A Note from the Authors: Thank you all again for your continued support! For those of you who've been making predictions about future chapters...you'll just have to wait and see. ^_^ And as far as our accuracy goes in keeping up with the actual Anime storyline, we only know what we've seen and what we've chanced to read on-line, so please cut us a break when we don't stay completely true to the actual story - we don't know it all. And it can't ever really fit into a storyline that's already so far ahead of us over in Japan, so think of it for what it is - our ideas for what we think would be interesting to have happen to these characters. Think of it as an alternate universe if you have to - sort of like the DragonBall Z movies. ^_^ Anyway, without further ado...let's get to the chapter!!

Chapter 4

"Mistakes"

10:00… time to close up. Solomon Moto stretched and got up slowly from his stool behind the counter. Business had just never been quite the same since Battle City ended. There was a rush to buy cards just before and after the tournament, but once again times were slow. It wasn't him or his store that were hurting, but his wallet. Sometimes he really wondered whether or not there would be anything for him to leave Yugi when he passed away…

Just as he was about to close the door (he had opened it about an hour ago. The night air was refreshing to an old man these days), a high-heeled boot stepped in the way and a finely-manicured hand caught hold of the door. "Sorry," the young woman said, giving him a guilty smile, "Do you have a moment?"

"Um, well… it is closing time," The old man told her as he opened the door a bit more, but did not move out of the way, "Is there anything specific that you're looking for? Perhaps I could tell you if I have it in stock or not."

"Yes, actually," she said, "My name is Seline Chrysogonus – perhaps you've heard of me – and I have been informed that you may have an artifact in your possession that would fit in very well with my collection. Naturally, Basil and I had to come and see if those sources were correct."

She gestured to a tall, muscular man at her side, whom Solomon had not noticed until now, though he actually wondered how he had not seen him before. The man had black hair cropped short, with a small ponytail, a broad nose and small, narrowed eyes, and the business suit he was dressed in seemed very unfitting to his form.

The woman, who was slight, seemed almost diminutive in comparison. She was dressed in a suit as well, with a long dark overcoat that nearly touched the floor. Her turquoise hair was tied back in a knot in a traditional Japanese style, though Solomon knew from the news that she was foreign.

"I don't seem to recall owning anything Egyptian," Solomon told her gruffly. The last thing he needed was someone else coming after Yugi's Puzzle. Didn't anyone have the sense or decency to just leave the poor boy alone? "I'm sorry I couldn't be more help to you, but-"

"Grandpa?" Yugi's voice cut him off from the stairway, "What's going on? I thought you were closing up."

Seline's eyes widened and she slipped past Solomon and quickly approached the boy, arms outstretched. "I knew I spotted it on the security cameras this morning!" she exclaimed, "This bears the same symbol as a few of my ancient Egyptian carvings!"

Yugi immediately felt a jolt and he realized that Yami was coming out. It was just as well: he always knew what to do when people tried get at his Puzzle. The Pharaoh reached out and hand and grabbed Seline's closest hand by the wrist, "Can I help you?" he asked, his stronger, deeper voice the clear sign of a commanding presence.

Seline did a slight double-take, but recovered just a quickly. "Yes you can help me," she said, straightening up, a smile on her face, "You can tell me how much you want for that artifact. Money is no option – name your price."

Basil stiffened at the doorway, wanting to act, but knowing Seline would disapprove – it angered him to see her addressed so disrespectfully.

Grandpa backed away nervously from the brute in front of him and went to stand near his grandson. Yami raised a quizzical eyebrow at the museum owner, "I'm sorry, but my Puzzle is not for sale."

"Not for sale…?" Seline echoed indignantly, with the air of a child not used to not getting her way, "Perhaps you shouldn't really be the judge of this. Mr. Moto surely realizes what a handsome price a piece like that could bring in, don't you Mr. Moto?" she turned towards Solomon, "I promise you I'll make it worth your while."

"I gave Yugi that Puzzle." Solomon stated firmly, folding his arms and nodding at his grandson, "He has every right to decide whether or not to sell it."

Seline frowned, disappointed. "Well, if that's the way you feel…" she pulled a small piece of thick paper out of the pocket of her overcoat, and handed it to Solomon, "Here's my card. Let me know if you change your mind." With a flourish, she turned and swept out of the room, followed closely by Basil.

As the game shop door closed and the pair disappeared into the darkness, Grandpa turned to his grandson, eyeing him closely.

