I've long tried to use the exercise of taking real-life events and turning them into pieces of writing. For whatever reason, these characters are the only ones with whom I can actually do that. Which might be a good thing.
This chapter was initially inspired by a family dinner last night.
It eventually turned into…something else entirely.
"Hi, there. Aren't you just the most precious little thing? Are you dancing? Hm? You like the music? Yeah…you do, don't you?" The young woman's heart was melting as she spoke. "He's adorable," she said.
She directed this at Kohaku, who smiled, but it was Seto who responded: "Thank you, ma'am. Wave hello, Mokie." The boy took hold of his infant sibling's tiny wrist and made him wave at the woman, who returned the gesture with a girlish giggle. "May we have a booster seat, please?" Seto asked, adjusting his grip on Mokuba.
"Of course." She stepped away. "I'll be right back, sweetie," she cooed, as Mokuba was now waving of his own accord, which amounted to flailing his arms around and might have just meant that he wanted to be let down.
It was a rarity in the extreme for the Yagami family to go out to a sit-down restaurant for dinner. More often than not, if Seto didn't find some sort of box meal in the pantry to feed himself and his brother, their father would bring home fast food from one of the numerous places on his ride home.
The waitress came back with chips and salsa, and asked if they would like anything to drink. Kohaku declined, saying that he was fine with water; after an inquisitive glance at his father, to which Kohaku gave a short nod, Seto ordered lemonade.
"What about this little angel?" she asked, gesturing to Mokuba as Seto settled him into the booster chair she'd provided. "What would you like, little man?"
"He likes apple juice," Seto said. "Or milk."
"We can do apple juice, not a problem."
"Hear that, Mokie?" Seto whispered gently. "You're going to get some juice."
Mokuba said something that might have been "juice," but if so it was a barely-recognizable garble. Seto's smile warmed, and he kissed the boy's forehead before sitting down. The waitress all but swooned.
She took their orders—a taco salad for Kohaku, an enchilada dinner for Seto, and a plate of rice and beans for Mokuba—and headed off to cover the rest of her section, leaving the Yagamis to their own devices. Seto made small talk with his father, barely paying attention to what either of them were saying, until he finally figured out how he wanted to ask his question.
"…This girl in my class…she invited me to her birthday party this weekend."
Kohaku raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"
Seto fidgeted. With other adults, he was cool and confident, some said rude. With his father, he always felt flustered. "I was wondering if…I could go. Maybe…maybe we could…get someone to watch Mokie?"
Kohaku's face gave a slight spasm. "Valery's in Chicago, visiting family."
Seto flinched as if he'd been struck. "Well…maybe…could you maybe…watch him? I-I could…get everything together for you. It would only be…for a few hours."
"…I'm sorry, son. I have to work. My hours have been pretty bad lately, and I can't take time off. You should see if this girl would mind you bringing your brother with you."
Seto's shoulders slumped. He had a feeling that that wasn't the real reason. But there was no point in arguing anymore.
"…Sure."
"I'm sorry, Seto."
"Uh-huh."
Seto didn't speak for the rest of the evening, except to quietly thank their waitress as he stood up to follow Kohaku out to the parking lot, holding little Mokuba against his side.
"Niisama? Can I ask you something?"
Seto Kaiba turned his eyes away from Don Collinsworth and locked them on his brother, who was standing in the doorway looking like he was about to leap into a pool filled with ravenous piranha. "Come in, Mokuba."
The black-haired boy shuffled into the room and shut the door behind him, eyes flitting to Collinsworth. "Um…well…I…you know, Rebecca Hawkins?"
"Of course," Seto prompted gently, raising an eyebrow.
"She's…her grandpa's taking her to see…she's going to a concert this weekend and…and she…was wondering…if I wanted to…go."
He kept staring at Collinsworth.
"Saturday or Sunday?" Seto asked.
"Saturday."
"When?"
"It…the opening act comes on at…three."
Collinsworth cleared his throat. "Sir. We've a meeting with the rep from Bioware that starts at two-thirty this Saturday."
"Does she have a spare ticket," Seto continued, as though his employee wasn't in the room anymore, "or will you be buying your own?"
"They're…kind of expensive. I would…have to get one."
"How much?"
"Sir."
"Um…about…sixty-seven dollars."
"Sir, meeting? Two-thirty? One of the most popular developers in the country?"
