Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh...I don't own nothing of it! Nothing, I'm telling you!

The Legend of the three souls

Chapter VI – Confrontations

-by Alena S. Anigor

The giant building, placed in the center of the city was standing proudly in the night. Lights were still on, creating an illusion of hundreds of little sparkling squares shining on the building. The top of the building was flat; a big letter 'H' painted on it, indicating that the top was built for the choppers landing.

The interior of the highest floor was magnificent; with chandeliers on the ceiling, expensive Persian carpets on the floor, and one giant video screen positioned on the big white wall.

The screen was on, letting the images flip non – stop, not matching the bored expression of the young boy sitting on the beige sofa, holding the remote in his hands and letting out sighs every now and then. The messy mop of dark hair turned to look at the wide wooden desk with one person sitting behind it, casually typing on his laptop.

"Seto...I'm bored," Mokuba Kaiba moaned, letting the remote fall to the sofa, and stretching his arms into the air. A pair of deep blue eyes turned their attention to the smaller boy then back to screen.

"Find something to entertain yourself," Seto Kaiba replied nonchalantly, "I've got work to do."

Mokuba sighed in irritation, turning his head to the screen, watching a man with a funny looking hat who was currently speaking words that he didn't understand. He flipped the channel again, deciding to watch some old kung fu movie instead.

The older Kaiba was busy with his current research, which included the ancient busts, called The three souls. As much as his brain was filled with various facts and information about Egyptian mythology, he has never heard of the busts and wanted to research a little deeper.

His fingers were flying smoothly over the keys of the laptop, the result being all kinds of articles and information about things that could be related to the busts.

Unfortunately for the young CEO, all he could find were some old papyrus scrolls about Tutankhamon and his busts and some images of various artifacts in worlds' museums. The search engine couldn't find one single page or article about the Three souls, and Kaiba frowned, growling slightly in irritation. He leaned back into his chair, staring at the blue screen with Kaiba Corporation logo on it. Mokuba was busy watching the movie, so Kaiba took opportunity to turn around and look out the huge window. All around him were tall buildings, some of them banks and companies. He sighed inwardly, observing his dim reflection in the spotless glass, his mind occupied with the fact that he wanted to possess those busts but didn't know why. Something was telling him they belonged to him like they were an inevitable part of him. He was staring out the window for a little while, before he decided to act. He got up suddenly, catching the attention of the younger Kaiba sibling and grabbed his trench coat from the chair. Mokuba raised a pair of questioning eyebrows, and hopped down from the sofa.

"Where are you going?" He asked and Kaiba took his suitcase from the desk.

"To the museum," he replied coolly and Mokuba frowned in confusion.

"The one we've been at today?"

Kaiba nodded and Mokuba frowned again. He liked going to various places his brother was going, but some places were simply too boring for the vivid boy and the Museum of ancient artifacts was just that kind of place. But since he got nothing better to do, he shrugged and grabbed his jacked from the sofa.

"I'll go with you," he said, and Kaiba's eyes sharpened for a second. He shook his head firmly, making Mokuba stop fiddling with his jacket.

"No, you'll stay here, it's late already and it's time to go to bed," Kaiba replied, not bothering to cast a glance at his watch. Mokuba, however did and let out a childish squeak.

"What? But it's past ten! Nobody goes to sleep that early!"

Kaiba directed his mysterious eyes towards his brother, giving him another sharp look, and Mokuba frowned again.

"I told you I was bored, anyway..." He mumbled, looking at him pleadingly, and Kaiba let out a sigh, which announced that he was powerless when it came to Mokuba.

After one more moment of silent contemplating, he finally nodded, earning a genuine smile from the younger boy in front of him.

"Just stick to me and behave," Kaiba ordered and Mokuba nodded in agreement.

The hall they were walking trough was covered with a red carpet, walls decorated with various paintings and portraits. A few statues were also standing by each side of the hall and Mokuba always found pleasure in staring at the odd faces and expressions of the statues and trying to mimic them.

When they exited trough the large double doors at the end of the hall, a few men in black suits straightened immediately and one of them approached him.

But before he could muster a word, Kaiba interrupted him with a smooth motion of his hand, looking calm and reserved like always.

"There's no need to follow me, I'll do this by myself."

The man bowed with a slight confusion evident on his face and went back to his post. Kaiba continued down the hall with Mokuba tagging along.

