Hey everyone! I may have forgotten to add this but my name is PlanetGeek and I'm a new member of FanFiction! This is my first story I have ever written and FINISHED! I hope you enjoy this chapter and see what you think!

Also, thanks to those who already favorited and followed!

I do not own any of the original Yu-Gi-Oh characters

Exploring Japan

"He said that to you? How dare he! Why didn't you stand up for yourself? That's not a very nice thing to say to someone! Especially to a young lady!" Mom rants.

"First of all, Mom, I wanted to punch him in the face, but I couldn't. He would've had me thrown out of his building and fired me. He's a very powerful man."

"I know he is, but you still can't let him speak to you like that! I mean, he could do anything and get away with it! Even murder," she whispers the last bit in terror. I can easily imagine her wide eyes, pleading me to come home if we were face to face.

"Uh, Mom, I think you're exaggerating a bit. Seto Kaiba may be a powerful man, but he can't get away with everything. His father might of when he was in charge, but that was back then and I don't think Kaiba will take exactly after him, not after what he went through," I say with a cringe.

I've heard about Kaiba's foster father, Gozaburo Kaiba. Being the previous owner of KaibaCorps, Gozaburo was one of the most powerful and well-respected men in Japan, but he wasn't by any means a nice man or a good father. He had nothing but pure hatred and maliciousness in his heart, and young Kaiba was left at the mercy of that stone heart. Knowing Kaiba had to grow up with that kind of influence, I cannot help but to be more lenient towards the young man – if he were anyone else, I would've kicked his ass by now; it doesn't mean I approve of his current attitude, though.

"Perhaps you are right. Still, I want you to promise me that you'll be careful and keep an eye on him," Mom demands, leaving no room for arguments.

I roll my eyes in exasperation. "I promise I'll be careful."

"Good. Now, I'm off to bed," she chirps happily, her serious tone long forgotten. Ah, how I love my mom.

"Alright, Mom. Sleep tight." I smile fondly. If I'm being completely honest, I could use one of her hugs right now. Of course, I won't tell her, otherwise she really will come down here just to give me one!

"Goodnight sweetie," she coos and hangs up.

With a sigh, I put down my phone and go back to dissecting the duel disk. I've been at this for two days now, and I still haven't found anything! Everything is in the right order and place. What could possibly be wrong with this? What would cause the wires to burn out as soon as a card is activated?

I sigh in defeat and rub my temples, slightly easing the small headache that's forming.

"Come on, Karen. Dad taught you everything that you need to know about repairing machines and electronics. You should know what this is!" I murmur to myself.

I then lean back in my chair and sigh again. Maybe I should take a break for a while. I do have five weeks to fulfill Kaiba's request, after all. Although, the sooner I find out the problem, the better chance I have at going home early. Agh, I don't want to stress myself even more by working on this all day. Hell, I just might have another hallucination! Maybe I'll see Kaiba will be in a toga this time…

I immediately stop my thoughts before they could go down the path of how much more skin would be revealed in that outfit. Oh hell, I definitely need a break! I should go out and explore the city. Yeah, that sound like a good plan. No togas required.

I get dressed in my regular clothes: a sky-blue camisole, light skinny blue jeans, and a pair of black combat boots. Throwing some money in my back pocket, I leave my hotel room and make my way out to the outside. After struggling with the crowd of people, I eventually manage to figure out how to navigate through the sea of people and start sightseeing.

After visiting some museums, I become fascinated with Japan's history and its culture. It's refreshing to see how different this country is from America. It's too bad that practically everyone here is focusing on dueling now. What's so good about it anyway? It's just playing cards and seeing who wins or loses. It's not like dueling can save the world or something.

I stop in front of a small card store called, Kame Game. Eh, why not? I might as well see what the fuss is all about. Maybe I'll even discover the issue with the disks. I snort with that thought. Very unlikely.

I walk inside the building and spot a short old man with wild gray hair and a gray beard at the counter, sweeping the floors. He looks up as the bell on the door rings.

"Huh?" Have I seen this man before? He looks awfully familiar, but then again, I'm not too good at remembering faces.

"Welcome, young lady! What can I do for you today?" he beams at me as he sets his broom aside, snapping me out of my thoughts. I take a quick look around, finally noticing the number of cards surrounding me.

