From now on, the story will be rated M, because of future adult themes in later chapters, as well as innuendos and the like.

Thank you for your kinds words and encouragements, and enjoy!

CHAPTER 8

Happiness was a chemical reaction. Hormones produced by the brain mixed together at certain times. Theoretically, it was impossible for IKaiba to feel such a thing. But he did. How, was a question he had yet to find the answer to.

His quantum system was still a mystery to the AI. In some way, it was his creator, his home, and his playground. It gave him power, omnipotence and omniscience. They were one entity, and they were unique.

However, IKaiba knew he was not the only unique being on Earth. Jonouchi was, too, for once. The blonde occupied his thoughts in the form of a huge, fascinating question mark.

Jonouchi was not very bright in terms of academic knowledge, but he had an amazing instinct. He was sensitive to people around him, and very compassionate.

Jonouchi came from a poor social background, and yet, it seemed he had friends worth more than everything that Seto Kaiba's bank account could keep.

Jonouchi was said to be a mere street dog, a good-for-nothing by his former teachers and his new boss, but for the AI, he was better than them in the way he treated people. In the way he treated him.

At first, the artificial being could not fathom why he always thought about the yankee. Sure enough, he had proved to be exceptional in his own way, but there was also Isono, and Mokuba, and maybe others as exceptional as he. It did not explain why IKaiba felt like he wished to spend more time with him, or why he spied on Seto Kaiba so often to make sure nothing fishy could happen to him. It was bordering on ridiculous.

The AI had browsed numerous websites and searched countless archives for an answer. The only things he could read of, were theories about obsessive behaviors, isolation and craving for human contact, and love at first sight. All three were, obviously, very unsatisfying for IKaiba.

He was created after Seto Kaiba's personality, and the towering CEO was the definition of obsessive behavior. Look at his mad attitude towards his flimsy Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards. If he could have sex with them, no doubt that dragon porn would have been publicly declared as a legal and legitimate kind of relationship by now. IKaiba was not his human counterpart, but he might, to his dismay, have taken some of his traits. However, he did not feel like he could kill someone on sight for hitting on Jonouchi. For now. And he did not like the dragon, even remotely. Obsessing over such a thing was stupid. Completely stupid. And childish.

Craving for human contact was highly laughable. As an AI, he could not touch anything. His very essence was what isolated him from humans. He doubted he could crave for something he did not know at all, unless it included a certain someone's contact. Only then, he would feel mildly concerned.

Love at first sight was impossible to verify. He knew even less about love than he did about friendship, and he had yet to experience friendship with Jonouchi. Besides, the articles he found on the subject were mainly from dubious sources; chick magazines or toilet-time trash could not be labeled as trustworthy. Yet, the symptoms listed concurred quite strangely with IKaiba's. The need to be with the chosen person, the anguish of not knowing what was happening to them, the immediate interest in them from the beginning, etc, he felt them all. Even the jealousy when Jonouchi spoke of someone else in his presence. This was worrying.

His introspection got interrupted by something else. Part of him was browsing absently through KaibaCorp's blue prints and came across a secret project of solid vision. Involving waves at a certain frequency, it intended to offer duelists a new experience, by giving them the chance to touch their holographic duel monsters. The first prototype of the associated duel disk was being tested this week and showed encouraging results. Monsters could be felt, and the immense database of the company contained info on every living duelist, thus having some specific monsters reacting to their masters in a positive way, or to enemies with intimidating behaviors.

One of the report showed that a prototype had been sent to one Jonouchi Katsuya, and the shipment slip had been signed by Kaiba Seto. The package was marked as shipped on the previous day, and coincidentally, the delivery man had just rung with something for the blonde. This gave IKaiba an idea, and he intended to test it later.

Another notification popped up in his mind, and he frowned when he connected to the camera feed. Seto Kaiba was approaching Jonouchi's bedroom door, just as he was forbidden to go near it. His own room being in the other aisle, it was suspicious.

