The lady was wearing a tacky flower-print dress with pale green gloves and narrow shoes. Her hair, a honey brown, was styled in the pixie-cut fashion.
"Won't you buy some chocolate, young sir," she asked kindly to Kaiba," for you and your brother?" Seto Kaiba and Mokuba were walking home together from school, for their limousine had gotten a flat tire. Now this lady on the corner selling chocolates wanted him to buy some.
"And why would I do that?" Kaiba retorted.
The woman looked slightly crest-fallen. "Oh, how my husband works so long, but the pay is never enough to support us. I am forced to make chocolate and sell them to the children who'll buy them."
"Seto, maybe we should buy just one," Mokuba suggested. The CEO sighed and crossed his arms.
"Mokuba, I don't have time for this," Kaiba explained harshly, revolving to head home once more. However, the lady yelled, "Wait!" making Kaiba stop and look back.
"What?"
The woman held up one finger in a "just a sec" motion before turning and bending down to pick up something. She spun back towards them and handed Kaiba a thin box.
"Won't you just buy this adorable dragon chocolate?" she asked sweetly, her voice dripping with honey. Behind the cellophane on the box was a piece of chocolate about the size of Kaiba's two fists shaped like a dragon curled around itself.
"Oh, cool!" Mokuba exclaimed upon seeing the chocolate. "We have to get it, Seto!"
Kaiba sighed once again. "All right," he said finally. "Just this once."
The lady grinned as Kaiba handed over the money and left. "That's two less children in the world," she cackled.
When they got home, Mokuba begged Seto to eat the chocolate now.
"I had four tests today and my brain is fried," Mokuba complained, forcing Seto to comply.
The CEO handed the box holding the chocolate dragon to his brother and left briefly to check up on his computer systems. When he returned, Mokuba had cut the dragon in half with a knife. Grinning, the black-haired boy handed his brother a piece.
"You are eating this with me," Mokuba demanded.
"Oh, all right," Kaiba said, putting a hand on his brother's head. They sat down at the kitchen table, sitting near, but not directly next, to each other, so they could see and talk with ease.
Mokuba watched his brother break off a smaller piece with his fingers and eat it first. Kaiba chewed it slowly, wondering when the last time he had had chocolate was.
"Well," he commented, "we've made a good purchase." He looked at Mokuba and gave him a slow, wide, peaceful and contented grin.
Mokuba was overjoyed at the sight of this rare smile that his brother certainly didn't give out in public. He beamed back and dug into his own half of the dragon.
The next day, both Kaiba and Mokuba slept in later than they intended. It didn't really matter, for it wasn't a school day, but they still had plans.
Well, they did have plans. It was too late now.
"Hey Seto, why don't we go to the arcade?" Mokuba asked, since all their plans were officially cancelled for the day. Kaiba shook his head, however. He still had all the high scores at the arcade. "A movie then?"
Seto paused. "Why not?" he answered, standing up. "Let's go get a movie." Mokuba was more than just delighted. His brother was agreeable far beyond the norm these past two days.
However, when they were prepared to leave for the video rental store, the mansion's doorbell rang. Kaiba opened it to find Yugi and his three dorky friends at his doorstep.
"What do you geeks want," Kaiba said with a bored face. Mokuba peeked around the CEO's legs.
"We called your house earlier, but you didn't pick up," Yugi explained quickly.
Kaiba sighed. "I was sleeping, idiot. I overslept."
"You overslept!?" Joey exclaimed. "Preposterous!"
"I'm surprised you even know that word," Kaiba commented dryly. Joey glowered.
"What are you up to?" Téa inquired.
"None of your business," said Kaiba, shutting the door in her face. He turned back towards Mokuba. "Let's just order one off the TV, then."
As they were heading towards the large room with the large TV and the accompanying large sound system, the clock struck one PM. A fire-like pain spread from Kaiba's core to the very tips of his fingers and toes. He squirmed and fell to his knees, letting out a gasp or a scream (he couldn't remember) in the process. He heard Mokuba do the same and knew his brother was suffering too. First, his skin felt like it was tightening, or something like that. Like he was a balloon, and someone was twisting the top of the balloon and it was getting tighter and smaller, like it was going to burst. Then it felt like he was in a suit of armor that shrank around him, ever shrinking. After that, a peculiar sensation shivered across his skin, a prickling feeling, something like needles growing out from underneath.
It stopped as soon as it had started twenty-six seconds earlier. Kaiba found his nose an inch from the ground and that his hands – er, feet? – were furry. He glanced at Mokuba, and they both gasped.
They were mice.