Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh

Note: It's 11/14/04. I'm almost done! God, I can't wait. I think I'm ready to move on now, but I made a commitment, and I'll stick to it! So I'm going to spend another few hours editing the fic before posting it up. So yeah. Hopefully I'll get done today. Oh yes, this is all third person.

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Ugh. What did I do last night that made me so groggy today? Seto thought. Oh yeah. Took my sister to that stupid party. Then came home and worked. What time did I get to sleep? Two? What time is it now? Kaiba checked the clock and groaned. Eight in the morning. Great. He had a busy day ahead of him. Ugh, he thought again. Where's Takara?

His eyes flew open when he thought that. Takara wasn't in the house. She'd disobeyed his orders, and left. He could feel it. He remembered when he had first brought Takara to the mansion. He knew it was a stupid idea. "You're such an insensitive jerk, you know that?!" Takara slammed the door of Kaiba's Lexus. Hard enough to rock the car.

When he finished dressing in a new outfit, he headed to the door. But before he could reach it, the phone rang, as if on cue. He picked it up, and answered it in his cold and menacing voice. "Yes?"

"Hi Seto!" Takara chirped brightly. Kaiba groaned.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh nothing," Takara said. "Just, you know, heading for the mall. I kinda borrowed your car and like, two hundred dollars. That's not a lot, but it's good."

"Which car?" Kaiba demanded. "How did you get the cash?"

"Uhhhh... the blue Lexus. The Marine blue one. Not the baby blue one or the robins egg blue one. And the money is the emergency money that was in the glove compartment." Kaiba was going to say something else, but she interrupted him by saying, "I'm there now. Gotta go! You don't have to worry about me."

"Wait! Takara, I-" The click seemed loud and endless in Kaiba's ear. Ugh, Kaiba thought again. He picked up the phone, again, and dialed a number.

"Mister Kaiba?" a gruff voice said.

"Nelson. The girl with the long blue hair and blue eyes? Could you find her for me?"

There was a pause. Kaiba had never, EVER, asked something. He normally just ordered it. "Can do. Do you want her back here?"

"No," Kaiba said. "Just make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. If she does, yes, bring her back. She's at the mall right now. Blue Lexus." He hung up. Rubbing his temples, he hoped Takara was right. He hoped he didn't have to worry about her.

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Takara put down the phone. She checked her apparel, a pleated mini skirt and tank top. It wasn't too bad, but the color clashed with her hair slightly. Not too horribly, but it was bad enough to make her want to wince. Humming, Takara stepped out of the car, locking it with the push of a button. It seemed strange to her that she'd only been in Domino for a week...

She entered a store, and was browsing around the earrings section where she found a pair of dangling onyx skull earrings. They matched her necklace (sort of, in that they were both onyx,) so she decided to get them. She'd found a pair of small diamond studs and a new leather cuff too, with silver skulls placed every half inch. Five skulls in all. She looked down at her wrist and smiled. She'd painted a henna-like pattern on her wrist, over the burn, so anyone looking wouldn't be able to see it. Of course, the pattern only fell between her cuff tan lines, where her skin was paper white. She took a step back, to make her way towards the cash register to pay for her items, when she almost tripped over someone.

"Ahhh!"

"Whoa!"

When Takara regained her balance, she realized that she'd crashed into Duke. Of all the people... Tamara's thought never finished. "Diana! It's so nice to see you again."

Duke had taken her hand in his and was raising it to his lips when she snatched it away. He was really pissing her off. She smiled a poisonously sweet smile at him. "I'm sorry, but I kinda have to go pay for these things now. . ." Duke was undeterred.

"Here, I'll get those for you..." Some how she found that Duke was holding all the things she was going to buy. Tamara glanced out the windows and saw all the fangirls who were waiting outside for him.

"I think I can get these, thank-you-very-much. Don't you want to go back to your-"

"No, it's quite alright," Duke said, walking over to the register. He whipped out a credit card, and against Takara's protests, paid for her items. "Here you go," he said, handing her the plastic bag. Tamara blushed slightly. She really didn't need his help. But since she got it...

