31. Tenshi [Angel]-Seto/Mokuba
Dec. 16th, 2010 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
not_krysGod, this is going to be painful…During a bored phase, I thought it would be a fun idea to list my favorite RP characters with another character along with a prompt to write a small snippet. The sad part was that I had at least 20 characters, and, using the awesome yet tedious Microsoft Excel, I listed all the characters across the top and side with a word or phrase prompt. All together, I took about FOUR 100 themes challenges to give all the characters prompts.
Rather than kill myself with the four hundred, I reduced the list to 125 by picking and choosing which ones I liked more than others and shooting down the others that I either didn’t like or couldn’t think of anything possible to make this prompt work with these two characters (whether they never met, or it was just flat out ridiculous).
SOME NOTES BEFORE I BEGIN MY FANFIC ONSLAUGHT OF LJ:
*All of these prompts will be set in a certain canon from in my head(yes, there is a timeline for these events. Is just random right now). If anyone has questions about the head canon that I haven’t pointed out here, they can ask below in the comments or on my three messengers. You should hopefully know my aliases by now. I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions about my craziness.
*These stories contain yaoi, yuri, incest, gender-bending, and a few other things that might make other people squirm. Though most of the stories will be fairly light on these subjects, if any of them bother you, I suggest turning away now.
*Ryou, for the most part, will be female whenever featured. In the head canon and RP with Duckie (you can also ask her if there are questions about our crazy head canons), she was gender-swapped by Rinoa (from AU FF8) out of spite. Rinoa was jealous of Ryou because of how close he was getting to Seifer, so, in her twisted mind, because they are both boys, she figured that Seifer would love Ryou less if he was a woman. One gender spell later, and Ryou has his boy parts exchanged for girl parts. The spell also caused Seifer to be caught in a time rift (because Final Fantasy is famous for those) and he stays there for nearly twenty years. This is important later.
*Squall, also thanks to Rinoa, is turned into a lion because she wanted a pet and Squall was the perfect specimen. He too, like Seifer, falls into a time rift, turning him into a kitten and bringing him to the present day. He’s found at a shelter by Seto and Ryou’s daughter Shiroko, and she takes him on as her pet. Shiro is much more tolerable than the childishness of Rinoa, so he stays to protect her and her family. I also switch back and forth between Squall’s cat form and human form (is why you see in the featured characters “Squall the Cat” and “Squall the Person”)
*Seto, Mokuba, Aoryu (Seto’s son), and Pegasus are all vampires. Seto was turned by Pegasus when his eldest daughter Sayuri was two. Aoryu was also turned by Pegasus while being trapped in his paternal grandmother’s tomb. Mokuba was turned by Aoryu and Seto when he received a gunshot wound. Ao got the bullet out and mistakenly gives his uncle his own vampire blood trying to heal him, but the blood took over and killed the human side of Mokuba. Seto brought his brother home after Ao ran away and gave his own blood to save the younger Kaiba. Thus Mokuadult (since he’s an adult now and not a little Mokubrat) became a vampire. As for Pegasus, he was born a vampire he only wishes he could sparkle though
*Seto and Ryou will be a couple/married for a good portion of the stories. It’s because of my love for Euroshipping. This is only different in the high school years when Seifer was in the picture. Some other notable couples are: Yuugi and Atem, Bakura and Seifer (YES, THEY BOTH COME BACK!), and a few OCs that will be mentioned in later paragraphs.
*Atem and Bakura have separate bodies from their former hosts. Atem stayed behind to be with Yuugi, and Bakura was brought back with none of his dark powers. Atem still duels and still reigns as Duel Monsters Champion, while Bakura lives it up in the slums by owning a motorcycle shop.
