Chapter 4 Planning
Hours passed. Of course they did. Kaiba's internal clock mentally kept track of them. But the rest of what passed was irredeemable. No school usually meant a lot of work was completed, but not this time. For the first four hours, Kaiba did nothing but sit before the newly-made fire, gazing into its roiling depths. Then, quite calmly, he got up and went to his room. There, he began taking notes on factual information that could be of some help in the trial.
When five o'clock passed an hour later, hit ears automatically sharpened to hear any sign of his brother stirring. With a scowl, he began to write more furiously. Completely absorbed in his work, the goons knew to leave him alone, even though Roland knew some information he was not supposed to disclose.
At ten o'clock, Kaiba sat up straighter in his chair and observed all that he had completed. It seemed like scantily little.
"What information could they possibly have to take my little brother away from me?"
Pacing and occasionally glancing out the window, his thoughts delved deep within once more.
-
"Oh, what a poor child!" The woman in red nearly smothered Mokuba as she pressed him into an embrace. "If I had known how terrible the CEO of Kaiba Corp was, I would have done something sooner! The Janukas have plenty of prestige of their own, my dear."
Her husband nodded. "I daresay you'll find our living conditions much the same as what you have known. Now come, Mokuba, let's go to our home."
Silently trudging after them, he cast one look back at the police, but they were already gone with other matters. Sighing, he crawled into the back of their limousine, preparing for the worst.
Mrs. Januka beamed at him from where she sat across from him. "We've always wanted a son of our own!" she burst out proudly, hands clasped before her. "Now, I can hardly wait to be your mother."
"I don't need a mother anymore. All I need is my brother." But his words were too quiet for them to hear.
He could not understand why they had taken him away, especially so early. All it did was cause him to wait in the police station for nine o'clock to come. It took three hours to reach the Januka's home, and though they had just come from such a road trip, they welcomed Mokuba, signed the papers, and were bringing him back home with them.
Three hours away from Seto, he through sadly, gazing out the window.
"Mokuba, why don't you tell us what you are interested in? Did you already make your list for the police to pick up later from your old place?"
The list was blank except for one word: nii-sama. "Yes."
Mr. Januka gave his wife a look, then prodded, "And what would you like to do when you get to your new home?"
"I don't know."
With the enthusiastic woman about to open her mouth again, her husband shook his head sharply. Whispering so Mokuba couldn't hear him, he said, "Give him some time. It is inevitable that he must adjust."
Somewhat sullenly, the woman relented, gazing out of her own window. At least to one of them, three hours of silence was better than three hours of painful chatter.
-
"I told you somedin' was up! See, Yuge, dey wouldn't let you in for an important reason. And my uncle won't let me work for him right now. He doesn't need anyone ta answer de phone, because he's not lettin' anyone call him but Kaiba!"
Yugi's eyes were wider than usual. "Wow. I wonder what happened."
"So do I."
Tristan shook his head. "You just want to torment him about it. Besides, I thought you thought it was about getting suspended from school."
"Naw. Rich-boy wouldn't make such a fuss about dat." Joey instantly hunkered down and began the painful process of thinking. For once, he was not having an eating contest with Duke and Tristan.
Bakura looked worried. "Maybe we shouldn't pry, guys. It is his business. Let him solve it his way."
"We're not prying, Bakura. We're just concerned!" Téa pushed her tray over to Tristan, since she was finished. He managed to spit out a "thank you."
"Even if Kaiba is always rude to us and tells us to mind our own business, we owe it to Mokuba to try to help him! I'm sure if Kaiba is that business, Mokuba must not be having a good time. We should invite him over to your house, Yugi."
"Good idea, Téa!" Yugi exclaimed. "I'll go over to his school to see if he wants to come. Maybe he'll play some games with us."
Tristan was busy gulping, but he nodded. Joey was too caught up in trying to think that he didn't hear anything. But Bakura approved.
Duke, however, had other plans. "I have to go run my store after school. Sorry, but I'm too busy."
