INTERLUDE: TWO WEEKS AGO

"It's like I don't know nothin' about him at all."

Mai nodded slowly as she extinguished her cigarette in an ashtray. "It's obviously making you frustrated."

"Well; yeah. I've told him a few personal things 'bout me. I've told 'im 'bout my drunken dad, my sister; he already knows of my past ties with the Crashers. But every time I try to turn it around on him, he avoids the subject, sayin' that it's none o' my business. It pisses me off because here I am, pourin' my past out, but he's bein' a tightlips 'bout his own!"

"Perhaps there's something about his past that he's ashamed about," Mai suggested.

"Could be. He told me that his parents were dead and that's it; his kid brother told me more; talkin' 'bou the orphanage, but I gotta pretend that I don't know about all that...sometimes I wonder if any o' that has a lot to do with his not tellin' me. But if he trusts me as much as he says he does, why is he unable to tell me?"

"Well, how do you feel about your own past?"

"Man; I'm fine wit' it. Obviously there's parts that I ain't too proud of, but that's how ya get wiser, ya know? Seto's way of learning from the past is kinda like mine, except he simply takes the experience and throws the rest away. It's made 'im real...intro...intro...that word fer someone who's anti-social or somethin'."

"Introverted."

"Yeah; what you said; inverted. He has a hard time trustin' people, and he just feels that his past aint' shit."

Mai gently drummed her fingers on the counter. "Well, let me ask you another question: How do you think Seto must feel about his past?"

"...huh. Damn, that's what I love about ya, Mai; ya always know the right thing to say."

"You understand better now, don't you? Something about Seto's past is still haunting him, hence the heavy denial, and overall avoidance of the topic whenever it's brought up."

"So obviously somethin's botherin' him. I don't wanna confront 'im outright, but I don't wanna feel like I'm with someone that's like a stranger 'cause I hardly know 'im either."

"Well, I can't tell you what you should do. You're good at following your instincts, Katsuya. That's all I can tell you."

Chapter 21: One Rough Time

"Man, yer fuckin' out of it if yer really gonna face Noa alone," Jounouchi insisted as Seto tied the laces on his sneakers.

Seto glimpsed at Jounouchi as he started tying his other sneaker. "What you mean is that I'm 'fuckin' out of it because I won't let you come along."

Jounouchi looked away as he crossed his arms. "Alright, I won't lie to ya; I do wanna tag along, in case ya need the help."

"And you know that there's no chance in hell of me ever needing your help." Seto stood up. He wore a navy blue hoodie that was a size too large, a pair of black track pants that had blue stripes running up the side, and a pair of black sneakers with sky blue laces and accents.

"Seto; come on. Noa's a hard fighter. Ya may think yer just as hard, but ya gotta know yer limits."

"Limits," Seto muttered. "Limits are made to be surpassed. I will find a way to overcome this unusual affliction of mine."

"How long have you been trying?"

"Since I was aware that I had this problem."

"How long ago was that?"

"I was fifteen at the time."

"Progress?"

"Undetermined as of yet." Seto ran a hand through his hair. "Are you going to spar with me?"

"Oh; so ya need help with trainin', but not fer the real thing. I'll sit this one out, thanks," Jounouchi rejected as he trudged towards one of the benches and sat down upon the hard wooden seat.

"That's fine. I can spar with someone else."

Jounouchi arched a brow. "There's nobody else here other than us."

Seto raised his brows at Jounouchi before looking away. "Engage training exercise mode."

As if out of thin air, a wooden training dummy materialized in front of Seto. The featureless effigy was of equal proportion to that of an adult human male.

Jounouchi rose from his seat. "What the—how—where in the hell did he come from?"

Seto folded his arms. "Impressed? It's been something I've been working on for my company."

"A trainin' dummy that appears outta nowhere?"

Seto fought the urge to grasp a wooden bench and beat Jounouchi over the head with it.

"No; what I've been working on is the next graphical step for arcade and console gaming—solid holographic three-dimensional technology. It's taken me years to design it and a year to complete it, but the company thinks that I'm still designing this, when in fact it has been completed for months—I'm simply playing with it for my own amusement."

