A Monopoly Of Blue Eyes

by FeistyFox

He had refused to believe in his past, refused to be sucked into the fairytale that had been hurled at him again and again. But it appeared that his past had found him whether he wanted it or not. She was here… sitting right here in his class, this ghost from the ancient past, looking exactly as he remembered, exactly how she did in his dreams and the visions he had been shown.

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Diversify

He was working on a section of the merger that needed to be sent out to his team when Mokuba came in from school three day after the elevator incident. The document was important for his newest branch in Europe, and Sarah had been translating the thing, and all his revisions, for the majority of the last few days. The issue wasn't that she was slow, but that she was having to translate it back and forth with him and his legal team to be sure the wording was appropriate. Apparently Japanese didn't directly translate into German, and he could tell she was struggling to make this as perfect as he wanted it. She was keeping her cool, but was clearly concerned he was becoming frustrated with her and all her revisions, which wasn't the case. He had been doing this long enough to understand why this was difficult, and had lost money on things like this when the translation fell through, which was the very reason he had decided to hire a new translator in the first place. However, she was focused, and he was pleased enough with the progress they were making, which was actually at quite a quick clip compared to previous things like this. He suspected she was also trying to somehow make up for the fact that she had lied to him all those months ago when she had no need to. He had thought he had made that fairly clear, that he had no interest in holding it over her or expecting contrition, but he could tell she was still upset that he knew.

He glanced up to greet his brother, wondering how his first few days of the new school year were going, his fingers flying over the keyboard, when he got a good look at him. He stopped working at once. Mokuba looked awful. He was pale, bedraggled, and slumping all over. His hair was even more wild than usual and his school uniform was crooked, as the buttons appeared to have been done up in the wrong order. There was nothing perky or humorous about him, which was his normal state of being. People knew when his brother walked in a room. He lifted spirits by existing. But he was obviously ill. Getting up at once he went to him. "Are you alright, Mokie?" He asked, the rarely used pet name falling from him in his concern.

The thirteen year old looked up at him blearily, all trace of his recent rebellion gone. "Yeah, I'm just tired."

Going to him he set his hand on his brother's forehead at once. He had a horrible fever. "You're burning up." He told him unhappily. "Why didn't your school call me?" Incompetent idiots that they were. Between this and the English fiasco last term he was really at the end of his patience with them. He was paying a hefty tuition to the school, which was the best in the area, and was starting to think he was simply throwing his money away on it. Perhaps he should be sure the school board changed. That would certainly send a message across about his expectations.

"I knew you were busy with the merger." Mokuba said. "I figured I would just wait."

"I'm never that busy." He told him sharply. Nothing was more important than his brother.

Mokuba flinched at the sharp reprimand. "I'm sorry, nii-san." He said with exhausted sincerity.

Guilt swamped him at once and he knew he needed to try harder to hold his tongue around his brother, especially when he was ill. "Don't be ridiculous." He said moving him to the couch. "You can't help that you're sick." Mokuba collapsed onto the furniture. "I'm sorry I snapped. This isn't your fault." His brother nodded slightly and he crouched down and ran his hand through his tousled hair. "I'm taking you home. Just let me-"

There was a quick knock on his open door and Sarah walked in for the hundredth time that day with a pile of papers in one arm and a red pen in her opposite hand. She had a purple pen behind her ear, and he had easily worked out her color coding system throughout the day. "Seto, I'm sorry, but this third page…" She trailed off when she saw what was happening. "What's wrong?" She asked at once, her whole demeanor changing.

"Mokuba is sick." He told her as he gathered up his coat. "I'm taking him home."

"Alright." She said, accepting that at once as he organized his things. She set the papers down on a table and sat down beside his brother as she spoke to him. "What's the matter?"

"I'm just tired." Mokuba repeated.

Sarah frowned at the lackluster response and did the same thing he had done. She set her hand on his forehead and cooed at him. "Aw, buddy, you're a mess." Mokuba slumped further and he was surprised when he turned from shoving his laptop in his briefcase to see him with his head on her shoulder. Sarah didn't find this at all odd and began to rub his back in easy circles, obviously soothing him. "Do you have a headache or anything?" She asked.

"My stomach hurts." He told her quietly.

She clucked at him, continuing to comfort him as he finished getting ready to go. "That's no fun." She told him, and he was having a strange reaction to the sight. It had been a long time since either of them had any sort of comforting affection from a woman. Something painful panged inside him at the loss of that, at the loss of any sort of maternal comfort during their formative years. "You'll feel better when you can go home and lay down." She reached up and stroked his wild hair back for a moment. "I'm sure our C.E.O is a lovely nurse. I mean, cranky with horrible bedside manner, but very diligent."

He rolled his eyes at that, but Mokuba smiled briefly. "He's a good nurse." He assured her.

"I figured." She agreed as she watched his brother, and warmth filled him at her real belief in that. She glanced back up at him as she went back to rubbing Mokuba's back. "If you want I'll finish what I was going to talk to you about myself. I think I finally have this legal thing down."

He raised an eyebrow. "In only a week?"

She seemed unsure. "Maybe not." She agreed. "But I'll e-mail you a full translation of what I think we need and you can decide if it looks right."