Yami swallowed nervously, "…What…?"

"You're not really my grandson…are you?"

Instantly, Yami receded back into the Puzzle, letting Yugi regain control of the body. "What're you talking about, Grandpa?" the younger boy asked innocently.

"Wait just a minute…" Solomon said, "I could've sworn you looked…different…a second ago."

Yugi forced himself to laugh as genuinely as he could. "I think it's getting late, Grandpa," he said, "Maybe after a good night's sleep you'll be feeling better…" He took his guardian by the arm and began to lead him up the stairs to their apartment.

"I feel fine right now…!" Grandpa protested.

* * *

School the next day was anything but normal. As Bakura made his way through the school yard towards the building, people pointed and whispered. Or fake-whispered anyway, because they made it clear that they wanted every word heard.

"Did ya hear? Bakura decked Taylor yesterday!"

"No way! That little wuss?"

"Yeah – I couldn't believe it until I saw the bandage on Taylor's face."

"Whoa…weird…"

"Tell me about it…"

The British teen was careful not to make eye contact with any of the whisperers, but he had to endure them all the way until he got to homeroom, where he sunk into his desk, thankful to be the first one in.

"I suppose I should be thanking you," he told the air bitterly.

Barak materialized, sitting on the desk in front of his host's. "You should," he said shortly, "I got that stupid bit of parchment back – though I don't understand why it's so precious to you."

Bakura folded his arms on top of his desk and rested his chin on them, "Yes – but you've also made me the talk of the school. You can't tell me you haven't heard them."

"I choose not to listen," Barak told his host nonchalantly, "And the boy got what he deserved. I owed him one or two already…"

Bakura sighed and did not reply. It wouldn't do for the other students now entering the room to hear him talking to nothing. More students began arriving soon afterwards and the classroom soon was filled again with the chatter of adolescence, the looks, and the whispers.

Tristan entered the room a minute later and all noise ceased. Bakura glanced up slightly and was a little surprised at what he saw. There was a white bandage across Tristan's nose and both of his eyes had dark rings around them. He was followed closely by Joey, who began starring at the floor as soon as he saw Bakura, and Yugi, who was looking guiltily between the three of them.

Yugi sat down next to Bakura, trying to smile, "Hey."

"Hello," Bakura nodded at him, "Is…erm, is Tristan alright?"

"He'll live," Yugi shrugged, "I think his pride was hurt more than his face…"

Bakura nodded, but neither of them could think of anything else to say, so they sat in silence until class began.

* * *

"Hey, Taylor! What happened to your face??" came a cry from across the cafeteria, "Get hit by a bus??"

"No," came another voice, "A wuss!"

The crowd erupted with great guffaws of laughter, and Tristan buried his face in his arms, wanting to dissolve into the table and never be seen again. Above him, her heard Tea's voice, "Yugi, tell Tristan that this is just what he deserves."

There was a sigh and then Yugi's voice, "Tristan, Tea says you deserve this…"

"I heard her the first time, Yugi. Tell Tea to talk to me, not through me," came the teen's muffled reply.

"Tea," Yugi began listlessly, "Tristan says…"

"Oh, I heard him," Tea cut him off, "Tell him that I won't talk to him again until he decides to grow up."

"Why do I have to be the messenger boy??" Yugi complained, "What about Joey?"

"Hey, leave me out of this," Joey muttered, hiding himself behind his sub-sandwich.

Yugi sighed, "Tristan, Tea says…"

"Oh please stop that, Yugi," Bakura interjected from his seat beside Joey across the table, "It's getting rather annoying." Then he leaned over and added, "Tristan – I'm sorry Barak broke your nose, but not speaking with Tea isn't going to solve anything."

"She started it," Tristan muttered.

Bakura and Yugi exchanged glances, but didn't have time to do anything because the bell rang again, signaling the end of the lunch break, and the group was forced to merge with the sea of students rising from their seats and massing towards the cafeteria exits.

As the British teen was nearing his locker (having already been separated from the others because of the torrent of students shuffling through the halls), he felt a hand reach out and grab him. Holding him by the arm, whoever-it-was dragged him out a door and into an open courtyard, slamming him up against the side of the building. When his eyes adjusted to the light, he found himself staring at Joey, who was looking surlier than he had in a long while. Bakura gulped.

