Chapter 1

(Seto's POV)

Taking on something new was always easy for me, even as a kid. The death of my mother was a hard blow, and adjusting to it was even harder, but I made it through. I had too. Mokuba was depending on me to be strong. He was depending on me to be the older brother, to protect him, to show him it was ok, even when times were hard and Dad wouldn't come home some nights. He was scared to death. I was too, but never showed it. I was scared for a different reason though. Because I knew.

I knew that Dad missed Mom more than it really seemed, I knew he couldn't live without her. I knew from the very beginning. But I didn't say a thing. I couldn't. What was I suppose to say? 'Hey Dad, are you gonna kill yourself so you can be with Mom?' It was something that couldn't be said. Then one night he didn't come home. We thought this was just another night filled with worry, that the next morning he'd be up and out of bed making us breakfast again like nothing ever happened. We never saw him the next morning.

"Nii-sama… I don't wanna go. I like living here." I looked over at my innocent, little brother. His eyes sparkled with the many tears that had fallen down his face from the dreadful news of this morning, but at the moment were at peace. "I know Mokuba, I know. But we have to. We can't take care of ourselves." I told him. "But Nii-sama…" His eyes began to water again. I didn't want to stand the pain of seeing him in despair again.

I wrapped my arms around him and brought him into a hug. "Don't worry Mokuba, all is well. I'll watch over you. From now on, I'll be your father. And protect you no matter what."

Mokuba looked up, his eyes stared into mine. "You promise? No matter what?" I nodded. "I promise. I'll always be there for you when you need me. No matter what."

-12 Years Later-

"I'm done." Seto turned in his chair and looked over at Mokuba. "You're done? Already?" Mokuba gave him a weird face and slowly nodded, "What did you expect?" Seto looked away and back at his computer, "Well… I didn't think you would master the program that fast. I only taught it to you yesterday."

"Well, I'm a fast learner, I suppose." Mokuba said, closing the laptop and setting it on the desk beside Seto's other computer, "I'm going out tonight, ok?" Seto twisted his chair again to face Mokuba, "What? Why?" Mokuba took a step back and gave Seto another weird face. "I'm hanging out with Kelly again. Why are you so surprised?"

"Well, I don't know… I just thought we could do some more… computer programs together." Seto said, once more turning to the computer to hide his embarrassment. "But we did that all-day today, we don't need to do anymore."

"Ok fine, we can go to the arcade." Mokuba shrugged, "I've grown out of the arcade, Seto."

"Come on, it would be fun."

"Seto…" Seto was now the one to shrug. "Fine, fine… you can hang out with 'her'." Mokuba rolled his eyes, "Why do you hate Kelly so much?"

"Oh nothing… there's just something about her that makes me… suspicious."

"Here we go again…" Mokuba muttered to himself, "Look, Seto, I don't get why you don't like her. She never gets herself into trouble, she's a straight A student, she's going to college, she's in shape, she works out, she's in the making of her own gaming company while finishing her senior year, she plays the piano, she's in all the AP classes, she's kind, she's sweet, she respects you, but you still seem to find a flaw in her." Seto put his hand through his hair and merely sighed at this statement of facts. "Believe what you want."

Mokuba rolled his eyes once more. "Well, see ya." He turned to leave and began to head for the door. "Can I have a hug?" Mokuba stopped and turned around. He had just barely heard his brother say that, he had said it in almost a whisper. "Well, sure." Seto got up and embraced his brother in a tight hug.

No longer did Seto have to bend down to hug his baby brother, no longer did he have to kneel to stare at his brother face to face. His brother's hair was no longer long and tangled; it was combed and tied back. Mokuba had grown out of video games, cards, and capsule monsters, he was now more interested in hockey, his band, and his girlfriend. Mokuba didn't hang around the mansion anymore; he now had friends to hang out with and football games to go to. Mokuba didn't come to Kaiba Corp. to visit his brother; he worked there.

"Ok… now I really gotta go Seto." Mokuba said, breaking away from Seto's arms, "I have to meet up with Kelly."

"Ok… well, have fun."

"Thanks, I will. I'll be back around 10." Mokuba called back as he grabbed his keys and ran down the stairs. Seto slumped back into his chair. 'Another night working alone…' Seto thought. The mansion had been so empty since Mokuba had begun to grow up and leave almost every day. There was no energy, no life in the empty old mansion. It always felt as if the only person who had ever really lived in that house was Mokuba, and maybe a couple of the maids as well. At the time when Mokuba was 11, Seto was too busy to live life, so he had Mokuba live it for him.

