AN: Sorry about the wait; I've been on vacation. WAHOO, EUROPE! Oh, I suddenly realized that the title probably doesn't make much sense to anyone. It's German for 'Time of the Night'. Yeah... no real explination for that.

Chapter 3: It's been Two Weeks since You Looked At Me.

Name: Kaiba Seto

Begin Entry

About two weeks later, I was having trouble sleeping. And let me point out that when I have trouble sleeping, I don't just lay around until morning.

I haven't actually found a good way to burn off my insomnia, so every time I get a bout of it, I try something new. Well, that's actually a lie. I get the bouts whenever something is burning in my mind but I don't want to think about it. So I can't sleep, and in order to do something with the time, but not actually deal with my problem, I try all sorts of thing.

During the time in question, I had experimented with making cookies (a disaster that fifty years later has yet to be repeated), worked five hours overtime, done a computer search on all articles about Kaiba Corp that had been published that week, read said articles, run laps around our house and, all in all, managed to ignore what was preying on my mind.

My real problem was a certain American blond named Jounouchi Katsuya. I kept seeing his laughing face just before he had jumped off the ledge with you in his arms. Of course, no picture is complete without a sound clip, so chasing after the picture in my head, I could hear the blond American saying:

'I'll only need him for a week, maybe two.'

It was then, as I attempted to create a new program for my computer, that I realized my IQ must have been dropping.

I angrily shut down my computer and walked through my house, stripping off my clothes as I went towards my shower. Grabbing a towel and my bathrobe as I passed my room, I walked into my bathroom and turned on the shower. I waited for the hot water to come on full blast before I climbed in. I almost screamed like a five year old girl as I felt the water burn at my skin, but I clamped my lips shut and accepted the pain. After a few minutes, I let a little cold water mix with the burning water so I could think.

Frankly, I was furious at myself. Not only had I given you over to a complete stranger, I had sentenced you to death, whether Jou was telling the truth or not. I couldn't believe I had expected Jou to be real. The boy had obviously been a drug addict, or worse. Not to mention, Jou had jumped off the second floor. But, I don't suppose I should have been too surprised about that one. I mean, honestly? How did I expect Jou to get off that windowsill with you in his arms?

I quickly lathered my body in soap and rinsed it clean before I cleaned my hair with shampoo and washed that out too. Turning off the water, I got out of the shower, toweled off and pulled my bathrobe and pajama pants on.

I wandered out of the bathroom and down the hall to a large picture window. I love that window. It's a stained-glass window that split in the center, so the window could be opened in good weather. The window depicted the sun rising over a large group of rose bushes that sprouted beautiful red roses. It's a bit traditional of me, perhaps, but I like the way the sun shines through the glass in the morning.

However, that day I didn't feel like watching the blood red splotches on my carpet grow in size, so I lifted the catch and allowed the windows to swing inwards. Looking out at the sunrise, I frowned as two figures approached my front walk.

Noticing that the gate was locked, the two figures looked at each other. The taller figure made a few wild hand gestures before backing up a few steps. Running forward, the taller figure cleared the fence by grabbing the top bar and swinging his legs over my fence with a sort of practiced ease. The figure hit the ground and turned to unlock the gate and allow the shorter one in before re-locking it. Without waiting, the shorter boy turned and continued down my path, the first figure following soon after.

Frowning in annoyance, I tied my bathrobe tighter and pulled on a pair of slippers, before I went to my front door and went out onto my front porch, where I waited for my guests to come to me.

"Are you sure about this? We could always wait and catch a bit of breakfast, ya know." I heard a strikingly familiar voice ask. Gritting my teeth, I stood my ground and waited for Jou to come nearer.

"Master! You said yourself that no place is open at this time!" the other person replied. There was a certain familiarness to the vocie, but I couldn't place it. It was like I was hearing the voice of an old friend who had aged a few years.

"I know, but I'm sure we can find something."

"Relax, I'm sure he's up." The shorter boy, the one with the familiar voice, snorted.

"If you're referring to me, I am." I growled, causing Jou and his shorter companion to look in my direction

"Now, answer my questions. You, who are you? Jou, what do you want? And when are the pair of you leaving?" I asked, tapping my foot.

