Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ My First Treasure ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Title: My First Treasure

Chapter: 1/?

Author: Madyamisam

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Jou/OC, Seto/Jou

Beta: Jennie B (my saviour and goddess)

Spoiler: Mentions of the Death-T tournament.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Yu-Gi-Oh or the songs of Fruits Basket Four Seasons. Credit for these go to manga artist Kazuki Takahashi and composer/singer Ritsuko Okazaki

Summary: This fic was inspired by the songs of Fruits Basket written and composed by the wonderful Ritsuko Okazaki. It has been three years since he left, three years since a confession was made and Seto, now twenty-four, returns to Japan. However, he is about to discover how much things have changed in the three years he has been away.

 

---

 

It was with a strange satisfaction that he breathed the fresh air of his homeland as he strode purposefully towards his awaiting limousine, the metal briefcase he had carried for over six years swaying slightly in time with his long strides. The chauffeur bowed low in his presence before opening the door for him, and soon the loud noises of the aeroplanes became distant. After an hour or so spent working on proposals on his laptop, Seto Kaiba glanced out of his tinted window as the car passed a line of cherry blossom trees in full bloom. He allowed a smile creep across his face as he watched a few of the delicate pink petals floating away from tree branches. He remembered that the trees had flowered at the time he had left as well. Considering how short and erratic the blooming period was for cherry blossoms trees, he was pleased to have been able to see them at their most beautiful on both occasions. `But you didn't come back here just to enjoy the scenery, did you?'

 

Seto stared at the old locket that Mokuba had made for him back when he had been in that coma for a few weeks in after his dealings with Yugi and his mysterious other self. His younger brother was now attending an established university in America, and was studying computer engineering. His company branch in the States was flourishing, and had become a major corporate player in the entertainment business, far exceeding the expected quotas for their products. Any competition had instantly been quashed by Kaiba Corp's success, and project developments were running three months ahead of schedule. All in all, it meant that Kaiba now had ~a lot~ of free time on his hands, and he was about to make good use of that time to pursue a goal that he had come to realise was more important than any business venture or title he had ever sought.

 

He thought back to when he had left Japan. At the time, he had established a tenuous friendship with Yugi that had slowly branched out towards his friends and surprisingly, out of all of them, he had built a good rapport with Jounouchi- the one that he had thought he would be the least likely to connect with. He had always thought that Jounouchi was nothing more than a clumsy, brainless oaf that he would have never given a second glance at, except perhaps to insult him. However, he had come to realise that Jounouchi was a lot more intelligent than he was given credit for, and incredibly resourceful despite his financial limitations. Although it never seemed to show in the blond's grades in school, Seto came to realise that Jounouchi could easily have been an A-grade student if he had wanted to be. Kaiba cursed himself for wasting his time being cautious around them, and by the time he felt that he could try to commit to getting to know the tight-knit group of friends a little better, he had had to leave. He regretted every minute he had wasted keeping his distance. But at the crux of it all was the last thing he heard Jounouchi say to him that day at the airport;

 

---

 

“I like you,” Jounouchi said, a slight flush of pink on his perfect, sun-kissed face. Kaiba blinked, his surprise evident despite the impassive expression on his face. “Not love, ok? I don't you know well enough to call it that.”

 

“Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?” Kaiba scowled.

 

“Well, this is technically the last time we'll ever see each other- at least for a while,” Jounouchi replied, staring at the floor. “Knowing you, you'll be too busy to even think about your home in Japan, let alone me, so not much point in giving you my contact number. But, I thought I'd say this now and get it off my chest, and then I won't regret it.” Kaiba was left speechless by both the confession and the way it had been delivered. It had to have taken a lot of courage for Jounouchi to admit something like that, so he remained silent and waited for Jounouchi to finish. “I don't expect you to stay because of what I say; besides, it would be selfish of me to think otherwise. In fact, I know you won't stay. But… given the opportunity, I would have tried harder to get you to open up, to try to get to know you better and understand what goes on in that crazy head of yours. Anyway, here….” Jounouchi pressed something into Seto's hand.

 

“Y-your Red Eyes Black Dragon?” Kaiba gasped. It was Jounouchi's favourite card in Duel Monsters, and he was just giving it to him?

 

“I know I'm crazy… I know in all likelihood you'll probably just toss it among all the other cards in that ridiculous briefcase of yours, or maybe even rip it up, but… I want you to have it, ok?” Jounouchi took a deep breath and allowed a smile to settle on his face. “Well, you need to get on board or you'll miss your flight. See ya Kaiba,” Before Seto could say another word, Jounouchi was gone.

