"YEA!" As the crowd roared at the shock of Kaiba losing, Katsuya grinned. "Good going Yugi!" Idly, he wondered what Yugi had done to the CEO; she wasn't moving... At all. In fact, if he wasn't so worried about the fact that Kaiba's 'guards' were refusing to move their guns away now (something about pickpocketing), he'd be pretty creeped out. In the end however, it was Kaiba... She'd recover in the end. (Right?)
But all the same... "...Tch..." They managed to get out of that situation, but they still needed to actually leave the building... How the hell were they going to convince these morons to drop their weapons when their boss wasn't moving? ...Although Kaiba moving around probably wouldn't help matters anyways, given her general treatment so far. Damn it. He couldn't do anything while Anzu was held hostage as well, and there was no way he could take them both on his...
Own... He frowned as an odd feeling came over him, the blond slowly turning backwards as the sound of cracking knuckles met his ears. A loud crack sounded as the first guard went down, a fist having pounded against the back of his skull. "Yo," the attacker said with a smirk. It couldn't be... And yet...
"Honda," he shouted, ignoring the guard's turning around as he smacked him towards his friend. "Yah made it!" He was alive!
The teen snorted, before socking the guard in the face. "Well no shit! What, you thought I'd get squashed by some blocks?"
He shrugged. "Eh, maybe!" Mind as well have some fun now that things were relatively over right?
"Why you-!" Anzu laughed at the exchange, the pair throwing one last punch at the guard with a grin. "What's that supposed to mean? Maybe yah should have been dead!"
"Heh," Honda said with a grin. "We can't die yet! There's too many guys we haven't beaten!"
Katsuya nodded at the comeback, grinning as well. "Yea, I hear yah!" Alright, both guys down, Yugi was coming back... Should someone call an ambulance for Kaiba? Eh, someone probably did already...
"You need more practice, newbie."
A voice from behind cut his mood short, Honda's blow to the guard's neck apparently not being enough to take him out. "Tch!" A gun barrel was pressed firmly against his back, jacket held tight in the man's grip. Well wasn't that
"Don't move," the guard said with a snarl. "Or the kid dies!" Hey since when was he a 'kid'?
He scowled, unable to really say much on the matter. It really really figured, that after all of this, he'd still get stuck with this kind of crap.
Another voice entered the conversation however, and he brightened. "That's enough," Mokuba barked, arms held firmly at his side. "Let him go!" The guard protested, but the boy merely leveled a stern and seemingly neutral gaze at him. "The game is over," he stated with a frown. "Leave." YES! Saved!
For a moment, the guard stood there. Most likely, he was weighing the chances of keeping his job should he shoot the blond and say 'sorry'. However, as Katsuya shoved him off with a loud 'outta my way!', he got the picture and moved aside. "Hey," Honda asked, looking at Mokuba. "Is that kid Kaiba's..." The question was left unfinished, but it was fairly obvious what the question was.
Katsuya nodded. "Yea, he- his little brother, same guy who hired me!" He smirked, Mokuba crossing his arms and turning away under Honda's stare. Either he was a little sore about being outted as the bad-guy's sibling, or he was just playing tough...
"This kid opened the exit for me but..." He frowned. "You're Kaiba's kid brother? Why the hell..."
He snorted. "Keh! I was just paying off my debt to Yugi... That's all." Ok. Playing it tough. Not a problem then. The boy turned as that same teen appeared, blinking. Oh, speak of the devil... He was back!
The blond grinned, as did most of the others. "Yugi!" He laughed as the teen came forward, a confident smile playing on his face. "Yah did great man!"
Congratulations floated around, Yugi of course brightening considerably when he spotted Honda. "Hey," the teen said as he turned to Katsuya with a raised brow, "Does Yugi seem... Different to you?" Well... About that.
He'd explain later, he decided as he laughed. "Yugi is Yugi right?" And nothing else! (Though the differences were apparent even now...)
As Honda shrugged it off, they turned- Yugi was speaking... And somehow, when Yugi spoke, you couldn't help but listen. "Everyone," he said calmly, looking up at them with intense gratitude. "You came to my rescue back there... Thank you." Rescue? If cheering from the sidelines was rescuing, then hey, whatever worked!
