Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Crimson November ❯ the past comes back and the present becomes alive again ( Chapter 6 )

The past comes back the future

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Wahahahah. * Though my insanity is the only thing I can claim ownership over… we think * thanks to everyone who reviewed the story!!! You guys rock!

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Yami Bakura sighed and stalked over to an unoccupied chair, brows furrowed in thought. He clasped his hands in front of chest and cautiously looked from Bakura to Kaiba; who was staring at him like he was trying to hear a business proposal.

Yami Bakura smiled patiently; trying to well up all the knowledge he had into one single train of thought.

" Alright. This is what I remember about it. The pharaoh needed to seal the dark door of the shadow realm shut after the millennium items were deemed unsafe to use. There were too many people eager to get their hands on the items, myself included. All I know about the matter was what I overheard when I broke into the royal palace the day I was locked in the millennium ring. Yami Yuugi was unable to control the guardian, and had tried on several occasions to lock it away in stone tablets, which would be able to hold the creature for a few millennia at tops. It was strange looking, this creature. Half dragon, half human with the strangest body… it looked like some sort of … angel with demon wings… I'll never forget the look of it… it sort of looked like…" he paused and then turned to look at Joey, eyes widening in recognition.

" it looked a lot like Wheeler."

" what?"

Kaiba frowned, crossing his arms.

" that's impossible. Wheeler wouldn't have- "

Yami Bakura shook his head at Kaiba, a devilish glint radiating from his eyes.

" Kaiba, you did it because the Pharaoh ordered you to. From what I can recall, you might have been in love with each other… but my history is a little hazy. But its strange that Wheeler is here in this time, when his bloodline wouldn't have been continued if the demon was made out of a collection of … well, Joey bits."

Joey felt sick.

It wasn't possible- no!

It couldn't have been possible for a creature to be out there running around with his face…

He leaned forward and pressed his face against Kaiba's shoulder, feeling anguish tear through his soul.

Kaiba frowned harder at Yami Bakura, tapping his chin casually, one hand slinking down to pat Joey reassuringly.

" I don't understand. How's it possible… I didn't think I could do anything that strong… that would have taken -"

Yami Bakura nodded. " Yes, it would have taken a necromancer. And that was what you were Kaiba. Did you think that Priest Seto was someone who just danced around and worshiped a bunch of statues? He did ritualistic slayings in the name of the pharaoh just like all the other lesser priests, but he was the only one given exclusive rights to use his powers to bring back the dead, to manipulate them with his strength."

Bakura frowned, still trying to scratch the plastic eye patch, though Mokuba could tell he was still perhaps a little amused by the fact that he was actually wearing someone's Halloween costume, for a faint smile was on his lips. A very faint smile.

" I don't understand what your saying. It's impossible for the priest to have used Joey to make this demon not if he was still alive-"

" That's the thing Kaiba, Wheeler was already dead. He'd been killed off on a mission that the pharaoh sent him to complete. It was one of the only missions that Wheeler failed to complete. The pharaoh had his best interests in mind when he sent his favorite messenger boy." Yami Bakura snorted loudly, as if to contain laughter.

" All I remember seeing was Wheeler's face all scrunched up with hatred, glaring and snarling with fury… I suspect he didn't appreciate the fact that he was alive again in a form that wasn't his own. I'm quite sure that the dragon bits came from Wheeler's soul monster, the red eyes black dragon. Though looking back at it now, I'm sure glad I didn't end up with the same fate. The pharaoh had all the power in the world to kill every one of us that day, but instead, he sealed our fate to his own, to awaken when he choose us too."

Bakura sighed softly, reaching over Mokuba's shoulder to pat Joey on the shoulder.

" I'm sure things turned out alright… I doubt that the pharaoh would have done it if he had any other choice."