The limousine was already waiting in front of the building, and the driver jumped hurriedly out of the car to open the doors for his master. Kaiba stepped in, carefully dragging his expensive briefcase inside and let Mokuba hop in after him. The driver closed the doors and went to the other side of the car to get inside as well.

The engine started humming and the limo slowly crawled to the exit in front of the building then continued down the road. The road wasn't so crowded with cars anymore, but it was still too early to not to be on the streets.

"Where to, sir?" The driver asked and looked at the young CEO trough the mirror in front of him. Kaiba was already typing on his laptop, not bothering to look at his driver.

"The Museum of Ancient artifacts," he replied, and the driver nodded, turning right at the next exit and then continued driving down the illuminated road that was still bustling with cars and people on bikes.

The atmosphere at the Museum was everything but cheerful and relaxed like it used to be. There was no telling who felt worse:

Ishizu, who let the robbers break into her Museum and kidnap Tea right in front of her nose, Joey and Tristan who regretted the decision to leave the girls alone in the Museum, Yuugi and Solomon who wished they could do something else than simply wait for Inspector Muhadda to come back with his men, or Mai, who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, already imagining all sorts of torturing Tea could be going trough at the moment. They were all sitting in the Main hall that was now clean, but that didn't help anyone feel better. Yuugi stared at the floor numbly, while Solomon mumbled something every now and then, although no one really paid attention to what he was saying.

Inspector Muhadda returned suddenly, peeping trough the curtain behind the stage and coughing slightly to draw their attention. Six heads turned to him simultaneously, and he couldn't even mutter one sentence when they all gathered around him like children around the ice cream man, asking all sorts of questions, and almost jumping at him.

"Silence, please!" He roared after one full minute of uselessly trying to calm down the agitated people around him. They all quieted down after his outburst, but that didn't stop them from asking questions again.

"What did you find?" Ishizu asked exasperatedly.

"Did you find anything at all?" Yuugi asked, silently questioning the abilities of Egyptian policemen.

"Did you find the one responsible for that?" Solomon was anxious to know who did it.

"What about Tea?" Mai was the only one who remembered that someone from their gang was actually kidnapped that night.

Inspector Muhadda sighed in irritation and raised his hands in defense.

"Would you please calm down?" He yelled again, silencing them for a moment, before Mai protested again.

"How can we calm down when our friend is probably being tortured as we speak?" She almost screeched at him, and he backed away a bit from the raging woman.

"Well, if you'd let me speak for a minute, maybe I would have the opportunity to answer all your questions!" He replied back, equally exasperated and agitated. Mai shut her mouth and waited together with the rest of them.

Insp. Muhadda sighed again and smoothed his mustaches. As much as he was ordered to be polite towards tourists and foreigners, those who were standing in front of him were drinking his blood out and draining his whole energy out of his body with their constant ramblings.

"Well, then," he started, casting glances at all of them and warning them to stay quiet, "my men are searching the museum and it's surrounding, but until now, they managed to find nothing –"

"I knew it!" Yuugi interrupted him with an angry bark that startled all of them. Insp. Muhadda frowned and was tempted to shake the young man until he'd shut his mouth and listen to him till the end.

"But," he continued, scanning them all with a heavy frown, "they are working on it!" He finished and raised his head high.

"We are doing everything we can to find your missing friend," he added on which Mai snorted and earned a dirty look from Muhadda.

Just when Solomon was ready to suggest that they should look for her on their own, there was a commotion outside the hall, and they turned around to see a few policemen standing behind a very tall young man who looked like he could kill them all with his eyes.

"I don't care what happened here, now get out of my way!" He roared with a hint of coldness and sharpness in his voice. He pulled a small hand out of the crowd of policemen and they could all see a mop of dark hair and a pair of angry eyes staring at the policemen as well.

"Seto Kaiba?" Ishizu asked hesitantly, surprised to see him in this time of night. He turned his attention to a little group of people in front of him and frowned.

"Would you please take these gorillas off my back?" He looked at Insp. Muhadda and he was slightly taken aback but then composed himself and ordered his men to retrieve. They nodded, casting poisonous looks into Kaiba's direction and then left, mumbling something on Arabic.

Silence followed, in which the CEO and his younger sibling were simply staring at the group of people in front of them and vice versa. Ishizu composed her thoughts and her nerves and stepped out of the group.

