happy to dwell in his own little time warp back to childhood.

Kaiba was peaceful this way, he didn't mind. This was what he'd become accustomed to for almost half of his life. Little did Gozaburo know that his abusive tendencies towards his trainee might actually end up causing the downfall of his company's greatest asset rather than the expansion of a wonderful new empire.

Seto took his fist and placed it in his mouth to bite down on the knuckle trying to staunch the flow of tears from his eyes. 'Holy shit this hurts...' Taking a few more rapid breaths he pulled underneath the covers of his bed and hid underneath the fabric as light was taken from his view.

His body began shaking and despite all else he felt sleepy, worn out. Taking his hand from his teeth he then yanked the blankets closer to himself and continued shivering despite how the burning of his skin was eating away at his insides.

As such, so did the same feeling start taking over his mind and soul, burning, reeling, careening through a tumbling chaos, and in such moments of turmoil it's only natural to seek points of reference, close things that are endearing to us, and so was the very same as Seto began humming to himself softly as he shivered underneath his covers and his skin crawled.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray.. You'll never know dear, how much I love you.. Oh please don't take, my sunshine away..."

This was one frail thread of peace he'd been able to maintain, and as he repeated it over and over again, humming ever so softly with the notes alluring himself into sleep, the pain didn't seem so bad, and his bleeding insides fell back into the recesses of his mind, and his breathing slowed as his muscles released all their tension and he took one last long breath before sleep overtook him entirely.

*******************

"Merry Christmas Mokuba..." Seto's soft whisper barely reached his own ears as he listened to the sounds below from the top of the stairwell. Work? Of course he had work to be doing, but for goodness sake, it was Christmas!

"And I know exactly what my present it going to be too..." He rolled up his sleeves and stared at the red marks that lined his arms from the night before, so maybe it wasn't such a bad holiday. At least he got a break, even if it was a self-appointed one that was later going to be punished.

With a heavy sigh he stood up and dry-eyed walked into his little brother's room to place a very small item on the pillow. It had a crumpled brown wrapping paper, something Seto had managed to smuggle from downstairs, and there was a small piece of paper that served as a card.

Seto didn't know how he'd been able to do it every year, but Mokuba always got a present from him. He knew Mokuba always got him one as well, but he never got it. The lines he always heard from the stairwell were always the same, year after year, holiday after holiday. 'Where's my brother?' 'He's not feeling well.' 'Can I give him his gift?' 'Oh don't be silly; I don't want you getting sick. Here, let me give it to him for you...'

And so it went, and so it would stay.

Taking his leave from the room, Seto went back to the stairwell and listened for a brief moment in order to hear it starting.

"What happened to Seto? Isn't he going to open presents with us?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. He's not feeling at his best today, he has to stay in bed."

Then leaving from that he went into his room and stared at his computer screen from a few feet away. How many was he supposed to write today? Fifty was it? Oh well, not like it mattered. Fifty programs, fifty belts, he was used to it.

Making his way over to his bed he sat down on the edge and picked up a piece of toast that had been placed on his bedside table. Putting the food mechanically in his mouth he chewed on the cardboard. These were the only days that he got to eat in peace, and even then it wasn't peace, because he knew what would come later that night, or the next morning.. early.

Sighing dejectedly he walked back to his desk and swallowed his toast before placing his hands on the keys and setting to starting the day's assignment. Maybe if he found some magical way to finish them before lunch he wouldn't get beaten that day... maybe.

As that very hour approached he heard the joyful merriment enter a brief recess, and he knew what was coming next. Soon enough the knock on the door sounded, and he only needed to wait a second before there was the man of his torture standing in his doorway.

"Well, well, well... It looks like my little bagworm decided to work today. How good of him."

It was mocking. Seto heard it. Seto loathed it. He clenched his fists but held his tongue, seven long years had taught him that trick.

He heard the steps measure leveling behind him and then felt the constricting grip set itself to his shoulder.

"Only six? Six programs for a whole days work? My, my, what are we going to do with you? How about this, my boy... If you can answer this question I'll let you off the hook. Tell me, what is six times seven?"

"Forty-two, sir." Setting his gaze of to the side he knew what was coming.

This only caused Gozaburo to grin. "And does that sound like a good number to you?"

"Yes, sir. It does sound like a good number considering it is the correct one."

"Oh really then." The man spun Seto's chair around and grabbed both of his shoulders harshly and had a grin full of malice plastered over his features. "So I guess you don't want to be let off after all... Well if that's what you really want, I don't have any objection to it." Stepping back from the smaller the man took off his belt and coiled it in his fist as he glared down at the fourteen-year-old. "And since you like the number forty-two so much.. why not that many? With a few more, just for good luck..."

