A/N: Apologies for the delay. Real life and writers block suck.
Mokuba felt confused. Just yesterday, his nii-sama had been an ordinary teenager, like everyone else. Well, maybe not that ordinary, but still. He'd graduated high school, and was considering college courses, even though his nii-sama was so smart he could teach those courses.
But now, he said, he was married. Was he joking? Mokuba hadn't even seen the lady that he said was his wife, much less spoken to her. It was a very real possibility.
But why would nii-sama play such a mean joke? It didn't make any sense!
So... it must not be a joke. Nii-sama didn't joke like that. Nii-sama didn't really joke at all.
Nii-sama was really married!
Mokuba didn't really know how to handle that. He didn't know her at all. What if she was really mean?
Then she and nii-sama would get along great, he thought sullenly for a moment, then sighed. No, nii-sama isn't mean. He's just... nii-sama.
He sighed and rubbed at his face. He didn't know what to think, what to feel, what to hope...
If she's really nice, maybe she'll get nii-sama to smile, and laugh, and be happy again...
But... if she was nice, what if nii-sama started to ignore him? What if he spent all his free time with her and forgot about him?
He didn't even know her!
Granted, she didn't seem very nice so care... but nii-sama had walked in on her naked. He imagined that no one would be very happy about that at all.
He chewed on his upper lip, rubbing his forehead. This is way too hard. I can't decide anything until I meet her. I guess I have to go find her, since nii-sama's attempt to introduce us kinda fell flat...
Nodding to himself, he wandered down the hall. That's exactly what I'll do. If he remembered correctly, her room was down the first hall and somewhere on the left...
He peered into the only room with light coming from under the door. A woman wrapped in a robe was pacing back and forth in the middle of the room, taking to herself.
After a moment, he realized that she wasn't talking to herself, but rather to a small stuffed hedgehog sitting on the bed.
"...And I don't bloody understand it, Edward! Why? Why me, of all people? Honestly?"
She was speaking in very rapid, accented English, so it was relatively difficult for him to understand what she was saying. Mokuba leaned into her room just a bit more, striving to stay out of sight.
"It isn't fair at all! Why couldn't Daddy have sent- sent Catherine, or even Sophia in my place? What can I do that they can't? It isn't fair!"
She kicked the bed and then sat down on it, rubbing her foot and muttering words in a low voice. Mokuba was pretty sure they were swear words, but he couldn't hear clearly enough to tell. She rubbed her forehead and laughed faintly, her voice taking on a peculiar quality, as if she was quoting something. "You say that so often... I wonder what your basis for comparison is."
Mokuba wasn't sure what that meant, but it didn't sound good. He moved a bit further into the room, trying to get a better look at her. It almost worked, but she dropped her face into her hands and sighed shakily.
"I don't know what the bloody fuck I'm going to do," she said, the sound muffled by her hands.
Mokuba added the phrase "bloody fuck" to his new repertoire of swear words in different languages. That one sure sounded good.
"Who the hell are you?"
Mokuba looked up quickly. Too far in... The girl was looking at him through bloodshot eyes. She really looked kind of... scary. "Um, hi. I'm Mokuba."
"Who?" she blinked at him, looking completely clueless.
Either she was really bad with names, or nii-sama hadn't told her about him. It was probably the latter. "Mokuba. You know, Seto's little brother?"
That earned him another completely blank stare, and he wondered if she understood even the most rudimentary of Japanese words. He was trying to figure out how to break it down more, and simply couldn't, when she muttered something in English that he didn't catch.
"I see," she said then, louder, in horribly-accented Japanese. "Little brother. I see."
Mokuba grinned at her. "I can speak English ok, if you need me to."
She now looked visibly relieved as he switched to English, and relaxed. "Thank you... That's very appreciated."
If I make her like me, I can get away with so much "So where are you from?"
"England," she replied, rubbing her eyes.
