Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Hostile Takeover ❯ Growing Stronger.... ( Chapter 5 )

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Growing Stronger…..

Aten saw Robbie waiting for him at the school gate. Robbie smiled and waved to Aten.

Ryou put Aten on the ground, but he still approached the gate with trepidation.

"Hello, Aten! You came back!" Robbie exclaimed as he hugged Aten tightly.

"Hello, Robbie," Ryou said leaning down.

"Hello, Aten's mommy!"

"Aten, mommy and daddy have to go see Mr.s Cullen. You stay here and play with Robbie."

Bakura saw Aria run to the girls at the hopscotch. "Daddy!" Aria called waving her father over. "Daddy! Mommy Malik! I can play this! Watch!" Malik and Bakura watched her play.

Robbie and Aten walked along the fence. aten watched as Robbie limped holding onto the fence.

"Wobbie, you weg hurt?"

"No. I have a club foot. I walk on the side of my foot. This is how I walk," Robbie said shrugging off Aten's worry.

"You walt wike dat all de tine?"

Robbie nodded as he limped. "Yeah, I effen had the opderation for it. I was borned like this." Robbie stopped and leaned against the fence. "Gotta rest, Aten. I've been standing for a long time waiting for you."

Aten looked up at Robbie. "Wobbie, can I ass you a cession?"
Robbie nodded. "Yeah?"

"Why you wan be fens wif me?"

Robbie smiled. "Cause you need a friend."

"But I no peckial. I no tan tut payer. I no can wite Ingish. I no effen tan put bocks on utter bockses. Why be fens wif me?"

Robbie put his hand on Aten's shoulder. "Because I wanna. Besides, Aten, I'm special. My foot is bad, but that mates me special. Your hair, your eyes, and you are special because you are you. These other people….they are normal, ordinary. They're special in their own way. But we are really, really, REALLLLLY special, Aten."

Aten's eyes grew wide and he slowly pointed to his chest. His eyes were glassy.. "Me?" His little lip trembled. "I'm peckial?"

Robbie nodded and smiled.

"Weawwy? I'm peckial?"

"Yup! You're special!"

Aten smiled and gaped. "Wow! I'm peckial!" Aten wrapped his arms around Robbie's shoulders tightly. "I not know I dat peckial!"

Robbie hugged Aten and smiled. "We're both special and it's not because we can run or look like the other kids. We are us!"

Aten cuddled into Robbie as Eric, Jason, and Rhonda passed them.

"Aww….look at the two girlie boys hugging!" Rhonda mocked pointing at the two boys.

"Only fruity boys hug!" Eric sneered.

"Why don't you kiss each other and get it over with?" Jason yelled at them.

Robbie narrowed his eyes. "Big talk for a boy who put lions and circus aminals on his desk!"

"They're zoo animals, dork!"

"Whatever they are,Eric. I really don't care."

Eric smirked. "Well, at least I don't have a happy sun and a stupid rainbow on my desk…..LIMPY!"

Aten clenched his fist. "You no tall Wobbie Wimpy!"

"If you weren't deaf as well as dumb, then you'd have heard I called him LIMPY! Shrimp!"

Rhonda and Jason laughed. "Come on, Eric," Rhonda said tugging on his arm. "Let the girlie boys kiss in private! Maybe they'll give each other cooties!"

The group left. Robbie looked down at the boy hugging him. Robbie buried his face in Aten's hair. "Soft…it's pretty."

Aten sniffled as Robbie felt Aten wipe his tears away on his shirt.

"Aten, don't worry about them. Don't cry."

"They so mean! I no wan be near mean peetles!"

Robbie sighed.. "If you weren't here, Aten, I wouldn't know you. Then I'd be really, really really sad."

Aten looked up at Robbie with large, chibi eyes. "I no know dat I is peckial as you tay. I be tad too, Wobbie."

*************************

Ryou and Marik sat down in the classroom. Cullen had Aten's file and the tag from his desk.

"Thank you for coming. I do have some concerns about Aten's performance yesterday, but maybe we can think of ways to help Aten's transition to school."

"You were saying yesterday that he is struggling with English?" Ryou asked nervously.

"Not just language, but language skills. His speech reflects that. His letters are backwards and his formation of the letter "A" is almost like the greek letter "Delta." Even his "E" is backwards, even after I showed him how to do it. Aten couldn't copy his name after I showed him." Cullen showed Marik the desk tag.

