Chapter Twenty-Six

It was a drive Seto never expected to make. His mind circled every possibility, every worst-case scenario. It had to have been those no-good friends of his. They were the cause. They'd gotten Mokuba to do something illegal, threatening his entire future on stupid teenage antics. They'd stolen something, broken something, or worse. Seto could handle physical damages, property damages, but if it was anything worse than that.

He gripped the steering wheel tight as he turned into the squat brick building on the corner of an intersection. The words 'Domino City Police' were emblazoned above a pair of glass doors. Officers were milling about, some by their cars, some entering or exiting the department. Seto pulled into an empty spot between two patrol cars and folded down the sunshade to look in the mirror.

His hair was still wet and tousled. His shirt was no longer soaked, but it was cold and a little damp. In the backseat was the rest of his suit that he hadn't taken the time to put back on. He realized how he looked and he hated it. Like some party boy who stayed out all night. Like the husband coming home to his wife after staying out with his mistress.

The latter felt more true than it should have.

Seto ran a hand through his hair again, trying to tame it into some form of professionality. Failing that, he set his jaw and got out. Officers greeted him as he walked by and through the doors, but he didn't acknowledge them. He was here for one thing and one thing only: to find out exactly what the hell happened last night.

The lobby of the station was small and smelled of mold and old cigarettes. There were lines of stained beige plastic seats along the walls and a single desk behind a pane of bulletproof glass.

"Good morning." The receptionist said as he approached. "How can I help you?"

"My name is Seto Kaiba. I'm here for Mokuba Kaiba."

"Oh! Mr. Kaiba." The receptionist jumped to her feet. "Let me grab Officer Kanda for you."

"Thank you."

She scurried away. Seto placed himself at the corner of the desk with his hands in his pockets, out of the way of incoming officers and their charges. Druggies, drunks, petty criminals, and traffic offenders. All manner of refuse passed by him, either coming in to be booked or released from what had no doubt been a Saturday night of poor choices.

He couldn't remember if this was the same precinct he'd been taken to all those years ago. Just the thought of it made his skin crawl. He never wanted to be in one of these buildings again.

An older man came out from the 'officer's only' entrance and made his way over to Seto. "Mr. Kaiba, a pleasure to meet you." He extended a hand. "Officer Nao Kanda. I've been trying to reach you for a few hours."

Seto didn't take it. "I was otherwise occupied. I want to see him."

"Of course." Kanda used his outstretched hand to motion for Seto to follow. "He's back in one of our holding cells. Had I known he was your brother, I would have made his accommodations a bit more hospitable."

Seto followed him through a pair of double doors, through a hall of glassed-in offices filled with officers and detectives scurrying about, to the holding cells.

He prepared for the worst. "What did he do?"

"A traffic officer pulled him over last night for going about twenty miles over the highway speed limit. If it had been just the speeding we wouldn't have brought him in, but your brother was driving without a registered license, let alone a learner's permit."

"Who was with him?" Seto wanted names. He would make sure whoever put him up to this would never be seen around Mokuba again.

"No one."

Seto's steps faltered. "What?"

Officer Kanda stopped outside the entrance to the holding area. "Your brother was alone in the car, at least as far as our officer could tell. We had the vehicle searched but found no evidence of drugs or alcohol. The car was registered in your name, so he's not facing any grand theft auto charges. I'm guessing you have more than one car?"

"Three. You're certain Mokuba was alone?"

"All he had with him was a bag of clothes and some other pretty innocuous things. Nothing out of the ordinary for a teenage runaway."

"My brother is not a runaway."

Officer Kanda fixed him with a dubious look. "He said he was heading to some town called 'Solomons'. You know anything about that?"

Seto clenched his jaw and refused to answer.

"Look," said Officer Kanda, "since this is his first offense we're not going to be charging him with any more than an infraction. You'll be required to pay the two-hundred-fifty dollar fine before you take him home."

