A/N Reminders:

Props to Kagemihari for beta-ing and Nenya85 for giving me Kagemihari's email and indirect inspiration.

Italics is thinking and sometimes flashbacks

::blah:: is dreaming

>>>> indicates scene transition


Chapter 1:

Seto closed his eyes as the plane landed and resisted the urge massage his sore shoulders. His mouth twitched as they tensed up again and tried to make himself relax. He was not nervous. He was not. All he had to do was find the Duelist that was causing all the magical attacks in Smallville, defeat said Duelist, fix the magical barriers, stay a little while afterwards to help with damage control, get out and go back to Domino. All while keeping a low profile, going to an American school, running his company, planning the new tournament that was due to come out in six months, and juggle living with a family of strangers. He'd had stress and responsibilities like this before (well not exactly, but running a multi-billion dollar company and working with a Board of Directors that were a bunch of cutthroats and double-crossers wasn't exactly all tea and cookies), so that wasn't the problem. Then why were his hands sweaty?

Seto frowned and wiped them on his faded jeans. Mokuba hadn't been kidding when he said that he was going to change his wardrobe.

"No more trench coats, nisama," Mokuba had sternly ordered.

"Fine."

"No silver briefcase."

"Fine."

"And no growling."

"Why?"

"You have to be at least mildly pleasant. These people have come to take care of you. Try to act more like…like…Bakura-kun." (1)

"You mean the white-haired Duelist who looks like a strong wind could knock him over?"

"Nisama!"

"Fine, Mokuba, I'll try."

Seto looked down at himself. He wore indigo jeans with a hole in one of the knees. They were tattered at the bottom and splattered with bleach. On top he wore a black long-sleeved t-shirt and a slightly worn leather jacket. The only articles of clothing he had kept from his original attire were his locket and boots. In his jean pockets were his cell phone, his deck, and an MP3 player that Mokuba had given him so he could blend in more with the rest of the teenager population.

Seto opened his eyes as the plane landed with a numerous amount of jostling and bumps. He smirked as the passengers gasped at the jolting. He could have landed the plane much more smoothly.

"Passengers of American Airlines on flight 3478, those of you that came from Japan Air on flight 4571 that arrived in Chicago, Illinois, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Metropolis, Delaware. The time is currently 5:12 PM and the temperature is 63˚ Fahrenheit."

Seto automatically made calculations to convert the temperature and concluded that it was 17.222222˚ Celsius.

"If you are going to Austin, Texas, please remain in your seats. As for everyone else, you may stand only when the plane has come to a complete stop and the seat belt sign has turned off."

As the seat belt sign turned off, Seto clicked it open and stood, glad to finally be able to stretch his long legs. He regretted buying a coach ticket, but, as Mokuba and Yami had said, he had to keep a low profile. Picking up his carry-on in one hand and his laptop in the other, he patiently waited in line as the other passengers gathered their packages and rushed for a place. He walked off the plane, quickly recovering from the mild disorientation he always got after flying. Unfortunately, the headache that was always present whenever he got back on the ground remained.

As he walked out of the tunnel connecting the plane to building, he entered the airport and spotted a small sign with his name on it. Holding the sign was a pale, blonde girl about five-foot seven dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt with a denim jacket. Beside her was a dark haired, balding middle-aged man also wearing jeans but instead of a denim jacket, he wore a coat. Seto walked over to them and stared at them. (2)

"Are you Seto Ryuujin?" asked the man, looking slightly suspicious as he sized up Seto's six-foot-two height and non-Japanese features.

"Yes."

"Oh, well, I am Gabe Sullivan. This is my daughter Chloe." The man spoke slowly, as if Seto was a simpleton.

"Sullivan-san, don't degrade me. I know how to speak English."

Gabe Sullivan's cheeks colored and Chloe arched an eyebrow. "Well, then, let's get the rest of your luggage," Sullivan said hastily. "Do you need any help with those?"

Seto shook his head and they walked to the luggage carousel.

"Excuse me for prying, but-" Chloe started to say when Seto interrupted her.

"I don't look Japanese?" Seto guessed, and then smirked at Chloe's nod. "I had a grandmother that was American." (3)

"Oh."

They retrieved Seto's two suitcases and loaded them into their station wagon. Seto got into the backseat while Chloe got in the front and her father drove.

"Smallville is thirty minutes away from Metropolis, so why don't we get to know each other?" Sullivan asked.

Seto felt the vein above his right eye twitch involuntarily. Why me? Why the hell did I agree to this mission anyways?

"So, Seto, what are your hobbies?" Sullivan asked.

Luckily for Seto, he had mentally prepared to answer all types of standard questions that he would be asked. "First of all, I would like to be referred to by my last name only."

Silence ruled the car.

"Okay," Chloe said slowly.

