Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Making an Acquaintance

"I kind of hate that woman," Mokuba Kaiba announced venomously. The young boy glared at the monitor of the computer he'd recently assembled to use for their new office. It figured. He dares to check the website that set off the horrible chain of events that sent them out of Domino in the first place, and what do ya know; there's Seto's name. Of course.

The building they were running Blue-Eyes Investigations from was being leased at an extremely prejudicial rate, Mokuba was sure, but in return, the bank promised to keep the place's newest inhabitants under the radar. His brother sure had changed. Just six months ago, he might have decked the guy for being treated unfairly. Now he went right along with the corruption, paying off whomever he needed to so that he could be left in peace. Mokuba knew Seto liked to maintain a low profile, but was it really worth letting people get away with taking advantage of his status?

The bank told them that the building was used as a doctor's office previously, but the place went under, and the bank refurbished all of the rooms, including the basement, in a less sterile, "homier" design. There was even an apartment downstairs, already furnished with appliances and everything. Since he and Seto had taken up residence in one of the penthouses that the company previously used for important visiting business associates on the top floor of KaibaCorp, the "basement suite" under their future workspace was pretty much just an extra (useless, in Seto's opinion) perk. Mokuba was going to convert it into an arcade, just as soon as Seto stopped growling "No," every time he mentioned it. When Mokuba had asked the elder Kaiba why they didn't just buy their own building, or just run the place out of KaibaCorp, Seto had told him that it was "Too expected. Too flashy. Too trivial to waste resources on." Mokuba pretended to understand, and left the topic alone.

They'd just gotten back in town last week, and already that nosy witch Mai Valentine had tracked them, and exposed their new arrangement to the world. He could swear sometimes that she only did it to get attention from his brother. Mai was like a lot of the women who threw themselves at his big brother: Greedy, vain, and self-absorbed to the point of forgetting that Seto was anything other than a big wad of cash wearing tailored slacks.

"Who?" Seto asked, dropping a cardboard box on top of the front desk, and reaching for a razor blade to cut open the tape on top. He had decided to simply purchase all of their new office equipment online from an office supply store, and just have it delivered all at once. Since they'd lost everything in the fire, and hadn't acquired much that would be helpful in running a business during the subsequent months, Seto decided to throw money at the problem until it went away.

Mokuba figured it meant that Seto considered shopping for office equipment among those "trivial" things. Heck, Seto considered shopping one of those trivial things. He was so antisocial sometimes...

"Who do you think?" Mokuba swiveled his monitor around, so that his brother could see what he was reading.

Seto was dressed down in only a black tank top and slacks for all of the heavy lifting. Mokuba felt a bit guilty that his brother volunteered to do most of the hard work himself, but Seto was stubborn if he was anything. He was sweating lightly from exertion, but refused to stop and take a break until he felt he'd made significant progress. Sometimes Mokuba thought that maybe Seto pushed himself too hard physically at times, just so that he would have an excuse not to punish himself mentally instead. Or maybe he just felt like carrying stuff right now. It was hard to tell.

The older Kaiba looked up from the fax machine he was putting together. "The Domino Chronicle? I thought I'd warned you about the health hazards of reading that drivel, Mokuba."

"Yeah, I know. But I just wanted to check real quick and see if "My Size Barbie" was still obsessing over you." Mokuba turned the monitor back around, and Seto shook his head at him.

"Some people just can't let things go," Seto said, in all seriousness.

Mokuba said nothing.

"She was so convinced that I would make her career. Turns out, the world cares even less for me than I do it," said Seto ruefully, as he replaced the box on the desk with an even larger one.

Okay, now Mokuba really hated her. "None of that matters anymore, remember? We're starting over. That two-faced bimbo better just hope she never runs into us again."

Seto dropped the box he was carrying, surprised at his little brother. Something that sounded like glass shattered inside it. "Mokuba..." He warned, bending over to retrieve the box.

"I'm sorry, bro, but you know I'm right. I daresay you hate the shameless harpy more than I do," Mokuba suggested, raising a playful eyebrow at his brother, who was checking inside the box to see what he'd broken.

Seto looked up from the smashed paperweights with barely concealed pride. The door to the lobby opened with a creak from behind him, sending sunlight flooding inside, stopping just short of where Seto stood. "'Shameless harpy?', Mokuba?"

"You boys wouldn't be talking about me would you?" Asked Mai Valentine, strutting into their office, as brazen as ever.

Seto sighed disgustedly, and from what Mokuba gathered by studying his reaction, briefly considered chucking one of the paperweights at her in response, but he couldn't be sure.

"Speak of the devil..." Mokuba spat, quickly rising from behind the front desk to go stand by his brother, who had abandoned the boxes, and adopted a menacing posture, towering over the blonde woman as she approached him.

