Hello, me again. Is it just me, or is this story coming to me too fast? Probably is just me, but...eh. Whatever. I'm shocked to find so many people are reviewing this...38 reviews...Wow. Thank you all, and I hope you keep reading to the finish. It'll be worth it...I hope.

***

Kaiba was sitting in the front parlor, staring up at the ceiling. Tears filled his eyes. Two weeks before he would have wiped them away, but now it made no difference whatsoever.

"Mokuba..." he whispered brokenly. "Why can't you just come home?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the doorbell rang.

"Goddamned doorbell," he hissed, getting up. He grabbed hold of the doorknob, ready to tell whatever business partner was at the door to get off of his property before he shot them.

But it wasn't a business partner. A young teenage girl – about sixteen – stood waiting. She had long red hair and bright emerald green eyes. She was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Something about her reminded Kaiba of Joey.

In a voice that was as lifeless as stone, Kaiba said "You would be Serenity Wheeler."

She smiled, nodded. "Yes, sir. Are you Seto Kaiba?"

"I am."

"Um...may I come in, Mr. Kaiba?"

Either she was very polite, or Joey had warned her against calling him by his first name. But regardless of which reason it was, he was grateful for it. He shrugged his shoulders, moved aside to allow her in.

Serenity stared in shock at the sheer size of Kaiba's front parlor. She followed him back to the couch where he had been sitting. He collapsed back down, and Serenity sat down next to him, albeit a polite distance away.

"Uh...the reason I came here was because I wanted to thank you. For paying for my operation, I mean," Serenity said with a nervous smile.

Kaiba shrugged. "It's not a problem, I assure you."

"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't a problem, but...you still did it."

Kaiba shrugged again. He glanced at her without turning his head. "You'll...forgive me if I'm not an overly polite host..."

Serenity shook her head. "J-Joey told me...I'm so sorry..."

Kaiba had dreaded hearing those words, but there was sincerity in Serenity's voice, and that sincerity surprised him. The fog in his mind parted just the smallest bit. "It...it's not your concern..." he said haltingly.

Serenity gave him a confused frown. "Uh...n-no, I suppose not, but...well...I mean, it happened a while ago, right? I mean...two weeks? Have you tried to go back to your old life at all?"

Kaiba shook his head. "If I do, I'll just end up going into Mokuba's room to wake him up in the morning...and I'll crack completely."

"Mr. Kaiba...if you ever want to get over this, you'll have to face it."

"I don't want to get over it. The pain is all I have left in me."

"You can't think that by letting go, you'll lose him. Embrace his memory for the joy it brings you, not the pain."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. The fog retreated a bit more. "I...It hurts me, and I want to keep it that way," he said defensively.

Serenity sighed. "Listen...try to think of it this way: You and your brother were close, weren't you?"

Kaiba nodded slowly.

"Well...what if you had died, instead of him? Would you want your brother to be grieving like this? Or would you want him to be happy?"

"That's a rather redundant question," Kaiba said, a bit sharply.

"Exactly. And wherever Mokuba is, I'm sure he wants you to be happy, too. You can't treat this like it's your fault."

"But it is my fault," Kaiba said, frowning. "I promised I would protect him, that I would be there for him, no matter what. But, I let him go somewhere by himself, and look what happened: he was killed."

Tears filled his eyes again.

"And where...where was I? At a conference. A stupid, stupid conference! Mokuba was the world to me...the only person I cared about...the only person I loved...and I failed him...I-I failed him..."

He began to cry.

Serenity watched helplessly as silent sobs wracked his body. Not knowing what else to do, she put an arm around him and held him. "Mr. Kaiba...you seem like a really nice person...I can't see why you would do this to yourself."

The tears suddenly stopped. Kaiba looked up into Serenity's eyes. "W-What? You think...you think I am a nice person?" he whispered incredulously. He'd never heard those words from anyone before!

Now he understood why Joey loved her so much. Serenity Wheeler truly wanted to help him; she wasn't doing this for any other reason besides wanting to help him. As he looked deep into her soft eyes, he felt at peace for the first time since Mokuba's death.

Her name fits her well, he thought.

Suddenly realizing his position, Kaiba pushed himself up. He stood, running his hands through his hair. "Serenity..." he said softly, turning to her. "I...If you wouldn't mind...I'd like to be alone..."

"Oh!" Serenity stood. "Oh, of course!" She hurriedly made her way to the door, turned back and looked at him. "You'll...think about what I said?"

"I will...thank you, Serenity."

She smiled, waved goodbye as she made her way down the path toward her car. Kaiba found himself lifting a hand in return. When she had driven off out of sight, he closed the door and turned, leaning against it.

