Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Behind Blue Eyes: Seto's Story ❯ Day One: Arrival ( Chapter 2 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: kiokukaiba 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 08.14.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.4K | Visits: 502 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Hentai / Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 08.14.2007 | Pages: 5 | Words: 7.4K | Visits: 502 | Status: Work In Progress
Behind Blue Eyes: Seto’s Story
- - -
Disclaimer: I don’t own Yuugiou. Easy enough
Remember: This story is from Seto’s point of view, and not Jounouchi’s.
- - -
I awoke the next morning to that familiar sound; my alarm clock screeching at me to get my ass out of bed as though I had gotten sleep the night before. . . if you could call it night. I hadn’t slept until after midnight, due to Mokuba’s begging me to play video games for hours on end. I was great, but Mokuba was getting good. . . no way I was going to let him beat me, the master gamer. Then I had trudge off to bed, ready to fall asleep at any given moment. . . but not ready for what would await me when I did.
I had just recently started a new slew of medication, since the old medication had begun to get ineffective. With the change came unwanted results. My body was reverting back to how it was before I began medication; sudden attacks, flashbacks, feelings of hatred for myself (not that I ever went without such feelings), and then the worst thing of all: the nightmares.
Throughout my childhood in this mansion, I had nightmares each and every night, awaking in the morning only to find that I was more tired than before I had lay down to sleep. Life was tiring, sleep was tiring, work was tiring. . . could I not find refuge in anything?
This morning I wanted to get up even less than usual. Today marked the beginning of my two week sentence with Jounouchi Katsuya, the most ignorant teenage male in all of Domino. I wanted to shoot myself in the head just thinking about it. I was too tired for all of this shit. School was awful enough. I never rested, never ever felt self. Even when my medication was working properly, I still had the same nightmares; but real life was easier to cope with. The last thing I need was for that pathetic mutt to catch me in one of my little episodes, and that would be the end of me. I’d be the laughing joke of the school, and not to mention the press.
I sighed loud enough for only me to hear, dragging myself from the bed and towards my larger-than-necessary bathroom. My hand fumbled about for the faucet, both hands cupping under the cool water before lunging up towards my face to wash the sleep away. . . and that it did, just like ever morning. There was no way I would get used to icey-cold water hitting me right in the face just as I crawled from bed.
With my eyes wide open, and my hair still a wild mess, I stumbled downstairs and towards the kitchen, where there were sure to be a few of the early shift maids scrambling about. . . and surely enough, there they were, all dressed in uniform and ready to serve.
“Good morning, Mr. Kaiba!” They chimed in unison, their fake smiles and mask-like makeup was almost enough to make me hurl. Each of them looked just like the next. Such conformity was pathetic. Then again, those who become maids aren’t likely to have enough sense to think to do things on their own, now are they?
I nodded to them, acknowledging their annoying greeting, the same greeting I received every morning. I crossed the kitchen and entered our main dining hall. The table was long enough to feed probably fifty people, which was completely unnecessary. The only time I had ever seen the thing full was when. . .
No, such things are in the past and don’t matter anymore. The past doesn’t matter. Always move ahead, that was my motto. Backtracking worked in video games, but not in life. Life just sucks.
The moment my ass hit the cushioned chair, a warm breakfasted was sat on the table before me. . . the same breakfast I ate every morning, and as always, in larger proportions than I could possibly eat. I needed a dog or something to eat the scraps.
The rest isn’t really important. . . not that anything before that was or anything. I had gone back upstairs and changed into something that seemed comfortable; Black leather pants and a loose, white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top. I looked damn good. . . and I hated it, but it seemed that no matter what I chose, someone would always thing I was sexy. . . someone would always think I was fuckable.
He never looked at what I wore. . .he only saw me.
I slipped into Mokuba’s room at around seven thirty, to find him still sound asleep. I leaned over him, planting a light, loving kiss on his forehead, soon followed by his little arms wrapping around my neck. Even though he was thirteen now, he still had the same habits as when he was a young child. I loved when he wrapped his arms around me. . . but it was the same as when he wrapped his arms around me. I would never find that same warmth.
“I’m going to Jounouchi’s now, Mokuba. I’ll try to keep in touch, but don’t worry if I don’t.”
Mokuba attempted to wipe the sleep from his eyes, “Alright, Seto.” He flashed me that adorable smile, the smile that kept me going, “Have fun, and try to get along with him, alright? I love you big brother.” He returned the kiss on my forehead.
- - -
My driver remembered the path to the mutt’s apartment complex and was able to take me there quickly. I could recall the directions he gave me, and headed straight up to his door, my bags in tow. Yes, I had managed to pack before I fell into bed last night.
I beat on the door repeatedly, and still nothing. I folded my arms and waited as I could hear the sound of a clumsy creature stumbling about within. Without warning, the door flung open and revealed Jounouchi. . . still clad in, what I assume to be, yesterday’s school uniform.
He just stood there like a dolt, starting me up and down as though he had never seen me in his entire life. . . or maybe he had already forgotten about the project. . . that ignorant fuck.
“Why the hell do you always stare at me, you filthy mutt?” I made sure that he knew I was annoyed.
He raised his eyebrow at me, “You’re dressed strange today.”
Strange? How stupid of him; as though he had room to talk, “Oh? So do you always go to sleep in your uniform?” I put my right hand on the doorframe, my left hand placed lightly on my hip, and leaned forward to get close enough to stare him down like I did at school; but he seemed to have dazed out yet again, “Earth to Jounouchi!” This was getting more and more ridiculous by the second.
“Oh! Uh, what?” Instead of repeating myself, I simply allowed for my eyes to flicker down at his clothes. His amber eyes followed suite, “Oh yeah, I forgot to change last night.” He looked back up at me, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand, fingers catching small tangles as they went. What a slob.
I rolled my eyes, using my hand to push myself from the wall and away from him. I folded my arms once more, “I honestly don’t see how you could forget to change out of those filthy things.” I scrunched my face up slightly, and then straightened it up again, “Anyways, I didn’t feel like wearing a coat today. I wanted to be as comfortable as possible, besides. . .” I leaned close to him again and looked down into his eyes, “I don’t need to try to impress someone like you.” Which was true. I didn’t need to impress anyone, especially not some low-class dork like him.
He grabbed the collar of my shirt, both hands clenching the thin cloth tightly in fists, and pulled me down to his level, which really wasn’t so far from my own, “Don’t you ever talk down to me like that again. I am not lower than you.” He didn’t yell, but he did sound a bit pissed off. I only smirked, my blue eyes narrowing to slits as they mocked him. He stared me dead in the eyes right back.
“Is that supposed to scare me, Jounouchi?” I sneered, moving even closer so that our noses were touching; I could feel him tense up at the contact and he released me soon after. I straightened up and adjusted my collar, running a hand through my hair quickly.
“Let’s just go inside already,” He was obviously irritated, “I’ll give you a tour or something.”
“A short tour it will be, I’m guessing.” It was so easy to crack on him, it was like childsplay.
That’s when he went fucking apeshit on me, “Would you shut the fuck up about where I fucking live?! I’m sorry that I don’t have all the fucking money that you have!” He stormed inside and I followed him at his heels. I shut the door behind myself and he spun on my heels quickly. I stopped just short of running into him. “Maybe if my daddy gave me a company, I’d be fucking rich too!”
The children of East Domino High all gathered around me, the newest student. Their eyes were full of hatred, hatred for me. . . and jealousy. Who could be jealous of such a life? Their faces were blank. . . only eyes, hating eyes, judging eyes. . . jealousy, so thick I could cut it with a knife.
“I wish I had money given to me like that.”
“If I were adopted by a wealthy person, I would look good too.”
“You’re so lucky, and yet you’re so depressed all the time! You don’t have any excuse for that!”
“So many people would give anything to be in your place right now!”
