Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Chapter 8: Dragon vs. Dragon

A/N: Wow, I got this quicker than I thought that I would. This one is a little more rushed than previous ones, but that's because I didn't over as much material like I did in everything else. Also, the pairing of Jou and Kaiba will probably be the last one that I place in this story. Since I'm not using every character from the series, I don't have any reason to worry about finding other couples. This'll help to save on both writing time and story ideas. 

When it came to figuring out how someone had found about the Shadow Realm creatures, Yugi decided that it was something that he would pursue later. Right now, something else had caught his attention. The door to the den started to jiggle as someone on the other end tried to open it. Everyone froze at the sound and for a brief second, no was sure what they should do.

As they stood there, a voice rang out from the other side of the door. It was calm at first, requesting that Jou open the door. The longer that request went unanswered though, the more demanding and angrier the voice became. The three humans instantly paled at hearing that voice no matter what the tone was, especially Jonouchi. They knew very well who it was and that the very sound meant trouble for them all. At least it would as soon they opened the door, which might not be at their own hand from the way that the voice's owner started pounding on the door. The very force being used was almost enough to knock the door off its hinges despite the lock.

Yelling and banging finally prompted the humans to start acting. Not in a productive way though, as one might hope in order to prevent further trouble. The only reaction that Anzu and the boys had was one of panicky conversation. One that just left Yugi and Solitaire utterly confused about the whole situation while their friends argued among themselves.

"Shit!" Honda growled.

"Man. What's he doing home now?" Jou groaned.

"I thought you said that he wasn't supposed to be home until late tonight," Anzu hissed.

"He wasn't!" Jou said.

"Then what's he doing here!" Honda demanded.

"I don't know," Jou snapped," I just know that he sounds pissed and is gonna break down that door in about 30 seconds."

"All right. Um, okay," Anzu said quickly," Jou, you get the door. Solitaire, you hide under the couch. Honda and I'll hide Yugi."

"Excuse me? You want me to hide under a couch?" Solitaire asked.

"YES!" Anzu said sharply.

Solitaire didn't need any further prompting. The order hadn't even left Anzu's lips when the dragon darted out of sight. The last that anyone saw of her was the tip of Solitaire's tail as she scrambled under one of the couches. But their attention wasn't focused on the dragon, it was on getting themselves situated. While Jou ran to the door, Anzu and Honda yanked Yugi back behind them in an effort to hide him.

It was a tense moment as Jou approached the door. He knew what was most likely going to happen when he opened it, but he knew that it was something that he couldn't avoid. If he left the door closed and the person on the other side managed to knock it off the hinges, then there was going to be hell to pay. Then again, when he did open it, there was still going to be hell to pay from how angry the one on the other side of the door sounded. So either way, he knew that they were in for trouble.

The moment he opened the door, Jonouchi knew that he had been right. Standing on the other side of the doorway was none other than his lover and CEO of one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, Kaiba Seto. Under normal circumstances, when Kaiba saw Jou, there would be an uncharacteristic soft glow to his eyes that was reserved for two people in the entire world. Now though, Kaiba's gaze was anything but soft and gentle. It was that of an enraged and annoyed man who was out for blood.

Jou backed away as he tried to meet and hold his lover's gaze. He knew that the other was upset about something but he hadn't been expecting this. The only time that he had ever seen Kaiba like was when a deal had gone wrong at the company or someone had made the mistake of crossing. Since he knew that there were no business deals going on at the moment, Jou guessed that it was the latter. And somehow, he had the feeling that the someone who had crossed the line was him.

"Uh, hiya Seto. How's it going?" Jou joked nervously.

Kaiba didn't answer. Instead he just stepped into the room without a word. His gaze left Jou so that it looked beyond his boyfriend and his friends to the one standing behind them. That person met his gaze without either hesitation or fear. In fact, if Kaiba wasn't mistaken, there was actually a bit of curiosity shining in the amethyst eyes that were staring at him. This in part, though he didn't show it, surprised the CEO to a point because by now, most people would have been at least averting their eyes in other directions once their eyes met for the first time. That didn't even appear to be the case with Yugi in any regard.

