Well, I haven't received any other reviews other than TaintedApples', and she's been with me since literally the day I joined the site a few weeks ago. So I'm dedicating this chapter to two people, not just the one I had in mind: One is, of course, Tainted Apple for her support with my major fic (that *isn't* Target, no matter how much I may love that story), and also to Mokuba Kaiba. Why him? This chapter was written, sans corrections, on July 7 of this year - what would be, in this fiction, his twenty-fifth birthday. Here's to you, kid, err, man. o.O

Disclaimer: This story is mine, but all of the characters and concepts are not. My only write is the ability to churn out fiction that nobody ever reads.

AN #2: I've finally remembered to italicize in this chapter. So expect some more detail from now on. Eventually I'll go back and re-italicize everything but by that point nobody will care anymore, so... *shrugs*

Chapter 4

November 24, 2004, 10:19 AM – November 25th, 2004

Kaiba awoke, what seemed to him, quite late the next morning. He glanced at the clock; nineteen minutes after ten. Kaiba surveyed where he was, trying to remember everything coherently. He was still in the same room, and practically nothing about it had changed from the blurred memories he had of the previous day. Instead of what he normally felt upon waking up – a slight feeling of fatigue usually overwhelmed by a sense of duty, neatly aligned on the calendar on his blackberry – all he felt was a deep, overarching sadness of the sudden change of events.

He couldn't sit up, he couldn't stand. He couldn't orchestrate anything that needed to be done. Who would run the company? Kaiba knew the answer to that, of course; the VPs would act as some sort of board of their own to make joint decisions. He swore under his breath as he blinked. They'd never get anything done correctly without him.

In a chair across from the foot of his bed, Mokuba was sleeping, head propped in hand. Kaiba mused that Mokuba must have fallen asleep trying to keep himself awake. Mokuba had never had the 'talent' of being able to stay up long hours like his older brother.

After repeated whispers to try to wake him, Kaiba gave up, and pressed a long finger into the nurse call button on the side of his bed.

Early that afternoon Kaiba had refused to eat lunch despite Mokuba's insistence, citing the horrible breakfast food he had been forced to politely endure after requesting it upon his waking earlier that morning. Mokuba had provided him with an extra KaibaCorp laptop when he had awoken just after Kaiba had returned the food; whether it was Mokuba's was unknown to Kaiba. Now he sat, checking his email, enjoying more the newfound freedom of his hands than the actual reading of private matters. He still couldn't sit up.

To his lack of surprise there were no messages of pity, or "get well soon", outside of Hiroko, who might have just been trying to be polite. Practically nobody saw Kaiba actually in the office anyway except for people like Hiroko, or the bodyguards or the pilots or chauffeurs… Kaiba could swear more civilians saw him giving speeches than actual employees saw him in the halls. News about his hospitalization probably wouldn't reach the media until later that night, and only through them would the "seizure" become known…god, if it's not one thing it's another, Kaiba thought bitterly. And that, quite ironically, was usually the way he liked it.

A little after one-thirty Mokuba's cell phone rang. He mouthed the name Hiroko to Kaiba as he listened to what she was saying. When she hung up, Kaiba cleared his throat.

"Why did she call you?" Kaiba asked, clearly annoyed.

"Probably she didn't want to bother you. She doesn't really know much except you're in the hospital. For all she knows you're an imbecile."

Kaiba grunted and nodded his head towards his body, splayed under the covers. "Right now I'd agree with her."

Mokuba scoffed. "She didn't really even talk about you, actually," Mokuba said, scratching his head absentmindedly. "She just wanted to tell me something, and I can only guess she meant to tell me to forward it to you."

Kaiba closed his eyes to concentrate. "What was it?"

"Good news, actually," Mokuba said, with a weak smile.

"Doesn't really sound like it," Kaiba replied.

"Sorry. I'm just worried." Kaiba heard sounds that sounded like Mokuba getting up out of the chair.

"You remember that Ziegfried guy? The one with pink hair and all?" Mokuba asked.

Kaiba's brow furrowed, and he opened his eyes again to glare at Mokuba suspiciously.

