Family of Dragons

A Kaiba is WHAT Productions

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh and its characters do not belong to Kaiba is WHAT Productions.

Chapter 21: And it all begun with…

One thing to be said for his brother, Kaiba realized as he looked down on the breathtaking evening lawn party below him, was that Mokuba truly organized spectacular parties.

While he had been traveling all over the planet visiting established Kaiba lands all around the world during the last 10 days, including several unexpected stops at areas that were potentially suitable for setting up new Lands, Mokuba had done a miraculously-perfect job of balancing everyday work in Kaiba Land Japan, organizing their newly revived Duelist Kingdom Tournament, officially renamed Kaiba Duelist Kingdom Tournament, and finally, organizing his birthday party.

25th October.

What a day to remember.

His 29th birthday.

He was turning 29 years old.

It wasn’t an age he particularly cared for.

Or rather he had never cared much for and had pretty much stopped celebrating his birthday since his biological father had passed away when he was 8 years old. Gozaburo was uninterested in birthdays and Kaiba had never found the appeal of celebrating birthday without his birth parents. But Mokuba had loved birthdays, so much that even as young children under Gozaburo’s adoption, Kaiba had often found himself sneaking cakes and presents to Mokuba to celebrate their birthdays.

And then they grew up and became more independent of each other. He settled in New York while Mokuba returned to Domino City. And he stopped celebrating his birthdays again.

Until 3 years ago, on his last tour of the Kaiba Lands, during his last stop in Egypt when he had discovered Kisara and adopted her. The young girl was another Mokuba, in love with birthdays, cakes and presents. And since then, every year they had a small celebration where he would bring Kisara to pick out a lovely cake so that her daddy could celebrate “growing up” and blow out candles.

29th Birthday.

Kaiba couldn’t help but smile remembering how Mokuba and Kisara had handed him a 20-paged essay on the reasons for him to celebrate his 29th birthday.

Mokuba had promised a breathtaking, awesome party. One that Kaiba would love.

And Mokuba had been true to his words.

The venue decided on was Duelist Kingdom Island. Almost a year back, Mokuba had somehow convinced him to contact his old time nemesis Pegasus Maximillion and procure the island when they decided to revive the Duelist Kingdom Tournaments. And why not, Mokuba had reasoned with him then. The island had been left on its own to rot and collapse after the Duelist Tournament held by Pegasus more than ten years ago, but yet it was a perfect Dueling island on its own, with practically all kinds of terrains, ranging from mountains to sea, plains to underground cemeteries and secret chambers. Pegasus had been more than happy to sell off the island for a considerably lucrative sum of money to invest further into his running projects.

And Mokuba spent the year rebuilding the island into what it had been for the Dueling Tournament. With the invention of the Dueling Disks, the Dueling boxes all over the island became redundant. Mokuba had thus turned them into small Dueling theaters where duelists could sit at the exact same spot and watch the old battles of the first generation Duelists who had battled in the Boxes. Previously unutilized duel boxes were retained to allow young duelists to experience the old dueling system.

Almost the whole island had been restored to what Mokuba could remember of the old island and whatever blue prints of the kingdom then that Pegasus had managed to produce. That is, except for the western coast, where Mokuba had chosen to build a mansion for their private use, and now specified as the venue for Kaiba’s 29th birthday party.

Pegasus Island.

Rechristened Duelist Kingdom Island.

Because Kaiba did not treasure the memories he had of the island.

He had barely recovered from his coma, Mokuba had been kidnapped and Kaiba Corp was under Pegasus’s threat. His minion betrayed him, pointed a gun at him, and he had wasted a card getting rid of the unloyal subordinate. He had to threaten to jump off the tower to get the star chips needed to enter the castle and when he finally met Mokuba, Mokuba didn’t even recognize him.

He absently reached for Mokuba’s locket hanging around his neck.

And then he lost his duel with Pegasus.

Very wonderful memory.

Nevertheless, his new entry to the island proved to be wonderful enough to erase him of most of his old memories.

Kaiba had almost forgotten to breathe when he first saw the island from his private jet in the twilight after a long mindless flight from Egypt, and at that point the island wasn’t even fully decorated.

Flying in from the west coast of the island earlier last night, he had been greeted with the back of an elaborate mansion, with a rolling lawn that swept down to the sea providing beautiful views of the water. From the lawn the view of the back of the illuminated mansion was backed by the castle, lighted up and alluring in the evening light.

Mokuba had evidently done much to prepare for his outdoor lawn party. The lawn had been reseeded until it was lush, green and inviting. A huge staircase was constructed that led from the back of the mansion down the length of the lawn to the sea. The stairway was decorated with lattice work and lighted globes, so as to meet the verdant illuminating on the lawn. An orchestra pit large enough to seat a full orchestra, a dance floor inside a pavilion and fountains spurting water were also built. White tents were also pulled up to provide shelter above the seating.

Exhausted from his flight and overwhelmed by the flooding visions the island offered, he had quickly succumbed to bed rest in the mansion immediately after landing, and woke up only after noon on his actual birthday to a happy, tearful Kisara who missed her daddy badly after 10 days apart.

Kisara herself had been away from Domino City for the last ten days, signed up for the Kaiba Corp Europe Duel Monster Tour Camp along with the twins by their father. It was an educative trip in Kaiba’s point-of-view, allowing the children to interact with children from other countries and also visit Europe as a cultural tour. It also stopped the children from worrying about their fathers’ issues. The only down-side was that the children had to be absent from school, and that he frequently received calls from the Tour organizers about their unruly behaviors. Somehow, the children had started quarrelling before flying off for their Camp, and the quarrel had not simply ended there once they found themselves in foreign territory. It had only worsened once the camp started. He heard no ends of how Kisara pushed Jono into every mud pools Jono walked past and how Jono had retaliated by planting bugs and lizards in Kisara’s lunchboxes at every chance he could. And how the two children had fouled every single rule in dueling during their first match against each other.

