Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters presented here and am not making any profit off of this whatsoever.
Story Title: Afternoon Memories
Chapter Title: Interruptions In Routine
Story Word Count: 4,770
Chapter Word Count: 4,770
Rated: PG-13
Focus: Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Mokuba, Bakura Ryou, Yami no Bakura
Notes: This takes place somewhat loosely after Duelist Kingdom and Yugi's duel with Otogi Ryuuji/Duke Devlin, and before Battle City. Bakura is aware that the dark Spirit of the Ring has returned and that he has the Ring again, but he hasn't told anyone about this. The reasons why are touched on in here. This has some manga inspiration, mainly events concerning Bakura and previous friends, as well as Mokuba being aware of 'another Yugi' and what he himself likes to play. The story concerning Amane and Bakura's mother is my interpretation of their deaths, and may have little or nothing to do with what actually happened. This was inspired by The Waiting Game, a mild Seto/Anzu written by TheFutureMrsKaiba. I believe this has been removed since, but that was where the inspiration came from, and the author of that fic was told I drew my inspiration from their story. Comments and criticism gratefully accepted.
Summary: Mokuba is stuck alone waiting for his brother to come get him. The Spirit of the Millennium Ring has plans to use that to his advantage.

Someone was going to get fired for this. Kaiba wasn't exactly certain on who would the unlucky victim of his temper, but there would be someone. This was not what he wanted to find out when he finally emerged from school. His chauffer shifted slightly, feeling one of those infamous glares burning into him. He'd never really had one of them turned on him before, though he'd seen other KaibaCorps workers and the occasional classmate of his employer suffering under them.

"And what is the cause of this, Arakaki?" The tone of his voice said quite clearly that there had better be an explanation that not only made sense, but meant he would be on his way within a few seconds, or faster if at all humanly possible. Or even if it wasn't humanly possible. Either was good for him.

"Sir, we have a flat tire." Arakaki Yori was having a day that could have been classified as coming straight from the bowels of Hell. Being responsible for taking the elder Kaiba wherever he needed to go wasn't the dream job he kept telling all of his friends it was. He was going to have his third ulcer any day now, he just knew it. "It appears to have been caused by a knife of some kind being jabbed into the tire. Probably the work of one of the local gangs."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed, turning them into furious sapphire ice. He made a mental note to check once more into getting himself a private tutor, instead of having to go through the public school system for another couple of pointless years. This was the kind of thing one expected at a school like Rintama, not Domino High! "If that's all there is to it, I expect the spare to be on momentarily."

Arakaki could feel that ulcer starting up right this very second. Or worse, having to look for another job. If anyone would even consider hiring him after this, which they probably wouldn't. Where in town could he go that wasn't owned at least partially by KaibaCorp in the first place? "Sir, we don't have a spare tire." He wondered if Kaiba had ever considered switching from being a CEO to being an assassin. Those killer eyes could really be killer eyes if he were angry enough. He wanted to die on the spot.

"Why?" The word was clipped sharply enough to cause lacerations.

"It hasn't been replaced from the last time the tire had to be changed." Arakaki wondered just how painful his death would be, and if it would be fast or slow. There were rumors to both kinds floating through the company grapevine, and he'd never really bothered with deciding which one he'd believed. After all, he was the chauffer, a position that practically guaranteed job security! At least he'd thought it had.

He decided not to wait for another razor-edged question. "A new tire can be here in just a few minutes, sir, it won't take hardly any time at all. You won't be late for anything."

Kaiba's eyes flicked at once down to his watch, then back up to his employee. Arakaki had never believed in anything that remotely resembled psychic powers, but at that moment he knew exactly what was going through his boss's mind: I had better not be. He was being spared, at least for the moment. Probably because he couldn't be replaced very readily, if nothing else. It would be a good idea to get his resume checked over, though. But at least he wasn't fired yet. Which meant he had a chance to fix this. He grabbed for his cell phone and dialed up the nearest service station, praying that things worked out somehow.

The CEO turned away from his underling, gaze dropping down to his watch again. This would have to happen at the worst of times. What Arakaki had said echoed slightly in his mind: you won't be late for anything. But there was no way he could avoid being late. With various schools getting out around this time, and the usual state of traffic in this town, there would be no way that any kind of service vehicle could get there even within half an hour, and by then, he would be very late.

It was for nothing at KaibaCorp, though. Anyone there could wait until he chose to show up. Something far more important was going to be delayed because of this: picking his little brother up from his own school. He knew he should've set aside another limo to take Mokuba where he needed to go, but he liked having a few quiet moments to spend with his brother whenever he could. It wasn't as if he got much other time to spend with him, with everything he had to do. He'd fix that when he had the chance, though.

