Summary taken from the title of an Lj-community, playthedamncard. YuGiOh and all related characters are copyrighted to Kazuki Takahashi as of 1996 and are not my own.

So. This turned out kind of… long, thus I think you should think of it as yet another badly chaptered story, or as a series of one shots working towards a final point. Some bits flow a lot better than others. For now, here's "part one" of the future.

Chapter Two.

'Do you ever get the feeling you're going round in circles?'

Maybe Yugi was just saying it to break the silence, but somehow he still managed to phrase it like a serious question. He sounded more irritated than actually worried.

'Hm. Frequently.'

'That's what it feels like now.' Yugi continued. 'Like I'm going in circles. I mean literally. Like I'm going round and round and not knowing where I've been and… where I haven't been. I don't know which way is up.'

'Are you talking about the duel or your mental capacity?'

It was a semi-serious insult, but Yugi didn't seem in the mood to respond to it. 'Possibly a little of both. It's your turn.'

Kaiba shrugged and drew a cared from the top of his pile. He'd rehearsed this strategy so many times he felt no need to check it.

'How any more times do we do this, anyway? Not that I don't enjoy it.'

Until the day I win, Kaiba said in his thoughts. He didn't need to say it out loud. Yugi sighed. 'Right. Of course. Still not over,' he smiled. 'But… it's better, really. Nicer, you know, without the massive crowds and tournament chaos,' he rubbed his fingers. 'Now if we can just get rid of the arthritis, I think we'd actually be enjoying ourselves. '

A long time ago, Kaiba remembered a boy standing and asking him: "why do you duel if it's not for fun?" remembering that now, he felt a smirk creep in about his lips. The mutt never did understand, he realised, what kind of amusement victory could be.

He was still smiling as Yugi flipped over his card and the round began all over again. 'I activate Tribute of the Doomed to raise my power via sacrifice.'

'I knew you were going to do that.'

'Hm.'

Seto didn't remember why he was ever there exactly. All he knew was that he was. Maybe he flew Yugi there, but no matter how he tried to later, he couldn't remember using the plane or setting foot in an airport.

There were no machines. No constant beeping or respirators of the sort he usually associated with death or hospitals, but somehow that was just making things all the more unsettling. Yugi was sitting cross legged on the bed in front of him, almost like a parody: the twenty-six-year-old pretending to be the fifteen-year-old that Kaiba remembered from a thousand lost duels and bitter moments. In which this girl had always been besides him.

'So does this mean I end my turn?'

'Something like that, Téa. But we can still keep playing. I mean, you haven't exactly lost, yet.'

'Hm. No. Not this time, I don't think.' She looked at him smiling. They'd actually only played three moves each, but the match, it seemed, was already over. A waste of her energy, either way. 'Never could get the hang of this game. I always just went for the cute ones. Maybe too often, huh? Maybe I should've tried something different.' she sighed. 'This is a really old board; you know. It's not… is this the same one as…?'

'Yeah. Same one,' Yugi smiled. 'I figured you'd remember it. You even played the very same Happy Lover monster in the exact same strategy.'

'Don't remember you complaining about that one the first time, Yugi,' Téa said, mysteriously.

Yugi gave her a small smile back. 'Hey, who's gonna complain about the cute little monster that saves their life?'

Kaiba had no idea what the hell they were talking about, but then again he never did.

'…Still, the edges of this one are fraying. You should probably get a new one.'

'I like this old one.'

It was obviously difficult to play Capsule Monsters on bed covers, anyway. They must've brought her own here from… wherever she lived in this God forsaken city, because there wasn't any sign of the usual, sterilized, antiseptic plastic. The sheets were a gaudy pink and yellow chequered pattern, the kind you got from cheaper stores. All over the bedside and tabletops are scattered belongings. Photo albums, magazines and leaflets from what Kaiba could only assume were nearby theatrical dance acts. No need to worry about infection anymore, or lack of sterility. If anything, they at least make Kaiba forget about the smell of antiseptic which had plagued him ever since he got here. American hospitals used such ridiculously cheap substances, no wonder more people died inside of them than out.

'Same old Yugi. You're just like your grandpa. Well…' she smiled wider, eyes tired but still shining and Kaiba was suddenly struck by the knowledge that perhaps they'd always been that way. '…You are in some ways, anyway. Mostly in your taste for games.'

But Yugi noticed, didn't he?

No sense in wondering about it. There'd never been that much sense between those two that Kaiba could remember and not once in his life had he ever understood them. He should have excused himself and let them get on with it in peace already, but for some reason, he didn't.

Yugi took another moment before leaning forwards on the bed and laying a hand down on top of his side's Master Capsule. Kaiba didn't comment., but Téa smiled, with her eyes half closed.

'…Yugi… you don't have to…'

'I know,' he said, and Kaiba stirred a little bit, remembering how Yugi's tendency to surrender to the worse player had actually put some very surprising people above him on the official duelling circuit. He was still annoyed about that incident with Hawkins, actually.

'Then you also know that I'll never forgive you if you try and treat me with kiddie gloves,' she murmured. And then she opened her eyes for a second –when did they close?– and looked at him.

Only she wasn't looking at him. Kaiba wasn't certain how he knew, but Téa was looking right through Yugi's face and into someone else's and whatever she was seeing she was smiling at it.

