Lion's Pride: Rebirth of a Dream
Lion's Pride: Rebirth of a Dream
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Lion’s
Pride: Rebirth of a Dream
By Shea Maxwell
Disclaimer-If you recognize anyone in here from the show, it’s a safe bet
that I
don’t own them and can’t claim them.
See Authors Note for warnings and other information you may have missed.
Any
additional warnings and notes will be listed in each part as they are
posted.
This fic began as a cute little rp with Sunsinger and it grew. My co-author and I went our separate ways I told her I was going to re-do it to suit my tastes. She agreed with no problems. After extensive editing I present this work.
THIS IS NOT A PLAGARISM, and this has been proven by the PPP.
Prologue
Seto Kaiba stood at the glass wall of his office on the 120th floor
of the Kaiba Corporation building.
The slender CEO surveyed the surrounding buildings and the streets
below.
Belatedly he remembered the last time he stood in this exact spot,
looking at the same scenery.
It had started off a typical day for the brothers Kaiba. Five year
old Mokuba was sent off to lessons, while twelve year old Seto was dragged
off to what was usually yet another boring board meeting with
Gozaburo.
Young Seto sat in the plush leather chair while trying not to fidget
in the expensive suit he was made to wear.
Gozaburo cast a warning glance at the child prodigy, before rising
from his chair to address the board members.
“Why have you called this meeting?” The salt and pepper haired man
demanded.
One rather brave member spoke up from the end of the table. “Mr.
>Kai>Kaiba, it wasn’t we who called the meeting, but young Seto.”
This intriguing answer received a raised eyebrow and a glance at
said boy.
The blue-eyed child rose from his chair. “Please sit down
Gozaburo.” This infuriated
the man. How dare this young upstart speak to him like that? After all
he had done for the brat and his brother, or as he was most commonly
referred to, es bas baggage. He would teach the boy a lesson in respect
he wouldn’t soon forget, as soon as this meeting finished. “What’s the meaning
of this boy?”
“You gave Mokuba and I each a share in Kaiba Corporation, with the
promise that if I could make that share worth 500 times the value, you
would turn the company over to me.”
“What of it?” The current CEO awnerwner asked as he retook his
seat.
The small boy walked over and removed a legal document from his
Gozaburo Kaiba picked up the document up and slowly read it. His
simmering anger at the boy erupted volcanically as he read. “What have you
done?”
“What you taught me to do! Sign the paper!” Blue eyes that used to
dance with laughter not long ago, stared coldly at the elder man.
Said man looked disdainfully at the collective of suit. “You sold
my company out from under me and to my own brat no less.”
“Frankly Gozaburo,” the head of the board spoke up, “we find that we
are unable to put our trust in you or your ideas anymore. You’ve lost touch
with reality since the accident. We feel that with and and the proper
tutelage, young Seto here will bring Kaiba Corporation into a new era.”
Gozaburo growled an animalistic sound that sent chills down the spines of all
present. Pushing the chair back, he stood up with the document in hand, and
then stalked over to Seto. He grabbed the back of the suit jacket, and
hauled the child out of the conference room.
To say that the elder Kaiba was pissed was an rstarstatement. He
was about to loose his life’s work, all because of an exceptionally bright
boy.
A
boy he had brought his his home and trained.
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The gangly child had the mind of genius, and Kaiba made sure that it
was trained to its fullest potential. But the ungrateful boy wanted to play
gamegames and have fun.
No brain that perfect should be wasted on useless activities.
Gozaburo and his staff made sure that Seto understood the uselessness of
games, of love and companionship, of friendship and any emotion that
wasn’t put into the pursuit of knowledge and power.
Power and control were two of the elder Kaiba’s specialties. He
knew how to get what he wanted, and how to keep it under his power once he
had it. He wasn’t about to loose power or control of anything to this
child.
He passed his secretary, growled out a warning against being
disturbed for any reason, and dragged Seto into the office, slamming the
door behind him.
t>Stt>Stalking over to the desk, he tossed the boy in a chair and began to
pace the vast expanse of floor space.