"Listen…" Joey began, now holding the white-haired boy by the collar of his uniform, "About Tristan…"

Bakura shut his eyes, waiting for the worst, but only felt himself being lowered to the ground. "Sorry," Joey muttered. Bakura opened his eyes again; Joey was staring at the ground. "For both of us…though I'm kinda hopin' Tristan'll get around to this too eventually. What we did was stupid…sorry…"

"Oh…" Bakura said, smiling slightly, "Thank you, Joey. Knowing you, that must've been hard to do. Thanks."

Joey looked back up and grinned, "Don't mention it. We cool now?"

"Sure," Bakura nodded, "Now we'd better get back to class."

* * *

The business day had been awkward to say the least. Kaiba could no longer look her in the eye, as if he was afraid of something about her now. Vitani knew that after their last duel, she couldn't really blame him. She still hadn't been able to figure out what exactly had happened, but there was about a period of 30 seconds that she had no recollection of.

She sighed as the automatic doors leading out of Kaiba Corp opened for her, letting her out into parking lot. The night sky was bright and starry, with a half-moon visible, so it wasn't impossible to see where she'd parked her 22-payments-until-owned automobile.

As she was unlocking her car Vitani felt a hand touch her shoulder. Instantly she turned, fist flying towards the spot where she anticipated the strangers face to be. And she would've been on target, had the man not shifted slightly and dodged it. With her arm still mere inched from his face, the young man said softly, "I mean you no harm, Vitani…you have nothing to fear from me."

She drew her hand back, staring at the man, "How…how do you know my name…?"
"You were once the servant of Jetsu Maeda, were you not?" the man asked, shaking his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes.

"That name means nothing to me anymore," she spat angrily.

"Then my request should be a welcome one," he said, "My…employer wishes to own the Millennium Item that you still possess. Since it is a relic of your past – which you clearly want to forget – parting with it should be no issue."

Vitani made to speak, but the instant refusal got caught in her throat, and she found herself wondering if it would really be such a bad thing to be rid of the her last connection to her old master…

As she was about to inquire as to why the stranger wanted the Item, a dull pain throbbed in her head and she stopped. The pain faded and she tried to ask again, but the pain returned, this time more forcefully than before. She put a hand to her forehead and let out a cry. Recoiling quickly, she revealed to the stranger what she could not see, but what she knew was there: the glowing red symbol of the Egyptian Eye. The tips of her fingers were burned, and the pounding in her head was getting louder by the second.

She swayed on the spot, leaning against the car for support, feeling nausea overwhelming her. Her master had often punished her in this way, right from the beginning, making her fear of him outweigh her doubts about his methods. Just as she felt her head would split in two, a familiar voice cut through the cold night air.

"Vitani!" Kaiba came striding up to her and the pain ceased. Still feeling slightly dizzy, she straightened up. "What're you still doing here?" he demanded.

"He –" Vitani started, gesturing behind her, but the stranger had vanished, "There was…a man there…" she panted, looking quickly around the near-empty lot.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "Right…" he said slowly, "Look – maybe I should drive you home tonight…" He turned and headed down the lot toward his own vehicle. Not long after returning from Egypt, Kaiba had decided that he no longer needed a chauffer, and had purchased a Porsche for himself to drive.

"But – what about my car?" she asked, following after him.

"You can get tomorrow morning," he said shortly, not looking back at her.

The ride home was an awkward one, with neither of them saying anything until Kaiba had pulled into the huge garage underneath the mansion. As he pulled the key out of the ignition, he noticed Vitani cradling her un-bandaged hand. "What happened to your hand?" he asked gruffly.

"You did – last night," she replied.

"No…the other one," he said, annoyed.

"Nothing." She quickly got out of the car and headed for the elevator.

Kaiba got out of the car and caught up with his assistant, "Fine. If not your hand, what's that on your head?"

"What?" she put her hand up to her forehead once again and felt the faint tracing of a burn there as well. Fear was plastered across her face as Kaiba stared at her. Unable to think of any way to defend herself, she turned and fled the area, avoiding the waiting elevator and running towards the stairs.

Kaiba flushed, angry at being avoided by his own aide. What right does she have to ignore me? Especially after what she did with that Sword last night… Another thought struck him quickly: He'd never even gotten the chance to ask her how her meeting with Mokuba's teacher went yesterday. Perhaps he would look into that; how long had it been since he'd last sat down with his brother? His own kin should be the last one to need an appointment into Seto Kaiba's life…