"Uh, thanks," she muttered, digging into her bag. "Here," she said, handing him one of the dangling skull earrings. His smile broadened.

"No, it's alright Diana, I don't need it. . ."

"No, take it," Tamara said, feeling a little annoyed at him. "I only have three piercings, and you came in here for an earring too. I can tell because your missing your earring..."

Heh, Duke thought. Wait a minute... "How do you know I'm missing an earring? I wasn't wearing one last night." "Diana" reddened.

"Uh, my friends back north taped your duels with Joey. . . Wheeler and Yugi Motou a while back. Remember? And then you made Wheeler wear that dog suit..."

"Oh yeah," Duke laughed. "That was fun."

"Well, they force me to watch it all the time, so I know you have this die earring. . ." She pressed the earring into his hand, feeling that she needed to pay him back.

"Oh, okay then, thanks," Duke said, putting the earring into his ear. When he looked up, Diana had put in her earrings too, and was slapping the leather cuff over her burn before anyone could see it. They locked gazes. Something about Diana was so familiar to Duke...

"Hey kids! No loitering!" the store keeper yelled at them. Tamara broke Duke's gaze, and grinned.

"Well, thanks any ways. I gotta go now. . ." She pushed past Duke, who grabbed her by the wrist. Tamara looked back at him.

"Why don't stay, Diana? We could, you know, walk around and stuff." Tamara nearly scoffed. Diana again. This kid wasn't bright, was he? Or maybe he was hanging around to many bimbos to notice that she was the same girl that had turned him down only a few days before. Thinking of this made Tamara feel sick again. That was the day she'd contracted her illness. She thought she had gotten over it. . .

"No Duke, I really can't." Tamara grimaced as she turned a pale shade of green. Gently, she used her other hand to pry Duke's fingers from her wrist. "Thanks for the offer though." She turned her heel and ran off towards the bathroom.

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Kaiba dressed himself up for the tournament, in black pants with buckles on the legs and a black shirt with buckles on the arms. He wore a white sleeveless studded trench coat that swept the ground. He studied his appearance in the mirror. Not bad, he thought. "Nii-sama?" he heard Mokuba inquire, breaking into his thoughts. He looked at his younger brother. "Can I go to Justin's again?"

Kaiba sighed. "Sure. I'll drive you, as long as you come home in the afternoon. I have somewhere to go today anyways."

"Yea!" Mokuba cheered.

"Wait, I have to do something first. Wait by the red Nissan."

"Which one?" Mokuba asked. "The tomato red, the ruby red. . ."

"The, uh, wait. The silver one." He had to have less of those. "Okay, then the silver one with black flames, red flames. . ."

"The plain silver one."

"Okay! I'll see you in a few!" Mokuba ran out the door.

"Why do I have so many cars anyways?" Kaiba muttered, dialing Nelson's number. "I don't even LIKE collecting cars. Oh yeah, because of Mokuba. . ."

"Nelson here."

"Any news on the girl?" Kaiba rubbed his temples. Tamara was a real nuisance.

"Ummm. . . well. . . the car got towed away. You'll have to come by with a spare key later if you have the time." Kaiba groaned.

"How did THAT happen?" he asked.

"Well, uh, mister Kaiba, the girl parked in the blue zone." Kaiba nearly laughed out loud. His sister was a real idiot, if she parked in the handicapped parking area. Of course, she could've done it deliberately to throw off Kaiba's people.

"Where are you?" Kaiba suddenly demanded.

"I'm at the car pound, sir." Kaiba groaned. He was afraid of that.

"I told you to follow the girl!" Kaiba yelled in the receiver. "I don't know why I bother with you if you can't even follow simple directions! Gawd, by the time you get back there, Tamara could be anywhere!" Kaiba was to angry to notice that he had let the girl's name slip.

