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There is always a battle at every point in life.

Twenty-One: Safe

"You're telling me that I got struck by lightning… at the exact same time as Yugi, Yami, and Wheeler?"

"And you all escaped miraculously unharmed." Singh blinked owlishly as the paramedic finished examining Kaiba, who'd flat out refused to go to the hospital. "I must admit, the surprise of it all still hasn't registered yet."

Seto frowned, placing his hand on his chest, feeling the steady, normal beat of his heart. His head was still lucid and alert. There was nothing different about him. Not even static shock. The other three were also puzzling over what had just happened, and none of them looked for the worse, either. "I think I'll go home now."

"That's probably wise. I hope you have an uneventful rest of the day, Mr. Kaiba." Singh nodded and turned his attention back to Yami.

But even Seto knew the limitations of the human body, and he drove much more slowly than usual, ready to pull over if he felt the slightest bit faint or dizzy or unusual. He almost sighed in relief when he finally pulled into his garage, feeling extremely relaxed for someone who'd just survived being struck by lightning.

One of the maids, Glennis, a mother of three young but bright children whom she was very proud of, smiled at him as she washed vegetables in the kitchen sink. "Good afternoon, Mr. Kaiba."

"Afternoon."

"Oh, Miss Kisara was looking for you earlier. She looked rather worried, but no one could reach you."

"Ah. Thank you, Glennis. Where is she?"

"She went up to her room a few hours ago. I haven't seen her downstairs since."

Seto nodded and rapidly climbed up the stairs, depositing his coat and briefcase on the floor of the hallway as he neared Kisara's room. "Kisara?" He instinctively raised his hand to knock on her door when he realized that it was ajar. He narrowed his eyes and creaked it open even wider. "Kisara, are you in here?"

Her bed, neatly made, light blue coverlet free of wrinkles. A book of poetry on the nightstand, bookmark tucked in one of the pages. Balcony doors open, a cold breeze making the curtains flutter. A pile of thick, cut-up blue cloth and hard gold material stacked on the floor for later usage. Desk neatly organized, even more than his own desk. Her room was still the same as the last time he'd seen it, only… it was empty.

Normally, he wouldn't be worried about not finding her in her room. The house was huge, she could be anywhere inside or on the grounds. But all of today's events had put him on the edge, and he felt uneasy as he scanned the room again, as though she could have appeared sometime in the past few seconds.

Kisara's laptop started beeping frantically, startling him, and he turned to stare at it confusedly, eyes widening as an image flickered into view, and a face he thought he'd never see again flashed before him.

Noah looked like he hadn't aged a day – as expected. He looked pale, if a pixelated person could be pale, and he looked on the verge of panic. The green-haired boy's eyes fell on Seto. "Wh – Seto! Seto, there's – you – you have to find Kisara! You have to find her, he –"

"What the hell have you been doing on Kisara's computer?"

"What haven't I been doing on Kisara's computer," Noah muttered mockingly.

"You did not just –"

"Yeah, I just went there."

"I am going to –"

"Please, Seto, stop it with the petty threats so we can actually get to the important things?"

"Why don't you just shut your damn mouth?"

"Ohhhh, yeah, that's right, you never listen to anyone, do you? Look at me, I'm Seto Kaiba, the universe revolves around me –"

What the hell had the digital freak been up to all this time on Kisara's computer? Nothing good ever came with him. Of course, Seto couldn't forget the time Noah had tried to kind of kill them all a bit. Mokuba may have let bygones be bygones and Yugi might have claimed to see the good in Noah, but to Seto, the world was better off without the little snot.

"– and you're just jealous because Kisara likes me better!"

…Seto hoped that Kisara didn't have anything important on her laptop, because he was permanently wiping everything on it. He sat down and set to work.

"Seto, what are you – hey, hey, stop that! No, you have to know –" That got rid of the audio. And as for the rest…

"N-N-N-Noah? Are you okay?" Meekly, Kisara shook the dead laptop. "Noah?" A sudden, chilly breeze gave her goosebumps, and she slowly turned around to see someone standing in the shadows. "Who are you?"

He acted so quickly, Kisara didn't even have time to struggle. By the time she realized what was going on, he had already leapt off the balcony and was halfway to the ground, with her tucked under his arm like a package. The instant his toe touched the lawn, he jumped back up in the air, and in only three steps, they were soaring over the long, tall gate that surrounded the Kaiba property. And it took all of ten seconds, so fast that Kisara doubted anyone had noticed. Which meant the only backup she had was herself.