" He did have another choice. He could have thrown all the Ra damned items into the shadow realm, sealing them from the world forever, but I suspect that he had other reasons for using Wheeler. It was a control issue. He wanted to instill fear and horror in the late Priest Seto's heart; wouldn't it have scared any of you to death if the one you loved most dearly in the world had died and was resurrected in a filthy vile form that would cause them nothing but misery? It's power to hold someone's deepest darkest fears in your hands, and the Pharaoh knew that the moment he took Wheeler to be his gate guardian, he would have won."

Yami Bakura gestured to Kaiba, who was thinking deeply to himself, lost in thought while Joey was leaning against him, face blank and emotionless.

" This might have resulted in the rather elaborate killing spree it ordered Tristan to commit. It might have wanted revenge against all those who had imprisoned it. it doesn't surprise me that this thing might have sought to find Yami Merick, they're probably old pals by now… being locked away for all eternity does strange things to once mortal minds."

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Kaiba led the group up to his room, slipping open the door to reveal his computer, possibly the largest thing in the room that wasn't bigger then the bed. The room was simply furnished, with a blue and white theme. There was a blue eyes white dragon mural painted lavishly on the wall above the master bed, which was draped in blue eyes white dragon quilts and pillows. Had Joey been still in the " insult Seto Kaiba" phase, he could have had a field day, but instead, he simply walked into the room and allowed Bakura to lead him to the desk with the computer, where Kaiba was already sitting.

Kaiba flipped on the computer screen and smiled seething with candied rage at the Noa Kaiba, who was lying on the floor supposedly weeping.

Kaiba reached forward and tapped the speaker on the monitor, making Noa jump with fright.

Noa ran to the computer, his green hair bobbing lightly, and seemed to hug the screen from delight.

" SETO! You're back!"

Yami Bakura chuckled darkly and leaned over Kaiba's shoulder, staring with mild enthusiasm at Noa, who stiffened and pulled back from the computer, having just realized that the room was filled with people, some he hadn't seen yet.

Noa cleared his throat loudly and then began to straighten his clothing, recovering his dignity.

" alright. You've got my attention Seto. What do you want?"

Kaiba smiled, leaning forward, one finger held outstretched, as if to turn the monitor off again.

" I want to know what the demon you told me about looks like, the one that Gozaburo was working with." He drawled, eyes dancing with ill humor.

Noa shook his head, crossing his arms, sitting down in his control chair. He tapped a control panel and began to key up an image from the database, face expressionless. He pulled up a image and dragged it onto the screen, revealing a hauntingly familiar face, Joey's face. He had two black leathery wings outstretched, and his eyes had turned a startling shade of crimson, while his body was relatively the same except for one minor defect; the fact that his hands ended in long fingered talons, with sharp nails ready for death.

" this is the thing I saw… hey! He looks a lot like that Joey Wheeler guy… that's strange, I wonder why I didn't realize it before, but there's a startling similarity between the two…" he sneered, crossing his arms.

Kaiba sneered back at him, using his computer to capture the image, printing it out.

" I think that's all we really wanted from you Noa. I suppose I'll delete him now -"

" No. I'd like to ask the little squirt some thing." Yami Bakura examined the computer screen carefully, as if looking for smudges.

" Little Kaiba clone, I'd like to know why you aren't in on this deal with Yami Merick. You do realize that they'd need someone like you to get them around all the flaming walls." He growled.

Kaiba chuckled darkly. " It's firewall, and Noa couldn't have done anything without a body. Despite his horribly innocent appearance, he's practically useless when it comes to real computer work. I'd be surprised if they wanted him for dusting shelves."

Noa harrumphed and dragged another image onto the screen, an image of Priest Seto, wearing his Egyptian garb.

" Then I suppose you don't want to know that they've contacted the old Seto Kaiba and are using him to escape? The priest's much more powerful then they suspected. I heard from him that it'll take a few months, and then they'll be out and free. I've been informed of the situation… and I think I know what they want -"

Bakura shoved his Yami out of the way and quickly addressed Noa.

" Please, you've got to tell us where they are!"

Noa scoffed, dragging yet another image from his personal database, which he enlarged so big it nearly engulfed him.

