Long time no see! Sorry if this chapter is a bit weird, but I have writer's block right now. Well, sort of. I know exactly what I want to say, but I can't make it flow right. Everything sounds kinda choppy. This was supposed to be my best chapter yet because of the stuff in it, but I guess it won't be. Actually, you choose. People always tell me I put my standards for myself too high.

Thanks to:

Bingbing: I love the ice/cinnamon-melting thing, too! It's not really my idea, though, because lots of other authors use the idea. I think mine's a little different, though. And I changed the chapter a little bit, because after reading it for about the third time, I realized it was a bit too colorful, too. Another thing: I have no idea what you meant by the influential not politician thing about Kaiba. I don't know what's so political about him…And thanks for the compliment for that one scene! I didn't like it too much, though. I just needed the descriptions. What I meant by Kaiba almost yelling at Serenity—when people get mad, they usually manage to lose their temper, especially someone like Kaiba. So what I meant was that he never lost his temper at her. He usually loses his temper at whatever's nearest, doesn't he?

Okay, I know that was long, but I felt like I needed to answer all of her questions. And since no one else reviewed, I thought I would spend my time. No one else needs an answer, do they?

I also forgot to do something on all of my previous chapters: Thank you to my sister also for proofreading my story before I post it. I guess she's my beta, but she just tells me some suggestions--she didn't even tell me there were typos here (I reposted it an hour after I first posted it. My friend told me the mistakes). Thanks to her anyway (I doubt she's ever going to read this part anyway…I put this here because she's bugging me about it. She doesn't read my story after she proofreads it. Why would she need to, after all?)

On with the story!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the disclaimer, too. I don't own Yugioh. And I never will. I don't even think I really want to…

A week had gone by with no success. The program had been finished, and was now being used to no avail. More squads had been sent out to search for the missing brother of the young CEO of KaibaCorp, but none had found a trace. Even with all the technology at their disposal, Kaiba and Serenity had not found a single clue to where Mokuba could be. Even searching by a subtler means of finding him led them nowhere. By now, spirits were low and patience was short.

Yugi, Joey, Tea, Tristan, and others who had volunteered to help were not able to do much other than search around the streets like Kaiba had sarcastically told them. He had not even tried to reach them, and by the looks of it, had not even bothered to think of what they could do to help. They had tried several more times to get his attention, but nothing worked. No plans could be thought up of that were not already being resorted to, and the lack of information and tools helped them no more.

Kaiba said nothing about what he thought of the whole thing, but it was obvious. Serenity could tell just by looking at him that he was stressed and impatient at how slow their progress was. He snapped more and more often, and cussed almost everyday about one thing or another. Slight shadows were present underneath his eyes. Who could blame him, though, when he had to do so much by himself and had so many distractions from work and the population? Serenity tried to find ways to help him, from things as simple as keeping quiet when he was in a bad temper to greater things such as getting him a little something when she saw he needed it. It calmed him down little by little, but she was not sure it helped much. Her presence seemed like a nuisance to him sometimes. He never took his anger out on her, though. She was grateful for that. Rather, he seemed to treat her nicer than anyone else. She supposed it was because she was helping him.

Today was no different from all of the weekdays since last Monday. Serenity had gotten a ride to KaibaCorp from school once more, and they had immediately gone to work as soon as they arrived. Fifteen minutes had been spent in the control room to supervise the work and to see if any progress was made. From there, they had gone to Kaiba's office. She worked almost as a personal secretary while he managed the company. Few words were spoken between them except for a few orders to do this or that. Today, Monday, October 25, was no different.

All day had been busy from all of the tasks Kaiba had told her to do, and Serenity had just now finished at five o'clock. She knew she would be leaving soon, since her brother believed it was a crime to leave his sister with Seto Kaiba for longer than two hours, especially when it was turning dark. Standing beside the CEO's gigantic desk, she waited for him to finish so she could get her things and leave.

She stood there for a total of five minutes before he even acknowledged her. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes for a second, then asked, "Did you finish?" She nodded.

He glanced at the clock on his desk, then sighed. "You can't stay any longer, can you? Because your brother is afraid of me?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "You can go."

She picked up her things from the corner of the room by the door, then looked back. "Umm, you're going to be here late, aren't you?"

That made him look up from his work. He had a strange expression on his face. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I, um…I just…wanted to know." Giving her one last look, Kaiba went back to his work. "See you tomorrow," she said softly as she walked out the door.

Serenity took the elevator and walked out of the building in a sort of thoughtful daze. Her brother, waiting outside the doors for her, saw the look on her face and immediately jumped to conclusions. "What did he do to you?" he commanded. Serenity was expecting it, knowing that he did it every day and would keep doing it every day because he held such a grudge against Kaiba.

