Can I?

By: Xhibit B

Chapter One - Preparing for the Tournament

.i do not own yu-gi-oh!.

"C'mon Hiyori please," Hiba begged, gripping her best friend's arm in her hands as she tugged lightly. She was trying to get the other girl to change her mind about entering the winter Duel Monsters championship with her… with no luck of changing the other's mind whatsoever. "It'll be so much fun! You and I can go to the final round together and you can kick my butt and become the undisputed Duel Monsters champion of Domino City! You'd be just like your Mom was when she was our age! Besides, the dueling world needs another Mutou to cheer for."

"Hiba we've been over this, a million times already," Hiyori sighed exasperatedly. She tried her hardest to ignore the pleading look that Hiba was shooting her. "I am not going to enter the tournament. I'm way too shy to be up there trying to duel with thousands of people watching my every move. I'd get flustered, lose focus and lose my first match if I did. I don't have the stomach for professional dueling…" She pulled the top to her bento her mother had packed for her off, neatly setting it by her side before picking up her chopsticks. "And the last thing I want to do is bring shame to my mother's legacy. She is the best duelist to ever pick up a Duel Monsters deck. I'm not going to embarrass her like that."

The brown-haired girl had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at her longtime friend. "Hiyori, you're kidding right? You do realize that your Mom was the exact same way when she first started right? Extra paranoid when it came to tournaments until she was on that stand, facing off with anyone who dared get in the ring with her. It's seriously not as scary as you're trying to make it seem." She scrolled through her Facebook newsfeed on her phone as she continued. "Because when you're up there dueling, it's like the people around you aren't there. It's just you and your opponent battling it out to see who comes out on top. Take it from someone who does this for a living."

A sideways glance was cast at the tanned teen as she munched on the homemade rice balls her mother had packed for her lunch that morning. "Are you forgetting who you're talking to Hiba? It's me, Hiyori Mutou, the shyest girl to step foot in Domino High school… other than my mother. Actually, I think I've got her beat in the shyness department. No matter what you say, if I did compete, I would always be hyper aware of the crowd that was around me no matter how lost I got in the duel. One's shyness isn't gone in a snap of the fingers. We're not living in a fairy tale here."

"Whatever you say Hiyori," Hiba laughed as she popped a fried sausage link in her mouth and chewed. She swallowed the food down before continuing. "Whatever you say. Just think about it will you? You never know, if one day you do decide to join in on one of the tournaments here, you'd have the most fun you've ever had in your life. Hell, you might even meet a cute boy while you're there. Now…" She pulled her dueling deck and the board from her bag, setting the board up between herself and the other teen. "How about a quick game before we have to head back to class? I'm bored and it's always so much fun playing against you even though I never ever win."

Hiyori couldn't help the annoyed look that crossed her features before it was quickly replaced with a smile. She had no interest in dating and Hiba knew that. But, her best friend was only trying to help, she couldn't be angry with her for that. However, there was absolutely no way she would ever compete in one of those big tournaments like her mother had in the past. She was way too shy for all of that. But… that didn't mean that she couldn't kick Hiba's butt in a quick game of Duel Monsters before their lunch period ended; spectator free. "Sure, just let me finish my rice ball and I'll grab my deck. I guess you could use the practice since you do have that tournament coming up in a few weeks."

"Yes and no," Hiba said as she shuffled her deck, watching her best friend stick the last of her rice ball in her mouth before she grabbed her deck from the side pouch of her belt. "I need to practice a little bit, try to get my strategies together for the tournament. I heard that Marc Devlin is going to be competing this year, so it would end up being the two of us in the final round more than likely. You know, unless you want to join." Hiyori shot her look that had Hiba holding up her hands. "But I just really want to try beating you this time because I can never seem to win when we play one another. I need to figure out your secret."

"The heart of the cards Hiba, that's my secret," Hiyori said as she pulled five cards from her deck and arranged them in her hand. "You've been taught the same way that I was, I don't know why you ask me that every time we get ready to duel. Now, since you wanted to play, you go first."

"Alright, alright, I'll go, I'll go," Hiba huffed before placing one card on the field in attack mode and another face down. "I'll place the ferial imp on the field in attack mode and this card face down. That ends my turn. Your go Hiyori."

