~chapter 13
Bakura gave a deep sigh as he folded his arms on his desk, resting his chin on them. Despite Yuugi's best efforts, he hadn't been able to finish catching up on his missed work, and with his notes and books at Kaiba's...
He sighed again, eyes melancholy, wondering if he should have done something different. He gave a small fond smile, thinking of how Kaiba had pouted, then winced, remembering the angry glare and the shattering of glass when the boy had awoken. 'Give him time,' he coached himself. And then at the very least he could go get his books and bag from Kaiba's house. Maybe he could get Mokuba to get them for him if Kaiba seemed really mad. He didn't want to---
His thoughts trailed off as the door to the class slid open.
Kaiba entered the room without looking at anyone and sat at his desk. He pulled his book out, hands trembling almost imperceptibly and began reading. Or at least seemed to be reading. The pages didn't turn with their usual regularity.
Bakura grimaced, ignoring Jounouchi's usual comment on Kaiba's entrance and trying to hide his concern for the taller boy, lest anyone else catch it. Kaiba should not have been in school. He had nothing to gain from it and he was obviously in no shape to be there. Bakura paused and gave a small smile. 'Obvious to me,' he thought. To everyone else, it just looked like Kaiba was normal. 'But that haven't spent over two months trying to get to know him,' he sighed mentally. He couldn't just go over to him now, class was about to start and if Kaiba was in poor enough condition that Bakura could tell...
The pale haired boy sighed again. He would try and talk to him a lunch. It was as private as you could get in school when everyone else was eating....
The pages of Kaiba's book turned very slowly through the class, and although the brunet tried to hide it, Bakura could tell that Kaiba was conscious of every time he was called for an answer in the class, and could see the quickly cut off nod every time he answered correctly. Thankfully, because of Yuugi's clever explanations of Bakura's 'sick relative' he had been tending to the past few days, the teacher hadn't asked the pale boy anything he couldn't answer, for which he was grateful. The smaller boy believed Bakura had been caring for Mokuba, rather then Kaiba and Bakura knew better then to correct him. He had purposely avoided saying which Kaiba he had been caring for when explaining his situation to Yuugi. He knew Kaiba would never forgive anyone, especially his rival, knowing he had ever been weak.
He gave a relieved exhale as the class broke. Concentrating on both class and Kaiba while not letting on he was, plus the pressure of feeling he had to answer every question correctly for fear of how it would effect Kaiba had been nerve-wrackingly stressful. He looked over at were his friends were gathering before heading to lunch. "Ne, Yuugi-kun," he called to the smaller boy. "Save a spot for me at the table? I have a few things I need to finish before I head to lunch."
"Un!" Yuugi smiled. "Aa! Jounouchi-kuuun!" he exclaimed, horrified as the blond chuckled at Anzu's growing irritation at him.
Bakura tuned the antics out, pretending to be looking through his book as the class filtered out, but keeping his attention to where Kaiba was still sitting.
Kaiba didn't even look up as the class filed out. His only allowance for solitude was that he let the book rest against the desk rather than holding it up.
Taking a deep breath, Bakura rose to his feet, walking over to the other boy's desk. "Kaiba-kun... you shouldn't be here," he said in concern. "Your hands are shaking..."
"Go to lunch," Kaiba said coldly.
Bakura nearly sighed. "Not until you go home and rest," he said firmly. "People are going to start noticing you're acting different. You weren't even arrogant to the teacher when you were called on!"
"I told you to leave me alone," Kaiba said intensely.
"You're not going to get any better if you don't take care of yourself, Kaiba-kun," Bakura pointed out.
Kaiba surged to his feet. "I said leave me alone!" he shouted, hands balled into fists.
Bakura took a step back, eyes wide in surprise and fear.
"Now go away!"
"Kaiba-kun, please just listen to me," Bakura said, trying to keep his voice from trembling. "You need to go home. You're not well and--"
Kaiba held his hands so tightly that his arms trembled, nails practically drawing blood. "No one tells me what to do," he said softly. "NO ONE!" he screamed.
Bakura took another step back, utterly petrified.
"Now go away and stop trying to control me," Kaiba said with a venomous look.
