Title: Hair

Author: Niu Shiy-Ue

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, the three top female characters wouldn't have ended up being Mai, Amelda and Kaiba. And yes, I'm well aware that two of those people are male.

Rating: PG

Pairing: None, actually. Just a bit of brotherly relationship, no incest this time around.

Warnings: Some swearing

OCs: None

Spoilers: Some Kaiba history, but nothing big.

Summary: No real plot. I just noticed that in canon, we never see Mokuba tying his hair back. I wondered about that.

Having long hair was a bitch.

At least that was Mokuba's metaphor for it. He'd never actually had a girlfriend, but he imagined that having long hair was similar to having a high-maintenance. Both demanded time, attention and money and even after all that, neither one behaved.

Time was obvious. Every morning he woke up nearly as early as Niisama just to comb his hair. Then he did again after school. Then again just before he slept. And that was assuming nothing had happened in the meantime. That would mean another session, and each one lasted at least a half-hour. That meant he was loosing at least an hour and a half each day, just combing the mane!

Money, that was pretty obvious too. He used more shampoo than anyone else in the house (servants included), on bad days, he suspected he used more than everyone else combined. Then you add the conditioner.
And then the gel to keep his hair somewhat managable (not that it worked very well). Mokuba had a sneaking suspicion Niisama kept a separate budget just to deal with all the products he used.

Attention, God! Have you ever tried finding split ends when your hair reaches your waist? It was frustrating and took forever (maybe that should have counted as time instead)! Not to mention he got caught or tangled in everything! Drawers, doors, buttons, his shoe laces when he knelt to tie them (he was seriously thinking to switching back to velcro), Niisama's belt buckle(1); now that was seriously embarrasing!
Although not as embarrasing as the time his hair had accidently got caught in the door of the elevator at Kaiba Corp. It had been full of KC executives too. That had been an extremely uncomfortable situation for all of them, and there had been a tacit agreement never to mention the incident to the CEO.

What was worse was other people's attention. 'Sissy', 'Molly,
'Weakling', Mokuba had heard it all. Not to mention all those times he had spent trying to clear gum and whatnot from his hair. The kitchen staff always had some peanut butter stored, just in case.

And it never behaved! It was hot and heavy in the summer, scratchy in the winter. It was so unruly he couldn't even braid it, the best he could do was a loose ponytail, and even then his hair was so bushy, he might as well have done nothing at all.

Niisama's hair was nothing like his. Always smooth and neat, never beyond his ears or the back of his neck. Niisama got a professional stylist to do his hair. Conversly, he never let anyone cut Mokuba's hair, the closest a slight trim of the bangs, which he did himself.

Sometimes, Mokuba was strongly tempted to just get a pair of scissors and hack all his hair off.

"Niisama! You're late!" Mokuba rushed his brother, carefully trying not to get poked or caught on anything while embracing him.

"I'm sorry Mokuba. Some incompetent lost a very important contract at the office and I had to hunt it down again. You can be sure he won't be doing that again, at least not at Kaiba Corp." Seto removed his shoes and coat, but kept a firm hold on his briefcase.

"I made sure that the cook kept something for you. Want me to heat it up?"

"No, I ate before I got home." Mokuba gave him a disbelieving look and he held up his hands. "I heated up one of those American microwave products-what was it called?-Hot Pocket thing."

"Niisama! That's not a meal!"

"Have you done your homework yet?" Seto quickly changed the subject.

"Yup. It was easy today. And I want you to eat something!"

"Mokuba, I'm really tired. I'd rather just go to bed." Mokuba pouted, but dropped the matter. Most of the time he could push Niisama into taking care of himself, but once in a while it was better to let him do what he wanted. "Okay. I'll get ready for bed then."

Most people probably can't imagine Kaiba Seto tucking anyone in. Then again, the people most likely to believe that, are the people he liked the least, mainly the Yuugi-tachi. However, even they wouldn't guess that Seto actually told Mokuba bedtime stories. Of course, he would choose rather unusual ones.

"Niisama, I don't think the story ends like that."

"The original version does."

"And I don't think the story's called 'Yuugi, the Boy who got Eaten by a Blue Eyes White Dragon'(2) either."

"I might have taken some liberties." Seto's hands automatically seemed to gravitate towards Mokuba's hair. "I like your hair."

"You say that every night, Niisama."

"It's so soft."

"You say that every night too."

"Well, it's true." Seto yawned.

"You're not going back to work, are you?"

"Mph"

"Nniiissaammaa" Mokuba pulled back the covers. "Here, get into bed.
You can keep away my nightmares." He manuevered his not-quite-with-it brother into bed with him. "There, now try to get some rest."

They cuddled close. Seto continued to idly caress his brother's hair.
"It smells good too."

"That's the conditioner."

"Remind in the morning to buy more of it."

"Niisama?"

"Yeah?"

"Go to sleep."

Having long hair was a bitch. But sometimes it was worth it.

(1) At some point on this list I made a comment about Mokuba being just the right height to give Seto a bj and the possibility of loosing an eye on Seto's coat. It also occured to me; he has such wild hair and it's right at that level . . . it's a funny image you must admit.

(2) Based off 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

Niu Shiy-Ue

SNIPPET

Kaiba Seto waited impatiently Platform 9&3/4 for his little brother.
He had gotten a letter from the Ministry of Magic, stating that Mokuba would be bringing home an 'unusual' pet. He'd found Mokuba's old 'Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them' and gone through it, trying to figure out what 'unusual' meant. He'd discounted all the controlled ones, which crossed out acromantula, basilisks, dragons, centaurs,
merfolk, unicorns and werewolves. He narrowed it down to Nifflers,
Kneazles, Salamanders or Snidgets. Or a Phoenix, that was also controlled, but then that crazy man, Dumbledore, had one as a pet,
didn't he. He really hoped it wasn't a Winged Horse. He wanted it to be small, whatever it was.

"Mr. Kaiba?" He turned to see several men, clad in the stereotypical black suits and shades of security guards. "Of course, or are you all too stupid to recognize me?"

"You may want to make special arrangements, sir." They stepped aside to reveal Mokuba-holding a silvery-blue lizard the size of a large house cat.

"What is that?"

Mokuba looked sheepish. "I really didn't mean any harm, I didn't know dragons imprint on the first thing they see, I was trying to get the egg to the officials, I was going slowly 'cause I didn't want to drop it, it just hatched before I got there." He took a deep breathe.
"It's a Swedish Short-Snout, I named it Blue Eyes." Large pleading violet eyes looked up at Seto and filled with tears. "I kinda have to keep it. It thinks I'm its mommy."