I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'M SORRY! I've been stuck on this for ages, and then I lost the file, and I've been caught up in other things and...well...I've been uninspired. I'm so sory for how long this has taken. To those of you who've been randomly appearing and reviewing, thank you.

---

August 2006

"Yugi Mouto!"

"Yeeeeess?"

"You have thirty seconds to explain this before I throw you out the window!" Yugi ducked behind the couch. Sam marched in, waving her old sketchpad. "What was this doing in your room?"

"I like your work," Yugi said vaguely, backing away from her.

"Uh-huh. Right. Why?" Sam corned Yugi against the kitchen counter and whacked him on the head with the pad.

"Because you need to hear how good you are from someone you can't blame for flattery, and I was trying to think of how to show them, and who to show them to," Yugi said quickly. He ducked. "Please don't kill me."

Sam dropped the notebook.

"You were going to…who? Who did you think would want to…I." Yugi slid out from under Sam's arm.

"Who else? Kingside wants to see them. Do you mind?"

"But- Yugi, they aren't anything special. They're just doodles."

"Really good doodles. Let me scan a few and send them to him."

"Okay."

August 2006, Domino City

"Mokuba. Come take a look at these."

"What?"

"These designs." Mokuba leaned around Seto's shoulder and looked at the screen.

"Who does these? Are they available?" he asked at once.

"Not yet. But…they will be, I think."

"Who did them, Seto?"

"Sam."

"The girl Yugi's with?"

"Yes."

"Wow."

December 2006

The e-mail arrived in the middle of the night. Yugi was up, unable to sleep with a case of finals-anxiety.

Awaygame,

Tell Sam I want her address. We need to talk. All three of us. Reply ASAP.

Yugi fired off a response at once.

KingsideKnight,

We're in the middle of finals. I'll give you her e-mail, but give us 'til the 22nd. Then we'll meet you on Messenger at 7:30pm our time.

December 22, 2006

KSK: Are you two there?

AG: Present and accounted for

SS: Ditto

KSK: Good. I got your sketches.

SS: Oh God. What's wrong with them?

KSK: Nothing is wrong. Did you use AG as a model?

AG: She did. Why?

KSK: I want to have those designs produced

SS: That's not funny

AG: Do you mean that?

KSK: I am dead serious. Those sketches were incredible. I want to see them manufactured. And I want you two to head the line

AG: I told you that I don't want publicity

SS: I agree

KSK: Stay in the shadows as long as you need to. When the time comes, you can present yourselves as the heads. What do you say?

AG: Hold on a minute

Yugi leaned around the partition to Sam's computer and looked at her.

"Well?" he asked. "They're your drawings, so you get to make the call."

"I- oh, Yugi, does he mean it? I mean, really mean it? Could I- could we really do it?"

"I'll bet we can," Yugi said firmly.

"What if they're not popular?"

"They will be."

AG: Yes! SS: Yes!

KSK: Alright. I'll have a P.O. Box set up for you so I can mail you information and the like. You'll be under the pseudonym of Samuel Jenkins

AG: Sounds good

SS: Thank you

KSK: I'll be in touch

KingSideKnight is no longer online.

The P.O. Box turned out to be for more than just business; Christmas gifts arrived a little late, but got there. Yugi wondered just who was doing this, come up with nothing, and shrugged it off.

January 3, 2007 Domino City

"I'm baaaack!"

"Dinner will be ready soon, and if you're tracking mud onto my carpet, you're not getting any."

Bakura kicked his boots off and strolled into the kitchen.

"What is it?"

"A new recipe. Move. You're in the way."

Obedient for a change, Bakura hopped onto an unused bit of counter and sat watching Ryou bustle around the kitchen.

"Ryou?"

"Mmm?"

"When…after everything happened, did anyone ask Kaiba if he knew anything?"

"No, I don't think so. Mokuba went over to comfort Marik –you know how attached he was- but Seto never said anything, and no one asked." Ryou stirred the contents of a pot absently. "Why do you ask?"