"Oh, nothing sir. I'm just looking." I say still looking around. Just how many cards can this game use?!

"Well, what kind of cards are ya looking for?" he inquires, walking over to me.

"I'm not looking for any cards. I'm just...merely curious about dueling."

His purple eyes light up. Now I'm very sure I've met him before! But, when?

"Ah! So you're thinking about becoming a duelist, eh? Well, you're in for quite an adventure young lady! Dueling has been around since ancient Egyptian times! You learn a lot about this stuff when ya start dueling." he explains enthusiastically.

Dueling has been around since ancient Egyptian times?! Damn, here I was thinking it was some sort of new trend!

"Uh, no, I'm not interested in becoming a duelist or anything. I'm just not so sure about it. I mean, what's the whole point of this game?"

The old man eyes me in surprise. "Game? My dear, dueling is no game. Dueling is a way of life! You get to experience thrilling adventures through the heart of the cards themselves, to see and feel its power and emotions! How is it that you don't know about this?" he asks me with a baffled look.

"Well," I place my hands on my hips and shuffle my right foot, a nervous habit I really need to break! "I'm actually from America, and-"

"Oh! You're an American? My apologies, young lady, I didn't know." He interrupts, looking apologetically at me.

"It's alright," I smile, relieved dueling isn't a huge deal in America too. I'm not always 'with the times' as some people say…

Just then, the door jingles and a young, spirited voice greets, "Hey Grandpa!"

"Hey Gramps!" another, lower but also enthusiastic, voice greets.

I look over my shoulder and see two boys, probably my age, walk over to where the old man and I stand. One boy is shorter and has big amethyst eyes with yellow spiky hair that is tinted red and black – he is obviously the grandson if the wild hairstyle is any indication. The other one is a skinny and taller boy with dirty blonde hair. They're both wearing the same type of school uniforms: blue shirts with collars around their necks and blue pants.

"Hello Yugi! Hello Joey Wheeler! How was school today?" the older man asks the two boys.

"Great! I got a hundred percent on my history test!" his grandson smiles happily.

"That's wonderful, Yugi! And what about you, Joey? What did you get on your test?" he asks the taller boy.

Joey crosses his arms and grumbles, "I got a sixty-five percent."

"Sixty five percent?! I thought you studied last night!" the old man asks in bewilderment.

"C'mon Gramps, you know I'm not da studyin' and rememberin' type of guy!" he says while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

Yugi shakes his head at his friend and then finally notices me.

"Oh! Sorry, Grandpa! We didn't know you had a customer."

"Whoa!" Joey exclaims once he spots me. He gives his hands a quick lick and runs it through his hair. "Hiya Sweets! My name's Joey Wheeler. What's yours?" he leans on the counter with a 'charming' smile.

I raise an eyebrow at him and cross my arms while Yugi and his grandpa roll their eyes.

"Karen. Karen Rose. And don't call me Sweets."

"Joey, Miss Rose here is an American woman. There's no need to flirt with her," Yugi's grandpa lightly scolds.

"Yeah, and aren't you already with Mai?" Yugi gives Joey a disapproving look.

Joey straightens up. "Well, yeah, but she flirts with other men all da time. Can't I have a little fun too?" he shrugs.

"Not if you wanted your ass handed to you," Yugi arches a brow at Joey.

"Yugi! Language, young man!" his grandpa reprimands.

"Sorry, Grandpa," Yugi bows his head shamefully.

"Uh, I think I should get going now," I awkwardly say, feeling like I'm now intruding. "Thank you, sir, for your help." I say to Yugi's grandpa.

"Well hang on a second there, Missy," the old man stops me. He walks back behind the counter and disappears behind it when he bends down. He stands back up and in his hands are five cards: monster cards. "Take these. No charge." he says with a kind smile and gestures for me to take them.

"Oh no, no," I say with my hands raised. "Thank you, but I-I can't possibly-"

"Take them," he interrupts as he walks around the counter and puts them in my hand. "You're going to need them while you're here. Plus, you can have them as souvenirs!"

I look down at the cards: Mystical Elf, Sonic Maid 3, Beautiful Headhuntress, and Gemini Elf. I slowly put them in my back pocket.

"Thank you. I'm sure that they'll come in handy sometime."