'Oh,' Téa whispered. 'There you are…'

'…Téa?' Yugi frowned at her. Actually, he'd been frowning ever since they'd gotten here but he did do a rather convincing artificial smile. Kaiba probably wouldn't have noticed how really fake it was if he hadn't spent so long staring at the boy from the other side of a duelling platform. Learning to read each minor facial movement and every hint of emotion he ever gave off with a dedication that bordered on obsession.

'Hm,' she was answering a question but apparently neither Yugi nor Kaiba had heard it. 'I missed you, you know. I guess…' Téa smiled, wider now. 'I guess I was always so silly. Looking for you everywhere and… He was right here in front of me all the while. It wasn't even you. But I still missed you. We all did.' She paused and for a few moments things were quiet.

'Yugi…?' Téa whispered suddenly, her grip tightening on the smaller man's hand.

'I'm right here, Téa.'

'Course you are, mop top. You always were.' She blinked, vaguely, rubbing his shoulder with too thin fingers. 'You know… he's here too.'

Yugi's eyes widened just a little and Kaiba thought, for a moment, that she was talking to him. But no. Téa was still staring right through the both of them and into some face that neither could see. It figured. The most attention she'd ever given him, Kaiba realised at that moment, was when he'd crushed Yugi all those years ago in Duellist Kingdom. When she asked him the most ridiculous question he'd ever been asked in his life and he couldn't give her an answer…

'What do you have, Seto Kaiba? Tell me. Tell me!'

'…Téa?'

'You know,' Téa tried to wink but didn't quite manage it. Her eyelids didn't seem to be obeying her commands. 'He's right there, Yugi. Right there inside of you. He just… I think he'd want you to understand that, if you don't already. I think you do. You always understood so much more than you ever let on…'

She wasn't talking about Kaiba. Of course she wasn't. He knew exactly who she was referring to but he was quite willing to pass it off as near-death hallucination and leave it all at that. The small, preposterously smug sounding voice in his head (the one which he liked to call Atem) was asking him yet more questions about why he was here and what in the name of the Gods he thought he was doing, wasting time in such personal territory. It wasn't as if Téa would acknowledge him as well as Yugi. It wasn't like he even wanted to be there, after all.

Instead of attempting to answer it, Kaiba raised one hand to press the white button on the wall besides the bedside, only Yugi reached out a hand to stop him, fingertips brushing against his sleeve.

Strange. It felt to Kaiba like that merest brush of the fingers was shoving him backwards with the strength of a wrecking ball. The back of his hand glanced against the wall before he returned it to his pocket.

Hardly any sense in calling a nurse now, anyway.

The voice in his head was wrong, anyway. As usual. Kaiba knew exactly why he was here, now. And he knew why he didn't just leave at the point when he knew the flat line would have started had the machinery still been present. And why he didn't just turn away, muttering, as Yugi leaned forwards across the sheets to lay his forehead against Téa's, tears falling from too-large eyes onto unhygienic bed sheets.

'I do see him,' Yugi choked without so much as a thought for dignity. 'Téa… I do.'

Téa Gardner was already beyond hearing him. But Kaiba didn't say so.

'Oh-kay, for this turn I think I'll play the Toon Mermaid in defence mode.'

'…My God. You actually have that card in your deck?'

'Hm. I guess that it's a memory thing. That and since they started producing them as workable without Toon World, I couldn't really pass it up.'

Still, Kaiba thought, dryly, you could tell that Pegasus had been running out of ideas, by this point. Reproducing the same old cards with a different, more comical title. Only to be expected of a mind of such age and limited genius, Kaiba supposed. '…And to finish I'll play one card face down on the field and Gamma the Magnet Warrior in defence.'

'Yugi.'

'Hm?'

'I have not developed a twitch.'

'Okay.'

'Be serious for once in your life.'

'What do you mean "for once in my life"? I think you're mixing me up with Joey, Seto. And… no, I think you're right about the twitch.'

'Thank you.'

'…It's probably just the arthritis again.'

Kaiba jerked a little in his chair. Which hurt, as usual. He'd probably never get used to that. 'When the hell did you start taking humour tips from that chump? His sense of humour is about as tactically developed as a rookie Duellist's usage of Monster Resurrection.'

'Heh. I know, but he still says he always knows just how to ruffle your feathers, Kaiba, if you don't mind me saying so…'

'Try not to relish it too much. I liked you better when you were innocent and unyielding. You've been acting like this all day.'

'Like this?' Yugi asked, artlessly.

'Out of character. Wisecracking. Being disturbingly cheery for someone with a pacemaker. Actually you're really starting to remind me of…'

'Um… Do us both a favour and don't say it, Seto.'

'Hm. Either way, Yugi, to be totally honest? It's really starting to bore me. You know how much I hate people boring me. Hurry up and play your card, before I decide to take this back to the holographic arena.'

'If you say so.' A brief pause and suddenly the arena really did seem appealing. He missed the holograms. The way the Blue Eyes appeared with its wings and shining surface encumbering everything Kaiba had ever created, and everything he was willing to destroy. 'Go on. It's your move, Seto…'

Reviews and concrit are appreciated.