Sixteen

By Kari Izumi

Chapter Three: Growing Up Kaiba

I re-loaded this chapter to clean it up a bit. I have a tendancy to rush through things and not catch all the grammar issues, no matter how many times I look through a page. I assure you it's not laziness, and please bear with me. I hope you enjoy ithis chapter a bit better.

To keep it short (Because the long version's at the bottom), I own nothing but the fic.

-----

"Honestly, Mokuba, I've told you this for the last eleven years I've known you! You can't just say anything you want because you feel like it!"

It was the next morning, and both Seto and Mokuba were at the Kaiba Corp headquarters, in Seto's office. Mokuba was in his best suit, a dark gray one with an azure silk shirt. Across from him, Seto sat at his desk, his face showing no emotion as usual, but Mokuba could tell just the same that his brother wasn't going to jump to his aide and defend him from the lecture he was getting from their public relations agent, a short, middle-aged and balding man by the name of Akiyama Satou. For all of Seto's words the day before about life being the best teacher, Mokuba wondered why he was letting this old git yammer on at all.

Satou continued to pace up and down the floor as he spoke with a copy of that morning's newspaper containing an article entitled "Kaiba's Brother Explodes!" in one hand. The article had grossly exaggerated the account of Mokuba's radio debut, which he had tried to explain to Satou to no avail.

"I thought you'd know by now that you need to consider your image at all times," Satou continued. "You're not like other kids your age. You have responsibilities—to this company, to your brother—this sort of thing doesn't reflect well on him…"

Mokuba turned his focus elsewhere. This speech was never about what his behavior did to his image--always about how it made Seto look, as if the two shared one body. It was in no small part one of the reasons Mokuba had wanted to attend high school well away from Kaiba Corp and Domino City. He doubted anyone would truly see him for his own person otherwise.

" I don't need to tell you that these stories make the company look bad!" he concluded.

"Why not pay the press to shut up?" said Mokuba suddenly.

Seto shot back a very disapproving look at him.

"Like you've never thought about that before!"

Satou stood with his arms folded and shook his head. "You really need to change your image. It's not good for the Vice President of a children's gaming company to be seen with a new girlfriend every other week--"

Sighing, Mokuba slumped back in his chair.

"I don't have a new girlfriend 'every other week'. I go on dates like every other normal person my age. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Satou sighed in frustration. "What is wrong with that is you have a media that follows your every move and your brother's as well. What you do and don't do is noted, as I'm sure you're well aware of after yesterday morning."

Mokuba grew quiet, and the evil glare he gave Satou did not go unnoticed.

"Well, I mean, I know it can be hard not to date, with so many girls at your feet," Satou added with a slight chuckle as he begin to fidget with the newspaper. "I think I can understand the feeling…back in my day, I had a lot of girls too--"

"Get to the point, "Seto interrupted, casting a cold stare at the short, balding man. He hated when people rambled on too much, and hated it even more when the rambling was on subjects he didn't think Mokuba needed to hear.

"Oh, um…" Satou cleared his throat before continuing. "Well…just be careful. You're rich and--"

"And girls would take advantage of that? Duh. I'm not that stupid or naïve," Mokuba finished, being irritated by the perceived insult to his intelligence. He had learned as much the first night Gozaburo brought them home from the orphanage. "Besides, it's not that easy to get someone that's worth the time."

Seto sat up in his seat. "And what exactly does that mean?"

"Oh...well, pretty much any girl who isn't a fangirl or super clingy or has illusions of me being able have tons of free time to spend with them."

Seto relaxed a little.

"But I don't mind," Mokuba added, sitting up a bit straighter in his chair. "I still have lots of girls who don't want full time boyfriends, either, so why limit myself? I can still give them a great night on the town and afterwards, we can--"

The room grew quiet as he felt Seto's eyes boring into him.

"Can not have sex," Mokuba concluded lamely. Seto continued to glare. "Well, it's the truth!"

It was true…technically. Mokuba was sixteen, after all—he liked fooling around with girls, even if he didn't let himself go as far as actual sex. But Seto didn't need to know any specific details about that aspect of his life, as there was no chance of Mokuba making him an uncle any time soon.

Satou cleared his throat and Seto and Mokuba turned to look in his direction. "Should I see myself out?"

Seto shook his head. "I need you to schedule a press conference for this Tuesday."

"Yes, Kaiba-sama, but if you don't mind my asking, what for?"

