Ieyasu was pissed. Ever since Battle City, his life had gone to hell. The moment his grandfather Timoteo discovered that the Sky ring had vanished, he had been put through strict punishment as a result until it was found. The Sky ring was too important for it not to show up sooner rather than later.

The thing was, Ieyasu's intuition was screaming at him that reclaiming it was a bad idea...and that if he wanted to know what really happened to it, he had to challenge that runt Yugi Muto for the three god cards.

The idea of owning the three most powerful cards in existence appealed to him. Partly because they were so strong, but mostly because if he succeeded then he could trounce that jerk Kaiba anytime he damn well pleased and show him up for succeeding where the older teen had failed so spectacularly.

Unnoticed by Ieyasu, his dark desire for revenge allowed an ancient spirit to latch onto his flames.

The dark spirit of Anubis was pleased...he had failed to take over the reincarnation of Set, but his lesser sibling worked just as well.

The boy was a fool...while he held a rare magical ability, his own skills were severely lacking. Even if he discovered the possession, he lacked the will and ability to remove Anubis with any degree of success.

Soon...his revenge against the pharaoh would become reality!

Seto had a chill go down his spine.

"Are you alright?" asked Yugi.

"I have the distinct feeling a lot of headaches are going to come my way. Thank the gods I sent Bakura ahead to retrieve the items I asked him to get," said Seto after a moment.

He had finally tempted Verde into playing in his labs. As predicted, the second he realized what the items Seto wanted him to adjust to be more efficient actually were, he practically moved in.

Well, that and Seto had made an actual contract basically stating that he wouldn't steal Verde's ideas and would keep most of the idiots trying to use him for their own ends off his case. Verde was only convinced after discovering that not only Fon, but Reborn had bonded with the Sky and were still enjoying most of their freedom. The fact Seto had a very hi-tech lab for him to play around with that included technology he had never seen before was a major bonus.

Besides, he was highly curious about the machines used to transfer Noah into an actual computer, and was eager to see if it could be reversed using a cloned body. Best of all, even if he did harmonize with Kaiba, the teen had assured him he would not be called on to act as a Guardian unless he wanted to play the role.

Officially, Noah was his Lightning and was already doing a far better job than Lambo had. Unofficially, Seto really didn't care for the traditional roles of Guardians and just preferred to surround himself with competent people who could get the job done.

Yugi said nothing. They had been testing the waters, so to speak, for the past two weeks regarding a potential relationship.

So far she had cataloged a list of things that Kaiba would allow her to get away with both in private and in public, and things he likely wouldn't after talking with Chrome and Mokuba.

Seto had no issue with holding hands, being seen around her or, and she was mostly basing this on something Chrome had told her girl-to-girl, allowing her to lounge on him like some sort of odd cat. Apparently Seto had a habit of allowing the girls around him to use him as a makeshift heating pad during 'that' time of the month...mostly the ones he trusted. So far only one or two had taken advantage of this oddity, but Yugi was rather curious to find out if it was true or not.

(She would come to discover that yes, it was very much true and that sitting on his lap was an effective way of silently staking her claim against the looser girls in school...regardless of the fact she was basically invading his personal space without asking.)

"What did you send him after anyway?" asked Yugi.

Seto pulled out a familiar ring.

"I told him to get the rest of the set," said Seto bluntly. "I can't retrieve them personally, despite my familiarity with the area. However he can slip past most of the defenses thanks to his shadow magic and he's getting something out of the deal."

Namely a body of his own, complete with a modern identity. Unlike the Pharaoh, Bakura apparently could possess others, he just preferred not to. Seto wasn't sure if he should care or not that Ryou was likely suffering from some form of Stockholm Syndrome, as he actually showed attachment to the twisted Egyptian spirit who hadn't taken the best of care in regards to the boy's body. Then again, Bakura was just as possessive of the people he claimed as Kaiba was himself. It was possible Ryou had sensed that Bakura had claimed him to some extent.

"So what sort of headaches are you expecting?"

"Whatever spirit was in that artifact that went missing likely found a host and will be gunning for you. Though my intuition is also warning me that a long-standing headache I've spent a considerable amount of time and effort to avoid will finally learn of my existence and try to impose on my life," said Kaiba. He paused for a moment. "Considering what I know of my luck, it's possible this 'Anubis' or whatever he was called managed to possess Ieyasu, who will have been punished rather harshly for losing the ring in the first place and is likely still pissed I trounced him so thoroughly on live broadcast. Which means he'll come for you in an attempt to claim the god cards first, mostly to show his superiority over me because I failed to do the same."

Yugi looked at him oddly.

"That's rather specific."

"I call it the protagonist's curse," deadpanned Kaiba. "I might have avoided those idiots so far, but it won't last forever...and since my half-brother showed up like that, it likely means that my anonymity is about to come to an abrupt end. I know for a fact you suffer from it too...otherwise you wouldn't have to deal with nearly as many crazies who are obsessed with Duel Monsters and insist on beating you at the game first rather than attack you directly."

Kaiba's "curse" as he called it, was mostly based around the mafia and their insanity. Yugi however, was cursed to deal with Duel Monsters or other game-related crazies after her or the spirit in her Puzzle.

Kaiba honestly preferred his crazies...at least he didn't have to beat them at a card game or other convoluted task and could challenge them directly.

"So what's the status of Duel World?"

"The beta testers are giving good reviews, the problem is that the lagging is getting really annoying with ten or more people. Spells take a bit too long to cast during the game, and monsters have been glitching slightly during encounters," said Kaiba.

