Prologue.

It was all over the local news that morning, people who had never even met him, the hardcore fans as they called themselves, were on the news being interviewed. All of them crying and promising to search.

*How would you even know where to look, the only place you've ever seen him is at tournaments...and from behind your tv screen at that…*

Giving an impatient sigh, Seto reached for the keypad and switched off the computer screen, unable to bear another second of the mewling noises. He himself, naturally, had heard the news hours previously. But there was something in him that just hadn't...quite believed it until he took a second to sit down and confirm it for himself.

*So that's how it is…* He thought to himself, frowning.

Pressing a button for the intercom on his desk, Seto waited until he heard a response on the other end before talking.

"Yes, sir?"

"Bring a car around, I'd better go pick up the brats from school before they're swarmed with this" Seto spoke, calm as ever.

"Yes sir"

The voice on the other end replied before the line went dead.

Seto sat back in his chair, running a hand through his hair, which was (thankfully) just starting to lose its rich brown colour and change to a wispy shade of white.

In his head he tried to pinpoint...just how long it had been since all of the bizarre escapades in Egypt, the crazy, risky games involving demons, spirits and the ultimate risk of death.

Hell...he even started to wonder how long it had been since he threatened to jump from the walls of Pegasus's castle…

A beep on the intercom pulled him from the memory.

"Kaiba-sama, the car's here"

Seto didn't answer right away, he was still consumed by his thoughts.

"Right" He answered softly, letting the line fall dead again. Narrowing his eyes, he silently spoke to himself.

*Well damned if I don't put an effort into finding you...it wouldn't be fair now would it?*

Rising from his chair, Seto slowly made his way outside, a solemn expression on his face, as if he was trapped in a haze of memories...

He hated it.

Splat! A water balloon went flying into somebody's face.

No really, he loathed it.

Splat! Another one went flying, this time getting somebody in the leg.

He truly, and utterly despised having that name stamped on him.

Splash!

One slipped from his fingers and broke on the ground.

Katsuro stood in the midst of a humongous water war that had started early on during afternoon break, amongst the junior and middle students at Domino High. He knew he was dead meat if he went home dripping wet, but he didn't care.

His mother had embarrassed him enough by forcing him to go to her ridiculous event the night before.

A get-together party, she called it.

Ugh.

Splat! He landed one right in an older student's face. He would have ducked down, but thankfully, the older boy didn't notice and angrily chucked a bucket of water over a first-year instead.

Katsuro laughed, gritting his teeth to stop the noise.

He was a tall, lean boy, towering at just under 6ft. He had tufty, short-cut chestnut hair, with a spiky, messed up fringe that fell over into his eyes. He had light, hazel eyes that blended with the lighter tone of his skin.

His school uniform was damp, water trickling down from his neck, but he wasn't quite soaked. Not yet anyway. He would rather be soaked through to the bone and catch a chill if that meant the memory of the awful gathering was wiped from his mind forever.

It had been a get-together that he had not been thrilled about. His mother had gathered children of the C.E.O's of other corporations, he could handle those fine. But to make matters worse, she'd also assembled the offspring of local actors and models, clearly intending to parade him around like a prize-winning poodle and show him off in the hopes of forming some sort of feeble connection between them and him.

He knew what was coming and had begged insistently for mercy. But, his mother had insisted that he do it anyway, to try and make some new friends. Katsuro, on the other hand, knew without a doubt that these new friends would be nothing but more people who would use him as a way to get their hands on brand new gaming technology, or they would just ignore him completely and tear through his stuff.

He was right. Aside from one or two children of local business owners, around the same age as him (who he usually talked to at these kind of things anyway), he had barely talked to anyone else the entire evening. In fact, he hated it so much that he wound up sloping off halfway through to go and play a game of Street Battler in his bedroom. He wound up being found, however, by a small gaggle of the invited youth, who piled into his room without second thought. And that was it, he was stuck there for the rest of the evening, watching the clock drag on and on with constant noise shrieking behind him.