"As for my hobbies, I like to play Duel Monsters and design computer programs and graphics." Seto said smoothly. It was almost the truth, after all.

"Duel Monsters?"

Seto raised an eyebrow. He knew he had signed contracts to build KaibaLand in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other major cities across the US. It had been in many American newspapers such as New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and he had even gotten an article in Time Magazine, so why hadn't this town heard of it? "I guess you haven't heard of it yet. It is extremely popular in Japan and I heard that Kaiba-san, who designed arenas and other equipment so participants in Duel Monsters can play the game virtually, is building amusement parks all around the United States." It felt very disconcerting to be talking about himself in third person.

"What is it, exactly?" Chloe asked.

"It's a card game. There are monster, magic, and trap cards. You design and create a deck where all of the magic, trap, and monster cards can be combined to perform as best as they possibly can. You are against an opponent who also has a deck and you draw out the cards and either play what is in your hand or save them for later to use in your strategy. Depending on what version of the game you are playing, you either have 2000, 4000, or 8000 life points, and each monster has an attack and defense power. You have to defeat your opponent's monsters and attack their life points and bring them down to zero to win." (4)

"Sounds cool. Do you have a deck with you?" Chloe asked.

"No, I left it at home. I didn't think anyone knew how to play here." Seto lied. He didn't like strangers handling his deck. "But there are sites online about it and they should have pictures of the cards."

"When was this game invented?" Sullivan asked.

"I don't know the exact date, but it was invented by a man named Pegasus J. Crawford." Seto found that he was unable to keep some of the venom out of his voice as he sad Pegasus's name. No amount of mental prepping could hide the loathing Seto felt for the man.

"It sounds like you don't like Pegasus," Chloe said, turning around to face Seto with a raised eyebrow.

"I read some unflattering articles about his lifestyle and personality. In short, the man was a lunatic."

"Was? Is he dead?"

Seto shrugged. "He disappeared after holding a huge tournament. No one really knows where he is or if he's still alive." (5) And if I see Pegasus again in my lifetime, it will be far too soon.

He noticed that his fingernails were digging into his palm and forced himself to relax before he drew blood. Every citizen of Japan knew never to get Seto thinking about the one-eyed psycho. His violent temper always got the better of him where Pegasus was concerned. Various smashed vases and shattered picture frames could vouch for it.

Seto slipped his hand into the pocket that held his deck and brushed his fingers against the cards, feeling them warm from his touch. An echo of a dragon's roar reached Seto's ears and he sighed and his tense muscles loosened, his heart getting considerably lighter. He didn't know why, but ever since he had received the Sennen Rod from Yami, his Blue Eyes White Dragons were always there in the back of his mind whenever he needed comforting. It should have unnerved him as magic always did, but for some reason it felt old and familiar, like how he sometimes was reminded of the fragrance of his mother's perfume.

"So what about your family? You mentioned you had a brother. What is his name?" Sullivan asked, trying to break the silence in the car.

"Mokuba. He's thirteen. He likes Duel Monsters, but his favorite game is Monster Capsule Chess. It's somewhat hard to explain when you don't have the board in front of you." Surprisingly, Mokuba still liked the game, even after his experience with Yami at Death-T. Seto mentally shook his head and cut off that train of thought. He did not want think about Death-T. (6)

"What about your parents?" Chloe asked.

Seto's jaw clenched. In just five minutes, everything he had been forced to talk or remember every subject he hated. This was not a good start to the mission. Making sure he had a strong rein on his emotions, he said, "They're dead."

Thankfully the Sullivans took the hint and the rest of the car ride was spent in blissful silence.

>>>>

"And we've arrived in Smallville!" Sullivan announced. Having gotten tired of the miles of cornfields, Seto had relied on the regular teenage-like attitude of listening to his MP3 player and ignoring the rest of the car's occupants. He returned his gaze to the window to see a faded sign that read, "Smallville, Kansas: The Meteor Capital of the World!" Underneath that read "Population: 1,001". Seto stifled a chuckle. (7) They passed by various farmhouses and as they got nearer to the town itself, Seto glimpsed tiny shops, a grocery store, a movie theater, Smallville High School, and a two-story coffee house called "The Talon".

Seto's brow furrowed and his hand went to the deck in his pocket. He felt the Sennen Rod hidden underneath his jacket pulse against his back. Seto had managed to smuggle it from Japan.He was not going to enter this dangerous mission without one of his most powerful weapons just because ofAmerican security.Seto's fingers wrapped around the Rod and he bit his lip as he felt his senses reach out. There was something…missing in this town. Something important and he didn't know what. His headache was getting stronger each passing moment.

They drove away from the main part of Smallville and entered the suburban area. They stopped in front of a two story house painted white and pale green with a flowerbed full of red, white, and pink roses; a very green lawn; and three steps leading up to a whitewashed porch. On the porch positioned to the right of the wooden front door and adjacent to the large framed window was a swinging bench.