"I know that you meant "she-devil," Mokuba. I don't wear low-collared blouses just to be mistaken for a man," she revealed, stepping right up into the older Kaiba's face. "Nice place you've got here, Kaiba. I imagine if hell had a dentist's office, it would look something like this," she said snidely. "Quite a step down from the Kaiba Mansion, don't you think, and that asbestos hut was gutted by fire."

Seto glared down at her, not bothering to mask his revulsion. "I see you haven't lost your ability to make a man wilt at just the sight of you, Valentine."

"Wilt?" Mokuba asked to himself, confused.

The woman smirked, slightly offended. Whatever, but good, Mokuba thought. "Aww, you remember me, I'm flattered. I was afraid you would forget me after all of that "fleeing with your tail between your legs" business you've been up to."

Seto's eyes hardened, and Mokuba worried if he might do something he would regret. "As if I could forget you even if I tried."

"You, and every man who's ever met me, honey. And many have tried." The woman smiled seductively up at the elder Kaiba, and lowered her voice to a husky pitch. "What makes you think thatyouwould be special,huh?"

"Get the hell out of my office," Seto demanded, (Finally, thought Mokuba) and cut her off before she could reply, "I don't care why you're here, but you had better get your Versace-clad ass off of my property before I call the police."

The journalist took a step back from Seto, amused at his threat. "The police? So they can do what, drag an unarmed woman off of a patricidal murderer's crime scene in the making?" She scoffed, and turned so that her back faced them. "As if Amnesty International needed any more reason to hate you."

Mokuba felt rage flare up from the pit of his stomach, and he couldn't hold back any longer. "You heard him! Get the hell out!" He yelled, his hands clenching into fists. "You've already ruined our lives, what else do you want, you heartless-"

"Mokuba." Seto placed a steadying hand on his little brother's shoulder, his fingers lightly gripping into his flesh to comfort him. Mokuba stopped, his jaw aching from the strain of not screaming, and tears pooling in his eyes from the knowledge that even if he did, it wouldn't change anything.

Mai Valentine kept her back to them as she began to retreat out the door, her step retaining the same swagger it had exhibited when she'd first entered. "You two seem busy, but we have so much to catch up on. We'll have to talk some other time. Maybe I'll see you around, since you're back in town." She stopped after she opened the door, to hurl one last barb over her shoulder.

"For now."

As their door slammed shut, Mokuba looked to his brother, and Seto turned away a second too late for him to miss the disgusted sneer across his lips.

Without a word, Seto retraced his steps, and resumed unloading cardboard boxes. Mokuba stood and watched him move about the room, still reeling from the confrontation, and feeling the chasm of emotional distance between he and his big brother grow just a tiny bit wider.

"Seto?"

The older Kaiba kept his back to Mokuba, as he fluidly lifted a box with one hand, and tossed another empty one into the growing pile of cardboard with the other. "Let it go, Mokuba," he advised, his voice more gruff than normal.

Why does he do this to himself?

"All right." Mokuba returned to the computer behind the desk, and continued his search for what had gone on in their hometown while they'd been away over the last year. "But I'm going to order one of those "We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone" plaques. That way, the next time she shows here face here, I can throw it at her head." Seto cleared his throat good-naturedly, but kept his focus on unpacking boxes.

The mid-afternoon sun filtered in through the windows, since Seto had yet to put up the blinds. Mokuba came across a recent article on how Adrien Rudolph Crump III, the Director of Finance and Personnel at KaibaCorp, was justifying a massive wave of sudden layoffs with Global Warming.

Mokuba could never understand Crump. The guy was obviously a closet case of Batman villain proportions. "How concerned for the environment can he really be if he's a major shareholder at a company that produces weapons of mass destruction?" Mokuba wondered to himself, not for the first time.

The KaibaCorp Board of Directors could be as vile as anyone he'd ever met, but never to he or Seto. In fact, they'd always gone out of their way to provide for the last remaining Kaibas, which Mokuba was grateful for, even if he wasn't sure why. Back before he and Seto left town, the five Directors on the Board were Seto's biggest (and probably lone) supporters. His big brother used to half-jokingly call them "the enemies of my enemy" back before father- ... before the bad times came. Now he only called them when he wanted some "trivial" problem to go away.

Without either brother noticing, Seto backed steadily closer to a patch of sunlight, carrying a box with a cappuccino maker inside under one arm, while balancing a box full of various writing utensils in the other.

"Aaagghhh!" Seto yelled, dropping both boxes and stumbling a few feet away.

Mokuba immediately jumped up from the behind the desk and ran over to him. "Seto! What's wrong?!"

