Requiem


Yugi and Kaiba were in the midst of a duel at the Kaiba Land Duel Dome, which Kaiba had closed for the day so that the two could battle it out for the first time since the departure of the Spirit of the Puzzle. At this point, he was past all the theatrics. He just wanted to beat Yugi once and for all. Despite continually denying the whole situation with the puzzle (along with questioning the sanity of four specific nerds), Kaiba was still just a little convinced it was why Yugi came off as so great, whether there was the existence of an ancient spirit or not.

Yugi slapped a card down on his Duel Disk, and two monsters disappeared while a third monster appeared in a flash of light, revealing a violet-clad magician with a sleek green staff. Kaiba smirked at how predictable Yugi's play was, and pointed out that he still had two Blue Eyes White Dragons in his deck. Of course, Yugi still had all three God cards. But Kaiba also knew that the shorter duelist was too kind to rub that in his face, so he wouldn't get it thrown back at him. The game continued, until Yugi froze and stared at something behind Kaiba.

"What are you looking at?" Kaiba demanded. "Make your move."

"There's someone standing behind you."

The taller man turned around, to find a woman standing there, glaring at him. Yugi felt something was off and ran to stand beside his opponent-slash-insisted-to-be-friend. Kaiba spared a scowl at the shorter duelist before turning back to the woman.

"This dome is closed, and we're in the middle of a duel. You're trespassing."

The woman drew a shining pistol from her purse. Yugi gasped, but Kaiba crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes even more.

"I just found out that Gozaburo Kaiba had my husband killed. My husband worked for him loyally for over twenty years, and that was the thanks Kaiba Corp gave him. It's unacceptable." Her speech was frighteningly calm, but a bit jerky. Yugi held his hands up and crept forward a bit.

"I know you're upset, but I promise you that Seto is nothing like that man," he said shakily, using his rival's given name instead in order to differentiate him from his adoptive father. Kaiba growled and stepped forward, away from Yugi.

"Stop talking, Yugi, this is none of your business," he snapped, still staring at the woman. "I am not my adoptive father. What happened to your husband is not my fault, but-"

"Hell if you're not your father!" she screamed, lifting the gun at him. "The way you're speaking to this kid right here..." She snorted and pulled the trigger. Yugi cried out, then threw his tiny body into Kaiba's much-larger tall, lanky form, shoving him to the side and forcing him to stumble onto the ground. The woman turned and fled, and Kaiba turned a glare onto Yugi.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted, but his anger faltered when what happened registered in his head. Yugi was frozen on all fours, his breathing rapid and shallow. He slowly collapsed onto his side, revealing a large, darkening crimson stain on the front of his jacket. Kaiba used the communication device in his lapel to demand an ambulance at the dome, then scrambled over to Yugi. He tore off his white coat and pressed it on the wound, but it was no use. Yugi was gone before too much blood had soaked into Kaiba's coat, let alone before the ambulance had arrived.


Two weeks later...

It was going on three in the morning, and Mokuba was lounging on the sofa in his brother's home office, watching his brother not work at his desk. Kaiba stared unseeingly at the screensaver of the computer. The KC logo popped around from place to place on the screen as though it was begging for attention, something the company had been quite deprived of lately.

The little Kaiba sighed quietly to himself and rolled onto his stomach, pillowing his chin into his arms. The night after Yugi died, Seto had not come home, nor did he return for a couple days after that. He wasn't at work, either, and even a couple weeks later, Mokuba still had no clue where he'd gone in that time. Mokuba hadn't even heard what happened until the news of the death was being broadcast all over Domino the next morning. Seto had finally showed up at home the day after that; while Mokuba couldn't read his expression, he definitely knew his big brother needed some serious alone time. After all, it was no secret that Yugi had died in his arms.

Mokuba knew that no matter how much his brother insulted or complained about that whole little group of people, he had a bond with the shortest member. And watching him die really wasn't sitting as well as one might think with the ice-cold CEO.

