Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh.
My Notes: Sorry for the really late update. I didn't fall off the face of the world, yet. After the elections I got rather depressed. And recently I've been fighting off the flu for several days now. I'm not exactly better. Anyways, I'm splitting this next chapter up because I think it feels rushed and incomplete. (Technically it is, but let's not split hairs...) But I couldn't let several more days pass before posting another update. Then it'd be just a few more days which turn into months and then years...Here's hoping I get better soon.
I've updated this chapter so it's complete. New material at the end. It wasn't long enough on its own for a new chapter.
Exchanging Acquaintances
"Hey Yuge, have you been getting any sleep? You look totally trashed," Tristan asked.
Yugi weakly chuckled. "Well I have been sleeping. But something's been always waking me up."
"Don't tell me it's Kaiba again?" Tea asked.
He smiled. "Actually no. I haven't seen Kaiba since our little talk." He stopped smiling however. "Seriously, I've been getting some strange feelings lately. As if there's something not quite right." He tugged the chain holding his Millennium Puzzle. "I just hope whatever it is doesn't have to involve me saving the world again."
"I'll say. I could stand to do without one crazy madman after another for a long while," Tea said.
"Talking about strange, check that out," Tristan said as he pointed to a very unusual sight.
Everyone turned to look. "Is that Joey? But who's he talking to?" Tea asked. It was clearly a girl from the standard female uniform.
"I don't know but he should definitely bring her over," Tristan grinned before yelling, "Hey Joey!"
Joey turned as he heard his name called. He looked back and spoke to his companion, a fiery redhead who was then heard laughing, before the two came to the rest of the group. "Hey guys."
"Don't 'hey guys' us. Who's your friend?" Tristan asked inquisitively.
"Guys this is Nadia. She's an exchange student that's going to be staying here for a while. Nadia this is Yugi, Tea, and Tristan."
"It's a pleasure to meet you all. Your friend Joey is very funny," she chimed in her foreign accent.
Everyone inwardly groaned as the two found some seats. No one in their right mind thought Joey's humor was worth laughing at. Tristan broke the silence. "Yeah Joey keeps us laughing alright." He slid over to Joey. "Dude, where did you find her?" he whispered.
"She was just standing there, looking all lost and confused. How could I not help her?" Joey whispered back, grinning.
"So Nadia, what brings you to Domino?" Tea asked the newcomer.
The ethereal girl perked up. "Well you guys have this really awesome archaeological program down at University of Domino. I figured I might as well check it out as I finish up my high school credits."
"So you want to be an archaeologist?" Tea followed up.
"Yeah! There's just something about rediscovering ancient cultures and figuring out how people lived in old times."
"That's cool. Say Yuge, your Grandpa's friends with that Professor Hawkins, right? Maybe he could put in a good word for Nadia here?" Joey suggested.
"Yeah I guess he could. He'd have to meet you first. It's not everyday that Grandpa does things for strangers," he stated.
She looked over at Yugi. "I'm sure that that could be arranged." Her green eyes widened. "Say, you're not the Yugi Moto, are you? Winner of the Battle City Finals?" Nadia turned to look at Joey. "You never told me that you were friends with the world's foremost duelist?
"Hey you never said anything about dueling."
"Well you never asked," Nadia smirked. "That's the other reason why I came to Domino."
"Well for your information you're talking to a Battle City finalist," Joey boasted.
"You were a finalist as well?"
"Yeah. Well I don't mean to brag, but I did almost beat Kaiba for third place."
"No way! The Seto Kaiba?"
"Yeah. I woulda won too if it weren't for his Blue Eyes White Dragons. Without them, he's a piece of cake."
"I wouldn't go that far...," Yugi started.
"No it's true. I could whup old moneybags with one hand behind my duel disk."
"Dude, you need that other hand to actually duel. How else are you going to put your cards on it?" Tristan asked, trying to deflate his ego just a tiny bit.
"That's besides the point. It doesn't matter anyways since Kaiba's stopped dueling. I bet he realized that how close he came to losing to Joey Wheeler, Duelist Extraordinaire!" Everyone rolled their eyes at this. "Anyways Nadia, you and me should duel. I promise I'll go easy on you."
"Sure, okay." The fiery redhead looked back at the shorter duelist. "But I wouldn't mind dueling against the number one ranked duelist as well. If he had the time."
"I'm sure Yugi wouldn't mind, would ya Yuge?"
"Not at all. It will make a nice friendly duel." Yugi smiled.
