Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
*Rated M for Mature
Chapter 6 – Heart of the Cards
"Duke?" echoed Keith, looking baffled. He paused and stared at his partner. "You mean that chick's a dude?"
"Of course I'm a guy, you idiot!" Duke shouted at him. "Believe me when I say you weren't my first choice for a partner!" As Keith wandered off rambling about his partner's gender, Duke approached Joey and gave him a quick hug. "I'm glad you're okay, but that doesn't mean I'll go easy on you."
"I don't expect anythin' less," replied Joey.
Suddenly, the clock struck nine. The Tag-Team Duel Monsters Tournament was officially underway.
Kaede quickly made his way down the streets of Domino, the start of the tournament only being moments away. An idea had hatched in his mind after his conversation with Pegasus the other day.
It did seem awfully strange how Seto had changed his name from Kaiba to Takayama. What was in a name, anyway? Had Seto hated the name Kaiba? If so, why? Why change a name that represented power, dominance…wait. That was it. It finally became clear.
Gozaburo. That was the answer. Gozaburo Kaiba. Seto's father. He had to be the reason for the name change. But why? What would make someone hate a name so much?
Perhaps it had something to do with Seto's mental breakdown everyone seemed to be whispering about. If it proved to be true, was the changing of Seto's name meant for therapeutic purposes? And if he was correct, he might have found something Pegasus and Zigfried could use against the so-called new and improved Seto Takayama.
As soon as the clock struck nine, Mokuba's face appeared on the electronic billboards dispersed throughout the city. His voice, resonating like a god from above, hung in the air, creating tension and excitement all at once.
"Greetings, everyone!" Mokuba announced with a smile. "The Tag-Team Duel Monsters Tournament will officially be underway in a matter of minutes. But first, let's go through a few things.
"Duelists, when you are alerted by your duel disks, you need to get to your location in time and duel. If you fail to show up on time, you will be disqualified. There is no getting around that. Sensors are in each dueling location. If the sensors don't pick up the signal your duel disks give off at the time you should be there, your duel disks will be disabled, preventing you from participating in the tournament. Additionally, if you lose, you will be disqualified.
"Each team can expect to duel at least once a day. Calculations and readjustments will be made accordingly for participants throughout the course of the tournament. Each team will also have a total of 8,000 Life Points. We expect the duels to be quite impressive and show a great amount of skill. So good luck and may the best team win!"
"This is going to be a long tournament," stated Ryou, following closely behind Bakura and Marik.
"Especially if they get far," added Malik. They felt like parents supervising their children.
"Knowing them, I wouldn't be surprised if they made it to the finals," said Ryou. Then his expression became concerned. "Oh, dear."
"What?"
"Look." Ryou pointed out Seto, whom Bakura seemed to make a beeline for. "Let's mediate before this gets out of hand."
"Well, look what the cat dragged in," stated Bakura, eyeing Seto up and down. Joey raised an eyebrow at him.
"Bakura," Seto greeted with a nod.
"You look like you killed Kuriboh and stuck it on your head," Bakura said with a smirk. Marik laughed in response.
Seto, however, just shrugged and acted as if the comment hadn't fazed him. "Good luck in the tournament, Bakura. Marik," he said before walking off with Joey.
Standing there looking absolutely dumbfounded, all Marik and Bakura seemed capable of doing was opening and closing their mouths. They hadn't expected that type of response from him. What happened to the retaliation? The yelling? The threatening? Where was Kaiba?
"He's been replaced by a pod person," deadpanned Marik.
"How many times must I tell you to stop watching those strange movies," said Bakura as he smacked his partner in the back of the head. "He is not a pod person. Just like that Jell-O wasn't from that Blob movie."
"Flubber," Marik corrected. "And for your information, food should not jiggle. It should stay dead."
"What? Jell-O isn't alive, you idiot!"
"Then why does it move? Food shouldn't be moving on its own! If it's moving on its own, it's alive!"
"It's not alive!" Bakura insisted.
"Yes, it—!"
"Why are we arguing about fucking Jell-O? We have more important things to do!" snapped Bakura as he finally lost his patience. "Like getting Seto to act like Kaiba."
Ryou and Malik groaned. "You're right," said Malik. "This is going to be a very long tournament."
