Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ If I Never Was ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Title: If I Never Was

Chapter: 3/3

Author: Madyamisam

Rating: PG-13

Wish maker: Seto

Beta: Daisey… MY GODDESS… *starts blubbering when she forgot to put the Daisey in the beta box on her first chappie* I'M SORRRY!!!!!

Spoilers: References to characters from the Noah's Arc and KC Grand Prix saga.

Disclaimer: Madyamisam does not own Yu-Gi-Oh and she is very sad that she doesn't so don't be mean to her by going as far as putting a law suit on her for copyright infringement. For the character of Hatori I named him after Fruits Basket's Hatori Sohma but other than that the character is mine. ALL MINE!!!

Summary: What would life be like without any responsibilities? To be able to live freely from the restraints of your duties and become ordinary? What would life be like… if there never was, Seto Kaiba?

A/N: Since this is an AU, Seto and Jou are OOC but necessarily so because the wish had made it that way,: P so there.

 

---

 

“It does hurt pretty badly sometimes…” Jou replied. “My heart that is…”

 

“Why?” Seto whispered.

 

“It was a car accident,”

 

“An accident?” Jou smiled.

 

“Mmm… I guess I must have gotten hurt pretty badly so I still get chest pains now and then.”

 

“But with your line of work, it puts even more strain on you” Seto was alarmed by this fact.

 

“It's ok.” Jou replied, leaning in towards the brunet. “It's something I'm willing to put up with”

 

“But-”

 

“I want to show you something”

 

“Jounouchi-kun!” Seto was met with pleading brown eyes.

 

“Please…” Jou whispered. It was clear that Jou didn't want to talk about it anymore and as much as Seto hated it, he couldn't resist the blond's silent plea. Seto nodded and settled down waiting as he watched the blond pull out a deck of Duel Monsters Cards. Jou smiled as he took out three and showed them to him.

 

“B-Blue Eyes White Dragons?” Seto gasped recognising the sleek picture and the foreign memories he had suddenly acquired where he had held such a beast and used in his duels. Jou nodded.

 

“Pegasus-san collaborated with the president of Siegfried Schroeder that European company that took over Kaiba Corp when the Kaiba future heir, Noah died. He gave them to me before Duellist Kingdom” Jou replied.

 

“I can't believe you have all three of them” Seto said as he remembered the day that Jou had come in and saw Sugoruku's card.

 

“Well, I don't remember much from what had happened after that match with Pegasus but just the fact that for some reason, I felt these three were protecting me in some way” Jou whispered. “But I never thought using them for a duel because, sometimes I get the feeling they don't really belong to me” Jou smiled as he took one of the three blue eyes and slipped it back into the deck and shuffled it. Jou turned and placed the deck between them. “Let's play a game ne?”

 

“A game?”

 

“The third Blue Eyes is in this deck somewhere so we take turns in drawing cards. The one who draws the third Blue Eyes gets to keep all three”

 

“Wait… I can't” Seto cried. Jou ignored drawing the first card on the deck. “They ~do~ belong to you Jou you don't-”

 

“It's ok…” Jou assured as he waited for Seto to draw the next card. “I want to give them to you anyway. It's just more fun this way. Besides, I'm sure you'll put them into better use than I would” Seto hesitated as he stared at the deck. Jou blinked waiting expectantly for him to draw. The chances of drawing were one in forty, between them and he hoped that he would not be the one to take away Jou's Blue Eyes. They took turns drawing cards when Seto found himself staring at the blue eyed beast. Jou chuckled as he slipped the other two into Seto's hand.

 

“Jounouchi-kun I can't take these” Seto said.

 

“Sure you can, because if you accept them, I can ask you to do something for me” Jou replied slipping into his pocket and pulling out a red slip of paper. “VIP seats for my next concert” Jou blushed. “Out of everyone that will be turning up, I want you to be there the most of all”

 

“Why?” Jou sighed as he leaned against the couch.

