Chapter 1: Acceptance

He wasn't just crying—he was wailing. No person in the orphanage could soothe him when he got that way. The boy would cry all night if he had to. His stringy, black hair stuck to his tear-stained cheeks as he continued to sob in the middle of the night. A nightmare was what woke the purple-eyed five-year old… the boy seemed to have a lot of those since the caretakers of the orphanage decided to separate him from his older brother at night. They felt it would be better for him to spend more time with kids his own age.

"Mokuba, I'm here." Mokuba felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind and his wails instantly came to a halt. Instinctively, the boy twisted around and buried his face in the chest of his older brother, Seto. Mokuba shamelessly wiped away his tears in Seto's shirt, becoming enveloped in the familiar embrace. His whimpers softened as the ten-year old with messy brown hair rocked him back and forth, humming a melody that Mokuba didn't recognize.

"Nii-sama…" Mokuba whispered, calling his brother by the name he had addressed him since birth, "I had another dream again. A bad one." Mokuba began to hyperventilate as the memories of the dream started to come back to him. The older boy's hold on him became tighter, still humming the melody to keep him calm.

"I saw Mom and Dad again… I saw them… they were…" Mokuba was choking on every other word as the tears came forth once more. Seto stopped his humming but continued his rocking. The more Mokuba tried to say, the more overwhelmed he became with emotion. The images from his dream were so vivid in his mind.

"Mokuba, it's going to be okay. You're going to be okay," Seto loosened his hold on Mokuba and the boy looked up at his brother, bewildered. How was anything supposed to be okay? How could it? Their parents were buried in the ground and they were never coming back. Seto and Mokuba were going to be alone for the rest of their lives…

"How can you say that?" Mokuba asked, verbalizing what he was already thinking and feeling. Seto put his hand on the side of Mokuba's face, and smiled. There was something about that smile that had an instant effect on Mokuba—one that caused his tears to cease immediately.

"Because we have each other, and that's all that will ever matter. Do you remember what I told you yesterday? I will be your father now. I will protect you with all that I am and I promise to give you a better life. This isn't the end for us." Mokuba inadvertently smiled in response—he knew his brother was telling the truth. Mokuba leaned forward and gave Seto a hug. Seto returned the hug and closed his eyes. He had meant every word he said, and knew that he would never let anything get in the way of the promise he made to…

"Nii-sama, are you in there?" The brochure in Seto's hand flipped out of his grip and fell to the floor. His blue eyes looked up to see two pairs of eyes staring back at him—one belonging to his 18-year old brother and the other belonging to a 40-year old college counselor that went by the name Hanzo. Both of them appeared to be confused, perhaps even concerned, and Seto knew the best way to segue out of the awkward situation was by pulling, what Seto called, a 'Kaiba move.'

"Of course I'm in here, but what I want to know is, what duel monsters courses do you offer here? I'm sure you know that Mokuba here is related to a top-ranking duelist." Hanzo looked at Mokuba before looking back at Seto.

"Mr. Kaiba, you do realize this is Domino University and not Duel Academy, right? We don't offer any courses in Duel Monsters. I will say, however, that we do have a fair number of social groups that Mokuba would be able to join centered around Duel Monsters…" Hanzo turned back towards Mokuba and began explaining all of the various social groups that were available at Domino University and the pressure to cover up his daydream was lifted. Seto let out a sigh of relief before bending over and picking up the brochure that fell.

Mokuba could go to any university he wanted to. This was one of the many universities they had visited over the last couple of months, in fact. Each brochure looked the same and the feeling in the pit of Seto's stomach continued to grow. None of the ones they had visited really appealed to Seto. Domino University was quickly becoming another one he wasn't a fan of as Hanzo walked them through some of the educational programs they offered. Seto kept his mouth shut until the meeting with the college counselor was over and the brothers were back in the car, driving home.

"When are you going to admit that you don't like any college we've visited because you don't want me to go to college?" Mokuba said, crossing his arms and refusing to look in Seto's direction as they conversed. The trees that were passing by as they drove served as a momentary distraction. Mokuba hoped that the scenery would help calm him down as he tried to contain his frustration that was quickly turning into anger.

"I just don't see you have to go to college right away. Why don't you take a gap year and work at Kaiba Corp. full-time for a while? You might like being able to fully take on the role of vice president." Mokuba snapped his head back towards Seto.

"Seto, I don't want to work at Kaiba Corp. I want to go to college. I want to learn things and meet new people and create memories and… how many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to work at Kaiba Corp.?" Mokuba was thankful that Domino University was not that far of a drive from Kaiba Manor because he was really becoming angry. Seto had this way of arguing in a circular fashion. Mokuba loved his older but there were some aspects of his personality that really got on his nerves. Seto's stubbornness was definitely one of them and his inability to empathize with Mokuba was another.

"I just don't see why. It's a lot of money to be spending on an education you don't need. You're already more intelligent than most of your peers—you're related to me after all."

"Don't you dare bring up money like that's the reason you want me to work at Kaiba Corp. and are you suggesting I'm too smart to get a higher education? Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Mokuba voice was rising as his rage level was. They pulled into the manor and Seto parked the car in the driveway before speaking.

"I just don't understand why you would want to waste your time with school when you could help run the most profitable company in all of Domino City. Any kid would kill to do that instead of having to go to school." Mokuba unbuckled his seat and opened the door. "What? Are you disagreeing with me? Mokuba, come back here. Let's finish talking. I don't want to fight with you." Mokuba had gotten out of the car by then, but turned back before closing the door.

