Brother to Brother

"Mr. Kaiba." Seto Kaiba had only been holding down the intercom button for half a second but already he regretted it. "Mr. Kaiba, shall I let him in or…?" Seto could've just released the intercom button; he could've just hung up on his assistant, Jun. She would've known what to do if that happened; he had done it before. Jun would've taken it as a 'no' and sent the visitor on his merry way. But Seto couldn't bring himself to just let go. He just… couldn't. A part of him felt as though it wasn't fair in some way. So instead, Seto sighed and did the only thing he felt he could do.

"Alright, send him up," Seto replied solemnly before releasing the button and hanging up. His visitor would be arriving in his office soon, probably escorted by Jun herself. Seto closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. What on earth could he want anyway? What was he doing all the way here in Japan? Seto assumed he would find out when he got here he only… wished that wasn't going to happen. Seto hated seeing people he knew…

The door opened and as Seto expected, Jun let the visitor enter after her.

"Here's Seto Kaiba's office. Have a nice day," Jun said before turning away and closing the door behind her. Now there were only two people in the room. Seto eyed his broad shouldered visitor. The man standing opposite to Seto opened his mouth to speak but Seto beat him to it.

"I'm surprised to see you not disguised as Pegasus." The man held a serious face.

"It's good to see you too, Kaiba." Seto had said his joke and now he was back into business mode.

"What do you want, Alister?" Alister took a deep breath and was silent for a few moments before he answered.

"I'm going to get right to the point; I need your help," Alister turned away as he continued to speak, "I'm haunted by my brother's death. There has to be some way to put my heart at rest." Seto's eyes widened. That's what Alister had come all this way to ask? Although he was surprised, Seto suddenly began to feel angry as well. He tried his best not to show it.

"And why do you think I could help you with that? After all, my brother is still alive." Alister winced from Seto's statement. Seto had been aware that what he said was harsh but he also knew it had to be said. Although Alister and Seto had left on mostly good terms the last time they saw one another, Seto was still suspicious of him and the revenge he tried to play out before. Alister stared at Seto, becoming enraged himself.

"I would think that you of all people would understand what I've lost and how I feel. Most importantly you would see why I feel the need to put this to rest." Seto emerged from his seat and stood up. He didn't move, only stood where he was standing. Their eyes locked onto one another.

"No, I don't know what you feel," Seto said in a very low tone of voice, "I can't even imagine what you're going through." Alister's eyes widened. Was Seto being empathetic towards him? Alister felt a slight flutter of relief knowing he had finally gotten through to him.

"So does that mean you'll help me?" Alister asked.

"No," Seto said plainly, beginning to pack his things and preparing to go home for the night. Alister stared at him and wondered whether Seto was being serious or not. When Seto continued to pack his things like Alister wasn't even there, he knew that Seto was not joking and became upset.

"WHAT? Why not?" Seto closed his brief case and looked up.

"Look Alister, I'm sorry about what happened to your brother but there's nothing I can do for you. Even if I knew, I'd be far too busy to help you. Now if you'll excuse me," Seto said, throwing on his coat, "I need to go home." Seto closed his brief case and lifted it from his desk. He went to go walk to the door but Alister stopped him.

"Don't you feel any sort of obligation to help me? If it had been your brother, I would've done the same for you." Seto turned and stared at him.

"Are you implying that if it had been my brother that had died instead of yours, you would help me? No, that's actually not what would happen because if that was the case, you wouldn't even be bothering me in the first place." Seto pushed by him, "Try counseling, they say that works for some people." The door slammed and Alister was left in the middle of the room… speechless. Alister waited, wondering if Seto would come back to apologize but he didn't. Alister wouldn't see Seto until the next day, when he had to come back to work.

"Hello Kaiba." Seto startled slightly when he heard Alister's voice. Alister was sitting in the lobby. Seto had barely noticed him sitting there. Seto gave him a questioned look before he continued walking on towards the elevator. Alister quickly got up to follow him there. "Aren't you even going to say hello?"