" I'll tell you what. You guys out there get me a body to inhabit, and I'll see what I can do for you."

Yami Bakura picked up the millennium ring from under his shirt and held it out, the ends alive and blinking with neon lights.

" what form would you like to be, a pig, a dog or a small rooster?" he pulled a plastic toy out from his pocket and sneered viciously at Noa, who paled and waved his hands wildly at him.

" no! I need a human body, not a artificial body!"

" could the millennium puzzle do that… could it him a body, like it did for Yami Bakura?" Joey asked, breaking his silence.

Bakura looked shocked at the request.

" no, we can't."

Kaiba sighed.

" Unfortunately, I'm with Joey on this. If we give Noa a body, we can delete his virtual world and use him to search out Tristan and the idiots."

Yami Bakura smirked despite his best efforts, a look of pure delight spreading across his face faster then jello on a five year old.

" I could use the powers of the puzzle to turn a artificial body human… if Kaiba could make something that resembled Noa, it'll work. I bet my life as a tomb robber on it that we could work something out. It's not too hard to make something artificial as you say it, real. I've seen the pharaoh do it, and it would be just the same as what the others are doing. I know all the rituals and spells and I promise I won't draw out some half dead demon servant to try and take over the world…" he looked expectantly at Bakura, eyes sparkling gleefully.

Bakura sighed, shaking his head. He cast a look at Joey, who pulled the millennium puzzle out from his pocket and held it out, looking ready to commit anything to relieve his mind.

It was as if somewhere inside, his will to detest Yami Bakura had died, and it didn't look as if it would be changing back any time soon.

Yami Bakura eagerly took the item, holding it in his hands as if it were the most delicate china saucer, staring at it, examining every crevice on its exterior.

An evil smile drew itself across his face, as if a child had drawn the sloppy expression on his face with magic marker, but true to his word, he turned to Kaiba.

" You'll need to make him an artificial body… it doesn't have to be high tech… I'm not sure if it'll keep the abilities it has when I change it to human flesh…" he handed the puzzle to Bakura, who looked relived by the usurpation of the item.

Kaiba smiled, finding the proposition of making a technological body intriguing.

He clasped his hands and then turned to Joey, a drole look on his lips.

" Does it have to be politically correct, or can I bluff my way though the design? It wouldn't take much to make improvements."

Noa looked horrified.

" Don't you dare! I'll give you the specifications of my body, and you'd better make everything correct! I don't want to be short changed anything… especially in parts I'd rather not have you construct, if you get my meaning."

Kaiba shrugged.

" Ok, so I won't give you muscles, that doesn't bother me too much."

Noa glared at him.

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(Three days later)

Joey sat quietly in the living room with Mokuba sitting beside him, having a duel. True, his cards weren't the best, and he didn't have that much strategy, but he was trying to do anything to take his mind off the whole proposition of bringing Noa to life through technology. Sure, he normally didn't mind learning to play games, but they'd been waiting three days now for Kaiba to finish his creation, and so far, he had gotten the entire outward structure finished, and he'd managed to wire the mainframe with power. So far, the supplies he'd ordered hadn't come yet, which ment the entire " Noa prototype" as Kaiba had dubbed it, was bare framed, with no skin and no eyes. Those had had to be special ordered in, which ment it was expensive. Kaiba hadn't seemed to care though.

He'd finished all the Kaiba corp work he'd had to do, and was barreling away with the plans, constantly typing text into the programming. He'd hardly had time to eat or sleep between building the Noa prototype and doing Kaiba corporation work. he hadn't spent any time with Mokuba or Joey, and he'd been letting Yami Bakura have full reign over the household while he was away, which they Yami was taking full advantage of. He'd somehow managed to break into a few security rooms, and had been systematically picking apart the entire amount of equipment, learning how to use it and disable it. so far, he was content, thus leaving the rest of the household alone.