Over the past years, Seto and Mokuba had had their ups and downs. They had gotten into tons of fights with one another, they had been at each other's throats, there had even been a time when Mokuba didn't come home. But even through those hard times, Seto and Mokuba's bond had still made it through, and they were still there for each other.

But Mokuba was now 17. In a few weeks, he would be turning 18, and would soon be a young adult, and under the Federal Law of Japan, would be able to live on his own. This was the scariest thing Seto had ever had to endure. This was scarier than death itself. Losing his baby brother.

Mokuba would no longer have any need to stay or see his brother anymore. He had a job, friends, and a future, a future that didn't involve Seto. Seto used to be everything to Mokuba. He was his parent, his friend, and his brother. But now… now it was different. It had all changed so fast and now it was all going to end. Mokuba would no longer need his brother.

Seto put his hand through his hair once more, he gave a loud sigh to himself. "Why?" he asked himself out loud, his eyes were still tightly shut as he debated within himself of what he should do to stop this from happening. He couldn't let this happen. Mokuba had always needed him, and secretly, he had always needed Mokuba back. He found comfort in Mokuba's need for his older brother's protection and now that was all beginning to disappear to the point where Mokuba didn't need Seto at all.

Seto got up and grabbed his coat. "Going somewhere, Mr. Kaiba?" Isono asked, as Seto passed by him and made his way down the stair and to the garage. "Do you know where Mokuba is?" Seto asked without answering Isono's questions. "Why, yes. He said he was going to be hanging out at a bar. He said he was hanging out with Kelly and some of his friends there."

"Alright, well, don't expect me back for a while. Save my dinner while I'm gone." Seto called as he walked out the door. "Most certainly, sir." Isono replied. He shrugged and shook his head, "Mr. Kaiba… he's becoming more worried about that boy than he was when he was 11."

-Theater 64-

"That's alright, I'll just have some water, thank you." Kelly said with a small smile. "As you wish, and for you?" the waiter asked, looking over at Mokuba. "Water is fine." Kelly looked over at Mokuba, "You know, you don't have to drink and eat everything I do. I don't care if you drink a soda or 2."

"I know. But you even make eating healthy seem great." He kissed her on the cheek. She smiled. "Well, you're not half bad yourself." She replied. She kissed him back. They began to make-out passionately as they waited at the bar for their drinks.

Seto slinked through the crowd quietly. He was pretty unnoticeable by the way he was dressed and no one had seemed to notice him since most of them were preoccupied with dancing or smoking. Seto looked on at them in disgust till he spotted Mokuba and Kelly. He sat on the other side of the bar watching them, also staring at them in disgust.

"Here's your water." The waiter said as he returned with 2 glasses of water. Kelly pulled away, her cheeks were red with embarrassment. "Thank you…" she said in a small voice. "Don't worry, I see it all the time." The waiter replied, winking at her then returning to other customers to get their orders.

"Mokuba…"

"Yeah, Kelly?" Mokuba asked, beginning to sip his water. "Do you think we could leave sometime soon?"

"Why? We just got here." Kelly looked to the side. Mokuba grabbed her arm gently, "What's wrong?"

"I just don't like the vibes I'm getting here. There's too much smoke…" Kelly said, holding her nose and looking around. Mokuba opened his mouth to speak when he heard his name being called.

"Hey Mokuba!" He turned around to see his 2 other friends. One was a junior in college whom was a friend of one of his band mates. "Mokuba… son, we gotta hook you up with something."

"No thanks. I'm good." Mokuba said, turning to leave. One of them grabbed Mokuba's arm. "Come on… don't be so straight edge."

"No thanks, I'm not interested." Mokuba said, trying to pull away. He still held on with a tight grip. "What's the hurry?"

Seto took a close look at the situation that was happening. He slowly got to his feet and was debating to himself weather to step in before it got bad and expose himself to Mokuba, or to stay put and let Mokuba handle it himself.

"You're a drunk, Yomoshi, now get off!" Mokuba forcefully pulled his hand out of his grip and grabbed Kelly's hand with the other. "Let's go Kelly…" And without another word or action, he left with Kelly towards the exit and out of the bar. As for Yomoshi and his friend, they merely shrugged it off and went back to what they were doing.

Seto sat back down. Mokuba had handled himself well, but seeing this only worried him more. Did Mokuba really not need him anymore?

Ok, so here's a new story guys! You know me, I can't just be writing one story at a time, that's too boring(obviously you guys can tell I do that a lot by all of my other useless stories) but hey, it's for the people, to the people, by the… er, me. Well, anywayz.

Looks like Mokuba's all grown up now, huh? But how much can Seto really bare? How can you stop your brother from growing up?

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