"Nothing, big brother. I'm just thinking about something."

"About what?" he asked suspiciously.

She smiled up at him. "Oh, nothing to be bothered about." Her face fell as her thoughts abruptly shifted. "I still have so much homework to do. I'll never finish it."

"Yes you will. Come on, or we'll never get a chance to eat, either."

"You're just making an excuse because you're so hungry."

"Of course I am. But I'm making no excuse."

"Yes, you are, because it wouldn't matter how late we get home, we'd still have something to eat."

"That's not fair. How come you always catch me?"

"You don't want to ask, Joey. You really don't."

Later that night, Serenity was in her room frowning at the computer. Dinner had long since been finished, and her homework had been completed for a while now. However, she still looked like she had something to worry about—which she did.

A window was up on the computer screen before her, though blank, except for a greeting. Every once in awhile, she would bring her hands to the keyboard and type in something; then read what she had just typed and fix something. Papers were sitting messily before her on the table with paper and pencil, and she would shuffle through them and write on something. She made the perfect picture of being stressed out.

Why can't I do this right? I really need to finish this soon or else Joey's going to get nosy again. She sighed, running her hand through her hair. What is wrong with me?

She minimized her window and brought up the media player instead, choosing a playlist and playing it. Usually, music helped her calm down, as did drawing. But right now, she didn't have time to draw. Leaving it to play on a soothing song, she reopened the other window and closed her eyes, letting the music flow over her.

As the music played, she became more relaxed. After a while, she was able to think of what it was she wanted to type. Opening her eyes but not escaping her trance, she began typing. This time, the words seemed to come out the right way. She didn't feel like she was really thinking of what it was she was typing, but rather just spilling out what was necessary. For some reason, all of it seemed right: not too straightforward, but not too pointless either. As she finished part of it, she read over it again for mistakes and found it to be how she wanted it to be. Perfect.

She shut off the music so she could really concentrate on what she needed to write, now that she was not so stressed out. With the hardest part done—the beginning—the rest was simpler. There were still a few pauses, but they were short and what she needed came to her quick enough. It was finished in less than ten minutes.

Serenity read over it once more, then found it agreeable and saved it. Looking at the clock, she found it to be no later than eight o'clock. "Good, I'll still have time to spend with my brother," she murmured to herself.

Kaiba looked the clock sitting before him on his desk at KaibaCorp. It read ten o'clock. He had absolutely no hope of going home tonight. He still had to catch up on all of the work that had been put off little by little with the search for his little brother. Every day, it seemed that he fell behind a little more unless he worked into the late hours at night. Nowadays, it seemed as if the office had become his first home and the real home his second, instead of the usual order. Not that he liked it.

He closed his eyes for a second, rubbing his temples. His eyes were catching up with all of the strain, too. Sighing, he reached forward and saved all of his work. Leaving the computer on, he got up and walked over to the large window behind him.

The world outside seemed so different then his empty office room. The streets were still somewhat busy with people, though not nearly as crowded as they were in the daytime hours. Cars drove by, free of traffic, between the alternating light and dark buildings. Their windows shined with soft yellow glows as people stayed in to do last minute work. Out on the streets, lighted signs glowed in all sorts of different colors, some flashing, others staying on constantly. A few couples strolled underneath them hand in hand, enjoying a night stroll with a loved one.

The last sight jolted him. He had no one to walk with right now; no loved one to hold hands with. Unconsciously, his hand rose to the card pendant hanging from his neck and opened it with a click. His eyes then strayed down, though they saw nothing but distant memories. Mokuba, he called out silently. Where are you, little brother?

He stayed there for a moment longer, reminiscing and lost in his own bleak world. His thoughts eventually turned to the girl that he saw almost every day since his life had made a turn. Why did she want to help him so much? It wasn't just Mokuba anymore, he knew that. The little speech she had given in the car, the little favors done every once in a while, the smiles she always gave so freely. It just didn't make sense. Who wanted to make friends with him, the man who kept himself so distanced away from others because he hurt so much? He didn't pretend to understand it. The girl didn't even seem affected by how he acted.

Maybe it was her innocent act that made her so unaware of who he really was. Even her brother had figured out he was no one to hang out with. Being such a smart girl herself, could she not figure out such a simple thing herself? He was a broken man now, with nothing to depend on and nothing to hold on to. Especially if his brother was gone. There was nothing left in his life but the need to sustain his brother, like he had promised to do so long ago. Could she not see this for herself? It frustrated him to no end that she ignored him like this; it even hurt him a bit.

