Chapter 2 The Letter and a Promise

Mokuba glanced around as other kids milled past him, hurrying back to their respective homes. Even with his short height, he could see no one tall enough to be his brother in the parking lot at his school.

"Master Mokuba! Sir! This way." A man in a back suit and sunglasses gestured to the limousine waiting away from the school's main parking lot.

With a sigh, the boy trudged over, kicking various stones. I guess Seto's too busy to walk back with me today, he thought.

The goons that had arrived to convey him home looked very worried at his silence, but, as usual, they did not comment. Roland kept looking back nervously in the rearview mirror, mainly because he had to look in it at all. Mokuba usually sat in the front.

He sighed, turning back to look at the road. Nothing good would come of this.

&&&

The smallest of air waves was the only indicator that something had changed. Slowly, if one was looking, one could see a black blob pass through the opening and give way to big gray eyes. Then, saddened and silent, the figure silently closed the door once more.

"I guess Seto is busy. I won't practice my violin then, because I'll disturb him." The option of going to another room never passed through his mind. In all the mansion, there were only two rooms Mokuba Kaiba ever felt freely able to enter, and that was his room and, previously, his brother's.

The boy pondered for awhile. "Well, I don't have much work to do, so I guess I'll go outside."

With the sun shining and only a slight wind blowing in the autumn weather, it was the best day for sitting outside and thinking. Of course, the best place for a think was the big tree in the backyard.

"Seto's so busy he won't notice me here," he said to himself, justifying his actions.

With a small grunt, he began hauling himself up the tree, only stopping very near the top where he could feel the breeze move his hair.

Before even three minutes had gone by, Fintan came out of the house, looking directly at him.

"Uh oh…"

Immediately under the tree, the goon looked up, shielding his eyes despite the sunglasses. "Sir, I don't think ya should be up there. Ya could fall ta yer death. Please, sir, be careful!"

"I'm fine, Fintan. Don't worry."

As the goon muttered something in Gaelic, a language Mokuba had been learning from his brother before they had no time, the boy wished he could have understood him. Maybe Duncan would teach him. After all, Duncan was a younger sibling and seemed to take pity on Mokuba more often than Fintan did.

"I'm paid ta worry, and my career is ta worry. I'm a doctor, so don't make me have more work ta do!"

Sighing, Mokuba began climbing back down, thinking, I guess Seto doesn't have to be paying attention to keep me out of the tree. He has his goons well-trained. They could be him…

&&&

"Good. Everything is going according to schedule."

Mokuba perked up, looking at his brother in excitement. "Really, Seto?"

Kaiba was busy taking some of the salad and missed the beaming look sent his way. "I might be able to release the product this week, now that I don't have other distractions in the day."

Studying his plate, Mokuba finally looked up, the puzzled brows evident that no answers had been found in his food. "What other distractions?" He really hoped his brother was not referring to him.

When his brother did not answer, Mokuba changed his tone and warned, "Seto…" Exasperated at the continued silence, he burst out, "You don't mean me, do you?"

Kaiba looked at his younger brother. "No, of course not. I'm referring to school."

"But, Seto, you have to go to school. The superintendent already warned you about that before…"

"Don't worry, Mokuba. This time he has no case. I was suspended."

"What!"

Kaiba calmly put a piece of plain lettuce in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed before replying, "It was nothing new. I told them before that I would not take their demeaning tricks to make immature high schoolers obey. Maybe for some ignorant bonkatsus it works, but not for anyone with the IQ to solve simple calculus problems!"

"I don't know calculus," Mokuba said quietly, moving his asparagus into his lettuce.

Kaiba continued without a pause, not seeming to hear his younger sibling, "I prefer to be away from them all. This way, I can actually do something useful and important with my time."

There was a silence, one that only an old clock broke with its steady ticking. It was that very trait that allowed it to remain in this house, since everything else was updated and new.

Finally, Mokuba, staring at his food, asked, "When will you be done with work?"

Kaiba took a sip of milk. "There is an unlimited amount of work in this world, Mokuba. I don't think I'll ever be done. Besides, it's important to keep this company running under a good name, and only hard work can bring that."

"I see."

