Camping Hazards

Summary: Mokuba manages to convince Seto to take a vacation and, grudgingly, the CEO agrees to go camping with his little brother. But, can a boy born and raised in the city really make it in the wilderness? Yes, but not with any form of ease or comfort. One-shot, fluff, non-incest.

Disclaimer: You know the process. I don't own it, never have, never will; let's get on with the story. (Oh, and I don't own Bambi either!)

Warnings: Seto's not fond of the great outdoors, so there may be some language going on.

Authoress's Note: At long last, I've written another Kaiba Brothers One-shot of uber fluff! I've been getting demands like there was no tomorrow for another one after Where Do Babies Come From?, Just the Two of Us, and Of Ice Cream and Laughter. I really hope this one will be as loved and reviewed as my others. Enjoy! You've waited long enough.

KT: ...

Seto: ...?

KT: ...?

Seto ...What?

KT: Just waiting for your complaint, is all.

Seto: Is that right?

KT: Yes. Hurry up, I need to get this story underway.

Seto: I have no complaints...

KT: Really!

Seto: Yes, really. There's no Nerd Herd to bother me, and I'll be spending time with Mokuba.

KT: B-but... I can't write a fic without you complaining first!

Seto: You want a complaint? Here it is: Why the Hell is there only one chapter?

KT: Yay. Now I can get started with the torture.

"Seto! The tent is collapsing!" Mokuba yelped, scrambling out from beneath the dark blue canvas as it billowed down on him. Once in the safety of the open air, the younger Kaiba grinned as his brother struggled to right the tent, his long limbs tangling with the flexing poles and fabric.

Seto was not happy. And for obvious reasons. They had just arrived at the campsite an hour ago after a dreadfully boring five hour drive, and already the trip was going to Hell. His laptop was left all alone at home, thanks to a little brother who had gone digging through his packed belongings and removed it. It had rained in the wooded area the night before, leaving the ground and everything around it damp and unmanageable. And, the tent refused to stay in the form of a tent; it seemed much fonder of being in the shape of a pile of useless canvas and poles. Yes, he'd read the directions thoroughly; he'd even read them in the other languages to be completely sure nothing had been lost in translation. Yet, somehow, the tent would not stay a tent, thus his temper would not stay in control for long.

Mokuba saw Seto quickly reaching his breaking point and was swift to intervene, after all, if Seto destroyed the tent, what would they sleep in? "Seto," he began in his best 'I can be helpful' tone, "why don't you go find some dry firewood? I'll take a shot at the tent." Gripping the tent in two small hands, he tugged with emphasis, pulling the material out of Seto's grasp easily.

Seto seemed relieved to get any excuse possible to abandon the tent. "All right," he said with a business nod, "just don't let the bastard devour you."

Mokuba chuckled as his brother headed into the trees. "As long as you don't let a bear devour you!" he called after his brother, receiving a small wave as response. Reaching for the directions, Mokuba blinked wide gray-blue eyes. The picture on the directions did not match the one on the box remotely, they weren't even from the same company. With another quiet laugh, Mokuba set to work on the tent, ignoring the directions completely.

Seto had been fairly lucky. Only five minutes into the forest and he had found a rather branchy, rotted log kept completely dry from the rain by a massive rock outcropping. The log had been granted time to decay long enough to be brittle and easily torn apart by Seto's strong hands; the CEO required little effort to dismantle the wood into transferable pieces currently lying in a pile awaiting the transfer. Being the genius that he was, Seto came up with the means of transportation instantaneously. With a proud smirk at his own intelligent, he removed his trademark trench coat and used it as a makeshift sling to carry the branches in.

He was following the river back to the campsite when he stopped for a moment. He stood at the edge of the riverbank, his eyes fixed on the slow moving water as it sparkled brilliantly under the noon sun; flashes of silver, green, blue, and yellow catching his eyes where the water broke in random spurts and splashes. Streaks of silver and black. Fish. Darting just beneath the surface as they awaited any insect foolish enough to rest upon a drifting leaf. Rocks varying from tan to dark brown broke out of the water in various locations, their skin glistening with the spray caused as the river flowed past; thick green moss coated the rocks in patches, providing a grip for any small animals daring enough to attempt crossing the river.

Nothing in Domino City could look so real and uncorrupted, and it truly amazed Seto, leaving the teen, for once in his life, speechless. The sight was positively mesmerizing, that is, if you were someone with a lower IQ then the teenage billionaire; Seto didn't do mesmerized. Interested, curious, studious, yes. Mesmerized? No. But nonetheless, he remained in that one spot, eyes riveted to the glimmering water. He had been standing so still, lost in thought, that he was oblivious to the animal approaching behind him. And the animal was just as oblivious of him. That is, until Seto pulled himself from his musings and turned around to find himself staring into the large white-rimmed, brown eyes of a very startled buck.

The large deer threw its massive head back in surprise as Seto stumbled backwards away from those possibly lethal antlers, and directly into the river. As Seto cursed at the freezing temperature of the water, the buck snorted, nostrils flaring, and galloped off into the trees, its cotton white tail the only thing visible during its retreat. Not a sound was made by the creature despite its massive size and consequential weight as its sharp hooves moved over dead leaves and twigs.

Chattering came from a nearby tree. A grey squirrel, perched delicately on a sagging branch, watched Seto with shining black eyes. It flicked its tail once in a mocking fashion, uttering more laugh-like squeaks before darting back into the cover of the trees.

