It was still there.

Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corp warily looked over his shoulder from his desk, at the little girl watching him. It had been like this ever since Yami and Yugi battled two months ago. Ever since he had returned home, he was seeing ghosts, spirits. I

It wasn't unknown, since Yami was a spirit, but now he inhabited his own body, and he wasn't really incorporeal anymore. He had never seen these type of spirits before, the spirits of dead people, some recently dead too. As far as he could tell, nobody else who went to Egypt could see these spirits.

Not for the first time, Seto Kaiba didn't know what to do.

"Mister?" The little girl whispered. Seto looked at her again, he knew who she was, a girl who had been killed in a hit and run on a nearby street. She was probably a few years younger than Mokuba, with blonde hair and green eyes. He could tell she was wearing a black skirt, but the color of her shirt was hard for him to make out, because of the splash of blood going across the whole front of it. He saw a chain coming out of the center of her chest, though he didn't know what it was for.

"What?" He questioned rudely.

Her green eyes filled slightly with sadness, making him feel guilt, but she quickly relaxed again and pointed at the computer. "What are you doing?" She asked gently. Seto returned his attention to the computer, before turning back to the floating child.

"I'm making a video game. Duel Monsters is going to lose popularity eventually, so I am working on a console and computer game," He explained, though he didn't know why. Maybe because she reminded him of Mokuba.

She smiled at him and said,"Oh! That's very cool!" She moved to his chair, peeking over it to get a better look at the computer. Her attention seemed to shift fast, as she turned back to him and grinned. "Mr. Kaiba? You are the first person to see me in a long time, and I am very happy to talk to you!" She said softly.

"Why can't other people see you?" He questioned curiously, wanting to see if she knew anything about his strange new ability.

"I dunno.." She whispered thoughtfully, before excitedly saying,"But sometimes when I get close to people, they get the chills!"

That doesn't really help.. Seto thought with a frown. Looking at the clock, he saw it was already 9pm, Mokuba would be worried if he stayed any longer. He shut his laptop and then put it in his briefcase, the little girl watched him sadly.

"Do you have to go now?" She asked gently.

"Yes, I have to get home," He replied swiftly. It didn't seem this child had much information, and he was worried about anybody walking in on him. Since it seemed no one else could see them, it would be bad for anyone to see the CEO of Kaiba Corp talking to what seemed like nothing.

"Okay! I'll see you tomorrow!" She said excitedly, before phasing through the window and out into the world. Seto probably would have passed out if he wasn't used to weird things happening in his life.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, before walking out of his office and into the elevator. I must be going crazy, ghosts don't exist.. He thought wearily. Probably all the stress from work.. He left the building as fast as he could, eager to get out of the stuffy environment and back to his loving brother.

However, he stopped halfway there, noticing a flower shop nearby. For a moment, he didn't know why he stopped. Then, he realized it. I can't believe I'm doing this for a goddamn spirit.. Or figment of my imagination.

He bought a small, clear bottle with a simple, white lily in it. Walking to the sight that the little girl had died, he stared at the pole. It was right across from Mutou's game shop. He quickly walked to the light, not even glancing towards it, before gently kneeling down and placing the flower down.

"Thank you.." He heard the little girl say, and looked up to see her staring at him with tears in her eyes.

"Don't mention it," He responded, before swiftly getting up and continuing on his way. He looked at his watch. 9:45. Mokuba would probably be worried sick by now, it shouldn't take that long to buy some damn flowers.


"Seto!"

Mokuba had run at his brother, hugging him tightly and grinning excitedly. Seto hugged his younger brother right back, and said,"Hello Mokuba."

The happiness suddenly vanished, as Mokuba raised his head to look at his older brother, anger in his eyes. "You missed dinner again!" He accused,"You promised you'd come home early today!"

"Sorry, I lost track of time," Seto interjected before the young boy could continue his rant.

"Again.." Mokuba quipped. Seto chuckled, rolling his eyes at his brother's sassy attitude.

"If I eat something before bed, will you stop being a mother hen?" He teased gently. Mokuba released an offended gasp.

"I am not a mother hen!" He exclaimed, pouting like a little baby. "You just need to eat, so you can stay healthy!"

Seto held up his hands in mock defense. "Alright, alright, I'll heat something up very quick, but I want you to get ready for bed, it's past your curfew anyways," He said. Mokuba nodded, then dashed up the stairs.

