Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Family Bonds ❯ Chapter 16: The Domino Tournament ( Chapter 16 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Sailor Mini Venus 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.30.2006 | Updated On: 11.01.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 250 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 10.30.2006 | Updated On: 11.01.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 250 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: Saying I own Yugioh is like saying the world ended on June 6, 2006. It hasn't happened and it's not gonna happen. (Obviously, as it's way past that date)
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Tama and Ryou’s agreement has remained. The two are polite to one another while passing in the halls or classroom and at lunch and any other time the entire group finds time to hang out, but neither of them make any attempts at creating a friendship.
On the other hand, Ryou and Malik’s friendship has grown stronger. Unfortunately for the two lights, during much of the time they spend together their darker halves take over to fuss and fight and talk about the past.
A few times their conversations are overheard by Yumeri, who then comes out and begins arguing with Bakura over something random and pointless. Wisely, Mariku stays out of those arguments and finds great amusement in just watching the two of them.
September 4th is one of those days.
“Give me back the remote, thief!”
“Oh? Is the pot calling the kettle black?”
“TOMB ROBBER! Give me back the remote, now!!!”
Mariku walks out of the kitchen and across the hall with a bag of chips and leans against the living room doorway to watch the fight unfold. He gets there just in time to watch Yumeri tackle Bakura off the couch, wanting the remote back.
“Give it!”
“No! It’s mine now!”
There’s a loud ‘thunk’ as Bakura’s head meets the living room table. Mariku winces, momentarily feeling pity for his partner in crime. But then he remembers the bag of chips he’s holding and gets distracted by the salty, crispy food-things of delight.
“Bwahahaha!”
“Ow! Damn it!”
None of them notice the front door opening and closing or that the Millennium Rod shines brightly for a moment. In fact, up until Seth grabs the Millennium Rod from the belt loop of Mariku’s jeans and storms into the living room they don’t notice his presence.
“Stop this at once!” He yells powerfully, pointing the Millennium Rod at the two rolling around on the floor. “Lady Yumeri, rise at once! Rolling on the ground is not proper! And you,” He narrows his icy blue eyes at Bakura. “you will come with me. Now.”
Mariku watches in amusement as Seth walks across the room to Bakura, takes the thief by the arm, and proceeds to drag him to the kitchen.
Now if it were the lights and Seto who play out this scene it’d be even funnier, as Seto would play the part of the overprotective brother. Never mind that they wouldn’t even be in this situation.
“What the hell?” Yumeri asks blankly.
Mariku pulls a chip out of the bag and studies it. “Looks like Seth actually did put a small piece of his soul in the Rod. The bastard.” He nibbles the edge of the chip a little. “Don’t worry. Your hikari’s brother will be back to normal in a minute and most likely won’t remember any of this.” He bites into the chip, savoring the salty flavor. ‘Mmm… I love chips.’
In the kitchen, Bakura utters a curse in Egyptian and rushes out of the room with the Millennium Rod in hand. He tosses the golden item to Mariku and then hisses, “Retreat!”
Malik blinks and looks down at the bag of chips in one hand and the Millennium Rod in the other, wondering when he even got the bag of chips. Ryou bites his lower lip as he tries to figure out how he went from watching TV on the couch with Malik to standing in the hallway. Tama’s even more confused, as she was upstairs working on the computer.
“Does anyone else get the feeling something weird is going on?” Malik asks. “Because I have no idea how I got these chips or why I did.”
Ryou glances at the clock on the wall and his eyes widen “I could have sworn… wasn’t it just one o'five?”
Malik and Tama look at the clock. It reads 2:15.
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Noa Kaiba slowly sips his coffee, teal eyes looking out the window of his limo in boredom. So far his day has gone by normally. He got up early to do a little company work, ate a light breakfast, went to school and annoyed the blonde who sits in front of him in 3rd period, went to Kaiba Corp to go through a meeting and more company work, stopped at a coffee shop near where he works, and now he’s going home to eat a late dinner and do some more work.
Inattentively, his mind drifts to the girl in his computer programming class. ‘What was her last name? It sounded familiar. Too familiar. I’m sure I’ve never seen her before, so why would it sound familiar. Maybe I’ve met a relative.’ The image of another company owner floats to the top of his mind. ‘Muto! That’s what it is. But there’s no way…’
Thinking quickly he opens his laptop and clicks on the search icon he put on his desktop to make finding things easier. Then he types in ‘Muto’. Ten results pop up within seconds.
‘Sugoroku Muto, Kojiro Muto, Nashwa Muto, Kiba Muto, Tama Muto, Yu-’ His eyes widen and he goes back and clicks on Tama’s name. ‘Tama Muto, daughter of the CEO of Muto Gaming Company, Kojiro Muto. Reports show that she lives with her father, her older brother, her cousin, and two adopted brothers.’ Noa reads a little more and then clicks off the page and closes the laptop, his mind racing.
‘I don’t believe it. But why are they here? The main building is being constructed in America. I know for certain that Mr. Muto is there overseeing the building of it.’
A spot of bright red and pale blonde against the green of the part trees catches his attention. Without really thinking at all, Noa orders his driver to pull over. Once it stops, he gets out and steps into Tama’s path.
Tama stops in her tracks, calmly looks around to access the best method of escape should it be necessary.
“Tama Muto, right?” Noa questions.
Tama nods her head, more curious than scared. “Yes. Noa Kaiba, I presume.”
“Correct.” Noa says. “Care for a ride to your destination? I have a business idea I’d like to discuss with you.”
Tama thinks about this for a moment, hesitant to do anything that result in something bad happening. “Can you give me an idea about what this idea is about?”
“Ever heard of Duel Monsters?”
Tama almost rolls her eyes. “Whoever hasn’t is living under a rock. And you now have my attention. If you really want to discuss this further, meet me this Saturday at noon at the old coffee shop downtown. It’s the first coffee shop I’ve ever been to that is actually called ‘the Old Coffee Shop’.”
“Saturday at noon at the Old Coffee Shop.” Noa repeats. “I’ll be there.”
