He had been fast asleep when he felt the whispering in his ear. Slowly waking up, he is faced with a pair of hazel eyes. "Aoi, what are you doing?" He turns to look at the time. "It's 2 in the morning." "I had a nightmare, Uncle Mokuba...I tried to wake daddy but he just turned over." "Come here, its okay...I'm here for you." "Uncle Mokuba, sometimes I don't think daddy really loves me and Suzaku." "Aoi, that's not true...In fact that is the farthest thing from the truth...He is just having a hard time...He still has to get over your mom's death...I know I will tell you a story." The child is automatically intrigued at those words. "What's it about?"
"A prince who was arrogant, rich beyond his imagination. It hadn't always been that way though, when he was young he only had his brother. Their parents had died when they were really young. His brother had not even been a year old. The people that took them in temporarily had decided not to separate them, due to the older brother's age. Despite being parentless, the brothers were happy to still have each other." "Uncle Mokuba, who adopted them?" "Well, one day a man came to the orphanage; the man was a very successful businessman. The prince had decided to challenge the businessman to a game of wits, in the form of chess. If he won, the man had to adopt him and his brother. When they had entered the orphanage, the prince had made a promise to himself, that he would give his brother the life he felt he deserved. The businessman's appearance had been his window of opporunity, and he refused to let the chance slide. The prince wound up winning the game. He had practiced all hours of the day, in order to win."
"The prince must be a genius." "Oh, he is Aoi, always has been...He had been able to give his brother the stabilty he had longed for him...However, he quickly learned that being rich wasn't all it was cracked up to be...While his brother was almost everything, he could desire...The thing he wanted most though was his brother's company...For when they came to live with the businessman, he started working the elder sibling to the bone...The prince's education would go on for hours on end, with no sign of stopping...When he would become exhausted, the prince would remind himself, what he was doing was all for his brother. So he would start all over again, more than willing to suffer day in and day out for the person most important to him."
"What about friends?...Didn't the prince have friends, Uncle Mokuba?" "In time he did...He didn't always see eye to eye with a couple of the people in his group of friends...In fact he could barely tolerate some of them...Due to his upbringing, he had been forced to keep everything inside, making him more mature than his age...So, the immaturity some of them displayed would get on his nerves...Through one of his friends, he wound up meeting the one person; the only person who had been able to break through his wall...Not even his brother had been able to do this, that fact left his brother feeling jealously and resentment toward that person."
"That's a different story however...One I will have to tell you some other time...I need to get some more rest...I am going to be busy later." They had not known that someone had been watching from the doorway. The eavesdropper quickly retreats when he sees the uncle picking his niece up, in order to take her back to her room. He had been there from the very beginning. He had never realized that the uncle had felt that way. He had never been informed of this. ' Where did I gone wrong, all I have done has been for him...Sure she had been the only one to break through my defenses, but I never sacrificed my childhood for her...I never sacrificed anything for her...She accepted me the way I am, and I loved her all the more for it...I stiil do, I always will...She is the only woman I will ever need...I can't believe I almost failed her by treating her the way I did towards the end. After all the love and patience she showed me, I threw it all in her face.' That is Kaiba's last thought before sleep overtakes him again.
An hour has gone by, and he had tried to no avail to go back to sleep. After the story he told Aoi, he couldn't get Shizuka out of his mind. He thought of how he could have liked her at first, then Seto had started spending time with no one but her. Going back to the day, he had found out she was terminally ill. The three of them had been in the entertainment lounge discussing how their day had gone. She suddenly stood up. Her face extremely pale. She had managed taking a step forward, before becoming unconscious. Seto instinctively broke her fall. He had gone to call a ambulance as his brother placed her back on the sofa. Despite how he felt about her, Mokuba couldn't help but also feel concern for her. It took several days and tests to discover what was wrong with her. Thinking of the pain she had to endure, causes him to go into a fit of tears. Before he knows it and being unaware, he falls asleep dreaming of the girl who has gotten his interest.
They had been introduced at the Egyptian exhibit their city's museum had decided to open. Isis made the intial introductions. Since she was from Egypt, and her friend was an archeologist, who was especially interested in Egyptian culture. It was only natural that they would be constant companions. He had been there to expand to a different group of hopeful business associates for his brother's company. Unlike his brother, he was more sociable. He had no idea he would meet his future wife at such a casual event in his eyes. He ignored the reporters and photographers who were there for the event's opening. He was also unaware that through wanting to be with her, he would expand the percentage of geniuses in his lineage. For that exactly what she was, and she would pass it on to her son.