Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Seto's Wish ❯ Chapter 4

Kaiba rose, staring Joey down, and looking rather threatening.

 

Any smart person would have run by now.......but Joey was not one to fit that category. Instead, he immediately put his fists up, snapping, “Come on, Kaiba.......you want a piece of me? I'll take you on!”

 

“Joey, don't encourage him!” Yugi said hastily.

 

“You are not to get near my brother.....do you understand me?” Kaiba ordered Joey.

 

Joey snapped back, “Hey, it aint my fault! I thought he was a chair.....”

 

That didn't help Joey's case. Kaiba grabbed Joey by the wrist; twisting it and forcing him into a kneeling position. “Maybe I should help show you the difference!”

 

“Kaiba, stop it!” Tea cried, even if Joey was stupid enough to only make Kaiba angrier. “Maybe you should focus on what's more important here......mainly your little brother. Mokuba is sick, and needs to get home!”

 

“Mind your own business, Gardner!” Kaiba snapped, but quickly glanced over at Mokuba. Kaiba had moved from his seat in order to get up and threaten Joey, and had let Mokuba sit there in his place. As much as he hated to be chastised by anyone, especially Yugi's little geek friends, he had to admit......she was right, even if he would never openly say that.

 

Kaiba let Joey go, and took a final glance Joey's way, who had stood back up and was once again in his `tough' stand, still pretending he could take him on. He then turned away, grunting, “Hmph......a nobody like you isn't worth my time, anyway.”

 

“That's a good thing, cuz I woulda kicked yer ass!” Joey said, getting a slap from Tristan. Joey looked over at his friend, asking, “Ow! What??”

 

Kaiba checked Mokuba's head and felt it was indeed hot. He then packed up his things, and smiled down at Mokuba, saying, “Let's get you home......”

 

Mokuba looked up at his big brother and smiled back. Since the cafeteria was still very crowded, he picked Mokuba up, cradling him in his left hand, grabbing his suitcase in the other, then turned with full intention on ignoring Yugi's groupies around him and simply leave.

 

During that time though, Tristan had told Joey, “You're tempting fate, man. You should be glad that Kaiba's not smearing you across the lunch room.”

 

“Oh, yeah......like he'd have the chance to, even if his hands weren't filled. That's right, Kaiba.....you just take your brother home and count yourself lucky, this time. Next time, you wont even have a chance!” Joey said boastfully and loud enough for onlookers to hear on purpose. After all, with Kaiba's hands full, it was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of it, and earn some brownie points now that Kaiba couldn't do anything to retaliate.

 

But as Joey was giving Kaiba that smug smirk, he didn't expect Kaiba's arm to come up, still holding his suitcase and push him.....`hard'. Joey instantly fell over, tripping over one of the cafeteria chairs.

 

“You should be careful with those chairs, Wheeler......” Kaiba taunted, as he kept going.

 

Joey glared up at Kaiba, growling at him as he moved on. Instead of getting bonus points against Kaiba, he became the laughing stock of the cafeteria. And with Kaiba carrying Mokuba, he couldn't even fight him back. “Bastard!” he yelled out again, but it did little to raise Joey's mood.

 

But as Yugi was helping Joey up, now Tristan jumped in front of Kaiba. “Get out of my way, before you're next.” Kaiba warned him.

 

“I'm not trying to fight you, Kaiba......but after Tea helped Mokuba to find you, I figured the least you could have done was thank her for the help!” Tristan said.

 

Kaiba paused then looked over at Tea, who looked back up at him waiting to hear it. Kaiba opened his mouth like he was ready to say it, but instead laughed coldly at her. As he laughed, he turned away and continued to walk, pushing passed Tristan.

 

“What a jerk!” Tristan snapped, annoyance written in his features.

 

But Tea came over, holding Tristan's arm to keep him from doing something crazy, next. “Don't worry about it, Tristan.....he's not worth it.”

 

Yugi and Joey now approached, as Joey said, “Don't you worry about it, Tristan. He's just lucky he had his brother with him, or I would have taken him down a couple notches, right now.”

 

Tristan just sighed, “Yeah, sure ya would have......”

 

Tea turned and looked back towards the looming dark form of Kaiba that just radiated `go away', as he left the cafeteria with Mokuba. “I just can't believe that Mokuba could be his little brother......he's such a sweet little kid.”

