It was autumn now, the leaves on the trees were vibrant shades of orange, yellow and gold, with splashes of red and brown. You were huddled up with Chaos, Whitefang and Fenris, Moi on your lap in front of the fire, warming yourselves from the cold air. It was a Thursday 11th September, and you had just finished your dinner.
“Destiny?” Moi peeped quietly, shifting to get comfortable.
“Yeah, hun?” you asked, stroking her hair. This was a common situation for you both, ever since you were orphaned; trying to be as close as possible, you playing the mothering figure, as well as sister.
“I was just thinking…”
“Go on” you probed, when she hesitated.
“Well… We haven’t seen Mokuba, Seto, Jessica, or any of the others in so long. I was just wondering, is there something going on, that they’re avoiding us?”
“They aren’t avoiding us, sweety. You know that they’re busy people” you soothed her gently.
“So are you. You work almost all the time, and you still manage to make time for me”
“And what’s brought this on? You normally don’t mind when we don’t hear from them”
You were playing dumb. You knew what was going on, but you weren’t going to let on.
“You mean you…” Moi stuttered, looking up you face. You went through great effort to keep it blank, “Oh… Well, never mind” she sighed, and settled back against you once again. You went back to stroking her hair, hugging her tightly.
~Jess, I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up! The look on her face, the disappointment in her voice… It’s killing me here!~
~Don’t let spill! This is going to be brilliant, don’t spoil it!~
The next day, you were on your way to work, when a limo pulled up next to you. You had decided to work, to enjoy the full extent of the autumn beauty. Looking at the limo, you wondered who it was. After all, you knew a few people who rode around in them, although one in particular.
“Is company welcome?” A deep voice asked, and you grinned at the sound.
“Of course, you don’t need to ask”
As the door opened Seto stepped out, dressed in his Battle City outfit.
“Long time, no see” you laughed, looping your arm through his.
“I know. I’m sorry. Even if I wasn’t staying away on purpose, I doubt I would have seen you much more over the past month. I’ve been so busy at Kaiba Corp”
“You’re not going to have to pull out of our plans, are you?” you asked suddenly, stopping in front of him and placing your hands on his chest. He looked at you with a smile and grasped the back of your head, kissing your forehead lightly.
“Don’t worry, everything will still go ahead as planned” he reassured you.
“Phew, that’s good. I couldn’t take it if anything were to happen to prevent this. I mean, after all, it is…”
You shut up instantly when you saw Moi running up behind Seto, and laughed when she jumped on his back.
“Big brother!” she cried, hugging the life out of him. You thought it was so cute how she now called him big brother. She had always seen him as such, but never said it out loud to him until the two of you had officially started a relationship, and now that she was Mokuba’s girlfriend, it gave her even more reason.
“Hello, Moi. How have you been?” he asked her, smiling back at her.
“Ok, I guess. But big brother… Do you…”
“Come now, Moi. You’re going to be late for school, and Seto and I have a very important meeting to attend to” you chided her, pulling her off Seto and giving her a nudge towards her school. Although it was a three day weekend, and everyone else had the day off, Moi was part of the fencing club, and they were practicing for the up and coming competition. Without a word she wandered off, head hanging low. As you watched her walk away, you felt so bad.
‘Seto, I can’t stand being so cold to her. It’s not me”
“You’re not being cold, believe me, I know what cold is. And besides, when she finds out why, she will be more than forgiving, trust me. Now, we have to be getting to that ‘meeting’, don’t we?”
“Aye. Then I have to get to work” you smiled, walking once again.
“I thought you had the day off?”
“I do, in retrospect, but I have to go in briefly to check up on the production of the latest models”
Seto looked at you with a curious look, “What new models?”
“I have designed a new fight simulator for the Armed Forces to use in their training. Virtual reality suits. They allow for maximum mobility and safety”
“Sounds interesting. I might have to come and have a look”
Later that day, you were over at Seto’s house, making the final preparations for the evening. You were trying to put up the streamers to decorate the roof, but he kept pulling you off the ladder and swinging you around, laughing.
