Another chapter...maybe I'm updating too fast? Nah...Anyway, this is where
the story takes another twist. Also, I realize I've taken certain liberties
with Kaiba's past. I think it works better this way. So, enjoy the chapter,
give a review, and keep a look out.
***
Seto Kaiba sat alone in the recreation room on the bottom floor of his mansion, seated in front of the plasma TV he had purchased four months ago. He had been walking aimlessly through the mansion when he'd come across an old home movie in a cardboard box in his closet.
He sat stone-still watching himself at his seventh birthday. He smiled wistfully. That had been the happiest time of his life.
Seated at his dining room table, Seto cut a large piece of birthday cake – the first half of his name – and put it onto his plate. Then, he took another, put it onto another plate, and set it down on a chair next to him.
"What are you doing, Seto?" his mother – bless her soul – asked.
"Yes," his father chuckled, "I doubt the chair wants it."
Seto looked at his mother, then at his father – who was holding the camera. "It's for my baby brother, of course," he said, as if the answer should have been obvious.
Mother rubbed her swelled belly and smiled. "Seto, the baby will come when he's ready. You'll have to be patient."
"But you said I'd get to hold him!" Seto said.
"I know, honey, I know. Hey, I'll tell you what." She smiled. "When the baby does come, you can name him. How about that?"
Seto's eyes went wide with surprised delight. A wide grin split his face. "Really?" he asked eagerly.
"Really."
The movie cut to Seto opening his various gifts, then to static. A few seconds later, it cut to a hospital room. Mother was holding a newborn baby in her arms, smiling up at Father, who was holding the camera again.
"Well," Father said, turning the camera to Seto, who was grinning from ear to ear, "you remember our deal, right?"
"Uh-huh!" Seto said, bouncing over to Mother.
"Well?" Mother asked. "What'll it be, Seto?"
Seto looked down at his brother for a moment, deep in thought. Then, he brightened, and he looked up at Mother with a confident smile on his face. "His name is Mokuba."
Mother looked at Father. "What do you think, dear?"
Father chuckled. "That proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Our Seto's a genius."
Mother smiled down at the baby. "What do you think, Mokuba? Do you like your name?"
Mokuba giggled.
Kaiba used the remote to shut off the movie. He couldn't take it anymore. He stumbled out of his chair, tears blurring his vision, and ran out of the room, up the stairs, and into his study.
When he finally had control of himself, Kaiba began thinking about what had happened earlier that day. Yugi and Joey had been saddened by the news of Mokuba's death, that had been clear, but it didn't seem they were sorry for Mokuba so much as for him.
He could have been mad at that, but he was certain that Mokuba wouldn't have wanted his friends grieving for him; that was just the kind of person he was. Kaiba, however, though he had professed to not wanting sympathy, found himself comforted by the fact that Yugi and Joey were worried about him.
He remembered what Joey had said: 'I feel for ya, man.'
No one – not since his parents had died when he was ten – had ever told him anything like that. No one ever said 'Hey, it's alright to cry. I understand what you're going through.' Everyone had always left Kaiba to care for himself.
And here was a person who hated him, someone Kaiba ridiculed on a regular basis, someone who picked fights with him and someone who he picked fights with, telling him that. Why? Because he was in pain.
He still felt the pain; it was a constant, aching emptiness that would never leave. Bur knowing that someone actually cared that he felt this pain made it easier to bear.
He also remembered Joey saying that he was an older brother, too. That led to thoughts of the Magic & Wizards tournament Joey had entered to raise money for his sister. He remembered that, though Joey had gotten second place in that tournament, and would have been awarded two-hundred-and-fifty thousand dollars, complications with Pegasus had left him with nothing.
Kaiba considered giving Joey the money. Why, he had no conscious idea.
But then he decided on something else.
He picked up the phone sitting by his computer and punched in a number.
***
A week had gone by since Joey and Yugi had visited Mokuba's grave. Kaiba didn't go to school that week, and Joey could understand why. One, Mokuba was dead, and Joey knew that if he'd found out Serenity had been hit by a car, he sure as hell wouldn't go to school. And two, since the newspaper report, people knew Mokuba was "missing," and they also knew he was Kaiba's brother, and would probably ask questions.
A year ago, Joey might have felt that Kaiba deserved this; he really didn't like Kaiba all that much. But since meeting Yugi, Joey had grown to be more understanding, more compassionate.
