Greeneyeswhitedragon: Here's something else to look forward too! Hope you like it!
Afiong Bassey: Aww, don't cry! Read this chapter instead! And thanks for reviewing.
Candy world: I hope this chapter is satisfactory for you! Thanks for both your reviews!
Fleeting Illict Delicious: Yeah, I did actually take it from Dragonforce. I am in love with that song like you wouldn't believe. And you don't need to eat any words, lots of people will tell me I have a great story but I'll have all these grammatical errors. Which is totally understandable, every great writer should always try to make sure her final draft is always perfect and will provide her readers full pleasure. Well it's good to hear I surprised you, because stories where you pretty much know the reaction of the character or how the story will turn out, I find, are somewhat boring. The stories that surprise always make me want to read more. Last but not least, that is a great back story for a username and you should definitely consider adding that to your profile. I don't have a back story, and I will admit, my username is quite nerdy;.; I was just so in love with Mokuba I made up that username right off the bat and even though now it's not quite me anymore, I don't bother changing it because I feel as though that's just how people see me now-a-days. But anyways, I'm sure you can't wait to get on and read the chapter so I'll end this with a thanks for the intriguing review and enjoy!
AmePiper: I always enjoy all your reviews and they always make me smile. Thanks for every single one of them and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Oh, and P.S., have you read my latest story? This may sound really silly, but I was wondering if you've looked at it yet because you haven't reviewed to it(and you've practically read/reviewed all my stories) I was wondering if maybe my newest story was a fail and that's why you didn't review? Let me know what you think, because I'd hate to add on to a fail story. Thanks again!
Mystical Sand: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Now onto Chapter 22!
Julia: Thanks for the review!
Chapter 22
Life
There were echoes and noises of all sorts. It was pitch black, and yet there were flames surrounding him. He saw the light at the end of the tunnel but didn't have the strength to make it there. He pushed and pulled with all his might to move forward but it seemed as though nothing would budge. Just as all seemed lost a man appeared before him holding out his hand. Quite willingly, he took the man's hand and let him heave him up and out of the flames. When he looked into the man's face he discovered it was Steven.
Mokuba's eyes opened slowly and his body lay still. His eyes scanned the room and Mokuba quickly discovered that he was in a hospital. It felt as though that by now, that waking up and finding himself in the hospital wasn't all that much of a big deal. He had been in so many hospitals in his life you would've thought he would be dying from a disease. Mokuba noticed Seto sitting beside him in a chair and sat up.
"Nii-sama?" Seto snapped out of his daydreams and looked over at his brother.
"Oh hey kiddo, it's good to see you awake." Seto tried to smile, but couldn't. Mokuba stared at him with a bewildered face. There was obviously something on Seto's mind considering he wasn't flipping out about his health and the fact that he could've died. Then Mokuba remembered the fire, Hanzo, and their escape.
"We made it out alive?"
"What?"
"The fire… I fell unconscious while we were trying to get out… what happened?" Mokuba looked around at the hospital room to find that Steven was nowhere in site. "Where's Steven?" Seto winced at the sound of Steven's name. Seto looked away at the ground. There was silence in the room.
"Steven is dead." It felt as though there was an invisible wave that finally broke and crashed into the room. The silence seemed even more deathly. Seto still kept his eyes away from his brother.
"Oh…" Seto heard Mokuba say softly. Seto expected to hear his brother cry in reaction to the news; Mokuba had always been so full of emotion ever since he was little. To his surprise, Seto hadn't heard his brother do anything. Seto finally gathered the courage to look up and at his brother. Mokuba was staring at his hands that lay in his lap. "I don't understand…"
"You don't understand what?"
"Why is it that everyone we ever care about or love…" Mokuba paused, "Always dies on us." Seto gulped and took another deep breath. Seto wanted to give Mokuba reassuring words and make everything better, but he knew he couldn't do that. It was the truth. The Kaiba brothers could never truly rely on anyone because it always seems as if something has to go wrong. Seto was angry at this fact. He felt as though someone was making it so that they would never be happy.
"I… I don't know Mokuba…" Seto whispered, almost as if he were saying it to himself. The silence evolved once more and took over the whole room now. Both brothers were wrapped up in their own thoughts and emotions. At this point, everything seemed practically hopeless. There was a knock on the hospital door.
