"Look! Smoke!"

"Do you think that'll lead us to Joey and Yugi?"

"It's the only clue we've got, come on!"

The warehouse was already smoking by the time they ran up to it. Any good instinct would have told her to call for help and wait, but Yugi and Joey were in there, and she would never leave them in there when she knew she could fight.

"Hello Reika Mutou," one of the Rare Hunters said as he stopped in front of her."What an honor it is to meet you."

Reika stared at the man. It was Bandit Keith, right? The face and the bandanna were dead giveaways, but the voice... something was wrong with the voice.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"I'm the leader of the Rare Hunters. And I see you have something I'm after…" the unfocused eyes looked down at her wrist, where her bracelet lay. "Give me the bracelet."

"No."

A growl. "No matter. I can just come back for it later after you and your cousin have perished in the flames!"

Even as Reika braced herself, Bandit Keith's brute strength shoved her into the mass of smoke and fire, and Reika could hear the distinct sound of a door slamming behind him.

Seto Kaiba stormed through the hospital doors with Mokuba at his side and a scowl on his face. The message from Minako had been one of the last things he'd expected from her mouth, but at least she knew what constituted as an emergency.

"Mr. Kaiba, Mokuba!"

Solomon Mutou hurried over to them, looking pale, but still managed a small smile.

"Where is she?" Kaiba snapped. "What the hell happened?"

"She's in a room, they're waiting for test results. She was in a fire… so were Yugi and Joey. As I understand she and her friend went to look for them and got trapped themselves," Solomon said, exhaling shakily.

Mokuba stared. "What? Why were Yugi and Joey in a fire?"

Solomon shook his head as they made their way through the emergency department and into the more private rooms. "A duel gone horribly wrong. Thugs called Rare Hunters targeted them. Reika went to go find them and somehow the building caught fire."

"You think I'm the loser?! When was the last time you even talked to Serenity?! At least I did somethin' and went to Duelist Kingdom to get her money for the surgery! And today, I was helpin' a friend of mine and got trapped with him!" Wheeler's voice, somehow even louder than it usually was, shouted from one of the rooms. "You don't get to come in here playing concerned father now."

Kaiba chanced a glance over at Solomon, who had his fists clenched at his sides as they moved down another hallway.

Still…

"Wheeler's voice got even louder than usual," he muttered, looking at the man. If he wanted to talk, he would. If he didn't, he wouldn't.

Solomon paused and sighed. "Joey's father… I don't think I should say much without his permission, but he is not a good person as I'm sure you could figure out. He… struggles with alcohol and has never cared about Joey or his sister Serenity. I'm not even sure why he's here, truthfully."

A poor man's Gozaburo. Kaiba had suspected as much. As much as he detested Wheeler, there was an uncomfortable twinge of understanding in his gut.

"Reika's in room 204, Kaiba," Solomon said, breaking him from his thoughts.

Kaiba paused outside the door, brow furrowing slightly. "You're not coming in?"

"I figured you could use a private moment with her."

He blinked, trying not to show surprise, but nodded once in thanks as he reached into his pocket and gave Mokuba some money. "Go see if there's anything edible in the cafeteria. I'll let you know when to come back up." His gaze turned to Solomon, blue eyes narrowing slightly. "I trust I can keep him in your care and not have to worry?"

Mokuba grinned. "Of course you can Seto! C'mon Mr. Mutou!"

Kaiba wondered how it was so easy for his younger brother to be around people, before shaking his head and entering Reika's room. He found her on the bed with her fingers furiously typing away on her phone, with too many wires sticking out of her than he would ever be comfortable seeing. She looked relatively unharmed aside from a few small bandages on her face and arms, but it was her ankle, raised, that caused him the greatest concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked, dropping gracefully into a chair by her bed.

She looked up and put the phone on the table next to her, face breaking into a wide smile. "Seto! Hi! I'm just sore right now. I'm fine, I promise. They just wanted to make sure that I'm clear of smoke in my lungs before they discharged me."

He leaned over to her and pressed his lips against hers hard, the scent of ash and smoke still clinging to her skin alongside her perfume and the faintest hint of the sea that drove him insane. Her delicate fingers traced against his cheek and into his hair and it took all of his energy for him not to shiver.

They only broke apart when someone cleared their throat, and they jumped apart. Reika's face was red and Kaiba calmly fixed his hair as he turned to face the doctor.

"Well?" he snapped, standing to his full, imposing height when the doctor simply stood there, looking embarrassed at what they'd walked in on.

The doctor cleared her throat. "Your test results came back, Reika… they're normal. We'll start the discharge paperwork for both you and your cousin shortly."

Relief hit him, but his face remained stoic as he nodded. "Good. Do it quickly. I'm sure the Mutous are eager to get home."

The doctor let out a sort of squeak and quickly fled from the room as he turned back to his now very un-amused girlfriend.

Reika sighed, putting her phone into a small bag Kaiba could only assume Solomon had brought. "You didn't have to put it that way, you know. The staff here has been very kind to me."

He took a deep breath, cupping her cheek and dragging his thumb across her skin. "I don't like that you're here."