 

Yugi smiled, saying, “Who knows......maybe Kaiba was like that, once.”

 

There was a long pause, before Joey collapsed on the ground in a fit of laughter, and even Tristan and Tea were snickering from the thought. Yugi just sulked, muttering, “It's possible.....”

 

Tristan recovered, saying, “Well, I'm not going to waste my time worrying about Kaiba, anyway. I got a hot date with Serenity to plan!”

 

“WHAT??” Joey snapped, immediately leaping back off the floor and grabbing Tristan by the collar. “You aint touching my sister, you got that!!”

 

“Oh boy here we go again....” Tea said, and she and Yugi just sat down to watch.

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x

 

Kaiba was relieved to finally get away from Yugi's group and the crowd of the cafeteria. He was actually tempted to thank Tea, despite how much he couldn't stand any of them, if anything.....for his brother's sake. But the last thing he was going to show was a possible soft side of himself in front of an entire cafeteria filled with people. No one even knew who this kid was Kaiba was carrying......and as far as he was concerned, it was best it stayed that way.

 

`She doesn't deserve it anyway.' Kaiba thought to rid himself of this strange feeling inside.....was it guilt? He looked down at Mokuba to make sure he wasn't in fact upset about his behavior towards Tea, to see his brother was asleep. `Great.' Kaiba thought, hoping to get him to walk for himself now, but with Mokuba asleep, he didn't have the heart to wake him, despite what everyone else thought about him.

 

He stopped for a moment to search his pockets for his cell phone, and came up empty. He could only assume it was in his briefcase, making it difficult to open with one hand......but he was going to have to somehow, if he was going to call the driver to school so early. So, finding a place to put his briefcase down, he fumbled to open it up.

 

“The bell didn't ring yet for you to be leaving the cafeteria, Mr. Kaiba.” A man suddenly said to him.

 

Kaiba turned to see his computer science teacher, Mr. Mayaki. It was Kaiba's next course, and just about the only class Kaiba, felt was worth even going to school for. He actually regretted having to miss it, but with Mokuba sick, it couldn't be helped.

 

“You look like you're ready to leave. Don't tell me you plan on missing my class?” Mr. Mayaki added.

 

Kaiba gave a slight nod of respect, saying, “My apologies, Unfortunately, it can't be helped......I have to go. I'll send someone over to pick up any work that I missed, and I'll be calling the school's secretary as soon as I have the chance.”

 

“And why exactly do you need to go? Don't tell me another work emergency......” he asked. But before he could answer, the teacher noticed the kid in his arms, and added, “My, my......and who is this little guy?” Suddenly the idea that Kaiba actually had a kid came to the man's mind, and he looked at Kaiba in surprise. “He isn't actually your.....”

 

“....brother. And he's sick......I need to get him home.” Kaiba responded.

 

Mr. Mayaki nodded. “I see. I didn't realize you even had a brother.”

 

“I have a difficult enough time with the constant media frenzy. I see no reason to put him through it as well, if I can avoid it.” Kaiba explained.

 

“Understandable.” Mayaki said.

 

Mr. Mayaki then walked over, helping Kaiba to open his briefcase, seeing he was having a difficult time with it, allowing Kaiba to get his phone out. “Well, then I guess we will be seeing you later. But keep in mind that the school is not going to like hearing that you're skipping out again. It's understandable that you're busy with the company you run, but you must realize that staying in school can be very important......even for you.”

 

Kaiba closed the case back up, refusing to thank him for it, as he grabbed his briefcase, saying, “I understand.....I'll talk to them about it.” and walked away in a hurry so he didn't have to hear the man lecture him any further about it. `Idiot......as if I was planning to leave school, today.' Kaiba pushed though the double doors, and stopped at the stairs so he could call his limo driver to meet him out front.

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x

 

The lunchroom bell finally rang, and everyone went to their next period classes. The entire time, Yugi had become strangely quiet. Though the others hadn't noticed, another presence did.

 

/What's wrong, Yugi?/

 

Yugi jumped, taken off guard from suddenly hearing his other self. /Oh, it's you!/

 

/Sorry Yugi, I didn't mean to startle you./

 

/No, it's okay......I guess I was just out of it./ Yugi smiled to where Yami's see-through presence was next to him.

 

Yami smiled back at him. /It's more than that. Something's on your mind......what is it?/

 

/I was just thinking about Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba. When he was with us, something about it felt.....familiar, somehow./ Yugi explained.

