Fanfiction: Diligence
TITLE: Diligence
CHAPTER: oneshot (drabble)
AUTHOR: Argent Shadows
DATE: 9-21-09
FANDOM: Yu-Gi-Oh!
DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Yu-Gi-Oh!, or make any money from it.
PAIRINGS: none
TYPE: Angst
RATING: G
WARNINGS: none
OCs: none
BETA: none
WORDS: 356
SUMMARY: Seto reflects on the price of power.
NOTES: This story was written for a list of writing prompts – this prompt was “diligence”.
* * *
Diligence
There is a price to pay, for wealth, security and power. Diligence. Seto rubbed his arms lightly as he watched Mokuba play Dance Dance Revolution with his friends, with Yuugi and Jounouchi, Bakura and Honda. They could have been his friends, if the world had been different. They were his age, his ‘peers’. But not really. The brunet stepped back from the overhanging balcony and rubbed his wrists again under their steel guards.
His office was his cage and his throne, where he ruled his business empire from. But the price for his power was constant diligence, something that Gozoboro had never understood. He trusted his minions, and they had betrayed him. Seto trusted no one except Mokuba… and so was never betrayed.
But he never, ever let his guard down. He didn’t dare. He let down his guard, and Mokuba suffered, or his employees, or the other people who counted on him. Never let down his guard… that Gozoboro had taught him, but not for the same reasons. He wondered absently what Yuugi and his friendship bunch would make of it… but they probably wouldn’t understand.
He glanced down again at Mokuba and his friends. Away from the play, two figures watched from the shadows on either side of the room. One tall and white haired, his features fierce and almost angry, garnet eyes never straying from the quiet hikari laughing at Jou’s attempts to DDR. Yami no Bakura, the thief king, never strayed far from Ryou, keeping his own constant vigil.
On the other side, not so hidden but also not part of the group, Yami no Yuugi, the former Pharaoh Atem, watched his bright hikari enjoy the game. Seto knew that Yami could play it if he wanted to, and probably win; but he gave up his own enjoyment to watch.
Seto’s hands went to the guards on his wrists again, feeling a strange sense of kinship with the dark yami. They too knew the price…
With a shake of his head, Seto paced back into his office and settled in his chair, pushing aside the thoughts as he returned to his work.
~end~
Tags: angst, drabble, g rated, introspection, Seto, Yu-Gi-Oh (series)