Chapter 16 – Totoro Is Not My Neighbor

8/8/09

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh. If I did, I'd buy that Burberry coat that I have my eyes on. I've borrowed one of Yu-gi-oh the Abridged series' quotes. You'll know when you see it.

On the last day of classes at the blacktop of a school, parents collected uniform-clad children, asking them of their summer homework and pestering them about test scores that they desired to be improved. Seto sat on the front steps, waiting quietly and talking to no one. While his classmates talked amongst themselves about their favorite cartoons and movies, Seto could offer no conversation. Then again, he found most animated shows, particularly a recent popular one on some giant monster called Totoro or something like that, to be overrated. Pressing his arms against the gray shorts of his uniform, the boy held a certain calm composure, unlike most children of his age, and did not fidget.

"Eh-cuh-cuse me." A small dark-haired girl in gray skirt approached Seto. She wore a similar white cap and round-collared shirt as him.

"You are?" Seto asked. Most children only approached him when they wanted help for something.

"M-miyake Aime. I'm in y-your class." Seto glanced at the girl, who began to twiddle her thumbs. This was that shy classmate in the back of his class, the one that never spoke in front of anyone and fainted in front of the entire class when she had to do a presentation.

"Do you want something?"

"Um..." Turning to her light blue backpack, the girl unzipped it to retrieve a stylish box and took off its cover. "M-my uncle gave me some chocolate for my birthday, and I was just hoping, I mean, wondering if, well..." Her eyes fell at her feet, fiercely gazing at it, and she held out the box of candy before exclaiming, "Would you like one?"

His eyes blinked as he surveyed the eager girl. "I don't really like chocolate."

"Oh." The dark-haired girl hugged the box, averting her eyes to floor as they flickered nervously. She stuttered a quick apology and turned to run, leaving Seto in confusion.

Females. Aside from the exception that included his mother, they were strange gender. He couldn't understand what that Miyake girl was getting so upset about.

Speaking of strange members of the opposite sex, he noted Jun, in all her adolescent glory, as she yelled at a fourth grader nearby. She was causing such as scene, Seto noted, while he put on his backpack. Well, at least, she was only thirty minutes late this time.

"And, next time, talk to me when your balls have dropped, you squirt!" Jun finished. "Grow a few inches too!" The nine-year-old, who had been the target of this conversation, looked as he was about to cry.

Seto crossed his arms as he strode next to Jun. Even in the designated sailor-styled school uniform, Jun managed to give it her gaudy and obnoxious glamour through many brightly colored accessories. "I see that you've succeeded in scaring younger children. When my classmates were talking about an evil witch, I didn't realize that it was you."

"'Well, you nerd, I'm like not going to just take it when idiots ask me if I got my tan from not showering." Seto didn't respond while his cousin huffed and picked up a bright orange tote bag from the ground. Whatever Jun might have been, her faults did not include a lack of hygiene. The girl carried a hand-sanitizer for personal use at all times.

She started to rave about the negative impact of stereotypes and the ignorance of children, scowling about annoying smart-asses. Seto paid little attention to his cousin's rant. His aunt Hiroko and Jun may have had different philosophies about life and the way they viewed the world, but they shared a similar persistence in the way that they argued, though his aunt was more passive aggressive than her daughter. It was better to not give any further attention to Jun.

Besides, there were more important matters to be concerned about. Lately, his father's behavior had been almost odd. On several nights, his father had been coming home at a later time than usual. When he came, his activities consisted of the usual: eat the dinner that Hiroko prepared, make his usual conversation to Seto, and bring a set of papers to work on while watching television with Seto. At first, Seto found nothing unusual about this; his father often prepared his amusement park plans in a similar manner.

Then, a few nights ago, Seto decided to get a drink of water after his bedtime. As he was about to head down the stairs, he heard something that was extremely unusual from his father's room, the sound of him yelling.

