Title: Midnight Madness
Author: Crimson Eyed Dragon
Rating: PG - 13
Pairing: Seto X Yami
Warnings: language (for now)
Disclaimer: Yugioh does not belong to me
Summary: Now that Mokuba is grown up and has left for college, Seto decides to adopt a child to train to take over Kaiba Corp and to fill the empty space in his home. Little does he know that the boy he adopted has a secret that will change Seto's life forever.

Dragon: WOW! 23 reviews for the first chapter. I think that is a record for me! Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Chapter 2

"Damn you're rich daddy."

Seto smirked as he led the new addition to the Kaiba family further into the mansion. The kid sure had expanded his vocabulary since he was told that he wouldn't get in trouble for the 'dirty' words. But Seto only shrugged it off. So what if he said a few cuss words? It's not like they were hurting the kid. His knew son was as intelligent as he was and they certainly didn't hurt him when he said them.

"I guess you could say that."

"What do you do?"

"I am the owner and CEO of Kaiba Corp."

"The gaming and technology company?" Atemu's voice gave away his awe at hearing what Seto did. "Wow! Can you take me to see it some time?"

"Actually we are going tomorrow," Seto opened up one of the many doors lining the hallway to show Atemu it was one of the guest bathrooms. "After all, one day you are going to help me run it."

"Really? Cool!"

Seto finished showing Atemu the house ending up at the last bedroom next to his.

"And this," he said as he pushed open the door. "This is your room."

"This…is my room?" The crimson-eyed child walked past his new father, into what was now his, stepping further in till he was centered in the middle. Slowly he did a three-sixty taking in all that was around him.

The walls were a perfect white. Not a single smudge of fingerprints or less than artistic crayon drawing on them. The brightness was only enhanced by the huge bay window that allowed the sun's rays to reflect off their smoothness.

To his astonishment, there were a few shelves lined with rows of books; adult books he knew without even sparing them a second glance. The beige carpet was compressed under his worn out sneakers as he stopped spinning and walked over to the bed.

The hunter green comforter lay neatly on top of a bed that seemed to be the size of three of the beds back at the orphanage put together. With a silly grin on his face, he took a leap and began to clap his hands joyfully as he jumped up and down on the bed.

Seto couldn't help himself as he felt a smile tug as his lips while watching the small child act like…well a child. Back in the orphanage Atemu had reminded him of an adult locked in a five year olds body. The CEO couldn't put his finger on it but there was something odd about Atemu.

But one there was one thing he was sure of; Mokuba was going to be shocked shitless when he met his new nephew.

After all, he never once mentioned to his younger brother that he was going to adopt. It had been a spur of the moment thing. Two nights ago he had realized just how unusually silent the mansion had become with Mokuba now away at college. And it wasn't a peaceful kind of silence either but rather a suffocating, mind-numbing one.

But being as he was a Kaiba, he couldn't adopt just any child. The child had to have the mental capacity to deal with the training he would receive as future heir of Kaiba Corp, because Seto never saw him self with a wife or a steady relationship period and that's not even considering the fact that he preferred men over women. After all, who would want a money grubbing, spoiled, mood changing female?

So, he set out to find the perfect boy. He had hoped to find a Japanese kid, but instead he found what he was looking for in a defiant, smart ass Egyptian. Atemu had reminded him so much of himself it wasn't even funny.

Seto too had been overly intelligent at such a young age but where Atemu wasn't wanted because of it, he was sought out among all the other kids for his brain. But here was where it was going to end if Seto had anything to say about it.

When Gozaboro had adopted him and his brother, their life had been a living hell and he wasn't about to let that happen to Atemu. No, he was going to show him the kind of childhood he himself had only dreamed of.

So as he watched the boy jump carelessly up and down on his new bed, he made a decision to start now.

"Atemu."

"Huh?" Blinking at being interrupted, Atemu bounced one last time, landing in his knees, letting out a puff of air to blow his bangs out of his eyes.

"I know you didn't have a lot of personal possessions with you, so how about me and you go shopping then out to eat?"

"Shopping? For what?"

"Games, toys, anything you want."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Ooh… can I have a palm pilot!" Atemu quickly scrambled off the bed, looking hopeful as he ran over to Seto.

"What would you need one of those for?" he asked, clearly confused.

"Well, if I'm going to help you run Kaiba Corp., then I'm going to need to get organized!"

Chuckling, he ruffled Atemu's hair. "Sure kid, we'll get you one."

"Yay!" Grabbing Seto's hand, he began to pull his daddy down the hall.

"Slow down!"

Atemu stopped and looked back with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Man you really are an old fart aren't you?"

Growling, Seto quickly grabbed the laughing child and hoisted him up on his shoulder. "Whatever you say runt."

Seto could do nothing as he stared at the brightest, biggest, stuffed orange goldfish he had ever seen. Big round plastic eyes gazed back at him knowingly and Seto swore the damn thing was smirking at him.

"You want this?" he asked cautiously. Why on earth his son wanted a stuffed fish was beyond him. Wasn't this the same kid who had just suckered him into getting not only a palm pilot but also a cell phone and the most top-of-the-line laptop?

