Mokuba whimpered fearing Noah would come and get him. He banged on the door again this time however he didn't care if Noah heard him or not. "S-Seto! S-Seto!" Mokuba was really crying now. Then he heard a big crash of wood and let out a big yelp pressing his back against the door. Suddenly the door opened and Mokuba fell inside.
Seto had just finished the book Mokuba had given him when he heard banging on the door. He thought it was odd and didn't move till he heard a yelp. 'That sounded a little like Mokuba.' By the time, Seto got up and got closer to the door he was shocked to hear the kid actually calling out for him. Now he knew something was wrong! The kid barely spoke as it was and didn't want anyone to know he was here and to now suddenly start calling for him! It took a couple of tugs but he got the door open only to have Mokuba fall in.
"Mokuba are you all right?" Seto could clearly see the kid was upset and crying.
Mokuba was trying to catch his breath between sobs when he heard more boards moving. He quickly got up, slammed the basement door shut and put his own bar on the door. Then he sat down and started to cry even more into his knees.
Seto was more than a little concerned at this point. He sat down beside him and started to stroke his hair. "Hey what happened kiddo?" He could also see he'd been beaten again. But Seto knew that it wasn't the beating that caused him to be so frightened. Sure, he'd come to him crying after a beating before but he was shaking, terrified. No, he knew something else had happened; he just had to find out what that something was! He then pulled the child against his chest, then squeezed and rubbed his shoulder.
Mokuba turned and started to cry into Seto's chest. Then they heard Noah banging on the door and Mokuba's grip around Seto tightened that much more.
"Come out here you little ingrate! You think the light little beating I gave you was bad. Wait till I get you back to the barn then you'll truly know what a beating is! After all the special treatment, I spent giving you! Just so, you'd enjoy yourself as much as I would. This is how you repay me by betraying me! Biting my tongue, kicking me, you'll pay! Now get out here."
Seto was confused, having no clue as to what Noah was talking about until he got a better look at the kid and his eyes went wide with horror seeing the child's pants undone. He quickly pulled Mokuba up and refastened them for him. Mokuba smiled a bit happy to know Seto wasn't in reality like Noah. He didn't believe it but then again till today he never believed Noah would ever go this far!
Seto stood and offered his hand to Mokuba, he quickly took Seto's hand and let him lead him over to the basement stairs as Noah continued to rant and rave through the door.
Seto sat on the steps against the wall. "Mokuba, would you do me a favor?"
Mokuba, still just a touch frightened by Noah's pounding on the door nodded.
'Well now's as good a time as any. This is the best chance I've got. I don't like it that he's frightened but he came to me because of that. If I don't do it now there might not be another chance.' Seto thought.
"Okay kiddo I want you to stand here and look at me. Don't focus on Noah, focus on me, understand?"
Mokuba nodded and quickly did as he was told but was still scared.
"Mokuba, I've wanted to ask you this the moment I saw what they did to you that first day I was here. The three times I've tried to ask you've either had to leave before then or I felt you were too upset to make the decision. Well I wanted to ask you when you were calm and relaxed but it doesn't look like I'm going to get that chance. Time is running out and I know if I don't get home soon, Yami will track me down and drag me home!"
'What is getting at?' Mokuba wondered.
Seto looked up and saw the boy was confused and if he kept on ranting the kid would lose interest in what he had to say. "What I'm trying to say is. Mokuba I…I want to adopt you!" Seto said fast. He had to get it out before something else happened to prevent it!
Mokuba was shocked; he couldn't believe it! "W-what?" He asked, still a bit unsure he'd heard Seto right.
Seto held out his arms to the boy. "I want you to come home with me." Seto said a bit slower this time. "Will you?"
Mokuba couldn't believe it Seto wanted him, but then decided to ask about the reason why he didn't ask himself. "W-won't I j-just be i-in the w-way?"
Seto reached out and stroked his cheek. "No, kiddo I want you in the way."
Mokuba looked up and could clearly see Seto was serious. "Mokuba, please I don't want you to stay here. I want you to come home with me. You will never be touched by the likes of them in any way again, if I can control it at all."
"P-promise."
Seto smiled and pulled the boy's head forward and kissed his forehead. "I promise, they will never lay a hand on you again."
Mokuba smiled the biggest smile Seto had ever seen on him and jumped into his arms wrapping his arms tightly around his neck!
Seto was a bit taken back by this and fell backwards. He knew he'd always said the kid would jump into arms but he never thought he'd actually do just that. However, he just smiled and hugged the kid back tightly till Mokuba howled. Seto cringed; he'd forgotten about his back. He pulled him up and saw the kid was crying again.
"I'm sorry kiddo. I forgot. Does this mean you'll come home with me and be my little brother?"
"C-can I c-call you m-my big brother?"
"Only if you promise to be good and let me wrap your back up and hold you."
