A/N: IM BACK! SO sorry it took me so long to start up the story again… Starting up Uni took a lil more time outta me than I expected. But no worries… I'm back with a vengeance. Well… I will be. This new chap is a bit short, but it it'll hopefully lead to some good stuff in next chapters. Reviewing always helps to inspire… hint hint…

Thanks to all those who have reviewed so far: yaoi rox my sox, xxmoonlight-angelxx, Kami Beverly, hikarienzeru, markyc58, MutaKu, Yukiko-Angel, Layne, Quarterstaff, edhel-tarien, Dark Magician Of Chaos

mandapandabug, Volt, puffin, Sakusha Saelbu, kye-09: Glad to see you guys are pickin up some of those things :D

Onto the story:

8. The confused

-at another time-

"Tori, I'd like you to meet a good business partner of mine, Bartholomew Pegasus," The tall brunette said to his younger companion. "We both have strong investments in traditional game entertainment…" The blonde smiled courteously as the tall man shook hands with them both, before taking a seat at their table. "Tori is… a good family friend of mine, Bartholomew."

"Pleasure," The tall, sender man nodded aristocratically, but turned to face the brunette – away from Tori – once he was seated. Tori frowned at the newcomer, eyeing his strangely coloured hair and his hushed whispers as he leaned in close to his companion, talking of something obviously confidential and not meant for his own ears.

Sighing loudly, the young blonde hoped he would get his partner's attention, albeit no such luck. He didn't like that this partner had to show up during their vacation… more even that he was wasting their private dinner time… but he could see that his tall lover was deeply engaged in what the stranger was saying. His usually relaxed expression twisted into a frown as he listened to his colleague, and he glanced briefly at Tori before whispering something back at the other.

The blonde frowned as the aristocratic newcomer nodded quickly and stood. He turned to face the marginalized teen, and politely said goodbye, before turning to his partner one last time.

"Kaito, I'll speak with you soon." He stated before walking away.

Once the blonde was sure the man was out of sight, he leaned in close to the brunette.

"What was that all about?" he questioned with a curious frown. Kaito looked anxious.

"Just business…"

A strong wind suddenly piked up in the dark night outside, banging against the windows of the exquisite restaurant the two lovers awkwardly ate together at.

Tristan sat seething in his seat at homeroom. With his arms crossed and glare frozen in place, the tall teen looked to each of his so-called 'friends'. Tea and Duke were again fighting with each other, and apparently believed their argument was more important than paying notice to him. Joey was staring into space and didn't respond to his calls, and Yugi looked tired and deep in thought. Ryou – quite typically – had his nose stuck in a book. And Tristan was left in the middle of all this chaos surrounding him.

And, on top of all that, Rebecca Cowen was calling him from her seat at the back of the class.

"Yoo-Hoo!" She called… a little louder than necessary, "Tristan! Hey! Come sit next to me, partner!"

Tristan shuddered, pretending to ignore her. Of course, he didn't see how it was possible to not hear her horrible screeches… so with the heavy weight of reluctance, the exasperated brunette decided he may as well get up and face the annoying teen.

"Scream a little louder, I don't think Canada heard you…" the brunette mumbled to himself…

"Hey, Joey…"

Tristan turned to notice Yugi turn to Joey with a hushed voice just as he had began walking to Rebecca… and it was all he could do not to scream himself. Freezing in place, Tristan's eye twitched with repressed rage before he continued to walk to his partner, forcing himself to not be annoyed he was once again obviously being left out of the loop.

"What's up, Yug?" Joey, shaking himself from his thoughts, turned to his friend. He frowned when he saw the other's timid expression. "Hey, what happened? Is this 'bout Yami?" He prided, now fully turning in his seat to give Yugi his complete attention. They continued to talk in hushed tones, fortunate that the others were all distracted some how.

"Well… yes, but not about what happened the other day…" Yugi replied unsurely, biting his lip.

Joey gave his friend an incredulous look. "What? Ya mean somethin' else happened?"

"Well… sort of…"

"Sort of?" The blonde raised his eyebrow, but before the two could continue their conversation, the bell rang. "Oh crap, we have history now, don't we?"