 

---

 

Since that day, Seto's thoughts had always gone back to Jounouchi. At first, he berated himself for it, claiming that thinking of those things would just hinder his progress. Over the three years though, he found that thinking of the blond had inspired many of his more successful projects. He found that when he was stuck on something, he would only have to glance at the Red Eyes Black Dragon card on his desk and everything would suddenly become clear. Although he never used it in a duel or as part of a system test, he always kept the card close. Eventually, he even decided to modify his card shaped pendant to keep it in. Years had gone by with one success after another until, eventually, Mokuba started nagging him about taking a break.

 

---

 

“Nii-sama, please, you haven't taken a break outside of a lunch hour since you got here. Kaiba Corp America is flourishing, and all projects you've set out are on schedule and near completion,” the 19-year-old Mokuba badgered.

 

“The market can change at any moment, otouto. I can't risk a holiday. Besides, I want to look at the blue prints on this new project,” Seto replied, still working steadily on his computer. Mokuba glared at his older brother and, grabbing his chair, he twisted him hard around from his work place. Kaiba blinked in surprise at his brother's sudden harshness.

 

“Yes, the market is erratic, Seto, but the company is strong enough now to handle it. The real concern is the pace you're working at. Our staff have been working full steam for nearly three years to keep up with you, and they're all starting to have a breakdown. Nii-sama, please, just take some time off for them to catch up, and they'll make your products more efficient. Give them some leeway,” the younger Kaiba, now as tall as Seto himself, forced his brother to look at him when the brunet's eyes strayed to his desktop as he spoke. “You've done enough for this company; stop putting so much wood on the fire or you'll end up smothering it. Seto, this is the perfect opportunity for you to think of yourself for a change. Those blueprints will still be there when you get back.” Seto bit his lower lip taking one last glimpse at his latest idea, and then at the pendant. The voice of his secretary suddenly came through the intercom.

 

“Mr Kaiba, Mr Takaya has asked if he could postpone his meeting with you for tomorrow? He says he wants more time to go through his presentation to check for any mistakes and refine it.”

 

“That was about the performance of that new microchip, wasn't it?”

 

“Yes sir; the one you proposed two weeks ago.” Seto's eyes widened.

 

“That soon?” he muttered, taking note from the corner of his eye of the smug look on Mokuba's face.

 

“Sir, what should I tell him?” the secretary asked.

 

“Um… grant his request, and tell him to take his time. In fact… cancel all my appointments for the next three we-” He faltered when Mokuba glared at him. “Months… cancel the appointments for the next three months. I'll be away for a while.”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“Also, inform all employees that Mr Kaiba appreciates their hard work and dedication, and that 50% of the profits that we make for this company this year will be invested into their bonuses,” Mokuba added with a sadistic grin on his face, ignoring the horrified look on his brother's face.

 

“Y-yes sir, thank you very much,” squeaked the woman on the intercom. Mokuba turned to his older sibling and dumped a bunch of fliers onto his desk.

 

“You had this planned all along, didn't you?” Seto frowned disapprovingly at the mass of travel brochures.

 

“Oh, I did it for your own good,” Mokuba retorted, waving his hand dismissively. “Now, where would you like to go? Rome? Egypt? Or maybe you could go on a cruise? I've heard that Venice is a nice place to be this time of the year.” Seto gave a wry smile as he tuned out his brother's babbling and turning his attention towards his pendant. He opened it and stared at the Red Eyes Black Dragon embossed on the left side of the pendant whilst a photo of a young version of Mokuba stared at him from the right.

 

“Maybe… maybe I should go back home, for a while,” he mused. `Home…' He repeated the word in his head a few more times and noticed, for the first time, a sense of longing for such a place. As if reading his mind, Mokuba flashed him another cheeky smile.

 

“Good choice,” he said as he backed towards the door. “I'll allow you finish up here while I help you pack your bags,”

 

“You're really keen on getting rid of me, aren't you?” Seto chuckled. Mokuba merely winked back at his older sibling before jogging out of the office.

 

“Naturally; I am, after all, a caring, concerned, and ~normal~ little brother,” Mokuba retorted. Seto rolled his eyes at what the younger man had implied, but as soon as his sibling was gone, the young CEO slouched into his leather chair, feeling the brunt of an assortment of aches and pains in his body from working too much.

 

“Home…” Seto whispered to himself, listening to sound of the word roll off his tongue whilst his attention was focused on the pendant. “Jounouchi…”

 

---

 

“Go to the Kame Game shop,” Kaiba ordered, unconsciously gripping the pendant tightly in his hand. The chauffer merely gave a nod of acknowledgement. `He'll know for sure where I can find him.' Seto sighed as he waited impatiently to have a talk with his former rival.

