Chapter 07: A Tentative Truce

Kaiba stared wearily at his ceiling, fully awake despite his exhaustion. As much as he wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, he knew it would be impossible; it was a miracle he had managed to get any rest at all, really. Years of depriving himself of sleep made it hard for him to rest for extended intervals of time and he was quite unaccustomed to napping in the middle of the day. He had somehow managed this time, but he was far from well rested, having been disturbed and awoken by yet another dream. At least this one hadn't been one of his normal nightmares or one invaded by Yami, though.

It was easy to understand that the source of the dream stemmed from his fears about Mokuba being kidnapped, although the form it took was quite unusual. Having fired all of his staff for their incompetence, he was reduced to buying his own groceries and he had gone to the Kaiba Convenience Store to get some milk, despite the fact in real life he disliked the drink immensely and there was no such store in existence. On the side of the carton was an image of Mokuba, identical to the one on the soul card Pegasus had sealed him in, with the caption, "Have you seen this child?" and his personal information underneath the picture. It was then that Kaiba woke up, scowling at the absurdity of the dream. Although it did make him wonder about two things: how feasible was it for Kaiba Corporation to break into the convenience store market and where exactly was Mokuba?

Unaccustomed to idly lazing around during the day, Kaiba forced himself to get out of bed and take a shower to clear his mind. Maybe then he could get some work done on those financial reports he had been presented earlier in the week after he finished up the coding he had been working on that morning. Glancing at the clock as he made his way to the bathroom, he saw that it was shortly after eight in the evening, but it felt like that afternoon's battle had been days ago. He chuckled softly as he realized that the lamp had in fact been cleaned up and replaced. As if he would hire inept people to work in his house! It was then that he noticed that his clothes were also gone, including the items he had stripped out of before climbing into bed when he got home earlier. He must have been more tired than he realized if he hadn't woken up when the maid came into the room to collect his things; well, it was either that or he had hired a ninja for a maid, a thought which caused him to laugh at the absurdity of it.

Turning on the water in the shower, he waited for it to heat up before getting in, finding no need to shock his system with freezing cold temperatures. In that regard, it was far better to dream of a missing brother than the alternative that he had been dealing with all week, although he was sure even the iciest of showers wouldn't have helped him this morning. The thought drew his eyes toward the mirror where he could still clearly see the mark Yami had supposedly left, although a part of his mind steadfastly refused to accept this as a reality. Watching his reflection, he raised his hand and covered the mark, making it disappear from sight. As if it were that easy, he scoffed at himself, spreading his fingers, small hints of it appearing before vanishing again as he brought them back together again. He supposed he should be grateful that it wasn't in a more visible place since he really didn't feel like dealing with the gossip and drama that would inevitably erupt as speculations arose about what kind of person had tried to claim, "Domino's Most Eligible Bachelor Under Twenty-Five," as if such a thing were possible. He belonged to no one and was damn proud of it, because he would never again let anyone have that much control over him.

Stepping into the shower, he was warmed by the water, wishing that he could scrub the mark off of him. As he began to wash himself, it stubbornly stayed, even as his skin began to grow red from the heat. It wasn't as if he had never been bruised before, but it was the source of it that bothered him the most. That and the fact that he couldn't explain it away, that he couldn't justify its existence in this world. He hadn't bumped the corner of his desk in his sleep, he hadn't been hit by anything, and he certainly hadn't been with anyone because he didn't have the time to waste on a woman who would most likely be only after his money anyway.

That thought caused his hand that was reaching out for the shampoo bottle to falter as he ran over the line again in his head. A woman? The laughter that echoed off his shower walls sounded strange to his ears as he successfully managed to acquire and apply shampoo. Kaiba knew that his social skills outside of the business world were warped at best and he poorly related to people of his own age, but he never would have imagined that he would be so slow to realize something such as this. Yes, he knew that Yami technically met the requirements of being a man, but given his classification as being an imaginary spectral figment, it hadn't really mattered what he was since Yami was Yami and Kaiba hadn't thought beyond that aspect. Would it have made a difference if Yami were a woman? Kaiba doubted it since regardless of gender, Yami would still be the same insufferable arrogant bastard that he was so used to dealing with on a regular basis. Did that mean that it was the identity of the person, rather than gender, was the reason why it was…? Kaiba was at a loss as to how that sentence should end since, "Okay," "Tolerable," and, "Enjoyable," were certainly unacceptable and utterly false answers.

