Ha ha! Updates! Glorious updates! I cannot believe I actually updated within like half a year of my last chapter! That's truly an update personal best for me...

Warnings for this chapter: Physics lesson

Enjoy!


Okay: I am confused beyond explanation.

I'm alive: well, at least one of me is alive, for all I know right now there are two of me, maybe three, or seven, or fifty…

Well, whatever: what matters is, I'm alive, in human form.

Still, that doesn't quite explain what I'm doing here: my first thought when I got like this was that I was dead and had been reincarnated as a dog. The idea that I may still be alive evidently never occurred to me.

It was hard to tell if I was dead or not anyway: it's not like Kaiba would care if I died, so no grieving of my loss to give it away. Probably no celebrations either, no matter how much he wanted to: he's way too "busy" with work and Kaiba Corp.

"So, mutt: it appears there is more truth to your story than I originally thought," I heard Kaiba growl from above me.

"Yeah," I barked back, peeking up at Kaiba through a gap between the top of the bag and the side, "But you really didn't have to beat me up in the process of discovering that,"

Kaiba chuckled, "I did not harm you in any way,"

"I meant the human me, idiot,"

"So did I," Kaiba replied, "You were too busy trying to gnaw my leg off at the ankle to see anything going on,"

"Whatever…" I yawned, "Anyhow, why the sudden change of heart?"

Kaiba remained silent.

"I thought you didn't believe in all this sort of thing, you know, souls and stuff,"

"I think you will find what I don't believe in is 'extra' souls," Kaiba replied casually, "I believe everyone has a Soul of some sort. Still, by soul I effectively mean personality, not ghost or something ridiculous like that,"

"Does that mean you don't believe in schizophrenics?"

"No, what I meant is that I think people who claim to have extra souls are simply saying they are schizophrenics,"

"Weirdo…" I muttered.

Kaiba looked down at the bag for a moment then returned his attention to whatever was in front of him.

"Anyway, to answer your previous question, I'm not really sure. It just appeared that the Human you had no idea what I was talking about. So, the most plausible, yet still impossible, explanation, is that you must be a reincarnation of yourself,"

"What? But how is that possible? I'm still alive!" I growled. Kaiba was making me even more confused than before…

"Okay, there are now two options: I can either explain it to you the hard way, which involves a good knowledge of the theory of relativity, or I can explain it the way you are more likely to understand: the idiot's guide, if you will,"

"Shut it, Kaiba," I growled, "Still, I'll go for option number two,"

Kaiba chuckled.

"I take it you know who Einstein was?"

"Well, duh," I snarled.

"Good," Kaiba paused, "Okay: if I am on a Bus going at 70 miles per hour, and I throw a ball which has a velocity of 20 miles per hour, what does the velocity of the ball appear to be to you standing at the Bus station?"

"Kaiba, I asked for the easy explanation, not a math lesson,"

"Just answer my question,"

I though for a moment. Nope: nothing. Kaiba rolled his eyes and chuckled.

"90 miles per hour. You add the two together, and that is how fast the ball appears to be moving. This is because the Bus is going at 70 miles per hour, you need to add on the 20 miles per hour the ball is going, and that is the speed the ball appears to be moving at,"

"Oh, that sorta makes sense…"

"And what velocity does the ball appear to go to me on the train?"

"20 miles per hour?"

"Yes. Does this all make sense?"

"Sure…"

Actually, it really didn't, and it didn't appear to have anything to do with my current situation.

"Now, are you aware of the speed of light?" Kaiba inquired, obviously expecting me to know the answer.

"What do you think?" I growled.

"186, 000 miles per second. And it remains constant. Always. No matter what the situation."

"Right…"

"Let's go back to my earlier example: I am on a Bus again, however this time the Bus is going at half the speed of light, 93, 000 miles per second. This time, instead of throwing a ball, I turn on a flashlight. At what speed does the light appear to travel to you standing alongside the tracks?"