“It was a nice game while it lasted, Seto, but it’s over now. I
told you no more games. I thought I had this childishness beaten out of you
by now. I see I’ll have to be firmer with you. The first thing I need
to do is get rid of distractions. The biggest distraction being the
excess baggage you brought.”
“No!” Seto shouted as he leapt to his feet. Other than his
imagination and his dreams, Mokuba was the only thing Kaiba hadn’t tried to
take from him. “You can’t! I won’t let you!”
“You have no say in this!” The elder man bellowed.
“Bastard! Leave my brother alone!”
Enraged,
the former Kaiba Corp owner flew at Seto and backhanded the
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child across the face.
Seto flew across the expanse of desk and landed on the floor from
the force of the blow.
<>
“How dare you speak to me like that!” The elder man’s control was
waning rapidly.
Struggling, Seto managed to get to his feet and clutched his
throbbing cheek. “If you touch Mokuba I’ll kill you.”
mso-bidi-font-family:"Courier New"'>
control shatter“Kil“Kill me? You don’t have the guts you ungrateful
wretch.”
Seto straightened up and stared unflinchingly into the man’s eyes.
This only infuriated Kaiba more; he lunged at Seto intent on
teaching him a lesson he would never forget. Seto launched himself at
Kaiba, hoping his size and speed could let himself dodge out of the
way at the last minute, but that was not the case, instead he rammed
full force into the charging man.
The momentum, coupled with Seto’s low center of gravity, and the
fact that Gozaburo was off balance, sent the tall man flying backwards into
his well-oiled executives chair. The chair being on a plastic running
mat, skittered back and went through the glass window.
Seto stared in horror as he watched the chair sail into the glass,
then through it with a resounding crash and a scream. The scream coming
from Gozaburo Kaiba as he fell 120 stories to the cement sidewalk
below.
The Kaiba heir sank to his knees and wailed like a wounded animal.
Not because the bastard was dead, but because Seto was now a murderer. He
couldn’t even shave yet, but he had taken his first life. And so he
screamed until his lungs felt they would give out. He was an
abomination before the gods. Unclean.
The crash of the window and the screaming brought the secretary and
various guards running int>
Upon opening the door, they saw the boy on his knees in front of the
window. The secretary raced over to him and enfolded the boy in her embrace
while attempting to calm him. It had no affect however; Seto was lost in
his own world of misery where he was torn from Mokuba and any chance
of happiness.
The guards meanwhile, went to the window and looked down, before
radioing their comrades on the ground floor to call the police and an
ambulance.
They knew there was no chance their employer was alive, but someone had to
scrape the body off the sidewalk.
By the time the real police had arrived, Seto had calmed down enough
to actually answer questions. They questioned him endlessly as he was the
only witness, but in the end ruled it an accident. That Gozaburo Kaiba
had pushed back too hard on his chair and fell through the window to
his death. They didn’t believe Seto’s story. They said that witnessing
the death had made his mind believe that it was his fault, that he had
done the deed himself. They informed the secretary that it was common among
children who witness these things, and that Seto should see a grief counselor.
That day haunted the now sixteen-year-old Seto still.
The young man shivered with the memory and thoughts of what the
future would hold for him.
More and more, Seto saw less of himself, and more of Gozaburo. He
was becoming a danger to himself and others.
There was only one way he knew of to stop himself from becoming the
thing he despised most. He had to put his overwhelming pride on the side
and make an attempt. To become the boy he used to be, and leave behind
the machine he had been trained to become.
Leaning his forehead against the glass, he sighed. This was going
to be so hard. He had spent so long pushing the only one he could love
away. He doubted his love would remember who he used to be all those
years ago, and if he did remember, would he be the one to push away?
After all the times he degraded and put down his love, he wouldn’t
blame him, but he had to try, or face an endless nothingness without
him.
“Please…save me Jounochi.”