He grinned, nodding in response to that. "Heh... No prob! It's what we're here for right?" The blond watched from the corner of his eye as Mokuba smiled at the group, before turning to leave. Anzu however, had spotted him as well.
"Mokuba-kun," she said hesitantly, the boy turning to look at her oddly. "Can you tell us... Why did Kaiba-kun want revenge this badly?" If she had to ask...
As the boy looked away for a moment, Katsuya swallowed. "This... This goes before th' day Tanaka mentioned... Doesn' it..." As the other three looked at him in confusion, Mokuba nodded. So... Before the 'great rejection'? Yikes... That... That was a fairly lengthy grudge among siblings. Not to mention a fairly interesting amount of time to develop severe gaming obsessions.
Still facing away, he began to speak. No secrets other than what was important... Not anymore. "It all started that day... He was playing chess..." His breath hitched, hesitating, but he nonetheless continued. "When Seto-niisama was 10, and I was 5, it was just the two of us. We had no parents." Katsuya frowned lightly as the familiar story began, with more details than Mokuba had ever given him before. "Our mother died when I was born," he said quietly, "And dad died in an accident when I was three." The truck accident.
Mokuba bit his lip, continuing. "And while our relatives ate up our inheritance, Seto-niisama and I were put into an orphanage!" He quivered with anger for a moment, before sighing. 'Don't cry', his sister had said that day. Even though their relatives had been so lazy that they'd essentially pawned off their son's hand-me-downs to her and effectively told her that if she didn't keep the truth hidden after that insane request she'd made, it would be Mokuba's head. That request... Just to make sure no one hurt him at any time while there... 'Don't cry, Mokuba! I'll make sure that someday, we have a good life!' Because he'd been scared... Just because he'd been scared, she threw away everything to make sure nothing happened when the 'monsters under the bed' came. And if she'd just forced him to face up to those childish fears he'd had at such a young age, none of this would have happened...
They were really trapped in that place, weren't they. He didn't really feel it... But her nee-sama did. After convincing her aunt to effectively commit a serious identity related crime by stating that the girl was 'male' instead, it was all she could do really. The fact that she'd managed it was frightening enough... Still, she never revealed herself though, dreading the prospect of a check up from the doctor... Maybe that was why she'd fought for adoption. And why after the 'vocal training', and the strict command to never let it falter... 'Don't let your guard down,' she'd said. 'If you show them weakness, it's all over!' Were those words for him, he wondered now? Or for her..? "Even so, regardless of what happened, I still liked living at the orphanage!" The others blinked with minute confusion as the boy continued, eyes screwed shut as the deeply hidden story was retold. "Seto-niisama taught me to play chess there... We spent all our days playing it..."
Behind him, Katsuya's eyes widened slightly. Mokuba's favorite game was CapMon... Capsule Monster CHESS. His expression softened as the boy continued to speak, shaking slightly. "But that day... That day was the last time I ever saw Seto-niisama smile..." Even back then..? The blond swallowed, keeping silent nonetheless as he listened.
"That day, a man named Kaiba Gozaburo came to the orphanage to adopt a son..." He remembered him clearly from that day, the middle aged man dressed in a far too expensive suit and smoking equally high priced cigars. They'd looked from afar, and then his sister had told him to wait at the table; she had an idea. An incredible idea, one that would not only get them out of that place but make all of their dreams a reality! "He was the President of Kaiba Corporation, and a World Chess champion. Seto-niisama approached him before he left, and they made a bet..." He could hear Gozaburo's harsh laugh as Seto made the offer, the man only taking it after his sister claimed he was too afraid to play against a 'little boy'. "If nii-sama beat Gozaburo in a game of chess, he had said... Then Gozaburo had to adopt us both." 'Interesting child,' Gozaburo had said... Interesting, he'd said, even after he was defeated. Yet in the end... "My brother won," he said bluntly.
And the entire game was a set up, Katsuya added mentally. The tone said that much, though how that got by Gozaburo was the question really. Nonetheless, this was Mokuba's story to tell; he could hide the details if he wanted. "Our surname was changed to 'Kaiba'... And our new life was nothing like we had ever even dreamed of! But that man... That man did something we never expected..." Never in a million years had they expected it.
