Mukuro would be the one to notice something was off about his Sky, a few days before Seto's finally challenge for the Blue Eyes White Dragon card outside his own possession.

"Are you aware there's a subtle form of what feels like Mist flames on these cards?" said Mukuro.

"What."

Seto blinked, and took out his deck. Mukuro was holding a fresh pack he had only just opened out of boredom and to see why his Boss was so fascinated by them. He wasn't there physically, as he was still moving not only himself but Ken and Chikusa with him, but he would be in Japan by the end of the week.

Mukuro eyed the deck with faint distrust.

"The feeling is stronger on them, likely because you've been carrying them so long. Though it feels as though you've been unconsciously saturating them with your Sky flames."

Seto blinked.

"Is that why I've been so obsessed with obtaining all four Blue Eyes White Dragon, despite the fact that the official rules only state I can play three per deck?" he asked baffled.

Mukuro reached out with his flames to touch Seto's, only to retract with a violent hiss.

"No, that has everything to do with an outside force trying to imprint on your soul," he said angrily. "From what I can tell, it feels as though someone who should be long dead is trying to overwrite your Sky with their Cloud...though it's not a conscious process. It feels more like a side effect of something."

Seto thought back to when he first acquired a Blue Eyes card. He remembered distinctly feeling something was off, like a force was attempting to latch onto his soul, but had shrugged it off when his intuition didn't raise any alarms.

That feeling had only gotten worse when he obtained the other two cards. Still, his intuition had assured him it wasn't harmful, and if he started to doubt it now he'd be without any warning at all.

"Is there any way to reverse it?"

"I have no idea," said Mukuro honestly. "From what I can tell, the process is slow and gradual...it may have too strong a foothold to reverse completely."

Seto made a note to check his flames later, in a secure location. He did not like being blindsided by foreign powers trying to intrude on his own soul. It had been traumatizing enough learning about flames.

And he suspected this time he wouldn't have a convenient third party to teach him how to harness it properly.

A few days later...

Mukuro was quick to reach his Sky after hearing from Chrome that he had suffered a major spiritual blow.

"What happened," he hissed.

Mokuba, to his credit, had taken the appearance of the older teen with aplomb. Mostly because the older boy was openly worried about his nii-san.

"He was dueling Yugi over a card, and he lost. Then Yugi did something and now he's like this," said Mokuba angrily.

Mukuro threaded his flames through his Sky, which seemed to calm him down slightly.

Then he blinked.

"That's odd. The imprinting seems to have temporarily stopped."

"Imprinting?" said Mokuba.

"There's a weird low-level energy on the Duel Monster cards...particularly the ones he's been keeping in his possession the longest. I have no idea what sort of energy it is, just that it seems to be soul based," said Mukuro absently. "When I first arrived, I immediately noticed something seemed to be trying to imprint on your brother's mind."

Needless to say he was openly alarmed by this.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"If I know your brother, he'll be back up on his feet soon enough. We just need to keep him from having to deal with any further trauma or threats," said Mukuro. "In the meantime we'll have to close ranks against potential threats."

"What's that mean?"

"It means either dear Chrome or myself will be guarding you at all times, because right now you are his greatest weakness."

A decision that proved useful sooner rather than later, as it would turn out.

Mukuro was openly suspicious of why Pegasus of all people was in the building. He knew who the man was of course, after all it was hard not to when his Sky had become obsessed with the card game he created.

Chrome, who was nearby, went with Mokuba to find out what was going on.

The limited information they had was enough to tell the trio to get out now.

Chrome, bless her, didn't hesitate to stab the thug trying to grab Mokuba from behind on the orders of Pegasus.

Chrome and Mokuba reached Mukuro, who used his Mist flames (in one of the many camera blind spots Seto had specifically made for that purpose) to teleport them to a familiar place for him...the amusement park where he had once made his base.

"What was that?"

"Dying Will Flames," said Mukuro. "Specifically a Mist teleportation."

