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You’d been at the orphanage for two years already by the time the Kaiba’s arrived; you felt sorry for the boys because you knew what happened to fresh meat. Children could be mean if they were left to their own devices, especially kids that were that had been hurt in the past, and there was no way the limited staff could keep up with the fifty orphans that lived here at any given time.
You watched from a tree as a group of older boys circled the Kaiba’s like sharks, giving vague threats about ‘The rules’, most of which involved some level of obedience to the older kids at the orphanage, but there was the occasional ‘protection fee’ thrown in as well.
A different group had tried to pull the same shit on you, but they learned quickly that even if you were only a small child you had claws and you weren’t afraid to use them, that was the only gift your assassin mother had given you.
At first, you remained passive about the Kaiba brothers’ troubles; the hazing was traditional anyways, a way to test the kid’s mettle. Most of the orphans balled up and cried, but some of them bucked up and refused to cooperate, but not many tackled the leader and broke his nose like the older Kaiba had when one of the sharks went to touch his kid brother. It was that moment that you decided that you’d befriend the brothers.
Hopping down from your spot in the tree you casually strolled over to the group and pulled a paring knife you stole from the kitchen out of your boot. “Back off Rick, I like the new kid he’s got nerve, more than I can say for any of you.” You watched as everyone’s eyes focused on the knife in your hand.
“One of these days (Last Name) we aren’t going to listen to you anymore.” One of them said as they stopped off.
Concealing your knife again you approached the Kaiba’s, “Hello I’m (First Name) It’s nice to meet you.”
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‘Say what you want about Seto, but the boy always has a plan.’ You thought as you watched him study tirelessly so he could get Mokuba a better life, one that didn’t involve his brother regularly fighting with kids who had a good five years on him just to survive.You’d done your best to help, but you probably just got in the way. You weren’t a prodigy like Seto, that was why your mother had abandoned you here because you were just average at everything you tried, fighting, chemistry, strategy, and most other skills that are important to an assassination. You’d at least been able to teach Seto the basic rules of chess, that had made you feel better about your general uselessness in this situation.You smiled at Seto and told him that you were going to check on Mokuba and left Seto to his study’s. You prayed that challenging Gozaburo wouldn’t blow up in his face because Seto needed something good in his life after everything he’d been through.
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‘Gozaburo is an asshole, no wait correction Gozaburo is an abusive asshole.’ You thought as you watched him work Seto into the ground refusing to let the boy play because he didn’t want to be a warmonger. Seto wanted to run a gaming company, and that was something you supported wholeheartedly. As much as you tried to be a positive influence in his life you were afraid that this abuse carried on much longer there wouldn’t be anything left in your friend to save.
So, when Seto stopped by the orphanage and told you that he was planning a hostile takeover of Kaiba Corp you were happy to help. You and Seto always had made a good team in the past, and you hoped that it would continue well into the future. Seto came up with the plans, and you put them into action, that held true even now as he had you pretend to inform Gozaburo about his plans to take over Kaiba Corp, playing along and earning yourself a two percent share of the company.
It was easy to make the man buy what you were selling because his wife had taken you on as a pet project of sorts, never adopting you but still teaching you how to behave in proper society. You pretended to be grateful to them, “Mr. and Mrs. Kaiba, I think Seto is trying to plan something.” You sobbed though fake crocodile tears.
It was a few months later when Seto put his plan into action.
“Really I thought the great Gozaburo Kaiba would have been harder to trick than that,” You said as you strolled over to Seto’s side, “You should know that Seto and I always do our best work together, I’d say we’re near unstoppable.” You placed your hand on Seto’s shoulder to add to the effect. The look of shock on his face was priceless, “You always did tell Seto to trust no one looks like you should have taken your own advice.”