Jounouchi whistled. "It looks pretty damn real, too."

"I've already received offers from Sega and Namco to use the new gaming technology for their arcade hardware and Sony and Nintendo want to utilize it for future consoles. The only problem is that this kind of hardware won't be cheap to produce, therefore making distribution of games and consoles very expensive and therefore very difficult. That's the reason I've been 'delaying' progress on the technology, because I need to find a more cost-efficient way to distribute the new system. And come up with a name for it."

"Dayyyyum," Jounouchi trailed. "Who knew that making game stuff was so complicated..."

"It'll take some doing. I just need time to figure it out." Seto raised his arms.

"Well, ya won't get much o' that if Noa kills ya first," Jounouchi mumbled.

Seto's arms fell to his side. "Would you please get off that subject already?"

"Fine. Let's talk about the matter o' yer past."

Seto looked up as his shoulders fell. "No. I thought we had this understanding, Jounouchi—"

"Yeah; but ya know, I really don't wanna feel like that I'm kissin' a complete stranger."

"You know enough about me as a person. You know my interests, my personality, and things that annoy the hell out of me."

"That's only half, though. I don't know anythin' 'bout yer childhood, junior high, and what puberty was like fer ya—wait; scratch that last one. Puberty was clearly way generous fer ya."

"Those are insignificant things that have no meaning to me. Can we lay this down to rest now?"

"Christ; yer just so difficult. Scratch that; ya were always difficult, but now yer just infuriatin'."

"Oh? So I don't tell you my life story, nor do I adhere to your suggestion that I not face Noa alone, and I'm infuriating because of that?"

"Ya know what it is? It's yer whole lone wolf attitude!" Jounouchi exclaimed as he slammed his fist against a wall. "With you it's always 'I'll do this on my own', or 'I can take care of myself', or—and this is the best one here—'I never needed anybody's help before and I sure as hell won't need it now.' Yer mentality, 'bove all else, is what really pisses me off."

Seto stomped towards Jounouchi until the two were face-to-face. "So that's what it is? You hate me based on a piece of my persona that was long- established between us even before this relationship started? Jounouchi, we argued about this once before, and at that time we were still trying to beat the hell out of each other."

"Yeah, but it still bothers me to this day--maybe more than ever! Ya can't go on thinkin' that yer all that ya need! Even the strongest man needs someone to help him up every now an' then!"

"Not me!" Seto screamed as he pointed to himself with his thumb. "You think I ever got to where I am now because I had to rely on someone? You want to know a little more about me, then here you go—the reason I learned to rely on myself was because nobody would have helped me in the first place! There you go!"

Jounouchi threw his hands into the air in disbelief. "Jesus; so that's yer excuse fer that belief that yer better off alone? Because nobody seemed to wanna help ya?!"

"Well, if you saw a blue-eyed kid that needed help, would you help him?"

"What the fuck does yer eye colour have to do with yer attitude problem?"

Seto narrowed his eyes. "I'll give you some time to let it sink in. In the meantime, I'd like to get some training done."

Jounouchi clenched his fists tightly. "Christ...yer lucky that I care about ya so much, because if ya were any other guy I'd have decked ya by now. Why don't ya let that sink in."

Seto bit into his lower lip, his features displaying his anger.

"Anyway; I'm outta here. Do what you gotta do, but if ya get wounded bad, just remember that it was 'cause of yer own conviction that nobody's gonna help ya!" The dirty blond shoved his hands into his pockets and stomped out of the room.

Jounouchi closed his eyes as he slowly descended down the large stairway.

"Hey, Jounouchi!"

Jounouchi opened his eyes, spotting a rather concerned Mokuba standing in his path.

"Oh...hey."

Mokuba gestured towards the top of the stairs. "I heard something from upstairs, like arguing or something. Is everything okay?"

Jounouchi bit down onto his lip and furrowed his brow; this question was entirely too familiar to him.

%"Mommy? I heard something from upstairs, like you were arguin' or somethin'. Are you an' daddy fighting?"%

"Jounouchi?"

The boy's voice quickly snapped Jounouchi back to reality.