Their voices were ringing in my ears, I couldn’t take it. They didn’t know me, they didn’t know my step father. . . they didn’t know what kind of hell I was going through! Stupid bastards! I rushed towards the one dead ahead of me and grasped at his neck, shoving him against the wall with my body. My breathing had become eradicated, as was usual when someone pissed me off enough. This child didn’t know my pain, my suffering! I gazed into those dying eyes. . . dying amber eyes. . . oh. . .
Jounouchi’s face came into focus and I released him, turning to retrieve my bags that I had left just outside. I could hear him coughing and sputtering. . . that couldn’t be good. . . perhaps he would let it go. . .
I returned shortly with my baggage in tow, “About that tour. . .” My expression remained blank. He gazed around the room for a bit, looking totally lost. . . and I let him. How could I possibly explain something like that? No, some things were best left unsaid.
“Uh, yeah. . .” He got to his feet in his usual clumsy manner, but stood straight nonetheless, and sighed, “Well,” He motioned a hand to our surrounding room, “We’re in the living room right now. . . and the kitchen is just over there,” He pointed to an open doorway and my eyes followed. I nodded in recognition. No smart remarks this time. I was still trying to recover from my episode.
The room smelled horribly of cigarette smokes and shitty perfume. . . as well as some other scent that Jounouchi must have used to try and hide them. Just what kind of person was this blond? (AN: Is that the correct form of blond that I used?)
There was an odd air about the place as I followed him down the one lonesome hallway. He stopped at one of the doors, “This is my dad’s room. Uh, don’t go in there.”
“Where is he?”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
“Oh, he’s. . . out of town for a week.”
“And the rest of them?”
“Them?”
“Your family, moron. I know that you at least have a sister.”
“My parents got a divorce when I was really little. My mom got my sister and my dad got me.”
“Oh. . .” He seemed a bit touchy about it, so I let it go. I wasn’t going to force him to say anything in hopes that he would be so considerate with me as well.
“Alright, so that door right there is the bathroom, and just across the hall. . . is my room, which is where one of us will be staying.”
My eyes shot open and I grabbed his shoulder, turning him to face me, “What do you mean by that?”
“One of us will get the couch and one of us will get the bed.” He stated, matter-of-factly.
“I get the bed.”
“I don’t think so. My apartment, my bed.”
“I refuse to sleep on a fucking couch.”
“I thought you didn’t use that word.”
“I don’t use it around Mokuba. . . I’m still not sleeping on a couch.”
“Then sleep on the floor.”
“Absolutely not!”
He laughed, and I arched an eyebrow, confused at this, “Sorry, it’s just that you are so pathetic!” He folded my arms in a mockery of what I had done when I first arrived.
“Excuse me?” Me? Seto Kaiba? Pathetic? I don’t fucking think so.
“It’s just that you think you are too good for such things when regular people do it all the time. . . actually, you could always sleep in the bed with me.” He grinned and I’m sure that my brows knitted together, my face suddenly feeling a bit heated. That filthy, perverted fuck.
“With the way you’ve been acting these past couple of days? I think not.”
“Oh, come on!” He persisted, “What do you think I’d do? Rape you?”
Rape? I visibly shook.
“Woah, hey. . . what’s wrong? Does the word ‘rape’ creep you out or something?”
That word again. . . that awful, horrible word. Without my control, my body forced my face to turn from him. . . in it’s own defense of course. . . to hide my eyes that clenched tightly shut. I didn’t want to think about this.
“You’re so weird when you aren’t in public!”
I breezed past him, luggage in tow, plopped onto his bed with a light bounce. . . the bed was very springy, you see, for Seto Kaiba certainly never bounces. . . and slung my bags to a corner of the room, “I think I’ll stay here, and you can sleep on the couch.” It was more of an order than anything.
“Listen Kaiba,” He began, “You’re on my turf now, and what I say goes. I have to live with your spoiled ass for two weeks, and I want to be in control for at least half of it!” He stood in front of me by this time, looking down into my eyes. “Unless you want to fight me for it.” He added, looking overly confident, as usual.
I smiled at him and sneered, “A pathetic puppy could never beat a human.”
“Too bad I’m not a puppy. . . ever seen how bad a dog can tear a person up?”
My eyes narrowed to slits, “Is that a threat?”
“What if it is?”
I sighed, closing my eyes and turning my head. I opened them again, gazing across the mutt’s bed in an attempt to determine if it were truly safe, “It’s a lot more spacious than I had first assumed.”
“Big enough for two people to fit with a little space left over.” A grin crept to his lips as I glared daggers at him, “Oh come on! We’re both guys! Dude, I’m fucking straight.”
“I don’t believe we would fit comfortably.” I tried to play it off. This was Jounouchi! Wasn’t he all head-over-heels for that blonde bimbo, Kujaku Mai? Was that her name? Either way, he was a part of that group of friendship fuckheads, so he wouldn’t try anything. I still wasn’t comfortable about the situation, though.
“You’re so thin, it’d be like there were only one and a half people in it.” I rolled his eyes and he laughed, “Oh come on! Learn to take a joke rich-boy! You’re skinny as hell. Did you even eat breakfa- oh yeah! I need some money.”
“Excuse me?” I glanced up at him again. He was trying my patience. I waited for him to explain his request for money. . . but his brown eyes seem to be looking past me. Again he was dazing out. “Are you on drugs?” I questioned.
“What?”
“You keep dazing out.”
“Oh, yeah. . . uh, no! I’m not on drugs, what the hell?!” He gave me a funny look, “There’s no food in the house, and I don’t have any money to go grocery shopping. . . would you mind buying some for me? I’ll find some way to pay you back, honest.” Begging like a dog, how fitting. It almost made me pity him, though. No one should have to beg another person to buy them food.
I pursed my lips, trying to hide the emotion of pity. I patted my hand on the bed next to me, expecting him to take a seat. Jounouchi didn’t react to my actions at all, and so I decided that I would have to say it plainly to him, “Sit down Jounouchi.” He sat beside me, like a dog obeying his master.
He really did look like a pathetic, pitiful puppy. The smell of alcohol, the absence of family, the lack of money. . . something was definitely wrong, and if my mind served me correctly as it always did, I had a pretty good idea of just what the problem was. “Is your father an alcoholic?” He froze at my words and I nodded my head, “I thought so, I could smell it when I first walked in. He’s out of town you say? Where?” This now sparked my curiosity. So Jounouchi’s father was an alcoholic. . . that would make for an interesting paper and therefore an excellent grade, as I was accustomed to.
“Las Vegas. . .” He was mumbling now. Apparently his father was a touchy subject. . . well he would fit right in with me then. Las Vegas? Gambling central of America. . . gambling. . .
“So he gambles then. . . in debt? He gambles your money away, and so you have no money, no food. . . what a fucking asshole.” Any man who puts anything before his family is a waste of oxygen and human flesh.
Jounouchi suddenly looked confused, and then strangely angry at me, “You act like you understand. You’ve never fucking had the hardships that I have!”
I slapped him, hard, unable to resist the rage that surged through my body at his pathetic assumptions. Instantly I tried to calm myself down. No reason to lose my cool with this waste of space. His own hand flew up instantly, covering the red flesh, a hiss escaping his. I glared at him, “You don’t know anything about me, Jounouchi Katsuya.”
“Then tell me!” He nearly pleaded, “Tell me about you!” I simply stared at him. If he thought I was just going to sit there and spill my heart out to him, he had another thing coming. I watched as he reached to the floor, snatching up his bookbag and flipping through papers, quickly retrieving what appeared to be the project packet.
“What are you doing?” I inquired.
“Finding questions to ask you for the project. We’re going to start working on that project right now.” He studied one particular page intensely.
“Why are you so eager to do this? The whole school knows how much of a slacker you are.”
“Let’s just say I have reasons of my own.”
