The sky was cloudy, but no snow had fallen yet. It was two days before Christmas and almost all of Domino City seemed to be out on the streets, finishing their shopping.
Cold blue eyes...brown hair...Seto Kaiba walked tall and proud down the street, eyes straight ahead, his hand clutching a small paper bag. A few girls from school stared at him as he walked by.
"Ow Joey! That's hot!"
"Oops. Sorry Yugi."
Seto's eyes darted towards the source of the two familiar voices. Yugi and his gang were headed towards him, oblivious to his existence. Or maybe they were ignoring him....
He ducked into an alley as the four friends walked by. Yugi was too busy trying to get hot chocolate off of his jacket to notice the older boy and Joey and Tristan were too busy laughing their heads off. Only Téa was observant of her surroundings. And only Téa saw Seto watching them from the alley.
She and the older boy locked eyes for a moment. She seemed about to say something, for she had opened her mouth slightly, but closed it after a second as if she didn't know how to say what she wanted. It was Seto who glanced away first and down to the apper bag in his hand. It held a box of Mokuba's favorite chocolates.
Then Téa was gone, running to catch up with her friends, keeping the secret of who she had just seen. Keeping the secret of what she had seen flicker in his eyes...
He continued to walk and put the box of chocolates in his pocket, nessled next to his dueling deck.
They were strange....Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Téa that is. They seemed to have this bond...this unbreakable bond that Seto had neveer even seen so strong before. They would die for each other....And no matter what they were always with each other, through thick and thin....and they never gave up hope. That was what really amazed Seto about them all, especially Téa. Even when Joey, Tristan and maybe even Yugi gave up hope on themselves, Téa was always there to boost them back up. She had even taken on Mai Valentine for Yugi....
She was persistant, friendly, and beautiful...with an edge of fire that made her interesting. Often her words rang in his ears, uncalled for but always heard.
"What do you have Seto Kaiba? What do you have at the end of the day?!"
And everytime he heard the question in his mind, he mentally answered it. Nothing.
He, the once great Seto Kaiba, had almost nothing. He had only three real things in his life that he really cared about. Mokuba, his dueling deck, and his technology, in that order. Other then that...he didn't have much that he cared about. But even the thought of technology brought back more unwanted words.
"You've spent so much time with your machines, Kaiba, that you have forgotton how to care!"
Téa had been mad that day....but she had also been truthful.
"State your name please." Seto had come to the security gate in front of the mansion. This ensured that only a select few got into his home.
"Seto Kaiba." The computer scanned his voice, and then the irises of his eyes before the gate creaked open, letting him in.
On entering the dining room, the fragrant smell of...cookies?....attacked Seto's senses. Chocolate chip, if he smelled correctly. He hadn't had homemade cookies in years....he hadn't had a cookie in years....but who was making them?
"Mokuba?"
"In here Seto!"
The older boy followed the sound of his brother's voice to the kitchen. As Seto walked in, Mokuba was pulling a sheet of chocolate chip cookies from the oven. The older Kaiba inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell.
"Cookies?" Seto asked. "Chocolate chip cookies?"
Mokuba shrugged and nodded then began to scrape the cookies of the sheet and onto a plate. "I was bored and Nami said I could...so I did. Plus we haven't had cookies since..." the younger boy looked at his brother. "Well you know..."
Seto nodded. "Yeah."
The older boy sat at the table and his little brother sat across from him bringing with him a steaming plate of cookies and a glass of cold milk. Each brother took a cookie and began to eat. Mokuba munched on his cookie, watching his brother thoughtfully.
"Hey Seto?"
"Yes, little brother?"
"Do you think about....them often?"
Them. Oh how he thought about them so oten. Sometimes he thought that he could really smell his mother's perfume or hear his father's deep, heart laugh. He could almost picture them standing at the door on the last night that he saw them...all dressed up...smiling so brightly at them...
Tears quivered in Seto's sapphire eyes.
"Yeah Mokuba....I think about them a lot."
/About how disapointed they would be in me.../ he thought. /About how they would look at me if they knew what I had done to Yugi's grandfather...about what I had done to Yugi himself. And his friends...I deserved Téa's angry words on top of the castle...my parents would be disapointed in me if they knew what I had become...a cold hearted business man../
"Me too..." Mokuba whispered. "If I try really hard I can almost remember what Mom looked look...or sometimes I think I can remember what Dad's voice sounded like..." the younger boy trailed off, looking down at his hands.
Seto softenend. Mokuba had been so young when it had happened.... "C'mere kid..."
Mokuba abandoned his cookies and lept into the safety of his older brother's arms. Tears trickled down his cheek, glistening like diamonds.
Seto closed his eyes and pulled his brother closer to him as a tear squeezed its way out of his eye. Outside the Heavens opened up and allowed a few crystalline snowflakes to make their descent on Earth.
***
"Seto! Seto! Wake up!" A young Seto dressed in Sesame Street pajamas lept up at his little brother's call and the two brothers raced down the stairs, skidding to a halt in front of the huge christmas tree.
Already waiting at the tree were their parents, Val and Catherine. They smiled as their children came to a screeching halt. They smiled even wider as their children began to dgi into their stockings, happy squeals emmiting from their mouths. Candy, pez, CDs, gum, stuffed animals....whatever the brothers had asked for, they had gotton.
"Thank-you Mama!" little Mokuba cried as he flung himself at his mother, who wrapped him in a tight hug.
"Thanks Dad!" Seto grinned and attacked his fahter with the greatest of hugs.
The four sat together and opened the rest of the presents, laughing merrily on Christmas Day, just happy to be alive. Just happy to have each other. For little did the adults know, this was the last Christmas that they'd be spending with their children. The last day even....
Outside it began to snow.