"I don't want to fight with you either, but when you take everything I say and ignore it, there's no sense in talking to you," Mokuba said, his words strangely calm and collected. The tone of his voice was so disengaged that it made Seto suddenly rethink what he had said. "I know Kaiba Corp. is your entire life, but it's not mine." Mokuba slammed the door shut and walked away from the car. The force of the door slamming shook the car and Seto leaned his head against the steering wheel. He wanted to understand Mokuba but he didn't know how.

Seto twisted the key in the ignition and started the car. There was no point talking with Mokuba right now. All they were going to do was fight. Seto decided it would be best if he gave Mokuba some time to cool off while he went on a little drive. Seto pulled out of the driveway and sped out of the neighborhood, aimlessly driving through the city of Domino with the window down and his thoughts whirling around in his mind.

The trees were beginning to brown despite the fact that it was June. It had been so hot recently that there were hardly any trees that still looked green. There were very few people out and about that evening—on a 90 degree day, it wasn't that hard to believe. Seto rather enjoyed the tranquility of the city. There were rarely any moments in the city where it wasn't bustling with people—whether they were tourists or residents. Despite the heat, Seto kept the window down, preferring to feel the hot air blowing against his hand that as he kept his arm leaning on the reclined window.

Every time Seto tried to rationalize Mokuba's desire to go to college, he kept thinking about that night at the orphanage during their first six months. Mokuba was five years old… just a baby. Seto closed his eyes at a red light and could practically hear the boy's screams that night that Seto snuck in to provide comfort to his brother. Mokuba was so small then; Seto could hold the entirety of Mokuba in his arms. Seto was only 10 at the time, but he still understood just how precious and fragile Mokuba was. No part of him had ever imagined that small, little boy would ever grow up.

"MOVE IT!" A disgruntled driver yelled from behind Seto's car, honking their horn immediately after. Seto saw that the light was green and immediately hit the gas. The city was empty, but the roads certainly weren't. Seto needed to be more careful when getting lost in his own thoughts. He looked at the time and saw it was getting late, anyway. It was time for Seto to start heading back home. He made a left turn at the next side street and waited at another red light.

Seto tapped his fingers on the window, waiting for the light to turn green. He was at a busy four-way stop that almost always had a back-up of traffic no matter which direction a driver was going in. Just as he was about to curse himself for getting stuck at the light, he spotted someone he thought he recognized at the gas station to his left. Seto leaned forward to get a better look… the individual's back was turned to Seto, but there was something about his walk that seemed incredibly familiar.

He was wearing a white shirt—or at least one that used to be white, but a very long time ago. There were so many blotches of black and smug on his t-shirt that it didn't even look like a color anymore matched with his equally as dirty jeans. There was a used rag hanging out of the back of his pants' pocket and his neck was gleaming from a thick layer of sweat underneath the red handkerchief covering his hair. Seto didn't know what it was about this filthy person that he felt like he knew.

Then the guy turned around and Seto immediately retreated into his car and pulled up the window in an attempt to avoid being seen. Seto couldn't believe it… had the man not been wearing a jumpsuit that read "Wheeler" on the left-side of his chest; Seto probably wouldn't have believed it. That's not to say that he wouldn't have been surprised… of all the people to work at a gas station years after graduation, Seto would've guessed it would be Joey Wheeler. Although a sight like that would've normally humored him, in this moment, he just didn't want to make eye contact.

The moment the light turned green, Seto sped away. He couldn't shake how shocking it was to see Joey like that as he pushed the speed limit to get home as quickly as possible. Seto tried to recall the last time he had seen Joey which must've been at some point during their last year of high school. Could that have been six years ago? Even recalling how many years it had been since he had last seen Joey almost made him feel sorry for having seen him in that condition at all. He tried to shake the image of Joey from his mind as he pulled into the Kaiba Manor and turned off the car. Perhaps enough time had passed where Mokuba had cooled off a bit so they could talk.

"Nii-sama, there you are." Seto looked up upon hearing Mokuba call for him as he took his shoes off at the door. Mokuba was halfway down the stairs when Seto came into the house.

"Mokuba, I was just going to come up to talk to you. Listen, I wanted to apologize for—"

"I got accepted into the University of Tokyo and I've decided to start my classes this summer. I'm moving out at the end of the month." Seto could feel the air grow thick with anxiety. Mokuba was desperately searching Seto's face to get an idea of how his older brother would react, but Seto's face was completely neutral. Seto had learned at an early age to bury his emotions, even in situations that caught him off-guard, which meant Mokuba couldn't tell that Seto's lack of an immediate response was due to his heart snapping in half. He thought he had more time… he didn't realize he would be losing Mokuba so fast.

But in true Seto Kaiba form, he gave his brother the answer he was looking for.

"That's… great to hear. How can I help?" Mokuba smiled and ran down the steps, embracing his brother in a big hug. Seto, slowly but surely, wrapped his arms around Mokuba and returned the hug. His heart was still in pieces, but at least it was in the right place. Seto wasn't going to get in the way of Mokuba growing up, but he sure as hell didn't know what he was going to do when Mokuba moved out.

-YGO-

A/N: Happy National Friendship Day! To celebrate, my friend of ten years, Rena Redhead, and I decided to simultaneously post the first chapters of stories that we've been working on. How we met is actually a cute story—Rena and I became friends because of fanfiction and now, years later, our friendship is what inspired me to come out of retirement and start writing fanfiction again. I'm really excited about what I have planned for you guys and I hope you are too. This story is going to be very different than any story I've ever written, although I'm sure this chapter suggests otherwise. Believe me and stick around… you might like what you see. Thanks for reading and I hope your day is filled with friendship!