Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Then and Now ❯ How they met ( Chapter 1 )

Then and Now

 

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING AND I DON'T MAKE ANY PROFIT WITH THIS.

 

Rating: NC 17

 

Warnings: This fic will mention child abuse and rape (not graphic)

 

Summary: What would have happened if Seto, Jou and Mokuba were all adopted by Gozaburo, but then Jou was be forced to leave? What would happen if they met again three years later in Domino High?

 

Chap.1: How They Met

 

Jounouichi Katsuya looked out the car window, not really seeing the scenery flying by. It was his first day out of the hospital, and it would be his first day in his new home. He had been in a car accident with his father in which his father had died. His mother had left with his sister two years, and hadn't left the tiniest clue of where she was going. That's why they were sending him to the orphanage, as the nice lady at child care had explained to the ten year old boy. Although he was sad that his dad was dead, he wasn't all that upset to be gone from his old home. His dad hadn't cared much for him; he hadn't even bothered to cook food for his son, and Katsuya couldn't remember when he had last eaten a hot dinner. Probably when his mum and sister had still been around.

 

They finally arrived in front off a big, old-looking house, and the nice lady led him inside. She told him to wait in the garden while she talked to the owner of the place. As he made his way out, Katsuya took the opportunity to look around a bit. Although the house looked old, it was well cared for, no empty beer bottles or trash laying around like in Katsuya's old home. It also had a nice smell, a smell of food and sweets, not cigarettes and beer.

 

Katsuya liked this place already.

 

The garden was nice too, it was quite big, with loots off hiding spaces if one would want to play hide and seek

 

He walked around a bit till he heard some voices. Children's voices. They were laughing. Curious, Katsuya followed the voices. When he reached them he saw three boys around his age, laughing indeed, but there was also a younger boy, maybe four or five. He lay on the ground securing his head with his arms while the tree other guys kicked him.

 

“Hey, what are you doing to that kid? Three against one isn't fair, and against someone much younger it's even more unfair. Leave him alone.” Katsuya was no angel himself, but kicking someone so young was just not right.

 

“And what if we don't? What'll you do, Blondie?” One of the guys, the tallest one, said.

The other two moved forward, forgetting about the small boy in prospect of a much more entertaining victim. Too bad they didn't know Jou was a street kid. Though tender in age, he was far from ignorant about fights. The fight was soon finished, with Jou the only one still standing. They had gotten a few good hits and kicks at him, there were three of them after all, but in the end they were no match to his skill. The boys soon scrambled off the scene leaving only Katsuya and the small boy.

 

Wiping some blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, he walked over to the still shivering child. “You okay?”

 

“Ye…yes…thank you,” the boy sniffled.

 

“You really okay? What's your name kid?”

 

“I'm fine, thanks to you. I'm Mokuba, but I don't like that name. It's too long. You can call me Moki. That's what my brother calls me…” Then he caught sight of someone behind Katsuya's back

 

“Onichan!” he cried out

 

Jou turned his head and saw a boy his age running up to them. He shoved Jou out of the way and gathered his little brother in his arms.

 

Cold blue eyes met Katsuya's. “What have you done to him, you ass?”

 

Jou was so startled he couldn't answer. He was lost in the fierce gaze of the boy; never had he seen such expressive eyes.

 

“No Onichan, he didn't do anything. He fought the mean guys, to help me.”

 

Immediately the eyes softened, but they were still guarded. “Then I thank you for saving my brother. He has the unfortunate luck of attracting guys like them.”

 

“Naw, no reason to thank me. Anybody would have helped”

 

“No, they wouldn't,” the boy said bitterly. “Well then, let me take you to the nurse; she'll have to look at your wounds.”

 

“No need, I'm used to worse.” Something inside Katsuya wanted to impress the other boy. He didn't know why…maybe it was just the way the other boy looked. So strong, so composed. Katsuya didn't want to look weak, although his body hurt quite a bit.

 

“Even if that's so, there's no need to suffer if there is a remedy. Come on.” His fierce eyes allowed no disobedience, and Katsuya really was hurt, so he followed the boy, who never let his brother out of his grasp, inside the house.

 

“You're the new one, Katsuya Jounouichi, right?”

 

“Yeah, I just arrived today, how did you know?”

 

“The teacher told me today. We'll be sharing a room.” Katsuya couldn't help but be happy at this news. “Here we are.”

 

They entered the infirmary and the nurse bandaged Katsuya without any questions. It wasn't uncommon that the children fought, as most of them came from rough backgrounds and the teachers couldn't control all of them.

 

After she was finished with Katsuya she continued with Mokuba, sighing to herself. The poor child was in almost every week, whenever his brother wasn't there to protect him. She felt sorry for the two brothers. Mokuba was still so innocent; he didn't realize when others meant him bad, and the older brother… He trusted no one, not the adults, not the other children. He was so afraid for his brother's safety that he didn't dare to leave his brother's side to play with the kids of his age.

