Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Author`s note: I am not an English native speaker, please take that into account when you allude me to any grammatical mistakes or spelling errors I will probably make. Nevertheless your comments and critical advises are of course always welcome, so please feel free to give me hints about the mistakes I make (I have no beta reader so far), so I can correct them, just don´t be too harsh about it, I am trying...:-)
The Smell of Jasmine
Her hair smells like jasmine. Her pale skin underlines her shining bright blue eyes that are looking up to him and glister like a single raindrop on a flower that is illuminated by the sun`s fading light. They pierce right through him demanding some kind of answer, demanding a reaction he is unable to give. She talks fast and swiftly about some evil destroying the world and about a shadow lingering in the depth and creeping upon these times. He understands nothing and he doesn't care. What shadow could face the light without fading? She looks fragile and beaten, her dress is dirty, her skin bruised, but her voice is soft and her touch lingers on his skin after she bids him farewell with the promise to see him again. The world goes dark as she leaves and he follows her to keep the light shining.
He sees a man holding her, crying over her lifeless and pierced body. Too late. Nothing could be done, nothing could be repaired. He doesn´t know the man, but he feels his sorrow, he feels his pain, he shares his longing after something that can`t be brought back as though it had originated from his own soul. The man covers her with a dirty brown blanket and leaves. Slowly he leaves his hideout. He stands in front of her covered body. He sees a strain of her pale white hair leaking out under the blanket, a dead reminiscence of the life that seemingly a moment ago had still sparkled in those blue eyes, this pale skin, this shining hair, those kind words that were no more. He does not lift the blanket too afraid to discover that this one moment of light in his life is truly gone, that his world is dark again and that he doesn`t care about it. He does not mind leaving the truth under this cover as long as he does not have to see it with his own eyes, as long as he can still succumb to his illusions, there is no need to crush them with visualized reality. So instead of rushing into the devastation and sadness that awaits him under this blanket, he decides to be angry. She had promised that they would see each other again and now she left him standing there alone in front of a dirty blanket that covers a hope and a thought he could not pursue anymore. With a shrug he turns around and leaves, the smell of jasmine still lingering in his nose, thoughts and dreams.
Seto Kaiba woke up. Not with a start and not fast. He was clearing his way through the thick layers of his subconsciousness, slowly wading into consciousness. He felt more and more heavy the closer he got to the reality of a world his body did not yet want to wake up to while his mind had already reached it. He opened his eyes, the dream still lingering like a trace of fragrance in the air, which he was unable to grasp or to follow. He looked at the electronic alarm clock on his nightstand that illuminated the room and his face in ghostly blue colors. Three o´clock in the morning. It had not been the first time he had had this dream. Since coming back from Egypt a few months ago it had kept him up in the night every now and then and had left him exhausted in so many ways that it could not solely be blamed on the lack of sleep. He didn´t understand why this dream kept coming back though. He was not sure what to believe of the things he had seen in Egypt, but one thing he knew for sure was that the past could not be undone, the future was all that mattered. He had always believed that, always lived after this concept. To him the past was a construct that some people used and created in their own ways to define and justify who or what they are. He had always pitied these fools, cause they hold onto things that could not be changed anymore and they orientated their future after thoughts and ideas that were not their own. So why did this dream still linger in his mind? Why could he not get rid of this feeling to want to change the inevitable cause of events that led to the girl`s death? He shook his head and tried to delete any thoughts of this dream from his mind for now, it would come back soon enough.
He sighed and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. He felt a headache coming and decided to fight it before it kept him from at least trying to get some more sleep. On other days he might have simply accepted the lack of sleep or working while being exhausted, but not today. This day was important to him, his company and the future of him and his brother. After reaching his goal of establishing amusement parks all over the USA and also Japan he intended to pursue his vision of creating the most realistic virtual video game the world had yet to see. The meeting was essential for KaibaCorp to secure a contract with one of the leading virtual game tech companies that would provide its knowledge and the technologies that had been created in this field so far. Nothing would stop him from getting that deal according to the conditions he would set of course.
He went to his bathroom in search of a headache pill, and in the hope that sleep would find him again as soon as he climbed back to bed. But hopes are for those who can`t take matters into their own hands, and this night Kaiba could not force his mind to rest even though his body demanded it.