"He drove Seto-niisama into session upon session of languages, sociology, tactics, management..." He swallowed, shaking his head as he remembered the sole break that his sister ever really got, that one class in English, that one hour he was allowed to see her... And the marks on her back from the switch... The collar that left rough scratches from the fabric on her throat... "Day after day after day... Each one was like constant torture... And then, using what he learned, six years later..."
What Gozaburo didn't realize, Mokuba thought as he bit his lip, was that he was turning his successor into his greatest possible enemy. And after he'd gone so far as to rip a part of Seto's body from her control, forcing her to comply simply because of fear... Regardless of how suddenly, after that, the treatment was less harsh and more 'You will be an incredible asset', she had made her decision. "A meeting of the board of directors was called," the boy said numbly. "Nii-sama announced that he'd taken 51 percent of the company, making it his." A part that even he himself had played in, when Gozaburo had given him a small two percent to keep the tides from shifting. He didn't know the price of things back then. He just knew that his sister needed him... Even if it was the last time she ever did. After all, with that, Gozaburo lost his company to the one he'd trained up to take it over.
That had to be a kick in the face, Katsuya thought with a frown. Having the company taken with the very tactics you'd taught. Still... He clenched his fists. That man... To think that one man alone could turn the person he'd seen actually SMILE in a picture into... Into someone who could put together all of this... "Niisama told me that before he jumped off the building, he gave him a final message. He said, 'You've won this game'... 'And in every game, the loser's fate is unavoidable'..." Loss meant death. It was a lesson that Mokuba wished Gozaburo never had the time to teach. A lesson that he so badly wished had never been taught. "And then... Gozaburo jumped through the window..."
Katsuya watched as the boy stood there, shaking. Tears were now dropping to the ground, and, ignoring the looks from the others, he went over. "Hey..." Jesus... No wonder everything was so messed up... People dying over games and companies and all kinds of crap that kids shouldn't be dealing with... "Hey, 's all righ'..." The blond put a hand on Mokuba's shoulder, crouching down to get closer to eye-level with the boy. "Come on... 'S over... It'll be alrigh'..."
The boy stood there, not saying anything. All he could see in his mind was that one day that changed everything. What would have happened? What would have happened if the game hadn't been set up? If they hadn't even bothered with the facade of masculinity? Would they still be together? Would they have been adopted by a real family, one where they could have lived happily and smiled every day, where the truth was already known..? "Mokuba," a voice called, and he shifted as Yugi came up behind him as well. "Right now, Kaiba is somewhere in the dark, gathering the shattered pieces of his heart..." Ah... What? That's what he did now? (Was that healthy?)
They looked up, both Katsuya and Mokuba looking over at Seto's frozen and unresponsive body. Her eyes were still held in shock, glazed over with an eerie feeling of soullessness. They both stared, listening as Yugi continued. "Piece by piece," he said as he followed their gaze, "He will put his heart back together again. This time, he'll have to rely on himself to do it right." She better do it right... If Kaiba came back worse...
"...Yugi," Mokuba said, the three looking out at the body. Momentarily, Katsuya didn't know if he should shudder or what... But instead he opted to pay attention to the conversation. "He'll come back right? He... He'll get better right?"
Yugi nodded. "Yes. Someday, when he's solved the puzzle... He'll wake up again."
The others stood there, before watching as the boy nodded. "Ok... Then, I'll wait! As long as it takes..." He'd wait for her to wake up...
One of the guards came back with the phone Katsuya had used earlier; Hanasaki had called back, and while incredibly confused at who answered, the guard had decided to relay the message passed to him in hopes of not getting on Mokuba's bad side. Yugi's grandfather... Was fine. The operation he'd been in was a success, and as they left the building Yugi reverted to his normal self. An interesting change (That they had to explain to Honda more than a few times as they walked), but nonetheless... It brought back a small sense of normalcy.
In the end however, Katsuya had been a little torn for a moment- Yea, Mokuba and Seto both had tried to kill himself, his friends, and even one of the aforementioned siblings themselves, but at the same time...
That kid, Mokuba... Was really hurting. Really, really hurting. And as much as he tried to forget that part, standing outside with the others, cheering for the success of the surgery, the match... Everything really, it still didn't help him when Yugi finally grabbed his attention. "Jonouchi-kun..."