He nodded, thinking this was as good a time as any to let her go on her own. This was something they were going to have to do a great deal, and she would need to be able to do more without him. Not that he was bothered by the time this was taking as it was a learning process. At any rate he had known any translator that could actually translate was going to have been focused on that rather than legal documentation. No matter who he had hired there was going to be a learning curve, and she was rapidly flying up hers. "That's fine." He told her. "And stop fretting. You're driving me mad with it. You're doing better than you think you are."

He saw that calmed her and his suspicions that she was worried she was disappointing him were confirmed. "Okay." She agreed.

He nodded and reached down to help his brother up. "Come on, Mokuba." He said gently. "Let's get you home."

Mokuba got up, reluctant to leave Sarah, which he also noted with sharp eyes. Sarah smiled at him warmly, brushing his hair back one more time. It was clear the two had bonded over the short summer break where she had been his tutor. "Feel better."

"Thanks, Sarah." He said tiredly.

He patted Mokuba's shoulder as they walked out and saw Sarah gathering her things and heading back to her own office as they got on the elevator to go home. Sarah, he noted, was taking the stairs down the three floors to her office and he wondered how long the fear of being trapped in that elevator was going to keep that new habit up. Mokuba didn't speak and he pulled him against his side so he could use him as a prop as they stood in the elevator when he saw he was swaying slightly. He didn't like seeing his brother like this, had always been distressed by Mokuba's distress, but he also knew him getting sick was an inevitable part of life. He called for the car as they were going down and by the time they got outside it was waiting for them.

As soon as they were in the limo Mokuba lay down over one of the seats and he frowned. "If you aren't feeling better tomorrow I'll call the doctor."

"All right, nii-san." He said despondently. He continued to watch his brother all the way home as he dozed on the seat. When they got back he ushered him into his bedroom and went to get a thermometer out of his bathroom as Mokuba changed out of his school uniform. When he came back his little brother was simply laying limply over the bed in a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He hadn't even gotten under the blankets.

Going to him he got the thermometer in his mouth and let it work as he managed to wrestle the blanket out from under him so he could put it over him. By the time he was done, thinking Mokuba was getting rather bigger than he had any right to be getting, the small machine beeped. He took it and saw a temperature of a hundred and two, which was high, but not alarmingly so. "You have a fever." He told him. "Do you feel like you're going to throw up?"

"No." Mokuba said, half asleep. "My stomach hurts is all." Before he could say anything else Mokuba went on. "Sarah's really nice. You aren't being mean to her are you?"

"Of course not." He told him. "She's very good at her job. I don't have any reason to be mean to her."

"You know that's not what I mean, nii-san." He mumbled. "She's trying so hard to be your friend. She's nice. Real nice, not fake nice like other people try to be with you."

"I know." He agreed, unable to deny it.

"You should let her be your friend for real." Mokuba told him. "I worry about you. You work too much. You deserve to be happy."

He frowned at this odd conversation, which seemed completely unprompted. "I'm happy with you, Mokuba, you know that."

"You're allowed to have more than one person." Mokuba told him, his voice no more than a mumble now. "Promise you'll let her be your friend. You're being difficult with her, I know you are."

He shook his head, wondering at how his mind worked. Reaching down he brushed his hand over his head. "Go to sleep, Mokuba." He encouraged gently. Gentleness was something he rarely allowed himself, but it was different with his brother, and certainly different with his brother sick.

"Not until you promise." Mokuba said stubbornly.

He raised an eyebrow, amused. "Are you negotiating with me?"

"Clearly that's what it takes." His brother grumbled tiredly. "So promise."

"I promise I'll think about it." He said, allowing himself an easy out, although he knew very well Sarah was as close to a friend as he'd ever had, if she wasn't truly one.

"No." Mokuba said, trying to rouse himself. "That's a loophole."

He smiled despite himself, pulling the blanket up higher over his shoulder. "Hush now." He said firmly, brushing his hair back. "I'm not going to negotiate anything with you sick. It's not a fair fight."

"Good time for me then." His brother said as his eyes closed.

"I promise we'll talk about this tomorrow if you're still stuck on it." He told him. "Now you go to sleep." Mokuba mumbled unintelligibly and passed out. Shaking his head he patted his shoulder gently and got up, leaving his bedroom door open so he could hear if he needed anything. He stayed close by for the rest of the evening, working on his laptop in the room across the hall, which was where Mokuba tended to tinker with electronics, a passion they shared. He cleared off a table with computer components on it, looking over what he was doing briefly, which appeared to be constructing some sort of gaming console, and began to work. At about six that evening Sarah called him and he answered his personal phone, wondering when it had become normal for her to call him on it as no one else but Mokuba ever did. "Yes?"

"I just sent you the contract." She told him. "It's obviously in Japanese, but the wording matches what I did in German." She told him. "I highlighted all the areas I tweaked so you can see what I did."

"Good." He said as he opened his email and found the attachment.

"How's Mokuba?" She asked.

"He's sleeping." He told her. "I'm sure he'll be fine in-" His statement was cut off by a painful scream and he dropped the phone from his ear at once. "Mokuba?" He called as he raced out of the room. Rushing into the room he found his brother curled up on himself and dropped the phone down on the floor. His brother let out another scream that had his blood turning to ice as he flipped the light on. "What's the matter?" He asked in a panic.