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You didn’t want to do this, but you knew that you’d never be rid of this thorn in your side until you had. Adjusting your hoody to make sure it covered your face and keeping your head down you slinked onto the rooftop. The whirring of security cameras changing their angle was barely audible as they changed their positions to look anywhere but the roof. You had to repress the urge to smirk, sometimes having a computer genius for a best friend came in handy.“It’s been what two weeks, and you're already planning to take over Kaiba Corp again?” You said as you looked over the city skyline at the top of a skyscraper. “Also, the view from Seto’s office is better,” You informed the man next to you.“What the hell are you doing here brat,” Gozaburo growled. “This,” You snarled as you shoved the man off the roof. You had already crept back into the shadows by the time his body hit the ground.Once you were back into the stare well, you gave your accomplice a call. “It’s done.” The next day it was announced that the former C.E.O of Kaiba Corp who had lost his battle to depression and had jumped off one of the tallest buildings in Domino. At least that’s what Seto told the cops and reporters who had come to ask him questions.You and Seto shared a devious smile because the two of you had just gotten away with murder.
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It was on your sixteenth birthday when Seto asked you to swing by his office, you hadn’t been expecting anything, to be honest, some part of you even didn’t even think that Seto remembered it wouldn’t have been the first time he’d forgotten.
Having been Seto’s friend since long before he was C.E.O had its advantages like security never stopping you on your way up to see him. Seto wasn’t in his office when you arrived, but that wasn’t unusual he ran one of the biggest companies in Japan it kept him busy.
You walked up to the glass wall and watched as the city went about its day. You hadn’t been lying to Gozaburo all those years ago this was without a doubt the best view there was of Domino city.
You heard footsteps that were unmistakably Seto’s come up behind you.
“I want you to have this,” Seto said as he draped a necklace around your neck. Looking down you saw a beautiful purl encased in an intricate silver cage. “It was my mothers,” Seto murmured softly as he fastened it securely behind your head.
You smiled softly as you turned to face him, “Thank you, but what brought this up.” You asked.
“You’re filling for emancipation tomorrow,” Seto didn’t quite answer your question, but you knew what he meant, this was his way of saying that he offering you support, and telling you that if you ever needed it, you’d have a soft place to land. That was the way that Seto was, when it came to the mushy stuff you had to read into his actions, because he wasn’t good at talking about something if it involved his feelings. That was another item on the ever growing list of reasons you were glad to have pushed Gozaburo off that roof, but you weren’t going to think about that now.
Instead, you leaned in and kissed Seto on the cheek while pretending not to notice the blush that painted his face you hugged him. You felt him tense for a second before he wrapped his arms around you, and as he did, you couldn’t help but think that your relationship had evolved somehow, that you were no longer just friends. You’d puzzle that out later because the two of you had never been one for labels, always choosing just to exist together in whatever way you could.
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Let me tell you Mokuba’s teen years were a whole thing, not that you blamed him anyone would come out a little screwy after everything he’d been through. First, his parents died, and after that his brother had taken on the burden of being Mokuba’s father figure while you’d been his substitute mother, and let’s not forget that whole thing with the millennium items that went down when he was a child. It didn’t help that you and Seto were just two kids trying to raise one, it’s not a surprise that the two of you had made a mistake or two somewhere, but not one that should’ve had you and Seto cutting a business dinner short and flying down the streets of Domino to get to the hospital.Seto drove while you sorted out all of the details on the phone with the hospital. Apparently, Mokuba had been coming home from a party (that you and Seto had told him NOT to go to.) with a friend and the two of them had been stoned out of their minds. Mokuba’s friend ran a red light and ended up getting T-boned at an intersection, there were several broken bones and a possible concussion, but he was conscious, that was all they’d be able to tell you until the tests came back. By the time you’d hung up the phone and reiterated the information to Seto the two of you