*Seto and Ryou have four children together. Sayuri is their oldest daughter. She looks like her mother, but has her father’s sharp tongue. Sayuri also goes by the name Yuriko, or Yuri for short. Yuriko was a nickname her father called her in childhood. She is also the first and last Kaiba child to be naturally conceived and carried full term. Her younger brother and sisters are all in vitro babies. Aoryu is their only son and he looks like his father. He dyed his hair blond so that he could be with his Uncle Mokuba as a lover (see what I mean about the incest?) and not be recognized by the media. He also wears green contact lens over his blue eyes. Shiroko is the middle daughter and twin sister to Ao. She looks like her father, but has more of her mother’s personality. Like her elder sister, she has childhood name from her dad that people still call her to this day. Her nickname is Koshi. The youngest Kaiba daughter is Haruki. She looks a bit like her Uncle Mokuba and is fiercely independent. Haru is also a premature born baby, but she is perfectly healthy now. She is thus in the Mokubrat stage of life(determined to get her way, no matter what anyone else says). Between Yuriko and the twins, there was another Kaiba baby, but she was stillborn. Seto and Ryou don’t really like to talk about that time. The incident will be referred to in a few prompts.
*Yuriko, in her adult life, is married to Atem and Yuugi’s adopted daughter, Amy. (YURI! HA!). They adopt a little boy named Hayden and also have in vitro twins named Airi and Aale. The twins are byproducts of Seifer’s donated sperm that he thought was going to a surrogate mother so that he and Kura could have a kid. But, in the end, they were carried by Sayuri (talk about grossness and a big mind f*ck). They must have fun family reunions, with Seto, Atem, and Bakura all being in the same room XD
*Shiroko is in a relationship with a vampire hunter named Gin. Gin is a half werewolf with a vampire serum circulating throughout his system. This serum causes him to be rejected by vampire bites (he tastes like cat scrotum, according to Ao), along with allowing him to age at a much slower rate than most humans. Right now, he looks eighteen but he’s about five years older than Seto and Ryou. He can control his wolf transformation, but he does lose control of his emotions once in a while, usually having to do with his life partner Shiro. Between the two of them, they have two children. A boy that has a few wolf tendencies (such as random appearances of his puppy ears and tail, transforming into a wolf pup, and he will growl at strangers that threaten his family), and a little girl named Tsuki. Her nickname is Umiko because of her love of anything water. Water baby~
*In Ryou’s family line, there’s a certain quirk that makes them unnaturally perceptive to their environments. Ryou’s mom was known as an Empath, someone that can, in a way, read a person’s thoughts and emotions. Ryou has a bit of this quirk, but it shows much stronger in the twins, more so in Shiroko and her son Tobias (or Toby-kun). Shiro’s has gotten strong enough that she will have visions whenever she touches a person. She’s not to particularly fond of this power, but she grows used to it. Gin is also a mind-reader, thanks to his vampire serum.
LET THE ONSLAUGHT BEGIN!
Tenshi [Angel] (Yu-Gi-Oh! AU?)
Seto and Mokuba-A small house in Japan. Domino City Outskirts
“Seto-kun? Seto-kun?”
I looked up as I heard my name being called. Feeling a smile etch across my face, I dropped my robot toys and ran towards the person calling my name. The woman, small and petite with long dark hair, held her arms out for me. She was happy to see her me. Mainly me, only me.
“Okaeri, Kaasan,” Hugging my mother close to me, I noted she smelled like wildflowers and honey, just as I always remembered her smelling like: sweet and warm.
“Tadaima. How was your day, sweetheart?” She took my hand as we walked up the porch and sat in the swing.
“Boring.” I responded, earning a questioning look from the woman at my side. I continued. “Tousan was cleaning all day and wouldn’t let me come inside. I would have helped him if he let me…”
She smiled and laughed a little. The sound reminded of bells, the bells we always heard in the distance sometimes. This sound, however, could outshine any bell any day. This was my mother. MY Mother. No one else’s mother, just mine.
“Seto-kun…” She said gently, pulling me close to her, “I… I have something very important to tell you.”
