Chapter Seven
"I sacrifice two of my monsters to bring out Red Eyes Black Dragon!" Elizabeth smacked the card down on the field, and grinned. "Red Eyes, attack her life points directly!" The holographic image attacked her opponent,and she watched with glee. "You're finished, Shenna!"
"Alright, Lizzie!" Kaiba and Mokuba ran out on to the dueling field and hugged her. "Good job!" Mokuba grinned in Sheena's direction. "I toldja she'd win."
"Oh go choke on yourself, Mokuba!" Sheena held out her hand to shake Lizzie's. "Good match, K-3. You've proved to be a worthy duelist after all."
"I learned from the best five duelists out there." She turned and walked over to where Joey and I were sitting. "I won, Ryou! Did you see?!" She was excited.
"I did! You're getting pretty good, Lizabeth."
Joey gave her a thumbs up. "It's a shame Yugi, Tristan and Tea couldn't be here."
"It's okay. Yugi said if I won, he'd treat me to ice cream." She skipped ahead of us out of the arena.
I watched her chuckling. She was growing up faster than I wanted her to. Seto Kaiba and I had come to a mutual agreement about her guardianship just that week. He would have her six months, and I would have her for the rest of the year. This came to no surprise to Lizzie, and she didn't seem to mind. She was ten now, and I was out of school. I owned a bookstore and I took night classes at the local university, in between duels. She was in fourth grade, and was a math prodigy and science whiz. I let the Kaibas take credit for that one. Joey told me she spent a lot of time with Seto in his laboratory, watching him with his inventions.
"Hey, Bakura, is it okay?" Mokuba was looking at me, expecting an answer to a question I hadn't heard.
"Huh?"
He snickered. "I asked if I can take Elizabeth to Duke's game shop. She wanted to experiment with Dungeon Dice Monsters."
"Um, sure. We're going to Yugi's for dinner though, so have her home by seven thirty, okay?"
As he ran off to grab Elizabeth, he called back, "Okay!"
I shook my head, smiling at Kaiba. "What are we going to do with those two?"
"If you come up with a good answer, let me know, okay?" He laughed softly. "I gotta get back to work. When Mo-Mo brings her back, tell him to meet me at the office at nine for dinner."
"Okay. I will." Joey and I waved to Kaiba, and walked up the street to the bus terminal. "I never would've guessed we would wind being friends with Seto Kaiba."
"Believe me, Bakura. Seto is probably thinking the exact same thing." Joey called Serenity on the phone. "Tristan's supposed to be spending the day with her."
I nodded, and moved away so he could talk to his sister in private. I had to admire the way he looked after her even with the distance. I guess it helped that Tristan and Serenity were getting closer, so he got to see a lot more of her. I wondered if Lizzie would choose between me and Seto Kaiba when she got older. I didn't want to think about what her choice would be. I still couldn't give her as much as the Kaibas could. She was even known as Elizabeth Bakura Kaiba in school. They all associated her with KaibaCorp's CEO. I wondered if Lizzie ever mentioned my name as her brother.
"Bakura are you going to be getting on this bus or not?" Joey was staring at me.
"Oh…yes. Thanks, Joey. I've had so much on my mind lately." I boarded the bus, and took my seat.
Kaiba unlocked his office door, and walked in. All he had to do that day was finish up the company picnic invitation list. He would have to make an appearance, as would Mokuba. He wondered if Bakura would mind if they invited Lizzie. It was his time with her now, not thiers. He shrugged, and wrote her name on the list. She was still family. Mokuba would've insisted upon it anyway. He looked over the list a few more times before he faxed it over to his secretary. Most of the dolts wouldn't show up, if he knew them. That didn't bother him, really. He sighed, and walked to the window to look out over downtown Domino City. There was a time, he thought, that I wouldn't have cared what Bakura wanted. I would've kept Elizabeth like I planned originally. He couldn't put his finger on exactly what had changed him, but Kaiba didn't necessarily think it was a bad thing. He was enjoying the company of Elizabeth's friends. Even if he wouldn't admit it to anyone. Well, he thought, Joey Wheeler knows the truth. I'm surprised he hasn't told them by now. He shrugged again, and headed to his personal laboratory. He had something to do for Elizabeth.