NOTE ON NAMES: Having two sets of characters with the same name could get pretty confusing. So I use the names in the following way:

Kaiba – refers to the 18 year old Seto Kaiba

Seto – refers to the 13 year old Seto Kaiba

Mokuba – refers to the 13 year old Mokuba Kaiba

Kouma – refers to the 8 year old Mokuba Kaiba (it literally means "Pony")

CHAPTER 2: A WRINKLE IN TIME

SETO'S POV

Things looked… different. I noticed the cars first. They were sleeker, somehow – less boxy in design – more aerodynamic. I peered out of the alley. Everyone seemed to be carrying a cell phone, a laptop or both. So… they weren't just toys for the rich anymore. I approved. I'd been filthy rich for three years (emphasis on the filthy), but I hadn't forgotten what it was like to have nothing, to be nothing.

I looked up. Even the skyline had changed. I was staring at the tower I'd always imagined building. The one I had planned out in my mind. Then I saw the initials that crowned it – the huge KC. When had Gozaburo build this? More importantly, what the hell was going on?

I knew something was very wrong. I'm a genius, remember? I needed answers, and I wasn't going to get them hanging around an alley all day. I led Mokuba out into the street. That's when I saw the newspaper – or more specifically the date – 2004. Somehow, we'd come five years in the future. Or had been sent, I thought, remembering the guy in the robes, the blinding light.

He had given me an address, and a couple of names. Right – like I was going to listen to anything that a clown in a dress told me to do.

I considered my options. They weren't good. We were five years in the future. The bank and credit cards I had carefully acquired would have expired by now, leaving my money in electronic limbo. Given time, privacy and a computer with Internet access, I could fix that.

Maybe it was time to reconsider the freak's advice. A game shop, even one with the dopey name 'Turtle Game Shop' had to have a computer.

But I wasn't going to walk blindly into a trap. More importantly, I wasn't about to lead Mokuba into one.

I knelt down so that we were at eye level. So that he'd know this was serious. He had taken everything in stride as usual. Hell, after the orphanage and Gozaburo, a guy throwing around lightning probably was normal. I envied his gift for remaining oblivious to everything around him, even as I felt the familiar pang of guilt for not doing a better job of taking care of him.

I have something I have to take care of, Kouma," I said, watching his face light up as I used our special nickname, the one I had begun to forget. Still, I loved seeing him smile every time I called him "Pony." It had started back before the orphanage, when he had refused to cut his hair until his mane resembled a Shetland Pony. It had become our joke, part of our bond.

For once I had a bit of luck. Like luck in a nightmare, I thought sarcastically. The play place I had scoped out was still in business five years later. Still catering to rich people who needed to drop off their kids for a few hours at odd times. Still open until midnight. I hoped I'd be back by then, but I'd learned not to ask for luck, or anything else I wanted.

I didn't look back as I headed to whatever was waiting for me at the Turtle Game Shop. At least I would be facing it alone.

As soon as I was inside the store I knew that I had made another mistake. These people recognized me, and that couldn't be good. They might even be from Gozaburo.

I backed up towards the door. One of them, a scruffy blond yelled, "Wait. Don't move." He came at me. I swung at his face. When he raised his hands to protect himself, I kicked as hard as I could at my real target – his balls. He went down in a heap cursing. I grabbed everything I could get my hands on, toys and card packets mostly, and began throwing them; keeping the others a bay, concentrating on the tall boy with the pointed hair. I could hear the blonde gasp from the floor, "Great, now he thinks he's Jackie Chan."

I didn't know who the hell Jackie Chan was, but I knew this: anything can be turned into a weapon. The others were hanging back. I had gained the door. I was a good fighter. It's funny, but Gozaburo had never punished me for fighting his goons. He'd just send a bigger one next time, each time I managed to knock one out. I understood his twisted reasoning now. He'd taught me to hone my anger; to use it. In an odd way, I was grateful.