Mother was soft and warm when she pulled me close to her. She was always so soft and warm. Was this what all mothers feel like when you lean against them. I closed my eyes, listening to her voice resounding through her chest. It was such a comforting sound. She rubbed my shoulder as she continued to speak.
“Seto-kun… Within the next couples of months… you’ll start to notice some… changes.”
I barely heard her. I was just happy to be close to her after being by myself for hours outside.
“For one, we’re going to get your old crib and clothes out. They’re going to have to be in your room since Tousan and my room isn’t big enough…”
My crib? … What’s this about my crib?
“I’m a big boy now, Kaasan. I don’t need a crib. I have my own bed.”
“I know sweetheart. Bringing out your old crib is… part of my important news.”
She pulled away for a second before my hand into hers. What’s going on?
“Seto… in a few months time… you’re going to be a big brother!”
I sat there frozen for a few minutes. A big brother, me? Mother kisses my hand before smiling brightly.
“You’re going to have a little baby brother or sister soon, Seto-kun. Isn’t it exciting?”
I was still shocked by the news. I was going to be a big brother? I… I would have to share mother?
“… …No.”
“No?”
“No… not exciting. It’s not good news.”
“…Seto-kun, sweetheart..”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I climbed down from the swing and went straight into the house and to my bed. MY bed. There was no way I was going to share it with any smelly little brother or sister!
---
In the past few months, the changes happened whether I liked them or not. My room was rearranged to fit my old crib inside. I would stare at it for hours once Mother and Father thought I had gone to sleep. I would whisper nasty things to it. I even threw toys at it. I knew what it symbolized. Mother was going to be taken away from me. Babies always cry for attention. And they cry loudly. Especially when you’re supposed to be asleep.
Babies were just plain rude and inconsiderate.
And they really did change Mother. Her tummy seemed to be bigger each day I saw her. Father was always following her around, asking her how she was feeling and if she needed to sit down for a minute or two. I didn’t understand why. She could still walk around and get around like always. She seemed to be a lot more tired and sleepy and pale lately, but that didn’t mean anything. I still didn’t want a little brother or sister. I wanted my mother to myself. And that was that.
When she was really big, she sat me beside her, holding my hand. Her hand was warm, like always, but it felt wet and clammy for some reason. I didn’t like my mother’s hands to be clammy. It felt gross.
“Seto-kun,” she began gently, “I know… that we haven’t had much chance to talk lately, but I thought that now would be a good time, since neither of us are busy at the moment.”
“Nothing to talk about, Kaasan.”
“You’ve been avoiding me for months, Seto. I was worried about you, sweetheart. Can’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
“Nothing to tell. It’s not like it will matter anyway.” I shake my head.
“It won’t matter? … Seto, if something is bothering you, I need to know. The sooner I can make what’s bothering you go away.”
Looking away, I focused on the floor, not saying a word. I didn’t want to say anything. Her and Father were happy to be getting a new baby. Why should my opinion matter?
“Seto, talk to me.” Her voice was serious… threatening even.
“Don’t wanna. You won’t care.”
“I do care, Seto. I care for you more than there are stars in the sky. Deeper than the deepest ocean and stronger than the strongest superheroes that have ever existed.”
“Until my little brother or sister gets here…”
She was quiet for a moment, but then suddenly hugs me tightly. She rubbed her cheek against mine and kisses my forehead.
“Sweetheart, did you think that I would love you any less once the baby got here?”
I was quiet this time. Had I honestly thought that?
“Seto… baby…I could never love you any less than I do now. You’re my special little guy. You came first and I will always love you.”
She released me from the hug to put a hand on her large tummy.
“…Let me tell you a little secret, Seto-kun,” she began. “Do you know what the most infinite substance in the universe is? A thing that can just grow and grow and grow, you can see it everywhere you go, but you can’t see it?”
“…Air?”
She laughed quietly, the sound of bells sounding wonderful to my ears.
“Love, silly. Love is the most infinite substance in the universe. It grows, and grows, and grows, and you can see it everywhere, even if you physically can’t see it.”