"Here we are!" Sullivan said cheerfully. Seto turned off his MP3 player and put the headphones around his neck. He gathered his carry-on and laptop and exited the car. Sullivan opened the trunk and grabbed his suitcases before Seto could protest and carried them to the porch.

Chloe took out her key and unlocked the door and went inside, Seto and Sullivan following her. They entered through a kitchen painted French countryside yellow with a white stove, pale yellow cupboards, and a rich wooden circular table with a vase of white daisies set in the middle.

"You're staying upstairs in the guest room," Chloe explained. Seto nodded and picked up his things and followed her upstairs. The upstairs was also painted a pale French countryside yellow and there was a mirror in the hallway with a long wooden table covered with a white tablecloth lined with lace underneath the mirror. There were four doors in the hallway, two on the left side and two on the right.

Chloe pointed to the first door on the left.

"Over here is the bathroom and the second door is my dad's bedroom. The first one on the right is my bedroom and this is your room, Ryuujin!" Chloe cheerfully said as she opened the door farthest on the right and flicked the light switch next to the door.

Seto entered the room and placed his carry-on and laptop on the navy and light blue quilt that covered the bed and observed his surroundings. The room was small and square with cream and teal colored walls and four light bulbs embedded in the ceiling. On the walls were several framed photos of Chloe and her dad at the carnival, park, and on the front porch. The carpet was dyed cream to match the walls and the room was decorated simply. On the western wall were a wooden armoire and a large walk-in closet. On the south wall was a full bed with a wooden beside table on the left side and a wooden bookcase on the right. On the bedside table were a black desk lamp, an orange alarm clock, and a gray portable phone. In front of the bed was a denim bean bag. Seto had never owned a bean bag before and vaguely wondered what sitting in one felt like. Behind and to the left of the bed were rectangular windows with cream shutters. The shutters were open, letting the late afternoon sun filter in.

"So?" Chloe held out her hands.

Seto bit back a slightly rude reply and found Mokuba's voice echoing in his mind. 'Try to act more like…like…Bakura-kun!' He swallowed and managed to say, "It's nice."

Chloe's smile widened and Seto resisted the urge to shift nervously. "Good! Well, since you just came from a fourteen hour plane ride and it is Friday and you don't have to go to school until Monday, you want to take a nap, right?"

Seto blinked. Could this girl read minds or did he really look as tired as he felt? "Yes, I do." He said it more shortly than he intended, but damn it, there was this headache in his temples and the fuzziness in his head just wouldn't go away. Luckily, Chloe understood these things and chuckled.

"You sounded just like Clark when he pulls an all-nighter. Well, I'll leave you to your beauty sleep. Sweet dreams." Chloe turned and left the room before she could see the alarm in Seto's eyes.

Sweet dreams. Shit.

Seto walked to the wall and tapped on it, putting an ear against it. He swore when he didn't like what he heard and sat down on the bed beside his carry-on. It was just as he had feared: the room wasn't soundproofed. Why hadn't he thought about this before he signed up for this idiotic mission? There was a reason why his room back at the mansion was heavily soundproofed. Seto ran a tired hand over his face and decided that when the nightmares came, he'd be able to think of what to say then. He placed his carry-on and laptop on the floor and removed his jacket and boots and placed the Sennen Rod inside a drawer in the bedside table. He closed the shutters and turned off the lights and climbed onto the bed, falling asleep instantly.

>>>>

It was the ringing tone of Beethoven's Moonlight Serenade that brought him out of his slumber. Eyes closed and brain fuzzy from sleep, Seto tried to answer the alarm clock. Then the lamp. Two more tries later he closed his hand around cool, smooth plastic and blearily opened his eyes to check the ID. It was Yami.

"What…do you want?" Seto asked, finding it difficult to string words together.

"It's Yami."

"I don't know a Yami. Call back later."

"Very funny Kaiba."

"What do you want, Yami?" Seto repeated.

"I wanted to make sure you made it to Smallville."

Since when does he care about my safety? "What?"

"This is a dangerous mission, Kaiba."

"If you don't leave me alone, I'll go on a mission to eviscerate you, kisama (8). Goodbye." Seto hung up the phone, turned it off, and pulled one of the two pillows over his head. Soon, he was asleep again.

>>>>

Seto returned to the world of the living with a fuzzy mind and a pounding headache. He shifted on the bed and frowned when he realized that he didn't feel his soft duvet under his fingers, but a quilt. If he wasn't in his room, then where was he? And why did he feel so drowsy? In a flash he remembered.