"Oh, they will. They always do." he says ominously, walking with me to the door. "Now you have yourself a good day, Miss Rose, and remember, dueling is not just a game. You should give it a try."

"Maybe sometime. Again, thank you for your help, Mr…?"

He takes my hand and shakes it. "Muto. Solomon Muto. But you can call me Grandpa if you want."

Huh. The name doesn't ring a bell, so I must be mistaking him for someone else.

"Okay. Thank you, Grandpa Muto. I hope to see you again. Your grandson too." I smile, purposefully leaving out Yugi's taller friend.

"You are more than welcome to come by and visit any time, and don't you worry about Joey, Miss Rose," the older gentleman smiles in exasperation, noticing my exclusion of Joey. "Joey's a good boy. I'm sure that he'll behave properly the next time you see him. Have a good day!" he waves and I walk away.

I'm glad that's over with. The boy and his grandpa are really nice, though. Perhaps I will drop by again in the future.

I continue to explore the rest of the city. The last place I visit is an arcade. I feel like playing a game of some kind. I go in and walk around. All of these games that I am seeing so far are nothing but driving and fighting games, however. I don't play these types of games.

"Yeah! Go, Téa! Dance him away!" I suddenly hear someone whoop.

I turn around and see a crowd of people surrounding two people dancing. A blonde man is versing a young slender girl with short chocolate brown hair and blue eyes. She's dancing away effortlessly. Even from where I am, it's easy to see how experienced and graceful she is. She has some real talent there! I go over there to watch. The girl does a long spin for the finale, and the guy tries to do the same thing but he falls. The girl bows as everyone cheers and applauds for her. I smile and clap as well, impressed. She shakes hands with the guy and gestures beside her.

"Would anyone else like to verse me?" she asks with a bright smile.

After a few beats of silence, I speak up. "I will."

"Alright, let's see what you got." she says with a competitive gleam in her eyes, gesturing to the game space besides her. I put my hair up in a ponytail and hop up on the platform. I take my stance on the gaming floor, taking note of the arrows and the circle in the middle of them.

"Good luck." the girl, Téa, says.

"You too," I nod.

The screen in front of us counts down from five to zero, playing upbeat music. When the screen with the arrows come scrolling down, we begin to move our feet to match the arrows. It's been awhile since I last danced, so I'm not doing so well. The girl is killing me, but then I start to get the hang of it, the rhythm finally familiarizing itself with me. My moves change from stiff and late to flowing and in time.

"Oh wow!"

"Look at them go!"

"They're both amazing!"

'Huh, not bad for not dancing in a few years!' I think to myself with a grin. I've always loved dancing, but with high school and running a business, I just haven't had the time for it. I haven't realized just how much I've missed it.

At the end, I twirl around and do a backwards flip. Téa does the same thing, but she adds a split at the end. I smile as our audience cheers like crazy when we finish our dance-off. We both raise our fists up in the air and bow down. We straighten up and shake hands.

"Nice moves you got there," I pant, winded from busting out moves like that.

"Thanks. You were amazing yourself!" she smiles, hardly out of breath. I'm not a bad dancer, but this girl is obviously leagues above me. I can't even bring myself to be petty and be bitter about her win; she very well deserves each victory she gets.

"In fact, you were so good, we'll just have to ask the audience who won!" Téa turns to the audience and asks, a loud cheer being her answer both when she gestures to me and then to herself.

"Well," she says, turning back towards me. "I guess it's a tie!" I think about arguing, telling her that she's obviously the better one, but with her friendliness and the gushing crowd, I decide to leave it be.

"Well, it was fun dancing with you, Téa was it?"

"Yes, Téa Gardner. And what's your name?" she asks.

"Karen Rose."

"Nice to meet you, Karen. I hope we'll meet again and do another dance-off!" she winks.

"Me too, Téa. Bye!" I wave as I walk away.

"Bye!" she waves back.

I walk through the admiring crowd back towards the entrance. I'm almost there when a little boy with gray-blue eyes and long spiky black hair suddenly bumps into me.

"Whoops! S'cuse me, ma'am," he automatically apologizes, but then his eyes widen once he actually looks at me. "Hey! You're that girl who just went up against Téa Gardner! Nice job on the moves there. You nearly beat her!" he excitedly exclaims.

