Just what happened to Noah? What was the mysterious accident that caused him to lose his body? Here's my opinion. Please note: This isn't really a sequel to Ch2, just an idea of what happened. Don't flame me. Note: blah> thought

-Flashback- 'How did you lose your body? You never told us.' Noah bit his lip, wondering whether he ought to give a truthful reply, or be sarcastic. Sarcasm won. 'I lost a game of poker.' He spat, and walked away. It was nearly three months later when he again spoke to Tristan -End Flashback-

Snow fell softly, muffling Domino City in a blanket of white. Noah Kaiba wandered moodily down the sidewalk in the direction of home. Life was difficult for a teenager who was adoptive, non-identical twin brother to Mokuba Kaiba. His childhood had been coming back to haunt him in recent weeks, turning even the best day into a dark, gloomy existence. Not the childhood he'd lead in the computer, but the life he'd had before then. As well as this came the memories of how bitter he'd been when he'd first had a body again. Yugi and his friends had done their best to make him feel welcome, and he'd rejected them. Maybe it was because they were, in body at least, older then he. After all, he now had the body of an eighteen year-old, while Seto, Yugi, Tea, and everyone else were in their

mid-twenties, attending college, starting families, running businesses. He was just a teen, with only Mokuba, who understood him better than most, as his sole source of friendship. He thought over that question Tristan had asked so long ago, and he remembered the answer………

Flashback "Where are you going Noah?" Noah froze in mid-skip, turning to look his father in the eye.

"Out to play." For just a moment, he saw a flicker of light in his father's cold eyes, and then it was gone. Gozaburo Kaiba stared down at his ten-year-old son.

"Be back for dinner. And don't get messy."

"Yes father." Noah nodded to his father and walked quickly and quietly out the door. He only resumed his happy skipping when his father, and the doorway, was out of sight. This isn't fair Nosh thought unhappily, as he made his way across the grounds to his favorite oak tree. Father always makes rules, and I never get to go outside, past the walls. Never ever. To get to the tree, Noah had to go across the driveway and past the big iron gates, the gates with the tiny little wall-door beside it, for when Mama went for walks. But today, there was something different. The big gate wasn't closed completely. There was enough space for a determined child to squeeze through, if he tried. And Noah did. After a few minutes of careful wiggling, he found himself on the sidewalk outside the walls. An overwhelming feeling of joy welled up inside him. He thought for a moment, and then trotted down the sidewalk, heading east. It would be a while before anyone noticed his absence, and even longer before they looked out here.

/Several hours later/ "Master Noah! Where are you?" Several servants raced through the grounds, searching for the errant child.

"Have you found him?"

"No Master Kaiba, but we have an idea of where he may have gone."

"Gone? Why would he have gone?"

"Sir, the…the gates were open, and we think he went outside them."

"He left the grounds! Go look for him!"

"Yessir." The man ran off.

/Elsewhere/ Noah wandered happily. For a ten-year-old boy who had never been outside his home, this was paradise. He decided to go look at the puppies in a window across the street. He'd just barely gotten across the road several other times, but he wasn't worried. Not bothering to look to either side, he skipped to the other side. After all, it had worked multiple times already. Not this time. A car rounded the curve father up the road. It was going way over the speed limit, not that the driver or passengers were aware of it. They were completely drunk, and never saw the short boy in the road.

Noah looked up at the sound of blaring music and saw the car. 'THUD' the car hit Noah's body with a sound like a hammer hitting a piece of meat. The car sped on, its occupants not knowing what had happened…

"Oh My God! They just hit that kid!" a crowd of people rushed out into the street. Noah lay in a pool of his own blood, both legs and one arm twisted into sickening positions, his chest rising and falling sluggishly, breath wheezing as he fought for air with the restrictions that crushed ribs and a slowly collapsing lung placed on him. A dribble of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Kid? Kid, can you hear me?"

"Papa." Noah whispered, and then the merciful blackness of unconsciousness swallowed him, and he knew no more.

/Unknown time, place, or date/ Papa? Where am I?> Noah thought

"Is there anything you can do for him?" Noah recognized the voice. It was his father's. What was going on?

"I'm sorry sir. I don't believe, and the other doctors agree with me, that he's likely to live much longer."

"No. NO! He'll live!" Noah was more than a little surprised to hear the fear and pitiful hope in Gozaburo's voice. He opened his eyes to see a group of people, all unfamiliar, except for his father, and all looking worried and/or upset. He tried to turn his head to properly see his father, and a white-hot pain lanced through his skull. Noah gave an involuntary moan, and closed his eyes in misery. He'd never known such pain.

"The pain-killers must be wearing off." Noah just barely registered the sharp bite of a needle before he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep from which he never woke up. /End Flashback/

"NOAH! What are you doing out here without a jacket! Do you want to get sick!" Noah looked up to see Seto standing in the open doorway, dancing from foot to foot in an effort to keep warm. "Get in here before I turn into a Popsicle!"

"Coming!" Noah yelled, and ran the last few yards to his brother and home.

"Don't scare me like that!" Seto growled, wrapping Noah in a warm embrace and hauling him inside, closing the door with one foot.

"How did I scare you?"

"Mokuba said that you'd gone out, then the storm came up and you weren't back… JUST BECAUSE WE AREN'T RELATED BY BLOOD DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN GO SCARING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ME WHENEVER YOU FEEL LIKE IT!" Noah grinned. It was good to be home.

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