Mokuba was panting harshly and was covered in a film of sweat. "It hurts!" He managed.

Falling to his knees beside him he tried to see what was wrong, pushing Mokuba's arms out of the way. The moment he touched his stomach his brother screamed again, shoving at him away hard. He let go at once, shocked, and then Mokuba lurched forward and vomited over the side of the bed. His panic turned to cold terror as his brother slumped back down and started to cry. Mokuba never cried, never, not since the funerals. Suddenly he heard another voice as he desperately tried to soothe him, his mind blank of all thought, which never happened to him. "Seto?" Sarah was all but yelling into the receiver, trying to get his attention. "What's going on? What's wrong with Mokuba?"

He picked the phone back up as he tried to understand, running his hands gently over his brother. "I don't know!"

Sarah was calm in the face of his panic. "Seto, you need to calm down and call an ambulance." She said, her voice level. "He needs to go to the hospital right now."

That made sense even through the fear. "Yes." He agreed at once, hanging up on her without further ado. He immediately called the emergency line and within minutes there was an ambulance at his front door and paramedics in Mokuba's room, pushing him back out of the way until he was standing on the sidelines, utterly useless in the face of whatever the hell was happening. He wasn't used to being useless, or not knowing what to do, and all the whimpering from his brother, and the tears were about to throw him completely over the edge of control.

An hour later and he was pacing in a small waiting room on the pediatric unit at one of the local hospitals, alone and terrified. As he tried to calm himself, which was a losing battle at this point, he was shocked when a heavily breathing and flushed Sarah appeared, nearly careening around the doorway. She was in a pair of old jeans with a hole over one knee and a green tank top that was faded with age. She had a scuffed pair of tan sneakers on and her hair was up in a messy ponytail. She looked as young as he knew she was, the way most teenagers looked when they rolled out of bed in the morning and simply grabbed the nearest things to them to wear. It was a fairly adorable look on her when he always saw her so put together at the office. "I have been to three hospitals looking for you!" She yelled at him angrily, her face flushed from running. "Why didn't you answer your phone!"

He blinked and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He saw he had twenty messages, all from her. "I turned it off when the ambulance got to the house." He told her, feeling oddly disconnected.

"Where's Mokuba?" She insisted, the fear obvious in her voice.

"In surgery." He told her.

She searched his face and when he just stood there she spoke, worry and impatience in her voice. "Why?"

"His appendix burst." He told her emotionlessly. He crumpled all at once as the precarious control he had on himself crumbled, feeling completely ineffectual as a brother, his failure to bring him to a doctor at once nearly bowling him over. There was no reason for his brother to have gone through any of this. It was all his fault. "I didn't think anything was really wrong. I thought it was just a cold."

"Oh, Seto." She said, her whole demeanor changing as she moved closer to him. "It's not your fault."

"I should have known something was wrong!" He yelled at the room in general. He was furious with himself. And that was always the worst, most reprehensible thing for him to deal with. The knowledge that he alone was to blame, and to blame for something that even the greatest simpleton could have easily prevented.

"You did everything right." She told him, reaching out and taking his hand in his. "You took him home and put him to bed the way you were supposed to."

"I should have taken him straight to the doctor!" He snarled, his voice breaking. Yanking away from her he threw himself down on a bench and hurled his phone across the room in rage. It hit the far wall and smashed apart, components going everywhere. Rather than being scared away by that she came over to him and got on the bench beside him on her knees. Turning toward him she shocked him when she hugged him. He went stiff all over for a moment before his mind simply gave out. It was one thing to manage a multibillion dollar corporation. That was nothing compared to the stress this had brought on. He slumped, leaning toward her, and she shifted so she could support the added weight, her arms tight around him.

She pressed her head against his and began to stroke his hair in much the way she had Mokuba, separating the strands and tugging at them with gentle affection. He relaxed further into her, shocking himself that he accepted her comfort. "You did everything right." She repeated, her voice low and gentle as she whispered comfortingly. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known. He was perfectly fine yesterday and I suspect this morning before he went to school. Sometimes things just happen no matter how careful you are."

"He was screaming." He said, his voice breaking all over again, although she had obviously heard it as well. "And crying. He never cries anymore."

"He's going to be okay." She promised. "I know you're scared, but this isn't an uncommon thing to happen. The doctors know what to do." He let out a ragged breath and she pressed her forehead harder against his temple. "It's okay." She said a third time before shifting and cupping his face. She gently had him face her and met his eyes, her own worried, but understanding. "It's going to be okay, Seto." She told him again, really meaning it. "And it's okay that you're scared. I know how much he means to you. I know how much you love him. I'm so sorry this happened." He said nothing, finding that he was shaking slightly. He didn't know if he had been since this started and hadn't noticed, or if it had started before this. "It's all right." She was willing him to believe her. Her small hands began to caress his face, one of them leaving his cheek so she could brush his hair back out of his eyes.