"Ah, thank you. I appreciate it," I smile down at him. I then notice that there seems to be no one else with him. "Are you alone?"

He shakes his head, "Nope, I'm actually here with my big brother." He points his thumb behind him. I follow where he points, but I still can't see anyone who looks to be his brother.

"Uh...I don't see-"

"Mokuba!" a familiar voice suddenly calls.

The boy turns around and I look up to where the voice came from. I gasp when I see Seto Kaiba walking towards us. Instead of wearing a business suit, he now wears black clothing with a stylized white trench coat with a KC imprinted on the collar. He stops in front of the young boy.

"Oh, hey big brother!" the boy, Mokuba, says cheerfully.

I quickly turn my back to them so Kaiba won't recognize me, and I slowly walk away, hoping not to attract attention to myself. The last time I saw the guy, I wanted to punch him. If I have a chance to escape his notice, I damn well will take that chance!

"Mokuba, what did I tell you about wandering off like that? You know that you're supposed to stay where I can keep my eye on you!" he scolds the little boy.

"Sorry, Seto. I was just talking to a girl who almost beat Téa Gardner." Mokuba apologizes, and I feel like he's gesturing to me. Come on Karen, time to go! Walk quicker, walk quick-

"Hey, Miss! Where ya going?" the boy calls and quickly catches up, grabbing my wrist. Goddammit! I was so close!

"Come on! Come meet my big brother!" Mokuba drags me back over to where Kaiba stands, my shoulders hunched and 'damn it, damn it, damn it' repeating over and over in my head.

"Hello, Mr. Kaiba." I force a smile on my face once I'm dragged back over to the man.

"Rose." he nods coolly.

The boy looks back at me. "Hold on, you two already know each other?" he gestures between us.

"Yes, Mokuba. This is Karen Rose, the technician who's repairing the dueling disks. Which I take is going well." The words should form a question, but the way he says it, it's more of a threatening statement instead.

I resist the strong urge to roll my eyes. "It's going. I have yet to find the problem," I answer truthfully.

"Is that so?" he crosses his arms and arches an eyebrow.

"Hey, I'm just taking the evening off. I've been working on it for two days straight." I say defensively.

"Yeesh! You work a lot." Mokuba winces, looking at me in sympathy.

"No, she doesn't, Mokuba. I work every day at KaibaCorps. Two days are nothing," Kaiba glares pointedly at me.

Oh hell no. He just didn't! "May I remind you, Mr. Kaiba, that I too run a successful business? That I too work just as hard to keep it successful?" Ohhh, I'm getting pissed off again! I need to calm down before I decide to punch him in the face this time. I take a deep breath and plaster a smile on my face.

"But no one's perfect. This isn't a contest." I say sweetly, imagining the satisfying sound of a crunch as my fist collides with his nose.

Mokuba scoffs and points his thumb to Kaiba, "It is with my big brother. Everything to him is a contest."

"So I see." I smile at Mokuba, ignoring the new glare Kaiba is throwing at me. I then check my watch. 7:30 pm.

"Well, I better get going now. It's getting pretty late. It was nice meeting you Mokuba and it was... nice to see you again Mr. Kaiba," I force myself to say. Whether or not it's believable, I don't care. I'm just proud I managed to get that lie out! With that, I turn around to walk away.

"Hey, do you want a ride home?" Mokuba asks.

I stop and immediately turn around. Oh no. No, no, no, no-

"No, she doesn't Mokuba. If she was able to get here, she can find her way back. She's been doing it ever since she was six years old, right, Rose?" Kaiba asks with a mocking smirk, recalling our conversation two days ago.

I ignore the infuriating man and smile at the little boy, "I can find my way back. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Karen! It's dark out, so it's not safe to be out alone!" He then grabs my hand and pulls me past Kaiba and out of the arcade. "Come on, Seto!" he calls over his shoulder, still keeping an iron grip on my wrist.

"Uh, M-Mokuba, really! I'm fine! My place isn't that far! I can even call a cab!" I try to argue as the little boy drags me out of the building. Man is this kid strong!

Mokuba leads me over to a black limo, where the driver opens the door for us.