“Seto, please…” you said, putting the streamer down on the table and turning to him, wrapping your arms around his neck and standing in close to him, “ I have to get this done! You know how important this is. And, if you help me, the sooner it will get done and the sooner I can thank you” you murmured, lips scant inches from his. Just as he lent forward, you skipped away, once again picking up the streamer and climbing the ladder to put it in place.
“Tease”
“Thanks Jess, I really appreciate this. I hate it when things go wrong at the last minute. But I’m going to be stuck here just a little longer than I thought, and can’t pick her up. If you could do that, and then meet us at Seto’s place along with everyone else?”
You were on the phone to Jess, asking her to pick up Moi in your place. The trial of your new technologies hadn’t gone too well, and you had to fix it before you left. Not that it would take long, not with Seto there to help you, anyway, and all your dedicated staff.
“It’s not trouble. I have to go past her school on my way to Seto’s, and I’m also picking up Mokuba while I’m at it, if that’s alright with Seto?”
You glanced up at him as he pulled apart and reassembled your virtual systems. He looked at you and you signed the question to him, to which he nodded a reply.
“Ok, thank you. We will be able to meet you at the front door, as planned, to lead everyone in, as planned. Again, thank you”
Jess reassured it was alright one last time and hung up. With a sigh your turned back to the work in front of you, typing furiously to correct all the bugs in the virtual world’s programming. There weren’t a lot of mistakes, but there were enough to make it crash.
“Now, let’s see if this works… NO!!” you cried, when it came up with an error. One that you couldn’t see, you had been staring at the screen for too long, going through this dang coding.
“What’s the matter, babe?” Seto sighed, putting down his successful end of the project repairs and standing behind you, leaning over your shoulder.
“There one measly little bug somewhere in here, but the error message won’t pinpoint it, nor can I see it. I’ve been doing this for too long, I think” you told him, rubbing your eyes.
“Come one then, I think that that’s the sign that it’s time to give up for the night” Seto instructed, wrapping his arms around your waist and lifting you up out of the chair.
“But…”
“Nah uh, no ‘buts’”
He dragged you out of the building, locking up behind the two of you as you went.
“Seto, I can walk, ya know” you laughed, as he picked you up deposited you in his car.
“I don’t care, you need to gain your energy back before we get home, so I’m going to make sure that you conserve as much as possible”
“Alright. Well, in that case, I’m going to take a nap. Wake me when we get there…”
You awoke a little later by someone shaking your shoulder gently. It turned out to be Moi, looking confused.
“Sis, why are we at Seto’s? And why is everyone else here, too?” she asked, gesturing around the main entrance to Seto’s mansion.
“Huh? Oh, right” Shaking your head to clear it and wake up, you smiled and stepped out of the car, leading the way to the front door, standing in between Seto and Jessica, with Moi and Mokuba in front of you. Behind them stood ‘everyone else’, consisting of Yami, Yugi, Téa, Tristan, Joey, Serenity, Mai, Bakura, Noah, Marik, Odion and Ishizu.
“Glad to see that you could all make it” you said, smiling at them all in turn.
“The pleasure is ours” Ishizu replied with a soft smile in return.
“Alrighty, then, let’s get this started” Jessica cheered. Seto smiled and you and he both pushed open the main doors to reveal the inside. It was all dark, so nothing could be seen.
“Go on, Moi” you stated, jerking your head towards the inside.
Still looking thoroughly confused, she walked through ahead of you all and stopped in the middle, unable to see anything.
“Destiny, what’s going on, why aren’t the lights on? Sister?”
Suddenly, the lights sprang on, and she could see al of you scattered around the highly decorated main room, food laid out on many various tables, a slide set up over the stairs, and presents piled at the back of the room.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOI!!” you all shouted in unison.
“W-what? B-but, I thought… I thought…” she stuttered, tears in her eyes.
