Disclaimer in first chapter.

Chapter 3:

Seto was working late on his computer one evening, until he took a mental break and closed his eyes for a bit.

'Red Eyes Black Dragon.' A voice randomly hit him. He blinked his eyes open and thought about that monster. Out of sheer curiosity, he realized he had never seen that card since then. Since a long time ago, back at the orphanage. The brunette turned back to his computer and typed in the words: Red Eyes Black Dragon in his database.

"The Red Eyes Black Dragon was last seen in custody with Sara Wheeler. No current data is listed of who currently holds the card." His computer spoke.

'No, he knew who held it. It was that boy.' The boy whose face appeared as a blond haze in his memory. 'Useless.' He told himself. This was one of the only times he felt close to incapable, but then again, the card wasn't too significant anyway. Though, it would have been ideal to obtain more information about it and add it to his vast database. It felt insufficient if the Kaiba Corp was lacking on data. There were no other physical copies of it either.

"If there's a Red Eyes Black Dragon, then there has to be a Blue Eyes White Dragon—I know it!" Another snippet of his memory casually raided his brain for a split second.

'... another pointless memory.'

The day was Sunday, and Joey was lounging on the couch in his shorts and simple white T-shirt eating a bag of chips. He had to go out and buy groceries sooner or later, but at the moment felt too lazy to do so. Instead he watched as his dad come out of the bedroom and walk to the kitchen with an almost empty bottle of liquor. 'He must have been drinking again.' The blond thought to himself. Over the years his addiction only became worse and addictions were miserable to counteract.

"What the hell are you looking at? Are you looking down on me with that face?"

'Oops. Was I making a face again?' Joey rolled his eyes. "Sigh, dad quit drinking." The next thing he knew he was a ducking a bottle that smashed and shattered against the wall behind him.

"Now you're gonna talk back to me!"

"Che," Joey's soul was alarmed. 'Great, now his peace was ruined. He'd better get out before he became a punching bag again.' The teen quickly slipped on a pair of slippers and left the house. Silence was a better answer to all that madness anyway. He knew that from experience.

He continued to walk until he came across a public park attached to a soccer field. He decided to pass the time in solitude and not call any of his friends, yet. The breeze was nice as it rolled past his hair and the sky was bright without any traces of clouds.

The blond shut his eyes to take a deep breath in and opened them to find a tall brown head bobbing somewhere in the distance. "Eh! Kaiba?!" 'No, wait, why was he thinking about him? It could be anyone with brown hair. He didn't want to spoil his mood.' The teen let out a groan. 'But the Seto Kaiba in a children's park, no way.' Now his curiosity was killing him, provoking him to sneakily follow behind the man. He hid his head behind one of the water fountains and studied the man's features more closely. 'Nope, it was just an average tall guy with brown hair. What was he thinking?'

"Joey?" A familiar voice called out with a hint of amusement.

The blond rotated his head to find "Mokuba? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, we hardly have time so since it's Sunday, I kinda forced him to come somewhere normal for a walk."

Joey stared at him with surprise. "Him?"

"Mokuba, stop running like that—tsk." Seto joined their circle and instantly frowned as he recognized the blond. Joey eyed the CEO from top to bottom. He was wearing a plain dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and shirt tucked into black dress pants.

"Hey why do I get the feeling I'm naturally hated?" The blond mumbled.

"We run into each other too much, don't we?" Seto flatly stated.

"Don't look at me, it's not like I want us to bump into each other either."

Meanwhile, Mokuba glanced at one then the other. 'At least they agree on one thing. Isn't there a way for them get along?' "Joey do you come here often?"

"I used to a lot, when I was a kid I guess."

"Then what's there to do for fun here?"

"Tons, though... they're mostly for kids… hey I've been wonderin' since ya guys decided to come out, shouldn't ya have worn something looser?"

"Hm? Why? I like this stuff." Mokuba argued, wearing his jeans and long T-shirt.

"Splendid, now I'm babysitting two kids." The brunette truly wanted to leave the situation as soon as possible.

"Ya guys wanna get some ice cream? The truck guy is my old friend." Joey pointed, while he was touring the park for them.

"Seto can we?" Mokuba eagerly asked.

"Mokuba if you want ice cream we can simply buy a box—"

"Pssh, what's the fun in that?" The blond cut him off.

"Yeah!" The ravenette seconded.

"Nothing beats street cones." Joey encouraged the other further.

"Please shut up." Seto stroked his forehead, hoping he wouldn't get a headache by the end of this. Except for him, they were already running towards the ice cream truck.

Joey returned with two cones in his hand, one chocolate and one vanilla while Mokuba was licking his strawberry cone. The brunette waited patiently for the two, leaning against a metal pole, not aware of all the stares he was attracting.

"Here ya go, got ya one too. You're welcome." The blond held out the vanilla cone for him.

"I didn't ask for one."

"Just take it. Not everyone's a jerk." The younger practically forced it in his hand.

