1Okay guys, here's my first YuGiOh! Seto/Ishizu story! I've had this idea in my head for a while and I finally got around to writing it.(YAY for me!)
This takes place about 2 years after the series finale, but before YuGiOh! GX
(I don't watch the new show, it just doesn't have the same greatness as the original - however Kaiba-man may be one of my new favorite cards!). FYI, The romance isn't going to happen right away because I just don't see Seto and Ishizu falling for each other like that, but please hang in there with me, you won't be disappointed!
I apologize now if any of the characters seem a little OOC, this is just how I perceived them from watching the show. That being said, I'll be using the names of the characters from the English dub. The horror! I know, but more people know them and I'm trying to make this story as understandable as possible.
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh! or any of it's characters. That honor belongs to Kazuki Takahashi-sensei!
CH.1 - A NEW WIND BLOWS IN
Domino City High School has just started a new school year. Students are filing into the building, talking to their friends about their summer vacations and dreading their coming homework assignments. In one particular home room, an old and familiar group of friends greet each other. The most noticeable of the group is the King of Games - Yugi Moto. Around him are his life-long friends Tea Gardener, Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, and Ryou Bakura. Not too far from the talkative group sits none other than Kaiba Corporation CEO, Seto Kaiba, himself. His head rests in one of his large hands as Seto takes the rare opportunity to lose himself in deep thought.
"The first day of school is always a waste of time. All it marks is another mundane school year surrounded by Yugi and his annoying friends. Nothing ever changes here."
Seto allows himself a glance around at the students filing into the classroom. As the mindless chatter grates at his nerves, he grumbles to no one in particular in annoyance as he returns to his thoughts.
"Every year I am surrounded by the same idiots that are only obsessed about their meaningless lives and forced to 'learn' from incompetent fools called teachers that only waste my time -valuable time better spent running my company . . . "
As Seto ponders this, he is oblivious to the teacher's entrance into the classroom with a new student. However the rest of the class falls silent as they stare at the exotic teen before them. In fact, it isn't until he overhears Tea's whispering that Seto snaps out of his reverie.
"Hey Yugi, what's he doing back here? I thought he and Ishizu were living in Egypt?"
Upon hearing the Egyptian woman's name, Seto's blue eyes stare at the front of the room. The rare expression of surprise crosses his features as Kaiba sees none other than Marik Ishtar standing at the podium next to the teacher. The Egyptian hasn't changed much in the years after the Pharaoh's departure. He still has a lean muscular build of tanned skin that contrasts his pale blonde hair which has grown long enough to pull back into a ponytail. Marik's pale violet eyes scan the room and glint with a smirk as he spots familiar faces. He is wearing the dark blue school uniform with the jacket open to reveal a black graphic tee of his favorite band underneath. On his feet are worn black vans and to complete the "delinquent look" his jacket sleeves are rolled up, exposing his forearms. The teacher clears her throat as she finishes writing Marik's name on the blackboard in katakana. She turns around and addresses the class. Taking the hint, Yugi - the honcho(class leader), stands up and begins the class ritual.
"Kiritsu!"(stand)
The class follows his lead and stands, boys with their hands at their sides and girls with their hands folded in front of them.
"Rei!" (bow)
The students then bow and in one voice formally greet the teacher.
"Sensei, ohayou gozaimasu!"(Good morning, Teacher)
The teacher then bows and greets her students.
"Mina-san, ohayou." (Good morning, everyone)
"Chakuseki!"(sit!) -commands Yugi.
The scraping of chairs is heard as the class returns to their seats. A low hum of whispers begins to rise as the students ask each other about the new student. Seto, Yugi and his friends are the only ones that refrain from spreading wild rumors. As the teacher clears her throat they all settle down and listen intently.
"Class, I hope that everyone had a nice summer break." -begins the teacher. " As you can see we have a new transfer student this year, his name is Marik Ishtar. He comes all the way from Egypt and I trust that you all will help him adjust to life in Japan.
Marik-kun, why don't you tell us about yourself?"
Marik tilts his head to the side in thought as he thinks of what to say to his new classmates.
"Well I'm from Cairo, Egypt and I moved here recently with my older sister. I've visited Japan briefly during the Battle City tournament and I had a lot of fun here. I'm looking forward to starting this school year with all of you." -replies the Egyptian.
The teacher smiles and places a hand on Marik's shoulder as he finishes speaking. She faces the class and notices the questions dying to escape their lips.
"Does anyone have a question for Marik-kun?" -asks the instructor.
As soon as the question passes her lips, the class erupts into a barrage of questions for the new transfer student.
"You're from Egypt right? Have you ever seen a real mummy?"-asks a boy.
"All the time, but that's mostly because my sister is an archaeologist with the Egyptian Archaeology Society."