Her words confused me, but what I could gather was that she wasn’t going to forget about me. I still wasn’t completely convinced.
“You’ll forget about me once the baby’s here…”
She raised a dark eyebrow before smiling and taking my hand and placing it on her stomach. I tried to move it, but Mother’s hand was firm. She wasn’t about to let me go any time soon. However, once my hand was still for a moment, I started to feel something weird moving against my hand. Mother’s hand was no longer needed to keep mine on her. I wanted to know what that feeling was.
“When babies grow inside of mommies, they start out very small. No bigger than the head of a pin. As the months go by, the baby grows bigger and bigger. He or she gains new skills every day as they grow bigger and stronger. All of this is happening while I play with and hug and kiss you.”
I was still touching her while she talked, trying to figure out what that weird feeling was. Was this… the baby?
“Did you know that you used to be his size?”
That caught my attention. I was once in there like my brother or sister, inside my mother?
“You loved to kick and squirm, from what I remember. You especially liked to kick Tousan whenever he got too close. As if you were protecting me from invaders of our shared space.” She laughed a little, smiling at the small memory. “My little warrior, always ready to stand up and defend from beginning to end.”
She rubbed her tummy again, making the baby move around again. It all felt so weird to me. But I did know that something was alive and growing in there. It made Mother happy to know that the thing inside her was moving. I guess… that I should be happy if she’s happy. After all, love was everywhere, and it just grows, and grows, and grows. If Mother says that she won’t forget me, because if she can pay attention to me while this little… thing moves inside of her like he’s doing, she can pay attention to anything...
---
That was the last time I saw my mother alive. A few days after I felt my little brother moving in the womb, he stopped moving. My mother started having terrible pains and she had to go to the doctor immediately. Mother was a small woman and both of her pregnancies were hard on her. I found out later that I was delivered via C-section, and that Mokuba was the same, albeit prematurely. The scar tissue from my birth had caused our mother to have a weaker uterine wall. And when it was Mokuba’s turn, the tissue ruptured. He wasn’t getting oxygen and the tear caused Mother to be in great pain. We were lucky that the doctors were able to save Mokuba. But… our Mother…
She didn’t make it through the night.
---
Father held my close as I cried into his shirt, beating my fists against him, screaming at him to bring Mother back. He didn’t know what to do. The love of his life had died on the table, in great amounts of pain, and his newborn son was in NICU, but that mattered little to me. My mother was dead, and it was all that thing’s fault. My little brother (he was a boy, I found out). He was to blame for my mother’s death.
Escaping from Father, I ventured into the baby ward, finding my last name on a tag with a box attached. The box beeped every now and then and the box felt warm to the touch. Inside was the tiniest creature he had seen in his life. It was smaller than Father’s whole hand. It was also very skinny with little ribs showing. His skin was red and wrinkly too. Was this what all babies looked like? They looked gross.
Taking a closer look, I noticed there were pads all over him and a thing over his face. Wisps of air could be heard going in and out of his tiny body. His bony chest rose and fell with the wisps of air.
My own chest hurt. In ways, he looked just like her. He certainly had her dark hair. And he was small too, just like she was. My chest tightened, still in grief over my mother.
“It’s all your fault! You just had to come along and take her away from me! Why did you have to make her go away! Things were fine until you came along! I hate you! I hate you!”
That moment, he opened his eyes to look at me. Those big, big blue eyes. He looked right at me, my tear-stained face, my snotty nose, my red eyes, my throat raw. He stared at me in silence. I stared at him in silence. Neither of us made a sound for a moment, other than the beeping on the monitor.
“What are you looking at?” I hiccupped. “Neither of us have a mother now and it’s all your fault!”
Still, he continued to stare. It was starting to creep me out.
“Stop staring at me! Stop it!” I started crying again, falling to my knees while covering my face.
