She had blue eyes and long white hair. Kaiba had never met this girl before, but for some reason he felt like he had known her his whole life.
"Kisara?"
"He knows my name!"
When she spoke her words were not her own, and though she didn't realize it, she was speaking in another language.
"I am Kisara reincarnated."
Kaiba went over to her and started speaking in the same language that she was, she had never heard it before, but she understood him perfectly.
"I have waited countless centuries to see you again… My princess Kisara."
"You must've realized my Prince, our love is stronger than death."
Then automatically and without giving it any thought whatsoever, Kaiba pulled her close and kissed her on the lips.
"I hate to interrupt the moment, but I'm not giving you this girl for free." said Checkmate.
"Name your price." said Kaiba.
"It's not a question of money. I want you to do something for me."
"What?"
"Something that will be mutually beneficial for both of us I assure you… I want you to duel Yugi Moto and win… for once. If you succeed you can keep your new girlfriend Seto Kaiba, but if you fail me… well… I'll leave that your imagination."
"Wait a minute." said Kisara "I thought…"
Kaiba stopped her.
"Let me handle this." he whispered.
Checkmate's shadow danced violently in the against the wall as the candlelight flickered.
"I know who you are." said Kaiba "You're that sick individual they talk about on the news, the one who gambles with people's lives. You're Checkmate… And I'm willing to bet you're the one who stole my prototype and made it duel Yugi with his own god cards and that one card that you created by hacking into my company's database"
"Guilty as charged… Well I didn't do any of that personally, but it was all my money."
"I didn't know your methods included this." said Kaiba looking at Kisara.
"Seto I…"
"Don't get me wrong Kaiba; the girl doesn't know anything. She wanted to meet you, and I told her I could help, and I did so because I want you to defeat Yugi Moto, and I'm giving you the girl, because now I know you'll try."
"What do you hope to gain from this?"
"My friends and I would like to see if the so called King of Games can fall and fall hard. I would have challenged him myself, but I was told that the only duelist in world that can defeat him is you."
"You're told correct."
"So you'll do it?"
"I will… but in the meantime I keep the girl, as a good faith payment."
"Very well, have it your way. And don't worry, if all goes well then when the big piñata breaks, you'll get it all. The title of the worlds number one ranked duelist, the publicity will make your company all the more successful, and you'll have the woman of your dreams. Fail… and I'll be back."
Checkmate blew out his candle and all went black. After about three minutes the lights came back on and Kaiba and Kisara were alone in his office, then the phone started ringing.
"Seto! Seto! What the heck happened? Why didn't the backup generators work?"
"Never mind that Mokuba, get up here, there's something I need to talk to you about."
In the morning Yugi and friends were drawn to the front page of the newspaper.
Checkmate Strikes Again!
"Are they talking about us?" asked Joey.
"No. Some kid was caught with a dead body and suitcase full of bam bam in his car. Later there was chessboard and a note that read "Cops beat desperate kid" found in his holding cell."
"That's just sick." said Tea.
"We're dealing with a very sick person." said Michael "And on that topic, the delivery has arrived."
"What delivery?" asked Yugi.
"Checkmate's goons managed to steal your Egyptian god cards Yugi. I've taken the liberty of buying you a safe to try and prevent that from happening again."
Michael needed Joey's help moving the safe up to Yugi's room.
"Okay… This is safe has no ordinary lock. It uses a handprint identification feature, just like in the movies, but that's not all it does. Check this out."
Michael pressed a couple buttons that were on the keypad. They hadn't set the lock yet, so Michael was showing them how it worked. Suddenly a life size holographic image of the Dark Magician Girl appeared and pointed her staff at them.
"Stick em up! What's the password?"
"What is that?" asked Mai.
"That's the second lock. It needs a password in addition to Yugi's handprint. Once we get this thing set it will only take Yugi's handprint and his voice for the password. Okay, let's get to work."
When Yugi and Michael were done setting the locks they placed the god cards inside.
"Well that takes care of that."
"Uh… guys…"
"What now?"
"We got another one of Checkmate's messages."
Yugi and the others opened the letter that had a chess king stamp on it and no return address.
If you wish to end this game of chess, here's the thing, defeat Seto Kaiba, and that will flush out the king.
"Kaiba? How on God's green earth did Checkmate manage to get to Kaiba?" asked Joey.
"Maybe they kidnapped Mokuba."
"I don't think so." said Michael "If the younger brother of a rich tyrant like Kaiba was kidnapped I think it would be all over the news."
Suddenly the door bell rang.
"Now who could that be?"
Yugi and the others went downstairs.
"Speak of the devil, it's Mokuba!"
"What brings you to this side of town?"
"I'm not really here to make small talk. Yugi, my brother challenges you to duel this Friday at the Duel Dome. He told me not to take no for an answer."
"Before I answer Mokuba, would you care to tell me why he's suddenly so interested in dueling me… you know… outside the obvious?"
"What do you mean?"
"Have you guys been blackmailed recently?" asked Joey.
"What?"
"Never mind. Tell your brother I'll be there." said Yugi.
Later Michael and Joey went out to try and find out what Checkmate could possibly have done to get Kaiba to decide to duel Yugi. Yugi himself stayed and was already making preparations for his deck.
"So Kaiba's the last one before Checkmate."
"Don't worry Yugi, you've beaten Kaiba before, and I just know you can do it again." said Tea.
Yugi may have beaten Kaiba before, but the duels had always been too close for comfort. Ever since Yugi defeated Kaiba for the first time he had given him no peace, over the years Kaiba had done everything in his power to try and regain his title as the world's number one ranked duelist, but no matter their differences over the years, a duel with Kaiba didn't mean the end of the world. His motives were egotistical, but Kaiba never put people's lives in danger. If Yugi ever lost to him the only thing that he would lose would be his title.
"Yugi… I'm talking to you."
"I'm listening Tea."
"What's on your mind?"
"I really want this madness to be over. If I can make it through this duel with Kaiba I know I'll be ready for Checkmate, and when this is over… I was thinking maybe we could take some time off?"
"By we… you mean us?"
Yugi blushed.
"Uh… yes."
"Sure, I'd be happy to."
Kaiba was in his lab gathering information on all Yugi's recent duels from the Duel Ring Server's database and running simulations and looking for any new strategies that might help. He had been awake for almost sixty hours. There could be no mistakes this time.
"Seto… Seto…"
"What is it Mokuba?"
"Can we talk?"
Kaiba didn't need to bother to ask what Mokuba wanted to talk about. One minute they're talking about a stolen prototype on the phone, then the power goes out, and when it comes back on, he suddenly has a girlfriend. Kaiba had found it hard to explain this to his little brother. He had told Mokuba that when he first saw her, he felt as though he had made it home, or rather a piece of home had found it's way to him. He never wanted to believe in any of this past life and destiny stuff that Yugi and his friends kept blabbering about, but recently he had forced himself to try and keep an open mind.
"You have ten minutes."
"Look Seto, I know this is none of my business… and I know you think I'm against you seeing someone you only just met a few days ago… Anyway I'm not… against it."
Kaiba didn't say a word.
"Seto, given the circumstances I expected to find you in here obsessing over your upcoming duel with Yugi, which is pretty much what you're doing, but compared to your usual attitude you're being box of chocolates. There's something different about you… Good different. I actually see you smile more often. If she makes you happy that's great."
As a matter of fact, Seto Kaiba was smiling right now.
"You're right."
"I am?"
"It is none of your business."
"Good God, he told a joke." thought Mokuba.
(To be continued)