"Just what in the hell do you think you're doing?"

A silver haired girl had completely set up shop across of the very table that Seto Kaiba had been sitting at, flipping open her laptop, spreading out a few papers and even opening a book. She looked up in confusion, and even Kaiba had to admit that her big blue eyes took him by surprise.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there," she said sweetly, flashing him and equally sweet smile. Those electric blue eyes – the most ferocious blue Kaiba had ever seen. Kaiba couldn't tear himself away.

A waitress came by, asking if the two would like anything to start off.

"That woman leaving at once," Kaiba snapped, and the waitress turned to the woman across of Kaiba for help.

But she just smiled. "I'll have a melon soda and a bowl of edamame. Would you like anything? My treat."

Kaiba was incredulous. "Absolutely not."

"Alright, then just the soda and soybeans," she told the waitress, smiling as she sent the worker off. Kaiba waited for an explanation as to why the silver haired girl had come and seized his table when there were clearly other tables available, but she just turned to her laptop, clicking on something and then glancing down at her book.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Kaiba snapped, attempting to obliterate her with his own ice-cold blue eyes. Briefly, he noticed the giant gold cuffs on both of her wrists. What was she, an Egyptian princess? Kaiba could have laughed once more – a pale skinned, white haired girl, an Egyptian?

The girl looked up, blinking several times like she was coming out of a trance. "Oh, sorry. Did you say something?"

What—what was happening? Did she just ignore him? "I asked what the hell you're doing."

"Reading?" the woman said, pointing a slender finger down at her open book. "And job hunting. And shortly, I'll be eating soybeans and drinking melon soda," she said with a smile.

Kaiba resisted the growl at the back of his throat. "I mean what the hell are you doing at my table," he snarled, biting off every word.

"This is my favorite booth," she answered, as though this were the answer to life itself. "And my favorite restaurant."

Kaiba was aware of the effect he had on women. He was rich, famous, and easy on the eyes. Women were, naturally, drawn to him. However, he also aware the effects of women in general. They were lying, conniving devils and could never be trusted. They can have a sweet exterior, fluffy, like a young rabbit, but let your eyes slip off them for two seconds and they warped into treacherous snakes. He refused to let himself be won over by some broad with a pretty face and any relationships he had with the opposite sex were strictly physical.

The president of Kaiba Corporations was aware that this was also his favorite casual restaurant, and his favorite booth. Mokuba had been coercing him to retreat from the office for at least a few hours for lunch and this was the place he had been coming to for the past four years – Tsuki's. To this exact booth, everyday. For four years. So, how could this possibly be some strange woman's "favorite booth" when he had never seen her occupying it before?

If Kaiba could laugh, he would have right now. This was just some raging fan girl's tactic to try and score her fifteen minutes of fame. She would scurry off in a few minutes and rant on and on about some spiel about how she and the Seto Kaiba had shared an afternoon in Tsuki's.

Treacherous snakes. That's all women would ever be.

But she didn't leave. She sat there, quietly, reading her book and occasionally looking up to check something on her computer before returning those electric blue eyes to the crisp pages of what looked like a new book. She would absently pluck edamame from the bowl and gently weave them out of the pods with her teeth before placing the empty shells in a tiny ceramic container the waitress provided. Her thin lips would open and close, searching for the straw to her melon soda, her eyes glued on the material in front of her.

She was quiet. She didn't bother him, not one bit. Except for the fact that she did. It was a sinking feeling. The bone grinding feeling of recognition – of knowing that you know someone, but not knowing how, or even why you would possibly have any connection to that person whatsoever.

"It's like, you can see these things coming. Of course the killer's in the closet, silly girl," the woman said to herself softly with a little giggle. Kaiba glanced down at the book she was reading. She was already half way done!

"If you are not going to leave, then you are to sit there quietly, and pretend as though you don't exist. Do you understand?" Kaiba snapped. "I have work to do."

The woman giggled again, and Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "I seemed to have missed the joke."

She glanced up, gazing at him through those cerulean orbs in her face. "Oh, no, it's just that I don't think you're as mean as everyone says."

