6. The White Dragon
Kaiba stepped through the revolving doors into the main lobby of the Kaiba Corp building, trying to fight his rising irritation, Mokuba on his heels. Between Téa Gardner and those damned Egyptian texts, Mokuba talking him into a long lunch at Fisherman's Wharf, and now having to meet with this Sara Drake person Yugi was sending over, he was getting absolutely nothing worthwhile accomplished on his first real day of work after the holidays. Well, spending time with Mokuba was always worthwhile, he amended, but between school still being out for winter break and the way he'd been pining over that Rebecca Hawkins girl being in Boston—just friends, my ass, Kaiba thought, rolling his eyes—Mokuba was being something of an attention sponge. And now he wanted to know all about the ridiculous Egyptian texts Kaiba had stupidly let Téa talk him into reading.
"So is Yugi actually looking for some kind of ritual to bring back the dead? 'Cause I don't know if I think that's really, really creepy, or totally cool. Though we are talking about the other Yugi, and it would be kinda nice if he came back, don'tcha think? And man, would I like to get to meet the ancient version of you. How cool—" He stopped short. "Hey, wait a minute, Seto. If Yugi's trying to bring them back, does that mean you're gonna have the other Seto's spirit living in your head like Yugi did with the other Yugi?"
Kaiba spun around on his heel, his lip curling at the very thought. "That had better not be what Yugi expects, because I sure as hell am not going to—" He stopped abruptly as something caught his eye over by the huge metal sculpture of Blue-Eyes White Dragon that dominated the lobby. A woman with startlingly white hair was walking slowly around the sculpture, staring up at it, transfixed. Her hair was pulled back and twisted up into a clip at the back of her head, but the way she moved, the way she seemed completely riveted by the Blue-Eyes was so familiar, that for a moment he could almost see her with hair long and loose, flowing well past her shoulders all the way to her waist, dressed in coarse sackcloth instead of the long coat, blazer, and jeans she was actually wearing.
"Seto?" Mokuba prodded him. "You okay?"
Kaiba shook his head and the vision vanished, leaving only the woman as she was, in modern clothes with her hair pulled back. Wonderful, I'm imagining things. Except… he caught a glimpse of her face as she circled around the sculpture, and even at this distance he could see her eyes were the most startling shade of blue.
"Nii-sama?"
Kaiba shook his head again, his brother's sudden use of Japanese clearing his head. "Mokuba, I have something I need to take care of before I meet with that woman Yugi's sending over. Why don't you go up to R and D and check out that new beta version of the Duel Disk upgrade. I wanna see how it handles some of the new cards Industrial Illusions is releasing in February. They're already pre-loaded into the system.
Mokuba's face lit up. It was a rare occasion when Kaiba let him near any of the stuff that was still in developmental phase, let alone see advances of new card releases. "Really? Awesome!" He took off at a brisk jog toward the elevators before Kaiba could change his mind.
As soon as his brother was gone, Kaiba turned his attention back to the girl. At first he couldn't find her, but then she appeared from behind the Blue-Eyes sculpture, having made a complete circuit around it. And still she stared, completely mesmerized.
Finally, he approached her. "May I help you?"
She turned to look at him, and he almost gasped, recognizing her face immediately. Kisara!
She looked up at him, smiling a little sheepishly. Even in high-heeled boots she came up just to his chin. "Thank you, no. I was just admiring this dragon sculpture." She had an English accent, which surprised him. Had he really been expecting her to sound Egyptian? He chided himself for his stupidity while she continued to examine Blue-Eyes. "She's quite breathtaking." She did, in fact, sound breathless. "I've never seen anything quite like her."
Her? No one but him ever called Blue-Eyes her. It was a rare occasion that someone could render Kaiba speechless, but he actually was finding it difficult to speak, his mouth having gone inexplicably dry. This is ridiculous. She's just a Brit who likes dragons, not some ancient Egyptian who probably never really existed anyway. He swallowed, finding his voice. "How did you know it's a her?"
She looked at him, confused. "What?"
"You said you'd never seen anything quite like 'her.' Most people don't know she's female."
She flushed a little, looking down. "Did I say 'her'? I don't know why I did. It just came out that way."
"Do you play Duel Monsters?" he asked, all the while wondering why he was standing here making small talk with this strange woman who was so not some reincarnated Egyptian, no matter how much she looked like—
She chuckled. "Is this a Duel Monster? I might have known. No, I don't play, but I'm beginning to think I should learn."
"Yes, it's a Duel Monster. It's Blue-Eyes White Dragon."
Her eyes widened and she looked from the Blue-Eyes to him and back. "It's… it's a white dragon?"
"Yes, why?"
She looked back at the Blue-Eyes, even more awed. "I… I rather fancy dragons, white dragons in particular. But this one… there's something about her."
"Yes." He looked up at the likeness of his signature monster. "Yes, Blue-Eyes is quite special."
She gave him a curious look. "Did you say 'Blue-Eyes'? Is that anything like Red-Eyes Black Dragon?"
Kaiba choked. "Absolutely not. Blue-Eyes is one of the finest monsters in the game. Red-Eyes… that thing can't even come close."
She raised her eyebrow at him. "You're a duelist, I take it? You lot take your monsters quite seriously, don't you?"
"Very. Or at least any duelist worth the title does."
"And this white dragon is one of your favorites?"
"She's my signature monster. There are only three in the world, and I own them all." He didn't feel it necessary to add that there originally had been four Blue-Eyes White Dragons, but that he'd torn up the fourth card, which had belonged to Yugi Mutou's grandfather, just so it could never be used against him in a duel.
"Really?" She smiled at him, a somewhat crooked smile that he found oddly appealing. "Do you often come here to commune with the likeness of your favorite monster, then?"
