A/N: thank you everyone for reading, fave-ing, reviewing, putting this on alert and whatnot! i realllyyy appreciate all of that! this is probably going to be the second last chapter of this fic (yes, i know. i feel sad that this fic is coming to an end. i really like this one. sobs.)

anw, i chose this song by Christine Glass because it just reminded me of something that the Kaiba brothers felt for each other. the fact that they depend on one another to pull through anything that's thrown at them in their lives.

hope you guys enjoy this chapter, yea! reviews aplomb, alrite?


If you wander off too far, my love will get you home.
If you follow the alone star, my love will get you home.
If you ever find yourself, lost and all alone,
get back on your feet and think of me, my love will get you home.
my love will get you home.

If the bright lights blind your eyes, my love will get you home.
If your troubles break your stride, my love will get you home.
If you ever find yourself, lost and all alone,
get back on your feet and think of me, my love will get you home.
my love will get you home.

If you ever feel ashamed, my love will get you home.
When there's only you to blame, my love will get you home.
If you ever find yourself, lost and all alone,
get back on your feet and think of me, my love will get you home.
my love will get you home.

If you ever find yourself, lost and all alone,
get back on your feet and think of me, my love will get you home.
my love will get you home,
my love will get you home.

- My Love Will Get You Home by Christine Glass

Aisha awoke with a start. Someone quickly handed her a glass of water, to which she murmured, "Shukran, sadiqati."

"Afwan, Aisha," Ishizu murmured back. She helped her friend to her feet. Astral projecting could really drain someone. "Is it done?"

Aisha gulped down her drink before nodding. "Na'am, Ishizu. Yes. Your friend will have his brother back very soon." She smiled widely, remembering back to her experience in the Spirit World. "He was such a pleasant boy. Your friend is so lucky to have a brother like him."

To that, Ishizu could not help but smile back. "Should I inform my friend now, or let it be for the time being?"

Aisha seemed thoughtful. "Let it be, Ishizu. There's no guarantee when precisely he'll wake up. But it'll surely be in these few coming days."

XO XO XO XO

Tea stuck her head in and peered into the hospital ward. Neither she nor her friends had been down to visit Mokuba for the past few days – the continuous heavy rain had made it difficult for them to get around. The only reason she braved the rain today was because Yugi had just called her to tell her that Ishizu's friend in Egypt had managed to lead Mokuba's soul back to his body. He had told her that there was no need to rush there because there was no definitive date for Mokuba to wake up, except that it would happen sometime this week. She had tried to rope her friends in for the visit, but they were either tied up with helping out at home (Yugi), or nursing a bad cold due to some audacity to run about in the rain (Joey and Tristan).

The lighting in the room was dimmed slightly, but nothing had changed much. Except for the fact that a small working table had been brought in, and strewn all over it were leaflets of papers. She bit back a smile at the sight of Seto fast asleep next to Mokuba; he had leaned over on his chair and rested his head beside Mokuba's. Seeing Seto peacefully asleep, she could not help but noting how harmless he looked.

Quietly she walked in and rearranged the papers on the table. Seto had been working hard on his case. That much was obvious from the post-its and the scribblings on the stray foolscap papers. She frowned. Why was he putting in so much effort into piecing his case? Shouldn't his lawyer be in charge of all this? He should have a lawyer, right?

After she placed the stack of papers on Seto's briefcase, she seated herself at the seat beside Mokuba's bed, across Seto. She ran her hand through Mokuba's hair and smiled. He was lucky to have a brother like Seto to have cared so much about him and willing to protect him at any cost. Suddenly, her cerulean eyes caught sight of something moving. Mokuba's hand was moving!

Without thinking twice, she leaned over to tap Seto hard on his shoulder. "Kaiba! Mokuba's hand moved!" the joy in her voice was unmistakable.

"Mokuba!" Seto awoke with a start and immediately clutched his brother's shoulders, shaking it repetitively. "Mokuba!" He punched a button on the wall. "Mokuba!"

The ward door flung open, and in flew a team of the best doctor and nurses in the hospital. They immediately got set to work and ran a quick checkup on Mokuba. Seto was standing impatiently beside them, the shine of hope so obvious in his blue eyes. Tea had proceeded to a corner and had her clasped in front of her as she prayed for Mokuba's conciousness.

After what seemed like forever, the doctor pocketed his stethoscope. Seto pounced on the question, "Is he waking up?"

The doctor shook his head. "There's no sign that he's waking up soon, Mr Kaiba."

