Conscriptshipping (Kaiba Gozaburo/Kaiba Mokuba/Kaiba Seto)
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((warning for child abuse))
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Seto had learned, to an exact science, what level of fear was necessitated by how hard the door was slammed when Gozaburo got home.
If that science was a Richter scale, today's level was a 9.5.
Seto immediately shot up from his desk, where he had been able to nod off to sleep—he hadn't been allowed to sleep until one am for the past week because he hadn't finished his assignments yet, and he was exhausted. Still, his entire body went on alert as he quickly straightened off his desk, made sure nothing looked dusty or out of place, his heart thrumming in his chest as he thought okay okay okay what's here that he might think is done wrong what am I doing wrong—
He heard a soft groan behind him and his blood ran cold. Oh god—Mokuba was still here.
He whipped around to see his brother sitting up on the couch, rubbing one eye with his fist.
"What's going on?" he mumbled through the haze of sleep.
"Hide," Seto said. "Mokuba, hide, under the couch, now, don't make a sound, you're not supposed to be in here—"
He darted across the room, bodily dragging Mokuba off of the couch and trying to force him underneath it before Mokuba could even respond.
Not fast enough—the door slammed open. Seto snapped upwards, standing as straight as he could—hoping Mokuba would crawl under the couch in time while hidden behind it, hoping he could lie long enough to keep Mokuba safe.
Gozaburo loomed in the doorway, his deepset eyes cast into shadow by the dimly lit room. Seto stood as perfectly still as he could, hands clasped behind his back.
"What you doing over there, boy?" Gozaburo said, his voice thick and rough—oh, god, it was bad tonight. He was really angry.
"I—textbook," Seto said, his eyes falling on the textbook on the coffee table. He quickly grabbed it and held it in front of him. "I was coming to get this textbook so I could read ahead, father."
The word father still felt like poison in his mouth, but he had to do his best to stay on his good side right now. Was Mokuba under the couch yet? Seto tried to look through his peripherals.
Gozaburo's lip curled, and he stepped into the room, closing it behind him. Seto felt his throat close up when the man locked it behind him.
"Trying to brownnose me, are you, boy?" Gozaburo said, stalking across the room. "Show me your work—it had better be done."
It was, somehow, Seto thought with relief. Gozaburo's hand curled into his shoulder and tightened so much that Seto gasped, feeling bruises begin from the grip. Gozaburo started to pull Seto around from the couch towards the desk, but then he hesitated. His eyes flickered to the floor.
Seto felt his throat dry up as he, too, glanced down, and saw a bit of Mokuba's hair poking out from under the couch.
Seto cried out as Gozaburo flung him to the side so hard that he went careening all the way into the desk—the textbook flew out of his hands and cracked open on its spine, Seto's entire body rattling from the impact of his torso into the side of the desk.
Mokuba screamed when Gozaburo reached under the couch, grabbing him by the hair and dragging him out.
"What are you doing in here, you little brat?" Gozaburo screamed, shaking Mokuba by his hair as Mokuba screamed and scrabbled, tears rolling down his cheeks. "You're not allowed in here!"
"Leave him alone!" Seto screamed. He pushed off the desk and tried to tackle Gozaburo, but he was just too goddamn small, Gozaburo didn't even flinch from the strike, and Gozaburo's arm swung around and caught Seto in the side of the head.
"You little brats," Gozaburo raved. "You can't even fucking do what you're fucking told! Should I keep dinner from both of you for the rest of the week? Is that what you want?!"
"He didn't do anything wrong!" Seto shouted, but when he tried to get up, Gozaburo kicked him hard in the stomach.
"I give you all simple rules," Gozaburo said, punctuating his sentence with another kick for Seto and another vicious shake for Mokuba.
"Niisan, niisan!" Mokuba cried over and over, his hands flailing towards Seto.
"Shut up, you brat! You won't be leaving your room for a week!"
Mokuba was still screaming as the man dragged him away. Seto tried to get back to his feet, but—but he was dizzy, and he couldn't breathe or see for the tears in his eyes.
"Mokuba," he cried, his voice thick and hoarse. "M-Mokuba—"
They were both gone, and Seto was alone, curled up on the floor in his pain—ready for the next beating he was sure to get when Gozaburo came back from locking up Mokuba.
I'm going to kill him, he repeated to himself, like a mantra. I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him...
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A/N: Depressing :( Next is Conquestshipping (Valon x Mai).