"Are you willing to put your allowance this month toward paying for this ticket?"
Mokuba nodded. "Yes, Niisama."
"Sir!" Collinsworth snarled. "This sort of deal isn't something we can just walk into blindly! Your brother was the one who insisted we go into this! He needs to be present!"
Seto still didn't look at the man, keeping his eyes on Mokuba's pale, all but terrified face. "That's fine," he said. "Go ahead. Have fun with your friend. And go ahead and get yourselves some souvenirs, if you like. Now go find Copeland. I want you home and working on your homework."
Mokuba bowed. "…Y-Yes, Niisama. Thank you!"
He bolted from the room.
Don Collinsworth looked like he was going to explode. "Mister Kaiba! What sort of game do you think you're—"
"Shut up."
"…I'm sorry, what?"
Seto rose smoothly to his feet. "If you're going to reprimand me, the first thing I want to see is the legal paperwork giving you guardianship over my brother. Until I see that, I am entirely uninterested in hearing what you think he should be doing."
"I may not be your brother's guardian," Collinsworth shot back, "but until he turns eighteen, Mister Kaiba works in my department, under my supervision. We agreed, he and I, some time ago that he would be giving a presentation on Saturday the 19th, from two-thirty PM until three-fifteen PM. And if he intends to shirk that agreement for the sake of a concert, then I have no use for him on my team."
Seto's eyes narrowed. "…Do you think me so ungodly stupid as to not know that?" he hissed. Collinsworth looked surprised. "Do you think me so irresponsible that I would allow Mokuba to step out of an obligation purely for the sake of something so superficial?"
"…Apparently you are, sir."
Seto grimaced. "Listen to me, Donald Collinsworth. Very closely, as I will not repeat myself. The last time my brother asked me to do something with which I personally disagreed, was three years ago. When he asked to take part in my Battle City tournament. The reason that I decided to allow it was because the previous time he made a similar request was another two years prior to that. Mokuba makes requests of me so rarely that it is hardly my intention to deny him if there is any conceivable way to make it work. I will attend your conference."
"You believe that to be the right way to raise him, then," Collinsworth said, sounding skeptical and more than a little offended.
"What I believe is that my brother's psychological welfare is far more important than your rather pathetic ploy for authority." Collinsworth opened his mouth, but Seto cut him off. "Do you recall what happened to my brother two months ago?"
Collinsworth stared openly. "…Yes."
"Well, then. Don't you think it might be a decent idea to allow him to spend a weekend with a friend, rather than put him into a conference room filled with men three times his age looking for any and every excuse to tear him apart because goddamn it, they've earned their positions and they won't stand for working under someone too young to shave?"
Collinsworth opened his mouth again. "I…I-I…"
Seto swept past the man. "That child is my responsibility. He has always been my responsibility. Do not deign to put yourself in that position, because you can be damned sure that I have earned it." He turned to look over his shoulder, blue eyes blazing. "I will not deny my brother a weekend with a friend for you. Are we clear, Donald Collinsworth?"
"…Yes, sir. Quite clear."
And that was the end of it.
Donald Collinsworth resigned from his position at the Kaiba Electronic Gaming Corporation a week later. When asked by Roland Ackerman why he seemed so unconcerned about having the head of his development team suddenly quit, Seto Kaiba said:
"I decided a long time ago that I would never deny my brother anything he wanted, unless I had good reason to do so. This was not good reason."
"The young master did agree to attend that conference."
"I really don't care what the young master agreed to do. I didn't."
"Don't you think it would have been a good lesson to teach him? That work obligations take precedence over personal matters?"
Seto snorted derisively. "If that were true, I might."
"Isn't it?"
"For me, yes. For you, yes. For Donald Collinsworth, yes." Seto's eyes turned cold. "For a boy who nearly had his head blown off by a semi-automatic pistol eight weeks ago, for a boy who pushes himself far too much already in order to earn my approval, for a boy who's somehow gotten it into his head that I am a good role model…absolutely not."
I'm never sure what to do about Mokuba's involvement in KaibaCorp's affairs. Aren't there child labor laws? Ah, well. Anime logic. Part of the fun of fiction is tweaking the rules of reality to see what happens.
The major thing I take from this chapter is that even when I try to be light and happy, I end up taking a dark turn. I used to think that it was particular to these characters, but I'm starting to think that it's a habit that runs across all of my projects.
What does that say about me?
