Summary:All Seto wanted was to spend some time with his little brother, what he got was a magical revolution.. An ordinary life never looked so tempting.
Warnings: Possibilities of future Shounen Ai, nasty language and death.
Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter or Yu-Gi-Oh! belong to me. I sense your astonishment, but bear with me. The characters (by and large) belong to their respective owners, I'm just playing with them, I swear I'll put them back in the box when I'm finished.

Book One of Eight;

Chasing the Dragon

-Chapter One-
Carved in Stone.

-Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus-

Seto Kaiba knew from the moment that he cracked open his drowsy eyes that something wasn't quite right.

He awoke in unfamiliar territory. The Hotel alarm clock, possibly the most aggravating and destructive noise to exist beyond a jubilant crowing that Seto had once heard emanate from Katsuya Jounouchi's lips, was for once not the cause.(1) This of course, was entirely unusual. His mind informed him that it was an utterly indecent time to be awake and Seto was inclined to agree, already cursing the person who was ballsy enough to wake him at such a ridiculous time of the – morning?

A low, labored groan worked it's way up Seto's throat as an invasive beam of sunlight beat down upon his weighted eyelids. How could it possibly be morning already?

A sudden sharp jolt to the mattress beneath Seto's back sent the elder Kaiba jerking awake, eyes springing open then squeezing shut again at the onslaught of brilliant sunshine that assaulted them. The jolt returned, complete with subdued snickering, and Seto cautiously cracked his eyes open again.

"Morning 'Nii-sama!" Was the positively bubbly morning greeting from somewhere around his ankles.

With the dull morning haze quickly evaporating from his brain Seto dutifully proceeded to assess the situation.

Late morning, Mokuba awake and Seto himself; Still in bed.

Needless to say the young businessman was puzzled. With a thirst for an answer to the equation (and a healthy dose of caffeine) he delved further into his thoughts. An unusual itching and heaviness in his eyes, lead-weight in his limbs and the protesting of a mind that screamed out for more sleep (and most likely a pay-rise too. That was,after all, what protesters usually had at the top of their demand lists.) It took several moments for Seto to come up with a satisfactory answer and he felt an odd sense of satisfaction rise in his chest upon procuring one, despite the grimace that marred his face.

Jet lag.

A yawn drew its way through his lips at the fuzzy memory of a darkened air terminal in Osaka earlier that morning, 3am if he recalled rightly. It wasn't long before he was interrupted from his thoughts by a glimpse of a wicked tangle of raven-black hair. Seto raised his head from it's pillow to eye his younger brother with a shrewd but sleepy stare.

The younger Kaiba, still clad in Blue Eyes White Dragon pajamas and looking the very picture of endearing light-hearted charm, was still bouncing enthusiastically up and down on his older brother's mattress. Seto fought back the urge to laugh. Oh, the kid was good.

The boy addressed his brother's stare as he stopped bouncing and slumped down to sit on the mattress with a beaming smile upon his lips that was upset by the calculating gleam in his eyes. Weakly returning the favor as he recalled the plane ride that had carried over into the earlier hours of the morning, Seto noted that his younger brother was not suffering nearly so badly from jet lag. The kid had slept for half of the plane-ride and all of the car-ride home.

Seto recalled with a scornful smile the gushing whispers of the star-struck airport night-staff when he had piggy-backed the younger Kaiba through the main terminal to the waiting car. The kid was lucky. Seto had never been able to sleep on planes, which he had always presumed a good thing when one was piloting one but entirely undesirable when one was the passenger.

Seto jolted from his thoughts at the sound of his younger brother's voice in his ears and directed his sleepy stare to his brother's face. A frown had dissolved the boy's cheerful expression and he seemed vaguely exasperated by his older brother's actions, whatever it was that he had done.

"Earth to Seto!" The twelve year-old exclaimed exasperatedly, waving a hand vigorously in front of his brother's eyes and scowling.

Seto wisely restrained the urge to laugh at his brother's indignation and similarly withheld the smile that threatened to spill over his lips. An eyebrow danced upwards against his will, however, as he stated with perfectly infuriating calm, "I'm listening.."

"I was saying," Mokuba groused raising a hand to silence the protest that he knew was coming as he continued loudly, "That since you aren't going into work today we should do something fun.."

At Seto's clearly dubious raise of eyebrows the younger brother added a prompt, "-likegoing to Kaiba Land! You haven't dueled since.."

Mokuba broke off abruptly, the picture of penance as he licked his lips nervously and scoured his brother's face covertly through lowered lashes.

Seto had taken the loss of his own tournament hard, to put it lightly. Battle City had been meant to be Seto Kaiba's final, glorious triumph over Yuugi Mutou and the lingering stain of Gozaburo Kaiba. Needless to say, things hadn't gone quite as planned.