"He has ways of finding people that aren't as noticeable as ours."

Ryou sighed.

"Bakura, please, give it up. We know he's safe; that's enough for me. Our lives have finally come back into a semblance of normalcy, and I don't want to see it all tumble down at the merest though that we might be able to locate him."

"But-"

"Honestly, you're like a dog with a bone. Drop it. If he chooses to came back, then he will, and not before then. Besides…do you want to confront Seto? He's even more distant now then he used to be."

Bakura sighed heavily and slumped back against the wall. "I guess you're right. It just occurred to me…Yami was talking about him again."

Ryou looked up from draining pasta.

"He was?"

Bakura nodded.

"He tends to, when things remind him. Yugi adored winter and New Year's, remember?" Ryou nodded fondly. "Yami was talking about that. And I thought about what it must be like."

"What what must be like?"

"Not having your light. You're like another limb, I guess."

"Gee, thanks."

"I meant that in a good way. Malik says that he's the same way with Marik, so I'm assuming that Yami was the same way with Yugi. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose something that close."

Ryou stirred a lemon sauce with chicken in it into the pasta and regarded Bakura thoughtfully.

"Neither can I," he admitted. "But I don't plan on going anywhere. Now get down. Dinner's ready and your butt is in the way."

February 2007

"Sam! I'm hoooooome!"

"And you're laaaaaaate!"

"I know, but I've got a good reason."

"Do you, now?" Sam asked, not looking up from her homework.

"Yep. A package came today. From Kingside."

Sam froze.

"A…package?"

"Mmhm. A big one."

"Ohmigod. The sample pieces." Sam put her pen down and covered her eyes. "Open it."

"It's your package, Sam, don't you want t-"

"I can't look. You do it."

"Sam, don't be silly."

"I am not being silly. I just can't do it. Please, Yugi."

Yugi sighed and got the scissors from their drawer in the kitchen.

"Okay."

He cut through the tape and opened the box. Inside, a letter waited.

These are the models for the first designs you sent me. I thought you might like to see the finished product and have a chance to have input. If there is something that needs changing, let me know.

-KingsideKnight

Under the box was a layer of tissue paper. Yugi lifted it to find a folded black thing that he didn't quite recognize. He pulled it out and shook it loose. It was a wrap-around dress, one that was belted in at the waist with a heavy buckle of brushed metal. Similar buckles marked pockets. Looking at it, he had the feeling that the woman wearing it would look almost as though she were wearing a very stylish trench coat.

"I remember this one," he murmured. "You had it in a different color before, but…wow. I can't believe I'm holding this."

"May I?" Sam asked, reaching for the dress. Yugi handed it to her, and she held it up, checking every detail. "It's…"

"Perfect?"

"Yeah."

Yugi pulled the next piece from the box. This one was a sleeveless shirt, black again, with four looped chains forming a sort of sleeve on either side.

"These are even better than I'd imagined," he said quietly, holding the shirt up against Sam to check the cut. "I think this'll fit you."

"And this looks like your size," Sam said, reaching past Yugi to get the next sample out. It was a recreated poet's shirt, one tailored to fit the torso properly. Romantic, not floofy. "These too."

She held up a pair of baggy chain pants designed to look ripped and torn while remaining entirely whole.

"Yeah, they do."

Yugi took the pants and examined them happily.

"Not as bad as you thought, huh?"

Sam smiled sheepishly.

"Not at all. All the fuss over nothing, I guess."

April 2007

"Wow, Seto, That looks great."

Seto looked up from the ad he was reviewing. It featured Sam's work, the first bid to get the designs onto the market.

"Thank you. Do you think it'll hit with the general public?"

"If you're aiming at people around your age? Definitely."

Seto smiled. This was not at all what he'd had in mind when he'd sent that first letter to Yugi, but the unexpected turn things had taken was both enjoyable and intriguing; he was determined to see it to the very end. He had no idea where it was going to go, but, with Yugi involved, it was sure to be good.