"Ha! Easy…ummm…279, 000 miles per…what was it…second? Yeah!"

"No,"

"What?" I yelped, "But…I added the velocity things and…no way, you're cheating!"

"This is no game, mutt: this is highly complex physics. You are wrong because, like I said previously, the speed of light remains constant. Always. No matter what the situation: it wouldn't matter if the Bus was going at half a mile an hour, the light would appear to travel at 186, 000 miles per second," Kaiba continued, not giving me another chance to interrupt, "Okay, back to the Bus, only this time, you are on the Bus with the flashlight. When you switch it on, how fast does the light appear to travel to you?"

"Is it…the speed of light?" I answered gingerly.

"Yes!" Kaiba sighed, "It took you long enough to get it! But anyway, this seems a bit strange, doesn't it?"

"It sure does…and what does it have to do with me being a dog?"

"Absolutely everything,"

"Yeah right," I muttered…

"By now you probably understand the conflict: How is it possible that light always travels at the same speed, no matter how fast the source is moving? "

"Well, no, but I might if you carry on…" I said, lifting myself further out of the bag further in the vague hope that I might understand better if I could hear better.

"The equation vd/t stands for Distance travelled divided by Time taken to travel equals Velocity. This works with our fist situation: the ball could, if it remained at its constant velocity, travel 40 miles in 2 hours. 40 dived by 2 is 20: 20 miles per hour, the velocity the ball is travelling, and appears to travel to me. Add this on to the speed of the train, as you see both, and you get 90 miles per hour, the apparent velocity of the ball to you on the platform. If this is true, which it most certainly is, then how can the light appear to travel at the speed of light to both of us? It should to me, but not to you. This is the very thing Einstein contemplated. So, what do you think?"

"That the formula is wrong and the speed of light isn't constant or something?"

"Incorrect. This means that time, and maybe even distance, varies for observers, rather than velocity."

"In my second and third examples, the speed of light turns out to be exactly the same for you at the bus station and I on the bus because time, as measured by your watch, or a clock if you do not happen to own one, which I would highly suspect, ticked along at a slower pace than time measured by my highly accurate watch. However, this is not down to the inferiority of your technology. Not only has the time appeared to change, though, distance changed also. For you, on the bus I would have appeared a lot flatter and thinner than I actually was. However, for me on the bus, all would appear normal. However, time outside the bus would appear to be ticking along slower, and to me you would look much thinner and flatter."

"Now let's say you want to do some time traveling. Although this is highly improbable, you board a spaceship and go flying off into space at the speed of light. To me down on Earth, you appear to be hardly moving at all. However to you on the spaceship, again, all is normal. You carry on flying for another three years, and then decide to turn around and come back to earth. By the time you get back, you have aged six years. However, Earth has aged six hundred. And that is how you travel in time,"

If I understood correctly what Kaiba had just been going on about for the last fifteen minutes, he was saying that I had traveled back in time. It seemed a plausible theory, now I thought about it: that explains the fact that I'm not dead yet, anyway…

"I've got it! I've-"

"Before you state the obvious," Kaiba interrupted, "You did not travel back in time."

"And why not?" I growled indignantly, "Why else would you have spent all that time explaining that Einstein thing to me? You practically told me I traveled back in time! Why did you even bother?" I yelled, almost falling out of the bag with my struggling.

"To cross that flawed theory off your list of possible explanations: time is a one way journey. That was the original reason I did not believe you were the mutt's ghost" Kaiba stated, glancing down at the bag, "Get back in there!" He hissed at me, roughly pushing me back through the hole, "This is school; no live animals!"

"Then why are you still here? It's way past the end of a normal school day!"

Kaiba opened up his bag and lifted me out, "Look, seeing as there is no-one around, I suppose I can let you out for a bit. But if I get caught…"

"Got it!" I barked cheerfully, leaping out of his hands and onto the floor.