"Can you read ancient hieroglyphics and stuff?" -asks a girl with a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Yes actually, I can speak ancient Egyptian as well."
"Really?! Can you speak any other languages?" -inquires another girl.
" In addition to Egyptian, I speak Arabic, English, Japanese, and a little Spanish. I'll also be learning French too."
"Wow Marik-kun, that is VERY impressive. You are very fortunate, and if I'm not mistaken, our very own Kaiba-kun is also a polyglot."-replies the teacher.
She takes a look at the clock on the wall and realizes that she must begin class soon. Taking a look around the room she spots the only empty seat, right next to the intimidating CEO. The seat obviously empty due to Kaiba's attitude and aura of irritability.
"Your seat will be next to Kaiba-kun."
Spotting the empty desk, Marik makes his way through the rows of desk and sits down. The teacher turns around and begins to write the day's lesson on the board. The students take out their notebooks and textbooks to follow the lesson. Yugi and the gang make eye contact with Marik and smile as the Egyptian smiles back. Seto watches the pale-blonde haired teen beside him with a suspicious eye.
"Hello Kaiba, how's it going?" -asks Marik nonchalantly.
"Up until a moment ago, I was bored out of my mind. Now I find myself in the rare occasion of having my curiosity piqued as to why you are here. I was under the impression that you and your sister were still living under a rock in Egypt." -replies Seto with his trademark air of superiority.
Marik simply chuckles at Seto's response, causing the other to raise an eyebrow in silent question.
"Same old, classic Kaiba; Ishizu said you probably haven't changed. Hmm, I guess now I owe her 2000 yen.(about 20)" -Marik comments.
"If your sister has the time to make such mindless bets, then she hasn't changed much either. I envy her for having the time to entertain such juvenile activities."
"Weird. . . She said you'd say something like that too. But don't let it get to you, it annoys the hell out of me too if that helps."
Kaiba has narrowed his ice-blue eyes at this revelation and simply glares at Marik.
"Why are you still talking to me?"
"C'mon Kaiba, I'm new here and I'm just trying to make new friends. You know, it's almost as if, and I hate to say this, you don't want to be my friend.
As Marik says this, he has a look of fake shock on his face at this "insinuation". Seto simply gives his a look that says "You think?!" before rolling his eyes and resumes looking out the window. He sighs to himself, silently wishing he was anywhere but there.
Later that day
As the Lunch bell rings, the class starts to erupt once again into conversation. Groups of friends enter to visit and exit to buy lunch breads from the vendor. Taking the opportunity, Yugi and his friends come up to Marik and Kaiba to talk and answer some questions.
"Hey Marik, why didn't you tell us you and Ishizu were living in Domino?!"-asks Yugi with a gentle smile.
"Yeah, we could have shown you around or something" -complained Tea.
"Sorry guys, with the move and all, Iz and I didn't have a lot of time to send out announcements." -answered Marik with a hint of humor to his voice.
"Whose Iz?"-Joey questions, clearly confused.
"That's obviously a nickname for Ishizu, mutt."-Seto states in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Nobody asked you money bags!"
"SO MARIK, what are you guys doing here?"-interrupts Yugi, skillfully putting a stop to a potential fight.
"Ishizu was offered a job as the curator of the Domino Museum. They practically begged her since she's one of the few people that has the authority of the Egyptian government to take artifacts in and out of the country."-replies the Egyptian between bites of his lunch.
"Oh yeah, my father told me that about that once. There's only like ten other museums in the world with that authority outside of Egypt." -Ryou muses outloud.
"That's right. Apparently Ishizu is trying to get the King Tut exhibit, but it's in the states right now." -Marik states.
"How is Ishizu doing?" inquires Tea.
"Ishizu's fine. She finally got her doctorate in Archaeology, with a special degree in Egyptology, so now she's Dr. Ishizu Ishtar." -replies Marik obviously proud of his sister's accomplishments.
The gang offers their congratulations for Ishizu to Marik. Their comments are interrupted by Kaiba's deep voice.
"Which university did she get her doctorate?" questions Seto in a genuinely curious tone.
"Cairo University." answers Marik.
"Good for her, I'm surprised that Ishizu would put her nonsense aside long enough to earn a doctorate in an actual science."
With that remark, Kaiba stands up to leave the room. Yugi and his friends watch as the CEO passes through the doorway and disappears down the hallway. Marik has a smirk on his face as the others turn back to continue their conversation. Joey breaks the silence with a grunt in the direction of the space Kaiba just occupied.
"Are you just gonna let him talk about your sister like that! If he talked like that about Serentiy I'd probably-"
"Like what? If anything he seemed genuinely interested in Ishizu. Besides we all know that Kaiba could've been a lot harsher if he wanted to." - replies Marik, interrupting the blonde before he gets carried away.