"Leave me alone! Leave me and my kids alone!" Seto pressed his ear against the door and heard the sound of a phone being slammed and footsteps pacing around the room. What scared him more than anything was the tone of desperation in his voice. His father, no matter how annoyed he was, had an unwavering patience, rarely losing his temper. The only time that his father sounded so angry and desperate was when he slapped Seto's face after his rant about Mokuba.

On the next day, Seiji prepared their breakfast, pored through the newspaper, and made his usual small talk before heading off to work. This time, Seto observed that his father's happy tone seemed a bit too upbeat and his smile a bit too forced. It was in that moment that he realized how frail his father looked. In his entire life, Seiji had been the quiet strength, the serenity among the craziness of the world that held everything together and protected it. The possibility that his father could be imperfect and have a moment of weakness was not something that he was sure that he could handle.

"And I got hit on the other day by some pervert when I was at the train station! He thought that I'd actually—" Jun fumed, her fists tightening. "I have an awesome and totally rad sense of fashion, not a sign with the word 'hoochie' tattooed on my forehead. He was sooo freakin' ugly too. I refuse to date balding midgets with six fingers."

Covering his mouth with his hands for a moment, Seto started to laugh.

"Like, what's so funny? You're a pretty boy and a genius, so don't think you understand the woes of the average." His laughter was hearty and open, stopping after a few minutes as the girl glared at him in annoyance. His mouth parted into a closed smile, carrying a mischievous glint in his eye.

"I was imagining the children. They'd be quite the lookers."

"Watch it, kid. A few puppies just died from your sudden dose of laughter." Jun threatened as they waited for the stoplight to change green.

"I'm sure that your mother would be very interested about those—" Seto countered, smiling meaningfully at his aghast cousin, while they crossed the road.

"Stupid child prodigy," Jun grumbled. "Then again, here's the child that hates on his infant for no good reason." Seto stiffened while he trudged along the sidewalk. Jun had no right to discuss about his family. "Oh, am I hitting a nerve? Poor, little widdle Seto Nakamura. Whatever could lil Mokie have done to deserve such hate!"

"Don't talk about something that you don't understand."

"I don't really care, but, even with all his gross diapers and annoying crying, he's much more adorable that you. Plus, your behavior around your little brother upsets your dad, and your silent treatment drama is kind of lame."

"Since when have you cared about my dad?" Seto wasn't blind to her mother's snide remarks to Seiji, the constant criticism, though he never understood the reasoning for it.

"I don't," Jun replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "but I do have plans to make Mokie into Japan's next hotshot model and become his agent, so getting on your father's good side might be smart."

"That's absurd. Besides, you don't have any right," Seto insisted. Besides, he doubted that Jun would put any charade of false friendliness for any extended period of time. His cousin was much too blunt.

"Well, that kid's going to be an adorable child, so I figured that I may as well earn my keep from it." Jun answered. "And it would be unfortunate if my future client suffered a trauma due to a lack of brotherly love."

"Well, that baby killed my mom."

Jun didn't given her usual instant sarcastic comment. Instead, her expression grew more serious, studying him before speaking in an even tone. "Did your father tell you that?"

"No, but my Uncle Brian did. He said if my brother hadn't been born, then my mother wouldn't die. She didn't even say good-bye. If he didn't force himself to come out, my mom would still be here." When his mother was alive, she told him that the due date was supposed to be a couple of weeks later. Why did Mokuba choose to be born earlier? He didn't have that right, and Uncle Brian, whenever he visited his grandparents' house, told him that the baby ruined everyone's lives. There can be nothing good from such a child. Those were his uncle's exact words. Uncle Brian was not exactly his favorite relative, but his mother trusted him, and she wouldn't have given such faith to just anyone. That was enough reason for him.

"Do you believe him?" Seto stared at her. Her usual unconcerned and bored expression vanished from her face, though her tone was still taunting as ever. "If he told you to jump off a bridge and kill yourself, would you?"