Kaiba was about to fire back some nasty remark to prove that he was, indeed, the picture that 'everyone' painted of him, but her phone rang, several patterned bleeps, and she reached into her purse to retrieve it. Kaiba glanced at her bag. Now, he didn't know much about women's fashion, but that was no thrift store bag. It was designer – expensive designer, at least 250,000 yen. Her laptop was also very slim, but he could tell from the logo that it was made top of the line, with the best graphic and sound cards, probably even custom made. That Egyptian princess story seemed more plausible, except for, well, the Egyptian part. She was just rich, wasn't she?

But what would a rich fan girl be doing here? Women were bad enough as it was, but rich women were the absolute worst. They were selfish, needy, and demanding, with egos so big no amount of designer purses could contain it. So, who the hell was she?

"Nii-sama," she said into the phone with a smile. Nii-sama. Kaiba felt his insides clench from that word. That was what Mokuba called him all the time. She was extremely polite to her brother, and didn't address him by name. "Eh? Really?" she said, still grinning. "That sounds so great, I'll call you in a little to talk. Jaa."

The woman snapped her phone close and tucked it back into her bag and flashed a bright smile at Kaiba. "Well, booth buddy, it's time to go," she said, shutting her laptop, and placing a napkin in her book to mark her place.

Booth…buddy? Kaiba was outraged. Did she even know whom she was speaking to?

The pulled out several bills from a little wallet and Kaiba was once again confused, as it seemed to be made of colored duct tape. She placed the crumpled bills on the table – more than enough to cover the measly order of melon soda and edamame before glancing back at Kaiba. "Have a lovely evening."

And with that, she disappeared. Gone, just like that.

Kaiba glanced back at his laptop. What the hell had he even done today? He hadn't even gone back to the office at the time he said he would – it was now already four in the afternoon and his "lunch break" was supposed to have ended three hours ago. His computer screen spat out a few bits of numbers but Kaiba didn't even know what they meant. How long had that woman been sitting there and why had Kaiba not done anything productive all day long?

He shook his head. Why did he even think that woman had anything to do with whether or not he was productive? If he had not done anything, it was his own damn fault and no one else's. There was no one to blame but himself – no one to depend on but himself. And he liked it that way.

The brown haired man massaged his temples, resting his elbows on the table, allowing his eyes to close briefly. Things were so hectic. Now that he didn't have high school – or even college – as an excuse, everything was work. Kaiba knew that he made it look easy – hiring and firing and being a hot shot CEO of the most powerful company in the world – but it the plain and simple truth was that it wasn't. Sometimes the decisions he made weren't favorable to everyone, but dammit, he had worked too hard to let all of it crumbled because he felt bad. No, there was no room for feelings in a business room.

"Kaiba-sama," greeted a gruff voice, and Kaiba slid open one eye, tilting his head slightly to see Isono standing beside him. He adjusted his suit and glasses as though before the presence of a strict parent.

"What is it?" Kaiba growled, lifting himself from the table.

"Your brother has been looking for you all day," Isono informed him. "And you never came back to the office, so—"

Kaiba slammed his laptop shut, gathering his papers and shuffling them into a black folder with a golden Kaiba Corporations insignia emblazoned on it. He shut his books, cramming them into his briefcase and stood up. "Mokuba is eighteen now, can he not go out and purchase his own dinner?" Kaiba snapped, sliding out of the booth. He sent one more fleeting glance to where that woman had been sitting before sweeping out of the restaurant.

"Mokuba-san wanted to eat with you, Kaiba-sama," Isono told him and immediately, Kaiba felt a pang of guilt. The only person – the only person – in this entire world that had never expected anything of him just wanted a chance to share a meal with him and the first thing he had done was snapped.

"Is he at home already?" Kaiba asked, keeping his tone hardened. The sliding doors opened as he approached and Kaiba led his right hand man through it and into the limousine parked right in the front. He wondered if they had been searching for him.

Kaiba scoffed inwardly. As though it mattered whether or not he was present. He knew his workers particularly liked when he was not there hounding on him. Today was a break for them; they were glad that he wasn't there.

"Mokuba-san returned home after class. It was his first day at college," Isono said, moving into the driver's seat.

"I know that," Kaiba snapped. How could he forget his baby brother's first day at the university? He had accompanied his brother to school and everything, until, of course, he had met up with the geek squad. They were older than him by a few years, but Mokuba still enjoyed their company, and vice versa. Kaiba hated it.