"Mokuba and I discussed a way he'll be spending his time this summer that will help bring a more positive image to this company. It involves generating more sales into Kaiba land."

"We'll let you know what it is tomorrow," Mokuba added.

Not even he knew what the idea would be. Giveaways and contests seemed way too gimmicky and would only boost sales for a very little while before the same decline in sales began again. Whatever the idea was, it needed to reach more than just the usual Duel Monsters enthusiasts who would come and pay money here, no matter what the event was. If possible, the idea could be something that could be done more than once.

"I'll get right on that, sirs," Satou replied. "I've said all I needed to say for now. I'll see you two later, then. Under better circumstances, I assume." He shot a stern glance in Mokuba's direction as he left.

Seto opened his laptop, as if nothing had happened.

"Gee, it's always fun to hear from Satou-san," Mokuba said a bit sarcastically. He got up and walked to the coffee pot near the door and poured himself a cup. "It's like listening to a broken record."

"I told you pretty much said the same thing to you yesterday," Seto commented, "and I hope you listen for your own sake. Being wild doesn't suit you."

Mokuba took a sip of his coffee. "I'm not wild and out of control. I just like having fun."

Seto looked up from his computer. " And by fun, you mean driving as fast as your car can go and staying out past curfew? Fooling around with a different girl every week?"

Mokuba opened his mouth to speak, but got cut off.

"Yes, I know that's what you do—I don't know how far you've gone. Please…don't tell me any details, I really don't want that image in my mind."

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "I haven't done anything worth bragging about."

"And what about your friend from the music club at school…Yagami? The two of you get into your share of trouble together."

"He's not that bad, Nii-sama!" Mokuba protested.

"He's a bad influence on you, and hardly worth the time and effort you spend with him. I've lost track of how many times you've missed your curfew every time you two go out at night."

Kaoru Yagami was a loaded subject between the Kaiba brothers. Although Kaoru was two years older than Mokuba was, the two became friends fairly quickly after meeting in the music club, with Mokuba helping Kaoru in English (which he had been fluent in since he was ten), and Kaoru helping him out in his own area of expertise—fun. He was nearly the exact opposite of Seto—he loved parties and socializing and didn't work himself too hard in school. Most of the third year girls had their eyes on Kaoru, but he didn't seem to bother much with any of them. Mokuba assumed it was either because he'd rather keep his options open or he had connections with college-aged girls. He was also one of the few people in his life that he knew wasn't hanging around him just because he was famous.

Seto disapproved of him almost from the beginning; but oddly enough, he had never outright told him not to talk to Kaoru. Mokuba was still uncertain why Seto never put his foot down but he never wanted to tempt fate by asking why. Perhaps Seto thought he would just go behind his back if he did that, which would be a sign of him not being in control—and thus, he voiced his opinion to Mokuba, but did nothing to forbid it.

Mokuba let the subject drop with a sigh. There was no use in trying to change his mind on the matter.

Seto, who was now accessing his email message center, spoke again. "Since you're already here at the office, you might want to catch up on any work you're behind on."

"Naw, I'm not behind on anything here," he replied. Mokuba got up and headed towards the office door. "I'm gonna go over to Kaiba Land for a bit...to get some ideas about the project."

Seto looked up from the computer and nodded. "Be home for dinner tonight. And don't draw any more attention to yourself today," he added sternly before going back to typing away at the computer.

"What can I get into at Kaiba Land?"

"I'm sure you know all the great places to bring girls to make out," he said with a tone that, for Seto at least, implied a bit of teasing.

"Gee, Nii-sama, I'm not going to do that at Kaiba land. Again."

Seto's eyes widened slightly, but Mokuba had already ducked out the room.

-----

Mokuba was glad when the evening came. He lay on top of the covers on his bed, flipping though the stations on the 120-centimeter wide Plasma television mounted up on the wall across from him. Despite having cable access, it wasn't often that he had time just to do simple things like watch television.

To the left of his gigantic bed was his oversized computer desk, where his schoolbooks lay on the desk on the right side of the monitor. A chemistry book was at the top of the stack, half-opened to a set of questions. Mokuba was thankful that his teacher was allowing him to make up some of the points that he'd lost for bombing his last test two weeks ago. He should have been able to pass that test, but had been having too much of a good time that previous weekend to study. When his teacher asked him about it, Mokuba blamed it on having a deadline to meet at Kaiba Corp. This particular teacher, who had had Seto in her class five years earlier, was sympathetic enough.

