"You will find that no matter how rich and powerful you are, there will always be a place that you do not know about.

Unless your me."

-Geno Roads

Out of the Way Place

Kelli looked around the street, watching as cars went by slowly, each on filled with people trying to get somewhere fast by the slowest means of moving. She glanced at the car congested main street, then down the side road to the empty road just a block away. It was amazing how people would not even bother to try and wrap their minds around alterative routes and lazily plug along the main stream, even if it meant they would be stuck for hours in gridlock.

She sighed, and pulled Owen's coat around her tighter. The coat, while looking thin, was surprisingly warm…and cool. Warm in the cold weather, and cool in the hot weather. She wasn't for sure if it was because it was expensive, or if it had some sort of enchantment on it.

why would it have an enchantment? When you're the son of a god, do you really need a warm coat? On the other hand, he is only the son, not the god himself. Owen, for all I know, is 100 red-blooded male. She frowned, and glanced around the street again. Of course, he is a Roads, and that enough is to confuse you about their motives.

"Hey, you want a good time?"

Kelli turned and looked at the limo, the window barely rolled down. Must be a duelist.

"I'm not a hooker."

The window rolled down to reveal the shocked face of Owen Roads. Kelli's own jaw dropped as he leaned out of the window. "You really think so little of me." He paused. "Or do you get asked that a lot on street corners."

Kelli moved towards the window and frowned. "Let me in Owen, and hurry up!" He nodded, and the door clicked up, Kelli practically leaping into the vehicle and rolling up the window.

Owen frowned as she sat down, the limo slowing rolling down the side street. "You know, I am getting a very strange feeling."

"What kind of feeling?" Kelli asked as she looked around the limo. She had been in a few limos in her lifetime, mostly to big name dueling events or the occasional meet and greet with her parents and some business society, so she knew that this one was state of the art. TV, mini fridge, plenty of leg room…

"Like I am the puppy that you don't want your mom and dad to find out about, so you hide him in your closet and feed him when no one is around."

Kelli looked at him and smirked. "Is someone feeling self conscious?"

"I'm feeling like you're embarrassed about me. I had to pick you up at a street corner instead of your house."

"I'm afraid my dad will come at you with his puzzle and try to beat your brains out." She smiled very softly. "He has this silly idea that we are an item." Owen gave her a look. "A sexual item, not a boyfriend/girlfriend item."

"I could talk to him."

"You have experience talking to the fathers of your girlfriends?"

"Never tried. Kinda hard to when you don't have a girlfriend. But hey, he's a duelist, I could use dueling metaphors."

Kelli rolled her eyes. "Ya, I can see it now. 'Hello Mr. Moto. I bet you are wondering what your daughter and me are doing together. Well….we're not a fusion monster, in case you are worried about that. We are more like the Dark Magician Girl and the Dark Magician: We like being on the field at the same time.'"

Owen shook his head. "You are hilarious, you know that?"

Kelli flashed a grin. "Glad to see we both agree." She looked out of the tinted window as the limo hit the highway, leaving the glowing lights of Domino behind. "Where are we going?"

"You told me you wanted to go someplace fancy, yet not well known, so we wouldn't be bugged. I pulled a few strings…and you will be very happy." He glanced at his jacket around her shoulders. She still had it tight around her little frame. "But is my jacket really 'fancy'?"

Yugi looked over as the door swung open, half expecting to see his daughter walk in. She had left in a hurry, wearing some red coat she must have just bought, saying she was going to meet some friends and get a bite to eat. She had only been gone 45 minutes, but still, he figured it might have been a quick eat.

Instead, in walked a 6 foot 2 foot Amazon in a golden, shimmering coat.

He looked up from his deck and smiled. "Hi Diantha, what brings you in here?"

Diantha was the 4th child of Kaos, and the 1st child between him and Nephthys. While his first three children had lived their lives out as mortals, Diantha had been given the chance to be a goddess right out of the womb, like her baby brother Siris. And while that might have caused most people in the world to become egotistical and rude, Diantha was the opposite. Like her mother, and slowly her father, she had learned to be humble, and in fact was a very nice person.