Kaiba and I continued to walk along in silence until we approached the school entrance. Kaiba stopped and looked behind him, then pulled out a pen and wrote something on his hand.

"There: I'll remember to do that later…" He muttered, slipping the pen behind his ear and continuing to walk.

That was weird…

"So," He said, turning to me again, "You didn't really explain what happened to you before, I mean, about your supposed death,"

"So?" I yawned, "I'm tired; can I go back in the bag?"

"No: you wanted to walk, so you shall walk. Now, please elaborate: I'm in the mood for a story,"

"Well, to be honest, I don't remember much," I paused: trying to remember your own death is deceptively hard, considering it is one of the few things certain to happen in life, "You know how people say right before you die, things go in slow motion? Well, it's not true."

"No?"

"No. It was more like things got fast forwarded: the last thing I remember is someone screaming at me not to light the match,"

"Let me guess: being the imbecile you are, you ignored Yugi's advice and lit it anyway,"

"Actually, it was already too late," I sighed.

Suddenly, something very odd occurred to me: Kaiba had said I had ignored 'Yugi's' advice, but the voice I remember was definitely not Yugi's. That's really weird, because I've never really thought it of great importance, but it appears I have friends other than Yugi in that class…

I decided not to mention it to Kaiba: he would probably say I was being stupid or something along those lines…

"Wait: why on earth did you have a match? And why did lighting it kill you?" Kaiba inquired, fetching the pen from behind his ear and fiddling with it.

"To light the Bunsen Burner with. I blew myself up by sticking it in front of the open gas pipe,"

"Why weren't you using a splint like a normal person?"

"Because you took the last one," I growled.

Kaiba stopped in his tracks.

"Wait: so, because I took the last splint, you decided to use matches?"

"Yeah. Why does that matter?"

Kaiba chuckled nervously, "Because it may mean I was partially responsible for your death,"

"Yeah right," I grunted, "It wouldn't have made a difference: fire is fire, whether it's on a match or a splint. Either way, I probably would have blown myself up,"

"Darn. And I was hoping that I was the one responsible for ridding the world of you,"

"Get lost," I growled, "Hey, Kaiba: what's that on your hand?"

Kaiba looked down at his hand, on which he had earlier scrawled something that, at least from where I was, was very much illegible, "Oh, its to remind me that you have training tonight," He replied.

"Oh," I said, squinting and straining to read his hand, "Looks more like…"

"What?" He growled, lifting it up and re-reading it himself.

"…Dig Transvestite fight?" I laughed out loud, "What the hell sort of training are you taking me to?"

"I'll have you know messy handwriting is a sign of intelligence!" Kaiba hissed, pinning his hand to his side in a vague attempt at hiding it from me.

"Then you must be one of the smartest people in existence,"

"Quiet, mutt," Kaiba hissed almost inaudibly.

"No way! I'll shut up when I like, moneybags,"

"No, I mean be quiet: I can't talk to you when there are people around: only I can hear you, remember?"

"Then why does it matter if I talk?"

"Because if I respond, I'm going to look just a little crazy," Kaiba hissed as a group of school girls passed us on the other side of the street.

Kaiba and I remained silent all the way back to his mansion: the volume of people steadily rose as we approached his home, which Kaiba appeared to find quite worrying.

As we approached the front door, a well made-up and smartly dressed woman carrying a microphone came running up to Kaiba.

"Hello! Shiho Nakamura, channel 7 news live at five. Mister Kaiba, recently it has been reported that Kaiba corp is undergoing a hostile takeover by-"

"Get off my property," He growled, hastily opening the door and letting me in.

"-a large, currently anonymous rival gaming company, who are currently in possession of over forty percent of the company's shares, a figure which is apparently on the rise," she continued, "It is expected that the takeover will be complete in about one months time. Reports also show that sales of Kaiba Corporation products are at an all time low, and in light of this, are re-starting its production of military vehicles and weaponry. Mister Kaiba, what do you have to say about these reports?"