Shoving back his chair, the boy didn't look at his brother, but went upstairs and closed the door to his room. Fuguta, outside his door, only gave the customary "Hmm?" as Mokuba passed him by. With no response, the goon faced forward again and made no move.

His brother's plate hardly touched, Kaiba nodded at Jaques to take it away.

"When he's hungry, he'll eat better."

Then, not wanting to interrupt his brother's study time, or so he thought it, Kaiba did not knock on his door. Instead, he went back to his room and began typing anew.

&&&

"I think we have enough data, sir. Can we mail the notice, now?"

The evil laughter echoed throughout the room. "Yes. Within a week, they'll be as they should have been from the start! Never again will we lose power because of them. Then, with Mokuba's shares of the company no longer combined with his brother's, we'll be in the perfect position to gain control!"

The collection of suited men all smiled and nodded. This time, no Seto Kaiba would get control of the company, but, instead, the board of directors, who deserved it.

&&&

It was inconspicuous, in a regular white envelope that passed security. The stamp was the average kind purchased by thousands. The handwriting was type, so nothing was given away through that. For all those involved, the letter seemed like one more piece of business mail for Mr. Kaiba, except the return address was from no one they recognized. Shrugging, the goons put it with all the others, confident nothing dangerous was inside.

"Huh? What's this?" Kaiba paused in his walking, looking at the label that said this piece of mail was from a certain county deputy.

Opening it with a glare, he froze in place, reading it once and rereading it again. Still agape, he went back downstairs, picking up the phone as he walked by it, dialing a number long-since memorized.

Looking outside in case this had been hand-delivered, Kaiba waited impatiently for the phone to stop ringing.

"YO's office. How may I help you?"

"Wheeler?"

A small yelp was silenced by the word, "Kaiba!"

There was a small conversation on the other end, then the more familiar voice took over. "Mr. Kaiba. I'm sorry, he's a new secretary."

"That was Joey Wheeler. How could he be your secretary?"

"Well, he's my nephew."

Kaiba vowed to always look up the backgrounds of anyone whose service he wanted to employ. Then he thought a moment. He had. So why did Kaiba not know YO was related to Joey Wheeler? Kaiba had encountered evidence that YO had had a name change before, but the CEO had not bothered to look any farther. If someone felt the need to change his or her name, most likely, the person had absolutely nothing interesting about himself or herself. That was why they would change their name—to become more interesting.

However, even with this information, it was doubtful he would have switched lawyers. In the field of courts, YO was the best.

Formally known as Yale Oaken, no one called him that. In fact, to everyone other than Kaiba, he spoke exactly the same dialect as his nephew did. Sometimes, for jokes, Joey would pretend to be his uncle with the person on the other end knowing no difference. Of course, YO was always furious, but he never fired Joey.

Without another remark, Kaiba said, "I need you to get over here. There's a certain letter I have to discuss with you. Be here as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

Kaiba turned toward Roland, giving him a written note. "Turn this in to the office and get my brother out of school now."

"Yes, sir," Roland said, gulping. He hastened out the door, paper held firmly in hand.

Then, sitting down in a chair in the living room, he formed his hands into a steeple before him and began contemplating how this could have happened.

&&&

"What's up, nii-sama?" Mokuba asked, swinging his legs from a nearby table.

Kaiba didn't answer, only paced by the door. He stopped abruptly after a turn, for Mokuba was now directly in front of him, staring up at him.

"Something's wrong. You got me out of my last class, so you'd better tell me what happened."

"I'm waiting for YO to get here."

The boy's face paled, and he went back to the living room, taking a seat in a chair this time.

It was only two minutes later that the red Porsche pulled into the walled-in driveway, a man in a suit stepping out of it. A goon quickly escorted him through the doorway, bowing to Mr. Kaiba.

"All right, what seems to be the problem?" Of course, because he was speaking to Mr. Kaiba, YO did not use his nephew's dialect. Doing so would instantly have lost him a client.

Kaiba turned his icy eyes on the lawyer. "They want to take Mokuba away from me."

Mokuba's mouth dropped open, and he ran over to his big brother. "What do you mean? They can't. We're family; they won't take me away." Mostly, this was useless babbling, but Mokuba could not get his speaking under control.

