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The Opinions of Others - Part 1 - Mokuba

Mokuba walked bleary eyed into the casual dining room. It was one of three dining areas that the extensive New York town house accommodated and was the one most frequently used due to its humble size and the fact that it was located directly next to a small kitchen area. There were staff on hand in the house twenty four hours a day to keep the place in order and to prepare food as and when required but, for breakfast at least, the Kaiba brothers had made it a habit to provide for themselves and the small kitchen was exclusively their reserve.

Seto was already up, as usual, and was sat at the wooden table with his coffee placed within easy reach and a copy of Financial Times spread out before him. He looked up as Mokuba entered.

'Morning.'

'Mmpf.'

Mokuba waved a hand in Seto's general direction in acknowledgement of the greeting and stomped, heavy-footed into the kitchen.

Seto went back to his paper and tried to ignore the sound of drawers and cupboards being opened and then slammed shut carelessly as Mokuba prepared his usual breakfast of some obscenely sugary, nutrition-free cereal. Mokuba wasn't a morning person. Seto had often argued that Mokuba ought to stay in bed a little longer, after all, it was bad enough that he had to get to the office so early without Mokuba having to inflict it on himself. However, no matter how Mokuba would curse and stumble through the morning routine, he always made a point to have breakfast with his brother. It was practically the only time he was guaranteed to see him through the day.

A sudden crash followed by a string of expletives, made Seto look up. Mokuba walked back into the dining area, the bottom of his pyjamas dripping with milk and one or two artificially coloured shapes were sticking to his bare feet.

'There's a cat on top of the refrigerator!'

'Yes.'

There was a moment's pause. 'Seto, why is there a cat on top of the refrigerator?'

'It appears he likes heights.' The corner of Seto's mouth twitched imperceptibly even as his gaze returned to the newspaper in front of him.

Mokuba gave his brother a narrowed eyed glare before heading back into the kitchen and returning a few minutes later with a fresh bowl of cereal.

'Did you clear up the mess?'

'I got the worst of it,' Mokuba said as he sat down in the chair across from Seto. 'The cat was watching and hissing at me the whole time, mind you. It's like some demon from hell, where on earth did it come from?'

'He was a gift.'

'You haven't made some new enemies have you?'

Mokuba's comment was met with a dry look.

'Hold on,' Mokuba paused, a spoonful of cereal poised in mid air in front of him, 'that's not what was in the box, was it?'

'What box?'

'The box Mai had with her. It was, wasn't it?' the spoon was dropped back into the bowl causing a small wave of milk to slop over the side. 'Aw man, I knew I should've asked her. I was too distracted by what she wasn't wearing.'

'Mokuba!'

'What?' his tone was defiant even as he tried not to blush under his brother's shocked look. 'I'm not blind you know!'

'Well pretend to be.'

There was a long silence as Mokuba, feeling awkwardly self-conscious, went back to his cereal and Seto tried to get into an article about international currency rates.

'So,' Mokuba said after a few minutes, 'why'd Mai buy you a cat?'

'She didn't. She found a cat and felt I could give it a good home.'

Mokuba frowned in mock confusion. 'Does she even vaguely know you?'

Seto gave up on pretending to read the story and instead levelled a disdainful look at his brother. 'This is a good home is it not?' he asked archly. 'Plus your note said to be 'nice' remember?'

'I meant more sort of, generally. I didn't expect you to take in a mangy-looking cat as a result.'

'Well next time maybe you should be a bit more specific. Anyway, I didn't think you would mind. You're supposed to be the one with the heart.'

'So, what's his name?'

'Flea.'

'As in, runs away a lot?'

'That would be nice wouldn't it?'

Seto almost enjoyed the look of slow realisation that passed across his brother's face - he only hoped that his own expression hadn't been as entertaining to Mai.

'You can't seriously intend on calling it 'Flea'!'

'That's his name.'

'Does it respond to its name?'

'No.'

'Does it respond to anything?'

'A broom handle gets a certain level of reaction.'

