InuYasha Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Luck of the Draw ❯ Third Degree ( Chapter 3 )

Yugi Mutou loved his friends. He truly did. They were everything to him. Sometimes, however, he found himself wondering just where they got their ideas from. 

“I’m tellin’ ya, guys,” Jonouchi insisted, not for the first time. “What else could it be?!” 

“I really don’t think she’s spying for Kaiba, Jou.” Yugi refuted, also not for the first time. 

Jonouchi was not convinced. “C’mon, have any of you ever seen Kaiba of all people with a girl?” 

“Her name is Kagome,” Yugi supplied. “And she’s Souta’s sister. He seemed nice enough.” 

“Yeah,” Jonouchi snorted, “and Mokuba’s always been a little peach too.”

“Jou,” Anzu chastised, “Mokuba’s changed a lot since we first met him. Besides, Souta had nothing to do with that.” 

“Alright, alright,” Jonouchi groaned, “I guess the kid played a good game. No nasty tricks either.” 

Honda snickered. “That’s probably the weirdest thing about him considering everything else going on in this tournament.” 

Anzu rolled her eyes but didn’t disagree. It wasn’t as if any of them really could.

Yugi sobered a bit. The danger lurking in Battle City had grown only clearer with each duel.  The duel with Souta Higurashi had been a stark contrast to what the game had become. It had been refreshing. It had been a reminder of why he’d come to love the game in the first place. If he thought about it, Yugi really couldn’t pinpoint the last time he’d played the game simply for the enjoyment of it. 

Once upon a time, it had simply been a game to pass the time with his friends.  

Once upon a time, that’s the only purpose that any game had held.

They had been innocent, shared passions, at first a means to distract himself from his loneliness and then to connect with the friends he’d found. Then they’d grown into battles of life or death shrouded in righteous fury and dark magic. Still, as selfish as it might have been, Yugi didn’t think he would ever change what had come of solving the puzzle, even if he were given the chance.

Amidst the danger, it had brought him his friends. 

It had brought him a sense of self. 

It brought him his other half.  

“Okay, but who knows, maybe Mokuba making friends like that will help.” Anzu’s voice pulled him from his musings. Yugi glanced over at her, smile tugging at his lips as she waved a hand at Jonouchi. “He’s already nicer than you were when you first met Yugi.” 

“Hey!” Jonouchi protested. 

“But it’s true.” Anzu leaned back in her chair with a shrug. “And I talked to Souta’s sister a bit over lunch. Kagome seemed nice. She was worried about you .” 

“Me?” Jonouchi gaped, whatever rebuttal he’d been about to attempt visibly seeping out of him. 

“Well, you did kind of get struck by lightning,” Yugi grimaced. “And because of the spirit of a god card.” 

“Yeah,” Honda agreed, leaning over to clap Jonouchi on the back. The gesture was playful at a glance, and Yugi pretended not to see the way Honda’s fingers gripped Jonouchi’s shoulder. “It’s not every day you actually see a god smite someone.” 

Yugi felt his throat tighten. 

“Well, maybe you’re right,” Jonouchi conceded with a shrug. “If Higurashi is that nice, there’s no way she’d be workin’ for the likes of Kaiba.” 

That wasn’t quite the point they’d been trying to make, but Yugi supposed it was the best they were going to get. Judging by her exasperated expression, Anzu seemed inclined to agree. 

“Okay, if you boys want to waste your time gossiping like a bunch of old ladies, be my guest,” she rolled her eyes and stood to head for the door. “But I want to go check on Mai before- whoa!” 

Anzu jerked away from the door. Yugi stiffened in alarm while Jonouchi and Honda surged to their feet to flank her. Yugi joined them just in time to catch sight of a trio of men in suits rush by. It was only the familiar face of the one leading the charge that gave away who they were. 

“Uh,” Jonouchi stuttered, lifting a hand to scratch the back of his head. “The heck is goin’ on out here?” 

“Beats me,” Honda muttered, “who knew Kaiba actually had more than one guy in security?” 

