The One Replaced
By the time Yugi had showed up outside Burger World that afternoon, the snow falling from above had come to a brief halt in lieu of letting the light of the sun through. From the cloud covered sky that dominated the area early in the week had come a welcome and somewhat clear sky... Even if it was still painfully cold outside if standing still for too long. Even so, he didn't want to miss seeing him... So outside he stayed. It was the 'Other Yugi' who was walking toward him, Katsuya noted when he finally spotted him. A thick book was gripped tightly in the boy's mitten-ed hands, and despite how awkwardly ridiculous his original counterpart looked in the coat he wore, for some reason the darker half managed to still exert his usual air of respect in the same outfit. It was fairly interesting to say the least... Though when the 'darker side' of the boy had realized he would be stuck in a coat for a good three months, he hadn't been particularly pleased about it...
Though he certainly wasn't complaining now that it was actually cold outside. "Yugi," Katsuya shouted, watching as his friend continued across the street with the thick book in his hands. In fact, despite the thick coat he wore, he'd say that Yugi looked almost a little cold... "Yug'," he continued, walking over with a grin. "How'd yah do?"
The boy merely smirked, gesturing to the book in question before coming close enough to speak. "Take a look," he said with a smile, the two walking into the restaurant. He brushed a bit of fallen snow from the cover, holding it out to his friend. "This is the entire album for Kaiba's family."
Katsuya stared, grin frozen on his face as he took the book. It was incredibly well kept, from what he could tell. The leather embossed cover was scarcely touched by the elements of time, and thick kanji stood out from the book's hide. The pages themselves, from what he could feel along the sides were in good condition as well, and despite fraying, the ribbon that hung out on the side looked almost as good as it likely appeared when first purchased. "Woah..." The blond shook his head, eyes wide. "Yugi, I..." He'd expected maybe a picture at best, a worn and torn photo that was barely seen... But this... He looked to his friend, before somewhat chasing after the boy as he was led down to a table by a waitress. The pair took their seats, leather-bound album placed neatly on the side of the table. "Yugi," he repeated, looking from the cover to his friend. "How'd you get this..?"
His friend shrugged, a small smirk on his face. That look didn't seem... "Oh... The usual way," he said nonchalantly, taking off his coat and mitts. Erm... Usual? The boy chuckled as Katsuya coughed, looking over the menu before continuing. "We played a 'game'," he stated with a shrug. "And she unfortunately lost... I have to say, you were right to say that Yamada was more than a little over the line," Yugi said with a frown, looking up from the menu a moment. "You have my word that no harm came to her though," he added seriously, turning back to the menu. This was probably the first time he had a shot at ordering something he liked really; from what could be seen, 'Other Yugi' and 'Normal Yugi's tastes were fairly... Varied. In any case...
"Phew..." He nodded, sighing with the news. If Yugi said she was fine, then she was fine; now worries there then. "Well, so long as there's no crazy money-eyes like las' time," he said, wincing at the memory of the gameshow he'd been on. "That was jus' a lil..." Weird? Scary maybe? Who the hell knew anymore.
Yugi gave a wry smirk, apparently recalling the day just as well as his friend did. "I was only trying to help," he said with a shrug, flipping the menu page.
The blond grinned, laughing. "Yea, I know," he said, shaking his head. Of course he was trying to help; and it worked didn't it? Besides, if it hadn't been for Yugi, he'd have never gotten to make that trip to Osaka... "An' anyways, it's no big deal! I jus didn' think that'd be th' best way to start th' holidays, y' know?" Crazy people going on the news... Wasn't the best thing to watch at Christmas really.
Again, his friend nodded, before turning as a waitress appeared. "Well," he continued, smirking. "I can at least tell you that it isn't something like that." Er... Why did he have a feeling 'something like that' just meant 'Well, she's not cackling madly or anything...'. As... As opposed to what? ...Ahhh, what the hell, what was done was done right? Yugi looked up at the waitress, looking back at the menu again. "Hn... I'll try..." The boy frowned, continuing to flip through the menu in apparent annoyance. "...Ah..."
He snorted, holding back a laugh as his friend gave a fairly unimpressed glare in response to the sound. Haha! Such was the price of never actually ordering he guessed! "Iced tea an' a cheeseburger," he said to the waitress with a nod, before glancing at Yugi with a wide grin. Hehehehehe... "Y' might be waitin' a while f'r this guy though..."
Yugi frowned, crossing his arms. "Actually," he said somewhat angrily, "I've made my decision."
"Oh y' have," he asked with a smirk, watching as the boy nodded 'knowingly'. "Annnd?"
He turned from his menu, expression nothing but severe as he continued to speak. "I'll take the burger as well," he stated, nodding somewhat. He blinked, before adding something. "...With extra onions!" Erm. The other Yugi liked onions then? And... "...I think I'll try a milkshake too," he muttered, looking back at the menu as Katsuya stared with raised eyebrows. "...A chocolate one..."
Oh. He just didn't know what the hell he was doing. (That was new.) The waitress nodded nonetheless, scribbling the order down and bowing her head. "Alright then," she said, folding her hands in front of her before taking the menus from the table. "I'll be with you as soon as I can!" With that she left, leaving Katsuya to continue snickering as his friend glared across the table.
"Gh... Havin' a hard time choosin'," he asked, wide grin still in place.
Yugi merely snorted, arms crossed as he protested the fact. "It just took me a moment, that's all!"
He continued to grin, nodding his head. "Whatever y' say man... Hate t' see you on a date w' someone," he added, mentally picturing the 'two Yugi's arguing about what to order. Poor Anzu he guessed...
The boy huffed, before changing the subject. "Well, speaking of dates," he said with a raised eyebrow, looking at the book again. "How are you going to give it to her?"
Katsuya blinked, silent for a moment. Dates, what? "Give it t'- Oh!" Right! Whoops. He turned to look at the book before looking back at Yugi. "Righ'... I w's thinkin' 'f jus leavin' it by th' door or somethin'..." He flushed, scratching his head with a laugh. "Heh... Somethin' tells me that if I try anythin' else, I'm not likely t' live through th' holidays! Ehehehe..." Probably wouldn't live past Christmas if he tried something else actually...
His friend shook his head at that statement, a smirk on his face. "Personally," he said wryly, "I think that if you've lived this long, you have a fairly good chance... ...You aren't going to look in it though are you," he asked, frowning.
Again he blinked, before shaking his head. "Nah... I get that y' would've had t' check," he said with a shrug, "But other than that, this thing 's Seto-chan's personal property... If she shows anyone else, that's up t' her," he continued, leaning on the table. "But I ain't opening this book f'r anything."
Yugi nodded, arms crossed. "That sounds good to me," he decided, watching as the food came to the table. "Ah..." Plates were placed on the table, same with tall glasses before the woman before them bowing politely before leaving as quickly as she game. Yugi looked at the food a moment, before taking the milkshake and cautiously taking a sip. "...Hn..." He put the glass back, a slight expression of surprise on his face. Hehehe, well, at least it wasn't like when he'd tried Yugi's mustard-burger... Two souls two tastes right?
Hey wait... Katsuya frowned, watching as the boy took a small bite of his burger to get a similar reaction. "Hey Yug'," he asked, the boy looking up and swallowing. "...How'd y' know y' wanted onions on that thing..? Didn' you..." He shook his head, correcting himself. "Didn' yer 'other you' say yah didn't remember anything? If... If you can't r'member anythin' then how... " It was apparently a rough subject between the two at that; the only real link was Egypt and... Well, just about everything crazy involving other people with items like the puzzle.
That never worked out too well... Either way, more weirdness showing up was never good. Yugi stared, putting the burger down and frowning with the question. "...I'm not sure," he muttered, eyes narrowing with evident worried suspicion. "...I..." He hesitated, closing his mouth and continuing to stare at the table in silence. It was one of those things that tended to clam a person up really... Because similar to how Yugi's words had the power to quiet a person, so did the inability for those words to appear do the same.
It would be terribly inaccurate to say that the conversation at Burger World had ended on a bad note. In fact, Katsuya thought to himself as he looked around the corner-store the next day, it was quite the opposite. Shortly after the awkward silence had come over the two in response to the 'habits without memory', Yugi decided to change the subject to a large building that was currently in construction across from his house, a topic that sprung up when a construction truck had passed the restaurant. They weren't sure what exactly the building was for the moment... It was certainly tall, with an almost regal looking entrance to go with the many tall and tinted windows, but the guesses were more than enough to keep the conversation fairly high paced.