Tama gives a short nod. “Good.” Then she continues on her way, leaving a slightly baffled Noa behind.
“What did I just agree to?” He asks himself. “I completely gave in without thought! Idiot!” Cursing himself, Noa gets back into his limo and orders the driver to take him home. There he’ll be able to relax and figure out exactly what business idea he can propose to Tama.
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“I don’t think this is a very good idea.” Mokuba uneasily tells Tama. “Seto and Malik would both have a fit if they knew you have a meeting with Kaiba. You should at least take someone with you.”
“I am.” Tama says as she slips the last bobby pin into place in her hair.
“Blue doesn’t count.” Mokuba tells her.
Tama turns around with a smile. “Well, it’s a good thing that you’re coming with me, then isn’t it? Go change into something more impressive than a rock T-shirt and old jeans, please.”
Mokuba grins and races out of the room, calling over his shoulder, “Seto and Malik still won’t be happy about this!”
Tama sighs as she smoothes out the gray knee-length skirt she’s wearing. “I know, I know.”
Twenty minutes later, after failing to catch the bus and winding up getting a cab, Tama and Mokuba are seated at a secluded table at the café, both of them looking professional for the first time in Domino City.
Tama’s hair is pulled up into a neat bun and she’s wearing a collared white shirt, a gray vest, and the matching gray skirt. Mokuba has his hair pulled back into a low ponytail for once and he’s wearing an ironed, light blue button up shirt with a collar and a pair of ironed black pants. Resting between them is a black briefcase.
Noa soon arrives. “Ah, Miss Muto you look lovely today.” Noa says with a charming smile as he takes a seat. “And who is your companion?”
“One of my partners.” Tama says smoothly. “Mr. Kaiba, this is Mokuba Muto.”
“It’s a pleasure.” Noa says with a small nod in Mokuba’s direction. “Shall we get down to business?”
Tama waves over a waitress. “Coffee first. Then we’ll talk.
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September 28, 2006
“You seem please about something.” Seto notes, peering over the top of his glasses at Tama. “Too pleased. What are you up to or what have you done?”
“You’ll see.” Tama chirps cheerfully. “Just pay attention to the telly at seven o’clock and you’ll find out why I’m tickled pink.”
Seto raises his eyes to the kitchen clock. “It’s six fifty-eight.”
“Then start paying attention.” Mokuba says from the living room. He turns up the TV a little more. “And it doesn’t matter what station it’s on. We’ve got everything covered.” He giggles a little. “Yugi and the others are gonna be all hyped up when they see this!”
Seto turns a suspicious gaze to the living room, where Mokuba and Malik are at. “You’re in on this too, Mokuba?”
“Get up! Get up!” Tama says, practically dragging Seto out of his chair and across part of the kitchen. “If you don’t get up and watch this thing on the telly, then I’ll have Mokuba turn it up so loud that the entire neighborhood can hear it!”
Seto gives in and soon all four teens are gathered in the living room. Seto and Malik’s jaws drop when the announcement for a Duel Tournament in Domino City blares onto the screen. The two are rendered speechless when they find out that it’s hosted by both Muto Gaming Company and Kaiba Corporation.
“Why didn’t we hear about this?” Seto demands. “And why did you and Mokuba know about this? Did you know about this?” He asks Malik.
“I’m just as surprised by this as you are!” Malik defends, before looking at Tama and Mokuba. “So how did you two know?”
“We helped to organize it and get everything arranged.” Mokuba says. “But that’s just because Kaiba doesn’t know much about Duel Monsters and how tournaments work.”
Tama gives Mokuba a disapproving look. “Mokuba, he knows enough to follow the game without confusion. He’s just never played before or watched any tournaments before.”
“You teamed up with Kaiba? Noa Kaiba?” Seto asks before Mokuba can say anything. “Knowing that he’s the CEO of the top technology company in the world, you two went and did this.” Although Seto sounds just as calm as ever, he’s actually really angry at his two siblings.
“Seto, before you say anything I want you to know that we had dad’s permission from the start.” Tama tells him. “And Blue was nearby at all times.”
“That’s not the point!” Malik speaks up. He’s angry, but not nearly as angry as Seto is. “The thing is that you didn’t tell us what you were doing. If something had happened we wouldn’t even know where to start to look!”
“Daddy would.” Mokuba defends. “And one of our conditions was that we couldn’t inform any duelists of the tournament ahead of time. And we can’t duel in the tournament before of that condition. It would be unfair.”
There’s a moment of silence in which Tama and Mokuba nervously wait, hoping Seto will calm down a little.
“Mokuba has a point.” Malik says reasonable, trying to help quell Seto’s temper. “And you know that Tama and Mokuba wouldn’t willingly put themselves in harms way. I’m sure the two of them along with Blue are more than a match for anyone because most people underestimate them.”
“Sometimes I hate that.” Tama mutters.
There’s another moment of silence.
“We’re announcing it formally tomorrow.” Mokuba informs them. “So things are going to be crazy for a while, especially these next six or so days. People are going to be trying to gather up enough money to participate and make it to our sign-up stands.”
“And eventually we’ll get to be the talk of the school.” Seto says with a sigh.
The others relax, relieved that Seto’s calmed down.
“Time to dig up our dueling outfits!” Malik says cheerfully.
The other three can’t help but laugh at that statement and Malik soon joins them.
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As Mokuba said, things are hectic for the rest of the next week until the actual tournament begins. By that time Tama, Mokuba, and Noa are all three exhausted from running around so much to make sure things go as smoothly as possible.
On the first day of the tournament, the Muto house is bustling before seven in the morning, which is rather unusual for them since they like sleeping in on the weekends.
Tama and Mokuba are out of the house before they even get a chance to see what dueling outfit Malik has thrown together, although they do get to see Seto’s “outfit of intimidation”.
Mokuba and Tama meet Noa near the temporary stage they paid people to build for the occasion. Noa’s dressed in a white suit and is drinking a cup of coffee while overseeing the arrangement of the speakers. Then he spots the other two.
“There you are!” He exclaims. “Where have you been! Or more importantly, what are you wearing?”