He narrowed his eyes. "I come here because it's my building. I'm the CEO of Kaiba Corp."
Her eyes widened and her mouth rounded into a look of surprise. "You? You're Mr. Kaiba, then?"
"Yes, that's right. And you are?"
She gave a rueful shake of her head. "I'm your one o'clock appointment, actually." She stuck out her hand. "Sara Drake. I'm the Egyptologist Yugi Mutou sent to work with you on those hieroglyphs and hieratic texts."
Kaiba's face hardened into a deep scowl and he folded his arms, pointedly refusing her outstretched hand. "Yugi sent you. I might've known."
"I'm sorry?" She dropped her hand, confused. "You were expecting me, weren't you?"
"I'd agreed to help him with this ridiculous snipe hunt because the terms of the Ceremonial Battle should be honored—nothing more, nothing less. I don't appreciate him trying to manipulate me with illusions from the past. You can just go back to him and tell him to forget it. I'm not interested."
"I beg your pardon?" Her expression was somewhere between confusion and anger.
His own anger was growing by the second, and he glared at her. "The blue eyes are a nice touch, though. Contacts? And the hair, was it hard to get it that white?" He shook his head. He'd almost been sucked in. Almost.
Sara looked furious, however. "Excuse me? I'm sure I have no idea what you're on about, but I assure you my eyes and hair are my own, not that it's any of your business."
"And did he tell you to make a big deal about Blue-Eyes? He probably told you to say she's a her, too."
"I'm making a fuss for exactly the reasons I said, because I rather fancy dragons, and this one in particular is quite lovely. And no, no one told me your dragon is a her. She just seems like a her to me. But I was told that you were something of an obnoxious git, and I suppose that's true enough."
They glared at each other a moment. "So I'm supposed to believe the Egyptology student working with Yugi just happens to have white hair and blue eyes and just happens to be fascinated by dragons?"
"What the bloody hell does my hair and eye color—" And then she stopped short, looking from the sculpture to him once more. "I see. Blue-Eyes White Dragon. You think this is some kind of practical joke Yugi put me up to, then?"
He continued to glare, saying nothing.
"Because I assure you, it's merely a coincidence. And I haven't known him very long, but Yugi Mutou doesn't strike me as much of a practical joker."
This was true enough. Depending on whether he was in the middle of a battle or not, he was either a naïve Pollyanna or a pompous windbag who liked to recite sermons on the topics of friendship and teamwork. Now Wheeler, on the other hand… "Joey Wheeler, then."
"Mr. Kaiba, I assure you, I am exactly as I appear to be. If anyone is playing a joke on you, then I'm afraid they didn't let me in on it."
"Then why are you so interested in Blue-Eyes?"
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" She threw up her hands, exasperated. "I told you, I fancy dragons! I've always been mad about them. Before I started an Egyptology course, I was studying ancient China because of the dragon mythology."
He eyed her evenly. Could it really just be coincidence? He ground his teeth a moment, then let out a breath in irritation. "Fine. It's a misunderstanding, then."
She crossed her arms and cocked her head. "Is that an apology?"
"I don't apologize. To anyone. Ever."
"How nice for you," she said coolly. "Well then, Mr. Kaiba, perhaps we should just get to work."
He took another breath. "Seto," he said, then wondered why he'd said it as soon as it was out of his mouth. No one but Mokuba ever called him Seto.
"What about him?"
"It's my name. Seto Kaiba. You don't have to call me Mr. Kaiba. It's Kaiba. Or Seto. Take your pick."
Now she looked truly startled. "Your name is Seto?"
"Yes." His eyes narrowed once more.
"You… is that a common Japanese name?"
"No. Do you have a problem with my name?" Usually it was his surname that got a reaction from people.
"You do know that the name of one of the pharaohs whose tomb was desecrated was Seto, don't you?"
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, that. I assure you, despite Yugi's little speeches about destiny and fate, it's a coincidence."
"Well, yes," she said, still looking a bit stunned. "It would have to be. He wasn't even discovered until three years ago. It's just… how odd. It's an unusual Egyptian name as well. Well, it's really actually Set, as near as we can tell. There aren't really vowels in the Egyptian alphabet, but the scholar who discovered his name for some reason added the o as a colloquialism to distinguish him from the god Set and from the more well-known pharaohs Seti I and Seti II, and it stuck." She looked at him, suddenly embarrassed. "But I'm babbling, and you don't care. I'm sorry, forgive me for being startled. I'm writing my master's dissertation on this particular pharaoh. Well, and Atem and Aknamkanon as well. I'm just surprised that you have the same name. I wonder why Yugi didn't tell me."
Kaiba shrugged. "He doesn't normally call me by my given name. It's just a coincidence." In truth, it was a coincidence that gnawed at him if he gave it much thought. Yugi, despite looking like and even sharing a body with the past incarnation of himself—if one believed that stuff, which Kaiba liked to think he didn't—did not share his 'other self's' name. None of the other familiar faces that populated that strange vision world he'd visited along with Yugi and his gang of sycophants had the same name as the present-day people they resembled. So why was it that he had the same name as a guardian-come-pharaoh who wasn't even discovered until after all that happened?
"Yes, of course. It just took me by surprise." Sara cocked her head and looked at him in a way that seemed to bore right through him. He found himself starting back at her and their eyes locked a moment before they both turned away, embarrassed.
"We should… let me show you up to my office," he said, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably. What was the matter with him? There wasn't a person on the face of the planet that could unsettle him, so why was this woman able to throw him off so easily?
Because she looks like her, that's why.
He shook his head. It was all nonsense. He'd been spending way too much time around Yugi Mutou. It was starting to mess with his head. White hair, blue eyes, dragon fascination; all of that was coincidence. She was not someone from the ancient past. And neither am I, he reminded himself.