Disclaimer: The Y, the G, and the O are not mine.

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"Mokuba-kun, it's all right to say what you really think." The voice was gentle, professional, and perfectly pitched to calm the most anxious child.

"It's fine, really." Mokuba's voice rose a bit, making him sound younger than his eleven years. "It's just not…." The rest of his words trailed off, and he swallowed. Hard.

"Not what?"

"Not what Nii-sama would make." He said it as if it were his death sentence, and his eyes were very bright indeed. He rose from the table. "I'm going to be late for school."

Mazaki Yoshiko sighed. She, too, rose from the table and began to clear it of breakfast dishes. Her daughter stood to help her.

"I've never seen Mokuba-kun so quiet," Anzu ventured as she rinsed the soup bowls in the sink and shoved them into the dishwasher

Her mother handed her another bowl and said, "I keep forgetting you know him." Yoshiko frowned in thought. "I suppose I should have requested him to be reassigned; you're too deeply involved, but everyone thought it would be better if he stayed in Domino."

They stayed silent after that.

Mokuba clattered back into the kitchen, teeth freshly brushed and book-bag in hand. "I'm leaving now," he said.

"Do you want lunch?'

Mokuba looked at the bento box Yoshiko was cautiously holding out to him. "No thanks," he said finally. "I won't be hungry." He looked at Anzu, as if he wanted to say something before deciding against it.

"I'll say hello to Kaiba-kun for you," Anzu offered.

For a moment Mokuba's face was a near-perfect mimic of his brother's at its most expressionless. "Don't bother. He probably won't show up anyway." His mask cracked, and the naked grief and longing beneath it were plain. It had been Kaiba Seto's blatant disregard for truancy laws that had gotten the two of them into this mess after all.

Domino High School had finally had enough of Kaiba Seto's bad grades, bad attitude, and inability to grasp what precisely was meant by the term "mandatory attendance." The Family Court had had a field day: emancipated minor Kaiba Seto might be, but his inability to provide a stable childhood for himself cast into doubt his ability to do the same for the other child in his custody.

Mokuba had screamed and kicked and bitten at anyone who tried to touch him when the court ordered his temporary removal from the Kaiba main house. And this, of course, hadn't helped the case Kaiba Seto's arbitrators were trying to present. Kaiba Mokuba was obviously in an unhealthy situation, child services argued.

Mazaki Yoshiko was known for her ability to coax even the most reluctant child into revealing the truth about his or her living conditions. She used the same blend of perceptive insight and general empathy that her daughter's friends would have instantly recognized. Kaiba Mokuba's file was hastily dropped on her desk, and she became his primary social worker.

Mokuba had not taken to her as child services had hoped; in fact, Mokuba had not taken to anyone. He had stopped his damaging temper tantrums, evidently realizing that his outbursts were playing into child services' hands. His week in Domino's main children's home only served to keep his thin lips pressed tightly together, saying not a word to even his roommate.

The Kaiba Corp lawyers had managed to get him out of there. Kaiba Seto had been wraith-like in his dark suit, confirming several social workers' suspicions that he was both undernourished and clinically depressed and thus ill-suited to even have custody over himself. Kaiba Seto had refused to have his brother remain in the children's home; if he must be temporarily (the arbitrators stressed this term) separated from his brother and his home, it was imperative that Mokuba be placed in familiar surroundings. Anything else would be detrimental to his development.

Mokuba had been moved to the Mazaki residence the following day.