Rinsing his hair, he tried to refocus his thoughts onto more practical aspects of his current line of thought. If word got out that he and another man—and not just any man, but the King of Games—had gotten together, it would be the kind of scandal the press would never let go. Finishing up, it occurred to him that if—and that was a huge if—Yami and Yuugi were actually two separate people, then which one was the true King of Games? Yuugi officially held the title, but based on Kaiba's experience, it was really Yami who deserved it. Did that mean he would have to defeat one or both of them to earn the title for himself? If today's fight was any indication, then it wouldn't matter either way since Yuugi could be effectively dealt with, provided he didn't get overconfident.

Stepping out of the shower, Kaiba took a towel from the rack and wrapped it around his waist, still mulling over the possibilities of future duels when he became aware of a knock on his bedroom door. "What?" he called out harshly, wincing at the way the acoustics reverberated his voice back at him. Sometimes it was a miracle that he managed to retain any of his staff, let alone maintain their loyalty.

"It's Isono, Seto-sama," came the reply through the still-closed door.

He relaxed a bit, but hesitated before leaving the bathroom. It wasn't that he cared if Isono saw him in just a towel, but it was another to let him see the mark. Kaiba was confident that his employee wouldn't say a word about it, but he still found himself grabbing a spare towel and draping it over his neck, checking in the mirror to see that it sufficiently covered it. Only then did he relent and tell Isono, "Enter," as he left the sanctuary of his bathroom, drying his hair with the half of the towel that had nothing to hide. Ignoring Isono's formal bow in favor of putting to rest the small nagging doubt he had about the whereabouts of his brother, Kaiba asked in a more neutral tone, "Mokuba?"

"He's at Kaiba Land, sir."

It was a Friday, so of course that's where he would be, since he always went there to oversee the operations. "That means he probably ran into Yuugi and his group," Kaiba commented, displeased about that fact. He was unsure about what Yuugi would say, but then again it didn't really matter; something like that wouldn't change Mokuba's opinion of him so easily.

"Sir?"

"When I was at Kaiba Land earlier, I met with Yuugi and he mentioned that his friend's were showing up later, so Mokuba probably met up with them," he speculated, although it was more to confirm his own thought pattern than it was to inform the other. Setting the matter aside, he stopped drying his hair and asked, "So, what is it?" After all, it was highly unusual that Isono would disturb him in his room unless something was amiss.

"It's about Mutou Yuugi, Seto-sama," Isono began, hesitating at the blank look his boss was giving him.

"Yes?" was all Kaiba said, keeping all emotions out of his voice since he wasn't sure which one to settle on, although annoyance was the most likely candidate with anger in a close second.

"He's here."

Eyes going wide in disbelief, he couldn't stop himself from exclaiming, "What?!"

Isono visibly flinched, not that Kaiba could blame him. "He arrived a few minutes ago and said that he wished to speak with you."

"As if I would want to listen to anything he would have to say," Kaiba said with scorn, resisting the urge to cross his arms for fear that he would lose his cover. Besides, why was Isono reporting this to him instead of the head of security?

"Shall we tell him to leave, sir?"

Kaiba thought it over for a moment. As satisfying as it would be to throw the bastard out, part of him wanted to know what he had to say about the events that had unfolded this afternoon. Finally he asked, "Is he alone?"

"Y-yes, Seto-sama," Isono stuttered, obviously confused by the question, but Kaiba paid him no attention. Then again, it was a stupid question since if two Yuugis had shown up, he would have heard about that first.