Fortunately, the camp managed to end without bloodshed on either party, and the children were sent home safely. His bubbly little girl was thus now busy running around the island, Duel-Monster-high from the spectacular duel finals that they had just watched.

The Tournament had in fact started the day before, with Mokuba presiding over the opening ceremony. Young duelists who had applied to join, received and accepted the invitations to the tournament had arrived two days ahead with their camping gears, decks, duel disks and 2 star chips on Kaiba Corp’s ferries. The first eight duelists to collect ten star chips and enter the Duelist Castle where the finals were held were the final 8.

While Kaiba had missed most of the tournament, it was evident that it was a fierce competition to become the top duelist from the final few duels. Nevertheless, prejudiced or not, somehow the battles between the duelists, which he felt were less talented players as compared to him, and well a certain Yugi, just weren’t as interesting as he hoped.

Following the prize ceremony, the top 8 duelists and Kaiba Corp’s honored guests were invited to rest and freshen up in the castle before chartered cars brought them over to the mansion for the dinner party.

Kaiba had taken the chance then to take a solitary long walk from the Duelist Castle back to the mansion, quietly observing the many young duelists who were still excited from the duels and still busy challenging each other to duels, given the rare chance to use the dueling boxes.

Now, the sun had set, the stars blanketed the sky and guests of Kaiba Corporation and friends of the Kaibas were arriving at the mansion where the party took place.

From his balcony, he had a prefect view of the winners of the tournament and their friends gathering around the fountain, admiring the Blue Eyes statues.

A world of difference from their tournament ten years ago, Kaiba noted. There had been no grand party at the end. Only Kaiba’s eagerness to get off the island with Mokuba.

The island then was also a sad pile of ruins compared to the glorious island it was now.

Mokuba had done a most wonderful job.

It was almost a vision of heaven from his position overlooking the lawn on an unlighted balcony on the fourth floor of the mansion. He had deliberately left the balcony’s light off so he could remain less noticeable as he explored his crowd of guests smiling and mingling with one another in his party below.

The globes on the stairway below his balcony were one of his favorite effects. They gave off a radiance, a soft celestial light, which illuminated those standing and walking upon the stairway like the aura of angels.

And Jounouchi was one of them – swaying lightly on the railing at the foot of the stairway, looking ahead vaguely. Kaiba couldn’t tell if he was looking at the dazzling crowd ahead or further beyond at the sea.

But he could see that Jounouchi had a smile on his face.

That was like Jounouchi, he mused.

The guy who loves celebrations and parties.

Katsuya Jounouchi.

It was surprising what time and distance could do.

1 month since their fight.

2 weeks since his call that night at Kaiba Corp.

20,000 kilometers away he had travelled during the last 10 days.

And he could now watch him calmly, but still not without some ache in his chest.

Jounouchi couldn’t help but be impressed by everything he had experienced since stepping onto the island the night before.

The idea of reviving the Duelist Kingdom Tournament itself was truly ingenious. It brought dueling to a new height, and at the same time brought back the old duelists.

Mokuba had invited the Yugi-gang over earlier to meet up with many of the other duelists who had participated in the original Duelist Kingdom Tournament.

It was quite a pleasant surprise to meet up with duelists they had not met for 15 years.

Insector Haga, who true to his name, grew up to become an entomologist researching in the virgin tropical forests of Indonesia.

Ryouta Kajiki, still a fisherman, hoping to become the greatest fisherman in the world, but now married with two gangly sons who loved duel monsters too.

Dinosaur Ryuzaki, who grew out of his interests in dinosaurs and become an Indie rock singer, frequently performing in live houses within and beyond Domino City.

As well as many others whom the Yugi-gang had not had a chance to duel back then.

It was astonishing how people changed, and how they did not.

13 years ago, he debuted as a duelist in the Duelist Kingdom Tournament after Yugi gave him one of his star chips. Months later, he was the number 3 duelist in the world. Years later, he was still dueling on and off, had kids, and his kids were now the ones learning to duel.

How time flew.

It was good meeting up with the duelists they had battled back then – with everyone much more mature and nostalgic.

The chats had mostly focused on the duels they had back then, while discussing the new duels that took place on the island that day. Jounouchi wasn’t sure how the others felt. He felt younger, like he was back in his 15 years old days, yet also felt older, feeling and seeing himself as a 29 year old man.

That evening, they were invited to spend the night in the guestrooms in the Castle, but in truth, most of them had sneaked out of the castle to play in the duel boxes, revisiting their younger days.

He had headed out to the dueling box where he and Mai had dueled and to his surprise found Mai there with Harpy, watching a replay of their duel. They had then started a new duel on the spot. Almost quite immediately, the number of spectators increased, Honda and Bakura arriving first, followed by Yugi and Anzu, who upon arrival explained they needed to put the children to sleep. A short while later, much to their amusement, they had heard Ryuzaki and Haga sneaking around nearby looking for another duel box to duel.

The tournament today had been just as spectacular. Yugi and Anzu had chosen to watch the live feed in the Duelist Castle theatre with their children, while Mai, Harpy and he had preferred to walk around the island watching the duels live.

Around noon, the twins and Kisara had arrived on one of Kaiba Corp’s private jets, having just flown in back from Europe. It was apparent that the children were still fighting from the way that Jono was scowling and holding a bunch of dismembered Kuribos and how Kisara was glaring knives into Jono while holding an eyeless Blue Eye White Dragon colored black with black markers.

“She chopped up the Kuribos I won from winning the Camp Cup!” The young boy had howled.

“You pulled out the eyes of my Blue Eye White Dragon!” The girl had screeched in retaliation.

