Great. This was just wonderful, wasn't it? For about the second or third time, Seto's day and plans were interrupted by SOMETHING happening. What was it this time? Why, his dear stepbrother, who'd found himself in a rather deplorable children's shelter. Wonderful. Just what he needed. The black limo pulled up and, knowing he was probably going to greatly regret this (he had, afterall, left before Seth was awake, which was sure to get him into trouble should the priest be up before they returned), Seto stepped inside.

A bored looking receptionist was chewing gum at the front desk. She looked up, and her eyes widened, recognizing Seto immediately. "H... hello, sir... may... may I help you?" The sounds of an older woman yelling came from down the hall. The paint was peeling, and there was an odd smell in the air. A few children snickered and laughed - obviously, one of the other kids was getting scolded.

Seto mentally cringed. Noa had been dropped off at this dump? Even the orphanage had been in better condition than this. He turned his attention back to the receptionist. "Yeah, I heard you got a new kid here lately, kinda short, sorta turquoise hair, name's Noa? He around here?"

She nodded. "Third door on the right." She pointed down the hall where the shouting was coming from.

"...And furthermore, you do not use a knife on new residents!" A tired looking older woman was admonishing a fourteen-year-old in a leather jacket, who looked rather bored. Noa was huddled in the corner, scratches all over him, sniffling.

Seto peeked his head in and waited for the yelling to die down before rapping on the door and clearing his throat to gain attention. He spotted Noa in the corner and glanced between him and the punk. Surely this place wasn't so bad that they beat each other up? How dreadful. "Excuse me, ma'am, but I'm here to pick someone up."

She looked up. "Um.. yes? Someone in particular?" Noa hadn't looked up. I'm just imagining his voice, he can't really be here...

He nodded. "Yeah, Noa." Seto nodded in his direction. "Right over there." An apologetic look was sent his way. Why had Seto found it so amusing when it was quite obvious that he was suffering here?

She nodded. "Noa?" She went over to him. "Come on, dear, someone's picking you up."The boy sniffed, and looked up at Seto, quivering a moment before hugging him tightly.

Blinking, Seto was unsure whether to return the guesture. He merely put an arm around his shoulders and looked down at him with a worried glance. "Hey, you okay?"

"I'll be okay..." He winced slightly. "I just want to rest somewhere..."The woman shook her head. "The other children didn't take kindly to him... he does have a bit of a mouth."

Seto began leading him out of the building--thankfully, as he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand the smell. "Well, once we get home, you can rest all you want. We'll get you cleaned up, and then we can decide what to do with you." He sighed. This just wasn't his day. Or week. Or couple of months. Or...you get the idea. "C'mon, we can hop in the limo and get far, FAR away from this god forsaken place."

"That would probably be a good idea..." He muttered, stumbling a little. He hadn't gotten much rest, between worrying about things and being woken from attempted naps by fists and knives, and looked it.

The two climbed into the back of the limo, glad to be out of there. "Sorry I didn't take you
so seriously," came Seto's apology. "I hadn't realized you were in such a shitty situation." The limo sped off, the building disappearing in the background.

"It's all right..." He sighed, leaning against the cool glass. "It's understandable. You probably thought that it really was very funny... I probably would have in your position, as well."

"Well, I certainly don't find it funny anymore." He scooted a bit closer to Noa and looked him over. "Any injuries that need to be taken care of right away, or is it just a few scratches?"

He rolled up his sleeve, examining a rather deep cut, and then shrugged. "It looks a lot worse than it is... I ducked out of the way just in time. Most of them are in there for violent crimes."

"...I see." Another sigh. "Perhaps you would've been better off staying with Pegasus? Nobody would mind, you know, certainly not him."

"...I wanted to be independent..." He bit his lip. "I hate having to rely on other people. What if something happens? Then I'll be out in the cold. No, it's better to just do it myself."

"Relying on people isn't all that bad." A small smirk flitted across his face. "I think you're at least going to need to rely on someone to help you get your own place so THIS doesn't happen again, at the very least."

Noa shrugged, and let out a small hiss. "I suppose." He turned to Seto, smirking slightly. "Are you suggesting yourself?"

He blinked a few times. "...Er...perhaps, if you needed me to..." That hadn't been exactly the direction he was going for, anyway. "But we can talk about it later."

