This is just getting rediculous! This is the third time I've changed thie formating of this chapter! Some of the character I usualy use aren't being accepted, even in QuickEdit. But at least the italic writing is working this time, and the scenes are seperate. I'm really sorry for this...
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Memories of the Shadows
A Yu-gi-oh fanfic
Disclamer- I do not own Yu-gi-oh and most of the other things in this fic.
/Hikari to Yami/
#Yami to Hikari# (Changed because of the problems I am having...)
{Thoughts}
Chapter 5- Broken
Note- This chapter was greatly inspired by the song "Monsters" by Something For Kate.
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The rain from the previous day had not led down, giving the room a melancholy feel. Students stared out the window into the slow drizzle of water, looks of boredom imprinted on their faces. The hadn't even started yet.
/Is this an effect of that magic wave?/ Yugi asked his other from the depths of his mind
#It doesn't seem to be..... I can sense no magic being produced.# Yami responded.
/It just doesn't seem normal. Usually the is bustling with activity..../
#I know how you feel, but perhaps it is just an after effect of the weather. But then again, considering what else has happened recently, I would not be surprised if it was something unusual.#
/...../ Yugi sighed and looked to the front of the . The door of the room opened slowly. Yugi swung his head towards the door, expecting the teacher to enter. Instead, it was Kaiba who walked wearily into the room. This was unusual, Kaiba was never late to . There was something different about the businessman, but Yugi could not pinpoint it. He shrugged it off, dismissing it as irrelevant. The door once again opened, this time it was the teacher.
'No time for sleeping, we have heaps to catch up on!' He announced. The groaned and opened their textbooks.
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Kaiba tried to focus on the equations on the board, but his mind could not focus on maths. Pain still throbbed through his entire body, and his mind automatically focused on that instead of the lesson. He shook his head and once again looked at the board. The symbols and numbers seemed to jumble into an intelligible mass.
-'Get it right!' Gozaburo snarled, slamming the sharp edge of the metal ruler into Kaiba's back. Kaiba had to bite his lip to stop himself from yelling out. He tasted blood.
'How many times must we do this before you realise what you are doing wrong?!'
'I-I'm sorry!' Kaiba stuttered.
'Don't speak like that!' Gozaburo hit him with the ruler once again. 'You must speak with a sure tone of voice, otherwise you will never succeed in business!'
'Yes sir..' Kaiba averted his gaze. He placed his pen on the paper once again, trying to figure out what it was that he had to do.-
Kaiba's head jerked up suddenly, the memory vividly coming back to him. He could feel the welts caused by the steel ruler as if they had been inflicted just then.
#You didn't think that I would limit myself to physical torture, did you? Your memories are too detrimental for me not to use.# Seto said over the mental link.
'Seeing the past again is nothing new,' Kaiba whispered. 'Noa tried the same tactic.'
#There's a difference between watching the past and reliving it. Plus, Noa couldn't unlock your repressed memories, I can.#
'Go to hell.'
#If I do, I'll drag you with me.#
'Seto Kaiba, would you answer the question?' The teacher asked. Kaiba jerked up and viewed the math question; a simple trigonometry equation. He gave the precise formula to be used and, using his calculator, gave the answer. The teacher nodded, a sign of a correct answer, then wrote something else on the board.
- 'You didn't have to stand up to him....' Mokuba said, placing a Band-Aid on his brother's arm.
'If I didn't, he would have thought of us as weak, and easy to pick on.' He replied, wiping blood from his split lip onto his shirt. He sat, his back leaning against a wall. He was covered in numerous bruises and cuts, and he had a black eye. 'We would have faced a lot more that this.'
'But you're really hurt! And the adults won't do a thing about it!'
'They're too busy with the other guy. He'll make up a false story about how we started the fight, and we'll get into even more trouble.'
'..... No more Band-Aids...' Mokuba held up the empty packet. 'Why do we have to be here? I liked it better before.'
'We didn't have a choice, Mokey....' He looked down at the ground, not wanting to recall the reason why they were here. He heard footsteps approaching. The caretakers of the orphanage came over to him, grabbed him by the ear and escorted him to the medical room. It hurt, but he gritted his teeth and bared it. He had little other choice.-
'No choices....' He murmured under his breath. He shook his head suddenly and willed the memory to leave, but it clung to him, plaguing his thoughts.
#This is great, I haven't even gotten to the repressed memories yet.#
'I shall not relent..' Kaiba spoke softly, however he was not of sure of this as he was a few minutes ago.
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Ryou Bakura watched. What he saw frightened him a little, but he could empathise. He saw pain, sorrow and impending collapse. Emotions he had felt often himself.
'Bakura, what are you looking at?' Jounouchi asked, his mouth half-full of hot-dog.
'.... Nothing' He sighed and turned around to face the group.
'Hey, has anyone else noticed something strange going around?' Yugi asked.
'Yeah, we should really teach Jou here to stop wandering around the corridors!' Honda joked. Jounouchi punched him in the arm. The others laughed.
