Saving Seto

A/n: I don't know where I got this idea. A LONG time ago when I started writing stories I was doing one about how Mokuba killed himself and I kinda had an idea for this. The first real brotherly fight they've ever had and it's not really a fight. Anyways enjoy.

Seto's Point of View

It's passed two in the morning and I'm just now returning home from a long day of work. This was the third time in the week I had to work late, so naturally Mokuba was mad at me. Usually, from eight until nine-thirty each night Mokuba and I would kind of hang out. Of course, for us that meant me working on my computer and Mokuba playing his Game Boy. But this week, with a whole new tournament coming up, I've had to work longer then I've planned, leaving Mokuba with the cooks and maids for the whole evening.

What was worse was I had promised Mokuba I would be home earlier, and that I wouldn't go near the computer the whole night. You see he wanted to spend the evening with me, I told him I would be in the limo that was usually parked outside of his school. I told him after he got out of school we would go to the movie store and rent some movies. It was a Friday night so he didn't have to be in bed early.

Unfortunately, things kind of got messed up at the office. There was no way I would be off early, especially since I had to call in someone to help fix the computers because all of the computers in the building went down. And no thanks to the secretary who called in sick earlier that morning. I was already pissed off, and to make matters worse, come to find out the tournament would be delayed if I couldn't get the computers up and running, I would have to test out the new duel discs that very same day.

It was around three that afternoon when we got the computers up and working again, by this time Mokuba was already out of school, I forgot that I had the limo driver drive by Kaiba Corp so he could pick me up first. So I had to call the driver, and have him swing by Mokuba's school and take him to the video store without me. Strike number one.

By the time I got into the testing room, I found out the main computers were fried; apparently it was a fact my employees forgot to mention that morning when I talked to them. So I had to call the computer company again, they said they couldn't send anyone out until Monday, no matter how much I offered to pay them. My first thought was they were a bunch of bastards who didn't want to work more then they had to. And my second thought was I was screwed, the tournament would have to be pushed back a few days. Luckily, we hadn't sent out the invitations yet. That was about the only good thing about the day.

By the time I finished yelling at the employees for neglecting to mention the fact that the main computers were fried, it was well passed five. In only an hour Mokuba would be sitting down for dinner, I was determined to at least make it home for dinner. Of course my luck wasn't that good because I found out that my entire ten page document for school got 'accidentally' deleted while the computer technicians were trying to fix the computers. And the assignment was due on Monday. I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of this assignment, it was bad enough the teacher hated me; there was no way she would let me get excused from the assignment. And if I tried to bribe her with money with my lucky she would have me suspended.

So I had to sit down and retype the whole thing. Now I wished I had saved it onto a disc, it would've saved me a lot of trouble. But of course not, I didn't think anything bad would happen to the assignment. That just goes to show I have some bad luck. Next time I'll be sure to save it to a disc, just to be on the safe side.

Of course, it took nearly two hours to finish the assignment, and by then it was around nine-thirty, Mokuba would be finish with at least two of the four movies we picked out. I could make it home for the other two movies; surely he wouldn't be that mad at me if I did that. We could have some ice cream, and I could make it all up to him.

Again my luck wasn't that good, with the secretary out sick, I didn't think about doing any work with the tournament. I still had to type up the set of rules, and trust me, that takes a long time, especially if you're trying to think of a way to make it fair for everyone. I knew I couldn't come in tomorrow just to type up those rules, they were supposed to be done on Thursday but I had to push it for another day because of the other preparations for the tournament. So as quickly as I could, I had to type up the rules, and then only after that did I realize I still had to make up the invitations and then go through and make a list of all of the people who would be invited to the tournament. This took up the rest of my time because I was determined to make this a worldwide tournament, so I had to go through a computer database and find every duelist that was to be allowed to enter the tournament. And trust me; you would be surprised at how many decent duelists there are.

Finally, I was to return home for the night. When I looked at my clock before leaving the office, it flashed one-thirty. By this time all four movies would be over. Strike number two.

I expected Mokuba to be asleep when I returned home, and I was about to return to my room for the night when I saw the light on in my office. I know for a fact I didn't leave on that morning, not unless Mokuba left it on, I remember he was the last one in there because he was trying to find his Game Boy. I enter the room, with every intention to turn off that light, but I spotted him in the corner of the room. He was lying on the floor, in the middle of playing one of his games.

