7Bond of Friendship
By NinjaxSketcheartx
"Mr. Kaiba, sir."
Kaiba looked up from the paperwork on his desk. "What is it, Roland?"
"I apologize for disturbing you, sir, but there have been a number of employees from Duel Academy requesting for your attention."
"What do they want?"
Roland shifted uncomfortably. "Several teachers have requested that they display the deck of a famous duelist to boost their students skills. With your consent, this deck would go on a tour and young duelists would compete for tickets to see the deck of the champion."
Kaiba frowned. "Who's deck have they requested?"
Roland's voice was hesitant. "Yugi Muto, sir."
Like I didn't see that coming. The sheer notion that people saw Yugi as a better duelist than him never failed to irritate him. Right now, it only offended him that the people he hired didn't think of displaying his deck. But of course, with Yugi being the number one Duelist, it only made sense and Kaiba found that he couldn't argue with that.
He thought about the issue at hand, then nodded.
"All right. Tell the teachers that they have my approval."
"But there's a problem, sir," Roland replied. "We also need Yugi Muto's approval. It's common procedure that we ask the person himself for their consent."
Ah. Of course. Yugi had decided to travel around the world when he moved out of his grandfather's gameshop. Unfortunately, he would disappear for a period of time unless he entered a duel tournament. But other than that, he left the face of the earth.
He didn't know how Yugi was able to drop in and out but he made sure not to make a habit out of it. Years have passed but he would remain unreachable unless he made himself known. And since he rarely showed up, it would be a while until he appeared again.
Roland continued, "It will be hard tracking him down—"
"If you can track him down."
"—especially since he doesn't carry his duel disk anymore, sir."
Kaiba sighed. "Well, that's unfortunate. Looks like those students will have to wait."
"Forgive me, Mr. Kaiba," Roland said respectfully. "But the teachers are persistent that this be carried out. They are quite eager for their students to be rewarded for their hard work."
"And?" Kaiba inquired, tapping his finger on the desk.
"With all due respect, sir. The teachers understand that you have your hands full but they have requested that you do a thorough search."
"And what difference will I do?" Kaiba asked, annoyed. "If I was to become involved in this issue, it's not like I can wave a magic wand and make him appear. I just gave my permission, but you need his. And as far as I know, Yugi's current location is unknown. So good luck finding him."
Kaiba didn't mean to reprimand his right-hand man but his words rang true. Even Yugi's friends couldn't get a hold of him. Kaiba had already tried to track Yugi down himself. The last time he had appeared, Yugi entered (and won) a duel tournament in Australia but before Kaiba could get a hold of him, he was gone. And that was eight months ago. There was no point in trying to track him down again. It was a waste of time and effort.
"I'll take care of it, Roland."
Kaiba tore his eyes away from Roland. He had forgotten that his little brother was studying quietly on the couch.
"No, Mokuba. You need to focus on your studies."
Mokuba pouted. His little brother was a grown man but there were times that he would act like a child. Perhaps, despite age, he was still a child.
"C'mon," Mokuba whined. "My seat is warm just from sitting here all day. I need to get up and move."
"No. You take your final exam in two weeks. Fail that and you can kiss your diploma goodbye. I can't have you running around the world looking for somebody who doesn't want to be found."
Mokuba looked thoughtful. His little brother knew that Kaiba was only scolding him out of concern. As influential as he was, he wanted Mokuba to have a life that he attained through hard work, not through someone who he was related to.
"Don't worry, big bro," Mokuba replied, smiling. "Soon as I take care of this, I'll go back to studying. Promise."
Before Kaiba could protest, Mokuba jumped out of his seat and pulled on his headphones. Kaiba prohibited him from using them as he studied since Kaiba knew music would only distract him. If he had allowed him to listen to his music just this once, Mokuba wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity of looking for Yugi. He'd remember that next time.
Roland cleared his throat. "There's something else, sir."
Kaiba resisted the urge to groan. "What now?"
"You have a visitor."
Kaiba narrowed his eyes.
Even Mokuba looked dubious. "I thought you weren't expecting anyone today, Seto."
"I wasn't," he responded before turning to Roland. "This person must be real important for you to allow any visitors, especially when I specifically told you not to."
"I understand, Mr. Kaiba."