"Unfortunately, I do," Kaiba muttered. "If he's gone the way of IIC and tried to buy some of my stock-"

"He doesn't even know yet, remember?" Mokuba pointed out. "He wouldn't know that you couldn't instantly threaten to take over his company. It hadn't been doing too well."

"What do you mean, hadn't?"

"Well, Seto, somebody bought it today."

A beat.

"Really? Who?" The development intrigued Kaiba. The Von Schroeder corporation, run by the elder son, Ziegfried von Schroeder, was a Bavarian entertainment company that always seemed to copy whatever Kaiba was doing; first it had tried to patent his hologram technology with the president of Industrial Illusions Company, Maximilian Crawford, before him, and then he hacked into KaibaCorp's mainframe during a duel monsters tournament held at the inception of KaibaLand a few years ago and almost completely ruined Kaiba's reputation. When push came to shove, the two weren't friends. But after von Schroeder lost the second time he became far more placid, and simply suffered the debt of the ailing corporation.

So somebody had gone and taken it over now.

His first guess was that Max Crawford himself, the snake, had gone out and ingested Schroeder Corp. Kaiba knew all to well that Max Crawford's main goal was to betray their so-called "business relations" that kept the duel monsters world running and take over KaibaCorp for himself. In one way Kaiba barely blamed him as Max Crawford was the game's inventor as well as the patent-holder for the hologram technology developed by KaibaCorp. But in too many other ways, Kaiba wouldn't let him through the lobby doors, even. They were on rocky ground ever since Max – or, as he was usually called, by his duel monsters tournament alias, Pegasus – had gone and tried to steal his soul with that –

Kaiba broke off his thought, and pinched his forehead with his forefingers.

"Who bought him out? Pegasus?"

Mokuba smiled wryly. "You'll never believe it."

"Just tell me."

"Disney, Seto. Disney!"

~ X X X ~

Kaiba watched the broadcast detailing the disappearance of the CEO of KaibaCorporation. He saw how the media had found that he had left the building earlier the previous day, planning on returning, but never came back. Kaiba almost spat when they compared the "disappearance" to several previous "vanishing acts" that the public had never really understood before, such as during the Duelist Kingdom tournament held by Mr. Crawford's Industrial Illusions Company four years previously, and the disappearance of the KaibaCorp dirigible where the Battle City Semifinals were being held three years ago. He turned off the TV and thrust the clicker on the stand next to him, smashing it down and knocking off the battery cover.

Mokuba was gone. He had gotten hungry and went out of the hospital to some restaurant down the road, and promised to get Seto something. Of course the nurses just thought Mokuba had left on his own devices and had brought dinner with them, a meal consisting of overly dry pork, salty green beans, a fleshy bite or two of pineapple in a plastic dish, and a small cube of cake that tasted like plastic. The meal sat practically untouched in a tray that had been placed over Kaiba's chest, where it lay in his vision no matter where he looked.

He found himself counting the tiny dots on the ceiling panels for what seemed like ages before the door opened and Mokuba moved in, holding two bags with grease stains on them.

"What are those?"

Mokuba shifted the bags around for his brother to see the labels on them. He had gone to some fast food place.

Kaiba sighed irritably, and covered his face with his left palm.

~ X X X ~

By noon on Thursday, Kaiba had already talked with Hiroko. Mokuba had told her when she called that morning that his brother wasn't brain damaged and could talk to her. Kaiba raised an eyebrow when Mokuba had laughed at her response and said "no"; it was probably an insult to his personality. Mokuba then gave the phone to Kaiba, who put it on speaker, as was his habit, and gave a gruff, "Hello."

"Mr. Kaiba, how are you?" the voice was bittersweet.

"In the hospital, how are you?"

A slight pause. "I'm…great, thanks. I enjoyed my holiday. Anyway, I wanted to tell you a few things that have been happening…"

"Mokuba's told me most of them," Kaiba responded shortly. "What's developed since last night?"

"Oh, um, okay, well, Pegasus called wanting to-"

"Pegasus?" Kaiba almost bolted up, but instead he felt his voice lower dangerously. "What the hell did he want?"

"Basically, he wanted to have a videochat with you because you're in the hospital," Hiroko responded. "It was about the recent development with von Schroeder Corp being taken over.

