Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh.

My Notes: This wasn't what I expected, or planned. Thanks for the reviews. More to come, definitely.

Spirit Spectacle

Mokuba sighed during the limo ride home. His brother had opted to 'put in another shift' as Seto often called it. It usually meant that he wouldn't be coming home until tomorrow evening. As the younger Kaiba sibling looked out at the moving scenery, the setting sun streaking orange and reds, his mind grew more and more fatigued. He relaxed into the leather seating.

Before he knew it, Mokuba was already at the Kaiba mansion and would soon be coddled by the modest number of servants and staff. The routine consisted of questions that Mokuba felt obliged to answer.

"How was your day, Master Mokuba?" the butler Patterson asked, offering to take Mokuba's backpack. His gloved hand matched the spotless white uniform that designated him as the head of servants.

"Can't really complain," he answered as he handed his belongings to the lean servant, knowing full well that they would be waiting in his room after dinner. "Seto's still hard at work though."

"Your brother will work himself till he's grey in the bones," the thirty-something man chuckled. The two entered the household, going straight to the large ante-chamber. Two staircases were both at left and right sides of the room, each a path to the east and west wings of the mansion. When their stepfather had died, each Kaiba brother had claimed a wing as their own personal domain while leaving the middle area of the manor as a general common ground.

"Even then, he's not going to let that stop him," Mokuba said as he watched as one of the maids arrived, a Ms. Connolly with the daily bundle of mail. "Any mail for me today?"

The lightly tanned young woman smiled. "Nothing for you I'm afraid." There was never any mail for Mokuba; he just liked to humor the black-haired maid. "There is an invitation to a party that is being hosted by the Reed family which both Kaibas should attend. And unofficially, there is a Duel Monsters tournament invite which is being hosted in France." The rest, both knew, would be business mail that his older brother would go through.

"You better give those to me, and give the rest to Seto. Well, dinner's waiting, right?" Mokuba raced towards the dining room in time to see the chef and the other servants preparing the meal. Although Seto frowned upon it, Mokuba allowed the staff to eat with him. It had occurred to him, after firing most of the previous staff and hiring few replacements, that a sort of communal activity would bring the servants and the new masters closer together. Seto had scoffed at this idea, but after a few months Mokuba noted the improved efficiency in which tasks were done.

Dinner was a seafood affair and the general conversation was light. Mokuba complained of the difficulty in Algebra, but was eagerly awaiting the dissections of frogs in Biology. The staff reminisced of those childhood days, encouraging Mokuba to keep at his studies. He listened intently as the adults generally complained about most everything. Eventually becoming full, Mokuba retired to his room.

As the long-haired boy emptied the contents of his backpack onto his desk, he found the item that he had stashed away. The Millennium Rod was cold to his touch, and was longer than his forearm. He stared at the strange round sphere at the top of the rod with its enigmatic eye and strange ear-like flourishes. It looked like a one-eyed, big eared head stuck on a stick.

Aren't there some Duel Monster cards that look like this? Mokuba thought. He took out his deck and went through each card, but the only ones that looked relatively similar was Meda Bat. I know there's more. Maybe there are still a few cards left in the game room. I better go and check it out.

Peering out of his room to make sure no one was around, Mokuba walked down the hall towards the center chamber, carrying the rod with him. As he descended down a flight of stairs, he headed straight and entered the second door on the right. Inside was a vast row of arcade machines, pool tables, computers, sofas, chairs, bookshelves full of games and the like. Everything was powered down since no one was using them.

Seto used to keep cards on the top shelf. Maybe he forgot about them. Using a chair as a makeshift ladder, he reached the top and found a metal tin. Jumping down, he opened the box and found a selection of Duel Monsters. He began to paw through them.

As the boy was distracted with his task, he had left the Millennium Rod unattended on the floor. So it went unnoticed that the rod had begun to glow. But it began to glow brighter when a few cards were scattered near it.

Ryu-Kishin, no, Judge Man, no, Hane-Hane, no...Mokuba thought.

"...Judge Man, no, Hane-Hane, no...," a voice weakly echoed.

Huh? Did I hear something?

"...hear something...?"

"Alright, who's there?" Mokuba asked.

"...who's there...?"

"Show yourself! I'm not afraid." Mokuba stood, fist clenched. The game cards were scattered all around.

"...not afraid...shouldn't be afraid..." the voice had grown stronger.

Mokuba began to tremble. As his eyes darted every which way, he felt the distinct feeling that he was not alone. He shivered. Is it getting colder?

"Cold. So cold." The voice was behind him. And familiar?

Mokuba turned. "Big brother," he blurted. And yet it wasn't. The figure before him looked like his brother. They both had the same piercing blue eyes, and the same height and stature. But this person was wearing foreign garments. A purple piece of headwear covered most of his head, almost resembling an open-faced patterned helmet. In addition was matching purple shoulder finery with a white military cloak flowing from behind it. A golden belt held up brown trousers with a codpiece out in front. The only thing Mokuba could compare it to was the clothing a Roman Caesar could wear.

"Brother...where are you?" the figure asked as he walked through Mokuba.

Mokuba blinked a few times before he did what anyone would do after having seen a ghost. He screamed and ran out the door.

Patterson was the first to come to Mokuba. "Master, what's wrong? What's the matter?" Mokuba could only mutter the word 'ghost'.