Chapter Two

Seeing that the office was empty, even though the overhead light was still on, he rolled his shoulders and indulged in a single long, expansive, cat-like stretch. All too often important conference calls became endurance matches. He'd won the one today, but it had taken a toll on his reserves, and, the time – now that he'd taken a moment to note it. No wonder Mutou wasn't here. Undoubtedly he'd gone home for the day.

Seto admitted to himself that Yugi kept surprising him. Even though he had to know he was completely temperamentally not suited for the boardroom jousting Seto excelled in, Yugi thought to try. Seto acknowledged ruefully that Yugi's dedication to making Duel Monsters a reality was an even match for his own.

For Seto, it was not only that the potential for Duel Monsters' success excited his business sense; and not only the astonishing display of understanding when Yugi designed the more than apt Blue-Eyes White Dragon card for him, but also...

But, also – nothing. Seto thought. For what Yugi did for me – forcing me to – to accept his help in finding Mokuba, actually finding Mokuba, and then, saving him when I wasn't able to... Giving him my best skills to make his dream come true is the least I can do...

Seto barked out a single, short, slightly self-mocking laugh. I keep finding more 'least I can do' situations when it comes to Mutou...

A blinking red light on his phone attracted his notice. He keyed the proper code to retrieve the voice messages.

"Big brother, I know how important it is to you that the Duel Monsters release succeeds and puts Dual Designs, Inc. on the map, but you don't have to make it all happen in the first month!" Mokuba's voice chided. Seto smiled, but admitted his brother was right. He was pushing himself too hard. "I'm sure you have dozens more things that will 'just take a minute' to wrap up before you come home, but, they can all wait until the next time you go to DDI. You need to take care of yourself, too, Seto!" The tone of Mokuba's voice changed – softened. "Uhm, I don't want to come across as bossy, but, don't you think it would be a good idea to get some rest? I know you don't want me to wait up, and I won't, but I haven't seen you for more than a few minutes before school for a couple of days now, and – I miss you, big brother. Come home soon. Bye!"

Seto looked at the deceptively small pile of data disks he'd left on the desk before taking his conference call. Yes, each one had a task that would only take a few minutes of time to do, and his inclination was to work on all of them, but, Mokuba was right. It would take him more than an hour to chew through the work represented by the data disks. He stifled a growl of irritation at the four graphite artist's pencils that had wandered across the DMZ of the partnership desk and encroached onto his territory. Why could Mutou never keep his stuff on his side of the desk?! Didn't he realize how precious Seto's time was? Each minute he spent reclaiming and straightening his desk was a minute he wasn't working for the benefit of Dual Designs, Inc. He only had a few hours a week to devote to it as it was. He picked up the pencils and spent a long moment damping down his impulse to break them in half before returning them to Mutou's side of the desk.

Seto forced himself to take a few deep breaths. Yes, he was tired. Normally he'd just let minor irritations roll right off of him instead of letting himself get worked up over them. It's not like Mutou even knew it was so irritating for Seto to not have a clear desk – but Yugi would learn, Seto was sure – he just hoped it was before he snapped, and yelled at him, or something... He placed the pencils down with exaggerated care –unbroken – then returned to his side.

Sighing he toggled the play switch again to see if the other message was something he had to attend to right away, or if he could indulge, follow his brother's well-considered advice, and call it a day.

"Sir, Roland here. I know that standard protocol is to wait for you to call for the car, but I've taken the liberty of giving the chauffeur the night off." Seto slumped. That meant it would take at least half-an-hour waiting for a suitable driver to bring the car to him, then another half-hour to get home. He'd miss seeing Mokuba. He didn't want to admit it, but it tore at his heart that his brother missed him enough to have left that message. "I've brought the car to the DDI offices myself. Whenever you are ready, sir, I will bring the car around and pick you up."

Without a single conflicting thought, Seto hit the button on his cell phone that paged his aide, picked up the things he always carried with him – cell phone, laptop, and his deck of Duel Monsters cards, and looked around the office to make certain he had everything before leaving. It was then that he spied it.

Propped up against the computer screen on his side of the desk, there was a sketch. Not just any sketch, Seto noted as he picked it up. Judge Man glared at him in full, vibrant color. Wicked tusks jutted from the monster's lower jaw, the hair that had been unremarkable before now resembled a wild mane, and hatred gleamed in the duel monster's eyes. He was always amazed at how fast Yugi could produce a finished drawing once he hammered out the details of the appearance of a monster in his mind. Seto glanced at the corner and noticed Mutou had already cataloged Judge Man as an official monster for the game. He placed the sketch squarely on Mutou's side of the desk, in front of the chair, before turning his back on his waiting data disks, and decisively snapping off the light as he left the office for the day.