"That's far away." Mokuba tilted his head, watching her. "So Nii-sama said you were his wife..."
He noticed her hands clench into white-knuckled fists. Oh, she didn't like being reminded of that at all. She must not like him... "He... uh, didn't mean to see you naked, you know," he told her, trying to be helpful.
"He told you that?" the woman exploded, standing suddenly. She looked absolutely wrathful, and Mokuba took a step back.
"I kind of figured it out for myself..." he rubbed the back of his neck, eying her a bit. She seemed to calm down after a moment and sat back down, sighing. Subject change time! "So... I'm Mokuba," he told her again, in case she'd forgotten. "What's your name?"
After a moment, she smiled faintly and answered him. "Tasmin."
"Tasmin." Mokuba nodded; he'd never heard the name before, so he was pretty likely to remember it. "Ok, Tasmin! What do you want to do now?"
Tasmin blinked at him, clearly not comprehending. "...Do next? What do you mean?"
"Anything!" Mokuba sat down next to her. "We've got tons of games and stuff. Big brother's at work, and I'm bored.
"Ah." After a moment, she looked at him. "He works often, then?" Mokuba caught a note of sullen curiosity.
"Lots." Mokuba shrugged, as if he didn't care. "But it's his job."
The woman stared at him, gaze oddly searching. It made him a bit uncomfortable. "I see. That doesn't bother you at all?"
Mokuba shrugged and looked at the floor. He didn't have his nii-sama's great ability and schooling his expression, and hiding his feelings, and he knew it. "Not really." It didn't come out as indifferently as he would have liked.
"Not at all," Tasmin stated, and eyebrow going up.
"No, of course not." Mokuba said, crossing his arms. "I can handle it! He always spends time with me when he's home. He's the best big brother ever." He gave her a look that dared her to argue with him. And it's true too... Just try to tell me otherwise!
He watched her, waiting for her to get angry and yell at him, like she did with nii-sama. She instead watched him with an unreadable expression, then smiled at him. "I wish I felt the same way about my older siblings they way you feel about yours." Her voice was kind, and her posture slowly became more relaxed. "You seem like a wonderful lad, and a wonderful younger brother."
"Do you have a little brother?" Mokuba couldn't help but ask.
"No, no..." Tasmin shook her head. "I'm the youngest. I have three older sisters."
Too many girls, Mokuba decided immediately. "I see... Are they as cool as nii-sama?"
Tasmin was silent for a long moment. "...going from what you tell me, two out of three of my sisters are nothing like him. Isobel seems... somewhat similar, I suppose."
Mokuba tilted his head to one side. She didn't look too happy about talking about it. "Don't you love your sisters? I love my brother, more than anyone else!"
Now she only looked more uncomfortable. "I suppose I love my sisters. I know I love Isobel..."
Mokuba was surprised. How could you not know if you loved someone? Especially your own siblings? You had to love them. Older siblings protected you and took care of you! Nii-sama did, and he knew Jounouchi was really protective of his younger sister, so weren't all older siblings like that? Wasn't it a rule?
Tasmin must have noticed his stunned expression, because she hastened to reassure him. "I don't... hate them or anything, honestly. I just... don't think about them much anymore."
"Oh." Mokuba shook his head. It still didn't make any sense to him. "If I ever moved away from nii-sama, I would think about him all the time," he told her, as if that made him a better person.
The woman only smiled faintly and nodded. "That's good for you, then. I'm glad you care about him so much."
Mokuba deflated a bit and kicked his heels against the edge of the bed. She was being really nice to him. He really couldn't not like her, so far, even if she was mean to nii-sama. Nii-sama was being kind of mean to her, so it was all right, he supposed. He thought for a bit, before coming up with another question to ask her.
"So, are you and nii-sama going on a honeymoon?" He'd heard someone in nii-sama's office talking about his honeymoon once. The man had said it was great, and used a lot of words Mokuba hadn't understood at the time. Maybe something like that would cheer nii-sama up, if it was really as good as the man had said.