Maybe it was an apartment complex? Nope, the door was too fancy, and there wasn't a buzzer from what they could tell. A hotel then? Maybe, but it was pretty small for a 'big fancy hotel', and why would they put a hotel like that across from a small time game store anyways? (Oddly enough, it was Yugi who had countered that one...) Perhaps a restaurant, or just some really weird house... Nonetheless, they finally had one clue as they walked back to Yugi's house that evening. Though it was still pretty much nothing. Apparently, the tarp covering the large light they had installed the day before was blown off, so when the two got to the street they were able to read the large English letters fairly clearly.
C... L... O... W... ...'Clown'? The building was called... 'Clown?' So like circus clowns? Katsuya shook his head as he pushed the thought from mind, instead looking through the foods he needed for the evening. Clowns aside, it was now Christmas eve day, and from all that had gone on he had a feeling everyone was celebrating this evening rather than the next day. He'd long since decided and planned for what he'd get Mokuba though; the boy had said he'd never had Oden so... Why not make some oden then? Not for supper obviously, but hey, wouldn't be a bad idea! He'd convinced Kyouko to lend them her nabe and kotatsu... And hell, maybe Seto would try some, who knew! ... (He should probably stop thinking of Seto and a kotatsu in the same room though.) He gathered up the food he needed, unable to keep a grin off his face as he went to the front. There was just enough for three people in there- a few eggs, some daikon and suji... Though he ended up skimping on the veggies, he'd admit that.
He shouldered the bag, walking back outside and closing his eyes as a gust of wind and snow struck him in the face. Snow scraped against his cheeks, the blond tensing for a moment as a particularly large clump stuck to his mouth. "Bl... Pbbt..! Pbbt!" He spat the snow out, wiping the rest off his face with a slight growl. "Eugh... Bleehhh..." Alright, what the hell was in that snow... That was disgusting... He shook his head, blinking a few times as he headed back to the house. What with the house being a big fancy mansion, the corner-store was obviously not nearly as close as he'd like... Even so, given that it was around noon when he left he should have plenty of time to get there, and it would likely take around half an hour.
Despite the near blizzard worthy conditions for the moment (Wouldn't Seto just be so damn comfortable in her office right now...), it was almost a nice walk really... The sky had cleared somewhat, and even though it wasn't near the evening for the moment the lights decorating the streets still gave their own bit of flair to the city for the holidays. Silence reigned through the windy walk, most people inside warm homes or downtown to finish a last minute shop. All in all, he thought to himself, it wasn't a bad start to Christmas...
Not bad at all. Katsuya trudged his way through the small layer of snow that had gathered along the sidewalks leading to the Kaiba mansion, the soft 'fluff' having remained mostly untouched due to the privacy of the area. Due to the size of the area that was in the mansion's 'possession', it wasn't surprising how few people ever appeared in the area. Why bother coming that far out if all that was there was one house after all; it wasn't as though Seto really invited too many people over, if she ever did... Actually he had a feeling that given Mokuba's reaction to his own first visit, he'd been the first exception for a while. (Though he wasn't sure how to feel about that one...) He wasn't sure how much yard the place had... Just how big the 'backyard' was, without counting the already spacious and well cared for front. But given the fact that it took a lot longer than ten minutes to get from one end of the wall to the other before turning the corner to see the gate, he'd say it was a lot more than he would want to bother himself with attempting to calculate. Now that he thought about it actually, he was lucky he'd entered from the more 'frontal' side of the wall during the one night he'd attempted to break in; had it been any further back, he'd have likely been screwed over completely thanks to the distance.
Though it wasn't like that really mattered now he supposed... He came to the gate, fishing around his pocket for his security ID before scanning it in the machine. Briefly, as the computer registered his number to open the gate with a click he looked over the card. Sheesh, his picture looked so... Serious... Of course, they'd specifically told him not to smile, and to just stare at the camera but... Still. He pocketed the card again, turning briefly as the gate shut behind him again before looking back at the mansion. Man... For all the security this place had, he really had to wonder why Seto bothered with guards... If she didn't have any, the cameras would have likely caught him easily before!
Of course, cameras couldn't well pummel a guy to the ground soooo... There went that suggestion. Not to mention, even with the recently placed 'decorative spikes' on the wall (probably the only good thing about the board of directors actually), it was still pretty easy to climb over it. He pulled the bag of food from his shoulder, shrugging the thoughts off as he made his way to the front door. The door of course wasn't locked... With all that was going on, there wasn't really so much need for a key at the door as there was around the gate, but in any case... Christmas time was here, and he was ready! Kyouko had agreed to move her kotatsu and nabe into the kitchen for the moment... It was sitting behind the counter, along with the present he'd wrapped the night before. It was simple wrapping really... Mostly pieced together from a few paper bags, but all in all he decided that flashy paper would probably just bug Seto a lot. He had considered painting the paper as well but... Well, in the end he decided otherwise.
He did throw in a card for good measure though. Tried to draw Blue-Eyes on it too, though... That didn't work out too well. Better than the last time he'd tried to draw though, he'd give it that. The blond tapped his shoes against the step, pushing through the door to pull his shoes off. "Tadaima," he shouted from habit, shoes hanging from his hand with the bag of food as he looked around. Eyes widened as he took a few steps into the foyer, shaking his head. "Woah..." Needless to say, the difference between when Seto had left that morning and what the house looked like now was... Astonishing. He hadn't paid much attention outside of course; he was a little busy balancing the bag of food as he skidded across a patch of ice but... Wow.
Katsuya took a few more steps forward, shoes and food still hanging from his hands. Long green garlands of pine and holly wove around the staircase railings, sprigs of mistletoe and a few pots of poinsettia's decorating what little he could see of the hall. Tinsel lined the pine branches, and even hung around the chandelier above him. Candles were sitting on the normally unused stands along the walls, flickering warmly in the dim light around them. All in all, Mokuba had done... A lot in the time he was gone to say the least, not to mention whoever else was left in the house. Speaking of Mokuba, where-
"Boo!"
"NYHAAA!" The blond jumped, barely catching the food and shoes he held before whirling on Mokuba with a frown. "O-Oi," he shouted, the boy merely laughing in response. "I've got breakables in here!" Well... The eggs were breakable at least (please don't be broken...).
Mokuba merely grinned, arms crossed despite the long lengths of tinsel in his arms. "Hehehe... Whoops?" He shook his head, before gesturing to the foyer around them as a few strands of tinsel clung to his hair. "So what do you think," he asked with wide eyes, looking up at Katsuya expectantly. "The remaining staff and I are decorating for Christmas while nee-sama is gone, how are we doing?"
He continued looking at the hall, giving a slow nod and deciding not to compare Mokuba to a small Christmas tree for the moment. "Y' did good," he muttered, shaking his head. "Like... Really good! This is... Incredible," he said, looking down at Mokuba with still wide eyes. "How long 've you guys been workin' on this?"
Mokuba shrugged, shaking his head and moving to dump the pile of tinsel on the side of the stairs. "Hnn... Not sure," he said, looking back at the hall to scratch a few threads from his hair. "Depends on who you talk to... I know that Kyouko has been working for most of the day now..." Yea that sounded like her... "And Isono disappeared somewhere to handle a few other things... Anyways," he continued, turning to look up at Katsuya with a renewed grin. "Do you want to help? I think Hobson is putting up lights in the backyard, and we're mostly done in here..."
Hobson? But he was... The blond blinked, frowning. "Er... How's he puttin' lights on the trees if he's usin' a cane..?" That sounded just a bit impossible, wasn't that guy old enough to be Seto's grandpa?
The boy again shrugged, walking off toward one of the lower hallways. "Beats me," he said, frowning. "I think he had help from one of the servants, but I can't be sure... Anyways," he said with a nod, looking back at Katsuya. "The back door is over here, follow me!"
Katsuya blinked, before looking at his bag and mentally smacking himself. "W-Wait," he shouted, jogging up to the boy as he turned. "I gotta put this in th' kitchen first, alrigh?"
"...The kitchen," Mokuba asked, staring somewhat owlishly at the bag. The expression abruptly shifted into an odd grin, the boy moving back toward Katsuya. "...You know, I could do that if you want..."
He shook his head, pulling the bag back with a frown as Mokuba reached for it. "Hehehe, naw... I think I c'n handle it myself..."
This apparently was the wrong thing to say; most likely because this increased Mokuba's evidence suspicion as to something important being in the bag. Something important that likely concerned him. "Are you sure," he asked, continuing to reach for the bag with a grin. "It doesn't look like much..."
