I have conceived a plot forshadowed here and that appears in the next chapter. I've decided to call Kaiba/Risa Colorshipping unless someone comes up with a better idea. Risa Kageyama is still a minor character from season zero. I'm doing my best to keep her IC which is fairly hard. But after this colorshipping will take a back seat to plot, I hope.


Kaiba had dropped Risa off at her home without her so much as batting a eyelash. His driver looked worriedly back at his fuming employer hoping he wouldn't burst into maniacal laughter or do something rash, like order him to plow into the creepy house they had just visited in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile Kaiba was musing in the back seat. Risa went to Black Rose Academy for Girls which had a much longer school day then Domino High. He absolutely refused to be the one to lose their edge first, so drastic action must be taken; he knew a ridiculous amount of information about him was on the internet and in tabloids. Kaiba also knew he had made a rash move on a stupid impulse that most of him regretted-wait no that was wrong, he meant all of him, but clearly he had disconnected something in his brain that made him act so unnatural.

"Stupid Seto," he said banging his head on the drivers seat- and then stopped suddenly realizing his improper behavior in close proximity of another human being.

So it was through a series of loosely connected thoughts and ideas that he ended up standing in front of a weathered purple door the next day ready to learn more about someone who was not his greatest rival by any means but had recently become a dangerous one. He stood on the cracked stoop for a few moments then rapped authoritatively on the door.

A few moments passed and a chilly wind swept through the yard rustling the leaves on and off the trees. A few thuds came from inside the house and the door was opened by a tall, buxom, blonde woman who couldn't have been more then 26. Bewildered Kaiba stared for a moment then addressed the woman who had opened the door.

"I'm....Honda does Risa Kageyama live here? He said, why did he even remember the name of one of Yugi's cheer squad? The woman gave a smile akin to the one his secretary used to greet him and ushered him in while speaking in a voice that Kaiba could only imagine coming out of a doll.

"Come in!" She said grabbing his arm with a neatly manicured hand and pulling him into the house, Kaiba struggled mildly but he was no match against the Barbie of a mother he was up against. She sat him down on a overstuffed sofa, by the looks of it new, and started to yap again.

"The girls will be back in a few hours when they get out of school, but you're welcome to wait." She stared at him with a unwavering gazing look until he felt compelled to speak.

"Are you Risa's mother?" he said trying to break her disturbing gaze.

"Stepmother, I married their father after their mother died," she dragged a photo album out from under the coffee table, rather tacky and overdone, obviously one of her creations. The Frankenstein monster of frills and lace was plopped unceremoniously on his blue clad lap. Kaiba stared at it oddly but opened the book a few pages into it as though to skip a preface. There were a few photo per page, one was of a sort of generic businessman with reddish purple hair that must have been Mr Kageyama. The other picture on the page was of a woman. She was about 30, her light lilac hair prematurely streaked with white and wearing a sort of odd dress. It didn't take a genius(which he was of course) to realize this was the Kageyama sisters mother.

"They don't like me," the stepmother blithely commented. "At least one of them doesn't like me. It could be all of them, it could only be two..." the woman blathered on and Kaiba nearly hit her in disgust. Then it occurred him, she couldn't tell them apart. Truth be told he could hardly tell them apart either but being able to tell Risa apart from her sisters wasn't a major problem up until very recently. No wonder they hated this dizzy cow; even a stepmother should be bothered to figure out their names.

"They're very fond of each other though, and Duel Monsters, they have four decks among them."

Kaiba ignored the last bit, this he knew. He took one last glance at the open book committing it to memory then stood up.

"I must be going, I have imposed for too long," and with that he strode off as quickly as his long legs could carry him leaving the startled woman behind.

"Why he couldn't have been here more then 5 minutes..."

**********

The Kageyama sisters walked home from school in unison. They spoke not of the 'Kaiba Incident' as they had dubbed it. It needed no explanation, some things just happened. There were many girls of power at Black Rose Academy, it taught more of the...stranger arts, and because of that it attracted all sorts. Today the school had been quiet save for the sound of uneasy mumbling. Something was deeply amiss and they had sensed it, what they could not tell but they knew it was coming soon.

"The beldam will be home, too dangerous to try anything she disproves of."

"So we just wait for a disaster?"

"We have to, what else can we do?"

"Screw your courage to the sticking point my sisters."