Disclaimer: (points to website's name) Says it all there, folks. Fanfiction implies that I don't own Yu Gi Oh!, nor am I likely to acquire it. Though I do own this story, and if there are any unfamiliar characters, I probably own them too.
Seto Kaiba was in a foul temper. He had not been able to concentrate on his work for the remainder of his time at school, and he was consequently behind on several projects that he had meant to have completed by now. That fool of a woman kept haunting his thoughts, refusing to leave him alone. To top it all off, he had the worst headache he could remember having in a long time.
He stalked down the halls at Kaiba Corporation Headquarters, heading towards his office in an attempt to get at least a little more work done. He hesitated outside of the door that led to the waiting room of his office. Voices. Never a good sign. Who is it this time? he wondered. Probably some businessman with a proposal that I'll have to turn down…
He opened the door and froze upon seeing who was arguing with his secretary. A person that he had never wanted to see again, especially with the day he had just had. A person who he had been sure he had frightened away night before. A person who, despite what he told himself, a tiny part of his mind desperately wanted to speak with.
It was her.
Countdown… Five… Four… Three… Two… One… And…
Mokuba smirked at the loud ringing that echoed through the building, soon followed by the sounds of the hundreds of children that attended Domino City Junior High School racing towards their freedom. As usual, his estimation of exactly when the school day ended was dead on. He stood up, following his peers to the door and allowing himself to be swept outside by their stampede.
When he reached the parking lot outside, he looked around expectantly for the limousine that was supposed to be waiting for him. It was nowhere to be seen.
He frowned. The limo was never late. One thing Seto valued was promptness; he would no more stand for his brother being picked up late from school that he would for being late to a business meeting.
After several more minutes of looking, he decided to walk home. He had been going to this school long enough to know the way that the limo took every day; perhaps he would meet up with it on the way. Even if he didn't, it was better than just sitting around waiting for it. He could call Seto when he got home, in case the chauffeur had indeed come by, missed him, and reported the incident to his brother. With a sigh, he left the schoolyard and started walking along the city streets. With his head bowed in thought, it was understandable that he didn't see the car that barreled around the corner, heading straight for him.
"What are you doing here?"
Joan jumped, startled. She turned around to see a very angry Seto Kaiba glaring at her.
"I wanted to speak with–"
Another glare interrupted her. The young businessman glanced over her shoulder at the secretary she had been arguing with. "I thought I left explicate orders that I did not want to see her and that she was to be kept out of the building if at all possible."
"Y-y-yes s-sir. I-I was tr-trying to t-tell her that when y-you–"
"Enough," he growled. "Just get back to work. I'll handle this."
"Y-yes sir," the woman replied, hastily looking at her computer screen.
"You. Come with me."
Joan nodded and followed him into the office. She shut the door behind her. When she looked up, he was standing by the far wall, gazing out the window.
"What do you want?" his voice was hard.
"I told you last night."
"So you're still going with that lie? I'd have thought that when you realized that I didn't believe you, you'd tell me your real reason."
"That is my real reason," she replied, trying to keep from losing her temper. How could he just turn he down without even thinking about what she was telling him?
"Indeed."
"Why don't you believe me?"
"I have no reason to. My parents – all of them – are dead. Very, very dead."
She shook her head in despair, hardly able to believe how stubborn he was being. Perhaps there was another way to get him to understand.
"How has your brother been doing?"
He jerked, replying in harsh tones. "You saw him last night."
"Yes. I was wondering if I might be able to speak with him."
Slowly, Seto turned to face her. She gasped at the look on his face. She had thought she had seen him angry before. She realized now that she had not. Mildly irritated, perhaps, that she wouldn't go away like he had told her to, but nothing like this. His emotionless mask had been discarded; the look on his face was one of such unbridled fury that she felt her blood run cold.
"No." His tone alone would have made a meeker person run for their lives. But Joan was not a meek person.
"Why not?" she pressed. "I just want to speak with him!"
"You're hoping to get Mokuba believing in this story of yours. He's young; he wouldn't know any better. Get my brother, and you think he'll be able to convince me, and you can follow through with whatever your real plan is. I'll have none of it. You stay away from him!"
"Why? I won't harm my own son, if that's what you're worried about!"
"Enough!" He slammed his hands down on the desk in front of him, glaring daggers at her. "I've had enough of this! I don't believe a single word of your lie, and I won't have you poisoning my brother's mind and taking away whatever innocence he has left with your false hopes and crazy stories!"
"Seto!" She was losing control of her temper now. "I'm not lying!"
"All right. Let's just pretend that I believe you. What do you want?"
She stared at him, stunned. "I'm… your mother, Seto. I just want to be with you."
"And do what? Live a nice, fancy life off of all your rich little boy's hard work? Embezzle a little of Kaiba Corp.'s money for your own use? Or will you be satisfied after throwing your weight around and convincing the government to remove Mokuba from my care and give him to you?"
She gaped at him. So that's it. It's not that he just doesn't believe me – he's afraid to. He's afraid that I'll use him and everything he's worked so hard for. He's afraid that I'll try and remove his guardianship of Mokuba.
"Seto, I would never try to separate you from your family. That's the whole reason I'm here – I've been away from you boys for too long. I'm trying to bring our family together. And as for stealing money from you, I don't have any interest in–"
He snorted. "Yeah right." He shook his head, voice becoming angrier by the minute. "I've worked too hard to get where I am right now. I'm not letting some ghost from the past get in the way, not after everything I went through to get here. I won't let you take Mokuba away from me. And furthermore, I–"
He was interrupted by the phone ringing on his desk. With a growl and a few muttered words that she couldn't catch – probably just as well, judging from the mood he was in – he grabbed it and said, in a calm, cold voice that was so different from the look on his face, "Kaiba."