Seto decided to honor his promise, and reheated some spaghetti from the other day. He reflected on the day, and felt his shoulders relax from their usual tense position. Usually, one of those damn spirits followed him home. He would enjoy a quiet night it seemed.

Suddenly, something floated across his vision, and the drowsy CEO jerked his eyes up. There was a black butterfly floating across his vision. How did that get in here? He thought curiously. He looked towards the stairs again, wondering if Mokuba purposefully let it inside. When he turned back around, he jumped nearly out of his skin.

Standing on his table was a pale woman, with long blue hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing an outfit consisting of consists of a white shitagi, a black kosode, a black hakama, a white hakama-himo, white tabi, and waraji. She was staring off at something he couldn't see, and seemingly didn't see him either.

"It is here.." She whispered, moving to her side and suddenly pulling out a Katana. Seto's eyes widened in fear. He stumbled back, falling over the chair and back on the ground. The woman seemed to jerk out of her trance, and turned to stare at him. "What the-" She asked suddenly, her eyes clouding over with something Seto couldn't understand.

"What the hell are you doing in here?!" He demanded, managing to keep his voice from shaking.

"You can see me?" She asked in shock.

"Well you weren't exactly being discrete!" Seto hissed in annoyance.

"You can see me.." She repeated, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Are you deaf? I believe we established that, now what are you?" He demanded,"Are you a spirit?"

"Well, sort of," The woman said gently, before pointing her thumb to herself and proudly saying,"I am a Shinigami" Several tense seconds flowed by, Seto's blue eyes staring into her own, so long a thick blanket of awkward began to surround them.

Then, Seto said,"That's ridiculous, Shinigami don't exist"

The woman blinked in surprise and then yelled,"What?! What do you mean?! You can see me, you can see spirits yet you do not believe in Shinigami?!"

Seto scoffed, crossed his arms. "Yes I can, and no I don't. I haven't seen you do anything to prove you are a Shinigami. All you look like is a childish ghost playing with a sword," He said calmly. The woman glared at him, before making sharp, fast movements and suddenly her sword was a mere inch from his nose.

"Do not call me a child, human, I have lived thousands of years, I have seen countless wars and lives hundreds of your pitiful lifetime, I am a Shinigami, and you are lucky it is against my code to attack foolish humans like you," She hissed, not moving her sword.

Seto shuddered at the feeling, though he had faced such situations more than once in the past, her dangerous tone made him realize that provoking her might be a foolish idea. He nodded gently, and opened his mouth to speak, when he heard something strange. It sounded like a loud roar. "What the hell was that noise?" He asked, looking towards the living room, where the sound seemed to be coming from.

"What do you mean? I didn't hear-" The woman began, when a loud crash shook the mansion, dust billowing towards them as the ceiling in the living room. Both brought their hands up to cover their faces.

Is someone attacking us again?! Seto instantly thought. The woman knew better, she knew exactly what it was. "A hollow.." She whispered.

Seto looked at her in confusion, before he heard a scream. No! "Mokuba!" He yelled. He turned around, dashing towards the stairs when the woman grabbed him.

"No! The Hollow will kill you!" She yelled. Seto harshly yanked his hand towards himself, surprising the woman with the force.

"It'll kill my brother if I don't do something!" He snapped, before turning and dashing up the stairs.

The house shook again, and the brown haired teen stumbled, nearly falling over, before made it to his brother's room. Seto reached for the door, when it suddenly flew off his hinges, crashing into his left hand before slamming against the opposite wall.

Seto cried out in pain, crashing into the ground and clutching to his left hand. It was definitely broken. He didn't care about that though, he looked into his brother's room, and almost fainted at the sight he saw.

Mokuba was covered in dirt, and had some scratches, a black leathery tail was wrapped tightly around him. Connected to that tail was a long creature, with several legs, like a centipede. He had long red hair coming from behind a dark and scary bird mask.

That's a Hollow?! Seto thought in terror as Mokuba's gentle eyes weakly opened. He saw Seto in the doorway, and his teary eyes instantly began to fill with panic.

Seto's panic only increased, watching his little brother reach his one free hand out and say,"Big brother.. Big brother run!" The creature tightened it's hold on his brother, making the raven haired child cry out in pain.

