Rebirth
by Ceresi
Rating: R
WARNING: There are spoilers for the HP books in here. I know, it's crazy. Also, slash, and one racy little R scene. ALSO. This is still, for all intents and purposes, a rough draft. I've had it betaed and edited it several times myself, but I'm working on a sequal, and some changes might be necessary.
A/N: Shoutouts to metalsilverarmor23, rayemars, angel_soul03, ashes, and Kato, who commented. Ya'll rock.
Want more notes? See Chapter One
***
"Hello?"
"It's me."
Seto dropped his paperwork and swiveled in his chair. He prepared himself for bad news. "What happened?"
"Ryou was attacked again." There was pause. Mai added, "It didn't happen when he was at work. He ah, didn't want me to tell you."
"Wise of him," Seto observed acidly, even as he started to worry. Was Ryou the target of someone else's plans? He didn't want to fire the guy, but he couldn't leave his people in danger. "If that's what he wants, why are you wasting my time?"
"I'm telling you about it because I thought that you would want to know." There was sigh. "And I want you to help protect him."
"It would be impressive if I managed to protect him from a thousand miles away," Seto said. "I assume you mean 'assign him a bodyguard'?"
"Just do something before I come home one day and find him dead!"
Seto winced a little. "Fine," he said. "I'll send one of my bodyguards." He swiveled in his chair and tapped something on his laptop. "Someone named Kevin."
"Kevin?" Mai sounded wary. "Why a Kevin? Why not someone named . . . Jennifer, or Allison?"
Seto rolled his eyes. "Does it matter? He knows how to fight and he'll be under orders to get along with both of you. That's enough."
"Right," Mai said wryly after a pause. "You just love to make things difficult for me, don't you, Kaiba?"
"I have no idea of what you're talking about," Seto said honestly. The phone gave a beep. "I have another call. Are you finished?"
"Yessir," Mai said briskly. "Signing out, sir. Thank you for your time, sir. Have a nice day, sir."
Seto smirked and hung up.
~
"I think Harry's problem," a girl was saying, "is that he lacks any sort of paternal support."
"He has Sirius!" someone said hotly.
A long silence. Twenty-five plus pairs of eyes inspected the chalkboard, on which the teacher had scrawled, No spoilers allowed!
"Well, yes," the girl said cautiously. "But, I mean, um, yeah."
"He has plenty of paternal support," Daisuke argued, ignoring the kid in the back. "Well, not paternal, but -- just friends and family. There's Ron, and Hermione, Dumbledore, McGonagall, all of the Weasely's . . ."
"It's not the same," the girl said stubbornly. "Friends are nice, but they aren't parents."
"Ron's more than his friend," a boy behind Mokuba said. "They're like brothers."
The girl looked exasperated. "And yes, brothers are nice, but they aren't parents, either." When everyone looked skeptical, she straightened, taking on a know-it-all-tone. "Statistics have proven it. Children who grow up without parents, no matter how much support they receive from foster parents, siblings, or friends, are more inclined to rebellion, violence, petty crimes, and promiscuity than other children."
Daisuke rolled his eyes. "What?"
"It's true," the girl insisted, leaning forward. "Psychologists think that it's an innate ability of a child to recognize their parents, and to tell the difference between them and a stranger. Even if they have a loving foster family -- and most of them don't -- the lack of biological paternal support wears at their subconscious until they have to lash out, even if they don't believe or understand why."
"That's ridiculous," Daisuke snapped. "You're making that up."
Mokuba frowned. Just because Daisuke was sore over practically losing the debate didn't mean he was allowed to lash out like that.
"I am not!"
"You make stuff up all the time! You know you do. I can name a dozen times when you've lied just to sound smart." Daisuke scoffed when she glared and leaned back in his seat, obviously annoyed. A few people nodded agreement.
"That's enough," the teacher said mildly. "I think we're done now. So, judges." She smiled at Mokuba and two girls, all seated at the front of the room. "Who do you think won?"
The first girl chose Daisuke, the second, the Hermione-wannabe. Everyone looked at Mokuba.
He didn't really believe what the girl had said. Not really. Daisuke was right: he knew it in his gut. Seto had been as good to him as a father, even better. He'd done so much to protect him and look after him and . . . .
"Remember, you have to vote about whether or not you were convinced," the teacher said.
Horribly guilty, Mokuba voted for Daisuke.
The class ended there. He knew everyone thought that he'd only voted for Daisuke because they were friends -- he could see it in their smirks. And he definitely overheard the outspoken girl lean over to her friend and mutter, "What would he know about it, anyway?"
