A/N: This is the chapter version. I want to make this as long as possible, so any suggestions are wonderful and luffed. I'm mainly leaving this to a Jou/Seto pairing. I know that I normally include little pairings off to the side, but not this time.
Gozaburo's views are the basics and the plot is pretty much your not-so-average "Romeo & Leo". Haha. In your face, Juliet. Anyway, I hope you all like this. It's different, I know. Hopefully not too different ...
Oh, and to save myself the trouble, lazy me, this is all just one story. But hey, this makes it easier for everyone else too ... in some ... odd ... way. I guess.
---
Midori, the blonde haired maid, wasted no time in checking up on the story told to her. She had always been fascinated with the mysterious death of Gozaburo Kaiba and this was the perfect way to find out. She went to those such as the younger Kaiba, older employees of the Kaiba mansion, and even to the friends of Mr. Kaiba's late blonde haired lover ...
-
The room was slightly dark and dreary. This was the last think Midori had expected. The picture of Anzu Mazaki portrayed her was a bright, fun-loving, caring girl with an eternal smile. However, the woman now sitting across from her on a velvet lounge was more a sad individual. Compared to the girl in the photo, this woman had longer hair, duller eyes, and an overall depressed persona. It took Midori a few glances between her and the photo to get that they were the same person.
"I'm not the same person I was before, as I assume you can tell." Anzu said, noticing the girl's actions.
Midori jumped at the voice. She sounded as though the world had turned against her. Midori glanced up from the photo and, when Anzu held out her hand, obediently gave her the photo. A warmed feeling flooded Anzu as her blue eyes stayed glued to the picture.
"Look at me. I look so ..."
"Happy?"
Midori quickly provided her the word. Her eyes locked with Anzu's. It was almost like the word had left Anzu's vocabulary. Sadness filled the brown haired woman's features and she shook her head as though she were trying to stop herself from crying. She lifted her head high and smiled weakly, all signs of tears magically cleared away.
"I'm sorry. I guess I let my emotions get the better of me. What was it you came here for?"
"Oh, um, I wanted to know what you knew about Seto Kaiba and Jounouchi Katsuya's relationship."
"Seto Kaiba? Jou?" A brunette woman asked, fidgeting in her seat.
"That was so long ago. Why would someone want to know about that, of all things?" Anzu spat disgustingly, though she looked more apathetic than anything.
"Well ... I was just ... wondering ..." Midori started, but Anzu interrupted her.
"I remember him. We tried to be friends with him."
Midori, glad that she didn't have to explain herself, asked, "So what happened?"
"It was 10 years ago, but I know exactly what happened."
-
"Hey, Kaiba. You wanna go to the arcade with us?" Yugi asked, his smile penetrating into Seto's mind.
There was no way he'd be caught alive with them.
"No." He scoffed, "You think I want to be caught with the likes of you?"
Anzu looked taken back, "Yugi was only trying to be nice to you."
"Why? So he can call me rich boy too?"
-
"And then he just turned on his heel and left. He had this look on his face."
Midori let the information soak in. Wasn't it supposed to go some other way?
"Well, thanks, I appreciate your-"
"Now that I think about it, after that Jou started following Seto. He would always say something and Seto would look embarrassed and push him away. They were really cute together. It was just that Gozaburo, always ..."
Midori stopped and sat back down, "Gozaburo?"
Anzu nodded, her now mid-back hair moving with her head. She turned to her side and lifted her legs onto the couch. Her face looked as though she were trying to remember something that happened back in her history books. Her voice suddenly broke the suspenseful silence.
"No matter what, Seto would always worry about what Gozaburo would say or do. In case you don't know, Gozaburo was-"
"His stepfather."
"Yes, his stepfather. I remember the first time I saw Gozaburo and Seto together. Poor Seto, he looked like a beaten puppy with its tail between its legs. It was like Seto was on a leash."
"Leash?" Midori's body straightened as she stared at the woman seated delicately across from her.
"If Gozaburo said to jump, Seto would jump."
The blonde girl sighed heavily. This Seto was nothing like the Seto she knew back at the Kaiba mansion. This Seto was scared and weak and needed more comfort than seemed could be given. The Seto she knew was a cold, hard, and independent man. He took orders from no one and refused to go down, if he ever did, without a fight.
"After Gozaburo found out about Jou, Seto disappeared for a few months. Jou was so worried about him. He felt so bad, almost like he thought it was his fault. Then, when Seto returned to school, he immediately had to leave again because he threatened to kill himself if he ever saw Jou again."
Another silence entered the room. Anzu's faintly aged face scrunched up as she thought about the past. It didn't look all too good from where Midori was sitting.
"It was after that when all the problems started." Anzu bitterly laughed at Midori's confused face, "You thought that was the problem? No, sweetie, there's more."
"More?"
"More. When Jou tried to get close to Seto, Seto would always run away. Then Jou cornered him one day and confronted him. Seto started loosening up a bit and then everything was back to normal. Well, there was a limit to how much it could be like back then."
"So, what about ..."
Midori's voice trailed off. Just plainly asking about Jou's death this way didn't seem appropriate. Anzu had been a close friend of his. Midori didn't want to make Anzu cry. She already looked sad enough ...
Anzu ignored Midori's fragment and added her own little side of the story, "Shortly after Jou's death, Yugi left the country for America. Me and Honda barely keep in touch. I can't even remember the last time I visited Jou's grave. I do know it sent chills up my spine and gave me the most horrible, unexplainable dreams. I wonder if Seto visits Jou's grave ... Do you know?"
"Oh, no! I really have no idea. I'm just now finding out about this whole story."
"Then you've got a lot of catching up to do."
"I know. I was hoping it'd be easy to-"
Anzu spoke up against Midori's questioning voice, "It won't be easy. Kaiba made sure that no one would ever speak of this again. At least publically, I see."
"He doesn't even talk about it himself." Midori whispered under her breath.
---
-gasps- Well, I got it out to you, didn't I? I'm so happy! It's 6 1/2pages! This is more than I expected. I guess when you have to do all that describing, though it doesn't seem like I did a lot, it gets a lot longer.
Oh, and a lounge is that couch like thing that goes off on one side. You know that thing you lay on sideways that people take pictures in? At least, I think that's what its called ... Anyway, Anzu's all dark and dreary now. I don't know why, but I can see her in a black dress with longer hair and a depressed, almost blank look on her face. Oh well. The next chapter should be out soon. Sunday or Monday, maybe.