At six o clock he turned off the alarm and got out of bed. He had not slept since he had woken up in the middle of the night and his headache had not gone away despite the painkillers that he had taken, and his throat felt sour, but it didn´t matter as it could not be changed; he just had to deal with it. He showered, dressed and went to the kitchen to have some coffee. He was not hungry at all so he skipped his own breakfast and started to make some for Mokuba. There was no cook in the mansion. Kaiba never liked having to many people in his own house, so there were only few who helped with the household. The gardener for example who came once a week, or the cleaning ladies who came twice a week and also did the laundry. Besides them Kaiba only relied on his two most trusted employees, Roland and Mat, as personal assistants, who kept his schedule in check, acted as chauffeurs for the brothers or took care of all the other smaller assignments that Kaiba delegated spontaneously to them, but they only came to his house when he specifically asked them to. Same went for the security team that took care of the grounds of the Kaiba mansion. They were not allowed to set a foot in the house except in case of an absolute emergency. Kaiba liked his privacy and he did not need maids or butlers to disturb the little quality time that he could spend at home with his brother. Kaiba looked up from his task as he heard someone coming down the stairs. Mokuba had always had a fine nose when it came to food, so naturally he came down just as breakfast was ready.
"Morning, big brother," Mokuba greeted him while rubbing the sleep from his eyes, though it did not stop him from eyeing his breakfast already happily.
"Good morning," Kaiba replied.
"Big day today, huh?" Mokuba asked between toast and cornflakes which he somehow managed to eat simultaneously.
Kaiba nodded and could not help but smile when Mokuba started coughing as his hunger for the breakfast came in conflict with his need to breathe.
"You might want to slow down a bit," Kaiba advised putting a glass of water on the table "it won`t run away".
"You never know", Mokuba smiled and drank the water "Did you have breakfast already, Seto?"
"Of course I had", Seto lied and turned his face away, he was never good at lying to his baby brother, but he did not want him to worry, he was already nagging enough about his brother not taking care of himself. No need to put fuel into the fire or give his headache more nutrition.
Mokuba eyed him suspiciously but said nothing to that matter.
Kaiba coughed and said to break the silence: "I need to go early to Kaiba Corp today and I guess I will be home quite late. Do you have any plans to keep yourself entertained for the day?" Kaiba knew from lots of experiences that Mokuba was kind of a hyperactive kid, who could not hang out by himself in the mansion the whole day waiting obediently for his big brother to return.
Mokuba swallowed a piece of toast and looked at his brother warily, his voice was low: "I wanted to meet with Yugi and the gang after school; they are going to go to the arcades to eat ice cream and try out some new computer games"
Kaiba remained silent for a moment. Over the years he had come quite accustomed to the gang being somehow a part of his life and activities but that did not mean he liked it very much. He did not completely understand why, at moments, he despised this group so much. Everything about them was how society imagined good functioning people should be. They helped each other out, they cared for each other, they encouraged and trusted each other, they could not go one step of the way without relying on each other and as admirable as this seemed to some people, it was not his way. He had learned the hard way to trust only himself in making the decisions that needed to be made, to take the responsibility for these decisions himself and not to whine about mistakes to friends or family. He had made some mistakes along the way, he knew that, but he was always willing to learn from them, he did not need other people to justify or excuse his actions for him.
But sometimes in one of those rare weak moments that he could not elude, he felt jealousy especially towards Yugi and sometimes, as strange as it may seem, also towards Joey, the mutt. The mutt seemed not to have a care in the world, he had no responsibility, he did not think before speaking and he did not have to mind what others may think of him as he always had his friends to back him up and tell him that everything he did, no matter how moronic it may be, was fine. Yugi on the other hand was different. He cared very deeply about everything and he was far away from being stupid or a moron. Kaibas dislike for Yugi Motou went at sometimes deeper than his dislike for the mutt. For Yugi it was natural to be at peace with everything and everyone. He did not hate, never. He always saw the best in people, always tried to explain or justify their faults, he had an aura of natural freedom, joy and happiness around him that aroused Kaibas envying. It was so easy to like Yugi Motou that Kaiba voluntarily chose not to.
He looked at Mokuba who still looked up to him with worried eyes. Mokuba was actually not much different from Yugi in his way of thinking and behaving but with him Kaiba of course did not mind.
Kaiba coughed. "Of course you can go, Mokuba" he said finally after his coughing had died down and was happy to see a smile rising on his brother`s face. Just because he did not like the geek squad, did not mean he would forbid his brother to hang out with them. They were not bad people and also not his enemies anymore.
