Please read and review! In addition to just plain loving reviews, I find them helpful in terms of structuring the rest of the story.

CHAPTER 15: DOUBLE DRAGONS

YUGI'S POV

I had rarely spoken to Kaiba-kun in the past: occasionally to offer help, even less often to ask for it. Now I was seeking him out with my thanks. I was reminded of our duel with Malik's mime. Yami had been ready to give up. After all, he had been fighting a God.

"Since when do you bow down before your rivals?" Kaiba-kun had asked, before bellowing his challenge, "If God bars your way, defeat him and move on." And Yami had responded to his dare as he would have to nothing else.

This time Yami had been fighting not God, but himself. But I had no doubt Kaiba-kun's advice had been the same. And once again, it had gotten Yami to his feet; had brought him to stand at my side. I didn't pretend to understand Kaiba-kun, but I owed him my gratitude.

"Thank you," I said simply.

"What for?"

"Yami."

"He's not 'all better," Kaiba-kun warned harshly.

"No, but he's on the road now," I answered. "I know it. Yami is truly his own person, and yet we'll always be a part of each other. It's like finally being in our own individual bodies just proved that we'll never really be separate. Does that seem strange?" I asked doubtfully.

"Define: strange," he replied.

It was such a perfect Kaiba-kun response, that I smiled.

"Hearing someone else's voice inside your head. Feeling someone else's presence inside your heart," I answered. "And yet knowing that Yami is his own person. That he's not my other self, my other me. Yami has his own thoughts and desires now... his own name. I don't really understand it myself. I have no word for what Yami is to me. He's something other than my friend. He's not my lover. All the usual labels don't apply. He's just… there."

Kaiba-kun shrugged, but didn't answer. Something in his silence told me that I had probably come to close for comfort in describing how he felt about Mokuba.

"Anyway," I continued, "I could feel him hurting, but I couldn't do anything. I couldn't cross the divide between us – because it wasn't a rift of my making. Yami had to find his way back to me, himself. I know what you did for him. I'm grateful."

"That's why you brought him here isn't it?" he asked challengingly. If he was offended, he didn't show it, although his words were as harsh as ever. "I accepted the lamest load of bullshit I've ever heard come out of your mouth, but that doesn't mean I believed a word of it. What was the matter? In your happy little group, you couldn't find anyone who knows what it's like to betray your other half? Who knows what it's like to be unable to look in the mirror without flinching? Who knows what it's like to piece your heart together, wondering the whole time if you belong to the darkness?"

"If you knew I was lying, why didn't you say anything?" I asked, stunned, as much by Kaiba-kun's outburst, as by the realization that he had been on to me from the beginning.

"You don't get it," he said angrily. "You saved Mokuba, twice. There's nothing you could ask of me that I wouldn't do."

"You saved my life and Jou's in Battle City. You gave your life points life for Yami… and me, at DOMA." I stammered. Doesn't that make us even?"

"No," he said fiercely. "Those scales will never balance."

I knew better than to argue, despite the illogic of his statement. I knew better than to smile, too. But in his wildness and his implacability, he sounded just like Yami.

Since he had pretended to accept my explanation, before, I did not protest his, now. But it struck me that although his answer was reasonable enough, it did not explain the note of concern in his voice when he spoke of Yami.

SETO'S POV

I've always figured that 'good guys' are just 'bad guys' with better press. I mean everyone thought of Gozaburo as this big humanitarian – and he made bombs for a living.

Shadi, the Robed Wonder, might have thought that he was the hero, but in my book, he was the one who had fucked up my perfect plan. He kept harping on the fact that Akunadin had sold his soul. Like that mattered. A soul (if there is such a thing) is a commodity like everything else. And people buy and sell pieces of themselves every day without anyone noticing or caring. I should know. After all, how was Akunadin's contract with his devil any different from the deal I'd worked out with mine?