"Sir," Arakaki's phone clicked off quietly. "I was able to get in touch with a service station nearby. They'll have someone out here with a new tire as soon as they can. There's been an accident not that far from them, however, so it might take a little longer than expected." Kaiba mentally approved; his chauffer didn't look quite as if he were going to fall apart on the spot. He just might have enough spine to keep on working with the company.

"Very well." Kaiba pulled out his own cell phone. There was no getting around the fact he was going to be late to pick his brother up. The school was just far away enough so that walking was out of the question, unfortunately. For all the time he might supposedly save, it would be more efficient to simply wait and drive there once the new tire arrived and was installed.

A button click or two later, and Mokuba's personal cell phone was ringing. "Hey, Seto!" His brother's eternally cheerful voice answered. "Don't tell me you've got to get to the building already, I didn't think you had any meetings until later."

Trust Mokuba to figure out he was going to be late, quite probably before he had.

"No, there's something else going wrong. A flat tire." This was said in tones that in a different speaker would have quite probably been used for the words 'visiting space aliens'. "I have a replacement coming in, but it might take a while because of traffic and some kind of accident." This was the kind of thing that was supposed to happen to other people, not to the Kaibas! The teenage CEO was not enjoying his afternoon.

"Oh." He hated hearing the disappointment in his brother's voice. He'd find a way to make it up to him somehow. Perhaps giving him something to do at KaibaCorp? Nothing very stressful, Mokuba didn't need that, but something that would help him out and let them spend more time together? "About how long is it going to be?"

The answer was one that was seldom heard from Kaiba Seto. "I have no idea." He heard familiar voices and looked up to see Yugi and his small entourage heading out of the school, chatting animatedly with each other. Great. That was just what he didn't need right now, all of them seeing him stranded. It would be different if any of them had some mode of transportation other than a motorcycle, but as that wasn't the case, they were nothing but an annoyance right now. As they were most other times. "I'll be there as soon as I can, though. Find some place out of the way and wait for me."

Maybe he could contact the house and get a limo sent out of him. No, while that would get his brother home, and maybe even get him picked up, it still would be an unnecessary waste of resources. He wanted that time alone with Mokuba, and he doubted that any of his vehicles could get here before the repair truck at any rate.

"All right. I'll see you when you get here, Seto. Don't be too long, I might get bored and decide to walk home by myself!" Mokuba's teasing tone sent a faint chill down Seto's spine. No, he would not!

"Don't even think about it, Mokuba. Stay right there." There was no way he was going to risk his brother going through some of the bad neighborhoods between their place and his school. And knowing his kidnapping-prone brother, something would happen between the two places. "It won't be all that long."

"All right, I was just joking!" Mokuba sounded a little upset, but his brother couldn't decide right away just why. He'd talk to Mokuba about it when he had the chance. "I'll be right here, Seto. Just don't take too long."

""I have no intentions of being too long. I have projects of my own that can't be delayed indefinitely." There were three meetings that he had to deal with before he could go home and stay that evening, among other things. "Be patient, Mokuba. Find one of your friends to stay with you if possible. Good-bye."

Waiting just long enough to hear his brother's farewell, he clicked his cell phone off and put it away, just in time to see Yugi and the entire gang staring at him. They'd at least had the courtesy to remain quiet while he was talking to Mokuba, but he couldn't see any reason for them to stand there as if they had nothing better to do with their time. Don't they have to go play with each other in their little amateur duels or something?

"Problems, Kaiba?" Yugi stared at him with eyes that had to be far too large for his head. Was it even legal to look like that? It should be, even if it wasn't.

"A flat tire." Arakaki responded before Kaiba had a chance to open his mouth. At a single look from the teen, the chauffer crawled back inside the limousine and closed the door.

Jonouchi shook his head sympathetically. "That's gotta suck. Waiting for a tow?"

Why did he have to suffer like this? Couldn't he get just five minutes out of his day without them being around? It was bad enough he had to be in the same school with them. "No, I'm waiting for a new tire to be delivered. Don't you have someplace else to be?" He refused to be seen with them, much less by them, any more than was absolutely necessary.

"Well, Grandpa is waiting for me at the shop," Yugi at least had the common sense to realize that they weren't wanted around here. "Wish there was something we could do to help, Kaiba."