Seto did not know on what to do about her unswerving gaze, so he did the next best thing. Avoid it. "That's a stupid question. Uncle Brian would never do that. Sometimes, he's a bit tough, but he always let me watch what I wanted on TV."

"Well, if that's your reason, then you must be an idiot. For a person with such a high IQ, you certainly don't use your brain." Seto grimaced, ready to lash out. "You're supposed to use your brain to think for yourself, not let other people tell you what's the truth."

"I do think for myself!" Seto yelled. She had no right to treat him like he was some naive child.

"Right. Then, this makes tons of sense. Your brother, who could barely do anything but cry and poop, is like evil. Crazy, malicious evil. He purposely made your mother die to make you and your father miserable. You know, at least you can remember your mother. When your brother gets older, he's not going know who she was. If you ask me, that doesn't sound like a win-win situation for Mokie." Seto walked hurriedly across the summer path, trying to block the girl's words. "Your so-called wonderful Uncle Brian's acting like the baby."

Neither of them exchanged words to each other in duration of the rest of the walk. As much as Seto disliked her loud voice, the silence was, in its own way, worse. They had just reached the path covered in shrub and bonsai trees that led to their house when they saw a tall brunette in frayed jeans and an old checkered jacket standing outside. When the tall man turned around, his man's blue eyes met his own with a grim expression.

...

"So you're in the second grade now? I thought school's supposed to start in September." Uncle Brian said, grabbing a cigarette lighter from the pocket of his jeans.

"In Japan, term starts in April. I had a vacation for a month," Seto answered, as his uncle played with the lighter. It felt awkward, seeing his uncle seated on the tan couch. His appearance even changed a bit. His face had more stubble across his jaw, and his hair was an inch longer and more matted.

The house itself felt smaller with the tall man, who could easily reach the ceiling and had to duck his head at entrance of the doorways. In Seto's mind, his mother's family remained in America and stayed there; they weren't supposed to burst in randomly and try to coexist with his new life.

"Damn. Second grade, huh? I bet you're the smarty-pants of your class too."

Seto nodded, though he hardly appreciated the derisive tone that his uncle held, as if there was something wrong with his intelligence.

"And that baby?"

A surge of protectiveness flew through Seto at the mention of Mokuba, though he wasn't quite sure why. "He's over a year now. We celebrated his birthday. A lot of people came for his party." A lot was a bit of an understatement. Out of nowhere, relatives and friends, who Seto didn't know existed, showed up, greeting his father with a multitude of smiles, compliments, and presents at the banquet hall of the huge event. Even Seto gained a few presents from the entire ordeal.

"Huh."

"Tell that blockhead to stop smoking," the sixteen-year-old retorted to Seto as she flipped through a shoujo manga that she was reading. English was hardly the girl's best subject, her knowledge basic at best aside from the few curse words that she knew.

"What the hell's that freak babbling about?" Brian asked, his arms against arm rest. "Twitched about the bad make up job that the clown gave her?"

"Actually, Jun's a ganguro girl. That's her actual style." Her sense of fashion, although alarming at first, seemed as a part of her, something expected that it no longer had its original biting effect. "It'd be better if you played with your lighter elsewhere."

"Well, touché. You're growing to be a smart-ass like your mother." A chuckle escaped him, and he slipped it to his pocket. "Looks like you won't be a pansy like your father after all."

That was the final straw. His uncle could not just randomly saunter into his house, play with a lighter casually, and, then, insult his father. Nobody, not even his mother's beloved older brother, was getting away with that. "My father is the furthest thing from pansy. Can you explain why you're here?"

"I'll explain when—"

"Actually, I think that I am very interested in hearing it." The sight of his father in a pantsuit and still in his shoes shocked him. Turning to Seto, he gave a quick smile. "I think I'll take it from here, Seto. Please help your aunt."

...