So I wasn't impressed when Mr. Time Travel popped in again. The one thing that surprised me was that he had no clue where Akunadin was. The one thing that bothered me was the brief, knowing smile that crossed Kaiba's lips when he heard that. The only person to notice was Yami, who, as usual, was watching Kaiba as closely as I.

"Let me see if I've got this straight," Kaiba said pleasantly. "You've disrupted my plans, twice now, for nothing. Are you sure we were friends in the past?" He turned to Yugi, adding, "You do realize he's not doing anything to convince me that 'friends' are anything but a nuisance?"

"I do not know why I have been unable to find him. Nor do I know why he has not revealed himself… unless he has," Shadi said thoughtfully.

"Is this your way of saying that you've managed to fuck the whole thing up, already?" Kaiba asked with detached interest. "Powerful… and stupid. At least it's a familiar combination."

"I wonder if you know more about Akunadin's whereabouts and intentions, than I do," Shadi said suddenly. I bristled at the implied threat in his voice, but once again, Kaiba spoke first.

"And I wonder why you think you have the right to meddle in my affairs," he answered, his voice just as hard.

"Kaiba," Yami said, in warning.

"No, Yami. Not this time. I understand everything he's said. I understand the reasons for his actions. I even concur with their necessity. And you have my compliance along our future path. But he is not my ally – and never will be. Do not ask me to bend, further."

Yami nodded.

I was enjoying the exchange – especially as it didn't seem to have occurred to Mr. Time Travel to wonder if he was questioning the wrong Seto Kaiba. My older self had gotten him so riled up, he'd forgotten all about me. Ordinarily I would have been pissed off at being dismissed as a child. But I'd learned never to refuse any advantage that an enemy was dumb enough to give me. For my money, 'powerful… and stupid' hit the nail on the head.

In that respect he wasn't so different from my self-proclaimed father. Akunadin thought I was just a kid, too, in spite of the fact that I was the one yanking his chain – not the other way around. I was glad Lightning Guy had reappeared. I was having a blast jerking Akunadin around, and adding his enemy to the mix would just make the game more fun. And news of him would be another bone I could throw Akunadin's way, the next time we met. I grinned to myself, thinking about the last time. Akunadin had been lucky. I had only been an hour late.

"Do you think you can make me wait on your whims, boy?" were the first words out of his mouth.

"You're still here, aren't you? I guess that means the answer is yes," I replied.

The equation was simple. Akunadin wanted me. That was his weakness, because it gave me power over him. I brushed aside the thought the same equation existed between Mokuba and myself – and that granting my brother that same power had left me feeling not weak, but protected. As if whatever happened to me, at least I had left my heart in the safest harbor I could find. I shook my head. It was a dumb comparison – Akunadin wasn't Mokuba – not by a long shot. And Mokuba was the exception to all the rules.

"I don't see why you think all these games are necessary," Akunadin said impatiently. "I'm offering you almost unlimited power – exactly what you've always wanted."

I smiled. He had absolutely no idea what I wanted. And I had no intention of cluing him in. It'd be a cold day in hell before I mentioned Mokuba's name in front of yet another 'father.' But I threw him enough truth to keep him happy.

"Nobody's made a move to get the items. Shadi's disappeared. So that means I don't have to decide anything right away. Not that I was planning to. It took me months to scope out Gozaburo."

"And you still think that was a winning move? Well, if you're satisfied with your decision, who am I to quibble?"

I shrugged. I wasn't about to explain that I had known from the start what I was getting myself into. But when you're down to considering your options – it means you're running out of them. It's not like people were lining up to adopt me and Mokuba. And I was almost out of time. When I turned 18, they were going to boot me out of the orphanage – and it wasn't like they were going to let me take Mokuba along as a going-away present, either.

So my choice had been simple, though I'd be lying if I said it was pleasant. But I had figured it out all right – all of it. No one but a lunatic would adopt two children to pay off a bet. And no one but a psychopath would be so furious at losing a game that he'd adopt his opponent just to make sure he'd have the opportunity to destroy him. Gozaburo was both. He was perfect.

