Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Little Brother ❯ The Yugi I Know ( Chapter 4 )

~^o^~:SETO'S BACK!!!! Yep. So whatcha think of the title? It'll make more sense further into the story, I think...

Oh yeah, you should probably tiptoe around here while reading; poor Yami R's been overworked again trying to help me grind out extra stuff for this chapter, so she's sleeping now. ^_^;; I kinda wanted it to be longer since it's so late...again.

Ugh, sleep deprivation and writer's block all by themselves are a pain in the ass to work around, but when they team up on you...*shakes head wearily*

Hey, guess what? I'm on SIX!...Count em, SIX people's favourites list! ^____^ Thank you Katmon Ichijouji, Bester of Death, maru-chan, Sadira-Black, Shadowwolfgirl12, and Eberryl!! I'm so glad you like this so much!

And a very special kudos goes out to Katya for teaching me in the ways of italics of ffnet! ^_^ *bows to Katya* arigatou, sensei...

DISCLAIMER:

Yami R: *rubs eyes sleepily* I've been assigned to doing this pretty much permanently, 'cause ChibiBoko prefers living in her own little world. She doesn't own anything. Not Yugioh, not the characters. Natta. Now quit reading this drivel and get on with the story and let me sleep! *stomps off back to bed*

~00~: *Sighs* A little different again for this chapter...hopefully I'll be sticking with this....

~oO0@0Oo~ =flashback

/......../ =Yugi to Yami

//......// =Yami to Yugi

Italics =used for emphasis, and also for normal, non-yami-to-hikari-type thoughts.

------ = think of it as a ...POV change, scene change thingy. Yeah.

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Little Brother

Chapter Four- The Yugi I Know

by ChibiBoko

Seto Kaiba decided he really hated telephones.

He scowled as he angrily punched the number, his mind drifting back to just that morning...

~oO0@0Oo~

"What?" The flat monotone shot from his mouth as his eyes narrowed in disbelief.

The teacher stuffily adjusted his glasses on his beaky nose. "As I believe I stated clearly enough before, Mr. Kaiba, I'm going to have to fail you if you don't start catching up on your assignments." Small eyes peered over the rims of the glasses. "Now, I understand that you've been going through some...difficulties, but you need to focus now more than ever in spite of that. Or perhaps because of that."

Seto shot up from his chair in outrage. "You expect me to just go on with my life like nothing's happened? That my little brother wasn't practically torn apart by a drunken idiot who got behind the wheel when he shouldn't have? That-"

The older man sighed as he waved the ranting brunette back into his seat. "That's not what I meant young man, and you are mistaken for taking it that way. I was saying that if you allow yourself to wallow in a particular point in time you'll lose even more than you already have."

Seto snorted as he angrily sank back into the hard-backed chair. "That's not possible."

The teacher pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to get back to the point of this meeting. "Be that as it may, you must make up those assignments. Now, we did one particular project last week where...."

~oO0@0Oo~

"I can't believe this.." Impatient fingers were forced to re-dial the unfamiliar phone number as he got a wrong number the first time around.

He had been an inch away from strangling that pompous member of the faculty as he droned on through an almost comically long list of work Kaiba needed to catch up on. Out of sheer desperation he had pleaded to 'business details' concerning his brother and asked to take the rest of the list home instead.

Good thing he did; as it was, he seriously considered turning the car around and going back to act on his strangling fantasy (with perhaps a bit of maiming thrown in as well) once he got to a certain listed "group project" that he was supposed to have been in on.

Damn damn damn damn DAMN! Kaiba gritted his teeth. I don't dare try calling Ryou's for the details on what they chose to work on with Joey being there; he'd never let me forget about needing their help. And I don't know that, he shudders, that..cheerleader's phone number....nor do I really want to..

Guess I'm stuck with this. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure he'll be tripping over himself to help me out after that cemetery incident." He sighed and crossed his fingers that Yugi wouldn't pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

Yami. Just wonderful. Truthfully, Kaiba never really got the chance to know him outside of duels, as the puzzle spirit had only managed to manifest into a body of his own outside the puzzle a short time ago. Actually, it was just a little while before....

He shook his head angrily at himself. Yeah, very good way of staying stable like the nice doctors told you to, Seto. Kaiba sarcastically chided himself. "Yami?" Damn, but that sounded pathetic. Gotta work on this overtiredness...or at least on keeping it out of my voice.

"Kaiba?!" Surprise, surprise. Kaiba thought sardonically. but he wasn't up to confrontation just now.