Kaiba softened slightly. Roland was always a dedicated worker and his loyalty to the Kaiba Corp Company was valued immensely. Mokuba liked him since he was so helpful and Roland was the only employee Kaiba really trusted.
"How important is this visitor?" Kaiba asked.
"I wouldn't say important. Rather, she was insistent."
A woman. Kaiba didn't know whether to be amused or bothered by this. "To what end was she willing to go just to get my attention?" he asked.
The moment Roland opened his mouth, the double doors of Kaiba's office thrust open.
Kaiba grimaced once he saw who it was. "What do you want?"
"Nice to see you, too, Kaiba."
There was something about the young woman that Seto never liked. It was the way she always held herself. With her buxom body, head held high and chest puffing out, she walked with a flair and confidence that only a true duelist could have. She strutted around in her tight shirts and skirts and high heeled boots, showing off her wicked curves and sinfully longs legs along with her flowing blonde hair. Her sharp eyes challenged anyone but they also seemed to hold a sense of longing and loneliness. Something that he, admittedly, could relate well to.
Judging from the last and only time he saw her duel, she was a good duelist, but it always bothered Kaiba that she sashayed around like a peacock. Then again, Yugi and his friends used to say the same thing about him.
He narrowed his eyes. "I don't have the patience for pleasantries. Tell me what you want so I can get back to work. Or do I need to have security show you the way out?"
She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Is that any way to treat a lady? How are you going to expand your family company with that awful charm of yours?"
"Are you here to waste my time? Or do you have something useful to say?"
There was a pause before she spoke. "I need your help."
"And why should I help you?"
"If you're so eager to get rid of me, then I'll just skip to the point." Before Kaiba could utter a smart remark, she said, "I need to find Yugi."
Standing by the doorway next to Roland, Mokuba grunted. "Get in line."
Now, this was interesting. Of all people why would she want to find Yugi? Did she have a score to settle with him?
Kaiba leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Half the world is looking for him. Even my satellites can't seem to pinpoint his exact location. Either I need to upgrade my satellite system or he's somehow blocking it. Both of which I doubt."
His statement didn't faze her. The smirk that she returned further irritated Kaiba. "Wow. I'm surprised that even you can't find him. Now, if I do recall correctly, you were always going on about your company and its state of the art technology. Did your system finally have a short circuit or are you just losing your touch?"
Kaiba tensed. "Don't test me. How about you run a company for a change?"
"Oh, did I hit a sore spot?" she replied, feigning sympathy. "Next time, show some respect."
"You'll have to earn my respect."
"From the way this is turning out, I'd say I wouldn't even want it."
Kaiba composed himself before he said anything rash. He took a deep breath. "You came here, hoping that I'd help you. I don't know why you'd want to see him but I don't really care. You wasted your breath and my time." Kaiba turned to his trusted employee. "Roland, escort Ms. Valentine out."
Mokuba, who was still in the room, glanced at her as she was being lead out. He gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Mai. As soon as I find Yugi, you'll be the first to know."
Mai looked at Mokuba and smiled sadly. "Thanks, kiddo."
Kaiba narrowed his eyes. If he had no luck in finding Yugi, then what chance did his little brother have? He watched Mokuba, who refused to make eye contact with him, retreat with Mai and Roland as the door shut behind them.
"I'm sorry, Yugi."
Across from him, Rebecca had a blanket draped over her shoulders. It was the only thing they were able to recover when their campsite was raided by mountain lions.
Yugi looked up from his cards. They were playing a friendly game of War using only their monster cards. The goal was to make sure your opponent lost all his/her cards. The person with the monster of a higher level collected both cards. So far, Rebecca was winning.
"What are you sorry for?" Yugi asked.
Rebecca sighed. "If I hadn't dragged you with me on this camping trip, you wouldn't be in this predicament."
"It's alright," he said softly. They both drew a card from their decks and placed it on the ground. Witch of the Black Forest against Kuriboh. No contest.
"No, it's not," she denied as she collected the cards.
"Well, if you hadn't dragged me along you would be by yourself in the middle of the woods," Yugi replied. "No one, friend or stranger, shouldn't be out in the forest all alone. These woods are scary."
"I'm not scared of anything."
Yugi chuckled as he drew his next card. It was Gandora the Dragon of Destruction. "You could've fooled me."