“You thought that we had all forgotten, hadn’t you? That were all off and too busy for you. Not a chance kiddo. Everyone here came from their own little areas just to be with you on this special day. I know that your birthday isn’t actually until tomorrow, but this is going to be one birthday you won’t forget; a slumber party!!” Jessica laughed, flinging her arms around the younger girl’s shoulders.
“I’m sorry that none of have spent time together or been in touch much lately, Moi. We’ve planning this for months, and wanted it to gave the greatest impact we could” Marik said, also hugging her.
Moi stood there silently for a little longer, her bangs hiding her eyes. You were standing with Seto, smiling. You knew she was happy and any second now…
“Thank you everyone!!” she cried at top volume and flung herself on everyone in turn, saving Mokuba for last, whom she knocked over. Good thing she wasn’t wearing lip gloss or anything, considering she kissed him all over his face. That made Noah pout a bit, but he got over it.
“So, young’un, what do ya want to do first?” you asked her, after she’d finished squeezing the life out of you and your friends.
“Umm…” she muttered hesitantly, glancing at the pile of presents constantly.
“I t’ink tat’s clear as anythin’” Joey chuckled and passed her a rather large parcel, “Dis is from Serenity, Tristan, Duke, Bakura, Mai, Yug and me” he said. Moi wasted no time in ripping off the wrapping paper and sending it flying everywhere. Once that was done, she gingerly undid the box that was revealed and glanced inside, letting out an excited squeak.
“What have you got there, Moi?” Odion asked. She pulled out the contents to reveal an entire stack of manga books, nearly every volume of every one she ever liked.
“Good grief. We won’t see her months now” you joked, slapping Joey playfully. Moi, however, hugged the three of them again, unable to say ‘thank you’.
“Here is the one from Marik, Odion and I” Ishizu offered. Inside the elegant wrappings was a velvet box that contained matching earrings, bracelet and rings, all gold, styled in true Egyptian fashion. (Only the hieroglyphs on the bracelet translate to “Moi”)
“Wow” That was all anybody could say, while Marik and Odion looked pleased with themselves. Turned out, they had picked out the earrings and the bracelet. They weren’t a set, they just matched.
“Ok, my turn!” Noah announced, handing her a medium sized parcel. Inside was a collection of the latest virtual reality games that she could play using your systems at home.
“I might have to steal those sometime” you muttered, and she hugged them to her chest tightly, playfully glaring at you, “Only when you’re not using them, of course” you added sheepishly.
“Right, well. Here, kiddo, this is from Yami and I” Jessica laughed. Their present was the latest series from Tamora Pierce; The Protector of the Small.
“I’m not going to see her for months with all this reading” Mokuba huffed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll drag her out for fresh air every now and then… Or die trying” you said dramatically.
“Anyway, here you go, kid. This is from the two of us” Seto interjected, sliding a parcel down the long coffee table. From you she received the latest model of the duel disk system, combined efforts of Kaiba and Chaos Corps, and a full deck worth of new cards, some of your own design, that Pegasus had been kind enough to make up afterwards.
“Oh my goodness.. This means I can duel against all of you now!” she cried, jumping on Seto’s lap.
“You could before, lass”
“Um, Moi... Here. This is the last one, and from me” Mokuba said shyly. He had given her a gorgeous dress sash and two tickets to the dance that was being held at her school. She hadn’t even planned on going.
“I can’t help but think that there’s a hint there. Jewelry, sash…”
“And dress” you finished for her. Standing up with Jess and the other girls, you brought a dazzling dress out of the closet. (The sash is included in the pic)
“Oh my…” Moi gasped, gazing at it. You smiled as you watched the joy on her face as she thanked everyone again. It was great that once again she had so many people to care for her.
“Now that we’ve littered Seto’s floor with wrapping paper, who’s up for food?” you asked, looking around at the mess.
“FOOD!!” (Do I really need to say who yelled ‘food’? If you’ve been reading my past stories, you’ll know)
“How about we go and make some popcorn and pop in a movie?” Serenity suggested after you’d all eaten.