You've heard about that?"

"Yeah, I have. Did he specify a time?"

"Yes, actually. At about two-o-clock-ish."

Kaiba's eyes fluttered up to the clock on the wall above him. One-thirty. Damn.

"I don't even have anything to videochat with," Kaiba snarled at nobody in particular.

"Oh, well… nice talking to you, Mr. Kaiba. Could I speak to Mokuba again…?"

"You're on speaker. Anything you can tell him you can tell me."

Silence from the other end. Then, "I guess. Mokuba, when are you leaving again?"

"Two or three more days," Mokuba said loudly from the other end of the room to make sure that his voiced got picked up. "Why?"

"I wanted to make sure everything was set with the return trip. It's awfully boring without your brother around."

Mokuba and Kaiba glanced at each other, and then Kaiba said, "I did the tickets myself a month or so ago. You should be getting stuff ready for our announcement."

Again, a silence, and then a shuffling noise. Then the word "yes" came into the phone, as if had set the phone down and were just picking it back up again. "Yes, I have everything. How much do you want me to do?"

Kaiba considered this. If he asked Hiroko to forward his proclamation to the other VPs as well as the board, they'd all just slough it off as some seizure-induced fantasy that wasn't too far off of his normally bizarre ideas. Kaiba recognized that any idea forwarded now, with most people aware that he was in bed, might have to wait until he could at least stand up.

"Nevermind." And with that, Kaiba turned off the phone.

Mokuba looked at Kaiba worriedly. "What're you going to do, Seto? About the conference with Pegasus?"

Kaiba frowned. He pressed the nurse call button on the side of his bed.

"Mokuba, do you have any work to do over the break?"

Mokuba shook his head. "I did it all on the plane over. Nothing was too hard. Mostly just reading stuff."

"Alright then. Just make sure Pegasus doesn't see you during the video conference."

Mokuba looked hurt. "Why?"

"He's already loony enough talking with one Kaiba," Kaiba responded bitterly. "He doesn't need both of us in one place."

~ X X X ~

It was by a sheer miracle that there happened to be some sort of video-conferencing machine on wheels that was available somewhere on a different floor, in a different building. When a nurse had asked Kaiba why on earth he was talking to someone via a video conference in a state like the one he was in, Kaiba snapped that she should talk to his secretary. Kaiba had then asked to be able to at least sit up if he were going to be conducting business. While at least one nurse had flatly declined, the other brought in the two doctors from two days before to talk it over with him. It took her around ten minutes. When they entered, the taller, male doctor was explaining to the other one that his sister's birthday had just occurred and that she expected to become engaged any day now.

"I don't have much time," Kaiba explained as the two entered, interrupting their conversation. "I'm having a conference in twenty minutes and I need your opinion; can I or can I not sit up?"

The two looked at each other. The doctor that Kaiba remembered as Dr. Kujaku, cleared his throat, and said, "this might take a bit of work on your part…we're not entirely sure yet."

"I feel fine," Kaiba replied without thinking. He knew that didn't really mean much; you didn't taste anything while taking arsenic, for example.

"More than likely you do," said Dr. Kujaku wearily, moving over to stand closer to the head of Kaiba's bed. Kaiba looked up at him. He looked like someone, but he couldn't remember who exactly.

"However, you really should wait until tomorrow to sit up, technically. But if you're already well enough to be on business, well, I suppose we could see what happened."

The woman doctor behind him coughed softly, as if in protest. Dr. Kujaku, apparently the more senior of the doctors, ignored her and bent down, fidgeting with some levers under the bed.

Then it began to move, and Kaiba began to feel slightly dizzy as he felt his upper body elevate.

"How do you feel?" Kujaku asked as the bed was still rising.

"Fine," Kaiba said, not taking the dizziness into account.

"Good. How much time do you have?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Alright. You shouldn't be dizzy by then," Kujaku said with a knowing smile. "Good luck."

As he turned his back and motioned with the other doctor to leave, she scowled behind his back. Kaiba raised an eyebrow, then turned his head away. "I don't need luck," Kaiba muttered.

