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Chapter 4: Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire"Class, you have to do a science innovation project to be submitted on the first week of the next term. Please get into groups of three to discuss," the teacher instructed over the din.
For this project, all they had to do was invent something-anything- and submit it. And the grades they got for the project would be counted for their examination. Which meant no written paper. At the back of the classroom, Joey could be heard whooping in joy.
Everyone knew that Kaiba was an inventor; after all, he was the infamous head honcho of KaibaCorp. So it did not come as a surprise when all of a sudden he had so many "friends" all wanting to group with him. Ignoring them, he turned around to look at Yugi, who nodded and caught Bakura's glance over at the other end of the classroom. Seeing that Kaiba was going to group with Yugi and Bakura, the rest of the class glared at him, which Kaiba was used to, anyway. He never really bothered about anyone's opinions of him, and thus he had offended quite a few of his classmates.
During lunch that day, Yugi met up with Kaiba, Bakura, and Kaiba's laptop and cell phone. It was the first time they had eaten lunch together, but Yugi had watched Kaiba eating lunch before. Everyone in school had. Kaiba attracted the most attention during lunch, because of his cell phone and laptop. He was polite enough to not use them during class [well, except that Blue Eyes card… did that count?] but at lunchtime, Mr. CEO had to keep on top of things at his multimillion-dollar company. Which meant his cell phone ringing to the tune of "Overlap", [the sixth opening theme of the Yu-Gi-Oh anime ^_^] and checking KaibaCorp's market status on his laptop.
"Um… Kaiba-kun? Are you sure you can eat all that in one bite?" Bakura asked, looking at Kaiba in amusement.
He had stuffed the entire sandwich he brought for lunch into his mouth and was now devouring it without much trouble. Yugi was already trying not to laugh, but seeing Bakura's expression made the two burst into peals of laughter. Kaiba had been concentrating hard on his work, but he looked up and looked at them like they were crazy. Seeing Yugi and Bakura giggling hysterically made him start laughing too, and soon the three were just laughing at nothing. They had never really had any friends, and were really enjoying the companionship.
Kaiba's cell phone rang, and he answered it, controlling his laughter, but his
efforts weren't very successful. Yugi and Bakura were still acting crazy, which
didn't help things.
"Mr. Kaiba? I think that you'll be very pleased to know that KaibaCorp's share prices have gone up," his friendly secretary's voice came through the phone.
"Yes thank you," Kaiba hurriedly choked out before hanging up. There was no way he was going to let anyone other than Yugi, Bakura, and Mokuba hear him laugh.
Even though I lied to Yugi and Bakura about my identity on DMRPG, they don't seem to be mad. In fact, they seem to accept me as one of them. Maybe Mokuba was right about making friends… It seems like a good thing. Father… He said never to trust anyone but…
~Flashback~
"Seto, you're going to take over the company when you get older." a gruff voice penetrated his thoughts. It was Gozabura Kaiba, Seto's father.
Eight-year-old Seto was busy typing on his computer, compiling the lines of code that he had typed neatly. He couldn't really read very well, but programming was a cinch to him.
"Listen up, son!" Gozabura said sharply. "Don't ever trust anyone. People will always betray you."
Nodding slightly, Seto continued with his coding.
"Did you hear me?" Gozabura was furious now, and was practically hollering. "Answer me! Go outside and play with your brother!! You trust that stupid machine too much!"
Then reaching over, Seto's father grabbed the computer monitor and dumped it on the tiled floor, and walked off in a rage for no reason at all, leaving Seto gasping in shock. It had taken him such a long time to save up for the computer, which he had bought from a garage sale, and even then it didn't come cheap…
"I hate you!" Seto thought, his body numb and his mind blank. Filled with hatred and resentment, jhe ran outside to the playground, trying to keep his tears within him. If Mokuba saw him crying, he would start crying too…
~
Kaiba put his hand on the identity scanner by the door, and the door unlocked itself. Opening it, he stepped inside, and Mokuba immediately flew into his arms. "Big brother!!"
"Tadaima, Mokuba," Kaiba greeted as usual. But Mokuba had detached himself from Kaiba, and was gawking at Yugi and Bakura, who were looking around in awe.
"Big brother, you have friends!" he cried excitedly. "Are they here to play with me?"
"Actually they're here to do our science project-" Kaiba said, but Mokuba had already started to drag Yugi and Bakura upstairs. "Hey, don't you have homework?"
~
"Big brother!!" Mokuba hollered impatiently.
"What, Mokuba?" Kaiba asked. Yugi and Bakura had gone home a few hours ago, so they were left alone, and he was tweaking DMRPG again.
"I'm bored!! Play with me!!"
"In a while, okay?" Kaiba murmured. Between DMRPG, schoolwork, running KaibaCorp, and friendship, he didn't have as much time to spend with Mokuba as he used to.
"Big brother!!"
"Later… 'Kay?"
Running upstairs to his room, Mokuba cried, "You don't love me anymore!!"