“Generally a person’s reasons are their own.”
He rolled my eyes and I smirked. He returned his gaze to the papers in his hands, “Alright then. . . let me find a good one.” He seemed to be skimming the list for a bit, before his eyes lit up, with an idea nonetheless, “Actually, I’ve always wanted to know why you’re such an asshole.”
“Heh, there aren’t enough hours in the day to explain that.”
“Well, for now, give me a brief reason as to why you act the way you do.”
“My step father.” Had I really said that? What in the hell was I thinking? It was none of his fucking business! But. . . it did feel kind of good to come out and say it. . .
“Your step dad? What did he do?” He had opened a notebook to the first page, grabbing the nearest pen, pulling the cap off with his teeth and spitting it out nowhere in particular. He held the ball-point tip to the paper, ready to jot down my answer. What the fuck was this? Some sort of fucking therapy session?
My eyes inched slowly from the notebook to his face, where I allowed for them to rest on his eyes. I had learned over the years that it was easiest to communicate with someone by simply looking them in the eyes. I wanted him to look into my eyes, see my uneasiness, and therefore shut the hell up about my step father, without me actually admitting that I didn’t want to talk about it. Saying something like that would make me look weak. . . weak. . . that man always said I was weak. . . but he always said I was strong. . .
As I snapped out of my small daydream, I could see that he had drifted off in another daydreaming. . . his eyes staring into mine. . . judging me, “You’re already making assumptions in that little mind of yours, aren’t you?” My hands were folded in my lap, my fingers intertwining unconsciously, it was a nervous tic of mine, “Why would you start with something as big as that? I wasn’t adopted by my step father until I was twelve.” Yeah, that’s it! A great game strategy. Change the subject.
“Twelve?” He scribbled it down in his little notebook, glancing up at me in the middle of doing so, “What happened to your real parents?” I sighed and looked down at my hands. I really didn’t want to tell him anything, especially not anything about any members of my family. That was the past, it was dead and buried, but. . . why did it still hurt to think about it? To think about Gozaburo, to think about mom and dad. . . to think about Saki. No, I absolutely couldn’t think of him. “Kaiba? I got another pizza in the freezer. Want me to put one in the oven and we can work on this over eating?” Jounouchi’s sudden voice caught my attention.
I nearly accepted, but became confused when I caught sight of his clock, “But it’s just nine o’clock.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly get a chance to eat breakfast, you kinda woke me up. . . and you need to eat more anyways! I’ll put some meat on those bones while your staying here!” He stood, taking his notebook with him, and made to leave the room. I smiled the slightest bit in amusement at the fact that he was still wearing his school uniform. He really needed to change.
“Jounouchi?”
He spun on his heels, “Yeah?”
“Perhaps you should change. I’ll put the pizza in the oven. I can cook, you know.” I stood swiftly, stepping across the room and out the door, shutting it behind me so he could change in privacy.
It wasn’t difficult to find the kitchen again; his apartment wasn’t exactly what anyone would call ‘large’. I opened the freezer, finding the one lonesome pizza box within. As I was preheating the oven, my mind began to wander.
Should I tell Jounouchi the truth about my past? As weird as it may sound, I truly wanted to talk about it to someone. I couldn’t talk to Mokuba; he was way too young! I couldn’t talk to a therapist, because they didn’t really ever seem completely human. Then again, Jounouchi didn’t seem too much better with that notebook approach of his. He seemed to have quite a history of his own. I had also given him my word that I would tell him everything about myself. . . only a coward goes back on his word. That’s one thing I’ve always been; a man of my word.
The oven beeped, ready for me to insert the pizza, which I did carefully so as not to burn my arms. I shut the door, setting the timer on twelve minutes. I stood there and watched the minutes tick away until it got down to about eight minutes left.
“Jounouchi is taking an awfully long time.” Out of sheer curiosity, I traveled back down the hallway, slowly inching open the door and stepping inside without even the smallest of noises. I about fell over.
The greatest fear I had in staying at his house was him finding out about my illnesses. . . but how could I like an cover it up now? There he was, on the floor of his bedroom, going through my things! He had a pill bottle in each hand, studying the labels. Even lying wouldn’t cover my ass.
“I could look these up on the computer later. . .” He told himself, turning the bottles to study them.
“I should of known that you’d go through my things, Jounouchi.” I did my best to hide the shaking of my voice. Whether that shaking was from anger or fear, I had no clue.
He turned around quickly at the sound of my voice, the terror of being caught obvious in the size of his eyes, “How long have you been there?”
“Long enough to notice your interest in my medicine.”
He glanced down at the bottles in his hands, “What are they for?”
I folded my arms, leaning against the doorframe and looking down the hallway. No use in lying. . . “Well, Paxil is for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Wellbutrin is an antidepressant. . . the pizza is in the oven, come out with me.” Yes, another excellent use of the changing-of-the-subject technique. I was beginning to master that art.
He followed close behind me, nearly running into me at some points in our short journey. Jounouchi wasn’t dressed in anything out of what would have been the ordinary for him. Just a plain white t-shirt and some relatively faded blue jeans. He sat in the first chair at the kitchen table that he came to, and I sat across from him, trying to hide the uneasiness that must have been obvious in my features. I kept telling myself the same thing over and over. . . No use in lying.
“I know that you have questions, so ask them. We’ll have to do this eventually anyways.” It wasn’t much, but it took a hell of a lot of courage to say it.
“Well, you can start by telling me the real reason you’re so skinny.”
Okay, not the question I was expecting, but a legitimate question in it’s own right. I sighed, “Wellbutrin has a side affect of loss of appetite. . . not to mention my stomach has shrank over the years from a lack of eating.” I hadn’t meant to say that last bit. . . or had I? No use in lying. . .
“Why wouldn’t you eat?” His brows knit together and he leaned forward, getting close to my face.
No use in lying. . .
“Well, when you go through enough, you just don’t feel much like eating.”
“Okay. . . will you answer my question from earlier? The question about how your real parents died?”
I lay his folded arms up on the table, placing my head on top. . . No use in lying. . . “My mother died when she gave birth to Mokuba, and my father died in a car accident years after.” I glanced up at him.
“Wow. . . did you ever hate Mokuba?”
No use in lying. . . “I did at first. I used to tell my father to give Mokuba to God in exchange for my mother back.” I looked down at the table, ashamed for ever allowing those words to leave my mouth; I love Mokuba with all my being, “I regret saying that, now. Mokuba’s life is more important to me. He was only a baby, it wasn’t his fault that she died.” Mokuba was my everything.
“What about the rest of your family? You know, your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins?”
No use in lying. . . “They passed us from family to family, until they had all of our inheritance, and then dumped us off at the Domino City orphanage.” I choked out a pitiful little chuckle from deep in my throat, “I don’t give a fuck about them.” Which was true. . . I didn’t care about them and I never would.
I hated my family. I hardly even remembered them, and yet I hate them. There must be something wrong with that. . . no, people such as them could never and should never be forgiven. I felt a gentle weight on my head suddenly. . . but I didn’t really mind it so much. . . and then when I could feel fingers intertwining with my hair, it felt so nice. I allowed for my eyes to flutter shut, reminiscing for a bit.
“So,” The blond continued, “You had a childhood full of misery. . . and then were adopted into a life of luxury?”
“Fuck no!!” I slapped his hand away, standing quickly and nearly falling. He had jumped up as well, in an attempt to catch me, but I immediately pushed him away again, backing up until I was against the wall, “You don’t fucking know anything! My life was never good, you fucking mutt, you fucking coward! You don’t know how good you have it! You don’t know! You don’t know!” Without much warning, he roughly grabbed my arms, pulling me against him. By then, my eyes were blinded with rage, with hatred. . . hatred for. . . his body was so warm. . . so warm like. . . like him. Who was it that really hurt me. . . it was that man that did this to me. I grabbed onto his shirt, my head over his right shoulder, and barely whispered into my ear, “You don’t know what he did to me. . .”