Leaning against the wooden pillar of the veranda, Brian lit a cigarette and took a quick drag. The acrid smell of smoke pervaded into the air; Seiji wrinkled his nose at its odor. During college he had tried smoking once, though, after he took a drag, he succeeded in choking and coughing profusely than having any form of enjoyment.

His brother-in-law couldn't have chosen a more inconvenient time to arrive. At work, a meeting had been scheduled with the project managers under this department when he got the phone call from Hiroko. She cried that there was some strange foreign man circling around their house. Fortunately, he was able to identify him from her description through the phone. Otherwise, there was a huge likelihood that she would have called the police as she knew little English.

Seeing Brian again, Seiji felt a sudden rush of anger. It was bad enough that the man intruded upon his life in Japan, but the fact that he acted so nonchalant and showed no apology for arriving without some warning irritated him.

"What do you want?" Seiji demanded, a bit more roughly than he intended.

With a cigarette lit in his mouth, Brian paid the Japanese man little attention. "Wow, you're being friendly. If I didn't know better, I'd think you liked me."

"You sort of barged in here without any notice. I think I deserve an explanation."

The taller man's blue eyes surveyed the Japanese man coldly before he giving an answer. "Listen. I'm not here for small talk. I know you don't like me, and I really couldn't give a rat's ass, but I need a favor. We talked about this already."

Seiji snorted. "Wow, if I was ever convinced of helping you, that speech did it. Tell me; what part of 'Leave me and my kids alone' did you not understand?"

Brian flicked the cigarette onto the floor and stomped on it with his worn Doc Marten. No longer slouching, he rose to his full height, his fist tightened with irritation. "I'm not here for me. I'd never want your help if this was about me. Dad, in other words, your father-in-law, is sick. Extremely sick. After you took the kids and ran away to Japan, he was never the same." Confused, Seiji folded his eyebrows as Brian paused. "He's depressed. Dad's in the hospital because he's not eating or taking care of himself. Plus, his blood sugar, which has never excellent to begin with, is high. We need the money to pay the hospital bills and take care of house."

"Why did you threaten me on the phone instead of just saying this?"

"As soon as I introduced the fact that I needed money, you refused. If you can see from my point-of-view, it'd only be natural that I got pissed," Brian retorted.

Taking a deep sigh, Seiji rubbed the blade of his arm. Although Frank and Seiji had their differences, the man was still his children's grandfather. Still, something about Brian's proposal didn't sit well with him. He crossed his arms across his chest, contemplating his next words before saying, "I'm not giving you a penny."

A mix of emotions fell across the hard lines of the older man's face, ending in pure bewilderment. It was unexpected. Seiji wasn't supposed to say no. He didn't have the right. The American pulled Seiji by the sleeves of his overcoat and pushed him against the shoji door. He'd get him to listen. That skinny immigrant would help, even in he had to use violence to do it.

Fear filled Seiji at man's squeezing hold on his arm. Without much effort, Brian's muscular body could easily overwhelm his. Still, he needed to hold ground, say something to cool the man. "Wow, this is familiar."

Perhaps, that was not quite the right choice of words.

The grip tightened further, shooting pain in his arms. "Don't think your son Seto will come to save you. Think about it again. You give me the money, and I'll leave you and your little family in peace."

With a calmness that he did not feel, Seiji asked, "Are you in rehab?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything," Seiji proclaimed, putting extra emphasis on the word. "Absolutely everything. I'm aware that Laura's given you tons of money when she was alive. And I also know that she helped you find jobs, often personally applying for you. Let's not pretend about what you're really going to do with the money. You're an addict. Just tell me this. What bar are going to use it at? What fight will you start?" It was not smart, but something in Seiji couldn't bring himself to care. Ever since he read that portfolio, he found himself not bothered about a lot of things.

"Shut up!" Brian winced, though he did not loosen his grip.