Seto opened his mouth once wordlessly, straightened his posture, and looked awkwardly over at the boxes he'd just practically thrown. "Nothing."

Something was obviously wrong. "...Seto...?"

Seto looked at Mokuba once, looked away, inhaled deeply, and said in his most refined voice, "There was an insect."

Mokuba eyed the room. "An insect? Where?"

Seto grudgingly approached the discarded boxes. He cocked his head towards them, then touched the one with spilled ink pens scattered around it with his foot. "In here. I think it was one of those... those spider-cricket things." He pinned Mokuba with a glare, daring him to laugh. "I was... startled," he deliberately ground out.

Mokuba nodded archly.

"You like easy-bake ovens," Seto said pointedly, and slouched off to find another, likely cricket-free, box to unpack.

"No I don't! I told you, that was- I found it... I..." Realizing that he'd been discovered long ago, Mokuba gave up, and shouted at his brother's broad retreating back. "At least I can cook!"

Six hours, and many box-stomping sessions later, courtesy of Mokuba, their office was finished. And they were famished.

"Seto, I'm kinda hungry," Mokuba admitted, draping himself across a sofa in the lobby, his shoes sitting beside him on the floor.

Seto observed his little brother guiltily from behind the front desk. He'd forgotten to eat again. Why hadn't Mokuba said something hours ago?

"We can order something if you prefer. We have the mini-fridge, but it's still empty."

Mokuba looked up at him mischievously. "Maybe there's something in the arcade. It still has that fridge and stove in it."

Seto frowned at him. "There is no arcade, and there isn't going to be one. And I doubt it. Let me go find a phonebook."

"We'll see..." Mokuba grumbled, then jumped up from the sofa to put on his shoes. "Don't bother. There's a Chinese food place right next door. I'll just go get some take-out."

Seto stopped his rummaging through a desk he could have sworn he put the phonebooks in a few hours ago. "Hold on. It's dark out. I'll get it."

Just by looking at him, Mokuba could tell his brother was unenthusiastic at best about leaving the privacy of their new office. He was rumpled, and dirty and looked so, so tired.

"No way that I'm gonna let you pick out dinner. You'll come back with a bag of steamed vegetables and some tofu."

"It's healthy," Seto firmly asserted.

"It's please-just-kill-me-I'd-rather-die-than-eat-that food," Mokuba asserted, just as firmly. "Besides, this is a safe...ish neighborhood."

"Safe-ish is right." Seto leaned against the doorway to the main office, with his arms crossed over his chest. "There's a homeless shelter just down the street, Mokuba. And a liqueur store right beside that. The only way this area could be any less safe would be with hypodermic needles lining the sidewalks."

Ignoring him, Mokuba headed for the exit. "Oh relax, big bro. I'll be right back. It's just next door."

Seto sighed resignedly. "Fine. But be careful. And use your debit, not the KC cards!" He yelled out to him as Mokuba left. The last thing he wanted was the Board tracking his movements the moment he got back.

"Safe. Right." Seto shook his head, and went back into the office. "Watch out for hookers, Mokuba!" He joked darkly to himself. Then stopped. Perhaps I should have said that, he thought worriedly.

Something touched his forearm, which was resting on the desk. He looked down.

"Aaagghhh!" Seto flailed around the office, throwing his arms through the air for a few seconds, before his natural dignity kicked in.

He growled low in his throat, surveying the office angrily. "That damn cricket..."

""White Dragon Chinese Cuisine", huh?" Mokuba approached the glowing front door to the restaurant. The building was about six yards away from he and Seto's office, across a wide looming alley, and the place was lit up with warm blue light from inside. Admittedly, he was a little anxious about walking down the street in the dark, and when he reached the entrance to the alleyway, he picked up his pace. After taking one quick peek into the gaping alley, and hearing a rustling, but seeing nothing but pitch-blackness, he gave up walking altogether, and ran into White Dragon.

A tinkling bell over the door heralded him in, and he was enveloped with the blue glow of paper lanterns, and mood setting neon lights, as gentle eastern music greeted his ears. The restaurant was almost empty, except for a few sleepy patrons who must not have had anywhere better to be.

Mokuba spotted the front counter with a blonde boy about his brother's age manning the register. As Mokuba approached him, a beautiful Chinese woman stormed out of the swinging kitchen doors, fuming. She made a beeline for the guy behind the counter, pointing a finger at him accusingly.

"Joseph! Mr. Ling told me you were an hour late for a delivery last night! The food was cold and wet, and we were forced to give the customer a refund! And then, you took off work without signing out. Explain yourself!" She demanded, furious.

The blonde guy raised his arms apologetically. "I'm sorry, Vivian-" the woman raised a well-plucked eyebrow and he immediately corrected himself, "- Ms. Wong, but I got caught out in the rain and..." he stopped abruptly, looking guilty.