You act like you have to be the best in the world, and that your way is the only way to achieve that goal. Life doesn't have to be like that, you know. Those that have a content life make it that way without trying to be the best, but by trying to do their best for themselves and others. Just because your past was terrible, it doesn't mean you should try to forget it by pushing yourself so hard and by shutting everything else out. Does it really make you content to live that way? Her words played again in his head. There's a famous saying that goes, 'Live life to the fullest.' How do you live a full and satisfied life with no one to share it with? Like a friend, or someone you care about. What's left in life with coldness and no happiness other than the pain you store there?

As much as he wanted to deny it, he knew all that she said was true. The words haunted him like ghosts. They made him think over his life again and doubt himself. Even more, they made his head spin trying to solve it. Why couldn't he get rid of those thoughts? They were nothing new from what Yugi and his friends tried to tell him so many times before. What made them so different?

He shook his head to wake himself up. He realized that he was still staring into the picture of his brother and dropped the locket back onto his chest after closing it. Staring out the window a moment longer, he turned back to his desk to resume his work.

His eyes scanned over his desktop like they always did before opening a program. He thought to open his work up again and continue his job, but something snagged his attention. A little icon was flashing, indicating an email—a non-business email. His eyes opened a bit in surprise. Mokuba couldn't send one, for he was somewhere out in the rest of the world. Who, then, would know his email and send something friendly to him? His curiosity got the better of him. He clicked it open.

Dear Seto Kaiba, it read. Guess who it is? I'm not going to tell you, but I think you know. You still remember me, don't you?

I guess I'm writing for this reason, mostly: Happy Birthday! The line completely surprised him. He had almost forgotten today was October 25 because of all he had been through and all the stress put on him. I'm sorry if it sounds a little silly, but I thought that you might like a little friendly letter—you know, after all that's happened. Everyone needs a little happiness in his or her life every once in a while, so hopefully this will cheer you up a bit.

Mokuba's still somewhere close by, did you know that? Okay, not literally. Sorry if it gave you a bit of a scare. But he told me a little something about a week ago—it was about you. He said that your birthday was coming up soon, and he wanted to do something special because it was almost always forgotten. He said that you always worked so hard and never spent time to enjoy life, so he wanted to do something that you would remember for a long time. So he asked me for an idea about what to do, what I thought would be good.

I told him my idea the next day as soon as I saw him. I guess I can tell you now, huh? It won't really matter now, since your birthday is already here and it's a little late to work on it anyway. We were going to get a bunch of pictures of you and Mokuba and put it together in a little scrapbook, along with a bit of other small things. He said I could put some stuff of my own in it since I was helping him, but I decided that it was between you two and I should just help him a bit. We never even got a chance to start, though, except to collect a few pictures.

Now that we can't do it anymore, I thought to make it up to you with this. It's nothing much, but I think that Mokuba really wants to do something this time. It's a smaller version, I guess.

Hope you enjoy it!

Sincerely,

Guess who?

PS—Can I call you Seto?

There was nothing else on the page except for a link on the bottom of the page. He scanned through the letter once more to make sure that was what he wanted to click on, then opened it. The page opened at once, revealing a large window decorated from edge to edge.

Thoughts and memories ran through Kaiba's head immediately as his eyes took in what was before him. A large portrait of him and Mokuba was in the middle, his little brother hanging from his neck and peeking from above his left shoulder. The joyful smile on his little brother's face sent a jolt of guilt and pain through him as he remembered that day years ago. To the left of it was another picture of Mokuba, a candy bar in one hand and his other hand raised up and waving. A cheerful smile lit his face. On the right was a picture of Seto in with a less cheerful and more serious expression on his face. Under the portraits was a small paragraph of words: "Dedicated to Seto Kaiba, who has worked so hard for his brother's happiness and love, never backing down from those words and never breaking that promise."

Kaiba couldn't see for a moment as the memories ran before him in a giant flood. You don't know me that well, he thought. I don't even know myself half as well as I claim to.

Under the words were links to the next several pages. A few of them were small galleries with more pictures of him and Mokuba, put in chronological order from the days in the orphanage to just the last few years. Some of them he recognized; others were almost forgotten and took awhile to place when they were taken. He saw himself once more as not just a protective brother but a best friend. Smiles were on both faces, instead of on just one. Even the shortage of pictures from times earlier in their life did not minimize the love that was apparent between them. As the pages were turned, though, there were less and less pictures that showed their brotherly relationship. Mokuba was still the same, happy and content, but something was missing. The loss was even more apparent in his brother. Kaiba's heart twisted inside as he saw what he had become, little by little, grown mature too fast and distant even faster. He could barely bring himself to look at the bottom of the last gallery. Even though all the pictures had signs of happiness, most of them did not seem to fit there.