Bakura himself had taken to sitting for hours in Kaiba's library, picking out all the books he could, reading every page he could. Joey suspected that it was because he was nervous about being around people after the incident with his eye; he'd have been a little loopy about himself if he had a killer eyeball stuck in his head that sent him images of dead bodies.

He played Gearfried the iron knight and attacked Mokuba's life points directly, grinning smugly at the smaller boy, sticking out his tongue.

" Ha! Beat a Kaiba."

Mokuba rolled his eyes, shuffling his deck again, grinning sinisterly as he drew a new hand.

" Yeah, I bet you won't beat me this time." He smirked.

Joey shuffled his deck and drew a new hand, peering down at it, seeing the red eyes black dragon. He'd been using Yuugi's deck, having slipped a few of his own cards in, feeling as if he had some tangible part of Yuugi left that he wanted to keep in his heart.

He drew, drawing the dark magician and felt a twinge of pain snap him across the heartstrings.

Why had Tristan killed everyone? Why had he killed little Yuugi?

Yuugi never hurt anyone…

Yuugi never let anyone get him down in the dirt…

But now Yuugi was gone… lost to him forever… and he hadn't even been able to save his best friend.

He'd seen his friend's blood spilled by someone he'd trusted with his life. Why hadn't he seen any change in Tristan? They'd spent two nights before the murder together joking about the way things were at school… it was so unpredictable. There hadn't been any problems in Tristan's life… he hadn't even noticed a change in his own life. It'd been the same dull trudge, the ball and chain it'd always been. The only thing that made it different was when his sister phoned, or when she came over. His father had been the same drunken bastard he'd always been… he'd beaten Joey when he felt like it, which was seldom, but when it happened it was a beating Joey didn't like to achieve.

" Joey? You gonna play or what?" Mokuba grumbled, raising an eye brown at his brother's boyfriend.

Joey blinked, snapping himself back into the world of reality.

He cast a quick glance at his hand and placed mirror wall face down and put Kuribo in attack mode, knowing that Mokuba wouldn't be able to resist attacking. Mokuba placed battle ox on the field and attacked, smirking to himself, but the moment Joey flipped mirror wall up, and he frowned.

" Dang. I didn't think you had mirror wall in your deck. Oh well, I'll have to work out how to get around it." He nodded to Joey. " Your turn."

Joey placed another trap on the field and slipped scapegoat in the adjacent spot, putting another card in defense mode, switching Kuribo to defense mode.

" your move squirt." He drawled, carefully watching as Mokuba put a card face down and then summoned battle warrior in attack mode, attacking Joey's face down card. Joey fipped the card face up and smirked as he took another chunk of life points from Mokuba. " haha. You attacked my giant soldier of stone."

Mokuba frowned. " oh well, I'll attack your Kuribo so you can't summon something else."

Joey flipped his trap card face up, enchanted javelin, and smirked when Mokuba stuck his tongue out at him.

" dang again. Your move."

Joey drew and then looked at the cards in his hand. He placed a just deserts card down on the field and another trap card, waboku. Then, he sacrificed both his monsters and summoned the dark magician in attack mode.

" I attack your battle warrior with my Dark magician!" He grinned when Mokuba scowled, putting his battle warrior in the graveyard, taking a peek at his face down card.

" You just wait Joey. I'll beat you this time." He growled.

" Your turn squirt." Joey taunted.

Mokuba drew and placed one card face down in defense mode, then switched battle ox to defense mode.

" Your turn Joey… but before you go… whose deck are you using? It looks like -"

" It's Yuugi's deck… his grandpa gave it to me in the hospital when he gave me the millennium puzzle. He said Yuugi would have wanted me to have it." Joey smiled softly, tapping the deck with one finger.

Mokuba smiled sadly. " Well, I guess that explains why you have the dark magician in your deck… I suspected as much."

Joey nodded and drew another card, change of heart. He placed one card down on the field and kept the change of heart in his hand. " Your turn."

Mokuba drew and placed a card on the field in defense mode.

" Go ahead Joey, you won't beat me."

Joey drew and placed one card face down then played change of heart.

