A/N: Hi everyone! Welcome to "Kaiba's Little Monsters"! This is meant to be a funny, fluffy piece featuring our favorite Kaiba Brothers. It'll be short, 3-4 chapters with the final post landing on Halloween. As the summary indicates, Noah is included. He IS human, in this story. Consider it a clone body of sorts if you need any sort of quick explanation.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. That creation belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. Also, there is a famous park attraction mention in here. THAT belongs to Disney. You'll know it when you see it. I hope.
Without further ado, enjoy!
October 5th
"Mokuba." Noah groaned. No response. "Moookkkuubaaaaa." He repeated, putting a whining emphasis on the name.
"Whutttttt?"
Smiling, Noah sat up on the couch he was lounging on. He and Mokuba were sitting in Seto's corporate office, waiting for the older brother to return from the meeting with the stockholders. The man had been going for hours now, and as time went on, it was becoming more of a challenge for the two boys to find ways to occupy their time.
"I'm bored."
"I know. You said that five minutes ago." Mokuba said from his seat at the desk. The youngest Kaiba was sitting in Seto's seat. He had a deck of cards on the desk and was playing Solitaire.
"Well, I'm still bored."
"Take a nap."
"Why couldn't I go to the meeting with Seto?" Noah asked, laying back down and picking at his fingers. "I used to be the heir to this empire...surely I could be useful."
Mokuba huffed. "Please, bro. You're stuck in here for the same reason I am. We're not important."
"But aren't you Seto's Vice President?"
"Yeah. But I'm also eleven." Mokuba said, kicking off from the floor and spinning about in the high backed chair. "No one really cares about what I say except Seto. So you won't have much luck either."
"Ugh. How much longer is he going to be?"
"If you start whining one more time, I will end you."
"But...I can't take this!" Noah jumped off the couch and started for the door.
"Huh? Where are you going?"
"To stretch my legs. I'll be back, and if I'm lucky, I'll drag Seto with me."
The green-haired Kaiba left the office and walked down the hall to the set of glass doors separating Seto's wing from the secretary station. There was another set of doors on the other side of the station to the opposite wing, where Seto's meeting was currently taking place.
Noah pushed the doors open and walked out into the large open room. Keiko, Seto's private secretary, was absent from her desk. She too, was at the meeting, taking notes. But there was something on her desk that gave Noah an idea. It was a small, glittery orange pumpkin with a jack-o-lantern face etched on it. He leaned on the high counter and admired the decoration.
Ah, that's right. It's October. That means Halloween is coming. I wonder...
Suddenly, he was hit with an idea, and a wide smile formed on his face. Turning on his heel, he ran back to Seto's office, not caring how rough he shoved the doors open.
"MOKUBA!"
"Woah!" The outburst caught Mokuba off-guard, and he nearly fell out of Seto's chair. "What, what is it?"
"I got an idea!"
"Yes?" Mokuba straightened and stacked up the playing cards.
"Halloween is coming!"
"...so?"
"What do you mean 'so'?" Noah asked, rushing up to the other side of the desk and leaning his palms on the surface. "You mean you and Seto don't celebrate?"
"Um, this is Seto we are talking about. He's moody about everything. Holidays don't really phase him."
"Well...haven't YOU ever wanted to celebrate?"
Mokuba nodded. He was too young at the time to remember if he and Seto celebrated Halloween back when their birth parents were still alive. The orphanage never did much for Halloween. A few decorations went up in the main rooms, and small gift bags of candy were given to the children. Mokuba frowned. His chocolates were often stolen from the older kids; the bullies that picked on him day in and day out. Seto usually gave up his sweets to make up for it. And it was no surprise that Gozaburo was a stick-in-the-mud, worse than Seto. There were no holidays in his home. Christmas barely existed, and even then, it was for corporate parties held at the mansion.
"Yeah...but Seto never wanted to...so i just left it alone. Sometimes I took a trip to the store and bought some candy for myself." Mokuba shrugged. "I know it's not exactly ideal, but at least it made me feel a little better."
Noah frowned. "Mokuba. This is my first year back in the real world...and the first chance for me to really get to enjoy myself. We're family, we love each other." he paused, seeing the slightly skeptical look on his stepbrother's face. "Okay, we like each other. Don't you want to have fun? We can make some new traditions! Just the three of us!"
Mokuba bit his lip, torn. "I'd love that! Really! But I don't think Seto would go for it."
"We just have to ease him into it! We'll make a believer out of him." Noah said with a grin.
"but...but how?" Mokuba asked. "You don't know Seto like I do."
"Just leave it all to me..." Noah said, with pure confidence in his voice.
