Chapter 3: Day Off

"No! Mom, wait!" Seto woke in a panic. Breathing heavily, he scanned his bedroom and soon realized it was a dream and after a few moments, began to gather himself.

Now recollected from his bizarre dream, Seto was now annoyed with his alarm clock going off, and was filled with rage when he saw he how late he was for work. Hastily, he threw the covers off and started to get dressed while at the same time in a fit of rage began cursing under his breath and shouting out loud.

"I can't believe this, I am so behind, DAMMIT!" Seto said through gritted teeth, "KISARA, where are you? KIS-"

"Good mo-"

"Why did you change my alarm clock, have you any idea how much work I have today?" He yelled.

Kisara knew this would happen, and as result was unphased by his outburst towards her, "You cannot continue doing this to yourself Seto," she continued, "you work hard enough, and such long ho-" Seto cut her off again.

"Well thanks to your tampering w/ my schedule I am going to be so far behind," Seto began to rant, "I had important meetings, paperwork, practice runs. Ugh, I better go."

As Seto made his way passed Kisara she managed to stop him, "Seto!" She and Seto looked at each other in shock at her out of character action, "Would you please stop and listen, I have taken care of everything." She explained.

Seto's eyes widened w/w he just heard, but continued in disbelief.

"Your meeting with Hoshigaki Enterprises was canceled, the paperwork you have to do can be done in an hour between the 2 of us together, and I have spoken with your teams. I told them they will be on their own today, and not to call unless absolutely necessary." She finished with a confident smirk.

Seto turned away from her to process her explanation. Frustrated, Seto ran his fingers his messy brown hair that he forgot to comb. Turning back to her he asked,"why was the meeting canceled?"

"Family emergency," Seto looked at her questionably, but did not press it.

"What about the paperwork?" He said sounding a little less irritated

"Sent Roland to get them 15 minutes ago."

Kisara went up to Seto and ran her hands over his firm chiseled chest as she pleaded with him, "Seto, please just for today, please just relax, enjoy a day off for once – you deserve one."

Maybe it was her angelic voice that got to him, or maybe it was that she had a valid point. Seto had been working himself ragged the last year, and to be honest could not even remember the last time he slept in passed 6am. Looking back into Kisara's pale blue eyes, he sighed and kissed her on the forehead. Seto smirked with confidence that his girlfriend/receptionist made all the right decisions.

"Besides, you can spend time with Mokuba," Kisara sang, "I think he's having breakfast right now."

And that was the winning ticket that won Seto completely over. Kisara exited the master bedroom while Seto groomed himself before breakfast. Making her way through the halls of the mansion Kisara stopped to admire a portrait of Mokuba and Seto. It has been so long since they have spent any quality time together. At least my plan worked! She thought to herself as a smile crept on her face.

"Hey Kisara," she was pulled out of her thoughts when greeted by Mokuba.

"Mokuba, good morning," she cheered.

"What are you doing here so early, Seto's at work?" He said half unsure of himself

"I have convinced your brother to take the day off," she replied.

Mokuba snorted, "hehe, okay how did you do that?" The teen questioned.

"Oh, I have my ways," she said with a wink.

"Always being so mysterious, you never fail to amaze me, Kisara," Mokuba said sarcastically, "anyway let's go get some breakfast."

The two made their way down the hall to the dining room in silence. Kisara eyed Mokuba secretly and thought about how much he has changed in the 8 years she has known him. Mokuba's once unruly long hair now barely reaches his shoulders, he's almost as tall as Seto, and even has his own band, Polymerization, which are a pretty good punk rock band. Nowadays, Mokuba mostly wore acid wash jeans and plain t-shirts. Since Seto was always working he spent his time working on his car, band and every now and then at Kaiba Corp. Even though he still has other things going on in his life, he still is the V.P. of Kaiba Corp. after all.

….

