PLEASE READ AND REVIEW: I've been delighted with the thoughtful, thought-provoking reviews I've gotten. It's been wonderful, and a big help.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: One thing I've always loved about the manga is the way the cards really represent parts of the characters' souls. For this chapter, it would probably help if you know which cards belong to whom.

Kaiba's cards: Battle Ox, Hitosame Giant, Saggi, the Dark Clown, Crush, Giant Germ, other virus cards, Blue Eyed White Dragon (duh).

Yami's cards: Celtic Guardian, Black Magic Girl, Kuribo, Buster Blader (actually I'm not sure if this is one of Yami's cards, but given it's effect on dragons, if it isn't – it should be!) Dark Magician.

ADDITIONAL AUTHOR'S NOTES AND RESPONSES TO REVIEWS ARE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

CHAPTER 22: THE CARDS' HEART

YAMI'S NARRATIVE

Names have power. I could see now how much he hated being called Kaiba; how he bled internally with every reminder, although he wore his company's initials on his belt and trademark trench coat. I rarely hurt him now by using his adopted name. Yet in my mind, I could not think of him as anything else. The name 'Seto' reminded me too much of my priest. His pride and fierceness and recklessness had come down through the ages undimmed. I knew he had been important to me, but whether as a friend, lover, or betrayer, I could not remember. Only in his obsession with technology could I see Kaiba as truly a person of his own time.

Kaiba was finally ready to show off his duel cuff. He, Mokuba, and his technicians had moved into the east wing of the mansion, where the computer lab was, and tested it behind locked doors. I had received only one brief, scribbled note – from Mokuba (of course), not Kaiba. It had simply read, "He wants it to be perfect before he shows it to you." I smiled as I sent back the reassurance that only Mokuba had the sense to ask for: "Don't worry, I'll still be here."

The crew had finally emerged smiling, over two weeks later. Kaiba, as usual, was carrying the sleeping Mokuba. I think Kaiba would have dragged me back there as soon as he had put Mokuba to bed, and the technicians had left, but he was swaying on his feet and could barely talk. I put him to bed, where he promptly slept round the clock. I looked at the shadows under his eyes, and wondered how long he had gone without eating or sleeping.

He was even more highly strung than usual. As we entered the lab, he was wearing the new duel cuff. It was lighter and far more delicate than the old system. I felt a moment's unease. It covered the forearm from hand to elbow; the cards carried in a sheath at the wrist. It resembled nothing so much as the arm shield of an ancient warrior; I remembered similar designs from Egypt. Kaiba explained how the device worked, but did not put his deck in. Instead he held out his hand imperviously for mine. I hesitated for a moment. No one had ever touched that deck except Yugi and I. Although his face revealed neither hurt nor anger, both colored his voice, as he said curtly, "I'm not going to rip it up."

I had not realized the seeds of distrust I had still harbored, and I flushed as I handed him my deck. He sorted through it quickly, removing a few cards to mix with his. He clearly had the order planned in advance. To my surprise, he slid the cuff off, and attached it to a computer hook-up.

The computer is set up to read the sequence," he said briefly, "I didn't want to miss the show."

He had somehow managed to combine his virtual reality and portable holographic systems. The effect was staggering. As he turned it on, the ghostly mists of the Shadow Realm rose around us, cutting us off from the outside world; but the encircling clouds were thinner -- designed so that spectators could see through.

His hologram monsters had always looked realistic. Now he had captured their very souls, like the sorcerer he had been in his past life. His faithful Battle Ox roared, his axe cutting the air with the force of his blind rage; we were in the shadowy forest with him. Next came his pitiful Hitosame Giant, mindlessly circling his mountain lair; in essence (even as Kaiba himself) a willing sacrifice. Then my Celtic Guardian, young and proud, guarding his castle walls; a squire eager for his first battle, aware he might never return. Black Magic Girl followed in a glitter of stars: Yugi's vision of Anzu brought to life.

I couldn't imagine a duelist seeing this and not wanting more. In one stroke Kaiba had made his own previously state-of-the-art duel disk system obsolete.

Images of our decks ushered each other in, pieces of our souls mingling. I laughed to see Kuribo, cuddly and silly, rolling his eyes in greeting. At my side, Kaiba snorted. I was reminded of one of my few memories: my priest screaming at me to defeat him with my Gods, instead of insulting him with my little runt. His reincarnation had felt the same.

My laughter stilled as the cringing Saggi, the Dark Clown, replaced him. "Why do you keep him in your deck?" I burst out.