I felt a cold hand touching my hair. When I looked up to see who was touching me, there was not a soul in the room. I couldn’t see anything save my little brother’s box. Looking up at a nearby window, I saw something written in the condensation.
‘Aishiteru, Tenshi. Jaa matte ne.’
---
Damn me for cutting it off there, but I couldn't come up with any thing else. Blah. >>;
Rather than kill myself with the four hundred, I reduced the list to 125 by picking and choosing which ones I liked more than others and shooting down the others that I either didn’t like or couldn’t think of anything possible to make this prompt work with these two characters (whether they never met, or it was just flat out ridiculous).
SOME NOTES BEFORE I BEGIN MY FANFIC ONSLAUGHT OF LJ:
*All of these prompts will be set in a certain canon from in my head(yes, there is a timeline for these events. Is just random right now). If anyone has questions about the head canon that I haven’t pointed out here, they can ask below in the comments or on my three messengers. You should hopefully know my aliases by now. I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions about my craziness.
*These stories contain yaoi, yuri, incest, gender-bending, and a few other things that might make other people squirm. Though most of the stories will be fairly light on these subjects, if any of them bother you, I suggest turning away now.
*Ryou, for the most part, will be female whenever featured. In the head canon and RP with Duckie (you can also ask her if there are questions about our crazy head canons), she was gender-swapped by Rinoa (from AU FF8) out of spite. Rinoa was jealous of Ryou because of how close he was getting to Seifer, so, in her twisted mind, because they are both boys, she figured that Seifer would love Ryou less if he was a woman. One gender spell later, and Ryou has his boy parts exchanged for girl parts. The spell also caused Seifer to be caught in a time rift (because Final Fantasy is famous for those) and he stays there for nearly twenty years. This is important later.
*Squall, also thanks to Rinoa, is turned into a lion because she wanted a pet and Squall was the perfect specimen. He too, like Seifer, falls into a time rift, turning him into a kitten and bringing him to the present day. He’s found at a shelter by Seto and Ryou’s daughter Shiroko, and she takes him on as her pet. Shiro is much more tolerable than the childishness of Rinoa, so he stays to protect her and her family. I also switch back and forth between Squall’s cat form and human form (is why you see in the featured characters “Squall the Cat” and “Squall the Person”)
*Seto, Mokuba, Aoryu (Seto’s son), and Pegasus are all vampires. Seto was turned by Pegasus when his eldest daughter Sayuri was two. Aoryu was also turned by Pegasus while being trapped in his paternal grandmother’s tomb. Mokuba was turned by Aoryu and Seto when he received a gunshot wound. Ao got the bullet out and mistakenly gives his uncle his own vampire blood trying to heal him, but the blood took over and killed the human side of Mokuba. Seto brought his brother home after Ao ran away and gave his own blood to save the younger Kaiba. Thus Mokuadult (since he’s an adult now and not a little Mokubrat) became a vampire. As for Pegasus, he was born a vampire
*Seto and Ryou will be a couple/married for a good portion of the stories. It’s because of my love for Euroshipping. This is only different in the high school years when Seifer was in the picture. Some other notable couples are: Yuugi and Atem, Bakura and Seifer (YES, THEY BOTH COME BACK!), and a few OCs that will be mentioned in later paragraphs.
*Atem and Bakura have separate bodies from their former hosts. Atem stayed behind to be with Yuugi, and Bakura was brought back with none of his dark powers. Atem still duels and still reigns as Duel Monsters Champion, while Bakura lives it up in the slums by owning a motorcycle shop.