"May I help you, Mr. Kaiba?" She asked politely as much as she could, but her demeanor revealed her stressed emotions.

Kaiba glanced at every one of them, and then turned his eyes back to the dark haired woman in the middle of the hall.

"I'm here to make an offer," he replied coolly, looking intently at her and Ishizu had to raise her eyebrows. She looked at the people behind her first as if searching for a reassurance that she heard him right. She turned back and looked at the CEO again.

"An offer?" she asked him, slightly puzzled by his sudden proposal in the time like this. She presumed he didn't know what really happened.

"Yes," he replied smoothly in a business tone, raising his briefcase and putting it down onto on of the tables in the hall.

"I'm here to buy the bust," he added, earning surprised expressions in return and hearing whispers from behind Ishizu, "you name the price."

Ishizu, who was left perplexed now, simply stared at him in disbelief and was trying to find the adequate words to say in return. After a few moments spent in silence that could be cut with a knife, she blinked and coughed, gaining back her ability to speak. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Kaiba, but the bust is not for sale," she retorted coldly and Kaiba's eyes narrowed slightly. A slight smirk played at the corner of his lips and he chuckled slightly. Mokuba was watching the conversation in awe, his mouth slightly agape. This Museum wasn't such a boring place after all.

"Maybe you haven't heard me right," Kaiba replied, piercing her eyes with his icy ones, "I said, I'll buy the bust and you name the price...any price."

Joey was already prepared to step into the conversation and offer the arrogant jerk his own piece of mind, when Ishizu stopped him with a soft motion of her hand. Her face darkened slightly now, and she was frowning.

"And I believe you haven't heard me right, Seto Kaiba," she said, her eyes piercing his now like a razor, deliberately letting out the title Mr. out of her words, "when I said the bust is not for sale." She finished, crossing her arms, and breathing deeply. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to just show up here after all what happened and demand from her to sell him the most valuable thing she possessed in this Museum and take years and months of her hard work away.

Kaiba looked like his face would shatter; his jaw was set tightly and he was gritting his teeth behind his lips formed into a thin line. His icy stare was replaced by a very unusual shade of blue color that resembled a stormy ocean now. Mokuba was left speechless, watching the conversation between the two people like a tennis match.

Joey and Tristan were ready to kick him out if necessary, Yuugi and Solomon were looking at him with a look of sheer disgust and despise, while Mai was still tempted to offer him an interview, but due to the circumstances, she thought it would be inappropriate so she gave up.

Insp. Muhadda was the only one who was observing the whole conversation with an interest; he heard stories about the famous Seto Kaiba, and now he had the opportunity to see if they were true.

They were.

Kaiba's jaw loosened a bit, and he let out a sigh inwardly. He closed his eyes, obviously trying to concentrate to stay calm and composed. No one, absolutely no one has ever rejected his offer like that...and he was ready to pay a fortune to get that bust. Ishizu stood stubbornly in front of him with her hands still crossed, waiting for his next move.

Just then, one feminine voice was heard from the hall that made Joey's eyes widen.

"Serenity!" He yelled, and ran past Ishizu and past Mokuba who turned his head, intrigued by the voice from the corridor. They all heard a rustle coming from the corridor, and Joey's growls to let go of his sister. After a few minutes in which no one dared to move or say a word, Joey came back, leading his sister by her hand. The brown haired girl was slightly scared and excited, but she looked fine. She almost gasped when she saw Kaiba standing at the doorway and he turned to look at another newcomer to the museum. Joey dragged her away as far as possible from the arrogant bastard and introduced her to the rest of the group who didn't know her.

"Are you all right?" Solomon asked the young woman, when he noticed how pale she was. She nodded; blinking tears from her brownish eyes and smiled.

"I thought something happened to Joey," she exclaimed and Joey grinned for a second, patting her on the back.

Kaiba crossed his hands, not knowing what to do for the first time in his life since he became a powerful CEO of the software company that was known to the whole world.

Ishizu was still frowning at him, and Kaiba had to admit defeat...for now. He grabbed the briefcase from the table, and squeezed it in his hand. Before he turned around to leave, he sent the last glare in Ishizu's direction and frowned.

"I suggest you think about my proposition one more time," he said, coldly observing the frown that deepened on the young woman's face, "because be assured," he stopped, glaring at her and at the rest of them, "I want that bust, and I always get what I want."