"Show him to the downstairs sitting room," Kaiba commanded with a dismissive wave. "I'll be down as soon as I change."

"Yes, Seto-sama," Isono replied quickly with another formal bow as he gracefully exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

So Yuugi had shown up, but for what purpose, Kaiba wondered as he headed over to his closet to get ready. Quickly getting dressed in grey pants and a black long sleeve shirt, he scowled when he realized that he wouldn't have time to dry his hair properly, but what did he care? It wasn't like he was trying to look good, since it was just Yuugi after all. Running his fingers through it and giving himself a once over in the mirror, he decided he was at least presentable as he emerged from his room and began to head downstairs.

Walking silently, he approached the room that Yuugi should be waiting in and was greeted by the sight of little spikes of hair showing over the back of a chair. "So," he said loudly and with authority as he strode into the room, "have you come here to apologize or to duel me properly?"

Failing to get an answer, he walked over to stand in front of the chair and its occupant, only to discover that it was the embodiment of the thing insisting it be called Yami. "Are you fucking kidding me?" Was this the real meaning of his earlier dream? Mokuba was "missing" at Kaiba Land and his staff may as well not even have been there since how else could you explain the level of incompetence that allowed someone who wasn't Yuugi to walk right into his home? Then again, why would anyone in their right mind think that there would be two Yuugis? He wouldn't read that much into such a pointless dream. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"So you do recognize the difference?" Yami asked with a pleased smugness. "Then again, you were aware of it even when aibou and I shared a body."

How could Kaiba not? Before it was always easy to identify the shift in attitude and personality, but now the eyes, the height, the color of the skin, and the distinct lack of gaudy gold jewelry were all dead giveaways that this wasn't the Mutou Yuugi, but rather someone with a striking resemblance to him. Not to mention the fact that the person sitting in front of him had that irritating bruise on his ear that Kaiba was still questioning if he had really put it was there.

Kaiba didn't want to give Yami the satisfaction of having his question answered directly, so he chose to ask, "What do you want?" It was only after he said it that he realized that he probably should have rephrased it differently.

"To talk," Yami said simply, although the grin he had made Kaiba fully aware of the innuendos that he could have chosen to say instead.

"To talk," Kaiba repeated flatly. "Somehow I doubt that. Why should I listen to anything you have to say, anyway?"

"Because you want answers." Yami was thoroughly enjoying the sight of a freshly showered Kaiba, whose reddened cheeks could easily be mistaken for embarrassment rather than an aftereffect of bathing; the way Kaiba's normally brown hair was made almost black as a result of being wet was also quite pleasing to him.

Kaiba scowled and resisted the urge to begin pacing the length of the room, suddenly self-conscious. Instead he chose to sit in the armchair that was next to Yami's, keenly aware of the other's gaze on him. "And you intend to supply them, just like that?" Kaiba asked skeptically, knowing that nothing was ever that simple.

"If I can, yes," Yami agreed, "but it's up to you whether to accept them or not."

Somehow Kaiba still wasn't entirely convinced that this was going to work out so well. As much as he would like to cut straight to his main questions about the reasons he was being harassed and the ways in which it was being done, he settled for the more recent question that had confounded him. "Which of you is the true King of Games?"

Yami was silent for a moment before he began chuckling quietly, looking more amused than Kaiba would have liked. "In other words, you want to know which one of us you have to defeat?" Yami asked dryly.

Giving a curt nod, he expounded upon his thoughts from earlier, even though he felt absurd saying them out loud, "Yuugi is the official holder of the title, but it would seem to me that you are the reason he has it in he first place."

Leaning back into the comforts of the leather chair with a pensive look on his face, Yami thought about it for a moment before answering. Finally, he spoke slowly, "The title was earned after Pegasus was defeated. I was the main opponent at that time, but it was only because aibou and I exchanged places throughout the battle that we were able to defeat his Mind Scan tactics, so—"

Interrupting him, Kaiba said, "So I have to beat both of you," not caring for the ridiculous excuse about switching spirits in the middle of a fight. He was glad that he hadn't been there to witness such a ridiculous showcase of split personality disorder, even though he still refused to believe that it was because his soul had been trapped inside of a card at the time. Pegasus' staff had most likely used some devious way to cause him to fall unconscious in order to keep him in the prison cell he woke up in later. There was nothing mysterious or mystical about that at all; it could be considered underhanded, but not magical by any means.

