A quick little ficlet I dashed off because life has made me its bitch and writing makes me feel better.
The brothers Kaiba tackle some difficult problems. Seto tames a wild beast, and Mokuba resists the urge to point and laugh.
It wasn't strictly a business trip, per say, more a casual visit with a touch of sheer intimidation. Sometimes people forgot that their boss being in high school didn't mean it was easy- or even possible- to walk all over him. So no, it wasn't purely business, just a vacation with a side order of professional bullying. Which was probably why he'd allowed Mokuba to come along- his brother had heard his port of call and immediately demanded to go with. And Kaiba, more fool him, had agreed without thought, because it was Mokuba.
He regarded the animal in front of him- a tall, long-legged, shaggy-coated chestnut mare with kindness in her eyes and evil in her heart- with a wary eye. She had very solid hooves and very strong legs and, and it was possible this part was only in Kaiba's head but he doubted it, very good aim. He stood well out of kicking range, her side to him and her hindquarters safely pointed away. He also kept his arms folded because his hands weren't shaking and there wasn't a chance in hell he was admitting to anyone, even himself, that there was the definite possibility that he was afraid of horses.
Mokuba had suggested this little outing, and Kaiba had once again agreed without thinking because it was Mokuba asking. He needed to stop that immediately before he found himself waking up one day and realizing he'd just consented to funding a non-profit hospital for three-legged kittens. It was very much in-character for Mokuba to trick him into something like that, partially for the kittens and mostly to prove he could.
"It's perfectly all right, sir, she's a very gentle old girl. She won't hurt you," the woman holding the beast's reins said cheerfully. She'd already recognized him- there had been an abrupt double-take about forty seconds after she'd introduced herself. Kaiba was painfully aware that he wasn't at his most intimidating right now and was planning to offer her a job as a cheap bribe to keep this out of the tabloids.
"Yeah, Seto," Mokuba called from atop his own horse, kicking his heels a little and sending his horse into a lazy ambling circle. "Hurry up, we don't have all day."
"I don't have all day," Kaiba corrected irritably. "I have more important things to do-" like watching paint dry and chewing on cyanide pills- "and I don't have time for this. Go without me." He took a big step back, which was not a reaction to the horse's loud snort, and made the tragic mistake of looking at his little brother.
Mokuba had his martyr face on- his 'you're about to disappoint me but I won't let it bother me because it's the good brother thing to do' look. It didn't make Kaiba feel guilty, per say; it was simply an upgraded version of the puppy-dog eyes, which had never done the trick, and somehow it never failed. Kaiba had yet to figure out how this was possible.
And sure enough, it worked again. He was moving towards the beast. The woman smiled brightly at him and he scowled back. Her job offer was being downgraded with each cheerful smirk. He balked once he was within arm's reach of the beast; the horse shifted and stamped one hoof and Kaiba froze. The horse had been mankind's favorite weapon for countless centuries and Kaiba had a sudden understanding of why.
At least, he thought wryly, Yugi and his pathetic friends weren't here to see this, although it almost would be easier if they were. If Kaiba had that particular audience watching him, he would already be up on the horse and leading the way, as if he did this every day and twice on Sunday. There was no way he was letting that idiot Wheeler peg him as a city boy who would rather chew off his own right arm than get within kicking distance of a horse.
When Kaiba had been fourteen, he'd grown seven inches in the space of three weeks, and another five in the following four months. He was long-limbed and tall and had learned how to use it to his advantage; not once had he ever experienced the coltish awkwardness that most teenagers suffered. Not, at least, until the instant he tried to get on the horse's back. At that moment his legs felt a few miles longer than normal and he had approximately ten of them. At one point he couldn't tell if he were mounting a horse or swimming in mid-air and had the sneaking suspicion that he was failing miserably at both. And then he was up, sitting straight-spine in a saddle that seemed to be designed for maximum discomfort, and promptly decided that he was going to have to spend the rest of his life up here because if getting up was a struggle then getting down was going to be impossible.
"Well done!" the cheerful woman said, patting his knee in a condescending manner and very obviously trying not to laugh. Kaiba curled his hands around the reins and held them tightly, although careful not to pull back hard. Being on the horse's back got him away from the hooves but opened up all sorts of other exciting possibilities, like being bucked off.
The woman swung herself into the saddle of her own horse with ease, then set the beast off in a moderate walk down the trail. Mokuba flashed Kaiba a grin, pure happiness, and for three seconds it was worth it. Then he was gone and Kaiba's own horse turned to amble after her companions.