"I'm not trying to control you!" Bakura insisted, voice heavy with worry and fear. "I'm trying to keep you from destroying yourself!"
"I can take care of myself," Kaiba said, struggling to breathe normally. "And Mokuba, so stay away from him too. Now go!" He raised a shaking hand to point to the door.
"I won't," Bakura said, trying to keep his voice firm.
Kaiba's trembling increased until he couldn't stand anymore. He sat, resting his head in his hands. "Go," he said softly.
"Kaiba-kun..." Bakura took a hesitant step forward. "Please. Let me try and help?" he begged softly.
"Go," Kaiba said again, voice almost pleading.
"Will it make you better?"
"I'm fine," Kaiba said tightly.
"No, you're not," Bakura said softly.
"I will be once you stop bothering me."
Bakura hesitated a moment, then nodded. "I'm going to go to lunch," he said finally. "If you need anything from me..." he trailed of before turning to exit the room.
Kaiba slowly picked his book up again, opening it and smoothing the pages that had bent when he dropped it.
Bakura hesitated at the door to the Kaiba mansion. He knew Kaiba never answered the door, letting Mokuba or one of the servants do it so he wouldn't be disturbed from his work, but he couldn't help worrying what would happen if Kaiba was the one to answer if he did knock.
The pale haired boy gave a sigh. He couldn't just stand in front of the door like an idiot all day, he reasoned with himself. He needed to talk to Mokuba and at the very least get his books. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the button for the doorbell and pressed it.
He fidgeted slightly as he waited for the door to be opened. 'Hopefully Kaiba hasn't told his staff not to let me in,' he worried silently as he looked around the yard a moment. Frowning slightly, he rang again, getting more nervous. Normally the staff would have answered the door before he could ring twice....
Worry increasing, he rang the bell a third time. Even if he'd been barred from the mansion, someone would have come out to tell him so by now, unless....
'Unless something was wrong with Kaiba-kun,' he thought, eyes going wide.
He hesitated a moment more before testing the doorknob. Finding it unlocked, he turned it and pushed the door open. "Mokuba-kuuuun!" Bakura called as he stepped inside, sliding his sneakers off. "Mokuba-kun, are you in?!"
There was a momentary clatter from upstairs before Mokuba appeared at the top of the staircase. "Bakura!" he called in a relieved voice. "It's niisama! Come help niisama!"
"What happened?" Bakura called back, hurrying up the stairs.
"I don't know!" Mokuba said, near tears now that someone was there to take care of his brother.
Bakura gave him a quick hug. "Where is he?"
"In his room," Mokuba said, pointing, although Bakura didn't need to be shown.
The paler boy nodded, hurrying down the hallway. "Kaiba-kun...?" he called hesitantly, knocking on the door.
There was no response from Kaiba, and Bakura could hear incoherent sobbing from the other side of the door.
Bakura swore softly under his breath. "I'm coming in, okay?" he called before slowly turning the knob and pushing the door open.
Kaiba was curled in a ball in the corner, knees to his chest and face pressed against his knees. He shuddered with half suppressed sobs.
"Kaiba-kun?" Bakura called softly, moving to kneel before the boy. "What's the matter?"
Kaiba didn't acknowledge him.
"Kaiba-kun, please..." Bakura reached out to touch the trembling boy but stopped, knowing it would just make Kaiba worse.
As if feeling the aura of Bakura's hand, Kaiba pulled away, shaking his head frantically.
The paler boy pulled back, eyes concerned. "Who did this to you?" he asked softly.
Kaiba shuddered at the nearby voice, trying to make himself smaller. His arms moved from hugging his knees to covering his head as if he expected a blow.
Bakura slowly reached out to gently touch the boy's hand. "I'm not going to hurt you," he promised.
Kaiba whimpered, flinching back from the touch.
"I promise, I'm not going to hurt you," Bakura repeated, his hand lightly covering Kaiba's own.
The shuddering increased for a moment, then returned to how it had been when Bakura entered.
"Tell me what I can do to help you," Bakura requested softly.
Kaiba's responding whimpers were incoherent as he peeked up at Bakura with tear-stained cheeks, then hid his face again.
The paler boy looked pained and it took every bit of self control he had to keep from putting his arms around Kaiba to hug him, knowing that it would only cause the upset boy to get worse. "Kaiba-kun...."