"Yeah... after I get some rest."

*MAGICAL TIMELAPSE!*

After they had returned to the Kaiba residence and Noa had rested for a few hours, he was no longer found in the guest room that Seto had shown him to, but in the living room, staring at the ceiling and thinking.

And after having had a talking-to by the resident mother hen and posting about LJ, Seto trudged downstairs and was rather surprised to find Noa up and about. "Feeling better, are we?"

"Quite a bit, actually..." He murmured, shaking off a thought and looking over at Seto.

"That's good to hear. I was almost afraid you weren't even going to make it to bed before collapsing on the ground." He hopped onto the couch and crossed his legs almost daintily. "Anything I can do for you at the moment, or are you fine right now?"

"No, not really." He sat for a long moment in silence, and then fixed Seto with a sad gaze. "I don't think I ever really told you this... but I'm sorry for how my father treated you. It wasn't right. And you shouldn't have had to go through that."

Blink. Well...that had been unexpected and out of the blue. Seto waved it off. "Don't worry about it, really. Not now. Don't go apologizing for anything, not after just coming back from that...dreadful building."

"That's what made me think about it. Because he adopted you and then treated you badly." Noa sighed. "And if I had been more careful, you would have never had to live with him." The boy sniffed, and then closed his eyes. "I just wanted to say that."

"...Oh." That seemed to be all he COULD say at the moment. True, an apology couldn't take away any of the memories, and it didn't exactly change anything, but...never had he thought Noa of all people would have apologized like that. "Well...well, I mean, at least I wasn't being beaten up on by smart ass kids who thought of me as their personal little punching bag."

He smiled a little. "I guess." He looked a little happier for saying it. "Um... so..." Awkward time.

"So..." Yep, this was awkward. "...I suppose we might want to talk about what to do with you now and where you're going to stay," he suggested. Afterall, that's the reason Noa got thrown into a dump, trying to buy his own place.

"That's probably a good idea." He sighed. It was just that he tried to do things for himself, was that so bad?

"Things with Pegasus not working out? Or was it just that you wanted someplace to yourself? I can certainly understand, if either of those are the case." Seto shrugged. "I mean, staying there couldn't have been THAT great..."

"It was fine, I just feel the need to try to handle things on my own." He stretched. "It's just that I'm trying to be more independent - I don't like relying on people all the time for everything."

"That makes sense. But as long as people keep thinking you're a kid, I doubt anyone's going to take you very seriously. You told them who you were, right? Who's really going to believe that Gozaburo's son is back from the dead? I think it might be best just to stick with the kindness of someone else and live with 'em."

He groaned. "Yeah, but I don't want to... but I guess that it's the best that I'm going to get. So."

Another awkward silence. "Look, if you don't want to stay here, that's fine; I could help you get another place if you need me to. God knows I now have experience in retailing getting a place for the Ishtars."

"It's more like I don't want to intrude on anyone. It's not that..." He searched for the words. "It's not that I'm so insistent on getting my own place so much as not bothering anyone..."

"You don't bother anyone." He rolled his eyes. First Ryou, now Noa. "Honestly, it's not like you're ever underfoot or anything, and I can't see how you could ever bother anyone. I mean, you're quiet, you're sweet, you try your best to please people--I doubt anyone could find you annoying."

Noa smiled halfheartedly. "My father didn't seem to think so. He thought I was a lazy brat."

"Well, that's just because your father was a bastard with impossible expectations of people," Seto scoffed. "Just because you don't get something perfect the first time you do it doesn't mean you're lazy and good for nothing."

"...Thanks, Seto." He shook his head as if to clear it, and then looked up at his brother. "So... can I stay here, just for a little bit?"

"Sure." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I can't say I see any problem with it. You need a place to stay, I have room, it'd be rude of me to just kick you out right now, I suppose."

Suddenly, Noa was hugging Seto, grinning. "Thanks, Seto..."

"Uh..." This was probabbly more awkward than any other time this whole day. "...Yeah, sure, no problem." He found himself putting his arms around his stepbrother as well. The guy really wasn't so bad at all. Was there even a good reason to hate him anymore? He'd have to ponder this later. "Not a problem at all."