"SETO!" The shorter boy laughed as he ran towards me. Taking an uncertain step forward, I looked down at the blur that was headed towards me.

"Mokuba?" I whispered and you attached yourself around my midsection, jolting me. "MOKUBA! Oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God! I missed you so much! I swear I didn't recognize you! What happened to your voice?"

"I dunno!" You laughed. "I just woke up and my voice was a little deeper. Jou said it's a side effect of the change, and it's normal."

"You two aren't going to cry, are you?" The other boy asked and I looked up to see Jou, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

"And you! You've got a lot of nerve, Jounouchi Katsuya! Where have you been? What have you been doing with my brother? Did you hurt him?" I demanded.

"I changed him, that's all. He's educated though, so he'll be able to take care of his new body. You can ask him if you've got any questions. Um, I happen to be his master, as my type call it, so I'm going to be around a bit, I suppose; There's still some stuff about his new society that he needs to learn. I gave him a cell phone and my number is on there, so… feel free to call me, if you've got any questions."

"Master? Society? What?" I asked, but Jou had already left, running down the path. "Jou! Damn it! Come back here, you jackass!"

"Seto? Can we just go in? I'm hungry." You asked, tugging on my sleeve to catch my attention.

"Hungry?" I asked, feeling a bit lost. I mean, I hadn't the slightest clue what you feed a vampire! I wasn't sure if you expected me to roll up my sleeve and fill up a glass for you, or pull out a fresh corpse for you to nibble on.

"Can I have some waffles?" You asked, hopefully. I bit my lip and nodded, feeling guilty for even worrying about your sustenance. If you had needed blood, I would have given it to you. It was my fault, after all; it was my damn selfishness that got you into this mess.

I turned and walked into the house and got halfway to the kitchen, before I realized that you weren't following anymore. I backtracked and found you were still standing on the front porch looking inside.

"Mokuba? Why aren't you coming? Didn't you say you were hungry?"

"You… uh… you need to invite me inside. It's a rule. A vampire can't enter any building, that's an area with a man-made covering or a roof, without an invitation." You replied, looking at your feet.

"You have to tell me these things." I sighed, trying not to feel as embarrassed as you looked. "Mokuba, won't you come inside?"

"Thank you." You smiled faintly, as you steeped inside and I closed the door behind you.

"I'm, uh, sure there are many rules to being a vampire." I mentioned trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen between us.

"Not really. I didn't mean a rule either. It's just a fact; a vampire simply can't enter a building without being invited by someone, anyone. That's the first time, at least. After that they can enter and leave with no trouble."

"Oh. Uh, are there any other… facts… I should know about?"

"I still need to eat and drink, that hasn't changed. I still have basic needs that need to be taken care of. Of course, if I don't eat, I just get very hungry and get cramps until I do eat, but that's beside the point."

"I see. Anything else I should know?"

"There are a lot of things…" You began. I looked over at you and gasped when I saw the mirror we were passing. I could see myself looking into the glass, but you were nowhere to be seen in the reflection. "That's one of them. No more reflections."

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" I asked.

"No, not terribly. Just, could we take my mirror out of my room?"

"All right. As you were saying?"

"We need to get rid of all the silver in our house. I can't touch it without it burning me. It also stops our rapid healing process and reverts it back to that of a… normal humans. It's one of the few things that can kill us, over exposure to silver. Uh, sorry." You whispered.

"It's okay." I sighed, already making a mental list of all the silver in our house that would have to be thrown out. I pushed open the kitchen door and we entered the kitchen.

"What's that smell?" You asked, covering your nose.

"I tried making cookies this morning. It's not that strong; I can barely smell anything." I shrugged as I opened the freezer, took out a box of frozen waffles and put two in the toaster. I closed the door and set it for medium brown.

"It's overpowering!" You complained.

"Are you all right?"

"It's just so strong! I didn't know my new senses were so strong. I know that the sun burns my eyes, but…" You sighed as you sat down on the counter. The sun had just started to stream through the window, so you pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on.