Seto had made it clear he didn't want to involve Mokuba in the mafia. However he had said nothing about instructing the boy in how to use his ability.

Mokuba was more than eager to learn, if only so he wasn't constantly a kidnapping target. If there was one thing Seto was firm about, it was that his brother learn to defend himself. Seto himself had a permit to carry a gun and was starting to grow a decent collection of them in a room that only a select handful had access to.

Mokuba had the codes, but he also had his own side room for a growing collection of knives. He also had some older, harder to find bladed weapons...some of which were historically accurate recreations that could still be used.

Though at least the mystery of why his brother insisted he have functioning weapons that would look highly unusual if used today had been solved. He honestly had no idea until Mukuro and Chrome started working with his brother that anyone actually used tridents as weapons.

Seto POV

It had been almost a week since that duel, and he felt more like himself than he had in months. The strange energy that had been chipping away at his excess flames was still present, but now that he was looking for it, it wasn't trying to overwhelm him with it's influence.

Thanks to Mukuro, he finally was able to create a barrier between the energy and his flames, though he could still feel it's presence and power. A few brief experiments revealed it had abilities similar to mist flames, only instead of creation it felt more like he was summoning from an external source.

With his own protections in place, he focused on spending a bit of time perfecting a hologram technology.

So you could imagine his annoyance when several thugs in cheap suits showed up intent on capturing him...and if his video outside was any indication, planning to steal his deck.

Well, he wasn't about to let some pathetic thugs get away with attempting to kidnap him, and he'd be damned if he had to take the secret exit into the sea. Especially over a deck.

He left the secret room carrying his new 'duel disk' and his deck firmly in a special box to protect it from the elements...including sea water.

Seto made sure to arm himself to the teeth as well as enough ammo to make the idea of kidnapping him a very poor idea for the idiots breaking into his house.

Considering he had video evidence, he could legitimately claim he was defending his house. Besides, he had permits for the ones he'd be using.

He wasn't remotely shocked that the thugs sent to kidnap him had limited experience with guns...at the very least, they had never encountered someone like Seto who had been trained extensively by a man who made a living killing high profile and almost impossible to kill targets...and made damn sure that his student knew how to fire almost any gun and that he knew exactly how to maintain them. And years as a mafia boss had more or less destroyed any moral issues he had with dealing with killing others.

Seto opened fired the first opening he had, and the thugs immediately started scrambling to deal with the unexpected threat. Worse, Seto had the high ground as he was using camera angles with his phone to make a rough guess where to aim his trick shots.

By the end of it, Seto was still standing and had more than enough ammo to make their day worse than it already was, while the thugs were too busy trying not to bleed out from gunshot wounds.

He walked out the front door and called Roland to clean up the mess...and anyone still around would be arrested for trespassing.

The thugs outside looked shocked to see Seto walk out, particularly since the sound of gunfire had been heard.

Seto's glare was apparently scary enough that he left the home unmolested and left alone on his bike...either that or they wanted to get their comrades out before the cops arrived.

Heads were going to roll once he knew Mokuba was safe...only a select handful knew the location of that house, and only three of them were aware he was going to be there to recover.

He knew Mokuba, Mukuro and Roland would never tell anyone he was there recovering. Which meant one of the Big Five, who had helped Gozaburo acquire the safe house in the first place, had to have given the location.

He was going to purge those parasites the first opportunity he had, once he understood what their game was.

Third POV...

"What do you mean you failed?" demanded Pegasus.

"We encountered unexpected...resistance."

"I was assured that Kaiba-boy would be alone," said Pegasus.

"He was," said the guard.

"Then what sort of technology did you encounter to cause that many of you to be in the hospital?" demanded Pegasus.

The guard gave him a flat look.

"You neglected to tell us that he was a sharpshooter and had enough ammunition to take out the entire team we sent," he said flatly. "He used the security cameras against us and took out the entire team in fifteen minutes with terrifying accuracy."