"And what?" His boss asked, tapping a high-heeled foot against the floor. She had no accent, and seemed fluent in English, and with her self-important attitude, Mokuba assumed her to be the owner of the White Dragon.

Mokuba stood in front of the counter awkwardly trying to look busy by reading the various signs on the wall. Unfortunately, he soon discovered that pretending to know how to read Chinese was hard (and a little embarrassing, since he was sure that at least a few of the people in there actually knew Chinese), so he was forced to uncomfortably wait until the employee's reaming by his boss was over.

"And I, uh... well I'm gonna be honest with ya," Joseph confided. "I caught a cold. A bad one. And then I think I almost crashed my truck. And by da time I got to that last delivery I was feelin' like crap. So I took off. Ain't it better ta be gone, than ta be horkin' up in customers' egg rolls?"

Vivian sharply looked over at Mokuba, smiled thinly at him, and then got right up in Joey's face.

"You cannot say things like that in front of customers," she whispered harshly, "Okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay?!"

"Okay! Sorry." When Mokuba looked at him closer, he could see that there might be some truth to the boy's story. He looked a sickly yellow in the face, and there were dark circles under his eyes. "I just had a bad night, is all."

The boss scrutinized him skeptically, then made a disgusted noise, and withdrew from him. "Well, you smell terrible. What did you do, roll around with a litter of swine, and then bathe in their feces?"

Joseph threw his arms in the air. "I dunno! I fell down on a customer's lawn, and now I smell like horse ass. I can't get da stink off."

Ms. Wong cocked her head towards Mokuba again, and this time deigned to speak to him. "I'm sorry for your wait, sir, we will be one more minute." She dragged Joey few feet away, but Mokuba could still hear them. He began to get frustrated.

"Great service, yes?" Joked a voice from one of the booths behind Mokuba. He turned to see a tiny bald Chinese man with very deep laugh lines (and every other line, from age) smiling at him through perfectly white teeth. Across from him sat a bearded old man with crazy hair. "I come here every night, and every night blonde idiot screw up. He screw up, screw up, try to fix but screw up worse, and never get fired. I say to Vivian, "You fire blonde boy! He fortune in insurance! Better off with dog!" but no, she keep him."

Mokuba raised his eyebrows, amused at the stranger's warm familiarity.

The speaker's dining companion, who seemed to be American, fondly disagreed. "Don't be so harsh on him, Lau. I see nothing wrong with the young man taking advantage of his youth while he still has it. Why, when I was his age I used to-"

Lau interrupted him. "Force every father in city to lock away daughters. I listen to your stories, Solomon. You were bad boy," he scolded, wagging a finger at his friend. "Nothing like your grandson."

The gray-haired old man burst into laughter. "No, certainly not. He's so skittish at times, I was beginning to wonder if he was afraid of girls," joked the old man. "For the longest time, I thought he just plain too shy to make any friends."

Mokuba checked to see if Ms. Wong and Joseph were finished, but they were still immersed in conversation, and the boy was holding his hands in front of him like he was holding a steering wheel, twisting it around erratically.

"Oh ho ho... got himself girlfriend now, has he?" Lau was clearly delighted with this surprising bit of news.

Solomon leaned in towards both Lau and Mokuba and glanced to his left and right comically. "He thinks I don't know," he responded in a hushed tone, excitement sparkling in his eyes. Obviously, he had no problem with living vicariously through his grandson.

Mokuba stifled his laughter. The two loony old men were acting like a couple of pre-teen girls, gossiping over boys.

Lau nodded. "Good for him! He such good boy. Is she good girl?"

Solomon waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Good enough to sneak into his room in the middle of the night." He sat back in his chair proudly. "I first caught a glimpse of her climbing up the trellis to get in his window - gorgeous little thing. From what I could see, she looked pretty stacked, too."

Mokuba turned pink, and did his best to halt his jaw dropping. He thought old people were supposed to be all respectful and stuff. This geezer with the bed-head was a dirty old man!

"Not so scared of girls! Just picky!" Lau laughed raucously, and Solomon joined in. "What he lack in height, he make up in good taste!" A few of the sleeping patrons stirred at the racket.

"Excuse me, could you please quiet down? I have other customers in this establishment." Ms. Wong was glaring over at Mokuba. The old men instantly concentrated on their plates, and Joseph rubbed the back of his neck anxiously as Vivian stared Mokuba down.

No one came to Mokuba's rescue. "Uh... Sorry?"

"Thank you," she said snottily, and turned back to her delivery boy.

Mokuba sputtered in rage, disbelieving the nerve of the woman. He hadn't even been laughing!