" I play change of heart and take control of your card. Then, I sacrifice it and one of my monsters to summon my red eyes black dragon in attack mode. I attack your remaining face down card with red eyes, and then I'll attack your life points directly with the dark magician!"

Mokuba sighed.

" You won. You're getting better Joey. I've never seen you think so strategically before, even in your duels during battle city." He grinned and put his deck together.

" ok, lets go bug Seto. I haven't seen him all day. I bet he's hungry." Mokuba stood up, dusting his pants off, even though they'd been sitting on a perfectly clean carpet.

Joey knocked tentatively on the door to Kaiba's workroom, holding a tray of sandwiches and iced tea. Mokuba had told him what Kaiba liked to eat, so he had followed the smaller boy's instructions to the t's and had done everything that would possibly make the visit pleasant and less hazardous. Mokuba had warned Joey to not take Kaiba's attitude to heart if he kicked him out of the room, being as Kaiba got worked up over things rather fast and hated having anyone in his way.

The door slipped open, and Kaiba's face appeared in the door crack. He had a tired air about him, as if he had worn himself to the bone, and he had a small screwdriver in his mouth and a pencil pertched behind his ear. Smudges of grease were layered on his cheeks and Joey had to keep from smiling when Kaiba frowned and then scowled.

" What do you want Wheeler?" he growled, not opening the door any further then an inch.

Joey nervously balanced his tray in his hands, trying not to upset a single thing.

He grinned sheepishly at Kaiba and then held the food up, as if making a peace offering.

" I brought you lunch-"

Kaiba closed the door with a soft swish.

" I don't need any lunch. Go play with some two year old, I'm sure they'd appreciate your attention more then I will."

Joey felt a hot bubble of anger wush up to his brain through his blood.

He banged on the door once, left eye twitching with rage and nearly started raging against the door when Kaiba didn't respond, before he managed to collect himself into a serviceable emotion. He smiled to himself, leaning against the doorframe. He would wait. He would wait until Kaiba knew that he wasn't going to go away.

He stood sternly in the hall, whistling to himself in his head, when not even ten minutes later, Kaiba wretched open the door and glared at him.

" Go away. I told you I didn't want anyone hanging around." He ordered, pointing down the hall through the crack in the doorway. Joey simply smiled and nodded and once Kaiba closed the door, snuck around the corner and leaned against the wall, smiling to himself. He stabilized the tray and continued to smirk to himself when the door opened yet again and Kaiba leaned out around the corner, glancing down the hall.

He spotted Joey and frowned again.

" didn't I just tell you to go away?"

Joey smiled.

" yes, you did. And I, took it to myself to not listen."

Kaiba pulled his head back into his room and slammed the door, making the frame dance from the blow.

Joey looked down at his watch.

It was only a matter of time till Kaiba gave in and let him come in.

It took three hours of patiently sitting, but finally, Kaiba came out and glared at him.

" Wheeler, was I not clear about the concept of going away? It involves you and going away. I want you to leave, now."

Joey smiled patiently, yawning to himself.

" Sure thing boss."

Kaiba slammed the door and then came out moments later looking more exasperated then before. He threw the screwdriver at the blonde, who simply smiled again and continued to lean against the wall, the sandwich tray clutched to his chest like an amulet to ward off evil.

Kaiba's left eye began to twitch with rage. His lip curled in displeasure.

" Wheeler, I'm not going to play games with you. get moving. I can't concentrate on my work if your going to be sitting out here."

Joey shrugged and slipped past Kaiba into the room, tray in hand.

" then let me come in, and you won't have to worry about me being outside."

Kaiba grabbed the tray and lightly dropped it to the table and then forcefully dragged Joey from the room by the wrist, throwing him out into the hall.

" get out and stay out."

He slammed the door in Joey's face.

Joey frowned. He hadn't expected Kaiba to react quite as angrily as he had. But then again, Joey Wheeler never gave up on anything, and he wouldn't start now.