Having won their first duel, Yugi and Yami approached one of the billboards, hoping to find one of their friends dueling. Seto and Joey soon came up behind them.
"Hi, Joey! Seto!" Yugi greeted enthusiastically. "Have you two dueled yet? We did! And won!"
"Yeah, we had our duel. Won, too," said Joey, though he seemed disappointed.
"What's wrong?" asked Yami.
"Well," started Joey.
"It was horrible," said Seto. "They kept…staring at me."
"Yeah. I guess they were kinda star struck or whatever. They kept makin' weird moves. Like settin' trap cards in the monster zone. Eventually, an official had to come in and stop the duel. Disqualified the team, too."
"Isn't that a little…harsh?" wondered Yugi.
Seto sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Not when you make your first move and then they stare at you for a full fifteen minutes."
Joey chuckled. "Seto even waved his hand in front of their faces a few times to get them to snap out of it. I think it made it worse, though."
"Don't remind me," Seto groaned. "That's not how I wanted our first duel to go."
"I know," said Joey as he hugged Seto's left arm and put his head on his shoulder. "It'll be better next time…I hope."
"Ooh! Look! Duke and Keith are dueling!" Yugi announced suddenly. He tugged frantically at Yami's sleeve. "Let's go! They're at the plaza! We might be able to catch the duel!"
"Sounds like fun," said Joey. It would be best to check out the competition. He pulled Seto by the arm, guiding them as they followed Yami and Yugi to the plaza.
There was already a large crowd around Keith and Duke and whomever they were dueling; they weren't anyone Joey recognized. And he could tell just by the look on Duke's face that this duel was over. He and Keith were going to win.
Duke's mouth quirked up into a feral grin when it was his turn. "I summon Lava Golem to your side of the field!" he announced, sacrificing two of his opponents' monsters. "And now I activate Ojama Trio. This trap card allows me to summon three Ojama Tokens onto your side of the field!
"Next, I'll activate Flash of the Forbidden Spell, destroying Lava Golem and those three Ojama Tokens." With the Ojama Tokens being destroyed, his opponents took 300 points of damage per token.
"And I'm not done yet!" continued Duke. "Now I attack you with both my Neo-Spacian Dark Panther and E-Hero Neos!"
The crowd cheered and applauded with gusto as the opponents of Keith and Duke dropped to their knees in defeat.
"It looks like his style has changed a bit," commented Seto. He narrowed his eyes as if recalculating everything he'd just seen.
"Yeah," Joey replied. "But I don't think anyone will be a problem for us. We've got a few tricks up our sleeves, too."
"Joey!" Duke greeted after giving Keith a high-five for winning. "Did you see that?"
"I saw it," answered the blond as he crossed his arms. "I was just talkin' to Seto about it. Ya got better."
"Don't you know it," he said. "I'm looking forward to facing off against you."
"If ya even get that far," Joey teased.
"Oh, we'll get that far," said Duke. He was practically nose to nose with Joey now. But when Seto cleared his throat, he backed away.
Stepping closer to Joey—because it seemed to him that Duke was flirting with that playful banter of his—he placed his arm gently around Joey's hips. "We'll see you later," he said, trying to guide Joey away from him.
"Going already?" instigated Keith, intercepting them.
Not liking the tension that was building, Yugi decided to step in. "It was really a great duel, you guys!" But Duke and Keith ignored him.
"Just a few questions before you two wander off," started Duke. "Can you guys actually…duel together? Have you even won your first duel? You two aren't known for getting along, exactly."
"We work quite well together," Seto answered. "And we did win our first duel."
"Not by skill, I'm told," responded Duke as he smirked at them. "But we'll see." And with that, he and Keith wandered off into the crowd.
"We should keep an eye on them," Joey muttered under his breath. "Somethin's up."
Seto nodded. "Don't go anywhere without me, either. I don't like the way Duke was looking at you."
"Aw, is someone jealous?" Joey teased lightly.
"No, I'm worried," he replied. "And you should be, too."
"Don't worry, Seto," said Joey, glancing around before he gave the brunet a quick kiss. "Nothin's gonna happen to me that I can't handle."