Reaching up he caught her hand, the one on his cheek, and nodded, breaking eye contact. He was uncomfortable with her seeing him this visibly distraught. He couldn't find it in himself to be ashamed of the feelings of fear, worry, and love no matter how Gozaburo had tried to beat all the feeling out of him. He cared too deeply for Mokuba to be ashamed of that, but it didn't mean anyone but Mokuba should know. He didn't want her of all people to see this weakness that lived inside of him. "I'm fine."

"Liar." She said, not unkindly, as she continued to play with his hair. He didn't stop her, finding the small shots of sensation that was causing to be far too pleasant, and despite himself she was calming him. It had been so long since he had physical affection from anyone save his brother that his body wasn't sure what to do, and had settled on all but melting into it, humming pleasantly at him for allowing it. Slowly, he stilled, the shaking slowing and then stopping as they sat there, with Sarah pressed lightly against his side as she sat on her legs so they were at the same height. He sat quietly facing forward and taking deep breaths as she cared for him. His mind shut down somewhere along the line as they waited, and she let the silence sit, which made him calm further still. He didn't like talking when he was upset like this. If he were honest he probably wasn't very good at talking no matter what his mood was. He never had understood frivolous chatter, although with her at least it seemed easy most of the time. Sarah eventually left his hair alone, and he could only imagine what kind of state it was in, and took his hand instead, holding it warmly between the two of hers.

He curled his fingers around the side of her hand and she squeezed his in reply. He found himself idly wishing she would play with his hair some more, but was distracted by his worry. Looking up at the clock on the wall he saw that Mokuba had now been in surgery for over an hour. "How long is this supposed to take?" She asked when she saw him looking up at the time.

"I don't know." He said, his voice tight as his worry snaked back up.

She squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I'm sure everything is fine." Sarah assured him at once. "I didn't know is all. I thought maybe they told you."

"Well that would have been nice." He snipped, wishing he had thought to ask.

She surprised him when she reached up quick as lightning and tickled at his neck. He let out a strangled yelp at the sensation and jerked, causing her to giggle softly. He glared over at her, his hand going up to rub the spot vigorously. Her eyes were dancing with amusement. "My goodness, who would have guessed that the great Seto Kaiba was so ticklish?"

"Don't do that!" He snapped.

She wasn't even remotely bothered by him and kept smiling. "Are you ticklish in other places?"

"No." He said vehemently.

Her eyes glittered with mischief. "Is it a Kaiba Corp secret?" She teased. "Do I need higher clearance to know such powerful information?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I know what you're doing."

"What's that?" She asked playfully.

"Distracting me." He said. "I won't let you."

"Comforting, I'm comforting." She corrected him. "It's not at all the same thing."

He didn't see the difference, was relatively sure she was annoying him on purpose because she found it fun, but before he could say that the doctor walked in. "Mr. Kaiba?"

He was on his feet at once as Sarah looked over as she stayed on the bench. "Is Mokuba all right?"

"He'll be fine, Mr. Kaiba. The surgery went smoothly. There were no complications. He's being moved to recovery now." He felt a surge of relief and Sarah stood up behind him, slipping her hand back into his and squeezing it. "I'd like to keep him for a few days to monitor him, but I don't expect anything but a speedy recovery. Other than his appendix he's a very healthy boy."

"Thank you." He said as relief crashed over him.

"Of course." The doctor said, smiling in a way that set him further at ease. "I understand that this was very upsetting, but this isn't overly uncommon. His symptoms came on quickly, which is also fairly common. It was good you got him here so quickly. Other children have had many more problems when parents or guardians hesitate. Would you like to see him now? He'll be asleep, but you can sit with him."

"Yes." He said at once.

The doctor nodded and led them out. Sarah was still holding onto his hand, trailing a step behind him. After a moment he realized he was also holding onto her as well. A few minutes later and they were walking into a room on a different floor. He spotted Mokuba asleep on the bed and went to him at once, pleased to see him breathing normally, but still disturbed by all the machines in the room and the IV hooked into his arm. "How long will he be asleep?" Sarah asked the doctor quietly, not wanting to raise her voice and wake up his brother.

"A few hours." He replied. "He'll be up and about like nothing happened by this time next week. If anything you'll have to keep him from running around too much until his stitches are out." He nodded in understanding, reaching down and running his hand over his brother's cheek. "If you'll excuse me I need to check on my other patients. I'll see you again tomorrow."

"Thank you so much." Sarah said.

"You're welcome." With that he left and Sarah shut the door quietly when he was gone to give them some privacy.

Sarah came over and grabbed a chair, plunking it down behind him. "Sit." She commanded. "You're going to be here all night I'm sure, you don't need to pass out on your feet."

He sent her a warning look at the order, conveying that he was the one in charge here, and she simply put her hands on her hips and watched him expectantly, not complying at all. She never really did though, not when they weren't at work. "I'm sitting because I want to, not because you told me to." He informed her as he sat down beside his brother.

"Uh huh." She replied. "I'm going to go get you some coffee." She informed him. "Because I want to, not because I'm your secretary."

He huffed in amusement and she tickled at his neck again, which had him yelping like a startled puppy, although he should have expected it he supposed. Her laughter filled the room and glared at her. "Stop doing that!" He said venomously.

"Not a chance. That noise you make is hilarious." She told him. "Have you eaten today?"

