Yu-Gi-Oh! Love Selflessly (Version 2 - SEMI FINAL)

Chapter 1

"Joey," Tristan said, "Make your move already!" Joey looked over his cards and said, placing a card on the table in front of him, "Alright, Téa, take that! My Rock Ogre is gonna rock you like a hurricane!" Téa looked at Joey's card, then flipped over her defense monster, the Happy Lover. Joey snickered, "Sure, Téa, Like that wimpy little card has a chance against my giant rock guy. Give it up!" Téa said calmly, placing a spell card down on the table, "I guess I don't stand a chance unless, maybe, I use my Breath of Light magic card." Joey asked, "Can she do that?" Emiko nodded and Yugi explained, "Yep. The Breath of Light wears down rock monsters and reduces them to rubble." Tristan mocked him, "Téa just wiped you out again, Joey!" Téa gloated playfully, "Once again, you lose and I rock!" Joey grumbled in defeat and Emiko laughed. She looked around, then said, "Hey, guys, where'd Bakura go?" Yugi shrugged, looking around.

"Not sure," he said. Joey said, shrugging, too, "He probably had to use the bathroom or something. Why?" Emiko nodded and said, turning to leave, "It's ok. I'm going to go and grab my lunch out of my locker. I'll be right back, guys." Yugi smiled and gave her a quick nod. As Emiko walked out of the classroom, Téa said under her breath, "Yugi, does Emiko seem different to you?" Yugi said, "Yeah. She seems more relaxed than she usually is." Joey said, "Maybe she was just having a rough couple of days." Tristan said, "Yeah. Who knows. I'm just glad she seems more upbeat."

Emiko opened her locker and grabbed her pastel blue bento box, wrapped neatly in a light red cloth. Shutting her locker, she heard giggling around the corner from multiple girls. She decided to investigate and saw that Bakura, standing near the water fountain, was surrounded by multiple girls, all giggling, chattering, and a few of them even offering their lunches to him. Bakura was flustered and trying not to be rude, but he was clearly very uncomfortable. He spotted Emiko and said, waving, "Hey, Emiko!" Emiko chuckled and said, "Hey, Bakura! We've been waiting for you. You coming?" He laughed softly and said, "Yeah, I'm coming." He politely excused himself as the girls all gave disappointed looks. He sped to Emiko's side and they walked, stopping at his locker to pick up his bento box, back to the classroom.

"Thanks, Emiko," he sighed, "Those girls back there had me cornered." She smiled at him and said, "Yeah. I could tell." Before they reached the classroom, Emiko stopped and said, "Hey, Bakura?" He stopped and turned to look at her. She inhaled deeply, then said in a low voice, "Thank you. F-for the pep-talk the other day." She just smiled and he saw in her eyes that it had gone well. He returned the smile and said, "You're most welcome. I'm glad it went well." She looked down at her feet. They both walked into the classroom and rejoined their friends.

"So, did you all hear the news?" Téa said, "I heard that Kaiba decided to back out of the Regionals after his duel with you, Yugi." Yugi nodded. Joey said, "Yeah. I read it in today's paper." Emiko said, feigning surprise, "Really?" Bakura added, "Wow. I kind of feel bad for him." Joey said, "Kaiba just got what was coming to him." Tristan said, "I don't think losing one unnofficial match was really worth throwing away the whole tournament, though." Emiko sighed.

"Should I tell them?" she thought. She knew she would have to reveal her identity sooner or later, especially after the incident at the game shop, but she was still afraid of what they would think. She had no idea if any of them would even want to be her friend after the way Seto had treated them. She finally made up her mind, "No. I'll wait until a better time."

Back at the Kaiba manor that evening, the younger two were sitting on the floor in front of the TV, watching the Duel Monsters Regional Championship while playing a game of chess. Emiko had just looked up at the TV to look at the ranking board, when Seto walked through, towards the door, holding a briefcase. Mokuba stood up and Emiko asked, "Seto? Where are you going?" Seto said, "I'm going away for a while. I don't know how long I'll be gone." Emiko stood up.

"What?!" she gasped, "But, why!?" Mokuba said, "Seto, you can't leave us!" The oldest, placing his hand on his forehead, said, "I have no idea who I am anymore. I used to say that cards were power, but now, after my duel with Yugi, I'm not sure what to think anymore." He looked out the window and said, "It's like I lost a piece of myself that day." Mokuba pleaded with him, "But you're the best duelist there is!" Emiko said, "Yeah, what are you talking about!?" Seto said, taking a card out of his front coat pocket, "Mokuba." He handed Mokuba the card and said, "I'm entrusting you with this. It holds secret information about Kaiba Corporation that I don't want falling into the wrong hands." Emiko protested, "Seto, are you sure-" He cut her off, saying, "Since Mokuba is the youngest, it will seem very unlikely that he would hold the company's valuable information." Emiko stammered, feeling her throat clenching as tears stung her eyes, "But, Seto, what do you expect us to do without you?!" He said, "I don't expect you to do anything. Just make sure everything runs smoothly until I get back." Seto opened the door and walked out.

"Wait," Mokuba cried, "Seto, don't go!" As the door shut behind Seto, Emiko let out a small sigh, a single tear dripping down her face. She wondered what went wrong. Was it something they had done? Could they have done more? Mokuba turned around and asked, gripping the card in his shaking hand, "Wh-what now?" Emiko said nothing. She looked up at Mokuba, who just stood in the doorway staring at her, looking for an answer that she couldn't give. She finally said, "I...I guess...we just have to keep the company safe for now." Mokuba sighed. He said sadly, "I thought we would be a family again." She looked out the window, watching the limo drive away, and said, "I know...me, too."