Inspired by the children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judy Viorst

Seto Kaiba and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

The infamous and temperamental Seto Kaiba awoke that morning to the sound of his beeping alarm going off at six o'clock in the morning sharp. This was an occurrence that happened nearly every day, but due to the fact that he had only gotten three hours, rather than his normal five hours of sleep, last night made him wish it had gone off at a later time. As Seto stood up, stretched, and slowly forced himself to begin his morning routine to get ready for the day, he could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

The sleepiness escaped his body once he stepped into the cold shower. The water splashed onto his face, forcing him to become more awake and alert. As Seto's brain began to function at a normal speed, his memory of last night was coming back to him. To his dismay, he had stayed up way later and had spent much more time on fixing what his employees had failed to look over and double check. Seto slowly twisted the knob and stepped out of the shower, realizing that the mistakes made yesterday would probably carry on into his day today. He wasn't looking forward to it.

Seto took longer than usual to dress himself; his energy was taking twice as long to return to his body due to the loss of an extra two hours of sleep. The dark rings under Seto's eyes appeared even darker. Seto glared and sighed; today was looking to be a crappy day already. He made his way down the stairs, surprised to find that there was no breakfast on the table. Seto walked over to the table and saw a note taped down to it.

"Dear Master Kaiba, It appears as though I have fallen very ill and cannot come to work today. I'm terribly sorry I couldn't get this to you sooner, or in a more efficient way. I hope you will forgive me for being incapable of fixing your breakfast."-Isono

Seto took up the piece of paper and crumbled it up into a tiny ball. He threw it violently against the wall. Isono only got sick about once every year, and of all the days in a year, it had to be today. He glanced down at his watch again, giving a loud moan, before snatching the keys off the counter and off to the car. Seto was already late for work, so there would be no time to fix breakfast.

In the car, Seto turned on the radio in an attempt to distract himself from the day he knew he would have at work. Seto took in a deep breath, trying to concentrate only on the stories being told by the reporters on the radio station. The reporters were doing a story on America; comparing its job opportunities to a wide-open field.

Seto sighed; he had always been one of those people that believed that the grass was greener on the other side. America must've been what he was thinking of. The car ride, otherwise, was going as accordingly, until the movement of the cars ahead seemed to slow every minute or so.

Suddenly there was no movement at all, and all the main streets were backed up. Seto eyed the road ahead, and looked around, trying to figure out what the problem might be. He spotted a sign that said "Road Work Ahead." He slumped in his seat, glancing back down at his watch briefly before accepting the fact that he was going to be extremely late for work.

After about two hours in traffic, Seto parked his car in the parking lot and ran into the Kaiba Corp. office building. People were already rushing through hallways, filing papers, and talking with a phone glued to their head. This was a typical day for any employee at Kaiba Corp., but for Seto, it was usually ten times worse. Seto quickly ran for the elevator, but its doors closed right before he could reach it. He slammed down on the buttons, but the elevator was already making its journey up to various other floors in the building.

Seto knew he couldn't wait for the elevator to do its entire cycle through the building, so he pushed opened the doors and rushed into the stairway. Seto stopped and looked at the stairway. He had always known he would regret making his office on the very top floor of Kaiba Corp., and this was that day. Pulling up his sleeves, he sprinted ahead and lunged onto each step like he were hiking in the mountains.

After about a half hour of climbing stairs, Seto had made it to the top. His business suit smelled of sweat, and his heart was pounding within his chest like it was a drum set. Seto didn't have time to rest; he moved forward and pushed open the door from the stairway and back onto the main floor.

Everyone was staring at him as he walked in; a slight limp was visible as he made his way towards his office. Seto closed his eyes for a moment, hoping not to see the client whose files he had been working for nearly five hours last night. He re-opened his eyes and walked into his office, to find both his assistant and the exact person he did not want to see. And he did look mad.

His assistant, Juro, was standing beside Kaiba Corp.'s soon to be biggest client yet. There was a nervous look on his face, and at the site of Seto entering the room, he jumped towards him and stopped. "Where have you been?" Juro whispered, looking back at the man eyeing Seto and Juro, "Mr. Masao has been waiting for nearly an hour now for you!"

"Sorry, I ran into some bad traffic on the way and-"

"Mr. Kaiba, it's so good to see that you decided to show up," Masao said, with an angry tone, "Did you decide to go on a job this morning rather than fix my files?" Seto looked down at his shirt and saw that his body had begun to sweat through his suit. He was embarrassed, but Seto Kaiba was known for hiding such things.

"I'm deeply sorry for having to make you wait, Mr. Masao, but if you just sit on down we can start this meeting and-"

"Let's not jump to meetings, Mr. Kaiba, I'd like to see the corrected files first. You do remember, don't you? The files YOUR men idiotically tampered with?" Seto tried to hold back his tongue. It was true that some of his workers were quite idiotic, but Seto wasn't one that took disrespect lightly. Still, this was his biggest client yet, and he still needed to convince him that Kaiba Corporation was a company worth investing in to get him to sign the contract.

