Seto Kaiba was well-accustomed to spending late nights working in his office. He was not, however, used to Kisara's version of an all-nighter, which equated to something between a work session and a sleepover. Sighing, he recalled the conversation he had with Kisara that afternoon...

"What's up?" Kisara asked. She was sitting on the corner of Seto's huge mahogany desk, with her sneakers dangling several inches above the ground. At first, she had been a little bit timid spending time in Seto's office, maintaining a timid and awkward air of a newly-graduated student going in for a first job interview; Seto's impressive office, perched at the top of the lofty KC Tower downtown, was a stark reminder to Kisara that her boyfriend was a powerful man, and she, meanwhile, was still a student.

Seto had barely looked up from his computer screen since she'd come in to spend and hour or so with him between her classes. His head rested on his palm, and he sighed mightily, sending strands of Kisara's silvery hair fluttering.

"You're busy," Kisara said sardonically, in response to Seto's non-reply.

Seto looked up, looking vaguely annoyed. "You're right," he responded cooly.

Kisara sighed. "All right, sorry. I should have called before I dropped by. What's going on?" She leaned forwards to view Seto's computer screen. A Unix terminal was running in the corner of the screen; front and center was a slideshow presentation in the works.

"Meeting tomorrow?" she offered sympathetically. Having never held an important position before, she had limited experience with presentations, but her experiences were bad enough.

Seto nodded grimly. "We want to collaborate with a gaming software company in Sweden. They specialize in open-world games, where players can explore and create elaborate fantasy worlds. Combined with our state-of-the-art virtual-reality technology, we think we could create the most comprehensive gaming experience in existence." His blue eyes lit up as he talked, and Kisara smiled to herself. Seto was nothing if not intense, and his passion for games was unparalleled. His genuine enthusiasm was the thing Kisara most admired about Seto, though she rarely got to see it in action; to watch Seto Kaiba talk about games was to watch him coming alive.

"That's awesome," Kisara said emphatically. "Why would anyone ever want to live in this reality again?"

"That's the idea," Seto said, and his steely facade cracked a little bit.

"What's the catch, then?"

Seto sighed. "Representatives from their company are flying in tomorrow from Sweden. I'm supposed to entertain them, then pitch them my passion project."

Kisara rested her hand on Seto's, which was still hovered over his mouse. "You're nervous, then," she said.

"That would be an understatement." Seto grimaced and refocused his attention on his computer screen, and Kisara frowned sympathetically. She was beginning to understand the extent to which Seto dreaded interacting with strangers, which made her feel somewhat flattered that he had bothered to get to know her. She wasn't sure if the aggressive teenage genius Seto had personified a few years ago had been his coping mechanism for dealing with situations that vexed intimidated him to no end, or an artifact of a traumatic past and deeply troubled mind, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer. Only one thing she knew was certain: like the plague, Seto avoided the public eye. His social media presence was run by the KaibaCorp marketing team, he seldom appeared at public events, and all of KaibaCorp's major releases over the past few years had been revealed online. Kisara knew that the presence of others made Seto nervous, and felt a twinge of pity when she realized that the boy's jaw was firmly clenched, and his hand was shaking slightly.

"Hey," she said gently, lifting Seto's hand from the mouse and giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'm loaded down with work tonight, too. I could come over. Keep you company." It wasn't strictly true—while she had some projects that could use her attention, there was nothing that couldn't wait until tomorrow—but since she couldn't help Seto directly, she at least wanted to volunteer her presence.

Seto blinked slowly. "All right."

Kisara grinned. "Okay, it's a date. How do you usually do your all-nighters?"

"What?"

Her voice was drenched with excitement. "There's time for me to make us some iced coffee—not cold brew, but I can do infused iced coffee. How does vanilla bean-orange-clove iced coffee sound?"

Seto's voice was cold and tense again. "This isn't a slumber party, Kisara."

Kisara pouted. "I know. But listen," she added, more gently, "your all-inclusive build-your-own virtual reality idea kicks ass. And you know it. You've got to lighten up. Just a little?"

"I don't understand the meaning of that phrase." Seto's response was drenched with sarcasm, but his face looked a little bit amused.

Kisara swung herself to her feet, launching off of Seto's desk and landing with a gentle thump onto the rug. "Class ends at five. And then I have to make the coffee. See you at seven? Can we order dinner?"

"Seven. See you then." Seto's focus had already returned to his work.

One thing Kisara had forgotten about Seto's office: it lacked a second desk. It did have a large leather sofa, on which Mokuba was lounging, reading something on his phone. Seto's desk would, theoretically, have enough room for two if he didn't have two giant monitors, but of course he did. Kisara would have been annoyed if she didn't understand Seto Kaiba well enough to know that he, most likely, had legitimately forgotten in his frenzied state that Kisara would need some place to work.