"Gh-" He tensed, holding the bag above his head as Mokuba continued to reach it. "Very sure," he shouted, before bolting for the door to the kitchen. He turned the corner, Mokuba chasing behind him as he continued to shout. "Y' ain't gettin' this bag," he called, turning back to look at the boy.
He continued to reach, tripping over himself as he ran. "Let me see what's in it!"
"NO!"
"Pleaaaase?"
"I said N-"
The chase abruptly stopped, Katsuya just about bowling Kyouko over as the maid stepped out of the kitchen. "Ah!" The woman jumped, the boys both narrowly preventing the bag from falling over as the woman stood there. There were a few seconds of silence as the maid looked over the two, eyes wide with minute shock. "Wh...What on earth is going on..? J-Jonouchi... Mokuba-sama..?"
Mokuba laughed, grinning sheepishly as Katsuya sighed in relief. Well, no one was hurt so... "Nothin'," he said with a groan, holding the bag out for the maid to nervously take. The woman took the bag in both hands, leaving the blond with his shoes as he continued. "Y' think you could keep this from Mokuba f'r me?"
She blinked, before peering in the bag and raising an eyebrow. "This is just f-... Ahhhh..." She nodded with realization, closing the bag up in her hands before bowing her head. "Of course..." Yeaaaa, that's right... Food for the nabe he was borrowing. So... Please don't say anything... "Alright then," she said with a small bow, before looking over to Mokuba with a warning smile. "Don't try anything..." Katsuya held back a shudder, blinking a few times. ...How the hell did she manage to make that sound more like a threat..?
The boys shared a glance, with Mokuba hurriedly nodding in response as he looked back. "Ah... O-Ok," he shouted, coughing. "I got it!" With that, Kyouko nodded, before disappearing back into the kitchen with an odd smile. A few moments of silence passed, the shorter of the two fixing Katsuya with a glare. "Nghh... Katsuya-nii, did you really have to do that...?"
He merely shrugged, shoes still hanging from one of his hands. "Hey," he protested, crossing his arms. "Had t' do somethin' t' keep 'm from yah! Sides," he added with a grin, laughing at the pouting frown he got in response. "You'll find out later t'day..."
"Gh-" Mokuba bristled, growing red in the face. "T-That just makes me want to know even more!"
"Hahahahaha..."
A cough from the end of the hall took their attention, Mokuba and Katsuya both blinking as Hobson made his way down the hall. It was slow going of course, what with the man limping on a cane. It was honestly a miracle, in his opinion, that Hobson was still alive after what happened at Death-T. More so that he had returned to work within a few weeks, albeit with a fair amount of physiotherapy on the side. As it turned out, the voltage on his chair had been no different from that of the other chairs, which really were apparently charged to '100,000'... But as it turned out, from what he'd managed to glean later on from science in any case, the voltage could have been double that and it wouldn't have killed him.
Rather, the 'amperage' was what controlled the fatality. The voltage affected something, that was for sure; from what he could get, the higher the number, the higher the pain, and the pain had likely been more than enough to render Hobson motionless when he'd been shocked. But it was the amount of amps in the electricity that would determine life or death, a level that had apparently been just low enough that there was a shot at life. As it was, even though he had survived, the old man's formerly bum leg was no completely useless. Despite all that though, he continued his job with a determination that more than explained why he was one of the few staff remaining despite his age, the 'staff purge', and the fact that he had been one of the people directly involved with Death-T. "Oh," the old man said with raised eyebrows, the sunglasses on his face dully reflecting the hall light as he ambled forward. "I was about to look for you, Mokuba-sama..."
The man hobbled over, Mokuba blinking as Hobson stopped a few feet away to lean on his cane. "Hn? What is it," the boy asked, Katsuya as well looking down at the man.
"Oh nothing much," he said, waving his hand somewhat dismissively. "Odoru just left for the end of his work shift you see, so I need someone to help with the last of the lights..."
Mokuba looked up at Katsuya, giving an odd smile before the blond shrugged. Well, not like he was doing anything else. "Eh... I'm free," he said, free hand placed in his pocket as he looked down at the old man. "Lead th' way!"
The old man nodded, smiling. "If you say so," he said with a bow, turning slightly. "Mokuba-sama," he added, pointing down the hall with a slight nod, "You should probably make sure the den is prepared..." The boy paled at those words, hurriedly nodding and running off with wide eyes as Katsuya stared at the spot he had stood in moments before.
"Ah..." Ok, that was weird. Whatever was supposed to be 'prepared' must have been important he guessed. The blond turned back to Hobson, the old man slowly making his way back down the hall. Eh, whatever... Time to work right? Katsuya easily caught up with the man, shoes thumping at his side as he walked. "Oi... What was that abou'," he asked with a raised eyebrow, Hobson merely chuckling in response.
"Lets just say," he said with a somewhat conniving smile that reminded the blond of less than cheery days, "That Seto-sama will be in for a very large surprise when she returns home from work." The chuckling continued, Katsuya blinking with the words. A surprise? More surprising than the rest of the house? He thought for a moment, frowning. Ok... If whatever was outside that room was going to pale in comparison to that then... He shook it off, instead pulling his shoes on with a slight hop as the back door came into view. "Now then," the man stated, gesturing to a few boxes on the side. Katsuya looked up from where he was tying his second shoe, nodding. "If you could carry those for me..."
Another nod, Katsuya grabbing the large box of lights before turning as Hobson held the door open. "Righ'... I got it," Katsuya said with a grunt, adjusting his grip on the fairly heavy box. Sheesh, how many lights were in this thing? ...Where the hell did they come from even, these things were gathering dust! "So how many tress do we-" He froze, gaping as he looked at the backyard for what had been the first time since the middle of the night when he'd attempted to break into the house all those months before. Now that there was sunlight to guide him rather than just house lights detailing the first part... "H... Holy shit," he muttered, turning to Hobson as the old man made his way out and shut the door. Looking back at the yard of now barren trees he stared, breath creating a steady cloud of vapor in front of him. It was... Huge, how the hell did they look after all this? He could barely see the wall at the back through the number of trees! "How big is this place?"
Again Hobson chuckled, waving the boy over to follow him down the seemingly empty backyard. "Trust me," he said with a laugh, cane sinking through the few centimeters of snow as they walked. "If I told you," he said with a clearly humored tone, "You would likely not be awake for more than a few seconds with the surprise." What? Wait, and what was that supposed to mean? "Now then," the old man stated, cane leaving a steady and even trail of small indents in the snow beside their footprints. "There isn't too much left to set up with lights for now, just a few trees that line the back stables..." A few trees, alright... "I could also use some help with feeding the horses however, if you wouldn't mind," he continued, looking back at the blond.
Huh... Help with the horses, never done that before but that didn't sound too- Wait. Waiiiiit... Katsuya frowned, blinking a few times as the words registered. "We... We have horses?"
"Well..." Hobson appeared to pause, frowning as he looked for the right words. He stopped walking for a moment, before moving on with a wave. "To say we own them would be the loosest of terms... Technically," the man stated with a small grunt as he hobbled over a few tree roots, "The horses belong to the late Gozaburo-sama, bound to this home by his will and testament." He pointed toward a distant looking 'shack', before looking toward Katsuya and continuing on. "Seto-sama herself," he continued, the blond beside him adjusting his grip on the basket. "Does not likely know they are even here, let alone pay to care for them."
The frown deepened, Katsuya adjusting his grip on the box of lights. Er... If... The horses were technically owned by a dead man and paid for by a dead man... "If Seto-chan doesn' know abou' th' horses," he asked, Hobson visibly gaining a humored smile with the honorific used for his employer, "Then how'r yah lookin' after them?" Not to mention why... If no one was using them then... What was the point?
Hobson merely smiled, chuckling slightly as he shook his head. "Well," the man started, "It's one thing when it's only one person taking care of the horses," he stated calmly, the stables now in plain sight from where they stood. "It's completely different however, when a large portion of the staff takes their free time and a small bit of their own money to do so."
So then... A bunch of the servants and maids were looking after the horses? Huh... The recent clean sweep had to have put a sizable kink in that plan then. But if that was the case, even with that going on... "...Why bother wi' that," he asked with a frown, again adjusting his hold on the basket as a few cables hung off the edge. "I mean... Wouldn' Seto-chan jus' pay for 'm herself if she knew about them?"