“Maybe we should go see what’s wrong,” Anzu suggested. After a beat, she frowned. “It looked like they came from Kaiba’s room. You don't think Marik would attack him, do you?” 

Yugi furrowed his brow. “They did have that weird stand off after Jou’s duel.” 

They exchanged looks, the agreement unspoken. It had been a long time since words had really been necessary between them. Not for the first time, and most certainly not the last, their little group snuck off towards the looming threat of danger, in the direction that they’d seen the security rush from. 

Kaiba might not have been a friend exactly, but Yugi wasn’t sure they could still really call the man their enemy.  

“Take it off, Higurashi.”  

They all froze simultaneously. Jonouchi sputtered and exchanged a wide-eyed look with Honda. 

A girl’s voice, Higurashi, groaned in frustration. “Why won’t you just give it to me!?”

“Stop being difficult,” Kaiba insisted, “and take off the damn shirt.”  

Anzu clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide as a little hue of pink blossomed on her cheeks. Yugi felt his own ears burn and a flicker of amusement stir at the back of his mind. 

“Do you even know what you’re doing?”  

“I've got more experience than you, I’m sure.”  

Higurashi snorted. “Somehow, I doubt that.”  

Honda clapped a hand over Jonouchi’s mouth just in time to muffle the bark of laughter that nearly escaped. Yugi exchanged another look and then a nod with an equally flustered Anzu.

“Higurashi, hold still or so help me...” Kaiba's voice faded as they scrambled to retreat much more hastily than they’d approached.

It was only once they were safely back in Yugi’s room that they let out the collective breath they’d been holding. In Jonouchi’s case, Honda finally retracted the hand covering his mouth, but Jonouchi himself was too thrown by the turn of events to even posture at being angry. 

After a moment of silence -aside from the wisps of mirth coming from the very amused spirit in his head- Yugi stammered quietly. “W-we um... probably shouldn’t say anything about...this.” 

“Damn,” Honda breathed, “this is somehow weirder than Jou's theory.”

“Yeah,” Jonouchi agreed after a moment, to Yugi’s pleasant surprise. He hadn’t expected Jonouchi to let something like this go so easily -not that whatever this was, was any of their business to begin with- but he certainly wasn’t complaining.

Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they could just ignore this and pretend it had never happened. Maybe they’d be able to actually focus on preparing for the real issues they faced with the upcoming duels. 

“Rich boy doesn’t have a spy” Jonouchi continued, “he’s got a secret girlfriend!” 

The spirit’s quiet chuckle echoed through his mind as Yugi promptly smacked himself in the face.

---

Of all the things that could hope to mark his defeat, Seto Kaiba never expected a girl to be one of them. 

It wouldn’t be conspirators out to steal his company, rivals set out to ruin his image, or even ancient spirits with artifacts of supposed dark magic. No, it would instead be one Kagome Higurashi who seemed intent on giving him an aneurism before he could even take part in the finals of his own tournament. 

The damnable girl showed up to his door, interrupted his work -when he was already behind schedule at that- and dropped to the floor to bleed on his carpet like a stuck pig. And yet she refused to let him actually address the issue, even fought him on it! 

He should have just had Roland’s team lug her to the infirmary. He wasn’t sure why he allowed her to give his men orders either, -too thrown by the audacity, he supposed- though he almost pitied Roland. In all his years of service, Kaiba had never seen the man look so absolutely baffled as when Higurashi, still bleeding, had turned and hissed at him.

“Forget about me, go make sure Souta and Mokuba are safe!”  

Perhaps it was because she’d demanded them to assure Mokuba’s safety along with her brother’s. It certainly wasn’t that he couldn’t think of anything more prudent to contradict her with. Instead, he grabbed the medical kit his security had brought himself.

“I’ll handle this,” he’d said, then waited a beat before he caught Roland at the door and lowered his voice. “And while you’re at it, Roland, find out exactly who Higurashi here is.”  