“Because you threw my Blue Flames Swordsman into the bonfire!”

“Because you colored my Blue Eye White Dragon black!”

“Because you threw my Jinzo into the mud pool!”

“Because you purposely sneezed onto my Blue Eye White Dragon!”

“Because you put bugs into my water bottle!”

“They were your bugs to start with. I was just returning them!”

“They were for you to eat and keep. Tom-Boy.”

“Oh, you nasty Nancy-boy!!!”

“You deserve those bugs you know!”

“And you deserve all those mud baths!”

Only Seth in the middle and the poor babysitter who had been charged with taking care of them in-flight kept the two from starting a fight and pulling each other’s hair out.

In any case, the children had run off to their respective guardians once they saw them. Seth and Jono pounced into his lap almost immediately with Jono complaining at bullet-speed how Kisara had mutilated his Kuribos and burnt his Blue Flames Swordsman, while Seth recounted how Jono and Kisara had gotten into a total of 14 fights during the camp.

Kisara had briskly jumped into the waiting arms of her uncle Mokuba while eagerly asking where her daddy was.

Jounouchi had briefly wondered if Kaiba had chosen to avoid him, but Mokuba had quickly explained within Jounouchi’s earshot that Kaiba was simply still exhausted from his trip and was still sleeping.

Kisara had then gone off with Mokuba while the twins had joined him as they strolled around the island to watch the duels live.

Until near sunset, they went back to the castle to clean up, change into suits which Mokuba had prepared for them and headed over to the Kaiba Mansion for the ball in Mokuba’s chartered cars.

Glorious sight.

Neat green lawns. White stairway lighted by orange globes of light. Tables with maroon red and white table-cloth with gold rims. Huge white pavilion covering the sitting area. A stage for the famous tenor who graced the stage. The melodious music that flowed out of the orchestra pit. The fountains that lined the side of the yard. Young men in vests serving champagnes and sparkling juices. A buffet counter that served endless flow of food that he never thought he would eat in his lifetime. The twins had run off the moment they saw the food.

It was like one of those huge ball parties from those fairytales which his mother read to Shizuka when they were kids and still lived together.

Men were dressed like penguins milling around like penguins. Ladies were dressed in sleek gowns waiting to be asked to dances. Jounouchi did not know most of the people there. He knew most of them were Kaiba Corp’s clients but nothing beyond that. But he could see a couple of young ladies who were already eyeing him.

“Would you like a drink sir? We have Merlot and sparking juice.” One of the servers approached him politely.

Jounouchi reached out for the Merlot, but his hand had barely brushed the goblet when he changed his mind the last minute. Smiling disdainfully, he chose the sparkling juice instead.

It is strange how when you love someone, you pick up his or her little habits. You become like him or her. And his habit becomes yours. Even if he or she is no longer by your side, his habit lives on, like a tattoo on the heart.

Where was he?

The star of the party.

Jounouchi glanced around.

And found Kaiba standing at the top of the lighted stairway, dressed in an elegant dark blue suit, looking down at him.

Jounouchi was looking around.

Kaiba wondered what he was looking at.

And all of a sudden, Jounouchi stopped looking around, his eyes focused on him.

The air around Kaiba could have frost over.

The sounds around him seemed to tune out, along with the lights and the people.

Until it was just him and Jounouchi, looking at each other.

Jounouchi did not turn away, but continued looking up at him.

And Kaiba stared right back at him.

Was this what people meant by time stood still? He wondered.

Yes, it was almost like time stood still, and they were just standing there looking at each other in the span of a heartbeat.

Katsuya.

Seto.

Do you remember the night in school? When I asked you what you wanted us to be?

Yes. I said I didn’t know where our relationship leads us to. And then you said that we may end up with a few months of happy memories, years of companionship, marriage, or even a family with the both of us and Kisara, Seth and Jono. Or, it could also end up a horrible ending with us both badly hurt.

We are both badly hurt enough now.

Yes.

I think we both need to know if this is the end.

“A hundred life points for your thoughts?”

Just as sudden as time had stopped, the music of the orchestra, the soft mingling of people, glasses clinking with one another, the bright lights came back.

Kaiba turned around to see Malik and Bakura standing behind him.

“Happy Birthday~” The Egyptian man who had just barged into his and Jounouchi’s invisible sphere of silent exchange grinned with his hand extended.

Kaiba took his hand and shook it neutrally. “Thank you.”

Bakura and Malik together were never good news, but he doubted that anything the two brought now could worsen the situation between him and Jounouchi.

Bakura extended a hand and smiled knowingly, “Happy Birthday, Kaiba.”

“I presume that you two are here not to just wish me happy birthday.” Kaiba returned the handshake before stating matter-of-factly.

“I just wanted to apologize.” Malik said sheepishly.

Kaiba chose to remained silent, but not without noting Bakura’s amused smile that was threatening to spill.

“I lied about having sex with Jou.” Malik admitted.

“I know.”

“You know?” Bakura interrupted, raising a brow in fake disbelief, “You knew that Malik lied, but yet you still cracked?” The question came out more like a sarcastic remark.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes. “What are you getting at?”

Bakura snorted, “You knew that Malik was lying, you knew that Jounouchi wouldn’t do that to you, but yet on some level you chose to believe Malik.” The pale haired young man gave a light chuckle before continuing, “You CHOSE to believe that Jou might have betrayed you. You couldn’t accept the fact that he considered betraying you. And so you pushed him away when he most needed you. You hid in your room while Jounouchi had to attend Grandfather Sugoroku’s funeral himself.”

Kaiba felt anger surging through him. Anger at Malik, anger at himself.

Bakura’s sarcastic smile was turning into a glare, “Did you even stop your brooding to think how much he might have needed you then? That he had just lost someone who has never ever forsaken him like everyone else had? And then you chose to walk out of his life, on a day like that.”