"Not a chance. Now, climb on in!" he pushes me towards the vehicle. Realizing there's no way out of this, I sigh defeatedly and do as the boy says. Mokuba crawls in after me, followed by a scowling Kaiba. Mokuba sits across from me while Kaiba sits next to me on my right.

"Where're you staying at?" Mokuba asks me.

"Hotel Quorum." I answer softly.

He whistles. "Nice hotel." He then narrows his eyes at me. "That's also twenty blocks away from here."

"Oh, is it? I thought it was closer," I say innocently.

"Hmm," is all he says as he watches me for a few more seconds. He then rolls down the glass panel that separates us from the driver. "Isaac, Hotel Quorum please."

The limo pulls into traffic. Awkward silence ensues for a few minutes, but then Mokuba breaks it.

"So, Karen, where're you from?"

I rub the back of neck. "Um, New York."

"America?! Sheesh! You're a long way from home. And you said that you have your own business?" I nod. "What's it called and what do ya do?"

"It's, uh, called Pure Technology. We repair all kinds of electronics and machines and resell them to the people. You see, we don't like to waste them when all they need is a few adjustments here and there."

Mokuba sits crisscross on the leather seat. "Cool! Uh, no offense Karen but why would you create a business like that? That's sort of a…a guy's job," he says hesitantly, worried about offending me.

I give him a small smile of reassurance. "Well, to be honest with you, Mokuba, I didn't create my business." I then look out the window, a face surfacing from my memory. "My father did." I look back to see Mokuba's curious face and even high and mighty Kaiba is looking at me. I crack a smile and explain further.

"His name was Kirk Rose and he was all about machines and the new developments in technology. He couldn't stop talking or thinking about how much everyone wastes perfectly fixable or reusable machines. Eventually decided to do something about it. Day after day he would try to convince bankers and investors to give him money to create his own business, but he wasn't successful at that time. Finally, an investor gave him the money to start it. When he got everything in place, he started to hire people to work for him. My mother, Tessa Marine, was hired to be his assistant. Eventually, they got married and had me. As I was growing up, he taught me the ways of being a technician, and I learned to share his love of technology. I was daddy's little girl and went to work with him every chance I could. " I chuckle.

Then my smile disappears and I sigh sadly, looking back out the window. "He got ill and died from it three years ago. His last words to me were, 'I love you, my dear daughter. The company is yours to do what you will. Stay strong and don't give up.

"After he died, times were extremely tough for us. My mom became an alcoholic, and she went into rehab a year after his death. When I turned sixteen, I emancipated myself. My mom finally got the help that she needed and I took over my father's company. He would've wanted me to be happy with his business. And I am. When I have my own kids, I'll have them take over if they want. But if they choose to follow a different dream, I'll hire someone else to keep it going. It's the least I can do for my father, since he was always there for me."

"I'm sorry about your dad, Karen," I hear Mokuba softly say, snatching me away from the past. I look back at him to see his face full of sorrow. "He sounds like a great guy."

"He was," I smile wearily. "I'm sorry to give you my life story like that. I can't help but to let people know how passionate I am about my father and our dreams."

"No, don't apologize. I would too if I were you," Mokuba smiles reassuringly at me. I glance at Kaiba, to see what his reaction is, but all I see is him looking out at the city, his face blank. Like he isn't even listening. Well, as long as he doesn't insult my father, I could care less if he listened or not. My world doesn't revolve around him.

Right about then, the limo stops at my hotel. Relieved that this is over, I open the door.

"Thanks for giving me a ride, Mokuba."

"It's no problem, Karen. It's the least we can do for you since you're fixing my big brother's disk. Right Seto?" he asks, looking at his big brother.

"I'm paying her, so no, it's not the least we can do." he huffs. "Now let's go home."

I roll my eyes. Figures.

"Goodnight, boys."

After having room service give me some noodles for dinner, I go back to work on the disk. Whatever the problem with it is, it must be a very sensitive, uncommon issue since other technicians have looked at this before me.

I work on it until midnight, with still no progress, before I make myself go to bed. The second my head hits the pillow, I feel the soft pull of sleep. I don't even have the energy to worry about my first day at Domino High School tomorrow. 'A problem for future me,' I think drowsily to myself before sleep claims me.

Well! There you have it! Please leave a review, follow, and/or favorite! Stay true to yourselves!