"Is Yugi there?" He said more than asked.

He felt the hesitance over the line. "....Not..really, no. What do you want?"

'Not really'? What's that mean? Seto frowned. "I need to speak with him. It's...to do with some schoolwork." He hedged, reluctant to inform the dark one of even that much. "I've been trying to catch up on what I've missed, but I need some information from him on some group project he did with the others a while ago."

"The one on ancient architecture?" He could practically hear Yami blinking in surprise. "You were supposed to be in on that?"

Kaiba grit his teeth. They were starting to get sore from all the mistreatment. "Yes. But things happened. Look, is Yugi there or not? I hate having to ask him as it is; I don't want to have to think about having to ask one of the others."

"I think I understand; Joey would never let you hear the end of it." Was there sympathy in his voice? No, couldn't be. Kaiba heard Yami sigh over the phone. "Yugi hasn't been...well. He's in his room right now, but I don't think he's up for conversation. I can ask him about the project for you, though."

"Alright." Now Seto was getting a little suspicous. Why's he being so helpful? I doubt he's usually like this. Unless.... His memory drifted back to all the times Yugi got in over his head. He could remember Yami always being there, pulling him out of it. ...He's really worried about him.

Kaiba felt something unidentifiable silently gnaw at him. He shook it off irritably. "...go talk to him." He heard Yami say as he came back to the here and now. His ears picked up the sound of footsteps walking off from the other side of the line.

Seto waited impatiently, fidgeting with the messy papers on the desk in his home office until he heard Yami's voice return on the phone.

"I've got everything you need." Kaiba could hear him practically biting off the words. Either he's really pissed off or really worried.

...And somehow I can't imagine him getting angry at Yugi.

"I'll be over there to drop it off." His eyes widened and a retort was about to slip past his tongue, but it was halted by the abrupt dial-tone suddenly abusing his ear. Setting the phone back in it's cradle, he sat back in his swivel-chair and stared at it.

Hell....Seto blinked. What's he doing? Coming here? Right now?! His head sank into his hands. What's he up to now?

He rubbed his face tiredly as his tried to get his scrambled thoughts in order. Glancing at the wall clock, he figured it'd take Yami at least an hour to get here, unless.....

He shuddered in remembrance. God, please let him not be driving... He still couldn't quite figure out how he had gotten roped into helping the strange puzzle entity with adapting to modern civilization. He vaguely remembered adorable purple puppy eyes gazing up at him brimming over with pleading. Crap...I just hope Yugi never fully realizes how powerful puppy eyes really are. Or we could all be in big trouble.

Loud metallic roaring followed by a heart-stopping tearing noise snapped him back to the present. Kaiba sighed and thudded his head against the desk. He drove...

Levering out of the chair, he stalked wearily down the hallway towards the already impatient pounding on the front door. Yanking it open Kaiba caught the fist that was coming down to pound again on the door.

"What are you doing?" He raised an eyebrow, letting go of Yami's hand.

Yami adjusted his hold on the massive bundle of papers underneath one arm. "Bringing you what you need." He snorted, pushing past the tall brunette into the house. "Where do you want these? They're heavy." As if to add to the point, half the papers decided to slowly slip backwards from the pharaoh's grip towards freedom.

Kaiba quickly scooped them up before they could make introductions with the hall floor. What game are you playing now? He wondered. "Third entrance to the left; the living room's there."

A maid came up to politely ask if there was anything he and his guest wanted. Seto shook his head absently. "We're fine; but have something made up for when-" He winced and cut himself off. "...Never mind. Just go back to what you were doing." He strode off down the hallway towards the living room.

He ignored the strange look he knew Yami was giving him. He could feel it boring into the back of his neck. I just had to slip up when he was around. Now watch him try to find a way to ask about it. He smirked humorlessly at himself.

Actually, Yami managed to restrain himself until they'd dropped the papers on the coffee table, not caring that some slid messily onto the floor.

"Have you seen someone about that?" Okay, Kaiba decided, ancient ex-pharaoh's weren't most likely known for their tact.

"Frequently." He grimaced as he turned to face his rival.

Was it his imagination, or did Yami look....almost sympathetic? Seto shook his head. Great, now I'm hallucinating. Just wonderful.

"You're wondering why I bothered coming, aren't you?" Yami said surprisingly gently.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "The thought had crossed my mind. Although my first initial guess was so you'd have an excuse to get on the road again." He smirked. "You're an addict."

Yami shrugged, allowing himself to be diverted from dangerous territory. "You sounded desperate enough on the phone for me to be able to deem it an emergency."

