aibou-doodle: As many of you know, tomorrow is the beginning of Lent! You give up something that you enjoy for forty days, and resist the temptation to eat/enjoy it until Easter Sunday. Most will give up chocolate but since that isn't challenging enough for me, I am going to give up ... CAFFEINE! That means no coke, no coffee, no tea (although I have invested in some Tetley De-caff!), no energy drinks. Now that is challenging for me! I have so much caffeine in one week and I have no idea how suddenly ceasing to consume it will affect my body -- let's just hope I don't damage myself .

Anywho, I began to wonder how Seto Kaiba would do without his trusty-cups of coffee for forty days at work ... So I'm going to make him suffer with me. Haha! Oh, and Mokuba's not getting out of this either, but he's gonna enjoy this more than Seto!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, coke, coffee, Tetley or energy drinks.

Warnings: None as such in this chapter! I think.

Prologue: Challenge

It was getting late, and Seto Kaiba was still sitting in his office at Kaiba Corp, filling out reports, and answering emails, and reviewing the upgrades for the Duel Disk, and completing the design for a new video game ...

... And drinking coffee. His desk was littered with pieces of paper, folders and about seven coffee cups, all of them empty except for the one which resided close to his laptop. And these were just the cups that he drank at work -- he had at least two cups of the hot liquid this morning before he left for work and he would probably have another two when he got home, where he would work some more.

Seto sighed and reached for the liquid with one hand still typing away at the computer. He lifted the cups to his lips and inhaled the aroma before taking a drink. The dark and bitter flavour hit his senses and he felt himself becoming slightly more alert. He placed the cup back on the table and resumed his work with both hands.

After about ten minutes Seto realised with surprise that the coffee cup was empty. He often drank it on automatic and usually didn't realise that he was drinking it until there was none left. Scowling at the ceramic bottom of the cup, Seto leaned over and pressed the intercom button.

"Corry, I need another--"

"No way!" An annoyed feminine voice spoke back to him. There was an audible huff before she continued: "It's almost 6pm and I have already stayed on an hour more than I should have to do one of those reports for you. There is no way in hell that I am fetching you another coffee. I'm off."

Seto growled and resisted the urge to bang his head against the desk. "I'll give you time and a half if you just get me another--"

He stopped when he heard the door open and he looked up to see his secretary's head popping in to the room. "The answer is no," she repeated with a glare. "I don't care if you offer me triple time, Mr Kaiba. It's late, and I promised my sister that I would babysit for her tonight." Her gaze softened as she took in the almost-dishevelled state of the teenage CEO. "Why don't you go home and spend some time with Mokuba? He'd appreciate seeing you home before 8pm, you know?" She smiled at him and disappeared from sight. "I'll see you in the morning, Mr Kaiba!"

Seto listened to the sound of her footsteps until they faded away completely before he sighed. He glanced at his laptop and saved everything before closing it and slipped it in to his briefcase and stood up. That darn woman always knew what to say to get him out of the office.

Also, there was coffee at home.

* *

It was later that evening when Mokuba walked in to the kitchen to see his brother sitting at the counter in the kitchen with his laptop in front of him and a cup to his side. The younger Kaiba couldn't help but roll his eyes as he climbed up on to the chair opposite his brother. "Did you come home early because you wanted to, or did Corry threaten you with no more coffee?"

Seto paused his typing to look up at his brother. "...A bit of both," he admitted with narrowed eyes. "She didn't threaten me, just refused to get me another cup."

Mokuba nodded and watched with distaste as Seto picked the coffee up and drank deeply from it. His nose wrinkled at the bitter smell that wafted over to him. "Coffee is gross," he stated.

"Coffee is needed," Seto countered and resumed his typing.

"...I bet you couldn't give it up for forty days."

Seto raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"It's something Ryou told me about," Mokuba said, beaming. "He's says that back in England they have this thing called 'Lent'. It starts on Ash Wednesday, which is tomorrow, and ends on Easter Sunday. You give up something that you love during that time and have to resist the temptation to go back to it. I said that I bet you can't give up coffee for forty days."

"That's stupid," Seto said, "I could easily stop drinking coffee."

"Really?" Mokuba challenged. There was a mischievous glint in his eye and Seto knew that meant that Mokuba was going to have a lot of fun with this. "Fine. I challenge you to not drink any coffee for forty days. And if you break your Lent, you have to stop complaining about me hanging out with Yugi and the gang."

Seto grumbled something about Yugi's gang that wasn't audible to Mokuba's ears. "Okay," Seto agreed. He smirked. "But you have to give up something too."

Mokuba gulped, nervous at the look that Seto was giving him. "W-what?"

The smirk got wider. "You have to give up your video games," he stated, and Mokuba flinched. "Do you concede?"

Mokuba crossed his arms, scowling. "Fine," he muttered.

"If you break your Lent, then you have to stop complaining about my coffee consumption."

"But Seto," Mokuba whined, "it's so unhealthy for you! Why can't you just--" At Seto's raised eyebrow, Mokuba sighed. "Fine!" He threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "I stop telling you to lay off the coffee. But I won't lose."

Seto's smirk turned in to a small, evil grin. "Neither will I."

Note: Updates won't be every day, but I will try to update at least every Wednesday. Which includes tomorrow! Let the Lent begin!