The slam of a door could be heard, and Kaiba wondered what exactly Mokuba was whining about- he was still here, wasn't he? Assuming that Mokuba had a bad day at school, he didn't dwell too much on it, and continued typing on his computer.
~
"Good morning Mokuba," Kaiba said to his little brother. But to his surprise, Mokuba acted like he was invisible, and turned away. This went on the entire morning, and breakfast was an awkward experience. Mokuba had never once ignored Kaiba, and the latter was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"What could I have done to make Mokuba mad at me?" Kaiba thought anxiously, feeling a bit frustrated. "I didn't scold him or anything…"At school that day, Yugi and Bakura sensed Kaiba's distraction, and asked him about it. Their concern took him by surprise; nobody had ever asked him about his problems before, and he wondered if they would just roll their eyes if he told them about Mokuba. But his hesitation quickly dissipated as he saw their serious expressions.
"Mokuba's mad at me, I think," Kaiba sighed. "I don't know why."
"Maybe he's just feeling down," Bakura suggested.
"That's what I thought at first, but I really think he's angry with me for some reason."
/Yami, why do you think Mokuba is mad at Kaiba? Last time we saw him, he didn't seem to be the kind to get mad at anyone…
As usual, Yugi couldn't hear anything from the ancient pharaoh, and felt the same pang of sadness and disappointment whenever he subconsciously spoke to Yami. It had become part of his routine, whenever he was thinking of something, he would somewhat "include" Yami in his train of thought, and have Yami give suggestions that were sometimes funny and quirky.
After school that day, Kaiba and Yugi went to Kaiba's home again to work on their project again, Bakura had to help his father with his work at the museum. But this time there was no Mokuba to greet them.
Opening the door to his office, Kaiba saw that Mokuba was sitting at his desk doing his homework. Little brother did not even glance up when he saw them. It was extremely obvious to everyone that Mokuba was giving Kaiba the silent treatment.
"Um… Mokuba? Is it okay if me and your big brother do our science project in here?" Yugi asked, trying to start a conversation with Mokuba, maybe he would open up to him and he'd find the source of the problem. Most people did just that anyway-Yugi was a very approachable and understanding fellow.
To his surprise though, Mokuba just grunted. No comment. "Um… Could I have something to drink?" Yugi asked, wanting to speak to Kaiba privately. "Okay," came the reply, and the two went outside.
"Kaiba, I don't really think he's angry with you alone. If he was mad at only you, then he'd talk to me, I guess."
"Okay, so then what should I do?" For once, he did not have any solutions.
"Did he say anything to you yesterday?" Yugi questioned gently.
"Yeah… Something about me not loving him anymore," Kaiba said, blushing slightly.
"Um. Yesterday we were doing the project at your house right? Maybe he was upset that you didn't spend more time with him."
"That could be it… Usually I sit beside the guy and do his homework with him… So what now?" Kaiba was getting frustrated. Why was Mokuba acting like that all of a sudden?
~
"Um. Mokuba?" Kaiba began timidly. "Are you mad at me?"
No reply whatsoever came from Mokuba, making Kaiba feel even more disturbed.
Oh no… Mokuba's mad at me… really mad… He won't talk to me even if I try to apologize. What can I do to make him forgive me? It's not my fault he's so oversensitive. Maybe if I leave him be for a couple of days… ~Flashback~"Father, please can I have my friends over?" Mokuba pleaded. "I'll do anything!"
"No!" Gozabura bellowed, knocking Mokuba over in his uncalled-for rage. "Friends, friends, friends! It's always friends! What makes you so sure you can trust them?"
Stomping off, he slammed the front door, leaving Mokuba locked outside. He had just returned from school, and when his father had opened the door, he'd just asked. Moments later, Seto returned from school and sat on the front steps with crying Mokuba.
"What's wrong, Mokuba?" he asked sympathetically, but Mokuba just kept sobbing, pushing Seto away when he tried to hug him.
"I hate you!" Mokuba screamed, tears running down his cheeks.
Just then, Seto had a great idea, and dragged him to the ice cream store nearby.
~
I don't really think giving Mokuba some ice cream will work… And he wasn't really angry with me anyway.
"Mokuba? Want some ice cream?"
"Ye-!" Mokuba cried excitedly, but his pride stopped him from speaking to his brother. Intending to teach Seto a lesson for ignoring him the other day, he resolved never to speak to him again.
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Azzie [if I can call you that]: Who likes Seto?~ XD So did you think Seto was kawaii in this chappie? ^_^
MOKUBAisMINE: Thanks for your support! And this chapter had lots of Mokuba… ^_^
Magical Silver Phoenix Tears: Hmm… Seto/Yugi… I don't think it's possible at this point of time, since Seto is just making friends… But in the near future?… ^_~ Hehe I want Yug to hear Yami calling back too… It's very soon, don't you worry… ^_^
Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! Okay, now tell me whether this chapter was a stupid pointless waste of time… Because I'm thinking of doing a side-story on Bakura/Ryou soon… ^_^ Suggestions?