Marik's eyes opened wide. "These are hieroglyphs, Mr. Cullen."

"Does it say anything?"

Marik's lip trembled and his fingers nearly dropped the paper. "It reads: 'I do not want to be here. I miss my mommy. I want to go home. Why did my daddy send me here? Have I been bad? Is my mommy angry at me..because of my heart? Did they send me here because I'm sick? I can't cut paper. I'm alone….and I want to go home. I guess I am dumb. I can't even talk like the rest of them. I guess I'm here because I've been bad. Mommy and Daddy are sending me here because they are angry at me?'" Marik placed the card on Cullen's desk and looked at Ryou. Ryou saw Marik trying not to cry.

"What can we do to help him, Mr. Cullen?" Ryou asked taking Marik's hand.

"He'll need some extra work at home. Be creative! One thing that I learned is use things you have around the house. Make cookies in the shape of letters and have him help you. Have him draw on a cookie sheet using whipped cream or penut butter. Make up songs or make up games. Creativity is the key! Go to the library and get some basic books with the alphabet."

Ryou nodded. "Maybe we can borrow some fro Seto, Marik."

"Does Aten difficulty organizing his toys?"

Marik nodded. "He's been like that since the day of his birth."

"Can he follow directions?"

"We can only give him one direction at a time and he needs our full attention to understand us."

Cullen nodded. "All of this evidence may be circumstantial, but I need your permission to test Aten."

"For what?"

"Learning disability. True, he is still very young and he may be too young to test, but I want to assess how he his developed compared to other children his age. If Aten has a problem, especially in school, early detection is the best way to help him."

"Learning disability? Something wrong with him?"

Cullen rose and sat on his desk. "I hesitate to use the world 'wrong,' Ryou. I'd rather say something more fair than that. Aten is a pleasure to have in class and I suspect he is struggling with a problem beyond his control. But I need to test him and I can only do that with your approval."

"How much will this cost?" Marik asked uneasily.

"No cost to you. As his parents, this information will go only to you and to whomever you wish."

"My husband Bakura Itemri and Malik Ishtar are also permitted to have this and any other information pertaining to Aten."

Cullen wrote in Aten's file. "Aten is a really good kid, Ryou. We'll have Aten's learning assessed and give you the results."

"We'll try to help Aten at home, Mr. Cullen," Ryou said shaking Cullen's hand.

Marik stood up and left when Cullen extended a hand to him.

"Sorry about Marik, Mr. Cullen. Marik isn't as….sociable as the rest of us."

Cullen shrugged. "Well, he just heard difficult news for any parent. We all want to think our kid is the best, right? That nothing is wrong. Just help Aten a little more and he should bounce back."

"We will."

"You don't mind me asking, but…..you are not married to Marik?"

Ryou shook his head. "I'm married to Bakura Itemri."

"I see."

"I better go kiss my son and daughter goodbye." Ryou scampered from the room.

**********************

Ryou went out to the schoolyard and found Aria with the pack of girls. "Bye mommy! I love you!" Aria kissed Ryou goodbye.

Aten was standing by Robbie against the fence. He saw his mother and ran up to him jumping up and down frantically.

"Mommy! Mommy! I haff tometing weawwyy portent to tell you!" Aten's eyes grew wide and sparkled with joy. He pointed to his chest and said, I'm weawwy peckial! You wanna know eye?"

Ryou saw Robbie covering his mouth smiling. "Why are you special?"

"Betaws I am de one me in de world! Nobuddy else wike me eddywhere!"

Ryou pulled Aten into his arms and hugged him. Ryou kissed the little boys neck gently. "You are very special to all of us, baby boy."

Marik walked up to kiss his son and Aten jumped excitedly. "I'm peckial, daddy! I'm peckial! De you know I am de one perton wike me in de endire world?? It's too! I'm peckial!"

Marik bit his lip trying not to either laugh at how cute he was being or trying not to cry over worry that Aten had a real problem. "You are very special, Ibn. I Love you very much, my son."

Aten took each of his father's cheeks in his hand and kissed him on each cheek. "I luff you, daddy."

Marik and Ryou left as the teachers came out for their classes.

******************

Ryou, Marik, Bakura, and Malik walked into KaibaCorp requesting to see Seto. Joey came down instead to see what the four wanted.

"Joey, do you have any children's books we can borrow for Aten?"

Joey ran his hands through his hair. "We have some books that are too easy for Hayden. When we adopted him, we didn't know how well he could read. Follow me."