I stood in the doorway for a minute, my arms folded across my chest. I knew he was going to be mad at me, but he was supposed to be in bed by now. On weekends he was supposed to be in bed no later then twelve-thirty, and judging by my watch he was and hour and a half late for bed. "Mokuba," I try to sound stern, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The look that morning, the way he smiled at me, happy that I was finally going to get off work early to spend the evening with him. And now here I am eleven hours late. I broke my promise, so naturally he would break his promise of being in bed by twelve-thirty. He was waiting up on me and I knew it.

Slowly, the twelve-year-old looked up, his eyes locked onto mine, he didn't look happy. I couldn't blame him. "You promised, Seto." he said quietly, he stood up, turning off his game. "You promised you would be home early."

"I know," I sigh, what was I supposed to say? Sorry wasn't going to be enough. "I tried."

"You didn't try hard enough," the way he spoke, he sounded so much like me that it scared me. "You promised you would be home!" he snapped, now glaring at me. Even the look he was giving me reminded me of myself.

"I'm sorry, Mokie." I say quietly.

It had been a long time since I used that nickname on him, and even he realized it. Instantly, he ran passed me, out of the room and upstairs.

I turn and start to leave the room, but finally a turn back, walk over to my desk and turn off the light before leaving the room, shutting the door behind me. I knew I was stalling; I didn't have the heart to see him so upset like that. But I knew I had to go talk to him, it was something our mom made us do, we had to make up. She would always say 'One of these days, Seto something is going to happen to him, and then what? It'll be to late to say you're sorry.' I knew she was right, which was why I had to say it now.

As I reached Mokuba's room, I noticed the door was still opened a little, enough for me to look inside to see him. I spot him sitting on the edge of his bed, his back to me. He's looking at something, I can't see what it is but something tells me it's the old Photo Album. We haven't looked at it in ages. Slowly, I enter the room and join Mokuba on the bed, he doesn't bother to look at me, but I can see the tears slide down his cheeks. His hand traces one of the pictures. A picture of our parents. "You promised, Seto," he says quietly, wiping away the tears in his eyes. "You promised...Like dad promised..."

Suddenly it occurred to me, he did remember the night mom and dad died. I was forced to baby-sit while they were at work. Like me, mom and dad usually worked long hours, they left early in the morning, and we wouldn't see them until late that evening. And just like I had promised, dad promised he would be home early. He promised he would come and pick us up, take us the park and out to dinner. He never made it home that night.

We got a call from our Aunt, the one who lived clear across Japan. She was the closest thing we had to family, and she called and told us they died in a car crash. It was around nine that night when we got the call. Only hours after dad promised he would be home. Mokuba was asleep at that time, and I didn't have the heart to wake him up and tell him. So I had to wait until that morning.

I understood completely, so this was why he was so mad at me for the passed few days. Only this time it was worse, I promised to come home early. A promise I rarely ever made to him. And I didn't even call him to tell him I couldn't come. Strike number three on me. "Mokie I'm really sorry." I say as I take the book from him. "I should've called, I just got..."

"Sidetracked." he finished for me, he still didn't sound happy and I couldn't blame him.

Slowly I nod my head and then stop, kneeling down so I'm at eye level with him, "You know I've been busy...I didn't have time to pick up a phone..."

"You never have time," Mokuba said, "You've never had time to pick up a phone and say 'I'm going to be late' you've never had time to come by the house for a few minutes to see if I'm okay or even just to hang out. You've never had time to get off early and go out for lunch. You've never had time for any of that. So what makes me think you're going to have time for me?"

"Mokuba-"

He didn't let me finish, he jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. I sigh, the second time tonight he did this to me. He was really starting to make me mad, it was getting old, me chasing him around the house just to talk to him. The least he could do is understand I was the one supporting the two of us, I was the one how had to make all of the money, I was the one who fed him every night and put a roof over his head. He could at least give me the time of day to explain why I was late and why I didn't call.

Finally, I run after him, only this time he leads me downstairs, now what is he doing? He stops his hand on the front door. "Mokuba, stay in here." I say, walking over to the door. "Just let me explain..." and of course, he doesn't even give me a chance to get the words out of my mouth, because he takes off out of the house, down the steps, and jumps off the last three steps. He takes off down the street, and even before he had left the house it started raining, so naturally he gets soaked in only a few minutes.

