The sky darkened as if a huge cloud came upon them. The people around them looked up to see what was hovering above them. The blue eyes white dragon jet landed on an empty space in the arena.
Ishizu smiled. 'He came.'
Seto Kaiba and his brother jumped off the vehicle and came into the place where the audience stood, right in front of the group of people he wished so eagerly to avoid.
"Hello, Kaiba." Ishizu greeted him with her confident voice. Yugi and Tea greeted him too. He glared at them momentarily passing by with his usual steel gaze saying nothing.
"Hi Sara." Said Mokuba, who was following his brother smiling when he noticed the white-haired girl. "Hello, Mokuba." She returned the smile.
"Hey, Kaiba, I didn't expect you to come. Everyone thought you stopped dueling." Said Joey in a teasing voice.
Seto stopped walking and turned to look at Joey with a deadly look.
"I on the other hand had thought that the dueling world would have been cleansed by underdogs such as yourself." Hissed the CEO.
Joey made an angry grimace. "I'll win you this time, you'll see."
"In your dreams, Wheeler." he smirked.
"So, you still duel?" asked Ishizu.
"Of course. And this time I'll regain my champion title." He stated with determination.
'Let's see if you can truly win this time', thought Ishizu as Kaiba left.
The tournament would start normally, Seto had made sure everything would progress perfectly. But still, he was very anxious. He'd never felt so much stressed before a duel. He'd made many battle simulations in which he didn't had to use the Blue Eyes to win. He didn't want to have another vision during a game, especially with those geeks watching.
And she seemed to be on good terms with them. He hadn't talked with her about the events of that night, eventually. Maybe it was for the best, seeing with whom she was hanging around. He pressed his lips together and exhaled loudly in dissaproval. And fury. He'd been very angry lately.
"Why didn't you say hi to Sara?" asked Mokuba who was sitting behind his brother.
"We're not exactly buddies." He answered firmly, making this the end of their talk about the girl. The kid losing his mood for talk, left.
Seto checked the screen of his computer to see who was his opponent. He pressed the buttons as if he wanted to break the keyboard. His eyebrows narrowed.'What?'
"So, Kisara, from where do you know the younger Kaiba?" asked a curious Ishizu.
She opened her mouth to speak, but didn't know where to begin. "It's a long story."
"I'm listening."
Kisara explained what happened, leaving out the details concerning her visions. After that, the egyptian woman proceeded asking about the older Kaiba and Kisara told them everything about their meeting and his –uexplainable for them- behaviour.
She didn't expect the reactions she got however, as the kids around her stayed open-mouthed when she told them about Kaiba's actions in the college.
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" asked Daniel worriedly, reffering to what that elitistic gang had done to her.
"Well, it was not that important. Nothing happened after all."
"Nothing? What does it take to make such an attack important?"
"I am more surprised by the fact that Kaiba actually stood up for someone." Said Tristan.
"Yeah, that rich spoiled punk doesn't care for no one apart from his selfish ass!" said Joey loudly without trying to hide his annoyance for the CEO.
"Well, he's not that bad…" said Kisara shyly.
"What!? Alright, that's it, now, I've heard it all!" exclaimed Joey raising is hands up.
"C'mon Joey, you know she's right. Kaiba has helped us many times." Said the short kid with the weird haircut.
"Yeah, and he cares about his brother." Reasoned Tea.
At that time Seto Kaiba announced the beginning of the tournament.
It was early evening and it was time for the organiser of the duel monsters tournament to play at last. Seto walked steadily to his place, while he heard his name being announced. He looked at his opponent straight in the eyes.
Marik smiled and greeted him friendly.
Kaiba knew this was planned from the beginning, from the moment Ishizu had stepped into his office. Obviously the Ishtar family and the geeks had problems and needed him again. Maybe they couldn't get their millenim items back or who knows what else. He was not going to fall for it this time, though.
"Let's Duel!" they both said.
Meanwhile, Mokuba had joined Kisara's company and took their seats in the first row, in order to have a better view, and since, after all, they were accompanied by the young Kaiba.
Seto was sweating. Marik kept destroying his cards. A terrible feeling of angst spread though the brown-haired man, not so much because of the destruction of his stronger cards but because he knew there was only one way left to win.
Marik and Ishizu were watching Kaiba with great diligence.
Seto had examined the advantages and disadavntages of the move he was going to make before and without putting too much thought to it he drew his next card. He clenched his fists and spoke sturdily:
"I summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon."
His first thought –which he ineffectually he tried to push away- was her reaction.
The moment the beast appeared on the field Kisara felt a bit weird, like her breath was caught for a fraction of a second. She didn't realise however how many people were aware of that.
Seto activated a magic card which added to his dragon's power and ordered the blue eyes to attack. Of course, Marik's monster was destroyed.
"Good move, Kaiba, but let's see what are you going to do with this card. Enemy Controller!" spoke Marik.
"What?!"
"Now, I destroy your Blue Eyes White Dragon." the audience gasped at that. "No." Mokuba said sadly.
"And now I activate Monster Reborn…" the Dragon appeared on Marik's side. "Here she is." Marik finished smiling satisfied.
