YUGIOH

MP: Aftermath

Chapter 7.

Night had fallen before long, and the doorbell rang. Kaiba's butler opened the door, letting in his guest, who seemed to have honored Kaiba's request and came alone without protest. The butler lead him to some kind of activity room, where there were various types of games offered....from a pool table, to a setup chess game, to a help yourself mini snack bar, some various video games, what looked like a mini virtual reality system, and some kind of mechanized contraption that looked kind of like a lamp with a metal disk-like item below it on the floor -- the rest of that area was totally clear of anything. Encased in a glass shelf not too far off were two duel disk systems.

'Wow, this place is great! I don't think I remember this room before. I wonder when he arranged this place?' Yugi said to Yami.

"I don't know." Yami said, turning to confirm the butler did in fact leave. "I'm still wondering if Kaiba is on his way, or is simply sitting in another room watching us...."

'Huh?' Yugi ask. To answer Yugi next question, Yami then looked up at the small camera that seemed to focus on most of the room. 'You think he's watching us, Spirit?'

"Nice to see you made it." Kaiba said, walking in, before Yami could answer him. "I wasn't sure if you were going to chicken out, seeing as you didn't have your friends here to cheer you on."

Yami turned to face Kaiba, saying, "There is one particular friend that was quite anxious to come with me, and I'm not entirely sure who he'd be routing for, this time. I think you know who I mean."

"I couldn't care less who you mean." Kaiba answered without skipping a beat, as he approached the case. "I didn't call you over here to socialize, I came here to duel....and I wasn't in the mood for distractions."

"Distractions for me or for you, Kaiba?" Yami asked.

Kaiba hesitated a bit after hearing Yami's words, as he was opening the case. But he then continued to open the case, and pulled out both systems. Kaiba then walked back over to Yami, handing him the duel disk, saying, "You may notice it no longer has the electronic shooters on it that creates the virtual reality monsters. I've been working on a new way to bring that up, which you'll see in this duel." He then brought his hand forward to approach the empty area with the strange lamp.

Yami approached the area, saying, "You didn't answer my question, Kaiba."

"Your friend is living in a fantasy world, Yugi. He's going to have to learn to grow up and move on." Kaiba finally answered, placing his deck into the duel disk.

Yami did the same, and as soon as he did, the connection of the decks to the system activated the lamp to turn on, emitting what appeared to be a very faint ultra-violet light, while the bottom plate lit up to show simply violet lights on it, though it didn't seem to emit anything. "Instead of having wires shoot out to bring out the 3-dimensional holograms, it is now all controlled by wireless. I am connecting the technology of the prototype duel disk system with the systems you are used to playing with. They should be a hot item by next year's Tournament, once everything's worked out."

"I see...." Yami said, looking over the item. "So why don't you return Joey's phone calls? Is it because you simply feel it's not worth your time, or are you afraid to talk to him?"

"Are we here to duel, or whine about your friends all night?" Kaiba snapped, annoyed.

"Fine....let's duel!" Yami stated.

As they put their first monsters out, Yami was able to see the center device controlling the monsters. The nearly invisible light was barely seen projecting the monsters, as they were up for battle. It was quite a new interesting way of doing it. As they battled, Kaiba was confident that he could win out. As usual Kaiba took the lead, but somehow yet again, Yami had found a way to turn it around before it was too late. It was a very close, but by the end....Yami was the victor. And just to rub it in Kaiba's face, he lost to Yami who merely had 100 life points remaining.

Kaiba scowled, as he crossed his arms, looking ahead at the lack of monsters on the field and his 0 points remaining. "I'm afraid I won, Kaiba." Yami said to him. "It was a good game. I....hope you're not holding a grudge for losing, like last time."

Kaiba re-directed his glare to Yami, who was hiding his smile, but Kaiba could clearly see that smug look on his face. "Hmph....the only grudge I'm holding is the insult you left me with, when you let that loser beat you. There was no way he could have won, if you were playing your best. Admit it!"

"I....well, I was distracted that day, I admit." Yami said. "I was still getting over....what happened....at Kaiba Land." Yami answered, still feeling a bit awkward to talk about it.

Kaiba stared at Yami, watching his shift of movements, showing his discomfort. Yet Kaiba did not react the same. Instead he put on a smirk, letting out a "hmph", as he put down the duel disk, and headed towards the snack bar.

"I knew there was no way Wheeler could have won on his own." He said opening the fridge and pulling two pops out, one for Yami, who approached to take it. "I suppose if I was really desperate to beat you, I could have made a few simple comments to bring you back to memory lane, and watch you squirm just like you were a moment ago."

Yami paused at that, looking up at Kaiba. "What happened....doesn't seem to bother you so much, now." He noted, picking up his pop.