I'm on a secret mission to stop a rogue Duelist, he confirmed to himself. He opened his eyes and shifted so he could look at the alarm clock beside his bed only to discover it wasn't there. Seto frowned and glanced on the floor where it now lay. Grunting, he reached down and picked it up, looking at the time. It was eight o' clock. He'd been asleep for around three and a half hours and felt like he needed another five. However, Seto was used to little sleep, so with an act of will and strong discipline, Seto put the alarm clock back on the bedside table and made himself get up.

Might as well unpack. Seto replaced the Sennen Rod underneath his jacket and lifted his suitcases onto his bed. He was halfway through the second suitcase when his cell rang. That had better not be Yami. He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Mokuba. He pressed the talk button and held it up to his ear.

"Morning nisama," Mokuba's cheery voice sounded through the phone.

Seto checked the alarm clock and did some quick calculations in his head. It was 8:22 in the evening in Smallville, so it must have been 11:22 in the morning in Domino. (9)

"Good morning Mokuba," Seto answered. Now, Mokuba called at the right time. Yami didn't.

"I warned Yami about calling you, but he didn't listen. He wants to speak to you now."

"I won't talk to him until tomorrow."

"Nisama-"

"I mean it."

"You're being childish, Kaiba," Seto heard Yami say in the background.

"I don't care." That damn headache was still bothering Seto, and he wasn't sure it was because of the jet lag anymore.

"Do you have a headache, nisama?"

Seto frowned. "I do. Why does that matter?"

"Yami says it's because your senses are trying to get used to the new levels of magic. You're only used to one type of level, so your body is working overtime to adjust."

Great. Yet another hated aspect of magic. "How long does it last?"

"Only another day or two. Yami says your usual diet of coffee should make it better, but he says that coffee won't do it alone."

Seto snorted. Why would Yami worry about my eating habits? What has Mokuba been telling him? Pushing down the sudden panic with the unshakable knowledge that Mokuba would never betray him, Seto asked, "Is everything running smoothly?"

"Seto, it's only been a day. Of course everything has been running smoothly."

"Oh, right." Damn, the headache was making it hard for him to think.

A knock sounded on Seto's closed door. "Ryuujin? Are you up yet?" Chloe's voice filtered in through the door.

"I have to go, Mokuba. I'll call you later. Call me if anything happens."

"Of course, Seto." Mokuba hung up and Seto did as well, placing the cell phone in his jeans pocket.

"I'm up. Come in," Seto answered.

The door opened. "Hey, Ryuujin," Chloe greeted the CEO. "Unpacking?"

Seto nodded.

"Well, even though we have no school tomorrow, it would be a good idea to get to the school to confirm your registration."

"Of course." Upon further examination, the student exchange program involved the exchange students staying in the United States for three months, so the student had to go to school, like Yami had suggested. Seto doubted that his stay here would be even relatively normal, especially with the mission he had to complete.

Chloe walked in and sat on the beanbag. Seto chose to ignore her for the moment and continued unpacking. Finally, Chloe spoke. "Hey, Ryuujin?"

"Mm?" Seto paused in the act of putting away several long-sleeved shirts in the drawers in the armoire.

"There have been a couple of weird occurrences in Smallville recently, and I think it has to do with that game you told us about in the car earlier. Duel Monsters, is it?"

"What kind of "occurrences" are you speaking of?"

"Well, about a week ago these two LexCorp employees…wait; you know LexCorp is headquartered in Smallville, right?"

Seto almost, almost rolled his eyes. Of course the CEO of Kaiba Corporation knew where the headquarters of every major company was located, even though Lex Luthor and his company posed no big threat to him. Seto Ryuujin, however, did not necessarily roll his eyes at this information, so Seto nodded instead. He also silently vowed to never refer to himself as "Seto Ryuujin" again in threat of developing a multiple personality disorder like that insane Malik Ishtar.

"Anyways, about a week ago, two LexCorp employees working on a new top secret development for LexCorp saw a Duel Monster."

"Really? Which one?" Seto finished putting away his pants and shut the door firmly on the armoire, making Chloe start.

"Well, actually it was later discovered that the employees were drug addicts and their kids love the game so that's where the hallucination came from, but they swore that an "Armored Starfish" attacked them."

Armored Starfish. Attack 850. Defense 1400. Category: Aqua monster, four stars. Better on defense than offense, so why did the rogue Duelist use it to attack? Unless he was defending himself at the same time. "Interesting."

"Well?"

Seto raised an eyebrow.

"You're a whatchamacallit, a 'duelist' so what do you think?" Chloe shifted on the beanbag until she faced the CEO.

"I think that these employees were suffering from hallucinations. Duel Monsters don't come 'alive'. It could be a malfunction of someone's Duel Disk, but I doubt it." Seto shut the suitcases with a snap and stored them under the bed and started to unpack his carry-on. He had not taken his Duel Disk because he knew that no other Duelists worthy of his recognition were in Smallville and, even though he loved his inventions, it was easier to summon when you physically held the cards.