At the end of the night, his mother had dubbed the evening an unqualified success. He just hoped he'd never have to do it again.

Now was his chance to take his mind off any remaining embarrassment he might have. He threw one water balloon after the other, keeping tally in his head every time he hit someone. Off in a daydream, he launched his second last balloon into the air behind him, not looking where he was throwing.

*Wonder if those new cards are out yet?..*

Suddenly, a loud shriek met his ears and Katsuro whipped round to look, praying he hadn't hit one of the older class girls (They could make mincemeat out of anyone).

Nope. Worse.

He had hit Yoshinori. Crap.

Mizuki Yoshinori was a smart, artistic girl with a good sense of humour, touching at around 5'6 in height. She had a rather round build and curvy figure compared to some of the other girls in the year, but she was far from being overweight (although there were mornings when she thought otherwise). Her most noticeable feature was her red hair, a fiery shade of auburn that just rested on her shoulders.

Despite having quite a fun-loving personality, she was fiercely competitive and did not like being caught off guard. Let alone by a water balloon hitting her smack-bang in her chest.

"Oh god! I'm soaked!" Mizuki squealed, brushing off her skirt frantically. Fighting the urge to laugh, Katsuro sucked in his breath and held it, wisely averting his gaze to the far off distance.

*Do not make the joke about the drowning chicken...Do not make the comparison. Wrong place, wrong time!* His thoughts screamed, quirking loudly in his head.

Shaking off her wet hair, Mizuki scoffed, pointlessly dabbing at her wet blazer with a handkerchief. Realising he was for it, Katsuro grinned and took a step back, still clutching a balloon in his hand.

"Yoshinori-" He began in vain. With a cold glare, Mizuki cut him off.

"Can it, I'm not interested!" The balloon had burst right on her shirt, sending water flying upwards onto her face and hair, with the remainder of the cold liquid dribbling down her teal coloured skirt and onto her legs.

The look in her blue eyes was one of revenge and murder. Even though the redheaded girl never resorted to violence and occasionally hammed up the angry redhead stereotype for a laugh, Katsuro was wise enough to know that actually pissing off Mizuki was a mistake. Sighing, Katsuro threw down his remaining balloon, letting it burst on the ground, water splashing onto the bottom of his school trousers.

"Right…" He muttered, not amused.

*Why are you always so wound up on Wednesdays?* He wondered, silently to himself.

"So, how was the little get-together last night?" Mizuki asked jokingly, changing the subject. Her hands ran through her hair and began to wring water out of clumps of it.

Katsuro shrugged, wincing a little as he stretched out his shoulders.

"Fine. Nothing much actually happened. Just a bunch of spoiled brats running around and screaming their heads off...So pretty par for the course if you ask me"

"Mm hm?" Mizuki answered, having a go at wringing out the end of her blazer cuffs.

"Was Yumi-chan there?"

Katsuro shook his head.

"No. I would have invited her, but god forbid me having a hold of the guest list anytime soon"

He sighed.

"Besides, you know how shy she is, she would have hated it even more than I did"

Mizuki nodded, understanding completely.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen her today at all. Wonder where…"

It was as if his words had summoned their friend from the middle of nowhere, as Katsuro immediately spotted a familiar, tiny figure moving about on the school roof, crouching behind a mesh of wire fencing.

*Oh, I get it...hiding from the water*

Giving up the effort of drying the rest of herself, Mizuki gave an exasperated sigh, letting her arms swing down at her side before she spoke again.

"So? Where is Yumi-chan?" She asked, only slightly irritated now. With an over-exaggerated arm gesture, Katsuro made a whistling noise and pointed up to the roof of the school.

"Up there."

Tilting her head up, Mizuki squinted and stared. Clearing her throat, she called, loudly and clearly, to nothing in particular.

"Yumi-chan! I can't see you, but you better not be laughing!" Suddenly, a flicker of an idea entered the redhead's mind.

