King of Games

A collection of loosely connected one-shot-ish stories that explain how the DM characters got from the end of the series to where they are in my fic "Choice" and explores some other random things that just wouldn't fit into said fic. Paring currently include Yug ix Shizuka and Seto x reincarnated!Kisara with possibilities of Rebbecca x Mokuba and Mai X Joey in the future.

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-gi-oh it wouldn't have taken 13 months for the tenth anniversary movie to be released in the U.S.

Chapter One: Mi casa es su casa.

Yugi had played in a few tournaments and made a few public appearances during his college years to help pay the bills and a few more after he started work as an Egyptologist. (He specialized in translating hieroglyphs.) It was a nice side gig but not his career. But Egyptology didn't really pay well, it was a struggle just to make ends meet and with the wedding only a few months away…well Yugi had decided it might be time to try gaming professionally. The money involved was incredible and he was the reigning champion.

He talked it over with Shizuka. If it was what he wanted to do she was okay with it. Yugi however wasn't. So far they had managed keep their engagement, even their relationship a secret from the press. Yugi wanted to keep it that way and if he started a real dueling career the cameras would be on him and the reporters would be digging and eventually they would find her. If they found her they would reveal her and then she would be a target. Yugi wanted more than anything to keep that from happening. He had had to rescue too many of his loved ones in the past; he did not want his fiancée added to the list. On the other hand, they needed money if they were going to start a life together and get her through medical school. There was only one person he knew who had both the means and (possibly) the inclination to help him. It was time to pay a visit to Kaiba.

An awkward silence filled the room as purple and blue eyes each held the other in a steady gaze. Finally Yugi spoke. "Today's report said that your stocks have risen again."

"You didn't come here to discuss my stocks, or were you planning to invest?" Kaiba's chill voice put a quick end to Yugi's attempt at small talk.

"No, I didn't come to discuss stocks; I've already put all the money I can afford to invest into KaibaCorp." Kaiba's surprise didn't register in his tightly controlled body. He really needed to remember to keep a closer eye on his stockholders.

Yugi took a big breath. "I'm here because I need your help."

Kaiba allowed a rather sarcastic smile to cross his lips. "And what makes you think that I would help you?"

"Even with my KC investment, I'm a little strapped for cash at the moment and"

Kaiba's smile abruptly disappeared and anger filled his face as well as something that looked almost like disappointment. "You came here to ask for money!" Kaiba spat the word. He didn't know what he had been expecting but it hadn't been this. He wasn't even quite sure why he was so angry but he was. His blood was boiling. He was seriously considering throwing Yugi out.

"No! Good heavens. No! It never even occurred to me." Yugi proceeded to explain the favor he had really come to ask for as quickly as he could. "I want to rejoin the professional dueling circuit but if I do reporters will start digging in to my life and they'll find out that I'm engaged to Shizuka Kawai and well you know what tends to happen to members of our families. I want to marry Shizuka and I want to duel so that we can build a better life for ourselves but I don't want to put her in danger and if the press finds out she's my wife then everyone will know and she will be in danger and well" Yugi finally stopped and took a breath, "well you were the only person I could think of who might be able to help."

Kaiba stared blankly at his rival and (though the only part of himself that would admit it was buried so far down even he didn't know it existed) his friend. Finally he spoke in a completely deadpan voice. "You're marrying the mutt's sister?"

Yugi suppressed his (traitorous) laugh. "Yes, I am marrying Jonouchi's sister. You know we really should get together more often."

"What happened to the friendship girl…uh Anzu…you two were always giving each other sickening looks."

Yugi squirmed a little. "We tried dating for a bit but it didn't really work out. It was just a crush on both sides. We're more comfortable as friends. I knew what having a soulmate was like and I knew that wasn't it no matter how much I wanted it to be so I broke it off. Still took a while to get over the crush though, even after we broke up. It wasn't love but it was powerful. After Jonouchi got his own place Shizuka started coming by more often to visit her brother and then she started coming even when her brother was out of town and we'd hang out. We fit together in a way Anzu and I always wished we did but never could. Took Jonouchi a while to get use to the idea but he came around eventually."

Kaiba listened to all this with a blank slightly confused look on his face. Then he suddenly dropped all the walls he'd been building around his heart since he was adopted by Gozabura and showed Yugi a face few others had ever seen. It wasn't quite happy but it was relaxed. "I've found someone too."

It was Yugi's turn to be surprised.

