Chapter 5 : My Only Bond

I watched Mokuba sip at his root beer and smirked before leaning back into the booth. Mokuba had decided it would be good for us to go out to eat, and though I didn't like it since I was forced to dress down for the occasion, I reminded myself that this was for him. I was now wearing black pants with sneakers and a white, v-neck t-shirt with sunglasses and a black beanie hat. Mokuba wore his usual outfit, but people didn't recognize him as easily as they did me. I was somehow the one who always had to dress differently; he had no problem fitting in with society.

"So how was work today, Big Bro?" he asked, taking another sip of his drink before smiling up at me. How his smile always made my day…did he understand how much I had sacrificed just so he could keep that pure, innocent smile of his? Of course he didn't, and I had worked damn hard to keep it that way too. "Um…Seto?"

Blinking out of my small trance, I shrugged my shoulders and replied, "It was okay, I guess. There was surprisingly little to do since I've been doing so much lately. I was planning on that meeting with Tsubah, but they pushed it back, basically giving me a day off."

"I see." Frowning, I noticed him become slightly uncomfortable and eyed him closer.

"What's wrong?" I asked after a moment of silence passed between us.

"Well, I guess… I know we talk about this a lot, but I think it's seriously becoming a problem." Sighing, Mokuba let go of his root beer and placed his hands in his lap before glancing up at me. "I'm becoming worried about your work habits, Seto."

Biting my bottom lip, I shook my head and stated, "You know there's nothing I can do about that, Mokuba." Actually, there was. If I didn't go out hunting every night, it wouldn't be such a huge problem. I could actually get home in time to tuck Mokuba into bed and be there when he woke up. But with the large group of hunters in Domino, I couldn't risk that.

"Nothing, Seto? You always say that, but are you sure there's absolutely nothing you can do right now that could lighten your workload? You've become really distant these past couple of weeks, and I think it's because of how much work you put on yourself."

"I don't trust anybody in that company, Mokuba, and with good reason," I reminded him, remembering the time the Big 5 kidnapped us. It hadn't been the first time politics were brought into the business world of KaibaCorp, and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last. "I do it so that I know for sure what is going on. It's the only safe and secure way."

"I know, but… It's just…"

Sighing, I smiled slightly at my brother. "I'll see what I can do, okay?" I whispered, wanting to bite my tongue for saying such a lie. There was nothing I could do; why did I even bother saying that? I was so awful of a brother…constantly making false promises just to keep that innocent smile on his face.

And there it was. That glint in his eyes that held hope. That sparkle of happiness that seemed to emit a radiant glow around him. He was my only bond to the mortal world, and he was basically what kept me from turning into the Damned monster I was. He was the only one that made me feel human emotions, the only one that made me react to a mortal like another mortal. He was basically my salvation, my little brother, and I would do anything to keep that smile on his face, that glint in his eyes. Sure, there was Arisa, but she knew of my condition. She wasn't friendly towards me out of ignorance and love. She was friendly out of respect. Mokuba… He was the only light in my life. I wanted him to be happy…and here I was making false promises to him. The very thought wiped the smile off my own face. I shouldn't be smiling at all about this.

The waitress soon came back holding two plates. One was for Mokuba; it had spaghetti and meatballs with Italian bread on it. He always loved foreign foods, and I encouraged him to at least try the foods that didn't sound quite so appetizing. As for myself, a steak was in order. I hadn't eaten a steak in ages, it seemed. Of course, I hardly ate mortal food, so when I did, I tended to enjoy and savor it more than others. Once she set the plates down and asked if there was anything else she could get us, to which we replied negatively, she walked away to attend to the other customers.

"So I take it nothing exciting happened at work today since you said it was kind of a slow day?" he asked as he began eating his spaghetti.

"I wouldn't say that," I replied, making his eyebrows perk up slightly. "One of our favorite friends stopped by and asked if I could help her out with something."

"'Her'?" Mokuba repeated, swallowing his spaghetti before chuckling. "By the tone of your voice, I'm sure you mean Tea, right?"

"Actually no, although that's a good guess," I commented, smiling slightly again. "It was Ishtar."

"Ishizu? What did she want?"

Taking a bite of my steak, I tasted the juicy tenderness of it and smirked, hiding my inner joy. Vampires could eat mortal food unlike popular folklore stated, and even though it did nothing for me in the way of nourishment, the quality of the food seemed to heighten with my distinct senses. What tasted good to a human tasted heavenly to me. "She asked me to help her retrieve some information?"

"Information? Doesn't she run a museum?"

"That's what I pointed out to her, but when I asked whether or not she had forgotten that slight detail, she insisted that the information was regarding a topic that a museum does not generally research."

"What is researching? Illegal drugs?"

I chuckled, remembering me giving her the same comments. Mokuba was becoming like me… I didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing. Most likely bad. I didn't want him being cynical and depressed like I was, but I didn't want him to be naïve either. Innocence, unfortunately, only lasts so long. "I'm not sure. She was driving me nuts, though, telling me all about how her and Marik supposedly found this family album or something stupid along those lines and wanted to research whatever was in it."