"Uh, what do you have in mind?"
"Mr. Mokuba, I'm not sure this is such a good idea..." Roland said as he followed the two young Kaiba brothers around seasonal decor section of the local super-center. "Does Mr. Kaiba know about this?"
"He will once he gets home!" Noah beamed. "C'mon, Roland. It's all in good fun. Don't tell me you're a spoil-sport just like your boss."
Roland didn't quite have a safe answer to that.
"Ooh! Noah! Look at this!" Mokuba pointed to an outdoor inflatable ghost.
"Woah! That looks awesome!"
"No! Absolutely not!" Roland quickly moved to stand in front of the inflatables display. "Nothing outdoors. If I cannot stop you from this venture, at least contain your mayhem to the interior of the mansion. For the sake of your brother, I beg you!"
"Psh. Seto will survive." Noah said, reaching for the box. Roland slapped his hand away. "HEY!"
"Mr. Noah. You have only been with your step-brothers for a short while. Please let me emphasize that Mr. Kaiba's rage is not one you wish to face in its full force. He still has an image to maintain. The Kaiba mansion has never showed any form of outdoor decoration for any holiday, and I know Mr. Kaiba will not change that in the near future. Do not go overboard."
"Noah, Roland is right." Mokuba said, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "We can just go bananas inside! Plus...we can even go into Seto's room!"
Noah smirked. "I guess that's acceptable. But I get to do Seto's room!"
"Deal!" The brothers shook hands, and Roland facepalmed.
I am so fired...
"Okay, so we can wrap the garlands around the staircases here..." Mokuba said as he and Noah sat on the floor surrounded by several overflowing shopping bags of decor. Between them was a badly drawn blueprint of the downstairs of the Kaiba home. As the maids walked by, the sight before them was as if the boys were prepping some sort of battle plan.
"Oh! And the sitters can go in the sitting room, on the mantle!" Noah nodded, scribbling on the paper. "What about the spider webs?"
"NOT in my room! Or my bathroom!" Mokuba shuddered.
"Deal. Is Seto arachnophobic?
"Nope." Mokuba shook his head. "Not much phases my brother. I doubt anything we have can really earn some shock value in his eyes."
Noah rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. "Maybe we should've gotten that stuffed hangman. We could have put it in a red suit and called him Gozaburo..."
Mokuba went wide-eyed. "NOAH!"
The green-haired brother shrugged. "What? It's not like he turned out to be a model father."
Someone cleared their throat behind them. They both turned to see Roland standing in the doorway. "I must return to Kaiba Corp now. Please, young masters, don't go overboard."
"We won't..." Noah said almost in a sing-song voice that the head of security found no comfort in. With a quick bow, the man hurried out of the mansion. Noah turned back to their 'battle plans' and pointed to the dining room. "Now...I also had the idea of..."
Hours went by as the boys quickly got to work, running around the downstairs of the estate first. No room was spared festive, haunting decor. The only room left for the duo to attack on the main level was Seto's home office.
"How should we do this one?" Noah asked. His arms were full of decorations.
Mokuba tapped his chin. "Well...Seto spends a lot of time in here. So we definitely can't go overboard. He's probably going to want one room that still looks...well...normal. What do we have left for the downstairs?"
Noah looked down at his arms. "Glow-in-the-dark pumpkins, rusty looking chains, cobwebs, a 'Happy Halloween' banner, some door signs, pillar candles..." The list went on.
Mokuba frowned. None of those options really seemed to suit the stiff aura that was Seto's office. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Hey. Remember that skull dummy that we were going to put in Seto's room?"
"yeah..."
"I know just what to do with it... we just need that, and the zombie door sign for Seto's office." Mokuba had a feral grin on his face, and Noah couldn't help but grin also.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Oooh yeah..."
"What is with you, Roland?" Seto asked as he stepped out of the limo on the mansions driveway. His purple trench coat billowed behind him in the breeze. "You've been a nervous wreck ever since the meeting ended."
"It's...nothing, sir." The man sighed, and glanced up at the mansion. It was getting dark out, so several of the lights were on. He was able to let out a sigh of relief that none of the windows had any sort of decoration visibly stuck to them. So, the boys listened to him after all. Now, hopefully they didn't go overboard. His employer was already in a mood since the meeting went an extra hour later than expected.
"For some reason, I don't believe you."
Roland remained silent as he watched Seto Kaiba walk up the front steps to his home. Part of him wanted to just get back in the limo and drive it back to the garage. But, he was still curious to what the younger boys did. So, he followed the CEO upstairs.
