Author's Note: For those of you that asked, the last name I have given to Seto and Mokuba- Nishimura- comes from my English 101 teacher. Just to let you know.

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Blink Three Times (part two)

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Noa Kaiba was bored. Not just everyday sort of bored either, but 100% pure, industrial strength BORED. What was the point of skipping out on all the lessons his father demanded he attend, when there was absolutely nothing else for him to do?

Noa didn't have any friends. Actually, he had plenty of friends, but he didn't actually like most of them. At least half of them were just "playmates" that his father hired to keep him occupied when he wasn't in lessons- which wasn't very often, anyway. And the rest… most of them just hung around because Noa was rich. Noa liked being rich. But he didn't like any of his friends.

But that wasn't what was bothering him for the moment. At the moment, he was just bored. There never was anything to do in his house, really. And he'd finally gotten tired of staring out the window and gloating about how he was richer than everyone else in the city. Maybe it was time for him to actually go out and do something?

While that thought brought up at least a mild interest, it was quashed almost immediately. What was he supposed to do out in the city anyways? Huffing in annoyance, Noa turned away from the window, his gaze drifting over the items in his room. He'd gathered a million things in this room over the years, hoping for entertainment value from each of them, but quickly growing tired of each and every item. He had a lot of games in his room, but they were no good without friends to play them with. All of the hired playmates had strict instructions to always let Noa win. Noa liked winning about as much as he liked to be rich, but winning soon became tiresome when he knew his opponent was losing on purpose. Noa wanted to really beat someone, sometime.

His gaze lingered on one of his newest acquisitions, a stack of collectable cards for a game called Duel Monsters. When he'd first found out about the game, he'd gone on the internet and quickly purchased every rare and powerful card he could find. Soon he'd built a deck that would most certainly guarantee him victory every time he played. He'd even gotten three out of the four rarest cards, the famed Blue Eyes White Dragons. He was very proud of them. He'd never found the fourth one, but that one hardly mattered anyway. Surely one Blue Eyes White Dragon was no match for three.

But again, what was the point? Powerful deck or no, there was no one to duel with. And that just led back to his current predicament, the never-ending boredom. On the other hand…

Smiling faintly, Noa picked up his card deck. He had heard about places in town where kids could bring their Duel Monsters decks and play against each other. That would be a lot of fun! He could probably make the entire room envious of his most marvelous deck. Yes, that would be a lot more fun than hanging around in his room. Pocketing his deck, he left his room to get a ride into town.

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"So this is one of those dueling rooms?" Joey asked, peering around at all the children sitting at long tables. "Kinda dull, don't you think?"

Yugi shook his head, grinning brightly. "It really isn't all that bad, it's actually kind of fun to watch a duel, but more fun to be dueling yourself. This here is the beginner's area."

"Beginner's area?" Joey demanded. "C'mon Yuug, we're all better than that."

"Yugi is, certainly," Seto commented, very faintly smirking, "but have you ever won a duel, puppy?"

Shortly after the rescue in the alleyway, Tristan and Joey had become a part of Yugi's growing circle of friend's. Whenever they could, they'd find a place to gather together and play Duel Monsters, which Joey had gotten hooked on, just as Seto had. Tristan didn't have quite as much interest in the game, and so he hadn't come to visit the dueling room with Yugi, Joey and Seto that weekend.  

Joey mock-glared at Seto, though by now he was rather used to the teasing nickname Seto had given him. "I told you never to call me that!"

"Yeah, but you didn't mean it," Seto murmured in a lofty tone. "And I see you're not bothering to dispute your failings as a duelist." Despite the cold words, there was no malice in them, and Joey and Seto bickered thusly so often, neither of them bothered to take offense any longer. "Come on, let's find a table."  

Which was easier said than done. This was a very popular place for both amateur and experienced duelist to gather, and most all of the tables were full. Yugi was pretty disappointed to see they might not find any place to sit and play.

"Oh well," Yugi finally sighed. "Maybe we could come back later in the week when it's not so crowded…" He looked over to Seto to see if he would agree about leaving, only to find that Seto was not listening. He was frowning over at someone in the advanced duelist's area.