With that, he turned around dramatically letting his trench coat billowing behind him. Mokuba turned to look at the crowd with confusion and not knowing what else to do, just smiled, shrugged and ran after his brother.

Ishizu let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.

"What a creep," Yuugi commented, and Solomon nodded. Mai was actually reconsidering the thought to interview him, thinking how he'd probably shrug her away with words she's not worthy of his time.

"And what are you doing here, huh?" Joey asked Serenity, turning her to look at her to see if she was hurt by any chance. She smiled sweetly, looking at Tristan who blushed slightly and quickly turned his head to cover it, then back at her older brother.

"I had to see if you were okay," she replied softly and smiled again. Joey grinned back and hugged her.

"Of course I'm okay!" He exclaimed enthusiastically. "Your big brother can take care of himself!"

"Then..." Serenity parted from him looking around worriedly, "what happened?"

Solomon sighed deeply and shook his head. Ishizu bent slightly and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Someone tried to rob the museum this night and unfortunately, they kidnapped a friend of hours," she explained with a tension in her voice and Serenity gasped, putting a hand over her mouth.

"That's terrible!" she commented, "Who could've done such a thing?"

Bakura was getting slightly worried now; the crowd of cloaked men was dangerously encircling them, Marik was equally frightened and the girl who was still motionlessly lying on the ground beside him with a cloth in her mouth was starting to shake.

Tea was on the verge of crying in fear already; she was praying that this was only a bad dream, but somehow that theory didn't sound convincing to her at all. She was watching the shadows of cloaks and hoods approaching them very quickly and she knew she was going to die. The thieves weren't looking so strong; the blond one was frightened to death, while the white haired one was also looking worried and slightly agitated. And what were those men saying, what kind of Ancient One, why did they want the white haired thief dead? That only meant that they were going to kill her as well, and Tea prayed deep inside for a miracle to happen.

The cloaked figure that looked like a leader, pointed a finger at Bakura and one of them who was very close to him stretched his ghostly hands towards him to grab him by the neck.

"Bakura!" Marik screamed, but Bakura already dodged the hands by leaning back, turned to side quickly and landed a fist into the figure's stomach. The cloaked figure let out a blood - chilling howl, but Bakura didn't waste his time and he raised his right leg, kicking him over his hunched back. The figure dropped to the street with a thud, but that didn't stop others from trying their luck. The leader was standing behind, as the herd of cloaked figures leaped forward to get him. Bakura snatched his knife from the depths of his robes and the figures stepped back slightly to avoid the sharp blade. Bakura turned around to look at Marik and barked at him to do the same. The blond haired thief snapped out of him stupor and had his dagger in his hands in a second.

The figures were mumbling something, ghostly hands approaching them again, their cloaks billowing behind them. Tea realized in horror that they were floating a few inches over the ground, and almost screamed in fright. The thing was – she couldn't even do that; all of her voice got stuck in her throat.

The leader ordered his minions to attack and a few of them leaped at Bakura, who swung with his long knife, making a few of them inch back again.

"Fools!" The leader growled, and they tried again, obviously afraid of their leader. Marik stepped next to Bakura, raising his dagger into the air. Bakura cast a quick glance at the girl who was helplessly watching the whole scene in front of her. He growled in anger, and slashed towards one of them who got too close.

"Enough!" the leader obviously lost his patience and with one swift movement of his hand, the knife and the dagger simply slipped away from the hands of the thieves and they were left stunned and shocked.

"Now," the cloaked figure ordered, still floating over the ground much higher than his minions, "kill them!"

The figures howled their obedience and went straight at them both, not paying attention where they were hitting. One pair of hands grabbed Bakura's while other pair of hands grabbed him by the waist. Others were having Marik pushed against the wall, holding him by the neck, and making him trying to wiggle out of their grasp. One of the figures noticed Tea lying on the floor. She wanted to scream, to get up and run, but she felt immobile and her limbs were completely numb. A pair of hands flied towards her and she closed her eyes, expecting the worse.

Bakura saw the figure approaching the girl and he started wiggling, too to get out of the tight grasp of ghostly hands.