"That's true, he felt more that free to insult Joey."-Tristan chimes in with a laugh.
Tristan is jokingly pulled into a headlock by Joey, while he continues to laugh at his joke. As they play around, Yugi, Tea, and Marik ignore them and continue their conversation.
"Marik, you sound like your planning something."-Yugi observes with an all-knowing look plastered on his face.
"Now you're starting to sound like my sister, Yugi. Relax, I was just making an observation, that's all." -Marik replies as innocently as possible. "Now if you excuse me, I must be going."
He then stands up and leaves the room, traveling the same direction as a certain tall, ill-tempered CEO with brown hair and blue eyes. Yugi and the gang, watch him curiously(and in Yugi's case suspiciously) as they ponder Marik's actions.
Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba is sitting on one of the school roofs. Usually the area is restricted to students but Seto had easily persuaded a key from one of the teachers. He is so busy typing away on his laptop, trying to get even a small amount of useful work done, that he doesn't notice the Egyptian teen behind him.
"You can take the man out of the business, but you can't take the business out of the man, huh Kaiba?" -comments Marik with a smirk on his lips.
"What do you want Ishtar? Unlike everyone else here, I'm a busy man and the little free time I have is very valuable."-demands Seto, not even looking up from his typing.
"I've noticed. But have you noticed that you're an eighteen year-old teen not a forty year-old salary-man?"-counters Marik.
"If you are trying to test my patience, let me do you a favor and save you some time. I have very little of it left and if you keep pushing me I will personally use every resource at my disposal to destroy you!"-Kaiba threatens with a low voice with traces of his seething rage.
At first Marik is shocked by the sudden darkness in Kaiba's voice. A moment of prolonged silence passes between the two teens. All of the sudden it is broken by Marik's boisterous laughter as he lets himself plop down next to Seto. The CEO's response to all this is a raised eyebrow that twitches with anger. As the tanned teen gets comfortable, Kaiba calms down and returns to his work.
"Are you always that . . . intense?" -questions Marik, trying to start a conversation.
"I have to be, I'm the CEO of a world class corporation."-Seto replies curtly.
"Well, I get that, but don't you ever just relax?"
"You're starting to sound like Mokuba."
"Oh yeah, how's the little squirt doing?"
"If by squirt, you are referring to my younger brother, he is doing just fine."
"Good to know."
As the two continue their conversation, Marik stares out into the blue and white of the sky and the sprawling city scape of Domino. The tapping of computer keys act as a steady soundtrack filling in the pauses of their conversation. Out of curiosity, Marik looks over to see what Kaiba is typing.
"What are you working on anyway" - asks Marik.
" . . . How do you get me to keep talking to you?"
"It's a skill I developed living with my sister. Like you, she doesn't open up much and doesn't know when to stop working. I suppose that's why I like hanging around you."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"Despite what you both think, you and Ishizu have a lot in common. It's kinda funny how vehemently the two of you deny it."
Before Kaiba gets a chance to retort, the bells rings, signaling the end of the lunch period. Marik stands and stretches his long limbs. He looks down over his shoulder at Seto.
"So, are you coming or not?" -Marik inquires, nodding his head towards the door that leads back down to their classroom.
Wordlessly, Kaiba closes his laptop and stands. He walks past the platinum-blonde and down the stairs to class in a few short strides. Marik follows behind with his hands in the pockets of his pants. As they continue down the stairs, Kaiba speaks without turning to face the Egyptian.
"Don't think that this means we're friends or anything. I'm not Yugi, I don't feel the need to surround myself with useless idiots."
"That's good. For I am not an idiot and I make it a point to be useful."
"And how exactly, Marik Ishtar, are you going to be of any use to me?"- asks Seto as he stops and turns around to lock his blue eyes with lavender ones.
"You're a smart guy Kaiba, I'm sure you'll think of something."-Marik answers with a slightly evil smirk on his face.
With that, Marik walks past the CEO leaving him to decode his cryptic message.
-TSUDUKU (TO BE CONTINUED!)
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NINJA-RENKA: What is it that Marik is planning? What will Ishizu's role in this be?And Will Kaiba ever get to finish his work? The answers to these questions and more will be found in Chapter 2- Great Minds Think Alike!
MARIK: The answers in order, SOMETHING DIABOLICAL OF COURSE, A ROLE SHE WON'T EVEN KNOW SHE'S A PART OF, and NOT IF EVERYTHING GOES ACCORDING TO MY PLAN!
NINJA-RENKA: You just HAD to do that, didn't you?
MARIK(SHRUGS): It's what I do.
Anyways, Chapter 2 will bring in Ishizu and Mokuba so their fans will have something to look forward to!
Please Review if you like and want to read more!
-NINJA-RENKA OUT!