Mokuba was greeted by a thoroughly amused and entirely unexpected smile. The knowing gleam in Seto's eyes made it clear that Mokuba's careful machinations had not gone unnoticed, before he replied with deliberate nonchalance. "You're right Mokuba."

Seto's smile twitched further at the bewildered expression that Mokuba didn't even bother to hide.

"I haven't dueled in much too long."

With a sidelong glance that gaged his brother's reaction, Seto stretched his arms high over his head with a resounding crack of his shoulder-blades and let out another persistent yawn.

The younger sibling's smile was contagious as his eyes lit up. It was rare that Seto Kaiba was at liberty to be in such an obligingly good mood these days, even towards his brother, which meant that while he wasit was a good idea to take full advantage of the situation. This was something that Mokuba had learned to master a long time ago.

The truth of the matter was that the frenzy of meetings, negotiations and challenges set down in America had given Seto Kaiba exactly what he had needed most. It had given him time to think, a situation to focus on and more importantly put space between him and Yuugi Mutou. (2)

While still nursing his wounded pride, still irritable about his defeat and more determined than ever that he should defeat Yuugi Mutou once and for all, Seto had conceded that the grudging respect he had begun to feel for his rival was, at least in part, deserved.

With a distinct twist of something akin to irritation touching his face at the very thought of his rival, Seto Kaiba extracted himself from his bed covers and, stretching his arms languidly over his head until his shoulders cracked, cast a nonchalant glance over his shoulder at his painfully observant younger brother.

"What was it you were saying about Kaiba Land?"

Midday found the younger Kaiba brother tearing up a stretch of concrete steps that led into the largest arcade in Domino City. An arcade that just so happened to be owned by his older brother, not that Mokuba Kaiba had ever found it necessary to drop names to get what he wanted.

Being Vice-President of a multi-national corporation did have it's share of perks after all.

The three entwined steel dragons that framed the gigantic glass doors caught the sunlight as the boy paused in his conquest of the stairway, turned on his heel and leveled an exasperated stare upon the trailing figure of his elder brother.

The younger brother tapped his sneakered foot impatiently upon the concrete steps, grinding them pointedly into the surface in an attempt to attract his brother's attention. When this failed Mokuba's scowl darkened, he would have to do this the hard way then.

"Se-to! " the boy whined most impressively as he surveyed his brother's progress up the staircase with an impatience that was almost tangible.

Seto was dressed in a customary Kaiba trench coat, this one a shade of deep blue and tailored to perfection, yet the same eccentric traits of the rest of his wardrobe shone out in this item of clothing as well. It, much like the long succession of trench-coats that came before it, flared out behind the businessman in a gravity defying sweep.(3)

Mokuba stared for several moments of diverted amusement at the phenomena, he had never managed to discover just how Seto managed to get his clothing to do it. Whatever it was, it was a trait that Mokuba hadn't received, something that he was a little disappointed about truth be told.

An amused smile flirted with Seto's lips as he covertly eyed his impatient brother. The boy knew very well that Seto wouldn't be caught dead running to get into his own dueling arcade, it just wasn't fitting for his professional image.

This was perhaps why he was so surprised when Mokuba came tearing back down the steps towards him at a speed that made his savage head of hair become a black blur. The smile was surprised off of Seto's face as his brother snared his hand and seized the opportunity to tear back up the staircase.

Seto felt himself being tugged along at top speed towards the entrance. He had the distinct feeling that Mokuba either didn't hear his surprised yell of 'let go!' or had simply chosen to ignore it. From the impish grin that graced his younger brother's lips Seto was inclined to believe the latter.

The Kaiba Land employees had never seen their President make an entrance quite the same. They did, however, make convincing attempts to keep their amusement private, at least until the elder Kaiba was a safe distance away.

Seto, despite feeling distinctly unamused by Mokuba's antics, found himself relaxing in the presence of his technology. He was in his element here, surrounded by things that he enjoyed. Mokuba, countless duels and of course the by-products of his technology.

Seto almost immediately felt an itching in his fingers begin. Surrounded by the sounds of countless duels Seto felt the desire for a challenge worming its way in to his blood. He had been quite right earlier, it had been much too long since he'd last dueled.

He found his eyes roaming the crowds, almost instinctively searching for a crest of red-tipped black spikes and leather. The very thought made him grimace, if he didn't know better he might say that he was obsessed. Discarding the thought, he resumed his search, singling out any likely looking targets who he thought might put up a decent fight.

He wasn't surprised when his feet led him of their own accord towards the Champions Arena, he always had and always would be drawn to the most prestigious opponents. Only the best made it to the Champions Arena, he had made sure of that when he had designed it.