"I don't like meeting like this," Zigfried said from his spot in the darkened alley. He looked around in distaste. The smell of garbage—and who knew what else—was enough to make him want to boil his skin off.
"Even though we've won our first duel, hurry this up, Kaede. We don't have all day," said Pegasus, turning his nose up at their rendezvous point.
"I think I have a plan," started Kaede as he grinned. "I may have discovered something. I believe I know the cause for Seto's nervous breakdown."
"Oh?" Pegasus responded, eyebrows raised.
"You mean he was telling the truth?" questioned Zigfried, interest piqued.
"Yes. It checks out," continued Kaede. "I believe Gozaburo Kaiba may have been a factor in all this. The name change, everything. There had been rumors of…obvious tension between the two of them, but perhaps there was more to it than everyone thinks."
"So you think him changing his name to—what was it—Takayama may have been for…healing purposes?" deduced Pegasus.
Kaede gave a quick nod.
"Then I wonder what we might be able to do to set off a little episode with poor Seto Takayama," Zigfried said in a mocking voice. "I want to make him crack."
At this, Kaede grinned. "I already have a plan."
"Where is everyone?" Yugi sighed in exasperation as he walked with Yami. It was day two of the tournament and they'd already won their second duel. "We haven't been able to see any of our friends really duel yet. I mean, there's Mai and Tea, Bakura and Marik, and not to mention Seto and Joey."
"There's still plenty of time to see everyone duel, Yugi. It's only the second day. And we have weeks of this tournament," said Yami as he patted his friend on the shoulder.
"They're dueling!" someone shouted from behind them.
Yugi turned just in time to nearly being run over by a small crowd of duelists. Yami caught him, however, before he could fall and get trampled to death.
"What's going on?" Yami asked loudly as he helped Yugi back up.
"Didn't you hear?" said another from the crowd. "Joey and Seto are dueling right now! Toward the center of the city! Hurry or you'll miss it!"
They didn't have to be told that twice. Yami and Yugi scampered off with the rest of them, determined to make it in time to see their friends duel.
"Can you believe they're dueling together?" someone said.
"I know, right? And their style has changed drastically!" added another.
"And it's totally different from yesterday, too! Well, with what I could get out of that duel, anyway. That other team sucked."
Yugi pushed his way through the crowd once they got to where Seto and Joey were dueling, but it was hard to see because of all the people. Managing to squeeze through to the front of the crowd, Yami and Yugi were finally able to make out Seto's figure. And it looked like it was his turn.
"I summon Breaker the Magical Warrior!" announced Seto. "And now I activate Premature Burial and target Big Koala. Then I chain with Dust Tornado, destroying your face down card. I also chain with Soul Reversal, targeting Des Koala. Next, I chain with Miraculous Rebirth, targeting White-Horned Dragon!"
The other duelists seemed flabbergasted by Seto's card combo, but he wasn't finished yet.
"I now activate White-Horned Dragon and target all spell cards on the field."
Yami's eyes widened when he noticed something. Seto's Blue-Eyes White Dragon was on his opponent's side of the field. And he wasn't acting rashly?
"I attack Blue-Eyes White Dragon with White-Horned Dragon," Seto continued. When Blue-Eyes White Dragon was destroyed, he finished off his attack with Big Koala and Breaker the Magical Warrior. He and Joey had won.
"They won!" Yugi cried as he cheered with the crowd.
Yami, however, remained silent as he stood there looking stunned. He was amazed by how much Seto had matured in regards to his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Before, Seto would have done anything—and quickly—to remove his dragon from his opponent's possession, if his duel with Joey back at Battle City had been any indication. But Seto had remained level-headed during his entire turn; as if someone else possessing his Blue-Eyes hadn't bothered him.
And he had to say that he was mightily impressed. But what had made him change so much?
Seto and Joey were sitting on a wooden bench when Mokuba sat beside his brother. The brunet, who was looking intently at a newspaper, seemed to block out the world as Mokuba began watching Marik and Bakura duel.
"Joey?" Seto started, drawing the blond's attention away from the duel. "How much money do we have?"
Joey thought the question was rather odd coming from him. Seto hadn't really paid much attention to their finances for quite some time. "Plenty," he answered simply.
