Chapter Eight
"You have to do something to make Yugi accept your proposal, Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed.
"I can't do that, Mokuba. If Mutou accepts, it has to be because he wants to and not from any sort of pressure on my part," Seto replied.
"But, Duel Monsters would be such a cool game. Why can't he see that? Why didn't he just accept it when you offered the partnership company?"
"I wish I knew, Mokuba. But, he's had the week to think it over, just like he asked. We should have his answer tonight."
"I hope it's the right answer!" Mokuba said fervently.
Seto grinned down at his little brother, and tousled his hair. "I hope so, too, but don't you tell Mutou that!"
"Mr. Mutou has arrived, sir," Roland stated from the doorway. "And chef informs me that dinner is ready."
Muttering about chef being 'too damned efficient', Kaiba asked Roland to escort Mutou to the small dining room.
"Aw, Seto! Does that mean we hafta wait to find out?" Mokuba whined.
"Mokuba, manners! Yes, it was a dinner invitation, and Mutou contrived to arrive just as dinner is ready, so we have to wait. It wouldn't be proper to discuss business during dinner, in these circumstances," Seto told him as they walked to the small dining room themselves. "Of course, if Mutou brings it up, without prompting from you, mind you, all bets are off."
However, Yugi gave nothing away. Try to read him as best he could, Kaiba could gain no sense of what Yugi's decision might be. He could tell that Yugi had reached a decision, but that was it. Kaiba waited with ill-concealed impatience while tea was brought and poured for them after dinner. After all the forms and protocols for genteel dining had been completely satisfied, Kaiba suggested that they repair to the dragon room for their discussion. Mokuba tried his best to appear casual and include himself in the discussion, but Yugi asked him if he could speak with Kaiba in private, first. Mokuba's face fell at that, first for the exclusion and second, because he greatly feared it meant that Yugi wasn't going to accept the offer.
"But..."
"We will meet you in the game room, later, Mokuba," Kaiba decided. And that was that.
-- -- -- --
"I, uhm, need to get something," Yugi said.
Kaiba sighed. "Fine. I'll meet you there."
One of the guest bedrooms had been set aside a while ago for Yugi's use whenever he was at the mansion. When he'd arrived for dinner tonight, he'd placed his laptop, portfolio and deck in the room in anticipation of the meeting with Kaiba. He couldn't help but worry as he opened the portfolio and looked at his latest work. It all depended upon Kaiba as to whether or not this latest piece would serve to solidify -- or sever the strange, tenuous ties between them...
Yugi closed the portfolio cover with force just short of a slam. This is no time to second-guess yourself, he told himself severely. Just go, and whatever happens, happens. Squaring his shoulders he picked up his deck and slid it into his pocket, grabbed his laptop and the portfolio, and left the room -- resolving to beard the dragon in his den.
But, Kaiba wasn't there when Yugi got to the dragon room. Oh, bother! Yugi sat in one of the plush chairs and waited. And got bored. Leaving his things on the desk, he wandered about the room looking at Kaiba's impressive array of dragons. A sudden anxiety to check and make certain that his memory hadn't failed him drew him to the case holding Kaiba's surprisingly personal vignette.
Seto's white alabaster dragon commanded his attention. Yes, Yugi's memory had served. He'd recalled the odd shape of the head perfectly. His gaze wandered across the rest of the dragons in the case, the ugly, lumpy dragon serving as Seto and Mokuba's abusive father, the lapis blue dragon that stood for Mokuba, and... And? Yugi spied a new dragon.
It was a beautiful piece, gleaming a warm gold under the light. It was slightly larger than the lapis lazuli dragon, obviously crafted in the same scale as the other dragons in the case. The wings were an attractively burnished purple fading naturally into a true gold tone the closer they came to the join on the body. Faceted purple gems served as this dragon's eyes, giving them the illusion of sparkling with life.
Kaiba's voice behind him was the essence of dry, disinterested neutrality. "The body is pure gold; however, aluminum was used in a very rare alloying process to render the wings in purple gold. The dragon's front paws are resting on a polished slab of bloodstone. Despite the name, bloodstone is primarily a deep green mineral, so it fits well with the color-scheme. The dragon's eyes..." Kaiba broke off. Yugi turned his head and looked up at him questioningly. Kaiba continued gruffly. "The jeweler who makes these commissions for me threatened to sever our long-standing business relationship over this dragon's eyes. He wanted to find diamonds that contained purple flashes to match the material quality of the rest of the sculpture, but I insisted the eyes be deep purple amethysts."
"It's marvelous," Yugi whispered.
Kaiba shrugged. "It's adequate." Yugi couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. With an almost-smile Kaiba gestured toward the desk before striding over and taking one of the chairs. He waited while Yugi settled in the other one.
"Mutou, what have you decided about my offer?"
"Yes."
"'Yes'?" Kaiba echoed. "As in -- you accept?"
"Yes," Yugi repeated, with a grin. "I had to think about it, Kaiba. I know you are -- grateful for uhm, my actions on Mokuba's behalf..."
"For saving his life, yes," Kaiba noted wryly.