 

“Ever since Duellist Kingdom I guess. I don't really know what happened except that I felt myself go through some kind of nightmare I couldn't wake out of. Then the first person I see since I woke was you… so… these cards, they're more a `thank you' for being there.” Seto remembered that day when Jou's soul was taken away by Pegasus. For the two days that followed, Jou had remained in a comatose state and Seto had stayed with him forfeiting his place in the finals to be by the blond's side. It was silly really, for he knew what had happened and there wasn't much he could do unless he beat Pegasus. Seto stared at the blond briefly before he slipped the cards into his own deck.

 

“Why don't I walk you home? I know we haven't done much on the project but there's always tomorrow and besides, it's getting dark”

 

“Okies,” Jou grinned as they walked out. Jou led the way walking a few metres before he stopped. “I'm home”

 

“WHAT!?” Seto yelped as he stared at the house next to his. Jou giggled whilst the brunet stood dumbstruck. “Y-You're my neighbour!?!?”

 

“I guess so ne?” Jou giggled some more as he hurried off to his house. “It's been a while since I've been here though. Well good night ~Seto-kun~!” Seto blinked as bemused and cursed himself for his stupidity.

 

“Why didn't anyone tell me?” he muttered to himself.

 

“Well you never asked son… and whenever I asked you to come by to greet your neighbours, you always declined” Hatori grinned amusedly at the brunet, an arm propped against the doorway.

 

“Now ~you're~ just being mean” Seto snapped back as he went back inside, his thoughts went back to Jou. His father lingered in the doorway staring at the house next door before he sighed and closed the door.

 

---

 

Hatori stared at his watch as the traffic came to a complete stand still. `Well I'm already late, I don't see why I shouldn't just sit back and relax' he thought as he slipped the car into neutral and leaned back. His mind drifted back to the incident that morning, he had been absolutely terrified when he saw his son on the roof ledge that day. He sighed guiltily that perhaps he had overreacted from his fright. Seto was still a child after all. `I think I'll cheer him up with sukiyaki tonight after a talk about what's dangerous and what's not' he thought as the traffic finally started to move. He stopped as the lights had changed red again just as the car in front of him passed the amber light. It had happened almost instantly as a screech of wheels and a massive crash as a speeding SUV slammed into the side of the car in front of him. Hatori ducked behind his steering wheel just as scrap metal bounced off his screen. The brown headed man widened his eyes as the he witnessed the broken remains of the small Caliber family car.

 

“Oh my God,” he whispered as he heard a piercing scream amidst the smoke and debris. Getting out of his car, he ran towards the smashed up vehicles and peered inside the broken windows. “SOMEBODY CALL THE AMBULANCE!!!”

 

“My babies,” he heard a young woman sitting in the front passenger of the car rasp. The red headed woman turned in her seat, a trickle of blood running from the side of her head. Hatori ran faster to help the small family realising that both of the drivers were dead.

“Katsuya?” he heard the woman whimper her voice rising with hysteria. “Katsuya? Sweetheart, speak to me!!! TALK TO YOUR OKAA-SAN KATSUYA!!! SOMEBODY!!! HELP ME!!!” Hatori reached and peered through the broken window of the car noticing a large hole where an object must have penetrated it. He gasped in horror when he saw two children, a girl and boy both about the same age as his two sons. The little girl possibly no more than five years old wept, crying `onii-chan' whilst her older brother was on top of her, a large piece of shrapnel embedded in his back. The elder of the two was unconscious as Hatori hurriedly yanked the door open at the same time trying to calm mother and daughter. Eventually the ambulance arrived as Hatori carefully pulled the children out of the car.

 

“Ma'am what's your name?” Hatori asked maintaining his profession as a doctor. The woman cried as she grabbed the little girl and checking for wounds right after Hatori carefully lifted the boy called Katsuya from the car.

 

“J-Jounouchi… Jounouchi Anko” the woman sobbed, holding her daughter in one whilst the other held gripped the limp hand of her son. “My baby… my little boy…”

 

“It's alright I got him” Hatori assured as he walked towards the ambulance and carefully putting the boy on his side on the bed to avoid the metal from going deeper into his back.

 

“Oh God please be careful…” Anko cried as she hurried into the ambulance with her son.

