Coral: Well here's my update, lol. Not sure if it's good or not, but it is what it is. I kept changing the story title cause I couldn't figure out a good title. I guess I'll just keep it as is. I'll have to update the summary too, probably. Also I wanna mention that I'm not going to do any other couples other than SetoxJou because I don't quite believe in the whole "everyone has to be in a couple" thing, I'm really sorry if anyone expects that here. I'll definitely stick with implied canon, though, so YugixAnzu may be mentioned or something, but it's really menial. Thank you to okay2304 and SandHeart18 for the reviews, I'm so glad you like it so far! I think slice-of-life sort of stuff can be nice to read. X3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter Two

Jounouchi Katsuya stared down at the little boy for a while before proceeding to shriek and jump back, unintentionally startling the kid, causing him to fall down. The child wore a cobalt blue vest, light yellow collar shirt, and black pants, dressed really nice and clean... Now slightly dirty with the sand from the ground. Clutching his chest, Jounouchi heaved from shock, attempting to will himself to calm down. 'Just a dream... Just a dream!'

"Um... Mister?"

'Just a dream... Just a dream...'

Light insistent patting on his back. "Mister..."

'It's just a dream!'

"MIIIII~IIISTERRRR!"

Jou shrieked once again.

This wasn't a dream! It was real! There's a little Kaiba! He paused as concerned large wide blue eyes stared into his own.

"Are you ok, mister?"

The teen's brown orbs blinked before he quickly calmed himself down. Questions can come later. Right now there was a child that needed help. He shakily gave a grin. "Ehehehe! Yep, I'm ok, kid!"

The small boy frowned for a bit before nodding and brushing sand off his pants. "Ok, mister. Do you think you can help me?"

Oh right, the boy was looking for his brother Mokuba... And not even spouting insults at him and respectfully calling him "Mister". Wait... He wasn't even that old! Pausing for a moment, he nodded his head to a conclusion. It made so much sense now. This had to be Kaiba's son! And he probably had two kids naming them after himself and Mokuba... Wow, for a rich guy with supposedly a lot of imagination he sure seemed to lack it when naming his kids... And to think the CEO actually had the gall to knock up a poor woman and not marry her, well considering that the tabloids mentioned nothing about a wedding. Still, it's not the kid's fault his dad was like that. He ruffled the boy's head with a grin. "Of course I'll help! By the way, my name's not 'Mister', it's 'Jounouchi'!"

The child immediately brightened. "Ok! Jounouchi-san, I'm Seto!" He piped, grabbing Jou's hand with both of his and pulling to help hoist the teen up. "I need to find my little brother Mokuba, I think we got separated."

"Hey, don't call me -san, sounds too much like my dad, I'm a teenager. Call me 'nii-san'. Your brother, huh? Wow... How old are you and your brother?" quipped Jou as he got up still holding the boy's hand. Rummaging his other hand through blond locks, he sighed. Honestly, who would leave their kids wandering around? Something bad could have happened! The duelist made a mental note to scold the young CEO once they find him.

"I'm ten and he's five." beamed little Seto feeling giddy to have the teen help him. "We were on a field trip and I think that's when we got separated." He paused in his steps and gazed at the ground in worry, biting his bottom lip with a small frown. "I wonder if he's ok..."

Catching that look of concern, Jounouchi made another mental note to slap the crap out of the CEO and scold the jerk once they find him. "No worries, he's fine! We just need to find him that's all."

Reassured, Seto bobbed his head up and down. It wasn't long before they reached the gym where Honda and Yugi stood.

"Oi, Honda! Yugi!"

At the call, the two simultaneously turned toward their friend. "Oh Jou!"

Jou sped up his pace to meet his two friends. "Any luck finding Kaiba?"

Honda shook his head. "Nope. We still have some ideas though."

"We've tried the classroom and cafeteria as well as the library so far." Yugi nodded and scratched his forehead in comtemplation. "I think if Kaiba wanted to run though it might have been to save face."