"Yeah. Well, I had to make certain that you weren't offering just for that reason. Out of gratitude. Or something."
Kaiba snorted. "That's why I took care of the reward, first. Hell, Mutou, you're a multi-millionaire, now!"
"I know!" Yugi balled his fists and yelled up at Kaiba. "Give a guy a break, willya?! It's not every day one becomes a millionaire, and then has to make a decision about something as big and life-changing as your offer!"
"That's true enough, I suppose..."
Yugi calmed himself with Kaiba's admission. "I just had to think it all through. And then, this came..." Yugi reached into his portfolio, retrieved a packet of papers, and handed it to Kaiba.
Kaiba took it and skimmed it swiftly. He then started over and read it more thoroughly.
"This offer is acceptable."
"Exactly."
"Are you going to accept it?"
"Hell, no!"
"Why not? You wouldn't have to deal with the difficulty that I appear to be presenting to you," Kaiba asked.
"You idiot," Yugi said fondly. Kaiba's head snapped up and he pinned Yugi with a glare. "You, that is, Kaiba Corporation, offered first. And, Kaiba Corporation's offer is for the formation and development of a partnership company, not merely a satisfactory contract to develop my game." An almost-smile quirked Kaiba's lips. "In that partnership company, I would have access to far more than the 'cachet of the Seto Kaiba name', I'd have access to all the formidable skills of the man himself." Kaiba's eyes shuttered, as if he were shielding himself from flattery. "I'd have to be a moron to not avail myself of that benefit for my company -- no matter who my partner might be."
"So why the delay?" Kaiba asked.
"I had this proposal in the works. I wanted to see how it would come out." Yugi dropped his gaze. "I was hoping it would be a satisfactory contract, you see. That would show me that Duel Monsters is actually viable, and your offer of partnership wasn't some sort of -- pity offer, or something."
"You're an idiot, Mutou. Duel Monsters, even if you accepted someone else's offer, is going to be huge. It would take massive mishandling and bungling of the first order to kill such a purely simple and profitable idea."
"Hmmm, you're right. Maybe I should reconsider this offer," Yugi reached over and snatched the papers from Kaiba's hands. "They wouldn't mishandle or bungle my idea." Yugi grinned impudently at Kaiba.
Kaiba growled. "You are implying...?"
Yugi widened his eyes ingenuously, and shamelessly reached for the expression Kaiba called his 'puppy eyes of doom'. "Implying? I'm not implying anything. It's just that Kaiba Corporation isn't really known as a gaming company. Simple as it is, my idea might be beyond their scope of expertise."
"Uh-huh." Kaiba leaned back in his chair. "You are pure evil, you know that, Mutou? Your idea wouldn't be developed by Kaiba Corporation. It will be developed by us -- you and me. You aren't planning on mishandling or bungling it, are you?"
Yugi shook his head.
"And you know better than to imply that I would -- I hope."
"It's going to be fun, isn't it?" Yugi grinned.
"You've no idea, Mutou. Kaiba Corporation has been working on a hologram emitter. I think the technology can be adapted to bring the duel monsters to 'life' -- making the game more immediate than placing cards down on a table. 'I play my mighty Summoned Skull!' followed by the dramatic slap of a card on a table loses much of the impact. Imagine if what seemed to be a real Summoned Skull appeared on a large field between two duelists."
Yugi imagined it. 'Real' monsters? Duelists facing each other across huge fields, having to shout their commands? That would be awesome, actually. "We need a name for our company."
"Mutou and Kaiba."
Yugi stopped at that. Wow, Kaiba would put his name first? That was an honor he certainly didn't expect.
"Uhm, well..."
Kaiba glared. Yugi gulped.
"That is -- how about something less business-like, and more...uhm, evocative? 'Industrial Illusions' is a cooler name than something like 'Pegasus Enterprises' would have been," Yugi stammered.
Kaiba steepled his fingers and looked at Yugi through them. "Our company is focused on the game Duel Monsters," he agreed. "A cooler name would suit. 'Duel Monsters'?"
"That serves for the game, but not for these hologram generators you are talking about. Say, what are you going to call them?" Yugi asked.
"I hadn't thought of it, yet. Significant work needs to be done to reduce the size. Right now, you'd have to have a specially designed room with the emitters placed in key positions. Not the sort of thing the average gamer would be able to afford. I'm sure something will come to me as I refine the design. You're right though, Mutou. Duel Monsters is the product, it would limit us as the name of the company," Seto mused aloud.
"There are two of us. Duo?" Yugi ventured.
"Eh, too Batman-esque. Dual?"
Yugi nodded. "Dual what, though?"
"We are making a game."
"No, not making. Designing! Dual Designs!"
Seto nodded. "I like that. Dual Designs, Inc. DDI."
Yugi beamed. Seto almost-smiled. "There will be reams of tedious paperwork tomorrow to finalize it, but we can tell Mokuba about it tonight."
Yugi nodded, fingering the cards in his pocket lightly. There was one more thing he had to accomplish tonight. Mokuba had been excluded from this discussion, which might have hurt his feelings. Including him now might help to make up for that.