Only, from what he'd looked up about honeymoons, they really weren't places for little brothers. Mokuba didn't much like that thought, so it was more of a relief when Tasmin shuddered, and told him, "God, I hope not."
Phew. Mokuba really didn't want nii-sama to go anywhere. Especially without him. "You really don't like nii-sama, do you?"
Tasmin sighed and shook her head, her gaze dropping to her lap. "No, lad. No, I don't. I do, however, think I'll like you." And she smiled at him, and ruffled his hair.
Score! Mokuba kept his smile happy and distinctly innocent and not evil. "I'm really glad to hear that, Tasmin-san." I can get away with so much stuff now when nii-sama's not around! It's going to be so awesome!
Tasmin sighed and shook her head. "Well, I'm glad someone is..."
"I've never had a big sister before," Mokuba continued, pretending not to hear her. "And it sounds like you've never had a little brother, so we should get along just great."
Tasmin smiled warmly and nodded. "Of course. I'm very, very glad to hear you say that."
Mokuba beamed and hugged her on impulse. She looked almost uncomfortable, but returned the hug after a moment.
"Thank you, Mokuba." Her voice was very soft, almost choked. He blinked at her, but she had already pulled away. "I need to finish unpacking."
Mokuba nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I'll come get you when it's time to eat, ok?"
Tasmin nodded and busied herself with folding a shirt, keeping her voice averted from his. "Thank you."
Mokuba sighed and wandered out. What's going on here? There are so many girls that would want to be in her shoes...
And nii-sama hates them, he reminded himself. Of course, he's not giving her much of a chance either. I guess I shouldn't expect him to. I understand why he's being like this... Nii-sama hates being controlled, and reminded of Tou-sama. And both things are happening right now. No wonder he's in such a bad mood. Maybe he'll feel better later. Poor nii-sama.
He sighed and made his way to his brother's home office, peering in. He was as hard at work as ever before, and Mokuba couldn't help but feel a little sad and angry. Nii-sama is always working, always. It isn't fair! Despite his attempted indifference with Tasmin, he was still unhappy. He wanted his brother to be more normal, to spend time with him in the evenings, instead of working all the time.
Maybe this lady would help. She wasn't like the other girls. Maybe she could convince Seto to spend more time with him, somehow. He'd have to work on that with her. Or, maybe she wouldn't help at all. Maybe she'd just make everything worse.
"Nii-sama?" He decided to try to distract his brother for a bit, moving into the room. "I talked to her... She seems nice to me..."
"You're not married to her," came his brother's short, curt reply. Mokuba sighed. Apparenly, his brother didn't want to talk about her. If he wanted to talk to him at all.
"I know I'm not, nii-sama. Would it help if I was?" He just wanted his nii-sama to be happy. If that meant he had to marry Tasmin... well, it'd be really, really weird. But he'd try it.
"No," Seto said instantly, looking at him. "No... I'm sorry, Mokuba. I'm just unsure of what to do next."
Translation, Mokuba thought, I can't handle this problem. I'm going insane. Reassure me.
"Nii-sama..." Mokuba sighed and moved around the desk, leaning on the arm of Seto's chair. "Well, we need to figure out what we're going to do then. She doesn't seem bad, and she's not like the other girls around, right? And you've seen her naked, so you can tell if she's hot or not..."
"..." The glare that Seto gave him was enough.
"Right." Mokuba nodded and bit his lip. "I won't mention it again."
"Good." Seto turned his attention to the paperwork on his desk.
Mokuba sighed. "I guess I'll leave then." He backed off, shaking his head.
Seto glanced at him and sighed. "Mokuba... We'll talk later, all right?"
"Ok," Mokuba nodded and managed a smile, then slowly wandered out, keeping his eyes lowered. I just wish he'd talk to me more. I guess he's going to.
I hope he does.
Questions, comments and complaints, please.