Seto frowned. "This won't get you any more free devices."

Joey involuntarily blushed at that. "I wasn't askin' for one either—geez!"

"Just take it big bro, it's now that bad." Mokuba finally intervened.

"Really, Mokuba. Don't get my brother into cheap stuff."

"Sorry but this cheap stuff actually tastes good, okay." The blond licked away. The taller teen only stares back at the cone. 'How was he supposed to eat this again? How long had it been since he had an ice cream cone?'

All the while Mokuba finished his. "I'm going to go wash my hands."

Joey nodded finishing his ice cream cone as well and licking his fingers. When he glanced back towards the brunette, he noticed a hefty amount of ice cream melting over his hands onto his wrist as the majority of it sat untouched. "Hey!" He cried out. "What are you doin'? Its melting! Don't just go and waste it." The teen didn't have a tissue or anything and purely acted on instinct—grabbing the other's hand and wiping the cream off with his free hand. He brought that hand to his mouth and licked it.

The blond licked his lips until he realized what he had just done, one of his sticky hand still holding on to Kaiba's. 'Aw crap! I'm dead for real now.' His thoughts screamed as he watched the elder stare speechlessly at him. The blond was too used to doing that with his friends.

"U-uh look my bad, it was just meltin' and kinda outta habit…" Joey's voice was gradually becoming a murmur. Meanwhile, Seto was still staring at the part of his bare skin the blond had boldly wiped the ice cream off. After what seemed like a long moment, he finally met eyes with the other. However, not for long as he hmp'ed and threw the ice cream into the nearest dumpster.

Joey gawked unbelievingly. "Ah...ah...you bastard! If ya were gonna throw it out ya could've just given it to me!" Steam was coming out of his ears.

The brunette merely kept walking until he met up with Mokuba. "Come on we're leaving."

"Huh? Okay... bye Joey!" The young pre-teen wasn't slow to pick up that the blond looked frustrated. "He looks pretty mad... did you say something again?"

Seto oddly found himself smirking, "Why would I?" Somehow it was amusing to see the other's idiotic reactions.

"Aw~ look at him, doesn't he look cute when he's trying so hard to concentrate?" Tristen teased as they were in between classes. "What are you doing anyway?"

"Back off Tristen, I'm tryin' to copy some homework, can't ya see?" Joey responded without looking up from his desk.

"Oh, that one? I already did it."

"EH?! You did it? And you didn't even tell me?!"

"Well you never asked."

"Why you!" The blond dropped all pens and began to wrestle the other. That's when the bell began ringing. "I'll deal with you later mister—now go to your class already." Tristen had to take a few extra classes this semester so decided to head out.

When Joey heard footsteps near his desk again, he demanded: "I told ya to go away."

"You're Joey Wheeler, aren't you?" An unfamiliar voice caught his attention. He glanced up to find a short teen with wavy indigo hair.

"Huh?"

"Joey Wheeler, I challenge you to a card duel." The short teen stated.

"What? Who are ya again?"

"That doesn't matter. Will you battle me or not?"

"Fine, you asked for it. If it's a battle ya wan't then it's a battle you'll get. But what's the rush?"

"Today after school. Don't be late." The teen demanded and went back to his seat.

'What the hell? What was the deal with him? Was such a guy even in his class before? And why the sudden urge to duel him?' Everything about the teen was off, and yet the blond still went along with it.

After school, the blond said his goodbyes early and met his new friend at the gates. The short teen took him to the backside of the school, into an alley way and stood twenty feet away from him. Was it just Joey, or did he seem half possessed?

The teens revealed their duel disks and loaded their decks. "Let's duel!" They yelled in unison.

They were halfway through the match, with Joey having the upper hand. 'This would be a piece of cake,' he thought. His Red Eyes Black Dragon was sitting somewhere high in his deck and he couldn't wait to finish his move with that. Unfortunately, what the teen didn't anticipate was the smoke screen trap card played by his opponent. But no big deal, right?

After the smoke engulfed the entire arena, the blond couldn't make out his or his opponent's monster. He didn't even realize when a clammy hand pushed him from behind and swiped his deck of cards. "Wait—what the heck?!" His eyes immediately followed the figure run into the smoke, spilling cards at every step as if he was in search for one alone. "Hey! Get back here! You're so dead meat when I catch ya!" Joey screamed as he ran after the short teen. The blond wasn't so lucky when the teen crossed a busy road in the middle of a green light. 'No!' Joey thought when he was truncated by the zooming cars. 'Shit! He's getting away!' As soon as the road gave him a sign, he hopped forward and ducked a car or two, but lost all trail of the other teen. 'This wasn't happening to him...what could he have possibly wanted?' The teen back tracked and began picking up all the cards that were sprawled here and there. He sat down and counted.

'No.' The teen dreadfully stared at his deck. 'No. Not that one. That card was his treasure. It was the only thing his mother left him with...'

The Red Eyes Black Dragon was missing.

To Be Continued...