Jounouchi gently sighed as he knelt down to look at the preteen face-to- face.

"It's all right. Seto's been frustrated with school and stuff lately, and...well..." Shit, he thought. How am I gonna finish this?

"Oh; Seto tends to get really irate whenever something makes him frustrated," Mokuba stated with a carefree smile. "It's a good idea not to bother him, eh-heh!"

That'll work. Jounouchi smiled back at Mokuba. "Yeah; I ferget that yer brother can be a bit of..."

"A bastard?"

"Hey; hey," Jounouchi scolded. "Just because someone says that 'bout 'im don't mean it's true. And ya shouldn't be sayin' that 'bout 'im either!"

"I didn't. I was just putting the word in your mouth. But you're right. I shouldn't have said that...you promise not to tell Seto?"

"I'll forget that ya even said it," Jounouchi replied with a wink. "Anyway, I gotta head out, kiddo. I have a home of my own too, ya know."

"Aww," Mokuba groaned. "So we can't play Time Crisis 3 right now, huh?"

"Next time," Jounouchi promised as he gathered his sneakers. "There's always next time." He glanced back at Mokuba, his eyes wandered, and he noticed Seto leaning against the banister at the top of the stairs. Jounouchi looked away.

"That'll work! See ya later!" Mokuba waved. Jounouchi gave the younger Kaiba the two-fingered salute as he stepped out of the door.

Mokuba brushed his nose with his thumb. "Hey Seto, do you want to—"

The sound of a door slamming cut him off.
Resourceful.

If one were to ask Amelda's comrades for the word that best described the assassing "resourceful" was it.

In tonight's case, "Pissed off "would have been the most appropriate word.

He grasped the bottle of vodka he had been nursing for the past night, pouring some of the contents into a shot glass, his eyes remaining focused on the laptop monitor.

He had been trying to backtrack on his steps in his investigation on the enigma who had identified himself as Noa Kaiba.

He glanced over at the notepad that rested on his desk.

NOA KAIBA = OLDER BROTHER OF SETO KAIBA
-WANTS SETO KILLED FOR UNKNOWN REASON

SETO KAIBA = THE CURRENT AND IRRESPONSIBLE CEO OF KAIBA CORP

GOZABURO KAIBA = FORMER KAIBA CORP CEO; DECEASED. FATHER OF SETO AND NOA?

He grasped the shot glass and downed the contents, his ashen eyes remaining on the notepad.

All that work, and this is all I have to show for it. There are too many pieces missing in this strange puzzle. What reason could Noa have for killing Seto? There's a missing link, I'm almost certain of it. Seto became the CEO nearly two years ago, after Gozaburo committed suicide. It was never explained. Noa must be the missing link. Or perhaps...man; there's just so much going on with this. They're a fucked up bunch, those Kaibas.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, his ashen eyes looking down at his left.

He saw a sign.

Actually, it was a sign in the form of a newspaper headline.

Amelda leaned forward. He smiled sheepishly.

Well, hell. Newspapers. I coulda thought of that.

He cracked his knuckles, and prepared to type on the keyboard, when another realization hit him:

I can't read Japanese.

He drummed his fingers on the desk.

Son of a bitch.

He glanced over at the bottle of vodka.

Back to square one.

He grabbed the bottle and swirled the contents as he furrowed his brow in deep thought.

Varon'd be perfect for this job; he knows Japanese. But he's also probably going to drop-kick my ass for ditching him and Rafael for this mess.

He removed the cap.

Wait...Seto Kaiba knows Japanese. He also knows English.

He bit his lip as he tightened his grip on the bottle.

He'd also put my balls in a blender if given the chance. Hrmm. But if I told him just how important this was, then maybe, maybe, he would give me the time of day.

He took a momentary pull from the bottle, his forearm brushing across his lips as he set the bottle down.

Okay. Sounds like a plan. Worst that happens, I'm in the ER for several broken bones. No problem. It'll heal.

He capped the vodka.

It can wait until tomorrow. I need some friggin' sleep.

Anzu stared outside of the window, her lips forming a tightened yet askew line.

Hrm. How appropriate.