Mokuba's eyebrows knit together in confusion. "She's asking you to help her research her family history? Didn't you guys have a huge debate about that two years ago?"

"Three," I corrected. "And it had been more than a simple debate." That woman had ruined me during my tournament. All I could think about that entire time was that Egyptian nonsense her and Yugi's group had constantly shoved down my throat. In the end I had played along, helping Yami beat Marik, but it still didn't make up for all the time lost listening to her scold and lecture me on a topic I couldn't give a damn less about. "But the kicker is that she apologized to me for it all."

Mokuba blinked in surprise. "What did she apologize for?"

"She said how she felt bad for lecturing me on all that Egyptian crap and wanted to personally apologize to me especially," I continued after taking another bite of my steak. "Supposedly if I help her find this information, her apology will somehow become more meaningful."

"So…are you going to help her out?"

Sighing, I took another bite of my steak and swallowed before shaking my head. "I'm not sure." Mokuba didn't understand everything going on, and I could tell my answer confused him. But he didn't know about her aura or my condition. He didn't realize what her presence did for me…to me.

"Well, if you do, I would ask her what she's researching first," Mokuba stated.

"Of course. If it's on Egypt, she can kiss my ass as far as I'm concerned."

Mokuba chuckled and nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, you have too much stuff going on right now to be worrying about that."

Nodding, I smiled and watched as Mokuba continued eating his meal before going back to my own. The kid was really growing up; he was becoming intelligent and was able to think for himself. He was responsible and his own person. If I had failed at being an older brother, perhaps I had done a good job at being a father to him.

A father that breaks his promises every night? I sighed, and Mokuba looked up before smiling. "Hey, it's okay," he said, his voice barely above a whisper yet grabbing my attention. "I understand you have a lot of work, and I know that you need to complete it all if we're going to live this luxurious lifestyle we do. I just think you need to worry about your health a little more, is all. You're in your twenties, Seto. You still have a lot of life ahead of you."

What was he talking about? Oh, he must have thought I sighed because of having too much work. I never allowed Mokuba to see my doubt at whether or not I was a good older brother, yet in reality it haunted me day and night. Smiling, I said, "Thanks Mokuba."

"No problem. And ask me if you need me to help on anything. You know I love working at KaibaCorp way more than going to school."

I chuckled and shook my head when both of us frowned as a familiar sound. My cell phone. Who would be calling me this late at night? Okay, so it wasn't late, but still… Surprisingly enough, I rarely received phone calls at night pertaining to work or school. Grabbing it out of my pocket, I looked at the caller ID and frowned even more. I clicked the answer button and held it to my ear. "Kaiba."

"Mr. Kaiba, I'm terribly sorry to call you like this, but I think I found some information you should know about," Arisa stated through the phone, her voice wavering slightly in fear. Mokuba was eyeing me curiously, for I'm sure my facial expression didn't mask my confusion.

"What about?"

"Well, you see Mr. Kaiba, I—"

"Is this going to take long?"

"I… I don't know. Am I interrupting something right now? I'm really sorry if I am, but you told me to call you if this sort of thing were to happen."

Told her? What was going on? "Where are you?"

"At KaibaCorp, sir."

Sighing, I looked over at Mokuba before back at my phone. Arisa wasn't one to waste my time; if she thought it was important and it pertained to me, I would believe her. After all, she would gain nothing from having a false alarm. "I'm eating right now. I'll be there in about a half hour or so."

"Okay, sir. I apologize once again. I'll be sure to have everything ready when you get back." The line went dead, and I shut my phone before placing it back in my pocket.

"Who was that?" Mokuba asked after swallowing the large amount of spaghetti in his mouth.

"Arisa," I answered, looking down and deciding that I would simply take the steak home. "She said there's a problem at KaibaCorp and wanted to inform me about it."

"A problem? Like what?"

Shaking my head, I said, "I'm unsure. It's something that can wait, however. We haven't spent time with each other in awhile, and I'm not letting work get in the way of this."

I watched as Mokuba slowly smiled, his eyes becoming wide in appreciation. "That's what I like to hear from you, Seto," he stated before returning to his meal.

"What do you mean?"

"You need to have a life outside of work, Seto, and that's a big step. I think you believe life is work, but that's not all there is to life. I just…think you need to realize how much you're missing out on because of work. I mean, think about it. You're twenty-one now, yet you've never dated, never hung out with a group of friends… You haven't acted like a teenager ever. I'm just…. When you say those kind of things, it makes me hopeful that you're starting to see a brighter side of life."

I was shocked at how blunt Mokuba was being with me on this subject. Usually he beat around the bush, trying to say what he meant without coming right out and saying it. But now…he was just telling me how it was. He wanted me to know that he felt I wasn't living because of work. The problem with that statement was that it wasn't just work. It was my existence.

His ignorance led him to that conclusion, so I couldn't really blame the kid. He didn't know of my vampiric state, so he believed that all my sacrifices were based on KaibaCorp. Even though that was true on certain things, he didn't know that staying up all hours of the night was simply out of fear of nightmares that came from my vampiric state. He didn't know that I didn't come home because there was blood covering my shirt from a hunter I had just murdered. In his mind, I didn't live because of work. Not out of necessity.