The man hurriedly shook his head, almost tipping on a nearby root as he frowned. "Oh no," he said almost with a hush, Katsuya almost flinching at the answer. "No no no, most certainly not," he stated, voice low and almost incredulous. Er... Sorry for suggesting it? "I'm sure that if things had happened differently..." He trailed off, before coughing as Katsuya raised an eyebrow. "I should explain," he said somewhat gruffly, voice rasping as he went on. "Seto-sama would just as soon kill the animals as she would keep them," he said somewhat bluntly, the pair walking along the flat lawn as Hobson continued. "You see, a good number of years before, shortly after Seto-sama came here," he explained, "Gozaburo-sama attempted to give his only horse at the time, an extremely passive stallion by all accounts to her for use in horse-back riding..." Er... Horse-back riding..? That seemed kind of... Hobson apparently noted the confused expression, smiling as he explained. "It's a tradition of sorts, she's quite likely the first to break it," he stated with a somewhat nonchalant tone before going on.
"Now then, where was I... When Gozaburo-sama presented Seto-sama with 'Kuma', the horse I am referring to," he stated, the 'shack' ahead revealing itself to be a small stable house. "And stepped back, just for a moment, the first thing it did was rear on it's hindlegs, and attempt to strike the girl down from where she stood! She was pulled away of course," he continued, "And there were no injuries, quite thankfully... But needless to say," he added with a grave tone, shaking his head. "Seto-sama was most certainly unwilling to go anywhere near the beast after that point!"
Er. Yea. He could see why that would happen. Katsuya swallowed, letting out a long sigh as he shook his head. He'd... Probably hate horses too if he was just about beaned in the head by one. "Er... Alrigh' then," he said with a frown, shaking his head again. Ok. So horses were not something she was into then. "If Seto-chan hates horses so much," he asked with a frown, turning back down to Hobson, "Then why bother keepin' them..?"
He merely waved the blond off, shaking his head as they passed the entrance of the stables. "Oh trust me," he said dismissively, You'll find out soon enough." The man steadily made his way to a small cluster of five trees, motioning for Katsuya to put the basket down. "But you will keep your mouth shut," he 'ordered', the blond jumping as a suddenly militant-esque shout was uttered. "Understand me? For at least today," he added, pointing at the blond almost accusingly.
The blond swallowed, nodding. S-Sheesh... He'd never heard him shout like that before! "Gh... No problem," he said with a nervous laugh, putting the basket down. "W-Will do!" He calmed himself down, watching as the old man before him leaned on his cane to pull out some lights. The sky was slowly getting dark now... They still had plenty of time to hang the lights on the trees though. "So... How many trees around here?"
"Just these ones," Hobson said with a small grunt, attempting to untangle a few of the wires as a large pile came out from the side. Katsuya as well began pulling a few out, looking at a few of the knots and dust with raised eyebrows before attempting to pull the cables apart. Damn... These did not have a happy existence... "There are very few trees in the back as opposed to the front," he explained, tossing a loose end of cable to the side. "Otherwise the horses have nowhere to run or graze... The trees," he explained, pulling a full line free as his 'assistant' continued to growl at the large knot he was stuck with, "Are more as a barrier than a decoration; with so many there, they tend not to bother with them."
Huh... Alright then. He supposed that would help with managing to trick Seto into believing there were no horses in her backyard... Katsuya continued to pull at the cables, before finally gaining headway on the one end. "Aha!" He grinned, before turning as Hobson coughed. He already had about three or so strings free to use, having started on a fourth. Compared to his 'start'... "Er..."
The old man smirked, roughly pulling the 'knot' from the blond's hands. "How about you put the lights on the trees while I handle this," he 'asked', Katsuya laughing in response.
"Haha... Yea," he decided, taking one of the free cables and rolling it on his shoulder. "Prob'bly a good idea," he added, moving to the farthest tree. He had a feeling there was no real question of a power source for the lights at this moment; climbing the tree and wrapping the cables around the outermost branches, he took care to leave the plugs hanging either near the stable or the next tree before moving back to the box for more lights, linking more cables together when he ran out of line and continuing on his way. The stables likely had lights themselves after all; in fact, given the box beside it, it was likely the source of all the backyard lighting.
He hopped down the tree to grab a few more cables, slowly making a trail of lights from one tree to the next as he worked. The trees back there weren't too big to tell the truth; it was fairly easy to just shimmy up the side and get to work, and by the end of it all, there were no more lights left in the box... The cables were plugged in together to form a long line in the air, and watching as Hobson punched a code into the metal 'cabinet' beside the stable, the blond held silent. As figured, this was where all the lights were connected... So as soon as the right switches were hit, the entire backyard would likely light up. The blond looked up to the sky a moment, blinking as he drifted into thought. The snow had slowed up from earlier that day; rather than blowing about in a blizzard-like fashion, it was now calmly falling from the sky where a brilliant moon hovered amongst a few barely visible clouds and stars. What few flakes hit his face melted in an instant... And though he wasn't quite sure why he was staring, he couldn't stop.
"Now then," Hobson was muttering, looking over the various switches he'd uncovered. Katsuya looked down from the sky with those words, watching as the old man before him traced a finger down the row of switches. "One two and... Aha." -click-
Lights abruptly filled the air, Katsuya's eyes widening as the yard was filled with specks of colour. Row by row the trees were lit, both those behind him and the ones filling the upper part of the yard. It was a sea of light... Even the mansion itself had been lit up, lights lining the balconies and roof, visible quite clearly in the distance of the yard as the light hum of electricity met his ears. "Woah," he whispered, staring at the lights. "This 's..." He shook his head, staring. He'd only done five trees, think of how long it took for the rest... And about what the front looked like! "This 's incredible... You've been doin' this all day," he asked, turning to Hobson with wide eyes.
The man shrugged, closing the box with a loud clack before locking it up and hobbling over on his cane. "Well now, I wouldn't say all day," he said with a humored chuckle, making his way to the stable entrance. He opened the door, holding it open and turning to the blond behind him. "Now how about you help with the horses, like you said you would?"
He nodded, following after with a cough. "Right," he muttered, walking into the stable as the door was closed quietly behind him. It was fairly large... Well, the building was large, but it obviously wasn't the biggest set of stables in existence. There was room for three horses from the looks of the stalls built along the sides, but only two spots had been filled. Those spots in question were kept across and diagonal the other, on held almost beside him and the other at the far end. Taking a few steps forward in the stable, his eyes wandered around in silence as Hobson turned around to pull a few things from a rack on the side.
"Now I need you to listen very carefully as I do this," he was saying, the blond paying him only about half his attention as he looked around. A light snort was given from the side, the blond turning to face one of the horses. The horse was white for the most part; its muzzle, rather the skin, was black, and almost as dark as the horse's eyes. As he continued to stare however, it quickly gave another snort, clomping away to turn around from the teen. He shook his head, Hobson's continued muttered instructions still fading out in the air as he moved toward the back of the stable. This was the second horse... He looked across from where the horse stood, staring at the empty stall. Why was there an extra spot though..?
The horse behind him nickered, brown head leaning forward as it leaned over its stable door to look at the blond. Katsuya in question jumped slightly, turning as the horse continued to amble its head closer to the teen. "Er... H-Hey," he whispered, hesitantly raising a hand above the creature's nose. The horse snorted, drawing back slightly before moving close again. "H-Hey there," he said quietly, slowly putting a hand on the beast's muzzle before beginning to stroke it. "H-Hah... Yer pretty cool..." Huh... This wasn't too bad, this horse was pretty sweet actually...
Hobson was still talking, but it was only just now that any words were making sense. "...And above all else," the man was saying in the background, turning around with a bucket as Katsuya continued stroking the silent and obviously pleased horse. "Be sure to stay as far from the brown one as-" The man froze, Katsuya turning with a slight jump and bringing his hand down. "Good lord boy did you not hear me when I said stay PUT!" Er, no?
The blond blinked, coughing as he realized what Hobson had just said a few seconds before. The brown one..? "Er... W-What was that abou' stayin' away from a horse," he asked nervously, before turning as the horse behind him began nibbling at his hair. He frowned, watching as the steed pulled slightly at a few strands. "O-Oi," he muttered, pulling away as the horse gave a snort. "Stop that!"