Jou scoffed. "Yeah, it is his duel disk system after all. Can't handle that his precious baby system has a glitch, hehehe!"

"By the way, what happened back there, Jou? Time Wizard suddenly just exploded and stuff." queried the king of games.

That got the blond pondering. "Hmm, I dunno. My coin just landed in the crack on its edge perfectly. What should have happened was nothing and then I flip again until it actually lands on one of its faces."

"That's right, so it's really strange for Kaiba to overlook such a thing. He's really OCD about these things, you know?"

"So what are you saying, Yugi?"

"Well, this may be a long shot, but maybe it was hacked or something? Did someone tamper with your duel disk, Jounouchi?"

Jou paused. It couldn't necessarily be impossible since he did put it away during school lessons, but apart from that he and his duel disk were inseparable. As he told such to Yugi, he felt a clenching tug behind both his legs. He peered behind himself to see Seto crouching, hiding behind the tall teen's thighs.

"O-oh, you ok?" He asked gently, reaching behind to pat the boy's head with his left hand and ruffling the small brown locks.

Honda and Yugi both blinked in confusion. "Um, Jou?"

Realizing that he hadn't introduced the kid, he quickly gestured behind him. "Hey, I found this little guy back where me and Moneybags dueled. Hey kid, you wanna introduce yourself?" He asked smiling gently at Seto as he strained his back to try to meet the boy's gaze.

The child shook his head. "Um... I'm not supposed to talk to strangers..."

The three teens froze for a moment.

Jou quickly rebutted, "Ah but what about me, er, Seto?"

Seto gazed up at Jounouchi as he replied quite calmly, "You're a stranger too since I don't know you, but you're a nice person helping me and you told me your name so we're not strangers anymore, Jounouchi-niisan."

Jou stared as the child proceeded to launch his kid logic at him. He couldn't help the "Wha...?" from escaping his lips.

Yugi then chose the moment to pipe up, "I think he basically meant that you're really approachable, and you already exchanged names, so you're a special case, Jou!"

The blond's lips curled into an 'o' as he nodded understandingly. So he seemed approachable and trusty enough for the kid to ask for help... Made sense, he reasoned.

Seto peeked from behind Jounouchi and blinked in realization. "Oh, are you lost too?" He asked Yugi.

The tri color haired duelist blinked. "Pardon?"

"I think we lost our group, did you lose your buddy too?" continued the child not sensing Yugi's bewilderment. "My buddy was my brother Mokie, have you seen our teacher? Oh, my name is Seto, what's your name?"

The other two taller boys stared. First the kid was cautious and now he was blabbing to Yugi as if he was a friend... One thing was certain and it caused the both of them to snicker, snort, and finally burst into extreme hardcore laughter.

Yugi's face immediately flushed in embarrassment. "H-hey, what's so funny?!"

"GYAHAHAHHAHAHA!" The two couldn't answer! Their faces were beginning to turn purple just from laughing so hard.

The boy's amethyst purple eyes widened in realization. "Oh my gosh..." The brown haired child thought Yugi was a kid just like him!

Seto blinked in confusion. They were so weird...


Seeing Yugi brought a sense of content in the boy and he became more comfortable around the others while they continued to look around in the halls of the school. He tried chatting to the other boy too about various games and things of that nature. Yugi's replies were a bit on the wary side seeing as how Seto viewed him as another kid, but since the conversation was about games, it didn't take long for them to get along.

"So you like chess? Chess is cool!"

"Mm-hm, I play it a lot, I'm trying to teach Mokie too, he's learning pretty fast. But I'm the best!" bragged little Seto with a thumb up. He beamed when Yugi returned the gesture with his own thumbs up.

"That's really good, Seto!"

"Yeah!"

Eyeing the boys discerningly, Honda hissed at Jou, "Say Jou, what's with the kid anyway? He looks too much like... Like you know!" He was relieved to see Jounouchi nod back at him.

"Yeah, I know. Like rich boy. I'm guessing this is probably his kid."

"Whaaa? What makes you say that?"

