Leave Out All The Rest

Chapter Four

It was a few days after Seto had spoken to Téa in the Council's conference room, when the brunet walked into the school's building in the morning, staring at his feet in thoughtfulness. Ever since that day, all of his thoughts revolved around Yami. It was not that they didn't already revolve around him most of the time, but nowadays, it seemed to Seto that he was being slowly driven mad by guilt and desperation. Guilt at being so heartless as to jump to such a shallow and untrue conclusion about Yami and desperation because of how much each passing day seemed to reveal to him the extent of the damage being inflicted on Yami.

He couldn't believe how fucking blind he was. How come he, as well as everyone else around, not notice how much Yami's toughness and defiance was all just one big fraud? Were they really that naïve and gullible? Wasn't it obvious, with the way he stared off into space with those big, wide oceans of crimson when he thought no one saw him? Wasn't it obvious the look of complete misery in them during those times? Wasn't it too obvious the pain he was in every time he'd bump into someone by mistake in a corridor at one of those moments where he seemed to plunge into a deep, endless ocean of thoughts and a never-ending reality of sadness?

He sighed and looked up when he felt that he'd reached his locker and he opened it as he thought hard of ways to try and at least make it better in some way for Yami. He was, for the first time in his life, feeling helpless and he slammed the door of the locker closed with all his might to try and relieve his anger at himself and life's unfairness, in general.

However, just as he was about to glare at the girl beside him who squeaked at the loud noise, he heard shouting coming from the end of the corridor, carrying with it the voice of yet another one of those bullies who had nothing better to do but pass picking on others as a daily source of entertainment.

He walked towards the source of the noise and, just as he expected, saw the members of the swimming team bunched together with their leader right in the middle of the semi-circle they made with the wall and their bodies.

What he didn't expect, however, was to see Yami right in the middle of that circle with the dude who looked way taller than he was, not to mention healthier and very angry!

Seto froze for a bit, seeing how Yami looked like a small child whose parents left him in the park and not even his favorite teddy could comfort him. He could see the unnatural shine of those tired and dark-rimmed crimson eyes and he could also see total submission to what the other boy had in store for him, as if he was thinking, "Do what you have to do and then leave me alone."

The only thing that got Seto out of his stupor was when the leader of the swimming team angrily and viciously placed his hands on Yami's chest and, using all his power and good health, pushed the smaller teenager back, while yelling, "You stupid little freak! What the hell do you think you're doing walking like a blind bat into me like that?" Yami had been thrown back into the wall after that push and a violent, involuntary gasp escaped through his lips when the breath was knocked out of him as he slid down against the wall to crumple on the ground.

Seto walked into the scene, glad to see that those who had gathered to watch, at seeing him, dispersed. To his amazement, before he could say one word, Yami had looked up at the huge boy before him and said in a calm voice and a tiny, little quirky smile, "I am sorry your girlfriend thinks you're a big, great loser now."

"You freak! I will…"

"I will be stopping this fight right now," Seto intercepted, walking in between the angry teenager and Yami's body on the floor. He stood a bit taller than the swimmer and his blue eyes flashed dangerously and so did his badge. "Be mature, Johnson, let it go; he didn't mean it."

"Did you even listen to what the punk just said?" the other boy half-yelled in frustration.

"Yes, I did. But this just proves that all this wasn't planned, because you weren't even standing with Erika right now; hell she doesn't show up except after 07:45, right?" Seto raised an eyebrow in askance.

The boy narrowed his eyes at him and looked as though he was struggling very hard not to beat Yami up, but then he backed away and straightened and said, "I won't give you troubles, Kaiba. But know this, freak," he said the last part speaking to Yami and Seto almost got a nosebleed because of how frustrated he was when Yami was called that word. "You got off this time only because Kaiba is here to save your ass. Next time, I swear I'll really do the world a favor and kill you."

"Thanks, you are very merciful," Yami replied with a weak snicker from behind Seto.

Johnson gave him the finger and walked off with the rest of the swimming team.