Well, he'd certainly intended to handle the matter. Kagome Higurashi, on the other hand, clearly had other plans. When he approached with the medical kit, already being generous in offering his assistance at all, and she only held out an expectant hand, he was flummoxed. When he’d schooled his featured and ordered her to lift her shirt so he could see the wound, he wasn’t prepared for the way she’d laughed and declared she would do it herself.

He was less prepared for the subsequent argument -the strangest he’d had in recent times- that followed. Save for Mazaki, there were few girls who wouldn’t kill to be in her position. Higurashi was turning out to be an oddity, even amongst the madness that followed Yugi -and by extension, himself- around.

He was practically wrestling the girl before the reality of their position hit him and Kaiba stood with a scoff. “If you want to bleed out so badly, you could have at least abstained from ruining my furniture.”

“Just because I can’t afford medical school doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing, you know,” she said, likely thinking the statement to be reassuring.

To Kaiba, it was only more disconcerting.

It had been a long time since he’d been faced with such a wildcard. It was odd, he mused as he chanced a peek over at her, watching the way she tended to her wound. She sat at the table now, at least having allowed him to get her off of the floor in their ridiculous squabble, looking entirely nonplussed by the task. She’d done this before, he realized. Her hand was far too steady, her movements too assured, too practiced. The phantom sting of broken skin, scars long thought buried, burned suddenly at his back. 

Kaiba clenched a fist. “I'm only asking once, Higurashi. Who did this to you?”

“I don’t know,” she grumbled, “they grabbed me from behind. I didn’t exactly get a good look.”

Of course she didn’t, Kaiba thought. That would have been far too convenient. He exhaled through his nose, barely containing his annoyance.

“If it helps,” she continued, pushing herself to her feet and brushing herself off as if she hadn’t just finished bandaging a puncture wound, “whoever grabbed me probably has a few nasty burns at least.” 

Kaiba was sure he didn’t want to know why or how that would be. He was also quite sure that ignoring that information was not an option.

“And just why,” he drawled, “would that be, Higurashi?”

Already envisioning the dramatic demise of the teapot provided over lunch -and the wails of his head chef that were sure to follow- he wasn’t prepared for her response.

“Shrine girls and dark magic don’t exactly mix, Kaiba-kun,” she said with a shrug. 

Kaiba stared at her for a moment before heaving a grunt of frustration and yanking the communicator from the collar of his discarded coat. “Postpone the duel another thirty minutes. I have something to take care of here.”

Higurashi tilted her head to look at him as he stalked towards her. He stared down at her for a long moment, the scowl on his face one that had withered the resolve of men that were surely of far hardier stock than her. She didn’t even flinch. He wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed or impressed.

“Explain,” he ordered.

Higurashi arched a brow. “Okay, but you didn't exactly give us a lot of time for that.”

“Then you best be succinct,” he replied. Instead of looking intimidated, she snickered.

“Even if I just give you a bullet point list, a half hour isn't going to be enough time.” When he narrowed his eyes, she rolled her own. “Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Higurashi was, infuriatingly, correct.

This tale of hers was even stranger than what he knew of Yugi’s, including the details he still wasn’t certain he even believed. At twenty minutes in, she’d run through a story about the creation of a jewel, the love story and resultant death of a priestess chosen to protect it and -the most unbelievable portion so far- the time travel that had involved her in the saga.

If hadn’t been for his own involvement in Duelist Kingdom, faced with sorcery he’d much rather forget, he might have thought her quite mad.

“Enough,” he interrupted, rubbing his temples with a sound of annoyance as he stood. “We'll continue this...fairy tale later.”

Higurashi rolled her eyes and probably didn’t think he heard her mumble of ‘told you so’ as she followed him to the door. Again, he could not help the way his eyes roved over her, her posture far too at ease for the wound she’d suffered. Yet, she strode out beside him without so much as a hitch in her step as the door shut behind them.

He swiped his key card to lock it before looking back down at her, arms crossed. “I expect you back here after the duel.”

“Careful there, Kaiba-kun,” Higurashi elbowed him with a giggle. “Inviting me back to your room might give people the wrong impression.”

Seto Kaiba clenched his jaw and resisted the urge to check his blood pressure.