The AI decided to observe. Just in case, he checked if he could make a fake call on the CEO's phone to drive him away if need be. One was never to careful.

He continued browsing websites. One in particular, about psychology and cerebral experiments, piqued his interest.

Seto was about to knock, but he still debated whether it was a good idea or not.

True, he could barge in without asking for permission. It was his mansion, his property, he owned the place, so he could easily act accordingly. But he did not want to risk upsetting Mokuba more than he already was. And even if his little brother was at KaibaCorp, supervising the engineers' work for a good three more hours, it did not mean he would not hear of Seto disrespecting his wish to stay away from the room. That would ask for consequences, the kind that the CEO did not want to experience.

So here he was, standing in front of the mutt's room in his own corridor, in his own house, unable to enter like he should be able to. Ridiculous. And very, very disagreeable.

He still had to knock, though. He wanted to play nice. He already hated the idea, but it was his new plan and he could not give up now.

His knuckles hit the wooden door briskly, and he waited. Curiously, when straining his hearing to get what was happening on the other side, he had the impression that someone was talking to someone else. That was impossible, was it not? Jonouchi was alone in his room. His friends would have been announced if they were to visit, and Isono was busy watching Mokuba. The only viable option, was that the blonde was talking to someone on the phone. Or to himself.

He knocked more forcefully this time, growing irritated that no one had opened instantly the first time. The mutt was convalescent, but that was not the point. He had only had a case of dehydration and hunger, not taken a bullet, for God's sake! He should not take that long.

"Enter!," sounded from the other side.

Seto frowned. No, he had decided to have the blonde open the door for him, and he would knock until he got satisfied. If his employee could take his merry time to talk on the phone instead of answering the door, he could move his ass to open said door. Playing nice did not mean playing dumb.

Shuffling indicated that the blonde – finally! – got it and came to open the door. The handle went down, and the honey-brown eyes of the mutt peered at him. They widened slightly in surprise.

"Uh. Director Kaiba?," he asked, dumbfounded, hurriedly coming out into the corridor and closing the door behind him.

Seto did his best to tamper the force of his glare. He had to play nice. Still, he zeroed his employee with a chilling gaze. The dumb rookie had to understand just how displeased he was with him.

"I see you're better," he said at last, just because he had to say something. The silence would unnerve the blonde unnecessarily.

"I.. am." Jonouchi looked hesitant for an instant, then his features schooled and he went back to his irritating professional tone. "Thank you for your concern, sir. I hope to go back to work soon, if you allow me."

So the mutt was insecure about his position. He might fear he would be kicked out to the street again after he disappointed his master. Seto was tempted. Really, he was. This whole mess turned more to his disadvantage by the minute. Mokuba and Isono liked the damp rat way too much. However, he wanted to sack the rookie because of a serious professional mistake, and not just because he wanted to. There was more pleasure to get with the former.

"I expect you at seven sharp next Monday," he ordered in his most neutral tone. "I'll accept no delay."

Jonouchi let surprise show on his face, before he put on his mask again. Seto smirked inwardly. He could do this.

"I'll leave you to rest," he finished quickly. "I'll come again to make sure you're not wasting my hospitality. After all, I'm paying for your food and lodging, Jonouchi. I'd like it to be useful to both of us. Also, I..."

The CEO got interrupted as he received a call from Mokuba. He answered briskly.

"What is it?"

"Big brother," the voice of the younger Kaiba sounded from the other end, "I wanted to tell you the first avatars had been loaded and are fully working, if..."

"I'm coming right away," he cut off, ending the call and striding away from the stunned blonde, his conversation with him already far, far away in his mind. He had more urgent matters to attend.

When the CEO disappeared from sight, Katsuya let out a breath. He did not know what surprised him most: that the drama king had come to see him, that he had spoken civilly, or that he had called him Jonouchi, and not mutt or Fido.