No, Seiji thought angrily. Life had been unfair to him without needing to take responsibility for his immature brother-in-law's choices. He was not going to quietly listen anymore. For once, he was going to confront someone that messed up his world and tell them what he actually felt.

"You came all the way to the other side of the world for cash because you can't grow up. I'll help Frank, but I'm not giving you a thing. You poisoned Seto with your lies! Tell me why you are so desperate to blame Mokuba. Laura would have never wanted this. It would break her heart to see her son hate his own brother. Do you have problems? Well, guess what! We all have problems. Start being mature for once and realize your high school glory days are never coming back. Move on!"

It was not entirely unexpected when Brian punched Seiji across his right cheek. "I should have beaten you when I first met you." Shoving Seiji against the door of the house, Brian pushed him against the door till it broke and splattered at the weight. Then, his left had grabbed Seiji by his raven locks as his right fist proceeded to pound the man across the face, back and forth, back and forth. Trying to pull away, Seiji tried loosen the grip and aim some hits but only managed to kick the man a few times in the shins. Seiji suddenly found himself unable to move and felt a hard kick against his ribs. Smarting, Seiji yelped loudly as his eyes began to tear.

He cocked his head towards his brother-in-law, who looked as if he was both angry and confusion. "You killed Laura." Seiji cried, fallen on the tatami-matted floor. His body ached as he tried to pull himself forward. "I don't know how you did, but it's not Mokie's fault. It's yours." This earned one final kick on his thigh, and Brian spoke a few inaudible words, but Seiji could not concentrate on them. Pain was the only thing that he could feel, and everything began to drift away.

...

As Seto dried a plate with his hand, his thoughts were far from the chore that Hiroko assigned him. Seto did not know what was happening, and he hated it.

When his father entered the room, his uncle's expression was far from friendly, almost as if he was sizing him up.

With the exception of last Thanksgiving, it was not something that he ever noticed before. Then again, he found his found his father pinned against the stairs of his grandparents' house. With his attention on their moving and Seiji's casual dismissal of the event, Seto never thought much about it.

Aside from that event, there was no need to believe that there was any animosity between them. Uncle Brian may not have spoken much to his father, but they were always civil to each other. It was a coexistence that Seto just expected without any questions, never stopping to ponder if they actually liked each other. Uncle Brian was Uncle Brian, the irresponsible and lax relative that let him watch movies that he wasn't supposed to, and his father was, well, the responsible family man that was always around and would build the world's greatest amusement park. These were their designated roles. Nothing else.

Yet Seto sensed that something was wrong when his father asked Brian to talk outside. It was the way his father carried himself. His posture was too rigid, and his eyes were far from warm.

After placing a dried plate into the dish rack, he was about to reach for a towel to dry his hands when he heard a hoarse yell. Panic came, leaving a tightened knot into the pit of his stomach. It was coming from the backyard of the house. Not bothering to put on his shoes, he ran to the source of the noise, sliding doors quickly.

His jaw dropped.

The shoji screen of the sliding door was torn, and his father lay in between, awkwardly positioned between the veranda and the inside of the room. Rushing to his father, he knelt beside him and gaped at his father. Several fresh cuts were around his face, and his left cheek looked as it was about to swell. Angry tears streamed from his face. He had trusted Uncle Brian, and that man violated that trust and hurt the person that mattered the most to him.

"Daddy," he crawled against his father. Footsteps followed, but Seto ignored them and their gasps.

"We're going to need to call an ambulance. Seto, you need to step away." He refused to move, clinging onto the battered man. He lost one parent; he couldn't afford to lose another.

...

Sitting on blue side chairs of the waiting room, Seto leaned forward, his knees tucked on his chair and his arms wrapped around his legs. His aunt had chanted a few Buddhist prayers, yet they did not comfort him. His father was never religious, only celebrating holidays, and the prayer did not make the anguish go away. Jun, for once, had the decency to be silent, though she kept annoyingly glancing at him. After a few moments, she strode to a vending machine to get a drink. She hated silence, finding it uncomfortable to coexist with. Not particularly wanting her loud jabbering, Seto still didn't want complete silence. That left him with his thoughts of his father in the hospital room.