Tristan finally swallowed. "Well, if you're so busy, Duke Devlin, maybe I'll go pay a visit to Serenity after we invite Mokuba over."
"Tristan!" The sound of his sister's name brought Joey back to the present. "Leave my sista alone! Both of you!" Glaring fiercely, Joey dared either one to protest. Fortunately for the hall monitors, they stayed quiet.
After school, Yugi rushed through his chores, racing over to Mokuba's school. Once there, he glanced at his watch.
"Oops. I'm about thirty minutes early. I'll just sit and wait."
Head in hands, Yugi was busy talking to Yami when Téa walked up with five minutes to the last bell.
"Should we go and see what locker is his? We can wait for him there."
"Okay!"
The secretary shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we don't have record that Kaiba Mokuba was in school today. Maybe you should call his home. I am unauthorized to disclose any information concerning it."
"Huh? All right…"
Sadly, Yugi walked outside, really concerned as to what was happening.
"You know, Yugi, I'll bet they took a little trip. They've done it before in the middle of the school year. Kaiba has business and Mokuba sometimes gets to go. He is the vice president, after all."
"Yeah, maybe." Yugi kicked a rock, watching skitter away from his feet. "I guess I'll just go back home and do my homework. See you later, Téa!"
"Bye, Yugi!"
-
Roland couldn't wait any longer. Tapping on Mr. Kaiba's door, he knew he risked his career and life. But he had to tell Mr. Kaiba.
"Sir?"
"What is it?" Kaiba snapped.
"I have important information, sir. I think you should take a listen to what I have to say."
Irritably, Kaiba opened the door. "Yes?"
Nervously, Roland handed over a piece of paper. Fugata quit, sir. And he knows where Mokuba is. He's staying with him, sir."
"What? How can that be allowed?"
"Well, sir, the family who adopted him thought it would be nice to have someone Mokuba knew with him for awhile, and they also thought having a trained goon would work well in their mansion."
"Mansion? Who are these people?"
"Well, you know I'm not supposed to say, sir." Roland just looked at Kaiba a moment, then continued, "Their name is Januka, sir. The ones that own the convenient store. They got him."
Kaiba's face narrowed in his anger, but he didn't lash out at Roland, being in complete control of himself. "I see."
"And, sir, they know Fuguta and I are good friends. I have everyright to correspond with him."
Kaiba almost smiled. "I see. Thank you for disclosing this information to me, Roland. Keep me updated on how Fuguta is doing."
"Yes, sir," Roland replied, hiding his own smile.
-
The approaching trial enveloped both Kaiba and YO's time. Without knowing what they were facing in opposition, they did what they could to best prepare, but neither one of them had any hope on their faces as they looked over their work.
Roland did indeed keep a very detailed relationship with his dear friend Fuguta, and he reported how Mokuba was doing as often as he could.
"He's the same, sir: doesn't do much around the house, doesn't do his homework, and plays depressing music on his violin."
While Mokuba's list may only have had one thing on it, Kaiba had sent away some of his favorite books, games, and, of course, his violin.
"Hmm." Easing back into his chair, Kaiba debated what he could do since he wasn't even supposed to know how his brother was faring. "Why don't you correspond to Fuguta by mail?"
"They'd check it, sir."
Kaiba waved aside the implication. "I don't think they'd know how to check for my codes. And besides, why should Fuguta have any reason to have his mail checked? It is not as if he commonly shares it with Mokuba."
"If you're sure, sir."
"I am."
Roland nodded and left, already getting some paper to use for sending his friend a letter. As he soon as he walked out the door, another goon tapped on the door, and Kaiba impatiently let him in.
"I'm sorry to be the one to bring you this news, sir. But you must know." Sung, the goon from China, bowed as he placed several papers on Kaiba's desk. Also the psychiatrist, he watched to see Kaiba's reactions and what it could mean for his mental health.
Whitening, Kaiba scanned the pages, muttering to himself. Then, setting them aside, he commented, "We'll manage to bring them back up. Once the new project is out, everything will be fine. I'm just too busy with the trial right now."
