Dear overly-obsessed fangirl,
You ask me about love. It's funny, that you should ask me. As courtesy demands, though, I'll respond.
Love isn't simple, like so many people imagine it. Love is like…a blooming flower, delicate and simple. If you don't water it, it dies; water it too much and you drown it out. Love isn't pouring all your affections into one being. It's about being able to trust somebody completely. Some say that's merely friendship, but I beg to differ, though friendship and love are closely akin. Even friends have their secrets from each other. Though loved ones have their secrets, there's a bond between you and them, letting them know you, no matter how distant you seem to others. Pour out your life story, and your loved one will be overwhelmed, and think you're using him or her as a confidant, instead of somebody to rely on, someone to go to in times of trouble and need. Keep everything to yourself, whether or not you mean to offend, and your loved one will think you don't care about them enough to let them into your heart.
The declaration of love is the biggest point. You don't just go up to a person whom you've hardly talked to, and say "I love you" and expect for them to say "I love you too" back. You need time and patience for love to truly blossom, whether or not it be a partner or a family member. People aren't just born into a family feeling a sense of kin, and family is the closest bond you could have. You have to be with them, to be there when they fall, to help them back up, to tend to their scratches, to make it all better. How could you make any impression on a child if you neglected him until he was six, then told him you cared for him? Most likely, the child would be cold as ice towards you. You are nothing to him. You are a piece of scum to be stepped on. Why should he listen to you? You've never done anything for him. If you can't keep the bonds of family life, how can you expect to have a loving relationship with anyone?
Too much is placed on appearance. You probably know Yugi Mutou. He's the shortest fifteen-year-old you'll ever see, and his hair, no offense, looks like a porcupine nested in it for a year. Too many duelists go up against him, underestimating him by his appearance. But once you look beneath the exterior, just between you and me, he's one of the nicest people I've ever met. He'll do anything to help anybody who needs help, and he's extremely loyal to his friends. If you think about him for too long, you feel…unclean. You feel as if he was purity personified, and you were bogged down by sins, as if you were a monster. Talking about it to him wouldn't help, because he'd just look you in the eye, and tell you that it wouldn't be possible for you to be worthless. That gaze…from a kid about four feet tall, it's amazing how his gaze can stop you in his tracks. He shows people…no, he radiates purity and kindness. Every day, I wonder: how can he keep asking those who hate him only to be his friends? It's impossible not to love him: this little boy with the innocence of a baby. And no, I do not mean love as the way you defined it in your letter. That is disgusting.
This value on the wrapping of the human soul makes me sick sometimes. Do we save the wrapping on presents when we've opened every Christmas present in sight? No, we throw it away and value what's inside the wrapping, not worry about if the department store or your mother wrapped it. Why can't we do that with humans? We value our wrapping too much to attempt to open it up: to attempt to see the true beauty of the present inside. Yes, I have received several fan letters like yours informing me "YOU ARE SO HOTT!111one1". So what? The instant you save your unopened presents for a year, treasuring the wrapping and having no desire to know what's beneath it, then I'll start fitting into your descriptions of me. People like you have no idea of who I am. To you, I'm just another man to be drooled over. Have any of you tried to find out who I really am? And don't give me the B.S. about finding out everything there is to know about me after you get me in your disgusting fangirly beds. The few who can depict me accurately don't even like me that way. They appreciate me as a main character, a person who has his own likes, dislikes, and friends, and doesn't want to screw someone every five seconds.
As someone wise once said, "You can alter your outward defects, but you can never get rid of a blotch of ugliness on the soul." In this age, we have tons of stage makeup. We have wigs, we have padded clothing, and we even have plastic surgery. If you have enough money, you can take one day off and come back a completely different person the next. Not all the money in the world will change your soul. If you were plain mean before, you'll always be plain mean. The people I talk to every day ask me why I'm still so wary on the subject of Malik Ishtar. This is the reason. He may have had a "dark side" to himself that was banished by Yugi's other self, Yami, but nothing comes out of nowhere. You need a foundation before you can begin building, and believe me, the foundation is the most difficult to uproot. I believe…no, I know that he has the potential for turning out as badly as he did again. You could hear it in his voice when he left. That cheer in his voice to be free of his evil side when he was talking to Yami: It was forced. He's lived with himself like this for years: you can't destroy something consuming a person for years and never see a glimpse of it again. I speak from experience. The dark side of Malik Ishtar can be considered a weed. Yami has only pulled off the leaves. The roots are still firm in the soil. Unless if someone watches over the weed, it will grow again.
Speaking of weeds, the other day, I saw Mokuba, who you also mentioned in your "letter". Of course, I always see him: even if he's not at the mansion, you can always find him at the Domino Arcade between three o' clock and four thirty. But the other day, I didn't just look at him, I saw him. He's shooting up like a weed, even though it's not apparent in size. But to take a look at him, and compare him to the person he was at the beginning of Duelist Kingdom…he's grown up so much. He's a real asset, and more people worry about him than he knows. Though I'm sure nobody would agree with me when I say this, the best thing would be for him to turn out like Yugi. If he becomes as kind and gentle-hearted, he could change the world. I can only imagine it…
I hope these two pages have sufficiently answered your letter. You should be honored that I've chosen to write to you personally instead of just sending the normal return note.
Kaiba Seto
PS – No, I don't have a girlfriend at the moment. Nor do I want you, or to get anywhere near you in the next eternity. You fangirls make me sick.
PPS – If not for the fact that I don't know where you live, I would send assassins to you for saying that. I do have a sense of decency, no matter what you…human-like objects think of me, and I would never attempt rape, especially not with the mutt.
PPPS – Gods, what is wrong with you people? First, Jounouchi Katsuya and then my own brother? Get your mind out of the gutter and write to someone else already! No…not just someone else. Write to Bakura. He could probably figure out a way of getting to America and killing you in your sleep.