TaintedApple: Thanks so much for the review, I'm glad you liked it. The first chapter was kind of boring, but now things start to pick up just a tad...

AN: I've had this chapter ready, and I decided I might as well post it. If Kaiba seems to be acting strangely here, don't worry, he is. His "asymptomatic panic attack" is a clue, too. I wonder what that could mean? (Clues are fun, aren't they, TaintedApple?) I'll probably edit this further someday.

Chapter 2

2:31 PM

Kaiba was flipping through his emails on his blackberry, not truly caring whether he had or had not already answered them. He wasn't responding to them; he was simply browsing, backtracking over the past week to waste some time as the chopper was making its way back to the Kaiba Mansion, which was in an outer area of Domino. Sometimes a new one would pop up; more often than not, it was from a partner company's president, saying how they had enjoyed the day's luncheon. He knew that was a lie, unless they really were the type that loved surprises.

In all honesty Kaiba didn't know why he hadn't managed to tell all of the business partners who had gathered in Kaibaland several hours ago that KaibaCorp was to announce their global intentions. He didn't think it was a mistake that he had skimmed over that 'detail'; but it was just extraneous, and it could be better left unsaid until the right moment came.

He let his mind wander off of work, and looked below him out of the helicopter window. Almost at once he recognized his own terraced lawn, acres wide and long; he must have staved off time quite well.

Anxiety built inside of him as the helicopter landed. It would be the first time he had seen Mokuba in several months. Despite his hard exterior, Kaiba knew that the only thing that he could not come to compromise on was his brother. His only brother. His only relative. He knew Mokuba was old enough to be on his own, but Kaiba had practically been Mokuba's parent. It was difficult to worry about him constantly, he had found out; he had attempted to push the feeling away to focus on work. For the most part he had been successful; but now, it was flooding back into him in waves with such an intensity it made Kaiba wonder if he was having some sort of asymptomatic panic attack. As the helicopter was landing, Kaiba barely noticed that his hand was wrapped around the locket around his neck until his pilot told him it was safe to get out. Upon realizing that he had a death grip around it, he loosened, but did not let it go. Instead, he opened it, pushing a small button on the bottom, and Mokuba's picture was revealed at age five. He smiled bitterly, then shut it again.

As Kaiba was giving his brief thanks and goodbye to the helicopter pilot outside, he heard a voice shout from a window above him. When he looked up, he saw him – Mokuba was waving from a third story window, gray eyes sparkling with glee. Almost as soon as Kaiba began to greet him, Mokuba spun away from the window and out of view. Mokuba must be just as excited as I am, he thought, almost bursting now.

Kaiba almost ran to the mansion's rear entry, the western hall, where he flung his briefcase to the floor and stood, blue eyes bright, looking down the hallway to the marble staircase that stood directly to his left. After a few seconds he heard footsteps; they were swift and urgent. Within ten seconds, Mokuba's crazy hairdo had appeared over the banister, his hand a foot or so ahead. After thirty, Mokuba himself was running at his brother, screaming, "Seto, Seto!"

They hugged tightly, and intensely. They told each other how they had missed one another, that they were worried, and how elated they were to see the other again. Kaiba was kneeling, almost trying to push his relief into Mokuba as they embraced. A few seconds later, they separated, and grinned. They were back together again.

"How's the Corp, big bro?" asked Mokuba.

"Fine, I guess. We're making some big plans soon, so we'll have to go back to my office later. Is that okay?"

Mokuba beamed. "Yeah, that's great! It's almost like I missed there as much as I missed here!"

Kaiba smiled. Mokuba did spend much of his early teenage years trapped in his office with him. God, those years were so weird… with all of the garbage that he was involved in… it was quite surprising that Kaiba even managed to stay the CEO with everything that had happened. It was also those years that had convinced him he was psychotic, too, but that was beside the point.

"And you?" Kaiba asked his little brother as they strolled away from the staircase, in towards the house itself. "How's America?"

"It's great!" Mokuba responded enthusiastically. "Berkeley's great. Everything is! The only trouble I have is making sure I can call you," he laughed.

"True," Kaiba said. "You're probably as busy as I am now."

"Not really," Mokuba explained as the two moved into a large living room-like area, complete with couches, a bookshelf, a small table, and a television. The two took a seat across from each other at the table.

"You see, Seto, I'm like you," Mokuba said. "I like to work and stuff. But lots of those people…they work, but they have a lot more fun too." He looked up. "It's not that bad. It's perfectly doable!"

"Maybe I am busier than you, then," Kaiba muttered.

"Yeah, I think so," Mokuba responded, and the two laughed slightly.

"So you're off for Thanksgiving, is that it?" Kaiba said, folding his hands on the table.

"Yeah. We get a week off. It's one of their longer holidays. And I'll be back in December, too; we get two weeks off."

Kaiba was a bit taken aback. "Are you ever in school?" he asked.

"Very funny," Mokuba responded, chuckling. "I am, big bro. Don't worry about me."

Kaiba changed a bit; he suddenly turned more pensive.

"What's wrong?"

It was as if Mokuba's voice snapped Kaiba back out of whatever reverie he had been in. "Nothing," he said casually, and then continued more forcefully, "so did you have anything in mind that you wanted to do today?"

"Actually, I do. Are you busy?"

Kaiba thought for a moment. He did have a few hours before he had told Hiroko that he would be returning to the office. So whatever Mokuba had in mind, it had to be quick.

You would think he would have jetlag or something, Kaiba thought to himself, and smiled ruefully.

"Remember, I have to be at work again by five."

It was Mokuba's turn to think, as if reconsidering his original plan. "How about a game?"