With Mokuba still attached to his arm, he steered the pair of them towards the largest and by-far flashiest of all of the dueling arenas that surrounded them. It also played host to the rowdiest crowd. It was natural of course, this was where all the real duels took place, the ones that were really worth watching. Not too many duelists met the criteria of the Champions Arena.

The crowds soon parted as they recognized him.

Only one of the many perks of being both the owner and a highly-ranked duelist.

Caffeine buzzed in his mind and his blood burned with the prospect of a challenge. There were several new additions to his deck that he had picked up whilst in America and he was more then eager to break them in.

The whispers echoed in his head as he strode towards the arena, where a duel was already in progress.

'It's Kaiba - '

'No way! I thought he was - '

''Seto Kaiba! I knewit, d'you think he'll - '

'It really is him!' 'Is he going to duel?'

The snatches of conversation lingered in his ears as the dueling arena came into sight. He could feel a familiar swagger returning to his walk and dutifully ignored the cheeky grin that crept onto Mokuba's face.

He realized with a half-smile and a twinge of near-sickening nostalgia just how much he had missed dueling during his stay in America. Perhaps he had been wrong in the past to say he had only ever dueled for the prestige – the rush that he was feeling could be considered addictive.

Seto's attention was attracted magnetically to the all-too-familiar voices that were curiously clear amidst the buzzing of the crowd.

"C'mon Jounouchi! You can do it!"

A grimace met his face as Seto caught a glimpse of vibrant golden hair from one of the dueling platforms. Jounouchi Katsuya. He should have known he would run into them today. Fate had a verytwisted sense of humor when it came to Yuugi-tachi and himself.

"Come onBakura! Stop torturing him and just finish it already!" Came the amused cry from the sidelines, courtesy of one of the decidedly less cheer-happy Yuugi-tachi.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Otogi!" was the snarled retort from the blond and Seto found his lips twitching and his mood surging upwards.

It appeared Jounouchi was losing today – and somewhat badly.

Seto in turn focused his attention upon Jounouchi's opponent. Wisps of shocking long white hair framed an almost effeminate face and sharply attuned brown eyes. Seto found his mind stating recognition, his lips curved into a smirk as his back straightened and his arms lazily folded over his chest to observe the duel. He remembered the white-haired boy as a finalist in Battle City. Bakura Ryou if he recalled.

The older Kaiba found himself intrigued. The white-haired boy's occult-flavored cards and soft, eerie recitals of bewitching tales had successfully managed to upset the usually upbeat blond with surprising ease. Surprising, at least to anyone who couldn't see that Katsuya Jounouchi wasn't being uncommonly cautious in regards to the white-haired boy.

Seto could have laughed, in fact he probably would have done, if an extremely familiar voice hadn't exclaimed at that precise moment with far too much enthusiasm; "Kaiba-kun? I didn't know you were back in town!"

Craning his neck downwards, Seto found himself presented with the tips of an absurd crest of hair that could only belong to Yuugi Mutou. His smile slipped away sharply and he felt his blood burn – the urge to declare a challenge was almost as ridiculous as Mutou's hair.

Arching back fractionally so he could see his vertically-challenged rival's face, Seto arched an eyebrow gracefully. Mokuba frowned and took it upon himself to answer Yuugi, but not before casting a reprimanding stare in his elder brother's direction.

"We just flew in last night."

"So .. How was America?" Yuugi spoke up nervously, fingers ruffling his hair in a distracted manner.

The elder Kaiba's eyebrow shot up a few more degrees, Yuugi was acting even stranger then usual.

"Fine," he replied after a brief pointed silence spent trying to catch the shorter boy with one of his infamously penetrating stares.

Mutou however remained elusive.

It was quite obvious to Seto that Yuugi had no wish to hear about the dreary details of the Kaiba Brothers' misadventures in North America, but just what the King of Games wanted remained a mystery.

Seto Kaiba knew from experience that he could be very good at the waiting game despite an inclination for avoiding it. He could wait it out until Yuugi had no choice but to reveal his real intentions for talking to him.

To the King of Games the only indication of the elder Kaiba's curiosity was the casually suspended eyebrow.

Absently Yuugi's eyes drifted toward his hands and Seto felt his lips twitch with irritation of their own volition. Deciding to forgo his waiting tactics, though he assured himself that he wasn't forfeiting in any way, he demanded in a decidedly harsher tone than he had intended. "What do you want, Yuugi?"

Mokuba shot a disapproving frown in his brother's direction.

Seto was unsurprised to find that this seemed to be precisely what Yuugi needed to pull himself together, in spite of Mokuba's disapproval. Lifting his head with an almost regal craning of his neck, the King of Games met Seto's eyes with a determined crimson gaze.

