Cheating Love

x.x.x

Seto chewed on the end of his pencil, carefully studying the detail he'd drawn on the large sheet of paper spread out on his desk. He measured it again carefully, then scribbled out the corresponding calculations on his notebook. It was almost effortless, the way his plans came together. He could picture the prototype perfectly in his head.

What he was so carefully drawing was his design for a contest, a contest sponsored by the famous creator of Duel Monsters, Maximillion Pegasus. Seto had heard about the contest on an inventors' message board that he visited frequently online. Mr. Pegasus had asked that all the smartest designers, inventors and technicians try to design him a sort of dueling arena, to be built and featured for some great tournament that was to be held on Pegasus' private island. Seto had been inspired as soon as he'd read that, already envisioning an interactive arena, with holograms of the duel monsters that appeared to really attack.

The contest had an incredible cash prize, but that was only half the temptation of entering. Whoever created the winning design would be famous, recognized as the genius they were.

And wouldn't that piss Gozaburo Kaiba off!

Seto snickered as he made the last corrections to his code. Sure, he wouldn't know if it worked until it was actually built, but it looked really good on paper. When Pegasus recognized the magnitude of Seto's proposed design, it was almost guaranteed that he would win.

"Seto!" his mother called up at him from the bottom of the staircase. "Are you up there?"

Seto leaned back in his chair, pulling his door open wider so he could call back down to her. "Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"

"One of your friends is here!"

Seto glanced at the clock. Yugi usually came over on Saturdays, but it was still rather early for him to be over. Usually Yugi and Joey spent the mornings at Yugi's house before coming to visit. Well, maybe the Saturday cartoons were all reruns or something.

"He can come on up!" Seto called back down to her. He left the door open, returning his attention to his contest entry for a few last corrections.

"Seto Nishimura?"

Seto's pencil snapped in half in his hand, as Seto twisted around to stare at his visitor. Noa Kaiba had such a hopeful look in his eyes as he watched Seto, almost adoringly, entreatingly. Seto had a sudden urge to be rather violently ill.  

"What the hell do you want?" Seto demanded, tossing the remains of his pencil in the trash.

"I just… wanted to talk to you…" Noa murmured. Except he couldn't seem to find anything more to say, shrugging helplessly.

"Look," Seto growled, scooping his duel monster's deck off the table. "You shouldn't have made such a stupid challenge when you hardly even know the rules of the game. But you did make the challenge, and I'm not giving back the Blue Eyes White Dragons."

"This isn't about the stupid cards!" Noa blurted. "You can keep them. They're yours."

Seto blinked, slowly setting his cards back down. "If this isn't about the cards, then why have you been following my friends and I all around town?"

"Because…" Noa whispered, glancing away, down at the desk, at his feet, anywhere but at Seto. "Because, I… um…"

Seto watched Noa stutter for a few moments, then gave up trying to get an explanation out of him. "You know what, I don't even care why. Just stop it. Get out of my house, go back to your fancy little mansion and your servants and your perfect little rich boy life, and stay out of my way."

"But I-!"

"Hey, Seto?" Yugi pushed open the door, blinking at Noa, and then at Seto. "Er, hey… what's Noa doing here?"

"He's just leaving," Seto stated with a cold look at Noa.

"Right…" Noa whispered, looking down at the ground. "Just leaving."

Yugi shrugged, moving past him and going to dump his backpack in the corner. Seto watched Noa a minute more with a mixed look of disgust and pity, then turned away as well, silently dismissing Noa from his life.

Some day, Noa vowed silently as he left. Some day you won't even dare to turn your back on me, Seto Nishimura. You'll see.

The morning sun was almost cold as Noa stepped back outside, blinking up at the muted gray-blue sky. Why shouldn't Seto see him as some spoiled little rich brat? That's how everyone saw him, even his father. But that would change too.

Noa grinned at the handful of drawings and calculations he'd snatched off Seto's desk as he'd left. With these, he knew he could change the way the whole world looked at him.

x.x.x

In the Shadow Realm, the Dark Magician Hansha had called a meeting of all eight of the Guardians assigned to protect the Pharaoh Yami. It was rare that all eight of the guardians came together, and all of them took up almost every square inch of the meeting hall. Hansha studied each of the Guardians in turn, trying to hold back the moment when he stated his reason for calling the meeting.

His gaze rested briefly on Shiroi, the Blue Eyes White Dragon, brother to Hansha's wife Midori. Shiroi had always been a puzzle to Hansha. The two boys had grown up together, and had always been close friends. But after Hansha had married Midori, Shiroi had distanced himself, almost avoiding Hansha, but always seeming to be there in some dark corner, watching him with that enigmatic expression.

But Hansha didn't have the time or the energy to puzzle out the hidden meanings in Shiroi's eyes. He cleared his throat gently, then began to address the group. "It has come to my attention, from a very reliable source, that there is a… darkness, looming in the future of the one we protect."

Silence met his statement. Then Shiroi spoke, almost hesitantly, briefly looking up at Hansha but for some reason not meeting his gaze. "The same darkness that threatened Yami in the past?"

"It is thought so," Hansha murmured. "In part. But there is more than that. It is believed that… many of the Millennium Items shall soon be in the same place. And the darkness is coming for them. I don't need to tell any of you what will happen if evil forces manage to gather so many of the Items."

A soft murmur rose among the other seven of Yami's Guardians, but in the end all eyes turned back to Hansha. He was the unofficial leader, the great magic user, and surely he knew what to do.

But Hansha didn't know what to do. He had an idea, but he wasn't sure if it would work, or if it would work in time. But they were the Guardians, their job was to protect Yami at all costs.

"I have a plan," Hansha murmured hesitantly. "We must awaken Yami's memories of his past. It may be difficult, for his has locked them away so tightly, even he doesn't know the way to get them back. But if he remembers the darkness of his past, he may be better prepared to confront the darkness of his future. If we all agree…?"

Exodia stood first, a giant among all of them, extending his hand out to Hansha. A fine golden light glowed around his bulky fingers. Silently Exodia pledged his aid, and his power, to the cause. Shiroi stood after him, his body shifting into the magnificent dragon form, glowing a pale blue as he similarly offered all he had to give. Each Guardian stood in turn, offering their power, until the very walls thrummed with their collected energies.

"Yes," Hansha murmured, feeling the power spill over him, like liquid light over his skin, filling him and submitting to him. He would be the focus of the casting, the only one who could tie together so much magic and focus it. Or perhaps he was just the only one who would try. Straining under the pressure of such power, he glanced briefly at Exodia. Exodia quickly looked away.

"Ready then?" Hansha asked them. The pulse of their energies was answer enough.

Hansha let the power reach through him, through the shadows and into the realm of the light, into the mind of a small boy where a great spirit lay sleeping, into the twisted labyrinth of that spirit's mind, calling up all the buried memories.

"Awaken…" Hansha pleaded, feeling himself stretched thin, reaching so far into the Pharaoh's spirit. Images flew at him, and dark things flew at him. Hansha could feel Yami unconsciously trying to push out his intrusion. Even with all the power supporting him, Hansha only managed to dredge up a few of Yami's hidden memories, before the connection broke suddenly.

Hansha came flying back to himself in a rush, blinking in the room where the light of power still clung to each of his companions. The light was too bright for him, all of a sudden.

"That's… all… I can… do…" Hansha managed to stutter, before crumpling to the ground. Shiroi was the first to rush to his side.

Exodia watched the Blue Eyes White Dragon frantically trying to revive Hansha, and Exodia turned away, slipping from the room with a silence that belied his size.