On Saturday, October 30th, Joey was woken up at 11:30 in the morning by his phone ringing. He jumped out of bed, snatched up the phone. "Yo," he said, "Joey Wheeler."
"Joey?"
Joey nearly dropped the phone. "S-Serenity? That you, sis?"
"Yep. How's it going, big brother?"
"Uh...eh. Okay, I guess. How 'bout you? I ain't heard from ya in a while, how's things going?"
"Great! My operation was done, and yesterday the doctors let me leave the hospital. I can see, Joey, I can see!"
Joey had to force himself to speak. "Y-Y-You're serious? Really?"
"Really!"
"T-That's great, sis! Holy shit, that's the best news I heard in forever!"
"Yeah...hey, Joey? It's cold out here, and I don't have a key. Would you mind unlocking the door?"
"Huh? Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Serenity?"
"Look out on the porch, Joey."
Joey dropped the phone, ran out to the living room and threw open the door. There was Serenity, standing on the porch with a cell phone in her hand. She was dressed in denim pants, white sneakers, and a white t-shirt. Her firey red hair fell straight down her back. Her emerald eyes sparkled with clarity and awareness.
Joey nearly fell down.
"Hi, Joey," Serenity said with a smile as she put her phone in her pocket.
"H-H-Hi, Serenity...Uh...c-come in," Joey stammered, holding the door open for her. Serenity walked inside. "Um...ya kind of caught me at a bad time," he said, looking down at himself. He was dressed in boxers and a tank top. "Let me go get dressed."
Serenity smiled.
Joey ran into his bedroom, threw on a pair of jeans and a clean shirt, then ran back into the living room. Serenity was looking through his deck of Magic & Wizards cards. She looked up at him. "This is that game you keep telling me about?"
"Uh...yeah. Yeah."
"It looks confusing. All these effects and spells and traps and all."
"Nah...It's not too bad if ya got someone to explain it to ya. We'll hafta ask Yugi." Joey sat down next to his sister on the couch. "Uh...so, how'd ya get the operation, sis? It had to've cost, like...what? At least thousands of dollars, right?"
"Yeah...and that's the weirdest part." Serenity set the deck of cards down and looked at him. "Somebody just called the hospital and paid for it."
"Huh? Really? Did the doc say who it was?"
"Um...it was K...something. Kay? No, that's not it. Kai...? No."
"K-K-Kaiba?!" Joey nearly fell off the couch.
"Yeah, that's it!"
He did fall off the couch.
Serenity looked at him strangely before helping him to his feet. "What? Do you know this Kaiba guy?"
Joey nodded as he paced around the living room. "Yeah...name's Seto Kaiba, goes to my school. CEO of Kaiba-Corp, huge computer company started down in Japan. He...ain't too generous wit' his money. Uh...c'mon, Serenity, the guys gotta hear 'bout this."
Serenity looked confused, but followed her brother outside and into his car. As Joey drove toward the game shop, he said "How'd you get here to Domino, anyways?"
"I took a train."
"Train, huh? Uh...how's Ma? You guys still livin' in Sacramento?"
"Yeah...well, Mom is. I'm gonna live here for a while. Um...where's Dad?"
"Pops got into a bar fight and died earlier this year." Joey didn't sound sad about it, and Serenity didn't seem sad, either. Their father wasn't exactly upstanding. "Since I was eighteen when it happened, the house went to me. Yugi's always sayin' I'm lucky to have my own house."
"Yugi Motou? That friend of yours?"
"Yeah."
"How old is he, anyway?"
"Sixteen. He's a sophomore."
"Oh, same as me."
"Yeah. So, yer gonna be livin' here, huh? Cool. Be nice havin' ya around again. I missed ya, sis. I'll hafta set up a room for ya – uh, you are gonna be livin' wit' me, right?"
"I'd hoped to."
"Right. Well, I'll hafta run by the store 'n get some stuff for ya."
He pulled up in front of the shop and got out of the car. Serenity followed him inside, where Solomon was sweeping (How many times that guy sweep the damn floor? Joey wondered).
"Ah, hello, Joseph. Who's this?"
"My sister, Serenity. She's gonna be livin' in Domino. Hey, is Yug around?"
"Hold on, I'll go get him."
Joey nodded, went over to the counter and looked around at the various displays. He took his wallet out of his back pocket and opened it. He had a dollar. "Damn..." he muttered. "Eh, oh well. I get paid on Monday...Hey, Serenity, how much did that operation cost, anyways?"
"Uh...the doctor said, about...ten thousand dollars. I'm not sure why, I mean it only took a few hours to do."