"It's amazing you boys manage to keep your grades as high as they are," she had commented. "I remember your brother had 100 percent for the whole year, though…"

Mokuba gritted his teeth at the memory. He didn't have a grade of 100 percent, but it was still the top of his class, and in a subject like chemistry, most of his classmates were happy enough if they got enough points to pass. With a grade of 95 percent, Mokuba had more than enough points so that one failed test wouldn't screw him up completely. But he'd make the points up anyway.

"And finally tonight, a bit of news on the Vice President and younger brother to Seto Kaiba of Kaiba Corporation, Mokuba-"

He didn't bother watching the rest of the segment. Between Satou's lecture that morning, three other news programs and no fewer than five phone calls from various friends, Mokuba had grown sick of the subject and flipped the TV over to a station airing an American sitcom that had been dubbed over into Japanese.

At that moment, his cell phone rang. Mokuba was glad for the distraction. "Hey."

A cheerful and rather mischievous voice answered, "Hey, Mokuba! I thought you were coming to my party last night!" It was Kaoru Yagami.

"My brother came home early. Found out about the car. Not to mention that thing on the radio yesterday." Mokuba told him.

He could hear Kaoru let out a chuckle. "Oh, right…yeah, cussing out two radio personalities, everyone heard about that. A lot of people here were hoping to ask you about that."

"Yeah?" Mokuba sat up a bit straighter in the bed, wanting ask Kaoru more about what people were saying. He didn't feel exactly proud of his action, yet he couldn't help but enjoy the thought that, for the time being, the focus was solely on him.

"Yeah, sure. You're not like Kaiba at all. He's probably never even been on a date."

"Well, he's not that anti social…just private." Mokuba had often commented to Seto about his lack of socializing, but it stung when others pointed it out. No one besides Yuugi and his lot of friends knew any of the details of their private lives, or why Seto had become the way he was, and even that was because there was no other way of avoiding the subject at that moment. He quickly changed the subject. "So, how was the party last night?"

"I don't remember that much of it, actually. I think I passed out after drinking a bottle of sake."

Mokuba shook his head. He was into a lot of things, but using drugs and getting completely wasted was not his idea of fun. What was point of doing something he couldn't remember later on?

"…but the parts I do remember were great! Man, you really should've been here!" Kaoru exclaimed. "One of my brothers brought a few girls from his college over. This one girl…wow, she knew a lot about...well, you know…" He then went on recapping the rest of his night with "this one girl," some of the details of which brought a faint blush to Mokuba's cheeks.

"Um…wow, that sounds...um, great…"

"You bet it was! All those videos my brothers gave me paid off!" Kaoru said cheekily. "It's too bad you weren't there, you would've enjoyed the company, Mr. Make-out Artist."

He knew more about girls at eighteen than Seto did at twenty-one, Mokuba thought. He wanted to turn to Seto first for that sort of thing, but Mokuba doubted he knew anything about sex besides what he'd learn in health class. Kaoru, on the other hand, was more than willing to share tips with anyone who asked—although some of his suggestions were a bit too perverted for his tastes.

And unlike Seto, Kaoru's older brothers acted just as older brothers and his father was often too drunk from having to socialize with business partners to meddle much in his life. Seto was a good brother, and no one he knew was closer to their siblings—which was a mixed blessing. was paranoid that Mokuba would get hurt by something and would have guards watch him take a piss if he could. But Mokuba knew full well he could take care of himself. He didn't need babysitters anymore.

"Hiroyuki got a tattoo last night, too," Kaoru said.

"Him?!" Mokuba gasped. "Really, did you see?"

Hiroyuki was a rather quiet second-year student who was also a member of the music club, intent on taking the entrance exams for Tokyo University and joining a long line of family members who had graduated from that university. Mokuba was rather surprised he of all people would do something like that.

"Yep, he lost playing poker with my brother, and so we all went to a tattoo parlor downtown—we couldn't find it at first, because it was underground—and he got it done. I'm surprised he went through with it, Hiro-kun seemed so scared about it at first."

"What did he get a tattoo of?"

"Nothing bad, just a small little star design on his lower back so no one could see it. By no one, I mean his folks."

Mokuba was glad not to be in his classmate's position at all. Hiroyuki had an older sister who was disowned for marrying a man they didn't like. For his sake, Mokuba hoped his parents never found out…Seto was not the most outwardly and amiable of guardians, but the younger Kaiba was sure he'd never get disowned for doing something his brother didn't necessarily approve of.

