Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by Kazuki Takahashi.
invisible-eyes: Glad you liked it, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea, since it's quite different from most of the fanfics on this site…
Alienna Azuani: Hehe, gotta agree that Seto, Yugi, and Yami are the coolest anime characters!! o^:^o Kawaii!!~
Yami Tangela, pharaohs angel: Well so the next chapter is here! I don't think I will have much of a problem updating cuz I kinda have the story in my head already… But I hope my imagination won't turn upside down…
redconvoy: I was wondering, what if Jounouchi/Joey wasn't one of Yugi's best friends? And time reversed, what would happen to Yugi?
Thank you for reviewing! And send any suggestions to tifachu@hotmail.com
Chapter 3: Duel's End
Yami looked up at the dark sky. It was at times like this when he kind of wished that he were born in a different era. Being a regular teenager in Domino City was a lot easier, he didn't have to think about the entire country, all he had to do was play Duel Monsters. Despite the fact that lives were at risk-like when Grandpa had his soul stolen by Pegasus in Duelist Kingdom- he did enjoy playing Duel Monsters, and hanging out with Joey, Tea, Tristan, and the others. Yugi sure has it easy, he thought, wistfully.
//Aibou don't you remember what you said when I had to go? You said that you'd never forget me. I didn't say anything… I didn't want to make you cry. I won't ever forget you either…
/I wish I were in Egypt with you, mou hitori no boku…
//I… I'm not your mou hitori no boku anymore.
/I don't care, you'll always be.
//Yeah…
Smiling fondly, Yami turned and headed back to the palace.
~
Yugi awoke with a start, and realized that he'd been crying in his sleep again. Wiping his tears away, he tried to catch the wisps of his dream that were floating away, but with no success. Morning light was shining through the curtains already, and he had to go to school.
"Yugi, Bakura's here!" Gramps called. "You'd better hurry!"
Bakura lived right on the opposite side of town, so Yugi was surprised that he was here. Hastily throwing on his school coat, Yugi ran outside, and saw Bakura standing on the sidewalk, grinning broadly as usual. Yugi soon found out that he passed his house daily while he walked to school.
"Bakura, do you… miss the other Bakura?" Yugi asked.
Bakura replied, "Sure I do… But it's okay, since… we can still speak to each other, even if he's still in ancient Egypt."
"Really?!~ How?!"
"It's just like when we still had the Millennium Items, Yugi-kun."
/Yami?
//What's wrong aibou?
"He's not there…" Yugi did not hear the reply.
"Hmm… I don't know…" Bakura murmured, deep in thought. "You mentioned that you almost forgot everything that happened in Egypt. Maybe the doubt in your mind is blocking you from him…"
Seeing Yugi's worried expression, Bakura said with a smile, "Maybe after a while you can hear him again… Don't worry too much about it."
Just then, Joey came up beside them. "Hey Yugi, you finally found a friend, huh? Now maybe you'll start acting your age, runt!"
"Will you just leave him alone? He hasn't done anything to offend you!" Bakura said hotly.
"Ooh, so you're gonna start playing with stupid kiddy toys now, like little Yugi!" Joey teased, reaching to grab Yugi by the hair.
"Yugi is not childish and he's my friend!" Bakura cried, and held Joey back. Struggling, Joey finally broke free, brushing himself off.
"I'll let you off today, Mutou!" Joey walked off, eyeing Bakura suspiciously. Bakura didn't usually speak to anyone, he was the quiet sort like Yugi, but nobody ever bothered him. For one thing, he had the height of a regular teenager.
There was a math test that day, which Yugi had studied for extremely conscientiously as usual, so he was left staring at his completed paper, having finished slightly earlier than most of the others. Suddenly a soft beep caught his attention, and he turned to the source of the sound.
Kaiba, sitting in front of him, was staring ahead, glassy-eyed, a dazed expression on his face, and holding… the infamous Blue Eyes card.
"He's probably playtesting Duel Monsters RPG," Yugi thought to himself, and realized that the teacher was already collecting the papers. Watching him for awhile more, he saw that he wasn't going to let up on his game playing anytime soon, and reached out to tap him on the shoulder. Sitting up in his seat, Kaiba returned to reality, and hurriedly handed the teacher his test paper. Kaiba turned around and thanked him, with a slight grin, surprising Yugi greatly.
That's weird, since when did Kaiba become so smiley?
~
"Big brother!" Mokuba slammed the front door shut as he returned from school. Kaiba was immersed in DMRPG as usual. "My friends are here to play with me!!"
"Big brother!" Mokuba yelled again, more persistently this time, and when he yielded no reply, ran to his brother's office, and grabbed the DMRPG card from his hands. Kaiba blinked in surprise as he saw his office materialize in front of him, he'd been in Egypt barely a moment ago… And now there was a bunch of scruffy-looking kids staring at him as if he had sprouted another nose.