There were certain parts of the human body that were particularly susceptible to damage and pain, Seto had told her once, one of them being the stomach. And elbows were very good at causing pain to stomachs.

The man let out a muffled groan and dropped her. Kisara tumbled onto the sidewalk, quickly getting up and scanning her surroundings for help, but the man – who was wearing a dark, violet-tinged outfit and had his face covered – was lightning fast.

Just as he grabbed her wrist, someone with pale blond hair tackled him to the ground. The man slinked out of the blond's hold, only to run into a wall of a person who casually tossed a punch in his face, which caused an unpleasant sounding crunch. The man staggered and was promptly whacked over the head by a heavy handbag. Growling in defeat, he turned tail and disappeared into the shadows.

"Are you hurt, Kisara?"

Dazed, Kisara stared at her saviors. The blond man stood, wiping dirt off his pants. She recognized him from the photo, Marik Ishtar. That meant the classically beautiful woman, wearing a traditional white sarong and carrying a deceptively weighty purse, was Ishizu, his sister. And the other man, tall and daunting, was Odion, their adoptive brother. "No… I'm fine. Thank you, for…"

Marik grinned. "No need. We weren't going to let a ninja kidnap someone, especially not you."

Ninja… One of those sly, sneaky Japanese warriors?

Ishizu pursed her lips, deep in thought. "That 'ninja' looked very familiar."

"Strike Ninja," Odion said matter-of-factly.

Marik looked at his brother in disbelief. "That's a Duel Monsters card. I thought all that business with monsters coming to life was over."

"It happened once, it can happen again." Ishizu turned her attention back to Kisara once more. "Come, let's find a safe place for you."

Kisara shook her head. "I have to find Seto." And Noah! What had happened to Noah?

"Kaiba isn't home?"

"No."

"Then it's even more important that we keep you safe."

"Seto's house has all those guards, the cameras, employees, how is it not safe?"

"You were just kidnapped," Ishizu pointed out. "Certainly those precautions will discourage normal criminals, but as you just saw, they are not enough to keep those from the Shadow Realm away."

"Ishizu," Odion's deep voice rumbled. He gestured at Kisara's hand.

The bandage had fallen off during her struggle with the ninja, and the black spot, its cobweb-like tendrils spread now to the edges of her palm, was bared for the world to see.

"What is that?" Marik breathed.

Ishizu's eyes never looked away from Kisara's hand. "Someone left their mark on Kisara. It means she'll never be able to hide from them. Ever. All the more imperative that we find Kaiba and the Pharaoh. She needs all the protection she can get."

"Please – isn't there any way I could get it off?"

"I don't know. I'm sorry. Our family's ancient texts only mention it in the vaguest of descriptions, let alone tell of a cure."

"Ishizu, we should be moving," Odion murmured urgently.

"Ah. Yes, of course. Kisara, would you please come with us until Kaiba can find you?"

Both Seto and Yugi had said the Ishtars were trustworthy (albeit the former more grudgingly than the latter). And Kisara didn't get any odd feelings from them, either. So she nodded and found herself in a protective circle as they walked, but hurriedly, to their car.

Ishizu, in the front passenger seat, was frowning as she held her cell phone. "I can't get any signals at all… What in Ra's name…?"

"Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Muto and his friends are out on the grounds."

Grimacing, Seto looked away from Kisara's newly wiped laptop, stood, and walked over to the balcony door. Indeed, the Friendship Fairies were flitting around his lawn. He shut the door, wondering why it was open in the first place since Kisara had only ever opened it during warmer weather, picked up his briefcase and coat in the hallway, and stalked downstairs.

"I'm telling you, something happened here earlier, and it's not good." No, Seto was not seeing double. He reminded himself, again, that there really were two Yugis now. Yami, now dressed in a dark jacket and pants, had his arms crossed and was staring intently at an innocuous spot in the grass. Yugi, Tea, Joey, and Tristan were, quite reasonably, looking politely befuddled.

"Is there some kind of invisible monster footprint on my property?" Seto asked sarcastically, glowering at the lot of them.

"Close, very close, Kaiba." Yami looked away from the patch on the lawn. "Have you seen Kisara lately?"

"I was looking for her when you all showed up."

"You returned him about an hour ago, right? Shouldn't it be worrisome if it's taken you this long and you still haven't found her?"

Seto sighed. "I was taking care of a little problem first."

Yami looked back at the grass. "Kaiba, do you remember three years ago, when Dartz was coming to power and Duel Monsters were crossing from the Shadow Realm and into our world?"