"Duel Disk?"

"An invention created by Kaiba-san. It helps you play the game using holograms. I've heard that without the safety protocols on the Duel Disk that the game can get quite harmful to the player. But I don't think a malfunctioning Duel Disk can have the monster attack someone not involved in the Duel."

"Do you know the number of this Kaiba-san's company?"

Seto stored his carry-on items in the bedside table and bookshelf and then slid the carry-on bag under the bed. He then leaned against a wall so he could stare down at Chloe.

"No, but I expect you could find a website." Seto made a mental note to warn Mokuba of a call in the future by an American girl named Chloe Sullivan. Then again, the call would not be transferred to Mokuba, but to the Customer Service department. Seto changed his mental note to double-check where his Duel Disks have been purchased. He knew the Armored Starfish was summoned by magic and there were no exceptional Duelists in Smallville, but it never hurt to check and see if he could rub in failure in the paranoid ex-Pharaoh's face.

"So, what's this game like?"

"What?"

"Well, you seem to be an experienced player and there are weird things going on in Smallville that are tied with Duel Monsters, so I want to 'get to know the enemy'."

"Do you investigate paranormal happenings in this town?" Just when things couldn't get any worse…

"Uh, yeah, in a way,"

…They did. Seto resisted the urge to bang his head into the wall. Of all the people he could have ended up with, he had to stay with the person that was obsessed with magic and the paranormal. I hate my life. "Why would a person that appears to be rational be interested in something like the paranormal?"

Chloe shrugged, grinning. "It's like…a calling, really. I really like to report things and my dream is to be a journalist, so I like to discover the truth. And this town has enough weirdness already."

Seto arched an eyebrow. "Such as?"

"Well, it all started in 1988 when this town experienced a horrible meteor shower. Killed a lot of people and damaged a lot of property."

Ah, hence the sign at the entrance of the town reading 'Meteor Capital of the World!' "Go on."

"The meteors themselves weren't normal. In fact, whenever people come into contact with them, it turns them into mutants."

"Mutants."

"Yep, mutants." Chloe's eyes glittered. "I've got tons of articles on them, I'll show you them at school tomorrow. I've even written some in the Torch."

"The Torch?"

"School paper. I'm the editor." As she said this, Chloe proudly lifted her chin a fraction of an inch. "So, what's playing Duel Monsters like?"

Damn, I was hoping she'd forgotten about that. What could he say? Should he be honest? He couldn't act like his usual self, well, at least not completely like his usual self. But he couldn't tell her how he privately felt about the game either. A blend of the two, perhaps? "Duel Monsters….when you play with the Duel Disks, the game itself comes alive. You see them out there, and you want to use them to their full potential…you…you want them to be able to do everything they can….because even if they aren't really alive, it feels like it. When they are cut, you bleed, and not just because of the Disk. The rush you receive when you summon a powerful monster and the joy you feel when you destroy your opponent's monster, it's incredible. The challenge an opponent can give you encourages you to think faster and better than you have before.

"Every person has a monster that they feel are part of themselves, part of their very soul. They are connected to them. So whenever they are out on the field, it's as if you are there, fighting, and it's the best feeling in the world. That's what playing Duel Monsters is like." K'so (10), why couldn't I just stop talking once in a while?

Chloe gaze was wide-eyed. "Wow. I never figured you to be a romantic."

Seto arched an eyebrow. "I am not a romantic."

Chloe snorted. "Shyeah right. That bit back there? Behind that icy exterior of yours is a nice marshmallowy soft heart. Face it, Ryuujin, you are a romantic."

"How can you come to that conclusion when you have only known me for a total of eight hours?"

"I'm good at reading people."

Seto's eyebrow rose higher. "To imitate you, Sullivan, 'shyeah right'."

Chloe rolled her eyes.

"And I doubt you can uncover the truth to these supposed paranormal happenings in Smallville. They are most likely the product of your overactive imagination."

Chloe sat up from her lounged position in the bean bag. "You did not just say that."

"Afraid I did."

"Take that back."

"No."

"Take that back!"

"No."

Chloe stood, balling her fists. "Ryuujin!"

"What?" Seto smirked at her.

"I-I-argh!" Chloe threw up her hands and stormed out of the room. Seto smiled quietly to himself.

Well that got her distracted and out of my hair for a while. Seto frowned and he straightened from his position against the wall, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. A barely noticeable wisp of Shadow magic had just floated past his senses. Seto's eyes narrowed and he looked around the room. Underneath his jacket, he felt the Sennen Rod warm slightly and took it out, holding it erect. He waved it around the room and frowned even more when it glowed slightly around where the beanbag was. He prowled the room like a tiger, trying to see if the faint Shadow magic came from outside or anywhere else, but found that it was only centered on the beanbag and formed a path from the beanbag to the door. The only person who had been there recently was Chloe.