"Mr. Kaiba," a nurse said as she walked into the room. Seto rose to his feet.
"Yes?"
"There are visitors here to see you and your brother." Seto and Mokuba looked at each other with puzzled looks. "Shall I let them in?" Seto nodded and the nurse disappeared out of the room. A few moments later four casual looking men walked into the room. They didn't appear to be the happiest of people until they spotted Seto and Mokuba. The tallest of the men stepped forward and held out his hand to Seto.
"You must be Seto Kaiba, right?" Seto nodded, not exactly sure if that was the information he wanted this stranger knowing. "I'm Phil Green." Seto still stared at the man with a confused face. "I'm Steven's brother." The sound of his name made Seto wince once more. He still managed to take Phil's hand and shake it.
"Nice to meet you," Seto said.
"These are my brothers, Robert, Andy, and Nicholas." Seto proceeded to shake all three of their hands. Then Robert stepped forward.
"I'm guessing you're wondering why we're here," Robert said, "We heard about Steven and what happened. We also heard about how he had been working for you for the past 3 months and how close he was to you and your brother."
"We just wanted to say thank you," added Andy, "For all you've done, really. By getting that job Steven finally had a place to stay. He's one of those people that would run off and sometimes get himself into trouble."
"And boy was Steven trouble," stated Nicholas, looking down at the ground, "The last we ever saw from him was when he was running away from home saying he was going to kill himself. Our father was angry with him over some random thing and had attempted to set Steven on fire. We never saw him again. For the longest time we thought he actually did kill himself." Mokuba and Seto looked horrified as they imagined poor Steven running away in fear and anger off to California.
"I guess what we're trying to say is, when you gave Steven that job, you gave him a reason to live, in a way," said Andy.
"And as a symbol of our gratitude, we're willingly to compile all the money you need to pay off your bills or move back to Japan. It's whichever you want to do." Mokuba looked over at Seto.
"Go back to Japan?"
"I had never even thought of going back," Seto said, feeling slightly relieved at the thought but also fearful.
"Just get back to us when you know what to do." All four of them left and the two brothers remained. The country Japan now seemed all too foreign to them even though they had only been living in the United States for only 3 months. But 3 months felt like an eternity and Japan seemed like such a far away country.
"I'm Scott Morris reporting to you live from San Francisco. Today I'm here to report a story like no other. A story about love, broken dreams, and promises. Yesterday at the San Fran Elementary School was burned to the ground. There were 2 reported deaths, out of the 4 people that were in there around 11:00 last night. That is when we ran into Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, two brothers who immigrated to here from Japan only 3 months ago. After running some research, we found out that these two were no ordinary pair of brothers. Seto Kaiba was one of the most successful CEO's in Japan before he moved here. We may think of him as just another rich man, but behind every great man is a sad story. Seto and Mokuba's parents died when they were just children and they lived in an orphanage for many years until Gozaburo Kaiba, former president of Kaiba Corp, came and was forced into adopting them. A few years later, Seto overturned Gozaburo and took hold of the company as well as his step-father's life. But when he became the president, his brother became a target for greedy criminals that were after his money. When his brother came close to dying, Seto was willing to risk anything for his brother's safety. That is when he moved here. But after experiencing a near death experience when he escaped the fire at the elementary school, the one question on everyone's mind is, will Seto and Mokuba Kaiba returned to their home country? Or will they stay in the states?"
The TV flicked off and the two brothers sat silently next to each other. Mokuba placed the remote back down on the coffee table and sat back. He turned his head and looked at his brother. "Well, now what?"
"What?"
"Our story is all over the news. Everyone's going to know who we are and what happened by tonight. Which means we won't just be shady immigrants and we won't be able to runaway from our name." Seto scratched his head.
"I suppose that is a point…" Seto said, "We have to make a decision." Mokuba nodded. Seto reached forward and grabbed Mokuba's hand, holding it in his. "This time we'll make the decision together." Mokuba nodded once more.
"So what are our options?"
"I think you and I both know what they are. We can both stay here and try to rebuild our lives, once again. Or we return to Japan and try to rebuild our lives, again. I think that's what it all comes down to in the long run." They both sat and though for a moment. The next decision could determine the rest of their lives and how everything would go for them. At this point in time, no country looked more appealing than the other. Neither brother wanted to make the wrong decision.
