Téa spent the duration of the flight glancing out of the window. She wasn't really looking at anything; her mind was on the friends and family she had just left behind. They had wanted to come with her to the airport, but she had kindly insisted that they didn't go out of their way. But that was only half of it; she knew that dragging out the goodbyes would have made everything that much worse. Things were difficult enough as they were.

The plane touched down in Tokyo, and, upon leaving the airport, Téa stepped into the night air with a sigh. The lights of the brilliant city glittered in the distance.

"I wish the others could see this," she thought, in spite of herself. But her train of thought came to a screeching halt as Kayser arrived with the other dancers, in the troupe's rented bus.

"Glad you made it, Miss Gardner!" he exclaimed, as she boarded the bus. "Now, then… here's how we work… each dancer is assigned to personify an element. The dancers of the same element train together to learn their individual steps, and then all of the groups are brought together afterwards to practice the routine in full. Your fellow element members will be your family. And we're in the need of a dancer to personify the element of fire; we're supposed to have four dancers for each element (two men and two women), and the last young lady to personify fire decided to leave for other endeavors, thereby vacating the position to you. The other fires are sitting over there; why don't you go introduce yourself to them? You'll be seeing a lot of them from now on, and you'd want to be on good terms with them, right?"

Téa nodded, unable to get a word in edgeways. She worked her way over to the back corner of the bus, stumbling slightly as the driver pulled into the main road and picked up speed. The other fires glanced at her, obviously beginning to form their first impressions.

"Hi…" she said, with a friendly smile. All three of her colleagues merely replied with a curt nod, and she was forcefully reminded of Seto Kaiba. Compared to these people, she'd rather deal with him (at least she knew him on some level). "I'm Téa Gardner."

"Kayser told us about you…" said the only other girl, her hair a shocking shade of red. "They call me Caerii Tessurca. This guy," she added, indicating the burly young man next to her. "Is my twin brother and dance partner, Hesper."

The youth grunted in agreement, his hair also dyed red.

Téa smiled nervously. This was definitely not the start she had been hoping for.

"They make Kaiba seem so open and warm…" Téa thought, suppressing a shudder. "Ugh… why am I thinking about him again!?"

"Cat got your tongue…?" asked Caerii, her eyebrows arched.

"Uh… no; not at all," said Téa, searching for some excuse. "I was just wondering… Why do you both have your hair like that?" She frowned. "I could've some up with something so much better than that..." she thought.

"Well, we are supposed to represent fire," said a more pleasant-looking young man with brown hair, as he grinned at her. "But you and I are lucky; our hair is auburn enough so that we can get away without going through that! Call me Aurus—Aurus Kayser, younger cousin to the big boss himself! And if you don't mind my saying, you're a lot better-looking than the last girl who was my dancing partner!"

"Aurus!" the others groaned, but Téa was grateful; at least someone had broken the ice.

"Why did she leave?" Téa asked.

"Kayser said she was getting married or something like that…" said Caerii, unconcerned.

"Oh…" the young girl from Domino replied.

"In other words," said Aurus, with another grin. "Nothing to be worried about; she didn't break her leg or collapse from overwork…"

That brought a smile to Téa's lips; Aurus was quickly reminding her of Joey.

"Get a hold of yourself, Téa Gardner," she ordered herself. "The last thing you need now is to start seeing your friends everywhere."

"So why are you still standing there?" asked Aurus. "Have a seat, and let's chat. So, where're you from?"

Téa sighed and began to describe Domino, the memories of her friends swirling around her head, as if to taunt her.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kaiba," said one of the accountants, as Seto continued to angrily pace the room. "He hasn't returned a single message or taken a single call. He knows you're onto his game, and he's determined to make a clean getaway."

"Not if I can help it…" the CEO vowed, exchanging glances with Mokuba, who had quickly arrived upon hearing the news.

"Mr. Kaiba?" asked Roland, entering the room. "I hate to be the bearer of even more bad news, but unless we retrieve that money soon, there'll be questions raised about the misappropriation of Kaiba Corporation's funds…" He handed his employer an inquiry from the authorities; someone (the thief, no doubt) had the nerve to accuse Seto of squandering away the company's money, and had reported him. It was undoubtedly a delaying tactic.

"I don't believe this!" said Mokuba, reading the documents over Seto's shoulder.

"There's no point in trying to file a report to the authorities when he's beaten us to it," Roland continued. "What are we going to do?"

"I have an idea…" Seto replied, as his eyes narrowed. "Roland, I need to borrow your cell phone."

"My cell phone?"

"This creep is obviously screening his calls," the CEO replied. "Perhaps if I call from your phone, a number he would be unfamiliar with, he just might pick up."

"Of course, Sir," said Roland, handing over his cell phone.

"Mokuba, get ready to lock onto a location," Seto instructed, as he dialed the number.

"I'm on it!" the boy replied.

Seto's idea had worked—the fraud did answer the call, and was immediately greeted by Seto's wrath. He hung up fairly quickly, but that was more than enough time that Mokuba needed to lock onto the cell phone signal.

"Well, now that we know his signal, we'll be able to track him wherever he tries to go!" the boy exclaimed. "Let's see… his name is Minax Karvanius--"

"Obviously an alias…" Seto said, derisively.

"And he's in… Tokyo…" Mokuba went on, amazed. "Hey, that's where Téa was heading!"