Seto then looked back down at the newspaper. "Do we have enough for this?" he asked, pointing at a foreclosure listing.
Glancing down to where Seto pointed, Joey analyzed the listing. When he realized just what he was looking at, he smiled. "We have plenty for that. And to fix it up, furnish it, and then some."
Pleased with Joey's answer, Seto smiled slightly before folding up the newspaper and turning his attention to the duel. "We'll check out the house this weekend when the duels are finished for the week," he said.
Mokuba's head perked up at that. "What? We're getting a house?"
"Yes," replied Seto. "It will most likely be a fixer upper. There will be plenty of work to do, but yes, we will be getting a house together. It's time we were more of a family."
At this, Joey looked down at the ground. He kicked at the pebbles in front of him with his feet before Seto finally spoke up. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly.
Joey sighed and flopped backward on the bench, his eyes now looking at the sky. "I've been tryin' to call Serenity. But I keep gettin' hold of my mom instead. And she won't let me talk to her. I really wanna see Serenity, but she won't let me."
Seto observed Joey's saddened expression. "We'll find a way for you to see her," he said, grabbing the blond's hand and stroking it with his thumb.
Suddenly, a loud cackle drew their attention back to the duel. It seemed it was Bakura's turn.
"I activate Back to Square One and discard Ruin, Queen of Oblivion and target Jinzo! Now I shall activate Fissure! With that, I summon Manju of the Ten Thousand and activate its effect, which allows me to target the only card I can," he stated maliciously. "Then I activate the lovely Ectoplasmer! Now I activate Ritual Foregone and target Shinato, King of a Higher Plane! And with that, I end my turn!"
As soon as it became Bakura's end phase, Ectoplasmer activated—targeting Shinato, King of a Higher Plane—and depleted his opponents' life points to zero.
"It looks like the manic duo won their duel," Joey commented idly.
"They make a good team," Seto concluded. "They'll be hard to beat."
Joey nodded before looking over at Mokuba. He got up and sat next to the small kid. It was time they talked somewhat. "How're ya feelin'? Are ya okay with me and Seto bein'…ya know, a couple? Would ya be okay with us all livin' together?"
Seto tensed when he heard where the conversation was going. What if Mokuba was uncomfortable with the choices he was making? Where would that put him?
"It…was a shock at first," Mokuba replied slowly. "But I do see how happy you make Seto, Joey. And that makes me happy, too."
Out of anything Joey could have done, Mokuba wasn't expecting to be glomped on the spot. "I'm so glad! I can't wait for us to be together like a family and do family stuff! But first, we gotta take part in this tournament by eatin' somethin' from the vendors!"
Seto breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like things were going to go smoothly after all.
"And it all starts with a churro!" Joey continued as he stood from the bench, his fist rising in the air. "Ya guys want a churro, right?"
"I don't even know what a churro is," stated Seto. He raised an eyebrow when Joey got hyper in response.
"It's awesome is what it is!" he crowed before scampering off to get churros.
Seto smiled after him. If something like a churro made Joey that bouncy, it was bound to be good.
"Seto?" Mokuba started, his expression serious. "Do you love Joey?"
The brunet turned to face his brother and smiled at him warmly. "Yes. I do. Very much. I hope you can have it in your heart to accept that. I love you, Mokuba."
Mokuba smiled back at him, hugging his brother tightly. "I can accept that. And I love you, too, big brother." Especially when it meant that he was going to have a family again—even if it was getting a little bit bigger. But this time around, it was filled with more love and compassion.
"So how are we going to make him snap?" questioned Marik as he and Bakura spied on Seto from a distance.
"Let me think for a minute," answered Bakura. He really wanted to get 'Seto' to act like 'Kaiba.' Frankly, this whole "he got better" shtick was unnerving him. "Who are they watching duel, anyway?"
"I think it's Yugi and Yami," replied Marik, peaking above the bush he was hiding behind. "And it looks like they're winning."
"Of course. But we'll deal with them later," he said as an idea struck him. "Marik, go and get some ice cream."
Marik nodded diligently. "What flavor?"
"It doesn't matter."
"What? How can the flavor not matter? That's the best part about picking ice cream! The flavor!"
