Seto walked through his front door, grumpy and agitated. Business investors in the city had insisted on taking him out to a Broadway show. Unfortunately, the show was Annie, and he found its protagonist's optimism to be ridiculously annoying. He headed upstairs to check on his little brother, who was sleeping soundly in his room. After shutting the door quietly, he went to his own room, sat on his bed, and tiredly kicked off his shoes and threw his coat over its resting place on the back of his desk chair. He would have changed into his pajamas or brushed his teeth, but he was just too tired. He crawled under the covers and quickly fell asleep.
He walked toward a red brick building as torrential rain poured down from the sky. Roland held an umbrella over him as he stepped inside. A woman with red hair in silk garments welcomed him, reeking of alcohol.
"Welcome, Mr. Kaiba. I'm Mrs. Keller, and I run this orphanage. We're so excited to have someone so prestigious at our orphanage."
"Right. Just show me where they are." He said dismissively.
"Yes. Of course." She said, stumbling over to a room. She opened the door to see a room full of children who were in what he assumed to be their best clothes. Many of them ran up to him, trying to engage him in conversation. He found it to be annoying. But there was a little boy in the very back who stayed quiet. He wasn't interested in drawing attention to himself to try and impress a big shot like Seto Kaiba. He didn't want to pretend to be something he was not. Seto noticed him. He was looking at him (everyone in the room was) but there was something different in his gaze. It was genuine and earnest, different from the other children whose eyes were only filled with greed. Seto passed the other children by and went over to the child.
"Hello." He greeted.
"H-Hello." The child stammered.
"What's your name?"
"M-Me? I-I'm Mokuba."
"Well Mokuba, would you like to spend the week with me?"
"I-I um, yeah. Yeah I would. Thank you."
"Very well." Came the voice of Mrs. Keller. "I'll go get the paperwork."
Roughly an hour later, Mokuba was riding in the back of a black stretch limo.
"Mr. Kaiba, we're running late for a meeting. We need to head straight to Kaiba Corp."
"Alright. Mokuba, my friend Roland will help you with whatever you need while I'm away."
"Okay." He said meekly.
When the limo pulled up to Kaiba Corp, Kaiba got out and Roland got back inside.
When they pulled up to the Kaiba Manor, Mokuba was in awe. He'd seen houses before, sure. But this place was a palace. Like in the old fairytales he read. Roland took him on a tour of the manor, ending with the guest room he would inhabit for the week. Then, he introduced him to all the servants of the manor and instructed them to attend his every need.
When he was finally left alone, he didn't know what to do. So he sat down on the floor, afraid of touching anything. He sat there for a long time, just staring at the walls. People came in, but he didn't pay them any mind. He just stayed quiet. That's what he had done his whole life. Stayed quiet to survive. He only moved when it was time for dinner, but his host wasn't there. So he ate his dinner quickly out of habit, then left to go back to the bedroom.
When Kaiba arrived home later that evening, Roland told him about his guests strange behavior, so Kaiba decided to take the matter into his own hands. He went upstairs to the guest room and peered inside. There sat the young child on the floor, just as Roland had described. He knocked on the door, wincing as the child jumped up.
"Y-Yeah?" He asked. Kaiba opened the door.
"Hey."
"Hi." He said quietly.
"I heard you didn't really do much today. You're more than welcome to explore the manor and do whatever you like."
"I'm not really comfortable with that." He whispered, fidgeting with his hands.
"Do you mind if I ask why?"
"We don't have much to do at the orphanage. And all the bigger kids take what's left of the toys. So we sit around and wait or they make us do chores to earn our keep. We're told to stay quiet."
Kaiba looked at him in surprise and was quiet for a moment. He was determined to give this kid the best week of his life. So he decided to take the next night off to spend it with him.
The next evening, Kaiba took the child to the movies- something that only a few children in the orphanage had ever done. Mokuba stared wide eyed at all the snacks and the giant screens. Kaiba had personally bought out a theater for the two of them, along with security detail, of course. The more they were together, the more Mokuba began to talk about his past, and Kaiba began to realize how hard he had it and more importantly how alike they were. Although he wouldn't admit it, the kid was beginning to grow on him. When the movie was over, he saw that Mokuba had fallen asleep. He personally took it upon himself to carry the boy to bed.
The next day at work, he started to seriously consider keeping the kid. He couldn't believe that he was thinking about adoption at the age of sixteen, but then again, he was a CEO already. He decided to keep spending time with him to see how it would effect his decision. The more time passed, the more certain he was. This boy belonged with him.
So that Friday, as the boy was packing up what little he had, Seto came into the room one more time.
"Mokuba?"
"Huh?"
"I wanted to ask you something."
"Okay. What?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to live here permanently."
Mokuba froze. "What?"
Seto's normally boundless confidence faltered for a moment, but he pressed on. "Do you want to be a part of my family?"
The little boy's jaw dropped, and he stared at him, stunned.
"Y-You mean it?"
Kaiba nodded. The boy started weeping and gave him a hug, nodding.
By the end of the week, Mokuba had found his forever home.
Kaiba jerked himself awake. It was just a dream. But that didn't stop him from going into his brother's room to give him a rare bit of affection and kissing his forehead. He was lucky to have him.