Play the Damn Card.

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. But you probably realise that by now...

Chapter Five.

For the rest of his days well into eternity, Seto Kaiba would continue to swear that he was going easy on the mutt.

Joey was never going to believe that. Most likely neither would his graduates, but for the first time in his life Kaiba didn't honestly give a damn about it.

A draw.

It was probably the best that Joey Wheeler was ever going to accomplish against him. The mutt seemed happy with it, anyway, but that was alright.

It had been so much like how things used to be, Yugi had told him later as Kaiba's driver was giving him a lift to his apartment. Back in the days with Téa, and Tristan and all those other strange oddballs that Yugi had the inclination to call his friends. He said that Téa would've loved to see them duel today. He tried his hardest not to sound sad as he said so.

Kaiba tells him to say goodnight to Rebecca for him, when she got back from her meeting on the other side of town

Yugi promised that he would do so.

Wheeler barged past and into the limo, grinning like a fool and giving Kaiba a very much unwanted thump on the back, having apparently just come from signing autographs for at least thirty different graduates of Kaiba's own academy (another thing he'd never live down).

And then the door of the vehicle closes and drives off into the distance.

A voice was whispering in Kaiba's ear sounding very much like a girl he rarely thought of while alive, and thought of even less now that she was no longer amongst them.

'What do you have, Seto Kaiba?'

He was still uncertain what to tell her. But for now, however, he was happy to leave the question unanswered.

The phone was ringing. Again. It had barely been on the hook all morning but then again, this was nothing unusual for a Saturday.

'These spreadsheets aren't going to organize themselves, Mokuba. If you're going to be here, make yourself useful.'

Mokuba's head appeared round the door at the sound of the yelling. 'You call me a secretary, or something, big brother? The phones right there on the desk besides you.'

'I repeat: spreadsheets,' Kaiba muttered, shifting between one for and the other and actually having no idea where the hell a substantial part of their budget had gotten to. 'Answer it.'

Fifty years had gone, and yet in the Household of Kaiba there was but a single person who could get away with anything. His name was Mokuba Kaiba. Mokuba Kaiba, who had been there to drag his brother in and out of death defying scenarios ever since their childhood. Mokuba who had trod upon the oh-so-murky waters of Seto's conscience and come out, somewhat ruffled, but mostly unscathed. A forgiver. A brother. A damn good chess player. His family.

Still, there was a saying Seto had heard once (which actually sounded very much like something that would come out of that idiot Taylor's mouth: "I will follow you all the way to the shadows and back, but I will not answer the phone for you." Such was now apparently the case.

'Mokuba, I'm kind of busy here. That phone isn't going to stop.'

'Not hearing the magic word, Seto.'

'Alright. Will you answer the phone now?'

Mokuba gave him a long, dry stare, tinted with the slightest of smiles. The smile which said "I know you can't help being this way, so don't worry. I won't take it personally." Then Mokuba shrugged and yielded to his new found duty. 'I thought you hired an actual secretary, anyway?'

'I did, but he has the day off. Visiting relatives, or something.'

'Wow. You're getting generous in your old age, aren't you?' Mokuba smiled at him, slyly in way that deftly reminded Kaiba of the impish –and somewhat naïve, if remarkably intelligent– ten year old he used to be. That he'd never really stopped being, to Seto Kaiba, come to think of it.

'Maybe I just wanted him to stop hanging around and asking strange questions for once,' Seto muttered, suggestively. 'Are you actually going to go home any time soon?'

Mokuba messed with his glasses – an old habit which seemed to drive Seto crazier than anyone else. What was with everyone he knew refusing perfectly good and reasonably priced eye correction laser treatment these days, anyway? 'I would, but last I checked she was chucking me out of the door again and telling me to stay away until she fixed the mess in the kitchen. I also think she's getting a little tired of all the phone calls I keep answering in the middle of the night, most of which are people who are really looking for you, I should point out. Just like on our wedding night,' he added, wryly.

Kaiba grunted. 'I swear she'll never let go of that one…'

'And I swear you'd never let her, Seto, even if you wanted to try. But fine, I'll get it.'

The phone stopped ringing for a few blissful seconds and Kaiba went back to his worksheets and ignored what Mokuba was saying. Utilising the only talent he considered greater than his duelling prowess –the ability to block out the sound of absolutely anything.

Too much inflation, he told himself for the umpteenth time that month. Duel Monster cards having left the main market over twenty years ago and the apparent need for holographic security devices around the world going up in a similar pattern meant that Kaiba's corporations business partners had been skipping in and out of deals like flies around a honey pot for the last decade or so. Kaiba was strongly considering cutting it all back and just up and selling to the highest bidder.

Which obviously he'd never do even if someone tried to torture him into it, but… still, there were days.

The phone was returned gently to the hook.

'…Seto?'

…There were definitely days. Kaiba stopped struggling with the budget for a second and turned his attention to another lump of documents, twice the size of the first. Mokuba, however, remained persistent. 'I… Seto, that was Joey Wheeler on the phone just now.'

Kaiba still didn't look up from the work laid out before him. So Wheeler was calling the mansion. Big deal. This was a reason to distract him from his documents because…?

Mokuba swallowed. 'He's uh… he's calling from the Emergency Ward at Domino hospital.'

'Wheelchair again?' Seto sighed, wearily. If he'd told the idiot not to try and navigate Prowler's Street and all the old haunts without that thing once, he'd told him a thousand times.

'No, Seto,' Mokuba's tone was almost disturbing. 'Definitely not the wheelchair. It's… it's not for him.'

Kaiba looked up, his spreadsheets forgotten.

He knew he didn't have to ask, and Mokuba didn't have to tell him. '…Yugi.'

'Should… should I tell them to get the limo?'

'That… would probably be an idea,' Kaiba started saying, but Mokuba was already vanishing up the corridor with a speed Kaiba hadn't seen his younger brother use since he was thirty-five years old.

Reviews and concrit are appreciated.