"It's not for me, you idiot! It's for Seto!"
"Oh," replied Marik softly. "What flavor does he like then?"
"Just get some fucking ice cream!" Bakura hissed at him, causing his partner to run off in the direction of an ice cream vendor. Now all he had to do was get closer. And as he did so, he spotted Yugi's finishing move.
"I activate Dimension Fusion and target Sacred Crane!" shouted Yugi, who looked quite enthused. "Now I flip summon my Penguin Soldier and target your Sacred Crane. I also summon Dark Magician of Chaos and activate his effect, targeting Dimension Fusion!"
The crowd roared in excitement.
"I activate the spell card Dimensional Fissure," Yugi continued. "Now I activate Confiscation and target your Sacred Crane. And finally, I activate Dimension Fusion and target your Sacred Crane!"
Bakura groaned as he realized his self-proclaimed enemies had won yet another duel. Why did they have to win?
"Bakura, I got the ice cream!" Marik said excitedly as he approached him. "But I didn't know if you wanted it in a cone or a cup, so I got both."
Rolling his eyes, Bakura snatched the ice cream cone from Marik and crept closer to Seto, who still had his back turned to him. As soon as the brunet turned around, however, Bakura rushed forward, the ice cream cone smashing against Seto's chest.
Bakura dropped the mess from his hands. "Oh, I'm so sorry," he said in a sarcastic tone. Fully expecting Seto to go off at him, he braced himself for the eruption of Mount Kaiba.
But it didn't happen.
"Do you have a napkin?" Seto asked, looking down at his now ice cream stained shirt. "I'd like to clean this off."
Yugi and Yami, who had just approached them, eyed the scene in apprehension and confusion. Why wasn't Seto strangling Bakura right now?
"I…don't have a napkin," Bakura responded, not really knowing how to say.
Seto began wiping the ice cream off his shirt with his hand, licking his fingers clean of the stickiness when Joey approached him with napkins. After cleaning himself off some more, Seto raised his gaze to Bakura. "Would you like me to buy you another ice cream?"
Bakura's jaw hit the floor, Yami and Yugi's following suit. Joey, on the other hand, just smirked.
"What? But—huh? What the hell is wrong with you?" Bakura demanded. "Why aren't you getting angry at me?"
"That wasn't a reason for me to get angry," Seto replied simply. "There was no point. Regardless of whether that was an accident or not, I'd still have to clean myself up. Why work myself up unnecessarily over something as minimal as ice cream on a shirt? Come on, Joey. Let's go find Mokuba and get some lunch."
As Bakura watched the two of them walk off as if nothing had even happened, Marik approached him. "I think I like this Seto," he said, eating the ice cream he held.
Bakura snatched the ice cream from him and smashed it on his head. "Shut up!" he snapped, obviously peeved over the incident. Or was he? He wasn't quite sure what to feel exactly.
"Hey! My ice cream!" Marik cried as it started to melt and run down his face. Huffing, he shook the ice cream from his hair and began following Seto and Joey.
"Where the hell are you going?" Bakura inquired as he frowned.
"To get ice cream. Maybe this nice Seto will buy me some," he cheered as he caught up to them.
"Moron," Bakura muttered to himself. "And what the hell are you looking at, starfish-heads?"
Yami glared at him. "I don't know. What am I looking at you…you…dork!"
"Oh, Yami," Yugi mumbled as he covered his face in embarrassment for him. Yami might be great at games, but he sucked when it came to name-calling. And calling Bakura a dork—above all things—just flat-out sucked.
"Me? A dork?" Bakura raged. "Well, at least I don't look like a fly swatter!"
"Hold on a minute," he said before turning to Yugi. "What's a fly swatter?"
"It's…something you use to swat flies with," he explained. Hadn't the name been enough to give that away?
"I am no fly swatter!" Yami continued to shout at Bakura. "But even if I was, I'd be a much better fly swatter than you!"
"Is that a challenge?" inquired Bakura, stepping closer to Yami.
"I think it is," dared Yami. "The person to swat the most flies in an hour wins. Yugi will be the judge."
"Huh? What? No! Yugi will not be the judge!" Yugi protested, arms flailing. How the hell had he gotten dragged into this?