Hobson gave a wheezing and unnerved cough, before hobbling over and quickly tugging the blond back to the other side of the stables. "That means stay away," he muttered with seeming nervousness, the horse in question giving a light snort before turning away from them both. Katsuya stumbled slightly, pulling himself off and looking back. Alright, alright... The man beside him gave a long sigh, looking back to the brown horse and shaking his head. "My god..." He shook his head, leaning against his cane while he rubbed his head. "That beast," he muttered with disbelief, Katsuya raising his eyebrows in confusion. "That is the one I warned you of on our way here."
He blinked, eyes wide. Warning? Wait, so the one who just about nailed Seto in the face was... "Wait... That's Kuma," he asked incredulously, the horse in question pulling his head up in response to his name. It stared for a few moments, before turning back to what looked to be a bucket of water. Erm... Not quite as fearsome and bear-like as expected. More like a teddy bear actually...
Nonetheless, Hobson nodded furiously, and if he could see past the man's sunglasses he was pretty sure he would have seen extremely wide eyes. "Most definitely," he stated seriously, turning back to look at the horse. "That is most definitely him," he said quietly, expression sour as he went on. "That horse hasn't shown affection of that level since Noa-sama's passing," he muttered, gripping his cane tightly. "But you," he continued, turning on the boy with a scowl. "Do you know how lucky you are to be alive you fool? Pay attention!" The blond stepped back, scratching his head under teh shouts. Sheesh, alright, he got it! Don't mess around with 'Noa's horse, ok... Wait...
Katsuya frowned, bringing his hands down to his pockets. "...Noa," he repeated, staring at Hobson. "Who th' heck 's 'Noa'?"
The old man visibly shuddered with that name, shaking his head in what looked to be grief. "Yes that's right," he muttered, hobbling back to where he'd dropped the bucket. "You wouldn't know who Noa-sama was, he was... He was far before your time," the man said with a sigh. He carried the bucket over to a large barrel of sorts, turning back to Katsuya as he grabbed a 'scoop'. "Noa-sama," he began, "Was Gozaburo-sama's first and only biological son..." Wait... What? The guy had a kid? He blinked, listening as Hobson gave a low sigh before continuing. "He was twelve years old," the man continued, scooping piles of what looked to be mixed grains and hay into a bucket, "Almost thirteen in fact, when he was hospitalized... Thirteen when he finally moved on. It has been... Eight years," he decided, pulling the now mostly full bucket from the bench and carrying it to the white horse's stall. "Nine come August... Since he's been gone. He was struck head on by a car," he continued somewhat bitterly, Katsuya following the man back to the barrel of feed in silence as he listened, "And for a short time, by some miracle he lived. Every bone in his body was fractured," he shouted, pouring the feed into a bucket on the side of the white horse's stall, "Not a single part of him untouched," he shouted, voice laced thickly with disbelief.
"But for a short time," he said quietly, "He was indeed alive... Comatose and barely there, but he was alive... Until finally, Gozaburo-sama was told there was nothing more they could do. His organs were useless, bones rendered powdered... And his spine was so crushed that it would be impossible for him to live, even if the rest of him recovered. He lasted until a week past his thirteenth birthday," he muttered, cane clacking against the ground. "And then, with the flick of a switch, he was gone." Hobson gave a long and morose sigh, silent for a few moments with those words. It was an awkward silence, one that he didn't even dare to try and break. In the end, it was Hobson who broke it, the man turning to look up at Katsuya with a blank and possibly depressed frown. "I understand you likely share similar beliefs on Gozaburo-sama as Mokuba-sama, and Seto-sama as well," he continued, feed scoop clutched in his hand. "But despite his many flaws, if there was one thing that man was, it was a father- he tried everything in existence to save that boy, and when it all fell through... Well... It affected him, pulling that plug. It truly did..." He sighed, shaking his head and turning away again. "He would have been 21 by now," Hobson stated almost wistfully, leaning on his cane. "And I believe that a majority of Seto-sama's grief from the man might be for that reason..."
Katsuya frowned, hands in his pockets as he spoke. "Reason," he repeated, watching as Hobson began to re-fil the bucket with feed. "What reason..?"
The man paused for a moment, before turning to face the blond. "Well you see," he said almost hesitantly, pausing for a moment before moving on. "There was one reason, one incredibly key factor in the initial reason why Gozaburo-sama agreed to adopt Seto-sama and her brother..." Again the man paused, as though carefully choosing his next few words. "If you were to look at a photograph of Noa-sama," he stated seriously, an odd gleam of light coming off of his sunglasses, "And you compared it to an image of Seto-sama at the same age... There would be one difference, only one, and that would be naught but the colour of their hair... Never before," Hobson stated with a tense nod, filling the bucket at the side with feed and pulling it from the bench, "Never before did two completely unrelated children look so similar! It was as though they were long lost siblings, separated from an early age," he added, shaking his head. "With that in mind," Hobson continued, cane clacking against the ground as he walked toward the back, "I believe that Gozaburo-sama might have been... Frustrated... That this 'son' he had taken in, this child who was by all appearances his long deceased boy, did not react to things in the same way, did not enjoy the same things he had... They are very alike, that is true, but with that in mind there is no doubt in the differences between the two."
Of course there were differences... Seto was Seto, not some other kid! He continued to frown, watching as Hobson dumped the bucket of feed into the corresponding bucket for Kuma before leaving the stall in a hurry when the horse gave an angered snort. It was just bizarre... Seto was meant to... Replace Noa? As in, fill some void and memory? What kind of memory would it be then, if it could be replaced? "Tch..." He grit his teeth, shaking his head as Hobson slowly walked back toward the rack of tools to put the bucket back. "No offense Hobson," he muttered, looking over to the horses. "But personally, that jus' makes th' guy a hell 'f a lot worse in my head... Not t' mention scary as hell."
Hobson paused, before giving a defeated shrug and shaking his head at the statement. "Yes well..." He put the bucket to the side, before moving to hold the door open for Katsuya. "I suppose I expected as much," he continued, wind blowing in through the door as the now soft breeze gusted through.
Heh! Good. Least that meant there were no weird hard feelings, work would be awkward otherwise. Speaking of all that business with 'Noa'... "Hey... Does Seto-chan know about this," Katsuya asked, following Hobson out of the stables with a frown.
The man shook his head, somewhat shocked scowl deeply ingrained on his face as he turned to the blond. "Most certainly not," he shouted incredulously, leading Katsuya back from the stables to head toward the house as the blond winced. "The news would at the very best give her a heart attack!" Er, that didn't sound like 'best'... Was Seto really the heart-attack type? "Give it some thought," the man demanded with a frown, jabbing a finger at him. "How would you likely react if you realized that your entire position was based on the twist of fate that you so resembled another person that you could likely take their very place? And that this was the only reason for your existence in that position!"
The blond blinked, turning away for a moment with that thought. Er... Yea, being put somewhere because he looked like someone sounded just a bit creepy. "Nyh... That..." He coughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he shook his head. "That's a damn good point... Shit," he said with a nervous laugh, attempting to lighten the situation. "That'd scare th' crap outta me..."
"An 'eloquent' way of putting it," Hobson said dryly, walking along the slightly filled in trail of footprints the pair had left behind. "But yes... The news would assuredly instill, at best, a good amount of momentary fear with the realization."
So basically it would scare the crap out of her. Katsuya swallowed, nodding in agreement. Heh... Yea... He had a feeling he knew how that would end. He let out a long breath, watching as it fogged into the air before speaking again. "...So," he said with a cough, attempting to change the subject. "What exactly are th' plans f'r Christmas?" That was always a good fall-back plan for the subject, right? ...He would miss being able to fall on that when the holidays were over.
The man beside him turned, staring in silence for a moment as he continued to walk. "Well," he began, a grin appearing on his face. "I can tell you this; it's very big."
Big eh? Like size big or just 'big'? "Y' sure Seto-chan'll be alright with that," he asked somewhat nervously, eliciting a loud laugh from the old man.
"Ohhh I doubt she'll admit it," he said with a grin, a steady 'thump' noise coming from his cane as he moved from the snow covered lawn to the back porch. "But I'm almost certain she'll enjoy it, however grudgingly," he added with a wink. Was grudgingly a good thing..? "I'll make sure of at least that much," he continued with gained volume, pausing in his steps only momentarily before heading up the porch steps. "At least that much."
Heh? The blond blinked, staring as they came under the porch 'roof'. "Nyh... Whadya mean, 'at least that much'," he asked, Hobson in question dropping the grin.