"At lunch." He told her, not trusting her one bit now.

"I'll get you some food too then." She told him. "I'll be back in a minute."

He glared after her, rolling his neck to try to get the tickling sensation to go away completely. That was something that he hadn't felt in literally years, not since his mother died. She had also delighted in tickling him and often told him how much she loved his laugh as she hugged him and kissed his cheek. He frowned in confusion as the memory surfaced. He rarely allowed himself to remember his mother, it was far too painful, but oddly this time the memory only brought him a sense of peace. Turning back to Mokuba he brushed his wild hair back, calming fully down now that he could see his brother was safe.

By the time Sarah came back he had himself fully under control again. She kicked the door shut carefully as she balanced food and drinks in her hands and her weight on one foot. She had no difficulty however, and walked over to him, handing him a tray. He stared down at it with some trepidation. "For heaven sake, Seto, it's food." She told him. "Don't be a snob about it because it's on a tray."

"I am not a snob." He protested.

"You're totally spoiled." She informed him. "At least for food. I suppose that comes with having a personal chef, so I'll simply hold onto my envy about that and tell you to eat again." Then she set a styrofoam cup on the tray, it had a lid to keep the liquid inside warm. "And you need to cut down on the coffee. You're going to get an ulcer."

"Then why did you bring it to me?" He asked with exasperation.

"So I can nag you to death obviously." She told him as she went and leaned on the window sill. She began sipping at another cup. He smelled spices wafting from it and identified that she was drinking some sort of chai tea.

He shook his head at that. It made no logical sense, but Sarah didn't always operate on that as much as he would like. He poked at the food dubiously, but started to eat. It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. At least the coffee was palatable. An hour of silence later and he glanced over to see Sarah glancing out the window. She had been quiet since he started eating, and she her mind was obviously far away. He wondered why she was still standing, then realized that there was only one chair in the room and he was in it. He got up abruptly and she looked over at him, her eyes returning to the present. She watched him curiously as he stepped out of the room and when he returned with another chair she was genuinely surprised. He set it down for her and she plopped down. "Thanks."

He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "What were you thinking about?"

"Huh?"

He indicated the window. "When you were looking out the window." He told her.

"Oh." She replied. "Nothing important." She shrugged.

"I seem to have some time on my hands." He replied.

"I was thinking I needed to go grocery shopping." She told him. "Shall I go through my grocery list for you?"

He rolled his eyes. "No."

She laughed softly. "You did ask."

"I regret that decision now." He replied. "Although that wasn't what you were thinking about."

She raised her eyebrow. "What? You have ESP all of a sudden?"

"I don't need ESP to know no one looks sad when they think about a grocery list." Her hand twitched. "Would you like to try again?" He asked.

Disgruntled, she shrugged. "I don't like hospitals." She relented. "That's what I was thinking about."

"Why don't you like them?" He asked, having never thought of a hospital as a place to be disliked or liked, simply something that was needed on occasion.

"Nothing good ever happens in them do they?" She said in a tone that put an end to the subject as effectively as he ever had. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't push the issue, although he was sure many good things had happened here. He had no reason to upset her with that logical argument though, and she had been nothing but good to him over the last few hours. She turned her attention to Mokuba. "I swear he's the cutest kid I've ever seen." He could only agree.

"It's because he's the cutest kid on the planet." He told her with no bias whatsoever. "And he knows it."

"Yeah, I've been on the receiving end of the eyes on more than one occasion." She told him. "That's just… not even fair." He grunted in amusement, clearly able to picture that very situation. "It's like one second you know the answer is no, and then the eyes happen and suddenly you can't help but think you must have misunderstood yourself. It's got to be a super power."

He actually chuckled at that, because it was completely true. "You should try to discipline him. It's nearly impossible."

"I'm sure." She said, really believing him. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

He eyed her, considering that. "I won't promise to answer it."

He could see she found that fair. "Do you two have the same mother and father?" She asked. "You have the same facial structure, but your coloring is so different."

That wasn't the question he was expecting, but he was shockingly unbothered by it. "Yes, we do." He told her. "Mokuba resembles our father and I took after our mother."

"Man, your parents were good looking people." She replied as she sipped at her tea, which had him sighing deeply at the things that came out of her mouth. It was as if when she left work her internal filter simply switched to the off position. "Are you ever super grateful you missed out on that hair?"

This time he couldn't help but snort, covering his face briefly with his hand a he fought the laughter back. He got himself back under control, although his lips were twitching like mad. "I've never given it any thought."

"I mean, it seems to defy gravity. It's remarkable." She said, studying it. "No styling product on the planet stands a chance against physics defying hair like that. It's good he just embraced it."

He really laughed this time. The sound surprised him as it filled the room. He couldn't recall the last time he had really laughed, not more than a small, cruel chuckle. Sarah simply smiled at him and then Mokuba spoke. "Nii-san?" He asked groggily. "Are you laughing?"

He was up out of his chair in a flash, hovering over his brother. "Mokuba!" He said, beside himself with relief. "How do you feel?"

Mokuba opened his eyes and grimaced. "Really weird." He replied. "And sore. What happened?" He asked, looking around in confusion. He spotted Sarah who waved at him. "Sarah?"