"That's fine. I would still like to speak to him alone first if that's allowed."

"Course." Officer Kanda opened the doors and led Seto inside. "Just call for me when you're done and we can get him released to your custody."

Mokuba had been put in a small cell at the back of the room, away from all the other prisoners. There was a single thin cot bolted to the wall and a dirty-looking latrine beneath a cracked sink. Mokuba was laid back on the cot, arms crossed behind his head and the German Olympic team hat pulled down over his eyes.

Seto had to shake the image of the blood-splattered nightmare from his head. Officer Kanda's keys clattered in his search for the right one and slipped it into the lock, opened it, and let Seto inside. The bars were closed and locked behind him before the officer walked back down the hall and through the double doors again.

"Bout time you got here." Mokuba tipped up the bill of his hat. "Dude, you got royally fucked last night, didn't you?"

Heat spread across Seto's face, but he refused to let his indignation show. "What were you thinking?"

"Figured I'd leave you and the Mrs to get along without me. Don't need a third wheel ruinin your stride, do you?"

"I told you, that was not in my plans."

"Was stayin over her place in your 'plans'? Don't look at me like that. This's the closest you've ever looked to rollin outta bed. You haven't even done your hair and you always do your hair."

"You're dodging the question."

"You know damn well what I was doing." Mokuba sat up, put his feet on the floor. "I was getting outta your way like you want. I'm gonna go live with Aunt Moriko and Miku and Rin. At least they'll remember I exist most of the time."

"Mokuba-"

"Don't 'Mokuba' me. That shit hasn't worked since I was twelve. I'm sick of bein in your shadow all the fuckin time. You're so perfect and so great, but you can't even take a single weekend off to do anything I wanna do."

"I've done what you wanted to do."

"Like what?"

"I took you to that damn movie like you wanted."

"Oh, sure! For like an hour. Then you get a phone call and leave me there looking stupid. Then instead of comin in and doin everything else I wanted, you went off and disappeared. I didn't find out till next morning that you were hangin out with her."

Seto felt the muscles in his shoulders tense. "I went to your damn game."

Mokuba threw up his arms. "Only cause she tricked you into going! Don't lie to me, you wouldn't've come if she hadn't made you."

"This isn't about her."

"Course it is! She shows up and suddenly you have all this free time." Mokuba got to his feet. "Where was that when I wanted to hang out, huh? Where was that when I graduated middle school?"

Seto's felt his resolve waver, turning the heat in his veins to ice. "I was-"

"You're always fucking working!" Hot tears trickled down Mokuba's cheeks. "If you didn't want me around anymore you should've just said so instead of trying to replace me."

Seto leaned back against the cell bars.

Mokuba stormed up next to him, stuck his face between two bars, and yelled down the hall. "Hey, cop! We're done. Get me the hell outta here."

Seto stared down at him, feeling cold and empty. "Mokuba… I didn't-"

Mokuba glared up at him. "I don't care what you intended. Just take me the fuck home so I can graduate high school and get out of your fucking hair like you want. Then you can have all the time you want to fuck your girlfriend and forget me like you forgot our fucking parents."

Seto's mouth dropped open. He didn't hear Officer Kanda approach with his insistent jangling keys. He didn't notice when the cell door opened and Mokuba stormed down the hall, past gawking prisoners and drunks and druggies. He didn't hear Officer Kanda speak. There was a hum in Seto's ears, sharp and high pitched. There was an emptiness growing inside him, familiar and hollow.

You see, boy. I told you.

He didn't have the strength to push back against the voice. After all, what was the point? He was right.

Gozaburo had always been right.

Seto's dread worsened when he pulled them up to the estate to find Kisa's motorcycle parked at the base of the steps. The woman herself was pacing back and forth around it, her arms wrapped around herself. In the torrent that'd been his shock and despair, he forgot he'd told her to meet him there. She'd been the one to offer and, at the time, he wanted her to be with him, to calm the racing thoughts he knew would be circling his brain.