Tama and Mokuba exchange surprised looks and then look down at what they’re wearing. Tama’s wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt that has a hole at the end of each sleeve that she hooks her thumbs through. It also shows a little cleavage and clings gently to her skin. Her pants are simply a pair of flared jeans with rips at the knees. Mokuba’s wearing a blue and light blue striped long-sleeve shirt with a light brown vest that has many pockets over top of it. He’s also wearing a pair of old blue jeans.
“What’s wrong with what we’re wearing?” Tama asks. “This is a Duel Monsters tournament, not a fancy dinner party.
“You could try and be professional.” Noa says.
“Kaiba, in Duel Monsters it doesn’t matter what you look like, how much money you have, or where you’re from.” Mokuba says. “Now are we going to get this tournament started or what?”
And so the tournament begins.
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For the rest of that day and the following four days the gang doesn’t see too much of one another, with Seto, Malik, Yugi, Shizuka, and Katsuya dueling; Tama and Mokuba monitoring all of the duels with Noa; and Anzu and Honda cheering on their friends. None of them have seen Ryou, although they have heard rumors of a kid with white hair that has a creepy deck.
And then the first day of the semi-finals arrives and they all find themselves gathering at a stadium that has been cleared for them to use for the finals and semi-finals.
Besides Yugi, Joey, Seto, Bakura, and Malik making it to the semi-finals, ten other people have made it as well.
“Hello everyone and welcome to the semi-finals of the Domino City Tournament!” Tama calls out to the audience gathered in the stands. “Please allow me to introduce the semi-finalists! With twenty wins, one loss; Mai Kujaku!”
Mai looks boredly at the audience. She’s dressed in her usual dueling outfit that consists of her white low-cut shirt, her purple jacket and skirt, and her purple boots.
“With eleven, no losses; Seto Muto!”
Tama and Mokuba both have to fight back laughter at sight of Seto wearing a long-sleeve shirt, leather pants, and boots all of which has buckles. Overtop of that is his outrageous, gravity defying, silver-white “coat of intimidation”.
“Also with eleven wins and no losses; Malik Ishtar!”
The time Mokuba has to turn away from the finalists because of Malik’s outfit that consists of a lilac colored shirt that ends right above his belly button and beige pants.
Tama continues naming off the rest of the semi-finalists, with the rest of them wearing more ordinary clothing; jeans and t-shirts.
Once the introductions are over, Mokuba takes over to explain some stuff for the semi-finals and how they were all selected.
“Once again, hello and welcome to the semi-finals.” Mokuba says. “I’m sure we have many people wondering how we selected these fifteen people, and I’ll explain that now. Each duel disc is connected to Kaiba Corporation’s satellite and information from the duels is sent from the duel disc, to the satellite, and then back down to our computers.
“We paid attention to each duel in great detail and chose these semi-finalists based on how well they duel, how quickly the duel ended in their favor, and whether or not they cheated. Obviously, there are no cheaters in our semi-finalists.” Mokuba pauses a moment to look at the audience and the semi-finalists. “Now onto what you’re all here for. Tama, my bingo cage please!”
Tama, who had walked off the stage when Mokuba started talking, now walks up back onto the stage and over to her younger brother with a bingo cage with a bunch of little blue balls inside it.
Mokuba takes the bingo cage and starts turning the handle. “It’s a little unprofessional, but it works!” One of the balls falls out of the cage and Mokuba picks it up. “The first duelist is… Mai Kujaku, who will be dueling…” He turns the bingo cage handle again. “Howard Keith. Everyone else needs to clear the stage, as it will be used as the dueling arena.”
And so the dueling begins again, lasting the entire day with breaks in between each match, with the longest break at noon when they take a two hour break for lunch.
By the end of the first day, there are only seven semi-finalists remaining. Among them are Bakura (pretending to be Ryou), Yugi/Yami, Katsuya, Malik, and Seto.
The semi-finals resume the next day, with Katsuya against Mai as the first battle. After Katsuya wins, the next match is Malik versus Bakura and then Seto against Ryouta Kajiki. The final match of the day is Yugi/Yami against Malik.
Katsuya, Yugi, and Seto are the ones who remain for the final day of the tournament.
The next day, before the dueling begins again, Noa gets on the “dueling arena” to address the remaining three and the crowd. Tama and Mokuba relax in the front of the stands with Anzu, Honda, Shizuka, Malik, and oddly enough, Mai.
“There have been rumors circling around about the prize for the winner of the tournament.” Noa says. “At this time, I will address these rumors and tell the true prize. First, there are no alternate prizes. This means that dueling Tama and Mokuba, both of whom are champions of different tournaments in England, is not one of the prizes. Second, winning this tournament does not automatically place you in the District Tournament. You still need three tournament wins. It does, however, count toward a win for the District Tournament.” He pauses a moment. “The prize for first place is 7,222,500 yen. Second place is 1,444,500 yen. Third place is 144,450 yen. Now, let the finals begin! Our first duel this morning is Yugi Muto versus Seto Muto!”
The crowd cheers as Noa leaves the stage and Seto and Yugi take their places on opposite sides of it.
The duel lasts for nearly an hour, keeping everyone in suspense throughout the entire thing. Yugi/Yami winds up the victor and then the dueling continues with Seto versus Katsuya. Katsuya wins, to the surprise of everyone. Before the final match, there’s a two-hour break.
“That was awesome, Katsuya!” Shizuka exclaims, hugging her brother. “I though you had lost at one point!”
Katsuya smiles. “Yeah, I can’t believe it.” He glances over at Seto, who’s talking to Tama, Mokuba, and Malik. ‘Although I can’t help but feel like he threw the match. If that’s what it is, then I’m gonna make him duel me seriously.’
“Jounouchi, good luck.” Yugi says.
Katsuya smiles, pushing back his thoughts for the time. “Thanks, pal. Good luck to you too.”
“Lets go celebrate with some food!” Honda exclaims. “I’m starving!”
“Oh no! Have you and Jounouchi switched brains?” Anzu asks in mock horror.
The others laugh and then make their way to the nearest burger restaurant, not asking the others since they know Malik doesn’t eat meat.
