And Damn'd be Him That First
Cries, "Hold Enough!"
~Prologue~
"Why do you keep coming?" the blond boy asked, sitting on one side of
the table that took up most of the room.
"You're the closest I have to friends here, really," the other boy
shrugged. "It's not like anyone else is too thrilled to have to
see me since I was there for it."
The blond looked down at the reminder. "No one else comes."
"Mutou-kun would, I think," the other boy said gently. He walked
around the table to put a hand on his blond friend's shoulder, silvery
pale hair curtaining them as he bent close. "I know you didn't
mean it to happen."
"How is he?"
"Still in a coma." There was a short pause before the pale haired
boy continued. "When do you get out?"
"Another week. Then we have community service for a while.
I'm staying at Honda's 'cause the court doesn't want me living with my
bum dad and mom doesn't want me."
"And you're coming back to school?"
"If they want me," the blond said with a shrug. "Probably happy
to have me gone."
"Sensei misses you, I think," Bakura said. "He keeps looking over
at our desk forlornly. I don't think he knows who to blame without
you there. Something goes wrong and it's instantly
'Jounouchi!' And then he remembers you're not there."
The blond smiled. "I'll tell Honda you said hi."
"See you next week out of here," Bakura said with a nod.
~Chapter 1~
Intense blue eyes with an edge of insanity and obsession watched the
screen of the computer. The owner of the eyes put a single sheet
of paper on his desk, then moved the mouse over a button. With a
tiny smile, he hit delete.
The screen went blank. After a moment, the eyes shifted away to
look at the paper again. The owner sat back in his seat and
cackled.
Not long after all the echoes had died away the door to the room opened
and a young face peeked in.
"Get the bodies and do something with them."
"Yes sir." The other boy hesitated. "Should I send them
home, or...?"
"I don't care. Just get them out of my building. And get my
brother." The door started closing. "And arrange for me to
visit all the juvenile detentions in the area."
"Yes sir," the other boy said in a faint voice as the door closed.
The owner of the blue eyes turned his chair to look out at the city
outside his office. His city, now. It was all his. He
rose, seeing his father's face in the glass. Seeing the faces of
the five who had thought to use him to gain power for themselves.
"You thought I'd fail," he said softly, the insanity burning in his
blue eyes. "I showed you. You were the one who failed,
father. I have everything you wanted. You're right where I
want you now. This world will be MY paradise."
"Niisama," came a small, hesitant voice from the doorway.
The blue eyed one turned to give a rare soothing smile to his younger
brother, who had never seemed to fit in. He walked closer and
closed the door behind the smaller boy.
"Mokuba," he said, blue eyes looking down into nervous dark grey eyes -
eyes that only gained confidence when playing the simulated war or
government games his brother made him. "You might get to go to
America."
"No!" Mokuba gripped his brother's sleeve. "I want to stay
with you, niisama!"
The older brother sighed. "Not even if it's to help me
consolidate my power?"
"Do I have to? Can't it be someone else?" Mokuba begged, tears in
his eyes. "I want to be with niisama, like we promised!"
The blue eyes had grown comforting. "Perhaps it's best.
I'll find someone else."
"Gomen, niisama," the younger boy said softly, looking down.
"Don't worry, Mokuba," the older brother said, carrying the younger to
the window. "It's all ours now."
Silently, he crowed his triumph to the faces in the glass.
~Chapter 2~
Both boys looked suspicious.
"You'll reduce our community service?" the blond said, incredulously.
"And get it all taken off our permanent records?" the brunet next to
him finished.
Both boys had had their hair cut short on entering the detention, as
was the norm, but the procedure had never been repeated, so their hair
fell into their eyes as they watched him warily.
Kaiba could understand their suspicion. No one had ever given
them anything. No ADULT had ever given them anything, he corrected
himself. And to be offered this by another teenager - he had made
certain they didn't know who he was - must seem like some kind of joke.
He nodded to both questions, then watched to see who would ask the next
question.
It was the brunet. Kaiba tried to decide if that made him the
more intelligent, or the blond the more intelligent for letting the
other speak first.
"No offense, but why?"
Strangely, that didn't answer the question.
"How much news do you get in here?" he asked in return.
Both boys shrugged, indicating, he supposed, that they didn't pay
attention to it anyway.
"I need to keep track of what highschoolers like yourselves think of
current events."
"Then why not get someone who's not likely to be kicked out?" the blond
asked, watching Kaiba with eyes that would believe nothing.
Kaiba could respect that.
"There will be more eventually," he said. "But keeping the
youth's pulse is a start." He leaned back, steepling his fingers
in front of him. "A very important start."
The pair looked at each other, and Kaiba could see the communication
going on between them. If he really wanted to, he could probably
follow the conversation as easily as if they had spoken.
"We'll need to think about it," the brunet said.
"You have two days. I will need time to make arrangements should
you agree."
Both gave short nods and rose to leave the room.
Kaiba watched them go and reflected on his three day search. This
pair were by far the most promising. The brunet was smarter, he
decided, but he thought he could get more out of the blond. He had
less to live for. If they agreed they would be loyal, he could
tell.
The search had already taken long enough. He had other things to
plan as well.