Seto froze; he knew where Mokuba would be going with this.

"That's great, Seto!" the boy went on, confirming his brother's prediction. "You can chase down this creep and get a chance to speak to Téa while you're there!" He paused. "You will speak to her, right?"

"My priority is catching this crook," Seto replied. "If time allows, maybe I'll pay her a visit."

"So that's a 'no'…" Mokuba replied, with a sigh. "Seto, you have no idea how upset she was about leaving her friends--"

"I was the one who advised her to stay!" Seto pointed out. "She was the one who left anyway."

"I'm just saying that it would make her day if she saw a familiar face," Mokuba said. "Come on, Seto. Knowing you, it'll take you less than a day to catch that guy, so you'll have plenty of time."

"Speaking of which, while I'm gone--"

"Sure, I'll handle things while you're out talking to Téa. I mean…" the boy added with a grin, as his brother rolled his eyes. "…while you're out chasing that crook…"

"Our stay in Tokyo will not be long," said the elder Kayser, as he addressed the dancers after the long bus ride. "We only stay at our venues for one night, as most of you are aware. Now, we only have a few days to practice, and we must be absolutely perfect. Not one mistake, is that clear?"

Everyone else nodded, though Téa looked confused.

"I get that they're so prestigious and everything, but I don't know why they'd be so intolerant of a mistake…" she thought to herself. "Ah, well… So what if they're perfectionists? I can hold my own with them, without making any mistakes."

Aurus seemed to notice the look on Téa's face.

"Hey, I know he sounds a bit harsh…" he said. "But you are in the big leagues now. I'm sure you can handle it, though; he wouldn't have chosen you to join up, otherwise."

"But I've never known anyone to be so… overzealous about not making even a little mistake…" Téa replied, quietly. "No one except Seto Kaiba," she added to herself, and then chided herself for thinking about him again.

"Then go out there and show him that there's nothing for him to worry about," Aurus replied. "Don't make any mistakes, and you'll be fine."

"That's easy for you to say; you've been here before," Téa replied, with a smile.

"Don't worry about it, either; word has it that you're a natural."

"Are you two paying attention back there!?" asked the elder Kayser.

Aurus and Téa nodded.

"Alright," the instructor continued. "You'll find your costumes waiting for you in your hotel rooms. Practice begins tomorrow. Aurus, Miss Gardner, may I see you two for a second?"

"Sorry," Aurus said to his cousin. "She was a bit unnerved by the 'no missteps allowed,' so I was trying to--"

"I understand," said Kayser, and he turned to Téa. "I'm sorry if I came across as a bit of a tyrant there. You have to understand that we simply cannot afford any errors. Our sponsors aren't forgiving of errors."

"Yeah, and we kinda depend on them for food, lodgings, costumes, travel… pretty much everything we need, including your salary," Aurus added, with another Joey-like grin. "It's because of them we can live in semi-luxury."

Téa nodded, smiling as well.

"Come on, Téa," Aurus went on. "I'll show you to your room; you're sharing one with Caerii; we're in semi-luxury, but not enough luxury for individual rooms."

"Caerii?" Téa asked, as they traversed through the corridors. "I don't think she's going to be too thrilled with the idea…"

"Oh, she'll get over it," said Aurus. "She takes a while to warm up to; take it from me. Here you are; you can leave your luggage in there and then join us at the restaurant for dinner in fifteen minutes."

"Thanks," she replied, and she proceeded to set up her things in her half of the room. Her costume was there; it was a brilliantly colored outfit of oranges, reds, and yellows. Streams of fabric, resembling embers covered the wrists, ankles, and neck of the outfit, which would move with her as she danced.

She admired the outfit for a moment, and then pulled out her handheld computer. Mokuba had been right; she had flawless internet access here, too. She began to draft a letter to send to her friends.

"Hi, everyone," she typed. "I just arrived in Tokyo. I've made a new friend already; he reminds me so much of Joey. I'm taking it easy tonight, but the work begins tomorrow. This room has a beautiful view of the city; it almost reminds me of back home. I'll keep in touch. With love, from Téa."

Téa paused as she typed out the carbon copy list. Of course, she was going to send copies to her family and friends, but she was debating on whether or not to add Seto's email to the list.

"What've you got there?" asked a voice behind her, making her jump.

"Oh… hi, Caerii," she said. "It's nothing… just one of those pocket organizer things…" She didn't want to give away what it really was; it was personal, after all, and she didn't feel that anyone else had to know.

"Uh-huh…" the redhead replied, raising her eyebrows as Téa put the handheld away.

"So…" said Téa, trying to change the subject. "How long have you been with the troupe?"

"My brother and I have been with them for about three years now," she replied. "We've dedicated our lives to this. Traveling from city to city has become a way of life now. And with a view like this in every window, I don't really mind at all…"

She crossed to the balcony.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," agreed Téa. "I've done a bit of traveling with my friends, but nothing like this…" She trailed off as Caerii frowned, squinting at something. "Something wrong?" she asked her.

"Yeah… what do you suppose that thing is?" asked the redhead.

Téa took a glance out the window and had to consciously prevent herself from allowing her mouth to drop open in amazement. She could just barely see what Caerii was looking at.

It was a jet, built to resemble a Blue-Eyes White Dragon.