He slunk over the side hall, this time sitting on the other side of the door, and sat down, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He let out a held in breath and sighed, closing his eyes, wondering how long it would take for Kaiba to come back out, glaring and most likely fuming in rage.

He didn't have to wait long.

A few seconds later, the door was thrown open and Kaiba stalked out into the hall, looking around, a curious expression spread on his face; as if he was upset about something.

He cast a glance around the hall, not seeing Joey sitting beside the wall, and sighed, shaking his head.

" I can't believe it took him that long to leave…"

" Sure it did." Joey drawled, smirking, eyes still closed.

Kaiba clenched his fists, cerulean blue eyes enflamed with emotion. " Wheeler, I told you to go away! Why in Ra's name won't you just listen to me and GO AWAY!"

Joey shrugged.

" And take the fun out of life? Nothing's going to make me give up the chance to not listen to someone. It's what I'm best at."

For one split second, Joey thought that he might have overstepped the boundaries, for Kaiba's face turned an ugly shade of red; but then he turned and stomped back into the room, once more slamming the door behind him.

" your going to break that door if you keep slamming it like that." Joey said loudly, making sure that Kaiba would be able to hear him.

He heard a frustrated snarl and slid down the wall to lay on his back on the floor, arms crossed beneath his head, eyes still closed.

The door snapped open and Kaiba stormed out, seizing Joey by the front of his shirt, lifting him upright.

" Wheeler, I'd appreciate it if you leave… this is with or without my foot coming in contact with your ass…" he snarled, eyes flashing viciously.

Joey opened his eyes slowly, and smiled sweetly. " I bet that's not the only part of your body you'd like to come in contact with my ass." He quipped, making Kaiba blush. The C.E.O looked away and released Joey, dropping him to the ground.

The blond landed with a thump and began to rub his backside, a wince spread across his face.

"Sheesh Kaiba, you really should learn to take a joke." He grumbled, ignoring the flustered look on Kaiba's face.

Kaiba crossed his arms and harrumphed.

" I don't care what a miserable cretin like you thinks. Go to hell."

Joey smiled again.

" aw. How polite of you. I'm surprised that you have anyone hanging around you at all. Mokuba must put up with a lot."

Kaiba froze.

He turned around slowly, face empty and devoid of emotion. His game face was back on, which, Joey realized, ment he'd either angered Kaiba beyond belief, or he'd just said something that had struck more then one nerve.

He sighed, standing up and dusting off his pants.

" Fine, I'll go and leave you in peace. I just wanted to spend some time with you, that's all." He grumbled, stalking off down the hall.

He heard the door slam shut and slumped his shoulders. Perhaps things were going to be harder then he had thought when dealing with Seto Kaiba's emotional wall. He scowled at his feet and just turned the corner when Kaiba grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

" Look Wheeler… I'm…" he locked eyes with Joey and leaned forward, softly pressing his lips to Joey's, one arm slipping around his Koi's waist.

Joey leaned into the embrace, slipping his fingers into Kaiba's hair, softly caressing the silken strands.

Kaiba kissed him again, this time thrusting Joey against the wall, pinning him to the cold surface. Joey slipped his hands downward; shifting is fingers underneath the soft cotton of Kaiba's shirt. Kaiba shivered and pressed himself into Joey, shifting Joey up on the wall higher, showering him in kisses.

They broke apart when Kaiba's watch began to beep, and Kaiba sighed, touching Joey's face, staring deeply into his lover's eyes with a look of longing.

" I've got to finish my work… maybe later wheeler." He murmured, pulling free, slipping back into his room, closing the door behind him.

Joey touched his lips in amazement, startled by the taste that seemed to linger in his mouth. He felt himself blush at the realization that it was Kaiba that he tasted, Kaiba, who had been locked against his lips trying to suck the very life from him through his mouth. He felt dizzy, almost light headed…

He shook his head, sitting down on the floor again, wrapping his arms around his knees.

Well then, if Kaiba thought he could just walk off in the middle of a kiss, he was wrong.