Wiping his soaked hair out of his eyes, Seto glared at the firewood as half of it drifted along with the current. "Great. So much for finding dry firewood," he muttered, striking the water with his fist. "How the Hell did I get myself into this in the first place?"

Three Days Ago

"Big brother?"

A heavy sigh came from Seto as he pulled himself away from the laptop. "What is it, Mokuba?"

"You need a vacation," Mokuba stated it so matter-of-factly Seto had to pause. He'd been expecting a question from Mokuba, something along the lines of begging for a pet or new toy.

"Since when were you my doctor?" Seto asked, hiding his small smile by resting his chin in folded hands.

"Since forever," Mokuba replied simply.

Seto arched a brow at this. "Forever isn't a word you can use in past tense form, Mokuba."

Mokuba wrinkled his nose in vague annoyance. "So? Doesn't change the fact that you need a vacation."

Shaking his head, Seto returned his gaze to the laptop's glowing screen. "I don't need a vacation, Mokuba," he responded, "I need to finish this work."

"You don't need to finish that work!"

"Oh, really? Give me three good reasons why, and I'll go on vacation."

A devious smirk from the younger. "One: we pay people to do that kind of work. Two: there are more than enough new products released by Kaiba Corp this year, we don't need any more at the moment. And three: you're not even doing the work, you've been playing solitaire for the past hour!"

Seto winced noticeably. "How'd you know about the third reason?"

"Because I can see the solitaire bar on the bottom of the screen, I've been checking in on you, and," he paused a moment to relish in this victory, "you just admitted it." Oh yes, he had this little game won. Seto couldn't go back on his word, not if he wanted the cold shoulder for a week.

Muttering about Mokuba's wonderful skill of manipulation, Seto trudged into the campsite. The younger Kaiba looked over the now completed tent at his brother. It was quite a sight. There stood Seto, his trademark trench coat missing, completely soaked, hair left in a haphazard disaster as it dripped incessantly, and tucked under one arm were three equally soaked logs of wood. For a fleeting moment, Mokuba wondered if Seto had actually tried to enjoy himself and taken a quick swim, but that dangerously angry scowl on the CEO's face quickly banished that thought in the "Impossible" category.

"What happened!" Mokuba asked in surprise, staring at Seto with wide-eyes.

"Nature happened," Seto growled as he slumped into one of the two chairs facing the unlit campfire. He threw the logs unceremoniously into the ring of rocks, glaring daggers at the innocent pieces of wood. He looked up in mild surprise as something warm was draped over him and something hot pressed into his hands--a blanket and cup of dark, steaming liquid, presumably coffee. He nodded in silent gratitude to Mokuba as the boy dragged the second chair over to sit beside him.

Seto retold his little encounter with "Bambi's diabolical father" to Mokuba, who listened aptly and made the appropriate reaction noises that had a comforting effect on his brother. Once the fiasco was explained, Seto devoted his attention to the quickly cooling mug that rested in his hands. Sipping at it, he coughed and made a disgusted face, holding the mug away from him. "What kind of coffee is this, Mokuba?" he demanded, rather peeved that it was the strong black coffee he'd been expecting.

Mokuba chuckled, reaching into his pocket to remove a bag of tiny marshmallows. "It's not coffee. It's hot cocoa, Seto." He deposited a handful of the fluffy cylinders of sugar into the cup, shooting Seto a look as the CEO frowned. "Just think of the marshmallows as the caffeine." The raven-haired boy laughed, "They have enough sugar in them to give you the same dose of energy."

Seto resigned to deal with the cocoa. After numerous hours of idle chat among the brothers, he had actually acquired a liking for the drink, evident by the empty thermos and bag of marshmallows. The fire now burned merrily, aided by Mokuba's patient hand and a pocket-sized blowtorch Seto carried for emergency repairs. Mokuba had been awarded a great deal of praise for the completion of the "defiant tent". And night descended on the two siblings, the creeping shadows finding them tossing marshmallows on the fire for the simple pleasure of watching the fluff swell and burst.

"It's time to call it a day, Mokuba," Seto said in a tone that allowed no room for argument. A chorus of wolves howling tribute to the night seems to back his words. Seto silently hoped the wolves were enjoying a certain deer as their late night snack.

Mokuba, having no energy to bother with a useless argument, walking heavily to the tent. His preparations were slow, his limbs weighed down by weariness. Well, all his preparations were slow, excluding changing into pajamas; it was far too chilly in the forest to expose skin for long to its sharp bite. Mokuba was snuggling into the warm confines of his sleeping bag when he glanced over at Seto to wish him a good night. He stifled a giggle as he noticed Seto was sound asleep, apparently having been too worn to even bother changing out of clothes that were still slightly damp.

Shaking his head, Mokuba crawled over to Seto, pulling his sleeping bag with him. Mokuba nuzzled in close to his brother before spreading the sleeping bag over them both.

Seto blinked his eyes open, awoken by the new presence. "Hn? Mokuba?"

"Just making sure you don't get pneumonia," Mokuba whispered as he curled up, already half-asleep. "Go back to sleep, Seto."

Seto obliged, but only after wrapping his arm around his brother's small frame and sighing contentedly.

Mokuba smiled to himself.

"Good night, big brother."

"Good night, kiddo."

This trip had been a success.

KT: Eeee! Brotherly fluff! Hope you enjoyed it!