"Ten thousand bucks...Kaiba just shells out ten thousand bucks...that's just weird."
Joey turned when Yugi walked into the room. "Yeah, Joey? What's up?"
"Look who showed up, Yug."
Joey waved Serenity over.
Yugi smiled at her. "Hello. You must be Serenity."
"Yes. And you're Yugi Motou?"
"Yeah." He shook her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"You, too."
Yugi looked back at Joey. "So, finally got the money together, huh?"
"Uh-uh. That's why I had to talk to ya, Yug. Serenity tells me Kaiba called in and paid for it. Ten thousand, bam! Just like that."
"Kaiba? Why would he...Oh." He suddenly understood. "I guess that makes sense, what with...well..."
Joey nodded. "I think maybe he relates to me, ya know? Maybe what I told him that day got through to him or somethin'."
Yugi nodded. "Yeah...it's possible."
"Excuse me," Serenity cut in, "but did I miss something? Did something happen to this Kaiba guy? And what do I have to do with this?"
Yugi turned to her, his face solemn. "Kaiba's an orphan. His only real family since he was...ten? Was that right, Joey, ten? Yeah. Since he was ten, his only family has been his brother, Mokuba. And...little over two weeks ago, Mokuba was...I shouldn't be telling you this, but he was hit by a car."
"Oh..." Serenity said softly, looking down at her feet. "H-How bad is he?"
"Well...Mokuba's dead."
"Yeah, and it's breakin' him...Kaiba, that is," Joey put in. "He's been a zombie ever since it happened. He...he's takin' it real hard."
Serenity frowned. "Well...I think...I think I should thank him. Whatever the reason, he did pay for my operation."
Joey nodded. "Alright, sis. His mansion ain't too hard to find. Just take a left at 34th and head straight. Gettin' in to see him might be tough, though."
"Mansion..." Serenity repeated. "Wow...can I borrow your car?"
"Sure, just don't get pulled over. Oh! And if ya do see him, don't call him Seto. He'll go wild on ya."
Serenity smiled. "I won't. On both things."
She left the shop, got into the car. As Joey watched her drive off, he wondered if Kaiba would see her. He wondered if Serenity could help him out of his depression. She had a way about her that just might do it.
"Good luck, Serenity."
Then a sudden thought hit him. When had Serenity learned to drive?
***
Seto Kaiba sat alone in the recreation room on the bottom floor of his mansion, seated in front of the plasma TV he had purchased four months ago. He had been walking aimlessly through the mansion when he'd come across an old home movie in a cardboard box in his closet.
He sat stone-still watching himself at his seventh birthday. He smiled wistfully. That had been the happiest time of his life.
Seated at his dining room table, Seto cut a large piece of birthday cake – the first half of his name – and put it onto his plate. Then, he took another, put it onto another plate, and set it down on a chair next to him.
"What are you doing, Seto?" his mother – bless her soul – asked.
"Yes," his father chuckled, "I doubt the chair wants it."
Seto looked at his mother, then at his father – who was holding the camera. "It's for my baby brother, of course," he said, as if the answer should have been obvious.
Mother rubbed her swelled belly and smiled. "Seto, the baby will come when he's ready. You'll have to be patient."
"But you said I'd get to hold him!" Seto said.
"I know, honey, I know. Hey, I'll tell you what." She smiled. "When the baby does come, you can name him. How about that?"
Seto's eyes went wide with surprised delight. A wide grin split his face. "Really?" he asked eagerly.
"Really."
The movie cut to Seto opening his various gifts, then to static. A few seconds later, it cut to a hospital room. Mother was holding a newborn baby in her arms, smiling up at Father, who was holding the camera again.
"Well," Father said, turning the camera to Seto, who was grinning from ear to ear, "you remember our deal, right?"
"Uh-huh!" Seto said, bouncing over to Mother.
"Well?" Mother asked. "What'll it be, Seto?"
Seto looked down at his brother for a moment, deep in thought. Then, he brightened, and he looked up at Mother with a confident smile on his face. "His name is Mokuba."
Mother looked at Father. "What do you think, dear?"
Father chuckled. "That proves it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Our Seto's a genius."
Mother smiled down at the baby. "What do you think, Mokuba? Do you like your name?"
Mokuba giggled.
Kaiba used the remote to shut off the movie. He couldn't take it anymore. He stumbled out of his chair, tears blurring his vision, and ran out of the room, up the stairs, and into his study.