Does she…no. She cannot have shadow magic.

Then again, Chloe did say she had 'a calling' for the paranormal. Those with Shadow magic did attract the strange and weird and often unsettling. Seto twisted his mouth as he put the Sennen Rod away. He would have to keep a closer eye on the blonde from now on. He did not like how this mission was turning out. Not one bit.

>>>>

Sunday afternoon found Seto in the principal's office at Smallville High. It amused Seto that the principal was just as much a workaholic as he was (she was present at the school on a Sunday afternoon) but he doubted she could run a multi-billion dollar company.

"Okay Mr. Ryuujin, here is your schedule and your locker number. Welcome to Smallville High." The principal, Mrs. Walters, beamed at Seto and reflexively tucked her shoulder-length dark brown hair behind her ears. Seto resisted the urge to give her one of his infamous glares that always sent his secretaries fleeing. Mrs. Walters was entirely too cheerful for his tastes. She needs to lose a few pounds. Seto eyed how her shirt buttons pulled at her bulging chest and stomach.

He glanced down at his schedule and arched an eyebrow.

"AP Chemistry, AP Ancient History, AP Trigonometry, Honors English, PE, Computer Programming, French V Honors, and one free block?"

"We received your test scores and IQ level from your previous school and the only classes we have that could challenge you were our most advanced classes. If you don't mind being with a lot of seniors in some of your classes, that is."

Seto didn't bother to answer. What did he care?

The principal took his silence for consent and her smile widened. "Good." Mrs. Walters looked positively pleased that such a gifted student had come to her school. Seto sighed inwardly. He had met teachers like this before. He glanced down at his schedule again. The PE classes could become a problem, and the Computer Programming class was going to be a joke. He could probably do some work in that class and free up an hour in his day. Seto could also use Mrs. Walter's enthusiasm about having such a "talented" student to his advantage to changing his schedule.

"Walter-san, is it necessary that I take a physical education course?"

After all, he wasn't named businessman of the decade for nothing.

>>>>

Seto smirked to himself as he exited the office. He now had two free blocks instead of one. Physical education was gone and out, just like that girl Chloe.

"Hey Ryuujin, lemmie see your schedule." Chloe stood from the bench she had been sitting on outside of the principal's office and jogged to catch up to Seto's long strides.

Perhaps the girl wasn't as irked at him as he'd thought. He'd have to work on that.

"I thought you were still not talking to me." Seto remarked, holding his schedule out of her reach, and easy task as he stood a full head and a half taller than her.

"I overreacted, your Highness. I can't blame the fact that you're an arrogant royal pain-in-the-tokhes. Let me see your schedule!"

"'Your Highness?' That's a new one." Pain-in-the-tokhes, however, wasn't. He'd once had a Jewish client who'd known Yiddish that had called him many things besides 'pain-in-the-tokhes'.

Chloe stopped her attempts to grab his schedule to stare at him. "How could you have gone through life acting like you do and never been insulted?"

"I'm not saying that I haven't been insulted; I'm just saying no one has ever accused me of royalty." Jounouchi just usually called him a selfish bastard.

While Seto was occupied with his thoughts Chloe used the opportunity to snatch his schedule. "Whoa, are you like some kind of genius? You have, like, three thousand AP classes! I'm in AP Ancient History. Mr. Malone's real tough; you have to take really detailed notes or else you'll fail all the tests. Luckily, we don't have any semester review tests coming up, but if we do, I could lend you my notes," Chloe stared at him. "No really, are you a genius?"

"They were awed by my IQ and test scores," Seto said smugly.

"Thinking of being valedictorian?"

"No."

"You'd probably be picked if you stayed."

"Which is why I'm not staying."

"If you hate Smallville so much, why did you come?"

"Personal reasons."

"Like-?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Why not?" I won't stop asking until you tell me. Come on, Ryuujin!" Chloe made puppy-dog eyes at Seto and he resisted the urge to laugh.

"I have a little brother that gives me that look every day. He's better and far more convincing."

"Ryuujin! Tell me!" Chloe whined.

She's going to drive me insane unless I answer her. "I wanted to see if I could make it."

"Make it?"

"Going to school and living in a different country is a challenge, is it not?"

"Yeah, but you don't have to prove it. To whom? Your guardian?"

"I don't have a guardian."

"Then who takes care of you and your brother?"

"I take care of my brother."

"Is that allowed? You're still a minor."

"I am emancipated."

"Oh, yeah, duh." Chloe slapped her forehead with the hand that didn't hold Seto's schedule.

"Since when did this conversation become an interrogation about my life?"