"Hey, I just remembered," said Kaoru. "How'd you like that video I gave you last week?"

Mokuba's cheeks grew a bit warm at the thought.

"Oh…ummm, I've been too busy to actually watch it yet..."

Mokuba gave a quick glance over in the direction of his DVD player, and the innocent-looking DVD box on top of it. The title box had some photo of a samurai anime on the cover to hide its true contents, in case anyone (namely Seto) came into his room when he wasn't here. Not that Seto made a habit of coming into his room to snoop, but it was better not to have a DVD title like that laying in his room at all.

"Too busy? Man, I would find the time if I were you!" Before Mokuba had a chance to comment, Kaoru said, "Hey, I gotta go. See ya in school!"

"Yeah, sure," Mokuba replied, and the connection went dead. Placing the phone in its charger on the nightstand, he looked at the clock that sat next to it; the time displayed 10:40. Mokuba rubbed a hand through his hair, like he always did when he had something big on his mind.

He sighed. That business plan was still due tomorrow. His walk through Kaiba Land hadn't helped him very much. The park was pretty crowded by the time he got there, making it hard to think about anything.

On top of that, he got a call from Seto two hours later, asking him to help him with some of his workload. Mokuba got to the office, only to discover that he wanted him to help with the paper work—a task Seto usually did himself because Mokuba hated it. If Mokuba knew better, he'd swear Seto did it to irk him, but he knew his brother was not one to keep on punishing people.

I really need to get to bed, Mokuba told himself. There was no use trying to stay up and work on an idea he didn't even have. Mokuba's mind couldn't work on a project with unrelenting passion for three days straight, like he'd seen Seto do many times in the past. He pulled off his t-shirt and threw it on the floor, then went to lock the door before he turned the DVD player on.

He reached for Kaoru's DVD and opened it up, his cheeks turning a little pink at the title--Hot Bath, Hot Love. Mokuba had never really watch that kind of movie before. He'd seen a very uncensored sex scene once in an American film on TV when he was eleven; he was no stranger to ecchi anime, either—but all in all, it was nothing that was considered porn.

Mokuba popped on the DVD on and went back to his bed and waited until the Menu title loaded. Four selections appeared, each representing a different movie, all involving hot tubs. After a bit of thought, he pressed Play on the first title, which included two college-aged girls splashing around in a public hot tub together.

The production quality of the movie, as Mokuba noticed, was pretty terrible, even by porn standards. From the low quality scenery that looked like something his school's drama club built to the generic, clichéd music that blared so loud that the dialogue could barely be heard over it (not that there was anything worth hearing as far as plot went), everything screamed B-budget.

Mokuba watched as the two girls, named Hikari and Yuri, got into the hot bath together, wearing the skimpiest of bathing suits. The casting was the only thing this director got right in this film, getting two equally cute girls with very large bosoms and long legs. The one named Yuri had dyed blond hair, and was especially hot.

"Wow, have your boobs gotten bigger?" she asked Hikari.

"Can you feel them to see if they have?" Hikari giggled. "Here, I'll just take this off…"

The two girls continued on with their forbidden passion...the quality of the film was no longer such a problem to Mokuba anymore, and for the first time all weekend, he felt himself relaxing…

At that moment, he heard a knock on his door. "Mokuba, are you awake?"

"What the f…?" Mokuba let out an irritated groan as he reached for the remote and turned off the TV set. He couldn't remember the last time Seto came knocking at his door this late in the evening. He sure did have a great sense of timing to pick tonight of all times.

In a resigned voice, he responded,"Come in."

He heard Seto try to open up the door before he remembered the door was locked. "Whoops, sorry."

Mokuba got up reluctantly from his bed, and opened the door to find Seto with his Stern Big Brother look about him and his arms folded.

"You okay?" Mokuba asked. "I know I usually have the door unlocked and--"

Seto waved his hand to cut him off. "Where's your science homework?"

"Err…" Mokuba stammered and pointed in the direction of the computer desk. "It's right over on there. Why?"

Seto glanced over briefly at the desk. "Your science teacher called. She says your grade in her class dropped because of an unusually low score on your last test."

Mokuba took a breath and walked back to the bed, placing a pillow over his lap. He should have known this was coming. "It's just one test…my grade's still the best in the class."