Kaiba took one step forward and grabbed Bakura on his jacket. He could smell the alcohol in Bakura’s breath as he growled. “Did it occur to you that Malik could have played his dirty little joke some other time? Instead of at a period when me and Jounouchi are on rocky grounds? That it took me days to start thinking straight and to convince myself that Jounouchi could not have betrayed me? And at the same time keep blaming myself for not having trusted him, yet at the same time doubted whether I should trust him?”

Kaiba pushed Bakura away.

“And you’re just making a fool of me to entertain yourself with some drama.”

Malik stared at him in amazement. “You really are serious about him.”

Bakura rearranged his jacket collar and shook his head, “It doesn’t matter what Malik did, things have already been going wrong for a while. The signs were there. You simply ignored it.”

“I saw those signs! Which is why I got us Varon. I was fixing the situation and you,” He turned to glare at Malik, “decided to mess it up!”

A realization struck Kaiba suddenly as he turned his eyes from Malik to Bakura, “You put Malik onto this.”

Bakura folded his arms, “Yes I did.”

Kaiba resisted the temptation to punch the lights out of his two guests on his birthday.

“To test me?”

“Yes.” Bakura admitted, “But-.”

“Who are you to barge into my relationship with Jounouchi?”

“A friend of Jou’s, like Yugi and Hiroto.”

“Yugi and Honda are in this too?”

“No.” Bakura clarified, “But they worry, they know there are issues between the two of you, things that both of you deny, like your growing distrust and impatience towards Jou and Jou’s own history. But if Hiroto and Yugi are too nice and reserved to say it out loud, I’m not.”

“By doing this?”

“Alright, my bad.” Bakura raised his hands into the air in surrender. “I didn’t think that things would escalate to this.”

Kaiba seriously resisted the temptation to hit Bakura.

“Don’t blame us for your problems. Like I said, the foundations were not stable in the first place. And no one ever told you that it’s going to be easy to get Jounouchi. He has more than enough emotional baggage.”

“And he’s not going to let others carry it for him so easily.” Malik added. “Even if you keep saying that you’re by his side and you want to help. You are just choking and pushing him away.”

“You two are not being helpful, if that is what this conversation is meant to be.”

Malik and Bakura looked at each other and grinned.

“We’re not.”

For the third time, Kaiba had to hold back his clenched fists.

“You two hit off so well, why aren’t you a couple yet.” He muttered.

That only led to howls of laughter from Malik and Bakura.

Do not, do not, do not, get into a fight on your birthday.

“We are not helping you. We are helping Jou.” Bakura clarified after he found enough air to talk. The British calmed himself down and continued, “Jou needs time to open himself up to you. He needs a hundred percent of your trust. He needs to know that you will never walk out of him, ever, again. Even if that means he might walk out of you and that it sounds unfair. But if you can’t give him that, I’m telling you, back off. Keep away from him.”

Kaiba stared at the shorter man in cynicism, “And you were the one who set me off on this relationship.”

Bakura looked guilty for a moment, before he stared back straight, “And that’s why I’m regretting it now. I was selfish in using Jou to save my relationship with Hiroto.”

Kaiba snorted, “So Honda is back in your arms now and you sprouted a soul?”

Bakura shook his head, but not from denial. He stared at Kaiba sadly, “Yes, but I guess that I had hoped too much. Hoped that Jou might finally find someone who would walk with him for the rest of his life.” He paused, “I wasn’t lying about what I said in the vet that day, Kaiba. You liked Jou from a long time ago, before you even realized it. But back then you denied it, you mocked him and insulted him, but that didn’t hurt him actually. Then when you came back, you changed, a little anyway. And I thought then that if there was a person who could walk by Jou’s side, it might be you. ”

He paused for breathe before continuing, “But I was wrong. You hurt him more than ever. And that’s what I regret.”

Kaiba glared straight back at Bakura.

Bakura took a deep breathe and smiled, “Well, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I feel so much better.”

Kaiba scowled.

He turned to Malik, “What’s your excuse for helping Bakura?”

Malik shrugged sheepishly, “Jou is my friend. And he IS attractive.”

Kaiba flinched at the remark.

“Anyway,” Malik quickly added, “as part of my apologies, for having lied to you, I prepared a present for you, watch out for it later!”

Kaiba growled warily. “What?”

“You’ll know when you see it. Always let yourself be surprised! That’s what makes up the little joys in life!” Malik said, walking off grinning with Bakura when Mokuba appeared from out of no where.

“Hey Bro, time for your speech!”

“Speech?” Kaiba frowned, turning to his brother.

“Of course! You’re the star of the party; of course you have to make a speech! It’s not like you’ve never done speeches before, so go prepare and be ready near the stage in about five minutes!”

What he really wanted to do, was to collapse onto the nearest bed and sleep till his birthday was over.

“Enough!” Seth finally threw up his hands.

Kisara and Jono paused in their bickering and glared at each other. The lawn where the party was held was huge, but apparently not big enough to hold the strife between two little dragons, who had coincidentally met at the same buffet table and coincidentally both wanted the last piece of nugget on the serve tray. And from there, the fight had started again.

“But she started it!” Jono accused.

“You were the one who started it! You slammed the phone on me!”

“I was the one who slammed it.” Seth muttered, but his mutter was never heard by his two companions.

“You were the one who was being jealous that you didn’t get to ride on Battle Ship with us.”

“Am not!”

“You called me Nancy-boy!”

“Because you called me Tom-boy first!”

“Oh, but you are. Look at you, wanna fight?” Jono sneered.

That hit an extremely raw nerve.

Kisara growled and pounced onto Jono, pretty dress and all, and started screaming and scratching at Jono.

Jono was knocked back onto the grass, pushed below Kisara and was kicking and punching Kisara as much as he could from his lower disadvantaged position.

