---Chapter Two---
----A Week Later----

"Turn off the car..." demanded Kaiba, in his standard, cold tone, to his limousine driver as he headed up the front steps to Ishizu's house. Sighing a bit to himself as he arrived at her front door, he extended his hand, and knocked.

As the door opened, someone other than Ishizu answered, much to the CEO's surprise.

"Kaiba? -- Seto Kaiba? What are you doing here?" questioned Malik Ishtar, Ishizu's younger sibling, in disbelief.

"That business is strictly between your sister and myself. All I need to know from you is whether or not she's in." stated Kaiba in a cold tone.

"Yes, she is, but speaking like that to me isn't going to get you inside.." Malik replied slyly as he folded his arms over his chest, and leaned against the entrance inside. Kaiba glared at him as he put on a smirk.

"Brother, step aside, please." said Ishizu in a stern, but composed manner, "Let him in.."

"Ishizu, you're going to let him in?" questioned the younger Egyptian to his sister in a shocked tone.

"Is that not what I have just stated? Now move aside, brother…" she replied in the same tone of voice as before.

"Fine." the blonde answered, grudgingly, as he moved aside, and let the now smirking Kaiba in.

After glaring at the CEO a bit more, Malik grabbed his jacket and headed out the front door.

"Sister, I'm off, alright?" he said, already half way down the drive way.

"Don't stay out too late, Malik.." Ishizu said, "..And be careful.."

"Don't worry, Ishizu, I'm with Bakura, and he has his Yami.." said Malik as he threw on his helmet, and got onto his motorcycle.

"That's the point, brother." muttered Ishizu, shutting the door behind her. Walking over towards the living room, she saw that Kaiba had already made himself at home. Taking a seat chair contradictory to him, Ishizu focused her eyes to the floor, and awaited for him to speak -- although she already had a very good idea about what he was going to discuss.

"Let's just say I 'believe' in all of these hallucinations I've been having.." he spoke, finally, "..Maybe I did have a predecessor that was a High Priest…but…."

"But what..?" the Egyptian questioned.

"…If memory serves..I've never heard of love stories concerning the past." Kaiba replied raising his left brow and turning his head towards Ishizu, "I suppose you don't have an answer to this."

"..No..I cannot say I do…" she answered in a slightly quiter tone of voice.

After a moment of silence, Kaiba spoke up, almost hesitant..

"...He died for her, didn't he?"

Glancing up, Ishizu noticed a flicker of sincerity in his eyes.

"Yes, he did."

Crossing his legs, Kaiba leaned back in his chair, making it apparent that he had nothing more to say...

Ishizu fingered her Sennen Tauk for a minute, and then arose from her seat. Walking over to an old, dusty box that was inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphics, she opened it. Slowly, the Egyptian extended her hand and withdrew a long, golden rod, extolled with the Sennen symbol. Kaiba recognized it at once.

"Isn't that the same rod your brother had during Battle City?" he asked, eyeing it.

"That is correct… but it also belonged to the High Priest Seth, which explains why you were able to activate it once before.." she said, as she walked over to him, and held it out, "..and that is why I feel compelled beyond reason to hand this over to you."

Kaiba extended his hand to grasp it, but retrieved his hand reluctantly.

"It's not going to do anything to me, is it?" he questioned looking at it closely, "I mean..it's not going to make me into some brainwashed puppet like it did to Wheeler, is it?"

"If I recall correctly..." Ishizu began with a hint of amusement in her voice, "Not long ago, you called the power of the Sennen Items a 'magic trick.'"

Kaiba immediately shot Ishizu a cross between an annoyed look and a glare.

"I've come to the conclusion that your brother is deranged either way. Rod or not." he replied, smirking, "The insanity might even run in the family."

"How dare you insult my family." she said with an indignant glare, which was very much unlike her, "How could you possibly know anything about my heritage and background? For years the tomb keepers have--"

"Spare me this session of Egyptology 101, Ishizu. You've given me more than enough lessons." the CEO stated.

"Then let's have an exam, shall we?" the Egyptian countered, "Take the Sennen Rod."

"Gladly.." he replied, getting to his feet, and snatching the rod from her hand, "But only to prove you wrong."

Kaiba soon turned his gaze towards the rod in his hands, and after a few minutes had passed, derisively twirled it through his fingers.

Ishizu's eyes widened slightly in confusion as she closely eyed the Egyptian staff-like object in Kaiba's hands. Was it not Seth, Kaiba's past self, that held the Sennen Rod? If so, then why wasn't it working for his reincarnation?

"..Hmph…I'll be on my way, now, if you don't mind." he said as he extended the Sennen Rod towards her so she could retrieve it. Kaiba stopped abruptly as the rod in his hands began to glow a shade of gold. Ishizu watched as he began to stare at it, and become hypnotized in somewhat of a trance. He soon let both of his arms fall limply to his side, and his head distort, so she couldn't get a good look at his face.

"….Kaiba?" she questioned in a whisper. As these words reached his ears, he looked at her through the brown bangs which covered his malevolent, but vivid, blue eyes.

"Kaiba is no longer present." he replied in a sadistic tone.

"Then who---" brusquely, Ishizu stopped in between her words, and let her eyes fall shut as her Sennen Item began to glow.

"….Isis……." he stated, after her tauk had stopped radiating.

Shooting her eyes open, the newly identified woman, Isis, fixed her gaze at the figure before her.

"Identify yourself. " she stated in an unruffled, but firm manner. He slowly raised his head, letting Isis see his facial features evidently.

In an instant, she realized who it was.

"...Seth!" she exclaimed in disbelief, "Can it really be?"

"Too good to be true, I'm afraid…For I am not who I appear to be, dear High Priestess……." he replied, giving her a rather psychotic grin.

"Then who are you?" Isis questioned, stunned once again.

"Karim."

Author's Note: A note saying you at least to a glance at the chapter would be highly appreciated.