"But his hand moved!" Seto insisted, one hand grabbing Mokuba's. "She saw it! I saw it too!"

The doctor sighed and steadied the CEO's shoulders. "Mr Kaiba, calm down. The movement was probably just a reflex action. There's no sign he's waking up soon. I'm sorry, Mr Kaiba."

Seto crumpled back into his seat as the medical team took their leave. Tea shuffled forward hesitantly. Should she keep her mouth shut or offer some words of comfort? Still unsure, she neared Seto and just stood beside him, watching on as he gripped Mokuba's hand, murmuring his brother's name over and over again.

"Kaiba…" she gingerly put a hand on his strong shoulder.

"Shove off, Gardner," his voice was muffled, but retaining the harshness he was famed for.

Tea was not put off by his act. "Kaiba, don't be like this. Please."

Seto remained still for a while, then he stood up. Still keeping his eyes on his brother, he spoke contritely to Tea, "Please look after my brother. I'll be back asap."

With that, he shoved his papers into his briefcase and grabbed it as he swiftly exited the room. Tea just stared after him. Could she trust his word this time round?

An hour and a half later, Tea regretted doubting Seto's words. He returned, all freshened up and looking slick in his well-tailored black suit. He gave out an air of crisp professionalism, with none of the arrogance he was well-known for. This time round, he came in empty-handed.

"How's Mokuba? Any signs of him waking up yet?" he asked softly.

"Nothing yet, Kaiba," Tea replied, equally soft. She glanced up at him, and her gaze softened at how stoic he looked. "I'm sorry. I know you're expecting that…"

Seto waved her off. "It's alright. I just… wanted to know."

Tea stood up and moved to give way for Seto. "You wanna talk to Mokuba?"

"Yeah," Seto seated himself beside Mokuba. Tea wondered if he ever tired of gazing into his brother's face and stroking his brother's hair. Probably not, she thought wistfully. Kaiba's not bad a person, after all. Aware that the brothers probably need some space of their own, she inched away to be near the door. That way, she would be out of Seto's earshot. But she trusted that her ears were sharp enough to catch what Seto was saying. Not that she would spread it, of course. She merely wanted to get some insight on the CEO. She had always wondered how someone as cold and ruthless as Kaiba could be so tender and warm at times.

"Mokuba," she heard Seto say. "Today's the day. I'm sorry I have to leave you for now. But if I don't turn up for the hearing, they're gonna make me rescind my responsibility over you. I don't want that happening, and I'm not gonna give it any chance of ever happening. I'm not going to lose you, Mokuba. I know that you'll be with me." He held out his pendant; there was another small silver pendant hanging beside it. "You and me. Always." He bent down to plant a kiss on his brother's forehead. At the same time, he made it such that his bangs cover his eyes so Tea would not see the small specks of tears that threatened to fall. The next few words were breathed onto his brother's wet forehead, "I'll always love you, my dear Mokie."

Gathering his composure, he straightened his jacket and headed for the door. As he passed Tea, he kept his head down, but still spoke loudly and clearly, "I trust you with Mokuba." He paused for a beat. "When he wakes up, alert Roland."

"O-Okay," Tea was too stunned to say anything properly. "I – You – Good luck, Kaiba."

She swore she saw the corners of his lips twitch slightly as he languidly made his way out of the ward, but not without one last long look at Mokuba.

All the best, Kaiba, she wished silently as she watched him go. You did everything for you and your brother. I know you'll win it. She averted her gaze to Mokuba and she felt fierce sorrow empowering her. But I know more than anything, you want Mokuba to be up.

XO XO XO XO

"We're currently outside the subordinate court, where we'll be witnessing the case that has everyone in Domino buzzing," Jenna Suzuki, the raven-haired journalist broadcasted into the rolling camera. "In a few moments now, the custody case of Mokuba Kaiba will be reviewed by the court. His brother and current guardian, a businessman whose name is familiar with everyone in this city, Seto Kaiba, is due to arrive any minute now. If he fails to make an appearance, the court will grant the custody to the social welfare department and revoke him of his rights as guardian. And speaking of Seto Kaiba, the man himself has turned up!"

The camera quickly panned to Seto emerging from his limo. He had dark glasses on, and barely gave a glance at the media swarming him like bees. Once in a while he raised his hand and politely declined to give any comment or statement. Other than that, he seemed to remain focused at the task on hand and swiftly proceeded to enter the courtroom.

