Author's note:

I do not own Yu gi Oh or its characters, just mine. I also do not own any of the duel monster cards mentioned save for the ones I made up. I am sure you can figure out which ones.

I did my best to keep the characters true to their, well, character. I am striving to make Sharleen a believable character and not a Mary-sue type. I used to duel in competitions when I was kid, and hope that I stayed true to the rules of the game, without bending any of them, except for the rules that were already bent in the show. Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense.

This chapter may seem a little out of place. When you write from the point of view of a girl who has some serious issues, chapters tend to be disjointed when she is in what I like to call, depression haze.

Strange shit is going down tonight, Sharleen thought as she watched the duel that was unfolding on the stage. After putting Jordan down to sleep, and dealing with his mild hissy fit, she had made her way to the top of the blimp, just in time to see the stage go dark with a shimmery holographic mist. As she walked past the Kaiba brothers to get a better view, she caught a glimpse of gold out of the corner of her eye. Glimpsing sideways as she stopped between the Kaiba brothers and the strange group she had driven to the blimp with, she saw the very strange boy with a girly halter top holding a gold…well...rod behind his back. She could have sworn that she saw it glow. She quickly dismissed it as a side effect of the awesome graphics taking place on the dueling platform.

The kid, who did not look like a kid anymore, Yugi was struggling to stop Bukkura's spell card from spelling the word "final". The whole exercise looked like a futile one as there did not seem to be a way to stop the shadow deck the silver haired boy was employing. But, she supposed that if anyone could beat it, it would be the King of Games, or possibly Kaiba himself. As she watched Yugi work his way to victory, she was suddenly struck by how out of place she was in this tournament. These individuals, with the exception of Joey and possibly Namu, were all stars compared to her. Not for the first time she thought, what am I doing here?

She was so engrossed in her thoughts, that she did not see that the game was over until the platform made the undeniable sound of being lowered. She looked up to see Bukkura being transported to the medical bay and the other duelist beside themselves with worry. She quickly played back the scene she had been only half paying attention to. Bukkura had suddenly stopping being his ruthless self and had appeared to be a frail little boy asking for help. When Yugi attacked, he returned to his former self and was struck down…by a hologram…and was now being transported to the medical bay…what? I really need to pay better attention, she thought. Surely that is not how it went down, and surely that girly looking Namu was not currently staring at her with the intensity of someone who knows someone else but cannot place their name to their face. Maybe it was because she had yet to follow the group back to the elevator. Yes, that must be it.

The trip to the main dorm rooms was a silent and shocked one. Sharleen felt out of place once again as she stood just behind the elder Kaiba and in front of Joey and his strange group of friends. As soon as the doors opened, that group bolted to the medical bay as Kaiba had called a short recess due to the injury of a duelist. With nothing else to do, Sharleen started toward her room to check on Jordan.

"Just a moment, Ms. Durest" a gritty voice said behind her. She turned and saw one of Kaiba's men behind her. When she raised her eyebrow he spoke again, "Mr. Kaiba would like to have a word with you."

She contemplated this odd request for a moment then shrugged. When he motioned for her to follow, she did, making her way to a room marked "1". Of course Kaiba would make himself the number one duelist on his ship. There was a time in her life when she would have agreed. Now she wasn't saying he wasn't a great duelist, because he was, oh hell, she didn't know what she was thinking as she waited in front of the door for the grand mister to open it. After a minute more, she was ready to leave, when the doors slide open and a rough voice said, "Enter".

As she entered the room, she saw Kaiba sitting in a chair with his deck of cards on the table in front of him. He was contemplating a card in his hand and the famous Blue Eyes White Dragon sitting on the table. She was distracted for a moment when she saw it. Ever since she was a little girl, she had wanted to see that card up close, and now she was as close as anyone but Kaiba had ever been to them. A clearing of a throat caught her attention and she looked up at her…host for lack of a better term. He raised an eyebrow as he gestured to the seat on the other side of the table. After a moment of contemplation, she shrugged and sat down.

"You're not much of a talker" he said in his normal dead pan voice.

"Back at you" she murmured, "Why am I here?"

"Was the duel not bracing enough for you?"

"What do you…"

"You were not paying attention." He interrupted impatiently.

"I have other things on my mind". She said with an edge to her voice. She hated to be interrupted.

"The best duelist pay attention to the competition. Aside from myself, Yugi is your biggest competition here."