Yugi had seen a lot of her. Many of the Roads family did their shopping for cards there, and each were very good friends. Diantha loved to just stand around and talk about anything Yugi and Rebecca had been in the mood for. She spent half her time at home, and half her time hanging around the card shop, finding out about deck news or doing an odd job to earn some free promo Yugi had managed to wrangle.

Diantha shrugged as she went through the bin of discounted spell cards, brisking past the rejected De-Spells and Fake Traps. "Mom and Dad decided we were going card shopping tonight, since there was nothing good on TV and we needed to give the builders some space."

"Space?" Yugi asked, bending down to grab a case of VS cards. "Why are their builders at the mansion?"

"It's the strangest thing. Some little god with a clipboard ended up flying through 7 walls in the house." She shrugged. "Strangest thing."

Yugi merely nodded. He had a feeling "Strangest thing" was Kaos' new nickname. He had learned back when Kaos was mortal not the mess with the man, and he carried that ideal to this day.

"Hi Diantha." Rebecca said as she came down the stairs, looking at the teenager. "You here by yourself?"

"Not exactly."

As Diantha said this, two more people entered the card shop. One was a woman of Egyptian descent, with long flowing white hair that was not because of age but of choice, with deep brown eyes and a soft smile. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a gray sweater, some kind of back pack or other carry on strapped to her shoulders. After her entered a man with short blonde hair, hazel eyes, dressed in a similar manner.

"Hi Neph, hi Geno."

The two gods nodded as they stepped fully into the card shop. While Yugi was most use to seeing Kaos and Nephthys in their godly, 7 foot tall forms, they, like Diantha and the rest of their children also had what Raia had lovingly dubbed their, "Mortal Forms." There wasn't much of a different, except their hair was shorter and a bit more colorful, they had normal looking eyes, and tended to be more towards the 6 foot mark. It allowed for the gods to move among the more human types without getting a lot of questions.

"Hey Yugi, Rebecca." Geno said. Even though most of the world knew that Geno was special, being king of everything as it were, he still preferred to be plain old Geno Roads when he was in his shrunken form. He had tried, without success, to get Neph to allow him to ditch the name Kaos in the public eye, but he finally learned to like it. So, he settled with two names, on the name he was given when he was born, and Geno, the name he gave himself.

"How is everything going Yugi?"

Yugi shrugged. "Business is a bit better. I think I should hire another hand around here, what with Kelli needing her hours cut back, and the tournament always brining a lot of business around. You know anyone?" He gave a glance at Diantha, who smiled.

"You know I am always ready to help, but I don't want a job." She shrugged. "There must be some duelist willing to hear stories in exchange for some heavy lifting….other then me."

Geno shook his head. "26 years ago, I am trying to kill him. Now my baby girl is hearing war stories from him. Worst of all, I am allowing her to!"

"Speaking of babies…" Rebecca said, walking over to Neph. "…Do I see a certain little man hiding behind his mommy?"

"No, Yugi is right over there." Neph said, a grin on her face.

"You know Geno, when she says it, it isn't as cutting or hurtful. You should get lessons from this girl." Yugi replied, taking out his side deck and beginning to switch cards around.

"You know who I mean." Rebecca said. "Come on…show yourself…."

"SQUEEE!"

Rebecca laughed as Siris leaned over to look at her, his big bright eyes sparkling. She grinned and waved, and the little infant pursed his lips and blew hard, giving her a raspberry. "He is so cute! Reminds me of Kelli…"

"Here it comes." Yugi and Diantha said together. Diantha had been in the shop enough to know when a "When Kelli Moto was a baby" story was coming.

"…she was the cutest baby ever. She had tuffs of blonde hair, all soft and silky, and oh, she was so little…"

"She'd have to be!" Geno said, motioning at Yugi and Rebecca. "I mean, come on!"

Neph let out a little cough as the card shop grew quiet, the pain of the failed joke echoing.

"Tough room."

"What is this place?" Kelli asked as she looked around the restaurant. They were standing in the entrance to the restaurant, waiting for the maître'd to return and show them to their table. From what she could see from the waiting room, this place wasn't a normal eatery. For one thing, the restaurant was way out of the way, up in the mountains from what she had figured. The waiting room itself had elegant antique chairs and rare pieces of art hung up in on the walls. Not to mention the full classical ensemble that was right now playing.