Yugi looked down and swallowed as his friends began to shuffle out of the room. "Yeah… History…"

"Okay class, I want you all to get together with your partners so you can continue with your work. I assume, my children, that you have all at least started your research. Now come on! Move!"

As the class moved around to sit with their respective partners, Joey looked to the corner. And sighed.

Kaiba wasn't here.

He looked around, just to make sure, seeing that Tea and Duke were still arguing, Yugi and Ryou were talking, and Tristan – for some reason – was glaring at him from across the room next to Rebecca. Joey raised an eyebrow at the Brunette before turning and began to walk towards Yugi and Ryou when the classroom's door suddenly swung open.

"Mr Kaiba… how nice of you to join us," The teacher commented, before turning back to the group she was conferencing with. Joey was unsure whether it was meant as sarcasm, so much like Kaiba, he just ignored the teacher and walked over to the CEO.

The tall brunette had taken a seat at the first available seat he found, typically not bothering to talk – or even look – at any one, and merely pulled out his laptop.

Joey sighed as he sat down on the vacant seat near the other teen.

"Why are ya always so… anti-social?" Joey asked half-heartedly, waving a hand in the air as he leaned over to look at the laptop's screen.

Kiaba froze. "…excuse me?" he said dubiously, sounding as if the two had never spoken before in their lives. Joey just rolled his eyes and relaxed back in his chair, crossing his arms as Kaiba opened some programs. But the blonde frowned when he saw that Miss McArthur was heading their way.

"Oh crap…" he whispered to himself, more than aware they hadn't gotten any research done yet. Kaiba glanced to the side when he heard the other's mumble, and frowned.

"Now, you two!" The teacher said loudly while pulling up a chair to sit in front of the two. "I had better hear that you two have some research for me, and you better have done it together…" she said in what she must have assumed was a warning tone, eyeing the two of them suspiciously. Joey, glancing to his side, noticed that Kaiba was frowning deeply… the sort of frown Joey had seen him wear when he was yelling at Mokuba's teacher on the phone the other day. He figured he better say something before Kaiba guaranteed him an 'F'.

"WELL," Joey said loudly before the CEO could speak, straightening up in his chair. He gave Kaiba a superior look before continuing. "We've been researchin' old newspapers and stuff," Joey spoke confidently, seeing the teacher brighten. "…In the state library's archives."

"Oh?" The teacher looked impressed, and Joey smiled. If he was good at at least one other thing that wasn't duel monsters, it was working his way around teachers.

"Yeah, and we came across alota' articles 'bout the hotel. We found out that the first person who died there was this 17 year old kid… Tori." Joey ended stiffly, hoping the teacher didn't notice the lack of a last name… he couldn't remember.

"Is this right, Mr Kaiba?" She asked the other, still looking pleased.

"…Yes." The other responded strangely. Joey, despite knowing that they hadn't gotten any research done, was still a bit surprised that the proud CEO was going along with his lie. "…we were considering focusing the assignment around… Tori… since he could be seen as the start of the… strange occurrences…"

"Very good!" the teacher smiled at the two, believing their tale. "But you know that you also have to focus on an event and historical figure?"

"We're getting to that." Joey responded easily. "We were gonna work it out today, and do some more research using Kiaba's laptop here…" The blonde smirked internally, noticing the other's eye twitch as he obnoxiously pet the expensive piece of equipment.

"Excellent! Well, you two can get back to work, you appear to be organised enough." The teacher stood and walked over to another group. As soon as she was gone, Kaiba turned to him with a glare.

"How did you know that?" He demanded quietly. Joey, not as intimidated around the other as he had been a few days ago (seeing a guy naked has that effect), merely shrugged.

"Eh, I remember seein' somethin' like that when I played with your laptop yesterday."

Kaiba strengthened his glare, but didn't say anything. Instead, he turned to focus on his laptop. Joey smirked.

Ring Ring

Kaiba stopped his typing to stand up and reach into his coat's pocket, swiftly pulling out his cell and hitting the 'talk' button.

"Kaiba." He answered gruffly.

…

"What? No don't mess anything else up, I'm on my way." With that, he ended the call and pocketed his cell again.

"Hey! You can't go anywhere! We got research ta do!" Joey yelled at the other from his seat, and in a more hushed voice, said "We haven't exactly gotten anythin' done yet…"

Kaiba paused. "Fine." He said as he grabbed his bag, "Do what research you can. Meet me tonight, and bring back my laptop. Same time, same place."

