Seto has very few friends. If pressed, I would say the concept of friendship rather offends him. Loose ends and potential threats. All of them. His entire life has conditioned him to see an enemy in everyone, and the only person to have bypassed that stigma is Mokuba.

Regardless of which version of the story you're dealing with, second-series anime or Season Zero or manga, it cannot be denied that Mokuba is a different case than most. Even at his darkest, Seto put more time and effort into Mokuba than he did most everyone else. Granted, before the end of Death-T that attention was largely negative. Still, it makes the point.

Seto trusts no one.

Some years ago, I created somebody. A police officer with whom I figured Seto would share something of an understanding. Are they friends? Seto might not admit to it, but I believe that they are. This beat cop has since been promoted to detective, and since then Darren McKinley has been an important part of my work with this series.

As such, it was a given that he would show up here.

Say hello, won't you?


"Have you ever considered going to church with us?"

They might have passed for the ultimate odd couple; one was dressed in a $50,000 suit, the other in frayed jeans, hiking boots, a t-shirt, and a black sweater tied about his waist. Both had brown hair; the former's was meticulously sculpted, cut at the shoulder with sweeping bangs shadowing blazing blue eyes. The latter's shot out of his head in a magnitude of gelled spikes, leaving his own hazel eyes completely visible. He sported a well-kept goatee and a thin mustache, where his companion was obsessively clean-shaven.

The only way to spot the underlying connection between the pair was by watching the way they walked. They strode with purpose, with confidence, tall and proud and composed. Detective Darren Wilson McKinley had a pleasant sort of expression on his face; he nodded to passersby, waved and half-saluted and murmured, "Excuse me."

Seto Sasaki-Yagami Kaiba looked like he was headed for a public execution, with an unreadable yet undeniably negative expression on his face. His mouth was a line where Darren's was a smile, his eyes shuttered where Darren's were wide open. Summer, Winter. Day, Night. Sunshine, Thunderstorm.
"I've not," said Seto, though there was a certain shift in his tone as compared to most. With most people, he would have been dismissive, biting, downright nasty. He spoke to Darren McKinley with an engaged, unbiased sort of tone. He spoke to this man like an equal.

"I suppose you don't need to be told that my next question is why," Darren said. "You might be surprised. It gives a lot of people a chance to clear their minds. Relax. Prepare themselves for the week ahead." He did not speak of spirit, of community, and he took special care not to mention Our Father Who Art in Heaven.

"I don't need relaxation," Seto said, and now he sounded dismissive. "I need nine days in a week, each comprised of about thirty-two hours. If not for the fact that a prison sentence would strip away what limited time I have, I wouldn't be here right now. I was fully prepared to commit murder an hour ago."

Darren chuckled. He knew better than any—except perhaps Mokuba—that Seto had a distinctly sarcastic sense of humor, and any threats made in such a bored, exasperated tone were easily dismissible. It was when Seto looked like a statue that such declarations were cause for alarm.

Serious alarm.

They were walking together through one of Domino City's most celebrated parks. It was an odd ritual, something nobody would have expected an officer of the law and an infamous executive to be doing together...or at least not this officer, and this infamous executive, under any circumstances whatsoever.

The good detective wondered if that was part of the reason why Seto often chose to do it. He lived to defy expectations.

Hullender Field was a local hotspot, and the place was packed. People gasped and pointed as they saw him, but enough of them had seen Seto here often enough to know that approaching him was the precise opposite of a good idea. They'd learned to leave him be. That didn't stop the occasional straggler, but for the most part it left them both in peace.

"I've been to church services," Seto said, knowing that Darren was looking for further explanation, "and the clearest message they send is that we needn't suffer alone. We don't have to shoulder our burdens by ourselves. Give them over to God, and we will be happy."

Darren raised an eyebrow. "This is a problem."

Seto sneered. "Whenever have you known me to ask for help from anyone, or anything, I can't trust?"


I have long believed that Seto Kaiba is a rather bitter atheist. My stance on the subject comes from a number of factors, and I won't mention them here for fear of turning it into a rant. Suffice it to say that he doesn't put much stock in the idea of faith. That doesn't mean, however, that he would refuse to associate with someone who did believe, so long as they weren't the sort to try to convert him.

Darren is such a person. This is why I believe they work well together. Darren is a man of faith, devout and dedicated, but he does not belittle those who are not, particularly if they have a very specific stance on why. He's not offended by Seto's stance; I daresay no one is likely to understand that stance better.

I think this relationship is important for Seto.

See you Thursday, everybody.