"I must hear the rumors of my kidnapping and possibly my temporary sex change atleast once a day at the office. If I didn't allow myself to become numb from it by now, it probably would have driven me insane. I'm not going to sit around belly-aching over something that was out of my control. When I realized what happened, I took care of it....there's nothing more I could have done. Now all I can do is try to fix the problems that resulted from it." Kaiba explained, sipping from his pop bottle.

"And what problems would you be referring to?" Yami asked.

Kaiba paused, looking at the details of his pop bottle, stating, "Minor details....nothing important."

"You know Kaiba, you seemed rather....obsessed about my beating you last time. I hope you have learned to curb that problem." Yami smiled.

Kaiba glanced back down at Yami, and smiled back, more coldly though. "I think I have. After all....I've already beaten you in a game."

"You ha--?" Yami began to ask, then realized what game Kaiba was talking about, and turned all red, choking from the sudden dryness of his throat.

Kaiba smiled, then couldn't take it and turned away, laughing. "I hope I'm taping this....that look on your face is priceless!"

Yami tried to contain himself, being embarrassed enough, as he stuttered out, "I....I just didn't think you'd ever mentioned that again. It wasn't a very proud moment for either of us."

"You know what you're problem is, Yugi....you care too much." Kaiba turned back towards him, smiling mischievously. "I took it as a conquest, while you took it as some kind of 'personal' moment."

Kaiba now approached Yami, causing the pharaoh to back away, looking fearful. But Kaiba stopped him, by snagging onto his studded collar with his finger, and pulled him closer, saying, "Even now, if I wanted to....I could do that to you again, and I guarantee you'd still crumble....no matter what I look like. And the reason is because you feel too much. You might beat me in Duel Monsters Yugi, but I'm the first who ever broke you."

He studied the fear and discomfort in Yami's eyes, intrigued that for the first time the pharaoh was quiet, without a reply. Kaiba added, "Don't worry, Yugi....I wouldn't do anything like that. Even though it might be tempting just to see that stupid look on your face, I wouldn't insult myself by doing it. Nice collar, by the way. Never noticed you had one before. Now I guess there's two of you with dog collars...."

Yami noticed the sudden change of attitude from Kaiba when he said that, though. Kaiba was obviously saying that to mock him, but it brought back thoughts on Joey again, making his eyes look almost sad, and he felt Kaiba's finger move ever so slightly underneath the collar, as if momentarily reminiscing on something. Kaiba released Yugi, and turned away to get his pop he left at the snack bar.

"I can see it in your eyes, Kaiba. You care a great deal for Joey. So, why don't you talk to him? You must know by now that you're not alone. He has suffered the same as you have." Yami stated.

Kaiba scowled, "Bullshit! Until he finds one of those machines and turns himself into a chick for 4 days straight, don't tell me about him knowing the misery I had to put up with."

Yet, quickly Kaiba's scowled changed to a sneer, as he added, "Besides....you're wrong about me, Yugi. Infact....I got a date tomorrow, with someone you and your friends are quite familiar with."

"A date?" Yami asked.

"Yes." Kaiba turned to face Yami, the evil grin still etched into his features. "For about a week, I've been seeing Mai Valentine. We've just reached a point in our relationship to start dating now, which begins tomorrow evening, at 7pm, at the Starlight House. I plan on it being a night to remember...."

"You're dating Mai? Why would you do that? You have feelings for Joey!" Yami said.

Kaiba scowled, "It's funny that for some reason both you and Joey are missing a very important point, that we are both guys. I don't know what your interests are, but mine tend to be towards the opposite sex. I am 'normal'!"

"So that's what it is...." Yami said, closing his eyes. "You allowed yourself to be so concerned about what's normal and what's not, that you have pushed away someone you truly care for. As long as you continue to worry about what matches you the best, you will never be happy, Kaiba. Is that what you want?"

Kaiba opened his mouth, about to retort....but he stopped himself, realizing Yami had almost gotten him flustered. If Kaiba did that, he would undoubtedly say something stupid, walking right into Yami's trap. So instead, Kaiba chilled, as he then smiled coldly, saying, "I am happy, Yugi. You're the one who keeps insisting that Joey means something to me. But, you're wrong. He is nothing to me but a worthless loser. I found what interests me, and that's Mai. I'm quite happy with her, and plan on continuing my relationship. And there's nothing you or Joey can do about it!" Kaiba stated. "I think it's time we say our good-bye's, Yugi. I'll just have to challenge you at the next tournament."

"I suppose so. I'll let myself out." Yami said, heading towards the door. "Oh btw, Kaiba....you called him Joey...." and walked out.

Kaiba turned away, scowling, as he whispered, "Damn." He couldn't believe he let that slip out.