DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from Yu-Gi-Oh, although I think Kaiba is the coolest SOB alive!
This story takes place seven years after the Battle City Tournament. Duel Monsters has been outlawed and Kaiba and Yami are friends as well as business partners. Yami and Yugi have been able to separate themselves and now have their own body. For all you Yugi fans – he doesn't appear much in this story at all, since it is mainly about Kaiba and Yami's attempts to help rescue him from the clutches of a succubus. Also, some of the things related in this story will come from the original Yu-Gi-Oh Japanese mangra-although I've kept the English version of Joey, Tea and Tristan's names.
CHAPTER 1: VACATION
The man at the desk raked his hand through his straight brown hair and sighed. He leaned back in his chair and swiveled the piece of furniture to face the large window behind him. His intense blue eyes narrowed as he studied the city skyline and his mouth relaxed into a rueful grin.
"I need a vacation," he murmured wearily.
Just then, the intercom on his desk buzzed. He frowned and pressed the answering button.
"What is it?" he bit out curtly, angered at the interruption.
"Sir, your partner is here to see you," his personal assistant informed him.
He relaxed. "Send him in right away," he instructed.
Scant seconds later, the huge double doors to his office flew open. He laughed and spun around the chair to face the person who had entered.
"Sure do know how to make and entrance, didn't you Yami?" he commented.
Yami smiled. "You're rubbing off on me, Kaiba, that's all."
Seto resisted the urge to flip Yami a rude gesture and motioned him closer. "So what do I owe the pleasure of your esteemed company to?" he asked.
Yami deposited himself gracefully into one of the armchairs facing the black marble desk.
"You," he replied simply.
Seto started. "What?" he questioned.
Yami's keen violet eyes locked with Seto's cobalt orbs. "You have been working too hard, Seto."
Seto groaned. When Yami called him by his first name, he knew things were serious. "I'm fine YAMI," he grated out.
Yami just laughed – the bugger. "No, you look like hell," he corrected. "And I have arranged for us and our friends to go on a holiday."
"But the company!" Seto protested.
"Will be fine by itself," Yami informed him. "You have things so well organized that KMC can run without us for six months at the least."
KMC was what they had renamed Kaiba Corp after Yami had been brought in as a partner.
Seto had quickly come to appreciate the fact that Yami's quick mind and ability to perform swift strategic and tactical decisions would be a benefit in the business world. In the seven years since the game Duel Monsters had been outlawed, the KaibaMoto Corporation had grown to be the largest virtual reality company in the world.
The two young owners seemed publicly to enjoy a lot of fame and attention but privately, they admitted to each other that the constant spotlight was annoying – to say the least.
They would frequently sit in one of their plush offices with a bottle of brandy to talk and reminisce,
More often than not, the two friends would go to either Seto or Yami's house, where each had built a hidden room.
There, they would pull out their decks and slip on their duel disks and battle each other.
They knew that it was a dangerous thing to be doing – for discovery would surely mean imprisonment, but Duel Monsters was in the blood of both men – their first love – something that they could never escape.
Dueling against each other was a challenge for them both as up to this day, both were regarded as the champions of the game and as a result, each player was constantly inventing new strategies that ensured that no two games were ever played the same.
Seto began to believe in the heart of the cards - his only regret, he told Yami – was that he did so too late to beat him publicly.
Yami would simply laugh and shake his head. Now that Seto believed, he was a truly formidable opponent and the amount of battles that each had won was about equal.
Yami and Seto had met eight years ago, when both were sixteen. Seto was already incredibly wealthy – he was the CEO of Kaiba Corp; the company that he had stolen away from his cold-hearted adopted father, Gozaburo Kaiba.
When he was ten, Seto had challenged Gozaburo to a chess game. If Seto won, the older man would adopt him and his five year old brother Mokuba. The brothers had been put into an orphanage by greedy relatives who wanted control of their inheritance.
At such a young age, Seto was already jaded and felt that he had nothing to lose. He was wrong.
He ended up winning the game with Gozaburo – but he cheated in order to do so.
The old man was a demon. Oh – he gave the boys his name, but day in and day out he forced Seto to study – foreign languages, social studies, politics, gaming strategies.........until the fateful day, six years later, when Seto turned on him and coerced the members of the board to his side.
In a fit of rage at losing what he called his 'game' with Seto, Gozaburo threw himself out of one of the large glass windows. Since they were thirty three stories up, he plummeted to the ground and was killed instantly.
Seto's heart had grown colder and colder with each passing day and it was only after the fateful battle with Yami that it began to thaw.
Yami had won by using Exodia to obliterate Seto's three blue-eyes white dragons and as a penalty, had attacked Seto with something that he had called 'Mind Crush'.
Later, Seto was told by Mokuba that Yami had said that he used 'Mind Crush' to shatter the part of Seto that was filled with evil, letting him rebuild himself on his own strength, so that his goodness could shine through.
However, Seto was incredibly stubborn and it took over a year and countless battles with Yami – including one with Anubis – the Egyptian God of Death – for his pride to fall and for him to admit that he actually liked and respected Yami – the King of Games and Guardian of Right.
Seto chuckled at this thought and Yami frowned.
"What's the joke?" he asked.
"Guardian of Right, Punisher of Evil," Seto mocked him.
Yami smiled. "Ahhh, my esteemed title. Admit it Kaiba, you're just jealous."
"No way, my friend," the taller man protested. "I have no inclination towards saving the world." He paused and cocked his head. "Although I do believe that I've helped you do that at least three times!"
"Have you?" Yami chuckled. "I seem to have lost count." His face turned serious. "So are you going to take a rest then?"
Seto paused, then shrugged. He grinned at his companion. "Why the hell not?" his eyes narrowed dangerously. "But if you've booked a cruise........,"
"No, no!" Yami hastened to reassure him, stifling a grin. Seto was notorious for his inability to stay on a boat for more than three hours without getting horribly seasick.
"We are going to the island."
Seto smiled. The island....... Their own private piece of land somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean.
Tempting indeed.
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