"Whoops," murmured Solomon, "She sure does know how to make a man wilt at just the sound of her voice, doesn't she?"

Mokuba's head shot around to him. "What does that mean?"

"It mean she like bossing around young men," Lau whispered conspiringly to Mokuba, grinning.

"You be careful, ey?" Solomon suggested, smiling even wider.

Mokuba couldn't help but chuckle at their antics. "Yes sir, I will."

Lau nodded satisfactorily. "Good, good. You good boy." He addressed Solomon. "He good boy. Remind me of your grandson."

Solomon laughed at that, and winked at Mokuba. "Are you a picky young man, too, my boy?" He asked teasingly.

Mokuba shook his head, embarrassed. "I don't even pick yet. I'm eleven."

Both men cracked up at his response. After a moment Solomon waved him away between breathless chuckles, sensing Mokuba's discomfort. Mokuba gratefully escaped the old men, and leaned over on the front counter, hiding his face.

""I'm really sorry Ms. Wong. It won't happen again, I tell ya." Mokuba was annoyed to find that the boss and the delivery boy were still at it when he spied them in front of the kitchen door.

She seemed to consider for a moment. "Well... I suppose I can forgive my best English-speaking delivery boy-"

Joseph smiled dopily in relief. " Aw, thanks Viv- Ms. Wong, I-"

"-Or I could just fire my worst English-speaking delivery boy," she amended, glaring at him.

"Wha..?"

Vivian huffily crossed her arms over her chest. "The point, Joseph, is that you are my only English-speaking delivery boy, and if I cannot count on you I will be forced to depend on someone else. Do you understand?"

Joseph sighed, defeated. "Yes, Ma'am. I get ya."

Vivian raised her head condescendingly. "Wonderful." She pointed over at Mokuba. "Now get over there and do your job. That customer has been waiting for five minutes, and I don't see you doing anything but wasting time apologizing for wasting time."

Joseph grit his teeth, and stopped himself from saying something that would lose him his job. And maybe gain him a misdemeanor. "You're the boss."

Vivian turned on her heel and sauntered back into the kitchen. "And take a shower once in a while, huh? You're going to start attracting flies," she ordered over her shoulder.

Mokuba noticed his face turned a bit red at that, and finally he came back up to the counter.

"Welcome to White Dragon Chinese Cuisine. How can I help ya?"

Mokuba was at a loss. "I just need to buy some food."

"Hmm... Well, if ya don't know what ya want, ya can try one 'a our house specials. Dey got variety, and come with white rice." Joseph handed Mokuba a paper menu, with a drawing of a majestic white dragon with its wings spread on the front.

Mokuba flipped through it until he found 'House Specialties.' He looked down the list for something that didn't sound so unhealthy that his brother wouldn't eat it.

"What's a 'Happy Family?'" Mokuba asked, singling out special number 3. The blonde boy smiled slightly at the question, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Ya ever see The Cosby Show?"

Mokuba looked up from the menu, puzzled. "What?" Joseph laughed. Mokuba shook his head, realizing he was joking. "Oh, I mean the special. What's in it? I know what a "happy family" is..."

Joseph opened his mouth to answer, still grinning, but Mokuba's next statement sucked the light right out of his face.

"... I guess..."

Joseph cleared his throat, frowning a bit. "It's got jumbo shrimp, chicken, beef, and sliced pork with vegetables in our special sauce." He smiled guiltily at Mokuba, feeling bad for teasing the little kid.

Mokuba ignored the smile, all business. "Is there enough for two in it?"

"You betcha. Maybe three," answered Joseph.

Mokuba thought it over. "Well, he does like meat. And it has vegetables in it..." He looked up at Joseph and nodded in affirmation. "I'll take one order of that, please, to go."

Joseph gave a thumbs up. "Yes sir! Comin' right up!"

Mokuba stopped him before he could take the order to the tiny kitchen window. "Wait, and can I also get an order of crab rangoon, an order of chicken fried rice, and some egg-" He remembered part of the discussion between Joseph and his boss. "... Just the crab rangoon and the rice, thanks..."

A few minutes later, Mokuba paid for the brown sack with he and Seto's dinner in it, and wished Joseph and the two old perverts, who were snorting with laughter into their soup, goodnight. When he left the White Dragon, listening to the tinkling bell upon his exit, he realized that maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. The darkness of the street seemed much less scary now that he knew what kind of people were in the light surrounding it. Seto was just paranoid, like always, but maybe for once he would see that the world wasn't really as hopeless as he believed. Domino was home to the worst memories he and Seto had, but maybe this time things could be-

"Hey, kiddo."