"Leaving will be all the help I need. I have work to do." He considered mentioning they were distracting him, but why let them know? It was entirely possible they'd never leave in that case, and launch into some kind of rant about how he needed to think of them as friends or whatever. He wasn't in the mood for that, and would quite probably hire someone to take them all out if they did. While the relief on his ears would be welcome, the price prohibited it. At least right now. If they didn't leave soon, he might rethink things.

Was one of them actually coming closer? He was. It was Jonouchi, that amateur. "Hey, I heard you talking to Mokuba. I can go hang out with him and keep him out of trouble til you get there, Kaiba."

Somewhere, somehow, someone was having a great deal of fun laughing about this, Kaiba was quite positive of it. As soon as he knew who it was, they were going to wish their great-grandparents had never met one another. He directed his gaze slightly to the left of Jonouchi's eyes, refusing to actually look at him. If he did, he would hit the idiot, he was certain of it. "You? Keep him out of trouble? That's a laugh."

Without waiting for any kind of response, since the only one he wanted was them leaving, Kaiba pulled himself back into his limousine and opened his laptop, plunging deep into what work he could get accomplished while having to sit here still. It wasn't his air-conditioned office at the KaibaCorp building, but that didn't mean he couldn't be productive.

Out of the corner of one eye, he noticed the group of amateurs heading away from him. He could tell Jonouchi was probably saying something about him, what with the way his arms were flailing about frantically, but he didn't much care. All the others appeared to be finding great humor in whatever it was, though, as revealed by their laughing and giggling.

Wait, not all of them were. That one with the weird hair color, who wasn't Yugi. Kaiba racked his brain briefly, priding himself on knowing the names of everyone around him, no matter how little notice he took of them. One never knew when someone might be useful. This person's hair was so pale of a lavender that the casual observer might think it was actually white. His back was to the limo, so Kaiba couldn't tell what color his eyes were. I saw him with Yugi and the others at Duelist Kingdom. He couldn't remember ever having been introduced to him, even mildly, though.

At least he has sense enough not to laugh at someone making fun of his betters. Kaiba snorted softly to himself, then turned his attention back to the work at hand. With a few clicks of keys, he had a countdown set up on one corner of his screen. When it reached zero, if the repair truck wasn't already there, they'd have a few words from Kaiba Seto in their ears when they did arrive.

Bakura was just able to keep his amusement down to a small smile as Jonouchi finished his ranting about the wealthy CEO who had just so effectively shot him down. He wouldn't have really minded laughing out loud, but it would have gone against his basic rule of life: staying unnoticed. Silence gave you so much more than sound.

"I should go find Mokuba anyway and keep him company!" Jonouchi grumbled, swinging his bag from one shoulder to another. "That'd show Kaiba!"

"Why bother?" Anzu asked, wonder and confusion in her voice. "It's not like he'd care even if you did."

"Besides, you said you'd duel with me," Yugi put in, bouncing ahead a little. "You're not backing out, are you?"

Honda laughed, leaning over to whack his blond friend on the arm. "Yeah, you can't back out of that. Who knows, you might even win this time!"

"Funny, Honda, really funny," Jonouchi glowered briefly at the other boy. "Yeah, I'm gonna play you, Yugi. Can't stay too long, though, dad's expecting me home."

Yugi nodded at once, violet eyes sparkling with joy at the thought of a duel that had nothing to do with saving anyone's soul or keeping his own out of danger. "I'm sure you'll win one of these days, Jonouchi!" He stopped in his tracks, a rich red blush creeping over his cheeks. "I didn't mean that like it sounded you know!"

Despite how true it is. Bakura tried not to react to the voice that sounded only in his ears, or his mind to be more accurate. The Spirit of the Ring had been a little more vocal in the days since Duelist Kingdom, making the occasional comment and observation on Yugi and his friends. It appeared he was going to watch them for a while before making any more attempts to claim their Items, and Bakura wished he knew why. There seemed to be some kind of extra smugness in his unwelcome tenant's mind-tone these days, and Bakura himself had his own notions on why this was. He refused to voice any of them, though, even to himself. The way Pegasus had just vanished was never far from his mind, nor was the fact the spirit's smugness dated from the disappearance of the game-creator.

"I know you didn't, Yugi." Jonouchi ruffled his friend's spiky hair merrily. "Besides, you've always beaten me fair and square every time. If I gotta lose, at least it's to someone who doesn't cheat." All of them nodded; the lessons of Duelist Kingdom would never fade, with more cheaters and mistaken duelists than they'd ever thought they would meet having shown up.

"Are you guys coming to the shop?" The tri-color haired teen looked at the rest of the group. "Grandpa wouldn't mind, I know. He's got some new cards in, too." Grandpa never lost the chance to show off what he knew about Duel Monsters, to anyone who would sit still long enough to listen. Or who could be made to sit still.