"If you feel you must," Yami consented with a smirk. Anyone else would have asked how he managed to become a physical being, but only Kaiba would disregard that in favor of finding out who he had to fight for victory.

"Just tell me when and where. And this time we'll fight without interruptions."

Raising an eyebrow at the emphasis, Yami admitted, "Aibou was pretty upset with me about that, too."

"He should have been grateful since I would have won within the next turn had it not been for you."

"You could have continued playing," Yami pointed out, shrugging. "I wasn't the one that forced you to cancel the match." Kaiba didn't have an answer for that so he scowled in silence as Yami continued speaking. "Besides, you didn't want to win."

"What sort of nonsense is that? Of course I wanted to win!" Kaiba scoffed, unable to keep quiet over such a comment.

Yami laughed again, his eyes never leaving Kaiba's. "Not like that, though."

"Bullshit," he replied, although he was unsettled that Yami had possibly figured out such a thing. "A win is a win."

"Just like your victory on top of Pegasus' castle?"

He was sorely tempted to throttle the other, but he did not move from his seat, settling for a glare instead. "That has nothing to do with this," Kaiba muttered, the excuse sounding weak to his own ears.

"You would be the only winner to demand a rematch," Yami mused, chuckling at the notion.

"Just get to the point already," Kaiba said irritably, pushing the sleeves of his shirt up before folding his arms across his chest. "I'm tired of wasting my time with this."

"You just look tired in general," Yami commented, "but three sleepless days will do that to a person."

"And whose fault is that?" Kaiba countered coldly, still frustrated by the fact that the person sitting so close to him was responsible for his current condition. Although as strange as it was to have Yami appearing first in his dreams and then in the flesh, to him the most surreal thing was having a semi-civil conversation in his house with the man.

Grinning as he enjoyed the sight before him, Yami airily replied, "I wonder?" Was it just his imagination or did the color just increase into a blush on Kaiba's face?

It was becoming apparent to Kaiba that he was going to have to compromise a little in order to speed things along. "So this body business of yours, since I assume that's the real purpose of your visit here…."

"Curiosity finally got the better of you?" Yami teased, smirking in satisfaction.

"No," Kaiba denied, "the sooner you say what you want, the sooner you'll leave, and the sooner I can continue on with what I need to be doing."

Ignoring the temptation to make a comment about what Kaiba could be doing, Yami continued to tease the other. "That eager to get rid of me?"

"Yes." When that failed to get a response, Kaiba prompted him, "I suppose this all ties into the museum somehow?"

"Museum?" Yami repeated, puzzled as much by the non-sequiter as he was by the accuracy of Kaiba's guess.

"That crazy brat mentioned it and while I'm loath to believe him, knowing that Isis woman is still there lends it some level of credibility," Kaiba explained, resisting the urge to shudder when he mentioned Isis. He strongly disliked that woman and anything connected to her; nothing good ever came from it.

Yami confirmed what Kaiba didn't want to hear, "Isis was involved."

This time Kaiba couldn't repress the cold chill that ran through him. "Of course she was," he said sarcastically, adding this to the list of complaints he had against her. Why couldn't that troublesome woman just leave things alone?

"I'm still no sure how Bakura came to know about it, though. It hasn't been publicized, but during an excavation in Egypt, they discovered another stone tablet that was made around the same time as the ones that are currently on display at the museum." Hesitating for a moment, he felt compelled to add, "They were commissioned by my priest."

That same feeling of dread from before began to form in the pit of Kaiba's stomach and he numbly repeated, "Your priest," not liking where this conversation was heading. "Why must you insist on believing in such ridiculous ideas?"