"Since you actually started talking to me without insulting me for 2.5 seconds," Chloe shot back, pressing his schedule into his open palm. "So you came to America to prove to yourself you can make it in real life. You know, Ryuujin, most people take vacations for fun."

"Fun? What's that?" Seto rolled his eyes.

"Argh! You are impossible! Absolutely impossible! Can't you at least say one word without smugness, sarcasm, or snobbery?"

"I could try, but it would be a lost cause."

"At least you have a sense of humor, albeit a sarcastic one," Chloe grumbled and left, slamming the double doors at the entrance of Smallville High behind her. Seto shrugged, put his schedule neatly away in his backpack, and followed her.

>>>>

::His breaths came in short, painful gasps. He was kneeling on the carpet, the only position he could achieve that granted him the least amount of pain. His stomach, back, and collarbones were on fire. His hands that were currently resting on the carpet clutched the long fibers so tightly he had even pulled some out.

"I warned you what would happen, Seto, if you didn't complete the project in time." Gozaburo stood over him, riding crop clutched in one hand and his foul cigar stuck in his teeth. "You have to play the penalty game. That was just the first level and there are two levels to this penalty game."

Seto did not look up at the man; he just kept staring at the carpet. If the beating had only been the first level, how painful would the second level be? Could he beat it? He had to win, no matter what. He didn't even know why Gozaburo was letting him go onto the next level; Seto was pretty sure he had failed this one. After all, Gozaburo was the one who was standing, and Seto was kneeling on the floor. But he couldn't help it; it felt as if knives were stuck in his body. Idly, Seto wondered if Gozaburo would progress to using steel weapons instead of fists and feet and that riding crop.

He heard Gozaburo walk over to his desk, open a drawer, take out a heavy object, and close the drawer. Gozaburo walked back to where Seto was still kneeling and tossed the object so that it landed on the carpet inches from Seto's hands. It was a silver handgun and it gleamed in the sunlight. Seto stared at it.

"Now that I've caught your attention, Seto, I'll tell you about the second level. You have two options: one, you could shoot me, but you wouldn't get that far without my guards stopping you."

Seto looked up and observed the four armed guards in the room: two at the double doors, one on the south wall, and one on the north wall.

"Two: you could shoot yourself and end your misery."

Seto turned his gaze to Gozaburo, who easily stared him down.

"Choose, Seto, or you will have forfeited and lost."

Seto picked up the gun and stood, his muscles trembling from the beating. The gun was heavy and bulky in his hands. Seto eyed the guards, who hands were on their holsters, but they hadn't drawn their guns yet. Try to shoot Gozaburo and be taken down by the guards, or shoot himself. In both circumstances, Seto would die. That was not an option. Seto had Mokuba he would protect him. He would decide when to end his life, not Gozaburo, and certainly not the penalty game.

Seto shifted the gun in his hands and turned away from Gozaburo, looking only to the only unguarded wall. For the first time he noticed there was a large, circular mirror on the wall, framed by dark, rich wood. Seto caught a glance of his reflection, of his pale and non-expressive face and of his eyes smoldering with hatred and loathing, and fired. Mirrored glass shattered outwards. Some shard cut Seto under his left eyes, on the apple of his left cheek, and along his neck and jawbone, just missing the major veins. He had chosen the impossible third option: he had shot the mirror.

Seto turned and faced Gozaburo, gun still clutched in his hands, eyes narrowed and challenging. Behind the glare was a gaze of frightened question: had he won? had he lost?

Gozaburo smiled a snake's sly smile and walked over, quickly taking the gun from his adopted son's hands.

"You pass."

The scene darkened to black and Yami's face materialized. "In a shadow game, your true intentions and feelings are revealed."

Seto found himself responding. "No, in a penalty game your true feelings are revealed."::

Seto sat up with a hastily choked back gasp. With shaking hands, he rubbed his face, wiping away the sweat.

"My first penalty game," Seto said to himself (11). "Not bad for the first nightmare. It's not even a real nightmare. Maybe they're finally starting to calm down." He snorted. "Yeah right."

He checked the clock. It was 3:30. He had four and a half hours of sleep, and three and a half hours before he had to get up for school. He picked his laptop off of his bedside table, turned it on, and started to work. He would work for an hour and then try to go back to sleep. After all, one could still write formulas and equations in their AP Chemistry class on four and a half hours of sleep if Seto could be a CEO and work to his best ability on three, couldn't he?


A/N: Warning: long footnotes and long author's notes, not as long review replies. Just bear with me please, because to those of you who are not as in-tune to Yu-Gi-Oh as I am, I have to explain everything.
Footnotes:

(1) "Kun" is the bane ending in Japanese used for a male that is your age or a male younger than you. Yugi uses "kun" a lot (as does Ryou, it's considered polite), but the producer for Bad Luck in the anime Gravitation uses it to address a younger boy, so I'm not quite sure of the exact definition.

