Please Read and Review. And thanks to all the people who have taken the time to let me know what you think about the story. I really appreciate it.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since Chapters 34 and 35 are both short, I'm posting them together. Although I have a brief Author's Note at the end of this chapter, most of the Author's Notes and the Responses to Reviews are at the end of Chapter 35.

CHAPTER 34: HOMEWARD BOUND

YAMI'S POV

Once he had gotten the plane in the air, Kaiba relinquished the controls to his pilot. He routinely permitted others to fly his helicopters and his blimp, but I had rarely seen him allow anyone else to fly his planes. He probably wouldn't have done it now, either. He had something to prove… and he loved flying. For all his obsession with dueling, I would wager that it was here, in the air, that he felt closest to his dragons.

But Seto had questions about the game they were designing. I wanted to believe that Seto had noticed Kaiba's condition, and was uncharacteristically trying to take care of his older self. But one glance at his face had disabused me of that foolish hope. Seto simply wanted to talk about their game, and (as usual) was oblivious to everything but his goal. At least, it had been enough of a lure to get Kaiba away from the controls of a plane, I could not imagine he was fit to fly, after the day he had.

At my side Jounouchi clearly agreed. "He's covered in blood. I bet he's sorry he picked today to wear his Battle City get-up. That is one messed-up coat." he laughed. "But look at him! He can barely stand. And the jerk thinks he can fly a plane? Did he ask us if we wanted to die when he goes down in flames?"

Kaiba and Seto sat down near us and immediately started discussing the game's specifications. I was eavesdropping. I neither understood nor cared what they were talking about, but their interaction fascinated me. Kaiba had a streak of cruelty that was either innate or so deeply engraved by his life that it could not be expunged – not that he showed any signs of wanting to. But now, he tried to confine it to his business dealings – or his exchanges with Seto, where it seemed to be the language they were both most comfortable with.

"You realize from a marketing point of view you've made a glaring and rather stupid error." Kaiba was saying, "You've forgotten to include any female characters. Never ignore or insult a potential customer. Besides, without some equally well thought out female characters, your game is simply a shallow boy's action fantasy."

"I suppose you're going to pick one of them to be – since you seem to be going in that direction anyway," Seto said sarcastically.

I ignored Jounouchi's grin.

"Not once the test runs are over. Like you, I'll probably pick Ninquiloce," Kaiba answered calmly. But that doesn't change the fact that you've missed the perfection you were seeking."

"Who would you use as a character guide?" Seto asked seriously, almost shyly. I suddenly realized: his mother had died when he was five; he had grown up in a boy's orphanage, and Gozaburo's mansion. How many girls could he have known?

"I don't know." Kaiba answered, clearly giving the matter some consideration. "I'd probably add a bubble-headed cheerleader type."

"Ahhh, thoughts of Anzu," Seto said with a grin.

"Yes. But to be fair, I'll give her some kick-ass moves. She's earned them." He frowned. "She's a little flat-chested for a video game character. Then again, too many boys want action figures on steroids for avatars. Maybe the girls will have more sense. It's worth a try."

"How big is she anyway?"

"24-B. I guess Mokuba figures more than a handful's a waste. Sensible really."

"It's a good thing he's got small hands." Seto laughed.

I thought Jounouchi was going to jump out of his seat. I put a hand on his arm, and sure enough Kaiba said sternly, "Never insult her. I owe her for Mokuba, and so will you. Besides when you insult her, you're insulting Mokuba. And he's right. If your taste runs that way, you could do a lot worse than Anzu, who has proven her loyalty."

"But you don't like her."

"I don't have to like someone to respect them. Or to be indebted." he said evasively.

"We'll probably also need more of a female Ninja type – you know someone mysterious – maybe armed with a shinobigatana and shruiken. Those star-shaped ones are cool," Seto said, predictably more interested in the weapons than the character who would wield them. "And then we'll need a babe for the Demon."

"Well, she'll be there for the guys to look at. That's where we'll put the boobs and the thong." Kaiba gave a bark of laughter. "It's a shame Gozaburo never brought home whoever or whatever he was fucking. At least we'd have a model."

Seto gave a matching bark. Were they really laughing?

"Yeah. Imagine someone letting Gozaburo fuck them voluntarily." Seto shook his head. "Talk about proof that money really does buy happiness."

YUGI'S POV

I found myself sitting next to Mokuba on the way back. We both wanted Anzu, but she was on the other side of the plane, sitting next to Kouma. His head was in her lap. We both envied him. As if he had read my mind, Mokuba suddenly turned to me.

"You know, you've got six years."

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"You heard me. I'll be 19. She'll be 24. Nineteen isn't too young for 24."

I didn't laugh, or point out that even when he was 19, Anzu would still look on him as a younger brother. And I didn't tell him that by the time he was 19, he would probably have fallen in love with a dozen different girls. He wouldn't have believed me, and I know what it's like to have people assume that because you're little, your feelings don't count. Besides, I kind of admired Mokuba. The only reason he wasn't making a pass at Anzu right here and now was that he'd decided that it wasn't good strategy. He had the balls for it though. He wouldn't wait around for ages because he was afraid of being rejected. And maybe I shouldn't underestimate him. After all, Kouma was the one who had ended up with his head in Anzu's lap.

"Thanks for the warning." I said. "I don't plan to wait six years, or even six weeks. I just wanted to give Anzu time to get to know me again. I wanted to make sure that this is what she wants… that I'm who she wants."

