Disclaimer:
What is obvious is that I don't own anything officially related to Yu-Gi-Oh. What isn't obvious is that I also don't own the title "Lost Innocence". I was attempting to be cute. The title belongs to the Eric Stuart Band, or Eric Stuart himself as the man who wrote the song to begin with. It's important to note that the song and this story started out in no way connected to each other.
Author's Notes:
This was as far as the camp kids got to hear, and they were mad at me for it. They actually only heard about half of this chapter, and they were dying to know what happened next!
By this point, though, I was feeling somewhat concerned about my sanity level. Here I was, gleefully preparing to torture the Kaiba brothers. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was just days away from discovering how much I like both Kaiba brothers. (I had some serious issues when Mokuba's actor changed. Very serious issues. My roommate, also a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, actually avoided me for a day or so because I was so unhappy with the new actress.) I would later joke that this fan fiction was born from my intense unhappiness with Grand Championship.
At this point, the story kept changing names, bouncing between "Stolen Innocence" and "Lost Innocence". For whatever reason, my intensely lacking titling skills were at their peak.
Chapter 3
The next few dinners were as short and uncomfortable as the first. The brothers deftly dodged any attempt on Gozaburo's part to draw them into a conversation. To further frustrate their stepfather, Seto continued in his pattern of doing his homework haphazardly. His tutors were utterly baffled one day when they came in and found the ten year old had completed all of his work for the first time in a couple of weeks. Even more surprising, he was completely cooperative during his lessons. They reported the behavior to Gozaburo that afternoon, who took it as a positive sign. The next day, however, it was quite clear that Seto hadn't even looked at his assignments. He wouldn't even acknowledge their existence, completely ignoring the day's lessons. Fearfully, the tutors reported this as well. The CEO was livid, but chose to hold his temper to see what the next day might hold. The tutors informed him the next night that while all of the older boy's homework had been completed, he had once again ignored them and his lessons that day. Gozaburo quietly fumed.
Mokuba's tutors weren't nearly so stressed out over their charge. He was too little for serious lessons, but he cooperated enough to complete most basic assignments. He more often than not was noted for dragging his tutors to play with him and distracting them from their job. Not that his stepfather cared, really. He tolerated the brief reports on his younger son about the way one would tolerate waiting for a late train. He didn't realie that the boy's more upbeat behavior was due to his continually sneaking into his big brother's room at night.
Eventually, the boys became more talkative at dinner. They would answer questions about their day, and even about their schoolwork. To Gozaburo's dismay, they were still fairly brief answers.He also noticed that Seto wouldn't speak to him unless Mokuba was at the table. Realizing that his younger stepson was indeed the key to getting what he wanted from the older one, Gozaburo allowed the boys to take all of their meals together. He hoped it would cause the boys to relax enough to be more like the two little boys he had met in the orphanage, but they continued to be very formal in their interactions with each other at the table. He never suspected that they reserved their normal banter for the nights, away from Gozaburo's eyes.
He was encouraged by Seto's improvements in his lessons. Being able to check on his brother throughout the day, the ten year old's attitude improved. His school work was even thoroughly completed.The tutors remarked often how much better the boy looked and acted. Mokuba's tutors noted that the five year old had started taking an interest in his own much lighter workload, grateful that they were no longer being dragged into games. The situation improving over the next month. Both boys stopped picking at their meals and actually ate during meals. Slowly, they dropped their formal banter for something closer to their normal method of interaction, though they still reserved their personal conversations for their evening time.
The boys even became more relaxed about their evening visits, Seto allowing Mokuba to stay later. Despite seeing each other throughout the day, they both cherished their time alone together. Neither felt comfortable around their stepfather, and they enjoyed being able to spend time together without being guarded. One night, though, Seto fell asleep before sending Mokuba back to his room. In the morning, Gozaburo found them asleep together. To say the CEO was upset would be an understatement. Breakfast was immediately cancelled, and Gozaburo personally removed Mokuba to his room.
He never knew what his brother was put through for breaking the rules, but Seto's own punishment was almost too much for the spirited ten year old. He was given more homework than ever, and a person stayed in his room at all times to make sure he worked. When he didn't, he was struck sharply. He was allowed brief breaks for his meals, but even those were taken in his room. The plates often went untouched as he was eating so little. The boy even tried to maintain his sleeplessness, but lack of eating and the brutal torture of his new studying regimen proved to be too much for the determined brunette. Finally, he collapsed in exhaustion over his school books one night.
His stepfather woke him, demanding that he redo most of that day's assignments. At first, the boy looked at him, blinking. The words were coming in as a jumble, his mind too tired to make sense of what his stepfather was telling him. It finally sank in and his eyes moved from his flustered guardian to the books neatly piled about his desk. With an angry sigh, Seto started looking over the assignments again. He wasn't sure what his stepfather was complaining about, there was nothing wrong with any of his work. He put the assignments aside and looked through the stack he had left. Deciding it wasn't enough to worry over, Seto decided to go to sleep in his warm, soft bed.
When Gozaburo woke him up the next morning, he was furious that Seto had ignored him. The older boy, who had been allowed a little bit of time to wander the grounds of the Kaiba estate escorted, was now kept locked away in his room. It was just as it had been only a couple of weeks before, except Seto's workload had doubled. He fell asleep over his books every night, a fact that did not sit well with Gozaburo. It sparked many fights between the older boy and his stepfather.
Two weeks later, there was no sign of Gozaburo letting up. Fighting to keep his spirit from being broken, Seto finally decided that his protesting was only going to earn him more work and a longer period of incarceration. Even worse, it would keep him separated from Mokuba. He couldn't even find out how his younger brother was doing. Nights were spent pacing between his bed and the window, hoping against all hope that Mokuba wouldd figure out how to slip past the guards and get to him again. He had noticed recently that he was hearing fewer guards walking the hallway. He hoped it was a sign that Gozaburo was about to relent and let him see his brother soon.
Learning how wrong he was nearly destroyed Seto Kaiba.