A black eyebrow quirked. "And you think I do? They told me I shouldn't put any weight on my foot for a week Seto."

He couldn't help but feel a small smirk of amusement grace his features. "A pity. Perhaps that will teach you not to do something that dangerous again."

She huffed, narrowing her eyes at him. "You have no room to talk Mr. 'I'm going to break into Pegasus' castle to save my little brother and then get my soul ripped from my body because I lost a duel.'"

There was still fear in her gaze and Kaiba winced at how she looked, before pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I know. You're not the only one that still thinks of that day."

"Seto! Great news! We can give the cooks the night off!" Mokuba called suddenly, and Seto felt his stomach sink as his little brother burst into the room with Reika's family following behind. "Mr. Mutou invited us for dinner!"

Kaiba knew a trap when he saw one, and unfortunately, he saw no way out of this one as Reika gave the older man a nervous smile.

He'd play along and go to this dinner.

But that didn't mean he had to like it.

"We… appreciate your offer," he said smoothly, looking at Solomon and Kumi. "Thank you."

Before long, he found himself in the small living quarters of Kame Game, his girlfriend disappearing down a hallway to shower, leaving he and Mokuba alone with her family.

"Just make yourselves comfortable," Kumi said with one of those manufactured smiles that Kaiba had grown so used to identifying. "Do you want anything to drink?"

Though his throat was growing dry (Nerves? It couldn't be nerves), Kaiba shook his head. "I'm fine."

"So… Kaiba, those Duel Disks that you had sent to the shop look quite interesting. I assume you have something planned for the official unveiling?" Solomon said with a much more natural smile.

He sat straighter on the lumpy couch and cleared his throat. "Yes actually, but I can't say much. It will be announced tomorrow night and then you can start to sell them as I instructed in the letter. I believe that the duel disks, along with what I have planned with them, will be a huge hit."

"Yeah!" Mokuba chimed in. "It's going to be great!"

Kumi gave another tight smile, coming back into the room as she took a seat with a mug of tea and a glass of water for Mokuba as the scent of dinner began wafting into the room. "Yes… I'm sure it will be fun. And these duel disks are safe, right?"

"Of course, Mrs. Mutou," he said smoothly.

"Well, I can't wait to see it Kaiba!" Yugi suddenly piped up, and Kaiba was, for once, grateful to hear his voice.

Yugi's excitement he could deal with. The unrelenting stare from Kumi Mutou was starting to make him uncomfortable.

Not that he would ever admit it.

"Yes well… I hope that it is worthy of being on the arm of the King of Games," Seto replied, forcing himself to remain calm. There was still a burning anger inside of him that Yugi still had the title of King instead of him.

"I'm sure it will! That other one you had was so cool!" Yugi said with a winning smile. "And I can't wait for the official announcement tomorrow. It's been really hard keeping it from Joey and the others."

Kaiba, again, forced himself not to frown as the thought of Wheeler having one of his duel disks crept into his mind. "Of course it will. It's a Kaiba Corp product and a Kaiba Corp event. Which reminds me. I guess we can just give Yugi the invitation, Mokuba."

Mokuba nodded, pulling out Yugi's envelope and handing it to him. "Be down at the square at eight o'clock exactly!"

Yugi frowned in confusion as he tore open the envelope and pulled out the invitation inside. "A tournament? You guys are hosting another tournament?"

"Yes… Battle City. A battle of the best. One without any of that magical nonsense getting in our way. I'm hoping to erase Pegasus' cheating and lies with this," he said smoothly, looking at Kumi and Solomon as he spoke. He knew full well he and Mokuba weren't the only victims of what happened at Duelist Kingdom.

The smiles on Kumi and Solomon's faces were beginning to make his skin crawl, but he forced himself to relax against the lumpy couch as Mokuba (mercifully) took up the conversation.

Admittedly, it hadn't been the smartest idea to go charging into a warehouse looking for her cousin and Joey. But considering she and Akio were both trained fighters, she would have thought that they would have been able to hold off whoever had kidnapped them. And they had… until Bandit Keith had somehow managed to set the building on fire.

Still… even though she had a sprained ankle and her entire body was aching, she was just relieved that everyone had gotten out okay.

Letting out a sigh, Reika ran a comb through her hair, listening closely for any signs of yelling from the other room where she'd left Seto with her family.

"I don't hear anything," she said softly. "That's good, right?"

"You do not trust them to get along while you're simply taking a shower?" Azila replied from the mirror.

Reika exhaled slowly and set the comb down, beginning to braid her hair. "I trust Yugi, grandpa and Seto to hold their tongues if they feel they need to. My aunt… not so much."

"I am certain all is fine, Reika."

"I hope so. Needless to say this is not how I thought today would go…" Reika said as she finished with her hair and looked in the mirror again with a sigh, grabbing her crutches. "Let's do this then."

"Well! You look better already!" Solomon remarked with a wide smile as she entered the living room. "Come sit down. Seto was just telling us about the new duel disk and tournament coming up."