There was a long, drawn out sigh in response, the man stopping in place with a deep frown. "It's something that I have only just come to recall," he admitted, shaking his head and rubbing it somewhat. "During the Death-T event, shortly after you and your friends moved on from the 'Electric Chair' ride I had hosted" he explained, "I could do nothing but sit completely still and wait. Wait for a paramedic, or perhaps even another member of staff... Anyone," he said with a shrug, taking a seat on the somewhat dry patio chair to the side. "It gave me quite a bit of time to think, as I'm sure you can imagine!" Yea... A long time he bet... "More than enough time," he said bitterly, hands clenching his cane top. "Enough so that when I first came to realize that my would be victims were not the usual threats, or possible 'loose threads' so to speak, but rather a group of children who, besides yourself and your friend, largely had nothing to do with the very one who gave those orders..!"
There was another sigh, Hobson shaking his head before continuing as he stared to the side. "Through all my years," he muttered, eyes still unseen behind his sunglasses. "I have seen many things, things that would likely make your fine hair turn blacker than coal... I've been in war, I've been tortured... I have tortured," he said with a slight shrug, the blond across from him coughing awkwardly with the statement. "And through all my years, I have lived to serve this family, for whatever task is asked of me. Be it house cleaning, or 'persuasion by other means... I have been there," he stated, bowing his head. "When I was first called upon for the 'Death-T' event," he continued, "I did not put too much thought to the matter. You could say I had become too used to things, too blind to what was happening... Orders were orders, and in comparison to a few tasks that those before her had given, it was quite light to tell the truth... But sitting there," he muttered darkly, appearing to stare off as he shook his head. "It was only at that moment that I recalled that the orders to effectively kill and maim by any means possible had not been given by a hardened soldier with recent ties to an arms maker, nor by a businessman looking to cut off possible competition," he added with a shudder, tone darkening even more. "Instead, they had come from a child, a woman younger than my own granddaughter! From a girl who had grown up far too quickly for this world," he added darkly, Katsuya staring at the man with a small and confused frown. "Far too quickly..."
...Shit... What was he supposed to say to that? The blond swallowed, an awkward silence falling through the air as snow continued to fall outside the 'roof' boundaries. All that was... Well, news of apparently worse things happening there aside, that was... Wait... He blinked, the last few words slamming him mentally. Wait, younger than his granddaughter? How old was his granddaughter! Katsuya shook his head, staring. "Seto-chan's... Younger than yer grandkid," he asked quietly, shaking his head again. "Wh... How old are you?"
Hobson chuckled darkly, shaking his head as an odd grin appeared on his face. "Ohhh, far, far older than I should be according to the work place rules," he stated with a grunt, pulling himself up from the tree roots. "Far older... I am Seventy-three," he stated with a short chuckle, bowing his head as the blond gaped. "I have been serving this family for three generations now, since Gozaburo-sama himself was but this tall" he continued, a wry smile in place as he gestured below his own height. "Though I sincerely doubt I will be doing so for much longer than that," he added, shaking his head. "Now," he continued, moving toward the door to pull it open with a grunt. "I could go on for hours and hours on what my life has been spent doing... But I think that such stories are for another time," he said with another bow, a bit of light from the inside revealing what would ordinarily be covered by sunglasses. One eye was half closed, aged and withered like the rest of the man, and the other...
Katsuya gave a somewhat involuntary shudder, pushing the image of what was certainly no longer an eye from mind. Nothing but a strange, stitched over and almost mutated wound. Something told him that was one of those 'for another time' stories. He had to agree with Hobson on that... The stories were definitely for another time... Deeeefinitely... For another time. "G-Good plan," he said with a cough, turning his head away before walking into the hall. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think...
"Needless to say," the man went on from beside him, door closing with a small click before he turned back. "When I think about what she's missed, and compare that to my own granddaughter..." He shook his head, stooping somewhat awkwardly to pull of his shoes. "The fact that I did not realize how horribly twisted everything was shaping up to be... It is something I certainly doubt I will ever forgive myself for. And for that reason," Hobson stated quietly, exchanging his shoes for slippers as Katsuya made with walking in his socks. "No matter what happens, I plan to treat Seto-sama not as some old, hardened and battle ready businessman, as her image in Kaiba Corporation would suggest... But as the young woman she is," the man stated quietly, cane once again making steady 'clack' noises across the floor. "To an acceptable extent of course, no doubt... But if 'acceptable' means holding a somewhat 'last minute' Christmas celebration," he added with a shrug, the blond beside him giving a wry smirk at the action, "Well, then that is exactly what I will do!"
He laughed, shaking his head. Anything it took eh? Not a bad plan... "Heh... Can't wait t' see her reaction t' this then," Katsuya said with a grin, the blond slowly pulling off his coat and slinging it over his shoulder. "Y' sure yer gonna be alive by the time this is over with," he added, grin widening as they moved down the hall. "No m'sterious abs'nces?"
Hobson waved a hand, limping on his cane with a chuckle. "Ohhh... If I don't," he said with a smirk, "I can guarantee to you that it's of natural causes rather than the wrath of my current employer... khkhkhkhkh..." ...Don't laugh like that please.
Chuckling filled the air, Katsuya shaking his head at the sound before a cough came from the side. The two turned, watching as Kyouko hesitantly made her way out of the kitchen with a bowed head. "Is everything ready," she whispered, looking over the two and taking a nervous glance down the hall. Despite her somewhat flustered expression, she had somehow managed to keep her uniform in pristine condition; and given the shouts and clattering noises from inside the room, that was probably quite the feat. "The food is prepared and ready," she continued, turning to the two once more and biting her lip. "And the 'den' is completely prepared..."
Katsuya looked down to Hobson, watching as the man bowed his head. "Everything is prepared," he stated with a firm and confirming tone, cane held almost at 'attention'. "Now then," the man continued... "After you, my dear."
"R-Right," she said quietly, nodding her head politely before moving past the two. "This way... We're to wait in the foyer with Mokuba-sama..." Wait for wh- The blond blinked, before nodding. Right... Of course... Wait for Seto. ...Boy he hoped she didn't blame him for this if she hated it. That would royally suck. They moved on toward the foyer in silence, before a quiet groan from the front pulled their attention. "Ohhhh..." Kyouko frowned, moving around the stair rail before turning back to the others. "We're too late..."
Heh? Too late? Katsuya looked around the woman, taking a few steps forward and staring. Accompanied by her clearly eager brother for the moment, Seto currently stood in the middle of the foyer, rubbing her forehead. Hahaha, well would you look at that, looked like someone was... Er... Could that be called surprised? Looked more like she was nursing a headache, though she'd stopped rubbing her head now... The blond blinked as he spotted a third person in the foyer, watching as Isono walked over from his position behind the two. "I see you finished decorating," he said with an amused smile, Hobson limping forward to meet the man with a nod.
"You expected anything less," he asked incredulously, eliciting a chuckle from the man.
"Well," he said with a smirk, stepping to the side to bring the others toward the middle of the foyer as he spoke. "I certainly didn't expect it from a crippled old man..."
Hobson snorted, Katsuya awkwardly scratching his head as the 'arguing' continued on while Kyouko merely rubbed her head. "A crippled old man am I," he asked, cane clacking against the ground. "We'll just see how this crippled old man fares against the green business assistant then," he said mockingly.
Ahhhhhgggghhh... The blond mentally groaned, shaking his head. Why the hell was he listening to this..? He blinked as the two in the house entrance turned, Mokuba grinning widely as his older sister raised her eyebrows. He could practically hear her thinking 'why now'... Oh well, too bad. "Ah, Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a grin, waving from beside his sister, the woman in question wincing far less than she had the first time she heard the term. "Is everything ready," he asked, the answer coming from behind the blond.
"Of course," Kyouko said with a bow, Katsuya moving to the side as the maid continued. "I take it the day went well," she asked politely, Seto blinking before giving a small nod in response to Kyouko's second deep bow.
"...It did," she said plainly, expression seemingly neutral for the moment.
The maid nodded, a smile on her face as she gestured behind her. "In that case," she stated, Hobson and Isono both leaving for another room as she continued. "We have dinner waiting... Shall I show you to the table, Seto-sama?"
There was a brief silence, Seto merely staring for a moment before nodding curtly. "That would be nice," she stated, moving forward to pass the maid to enter the coat room first. She had already pulled off her scarf it seemed, the coat quickly unbuttoned and hung up in an instant. In the same moment, Katsuya as well put his on one of the hangers, the blond stepping out to stand with the others as they waited. The briefcase was placed on the ground in the coat room in that moment, and soon enough Seto came out with her hands free and at her sides. "...Lead the way," she stated, Mokuba and Katsuya both watching the exchange. Ok! Time for food...
