Hey hey hey, this fanfic isn't dead, I'm just hella busy and this is something I write in the little spare time that I have. I don't have much commentary to provide so...

-shrug-

"Roland, the Korean ambassador for Samsung is about to be here in half an hour on floor five, room 571c, so could you make sure everyone employed by me isn't being a moron?"

The following Tuesday morning, Kaiba graciously situated himself at his desk. There were no intruders loitering on his office couch and no blubbering public relations managers to ruin his day. It was a perfect, uneventful start to a normal work day. It would have been more ideal for him to have had a good night's sleep, but the visions of her that plagued his mind last night made it all too difficult.

He pushed memories of last night away as he broke out his laptop, a model he had designed himself, unreleased to the public. KaibaCorp had not entered the computer industry just yet, but Kaiba believed that it wouldn't take long for him to dominate the likes of future competitors. There were also underlying plans for a line of smartphones, but, despite being a risk-taker, Kaiba had to keep in mind the fact that KaibaCorp was known as a gaming and entertainment corporation. His company's focus was always duel monsters related, but recent years had urged him to undertake other fields.

As usual, he was responding to a plethora of emails while his secretary walked inside and greeted him.

"A cup of coffee and a bagel as usual."

Kaiba glanced up to see Lily Wong set down his breakfast. Her jet black hair was pulled back in a tight bun and her dark brown eyes didn't even bat an eyelash at her boss. Instead, they immediately zoned in on the tablet in her hand. The Chinese lady never made small talk unless engaged in small talk, always delving into business straight away, and that was why Kaiba had kept her as his secretary longer than the others. There were rumors when she first started that she gained her position because of her beautiful face and pleasantly slender figure, and there were also rumors suggesting an intimate relationship between her and her boss. However, Kaiba never held interest, and she didn't either. Professional relationships were strictly professional, yet people never let go of their suspicions.

"Thanks," he responded and reached for his usual plain black coffee, eyes focused on his laptop and the other hand furiously typing. As he brought the cup to his lips, he caught a whiff of fruitiness. He stopped typing and glanced at the cup in his hands. His eyes narrowed at the unfamiliar cup. The logo wasn't the KC brand as it normally was. Instead, it said "Douceur de Devlin."

"Sir, you have a meeting with your shareholders at 9 and-"

"Wong, what is this?" Kaiba cut his secretary off to crisply question the origins of his coffee. It was a minor detail in the grand scheme of his career, but for years that minor detail had always been black coffee from his own company's café next door.

"Ah," Lily lifted her eyes from her tablet and looked at her boss as she calmly explained, "I just moved to a new place, and that café was near. I checked it out this morning for myself and got you one too. It's good, and that hottie Duke Devlin owns it."

"It better not be one of those sweet ones composed of 1% actual coffee," Kaiba grimaced as he started testing the drink. He had no qualms about the coffee coming from his own branch or Duke Devlin's, he just really hoped the one in his hand would get him through the day.

Lily's nose crinkled in disgust and agreed, "Of course not. It's the best black coffee they have. Anyways, your schedule goes like this today…."

Kaiba listened to his secretary list out his schedule as he continued replying to emails and composing some of his own. He found himself reaching for his new coffee more frequently than he had his normal one. It was strong and smooth, with an absence of bitterness that usually came with black coffee. It was only until he had finished it and Wong had walked out the door before he caught a peculiar illustration doodled by sharpie on his coffee cup.

He reached for the cup and raised it to his eye level. He didn't know how to react when he saw a drawing of a simple egg in a nest. Kaiba tossed the cup into the trash can next to his desk and went on his day.

"Wong. Make sure to schedule my lunch meeting with whoever that public relations manager was and that woman for next Monday."

Lily Wong would start bringing in the same coffee from Duke Devlin's coffee shop the rest of the week. She figured that since her boss wasn't complaining about the new coffee, she'd purchase his along with hers. She herself was addicted to Devlin's espresso.