After a moment of thought, he decided that this was Kaiba for you, and went back into his room, where IKaiba waited for him.

He had received a special package from KaibaCorp. The cook had just brought it up to him. A present from Mokuba, most certainly. The shipment was signed by his boss, but no way would Kaiba send him something voluntarily. Otherwise, apocalypse was coming soon. In the box, he found a brand new duel disk, along with a case in which he found his deck. Katsuya wondered if Isono had taken it when he had taken spare clothes at the blonde's apartment. In any case, he was glad to have his beloved cards with him. They gave him a sense of homely comfort, and that was just what he needed in this scary house.

He turned the first card and smiled warmly when his Red-Eyes appeared. The dragon looked like he was greeting him.

"Is that your favorite card?," IKaiba asked.

It was a rhetorical question. He should already know the black dragon was Katsuya's best ally. Still, the blonde answered happily.

"Yeah, he's been my best buddy for years now. We faced many dangers together."

"I did not know card games could be dangerous."

The AI's tone was stern, but he was actually wondering. There were mysterious blank periods in some of KaibaCorp's tournaments, especially during that of Battle City, when there was close to no data about the way things had unrolled. Only the name of the winner, and a few fragments of duels here and there. No doubt that things had been erased voluntarily, with the subtlety of a madman butchering a body with a chainsaw. It was gross and poorly done.

Katsuya snorted.

"Neither did I, until I met the Pharaoh and the bearers of the Millenium Items. Seriously, after all we went through, I'm hardly surprised by anything for long. That may be why I accept you as you are so easily, come to think of it. I encountered strangest things than an artificial human being. And you're nicer that the monsters I came across, I assure you."

He still shuddered at the memory of his first shadow duel, when the other Yuugi had used his and his friends' souls as duel monsters. He had been sent to the graveyard and hosted by the grim reaper of cards, and truth be told, never had he run so fast for his dear life. He had also explored Kaiba's sick virtual worlds, dueled against Yami Marik and his maniacal ideas of 'fun', and he had struggled in the Shadow Realm more than once, but this first dive into the Egyptian purgatory was the one that stuck the most. So, a somewhat friendly AI scored quite low in his conception of strange. In fact, he could hardly been categorized in there.

"The Pharaoh?" IKaiba was puzzled. "Are you referring to the King of Games? Is his name not Mutou Yuugi?"

"Well... It's kind of a complicated story." Katsuya rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Would you believe it if I talked about magic?"

"No."

The answer had been cutting and direct. The blonde did not expect less from the AI. He sighed and went on.

"I thought so. Nevertheless, you'd have to believe me, if you wanted to understand. I still think some of the things I experienced were dreams, or nightmares, but they really happened, and I'm witness of that. So, even if it sounds crazy, it's true. Mokuba, or Isono, could confirm some of those to you."

"Hm." IKaiba was skeptical. Magic sounded impossible, as science had never been able to prove it existence. So, Jonouchi talking about it as facts? Hardly believable. But he would give it a try. There were huge gaps in the story of the great Battle City tournament, whereas Kaiba should have gushed about his event like any normal egomaniac would have in his place. The artificial being snorted mentally at the oxymoron he just invented. Normal egomaniac...

"Alright. Go on," he motioned to Jonouchi that he was willing to listen to his story.

The blonde nodded with a sheepish smile tugging at his lips.

"Right. So, there exist seven magical items called the Millenium Items, and one in particular, Yuugi's Puzzle, contained the soul of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. Yami had sealed himself with a dangerous power of darkness in the Item, and slept for millennia until Yuugi built the Puzzle and awoke. You follow me?"

"For the moment, yes," IKaiba replied evenly, his nose scrunched up in suspicion.

"Okay. The Pharaoh had no memory of his past, but he seemed to draw to him all sorts of shit. Bullies were suddenly found drooling and hallucinating, thugs went nuts, and maniacs like Pegasus tried to steal his Puzzle or kill him. Kaiba of the latter, before Yami beat him in a duel so harshly that he went into depression or something, for some months. Me and my friends, we went through many adventures with him, a lot of them related to duel monsters and the power held in the cards."