With another bow, Kyouko did just that and led them away, the three following behind her in relative silence. The plan had been set in place it would seem... And now, it was time to enact it.
AN: Ohhhh my god the DIALOGUE in this chapter! Many of Hobson's lines were changed from original planning, certain scenes pieced together... It was truly a 'waterfall' chapter, this one. Basically, conversation flowed as it did, and my usual guidelines were only loosely adhered. Normally, I'm very strict with this. The Duelist Kingdom for example, was planned well ahead in advance... In fact, there are certain key bits of the Doma arc that are already planned! In any case... There's only one chapter left for the Christmas arc, and I have to say, I did not expect it to move this quick... I had figured one chapter per week, bringing us to December, where I would leave a month's break...
It's... The first week of November, and I'm one chapter away from finishing Christmas. Hoh, hurm...
Anyways. Need to share this with you; while I was planning out the horse scene up there, I was at my godmother's... It was a pretty awesome time, spent Halloween at her house and at a themepark (YES.)... And one of her friends invited us to watch her daughter take a riding lesson. Now I was sitting there, watching and gushing (The closest thing I'd ever gotten was children's pony rides; despite my age and height, I think the ponies preferred me, since I was quite likely lighter than the sets of two children that most of the other ponies had... Hohhh-hummm...)... And I find out that they do free assessments. And before I know it, thanks to the number of cancellations over the Halloween weekend, I'm borrowing a helmet and boots riding around on a wonderful appaloosa gelding named Ranger. ...But oh GOD my legs! I've never used my legs like that, holy shit! (As you can see, this proved to inspire a good deal of research for the horses.)
Anyways. Needless to say, English riding! Which, is of course, the riding that is referred to up there. This chapter probably seems shorter than the norm, but that's because of the dialogue (BLAME HOBSON.)... Also because I would much rather have all of Christmas' events in one chapter, rather than tacking a small bit of Christmas to this one for the sake of an extra page or so. That would be silly.
Now, on another chapters and arcs note... A slight timeline for you people; as you know, Battle City lasts a fairly long time, so that will definitely happen during the summer. This means of course, that the Noa arc goes there as well... Which means that the Doma Arc will either pull everyone rather violently from school for a bit, or it'll occur a full year after the fact. (That's alright though, since Yu-Gi-Oh R is supposed to happen shortly after Battle City anyways.) Now here's the thing; besides Battle City, there are technically two 'arcs' that are between Christmas and Summer. Legendary Heroes of course will take place next, and occurs sometime in January. After that we have another original arc concerning Valentines day, but I'll go into detail on that when we get there.
Following Valentines, we have two possibilities. I can either mix events, by having White Day (A Japanese only holiday so to speak, which exists to sell chocolate I'm pretty sure) occur rather close to when Rebecca appears, or just have the two somewhat separate... If that happens, expect Rebecca to show up in late March. And of course, Otogi won't be showing up until shortly after the start of April, when the school year begins... But even so, after that, we have about two months before the summer begins... Which will likely be spent planning certain tournaments. And voila, you have a series of events, have fun guys!
On a more IMPORTANT note; for the Legendary Heroes, there will be much more RPG-Gaming than magic card draws. To this extent, we're using the class and battle system, which means that each person in the Legendary Heroes game will have... Well, a class of sorts. Now what I want you to do (I'm looking at ALL OF YOU!) is recommend either a game with a number of classes to choose from, or even a specific class for a specific character. Costumes will be changed, weapons made to suit the character and class... Go wild guys!
More notes! If anyone has a particular request for a scene, or even just a design (IE, Yugi's winter outfit, or the horses) they want drawn, let me know! You probably won't see it for a bit, but I'll definitely do it! (I'll have that Eye scene in a bit, the poses for Jonouchi are being fussy though...)
And now for the Poll...
Still unchanged, see chapter 40 for results.
Well, so much for that one.
Anonymous Review Responses
Hey again Iona!Hahaha, indeed! Rudeness? Being jerks to family? That clearly had nothing to do with it, nothing at all… *Sarcasm mode activated!*
Hahaha, the gift exchange, at least concerning Mokuba, is probably the most amusing scene ever… Kaiba saves her gift for when Mokuba goes to bed, as she gives it to him with relative privacy like that (She is a fairly private person after all), but when Jonouchi breaks out his own present… Oh boy. I'll tell you this now, it has a lot to do with Jonouchi's earlier thoughts during the summer chapter, specifically concerning dishes of food Mokuba has never tried…
(That Seto apparently has…) You've probably guessed from the scene above of course, but I can tell you this, it will be amusing.
And… You liked it? Phwaaaa… I was really worried about that scene… Though it flowed naturally as I typed it, it's the sort of thing that I still end up nervous about. And hahaha, very true! Though it unfortunately carries over even more guilt and 'why is this moron a better sibling than me' issues… Ooooooh boy.
As for how things shape up, you'll see soon enough! See you next chapter!
Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner
The section that had way too much fun researching horses for something that will likely only show up once. Pity that.
This chapter title? More to it than it looks... Not. You can probably guess (Now that we're at the bottom...) that the chapter title refers to poor Noa.
Who I keep drawing at age 21. (He looks... Good. To my shock and horror.)
When you think about it, with the amount of time Yami Yugi is 'let out', he probably hasn't really had the time to actually eat anything... So really, any specific preferences are close to non-existent, and... He probably knows that this is like his one shot at eating anything. Hilariously enough. (I think the soup in Duelist Kingdom was a glaring exception.) Though him getting the chocolate milkshake was more of a 'aha!' to Yugi's 'Oh! Get vanilla!'... Hey, just because they're as close as friends can get, doesn't mean they don't have their disagreements.
Yami Yugi's habits concerning food tastes and the like are of course building on an awkward fear of his, in terms of not knowing who he is… He doesn't have the memory, but once things like taste comes into play he's got those tiny unconscious preferences that poke up… And the fact is, he has no clue where the hell they come from either... And as much as he's not about to admit it, it scares the every loving crap out of him, and is also why 'Anne's previous demands to know what Yami Yugi is as opposed to who are hitting him a lot more than he shows.
Yea guys. That's the 'Black Clown'… Otogi's game shop. Currently partially built because it opens after the second school year starts, which means it won't be opening until well into April... A good number of months away, so there isn't any giant clown sitting on the side of the building just yet.
'Suji' is a Japanese delicacy made of beef tendons. 'Daikon' on the other hand is a kind of radish. Common in Oden, of course. Not so common for any dish in Japan is... Going heavy on the meat rather than the veggies and noodles. Though Jonouchi probably plans on making that oden with 75 percent noodles, so I can't say he's being weird about this... He's probably just avoiding Mokuba's silly/age appropriate dislike for vegetables.
A nabe, of course, is a small pot/slow-cooker like device that is used to cook sukiyaki and oden among things. This generally is coupled with a kotatsu, a small table you sit on the floor with... Which has a heater inside. This heat is kept under the table using the thick blanket that drapes down from the sides of the table, and you'll generally see a kotatsu used in two ways in anime; one is used for humor, and you'll see people falling asleep under the kotatsu with nothing but their head poking out... And the other is for more ecchi things. Where two people will be studying, someone drops a pencil, reaches under the table and... Finds something between someone else's legs. This thought came to Jou's mind because it's used... A lot... In Japanese ecchi and hentai. (One is porn, one is just perverted. Hentai is the worse of the two.)
Most people in Japan celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day as opposed to Christmas Eve… (Don't ask me why.) But given that this isn't obviously a 'must' sort of deal, I'm fairly certain that Christmas Eve would have a big old dinner since… A lot of the planning was made by the American butler. WHOOOPS. Even so, go Hobson!
On the Christmas card Jonouchi mentions very briefly (And I say this because we won't see Seto's reaction to the present for a while... Sorry guys)… There's a difference between working with your hands, and actually drawing. Trust me on that. It's pretty much the reverse for me actually… Which could cause problems, since in the 3D animation world (Where I'm headed), making maquettes (3D clay models) is a pretty decent plus. A plus that I lack. D'oh! In any case, though Jonouchi can make a number of things with clay-wood-plastic what have you... The drawing. It doesn't work. (Though it's not as bad as five year old Mokuba, that's for sure.
