It was asked that I cover some more of the Kaibas' time at the orphanage, before they became Kaibas, and since it's Father's Day…I thought I'd celebrate the occasion for this 20th chapter. My father doesn't watch anime, and he'll never read this, but nonetheless, this one's for you. We may not share much in the way of interests, except for a love of heavy metal, but you're still half the reason I'm here, writing these stories and figuring out the tangled mess that is my imagination.

Thanks, Dad.


To say that Father's Day at an orphanage is a somber, bitter occasion would have been a sore understatement. The Domino Children's Home was a quiet place that weekend, and the staff had a difficult time trying to keep the more unruly sorts from acting out even worse than usual.

Those who were here through tragedy, rather than neglect, were quiet and depressed. All except two. Seto Yagami was perhaps the most bitter of them all, and he spent the day holed up in one corner of the dining hall with a stack of books and a notepad. The boy read furiously, throwing pages back and forth, making notes and scratching them out. He muttered things beneath his breath, and the staff seemed perfectly content to leave him to his work. When he was alone, Seto was one of the few that nobody had to worry about; it was when he was dragged out to interact with the others that he turned into a problem.

Mokuba Yagami was perfectly happy, acting like any normal child on Father's Day. He sat at the same table as his brother, drawing and attempting to make paper airplanes and generally trying to look just as busy as his brother. That was, Daniel thought, one reason he was such a thorn in the others' sides. Mokuba was normal. He was happy, he was playful, he was social. Where everyone else had heaps on bounds of emotional issues and baggage to carry—indeed, the boy's brother was the poster child for the cause—Mokuba was obliviously content.

"I wanna…make card," Mokuba told Daniel the day before.

"For your father?" Daniel had asked.

Mokuba stared. He screwed up his face, concentrating, then said, "…Fa…ther? Pa-pah?"

He said it so that it would have rhymed with "hacksaw," and Daniel had to wonder if Mokuba even knew what this day was. He might have seen Glen making a card to lay on his father's grave, or David attacking the day on the calendar with a pocketknife.

"It's Father's Day tomorrow," Daniel explained. "Would you like to make a card to give to your father? Your…pa-pah? On his grave?" He said this with infinite tenderness, and to his credit Mokuba didn't seem all that saddened or upset. He just looked slightly confused, like he thought the man in front of him was some kind of idiot.

"…For Nii'tama."

And oddly enough, that made sense.

So Daniel got some construction paper, a glue-stick, glitter, scissors, markers, crayons; everything the other kids had been using. It was a Friday, so Seto was at school, and Mokuba had probably planned it that way, insofar as a three-year-old boy could plan anything. And Daniel helped the younger Yagami make a…Niisama's Day card.

The next morning, he had presented his brother with the finished card—Mokuba had drawn/crafted what looked like it was supposed to be a picture of the two of them, holding hands—and Daniel had made sure that he was in a position to see it. A rare smile had graced Seto Yagami's features, revealing the delicate, handsome boy he could be when anger and irritation didn't have its claws in him. He'd hugged Mokuba close, ruffled his hair, and thanked him.

"Wuv you, Nii'tama," Mokuba said.

Choking up and blinking away tears, Seto managed to reply: "I…love you, too, Mokie."

Daniel found them later on in the evening, still seated at their table. Seto had set aside his books and notes, and he was cutting his brother's meal into bite-sized pieces for him. Mokuba was talking animatedly, and Seto was still smiling. Every so often, he would respond.

"I offered to do that for him when I brought their food to them," one of the workers—Daniel thought her name was Elle; she was new—said as she approached. "The older one refused. Rather blunt, that one."

Daniel smirked. "I've run into a lot of fathers like him. They take their jobs very seriously."

Elle stared at him. "They're…brothers."

As he turned away, Daniel chuckled. "If you say so."


I've run into the idea that Seto is very bitter about Father's Day. Considering Gozaburo, that's probably true. But just because he doesn't celebrate doesn't mean he wouldn't let Mokuba. I think, no matter how bad a mood the day generally puts him into thanks to Kaiba the First, Seto would never discourage Mokuba from making a celebration out of it.

After all, to Mokuba, "Father" and "Niisama" are one and the same.

So Happy Niisama's Day, everybody.