Havelock Vetinari: I really don't know how to respond to your review. If I answer your question, well, it wasn't really a question, then I might give something away. You'll just have to wait and see.

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Lace Kyoko: Kray is supposed to be suspenseful. I think that suspense will end pretty soon. Actually, not this chapter, but in the next two, you'll find out much more about him.

Everwild: It's that exciting to see an update? Wow. I had no idea. I guess that means I should update more, huh? (Also, interesting emoticon. Haha) But every time I see a review in my inbox, my brain does the same thing. So, I can relate.

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Author's Note: I just want to say a special thank you to all my fans. You people mean so much to me. This chapter likely would never have happened without those of you who gave me your positive thoughts about the last chapter. And all the chapters before this, actually. Hearing of your interest in my writing really makes me want to continue. Thank you for sticking with me! I dedicated a blog post to you! (Even though I wrote it months ago!)

Seto

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose as the group of people in the room erupted into shouts for the tenth time. Tensions had been brought about this time by Yami mentioning that the soldiers were breaking their contract by being in Domino in such large numbers. As much as I tried to block out their incessant complaining, I could still hear every unfortunate word.

"We need protection from these monsters!" someone shouted. I hadn't learned everyone's name.

"Good citizens of Domino!" Fredrick Moore, the officer in charge of all those stationed in the city, shouted. He held up a hand to silence the room.

"You have nothing to worry about," he said, once the room was quiet. "We are going nowhere. These beasts have no way to fight back against us, even if we do increase our numbers. Your protection is our priority."

That calmed the room considerably.

Next to me, Yami leaned back in his chair. We were sitting in the front of the meeting room of City Hall, along with Moore and Harrison. The location had been moved from the sub-level store to City Hall almost as soon as Moore and his men had arrived. I knew it was a well thought out change. Since there was no longer fear of leaving one's house, more people were in attendance.

I still hated going to them. The general majority of people had no connections to any monsters. Typically, Yami and I were the only two that had been chosen. Sometimes, though very rarely, someone else who had been chosen would show up. I understood why they didn't frequently attend.

People had the tendency to think that with the compromise, everything had gone back to normal. They assumed that since regulations were put on the monsters, we no longer had anything to complain about. The people who came were mostly concerned with how their lives were being affected. They were being inconvenienced by the monsters' presence. That was all that mattered to them.

If I didn't have to be here, then I wouldn't come either. Unfortunately, Moore decided that if Yami and I were not in attendance, then the monsters were in breach of the compromise. I tried to remain silent throughout.

At the last meeting, which had been the first since the compromise, someone had mentioned that the people who had been chosen no longer had anything to worry about. I had asked how she could know such a thing, since she had no experience on the subject. Her answer was that she simply knew it was so. Moore had cut me off before I could tell her exactly what I thought about her theory, then he took her position. With the soldiers' presence, he claimed, we had nothing to fear.

The only reason I was here tonight was to keep up the appearance that everything was normal. So far, no one had mentioned anything about Kray, though I doubted they would. If any of the citizens knew about him, then they, like myself, knew very little. If Moore knew, he wouldn't want to send panic among the people.

One good thing that had come out of these new meetings was the shortened duration. We now only met for a few hours instead of the all night spans. It was absurd how long Harrison had kept us before.

I also leaned back and crossed my arms. Yami glanced over, so I turned slightly so meet his gaze. His eyes widened the smallest bit as though to say, "This is ridiculous."

Glancing down at my watch, I noted that we had been at the meeting for less than an hour. The previous meeting had lasted three.

Yami tilted his head to check the time, so I turned my wrist for him to see. He sighed upon reading the time.

"We would be better off looking for the Items," he whispered.

I gave a short nod. Our time would be much better spent doing almost anything.

I was currently being faced with a conflict. I hated these meetings and didn't want to be present, but I also wanted to delay getting back to the house as long as possible. Kisara and Kara had this insane idea in mind, and I wanted no part of it. I knew that the moment I entered the house, they would attack me with it again. However, I would have no excuse out of it a second time.

"Did you find out anything else about Kray?" Yami whispered.

"Nothing that was helpful. Krin said that I need to be afraid of him," I said, keeping my lips as motionless as I could manage. "He wouldn't say why."

"Are you afraid?" Yami asked.

"I will not fear something that I know nothing about."

"Would you fear it anyway?"

I shrugged. "That's quite unlikely."