From his perspective behind Anzu and Honda, the human known as Kaiba Seto was a tall brunette who had some of the most piercing eyes that Yugi had ever seen in his life. They were a dark blue that somewhat reminded him of the dragons that the human was supposed to be obsessed with. But his eyes were more shadowed and wearied than Yugi had ever seen in the Blue Eyes White Dragons, whose eyes were clear and bright despite the deep-set blue that created them. Something had obviously happened to this human in the past that made his eyes so cold and dark.

Just what that might be was something Yugi knew that would probably never know. At the moment, he had bigger concerns to be worried about. Namely, the way that Kaiba was watching him with those cold eyes of his. Not in a curious way that might suggest that he might be wondering who Yugi was on a friendly basis. The kind that made the demand of who Yugi was and why he had dared to enter Kaiba's home without his permission.

"You're home kinda early, Seto. W-what's the occasion?" Jou tried.

"I was going to surprise you since my last business meeting was canceled but it seems that you have one for me instead," Kaiba said," So who is this?"

"This is Yugi. He needs a place to stay and I thought that he could stay with us for awhile," Jou stated.

The statement made Kaiba look at his lover as if he had just eaten something sour. His eyes widened slightly at first but then became mere slits. His expression darkened once more as he considered Jou's explanation and how he himself should respond to such a thing. After all, this was not a decision that Kaiba was going to accept lightly. Especially since it was one that Jou had made without consulting him about having a complete stranger in their home.

"No he's not, Jonouchi," Kaiba replied.

Jou had expected that answer but that didn't keep the bluntness of Kaiba's instant refusal from stinging just a bit. He had hoped that seeing how innocent and naïve looking Yugi was, then maybe it might have kept his boyfriend from outright refusing to accept a guest of Jou's. After all, regardless of what he was and how he tried to portray himself otherwise, Yugi just had the appearance of needing to be sheltered and protected by others.

That should have been something that not even the great Kaiba Seto was immune to. Yet despite all of his hoping, it appeared that Jou was stuck. Seto seemed to be completely immune to Yugi's innocent appearance and the silent pleading that Jou had shining in his eyes. Both of which were acts of strong will since one looked like an adorable child and the other was a lover that he wasn't known to deny very often if ever.

Regardless of what happened or what he had hoped would happen, Jou felt more than just the sting of hurt when Kaiba refused to allow Yugi to remain. He was also a bit angry that Kaiba wasn't even willing to consider letting Yugi stay with them. The least that he could have done was talk with Jou about it. After all, it wasn't like Jou had ever asked for something like this before. So it wasn't too much for Kaiba to hear him out about why he wanted to let Yugi stay with them.

"And why can't he?" Jou demanded," I mean, you haven't even heard why he needs to stay here. You should at least do that before sayin' he can't stay."

"It's simple. You can't just bring in kids that you find on the street, Jou. We're not a daycare center," Kaiba said sternly," If he's lost or run away, then you need to take him to the police so that they can get him back home."

"But he can't go home, Seto!" Jou protested.

"And Yugi's not a kid, he's just small for his age," Honda corrected.

"Small or not, he's not staying here. I want him out of here now. I'm not running a charity for every person that you find roaming the streets," Kaiba snorted.

"But he doesn't have anywhere else to go! He needs to be with us," Anzu said without thinking.

Kaiba turned his gaze towards her without hesitation. Unlike Jou, who he might soften up for slightly, there were no such feelings for Anzu. She was no friend of his and the only reason he tolerated her was for Jou's sake. Otherwise, he would have ignored her completely and had her removed from his home as quickly as possible. The same as he would have done to Honda, since he had a similar attitude towards the fourth teen.

"That's not my problem, Mazaki. If he wants to get around in life, then he has to be prepared to find his own way. I don't waste my time with weaklings," Kaiba said.

"You wanna repeat that last part?" a voice snarled from behind Kaiba.

Kaiba turned around instantly to see who had dared to challenge him. Hearing that voice though, Kaiba was inwardly surprised. As far as he knew, there wasn't supposed to be anyone else in the room. After all, the den wasn't a very big place and with the way that the furniture was arranged, it was impossible for someone to hide behind anything. So where had the voice come from?

"Whoever said that, show yourself," Kaiba ordered.

"Right here," the voice hissed.