"We can set you up in the conference room," Mokuba offered, watching as Kisara twirled an absentminded circle in the middle of Seto's office.

Kisara shook her head. "It's okay. I came here to keep Seto company." Mokuba sat up, giving Kisara room to sit next to him; she gratefully obliged, sinking her head into the backrest of the soft seat. "Do you usually come here when your brother works late?"

Mokuba nodded. "It's mostly boring, though. But Seto doesn't really like me being at home by myself all night." A shadow flitted across his face, and Kisara remembered what she had discovered the time she searched for 'Mokuba Kaiba' on the internet—in the thick of Seto's teenage years, it seemed that Mokuba had been kidnapped almost every other week. It made sense, suddenly, that Seto would be so overprotective of his fifteen-year-old brother as to not let him spend a night alone, even in their well-protected, security-patrolled mansion.

And so it went. Kisara retrieved her laptop, balancing it carefully on her knees as she logged into her work server. The tiny white text on the black terminal screen made her feel listless and exhausted already. She pulled up a half-finished script, pondering whether it was really worth the trouble of optimizing her code, and sighed.

"Do you have any work to do?" Mokuba asked, interrupting Kisara's train of thought.

She yawned. "A little bit. Mostly I came to keep Seto company."

Mokuba shrugged. "I'm hungry," he said, looking hopefully at Kisara.

Kisara turned her head from Seto, who was working very intently on something and wearing large headphones, and Mokuba, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression—some cross between bossy, entitled teenager and hopeful, pleading child. Seto looked so deeply involved in his work that Kisara was afraid to bother him. She was afraid to disappoint Mokuba, her boyfriend's beloved little brother, as well.

"Ahh..." Kisara said reluctantly, "Is Seto okay with me taking you out?"

Mokuba rolled his eyes, looking annoyed. "I'm not a baby, Kisara. I'm fifteen."

Kisara grimaced. "That doesn't really answer the question." She knew enough about Seto and Mokuba's relationship to know that she didn't fully comprehend the extent of Seto's protective instinct for Mokuba; she knew better than to test limits where Mokuba was involved.

Mokuba crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm so bored. You're an adult, right? Can't you ask him? Please?" His voice was starting to sound shrill, and Kisara flinched as the tone brought back memories of her own immature high school temper tantrums.

"All right, I'll ask," she resigned, crossing the room hesitantly towards Seto. Thankfully, detecting movement towards him, Seto looked up and removed the headphones as Kisara approached.

"Mokuba wants me to take him out for something to eat," Kisara said, leaning her palms against Seto's desk.

Seto looked wary. "What does he have in mind?" he asked.

Kisara shrugged. "I think he's bored, Seto. I won't take him anywhere too far. You shouldn't have to worry about us." She rested her hand on Seto's bicep, suddenly feeling her own protective instinct begin to kick in. "I promise I'll keep him safe for you." From the sofa, Mokuba looked up at her, nodding encouraginglly.

Seto sighed. "All right. Don't go too far," he added. Kisara gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze, and his focus returned to the computer screen again. Mokuba leaped up, sprinting to stand beside Kisara. "There's a place that sells hamburgers down the street," he offered hopefully. "We could get a hamburger, maybe."

Kisara smiled. "That sounds fine. I could go for a burger," she said. "Just let me get my purse."

"I'll meet you at the elevators, then!" Mokuba shouted, running ahead. As she slung her bag se over her shoulder, Kisara glanced back at Seto; they shared a meaningful glance for a moment, and the corners of Seto's mouth curled upwards into a tense but genuine smile.

Mokuba and Kisara were tucked into a quiet corner booth of a late-night diner two blocks from the KaibaCorp tower. The place was mostly empty, but still smelled strongly of coffee and maple syrup, which made Kisara feel nostalgic in a way that she couldn't quite understand. She gripped her coffee mug tightly with both hands, repressing a shiver. The walk may have been short, but it was freezing outside. The two blocks that she and Mokuba had trudged along to get to the diner felt like an Odyssey. The hanging lamp over Kisara and Mokuba's booth gave off a warm yellow glow.

"Seto hates hamburgers," Mokuba remarked suddenly.

Kisara frowned, opening a packet of creamer and stirring it into her coffee.. "Yeah? I didn't know that," she said.

"They served them to us a lot at the orphanage, but they were gross hamburgers. The meat was kind of grey."

Kisara stirred another packet of creamer into her coffee, unsure of how to respond.

"Gozaburo hated fast food. He thought it was for lesser peoplle. We never got to places like this when Gozaburo was here." The boy stopped for a moment, then added, "Seto never takes me to places like this, either."

Kisara sighed, looking for a long moment at Mokuba. "He loves you, you know," she said helplessly.

