Jem

Seto and Mokuba were out finishing their business for the day. I lay on the couch reading, waiting for them to return.

When they did, a tired-looking Mokuba simply waved to me. "Goodnight," he yawned as he turned towards his room.

"Goodnight, Mokuba," I responded. Seto stood away from me, waiting.

As soon as Mokuba went into his room, Seto stated, "We're going to have a fight."

I was confused. "Why?" I asked, sitting up and closing my book.

"Mokuba seems to really like Jude. I don't approve of him as someone Mokuba might look up to."

"Oh," I responded, settling back down. "No, I won't try and defend that. I'll tell Jude to keep it PG if ever he's around Mokuba, or don't be near him at all. You may also want to prevent Mokuba from reading every police beat, in every city. Ever. But even so," Seto had started to come around to me, "even if he did 'look up' to Jude, it would never be enough to influence him, not compared to you."

"Mm," replied Seto as I moved my feet for him to sit down. Most people would say 'I suppose you're right,' but those words didn't exist in Seto's vocabulary. I had learned that 'mm' could sometimes be loosely translated to mean that, however. Seto pulled his briefcase towards him, getting ready to prepare for his big duel. I stretched out my legs again and rested them across his lap.

A thought occurred to me from earlier. "Seto?"

"What is it?"

"I told myself I would ask you this if I got to stay. Your name... 'Kaiba.' The others call you that. Why?" I inquired.

"Because it's my name," he said, annoyed.

"Yeah, I got that, smart-ass," I chided, "But why do you embrace it? I mean, didn't you hate your stepfather? I hate my father, and I wince every time somebody addresses me with his name."

"Mm," he responded again. This time it could be loosely translated to say that he now understood my question. "Because I earned it. I was able to take away his name along with his empire." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees in between placing cards. The first card he found was his new dragon, which he set in the middle of the coffee table, then branched out strategies from there.

"Mmm," I responded, sitting back. This could be translated as 'That makes perfect sense, I couldn't see it in that perspective before.' So it's another prize, I thought to myself. I should have known. I opened my book again, quickly lost in it as Seto planned. Occasionally, he would pause and kind of step back. Except since he couldn't actually step back, he instead would lean back and place a hand on my leg.

After a while I grew tired. I closed my book, setting it under the coffee table. Seto was just looking at his cards now, intense in his thoughts. I removed my feet from his lap and curled them back to me. This allowed me to lean forward, wrapping my arms around him. I pulled him towards me just the slightest bit, kissing the side of his face adoringly. He turned to meet me and kissed me back, which he never did while he was working.

When he pulled away, I asked him, "Why did you do that?"

"Because you're about to go to bed," he responded, his focus again on his cards.

"You're starting to know me too well," I responded as I planted my feet on the floor and stood up. I looked at him one last time. I loved him, I did. I smiled to myself, as though it was the most heartwarming joke I had ever heard. I reached over to brush the side of his face and his chin with my hand. As I turned away to go to bed, my hand naturally withdrew, and he graced it with a kiss as it passed, though he never looked up.

Seto

My room and the sky were dark. I stood, leaning one hand on the window, looking out over the waves far below. This was it. Tomorrow, everything would finally come together for me. I had waited so long for this.

Jem came around the corner slowly, looking at me. "What are you doing?" she asked quietly. She was ready for bed, which for her meant wearing hardly anything.

"I can't sleep," I responded, never turning to her. I was too excited to sleep, which only made me more anxious because I did not want to be tired for my duel tomorrow. By the aid of the moonlight, she slowly approached me, trying to keep the night silent. Once she reached me, she put her hand gently on my arm, then stepped between me and the window, directly in my gaze.

"I might be able to help with that," she whispered, placing her hands on my belt and working her fingers under my clothes. "Or is it like a test? Don't have sex before a big duel?" she asked. No, she was right, this was exactly what I needed. Again, my decision to bring her proved to be a good one.

I placed my other hand on the glass, trapping her between me and the window. "No," I said, "It's not the same thing at all."

I woke up, once again feeling refreshed. Jem was asleep alongside me, her head on my chest. Her hair fell in her face, which I always enjoyed for some reason. Perhaps it was because I was able to see her in a state that I knew no one else could. Or perhaps it was because it gave me an excuse to touch her and brush it away. I reached out a hand to do just that.

When I did, she awoke. She looked up, then slowly stretched to kiss me. As our lips met, I tightened my arm around her to pull her closer. She hummed blissfully as I promptly pulled away.

I looked at the clock. It was almost 8:30, only two hours before my duel. I kissed her on the head, then slipped away from her, getting out of bed.

She watched me as I dressed, or at least put pants on, before I promptly went back around the corner. I sat where I had yesterday on the couch, looking my cards over with fresh eyes.

Sometime later, Jem came around the corner in a robe and went to the small kitchen. "I'm making coffee, do you want any?" she asked wearily.

"No," I stated, still sorting through my cards. I had never given in to such substances, not wanting to ever become weak and dependent on them.