The view outside of the room was anything but sublime; somber was the more appropriate description. The bare trees swayed against the sky, which displayed various shades of gray. The mood of the outdoors matched the mood of the students indoors; most of them were either too tired to hold their usual rowdy conversations or too unmotivated to engage in a conversation, period.

Plus, Chono was always an excellent deterrent against stellar moods.

As the aforementioned Chono scribbled the day's history lesson onto the chalkboard, a note suddenly plopped onto Anzu's desk. This tore Anzu from her view of the gloomy weather; she looked down and glanced at the note, taking notice of the handwriting that read "Hirano". She looked over at Jounouchi, who motioned to Anzu to pass the note along. She sneered at the dirty blond and gently tapped Seto on his shoulder. He glanced over, appearing surly as ever, and looked away. Anzu shrugged, and tossed the note onto Seto's desk as inconspicuously as possible.

Seto glared at the note, before he gingerly picked it up and slowly opened it. He frowned. He picked up his pen, and wrote a reply before folding the note back and handing it back to Anzu. Anzu handed the note to Miho, who then tossed the note back to Jounouchi.

Jounouchi unfolded it, rolling his eyes at the response and scribbled a quick reply, and passed it back to Miho, who passed it on to Anzu, who passed it back to Seto.

Seto took no hesitation to write his response, and passed the note back.

Jounouchi unfolded it, his eyes reading over the contents. He wrote another reply down, and passed it back.

Seto heaved a bored sigh as he marked an answer down, and sent the note back.

Jounouchi sucked at his teeth as he scanned over the note and wrote onto the paper.

The note came back to Seto.

Seto hastily wrote one more reply and passed the note behind him to Anzu.

Anzu had hesitated; she really wanted to know what they were talking about. She shook her head, knowing that it was none of her business, and motioned to pass the note—

"What's that you're holding, Miss Mazaki?"

All eyes were on the chestnut-haired Anzu as Miss Chono casually strode up to the girl's desk. "Miss Mazaki, is that a note you're holding?"

Anzu frowned. "It's a cheat sheet."

"Well, hand it over and we'll see." Chono held out her hand, her witchy fingers clasping open and shut. Anzu emitted a low growl as she handed the note to Chono.

"I saw that you were passing notes back and forth to Mr. Hirano...I wonder what you two were discussing, hrm?" Chono smirked as she unfolded the note.

Fuck! Jounouchi ground his teeth together.

"Oh, this is something interesting, class! Anzu said: 'Hey. Talk to me', and Seto replied 'If it's about what I think it is, just leave me alone'. And then Anzu wrote 'I'm just worried that you're going to hurt yourself. Is there something so wrong about that?' Well, well; this IS indeed interesting."

The class giggled, save for Jounouchi and Anzu and Seto, whose head was lowered. An incredibly wicked smile spread upon Chono's bright crimson lips.

"And it goes on; Seto answers back by saying 'What do you care anyway?', and then Anzu answers that with yet another question: 'I do care. What are you so scared of?' And soon after, Seto writes 'I'm not afraid of anything. Just leave me alone.' Well!" Chono tossed the note back to Anzu, whose face was red with embarrassment. "You two do know that there is a serious consequence for underage dating in this school. This note of yours just proves that there's been something going on between you two, and I'm going to have to punish you both accordingly."

Jounouchi fists clenched tightly below the desk, as Anzu glared at the instructor intensely. Chono looked down upon Seto.

"So, Mr. Hirano? Not so smart now once you're caught, hrmm? Do you have anything to say for yourself in regards to this matter?"

Seto suddenly rose out of his chair so quickly and with such force that his chair toppled over. Chono gasped at the unexpected action and even took a step back.

"Don't you dare try to put a hand to me, or you'll never set foot in another school again!" Chono threatened amidst whisperings of how Seto was going to "lay the smack-down" on her as she clutched her clipboard closer to her chest.

Seto made no response, nor did he raise his head. Instead, he grabbed his briefcase and novel and stormed out of the classroom.

Students and teacher alike were rendered speechless by Seto's abrupt departure.

Honda leaned back. "Ya know, I never knew you had a thing for 'im, Anzu."

"I don't, asshole," Anzu hissed back.