But my life was no one's business but my own. So I stared at Akunadin, and waited for him to ask a question I felt like answering.

He just kept smiling, Finally, he said, softly, "I think you will find me much more accommodating."

"Then you won't mind answering a few questions," I replied. It was time to get to the real purpose of the evening. He had information I wanted, and it had nothing to do with any of his schemes. I was after something much simpler.

If you want me to feel like I'm getting to know you, why don't you tell me something about your home… about Ancient Egypt…"

I wasn't ready to fall in with him by any means. He was a little to eager to kill my older self, for one thing. Not that I blamed him, but I filed it away as one more reason not to trust him. In the meantime, I didn't see why he shouldn't be useful… and when it came to knowing all sorts of details about Egypt that I could use in designing my video game – he was better than the library – or even the Internet.

But, Yami was speaking, now, so I brought my attention back to the present.

"This battle has been 3,000 years in the shaping," Yami said, "Now that the moment is almost upon us, we need the extra time our adversary is granting us."

"Are you sure this isn't cold feet, Yami? Did DOOM teach you to fear?" Kaiba challenged.

"No. What it taught me is to trust … in destiny… in our bonds… in our friendship. That is how I know that the time is not yet right. We are as splintered as the items we seek. We must be united… within ourselves… with each other… before we will be ready to face our foe."

"Our enemy is out there, somewhere. He may be in here as well. How will we know when this unity has been achieved?" Shadi asked skeptically.

"I will know," Yami replied. "Until then, I am content to wait."

"There are other ways of gauging the human heart… of assuring that it will comply with our needs," Shadi remarked.

"But none are so certain as trust – freely given and exchanged."

Although Shadi was the one uttering threats, Yami disturbed me more. It was the way he'd look at me… no, it was the way he'd look into me… as though he was seeing the Seto I'd kept hidden from everyone – even Mokuba. That was nothing new. Others had tried to figure me out before. What was different was… for the first time… I wanted him to penetrate that deeply. I wanted to have a soul, if only to have something for him to find.

I met his searching gaze, pleased that my eyes were as blank as ever; denying him entrance. I would never back down from his challenge. But I couldn't pull away, either, and I couldn't deny to myself how much I wanted to fall into that look, to lose myself in his regard. And my longing to yield proved that it was Yami who was my most dangerous adversary.

And Kaiba's, as well.

Something unspoken, yet powerful seemed to pass between them with each charged glance. As if they had found a new way to duel. I couldn't figure out the rules, and was wary of learning. For it seemed to be a game where both sides were vulnerable. It was as if Yami was weaving an invisible net to snare his opponent – without noticing that he had become just as entangled in its threads. And Kaiba, for all that he was refusing to see the trap card Yami was laying in front of his nose, was in just as deep; was in too deep to do anything but succumb. I looked at Kaiba and wondered if I was contemptuous or jealous that he was five years closer to surrender…

KAIBA'S POV

We were both more comfortable thinking than speaking – unless we were spitting out insults. He still pretty much refused to learn anyone's name. I could never remember the pointy haired kid's, and only remembered the make inu's because he annoyed me. Seto had my arrogance. I had his rage. Although we both preferred to face our enemies head on, I wouldn't advise turning your back on either of us.

Seto was, as I had been, a feral creature, barely tamed, barely human. The only emotion that touched him was a pure blinding rage. He lashed out at anything that moved; his senses were always on alert; his eyes were always scanning the landscape for fresh danger.

I understood why, of course. It was the reason why I never reined him in. The reason I was glad he wouldn't remember any of this. He was the way he needed to be. It was the only way Mokuba would survive.

Looking at Seto – at this dangerous, untamed, technological genius – made me realize that although his promises were mine to keep; although his sins were mine to redeem;… I didn't want to be him any more. Or rather, I didn't want Seto to be all that I was. I had been an adult all my life. Looking at him made me realize that in the past five years I had matured.

And what was there to say, if I was the new, improved version?