"Well don't you think it makes a total lot of sense? Kaiba probably ran off from our duel cause he can't handle the responsibility of taking care of his own kid." scowled the blond crossing his arms.

"Even if that was the case, wouldn't Kaiba just blatantly deny that's his? Plus, I mean what if it's a relative or something?"

"Well even so, Kaiba ran off from a kid, that irresponsible jerk. And now we're searching for him and this kid's brother."

"Heh, I guess so... Wait, brother?"

"Yeah." continued Jou as he opened a classroom door. No Kaiba. "The kid says he has a brother named Mokuba."

"Mokuba...?"

"Yeah." Jou opened another classroom door. No Kaiba either. "That guy really needs to come up with better names for his kids."

"Um, Jounouchi, I'm not sure if-"

"Quiet Honda, he's gotta be in here." Another classroom door. No Kaiba once again. "Tch!"

Yugi, who had been occupying Seto for quite a bit, took the opportunity to walk to the other two, Seto following behind. "You guys, I think we're pretty much wasting our time here." Meeting his friends gazes, he elaborated, "Kaiba probably isn't here. In fact, I don't think he's in the school at all."

Jounouchi blinked before replying, "That's impossible. There's no way he can't be in the school... Right?"

Honda, however, understood clearly. "Listen Jou, Yugi's basically saying that Kaiba isn't here... But something else is..."

"Haaa? What are you guys talking about? You better give me a good explanation, I'm tired of being confused!"

Honda and Yugi hesitated.

"Well Jounouchi," began Yugi, "I had to ask Yami to be sure and he kind of confirmed my suspicions... Seto isn't Kaiba's son, he's... Well, he's Kaiba... Although it's a bit more complicated than that."

It was as if a small bell rung and caused the universe to collapse in silence. Jounouchi, who couldn't even begin where to start, simply just gawked.

It lasted for a good five minutes before the silence was cut by the small boy's protesting voice. "My name's not Kaiba, it's Seto!" The little brunet paused for a moment before deciding he didn't like the stares that the three were giving him. "It is! My name really is Seto!" He insisted grabbing Jounouchi's hand. "I'm Seto!" He cried out desperately.

Jounouchi's honey brown eyes gazed down at the distraught ten year old. He had his suspicions earlier that it could have been Kaiba, but his brain refused to compute it so he opted for the second most logical thought being Kaiba's son. He didn't know what to think knowing that the rich CEO was staring up at him as a ten year old boy. His mouth curled into a smile. Yeah... Even if it was Kaiba... Right here was Seto, not Kaiba... "Course your name is Seto, silly! How can anyone forget that!" He gently noogied the boy's head which, to the blond's great relief, brought a small grin on Seto's face. Journouchi then pursed his lips in worry. If the boy really was Kaiba... How in the world did it happen? Plus how was he supposed to break the news to the kid?

Hey, guess what! You're in the future!

Nope, it would probably make the child a little too happy and who knew what could happen as a result? Still, he did promise the boy to find Mokuba... And if he really was Kaiba, how could he break the news to Mokuba? Deciding it was his responsibility since he was the one who dueled Kaiba, Jou grasped Seto's small hand.

"Mmkay, well I'll get you to your brother then, Seto."

Seto's big blue eyes glittered and widened in happy surprise. "You know where my little brother is?"

The blond grinned, "Well, I have a hunch. Um, you stay with Yugi ok?" At the boy's frown, he quickly added, "Don't worry, it'll be quick! I just need to make a phone call and your brother will be here soon!" Unfortunately Jou did not have his cell on hand, having left it at home.

Hearing that Seto calmed in content. He nodded gratefully then, remembering his manners, bowed. "Thank you, Jounouchi-nii."

Honda and Yugi grinned. "We'll take care of Seto, get Mokuba over here soon!"


It didn't take too long before Jou met up with Anzu to tell the news, to which was met with a small slap and complaint that she searched out in the courtyard in the blazing sun for nothing and Jounouchi owed her a good drink to make up for it.

"I want Royal Milk Tea, Jou! It's so hot!" She scowled fanning her face with a hand as they went inside the building.

