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:

I think it was right around chapter four or five that I managed to finally get a hold of something I was looking for- one of Eric Stuart's two CDs. Yeah, we've all pretty well covered the "Oh, Look! Ceara's obsessed with Eric Stuart's voice" thing. He was already on my list of favorite voice actors, but to find out he could sing! I still listen to one of the CDs far too much! At any rate, I was introduced to the song "Lost Innocence". (Please see the note on the last chapter.) Somehow, in the finishing of this story, the title officially became "Lost Innocence". It almost happened subconsciously, but it did in fact happen. I was stuck with adding a bit to my disclaimer proclaiming my innocence at stealing the title.

This was also the point at which I realized I was going to have to do something to Mokuba. It actually did a great job of distracting me from the fact that I was overplaying a certain CD. I was confronted with something of a dilemma as I started pondering young Mokuba's fate. On principle, I just can't bring myself to seriously injure a child. (In fact, I can only bring myself to hurt a child in this fan fiction. Seto, you lucky dog!) But what could I do that would actually further Seto's psychological torment? Still unsure, I sat down to write...

Chapter 4

Gozaburo woke his stepson up a couple of mornings after a particularly heated argument and left almost immediately. Not terribly sorry to see his stepfather go, Seto sleepily rubbed his eyes as he walked over his window. He opened the first set of drapes and looked outside. Somehow, for all the time he had spent looking out this very window, especially over the past few weeks, he had completely failed to notice that it looked out over the front of the Kaiba estate. That point was driven home rather painfully as he looked out his window that morning, the sleep replaced by shock.

Men were carrying a struggling Mokuba out of the mansion. The small, black-haired boy nearly wriggled his way free of his captors a few times before they loaded him into the waiting car. Seto wanted to scream, to jump out the window too many stories up for him to land safely, to attack the men restraining his brother. As much as he fought with himself to react, the surprising scene before his eyes left him in a stunned silence.

As the car started down the driveway away from the estate, Seto's anger finally spurred him to action. The feet that had been glued to the floor were carrying him faster than he had ever run before. He raced out of his room, past the guards, and down the stairs. In the foyer, he stopped when he saw Gozaburo walking back inside. Pure rage took over the boy, "Where is Mokuba going?"

"I thought he might enjoy a day off," Gozaburo replied breezily.

"Then why did it take four men to get him into a car?" Seto demanded.

Gozaburo's eyes widened slightly. He fumbled an attempt to pacify his stepson, "I don't know where you heard that, Seto. Mokuba was happy to go."

"No, he wasn't. I watched the whole thing."

His stepfather smiled as if he had just won some victory. "You watched the whole thing, but did nothing to stop it?" Seto's mouth hung open, framing a scathing response that would never see the light of day. There was no way he would let his stepfather know how badly the scene had affected him. "What's the matter, Seto? Cat got your tongue?" Gozaburo laughed darkly. "That simply won't do for the future president of KaibaCorp."

"I don't want your stupid company!" The truth was, he simply didn't care. All he wanted at that moment was Mokuba, and as much distance between them and Gozaburo as possible.

In a way, he almost had his second wish. Mokuba was gone, no telling where he was being taken. Quickly enough, two guards grabbed the enraged ten year old and dragged him back to his room. He didn't see anybody else that day, not that he wanted to. Again, he couldn't leave his room, not that he wanted to do that either. He sat at his window and watched for his brother's return. Time dragged on slowly, a torture more painful than the flood of work that had been tormenting him the past couple of weeks. As the sun set, Seto accepted what he had known to be true that morning: Mokuba wasn't coming back. He continued to watch throughout the night, hoping he was wrong. As he sat there watching and waiting, a dozen thoughts tumbled through his young head. Most of them involved different scenarios, forcing his overbearing stepfather to return Mokuba to him. One, however, became a promise to both himself and Mokuba. I will take over KaibaCorp, and then I'll destroy Gozaburo.

Gozaburo didn't show up to wake him up in the morning. In fact, for the second day in a row, nobody came. No tutors. No one carrying his meals. The second was more noticeable than the first, as Seto realized that he hadn't eaten in nearly two days. He was starting to feel it, his strength not yet fully returned from his first hunger strike. The ten year old sat down at his desk, trying to decide what to do. As he stared at his books, a plan started forming in his mind. It was apparant that Gozaburo saw Mokuba as a privilege for Seto. The older boy would simply have to earn that privilege back. Once he had his younger brother back, he could start planning his corporate takeover.

Perhaps he wouldn't have to wait. Looking over the stack again, he realized he could do both at the same time.With a dark grin, he started with the work Gozaburo had rejected two nights previous. Again, there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of it. He moved to the work he hadn't done, and spent the day completing it, not leaving even the most minuscule details unattended. If being the definition of total perfection was what it would take to get what he wanted, then that's what he was going to do. The fact that he was doing exactly what Gozaburo wanted was of no importance to Seto, because he wasn't doing the work for his stepfather. In fact, Gozaburo no longer mattered in the boy's world.

It was the second morning after Mokuba was sent away before anybody entered Seto's room. A servant brought him a meager breakfast. He waited quietly while the boy nibbled at the offerings, and then took the tray away when it became apparent he wouldn't eat any more. After breakfast was cleared, a tutor came in to retrieve the work the ten year old had already completed and drop off more work. Neither said a word to Seto, and he responded in kind. As soon as the tutor was gone, Seto sat down and started completing his work with the same meticulous attention to detail he had applied the night before. He was over halfway through the stack when another servant brought him a barely adequate lunch. This one left promptly after setting the tray on his desk. Seto nibbled at his sandwich as he finished working on his schoolwork. When both were completed, he neatly stacked his books and placed the folder containing his schoolwork on top. The empty tray was carefully set beside the stack.

He spent part of his afternoon staring out the window, until the door opened unexpectedly. "Good afternoon, Seto," Gozaburo's voice sounded like nothing was wrong.

"Good afternoon, father," Seto replied, his voice full of innocence.

Gozaburo noted the change in his stepson's attitude. "The tutors tell me your work is improving. This is good news."

"Thank you, father," the boy's voice continued to be respectful.

"Continue working hard and you may earn your place as the rightful heir to my corporation."

Seto smiled faintly, "I will do my best, father." In his mind, he laughed at the suggestion that his ascension to the top position in KaibaCorp would be a peaceful one endorsed by Gozaburo Kaiba himself.

With no idea what was running through his stepson's head, the man nodded in approval. "I'll leave you to your studies, then." The man left. Seto continued to stare out the window, grinning darkly at his own reflection in the pane.

"This is going to be far too easy."