came screeching into the Domino general parking lot. You were well aware that everyone in the city knew what Seto’s custom blue eyes Lamborghini looked like and that social media was probably being flooded with pictures of said car racing around the city while breaking every speed limit known to man. Jogging up to the reception desk, you went through all the rigmarole necessary to get information about his condition, like proving that you were, in fact, Mokuba’s emergency contact. They told you that Mokuba was currently in surgery, they had missed it at first because of the cocaine, but there had been a broken rib that had caused an injury to his heart, or at least that’s what you understood, and from what the nurse told you there was a slim possibility Mokuba might end-up needing a pacemaker.If the women’s plan in telling you that had been making sure you kept a better eye on Mokuba it worked, there wasn’t a chance that you would let him out of your sight again. It was then that you noticed why Seto hadn’t been with you at the information desk, the mother of the kid Mokuba had been with was currently screaming at Seto. He looked about an inch away from losing his shit with the woman, not that you could blame him she was screeching loud enough that you could hear her across the room now that you were no longer distracted.“If my daughter dies it’s all your fault, you stupid son of a bitch, my girl wouldn’t have attempted to drive that car if it wasn’t for your whore monger brother!” The lady was hysterical. Her fur coat and designer bag gave away her social status. Not that it mattered you were the best-friend of Seto Kaiba C.E.O of a multi-billion-dollar company, you could guarantee that you outranked her on every aspect of the social ladder. It wasn’t that you cared for social rank, but some people, and most likely this woman did.“Ma’am,” You started as you walked up next to Seto approaching the situation carefully. “I understand that you’re upset but take into consideration that we’re also worried about someone.” You spoke softly in an attempt to defuse the situation but judging by the way she stared down her nose at you, no amount of diplomacy was going to work.“Who the fuck are you?” The woman in the fur coat questioned with a condescending tone as she glared at you.You’d tried to play nice, but your nerves were running too high to try and keep it up. “I’m the closest thing to a mother that ‘whore monger’ has, push me bitch,” You said, leaning in closer to the woman’s face glaring at her. “I dare you.” Venom dripped from your words poisoning the air around you with the contempt you had for this woman.“I’d listen to her, trust me if you don’t, you’ll be glad you’re already in a hospital,” Seto said, placing a hand on your shoulder. To most, that gesture would have looked like he was supporting you, but you knew it was so that if you went to take a swing at the woman in the fur coat, he’d have a chance to pull you away.“Is that a threat?” It wasn’t until now that you noticed her husband and he looked just as pissed as his wife. Everything about this man screamed lawyer, but you didn’t care right now, you’d gladly go to jail if they said one more thing.“No sir,” You made sure your voice was sickeningly sweet, “It’s a promise because if your wife doesn’t back the fuck off, I’m going to make her bleed all over her lovely fur coat.” It was then that the police that were present thought to separate you.It hadn’t taken long for the press to find out who was in the hospital and swarm the building, the fucking vultures wouldn’t leave you alone. Is it too much to ask for just to have some privacy while waiting to find out if the boy you’d help to raise would be alright? Of course it was, otherwise they wouldn’t have a juicy headline tomorrow, and la gasp wouldn’t that be a tragedy. Though between the police and the Kaiba Corp employees the press was relatively well contained.It looked like a nurse was coming over to talk with the two of you.“Ma’am, Sir, I know that you’re probably going through a lot right now, but I have to ask you some questions.” The nurse said.“I understand, what do you need to know?” PDA wasn’t typically something you and Seto were fans of, but at that moment, you needed his support, so you intertwined your fingers with his and were surprised when Seto squeezed back. Right, Seto had to be just as torn up as you, this was his kid brother he loved Mokuba as much as you did. Seto was just better at keeping up a strong façade.“Do you know how long Mokuba Kaiba has been abusing drugs?” The nurse asked after having gone through the basic questions about family medical history.“I don’t know, Moki started pulling away from us a few years ago.” You took a deep breath and continued, “I just thought it was normal teenager stuff.” The nurse nodded and went to ask her next question.