I've mentioned before that each section of this story is split into ten chapters. Hence, we're actually coming up on the end of the first section, and while I know things have been kind of mysterious right now, I can assure you that, by the end of chapter 10, you will at least know the broadest of strokes regarding what's happened in the story.

And what is happening.

.

"I'm telling you, we're not gonna get anything out of this."

It was odd, but Jounouchi often found himself thinking of how he and Yuugi had met, times like this. Yuugi had been his regular old mousy self , a go-along-with-the-group-don't-ask-questions kind of kid, back then. And when they'd first met, Jounouchi had found it entirely too easy to manipulate the little bastard into doing pretty much whatever he felt like. He and Honda had even had a bet at one point on who could get him to dance for them first.

Oddly enough, Honda had won that one.

Fast forward a handful of years, and Jounouchi had discovered that, when Yuugi was on a bead about something, no matter what it was, nothing short of a ten-car pileup and an electrified fence could stop him. He was practically stomping onto the grounds of the Kaiba Estate like a police detective with one serious chip on his shoulder. Jounouchi lingered behind, incredulous and somehow emasculated, and he wondered when in the holy hell they'd switched roles like this.

"I can't do this anymore," Yuugi had said on the way over. "I just can't stay quiet. The point is that he remembers we still exist." Jounouchi had asked after this elusive point, because this was the Kaiba family they were talking about, and house calls weren't exactly an option. "If he doesn't want us to help him with . . . whatever it is, then that's his business. I guess. But I can't look myself in the mirror and call myself a human being, much less his friend, if I don't make sure he knows that I'm worried about him."

Jounouchi had thought to mention that such a line of thinking was kind of selfish, really, that he was making the whole affair less about Mokuba and more about Yuugi. But Jounouchi eventually thought better of it. The last thing he needed was to turn his best friend's fix-the-kid crusade into a pity party. Mostly because he just couldn't stand it when Yuugi got it into his head to cry.

So what you're saying is that you're just as selfish as Yuugi is, a voice suddenly cropped up in Jounouchi's head, and it sounded suspiciously like a mix between Kaiba and his own father. It had Oyaji's slathering, dull disdain, but it had Kaiba's bite.

Great fit.

So, in the end, it amounted to their current situation: Yuugi knocking on the door with all the persistence of an insurance agent, and Jounouchi lingering behind like a middle-school intern who wanted nothing more than to sneak off to a back alley and smoke something illicit.

He wondered why the front gates had even opened. Were they permitted here? On these grounds? Since when? Last he'd checked, Kaiba hated the both of them with a passion usually reserved for religious extremists and bleached hair. Why would they, of all people, be allowed onto his private goddamn property, to knock on his private goddamn door? What would meet them if it opened?

A pack of rabid goddamn dogs, probably.

Jounouchi found himself balancing on the balls of his feet, ready to bolt at the first sound of the inevitable bloodbath that would meet them if Yuugi kept making a nuisance of himself. He had to keep his limbs loose and his hands ready so that he could snatch up his pint-sized companion by the shoulder and pull him off the grounds if he decided to play Big Damn Hero.

But it wasn't any breed of dog that met them when the door opened; rather, it was a petite young woman, wearing a dark blue suit and her dark brown hair in an elaborate bun. She smiled at them as if they were honored guests.

"Jounouchi-sama," said she, "Mutou-sama. How nice to meet you." Both addressees blinked in surprise at the honor of the titles, and glanced at each other as though they weren't sure if they were the right people. And how did this woman know who they were? They'd never even heard of her, and it wasn't like they made a habit of stopping by for a chat or afternoon tea.

Did that mean Mokuba—or, God forbid, Kaiba—talked about them? Actually talked about them? And in such a way as to make their house staff refer to them as "Jounouchi-sama" and "Mutou-sama"?

"If you're here to speak with Seto-sama," the woman said, cutting off their joint reverie, "I'm afraid he's not here right now. He's on his way to a conference."

Yuugi was suddenly flustered. "Um . . . no. We aren't here to—ah, that is, we were actually hoping to see . . . well, I mean, we weren't looking to speak to . . . Kaiba-kun."

The woman smiled again, and it was radiant. Certainly not the sort of thing they expected to see on this property. They both remembered the last time they had been invited here. Jounouchi rubbed at his neck as he recalled that surreal, terrifying little sleep-over, and wondered not for the first time if he and Yuugi weren't completely insane.

"I didn't think so," the woman said. "Please, come inside. I'll tell Bocchan that you're here."

Again, Yuugi and Jounouchi shared a look.

Jounouchi mouthed the word, Bocchan?

Yuugi shrugged.

As they entered, the woman spoke without looking at them. "Call me Kiko," she said. "I'm Bocchan's attendant."

A third look.

Yuugi was the first to speak: "M-Mokuba-kun has a . . . a maid?"

Kiko turned to look at them over her shoulder, and raised an eyebrow at them.

"Does that surprise you?"