The brunet whimpered again, hearing his name.
Bakura hesitated a moment. "Seto-kun," he tried again.
Kaiba peeked up at him again.
Bakura gave him soft smile. "What can I do to make you feel better?" he asked gently.
Kaiba reached for him jerkily, as if he didn't want to.
Bakura continued to smile softly, not moving away or closer.
After a few moments of hesitation, Kaiba buried himself against Bakura's chest, sobbing softly.
The paler boy gently put his arms around him, holding him comfortingly. "It's okay, I'll take care of you," he promised, gently stroking Kaiba's hair.
Slowly, he began to understand some of what Kaiba whimpered into his shirt.
"So tired... Want to sleep... Can't think like this... Don't understand... Make him stop... Make him stop!"
"He's not here anymore, Seto-kun," Bakura promised. "You can sleep, I'll watch over you."
Kaiba didn't seem to hear or understand. "Not weak.... Tired! Hurts...." he shuddered, huddling closer to Bakura.
Bakura hugged him closer, resting his cheek on his hair, slowly rocking the brunet to try and sooth him. "It'll all be okay, Seto-kun," he assured. "I'll take care of you."
"Make him stop," Kaiba begged softly. "Hurts."
"I won't let him hurt you anymore," Bakura promised. "I'll stay with you if you want me to, and I won't let anyone hurt you."
Kaiba sobbed himself into exhaustion, curled against Bakura.
Carefully, Bakura shifted to try to get the taller boy to his bed, keeping his arms around him. "Mokuba-kun?" he called, hoping the boy was within hearing distance as he stumbled slightly, Kaiba's dead weight nearly making him fall.
Mokuba hurried in, eyes widening as he saw Kaiba. "What's wrong?" he asked Bakura worriedly as he helped the other boy lift his brother into bed.
"Leftovers from the exhaustion, I think," Bakura half lied, thankful that Kaiba's face was hidden against his shirt so Mokuba wouldn't be able to see his brother had been crying.
"Will niisama get better now?" Mokuba asked.
"He should," Bakura smiled. "He just needs to rest more. I'll stay with him until he wakes up again."
Mokuba nodded. "What should I do?" he asked.
"Make sure there's no long strings of S's on what ever's open on the laptop?"
Mokuba smiled, thinking of his brother's tired ramblings about how the keys made a tapping noise and that the letter 's' looked funny. After a moment, his smile drained. "Niisama hasn't been working since he woke up from that."
Bakura near grimaced. "Maybe he was too tired to," he reasoned. "Has he been eating?"
Mokuba nodded. "Mostly your soup."
The paler boy smiled softly, stoking Kaiba's hair fondly. "I'll have to make more of it then," he laughed lightly.
Mokuba smiled again. "I'll go get out things so you can," he said.
Bakura smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
Mokuba looked at Kaiba sadly, then left the room. "If you need anything, call me."
"Thanks, Mokuba-kun. I'll be here," Bakura smiled jokingly.
He gave a small sigh, turning his attention back to the boy in his arms. He wanted to ask Mokuba if he had any idea what had happened to Kaiba when he was younger, but knew it would only worry the boy more as well as make Kaiba angry with him later. He sighed again, shifting slightly to hold the unconscious boy more comfortably.
He paused, feeling a strange, almost lumpy texture to the back of Kaiba's shirt. Frowning slightly, he ran his fingers over it. The front of Kaiba's shirt didn't feel like that, what would be--
'Make him stop,' Kaiba's voice begged softly in his memory. 'Hurts.'
Bakura's eyes went wide in horrified realization. It was Kaiba's back... textured with extensive scaring, that was what he was feeling.
He hugged Kaiba tightly, burying his face in his hair. "No wonder you never took your shirt off," he whispered, wishing he could do something to make the wounds, both external and internal, disappear.
--
Note: While it is never shown in canon weither or not Gozaburo beat Kaiba or similar, the fact that he denied him sleep and made him wear a collar while holding a riding crop under his chin [scans avaible or look at the latest Shonen Jump [March 04 issue I beleive]] makes it a beleivable possiblity. To us anyway. ^^
Bakura gave a deep sigh as he folded his arms on his desk, resting his chin on them. Despite Yuugi's best efforts, he hadn't been able to finish catching up on his missed work, and with his notes and books at Kaiba's...
