disclaimer: i do not own yugioh or any of its characters, nor do i own the character Saga from DNangel

It was late. Much too late, in fact, and Kaiba still wonders why he did not go home earlier.

As the hours went by, Kaiba sat at his computer in his office at the Kaiba Corp. main building, working over countless dueling strategies and simulations to beat the three Egyptian God cards. As he started a new simulation, he rested his chin on his hand, noticing his eyelids feeling heavy and a yawn clawing desperately at his throat. The clock struck three.

Kaiba gave a jolt as his chin slid off his hand, nearly banging his forehead on the keyboard. Red letters flashed across the computer screen reading SIMULATION MALFUNTION.

"Damn," he said, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. "All right. Control, Alt., Delete."

The screen cleared and Kaiba checked his watch. Any longer and he would miss his meeting the next morning. He shut down the computer and gathered his briefcase. He turned out the lights at the door and locked it behind him.

Exhausted as he was, Kaiba still tried to keep a cool demeanor, and from falling asleep, as he walked down the deserted hallway. He stopped in front of the elevator.

Maybe not, he thought, allowing himself a small grin. I'd probably just fall asleep on the way down.

Bypassing the elevator, he instead went through the door to the stairwell, and instantly regretted it.

No sooner had the door shut behind him and he began his decent, Kaiba felt a searing pain in the back of his head as something long and metal collided with it. He tumbled down the flight of stairs and slammed against the wall at the bottom. His case popped open, sending Duel Monsters cards everywhere along the landing. Dazed, Kaiba felt the back of his head and saw red on his fingers. Looking up, he saw for a split second, a figure in black. Then, his head was pulled back by the hair, and he was staring at the ceiling.

"Who…?" he tried to say, but was still dizzy from the blow and blood was slowly leaking out of his head.

Next to the pain in his head, Kaiba felt the slightest pinprick as a needle (or so he suspected) punctured the skin of his exposed neck. Almost instantly, his mind clouded and vision blurred as he fought to remain conscious, but he had already been drowsy to begin with. A masked face swam before his eyes as they closed and he was swallowed in darkness.

- - - -

There was a feeling of immense warmth and comfort. He didn't want to move or wake up; it felt too good. But he had to wake up. Something was wrong. Someone had attacked him, and possibly drugged and or abducted him. He needed to know where he was. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

Kaiba was not, as he had expected, in some unknown room, bound and gagged, with a guard standing outside a door. He was, in fact, in his bed at the Kaiba Mansion. As he sat up, his head gave a dull throb. He put his hand up and felt bandages wrapped tightly around his head.

So it wasn't a dream, he thought. I really was attacked...But how did I get here?

The door opened and he turned round. A butler walked in with a tray carrying an ice pack and fresh bandages.

"Ah, Master Seto," he said, noticing Kaiba. "You're awake."

"Of course I am," Kaiba said rather rudely. "Sorry," he added, apologizing for his tone. Then he stopped. He had never apologized for such a thing to anyone before, especially to the hired help.

Kaiba shook his head, ignoring this annoying fact, yet it only made his head throb again.

"What happened to me?" he asked the butler, clutching his forehead.

The butler set the tray down on the bedside table and stood by the bed.

"No one is sure, Master Seto," he said. "You were indeed attacked, but by whom we are still not certain. You were found by a security moments later; a guard had spotted you on the monitor."

"Who?" Kaiba asked.

"A Mr. Johnson, I believe."

"Ah…" Kaiba said, thinking. "Remind me to give that man a raise."

"Of course, sir," the butler said curtly.

"Was there anything else?"

"We managed to retrieve all of your scattered cards and replaced the few which had been bloodstained," the butler replied.

"Good, good," Kaiba muttered.

"As for your injuries, well…."the butler trailed off, seeming unsure of what to say.

"What is it?"

"Well, Dr. Kenjo says the bandages should be off by tonight. However, he believes you were most definitely injected with something. He's still running blood tests."