"And why must you continue to deny it despite all of the evidence that proves—" Yami started to ask heatedly, only to be cut off by Kaiba.

"It proves nothing!"

Sighing heavily, Yami took a moment to regain his composure. As he recovered more and more of his memories, he became increasingly frustrated by Kaiba's continual denial about their shared history. Even after Yuugi had tried to explain to him that it was highly uncommon for a person to remember their past life, Yami still wasn't convinced. Kaiba was willfully ignoring it and for some reason it pained a small part of himself that he didn't fully understand yet. Convincing Kaiba about his past could wait; for now it would be enough for him if he could get Kaiba to acknowledge his existence in this world. Returning to his original point, Yami continued explaining calmly, "Inscribed on the tablet was a way to free my spirit from the Millennium Puzzle, so Isis thought that—"

"Wait," Kaiba interrupted, "if that person knew how to free your soul from it, why didn't he just do that instead of writing it down?"

Yami frowned, realizing that he didn't have an actual answer to such a troubling question. "I don't know," he finally admitted. "Perhaps it was because the Millennium Puzzle had already been destroyed and hidden away? The spell specified that it had to be properly assembled in order for it to work correctly."

"And no one could find it or figure out how to put it together? Without the use of technology, they could build giant pyramids, but they couldn't piece together one tiny puzzle?" Kaiba asked in disbelief.

"Regardless, the spell ultimately worked, although it occurred in multiple stages. The first one allowed my spirit greater mobility."

"Allowing you to invade people's dreams without their permission?" he asked, his tone bitter.

Nodding, Yami confirmed, "That was one of the benefits, yes."

"You call that a benefit; I call it an invasion of privacy." When Yami didn't answer, he begrudgingly questioned, "Why mine?"

"I was curious. Besides, it just sort of happened."

It was an unsatisfactory answer in Kaiba's opinion and he was unable to stop himself from asking lowly in a halting voice, "Why that kind of dream?"

"You weren't complaining at the time," Yami replied with an impish grin.

Indignant, Kaiba defended himself, "I was too!"

"Last time I checked, Aah! Mmm, oh yeah, that feels so good, ah right there," Yami imitated in a highly sexual manner, "wasn't a complaint."

Kaiba could feel the rush of heat in his cheeks and he was powerless to stop it. It was bad enough that Yami had been moaning, but had it really been necessary for him to make such erotic expressions as well? Looking away, Kaiba muttered, "That doesn't mean I wanted you there. Who else did you harass?"

It had been worth the embarrassment for that reaction; bashful Kaiba was a rare sight indeed. "I accidentally saw one of Jounouchi's when you refused to sleep, but he didn't see me. Besides, I left quickly," Yami confessed. Jounouchi was a good friend of his, but there were just some things that he didn't need to know about him.

"Why?" he found himself asking, troubled by the fact that he felt a small twinge of disappointment at discovering he wasn't the only one. What difference did it make to him? And yet, he couldn't quite shake the feeling.

Yami hadn't even meant to be pulled into the dream, but Jounouchi had been sleeping over at Yuugi's and it was due to the close proximity that he witnessed Jounouchi having some rather kinky sex with Mai that was interrupted by Shizuka walking in on them and having a mini nervous breakdown over the matter. As Yami was getting ready to leave, having seen far more than he wanted to, Mai stormed out because she was angry that Jounouchi's sister was more important than her and it was then that Kaiba arrived to make fun of Jounouchi about his failings. It had been disturbing, to say the least. "He watches too many videos," was all Yami could bring himself to say, disturbed by the fact that his aibou was borrowing them from Honda and Jounouchi.

It took Kaiba a moment to process what had been said and it was enough to make him look back at Yami. "If you don't want to watch someone else's sex dream, why in the hell did you force your way into mine to make me have that kind of dream?" he demanded to know.

"Do you really have to ask?"