"Alright," Hiyori said before placing a monster in defense mode on the board as well as a face down card of her own. "I place Big Shield Gardna in defense mode and this card face down, thus ending my turn. It's your move Hiba."

Hiba sighed, she knew every time Hiyori started out with that particular card she was going to get her ass kicked without fail, "Crap…"

.cani.

"And there goes the rest of my life points," Hiba sighed as she slumped over in her seat, shaking her head. She and Hiyori had just finished their Duel Monsters game and of course, as usual, Hiba lost severely. "Why can't I ever beat you? Seriously, what's your secret? And don't you dare say, "it's the heart of the cards, Hiba". Because no matter how hard I try, there is absolutely no way for me to beat you. I feel like Uncle Seto when he would go up against your Mom twenty years ago and then get his butt handed to him which had to be so darn embarrassing."

Hiyori couldn't help it, she laughed as she slung her bag over her shoulder and stood from her seat at the cafeteria table. She had heard about Seto and her mother's many encounters when it came to playing Duel Monsters. The tall man had yet to succeed in winning a duel against the undisputed Queen of Games, even after all these years. "I heard all about that. Poor Uncle Seto had no luck when it came to facing off with Mom when they were younger."

"He still claims that she is his arch rival in Duel Monsters and would jump at the chance to duel her again," Hiba laughed as they made their way to the classroom for their next lesson. "I keep trying to tell him that it's a bad idea. He's only going to wind up unhappy with the end result."

"Uncle Seto is just an extremely difficult person," Hiyori shrugged. "Even Uncle Mokuba has trouble talking sense into him when it comes to him trying to duel my Mom. Same thing with Aunt Joey. And she's married to him. You'd think he would listen to his wife before anyone else really."

"Agreed," Hiba said as both girls laughed, entering the classroom.

They each took their assigned seats, pulling out the materials that they would need for the class as the rest of the students filed into the room, taking the seats around them. Hiyori pulled out her class notebook as well as her sketch pad, flipping to the page she had started drawing a sketch of her favourite card, the Dark Magician as the bell rang signaling the start of class overhead. Like her mother before her, she was very attached to this particular card; he had become her ace just like he had been for Yūgi in the past. So long as she had him by her side, no one was able to defeat her.

She was so engrossed in her sketch that when her cellphone buzzed in her jacket pocket, it scared her, causing her to jump and hit her knee on the underside of her desk. She was glad that her teacher hadn't been paying attention to her.

The iPhone was slipped from her pocket and she glanced at the text message that had come through. She was quick to reply to Hiba, letting her know that she would be heading to her Grandfather's game shop after doing her part to clean up the school to wait for her mother to get off work before heading home. She quickly slipped the phone back in her pocket as the teacher turned to look at the class, saying something about copying down the notes since they would be detrimental to their final exams that would be coming up soon.

.cani.

"If you walk any slower Yuki, we're going to leave you behind," Hiyori dead panned as she glanced back at her twin brother who was deliberately walking slow. She and Hiba had already made it to the door that led to the outside and Yuki, who had trailed behind them was still all the way at the other end of the hall. "I want to get to Grandpa's shop to see if he got any new shipments of Duel Monster's cards yet. And if there are any games he needs us to test."

"You guys do know that I'm not a two-year-old and I can find my way to Grandpa's by myself, right?" Yuki called back. "Go ahead and go, I'll meet you guys there."

"Fine," Hiyori said before turning to her best friend, "C'mon, let's go Hiba. We can talk about your tournament while we look for new cards to add to our decks."

"I still say that you should enter," Hiba encouraged as they walked out the door. "There's still time for you to register for the tournament. Last minute arrivals are still going on up until that Friday before."

"Again, I'm definitely not entering that tournament," Hiyori said as they made their way down the street in the direction of her great grandfather's game shop that doubled as his home. "You can't talk me into it. I will not relent."

"Oh, come on! It could be me and you in the final battle, duking it out to find out who comes out on top," Hiba said rolling her eyes. "And we all know that you would be the one who wins. Then you can go on to do great things like your Mother did back in her dueling days. The Mutou legacy would live on through you and your future children if you teach them how to play as they get older."

"And this, Hiba, is how I know you don't listen when I say I'm not competing in these tournaments," Hiyori laughed good naturedly. "I'm way too shy to compete in front of tons of people while playing Duel Monsters. I'm not even sure how my Mother was able to do it to be completely honest. She's just as painfully shy as I am; maybe even worse than me. Gramps said that she was way shyer when she was my and Yuki's age."

