This story was a collaborative work of three people.

Original story, writing, editing, and plot from Septima & AllisonWalker.

Writing in-part by Okumori

The completed adult version is up and available on AFF, linked on my profile page.

NOW LET THIS BE DONE.

~AW

For a moment, there was no sound as the visuals of the holographic simulator disappeared, the imagery cutting out before Kaiba felt himself catch his footing again, putting a hand through his hair. Jonouchi was just as quiet, standing a few feet away, but Kaiba wasn't paying attention to him. He could only keep staring at his Duel Disk as the numbers glowed zero before he blinked, trying to adjust his sight yet achieving nothing for all his effort.

It didn't make any sense. Somehow the idiot across from him had managed to wipe the field with his Time Wizard and used Monster Reborn to wipe the rest of Kaiba's life points with a revived Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Standing in a daze, it didn't occur to him that he'd even lost until Jonouchi's voice finally broke through the silence, unsure laughter catching Kaiba's attention as his eyes flickered up.

"Wow," muttered Jonouchi, who looked exhilarated yet strangely shocked as he glanced from Kaiba to his Duel Disk and back towards Kaiba again, "I didn't expect that to happen."

He seemed unsure of what to do next. Kaiba wasn't so sure, either, if his subdued reaction hadn't made that clear already. His mind was cluttered with thoughts, trying to replay the Duel from beginning to end, yet nothing made any sense. Head aching, he wanted to take a seat somewhere, but until he had the whole mess figured out, he wouldn't be able to.

Even one of his eyes were twitching. Kaiba hadn't been sleeping well, and his whole body ached from only getting some three hours a night, but that wasn't an excuse to lose a Duel. Especially against someone like Jonouchi Katsuya, who derived his dueling victories from a deck stacked with luck and gamble cards.

It didn't make any sense. Jonouchi's deck wasn't strong enough, and Kaiba knew this for a fact; he'd done the analysis on it before during Battle City. There was no possible way for Jonouchi to have won, unless...

Unless.

No, Kaiba didn't want to even suggest to himself that he wasn't quite right. Sure, he was more tired than usual, and his mind was dashing all over from the lack of rest, but that didn't mean anything. He'd worked through exhaustion before, and losing two weeks' worth of good sleep shouldn't have wrecked him so far as to lose a Duel to someone below his own expertise.

Before he could think too much about it, though, Jonouchi's sharp voice echoed again, and Kaiba's eyes flashed up to glare at him.

"That took a long time," Jonouchi said before smirking and crossing his arms in a smug manner that made Kaiba's insides burn, "But I finally beat you. Can't call me a deadbeat loser anymore, huh? Well, that was a good match, but I got other shit to do and records to set, so I'll see you around, Kaiba."

Opening his mouth to speak, Kaiba thought about saying something smart, but he couldn't. He'd just lost. Kaiba still couldn't wrap his mind around that fact, let alone actually soak in Jonouchi's words to say a quick and sharp reply to them.

"I know it'll take you a while to get over that, but I'm sure you'll adapt. You always do, right? Later, loser!"

Then Jonouchi spun around and whooped before running off towards Domino Central. Kaiba could feel his muscles tensing up as his pride ached, but there was nothing he could do about it. Calling Jonouchi out for another Duel would do nothing, especially if he lost again, and Kaiba knew he wasn't fit to battle while his head kept hurting.

Something wet was dripping from his nose. At first Kaiba was going to ignore it, but brushing the back of his hand against it, he looked down only to find blood.

"Dammit. Of all fucking times to get a damn nosebleed..."

The weather was fucking with him. By the time he looked back up, Jonouchi was gone, and Kaiba was alone again in the back alley behind the Kame Shop, the shame of his defeat settling in. He'd have to find out a way to get back at Jonouchi. There was no way in hell he'd let that moron think he was actually a better Duelist or could call Kaiba a loser...

No, that wouldn't do. Jonouchi wasn't some gaming genius like Yugi, and he could be beat if Kaiba devoted himself to it. He'd just need to study him first.

Maybe he had underestimated Jonouchi. Kaiba could admit that much to himself. But next time he faced against him, that would not be the case. Jonouchi would not get away unscathed.

Kaiba collected himself after that last thought, calling for a car to pick him up and take him back to the mansion. Trying to see Yugi had been a bust. That was the only reason he'd even gone over to that side of town, and that was how Jonouchi had managed to run into him. If Kaiba hadn't been so damn curious about Yugi's whereabouts, the whole situation wouldn't have happened.