But it was time to go. Before something else went wrong.

"Kaiba, wait," the girl cried out. She had a soft voice. Mokuba would love it. I risked a glance behind my shoulder, expecting to see the familiar business suit, to smell the familiar cigar – but there was no one there. I smirked. Did she think she could scare me by calling out my adoptive father's name?

But she was looking at me, a puzzled expression on her face. "S-Seto?" she said uncertainly. "What's happened? Why are you so… young?"

"How old should I be?" I countered.

"About 18. The same as us," she said gently.

That figured. Five years in the future. Just like me.

I hesitated, still halfway out the door. The fight had cleared my head. Whoever these people were – they weren't from Gozaburo. He would never have hired this inept bunch of kids. I decided to risk another question.

"Okay, which one of you is Yugi Motou? Or a guy called Yami?"

"I'm called Yami, and this is Yugi."

Great. These two had even wilder hair than the shabby blonde. (What was it with these guys and hair? Hadn't any of them ever heard of a brush?) They looked like identical twins. Except the one who had spoken was taller. I stared at him. He was wearing an upside-down pyramid around his neck, with the same eye on it as the jerk who had sent me here. I always know when people are going to be important to me and this crimson eyed freak mattered. That didn't make me feel any better. After all, Gozaburo mattered too.

He kept his distance, spoke softly. "We mean you no harm."

I didn't bother answering that. Settled for a question of my own. "Then how do you know my name?"

"It's a little complicated."

"If you're looking for a way to tell me I'm five years in the future, save your breath. I figured that out already."

"We haven't met yet, but in the present, Seto…" he paused, "Seto… Kaiba is my greatest rival."

My eyes narrowed. It figured. Who knew Lightning Guy had a sense of humor?

"Rival?" I asked

"Friendly rival."

"That's a contradiction in terms," I sneered, "The only word that goes with friendly is bullshit."

"That proves it. It's Kaiba all right," the blonde muttered.

I smiled. At last, something familiar – an open enemy. But this Yami was speaking again.

"Would you like to see your older self?"

"That depends. Where's Gozaburo?"

"Your adoptive father died over two years ago."

"Care to prove that?"

"I think I can," said the smaller one, the one with the purple eyes, as he disappeared into the back. He returned with some kind of electronics gear – a toy. It had a Duel Monsters deck in it. I must have been slipping – it took me a moment to notice the logo. There was a large KC on the front.

"Does this look like something Gozaburo would make?"

I looked at it. Hell, I couldn't take my eyes off it; felt a sudden hunger to stroke is sleek lines. I had never seen it before, but it felt like a part of me.

"Yes," Yugi confirmed. "It's your design."

Damn. He had read me too easily. "Okay, if you want to take me to this other Seto, I guess it's alright with me," I said, as if I was granting a favor.

But the girl ruined it by asking, "Where's Mokuba?"

I considered saying, 'Mokuba, who?' but I knew that wouldn't fly. So I fell back on my number one lie – the one that was starting to convince Gozaburo and his goons. The one I was afraid I was starting to believe. The lie that had set me running.

"That stray dog, that's always nipping at my heels? He was too much trouble. He was getting in my way, so I left him behind."

Everyone smiled. The blonde rolled his eyes. "What's it to you?" I challenged.

"No one who knows you – any version of you – would believe that you'd abandon your brother so lightly," Yami replied.

I couldn't stop the look of relief from flashing across my eyes, nor the words from escaping.

"Then It worked… Then I didn't…" I said before I stopped myself, and nodded. I was ready to go.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I was trying for a voice that was recognizably Kaiba's, and yet sounded younger. Usually that would imply a more open, trusting, person, but I think in Seto's case, it would mean he was less mature, less controlled, and much more suspicious, because he is still in the middle of his battle with Gozaburo, and also, frightening as it seems, because he hasn't had Kaiba's experience seeing that friends can come through for each other. What do you think?