Illusions

Disclaimer: yugioh is not mine.

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Trouble, he had thought when he had first set eyes on her. Trouble, had crossed his mind again when he had seen her with his brother. Double trouble, his conscious had shouted when, on a sunny day, she had managed to become a kaiba.

Kaiba felt a surge of bitter anger course through his body. His grip on the steering wheel painfully tightened when the image of his presumed sister-in-law came to him. Rebecca has been a feisty blonde, almost two heads shorter than Mokuba and with a well known temper that could rise and fall in one breath. She had wriggled herself into the younger sibling's life too fast and too smoothly for Kaiba liking; and then the predictable happened, his younger brother had witnessed first hand the girl's true colours and had had enough. Eventually, he had considered filing a divorce until he got the news. Rebecca Hopkins was pregnant, or that what she claimed to be.

As time progressed, doubt began to settle in Mokuba's mind. Kaiba himself began to find these claims more and more irritating and frankly suspicious. A shiver of disgust ran down his spine and his scowl turned sour. Surprisingly, his brother predicament was starting to make sense to the elder sibling; Rebecca lies confirmed the theory he had developed right after his brother swift and secret marriage. Now, he was in possession of some important evidence that would disgrace Rebecca once and for all.

Kaiba shook his head, trying to gain perspective. The question wasn't why Tea had given him Rebecca's blood test, this gesture was certainly meant to create a diversion or provide him with some sort of distraction. Mokuba had told him once about the tension between the two women though he had hardly paid half mind to it.

Because of his thoughts, Kaiba barely took the time to throw the SUV somewhere in residential area and turn the engine off, his hand flew up to his face as if he wanted to smooth away the lines engraved in his skin by anger, fatigue, and frustration. He was out of the car quickly, locking the door electronically as he briskly headed to the seemingly expensive duplex.

Reaching the entrance door, his finger found the doorbell while he rolled his shoulders to loosen up the knots in his neck. He shifted around uncomfortably when Mokuba didn't answer his persistent ringing. He felt for his phone, but didn't find it. Kaiba groaned in frustration. Forgetting his cell phone was proof enough of how tired he actually was. If he had been clearheaded, he would have never left his office without it.

He heard someone approaching his way--the echo of high heels clicking against the ground preceded the visitor.

Wearing a hesitant smile, Rebecca crossed the distance separating them and halted two feet away from the tall man.

"How are you doing?"

Barely suppressing a frustrated groan, Kaiba mockingly retorted "I should ask you that question; you're the one carrying my nephew."

Rebecca face became promptly livid; Kaiba's tone was anything but light. There was a palpable accusing edge to it, like he knew something. Her eyes darted between Mokuba's closed door and her brother-in-law who had resumed his glaring. She returned the favour and gave him a nasty glare of her own; he couldn't possibly blame her for trying to salvage her marriage.

Locking her anger away so it wouldn't show, she conjured a smile as innocent as she could manage on her face and then turned.

"I'm not done with you yet."

Rebecca stopped in her track, "This is between me and your bother," her sharp tone completely contrasted her lack of movement. It was more than obvious that she was at her best keeping up appearances when other people were around, but found it more and more difficult to maintain those appearances as time progressed and her worries intensified. She still found it hard to understand why Mokuba hasn't returned to her yet despite her condition. Rebecca cringed. In the end, when Mokuba found out, he would be contemptuous of her anyway.

No trusting herself to remain long enough in control of her emotions that were already leaking away through angry tears and half-concealed sobs, Rebecca took swift steps to get away, speeding up her pace in fear he would come after her. But he didn't.

Joey Wheeler was thrilled; having all his family members by his side was a blessing he couldn't stop thanking God for. This night, he felt happy and complete. He enjoyed family gathering a lot and would have loved to stay awake a bit longer, but he was a responsible family man and money has to be earned. That's why he went to bed quite early for his liking but was thrilled and grateful to God for such a life.

In the morning, he went to work in a jovial mood. But it didn't take long to bring those spirits crashing to the ground, and in the most unexpected way possible. As he walked down the hall to his office, he noticed his colleagues gathered around one desk joking and laughing. One of them looked up and beamed a grin at him.

"You're going to be the brother-in-law of the richest man in Japan!" The grinning man patted amiably the blond on his shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" Joey answered, wondering what on earth had these guys so excited.

What seemed to be a highly respected local newspaper was thrust to him; quite a bold headline caught his vision, Joey's eyes first widened in surprise and shock and were then narrowed with suspicion and barely concealed anger. He briefly squeezed his eyes shut as he inhaled deeply. His jaw muscles tightened and when his eyelids slid open again, every possible speck of inner turmoil he might be experiencing at that moment was wiped from his stare until only cutting edges of accusations, and barely controlled anger were left.

Amidst the mess; he only caught the strange combination of his little sister name and the name of Seto Kaiba.

A look of sheer anger crosses Joey's face and he glares at his co-workers.

"What the hell is this?" He demanded clasping the paper tight in his hands until the pages got all scrunched up.

"You tell us, she's your sister." One of them laughed but soon regretted it when Joey squared up to him, using every inch of his height as intimidation.

Sensing the visible and barely concealed anger of the blond man; the happy gathering slowly began to disperse with hushed whispers.

Clutching the newspaper viciously in his hands, he headed back out his office, an intense sense of dread filling his body.