Chapter 3: Troubles

After about an hour Yami came in to see if Mokuba was all right. He stopped suddenly noticing that Kaiba was in there with him. He thought it best not to go in just yet. Mokuba seemed pretty upset. He could tell Mokuba was crying into his brother's shirt, but Kaiba didn't seem to be caring. Or noticing for that matter. Yami raised an eyebrow.

'I wonder what's goin on,' wondered Yugi

"Yes, as do I," agreed Yami.

'Should we go see?'

Yami shook his head.

'Why not?'

"I believe this is between them."

'But Kaiba isn't doing ANYTHING to help out Mokuba,' protested Yugi, 'and you're saying we should just stand by and watch!'

"As much as I don't want to see friends hurting we shouldn't bother them," Yami explained. "Not just yet."

Yugi nodded and Yami watched the two brothers.

"Seto," Mokuba sniffed.

"Hmmm," he answered.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, you don't need to worry about me."

'He always says that to me," Mokuba thought to himself.

At that moment Kaiba realized that Yami was standing outside the doorway.

"Don't you know that it's impolite to eavesdrop?" Kaiba snapped at him.

Mokuba turned around and saw Yami walk in.

"I wasn't eavesdropping," he simply answered.

"Then what were you doing?"

"Waiting to talk to you."

"I don't want or need to talk to you, Yugi."

"I just have some quick questions to ask," Yami said.

"Fine," he said, clearly aggravated. "Mokuba, go to your room or something for awhile."

"But Seto!" he whined.

"Now," Kaiba said firmly.

Mokuba nodded sadly and went to the game room with the rest of Yugi's friends. Yami walked over and stood in front of Kaiba.

"It seems you've been acting strangely today," said Yami.

"And how would you know this?" asked Kaiba.

"From the way Mokuba was acting."

"What makes you think it?"

"He seemed surprised to find you asleep in your office," said Yami.

"So I took a nap," snapped Kaiba. "I didn't know that was illegal."

"It's not."

"Then why do you care!"

"Kaiba, believe it or not other people have fears that you could be in danger," Yami told him.

"Is that so Yugi, well then what am I in danger of?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Yami answered truthfully. "But I can sense something wrong and it is strongest around you."

"Enough with your nonsense!" Kaiba yelled furiously. "Everything is just fine!"

"I'm not even sure you believe that, Kaiba," Yami snapped back. "I know you know that something doesn't feel right."

"How would you know how I feel? No one knows how I feel and never will!"

"We would if you wouldn't keep it all inside!"

"I don't need to tell people about my life especially when it's none of their business!"

"Kaiba, all I'm wondering about is if you feel alright," Yami said, calming down.

"I already said I'm fine!" Kaiba yelled at him.

"Yes, but is what you say true?"

"Yugi, I know that you have good intentions, but I don't really care! Now get out of my house and off my property!"

Kaiba gave Yami an ice cold look that even sent chills up his spine, and then walked out of the room and went back upstairs.

'He was being defensive,' stated Yugi. 'Could that mean something?'

"Perhaps," said Yami. "We'll see."

They switched places and Yugi went off to gather his friends and leave like Kaiba said. As soon as they left, Mokuba ran all around looking for his brother. He knew something was wrong and wanted to find out. He found him in his room just laying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

"Watcha doin', Big brother?" Mokuba asked.

"Nothing," Kaiba sighed. Mokuba laid down beside him.

"Can I do nothing with you?"

"I don't care."

Mokuba placed his head upon his brother's chest. Kaiba just sighed. Mokuba started to look out the window toward the sky. It was getting cloudy outside like it was going to start pouring down rain.

"Hey Bro, you always said that Mom and Dad looked down at us from the stars," started Mokuba.

"Mmhmm."

"But what happens when it's cloudy and we can't see the stars? Can they still see us?"

"I don't know."

"But you know everything!"

"I'm sure they find a way to, Mokuba."

Mokuba smiled.

"They still love us right?" Mokuba asked.

Seto hesitated, "Yeah, they still love us."

"Seto, I miss Daddy."

"I know."

"Do you?"

Seto never answered that question when it came up. He didn't want Mokuba knowing how he really felt. So like always Seto kept his mouth shut. Mokuba felt more tears forming in his eyes. He just wanted his brother to talk to him. He didn't like crying so much, but he felt like he was weak compared to his brother. He wanted to be brave like his brother and fear nothing. Unfortunately he felt like he couldn't.

"Mokuba, I'm going to go do some more work," said Seto all the sudden.

"Okay," said Mokuba sadly.

Mokuba sat up to let his brother get up. Seto went back to his office feeling miserable. Not just because he knew his brother was upset, but because of the dream he'd had. Seto locked the door behind him and sat down on the couch to think.

Yugi and the gang were headed toward the park to relax. Joey was still mad because Kaiba kicked them out, and Tristan wasn't too thrilled about that either. Yugi looked all around like he was paranoid and Téa was worried about him.

"You okay, Yugi?" she asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," he answered.

"You seem like something's on your mind."

"It's just that when Yami was talking to Kaiba about feeling alright he was extremely defensive."

"Isn't he like that anyways?"

"Yeah, but he just seemed like he offended him."

"Well you know Kaiba," she said, "he was probably mad that we were there and just wanted us out as fast as possible."