 

Yami nodded. /Yes.....I felt it, too. I'm sure we have seen him before, though I can't recall where./

 

Yugi sighed. /It's just strange that we never knew that Kaiba even had a little brother, before./

 

/Indeed......Kaiba is quite a mystery. Perhaps in time we'll figure out this puzzle, together./ Yami smiled.

 

Yugi smiled, back, replying. /Uh-huh!/

 

x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x

 

This was just not Kaiba's day. Since it was still early, the limo driver assumed Kaiba would not be out yet and went to have the all their limos checked out. It would be at least another hour in a half before one would be over to pick him up. Giving up, Kaiba began to walk home, Mokuba still in his arm that was beginning to feel tired carrying him.

 

He had finally switched arms after walking down the street of Domino. As he did, Kaiba suddenly looked up, having his attention somehow drawn to the nearby window of a peddler's shop. In the window on display seemed to be an old box. But what caught his eye was the Blue Eyes White Dragon it had decorated on the top of it.

 

As if on automatic, for some reason he moved straight to the peddler's door and went inside, approaching the desk. He couldn't even reason why he did it.....he just did.

 

The shopkeeper looked up from his desk, and asked, “Hello there, young man......can I help you?”

 

“I want to see that box.” Kaiba told him calmly. “The one on display with the Blue Eyes White Dragon on it.”

 

“The box on display.....” the man said, curiously. He then pulled the box from the window, and asked, “Do you mean this one?”

 

Kaiba silently nodded, as he looked over the box. It was quite an ancient Egyptian relic, with jewels encrusted on the box, accenting the BEWD even more. Kaiba didn't know why he felt so drawn to the item. He never felt so compelled to have something since that time he saw the 4th BEWD card from Yugi's grandfather's shop.......something he definitely didn't want to ever repeat again.

 

Either way, a box with his favorite dragon on it he couldn't help but be curious what was in it? So putting down his briefcase, he lamely attempted to open the box with his left hand......failing miserably.

 

“That task might go easier young man if you used both hands.” The store owner said, thinking, `Not that you will be able to open it even then.......few have ever successfully opened it.'

 

His words brought Kaiba's attention immediately back to the man. Kaiba glared down at him, snapping, “Are you blind or just stupid? Can't you see I don't have two hands to use?” Kaiba said, irritated at this man's attempt at sarcasm. “So why don't you make yourself more useful, and show me what's in the box....” saying it more as an order than a request.

 

“I'm afraid I can not do that, young man.”

 

“And just why not?” Kaiba demanded furiously.

 

“You see, this isn't just any ordinary box. Legend has it that there's some powerful magic locked away inside. Only those chosen may open the box!”

 

“Yeah, whatever. I didn't come here for fairytales......” Kaiba snapped. Then after a pause, he asked, “So what if you're not chosen and open it? Is a dragon suppose to come out and eat you?” mocking the man's story.

 

“That's not possible.......unless you're chosen, you simply can't open the box.” the man stated.

 

Though Kaiba still felt the strong pull from the box, the man was pissing him off. Besides, why did he feel he wanted that box in the first place? Since Duel Monsters were so popular, every peddler out there normally tried to decorate their things with Duel Monster's symbols to create a bigger demand and get a higher price. So why was this item any different than those other scams?

 

“Forget it......I'm out of here.” Kaiba finally said, making himself turn, and actually exerting his mind in order to force himself to walk away.

 

At that, the peddler quickly said, “No wait....you mustn't go! You were obviously drawn to this box, so you must be the chosen one!” As he did, the peddler tried to grab Kaiba's arm, to stop him from leaving.

 

Kaiba jerked his hand away from him, and hissed, “Don't ever touch me again!” his eyes like ice.

 

The man froze for a moment, fearful from Kaiba's glare. But as the man released Kaiba, he calmed down. Kaiba then turned the man's way, and said, “Hmph.......you think that pathetic nonsense you told me is going to sucker me in? Maybe you don't know who you're talking to. Chosen one.....give me a break. I guarantee if you take a sledge hammer to that box, we'd see just how easy it is for any person to get that thing open.”

 

“......big brother?” Mokuba's weak voice suddenly said, getting Kaiba's attention. Kaiba looked over at his brother, as Mokuba asked, “What's going on?”