With the question phrased that way, Kaiba wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer. Desperate to get off of the topic before he embarrassed himself further, Kaiba tried to maintain his unperturbed façade as he asked, "So what now?"

Pretending to contemplate it for a moment, Yami couldn't help but be amused. He had made more progress than he had originally expected, but there was still more to be made. It could wait, though; he was just satisfied that Kaiba had sat and listened, even if he had been belligerent about the whole thing. Finally, an idea entered into his mind and he resisted the urge to grin for fear of tipping Kaiba off to what he was thinking. "Do you have any other questions?"

Whether out of stubbornness or pride, Kaiba refused to ask anything else, despite wanting to know more. He would only allow himself to go so far as to ask, "Do you have anything else to tell me?"

"No, that should be enough for now."

"For now?" Kaiba repeated with a scowl. He didn't like the sounds of that; what else could Yami be planning?

Standing with an enigmatic smile that instantly put Kaiba on his full guard, Yami said, "After all, since you're such a busy man, I'm sure you have plenty of other things you could be doing right now."

Refusing to rise to the bait, Kaiba chose to say nothing instead, not taking his eyes off the other for a moment. He was almost certain that Yami would take the opportunity to approach him as he had in the dueling arena and he was ready for it.

However, instead of coming closer as expected, Yami began heading for the door. "I won't take up anymore of your time, then."

What the hell? was Kaiba's first thought as he watched the other walking away from him. Thoroughly confused by the other's inaction, he quickly got up in order to follow. As they began heading to the front door, it led Kaiba to ask in a neutral tone, "So that means you're going home now?"

"Yes."

Hesitating for a moment, he debated whether or not to offer Yami a ride. It wasn't particularly late or cold out, but some small part of him disliked the thought of the other walking back to Yuugi's house alone. His chivalry won out as he volunteered, "I can give you a ride if you want," although he didn't sound particularly pleased about it.

Having reached the foyer, Yami paused to smile at Kaiba, genuinely touched by the offer. Though many others found him to be cold and unfeeling, Yami had his suspicions that Kaiba was actually the caring type. It was evident in his devotion to his brother and in his dream of making children happy through Kaiba Land, but that was easily overlooked as a result of his brusque manner. "Maybe next time," Yami said gently, "I think I'd like to walk back tonight. But thanks."

The words, "Are you sure?" were on the tip of his tongue, but it was not like Kaiba to make second offers. Instead, he said with a shrug, "Do as you like," trying very hard to ignore the way the other's smile had made him feel. It was the sort of expression that made one want to smile back in return and Kaiba would not allow himself to do as such. It was easier to focus on what exactly the other had meant by saying next time since that implied another visit.

"I always do," Yami replied as he opened the door, getting ready to leave.

He hadn't meant to say it out loud, but when he saw Yami step outside, he couldn't help but blurt out, "So that's it?"

Turning to face Kaiba again, Yami was pleased that his plan had in fact worked. "Were you expecting something else?" he asked with a satisfied smirk.

Color once again flooded to Kaiba's cheeks at his embarrassment as he berated himself for his slip. "Of course not," he said hurriedly, hoping that in the dim lighting Yami wouldn't notice his blush. It wasn't that he had been expecting anything to happen, but having nothing happen was suspicious; he had been suspecting maybe, but definitely not expecting.

"Get some sleep, Kaiba."

It felt ominous coming from Yami and Kaiba found himself unable to say anything in response as the other turned and exited. Watching Yami disappear into the darkness, Kaiba just stood there and tried to collect his thoughts. What exactly was Yami trying to do?

When Kaiba heard the outside gate close, he finally shut the door and began to walk upstairs. With that distraction out of the way, he could finally get some work done on those financial reports that he had been neglecting. After that would come an uninterrupted sleep that he was very much looking forward to, even if he still was a bit wary about it. Behind him, he heard the door opening again and he found himself smirking; he had known that Yami wouldn't just leave it at that! "I knew you'd come back, you—" he began to say, turning around to smirk triumphantly only to falter under the gaze of his younger brother. "Mokuba!"

