The day of the Tokyo Tech Expo had finally arrived. Young inventors and small technology companies from all across Japan had gathered together under one roof to show off their latest inventions and programs, many with the hopes of being head hunted by a major corporation. This was make-it-or-bust for a lot of aspiring technology and their creators but it was also a great opportunity for the bigger companies to find their next big ticket product or game. Representatives from Industrial Illusions and the Schroeder Corporation were tooling about the event's main concourse, each looking to snap up whatever was being peddled at the different booths in hopes of out-profiting the other companies.

It was on this raucous floor that we find our beloved Seto Kaiba. The CEO had donned his favored white trench and black ensemble for today's events; plus, a rather sour expression. Anyone not in the know would have simply dismissed his displeasure as typical behavior for the cold hearted businessman, but Seto's attitude was due almost entirely to the action, or rather inaction, of one girl.

Can't believe she didn't call me back, Seto snapped inwardly. It had to be that stupid message I left! Damn it!

Roland trailed behind his grumbling employer, completely unaware of the inner chastising Seto was giving himself. The bodyguard had noticed the younger man's significantly short tempered mood grow worse and worse over the past few days but he wasn't entirely sure. Gulping, Roland stepped up to his boss's side.

"Uh, Mr. Kaiba, sir?"

"What?!" Roland jumped at the biting tone but continued on.

"Sir!" Roland straightened to attention. "You asked me to alert you to the presentation schedule, sir. Um...Ms. Blue should be-"

"Let's go," Seto interrupted and turned on his heel, creating a path through the crowds by his imposing stature alone. Roland scurried to keep up as Seto glided into the large hall where all the inventors who didn't have a booth would have a set time to present their projects.

"Seto! Over here!" Mokuba shouted as he spotted his brother enter. The younger Kaiba had been watching all the presentations while Seto walked about, both supposed to be looking for new ideas for Kaiba Corp. The event coordinators had gone so far as to set up reserved seats towards the front of the stage for the heads and representatives of the major companies; including Ziegfried von Schroder.

"Ah, Herr Kaiba," Ziegfried greeted snidely as Seto strolled past. "My sincerest apologies."

"For what, Schroeder?" Seto deadpanned and stopped to shoot the flamboyant man a glare.

"Why, for taking all the best products for my company of course," Ziegfried continued with a flip of his hair. "We've already bought out most of the inventions in the concourse and I saw that Industrial Illusions has been doing the same. It appears that Kaiba Corporation has been left in the dust, however. How sad."

"Well, that's typical of you, Schroeder," Seto retorted, smirking. "You have mistaken our inaction for standing still. Really, though," Seto cast a glittering blue-eyed gaze on the now fuming, pink haired duelist, "...I am merely lying in wait."

Seto saunter on to his seat, leaving Ziegfried blustering in his chair. He had to admit: putting that ridiculously dressed idiot in his place had made him feel just the tiniest bit better.

"Ziegfried and Pegasus sure have been busy today, Seto," Mokuba reported as his big brother settled into his chair.

"Don't worry, Mokuba. Even though some of these products are pretty good, Pegasus and Ziegfried don't have the resources we do," Seto placated and glanced down at his phone. He growled and shoved the device back in his coat pocket when he noticed he had no missed calls.

"Your attention please," a disembodied voice chimed from above. "The next presenter is now taking the stage: Ms. Yuki, presenter number 826."

The lights in the hall dimmed and a group towards the back began cheering.

"Yeah, go Blue! Show 'em what ya got!" Seto turned around to see Joey Wheeler standing on his chair, pumping his fist in the air as he shouted. Yugi and Serenity were trying to get him to sit back down and be quiet.

Looks like Yugi and his geek squad will play cheerleader for just about anyone, Seto thought and turned back to the stage to see Blue coming from the wings. Her black heels clicked as she crossed to center stage and faced the audience. She looked professional in her black pencil skirt and light blue button down blouse; her long hair was braided carefully and hung over one shoulder.

"Good afternoon. My name is Blue Yuki and I am the solo developer of BLU Tech apps," Blue said with a smile and the screen behind her lit up with a logo reading BLU Tech, the letter 'B' shaped as though the long line was a bolt of lightning. Seto instantly recognized the insignia from the business card he currently had in his pocket.

"With the recent rise of smartphones and tablets in the technology industry, developers have taken the power of a personal computer and put it in the hands of millions of individuals," Blue continued and the screen behind her changed to show several models of smart devices. "However, while these devices are somewhat customizable, they all lack one major component."

The crowd tittered as Blue paused, her blue eyes shrewdly taking in the reactions.

"Attitude," Blue supplied and the room fell silent. "Sure, we have phones with vocal features like 'Siri' for Apple or 'Alexa' for the Echo but these are cheap attempts to create a personality within your device.

"But, what if, when you interacted with your device it truly responded? Not just vocally but with movement?" Blue grinned and the screen behind her dimmed as a stagehand wheeled a cart with a black box up to the girl's side.

"What I am talking about is a perfect mixture of robotics, programming, and artificial intelligence." Seto moved to the edge of his seat as Blue opened the lid and leaned one hand on the lip of the box.

"Ladie and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to something that puts the 'personal' in personal computer. Come on out," Blue ordered and glanced down into the box. The crowd looked on with bated breath as a something truly incredible poked it's head over the top of the box.

Whispers and murmurs broke out as a sleek, shining, white dragon, no bigger than a small cat, climbed from the box and made it's way up Blue's arm before settling on her shoulder, its little wings stretching out from its compact body and the pupiless blue "eyes" looking about.