*Seto and Ryou have four children together. Sayuri is their oldest daughter. She looks like her mother, but has her father’s sharp tongue. Sayuri also goes by the name Yuriko, or Yuri for short. Yuriko was a nickname her father called her in childhood. She is also the first and last Kaiba child to be naturally conceived and carried full term. Her younger brother and sisters are all in vitro babies. Aoryu is their only son and he looks like his father. He dyed his hair blond so that he could be with his Uncle Mokuba as a lover (see what I mean about the incest?) and not be recognized by the media. He also wears green contact lens over his blue eyes. Shiroko is the middle daughter and twin sister to Ao. She looks like her father, but has more of her mother’s personality. Like her elder sister, she has childhood name from her dad that people still call her to this day. Her nickname is Koshi. The youngest Kaiba daughter is Haruki. She looks a bit like her Uncle Mokuba and is fiercely independent. Haru is also a premature born baby, but she is perfectly healthy now. She is thus in the Mokubrat stage of life(determined to get her way, no matter what anyone else says). Between Yuriko and the twins, there was another Kaiba baby, but she was stillborn. Seto and Ryou don’t really like to talk about that time. The incident will be referred to in a few prompts.
*Yuriko, in her adult life, is married to Atem and Yuugi’s adopted daughter, Amy. (YURI! HA!). They adopt a little boy named Hayden and also have in vitro twins named Airi and Aale. The twins are byproducts of Seifer’s donated sperm that he thought was going to a surrogate mother so that he and Kura could have a kid. But, in the end, they were carried by Sayuri (talk about grossness and a big mind f*ck).
*Shiroko is in a relationship with a vampire hunter named Gin. Gin is a half werewolf with a vampire serum circulating throughout his system. This serum causes him to be rejected by vampire bites (he tastes like cat scrotum, according to Ao), along with allowing him to age at a much slower rate than most humans. Right now, he looks eighteen but he’s about five years older than Seto and Ryou. He can control his wolf transformation, but he does lose control of his emotions once in a while, usually having to do with his life partner Shiro. Between the two of them, they have two children. A boy that has a few wolf tendencies (such as random appearances of his puppy ears and tail, transforming into a wolf pup, and he will growl at strangers that threaten his family), and a little girl named Tsuki. Her nickname is Umiko because of her love of anything water. Water baby~
*In Ryou’s family line, there’s a certain quirk that makes them unnaturally perceptive to their environments. Ryou’s mom was known as an Empath, someone that can, in a way, read a person’s thoughts and emotions. Ryou has a bit of this quirk, but it shows much stronger in the twins, more so in Shiroko and her son Tobias (or Toby-kun). Shiro’s has gotten strong enough that she will have visions whenever she touches a person. She’s not to particularly fond of this power, but she grows used to it. Gin is also a mind-reader, thanks to his vampire serum.
LET THE ONSLAUGHT BEGIN!
Tenshi [Angel] (Yu-Gi-Oh! AU?)
Seto and Mokuba-A small house in Japan. Domino City Outskirts
“Seto-kun? Seto-kun?”
I looked up as I heard my name being called. Feeling a smile etch across my face, I dropped my robot toys and ran towards the person calling my name. The woman, small and petite with long dark hair, held her arms out for me. She was happy to see her me. Mainly me, only me.
“Okaeri, Kaasan,” Hugging my mother close to me, I noted she smelled like wildflowers and honey, just as I always remembered her smelling like: sweet and warm.
“Tadaima. How was your day, sweetheart?” She took my hand as we walked up the porch and sat in the swing.
“Boring.” I responded, earning a questioning look from the woman at my side. I continued. “Tousan was cleaning all day and wouldn’t let me come inside. I would have helped him if he let me…”
She smiled and laughed a little. The sound reminded of bells, the bells we always heard in the distance sometimes. This sound, however, could outshine any bell any day. This was my mother. MY Mother. No one else’s mother, just mine.
“Seto-kun…” She said gently, pulling me close to her, “I… I have something very important to tell you.”
Mother was soft and warm when she pulled me close to her. She was always so soft and warm. Was this what all mothers feel like when you lean against them. I closed my eyes, listening to her voice resounding through her chest. It was such a comforting sound. She rubbed my shoulder as she continued to speak.
“Seto-kun… Within the next couples of months… you’ll start to notice some… changes.”
I barely heard her. I was just happy to be close to her after being by myself for hours outside.