And everyday up until Friday, the little egg would slowly crack. On Wednesday, the egg was drawn to have cracks, with pieces of the shell drawn around the next. On Thursday, an eye appeared from the egg, glaring at Kaiba. On Friday, the head of the creature emerged. On Friday morning, the edge of Kaiba's lips curled up into a full blown smile. Lily caught him smiling.

"Um...excuse me sir," she cleared her throat after choking a little, "Is everything alright?"

Kaiba was a bit preoccupied as he recognized the creature drawn on his coffee cup to be that of a baby blue eyes white dragon. The past week had been entertaining to see the little dragon start to hatch in the form of little doodles. He glanced up at his secretary.

"Yes, I'm fine. Why?"

"Uh," Lily nervously laughed, "You never randomly smile. It's quite abnormal of you."

"Have you noticed these doodles on my coffee cup?" He held up his cup for her to see.

"I haven't noticed actually."

"Do the baristas know you get coffee for me?"

Lily tapped her tablet against her chin as she tried remembering the first time she purchased coffee from Douceur de Devlin before answering, "Actually, I did tell the drive-thru person that your cup of coffee better be caffeinated and taste good enough for a CEO. I didn't tell him specifically it was you, but I was wearing the KaibaCorp nameplate. Guess he had a sharp eye. Ah, anyways, your schedule for today.…"

Kaiba decided to keep the last cup.

That same Friday evening, Kaiba had finished his final activity of the day - another meeting. He sat at the end of the long table where businessmen had spat at each other over each and every minor detail of design plans for an upcoming academy. He was the last one in the room after bidding everyone else farewell for another productive meeting. As he glanced out at the blind covered windows, an exasperated sigh escaped his breath. It was around eight when he finished, a full hour later than usual. The sky, parted by the steel grey blinds, appeared fractured and limited. Years ago, it felt like the sky was so clear. His future was crystal. Lead KaibaCorp. Make money. Be the front for Japanese gaming innovation. Care for Mokuba.

But now, it was about as clear as mud water. He kept his young adult midlife crisis to himself, however. Any sign of weakness from him could lead to a tumult in his company's stocks. He had to keep up his image of some corporate machine.

At the slamming of his briefcase, he shut his thoughts.

Kaiba pressed his hand against his apartment's identification scanner.

Sometime during his college days, he had opted for a more practical shelter than the rather palatial Kaiba mansion - a penthouse in one the most exclusive buildings in Domino City. He didn't mind the neighbors because they never bothered him; Well, he was barely home to have neighbors over anyways. The residents of the grandiose Asagi Towers skyscraper were all of high financial caliber, most coming from new money, and most of them sought the building to avoid the public. Thus, most kept to themselves.

He still opted for one of the best penthouses in the city, albeit not necessarily gigantic in comparison to his previous mansion. It was only a three-bedroom one with two baths, a kitchen, a living room, and a study room. Despite being quite small compared to his previous house, all the accommodations and aspects were nonetheless the height of city luxury, from high ceilings to jacuzzis and the pool that hung over the city skyline.

The moment he had signed the papers to purchase the penthouse, Mokuba had declared that Kaiba had signed his marriage papers to his job. Kaiba had primarily chosen the place in order to be closer to Kaiba Corporations, but he tried covering his intention by reasoning that it was a closer commute to Domino University, and that it would be more convenient for Mokuba in the future when he would be attending the same college. After all, their previous castle of a home was an hour commute, as it was located in the outskirts of Domino. However, that argument, despite it being logical, didn't faze his little brother's initial suspicions.

On the topic of his little brother, Mokuba Kaiba, now age 19, had grown quite handsomely. His previously long and bushy black hair had been cut at a much shorter length, and his height had even surpassed his older brother's by a mere inch. His face was always lively, a stark contrast against his brother's generally dismal one, and his violet eyes were often defined as his most charming feature. In fact, Mokuba had garnered much attention and adoration for his good looks that the public started associating him as the face of Kaiba Corporations.

