SEVEN

When Seto arrived, Yugi's eyes were wide and worried. Seto, however, didn't seem worried about the same thing Yugi was. When he entered the room, it cleared quickly and the door closed behind Téa.

Seto groaned and sat down beside Yugi's bed, grabbing his hand in his own. Blue eyes met Yugi's own violet ones and they held each other's gaze for several moments.

"How are you?" Seto finally asked. "You look like hell."

Yugi managed to smile. "I feel better than I look."

Seto did not smile back. "Joey said you were dying," he said. "I came back expecting the worst."

Rolling his eyes, Yugi sat up and situated himself. "I'm fine. Just pneumonia and a car crash. It happens all the time."

"Why didn't you tell me you were this sick?" Seto finally asked. "I'd have come back sooner."

"I…I didn't want you to worry about me."

"Well I was. I was told you were dying."
Yugi rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. Just pneumonia."

"You should have told me," Seto said, and his hand tightened around Yugi's. "I was…worried."

"I'm sorry…"

Seto's eyes were gentle. "I need you to be well," he said. "And if you're sick I need you to be honest with me…I was…." he trailed off.

Yugi tried to smile, but he was too tired. He managed to mumble before he fell asleep again.

Seto sighed and rested his hand with Yugi's until his arm went to sleep, and then he managed to slip his finger's from Yugi's sleeping grip. He walked to the window and looked out for a while before he sighed again.

Did Yugi really keep himself from the doctor because of him? Seto's mind just couldn't fathom it. The younger man had said he didn't want him to worry…but, about what? It was just an illness and a bit of bruising. With medication, he'd be better in a week…what was there to worry about?

Seto sat back in his chair and watched Yugi sleep. He wasn't sure at what point he had fallen in love with the younger man…but every part of him wanted to admit that yes, he, Seto Kaiba, was in love with Yugi. Was it when they'd first met, when their eyes had first locked? Was it the night Seto had lost his seventh—and final—duel against Yugi? Was it when Aemi was born, or Kyo? He wasn't sure…but he knew he was, for the first time in his life, in love with someone.

He had to wipe the giddy smile off his own face by shaking his head and trying to collect his thoughts again. He hadn't ever told anyone he loved them, and in all reality, he hadn't exactly said to Yugi, either. He's said he thought he loved him. But what every bone in his body wanted to scream from every roof top was the exact opposite—he knew he loved Yugi. He knew it, and he wanted everyone else to know it.

A nurse entered the room just as a strange euphoric feeling came over Seto. He was about to shout to the world, but the feeling died as soon as he was interrupted.

"Are you Mr. Kaiba?" the woman asked, and he nodded. "I was asked to tell you that Mr. Moto's parents are here to see him, and they would like to see him alone."

Seto's eyes widened. "His…parents?"

"Yes, sir. They are waiting outside."

Seto squinted his eyes. In all the years he had known Yugi, he had never once met his parents, nor heard Yugi talk about them. He had just assumed they were dead.

Standing up and walking slowly out of the room, he was surprised to see a normal looking woman dressed in normal looking clothing and a large, gruff man—not unlike Gozaburo Kaiba—standing by her side. There was no doubt in Seto's eyes that they were Yugi's parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Moto," Seto said, forcing himself to be polite. "We haven't met before."

Mr. Moto stared Seto down for a moment and he found himself feeling very small. He was reminded of Gozaburo when he would put down every idea he'd ever had. Mrs. Moto's eyes were gentle, but she kept quiet as her husband studied Seto.

"So you're the one, huh?" the man demanded, and Seto was surprised to see that he spoke without an accent.

"Excuse me?" Seto said when he got a chance.

The man glared at him before completely ignoring him and entering Yugi's room. Seto stood outside, stunned beyond belief, and waited for them to come out. After a half hour had passed and they did not return, he went to find something to do.

He sat in the hospital cafeteria awkwardly and sipped cold tea from a Styrofoam cup. He didn't know what else to do. Yugi's parents had given him a very bad feeling and he couldn't help but wonder what they were doing to their son.

Yugi had never once spoken of his parents. Ever. It wasn't just that they hadn't come up in ten years worth of conversation—Seto knew he avoided the topic of his parents. He'd always thought they had died in some accident, but Yugi never seemed too stressed about it because he didn't visit their graves or have photos of them.

Seto stood up to throw his mostly un-sipped tea in the trash and spotted Téa across the cafeteria. He put aside his dislike for her and approached slowly. When he sat down across from her, she looked up with a questioning gaze.

"Hi?" Téa said.

"Who are Yugi's parents?" Seto asked quickly, his voice low.

"Um…" Téa blinked. "His parents…?" Her face grew redder and she seemed angry. "They're awful people. They abandoned him when he was just a kid—that's how he ended up in Domino City with his grandpa."

"Why are they here, then?" Seto asked.

Téa's eyes widened. "Here…?"

"I was booted out of the room by them."

Téa got up and ran out of the cafeteria, leaving Seto to look after her. He followed after a moment and headed back to Yugi's room where he saw a commotion going on outside the door.

"…you just come back here and act like nothing's happened!" Téa was yelling.

"Young lady, you'd better keep your place," Yugi's father growled.

"You keep your place old man!"

Seto was shocked to see Téa's reaction to the man. She was almost as protective of Yugi as he was.

"Please don't fight," Seto heard Yugi groan from the hospital bed, and he started to go to his side. Instead, he was pushed backwards by Yugi's father's large hands.

"You stay out," the man commanded, his eyes locking with Seto's.

"Excuse me?" Seto demanded.