Owen adjusted his suit and smiled at her. "You said you wanted some place that we wouldn't be photographed at, well…this is the place. It's so exclusive that there are celebs in Hollywood that don't even know that it exists, let alone able to get in."

"Then how did you manage to get a reservation?"

"Reservation?" Owen asked, confused.

Kelli looked at him, annoyed by his flaunting of wealth. "Knock it off." Owen still looked at her, confused, and it hit Kelli like a bullet.

Of course he doesn't know what a reservation is. His family probably has existing reservations at every restaurant on the planet. He could waltz in on New Years at the rainbow room and be shown to a private area. Kelli shook her head. This was something that was going to take getting use to. She would have to keep in mind that, most likely, Owen had only known a life where people leapt through hops for him.

And that only makes it more amazing that he is as humble as he is. She thought to her self as Owen handed the band some cash. Lord knows I would go a bit nuts if I had his money….a bit She rolled her eyes. Be serious with yourself Kelli. When grandpa gave you 50 bucks for your birthday, you blew it in 20 seconds on that pack of spell cards. 20 freaking seconds. She shook her head and sighed. And not only does Owen have all of the Kaiba Corp fortune at his finger tips, he has the freaking Roads INC empire at his disposal.

"Mister Roads."

Owen looked up and nodded at the waiter who had now arrived. He looked over at Kelli and she smiled, walking with him to the curtain, when another waiter held out a hand.

"I am sorry…but the lady can not enter dressed as such."

Owen frowned. "Even if she is with me?"

The waiter was shaken slightly, but gulped and nodded. "I am sorry sir, but there is no way, even with allow the lady in." The man looked at Kelli and licked his lips. "Please understand stand madam, and please don't have Mister Geno turn me into anything unnatural."

Kelli looked over at Owen and smiled softly. "It's perfectly fine."

"We do have some dresses in the back, if madam would like that?" Kelli however was already undoing the buttons on her coat, and let the red garment fall to the floor.

"Wow" Owen said softly, looking at her carefully.

Kelli could not hide her smile anymore. Likely, she had been able to hide the stunning black dress all the way here. It had taken her an hour to figure out how to wear the coat just right to hide the dress without letting anyone, let alone Owen, see her in it until she was ready.

It was a little black number she had picked up a few months ago for a cocktail party her and her family had been invited too. The dress was about knee length, made of a shimmering yet subtle black material, that looked good in any light. It was backless with a thin loop strap that went around her neck to keep it on her.

"Could you turn up the heat a little sir?" Kelli asked the waiter.

"Is madam cold?"

Kelli smiled and gently took her hand, closing Owen's hanging jaw. "No…it appears my boyfriend has frozen solid.

"So Geno…why exactly are you guys here? I would assume you could go anywhere you want…why come to my little card shop tonight?"

Geno shrugged. "Well Yugi…"

"Who is down there Yugi?"

Yugi turned to the stairs and shouted. "Just some customers Grandpa, don't worry about! Go back to your stories."

"Stories?" Neph asked.

"What are you doing Ryan! You love Marissa, not that girl! Oh, these rich kids today!"

Rebecca sighed softly. "we should have never let him get wrapped up in "The O.C." She shook her head. "Been watching that show for 15 years now"

Diantha shook her head as well and moved over to the card case, checking out the singles and seeing if there was anything good. "Daddy said it's time for him to work on a new deck."

"Really?" Yugi said. "I thought you already had a million decks."

"I still do, but only my Different Dimensional deck and my Marauder Deck are in Tournament condition. The other ones are either ones I won from weak duelists, and as such I have no need to use them, or I tore up in order to help others build their own decks. And there are the one or two decks not being used by family."

Diantha nodded. "Daddy will never let me forget that his Dark Flare deck ended up becoming my Mirage Deck, even though I have made it a million times better."

"Or that he helped me try and make a deck, which, I must say, I could care less if it is tourney ready or not." Neph leaned in close to her husband. "I only like to duel you anyway, you let me win."

"And the deck I am currently working on to use is top secret, and none of the cards I need will be in your shop."