"Yes… I do remember," Seto said grimly, "But rest assured, I fixed everything last night and have it right here…" Seto looked down at his hand. His briefcase… where was it? Didn't he…? Oh no, Seto had completely forgotten to grab it that morning. He was so angry at how his day was going to be that he had forgotten to grab his briefcase from beside the door. Seto had walked right by it.

Masao crossed his arms and tapped his foot, "Well?" Seto's back straightened, a small sweat drop was traveling down the side of his face. Seto held up his index finger towards Masao.

"One moment please," Seto grabbed Juro by the arm and dragged him to the far corner of the room away from Masao, "I forgot the briefcase."

"You what?" Juro whispered with fear, "Mr. Kaiba, please tell me this is some sort of sick joke." Seto shook his head. "What are we going to do? What can we do? Masao has been waiting, Mr. Kaiba!"

"Maybe we could ask him to wait, and you could run to my house and grab my briefcase, while try and sell the deal in the meantime." Juro looked at him with a doubtful look in his eyes, but broke away from the huddle. Seto walked up from beside him. "It appears as though I have forgotten my briefcase with your files, Mr. Masao."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, but I do know where it is, and if you'd only wait for a couple more minutes, my assistant can grab the briefcase for you while I go over the deal with you again." Masao frowned and shrugged.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, but it seems Kaiba Corp. wasn't what I was looking for after all. Thank you for your time… or, I suppose you should be telling me that; shouldn't you? Considering how much time you have wasted of my day." Masao started towards the door, but Seto couldn't let him leave just yet.

"Mr. Masao, I think you should reconsider." Masao continued towards the door.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, but I think it would be in my best interest to sign with a company that's a little more reliable. You know, much like Industrial Illusions." Seto's jaw dropped.

"Industrial Illusions? You can't be serious!"

"Oh, but I am. In fact, Pegasus's company was my first choice. I'm not even sure why I bothered scooping this company out in the first place. America's businesses are a little more professional when it comes to things like these, after all. But I suppose that is a mistake I will never make again. Good day to you, sir." Masao opened the door, walked through it, and closed it. Locking in Seto's shame and regret inside the room. Juro looked over at Seto, there was an awkward silence between the two. Juro scratched his head.

"Well… that didn't go well," Juro said plainly.

"Get. Out," Seto said in his death voice. Juro was out of the room within seconds. Seto walked over to his desk and slammed his fist on it. Once again, he had failed. He had lost his biggest client ever and now he would have to wait until another one came along. But Mr. Masao was one of the biggest of them all, knowing him; he would probably spread the word of Kaiba Corp.'s failure to all the other big investors.

Things didn't look too bright. Seto looked at his desk. From the looks of it, his desk didn't look too welcoming either. It was piles among piles of paper, all stacked up in front of him in an unorganized way. Seto sat down in his office chair, and let his body sink in as he stared dully at the papers in front of him. He knew this was probably what the rest of his day was going to look like. And he was far from excited about it.

There was nothing else for him to do except begin working. He started going through the paper work and files one by one. The hours seemed to drag on and on, but the pile never seemed to decrease in size. Juro would come in from time to time, only to bring him more papers to loom over or fill out.

Seto felt he couldn't stop; the papers never seemed to shrink. They only seemed to grow bigger and bigger. Soon Seto had worked straight through his lunch hour, and he barely even had time to notice the terrible condition his stomach was in. He would continue to do work, even though his stomach felt like a ticking time bomb. It began to hurt immensely, but he saw no way he could take a break just to eat. So he continued to work.

"Mr. Kaiba, there's a phone call waiting for you," his secretary said over the tiny intercom that was hidden under the various bunches of paper on top of it. Seto rolled his eyes, trying to push the papers to the side in an organized fashion before replying.

"Put it through," he stated. Maybe this was Mr. Masao. Only important calls were transferred directly to Seto. Maybe he had reconsidered his offer and wanted to sign the deal after all. Seto picked up the phone and looked down at the tiny screen.

"Hello Kaiba-boy!" Seto's blood boiled as he stood up.

"Pegasus?! What on earth are you doing calling me??" Pegasus was smiling delightfully as he was staring back up at Seto.

"Don't be like that, Kaiba-boy! You act as if we aren't friends! I simply wanted to check up on you, see how you were doing. So how is the weather over there in Japan these days?" Seto growled with anger.

"Pegasus, we aren't friends and I don't want to speak with you. I'd advise you to stop harassing me before I get the law involved on this." Pegasus chuckled at Seto's attempts at being frightening.