“Any history of Drug abuse in the family?” Seto was the one to answer that question.“I don’t think Mokuba was old enough to remember, but after our birth mother died, our biological father spun out of control. I told my brother that he died in a car wreck, but the truth is that he overdosed, Mokuba was only about four at the time.” You knew it was a painful memory for Seto, especially since he’d been the one to find his dad’s body. So, in an attempt to comfort him, you rubbed small circles on his thumb.Thankfully after a few more probing questions, the nurse left satisfied with the information she had been given.After what felt like years Mokuba came out of surgery, according to the doctors' everything had gone well and there were minimal complications, with sufficient rest and recovery time it would almost be like the accident never happened.Physically at least, but mentally you weren’t sure if any of you would ever get over this. You and Seto both charged into Mokuba’s room as soon as you were told you could. Seeing him there covered in tubes and wires, it broke something inside of you, for the first time since you were a child you started crying.“I’m sorry mom,” Mokuba croaked, still a little woozy from the anesthesia but aware enough to see that you were sobbing by his bedside. Mokuba had never known how much he could regret something until he saw that, because Mokuba knew he’d made you, the closet thing he’d ever had to a mom cry.Once the anesthesia wore off you found out a little more about what happened, he’d been at a party with some kids from his school, one of them had pressured Mokuba into using, and things had spun out of control from there.The girl he’d been with was just a friend, he hadn’t went gone with her to have sex the two of them had just gone out joyriding. Actually, Mokuba told you he had a girlfriend and asked that you to call her and let her know that he was ok.Mokuba promised you that it had been his first and last experience with drugs, he even said that he would go to rehab if that’s what you and Seto wanted.
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It wasn’t the first time you and the elder Kaiba had gotten into a fight, but it was definitely the nastiest like full-on never speak again levels of nasty. It didn’t matter what it was about; you can’t even remember how it started. What you did remember is what he said to you, “Get the fuck out of my office. I don’t need you here, I never have.”I can’t explain how deep that cut you, after everything the two of you had been through together, how could he say that. Later that night, you'd sent a package to Kaiba with the necklace he'd given you for your sixteenth birthday, your copy of his black AmEx card, and a few other assorted items he'd given you over the years. It hurt to do that, but maybe everyone was right, and you should leave him in the past, that’s what he seemed to want. You’d put up with his shit for so long now, but without the brothers, it felt as if a piece of yourself was missing.About a month later, Tea drug you to a karaoke bar. She thought that maybe taking you out would (in her own words) “Make you understand that you deserve better than some rich asshole who doesn’t realize what he has.”You didn’t want to be in public, knowing Kaiba had brought plenty of press attention your way, and they had noticed the sudden change in your relationship. You’d gone from always being by the Kaiba brothers’ sides to not being seen with them at all.It didn’t help that someone had caught some footage of Mokuba yelling at his brother, something about pride and apologies. For once, the media hadn’t been too far off in their assumptions that the two of you had broken up.Though the reasons why were laughable, your favorite had been that you were pregnant, and Kaiba had reacted badly to the news. The cover of that magazine had been punctuated by a picture of you at the OBGYN you'd been there for your yearly visit, and that just happened to fall on the day that you'd had your blowout with Kaiba.By morning they would likely have a video of you drunkenly singing Without Me by Halsey. It had been the anthem of your breakup if you could call it a breakup, considering you weren’t exactly dating in the first place.You were right to assume the paparazzi wouldn’t let such a golden opportunity go. The video was playing on every news station, still frames on the cover of every celebrity gossip rag. With headlines like “Kaiba Breakup Confirmed.” Or “Without Me? What could this mean for Dominos’ most influential couple?” You couldn’t blame the media for assuming you and Kaiba were together; after all, you'd attended most of his business functions as his date, and you also personally oversaw all of his charitable contributions. Kaiba had trusted you and wanted to make sure nobody was skimming off the top of the money he'd delegated for good causes.