"Maybe," said Yugi. "But Yami said he sensed that something was wrong and that the feeling was strongest when around Kaiba."

"Then what are we going to do about it?"

"Yami said that we'd just keep an eye on him."

"Sounds like a good plan for right now," she agreed.

Just then Téa's cell phone rang. She searched around in her purse for it.

"Hello," she answered. "Yeah, Yugi's right here."

Téa handed the phone to him, "Hello."

"Yugi, I'm having a bit of trouble down her!" cried Solomon, on the other line.

"They're back again, aren't they?"Yugi asked.

"I need your help here, Yugi!"

"We're on it!"

"Hurry!" cried Solomon before he abruptly hung up. Yugi handed Téa's phone back.

"What did your grandpa want?" she asked him.

"Guys, he needs our help," Yugi said.

"Not again!" complained Tristan.

"This is just annoyin'!" cried Joey.

"I was wondering if you could help out," Yugi said to Joey.

"Sure," agreed Joey. "I'm game."

"Okay here's the plan," said Yugi.

At the game shop, Solomon was struggling against the crowd.

"I told you he's not here!" said Solomon.

"Yeah right Gramps, you're just coverin' up for him!" said an angry duelist.

"HEY!" yelled Joey from the corner of the sidewalk.

"Hey ain't that the Wheeler kid?" asked another duelist.

"Isn't he friends with Yugi?" asked another.

"You bet and you won't find Yuge in there!" Joey told them. "I happen to know where he is."

"Then you better take us to him!" yelled another angry duelist.

"Well it wouldn't do much good to do that," said Joey.

"Why is that?" yelled a female duelist.

"Haven't you heard? Yugi doesn't have the God Cards anymore," Joey lied.

"WHAT?!" yelled everyone.

"That's right," said Joey. "And I happen to know where they are too!"

"Tell us!" they yelled.

"Well in order to tell you, I'll have to lose to two of ya," challenged Joey. "But if I win twice you don't get any info outta me."

"You're on!" yelled a tough looking male duelist. "I'll duel first."

"Alright," smiled Joey.

They both activated their duel disks and drew their cards. The other duelist started off the duel.

"I play the Gemini Elf (1900/900)," he said. "Next I'll place one card on the field and end my turn."

"Hmm, then I'll place one card in defense mode," announced Joey. "And I'll also play a card face down and that ends my turn."

"Foolish mistake," said his opponent. "Now my Gemini Elves, attack his face down monster!"

They attacked Joey's card.

"Ha! You attacked my Penguin Soldier!" cried Joey. "And thanks to his special ability I can send your Gemini Elf back to your hand."

"Fine," he growled. "I'll end my turn."

"Alright, then I'll activate my Giant Trunade, sendin' your card back to yur hand!" cried Joey. "And now I'll summon Slate Warrior in attack mode and attack your life points directly!"

The slate warrior attacked him.

"Bringin' you down to 2100 life points!" Joey yelled triumphantly.

The duel went on and Joey eventually beat him. Then the next duelist came up. He attacked Joey with Overdrive (1600/1500) and defeated him. Now it was a draw. The last duelist that went up against Joey was a female duelist. They were down to their last 1000 life points.

"Now I attack with my Summoned Skull (2500/1200)," she yelled. "Go Summoned Skull, destroy his Flame Swordsman (1800/1600) and end this duel!"

"Hold on," said Joey. "You activated my trap card Skull Dice.

"What!" she gasped.

"That's right, now let's see what number I roll," said Joey. The dice landed on a two. "Ha! That cuts your monster's attack points in half!"

The Summoned Skull now only had 1250 attack points.

"And now I activate Salamandra, raising my swordsman's points from 1800 to 2500!" said Joey. "Now Flame Swordsman attack her Summoned Skull!"

Her life points dropped to zero and Joey did a scary victory dance. The crowd was angry and disappointed. Eventually there was some mumbling and nodding and they started running after Joey. Joey yelped and ran off. After they were a ways down the street Yugi and the rest of the gang came out of hiding.

"HOUSE HOUSE HOUSE!" yelled Yugi, running inside before they all came back.

Everyone looked at him strangely as he ran past them but soon followed his lead and went in too.

That night at the Kaiba mansion Kaiba was having another dream.

They were outside looking up at the stars. Seto was hugging Mokuba close, making him smile.

"Big brother, we'll always be together right?" asked Mokuba.

"Right," he answered in an emotionless voice.

"You promise?"

"No, I don't."

Mokuba looked up at him shocked, "What!"

"And this is why," Seto said to him.

He smacked Mokuba on the cheek, making him fall onto the ground. Seto then got up and looked down at Mokuba who was holding his cheek.

"What are you doing, Seto?" Mokuba asked, starting to cry.

Seto gave him a cold glare, like the ones he would give to Joey. He kneeled down beside Mokuba, took a knife out of his pocket, and stabbed him.

Seto shot up in bed, drenched in a cold sweat. He looked at the clock which read 11:30. He went to bed a half hour ago. Seto ran down the hall and stood outside his brother's room. He listened and heard the TV still on. He opened the door slowly and looked inside to see Mokuba asleep. He turned off the TV, covered his brother with blankets, and watched him sleep for awhile. After that, he went back to his room, took out his laptop and started working. He didn't want to go back to sleep to see another dream where his brother died. So Seto worked for the remainder of the night.