By the time Joey had registered what Kaiba had said, the other was already out the door, his laptop discreetly buzzing for attention on its lone spot atop the otherwise empty desk.

Joey had registered the words, but he still couldn't believe them. No way would Kaiba leave his laptop in Joey's hands. All the other's information and private files were on this laptop… of course, they were probably password protected, but that wasn't the point.

Joey smiled proudly at himself.

"Yugi, I really am sorry I didn't call, I fell asleep, I didn't mean for it to happen," a panicky Ryou tried to explain to his partner.

"I already told you, it's fine Ryou. Don't worry about it." The small teen told his partner politely. But the other frowned.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I've had other things on my mind anyway."

"Hey Yug!"

Yugi turned to see Joey making his way towards them, a laptop in his arms.

"Where'd you get that?" Yugi pointed to the computer, momentarily forgetting about his worries.

"Huh? Oh this…" Joey placed the book-sized laptop onto Yugi's desk, sitting down beside him and Ryou, "Kaiba left it with me, he had to leave for a meetin' or somethin'… what?" He asked defensively when he received only incredulous looks.

"He… left it with you? Kaiba? The Seto Kaiba?" Ryou begged the question.

"Yes, the Seto Kaiba." Joey rolled his eyes. "You know he's not as scary as he thinks he is." The blonde said distractedly, as he fiddled with the laptop's touch pad. He was completely oblivious to the wide-eyed stares of his two friends beside him.

"Anyways," Joey continued, "I need ya guys ta help me out here. I know jack about this haunted place… and I know Miss McArthur's a bit loony and all, but even I wont be able ta keep foolin' her much longer. So what've you guys got?"

"Uhh…" Yugi bit his lip nervously. Ryou looked just as hesitant beside him.

"Actually… I haven't been able to fit in too much research for history lately…" Ryou trailed off lamely.

"Well…" Joey pondered, a finger to his chin, "I did find somethin' the other day 'bout this kid… Tori or somethin'. Apparently he was the first one ta get killed there."

"Hmm…" Ryou thought aloud, "The first death was a kid? That is a bit eerie… Maybe if I could just…" and the light-haired teen reached tentatively towards the laptop, looking up questioningly at Joey.

"Go ahead, it ain't mine." Joey waved at the other, and Ryou started typing furiously away at the keys as Joey elaborated. "Yeah, around our age I think. Tori… somethin'…"

"Johnson." Ryou informed proudly. He turned the screen to show the other two a black and white portrait picture of a young-looking man. He had light hair and was wearing an old-fashioned suit that didn't really quite suit the man's almost scruffy hair.

"That's him?" Yugi asked, pointing to the picture.

"That's what is says here." Ryou informed, before squinting closely at the image. "You know… he kind of looks like you, Joey…"

"Hey… yeah… wow that's weird…" Yugi agreed, mystified.

"Pft," Joey harrumphed, "Nah he doesn't." But the other two were still starring fixedly at the uncanny look-alike.

"How'd he die?"

"Somethin' bout being stabbed," Joey shrugged. "Anyway, we still need famous people and events-"

"I wonder how it happened…?" Yugi asked absently, still fixed on the picture with a worried sort of frown. The mention of murder reminded the short teen of the vision… or whatever it was… he had of Yami the day before. "I mean… how could any one do that? Just… murder someone… and he's our age…" the teen trailed off in thought. He looked closely at the eyes in the picture… the eyes of Tori Johnson… eyes that have been dead for dozens of years now…

…dead eyes looking towards him…

"Yug?"

"Huh!" Yugi started, shaking himself from his thoughts.

"Uh… Yug, are you okay?" Joey asked with a raised eyebrow, but concern was evident in the blonde's voice. "You kinda sounded a little… weird…"

"Ah…" Yugi forced a sheepish grin, and shook his head dismissively, but unconsciously was hugging his midsection. "Yeah, fine. It's just a little…"

"Disconcerting?" Ryou supplied for the smaller teen sympathetically.

"Yeah."

Yugi was sure the other had no idea just how right he was.

…

"Why is Tristan glaring at us from across the room?"

TBC