"Alister, it's seven in the morning, I came here to do work, not chat with you. Go home," Seto commanded as he stepped into the elevator as it opened. He was hoping Alister would listen to him and leave but instead, Alister walked into the elevator beside him. Seto sighed.

"I can't exactly 'go home.' Home is miles away from me, another country in fact, and I refuse to return until I have the right frame of mind to go back to it. Please Kaiba… I need your help. I can't continue living my life like this!" The doors to the elevator opened to the top floor and Seto immediately walked out without giving Alister a reply. Alister quickly ran to catch up with him.

"I can't stop thinking about my brother… it seems like everything reminds me of him. The grey skies, the light breeze, even the cracks in the sidewalk remind me of some small trait Miruko had. Every time I think of him though… I also think of his death… and how it was my duty to protect him." Seto continued to walk on without saying a word up until he reached his office, unlocked the door, and walked in. To his dismay, Alister followed closely behind and took the unlocking of the door as an invitation in. Seto slammed his brief case onto his desk and twisted around.

"I want you to leave my office right now. I don't want to have to call in security to come and get you." Seto went over to his intercom to show Alister that he was being serious about this. Seto's hand hovered over the device which Alister could see quite clearly but he wasn't willing to give up just yet. He needed this terribly and he knew deep down Seto was the only person who could help. Alister just needed some way of convincing him to help.

"What about your brother?" Seto's body froze and his eyes darted from the intercom to Alister.

"What did you say?"

"Mokuba… wouldn't he want you should help me?" In a matter of seconds, Seto had gone over to the other side of the room, grabbed Alister by the collar of his shirt and held him up in the air with one arm.

"Don't you dare bring Mokuba into this mess." Alister was struggling to get out of Seto's hold, barely having the capability to breathe.

"Kaiba, wait! Put me down! What are you doing?" Seto threw Alister onto the ground.

"You stay the hell away from my brother, got it?" Alister coughed a couple times, rubbing his neck which was red from being held so roughly. Alister shot a nasty glare Seto's way when he looked up.

"What's your problem! I'm not going to hurt your brother! Where did you get that idea?" Seto turned away and walked back over to his desk. He sat down and began to do his work. Alister took this opportunity to hoist his body off the floor before questioning Seto again. Seto was shuffling through the papers, writing things down on a notebook, while waiting for his operating system to load. Alister couldn't believe this, was Seto trying to pretend that he wasn't there?

Alister stood there for a couple moments more to see if Seto would even look up from his work. While he stood there, Alister didn't seem to notice the way that Seto's eyes barely glanced at the papers he was shifting through, how his body seemed to be on autopilot. Or how his fingers were shaking nervously, which caused Seto to feel the need to shuffle through the papers faster. Seto was thankful to glance at his computer to see that everything had loaded so now he could begin work. Seto hoped that now Alister would leave…

"Don't just ignore me like I don't exist, Kaiba! I'm not just going to leave." Seto stopped and looked up.

"I don't trust you or your story. I think you're here to kill my brother." Alister was becoming incredibly frustrated.

"For the last time, I didn't travel halfway across the world to hurt your brother! All I want is your help!" Seto turned away from him again, looking back down at the papers that lay on his desk. He picked a couple up and shuffled through them again. Alister growled with an intense anger, grabbing the papers out of Seto's hand and tossing them in the air. "I need you to help me! I need you to help me find a reason to live!" Alister yelled at the top of his lungs. Seto immediately froze.

Seto stood still, staring at Alister. He took a couple steps back before he looked down at the ground. His long dark bangs were covering his face and his blank expression. Alister let his arms drop to his sides as he looked down at the ground as well. He took a deep breath. The things he was about to say… he couldn't even tell if they were true. This wouldn't, however, change the fact that Alister wouldn't leave until he got an answer or some sort of consolation. For some reason, Seto felt like he deserved at least one of those things.