Mokuba snapped out of his thoughts, and looked up to see a teenage girl about his brother's age standing in between the sidewalk and the street a yard and a half or so ahead of him. Mokuba stopped in his tracks, noticing the worn state of the girl's clothes, and the way her big blue eyes kept flickering around the area nervously.

"Huh?" He asked, tensing himself in case he had to make a run for it.

"Come here a minute," she said, waving him over.

Mokuba had never been in a situation like this before, but he'd watched enough cable TV to know that this girl was bad news. "I don't think so. I have to get back..." He took a step down the sidewalk, intending to just bypass her, but she freaked out and stepped onto the sidewalk ahead of him. He slowly backed away from her, moving off the sidewalk and onto the asphalt, considering running back into White Dragon.

"Wait! Just- just don't go that way. Just come around through the gutter." She pointed out near the street, indicating he go in a long arc around the sidewalk instead.

"Sorry, but I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," he said, falling back on the oldest, yet most reliable excuse in the book.

She visibly forced herself to calm down, shaking out her arms. "Look kid, I'm not gonna hurt you," she held up both hands in a display of peace, "I just need you to get away from that alley."

Suddenly, Mokuba noticed that he was standing around the mid-point of the alley, his back to the impenetrable dark within it. He'd been so scared of it the first time he passed, but the atmosphere of White Dragon had erased any feelings of trepidation that he came in with. Now, realizing just where he was, between a rock and a hard place, he began to wish Seto had gone to get dinner after all. He wasn't afraid of the dark, and he sure as heck wouldn't be afraid of a hundred-pound teenage girl who looked like a China doll come to life.

"If that's true, then please, just let me get where I need to go, and leave me alone," pleaded Mokuba, inching sideways along the edge of the ally.

"That's what I'm trying to do here. Just come away from there." Mokuba nearly jumped out of his skin when the girl jolted towards him with an arm outstretched, reaching for him. She came at him so abruptly that almost seemed impulsive.

He backed into the alley without even thinking, and that's when he knew he was in over his head. In an instant, she was there, right in front of him. She swiftly grabbed his wrist, causing him to drop the bag, struggling to get out of her grip.

"No! Help me! Somebody! Seto!" Mokuba screamed into the street, as she dragged him out of the alley, looking just as frightened as he felt.

"Hey, kiddo, chill out! It's okay, I just wanna get you home, really!" She insisted, pulling him firmly but gently back into the light.

"Hello there sweethearts."

Mokuba stopped fighting her when he heard the new voice, a grating rumble that sent tingles down his spine.

There, in the opening of the alley, right where Mokuba had been standing not two seconds ago, stood a man, half of his face obscured in shadow. The girl let go of him, and instead took a step in front of the boy, shielding Mokuba from this new stranger. "Get away from us," she growled at the man, holding Mokuba behind her.

The man's eyes were eerily wide-open, and his face was decorated with tribal-like black tattoos. He had a strange twist in his mouth, something mocking a smile, and it was hard to tell if he was trying to smirk, or had some weird facial tick. He was staring unblinkingly at the two of them so intensely, it made Mokuba want to curl up into a little ball.

The man slowly tilted his head to the side, and observed them like an animal would some strange object. "I just want to play a game with you both. I love young people."

"I'll bet," spat the girl, disgusted. The man stepped completely out of the alleyway, and Mokuba could take in his full appearance. He was tall, at least as tall as his brother, and probably weighed well over two hundred pounds, with wild long black hair and hollow eyes that made him look unstable. He was dressed hardly any better than the girl, but wore a long black trench coat that was soiled with things Mokuba would rather not identify. Mokuba assumed them both to be homeless, even though the girl was much cleaner than the sinister man from the alley.

"Do you like to loop-de-loop? Pop goes the weasel, bouncy-bouncy? You wanna play cars and garages, 'cause you ain't got neither, stray-kitty." He mumbled, advancing on them carefully, like a predator. The girl held her ground.

"He's crazy," muttered Mokuba in horror, too scared to run at this point.

"That and worse. Just don't panic; he loves that," the girl whispered to Mokuba, not taking her eyes off the man across the sidewalk. "You leave him alone, or I start making house calls," she threatened.

This stopped him. He widened his eyes even further, which creeped Mokuba out to no extent. "If you weren't so rough with me I'd shove in your blind eye," he stated lecherously, sounding angry.

"Well, if you would stop eyeing kids, I wouldn't be so rough with you," the girl retorted, her voice almost shaking.

Now Mokuba was sure that his little smirk was some kind of disfigurement, because he smiled widely, and it changed his face completely. He was so much creepier when he smiled. His canines were more pronounced that most, lending him a fiendish grin.

"I'll see you around, new-new-kid-on-the-block," he promised, leering at Mokuba. "You two make good friends, so when we play together it won't be so awkward," he ominously suggested.