Kaiba fell back onto his pillows. Could he have been poisoned? Was it possible he could die? What would happen then? He truly felt a little scared.

"What about my meeting for this morning?" he asked the butler, looking at the clock. It read 11:04 am.

"Mr. Saga, the new CEO of Saga Entertainment, understand the situation and has rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon," the butler replied promptly. "Now, if you will excuse me, sir, your bandages need replacing."

"Leave it," said Kaiba, looking away.

"Pardon, sir?"

"I said leave it. I'll do it myself."

The butler bowed and exited the room. Kaiba grabbed the fresh bandages, slid out of bed, and walked over to his mirror. His currant bandages were wrapped around his head like a headband. He unwrapped them and took a small hand mirror from the desk, holding it up so that it reflected the other mirror, showing the back of his head.

There was nothing visibly noticeable, but when he ran his hand over it he felt a rather large and painful lump. Then he turned round and examined his neck. He couldn't see any obvious signs that he had been stuck, but then again he doubted he would see anything without a magnifying glass. Thus, he wrapped the new bandages tightly around his head, which gave another throb, and sat on his bed, laptop in hand. He wanted to continue looking up duel strategies.

- - - -

The next morning, Kaiba called for Dr. Kenjo, his personal medical doctor. The doctor was a middle-aged man with dark hair and large glasses. He was tall, yet still shorter than his boss. He walked into the foyer of the Kaiba Mansion just as Kaiba was about to step out, wearing a long white lab coat.

"Mr. Kaiba, sir," he said. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"Any later, Kenjo, and I would have been late," said Kaiba.

"Y-yes, sir. Sorry, sir," Kenjo stammered. "Uh… about the blood tests, sir…?"

"What about them?" Kaiba said. "Did you find something?"

"W-well, we're not quite sure yet."

"I am not the most patient man in the world right now, Kenjo," Kaiba said dangerously. "Did you find something or not?"

"I-it's actually quite amazing," Kenjo said. "You see, whatever was in your bloodstream was nothing anyone at the lab had ever seen before."

"Meaning?"

"Whatever it was has an incredibly unique chemical make up. We still don't know about it. We still need a little more time, to take more tests…"

"You can have as much time as you want," Kaiba said. "Just as long as you get results."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Kaiba."

Kaiba grabbed his briefcase and put his hand on the doorknob before he turned to Kenjo.

"What exactly do you mean by 'was' in my bloodstream?" he asked.

"Well, uh," Kenjo said. "According to the blood sample you gave to me just last night, sir, there is no trace of the chemical left. I-it's almost as though it just disappeared or faded away."

Kaiba looked at Kenjo. In truth, the flicker of fear he had felt the day before had now turned into relief at the fact that he wasn't in any danger. But he certainly wasn't about to say that in front of Kenjo.

"Good," he said shortly. "Let's make sure it stays that way."

And he left for his office.

- - - -

At his office in the Kaiba Corp. main building, Kaiba poured himself a small glass of scotch and sipped it as he sat at his desk. He worked on his computer, for business this time, for about half an hour, sipping his drink the whole time. He received a call from his guard downstairs.

"Mr. Kaiba, the chopper will be ready in another half an hour."

"Fine," Kaiba replied, and finished off his glass of scotch.

He finished up his email and began looking at duel strategies again, to pass the time. No sooner than he had started, however, his mind fogged over and he began to feel dizzy. He held onto his forehead as it began throbbing again. He found himself grasping for consciousness as his mind slipped in and out of focus. He almost fell forward onto the desk but caught himself by throwing out his other hand, which knocked over the empty glass. He seemed to be seeing it as though through a hazy mist. He had only had one glass, and scotch wasn't considered strong at all. Had it been drugged?

As this thought flashed through his mind, the glass rolled off the desk and he finally lost his battle to stay awake. He slid off of his chair and fell to the floor, his outstretched landing next to the glass.

- - - -

note: about the whole thing where he's drinking scotch, i have no idea what drinks are strong and what aren't so if it's wrong just fill in the blank. sorry again. look forward to new chapters: )