Sung bowed in acknowledgement, even though he was thinking it was the tardiness of bringing out the new project that had aided their low sales. Kaiba had announced to have his project released a week ago. Now, with no new updates released, clients were upset.
Leaving the room, he cast one glance back at his master, seeing him immerged in numerous papers. The ones Sung had delivered were in their own pile in the corner.
-
Grades dropping, happiness failing, Mokuba spent his days in his rooms, avoiding his new parents. Mrs. Januka was obviously worried, but her husband continued to convince her that the boy needed time to adjust.
The only person Mokuba let speak with him was Fuguta. But even to his former goon, he had little to say. Concerned, Fuguta sent back written word on how Mokuba was faring.
Roland reported it to Kaiba.
Though still debating, Kaiba knew he had to take the action. Maybe the police would find out about it or perhaps they would not. But his brother obviously needed something to help him right now.
Taking the letter Roland was going to return to his best friend, Kaiba began writing over it in a new laser pen he had developed but not released on the market yet. When put into water, the marks would appear.
After making certain Roland believed Fuguta would get the hint written in the letter, Kaiba returned it and let him send it away.
-
"Hmm?" Fuguta reread his new letter, stopping to notice something peculiar. The last word on every line formed a sentence, which helped him see why Roland was writing such odd things. Aloud, he murmured, "Mokuba is to get this."
Shrugging, he thought there was no reason not to send the boy this message. Maybe he would understand more.
"Here, sir." Fuguta handed over the letter when Mokuba had finally opened his door to the knocks.
Puzzled, he took it and closed the door once more. Reading the note Roland had written, Mokuba could not understand why Fuguta had given it to him. "Why did he have to show me this? I can't correspond to anyone in that house!" As was usual, he started to cry at the thought of his brother.
A few tears spattered on the page, and through his watery eyes, Mokuba noticed blue marks coming through. Mind racing, he jumped up to go to the connected bathroom. There, he carefully wet the rest of the paper, face breaking into a great beam as he recognized the scrawl for his big brother's.
Mokuba, he read, I trust you are still doing well. I don't want you to be depressed all this time. I wish I could say more, but I don't dare. I'm working on bringing you back home. Seto.
Hugging the letter to his chest, Mokuba ran to his journal and wrote everything that had happened. His happy mood was not to last long, however, for there was a flaw in the plan.
"But how can I write back, nii-sama? I don't have your pen."
Even with that to think of—probably because of that, the rest of the night passed by quicker than usual with the silence at the table not as strained.
Mrs. Januka noticed Mokuba was not as down, and smiled at her husband, who returned the gesture. Therefore, they did not bother trying to hold Mokuba at the table any longer than necessary, allowing him to go do what he wished. Maybe they would hear a happy song tonight.
The song came, but only after a few more hours had passed. Fuguta had visited, pointing out the code Roland had used, and saying he could write something similar. After planning out his short sentence, Mokuba went to his violin and played a jig, wishing the O'Riley brothers were here to dance to it.
-
Thus the correspondence continued. It was never much, but at least they had one way of communicating. The trial came ever closer, and Kaiba worked more on that. Finally, any Kaiba Corp business was permanently stalled until further notice. The company was losing money and prestige, but Kaiba didn't care.
Their argument was finished, but it did not seem like enough. It was not right that someone could force him to give up his brother without explaining the evidence until the trial.
Pounding a fist on the table, the cup of tea sloshed around, nearly spilling over the rim.
"Sir?"
"The trial is tomorrow, Roland, but they still won't let me see my brother until the results are in my favor."
The goon hesitated, then honestly replied, "I'm sorry, sir."
Gazing out the window, Kaiba fell into silence. The last little note from his brother was crumpled in his hand, with the small phrase that made him feel completely inferior and useless: I trust you, nii-sama.
The CEO of Kaiba Corporation could come up with new inventions to keep the buyers interested, make new rules to make the game more challenging, study any topic in books and understand them, beat almost anyone at any game, but when it came to this, he was a failure.
He couldn't manage to keep his brother safe.