Reika raised an eyebrow and looked over at him as she put her sprained ankle on an ottoman. "Oh?"

"Yes. I plan to reveal it to the public tomorrow. I'd like you to be there," Seto said.

She blinked, gesturing to her foot. "I'm not going to be able to, Seto. I can barely walk, let alone stand next to you at a podium."

"Who said you need use of your legs for this?" Seto asked with a small smirk.

As much as Reika usually liked the smirk on his face, she had to admit to a bit of anxiousness about seeing it now. What in the world was he planning?

Something completely over the top, she had to guess, judging from the helicopter she was currently seated in. Still, seeing the city from this angle was… beautiful. The lights twinkled like stars below them, and the people moving around looked like some kind of art. Way up here, it was startling to see just how small Domino exactly was, compared to vast ocean that lay just next to them.

"It's magical, Seto," she said with a smile. "I'm glad I agreed to come."

His grip tightened around her waist, the ghost of a smile on his face as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. "I'm glad you're enjoying it, but you haven't seen the best part."

"Hm?" she hummed, frowning as she noticed the helicopter descending toward the middle of the very crowded square. "Seto, what – "

"We're clear, Mr. Kaiba," Fuguta said, from the cockpit as Roland went over to the door and pulled it open, to Reika's alarm.

"Clear for wh – Seto!" Reika cried as Seto climbed down a rope staircase, dangling above the streets of Domino.

"Remember, duelists of Domino. Battle City begins in one week! You can register and pick up your duel disks from the game shops in town. Only the best of the best will be allowed to take part, so I hope you're all ready!"

She heard him laugh – and wow, he was getting good at the super villain laugh, she realized – before he was finally pulled back up into the helicopter with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Well, that was something," she replied with a raised eyebrow. "You sure you want to host a tournament even after everything that happened with Pegasus?"

"What better way to take the attention off Pegasus than by having a tournament of my own?" Seto asked with a shrug. "And this will be the easiest way to raise the stocks in Kaiba Corp. Roland, how's it all going?"

Roland, holding a laptop, grinned. "Stocks have already risen and we're trending on all the major news sites!"

Reika could only chuckle, looking out the window of the streets below, shaking her head in amusement. "This was what you came up with the night at the museum, isn't it?" she asked as she watched the citizens of Domino buzzing around in excitement. "Ishizu must have made a compelling argument for you to host one."

"Ishizu Ishtar had a decent suggestion and gave me a card to use during the tournament. Nothing more, nothing less. It had nothing to do with the tablet on the wall of the museum."

"I never once implied that it did." Although, given how defensive he was being about all of this, well, she couldn't help but wonder if a tiny part of him was thinking about the tablet. However, she could tell that the subject bothered him, so she wouldn't mention it now. "Still, I'm glad some good came out of that trip for you."

"Yes, I suppose so."

His arm came up to wrap around her, and she rested her head against his shoulder as the helicopter made its way back to Kaiba Corp headquarters.

Her cell phone buzzing broke through the peaceful silence that had filled the helicopter, and Reika sighed, pulling it out of her pocket with an annoyed look, but when she saw it was Kenji's number, she frowned and put the phone to her ear, carefully pulling away from Seto.

"Hello?"

"We have a problem."

"Really?" she said dryly, "I couldn't tell."

"Reika, seriously, now is not the time for your sarcasm. The boundary between the dimensions is beginning to weaken. There's a chance that people from the other dimension could start getting through... and people from our world could end up there."

Her head snapped up. "What?"

"Yes. I'm going to need all hands tracking the energies and locations of the crews we're watching. Akio will pick you up when you land at Kaiba Corp."

Reika's mind was reeling, but she swallowed a knot in her throat. "Okay. I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Everything okay?" Seto asked. "You seem concerned about something."

"Hm? Yeah – everything's fine. Akio and I just need to discuss some things, so I'm going to go to her place for the night," Reika replied with a soft smile, leaning to kiss his cheek as they landed on the roof of Kaiba Corp. "I'll see you soon."

It wasn't long before she was seated in front of one of the many computers in TAIDR headquarters, watching the strange rise and fall of the energy being generated in the fragile veil between the two worlds.

"Are you sure this has nothing to do with the Millennium Items?" she asked Kenji with a frown. "They give off weird energy sometimes, and with how many are in Domino…"

"I'm positive. Look at the waves on the screen. The energy of the Millennium Items is always a yellowish-gold color. This is… turquoise," Kenji replied, pointing at the two different wavelengths, which only had Reika frowning in concern.

"Hmm. I see that. What sort of power can do such a thing?" she murmured to herself, resting her chin against her palms as she stared up at the screen. "There's no way we can fully block this, can we? People are going to notice something odd happening around Domino if we can't contain this."

Kenji sighed. "No. There's been no way to contain it so far. We haven't even been able to pinpoint the location. It's not natural, but the readings are showing up as if it is."

Reika couldn't stop the shiver that ran through her, leaning back in her chair and rubbing at her arms with a frown. She didn't like this. She didn't like this at all.

How much could they take before everything that they had crafted so carefully fell to pieces?