"I apologize sir. But yes, Mokuba-san is at home, awaiting your return," the guard said, glancing up at Kaiba through the rear view mirror. Normally, the frigid blue eyes of the Kaiba Corporations president would have met him through the glass, but today, the younger man had his gaze turned to the window, watching the houses and cars blur as they passed.

There were times when Isono actually felt bad for his boss. He had been living at the Kaiba mansion before Kaiba and Mokuba were even adopted, and he remembered the elder brother exerting some acts of kindness, seeming like an innocent soul. But he had hardened quickly, destroying everything in his path ruthlessly to climb to the top, as well as building Kaiba Corporations up from the ground after completely remodeling its products.

But being a CEO of a company – especially at the rate that Kaiba had ascended – came with a price, and that price was light. Kaiba was shrouded, blinded by taking care of the company that Isono felt like his boss forgot to take care of himself sometimes. Kaiba's world revolved around Kaiba Corporations and Mokuba, and that's it. Isono knew that Seto Kaiba needed light in his dry, darkened world.

No one could grant him that, though. He was Seto Kaiba – as unpleasant and hard to please as anyone on earth could possibly be. No one could bring light back into his life; Isono was willing to bet his life that Seto Kaiba would pass life by, blinded by darkness.

"We are here, sir," Isono said, pulling the limousine to a halt in front of a grand building. It was pearly white, balconies galore, and at the very top in the penthouse was the Kaiba suite. They no longer resided in the mansion Gozaburo Kaiba had imprisoned them in – no, Kaiba was sure to make sure to erase everything of their past and start anew.

Kaiba pushed open the door, adjusting his coat, before slamming the car door behind him. "See you tomorrow, Isono," Kaiba said to his guard as he swept by, entering the building. Isono couldn't help but be a little surprised as he watched the tall brunette retreat. Kaiba never bade him farewell. He normally just left Isono in silence, the older man wondering if it was alright to go or not.

Isono furrowed his brows. Had something happened today? He quickly shook the thought from his head. Even if something did happen, it wouldn't have affected Kaiba at all; he was about as emotional as a boulder. Perhaps the president was just being nice. Isono left it at that, and hopped back into the limo, driving away before his boss decided to change his mind.

"Nii-sama," Mokuba greeted as Kaiba stepped through the door. His brother had grown up quite a bit these past five years. He had chopped off that annoyingly long hair, but still left it a complete, tousled mess atop his head. He dressed a lot cleaner now, but still had a tendency to wear plain t-shirts under vests. Mokuba liked vests and scarves and other clothing accessories that Kaiba saw no need for. But at least Mokuba was dressing like an adult.

The soft scent of roast filled the air and Kaiba tossed his things aside, kicking off his shoes. It felt good to be home. He shrugged off his coat, tossing it aside and making his way into the kitchen, where Mokuba seemed to have been working all day to cook.

That was something else about Mokuba – he had learned to do chores. They didn't have a maid cook or clean for them, as Mokuba tended to household activities and actually seemed to enjoy it. Kaiba could care less. It was better this way – Mokuba would learn to be independent. The less people in your life, the less you needed to depend on those people. The less you needed to care.

"I made your favorite, Nii-sama," Mokuba said with a bright grin. He gestured to a filet he had been using. The glass cover was smeared with precipitation, as it was still piping hot, and Mokuba had left it closed to keep in the flavor as well as the temperature. "Beef filet."

"You didn't need to do that," Kaiba said, glancing around at the other things Mokuba had made. He really had spent all day in here, hadn't he? "Today was your first day, you should have made something for yourself."

"Yeah, but I know it's been hard for you at Kaiba Corp lately with all the recent layoffs, so today can be for both of us," Mokuba said, still smiling. He faltered for a moment, doubt flashing in his grey eyes. "T-that's okay, right, Nii-sama?"

"Of course," Kaiba answered immediately, rolling up his sleeves to wash his hands. Kaiba's own brother needed to ask him if it was alright for him to cook Kaiba's favorite meal for dinner? He couldn't help but feel a little insulted. What had Mokuba grown to think of him? "Thank you, Mokuba."

Mokuba seemed a little surprised by Kaiba's offer of gratitude, but didn't say anything about it. "Nii-sama, did something happen today?"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, flicking the water off his hands. He wiped off with a nearby towel. He picked up a few dishes and began to carry them into the living room. "Nothing in particular. Why do you ask?"

