Thanks for the reviews Anjanie and dancing elf. I apologize for the long delay. The next chapter for this story should arrive a lot sooner, but I'm not going to make any promises in case something happens (like another virus. Why am I a virus magnet?). Anyway this chapter is going to be a little more serious, but I hope everyone can still enjoy it. Now, onto the story.
…
Several days had passed since Joey and Kaiba's argument. The two had become so infuriated with one another that the check up calls stopped completely, leaving each of them to figure things out on their own. It had become too much for Joey to see his friends and not be able to interact with them, so he decided to stop going to school and imprison himself within the Kaiba mansion. Eventually he grew tired of the computer games and tried finding new ways to entertain himself; such as buying new cards and trying a huge variety of foods.
On Kaiba's end things continued to cause him irritation. On top of having to pretend he cared about Joey's sister and putting up with their alcoholic father he was pestered by the 'geek squad' and given school work that proved to be no challenge for him. Early that week Tristan had brought up how Joey used to work for the paper route, which sparked an idea. To get away from Joey's annoying family and also to give him something to do he decided to get a job.
Finding the right job for the former CEO was a bit of a challenge. It wasn't that people didn't want to hire him (who wouldn't want to hire someone who took down a robber?) but Kaiba had a hard time finding one to his liking.
"Alright," Kaiba thought to himself, browsing through the newspaper as he sat at a lunchroom table, "where in Domino can I find a decent job with Wheeler's qualifications?"
He had been so caught up in his search that he failed to notice Yugi and the others sitting down by him.
"Hey Joey, what's with the paper?" Tristan asked.
Kaiba scowled, though nobody could see it. He tensed up and brought the paper closer to his face.
"Looking for a job."
"Look man, I know money's tight but should you really be working after school with the kind of grades you make?" Tristan challenged.
"Actually his grades are probably going up," Tea pointed out. "He's been getting A's on all his tests lately."
"Really? That's great!" Yugi cheered. "When we get our report cards we should all celebrate."
"Yeah, uh huh," Kaiba remarked.
Tristan crossed his arms and let out a scoff.
"What's with the attitude lately? You're acting like you're miles away."
"It's nothing, I'm fine."
The tone of his response caused Yugi and the girls to frown.
"You know you can talk to us if something's wrong," Yugi said.
Miho nodded and joined in.
"That's right, we're your friends; we'll understand."
"I said I'm fine!"
Kaiba had stood up out of his seat and slammed the paper onto the table, causing not only his rival's friends but also nearby students to become stunned into silence. Yugi and the others instinctively leaned back, not wanting to get too close. Letting out a growl Kaiba snatched up the paper and walked off, leaving his tray of untouched nuggets behind. Only when he left the lunchroom did the normal chitter-chatter of the students resume.
"Did we say something wrong?" Miho wondered.
"I don't know," Tristan responded, crossing his arms. "He's been acting weird for a while now. You'd think with his sister being around that he'd be in a better mood."
"Maybe Serenity and their dad aren't getting along," Yugi suggested.
"Oh man, I didn't even think about that!" Tristan said as he relaxed his arms. "But, I've bumped into her at the park and store a few times and she seemed fine."
"Well you know how Serenity is: she holds in a lot," Tea pointed out.
"Maybe we should go over and visit," Miho suggested.
Tristan, Tea and Yugi cringed at the thought.
"I don't know about that," Tristan said. "Remember what happened last time we showed up uninvited? I'd rather not have another bottle chucked at my head."
"Well we can call Serenity ahead of time," Yugi stated. "I say we go over after school; just long enough to see if everything's okay."
Tristan let out a sigh.
"Alright then, sounds like a plan," he agreed.
…
"Big brother, I'm home!"
Mokuba had finally arrived home after yet another intensive day of school. As he let the front door slam shut behind him he began unbuttoning his uniform jacket. From a distance the faint sound of roaring and laughter could be heard. Mokuba raised a brow at the strange noise.
"Big brother?"
The youngest Kaiba got no response, so he decided to go forth and investigate. He walked through the main hallway on the first floor, going closer towards the back where the sound seemed to be coming from. By the time he reached the back door the sound had intensified. Mokuba cautiously opened the door and peeked outside.
Standing on the back patio was a giant rock creature down on its knees with its arms guarding its body. Behind this monster was one of the maids at the mansion, who had a duel disk attached to her arm. Mokuba's eyes shifted to his right where he saw his older brother standing behind a blue, armored creature.
"I-I end my turn," the maid declared.
"My move!"
Joey drew a card. He couldn't help but beam with a smile when he saw what card he had drawn.
"I activate the magic card Raigeki to destroy your Soldier of Stone!"
Bolts of lightning crashed down upon the monster, destroying it instantly. The maid held up her arms to shield herself from the waves of force, cringing as she watched her only defense be destroyed.
"And that's not all! I sacrifice Kaiser Sea Horse and use his special ability to summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon!"
The armored creature evaporated and was instantly replaced with Kaiba's legendary dragon.
"Alright Blue Eyes, attack!"