"Please… help me… every day, I see my little brother, his smile, I can hear his laughter… and immediately afterwards, I see him die. I watch the fire that encompass him and burn him alive… and then I see myself, helplessly watching from afar. All I can do is stare and watch the only family I had left die right before my eyes…" Alister brought his arm up and covered his face just as the tears began to stream down the sides of his cheek. "Tell me… is there anything I can do to escape this hell?"

"You can live." Alister's arm dropped back down and he looked up.

"What?" Seto was looking at him. Alister's eyes widened. Did this mean that Seto was finally going to help him? "What do you mean? Tell me how."

"Live your life, as you always would have, even if your brother hadn't died. Keep your vision straight and look forward." Alister's face became sour. Seto must've known that such an action would be easier said then done, that 'just moving on' wasn't something that he could do while he was alive and his younger brother was dead. Alister was filled with rage once more.

"Oh yeah? And how am I supposed to do that, Kaiba? How the hell am I supposed to live my life knowing I failed the one person I loved most?" Seto calmly walked over to where Alister was standing. All sorts of emotions were running through his body and Alister was unable to read his expression. It looked like he was holding back something important… like he wasn't telling him the whole truth.

"Think for a moment about what the second most important thing was to you concerning your brother. The first, obviously, was your brother's safety, but the second… wasn't that his happiness?" Alister blinked and stared at him.

"Well, of course, but—"

"And do you think that if your brother was alive today, that it would make him happy to see you like this? Do you think he wanted you to live your life in the past and wallow in your sorrow?" Alister was speechless. Was Seto being serious right now? Recycling the same bull shit everyone else gave him when he would talk about his brother's death? Alister shook his head… somehow he had envisioned that Seto would understand him better than that. Alister supposed that had been his mistake.

"You know what? Forget I even asked. Better yet, forget I even came here. I guess this means you get your wish; I'll never bother you again." Seto said nothing, letting Alister leave the room without protest. When the door had closed, Seto returned to his desk and let his body fall into his chair. The second he had, his office phone began to go off. Seto sat still, letting the phone ring again and again until it finally went to voice mail.

"Hey Nii-sama, just letting you know that I'll be getting out early today from school since it's a half day. I was also wondering what time you'll be coming home tonight. I hope it won't be too late, love you!"The phone clicked off when the voice mail was received. Seto buried his face in his hands. It was going to be a long day and an even longer night. He began to get the sinking feeling that he wouldn't be able to go home when his work was finished…

"Good morning, Mr. Kaiba." Seto's head jolted upward.

"What? Who's…?"

"Calm down, it's only me…" Jun said with a smile as she was pulling up the shades in his office. Seto cringed as the light hit him right in the face. He glared at her.

"Do you mind?" Seto barked.

"Oh hush, you're only angry because you haven't had your coffee yet this morning," Jun pulled out the cup she had been holding in her other hand, and placed it on Seto's desk before she began tidying up his desk. "I'm assuming you didn't go home last night." Seto glared at her again as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Other than the fact that you found me here, asleep, on my desk, what gave you that idea?" Jun gathered up all his papers and stacked them neatly into one pile on his desk.

"The fact that you have drool all over these papers," Jun said with a grin. Seto rolled his eyes.

"If you've got nothing to tell me that refers to Kaiba Corp. matters, I'm going to ask you to leave."

"Oh, I did come here to deliver a letter I found this morning. It's addressed to you only." Seto's eyes widened a bit as she pulled out a plain letter that she had been holding under her arm. Seto took it from her hand. There was no return address or anything. All it had was Seto's name on it. "I'll leave you to your work, Mr. Kaiba," Jun said as she left the room.

Seto waited until he heard the door shut to open the letter. He was feeling very anxious about it, considering that it wasn't a formal letter at all and thus, the information it held could mean multiple things. The scenarios Seto had in mind were ones mainly involving Mokuba getting kidnapped but he didn't want to imagine the worst until he had read the letter himself.

When he opened the letter, though, he was relieved to see that it was from Alister.