With the others, a small argument is taking place.
“You threw the match.” Tama accuses, crossing her arms over her chest. “You drew the card that would have won you the match, but you didn’t use it. Why?”
Seto hesitates a moment, glancing over at Katsuya before lowering his blue eyes to meet his sisters angry lilac ones. “He deserved to win.”
“He won’t be happy when he finds out.” Malik warns.
“You threw it because of Shizuka, didn’t you? Because she needs money for eyes surgery so she won’t go blind.” Mokuba speaks up, trying to help out Seto.
Seto looks uneasy. “Not exactly… but that’s a good reason. I… did a little research with Blue’s help.”
Mokuba and Malik both frown while Tama glares.
“Seto, we promised we wouldn’t invade our friends’ privacy anymore!” Mokuba exclaims. “That’s not nice.”
“I was curious about something.” Seto defends. “I know it was wrong to do so there’s no need to chew me out about it. I didn’t look up anyone else.”
“Good. Don’t.” Tama says crossly. Then she yawns, making sure to cover her mouth with her hand. With all the problems from the tournament, she’s been pulling a few all-nighters and hasn’t gotten much sleep. That’s probably the reason she’s so cross.
There’s an awkward silence for a moment.
“Are we going to eat anytime today or should I go eat by myself?” Malik asks suddenly, hating the silence. “Or better yet, I’ll go find Bakura and treat him to lunch.”
“Can I come?” Mokuba asks. “I’m starving. Watching all this dueling and not being able to join in made me hungry.”
Malik laughs as he nods. “Sure. The more the merrier. Tama, Seto, either of you want to come?”
Tama declines, giving an excuse that she has something to do, while Seto accepts, feeling rather hungry himself.
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“Dark Magician! Attack his life points directly!” Yugi/Yami yells.
Katsuya throws his hands up defensively as the Dark Magician attacks, wiping out his remaining life points.
“The winner, Yugi Muto!” Noa announces as the holographic monsters fade away. “Second place, Katsuya Jounouchi! And third place, Seto Muto!”
Cheers erupt from the stands as Noa congratulates Yugi, Katsuya, and then Seto once the brunette joins them on the stage. Once Mokuba and Tama get on the stage and congratulate the three, the prize money is given out in the form of checks.
And that’s the end of that tournament.
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“Muto!” Katsuya yells as he angrily marches over to Seto. “I want a rematch!”
Seto raises an eyebrow, calm on the outside but a little panicked on the inside. ‘Does he know? But how could he? I didn’t make it obvious.’ “For what reason, Jounouchi? You won, not me.”
Katsuya narrows his eyes. “That’s exactly the problem. I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but at the end of the duel I got the feeling that you held back.”
‘He may not be school-smart, but his intuition is spot on.’ Seto thinks. ‘I’ll have to be careful around him.’ “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He says out loud. “Why would I hold back in a duel?”
“That’s what I want to know.” Katsuya says. “I don’t like it when people go easy on me for no reason at all. So tell me,” He steps closer to Seto. “Why’d you go easy on me? Is it because you took pity on me because I’m a horrible duelist? It is-” He stops and blinks when Seto steps closer and then he backs up until he hit’s a wall of a building. Then he gulps when Seto puts his hands on the wall on either side of his head, trapping him there. “Umm… you- you’re a li’l close. Dontcha think?” Katsuya nervously asks, lifting his head up to meet Seto’s icy glare. He gulps again, but doesn’t lower his eyes.
“First of all, you are not a horrible duelist. You made it to the finals. Second,” He leans closer. So close Katsuya can feel the younger’s breath on his face. “I take pity on no one. Especially when I’m dueling. And third-”
“You actually have a third?” Katsuya boldly asks.
Seto pauses a moment, his eyes loosing some of their icy-ness. “No, actually.” He says thoughtfully. He takes a step away from Katsuya and drops his arms to his sides. “And here,” He hands Katsuya a check and then starts walking away. “It’s for your sister. Use it for the eye surgery she needs.” He calls over his shoulder.
Katsuya watches Seto until the brunette is out of sight and then he smiles. ‘Maybe he ain’t that bad after all.’
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Shiro: Well... the ending was kind of a Seto/Katsuya moment... (gets glares from Seto/Jou fans) Erm... yeah, it'll be a while before there's any real fluff. About... five chapters or so, I believe.
Bast: (reading over Shiro's newest chapter plans) Holy Ra, hikari! Over 30 chapters!
Shiro: I know. I've got alot of writing to do.
Bast: Damn straight you do! And then there's the damn-
Shiro: (covers Bast's mouth with her hand) (hisses) Shut up, yami-dearest!.
Bast: (licks Shiro's hand)
Shiro: Ewww! Yami!
Bast: You shouldn't have showed me that trick.
Shiro: Ugg.
Damian: (sighs) Nixx....
Bast: What's wrong with the purple-haired wonder?
Shiro: He's pining.
Bast: (raises an eyebrow) For the youngest Lexus?
Shiro: Obviously. Didn't you know?
Bast: I don't want to know, hikari. I don't want to know.
NEXT CHAPTER: New student, Halloween (perfect timing, lol), and birthdays.
NOTE:
Don't worry, it's a good note this time. Nothing bad has happened. I've been wanting to change the summary for some time now, not particularly liking the one I have now and I want to ask your opinion. Should I change it? Or will it confuse anyone too much if I do that? If you like it or dislike changing it, let me know. If you don't mind me changing the summary, let me know which one you like better, whether it's the original or one of the two new one's I've come up with.
Summary 1: (original summary) AU. What if a man named Kojiro Muto had been the one to adopt Seto and Mokuba at the wish of his son and daughter and Malik was sent to live with them at age 9? some shonen ai later
Summary 2: AU Things have never been normal for Yugi and the gang, so when the past is changed in some way it's no surprise that things get even weirder, especially with Seto and Mokuba not adopted by Gozaboro. Shonen ai later. several original characters included.