"All right class; now that the drama's over, we may continue with the lesson. Anzu, be sure to see me during recess, and if you can find the drama queen, be sure to tell him to see me too."

"Last time I do anything for you, assclown," Anzu fumed as she stomped towards Seto's office.

"Look; I figured it was gonna be a three-sentence affair at most. I forget that Seto can be such a stubborn bastard at times."

"Well; I'm mad at his skinny ass too," Anzu reminded. "Nice, skinny ass, but I'm mad at him for actually passing the note back. Oh my God; do you even realize what kind of risk you set yourselves up for! And involving Miho...well; I'll have to explain everything to her too when we get back to class."

"By the way, how did Chono punish ya?"

"I have to write an essay about how I understand the rules about dating. I mean; what the hell?! I ought to make you write it."

"If ya feel that's fair, fine; but if ya wanna get into her good graces, it's uh, best not to ask me."

"Chono doesn't even have good graces," Anzu scoffed.

"Well, jus' sayin', is all..."

"Well, you two just need to work your shit out. Yesterday you two were doing the tongue tango, and now you're fighting?"

Jounouchi hunched over. "Yeah. Don't ask what it's about."

"I think Chono kind of divulged that problem to the whole class. What's Seto doing that has you worried that he's going to hurt himself?"

Jounouchi shook his head. "I told ya not to ask 'bout it."

"Fine," Anzu huffed as she turned the corner, shaking her head. "So, we're here. Let's get commencing with that—huh."

Jounouchi cocked his head to the side; his features displaying confusion. "What is it?"

Anzu rested her hands on her hips. "He's not here."

Jounouchi joined Anzu. "Well, shit. It's kinda gloomy out. Maybe he's in the library."

"You'd know."

"Yeah. But maybe he don't want me talkin' to him."

Anzu sighed. "Well, whatever it is that has you two like this all of a sudden, I hope you can get it worked out."

Jounouchi gave Anzu a look as if she were a suspected criminal. "Was that sincerity I just heard from yer voice, Anzu?"

Anzu crossed her arms over her chest. "Face it, Jounouchi; you were due to find someone. I would have thought a woman, but who says a man can't provide you with the same love—love is love, after all. See, this is one of those tests. You just have to figure out what the best thing to do is to find the right answers and pass."

Jounouchi exhaled an exasperated sigh.
%He inspected the photograph with utmost scrutiny.

"Huh...what's with this kid? He looks a lot like me," a post-pubescent voice murmured as he studied the photgraph.

"That 'kid' is your younger brother. I recently adopted him and his younger half-brother, who is also your younger half-brother, but the latter is not important. The kid in question is currently going through the accelerated educational course as we speak."

A pair of lips sneered. "So? How's he handling it?"

"I've had to administer some force. He seems to want trivial privileges, such as the privilege to play games with his half-brother and the privilege to sleep whenever he feels."

"Huh. So how long do you think the course will take?"

"It's too early to determine. Anyway, this isn't about how he's doing. This is about how he's going to be."

The teen raised a brow. "How he's going to be? Forgive me, father, but I'm confused."

A billow of smoke flowed through the elder man's lips. "This boy...he has seen and experienced much in his short lifetime. I'm sure you understand from my tone that his experiences weren't...pleasant ones."

The teen nodded. "So you're saying that this could affect his outcome."

"Not 'could'; 'would'. I have a feeling that all of the negative emotions will determine who he will become...or what."

"So, do you want me to strike now?" The teen reached for his sword.

The man chuckled. "Not at all. Everything is going according to plan."%

Noa's lashes fluttered open. He yawned as he rose from the comfort of his makeshift bed, better known as his couch, taking an extra moment to stretch.

"Everything is going according to plan," he repeated as he looked over at the digital clock.

"Well shit; it's still Wednesday. Bummer." Noa slumped into the sofa; a bored sigh elevating his bangs. He glanced over at the personal-sized refrigerator and slowly stood, walking over to the small refrigerator and opening the door.

"Hrm."

The refrigerator was nearly bare; its only contents was a container of leftover beef and ramen noodle soup, two cans of sake, and a package of beef curry.