In an assertive tone 'Yuugi' declared, "I need to talk to you."

Seto found his lips twisting with irritation and his eyebrow twitched from it's higher vantage point. Blue eyes met crimson levelly.

Was that not what they had been doing?

Seto managed, in a feat of kindness on his part, to tone down the sharpness in his tone before declaring stonily, "I'm listening."

Mokuba gave an approving nod in his brothers direction and his smile rekindled.

"Not here," the shorter youth retorted quickly.

Crimson eyes were sweeping their surroundings in an act of paranoia that Seto was quite sure hadn't been present when he had left Domino City. Perhaps Yuugi really did have a mental illness.

"Someone might hear,"Yuugi hastened to add upon noticing the perplexed stare he had gained from his adversary.

As if to prove the smaller youth's point, a loud and obnoxious voice cut into their conversation in an act that Seto would later swear was intended to infuriate him personally.

"Hear what Yuugi?"

Seto's eyes turned in stony irritation towards the head of blondwith a trace of irony drawing a grimace to his lips. By the just-detectable droop of the blond's shoulders it was quite apparent that the boy had indeed, as his friend had predicted, lost his duel.

It took Jounouchi several moments to realize who it was that his friend was talking to and he recoiled with a look of surprise as he yelped, "Kaiba!"

Finding that his blood pressure had already begun to rise with a vengeance and thinking it no small coincidence Seto glanced towards Mokuba instinctively. His younger brother was engaged in eying the victor of the duel thoughtfully. Deciding that this meant that Jounouchi was fair game as far as niceties went, Seto smirked.

"What is it now? You can't have forgotten I own this place already? Though I can't say that it surprises me. After all, your kind are better known for their parlor tricks than their memories aren't they?"

Seto observed with interest as the blond's face changed color at least seven times before he was able of loose his tongue. What intelligent argument that Jounouchi had come up with, however, would have to remain a mystery, as Yuugi hurriedly intervened with an apologetic look in his best friend's direction.

" Jounouchi-kun, I need to talk to Kaiba."

The blond's argument was effectively shut down as he scowled at the King of Games.

"Kaiba-kun, could we.." The assertive tone had turned to exasperation.

Grimacing, Seto turned swiftly on his heel and announced a disinterested, "Follow me," over his shoulder.

Seto weaved his way expertly through the crowded arena, passed an information desk, public toilets and a gift shop before they veered into a decidedly less populated staff area and came to a corridor which, with a stern white sign, warned the public with bold, red letting that brokered no nonsense, No Admittance. Yuugi stared with distracted interest at the gray-blue walls as they passed door after locked door. It seemed they had been walking forever when Seto abruptly stopped, punched an entry code into the digital locking system on the wall and proceeded to wave him inside.

Yuugi was surprised to find that the room he had entered was furnished with a cluster of comfortable squashy furniture that ill-fitted the harsh corporate design of the room. He watched Seto as he seated himself in a seat behind a handsome wooden desk and quickly found his own seat in one of the eclectic squashy armchairs.

Seto spoke quickly and without wasted pleasantries.

"Lets make this quick Yuugi. I was planning to spend my day off with Mokuba and, quite frankly, you don't make much of a substitute."

Seto watched his adversaries face sharpen and allowed a flicker of humor to twitch at his lips.

"Kaiba,"Yuugi resumed at last, having decided to let the blunt statement slide.

He seemed to get stuck once he reached this point and frowned. "This.. Well."

Yuugi paused again, before he began to dig into the inside pockets of his jacket. Seto watched with a bemused expression and caught a glimpse of gold as Yuugi withdrew a very familiar item.

"This is yours," he finished, placing the dull gold of the Sennen Rod carefully onto the polished wood of the desktop.

It rested with a heavy metallic clink as Yuugi sank back into his armchair.

Footnotes:
1. I thought I'd make the point now, some of the opinions of other character's might seem somewhat harsh. I'm attempting to throw myself into Kaiba's frame of mind, how successfully I don't know, so naturally opinions will be Kaiba-biased.
2. Following Battle City Kaiba takes off to America to go build a Kaiba Land.
3. Starch I tell you. Starch.

AN: Due to a well of writer's block I've slipped into clean-up mode, which means that I'm slowly working my way through the earlier chapters to try and fix the glaring mistakes. If you still encounter anything of the sort, let me know and I'll fix them. I know there isn't any mentioning of HP yet. All in good time – I was never one to rush anything.
Note: I'm endeavoring not to scatter eclectic Japanese phrases throughout this story as it just seems plain silly, the only break in this format will come with honorifics.

"It was a one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater!"