Summary 3: AU. What happens when you take the Yugioh cast, scramble up some of their pasts, toss in some original characters to mix it up, and then make up a plot and sit back and see what happens? Instant chaos. Shonen ai later. (pairings listed in chapter 1)
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Chapter 16
Summer vacation has ended and August 23 has come and gone, which means school has restarted for the Domino group. This means things are pretty much back to normal. Well, as normal as things can get around them.Tama and Ryou’s agreement has remained. The two are polite to one another while passing in the halls or classroom and at lunch and any other time the entire group finds time to hang out, but neither of them make any attempts at creating a friendship.
On the other hand, Ryou and Malik’s friendship has grown stronger. Unfortunately for the two lights, during much of the time they spend together their darker halves take over to fuss and fight and talk about the past.
A few times their conversations are overheard by Yumeri, who then comes out and begins arguing with Bakura over something random and pointless. Wisely, Mariku stays out of those arguments and finds great amusement in just watching the two of them.
September 4th is one of those days.
“Give me back the remote, thief!”
“Oh? Is the pot calling the kettle black?”
“TOMB ROBBER! Give me back the remote, now!!!”
Mariku walks out of the kitchen and across the hall with a bag of chips and leans against the living room doorway to watch the fight unfold. He gets there just in time to watch Yumeri tackle Bakura off the couch, wanting the remote back.
“Give it!”
“No! It’s mine now!”
There’s a loud ‘thunk’ as Bakura’s head meets the living room table. Mariku winces, momentarily feeling pity for his partner in crime. But then he remembers the bag of chips he’s holding and gets distracted by the salty, crispy food-things of delight.
“Bwahahaha!”
“Ow! Damn it!”
None of them notice the front door opening and closing or that the Millennium Rod shines brightly for a moment. In fact, up until Seth grabs the Millennium Rod from the belt loop of Mariku’s jeans and storms into the living room they don’t notice his presence.
“Stop this at once!” He yells powerfully, pointing the Millennium Rod at the two rolling around on the floor. “Lady Yumeri, rise at once! Rolling on the ground is not proper! And you,” He narrows his icy blue eyes at Bakura. “you will come with me. Now.”
Mariku watches in amusement as Seth walks across the room to Bakura, takes the thief by the arm, and proceeds to drag him to the kitchen.
Now if it were the lights and Seto who play out this scene it’d be even funnier, as Seto would play the part of the overprotective brother. Never mind that they wouldn’t even be in this situation.
“What the hell?” Yumeri asks blankly.
Mariku pulls a chip out of the bag and studies it. “Looks like Seth actually did put a small piece of his soul in the Rod. The bastard.” He nibbles the edge of the chip a little. “Don’t worry. Your hikari’s brother will be back to normal in a minute and most likely won’t remember any of this.” He bites into the chip, savoring the salty flavor. ‘Mmm… I love chips.’
In the kitchen, Bakura utters a curse in Egyptian and rushes out of the room with the Millennium Rod in hand. He tosses the golden item to Mariku and then hisses, “Retreat!”
Malik blinks and looks down at the bag of chips in one hand and the Millennium Rod in the other, wondering when he even got the bag of chips. Ryou bites his lower lip as he tries to figure out how he went from watching TV on the couch with Malik to standing in the hallway. Tama’s even more confused, as she was upstairs working on the computer.
“Does anyone else get the feeling something weird is going on?” Malik asks. “Because I have no idea how I got these chips or why I did.”
Ryou glances at the clock on the wall and his eyes widen “I could have sworn… wasn’t it just one o'five?”
Malik and Tama look at the clock. It reads 2:15.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Noa Kaiba slowly sips his coffee, teal eyes looking out the window of his limo in boredom. So far his day has gone by normally. He got up early to do a little company work, ate a light breakfast, went to school and annoyed the blonde who sits in front of him in 3rd period, went to Kaiba Corp to go through a meeting and more company work, stopped at a coffee shop near where he works, and now he’s going home to eat a late dinner and do some more work.
Inattentively, his mind drifts to the girl in his computer programming class. ‘What was her last name? It sounded familiar. Too familiar. I’m sure I’ve never seen her before, so why would it sound familiar. Maybe I’ve met a relative.’ The image of another company owner floats to the top of his mind. ‘Muto! That’s what it is. But there’s no way…’
Thinking quickly he opens his laptop and clicks on the search icon he put on his desktop to make finding things easier. Then he types in ‘Muto’. Ten results pop up within seconds.
‘Sugoroku Muto, Kojiro Muto, Nashwa Muto, Kiba Muto, Tama Muto, Yu-’ His eyes widen and he goes back and clicks on Tama’s name. ‘Tama Muto, daughter of the CEO of Muto Gaming Company, Kojiro Muto. Reports show that she lives with her father, her older brother, her cousin, and two adopted brothers.’ Noa reads a little more and then clicks off the page and closes the laptop, his mind racing.
‘I don’t believe it. But why are they here? The main building is being constructed in America. I know for certain that Mr. Muto is there overseeing the building of it.’
A spot of bright red and pale blonde against the green of the part trees catches his attention. Without really thinking at all, Noa orders his driver to pull over. Once it stops, he gets out and steps into Tama’s path.
Tama stops in her tracks, calmly looks around to access the best method of escape should it be necessary.
“Tama Muto, right?” Noa questions.
Tama nods her head, more curious than scared. “Yes. Noa Kaiba, I presume.”
“Correct.” Noa says. “Care for a ride to your destination? I have a business idea I’d like to discuss with you.”
Tama thinks about this for a moment, hesitant to do anything that result in something bad happening. “Can you give me an idea about what this idea is about?”
“Ever heard of Duel Monsters?”
Tama almost rolls her eyes. “Whoever hasn’t is living under a rock. And you now have my attention. If you really want to discuss this further, meet me this Saturday at noon at the old coffee shop downtown. It’s the first coffee shop I’ve ever been to that is actually called ‘the Old Coffee Shop’.”
“Saturday at noon at the Old Coffee Shop.” Noa repeats. “I’ll be there.”
Tama gives a short nod. “Good.” Then she continues on her way, leaving a slightly baffled Noa behind.