Mokuba shrugged, flashing his brother a grin. "I don't know. Forget I asked," he said, taking the pan of filet and placing it on the table atop a cloth. "Did you figure out the glitch in the program?"

"Not yet," Kaiba answered, seating himself on the leather couch. That's what he was supposed to have been doing today, right? Trying to figure out the glitch in his newest upgrade for a game he had created, as well as find out who the hell made the mistake anyway. Finding glitches as damn annoying and Kaiba was more adept at the business aspect of Kaiba Corporations rather than the extremely technical things. That's why he hired technicians. "How was school?"

"It was neat," Mokuba said with a grin. He was extremely elated that his brother asked. "College is so awesome! I started at nine today, and ended at twelve! It was great, way better than an eight to three day at high school, and all the teachers did were syllabuses and class descriptions, so it was easy. I'm taking math, literature, economics, intro to programming, and intro to business law."

"Do not overwhelm yourself, Mokuba," Kaiba warned him with a stern glance. Domino University may not be as prestigious as other schools, but it was still a university. "College is meant to be very self-directed; do not let yourself be blinded the rest of the semester by the easiness of the first few days."

"I know," the raven-haired boy said with a smile. "I'm gonna go to tutoring and everything. And I might try out for the track team, too."

"Sports in college?" Kaiba asked, furrowing his brows. He was not the athletic type himself, but Mokuba was quite talented at running – or, well, as talented as one could be at running. Kaiba had gone to all of his brother's track meets at high school, of course, and was surprised that Mokuba had done so well. But, he was a Kaiba, and therefore it was in his genes to succeed.

"Yeah, I think it'll be fine," Mokuba said, waving him off. "Yugi guys have study sessions every week and they invited me so I think I'll be fine. They're in higher classes and will help a lot."

Kaiba scoffed. "That group of losers have the brain power to light up a tiny ant city, nowhere near good enough to be teaching you anything, especially not that mutt Katsuya. What is he even doing at a university, let alone teaching my brother? Get yourself real tutors, Mokuba."

"It'll be fine, Nii-sama," Mokuba assured him with a gentle laugh. Of course Kaiba would say something about Katsuya Jonouchi. "Don't worry too much about me. I'm sure Yugi them will be enough, but if it'll make you feel better, I'll ask Isono to help me find a good tutor."

"Do that," Kaiba said, slicing a piece of the beef filet. "I can foresee your intelligence actually decreasing substantially should you spend an ample amount of time with Yugi and the geek squad."

Mokuba chuckled. Some things never changed, did they? However, as he watched his brother, still singing the same tune as five years ago, he couldn't help but wish that they did. He had been hoping that his brother would meet a girl – that would definitely soften Kaiba a lot! Mokuba was glad that Kaiba had been taking some classes at Domino University before, and figured that now that Kaiba had a lot more time, he would be able to meet a nice woman at work or something.

Over the years, Mokuba would be eating breakfast, watching morning cartoons while waiting for his brother to get ready, and he, indeed, would be greeted by a woman. He used to think that it was good that his brother was out being more social, and Mokuba had made sure to ask for their names and commit it to memory, should he ever see her around. He didn't. There weren't a lot of girls that came by to spend the night, but there were enough to make Mokuba not care to learn names. They were temporary. Like workers or clothes, even; disposable after some amount of time.

But Mokuba didn't want his brother to be alone. He just wondered what kind of woman Kaiba would actually let into his life. Kaiba never spoke about the women that stayed over, and every time Mokuba asked, he always said it was business, but Mokuba wasn't an idiot. He knew that his brother was quite good looking – the girls were probably import models as well – and he was rich, and smart so of course he had woman fawning over him. But Kaiba did tend to take advantage of people and those girls were no different.

Mokuba glanced back at his older brother placing the food Mokuba cooked into his mouth, chewing. He had flicked on the television, changing it to some news channel with the stock exchange rolling by on a marquee at the bottom of the screen. Kaiba's eyes followed as he watched numbers fly tumble across the screen and Mokuba knew that their brief conversation was done.

Some things never did change. But Mokuba's only wish was that they would. He was quite unaware, however, that his wish was soon going to be granted.