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It was hard to say whether Yami Bakura was astonished by the fact he'd been able to break into the command center to Kaiba's Mansion or not. Sure, he'd amused himself by the meager locking mechanism that had barred the door, but the inside of the room had amazed him the most. The many computer screens all flashing and bleeping with colour, the various cameras trained on all parts of the ground and the plush luxury chairs for the security guards all had there up sides. Of course, he'd been thorough, looking through every drawer, ransacking every cabinet, but he'd still managed to only find one set of keys to break into the mainframe.

To him, this just made the entire game more interesting, for now there were challenges to go against. He'd wanted something to do for the past three days, not liking the fact that he'd been locked up in the mansion without contact with the outside world. True, he'd had all the luxuries he could have asked for, hagendas Ice cream, peanuts with chocolate coverings, any type of food he'd wanted; but the matter still remained that he preferred to work for what he got.

Which ment one of two things; it had to either be worked for by physical labour, or he had to have stolen it prior to being devoured. Both of these things had been pretty much bared from his movements, for Kaiba had insisted that they do whatever they wanted, except breaking the things that Kaiba himself found dear; which annoyed him. He hated being told what to do; it made things so much more boring.

He scowled at the key he'd found in a drawer, one that unlocked the front gates. Why did the stupid humans insist on making breaking in and out of fortified places easier then necessary? What was the use of leaving keys lying around in the middle of a security room, when no one else was around to see if it went missing? He was ashamed to say he'd been more amused when breaking into a funeral parlor to see what the present people did with their dead. At least there had been people around, mind you; dead people, but at least he'd had some sort of audience. Besides that fact, he'd been intrigued with the way people cared for the dead. Sure, they'd buried people in Egypt, but come on! When you were dead, there was no afterlife for your rotting corpse. Why prepare it with such beauty and submission? He'd seen better make up jobs on the lifeless bodies then on some people wandering out on the streets. And the stench of it, the smell of what Bakura had told him was Formaldehyde! It reeked. What was the purpose of embalming bodies with that horrid stench? It certaintly wouldn't have made anyone jump for joy to die. The least they could have done was put some better smelling perfume on the bodies instead of that " Lilly of the valley" junk. It made him nauseous. To think that someday Bakura, or himself would end up in a horrid smelling putrid coffin made to last forever so that some poor fool centuries later would find them perfectly preserved and put them in a museum. It was scandalous to put the Egyptian dead in display cases, but he supposed they at least had some historical point. Without them, there would have been little to no record of the Egyptian people… he supposed that it was just natures way of telling humans that they're time was up no matter which period of history they lived in.

He turned his attention back to his present situation; the breaking and entering of the security office, and began to sift through piles of paper labeled by the date and time of when someone came and went from the mansion.

It was a shift change paper.

He snorted at their ignorance.

Leaving important information around like that, like it was common practice to do something so stupid. He shook his head in disgust, wondering how mortals in the twentieth century were still alive.

He heard the sound of a key touching the insides of the door lock and snuck to the darkness of the room, slinking away.

The door swung open, and the present security guard ambled in, carrying a cup of hot coffee, oblivious to the fact that someone had broken into his office.

Yami Bakura waited till the man went forward to the set of video monitors and then slunk out the door, closing it behind him so quietly the man heard nothing.

Chuckling to himself, he wandered aimlessly down the hall, stopping to observe people who were cleaning Kaiba's house, the hired help. He eyed one of the maids with amusement when she dropped a mop and began to blush heavily, having noticed his presence.

" you must be Mr. Yami Bakura…" she said softly, cheeks peppered with pink. She wrapped her arms around her chest, as if trying to hide the fact that she was wearing a maids outfit, that was perhaps a little more revealing because she'd sprayed herself with water from the mop she'd been using to clean one of the walls. The carpet was wet around her, and Yami Bakura nearly began to smirk, but kept himself in check and nodded in acknowledgement, crossing his arms to match her.

" and you must be one of the … maids… correct?" he murmured, eyes hard and unforgiving.