Reaching into her bag, Mizuki took out her water bottle and popped open the lid, before emptying the contents onto Katsuro's head. Sputtering in surprise, the brown haired boy took a step back, shaking his head like a wet dog. Wiping his face with his sleeve, he laughed at the sudden, abrupt payback that had hit him.

"Always the bottle with you, isn't it Yoshinori?" He said between laughs.

Quirking her head to the side, Mizuki smirked in triumph, calling up to the roof once again.

"You can laugh now if you want!"

"Pft! Oh god that's freezing!" Katsuro coughed.

Sure enough, up on the roof, standing safely behind the wire fence, was Yumiko. Observing, safely, from a distance, and smiling at all the excitement. She had been previously warned of the water-balloon war by a fellow junior student, and as a result had immediately bolted for the roof the second the bell sounded for afternoon break.

*Good thing I came up to the roof after all…*

Due to the popularity of water-related incidents occurring in the summer months, her grandfather had strictly warned her not to get involved in them. She was more than happy to obey this request, she hated getting wet.

Running her hands to her left blazer pocket, she lightly tapped the hidden deck of cards, reminding herself that they were there. Her grandfather had allowed her to bring her own cards with to school, on the condition that she didn't lose them. She had promised, but knowing herself just how often she could go off into a daydream, she made sure to often check the deck's original location (just to be safe).

She was a girl of small stature, touching at around 5'2. Her figure was small, bony and delicate, like a china doll. At moments in her younger years, other students had once thought that, if she did fall over and hit the ground, she would smash into a million pieces. In stark contrast to her tiny figure, her face was round and babyish, which made her look younger than she was. Her cheeks were soft and held a permanent rosy-pink tint to them (making her look permanently bewildered) and because her skin was so naturally pale, the colour of her cheeks stood out even more (which did not help the china doll comparison). Her hair was a light shade of beige-blonde. Being always in a wavy mess, it just reached down to her shoulders.

She came off as odd looking to most, and being quite plain anyway, her one redeeming feature was her eyes, a nice shade of deep blue. Apart from that, there was nothing much of note about her.

"Mizuki-chan!" She called down, her voice soft-sounding as usual.

"Has it died off yet?!"

"No! Not yet!" Mizuki answered, still hovering near a (soaking) rather miffed Katsuro.

Yumiko nodded in understanding.

"Ok! I'm just going to wait here!"

Apart from the very large water war, nothing else was different about this school day. Like always, Yumiko made sure she went to her classes on time, tried her hardest to stay focused, intending to run for the door the minute the final bell sounded.

It never for one moment occurred to her that something might be different.

Suddenly, an older student from an opposing class came through the roof door and propped it open. Spotting Yumiko standing there in a trance, she called out to her.

"Mutou-san?!"

Jumping a little from being pulled from her daydream, Yumi turned around immediately to face the voice's owner.

"Yes?" Yumiko greeted politely, a kind smile on her face.

Giving only a nod in response, the dark haired student stated her business.

"The headteacher wants to see you." Yumiko blinked, gulping out of surprise.

"Mrs Enjoji?" She reiterated, just to be sure. The dark-haired girl nodded, yawning a little, her blazer damp from a long-gone water balloon.

Despite being a bit on the slow side when it came to certain classes, Yumiko was rarely called to the headteacher's office. Wondering what on earth it could be, she shifted a little, showing her nervousness.

"Yeah, she sent me to come get you, said it's important."

The dark haired student responded casually, shrugging her shoulders.

"Oh…" Yumi responded in a whisper, an idea suddenly popping into her head.

She knew who it was who had started the water fight. It was a friend of hers in a different class, whom, (unfortunately) had a bad habit of getting into trouble with her wild ideas (She'd been planning the fight for weeks).
Now the headteacher was searching for the culprit and any witnesses.

*Great..* Yumi thought sadly. She had avoided getting wet, but now it looked like she was about to be flung into boiling water instead.

Clearing her throat, she gave a polite head-bow to the older student and smiled gratefully.

