Routine

Clicking 'save,' Seto closed his laptop. He had worked long into the night, as was his usual routine. With a recent spike in the gaming industry, KaibaCorp's sales had reached an all time high. And with the large demand, Seto's hours in front of a computer increased.

He paid the hours no mind. They came with the title of Chief Executive Officer. Seto could not have been happier with his current situation. Sales were steadily increasing, new products were being released, a new KaibaLand was nearing its Grand Opening - everything in his life seemed to be running perfectly.

Seto pushed his chair back and stood up. The bold letters on the face of his clock told him that it was time for a few hours of sleep.

Walking towards the door, Seto decided that the best part of working at home was the close proximity to his bedroom. He was able to work late and then walk down the hall to sleep. The set up had no faults. Aside from those two rooms, he rarely ever traveled anywhere else in the mansion.

Seto moved through the long hallway. Everything around him was silent. He could not even hear his own footsteps. The stillness made him increasingly more tired, so when he reached his bedroom, he chose not to waste the second that turning on the light would require.

He felt his way through his room, heading towards the attached bathroom. When he bumped into his nightstand, he blamed it on his exhaustion and not the darkness. He knew that the table was right next to the bathroom door, but his mind was too hazy to remember it before the items placed on the top fell to the floor.

He shook his head and reached into the bathroom to flip on that light. When he was finally able to see, Seto knelt down and began to pick up the objects he had knocked over. Barely paying any attention to what the items were, Seto just put them back on top of the nightstand, rushing through the process. It wasn't until he took hold of the last item that he looked to see what was in his hand.

Seto held his locket. The free hand immediately went up to his neck to feel for the familiar chain, but found nothing. Had he forgotten to put it on that morning? Seto shook the thought away. He never forgot.

But as he examined the actions he had taken to prepare himself for work, he realized that he had never put it on. His mind went to the day before, then all the days in the prior week. His forehead wrinkled in confusion as he discovered that he had no memories at all of wearing it recently. He thought further back, pouring through his memories, trying to remember the last time that he had put it on.

It came to him. Seto had taken off the locket over a month ago and placed it on the side table. It had been over a month since the piece of jewelry had even crossed his mind.

Then a more disturbing thought arose. Seto put the locket back on the table and stood up. When was the last time he had seen Mokuba? He had just gone through all of his memories for the past month and none of them included his brother. Where had Mokuba been? Mokuba had always made a nightly trip to Seto's office to make sure he went to sleep at a reasonable time. When had those visits stopped?

Ignoring his need for sleep, Seto set out for Mokuba's room. At such a late hour, he was certain that he would find his brother asleep in bed. But when Seto opened his brother's door, the room was empty.

Seto leaned his head in further to make certain that he hadn't overlooked his brother's presence. He only pulled back when he heard the front door open. He turned to walk down the stairs. Before he reached the bottom, he saw Mokuba fumbling with the lock on the door. Seto watched as he shook it repeatedly, then gave up. Mokuba made a wide pivot and faced his brother.

He was visibly drunk.

"Where have you been?" Seto asked, continuing to walk down the stairs.

Mokuba didn't seem to register the question. He took a step forward and stumbled, catching himself on the back of the couch. It was then that he glanced up at Seto and said, "Seto, I can't get the door to lock."

Seto walked by Mokuba and quickly twisted the deadbolt into place. Mokuba's jaw dropped as he watched his brother perform the simple task, and then he began to laugh. "Well I feel dumb," he said, bringing on more laughter.

"Are you drunk?" Seto asked. He crossed his arms and stood across from Mokuba.

"Yup." After confirming Seto's suspicion, Mokuba held up a hand with his index finger and thumb nearly touching as if to say, "Just a little bit."

Seto began to speak, but couldn't even think of the proper question. He started several sentences before finally saying, "You were out drinking until three in the morning." He didn't look at Mokuba when he said it, as the words were mostly directed to himself. In order to talk rationally with his brother, Seto had to understand the situation himself.

Mokuba made a sound similar to "Mmhmm" as he tried to walk the length of the couch. When he got to the end, he stopped, no longer having a means to hold himself up.

"You are underage," Seto stated, still not quite comprehending the situation.

"I'm not a kid anymore, Seto. I graduated high school last week," Mokuba said. His hand waved through the air, searching for something else to hold on to.

"You did?" Seto asked quietly. How had he not known that? He couldn't have been that absorbed in his work. A year ago, nothing would have been able to keep Seto from his brother's high school graduation. But now, he hadn't even known about it.

"Yeah. I sent you an email."

Seto shook his head. He didn't remember getting any emails from Mokuba. But even if he had gotten one, would he have had the time to read it? Between his hourly meetings and designing new programming, Seto hadn't even had the time to read the newspaper.

When Seto didn't respond, Mokuba said, "Don't worry, it's not a big deal."

Mokuba took a step forward, leaving the support of the couch behind. His body swayed back and forth momentarily before he found a footing that would continue to hold him upright. Seto watched in disbelief.

"How much did you have to drink?"

Mokuba let his head fall backwards as he thought. His mouth hung slightly open and he began to count out on his fingers. After several moments of consideration, Mokuba answered, "Less than seven, but more than three."

"That is dangerous," Seto said.

"No, what is dangerous is me driving home. Bad idea," Mokuba said, taking another wobbly step.

Seto walked over to stand in front of his brother once more. He put his hands on either shoulder to hold Mokuba in place while he said, "You drove back here?" He could hear the anger coming through his tone, but it felt it was justified.

"You think I'd hire another cab?" Mokuba said. His words poured together as he spoke them, making it difficult to distinguish one from another. He lifted his hands to try to push Seto's off his shoulders, but the result was him lightly hitting his brother's arms.

"Mokuba, you can't be doing that," Seto stated.

"You can't tell me what I can and can't do," Mokuba argued, trying again to get away from his brother.

"I'm your brother."

"And?"

Seto let his hands fall. He stepped back from his brother, too stunned to speak. When did Mokuba lose respect for him? His younger brother had always obeyed him, treating him like a father-figure. Seto didn't understand where this sudden change had come from.

"That used to mean something," Seto said.

"Past tense," Mokuba said. He began to walk towards the staircase, shaking slightly with every movement. But he stopped long enough to ask, "Where is my bedroom?"

"Upstairs, first door," Seto said. He couldn't think of anything else to say. He stood motionless as Mokuba struggled to get up the stairs. His next movement came when Mokuba slammed his door closed and Seto flinched with the sound.

Seto found that he was no longer tired. The revelation that the teenage boy who had just entered his house was a complete stranger to him woke him up. What had happened to Mokuba? None of it made sense to Seto. Mokuba was supposed to be responsible. Hadn't Seto taught him that?

Following Mokuba's path, Seto went back up the stairs. He didn't go to Mokuba's room, but he walked back down the hallway to his office. He needed focus in order to fully grasp the situation in front of him and the best way he knew to do so was to work. So that was what he did.

Seto sat down at his desk and opened his laptop. He made quick work of logging in, then picked up from where he left off.

Note: I do not support underage drinking, or drinking and driving. Do the world a favor and don't do either.