The girl suddenly lunged at him, and he tripped backwards, falling on his ass against the outside of the alley wall. "You get the freak outta here; I see you near him again - I'll start hiding out in dark alleys, waiting for you to walk by." Her voice didn't shake at all this time, and the creepy guy started trembling in fear.

Mokuba was stunned. It could have been hilarious: this hulking grown man, frightened by a petite girl who probably wouldn't have been out of place on a cheerleading squad somewhere. But when she turned back around, Mokuba saw a gleam in her eye that made his breath catch in his throat. There was just something... foreign about her. Some intent in her slightly dilated eyes that he knew could never be reflected in his own. But she blinked, and it was gone, replaced by a clear light blue that sparkled with warmth.

"Are you okay?" She asked, tossing back her auburn hair to get a better view of him.

She's actually kind of pretty, Mokuba noticed for the first time. "Uh, yeah."

She watched him, concerned, and stepped hesitantly towards him. "I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to. I just didn't want Captain Nutjob over here," she cocked her head to the guy on the ground, who was crazily lulling his head around, muttering to himself, "to get a hold of you. You really shouldn't be out here at night. It can be dangerous."

Mokuba couldn't help but smirk at that. "Yeah, but it can't be that dangerous. I mean, that guy's scared of you."

She raised her eyebrows at his tone, maybe offended, maybe charmed. "Everybody around here is scared of something," she stated enigmatically. She turned around and crouched down in front of the guy from the alley, eye-level. "I think you should run away now," she enunciated slowly, as if talking to a toddler. He stood, loomed over her for a moment, swaying, then darted down the street, not bothering to glance back.

"Wow," was all Mokuba could say, amazed at how intimidated the guy was by his "savior."

"Try not to go anywhere alone at night, okay? The layout of the block pretty much goes buildings, certain death, buildings, certain death, fire hydrant, more buildings, certain painful death, and liqueur store," she joked, pointing vaguely down the street as she spoke.

"Yeah, city maps somehow always manage to leave off "Death Alley" in the key," Mokuba chimed in. She gathered his brown bag of Chinese food into her arms, and spun back around, flashing him a blinding smile.

Yikes. She is really pretty.

"Here ya go," chirped the girl, handing him back his bag of dinner that he'd dropped during their brief struggle. "It's probably cold by now. You might be able to get a refund if you head back to the White Dragon. They're good about that kind of stuff."

Remembering the terrible ordeal of Joseph the delivery boy, Mokuba shook his head no. "Nah, it's no big deal. My brother and I have had worse, trust me." Oh no, Seto's probably driven himself insane with worry by now. I'm going to get back to the office and find out he's bought out a dozen dairy farms so he can paste my face on 500,000 milk cartons. And that's just by tomorrow morning. He'll go Global next week.

"Your brother? You guys just moved into the neighborhood, right? I've never seen you before."

Mokuba was in a dilemma. Here was this really nice girl, (who didn't seem to notice or -care- how pretty she was - not at all like those girls who used to flock around Seto) who'd just saved him from a fate worse than tofu, and he was afraid to talk about his brother for fear that she would reel back in revulsion. It had happened before. He once overheard someone describe what Seto looked like to a blind woman, and it was "Like Satan, only more evil. And less trustworthy. And his head's kind of shaped like a dick if you're far away and cross your eyes."

Crump fired the guy on the spot. The blind woman excused herself to use the ladies room, and never came back.

Yeah, that sucked.

"Uh, we're new to the area. But we don't live here, we just run our business right next door." He proudly pointed to the Blue-Eyes Investigations Office, and began to walk back, encouraging her to follow.

"Oh, that's cool," she exclaimed, taking the hint and falling into step beside him. "What kind of business is it?"

"A detective agency," Mokuba answered blithely. He peered at her to see what her reaction was, but was startled to see no one accompanying him. He twisted around and spotted her standing still on the sidewalk, a few feet behind him.

"You're detectives?" She questioned apprehensively. If Mokuba didn't know any better he could swear she was about to take off like a scared rabbit. She was glancing around nervously again, the way she had when he'd first caught sight of her.

"Well, my brother is." An idea sprung into his mind. Whatever was bothering her about his brother's profession probably had to do with something she was involved in. Like Seto said, this was a bad area, and as kind as the girl had been to him, he wouldn't be surprised if she was associated with something shady. It couldn't be helped in this part of town. Perhaps if she knew who his brother was, she wouldn't worry so much about being judged. "Seto Kaiba. He's a private detective now."

Not even a blip of recognition registered on her face. "Oh." She still hung back, fidgeting around.