Seto turned to the huddled body behind him and saw Yami getting up. If Téa hadn't spoken to him and if she hadn't told him Seto would never have noticed the flash of total agony mingling with the distortion that already plunged Yami's eyes behind it. He would have never noticed the struggle in them which he had previously mistaken for that blank look Yami always had in his eyes after he pumped into someone in the corridors.

But this time, he noticed it and he frowned in concern and asked, "You alright?"

Yami stared up at him and frowned heavily and said, "Head Boy, go irk someone else!"

"I was just trying to help, you ungrateful midget!" Seto snapped, his temper flaring against his will.

"I never asked for your stupid help." Yami replied, turning his back onto him.

"Don't get so high and mighty, Yami. I was doing my job as Head Boy. I am not your knight in shining armor." Seto nastily countered while walking past Yami and then paused and tilted his head to the side slightly and threw one last nasty remark, his anger blinding all thoughts of how much he should help Yami instead of getting so impatient with him, "Don't think I did this as a way of trying to get friendly…I'd do it to a rat had it been in your situation. At least it would have been grateful."

And he walked away, not seeing the twin tears tracks that formed yellowish, tanned cheeks when Yami blinked at his words.

That very same day, they had a gym class. Mr. Anderson, as usual, was checking the uniforms at the beginning of the class and an idea occurred to Seto just after the man ticked beside his name in his file. He stepped forward towards the man and said with clam tones, "Can I have a word with you?"

Mr. Anderson blinked in surprise, but then he shrugged and said, "Okay, after we finish checking the…"

"No! It concerns someone here and I must speak to you." Seto insisted.

"Okay, okay," Mr. Anderson said and called out to the others, "You can do what you want today." Seto waited till he started walking away and followed him. When they reached the office, the man sat down on a chair and said, "So, what is it?"

"I want to speak to you about Yami." Seto said and was a bit disgusted to see the expression of distaste and displeasure on the teacher's wrinkling face.

"What of him?" he asked, extending his neck out a little to stare outside where he located Yami sitting alone in the bleachers in his sports shorts and the long sleeved shirt over it. "Wearing the wrong uniform again, little rascal!"

"Yes, exactly! The uniform is what I want to speak to you about!" Seto said, he too taking a seat opposite the teacher. He saw the expression of puzzlement in the latter's eyes and flooding his face so he explained, "Sir, you have to stop striking off ten of his marks because of that."

"Why should I do that? He is not a special case, you know, I cannot make exceptions. The rules are very clear and he has to abide by them." Mr. Anderson grumbled out.

"Look…I also used to think like that, but sir, really. You must excuse him." Seto tried once again. He would go as far as telling the man what was going on, but for now he wanted to keep it secret for as long as possible.

"Look, kid. You're my favorite student of all the twenty three out there and you really deserve being my favorite student and I'd do anything for a favorite student of mine. But I am very sorry, I cannot listen to your request concerning Yami." Mr. Anderson got up to pace angrily around the room, and Seto watched him in silence. "Every single time, he is always in full sleeves. I told him to wear the correct half sleeved shirts three times a week for about…three years! Last year was my limit. I had to start striking off marks, because…"

"Can I ask you something?" Seto interrupted him. The man stared at him questioningly, so he resumed, "Have you ever looked at it that instead of him being intent of breaking your word, of wearing only half sleeves, he is just too desperate to keep his arms hidden?" he raised an eyebrow when he was done speaking and stared in a signifying way at the man.

Mr. Anderson paused and stared at him in puzzlement, "What do you mean?"

"Isn't it possible that he is hiding something under those full sleeves, something that hiding is more important to him than losing ten whole marks every class?" He knew he wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but he had to take a step forward; so far, Téa had just stuck to the plan of hiding things like Yami wanted, but that didn't lead anywhere. So he had to do something more!

"What do you know?" Mr. Anderson asked suspiciously, sitting down in a chair nearer to Seto than the one he had been sitting in.