I could feel him shiver against me. “Do you mean,” He started, “What your step father did?” I nodded my head against his shoulder, my grip loosening on his shirt. Why I had grabbed onto him to begin with, I couldn’t figure out. I squirmed slightly against him, but he only held me tighter, “Seto,” I straightened at the use of my first name, “I want you to give me your word right now that you will tell me about your life with your step father.”
“Why?” I sounded so pathetic! I hadn’t sounded like this in so many years. . . not since the day that. . . the day that Saki betrayed me. Here I was, in from of one of my enemies, blubbering like a child!
“Because I have a feeling that you’ve been hiding something horrible all these years and that you need to tell someone. You need to let everything out. If you do, you’ll feel better about it. I promise you, I won’t laugh at you, poke fun at you, spread your secrets. . . what you tell me stays between you and me, do you understand? And what I tell you stays between just us as well.” Again, I nodded, though slightly more hesitant than I had last time. His words were soothing somehow, and his tone told no lies. He was being straightforward with me and I liked that. He smiled a bit, “Now, give me your word.”
“I will tell you, in time.” Yes, that was a good enough answer. His arms loosened slightly, giving me enough space to lean back and look into his eyes and search for a sense of truth within those amber depths. Could I trust him? Probably not. . . I had to be careful.
A light ping rang through the air and as though on cue, both of us turned our heads towards the oven, “Let me get it,” He offered, “You just have a seat.” I returned to my place at the table, staring off into space again, still wondering whether or not I should tell him anything. . . maybe just the small things. . . I watched Jounouchi pull out the pizza. He glanced back at me, probably just to see if I were looking.
“Stop looking at my ass.” He said jokingly, smiling at me. I forced a tiny smile back to him, watching as he sat the hot pan on the stove, slipping off the oven mitt. He came back to the table, leaning on it, “Smile.”
“What?” I was a bit taken aback by the random request.
“Smile. If you smile, I won’t ask anymore questions about your family until tomorrow.” He grinned that stupid grin of his, but the offer was not really something I could refuse.
I twisted my lips into various poses, trying to figure out just what kind of smile I would honor him with, when I really began to wonder if there were some sort of conditions with our little deal, “You won’t ask me anymore questions about my family until tomorrow if I smile? That’s all I have to do?”
“Yup, somehow I think that’ll be more difficult for you to do than anything else.” I looked up at him, ready to hold up my end of the bargain, when he added on last little requirement, “Oh, and it has to look genuine.”
For a moment I hesitated, licking his lips in thought, before I flashed the most genuine smile that I could muster. Jounouchi’s eyes seemed too light up as he looked on, “Beautiful.”
I dropped the smile as quickly as I had formed it, “What?” Surely he hadn’t said what I think he said. . .
“Nothing.” He insisted, returning to our neglected pizza to slice it, “Let’s just eat this before it gets cold.”
There was an awkward silence during our entire meal, so I’ll skip on the boring details. . . well, there really aren’t any details, so I guess the only thing skipped here is the time it took for us to eat.
“What do you do all day?” I suppose that all the silence finally got to him.
“School and work.” I leaned back in my chair, my arms folded loosely.
“That’s it? Don’t you go out with your friends?” Jounouchi really was a dumbass.
“I don’t have friends, I have acquaintances.” I said it plainly, already tired of answering stupid questions from a dumbass such as himself,
“Why don’t you try acting like a teenager for a change, rather than acting like an old fart all the time?” My eyes likely widened a bit, with me not being one to show much emotion and all. “I think you’ve let your guard down.”
“I don’t need to guard myself around one little runt like yourself.”
“Do you always have to be such a fucking asshole?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to act like this the entire project?”
“Absolutely.” Whether that was true or not, I wasn’t so sure. . .
It was another standoff, him glaring and me just looking amused. “Stand up.” He demanded, and I chuckled a bit, not about to obey his order, “I said stand up!” My smirk faded, replaced by a rather annoyed expression. I studied him intently. Was he fucking serious?
“And why, dare I ask, would I listen to you?” I glared at him.
Before I could react, he was at the tables side, holding me high above my seat by my right arm with a strength I couldn’t recall him possessing. I winced slightly, in a bit of shock at the situation. He looked pissed, “You think I’m fucking playing, Kaiba?!” I swung at him with my left hand frantically, but he caught it with ease, holding it in the same hand as my other wrist.
He moved us to the wall nearest the kitchen table and shoved me roughly against it. . . my mind was screaming at me to move, and yet my body wasn’t responding any longer. He was holding me lower now, so that I seemed smaller than him, and then crushed his body against my own, eliciting a few grunts from me that I hadn’t meant to let out. Though I couldn’t bring myself to move much, I could still yell.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”
“Teaching you a lesson.” A lesson?
Again, my step father had left the company in my care as he attended a press conference across the country, and again, stocks dropped to a percent lower than before he had left, which was immediately considered my fault. I wasn’t good at this, he had always said to me. I wasn’t smart enough, I would never make a good CEO of Kaiba Corporation. . . the only thing I was good at was. . .
Was. . .
He had returned from the conference, furious and blinded by his frightening rage. I knew was would happen. It always happened this way. He was going to give me another ‘lesson’ which always consisted of some sort of beating or torture. He had quickly learned everything that hurt me most. . . and used it to his advantage.
I could only watched as the older man approached him, his strong hands gripping my wrists, and I couldn’t only plead for forgiveness as his free hand beat me ruthlessly. My voice was pathetic wailing throughout the session, screaming over and over. . .
“D-don’t. . . N-no! No, don’t! Don’t do it! I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It won’t happen again! Don’t touch me! Leave me alone! No! It hurts, it hurts!” I could hear a voice, someone’s voice. . . someone trying to calm me? No, not here, not with Gozaburo, I remained in a panic, “I hate you Gozaburo!” Another voice came to me. . .
“What did you just call me?” Oh, I had forgotten! I called him by his name while we were alone, he would hurt me for that. He owned me.
“M-master. . .” I corrected myself. I could feel strong arms pulling me against a warm body and I fought them, but I was no match.
“Shh,” That same voice whispered, a gentle hand rubbing my back, “It’s me, Jounouchi.”
My eyes shot open. I was on the floor now, Jounouchi holding me tightly, his expression confused and panicked. What had happened? Why was I on the floor. . . We were idly chatting. . . and then. . . Gozaburo was. . .
No. Gozaburo was dead. He was dead and never coming back.
“Huh?” I muttered, quickly analyzing our position, “What the fuck are you doing?!”
“Trying to calm your ass down.”
“What?”
“You spazzed out and started screaming for me not to touch you and that something hurt, then you called me. . .” He stopped suddenly, as though he was rethinking telling me.
“Called you what?”
“I don’t remember, don’t worry about it.” He looked into my eyes. Without words, I thanked him. I knew exactly what was going on now. . . and I really didn’t want to discuss it. He sighed, “You wanna go out somewhere? To help pass the time?”
“Out? Where?”
“Kaiba, we’re going to go to the mall, or a club, or the shops around town. . . anywhere to get you into teenage life. You have got to get out more often!”
“The mall? With you?” My tone was degrading, but I made sure that my expression was light-hearted so that he knew I was joking. He smiled at me when he understood.
“You don’t really mean that.” Apparently he felt the need to make sure, though. “You’re just joking, right?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. . .” I stood and brushed myself off. Okay, so I wasn’t ready to admit it out loud yet, it just wasn’t my style.
He headed for the door, “We’d better get walking then, it’s about five miles to the mall.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” I stared at his back, “Walk? There is no way in hell I’m walking.”
“Well. . . you could always pay our way in a cab.”