"Bullshit," Kaiba growled, stepping inside and going to close the door. Unfortunately, the ever-persistent news lady had wedged her foot in the way of complete closure.

"Excuse me, sir, but we are live, so cursing is not really permitted,"

"Oh, I'm so sorry for fucking up your live broadcast. What a shitty interview this must be for you. Too bad my potty mouth means you can't broadcast it. Now, I have work to do, so I would really appreciate it if you got the hell off my property,"

The woman remained silent as Kaiba and I made our way indoors. Kaiba locked the door behind him.

"The media…" He muttered, "They should all just drop dead…"

"Nice," I said, half yawning.

Kaiba went wandering off upstairs, presumably to get changed out of school uniform. I decided to go exploring, considering the only rooms I knew in the house were the spare room (even though I highly suspect it wasn't the only room to spare in the house considering the size of the place), the kitchen and Kaiba's bedroom.

I decided to head upstairs, and go from top to bottom with my exploration.

It took me a while to run up all those steps, as I had to jump and scramble about to get up just one. The house was also four floors high, so I guess anyone would have taken a while and been pretty tired by the time they reached the top.

The fourth floor looked pretty bland: white walls, white doors, and white PVC window frames. Everything was pure brilliant white. Everything also looked as if it had recently been done up: hec, Kaiba definitely had the money to do out an entire floor. Problem was, why had it been left like this? No furniture, no lights or plug sockets anywhere. It appeared that any plans of refurbishing the floor had been abandoned.

I skipped on down to floor number three in the hope of seeing something more interesting.

I was greeted by blue. Everywhere blue: the walls were deep blue, skirting boards Prussian blue: even the curtains, window frames, doorknobs, doors and light switched were blue. It appeared Kaiba had a thing for flat colour…

The first room I met was one I knew: Kaiba's bedroom. It pretty much looked the same as it had done the previous night, and matched the hallway.

I moved on to next door: a huge bathroom, larger than my dad's entire flat. It too was very blue, however, as one would expect, things like the toilet and sink were white.

The rest of the rooms on the floor were either filled with cabinets, computers and office furniture or empty.

Floor number two. Mokuba's bedroom door, the first opposite the stairs, was locked, so I couldn't get inside and have a look.

Again, the rest of the floor appeared to be nothing but offices and storage.

Losing interest in the house quickly, I approached the last door on the corridor: the door was white, unlike the others on the floor, and had a brass knob. It was just about open, so I gave it a nudge with my nose and it creaked open slowly.

What I saw wasn't exactly what I was expecting, especially after having seen nothing but offices: the room was very bright and airy, with warm cream walls and thick cream carpeting. I walked past the door to get a better look at the other contents of the room.

A huge four poster bed made of what appeared to be pine-wood stood against the left hand wall. The canopy appeared to be made of Egyptian cotton, tied back with thick white ropes with huge tassels. Assortments of furry, fluffy, shiny, silky and glittering cushions were piled neatly against the head board, all of them clean and cream or white. To finish it off, a strip of cream colored silky material had been spread in a strip across the white linen duvet, flowing over the edges and onto the floor.

The entire opposite wall was made up of windows with white wooden frames, veiled by translucent white curtains. They fluttered slightly as I kicked the door closed behind me.

In the corner opposite the door, I noticed what looked like a wicker dog basket, filled with cream colored fluffy pillows.

If I hadn't known better, I would have jumped right into it and claimed the room as my own. However there really was no reason Kaiba would bother setting this whole thing up for me, so I figured it was best just to leave it for no and come back later…

I walked back over to the closed door…

Wait…closed?


Well...that was rather strange, wasn't it? Please let me know if my attempt at explaining the theory of relativity was any good (believe me, as random and boring as it may have seemed, it NEEDS to be there!). Just wait until the climax...then things start getting philosophical : )

Thankies for teh lurvely reviews and support! It's helped me get my writing hat back on, so I expect that I will add yet another chapter in the coming days...

C.c