A/N: Sorry for taking so long! This chapter was written three weeks ago, but it was only half as long, and needed more to it. I realized that I'd mentioned Bakura in the first chapter and not used him, so he got to show up and get some lines.

Also, this now takes place after the Ceremonial Duel. Otherwise Yuugi's a touch out of character.

Mai worked her way through the crowd, with less effort than she expected. It was a pretty clear shot to the front of the stage. They had been closer than she'd thought.

The speaker met her at the steps to the stage, taking her hand. She lifted her head to look at him and their eyes met. Mai froze. He tried to conceal an eager smirk, but failed. His expression was so familiar that she almost jumped. She had never seen him before, and yet, there was something unmistakable in the way he looked at her. Something that made her want to run off the stage. But his hand hung out in front of her, and she felt the eyes of the entire dueling community on her back. With little choice, Mai accepted his hand politely, and he greeted her.

"Kujaku Mai!" he smiled, the exact opposite of the dull man she had seen before. "Welcome! Congratulations on ranking in the Battle City tournament."

"T-thanks," she accepted, wishing everyone would stop reminding her of the damn Battle City tournament. He offered the new duel disk, and, pushing thoughts of demon egyptians out of her head, she took it.

Sliding it on, she was able to examine it. Instead of the trademark white-and-blue Kaiba Corp standard models, this one was black and grey. The hard corners were now rounded, adding to the size reduction. It was much thinner, and a good deal lighter. She lifted her arm a few times, getting used to the weight.

"Do you like it?" he asked as he pulled the new mysterious cord out of her duel disk. He seemed friendly enough now, and Mai tried to shake the feeling she'd had.

"It's lighter," she replied "But... what's this new thing for?" He attached the cord to her neck, as he had done for himself. It wasn't anything bad. It couldn't be anything bad. Kaiba would never test anything bad.

"You'll see when the duel starts," he smirked, and Mai felt her feeling rush bacl. What kind of function would need to be attached to her neck? Some kind of new hologram? Lifepoint counter? Virtual-reality?

"Ready?" He called from across the stage. She nodded, not feeling ready at all. Mai slid a card off of the deck he'd provided, and summoned it. A red-haired woman with a katana appeared on the field, in a fighting stance. Getsu Fuhma. An appropriate enough moster for her.

Ignoring the anxiety it was inducing, the duel disk really was an improvement. The hologram was sharper, more realistic looking. Mai braced herself for whatever the new thing was, and called the end of her turn. The man nodded, and drew his own card. Kaibaman was still on the field, so Mai wasn't sure if they were going to play a whole duel, or just enough to demonstrate the effect.

"I summon Vorse Raider!" he called dramatically. Mai rolled her eyes. If there was one thing she'd had enough of with dueling, it was all this posturing. It was a card game. "Now, attack!" The Raider charged forward.

"1900 to 1700," the man explained as the Vorse Raider raised its weapon. "Only 200 lifepoints shouldn't be too bad to start." The Vorse Raider brought the bladed weapon down on the girl. She tried to block with her sword, but it was forced out of the way, and the Raider struck its chest armor, which shattered. She fell down, and disappeared, destroyed.

Mai felt nothing for maybe a second. Then the patch on the back of her neck started to burn, and the wind was knocked out of her as she felt the force of the Raider on her monster. Her legs weakened as memories of blood and headless devils filled her mind. She pressed her hand to her chest, and imaginary phantom wounds burned with pain. She tried her hardest not to fall down on stage, in front of the whole dueling community, in front of Jounouchi.

Jounouchi was paying attention to the stage for the first time that evening when Bakura finally came back.

"Jounouchi-kun, did you see--?" Bakura stopped when he noticed Jounouchi staring at the stage.

"Uh-huh," Yuugi replied. Jounouchi pulled his attention away from Mai and looked at his friends on either side of him.

"What?" he asked. "What'd you guys say?"

"Nothing. How's the duel going?" Bakura asked.

"Nothing happened so far," Jounouchi replied. "They're about to start."

Bakura and Yuugi exchanged a look. Jounouchi looked at the both of them again.

