A/N: Hey, a really early update! Now, this is where the other shoe drops. I'm updating this early, partially because it was an easier chapter to edit (unlike chapter 5, which is going to be awful), and I have a really important doctor's appointment tomorrow that could affect my writing. Well, it could be affecting a lot of things, including graduating on time and other happy real world stuff. Or it could affect nothing and my injury could be instantly cured by something the specialist does. Basically, I don't know, so I thought I would release a chapter just in case.

Chapter 4: Meeting Kaiba

Atem was pleasantly surprised to hear Seto Kaiba's voice on the answering machine after he and Yugi returned home from their clothes shopping. Arms laden with bags, Yugi played back the message and the tinny recorded voice of the CEO requested a meeting for the next day, "A limo will be waiting at ten o'clock."

Yugi said with a grin, "This is fantastic!" Atem nodded, and the two carried the many bags up to the former guestroom that had been converted, with Grandpa's and Mrs. Mouto's help, to a bedroom. Grandpa had even dug out last year's dueling posters for Atem to hang on his walls. The once guestroom looked very much like a bedroom, especially with the bags of clothes the two boys simply left on the floor, laundry abandoned for calling the group to relay Kaiba's meeting, then video games.

"That's good. Well let's hope for the best tomorrow?" Ryou concluded. Yugi had been chattering excitedly about Kaiba's requested meeting, but Ryou wasn't too sure. Kaiba had come around to sort of admit in believing the Millennium items ad magical objects and their past lives, but he worried the CEO would not be willing to dispense money, a lot of money, for the ancient spirits that had not treated him very kindly, especially not the spirit of the Millennium Ring.

"Who was that?" Yami Bakura slunk into the kitchen, past Ryou, during the middle of his phone conversation. Ryou gasped, placing a hand to his chest.

"Voice, you startled me." He set the phone back on the stand. "It was Yugi. Kaiba requested we meet him tomorrow."

Yami Bakura scowled. He fisted his right hand in the pocket of his jeans. He had been wearing this particular pair of jeans for the past few days, since he had returned to the world. He recognized them as a former favorite pair of jeans of Ryou's, but he doubted Ryou could fit into them. The jeans fit perfectly on his frame; he looked similar to Ryou had before Millennium World: pale, sickly, and thin. "Whatever," he said to cover the brief flash of emotion he felt.

"Please," Ryou coaxed. "It'll only be an hour or so. We really need the money, yeah?"

Yami Bakura glanced at Ryou. Ryou had gained some weight, enough to look healthy, though a touch anemic. His clothing still hung on his frame, as if Ryou was hiding his body. "I'm sure we won't have to take into account your food budget," he said with a nasty smirk on his face. "Though," he pretended to ponder thoughtfully, "Your starvation diet isn't very effective." Yami Bakura's ugly smirk widened as he seemed to critique Ryou's silhouette—in all fairness, the boy hadn't gained all that much since Yami

Bakura had seen him last year, but years of habitual degrading made the words spring to his lips.

As Ryou's eyebrows shot into his white bangs, and the edges of his mouth crinkled into frown lines, Yami Bakura stepped forward, advancing like the starved predator. Ryou, prey as always, ducked his head, and turned on one heel, running off to his room. To cry, a horrible voice cackled somewhere behind Yami Bakura's ears. He clenched his hand in his jeans pocket tightly, feeling the mirror shard break the skin on his palm. He wondered why Ryou's upset had any effect on him; he never cared about Ryou's state of mind before.

Yami Bakura retreated to his own room, glass shard in hand. He closed the door, locking it behind him. He sank to the floor, eyes burning behind half closed lids, trying to suppress the strange feeling in his gut, and the tightness in his chest, all as if a caterpillar nestled and burrowed in his abdomen, threatening to spill over. Instead, he rolled back his shirt sleeves, examining the couple day old crescent finger marks on his left arm and the miniscule scrapes on his knuckles. He exhaled as he tapped the healing wounds with his fingers. A jolt of pain on his knuckles, then a slight twitch from the faded cuts on his arm stopped his thoughts cold.

He felt a small twinge in his right hand where the mirror shard nicked his skin. Yami Bakura brought the shard up to eye level. He watched with interest as the light cast miniscule rainbows on the rough surface, creating beauty in the jagged edge. He placed the shard against his arm, remembering the relief that digging his nails into his arm had given him, remembering the satisfaction he felt as the bathroom mirror shattered after connecting with his fist, remembering the blood welling up, staining his fingernails, his knuckles, his newly developed conscience.

He cut into his arm, before realizing what he planned on doing. The shard scraped against his skin, quickly, angrily. The pain was sharp and focused. Blood droplets collected on his skin; red bled into pale white. He cut again, intently focused on dragging the shard through the tender skin of his forearm, pressing down against the glass shard enough to leave indents and nicks on the tips of his fingers. He pursed his lips together, preventing the pain from overwhelming him, letting it blossom slowly on each nerve as he pulled the glass shard, slowly.