"You're the reason for this whole mess."

Seto squinted. He couldn't understand, at all, not even for a second, how any of this was his fault. "He was in an accident," Seto said, refraining from cursing or throwing the nearest object at Yugi's father. "An accident I did not cause, nor was I around to see it."

"He's here because of you," the man reiterated.

"I don't have time for this, old man," Seto said, getting angry. He had more of a right to sit by Yugi's side than anyone else there.

"You should just leave," the woman said, she Seto's eyes snapped to her. She was standing against the wall with her eyes on the floor. She was too quiet to do any harm.

"I am going in," Seto said.

"You will not," Yugi's father insisted.

Seto looked past the man and tried to see Yugi in the bed. He saw Yugi's wide eyes and the need to make everything right. Seto just wanted to protect him from the man who was causing obvious discomfort.

"I have every right to enter," Seto said.

"Legally, no you don't," the man said. "We've hired a lawyer who should be here any moment."

"For what?" Téa stepped in, her anger very clear.

"To question the sanity of our son."

Silence followed the comment and Seto found himself squinting again. "What?" he finally said. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The man almost sneered. "His state of mind has become the talk of the town. Of course, I think his mind has only been polluted by you."

"Yugi is twenty-six years old. You cannot treat him like a child."

"But he is a child," the man said, "my child, that is."

Seto's fingers tightened into a fist. "You don't even know him."

"It's come time for Yugi to take over the family business, and as my only son, I won't take no for an answer."

"And you're expecting what? You'll have him declared mentally unstable, and then he'll be released into the custody of his next of kin—which is me," Seto said, crossing his arms. "And then I'll just counter sue to question your intelligence and have you locked away."

"You're just a little boy with too much money, Seto Kaiba." The man spat his name. "Yugi's next of kin is me or his mother. You don't even have a place on his contact list. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you are just his employer, and therefore legally have no claim on him."

"That's crazy!" Téa said. "Seto and Yugi are—"

Yugi's father cut her off. "What are they?"

"They're…in a relationship!" Téa said.

"Are they?" the man laughed. "Is this true, Kaiba? Are you in a relationship with my son?"

Seto stared the man down. "Yes," he said without hesitation. Thoughts of what he'd been feeling that morning ran through his head. He loved Yugi. Didn't that count for something?

The man laughed again. "You've deluded yourself as well. There is nothing more than teenage experimentation. Yugi will learn to love his fiancé Aribelle."

But he loves me! Seto wanted to shout. He didn't even register the word fiancé. "We have two children together," he said instead. "Aemi and Kyo." He was trying to reassure himself. He didn't know much about the law, but he was fairly certain that having children made them at least a little bit responsible for each other.

"Last I checked, Yugi has no biological children, Mr. Kaiba. He did not birth nor father those…brats, and his name is not on the birth certificate."

Seto's eyes widened. He was certainly confused.

"Now, you can either leave on your own, or we can call security and let them know you are harassing our son."

"Like hell," Seto said, and he took another step towards the door.

"His belongings will be collected from your house this afternoon, Kaiba, and he will be coming home with us."

"Yugi," Seto called into the room. "What is going on?"

Yugi's eyes were wide. He had no idea what to do. He was terrified of his father, and even more afraid of the threat he'd been given before Téa had arrived. His father had said he'd tear Seto's life apart and he'd have the children removed from his care and put in foster homes. He'd said he would do whatever it took to bring Yugi back home, even if that meant destroying everything Yugi had ever loved.

"Back up, boy," his father growled to Seto, and Seto took another step. This time, the man grabbed him and pulled his arm behind his back. He twisted until Seto gasped in pain. "Are you going to leave?" the man demanded.

"No!"

Twinsting more until the group heard a pop, the man laughed and Seto groaned in pain. His shoulder had been dislocated.

"Stop, dad! Please stop!" Yugi begged from the bed. He was trying to pull the IV out of his arm, and after he'd done that he wobbled on his feet until he could run, tearing open a set of stitches on his hip before collapsing on the ground next to Seto. "Please just stop…" he said.

"Get back in that bed, boy," Yugi's father said, attempting to grab him. Yugi dodged him and them wrapped his arms around Seto's waist. "Please, please stop…" he begged again. His thoughts weren't coherent enough to make sense and his head was swimming. "Seto will go…he'll go home. Please don't hurt him!"

"Yugi…" Seto said, his voice strained from the pain in his shoulder. "You want me to go?"

"I don't want you to get hurt," Yugi said. Tears were coming down his cheeks.

"What about you?" he asked quietly. "If they take you away…"

"I'll be okay," Yugi promised. "Please, just go home and I'll call you." He looked up at Téa. "All of you, go home. I'll be okay."

Seto looked at Yugi and saw how desperate he was. He was too weak to fight anymore, and his skin was so pale and bruised…Seto didn't want to cause any more trouble.

"Fine," Seto said. "I'll go, but you call me as soon as…Just call me. I don't care what time it is."

"I will, I promise."
Seto didn't care who was there to see, he pressed his lips against Yugi's to show that they were together, that they belonged together, and that he wouldn't let them be torn apart.

When he'd managed to get to his feet, a nurse came running down the hall yelling for Yugi to get back in his bed and for everyone else to disperse. Seto watched for a moment before Téa touched his arm and they walked out of the hospital together. He looked back once more.

"He'll be okay," Téa said. "He's strong."

Seto wasn't so sure, and he didn't believe that Yugi would be alive when his parents got done with him. He pulled out his phone and called his lawyer.

A/N: I've got through the ending written now, so the last few chapters should be up soon