"Her name is Sara. She has hair so blonde it's almost white and eyes that are a startling shade of blue."

It took Yugi a moment to understand. When he finally grasped what Kaiba was getting at his eyes widened and he let out a gasp. His face quickly turned to worry as a new thought struck him. "Are you sure it's not just her appearance that…" he let the thought trail afraid that Kaiba might take offence.

He didn't, he answered calmly. "I'm sure. When I first met her she was very similar to the way you were before you solved the puzzle. Extraordinarily shy, fragile and puzzled by a world that didn't seem to have a place for her. I had no patience for her then just as I had no patience for you then. Things didn't change until she happen to be at a duel in which I played my Blue Eyes." Kaiba shuddered remembering the intensity of the feeling. "After that she started displaying new inner strength whenever she was around the cards and me." He paused again then looked into Yugi's eyes; his eyes and voice were filled with love, joy, wonder, fear and confusion. "It's her. It's definitely her."

Yugi nodded accepting Kaiba's verdict.

Kaiba closed his eyes for a moment before continuing in a barely audible whisper.
"Tonight I will return the ka she gave to me so many centuries ago. I will present her with my three Blue Eye White Dragon cards and this." He took a small jewelry box from his desk and opened it so that Yugi could see the contents. The box held a ring. In the center of the brilliant white gold band set the brightest sapphire Yugi had ever seen. It wasn't a large stone which, Yugi reflected, was probably a good thing, had the sapphire been any larger its magnificent color would have been overwhelming to the point of being gaudy. As it was the sapphire ring was one of the most stunningly beautiful things Yugi had ever seen.

"You see Yugi," Kaiba continued. "I've been having the same problem."

The two men sat in silence. Finally Kaiba stood and turned to face the large window behind his desk, "I will help you Yugi. Come back Wednesday at three. We'll discuss the details."

Yugi stood up too. "Thank you Kaiba." He went to leave but just after he opened the door Kaiba spoke again.

"Seto, you may call me Seto."

Seto heard the door click shut. He stood at the window for a few more minutes. When he returned to his desk there was no sign in either his face or his bearing that anything unusual had occurred.

Yugi entered Seto's office again at precisely three o' clock on Wednesday only to find it empty. He walked uncertainly to the desk where he found an envelope. He opened the envelope to find a long list of complicated instructions. He stared at it for a confused moment before shrugging and doing as the first item on the list directed. At eleven Yugi was just starting to reach the end of the list and he had long ago begun to suspect that several of the instructions were purely for Kaiba's amusement. Still he followed everyone faithfully and to the letter. Finally he arrived in a secluded area of the currently empty Kaiba Corp Amusement park. Yugi pointed his flashlight at the now rather worn piece of paper and Shizuka (whom he had picked up somewhere around direction 15)read it.

"I'm supposed to do what?"

Shizuka read it again.

Yugi sighed, thought for a moment and decided just to get it over with. He then activated his duel disk (which had been on his arm since direction 5 for no apparent reason). He spread his legs in the classic battle stance, raised his hand and (feeling utterly foolish) cried in a suitably dramatic fashion, "I summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon!" Yugi lowered his arm and waited uncomfortably for something to happen.

When something did happen it wasn't at all what he'd expected, though he probably should have. As he and Shizuka watched, a life sized non-holographic white dragon came swooping through the trees and landed in front of them. Yugi rolled his eyes. Kaiba's love of spectacle would never cease to amaze him. Considering this was almost certainly one of Kaiba's secret hide outs he didn't even have the excuse of doing it for the crowds.

Yugi didn't need the flashlight again. He remembered the last cryptic instruction on the sheet word for word.

52.)To one who knows the importance of names: Whisper in the dragon's ear.

It suddenly made a lot more sense than when he'd first read it back in Kaiba's office. Yugi walked towards the mega mechanical dragon and positioned his lips near what he assumed to be its ear.

"Kisara" he whispered.

The dragon opened its mouth and Yugi, after giving his fiancée a nervous glance, walked in.

The lavishly furnished room in the dragon's belly already contained three occupants when Yugi and Shizuka walked in. Yugi greeted Seto, Mokuba and a young lady he would have known instantly to be Sara even if she hadn't been wearing a brilliant sapphire ring. Seto ordered them to sit and they did. Then he presented his proposal.

Whatever Yugi had expected Kaiba to come up with this was not it. Yugi repeated Kaiba's words slowly.