***Mokuba didn’t know why his brother was torturing himself, playing that video over and over again in every free moment he had when all he had to do was go apologize. It wasn’t like Seto didn’t know where you lived, hell, not only had he paid for top of the line security, he'd been there to supervise its installation. So Mokuba knew for a fact that his brother knew where your apartment was.Mokuba decided that it was time to call in the big guns, scrolling through his contacts he found the number of the one person (other than you) that he knew his brother would listen to.Atem, who had magically been given his own flesh after his duel with Yugi, arrived a few hours later. He was well aware of your side of the situation, being told by Tea, but Kaiba’s side was still a mystery. “Thank goodness you’re here; big brothers been driving himself nuts.” Mokuba went on to describe everything, from his brother’s loss of appetite, the late nights, and a list of his other self-destructive habits that had gotten worse without you there to course correct him. Atem hadn’t expected to walk into what he did. On the surface, Seto’s in-home office looked as it usually did, with neat piles of documents stacked on either end of his desk, paintings hanging perfectly straight on the walls.As someone who knew Seto well Atem could see the chaos behind the order, the documents on his desk though stacked neatly and well organized looked like nothing but mindless busywork, landscape paintings hung where photos of You, Seto, and Mokuba had been not long before.Looking at Seto, Atem could see more of the same, Seto’s appearance projected the put together C.E.O he was going for, but if one looked closely, they could see the bags carefully hidden under layers of concealer or the bottle of eyedrops neatly tucked to one side of his desk.“You know an apology wouldn’t kill you Kaiba,” Atem said, startling the young C.E.O.“Yha sure I’ll take relationship advice from the guy who knocked up his roommate but still hasn’t told her he loves her,” Seto bit out, taking out his frustration over his current situation on Atem.“How about I make you a deal, if I beat you in a duel then you go talk to her Kaiba.” The Pharaoh bated Seto with the one thing that he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist.***Seto found himself standing Infront of your apartment a few days later, the necklace that had once been his mother’s but now belonged to you. Seto was experiencing something he didn’t often feel nervousness.He’d said some awful things to you, so he’d fully understand if you didn’t open the door, but you did. “I’m sorry.” He never liked how those words felt in his mouth, but if it helped him get you back then he’d make them the only words he ever said again.“Come in,” You said. Honestly, you weren’t entirely sure why you’d even opened the door, perhaps it was because it felt like a part of you that had been missing returned.It was then that you realized that you’d know each other so long that perhaps Seto had become two halves of one whole. You dismissed the thought as soon as you’d had it, that was something from a cheesy romance novel.Seto wouldn’t go passed the doorway, this wasn’t normal for him, he usually barged in and acted like he owned the place. Not that you hadn’t done the same with the manor.“I’m sorry,” Seto repeated.“You’ve already said that.” You weren’t sure if you’d forgiven him, part of you had, but then his words from a month ago still range in your head, ‘I don’t need you; I never have.’“I realize what I said hurt you, I shouldn’t have said it.” Seto’s head hung low, that wasn’t like him, maybe he had the same aching empty feeling you’d had. “The truth of the matter is that I do need you, yes I think I could have gotten where I am today by myself, but I would’ve far too much like Gozaburo in the end.”“No,” You pulled his chin so he had to look at you, “You would never become that monster.” Seto’s breath hitched when he realized how close you were. That’s when Seto found himself doing something so utterly stupid; it could have completely ruined any progress he’d made.Seto wrapped his hand around your cheek and brought his face down to yours. You swore the world faded into nothing but a whirlpool of colors and sensations. Seto’s lips were far from the soft pillows described in novels, but they were warm and so utterly him. Seto moved his other hand to your waist and used it to draw you close to him, while you wrapped your arms around his torso. The two of you kissed like you were drowning and had just discovered air. That’s what he was to you, you realized, you need him like you needed to breathe although the same thing could be said about the young C.E.O.When you had to pull apart because you needed to actually needed to breathe, so rested his forehead against yours. “Are we good,” Seto asked with his eyes gazing into yours.“Yah, we’re good.” You said with a soft smile.