Things We Do
Fandom: Yuugiou: DM: GX
Disclaimer: Yuugiou does not belong to me. No profit is being made from fanfic.
Summary: Yugi and Kaiba have a little talk.
Notes: All names are written last name first for this fic. Takes place in an unspecified time after [Juudai vs. Kaibaman and before [Juudai vs. Kagemaru. OOC like, whoa, but since they're older now, I figure some things change.
"YOU," Yugi declared as he sat down, "are a hypocrite."
Kaiba looked up and threw a smirk at the short duelist over his desk. "I don't know what you mean."
Yugi gave him a withering glare. "You faced Yuki Juudai—"
"Who?"
"Don't interrupt. I know it was you. Dreamsprite told me."
Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "You take the word of a low-level fairy."
Yugi stared right back. "Dreamsprite, as you well know, resides in the Oasis of Soul. Not only is that one of your areas, but you appeared there through Kaibaman, your highest avatar."
Kaiba boredly turned back to his computer. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Yugi ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Will you stop doing that already?! You're spread out everywhere in the card-spirit world! I couldn't keep track of how many avatars you have!"
Kaiba, unfazed, kept right on typing.
"Not," Yugi admitted, "that I don't have a lot, either. But that's not the point. Now stop pretending you're still a skeptic jerk and tell me your impressions of Yuki Juudai."
Kaiba leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. "I would've thought that your spirits would have reported to you. Yuki Juudai did duel your deck, Yugi."
"But not against me. You actually dueled him, Kaiba-kun. And the fact that you knew what happened to my deck there means you're interested enough to keep tabs on him. Now spill."
"I didn't take him there," Kaiba said dryly. "His spirit—one of yours," Kaiba threw Yugi a scathingly knowing glance, to which Yugi beamed brightly, "led him there and prodded me. Since I was interested as to what would make one of yours contact me and I wasn't busy at the moment, I sent Kaibaman."
"And the duel?" Yugi prodded.
Kaiba threw Yugi an annoyed look, but continued. "Once he got there, I could tell why your furball with wings led him there. He looked like your King did when he lost you. No will to duel."
"Because he was afraid of the consequences," Yugi filled in.
"And of losing," Kaiba added. "So I imported my deck and we dueled. At first he was afraid. But," Kaiba snorted. "The kid's like Jounouchi. Once he remembered he wasn't playing for stakes, he started to play for real."
"Ah." Yugi leaned back in his chair. "Do you think he'll remember that?"
"I doubt he'll be able to forget." Kaiba threw Yugi an amused glance. "I took him down with Ultimate."
"After he almost beat it." Yugi looked smugly amused.
"He thought he beat it." Kaiba rolled his eyes. "That last combo was one of his staples. Any mediocre duelist could've blocked it."
"Is he good enough to realize what you were trying to teach? We can't—"
"I flat-out told him. If your little apprentice doesn't realize it after that, I'll skewer him myself."
"He's not my apprentice," Yugi said absently. "The Sangenma have started to move. The Seven Stars won't be holding back."
"The Seven Stars won't be the ones to unlock the Three Demon Cards." Kaiba said dryly.
"Don't underestimate them," Yugi warned. "I think there's another force moving." He frowned. "I can't get a definite reading, though. It's like the force is slipping between here and the Realm of the Dead."
"He may well be," Kaiba interrupted. He turned to his computer, called up a file, and swiveled the screen in Yugi's direction. "This may be force in the shadows."
"Are you sure?"
"Considering the members of the Seven Stars, and more importantly, their decks, most likely," replied Kaiba, turning his computer back.
Yugi sat back in his seat. "That's why you went willingly, then," he said. Ignoring Kaiba's glare, he continued, "Because you were fighting to the fullest with your own deck, he would've realized that the deck he was playing against was Kaiba Seto's. He would've listened to you."
"If he was as good as you thought he was, he would've realized it without my knocking him on the head with it," Kaiba said dryly. "You're too paranoid. You're the one who told me to trust in him."
Yugi gestured helplessly. "I'm worried about the reading on this Kagemaru guy. If he can call on properties of Yami no Geemu—"
"You sealed those," Kaiba said sharply.
"Were you paying attention? Darkness could call on it," Yugi replied severely. "At the moment, we haven't figured out what Darkness is, or why it took Tenjyoin Fubuki."
"Tenjyoin Fubuki was offered up on a dish. Mystery solved." Kaiba straightened in his chair.
"Kaiba-kun," Yugi sighed, "try to get past the fact that Tenjyoin-kun was one of the students under your care and focus on him as an individual. What do we know about him?"
Kaiba turned to his computer. "Top student. Otherwise, he was a goof. Disappeared for a while, and was then found by Yuki Juudai and his merry little band. That's all we know. My people went through the fourth dorm with a fine-toothed comb and didn't find anything."
"But your people don't know the dark," Yugi said slowly. He unclenched his hands apologetically. "I should've gone to investigate, myself."
"Is this going anywhere?"
"Yes." Yugi bit his lip. "If Darkness knows how to call on Yami no Geemu, he could well know how to bring back Yami no Geemu as instituted by the Sennen Items."
"Darkness is gone now. Sealed. As are the Sennen Items." Kaiba said firmly. "Worrying won't change anything, Yugi. You are the Keeper of the Games. We'll worry about it if it comes to it."
"We." Yugi smiled. "I believe I like the sound of that."
"Don't get used to it," Kaiba said roughly, embarrassed that he'd actually said it.
Yugi twiddled his fingers. "I'll let Juudai-kun handle it. We can always step in if we need to."
"Exactly. Now get out of my office."
"Oasis of Soul" doesn't exist. I made it up.
"Ultimate" Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Throughout DM (Japanese), everyone refers to BEUD as "Ultimate."