Sunday Morning

I'm not much for sentiment. Growing attached to people creates a weakness for others to exploit. I learned this at an early age and it served me well. Of course, I had a weakness in Mokuba, and that weakness has been exploited. However, he's my brother and as much as I believe emotional attachments are nothing but trouble, he's worth it. I know I'll always come to his rescue if he needs me, and I know he feel s the same, though he's a more in favor of these emotional attachments.

I never thought he was worth it.

If I could choose my little brother's friends, I'd certainly pick different. Not only are Yugi and his little pals not in the proper age-range, Yugi has made me out to be a fool in Duel Monsters. Mokuba could at least have a bit more sympathy for my pride. Those losers are all right enough. They treat my little brother well and I begrudgingly trust them to not let him die. Of course I was always most wary of Joey Wheeler. He had an angry streak about him that I didn't want my brother to pick up nor have to face.

He's dangerous.

Wheeler always rubbed me the wrong way. He was far too open and trusting a person to function. Yugi is the same, but he has a sense of naivety that I can tell doesn't affect Wheeler. No, Wheeler's seen too much in his life. I know for a fact he used to be a part of a local gang. I do have to admire the fact that he got out of that scene without being killed. That doesn't happen too often. Gangs tend to be lifetime membership one way or another. With the gang and what I've always suspected was an abusive relationship with his father, I've never understood how he can be that open and accepting.

I can't trust him.

I had to get away from that type of personality. I just plain couldn't trust someone who could still trust with no reason to. I suppose getting in with his little group of friends softened him. I can't afford to be soft. Business is a hard world and the best business men keep on their guard. A lot of them don't have families at all. If they ever did, a workaholic lifestyle drove everyone away, but that's what you have to risk if you want to make it far in this world. I do it all for Mokuba, but Kaiba Corp. is so much a part of me that I don't want to risk losing it either. I don't like to think about what would happen if I had to choose between the two.

But he asked me.

I don't even think he meant it. I said something that set Wheeler off and that anger in him just came flowing out. I'm not a person who gets scared, but he does put me on edge when he gets like that. He doesn't think, just rages, and stupid questions come out. I know I'd choose Mokuba over Kaiba Corp. but I also know I wouldn't drop my company immediately. I'd do everything in my power to keep both. Sometimes I think that desperation could cause me to lose one or the other. I called Wheeler stupid for even asking; let him come up with his own answer. He probably thought the worst of me.

He gets to me.

Wheeler rattles me. His knows just the right way to affect me. I'm sure he doesn't even think about it, and that bothers me the most. I've faced a lot in the business world, and admit to people getting the best of me at times. I always turn it around. No one gets the best of me for long. That much is known, and people rarely try to stand against me. I get my fair share of duelists who think they can best me, but arrogance has to be earned.

I'm not sure if he's earned his arrogance.

He's not a better duelist than I. That much has been shown several times. He thinks a second place title early in his career gives him some sort of bragging rights. I have to grudgingly give him a small slice of my respect, though. He certainly does have a way of making it out of a desperate situation. I even admire his determination. He never backs down.

He makes me sentimental.

I won't make grand declarations of love, but Joey Wheeler has a way of getting under your skin. Relentlessly, he breaks down walls. I don't like it at all. I don't like thinking of him fondly I lose focus on my work. I don't like that he makes me lose focus on my work. I don't like watching him sleep in on a Sunday morning as if I'm some sort of love-struck newlywed. But where Joey Wheeler is concerned, control isn't.

He might be worth the moments of weakness.