“Fine, whatever. . . just as long as we don’t have to walk.” I walked out the door, keeping my distance from him as he followed soon after.
I must say that I was dreading this little adventure. . . and soon I would find out why.
- - -
- - -
Disclaimer: I don’t own Yuugiou. Easy enough
Remember: This story is from Seto’s point of view, and not Jounouchi’s.
- - -
I awoke the next morning to that familiar sound; my alarm clock screeching at me to get my ass out of bed as though I had gotten sleep the night before. . . if you could call it night. I hadn’t slept until after midnight, due to Mokuba’s begging me to play video games for hours on end. I was great, but Mokuba was getting good. . . no way I was going to let him beat me, the master gamer. Then I had trudge off to bed, ready to fall asleep at any given moment. . . but not ready for what would await me when I did.
I had just recently started a new slew of medication, since the old medication had begun to get ineffective. With the change came unwanted results. My body was reverting back to how it was before I began medication; sudden attacks, flashbacks, feelings of hatred for myself (not that I ever went without such feelings), and then the worst thing of all: the nightmares.
Throughout my childhood in this mansion, I had nightmares each and every night, awaking in the morning only to find that I was more tired than before I had lay down to sleep. Life was tiring, sleep was tiring, work was tiring. . . could I not find refuge in anything?
This morning I wanted to get up even less than usual. Today marked the beginning of my two week sentence with Jounouchi Katsuya, the most ignorant teenage male in all of Domino. I wanted to shoot myself in the head just thinking about it. I was too tired for all of this shit. School was awful enough. I never rested, never ever felt self. Even when my medication was working properly, I still had the same nightmares; but real life was easier to cope with. The last thing I need was for that pathetic mutt to catch me in one of my little episodes, and that would be the end of me. I’d be the laughing joke of the school, and not to mention the press.
I sighed loud enough for only me to hear, dragging myself from the bed and towards my larger-than-necessary bathroom. My hand fumbled about for the faucet, both hands cupping under the cool water before lunging up towards my face to wash the sleep away. . . and that it did, just like ever morning. There was no way I would get used to icey-cold water hitting me right in the face just as I crawled from bed.
With my eyes wide open, and my hair still a wild mess, I stumbled downstairs and towards the kitchen, where there were sure to be a few of the early shift maids scrambling about. . . and surely enough, there they were, all dressed in uniform and ready to serve.
“Good morning, Mr. Kaiba!” They chimed in unison, their fake smiles and mask-like makeup was almost enough to make me hurl. Each of them looked just like the next. Such conformity was pathetic. Then again, those who become maids aren’t likely to have enough sense to think to do things on their own, now are they?
I nodded to them, acknowledging their annoying greeting, the same greeting I received every morning. I crossed the kitchen and entered our main dining hall. The table was long enough to feed probably fifty people, which was completely unnecessary. The only time I had ever seen the thing full was when. . .
No, such things are in the past and don’t matter anymore. The past doesn’t matter. Always move ahead, that was my motto. Backtracking worked in video games, but not in life. Life just sucks.
The moment my ass hit the cushioned chair, a warm breakfasted was sat on the table before me. . . the same breakfast I ate every morning, and as always, in larger proportions than I could possibly eat. I needed a dog or something to eat the scraps.
The rest isn’t really important. . . not that anything before that was or anything. I had gone back upstairs and changed into something that seemed comfortable; Black leather pants and a loose, white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top. I looked damn good. . . and I hated it, but it seemed that no matter what I chose, someone would always thing I was sexy. . . someone would always think I was fuckable.
He never looked at what I wore. . .he only saw me.
I slipped into Mokuba’s room at around seven thirty, to find him still sound asleep. I leaned over him, planting a light, loving kiss on his forehead, soon followed by his little arms wrapping around my neck. Even though he was thirteen now, he still had the same habits as when he was a young child. I loved when he wrapped his arms around me. . . but it was the same as when he wrapped his arms around me. I would never find that same warmth.
“I’m going to Jounouchi’s now, Mokuba. I’ll try to keep in touch, but don’t worry if I don’t.”
Mokuba attempted to wipe the sleep from his eyes, “Alright, Seto.” He flashed me that adorable smile, the smile that kept me going, “Have fun, and try to get along with him, alright? I love you big brother.” He returned the kiss on my forehead.
- - -
My driver remembered the path to the mutt’s apartment complex and was able to take me there quickly. I could recall the directions he gave me, and headed straight up to his door, my bags in tow. Yes, I had managed to pack before I fell into bed last night.
I beat on the door repeatedly, and still nothing. I folded my arms and waited as I could hear the sound of a clumsy creature stumbling about within. Without warning, the door flung open and revealed Jounouchi. . . still clad in, what I assume to be, yesterday’s school uniform.
He just stood there like a dolt, starting me up and down as though he had never seen me in his entire life. . . or maybe he had already forgotten about the project. . . that ignorant fuck.
“Why the hell do you always stare at me, you filthy mutt?” I made sure that he knew I was annoyed.
He raised his eyebrow at me, “You’re dressed strange today.”
Strange? How stupid of him; as though he had room to talk, “Oh? So do you always go to sleep in your uniform?” I put my right hand on the doorframe, my left hand placed lightly on my hip, and leaned forward to get close enough to stare him down like I did at school; but he seemed to have dazed out yet again, “Earth to Jounouchi!” This was getting more and more ridiculous by the second.
“Oh! Uh, what?” Instead of repeating myself, I simply allowed for my eyes to flicker down at his clothes. His amber eyes followed suite, “Oh yeah, I forgot to change last night.” He looked back up at me, rubbing the back of his head with his right hand, fingers catching small tangles as they went. What a slob.
I rolled my eyes, using my hand to push myself from the wall and away from him. I folded my arms once more, “I honestly don’t see how you could forget to change out of those filthy things.” I scrunched my face up slightly, and then straightened it up again, “Anyways, I didn’t feel like wearing a coat today. I wanted to be as comfortable as possible, besides. . .” I leaned close to him again and looked down into his eyes, “I don’t need to try to impress someone like you.” Which was true. I didn’t need to impress anyone, especially not some low-class dork like him.
He grabbed the collar of my shirt, both hands clenching the thin cloth tightly in fists, and pulled me down to his level, which really wasn’t so far from my own, “Don’t you ever talk down to me like that again. I am not lower than you.” He didn’t yell, but he did sound a bit pissed off. I only smirked, my blue eyes narrowing to slits as they mocked him. He stared me dead in the eyes right back.
“Is that supposed to scare me, Jounouchi?” I sneered, moving even closer so that our noses were touching; I could feel him tense up at the contact and he released me soon after. I straightened up and adjusted my collar, running a hand through my hair quickly.
“Let’s just go inside already,” He was obviously irritated, “I’ll give you a tour or something.”
“A short tour it will be, I’m guessing.” It was so easy to crack on him, it was like childsplay.
That’s when he went fucking apeshit on me, “Would you shut the fuck up about where I fucking live?! I’m sorry that I don’t have all the fucking money that you have!” He stormed inside and I followed him at his heels. I shut the door behind myself and he spun on my heels quickly. I stopped just short of running into him. “Maybe if my daddy gave me a company, I’d be fucking rich too!”
The children of East Domino High all gathered around me, the newest student. Their eyes were full of hatred, hatred for me. . . and jealousy. Who could be jealous of such a life? Their faces were blank. . . only eyes, hating eyes, judging eyes. . . jealousy, so thick I could cut it with a knife.
“I wish I had money given to me like that.”
“If I were adopted by a wealthy person, I would look good too.”
“You’re so lucky, and yet you’re so depressed all the time! You don’t have any excuse for that!”
“So many people would give anything to be in your place right now!”