~Chapter 3~
"Niisama?" Mokuba looked out of his brother's closet.
Kaiba frowned a moment at this show of weakness from his brother.
"Come here, Mokuba."
"Gomen, niisama," Mokuba said with his head down. "My tutor...."
Kaiba scowled. He had kept on Mokuba's tutor because the man was
knowledgeable, but the way he frightened Mokuba meant that he would soon
be looking for another job. Perhaps he would find a highschooler
who could keep Mokuba up to what he should know. He didn't need an
adult for that.
"I have a new game for you," he said, smiling to see Mokuba's
expression come alive. "It's a government one. I want you to
spend a few hours a day at it to see how well you can do. And it's
configured to real time, so you have to keep an eye on it."
The younger boy nodded. "I'll do real well, niisama. You
can count on me."
Kaiba congratulated himself on finding a way to keep America running
without sending his brother away while going over Mokuba's work.
Despite his fear of the tutor, he was getting along well.
That finished, he helped Mokuba set himself up as the president of his
new country and showed him his starting budget, population, and
goals. It had taken most of his free time for the past week to get
it set up and he was pleased with the results.
If it worked well he would expand it so that specially trained children
could run the world from the Kaiba Corp headquarters. He'd read a
book like that once, only the children were trained militarily and not
politically.1
As he helped Mokuba outline short term objectives like health care and
lowering army spending, there was a buzz from his intercom. "The
girl you had go down to the detention has called in, sir," his young
secretary reported. "The boys..." There was a pause as the
boy looked for names. "Jounouchi Katsuya and Honda Hiroto
accepted."
"Very good," Kaiba said. "Have their packets shipped to the place
they're staying now and implement the file clearing program."
"Yes, sir." The intercom clicked and went dead.
"I have a meeting now," Kaiba said. "You can stay in here until
I'm done." He reflected that he shouldn't encourage Mokuba's weak
dependency, but although he often couldn't remember why, he wanted to
let the boy stay soft.
All thoughts of softness had left his mind by the time he entered the
meeting room. Silence greeted him as the world leaders he hadn't
already killed waited for him.
He sat at the head of the room's table and leaned back, steepling his
fingers. "Are you ready to give me what I want?" he asked flatly.
"Listen, boy," the Israeli Prime Minister said. "We are a
democratic country. You can't just declare yourself ruler."
"You would prefer that I take it by force?" Kaiba asked coldly.
"You are welcome to try," the man said with a smile. "Our Arab
neighbors have never been successful using force."
Kaiba didn't return the smile. "I am not your Arab
neighbors. I have Alcatraz." He could tell from their
expressions that the men and women seated in the room had hoped he
wouldn't bring threat of Alcatraz over them. "And I have all of
you."
"We need time to think things through," the Israeli blustered.
"Need I remind you that I already have Japan, America, England, France,
Germany, China, and Russia." Madness laughed in his eyes. "I
AM the United Nations, ladies and gentlemen. What do you have to
think about?"
There was a long moment of silence and then, one by one in a slow
procession, each man and woman in the room presented Kaiba with a notice
of surrender. He let them go.
When they were all gone, he sat back in his seat and cackled like a
madman.
"Father, this child has fulfilled your dream. And now the
children you stepped on will inherit your paradise."
He didn't realize there were tears on his cheeks, and wouldn't have
understood why if he had.
[author's note 1: Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card]
~Chapter 4~
"You never said you were Kaiba Seto," the blond accused without waiting
for Kaiba to say anything.
"If a person agrees to work for you because of your name you can never
tell their loyalty," Kaiba answered calmly. "Sit," he said,
gesturing to chairs.
"But what do you need US for if you're Kaiba Seto?" the brunet asked.
"Just what it says in your packets. I need reliable
information. You can provide it for me."
"Information about what?"
Kaiba leaned forward. "As of yesterday, the world is mine."
He ignored the widened eyes in front of him and continued. "This
will become common knowledge soon. You will keep me informed on
what people think of this."
"You can't hire people to do that?" the blond asked.
"I am," Kaiba said, with unaccustomed patience. "You."
"Oh." The fact didn't seem to properly filter into his awareness
for a moment. "Oh!" he repeated then.
Kaiba slid ID badges across the disk to them. "Only wear these
when you have reason to come here. Reports, unless very important,
can be sent through fax. Everything you need is in your packet."
The boys picked the badges up carefully, as though afraid they would
bite. With the knowledge of who they were now committed to working
for it wouldn't have surprised them.
"One more thing," Kaiba said as they rose. "I'm looking for a
tutor for my younger brother. The old one," he paused to consider
phrasing. "Was dismissed. I need someone about your
age. He should be a good student and non-threatening. Keep
an eye out for someone."
The boys shared a glance, and once again Kaiba felt that he could
almost hear the words the glance said.
"Bakura," the blond finally said.
Kaiba arched a brow at them.
"Bakura Ryou," the brunet explained. "He tried to help us keep up
with work while we were in the detention. He's smart and gentle."
Kaiba filed the name away. "Very good. You may go."
He turned back to his work as the boys left. Once he was certain
he was alone, he looked up the name Bakura Ryou in public records.