"Oh Kaiba-boy, you're such a funny lad!" Pegasus said, "But there is something I did wish to tell you." Seto raised one eyebrow.

"What is that, Pegasus?" Seto spat, as if he cared what Pegasus had to say to begin with. He hated Pegasus, not as much as he hated Yugi, but it was pretty close.

"I spoke with one of your friends, Kaiba-boy. Someone very close to you."

"Really? It's almost funny because you know I don't have friends, you lunatic."

"Don't tell me you've forgotten all about Mr. Masao!" Seto's eyes widened.

"What?"

"He just called me up earlier today, looks like we're going to be doing business with each other real soon. He also mentioned you Kaiba-boy, it's really too bad things had to go the way they did. After all, you work soooooo hard…" Pegasus said in a mocking tone, just before bursting into another fit of laughter. Seto slammed the phone down and hung up.

Seto got up from his desk. He needed a break. Seto had to get out of his office, he had to get away from the papers, the phones, everything. Seto walked away from his desk, wanting nothing more to do with it, and refusing to take one last look before he left the room. He needed a nice cup of coffee and some down time. He wanted to runaway to America; and possibly punch Pegasus's face somewhere along the way.

Seto found himself wandering into the employees lounge, a place he rarely saw himself go into on a day-to-day basis. He looked around; he had nearly forgotten how nice the employees' lounge actually was. Seto smiled, this was the perfect place to sit down and relax for a while. He walked over to the coffee machine and grabbed the glass containing the hot water.

The handle was slippery and slipped right out of his hand and poured on his chest. Seto yelled in pain, as the hot water seeped through his clothes and burned his skin. Seto jumped back in an instant, only finding that his feet slipped on the floor. Seto flipped backwards and landed right on his back. Seto turned his head and saw a "Wet Floor" sign. He glared at it.

Slowly, Seto pushed off the floor and back onto his feet. He shrugged, looking down at his dampened shirt and shrugging. This just wasn't his day today, was it? Seto looked over at the TV in the corner. The news was on. He smiled; that was what he needed. Just a little news to distract him from the day he was having. Seto let his body collapse into the couch that was right in front of the TV and watched.

"Good evening folks! This is Nobu Saburo with some breaking news today! There was a recent claim made with regards to infamous Seto Kaiba and his company earlier today." Seto sat up right, staring at the screen more closely. This couldn't be happening. All Seto wanted to do was watch some news and distract himself from… well, himself.

"Seto Kaiba may look tough and powerful on the outside, but is he really that way on the inside? Due to a recent claim by various people who have been within close contact with the child billionaire say he is not as he seems. One of the witnesses is with us today, we have here on the other line, Joey Wheeler!" Seto smacked his forehead with his hand. How did Wheeler get on the news?!

"So you were one of the firm believers that Seto Kaiba isn't really the man that the rest of Japan believes him to be?"

"Exactly. Ya see… the thing about Seto Kaiba is he's actually a rather arrogant jerk, and he's weak! I mean, I can't tell you how many times me and my friend Yug have had to save his rich little butt from total destruction! Do you even realize how many times his company has almost been taken over?" Seto got up off his seat and walked closer to the TV.

"So not only is the CEO weak, but the company itself as well?"

"I've never seen such a feeble company. He makes these commercials that make him look so great, but the truth is the guy is nothing but a pansy. We've probably saved his company more times than he's sold one of those silly duel disks of his." Seto grabbed the TV and pushed it onto the ground. The glass screen shattered and tiny sparks came out. Seto gave the TV set one last kick before turning and leaving the room to continue his work.

Many hours later, Seto found himself in the exact same spot that he had been right before he had taken his less than five minute break. The piles appeared to have shrunk, but only by the slightest bit. Seto groaned, his head was throbbing with pain. There were so many papers, so much print to look over. Seto heard the sound of his office door being opened and he became alert.

"It's me, Mr. Kaiba," Seto stood up to look over the piles of papers and saw Juro standing in the doorway. He had his messenger bag slung over his shoulder, and his coat folded in his arm. "I'm leaving, is that alright?" Seto rolled his eyes and sat back down.

"Sure, why not? It's not like there's any work to be done…"

"You should probably head home too, Mr. Kaiba. It's getting to be pretty late." Seto didn't even answer, he just picked up where he had left off and continued working. Juro shrugged, "Alright then, good night." Seto listened for the door to be closed, when he stood up. Seto had to get out of this place; it was beginning to drive him crazy. He would never want to appear lazy in front of his employees that work below him, but the truth was he hated his job just as much as the rest of them.

Seto turned off the light in his office and headed for the elevator. There was no one else in the building, so Seto was finally able to catch the elevator on time. He leaned against the wall as the elevator made its way down to the lobby. Seto felt so weak, he was barely able to stand on his own two legs. The elevator finally reached the ground floor and opened up.

