Adoptshipping (Kaiba Gozaburo/Kaiba Seto)
. . .
"You think I'm scared of you."
"I think you should be."
Sometimes, Seto has trouble remembering what time of his life he's existing in. Sometimes, sitting at his desk in the old office that used to be Gozaburo's, he thinks he's twelve years old again, and his father is storming through the front doors with curled lips, demanding to know what Seto was doing in his desk.
When Seto opens his eyes again, though, he's seventeen again and there is no Gozaburo.
There used to be a painting of him on the far wall in this room. Egotistical maniac, Seto had thought privately every time he was called to the office. The quiet backtalk had been just enough to still the tremble in his heart, because being called here had never been a good thing.
Seto had tried to keep the painting there for a while, just as a reminder that he had won—so that painting Gozaburo could hang there and watch him at the desk, having taken over everything he ever owned.
It lasted two weeks before he finally set the painting on fire in the backyard.
"If you think you can complain," the man said, illuminated by the giant windows in the back of the room, not even turning around to see Seto waiting there with his fists trembling at his sides, "you should remember that you were the one who chose this."
He's gone. He's gone for good. Seto saw him, splattered on the cement, and he hadn't flinched or cried or even felt anything. He's dead.
Seto won.
Seto won.
So...
So why does everything continue to haunt him?
The office doesn't look a damn thing like it did back when Gozaburo was alive. Seto ripped it apart, piece by piece, made it his. Switched out furniture, added a couch for Mokuba to sleep on when he wanted to hang out with him but was too tired to stay awake, replaced books Gozaburo had never read with ones that Seto had. This is hisoffice now. Gozaburo has no sway here.
And yet...
Sometimes Seto falls asleep on his desk.
And sometimes, when he wakes up, he thinks he sees a shadow standing over him, a crop smacking against one palm, dark eyes staring down at him.
And he is twelve years old again, and Gozaburo will never disappear.
. . .
A/N: aaaangst. Next is Admireshipping (Ghost Kotsuzaka x Mokuba)
