Bubbles and Blue Eyes
I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Trust me, I don't. This message will be repeated over and over and over…
"Fifteen years, Kaiba."
"I beg your pardon?" Kaiba glanced over at Yugi, who was watching Mokuba and the other guests oohing and ahhing over Mokuba's birthday kitten. Only, this Yugi was not the wide-eyed, hyper-friendly Yugi who had brought the kitten over from the game shop. No, this was the other Yugi, the only duelist Kaiba would ever acknowledge as a rival.
"The average life span of a house cat, Kaiba. Of course, they can live even longer. Twenty years is not unheard of."
"The kitten will be Mokuba's responsibility. But, thank you, Yugi."
"It's our pleasure, Kaiba. Mokuba is our friend and, though you don't like to hear it, we consider you a friend as well…"
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All in all, Mokuba's joy at having a pet was well worth the minor disruptions she brought to the Kaiba household. She received the name "Bubbles" because her habit of chasing soap bubbles resulted in the cook having to rescue her from a sink full of dishwater. Kaiba was willing to overlook the shredded upholstery on that one chair in the library (mostly because it had been Gozaboru's favorite chair) and as for the cat hairs on his best suits, his valet could deal with that. Seeing the black and white kitten curled up with his little brother at bedtime brought a strange contentment to his mind. Of course, he would never admit to it.
What did raise a small red flag was the kitten's bizarre obsession with Duel Monster cards. When not playing with Mokuba or charming the maids, she could often be found sitting on the briefcase where Kaiba kept his rarest cards. When he took out his deck to research new strategies, Bubbles would be at his side, watching the proceedings with an intensity Kaiba found rather amusing, yet a bit disturbing. He did however have to give her and Mokuba a stern warning when he caught her absconding with one of the Blue Eyes…
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"MASTER SETO!! MASTER SETO!!"
He was just leaving for work when the screaming started. He whirled around to see two of the maids racing for the front door, babbling hysterically about the library…and Mokuba.
As he raced toward the library, he could hear his brother calling out to him, not in fear, but with a mixture of awe and disbelief. He entered the room just as reality moved out, leaving no forwarding address.
Even as he reached for his deck, he knew without looking that one card would be missing. Forced into an awkward stoop despite the twelve-foot high ceiling, his most beloved monster appeared to be nuzzling Mokuba's unruly mop of hair. Mokuba, in turn, was gently stroking the silver-white scales of the dragon's left forearm. Standing guard over a now blank- faced card lying on the floor, was Bubbles the kitten.
Before the events of Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, Kaiba would have insisted on a rational explanation for what he was seeing. A bad dream, a hallucination, a duel disk with a defective holo-emitter. But he was wide-awake, sober and there were no duel disks in the library. And while he continued to deny its influence on him, he had no reason to doubt "The Heart of the Cards"
"Blue Eyes…" He reached out and patted the massive head, gazing into the sapphire eyes that gazed back trustingly. "Blue Eyes, return to your card."
The dragon vanished in a blinding white light, its image reappearing on the card.
"Aw, Seto!"
"We can't have dragons running loose in the house, Mokie. Two of the maids ran screaming out the front door, and I don't think they're coming back."
As he reached down to retrieve his card, Kaiba glanced briefly at Bubbles. The look of smug satisfaction with which she was regarding him might have terrified a lesser mortal. As it was, he merely instructed Mokuba to gather up any loose cards that might be in the house and put them under lock and key. Then, he got in his car and gave the driver a new destination.
He was so deep in thought, he never noticed the ghostly form of the beautiful young girl with white hair and blue eyes sitting beside him, a look of deep concern on her face. He was thinking about the other kittens that had been at the game shop. He remembered the story he had overheard Yugi telling his friends about the kittens getting into his deck, and how he had scoffed when Yugi had described what happened next. He knew Yugi had kept one of the kittens and given one to Mazaki. The mediocre duelist Jonouchi had claimed one for his sister. The last two… the last two had gone to…!
Bakura. Bakura had the last two kittens! Bakura had been an unexpected Battle City finalist. Kaiba remembered Bakura's deck. He remembered what was in Bakura's deck…
When his driver had finally gotten his attention, Kaiba leaped from the car and strode rapidly to the door of the game shop, still unaware of the ghostly presence at his side. He began pounding on the door.
"YUGI?! YUGI,5 GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!! YUGI!!…"
The End
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