“What did I just agree to?” He asks himself. “I completely gave in without thought! Idiot!” Cursing himself, Noa gets back into his limo and orders the driver to take him home. There he’ll be able to relax and figure out exactly what business idea he can propose to Tama.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“I don’t think this is a very good idea.” Mokuba uneasily tells Tama. “Seto and Malik would both have a fit if they knew you have a meeting with Kaiba. You should at least take someone with you.”
“I am.” Tama says as she slips the last bobby pin into place in her hair.
“Blue doesn’t count.” Mokuba tells her.
Tama turns around with a smile. “Well, it’s a good thing that you’re coming with me, then isn’t it? Go change into something more impressive than a rock T-shirt and old jeans, please.”
Mokuba grins and races out of the room, calling over his shoulder, “Seto and Malik still won’t be happy about this!”
Tama sighs as she smoothes out the gray knee-length skirt she’s wearing. “I know, I know.”
Twenty minutes later, after failing to catch the bus and winding up getting a cab, Tama and Mokuba are seated at a secluded table at the café, both of them looking professional for the first time in Domino City.
Tama’s hair is pulled up into a neat bun and she’s wearing a collared white shirt, a gray vest, and the matching gray skirt. Mokuba has his hair pulled back into a low ponytail for once and he’s wearing an ironed, light blue button up shirt with a collar and a pair of ironed black pants. Resting between them is a black briefcase.
Noa soon arrives. “Ah, Miss Muto you look lovely today.” Noa says with a charming smile as he takes a seat. “And who is your companion?”
“One of my partners.” Tama says smoothly. “Mr. Kaiba, this is Mokuba Muto.”
“It’s a pleasure.” Noa says with a small nod in Mokuba’s direction. “Shall we get down to business?”
Tama waves over a waitress. “Coffee first. Then we’ll talk.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
September 28, 2006
“You seem please about something.” Seto notes, peering over the top of his glasses at Tama. “Too pleased. What are you up to or what have you done?”
“You’ll see.” Tama chirps cheerfully. “Just pay attention to the telly at seven o’clock and you’ll find out why I’m tickled pink.”
Seto raises his eyes to the kitchen clock. “It’s six fifty-eight.”
“Then start paying attention.” Mokuba says from the living room. He turns up the TV a little more. “And it doesn’t matter what station it’s on. We’ve got everything covered.” He giggles a little. “Yugi and the others are gonna be all hyped up when they see this!”
Seto turns a suspicious gaze to the living room, where Mokuba and Malik are at. “You’re in on this too, Mokuba?”
“Get up! Get up!” Tama says, practically dragging Seto out of his chair and across part of the kitchen. “If you don’t get up and watch this thing on the telly, then I’ll have Mokuba turn it up so loud that the entire neighborhood can hear it!”
Seto gives in and soon all four teens are gathered in the living room. Seto and Malik’s jaws drop when the announcement for a Duel Tournament in Domino City blares onto the screen. The two are rendered speechless when they find out that it’s hosted by both Muto Gaming Company and Kaiba Corporation.
“Why didn’t we hear about this?” Seto demands. “And why did you and Mokuba know about this? Did you know about this?” He asks Malik.
“I’m just as surprised by this as you are!” Malik defends, before looking at Tama and Mokuba. “So how did you two know?”
“We helped to organize it and get everything arranged.” Mokuba says. “But that’s just because Kaiba doesn’t know much about Duel Monsters and how tournaments work.”
Tama gives Mokuba a disapproving look. “Mokuba, he knows enough to follow the game without confusion. He’s just never played before or watched any tournaments before.”
“You teamed up with Kaiba? Noa Kaiba?” Seto asks before Mokuba can say anything. “Knowing that he’s the CEO of the top technology company in the world, you two went and did this.” Although Seto sounds just as calm as ever, he’s actually really angry at his two siblings.
“Seto, before you say anything I want you to know that we had dad’s permission from the start.” Tama tells him. “And Blue was nearby at all times.”
“That’s not the point!” Malik speaks up. He’s angry, but not nearly as angry as Seto is. “The thing is that you didn’t tell us what you were doing. If something had happened we wouldn’t even know where to start to look!”
“Daddy would.” Mokuba defends. “And one of our conditions was that we couldn’t inform any duelists of the tournament ahead of time. And we can’t duel in the tournament before of that condition. It would be unfair.”
There’s a moment of silence in which Tama and Mokuba nervously wait, hoping Seto will calm down a little.
“Mokuba has a point.” Malik says reasonable, trying to help quell Seto’s temper. “And you know that Tama and Mokuba wouldn’t willingly put themselves in harms way. I’m sure the two of them along with Blue are more than a match for anyone because most people underestimate them.”
“Sometimes I hate that.” Tama mutters.
There’s another moment of silence.
“We’re announcing it formally tomorrow.” Mokuba informs them. “So things are going to be crazy for a while, especially these next six or so days. People are going to be trying to gather up enough money to participate and make it to our sign-up stands.”
“And eventually we’ll get to be the talk of the school.” Seto says with a sigh.
The others relax, relieved that Seto’s calmed down.
“Time to dig up our dueling outfits!” Malik says cheerfully.
The other three can’t help but laugh at that statement and Malik soon joins them.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
As Mokuba said, things are hectic for the rest of the next week until the actual tournament begins. By that time Tama, Mokuba, and Noa are all three exhausted from running around so much to make sure things go as smoothly as possible.
On the first day of the tournament, the Muto house is bustling before seven in the morning, which is rather unusual for them since they like sleeping in on the weekends.
Tama and Mokuba are out of the house before they even get a chance to see what dueling outfit Malik has thrown together, although they do get to see Seto’s “outfit of intimidation”.
Mokuba and Tama meet Noa near the temporary stage they paid people to build for the occasion. Noa’s dressed in a white suit and is drinking a cup of coffee while overseeing the arrangement of the speakers. Then he spots the other two.
“There you are!” He exclaims. “Where have you been! Or more importantly, what are you wearing?”