A moment's pause. "Yes, I am."
Another pause, and then his face visibly paled. His hand groped for the edge of the desk, and he grasped it for support.
Joan stared at him, afraid. What's wrong? She soon had her answer.
"My brother?"
Something happened to Mokuba! She gasped.
"How is he? …Yes. …Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can."
He slowly hung up the phone and stared unseeingly at it for a minute.
"Seto?" she asked hesitantly. "Seto, what's…"
Her voice snapped him out of the daze he had gone into. He reached over and hit a voice-over button on his desk.
"Yessir!" Came the hasty voice of his secretary.
"Inform Carlson that I want him and the limo ready to go five minutes ago." He didn't wait for a reply, fully expecting his order to be carried out. He swept out from behind his desk, brushing by her on his way to the door. "Get out of my way."
She stared after him for a while before coming to her senses and racing after him. She managed to catch up with him just outside the building, about to get into the black limousine that was waiting for him.
"Wait! Wait, Seto!"
He paused, glowering at her. "What do you want?"
"What happened? What's wrong? Is Mokuba alright?"
"The hell do you care?" he growled.
"Of course I care! Is he all right?" Seeing the look that flashed in his eyes before being hidden under his once again calm exterior, she grabbed on to the sleeve of his trench coat, saying, "I'm coming with you."
He frowned, glaring at the hand on his sleeve. "No, you're not."
"Yes, I am."
This could very well have developed into a long, tedious, full-scale, "am to, are not," type argument, but Seto didn't have time for that. "Look," he growled. "I don't have time to argue with you."
"Then let me come with you."
He hesitated before jerking his arm away from her, climbing into the waiting limo, and growling, "Get in."
With a sigh of relief, she slid in after him, gently closing the door behind her.
"Destination, sir?" the chauffeur, who she guessed must be the Carlson he'd mentioned, inquired as they buckled their seatbelts.
"Domino City Hospital."
The man gave a startled jerk. "The hospital, sir?"
"That's what I said. And hurry."
"Yes sir."
The ride to the hospital was tense. Joan wanted to ask him what had happened, but she decided that it would probably be better to leave him to his thoughts. She kept glancing at him, watching him stare stonily out the window.
When they arrived, Seto jumped out of the limo before it had even fully stopped, racing into the building without glancing back. Joan waited for the driver to park, hesitating before following the young CEO into the building. She had no idea what part of the hospital he had gone to.
"Come with me, ma'am. I'm sure we'll find him."
She looked up, surprised, as Carlson spoke to her. He smiled at her, not entirely sure who she was, but trusting that his boss knew what he was doing when he had allowed her to come with them.
"Thank you."
They hurried inside.
"You don't happen to know what happened, do you?" Carlson asked her.
She decided that she liked this man. He was very kind to offer to help her find his boss, and he was obviously concerned about him.
"I… don't know for sure, but I think… I think something happened to Mokuba."
He stopped short, gaping at her. "Master Mokuba is injured?" Distress caused him to be more talkative than usual, and, had she been able to see his eyes behind the shades he wore, she would have seen his worry.
"I'm not sure. But why else would he be so upset?"
"…You're right, ma'am. We should hurry."
They stopped at an information desk to inquire where Seto might have gotten to. The receptionist gave them directions to the waiting room she had sent him to a few minutes earlier.
When they arrived there, Seto was standing unmoving against the far wall, arms folded across his chest, head bowed in thought. Carlson moved to stand beside him, looking only as a worried chauffeur/bodyguard could. He glanced uncertainly at his employer's face and decided against disturbing the young man's thoughts to ask him what had happened.
Joan opted for one of the seats that the two men had ignored. She sat down slowly, feeling uncomfortable.
A few minutes later, the door swung open, admitting an elderly woman in a nurse's uniform. Joan looked up, glad for the disturbance. The silent tension in the room had been getting unbearable for her.
Her two companions also looked up, Seto's cold eyes demanding information.
The nurse looked around the room, bespectacled gaze eventually settling on Seto, whose presence was the most commanding of the three. Though she had chosen him as a focusing point, her question was directed at them all.
"Is one of you the parent of Mokuba Kaiba?"
Joan's heart sank. Though she hadn't been able to think of another explanation for Seto leaving work and coming to a hospital, she had still held onto the small hope that Mokuba was not the reason.
She stirred slightly, answering the nurse's question. "I'm–"
Seto cut her off, shooting a hate-laden glare in her direction. "If you mean who is his legal guardian, that would be me."
The nurse looked startled at this, looking from Seto to Joan and back again, while Carlson, astounded that this stranger had started to answer the question, turned his own surprised gaze to her.
"…Oh," the nurse said after a pause. "Well then." She shifted from foot to foot, thrown off her balance after the brief exchange. She cleared her throat, about to speak, when Seto stepped over to her.
"Look," he growled. "I want answers, and I want them now. You're going to tell me what exactly happened, not just the shortened version I got on the phone. You're going to tell me my brother's current condition, and you're not going to sweeten it up and try to make it sound better than it is, like I'm sure you've been told to do. I know better; the imbecile on the phone certainly didn't make it sound like Mokuba's in a good enough condition to walk out of here tonight. And you're going to tell me if those incompetent fools you call doctors think that he's going to survive this."
The nurse quailed. Seto waited a few moments for her to speak, before barking, "Now!"
She flinched, not meeting his gaze, and spoke. "Your brother is in critical condition. He–"
"I know that. Tell me something useful, or go away. Is my brother going to live?"
She gave him a glare of her own now. "I was getting there," she said icily. "Now if I may continue?" Not waiting for a reply, she repeated. "Your brother is in critical condition. It is not likely that he will survive the night."