So the little Kaiba watched as his brother sat there, in his semi-catatonic trance, not blinking, not moving, and just hardly breathing. Finally, Mokuba walked over to him and placed a gentle hand on his back. Kaiba barely registered the contact; he was usually quite sensitive to touch. The younger brother moved his hand to his brother's dark chestnut hair and began running his fingers through the locks until blue eyes finally blinked and he returned to the present.

"Seto..."

Kaiba ducked away from Mokuba's hand, but took it into his own without speaking a word. The kid frowned as he stood there silently, just allowing his brother to hold on for awhile. Mokuba wasn't surprised that his brother was bothered, per say; no, he was surprised that his brother was taking it so hard. Mokuba was sad that Yugi was dead, too, but they'd actually been friends. Then again, neither brother had quite the stomach to deal with death very well. It had littered their lives from the time they were just babies, and extraordinary amounts of pain had followed each time. Well, except for when Gozaburo died. While that in itself did not bother either brother in the least, it had brought a whole different sort of hurt to Mokuba as far as his brother was concerned.

But that was in the past. This was now.

Mokuba placed his other hand on top of his brother's and leaned against the desk. "I'm going to make some hot chocolate. I'll make some for you, too, if you'll come with me."

Kaiba nodded silently and followed Mokuba out, hand in hand the entire way down. He let go once they reached the kitchen, and went to go sit on the stool at the center island, watching Mokuba measure out cocoa powder, sugar, and milk into a pot on the stove. A few minutes later, the kid pulled out a couple of mugs, poured the chocolatey liquid into them, then added a handful of marshmallows to his own and a splash of vanilla to Kaiba's. He placed one in front of his brother before climbing up onto the stool beside him.

"Um...Seto...what happened, exactly? The news reports didn't have a whole lot of information," Mokuba ventured carefully, watching his big brother's face carefully.

"I know," Kaiba replied in a low, quiet voice. "I made sure of that." He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples before speaking again. "Yugi and I were having our duel...that insane woman got in somehow, and started yelling about how Gozaburo ruined her life. Yugi tried butting in and talking her down, and I told him to stay out of it. Then she shot at me and Yugi pushed me out of the way."

Mokuba choked on a sip of his drink mid-swallow; he hadn't heard about that. "Yugi saved your life..."

Kaiba hesitated, then nodded. It was no secret that he hated owing people favors, but owing a dead person a favor was turning out to be pure torture. Mokuba understood, and slipped off of his stool and wrapped his arms around Kaiba's waist, poking his head up under the elder brother's arm. Kaiba gingerly held the child with one arm as he stared into his mug. The two of them remained like that for a long time, just absorbing each other's warm embrace until Mokuba stepped back, gazing up at his big brother.

"I'm going to try and sleep at least a little," he said softly, leaning in for one more hug before starting off to the staircase. "See you in a few hours, Seto."

Kaiba nodded. His eyes were still locked on the mug, but his mind was back to that day two weeks ago...when Yugi's once-vibrant violet eyes had gone flat, the life running out of them with the blood from his chest, which had been accumulating on Kaiba's hands and jacket. He blinked and shook his head, then stood up to bring both mugs to the sink. After rinsing them out, he dragged himself to the medicine cabinet, where he dumped out twice the recommended dose of sleep aids, swallowing them dry before wandering into Mokuba's bedroom. The kid was only half-awake, but decided not to question it when his big brother crawled up and laid beside him. Once Kaiba seemed situated, Mokuba scooted a bit closer, until he was pressed up against his brother's side.

The elder brother waited until he could hear Mokuba breathing regularly before allowing his own eyes to close. His body was still jumpy, though, and he could feel every synapse firing in each limb. The anxiety was almost too much to deal with while lying completely stationary, until Mokuba rolled over with a sigh and draped an arm over Kaiba's stomach. Kaiba's nerves quelled immediately, and he lightly placed his hand on the child's head, gently pulling his long fingers through the messy raven-colored hair. The repetitive, comforting action soothed him to the point of a strange sort of light sleep. His hand rested across Mokuba's forehead, and his body and breathing had slowed, mind unconscious, but he was still aware of his surroundings...along with a pulling, twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach.