Disclaimer
I do not own any rights to Yugioh!
This story is based on the dub version
It is set eight years after the end of the anime.

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Chapter 1

Kaiba sat behind the desk in his office as he listened to his brother chat away via the video link on his laptop. It had been almost a year since Mokuba had set off with his friends as they travelled around the world together, and where now currently in England.

"And the guards didn't even move a muscle!" Mokuba broke out into a fit of laughter as he told his brother about the prank that he and his friends had played on the guards outside Buckingham Palace.

Un-amused, but glad to hear and see his brother, Kaiba forced a weak smile onto his face. "So, little bro, what's next?" A genuine smile appeared on his face then after addressing Mokuba as his little bro. Even though Mokuba was nearing twenty, to Kaiba he would always be his little baby brother.

"Erm…" Mokuba reached into his back pocket and produced a small black diary which he opened and began to scan through the pages. "Back through to France and then on to Spain before heading back home." He closed the small book and smiled. "I should be with you in just over a month's time."

"It'll be great to see you again." Kaiba told Mokuba. "A year is a really long time to be away travelling." For a moment he was silent before he finally confessed: "I miss you Mokie."

"Me too." Mokuba smiled but was distracted by his friend's call from across the room. "Sorry Seto, but I have to go, we'll talk later." The screen turned blank and Kaiba was left staring at his laptop where his brother's image had once been.

Kaiba sighed. He really missed his brother. The one person that he felt close to, who stuck by him and loved him no matter what he did. Typing away on the keyboard of his laptop, he brought up his organiser and checked to see what there was that had to be done.

Surprisingly there wasn't anything to do for the next couple of days since his meetings had been cancelled as one of Kaiba Corp's partners had dropped out of their deal. To Kaiba it was no loss as there were always more deals just around the corner with companies practically fighting amongst themselves to be the next accepted to work with his company. But for now he had some time just to himself.

He closed the laptop and searched his desk to find a letter addressed to himself from Yugi. He could tell this by just looking at the little smiley face that dotted the 'i' in his name. Normally he wouldn't have bothered to open it but since he had nothing else to do he tore it open and read the message inside.

After quickly reading the letter he placed it back into the envelope. When would Yugi learn that he wasn't interested in attending any Duel Monster promotions that he was holding at his Game store? He reached down and opened the bottom draw of his desk where things often disappeared to and were never seen again. He was planning on putting Yugi's invitation in there but couldn't as the draw almost exploded from all of the things that were already crammed in there.

After staring at the draw as though hoping it would empty itself, Kaiba removed it from its runners and tipped the contents onto his desk to sort through. He figured that he wasn't busy and had nothing else better to do anyway. He found a lot of unopened letter's with smiley faces on that he put to one side to be shredded. There was a purple/blue coloured handhold games-console which he could remember confiscating from Mokuba one time. He put the now three models out of date console to one side to reunite with its owner.

Next he felt something sticky attach to his hand, and groaned as he realised that some sweets, also once belonging to Mokuba, had turned all gooey and covered a lot of the paperwork that was in there. On the brighter side it made things easier for him as now he just picked up one clump and dropped it straight into the bin. As he wiped his hand clean he noticed an old photo taken from during his battle city tournament. Even though it was a time that he would have liked to have forgotten, it was one of the few pictures that had ever been taken of him with Yugi, and although he would never admit it to anyone, he saw Yugi as a friend as well as a rival. He placed it back into the draw.

Returning his attention back to the pile on his desk, Kaiba picked up a really hideous looking Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The dragon nodded its head backwards and forwards and Kaiba pulled a face in disgust. Only Yugi or Mokuba could have bought him that and even though he was willing to part with it, he couldn't bring himself to throw away anything Blue-Eyes related, no matter how awful it was. Still nodding away the dragon found itself joining the photo in the draw.

He picked up another letter, but the handwriting wasn't that of Yugi or Mokuba. Curiously he opened it. He laughed to himself as he threw it down onto his desk. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about it and the other half a dozen letters by the same person. Mai Valentine.

It had been almost seven years since the night that it happened. There had been a big celebrations party held for one of his duelling tournaments were after drowning their sorrows of not winning the tournament he and Mai had gotten to know each other a little closer then what anyone would have ever expected. He knew that the only reason he had ever slept with Mai was because of the amount champagne that he had drank, but in the weeks and months that past she continued to phone and write to him asking to see him again. As tempting as it was to respond to her messages and start a relationship with her just too annoy Joey, he clearly had no interest in her. If only she would see that.

After thinking back he slowly began to change his mind. Mai had been the only woman he had ever been with, even if it was only for one drunken night. And it was clear from the way that she kept bothering him about it afterwards that she was interested in him. "Yeah right!" he said to himself as he tossed the paper away from him. "It's just the money she wanted." Or was it something else? What if she really did want him for who he was? He'd have let that slip by him if it was so. Did he even care? Yes.

Kaiba got up from his chair and began to pace his office. Why was he letting himself get so wound up by some old letters and a drunken memory? "Because you don't want to end up alone." He told himself through gritted teeth.

He had never thought about ever being alone as it was always him and Mokuba. But now Mokuba was grown up and had his own life to live, and it was only during the time his brother had been away that he realised just how alone he was. He knew that he only had himself to blame for isolating himself from others and ignoring offers of friendship time after time. He was doomed to be alone for the rest of his life. Or was he?

He envisioned scenes from movies that he had been made to watch by his brother were after realising their feelings for each other; two lovers finally got it together and admitted those feelings. He didn't have those feelings for her, he was just lonely, but still he picked up the letter which also contained Mai's address and wondered if she would still have him. People don't change that much right?