"Do you - Have you never heard of Seto Kaiba?" Mokuba couldn't believe it. Was this girl for real? Could he really be so lucky to run into the one person in Domino that didn't spit every time someone uttered his brother's name?

Now she seemed more embarrassed than nervous. "Sorry. I haven't watched much TV lately. Is he a celebrity?"

She was being totally sincere. Un-be-lieve-able. Mokuba grinned, his heart feeling lighter than it had in a long time. "You could say that."

She shook her head regretfully, and caught up to him. "Kaiba... Hm-mm. Doesn't ring a bell. Who is he?"

All the things Mokuba could say...

"He's just my big brother. Don't worry about it," Mokuba supplied simply, elated by this revelation. They were almost to his building. "Anyway, I'm Mokuba. Thanks for saving me, ... um..."

"You're welcome," she replied, completely dodging his subtle inquiry for her name. "Also, um, if a guy with '777' tattooed across his forehead ever comes up to you and asks 'Hey kid, wanna see somethin' really swell?don't reply, just get the heck outta dodge, okay?"

Mokuba almost laughed at the way she said it, but when he saw the serious expression on her face, he coughed instead. They reached the front double doors, and Mokuba pulled out his key with his free hand.

His companion noticed this. "Good. Yeah, keep your doors locked. I'm sure people have already been scoping out your building, checking if they see anything steal-worthy. And, uh, be careful, okay, Mokuba?" She sounded a little sad.

Mokuba balanced the bag on his knee against the door, concentrating on getting it unlocked. "Sure. Hey - you know, you can come in and have dinner with us, meet my brother. We don't really know anyone around here yet, and-"

The door flew inward, his keys still lodged in the doorknob, to reveal Seto standing in the doorway trying to hide his relief under a frown of disapproval. Without the support of the door, their dinner went tumbling to the ground for the second time that night.

"Mokuba! Where have you been? What happened?" Seto ignored the bag on the floor, and instead tried to pull his younger brother into the office, out of the dark.

"Hey, wait." Mokuba escaped his brother's clutches, and motioned towards him. "This is my brother, Seto, I was telling you about. Seto, she totally saved my life! It was awesome. She scared the crap out of this huge guy-"

"Who? What are you talking about? Are you talking to me?" Seto's confused face almost made Mokuba crack up.

"No! I'm talking to her-" He whirled around and pointed at a broken window in the building across the street.

"Who?" Asked Seto, his tone changing from confused to worried.

"What?" Mokuba hurried back outside, and did a 360, searching for the girl. The streets were empty. "But - she was just - where did she go?!" He couldn't decide if he was disappointed or excited by her unexpected exit.

The elder Kaiba bent down to retrieve the, by now, tattered and torn paper bag. "Mokuba, why don't you come on inside. There's no one out there."

Mokuba scanned the block one last time, but still saw no sign of the pretty brunette girl whom he thought he'd befriended. "... Okay..."

"All right." Seto went into the office, to examine what his brother had brought home for them to eat. Mokuba heard him muttering in the background. "My God, look at this bag! And this food is cold! And half of it is smashed beyond recognition! It's not even edible! I should call them and inform as to how a business is properly run..."

Mokuba stood crestfallen in the doorway, observing the street outside for the mystery girl. "Man... this sucks. What if I never see her again?" He mused to no one. A rustling from above caught his attention, and he watched as a piece of paper fluttered down to the ground in front of him. It was a menu from the White Dragon.

"Mokuba?" Seto's voice called from inside.

"Just a minute," he called back, and scooped the menu off the sidewalk. The front page still had the same majestic white dragon as the one in the restaurant, but this one had a message scrawled on it in blue ink.

Try to avoid "Death Alleys" in the future, huh? Only 1 in 3 people get rescued by me, so if it's not the person to the left or to right of you, then I'm running really late, and you should probably invest in some good mace. Take care, Mokuba.

There was a round cheerful smiley face drawn under the message, right on the belly of the dragon.

"Wow." Mokuba searched the sky for evidence of her, but saw nothing except stars and the nearly full moon. "Now that is just cool."

"Someone is looking out for you." - Fortune cookie

Author's Notes: Yep. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon" is present, just not in the way you would think. Also, I threw in some other familiar faces, but I really only put them in to take advantage of the huge Yu-Gi-Oh cast of characters. Why do I need OCs when there's already so many people to play with? Well, all right, Lau is an OC, but he's just an "extra."

No doubt everyone knows who the mystery girl is, but hopefully I've left it vague enough for there to still be questions about the why. Also, the "spider-cricket" will be a recurring character, simply because his appearances will be based on my own experiences with him, and he is terrifying. Anyway, thanks for reading, and click that little purple button to let me know what you think! Let a review be your good deed for the day, so that you can go debauch yourself afterward!