Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, Mokuba, or Seto.  No profit is being made from this story.

If You Could Do It Over

Mokuba Kaiba sat straight up in his bed.  Sweat trickled down his forehead and into his raven hair.  His breathing came in short gasps.  Tears he did not remember crying ran down his face.  Images from the nightmare still flashed through the young boy's mind as clear as if they really had happened just moments ago.  Images of his adopted father in several different scenarios.  In one scene, Gozaburo Kaiba stood over the frightened child with a fist pulled back and ready to hit him.  In another, he screamed at his youngest son for speaking out of turn and threatened him with a painful form of punishment.  In yet another, he verbally abused him by telling the crying boy that he was a curse who caused nothing but trouble for anyone who cared about him.

Mokuba had not even thought of Gozaburo in a long time.  So why did he have this dream?  The child unconsciously fingered the locket around his neck.  He needed to see his brother.

It was late, but Mokuba knew Seto would still be working on his latest computer program.  He walked down the hallway towards his brother's study and silently opened the door.  Seto sat in front of a large computer with his back to the child.

"Big brother?" he asked as he tiptoed to the older boy's chair.

"What is it kid?" Seto questioned gently without turning his head away from the screen.

"I had a nightmare.  About…about our adopted father."

At this, Seto spun around in his chair to face Mokuba.  Seeing his brother's pale, tear stained face, he picked him up and pulled him onto his lap.  Mokuba told him everything that had happened in his dream, his older brother's presence comforting him.

Mokuba finished with a shiver and leaned back into his brother's chest.  "It's not fair Seto," he said.  "Why did we have to get adopted by him?  He hated us."  A few moments passed in silence.  He continued in a low whisper.  "It's all my fault."

"What?!" Seto looked down at him surprised, not sure that he had heard correctly.

"You could have been adopted by several other families Seto.  Nicer people.  But you chose to stay with me, and they always took someone else."  The young boy's voice began to crack, and he started whispering again.  "I don't get it.  Why didn't anyone want me?"

"There's a simple reason for that Mokuba.  They were all fools."

His younger brother looked up at him, startled.  The child almost had to giggle.

"They didn't really want me either," Seto continued.  "They only wanted my skills like our adopted father.  Having a genius in the family could have given them bragging rights they wouldn't have had otherwise with no accomplishments of their own.  None of them really cared about me or what I wanted.  If they had, they would have taken you too."

Mokuba bit his lower lip before asking his next question.  "Seto?  If you knew what would happen ahead of time.  Who would adopt us and everything.  Would you do it all over again?  Would you still stay with me?"

The elder Kaiba looked directly into his sibling's eyes.  "Of course I would Mokuba.  You are the one person I could never do without.  If you weren't here, I would have no reason to go on.  Nothing can ever break the bond we share."

Seto could tell his brother felt better after their talk.  Mokuba smiled as he climbed out of his lap and sat in the chair right next to him.  "Can I stay here with you for a little longer?" the child asked as Seto once again starred at the computer screen.

"Alright, but you'll have to go back to bed soon."  When he turned to look at Mokuba again, he saw that the younger boy had already fallen back to sleep.  The smile was still on his face.  Seto silently took off his coat and draped it over his younger brother.  He watched Mokuba sleep for a few minutes before returning to his work.