Their voices were ringing in my ears, I couldn’t take it. They didn’t know me, they didn’t know my step father. . . they didn’t know what kind of hell I was going through! Stupid bastards! I rushed towards the one dead ahead of me and grasped at his neck, shoving him against the wall with my body. My breathing had become eradicated, as was usual when someone pissed me off enough. This child didn’t know my pain, my suffering! I gazed into those dying eyes. . . dying amber eyes. . . oh. . .
Jounouchi’s face came into focus and I released him, turning to retrieve my bags that I had left just outside. I could hear him coughing and sputtering. . . that couldn’t be good. . . perhaps he would let it go. . .
I returned shortly with my baggage in tow, “About that tour. . .” My expression remained blank. He gazed around the room for a bit, looking totally lost. . . and I let him. How could I possibly explain something like that? No, some things were best left unsaid.
“Uh, yeah. . .” He got to his feet in his usual clumsy manner, but stood straight nonetheless, and sighed, “Well,” He motioned a hand to our surrounding room, “We’re in the living room right now. . . and the kitchen is just over there,” He pointed to an open doorway and my eyes followed. I nodded in recognition. No smart remarks this time. I was still trying to recover from my episode.
The room smelled horribly of cigarette smokes and shitty perfume. . . as well as some other scent that Jounouchi must have used to try and hide them. Just what kind of person was this blond? (AN: Is that the correct form of blond that I used?)
There was an odd air about the place as I followed him down the one lonesome hallway. He stopped at one of the doors, “This is my dad’s room. Uh, don’t go in there.”
“Where is he?”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
“Oh, he’s. . . out of town for a week.”
“And the rest of them?”
“Them?”
“Your family, moron. I know that you at least have a sister.”
“My parents got a divorce when I was really little. My mom got my sister and my dad got me.”
“Oh. . .” He seemed a bit touchy about it, so I let it go. I wasn’t going to force him to say anything in hopes that he would be so considerate with me as well.
“Alright, so that door right there is the bathroom, and just across the hall. . . is my room, which is where one of us will be staying.”
My eyes shot open and I grabbed his shoulder, turning him to face me, “What do you mean by that?”
“One of us will get the couch and one of us will get the bed.” He stated, matter-of-factly.
“I get the bed.”
“I don’t think so. My apartment, my bed.”
“I refuse to sleep on a fucking couch.”
“I thought you didn’t use that word.”
“I don’t use it around Mokuba. . . I’m still not sleeping on a couch.”
“Then sleep on the floor.”
“Absolutely not!”
He laughed, and I arched an eyebrow, confused at this, “Sorry, it’s just that you are so pathetic!” He folded my arms in a mockery of what I had done when I first arrived.
“Excuse me?” Me? Seto Kaiba? Pathetic? I don’t fucking think so.
“It’s just that you think you are too good for such things when regular people do it all the time. . . actually, you could always sleep in the bed with me.” He grinned and I’m sure that my brows knitted together, my face suddenly feeling a bit heated. That filthy, perverted fuck.
“With the way you’ve been acting these past couple of days? I think not.”
“Oh, come on!” He persisted, “What do you think I’d do? Rape you?”
Rape? I visibly shook.
“Woah, hey. . . what’s wrong? Does the word ‘rape’ creep you out or something?”
That word again. . . that awful, horrible word. Without my control, my body forced my face to turn from him. . . in it’s own defense of course. . . to hide my eyes that clenched tightly shut. I didn’t want to think about this.
“You’re so weird when you aren’t in public!”
I breezed past him, luggage in tow, plopped onto his bed with a light bounce. . . the bed was very springy, you see, for Seto Kaiba certainly never bounces. . . and slung my bags to a corner of the room, “I think I’ll stay here, and you can sleep on the couch.” It was more of an order than anything.
“Listen Kaiba,” He began, “You’re on my turf now, and what I say goes. I have to live with your spoiled ass for two weeks, and I want to be in control for at least half of it!” He stood in front of me by this time, looking down into my eyes. “Unless you want to fight me for it.” He added, looking overly confident, as usual.
I smiled at him and sneered, “A pathetic puppy could never beat a human.”
“Too bad I’m not a puppy. . . ever seen how bad a dog can tear a person up?”
My eyes narrowed to slits, “Is that a threat?”
“What if it is?”
I sighed, closing my eyes and turning my head. I opened them again, gazing across the mutt’s bed in an attempt to determine if it were truly safe, “It’s a lot more spacious than I had first assumed.”
“Big enough for two people to fit with a little space left over.” A grin crept to his lips as I glared daggers at him, “Oh come on! We’re both guys! Dude, I’m fucking straight.”
“I don’t believe we would fit comfortably.” I tried to play it off. This was Jounouchi! Wasn’t he all head-over-heels for that blonde bimbo, Kujaku Mai? Was that her name? Either way, he was a part of that group of friendship fuckheads, so he wouldn’t try anything. I still wasn’t comfortable about the situation, though.
“You’re so thin, it’d be like there were only one and a half people in it.” I rolled his eyes and he laughed, “Oh come on! Learn to take a joke rich-boy! You’re skinny as hell. Did you even eat breakfa- oh yeah! I need some money.”
“Excuse me?” I glanced up at him again. He was trying my patience. I waited for him to explain his request for money. . . but his brown eyes seem to be looking past me. Again he was dazing out. “Are you on drugs?” I questioned.
“What?”
“You keep dazing out.”
“Oh, yeah. . . uh, no! I’m not on drugs, what the hell?!” He gave me a funny look, “There’s no food in the house, and I don’t have any money to go grocery shopping. . . would you mind buying some for me? I’ll find some way to pay you back, honest.” Begging like a dog, how fitting. It almost made me pity him, though. No one should have to beg another person to buy them food.
I pursed my lips, trying to hide the emotion of pity. I patted my hand on the bed next to me, expecting him to take a seat. Jounouchi didn’t react to my actions at all, and so I decided that I would have to say it plainly to him, “Sit down Jounouchi.” He sat beside me, like a dog obeying his master.
He really did look like a pathetic, pitiful puppy. The smell of alcohol, the absence of family, the lack of money. . . something was definitely wrong, and if my mind served me correctly as it always did, I had a pretty good idea of just what the problem was. “Is your father an alcoholic?” He froze at my words and I nodded my head, “I thought so, I could smell it when I first walked in. He’s out of town you say? Where?” This now sparked my curiosity. So Jounouchi’s father was an alcoholic. . . that would make for an interesting paper and therefore an excellent grade, as I was accustomed to.
“Las Vegas. . .” He was mumbling now. Apparently his father was a touchy subject. . . well he would fit right in with me then. Las Vegas? Gambling central of America. . . gambling. . .
“So he gambles then. . . in debt? He gambles your money away, and so you have no money, no food. . . what a fucking asshole.” Any man who puts anything before his family is a waste of oxygen and human flesh.
Jounouchi suddenly looked confused, and then strangely angry at me, “You act like you understand. You’ve never fucking had the hardships that I have!”
I slapped him, hard, unable to resist the rage that surged through my body at his pathetic assumptions. Instantly I tried to calm myself down. No reason to lose my cool with this waste of space. His own hand flew up instantly, covering the red flesh, a hiss escaping his. I glared at him, “You don’t know anything about me, Jounouchi Katsuya.”
“Then tell me!” He nearly pleaded, “Tell me about you!” I simply stared at him. If he thought I was just going to sit there and spill my heart out to him, he had another thing coming. I watched as he reached to the floor, snatching up his bookbag and flipping through papers, quickly retrieving what appeared to be the project packet.
“What are you doing?” I inquired.
“Finding questions to ask you for the project. We’re going to start working on that project right now.” He studied one particular page intensely.
“Why are you so eager to do this? The whole school knows how much of a slacker you are.”
“Let’s just say I have reasons of my own.”
“Generally a person’s reasons are their own.”
