Disclaimer: I don't own it. Enough said

Random Talk: Oops... I'm really late for an update... I hope everyone had a great holiday! (Me, I'm busy playing my new Final Fantasy III!)

I really do have a good excuse for why I didn't updat sooner! One, I was in Las Vegas last week and was too cheep to pay to use the internet. (Got back on New Year's Eve.) Two, my allergy to alcholol chose a nice time to kick in... (They said it was a virgin drink! Liars!) I was sick for three days! I just got over it today!

To make up for it, I'm still going to post this Friday! Consider it a late Christmas present...

Chapter 6

Harsh Reality

"Let me explain," Ichigo said. "Seto-chan and Moku-chan's mother didn't die just because of giving birth to Moku-chan. She had a very weak body, getting sick all the time. There was a chance she would have died giving birth to Seto-chan, but she luckily survived. Unfortunately, Seto-chan has that same condition. I guess that's why he always tried to be as independent as he could. You see, he'll eventually have to become dependent on someone."

"Oh, kuso!" Jonouchi yelled. "I totally forgot about that! And Kaiba said he hasn't eaten in four days! This isn't good… He needs to eat food before taking his medicine!"

"We have to find him!" Yuugi said. "Let's go Honda-kun!"

"Right!"

Day was turning into night fast. Kaiba wandered around his old house looking for Mokuba. He knew already that his younger brother has been there recently for he found bags that held some of Mokuba's belongings. What surprised the young CEO was that after a thorough search of the house, he still couldn't find Mokuba.

"Looks like Mokuba already left," Kaiba said to himself, heading for the stairs. "But why would he leave his stuff behind?"

Just as Kaiba reached the top of the staircase, he started to feel lightheaded. It seemed like the world was spinning, making Kaiba dizzy. Not only that, but his legs were not moving like he wanted them to. After a minute of suffering this, Kaiba fainted and toppled down the stairs.

"Kaiba-kun, are you in there?" Yuugi yelled from outside the old house.

"I don't think he's going to answer," Honda said. "No offence, Yuugi, but this is Kaiba we're talking about."

"Let's just go in," Jonouchi said. "I have this really bad feeling something is not right."

"I guess it's okay," Yuugi said as he opened the door. All three boys froze at the site of an unconscious Kaiba on the floor. "Oh, my god!"

"Yuugi, call an ambulance," Jonouchi yelled. "Honda, run back to Obaa-san's apartment and tell her about Kaiba. She would know more on what to do while we wait for the paramedics to get here."

"Okay, Jonouchi-kun!" Yuugi yelled as he reached for his cell-phone.

"Be right back," Honda said as he ran back the way they just came.

"Don't you dare die right now, Kaiba," Jonouchi muttered to the sleeping brunette. "Especially just after finding out who you really are. You don't know how worried I was when you left. Besides, Mokuba may not admit to this, but he still needs you."

Kaiba woke up the next day in a hospital room. Needless to say, the young CEO was unhappy about this. Not only did he oversleep, but he also missed the whole day of school. So, being as stubborn as he is, Kaiba tried to get out of the bed only to wind up falling onto the floor.

"Damn…" Kaiba muttered. "I guess I really do need to eat for that stupid medicine to work…"

"Guess so," a voice said. Kaiba looked up and saw Jonouchi standing in front of him. "Need a hand?"

"I can get up myself," Kaiba muttered. "I don't need some stupid dog's help."

"Suit yourself," Jonouchi shrugged. He walked over to a chair and sat in it. "I'll be sitting right here if you need any help." And that's what he did. Jonouchi watched Kaiba try to stand up for about five minutes until Kaiba sighed.

"Fine," Kaiba muttered. "I need some help."

"What was that?" Jonouchi asked mockingly. "I couldn't hear that."

"I said I need help getting up, you stupid inu!" Kaiba yelled.

"Nope, don't feel like helping now."

"What! How dare you!"

"I have the choice of letting you stay on the ground until a nurse comes in and yells at you, or I could help you up so you might not get in trouble. I'm choosing the first option. Plus, I never promised that I would help. Hey! What are you doing now?" Jonouchi shot up from the seat as he watched Kaiba try to get up once more.

"What does it look like, makeinu? Since you won't help, I might as well do it myself."

"Baka," Jonouchi muttered. He just stood and watched the other teen attempted to stand up successfully. But every time Kaiba got up, few seconds late he would fall down. Eventually, a nurse came in.

"Sir!" she yelled. "You shouldn't be out of bed!"

"I'm fine!" Kaiba yelled back as he made another attempt to stand. The brunette didn't even have the strength to get up from the floor, so he remained on there, panting.

"You really should get some rest," the nurse said as she started to lift Kaiba up. She then turned to face Jonouchi. "You should have stopped him from leaving bed. Well, at least you can help me get him back in."

"Yes ma'am," Jonouchi said. He moved to one side of Kaiba and helped lift him up. It shocked the blond teen how light the other was. Kaiba felt like he was underweight, but nowhere near anorexic. As soon as the nurse left, Jonouchi had to ask the question. "How much do you weigh, Kaiba?"

"That's none of your business," Kaiba muttered.

"Fine by me. I'll just look on your chart." Jonouchi walked to the foot of the bed and started to flip through papers on the clipboard. "Damn! You need to eat more! Not only that, but you need to eat right! How the heck do you survive?"

"I'm not."

"Excuse me? What do you mean you're not?"

"I'm not surviving."

"But you said yesterday-"

"I never said I was surviving. I just said that a human can survive without food for at least 30 days. Besides, both you and I know I'm going to die soon. There is no known cure to this stupid disease, only a way to stall the inevitable. I think it's amazing that I've lasted this long."

"If you feel that way, why don't you just give up on life? Not that I'm saying you should kill yourself or anything!"

"I need to make sure Mokuba can live a life that is as normal as it can get for us."

"And being adopted by some rich dude will give you normal lives… I don't see the logic there."

"We needed someone with money to pay for both of our medication. It's true families only wanted me, but that was after realizing how expensive we were. Mokuba already had his medication for his ADHD by then, and I had all the different medication for my illness. Why take two kids that have needs that cost more than what you pay for just to get them?"

"I guess I can see why… That still doesn't explain why you are striving for a normal life for him."

"Looks like Obaa-san kept her word never to tell anyone. You know how and why my okaa-san died, right?" Jonouchi nodded. Kaiba sighed and continued. "Well, her death devastated my father. Things went downhill for him after that Tanabata all those years ago. I guess you can say he went a little insane."

TBC

Next time: More on the Kaiba brother's history. What is Mokuba up to now?

Random Talk: Kaiba's disease has no name and doesn't exist to my knowledge. I was too lazy to look up a good disease or come up with a name for one… I know that I should, but I can't think of any!

Sorry guys for the short chapter! (Not even three whole pages!)

Rubi-chan