The tip of Seto's foot bumped into the edge of the doormat, and faint crack of thunder sounded out of nowhere.
"Roland, did you hear something?"
"N-No, sir." He lied. He was there when that doormat was purchased, and knew what it did. In another second...
Erie music started to play now. And then, a witch's cackle. The sound was louder now, and it caught Seto's attention. The noise was coming from...down? Seto looked to his feet and took notice of the Halloween doormat at his feet.
"What...is this?"
"...a doormat, sir?"
Seto rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Roland, for pointing out the obvious." He unlocked the front door and pushed it open.
"WELCOME, FOOLISH MORTALS...TO THE HAUNTED MANSION!"
What on Earth? Seto looked around for the source of the deep booming voice, and pushed the door open further. A blinking light caught his attention from above. It was a motion sensor with a skull. So...that's what spoke just now? He groaned, as a bad feeling started to settle in his stomach. "Roland... the note Mokuba left in my office says you took my brothers on an outing." He turned to face his bodyguard. "Where did you go?"
Roland took out the tissue from his pocket and dabbed his forehead. "The...supercenter, sir. Mr. Noah's insistence."
"And what did- nevermind." Seto grumbled. "I think I'm about to find out what those two did all afternoon." He and Roland stepped inside and froze in their tracks.
What was the sharp, clean, pristine foyer of his home was overturned into a black and orange explosion. The console table beside the door was covered in an orange pumpkin motif'd cloth, and silver candelabras held half-melted, eerie, fake candles. The grand staircase banisters were wrapped in orange and black garlands. To his right, cobwebs surrounded a round mirror on the wall. Seto glanced up. The grand chandelier had large chains hanging down from it.
If this was just the entrance, how much damage was done to the rest of the mansion?
Roland gulped as he looked around. Well...it could have been worse. He had a sinking feeling. What did his security office look like?!
"Would...would you like me to find the boys, sir?"
"No. I think I'd like to see the damage done without their smug faces following me around." Seto replied. He set his briefcase down next to the front door and cautiously made his way around his home. Knowing those two troublemakers, there would be something to jump out and scare him somewhere. Well, try to at least. Nothing scared Seto Kaiba.
The kitchen seemed tame. He nodded to the cook preparing dinner as he looked around. A few canisters on the counter had been replaced with white ones shaped like ghosts. The smaller kitchen table held a black tablecloth with various ghosts, bats, and pumpkins scattered around it.
The dining room lights on the chandelier were replaced with orange bulbs to let off a more 'haunted' vibe, and more ghostly candelabras scattered across the center of the long formal table.
Ghosts hung from the ceiling in the game room, and a sparkly 'Happy Halloween' banner was hung over the television. The couches and plush chairs all had Halloween-themed pillows scattered about. There was a weird plush pumpkin on an end table, too. No, not weird... it was a duel monster: Pumpking: King of Ghosts. That detail did get a slight smirk from the duelist. It was only a matter of time before he found some sort of Duel Monsters detail somewhere.
The sitting room had pumpkin and ghost sitters along the mantle. The end tables also had little pumpkins in various hats scattered around.
Seto paused at the door to the basement. A giant vinyl pattern covered the entire wood door, making it look like a blackened, haunted stairwell to a dungeon. Nice touch.
By the time he made it back to where he started, he was a lot calmer than he originally anticipated. So far, the home seemed...tame? It was surprising, knowing what those boys were capable of. That could only mean one thing. The upstairs was going to be a lot worse. And he would have to live and look at this mess for a month?!
I'll deal with that later, Seto thought as he turned and picked up his briefcase. The only room left was his office, but they wouldn't dare do anything in there. That was his sanctuary, after all. He rounded the corner and froze outside the door. It was closed, and a sign was hanging on it.
Beware! Trespassers will be eaten by zombies!
Seto blinked. O-okay... It was outside the room. He could handle that. There better not be anything inside...
He slowly opened the door. The lights were off. His hand reached around the wall for the switch. When the lights came on, he was relieved they didn't change out the bulbs to those hideous orange ones from the dining room. His eyes surveyed the room. Everything looked normal.
Seto crossed the room and set the briefcase on the desk. There was still time before dinner. He could try to get some work done before his little brothers found him.
The chair was turned away from him, so on natural instinct, he grabbed the back and swung it around.
Once it faced him, he jumped back in shock.
A life-size skeleton dummy was sitting in his chair. Wearing HIS clothes. The black and white 'battle city' outfit to be exact, down to the belt buckles on its arms and legs.
Seto's eyes twitched. The sign on his door, the dummy...he got the underlying message. Now they've gone too far.
"NOAH!"