"You want us to come live with you? You want Shizuka and I to move into your mansion?" Yugi turned to Mokuba. "Please, if this is some kind of a joke have mercy on us and end it now." No one could miss the hurt and disappointment in Yugi's large purple eyes. He had actually believed Kaiba was going to help them.

"It's not a joke." Mokuba assured them. "The plan was actually mine, it took a long time to convince Nii-sama but Sara and I teamed up and eventually we managed it." Mokuba flashed a smile at his soon-to-be sister-in-law. "We could easily arrange to hide your marriage documents but unless you lived in separate houses and rarely saw each other the press would still figure out you were at the very least a committed couple. You could probably pass off the idea that she was just staying with you as a favor to her brother for a while but the charade wouldn't last and even that much connection might put Shizuka in danger. You need to live somewhere where it is conceivable that you could both be there independently of one another."

Yugi still didn't look convinced. "Sure the media will absolutely accept that Kaiba just up and decided to have his greatest come live with him and how are you going to explain Shizuka's prescence?"

Kaiba opened his mouth to respond but Mokuba jumped in, he seemed to think Yugi might take the news better from him. "You wouldn't be moving in as Kaiba's rival. You'd be moving in as Kaiba's employee. Kaiba's retiring from the dueling circuit. He may make a special appearance or two but he won't be participating in anymore tournaments. Kaiba Corp is a gaming company so it makes sense that we would hire some else to take his place as our representative. Your moving in will still be a little strange but not noteworthy. I'm sure the marketing department can come up with some very convincing arguments as to why it makes perfect sense before then."

Yugi, much to the Mokuba's relief, did not to appear to be at all offended or upset at the idea of working for Kaiba Corp. In fact, he seemed excited.

"So does that mean I won't have to hire an agent?" Yugi was positively thrilled. He'd had a rather bad experience with agents the last time he'd tried to launch his dueling career and he wasn't looking forward to repeating the experience.

"For all intents and purposes, I will be your agent." Seto replied. Yugi thought for a moment then nodded. He trusted Kaiba. Seto wouldn't make any of the idiotic suggestions that those fools had and if he did suggest something that Yugi disagreed with he would at least know that it was worth taking into consideration.

"I find that agreeable but how will you get Shizuka into the mansion?"

Mokuba smiled proudly. "That took a bit of creative thinking. Officially we're hiring Sara as a maid, in actuality she'll be working with me in the Magic Lab. That won't work for Shizuka though. We could maybe get away with hiring a med student as a maid but once she graduated the ruse would fall apart. So instead Sara suggested we make a public announcement that KC will be offering a scholarship to a med student on the condition that they accept an internship as our family doctor's assistant. When said doctor retires, which he plans to do in a few years, it will be only natural to offer the job to the intern. Of course, the scholarship competition will be rigged and Shizuka will be the recipient. You are planning to go to med school aren't you?"

Shizuka nodded but she looked worried. "No offense Mr. Kaiba,"

"Mokuba, Mr. Kaiba's my brother"

"Mokuba, but I'm not sure I want to go through med school just to be your family doctor. I want to work with children. I was hoping to work in a hospital."

To everyone's surprise it was Seto who addressed her concerns. "The duties of Kaiba family physician aren't severe all the same I doubt you would find the time to work in a hospital but Mokuba and I plan to build a Domino city orphanage. The plans are still in the early stages but I suppose our orphanage could use an on staff pediatrician. You could probably fill both positions. Would that suit you?"

"Yes. Yes it would. It would be amazing." Shizuka looked at the stern man with the fierce blue eyes in wonder. Was anything she'd ever heard about him true? He was supposed to be a hard hearted business man with no friends who cared for no one except himself. Yet here he was, sitting next to his beautiful fiancée and his obviously well cared for little brother, inviting his longtime rival and his fiancée into his home and bending over backward to make sure no one knew the true reason.

Shizuka turned to Yugi, her love. She saw in his eyes that he had reached the same decision she had. Of course, they wouldn't accept yet. They needed a few days to let the idea sink in, but they both knew that in the end they would. Yugi kissed her and smiled. This was actually going to work.

The five of them talked and joked until dawn. Seto was often cold and silent but Sara and Mokuba would take turns carefully drawing him back into the conversation. As Yugi watched Mokuba once again needle his big brother until he rejoined the conversation, he finally realized the reason behind the Kaibas' generous offer. Mokuba wanted his brother to open up, Sara wanted friends and Seto would do anything to make his family happy. Even invite Yugi into his home.