Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Nightmare ❯ The First Lesson ( Chapter 4 )

(WARNING: It's lesson time!! *cracks knuckles with an insane grin*

Guess what?! I actually got some sleep last night!! Yay me! *dies* It's hot in here... -_-*)

-~^~-

"Noa-chan, may I have a word with you?" Chichiue asks as he walks in the door with Mokuba.

I frown at Seto as I stand. "Of course." I follow him up to his office.

Chichiue closes the door behind me, locking it. I swallow and face him. His eyes are hard. "Why were you and Seto late home today?" He asks in a chilled voice.

"I- We weren't!" I try.

Chichiue walks up to me and slaps me across the face. I take a step back, forcing my hand to remain by my side. "Don't lie to me, Noa." He hisses.

"I'm not!" I cry.

"Then why do one of the guards tell me different?"

"Maybe they're lying." I try, taking another step back.

Bad mood. Chichiue grabs me quickly by the shoulders and rams me against the wall. I bite my lip to keep from crying out. If Seto or Mokuba comes up here... "They aren't lying, Noa." Chichiue hisses. "And you will tell me where you were, or you will face the consequences."

My eyes widen. ~Lesson!~ I know. But, if I tell him, both Seto and I will get a lesson anyway. I know how this works, and Chichiue really doesn't like the Mutous. "I wasn't anywhere." I whisper, looking anywhere but at his face. ~Onegai, let him leave Seto out of this.~ I beg of any god listening.

His knee meets my crotch. I flinch. He drops me on the floor, and I curl up around the sore. "I'm tired of your disobedience, Noa." Chichiue tells me, walking over to his desk. "Get up. You need a lesson."

I stand cautiously and watch the floor, as it is probably the safest place to be looking. I hear the sound of the drawer closing and see his shadow move across the floor. ~Onegai, give me strength. Don't let them come. Don't let them get hurt...~

"Shirt off." Chichiue orders. I swallow and pull my shirt off. Most of the scars I wear are from past lessons. The few that aren't are from the few times my friends in the city have let me near knives. They tell me I'm accident prone. Something glints in the dying sun and a line of red forms on my chest. I bite my lip painfully. Chichiue chuckles almost insanely. "Trying not to cry out, aren't you?"

I say nothing. ~I won't give him the satisfaction.~ I tell myself. Another red line forms on my chest. I still make no sound.

"Turn around." Chichiue orders. I do so. I feel a sharp pain on my back.

~Great. How am I supposed to bandage that?! I can't even see it! Yaro!~ More pain. I bite my lip harder. I taste blood in my mouth. ~Ooh, yum.~ I think drily.

Chichiue's arms wrap around me calmly, not even minding the blood getting on his sleeves. "You will scream, and you will mean it." He warns me.

"Or what?" I croak.

"Or I drag your brother into this, and I know you're just trying to protect him." Chichiue says. I can hear the smirk in his voice. He lets me go as my eyes widen and my head shoots up.

~Seto!~ I cry. The knife flies along my skin again, going deeper than the past few times. I couldn't have kept silent if I'd wanted to. My knees buckle and I fall to my hands, breathing heavily. I feel the blood dribbling down my back, staining my white shorts. I barely recognize the sound of Chichiue putting his knife away.

"Get up." He orders, once again behind me.

"Can't." I whisper hoarsely.

"Would you rather I drag you to your feet?" He inquires. I force myself to stand, my back screaming in pain. "Look at me." I glance up at him. His eyes are blazing with anger. "Where were you?" I shake my head, still refusing to answer. Chichiue rams me against the wall, making me gasp. "Where were you, Noa."

"You do know I'm staining your pretty wall, right?" I inquire humorlessly.

`CRACK!' I scream again as he bends one of my fingers back too far. "Don't be a smartass!" Chichiue says sharply.

"Wasn't." I gasp. "Being truthful."

Chichiue lets out a growl, then lets me go. "Clean this up, then go to your room. There will be no dinner for you tonight." I nod. "I'll send Seto up with your stuff after dinner." I nod again, and he leave the room, slamming the door behind him.

I stumble into the bathroom, which connects to his room. I glance in the mirror. There are tears in my eyes, but none fell. I go into his medicine drawer and pull out a large roll of gauze. I'm not cleaning up blood twice. I, with some difficultly, wrap it around my upper body until I'm sure I've covered all the cuts. Then I make sure it'll stay and go hunting for something to hold my finger. I pull out the finger brace I knew he had and give my finger a dark look. "Why does he always break this one. You'd think he was trying to have it heal sideways." I grimace and bite down on the washcloth I'm supposed to use for cleaning up, then I reset my finger.

After the stars in front of my eyes fade, along with the majority of the pain, I take the washcloth from my mouth and put the brace on my finger. Then I fill a bucket with warm water and soap and walk back out to the bedroom. I get to work cleaning the wall, as always, glad that it's not white, but a deep red. ~Chichiue and his twisted sense of humor.~ I grumble to myself, finishing with the wall and starting on the hardwood floor.

But, there remained a stain on the floor, no matter how hard I scrubbed it. I pour out the bloody water, put the bucket and washcloth away, then, checking the hall first to see if all is clear, I walk to one of the guest rooms and take the area rug from next to the bed and place it over the stain in Chichiue's room. "Done." I mumble, then walk back to my room and change into my night clothes. ~I'll have to set my alarm to wake me up early tomorrow, so I can take a shower.~ I decide, laying on my bed with a grimace.