When he finally had control of himself, Kaiba began thinking about what had happened earlier that day. Yugi and Joey had been saddened by the news of Mokuba's death, that had been clear, but it didn't seem they were sorry for Mokuba so much as for him.
He could have been mad at that, but he was certain that Mokuba wouldn't have wanted his friends grieving for him; that was just the kind of person he was. Kaiba, however, though he had professed to not wanting sympathy, found himself comforted by the fact that Yugi and Joey were worried about him.
He remembered what Joey had said: 'I feel for ya, man.'
No one – not since his parents had died when he was ten – had ever told him anything like that. No one ever said 'Hey, it's alright to cry. I understand what you're going through.' Everyone had always left Kaiba to care for himself.
And here was a person who hated him, someone Kaiba ridiculed on a regular basis, someone who picked fights with him and someone who he picked fights with, telling him that. Why? Because he was in pain.
He still felt the pain; it was a constant, aching emptiness that would never leave. Bur knowing that someone actually cared that he felt this pain made it easier to bear.
He also remembered Joey saying that he was an older brother, too. That led to thoughts of the Magic & Wizards tournament Joey had entered to raise money for his sister. He remembered that, though Joey had gotten second place in that tournament, and would have been awarded two-hundred-and-fifty thousand dollars, complications with Pegasus had left him with nothing.
Kaiba considered giving Joey the money. Why, he had no conscious idea.
But then he decided on something else.
He picked up the phone sitting by his computer and punched in a number.
***
A week had gone by since Joey and Yugi had visited Mokuba's grave. Kaiba didn't go to school that week, and Joey could understand why. One, Mokuba was dead, and Joey knew that if he'd found out Serenity had been hit by a car, he sure as hell wouldn't go to school. And two, since the newspaper report, people knew Mokuba was "missing," and they also knew he was Kaiba's brother, and would probably ask questions.
A year ago, Joey might have felt that Kaiba deserved this; he really didn't like Kaiba all that much. But since meeting Yugi, Joey had grown to be more understanding, more compassionate.
On Saturday, October 30th, Joey was woken up at 11:30 in the morning by his phone ringing. He jumped out of bed, snatched up the phone. "Yo," he said, "Joey Wheeler."
"Joey?"
Joey nearly dropped the phone. "S-Serenity? That you, sis?"
"Yep. How's it going, big brother?"
"Uh...eh. Okay, I guess. How 'bout you? I ain't heard from ya in a while, how's things going?"
"Great! My operation was done, and yesterday the doctors let me leave the hospital. I can see, Joey, I can see!"
Joey had to force himself to speak. "Y-Y-You're serious? Really?"
"Really!"
"T-That's great, sis! Holy shit, that's the best news I heard in forever!"
"Yeah...hey, Joey? It's cold out here, and I don't have a key. Would you mind unlocking the door?"
"Huh? Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Serenity?"
"Look out on the porch, Joey."
Joey dropped the phone, ran out to the living room and threw open the door. There was Serenity, standing on the porch with a cell phone in her hand. She was dressed in denim pants, white sneakers, and a white t-shirt. Her firey red hair fell straight down her back. Her emerald eyes sparkled with clarity and awareness.
Joey nearly fell down.
"Hi, Joey," Serenity said with a smile as she put her phone in her pocket.
"H-H-Hi, Serenity...Uh...c-come in," Joey stammered, holding the door open for her. Serenity walked inside. "Um...ya kind of caught me at a bad time," he said, looking down at himself. He was dressed in boxers and a tank top. "Let me go get dressed."
Serenity smiled.
Joey ran into his bedroom, threw on a pair of jeans and a clean shirt, then ran back into the living room. Serenity was looking through his deck of Magic & Wizards cards. She looked up at him. "This is that game you keep telling me about?"
"Uh...yeah. Yeah."
"It looks confusing. All these effects and spells and traps and all."
"Nah...It's not too bad if ya got someone to explain it to ya. We'll hafta ask Yugi." Joey sat down next to his sister on the couch. "Uh...so, how'd ya get the operation, sis? It had to've cost, like...what? At least thousands of dollars, right?"
"Yeah...and that's the weirdest part." Serenity set the deck of cards down and looked at him. "Somebody just called the hospital and paid for it."
"Huh? Really? Did the doc say who it was?"
"Um...it was K...something. Kay? No, that's not it. Kai...? No."
"K-K-Kaiba?!" Joey nearly fell off the couch.
"Yeah, that's it!"