Mokuba sighed. "C-can't you j-just hold me and n-not treat me." He asked not looking at Seto.
"Look why don't we do what we did the other night and you take a nap. I'll treat you and by the time you wake up we'll leave."
"T-tonight?"
"If we wait any longer the rest of your family might come home and we'll miss our chance and I refuse to leave you here."
Mokuba sighed and nodded his head. Seto stood and again offered his hand to Mokuba who gladly wrapped both hands around his arm. 'I can't believe Seto really wants me!' Then he suddenly noticed Noah wasn't banding on the door anymore. 'Oh no! I was so upset I forgot to lock the upstairs room.' Mokuba broke away from Seto and started up the stairs.
Seto was surprised and afraid for him to go up there. "Mokuba what are you doing?"
"I-I have to l-lock the d-door."
'Okay I have definitely got to get him to tell me what exactly happened. I have an idea and I hope I'm wrong about how far Noah took it. I don't think he went as far as I'm fearing, the kid seems shaken over what happened but I have a feeling he'd be more shaken, traumatized if Noah had went all the way. From the way Noah was ranting and raving it sounds like the kid fought back. I'm glad to know that even after all they've done to him he still had the will to fight back. I have a small feeling that Ryo may be partly responsible for that. I'm still nervous about how Yami will feel about all of this. If he doesn't accept the kid it's going to cause trouble, cause I'm not sending him away.'
x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x
A few minutes later Mokuba returned after locking the door.
"Hey kiddo did you get it locked?"
Mokuba nodded yes, walked over and put his arms around his waist. Seto smiled and put his hand on his head and stroked his hair.
"Seto?"
"What's up?"
"Are you r-really going to t-take me home with you?"
Seto bent down and looked at him. "I promise you Mokuba, you will come home with me, if that's what."
"I d-do." Mokuba said, putting his arms around Seto's neck.
Seto smiled and held the boy close then using his cane for support picked him up and carried to their room. He put him down and then sat down.
Mokuba sat down on Seto's lap and asked, "Seto, d-do I have to take a n-nap?"
"I'd give you just some aspirin but your wounds are a lot deeper than normal and I think it'd be better if you were asleep while I did this."
"B-but I w-want to stay with you."
"I'm not going anywhere kiddo. I promise when you wake up you'll still be here with me."
"Okay Seto."
"First go get a clean shirt and one spare just on the safe side. Then get any items or anything you want to take with you."
Mokuba nodded, went and got the shirts. 'Seto said any items. Well the only items I ever keep are in my cave cause I never trusted Noah or any of the family not to come down here and go through my stuff and steal it. I'd love to take my doll with me to Seto's but I'd have to go to my cave to get it and I'm not sure what Seto would think.'
Mokuba returned with the shirts and Seto was a touch saddened when he saw Mokuba had nothing more than his shirts.
'I guess he doesn't have them. Well I said it doesn't matter and if I show him any sign of not being serious about taking him he'll feel bad and not go with me. Now that I'm sure Noah's tried to rape him there's not a chance in hell I'm leaving this sweet kid here.'
"Okay kiddo, now you ready?"
Mokuba sighed and nodded. Seto gave him the sleeping pill and after making sure Mokuba was asleep, he did his best to treat him and put a lot of the ointment on his back and wrapped him up good and tight.
x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x
"There you are kiddo. This time that bandage isn't coming off till I get you home and get the doctor to put some of our special salve on it." Then Seto sighed. "I know he's going to hate that treatment even more, cause it's going to hurt a lot worse than what he's used to. It'll sting a whole lot more than normal ointments. It'll also take a lot of treatments but in time, it will completely heal all his wounds."
Seto settled in, pulled Mokuba up on his shoulder and covered him up with the blanket. Then he went to sleep.
x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x
A half-hour later Seto heard Noah pounding on the upstairs door. He knew that door wouldn't last too long and he wasn't sure if he could keep Mokuba awake for long. The kid's barely been down half an hour, but he didn't have much of a choice.
"Mokuba come on kiddo you have to get up."
Mokuba sat up rubbing his eyes. "W-what's w-wrong Seto?"
Before Seto could answer, they heard what sounded like wood breaking. Mokuba jumped and stood up, realizing Noah's somehow breaking the door down.
'Well if I didn't know that Noah was just going to hurt me, when he got a hold of me, I'd love to stick around and see how he explains the door. Maybe for once he'd get into trouble. Then again they probably would just decide to punish me in Noah's place.'
Seto got up and grabbed Mokuba's things. Then walked over and placed his hand on Mokuba's shoulder. Mokuba jumped but then relaxed as he realized it was only Seto.
"Here let's put your shirt on."
"Okay Seto."
Seto helped him with his shirt and Mokuba wrapped his arms tightly around Seto's. Once they got to the backdoor they heard the door above them breaking down completely and heard footsteps on the floor above.