"...You're telling me Kaiba took out the entire team himself?" said Pegasus incredulous.

"With more efficiency than a special forces team and twice the ruthlessness of any military trained soldier I've met."

Pegasus was glad he was sitting down. He had not been expecting that problem. Which meant his plans to kidnap Kaiba's younger brother had unacceptable risks. He would have to shelve that particular idea, since as an American he was far more aware of the dangers guns presented.

Which made it baffling that Kaiba even had one, much less knew how to use it considering he was Japanese as far as he was aware. Japan had a well known stigma against guns, and even the criminal groups had a strong preference towards swords and knives. And the laws towards them were considerably more strict and harsh compared to America.

It was only later that Pegasus thanked his lucky stars he failed to kidnap the younger brother, because one look at the sheer ruthlessness of the older one terrified him.

Perhaps it was fate, or just dumb luck. Either way Seto wasn't complaining when he saw a very familiar face from his first life as Tsuna trying to pick up women.

Noah had already assured him that Mokuba was safely ensconced in Namimori... Chrome had gone directly to the Hibari clan and appealed to them for sanctuary, mostly for Mokuba's sake.

Kyouya was always a wild child, but he didn't tolerate thugs trying to kidnap 'small animals' in his territory. Since he knew there was a strong possibility of a child being held for ransom, he would be on the lookout for potential outsiders. Anyone who could get past him was obviously a bigger threat than Seto had accounted for, especially since Pegasus had zero underworld connections.

He had checked, extensively.

The man barely looked up from his magazine. It was a thinly disguised one for men who wanted to pretend they weren't only reading it for the nearly naked pictures of women.

Then he felt the pure Sky flames and took notice of the teenager.

"Not interested," he said flatly.

"I'm not looking for a Mist," said Seto equally blunt. "I am, however, looking for someone familiar with a certain...fiery disposition of all sorts who also has medical training and is perfectly capable of protecting the noncombatants who could be used against me."

The man, or rather Trident Shamal blinked.

"Really now. Why pick me?"

"You're considered good enough to become Quality, but declined the offer. I'm not interested in your...other...services that you likely used to pay for medical training among other things, but I do need a doctor I can trust."

That and despite his perverted tendencies, Shamal was very trustworthy. Honestly, his quirks were easier to deal with than half the crap Reborn came up with while bored. Seto could live with the potential lawsuits if it meant he had ready access to a doctor he knew was worth his time and trustworthy that also knew how to handle conditions caused by Flames.

Shamal might pretend he wasn't interested in the offer... but Seto knew him too well for that. He could see Shamal was partially interested, if only because of the offer itself.

"I don't treat men," said Shamal.

"Nothing says you can't train someone to do it for you as an assistant," said Seto.

Shamal was definitely interested now, but was too smart to show that.

"What group?"

"We call ourselves the White Dragon clan," said Seto.

Shamal blinked, then properly looked at him.

He had heard of the White Dragon clan. It was considered one of the major rising powers in the East, particularly in Japan. No one was sure who was the boss of the group, just that a rather unusual Lightning was the right hand of the guy running it. Rumor had it that they were an unofficial 'sanctuary' group for flame actives or those connected, and that their boss was a real dragon when it came to protecting his own.

Seto knew he had full interest of the doctor now.

Which was why he hid a smirk. It wouldn't take much to convince Shamal to join his side.

"I have a female Mist who could use a good doctor, and I know a potential female Sky who could use someone discreet and not inclined to sell them out to a famiglia for a price."

He definitely had Shamal's full interest.

"Can I have some time to consider this...offer?"

"I have to deal with a potential rat problem in my official group. Do you have a number or a burner I can contact if you're interested, or would you rather I leave the information to the one I have handling my unofficial group?"

"I'll take the number," said Shamal.

By the time Duelist Kingdom was over with, Seto would have a doctor.