"This is lil-Blue, the world's first PersaComm. Lil-Blue, say hello to the audience."

"Hello, audience," came the tinkling metallic voice from the tiny replica of the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

At the sound of the voice, the room erupted into cheers and yelled questions. Everyone had to know more about this wonder of technology, this truly innovative creation. Seto Kaiba, however, had been stunned into silence. It was too much for him to see girl and beast standing together, even though this particular dragon was a miniature mechanical creation and not a spirit monster. As he stared wide eyed up at Blue and her invention, only one thought could break through his amazement.

Kisara...do you remember?


The remainder of Blue's presentation all but cemented her invention in the top spot for not only the most impressive but the most sought after. The moment she had finished and moved to the stairs to enter the audience, lil-Blue still perched across her shoulders, Seto was out of his seat and moving towards her. Unfortunately, so was every other potential buyer in the crowd.

Seto felt himself be jostled as Joey Wheeler ran past but somehow he couldn't find an angry word to lash out at the blonde with. Instead, he followed in the duelist's wake.

"Blue, that was awesome! You did it!" Joey cheered and broke into the crowd around the girl, deterring her attention from several other interested investors. As she cast a half-hearted glare at the boy's intrusion, her eyes caught Seto's from beyond Joey's shoulder. While their eyes were locked, Blue and Seto both missed Joey reaching out a finger to prod the miniature dragon on the girl's shoulder.

"Hey, you're pretty cute all teeny-tiny like that," Joey cooed. His sweet words were dismissed by the PersaComm and it's little "teeth" snapped out at the finger, causing Joey to jump back in surprise.

"The hell, Blue?! It bit me!" Seto couldn't help himself; he let out a rough laugh, surprising several onlookers, and stepped up to address the creator.

"You programmed it to snap at people as a defense mechanism? Now, that is clever."

"I thought it was a nice touch," Blue grinned and reached up a hand to let the dragon lean against, almost like she was petting it. "I take it you enjoyed the presentation?"

"Obviously. You have created something completely unheard of," Seto commented and took in the device up close. At this distance he could make out all the intricate pieces of the outer body, how they seamlessly glided against one another so the "creature" could move gracefully. "You've completely changed the game."

"I'll say!" Ziegfried was suddenly on Seto's left and pushing his way into Blue's line of sight. " , I am Ziegfried von Schroeder of the Schroeder Corporation and I would be very interested in buying your invention. And, please, do believe me when I say that money is objection."

"Whatever he offers, I can pay triple," Seto instantly countered, his eyes icing over. There was no way anyone was walking out of this hall with Blue's invention but him!

"What makes you think you can afford that, Herr Kaiba?" Ziegfried bit back.

"Didn't you say you had bought up a bunch of other inventions today?" Seto retorted smartly and Ziegfried floundered. Seto had him cornered there.

"Well, I simply must throw my hat into this ring!" Now, Pegasus had entered the fray. The eccentric man came up on Seto's right, smiling fondly. "Now, Blue, whatever these boys are offering to pay, I can certainly do you one better."

"And how is that, Pegasus?" Blue asked, grinning slyly as she watched the three men looking wildly to one another. She was clearly enjoying the bidding war she had incited among these captains of industry.

"How about I hire you on as my lead programmer? Your salary will be anything you ask, plus I can pay for all your moving expenses to San Francisco. " It was an incredible offer from the Duel Monsters creator but Seto Kaiba wasn't one to be beat.

"Hmph. What a weak offer, Pegasus. I was honestly expecting a little more from you," Seto said and crossed his arms over his chest with a smirk. "With all the troubles you have with product development, Blue would spend all her time fixing your already sub par products."

Seto opened his eyes and bore his gaze into Blue's, willing his next words to ring home with her.

"If you sign on with Kaiba Corp., I can give you complete control over development and production. Furthermore, I will throw all of our resources into this. The PersaComm will be our top priority."

Blue narrowed her eyes at Seto, seeming to study his face for any indication that he might not mean what he promised. After a heavy pause, filled to bursting with the tension between all parties, Blue grinned and stuck out her hand.

"You've got a deal, Kaiba."

Seto grinned as well and instantly reached out to cement the deal with a handshake. The moment their hands touched though, it was like lightning rocketed up Seto's arm, tingling and filling him with energy. The world seemed to fall away in that instant of contact and all that was left was him and Blue. Every thing he had been pushing away in the past few weeks came flooding back and he was bombarded with just how attractive Blue really was.

Blue felt it all, too. The lightning, the warmth and strength of his hand clasping her's, and suddenly every untoward thought she had ever had about Seto Kaiba flickered across her mind.

At these realizations, both people had the exact same thought regarding this attraction to the other: Damn it.

All too soon, their grasp on the other was released and the cacophony of the crowd came crashing back in. Seto was the first to clear his throat and look away.

"We can finalize everything in a few days," Seto said as he thrust his cool facade back into place. "I'll call you."

"Sounds great," Blue replied and reached up to swipe a lock of rebellious hair from her face, only for her fingers to brush against lil-Blue in the process. Seto cast his eyes on her invention again, the little dragon watching him and twitching against Blue's raised hand. Seto forced a smirk on his face and turned away.

"See ya later." Seto glanced back as Blue quipped his usual departing words at him. Her blue eyes were glittering, adding a layer of smugness to the smile she offered up. It was written all over her face.

I win.

Seto departed without another word and the crowd fell back around Blue. Seto wasn't worried though. He knew enough about Blue's character to know that she wouldn't be making deals with anyone else.

She was his.


Author's note: Four chapters in two days...I need some sleep. Ha! Anyway, please review and another update will come. Thanks!