He sighed again, eyes melancholy, wondering if he should have done something different. He gave a small fond smile, thinking of how Kaiba had pouted, then winced, remembering the angry glare and the shattering of glass when the boy had awoken. 'Give him time,' he coached himself. And then at the very least he could go get his books and bag from Kaiba's house. Maybe he could get Mokuba to get them for him if Kaiba seemed really mad. He didn't want to---
His thoughts trailed off as the door to the class slid open.
Kaiba entered the room without looking at anyone and sat at his desk. He pulled his book out, hands trembling almost imperceptibly and began reading. Or at least seemed to be reading. The pages didn't turn with their usual regularity.
Bakura grimaced, ignoring Jounouchi's usual comment on Kaiba's entrance and trying to hide his concern for the taller boy, lest anyone else catch it. Kaiba should not have been in school. He had nothing to gain from it and he was obviously in no shape to be there. Bakura paused and gave a small smile. 'Obvious to me,' he thought. To everyone else, it just looked like Kaiba was normal. 'But that haven't spent over two months trying to get to know him,' he sighed mentally. He couldn't just go over to him now, class was about to start and if Kaiba was in poor enough condition that Bakura could tell...
The pale haired boy sighed again. He would try and talk to him a lunch. It was as private as you could get in school when everyone else was eating....
The pages of Kaiba's book turned very slowly through the class, and although the brunet tried to hide it, Bakura could tell that Kaiba was conscious of every time he was called for an answer in the class, and could see the quickly cut off nod every time he answered correctly. Thankfully, because of Yuugi's clever explanations of Bakura's 'sick relative' he had been tending to the past few days, the teacher hadn't asked the pale boy anything he couldn't answer, for which he was grateful. The smaller boy believed Bakura had been caring for Mokuba, rather then Kaiba and Bakura knew better then to correct him. He had purposely avoided saying which Kaiba he had been caring for when explaining his situation to Yuugi. He knew Kaiba would never forgive anyone, especially his rival, knowing he had ever been weak.
He gave a relieved exhale as the class broke. Concentrating on both class and Kaiba while not letting on he was, plus the pressure of feeling he had to answer every question correctly for fear of how it would effect Kaiba had been nerve-wrackingly stressful. He looked over at were his friends were gathering before heading to lunch. "Ne, Yuugi-kun," he called to the smaller boy. "Save a spot for me at the table? I have a few things I need to finish before I head to lunch."
"Un!" Yuugi smiled. "Aa! Jounouchi-kuuun!" he exclaimed, horrified as the blond chuckled at Anzu's growing irritation at him.
Bakura tuned the antics out, pretending to be looking through his book as the class filtered out, but keeping his attention to where Kaiba was still sitting.
Kaiba didn't even look up as the class filed out. His only allowance for solitude was that he let the book rest against the desk rather than holding it up.
Taking a deep breath, Bakura rose to his feet, walking over to the other boy's desk. "Kaiba-kun... you shouldn't be here," he said in concern. "Your hands are shaking..."
"Go to lunch," Kaiba said coldly.
Bakura nearly sighed. "Not until you go home and rest," he said firmly. "People are going to start noticing you're acting different. You weren't even arrogant to the teacher when you were called on!"
"I told you to leave me alone," Kaiba said intensely.
"You're not going to get any better if you don't take care of yourself, Kaiba-kun," Bakura pointed out.
Kaiba surged to his feet. "I said leave me alone!" he shouted, hands balled into fists.
Bakura took a step back, eyes wide in surprise and fear.
"Now go away!"
"Kaiba-kun, please just listen to me," Bakura said, trying to keep his voice from trembling. "You need to go home. You're not well and--"
Kaiba held his hands so tightly that his arms trembled, nails practically drawing blood. "No one tells me what to do," he said softly. "NO ONE!" he screamed.
Bakura took another step back, utterly petrified.
"Now go away and stop trying to control me," Kaiba said with a venomous look.
"I'm not trying to control you!" Bakura insisted, voice heavy with worry and fear. "I'm trying to keep you from destroying yourself!"