"Hey, Kid." She said cheerfully, no doubt trying to keep him calm.

"I'm confused." Mokuba groaned.

He ran his hand over his unruly hair. "Your appendix burst. Do you remember that?"

"I remember having nightmare and then everything hurt." He told him, then he grimaced. "Nope, I remember the ambulance too."

"You're all right now." He promised him. "You had to have surgery."

"Wow, really?" He asked.

"Really." He assured him. "So don't move around too much. You might pull your stitches."

"Okay." He said groggily.

"You're going to have a totally rad scar." Sarah told him. "You can show it off to your friends."

"Hey cool." Mokuba said as he shook his head, thinking they were both ridiculous. "How big is it?"

"No idea." She replied cheerfully as she sipped her tea.

"Oh." Mokuba sighed, then grimaced. "I don't feel very good actually."

He frowned and Sarah got up so she was next to him too. "What's the matter?" She asked him.

"My stomach is upset." He told her. Sarah cooed at him as she sat on the edge of the bed and began to stroke his hair again. Mokuba turned and set his head on her shoulder and she wrapped her arm around him, holding him carefully.

"I'll go get the doctor." He told his brother.

"It's all right, Mokuba." Sarah told him as he hurried out of the room. "We'll get it all sorted out, okay?"

"Yeah." He sighed unhappily.

He went out into the hall and spotted a nurse. Going to her at once he stopped her and indicated the room. "My brother just woke up and says he isn't feeling well."

The woman set down an assortment of items at a desk and followed him at once. When he came back in Sarah was speaking to him softly, clearly comforting him. "Look, here's the nurse."

The woman came over and checked his brother, indicating that Sarah should stay where she was as she was calming him down. Sarah relaxed and the nurse spoke to him. "Are you feeling dizzy at all?" She asked him.

"Yeah." Mokuba agreed and he stood to the side with his arms crossed, disliking that there was nothing for him to do yet again. "My stomach is upset too."

The nurse nodded and checked his pulse. When she was done she spoke. "You're having some side effects from being put to sleep for your surgery." She told him. "It won't last very long I promise. Why don't you try to go back to sleep and by tomorrow you'll feel much better, I promise."

"Okay." His brother agreed tiredly.

"Are you sure he's all right?" He demanded, really concerned.

"Yes, but I'll have the doctor come in as well." The nurse told him. "It'll just be a few minutes."

He nodded and went to the bed as she left. Sarah was soothing his brother and he sat down in the other chair and patted his leg briefly. "It's all right, Mokie."

His brother watched him, calming down now. "Don't be scared, nii-san. I'm okay."

"I know." He said, his voice gruff. Mokuba held his hand out to him and he caught it, squeezing it as Sarah patted his arm, watching them quietly. "Why don't you try to sleep?" Mokuba agreed and clearly couldn't stay awake at any rate. He was asleep again in a few minutes and Sarah carefully stood up, being sure she was staying quiet. As she got up he pulled the blanket up higher on his brother to be sure he was warm.

Sarah caught his hand and spoke quietly as she crouched down next to where he was sitting so she could whisper to him. "I'm going to text Rolland so he knows you're here and doesn't freak out in the morning when he can't find either of you at home. Do you want me to stay here with you or do you want to be by yourself? I'm never quite sure which way you're going to go with that so I just need you to tell me."

"I'm fine here." He told her, thinking she had seen far too much of him tonight. "It's late. You should go."

She nodded and patted his shoulder again. "Okay, I'll come back over tomorrow after I have the law team look at the merger again. Try to get some sleep. They'll bring you a pillow and blanket if you ask."

"You're fretting over me now." He informed her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Someone should." She told him as she stood up again. "Goodnight, Seto." He grunted in reply and she shook her head and left quietly, shutting the door behind her.

Mokuba was sitting up in bed looking much more himself the next afternoon. His eyes were bright again and most of the color had returned to his face. He was also eating, although he was complaining grumpily at the food he had been served. It seemed Sarah's observation about having a chef was more true than not. Both of them appeared to be spoiled on food. "This is gross." He said, poking unhappily at some scrambled eggs. "How do you mess up boiled fish?"

"I have no idea." He said as he scanned through the document Sarah had sent him an hour ago from the office. He figured if he were going to be sitting here all day with a likely drugged out and sleeping Mokuba he might as well be productive. Rolland had brought him his computer early this morning and he needed to be sure to thank Sarah for letting him know where they were. "At least you can tell it's fish. That's something."

Mokuba sent him a severely unimpressed look. "I guess I'll just eat the rice."

"Mokuba, if you sound any sadder about that I may start to weep." He told him dryly, amused with the drama. "There's plenty of food on that tray even without the fish."

"You have no sympathy for my plight."

"None at all." He agreed. "Now eat your rice."

Mokuba sighed dramatically before taking a large bite of the small white grains. He smiled slightly as he shut the computer, deciding it would be much better to pay attention to his brother until he fell back asleep. The nurse assured him he'd likely sleep most of the day, although he would be pretty alert when he was up. It had something to do with how the pain medication worked. Besides, as far as he could tell Sarah's translations on the first twenty pages were flawless. Mokuba swallowed. "Nii-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Why were you laughing last night?" He asked.