The girl nodded, shivering from the cold of his stare and then shuffled nervously to retrieve his mop when he handed it to her, moving so fast that she jumped from fright.

She took the offered mop and then began to continue to clean the wall, aware that Yami Bakura was still watching her with mild interest.

When she turned around, he was examining a fingernail and was clearly in no hurry to leave, so she began to work harder, hoping to finish and leave him standing in the hall, when he gestured to her outfit with one hand.

" And I suppose that your … outfit, if you can call it that, comes with the job?" he asked.

She blushed harder and nodded vigorously, hair falling out from the frilly hat she'd been wearing.

" Interesting. I might just have to ask Kaiba where he gets his clothing…. It might be amusing to get a duplicate of your outfit for a friend of mine." He chuckled and walked off down the hall, daydreaming about Bakura wearing the French maid outfit.

He chided himself bitterly when he remembered that Bakura had most likely heard every thought he'd just had through their mind link and then shrugged. It couldn't have been helped. At least now Bakura knew what was in store for him.

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Kaiba flung down his wrench and wipped sweat off his brow.

It was done.

Well, the framework was done. He still needed to graft the skin and other things on. He let out a sigh of relief, leaning back against a side table, nearly overturning a tray with sandwiches on it. he frowned, and then remembered where it had come from.

It had been hours since he'd kissed Joey out in the hall now…

He wondered if the blond was still out there in the hall, and then shook his head, peering with a full pride at his creation.

True, it was a little raw in content, being more metal then human in appearance, the hair was sitting on a bench in a package, the skin and other fabricated parts were in separate locations all over the benches that littered his workroom. He paused in his inspection to check his watch.

Damn. It was nearly midnight.

The rest of the supplies to complete "noa-bot" wouldn't come till late noon of the next day, and there wasn't really much he could do in the meantime. He yawned, stretching.

Sure, he'd take a long hot shower, and then settle off to bed for a nice long nap… a nice long undisturbed nap.

He stalked down the hallways, wearing his pj's, hair finally dry after his half and hour long shower, wandering aimlessly.

There was an open debate going on in his head, without him being a part of it.

Should he go see if Joey was still awake? Or should he just leave Joey alone and go to sleep in his own cold room…

He sighed when he realized which room he'd stopped in front of.

Mokuba's room…

He'd tuck his little brother in and then he'd go and check on Joey.

He opened the door, hearing it creak and groan from the shift of wooden door over carpet and snuck in, padding over to Mokuba's bedside. His brother lay sleeping, sprawled out across the mattress, the blankets littering the floor.

Sighing to himself, Kaiba picked them up and tucked his brother in, smiling as Mokuba rolled over, burrowing deep into his pillow.

He snuck to the door, just closing it when Mokuba called out: " goodnight Seto"

" goodnight Mokuba. Go to sleep." Kaiba growled back, closing the door with a snap.

He smuggled his way down the hallway, finding Joey's room without much trouble and the hesitated at the door, afraid to knock.

What if he knocked and Joey was asleep and he woke him up? He honestly didn't want to wake the blond up without a good reason, and if he did, he'd have to fabricate a reason for wanting to talk to Joey…

Before he could even move, the door swung open and Joey's sleep blanketed face appeared in the doorway.

Joey rubbed his eyes, yawning to himself.

He moved forward and kissed Kaiba, wrapping his arms around the brunette's waist, snuggling against his koi.

" Hello."

Kaiba smiled to himself and showered the blond with kisses, leaning him against the door. Joey moaned and pulled him closer into the hug, fingers tracing up and down Kaiba's back, slipping beneath the soft fabric of his lover's pj's.

He pulled free, putting one finger on Kaiba's lips, eyes dancing with delight.

" You want to come in? Or would you prefer to play out in the hall where people can come and see us?"

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What will Noa Kaiba's new artificial body end up looking like? And will Yami Bakura figure out a way to get Bakura to wear a French maid's outfit?

TBC