"Your little fluff ball is even weaker. Besides, Saggi's the perfect vessel for my virus cards."

As he spoke, the landscape darkened, twisted out of shape. His crush and germ cards followed each other across a diseased and blasted world.

"I hate those cards," I muttered. "They're so….."

"Cold-blooded?" Kaiba finished bitterly. His smile did not reach his icy blue eyes. "Then they're the perfect cards for the man who designed the missile systems to deliver the real thing before his 13th birthday." He spoke coolly, seemingly without emotion, but I wasn't fooled. His hands were clenched at his sides, his back rigid. I kneaded his shoulders. He flinched, as if surprised I would still want to touch him.

The virus cards had mercifully dissolved, taking their harsh landscape with them. Into the gloom strode Buster Blader, shining faintly in the darkness surrounding him: the Dragon Killer, cold and cruel. I looked on the part of me that had banished a 15 year old boy to the Shadow Realm for stealing a card, had shattered his heart, had been ready to push him off a tower.

I heard the sharp intake of Kaiba's breath and turned to see his profile. I had expected to see fear, but there was understanding and desire in his steady gaze. I felt my own eyes kindle in response. I returned to my position behind his back where I could watch over his shoulder and taste his neck at the same time, my teeth holding the soft flesh, marking him as mine; as if to protect this one precious dragon from my own demon.

One hand slowly unbuttoned his shirt, trailed down his body, stroking his chest, his flat stomach, briefly coming to rest under the waistband of his pants, before tracing circles around his slim hip. The other unfastened his pants, as I moved slowly, teasingly, down the line separating his leg from his torso, pausing only to tickle his inner thigh, before reaching out to caress him. His breath was coming faster now, in harsh gasps, though neither his eyes nor mine left the demons in front of us.

His three Blue Eyes took flight around us, their wings trailing light, coming together, morphing into their Ultimate form; truly Seto's pride – no – his heart and soul. Seeing them only increased my desire for my own Blue Eyes, for the dragon moaning in my arms.

I had thought that his beloved dragons would have the place of honor, but the last card appeared, and the Dark Magician looked down on us. He was masterful, wise, powerful – yet gentle and protective too. His hand was holding the staff, ready to threaten, to destroy; but his gaze was tender, loving. I was humbled by this vision of myself. Was this truly what Kaiba saw when he looked at me?

"How did you do this?" I demanded, as I spun him to face me.

His face was flushed with triumph and desire, his eyes unfocused. He pulled himself together with a smile that finally reached his eyes.

"A magician never reveals his secrets." he said, as I pulled his head down until his mouth met mine.

JOU'S POV: For everyone who wanted more information on Jou's POV on Yami and Seto, I finally posted a side fiction called "Jou's POV" (I admit, I'm pretty bad at making up titles.) I actually found it a little disturbing to write, because it really looks at how Kaiba is seen by the outside world – and it's not pretty. It's also strikingly different from the tone of "Cards", particularly this chapter, but it's my take on a Jou narrative. BTW, it's pretty obvious by now that I love reviews and take them seriously, so please, if you're going to look up "Jou's POV", leave a review of Chapter 22 here, first.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Somewhere, about a month into posting, it occurred to me, that anyone looking at the title, would be justified in expecting a light, romantic comedy. Bet everyone thought the title was just a bad pun. Well, actually it is a bad pun – but one with some meaning behind it.

I actually don't know much (or anything) about dueling, and it's not the sort of thing you can look up in Barnes & Nobles. My interest in the cards is purely visual – I think they're lovely. And I also like the idea of the cards being extensions of the duelists. Like Yami's deck isn't the most powerful – but it's not cheezy that he wins, because his deck is the most balanced – it's got strong and weak monsters, beautiful and horrific ones, and a strong helping of wonder and magic. It's also a deck that can protect itself. I could go on for hours about Kaiba's deck. It is an explosively destructive deck. Usually when he loses, or winds up in trouble, it's because the destructive power of his one deck has been turned against itself (sound familiar?) It's also noticeable that although the Blue Eyes might represent his soul, he's very hard on them (even leaving out the one that he ripped up). He uses them for sacrifices and doesn't have any trap cards to protect them. Anyway, I started thinking about what the rest of their decks might mean, and images just popped into my head. Boy did they ever…

As for the rest – what can I say? – It occurred to me that if the cards really did represent their souls, they might find it a turn on.

I wasn't quite sure what to make of this chapter, it's a little surreal and image driven, so I'd like to know what you thought.

