Hello, hello! My sixth chapter arrives! At the risk of being redundant: THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED!!!!!!! Response:

Darkest Aphelion: Romance? DEFINITELY!- As for how many chapters...I would say at least 10, but really I'm not too sure. I just write when the ideas come, you know?

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I thank whoever does for creating it, (now just hand it over nicely...that's it...)

Chapter 6: The Opening and the Unwanted Meeting

"SETO! GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"

"I can't! I can't see!"

"Seto! NOW!!!"

"I...I...I can't!"

"So, the great Seto Kaiba has finally given up and dulled his sharp soul!"

"Shut UP!!!!!" I plunged at him, but there was no more dream for that night.

It seemed that was my one destination. Fight until the death, the want to, but only to find that I was awake at the last second. Lock's words had somehow snuck in there. I couldn't stop thinking about them. Was he right? No....but how should I know?

Apparently, I couldn't seem to get anything about that crazy guy out of my impenetrable skull. He was a damn paper-cut that wouldn't heal. He caused so many questions and disbelief and, well, a general sense self doubt. Sure, he was blind...how could he run a tournament, anyway?

And what did he use to get around with? I sensed no dog, heard no cane, and I was sure he didn't trip at any time...how? I eventually lost track of the amount of times I asked my secretary Lola if she was absolutely positive about her assumption, (for all I knew, it was only assumption, not fact). But she held strong, (a considerable change of pace for her).

I consulted with Mokuba before I completely lost my mind and decided to go to the tournament. He tried to stay neutral, I think, because I didn't really understand his reply when I asked, "Should I even show my face at the tournament?"

"Well...on one hand it is a good idea. I mean it would so give you back one of your old passions, you know? But...I kind of don't know how you even can duel because you're blind, now, so...."

"Yes, but what do YOU think?"

"I think it would be good and bad. But some people do go both ways, you know? Maybe it could be like that." What the hell did that mean? He was talking in utter circles and he was losing me.

So I couldn't ask Mokuba anymore. Then who would I? If I remember correctly, and I do, once I even thought about giving Yugi Motou a call...but then mentally slapped myself. No way was I going to talk to him right now. If he was invited to the same tournament...well, I would have to go, but I would ultimately loose.

Whenever I thought, it all ended in one single knot that I couldn't break. There was always one last thought before I gave up: I'll make it worth your while. What could he mean? Surely he was talking about a strategy or a card, but did it have to do with my blindness?

Wednesday night, I had some serious questioning of myself. But, sometimes it seems that just when you need it most, your thoughts won't come. I spent the whole night with no sleep, (nothing new), just willing myself to see what I hadn't for a whole week. Nothing came.

Thursday came, though. And I was without a decision. I spent the day in Kaiba Corp. very disgruntled.

As much as I did not want it to, 5:00 rolled around. I guess ultimately what made me go was the thought that it didn't matter what happened at the opening, if I didn't like it or realized it was out of my league—THAT IS, I wasn't ready for it yet—I could just leave and never go back. What the hell, right?

Mokuba walked me to the clock tower. I could tell that there was something going on because right when we neared; I felt and heard this gigantic mob of people—suffocating me, in truth—standing around and talking in anticipation.

"Is it true?" I heard one ask as Mokuba and I tried to squeeze through into open air, again. "That the guy running this is blind?"

"I don't know, but I heard that his profession is grave digging!"

"What a weirdo!" Really, I wondered how any of them got invited. Did Lock do what I had done, search for the elite duelists in the country and give them an anonymous invitation? Somehow I doubted it. Maybe he would reiterate in his speech, if, indeed, that's what he was making.

Once free of that crowd, Mokuba found a bench and told me to sit there and "hang tight" for a little while. "I just have to go find out something." He didn't tell me what.

I didn't really like being alone in a new place, but whatever. I could handle it. Or so I thought.

It wasn't very long before I heard five distinct voices I would rather not have heard any time soon, (or ever, for that matter). My stomach turned in disgust and tension.

"I feel kinda bad that all these people are here just to lose!" The heavy, exaggerated Brooklyn accent that only meant one thing to me wafted across to my unwillingly listening ears.

"Come on, Joey, you might not win!" A girlish, woman admiring voice followed.

"Hey, where's the love?" Brooklyn again.

"Personally, I think Joey's gonna wipe the floor with all these guys...if he can get past Yugi, that is." A boyish, man slow light voice put out.

"Thanks, guys, but I think there are a lot of great duelists here. I can't wait to get started!" Now a voice that I knew quite well, childish, male-preppy, and none other thank Yugi's.

"Well, I'm just glad that I can finally see a duel—without any complications. Just for fun, right Big Brother?" Whoever that was, I had not been sure of; she had a mild very small voice and very depending. I tried to remember another member of Yugi's crowd, but I really had trouble with that part.

"Yep!" At that point all I could do was hope and pray that they did not come near my bench. I had singled them out with my ears and heard only their footsteps afterward. In horror, I listened as they inevitably neared.

Could I pretend to ignore them? Would that be like hiding? I didn't know and either way, they would notice me sitting there like a bright red light in the dark. Damn.

"Hey...isn't that Kaiba?" Why did he have to say it? That mangy, straggly boy who refused to speak correctly...why was he the one to announce my presence? Damn him.

"You're right..." Tèa. "Why is he here? I mean...he can't..." So, she didn't have the guts to state her disbeliefs about my coming. But the way she said "he"...damn, I could have seriously killed her.