After a few minutes Seto joined the others for bacon and eggs. Kisara and Mokuba were talking about new song ideas and sound equipment, but Seto remained silent. Reflecting on his dream earlier that morning Seto did not understand it at all, stay close, take care of each other, Seto remembered that day like it was yesterday, and knew beyond a shadow of doubt that his mother had never said those words, or anything of the kind.

"So Seto, what do you think?" Mokuba asked.

"hmm, sorry what?" Seto was in such deep though he wasn't paying any attention to the current conversation taking place.

Mokuba rolled his eyes,"Do you think I should get more pedals and stuff for my guitars?"

"oh, it couldn't hurt," he said nonchalantly.

"Cool, would you want to check it out with me?

Seto looked at his younger brother, then his girlfriend who nodded, "Sure, but I have to take care of some paperwork first, and then make a quick phone call."

"Sweetness, the tech teams can survive one-day w/o you, Kisara reminded him.

"It will only take a minute," he said as he exited the room. Seto made sure he was well out of ear shot before making the call.

"Hello, Dr. Takahata?"

….

"Well Mr. Kaiba, it seems as though your subconscious is reminding you of what you already know, that being you are not spending any time recently with your brother," the therapist explained.

"Okay? How do explain my mother being in my dream?

"Your mind was using her image to represent what you desire, to get the message across."

"But she never said those words, I remember that day perfectly!"

"Well there is always another explanation."

"Then spit it out, I don't have all day!" Seto said a little too loud.

"There is a possibility that your mother's soul is trying to reach you from beyond the grave." he explained

There was a long pause. Seto had refrain from yelling at Takahata's bizarre suggestion,"How the hell is that possible, she's been gone for more than 10 years."

"Mr. Kaiba, nothing is impossible, if a spirit feels the need to get a message across they will make it happen. However, if you choose to ignore it then logically speaking you are just missing spending time with your brother. Catch up with him, and if anything, else occurs you have my number." He answered.

Seto let out a frustrated huff and hung up without saying another word to his therapist. After a moment of trying to understand what Dr. Takahata had analyzed the meaning of his dream made his way back to the dining room to a worried Mokuba and Kisara.

"Everything going okay, bro?

"Yes, why do you ask?

"We heard some commotion."

"Oh, that. The tech team forgot to order some parts for the new simulator is all." He said without batting an eyelash.

"Oh, is that all? Well in that case, let's get started on the paperwork before it gets too late," Seto followed Kisara to his office where the pile of papers laid waiting for him. The paperwork was finished within the hour, just as Kisara said. Unfortunately, Kisara had her own plans for the day which included paying her rent and meeting her mom for lunch. So, the day was just Mokuba and Seto. Mokuba got a few new pedals for his Gibson and a new amp. Afterwards, the brothers went out for steaks and went home to break in the newly bought equipment. Seto admired his younger brother's skills and felt full of pride towards him. In the middle of Mokuba's playing Seto's eyes began to wander, when did he create this studio, and when did he get so good? he thought to himself as his brother began to enthusiastically wail on his guitar while whipping his black hair around which almost made Seto laugh, almost.

"Wow, that is quite impressive," Seto finally spoke.

"haha thanks," Mokuba said while he rubbed the back of his head.

"How long have you been playing, now?" Seto asked afraid that his question would lead to a confrontation.

"5 years." Mokuba answered flatly as he placed his guitar back on the rack.

5 years, has it really been that long?

The day ended with Seto watching Mokuba and his band practice, followed by a movie with just the two of them. Long after the movie had ended he awoke to find that he and Mokuba had fallen asleep in their parlor, but couldn't remember when exactly they both fell asleep. Checking the time, 1 a.m.; Seto didn't want to wake Mokuba and he was too heavy for Seto to carry now so, instead he grabbed a blanket and placed it over Mokuba. This was the first time in a long time that Seto had actually gone to sleep without being stressed and early too.

Seto stripped down to his boxers and a white t-shirt that was under his blue dress shirt and pulled another blanket over himself, "good night, mokie," he whispered.

Mokuba mumbled something, but Seto was almost positive he had said, "good night big brother."