The tall blond snickered and inserted a few coins in the school vending machine. "I called Mokuba, that Isono person should be coming with him soon." Handing Anzu the small can, he watched as the girl drunk with gusto.

"Ahhh... So good~! Oh, but Jounouchi, how'd you get Mokuba's number?" queried the hopeful dancer as she cupped the can in her hands.

Jounouchi blinked before replying, "Well, the kid kept wanting me to come over and play, so that's pretty much it."

"Yeah, but you've memorized it? I mean I think you said that you left your phone at home earlier today right?" Anzu stared in amazement.

"Um, sure, I don't really have a lot of phone numbers on my phone apart from you all and Shizuka, and sometimes things happen, so just in case, I memorize the numbers." He didn't really think it was a big deal. It was expected years ago to memorize certain phone numbers like friends and family back when cell phones weren't so commonly used, and it was a bit of a habit for the boy anyway. Jou shrugged, but then pulled a big grin. "What's the matter, Anzuuu? Amazed at my incredible ability?"

Disgusted, the female whacked one of the boy's waving hands. "Pfft, as if!"

"Nuh uh, I bet you can't even remember all the phone numbers of all your gal pals!"

"I don't really need to at this day and age!"

"Hehehe sure!"

The two were then noticed by another teen that had platinum blond hair. Gazing at them with his large brown eyes, he smiled with surprise evident in his eyes. "Anzu! Jounouchi! School ended a while back, why aren't you all going home? I thought everyone finished cleaning?"

"Oh, it's kind of complicated, Bakura-kun. Jou challenged Kaiba to a duel..."

Bakura nodded knowingly. "Ah, I see. That explains it."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" cried Jou clearly offended. It did not help that his two "friends" shrugged and laughed.

"Well, it was good to see you two, I'll be heading home. Good bye Anzu, Jounouchi."

Anzu waved good bye as well as Jou and the two continued to wait patiently.

Fairly soon, a limo arrived with an overly excited Mokuba hopping out the moment the door was opened for him. "Jounouchi!" He called out jumping and cupping his hands around his cheeks, receiving a head ruffle as a response.

"Hey Mokuba! How've you been!"

"Good! I came as soon as I could, Jou!" The black haired boy grinned and then crossed his arms. "Soooo? What's so important that you had to have me come to the school? Don't tell me niisama beat you again? You know you'll never defeat him right?"

"Che! That's what you say now, little punk, but you'll be changing your mind soon with this!" Jounouchi proceeded to noogie the little kid, stopping once the little brother of the Kaiba corporation CEO yelled that he gave up. Finally settling down, the teen explained to the kid what had occurred.

"So now there's this kid that kind of looks like your brother and he's searching for you."

If anything, Mokuba's already big eyes grew wide up to the size of tea cup saucers. "Whaaaa?! Wait a minute, so niisama became a little kid like me?!"

"To be honest, I don't even know. I mean he says he's Seto. And he kept saying his name wasn't Kaiba."

Understanding then flooded the boy's teal bluish grey eyes. "Oooh, I get it now. I think I know..." He then faced Jounouchi with a frown. "Niisama... Well, I don't think it's necessarily that niisama is the same as himself, but it's definitely the same person... Jounouchi, I... Think that's niisama's past self. Specifically before we were... Adopted."

Jou gaped at the little kid who was in fact, veeeeery accepting of this revelation, nodding to himself. "Um... Say what?"

Mokuba shot the older boy a sour look. "Don't make me say that niisama was right about your IQ, Jounouchi!" He shook his head.

Jounouchi pouted and crossed his arms in a huff, "Well you can't exactly blame me! Past self?! I mean this isn't exactly something that's easy to wrap around!"

"Why not? I mean, Yugi's puzzle is magic, right? So why's this so hard to believe?" reasoned the boy gazing up at the tall teen.

Once again, Jou gaped.

This time Mokuba laughed.


Big blue eyes widened. "You're Mokie?"

Nod. "Yup."

