Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any affiliated materials.

AN: Just to clarify—despite the fact that this story is set one year after the events of the original series—Seto still doesn't believe any of these "hocus-pocus-mind-tricks" (or at least he won't admit that he does). Also, I am not misspelling Yugi's last name, I am simply using the American version of it.

Chapter II

The Rightful Owner

It was Saturday morning—two days after Christmas—and Yugi Moto was hoping to take advantage of his few free days by sleeping in until at least noon. It felt good not to have to do anything…

'Yugi, Yugi. Your grandpa wants you to get up. He said something about minding the shop.'

Great, thought Yugi, even on Saturday during my holiday breakGrandpa still wants me to run the shop. Maybe if I don't move, Grandpa will leave. Then I can go back to bed…

'Yugi, get up!'

…but only if Yami will leave me alone, sheesh, who's side is he on?

'Yugi, I know you're not asleep. I can hear what you're thinking. You can't just leave your grandpa's shop unattended.'

"Wanna bet?" he muttered.

'Yugi you are so immature.'

"Well, at least I'm not over five thousand years old," he responded eyes still closed.

The Pharaoh glared in Yugi's direction, 'I rest my case, but fine. Just don't blame me when your grandpa grounds you because the shop got robbed.'

Yugi sat up angrily, "If you're so worried about it, why don't you go watch the shop then!" Wait a sec... a grin crossed his face, "Hmm, that's a good idea. Tell you what Yami, you can go take care of the shop and I'll go back to sleep."

'That's a wonderful idea Yugi,' he thought sarcastically, 'but have you forgotten that in spirit form, only you and a few select others can see me?'

"Oh I know," Yugi answered a mischievous smirk on his face, "that's why I'll be going back to sleep in the Millennium Puzzle." And with that Yugi disappeared into the Egyptian artifact, forcing the Pharaoh to take control of their body.

"Yugi!" the Pharaoh snapped in an exasperated tone.

'You better hurry up Yami, or Grandpa will ground us both,' he retorted grinning.

The Pharaoh walked down the stairs, exiting the upper floor that served as their living quarters, and entering the main floor that was the Game Shop. As he went he muttered to himself a bit angrily, yet a smile was slowly creeping onto his face. That Yugi, he thought fondly.

"Ah there you are Yugi," called Solomon Moto as soon as the Pharaoh came into view. "I was beginning to think that I'd have to send a search party to look for you."

"Really Grandpa, my room is not that messy,"Atem responded with a smile.

He laughed. "Actually it is, but we'll talk about that later. Right now I'm late for a very important duelist convention. Mind the shop while I'm gone," he called as he walked out the door not really giving the Pharaoh much of a choice in the matter.

The Pharaoh sighed and sat down behind the counter.

sssSsss

The morning was very slow. Yugi's grandpa didn't really get many customers during these early hours—especially durring his early hours after the Christmas rush. Today's mainly included stuttering females who's entire knowledge of Duel Monsters seemed to be that he was The King of Games, and that he was apparently "very hot" even though he was quite sure he did not have a fever. So it was perfectly understandable that when Seto Kaiba walked through the door the Pharaoh was completely shocked.

"Kaiba, what are you doing here?" he asked surprise evident on his features and in his voice.

Seto sent him a look that would send most people running but The Pharaoh stood his ground, waiting patiently for his answer. Seto just continued to stand there and glare; it seemed that he was just as clueless as the Pharaoh as to why he was here.

"If you're here to duel me I'm afraid I'm too busy today," said Atem resorting to the default reason that he and Kaiba had for seeing eachother.

"I'm not here to duel you," snapped Seto. "I'm… I'm here about a particular card."

"You're actually here to shop?" asked the Pharaoh even more shocked than before. "Don't you usually buy directly from Pegasus?"

"Look Yugi, I don't have time for your little games! And do you think, even for a second, that I'd be here if I could get this card anywhere else?"

"Alright Kaiba, you've got me interested. So what could I possibly have to offer you… You do know I'm not selling the God Cards, right?"

"What do you think I'm stupid?"

The Pharaoh shrugged nonchalantly.

That's it, I can't deal with this guy! I'm getting out of here. Seto turned towards the door to leave. But wait… If I leave I'm just back where I started. I've got to solve this problem. He clenched his fists and turned back to the Pharaoh. "Look, I've come for something and I'm not leaving without it, so just shut up and do your job! Got it?"

The Pharaoh raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair. "Alright Kaiba, I'm listening."

Seto sneered as he stepped forward. "The card I played your grandpa for, the last Blue Eyes White Dragon, do you still have it?"

"You mean the card you destroyed?" he questioned, a slight smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

Seto sighed. "Yes, the card I ripped in half."