"Then it's settled. Shoot, I forgot to tell you guys. My sister Serenity is coming over to visit. She said she wanted to hang out with us when she comes in this afternoon."
"Serenity's coming? Why didn't you say so?" asked Tristan who seemed way too eager.
Joey shrugged. "Guess it just slipped my mind. So it's okay with you guys? I figure we could see a movie or something?"
"Sure Joey," Yugi said.
"You'll know I'll be there," Tristan affirmed.
"Finally some more estrogen in this group. I'll be glad to have someone to talk to about things other than Duel Monsters," Tea beamed.
"Nadia, you're welcome to join us too if you want?" Joey invited, not wanting to seem rude.
She took a moment to decide. "Sure. I'd love to."
"Great! Then we'll all meet in front of the school and head off from there."
'Yugi,' the Pharaoh called out.
'What is it?' the teen asked his alter-ego.
'There's something about that girl...'
'You mean Nadia?'
'I don't trust her. Something about her...I just don't trust her.'
'Aren't you getting a little paranoid? I mean, we just met her.' Yugi racked his mind for a moment. 'Wait do you think she has anything to anything I felt last night?'
'It's possible.'
'But she doesn't seem particularly evil or anything.'
'The greatest evils don't attract attention. Just...be on your guard,' the spirit suggested.
"Yugi, aren't you coming?"
He snapped back to the real world, noticing it was time for the next class. "Hey wait up guys."
Later,
A very recognizable limo was seen in the parking lot of Domino High. Yugi and the gang couldn't help but stare at the familiar vehicle. "Man he's even got little flags on that thing," Tristan pointing out the small banners displaying the Kaiba Corp logo.
"Well what else is going to distinguish it from all the other dark black limos out there?" Tea rhetorically asked.
"Funny, I didn't see moneybags all day." Joey stated.
"Maybe you should get your eyes checked," an icy voice suggested. "But then again dogs do have to rely on their sense of smell to notice anything," Kaiba informed Joey as he approached, two bodyguards to each side.
"Kaiba," Joey growled. "Just had to show up and ruin my perfect day."
Kaiba however didn't pay any more attention to the blonde duelist. His eyes narrowed on Yugi however. "Yugi, you mind explaining how this object once again wound its way into my mansion?" he asked as he pulled out the Millennium Rod and held it right in front of Yugi's eyes.
"I...uh...I'm not sure," he stammered. He unconsciously merged with the Pharaoh in an effort to hide his fear of Kaiba. "I really don't know."
"You mean to tell me that despite handing it back to you just a few days ago, and you being nowhere near my compound, myself intentionally avoiding you as well, this thing magically appears inside my house?"
"Well it was taken from me...," Yugi began.
Kaiba closed his eyes. His fist was visibly shaking. "Look Yugi, what can I do to get rid of this thing? And what can I do to get some sleep?"
"You can start by learning to accept the truth: that you were in a previous life..." the Pharaoh began.
"Enough with the hocus-pocus nonsense Yugi! These lies you keep telling me..."
"...Are exactly what you need to hear!" The Pharaoh exclaimed. "These symptoms will not go away until you begin to accept them, that you are accessing knowledge that normal people are not entitled to," he explained. "You are the incarnation of a high priest of Egypt and once you start remembering things from your ancient past, the sooner I'll be able to help you understand what you are experiencing."
"It's going to get worse?"
"Yes, as long as you keep rejecting things you can't explain, as long as you refuse to accept that there are forces greater than yourself watching over you, then yes Kaiba, things will get a lot worse for you until you come to grips with your past life."
Kaiba opened his eyes and glared at Yugi. "What ridiculous garbage...," he started.
A collective gasp was heard when the Millennium Rod glowed its ancient hue, as if warning its holder.
"My arm! What is going on?" His eyes widened in shock as he realized he couldn't move.
"Don't fight it Kaiba! The Millennium Rod is revealing something to you!" Yugi also felt something different. The chain around his neck felt heavier. "My Puzzle!" he shouted. It, too, seemed to be reacting to something.
Kaiba however was grimacing, his head pounding; it felt like it was cracking open. Every nerve seemed to be firing; a stimulus overload was coming right at his brain. He noticed that his socks were on, his heartbeat had speed up, gooseflesh was manifesting itself, the expanding and contracting of his chest in breathing,. These items once noticed, normally went away in time. Not so for Kaiba, as his attention continued to monitor and update itself on the above and more: his eyes were blinking, his clothing hung upon his frame, he was uneven on his feet, his stomach was empty, and so on and on.