"Seriously, guys, what're you talking about?"

"Jounouchi-kun..." Bakura hesitated. "Is there... ah... anything between you and Mai-san?"

"What?!" Jounouchi spluttered, feeling his face burn again. "What makes you-- where did that come from?"

"It's... kind of obvious, Jounouchi-kun," Yuugi added.

"W-what?" Jounouchi stammered. "Ah... You're one to talk!" Jounouchi accused, pointing at Yuugi, trying to change the subject. Yuugi spluttered as well.

"Anyway," Bakura said hastitly, overtop of Yuugi's protests. "Have you said anything to her yet?"

"What're you talking about?" Jounouchi refused to look at them, fixing his eyes back on the stage. "There's nothing to say."

"Jounouchi-kun, I was the only there when Mai-san woke up after Yuugi's duel," Bakura pointed. Jounouchi blinked. He'd forgotten that.

"So?" Jounouchi shrugged, still trying, and failing, to hide his obvious feelings.

"Okay," Bakura sighed. "Fine. You don't have feelings for her. But if you DID... well, she didn't say it, but I'd bet my deck that she likes you too."

"Hmph," Jounouchi scoffed.

"He's right, Jounouchi-kun," Yuugi added. Jounouchi said nothing, focusing back on the duel.

Mai didn't share his feelings... did she? They were just friends. Aquaintances. She was only talking to him tonight because she was bored. She could never like HIM. She was always making fun of him... playing jokes, like that day on the blimp. Why had she done that? He had thought she was dead! That wasn't even a joke anymore. He'd been terrified. He wanted to ask her why she'd made him go through that.

"Hey, Bakura," Jounouchi muttered. He should just ask her. But he was too afraid. "Since you were there... why'd she play that joke on me? After she woke up?"

"She... wanted to see how worried you were," Bakura thought a moment on the rest of the message. "And something about... if her duel had 'been a fluke'."

Jounouchi continued looking at Bakura for a moment before he realized he was staring and turned back at the stage. A fluke? She wanted to see if he really meant it when he stood up to Ra? So did she know he liked her and wanted to be sure... or think he DIDN'T like her and wanted to be sure...? Ah, he had no idea.

Before he could continue to confuse himself trying to analyze Mai's thought process, something caught his eye. Mai and the speaker had both summoned monsters. The man's attacked, and destroyed hers. She pressed her hand to her chest, and a red flag went up in Jounouchi's head.

"Well?" the man called from across stage, proud of his sadistic invention. His familiar expression was clear as day to her now. In her mind, Malik grinned while she writhed in pain, a vise crushing her skull. Malik smiled while he picked his own head off of the dueling field. Malik laughed while she was electrocuted half to death. This man looking at her, like her pain was the most pleasurable thing he could imagine.

Mai shuddered. She wanted to bolt off the stage as fast as she could. But the majority of the dueling community and Jounouchi... Mai took a deep breath, stood up straight, and forced a smile onto her face.

"Very nice!" she complimented, lying through her teeth. She'd only have one chance to get out of this without drawing notice. "But I think I've had enough. Why don't you let someone else try it?"

There was a brief pause, and she could see in his eyes that he wanted to keep going with HER. But she was glaring at him, not letting this continue. He gave in, and nodded.

"Very well," and he crossed the stage to take the duel disk from her. "Kujaku Mai, duelists!" There was a bit of polite applause. Mai ripped the thing off of her neck, and thrust the duel disk at the man before striding off stage and back into the dark crowd.

Jounouchi was waiting when she reached him, a nagging feeling that something had gone horribly wrong. He pushed the feeling aside, smiling for her.

"Hey, how was it?" Jounouchi asked, but she kept walking, not even looking at him. Jounouchi glanced at Yuugi and Bakura, both who shrugged. He looked at the stage, and back to Mai. Realizing his nagging feeling was correct, Jounouchi followed her through the crowd.

A/N: Seriously, fast update next time! Within a week, I promise! If I don't... um... someone gets a requestfic! (though if it's polar, I'd probably do a request anyway)