"So, what type of deck are you planning to make Geno?" Yugi asked, curious by the words 'secret'.

"I don't know. The deck that brought me to this shop isn't really my deck."

Rebecca frowned. "If it isn't really your deck, then who's is it?"

"SPWEEEEE!"

Yugi and Rebecca slowly turned and looked at Siris as he clapped happily, a smile on his face. "Please tell me that baby is smiling because he has gas."

Siris let out another happy squeal as Geno gently took him from Neph's baby carrier and held him up. "What pack strikes your fancy Siris? Anything look good to you?" Geno walked around the store. "Anything you are interested in?"

Siris looked at the posters, and reached out as Geno past one of the Blitzkrieg Commander. He let out a squeal and clapped his hands.

"I think he likes the monster." Rebecca said.

"No…he sees his daddy!" Neph said, walking over to gently stroke his shoulders. Siris cooed and closed his eyes, enjoying the treatment. "Isn't that right big boy…do you see your daddy on that picture?"

"Spwe" Siris cooed. Neph finally stopped and the infant blinked, then struggled in Kaos' arms.

"Ok, moving on….hey Yugi, do you have a book of duel monsters around here in the store?"

Yugi shook his head. "This is nuts. You are honestly letting a child….no, check that, an infant, pick out his own deck!"

"What's so crazy about that?" Diantha asked.

"It just is!" Yugi said, the idea that the game that had made him famous was now reduced to something a baby could learn making him madder then he should have been.

"Yugi, what is going on down there?"

Yugi ran to the stairs. "Nothing Grandpa!"

"I am coming down there!"

Yugi frowned as he heard his grandpa move towards the steps. "Great, now he is going to be cranky!"

"Sniff"

Yugi turned and his frown faded. "No…" Siris sniffed, his eyes growing wet. "no…come on buddy, I didn't mean to yell…"

"WWAAAAAAA!" Siris began to cry, sobbing hard. Geno frowned and held his son close, his eyes suddenly beginning to glow bright as he tried to comfort his child. Yugi ran to the counter and grabbed a huge binder as Geno's eyes slowly went blood red, energy crackling. Neph had also stepped forward, not happy either. She may have been more understanding then her husband, but she was still very protective of Siris.

"Look! Want to see the pretty monsters Siris?" Siris sniffed gently, his sobs quieting. "come on..you and me can look at them and see if you like anything."

Siris paused, and then let out a happy squeal, trying to wiggle out of his father's hands. Geno chuckled as Siris grunted like a pig, trying in vain to get free. "Ok buddy, ok."

Rebecca watched as Yugi took Siris and helped him to sit on the counter, slowly flipping the pages as Siris looked at all the pictures of duel monsters, each picture showing what cars there were in the shop or could be ordered. "He seems super smart…he's what, only 4 months old?"

"2." Neph said. "But it doesn't come as a surprise. Godly babies tend to be very intelligent, even if they are trapped in a little body. Remember, my husband here was strong enough to actually age himself and hold onto his dagger when he was born."

"What is all the racket down here? I swear, if I miss my show…" Solomon Moto paused at the stairway, staring at Geno. He smiled slightly, blushing. "Hello Mr. Roads."

Geno turned and looked at Solomon, taking in the old man, observing his smile, his nervousness… "No."

"What?"

"I don't want to know what you're thinking, but I can insure you, it is no."

Solomon frowned. "But I could swear…"

"Solomon, please don't go there." Kaos rubbed his temples. "please….just don't go there."

"I can't help it, your aura…"

"I am not using my aura to try and attracted you!" Geno shouted.

Solomon nodded. "Ok, ok." He paused. "So it would be wrong to ask if you wanted to go get a cup of coffee or go see a movie together?'

Geno lowered his eye lids till they were slits. "Yes. It would be very wrong Solomon, very wrong."

Solomon nodded. "alright, alirght. I will just be going to finish my show." He turned, and looked at Geno. "Play it cool hotshot." Solomon then winked and walked back up stairs, Geno's mouth dangling open in shock as Yugi and Rebecca resisted the urge to laugh.

Diantha shook her head. "That will haunt my dreams for quite some time."