"That's not the point. Did you tell her you didn't study because of your work at Kaiba Corp?" Seto's voice was as cool as usual, with only a hint of irritation and, even worse, disappointment.

"Umm…"Mokuba stammered yet again and looked down. He was in for it now. "Er…yeah?"

Seto glowered at him.

"Well, I couldn't tell her I'd forgotten to study!" he replied indignantly.

"That's exactly what you should have told her," said Seto. "It's the truth. Your grades in the class show you are more than capable of understanding this material. Did you really think you could fool anyone with that lame excuse? You've had more work than this before, and your grades were fine."

Mokuba felt his cheeks grow warm in shame.

"This project is a better idea than I thought it would be."

"Um…about that..."Mokuba began and scratched the back of his head in nervousness. "I'm having trouble coming up with an idea for that."

"How so?"

"How am I supposed to come up with an idea by the end of tomorrow?!" This was nuts…Maybe Seto was able to work at such frantic speeds, but Mokuba was sure he wasn't.

Seto didn't agree. "You'll think of something. You always come up with good ideas for the company and the park. You should be using your brain on something beside getting into trouble."

"Nii-sama! I don't get into trouble--"

"But you help to attract it. We've talked about that so many times, I've lost count."

Mokuba started to say something, but stopped. He too had lost track of how often this issue had come up (usually on an evening when he'd come home late or forgotten to call when he said he would); Seto would tell him how dangerous it was to be out so late, then Mokuba would tell him he's more than capable of defending himself if someone tried to start anything with him, then Seto would list a bunch of other things that could go wrong, like possibly getting kidnapped or drugged or getting caught up in something stupid thing that one of his friends could be doing. After going back and forth, they would storm off into their own rooms and not speak to each other until the next afternoon. Nothing ever got resolved.

Seto was not letting the issue of his grades go. "That test score was pretty low for your standards. 75 percent? What were you thinking about?"

"I forgot to study one time, okay?" Mokuba said. "I'm making up some of the points, and I'm still passing the class. Geez." Like he was the first person to ever screw up a test. So he got carried away once. Did it hurt to relax just a little bit? Why couldn't Seto act more like his brother instead of his father all the time?

"I'm glad to hear it, but it was irresponsible not to study in the first place."

Mokuba sighed, knowing full well he lost the argument. Grumpily, he tucked himself under his covers and rolled himself over, facing away from Seto. "I'll do better next time."

The next sound Mokuba heard was Seto closing the door.

-----

It wasn't unusual for Mokuba to stay up all night, his mind pre-occupied with thoughts, be they about school or work or Seto's well being. It never ceased to amazing him how many people he'd come across who thought his life was so carefree simply because he had lots of money when he had grown up with concerns and worries that no one he knew could have ever comprehended.

Tonight, he worried about that damn project. Really, what was Seto thinking giving him such a short deadline? Two days? He may have been grounded with nothing else to do, but he wasn't a prodigy that could conquer every game known to man or learn five languages by the age of thirteen or take two percent of the world's largest stock and strategically overthrow the CEO who was more than twice his own age.

I shouldn't even do this at all. This is stupid. What's the worst that will happen to me, I'll be fired?

Mokuba let out a hollow laugh into the dark room. Of course he couldn't get fired. When Gozaburo died, the first thing Seto did was make him Vice President of the Kaiba Corp; Mokuba was the only person in the world he trusted, and it allowed them time to spend together, as they planned the opening of Kaiba Land. Nothing made Mokuba happier back in those days than to make Seto proud of him; which was why he gave his all in learning everything he could about Kaiba Corp and taking an active interest in running the company. Considering the sacrifice Seto had made for him, Mokuba wouldn't have denied any of his brother's wishes.

…and even now, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do or think about, it just didn't seem right to slag it off.

Mokuba rolled over from his back to his side to look at the alarm clock, which now read 4:09 AM. It was no use trying to sleep now; if he actually did manage to fall asleep now, it'd be time for him to wake up again soon enough, and he was known to be a heavy sleeper.

Well, this was certainly a creative punishment tactic, Mokuba had to admit that much. Taking the cars away wouldn't have been much of a punishment seeing that he had drivers at his back and call. Neither, really, was being entirely cut off…80,000 yen was more than enough to make it through the rest of the month, since Kaiba Corp owned two Burger World chains in town and they knew the Kaibas well there. There wasn't much Seto could take away to really get over a point across that Mokuba would really miss.