Seto started telling him snippets of the story. Not the whole thing, just enough to have Mr. Anderson getting up by the end of the conversation to grab the file with their markings and grades in it and add ten marks to each class that passed of the current month to Yami's records.

Yami despised the feeling that he owed someone something. He hated that feeling of anxiety that made his stomach feel funnier than it always felt when he looked at someone who had done something for him. And that was why he despised that stuck-up snob called Seto Kaiba.

Alright, he may have said that he didn't need help the other day but to be honest, he didn't think he would have come out of that alive. Seto had, as sappy as that may sound, arrived right on time. And to add to that, at the end of that day, Seto had taken Mr. Anderson by the side and told him something that had the man stopping that irksome and very frustrating habit of cutting ten marks off each gym class because of the long sleeves.

And now, every time Yami stared at him, he'd get that funny and irritating feeling in his stomach. And truth to be told, he had enough funny feelings already to add a new one to them because of one Seto Kaiba…

And so he decided that as soon as he could, he'd try and do a favor to the snobbish brunet just to get rid of the feeling.

And the opportunity presented itself just three days after the little incident with the captain of the swimming team. He had been sitting in a biology class doodling in his notebook as usual while trying to catch something out of what was being said over the sound of an imaginary whirring in his head. Suddenly, he looked up when a cell phone rang shrilly, interrupting their teacher.

He looked at Seto who hastily took out his ringing phone and answered it, "What?!" Yami watched the angry and ticked off expression in the deep blue eyes, before the brunet sighed and got up, saying, "Why can't you people just stop messing around with the systems? I thought I told all of you not to try and change anything!" Yami kept watching as he stared at the teacher who nodded, giving him permission to leave the classroom. Yami followed him with his eyes as he sighed and said, "Okay, do not mess things up more. Leave everything…" his voice faded out when the door closed again.

Yami shifted his eyes to the empty desk and saw that Seto had forgotten his notebook on the table in his haste to leave. An idea occurred to him to get rid of the feeling that he owed Seto something and he got up and walked towards the notebook.

"Yami, I don't think it is acceptable if you get up and just walk to some other place in the middle of class." He rolled his eyes when he heard the teacher's calm, patient voice.

He turned to her and gracefully sat down in Seto's place and smiled sweetly and replied, "Sorry. Next time, I'll try and run, alright?"

"What are you doing over there anyway?" she asked, her patience leaving her at his witty reply.

"I am doing a rare community service. None of your business where I sit, really, since I am attending the class, right?"

He could see steam coming out of her ears at how angry she was and at how much she was stopping herself from most probably walking to him and slapping him, then she turned around to walk behind her desk and she looked a little at her reference notes.

He too stared down at the notebook before him and he opened it to the last page. A quick skim through what was written told him exactly what the lesson was talking about so he took out a pencil and tore a page out of his own doodling notebook and looked up. When he did that he saw the teacher staring at him in surprise and he was too tired to give her one of his smirks and settled onto looking elsewhere.

A few moments later he heard her starting to speak and he followed her by writing down quickly points as to what the most important thing she said was on the piece of paper. The effort, although puny to his classmates, made every single bone in his body ache. He had a headache and he wanted to lie down somewhere and sleep, but he thought that the only way to get rid of that irritating feeling he had whenever he saw Seto, was to help out and write him notes when he wasn't there to do so for himself.

He was silent throughout the class, until the teacher asked, "Who could tell me the half-life of glucose?"

He looked up and stared around him and he inwardly laughed at the look of uncertainty on his classmates' faces. He watched in amusement as topper after topper of the class was asked and each guessed a weird number. One actually said 3000 years, so the teacher sighed and said, "No, that is not correct."

The comment had Yami's inward giggles breaking through his mouth and he kept laughing out while everyone's eyes turned to him. The teacher frowned in displeasure and asked, "Please, Yami, share the joke or get out of my class at this very moment."

He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes and muttered in a bored voice, "The joke is that the so-called toppers of the class cannot distinguish between what can have a half life and what cannot."

