Thank you for sticking through to the end…even if this wasn't all love and butterflies. This was an after-though, to ease a little bit of tension from the first chapter.
Thank you so much for the reviews and hits! I understand it was...very dissociated-was meant to be. Hope the confusion made you feel a little bit of what Kaiba was feeling.
"Keep Holding On" Avril Laving.
Keep Holding On
Kaiba ran his fingers along the scar on his arm. It had never faded and he thought it was a way for him to keep track of reality.
The nature of the scar remained everything, and the only thing he did not want to remember. He had sustained it when he had tried to pull Mokuba out from the wreckage so many years ago. The precise moment it happened or how it happened remained a mystery to him.
He accepted that.
There were certain things he couldn't avoid and there were certain things he couldn't escape in life.
Mokuba's room remained as it had been after his death. Moving had been out of the question since his brothers voice and shadow often kept him company inside the house. He worried that if he moved; the memory of him would remain grounded in that house and wouldn't follow him.
It had been a long process but psychologically, the only way for him to cope was to hold onto Mokuba. He knew there was nothing quite right about having conversations with his dead brother or seeing him around the house. There was nothing people could say or do to take Mokuba away and he would always hold on to him. He would hold on to his baby brother until he died. It would be the only way for him to make it through.
A hand grasped his own and Seto was surprised for a moment. The hand that held his was warm and comforting. He squeezed it back in return.
It had been seven years sine Mokuba died. They had been long hard years, but he had survived so far. His sanity had often been questionable, but the fact remained that he was breathing and alive.
His thoughts paused a moment. He was alive. It wasn't the superficially sustenance of the words.
His body turned, craving the person next to him. He was pulled in a hug, the other boys head snuggled in his neck. His cold nose giving him goose bumps as it pressed fondly against his skin.
There were two things in life Kaiba had learned. There was breathing and then there was being alive.
He had fallen victim to death once and he would not again. He had elapsed once more to death a long time ago but had remained strong since.
To be alive for him meant seeing the other boy.
It meant seeing Jounouchi.
It was staying strong because he was there for him.
He had long ago, stopped giving into Gozaburo. The darkness was no longer threatening. The death of darkness would no longer retain him. Death would no longer suffocate him.
Being alive meant he had something to breathe for.
"Seto," the boy murmured against his skin.
The taller boy's hand held Jounouchi's neck, keeping the shorter boy against him before he could pull away. He smiled into the blond hair as he heard the content sigh.
Jounouchi had remained strong at his side.
Kaiba has tried everything to push him away. At one point, he had been so determined to get the other boy to leave; he'd taken to drinking, like Jounouchi's father. It was a couple of months after he succumbed to the bottle that the brunette has learned he has been a violent drunk.
He held Jounouchi a little tighter.
What if, all those years ago, he would have pushed Jounouchi over the edge? What would have become of him?
"You stubborn fool." He captured the boy's lips with his own.
The brunette's heart ached when the other smiled during the kiss.
For the rest of his life, he would need to make it up to him. How else could he atone for all the offenses against the person he loved?
"I never give up at anything." A fierce passion laced Jounouchi's voice.
"I still beat you in duels."
"Seto, I let you win."
The brunette laughed loudly. He kissed his partner again.
He knew with him by his side, he could make it through, as long as he kept holding on.