DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fanfiction produced for entertainment purposes only. Yu-Gi-Oh! and all related characters are the creations of Kazuki Takahashi.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: About the spelling of Yugi's surname... I'm using the spelling from the official English version of the Manga, in case anyone's wondering.
Chapter 11: Accusations
By Shadow's Mirror
For several moments following Kaiba's heated question, there was silence. At first, Yami was too surprised to respond, but then he was too incensed to manage more than an incoherent splutter. Finally though, he managed to voice his indignation. The low intensity of his tone and the glare in his eyes left no doubt as to the depth of his fury. "Kaiba! What are you saying? Are you accusing me of manipulating your mind? Do you honestly believe that I would do something like that?"
Kaiba matched Yami glare for glare. "I know you're capable of it."
Yami leaned forward slightly. "Of course, but I would never…!" He halted in mid-denial, a startled look flashing across his face as he sensed the emotions coming through his link with his other half. He glanced at Yugi, a look remarkably like fear filling his eyes. "Yugi… You… You doubt me?"
Yugi's head had bowed but now it jerked up. He gasped, his wide eyes locking with his yami's gaze. "No! Of course not!" His hand reached out, grasping Yami's in comfort. "I know you'd never do anything like that to Kaiba!"
Yami relaxed slightly, gently squeezing his light's hand in silent gratitude. "Then… what I felt through our link…?"
Yugi's expression shifted, becoming just slightly shadowed. "It's just that… This reminded me of… the other times."
Yami closed his eyes, regret flooding through him. Before he could reply though, Kaiba interrupted.
"As touching as this is, I still want answers."
"Which I do not have!" Yami turned to face the other boy again. He drew himself up, standing tall and proud. In that moment, he looked every inch the powerful Pharaoh he had once been.
"I use my powers only when absolutely necessary, for the protection of my light, the safety of the world or to punish those who have incurred my wrath by threatening the same. As annoying as you are Kaiba, you have earned that punishment only once, and you are fully aware of that occasion. As for this… It was not my doing. Believe me or not, as you choose. But remember, I am not the only one capable of manipulating minds." His eyes flashed as he scowled. "I can think of two others, and I would put something like this past neither of them!"
Kaiba's eyes narrowed as he considered that possibility. "No matter what it takes, I will get to the bottom of this. If I find out that you have lied to me…" He left the threat hanging.
The door to the Mutou's living-room opened and a very irritated white-haired boy strode into the room. "This had better be good. We were in the middle of something important!" Stopping just inside the door, he crossed his arms and glared around the room at everyone.
Yami looked up from the conversation he'd been having with Joey and raised an eyebrow. "Something important? Why Bakura, were you trying to come up with yet another scheme to gain control of all the Millennium Items and use them to take over the world?" He smirked.
Bakura turned his glare onto Yami exclusively. "No! For your information, Ryou was about to teach me to make cookies!"
Joey's snicker broke the stunned silence that followed that announcement. That set off a round of chuckles, including some loud guffaws courtesy of Tristan and Duke.
Bakura's eyes blazed and his hand moved up to grasp the ornate golden ring hanging around his neck. Before he could begin sending souls to the Shadow Realm for all eternity though, Yugi leaned to one side and smiled apologetically at the boy standing in the doorway.
"I'm sorry, Ryou. I didn't mean to interfere with your plans for today."
"That's all right, Yugi. We can do it this evening instead." Bakura relaxed at his light's quiet voice. Or perhaps it was the gentle touch of Ryou's hand on his shoulder that calmed the dark one's temper.
Ryou moved from the doorway, coming to stand beside his yami. He looked at Yugi, his eyes bright with curiosity. "What's going on, Yugi? You said on the phone that you had something to discuss with all of us."
Yugi smiled sheepishly, a faint hint of colour darkening his cheeks. "Actually, Kaiba's the one who wanted to talk to everyone. But we didn't think you would all agree to come if he called you." Kaiba snorted at that and looked annoyed but Joey nodded.
"Too right! So what's so urgent that his High and Mighty-ness asked you to get us here for him? And by the way, I hope you're making him pay dearly for this favour, Yug." Joey smirked, the colour in Yugi's cheeks darkened and Kaiba glared at his secondary source of annoyance. His primary source, of course, being Yami.
"Listen Mutt, you should be grateful that I decided to include you in this! If it wasn't for the fact that your sense of humour is juvenile enough to do something like this, I wouldn't have bothered!"
Joey blinked as he tried to follow that bewildering statement. "I know that was an insult, but other than that… I have no idea what you're talkin' about. You wanna try that again? Maybe with a bit more detail like, say, what's goin' on?"
His ice blue eyes gleaming with barely suppressed fury, Kaiba opened his mouth to reply. Yami beat him to it. "We have a mystery on our hands, Joey. More than one, in fact, although they appear to be related."
He looked around the room. Besides Yugi, Kaiba and himself, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Téa, Bakura, Ryou, Malik, Marik, Isis and Odion were also present. "Now that we are all here…" He glanced over at Kaiba as though daring him to interrupt, then looked away again. "Allow me to explain the situation."
As soon as Bakura and Ryou had made themselves comfortable, Yami began.
"Last night Yugi and I made a discovery. We learned that at least one of the Monsters in the Shadow Realm is not accurately represented by its holographic image in Kaiba's dueling system." Yami raised his voice slightly to be heard over Joey and Tristan's snickers. "When we went to confirm this with Kaiba this morning, however, we made another discovery. This one, considerably more disturbing." The snickering stopped.
"The card we were concerned about turned out to be one of several that, for some unknown reason, uses more than one set of images within the dueling system. The information and images were provided by Pegasus, and Kaiba was unaware that this situation existed. That is the disturbing part."
"What? That Kaiba let Pegasus put stuff into his computer system that he didn't know about? Yeah, that's disturbing all right. I didn't think he was that big an idiot. But what's it got to do with us?" Joey couldn't resist a sideways glance and smirk at Kaiba. The brunette promptly responded with an icy glare.
"No, you idiot! What Yami means is that I should not have been unaware of it! I found out about the alternate images not long after Duelist Kingdom. But it took something Yugi said today to remind me about it. When I looked it up on the computer, I learned about the other cards. I didn't know about them. But, according to the computer, I accessed the same information the first time I looked it up! So what I want to know is…" He turned his glare onto everyone in the room one at a time. "Which one of you is responsible for erasing my memories of that original discovery?"
Joey jumped to his feet and whirled to face the angry brunette. "What?! How can you possibly blame us for your bad memory? Even for you, Kaiba, that's ridiculous!"
Kaiba surged to his feet, his fury resulting in a loss of his usual unruffled demeanour. "This wasn't just me forgetting something, Wheeler! As soon as I found out, it all came rushing back to me. I remembered learning about the other images. I also remembered the bright flash of light that caused me to forget about them! There's only one possible explanation for this. Someone has been toying with me. I demand to know who!"
Joey glared back at Kaiba. "Think about it, Kaiba! Why would any of us wanna do something like that? And even if we did have a reason, how could we have done it? Not all of us can use magic, and those of us who can wouldn't use it for that sort of thing! We didn't do it. You may call me a dog, but this time you're the one barking up the wrong tree! Right guys?" He looked around at the others.
Everyone nodded in response. Everyone… except Bakura, Marik and Isis.