"Right. So after the Egyptian spirit nonsense, I get the hidden power of a card game. Right. Pardon me not to believe a word you say for now."

"Wait until I talk about evil spirits, then. You see, Duel Monsters is inspired by a real, ancient Egyptian game with actual monsters. I don't know the details, but it was pretty big at the time, and it was possible thanks to the power of the Millenium Items. That's why Duel Monsters is dangerous when misused."

"If you say so..."

"I do and I'll tell you why. Things around Yami escalated until this huge Battle City tournament, in which Yuugi and I were participating, with Mai, Kaiba, a creepy dude who named himself Marik Ishtar but in fact was his adopted brother or something like that, Marik himself under another identity, his sister Ishizu Ishtar, and Bakura. There had never been so many Millenium Items in one place, and the Miss Ishtar's necklace had prophesied there was to be a turn of events regarding the Pharaoh, involving the three god cards."

"Wonderful."

Katsuya ignored the sarcasm.

"You asked for it. Don't complain now. Short story short, it went downright crazy when not-Marik tried to invoke a fake god card against me, and we were hit by the real god's wrath. Then, without not-Marik to keep the darkness at bay, the real Marik turned into a bat-shit crazy shadow of a man with a pointy golden weapon. He banished Mai and me to the Shadow Realm and wanted to kill Yuugi and the spirit he hosted. He Pharaoh beat him in a duel, and Kaiba went all drama king, and the Pharaoh had the three cards and used them thanks to a magic spell engraved into Marik's back."

"I won't even comment on that one."

"Thanks, because I'm not finished."

"...I regret ever asking."

"In the end, our souls went into ancient Egypt, where we found the Pharaoh's true name, so that he could invoke the ultimate god of Light and vanquish Zorc Necrophade, the divinity of darkness that had taken the form of Bakura's dark half, or eaten him, I'm not sure at this point. Anyway, the Pharaoh won, woopie, then Yuugi beat him in a last ceremonial duel, and he could go back to the afterlife and live happily ever after."

"You do realize I am about to call a psychiatrist at this point, because I am seriously fearing for your mental health. Swear to me you did not consume illicit substances?"

"I told you it was a complicated story!," Katsuya defended.

"Yes, complicated like 'Yuugi is a strange kid with hallucinating fits', not complicated like 'I deceive myself with fantasies and try to convince the world they are true'."

"Like I said, you can ask Mokuba, or even Isono. They were there for the Battle City part."

IKaiba's eyes glazed over again, and the blonde wondered if it was the sign the AI was doing something else in the giant cloud of synapses that was his domain. His theory got confirmed when, some seconds later, the brunet blinked and scoffed.

"Isono confirms your story, as ridiculous as it is. I also checked my database, and found evidence of the misdeeds of one Ishtar Marik, deeply buried into Kaiba's personal computer. So, I will try to believe some of this is true."

Katsuya sighed in relief.

"Phew, I'm glad you... wait, did you say you entered Kaiba's laptop?"

"I did."

"You can do that?"

"J." The AI called him J now, in reference to the 'Agent J' he had agreed to use. "I can hack into the American Pentagon's files in five minutes flat, as well as in the CIA's and the KGB's. Hacking into Kaiba Seto's computer took barely longer, and only because he coded his firewall in Coptic. I needed to find reliable data to translate, but then it was child's play."

"No, I mean, of course you can easily do that. But aren't you forbidden from doing that?"

The brunet huffed through his nose.

"I cannot harm him, that is all. And hacking into his computer, when all I do is looking, cannot be considered harming in any way. By the way, I guess you do not know of the file he keeps on you?"

Katsuya's eyes widened. Kaiba had a file on him? Why? He hoped it was not to keep a record of all the times he ridiculed himself in front of the CEO, or...