It was what I wanted though, wasn't it? I wanted him to be ignorant of this fact, and now that I thought on it, I was happy about it. He was still innocent in my mind. I had long ago associated his innocence being destroyed as a direct result from him learning about my condition. I knew that once that secret was out, I was done. He would never want to be near me again, and not only that, but he would learn about the true horrors of the world. Nobody, especially my little brother, deserved that. I couldn't let the light of my life see the darkness of this world.

"So are you planning on going into work tomorrow, Seto?" he asked, jerking me out of my trance. I nodded my head.

"I'll be sure to come home tonight, though," I replied. Not to sleep, of course, but just coming home seemed to comfort my brother. "Besides, I have to find out what Ishizu wants me helping her with."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. It's strange, isn't it? I mean, you haven't seen her in how many years, and now she's asking for your help? A little far-fetched, don't you think?"

"Maybe," I replied softly as the waitress came back to our table. "The check and a box," was all I stated, noticing Mokuba finishing the last bites of his meal. The waitress nodded and walked away, returning a minute later with a box and our bill. I handed her my credit card, and she smiled and took the bill and the card away.

"What if you do end up helping her out? What then?"

"Even though that's highly doubtful, if I do help her out, I'm not going to become extremely involved. Marik and she should have the necessary resources for finding out information. I think she just wants to annoy me, personally."

It was either that, or she was starting to solve the puzzle revolving around her aura and talents. I was actually hoping it was the latter since it would get rid of her as a problem, but then…then she would…

"I think she likes you," Mokuba suddenly stated, making me blink and glare at him.

"Highly doubtful."

"Oh, come on Big Brother! You have to admit she's rather good looking, and besides, she has Yugi's entire group of friends to ask help from, but after all these years she comes up and asks you! Doesn't that sound a bit fishy?"

"That doesn't mean she's in love with me, Mokuba," I stated. That would be a nightmare in and of itself.

"Uh-huh, suuuure it doesn't." Chuckling, he added, "If she asks you out for dinner tomorrow, you'll know whether or not she likes you."

Mokuba's words ran chills down my spine, though I made sure not to make it apparent. This didn't deal with attraction. This dealt with her need to realize her full potential…and my particular role in that segment. I knew what would eventually have to be done, and foolishly I didn't end it three years ago. But her visit today made me rethink that entire process. If I didn't help her out, she would never know her place. I had heard of her kind of people committing suicide when a nearby vampire hadn't helped them along the way. It was a painful process to be sure, which was why I so shocked when I noticed her uncomfortable posture when she visited me. It meant she was starting to be affected by the situation as well…which meant my role would soon begin. But I didn't want her kind! They were a nuisance to me, and even though other vampires flaunted them, I wanted no part in it.

"Who knows? Maybe you two will fall in love, and she'll be your little angel!" Mokuba joked before bursting out laughing. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"Knowing her, she would probably be a guardian more than anything," I stated, more to myself than him. "Always protecting me from everything else. You know how overly-protective and passionate she was about her brother."

"Aww, Seto has a lover as his bodyguard!" Mokuba stated before leaning forward, wrapping his arms around his waist from the pain of laughing so hard. If only he knew how much truth rang in that statement.

"Yeah…right," was all I said before the waitress came back with the check.

"Sorry that took so long," she said, handing me the receipt to sign. I quickly signed it and grabbed my box as she left, glancing down at Mokuba, who was still laughing his head off.

"Are you ready?" I asked, a hint of annoyance in my voice.

"Y-Yeah," he said, trying to calm himself down as he stood up. "You know I'm just kidding though. To be perfectly honest, no matter how much good I think it would do you, Ishizu definitely isn't your type."

"Thanks," I replied sarcastically. "I'm glad you noticed."

Chuckling he said, "No problem."

She may never be my lover, but with the way her aura was reacting to me…guardian might not be so far away. But onto more business matters. As Mokuba and I walked out the door, I checked my phone to see that Arisa had left a message. I must not have noticed it, for I opened it up to read:

I didn't want to say this out loud on the phone, but the reason I called was because of your…condition.

My condition? Mokuba and I quickly got in the car, me in the driver seat and him in the back, before revving the car up and speeding down the road. What was going on that dealt with my condition? Why would she call me? Was it Uebana…or something else?

"So you're going back to KaibaCorp?" Mokuba questioned, leaning forward slightly to talk to me.

"Yeah," I replied. "I shouldn't be too late, but if I am, I won't wake you up when I come home." Looking down at the clock to read 8:45, I said, "I'll try to be home by ten. Maybe we can play some video games or something."

"Really?!" he exclaimed, making me chuckle.

"Really." The ride soon became silent, Mokuba listening to the radio while I focused on the road. Glancing back in the rear view mirror, I saw him smiling out the window, looking at all the buildings and shops that we passed.

Anything to keep that innocent smile on his face… I would never let the true darkness of society infect my only bond to the mortal world.