Dear Seto Kaiba,

I want to thank you for what you told me yesterday. I also want to apologize for my behavior. At the time, it seemed like you were just telling me off with the same old crap that I got from everyone else but last night when I went home and sleep finally came to me, I had a dream. I had a dream about Miruko. He told me exactly what you told me; how all he ever wanted was for me to be happy and that nothing would make him smile more than to see that I'm okay.

I thought it was just some silly dream but the next morning when I woke up, I didn't see Miruko everywhere I went. I wasn't reminded of his death and how I had failed him every second. At first, I thought it was a miracle but then I realized that it was because of what you told me… that I should be spending my life living rather than in the past. You know, I really had thought you were a heartless jerk for a second there but you really came through for me. I guess a part of me always knew you would, which was the reason I came, so I'm embarrassed to have ever doubted you.

So thank you, for all you've done. I wish you and Mokuba only the best in your future.

-Sincerely, Alister

Seto had to read the letter over a couple times before he could fully grasp what Alister had said. He was… alright. Everything was fine. Everything had turned out okay. Alister was no longer haunted by his brother's death… but… how? Seto dropped the letter to his desk and buried his face in his hands.

He was happy, yes, that Alister was able to overcome this obstacle but he hadn't thought it would actually work. Seto, despite his efforts to hold back, felt himself break down. Alister may not see it the same way, but Seto knew this to be a miracle. He had nothing to do with it at all because the truth was…

Seto had used the same recycled crap as everyone else did, like something out of a sitcom. He had done it to get Alister out of his hair. He had told Alister that because he didn't know what else to tell him. He had wanted nothing more to do with Alister's situation because he hadn't wanted to empathize with him. He didn't want to have to say the only thing that was on his mind…

That if it were Seto, in Alister's shoes, the only thing he would've done, could've done, to escape what had happened would be… to kill himself. Seto couldn't imagine a world where his brother wasn't by his side. He never wanted to think of such a world. Yet it was the truth… if he had failed his brother in that way, there would be no living on for him. Seto wouldn't have a reason to live anymore. He wouldn't have even tried to find a reason. His life would be over before it truly ended.

Seto had left work early that day. Since he had stayed up most of the night before working, he knew it wouldn't hurt his business too bad. He just wanted a reason to get out of that office. When Seto had gotten home, he had no concept of what time it was or that Mokuba would even be home. Mokuba was and he had heard Seto the minute he had walked through the door.

"Nii-sama! You're home! What was up with last night? You didn't call me or anything to let me know you would be staying over night," Mokuba said walking towards him. Seto dropped his brief case to the ground when he saw Mokuba and ran over to him, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Whoa, where did this come from?" Mokuba asked as Seto held him close within his arms.

"I'm sorry I didn't call…" Mokuba patted his brother on the back.

"Nii-sama, it's okay, I understand that you were probably busy…"

"No, I'm promising you it'll never happen again." Mokuba put his arms around Seto's waist and hugged him back.

"Okay Nii-sama… Are you sure you're alright though? Did something happen at Kaiba Corp.?" Seto loosened his hold on Mokuba and brought him forward, shaking his head.

"No, nothing like that… It's just that I did a lot of thinking at the office today and I hope you know how much you mean to me," Seto placed his hands on Mokuba's cheeks and smiled, "I love you, kiddo. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I love you too, Nii-sama. I don't know what I'd do either. I wouldn't want to live in a world like that." Seto kissed Mokuba on the forehead.

"Me neither, Mokuba, me neither."

A/N: HiKari here, happy that this one-shot is finally finished! Why am I so happy? I shall tell you—this one-shot was first conceived over six months ago. At the time, I was starting my first semester of college and if anyone can remember that far back, I didn't have a lot of time for writing outside of my main story. The sad thing was that by the time winter break came and I had time to write it, I had completely forgotten what I wanted to happen in the middle of the story. Thus explaining why I'm finally posting this now. Well anyways, I'm happy it's finished and off my chest and I hope you enjoyed reading it all the same! Do have a wonderful day.