"I can take care of myself," Kaiba said, struggling to breathe normally. "And Mokuba, so stay away from him too. Now go!" He raised a shaking hand to point to the door.
"I won't," Bakura said, trying to keep his voice firm.
Kaiba's trembling increased until he couldn't stand anymore. He sat, resting his head in his hands. "Go," he said softly.
"Kaiba-kun..." Bakura took a hesitant step forward. "Please. Let me try and help?" he begged softly.
"Go," Kaiba said again, voice almost pleading.
"Will it make you better?"
"I'm fine," Kaiba said tightly.
"No, you're not," Bakura said softly.
"I will be once you stop bothering me."
Bakura hesitated a moment, then nodded. "I'm going to go to lunch," he said finally. "If you need anything from me..." he trailed of before turning to exit the room.
Kaiba slowly picked his book up again, opening it and smoothing the pages that had bent when he dropped it.
Bakura hesitated at the door to the Kaiba mansion. He knew Kaiba never answered the door, letting Mokuba or one of the servants do it so he wouldn't be disturbed from his work, but he couldn't help worrying what would happen if Kaiba was the one to answer if he did knock.
The pale haired boy gave a sigh. He couldn't just stand in front of the door like an idiot all day, he reasoned with himself. He needed to talk to Mokuba and at the very least get his books. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the button for the doorbell and pressed it.
He fidgeted slightly as he waited for the door to be opened. 'Hopefully Kaiba hasn't told his staff not to let me in,' he worried silently as he looked around the yard a moment. Frowning slightly, he rang again, getting more nervous. Normally the staff would have answered the door before he could ring twice....
Worry increasing, he rang the bell a third time. Even if he'd been barred from the mansion, someone would have come out to tell him so by now, unless....
'Unless something was wrong with Kaiba-kun,' he thought, eyes going wide.
He hesitated a moment more before testing the doorknob. Finding it unlocked, he turned it and pushed the door open. "Mokuba-kuuuun!" Bakura called as he stepped inside, sliding his sneakers off. "Mokuba-kun, are you in?!"
There was a momentary clatter from upstairs before Mokuba appeared at the top of the staircase. "Bakura!" he called in a relieved voice. "It's niisama! Come help niisama!"
"What happened?" Bakura called back, hurrying up the stairs.
"I don't know!" Mokuba said, near tears now that someone was there to take care of his brother.
Bakura gave him a quick hug. "Where is he?"
"In his room," Mokuba said, pointing, although Bakura didn't need to be shown.
The paler boy nodded, hurrying down the hallway. "Kaiba-kun...?" he called hesitantly, knocking on the door.
There was no response from Kaiba, and Bakura could hear incoherent sobbing from the other side of the door.
Bakura swore softly under his breath. "I'm coming in, okay?" he called before slowly turning the knob and pushing the door open.
Kaiba was curled in a ball in the corner, knees to his chest and face pressed against his knees. He shuddered with half suppressed sobs.
"Kaiba-kun?" Bakura called softly, moving to kneel before the boy. "What's the matter?"
Kaiba didn't acknowledge him.
"Kaiba-kun, please..." Bakura reached out to touch the trembling boy but stopped, knowing it would just make Kaiba worse.
As if feeling the aura of Bakura's hand, Kaiba pulled away, shaking his head frantically.
The paler boy pulled back, eyes concerned. "Who did this to you?" he asked softly.
Kaiba shuddered at the nearby voice, trying to make himself smaller. His arms moved from hugging his knees to covering his head as if he expected a blow.
Bakura slowly reached out to gently touch the boy's hand. "I'm not going to hurt you," he promised.
Kaiba whimpered, flinching back from the touch.
"I promise, I'm not going to hurt you," Bakura repeated, his hand lightly covering Kaiba's own.
The shuddering increased for a moment, then returned to how it had been when Bakura entered.
"Tell me what I can do to help you," Bakura requested softly.
Kaiba's responding whimpers were incoherent as he peeked up at Bakura with tear-stained cheeks, then hid his face again.
The paler boy looked pained and it took every bit of self control he had to keep from putting his arms around Kaiba to hug him, knowing that it would only cause the upset boy to get worse. "Kaiba-kun...."