 

“It's nothing Mokuba, just go back to sleep.” Kaiba said, trying to sound as cool and calm as he could, so he'd listen. But Mokuba had already spotted the box and pointed to it.

 

“Hey, Seto.....look! That box has a Blue Eyes White Dragon on it.....are you going to get it?”

 

“Why should I? Half the trinkets in Domino have duel monsters plastered to them. Besides, what would we do with a stupid box, anyway?” Kaiba said, unsure if he was saying it to convince Mokuba or himself.

 

“Well, what's in it?” Mokuba asked.

 

Kaiba gritted his teeth, tempted to go off about the stupid store keeper who was too superstitious or simply too lazy to open it for them, but instead snapped, “How should I know?” Then reminding himself he was talking to Mokuba, Kaiba said more calmly, “My hands are little occupied, incase you haven't noticed......” giving his younger brother a slight smile.

 

Mokuba giggled at that, saying, “Sorry.....I guess I got tired. I can stand, now.”

 

“Are you sure?” Kaiba asked, being a bit over-protective.

 

“Seto......” Mokuba said.

 

Kaiba smiled and put him down. He needed to get Mokuba home, but also knew his brother well. Standing here arguing about it wasn't going to get Mokuba home any sooner, and technically......it was his fault for being in this shop in the first place. So Kaiba decided he might as well get it over with.

 

Kaiba brought his hands to the box, trying to work on it to open it, but had little success.

 

The shop owner was actually surprised, certain that maybe Kaiba was the chosen one for that object since he seemed drawn to the item, but then wondered if maybe he was mistaken.

 

With further examination, Kaiba said, “The lock looks rusted. Where's the key?”

 

“I'm afraid that was lost many years ago.” The old man said sadly.

 

“Get it anyway, Seto. I'm sure you could find something to open it up with at home.” Mokuba said.

 

Kaiba sighed, “Fine, whatever......I'll take it.” At this point, Kaiba no longer cared if he was oddly drawn to this object or not. He needed to get Mokuba home, and the sooner he did.....the better. Even if nothing was in there, he could always give it to Mokuba to play around with.

 

“But you didn't ask how much it is.” the shopkeeper said.

 

Kaiba glared at him. “Do I look like I care?” He put his credit card down, as the shopkeeper rang up $45. And just as he got the bag, it began to thunder out and the rain began to fall. `Wonderful.' Kaiba thought, feeling guilty for coming here in the first place, when he should have brought Mokuba straight home.

 

“Oh here, you can have this umbrella.” The old man said, handing him an old looking one. “Wouldn't want the little one here to make his cold any worse out in the rain, now would we?”

 

Kaiba glared at the old man, asking, “What do you want for it?”

 

“Oh, no.....no charge young man. Just getting yourselves home safely is all I ask.”

 

Right.....if there's one thing Kaiba hated more than anything, it was someone offering him some so-called charity. Especially from a peddler, who would probably come back later, thinking Kaiba owed him something. Well, he didn't have time to quibble on a price, but would still make sure the guy fully understood that there would be no favors. Kaiba snatched it coldly, saying, “I'll take this item, but only because of the ridiculous price you charged me for some rusted broken box. Consider us even.....got it??”

 

Before the man could even answer, Kaiba turned to his brother, saying, “Let's go, Mokuba.” and headed out in the rain, little brother in tow.

 

Despite Kaiba's rudeness, Mokuba waved to the man as they left, carrying the box as they headed back down the street.

 

After they left, a young teenage woman came out from behind, asking, “Grandfather who was that?”

 

“A young man just left, after buying the treasure box.”

 

The woman laughed at that, saying, “The crazy things you sell, grandfather. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want that...it was so ugly.”

 

The old man paused, thinking, “Now that you mention it, they kept saying there was some kind of a dragon on the box.”

 

“A dragon?” she asked.

 

“Yes, I think he called it a blue eyes white dragon.”

 

“That's silly.” she exclaimed. “If it had a Duel Monster on the box, even I would have kept it.”

 

“I'm not sure what exactly a duel monster is, but your right. I don't ever remember seeing a dragon on there before. In fact, they both seemed to claim there was a dragon on it, and were very interested in it. Perhaps he really is the one chosen to open that box......”

 

“Oh, grandpa......enough of your crazy stories.” his granddaughter said, going in the back of the store, once again.

 

The grandfather looked out the store, and nodded. `Yes......perhaps you are the one, indeed.'