"Aba. Ga. Ga. Nana." The infant pointed to Hiroko's to the flowered pattern of her kimono and stared at them intently. Ignoring his coos, Hiroko continued to rock the one-year-old and stared blankly into the whitewashed walls opposite her.

Seto glanced at his brother. The infant's round cheeks were similar to his own, but his hair was raven like his father, having the same thick texture. The baby plucked at his aunt's garments, while he sucked with his right thumb, oblivious to irritated sighs of his aunt. Then it finally hit him. The only other person who truly mattered to his father, other than himself, was Mokuba. It was such an obvious fact, and something that he had known before, but that knowledge never hit Seto as strongly as that moment.

His aunt stood up and asked, "Seto, could you hold Mokie? I need to go to restroom." Not waiting for answer, she plopped the baby onto his lap and hurried to a nearby lavatory.

He hesitated, holding the child awkwardly in his arms. Surely the infant must have known how much he once hated him; Seto could imagine how he would be accused now of his former actions. Instead, the infant's slate-colored eyes stared into his. His golden-colored hands grabbed onto Seto's index finger and held it tightly. The boy led out a small chuckle, giving a wide grin across his face, and small amount of drool covered his mouth.

With the bib that hung around his brother's neck, he wiped away the drool. "Mokie, that's disgusting," Seto reprimanded. Mokuba stuck a thumb into mouth and sucked on it, almost defiantly. The blue-eyed boy frowned, but he felt no anger. Clearly, his brother was hopeless without him.

Roland Isono is Roland's name in the story because his English name is Roland, and his Japanese name is Isono. Seiji calls Roland Isono because, in Japan, people call people that they are not necessarily very close or family by their last name.

I don't own or dislike Totoro. In fact, that movie's my first exposure to Japanese animation.

And here's one final chap before I leave. I will be out of the country and am not updating till November. (Unless I can figure out something...)

To Atem's sister Atea, sorry to disappoint you but Seto and Jou are not going to go on a playdate. But the idea's been rolling in my mind after you mentioned and I might do what if oneshot with that idea after I come back. No promises though

To MythCreatorWriter, I'm thrilled that you liked that V8 commercial that I came up with. And I suppose I love the cameos. By the way, that was extremely observant of you to see Duke. I think you might have been the only one who mentioned it in their review so far. As for Isono and Roland, I use them both because Roland is his first name and I use his last name Isono for when Seiji calls him. In Japanese, to call them by their first name is a sign of closeness. While Seiji and Roland are friends, they are colleagues and are not that close. As for the play date, I'll think about it as a what if oneshot when I come back because Seto and Jou aren't supposed to meet yet. Always thrilled to hear from you.

To The Duelist's Heiress, I'm glad that you enjoyed the interaction with the parents. I figured it would be a nice change if they didn't hate each other.

To evil sasuke girl, for once I updated soon in a long time. Enjoy this chapter. Love your reviews.

To Noc and NC, Katsuya was my favorite character when I watched the show. It was fanfiction that got me interested in Kaiba's character. I'm supposed to be vague about your review and am going to say that he has gotten into something very big and quite dangerous. It is something that can quite alter one's viewpoint. As for that, I hope to read your story when I come back or when I can borrow somebody's computer. I'm not bringing my laptop, sadly.

To NiniEatsSushi, first of all, I love your name. (ffnet's not allowing me to put the periods) And love sushi. But those unimportant matters aside, I'm glad you're enjoying and I was foreshadowing. Hope you keep enjoying the story as well.

To Zoelle, I figured that the Jonouchi family would be more appreciated than a bunch of OCs. Plus, Katsuya's probably my favorite character on the show.

To hatandkill_d, Happy belated birthday! I hope you had tons of fun. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.