They were lucky that they were in quite a secluded area blocked by the buffet table and no one saw the embarrassing fight, or perhaps, not so lucky meaning that Seth was the only one who could stop their fight.

“Stop it!” Seth yelled, pulling Kisara off Jono and screaming at Jono to stop retaliating.

Jono’s punch landed on his face.

Jono and Kisara gasped at the same time.

That broke the straw on the camel’s back.

Seth burst out into sobs, rubbing his painful cheek.

“Shut up! Both of you! Our daddies will never be together, and it’s all because of us! And you two just want to fight!”

Kisara and Jono stopped and stared at each other, before lowering their heads in shame. They both knew in the pits of their brain somewhere that they had simply been running away from the awful fact that their daddies might never be friends again, leaving Seth to take care of things.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you.” Jono reached out to his brother.

Seth hit his hand away, which only made Jono feel even guiltier. Kisara, standing beside Jono looked like she felt no less guilty.

“Don’t apologize to me. The best thing you can do for me right now is to apologize to each other and we can start thinking of how we can get our daddies together again.” Seth sniffed.

Kisara and Jono looked at each other, each biting their lips.

Finally, Jono was the one who stuck out his hand first, glaring down at the floor.

But Kisara was the first one to say, “I’m sorry for being angry at you, and doing all the stupid things I did”. As she shook Jono’s hand, her eyes also stuck on the ground.

“I’m sorry for everything I did too.” Jono said reluctantly.

Seth whacked the two on their back.

“Alright, I’m sorry, I really am.” Jono corrected, this time looking at Kisara, and sounding really apologetic.

Kisara looked up too at Jono and took a deep breath. “I’m really sorry too.”

They shook their hands firmly.

“Friends again?” Kisara asked, sounding hopeful.

“Yeah.” Jono smiled.

Seth couldn’t help but smile too. It had been a long time since he last saw Jono smile. Jono wasn’t happy to be fighting with Kisara. None of them were.

And when he looked over to Kisara, she was smiling too, the sweetest smile he had seen in a long while.

His smile doubled in pure glee, until Jono popped the inevitable question.

“So, what do we do now?”

Jounouchi saw Malik and Bakura approach Kaiba before Kaiba himself noticed. He figured that Malik was probably there to confess, but for Bakura, he had no idea and from the distance, he couldn’t tell what kind of conversation they were having either. But it was obviously not just a simple birthday wishing.

“Nice party eh?” Honda, who had suddenly came out of nowhere, stood sipping wine beside him.

Jounouchi turned away from the scene and raised a glass to his best buddy, “Yeah, you know Mokuba. Anything he does, he makes it big.”

Honda chuckled in agreement before turning his attention to the silhouettes in the unlighted balcony in the mansion, “That’s Kaiba up there isn’t it?”

“Hm.” Jounouchi nodded.

Honda observed Jounouchi with an eye, “And you’re not asking me what Bakura is doing up there with him?”

Jounouchi paused for a few moments. “No, I’m not.”

Honda shook his head in amusement and the two stood in comfortable silence for a while, both pretending to be staring off at the beach and enjoying the soft music.

Until Honda finally asked again.

“Mind if I ask what happened between you and Kaiba?”

Jounouchi briefly pondered for an answer, before deciding on a simple to the point summary, “We fought.”

Honda nodded, not surprised. “And so, what is it now? The relationship is officially dead?”

Jounouchi blinked. He did not like the word “dead”.

“You saw all those coming didn’t you?” Honda said, taking a sip of his white wine.

“Huh?”

Honda took his time to savor the wine before replying. “You and Kaiba’s relationship, this situation that you are in right now. You expected it didn’t you?”

Jounouchi frowned. “What? You mean I expected that Kaiba and I would break up?”

“Yes.” Honda nodded, “I think that from the very beginning, you believed that you and Kaiba wouldn’t end well, and you’ve been doing nothing but letting it happen.”

Jounouchi found himself narrowing his eyes, “Are you saying that I didn’t do anything to save this relationship with Kaiba?”

“Yes.”

Jounouchi stared at his buddy in disbelief.

Honda looked at him calmly, “What I think is, you got burnt after the twins’ mother left you.”

Jounouchi felt his heart pause for a moment, before he shook his head in skepticism, “So you think it boils down to that? I think I’ve heard that story a million times.”

“Yeah, you did. But you’re not getting the point.” Honda insisted, “Maybe you’ve gotten enough of people leaving you, like what your mom did, and your girlfriends and everyone who left. The thing is, YOU shut down after she left. And when Kaiba came along, you haven’t been giving yourself completely to Kaiba.”

Jounouchi found himself snapping. “I DID. I gave everything I could to him! I became- gay, just to be with him!”

“This is not about being in a gay relationship at all.” Honda shook his head, as if to prove his point. “It’s you. You got hurt once and you got scared. You stopped letting anyone come into your life. That’s why you never found another girl. That’s why you never married Mai.”

Jounouchi felt his throat go dry as Honda’s words struck a chord in him.

Honda seized the chance to continue. “And Kaiba never once held back for you. He risked everything. But you don’t give it back the same way, not totally. Not completely. You locked a part of yourself away, where Kaiba can’t touch. And he’s tried all kinds of methods to get to it, to unlock it. He opened himself up to your friends. He went all out to please your mother and sister. He asked me for help to look for Varon and you think you are the only one here embarrassed by the sex therapist issue?” Honda suddenly asked in mild anger, “Did you think it didn’t hurt his pride that he had to seek help from other men regarding his own sex issues?”

Jounouchi looked away, unable to stand the truth in his friend’s eyes.

