Chapter 9: - All Comes to a Close
Kari, Mokuba and Mana fled to Kari's office, packing some things and getting out of the building before security went looking for them.
Mana watched over her partner as the stunned pair walked the streets, too shocked to call anyone. Mana made her own mind up, Shadowfae, Tobias, can you hear me?
Mana, what's happened? Shadowfae asked, we all felt that earlier, were you in a fight?"
Are you alright? Tobias asked, what was that earlier?
We had a run in with Kaiba and he tried to fire Kari. Mokuba said no. I'm not sure which of the Kaiba's are gonna win this battle of wills. Kisara and I had a disagreement, but I'm fine, she's fine and other then Kari got fired everything is fine.
We're on our way. Tobias said.
Ombre can't leave the Game Shop, Shadowfae sounded frustrated, Mr Muto isn't back from lunch yet.
Joey says we'll take her there.
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The PAs were still in shock from the brawl that had erupted earlier, between the Dark Magician Girl belonging to Miss Ironhide, the Blue Eyes White Chick belonging to Master Mokuba and the Blue Eyes White Dragon belonging to Mr Kaiba when the banging started.
The two jumped out of their skin, before looking at each other with terrified looks.
Who was Mr Kaiba killing in there?
"You knock." Seto's PA gestured at the door.
"He's your boss." Mokuba's said, inching away from the door.
She scowled, gulped and lightly knocked, "Mr Kaiba, Sir? Do you need anything?"
A much calmer Seto Kaiba answered the door, but the PA couldn't help but notice the reddish mark on his forehead and the ragged look to his hair. "Coffee. And bring up the files on Ironhide." He growled.
He's really gonna do it. Master Mokuba's not going to be happy.
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It was the worst day of Kari's life.
She was as good as fired from a job she loved doing and needed the money from as well as which gave her somewhere to live, for helping the younger brother of the CEO, who was willing to fight for her, she'd managed to lose Mana, who'd been calling in her friends to give her a hand and was currently wandering around Domino Park with one Mokuba Kaiba, who had basically been kicked out of the Kaiba Corp building by his older brother.
She would have fought for her job, but Seto had looked ready to kill and while she would have been willing to risk her own safety, she hadn't dared risk him sending Kisara after Mana again.
Mokuba hadn't said much about the incident, he was being uncharacteristically quiet, but she could understand that, he'd just been ordered out of the building by a homicidal brother and now he wasn't sure quite what to think.
She didn't want to go to the Game Shop, where the others would fuss over her, and it was past visiting hours in the Hospital, so she just kept wandering, she knew Ombre knew where she was, after all Kari was still wearing the Orb, but she was grateful that she was keeping her distance, Kari just needed time to go over things in her head.
She paused on the bridge over the river, unless Mokuba was successful, they wouldn't have enough money to support the baby when it came or go to Hogwarts...
She felt dizzy. She hadn't eaten enough. She changed her plan, deciding to head for the flat, she was hungry and for a Summer evening, it was ridiculously cold.
Geki, who was flying overhead, dove and then soared again, enjoying the last thermals of the evening. She turned to Mokuba, "You all right squirt?"
To be fair it was a stupid question, and she wasn't surprised when she didn't get an answer from him.
Kari sighed, "Are you planning on going home?" She asked, concerned for her young friend.
Mokuba shook his head.
"Do you want to stay at my place?" Kari asked, "He won't come looking for you there since he's so mad at me."
"Are you sure you're not mad with me?" Mokuba asked, relieved.
"No, I'm not mad, not at you," Kari said with a small smile, then felt the chill which her stunned state hadn't allowed her to feel before, "Come on, let's get warmed up."
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Ombre, Shadowfae and Mana were home, along with Joey and Tobias, when Kari, Mokuba and Geki arrived, shutting the door quietly behind them and turning around to find Ombre in one doorway, Mana in another, the dragons by the heater and Joey on the sofa. "I think they've been waiting for us." Kari said with a small smile.
"Where've you been?" Joey asked, "I've been..."
"Don't start with the over protectiveness Joey," Kari cut him off, "I know I've been wandering around town all day, but I needed some time to think and I don't want to talk about it. The squirt's staying here for the night, he can have my room and I'll sleep on the sofa."
"No." Ombre interjected, "You need a bed because of the little one, you can have mine Mokuba."
"Thank you." Mokuba said quietly.