Except his music room.

If only Seto hadn't locked the guitar in the music room. Practicing often helped to clear Mokuba's mind when he had something to worry about like a test and was the one thing no one could compare him to Seto in. He'd taken to that like Seto had taken to gaming and technology. Mokuba knew his way around a computer pretty well, too, but it just wasn't the same as playing a guitar and expressing his feelings though it. He'd tried his voice at singing a few times in front of his friends, and all of them encouraged him not to let his voice go to waste. But the idea of singing in public never appealed much to Mokuba.

I need to practice and get some ideas.

In a flash, Mokuba got out of bed, grabbed the T-shirt off the floor, and ran to his closet to grab a wire hanger. Then he left the room and went down the stairs to the first floor. He had to be careful, lest the sound of his footsteps woke up Seto, as the hallway could echo quite a bit (as Mokuba had found out in recent months during a few vain attempts to sneak home after curfew unnoticed).

It was a long walk to the other side of the mansion, where the music room was. But he was finally there, and wire hanger in hand, Mokuba bent down to get at eye level with the doorknob to pick the lock. As he grabbed a hand around the knob, he realized that the makeshift pick was not needed: the door was already unlocked.

"Huh?"

Mokuba looked behind him to make sure Seto wasn't standing behind him before going inside the room…he found everything where it was on Friday morning, which was the last time he'd been in there, as he walked across the room.

The room itself was the most vibrant and youthful in the whole mansion, with bright red walls, adorned with the posters and CD jacket covers of many different musical artists. The tops of the walls were decorated with a border of CD's that Mokuba no longer listened to, now that MP3's were in fashion, and he had his entire music collection backed up on three different hard drives. The room had once been his own personal arcade, until Mokuba converted it last year.

And now, where his various fighting games used to sit, there was a computer set up for recording his music. Across from that was a blue futon/couch for when his friends came over (Which wasn't often, with his busy schedule, Mokuba noted).

And on the opposite side from the doorway were his four guitars sat. Mokuba reached and pulled a white one off of its stand to tune it. On one corner of the guitar near the volume control was a picture of a blue eyes white dragon. Mokuba had bought it for Seto for his birthday a few years ago, thinking it would be fun to share his hobby with him. But Seto was absolutely terrible at playing, and just couldn't improve, no matter how hard he tried.

And he certainly did try, like he did with everything else in life. After a while, Mokuba told him it was okay if he didn't want to continue with lessons anymore. He knew Seto was only putting in effort for his sake. It was the only thing he could think of in his whole life that didn't come easily to his older brother (or at all, for that matter).

Music…

Mokuba found he would no longer have to practice for inspiration; the idea he needed crashed into his mind like a ton of bricks. Why hadn't he thought about this sooner?

He got up and left the room, and hurry back to his bedroom. He could outline a few ideas before Seto woke up…

-----

Seto rarely deviated from any routine, including the time in which he stepped out of his bedroom in the morning at 5:47 on the dot. And today was no exception.

"Morning, Nii-sama," Mokuba greeted as soon as Seto opened the door to his room. Seto took a step back and his eyes slightly widened at the unexpected surprise of Mokuba blocking his way.

"You're up early," Seto commented.

Mokuba held up manila folder. "Here you go."

"For what?" Seto asked as he took the folder and tucked it under his arm.

"Did you forget that it's already Monday?"

"I know what day it is. I'm surprised you came up with an idea before I've had my coffee."

"Me, too," Mokuba replied. He took two steps back to allow Seto to come out into the hallway. The two walked downstairs towards the dining room for breakfast, as Seto pulled out the business proposal from the folder and read it over.

As they walked, Mokuba could swear that he could see over the top of his brother's head without straining. He wondered if Seto realized this, too? Maybe he didn't, or else he would have made a mention about it by now. They were both used to Seto being the taller of the two, and Mokuba took for granted that would always be the case. It would be a bit unusual for two full Japanese to be so tall, even brothers. It was even more unusual for the two of them to have any physical trait in common.

He heard the soft sound of the folder being shut as they reached the dining room. Two of the cooks had already brought out a breakfast of egg omelet and rice, with a bowl of miso soup and a helping of herring on the side. A pot of coffee sat between their plates.

Mokuba pulled out a chair for himself and sat down, feeling the most excited he'd been about anything all weekend. "So what do you think? Great idea, huh?"

Seto seated himself too and reached over to pour himself a cup of coffee.