I knew he was seeing Akunadin; having taken my own steps to monitor the situation. I wasn't surprised that he had headed straight for the first substitute for Gozaburo he could find. I was his sparring partner – but he needed an enemy. He had grown up on a battlefield. He had escaped, but that life was all that he knew. It was home in a way that this new, softer world was not. You can put a rat in a comfortable cage, but he'll still need to sharpen his fangs on something… or someone. Better Akunadin than us.

For Seto was five years away from the challenge that now faced me.

I hadn't needed Yami to tell me, at Alcatraz, that it was my own hatred and rage keeping Gozaburo alive; that I had pieced together my heart, only to bury it under my own Duel Tower. I had fought for most of my life. Now I was trying to let go of the battle; to live without an enemy to rage against – to take on and tame myself and my demons, instead. I had tattooed a reminder around one ankle that it was time to finally unearth my dreams.

Yami had told me that the past had made me the person I was. But now, I was fighting to become something more.

… It wasn't long before my thoughts were interrupted by Seto – in the flesh this time.

The mutt had decided, for whatever reason (and who knows what passes for thinking in

that flea brain), to rough-house with Mokuba. He had my brother in a headlock, and was ruffling his hair – not that it needed it. Mokuba was fighting and laughing at the same time. His shrieks filled the air. At the sound, the adrenaline rushed through my body, my muscles tensed, before I forced myself to relax. But the mutt had forgotten about Seto.

His reaction was immediate. And I have to give him credit – he was fast. In one fluid motion, Seto twisted the mutt's arm off Mokuba, drove it backwards, and using the jerk's own arm as leverage, forced him to the ground. I had thought the make inu would put up a better fight. He certainly had the reputation, although I was pretty sure Seto could take him. But the idiot was trying to restrain Seto without hurting him. My opinion of the mutt's intelligence went down another couple of notches, since it was obvious that Seto didn't even recognize, much less share, his scruples. I have to admit, I was with Seto on this one. I didn't get it either. The make inu would have cheerfully dropped me off the top of Kaiba Tower himself. I didn't hold that against him. If anything, I preferred his hatred to everyone else's forgiveness. But, given the way he felt about me, I couldn't see why he was holding back when faced with a smaller, weaker, version of the man he hated. Luckily, I had long since given up on trying to figure out what went on in any of their heads.

I was perfectly willing to let nature take its course. As far as I was concerned, if this was the way Seto wanted to blow off some steam, that was fine with me.

But when I saw Mokuba's stunned face, I remembered – this had all started when Jounouchi had played with him. And Mokuba liked being treated as one of the gang. In fact, he liked Jounouchi. He didn't blame Seto for kicking Jounouchi's ass, but he didn't know what to do. Mokuba couldn't side against Seto, even knowing he was wrong, but he didn't want Jounouchi to get hurt. Worse, he felt guilty – as if he had caused this little scene. And that was not permissible.

I got behind Seto, locked my arms around his waist and pulled him up. I needed the leverage, as my foot slashed out, sweeping his legs out from under him. Instead of dumping him backwards (which wouldn't have slowed him down) I swung him on my hip. Now I was the one holding him in a headlock. If I had simply thrown him, he would have rolled out of it. (I still could have taken him, but there were limits to how big a show I wanted to put on, given the audience.) So I tightened my grip and dove for the ground, torquing his body so I landed on top of him. Our combined body weight slamming into the floor was enough to knock the wind out of him. My arm was still around his neck. I consolidated my hold into a choke. My other arm and body were pinning his arms, so he couldn't get a hand free to gouge my eyes out, which was just as well, since he had lost any semblance of control – not that he ever had much.

Predictably, I heard the mutt protest. "Hey, Kaiba, you don't have to be so rough on him."

I was tempted to stand up and let Seto finish him off. I wasn't hurting the punk… and did the mutt really think anything gentler would have made an impression? I snuck a look at Mokuba. Now that Jounouchi was out of it, he looked calmer. I guess he was used to seeing me beat up on myself.