Yugi had gone away to Egypt again. Something about "trying to find himself with Ishizu in Cairo." His fool of a grandfather said he'd be back eventually, since he planned on continuing his dueling career. Apparently Yugi just needed time for himself.

Honestly, Kaiba didn't care too much about it. The man he'd considered at one time to be his greatest rival had passed on some time ago, and no one had even bothered to tell him about it until afterwards. If Yugi wanted to continue dwelling on the past, then that was his business. Kaiba was no longer personally invested in the boy, anyways.

Eventually a black Bentley arrived and picked Kaiba up, discreetly showing up at the back of the Kame Shop before driving towards the suburbs where the Kaiba Mansion stood. Usually Kaiba was in a rush to get home fast, but since Mokuba had left (without permission) for California, things had slowed down at home to an almost infuriatingly slow crawl.

Kaiba couldn't even remember what the argument was about. Mokuba was always fighting with him about something, and rubbing his temples, Kaiba sighed before slumping against the back seat of the car. He was relieved to have the rest of the day off, but he knew it wouldn't do him much good. His mind felt overloaded, and Kaiba knew any attempts at sleep would just end up with him staring at the ceiling for hours, since his brain wouldn't shut off from conceiving every single horrible situation possible with Mokuba being away from where Kaiba could watch him. It wasn't like the kid would be homeless in California, but there were always accidents. And kidnappings. And random crime. Kaiba shivered involuntarily, silently cursing himself. And his damn brother, for being so stubborn, but mostly himself. Smart as Kaiba was, he could be such an obstinate idiot sometimes.

But not as idiotic as Jonouchi Katsuya, but Kaiba definitely didn't want to go down that train of thought right now...

It wasn't possible to just go overseas and collect Mokuba, either. Kaiba Corporation needed Kaiba, and taking an impromptu trip to Los Angeles would only make Mokuba behave worse. He liked it when Kaiba reacted to his bad behavior, and Kaiba tried so hard to just ignore it and shame him afterwards. Mokuba could usually be reasoned with when he felt like he'd made his point, and he'd have to come back eventually, too, because of school.

It was just so boring without him.

The car was silent as it sped through Domino, leaving the more grungy side for the pristine clean that was the old money district. Kaiba Mansion had been in the family for a long time, and despite how beautiful it was, nothing about it really appealed to Kaiba Seto himself. Even as a kid, he thought the house was overbearing and ridiculously styled, but he had no desire to do anything about it.

Getting out of the car, Kaiba went outside and crossed the front steps of the house before the footman opened the main entrance, allowing him into the grand foyer where the staircase stood. He was brisk getting up the stairs, despite carrying a Duel Disk and briefcase. The only thing that let his fatigue show was how light his head felt once he reached the top; Kaiba paused for a moment as his brain flipped in his skull before he headed towards the master bedroom.

Mokuba's room stood near his, and Kaiba paused, reaching there. It was empty, of course, but that didn't stop habit. Glancing over the space, Kaiba frowned as he surveyed the empty blue bed, the comforter neatly folded on top of the mattress, and pillows fluffed on top. If Mokuba had been there, the place would have been a mess, and Kaiba knew he would have barked at him for it being so torn apart.

"Make your bed, you heathen," he would have said while passing along, "And stop wearing your shoes inside."

Mokuba didn't care about his culture's customs too much, and passing over the room feeling rather empty, Kaiba got to his own bedroom where he dumped his briefcase. Even though it was a futile effort, he'd try to sleep, anyways.

He used the bathroom quickly before undressing and pulling the curtains closed. It had been a lovely midsummer day, but Kaiba wanted nothing to do with the waning sunshine. Darkness was what he preferred, and getting under the sheets of his bed, he rolled onto his stomach before grumbling and sighing.

It could have been worse, maybe. Jonouchi could have continued on insulting him (and rightly so, given Kaiba's past behavior) or could have seen Kaiba during his embarrassing nosebleed after. Even though they were a frequent occurrence thanks to weather and the temperature changes from going indoors where it was cool, the accidents didn't stop Kaiba from feeling uncomfortably human.

"People would have thought you were some robot if you didn't bleed so much," Mokuba used to tease, "It's hilarious."

Kaiba didn't think they were so funny. Nosebleeds always happened at the worst times: halfway through meetings, on top of paperwork, during business meals, or when Kaiba was trying to drive himself home. He hardly understood them, and it was even more humiliating getting one right after Jonouchi had left him in the alleyway.