As soon as he stepped into his apartment, Mokuba yelled from across the living room.

"Seto, I had dinner with a girl, and I still got home earlier!"

Kaiba found his little brother sitting up on the couch with the TV remote in hand.

"Well you probably didn't get that far if you got home at like 8," Kaiba smirked as he set his briefcase on the living room table.

"I'm classy," Mokuba winked, "I never sleep with a girl on the first date."

"Until like the billionth one," Kaiba shook his head as he ventured into the kitchen.

"You should try commitment sometime," Mokuba remarked as he followed Kaiba into the kitchen, "By the way, I brought you food from the restaurant we ate at. Thai."

Kaiba grunted in response to his little brother's remark about commitment. He pulled out what looked like a takeout box in the fridge, put the food on a plate, and tossed it into the microwave.

"You know, one night stands don't count as real relationships," Mokuba continued.

Kaiba stayed quiet as the microwave continued heating his food. As soon as the microwave beeped, he took out his food and sat on one of the stools situated next to the kitchen island.

"Don't believe the tabloids," he started chewing his pad thai.

"Well, you never even talk about your romance life, even to me," Mokuba complained as he sidled up on the next stool, "You know, you're either a sex god or a hopeless virgin in everyone's eyes."

"And that would be absolutely horrendous if I actually cared about everyone else's opinion about my sex life," Kaiba sighed in between bites before continuing, "It's really unimportant, Mokuba. I assure you, I'm neither at risk of STDs or sexually incompetent. Why have you been bothering me so much about this lately?"

"Agh-" Mokuba rushed his hand through his hair in frustration, folded his arms on the table, and started being quiet as his head stooped low.

Kaiba continued eating his food. Right about down to the last bite, he looked to the side to view his suddenly depressed brother.

"What's wrong?"

Mokuba sighed as he raised his head.

"I'm really sorry Seto," he felt a lump in his throat as he explained, "I was planning to tell you on my birthday, but its been eating away at me. I-I got accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a transfer student in March of this year…and I committed. I already cleared my status as a student at Domino University."

Kaiba stared blankly at his brother. For a moment,he didn't know how to feel. For that long, his brother had kept that bit of rather important information from him. He had a gut feeling he was the last to know. However, his brother had gotten into the best college for his intended major - computer engineering.

"I'm proud of you, Moki," Kaiba softly said as a huge smile graced his face. He raised one arm to reassuringly press on Mokuba's shoulder, "But why is it that you kept this from me?" As that question escaped Kaiba's mouth, he could feel a knot form in his stomach. He felt like Mokuba's answer would hurt him. The one person he one hundred percent cared for in the entire world had decided to keep such wonderful news in secret, and that bothered Kaiba.

"I was kind of intimidated by how you would react to the news, and I felt really guilty as well. You were always the genius, the child prodigy, so school was nothing hard for you. Not even Domino University was difficult. I know your attendance record to Domino was better than any year you had in high school, but you still handled college like it was a side thing since you had work and everything else. The only reason why you settled for Domino was because of its close proximity to KaibaCorp. Also, you were one of the youngest people to already have a Ph.D. in computer science," Mokuba took in a breath, "What I'm trying to say is, I didn't think you'd understand how much I really want to expand my learning to someplace more challenging...how much I need to because you're so naturally smart. I'm quite gifted in computer engineering from years of observing at KaibaCorp, but nowhere near like you. I want to be challenged just a bit more, at a place outside of my comfort zone, at a place kind of outside your shadow."

Kaiba listened intently to Mokuba as he let out all his reasonings. Although the two were close as brothers, times like this when they spoke heart to heart were uncommon.