The next page lifted his spirits. It was another gallery, though this one was different. It was filled from corner to corner with gray lines and splotches of color—his brother's drawings. They ranged from simple sketches to complete masterpieces; favorite duel monsters to attempted portraits. Many of them were drawn when they were still at the orphanage, and all of those had been gifts to him with scrawling that said "To: Seto". They looked ridiculous to him now, with the messy manuscript and the not-few sorely out-of-perspective drawings, but they all made him feel warm inside. What would this look like if they had really gone through all of their plans? he wondered. How much more heartwarming would this have been if Mokuba was beside me to share these memories?

With one last look at the artwork, he opened the last page. On it was a perfectly depicted picture of his little brother, down to the last detail. He stared at it for a few moments. Mokuba's expression and personality was caught like light in a glass, happy and hopeful yet sad and hurt. They burned into Seto's eyes, almost accusing. Once again, the guilt and pain rose back to the surface.

He sighed softly to himself, ridding his eyes from that life-like gaze. Underneath the portrait was a note.

'I always wanted to tell big brother this, but I'm afraid of what he will say. So I'm writing this here instead, and I hope that one day I can say this to him. I hope that someday I'll have his courage and I'll be able to do this right.

Big brother, you're my hero. I know it sounds stupid, but it's true. You're always brave enough to stand up for me, and you always keep those bullies away from me. And when I cry, you always cheer me up. You always stay with me so I can have someone to play with, even though you know that you can make more friends if you pretend you didn't know me. You're my bestest friend in the world, I hope you know that.

I wish I could be more like you. You're always so strong. When will I become as strong as you? You never cry and never get hurt, not like everyone else does. Will I ever be able to do that? I wish I could be as smart as you, too. That way, people would see me instead of acting like I'm not there.

I hope you know that I love you more than anything else in the world, big brother. I hope that I'll be like you someday, too.'

PS—Mokuba had a picture of you two in an orphanage, and he lent it to me. This was written on the back.

Slowly, Seto closed the window. He barely knew what he was doing when he turned the chair back to the large view of the outside world. Once more, he did not see it. He was lost in his deep thoughts once more, reclined in his comfortable seat. An elbow on a slack arm across his torso, chin on fisted fingers, he closed his eyes until he felt he had regained control of himself.

Why did he even read the message? It hadn't been important; he had known before he opened it that it didn't need to be read. Something told him that if he hadn't been so lazy so that he had read the subject and sender's name, he wouldn't be going through this right now. He ignored it, knowing that it was only his self-discipline that made him think that way and not his sense—if it had been sense, he wouldn't have to tell himself that he was going through almost too much to handle right now. Still, he knew it was true. But it was not the girl's fault. She had no intention to hurt him or to make him more stressed out; it had only been a small gift as an attempt to raise his spirits and to remind him about the little things between him and Mokuba. He doubted that she had even thought that the gift could wound.

But it did. It had freshened the scar in his heart that he had tried to conceal for the past years. Did he dare to keep the gift after all? What good would it do to have it if he never looked at it again? He was almost tempted to delete the message and forget about the whole thing. Yet he knew he couldn't do that. It was a gift, and one that his brother had been looking forward to the whole time. He couldn't do something like this to him.

The gift hadn't been from his brother, though. It was from Mokuba's best friend. He didn't need to keep it now, though, did he? With the decision firmly in his mind, he swiveled his chair around to face the computer and reached for the mouse. He reached up to the icons on the top—

And clicked the "move" button, then made a file for it.

He surprised himself for a moment, wondering if his hands all of a sudden had just gotten a life of their own and done exactly what he hadn't wanted done. Then he knew that what he did was what he had wanted to do. He wanted to share this with his brother someday, to remember all the things they had been through together. And more importantly, he didn't want to hurt the young girl who was only trying to help. Why be so depressed on what was supposed to be a good day?

Or night, Seto reflected as he dug in his desk for a disk. After all, there were only—he checked the clock—one-and-a-half hours until October 26. He slipped the disk into the computer by his side and began to burn the file into the CD. Then, he put her email address into his address book by the ones Mokuba used and thought with lighter spirits, It's your turn next, Serenity Wheeler.

He added two more words as an afterthought. Thank you.

That's it for this chapter. The next chapter might not be up until three or four weeks later. I'm going to be busy for the next two weeks with all of the end of the year projects and stuff, and then I'll be gone to Canada the week right after school ends. I'll try to post it before I go, though. And will somebody please review? No one is doing so right now…