"No reason." He told him.

Mokuba watched him with surprisingly knowing eyes. "Sarah made you laugh didn't she?"

"Maybe." He replied neutrally.

Mokuba ate some more rice, watching him and turning something over. When he swallowed he spoke again. "So are you going to let her be your friend then?" He asked.

He sighed. "Why are you so obsessed with this?

"Because I'm worried about you." Mokuba told him, exasperation lacing his voice. "All you ever do is work. When you aren't at work you're thinking about work. You need to have some fun."

"The company-"

"The company is thriving." Mokuba said. "I've been looking at all your annual reports. You can afford to take time off, you can afford to have weekends again."

"It's not that simple."

"It really is." He sighed, pushing his tray away. "Please, nii-san." He said, all but pleading. "I'm worried about you. You're so unhappy. I know Gozaburo ruined your childhood, but you're letting him destroy the rest of your life too."

He felt his walls go up in an instant at the reminder. "He's dead." He said coldly.

"Yeah, he is." Mokuba agreed, watching him carefully, knowing how sore a subject this was. "So let him be dead. It's only hurting you now." He pressed his lips together, angry at the thought of the man, but past that what Mokuba said rang true. And despite himself he knew Sarah already was his friend. It was strange, simply because he'd never had a friend other than Mokuba. He was quiet so long that Mokuba began to look worried. "Nii-san?"

"Fine." He said abruptly.

Mokuba blinked as he gave in, as he never gave in to anything, then was simply pleased. "Good." He said, satisfied. "Now about the fish."

"Just eat the rice." He sighed with exasperation. Mokuba grumbled through the entire meal, but he noticed he ate every bite of it, even the fish. Not long after he fell back asleep and he left the hospital breifly to go home and clean up, leaving Rolland there with strict orders to keep his brother safe, although his bodyguard had never given him any reason to think that wouldn't happen. Much like both Sarah and Yuka, he had confidence in Rolland to do his job.

When he came into the hospital room a little over an hour later, clean and in fresh clothes, he found Sarah sitting on the end of the bed with her legs crossed under her. She was in another pair of jeans, these fitted and dark washed, and a comfortable looking loose blouse that set off the light pink in her cheeks. Her hair was down around her shoulders and back, the way he much preferred it had anyone the bravery to ask his opinion on the matter. She must have come over after work. Mokuba was sitting up at the head of the bed with the blanket over his legs and Rolland was sitting outside the room keeping an eye out for trouble, although he didn't really expect any. Both Mokuba and Sarah were intently playing cards.

Mokuba looked over the top of his hand at her. "You're bluffing." He told her.

"Try me, hot stuff." She threw back, the playful challenge obvious in her voice.

His brother narrowed his eyes, ignoring his entrance, and threw his cards down. "Two pair."

"Lame!" She said, throwing her own cards down in defeat.

He asked for patience when he worked out what they were playing. "Are you teaching my eleven year old brother poker?" He demanded on a sigh.

"Pfft, no." She said as she quickly gathered up the playing cards, as if it would jumble them enough that he couldn't confirm just that. "Because that would be totally irresponsible and wrong." She not so discretely kicked his brother in the shin.

"Ow!" Mokuba protested and then looked at her face, which was no doubt indicating he needed to lie, and wiped his clean. "Right, very wrong. Very wrong indeed, what with my impressionable young mind."

He stared at her hard and she smiled up at him beautifully, trying to get out of trouble. He was disturbed to find that her smile was nearly as effective at that as Mokuba's big navy puppy dog eyes, which were also wide and innocent looking. He was completely out gunned, which was both annoying and surprising. He tried to bluff his way out of it. "No." He said firmly. "I do not need him to become a petty crook cheating at cards."

"I'm sure he would never-" She started.

"He can count them." He informed her.

Her face was blank for half a moment before amused indignation filled it. "You were cheating?" She cried, outraged. "Well you can just forget the money you won off me."

"Oh thanks a lot, nii-san." He groused.

He pressed his lips together. "And you were gambling?"

"Lesson learned." She told him, his scolding meaningless. "Geez, he's worse than the yakuza when I lost to them."

"What?" He yelled.

She started laughing at once. "It was a joke!"

Mokuba snickered and he rolled his eyes, less annoyed than he should of been by how easily he had just been baited. He sat down in the chair near the bed. "I'm not bailing you out of jail for illegal gambling." He informed his brother. "And I really mean that."

"You lack a sense of adventure." Mokuba replied as Sarah began to shuffle the cards with practiced ease. Then his eyes lit up and he changed the subject. "The doctor said I could come home tonight if I pass my check up at seven."

"Good." He said, satisfied. He didn't like Mokuba away from home, or from him for that matter. He was actually fairly lonely in the mansion without his constant hijinks and interruptions, he was even missing the argueing.

Sarah looked over at him. "Can you count cards too?"

"Yes." He told her, finding it an easy thing to accomplish. "And no, I won't play poker with you, and I'm not an easy mark."

"You know, I was just asking." She told him, amused. "I wasn't going to try to gamble with you, although I'm pretty good at it."

"I doubt it." He told her.