He rolled my eyes and I smirked. He returned his gaze to the papers in his hands, “Alright then. . . let me find a good one.” He seemed to be skimming the list for a bit, before his eyes lit up, with an idea nonetheless, “Actually, I’ve always wanted to know why you’re such an asshole.”
“Heh, there aren’t enough hours in the day to explain that.”
“Well, for now, give me a brief reason as to why you act the way you do.”
“My step father.” Had I really said that? What in the hell was I thinking? It was none of his fucking business! But. . . it did feel kind of good to come out and say it. . .
“Your step dad? What did he do?” He had opened a notebook to the first page, grabbing the nearest pen, pulling the cap off with his teeth and spitting it out nowhere in particular. He held the ball-point tip to the paper, ready to jot down my answer. What the fuck was this? Some sort of fucking therapy session?
My eyes inched slowly from the notebook to his face, where I allowed for them to rest on his eyes. I had learned over the years that it was easiest to communicate with someone by simply looking them in the eyes. I wanted him to look into my eyes, see my uneasiness, and therefore shut the hell up about my step father, without me actually admitting that I didn’t want to talk about it. Saying something like that would make me look weak. . . weak. . . that man always said I was weak. . . but he always said I was strong. . .
As I snapped out of my small daydream, I could see that he had drifted off in another daydreaming. . . his eyes staring into mine. . . judging me, “You’re already making assumptions in that little mind of yours, aren’t you?” My hands were folded in my lap, my fingers intertwining unconsciously, it was a nervous tic of mine, “Why would you start with something as big as that? I wasn’t adopted by my step father until I was twelve.” Yeah, that’s it! A great game strategy. Change the subject.
“Twelve?” He scribbled it down in his little notebook, glancing up at me in the middle of doing so, “What happened to your real parents?” I sighed and looked down at my hands. I really didn’t want to tell him anything, especially not anything about any members of my family. That was the past, it was dead and buried, but. . . why did it still hurt to think about it? To think about Gozaburo, to think about mom and dad. . . to think about Saki. No, I absolutely couldn’t think of him. “Kaiba? I got another pizza in the freezer. Want me to put one in the oven and we can work on this over eating?” Jounouchi’s sudden voice caught my attention.
I nearly accepted, but became confused when I caught sight of his clock, “But it’s just nine o’clock.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly get a chance to eat breakfast, you kinda woke me up. . . and you need to eat more anyways! I’ll put some meat on those bones while your staying here!” He stood, taking his notebook with him, and made to leave the room. I smiled the slightest bit in amusement at the fact that he was still wearing his school uniform. He really needed to change.
“Jounouchi?”
He spun on his heels, “Yeah?”
“Perhaps you should change. I’ll put the pizza in the oven. I can cook, you know.” I stood swiftly, stepping across the room and out the door, shutting it behind me so he could change in privacy.
It wasn’t difficult to find the kitchen again; his apartment wasn’t exactly what anyone would call ‘large’. I opened the freezer, finding the one lonesome pizza box within. As I was preheating the oven, my mind began to wander.
Should I tell Jounouchi the truth about my past? As weird as it may sound, I truly wanted to talk about it to someone. I couldn’t talk to Mokuba; he was way too young! I couldn’t talk to a therapist, because they didn’t really ever seem completely human. Then again, Jounouchi didn’t seem too much better with that notebook approach of his. He seemed to have quite a history of his own. I had also given him my word that I would tell him everything about myself. . . only a coward goes back on his word. That’s one thing I’ve always been; a man of my word.
The oven beeped, ready for me to insert the pizza, which I did carefully so as not to burn my arms. I shut the door, setting the timer on twelve minutes. I stood there and watched the minutes tick away until it got down to about eight minutes left.
“Jounouchi is taking an awfully long time.” Out of sheer curiosity, I traveled back down the hallway, slowly inching open the door and stepping inside without even the smallest of noises. I about fell over.
The greatest fear I had in staying at his house was him finding out about my illnesses. . . but how could I like an cover it up now? There he was, on the floor of his bedroom, going through my things! He had a pill bottle in each hand, studying the labels. Even lying wouldn’t cover my ass.
“I could look these up on the computer later. . .” He told himself, turning the bottles to study them.
“I should of known that you’d go through my things, Jounouchi.” I did my best to hide the shaking of my voice. Whether that shaking was from anger or fear, I had no clue.
He turned around quickly at the sound of my voice, the terror of being caught obvious in the size of his eyes, “How long have you been there?”
“Long enough to notice your interest in my medicine.”
He glanced down at the bottles in his hands, “What are they for?”
I folded my arms, leaning against the doorframe and looking down the hallway. No use in lying. . . “Well, Paxil is for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Wellbutrin is an antidepressant. . . the pizza is in the oven, come out with me.” Yes, another excellent use of the changing-of-the-subject technique. I was beginning to master that art.
He followed close behind me, nearly running into me at some points in our short journey. Jounouchi wasn’t dressed in anything out of what would have been the ordinary for him. Just a plain white t-shirt and some relatively faded blue jeans. He sat in the first chair at the kitchen table that he came to, and I sat across from him, trying to hide the uneasiness that must have been obvious in my features. I kept telling myself the same thing over and over. . . No use in lying.
“I know that you have questions, so ask them. We’ll have to do this eventually anyways.” It wasn’t much, but it took a hell of a lot of courage to say it.
“Well, you can start by telling me the real reason you’re so skinny.”
Okay, not the question I was expecting, but a legitimate question in it’s own right. I sighed, “Wellbutrin has a side affect of loss of appetite. . . not to mention my stomach has shrank over the years from a lack of eating.” I hadn’t meant to say that last bit. . . or had I? No use in lying. . .
“Why wouldn’t you eat?” His brows knit together and he leaned forward, getting close to my face.
No use in lying. . .
“Well, when you go through enough, you just don’t feel much like eating.”
“Okay. . . will you answer my question from earlier? The question about how your real parents died?”
I lay his folded arms up on the table, placing my head on top. . . No use in lying. . . “My mother died when she gave birth to Mokuba, and my father died in a car accident years after.” I glanced up at him.
“Wow. . . did you ever hate Mokuba?”
No use in lying. . . “I did at first. I used to tell my father to give Mokuba to God in exchange for my mother back.” I looked down at the table, ashamed for ever allowing those words to leave my mouth; I love Mokuba with all my being, “I regret saying that, now. Mokuba’s life is more important to me. He was only a baby, it wasn’t his fault that she died.” Mokuba was my everything.
“What about the rest of your family? You know, your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins?”
No use in lying. . . “They passed us from family to family, until they had all of our inheritance, and then dumped us off at the Domino City orphanage.” I choked out a pitiful little chuckle from deep in my throat, “I don’t give a fuck about them.” Which was true. . . I didn’t care about them and I never would.
I hated my family. I hardly even remembered them, and yet I hate them. There must be something wrong with that. . . no, people such as them could never and should never be forgiven. I felt a gentle weight on my head suddenly. . . but I didn’t really mind it so much. . . and then when I could feel fingers intertwining with my hair, it felt so nice. I allowed for my eyes to flutter shut, reminiscing for a bit.
“So,” The blond continued, “You had a childhood full of misery. . . and then were adopted into a life of luxury?”
“Fuck no!!” I slapped his hand away, standing quickly and nearly falling. He had jumped up as well, in an attempt to catch me, but I immediately pushed him away again, backing up until I was against the wall, “You don’t fucking know anything! My life was never good, you fucking mutt, you fucking coward! You don’t know how good you have it! You don’t know! You don’t know!” Without much warning, he roughly grabbed my arms, pulling me against him. By then, my eyes were blinded with rage, with hatred. . . hatred for. . . his body was so warm. . . so warm like. . . like him. Who was it that really hurt me. . . it was that man that did this to me. I grabbed onto his shirt, my head over his right shoulder, and barely whispered into my ear, “You don’t know what he did to me. . .”