"But be back at nine o' clock at the latest and take Roland as your bodyguard with you. And don`t forget the appointment you have with your new tutor at two o'clock. After you had so many troubles with the older ladies I asked the agency to find someone more suitable for you."
Mokuba`s face dropped a bit. He did not like talking about this topic. He found it sometimes hard to stay focused during his school lessons, resulting in him missing most of what the teachers were trying to put into his head. So Kaiba had hired a tutor to help him keeping up in class, as he himself did not have the time to do so. But so far the three tutors he had were not capable of managing him.
"These tutors are even more boring than my teachers at school, it´s not my fault, I am really trying but they always tell me to not do things that could actually be fun", Mokuba complained.
"Well swinging from tree to tree imitating Tarzan while your tutor is trying to tell you something about tree species and local animals is certainly not the way to behave", Kaiba retorted.
"That was just one time. I had sat in class all day long, I needed to stretch my legs", Mokuba mumbled and actually managed to look a bit guilty.
Kaiba sighed. Mokuba was not easy to handle, he knew that, but he had not given up yet. He did not expect his brother to follow in his footsteps and score the highest grades in every single subject. He actually explicitly did not want Mokuba to follow this path, because Kaiba knew what it had taken of and cost him to achieve these grades. He had endured it to ensure a better life for his brother and he intended to keep it this way. But on the other side, his brother was quite smart and could certainly do better at school, if he could just stay focused on one thing for more than 5 minutes. The teachers had advised Kaiba to engage an additional tutor or to give Mokuba meds that would calm him down, but Kaiba had resolutely refused to drug his little brother, so he had decided to go with hiring a tutor to help. Of course, Mokuba was not too happy about it.
"I explained your ..ah.. special situation to the agency and I am sure they will find somebody who will make things more interesting for you, but Mokuba, I expect you to behave better this time, I am not going to tolerate this much longer. You don`t have to excel in school, you know that, but I expect you to at least try to give it your best." Kaiba did not like to be strict with his brother but from time to time it was certainly necessary.
"Yeah, big brother" Mokuba said quietly and his eyes dropped to his knees.
Kaiba got up. "I am sure you will do fine", he said and ruffled his brother`s hair. "I have to go now, don`t be late for school"
Kaiba coughed again, his headache was still not gone and his throat started to hurt more. Damn it, he was never sick he thought to himself and he would certainly not succumb to any weakness of the body today. He didn´t care about tomorrow, but not today.
"Seto, are you all right?" Mokuba asked, his eyes shining big and already moist with worry.
"I am totally fine, Mokuba" Kaiba tried to assure his brother.
"Did you sleep?" This question caught Kaiba a bit by surprise, because he had never told Mokuba about his dreams or the sleepless nights he suffered because of them. He decided to ignore the question.
"I have to go now, don´t forget your appointment and don´t get to close to the mutt." With that Kaiba left the kitchen and went to the already waiting limo outside of the mansion.
Mokuba looked after his brother with worried eyes. Since coming back from Egypt his brother had changed noticeably. Well maybe not noticeable for someone who didn´t know Seto as well as he did but still so much that Mokuba thought he had a reason to worry. It was not only that he looked generally more exhausted and tired than usual, but also his character had changed. His brother had never been the type to socialize or to go out with people his age, but he had at least always shared his thoughts with him, his brother. But of late Seto had become more quiet and calmer. He had given up on playing Duel Monsters and it seemed like he solely lived for his little brother and the company, there was nothing else anymore. All the goals that Seto had set for himself were reached and the new ones seemed shallow like a very poor substitute for something that really mattered.
Well his employees probably didn`t mind a calmer and more quiet boss, but Mokuba knew better. This was not how his brother used to be, the fire was gone, the torch burned down and Mokuba felt like he was standing in the rain trying to create a spark that could bring the light back.
He had asked his brother about what had happened in Egypt, but Seto would not tell him. Sometimes he said that he could not remember or that he had just visited some antique sights to find out more about the origins of Duel Monsters, other times he would just ignore the question or plainly tell his brother that he didn´t want to talk about it.
Either way Mokuba was desperate enough to ask Yugi and the others for help, maybe they did know more about what had happened to Seto in Egypt even thought it meant going behind his brothers back. But first things first… There was still the problem with this new tutor…