"Hn?" He turned, blinking. All this stuff going on... He looked down at his friend's usual wide-eyed stare of 'what's wrong', finding himself drifting into thought. That reminded him... From the way Yugi was acting, he seemed to remember everything from the battle with Kaiba. Though he couldn't be sure unless-
He coughed, a look of confusion on his face. "Earlier... You told the other me to mention 'estrogen'... What's that again?"
Honda's eyes went wide as a look of stunned shock came over before being replaced with a grin. "You're kidding me..." He laughed, his nephew waking up with a scowl as the teen continued to howl. "Oh my god... You actually compared Kaiba's bastardized behavior to PMS?" Well... He wouldn't quite say compare...
From beside the teen, Anzu growled, fists clenching. "Oh yea. REAL mature morons!" Honda continued to roar with laughter, Yugi looking as though he wasn't sure if he should laugh or not. "Yea, because I would SO hire a trio of assassins if you ticked me off! Let alone a mass murderer!"
"Awww calm down Anzu," Honda said between his laughs. "It's all in good fun! Not like we couldn't use a laugh right?" Hear hear!
She growled, shaking her head. "Pigs," she said, crossing her arms. "I hang out with pigs!" Anzu looked down at Yugi, who still looked like his face was caught in a mousetrap as he attempted not to laugh. "Oh come on, you aren't seriously..."
He finally let the laughs loose. "I... I'm sorry but... I can still remember the look on Kaiba's face when it was brought up!" Well, if he didn't think the guy remembered anything before..! The laughter continued, before an ambulance pulled to the front of the building.
The laughter died rather fast after that. As Katsuya stared at the paramedics rushing into the building, Yugi tapped him on the shoulder. "Eh? Yug'..?"
Both he and the two others smiled, the shorter speaking first. "Well... You became friends with Mokuba right? And you're worried about Kaiba too..."
The others nodded. "Yea," Honda said, hands in his pockets as he ignored his nephew's fussing. "I mean... I don't get how you can stand them after all of this, but anyone can tell that you're getting worked up about it!" At least they weren't insisting he break things off with the kid... (That... That would probably just sign the kid's death certificate.)
"Yea," Anzu added with a serious nod. "Go on, Jonouchi; we'll tell you about Yugi's grandfather in the morning. For now though," she said as people began to rush out of the building, "You should probably make sure that Mokuba-kun's alright as well."
Katsuya frowned lightly, looking at the three. "But... What about..." He looked at Yugi, who shook his head.
"We're fine," he said with a smile. "After all, even when we're not here, we're still together, right?" He held up the hand that Anzu had drawn on while they were waiting at Death-T 3, smiling. Hah... The smile...
He stood there a moment, before doing the same. "Yea..." Katsuya nodded, reassuring himself in the decision. "That's right..." The blond turned, nodding yet again to the others before he left. "Thanks guys! Oi, Mokuba!" As he ran towards the ambulance, the black haired boy jumped. "Mokuba.. Ah... Hey."
The boy blinked, looking past his part-time employee at Yugi and the others. "Weren't you going to go see if Yugi's grandpa..." He trailed off, looking fairly miserable about the entire situation before Katsuya shook his head. It was partially his fault after all. (Or so he apparently believed.)
"Old man's fine, no worries there... Got outta surgery great..." As it was, he was in better condition than the one who orchestrated this entire event. He looked over at the ambulance, before turning back to the boy. "Nah... I jus' thought you'd need a friend righ' now..." Probably an older sibling too, but that would be short of a miracle.
Mokuba looked up, silent, before turning to the ambulance to watch his older sister get carried inside. "I..." He swallowed, before nodding. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth really... And Katsuya was right. "Thank you..."
He smiled. "No problem kid," the teen said as he ruffled Mokuba's hair. "Now come on... Somethin' tells me yah need to explain a few things t' them when we get there right?"
The boy simply nodded, and after a few words, they were carried off alongside Seto's comatose form to the hospital. Yea... There would be... Lots of things to explain. As for when the teen would wake up, hopefully for the better...
Who knew.