Noa looked at the contents in disapproval, his hand reaching for the contained when he heard a banging on the door.

Maybe it's a delivery boy who got lost and needs to dump his food on someone.

He briskly jogged towards the door.

Perhaps it will be a large order.

He unlocked the two chain locks and swung the door open. His eyes widened with surprise.

"Oh..."

Jounouchi shut the door to his apartment and kicked off his shoes as per usual whenever he arrived home from school.

"Boy! Put those sneakers where they belong! I trip over 'em again; I'm throwin' them out!"

Jounouchi cracked a small smile; it was almost welcoming to hear his drunken dad as he placed his sneakers onto the sneaker rack that stood by the door.

"So, how did them rounds o' poker go last night?" Jounouchi couldn't resist.

"Non'a yer fuckin' business, smart-ass. Did ya remember to pay the electric bill fer this month?"

"If ya mean by last month, then yeah; I did," Jounouchi answered back.

"A'ight. Be sure to do th' food shoppin' this weekend, too, boy. I gotta work some extra hours fer the next week."

"Because you did that well on yer poker game?" Jounouchi wanted to say that out loud so badly, but he didn't feel like sweeping up shards of glass, either.

"If ya don't need me, I'm turnin' in fer the night!" Jounouchi called as he headed for his room, promptly shutting the door behind him as soon as he entered.

He tossed his jacket and briefcase to the usual corner, falling onto his bed and groaning as he did so; he sometimes forgot how uncomfortable his bed was at his apartment compared to the one he slept in at Seto's.

Seto.

He frowned.

Just what the hell did he mean by that "Blue eyes" remark anyway?

He closed his eyes in deep thought.

"Blue Eyes"...why is this botherin' me anyway? Blue eyes...his eyes? but he wears contacts.

...doesn't he?

He sucked at his teeth as he opened his eyes.

Fuck it. That shit can wait when I feel like thinkin' 'bout it. I need to call Higashi. Need to see what's goin' down Sunday night.

Jounouchi reached into his pocket, pulling out a cellular phone with a camouflage motif on its casing. He looked at it with sheepish eyes.

Seto gave me this phone, in case he needed me or somethin'. I gotta stop thinkin' 'bout him too hard.

He motioned to dial a number, when a chime began to play, indicating that it was ringing.

"What the fuck?" Jounouchi stared at the device as if it were possessed.

That's Seto's ring-tone. I doubt he's callin' to apologise fer the argument...he can take it up with my voicemail.

Jounouchi rested the phone on his nightstand, and rested on his bed as he waited for the phone to stop ringing.

Three rings thus far.

Jounouchi thought about the homework he was assigned.

Five rings.

He then smacked his forehead; homework was never a priority with him.

Seven rings.

He wondered when Seto would give up.

It stopped ringing.

Finally. Jounouchi grasped the phone and placed his thumb over the keypad, gradually applying pressure—

It began to ring again. With Seto's ringtone.

"God-damnit!" Jounouchi shouted. He quickly clasped a hand over his mouth and hid the phone beneath a pillow, listening for his dad to start screaming at him to shut up. When he heard nothing, Jounouchi removed his hand from his mouth and the phone from beneath the pillow; it was still rining.

Fine; fine! I'll talk to ya, Seto. But it's gonna be short an' sweet...well; just short.

Jounouchi pressed a button on the phone as he put it to his ear. "What?!"

"Well gee, sorry! If I knew you were jacking off, I'd call at a later time!" A youthful-sounding voice retorted.

Jounouchi's eyes widened. "Mokuba! Holy shit...I thought ya were Seto. And where in the hell did ya learn 'bout—"

"Forget about what I learned; is Seto over there?"

"Ya mean he's not at home?"

"He didn't come home from school! I figured maybe he was with you."

Shit...that only means one thing. Jounouchi clenched his teeth. "Okay; I'm gonna to be comin' over."

"You don't know where Seto is?"

Yes; I do. "I sure don't, kiddo. I mean; he pro'lly had some dealin's to take care of at his company."

"Ohhh...I didn't think of that. Well; hopefully he'll be back soon. Thanks for letting me know."