BTW, did anyone notice that although Yami refers to Kaiba as 'Seto' when he's talking to him, he invariably refers to him as 'Kaiba' in his thoughts?

RESPONSES TO REVIEWS:

Lone Wolf 55 – subtitled DVDs: I know I keep raving about the subtitled DVDs. The website for them is animeniacs.com However, although I love them, they can get expensive, so I though it's only fair to outline what I think are the advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantages: The English is pretty stilted. It clearly hasn't been translated by someone who's fluent in English. I pretty much read it and turn it into standard English in my head as I go along. If doing that annoys you – probably so will the DVDs. Also, sometimes, I can't make heads or tails of what the characters are trying to say, even after re-reading and trying to puzzle out the subtitles. And – I find this funny – but they translate (sometimes incorrectly) words that are actually in English. Like Kaiba will say Blue Eyes White Dragon, and the words Green Eyes White Dragon will show up in the subtitles. And they like to call Yugi, "Game" and Mokuba, "Wooden Horse". Advantages: The story is so much more involving and the characters, particularly Kaiba, are so much more three-dimensional. Kaiba comes across as a deeply thoughtful, troubled young man; who's desperately searching for a way to salvage his life – while pushing away anyone (except Mokuba) who might care enough to help. The actor's voices are wonderful. I could listen to the actor who plays Kaiba for hours – he's got this incredibly sexy, resonant voice. And he actually uses it to convey emotions – besides anger and smugness. His voice is sad, almost wistful when he's thinking (and this Kaiba thinks a lot more than he speaks.) He's tough and curt when he speaks to everyone – you can almost feel the wariness – and then his voice softens whenever he addresses Mokuba, you can feel him melt. Whenever anyone pisses him off (which is admittedly a fairly frequent occurrence) you can hear the rage explode out of him – it's more effective, because he doesn't sound angry all the time.

AnimeFan-Artemis, Crimson Violet Eyes, Dai-na1, Desidera, Female Yami/Yugi, Kagemihari, Red Dragon 4, samurai-ashes – angst, acceptance, and joy: What can I say – with Kaiba, these all seem inter-connected. I actually thought it was an oddly appropriate chapter for Christmas. Although parts of it were very dark, and there was enough self loathing and angst to go around – I though this was also one of the more hopeful chapters in a way -- because Kaiba is trying to find a way to accept Yami's love – even though he doesn't understand it or think he deserves it. He's kind of taking stock of his life and looking for a way out of the future he's always accepted -- to win, as he says in the manga, a true future – even an uncertain one.

Desidera, Kagemihari, Lightning Sage – of caterpillars, hair and helium: As this chapter probably makes clear, random images sometimes pop into my head. I just had this picture of Kaiba with a really big caterpillar in his mouth – and Yami laughing at him. Then I had to figure out what was going on, and go to Barnes & Nobles (my home away from home) and try to find a really ugly caterpillar that would be native to Japan. I decided, Kaiba probably would know the Latin name. Like Jou, I thought blimps were full of hot air. Luckily, just before posting, I kind of casually asked someone, who said, "No, that's the Wizard of Oz," – which I thought would be pretty close to Kaiba's reaction as well. Yeah, I thought this chapter had some of my funnier moments, (it was kind of an emotional roller coaster chapter), so, I'm glad that came across.

Samurai-ashes – fighting: I just realized yet another reason why I have Yami and Kaiba fight so often (besides the fact that I like to) – for so many years anger is the only emotion that Kaiba has allowed himself to express, or even feel. I think his other emotions are so deeply buried that he might need to use anger as a trigger to allow himself to fell or express even the more positive emotions of love (not that he's admitting to that one) or joy.

Animebay-b – Will Yami accept Kaiba's behavior?: I think Yami will always try to get Kaiba to let go of his self hatred, because, after all, he's in love with Kaiba – and it must be hard to watch him beat up on himself. However, this is at least the second time you've asked a really good question that I'm not ready to answer – as to whether Yami can accept the deeply troubled man that he's fallen in love with – that's what the last chapter is for!

Red Dragon 4 – Yami panicking: I think, just as it took Yami a while to realize that Kaiba would literally do anything for him, it might take Kaiba a while to realize that Yami would really be frightened of losing him – because, after all, he doesn't consider it much of a loss. So I think realizing that Yami would actually be frightened of losing him would come as a bit of a shock.

Chibi Angelic Slayer – Please let me know if it ended up going where you think – although it might take until the next chapter to become a little clearer.