"Nii-sama, is everything okay?" Mokuba asked tentatively, looking up at his brother with concern.

"Everything's fine, Mokuba," Kaiba reassured him as he walked back down the stairs to approach his brother, trying to play off his earlier behavior. "How were things at Kaiba Land?"

Leading the way into the kitchen, Mokuba happily filled his older brother in, "Operations were running fine and I went to go check out the new Dueling Dragon ride."

Taking a drink out of the fridge for himself and handing one to Mokuba, Kaiba asked, "Any progress?" They were nearing completion on the roller coaster that had three separate tracks, each with a Blue Eyes White Dragon car that intertwined as they raced against each other; he was hoping that it would be ready to debut at the start of summer this year.

"I helped Katashii and his team fix a programming bug and after that I ran into Yuugi-tachi!" Mokuba told Kaiba, eagerly accepting the drink and taking a seat at the counter.

Leaning against the cabinets and taking a sip of his water, Kaiba said more to himself than his brother, "Yuugi-tachi, eh?"

"Yeah, Jounouchi wanted to use one of the arenas to show off his new deck build, but Yuugi easily defeated him like always," Mokuba commented, rolling his eyes.

"If the mutt was defeated by that weak deck, his must be even more pathetic than before," Kaiba scoffed, not surprised to find out that Yuugi had claimed another victory.

"So you really did battle with Yuugi this afternoon?"

Before answering, Kaiba wanted a little more information about what had gone on after he had left. "What did he have to say for himself?"

"Yuugi said that you started to duel but something came up so you had to postpone it until later. He didn't really say anything else because Jounouchi got really angry when he found out that you were in the lead when the draw was called!" Mokuba said proudly.

Not wanting to lie to his brother, Kaiba tried to find the right words to explain what happened without giving away too much. Taking another sip of his drink, he started, "Yuugi and I did have a match after school, but like he said, we were…interrupted during it. Some things came up that needed to be addressed, so I left in order to take care of it."

Hesitating, Mokuba finally decided to ask, "Does this have anything to do with the person who just left?"

Scowling down at the floor, Kaiba ran his fingers irritably through his hair. "He was the interruption," Kaiba confirmed, both pleased and annoyed by the fact that his brother had figured things out so quickly.

When his older brother said nothing else, Mokuba began pushing the lid of his bottle on the countertop as the silence lengthened. Finally, he spoke, "I thought it was Yuugi at first, which was really confusing. It's not like he's someone that you can easily mistake, you know?"

"Who else would be crazy enough to want that hair?"

"But it couldn't have been Yuugi because I just dropped him off at his grandfather's place," Mokuba said, confused by what he had seen. "Who was that?"

When Mokuba asked him that question, Kaiba was suddenly at a loss. Why hadn't Yuugi told anyone else about Yami's appearance? Surely Mokuba would have mentioned Yuugi telling him something as outrageous as Yami coming into existence. And if Mokuba didn't know, then that most likely meant that the Yuugi-tachi also didn't know because it definitely would have been a topic of conversation amongst them. It just didn't add up—why was Yuugi continuing to hide this?

The distracted look on Kaiba's face was enough cause to make Mokuba start to worry about who the mysterious person was. Earlier when Kaiba thought the person had come back, his brother hadn't sounded angry and if anything, he looked like he was just getting ready to play a card that would turn the game around in his favor. But Mokuba knew that Kaiba only got the worked up whenever he was playing against Yuugi, something that was a mystery all by itself. It was impossible for that person to be Yuugi, though and Mokuba was quickly becoming frustrated by his inability to figure this out on his own. Hazarding a guess, Mokuba asked his brother, "Is this related to what's kept you up these past few days?"

Startled out of his thoughts, he stared wide-eyed at his brother's innocent expression. "You could say that," Kaiba muttered, having regained his composure somewhat. There was no way for his brother to know the real reason, but his guess was closer than Kaiba would have liked. Once again, he cursed Yami for putting him in such a position.