"I'm proud you came up with such an idea in two days."

"And hour and a half ago, to be precise," Mokuba beamed. "It was because you opened the door to my music room and I got inspiration."

"I know how you always go there for relaxing and all," Seto commented. "But you know you're still on punishment."

"Yeah," Mokuba said, as he pushed a piece of omelet in his mouth. "But thanks."

The two nodded at each other for a moment.

"You haven't told me what you think about the idea," Mokuba insisted.

"I certainly wouldn't have come up with it," said Seto. "A concert at Kaiba Land? But how does that help the declining sales?"

After swallowing a mouthful of rice, Mokuba replied, "When you think about it, there are more people who enjoy good music than enjoy dueling. Why not open the horizons to more consumers, and make Kaiba Land more than just a place for Duelists? Oh, pass me the coffee."

Seto still seemed a bit skeptical as he passed the coffee pot. "Most of the music I hear you listen to is hardly 'good.' This country's full of music idols that only make one hit."

Mokuba laughed. He certainly had to agree with Seto there, even if he wasn't the type to listen to anything on the radio.

"But that's why I suggested building a concert around a lot of the Indie groups. Perhaps use the groups after the concert in commercials for our products. I could pick the groups personally, like on that American show with the singers and the voting…whatever the name is."

"If you want to make a success of this concert, Mokuba, we can afford to hire the most popular groups--"

"That's just it, Nii-sama," Mokuba cut him off. "I want to find a bunch of new groups that want a big break and a venue to be heard, you know?"

Seto nodded in understanding. If there was anyone that knew the value of proving his worth on his own merits, it was he, who had taken over an empire single-handedly.

"That's fine. But," Seto continued, "There are a few things we have to go over about the type of music lyrics--nothing explicit about sex or drugs. Kaiba Corp is supposed to be a family-friendly company."

"That's fair."

"And another thing. You have to keep your nose clean. You're going to be in the media even more than before, and you don't need any more incidents like the one this weekend and the one last Thursday."

"But being bad helps music careers!"

"You don't have a music career!"

Seto glared at Mokuba, who then took very long sip of his miso soup.

"Mmmm, yum." He wiped his mouth and pushed his chair back from the table. "I'm gonna go get changed, Nii-sama. See ya in a few."

And up the stairs he went, running into his room to take a shower and put on a cleaner shirt and some decent slacks. He was about to run back down until he realized he'd almost forgotten something. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the locket lying on top of his computer desk.

"Geez, how'd I almost forget that?" he said quietly. Mokuba reached over to grab the locket, and opened it to see the picture he had long since memorized; the ten-year-old version of Seto, smiling a smile that would be gone in years to come, playing a game that helped to give him, Mokuba, the life he had now. It was interesting to know how much their lives had changed since that time.

He heard a knock on his door. "Mokuba! I'm ready to go."

Mokuba slipped the locket chain around his neck. "All right, I'm coming!" He opened the door and the two of them headed down the stairs and out the door.

TBC

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Sorry for the rather long break in between updates, but a huge thanks for being patient with me and not sending me reviews badgering me to update sooner. : )

Among other factors in RL (Moving, new job, lack of inspiration, ect), this fic is a LOT harder to write than I imagined it would be. I'm sure plenty of you know the usual stereotypes with Teen! Mokuba--especially Teen! Mokuba who isn't so clean cut as his anime ten-year-old canon counterpart, and I want very much to avoid those (You can check out the original idea for Chapter Two over at my LJ account, which seems to have just about every cliché I hate now—yikes!). I'm glad that, if nothing else, Seto and Mokuba still care about each other in this fic, which not too many fics seem to have. Take that away, and I might as well write about Gary Stu and his kid brother Mark, to paraphrase a review I once came across.

RE: chapter one-Yeah, I did a bad thing violating Japan law with the driver's license thing. At the risk of sounding lazy and careless, I seriously did not know. If and when I can find someway of editing that and not mess up the rest of the story, I'll fix that. To me, the plot and characterization are top priorities over local law, but I do try to keep consistent with Japanese culture as much as possible. :) And speaking of that—Yes, there are a few American shows that get dubbed into Japanese—one of the more well-known of these shows being the over-hyped tripe that is "Friends." I've heard one or two of the "Star Trek" series have aired there as well, but I haven't heard much to confirm that.

Thanks for all the support and feedback, and feel free to leave any comments.