Time for a story! Volts don't kill you guys, amps do. It is going to hurt like hell if you get shocked at 100,000 volts though, the number being pretty damn overkill to say the least. (The amperage in the chair ride was likely around .8… .9 is the fatal zone. Or is it just 9? ) In any case… Yea. PAINFUL. Needless to say, something that would have a person sitting stock still for a bit by the end of the frying.
Somehow, Hobson ended up channelling my inner Ducky (NCIS. Whoo!)... Not completely obviously, if anything he's definitely his own character... Just he's doing a lot more talking and sympathizing than even I expected to begin with. Which is really weird given that his sadistic streak in Death-T was completely untouched in the fanfic, if not possibly increased due to his knowledge of Jonouchi's phobia… AND YET.
Now, I can't tell if Hobson's character development/change is logical or acceptable or not... Mostly because we know so little about him, and also because I did have him have a sudden dark realization of what the hell was going on… As opposed to just having him act the same as before. Hnnn… It's an interesting thought...
Seriously guys, Hobson is old. He's so old, that his season zero counterpart Daimon (Who is much nicer, has much more faith in the 'good Kaiba', and is arguably the inspiration for fanfic Hobson) lives in a bubble/portable life support system to live. WHAT. THE FUCK.
A note on the horses; during the Noa arc, Noa explains his 'mini-life' story, going on about how his dad gave him everything yadda yadda yadda… When he mentions not just being tutored in scholastic things however, we see a bit of a montage. (It… Can't really be called that, there's only two pictures after that part.) Some violin lessons for music, and then when he says sports, we see him on the back of a rather large (If not fairly thin legged) horse. Now, since the Noa arc is being included in this fanfic, you can safely assume that the ulterior motive for adopting Seto was still to act as Noa's vessel…
So hey, why not get it all ready with the horseback riding? (You use your leg muscles when you ride. TRUST ME ON THIS.) Sadly, it failed, HORRIBLY, because that horse knows damn well who Noa is and would rather not be pawned off to anyone else. Pity. (Gozaburo kept him after that because he figured when it was Noa, the horse would calm down… And then favouritism happened, and he was just forgotten. Pity.)
Erm... On to why they're there... When it's clear that Kaiba will have nothing to do with them... You'll see shortly, trust me on that. Like... Next chapter shortly.
On the horses themselves, they're both Arabian breeds. Not at all the 'common' breed you see in Japan, which is HUGE on horse racing; generally you see 'Ban'Ei', which come from a mix of Percheron, Benton, and Belgian horses. Arabian horses however, are not only very well known for being good for riding, but also for their fairly calm, if not very agreeable nature... It's for this reason that Arabian's are one of the few breeds that the US will allow children to ride stallions for. Stallions, which are not all jerks like a lot of people think, are generally a little more active during mating season for obvious reasons... And tend to be a little straight forward about what they're trying to deal with. In any case... 'Kuma' is a chestnut brown stallion with brown eyes, and though he used to be about as mean as a cube of sugar, he's... Kinda soured since Noa's death. And not because no one's riding him either (Trust me, no one. Is getting a saddle on that guy.). Information on the second horse... Will come later. (Hehehe, blatant hinting!)
Now horses? They require a lot of money, and a lot of attention. You can't just let those things sit around, you need to take them around for a ride (In Kuma's case, a run..), treat them with respect, clean them, make sure they don't get colic (They can't puke.)... So when Hobson says it's a team effort for keeping this a secret… It's a big damn team effort. It was actually quite threatened when the staff-purge happened, as most of those involved came from the staff that was present during Noa's life… But thankfully, Hobson has a bit of spare change lying around from more questionable deeds in his early life, which is just enough to last for the moment.
'Kuma' means 'Bear'; though it was likely given in regards to the completely chestnut brown colour the horse was, it's a fairly accurate description of the sort of temperament it had later on… Particularly toward Seto… Keep in mind this is a huge and pissy Arabian stallion, pitted against a ten year old or eleven year old little girl. That is TERRIFYING, no matter who you are! (Seto's not afraid of horses mind you... She just doesn't like them in any way shape or form. For... Damn good reasons I might add.) There's a reason why Gozaburo actually pulled the kid as far away from that horse as possible when it reared!
Some notes on Noa's 'age' in the fanfic; this is mostly me making time to make things make sense, me partially making Gozaburo a little less of an ass (Hard, I know... Possibly impossible even), annnnd me trying to make sense of everything for myself. I find it extremely hard to believe that Gozaburo was as much of an asshole when Noa was alive as he was in the VR World arc; if anything, he was more of a 'Knight Templar' father, and I think that he just sort of gradually got worse and worse as time went. Again... Knight Templar parent. Good intentions, but OHHHH MY GOD the wrong way of dealing with things! (To extreme limits) In any case, I'm… Pretty sure that he would have had at least a year or so helping out/spoiling his now VR entrapped son, given the time and effort he put into the thing to begin with.
And then of course, the orphanage incident would happen a year or so later, and an idea would spring up. Why, we could replace him! But first, the ages need to match; Noa in the fanfic was officially declared dead at 13. Seto however, was adopted at ten. (There's a five year difference between the two in age by the way.) But then Noa kinda proved he had gone completely nuts by the time Seto was 12 ('Hey dad, I can blow up the world within two seconds!' 'Er… Yea… That… That's great son… I'll be right back…' )… And then of course there's however many years came after that...
So yea, by all rational things, by the time Seto is 17, (Though she should still be 16 during Battle City and Noa arcs…) Noa should be a fair number of years older. And in any case… Give the maids some time to mourn will yah! Something tells me that if someone helps to care for a kid from infancy up, there's going to be a heavy connection… (Though Gozaburo likely didn't care about what they thought...)
Speaking of Noa! (Noah in the dub) Not only was Noa voiced by a woman in Japanese (Normally not surprising, but she's known for voicing very well characterized women... Not small boys.), but Noa is also a common woman's name. AHA. AHAHAHA. His name means quite a lot of sense though; first we have 'No', which means 'from', 'whereupon', 'accordingly' (It's a possessive particle.)... And 'A', which means 'come after', or 'rank next'... In other words, 'succeed'. Given that Noa was effectively born and raised completely with the intentions of being the heir to the company, it's really no wonder his name holds those fairly 'obsessive' tendencies.
Now… Despite the fact that Hobson isn't completely right on the reasoning behind Seto's adoption, there is still a lot of likely truth in his words. Unforgivable as his actions are, it is more than likely that the reasons why he was so harsh on Seto while Mokuba was relatively scot free was… Well, because she so resembled Noa! Rather, because she was meant to be Noa (Hihhhh!). So of course, she would go through the same strict training regimen, with tutors, and commands… And when Seto responded negatively as opposed to positively, like Noa had… Well… That would have come across as an impossibility that must be corrected!
As for Hobson's observations of Gozaburo being different after that... Well yea, I'd be different too if I went to a funeral and then from there moved on into a factory computer room to talk to a digitized version of the person who was buried at that funeral. Actually, more of the difference is in Hobson's head guys; it's very, very hard to believe that a man wouldn't mourn the death of his own son after all... So when.. Gozaburo doesn't mourn the death of his own son (For good reasons, I will admit. Since... Gozaburo considers Noa still alive.)... Yeaaaaaa...
For those wondering, the fictional granddaughter that will never appear (She's living in the States in my head anyways...) is around 22. Hobson himself was around when Gozaburo was a kid, which is... Insane. To say the least. I sometimes wonder what the heck I'm doing when I come up with these things, but hey, OH WELL.
Hobson will likely remain the only one who can get away with saying 'I'm gonna treat her like a 16 year old woman, not a business oriented CEO and boss'. The only one...
And it's time for OLD MAN HUMOR. Though Isono's probably like 40 years old, so that's not really 'old man' humor so much as 'cheery banter'. Whoo! And yes, Hobson only has one eye now. (Oh noooooes…) I put that there for something that was originally going to come out, but in the end, that's a 'story for another time'.
Yes everyone. 'Green' is an inside joke concerning Isono's slightly green hair. Hobson is more referring to Isono's 'youth' in comparison to his own though, along with the fact that Isono's position in KaibaCorp as Seto's business assistant (Rather, the CEO's business assistant) has only lasted under two years so far. (Because before that point, Gozaburo was CEO, and it was Kogoro of the Big 5 acting as business assistant.)
Seto's reaction to the decorations? Mostly spent about a block from the house, as she could see the lights from there. So really, all of her shock was mostly spent by that point... Anything else will be displayed with either a shaking head or slight indifference to the matter at hand.
And that's this chapter guys! I'll see you next time, with the finale of the Christmas arc!