"What's he doing here?" Seto muttered, mostly to himself.

Joey followed Seto's gaze, blinking over at the boy with aquamarine hair, who was currently laughing gleefully over the defeat of his opponent. "Heyy… don't I know that kid from somewhere?"

"You should, since he's the son of the richest man in this city," Seto muttered. "That's Noa Kaiba. The little spoiled brat."

Yugi blinked up at Seto. "You don't like him much, I take it."

Seto sighed and shrugged. "Well, no, I don't care much for him, but it's more his father I can't stand. I ever tell you I was almost adopted by Gozaburo Kaiba?"

Joey scoffed. "You were not."

"No, seriously, I almost was. He came to the orphanage my brother and I were at, and I challenged him to a chess game. If I won, he was supposed to adopt Mokuba and I. But I think he cheated, and I lost. Couldn't ever prove it, though."

"Wow…" Joey murmured. "You coulda been rich!"

"Hey, I still will be, someday," Seto said proudly. "Losing that chess match only delayed the inevitable."

"Ha!" Noa crowed over at his dueling table, as he defeated another opponent, quicker this time than the last. "That was pathetic! Go away, you loser. Isn't there anybody here who will prove to be a challenge?"

Noa looked around for another opponent, but after Noa's scathing defeat of the previous duelists, none were interested in getting beaten by him. Noa frowned, though it came out as more of a pout.

"Oh, come on. Surely someone here is brave enough to face me?" Still, no one stepped foreward. Noa glowered, then brightened as he hit upon a brilliant idea. "I'll give all three of my Blue Eyes White Dragons to anyone that can defeat me in a duel."

Yugi brightened, looking up at Seto. "You ought to take him up on the challenge."

Seto blinked down at him. "What? No way, why don't you play him? You're a lot better than I am." Especially if Yami shows up, he added silently.

"But I already have a Blue Eyes White Dragon, and didn't you say you'd always wanted one?" Yugi asked. "If you win, you can have three. I know you'll beat him."

"And besides," Joey added with a smirk, "wouldn't it be fun to defeat a Kaiba?"

Seto blinked at Joey, then grinned. "You know, you're right." Pulling out his dueling deck from his pocket, Seto made his way over to the table Noa was at. He set the card down on the table, looking down at Noa for a long moment before he sat to face him. "I accept your challenge."

Noa smirked, shuffling his own deck. "Alright then. Let's duel."

The duel with Noa was both easier and more difficult than any of the duels with Yugi or Joey. Noa played without any sense of strategy, simply playing each card as it came to his hand, the moves all haphazard. It was as if he'd hardly played the game before in his life. What made it difficult was that every card he played seemed to be rare and powerful. It was through sheer brute force that Noa had defeated his previous opponents.

Discovering this, it wasn't too hard for Seto to devise a counter-attack. A single magic card to destroy all high-powered monsters Noa had, and the duel was over.

And it was almost worth it to see the gape-mouthed look of utter disbelief on Noa's face when Seto won. But Seto had won another prize, and intended to collect.

He held out his hand, palm up in demanding his payment. "My Blue Eyes White Dragons, please."

Noa stared up at him, in amazement bordering on awe. "Who are you?"

"Seto Nishimura," Seto answered. "Will you hand them over or not?"

Noa finally seemed to snap back to reality, almost mechanically sorting through his deck to retrieve the three dragons he had promised the victor. Seto took them, marveling over the cards he'd wanted for so long, now all his by what was almost pure chance. With a finally grin at his prize, he slipped the cards into his dueling deck, and made a mocking bow to Noa.

"See you later, Kaiba," Seto murmured, then rejoined his friends, who were both laughing and congratulating him on his victory.

x.x.x

That night, Noa Kaiba lay awake in bed long into the night. He couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Seto Nishimura's icy blue gaze, the condescending smirk. Seto was… was…

…beautiful.

Noa couldn't stand it. Seto was incredible! How could anyone duel so flawlessly, so confidently? How could anyone that special even be human? No, no, certainly Seto was something more than that, something special.

Staring up at the shadows in the ceiling, Noa smiled to himself. Sure, Seto was something special. But now that Noa knew of him, one day, Seto Nishimura would be his.