"Bastard! Let my brother go!" Seto snapped, grabbing a nearby piece of rubble and throwing it. It made the creature jerk back, before it's head turned around to stare at the brown haired teen.

"There you are. The tasty, tasty, tasty soul!" It squealed happily, the many legs clicking as the creature moved off the wall and towards Seto, it's tail unraveling and dropping his brother onto the ground painfully.

It moved almost faster than the CEO's trained eyes could perceive, and he was barely able to move out of the way in time, sliding into the corner of the room before dashing towards his brother's unmoving body.

The hollow's tail suddenly swished, his claw like appendages wrapped around Seto's shoulders, before flinging him up into the air. He slammed against the ceiling, and then was slammed back into the ground with another swift attack from the monstrous tail.

Seto couldn't move, his body throbbing and hot with pain. He could only force his head to turn around, listening to the mask click and crunch as it opened up, revealing two dangerous sets of teeth.

"You.. Are going to taste so good!" It laughed, before flashing forward, a clawed hand raising with his movements. The woman had just gotten through the doorway.

"NO!" She yelled, flying forward, her body moving in front of the Kaiba brothers.

The hollows teeth sunk straight into her shoulder and part of the claw sunk into her stomach. Seto stared in horror, watching the blood pool all around her. She yelled in pain and then brought her foot up, slamming it down on the first set of teeth, a sickening crack going through the room as she broke his jaw.

The creature yanked away from her instantly, giving a loud screech before throwing himself at the wall opposite of him, making it collapse and digging into the ground, vanishing. Seto had no idea where he could have gone.

The weakened girl fell backwards, crashing into her own blood with a nasty squelch. Seto, for some reason, felt like the situation she was in reminded him of someone else he saw die, a long time ago.

Her eyes turned to him, and she whispered,"Hey.. He's.. Not.. Finished.." She groaned and used her bloodied, pale hand to push herself up, arm shaking badly still. "Do you want to save yourself.. And your brother..?" The woman demanded of him.

Seto was terrified, but nodded, placing both of his scratched hands on the ground, forcing himself to sit up.

He could hear the rumbling downstairs, but only paid attention to the woman. She had pointed her sword towards him. "Take.. The sword, stab your.. Heart, and borrow.. Some of my power, unlock yours, it will change you into a Shinigami temporarily, you can save me and your brother, do you accept my offer?" She asked.

For Seto, there was no reason to hesitate.

He reached forward, almost falling onto the sword, as he grabbed the hilt, pushing it up to his chest. For Mokuba.. For Mokuba.. He kept reminding himself.

"Hey.." She spoke up. Looking down at her, he gave her a confused look. "My name is Kisara," She said gently.

The determined blue eyes stared back at her. "Seto Kaiba," He answered, and yanked the sword forward.

Somewhere deep inside him, a lock was broken.

An explosion of energy filled the room, blinding those still awake to see it, and then slowly cleared.

Standing in the middle of the room, dressed in the Shinigami uniform, with a dangerous glint in his eyes, was Seto Kaiba. A katana with a golden hilt held in his right hand.

"S-shinigami?!" The Hollow whispered. Kisara weakly watched him, her Shingami uniform now replaced with a simple white one, a smile growing on her face. She knew that she had done the right thing.

"I don't care!" The hollow yelled, thrashing about angrily,"Shinigami or not, you are still mine!" He threw himself forward, letting out a loud roar. His attempts to attack the teen were worthless, as Seto slashed his katana, a large slash of blood escaping from the hollow's gums, making it roar again.

"You will not be devouring anyone anymore, not me, not her, and especially not my brother!" Seto declared, the rage evident in his voice. Seto's sword slashed forward once more, the determination giving him the strength to slice straight through the mask.

The creature let out a mangled cry, it's body beginning to expand, and then exploded in a flash of blue light.

Seto simply stood there, panting as the adrenaline wearing off and pain becoming more evident. Despite his blurred, spotted vision, he saw the the curled up form of his younger brother. "Mokuba.." He croaked, limping with what little energy he had left. He collapsed to his knees, wrapping his arms around the smaller form with relief.

"Mokuba.." The exhausted teen whispered again,"Big brother is here, everything is okay now, I'll protect you."

The black spots in his vision overcame the light, and everything faded to black.