'Are you giving me advice?" Sharleen asked, a little taken a back.

"No. I am warning you. I created this tournament for one purpose, to win. If you want even a small chance of victory, shape up."

She raised an eyebrow at this comment before asking, "Why did you invite me?"

Kaiba almost smiled. Almost. "Of all the fans to come visit my booth, you were the first and last one to leave an impression on me." This time he gave her a full blown smirk.

She damn near blushed when she remembered. She had waited in line all morning to get that key chain signed and she was so close to the front of the line she could clearly see Seto Kaiba's blue eyes. She was so engrossed in staring at her idol, that she did not see the line move until a tall, burly girl wearing a "I love Kaiba" sweater shoved her forward yelling, "Move it runt!". She slammed into the edge of the signing table so hard it went scooting across the floor. Her momentum was such that she would have landed right in Kaiba's lap had he not reached out and grabbed her with both hands, deftly keeping her out of his lap and setting her roughly on her feet. She was so mortified when she looked up at him (even sitting he was taller than her), that she could barely squeak out an apology before she turned and ran like she had never ran before.

Back in the present, Sharleen looked at him, trying to ignore the blush creeping up her cheeks. "But how did you know who I was? I did not start dueling in circuits for real until several years after that."

"A man remembers a woman nearly dropping into his lap. Then ran away." He frowned at that last bit before continuing, "I saw you on a local news channel a few years later. Your red hair is unmistakable. I knew it was you. I started to follow your duels until you disappeared off the map a few years ago. I always wondered why."

Sharleen took a deep shaky breath before looking back into those penetrating blue eyes as she stood up to look down at him. "That's a personal matter".

He seem to contemplate that for a moment, before he too stood and crossed the distance between them until she had to strain her neck to continue to look him in the eyes. After a long awkward minute, he held up his hand, and out dropped the Blue Eyes key chain she had left behind so many years ago. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"You kept it?"

"I signed it." He dropped it into her hand.

"Why?"

"Anything for a fan girl".

"Excuse me-"

Bang! Bang! Bang! They both swiveled their heads towards the door as an obnoxious voice demanded that Kaiba let him in. Kaiba sighed and muttered something about the dweeb patrol before scooping up his cards, tapping them into place, and heading for the door. With a hydraulic hiss, the doors opened and Joey waltzed in, demanding that Kaiba land the blimp so their friend could receive medical attention. After a few seconds of his ranting, Kaiba sat down in his chair and refused to land the blimp. Even after Serenity begged Kaiba to land the blimp, he refused. Sharleen became tired of this charade and interrupted.

"He was taken away in a stretcher yes?"

Everyone looked at her and Joey yelled, "yeah, so?"

"So, he was taken to a medical bay" silence filled the room. "With Doctors." She looked at Kaiba to confirm. He stood, walked past her, and confirmed over the intercom that a doctor was with Bukkura, before sitting back down. Joey just had an "oh" look on his face before he stammered out an apology.

"I don't need your apologies. Get lost." Kaiba sneered.

"That's it rich boy!" Two of the boys in the group snagged Joey before he pounced on Kaiba, while Kaiba remained calm and un-phased. "You and me, let's go!"

" I don't have time to play with puppies" Kaiba said, turning his face away from Joey.

"WHY YOU!"

"Would you shut up?" Sharleen half asked, half demanded, "You are making my ear drums bleed".

The crowed gaped at her in silence before Joey yelled, "What, are you his girlfriend or something?"

"You assume that I am his girlfriend because I defend a man who has boarded your friends, unexpectedly, on his blimp for free, and now has paid for your friend's medical needs while he is on board this ship, and has dealt with you invading his private space with a lot more grace than I would have? You say girlfriend. I say observant person. He could have asked you nicely to leave, I'll admit that much at least."

No one seemed to know what to say to that, but Kaiba was smirking at her, with almost a twinkle in his eyes. She had not seen that look on his face since she almost landed on his lap all those years ago. She had to look away from him and stared at her nails, as If she was bored.

"As much as I am enjoying this," Kaiba drawled in a bored voice, "We have the quarter finals to finish." He stood up to his full height. "Let's go." He pushed past the odd crowed and motioned for them to follow. Sharleen was the first to fall in step behind him. From the back of the room she could have sworn she heard someone mutter "fan girl". She just managed not to turn around and throw a punch.