"Somehow that's hard to believe, especially if you watch any of her old dueling footage," Hiba pointed out as they came upon Kame Game shop, heading towards the front door that led to the shop. "I mean; your mom was a total bad ass when she dueled in those tournaments. There's no wonder why they called her the Queen of Games. No one was ever able to beat her at anything. People would came close and it looked like she was going to lose but somehow, she managed to pull all the cards that she would need at the last minute and keep hold of her title. Maybe you can be the same way. You'll never know if you don't try it Hiyori."

Hiyori shrugged as they walked inside, "I don't know about all that. Hey Grandpa! Are you here? I brought someone you might want to see!"

"Hiyori," an old man's voice called out to her, "Is that you?"

"Yep," Hiyori answered as a short elder man stepped into the game shop from the stock room, a gentle smile on his face at the sight of his great granddaughter and her best friend. "And I brought Hiba along with me. Did Mom tell you that she has a Duel Monsters tournament coming up in a few weeks? Hiba invited us all to go if you can come."

"Yūgi did mention Hiba competing in the Domino Tournament last night when I spoke with her," her grandfather answered. "And I would love to go. The shop will be closed on those days anyway, so I don't see the harm in going and supporting my number one student… next to Yūgi and Joey. But yourself and Yūgi weren't nearly as hard to teach as Joey was back then."

"You will Mr. Sugoroku? Thank you!" Hiba gushed as she hugged the old man. "I'll make sure to get your tickets to you by that Friday at the latest. Plus, you guys can meet my family. I'm pretty sure my Mom and Dad would love you and Miss Yūgi. Especially my Mom. She's about ten times as bubbly as I am and always happy to meet new people."

"That explains so much," Yuki said suddenly as he walked into the door. "Hey Gramps, sorry I'm late."

"I was wondering where you were my boy," Sugoroku said as he patted his great-grandson on the shoulder when he stopped close by. "I'm glad that the three of you are here. I got a bit of new merchandise that I would like for you to test out for me before I put it on the shelves for sell. What do you three say?"

"Sure Grandpa," Hiyori beamed. "Thankfully since we're so close to the end of the term, our teachers didn't assign any homework tonight, so we've got nothing but time to test out these games until Mom comes to get the two of us and Hiba heads home."

"Good, then come along," Sugoroku said waving for them to follow. "I have the games I want you to test sitting on the kitchen table."

The three teens nodded before slipping off their shoes and following the elderly man into the kitchen where there was a pile of new games stacked neatly in the centre of the dining table waiting for them. Sugoroku left them to play, stating that he would be in the storage room again sorting through back stock; Hiyori and Yuki had promised to listen for the front of the store in case anyone came in.

.cani.

It wasn't until several hours later that Yūgi had arrived to collect her children. When she walked into the small kitchen she was met with the sight of Hiyori and Yuki going head to head in a Duel Monsters battle on the portable dueling ring Kaiba had gifted them with while Hiba watched; the games that they had been testing cast to the side. Her arms folded over her chest as she leaned on the frame of the door and watched. Even though Yuki didn't play Duel Monsters often, he was still very exceptional at thinking up strategies and had worn his sister's life points down to an even seventeen hundred from the four thousand that she had started out with. However, by looking at the score, it looked like Hiyori was still going to come out the victor.

Yuki had a mere six hundred life points left to his sister's seventeen hundred. Not to mention Hiyori had played her Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl cards which spelled trouble for anyone who played against her. She couldn't wait to see how this would unfold.

"Your swords of revealing light have worn off, Yuki and now I can attack," Hiyori said grinning at her brother. "Dark Magician, attack his Winged Dragon and take out the rest of his life points with Dark Magic attack."

"And there goes my life points," Yuki sighed. "You remain undefeated sis. Well… when it comes to playing me and Hiba. If you play Mom you'll get your butt kicked like the rest of us."

"They don't call her the Queen of Games for nothing," Hiyori laughed before she turned; jumping back when she saw her mother standing there. "Mom! We didn't even hear you come in. How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see your final move with the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl," Yūgi answered with a laugh. "Where's Grandpa? He's usually down here around this time to close up shop."

"He closed kinda early today," Hiba answered as she waved the tri-colour haired woman. "Something about his back hurting."

