Chapter 02: Receiving

Yami's curiosity was piqued after a mysterious phone call he received from Isis earlier in the afternoon. She had been so insistent that he come immediately that Yami felt he had to comply. He was hoping she had maybe discovered something useful about recovering his past, but he tried not to get too attached to the idea.

Knocking on her door, Yami let himself in with some trepidation once she called out to him to enter.

"So what was it that you needed to talk about so urgently?" Yami asked as he entered Isis' private office at the Domino City Museum of Art.

"I have a matter that only you can take care of," she cryptically answered while gesturing for him to sit down in a chair in front of her desk.

Sitting down, Yami questioned, "And what is that?"

Gesturing to a small white lump on her desk that had escaped Yami's attention, Isis said, "This," and subtly pushed a bag of clothes toward him across the desk.

The telltale lapels of Kaiba's trench coat immediately gave Yami a bad feeling. "And 'this' would be…?" he asked, knowing he probably wouldn't like the answer.

For once, Isis directly replied, "Kaiba Seto in an…altered state," and sounded far too proud of herself for Yami's tastes.

"That," Yami questioned as he pointed at the small object on her desk," is Kaiba Seto."

"Indeed," she confirmed with a smile that infuriated Yami.

"That is Kaiba Seto," Yami repeated, the information still not sinking in completely. "You're telling me that Kaiba is now a…kitten?"

Nodding once, Isis answered, "Yes, that's the form the enchantment took."

"You did this?" Yami demanded, although a small part of him wasn't surprised.

Hesitating for a brief moment, Isis finally said, "Yes, as a way of teaching him an important lesson."

"A lesson," Yami repeated, still unable to wrap his mind around the concept of Kaiba reduced down to the tinniest kitten he had ever seen.

"He will learn his place or stay that way forever," Isis informed Yami, that note of smugness creeping back into her tone.

"Undo it," Yami demanded, knowing that even Kaiba didn't deserve that. "As your pharaoh, I command that you return him to his normal form."

Bowing her head and looking somewhat remorseful, Isis explained, "I cannot, for it is an enchantment, not a spell. He must learn his lesson to break it."

"That could be never!" Yami protested, knowing first hand how stubborn Kaiba could be.

"Then he should learn to love the taste of cat food," Isis haughtily replied with a disdainful sniff.

"Isis!"

"He's always boasting about how smart he is, so let him show us how long it takes him to break free by learning his lesson," Isis continued, ignoring Yami's outburst.

Shaking his head as he looked at the tiny kitten on her desk, Yami said, "This is cruel, even by your standards."

Shrugging nonchalantly, Isis said, "Next time he'll think twice before being so insulting."

You'll be lucky if he doesn't kill you when he returns to normal, Yami thought, but said nothing. Instead he reached out and gently picked up the still slumbering kitten and marveled at how small Kaiba was. "Why isn't he waking up?" Yami asked as he accepted the museum shop gift bag of Kaiba's clothes.

"It's a side effect of the enchantment. He should awaken soon," Isis reassured Yami.

"Can you at least call a taxi?"

"I already have," Isis informed him as she led the way out of her office.

Carefully nestling Kaiba in with his clothes, Yami followed and tried not to jostle the bag too much as he tried to figure out how to handle the situation.

A/N: I know this is another short chapter, but I promise that they get longer as things start to develop further. If you can just bear with me in these early stages, we'll soon be at my normal length. Just to give you an idea, the next chapter should be around 1,500 words or so.

I'm very grateful that everyone seems intrigued by this project and I appreciate you being willing to take a chance on this story! Your support means the world to me!

NEXT CHAPTER:

Surely this had to be the weirdest nightmare Kaiba had ever had.

The next chapter will go up on Sunday, June 29th, but until then I shall look forward to your reviews!