"Why would you want it? It's worthless now."

"Just answer the question! Do you have it or not?"

The Pharaoh thought for a minute. "Yes, I believe my grandfather still keeps it, but like I said, it's worthless now."

"Good. Then you won't mind if I take it."

"Actually, I meant it had no value to you. Despite the fact that it's completely useless in a duel, it still has sentimental value to my grandfather."

"You've gotta be kidding me! I…you…" Seto took in a deep breath. I've got to play this right… "I won the duel, therefore I won the card and it belongs to me."

"Yes, you did win the duel…but then you ripped the card in half, and threw the pieces away, so you relinquished ownership of it."

Seto felt anger well up inside of him again, but still fought to keep his cool. "Alright then…can I at least see it?"

The Pharaoh gave him a skeptical look. "Well alright, I don't see the harm in that. Wait here." The Pharaoh left the room, leaving Seto alone with his thoughts.

As the Pharaoh entered Solomon Moto's room, Yugi stirred inside the Millennium Puzzle. He decided he'd better check on the Pharaoh and make sure he was doing okay. He remembered with a shudder the last time the Pharaoh had had a job. It had been real simple, just helping out at a local bookstore. But then Atem had discovered the Ancient Egyptian section and had proceeded to "correct" their "mistakes". As expected, the shop owner hadn't been too happy when she saw him writing all over the books… Goodbye job. Goodbye extra spending money. No to mention he had had to buy all the defaced books.

Yugi exited the Puzzle and was surprised to see that they were standing in his grandpa's room. 'What are you doing in here? How come you're not watching the shop?'

"It's nice to see you finally decided to join the living Yugi," answered the Pharaoh unfazed.

'Seriously, what are you looking for?'

"This," said the Pharaoh as he produced a small very ornately decorated box from one of the open drawers of Grandpa's dresser. He then turned and began to head back towards the Game Shop with Yugi following curiously and a bit anxiously.

"Finally," sighed Seto as the Pharaoh emerged.

'Why is he here!?' asked Yugi now deeply regretting letting the Pharaoh watch the shop. Seto Kaiba was someone Yugi tried to avoid and for good reasons…lots and lots of them.

'Relax Yugi, Kaiba is just doing a little bit of…window shopping.'

'Window shopping huh?'

Ignoring Yugi's protests, the Pharaoh crossed the floor to the impatient Seto and slowly opened the box, revealing the two severed pieces of the last Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Seto's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the card that had suddenly become the most vital thing in his life. This is it. Time to see if my dreams have any real consequence.

The Pharaoh noticed Seto's uncertainty; the apprehensive way he looked at the torn card. What could possibly be so important about this card? I've never seen Kaiba act so strangely. Something is definitely up…but what? "Kaiba, are you alright?"

His words brought Seto out of his trance. "Yes…yeah, I'm fine." He paused then cautiously motioned with his hand toward the card. "May I?"

The Pharaoh hesitated as Yugi's warning thoughts rushed into his head. A change has come over him, he seems desperate to get this card…almost fearful that I won't let him even touch it. To both Yugi's and his own disbelief, he nodded his consent.

Seto slowly reached out to the card but stopped, his fingertips only inches away from the card's surfaces. This is insane. I'm here in the most rundown shop in town begging my top rival for a worthless card. And why? Because a recurring nightmare showed me a vision of four Blue Eyes cards. He sighed. I must be crazy.

He closed the distance between his fingers and the card.

Suddenly the room was filled with a blinding white light. They all shielded their eyes and the Pharaoh thought he heard a woman's voice calling out to Seto. Then as suddenly as the flash had appeared it was gone revealing the no longer ripped card as it fluttered down to land at Seto's feet, who seemed only able to stand there, dumbstruck by the events that had just taken place.

The Pharaoh recovered first and bent down to pick up the card. "It seems," he said smiling at Seto, "that the card believes that you are its rightful owner. So here, take it."

Seto just continued to stand there. He seemed unable to grasp the fact the Pharaoh was in fact giving him the final Blue Eyes White Dragon card.

"Go on, it's yours. After all," he said with a slight smirk, "you did win the duel against my grandfather."

Seto took the proffered card glancing from it to the Pharaoh and back again. "I…it was a pleasure doing business with you," he said trying to regain his composure, and with a quick nod he turned and exited the shop.

'Great… now we have to explain to Grandpa why his favorite card is missing,' Yugi said angrily as they watched Seto disappear around the corner. 'I'm never putting you in charge of anything every again…' He began to take back control from the Pharaoh. '…unless it's a duel,' he added quickly.

sssSsss

Hope you enjoyed. I appreciate reviews and welcome ConCrit.

-Asiera