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.
Want more notes? See Chapter One.
***
"How'd school go?"
"Boring," Mokuba said, gritting his teeth. He didn't want to think about Daisuke or their argument. Had it even been an argument? What were they arguing about? Surely something that stupid couldn't be classified as an argument.
"How are your classes coming?"
"Normal," Mokuba said tightly. "Physics is boring, History is boring, Art and Literature and Programming are all boring . . ."
"How's Calculus?"
Mokuba paused.
Seto ate a few bites of chicken.
"Because I hear the class goes much better if you show up for it," Seto added when Mokuba said nothing. "Where were you?"
Mokuba started to stand. Seto set down his fork. "Sit back down. Where were you?"
"Nowhere," Mokuba lied, sitting back down. "In class."
"You know, I can tell when you're lying." Seto took a drink of water, still so completely calm that Mokuba wanted to shatter a plate on his head. "It's one of the useful techniques you pick up as a duelist."
"Call my teacher, then," Mokuba challenged.
"I can tell when you're bluffing, too." Seto set the glass of water down. "Besides, I don't need to. He called me when you weren't in class."
Mokuba stared at him, fiercely hating his composure. He finally found his voice, albeit an unusually tight and nasty one. "Ah. I guess you paid him off, too?"
Seto froze. His head lifted slowly, eyes frosty.
"And what," he said slowly, "is that supposed to mean?"
It was the first time that Mokuba had ever been treated to the Full Effect Seto Kaiba Death Glare. Daisuke had been right; it was frightening. Seto was a scary, scary man.
"Nothing," Mokuba said. He could feel his face warming, his fingers twitching as he gripped the edge of his seat. Oh, damn.
Seto was watching him intently. "No, you said it," he prompted calmly. "Explain it."
"I didn't mean it," Mokuba said quickly.
"I doubt that." There was a long stretch of quiet as Seto waited for Mokuba to speak, but he couldn't think of anything to say. And as the seconds ticked by, as the atmosphere grew even more strained, he began getting irritated all over again.
Finally he pushed himself to his feet. "If you want to fight with someone, call Joey," he snapped, and kicked the kitchen door open, tossing his plate onto the counter. He caught Mrs. Kamazaki's startled glance as she loaded the dishwasher and ignored it.
"I don't want to fight with someone," Seto said, with that unshakable chill. "I'm just wondering if you'll follow through with your insults or run away."
Mokuba gritted back his teeth to avoid snapping fuck you. He felt a rush of satisfaction, however, as he slammed the dining room door behind him.
~
"Hey." Mokuba relaxed into the linen closet at the sound of Daisuke's voice. "I wasn't sure if you'd call me."
"Well, I don't have anyone else to talk to," Mokuba said snappishly. "I got into a fight with Seto, thanks to you."
Daisuke rose to the challenge, snapping back, "What, did he magically overhear me saying he was scary?"
"No, he found out I was skipping class, moron."
"You had as much to do with that as I did!"
"Whatever." Irritated, Mokuba chewed the inside of his cheek. He heard Daisuke shifting on the other side of the phone and held his breath, wondering if this was about to erupt into a genuine shouting match.
"If you want to fight with someone, talk to your brother," he said instead, startling Mokuba with an echo of his own words. "I actually wanted to apologize."
Mokuba swallowed. "You don't have to apologize."
"Yeah, I do. I insulted your brother. I shouldn't have done that. I know that the two of you are really close . . ."
Was the phone tapped? Mokuba had no way of knowing. But he was willing to bet that it was.
"It's all right," Mokuba said. He narrowed his eyes at an imaginary Seto. "I don't care at all what you say about him."
~
"Mr. Kaiba, sir?"
Seto turned from his perusal of the security cameras. "What?"
The guard hesitated. "Is there a problem, sir?" he asked cautiously.
"Yes." Seto stood, kicking the chair out of his way and crossing to the tape archive. "I want to receive hourly updates on the mansion's security."
"Yes, sir."
"And I want to know if anyone goes in or out, I don't care what time of day it is."
"Yes, sir."
Seto paused, looking over the monitors, the tapes, searching for something to criticize. He found nothing -- the place was even free of dust. He wondered what it said about him that he was disappointed.
"Have there been any security breeches at all?" Seto asked.
"A few, sir."
Immediately, Seto rounded on him. "Why wasn't I notified immediately?"
"They were minor, sir." The poor guard was sweating. "By the time someone was sent to investigate, sir, they'd already left."
"They? How many? Who?"
"Only one, sir, and we don't know who." The guard locked his hands behind his back. "We've increased security in probed areas, but they never check the same place twice. It's as if they're looking for a weak spot in the defenses."
Seto rocked back on his heels, disturbed. He stared at the monitors for a minute, wondering . . .
"Make sure they don't find any," he ordered absently.
Relief was evident in the guard's voice. "Yes, sir."
Seto nodded once and left.