“Ill do it!!” Joey hollered and raced into he kitchen before anyone could stop him. But you all raced off after him to keep and eye on him. Luckily Seto had a large kitchen so you could all fit comfortably. Joey grabbed the popcorn machine, placing it in the middle of the room on the table. Then he grabbed the bag of popcorn and tipped some in, not bothering to measure it.
“Ah, Joseph, I think you had better take some of that out…” Mai tried to tell him, but he cut her off by switching it on.
“AND PUT THE LID ON!!” the rest of you yelled, but it was too late. Unlike most machines, this one took no time at all to heat up, and the popcorn began to shoot out all over the place, kernels and all.
“Duck and Cover!!” you yelled, pulling Seto down with Mokuba and Moi, Jessica going with you and pulling Yami down. All of you hit the floor, hiding under the table, or behind benches and cupboard doors.
“Geez, Joey, what were you thinking?!” Bakura asked him, covering his head with his hands.
“He wasn’t!” Seto and you both cried together, and smiled at each other. All around you, kernels were bouncing on the floor, and ricocheting off surfaces and making pots ping.
“I’ll try and turn it off” Joey commented, shuffling out form his hiding space and creeping forward cautiously. Unfortunately, it wasn’t cautiously enough, and several kernels and multiple pieces of popcorn hit him on the forhead, knocking him off balance and into the cupboard behind him.
“Joey!” Serenity called, echoed my Yugi.
“It’s just popcorn, people” Noah stated, though you couldn’t see him.
“Even the tiniest missile can be deadly” you retorted.
“Tastes good, though” Jessica muttered. She had managed to catch a piece in her mouth and was chewing contently.
Eventually the onslaught ceased and you were all able to come out of your refuges. While Yugi and some of the others were trying to revive Joey, the rest of you were cleaning up the popcorn that was deemed inedible, while placing the rest in bowls. Surprisingly, there was still quite a lot that could be eaten.
“Well, that was fun. Now, what movie shall we watch? Moi?” Tristan asked her, picking her up and placing her on Mokuba’s back. Not that he was complaining.
In the end, the movie of choice, or rather the movies of choice, were some of the more classic disney films, and everyone who wanted to sang along with the songs they knew. Soon it came time that everyone was bored of that and decided it was time for something a little more lively.
“It’s time for mattress surfing!!” Mokuba cried, grabbing Moi’s hand and dragging her to the top of the stairs. Hopping on one of the mattresses, they slid down at top speed, screaming in delight all the way. Unfortunately for him, Seto was in the way at the bottom and was bowled over, dragging you down with him. You ended up on top of him in the middle of the floor, with the mattress and kids on top of you.
“Now I know how a sandwich filling feels” you huffed.
By the time that everyone was tired it was 5am and it would soon be daylight. Cleaning up the room, you took the mattresses that you had all been sliding on laid them out, pulling out sleeping bags and pillows, too. Everyone had their feet pointed into the middle of the circle that the beds created. You were in between Seto and Mokuba, with Moi on the other side if Mokie and Jess next to her. (From there you can make your own order). No one awoke until 12pm, by which time you were all hungry, so you made everyone a special breakfast, where they made and order and you cooked it to perfection.
To Moi, it was the best birthday ever, and one of the most entertaining, too. She was so happy to spend time with all her friends, her sister and her boyfriend, together in one room, and a single fight had broken out. Except for when Duke had commented on your sleepwear and received a bashing from Bakura and Marik, who were standing next to him at the time.
Everyone had a brilliant time, and you couldn’t help but wonder what all of you would get up to next.
(I hope that you enjoyed this little story of mine and that it made sense)
A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY REAL LIFE SPIRIT SISTER; ATENA KEMET AND MY GOOD FRIEND; ANGEL SMITH, FOR IDEAS, SUPPORT AND WHO MY OTHER TWO CHARACTERS ARE DEDICATED TO!!