Everyone watched in wonder the youngCEO, who had bent over, with his eyes closed tight.
"Seto." Mokuba got up to take a better look at the arena. Then he saw that Kisara seemed to be upset, too."Is everything alright, Kisara?"
The company turned to look at her, hearing the boy's remark.
"Yes, Mokuba. I'm just a liitlle… um, unwell."
"Do you want me to take you home?" asked a worried Daniel.
"No, I'll be fine."
"Of course you will."said Ishizu sympathetically, putting one arm on the pale girl's shoulder.
'I know what you're going through. Courage.' Kisara thought she heard Ishizu's voice. She didn't see her moving her lips though. The girl looked at the dark haired woman with an almost desperate look, as if she was saying, am I going nuts?
Ishizu gave her a caring look and returned her attention to the game again.
"What's wrong with Kaiba?" asked Yugi. "He doesn't look well."
"He's probably annoyed because Marik took his Blue Eyes idiot. He was like that when I did the same move to him, remember?"
Flashback
"You made a big mistake by taking my Blue-Eyes. Now it's time for me to end this duel." Kaiba yells to Joey.
"This is unacceptable. There's no way I will allow a third-rate duelist like him to use my Blue-Eyes." Kaiba seethes and sacrifices one monster and summons another Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "How's that, bonkotsu? Now, you go to hell!"
End of Flashback
"I can't understand his obsession over this card!" Joey concluded.
"Kaiba has a special bond with his Blue Eyes White Dragon. Just like… er, Yugi has with his Dark Magician." Ishizu explained.
Kisara was staring at her feet, memories of her visions upseting her.
Kaiba finally raised his head up, clenching his teeth and groaning. He locked eyes with his opponent, who had a cocky expression on his face.
"Is everything alright there, Kaiba?" asked Marik innocently.
Seto straitened up and took a deep breath. He drew a card with a quick move and said in loud voice: "I activate Monster reborn and bring back my Blue Eyes."
He then sacrificed another monster he had on the field and summoned Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. He ended the battle victoriously.
"Where are we going to, anyway?" Asked a furious Seto Kaiba the Egyptian driver of the limo sent to him by a wannabe business parthner.
"We'll be there soon, master Kaiba. I told you my master lives in a resort in an oasis in the desert."
Kaiba sighed irritated. He always hated wasting his time. He also was always able to cope with miserable thoughts on his own. But lately the more he tried to push them away the worst they would pop up like a spur.
He thought that discussing about business would take his mind off them but until then… 'Ok', he thought. 'It was only a weird image'. Well, not exactly an image. He didn't see it clearly. It was as if so many thoughts passed so fast in his brain that his nerves didn't have the time to project them in his eyes.
But the weirdest thing –if there could be something more weird after all- was that he had seen, well, had the sense he had seen his professor in college, Graham. His presense was …threatening? But why?
And it happened at the exact time Marik summoned his Blue Eyes White Dragon, he remembered enraged.
He had always been possessive with his Blue Eyes. He was the only worthy to use this card. He couldn't stand fighting against it. From the first moment he saw it… when he was still a kid. A swift flash back concerning a burning village numbed his brain for a second. Again that feeling of agony. He managed to overcome it.
He couldn't be …jealous. Not of that looser. He just couldn't. That would be completely and utterly pathetic.
Even though he woldn't admitt it he felt annoyed, to say the least, when he was near her, praising her, talking to her. It bothered him from the moment she had stepped in the class, even though he didn't knew her.
He huffed again loudly ignoring that he had considered –and almost admitted- he was jealous, which meant the existence of something he didn't experience often-never.
"Is everything alright master Kaiba?"
"Yes, everything's fine."
After a while the limo stopped. Seto looked through the windscreen and there was nothing. No resort, no house, just sand.
"Why did you stop?" he demanded.
"We have to continue on foot from here, master. It's not far." The drive got off the car and opened the back door.
"And why is that?"
"The land we are about to set foot on is holy for us. We have to walk."
Seto got out of the vehicle snorting and they began to walk. He was careful in case he would get attacked again, although he soon rejected this thought.
Suddenly, a strong wind rose and sand blurred the vision of the two men.
"Keep walking straight master Kaiba." Shouted the Egyptian man to be heard through the roaring of the wind. Seto covered his mouth and nose in order not to inhale sand and did as he was told.
After a while the the brown haired man stumbled over something hard and fell grunting over on what he later found was stairs. He felt the air dying down slowly. He got up and walked the stairs. From what he could faintly see he was in an ancient or temple. There were big columns all around and from what he could see there was a building. Hell, everything looked awfully familiar.
As the wind stopped and the sand was subsiding, Seto made out the sillhouette of a person dressed in a white cloak approaching him. As the figurecame closer it took its hood off.
Seto's eyes widened. "You?"
Author note: OK, I know nothing about duel monsters, so I snatched a tactic from an episode (Alcatraz Tower, I think). For the rest of the game I used my imagination, as you might have noticed. Anyway, if anyone has a better idea on how the duel should develop from the start, pm me.
R+R please!