Mokuba looked down, saying nothing. "I think he just...has his own way of showing that he cares about us," Kisara offered finally. "It doesn't mean that he doesn't love us. He is who he is."

"Do you love him?" Mokuba asked abruptly.

Kisara's eyes widened when she saw the look on Mokuba's face. "I do," she said finally, definitively.

"Even though he's...Seto?" Mokuba pried.

"I do. I think I'm starting to understand what that means," she added gently.

Mokuba stared at her for a long time. "Good.. I don't want you to leave," he announced finally. "Seto likes you. I like you. Things are better. It's kind of weird."

Kisara laughed. "I guess so," she said. And then, more seriously, "Things are better for me, too, Mokuba. I like having you guys around, too."

Mokuba looked encouraged. "Good." They were quiet for a moment, listening to the gentle murmur of diner noise and the faint hum of old rock ballads in the background. Kisara studied the menu, which was slightly sticky with what Kisara assumed was maple syrup, and chock full of glossy photos of pancakes, mozzarella sticks, and hamburgers.

"Can I get anything?" Mokuba asked.

Kisara pursed her lips. "I don't see why not," she said.

"Strawberry milkshake?" Mokuba suggested hopefully.

Kisara smiled. "Sure," she said.

Mokuba looked mischeivous. "Can I get a large...?"

The walk back to KaibaCorpTower felt infinitely warmer and easier than the walk there had been, now that Kisara's stomach was full of coffee and pancakes. Mokuba seemed to be in good spirits as well. They waited quietly for the elevator that would take them back to Seto's office, shivering slightly from the freezing walk.

"Hey, thanks for going with me, Kisara," Mokuba said after a moment. He looked at her intently; it was hard to not feel disarmed by his wide-eyed amethyst stare.

"It was fun," Kisara said, feeling a rush of genuine warmth. "I'd be happy to take you next time." Mokuba grinned at her, and Kisara's heart felt warm.

It was almost preternaturally quiet when the pair arrived outside of Seto's office. Mokuba disappeared down the hallway before Kisara had the opportunity to ask him what was happening; hesitantly, she tiptoed her way towards the double doors to the office, pushing the doors open carefully to make sure they didn't squeak. The office was still lit, and Kisara could see hers' and Mokuba's backpacks where they had left them before going out to eat. The air was unusually still, and Kisara realized that the clacking of Seto's keyboard was noticeably absent.

Seto Kaiba was slumped over his desk. Alarmed, Kisara rushed to his side, kneeling so she was face-to-face with him. Seto's breathing was slow and natural; his arms were folded over the desk to make a makeshift pillow. Kisara reached out to move his hair out of his face and kissed his cheek gently. If Seto was aware that Kisara was there, there was no indication; his breathing continued in its steady, restful pattern.

A shadow cast over Kisara's head, and she looked up to see Mokuba standing over her and Seto, holding a plush blue blanket. She smiled and stepped aside, watching as Mokuba draped the blanket over his brother's shoulders, then lifted his head gently to push a crumpled corner of the blanket under him to use as a pilllow. Holding his breath, as if he were afraid that Seto would awaken, Mokuba tiptoed backwards, then scrambled to the sofa. Grinning widely, Kisara followed.

"He never makes it all the way through the night," Mokuba confessed, his voice nothing more than a soft whisper.

"Shoud we wake him up?" Kisara asked. "Doesn't he have a big presentation tomorrow?"

Mokuba smiled. "He's had that presentation prepared for weeks. I think he just thinks that if he doesn't stay up all night preparing the night before, then that means he didn't give it his best effort."

"He's gonna be mad at me if I don't wake him up, though," Kisara said.

Mokuba shrugged. "He's never mad at me."

"Yes, but you're...Mokuba," Kisara pointed out with a smile.

Mokuba rolled his eyes, curling up on the couch. "Okay, but I really don't think he needs you to wake him up." With that, Mokuba rolled over so his back was facing Kisara. "Good night, Kisara."

"Good night, Mokie," Kisara whispered back. She settled herself onto the carpet, leaning back against the sofa, and smiled. She wasn't sure of whether or not she would wake Seto later—the peace in the room seemed too enjoyable to pass up. She closed her eyes, letting the siilence drft over her.

All-nighter, indeed.

I posted the first chapter for this story a month ago! Which is not a long time, but it's a big deal for someone who has never been able to commit to a creative project with very much success :)

Let me know what you guys think! In the works right now I wanted to have Kisara meet Yugi and co., which is tough because it requires a lot of thought in how to characterize them. So I've been doing a lot of thinking about the elusive staying in character-let me know what you guys think about my characterizations of Seto and Mokuba (and Kisara, too-since she never showed up in the modern world, it's a little harder to suss out her canon personality).

3, Mei