I leaned over and hissed in the little viper's ear. "Your behavior is upsetting Mokuba. When I release you, I want you to get up and reassure him that everything is all right. Then you will follow me out the door."

He went limp. I grinned. Did he think I'd fall for that old trick?

"Careful. If fighting the mutt got Mokuba upset – how do you think he'd react if you sucker-punched me?"

I saw the fury leave his eyes. He was back in control, or what passed for it, anyway. I got up and walked out, without looking back.

"What gives?" Seto said, aggravated, as he joined me in the hallway. "What the fuck's wrong with you? He was attacking Mokuba!"

I didn't blame him for his reaction. I knew how he felt. I had wanted to deck Jounouchi myself when I had seen Mokuba in that defenseless position. And Seto's instinct had been purely protective; an instinct Gozaburo hadn't managed to twist… yet.

"No, he wasn't," I said quietly.

"What are you talking about? Of course he was," he insisted. "That dog's just like the bullies from the orphanage. The ones that were always picking on Mokuba. Every time I look at him…"

"You smell the orphanage disinfectant," I finished. "I know. And the stench never really dissipates."

"Then why did you stop me?"

"Because it looks the same, but it's different. Jounouchi is Mokuba's friend. As far as I can tell, friends do things like that."

"Friend?" he said, pouncing on the unfamiliar word.

"Yeah, friend. Mokuba's got them."

"What for?"

"Beats the shit out of me," I shrugged. "But they seem to make him happy."

Seto shrugged too, then added, "Okay, but if the mutt calls me Baby Kaiba again, I'm kicking his ass."

It was my turn to shrug. This was getting like watching myself in the mirror. "I don't care what you do, as long as Mokuba doesn't feel responsible for your bad temper."

"He had Mokuba in a headlock. How the hell was I supposed to know?" he yelled. He hated making a mistake.

"It's hard to tell, sometimes," I agreed. I found Yugi and his friends almost as incomprehensible as Seto did, despite years more exposure to them. "For what it's worth, I wanted to beat Jounouchi's face in the ground too. Just remember, it'll make Mokuba unhappy if you kill his friends. Next time, look at Mokuba, first," I suggested. "Take your cue from him. He's got more sense about this kind of thing than you… or me. And he's not a little kid, any more. He's your age now."

"He's not as old as me!" he said hotly.

"I didn't say he was. I said he was your age."

For all that Seto was my foundation, I have to admit Mokuba dealt with him better than I. Well, Mokuba liked him better. I understood why Seto was the way he was. I even approved. That didn't mean I had to like him.

SETO'S POV

I tried to hold my breath, to hold in my screams. It was a habit. Kouma was still sleeping peacefully beside me, so hopefully, I had succeeded.

But then I heard the door open, heard footsteps in the dark. I stiffened, then remembered. Once the footsteps would have meant Kaeru, or worse Gozaburo. Once they would have meant trouble.

Now they meant something else. I could feel the bed shift as it absorbed his weight, as he gathered me in his arms.

"It'll be okay. Soon you'll forget how to dream."

"Everyone dreams. It's part of the sleep cycle." Even now, I couldn't resist the rare opportunity to correct him.

"Technically accurate, but at least you'll forget yours. They'll never have the power to bother you again. I promise."

I held on to his words as closely as he held on to me. I knew how seriously he took his promises. But it was strange. I had never looked to myself for comfort before….

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Earlier, Mokuba had noted that no one who liked himself would sign their life over to Gozaburo. I think that's true, and I also think it's part of the reason Seto's so hard on himself –because he's never really had the luxury of considering his own welfare. Well, besides the fact that he's honest enough to know that he's done some pretty awful things, uncompromising enough not to offer or accept any excuses for himself, and no more likely to forgive himself than he is to forgive anyone else. But as dispassionately as he views his current and former selves, I think he might find being face to face with Seto to be a more complicated matter.