"Mokuba, go play with your friends okay?" Kaiba said impatiently, wanting to go back to playing.
"No, can you play with us?" Mokuba insisted, "Pleaseeeee?~"
"Later?" Kaiba said, almost pleading. Why in Domino City would the CEO of KaibaCorp want to play with a bunch of kids? And what would they want to play?
"Now!!" Mokuba yelled excitedly. "Catch me if you can, oniisan!!"
Defeated, Kaiba chased Mokuba and his friends around the estate, his long legs giving him an advantage over the twelve-year-old. It was useless arguing with Mokuba when he was in a hyperactive mood.
At last he was back to playing DMRPG with Yugi and Bakura. And for once in his life, he was actually having fun with other people. But he soon came to wonder, were they having fun with him? They sure seemed like they were.
What will they say if they find out that I'm actually Seto Kaiba, the arrogant baka? Will they be mad at me…? No. I can't be afraid of their opinions, I've been on my own for so long. But maybe I should tell them…
Shaking his thoughts from his head, Kaiba turned his attention back to the other two. Seeing Yugi smile so happily as he hugged his Kuriboh for the millionth time was amusing. And Bakura… Kaiba'd never expected him to like the Petit Angel; he didn't really seem to like cute stuff… Kaiba himself used the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Obviously. There was no other Duel Monster he liked more than Blue Eyes, and he'd scorned at Pegasus' toonification of it. However, nobody knew that he owned a stuffed Blue Eyes; Mokuba had given it to him on his last birthday. If anyone else had given him one, he'd probably have tossed it in the trash…
A truckload of Prevent Rats appeared on the field and Yugi used Kuriboh's Multiply while Blue Eyes Burst Stream-ed them all to oblivion. Bakura used Petit Angel's healing ability to restore the party's abilities, and they continued their adventure along the narrow dirt track. The battles were few and far apart, so that left plenty of time to chat. After their interrogations, Kaiba had finally disclosed himself as Ash, from France.
"Yugi so have you tried again since this morning?" Bakura asked gently. The Pharoah was a very sensitive subject. Yugi had never gotten mad at anyone before, but Bakura did not want to upset him.
"Nopey," Yugi replied, a little edgily. To tell the truth, Yugi had been afraid he'd really lost all connections with his Yami.
Meanwhile, Kaiba was pondering about what Bakura had said. What had Yugi not tried since that morning? Don't tell me Yugi's on drugs, I never expected him to… But that could explain why he's so short…
/Mou hitori no boku!! Answer me! Yami!!
//Hey aibou, what're you yelling about?
Once again, Yugi did not-or could not-hear any reply. "Yami where are you?" Yugi murmured, tears welling up in his eyes.
Quickly he blinked these away, and turned to Kaiba, "How long more till the next town, Ash?"
The others still did not figure that "Ash" was Mr. CEO.
"Almost ther-" Kaiba began, but was interrupted by Mokuba grabbing the card out of his grasp.
"Big brother! Help me with my math homework! I'm stuck again!" Mokuba screeched into Kaiba's ear. There was a slight bit of lag as he returned to the "real world", and his voice-which had been modified to have a British accent throughout the game-could be distinctively distinguished as Seto Kaiba's.
"Hey did you hear that?" Bakura nudged Yugi as Kaiba's avatar disappeared from DMRPG. "It sounded very familiar… Like Kaiba…"
Nodding distractedly, Yugi agreed, "Yeah, it did sound like him. But, maybe he just sounds like Kaiba… I'm sure it's not him. He was a lot friendlier than Kaiba."
Soon, Kaiba was back, apologizing for the interruptions. However he had forgotten to turn on the voice-modifying software! Yugi and Bakura stood rooted to the ground in shock, as this second chance to hear his real voice confirmed their suspicions.
"What?" Kaiba asked, a little self-consciously, and found to his embarrassment that his voice-modifying program was off. The trio gaped at each other for a moment, and Kaiba, realizing that his cover had been blown, revealed his true identity, removing all modifications to his character.
"Um, you guys…" Kaiba muttered awkwardly, blushing slightly. "I…"
"Kaiba! Why didn't you just say so?" Yugi broke the ice between them, Yami forgotten for the time being.
"You're not mad?" Kaiba looked from one to the other; both had recovered from their initial shock, and were grinning at him, and he returned their smiles. Not an intimidating one, like his usual, but a sincere one. The war between Yugi and Kaiba was over; now that the Duel Monsters card game was gone, it was pointless to be rivals. Or perhaps after what happened in Egypt, they had become somewhat closer…
+++++