"Mr. Kaiba!" his paid attendants cried and tried to keep him steady on his feet.
His vision blurred between far and near; an artificial creation of Picasso. He was hearing sounds but one of Kaiba's constant thought kept reverberating within his mind: This isn't possible! This just isn't possible! It was growing dark all around him. Not the darkness of closing one's own eyes but a heavy, psychic blackness of his mind just shutting down. Shutting all the way down. Although Kaiba wanted to cry out, make sense of what was going on, nothing could be heard, felt. Kaiba even doubted he even existed. Silence ruled all.
Who knows how long he existed there? Who knew what thoughts transversed through his mind? Was it hours or was it seconds? But a light did shine forth so overpowering that there was nothing left to do but embrace it. What he found in that light destroyed all his preconceived ideas, beliefs and prejudices.
He found himself. No, he found an Egyptian High Priest, who was equally as stunned and in the same state of mystification as he.
Although everyone was watching the event that was occurring before their very eyes, and moving to help the fallen CEO, one person was trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. Slyly taking the Millennium Ring from her shoulder bag, Nadia held it down upon her side. Ring, she mentally voiced, show me the source of this disturbance. The Ring, though it had just one master, obeyed this request. All the pointers aimed towards the east. Ring show me in exact detail this intrusion. The energies from the Ring sharpened and Nadia's mental eye rushed, zoomed in onto a train. Making its way towards Domino, the Ring refocused and closed in on a young woman: A petite young woman with auburn hair who was writing in a small notebook. No other information was forthcoming. Nadia cursed and dropped her link with the Ring, quickly stashing it away before anyone noticed.
But someone did notice.
"That woman will learn the penalties for taking things from a thief...," a voice declared. A small metallic eyeball lay in the palm of the speaker's hand. "I did not want to use this yet, but it seems I will have to, especially to stay in the game." The hand twisted the sphere till it was properly aligned, then jammed it into one his eye socket. A sharp cry of pain rang out as blood poured down his face, but it was silenced through his sheer will. Tasting his vital bodily fluid as it flowed into his mouth, the shadow dweller smiled. "I will make you pay. I will make you suffer...," he vowed. And his laughter echoed in the ether.
Yugi thought he heard someone laughing, but he shut it out from his mind. He had other worries to deal with. Did I push him too hard? He had to, at least, be willing to consider the truth. Although he couldn't help Kaiba as his bodyguards were attending to their master and making sure no one got near, he still felt responsible, as if he should help. "Kaiba," he whispered.
"Yugi," Tea said as she reached out for his hand. "This isn't your fault," she added as if knowing his very thoughts.
"I don't know...I mean, Kaiba's always been stubborn...," His eyes turned to hers, then to Joey's and Tristan's. Although Tea showed signs of concern, the two guys were looking rather indifferent. Or maybe uncomfortable.
"Don't sweat it Yuge. You didn't do anything wrong and well...," Tristan started.
"...It's his own fault for not listening to you," Joey finished. The two of them were looking all around not looking at Kaiba, deliberating on their own feelings for the CEO.
"He's waking!" One of the bodyguards shouted. The gang crowded around. The prone figure was helped to a sitting position. Yugi knelt in-front of Kaiba.
A quiet chuckle emerged from Kaiba. "Pharaoh! How I've waited for this moment!" His eyes opened, revealing a burning hollow look.
"Kaiba?"
"Who is Kaiba? What's in a name? I am the High Priest and the one destined to rule Egypt, now and forever," Kaiba smirked.
"Uh guys, this is starting to get really freaky," Tea voiced, noticing an unseen change around Seto Kaiba. It felt colder and darker, as if the sun had gone down.
He turned to her. "Don't worry your head, woman." His head turned back to Yugi as he rose to his feet. "This is only the beginning. Pharaoh, I'd be concerned with making preparations. You escaped me once before, but now you won't be so lucky. Time is on my side." The young CEO turned away from the group of friends.
"Kaiba! Don't turn your back on us!" Joey shouted without thinking. "Don't you think Yugi wants to talk to you or something?" He briefly looked at Yugi. "You do, right?"
The tall duelist stopped. "I'm not interested in anything he says." He turned and shoved the Millennium Rod in all their faces. "I have all that I need!" With that he headed towards his limo, leaving Yugi and the gang with shattered hopes and wild fears.