 

“I will.” Hatori replied as he went straight to work informing the paramedics of the boy's condition. “Patient's unconscious, but breathing; pulse is weak and a possible puncture of the left lung from a foreign object” They arrived at the hospital shortly as Katsuya was rushed towards the emergency.

 

“Wait… Katsuya… oh God,” Anko whimpered as they made her stay outside of the emergency room.

 

“Calm down Jounouchi-san, let me treat that head wound first. The people in there are my colleagues they'll do their best to help your son” Hatori assured as he led mother and daughter to a bed.

 

“Onii-chan!” the little girl cried. “Mama I want to see onii-chan!”

 

“It'll be alright, sweetie” Anko assured hugging her more for her own reassurance.

 

“It wasn't your fault, Jounouchi-san,” Hatori assured as he cleaned the wound. He smiled at the child playing with her mother's hair. “What's your name little one?”

 

“Shizuka…” the girl murmured. “I want to see onii-chan”

 

“You'll get to see him later Shi-chan. Right now just sit quietly with your okaa-san ne?” the child remained silent after that snuggling in her mother's arms. Hatori's heart sank as he thought of what was to become the girl's older brother. From his initial assessment, the wound had been deep and Katsuya may never reach full recovery. He decided not to dwell on those repercussions and concentrate on saving the boy's life now. At the moment he could do no more than comfort the boy's mother and sister. He asked for the personal details and other people to contact. To Hatori's relief Katsuya was out of the theatre and put in ICU. He smiled as the couple had decided to take his advice and sat by their son's side whispering assurances to him while he slept. Hatori returned home late that evening to be greeted with the sad face of his eldest son.

 

“Tou-san… Welcome home…” Seto murmured. Hatori wondered what the matter was when he remembered the near accident that morning that made him late. Clearly, Seto unlike him did not forget.

 

“It's good to be home,” he greeted back smiling back.

 

“Tou-san?”

 

“Mmm?”

 

“M' sorry…” Tears threatened to fall down his face.

 

“For what?”

 

“For scaring you. I'm sorry Tou-san… I didn't mean to.” The grey eyed man sighed as he took his son into a deep embrace.

 

“I got scared for you because I love you Seto. Promise me not to do something like that again ok?”

 

“I promise.” Seto replied rubbing his eyes of the tears and instantly a smile was on his face.

 

“You're still grounded though alright?” Seto whined and he sat back with a pout. “Now, now, don't be like that. How about I get some stuff at the shop and rustle up a great big sukiyaki feast tonight ne?” In that instant, Seto's eyes lit up and all the pains and woes of the day seemed to melt away like a bad dream.

 

---

 

Seto sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror. It wasn't exactly the height of fashion trench coat he remembered in that strange alternate life but the white shirt exposing a little of his chest fitted well over his black slacks and it certainly accentuated his figure. He flushed when he saw the wry smirk of his father leaning against his doorway.

 

“Oh my, my son's first date ne?”

 

“It's a concert Tou-san…”

 

“Looks like more a date to me”

 

“It would be rather boorish if I just went in a t-shirt and ripped up jeans that you buy from the market. Although, I doubt Jounouchi-kun would really notice I'm there anyway” Seto replied brushing himself down.

 

“So why not dress more extravagantly then he'll have no choice ~but~ to notice you and at any rate, he's given you VIP ticket ne? You'll be the person his looking out for”

 

“I'm worried Tou-san. I know he is in pain and if he carries on like this he'll get hurt even more and if he lives next door then… that family”

 

“It's all the more for you to be there to take care of him when he does have chest pains then. I'm sure his doctor and family have ordered him to stop but I believe he's trying to make a point on something” Hatori smiled as he ruffled his son's brown hair and headed. “Anyway, come on, your majesty, your carriage waits” he chuckled when the younger brunet stuck out his tongue in his response. The brunet waited patiently for the blond when he heard a might crash as the inside in Jou's house started to burst into angry shouts, crying and screaming. Alarmed, Seto went to investigate just as Jou got out of the house followed by a younger girl possibly a couple years older than Mokuba. The girl stalked towards Jou her eyes filled with cold fury and she swiped him across the face.