"Are you going to try and get cosplayers for the park? That'd be pretty cool, actually," Mokuba commented, getting excited about the idea. "People could have their pictures taken with them and stuff. I bet it would be pretty popular."

It was times like this that he was incredibly proud of his little brother and his sharp mind. It also was the perfect way out of this awkward conversation and he capitalized on it like any proper businessman should. "It's not been formally proposed yet, but it's a possibility. Right now the top priority for Kaiba Land is getting the Dueling Dragons ride up and running, though."

"I think it's going to be a big success! I can be the first to ride it, right?"

"Of course," Kaiba agreed, knowing that he was unable to deny his brother such a simple pleasure. "But right now, I've got some work I need to finish up."

Voicing his displeasure with a groan, he hopped down from the chair he had been sitting on and gave his older brother a disapproving look. "Nii-sama, you really need to take a break. You've been working non-stop! You look really tired, so promise me that you'll get some sleep," Mokuba demanded.

Instinctually, Kaiba seized upon the loophole in the promise: he was only asked to sleep and there were no conditions about when, the duration of, or the quality of rest. "Fine," he acquiesced, "it shouldn't be a problem tonight." Now that Yami had a body to trap his spiritual form, Kaiba was hoping that he would be freed from such a nightly nuisance.

"Remember, you promised!" Mokuba warned him sternly before breaking into a grin. "If you're going to work, I'm going to go play a game then."

"Don't stay up too late," Kaiba told him, not caring about the hypocrisy of the comment at the moment.

"Same goes for you, Nii-sama!" With those words, Mokuba was scampering up the stairs, the sound of it echoing loudly through the mostly empty house.

Crisis adverted, Kaiba closed his eyes and sighed heavily, relieved that he hadn't been questioned further about Yami. He felt a little guilty about hiding it from his brother, but then again, the alternative was no better. All he wanted was for this mess to be over and done with, but he had a sinking suspicion that it was just getting started. Opening his eyes and pushing himself away from the cabinet, he took another drink from the fridge and began to make his way upstairs in order to start working on those financial files. Some nice brain numbing number crunching was just the thing to distract him and lull him to sleep.

A/N: Needless to say, this chapter so got away from me. I thought it was never going to end! Longest one to date clocking in at almost 6,800 words. Gah. Sorry for making you go blind, but hopefully you enjoyed it! I was initially going to skip over the brother bonding, but I thought it would be fun, because there's nothing worse whenever someone hits the issue squarely on the head and they're completely innocent to what they've said.

I'm slowly beginning to understand why Yami always uses the Black Magician card since he's so full of tricks himself. Little slight of hand, or in this case, body. He's such a tease, but then again, Kaiba is an easy target since he has zero experience with such things. :laughs: Oh, I am tehevil indeed. But little Yuugi was so cute in this chapter, despite the fact that he didn't appear in it. I could just see him trying to explain to Yami that normal people don't remember their past lives and Yami protesting, "But Kaiba isn't normal!" and that works on so many different levels. :laughs: I think he would come to Kaiba's defense, though. He usually does, even if the Friendship Brigade tends to balk at it. And the comment about the videos is based off of the manga where he borrows those kinds of videos from Jounouchi. Innocent little Yuugi, I think not.

I won't ramble on any further since you guys have been so patient with this long chapter. Please let me know what you think and I'll get back to you!

NEXT CHAPTER: Faces in Disguise

Wait, now there are two Yami's and a Yuugi?! And a second Seto? Just what in the hell is going on? Who knew that one slab of stone could cause so many problems…?

Ahahaha, I'm having waaay too much fun with the next chapter. I think it's my new favorite, actually. Ideally I'd like to have it up by Monday, but I think that's being a little optimistic on my part. Hopefully Wednesday at the latest. My goal is to wrap this up in two weeks time because I'm leaving the country. Failing that, I'll have plenty of time to work on the story on my thirteen hour flight, haha oh god. Thankfully this story is proving to be a pleasant distraction from my reality, heh.