"Well, uh, sir, can I ask you something?"

"You already did," Kaiba said through gritted teeth. Nelson took this as a yes.

"Well, uh, why is this Tamara so important to you?" Silence.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD ASK A QUESTION?!" Nelson cringed.

He waited for his boss to ventilate a little bit. "Just go find her."

Nelson was about to hang up when he heard Kaiba say something. "Gawd, stupid sisters," Kaiba muttered, a bit loudly, under his breath. He slammed down the receiver.

Now he had to drop Mokuba off and go talk to the police. Don't forget your sister's deck, his goddamned other voice told him. Tin box, flame boy, top drawer. Got it, he told himself. Kaiba groaned and slapped his forehead.

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Tamara washed her face in the ladies room, ignoring the looks from the ladies who'd heard her barfing. I am not god damned bulimic! she thought in rage. She angrily grabbed a paper towel from the dispenser and wiped her face a bit harshly. She pushed her way out the door, and tossed the crumpled paper towel into a trash can. She longed to go back to the mansion now, despite that she knew the car had probably been towed. Plus she didn't have her license with her, and if she HAD got caught anyways. . .

"You feeling better Diana?" Tamara had to work not to roll her eyes. "I actually don't feel like talking right now, Duke." She tried to brush past him again, but he got in her way.

"No, seriously Diana. I saw you turn green. I just want to know..." Duke had a genuine look of concern on his face. Tamara sighed. There was no easy way out of this.

"I'm alright. Must've been something I ate last night... I mean, the lobster WAS a little rich, and I don't go to those kind of things often." Tamara giggled uneasily. "I kinda have to go, though..."

"Why don't you hang out with me?" Duke asked. Tamara gave a little smile.

"Naw," she said. "I have to get back to the mansion anyways. Thanks for the offer, though." With that, she strode purposefully to the door, ignoring everything else around her.

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Kaiba checked his watch. He didn't really want to be at the orphanage. It brought back bad memories. It also reminded him that he wanted to go back to organizing his tournament, even though preparations were almost done. But there he was, in Takara's old room, walking around. Supposedly nothing had been taken from here since Takara left. Right, Kaiba thought, poking through the near empty drawers. He'd been unable to find Takara's deck, which disturbed him slightly. His sister might be a nuisance, but if she said something as important as her deck was somewhere, it should be there. But it wasn't.

"Mr. Kaiba." Kaiba looked at the door, where Detectives Haylie and Reese stood. Reese, apparently was mad at Kaiba. "Nosy, are we?"

"Just looking around," Kaiba replied cooly, in a tone that said he didn't want to be there longer than necessary. Then again, that was his default tone.

"We searched the entire room," Reese said, his eyes focusing unapprovingly on the young CEO. "There was nothing in here. We left every thing as we found it. We didn't take anything."

"Not even her dueling deck?" Kaiba asked, taking another look around the room and ignoring the older male.

"We didn't find a dueling deck anywhere," Reese said suspiciously. "How would you know she had one?"

"Well, she did participate in Maximilian Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom. Duelists that serious always keep their decks around."

"Well, it wasn't here. She must've taken it with her." Haylie took out a note pad and made a note on it. "Were you in school on Monday?"

"Monday? Yes I was," Kaiba said.

"Oh, by the way, you can take a seat. We have a lot of questions for you."

"No, I'd prefer to stay standing." He put down his silver briefcase though.

"Is it true that Takara had gotten in trouble for vandalism only on Monday?"

"Yes," Kaiba said, sitting down on the bed and stretching out on it. "It wasn't a true statement, though. Some porks, Tammy and Tommy, blamed her. I agreed because I hated her, but I knew full well she wasn't guilty of the charge. It was three against one, who would've believed her?"

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Note: This chapter is also where I introduced my muse, a blue-eyes white dragonling by the name of Bobby. He's named after Bobby Pendragon, from the series Pendragon by DJ Mchale. Isn't he so cute?

Bobby: Rawer!