Tama and Mokuba exchange surprised looks and then look down at what they’re wearing. Tama’s wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt that has a hole at the end of each sleeve that she hooks her thumbs through. It also shows a little cleavage and clings gently to her skin. Her pants are simply a pair of flared jeans with rips at the knees. Mokuba’s wearing a blue and light blue striped long-sleeve shirt with a light brown vest that has many pockets over top of it. He’s also wearing a pair of old blue jeans.
“What’s wrong with what we’re wearing?” Tama asks. “This is a Duel Monsters tournament, not a fancy dinner party.
“You could try and be professional.” Noa says.
“Kaiba, in Duel Monsters it doesn’t matter what you look like, how much money you have, or where you’re from.” Mokuba says. “Now are we going to get this tournament started or what?”
And so the tournament begins.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
For the rest of that day and the following four days the gang doesn’t see too much of one another, with Seto, Malik, Yugi, Shizuka, and Katsuya dueling; Tama and Mokuba monitoring all of the duels with Noa; and Anzu and Honda cheering on their friends. None of them have seen Ryou, although they have heard rumors of a kid with white hair that has a creepy deck.
And then the first day of the semi-finals arrives and they all find themselves gathering at a stadium that has been cleared for them to use for the finals and semi-finals.
Besides Yugi, Joey, Seto, Bakura, and Malik making it to the semi-finals, ten other people have made it as well.
“Hello everyone and welcome to the semi-finals of the Domino City Tournament!” Tama calls out to the audience gathered in the stands. “Please allow me to introduce the semi-finalists! With twenty wins, one loss; Mai Kujaku!”
Mai looks boredly at the audience. She’s dressed in her usual dueling outfit that consists of her white low-cut shirt, her purple jacket and skirt, and her purple boots.
“With eleven, no losses; Seto Muto!”
Tama and Mokuba both have to fight back laughter at sight of Seto wearing a long-sleeve shirt, leather pants, and boots all of which has buckles. Overtop of that is his outrageous, gravity defying, silver-white “coat of intimidation”.
“Also with eleven wins and no losses; Malik Ishtar!”
The time Mokuba has to turn away from the finalists because of Malik’s outfit that consists of a lilac colored shirt that ends right above his belly button and beige pants.
Tama continues naming off the rest of the semi-finalists, with the rest of them wearing more ordinary clothing; jeans and t-shirts.
Once the introductions are over, Mokuba takes over to explain some stuff for the semi-finals and how they were all selected.
“Once again, hello and welcome to the semi-finals.” Mokuba says. “I’m sure we have many people wondering how we selected these fifteen people, and I’ll explain that now. Each duel disc is connected to Kaiba Corporation’s satellite and information from the duels is sent from the duel disc, to the satellite, and then back down to our computers.
“We paid attention to each duel in great detail and chose these semi-finalists based on how well they duel, how quickly the duel ended in their favor, and whether or not they cheated. Obviously, there are no cheaters in our semi-finalists.” Mokuba pauses a moment to look at the audience and the semi-finalists. “Now onto what you’re all here for. Tama, my bingo cage please!”
Tama, who had walked off the stage when Mokuba started talking, now walks up back onto the stage and over to her younger brother with a bingo cage with a bunch of little blue balls inside it.
Mokuba takes the bingo cage and starts turning the handle. “It’s a little unprofessional, but it works!” One of the balls falls out of the cage and Mokuba picks it up. “The first duelist is… Mai Kujaku, who will be dueling…” He turns the bingo cage handle again. “Howard Keith. Everyone else needs to clear the stage, as it will be used as the dueling arena.”
And so the dueling begins again, lasting the entire day with breaks in between each match, with the longest break at noon when they take a two hour break for lunch.
By the end of the first day, there are only seven semi-finalists remaining. Among them are Bakura (pretending to be Ryou), Yugi/Yami, Katsuya, Malik, and Seto.
The semi-finals resume the next day, with Katsuya against Mai as the first battle. After Katsuya wins, the next match is Malik versus Bakura and then Seto against Ryouta Kajiki. The final match of the day is Yugi/Yami against Malik.
Katsuya, Yugi, and Seto are the ones who remain for the final day of the tournament.
The next day, before the dueling begins again, Noa gets on the “dueling arena” to address the remaining three and the crowd. Tama and Mokuba relax in the front of the stands with Anzu, Honda, Shizuka, Malik, and oddly enough, Mai.
“There have been rumors circling around about the prize for the winner of the tournament.” Noa says. “At this time, I will address these rumors and tell the true prize. First, there are no alternate prizes. This means that dueling Tama and Mokuba, both of whom are champions of different tournaments in England, is not one of the prizes. Second, winning this tournament does not automatically place you in the District Tournament. You still need three tournament wins. It does, however, count toward a win for the District Tournament.” He pauses a moment. “The prize for first place is 7,222,500 yen. Second place is 1,444,500 yen. Third place is 144,450 yen. Now, let the finals begin! Our first duel this morning is Yugi Muto versus Seto Muto!”
The crowd cheers as Noa leaves the stage and Seto and Yugi take their places on opposite sides of it.
The duel lasts for nearly an hour, keeping everyone in suspense throughout the entire thing. Yugi/Yami winds up the victor and then the dueling continues with Seto versus Katsuya. Katsuya wins, to the surprise of everyone. Before the final match, there’s a two-hour break.
“That was awesome, Katsuya!” Shizuka exclaims, hugging her brother. “I though you had lost at one point!”
Katsuya smiles. “Yeah, I can’t believe it.” He glances over at Seto, who’s talking to Tama, Mokuba, and Malik. ‘Although I can’t help but feel like he threw the match. If that’s what it is, then I’m gonna make him duel me seriously.’
“Jounouchi, good luck.” Yugi says.
Katsuya smiles, pushing back his thoughts for the time. “Thanks, pal. Good luck to you too.”
“Lets go celebrate with some food!” Honda exclaims. “I’m starving!”
“Oh no! Have you and Jounouchi switched brains?” Anzu asks in mock horror.
The others laugh and then make their way to the nearest burger restaurant, not asking the others since they know Malik doesn’t eat meat.
With the others, a small argument is taking place.
“You threw the match.” Tama accuses, crossing her arms over her chest. “You drew the card that would have won you the match, but you didn’t use it. Why?”