"Will you be okay?" I asked, putting my hand on your shoulder.

"I'm… look, I can tell I make you uncomfortable. Do you want me to leave?" You asked, looking me in the eye.

"No! Don't ever say that!"

"Then would you stop acting like I'm a fucking stranger? I'm me; Kaiba Mokuba, born on July seventh, 1996. You said so yourself, nothing can ever change that. I am still your brother, damn it!"

There was a silence as you glared at me and I took a small step back in suprise. Your fist was firmly planted on the counter, where you had slammed it for emphasis, but you barely noticed. I looked into your eyes and I frowned when I saw a tear roll down your cheek.

The toaster popped to show it was done.

"Do you hate me?" I asked, your words still ringing in my ears.

"Hate you?"

"I do."

"What?" You whispered, your eyebrows disappearing behind your sunglasses as you looked at me questioningly. I turned to look out the window and pulled the blind down so you wouldn't be looking into the sun.

"How much did Jou tell you?"

"About what? He told me lots about vampires."

"You were dying, Mokuba. When that bastard threw you against the wall you… were badly injured. You had slipped into a coma and were going to die. I… was so scared, Mokuba. I didn't know what to do.

"Without you I was going to be alone… and I need you, Mokuba. I need you far more than you need me. Everything around me changes daily. Stock prices, employees, other companies, everything. Any minute, I can lose anything. As we speak, my company is increasing or decreasing in value.

"You're my anchor, Mokuba. You're what I can rely on, because you're always there. I know sometimes I'm not as nice as I ought to be to you, and I know that sometimes we fight and I know sometimes I don't appreciate you like I should, but I need you. I need you more than anything."

"So, what happened?"

"Jou showed up and he offered me a way to save you." I said and took a deep breath before continuing. I was speaking rapidly, hoping that if I spoke fast enough I could explain myself before you got too angry. "And I'm a bastard, Mokuba. A selfish bastard!"

"But I'm alive."

"You're not alive. You're a vampire. I took away your humanity. I took it away from you because I was selfish!" I shouted as I grabbed you by the shoulders and shook you.

"Seto! Seto, shut up!" You snapped, smacking me across the face so hard I could hear my jaw pop.

I've long debated if you really meant to hit me, and I've never actually come up with an answer. Part of me wants to think that you were just too inexperienced with your strength to realize how hard you were going to smack me, but the other half of me knows I was getting slightly hysterical.

(As a side note, because my mind wanders, do you remember the only other time that I was that upset? It was the day that I realized what a bastard our adopted father was. I was just standing in my room when it occurred to me that if I had sold our souls to the devil, we would have gotten a better deal. I spent the next half-hour screaming and ripping my room apart. Do you remember that? You finally came home to see me screaming, while lying on the floor surrounded by books that I had ripped apart with my own hands. I told you that if I ever became hysterical again, you were to hit me until I shut the hell up and calmed down.)

Anyway, I was so surprised that you actually had hit me, I couldn't speak for a minute. Not necessarily a bad thing, as it gave you a chance to talk.

"Seto, I'm okay with being a vampire. Okay, so I was kind of weirded out and I didn't exactly believe I was a vampire at first, but seeing is believing. Let's just say that after Jou cut off his hand and it healed back like normal, I'm very accepting.

"You always told me that there are certain facts that should just be accepted because you could never do anything about them. This is one of them. I'm going to be a vampire for the rest of my unnatural life. I'm always going to look like this and I'm always going to have a blood addiction, and I'll never be able to touch silver again. I'm going to have better senses from now on, I'm never going to see my reflection again and I'm going to have to avoid certain people, because they're hunters. It sucks, but it happened. It's not your fault; I don't blame you."

"You… should eat your breakfast." I finally whispered, rubbing the jaw lightly, as I turned away from you and took the waffles out of the toaster. I put them in front of you and turned to leave the room. I didn't mean to be rude, but things were happening very fast, and I needed a quite place to sit and think. You seemed to sense this, and you let me go with only one more question.

"Hey, Seto?"

"Yeah?" I asked, not turning to look at you.

"Do I still have to go to school?"