Mokuba: Bad news is, Sarah had another bad day.
Jou: Worse news is Pegasus and Bakura kind of teamed up and kidnapped her on the way home from school...
Mokuba: Which is MY fault because I let her talk me into going home before she got done.
Jou: So, as soon as we find someone to watch Saya, we're going after her. ;
Mokuba: Any takers?
Saya found herself grounded from the Gamecube for a month. That was the least of her problems.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" Seto yelled, causing Saya to wince. "Damn it, I told you I don't want you going off alone! Do you have ANY idea what could happen?! What nearly DID happen?!" Saya looked down at the floor and Seto was about to let into her some more, when he heard her start to cry. "Shit…" He knelt down in front of her, pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Saya-imouto," he said softly. "I just don't want to lose you…" He soon felt Saya's arms wrap around him, hugging him tight.
"I'm sorry, Sonkei…" So now, Saya had to find an alternative form of entertainment… something she found rather easily in the Kaiba household.
Seto knew something was off in the living room as soon as he stepped into it. His eyes scanned the room, looking for the problem. His bookcase was in order… the Gamecube was locked up- Mokuba had gotten himself grounded as well, so that was something that needed to be done. He then looked at his chess set. He'd had it custom made over a year ago. The pieces were the same for both sides: Blue-Eyes White Dragon was the king; St. Joan was the queen; Bishops were Dark Magicians; Knights were Flame Swordsmen; and the Rooks were Castles of Dark Illusions. The pawns were Kuribohs. The only differences were the colors- one set was white, the other was black. And one of the white Kuribohs had been moved. Seto went to move it back, but paused. He then grabbed a black Kuriboh and met the white one head on.
"Mokuba's been begging me to teach him Chess," Seto thought. "Now will be a good time to see what he all ready knows."
"You all right, Princess?" Koujo looked up to see Jou standing in the doorway of her soul room.
"I'm all right, Jou," she replied, unconvincingly. "Don't worry about me." Jou shook his head and walked inside. Over five thousand years ago, he'd promised Yami that he would protect Koujo with his life. The only time he'd failed was when she died… Naria's curse… no one could protect her from that. No one knew what was wrong. No one knew why the curse had taken ten years to take affect. The only thing that was known was how much pain the Princess's death had caused. No one was the same after that.
"I know better than that, Princess," Jou told her. "You could always talk to me- what's changed?"
"Everything," Koujo whispered. "Everything has changed." A tear rolled down her cheek and she wiped it away forcefully. "He doesn't remember me… he doesn't want me around… why am I even here?!" Jou sat down at her side, pulling her into a hug.
"Don't cry, Princess… you are not here because of your father." Koujo looked up at him, confused. "Your father may need your help to recover his memories, but that isn't why you're here."
"Then… then why am I here?" Jou smiled.
"You're here because Saya's needs you more than anyone." Koujo let out a small gasp. Saya- her morning glow. "She may have Kaiba now, but she still needs you," Jou continued. "Don't give up on her, all right?" Koujo nodded.
"I won't."
Seto looked down at the chessboard in disbelief. His opponent had certainly played him into a corner. They'd beaten him.
"How could I have been so stupid?" he wondered, thinking back to his last move. It had seemed that the white queen had been foolishly moved into the path of his knight. He took the queen out of course, happy he'd been able to do so- he was down to only his king, the knight and some pawns. The white player, on the other hand, had his king, both knights, a bishop, both rooks, a good number of pawns and the queen… well, HAD the queen. He'd just taken it out… leaving his king open for attack. One of the white Knights moved in, blocking his king in- he couldn't move anywhere. The knight wouldn't take him out of course… but the bishop would. Checkmate. Seto shook his head… then he noticed a small slip of paper underneath the white queen. Seto picked it up and read it.
"Good game, Sonkei- wanna play again? Saya."