“Listen Jou, if you can’t give yourself completely to him, let go of the guy. Break his heart and make it a clean break. He will fall deep and heavy, but he will recover. Don’t let him hang there. Unless-” He paused and Jounouchi stared at those clear sincere eyes, “Unless, you think you can do it, that you can give him a hundred percent of yourself, then he might be the guy that comes along once in a life time.”

Jounouchi stared at his friend. The truth in his friend’s words had struck something in him and he found himself facing the harsh truth about himself. A truth that he had denied for so long he had forgotten about it.

But what Honda said was true.

He had never given Kaiba his complete self.

His reservations, his fears, his excuses for sex with Kaiba, were simply all fear of rejection from Kaiba afterwards. He had kept Kaiba at length, to protect himself.

“If you can’t, just let him go my friend.” Honda finished as he pointed a glass to the stage where Kaiba was now standing.

Kaiba looked down into the audience, observing every single face in the crowd. Every single face. He knew all of them, Yugi’s gang, his high school classmates, some of his closer classmates from university, partners in the industry, client corporations whom Kaiba Corp sells their products to, producers who produce their toys, the young duelists who took part in the day’s competition, employees of Kaiba Corp, and many more.

He picked up the microphone and spoke softly into it.

“15 years.

“15 years since I last stepped onto this island for the first time and my last time. That is almost half of how old I am today.”

The audience responded with light laughter. He gave them one of his rare public smiles.

“Today I spent some time remembering the past 29 years of my life. What I did during certain times, how I have changed or remained unchanged through out the 29 years. It is not a lot, 29 years old is very short – shorter than the blink of an eye. A strange age to celebrate, but Mokuba was insistent on it, and seeing how all of you appear to be enjoying yourselves, I have to admit that he is right.” He smiled in Mokuba’s direction and watched Mokuba grinned back at him amidst a round of cheers and claps.

He waited for the claps to die down.

“The first 13 years of my life, was spent on securing Kaiba Corp and making it a corporation known for its high technology. The last 16 years of my life, I spent collecting Duel Monster cards and expanding Kaiba Corp. Kaiba Corp has grown, expanded and today is one of the largest establishments in the world, with many of you as avid, loyal supporters.

“But today,” he shook his head, “I’m not going to talk about Kaiba Corp’s achievements. I am going to talk about something more personal. My own dreams and my own desires.

“As much as I have always believed and insisted that Kaiba Corp is my life, like some of you may have noticed, it is not.” He looked down intently at the faces of his many listeners, stopping at Yugi who smiled and nodded approvingly.

“The meaning of Kaiba Corp lies not in holographic images, high technology, money, but in people – bringing joy to orphaned and underprivileged children, like Mokuba and I were.” The crowd fell quiet.

“Through Kaibaland, we bring happiness and a sense of home to many suffering orphans and children all around the world, some of whom Mokuba and I have adopted, and some of them, who are here today at this wonderful party.” He smiled and glanced over at a few of his older orphans who raised their glasses in his honor. He could only try to contain his chuckle when he found Kisara busy talking to Seth and Jono animatedly. Apparently they had just became friends again.

“Through Mokuba, Kisara my adopted daughter and many of my deeply loved and remembered children, I’ve discovered the meaning of family, and the love that holds families together.”

Kaiba paused, looking into the eyes of Jounouchi Katsuya.

Yea, we do.

It’s your call, Katsuya.

What happens if we end off here?

…… We will learn to let go of each other. I might leave Domino City for a while, put some time and distance between us. Easier to heal, for both of us.

……

And then we go back to the lives we had before we had each other.

“As well as the love that holds couples together.

“Couples. The dictionary defines it as a pair; two of the same kind. Male, female, do they matter? We love each others as persons. We let go of pride, let go of our individuality, let go of our similarities, our differences, and let go of our beliefs, all because…”

He tore his eyes away from Jounouchi. “All because, we can’t let go of a person.”

His audience was quiet but Yugi was beaming at him. Honda, Bakura and Malik were the first to clap out loud. He knew the rest of the audience were mostly confused, but the ovation that followed was nonetheless thunderous.

Kaiba stepped off the stage.

Seth felt his heart sink when Malik approached them.

They had not been able to find the Gods, after all.

“Yo boys and girl.” Malik called out cheerfully.

Kisara and Jono turned their attention to him, and Seth could see that their happiness was melting away like chocolate under the sun.

“Hi, Uncle Malik.” Not surprisingly, he was the only one to greet the Egyptian man.

“Did you find the Sky Dragon of Osiris?” Seth asked, while Kisara and Jono bit their lips and stood quietly.

“I have it, it is right here.” Malik grinned, holding up a nicely-wrapped box about the size of a pillow.

“You found the Sky Dragon of Osiris!?” Kisara’s eyes grew wide as saucer.

Malik nodded, gesturing to the box in his hands.

“And I suppose you three have found the Obelisk and Fire Dragon of Ra?”

The kids looked down onto the floor guiltily.

“We haven’t been able to find it.” Kisara said, her voice trembling. “It will be our entire fault if our daddies never get together.”

To Seth’s utmost shock and repulsion, Malik actually nodded.

Kisara burst out into tears.

Jono frowned in disapproval.

“Alright, I was just kidding. But come’ on, the Obelisk, the Fire Dragon of Ra, the Sky Dragon aren’t going to bring your daddies together.”

Kisara only sobbed harder. “But Harakhti, their combination, the God of light, IS the most powerful god! Only he can bring our daddies together!”

Malik raised a brow. “Not in your fathers’ books.”

Kisara sniffed and looked up, along with the twins, curious.

“Your father never told you how he sacrificed the Obelisk to summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon?”

Kisara’s eyes grew wider.

“And how your father was able to endure the Fire Dragon’s mental attack?” Malik turned to the twins.

“Yeah, he did mention it a couple of times, or maybe like, a couple hundred times.” Jono muttered while Seth looked at Malik with eyes as big as Kisara’s.