"Sure, I'll come," Honda shrugged casually, Anzu agreeing a breath or two later. Bakura was about to add his own voice in agreement when someone easily spoke through his lips.

"I'm afraid not, Yugi. I have a special project I've got to begin tonight, so I really must be going. Maybe next time?" The Spirit of the Ring had so smoothly taken over that Bakura himself hadn't noticed it had happened until he'd spoken. He blinked from the confines of his soul room, shaking his head. The Spirit was getting far too good at this.

What was even scarier, and sadder, was the fact no one else seemed to notice any kind of difference. "No problem, Bakura." Yugi waved slightly at him as they came to a crossroads. This was where they usually met in the mornings, and now where they'd be parting ways. "See you tomorrow!"

"See you!" The Spirit raised Bakura's hand to wave cheerily, then as soon as the rest of the group was out of sight, shoved his host back into place abruptly.

Bakura shook his head again, trying to adjust to the quick shiftings. How had Yugi stood this kind of thing during the duel with Pegasus? He'd heard from Anzu and Jonouchi about how the small duelist and his own spirit-companion had outfoxed the wielder of the Millennium Eye, and the thought of that kind of complete trust was overwhelming.

Don't even think about it. We have the kind of trust I need. The Spirit snapped at him roughly. Now get moving.

Home? Bakura turned down the way without waiting for an answer. He knew that the Spirit had told Yugi he had a 'project', but it was impossible even for him to tell the difference between truth and lies where the dark one was concerned most of the time.

There was silence for a few moments before the answer. No. Do you know where Kaiba's brother goes to school?

Bakura had never quite thought about it that way, but there was something similar between the Spirit and Kaiba Seto. They both tended to ask questions in a way that meant the person they were talking to had better answer in a way they liked, or the consequences would be extremely harsh. "Yes. There's only one elementary school around here, anyway." There was always the chance that Mokuba had been sent to some fancy private school, but Bakura doubted it, really. It just didn't seem to fit with what he'd seen of the boy, or of the way his older brother seemed to want to keep him around.

Then go there. Bakura didn't wait around for an explanation, even if he'd thought he'd get it. The Spirit told him things when he wanted him to know them, no sooner. That was assuming that the Spirit even bothered to let him know. Most of the time, he just had to muddle along and hope that nothing too bad happened as he tried to make sense of what he'd been told, or found out just by being shoved back into control of his body in the middle of something or other.

He had a feeling that speed was of the essence, so he took the quickest route he knew: going back up the way he'd come for a little while, then turning down a sidestreet and heading through a stereotypical dark and menacing alleyway. He took careful steps, trying not to put his feet into any of the slimy spots he could see. Some of them were even worse than slimy, and were things he couldn't put a name to.

Watch where you're going. The Spirit spoke up again, and Bakura could feel his attention sliding around to dark areas in the alley that he himself hadn't noticed. Were there things breathing in those places? It was hard to tell, and he didn't have the time to wait and find out. Keep moving, host! He hadn't even noticed that he'd stopped moving until the Spirit had said something.

Jolted, Bakura started on through the alley again, navigating quickly around the trash, filth, and everything else. The Department of Public Works had definitely skipped this place. He stepped around a particularly large pile of something or other, balancing quickly in a slightly recessed doorway for a moment, keeping his hand on the old wooden door.

Host! Watch out! He jumped at the mental shout, then gasped as the door was pulled away from his fingertips. A large meaty hand grasped his wrist and pulled him in, a long-bladed, rusty knife glittering at his throat seconds later.

"What do we have here?" The fumes of whatever kind of booze the wannabe mugger had consumed were almost enough to put Bakura on his back right then and there. "Pretty little girl, aren't you?"

For one heartbeat, if the Spirit had asked him if he would mind if the Man-Eater Bug had a nice large bite out of this person, Bakura would have gladly agreed to the act. It was bad enough some of his classmates occasionally teased him about being feminine, but when total strangers tried it...

Then he reminded himself that this poor fellow probably hadn't been able to see anything clearly for years, depending on just how long his drinking problem had lasted, and it wasn't as if too many people came this way after all. The mistake could be overlooked.

Unfortunately, the Spirit of the Ring had other ideas. I don't overlook things that interfere in my plans, he growled moments before seizing control of the body and taking a firm grip on the mugger's shaking wrists. "I am not a girl, you fool. But you do seem to have something I could use."