"Mokuba, I'm sorry that you felt that I couldn't understand, but there is no way I would stop you from wanting to live your life-"

"Not only that!" Mokuba interjected in a half-shout as his eyes directly met Kaiba's this time, "But you can't take care of yourself, Seto! The thing I'm scared of the most is you dropping dead from too much work and skipping meals when I'm gone. You can say you're going to take care of yourself but you're not. That's why I've kind of been trying to pry into your romance life. Like is there anybody else, like a romantic interest, anybody, who can take care of you? Honestly, when was the last time you went out with anybody, even one friend, who wasn't a business partner?"

Kaiba was silenced by Mokuba's accusations and outbursts. This time, it was more than a moment for him to figure out his emotions. Although there were previous times when his brother would point out his poor health and inability to have an active social life, Mokuba had never been this expressive.

"I made a promise years ago that I would be the one to take care of you," Kaiba firmly responded, "but if I have to make a promise now to take care of myself in order to put your mind at ease, then I will make it. There isn't that someone else you want to take care of me in place of you, but I will make it. Mokuba, I need you to trust that I can take care of myself. I'll take care of myself so you can live and study guilt-free in America. I want you to live your life."

Mokuba relieved a large sigh as he pressed his fingers against his temples before responding.

"I honestly can't entirely believe you, but I guess that's alright for now," Mokuba concluded as a small smile started to emerge on his face, "Thanks for listening, Seto. I'm really glad I got to tell you everything."

Kaiba got up and took his dish to the sink to wash it. He looked over his shoulder.

"Anytime. Now what are you getting into as a third-year MIT student?"

Mokuba grinned at the question and ensued an intriguing conversation regarding database systems, multicore programming, and all else tech related that only the Kaiba brothers could talk about for hours into the night.

But Kaiba didn't sleep well that night. What Mokuba had confessed still bugged him. It felt surreal to think his little brother was the one taking care of him, to think that Mokuba consciously felt that way the past few years. He only slept for a few hours. Despite trying his best to suspend himself into sleep, he ended up waking at an ungodly hour. There was no way he would be able to go back to a peaceful slumber, so he forced himself out of bed, got dressed, and left his apartment.

Kaiba's eyes glazed at the neon lighting of "Douceur de Devlin" as he took a pause to view the storefront. The bright scarlet lighting was one of many existing, radiant lusters in the bustling nightlife of Domino. The café was a two story wonder with much emphasis on the rooftop area. He knew it wasn't at all rational to be dreaming of such specific coffee before the sun rose on a Saturday morning, but the past week's coffee served on his office table had been convincing enough.

As soon as he entered the cafe, he took note of the luxurious interiors that only Duke Devlin could possibly implicate upon a mere coffee shop. Despite the rather outlandish lavishness of the cafe, it was classy enough than gaudy. The red, black, and cream tones of the interior made out nicely along with the crisp white marble flooring. A sneaking suspicion crept onto Kaiba as he actually wondered why Duke had even started a 24 hour coffee business.

He was the only customer, yet he made sure that he had slipped his hoodie over his head. It was a sight to see Seto Kaiba dressed in the most casual of clothes - a black hoodie, sweatpants, and slides for shoes. He approached the order counter towards a young man, rather handsome and rivaling that of Devlin with his chiseled facial structure, stark silver eyes, and black brown hair. A charismatic grin emerged on the man's face as Kaiba came into view. Kaiba noticed his name tag as "Sora."

"Hello, welcome to Devlin's! What can I get for you this morning?"

Kaiba was taken slightly aback by the unorthodox cheeriness of this man. For someone working a shift so early, he had an overly joyous disposition. The salaries at this place had to be above average or something.

"I...don't exactly know the name of the coffee-" Kaiba was cut off by Sora.

"No worries!" Sora mused, "I can always recommend you popular drinks."

"I've had it brought to me the past week. It's a dark blend. Very smooth and caffeinated," Kaiba quickly chimed in before the cashier could possibly go on a tangent.

Sora ran his left hand through his wavy hair as he scrutinized the man in front of him.