The first few steps were for learning. He held himself tense and bolt upright at first, trying to touch the beast as little as possible; once the movement began he quickly abandoned that. There was a way of moving, of rolling with the horse's steps, to keep each step from jarring his spine. He kept his gaze up on the trail ahead, teaching himself the motions by feel alone, letting his horse do as she pleased so long as she went in the same general direction as the other two.
Perhaps the point of horseback riding was to admire the scenery, or commune with the animals. Perhaps it was simply to relax. Kaiba found himself sorting through mental files, composing notes and memos and reorganizing numbers, which honestly was as close to relaxing as he got, eyes unfocused and distant. The horse sensed her free rein and wandered about aimlessly, moving from one appetizing bush to another. They didn't set the pace- Mokuba was no more experienced a rider than his brother even without the initial gracelessness- but instead seesawed back and forth, sometimes ahead of the other two, sometimes a good ways behind. The woman stopped trying to give him pointers after the first few times he ignored her. His riding style might not be orthodox, or even efficient, but it did the job for him and he saw no need to improve upon it.
"Learns fast, doesn't he?" the woman asked Mokuba.
"Yeah," he replied, with no small amount of pride.
The ride wasn't long, not when one paid as much attention to the whole thing as Kaiba did. According to Mokuba there was a spectacular view. Kaiba noticed only the stream his horse splashed through, soaking his legs up to the knees and almost jolting him right out of the saddle.
He did notice when the ranch came into view, for his horse picked up her pace and changed her rhythm. Before he could readjust, she arrived in the yard and immediately began to head to the barn and her feed. Kaiba hauled back on the reins, having paid enough attention to know how to guide the horse by now. He glanced around and, confirming that he was alone, he swung a leg over and slid off the horse. For two whole seconds the whole operation was performed smoothly and with little fuss. Then his knees folded in and he almost collapsed. He wobbled over to the fence and held himself up by sheer force of will. The muscles in his legs were jelly, accustomed as they were to an entirely different form of movement, and didn't remember how to work properly.
A few minutes later the other two appeared, chattering freely, and for one long moment Kaiba envied his brother's ease with people. Kaiba had been trained from an early age, raised to believe that people could only be trusted to do things as long as they were well-paid or intimidated, and even then he went over everything to make sure it was all done properly. He could never strike up a casual, easy conversation, could never make friends at the drop of a hat. He couldn't be Yugi, he abruptly realized, and instantly and ruthlessly put down that train of thought. Yugi was a trusting fool who paid a high price for his complacency. Kaiba had never lost anything that truly mattered to him, since very little did.
By the time they registered his presence, he was standing free of the fence, arms folded and legs steady as ever. He watched them and waited with an impatient scowl. Mokuba read his mood with the ease of practice and didn't try to speak to him, directing all conversation to the horse woman. It wasn't until they were back in the car, both sitting awkwardly and neither willing to admit it, that Mokuba dared to start up his chatter. His brother had an inhuman level of tolerance for him, he knew, and even if he normally tried not to take advantage of it there were times he pushed his luck. Kaiba half-tuned into the flow of noise, keeping one ear open in case something important was said, and kept his gaze on the window. He smelled like a horse, he realized. He was going to have to burn these clothes.
"Did you have fun?" Mokuba asked, nudging his brother's knee with his own to emphasize the question's significance. Kaiba glanced at him.
"No," he said simply, honestly. Mokuba accepted this evenly, 'fun' still being a new phenomenon to his brother and something he had a hard time defining and a harder time admitting to. If you were having fun, you weren't being efficient, and Kaiba was nothing if not efficient.
"You still went, though," the younger boy said confidently. He had never needed a Seto Kaiba decoder ring, having learned how his brother's mind worked by watching it grow into the convoluted maze it was now. He knew what that allowance meant. Kaiba grunted in acknowledgement and returned to watching the passing landscape.
Mokuba smiled satisfactorily and flopped back against his seat, no doubt plotting his next escapade. As long as it didn't include a horse, Kaiba didn't truly care. Some insistent little voice in the back of his head reminded him that that had been previously declared as a very bad idea. He tuned it out impatiently.
Beside him, his little brother, sensing he was once again alone, took out his phone and began flipping through the photo memory. He had been kind enough not to take any while Kaiba had been trying to get on the horse, but he still had plenty of his stiff-spined brother glaring his patented death glare at the back of his horse's head. He hadn't even seemed aware he was doing it.
Mokuba had no intentions of giving these out, not even to Yugi- that would be passing the realms of sibling teasing and entering into personal betrayal- but he fully intended to keep them all the same.
He flipped his phone shut, stared out the window in consideration. Small steps, he reminded himself. Teaching his brother to relax and maybe even enjoy himself a little was a delicate process and required tact and patience. Small steps.
"So, Seto. What do you think about kittens?"