Seto stood up and walked to the middle of the room bracing himself for his punishment, as he remained dry-eyed. There would be no crying, he would not show his tears to this man... No matter what his answer to the question had been he would have been beaten. It was rigged. If he said no; then he would have been wrong, because he would have been contradicting his own answer. He'd tried maybe, maybe didn't work. That only gave him more, for not being able to make up his mind. And yes...? Well yes brought him to this very spot. Standing there, and just waiting for it to come. If he tensed his body noticeably enough to have a firm resistance against the hardened leather, then Gozaburo would just wait until his muscles would force him to relax. And if he started out too soft, then it would hurt more than it had to.

So in his learning's, what Seto had managed to learn from life in these passing years, he stayed the exact way he was from the moment he got out of his chair, to the moment he stood in the middle of the room. He knew that it was going to hurt, and more for the fact that Gozaburo had a way of timing it so, just as he was being lulled into a false sense of security, and it had been long enough to get the idea in a head that maybe the beatings weren't coming after all... That was when the man would strike.

And so he waited, trying to dig through his mind to thoughts of Mokuba, reasons why he didn't grab the belt as it was swung and turn on the man with the metal of the object. One good hit in the temple and then his troubles would be all over. But what would that prove for his younger sibling? ... That he was just like the man. That he was a ruthless killer. And as such Mokuba would be afraid, and be in the same position as Seto was now. Since at the moment Mokuba had no idea what Gozaburo was really like, he didn't know the inner workings of the man's mind like the young Kaiba did. So this would be his first exposure to the whole ordeal, and therefore would give him cause to be afraid of his brother... Something unbearable.

And as his thoughts were thus running off, so came the first blow.

Grunting in pain he grimaced, but soon let his muscles untense again... If he didn't then it would just take longer before this was all over with. But before he could find his happy medium again so can the second blow, and the third. Being forced to fall forward on all fours he grasped his trembling hands at the rug as more strikes fell to his person.

'Five, six, seven...' Seto found it almost calming to count them as he figured what fraction of the total he had reached. 'Eleven, twelve, thirteen...'

His help to himself failed however as a sharp blow came to the back of his head and it jostled the colors before him. 'Eleventy, Twenty-ten...'

"Now how many would that be? Hmm..." The playful manner of the tone was sickening. "My dear boy, do you know what number that was?"

"Th-thirty-two sir." Seto had no idea, but he had to at least guess.

"Oh, wait, Now I remember!" And a hard crashing blow met with the young one's spine. Causing him to fall completely to the ground.

As that happened Gozaburo leaned down next to his ear and whispered gently to him. "Don't cross me boy. I know how you work. I own you, you belong here. Take my advice, and don't try to fight it. Maybe one day you'll even be worthy of these pitiful holidays, but don't jump ahead of yourself." Standing up he put his foot down on Seto's back and gave it a small push. "Nobody's going to come help you, so don't even try escaping your destiny."

With that the older removed his foot, and took himself out of the room.

Seto barely managed to hold his tears. 'Mokuba. Mokuba, where are you?'

Shakily pushing himself up into a sitting position, he crawled over to his desk and climb up onto the chair before taking out the necklace from his neck and staring at the childish form of his baby brother. 'Alright... Yeah, okay... Merry Christmas Mokuba, it's more than I'll ever have...' And his fingers went to buttons, and the buttons were pushed, and the programs grew while the hope flickered as a little candle inside the young one's heart.

*******************

Later that night, much later that night, so much later that night that no humanly person would even THINK of being awake... Seto turned off his computer and snatched out the disk, before grabbing the stack of papers that he'd printed out.

He'd done the programs, all fifty, and by hell Gozaburo was going to look at them.

After the exit of his room he made his way down the hall to the end where his "father's" office was. Knocking on the door softly he spoke out.

"Sir, may I please come in?"

There was no reply from the inside for a few seconds and then...

"Yes, come on."

Twisting the handle Seto shyly slipped through the doorway and stood with the papers grasped shakily in his hands as he cast his gaze to the back of the big office chair, like in one of those classic mophia movies with "the boss", and he approached the desk.

"Sir, I finished those programs that you wanted for today. And I was hoping that you might want to look over them, that is, if it's not too late already."

Student to teacher, teacher to student.

"Well boy, we'll just have to take a look see." Spinning his chair around he took the papers that Seto presented to him and then started flipping through the pages. After a couple of minutes the man stood up and walked to stand in front of Seto with a smirk.

The next thing that he did however, was the most jarring thing that would ever happen in the young one's life... He hugged him.

Seto felt the strong arms around his person and almost felt like crying. "Ex-excuse me sir?"

As for the crying, Gozaburo was already a lost cause and he pulled away with a proud smile beaming off his face. "My boy, my boy, my boy... What a fine young man you're growing into."

"Sir?" Lost, completely lost, Seto didn't have the faintest idea what on earth was going on.

"Seto! These are brilliant!" Holding up the stack of papers he continued grinning. "This is the best I've seen out of you yet. Good job, Seto. Fabulous work."

'He's- he's congratulating me?' "But sir, I don't think I-"

"No, nonsense. You deserve a reward. How about this... We'll go downstairs and you can pick anything that you want to do, anything at all. How does that sound?"

'It sounds like heaven, but I can't believe it's a reality.' "Do you really mean that sir?"