"Mr. Kaiba, the dragons have been keeping up their end, haven't they?" Moore questioned.

I turned to face him instead of the crowd in front of me. "Yes, they have been."

"And Mr. -" Moore started, then froze when he realized that he didn't know Yami's last name.

"The Magician and his men have kept their end as well," Yami answered.

Someone in the back of the room stood up. I didn't recognize his face, so I felt it was safe to assume that either I really had not been paying attention as any prior meeting, or this was his first time.

"My wife was killed yesterday," he announced.

For a few seconds, no one spoke. No one even moved as that statement sunk in.

"Killed by whom?" I asked, breaking the silence. My question triggered a series of mumbles through the crowd.

The man hesitated. Even from a distance, I could see the tears threatening to overflow. "You tell me," he eventually forced out. "I found her clothes piled a block away from our home. Next to them was a pile of bones." He stopped again and took a loud, shaky breath. "They had bite marks on them."

The crowd began whispering more forcefully to each other, working out quietly what they would mean for them. I couldn't speak. I could barely keep my mouth from opening in surprise. Next to me, Yami sat equally stunned. We had just said the monsters were upholding their end. How could that have happened?

Then I thought about the man's story. He said it happened yesterday. If that was the case, it aligned with Kray's arrival. If Kray was behind the attack, it explained why the dragons were so intent on keeping me away from him.

"It wasn't the Dark monsters," Yami said to me.

"It wasn't the Light monsters," I answered.

"Then who?" Yami asked.

"We can't jump to conclusions. We can't prove that they have been lying to us."

I noticed that the eyes of the room were focused on us. Even Moore glared in our direction with an accusatory expression. He had stood from his seat, so the glare was aimed downwards.

"Can either of you explain?"

I also got to my feet. I would not be lectured down to. When I stood, gasps sounded. Were they afraid that I was going to throw a punch?

"Neither side has broken the agreement. If it is as he says, then it must be something else."

"Something else?" the man exclaimed. "You think that a human ate my wife?"

Out of respect for his deceased spouse, I chose to speak calmly. "Was that what I said? There are monsters outside of this city, ones that have not agreed to the compromise. Any one of them could have crossed over."

"My wife is dead!"

"So you said!" I shouted back, losing patience.

I shifted my gaze across all in the room, making eye contact with every person before I went on. "Do not let this tragedy change your thoughts on the validity of the contract. Both Light and Dark monsters have upheld their end. If we breach on our side, then we are at fault."

"Why Mr. Kaiba, you sound as though you are on their side," Moore said.

"Mr. Moore, you appear to have forgotten what is at risk for these people," I said with a gesture to the crowd.

Moore sent a snarl in my direction. For the good of the people, the bomb threat was kept a secret from the majority. Only the four people at the main table knew about the true nature of the compromise. If everyone knew the threat, then they would attempt to flee the city. That would make people who had been chosen attempt to run, which would only bring about the attack sooner.

"Then tell me who could have kill his innocent wife?"

"Any other beast," I answered. "Why don't you look into before making accusations?"

"Believe me, we will."

We both slowly sat back down. The man in the crowd sat down as well. I had a momentary pang of guilt for treating the death of his wife so harshly. It hadn't been my intention, but the crowd had gotten to me. They were searching for any excuse to break the contract that was already hanging by a delicate thread. If he hadn't been using his wife's death as a reason for increasing tension, then I might have let it slide.

I wanted to leave, but I was required to stay until everyone had left. Yami and I had to walk Moore through the progress we were supposed to be making on closing the portal. For some reason, he wouldn't allow us to do so beforehand.

"How much longer do you think this will take?" Yami asked. The question was rhetorical. There was no possible way for me to tell.

"You haven't had time to look for the Items yet, have you?" I asked. Perhaps working out our plans would help the time pass more quickly. The rest of the people in the room could continue on without our listening.

"Not yet. Are you still planning to work at the hospital on Wednesday?"

I nodded. "They are very understaffed." I kept my eyes forward as I whispered my response.

"I think Joey is working Wednesday too. He has been going up there a lot in the past few weeks."

"Why don't you volunteer?" I asked. The number of volunteers was so slim, it was frustrating. None of the citizens in Domino seemed willing to work, even when it was so desperately needed.

"The Magician hasn't been letting me leave often. I will see if I can get out."

"I think I will take a look at the Game Shop Wednesday when I've finished at the hospital. I can assess the damage the monsters have done to it. Maybe then we will know how long it will take us to clear it away."