"Apparently, Seto Kaiba has turned up without a lawyer!" Jenna continued her report. "This is a surprise, because almost everyone had been expecting him to hire the country's top lawyer, David Yamato, to represent him in this case. We'll be bringing in more live updates from this court drama, so stay tuned to receive all the latest news from me, Jenna Suzuki, right here on TV Plus."

XO XO XO XO

Tea bit her lip as she overheard the nurses discussing Kaiba's court case. So he did go without a lawyer. Stupid guy. Just because he thinks he's Seto Kaiba, he can do everything alone? I thought he'd be more responsible than that.

She closed the ward's door slowly. There was no need for Mokuba to hear all about the case. She knew for a fact that patients in a coma need encouragement, not more tense or bad news. But she needed to find out what was happening, and no way was she going to rely on the nurses' network. Half of them were biased towards Kaiba, if only for the reason that he was the most good-looking person they had ever set eyes on. Tea was sure she would not have the patience to weed out smatterings of "Oh, poor Seto!" and "I wish I was there to hug my future boyfie". She had heard enough of that from her stays in the hospital.

There was a television set in the ward, but it was switched off. In all the time that she and her friends had been here, it was never on. Joey had tried to get Kaiba to turn it on, but the CEO had merely grunted and said that he did not know if it was working. Still, it did not hurt to try, right?

Tea dragged a chair over and hurriedly climbed on it. She had to tiptoe to reach the on button on the television. Yes, it's working! She almost leapt out of excitement right there and then. Quickly she muted the volume. After all, there would be headlines streaming at the bottom of the screen every few minutes. Then she thought again. What's tv without sound? Throwing a quick glance at Mokuba, she upped the volume by 3 levels. It was soft but still audible if she really concentrated.

She got back down, propped herself beside Mokuba, and watched her former nemesis do battle in court on his own.

XO XO XO XO

Seto forced himself not to cast an annoyed or disapproving look at the rate his case was going. He took the risk of becoming his own lawyer. Why should he pay someone else to protect his brother when that was precisely what he had been doing all his life? Now, if only the court could understand it.

"Now, you stated that you've done your best to your abilities to protect your brother," the defense attorney pressed on, adamant not to shut up. "If so, then why did you allow your brother's safety to be compromised on more than one occasion?"

"I stated that I did my best to protect him, but sometimes things happen that we cannot foresee," Seto replied curtly through gritted teeth. "If I had foreseen those things happening to Mokuba, do you think I'll allow it to happen?"

I did, his guilty conscience struck him. That's why Mokie's in the hospital, still unconscious.

"This is not your place to question me, Mr Kaiba," the DA shot back just as sweetly. "I'm the lawyer here, and you the one on trial."

"Objection, Your Honour," Seto called out, looking at the judge straight in the eye. "He is making irrelevant claims to his and my position in court that has nothing to do with this case at all."

"Objection granted," the judge said in a bored tone. He gestured to the DA. "Mr Niigata, please keep your questions to be of relevance to the issue at hand."

The DA bowed slightly to the judge, one hand across his chest. "I'm sorry, Your Honour," he spoke mock sincerely. Seto rolled his eyes. He knew the guy was just out to get him. "Mr Kaiba, let me make this clear. At the age of fifteen years old and nine months, you demanded, not requested, the court to grant you custody of your brother. And you also pushed to be given adult status by the time you turned sixteen. Were you aware that at that time, you were still considered to be a minor? What pushed you to demand for all those things?"

Seto threw a pleading look to the ceiling of the court. This was going to one hell of a long, irritating day. He replied in a terribly bored voice, "Yes, I was mentally sound and perfectly aware of my position as a minor in that point in time. But ever since my father, Gozaburo Kaiba, vanished after I took over Kaiba Corporation, he left me and my brother to fend for ourselves. If you were me, wouldn't you have done the same thing that I did? Which is to fulfill my responsibility as an older brother. Would you have left your own flesh and blood defenceless? Mr Niigata, surely such reasons should have been made obvious to you."

"My personal opinion doesn't matter, Mr Kaiba. Next question …"

XO XO XO XO

Mokuba pushed himself to open his eyes. He heard Seto's voice in the background; he could not make out what was being said, just that he finally heard the beloved voice. Whoever Seto was dealing with right now, he could not have been happy. He sounded as if he was hell-bent on throttling the person.