He did think about what she had said, and as much as he wanted to deny it, she made sense. He had to face it, no matter how much it hurt him. He couldn't keep blaming himself for this...she was right. It wasn't his fault. It was some...insensitive prick who didn't even have the decency to stay at the scene!

Despite this one outburst of anger, Kaiba realized that he was in a much better mood. Serenity had helped him; how much she had helped him, she would probably never know.

Taking a deep breath, he began to walk up the stairs.

***

Joey turned when his sister walked back into the game shop. Tristan, Tèa, and Ryou were all there as well. He grinned at Serenity. "Hey, sis. I'd like ya to meet Tristan Taylor, Tèa Gardner, and Ryou Bakura."

"What's up?" Tristan grinned, raised a hand.

"Nice to meet you," Tèa said politely.

"A pleasure," Ryou nodded his head.

Serenity sat down at the table in the middle of the room and smiled at each in turn. "It's nice to meet you all."

"So," Yugi asked from the counter, "did you find Kaiba's mansion?"

"Yes, I did."

"And did he let ya in?" Joey looked as though he expected her to say no.

"Yes," she said, "of course he did."

"He did?" all five asked at once.

"Yes, he did," Serenity said, frowning. "Is that so strange?"

"Yes," Joey said. "It is."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. He seemed nice. Depressed, but nice."

"Nice?" Tristan repeated. "Aw, what next? First he's a zombie, then he's screaming, then he locks himself up in his house for a damn week, now he's nice?"

"Yes, nice," Serenity said, a bit annoyed. "Is that a problem?"

"Yeah!" Joey answered, crossing his arms. "Kaiba ain't nice! He's a lot of things: Smart, rich, famous, but he ain't nice. You don't know him like we do, sis. Hell, we don't know him. I guess only Mokuba really knew him. But from what we seen of the guy past couple years, he's a creep."

"Joey," Yugi said, "he was orphaned. How nice do you think you would be if you had to go to school, raise a brother, and run a multi-billion dollar company all at the same time?"

"Didn't say he didn't have a reason to be a creep, Yug, just said he was. Maybe he ain't, now. Maybe it took Mokuba dying to knock some sense into him, unfair as that is. But I'll tell ya this: I won't believe it 'til I see it."

"Well," Serenity said softly, "he was nice to me."

"I think I get it," Tèa said. "He's nice to Serenity for the same reason he paid for the operation: Mokuba."

Everyone agreed that this was most likely the case.

Serenity wasn't so sure. Maybe, but...she wondered about him. She wondered what he was doing. She wondered if what she'd said really had helped him. She wondered...well, she just wondered.

***

For a nine-year-old, Mokuba had kept his room extremely neat. Kaiba noticed this first off when he stepped across the threshold. His action figures sat on a shelf above his bed, all in an orderly line. His bookshelves were clean and neat. His desk, holding his computer, was clean. The stand that held his TV and videogame systems was clean. Everything was clean.

That was why he noticed the piece of binder paper on the desk; it was the only thing out of place. Kaiba picked up the paper and realized that it was a school assignment. It was dated October 11th.

"If I could have one wish," Kaiba read the title of the assignment aloud, and wondered what his brother could have possibly wanted.

Any boy would kill to have what he did, he thought. I gave him everything!

But as he read, he realized that he hadn't.

-

If I could have one wish, I would wish that my brother Seto would stop working so hard. I hardly ever see him anymore. He comes home late at night and is all tired and grumpy and doesn't want to talk or anything.

I miss my brother. When he isn't working, he's eating or sleeping. He doesn't have any time to spend with me because he has so much work. I understand, but I wish he'd spend more time at home. I wish he'd relax. I wish he'd have some fun.

I know why he works so hard. He does it so I can have anything I want. He does it because he thinks that's what makes me happy. But what would really make me happy, is if he'd spend some more time with me. I love my big brother, and I want him to be happy. I guess that's my real wish: for Seto to be happy.

-

Tears fell onto the single piece of paper as Kaiba finished. He closed his eyes, shoulders shaking with silent sobs. This was what his little brother had thought of him...that was his last wish. For his big brother to be happy.

"How could I have been so blind?" he demanded of himself.

He had thought Mokuba was happy with his toys and games, but he had been horribly wrong. He always looked down on his business partners who neglected their families in order to work, without realizing that he had been doing the same thing!

Serenity had been right, Kaiba realized. Mokuba wanted him to be happy. He opened his eyes and looked out the window by the desk, his tears drying as he realized what he would do.

If that was what Mokuba wanted...then he'd try.

"I'll try, little brother...I'll try to be happy."

He knew where to go.