"Why the face?," IKaiba smirked, "I assure you there is nothing X-rated. Is that how you say it? Anyway, he only stores basic information and personal comments, as well as voice recordings and duel logs. He is a very boring man, predictable to a point it is not even funny to think about harming him. I have better things to do."

"Voice recordings? What for, you think?"

It was a little unnerving, knowing that your boss, the man who could not bear you for more than a few minutes without wanting to make your life hell, had your voice recorded on his personal computer. The AI sensed his discomfort and shrugged.

"It is related to his new project. I cannot tell you what it is, for it would be harming his interests, but I can say it is related to the package you received, like everything he does, in fact. I hope he washes his hands after playing with his deck, or they sure would be very sticky for the next person who would have to shake them."

His caustic innuendo made Katsuya splutter and burst out laughing. Really, only IKaiba could make a sex joke on Kaiba, and neither of them did know what sex was! It was too much. He was crying by the time he managed to stop.

IKaiba watched his human's hilarity with a mix of confusion and contentment. He was satisfied to see him laugh at something he said, even more so when he was criticizing his original version, but he did not really understand why it was so funny to him. Was it that he succeeded in joking about Kaiba's sexual life – or lack thereof –? It looked like it.

"So," the blonde said breathlessly when he was calm again, "so he's working on a new duel disk, and he needs my voice recordings. Okay, we'll see then. Promise me you'll hunt his ass down is he does something unacceptable with them?"

He did not know if the AI could do that, as apparently, Katsuya's voice was included into Kaiba's interests... and that just sounded very, very wrong. He should stop thinking altogether. In any case, it could not hurt asking. Better to have someone have his back out there.

The brunet in front of him considered his question and promptly nodded.

"Of course. Harming is not the only way I can make someone pay. I have as many options as there are water drops in the ocean."

His smirk turned predatory, and even if he was glad to know he had a really good ally to work with, Katsuya was also very relieved to have him as an ally, and not as an enemy. If the AI felt like a human being to him, he still was a terrifying, limitless program.

Now that this was settled, Katsuya's eyes went back to contemplating the duel disk and deck on his lap. Was it the new version Kaiba was working on? What could be different from the previous one? He picked it and examined it thoroughly. It looked more modern in shape, but other than that, there was no visible difference. It should be inside, then. The change was to be found in the components and functions.

The blonde put it on his arm, the familiar weight bringing him an immense sense of comfort and nostalgia. How long had it been since he last bore one in a duel! He inserted his deck into the slot, and his life points counter blipped into life. 4000. He drew four cards and his head filled with the possible strategies at his disposal. A chuckled drew his attention to IKaiba, who was observing him very intently, a small, less dangerous smile on his holographic lips. He appeared... young and carefree, for the first time since Katsuya had known him.

"You missed it," the AI commented. There was no reproach in his voice. He was just stating a fact, like he understood and was glad for him. The blonde nodded.

"Yeah. I did."

The brunet hummed and distanced himself, his eyes glazing over again. Instantly, a holographic duel disk appeared in front of his arm with a deck in the slot, and a screen with his life points counter flashed above his head.

"Well," he said cockily, "I may not know a lot about dueling, but I bet I can learn and beat you on my first duel. Do you want to try defeat from my hand?"

Right then, with his shining blue eyes and confident smirk, IKaiba looked very much like Kaiba. And yet, at the same time, his features looked more... playful. Katsuya gaped at him. Soon, his astonishment gave way to a beaming, radiant smile, and the rookie bounced on the mattress in exhilaration.

"Come at me, K, I'll take you on!"

IKaiba chuckled and readied himself. In the corner of his mind, he absently noticed that Kaiba Seto had logged in the duel links virtual world, testing a weak holographic version of 'Yami', the seemingly deceased modern persona of the Pharaoh. He brushed the information aside. Let him see who could have the most fun between them both.