A girl sitting right in front narrowed her gray eyes and made a face at him and said in disgust, "Oh, so you would know?" she had spat out the you in such a disgusted way and Yami saw Téa's lips curling and saw her lips move to mouth, 'what a bitch' under her breath.

"Actually, I do." Yami nodded his head in amusement as he said that.

"Okay then," the teacher closed her textbook and crossed her arms, real interest and hope springing into her eyes and she resumed, "Please share your thoughts with us."

Yami rolled his eyes once more and snorted and said, even though speaking so much made him uneasy and made his head ache more, "Half life is the time taken for a radioactive substance to decompose to half of the quantity that exists of it. And what is the keyword in that simple statement that Dina," he nodded his head towards the girl who had mocked him a few moments ago, "Repeats whenever there is a physics class, as though she doesn't know anything other than it? It is the word 'radioactive'." He paused a little then giggled a bit more and added, "It simply means that glucose does not have a half life. It isn't a radioactive substance or element to that matter so it cannot decompose."

There was total silence, before the sound of slow clapping resonated across the room and everyone's eyes turned to the teacher who was making the sound with a look of amazement in her eyes as she stared at Yami. "Yami, you just earned three bonus marks next Unit Test. Well done."

Yami rolled his eyes and said, wanting to maintain the same image after that shocking incident moments ago of him participating in class, "I said I was in the mood for community services. Those dunderheads need something to bring them down to earth that they know nothing of what is being taught."

He smirked when he heard the outraged chaos that followed his comment and when he saw the exasperation on the woman's face.

Seto had returned home only after school hours were over, at about…6:00 PM. He was exhausted; one of the technicians caused the whole company's computers' operating systems to crash and…it was just really messy. The company lost about three million dollars in the few hours Seto spent fixing everything up once again. That person who caused the whole issue was definitely, definitely fired!

He said hi to Mokuba and went into his study to see if anything else got screwed up in the ten minutes he spent driving from work to the Mansion. When he saw that everything was going smoothly (it was always this way, he had to fire someone to get others to work properly) he started of some way to get the notes for the whole day that he missed in school.

Everything was going against him today.

He heard the doorbell ringing and Mokuba shrill, "I'll get it," so he sat back down and continued browsing through his contacts to try and call Téa and ask her for a quick idea of what was taught today in school.'

A few moments later, Mokuba barged into his office with his cheeks flushed and a madly happy expression in his gray eyes and he said, "Seto, a friend of yours is here."

He frowned in puzzlement and got up, asking his little brother, "Who?"

"He's a really shy dude…and has weird hair and eyes. His name's Yami."

Seto's eyebrows rose in surprise and he then frowned and walked out of the study to see Yami standing beside the floor to ceiling window in the living room and staring out at the dull and darkening sky, unaware that he had arrived. He was wearing a pair of baggy black pants with a thick leather belt holding it up on his skinny hips, along with a full-sleeved gray top that didn't really show how skinny Yami was, and he had a pair of combat boots on and his hair was not spiked up as usual but left loose and to surround Yami's face with smooth locks that looked like some sort of a halo.

"Hi," he said suspiciously, drawing Yami's attention to him.

He turned around to stare at him and Seto saw the crimson eyes flickering to Mokuba, before Yami forced himself to focus them on him and replied, "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" he couldn't help how the question came out, but just blurted it out just like that. Yami blinked and frowned in hurt at that, and Seto mentally slapped himself for not being careful and he quickly said, "Sorry about that, but…you just surprised me…"

"It's alright, I came unannounced, that is just rude." Yami calmly replied and Seto saw him lifting the shoulder bag he was carrying and opening it and taking out what oddly looked like his biology notebook and a few papers. "You forgot your notebook in class today, so I brought it over along with the notes as to what was done today in school."

Seto stared at him in amazement, numbly receiving the papers and the notebook from Yami. No way! Did he really do that? Why!

