Lightning-Dono: Another chapter. I have ideas of where this is going to go now! Finally, one story I have plans for. o.o

Answers to the Reviews

Queen Insanity – Aw, but Mokie needs the attention! Don't worry, in the end it WILL get brighter. Promise, promise, PROMISE! I'm used to writing on Writer's Block because of my English/Language Art's teacher ((glares at them)).

can't think – Huh? You thought it was good? I mean, my writing. No. Freaking. Way. xD; Thanks! You made me smile for...uh...the third time today.

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The tall figure carried the jar in cupped hands, as though shielding it from all incoming dangers. Then, he started to do something that he had never done before. Something that would've been deemed 'crazy' by his standards, but that was before Mokuba passed away. Now anything to comfort his uneasiness would've been welcomed, and he was doing this.

Talking to it seemed reasonably the best way to tell himself that all would be okay and Mokuba was happy where ever he was.

"See that doorway?" He murmured softly, resisting the urge to stroke it fondly like he used to do to Mokuba as younger children. "I-I'm taking you in there...So you can be here with me. Do you know what I mean?" He laughed softly at his own foolishness. Of course Mokuba couldn't hear anything, couldn't understand what Kaiba wanted him to. The ashes were just a part of his physical being that Kaiba had wanted because he wanted a part of his brother to stay with him forever. But that would be more or less unsafe, knowing how so many rebellious members of his company resided within it's walls. The lie was tantalizing – thinking that talking to the remains of someone could allow you to communicate with them in some way. Kaiba shook himself out of it. In previous years he had claimed that fantasies were of no interest to him. Now he was obsessed with something that could never happen.

A glistening shelf lay within reach of the sunlight by a window with baby blue curtains. The room was nothing short of a perfect model displayed at those home improvement stores. The wallpaper was printed with clouds that looked as though they had scattered from heaven. Kaiba stepped into it, a cold chill racing down his spine like a roadrunner streaking by. This room was Mokuba's room in this building, the place where he had slept, played, and studied for long hours under Gozaburo's relentless teachings. Now none of it mattered.

As sadness ensued his heavy heart, he placed the bottle of ashes that was hardly visible through the glare of light. Getting down to his knees, he took one long look at the ashes, reminiscing upon the several days before when Mokuba had been alive, trying to get his brother to come back. Everything seemed so fake and ridiculous, like a morbid dream that was created by a greater being as an omen.

"I'll never forget you, Mokuba." He was about to add, "And if I ever do, come and whack me on the head." but he didn't bother. His brother now couldn't do that and it was too whimsical. Kaiba bowed respectfully.

From the door, Isis spied on him, her sapphire eyes falling prey to the teardrops that pierced her eyes like needles. She had abandoned her post at the window to hopefully come and pay her respects to Mokuba also, but she had been too late.

- - - - -

Spiked hair damp with tears draped around Mokuba's shoulders as he shuddered to catch his breath and stop himself from crying tears that were virtually impossible to see. This world was like a game of mercy, except when asked, they gave none. Of all the obstacles he was to face, he had to go through this. Already he felt his sense of self diminish. It was better to just vanish from the face of all spiritual planes rather than roam around a darkened world with knowledge that a better place existed outside of its boundaries.

"Come," something whispered to him. He whipped around, his neck feeling like spears were scraping against it because he had twisted so suddenly. So in this place you can feel pain, he thought silently, feeling less and less happy. Those people look so...happy...

"Come." The voice repeated, echoing through Mokuba's eardrums. "Turn around." Mokuba turned back to his original position. Before him stood a scantily clad angel with a halo hovering delicately above her head. Her eyes were wide, bursting with emotion and ambition.

"Where are we going?" Mokuba asked.

"And you're Buddhist?" She giggled, her shoulder-length hair flying around her. "We're going to see the Buddha. Maybe he'll allow you to achieve a sense of nirvana."

Mokuba stared. "And what if he doesn't?" He questioned coldly. The temperature of this subsidiary hell was growing cold.

"Oh, don't worry. The Buddha is kind, mind you. Refuses only those who led lives of sin and hatred."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I'm his messenger, free to roam the spiritual worlds. I am also the person who leads dying people into death and to their rightful places in the spiritual worlds." Then she stopped to think about what she had just said. Her voice was high and peppy. "That, of course, only applies to people who have faithfully followed the beliefs of Buddhism and lived by it."

Mokuba nodded in acceptance, took her hand, and off they flew. The surprising thing was that a large mountain that seemed to touch the sky with its peak stopped the trip short.

"That wall we just flew through leads here – Home of the Buddha," she informed him. It'll take a total of four living days to get to the top, considering that we manage to get past all of the traverses."

He was silent. What would he have to prove to the Buddha in order to achieve eternal peace?

- - - - -

That night, Isis and Kaiba slept in the same room but in separate beds. Although they were starting to get close, sleeping together would be all too dangerous and rumors would spread like a wildfire. Kaiba couldn't afford his reputation and Isis couldn't even imagine taking care of a child at her age.

"What do you think will happen tomorrow?" Isis asked Kaiba through the dense darkness that shrouded the room. She lay in her cot, a blanket lying on her front and her hands clasped behind her head in a mock-relaxed position.

"Not sure. Let's get some sleep." Kaiba never got much sleep, anyway, so he lay on his bed for a long time just staring at the moonlit ceiling. Too many thoughts crowded his mind and try as he might, Kaiba couldn't get them to come in individuals. It was like sorting pieces of colored paper when the load came in thousands and you had all the colors of a rainbow.

There was the sound of a breaking window.