"Let's go talk to him, you guys!" Yugi. So over-enthusiastic, he was. Why couldn't he have just walked away and listened to his friends, who protested, "What, why?"

"Yugi, let's just leave him alone..." Now there was a good idea!

"No, I wanna see how he's doing. Hey, Kaiba!" Oh...he had called my name...should I ignore him? I thought of Mokuba saying he had visited me in the hospital. I couldn't just ignore him.

I lifted my head, (which had since been cocked in the direction of the ground to make me seem inconspicuous, a very hard thing to do), but kept my eyes staring at the area in front of me. "What's up, Kaiba?" He persisted.

They were so close to me now, I hated it. I felt their stares bore into me and Yugi's smile, (which I had no doubt he was wearing for emphasis), caricature the whole thing. Maybe if I was as irritable as possible they would go away. But...he was with Mokuba when I was near death...oh, I owed him. As much as I hated it, I owed him a lot.

"Hanging in there, man?" Why is this phrase so popular? What does it mean, literally? I hate it. It should be banned from the English language. Really.

"Yugi?" I asked. I tried to pretend I didn't really know who they were, though I had heard them coming from a mile away.

"Yeah, man, it's us. How's it going?"

"Good afternoon, Kaiba." It was Wheeler. He was oddly close to me...I knew what he was doing. I grabbed his hand where it was in front of my face and felt his middle finger standing by itself to curse me out.

"Well, that's not very nice," I said with a sneer. "Who taught you to do that, your trailer-trash mother?"

"Hey! Let go of my hand." I was crunching the bones with ease, it's what he deserved. I enjoyed his grunts of pain.

"Come on guys, stop. That was mean Joey..." I let go. Whoever was that didn't like our tuft, she sounded like an innocent. I hated innocents.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." Joey scampered back to his friends.

"So, what are your plans for this tournament, Kaiba?" Yugi, again, unmoved by Joey's little trick.

"I'm going to sit here and listen to the opening and then I am going to decide whether or not this tournament is really worth my time."

"How are you going to duel, anyway, Kaiba? I mean..."

I tried to move my head to her voice, which meant trying to look at her in my world, and said, "Now, there is a question you should ask the man who has been bothering me for the past week to come."

I think the innocent girl wanted to say something, right then, because she made a noise like, "I th.." but then there was a booming sound. It was so loud, I got disorientated for a few moments. But soon I figured out it was only the microphone-voice of a man other then Lock saying:

"WELCOME TO THE KACKO'S DUEL MONSTERS TOURNAMENT!!! WE HAVE AN EXCELLENT TOURNAMENT IN STORE FOR ALL OF YOU!!!

"I TRUST YOU ALL KNOW WHY YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN FOR THIS TOURNAMENT—YOU ALL HAVE A PASSION FOR DUEL MONSTERS!!!! YOU ENJOY PLAYING FOR NOTHING OR EVERYTHING AND SUCH IS WISE IN THE SCHEME OF LIFE!!!!!

"THE RULES ARE SIMPLE...." He went on to explain them. I had long since covered my ears to try and block out the earsplitting noise. I was not concentrating on the rules. In my blindness, I didn't care. Tèa had pointed out the obvious, and it haunted me.

In all actuality, I had begun to leave when suddenly the speech ended. The noise just stopped abruptly. I sat down again. Everyone was leaving and moving around talking anxiously about the things just said that I had missed. That is, everyone but Yugi and his friends.

"Cool, sounds like fun you guys. It'll be nice to have to play a tournament for the sake of the world, again!" Some of them laughed but I was sort of stuck between worlds. I had missed everything, I wasn't supposed to be there, I couldn't be, and yet I felt like it was necessary.

"Let's go look around for someone willing duel the World Champ!" Tristan, I think said this. Yugi was only the World Champion because he had beaten me. That hurt.

"You wanna come, too, Kaiba?" I couldn't believe it. He had actually invited me to come along with his little group? Why? He better not take pity on me, I thought.

But I couldn't go with them. I had to go home. This was painful to say and think, but I managed, "No. I don't belong here." I got up again to go. Where the hell was Mokuba?

"Hey, Seto!" Ah, there he was. "I brought you a reason to stay!"

"So you decided to come, Seto Kaiba. Follow me then if you want to stay." Lock.

"No, I don't want to stay."

"Why? I can teach you to duel again."

"I don't want you teach me."

"Then what do you want?" What did I want if not to be taught? To learn by myself? That couldn't happen. I had to go with him, whether I wanted to or not.

"Fine, then." I picked up my brief case and tapped towards their voice, leaving Yugi and his friends, who had been witnesses to all this, behind me.

"You've made a considerably wise decision. Come." Mokuba took my arm, but Lock stopped him. "No, he can do it himself."

"Ummm....ok..." Mokuba had gotten used to our silent agreement of dependence. I wasn't so sure, either...I went in the direction I thought was Lock's voice and only stopped when I touched him with my cane.

"That's good, I guess, if you want to try and become a model." I didn't get the joke. Whatever, I could hurt him if I needed and he knew it, I think.

"Just show me what you came to do."

"Should I show you, or teach you?"

"There's no difference."

"Ah, but there is." He was a difficult one, and strange, too. I did not want to go with him at all, but what choice did I have? I wanted to learn how to duel again, and he was the only one who could teach me.

So I followed him, shakily, but in a constant direction to the place I would regain myself.