"I am sorry if the notes are not good enough, but no one seemed to be taking them down for you, and you weren't there, so I thought even if I jot down points of what was said, it would help." Yami explained and Seto still blinked at him.

"You wrote down notes…?" he managed to get only that out.

"Yes," Yami said, shifting slightly.

"Umm…I don't know what to say, really," he said, looking down for the first time at the notes in his hands and his mouth opened at how neat Yami's handwriting looked.

"It's alright, I still remember your help back with Johnson." Yami said, avoiding his eyes.

Seto oh-ed under his breath in realization and looked down again at the notes he held in his hands and then looked up again at Yami while saying, "Thanks a lot, I just came back from work and I was wondering who to call to get the notes."

Yami nodded and said in a low voice, "It was no trouble, I don't write for myself or anything," he said the last part with a tired giggle and Seto blinked, not seeing the funny part in what he said, so he cleared his throat and resumed, "If you want, next time work calls for your presence, I can take down the notes for you."

"Oh, thanks a lot, Yami." Seto said, feeling really amazed at the completely noble act that was expected of anyone, anyone at all except Yami.

"Well then, I have to…go." Yami said, raising his hand and pointing behind him uncertainly, and Seto noticed that his eyes flickered off once again to Mokuba who stood behind Seto, reaching only a little above his knee with how short he was compared to his elder brother. Seto saw the longing and deep bitterness in that look and he wondered what features in Mokuba exactly reminded Yami of his deceased twin brother.

"Have dinner with us!" Mokuba suddenly quirked up from behind Seto.

Yami stood frozen for a bit, then laughed a little and said, "I would love to, but I really can't."

"But…But…why!" Mokuba whined.

Seto turned to him and glared slightly, "Mokuba, that is enough…"

"Please, it's alright…" Yami interrupted him and then turned to Mokuba and said with a smile, "My dad wouldn't agree. He doesn't even know I am here now, so I must go back soon. Maybe some other time, alright?"

Seto felt his heart as if getting gripped by a fist of ice and as if it sank to the area between his feet. He froze totally at that and he realized that if Yami got late because he was here giving him his notes he would most probably end up bruised and in pain before the night ended, not that he didn't look completely worn-out now, but Seto knew that whatever discomfort Yami now felt would treble in the next few hours.

"I'll take you home!" he blurted out, taking out his keys from his pockets and already walking towards the door.

"No, it's fine, I'll walk." Yami said, shaking his head.

"No! I'll drive you."

"Be reasonable, you just came back from work and you have got a lot to finish p here as well! It is not the first time I walk home!" Yami argued, his face hardening and he glared with his dull eyes at him. "I will walk home."

"You'll be late," Seto really hated how he seemed to never think of what he was saying nowadays.

"So what!" Yami defensively asked, frowning in suspicion.

His lips curled in helplessness and displeasure and he sighed and ran a hand through his brown hair and resignedly mumbled, "Okay, Yami, as you wish."

Yami stared at him a bit more, before turning around and leaving. Seto followed him to the door and leaned against its frame to watch as Yami walked away towards the huge metal gates.

He didn't know how the hell he was going to function right today evening and for several days to come, because already, he was feeling guilt gnawing at him. Guilt that wasn't only because of how completely sweet that thing Yami did today was, but was also because now Yami's going get hurt more if he is late. And that was all because of him. And on top of that all, Yami was repaying him for something that he, Seto, had done and after doing, he had literally said that Yami was lesser than a rat.

And as he watched him walk away and thought of that, Yami turned his head without taking his hands out of his pants' pockets and stared at him with an unreadable expression in his crimson eyes. Seto blinked and looked back into the wide crimson orbs, as if wanting to say sorry for what was going on.

To his surprise, Yami gave him a tiny, bitter smile and blinked, looking worn and very tired in Seto's eyes, before turning again to look ahead of him.

A/N: many of you have asked if I will post other stories again… to be honest, I am not so sure about it.

Anyway, is there a particular story you would like to see reposted? Let me know.

Hathor…