Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

 

 

Substitute

 

 

 When Kaiba Gozaburo first saw that boy, he was more than shocked. This child looked almost like an exact copy of his dead son! It was then when he decided, he would adopt the boy.

 Surprisingly, the child proved to have a mind of its own. He only agreed to be adopted, if his younger brother also did. Quite a strange trait for a child of his age - that confidence and fierce loyalty - one would rather expect him to cry, because he was leaving his sibling. It was another point for adopting him.

 Gozaburo made a deal with him: they would play chess - if he won, he would leave the boy and his brother in the orphanage. However, if the child won, he would take them. The businessman did not go easy on the boy and yet the child won. As promised the man adopted both brothers.

 This was where the disappointment began. The older boy might have looked like Noah, but he was not him. He had a different character, other habits, he moved and spoke differently. He was *not* Noah, no matter what, no matter how similar they looked.

 Gozaburo knew it was not the child's fault, but it was like knowing something about a far away country, where you have never been - purely theoretical. He just couldn’t bring himself to like the boy. He might have been very intelligent, have better qualities, when it came to running a company - but he was not Noah. This was why the older Kaiba hated his adopted son, why he was never satisfied with him - he could not be... After all, the boy was only a substitute.

 

 

A/N

 

It's short... But what would, you expect from a story invented in school in brakes between doing maths or writing some exercise about Christmas in Germany? I'm really surprised, it didn't come out stupider or crazy... Oh yeah, I don't usually write angst - I do humour stories.

 Anyway, it's my take on Seto's relationship with his 'daddy-dearest' from Gozaburo's point of view. If I got something wrong, sorry - hadn't seen the right episodes and used the knowledge I have. Reading through all this fanfiction, where the eldest Kaiba is pure evil made me write that in defiance. I tend to do such things from time to time - it doesn't mean I like Kaiba's 'daddy'. He's bad - but there's always a reason behind everything.

 

<<