Yugi was a happy member of the beta testers, having fallen in love with the holographic game on their first official date. She wasn't the only one...Takeshi would often partner up with her in a samurai costume and used the game to test out his family's evolving sword style, Mokuba would practice with his knives and the Mist duo of Chrome and Mukuro would add to the challenge level by throwing in the odd Mist creation into the fray.

Jounouchi was still trying to improve his boxing skills with Ryohei...Kaiba had bluntly told the two that until their skill level went up, they would not be allowed to join in. Ryohei needed to learn how to properly rest his body and work with a team, while Jounouchi simply needed to increase his combat skills overall.

On the plus side, Ryohei had naturally slipped into Yugi's Sky and had become an excellent addition to her Element set.

Seto drove Yugi home, before heading to the White Dragon base. He was sure Yugi's grandfather suspected she was dating someone, but was keeping it quiet for now. So far they had been pretty discreet about the whole thing, but the results looked far more positive than they ever had with Kyoko.

Inside, he went to the room containing something that had shown up shortly after he had bonded to the Vongola Sky ring. He wasn't about to leave that to chance, and this way Ieyasu couldn't claim it as his.

There was a large white egg, and it was clearly alive. His intuition had purred when Enma had brought it to him, and he instinctively knew this was supposed to be his bonded animal partner much like Leon and Lichi were to Reborn and Fon. He was mostly basing this on the fact that after he had that conversation with the remnants of the gods inside the cards, Osiris (Slifer) had mentioned that they would be sending something his way.

He hadn't forgotten the slip of the tongue Ra had right before he was booted back into his own mind. He was still trying to process what the god had meant when he said it.

Seto allowed his flames and his magic to penetrate the egg. He was almost certain it would end up becoming some sort of dragon...his luck was like that, especially since he kept coming back to the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

He would not be shocked in the least if the creature that came out of the egg was a blue eyed, white dragon of some sort.

His intuition purred...it told him today would be the day the egg hatched.

He was in the middle of pouring his flames and magic into the egg when it happened. All of a sudden, he heard a shout of alarm, as electricity poured in from a machine going haywire came into the room.

Kaiba kept his calm...he had suffered worse than a bit of a shock.

The electricity flowed into the room, making it extremely dangerous to be there. He could feel the static in the air, the heat increasing exponentially. He ignored the sting from the electric shocks and kept up what he was doing.

Then...it happened. The egg began to crack and rock, as if the creature inside was becoming energized from the electricity. There was an explosion, and the electricity was finally cut off, as if it's purpose had been served.

He heard a crooning sound, and it took him a moment to find the source.

There was a baby lizard-like creature rubbing against his leg. It had leathery white skin and after a moment, he caught a glimpse of blue eyes. Further inspection revealed two limp wings against it's body.

All in all, it was obvious what it was...a blue-eyed white dragon of some sort.

Mukuro took one look at the thing and started howling with laughter.

"You hatched a Light Fury?" he said, laughing hysterically.

Seto calmly bent down to pick the creature up. It happily curled around his neck like an odd scarf. It was too young to know how to fly yet.

He could feel the bond between him and the dragon. He wondered if this was what Reborn felt around Leon.

"You going to give it a name?" asked Chrome.

Seto looked at it for a moment, before a name came to him from inside.

"Kisara. Her name is Kisara," he said finally. It felt right, and the newly named Kisara (likely to be called "Kisa-chan" for short) crooned happily, clearly fine with the new name.

"How are you going to explain what is obviously a dragon?" asked Mokuba.

"I'll tell them it's a newly discovered species of lizard found on Enma's island that washed up ashore before the tournament. Since it wasn't a native species, Enma gave me the egg in the hopes I'd be able to find out what it was. Considering that no one knew Enma's island existed until recently, it's going to be hard to prove anything," said Seto flatly.

"Good enough for me," said Mokuba. He started snickering when Kisara looked like she was trying to make a snack out of his brother's hair.

"Right, first things first we're feeding this thing," said Seto.

Kisara objected to being called a thing, as she tried to bite him.

Yugi, predictably, fell in love with the dragon immediately.

Seto knew that his day was only going to become a headache when he found out Ieyasu was in town again. What was more, he had 'friends' this time. People Seto knew very well, though not from this lifetime.

Just watching the video Noah sent made his blood boil, as it was obvious to him that the Bovino family had essentially sold off Lambo to act as Ieyasu's Lightning due to the fact his ancestor was Lampo.

The kid looked malnourished, and from the few close-ups he had seen, abused. Likely by Ieyasu, because he knew from experience Lambo was a bit of a brat. Then again, he was only five.

As if that wasn't enough, Hayato was with him.

Seto's intuition warned him that Ieyasu wasn't acting alone. There was another, more malevolent force behind him. Likely Anubis.

Bakura was due to arrive soon, but something told him it wouldn't be soon enough to stop this headache.

At least Seto had something that would distract the brat while Yugi and the Pharaoh dealt with Anubis. All he would have to do was trick the idiot into a double duel... he wouldn't put it past the Vongola to get Hayato into Duel Monsters just in case, if only so he had an excuse to be with his potential Sky during tournaments.

"Mokuba, have someone go pick Yugi up. We're about to have a headache show up to duel her," said Seto.

"...Does this have anything to do with Ieyasu showing up?" asked Mokuba.

"Yes."

"I go get her."

"Take Takeshi with you, I don't want any surprises."

Yugi was very confused, but knew better than to ask why Kaiba had sent for her.