“For one, we’re going to get your old crib and clothes out. They’re going to have to be in your room since Tousan and my room isn’t big enough…”
My crib? … What’s this about my crib?
“I’m a big boy now, Kaasan. I don’t need a crib. I have my own bed.”
“I know sweetheart. Bringing out your old crib is… part of my important news.”
She pulled away for a second before my hand into hers. What’s going on?
“Seto… in a few months time… you’re going to be a big brother!”
I sat there frozen for a few minutes. A big brother, me? Mother kisses my hand before smiling brightly.
“You’re going to have a little baby brother or sister soon, Seto-kun. Isn’t it exciting?”
I was still shocked by the news. I was going to be a big brother? I… I would have to share mother?
“… …No.”
“No?”
“No… not exciting. It’s not good news.”
“…Seto-kun, sweetheart..”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I climbed down from the swing and went straight into the house and to my bed. MY bed. There was no way I was going to share it with any smelly little brother or sister!
---
In the past few months, the changes happened whether I liked them or not. My room was rearranged to fit my old crib inside. I would stare at it for hours once Mother and Father thought I had gone to sleep. I would whisper nasty things to it. I even threw toys at it. I knew what it symbolized. Mother was going to be taken away from me. Babies always cry for attention. And they cry loudly. Especially when you’re supposed to be asleep.
Babies were just plain rude and inconsiderate.
And they really did change Mother. Her tummy seemed to be bigger each day I saw her. Father was always following her around, asking her how she was feeling and if she needed to sit down for a minute or two. I didn’t understand why. She could still walk around and get around like always. She seemed to be a lot more tired and sleepy and pale lately, but that didn’t mean anything. I still didn’t want a little brother or sister. I wanted my mother to myself. And that was that.
When she was really big, she sat me beside her, holding my hand. Her hand was warm, like always, but it felt wet and clammy for some reason. I didn’t like my mother’s hands to be clammy. It felt gross.
“Seto-kun,” she began gently, “I know… that we haven’t had much chance to talk lately, but I thought that now would be a good time, since neither of us are busy at the moment.”
“Nothing to talk about, Kaasan.”
“You’ve been avoiding me for months, Seto. I was worried about you, sweetheart. Can’t you tell me what’s wrong?”
“Nothing to tell. It’s not like it will matter anyway.” I shake my head.
“It won’t matter? … Seto, if something is bothering you, I need to know. The sooner I can make what’s bothering you go away.”
Looking away, I focused on the floor, not saying a word. I didn’t want to say anything. Her and Father were happy to be getting a new baby. Why should my opinion matter?
“Seto, talk to me.” Her voice was serious… threatening even.
“Don’t wanna. You won’t care.”
“I do care, Seto. I care for you more than there are stars in the sky. Deeper than the deepest ocean and stronger than the strongest superheroes that have ever existed.”
“Until my little brother or sister gets here…”
She was quiet for a moment, but then suddenly hugs me tightly. She rubbed her cheek against mine and kisses my forehead.
“Sweetheart, did you think that I would love you any less once the baby got here?”
I was quiet this time. Had I honestly thought that?
“Seto… baby…I could never love you any less than I do now. You’re my special little guy. You came first and I will always love you.”
She released me from the hug to put a hand on her large tummy.
“…Let me tell you a little secret, Seto-kun,” she began. “Do you know what the most infinite substance in the universe is? A thing that can just grow and grow and grow, you can see it everywhere you go, but you can’t see it?”
“…Air?”
She laughed quietly, the sound of bells sounding wonderful to my ears.
“Love, silly. Love is the most infinite substance in the universe. It grows, and grows, and grows, and you can see it everywhere, even if you physically can’t see it.”
Her words confused me, but what I could gather was that she wasn’t going to forget about me. I still wasn’t completely convinced.