But no one had paid any attention to his outburst, for Yami and Bakura were already heading toward a dumpster. Their fly-swatting competition had begun.
"Can we see the house today? Please?" Mokuba begged as he gripped his brother's jacket in his hands.
"We'll see it tomorrow since it'll be Saturday. That way we'll have the whole day to inspect it and whatnot," Seto replied.
"Ugh," Mokuba groaned as he put his hands on the guard rail so that he could continue watching the duel that was taking place. Ishizu and Odion had entered together and it was currently Odion's turn.
"I activate Confiscation and target Armed Dragon LV3," said Odion. "Next, I summon E-Hero Stratos and activate its effect, targeting E-Hero Ocean. Now I activate Fake Hero and target E-Hero Ocean. I then activate Level Down!? and target Armed Dragon LV7 and replace it with Armed Dragon LV3 in face up attack position. Finally, I attack you with both E-Hero Stratos and E-Hero Heat!"
"Okay, the duel's over. Can we please see the house now?" Mokuba began whining again. "No one else we know is dueling today!"
Seto watched Mokuba jump up and down while he begged and tugged at his clothes. Joey was the first to cave in. "We might as well," said Joey. "It's not like we're doin' anythin' else today. Let's go check it out."
Suddenly, Seto looked a bit hesitant, as if unsure about if they should go…at all.
"Everythin' will be fine, Seto," Joey whispered to him. "It'll be fine." He then gave Seto a quick kiss on the lips.
Which only made a bystander scream.
"Uh-oh," Joey muttered as the people standing around them looked on wide-eyed. "Everyone's gonna know we're together now, huh?"
"I suppose so," Seto said with a short laugh as he placed his arm around Joey's waist. "Now let's go see the house."
"Is everything going according to plan?" Zigfried asked Kaede, his face stone hard and expressionless.
"Yes," Kaede replied as he withered under the firm gaze. "At the start of Round Two of the tournament next week, Seto will be a complete mess. You can count on that."
"And does Mokuba know what you're planning? Or the other members of the board for that matter?" inquired Pegasus.
"Not for the time being, no. Let's just say this will be something that happens at the last minute. It'll be too late to make any changes by then. Once Mokuba steps in to halt the proceedings, the damage will have already been done."
"You'd best hope your plan works, Kaede," snarled Zigfried. "Or you'll find yourself looking for another job!"
Joey pulled their rental car up to a rundown looking house. He could sense Seto staring at the house with a mixture of apprehension and elation.
Being on the outskirts of Domino, the house was surrounded by more land than houses, giving the place a large yard to do who-knows-what with. There didn't seem to be a neighbor in sight, the nearest neighbor being about half a mile away and all, so the place appeared peaceful and quiet.
Mokuba took off his seatbelt and opened the door of the car as a strange feeling washed over him. Stepping out of the car, his feet landed on a gravel path, which crunched beneath his feet as he wandered aimlessly toward the large oak tree near the front of the dilapidated house. A large tire swing hung from one of its many large branches, but Mokuba wasn't about to try that out; he feared it would snap the minute he did.
He heard Seto and Joey get out of the car, turning his head to glance at them and noticed that they were holding hands. Focusing back on the oak tree, Mokuba approached it slowly. He circled its massive trunk a few times when something caught his attention. There was an engraving of some sort on the tree.
Stepping closer, Mokuba peered at the carving that had been worn down over the years. His hand reached out, fingers tracing the bark as if hoping touching the marks would ensure that they were indeed real.
They were. They were real.
"Seto and Mokie," he read aloud. The engraving was surrounded by a shabbily carved heart. Eyes widening, his heart slammed into his chest as the realization hit him. "We're at Mom and Dad's house?" he gasped, turning to face his brother.
Seto nodded carefully in response to Mokuba's question, not really sure what to expect from him.
"We're…we're getting Mom and Dad's house?" he asked, his voice cracking. Mokuba felt tears sting his eyes. Seto nodded to him again. "Really?"
"Yes," replied his brother, his voice just as raspy as Mokuba's. Joey gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
A small smile graced Mokuba's features as he turned back to the tree and traced his fingers over the carving again. They weren't getting a house. Not really. They were getting a home.
End Chapter