Kaiba instantly turned to the source of the voice. What he found was none other than Solitaire standing on the back of the couch where she had previously been hiding. At first, the dragon was going to stay hidden like Jou had told her until he said that it was safe again. When she heard what Kaiba had said about Yugi and Anzu though, that was just too much for Solitaire's temper. So regardless of the consequences, she had come out of hiding in order to challenge the new human. Now she was staring Kaiba straight in the eye as she brought herself up to her full height with claws extended and spikes raised. Her eyes glittering angrily as she stared at the now thoroughly startled CEO.

"You wanna a pick a fight with someone, then do it with me. I'll be happy to oblige. But you better leave Yugi and Anzu alone or I'll take you out right now," Solitaire snarled.

Under normal circumstances, Kaiba would have risen to that challenge without hesitation. And by normal, that meant when he was facing another human being. When coming face to face with a miniaturized dragon on the other hand, that brought out an entirely different reaction in Kaiba. As soon as he saw Solitaire, anything that he might have said was lost as he fell into a stunned stupor. The best that he could do was stare at Solitaire in complete shock while she continued to glare at him.

"Solitaire!" Jou hissed," I thought I told ya to hide."

"I know that but I'm not going to hide under a couch while someone insults my friends," Solitaire snorted.

She eyed Seto critically. His words had not given him a good rating in her book and that meant that he was treading on thin ice with her for the moment. If he tried anything else that displeased the dragon, then it would nothing but trouble for Kaiba. Solitaire would not hesitate for a second to give the human a shock he would never forget if it came to that.

His reaction was slightly amusing though. It wasn't often that Solitaire brought that sort of expression to someone's face. Back home in the Shadow Realm, a little dragon like herself was nothing to be excited about. There were far grander and more impressive creatures dwelling in the other world than someone like Solitaire. Yet when it came to humans, the first sighting of her always seemed to bring out shock and surprise all at the same time.

Turning to Jou, Solitaire asked," So does he do this often or what?"

"Nope," Jou replied," I think you actually managed to make him speechless for a change."

He didn't say anything, but Jou thought that the situation was just as funny as Solitaire did. It wasn't often that he saw his lover look so flabbergasted about anything. Seto spent so much of his time being serious and uptight that it was impossible to imagine that he could feel anything else. So to actually see him showing some emotion outside of the bedroom and being with his loved ones was something special.

The silence could only last so long before Kaiba finally broke out of his trance. Not completely of course, since he was still in shock at seeing a dragon trying to pick a fight with him. But still enough where he could actually form some sort of response, though not among the most articulate.

"Y-you're a dragon!" Kaiba blurted.

"Really? Wow, I hadn't noticed before," Solitaire snorted.

Kaiba stared a moment longer but then shook his head to clear it a bit. He honestly couldn't believe what happening. There sitting before on the back of one of his couches him was a dragon and to top it all off, his boyfriend was talking with it as if they were old friends. That was not only beyond bizarre, it was completely insane. It was enough to make him wonder if he really had been working too many hours like his brother and Jou so often claimed. That would certainly explain why he was seeing this.

Kaiba shook that off immediately. There was no way that he was loosing his mind. He was too strong willed and clearheaded for that sort of nonsense. So that meant that there was something else going on. Maybe a prank thought up by Jou and his friends in one of their lame attempts to get him to loosen up as so many people suggested he do.

"What kind of trick is this?" Kaiba demanded.

"What makes you think that this is some sort of trick?" Solitaire growled.

"It has to be because everyone knows that dragons aren't real, especially talking ones," Kaiba retorted.

"This ain't no trick," Jou insisted before Solitaire could reply back," Solitaire's just as real as you or me, moneybags."

Still unconvinced, Kaiba decided that he would see for himself if this dragon were truly real or not. It was plain to see that it was no dog in a costume, not with Solitaire's ability to speak or how well her forearms moved like they did. That made him think that maybe it might be an advanced form of robot. It certainly wouldn't be too farfetched with how advanced technology was progressing, especially not with all that he had personally seen in the field. So maybe that was what Solitaire was. To test this theory, he reached out a hand to examine Solitaire for himself.

The instant his hand came to close though, the dragon reacted immediately. She raised her crest even further and bared her teeth in warning. Solitaire added a snarl for added effect, as it seemed to cause an instinctive reaction in humans that there was danger nearby. A fact that she would use to her advantage as much as possible.

"Touch the scales, lose the hand," Solitaire growled as sparks crackled along her back.

