STORY ARC TWO: THE PARTING OF LOST SOULS

Chapter One: Anticipation

Kaiba Seto's Point of View

"Always getting bested by Mutou Yugi!"

I flung the Asian-American magazine as if it was a discus. It settled on the pile of periodicals, joining the others that were tossed aside in sheer frustration.

Each magazine in that pile had a common thread...Mutou Yugi and Alexa Emrys. Stolen shots taken of them at the Domino Arena press conference and the after-party were accompanied with articles asserting that they were exclusively dating.

With clenched fists, I stormed out to the balcony and leaned on the railing with clasped hands.

Just when I thought that I had turned over a new leaf by shaking hands with Yugi before I left for New York, I spent these weeks ranting over stupid magazines with pictures taken and articles written by imbeciles. As of now, I did not know which was worse - confirming through surveillance reports and incriminating photographs that he and Emrys were dating, or hiring spies and buying periodicals to confirm something so trivial and ludicrous.

There should only be three matters that deserve my attention: Kaiba Corporation, duel monsters, and Mokuba.

My mind, however, kept wandering nowadays whenever I read or hear anything about Yugi or Emrys. I felt the urge of crushing something with my bare hands whenever someone acknowledged Yugi as the number one duelist, or received another report from my henchmen about his relationship with her.

How in hell could I bury my hatred in Alcatraz and be able to deal with this? I should have never made that promise to Mokuba. Fate always played this sick joke of testing my patience or lack thereof.

"Ni-sama, it's almost seven in the evening. Are we dining out or are we cooking something for ourselves tonight?"

I turned around, glanced at the owner of that familiar voice, and asked, "Do you just want dinner, or do you want to catch a movie, too?"

My brother's slate blue eyes lit up. "Dinner and a movie sounds great!"

I smirked at him and pondered in amusement, "Just as I thought..." I then cleared my throat and told him, "We'll leave in thirty minutes."

Afterwards, I turned around and returned to my earlier position by the railing.

Instead of going to his room to get ready for our night out, Mokuba came closer and stood beside me. He stammered as he asked, "Once Emrys comes to town for her concert, may she stay with us here at the loft? We have an extra room that she can use and plenty to spare, don't we?"

Glancing sideways, I responded, "It's up to you."

Slate blue eyes intensified its gaze, as their owner probed, "You're still upset with her, aren't you?"

I frowned. "What makes you say that?"

With a slight frown of his own, my brother explained, "Whenever you guys see each other, you two end up arguing."

"We're just kidding around, Mokuba. She and I don't easily give in to anyone."

Mokuba remained silent, but I could tell that he did not like the answer I gave him or how I responded to his question.

After letting out a sigh and acknowledging the root of Mokuba's frustration, I asked him, "You're fond of her, aren't you?"

My brother's gaze softened as he admitted, "She's like an older sister. At times, she reminds me of how Mom was with us."

Seeing Mokuba's face turn somber as our past came back to haunt him, I rested my left hand on his shoulder and murmured, "I don't blame you for liking her that much. She has been kind and friendly to you since you've met."

"Don't you like her, too?"

Avoiding eye contact, I replied, "Arguments aside, I do like her. She's been nice to you."

"I don't mean that type of like, Ni-sama. When I say like, what I meant was liking her as a girlfriend."

My pitch rose along with one eyebrow and a frown. "Where do you get these insane ideas? You've been watching too much television."

"And you've been reading too many tabloids and magazines," Mokuba teasingly countered as his thumb vigorously pointed at the pile inside my office.

With a dismissive smirk, I said, "She's dating Yugi, Mokuba. You know that as well as I do."

Slate blue eyes probed mine. "Ni-sama, if Yugi wasn't dating her then would you be asking her out on a date?"

Feeling cornered, I replied, "I don't think so. She's too insolent and pushy for my taste."

This time, it was Mokuba's turn to raise an eyebrow. "She wasn't even the least bit insolent or pushy at the mansion or over the telephone."

Relenting and hoping that Mokuba's train of questions would stop, I shook my head and sighed. "I really don't know, Mokuba. If things were different, then maybe I would consider dating her...maybe by a long shot. But as I told you, she's too insolent for my taste."

I then looked out at the night sky as I waited for Mokuba's response. After a long moment of silence between us, I glanced sideways and asked him, "Why did you suddenly need to know these things from me?"

As soon as Mokuba broke his gaze at the nightlife below, he smirked and blurted out, "It would just be so cool if you two end up together. You've never given up on anything, Ni-sama. You shouldn't be giving up on her, either."

I shook my head and humored myself, telling Mokuba, "You're too young to ask about these matters. If I were you, I'd be getting ready because we're leaving the loft in fifteen minutes. Now go."

"Okay, okay..." was Mokuba's reply before he dashed to his room.

As Mokuba ran out of my office, I was reminded that I was responsible for my misery. This was the first time that I ever entertained the idea of opening my emotions to a person other than Mokuba. It was also my first time to tolerate someone who had the nerve to insult me.

I kept remembering how my brother's eyes lit up whenever Emrys' name was ever mentioned. I knew how much she cared for him. I also knew as to how much it would mean to him if she became a permanent part of our lives.

And now, because of my uncertainty, I blew that chance for Mokuba and me.

If I had only moved quicker or recognized my feelings for her sooner, then maybe...just maybe...things would have been different between Emrys and me. It was already too late for regrets. She now belonged to someone else. To make matters worse, she now belonged in the arms of Yugi.

I did my best to forget about Emrys. For a while, I hated her for the argument we had at Kaiba-Land.

Now, my conscience - something that I thought I shed many years ago - reminded me that she apologized twice for our argument, was empathetic when I needed it most, and had been a good friend to Mokuba and me. I even fooled myself by suspecting that she had ulterior motives for being nice. By making every effort to demonize her and brand her as a liar, I only discovered that everything she told me about her past was true, and that hiring private investigators to prove otherwise was just a waste of time and money.

As I looked at the busy Manhattan streets below, my mind once again wondered what the future had in store for me. How would this work, especially now that I know that I had feelings for her while she had feelings for Yugi?

Only time could tell what would happen next.

Author's side note...

Although this story arc stands independently from The Encounter of Lost Souls and There Will Come Soft Rain, the three stories are inter-connected. This fact will also apply to subsequent Yu-Gi-Oh fan-fiction stories that I will post in the future.

Yu-Gi-Oh is the copyrighted property of Kazuki Takahashi. This fan fiction, as well as the original characters, are the author's property.

Enjoy reading!

PJ Zatken