The drunk blinked bleary brown eyes as if he couldn't comprehend just what was going on. Things were made much clearer for him when the dark spirit broke both of his wrists and snatched up the knife before it had a chance to fall very far. "Wuh?" was the only halfway intelligent thing he said, however.

Bakura felt as if he could relate. He pulled himself away from what was going on, doing his best to pretend it was some kind of bad movie he'd somehow wandered by. He could feel some of what the Spirit was doing, and 'not pretty' was a fairly mild way to describe it.

You really should pay attention. You might have to do this yourself someday. I won't always be around to protect you. Most people might've thought it was said with something that could be mistaken for friendship, even affection, if they'd been able to hear it. Bakura knew otherwise. He could hear the contempt and anger that filled his dark shadow's words.

He also denied every one of them. He didn't have to pay attention, and he would never have to do this kind of thing for himself. And he sincerely doubted there would ever be a time when the Spirit wasn't there. There was no way he'd ever be that lucky. Of course he really didn't describe what was happening now as 'protecting him'.

Heh. You can look now, host. It's all done with. Bakura carefully peeked out with just one eye, making certain not to try to see too much at once. While the Spirit had never exactly lied to him when it came to things like this, sometimes he didn't clean up as much as he thought he had.

This wasn't one of those times, though. Every trace of the mugger was gone, except for one: the knife held protectively in his own hands. He stared down at the slightly rusted blade and started to open his fingers to get rid of it. The second he tried, the spirit took command of the hand quickly.

Don't try that again. This belongs to me now. A sense of satisfaction leaked over slightly from his side of their mind, and Bakura shuddered. What could he need something like this for? It wasn't even clean.

A snort was the only answer he got, then he felt mental hands touching his forehead. The Spirit seldom actually touched him, and he tried not to shrink away in the slightest. It wouldn't do any good, since there was nowhere that he could go to escape the tenant. What could the dark shadow want with this knife? Didn't he have enough power with his deck?

That's enough. You're beginning to be annoying, and I have too much to do today to explain things to you. As it is, you're really don't need to remember what's happened. It's not as if you even want to, anyway. Ring, remove his memory of this event!

Bakura tried to put up some kind of a resistance to the power of the Item, but there wasn't much he could do. It responded far more to the Spirit than it did to him, after all. A brief flash of gold from somewhere in the vicinity of his chest was echoed by a flash of white in his mind, and he blinked a few times. Had something been happening? He had the feeling someone had been there just a few seconds earlier, but there was no sign of anyone there now. Maybe they'd just walked on by? But there was just no one, and that sent a chill down his spine. It was so similar to other things that had happened before...

Host, if I have to tell you again to keep moving, you won't like it. The Spirit's voice had a testy edge to it, and Bakura had no idea why. He didn't think he'd been doing anything to get on his bad side lately. He put the thoughts away and hurried along to Mokuba's school as quickly as he could. Whatever it was the Spirit wanted there, it was probably best for him not to worry about it for the moment. He didn't think his other half would do anything to really hurt Mokuba, after all. That would only cause trouble the Spirit tended to avoid. But he couldn't help being a little curious, no matter how tight the rein he kept on that curiosity. The Spirit would never harm him, but he spent so little time in his proper body that he didn't want to do anything that could put his use of it in danger.

In his soul room, the dark Spirit smirked to himself, quite content with what he'd achieved already since leaving that boring place known as 'school'. He'd acquired a weapon to defend himself, in case a situation arose where he couldn't use his deck, and the chance to quite possibly get Kaiba Seto owing him (or his host, not that there was any real difference in his mind) a favor was within his grasp. Bakura would know nothing of either event, however. The knife would have to be cleaned to remove fingerprints and rust both, of course. He could keep it from Bakura's knowledge the same way he kept the knowledge of his own possession of the Millennium Eye from him.

But for now, it was the Kaibas that really concerned the spirit. If Bakura had any idea of just why he was going to the younger Kaiba's school, he would probably balk, out of sheer annoying principle. That was unacceptable. So that information as well would be kept away from the living boy. He had no idea just what kind of favor he'd be able to get from the CEO, but anything could be useful, if one was clever enough.

He relaxed, leaning against a wall, arms folded and a satisfied smile twisting his lips. There was no regret in his mind for modifying Bakura's memories. It hadn't been the first time, and it definitely wouldn't be the last. Bakura wanted nothing to do with his darker aspect's deeds, and the Spirit was perfectly content with that. He would restore them some day, though. When it suited him to do so. But that day wasn't today. For now, he just had to get to the little Kaiba's school and set the next phase of things in motion.

To Be Continued