 

---

 

“Welcome, and how may I he- Kaiba-kun?” Yugi blinked, staring at the brunet with awe. Kaiba raised an eyebrow. It seemed that Yugi hadn't changed much, except for the fact that he had probably grown a few inches taller. “Oh, forgive me for acting like a goldfish. I never expected you to be back; if I had known I would ha-”

 

“It's all right; my decision to return to Japan was a rather sudden one,” Kaiba admitted. He looked away awkwardly, pretending to have an interest at the line of action figures on the shelf. Yugi smiled, allowing the CEO to gather his thoughts before he questioned him further.

 

“Yugi I just checked the stock in the ba- oh!” The former pharaoh was astonished to see his ex-rival standing there. Kaiba glanced over once before returning his attention to the Barbie dolls. Last Seto had heard of Yami was that he had got his own body shortly before his departure three years ago, and had decided to live a relatively normal life alongside his former soul partner. All of a sudden, Yugi had a twin brother.

 

“Kaiba, it's been a while,” Yami said. “What brings you back to Japan?”

“I'm… I'm taking some time off from work,” Seto said, suddenly feeling very self-conscious. Even more so when he noticed the stunned expressions on the twins' faces “So I came back to… relax.” Yugi's shock turned into an expression of understanding.

 

“Thank you, Kaiba-kun, for taking the time to visit us.” He beamed happily. “Oh, where are my manners? Would you like a drink, Kaiba-kun? We have tea, fruit juice…”

 

“Tea would be fine.” Yugi beamed again as he literally skipped off to the kitchen, only to be distracted with a phone call.

 

“I GOT IT!” he shouted. His hospitality was totally thrown out of the window as he quickly became engrossed in a conversation with his girlfriend. Anzu had moved to New York to study ballet after the gang's high school graduation, but had kept in constant contact with Yugi, and in doing so, the two had developed a loving, long distance relationship, and visiting each other whenever they had the chance. Yami sighed as he went to the door and turned the placard from `Open' to `Closed', and stuck a piece of paper in the window explaining the reason for closing early.

 

“He'll be on that phone for hours. Come on into the kitchen, I'll get the tea,” he said good-naturedly. Yami was put in charge of the game shop, which had taken a big weight of off Sugoroku's shoulders (who subsequently had gone travelling again), and the little shop had doubled in size since Kaiba had seen it last. “I'm pleased to see you again. How long has it been? Three years?” Yami continued.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“How long are you staying in Japan for?”

 

“A couple of months.”

 

“Oh. Do you have any plans? If you don't, I could always call some of the old gang again for us to hang out with.”

 

“Actually, I was wondering…” Seto faltered, wondering at first why he even bothered. Absently, his hand went straight for his pendant. “I was wondering where I could find Jounouchi,” he said. Yami blinked and suddenly looked awkward.

 

“Um… An-chan, can I call you back?” Yugi whispered. “What's your reason for wanting to see Jounouchi-kun?”

 

“Just wanted to know how the idiot was doing,” Seto replied, his old habit of adding an insult to the end of his sentences suddenly coming back with a vengeance.

 

“Well, he'll be coming over later today, but please Kaiba-kun, try to refrain from talking to him like you used to,” Yugi urged. “He's fallen on hard times recently.”

 

“Why am I not surprised? What has he gotten himself into this time?”

 

“Kaiba!” Yami snapped, his eyes suddenly cold. Feeling a strange tension, Seto decided to keep his mouth shut this time. Now, he was getting worried; it seemed it was something that none of Jounouchi's friends could help him with. `What could have possibly happened while I was away?'

 

“Sorry,” he muttered taking a sip of his tea in order to reduce the tension he felt between himself and the twins. Satisfied, the coldness in Yami's eyes turned into a glazed and dreamy expression.

 

“I think I'll go upstairs and check on her again.” He hurried towards the stairs with a slight bounce in his step.

 

“Yami, that's the seventh time already. It's not like she's going anywhere.” Yugi scowled.

 

“Who are you talking about?” The brunet blinked at the strange exchange between the two. Yugi chuckled at his ~brother's~ antics.

 

“Why don't you go see for yourself?” he replied. The blue-eyed brunet looked unsure, but followed the former pharaoh up the stairs. Yami turned and placed a finger on his lips signalling for the CEO to be quiet as they entered, the normally staid look he wore had been replaced with a delighted sparkle in his eyes. His face suddenly paled though when they entered an empty room with nothing more than a rumpled bed sheet where someone had been sleeping. He gasped as he began search frantically around the room and under the bed.

 

“Ra, where is she? RIKU!” Yami shouted. Alerted by his former soul partner's distress, Yugi raced up the stairs and barged in.

 

“Yami, what's wrong?”

 

“She's gone!” Yami cried as he tossed the bed sheet aside.

 

“When was the last time you checked on her?”