~ X X X ~

The phone on the video conference mechanism actually rang early, at one fifty-two. Kaiba asked Mokuba to roll the device over to him so he 'could speak with Pegasus personally'; Kaiba also wanted to make sure that the man on the other side of the screen wouldn't be able to see too much of the hospital room or Mokuba himself, but he didn't tell Mokuba that again.

Kaiba's right hand lifted up the receiver as the screen flickered on. In the same red costume, Pegasus was wearing his customary kiddish grin, a brown eye sparkling and the other hidden behind the veil of his long, white hair. Behind him Kaiba saw that Pegasus must have been having a late meal; there was an open platter of cheese and crackers visible.

"Kaiba boy!" yelled Pegasus in delight. "I thought something had happened to you!"

"Something did," murmured Kaiba.

"Dear, dear, Kaiba boy, what can I do for you? Give you flowers? Read you a story?"

"Cut it out, Pegasus," Kaiba snapped. "Just because you happen to know I'm not in my office doesn't mean my head isn't screwed on right."

Pegasus adopted his sarcastically hurt expression, glee dancing in his one visible eye. "But of course. We are but men of business, are we not?"

Kaiba didn't bother responding to the statement. "You wanted something."

Pegasus nodded. "You see, Kaiba boy, your rival von Schroeder has been, shall we say-"

"He was bought out. I know."

"Good!" Pegasus laughed, never seeming to take real offense at Kaiba's attempt at playing the mean guy. "Well, don't take this the wrong way, Kaiba boy, but I was planning to take it over myself. I'm a bit sad, really."

"Figures," Kaiba said under his breath, but he didn't say anything loud enough for Pegasus to hear.

"Anyway, the point I'm bothering you in this time of crisis in your life was to verify who bought them out?"

"Disney," Kaiba replied without hesitation.

"So you have heard," Pegasus almost whined. "Dear me, I don't know how my company could possibly deal with a corporation of that caliber!"

"Pegasus, just tell me what you want already. I'm not ill enough to play your little games."

Pegasus' brow darkened.

"Fine, then. The reason I'm calling you is to inform you that Industrial Illusions, which is already an international company, will be moving further so. You know I'm calling you late here in San Francisco, Kaiba Boy, and I'm already used to such matters. I was going to ask you if you were doing the same."

Kaiba's lip curled upwards with a smug expression. "Congratulations, Pegasus," he almost spat. "Trust me, whenever I get out of this joint, KaibaCorp will be 'doing the same.'"

"So is that a challenge I see coming?" Pegasus was back to his abnormally coy 'normal' self again. "Well, Kaiba-boy, you'd better work fast. Von Schroeder's company is under the most powerful entertainment name in the world now. Both of us will have to, excuse me, step up our game."

Kaiba understood the reference to duel monsters, and he also understood the reference to several events over the past few years that had to be resolved with, what in his view, was indeed a children's card game.

"I plan to," Kaiba replied.

Pegasus sneered. "By the way, Kaiba, I've already talked with the head of Disneyland Tokyo. They're the ones that will be most directly involved with both me and with you."

"And?"

"I'm pretty sure she wants to talk to you, as well, Kaiba, whenever you aren't shirking your time in bed."

Kaiba growled while Pegasus could barely contain his mirth at his own childish humor. Kaiba almost felt like scolding him, but unlike Mokuba, Pegasus was a grown man that could be quite potent if perturbed, and had no qualms about doing anything he wished. Including taking over his company…

"So are we through yet?"

Pegasus blinked. "I suppose we can be. Don't you enjoy my company, Kaiba-boy?"

"Not particularly."

"Then I best be on my way," Pegasus said with a slight shrug. Then the smile disappeared and the more sinister face returned. "You'd better watch your back, Kaiba."

"You'd better watch your head."

Pegasus gritted his teeth in frustration, and was seemingly reaching to turn off the connection when Kaiba beat him to it.

I am *so* going to be booted off the site for this chapter . Read while it lasts, paizanos. But... I bet EVERYONE was waiting for Pegasus to show up, eh? *crickets* And EVERYONE loves Hiroko, right? *crickets*

Anyway, wow, lots of subsections this time. Anyone have any ideas as to where this is headed (read: constructive reviews?) As much as I love hearing from Apple some other input would be . Word.