 

“Go on then, go ahead and kill yourself for all I care” she hissed stalking back into the house.

 

“Shizuka! Shizuka, apologise to your brother this instant! Katsuya please, listen to your okaa-san and stay at home ne?” Anko hurried down the stairs and urged him to come back inside.

 

“Sorry Okaa-san I gotta go,” Jou said hugging the woman before he left.

 

“Katsuya!” Anko yelled as he jogged off leaping onto his motorcycle.

 

“Oh good you're here. Come on we're late” he said smiling putting on his helmet and tossing it a spare to the brunet. Seto stared between the blond and his mother before he reluctantly climbed on behind. Seto flushed as he hugged the slim waist, his hands brushing against the bare skin of Jou's stomach. The gorgeous blond was wearing a blood red crop top and jeans with a spiked dog collar and a black trench coat. He felt the hot engine rumble between his thighs as he gripped tightly to the slightly shorter blond. They had arrived shortly at the huge stadium where girls screamed (some fainting) as the blond passed by.

 

“Wait a minute you can't drive your bike into- WWWWHOOOOAAAA!!!” the brunet screamed as Jou ploughed through the huge crowd towards the stage, Jou's worried band mates blinked in confusion as the two boys got off and stood on the stage.

 

“Sorry I'm late!” Jou screamed down the microphone in the brief silence. Suddenly the whole stadium roared with delight as his relieved band mates started the intro, whilst Seto went to stand in the VIP box. The drummer started the night off slamming his sticks on his drums as the group played one mind blowing song after another. Seto stared paralysed watching the blond's body gyrate to the beat and the deafening sound of the fans increasing exponentially. Eventually, Seto recognised during one of the instrumental Jou wince and his voice although remaining the satiny tenor that he loved, weakened. The blond was out of breath and sweat poured from his face as he fought with the pain in his chest. Throughout the long hours, Seto watched in horror as Jou's voice faltered now and then. Jou turned towards Seto's direction and gave him a wink as he began his last song. Seto saw enough as he rushed from the box towards the stage just as the blond's last note was sung. Jou left the stage quickly stumbling briefly down the hallways with his band mates as Seto gave chase.

 

“Yo, Kat are you alright?” asked Shinji the drummer.

 

“… not really…” Jou murmured as he stumbled, his knees buckled.

 

“KATSUYA!” Seto screamed as he rushed to the singer's side catching him just before he fell unconscious.

 

“SHIT! KAT! KAT!!!” Koji, the guitarist shouted as he dug into his pocket for his cell phone.

 

“Katsuya? Katsuya!” Seto shook the blond as tears started to form in his eyes as he held him. “Why didn't I try to stop you? I knew you would… so why” he whispered to the blond. In truth Seto knew but he had been denying it. It was because Jou was already dying.

 

---

 

“Looks like I'm not going just yet…huh?” Jou giggled snuggling into the hospital bed, despite the paleness in his face, Seto stared, the sadness evident in his eyes. “Why the long face? It doesn't suit you”

 

“Why were you pushing yourself like that? You could have died” Seto scowled.

 

“Emphasis on ~could have~” Seto sighed as he started continued peeling the orange for the rambunctious blond. The prospect of witnessing someone he loved slowly slip away was almost unbearable.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I wanted to” Jou answered matter-of-factly. “I don't see why I have to waste my precious time worrying about regretting things I've done or worrying what's gonna happen to me if I do this… or if I do that…” His eyes saddened. “Although, I wish my family could see things the same way we do. Especially, Shi-chan, I protected her from getting hurt that day, it was my job as a brother after all so she had nothing to be guilty about” Seto gasped. He understood that there was no point in making a wish. In fact there was no need, he had everything he ever wanted right here, right now. It was enough. In fact it was more than enough.

 

“So are you going to continue singing when you get out?” Seto chuckled.

 

“Nope… had enough of that… right now I want to spend time with the one person that's most special to me…” Jou smiled as he leaned against Seto's shoulder.

 

“I want to know all about you before I go… alright?” Seto smiled as a single tear fell from his eyes not out of sadness but out happiness.

 

“Well, it all started with a wish I had…”