I could feel him shiver against me. “Do you mean,” He started, “What your step father did?” I nodded my head against his shoulder, my grip loosening on his shirt. Why I had grabbed onto him to begin with, I couldn’t figure out. I squirmed slightly against him, but he only held me tighter, “Seto,” I straightened at the use of my first name, “I want you to give me your word right now that you will tell me about your life with your step father.”
“Why?” I sounded so pathetic! I hadn’t sounded like this in so many years. . . not since the day that. . . the day that Saki betrayed me. Here I was, in from of one of my enemies, blubbering like a child!
“Because I have a feeling that you’ve been hiding something horrible all these years and that you need to tell someone. You need to let everything out. If you do, you’ll feel better about it. I promise you, I won’t laugh at you, poke fun at you, spread your secrets. . . what you tell me stays between you and me, do you understand? And what I tell you stays between just us as well.” Again, I nodded, though slightly more hesitant than I had last time. His words were soothing somehow, and his tone told no lies. He was being straightforward with me and I liked that. He smiled a bit, “Now, give me your word.”
“I will tell you, in time.” Yes, that was a good enough answer. His arms loosened slightly, giving me enough space to lean back and look into his eyes and search for a sense of truth within those amber depths. Could I trust him? Probably not. . . I had to be careful.
A light ping rang through the air and as though on cue, both of us turned our heads towards the oven, “Let me get it,” He offered, “You just have a seat.” I returned to my place at the table, staring off into space again, still wondering whether or not I should tell him anything. . . maybe just the small things. . . I watched Jounouchi pull out the pizza. He glanced back at me, probably just to see if I were looking.
“Stop looking at my ass.” He said jokingly, smiling at me. I forced a tiny smile back to him, watching as he sat the hot pan on the stove, slipping off the oven mitt. He came back to the table, leaning on it, “Smile.”
“What?” I was a bit taken aback by the random request.
“Smile. If you smile, I won’t ask anymore questions about your family until tomorrow.” He grinned that stupid grin of his, but the offer was not really something I could refuse.
I twisted my lips into various poses, trying to figure out just what kind of smile I would honor him with, when I really began to wonder if there were some sort of conditions with our little deal, “You won’t ask me anymore questions about my family until tomorrow if I smile? That’s all I have to do?”
“Yup, somehow I think that’ll be more difficult for you to do than anything else.” I looked up at him, ready to hold up my end of the bargain, when he added on last little requirement, “Oh, and it has to look genuine.”
For a moment I hesitated, licking his lips in thought, before I flashed the most genuine smile that I could muster. Jounouchi’s eyes seemed too light up as he looked on, “Beautiful.”
I dropped the smile as quickly as I had formed it, “What?” Surely he hadn’t said what I think he said. . .
“Nothing.” He insisted, returning to our neglected pizza to slice it, “Let’s just eat this before it gets cold.”
There was an awkward silence during our entire meal, so I’ll skip on the boring details. . . well, there really aren’t any details, so I guess the only thing skipped here is the time it took for us to eat.
“What do you do all day?” I suppose that all the silence finally got to him.
“School and work.” I leaned back in my chair, my arms folded loosely.
“That’s it? Don’t you go out with your friends?” Jounouchi really was a dumbass.
“I don’t have friends, I have acquaintances.” I said it plainly, already tired of answering stupid questions from a dumbass such as himself,
“Why don’t you try acting like a teenager for a change, rather than acting like an old fart all the time?” My eyes likely widened a bit, with me not being one to show much emotion and all. “I think you’ve let your guard down.”
“I don’t need to guard myself around one little runt like yourself.”
“Do you always have to be such a fucking asshole?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to act like this the entire project?”
“Absolutely.” Whether that was true or not, I wasn’t so sure. . .
It was another standoff, him glaring and me just looking amused. “Stand up.” He demanded, and I chuckled a bit, not about to obey his order, “I said stand up!” My smirk faded, replaced by a rather annoyed expression. I studied him intently. Was he fucking serious?
“And why, dare I ask, would I listen to you?” I glared at him.
Before I could react, he was at the tables side, holding me high above my seat by my right arm with a strength I couldn’t recall him possessing. I winced slightly, in a bit of shock at the situation. He looked pissed, “You think I’m fucking playing, Kaiba?!” I swung at him with my left hand frantically, but he caught it with ease, holding it in the same hand as my other wrist.
He moved us to the wall nearest the kitchen table and shoved me roughly against it. . . my mind was screaming at me to move, and yet my body wasn’t responding any longer. He was holding me lower now, so that I seemed smaller than him, and then crushed his body against my own, eliciting a few grunts from me that I hadn’t meant to let out. Though I couldn’t bring myself to move much, I could still yell.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!”
“Teaching you a lesson.” A lesson?
Again, my step father had left the company in my care as he attended a press conference across the country, and again, stocks dropped to a percent lower than before he had left, which was immediately considered my fault. I wasn’t good at this, he had always said to me. I wasn’t smart enough, I would never make a good CEO of Kaiba Corporation. . . the only thing I was good at was. . .
Was. . .
He had returned from the conference, furious and blinded by his frightening rage. I knew was would happen. It always happened this way. He was going to give me another ‘lesson’ which always consisted of some sort of beating or torture. He had quickly learned everything that hurt me most. . . and used it to his advantage.
I could only watched as the older man approached him, his strong hands gripping my wrists, and I couldn’t only plead for forgiveness as his free hand beat me ruthlessly. My voice was pathetic wailing throughout the session, screaming over and over. . .
“D-don’t. . . N-no! No, don’t! Don’t do it! I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It won’t happen again! Don’t touch me! Leave me alone! No! It hurts, it hurts!” I could hear a voice, someone’s voice. . . someone trying to calm me? No, not here, not with Gozaburo, I remained in a panic, “I hate you Gozaburo!” Another voice came to me. . .
“What did you just call me?” Oh, I had forgotten! I called him by his name while we were alone, he would hurt me for that. He owned me.
“M-master. . .” I corrected myself. I could feel strong arms pulling me against a warm body and I fought them, but I was no match.
“Shh,” That same voice whispered, a gentle hand rubbing my back, “It’s me, Jounouchi.”
My eyes shot open. I was on the floor now, Jounouchi holding me tightly, his expression confused and panicked. What had happened? Why was I on the floor. . . We were idly chatting. . . and then. . . Gozaburo was. . .
No. Gozaburo was dead. He was dead and never coming back.
“Huh?” I muttered, quickly analyzing our position, “What the fuck are you doing?!”
“Trying to calm your ass down.”
“What?”
“You spazzed out and started screaming for me not to touch you and that something hurt, then you called me. . .” He stopped suddenly, as though he was rethinking telling me.
“Called you what?”
“I don’t remember, don’t worry about it.” He looked into my eyes. Without words, I thanked him. I knew exactly what was going on now. . . and I really didn’t want to discuss it. He sighed, “You wanna go out somewhere? To help pass the time?”
“Out? Where?”
“Kaiba, we’re going to go to the mall, or a club, or the shops around town. . . anywhere to get you into teenage life. You have got to get out more often!”
“The mall? With you?” My tone was degrading, but I made sure that my expression was light-hearted so that he knew I was joking. He smiled at me when he understood.
“You don’t really mean that.” Apparently he felt the need to make sure, though. “You’re just joking, right?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. . .” I stood and brushed myself off. Okay, so I wasn’t ready to admit it out loud yet, it just wasn’t my style.
He headed for the door, “We’d better get walking then, it’s about five miles to the mall.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” I stared at his back, “Walk? There is no way in hell I’m walking.”
“Well. . . you could always pay our way in a cab.”
“Fine, whatever. . . just as long as we don’t have to walk.” I walked out the door, keeping my distance from him as he followed soon after.
I must say that I was dreading this little adventure. . . and soon I would find out why.
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