"What?! I'd never-"

Yami grinned smugly. "Oh, so you really didn't need me to come over here?" He playfully buffed his nails against his shirt and studied them. "I suppose you could've called Ryou and Joey.."

Seto sulked. "I hate you."

"I know." Ancient eyes glinted mischieviously at him. Abruptly he turned towards the coffee table groaning under its enormous burden. "I couldn't figure out what information you'd need and what you wouldn't, so I just brought it all."

Kaiba stared at the pile in disbelief. "That's all of it?"

"Well, what I could carry. The other half's in the trunk of the car." Red eyes turned back to him. "But I think that can wait until later." Yami sank comfortably onto the couch and nodded towards Kaiba to sit too. "Like I said, you must be wondering-"

"-About why you're here." Kaiba grimaced as he flopped back into the recliner. "Just guessing mind you, but it's about Yugi, isn't it."

Yami nodded, biting his lip as he stared morosely at the carpet.

Fingers tapping impatiently against the armrest, Kaiba waited for Yami to start. "Well?"

"...I don't remember when he actually started...slipping away." The red-eyed boy said. "All I can recall is that he's been steadily declining since Mokuba...well, you know."

Seto nodded.

"He won't eat, he doesn't seem to be able to sleep, he won't talk to anyone, not even his grandfather or me." Vague hurt reflected in Yami's eyes. "He's even cut off our link." He looked seemingly entranced by his folded hands, as he wouldn't look at the brunette.

Kaiba's eyebrow rose. "How could he manage to do that? I thought you were the expert on the millenium item power stuff."

"If I knew that I could re-establish it without a second thought." Yami snapped. "But somehow he's blocked me completely from his thoughts. He's even locked his soul room!" This time the indignation couldn't hide itself from the millionaire.

Kaiba frowned thoughtfully. "He goes in there a lot lately?"

"..Yes. I wish I knew why." His eyes grew confused. "I don't understand. It's almost like he's hiding."

"From what?"

"Everything."

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He blinked dazedly. Was it raining again? He heard a vague pattering from far off...

....no. Just the voices. Again.

Sighing quietly he got up and walked disconsolately across to the bathroom. There was a time when he was grateful for the voices, they kept him company; sort of. He always felt less alone growing up, when they were around.

"What...did..?" He stared disgustingly at himself. Turning away, he shook his head. "...I can't.."

"...i.."

They were uglier now. Jealous. He didn't listen to them anymore.

No, he had someone else to listen to. The intruder. Unwelcome to them.

The intruder took away their listener.

But now....

Oh but now....

"...don' wanna...listen.."

But he will...

He can't hear anyone else now.

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~00~: Whoo! This is getting creepier and creepier everytime I work on this. *shivers*

*Sigh* I really had a hard time ending this chapter. I tried and tried to end it somehow in Kaiba's POV, but each ending just kept getting sappier and cheesier by the paragraph. So I changed POV's as a drastic measure. ^_^ Take a wild guess who's it is.

~00~: Hmm....*ponderponder*

Yami R: *sighs* What now? And why don't I like that look?...

~00~: I was just wondering if I should do some side stories for this. You know; stuff that sorta ties into this whole story arc, but doesn't really fit into the main story.

Yami R: Eh? There's stuff like that in there? And I missed it?!! *snatches script and scans it*

~00~: Sigh...*turns to readers* Well, what do you think about me writing some side stories? Do you even know about the stuff that I'm referring to here? -_- I hope so...it'd make all my hard work worthwhile..*sniffle*

Yami R: I think I get it now.

~00~: Oh?

Yami R: Side stories = more work for me. Right?

~00;;~: ...Pretty much, yeah.

Yami R: Sigh...-_-. Well, hopefully readers will be wonderful and leave me some reviews to feed on so I have the energy for more brainstorming. I'm gonna need it. *starts walking off* Geez, now there's this along with chapter five of LB and that FFX prize thing, plus that challenge from ZellDincht.....

~^^~;;: Ehehe...Don't mind her, her mind wanders sometimes. Usually in the opposite direction of where she's going. So it takes awhile to find it once she's lost it.

Yami R: *whimpers and looks under the bed* Not here either!

~00~: *Sigh*....If Yugi couldn't find his candy cane under there, I doubt we'd find your mind there eith-

Yami R: Oh nevermind. Found it! ^_^ *pulls it out from where it was congregating with the plot bunnies*

~00~: *shakes head* This is the third time this week. Why am I nervous? -_-