Disclaimer – I do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh characters.


Big Brother

Seto sat at his office desk looking over numbers, numbers, and more numbers. He was so absorbed with these numbers that he failed to notice the creaking of his office door. Not until his spoken name entered his ears did he become aware of the presence of another. "Seto?"

Seto looked up from the papers that littered his desk and stared, annoyed, at the messy black haired boy who was his brother. "What is it Mokuba? Can't you see I'm busy?" Mokuba smiled bashfully and scratched the back of his head. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth, shut his mouth, and then stared down at his shoes. Gripping the pen he used to mark important numbers on his scattered papers, Seto growled. "Out with it already."

Mokuba gave a small jump. Gulping, he looked back up at his older brother and spoke. "I…I just wanted to ask if you'd like to go to the zoo with me."

A warm smile eased its way on the older boy's face. "I'd love to go to the zoo with you, Mokuba." The smile swiftly turned into a frown. "But as you can clearly see, I'm busy. You'll just have to go by yourself." Seto's gaze returned to his numbers. "If that's all, you know where the door is."

Dejectedly Mokuba shuffled out the office door.

The next day, Seto sat at his desk staring at words, words, and more words. Once again, he failed to hear the creaking of his door as it opened. "Seto?"

He sighed. His eyes flitted to the younger boy. "What is it, Mokuba?"

"There's this movie I wanted to see and I was hoping–"

"Don't you have any friends you could go with?"

Abashed, Mokuba blinked several time before muttering, "Yes."

"Then ask one of them to go with you," came the cool, distant reply. "I'm busy."

A sad sigh filled the air. Heavy feet shuffled across the floor. The door softly clicked shut.

The next day Seto and his papers were undisturbed; as they were the day after that, the day after that, and the day after that. At first, he found this change favorable. Soon though, it became unnerving.

The door to his office flew open with a bang. Only, this time he was the one opening it, and he wasn't coming in; he was going out.

"Master Kaiba," said a random butler. "Is something the matter?"

Seto's eyes locked on the butler. "Where is Mokuba?" The voice was cold, annoyed, and job-threatening.

The butler smiled, unperturbed. "Oh, younger master Kaiba went out with his big brother."

Seto glared. "Mokuba has only one brother: ME."

"Biologically, yes, you are his only brother. But Mokuba signed up for the big brother program, so, technically, he has two."

The butler continued to smile as Seto continued to glare. Then, suddenly, Seto spun around and stomped back to his office.

Mokuba arrived home that night at seven o' five. When he opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of Seto sitting on a straight back chair in the center of their spacious front hall. Seto, typing busily on his laptop, seemed unaware of Mokuba's arrival. Mokuba was naturally surprised when his brother asked, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Mokuba cautiously shut the front door. "Seto," he spoke slowly, "why aren't you in your office?"

"The question here is why you arrived home past curfew." Seto looked up from his laptop and stared Mokuba in the eyes.

"Past curfew? But it's only seven o' five."

"Making you five minutes late."

"But Seto…"

"The only butt I want to see is yours marching up to your room. You're grounded."

Mokuba might have protested if he knew the protest would have been considered. Seeing as there was no chance of that, Mokuba shuffled up to his bedroom.

The next day when Mokuba arrived home from school Seto perceived a knock at his door. "Come in," he ordered, knowing who it was before the door opened.

"Hi. I'm really sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to talk to you about Mokuba." In walked Jack Cool; a stylish young adult with sky blue eyes, slick brown hair, and a smile as soft and sweet as cotton candy. "It's my fault he was late getting home, last night."

"I know." Seto tossed the day's newspaper on top of his desk.

Jack peered down at it and blushed. "Oh, I don't know why they bothered printing the story. I didn't do anything great."

"You pulled a father and his four children out of a car before it exploded."

Jack shrugged and smiled amiably. "Anyone else would have done the same."

"Yeah. Sure." Seto threw a manila folder on top of the newspaper. It landed open, revealing files and photos.

Jack looked at the photos and then up at Seto. "Those are pictures of me."

"Yes, pictures of you doing some of the many good deeds that make up your life." He picked up the first sheet of the file. "Jack Nice Cool. Straight A's since preschool, volunteering since kindergarten, and rescuer of cats stuck in trees since first grade." He looked up from the sheet. "You're a do-gooder."

Jack blushed. "I suppose I am. But getting back to the subject, Mokuba was late last night because of me. So please don't punish him."

Seto ignored Jack and pulled out another sheet from the manila folder near the bottom of the pile. His eyes scanned the paper. "You've been working for the past three years on starting a shelter for stray cats. However," he set the sheet down, "you seem to lack the funds necessary to start it."

Jack blinked from puzzlement. "That's true. But back to Mokuba…"

Seto spoke over Jack. "Yes, back to Mokuba." He pulled out his checkbook. "I'll pay you eighty thousand dollars, more than enough to start your dinky shelter, if you never speak to my brother again."

Jack looked at the checkbook, then at the paper with his dream so coldly typed upon it, and finally at Seto's calculating eyes. "I can't do that," he said. He stepped back. "Last night was my fault, not Mokuba's; just thought you should know that." He turned and walked out the doorway.

Seto closed his checkbook. "I tried to be nice."

The next day, Seto sat at his desk pretending to look at papers, papers, and more papers. He heard the creaking of the door when it opened. "Seto, can I talk to you."

He looked up. "Yes, Mokuba," he said softly. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I didn't come straight home from school." Seto remained silent and waited. "I went to the Big Brother Program House." Seto waited. "My big brother Jack was arrested." Mokuba's eyes dampened. "They told me that he'd done something bad…but…but Jack wouldn't ever do anything bad."

Seto stood. "Mokuba…" He walked around his desk and enfolded the young boy in his arms. "Sometimes people who seem nice are in actuality not. Just like some people who seem to have the sense to accept a bribe, in reality, do not.

Mokuba pressed his head against, Seto's chest. "Now I'm all alone!"

Seto patted the boy's head. "Mokuba, you have me." His voice was soft and gentle. When Mokuba pulled back and looked him in the eyes, he found them filled with kind tenderness.

"But you won't do anything with me," Mokuba cried.

Seto gave a lopsided smile and stood. "Hey, that's not true. I'm here for you whenever you need me."

"Then take me to see a movie."

"Which movie would you like to see?"

"But I'm grounded."

"Then why did you...never mind. You're not anymore."

"Then Transformers."

"…Okay. Let's go." Seto held out his hand. Dumbfounded, Mokuba reached out and grasped it.

For two days, the brothers were inseparable. For two days, they spent all time they could spare at each other's sides, even time they couldn't spare. For two days, all was wrong with the world. On the third day, Seto set things right.

"Seto?" Seto sat at his desk, typing words, words, and more words. So consumed by these words was he that he failed to notice the presence of his brother. "Seto?" At the second saying of his name, he looked up. He glared. "Can we go out for ice cream?"

Seto looked from his brother to his laptop and then back again. "No. I'm busy."