"Yep!" Atemu smiled, hugging the goldfish close to him, almost invisible from the sheer size of it. "And I'm going to name it Crackers!"

"C-crackers?"

He nodded his head. "Uh huh! I read it in a story…. There was this guy and he was having trouble with his love life so he told all his problems to his magical pet goldfish named Crackers and it solved all his problems!" (1)

"And what was the name of the person who wrote this?"

"I can't remember it exactly but I do recall that she couldn't spell her name right. The letters were out of order." (2)

Seto just gave Atemu a look. "Maybe I need to start screening your books before you read them," he said dryly.

Little lips pouted; "That's not fair!"

"Yeah, well life's never fair."

"You act like you know from experience."

"I do."

Atemu studied Seto carefully, not liking the tone of voice his father was using. Looking back down at the stuffed animal, he grinned then took off towards the area designated for all furry creatures.

Seto watched curiously as Atemu grinned rather smugly before taking off back in the direction of where he got the stuffed goldfish. Just what the hell was he up too? A fleeting thought of 'this is your son and you should be watching over him' raced through his mind and he quickly walked after him.

Rounding the edge of the aisle, Seto had to stop and look at the sight before him. In the middle space between two towering shelves was a pile of various plushies piled about three feet high and smack dab in the middle was a smirking crimson eyed child holding onto the giant goldfish in one hand and 'whooping' triumphantly at something.

Spying his father looking at him with narrowed eyes, Atemu quickly turned his smirk into a grin and held out a gray stuffed animal. "Daddy! I found it!"

"Found what?"

"A friend for you! Look! Come see!"

Walking forward, Seto eyed the gray thing that was being held towards him warily. It wasn't quiet as large as the bright orange fish but it was close. Two big gray ears sat atop a gray horse-like body with a tail that ended in a tuff of long back 'fur'.

"A donkey?"

Atemu nodded his head still smiling brightly. "Yep! He can be your friend so you have someone to help you like Crackers did for that man and like he will do for me!"

"But why a donkey?"

"Cause you're an ass."

Seto blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You know, 'lets play horse, I'll be the head…'"

"….and you play yourself." He growled out, narrowing his eyes at his son.

"Exactly!" he said shaking the stuffed donkey. "Wow, I'm impressed old man….your memory is still intact!"

Growling again, Seto grabbed up the chubby wide-eyed child from the middle of the plushies and held him out arm's length away looking at Atemu sternly. "That mouth of yours is going to get in you in trouble if you don't watch it."

Seto immediately regretted those words when a little bottom lip began to quiver slightly and crimson eyes got even wider only to shimmer with unshed tears.

"B-but…I only wanted t-to get you a f-friend so your life would be fair." Atemu whispered. "You p-promised you wouldn't s-spank me! I'm sorry!"

"Shh" Seto set Atemu back down on the hard white tiled floor and kneeled before him. Using his thumb, he wiped away the now free falling tears. "No I'm not going to spank you. I made a promise and I intend to keep it."

"Are you mad at me? Are you going to take me back?"

Seto sighed but gave his son a smile. "No I'm not mad at you. I was only teasing you earlier. And there is nothing that you could do to make me want to take you back there. Just think, in six months we'll go to court and you will become a Kaiba."

"Really?" Atemu's voice was hopeful as he clutched both the goldfish and donkey to him.

"Really."

Grinning, Atemu dropped both the stuffed animals and flung his arms around his father's neck, getting a hug in return from the adult.

"Now," Seto reached over and picked up the stuffed donkey. "What are we going to name my new friend here?"

"Esel."

Seto started to nod his head to confirm the name when he spotted that devious smirk on Atemu's face. "What does Esel mean?"

"Oh, its African for ass."

Broad hands grasped the edges of the dark green comforter and pulled it up to cover a tired, small body covered in dark blue pajamas littered with white puppies. Tiny hands clutched tightly to Crackers as Atemu yawned.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?" Seto sat down on the edge of the bed, smiling as Atemu tried desperately to fight off the impending sleepiness.

"Will you read me a story?"

"Anything particular?"

Crimson eyes looked over the shelves and scanned the rows of hard backed books. "The purple one."

Getting up, Seto walked over to the first shelf, gently pulled the dark purple novel away from the other books and glanced at the gold tinted words on the spine. He quirked an eyebrow, "Demon Love by Canna Rekaal?" (3)

Small shoulders shrugged as another yawn escaped him.

Setting back against the headboard, Seto was slightly surprised when he felt warmth on his chest. Glancing down, his eyes were greeted with a mass of spiked crimson-tipped black hair. He had just been promoted to a pillow. Running his hand through the soft locks, he remembered when he used to do this very thing with Mokuba, but those days were long gone.

"You ready?"

Atemu nodded his head as Seto flipped the book open and began to read.

Kero's piercing blue eyes searched around the inside of the abandoned windmill. His bow and arrow was cocked ready in firing position as he stalked through the dark building looking for the small black cat he had followed inside.