I think Seto would find a lot of things about this world disorienting. On the surface it looks like he's escaped – that he's safe. But Seto doesn't know what 'safe' feels like. He's never experienced it. So I think he'd be trying to get a handle on things. And I think he'd head straight for Akunadin precisely because he doesn't trust him – and being surrounded by people he doesn't trust, and who are out to use or harm him is what Seto's world is about. Bizarre as it sounds, I think that would feel comfortable in a way that the rest of his surroundings don't. Also, he's a perfectionist – and he was put in charge of the group working on the Ancient Egypt role playing video, back in Chapter 8. It seems logical that he'd go to the source for information.

His life is based on deceiving everyone around him – deceiving Gozaburo into believing that he doesn't care about Mokuba, and deceiving Mokuba that everything is all right. Now he's suddenly confronted with Kaiba, who understands him better than he understands himself, and has this unwanted attraction to Yami and this (to him) unaccountable wish to have Yami know him better. I think he would find this both alien and threatening.

I can see him feeling out of his depth and reacting, often violently. When we first meet Seto Kaiba at Death-T, he's basically a homicidal sociopath. He's totally out of control to the point where Yami shattering his heart is not only (after a fashion) justice, but necessary. Seto in this story, is not at that point yet – but he's sort of a sociopath in training. Seto would (and will) give up everything for Mokuba, but I don't think anyone else really exists for him.

THANKS TO AMARIN ROSE: for suggesting "Double Dragons" as a title. Given as so much of the chapter concerned Seto and Kaiba, both together and apart, it seemed appropriate.

SELF-ADVERTISEMENT: I've just posted a Kaiba and Ryou Bakura one-shot, titled: A Slice of Light. It's set after the end of the series – maybe it's my way of dealing with it being over. Anyway, it's kind of odd, and I'd like to know what people think. But please (please, please) leave a review of Chapter 15 here, first.

RESPONSES TO REVIEWS:

Yami and Yugi: (QueenOfGames2) It's funny – until I saw your review, I hadn't realized how slashy the scene came across. That's one reason I like reviews so much – I end up learning stuff about my own story, which is pretty neat. I see Yami and Yugi as having a deep bond – after all, they lived inside each other's minds – I don't suppose it gets more intimate than that. But I don't see their bond as having a sexual component – at least not in this story. One thing I am interested in exploring is the different kinds of love that the characters feel and the different ways they are expressed. This varies from Yami and Kaiba's eventual relationship, to Kaiba and Mokuba's intense brotherly love (with it's parental overtones – although it's sometimes hard to tell who the parent is) to Yami and Yugi's bond, to the infatuations felt by Seto and Mokuba. Then there are the contrasting parenting styles of Gozaburo, Akunadin and Sugoroku. (Okay, going off on a tangent, here.)

Ironically, in Chapter 14, I was trying to draw a parallel (unfortunately, not totally successfully) between Yami and Yugi's bond and Mokuba and Kaiba's. That was why the chapter began with Kaiba holding Mokuba, and ended with Yugi holding Yami. I've tried to make the differences between Yami's bond with Yugi and his feelings for Kaiba clearer in this chapter and in subsequent ones.

Yami and Kaiba: (Anonymous, Desidera, Kagimihari, laura m, Mistal: The Poisoned One, Siiarrei) One of the things that attracts me to writing about Yami and Seto is that I see it as being a match between two characters with complimentary strengths. I think the duels Kaiba has with both Yami and Isis (earlier) demonstrates this. If Yami is teaching Kaiba in their duel to accept his past (and by extension, himself), in his duel with Isis, Kaiba is teaching her, and by implication, Yami, that no one's future has to be bound by their past, or what they see as their destiny – that each person has both the right and the responsibility to work to create their own future.

Kaiba understands what Yami is feeling regarding Yugi, and why he wants to hide from him. But I think Kaiba wouldn't let Yami get away with that, anymore than he would accept running away from Mokuba, himself. But I think the only way he could phrase it was at a challenge. I think Yami understood that, and having it posed as a challenge, possibly made it easier for him to follow through.