 

The door to the infirmary opened and the lady from child care walked in with an old-looking man with lots of wrinkles.

 

“There you are boy; we've been looking for you all over the place! And where do we find you? In the infirmary, on your very first day! Did you pick on young Mokuba here? That was very wrong of you, boy. And you, Seto, I know you just wanted to protect your brother, but that's no reason to hit back; the boy is all black and blue! You know you're supposed to call for an adult if there is a fight!”

 

“It wasn't like that! He didn't do anything!” Both boys said urgently. They looked at each other, surprised that the other one was defending him.

 

“It really wasn't his fault, director,” Seto continued. “Some guys were bothering Mokuba, and he just wanted to help. He had to defend himself when they came after him.”

 

“That's right, and when…Seto was it?” Jou asked the blue-eyed boy, who nodded in confirmation. “When Seto came, the other boys were long gone; he had nothing to do with my injuries.”

 

The old man raised his eyebrows. This was the first time Seto had defended someone other than his brother. And a newcomer at that. He wasn't any less surprised that the other boy had spoken up for Seto in return. Normally other children disliked him from the very start. They completely misinterpreted his insecurity and his fear of being disliked for his intelligence. They thought him to be conceited and too proud. It was good that Seto now had the chance to make a friend; he was quite pleased, and decided to put the three off them into one room, although he couldn't have known that things would play out so well.

 

“Well, if it was like that then welcome, Katsuya Jounouichi. I'm Miro Misaki, the director and owner of this place. If you have any problems you can come to me or to any other of the adults here. School will be from Monday to Friday. You will get your time table tomorrow. You'll stay in a room with Mokuba and Seto from now on, and I'm sure they will help you and inform you of the rules. Seto, Mokuba, why don't you two show Katsuya his new room and help him to settle in?”

 

“Very well Misaki-san. Come on then.” Seto motioned to Katsuya and Mokuba. They walked to the room together, but Mokuba was the only one talking. Both Seto and Katsuya were still nervous around each other and didn't know how to approach each other. Katsuya was afraid that he would say something stupid, like how pretty Seto's eyes were or something like that, and Seto had never gotten along with anybody before and didn't want to upset the boy who had helped Mokuba and defended him in front of Misaki-san by saying something insolent, like how dirty and old his clothes looked or how skinny he was. They went to bed without saying more than six words to each other.

 

 

That night Katsuya was awoken by loud moaning. He looked in the direction of the noise and saw Mokuba thrashing around in his bed, obviously having a nightmare. Seto hovered over his little brother, trying to wake him. He wasn't successful, and Mokuba's moaning got louder.

 

“Wait, let me try,” Katsuya said padding over to Mokuba's bed. “Try to rock him,” he told Seto, “no, not so forcefully, gently, yeah like that, take him in your arms.” While Seto was rocking Mokuba in his arms, Katsuya begun to hum silently, stroking Mokuba's back.

 

Eventually Mokuba calmed own and his breathing went even. He snuggled deeper into his brother's embraces. “My sister always had nightmares after my parents fought; when she was woken up forcefully she was always too distressed to sleep again. So I started calming her down while she was still asleep. She always told me I had a soothing voice and I soon realized that my humming really calmed her down. I guess it works with children that way.” Seto thought Katsuya himself was nothing more than a child, but he didn't mention it.

 

“Where's your sister now?” He asked instead.

 

“I don't know, my mom left with her two years ago. I never knew where she went.”

 

“That must have been awful; I couldn't imagine being separated from Mokuba. He's all the family I have left.”

 

“I was very lonely at first, but I was happy that she was away from my dad; he was…he wasn't the nicest kind of person.” At Seto's questioning gaze he just shrugged. “Drinking, beating. The normal stuff. There are thousands of children with parents like mine.”

 

“Aren't you mad at your mother for leaving you and taking your sister?”

 

“I was…I still am, kind of, but…she rescued my sister, and for that I'm grateful.”

 

Seto was amazed. People always thought him mature for his age, but this boy…how could he be so mature and so crude at once? He just accepted the abuse of his father, and his mother abandoning him. He just accepted it! Seto could never do that. He would do everything in his power to make the best out of his life, trying to change it if necessary. But maybe it was wrong to assume Katsuya hadn't tried. What could a small boy of ten do in this kind of situation anyway?

 

“Seto?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I'm glad that I have you and Moki as my roommates.”

 

“Why?” Seto couldn't help but be surprised.

 

“I like you. You're kind of cool and Moki is very cute. I'm glad that I could make friends on my first day.”

 

They were friends? Was it that easy? But how was he to know? He'd never had a friend, not even when his parents had still been alive. So he simply said, “I'm glad too.”

 

 

Thanks to blackwidow for betaing.

 

Next chapter: How they became brothers