He exhaled out the pain as the incision filled a tiny line of bright red along his arm. As he watched the blood gather into small pools around the cuts, and slowly dribble down his arm, drying into crusty tendrils not too far from the wounds, Yami Bakura forgot about everything, his world narrowing down into a blur of pain and sticky red, calming his racing heart, forcing his world view to a standstill as the sensations overflowed his senses.

Kaiba had requested only the two spirits, Yugi, and Ryou attend the meeting, so when a limo pulled up in front of Kame Game Shop, only those four climbed in. Atem glanced at Ryou in his baggy sweater, at Yami Bakura in a dark long sleeved tee shirt, then at Yugi who had worn a lighter shirt in celebration of the beginnings of spring. Atem dressed similarly to Yugi. He figured it would do to make a good impression with the one who would be, essentially, giving him money.

"Sleep well?" Atem asked in an effort to break the nervous silence. Yami Bakura grunted, rubbing his right arm. His facial features were smooth and calm. Atem doubted he had ever seen Yami Bakura with such a relaxed expression. Hell, with any expression besides hatred and homicidal. Ryou shrugged. His face looked pinched and drawn. He had obvious bags under his eyes. Only Yugi looked well rested. Though he was biting on his pinky nail.

Atem tried a different tactic. He remembered Ryou's exhaustive list of concerns. "How do you suppose this will work?" He glanced at Ryou, who instantly became more alert. Cleverness lit up his sleep-deprived, bloodshot eyes.

Ryou tapped the tips of his fingers together and leaned forward, across the gap between his and Yami Bakura's seat and Atem's and Yugi's. "Kaiba is the only self sufficient teenage billionaire we know. Plus he is aware of the spirits, whether he will admit it aloud. We have to hope Kaiba feels even an iota of compassion."

"We're at his mercy," Atem finished. His chest clenched. This could be very very bad.

"We're fucked," Bakura said, in an eerily calm voice that matched his vacant expression. He rubbed again at a spot on his covered forearm.

"We need to be hopeful, guys. I'm sure Kaiba will be reasonable." Yugi said as they approached Kaiba Corp headquarters.

"Again with this magic bullshit?" Kaiba slammed a hand down on his desk, disturbing a mountain of paperwork in the process. The papers fell to the floor in a swoosh. Out of reflex, Yugi and Ryou knelt down to pick to the fallen papers. "Don't touch those! That's confidential." Ryou jerked back as he jumped back into a standing position. He swayed slightly before Kaiba's strong hand grasped the hood of his sweater.

"Thanks," Ryou murmured, but Kaiba ignored him. He crossed the small distance to Yami Yugi and Yam Bakura.

"You look familiar," he said after a minute. Yami Bakura kept his head down, right hand reaching into his left sleeve to scratch at the cuts on his arm. That damn conscience of his reminded him to be silent for Ryou's sake.

"Yes Kaiba," Atem said through gritted teeth. Kaiba had stated that three or four times in the past half hour, and Atem's patience was wearing thin. Kaiba stalked back to his computer, a laptop had replaced his old desktop, stepping over the strewn papers with ease. He punched a button on the intercom as his other hand typed something into the computer.

"Send Mokuba up." he spoke into the intercom.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba."

Kaiba leaned his weight on the desk, both palms planted into the wood as he alternated between comparing whatever was on the computer screen and Yugi, Ryou, Yami Bakura, and Atem. Mokuba entered the room shortly after, closing the door behind him, as recognition transformed Kaiba's face, his eyes widening and his lips parting in a silent gasp.

"Yugi!" the younger Kaiba brother exclaimed.

"Come here, Mokuba," Kaiba commanded, and Mokuba immediately walked over to his brother's side. He also stepped over the papers, barely noticing them. "Look." He pointed at the screen.

"Battle City finals?" Mokuba questioned.

"Right." Kaiba scrutinized the spirits. "You won," he jabbed a finger in Atem's direction. "And you snuck in, scoring the eighth spot in my tournament." He pointed at Yami Bakura, who froze, still scratching at the wound under his sleeve.

Yami Bakura curled his lips into a sneer. "So?"

Luckily, Kaiba was too occupied processing this revelation to notice the snide tone. "And you're Yugi Mouto and Ryou Bakura: my classmates." Yugi and Ryou nodded. "How, how did this happen?" Kaiba asked weakly, sitting down in his desk chair.

"It's the magic, Seto," Mokuba said before Atem could launch on a speech about the Millennium items, Ancient Egypt, and quirky coincidences. Mokuba addressed the group, looking very much like a younger version of his brother. "You need starting money?" He inquired, sounding years older than a middle school kid.