One of his eyelid finally gave in to his demand to open. The first thing he saw was dark brown hair. That got his other eye to open up as well. His lips were already pulled into a huge grin. He's back! He lurched forward to hug the person sitting beside him, but stopped short. It wasn't Seto.

"T-Tea?" Mokuba mumbled.

The brunette whirled around suddenly and jumped from her seat. The next minute, Mokuba found himself smothered in a bear hug as she cried and practically shouted, "Mokuba! You're up! Oh my God! You're up! Mokuba!"

Mokuba patted her back and disentangled himself from her embrace. Tea looked back at him and laughed as she wiped her eyes. Mokuba smiled weakly back. Then he caught sight of the television set.

"I'd better tell the nurses and Roland that you're up!" Tea pressed the button on the wall. She was still in tears as she ruffled Mokuba's hair. "I can't believe it! You're finally up!"

Mokuba pointed shakily at the television screen. "Tea? What's Seto doing there in court?"

Tea took a deep breath. How was she going to explain this one? "Uhh… your brother has some… case to settle."

The younger Kaiba blanched. "It's the custody case, isn't it?" Mokuba dragged himself out of bed, and gritting his teeth to withstand the pain (so not unlike his brother, Tea noted), pulled the tubes out of his arm.

At the same time, the ward's door swung open with the doctor and nurses all standing behind Roland. Without haste, Mokuba grabbed Tea and Roland by the hand and pulled them out of the room, ignoring the medical team's call to stop.

"Mr Mokuba, wouldn't it be better if you –" Roland was just about to pass on a friendly advice for his younger charge to remain at the hospital.

"Get us to the court now, Roland!" Mokuba cried out, running down the hallway. Roland and Tea pounded hard after him. Where did that kid get the energy to run like that from?

XO XO XO XO

Seto made sure that his face remained expressionless and cold as always. He was losing the battle. Maybe he should have gone along with the court's initial idea of having the case spread out over a couple of days rather than insisting that it be a speed trial that could be completed in a day. The judge seemed to have bought the idea that any man who let his charge get kidnapped or lost on more than three occasions was not fit to bear the title of guardian. Seto stared at the floor, racking his brain to come up with any last minute saving grace.

If only you were here to defend for your rights, Mokuba, he thought. I fought hard for us, Mokuba. I'm sorry I failed you again.

"After the break, the court has made its decision regarding the custody for Mokuba Kaiba. And the court hereby announces that Mr Seto Kaiba, will –"

"STOP!"

Seto whipped his head around to the sound of that voice coming from the court's doorway. Forgetting for a while, that he was in the witness stand in a subordinate court, he jumped over the balustrades and sped to the origin of the voice. Reporters, lawyers, judges and members of the public alike witnessed as Seto Kaiba got to his knees and embraced Mokuba Kaiba who seemed to have flung himself into his brother's arms. For a moment, Seto was thankful that his brother's hair was in a disarray because it completely obscured his face.

"Seto, I'm so sorry I was gone for so long," Mokuba whispered, barely able to contain the tears from streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry, Seto. I miss you, Big Brother. I miss you so much."

"Me too, Mokuba," Seto whispered fiercely back. He sensed droplets raining on his brother's hair. "I was so afraid I'll never be able to see you again. It was so hard for me, Mokuba. Not to hear your voice, not to see your smile. If it had ended up like my dream back then, the dream that I told you about, I'll… I'll never forgive myself." He quickly pressed a hand to his temple, but at the same time wiping dry his eyes. He turned back to the board of judges and lawyers that were looking on. With newfound confidence, he said out loud in a challenging manner, "Doesn't the law dictate that the charge himself has a say of where he wants to go? The charge in question is here. I request for a last-minute appeal for Mokuba Kaiba to be brought to the witness stand."

Seto and Mokuba exchanged looks, and both gave each other a reassuring hand squeeze, smiles conveyed through their eyes. Then, Seto led Mokuba to the witness stand. With a flourish of confidence, he went up to the judge and requested politely, "Your Honour, I'd like to ask your permission to question Mokuba Kaiba. Perhaps then we will be able to come to a better idea of where the decision should be heading towards."

The judge remained silent. Then he spoke up, "Permission granted. Mr Niigata, you'll be allowed to question Mr Mokuba Kaiba first."

Seto froze as he stared at the judge in bewilderment.


A/N P2: just some glossary to help you guys with cos i know the starting para is kinda "huh? what are they talking about?"

Arabic words - English meaning

shukran - thank you

sadiqati - my friend

afwan - you're welcome

na'am - yes