Yūgi sighed, "Not again. I've told him to get to the hospital and have a doctor take a look at his back." She shook her head before she turned to make her way upstairs to where her grandfather's room was located. "I'm going to go check on him. You kids get ready to leave. Hiba, do you need a ride home?"

Hiba grinned as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly and nodded, "If you wouldn't mind? I forgot to call my Dad and ask him to come pick me up before the twins left."

"Of course, you'll just have to direct me on how to get there," Yūgi said before she disappeared up the stairs; leaving the children to prepare to leave.

.cani.

After Yūgi had checked on her grandfather, she ushered the children to the 2010 BMW X5 in the driveway, typing in Hiba's address in her Google Maps application on her phone. Conversation about Duel Monsters and Hiba's upcoming tournament filled the cab as Yūgi drove.

"I still say that Hiyori should enter this tournament," Hiba said as she leaned forward to look at her best friend who had claimed the front seat. "She'd do a great job… heck I'd lose my title to her. Which, honestly, I don't mind because c'mon. She's the daughter of the Queen of Games herself. And the Dueling world needs another Mutou to cheer for after you retired Miss Yūgi. It'd be a like mother like daughter thing."

"Not this again," Hiyori sighed half-heartedly. "She's been trying to get me to enter this tournament ever since she invited us to come and watch her. I keep telling her that I wouldn't feel real comfortable dueling in front of thousands of people. And I would hate to disgrace my mother's legacy of being one of the best duelists to pick up a deck because I choked while in the middle of a duel."

"Hiyori dear, I'm pretty sure you would do amazingly well in a tournament," Yūgi pitched in. "You are, after all, my daughter. You'd be just fine. All you have to do is focus on the match in front of you and nothing that's going on around you. It helped me when I dueled professionally."

"She's not going to do it," Yuki pointed out. "No matter what anyone says. You should know by now how stubborn Hiyori is. She gets that from our bastard father unfortunately."

"Yuki, language please," Yūgi scolded. Though she knew her son was absolutely, without a doubt, one hundred percent correct, the language was not necessary.

"Sorry Mom, but it's true and you know it," Yuki said as he folded his arms across his chest and sat back in his seat. "That old man was one stubborn old goat and Hiyori got that from him."

"She is pretty stubborn," Hiba laughed lightly before pointing, "Ah, it's that last house right there on the left Miss Yūgi."

The tri-colour haired woman nodded before she turned into the driveway, parking behind a shiny red Mercedes Benz GLK that sat next to a Range Rover Sport.

"Oh, my Uncle Yami is here," Hiba said as she unclipped her seatbelt. "Did you guys want to come in? I can introduce you to my family."

"I would love to, but I have to get these two and myself home," Yūgi said smiling. "I've got some work to do and they have chores that need to be done by the end of the night. Perhaps we can save the meeting for the tournament?"

"Okay! I'll see you at school Monday Hiyori," Hiba said before she stepped out of the SUV, closing the door behind her.

"I'll give entering the tournament some thought, Hiba." Hiyori sighed when she saw her best friend break out into a grin. "I'll make no guarantees that I'll actually enter though!"

"I'm happy just so long as you think about it." Hiba called over her shoulder, making her way to the door.

She waved to the family as the front door opened to reveal her uncle standing there. She waited until the mother of two pulled out of the driveway and drove off before moving to enter the three-story home.

"Who was that Hiba," Yami asked as he stepped to the side, allowing the teen to enter. He was almost certain that the woman he saw in the driver's seat was Yūgi Mutou. But then again, he was getting up there in age and his sight wasn't what it used to be. He'd probably have to get glasses like his brother before him.

"My best friend Hiyori, her Mom and brother," Hiba answered as she hung her jacket on the coat rack before removing her shoes. They walked further into the home to the kitchen where her parents were sitting with her little cousin. "By the way, Uncle Yami, will you be coming to my Duel Monster's tournament in a few weeks? Hiyori and her family are going to be there, and I want to introduce you all."

"I'm not working or anything that weekend," Yami said as he slid onto the stool that was stationed at the island. "So, I'll definitely be there. And I'll bring the squirt here with me. You have my word."

"Yes! I can't wait to introduce you to my best friend and her family," Hiba said grinning. "Ah that weekend is going to be so much fun!"