(2) I know that probably in student exchange programs, they have a bunch of students in one place and an adult supervisor meeting the students at the airport or flying with them, but I just had to have Seto alone.

(3) It has always bugged me a little how in anime, no one looks Japanese (except in Inuyasha and Rurouni Kenshin) so I wanted to come up with an explanation for Seto's looks (I had a longer version, but my beta and I thought it would eb best to cut it out.) Don't ask me to come up with Yugi's or Bakura's, though.

(4) In the real world, I've read that Duel Monsters is played with 8000 life points, so I thought it would be nice to include it in the story. I know it was a really rough explanation of the game, but it would take a long time to explain it and Seto and I weren't up for it. I wanted to get on with the story.

(5) In the anime, after the shadow game between Bakura and Pegasus (you know, where he steals Pegasus's Sennen Eye) they show Pegasus being carried down to the hospital by his security and then he disappears. Pegasus shows up way later in the Doom arc, but I really don't like the man (his voice drove me nuts) so I prefer the version in the manga where Bakura kills Pegasus.

(6) With those not so familiar with the manga and Death-T, here is a helpful hint. Before Yami banishes Seto's dark side (insert Darth Vader theme here) Seto was a homicidal maniac. He designed a fatal theme park intended for Yugi and his friends (I forget why, if someone out there knows, can they tell me?) that had incredibly lethal games, like laser tag with real lasers and a haunted house ride that electrocuted you if you made one sound. On one level, Mokuba (against Seto's wishes) challenges Yugi/Yami to Monster Capsule Chess (because Mokuba is the champion at this game) and after losing, Seto makes Mokuba play the penalty game. The penalty is a chamber of horrors where you have holograms of Duel Monsters killing you. It pretty much scares you to death, literally. Fortunately, Yami/Yugi pulls him out of the chamber and saves Mokuba's life. We (meaning hardcore Seto and Yu-Gi-Oh fans) think that this is one of the reasons Seto is so tortured was because he got so out of control he nearly murdered his own brother. Also, in another game of Monsters Capsule Chess, Mokuba was playing against Yami and had rigged the game to be in Mokuba's favor. Yami, naturally, still won and then mad Mokuba eat poison as a punishment. Yep, those were the crazy psychopathic Yami days that will never be shown on TV.

(7) I'm serious, that's what the sign says at the entrance to Smallville.

(8) "Kisama" means "bastard." Seto uses it a lot in the dubtitled anime.

(9) It's about a fifteen hour time difference between Kansas and Japan, I checked the net. Someone tell me if I'm wrong, 'cause it's such a huge time gap.

(10) "K'so" means "shit."

(11) I had this image pop into my head of Seto shooting a mirror so I had to do something with it. I also like the theory that his first penalty game with Yami was not the first one he had ever played. I also like the theory that Seto's ability to play games for fun was destroyed by Gozaburo. Props to Nenya85 for coming up with these theories.


Review Replies:

Kagemihari: As I've already told you, thank you so much for your comments and corrections. They mean a lot to me.

Amy Johnson: Sorry about the long wait. I was in a place that I was unable to update (bad and very old computer) and then Kagemihari (my beta) was also very busy so she wasn't able to beta very quickly and then I was in Washington DC this weekend and then I had format troubles...the list goes on and on. I'm very glad you are amused and like this story.

Everyone else, thank you for your comments.


A/N:

Wow, long footnotes. Now onto super-long author notes! -listens for applause and only hears crickets chirping and shrugs.-

Okay, so I was having a little bit of trouble with this chapter because I love writing angsty and funny scenes and get a little bored while writing necessity scenes like descriptions and all, so I had to force myself. Sorry if the description paragraphs are less than nice. I was also really anal about editing (and I have a beta! Yay!) so this took a little longer than planned. Second chapter is going to be up…I dunno when. I have the third and fourth chapters halfway finished; I just need a transition chapter. Sorry to those who wanted Seto interactions with more Smallville characters, I'm still not sure of who to put in. Lois is new and I don't know much about her, so I'm not sure if I can write her, so I may just leave her out. I also don't know much about Lana's bf (can't even remember his name) so he's probably not going to show up very much. But there is going to be plenty of Seto and Lex Luthor clashing going on, especially with Lex going to the dark side. Any guesses on what the "secret experiment" is? Be warned, it is more complex than you think. And there's going to be a character from the Yu-Gi-Oh cast in Smallville in the fourth or fifth chapter, cookies for those who guess right. To my few, worried fans: don't worry, I have big plans for this story and a somewhat outline of what's going to happen. I just need to get my brain organized and into some semblance of order. You know that oxymoron of organized chaos? Oh well, sayonara until next time!