"Oh, like your not scared of anything?" she huffed, drawing her Luster Dragon. Yugi collected the cards and thought about his response.
"Even the greatest people have the greatest fear. I'm always worried about the safety of my friends," he took a brief pause before saying, "You looked frightened when those mountain lions approached us. I thought they don't attack people unless they were threatened."
Rebecca bit her bottom lip. "Typically, mountain lions don't attack unless their prey runs, making us seem weaker."
Yugi nodded. "We shouldn't have run, then. We should have stood our ground." He lifted his head and stared at her. "So why didn't you?"
Yugi remembered stepping out of the outhouse when he heard Rebecca's high pitch scream. Afterwards, she grabbed his wrist and they both took off. He distinctly remembered the fierce predators growling after them as they ran for their lives. What he couldn't get out of his head was the way Rebecca kept shaking and stuttering.
It was almost hard to believe how much both of them had changed. Rebecca was eighteen and she didn't have much to do since she already finished college in her early years. She had replaced her glasses with contacts though she carried them with her just in case.
Yugi just turned twenty-six and since he moved out of Grandpa's Gameshop, he decided to travel to parts unknown. It was difficult going on his own but he quickly discovered the joy it could bring. He made new rivals, new friends, and even encountered some old ones. His friends back home were busy with their own lives and Yugi respected that, though he missed them dearly.
Traveling by himself sounded easy at first but without his friends to accompany him, especially the Pharaoh, it just wasn't the same. So far he traveled to Australia, Russia, Rome, Mexico, France, Portugal, and Canada. Along the way, he entered duel tournaments but it was hard since they were in different languages and Yugi could only understand so little.
His current trip was Canada where the countryside beckoned him for adventure. Upon emailing Rebecca about his whereabouts, she boarded the next flight to Vancouver from California and invited him to hiking in the woods. Aside from getting chased by mountain lions and having to swim in a river to shake them off, this trip was the most exciting one yet.
Rebecca thought otherwise.
"I was… startled," she finally answered.
"Oh, come on," Yugi urged, forgetting about their card game. "You can tell me anything."
Rebecca looked up with hesitation. Her green eyes shimmered with sadness as the fire from the logs danced around her face. Yugi didn't miss how she clutched the blanket tighter.
"Is it about your grandfather?" he asked softly.
Professor Arthur Hawkins had been laid to rest last month. Yugi had missed out on the funeral since Rebecca was so upset that she didn't even email him for two weeks. It wasn't until he received a phone call from Grandpa that Yugi found out about Professor Hawkin's death. Both Rebecca and Grandpa were troubled and depressed but only one of them seemed to be moving on.
Rebecca made no indication that she was going to answer him. Instead, she picked up a card from her thick deck, which was mixed with his and hers, and showed it to him. It was Yugi's Dark Magician Girl.
Yugi drew her Shadow Ghoul. She collected both cards. The cycle continued until Yugi was down to his last monster. Strangely enough, he already knew what it was without looking at it.
"I can take care of myself," Rebecca blurted.
"I'm sure you can," Yugi said gently. "But not without a little help."
Rebecca revealed her next card as her Ruby Dragon. Yugi drew his last card. It was Maha Vailo.
"A tie."
Rebecca smiled, satisfied. "Technically, I won since you lost all your cards."
Yugi chuckled. "I guess so."
He stood up to collect his cards but Rebecca threw herself at him. He would have braced himself had he been expecting it but since he didn't he fell on his back, bringing Rebecca down with him.
"I want him back! I just want to see him one more time!" she cried. Yugi's black shirt twisted as Rebecca clutched it with shaking fists. She sobbed and nuzzled her head on his chest as she mourned for her grandfather.
Yugi patted and rubbed her back, hoping it would soothe her. A hour must have passed until she stopped but by then she had fallen asleep. Yugi was afraid to wake her up so he didn't move. Instead, he awkwardly wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and settled to sleep, as well.
When he came to, it wasn't the bright sun or Rebecca's soft snoring that woke him up. Voices talking rather loudly stirred him awake and the smell of something cooking closeby aroused his senses. When Yugi looked to his left, three distinct people were sitting casually around a picnic table that wasn't originally there to begin with.
The man with silver hair caught Yugi looking, and smiled idly. "It's about time you woke up, Yugi boy."