"Hey Nii-sama."
"Yes Mokuba?"
"Have you ever felt like… things never go the way you want them to? That when you think you're on top of things and you know where you're going and where you want to go, that life will just surprise you and throw you off?" Seto thought for a moment.
"Yes, I do believe I have felt that way. What are you suggesting?"
"Nothing really, just that… life wouldn't be life without stuff like that happening." It got quite and they were absorbed in their own thoughts and feelings. But after a very long period of silence and mental listing of pros and cons, they came to a conclusion.
When we had first came to our conclusion, we were fearful and still weren't sure if the decision we were making was the right one. But somehow we both knew that it was the path we needed to take at this point in time, and that fear was nothing more than an emotion. I don't know how long it took for us to feel like we really did do the right thing.
We stepped off that plane with a mixture of feelings and emotions. It was like finding an old toy you once knew and loved under your bed and remembering how much it meant to you at one point in time, but not quite sure what it meant to you now. But even if it's been years since you last played with the toy, that doesn't change the fact that you have so many fond memories of it.
To our surprise, some of our old friends were there, waiting for us as we stepped out of customs and walked down the hallway. Yugi, Tristan, Tea, and even Joey cheered when they finally spotted us and ran over, wrapping us both in all their arms. Although my brother was still disgruntled by this action, I knew it made him happy knowing there was someone waiting to greet us when we came back.
It didn't take us long to get back our old house, which we still refer to as the Kaiba Mansion even after all this time. The house still had an eerie feeling to it as it always had, and I could've sworn I heard my step father's footsteps when we were first walking through the house for the first time since we got back. But with good and bad, it was our only home and the only one we had ever really known.
Soon after we had settled into the house, my brother was in search of a job for a while. But his search didn't exactly last that long, because we got a phone call only a week or two after informing us that Pegasus had let go of what was once Kaiba Corp. and the company wanted him back as their president. Seto was pleased and somewhat prideful knowing this fact and gladly accepted the job.
I suppose it may seem as though life was just as it had been only months ago before our lives completely changed. The truth is Seto and I have changed a lot as people. And we haven't exactly forgotten the death of our closet friend. We didn't stay for Steven's funeral. Seto said he couldn't bear to watch them bury the only decent man he had known in America. I didn't argue it was hard enough knowing he was dead.
I'm guessing you're expecting a conclusion, or some kind of heartfelt ending. I wish I could give you that, but the truth is, this is no fairy tale. This is my life. The life that I have finally determined is worth living. Because you can search the world for something, whether its love, trust, or protection, and you'll discover in the end that you always had everything you ever needed. You just need to open your eyes and see the world.
The End.
A/N: And so ends "For Your Protection." I really hope you all enjoyed the last chapter and enjoyed my story as a whole. I had a really great time writing this story and I feel truly passionate about what I have accomplished. Ending this story is hard for me, because it seems like I've been working on this for years now and somehow it's over. This is the longest story I've ever written, so it's a strange feeling. But I can't end this story without a thank you. I'd like to thank…
You reviewers of course! You guys are the ones who have been cheering me on since chapter 1 and there's nothing I love more than kind words and motivating reviews! Seriously guys, I would be having the crappiest day ever, but I'd see I have a review and it would really turn my day around. You have no idea how much your reviews mean to me. Thanks for always being patient and supportive, you guys are all awesome!
Kura, for being the best sister in the world. You guys should probably thank her for the fantastic summary, she was the one who thought most of it up. She's also quite the writer herself. You should check out her profile sometime. But anyways, Kura, I love you so much, thanks for always being there for me, even when you have such a busy life in another country. You mean the world to me.
Jimmy G., he's actually a real person guys. I tried to base him off my friend, but I don't think I did it so well. He's a pretty complex guy if you ever meet him. I know he won't read this so that's why I'm writing it like I'm talking to someone else. He probably doesn't know it, but sometimes just seeing him brightens my day automatically. There's a lot I should thank him for.
Once again, I hope you all enjoyed the story. Be sure to check out my latest story sometime. Thank you all once again and I hope you have a fantastic day!