"What of it?"

"It may be happening again. And I think the barrier between our worlds was breached when we brought Kisara to life two months ago."

Seto's hackles rose, and his heart turned to ice. "Are you blaming her for all these problems that you claim are happening?"

"Not at all. The more I think about it, the more likely I think that the barrier would have been breached, anyway, regardless of whether or not we freed Kisara. Her release was just a catalyst." Yami's eyes flickered up to one of the windows in the mansion. "I believe a monster may have trespassed on your home today. Tell me, did you see anything unusual in Kisara's room?"

His heart shattered.

Joey was looking over Seto's shoulder. "Hey, dat's Mai. What's she doin' here?"

The fierce blonde marched across the lawn until she stood beside them, hands on her hips. "What's all this I'm hearing from the maid about Kisara being missing?" she demanded.

"Mai, what are you doing here?" Tea asked, surprised at the blonde's presence.

"Kisara asked me to come over today to help her make some kind of craft. Obviously, that won't be happening right now, but more importantly – where is she?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out!" Tristan exclaimed.

Their inane arguing and shouting sounded distant and hollow to Seto's ears, echoing from some other far-off world.

Kisara.

Where…?

Monsters.

Kidnapped?

"Yo. Yo! Money bags!"

My fault.

Wasted time.

Find her.

How?
"See dis card here? Red Eyes could kick your blur dragon's butt any day."

"Say that again, mutt, and I will ensure that you permanently disappear from this country."

They were all blinded by a blazing light shining from Joey's card, deafened by a sudden, ferocious roar.

"Holy mother," Tristan whispered.

The great black dragon stretched and turned its head to stare at them with its blood red eyes, chest rising as it breathed, claws digging into the ground, wings twitching as it shifted. Its low growl rumbled and made the earth tremble, tail slowly swishing back and forth, coming dangerously close to crushing Seto's gardeners' beloved rosebushes.

That was no hologram.

Joey's eyes, which were as wide as saucers, were swimming with shock, awe, fear, pride. "Dat's… Dat's… How did dat happen?"

Yami looked thoughtfully between Yugi and Joey and Seto. "The four of us were all mysterious struck by that lightning, weren't we?"

"How very deductive of you, Pharaoh. I applaud you."

That voice sounded a lot like Duke Devlin, but there was a strange, hollow tone to it, like it wasn't completely Duke. Seto turned around.

Duke's eyes were unnervingly… empty.

And when Duke chuckled, it didn't sound like his smooth, easygoing laugh at all. "Enjoying your new powers, are we?"

Yugi stepped forward angrily. "What have you done to Duke? Let him go!"

"I am Duke, Yugi. I'm so hurt that you wouldn't think so." Possessed-Duke smiled vapidly, insincerely. "I have something very interesting to show you, the Pharaoh, Joey, and Kaiba. We have no time to waste."

Joey growled. "Tristan, let's grab him, try to shake some sense into him."

"When was the last time you saw your sister, Joey?"

The blond froze. "Serenity… What did ya do to her?"

"She is currently our guest, along with Mr. Solomon Muto and Miss Rebecca Hawkins… Kaiba, isn't it amazing how dedicated your brother is to his girlfriend? The things he'll do for love. It's all so tragic..." Possessed-Duke sneered at the horrified looks on everyone's faces. "Of course, this invitation is only for the four that I mentioned earlier. Come, come, there's no time to waste. You do want your loved ones all back in one piece, don't you?" He turned to go, intending to lead the way. "Oh. By the way, where is dearest Kisara?"

AHHHH. I updated late. I'm so sorry. T~T I mentioned my writing club before, right? We make monthly newsletters, and the October submission date was yesterday, and I spent several hours editing-copying-pasting-formatting-cropping-resizing-taking last minute photos-etc. And we also had no school Friday, so I got disoriented. Sorry!

So. Yeah. Lots of stuff happened this chapter. Duke's back! But... that's not really a good thing here, is it? :P

Not many people gave me their input on what to do about the sequel, but I've decided to just keep adding chapters onto this story for Part II. So even when Part I ends, don't take it off your alert list just yet!

Manga of the Moment: I just finished Ashita no Ousama. It's not very widespread and the art could be a bit better, but it's a really great story! You have to hang in there for a few chapters, though, because it does drag a wee bit in the beginning.

Upcoming: The next chapter is called "Mokuba." I think you can guess who's going to be the star.

Review please!