Seto Kaiba absently shuffled his deck whenever he was unhappy.
It was the fluid, mechanical motion that soothed him, of course. He took absurd care of his cards—they were every bit as glossy as the day that he had received them—and so they slid naturally on top of each other, as clean-cut as marble. Seto Kaiba always enjoyed order, always enjoyed cleanliness, so it was only natural he enjoyed shuffling a clean, well-kept deck.
He shuffled, drew a hand, took a look, then put it back. Over and over again. His cards were long burned into his memory, of course, he had no need to read their names or their effects, memorizing new cards he planned to add long before they were placed in his deck, so he was always on top of new strategies for his deck in any situation that may arise.
He knew his deck as well as he knew himself, if not moreso. And he always knew exactly how every card would full into place in his hands, how each one would react to someone playing it. That was the nature of a true duelist.
"You know, some people think that cards can tell us about ourselves." The voice of Ryou Bakura said, light and absent above Seto Kaiba as class ended, and the students began to leave. Nearby, he heard Jounouchi and Yuugi talking, though judging by the way that Yuugi's body was turned ever-so-subtly in his direction, he was listening-in.
Seto Kaiba didn't bring himself to mind, knowing that there was no use in protesting—the brat could never seem to keep himself out of Kaiba's business. Rather, he shuffled his deck once-more as the Occult Nerd sat across from him, a dreamy smile on his face while he watched Kaiba work.
Ryou Bakura was probably the least-offensive member of the nerd herd, aside from Yuugi, whom Kaiba respected as a duelist. Ryou Bakura never bleated about friendship at him, never talked too much, never got in his personal space. As such, Kaiba tended to partner with him in projects so that the nerd herd would leave him alone about friends, and he didn't have to put up with someone so annoying in the meantime.
But a member of the nerd herd was still a member, so Bakura had taken to sitting across from him and talking to him about magic whenever he damn well pleased, and Kaiba would listen whether he liked it or not. After all—he didn't want to have to put up with Yuugi again without a duel promised to him.
"Obviously." He replied without looking up as he went for a bridge shuffle, somehow still keeping his cards from bending or peeling with the rougher treatment. "The monsters you pick, the strategies that you use. All of them are what you put your trust in as your most loyal monsters. Even the most novice duelist would know that—at least I would hope so. Wouldn't be surprised with the dogs out there these days..."
Bakura laughed. "Well, not just your full deck, I mean your topdeck card. A lot of fans out there say that your soul is in the card you topdeck."
Seto's eyebrows raised further as he set down his cards and steepled his fingertips in front of his lips. "Are you planning on telling me anything new, Bakura? Or just talk about novice duelist concepts at me all day?"
"Patience, Kaiba, I'm almost there." Bakura said, a twinkle in his dreamy, doe-brown eyes. "What I'm curious is...what would happen if you drew from someone else's deck?"
Kaiba paused, then looked down at Bakura's pocket. "I thought you preferred playing tabletop role-playing games."
"Doesn't mean I don't enjoy dueling." He removed his Occult Deck from his pocket, just where Seto had suspected it would be, and he held out his hand for Bakura's deck, cutting it, and doing the same with his deck for Bakura. Of course, by this point, Yuugi and the dog were staring outright, because the only two people on the planet who had handled Seto's deck with his permission were Mokuba and Yuugi, for good reason.
Seto drew from the top of Bakura's deck, and snorted. "Disgraced Mage. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought this was a joke."
The albino's head cocked to the side, his eyes glittering with laughter. "I don't know, isn't that exactly what you are?"
"If you start with that..." Seto glared, and Bakura waved his hand, before drawing from the top himself.
"Peten the Dark Clown." He smiled brightly. "I like that one a lot. What are the odds?"
Seto took his cards back, beginning to shuffle again. "One in forty."
Bakura snickered. "I'll bet I don't have to guess which card you'll topdeck."
Taking no small amount of pride in the fact that he was quite right in that assessment, Seto drew the top card once, showed Bakura without looking, and then slid it into the stack. He cut it three times, drew the top three, and put them back. Finally, he did a bridge shuffle, selected three random cards, and showed him.
"Amazing." Bakura breathed. "Has she ever not been in your hand?"
"When I didn't have one." Seto answered simply. He wasn't going to question how Bakura knew, when he'd been unconscious at the time.
Bakura's eyes softened. "She's quite attached to you. But I guess I should've expected that from a dragon." He dropped his cheeks onto his hands. "Can I see how long it will take for me to draw one?"
"You won't." Seto said simply. "Anyone but Mokuba who tries will bottomdeck."
Bakura's eyes sparkled with challenge, but, just as Seto predicted all three were stacked neatly on the bottom, and he sighed.
"But Jou told me that Yuugi was able to summon her!" Bakura protested.
"That was because I was trying to save Kaiba." Yuugi cut-in, not even bothering to hide how he'd been listening anymore. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to."
Seto nodded in agreement as he started to shuffle again.
"By the way, what card do you think Yuugi is?" Bakura asked absently.
"XYZ Dragon cannon." Seto hummed. "If you have to ask why, then you haven't watched me duel enough."
"What about me?" Jou asked eagerly, and Seto gave him a long, long look—one that clearly asked what he was expecting, before he gathered his briefcase, and walked out the door.
"You're not worth putting in my deck." He scoffed, earning a loud protest behind him.
A/N:
Seto's actual analysis of Jou:
Jou is X-Head Cannon, Anzu is Y-Dragon Head, and Honda is Z-Metal Tank.
And together they make XYZ-Dragon Cannon in Yuugi.