'That's not what I meant.' Yugi sighed. 'It sort of...... Like something's trying to block something out....'
'Like what?' Anzu asked. 'Everything seems to be normal to me.'
'How about Seto Kaiba?' Ryou spoke up.
'What about that stuck-up little windbag?' Jou spat.
'Look closely. He looks.....' Ryou tried to find the right word. '.... Tormented, I guess.'
The others looked, but only Yugi also seemed to find anything different.
'You're full of shit, Bakura. He's still the same old, pompous, narcissistic ass he's always been.' Jou glared.
#Bakura has a point.# Yami spoke from his soul room. #There is something strange about him.#
/I know that, but the others don't seem to notice. Could it be Magic?/
#But why would magic be hiding Kaiba's true well-being from us? I think that there might be something more to this.#
/So do I.../ Yugi disconnected the link and listened to the mundane conversation the others were having.
Ryou listened for a while, then became bored and once again swung his gaze to Seto Kaiba, who leant heavily against the cafeteria table he was sitting at, a haunted expression on his face. Ryou watched, and knew exactly how Kaiba felt.
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Kaiba walked into his house and threw the schoolbag in the corner. His head throbbed, his body ached and the bandaging on his hand needed changing. He unwrapped the bloodied bandaging and looked at the gash. It was still bleeding, though to a lesser extent. He could see the bones, and almost out the other side. Kaiba shuddered and picked up the fresh bandages.
#I offer you one last chance before I do this. Learn magic from me.# Seto contacted him.
'I have survived this torture so far. Why quit now?' Kaiba spoke as he wrapped his hand up.
Because I shall not quit, and you shall be forever scared if I unleash these demons once again.
'Try your worst.' Kaiba narrowed his eyes.
#..... I am truly sorry.#
- 'Mother?' He watched, looking at the silent, still figure lying on the hospital bed.
'Mother, wake up. Mokey wants to talk to you too...' He walked up the motionless figure and tugged on the sleeve. In the depths of his mind, he knew she wouldn't answer. In the depths of his mind, he knew she was dead. But that little bit of knowledge was blocked out by pure emotion. He waited patiently for a response that would not come.
'Please.... Don't go.' His eyes welled up with tears, his voice wavered. 'Who will take care of us?
'Seto, It's time for Mokuba..... Oh.' The doctor walked in, and checked her pulse. After a few minutes of silence, he shook his head. 'A shame.... She was so close to recovery.'
'You'll make her better, right?' He asked. He knew it was an impossible request, but he did not want to give up.
'Seto...' The doctor knelt. 'She's gone to a better place. And we don't want to take her from that place, do we?'
'She's not in a better place!' He yelled, tears now freely flowing from his eyes. 'She said we were the things she loved the most! How can Mother be in a better place if we aren't there?!' His shoulders sagged, and he sobbed lightly.
'Seto....' The doctor began. 'We can't bring her back. If we did, then it would be a miracle.'
'Then make a miracle!' He knew it was foolish, but he pressed on.
'Seto?' A voice came from behind him. He turned around and looked at his brother. 'Why is mommy so still?
'She's just tired.' He said, trying to block the truth. Mokuba walked up the motionless body of his mother and placed his hand on her face.
'Mommy?' Mokuba asked. 'Are you sleeping?'
'Please children, try to understand. She is no longer with us....'
'Doctor, it's time for... Oh.' The nurse poked her head around the door, a sad little expression on her face. 'She's dead...'
'SHE IS NOT DEAD!' He yelled at them. 'WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF US IF SHE'S DEAD?!'
Silence filled the room, then small sobs erupted both of the brothers.
'Mommy...' Mokuba said, hugging the corpse.
'I'll make arrangements for a relative to pick them up then...' The nurse said, slowly shutting the door. The doctor sighed and cleaned his glasses.
'I'm sorry boys. I know how hard this must be on you. But please, understand that we did all we could for her.'The doctor, too, left the room. He walked over to his brother, and hugged him.
'It'll be OK Mokey.......' He said, although he himself doubted the truth of his words.-
The bandages fell to the floor, bouncing a few times before stopping. Kaiba yelled, grabbed the Millennium Rod from his coat pocket, and threw it into the wall. However, it was too late. The chain reaction triggered, dozens of repressed memories flooded back into his consciousness, reliving themselves in vivid detail. Every painful moment in his life played through his mind: His Father's funeral, his mother's last days fighting against cancer, the endless bouncing from relative to relative to see them either move, die or simply become sick of them, and so many more memories painful enough to be repressed in his subconscious. All in the space of one second. His mind became overwhelmed with these memories and the emotions that came with them, and it shattered. A mental breakdown.
Kaiba, his mind in pieces, his mental walls destroyed, his spirit crushed. He slowly fell to his knees, placed his head in his hands, and wept.
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Awwww, don't you just want to go over there, hug him and tell him it's OK?
Anyway, R&R please.