-~*~-

Seto opening the door wakes me from my sleep. He's giving me a worried look. "What?" I ask, sitting up stiffly.

"Why were you screaming?" Seto asks sadly, coming over to sit on the bed next to me. He puts my stuff on the floor between us. "One of the servants told up not to go upstairs."

I sigh in relief. I know which servant it was, and I'll have to thank her tomorrow. I show Seto my finger, glad, for once, that Chichiue had broken it. "He accidently broke. He had to set it for me." I explain.

Seto frowns. "Why weren't you at dinner?"

"I wasn't hungry."

Seto gives me a look. "Gozaburo-sama said you weren't allowed to have dinner."

"Nice of him to inform you of that." I grumble, looking down at my hands. "He found out we got back late. I took the blame. My punishment was no dinner." I tell him, keeping all emotion from my voice.

"Noa, did he break your finger on purpose?" Seto asks softly. I flinch, but say nothing. "Does this have to do with a lesson?"

"Seto, let me alone." I grumble, turning away from him.

I feel Seto get up from the bed. "Here." He holds out a hand. I glance at it. A small container with whatever they'd had for dinner is in the palm of his hand. "I asked the cook to give me something for you."

"Seto! He'll kill you if he finds out!" I exclaim.

"Are you going to take it, or lecture me?" Seto inquires. "Because, if you're gonna lecture me, someone needs to lecture you. I don't really need you protecting me all the time. I can take care of myself."

I grab the container. "You don't understand. I'm protecting you for your own good." I grumble.

" So, it was a lesson. He did break your finger on purpose." I don't reply. "Did he really set it?"

"Of course he did!" I glare up at Seto. "You make him out to be some sort of demon who has no feelings!"

"How can a man who breaks his own son's finger have feelings!" Seto shouts at me.

"Keep your voice down!"

"Tell me the truth!"

"If you two don't shut up now, I'm coming in there!" Chichiue roars from his office.

I feel the blood drain from my face and notice Seto stiffen. "Let it be, Seto." I whisper, pleading.

"How can you expect me to stand back and let him hurt you?!" Seto hisses as quietly as he can manage.

"How do you think I feel? I've lived with him my whole life! I can handle him! You've never dealt with him before!" I say sharply.

The sound of Chichiue's feet in the hall makes me hurry to hide the food Seto brought me. The door slams open and Chichiue glares at us. "Maybe you didn't hear me the first time, Noa." He hisses, eyes narrowed. "But I do believe I told you to shut the hell up."

"Gomen..." I hang my head, dimly aware of Seto, gaping at Chichiue's cursing.

"I smell food in here." Chichiue says sharply.

~Shit!~ I bite my lip.

"Uhm, that's my fault..." Seto scuffs his foot on the floor, blushing. "You see, I didn't eat my lunch. It's still in my bag. Do you want me to take it downstairs?"

"Yes." Chichiue watches Seto closely as he gets his lunch bag and walks to the door. "Let me see." He orders. Seto shows him the food still in the bag and Chichiue nods. Seto leaves. Chichiue looks at me sharply. "Give it to me, now." He orders.

I pull out the food Seto had stolen for me and give it to my father, my head down. ~I knew Seto's story wouldn't work...~

Chichiue's hand flies across my face and I fall to the ground, not caring as pain shoots through my back. "You know food is not allowed in here. I will allow this one to slide, but do not let it happen again. Am I understood?" I nod silently. "Stand up." I do so and Chichiue grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. "Maybe protecting Seto isn't a good idea. He doesn't seem to like it."

I pull away angrily. "Leave me alone, Chichiue." I hiss.

Chichiue walks up to me and uses my hair to look at him, pulling hard. I gasp. "Who is the adult in this house?" He asks sharply.

"You." I whisper.

"Who is the smarter one in this house?" I don't reply. He pulls on my hair sharply. "Who?"

"You!" I cry.

"Then who do you not talk back to and listen to?" Once again, I refuse to answer. His knee meets my crotch and I whimper. "Answer me, Noa." He growls.

"You! I don't talk back to you! I listen to you! I get it!" I cry, only wanting him to let go.

"Glad you finally understand." Chichiue lets go of my hair and I fall to the ground with a sob. "Make sure you don't forget again." I nod, hugging myself, and he leaves.

"Noa!" Seto runs over to my side. "Ra, Noa, are you okay?!"

In reply, I turn to him and sob into his chest. Seto hugs me lightly and just lets me cry.

~~~

A/N: *is sitting in her corner sobbing* NOA-CHAN!! I'm s-s-sor-ry... I'm s-so s-sorry!!

Noa: *glances at Seto* Ya know, I think I like her better like this!

Seto: Aren't you hurt?

Noa: In the story, baka.

Seto: Oh, yeah... Heh...

Maybe this fic'll get more attention now!! ANGST!! YEAH!! (I'm sorry... I have a difficult time not writing a story without a little bit of angst, and I'm in a pissy mood, PMS, if you will... *annoyed look* I REALLY hope my friend calls me back! I don't wanna have to call one of my other friends and see if she can come to the amusement park tomorrow instead! Bothersome... And I, of course, got my grades and have been told I need to take an SOL over again... *pissed off look* I REALLY hate math!! HATE IT!!! ARGH!!!

*feels better* Okay, till next chappie, which shall be soon, b/c I have much free time, waiting for my friend to call back.

~KK