Like everyone else, she had been expecting Kaiba to back away in either fear or by instinct at the nearness of electricity. No one that she knew other than electric based Monsters ever liked to go near such things. To her surprise though, the human did no such thing. Instead, he only stood there for a moment, watching her intensely before moving closer. His face was impassive, but his eyes sparkled with an interest that made the dragon uncomfortable.

"You can generate electricity?" Kaiba asked.

"Um, yeah," Solitaire answered.

His question has surprised Solitaire so much that she had actually lowered her guard a bit. The sparks that had been starting to fly off of her back slowly dissipated and finally just disappeared altogether. All that remained in their stead was a very confused and almost worried dragon. It just wasn't natural for her to come across someone who wasn't either scared of her electrical attacks or yelling their heads off at her to stop being stupid and to remember her place.

"Interesting. I always read that dragons are supposed to breathe fire or some other element. I never knew that one could generate an electrical output with its own body," Kaiba murmured as he looked Solitaire over," Then again, who ever heard of one being so much of a runt and if they weren't a Chinese dragon, to be without wings."

"Hey! Not all dragons have to be the size of a mountain or have wings to prove anything. Some of us prefer to walk than go floating off into the big nothing," Solitaire snorted defensively.

"Don't you mean the big nowhere?" Kaiba corrected.

"You say it your way, I say it my way. Deal with it, human," Solitaire sniffed.

Kaiba stiffened at Solitaire's tone. He might have been fascinated by the fact that there was an actual dragon before him, but there was no way that he was going to let anyone talk to him like that. He was Kaiba Seto, CEO of one of the most progressive gaming companies around and one of the most influential men on Earth. No one had the right to talk to him with anything less than respect unless they were his equal or better. The first of which was rare and the other of which was impossible.

"What makes you think that you have the right to speak to me like that in my own home, reptile? Do you know who I am?" Kaiba demanded.

"I happen to think that I'm the one who can fry you in a heartbeat if it suited me," Solitaire snorted," As to who you are, you're just an annoying human like that one behind you."

She gestured at Jou absently, gaze still locked on Seto. Now this was met with two reactions. On Jou's part, he was just getting a little tired of the dragon either referring to him as being full of hot air or being an idiot. For Seto, a dark expression covered his face for two reasons. The first was that Solitaire had just insulted both himself and his lover. The second was that she dared to drop him to a level lower than herself. Neither was something that his pride to allow to go unpunished.

"You should know that I don't allow anyone to talk to me like that and that includes uppity little reptiles like you. I especially don't take that sort of treatment in my own home. So unless you want me to call show you just what I'm capable of, you better apologize," Kaiba said coolly.

"I don't apologize to people who insult me first and especially not when they threaten or insult my friends. Which was what you were doing when you told Yugi to leave, yelled at Anzu and when you called me a runt. So unless you start making up for that, you can just bring it on, human. I'm ready to rumble anytime you are," Solitaire snapped.

She emphasized this point by letting a few more sparks come off from her back. Not enough where it could do any damage to anyone, but enough where it could get her point across. At least, that was what she was going for. There was really no guarantee that even with the warning that Kaiba would take it to heart. He might very well ignore it and still continue to push his luck with her. So it was a standoff between the two as Kaiba stood there, contemplating his decision.

As it often did whenever he was weighing his options, Kaiba's face remained completely passive. He knew that by technicality, he had the right to throw both Yugi and Solitaire out of his home. After all, they were not his guests which meant that they had no place in his home. On the other hand though, they were Jou's friends and he had invited them there. Since that was the case, then that also meant that he had to be somewhat civil to them.

Then there was what Solitaire had said about the insults that he had given to Yugi and Anzu. She said that he had been the one who had started everything. All that she had done was to finish the job or at least bring it to this point. Now she was leaving what happened next up to Kaiba, whether the outcome was good or bad. A fact which left him seeing her point somewhat, though he wasn't going to admit to it.

"I should still turn you into a pair of shoes for saying that," Kaiba muttered in semi-defeat.

It was the closest that he would come to admitting that he had been in the wrong for saying those things about Yugi and Anzu. To do anything else would just be out of his nature. His pride kept that fact certain. But Kaiba's pride didn't keep Yugi from finally speaking up. By now, the hikari had found his voice for the first time and spoke up.

"It's not your place to do anything to Solitaire even if you think you can," Yugi replied.