"Mokuba..." I mutter under my breath before finally taking off after my little brother. Where he was going I didn't know, all I knew was this was a good way for him to get hurt, especially with it being dark out and raining. With my luck he'll run into the street at the same minute as a- No I can't think that...He's not stupid enough to do that. And I knew that with my luck being this bad, if I did think it, it would most likely come true.

Lucky me, he didn't run into any streets. But he did keep running, why hadn't I thought of getting a limo? I could've caught up to him. But of course I didn't think of that, I was to busy thinking of my own brothers safety to bother with cars. Finally, after running for what seemed like ten minutes, I could see him climbing a gate. What the hell is he doing? I follow suit, climbing over that same gate, by the time I landed on the other side, he was off and running again.

I continue following him, and finally he stops running. Instead, he starts walking up a hill and it took me that long to finally realize where we are. We were in the commentary; Mokuba was climbing up to the hill our parents were buried on top of. When I reach the top, I notice he was on his knees, in front of the two graves, a mixture of tears and raindrops sliding down his cheeks. "Mokuba," I say softly (something that if you knew me, you would know it's hard to do).

He doesn't reply, and for a minute I think he's about to take off running again, but finally he stands up, wrapping his arms around me, burying his head into my chest. I blink, surprised by this sudden movement. I look down at him, he reminds me of one of those puppies. Those puppies at the pound that when you walk by, they give you those pleading looks that say 'take me home.'

"You scared me Seto," this time he doesn't sound mad at me, he sounded...sad. "I was worried that something happened to you, like mom and dad. I was worried that-"

"I know...I know." I say, running my fingers through his hair, "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to worry you like that."

"You could've called, Seto." Mokuba said, he finally lets go of me and turns to look at the two graves. "You could've said you were going to be late. I wouldn't have been so worried about you then."

"I know..." I say, he's right. I knew I could've called him; the thought didn't occur to me, I was just worried about making it home on time like I promised. "I promise the next time I'll call you, okay?"

Mokuba nods his head, this won't be enough to make him happy, I understand that, but I can't do much else at the moment because the both of us are soaked from head to toe in rain. "Come on, lets go home. I'll make us something to drink and then we can talk, okay?"

He doesn't reply instantly, I'm hoping that he agrees to return, but the longer he waits to reply, the more I worry that he'll say 'no'. Finally he nods his head, "Okay."

---

He passed out in my bed, the clock on the nightstand flashed four, I sigh and lay back down, staring up at the ceiling. Even though I am tired, I feel wide-awake, which is never a good thing because most of the time I just lay there and think. This time I'm thinking about everything that happened since I got home. I'm thinking about how I scared Mokuba, without meaning to. I'm thinking about how the two of us sat down and had some hot chocolate, came into my room so I could read to him and then how he fell asleep.

'Where did I go wrong...?' I wonder. Where could I have possible gone wrong when it came to Mokuba? A long time ago, before Kaiba Corp we would spend hours together, and though he did annoy me at times, I was at least glad he was there with me.

And now if I'm lucky I get to see him for three hours a day five days a week. I blew my chance today, I could've spent the whole evening with him, but instead I had to work late. And yet, I knew I could've pulled it off. I could've called the computer technicians on Monday, but of course there was the matter of my paper. I could've retyped it this weekend and handed it in on Monday. And then I could've pushed back the Tournament further and worked on all of the tournament stuff on Monday. But being Mr. Organized, I just had to do everything in one day.

I would have to make it up to Mokuba, find someway to spend the day with him. Of course, the only way I could do that was during the weekend, but he would have to delay some of the work on the tournament, but I couldn't do much anyways if the main computers were fried. So I could spend the entire weekend with him, but would that be enough? Most likely not, I would have to find another way to spend more time with him. But the only other way I could do that is if I got off work earlier for a really long time. Just so I could spend a few extra hours with Mokuba. Maybe that would be enough, but I would have to figure out how I could do that and still be able to maintain a company.

I would have to work something out, maybe come up with some kind of plan on Monday. But for the weekend, the only thing I was worried about was spending some time with Mokuba. The rest I could handle on any other day.

That's the last thing I remember, because after that I fell asleep, only to be woken by my bouncing brother, and just my luck, he had to wake me up at seven in the morning. But if it was the price I had to pay to spend the whole day with my brother then I was happy.

THE END

A/n: For this being something I wrote right off the top of my head, I really liked how it turned out. I thought it was cute. Hope you all liked it.