Jounouchi sighed as he heard the #click# sound of Mokuba hanging his phone up. He placed his cellular phone on his chest, his amber eyes focusing on the ceiling.

"Seto...you're early." Noa briefly inspected Seto's outfit. The brunet was wearing a black long-sleeved zip-up top that gave a peek at his midriff, jet-black jeans and black leather chaps, his infamous "Bad Guy" belt, and large metal-plated cyber-style boots.

"...you look like you're just arriving here from a trip to the S&M club," Noa observed.

The leather-clad Seto stared at Noa with nothing less than pure hatred. "I just wanted to get this over with. Besides, an S&M club surely looks nicer than this snakepit."

Noa blinked. "Uh...but it's early. Didn't we agree upon Thursday?"

"Well; you'll have to forgive me if I decide to hold our meeting a day early."

"Seto, Seto, Seto..." Noa motioned to lay his hand on Seto's shoulder; Seto's right hand snapped up and parried Noa's arm aside. Noa smirked.

"Seto, that's cute that you want to try and bring that little CEO demeanour with you, but I'm personally not feeling it. I issued the challenge, and the date was a mutual agreement. Besides, I chose Thursday because I figured you'd need the extra day to train."

"I've enough training to take you on. I'm ready whenever you are."

Noa crossed his arms over his chest. "Wow; you realllly wanna get this over with...okay. So, which do you prefer to do first? Talk first, fight later or fight first, talk later? I personally recommend the former since you'll actually be ALIVE to hear what I have to say—"

"Fine; we can talk. It seems to be an outstanding attribute of yours anyway," Seto snarled.

"Great. There's my couch; let's sit." Noa motioned to his couch. Seto appeared repulsed by the piece of furniture.

Noa rolled his eyes. "It's relatively new. Nobody's pissed in it; the worse I've ever done is drool on it; maybe."

Seto arched a brow. "'maybe'?"

"Definitely."

"Whatever." Seto seated himself upon the armrest on the far left side of the couch. Noa approached the couch, his midnight blue eyes locked onto Seto's azure pair.

"So, shall we discuss the matter that's eating at you the most, and by that I mean the matter upon who I am, who I really, really am?" Noa inquired.

"Can we? I'd like to get this over with before winter vacation starts."

"Great." Noa clasped his hands together. "Okay...so as you know, I share the same name that you do. And you're probably asking yourself; 'how can that be'?"

"To the point, please."

"Getting to it." Noa held up his right index finger. "The reason why we have the same name is—"

By the time Seto noticed Noa thrust his right hand out towards him, he suddenly blacked out. Noa moved with the rapidness of a striking viper; his fingers pinching the nerve on Seto's neck and instantly rendering him unconscious. He fell over onto his side, laying down on the couch.

Noa smiled as he rose to a standing position.

"I told you that Thursday was the day that we were going to take care of all this. Honestly; I wish you would just listen to your elder brother!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

That Noa is quite the SOB...which is what I'm trying to go for. A lot of the questions surrounding Noa's purpose and even his past will surface in the next installment. As you can see, there's a lot of things being set up here—Jounouchi and Seto are arguing, Anzu's involvement into the whole affair is becoming increasingly prominent, and Amelda's investigation is bound to reveal some answers regarding Noa—and perhaps Seto. And, perhaps Seto's question to Jounouchi regarding the blue-eyes kid will be solved as well—can you figure out what Seto meant?

As for the interlude, you can pretty much guess that it takes place prior to Seto's meeting with Mai. It's simply there to remind the readers not only of Jounouchi's concerns, but also to set up the start of the chapter.

Next installment will see Seto and Noa in an all-out, drag-out, talk it out confrontation, and perhaps the results of Amelda's investigation—and if you recall chapter 12, Seto's battle scene—well, in the next chapter, it'll start making sense.

Also, for the record, Jounouchi and Seto haven't "done the deed" yet. They're simply sleeping in the same bed for the time being.

Thank you once again for your reading and reviewing! 150 reviews; thanks a lot for your continued support, y'all!

(P.S. I'd like to thank Elf, who consulted me in regards to the pinch hold Noa used.)