They widened further. "And I'm in the future?"

Nod. "Mm-hm!"

Seto gaped at this other child who was practically the same size as him, but face structure and eyes resembled quite closely to his little brother. Could it be true? Reaching forward, he placed his small hands on Mokuba's head. "Whoaaaa..." He breathed. It was so weird to see his brother grown up to his age group!

Despite all the complications, little Seto had adapted rather quickly to the situation. "So I'm in the future! Can we fly?"

"No."

"Can we see ghosts?"

"No."

"Do we have magical powers?"

"No, well um... Yeah, no!"

Seto quirked an eyebrow but didn't question it.

"Are there aliens?"

"No."

"The future's so boring!"

"Yeah!"

Anzu couldn't help but coo at the adorable situation. How could one not? It was really cute seeing the two brothers interact.

Having Mokuba present was actually really helpful in making the kid more comfortable with his surroundings and it also helped clear things up a bit in regards to the origin of the child. The question was... How did he even got here in the first place? And how did they not notice him in Kaiba's absence?

Mokuba seemed to have caught on rather quickly and asked Seto curiously, "Say niisama, how did you end up here in the first place?"

The brown haired child sat down on a chair, swinging his legs. "Um... I'm not too sure... One minute I was standing in front of the school for our field trip with you, Mokie, and then there was a shining light. I saw a small really pretty door and wanted to open it. The next thing I knew, I was crawling through a tunnel. I thought you were following me, Mokie, but it turned out you didn't, so I knew I had to find you... The small you, I mean. When I got out of the tunnel, I saw Jounouchi-niisan and the others. I didn't know who they were so I hid in the bushes. I wanted to go back, but the tunnel disappeared... So I figured I needed help to at least find you first so I asked Jounouchi-nii for help."

Mokuba widened his eyes. "A tunnel?"

Seto nodded seriously.

"Like in Totoro?!"

"Even better!" Seto said, waving his arms wide. "It was really pretty!"

"Wooow, niisama that's so cool!"

"Uh huh!" The boy huffed proudly thumping his chest.

Meanwhile, Jounouchi and the others had a brief low voiced discussion on what was going on.

"So, uh... Mokuba seems to think that this is Kaiba's past... Self... Or something."

"Well it kind of makes sense a little. He did say his name wasn't Kaiba and all."

"I had no idea that Kaiba was adopted in the first place. The more you know..."

"Anyway, what are you going to do, Jounouchi?"

"Eh?"

"You know, you did cause him to come here, so you kind of should take some responsibility."

"Wha? Don't be ridiculous! It wasn't exactly my fault! It was a glitch!"

"But still, you can't just let the situation be! You need to help bring him back to his own time."

A sigh. "I get it, I get it, but how in the world am I gonna do that?"

A pause.

"Um... Challenge him to a duel?"

"..."

"..."

"...Wait, can he duel?"

"I don't know if he can..."

"We could teach him?"

"Uh... Would we be breaking some time rule or something? Like a paradox or whatever?"

"Oh... True, his time period might have been before Duel Monsters were in production... But I'm not sure that 'paradox' is the right word for it."

"Ugh, whatever."

"Hang on here, you're asking me to duel against a little kid, what's it gonna look like when I win? I'd have beaten a kid!"

A snicker. "True. But you're usually pretty ruthless Jou, it wouldn't surprise me if you went all out."

"Hey! Don't be ridiculous! I'm a nice guy!"

"AUGHUGHAH!"

"Jounouchi, quit choking him!"

"He started it!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you should be finishing it!"

Mokuba and Seto stared with large sweatdrops on their heads at the older teens who fought and wrestled. These were people they're supposed to look up to?


The arrangement was surprisingly really simple with Mokuba taking Seto to stay with him in the meantime while Jounouchi and the rest figure out how to send the boy back. The company would be fine under temporary management with Mokuba, seeing as how he was the Vice President of Kaiba corp.