"Then I will try to get out Wednesday. I would like to get through the work at the Game Shop quickly."

"Do you know where the book is that Yugi was reading out of?"

Yami nodded. "We went back to the library a few days later and got the book. He put it in storage in the Game Shop's basement."

"Which is now covered with the remains of the building?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"I get the feeling this will be quite time consuming."

"Do you have time before next Sunday to work on it?" Yami questioned.

I thought over my schedule for the remainder of the week. "Mokuba has a doctor's appointment on Friday, so I will have to stay at the house then. But aside from that and the hospital, I should have the time."

"Moore is going to be irritated that we have made no progress since our last report," Yami muttered.

"Moore is always irritated. He can't do anything, so there is no reason for us to worry over his response."

I stopped speaking for just long enough to listen in on the actual meeting. Harrison was answering a question. "No, we have not yet received word on how long it will take for your home phones to be back in perfect operation."

My life had gone downhill so quickly. I missed the days of meetings actually being important or relevant. The only important things that we ever discussed seemed to be keeping the power on and food steadily coming. But those things didn't involve the citizens. It could be handled strictly by the government without their knowledge of it.

"Do you want to plan for Thursday?" Yami asked.

"I can do Thursday. I'll send you an email if something comes up."

The meeting continued until every person in the room had the opportunity to complain about something at least twice. Yami and I didn't speak for the rest of the time. There was nothing left to do but wait. That wait lasted over an hour and a half.

"Does anyone have anything else?" Harrison asked.

I held my breath while waiting for anyone to speak up. If everyone stayed quiet, then I was only a few minutes from heading back to the house. But then I remembered what was waiting at the house, and that dampened my excitement over the meeting coming to an end.

"Nothing? Then we will see you back here in a month. Rodney will send out the email with all the details."

And it was over. People stood up and began to mingle, and some left the room.

"Mr. Kaiba, Mr. -" Moore stumbled again over Yami's last name. Yami gave him no assistance.

Moore waited several seconds for an answer, but when he saw that he would receive none, he went on. "Will the two of you step over here with me?"

I contemplated what would happen if I said no. Most likely, Moore would just give me an odd glance and walk off, expecting me to follow along behind him. For my own sake, I just walked behind him to the adjoining room.

"Progress report," Moore demanded.

"We are working," Yami said. "You don't need to know more."

"Quite the opposite actually. I have to know everything."

"We are collecting the necessary items this week," Yami answered, making sure to keep exactly what items a secret.

"That isn't any more progress than you have made in the past month. If I didn't know any better, then I would say that you aren't trying at all. And with that defense of the monsters earlier, I am sensing a bit of attachment to the beasts."

"What you are sensing is common sense, Mr. Moore. There is no reason for us to tip them off to our work. We have to move slowly," I answered.

"And what do you know of that woman's death?" Moore asked.

"I know nothing of it aside from the Light monsters' innocence," I said.

"You will side against your own people?"

"I am not going to assume that the monsters broke the compromise just so that they could eat one person. It's a ridiculous theory."

Moore's jaw clenched tightly closed at my words. I doubted that he was interested in my opinions. His job was to keep order in the city. So a murder on his watch was not good for his reputation. Knowing what little that I did about Moore, I guessed that he wasn't concerned with the murder as much as its affect on him.

"You will continue to report to me on all that is going on. I want to know your every movement. If you do not report to me, then I will assign troops to follow you from the moment you leave your doorstep."

I had no interest in putting up with his threats any longer. I gave him no response before turning and walking out. He knew that I had been sending reports on a weekly basis. That wasn't going to change. All Moore was attempting was to exert authority over Yami and me.

Yami walked behind me. We went past the remaining people in the meeting room and out the door to head towards the exit.

"He won't last until the end of the year," Yami said. "He is searching for an opportunity to strike."

"Then we will just have to keep him occupied until then."

"How do you suggest doing that?"

"We will discover tomorrow that in order to close the portal, we need some rare artifact or element," I answered. "He will have no choice but to spend his time searching for it."

Yami chuckled halfheartedly. "How long would that hold him off? A week?"

"Hopefully long enough for us to find some real information to give him."

We reached the end of the street where Yami had to turn left and I had to continue straight. We stopped for a moment to finish the conversation, which I wanted to drag out to avoid returning to the house.

"And if we can't?" Yami asked.