"They have a police order they will be enforcing starting tomorrow. Mokuba won't be able to have contact with me or be within twenty miles of my residence." For a moment, Kaiba's voice expressed some kind of emotion YO had never heard before. "They're putting him in a foster home!" Kaiba's hands clenched and the letter crumpled.

Mokuba looked like he would cry as he asked, too quietly for anyone to hear, "But, why?"

"Let me see that." YO brusquely took the crumpled paper and smoothed it out to read. After several minutes, he had to reluctantly agree that everything was as it should be. The order would be carried out. They couldn't stop it.

"But, Mr. Kaiba, we'll begin working on a trial immediately. They won't be able to win with both of us on the job."

"The trial is in four weeks. They have no right to take Mokuba away from me without a warning!"

"I admit a warning is usually needed, unless circumstantial evidence proves the child's safety is too much at risk to wait any longer. They must have gotten some."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, sir, but I will be contacting the judge who authorized this and finding that out. I'll do it now, if you wish."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed and he cocked his jaw in a determined stance. "I do."

YO nodded, pocketed the letter, and vanished out the door. The goons, faces taut, shut it behind him and remained at their posts.

"Nii-sama," Mokuba hesitated, making a small fist of his own. He still remembered the need to be tough like when they were growing up in the orphanage. "I won't let them take me away!"

Kaiba looked at him sadly. "You won't have a choice, Mokuba."

"But-but…But what about what I want? Don't they care? I don't want to go back to another orphanage!"

Kaiba put a hand before his face, unable to look at his brother's depressed face any longer. "You won't go to an orphanage, but a foster home until the outcome of the trial. Then, they will place you with a true foster family for you to stay with until you become of age. Whether it will be the same as the first or a new one, the letter didn't specify."

Mokuba put his foot down hard. "No! I don't want another family! I just want you, nii-sama," he finished in a whisper, staring at the ground.

Kaiba crouched down before him, putting a hand on each shoulder. "I won't let them take you away, Mokuba. Not ever. Do you understand? I'll work night and day until I come up with an argument that's unbeatable. It'll be like duel monsters, but the deck I have to form is going to be reasons you should be able to stay here."

"You're the best duel monsters' player there is," he replied, a small degree of hope in his voice though his eyes had tears in.

"Duel monsters will be nothing compared to this. You're—" Kaiba broke off, looking away. Then he took a breath and continued lowly, "You're all I have left, Mokuba. I won't let them win."

Mokuba clutched him into a tight hug, arms clinging so tightly they would never release.

&&&

"How cute," the watcher said dryly. "Too bad it's too late. Should've shown such a side before, Seto Kaiba. Now, your brother will be gone forever!"

&&&

The old clock continued to tick away the time, though all who listened to it wished it would slow down. Every tick brought the time they had together closer to an end. After Mokuba finally let go of his brother, they took another seat on the couch, just looking at each other.

Finally, Kaiba asked, "Do you want to play a game of chess?"

His little brother nodded, and they both went upstairs to play the game. If Kaiba's turns took even longer than usual, if there was more time spent thinking and gazing at his brother, Mokuba said nothing, since he was doing the same thing.

After chess, they played Capsule Monster Chess, the holographic image mode, and then duel monsters. By then, Jaques had started dinner, though Kaiba kicked him out of the kitchen and put away everything he had gotten out.

"Can I help?" Mokuba's face looked like a begging puppy's.

"Of course."

From the one container Kaiba had taken out, Mokuba knew what they were making and gave a little smile. But the thought that this might be the last time for his favorite meal with his brother caused it to disintegrate.

Octopus-eye soup. The scent of it simmering on the stove did not cause the usual small thrill of excitement, but only a dull lurch. If it was dinner time, then there were only so many hours left.

Alone, no goons in sight, the brothers ate their soup across from one another, mostly in silence. No matter how slowly the spoons went from bowl to mouth, the clock continued to mark the passing time. At 7:30:23, there was no need to prolong it anymore. Both got up and began gathering dishes to take back to the kitchen.

Everything was put away, though Kaiba doubted he would touch the leftovers when his brother was gone. Still, he said nothing, only started doing the dishes. Mokuba got a towel and started wiping.