Jounouchi offered to come check up on the two of them every now and then to the delight of the two children. 'Every now and then' quickly turned into 'every day' after Seto challenged Jou to a game of chess. Jou frowned. Even as kid, Kaiba still could beat him in a game! He could practically remember the boy's giggling face as he put the blond into checkmate and beamed while declaring that his obligation was to play with him every day, cerulean blue eyes dancing with excitement. There was no way he was forgetting that defeat or the kid's victory face anytime soon, then again, Jounouchi wasn't really a chess person. Still, a kid beated him! A kid Kaiba! And to make it even more sad, he also had to part with his duel disk so that Kaiba corporation technicians may inspect what could have caused the problem. They promised he would get it back or at least have a replacement, which Jou denied. He didn't want a replacement, he wanted his own duel disk back soon...

Still even with that, Yugi couldn't help but voice out while going to the Kame Game Shop with Jounouchi that it might have not just have been a technical issue.

"Yami has a feeling that maybe certain forces are at work too."

Frowning, Jounouchi fiddled with the 100 yen coin in his hand. "Really?" He paused and then flipped the coin and caught it in his right fist. "Well... If he says so, then I believe him. Still, Yugi... What should we do then?"

The small duelist tilted his head. "That's what I wonder too... Perhaps Isis would know something. We can call her soon."

Jou brightened. "Good idea!" He slapped his friend's back in spite of the other's protest. "She'll probably have the answer right?!"

Yugi winced, rubbing his back. "Well it's a start. We'll have to limit anyone knowing the situation though. Kaiba has many enemies due to his success after all."

"Pfft, I'm not scared. Bring it on!" cried out Jou as he squeezed Yugi in an arm lock and raised a fist in the air, face contorted into his signature creepy grinning chin expression.

"Aughhhh I can't breath!"

"No matter how hard they try, I'll pummel them with my fists!"

The millenium puzzle around the small teen's neck suddenly shined.

"Jounouchi-kun, if you don't let go of Aibou, I will personally make sure that you won't be able to breath."

Jou froze and then slowly dropped Yugi, who at the moment, was Yami. "Eh?! Oh wait, it's you! Don't kill me!" lamented the Red Eyes user.

Yami chuckled. "I was only kidding, Jounouchi-kun." He nodded toward the other duelist. "How are you feeling? I watched the spectacle and it looked like quite a bit to take."

Humbled by the spirit's concern, Jou laughed a little. "Um, yeah, it's really crazy."

"He seemed to like you."

Jounouchi was taken aback. "W-who?" he squeaked.

The puzzle spirit rolled his eyes. "The child, Jou."

Realizing who he was speaking about, the blond smiled and his honey brown eyes grew soft. "Aw, that's nice. I like kids so I try to get along with them. It's probably really hard for him."

The other responded with his own smile and nodded. "That is good that you're helping him. Please continue to do so, Jounouchi. I have a feeling that he will be needing your assistance."

Puzzled by such a comment, Jou blinked. "Eh? What do you mean?" He paused as soft delicate fingers lifted to his cheek and brushed stray blond strands from his face. Jou gazed into the other's amethyst eyes which showed affection and determination.

Yami chose to stay silent on the issue and opted instead to move his hand from Jou's cheek to trace down his neck all the way over to his chest. He hesitated for a moment before continuing with a smile, "Please continue being yourself, Jounouchi. You are a wonderful person, please realize that and have confidence. There may come a time when you must reach a decision on your path. Remember that we are all here as well, so do not carry the burden entirely on yourself. All of us, Yugi, as well as I."

With that, the other bowed, presence returning back to the puzzle. Yugi blinked in confusion at his best friend before pouting at the revelation. "Um, he went out, didn't he? What did he say?" He was met with a Jounouchi statue that had a large gaping face.


Coral: Before any of you guys will kill me, please let me assure you that this fic is definitely puppyshipping... Yup, lol. In this fic, I'm just putting Yami as a little bit of a tease, but he isn't going to be serious about it because he knows that Jou is Yugi's friend and would never to anything to hurt him, lol! (But YamixJou is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. OTL) Please feel free to review! Let me know what you think! :)