"Don't you dare to touch her!" He growled, and jerked his hand so violently that the figure let it go. He used the figure as a back up, and leaning backwards, he raised his legs and kicked both of the figures who were holding him in the chest. They stumbled backwards and Bakura scurried quickly towards the girl and the figure whose hands were inches away from her neck. He intercepted the figure's attempts and grabbing the edges of the hood, he managed to grab the head of the figure and in one single movement, he twisted the head in the other direction and something snapped. Tea's eyes widened in sheer horror, when she realized that he broke his neck without a single thought. The figure fell down to the stone covered street with a thud. Bakura turned to see where Marik was standing but he found himself suddenly thrown on the street, with one figure latching onto him and the other approaching him quickly. He managed to kick the latching figure away, and quickly got up, but the other one already had him pinned against the wall, holding him by the neck and trying to strangle him.

Bakura had trouble breathing, just like Marik, who managed to push one of them away, but the other one was still holding his neck in a tight grip. He was trying to pry his hands off, but they were like cuffs around his skin.

He growled slightly, trying to call Bakura's name, but lacked the breath to do that.

Not baring the thought of watching those figures torture them anymore, Tea spat the cloth out of her mouth, and managed to find a bigger stone by the wall. She got up, a sudden boldness overwhelming her, and grabbing the stone, she ran to the figure, who was holding Bakura and swung the stone at his head. The stone hit its goal and the fingers around Bakura's neck loosened. Not wasting his time, he bawled his fist and hit the figure in the stomach. It hunched in pain, and Bakura used that to send one knee where the figure's face should be. The cloaked man was sent flying backwards, and landed several feet away from them. Tea stared at him, and he stared back at her for a second, before grabbing her by the hand, and backing her against the wall, ordered her to stay where she was.

Tea was left speechless for a second; she expected a thank you, or something similar to that, not a gruff response he gave her.

Bakura turned again and barely managed to avoid the punch that was meant for his head. He turned aside, and grabbing the hand that aimed at him, twisted it, and the figure yelped in pain. He twisted the hand further, turning the figure around and when it had its back turned to him, he kicked it with his leg, sending it flying again.

The leader was obviously not satisfied with the result of his actions. He didn't expect such a resistance from the thief, but he also wasn't surprised with it, either. He turned his head to the other one, who was still having trouble with releasing himself from the steel like grip of a cloaked figure. Bakura was still preoccupied with breaking the bones in one of the figures.

The leader remembered what he saw; the blond one was apparently very close to Bakura...he might use that as an advantage. Whispering something to himself, but also to the figure holding Marik, who hearing the orders, gripped tighter, making Marik loose his remaining strength, and making him fall over the figure's cloak. He floated away from the wall, still carrying the limp body of a sandy – haired Egyptian.

He floated to the leader, and he whispered something again. The remained figure, who was still fighting Bakura stopped, and floated away, leaving Bakura swinging his fist into the air. His eyes widened slightly when he saw Marik hanging loosely from the figure's shoulder.

"Marik!" He screamed, but the leader raised his hand, and swooshing of the cold air sent Bakura flying away, and he hit the wall, hard. He fell to the ground with a thud, making Tea yelp in fear. The leader floated away with the two of the remaining, and disappeared as suddenly as he came.

The only thing that was left were bodies of others on the floor, but that changed soon, too, because the cloaks started billowing suddenly, making Tea expect them to raise again, but after a few seconds, the cloaks stopped billowing, and Tea realized that the cloaks were the only thing that remained from them. She let out a sigh of relief, breathing heavily. The night was slightly chilly, the dark alley around her, and her kidnapper and a savior lying on the floor beside her.

She crawled to knee beside him, to see if he was still alive, and when she wanted to check his pulse, a hand suddenly reached up and caught her wrist in a painful grip. She yelped, and a pair of cloudy, dark eyes confronted her cerulean orbs. Bakura was also breathing heavily, but when he saw who was kneeling beside him, he loosened his grip, but didn't let her go.

"Marik," he muttered and Tea lowered her head. The other young man was taken away.

Bakura got up, carefully holding Tea's wrist to support himself and looked around the dark alley. He scanned the cloaks, and the remains of fight. He spotted his knife on the street and Marik's dagger.

"Marik!" He yelled into the night, but Marik was gone.

AN:

Wee, sorry it took me some time to write this chapter...*smiles sheepishly*

Oh, and thank you for the reviews!

Till the next chapter,

Bye!

A.S.A