It wasn't like Kaiba could stop nature from acting up against his will, but still.

Grumbling to himself, he covered his head with a pillow, closing his eyes and trying not to think about how humiliated he felt after Jonouchi laughed before leaving the alley in a dash. Jonouchi was smart for not sticking around; now all Kaiba could think about doing was getting back at him, somehow. Drawing him into a Duel and beating him down until Jonouchi never thought of challenging him again.

On the same token, Kaiba couldn't keep his mind straight. His temples throbbed, and everything felt sore and uncomfortable. His eyes even stung when he wasn't staring at a computer screen, and Kaiba knew it was from the lack of sleep. Dealing with some eye twitching was one thing, but the now-constant migraine headaches were another.

Mokuba needed to come back home already.

Looking back to days before, Kaiba tried to remember just what had set him off but couldn't quite remember. Mokuba was always being a giant brat, and Kaiba knew he didn't deal with his new attitude too well since he'd become a loud-mouthed teenager. To a certain degree, he knew it was going to happen, and Mokuba was going through the typical growing pains, but it was wearing him out.

Changing position again, Kaiba turned onto his back and sighed before combing through his hair anxiously. Mokuba was just so stubborn. Once he set his mind to something, there was no way to stop him. Kaiba smiled a little at the similarity, but dealing with it head-on was not fun. Maybe one day it would help Mokuba in the business world, having that kind of ferocity dealing with pushy insubordinates, but right now it was wearing Kaiba out.

There was no way on earth Kaiba was going to fall asleep. But closing his eyes, he tried all the same.

"You lost a Duel?"

Sitting across a long table surrounded by his Board of Directors, Kaiba just shrugged at the question before looking across the room. He knew he was being escapist, but dealing with the inquisition over his dueling record of all things wore his patience thin, and just ignoring their stern gazes made things better than actually letting them think he gave any of their words a second of thought.

"Kaiba-sama lost an unranked match against Jonouchi Katsuya, a semi-professional Duelist who placed third in the Battle City finals," informed one of the men, "He's very good."

"So good he ruined Kaiba-sama's record," another man snorted. "I thought only one player could do that. What if people lose faith in the company because of this? We could be potentially ruined if we don't do something to cover this scandal up!"

'Scandal'? Kaiba would hardly call his loss a scandal. More like a mishap—something he hadn't foreseen happening—but it could be fixed. He didn't know why the Board liked becoming frazzled over such silly things as card game Duels when the company was already quite secure now without Kaiba's constant campaigning, but a few of the old fools were probably still paranoid of failure.

"Hardly anyone knows about this Duel," Kaiba finally interrupted, flashing his eyes across the room before sitting one of his legs up against the other, trying to become more comfortable in his seat. No doubt he'd be stuck there for a while. "It wasn't a ranked match, and no one cares about who Jonouchi Katsuya duels. He's just another no-name professional wannabe."

"You said that before, Kaiba-sama, but he was third place in your last tournament and second for Duelist Kingdom, not to mention top eight in the city finals-"

"-Only because I couldn't compete, myself," Kaiba snapped, "He's gotten lucky a few times, sure, but that's no reason to overdramatize the situation. I can take care of this alone."

"Can you?" asked one of the Board members rather sarcastically, "This is the fifth time you've lost a game, Kaiba-sama. Maybe you're finally losing your touch."

"I'm not losing my touch, but thank you for your concern," answered Kaiba. The man bristled slightly before shifting uneasily in his seat, Kaiba's full gaze on him now that he had spoken up. "I haven't been feeling well, lately. As soon as I feel normal again, I'll get Jonouchi Katsuya in a rematch, and you all can go find something else to fuss over. Now please, stop wasting my time with this pointless meeting, when I have better things to be getting done right now..."

"Like trying to get your brother back?" continued the man from before, "He's been gone for weeks now, Kaiba-sama."

"Mokuba will come back when he's ready."

"He's the Vice President—he can't just disappear whenever he wants to. You placed a child in a position of authority that better men could have filled-"

"-I placed my brother where he could help me keep myself from being surrounded by social-climbing yes-men," replied Kaiba harshly. The man promptly shut his mouth, his lips tight as he frowned. Everyone else just looked uncomfortable. "Like I said before," continued Kaiba, "When Mokuba's ready to return, he'll come back. Until then, we'll all make do without him.

"Now unless there's something dire I need to know about from any of you, I'd like to adjourn this meeting so I can get some real work done."