Kaiba snorted. "Mokuba, you know that I'm not a game person," he said. "And you know what I'm like when I'm in one."

Mokuba ignored the last comment. "Yes you are! You used to play duel monsters all the time! You can't say you don't like that game!"

Another valid point for the little Kaiba, thought the older one sardonically. He hadn't thought about Duel Monsters in quite some time. That was a lie. He thought about it constantly. He thought about the economic implications to the company about all of their technologies they were coming up with, most of them having to do with that particular game. In fact, the past few years had all been duel monsters – duel monsters tournaments, the Duel Disk, and now even the Duel Monsters Academy. It was like an estranged marriage – no matter how far away he might be, he was still married to the damn thing.

"I don't really feel like that right now," Kaiba sighed, brushing his hair. "I think about it enough already."

"Oh, yeah. I guess."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Kaiba noticed that Mokuba looked like he wanted to say something, but kept averting his eyes whenever Kaiba looked at him expecting him. His

mouth almost opened several times. Finally, Kaiba ventured out.

"What do you want to ask me?"

Mokuba looked up, startled.

"Oh, well, um, you see, bro, I, uh, I got something at the airport. It's a game. I wanted to play it. But I dunno if you'd want to now."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Mokuba looked up. "It…."

He didn't finish the sentence. Instead, he glanced down, then back up at Kaiba.

"Go and get it," Kaiba said, resigning. "I'm not really in the mood for anything, but I'm happy to see you, so I'll tag along."

Mokuba moved from cautious to exhilarated as if somehow someone had turned on a lightbulb. He jumped up and ran out out of the room, screaming "yes!" like a ten year old. Kaiba crossed his arms again, sighed, and closed his eyes. Guess some people don't grow up, he thought. How odd, considering some people don't have a childhood.

The thought almost scared Kaiba, and he opened his eyes. Damn it, why was his mind so incessant like that, always bringing up stuff he never wanted to be brought up… maybe it's the psychosis. Yes. Definitely it. The psychosis that started more than likely after Yugi defeated him in a duel six years ago and then flared up again when Ishizu –

Stop it! he growled, not even realizing that he had said it out loud. He looked around, and only a few seconds after the small outburst, Mokuba charged into the room, moving so quickly that the box he held above his head was unreadable. Kaiba mentally gave his thanks to Mokuba for stopping the train of thoughts, and smiled up at him.

"Okay, Seto," Mokuba said, grinding to a halt in front of his brother. He laid the box on the table somewhat haphazardly, falling on one side and then righting itself with a loud clap. It was perfectly square, Kaiba saw and had lots of squares, eight on the horizontal, eight on the vertical.

It was a chess board.

"…what?" Kaiba couldn't stop himself from saying.

Mokuba looked down. "Sorry, bro… you said I could. I thought about all the times we had back when we were little. We used to love this game."
Yeah, back before Gozaburo adopted us.

Kaiba gripped his head with his hand, grunting in frustration. Mokuba grew wide-eyed.

"Seto…" It was all he could say.

After his hand had dropped from his face, Kaiba's face was pale and his eyes were flashing with some flood of emotions that Mokuba could read better than anyone else could. His older brother was trying to stop himself from getting angry again; he had made a promise to him, and couldn't get mad.

"I know, Seto. I know. Please, don't remember….that…. game. Just remember us. The way you always used to beat me, remember that?"

Kaiba glanced up, and nodded slightly. There was no way he could refuse Mokuba now. They had just come back together after months apart; he had said he wouldn't get angry. The only way out was to take it like a man and play a little…chess… with his brother. Try not to remember…

He spoke before his brain could complete another reference to his past. "Get the board ready."

"Do you wanna be white or black?"

"Don't care."

"I don't care either," Mokuba replied, and looked at the board questioningly, the board half opened to reveal that the playing field was a lid that stored the pieces deeper in the box. "Wanna decide with janken?"

"No," Kaiba responded.

After a few moments, Mokuba broke into an "eeny-meeny-mainy-mo" routine, and eventually decided that he himself would take black, and his older brother white. Kaiba watched as his brother set up the board, remembering almost perfectly where all of the pieces went.

"Why did you choose chess?" Kaiba blurted out. "Weren't there other games in the airport for you to choose from?"

Mokuba stopped where he was, Kaiba's queen floating in the air a few inches above her space on the board. Mokuba sighed, placed the piece down, and then sat back, eyes cast downwards.

"I don't know about you, Seto," Mokuba said cautiously. "But I had fun when we played that game."

The innocent remark struck a chord in Kaiba. He had tried to forget the fact that chess had ever been fun. After all, it was the chess game he played with…him… that had started him on the path to where he was now, on top of the entertainment world. He supposed he should be thankful for that one game, but instead only pure loathing resulted wherever he searched for sympathy. He decided that Mokuba, somehow, was right.

"Are you mad at me?" Kaiba looked up and saw Mokuba, worried, staring at him with a mix of empathy and fear. "Your face just got dark."

"I'm fine, Mokuba," Kaiba lied, switching his expression to the more neutral one of determination that people all over the world would recognize. Mokuba cracked a slight smile at his brother's answer, but of course Kaiba knew that Mokuba was aware of what this game had done to him as well, and what it meant to be playing again. Kaiba knew both of them were brimming with emotion, and were trying to keep the other one happy by playing their emotions off behind a poker face of enthusiasm. Just like always. Always concerned about the other one… always together… no matter what people said about how they didn't look or act alike. They were more of the same person than most people could dare to know.

It was almost like the secret knowledge, known to a true master of chess, that one of the most important pieces is the pawn, and the line-up of pawns by midgame determines the rest of the game.

Kaiba smirked, thought for a moment, and then placed his fingers on the king's pawn, calling out his move.