Chapter 36

"Man, I hate feeling left out," Mokuba complained. He was in Yuna's hospital room and doing homework with her. Even though they were not in the same class or even attended the same school, as her boyfriend—she'd kissed him twice and that made them a couple as far as he was concerned—he felt it his duty to bring her homework so that she wouldn't fall behind.

Yuna, tucked into bed wearing a dark green bathrobe because she thought that the good "chi" from the color would speed her recovery, reviewed her words for English class but couldn't help herself when a smile tugged at her lips. She glanced up. It was cute. She liked the way his raven eyebrows pushed together awkwardly when he felt that there was some sort of mystery or adventure going on that he wasn't part of. The pout was cute, too. She wanted to hug him.

"I'm sorry, Mokuba-kun. Being with me must be frightfully dull."

His eyes widened. "Oh, no! It's just that Nii-sama's been busy a lot lately. And, I have this feeling," his eyes drifted to his personal guard in the room who was chatting on a cell phone and trying to keep it very quiet, "that something is going on. And I want to know."

"Oh, is that all?" Yuna said, smiling at him.

Is that all? I tell her what's bothering me and… He looked into her brown eyes and felt himself melt a little. Cute! She's just so cute…

"Could you hand me my cards?" She pointed to the tarot cards on the little night stand that also had a stack of school books on it.

"Uh…sure."

"Let's see what Kaiba-sama's up to." She winked at Mokuba and began to mix the cards in her hands. As she did it, she stared at nothing in particular. Then, her eyes drifted to the guard in the room. He seemed very keen on keeping his voice down low and responded with as few words as possible. Mokuba's instincts are right. Something is going on.

She repositioned her brown meal-tray table. On it, Yuna cut the cards into three piles, stacked them back into one deck, and then began to deal the cards into a pattern.

"This is regarding Kaiba Seto-Sama," she said in a clear voice. The guard, a middle aged Japanese man wearing a dark suit and navy tie, practically jumped out of his skin when she said it. Yuna smiled at him scerenely and continued.

"Kaiba-sama," Yuna said, "Who is he?"

She turned the card and got The Emperor.

Mokuba looked at the card. "Yes, I'm sure that's how my brother sees himself."

"Everyone else does, too, with a few exceptions—like you and Katsuya-kun." She smiled happily.

"Fine," the guard murmured, "call me back." The guard closed his cell phone and pocketed it. He pretended not to watch them, but they weren't fooled.

"What does he want?" Yuna asked the cards. She turned the top one over. It was "Strength" but in the reversed position—upside down—and Yuna frowned a little at that. "Right now, he feels weak. He hates it. So, he wants strength. Actually, he wants a lot, but not for himself or for his own sake.

The guard's jaw dropped a little.

Yuna's sharp eyes caught it. Aha! I'm right. He knows much more than what he's telling.

"Where is Kaiba-sama going?" Yuna knew before even turning the card over what it would be. The sad part was that she wasn't playing with just the major arcana cards. But that's what kept popping up. These things, she knew, were life lessons and things that were already set in motion. Mokuba, no matter what he did, wouldn't be able to change the outcome because it didn't concern him in the first place. The most he could do would be to watch. She felt bad about that.

"The Tower," she said without even looking at it.

"Bad, huh?" the raven haired one said.

"Usually, The Tower means 'an unavoidable fall.' But, I don't see Kaiba-sama falling. But, I feel like someone certainly did."

The guard's eyes were wide. He took a breath. No, this was stupid to him—and those cards had to be fake. He crossed his arms defensively, waiting for his phone to ring again.

Yuna continued, "Well, I see him in a kind of tower—but not like the one on the card. This is a big, metal tower—a building with high walls, small windows very high up, dirty floor with trash and broken beer bottle pieces… It smells stale there, too, like an old house. The doors are not just locked, they're chained and locked with combination locks."

Her eyes drifted to the guard. "You'll need tools—chain cutters-- to cut your way in."

She locked eyes with the guard. He held his breath.

"And I see boxes and boxes of things stacked up in two different places. And they both kill, in different ways."

She smiled thinly at Mokuba. "So, that's the tower Kaiba-sama is in now."

"Well," Mokuba said, "if there were cars, it could the parking garage at Kaiba Corp. But you said boxes stacked. So, I guess, it might be a warehouse…?"

"One last question, tarot," Yuna said. "What happens there? Why are you telling us this in the first place?"

She drew the last card. It was the "White Tiger 10 card." Yuna bit her lower lip at that. It was a card she'd seen before and knew well because she had once had a vision of herself tearing it in half before being stabbed.

"And that one is…?" Mokuba asked.

"It's an abrupt end to something you thought was permanent…or the beginning of the end." She intentionally avoided the word "death" because, most of the time, that card didn't predict a physical death. But, she knew that it could be one and, if so, it would be something that Mokuba couldn't prevent. She closed her eyes and searched for her angel—the one in the pharaoh's clothes—to see if he could tell her or guide her. There was a brief moment of joy and bright light. She grinned at him. But he simply motioned to the guard, hugged her, and then faded. Yuna's mind floated back.

"I don't get you, Yuna," he said, trying not to sound critical.

"Sorry?" she mumbled, still a little out of it.

"I said that I don't understand." Mokuba looked a little confused.

"Oh…It's the card of hardship."

Yuna's eyes flicked back to the guard. His phone was ringing in rapid little chimes. He picked it up on the tenth one.

"Him," Yuna whispered quietly.

"What?"

"Stay with him. If you want to know what's going on with Kaiba-sama, and to see it for yourself, stay with that one." She motioned to the guard.

He nodded with a wicked grin.

The guard reached for the door handle and Mokuba spoke up.

"Hey! You're supposed to be watching me!"

"Wha-?" the man said. "Oh, we think that's not necessary anymore." He said it with a shrug. He hoped that would be enough to escape the two of them. The pre-teen "puppy love" scenes were starting to get on his nerves anyway. So, leaving was just fine with him.

"Oh, no. You're not!" Mokuba put his foot down. "You were supposed to watch me and, until we both speak to my big brother, I'm not leaving your side!" With that, he marched up to the guard and stood there with arms folded.

"Okay fine," the man growled.

"Fine what?" Mokuba said, with a gritted grin.

"Fine…Kaiba-sama," the guard said in syrup-covered tones.

"Good! Then, let's go!" Mokuba said and waved a cheery "goodbye" to his pale but recovering girlfriend who made his day by winking at him.

Mokuba grinned on his way out the door.

Once she was alone, Yuna looked at her deck and asked quietly, "What will Kaiba Seto learn from this experience?" She turned the card over. It was the "Phoenix 8." And Yuna gave a sigh of relief. It wasn't half bad. "With all that's about to happen…" She murmured to herself. "Of course, putting the past behind you is a hard lesson, too. I hope he can do it."