Clarification: (Anonymous) when Kaiba thinks that: "I could hear Gozaburo's words in my head – and I was willing to bet that Akunadin had no more interest in his continued existence – would come to look on him as just as much of an obstacle." he means that just as Gozaburo came to realize that Mokuba was the biggest hindrance to his attempts to mould Seto in his image, Akunadin would feel the same way, and would therefore become just as big a threat to Mokuba as Gozaburo had been.

Kaiba and Mokuba: (AmunRa, Desidera, Jenny, Kagimihari, QueenOfGames2) I think as Mokuba gets older, he would be less likely to hide his knowledge, especially if he was convinced that letting Kaiba know would be good for him. But I think for Kaiba to realize this would change their relationship. I think after Death-T you see Mokuba trying more actively to support his brother emotionally, but I don't think Kaiba is really aware of this shift until much later. And I agree that he feels guilty that Mokuba ahs forgiven him, since his training has taught him that he should expect Mokuba to want revenge instead. I also agree that both brothers see where they have hurt each other, rather than how they have saved each other – although both are true. I also thought that was an interesting point – that having Kaiba call Mokuba, 'Kouma' shows he's going back to those earlier feelings. I actually hadn't consciously thought that out, so it was really neat having it pointed out!

Dragons: (Nachzes-Black Rider) The dragons show up a lot on and off. If you look at the idea that they represent Seto Kaiba's soul, I find it fascinating that he has, in essence, destroyed one fourth of it.

Filling in details, fanfiction, et al.: (EcoGoth, laura m, Tuulikki) Thank you. One of the things about Yugioh that lends itself to fanfiction, is that Mr. Takahashi created these compelling, vibrant characters, and then left so much implied, rather than spelled out. So I think this leaves a lot of room for fanfiction writers to fill in the details. Like if you take Seto's relationship with Gozaburo: the manga shows a frame of Seto 'studying' while wearing a dog collar. Gozaburo is standing behind him, laughing and holding Seto's head up with a riding crop, and Seto looks terrified. When Gozaburo jumps to his death he talks about losing the 'game' to Seto. Later, Seto talks about how his life was filled with ugliness and how his adoptive father sold his soul to the military. That's pretty powerful stuff – but it leaves a lot of details to be filled in by the (often lurid) imaginations of writers like me. And yet his characters are so alive, that it also leaves room for plenty of what ifs: What if Seto met his younger self? What will happen with Seto and Mokuba's relationship as Mokuba gets older? What would it take for Yami and Seto to be in a relationship, and what would it look like? Well, you get the idea…

Kouma: (kekewey) That was a good point. I don't plan to do a Kouma (younger Mokuba) POV, mainly because I can't think of anything for him to say at length, and I doubt my ability to convincingly write from an eight year-old's POV. He does show up on and off later, but the story really focuses on the older Mokuba and the two Seto Kaibas. I probably need to do more work conveying how he feels about things in upcoming chapters, so he's not just an accessory, which he's often in danger of becoming.

Chapter titles: (Katie Torango) Usually I go for a pun or a joke, but this title just seemed to appropriate to pass up. Thanks.

Duel with Jounouchi: (kekewey) Kaiba gave Seto three cards. The first was polymerization which he used to create the Rabid Horseman. The second (which I made up) was the Impatient Goblin, which he used to break into Jounouchi's turn when Jounouchi played a combination of Time Wizard and Baby Dragon, and the third one was Change of Heart, which enabled him to use the resulting 1,000 year dragon against Jounouchi. I'm not much of a duelist (or at all) so I hope I got it right.

Thanks to AmunRa and Kagimihari: I rewrite frequently, so it's always nice when I work over a sentence or a passage, and someone notes it particularly!

Thanks to Mordred-of-Loth for reviewing. It's nice to know, especially as this is a long story (I keep saying that, don't I?) that it's keeping your interest.