Seto hesitates a moment, glancing over at Katsuya before lowering his blue eyes to meet his sisters angry lilac ones. “He deserved to win.”
“He won’t be happy when he finds out.” Malik warns.
“You threw it because of Shizuka, didn’t you? Because she needs money for eyes surgery so she won’t go blind.” Mokuba speaks up, trying to help out Seto.
Seto looks uneasy. “Not exactly… but that’s a good reason. I… did a little research with Blue’s help.”
Mokuba and Malik both frown while Tama glares.
“Seto, we promised we wouldn’t invade our friends’ privacy anymore!” Mokuba exclaims. “That’s not nice.”
“I was curious about something.” Seto defends. “I know it was wrong to do so there’s no need to chew me out about it. I didn’t look up anyone else.”
“Good. Don’t.” Tama says crossly. Then she yawns, making sure to cover her mouth with her hand. With all the problems from the tournament, she’s been pulling a few all-nighters and hasn’t gotten much sleep. That’s probably the reason she’s so cross.
There’s an awkward silence for a moment.
“Are we going to eat anytime today or should I go eat by myself?” Malik asks suddenly, hating the silence. “Or better yet, I’ll go find Bakura and treat him to lunch.”
“Can I come?” Mokuba asks. “I’m starving. Watching all this dueling and not being able to join in made me hungry.”
Malik laughs as he nods. “Sure. The more the merrier. Tama, Seto, either of you want to come?”
Tama declines, giving an excuse that she has something to do, while Seto accepts, feeling rather hungry himself.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“Dark Magician! Attack his life points directly!” Yugi/Yami yells.
Katsuya throws his hands up defensively as the Dark Magician attacks, wiping out his remaining life points.
“The winner, Yugi Muto!” Noa announces as the holographic monsters fade away. “Second place, Katsuya Jounouchi! And third place, Seto Muto!”
Cheers erupt from the stands as Noa congratulates Yugi, Katsuya, and then Seto once the brunette joins them on the stage. Once Mokuba and Tama get on the stage and congratulate the three, the prize money is given out in the form of checks.
And that’s the end of that tournament.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“Muto!” Katsuya yells as he angrily marches over to Seto. “I want a rematch!”
Seto raises an eyebrow, calm on the outside but a little panicked on the inside. ‘Does he know? But how could he? I didn’t make it obvious.’ “For what reason, Jounouchi? You won, not me.”
Katsuya narrows his eyes. “That’s exactly the problem. I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but at the end of the duel I got the feeling that you held back.”
‘He may not be school-smart, but his intuition is spot on.’ Seto thinks. ‘I’ll have to be careful around him.’ “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He says out loud. “Why would I hold back in a duel?”
“That’s what I want to know.” Katsuya says. “I don’t like it when people go easy on me for no reason at all. So tell me,” He steps closer to Seto. “Why’d you go easy on me? Is it because you took pity on me because I’m a horrible duelist? It is-” He stops and blinks when Seto steps closer and then he backs up until he hit’s a wall of a building. Then he gulps when Seto puts his hands on the wall on either side of his head, trapping him there. “Umm… you- you’re a li’l close. Dontcha think?” Katsuya nervously asks, lifting his head up to meet Seto’s icy glare. He gulps again, but doesn’t lower his eyes.
“First of all, you are not a horrible duelist. You made it to the finals. Second,” He leans closer. So close Katsuya can feel the younger’s breath on his face. “I take pity on no one. Especially when I’m dueling. And third-”
“You actually have a third?” Katsuya boldly asks.
Seto pauses a moment, his eyes loosing some of their icy-ness. “No, actually.” He says thoughtfully. He takes a step away from Katsuya and drops his arms to his sides. “And here,” He hands Katsuya a check and then starts walking away. “It’s for your sister. Use it for the eye surgery she needs.” He calls over his shoulder.
Katsuya watches Seto until the brunette is out of sight and then he smiles. ‘Maybe he ain’t that bad after all.’
-F-A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S--F-A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S--F- A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S-
Shiro: Well... the ending was kind of a Seto/Katsuya moment... (gets glares from Seto/Jou fans) Erm... yeah, it'll be a while before there's any real fluff. About... five chapters or so, I believe.
Bast: (reading over Shiro's newest chapter plans) Holy Ra, hikari! Over 30 chapters!
Shiro: I know. I've got alot of writing to do.
Bast: Damn straight you do! And then there's the damn-
Shiro: (covers Bast's mouth with her hand) (hisses) Shut up, yami-dearest!.
Bast: (licks Shiro's hand)
Shiro: Ewww! Yami!
Bast: You shouldn't have showed me that trick.
Shiro: Ugg.
Damian: (sighs) Nixx....
Bast: What's wrong with the purple-haired wonder?
Shiro: He's pining.
Bast: (raises an eyebrow) For the youngest Lexus?
Shiro: Obviously. Didn't you know?
Bast: I don't want to know, hikari. I don't want to know.
NEXT CHAPTER: New student, Halloween (perfect timing, lol), and birthdays.
NOTE:
Don't worry, it's a good note this time. Nothing bad has happened. I've been wanting to change the summary for some time now, not particularly liking the one I have now and I want to ask your opinion. Should I change it? Or will it confuse anyone too much if I do that? If you like it or dislike changing it, let me know. If you don't mind me changing the summary, let me know which one you like better, whether it's the original or one of the two new one's I've come up with.
Summary 1: (original summary) AU. What if a man named Kojiro Muto had been the one to adopt Seto and Mokuba at the wish of his son and daughter and Malik was sent to live with them at age 9? some shonen ai later
Summary 2: AU Things have never been normal for Yugi and the gang, so when the past is changed in some way it's no surprise that things get even weirder, especially with Seto and Mokuba not adopted by Gozaboro. Shonen ai later. several original characters included.
Summary 3: AU. What happens when you take the Yugioh cast, scramble up some of their pasts, toss in some original characters to mix it up, and then make up a plot and sit back and see what happens? Instant chaos. Shonen ai later. (pairings listed in chapter 1)