'Well then, if the cat doesn't know its name then it doesn't matter if you change it.'

Seto smiled at his brother's logic. 'I'll think about it,' he said.

Taking courage from his brother's good humour Mokuba took a deep breath and, as casually as he could, asked the question that had been burning a hole in his brain for so many weeks. 'So... are you and Mai, you know, seeing each other?'

Seto's smile vanished. 'I'm not sure I want to have this conversation,' he said giving Mokuba a stern look.

Mokuba, long since immune to his brother's glares, simply scowled in frustration. 'Oh c'mon,' he whined, 'I've been really patient up to now. I never said anything after the lift incident, did I?'

'What do you mean? Nothing happened-'

'Oh, it was so obvious! The way the camera feed just happened to stop working and the way the two of you leapt apart when I arrived.'

'That doesn't prove - '

'And that's not even to mention the looks the two of you were giving each other at that club.'

'There weren't any 'looks'.'

'And yesterday at lunch you were all dreamy eyed -'

'Now I definitely draw the line at being described as 'dreamy eyed'.'

'Seto, you drew a smiley face in your coffee froth!'

Seto sat staring, open-mouthed at his little brother, feeling the unfamiliar heat of a blush creeping into his cheeks.

'And all the while,' Mokuba continued, his tone softened in the face of his brother's sudden mortification, 'I sat around patiently and said nothing because I was hoping you would tell me all about it in your own time.'

'Sounds like a good plan to me,' Seto observed caustically, 'what happened?'

'I suddenly remembered that you're stubborn and emotionally shut off.'

'Huh.' Seto took a long, slow sip of his coffee, using the motion to give him time to collect his unsettled thoughts. 'I don't know why you're so curious all of a sudden. You've never shown any interest in the women I've seen before.'

'That's because you've never shown any interest in them either. If any of them had stuck around for more than a week - well, maybe it would be different.'

'Huh.' Seto took another sip whilst staring contemplatively at his little brother. It was only natural that Mokuba should have picked up on a number of the persuasive tricks that Seto frequently used himself in business, but it was more than a little disconcerting to have his little brother turn these tricks against him like this.

Mokuba let the silence hang in the air for a moment before pressing the rare advantage that he felt he had gained. 'So, what is going on?'

Seto sighed and set down his coffee cup. 'Not as much as you probably imagine. On the rare occasions I've actually seen her there's just a lot of talking... and arguing. There's definitely a lot of arguing.'

'She seems like a nice lady.'

'Hmm, she is... mostly.'

'So who's winning?'

'I don't follow?'

'You said there was arguing. So, who's winning?'

'It's not quite like that.'

'C'mon Seto, I know what you're like. Everything is a duel to you. You always see everything in terms of winning and losing.'

'That's not true,' Seto said indignantly, 'why would you think that?'

Mokuba raised an eyebrow and looked hard at his brother.

'...I think I've got the edge at the moment.'

'How come?'

Seto smiled slightly as he remembered the previous day's events. 'Well, let's just say we parted ways yesterday on my terms.'

'So have you got her number?'

'No.'

'But you've got her cat?'

Seto narrowed his eyes at his innocent faced little brother. 'Is there some point you're driving at?'

Mokuba shrugged, 'I'm just asking.'

'One of our guys is supposed to have a lead on her workplace. Hopefully something will come of that today.'

'And what are you going to do once you've found her?'

'I'm not sure.' Seto looked at Mokuba's hopeful face. Theirs was a peculiar relationship: in many ways their bond was closer than that of mere siblings but, at the same time, there was so much that got in the way of them having a normal, casual brotherly friendship. As Seto saw himself reflected in the large, dark grey eyes of his brother he suddenly realised what it was that Mokuba was after, and it wasn't just gossip or intrigue.

'I'm not sure,' Seto repeated after a moment. He shoved his paper to one side and leaned forward in his chair to give Mokuba his full attention, 'why, what do you think I should do?'

Mokuba's grin reached from ear to ear.