"Yes. They appeared for no reason a few days ago," Yugi sad. "Grandpa wants Atem to get through a year of school, so he can graduate."

Mokuba grabbed the laptop from Kaiba's slacked hands. "Starting money, false IDs, and records, huh?" He smirked. "I think I can do that."

Mokuba's easy acceptance seemed to snap Kaiba out of his daze. "You can't just give away false information, Mokuba! Especially to these people," he flipped a hand in Yugi's general direction.

Suddenly Mokuba looked more his age as a sullen look graced his features. "But Grandpa is right, Seto." Kaiba scowled at the familial word used for Mr. Mouto. "Education is important. And one year won't be too hard to live under aliases. And it doesn't cost that much."

"Do you want to do the hand shaking with those types of businessmen, Mokuba?" Kaiba asked. Mokuba shook his head and continued to fix his brother with a pleading stare. "Fine," he snapped, then addressed the group. "I take it you have aliases created for your false birth certificates?" he spoke in a tone that implied they had better have prepared false identities. A silence filled the room, and Kaiba's glare deepened.

Ryou spoke quietly, "I had an idea."

Kaiba scrawled out Ryou's idea onto a plain white piece of printer paper. He glanced at Ryou's notes every so often to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. "So, Yami Mouto is Yugi's older brother. He stayed with the deceased Mr. Mouto while he was away for business. Homeschooled, but he had to return for his final year, after their father's death. He scored a 500 on the entrance exam." Kaiba smirked as he announced Atem's grade to be one of the lowest accepted entrance exam scores.

"Why so low?" Yugi asked Ryou, also aware of the very low score.

Ryou shifted. "I did that for both of them. In case they're confused by the classes. It won't seem too out of place."

Yugi nodded. Even Atem, who had been seething at Kaiba's satisfied expression, was impressed by Ryou's preparedness.

"And Yami Bakura, we have a couple options for." Kaiba tapped his pen against Ryou's list. "Mr. Solomon Mouto and Mrs. Mouto are willing to claim Atem as their own, but your father is still living, and is unaware of the spirits." Kaiba spoke to Ryou, reading Ryou's thoughts to the group as a collective, changing the pronouns for clarity. He sneered at the word spirit. "A distant family member of the Bakuras', but that could have backlash if Mr. Bakura found out..."

Suddenly Kaiba laughed out loud as he read silently ahead. "A cousin of the Moutos'!" He smirked, and continued to read Ryou's indexed writing. "This would require cosmetic changes—perhaps dying hair black and cutting it short. Address is at the Mouto's."

Kaiba read ahead again, this time answering Ryou's questions without bothering to relay the questions to the group. "No, the school would not check on Yami Bakura's listed home address unless they had a reason. And there would be sufficient warning. You guys walk part way to school every day. Why would that be an issue? How am I to know if he would be willing to cut and dye his hair?"

Kaiba fell silent, waiting for Yami Bakura's response. "Well?" Atem finally asked.

Yami Bakura replied, "Whatever. I don't care." He still wore that queer expression. Really, Yami Bakura mused, he didn't care what his body looked like. At the moment, all he cared about was the sizzling pain along the cut he continued to scratch under his shirt sleeve.

"I'll have it done within the next two days, so you can start school on time." Kaiba said. He placed the plain white paper on top of stack of papers closest to his laptop.

Yugi smiled. "Thank you Kaiba. We really do appreciate this."

"Yes Kaiba, I am grateful to you," Atem added.

Kaiba scoffed. "You should thank your friend for being so prepared." He flicked his eyes in Ryou's direction.

Ryou blushed. "That's okay. It was nothing, really."

Kaiba looked like he was about to say something about Ryou's protests, but Mokuba broke in. "You better thank me too. He wouldn't've helped if it weren't for me!" Mokuba thrust his thumb into his chest.

Kaiba shoved his knuckles into Mokuba's hair. "Lucky I love you, little brother." He smiled softly down at Mokuba.

A/N:

I mentioned high school entrance exam scores. I'm not quite sure how this situation would work: a home schooled kid being placed in a school. Nor, am I aware of the scoring rubric, so I apologize if the score of 500 is completely off. I tried researching it, but I couldn't find anything. All I know about entrance exams is that they are required at high school and college levels, and students find out their admissions via a communal message board, with each student receiving a number and if that number is posted, they were accepted. Also, I only know this through years of being a manga and anime fan, so if anyone has more knowledge on entrance exams, feel free to elaborate. ^_^

Laptops existed in 1998. My cousin, up until 2007, had a laptop from 2001 with one of the first versions on Windows XP and that thing was a rock: bulky and durable even through her abuse, and just amazing. I just googled laptops from 1998. Hahaha. Check that out!

Name confusion ends at the beginning of next chapter. The spirits will be called Yami and Bakura, because I'm an old unteachable dog.