We had been avoiding that question since the compromise was put into effect. Any time it was mentioned, the subject quickly died away. There was no room for us to fail. Since the dragons and the Magician knew about the bomb, they would move us out of the city before it occurred. But the rest of the population was uninformed. They believed that everything was getting back to normal. We still kept in touch with Maggie Nale. She told us that fewer people were trying to leave.

"We will."

Yami nodded once, but didn't seem to agree. "Good night, Kaiba." He then walked away.

I stayed at the street corner for a while longer. I stared in the direction of my house while I waited, willing Kisara to have forgotten. The odds of her forgetting were so incredibly low that it would take a miracle to occur. Maybe it would be over with quickly.

That nearly made me laugh as I continued to walk. Kara would likely get such a laugh out of it that she would press Kisara to carry on into the later hours.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Mokuba would likely side with Kara.

I would never admit to it, but I basically sulked the entire way home. I buried my hands in my pockets and stared at the ground. My mind was spinning with scenarios that could possible be an excuse to avoid going back. Nothing would work though. I would have to return eventually. The longer I delayed, the worse it would likely become.

Kisara was leaning beside the front door when I arrived. Her eyes lit up and when she jumped forward, small streaks of lightning burst from her hands.

"You're back!" she exclaimed.

I stopped walking again and seriously considered running. She was far too excited for this to turn out well. It worried me to the point that I did take a few steps back.

"No! Don't even think about it, Darling!" Kisara shouted.

She ran forward and quickly caught up with me. I couldn't do anything once she grabbed onto my arm. I did try to pull away, but she started shocking me, so I stopped fighting.

"Kisara, I can just talk you through this," I offered, but she didn't stop pulling me towards the door.

"Why do you even need this information?" I asked.

"Because I love you!" she shouted. She turned to face me, grinning. We had reached the front door, which was standing open.

Krin, Kara, Mokuba, and Kuriboh were all sitting on the couch. When Mokuba saw me, he smiled. The expression seemed to be that of the majority, as even Krin was smirking.

Kisara swung the door closed so that it slammed loudly, and shook the walls. She pushed me to the center of the living room. The coffee table which normally sat in the middle of the room had been moved to the side.

"Show me," Kisara said. She faced me and took hold of both of my hands.

"I don't see why you need to know this," I said.

Krin immediately said, "We are all waiting, Seto."

"You've got this, big brother."

I glared at Mokuba. He enjoyed my irritation far too much.

Since I was cornered and in Kisara's grasp, there was no way out. I did all that I could do.

"Put your hand on my shoulder," I instructed.

Kisara did so gladly. Then hand she released I moved to her waist. The touch sent a large grin to her lips. She immediately began to spin the two of us in circles.

"Am I doing it right?" she asked, never stopping.

"Not really," I answered. I leaned back so that we would be less likely to fall over as she continued to spin. Her smile faltered, and she used our joined hands to drag me back against her chest.

"This is spinning, not dancing. The agreement was for dancing."

"You aren't teaching me!" Kisara exclaimed.

"Then stop spinning."

Kisara reluctantly stopped. "Now what?"

"Little steps," I said, then began to explain the proper steps to dancing.

Kisara paid little attention. Any time we made it four steps without any mishaps, she declared herself an expert, then insisted that she didn't need my help any longer. But then she would promptly step on my foot or lose count. Her apologies were almost constant.

The laughter from the couch was almost constant as well. It came mostly from Mokuba, with Kara pitching in every time Kisara made a mistake. But even Krin chuckled occasionally. His weren't directed at Kisara, but at me. His came any time I opened my mouth to complain, but thought better of it.

We carried on in that manner for another hour. It was only when Kisara declared her feet to be made of fire that she let me go.

"I found that quite enjoyable," Kara stated. She got to her feet, then helped Mokuba to his. When I moved away from Kisara, she said, "We should practice that more."

. . .

Hey.

First of all, I'm super sorry. This is a short chapter that likely wasn't worth the wait. The problem is, the next chapter is really long, and this is the best place to break it off.

Secondly, I'm sorry again. My laziness overcame me, and I've spent basically all of my summer doing . . . well, nothing.

Thirdly, to everyone who is here with me still, I think you are cool. Thanks for reading.

Didn't do previews at one point? I think I did. So, here you go.

Preview: Seto goes to work at the hospital. Afterwards, he goes to speak with Yami. However, Red realizes that Seto may have some information he wants. And Red will do anything to make Seto talk.