Everyone looked around uneasily, moving their papers around while one man coughed. The only woman in the room collected all her things and placed them away into her leather briefcase before everyone else followed suit, apparently taking her cue to prepare to leave.

"Good. I'll be in my office if someone changes their mind."

Kaiba was quick to get up before anyone could address him, marching across the room and disappearing down the hallway until he reached his own private office. Thankfully, it was protected by his overbearing personal assistant, whose desk stood outside of his door, successfully keeping out anyone who hoped to waste some of Kaiba's time with pointless talk. Isono took his job very seriously, and Kaiba was grateful for that.

Sitting down at his desk, Kaiba dropped his elbows and tugged at his hair, grumbling aloud before releasing a long, frustrated sigh. Despite trying to sleep earlier than usual, he still only managed a few hours of rest, and his eyes still burned while looking into the lights of his computer screen. His meeting with the Board didn't help, but at least they weren't Gozaburo's old men. He'd thrown them out a long time ago after they'd tried selling the company to Pegasus, but still. Kaiba wasn't quite over that betrayal, even if he had completely new people to bother him every other day...

They still doubted Kaiba more than he would have liked. As if he hadn't already shown several times before that he knew what he was doing and didn't need people second-guessing him...

But if they didn't second-guess him at least every once in a while, they'd just be the yes-men he had referred to moments before.

The more Kaiba thought about about it, the more he wanted to pull all of his hair out.

Mokuba wasn't going to come back anytime sooner. Kaiba was sure of that much. The company wasn't suffering due to his absence, since he was still very young and didn't have an overwhelming amount of work on his shoulders, but Kaiba certainly could feel the difference. He felt utterly alone, almost abandoned. There was no one in the office he could truly trust, and that put his nerves on edge as he opened up his laptop and started looking through the Dueling Network Database.

Jonouchi Katsuya had six out of eight stars in his rank with a new (and long) list of dueling championships, Kaiba discovered as he scrolled through the profile. They were mostly local and regional events, but still. He was dueling hard, and Kaiba felt his mouth twitch a little when he realized that taking Jonouchi back down a few pegs wouldn't be easy.

Still, after some sleep, Kaiba was sure that he'd be able to handle a rematch. Jonouchi was prone to stupid mistakes and based his deck on gambling and luck cards, which typically were no match for Kaiba's beatdown deck. It might be a little difficult, but Kaiba was confident he'd be able to set the record straight.

As Kaiba first presumed, Jonouchi only had one minor sponsor. If Jonouchi had more financial backing, no doubt he could go farther in his career, since registration fees were very expensive, and one usually only broke even if one could place within the top three during the competition.

Jonouchi wasn't a bad Duelist. As much as it pained Kaiba to admit, he actually had a lot of potential that wasn't being cultivated correctly. Turning him into a potential rival wasn't exactly a comfortable idea for Kaiba to play around with, but being able to maintain close enough proximity to study his methods could turn advantageous.

No doubt, Jonouchi would take the offer of sponsorship if Kaiba offered it to him in person. He'd probably be proud and stubborn if someone else talked in place of Kaiba.

But still, there was more to look into first. He searched into Jonouchi's current whereabouts, finding a small mechanic shop near where Yugi used to live. According to records, Jonouchi was working part-time as an assistant mechanic, fixing domestic and import motorcycles. Kaiba snorted, feeling his upper-class snobbery getting the best of him, but he kept reading before he got carried away with it.

Apparently Jonouchi was still living in the shitty side of town, too, with his father. Now that was interesting. Moving slightly closer to the computer screen, Kaiba glanced down as he looked over Jonouchi senior, who was a construction worker with a really bad alcohol addiction and had been jailed for not being able to pay off his gambling habit. Jonouchi had bailed him out recently—which Kaiba found shocking to say the least—with tournament money.

No wonder he was broke. Frowning, Kaiba continued reading before finally closing out of the search engine. It would be easily to convince Jonouchi into agreeing to a sponsorship deal. He had barely any money and was losing what he did have to his good-for-nothing father. As much as Kaiba didn't like him, he couldn't say Jonouchi deserved such a shitty situation, and there were hardly any other Duelists more deserving of the opportunity, even if Kaiba thought his deck was shit.

Maybe he was being biased—Kaiba didn't know. All he did know was his headache was becoming too much to bear, and groaning once again, Kaiba shut down his laptop before dropping his head into his arms and trying to fall asleep.