He did fall off the couch.
Serenity looked at him strangely before helping him to his feet. "What? Do you know this Kaiba guy?"
Joey nodded as he paced around the living room. "Yeah...name's Seto Kaiba, goes to my school. CEO of Kaiba-Corp, huge computer company started down in Japan. He...ain't too generous wit' his money. Uh...c'mon, Serenity, the guys gotta hear 'bout this."
Serenity looked confused, but followed her brother outside and into his car. As Joey drove toward the game shop, he said "How'd you get here to Domino, anyways?"
"I took a train."
"Train, huh? Uh...how's Ma? You guys still livin' in Sacramento?"
"Yeah...well, Mom is. I'm gonna live here for a while. Um...where's Dad?"
"Pops got into a bar fight and died earlier this year." Joey didn't sound sad about it, and Serenity didn't seem sad, either. Their father wasn't exactly upstanding. "Since I was eighteen when it happened, the house went to me. Yugi's always sayin' I'm lucky to have my own house."
"Yugi Motou? That friend of yours?"
"Yeah."
"How old is he, anyway?"
"Sixteen. He's a sophomore."
"Oh, same as me."
"Yeah. So, yer gonna be livin' here, huh? Cool. Be nice havin' ya around again. I missed ya, sis. I'll hafta set up a room for ya – uh, you are gonna be livin' wit' me, right?"
"I'd hoped to."
"Right. Well, I'll hafta run by the store 'n get some stuff for ya."
He pulled up in front of the shop and got out of the car. Serenity followed him inside, where Solomon was sweeping (How many times that guy sweep the damn floor? Joey wondered).
"Ah, hello, Joseph. Who's this?"
"My sister, Serenity. She's gonna be livin' in Domino. Hey, is Yug around?"
"Hold on, I'll go get him."
Joey nodded, went over to the counter and looked around at the various displays. He took his wallet out of his back pocket and opened it. He had a dollar. "Damn..." he muttered. "Eh, oh well. I get paid on Monday...Hey, Serenity, how much did that operation cost, anyways?"
"Uh...the doctor said, about...ten thousand dollars. I'm not sure why, I mean it only took a few hours to do."
"Ten thousand bucks...Kaiba just shells out ten thousand bucks...that's just weird."
Joey turned when Yugi walked into the room. "Yeah, Joey? What's up?"
"Look who showed up, Yug."
Joey waved Serenity over.
Yugi smiled at her. "Hello. You must be Serenity."
"Yes. And you're Yugi Motou?"
"Yeah." He shook her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."
"You, too."
Yugi looked back at Joey. "So, finally got the money together, huh?"
"Uh-uh. That's why I had to talk to ya, Yug. Serenity tells me Kaiba called in and paid for it. Ten thousand, bam! Just like that."
"Kaiba? Why would he...Oh." He suddenly understood. "I guess that makes sense, what with...well..."
Joey nodded. "I think maybe he relates to me, ya know? Maybe what I told him that day got through to him or somethin'."
Yugi nodded. "Yeah...it's possible."
"Excuse me," Serenity cut in, "but did I miss something? Did something happen to this Kaiba guy? And what do I have to do with this?"
Yugi turned to her, his face solemn. "Kaiba's an orphan. His only real family since he was...ten? Was that right, Joey, ten? Yeah. Since he was ten, his only family has been his brother, Mokuba. And...little over two weeks ago, Mokuba was...I shouldn't be telling you this, but he was hit by a car."
"Oh..." Serenity said softly, looking down at her feet. "H-How bad is he?"
"Well...Mokuba's dead."
"Yeah, and it's breakin' him...Kaiba, that is," Joey put in. "He's been a zombie ever since it happened. He...he's takin' it real hard."
Serenity frowned. "Well...I think...I think I should thank him. Whatever the reason, he did pay for my operation."
Joey nodded. "Alright, sis. His mansion ain't too hard to find. Just take a left at 34th and head straight. Gettin' in to see him might be tough, though."
"Mansion..." Serenity repeated. "Wow...can I borrow your car?"
"Sure, just don't get pulled over. Oh! And if ya do see him, don't call him Seto. He'll go wild on ya."
Serenity smiled. "I won't. On both things."
She left the shop, got into the car. As Joey watched her drive off, he wondered if Kaiba would see her. He wondered if Serenity could help him out of his depression. She had a way about her that just might do it.
"Good luck, Serenity."
Then a sudden thought hit him. When had Serenity learned to drive?