"Ah - Seto Kaiba? Haha, I gotchu, good thing we got the barista who makes your coffee working right now," Sora started tapping the order in as he continued talking, "You know as soon as your secretary or whatever mentioned how her boss was a CEO, and I recognized her nameplate was KaibaCorp branded, she went out her way to make this special blend. Haha, if I didn't catch on who you were, there was no way you could've ordered that. It really is a unique coffee she made you, but she's good at that stuff you know. Anyways, would you like something else? We have pastries and sandwiches."

"Just the coffee," Kaiba answered deadpanned. He couldn't for the life of him figure if this Sora guy was fooling him. Kaiba couldn't wrap his brain around the idea that some random barista had dedicated a drink to him.

"Alrighty, card or cash?"

"Card."

"Ok. Just swipe here, and we'll have your drink shortly. Thanks for ordering from Devlin's!"

After Kaiba swiped his credit card, he quickly sidled to the pick-up counter to avoid any unnecessary small talk with the cashier. As social as he was in business situations, he never really indulged in voluntary ones. It didn't take long for someone to emerge from the kitchen with his drink.

"Seto Kaiba-" a feminine voice softly spoke. It faded into obscurity quickly.

Kaiba's eyes drifted to his drink and picked it up before meeting face to face with his past. It was the weary face of Kisara. His eyes stared into hers for a numbingly long time. He let the heat of the coffee cup sear into his skin, as he couldn't find the words to communicate to her from his confusing mixture of emotions, nor could he find the will to move. He got to analyze her face more. It was delicately small, framed by straight but slightly arched brows, a set of wide, soft baby blue eyes, a finely sloped nose, and heart-shaped lips. He also noticed her dark circles, ones that were better than his but nonetheless showed signs of fatigue.

"Ah, yes! Our top barista!" Sora scooted over and patted Kisara's head affectionately.

"Ugh, Sora," the woman complained as she lifted Sora's hand, "You're embarrassing me…I need to go back into the kitchen and restock our supplies. Enjoy your drink, Mr. Kaiba."

With a bow, she quickly turned heel and disappeared. And with that, Kaiba evaded all social interaction by disappearing into the rooftop of the cafe.

It was actually fantastical. The rooftop area was decked with multi-colored fairy lights that gave an enchanting luminescence to the seating area. White cushioned seats lined the deck of the rooftop and a variety of plants were placed as decoration. It gave a more natural feel compared to the interior. The building was not tall, so it did not offer a skyscraper's view, but the rooftop boasted a breathtaking view of the ocean. When the city was not so loud, as it was right then and there, the roaring purrs of the ocean could faintly be made out.

Kaiba sat himself at a two-person table, settling himself comfortably in a cozy cushioned wicker chair. Before he took a sip, he took a closer look at the coffee cup. This time, the baby blue eyes white dragon had evolved into its full-grown shape. It was a reflection of the same monster that he held near and dear to his heart. Kaiba grew weary at the thought of his favorite duel monster and his irrational attachment to it. He supposed that it was an unhealthy obsession, to claim that the blue eyes white dragon could only be wielded by him when in actuality, anybody with hands could summon the same card. His excuse for his infatuation was that the blue eyes was the strongest normal summon monster, and therefore it was necessary for him to own all three cards in order to become the strongest duelist in the world.

But it was more than that. He felt the feeling in his gut. In his heart. It was silly, he knew, but he couldn't ignore the habitual euphoria that rushed in his veins every time he summoned the blue eyes white dragon. He couldn't forget that one duel in the first Battle City against Ishizu Ishtar, when he could actually feel the dragon call out to him, communicate to him that she was the one to be chosen over the much more powerful obelisk, that she was his partner in defying the destiny that Ishizu claimed could foresee, that she was worth sacrificing a god for. She…

Since when did he start referring to the blue eyes white dragon as a she?

"You've been staring a little bit too long at your drink. Are you the type that can't stand a little bit of heat?"

An amused, yet lightly worn voice emerged in front of Kaiba. The man broke his stare and thoughts in order to gaze at his visitor. It was Kisara. She had taken it upon herself to sit in the opposing seat and had her own coffee cup that she held firmly between her hands.