She came over and sat in the same chair as when I was planning for my semi-final yesterday. Except this time, she curled up in the chair instead of placing her feet on the coffee table, and my lap was too far away. She held her coffee in both hands, sipping on it occasionally, the rest of the time just staring at me. Eventually she breathed, "God, you're sexy." She then expanded, "I'm all for this shirtless planning, or shirtless thinking, shirtless anything really."

"Noted," I responded flatly without looking up. I had an important task at hand. It was really coming together for me now. I woke up with a cleared head from all the bullshit that had happened yesterday. She continued to gaze at me as she finished her coffee, then went to shower and get ready. She promptly came back out and sat down again. Within a couple minutes, Mokuba came through the door ready for the day.

"You ready for this, bro?" He was already cheering me on. Then he slowed when he saw me. "Seto, why aren't you dressed yet? Your duel is in less than an hour."

"I know, Mokuba," I said sharply. "Will you take Jem down and get some breakfast?"

"Of course," he replied a little hesitantly. "Come on Jem," and they left.

I sat back and looked at what I had created. I looked at each strategy collection individually, envisioning each taking down Yugi, and smiled.

We reached the spot again where I would wait to be introduced. Jem came over to me, tilting her head up as she placed her hands on my face. She then ran them down my neck and over my chest, finally grabbing my jacket, pulling herself against me. "Can I have a kiss?" she requested for the first time.

"Just because you want one?" I recalled, wanting her to say it.

"No, for luck," she responded.

I narrowed my eyes, insulted that she thought I would need it now. "I don't need luck," I replied darkly.

"Not for you, I didn't ask if you wanted a kiss, I asked if I could have one. I am about to go sit among those morons while Yugi duels," she replied, "and you won't be there to make them shut up."

"Hmm." I smiled at the twist. "You're going to need all the luck you can get," I told her as I started to lean down. I kissed her, over and over again, my arms finding their way around her as I slowly leaned down more and pulled her closer to me. For a second, just one brief moment, I forgot where I was.

After a minute, we heard Mokuba say, "Ok, ok we get it. You love each other." I opened my eyes slightly to glance sideways at him, somewhat unhappily, before I pulled back.

One of her hands traveled over to my arm as she lifted her other, eyes fixed on my mouth. "Hmm," she voiced, taking the point of her finger and brushing a line down along my lips. "I think that should cover it." She looked back up at me, our eyes locking. After a moment, she rose up again and kissed me sweetly before dropping and letting me go. She turned to follow Mokuba, who waved and yelled, "You're gonna ace this, bro!" before running ahead to lead her.

I was again consumed by the duel, my anticipation brimming. I extracted my new card again to study it. I reread its abilities, reexamined the picture, and again enjoyed this new power that had come to my hands. I had already come up with dozens of ways I could use it to give me a compelling advantage. And better yet, Yugi knew nothing of its powerful abilities. Because of my choices I had this card in my possession. Because of my decision to bring Jem I felt wonderful today. And because of my superior skills, I was about to crush Yugi. Today was my day.

I took out my three Blue Eyes and held the four dragons in my hand, overwhelmed with confidence. "And now, please welcome your host, Seto Kaiba, to the field!" I tucked the cards back in my deck and turned my attention to my task. As I ascended the stairs, I thought, This is it Yugi, your days as champion have come to and end...

Yep, that's the end of the sequel! I hope you enjoyed it! As always, if you have read this far, please let me know, it would mean a lot! And of course thank you to everyone who has already, and another thank you to those who will!

Next Story: Until He Had It All is the next but not final fic of the series! I am adding another titled Nightmares Are For Dreamers, but BE SURE to read Until He Had It All FIRST or you will immediately be faced with spoilers. I will post the first chapter for any of you who would like to add it to alerts, but I'm still working on it. You will also want to read Orion before you continue. Here's a little more about the next two:

Until He Had It All: Seto Kaiba's continued conquests. Warnings (this one gets pretty intense) – character death (for real this time), sexuality, violence, and of course language. It takes place after the series and is slight AU, but only in the sense that I ignore the spin-offs. After the first chapter, a lot starts happening really quickly.

Orion: (probably my favorite!) This one is a little different, and formatted differently, but it is about friendship (not the Téa kind, oh nooo). It is a platonic romance - let me explain: You know 'love at first sight'? Well, you know how you can also see someone for the first time and know you'll be amazing friends? Though that particular instance is not in the fic, that's a perfect example of what I mean. It is also nice and easygoing, more day-to-day stuff and no kidnapping to be seen. It's the shortest one, and kind of precious.

And even though her friend is Zero (I don't care if Kaiba has a significant other or not, that was a fun challenge, but I wrote this because I needed to see someone to care about him more than anyone else! I love Zero) it is not a love triangle. Orion was originally going to be written as a completely separate fic, but it weirdly fit waaay too well into the series if I used Jem again. I'm also excited for those of you, well, who both already like Vampire Knight, but for those of you who will go watch the first episode, and then inevitably watch the rest of them (luckyxtrick will attest to this), and make the discovery. Anyway, I hope you all will continue to enjoy them as you have the first three!