Kero knew the cat was a demon. No normal cat had red eyes nor could have been responsible for killing livestock in the nearby village. Like all demons, the cat deserved to die.

Atemu gasped, "He's going to kill the kitty? Why?"

"I don't know, it doesn't say why. Maybe it will later."

As Kero continued to hunt throughout the discarded windmill he was unaware he was being watched by unseen crimson eyes. The small cat was crouched down, hiding under a shelf, hoping the demon hunter would leave soon.

"I hope he escapes too. That Kero is a bastard, the kitty did nothing to him."

"Atemu," Seto sighed and continued to read.

Ket held his breath as the black boots of the demon hunter pasted by him. The hunter was good; Ket gave him credit for that. As the hunter moved along, Ket stuck his head out a little to marvel in the hunter's handsomeness. For a long time Ket had been searching for the person he had a vision of at the Pool of Destiny and when he had finally found him, Ket was horrified to discover that his secret love was a demon hunter.

"See! The kitty thinks he's cute and all Kero wants to do is shoot his ass with an arrow! Ungrateful bast…"

"Would you like for me to find something else to read?"

"Huh?" Atemu turned his head to look at Seto. "Oh, no keep going. I want to see what happens."

Ket's cat nose twitched upon catching a familiar scent, one different from the demon hunter. Glancing around the building, Ket found the white-haired demon, leaning up again the wall in a corner. With his cat eyes, Ket could easily see the fire demon smirk in the dark. Moving his arms, Carin pressed a palm on the wall next to him. Before Ket knew what was happening, the wall was lit on fire.

"Oh shit here comes the bad guy! Kitty better get his furry butt out of there."

"What about the hunter?"

"Ah, he should let him burn. Serves him right."

Smelling the smoke, Kero spun around only to find a wall a fire springing up from the ground and surround the fire demon, allowing Carin to make his escape through his fire traveling ability.

"Shit," Kero grumbled. The demon hunter was about to abandon his quest for the cat demon when he caught a quick black movement of the cat he was hunting run from its hiding place as it also tried escaping the windmill before the fire burned it to the ground.

"Ooh, Kero said a bad word!"

"So?"

"So?"

"You say plenty of them."

"Well you said I could, but no one told him he could. He should get a spanking, maybe kitty could give him one?"

Seto choked on the mental image of the little black cat spanking a human. He shook his head, some things weren't meant for a mind to dwell on.

The fire was rapidly growing quicker, but Kero had never lost a demon he was hunting and he wasn't about to start now. Ignoring the blaze, Kero fired an arrow in the cat's direction, swearing again when he missed. His swears soon turned to coughs however as the smoke intensified.

Turning around, Kero wisely decided to leave the cat for now and escape from the windmill while he still could. However when the cat distracted him, Kero had failed to notice that the fire and smoke were both spreading throughout the building fast.

The smoke burned at Kero's eyes and he continued to cough. Kero struggled to stay upright as he tried stumbling towards the exit. But he soon was unable to stop himself from falling to the ground.

Atemu gasped again, crimson eyes wide with worry. "Is he going to really die? I didn't want him to really die!"

"I'm sure he'll be fine. Want me to keep reading to find out?"

Nodding his head, Atemu settled back against his father's chest with a yawn.

Seeing the hunter fall, Ket hurried to his side and began nudging at his neck with his nose. When that got no response, Ket quickly transformed into his human form. "Wake up!" he begged as he shook Kero's body in between coughs of his own. The hunter still however did move.

Grabbing Kero's arms, Ket attempted to drag Kero out of the burning building but quickly discovered that because of their size difference the hunter was too heavy for him to drag. Reluctantly, Ket transformed into his leopard form. Taking Kero's white cape into his mouth, Ket began dragging the hunter through the blaze. Soon they were out on the grassy lawn in front of the burning windmill.

Kero gave a small groan upon them reaching the fresh air and Ket knew that he would be okay. Transforming back into a cat, Ket curled up next to Kero's head, cuddling close to the hunter waiting for further help to arrive.

Seto stopped reading when he realized that Atemu hadn't interrupted him like he had been and smiled when he heard soft, even breathing. Closing the book, he laid it on the nightstand and carefully moved Atemu off of him. Chubby little arms tightened around Crackers as he was settled in the bed.

Standing up, sapphire eyes gazed over the small figure snuggled up under the sheets. He couldn't believe that in less than a day this child had wormed his way into his heart so easily. Reaching over he pulled the cord to the lamp sending the room into darkness and with one final look at his new son, Seto walked out of the room with a smile on his face.

1. Crackers and the story mentioned are not mine. My GSB, Pysche, gave me permission to use it. It's a wonderful Seto/Yami story and if you haven't read it yet then I suggest you should. It's called Working for the Enemy.

2. LOL love you Pysche! But even you tease your self about how you spelled your name! And you know me, I couldn't resist!

3. Again this story is not mine. Another GSB, Rekall, gave me permission to use her new and upcoming story. Kero is Seto, Ket is Yami, and Carin is Bakura. It's part of the second story in her trilogy. The first part is entitled Chale Jao.
It's another must read!