The dragon launched a ball of energy at the unguarded woman, causing her to cry out. The rest of her lifepoints vanished, leaving Joey the victor.
"Yes! Great job Seto!" Mokuba cheered.
"Now that's what I call a duel!" Joey said. "Alright Ms. Smith, you can finish cleaning up the bathroom."
The woman removed the duel disk and ran back inside, leaving the two boys alone. Joey turned to look at Mokuba and smiled.
"Hello Mokuba."
"Hey Seto, you're dueling the maids now?"
"Yeah, I got bored."
"So why didn't you just go to school?"
Joey's smile faded.
"I…I just didn't feel like it."
"Hm. Well, at least tomorrow you'll have something to do!"
"Huh? Like what?"
Mokuba frowned.
"My game," the small boy answered.
"Oh that's right, tomorrow's Friday…wait, Friday is tomorrow?"
"Um, yeah."
"Aw crap! I completely lost track of da calendar!"
Mokuba narrowed his eyes. He noticed his brother had been acting weird, but now he was talking funny? Between that, skipping school and dueling with the maids Mokuba couldn't help but think that his brother was slowly starting to go insane. Maybe the pressures of being a teenage CEO was finally starting to get to him.
"Uh, Seto, are you feeling alright? You've been acting kind of weird lately."
Joey bit his lip. He knew that sooner or later his cover would be blown, but he'd really hoped that everything would be sorted out before it came to that.
"Uh, no, I'm fine. Just fine."
"Oh…okay then. I'm…I'm just going to go to my room and do my homework."
With that Mokuba retreated back into the mansion, leaving Joey outside by himself. As soon as he was alone Joey lost his cool and started to panic.
"Oh man! I knew it would happen sooner or later; he's onto me! Oh man this is bad! I gotta call Kaiba!"
Joey shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out Kaiba's cell phone, dialing as quickly as he could. He brought his other hand up to his face and started biting his nails, waiting for the other line to pick up.
…
Kaiba had finally gone back to the Wheeler apartment after a brief job hunt. The only place nearby that was open was a burger joint, and there was no way Seto frieking Kaiba was going to flip burgers. He decided to relax for a bit before starting his hunt again.
He entered the apartment and came face to face with unwanted guests. Sitting in the living room was Yugi, Tristan, Tea and Miho, along with Serenity. The five looked up at him, confused by the foul look on his face.
"Oh, hey Joey," Serenity said. "You're back early."
"Uh, yeah. Hey guys."
"Hey, sorry for dropping in like this," Yugi apologized. "We just wanted to make sure that everything's okay."
"Well as you can see everything's fine," Kaiba said. "Serenity's safe, dad's at work or at the bar and this place is probably the cleanest it's ever been. Everything is just perfect."
"So why are you acting like it's not?"
Kaiba's eyes darted towards Serenity. The red haired girl looked down for a split second.
"Ever since I got here you've been acting very tense. You're not laid back like you usually are and you've hardly interacted with me."
Before he could respond the phone started to ring. Kaiba let out a sigh and walked over to pick it up.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Kaiba, I think your brother's onto me. What do I do?"
He let out a groan. This was the worst possible time to be getting a call from his enemy.
"Can you call back later? I'm in the middle of something."
"Who is it?" Tea inquired.
Kaiba ignored her and continued talking to Joey.
"Listen, I'll call you back when my hands aren't full."
"Okay," Joey said. "I guess I can handle things until then."
"You better. Bye."
As soon as he hung up the phone started to ring again. He let out a groan, hoping it wasn't something bad.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Hello Joey," Ishizu replied. "I'm just calling to let you know that the translations are complete."
Kaiba felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders. Finally, this nightmare was over.
"You can come down here anytime and pick them up."
"Great. Thank you very much Ishizu. Bye."
"Ishizu? Why was she calling?" Yugi asked as Kaiba hung up.
Kaiba stared blankly for a moment as he thought up a lie.
"Oh, she was translating some scripts for me for a project."
Yugi and the others, save for Serenity, stared back in obvious confusion.
"Project? What project?" Tea asked.
"Oh, I think I get it," Tristan spoke up. "Joey must be doing an extra credit project for history. He was telling me last week that he was failing."
"Uh, yeah, that's right," Kaiba agreed. "Anyway I need to head down to the museum."
"Oh, we can come with you," Yugi offered.
"Yeah, it could be fun," Serenity agreed.
Kaiba was about to tell them no when the front door opened. He looked over to see Mr. Wheeler walk in, carrying a lunchbox. The man saw the group of kids and scowled.
"What the hell is this? Am I babysitting the whole damn neighborhood?"
"Uh, we were just leaving," Kaiba said. "Come on, let's go."
Mr. Wheeler stepped into the kitchen, allowing the herd of teenagers to run outside.
"Great," Kaiba thought as he ran down the steps, "now I'm stuck with the geek squad. At least I won't have to deal with this much longer."
A/N: So the story appears to be coming to a close, but don't worry; things are not always as they seem. I'm going to start on the next chapter immediately so I can post it as soon as possible. Feel free to give your feedback.