 

“About half an hour ago; she was asleep and I thought the room was a bit stuffy so I opened the window a li- AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!” Yami shrieked, pointing outside in absolute horror. Seto gasped at the window that was wide open. Outside was a scaffolding frame that Yami had called for in order to fix the roof, and the workers had all taken a tea break. The three rushed over and peeked outside, and their fears were confirmed when they heard a soft giggle above them.

 

“THE SCAFFOLD!” Yugi cried as they all clambered out onto the semi-stable platform. The brunet stared in awe at the little figure sitting on a plank of wood that had been left out by the workers, half of it sticking out on the scaffold ledge. Baby Riku sat on the plank near the edge. The child, who looked barely nine months old, was adorable to say the least. She had huge, puppy brown eyes that put Yugi's already abnormally large ones to shame, and on her head she wore a white woollen cap. The baby blinked in wonder before showing off a toothless grin that could have melted the coldest of hearts. The twins both breathed a sigh of relief as they treaded carefully across the platform toward her.

 

“Hi-ya little cutie,” Yugi burbled, trying to coax the child away from the edge.

 

“Come here, Riku. That's a good girl. Come to Uncle Yami,” Yami said, the grin on his face laced with panic. Rather than obeying her babysitter, Riku crawled away along the plank, still giggling. “No, no, no, no, come back ~here~ RIKU! STOP!” Yugi rushed to grab her before she fell, only to be knocked out as the plank levered by the baby's weight smacked him in the chin. Yami let out a silent scream as the Riku disappeared off the wooden ramp and then fainted. The brunet rushed to the edge and let out a sigh of relief as the child landed safely on the next level of scaffolding that subsequently led to another part of the house. He hurried back down and went through the rooms until he came upon the window where Riku was. Riku looked bemused as she tapped the glass with her small hand. When she saw Seto, she let another smile cross her lips whilst Seto opened the window and gathered her up into his arms.

 

“You're a bit of a daredevil aren't you?” Seto muttered, a wily smirk gracing his lips as the baby hung loosely in his arms. Riku answered with a giggle whilst the brunet brought her back to the makeshift nursery from where she had made her disappearing act, and where Yugi and Yami still lay.

 

“Huuu…?” Riku said pointing at the unconscious out twins, her expression a picture of curious interest. The two exchanged glances with each other. Kaiba grinned wickedly at his former rival.

 

“Yes, that's ~your~ fault,” he replied to her unasked question, but his amused expression turned to one of resignation. “And it pains me to think that I failed to destroy even ~one~ of these guys with all my expensive, state of the art equipment while ~you~ managed to knock them ~both~ out with a wooden plank.”

 

“Heeeeh….” the baby answered with what seemed to carry a tone of smugness. Seto grumbled and muttered curses to himself.

 

“Let's get you cleaned up first, you rug-rat. We can leave them out there for a little while.” Much to his surprise Kaiba had almost instantly become attached to the child, even to her quirky, and sometimes clumsy, antics that seemed so vaguely familiar. While both Yami and Yugi were asleep from the ordeal of the scaffolding, Seto spent the afternoon playing and coddling Riku and it seemed that she, too, had taken an immediate liking to her new friend.

 

Seto was surprised that he had spent a whole afternoon with the baby, and that the thought of finding Jounouchi had been all but forgotten. It was when a familiar voice called into the house that he was suddenly reminded of his original goal in coming to the Motou household.

 

“Yugi, sorry I'm late.” Seto's heart skipped a beat as he heard for the first time in three years the sound of Jounouchi's voice. The blond still retained the rich and soft tenor he had possessed three years ago, yet at the same time, it had matured. Kaiba strode to the hallway, and the sight before him took his breath away. Jounouchi was dressed in a thin, brown overcoat with a white woollen scarf around his neck and loose blue jeans. The messy gold mane he had once had had settled down and seemed to frame his face, making him look more refined. Jou had been an attractive boy when he was in his teens, despite the rugged way he had presented himself through the years of high school and university, but for some reason, he had undergone a magnificent transformation in the last three years. Kaiba recognised the soft, soulful chocolate brown eyes, but somehow, he noticed that there was something a little off about them, as if something in Jou had been missing or lost. Although Kaiba was standing in front of him, Jou was too engrossed with balancing his grocery bags and taking off his shoes in the hallway. The instant Riku heard the blond's voice, she speed crawled towards him and into the kitchen with the CEO trailing behind her. Kaiba stood in the doorway as the infant tugged on the blond's jeans. Jou looked down and his face instantly lit up as he scooped the giggling tot into his arms. Seto stared in awe at the picture, and his heart warmed at sight of the blond's beautiful smile.

 

“Hey you,” Jou cooed, rubbing noses with the baby. “Did you miss your daddy?”

 

Seto's heart stopped. `Daddy?'

 

TBC…