They rode the elevator to the top floor.

"So, Hayden loves to read?" Malik asked Joey.

"The kid reads all the time. He even made a nice comfortable reading

corner in the library. It's behind that high-backed chair. We put some blankets down and placed a lamp there so he can read and snuggle into something. He also moved some of his stuffed animals into the corner."

"He still hides in corners?" Bakura asked.

Joey nodded. "And still insists on sleeping on the floor. We found that he hid crackers in his corner, but we didn't dare remove them. The last thing he needs to see is Seto and I invading what personal space he has created. We replaced the crackers with new ones in case they were stale."

"Still hiding food, huh?" Malik asked sadly.

Joey nodded. "Yeah, considering what his uncle did to him, I can see this continuing for a while."

They left the elevator and walked to Hayden's room.

//Hmm…well….aren't you a mass of deliciously painful heartaches! The memories…painful…humiliating…cruel…Even you aren't immune to my invasion.//

*******Memory******

Joey's eyes were closed tightly as the smell of Jack Daniels flooded his nose. The man above him was heavy as an alcohol-covered tongue traced the contours of his jaw.

"My boy…..such a beautiful little whore. Tell daddy what he wants to hear."

Joey's tears christened the sheets. His body pleaded for the older man to stop invading him. This was his only purpose since he was seven years old……just to be his father's personal sex-toy.

His tongue burned as he repeated the lie his father believed was truth. "I love you daddy."

"Open your eyes, Joseph."

Joey opened his eyes as his father screamed in unsurpassed pleasure. Joey whimpered in unsurpassed agony.

************************

Aku smiled. This was going to be too perfect! This was also going to be too much fun…and too easy.

//Joey's heart will fade to black with my help. This memory has made me twice as strong. Now all I need is more! I shall crush you, Joey Wheeler…and make you no more than an empty shell trapped in your own memories of daddy dearest.//

"Aten's having trouble in school, Ryou?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, and we need alphabet books."

Ryou and Malik sifted through them. They grabbed a few and heard thee door shut behind them.

Seto Kaiba entered the room dressed in a business suit. He kept tugging at the tie annoyed. "There is nothing more I despise than wearing a business suit!"

"I don't know, moneybags. You'd look more ridiculous in a maid outfit…complete with duster. Hey! I think I'd like a picture of that!" Bakura said.

Aku grined in Ryou's soulroom. This one was like Bakura…strong and powerful. //For my plan to succeed, I must eliminate Seto Kaiba as well as Bakura. With these two out of my way, I will be free to wreakhavoc unimaginable. But I must eliminate Seto Kaiba….permanently…let's see….I wonder what pain this strong man hides from the others.

**********************

It was col. A thick purple haze surrounded him. Just a moment ago, he lost his duel with Pegasus. The emptiness surrounded him, but it was nothing compared to the emptiness of his heart. Pegasus told him that Mokuba's soul was in a place where the locks cannot be picked. Could this be it?

"Big Brother!" a voice called all around him. He couldn't distinguish the direction from where it came.

"Mokuba! Where are you?"

"Please help me, Seto!" the little boy cried.

"I can't find him!" Seto yelled hearing Mokuba's pleas surrounding him. "I failed….I have no right to be called a brother! I failed him! I am worthless!"

*****************

Aku grew stronger feeling the immense sensations of loss and failure. It was such a powerful emotion. The feelings were almost overwhelming!! The loss…….the sadness…..the loneliness…..the despair….all were overwhelming.

//Ah! I can see that is not the only painful memory you hide from

waking eyes!//

************************

Seto Kaiba walked into the room to see the most painful, pitiful sight he had ever seen……Joey was climaxing as his father slammed into him with a brute force. Joey was shaking, his body covered in his own release.

******************

Aku grinned. //This has disturbed your sleep. It invades every conscious and unconscious thought. You replay this in your head. Soon, Joey will relive this in a state of waking nightmare…reliving his body gaining pleasure from this unholy act. He will relive this memory, Seto Kaiba, as you are condemned to face eternity in the emptiness of the Shadow Realm…alone and at the mercy of your own nightmares. And you cannot save Joey…you will not even be able to save yourself!//

Aku's soulroom grew black and he gathered Shadow Powers around him. Seto's pain had fueled his rage and had given him the power he needed. Aku looked through Ryou's eyes to Malik. He finally had the power to free himself from this vessel known as Ryou.

//Time to have a little fun, Ryou.//

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