Now he wanted to be as far away from her as possible. He didn't want to do what he needed to do. He planned, during the long drive home, to take a day to decide what would be best.

Not anymore.

Kisa stopped her pacing when he pulled the car up next to her and put it in park. Mokuba was out a second later. Seto saw him spare her one quick, withering, glance before racing up the front steps and into the estate. Kisa watched him go. He slammed the front door open and left it open behind him. She turned her raised eyebrows on Seto.

He'd never wanted to disappear so much in his entire life. He took one final long breath, then got out of the car.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"Nothing." Seto tried not to slam the car door, but failed. Pins and needles were skittering across his arms.

"What happened?"

Seto retrieved his clothes from the back seat. "Nothing I couldn't handle."

Kisa fell quiet. Perhaps she sensed his change. Perhaps she could see the growing void in the center of his chest, where just hours ago she had it filled with warmth and light. He would never know. He didn't want to know. He hated what he was doing, what he had to do. There was a small glimmer of hope that maybe she would just let him walk by, let him go, and perhaps check on him later. Tomorrow. Any time but right now.

She grabbed his wrist and all hope evaporated. "Seto, you're shutting me out again. Talk to me. What the hell happened?"

Seto kept his eyes downcast. "Mokuba was running away."

"Running-?" Kisa dropped his arm. "Seriously?"

"He would rather live with Aunt Moriko." Bitterness seeped into his voice. "He believes I don't want him anymore."

Her voice was calm. "I told you, you should have talked to him."

He rounded on her. "I don't need you telling me how to run my life."

Her eyes flashed with indignation. "Hey, don't get pissed at me. This isn't my fault."

Seto clenched his jaw. It took all he had to say the next words. "Isn't it?"

Kisa's mouth fell open. "What?"

"You heard me." He hated the words coming out of his mouth. "This never would have happened if I hadn't let myself fall into your trap." He felt sick. "What we had was fun, Miss Miyoshi, but I think this is enough. I need to put my focus back where it belongs. With Mokuba and with my work."

"This is a joke, right?" Kisa gave a tentative laugh. "Come on. You can't be serious."

He wanted to die. Seto kept his eyes on hers, biting the inside of his lip until he tasted blood. He wanted to scream, to take it all back. There was a lance of pain through his chest, sharp and aching. His throat was tight.

She moved to touch him. "Seto-"

He slapped her hand away. "It will be 'Mr. Kaiba'. If you cannot handle that, then I suggest you contact your agency to have yourself replaced. Or I will do that for you?"

There was a moment of suppressed rage that passed through her eyes so fast he could have thought it an illusion. Then her hand landed hard against the side of his face with such force that his head jerked sideways. Seto closed his eyes, concentrating on the pain.

It was what he deserved.

"Take it back." There were tears in her eyes. She shoved him. "Take it back! Don't you fucking do this, not after all the shit we went through to get here. What was it all for then, huh? What was the point of last night? You wouldn't have said those things if you didn't mean it. I know you."

"Perhaps not as well as you thought. Goodbye, Miss Miyoshi."

Seto turned away and started up the front steps. There was lead in his shoes. His legs were tight, heavy. He forced himself forward, even when every fiber of his being screamed for him to turn around. He put his hand on the door, moved to shut it behind him.

Kisa's voice called through the fog. "I love you."

He stuttered to a stop, almost turned back, but then he was inside and calmly shut the door behind him. He stood there, staring at the solid wood door until he heard her motorcycle rev and peel away.

All his strength faded. Seto collapsed to his knees in front of the door. He balled his hands into fists, punched the wood hard, ignored the searing pain, and did it again. Hot tears fell from his eyes, splattered to the marble. Seto curled in on himself, head pressed to the door, one hand gripping his hair.

Everything hurt. Everything was cold. He couldn't breathe. Every fiber of his control was frayed and burnt.

Let it burn. He didn't care anymore.