"And just what makes you think that I can't?" Kaiba demanded.

"She's not yours, that's why. Solitaire belongs to me. She's my servant. So I'm the only one who can decide what to do with her," Yugi explained.

"Your…servant?" Kaiba said slowly.

"Yes, she's my servant and that makes her mine," Yugi nodded.

"Why in the world would you want to keep something that flippant as a servant?" Kaiba said before he realized what he was saying.

"I can see why you would say that. I know that she can be blunt, but that's what I value about Solitaire," Yugi said as he walked over and patted Solitaire's neck spikes," She isn't afraid to say what's on her mind when most people just like to tiptoe around the truth. It's what makes her such a good friend to me, but what makes her a nuisance to everyone else."

Solitaire grinned smugly at that description, as she wasn't afraid to hear the truth about her life at the palace. After all, she had never tried to dissuade Yugi or anyone else from admitting such things about her. It was the truth after all and just let others know about the reputation that she had spent years building. Which helped to keep them from getting the wrong idea that she might be a pushover willing to do their bidding.

As he looked down at them, Kaiba realized that he could, to a certain point, understand why Yugi would want someone like Solitaire around. Being the head of his own company, he was used to those who would try to suck up to him with flattery and lies in order to get what they wanted. At times it was so bad that Kaiba just wished that they would all do the world a favor and disappear from the face of the planet. Sadly, though he could have arranged for such a fate if he truly wanted, Kaiba's luck went like that since he was still stuck with most of the annoying flatterers.

So when someone who was actually honest appeared, which was about as rare as finding needle in a haystack, it was not an opportunity that Kaiba passed up. That was how he had gotten into his relationship with Jou in the first place. The blonde was the only person who had never backed down from his insults and instead proceeded headlong into an argument with the brunette CEO. It wasn't to say that Jou had always been able to hold his ground in their earlier arguments, but the tenacious honesty that he displayed towards Kaiba had impressed the other greatly. And which had ultimately been one of the main reasons why he had asked Jonouchi out in the first place.

Impressed or not though, Kaiba still didn't like how Solitaire acted. As a servant, even one who was valued for her frank nature, she should have had some manners. Which made him wonder just what sort of disciplinary training Yugi gave to his dragon in order to make her behave. It obviously wasn't that strict if she felt the need to act out so brashly.

When he realized what he was thinking, Kaiba could have smacked himself. Why the hell would he be worried about how some child trained his dragon? The real question that he should have been asking himself was where Yugi had gotten her. Now that it was confirmed that Solitaire was indeed a true dragon, then it meant that there could very well be others like her. That of course, led to much bigger questions and possibly bigger problems that needed to be answered immediately.

"Where'd he get her?" Kaiba demanded suddenly.

"Huh?" Jou said.

"You heard me, Katsuya. Where did he get that dragon?" Kaiba repeated.

"Uh, would ya believe me if I told ya that he got her at a raffle?" Jou laughed nervously.

He hoped that Kaiba would get the joke, but it didn't go over as planned. If anything, it just seemed to annoy his lover because of the delay that it caused. A sign that if Jou didn't want to end up with more trouble, then he better come up with a better response than that and quickly. After all, it might very well be the one thing to win Kaiba over when it came to the pair staying.

"People don't just get dragons out of thin air, puppy. They have to come from somewhere. So where did this one come from?" Kaiba stated.

"You better sit down for this one, Kaiba. This is gonna be a doozie," Honda warned almost wickedly.

Seto arched an eyebrow. When it concerned an actual dragon, he knew that it had to be something unusual. Yet even for something like that, it couldn't be so strange that it would cause a mental breakdown for a person. There was nothing in the world that could lead to that unless a person was already of weak constitution. At least, that was the way that Kaiba felt. Yet somehow, as he took a seat on one of the couches as Honda had suggested, Kaiba also felt that what he was about to hear was still out of the ordinary.

A/N: And that is it for this chapter. It's sort of my favorite because now I have someone else for Solitaire to spar with. Hehe. Sorry, but for some reason, she's just become the way that I vent out my frustrations because of all the annoying people that I meet during the day. It makes great humor to me, so I use it. Though that's probably not saying much since I don't have much of a sense of humor. But anyhow, thanks to everyone for reading and I promise to have another chapter up within the next few weeks if I can.