“It just proves one thing, doesn’t it? Some things are bigger than Gods.”

Kisara blinked, confused.

Malik sighed. “Sometimes, it is just a matter of what you strongly believe in and what you want, and by strongly believing in what you believe in, and what you want, you will work towards what you want.”

The children’s blank faces told Malik that they had no idea what he was talking about.

Malik shook his head. “Oh, never mind the big words. Kisara, what does your father believes in most?”

Kisara sniffed. “His dreams, Uncle Mokuba?”

Seth frowned. “The Blue Eye White Dragon? If he can sacrifice a God to summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon, he must really believe in it.”

“Smart boy!” Malik grinned, ruffling Seth’s hair. “And who would the Blue Eye’s counterpart be? And who believes in that counterpart?”

“The Red Eyes Black Dragon!” Jono shouted. “Daddy’s monster!”

“Right.” Malik beamed and then squat down beside the kids so that they were at the same eye level.

“Now, you want to believe that something will bring your daddies back together.”

Kisara shook her head. “We BELIEVE that we can do something to bring our daddies back together.”

Malik tilted his head to a side and then shrugged. “Alright, that’s what I mean. So now that you know what your fathers believe in, something that is greater than god, and something that you can get, what do you think you can do about it?”

The kids looked at each other in confusion.

Then, the realization finally hit them.

“We can summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon and the Red Eye Black Dragon!”

The three kids chorused.

Malik beamed at them.

“Thank you! Uncle Malik!” Kisara hugged the Egyptian man, giving him a light peck on the cheek, before scampering off, gesturing for Seth and Jono to follow her quickly.

“You’re going to be my favorite uncle!” Jono declared and ran off.

Seth was the only one who gave him a strange look.

“They needed something to believe in.” Malik pointed out defensively.

Biting his lips, Seth muttered a soft “So do I.” and ran off too into the crowd behind his mates.

What the kids didn’t see was Malik watching them vanish into the crowd, looked at the present in his hands, smile and then chucked the box into the rubbish bin before walking back to the party, whistling.

When he had finished shaking the hands of almost half the people at the party who had came to comment on his wonderful speech, Kaiba found his former nemesis standing at the end of the crowd, apparently waiting for him.

“That was a nice and short speech.” Yugi raised his glass as a small toast after Kaiba excused himself to approach the shorter man.

Kaiba raised his glass of sparkling juice to Yugi’s.

“Does that mean it was nice because it was short?”

Yugi grinned. “Partially.”

They each took a sip of their drink.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t attend your grandfather’s funeral.” Kaiba started.

Yugi gave a faint smile, “We received your flowers.” He cheered up slightly, “And I believe he’s in a better place now.”

Kaiba nodded silently.

“29 years old, in the blink of and eye. How does that feel?”

“Old.”

Yugi chuckled, “It’s not that long.”

“Some days felt particularly long, some days particularly short.”

“As long as you live all the days of your life.” Yugi quoted. “And never let go of that one person you can’t let go.”

“What if he wants me to let him go?” Kaiba asked. It was strange, talking to his past-nemesis about his relationship problems. But who else could he turn to? There was little doubt Yugi knew him well. In order to win, one had to know thyself and thy enemy well, and Yugi had won him too many times.

Yugi looked him in the eye. “Then you will know when you have to let him go.”

Yugi smiled, turning to leave, “He’s at the pavilion near the seaside, where there are less people, if you want to find him.”

Kaiba blinked. “Thank you, Yugi."

When Kaiba found him, Jounouchi was sitting in the solitude pavilion watching the fireworks.

The fireworks Mokuba had arranged were amazing.

Duel Monsters fireworks. Kaiba Corp had truly redefined high-technology.

“Katsuya,” Kaiba softly called out.

Jounouchi did not turn to look at him, but continued looking up at the sky.

Sounds like you have it all planned out.

No.

Is there an alternative?

Yes.

……

We try again.

Only then had Jounouchi realized how exhausted he was. How exhausting the idea of going back to Kaiba was. Despite how much he missed Kaiba, how tempting it was to once again have Kaiba Seto at his side.

And when Jounouchi did not answer, Kaiba had understood what he meant.

Then, I guess this is goodbye.

Jounouchi closed his eyes. People walk out of his live all of the time. But they just leave. They don’t ask if they should.

Goodnight Katsuya. Goodbye.

Goodnight

Kaiba had then hung up.

Left hanging to his cell phone, he had just wanted to curl up and cry the pain out of his heart.

The next 2 days had been a blur, which quickly transcended into the normalcy of life. He could get over it. He got over his mother walking out of him with Shizuka. He got over his father abandoning him for alcohol. He got over the twin’s mother disappearance.

But somehow, he could not let Kaiba Seto go.

Why was it so difficult?

“That’s really impressive. The fireworks. Look, that’s the Red Eyes Black Dragon! And the Blue Eyes White Dragon!” Jounouchi pointed at the fiery dragons in the night sky.

Kaiba followed Jounouchi’s gaze up to the fireworks.

Was their love nothing but fireworks?

Rise, bloom and fall.

And nothing is left.

Three Blue Eye White Dragons faded into the dark.

Jounouchi finally looked away from the fireworks and turned to Kaiba.

“How are you?”

“Fine.” Kaiba nodded slowly. “How about you?”

“Pretty good. Getting used to life the way it was.” Jounouchi answered after a long pause, his eyes following the fireworks again.

Finally the last series of fireworks died away, amidst cheers and claps.

In the background, the orchestra had started their performance again.

Jounouchi smiled and closed his eyes.

Familiar song.

Well-shared between him and Kaiba.

Somewhere over the rainbow.

Kaiba knelt down with on one knee beside him so that they were at eye level.