"Sure. Thanks, Kina-san. I'll head down from here"

Nodding, the elder student shrugged.
"No prob. See you later." With that, she disappeared back through the opened roof door and down the stairs, out of sight.

Yumiko hesitated for a moment or so, fixing her tie and dusting off her skirt before heading back into the school. Dammed if she was getting a lecture about neatness along with getting into trouble.

Not today.

Resting her bag down on the ground, Mizuki squinted, her gaze suddenly catching onto a crowd of people at the school gate. Realising what was going on, a huge grin spread on her face.

*This'll be fun* She thought, grinning.

"Hey, Dragon-Boy" She said, nudging Katsuro in the shoulder.

"What?" He grunted, messing with his own rucksack.

Mizuki grinned like a Cheshire cat, standing up straight and folding her arms.

"I think your Butler's here to pick you up"

Katsuro rolled his eyes, thinking it was just another bam-up from the redhead.

"Ha ha, sure" He said sarcastically.

Katsuro turned his head, ready to gasp in amazement at nothing, only to have his face turn scarlet red out of embarrassment. Parked just outside of the gates was a very new-looking silver mercedes, that had already swarmed the attention of curious onlookers from both in the school and out. He recognised that car, it was his dad's.

"Why the hell is that merced-?!-" He hissed before cutting himself off halfway. His cheeks flushed dark crimson as he realised what was happening.

Both his Mother and his father were getting out of the car, looking deadly serious as they stood at the gates with the usual cluster of bodyguards surrounding them.

Katsuro gulped.

Mizuki howled with laughter at the gormless expression on his face. Wiping her damp face with the back of her hand, she very nearly keeled over from laughing so hard.

"Ohp! Looks like you're in trouble now, Dragon Boy"

He knew he was, he had to be. There was no way in hell that both of his parents would be at the school otherwise.

And yet,...there was something not quite right. His parents didn't look cross, they looked concerned, as if a million different cameras were watching them at once.

Katsuro stood in a daze for a few seconds, until the buzzing of a phone in his bag caught his attention. Fumbling about in one of the zipped compartments, he pulled it out, looked at the screen and saw that he had a message.

New message:

From:

Kaiba, Seto.

Why the hell are you all soaked, brat? Have you been jumping through garden sprinklers when they've been turned on again? I warned you about those.

Mizuki cracked up in fresh floods of laughter when she saw the message. Katsuro didn't laugh, he silently started to panic.

His grandfather was in the car along with his mom and his dad.

He really was dead meat.

Crap.

Getting to the bottom floor hallway, Yumiko noticed a group of junior students huddled up at the edge of the hall, being sternly told off by a teacher.

*Poor girls, they're soaked through...although I am glad it's not me…*

She was about to go off on another daydream when she remembered where it was she was meant to be going. Picking up the pace, she arrived at the door to the Headteacher's office and stopped dead in her tracks.

The door was ajar slightly, so she could just see inside.

There were policemen inside the office. Why were there policemen inside the office?!

Had one of her friends done something awful? Had she done something awful without realising it?! What was going on?!

There was no time to ask questions to herself, so Yumi sucked in her breath and knocked on the door.

She waited. A voice answered.

"Come in!" The voice of Mrs Enjoji called sharply.

Opening the door slowly, Yumiko stepped into the office, bowed respectfully and straightened up. She smiled as warmly as she could, while still failing miserably disguising her nerves.

"Enjoji-san, you wanted to see me?"

Yumi asked, her lower lip quivering.

Mrs Enjoji raised her head and looked Yumiko dead in the eye. She was a stern woman in her late forties, with tawny brown hair that was always tied up in a bun so tightly, that you could see the veins pounding in her forehead whenever she got cross. At the moment, she didn't look cross, she looked serious, but Yumi was taking no risks by doing something speaking out of turn. She kept her lip buttoned and quietly waited for a response.

"...Good morning, Yumiko. Yes, I did"

Gesturing to a vacant chair in front of her desk, Mrs Enjoji continued.