Seto moved quickly out to the parking lot, where very few cars remained considering what hour of the night it was. Everyone had already left to go home by that time, probably to eat and enjoy dinner with his or her family. Seto frowned; he knew he didn't have anything like that to look forward too. With Isono gone, the only thing that would be at home would be work. Seto sighed; maybe moving to America wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Seto walked through the parking lot until he stopped when he saw his car. The windows had been cracked open; someone had smashed through them and probably robbed him of his things. Seto walked over to the car in utter shock, starring at the mess that was his car.

With furious rage, Seto kicked the car a couple times. When he was tired, he sighed and pulled out the keys. He looked at them; instead, he used his hand to reach into the vehicle through the cracked window and unlocked the car door. It was pathetic, simply pathetic. He turned his head and noticed his radio was gone too; it was probably all the way in America for all he knew.

The drive home was at least peaceful, but it didn't help Seto's situation. He drove a couple miles below the speed limit, not wanting to get home so quickly. Seto didn't even bother turning on the radio, he was sure there was nothing that could distract him from the day he just had. Seto sighed, pulling up into the driveway of his home. With another spasm of anger, he hit the stirring wheel, before getting out of the car and slamming the door closed. The last bits of glass on the window shattered and fell onto the ground.

As Seto was approaching the door, he felt he might kill or extremely hurt the next person that looked at him, talked to him, or was even directed in the same general direction of him. He had had it, and he wanted nothing more to do with the world or the people it contained.

The house was peaceful, even after Seto slammed the door shut with such strength. He went over to the coat rake and started to unpeel the business suit that clung to his body, it had been sweated it and drenched in water that day, so it was hard to pull off. So far, so good; no one had shown up to see him. That was just the way Seto had wanted it to be.

Until he heard a noise close by, Seto froze. A pair of tiny arms wrapped around Seto's tiny waist and hugged him tightly. Seto's head twisted around to kill whatever person thought they would dare touch Seto on such a day like…

"Hey Nii-sama!" The boy peering back up at him said with a smile, "I missed you!" And like that, it had ceased. The pain, the agony, the suffering; everything he had endured that day just seemed to disappear as he looked down at his younger brother. Mokuba broke away from his hold around Seto so that he could turn his whole body around and in Mokuba's direction.

"I've been waiting for you all night, Nii-sama! Since Isono was out sick, I decided to make dinner for the both of us!" Mokuba said cheerfully, "Where were you?"

"I…" Seto scratched his head; he didn't know what to say. Everything seemed so utterly… pointless now. Now that he was home with the only person that could possibly remind him that there was such a thing as happiness. That it didn't matter that he didn't get the biggest client of his life to sign that one contract, because he had what mattered most; someone who loved and cared for him at the end of the day.

"I… guess I got a little caught up in work, sorry Mokuba…" Seto said quietly almost ashamed that he had spent all those extra hours working on that meaningless paperwork. "I'm sorry I didn't get home sooner to eat dinner with you… I'm such a terrible big brother." Mokuba frowned.

"You work so hard Nii-sama… I'm surprised you even make it to the end of the day alive. If I had your job, I would go crazy."

"Yeah… no kidding," Seto whispered to himself. Mokuba smiled once more, and somehow, the room lit up even more when he did.

"Well, it doesn't matter now because you're here and that's all that's important!" Mokuba raced towards his older brother and embraced him with yet another loving hug. Seto wrapped his arms around Mokuba in return and closed his eyes, letting the warmth of Mokuba's body bring him back to life again.

Mokuba was his pride and joy. He was Seto's meaning and purpose. Mokuba was everything and anything that made life worth living. But most of all, he was the light of his life, the one thing that let him know there was a reason to travel to the end of the dark tunnel. There was no doubt about that in Seto's mind.

"So Nii-sama how was your day?" Mokuba asked, peering up at his brother. Seto winced, remembering everything that had happened to him in only a twenty-four hour span. Seto looked down at him, not wanting to ruin the wonderful moment by infecting it with his day. Seto shrugged, from the way Mokuba was looking at him, he was going to keep pestering him for an answer. Seto didn't know how to capture all of what kind of day he had. So he decided to describe it the best way he could; plainly and simply.

"It has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Mokuba took Seto's hand in his and walked him into the dining room.

"Some days are like that," Mokuba said, "Even in America."

A/N: Aw! Now wasn't that cute? My first one-shot since... forever ago. I'm not even sure about the last time I wrote a one-shot. You should probably look forward to a couple more of those coming your way soon. But anyways, if you weren't satisfied with the brother fluff, than I'm sure you were quite content with watching Seto's day completely shatter. I don't know about you, but I had a lot of fun writing that! I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did writing it and I hope you all have a wonderful, marvelous, excellent, terrific day!