The Duelist's Heiress-No more pathetic than everyone else here, at least. No. No crystal shards. Sorry.

Spidey meets Wizard-Theif-Um... okey-dokey.

Chapter 8

Dark.

Kaiba knew it would be brighter if he opened his eyes, but he refused to. He welcomed the dark this time. He didn't want to see. See… sea… Had he really drown? No… that submarine and… squid? No… light waves which meant…

Finally he was confused enough to forget about wanting to keep his eyes shut. Now he was in a hotel room. He forced himself to sit up and pressed a hand against his forehead to try to relieve the pain of a headache his jumbled up thinking had caused.

He was surprised to find his hair damp.

Someone tapped his shoulder. He glanced up at them. It was Bakura 'Sorry. I couldn't stop them' Behind Bakura was Yugi, who must not have heard what Bakura said. Kaiba couldn't quite figure out why. He'd ask Bakura later.

"Where are we?"

'A hotel in Tokyo' Bakura looked a little sheepish.

He turned around and said something to Yugi and the shorter boy came up to explain. 'Something attacked you at the pier. Yami described it as a…giant squid' he looked at Bakura, who nodded, then looked back to Kaiba 'But apparently not a kraken or anything. Then it would be too large to fit into the areas we found the bits of its body at. Kaiba, listen, I know you don't believe in magic but this is serious. That mark on your hand has made you the target of some dark force. We can't leave you alone. You don't know how to control that power without passing out and-' Kaiba shut his eyes and counted to ten under his breath before opening them again '-So we're keeping you with us until we're sure its safe for you again'

"You're detaining me in a hotel room?"

'No. Well, yes. But only until tomorrow, then we're flying to China. We think it's best to get you as far from-' Kaiba decided to examine his surroundings rather than continue to pay attention to Yugi's obnoxious babble. Business meetings were more interesting. Business meetings weren't to interesting though.

It took Yugi a minute to realize Kaiba wasn't listening to him. Upon this realization He asked Kaiba to pay attention, then ordered, the Pharaoh ordered, then a fight ensued in which Yugi and Pharaoh did a lot of yelling while Kaiba looked out the window in boredom, still not paying any attention to them at all. Finally the man in the next room screamed for them to shut up and Yugi and Pharaoh gave up.

OOOOO

"Kaiba, I know you don't want me to sound like Mokuba but you need to be more careful. If Yugi hadn't been so insistent on finding you, you would have drown"

"You're right, you do sound a lot like Mokuba and I don't like it. Actually, all you need to do is call me Seto and there'd be no difference between what you and he say"

"Please actually listen"

"Can't" Kaiba looked away, no longer willing to participate in the conversation.

Bakura grabbed his chin and forced Kaiba to look him in the eye "Pay attention. No one else here knows about your little 'disability' and Yugi and Pharaoh neglected to tell you a lot of their plans-plans you neglected to hear-so let me fill you in. They're using your attack as an excuse to bring you with them for there latest 'adventure'. You're in the center of all this. You're in a lot of danger. I know you don't like people thinking your weak but since I'm the only one who knows what's wrong with you you'll need my help"

Kaiba swatted Bakura's hand away "I don't know why I told you in the first place"

OOOOO

Kaiba wondered why he hadn't really resisted going to China. He blamed the talk with Bakura. Not just because he wanted to go against anyone who was acting over protective of him. He was curios. If he was in the middle of Yugi's latest adventure then did that mean it had to do with his mark? That Crystal he'd read about? He wanted to know.

He thought this over again and again as he watched clouds pass beneath him. It occurred to him that someone might have tried to talk to him at various points. Bakura was the only person on the plane who knew how to make sure he was following the conversation. Anyone else on the plane could have been ignored by accident.

No big deal. He'd just say he ignored them on purpose once he got off the plane. His disability wasn't that bad.

OOOOO

Tea felt unfortunate to sit next to Kaiba. He didn't seem interested at all in conversing.

His cell phone rang but he didn't answer. The caller must have given up, it stopped ringing.

5 minutes later it rang again. This time Tea picked it up and answered for Kaiba "Hello?"

"I think I got the wrong number" She heard Mokuba say over the phone.

"Tried to call your brother? This is his phone"

"Who is this"

"Tea"

"Why do you have Seto's phone?"

"He wouldn't answer it. I answered for him. What do you want to talk about?"

Tea heard Mokuba mumble something about how stupid he (Mokuba) was, and how he should have known better "You're with Kaiba?"

"Yes"

"Where?"

"On a plane"

"Why?"

"Because Yugi wanted to go to China and we all came with him"

"Even Kaiba?" Mokuba sounded shocked

"He didn't put up a fight when we told him he had to come. He must have been curious"

"O-oh" There was an awkward silence "Well… um… okay. Thanks" he hung up.

Tea set the phone down next to Kaiba, where it had been. That was odd. Why would Mokuba have been a moron for trying to call his older brother?

Mokuba probably hadn't meant for her to hear him verbally bash himself. She probably shouldn't get to far in to other peoples business, but then again, this was a good opportunity. It may be directly related to Kaiba's behavior.

Isaya831: And so Detective Tea was born.

Kaiba: Tea?

Isaya831: To fans You don't get to know what's wrong with Kaiba until Tea figures it out (That's right, I don't think she's a brainless idiot) so cross your fingers and hope she's smarter than all the 'Anzu bashers' out there make her seem.