Kaiba stayed silent, not really sure how he should respond. He simply drank his coffee. Palatable. As usual.

"Ignoring me, huh," Kisara surmised as the corners of her lips folded up into a weak smile, "Well, I guess I very much deserve that." She let out a sigh and rested back into her chair, taking in sips of her own coffee. She let go her stare on Kaiba and longingly faced the ocean.

The fairy lights illuminated her beauty. Her glistening long white hair had the most exquisite affair with the rays of light. Colors danced on it, shining so hard that it appeared her hair was glowing in variations of saturated hues. Kaiba couldn't break his stare. He'd noticed that every time he looked at her, he found it hard to escape his curiosities, so he decided to speak up before it turned creepy.

"It's good coffee," he bluntly stated.

Kisara turned her head to face him again, eyebrows high as if she was so shocked that he decided to converse with her.

"Thank you," she responded as her weak smile evolved into a more genuine shape, "I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's the darkest blend I make, not a lot of people need that much caffeine in their lives, but I suspect you're not like most."

"You suspect correctly," Kaiba blandly continued, "It's gotten me through the day better than other blends." As much as he enjoyed his daily cup of coffee, he wasn't too interested in analyzing coffee to the bean. He just needed to a plain conversation as an excuse to look at her.

"Well, I sure hope it does. I make it for myself as well. It's for the busiest of people," Kisara happily noted.

"If you're so busy, then why are you up here instead of the kitchen?" Kaiba's tone grew unfriendlier as he slowly started to recall his first encounter, or rather lack of one, with her.

Kisara raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at her coffee buddy, recognizing his sour tone. She set down her drink on the table and leaned back, legs crossed and arms folded.

"Hmm...I could say the same for Mr. Hot-Shot-CEO right here. You've got a multi-billion dollar company underneath your feet that could easily topple over in a day. Why are you out here on a fine Saturday morning getting coffee at an inconvenient location when you should be squirreled up in your mansion, stabbing analytics and business whatnots into your eyes?"

She didn't like being looked down upon. Well he didn't either.

"Because unlike you," Kaiba set his coffee down with emphasis, "I'm not at the mercy of an employer who pays me minimum wage. I own people who make me a million's worth of their salary, therefore I can definitely afford days, if not years, of work off. The fact that you're working on a Saturday as a barista at your age indicates your lack of career and education. I have good reason to look down on you, but you don't have any against me. So tell me, why are you up here and insulting me?"

Poison laced his words. He knew he was overbearing. He was Seto Kaiba. He was always self-aware of his tyrannical self-conduct, and the worse thing was that he didn't give a fuck. He knew he hurt her from the motions of her eyes downcast towards her lap. Other than that one small motion, she remained stone frozen.

After what seemed like eons, she finally looked to her side, towards the wide escape of the ocean. Kaiba, intrigued, followed her viewpoint. He didn't like being ignored, but she had viable reason to ignore him after what he said. All he saw was that the sun had decided to finally rise up from the depths of the ocean, leaking its warm rays across Domino City and signaling light onto the disparities of yesterday.

"Because…" Kisara softly spoke, "I didn't come up for you. I always come for the sunrise. Maybe, for just one second, every time I see the sunrise, I can forget about how shitty my monotonous life was a day ago and hope for something new the next day." Her eyes drifted back toward Kaiba, and they were dead, soulless. She had no interest in listening to whatever cynical comment Kaiba had to offer, so she took her coffee and left.

Something new. Monotonous life. As much as Kaiba despised feeling some sort of connection to the girl that left him, he couldn't help but linger over the truth of her words and how they too defined his current course of life as he stayed perched upon the rooftop, swallowing his coffee while looking at the sunrise.

This fanfic develops spontaneously in my head haha, but I always have the end goal of finishing it :) Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoy it so far! I know my writing can be pretty dense, and the plot isn't moving too fast, but I promise that it'll be better in the big picture.