Battle Cries in the Shadows
By Kekewey
A/N: Okay, I posted the fic beforeI got this new idea for Mokuba's reply for Seto refusing to let him come, so I just had to get this out. Sorry for the people who read before!
Italics is thinking
:blah: is yami talking to hikari
::blah:: is hikari talking to yami
Prologue:
"No."
"Kaiba-"
"No, don't 'Kaiba' me, Yami! I did my part! I will not be involved any more in your idiotic fantasies!"
Blazing crimson met icy azure. "You are already involved, Kaiba. You became involved the minute you were handed Obelisk."
"Which I don't hold anymore."
Yami sighed, resting his arms on Kaiba's large desk as he leaned forward in his chair. "Kaiba, must we go through this every day? You now are the possessor of the Sennen Rod. You are involved, and will be for the rest of your life. You should have accepted that by now. You are a High Priest, and this mission is part of your duties you must fulfill as my High Priest."
"I will not abandon my company to perform duties of my supposed past life! I have responsibilities now that I cannot afford to throw away!"
"Kaiba, we both know you could easily run your company with just a laptop and your cell phone. Defeating that rogue Duelist and mending the breached magical barriers are also your responsibilities. You are a High Priest as much as I am Pharaoh."
"Egypt is dead and dust, so I must say I agree with that statement." Kaiba's smirk mocked Yami.
"Kaiba-!"
"Damnit, Yami, I will not go to Smallville just because your 'spidey-senses' say something big is happening!" Kaiba would have banged a fist on his desk for good measure, but that would have been too revealing.
"Kaiba, while Egypt may not exist the way it did 3000 years ago does not mean that our duties have vanished as well. I am responsible for upholding the magical barriers and fixing the mishaps of Domino City and your duty is to uphold the other barriers I can't get to." Yami paused and smiled slowly. Triumphantly. It was the smile that spoke of future mischief for the ex-Pharaoh and even more humiliation for the CEO. "Think of it as a challenge."
"A challenge?"
"You will have to go undercover. You will be able to go to an American school. Besides stopping the magical attacks in the city, you will be able to experience a normal life, one of the challenges you have never achieved."
"What makes you think I want a normal life?"
"Your heavy denial of magic speaks for itself."
Seto looked down at his clasped fingers and shifted in his desk chair. Yami stood from his chair and walked until he was behind the mahogany desk and stood beside Seto, rested both palms flat on the desk, and leaned down until his eyes were on level with the CEO's.
"You'll be able to practice your recently required Shadow magic."
Seto growled.
::Yami, I don't think he's going to listen to you.::
:Then why don't you try, aibou. I know I'm getting through to him, but it may take your people skills to persuade him.: (1)
The Sennen Puzzle flashed and crimson faded to violet. Yugi straightened and walked back until he was staring at Seto from the other side of the desk, his boots making no noise on the navy carpet. "Please, Kaiba. If you don't stop these attacks, they will spread."
Mokuba. Seto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "We have to save the world again? I thought that business was done when Malik was defeated." Seto brushed his fingers on the Sennen Rod he kept in his belt. The gold warmed at his touch and he squeezed the item before looking back at Yugi. "Fine. I'll do it."
"Thank you, Kaiba."
"I'll expect a match when I'm back."
Yugi nodded.
"And keep an eye on Mokuba."
"He's not coming?"
"If this mysterious Duelist is as dangerous as you say he is, it would be best if Mokuba is left out. Besides, I need someone to keep an eye on Kaiba Corporation while I'm away. He is the Vice-President."
Yugi nodded. "I promise to watch Mokuba."
"Good. Now get out of my office."
Seto saw Yami appear in his transparent form beside Yugi and the spirit smirked at Seto. Seto scowled back at him and Yami chuckled and walked out of the office beside his hikari with a sweep of his long jacket. Yugi shook his head at Yami's antics and closed the heavy wooden door behind them.
Seto sighed and leaned back in his plush chair, wheeling the chair around to stare into the windows behind him and gazed at the impressive view of Domino City. He stood and walked over to the windows and took out the Sennen Rod, absently running his fingers over the polished gold.
I don't even know why I took this thing in the first place. When Yami handed it to me, every one of my senses was screaming to run from the madness that is connected to the Sennen Items. That kind of power...just as bad as that damn God Card. But that nagging feeling in the back of my mind just wouldn't go away He twirled the Rod absently and gazed over the city again. And because the Sennen Rod bonded with me, I guess Isis Ishtar was right all along. Seto's right eye twitched as he recalled Isis's smug smile when she saw the Rod in his belt. How he hated that woman. Seto turned away from the windows and slammed a fist down on the button on the intercom.
"Yes, Kaiba-sama?" his secretary asked. (2)
"I'm taking a vacation in a week. I don't know how long I'll be gone. I will be running the company still, but Mokuba is in charge of Headquarters while I'm gone."