Rumpling Seto's hair he grinned. "Of course I do. Now come on, it's late, we don't want to wait too long." Grabbing the younger's hand firmly he took him out of the room and down the stairs so that they were standing in the living room.

Seto's eyes grew as he stared around the place, taking into consideration that he hadn't seen a Christmas ever since the orphanage, this was unbelievable.

A towering Christmas tree had been placed in the middle of the room, while a few toy trains played around it. There were also a few still set ups with small figurines doing other such acts of merriment, skating, sledding, taking a carriage ride...

Walking forward in a sereal dream, Seto walked over to the tree and looked underneath it was it was completely empty, turning around he faced the man. "Sir, could I please have my present?"

Gozaburo cocked an eyebrow. "And what present would that be exactly?"

"My present from Mokuba."

"Oh." The man went silent for a few second as he stared apologetically at the floor. "I'm afraid he didn't get you one this year Seto."

"What?" A bleeding arrow lanced through his heart, shattering all the bliss that surrounded him. "But I heard you, and him, he always... He couldn't have possibly forgotten..."

"But he did Seto, he did."

Earlier his own name coming from his father's lips had been pleasing, but now... Now it only hurt more. "Don't lie to me!"

Gozaburo remained just as level however, "Seto, I'm not lying to you. He didn't get you a gift this year."

"You- you have to be... He'd never- He's my BROTHER!" Clenching his fist he then sent a hard glare over at his father. "This, this is YOUR fault!"

"Seto, son, don't be irrational. How could this possibly be my fault?"

Too much, it was just too much. Had this all just been an act? The kindness? The congratulations? Had it all just been some ploy to make him drop his defenses so that he could have a dagger stabbed through his heart where he was most vulnerable? He didn't know, he didn't care, all he wanted now... Was that man dead.

"Die you rotting bastard!!!"

Loosing all sense of reality he had, Seto launched himself at his tormenter's throat. Gripping his hands around the trachea he shook as hard as he could.

"DIE! DIE!! DIE!!!"

He soon however felt the much stronger arms grabbing his wrists and pulling them off and him up off the floor so that his feet were dangling.

This didn't stop his fury at all though, even if he was out muscled, outsmarted, and maybe out everything... He was going to bloody well kill this man before the night was out.

Giving his legs a fierce kick, one met with a knee, while the other met with a MUCH more sensitive area.

The grip loosened on his wrists at the moment just enough for him to get free, drop back to the ground, and shove his adoptive father to the ground. Which was soon followed after with him jumping on top of the man and pummeling his face with his fists.

Taking into account that Seto wasn't his full size yet, but a fourteen-year- old is far big enough to be able to cause some SERIOUS damage when they have murder on their minds.

"Die!" Punch. "You!" Punch. "Fucking!" Punch. "Bastard!" And as the next punch would have come Seto suddenly felt his arm held back and a pleading cry.

"Big brother! Stop!"

Seto tried to release his arm, but his younger sibling wouldn't let go.

"No!"

This only caused Mokuba to break out into tears and latch onto Seto's arm even tighter. "Brother, please! Don't hurt Papa anymore!"

Fiery gaze turned from Gozaburo and then onto Mokuba where it extinguished. Stepping up off of the man, who was at the point teetering on the brink of consciousness, he then went over to the kitchen cabinet where he found the first aid kit.

Mokuba never left Gozaburo's side but his eyes trailed along after Seto pleadingly.

The older opened the box and grabbed a cloth, which he ran under some cold water. Then coming back to the spot he began dabbing gently at his adoptive father's forehead while talking to the crying being beside him.

"Okay Mokuba, I'm sorry." Taking a deep breath he sighed and shook his head. "You probably should go back to bed... Don't worry. I'll take care of this and then be up soon. Everything will be fine in the morning..."

Reluctantly Mokuba got to his feet and then slowly turned to head for the stairwell, but when he reached the bottom he stopped and put his hand against the wall. "Brother?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"Yes, I know... I love you too." Casting his gaze over at him he gave a quivering smile. "Sweet dreams."

This made the younger smile as well and he nodded. "Good night."

Seto watched Mokuba run up the stairs and then set to tending to the bruises that were forming on his adoptive father's face. This was his family. This was home. That flickering moment of kindness had scarred him deeper than he ever could have known... So as he dragged the man up onto the couch and covered him with a blanket he stared at him for a second before giving him a small hug. "Good night father..."

*******************

Kaiba tossed and turned in his bed as troubled emotions ripped at his heart and he mumbled to himself through fretted slumber. "I'm sorry Dad..."

A smirking form stood next to him in spirit and then started heading towards the door. "Yeah kid, I know..."

((Well wasn't that a little weird? But HEY! It's another chapter... Lol, sorry if it sort of wavered from everything, but it'll make more sense later. And I'm sorry that it took me two whole weeks to get this thing out . But you all know how school is, and how it is the ultimate of all evils... Well, anyway... Hope you liked! Review please! And I'll get the next one out as soon as I can ^^))