“Is there nothing I can do that can make you think about starting over?”

Jounouchi blinked.

A lump was in his throat.

He couldn’t look at Kaiba, but before he could turn away, Kaiba gently but firmly held his jaw, forcing him to face him.

Jounouchi averted his eyes but knew Kaiba was staring straight at him.

“All because, we can’t let go of a person.”

Kaiba couldn’t let him go.

Kaiba won’t let him go either.

He, on the other hand, could he let Kaiba go?

Somewhere in him wanted to hold onto him, but could he give himself totally to him?

Let go of his pride, his belief, his sexuality for Kaiba.

Kaiba could and had. Jounouchi had always known. Kaiba would let go off his pride, his belief and everything, all for him. Kaiba never held back. Kaiba would risk everything he had to be with him. He knew all these before Honda told him, before Kaiba’s speech, but he had never realized just how much he himself had held back.

How he had always been the one to let go first. How he had not stopped Kaiba from leaving. How he had not stopped their split when he could have done it all.

“I’ve been thinking for the last 2 weeks. I don’t want us to end like this. When we decided to split on the phone 2 weeks ago, either one of us could have stopped it. It would have been easy.”

Jounouchi looked into Kaiba’s eyes.

2 weeks ago, Kaiba had let him made the decision. It was his decision that they split up. And Kaiba had accepted it.

But Kaiba was right, at any moment, they could have chosen to continue the relationship. He might have chosen to continue the relationship if he had known how much more he could give Kaiba.

Blue, aqua eyes.

When was the last time he had looked into Kaiba’s eyes?

Intent, focused, pained, hopeful.

“Will it be just as easy to start over again?” He found himself saying.

Stunned aqua eyes.

“Puppy?”

Kaiba had leaned forward to whisper into his ears.

Jounouchi could feel his warm moist breath on his cheek.

“Kaiba?” He was confused at Kaiba’s actions, and his heart was starting to speed up.

Kaiba’s familiar sweet cinnamon scent.

Soft, freshly-shampooed hair that touched Jounouchi’s cheek lightly.

And then all of a sudden, his head was semi-buried in Kaiba’s warm, welcoming chest.

Sweet, warm. It was like going home, after a long, wet, mentally and physically exhausting journey. Kaiba wrapped his arms around his shoulders. It was so warm, so welcoming that it made Jounouchi felt like crying.

“Kai-“

“Shh…”

Kaiba’s hand was sifting through his hair, as he always did – and Jounouchi knew what was coming next.

Against his other wish to obey passively, he reached out and pushed Kaiba away.

Only his attempt was too slow and weak, as Kaiba’s gently cupped his neck and pulled him towards him.

Instinct had him close his eyes, and feel the electrifying sensation running down his neck when their lips met.

Warm, familiar, soft lips.

Like butterflies touching his lips, Kaiba kissed him softly, slowly kissing down from his lips to his chin to his neck. Each kiss nothing more than a light touch, but each one bringing back familiar sensations and memories of intimate, deep, strong kisses. Each kiss making him want to kiss Kaiba back, until he finally succumbed and wrapped his arms around Kaiba, savoring Kaiba’s kisses on his neck, and kissing Kaiba on the forehead.

Then, a soft but well-aimed object hit him on the forehead, bounced off Kaiba’s head before landing on the floor.

Jounouchi pulled away in surprise, but before he could investigate what hit him, Kaiba grabbed hold of him and stared into his eyes.

Jounouchi blinked.

The silence between the two of them lasted only seconds as Jounouchi’s state of mind returned to before the kiss.

“I thought we were going to start over.” Jounouchi said.

Kaiba looked at him and said quietly. “And this is where we started.”

Jounouchi blinked, memories of their past flowing pass him like a parade.

Them, meeting for the first time again since they were 16 years old at the Therapist centre.

Them, meeting again at Yugi’s house for a gathering.

Them, meeting again in school where Kaiba helped get the kids into the school.

Them, at Shizuka's wedding, when he had fallen off the steps into Kaiba’s lap.

And finally, at the beach, when Kaiba had pulled him into his arms and kissed him.

And that was where they had begun.

He broke into a grin.

To both his and Kaiba’s surprise, he was the one who stepped forward and pulled Kaiba into a long-awaited and badly-missed hug—where they were equally relieved and contented by simply having each other in their arms. And discover that they still fitted each other perfectly.

Jounouchi smiled over Kaiba’s shoulder, breathing in deeply the warmth radiating off Kaiba.

They could try again.

And this time, he would give it his all, as long as Kaiba continued to support him and wait for him to slowly open up to him.

Snuggling up to Kaiba’s chest, he sighed in relieve and enjoyed the comfort of simply being there with Kaiba.

Out of the corner of his eyes, the unidentified flying object lying on the floor caught his attention.

Jounouchi froze, stunned as he digested the mutant soft-toy.

He knew Kaiba’s eyes had inescapably travelled to the UFO and was now as shocked as he was, the air around them practically freezing over.

The two continued to stare in silence.

In memory of the mutant eyeless blue-eye black dragon and red eye black dragon which were hugging each other, their cut-off heads attached to the mismatched bodies using mere rubber bands.

Jounouchi closed his eyes and smiled.

This was where they started.

Authors’ comments

Concluding chapter of Family of Dragons! Hope you enjoyed it.

But this is still not the end, because we intend to have epilogues to tie up some more loose ends (you can drop us a review-note to remind us of any loose ends you noticed and hoped we tied them up.)

At current count, since the day we published FoD on 22nd May 2004, until today 25th Oct 2009, we have clocked a total of 225,679 words, 467 reviews, 36469 hits, have FoD on 119 story alerts and 228 favorites. Thank you for your continuing support and we hope to see you again at the epilogues.

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Parting Quotes

May you live all the days of your life - Jonathan Swift