Chapter 7

"Yay, I won!" Mokuba cried as he jumped up from his seat. The young boy was extremely happy at having finally beaten his brother at a game of chess.

"See, I told you that practice would pay off." Seto smiled to see his brother so happy. It had seemed like such a long time ago that Mokuba had last smiled before they had been placed in the orphanage.

"I'm going to tell everyone." Mokuba laughed as he bounced around in front of his brother.

"Go ahead." With a smile on his face Seto watched his younger brother race around the room to tell all of the other boys and girls about his chess win.

"You let him win didn't you?" a little girl asked from behind Seto. She and another boy had been watching the two brothers the whole time.

"Yep." Came the reply from behind a wide smile.

"Why?" asked the puzzled boy. "You could have easily beaten him."

"He's been trying so hard, and just look at how happy he is now." Seto watched as Mokuba had almost finished boasting to everyone in the room. "If winning against me makes him this happy then I don't mind losing every now and then." He ignored the 'whatever' said by the two children as he watched his brother go through the open double doors and outside into the yard to tell everybody out there too. They obviously didn't understand the connection between the two of them.

"Seto!" called one of the carers from the door which lead to the rest of the building. "Can you come here please?" Her voice wasn't harsh but he had the feeling that he was in trouble. Again.

Getting up from his seat, Seto made his way to her. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it." He protested as the carer closed the door behind them. "Marcus got that nosebleed from a fall, after I caught him hitting Mokie."

"Don't worry you're not in trouble." The carer assured him as they walked down the corridor.

Seto let out a sigh of relief. What he had said was true but it was him who had pushed the boy to make him fall. Nobody bullied his little brother and got away with it. "Then what is it?"

"We've found some parents for you." The carer smiled down.

"And Mokie?" Seto asked as he refused to be separated from his brother.

The smile on the carer's face fell but she nodded in reply. "We've got your belongings packed and they're going to take you now. Mokuba will be sent along shortly."

"Promise?" Asked the rather sceptical young boy.

The carer forced a smile and nodded before they entered the room where Seto was to be introduced to his new parents.

Back in the games room, the boy and girl now sat playing a game of chess. They were approached by Mokuba who was now looking for his brother. "Where's Seto?"

"The carer took him away." The boy simply said as he moved a pawn.

"Why?" Mokuba asked and was worried about what trouble his brother had landed himself in again for protecting him from the bullies.

"Don't know." Shrugged the girl as she moved her knight and took the pawn that the boy had previously moved. "Maybe he's been adopted?" She received a glare from the boy for taking his piece.

"No, we're both going to be adopted together." Laughed Mokuba nervously. That was the way that his brother had promised him.

"Don't count on it." Smirked the boy as he indicated out the window behind the girl as a car was driving off with Seto seated in the back.

"Seto?" Now Mokuba was confused. His brother never lied to him but there he was being driven away without him.

"So much for brotherly loved." The boy snorted as he made his next move on the chess board.

Mokuba ran back outside through the open doors at the far end only to see the car speed off. "Seto!" he shouted at the top of his voice before he broke down into tears.

In the back of the car Seto sensed that something wasn't right. As the huge gates began to open to let them out he asked; "What about Mokie?"

"Pardon honey?" The woman replied not understanding his question. The car driven by her husband was now clear of the gates as they closed behind them.

"My brother, Mokuba." Seto stated. He had the feeling that he had been lied to by the carer. Just like the time his uncle had told him and Mokuba that the orphanage was only a play group and that he would return for them both later. "You are adopting him too right?"

He watched as the couple momentarily stared at each other before the man nodded to his wife and then looked into his rear view mirror and smiled. "Of course we are, but we're coming back for him next week."

Anger began to build up inside Seto as he knew that he was being lied to after all. He couldn't believe that he had fallen for a trick like this. The car came to a stand still at a red light and he immediately tried to open the door. He struggled with it a couple for times as the safe latch was on but it wouldn't open.

The car started to move again so thinking quickly he put plan B into action. Winding down the window as far as it would go he put his arm out and opened the door from the outside. Despite the shouts from the couple for him to stop, Seto threw himself out of the open door and landed on the sidewalk.

Quickly he pushed himself up as he heard the car screech to a halt and ran back to the orphanage as fast as his legs would carry him. He would not allow himself to be parted from Mokuba for any reason.

As the orphanage came into sight he knew that the only way he'd be able to get back in would be to climb the fence as he was sure that the mechanically operated gates would not be opened for a child, especially one that had just been adopted from there.

Throwing himself at the wire fence, Seto wasted no time in scaling to the top were he was met with coils of barbed wire that was there to keep any intruders out. More like keep all of the children in, he thought to himself as he hesitated for a moment deciding the best way to get over the sharp spikes.

Feeling a hand clasp around his right ankle he looked down to see the couple stood there trying to coax him down. But Seto was having none of it, kicked hard to free himself and then forced himself up onto the coiled spikes before falling down to the ground on the other side.

He cried out as he hit the green field. His body was covered with cuts and scratches from the barbed wire and his left arm burned with pain after having landed on it. The concerned woman on the other side of the fence asked if he was okay.

Thinking of returning to his brother was the only thing that made Seto got up from where he lay. He ached so much and wanted to cry out all of his pain but the determination he had to see Mokuba again seemed to lock it away to enable him to carry on. He got to his feet and ran across the field shouting out for his brother. "Mokie!"

Mokuba sat on the ground crying as he heard his brother's calls. He looked up through teary eyes and saw Seto running towards him. He picked himself up and raced over to his brother were he grabbed hold of him tightly as he cried; "You said you'd never leave me. Why did you go with them?"

"They tricked me by saying that they were going to take us both." Seto cried freely with mixed tears of joy from being reunited with his brother, and tears of pain from his injuries. "When I found out that they were lying I came back to you."

The two brothers continued to cry as they held each other until the carer approached them a short while later. "That was a very stupid and naughty thing that you just did." She told Seto who stopped his tears and wiped them away.

"And what about you!" he screamed angrily at the carer which took her by surprise. He had been in trouble before for getting into fights but never spoke back to any of the carers before. "You lied to me and said that they were taking Mokie too." He felt Mokuba half hiding behind him as he had hold of his injured arm which caused tears to form in his eyes from the pain.

For a moment the carer didn't know what to say. She turned to face the couple who had come back for their newly adopted son before she turned back to Seto and coldly said: "You stupid boy. Don't you want parents?"

Seto found it hard to keep himself from crying but somehow managed it. He longed to have new parents. Somebody who would care and lookout for him and his brother. He didn't want to have to play the part of a parent as well as a brother to Mokuba. He wanted to be a child without a care in the world but wasn't willing to give up the only thing he loved. "Not if I'm separated from Mokie." He said firmly.

The carer turned to the couple and asked if they'd consider adopting Mokuba too. Whilst the woman seemed to be sympathetic to the situation her husband was not. He shook his head and handed back the adoption papers before he and his wife left.

With a heavy heart Seto watched as his chance of a family left without him. He turned and looked at his terrified brother. A smiled appeared across Seto's face to assure Mokuba that everything was okay. Nobody would ever be able to rip them apart.