She rolled the cards in her hands expertly to prove him wrong, which was actually a fairly good trick. "I totally am."

"Where did you even learn to do that?" He sighed, not overly surprised by the information. She was certainly clever enough and could read people well enough to accomplish that.

"A friend taught me." She told him.

"Ah yes, nothing says friendship like illegal gambling." He replied sarcastically.

"I mean, really it was only illegal because I was under eighteen." She told him. "And I never got caught." He sent her a look and she pouted, putting the cards in her purse. "Fine, I won't teach him anything else fun."

"Good."

"Aww!" Mokuba sighed. "That was a great game!"

"No." He said again as he relaxed back into the chair. "Now sit still and get better so I can take you home."

"But I'm bored!" He sighed dramatically as he flopped back onto the tilted bed. He rolled his eyes at his brother's dramatics. "I've been here for days with nothing to do!"

"You've been here for two days and have mostly been sleeping." He told him as Sarah snickered at the display, which only encouraged his brother, who flailed dramatically, as if he were dying. "Watch the television like a normal person."

"Ugg, no!"

Sarah laughed, completely charmed by this ridiculousness. "Hey, Mokuba?"

"Yeah?" He asked, looking at her with his large eyes.

She tilted her head around so they were even. "Does this work on him a lot?"

"Pretty much always, why?" His brother replied which caused him to sigh heavily, seeing that she was about to use him to get something.

That was confirmed when she continued. "Because my computer crashed and I need him to fix it, but I don't want to look really incompetent when I do."

"Oh." Mokuba said, turning his attention to his brother. "Nii-san?"

"I heard her, Mokuba." He told him.

"But, nii-saaaan!" Mokuba said, flailing again. "You have to do this for her!"

Sarah was shaking with silent laughter as he rolled his eyes. "Stop it."

"But look how sad she is!" He said, which was ridiculous as she was laughing. "If you don't do this she might die!"

"Of what?" He asked. "Boredom? At least it would be quiet."

Mokuba clutched at his heart. "You don't mean it!" He cried, flailing again. "Who would translate all your super boring stuff for you if she was gone?" He would give him that one, but simply raised his eyebrow. "What would you do, nii-san? How would you live?"

"For god sake's." He said, defeated. "Just bring it to me tomorrow. I'll fix it."

Sarah leaned back on her arms, her eyes sparkling happily. "Thank you."

"If I find out you were downloading spam I'm not fixing it."

"I haven't downloaded anything!" She protested. "Except a movie about lions, which totally came off a legitimate website!"

"Why are you watching things about lions?" He asked.

She shrugged. "I like lions." He raised an eyebrow. "And also walruses, because they are plain weird creatures."

He sighed. "There's something wrong with your brain."

"Tell me about it." She agreed. "Also, did you know that lions-"

"Please stop." He said. "I couldn't care less about lions."

She stuck her tongue out at him and turned back to his brother. "What should we play since poker's been banned?"

"I could teach you duel monsters." Mokuba offered.

"Yeah, alright." She agreed, crossing her legs under her again. "It seems I can't get away from that game, I might as well learn it."

"Great!" Mokuba said, clearly excited. "Seto taught me and he's the best."

"He told me he participated in some of the big tournaments." She agreed as she watched him pull his backpack over and start pulling out several piles of cards. She picked up a few and began to look through them. "Umm." She looked as if she'd gotten in way over her head. "Do all of these do different things?"

"Yeah." Mokuba agreed as he dropped his bag carelessly over the side of the bed. "It's super cool."

"How do you keep them all straight?" She asked as she looked at a trap card. "What's a secondary effect?"

"It's-"

"Start at the beginning or you're going to confuse her." He instructed as he checked his e-mail. "She's never played before."

"Yeah, good." Mokuba nodded, clearly strategizing how best to do that. "So there are three types of cards. Monsters, traps, and spell cards."

"Okay." She said, drawing out the word. "I've seen monster cards before. Those are the ones on all the posters." She said, picking up one of his brothers. "What's the difference between a trap and a spell card?"

"One you can use right away, most of the time, and the other reacts to an attack, most of the time."

"Right." She said, shaking her head. It was clear she worked out how complicated this was quickly. "And how many different cards are there?"

"I don't know, about ten thousand or so?"

"Ten thousand?" Sarah yelped. "Mokuba, there's no way you can keep all of them straight."

"You can keep ten languages in your head." He told argued. "It's not any different."

"Eight." He corrected.

"Erm, ten." Sarah corrected and he glanced up from his computer with a raised eyebrow. She blushed a little. "And a quarter-ish?" He smiled slightly, charmed and amazed she had learned another two in only eight months.

"One better be Arabic." He said sternly, but she knew he was teasing. She rolled her eyes and he felt his lips twitching up, knowing very well one was. What an odd creature this woman was. Seeing her looking at a holographic card, tilting it this way and that to see it shimmer, he thought he shouldn't like how adorable she was, how sweet, as he had often found those very traits in other people to be signs of weakness. But Sarah had proved to be anything but weak, had in fact been a steady and reliable support not only in the office, but in a much more personal capacity. Perhaps it would be nice to have her as a friend. He just… wasn't sure what to do with her now that they were.