“You’ll forget about me once the baby’s here…”
She raised a dark eyebrow before smiling and taking my hand and placing it on her stomach. I tried to move it, but Mother’s hand was firm. She wasn’t about to let me go any time soon. However, once my hand was still for a moment, I started to feel something weird moving against my hand. Mother’s hand was no longer needed to keep mine on her. I wanted to know what that feeling was.
“When babies grow inside of mommies, they start out very small. No bigger than the head of a pin. As the months go by, the baby grows bigger and bigger. He or she gains new skills every day as they grow bigger and stronger. All of this is happening while I play with and hug and kiss you.”
I was still touching her while she talked, trying to figure out what that weird feeling was. Was this… the baby?
“Did you know that you used to be his size?”
That caught my attention. I was once in there like my brother or sister, inside my mother?
“You loved to kick and squirm, from what I remember. You especially liked to kick Tousan whenever he got too close. As if you were protecting me from invaders of our shared space.” She laughed a little, smiling at the small memory. “My little warrior, always ready to stand up and defend from beginning to end.”
She rubbed her tummy again, making the baby move around again. It all felt so weird to me. But I did know that something was alive and growing in there. It made Mother happy to know that the thing inside her was moving. I guess… that I should be happy if she’s happy. After all, love was everywhere, and it just grows, and grows, and grows. If Mother says that she won’t forget me, because if she can pay attention to me while this little… thing moves inside of her like he’s doing, she can pay attention to anything...
---
That was the last time I saw my mother alive. A few days after I felt my little brother moving in the womb, he stopped moving. My mother started having terrible pains and she had to go to the doctor immediately. Mother was a small woman and both of her pregnancies were hard on her. I found out later that I was delivered via C-section, and that Mokuba was the same, albeit prematurely. The scar tissue from my birth had caused our mother to have a weaker uterine wall. And when it was Mokuba’s turn, the tissue ruptured. He wasn’t getting oxygen and the tear caused Mother to be in great pain. We were lucky that the doctors were able to save Mokuba. But… our Mother…
She didn’t make it through the night.
---
Father held my close as I cried into his shirt, beating my fists against him, screaming at him to bring Mother back. He didn’t know what to do. The love of his life had died on the table, in great amounts of pain, and his newborn son was in NICU, but that mattered little to me. My mother was dead, and it was all that thing’s fault. My little brother (he was a boy, I found out). He was to blame for my mother’s death.
Escaping from Father, I ventured into the baby ward, finding my last name on a tag with a box attached. The box beeped every now and then and the box felt warm to the touch. Inside was the tiniest creature he had seen in his life. It was smaller than Father’s whole hand. It was also very skinny with little ribs showing. His skin was red and wrinkly too. Was this what all babies looked like? They looked gross.
Taking a closer look, I noticed there were pads all over him and a thing over his face. Wisps of air could be heard going in and out of his tiny body. His bony chest rose and fell with the wisps of air.
My own chest hurt. In ways, he looked just like her. He certainly had her dark hair. And he was small too, just like she was. My chest tightened, still in grief over my mother.
“It’s all your fault! You just had to come along and take her away from me! Why did you have to make her go away! Things were fine until you came along! I hate you! I hate you!”
That moment, he opened his eyes to look at me. Those big, big blue eyes. He looked right at me, my tear-stained face, my snotty nose, my red eyes, my throat raw. He stared at me in silence. I stared at him in silence. Neither of us made a sound for a moment, other than the beeping on the monitor.
“What are you looking at?” I hiccupped. “Neither of us have a mother now and it’s all your fault!”
Still, he continued to stare. It was starting to creep me out.
“Stop staring at me! Stop it!” I started crying again, falling to my knees while covering my face.
I felt a cold hand touching my hair. When I looked up to see who was touching me, there was not a soul in the room. I couldn’t see anything save my little brother’s box. Looking up at a nearby window, I saw something written in the condensation.
‘Aishiteru, Tenshi. Jaa matte ne.’
---
Damn me for cutting it off there, but I couldn't come up with any thing else. Blah. >>;