The brunet whimpered again, hearing his name.
Bakura hesitated a moment. "Seto-kun," he tried again.
Kaiba peeked up at him again.
Bakura gave him soft smile. "What can I do to make you feel better?" he asked gently.
Kaiba reached for him jerkily, as if he didn't want to.
Bakura continued to smile softly, not moving away or closer.
After a few moments of hesitation, Kaiba buried himself against Bakura's chest, sobbing softly.
The paler boy gently put his arms around him, holding him comfortingly. "It's okay, I'll take care of you," he promised, gently stroking Kaiba's hair.
Slowly, he began to understand some of what Kaiba whimpered into his shirt.
"So tired... Want to sleep... Can't think like this... Don't understand... Make him stop... Make him stop!"
"He's not here anymore, Seto-kun," Bakura promised. "You can sleep, I'll watch over you."
Kaiba didn't seem to hear or understand. "Not weak.... Tired! Hurts...." he shuddered, huddling closer to Bakura.
Bakura hugged him closer, resting his cheek on his hair, slowly rocking the brunet to try and sooth him. "It'll all be okay, Seto-kun," he assured. "I'll take care of you."
"Make him stop," Kaiba begged softly. "Hurts."
"I won't let him hurt you anymore," Bakura promised. "I'll stay with you if you want me to, and I won't let anyone hurt you."
Kaiba sobbed himself into exhaustion, curled against Bakura.
Carefully, Bakura shifted to try to get the taller boy to his bed, keeping his arms around him. "Mokuba-kun?" he called, hoping the boy was within hearing distance as he stumbled slightly, Kaiba's dead weight nearly making him fall.
Mokuba hurried in, eyes widening as he saw Kaiba. "What's wrong?" he asked Bakura worriedly as he helped the other boy lift his brother into bed.
"Leftovers from the exhaustion, I think," Bakura half lied, thankful that Kaiba's face was hidden against his shirt so Mokuba wouldn't be able to see his brother had been crying.
"Will niisama get better now?" Mokuba asked.
"He should," Bakura smiled. "He just needs to rest more. I'll stay with him until he wakes up again."
Mokuba nodded. "What should I do?" he asked.
"Make sure there's no long strings of S's on what ever's open on the laptop?"
Mokuba smiled, thinking of his brother's tired ramblings about how the keys made a tapping noise and that the letter 's' looked funny. After a moment, his smile drained. "Niisama hasn't been working since he woke up from that."
Bakura near grimaced. "Maybe he was too tired to," he reasoned. "Has he been eating?"
Mokuba nodded. "Mostly your soup."
The paler boy smiled softly, stoking Kaiba's hair fondly. "I'll have to make more of it then," he laughed lightly.
Mokuba smiled again. "I'll go get out things so you can," he said.
Bakura smiled gratefully. "Thanks."
Mokuba looked at Kaiba sadly, then left the room. "If you need anything, call me."
"Thanks, Mokuba-kun. I'll be here," Bakura smiled jokingly.
He gave a small sigh, turning his attention back to the boy in his arms. He wanted to ask Mokuba if he had any idea what had happened to Kaiba when he was younger, but knew it would only worry the boy more as well as make Kaiba angry with him later. He sighed again, shifting slightly to hold the unconscious boy more comfortably.
He paused, feeling a strange, almost lumpy texture to the back of Kaiba's shirt. Frowning slightly, he ran his fingers over it. The front of Kaiba's shirt didn't feel like that, what would be--
'Make him stop,' Kaiba's voice begged softly in his memory. 'Hurts.'
Bakura's eyes went wide in horrified realization. It was Kaiba's back... textured with extensive scaring, that was what he was feeling.
He hugged Kaiba tightly, burying his face in his hair. "No wonder you never took your shirt off," he whispered, wishing he could do something to make the wounds, both external and internal, disappear.
--
Note: While it is never shown in canon weither or not Gozaburo beat Kaiba or similar, the fact that he denied him sleep and made him wear a collar while holding a riding crop under his chin [scans avaible or look at the latest Shonen Jump [March 04 issue I beleive]] makes it a beleivable possiblity. To us anyway. ^^