"Please sit down"

Yumi did as she was told, her heart pounding at the speed of a hummingbird's wings in flight.

*Yumiko? She never calls us by our first names! How much trouble am I in?!...*

Eyes swivelling round the room, Yumiko mentally took note of it's occupants. There were two police officers in total, one standing on either side of Mrs Enjoji's desk. While she was seated being the desk as usual, the two gentlemen remained standing, both watching Yumiko closely with...pity in their eyes?

"Oh, s-sorry, I didn't see you gentlemen there" Yumi stammered nervously, not caring if they thought she was lying or not.

They didn't even acknowledge what she had said.

"Um...Is there something wrong, Enjoji-san?" Yumi whispered feebly.

Spreading a smile of sympathy (or what Yumi assumed was sympathy as the teacher rarely smiled) across her face, the headteacher introduced the two gentlemen, gesturing to them in turn.

"Yumiko, this is officer Hanaguchi and detective Ojama. They've come here to talk to you.

"Good morning, Ms Mutou" the one called Hanaguchi greeted.

Yumi nodded, but clutched her hands nervously all the while.

"Am I in trouble...?" She uttered as meekly as a mouse.

Mrs Enjoji sighed.

"Gentlemen, if you could please explain to the young lady why it is you are here?"

This time, the older looking officer stepped forward, a serious, yet composed look on his face. His voice was perfectly calm as he delivered his statement, as if he was reading an article straight from a newspaper.

"I'm very sorry to inform you of this, Ms Mutou. But I'm afraid at approximately 6 hours ago, your grandfather was reported missing"

Had she truly been a china doll, Yumiko knew that she would have smashed into a million pieces right there and then.

And she wasn't so sure she hadn't fallen to bits regardless.

"He...wh..a…"

It was like a giant lump had shoved itself down Yumi's throat, and all she could do was choke out feeble, gasping whispers. Reality, meanwhile, hovered above her head, sneering cruelly, like it was laughing at her.

"Grandpa's?..."

"The police contacted the school twenty minutes ago, informing us of the situation. That's why I called you here" Mrs Enjoji confirmed, a little too formally.

Pulling out his notebook, the younger detective began to talk.

"The notice was filed by a neighbour, Mrs Ohama, after they noticed the door was left open and there had been no sign of Mutou-Yugi at any of his usual daily routines. Upon investigation, we found signs of a struggle in the house"

Yumi blinked, staring at nothing in particular.

"There is a high possibility from the evidence that your grandfather has been abducted"

Yumi blinked again.

"However, there was no traces of blood or other bodily fluids, so there is no current evidence of him being deceased…"

The detective's calm voice trailed off as Yumi lost focus of whatever it was he was saying. Remaining completely motionless, she gripped the sides of her chair, fingers turning white as she stared with intensity at the floor. It was like she was using up all of her energy to just stay sitting upright.

Deceased...Missing..a struggle?..

The words echoed in Yumi's head like the tolling bells of a church, ringing loudly in her ears and blocking out all the other noises that surrounded her. She could feel her grip on the chair slipping, her stomach turning over and jumping in heaps . It was like…she wanted to pass out, but was too terrified to close her eyes. It was a horrible feeling; it consumed her all at once and weighed down on her bones. Suddenly, her body felt so heavy she was almost convinced that if she leaned forward any further, she would crash right through the floor and into the room below.

She hadn't noticed she was trembling.

"Ms Mutou, as I understand, you were picked up by a friend this morning?" The younger officer asked, gently.

She wasn't listening. She thought of her last words to her grandfather,...a quick goodbye as she had dashed out of the door, barely looking back as she ran off. Her chest suddenly felt very tight.

Yumi swallowed, trying hard to soothe her dry throat. But she just couldn't make her mouth wet enough to speak.

"Um…um…"

For five minutes, Yumiko sat in the chair and trembled, her mouth moving, but no words coming out. Her eyes pricked with tears, but no water came out. Finally, she managed to say one, small, word.

"Grandpa…"

Silence.