In the endless darkness, she didn't know much about what was happening. Idly, she felt a shift in the temperature around her, but aside from that... She knew nothing more than the darkness and the pieces of gold before her. Distantly, when she picked up a piece of the puzzle, she could hear a voice... But she couldn't tell what it meant, or who it belonged to. Couldn't even tell where or when it was.
She held her first piece tight, frowning. "What does this one mean," she wondered aloud, voice contrasting the one she used in more recent times considerably. Young and childish, suiting her current size and state. Not at all like the commanding voice of 'Seto Kaiba' that she had taken in recent years; the voice that at this moment, Seto couldn't even recall using. As she held it, she heard sirens... A screech of tires, and a pleading voice. "Who is it..?" Screams... Many screams... But for some reason, she still couldn't turn her attention away from the pleading and faded voice in the background. The voice that she couldn't even make out.
The girl looked to the pile of pieces, feeling compelled to grab one of the others. It was in the middle of the pile; a piece that she hadn't seen until now. Grabbing it however, she felt a warmth of sorts.
The sirens were still there. Yet even though they made her feel scared, and even cold, there were voices... Soft voices, thoughts even... Too soft to be spoken after all. 'Nee-sama,' she heard. 'Nee-sama, I believe Yugi was right...' It was strange, this voice. Unlike the ones in the pieces, it seemed to come from around her... Seto looked up, frowning. 'Nee-sama'... Meant sister, didn't it? Was she a sister..?
And Yugi..? Who was Yugi..?
'Oi, Seto-chan...' Her name wasn't... That wasn't her name, Seto thought with a scowl. Granted, she didn't actually know that, but she had a feeling that wasn't her name. It bugged her too much to be her name. 'Seto-chan, you need to wake up, so you can yell at me for calling you this.' The owner of this voice was kind of annoying she decided rather quickly. Yappy, like a small dog.
She'd call this voice 'Mutt' for now.
'Seto-chan,' the voice continued, 'Until you can hear me call you this, and until you can throw a punch at my face for this, I'm going to keep calling you this. Understand? Seto-chaaaaaaaannnn~' It was oddly cheery, and she noted that there were no sirens when she heard the voice. In fact, the sounds from the piece she held had vanished. She picked up another piece, listening with a frown as the voice continued. 'Seto-chan~ Se-To-Chaaaaaaann~~' 'Stop calling my nee-sama 'chan'.' She had to agree with that last one there.
"Hmp! Someone needs to teach this mutt to shut up!" She scowled, looking at the two pieces in her hands before fixing them together. "Ah..." A perfect fit. Yes, there were still many other pieces left but... She'd managed to put them together nonetheless.
Seto looked at the pile. It seemed endlessly large, a mountain of gold that almost threatened her presence there. And yet, regardless of how many pieces were left, she still had to smile.
AN: If I hear anyone say 'awwww', I'll remind you who that kid at the end is. And then say 'awwww' as well. Man, for someone so horribly OOC, I can't hate Kaiba here... O_O Also, if you're wondering why Jonouchi is saying 'seto-chan' endlessly, it's more as an insult than a friendly way of saying her name; after all, she was visibly ticked when he said it in person... Soooo he figures if he says it enough that she'll wake up. THIS IS NOT TRUE. (Sadly.)
I feel almost like I copped out on this chapter... And yet whenever I look at it, there... Really isn't much more I can add 'between timing' here. Ahhhh oh well.
Usagi's Manga Guide/Corner
The section so incredible, it can sit here even when the chapter has little to do with the manga! (You wait until later...)
For the scenes that were from the Manga (Honda reappearing, Yami telling Mokuba that Kaiba was doing some puzzle things), I actually added dialogue. This happened earlier as well, right before 'Death-T 1' began. I think I did it more for humor... But who knows really.
Here's an interesting if not frightening fact; later on, when Bakura appears, his own darker half seals the souls of numerous people into figurines, which sends the victims into Comas. When a person is comatose, not only are they unaware of anything around them, but... Well, contrary to the belief that comas, upon waking up, are easy to get over, they are not. It takes days, even weeks to recover from being in a coma. Oddly enough, Kaiba's in a similar state here... But it'll 'lighten up' for the sake of the manga, at which point I'll explain what the heck I'm talking about. ;)
And so we end this chapter... And I pray that I didn't do so badly with the next one. See you all!