Mokuba clearly didn't understand my scruples. But anything that delayed my asking Anzu out was fine with him. He settled back in his chair, obviously pleased to have the point settled. Despite the events of the day, he seemed as cheerful as ever, and I realized that he must be used to Kaiba-kun trying to kill himself. It struck me how much we had in common, besides Anzu.

"It's tough, isn't it?" I asked.

"What is?" he answered.

"Watching your partner running into danger. Knowing it's part of his nature."

"Nisama's my partner, all right. But we're not like you and Yami. We're not opposites."

"I can't imagine Kaiba-kun agreeing with you on that one."

"I don't care. Look, when people call Yami your darkness, they mean he's powerful and mysterious and… cool. When they say it about Nisama, they mean he's evil. Like I got all the goodness. Why does everyone forget I was with him every step of the way?"

"Because you were clearly there only because of him."

"So Nisama gets blamed even for the stuff that I do? Did anyone ever stop and think that maybe he was there only because of me? That maybe I'm not just some stupid kid who blindly believes whatever his brother does is right?"

I thought of myself pushing Yami out of the way of Rafael's Penalty Game… letting my soul be taken in his place… sure that Yami would reclaim it.

"It's not blind faith when you know the person so well that doubt vanishes," I agreed.

He looked at me thoughtfully; thinking of Kaiba-kun at Death-T; remembering Yami at DOMA. "I guess we do have more than I thought in common," he said, echoing my thoughts.

He paused, and added hesitantly, "You know, Nisama didn't mean to hurt Yami. He'd never do that deliberately."

"I know. But intentionally or not, he did hurt him. Badly. And your brother's got to take some responsibility for that." I replied, suddenly angry all over again.

"So does Yami," Mokuba spat back, just as quickly. "He knew just who my brother is, and he chose Nisama anyway. He had to know what he was getting himself into. Did he think anyone could look like that without having some scars on the inside, too?"

I tried to look like I had a clue what he was talking about. I knew that Yami had seen something that first night which had made him fiercely protective of Kaiba-kun, but I didn't know what. Mokuba assumed that Yami had told me. But Yami hadn't. It was his first secret. I didn't know whether to be sad or hurt… or proud. But Mokuba's voice, low and furious, broke into my thoughts.

"So that's what Yami really thinks, huh? So that's what he's saying when it's just the two of you? I should have known that caring act of his was too good to be true," Mokuba hissed. I had forgotten how like Kaiba-kun he could sound. Or how he could jump to the wrong conclusion just as quickly.

"No. These aren't Yami's thoughts… they're mine. Yami would try to understand just about anything your brother does – no matter how crazy. I'd say he's forgiven Kaiba-kun but that makes it sound like he'd ever held anything against your brother in the first place. This isn't about Yami's feelings. Kaiba-kun hurt my aibou, and I'm the one who's mad."

I finally got to what had been eating at me this whole time… even in the middle of celebrating with Yami over his getting back together with Kaiba-kun.

"If Kaiba-kun could do it once, what's to say he won't do it again?"

"Because it's different now. Nisama didn't realize before that he could hurt Yami. He didn't think Yami cared enough about him for anything he did to matter much. I know how it sounds… but Nisama gets confused sometimes."

I suppose that was one way of putting it. Yami had told me that Kaiba-kun had convinced himself that Yami hated him. Mokuba had just confirmed it. I had to accept that they both knew what they were talking about, but that bit of information had me questioning Kaiba-kun's sanity even more than usual… and the thought that Kaiba was even crazier than I had imagined, was not a comforting one.

But I had forgotten that Mokuba was used to hearing the things that people did not say.

"Now that Nisama knows, he'll literally die before he lets anything hurt Yami again." Mokuba looked at me, with his eyes narrowed. "Nisama promised him something, didn't he?"

I remembered how Yami had returned to my room that morning… how he had looked pleased, but flustered, as though he had been given an embarrassingly expensive gift, and felt guilty for accepting it.

"I think so," I replied.

"I knew it! Then you have nothing to worry about. Stop and think for a minute just how far my brother will go to pay off on a promise. And he only makes them to people he loves."

I closed my eyes… saw Kaiba-kun standing on Pegasus' Tower, ordering Yami to cut his throat with his cards… saw Kaiba dueling Noa; calmly surrendering the one card that could save his life for the one card that would save Mokuba's soul… saw Kaiba offering his life points for Yami… saw Kaiba falling into Yami's arms, smiling.

I was chilled by what Mokuba was saying… and finally reassured. I opened my eyes to see that my worries had transferred themselves to Mokuba's face. He chewed his lip then blurted out, "You're right. It's rough when you're watching the one person you love more than anyone in the world, as he keeps trying to find new ways to risk his life." Mokuba scrunched his nose. "Do you think that's why they like each other so much?"

I laughed. Yami himself couldn't have put it so simply – or so well.

ANZU'S BUST MEASUREMENT MANGA NOTE: Got your attention didn't I? Anyway, somewhere between the manga and the anime, Anzu clearly had some plastic surgery done. Early in the manga they make the point that manga girls have much more realistic proportions than American comic book girls (Jounouchi and Honda make it clear which version they prefer!) Anyway, I conducted my own totally unscientific poll of everyone who was online while I was writing the first draft of this chapter, and 24-B was the consensus winner.