"Yes Kaiba-sama. Where are you going?"
Kaiba shut off the intercom without answering. He sat in his chair and bought a ticket to Metropolis, Kansas via his trusty laptop. After some hacking, he managed to make himself a member of the local exchange student program that was going to Smallville. He picked up the phone and dialed his house. (3)
"Moshi moshi!" Mokuba's cheery voice answered. (4)
"Mokuba, it's me. I'm going to be taking a vacation to-"
"-Smallville. I know nisama. Yami told me." (5)
Seto's shoulders tightened at the mention of the ex-Pharaoh's name, but made himself relax. "So you know what I'm going to do, and what you have to do?"
"Yes, nisama. Come on, Seto, let me come!"
"No."
"Why not? I want to help!"
"No, Mokuba."
"Nisama!"
"Mokuba, I'll be fine."
"No you won't!"
Seto blinked at Mokuba's rare bursts of anger at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Seto, you're new to magic. You don't even like it. How are you going to be all right if you don't have anyone covering your back?"
"Mokuba, if I took you along, I would be putting you in unnecessary danger. And like you said, I'm new to magic, so I can't afford to be distracted if something happened to you. Besides, I need someone to look after Kaiba Corporation while I'm gone."
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone before Mokuba sighed. "Fine Seto. I'll stay." There was a pause before he said, "It's not going to be much of a vacation for you, is it?" Mokuba didn't wait for an answer as he continued. "I also created a fake ID, passport, and other papers for you. In a week, Seto Ryuujin will be picked up at the airport by a Gabe and Chloe Sullivan. Chloe is sixteen and attends Smallville High School and Gabe is her father. Gabe is the Vice-President at LexCorp " (6)
"Really?" Seto's voice showed mild interest. He paused, and then asked. "Ryuujin?" (7)
Mokuba laughed. "I thought it was cool."
Seto rolled his eyes. "See you tonight, Mokuba."
"Wait, nisama!"
"What?"
"We need to go shopping. You can't show up in Smallville dressed like you usually do."
"And why not?" Seto detested shopping with a passion he usually reserved for hating the make inu. (8)
"Because you'll be recognized." Mokuba said this like it was obvious. "We need to get you into low profile mode."
Seto sighed, rubbing his temples. "Fine."
"Oh, and nisama?"
"What?"
"Practice smiling!" With that, Mokuba hung up.
Seto hung up the phone and put his head in his hands. Sometimes it just didn't benefit to have a younger sibling.
Footnotes:
(1) "Aibou" means "partner or companion" in Japanese and Yami calls Yugi this all the time in the subtitled episodes.
(2) "Sama" is an honorary titled in Japanese for someone above you, such as your boss. Not to be confused with "San" which just means "Mr. or Mrs.".
(3) For those unfamiliar with the show Smallville, never fear, because you will be explained about it the same time Seto is explained it (or even before if I do any other thoughts from the characters of Smallville) and if you didn't catch that hint about Lex Luthor or LexCorp or even Metropolis, than you are waaaaay behind in basic pop culture. Okay, onto the footnote: In the show Smallville, Metropolis is twenty minutes from Smallville. Interestingly, in the comics Smallville is in Kansas and Metropolis is in Delaware.
(4) "Moshi, moshi" is a common way to answer the phone in Japan.
(5) "Nisama" means "honorable older brother" in Japanese and Mokuba calls Seto this all the time in the subtitled anime.
(6) I thought it amusing how the Kaiba brothers (okay, so we haven't seen Mokuba's hacking skills yet but I believe they are almost on par with Seto's) have no qualm about doing any illegal hacking, so I made Mokuba clever enough to forge papers. Also I am not entirely sure of Gabe Sullivan's profession in LexCorp or even if he works there anymore, but in my fic he does and he's the VP.
(7) "Ryuujin" means "dragon king". It is used in one of my favorite fics "It's Deja-Vu All Over Again" by Nenya85 and I hope she (or he) doesn't mind me borrowing it. Gomen nasai if you do!
(8) "Make inu" means "stray dog". If you still don't get who Seto was referring to, it was Jounouchi.
A/N: I'm pretty sure that this is the first Smallville/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover so I hope I can pull it off. I have big plans for this story and the some of the next chapters are already half-written, but due to the fact that I am anal about editing (I have removed stories on numerous times so I could fix them) the updating will be somewhat slow. So far there are no pairings and I don't have any plans for them, but who knows what may happen?
Review Reply: Amy Johnson: Thanks for liking my story. Was this update fast enough for you? Hee, hee just kidding. Like I said before, my next chapter should be up in a week.
Last A/N: I have Chapter 1 halfway written so it should be up in a week or two. Please review!