Joey looked sceptically at the two of them and then shrugged, getting up and kissing his girlfriend. "We'll work something out."
"Mokuba's gonna try and stop him from firing me." Kari said, with a grateful smile at the boy who smiled back.
"Cool," Joey grinned at Mokuba, "And if Rich-Boy does fire you, Duke's already talking about giving you a job."
"Duke already knows?" Kari yelped.
"Most of the industry does, the PA's spread it around faster then the news about Professor Quirrel got around Hogwarts. You've had calls to the house with job offers from Duke, Industrial Illusions, Capcom, Nintendo and a couple of others."
"Wow," Kari grinned slightly, then looked down at Mokuba who was frowning, "I won't leave Kaiba Corp if I can help it."
"Your decision." Ombre shrugged, "Food's in the microwave, as per usual I cooked too much so there's more then enough for Mokuba too." Ombre turned to Joey, "Keep an eye on them for me?"
"I don't need a baby sitter, Ombre." Kari glared.
"Not yet, not till little one's born, but you're tired and I'd like Joey to stay. You need the company." Kari just smiled at Joey who grinned back as Ombre left the building.
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Kaiba wasn't one to admit he'd made a mistake, however scaring his little brother out of Kaiba Corp had been a huge one.
He'd assumed that Mokuba would head back to the mansion, but when he'd phoned up to ask, Mokuba hadn't been seen there since he'd left this morning.
Obviously he wasn't ready to come home yet.
Mokuba still wasn't home by the time Seto had gotten through the doors at nine o'clock at night and Seto started getting worried.
He trusted that Geki could protect his brother from most things, that wasn't the issue, the issue was that Mokuba had never stayed away after a fight, he always came back.
But this time he hadn't.
Seto had finally pushed him too far away
Kaiba paced, wondering where Mokuba would go. Would he have stayed with Ironhide, or found somewhere else to stay?
He considered calling the flat Ironhide used when she was home from Hogwarts but admitted to himself that he wouldn't get an honest answer from them right now.
For the same reason he couldn't find out if Mokuba was staying at the Game Shop and he didn't have the Mutt's number even if he wanted to ask him.
He wondered if Mokuba was doing this deliberately to make him realise how wrong he'd been, but knew his brother wouldn't do that to him.
Kaiba really didn't know what to do.
Someone knocked on the door timidly. "Come in."
"Miss Ironhide at the door to see you, Sir." Roland said, "Shall I turn her away?"
"Kari?" Kaiba growled.
"Ombre Ironhide, Sir."
"Did she say what she wanted?"
"No, Sir, she just mentioned it was important."
"Send her to the Dinning Room. I'll meet her there." Kaiba growled.
"Yes Mr Kaiba." Roland shut the door again and Kaiba straightened himself out, going down to meet the yami of the woman he'd as good as fired. It had to be information on Mokuba or pleading for Kari's job, and one was a lead and the other was a welcome distraction. He'd tolerated Ironhide's attitude for long enough and threatening to get the Dark Magician Girl to blow up the doors to his office had been the final straw.
The woman who met him in the Dinning Room was too calm for someone who was about to plead for a friend or relative's job, "What do you want Ironhide? If this is about Kari's job..."
"Kari can find a new one, she's already got offers pouring in." Ombre shrugged, "That's not why I'm here."
Kaiba glowered, it was true that ex Kaiba Corp employees were usually snapped up by rival companies, after all a couple of years under him was worth four or five in any other company, but how did everyone in the industry know already?
He'd be having words with his PA in the morning.
"What do you want then?"
"It's about your brother, Mokuba."
Kaiba sat forward, he knew it had to be one of the two things, "What about him?"
"I thought you'd like to know that he's safe and sound." Ombre replied, "I won't tell you where, but suffice to say he's safe and unharmed and probably stuffed to bursting."
"How much?"
"Excuse me?"
"How much will it cost for you to tell me where my brother is?"
"That's your way to sort out everything isn't it." Ombre looked amused, "If in doubt, chuck money at it. Well this one won't get sorted using money, so I suggest you find another way. Goodnight Kaiba." She stood up.
"Ironhide…" He called as she made it halfway to the door.
"What?" She asked, a small, smug smirk on her face as she looked over her shoulder.
Kaiba had never realised just how scary Ombre could be when she wanted to before tonight and she wasn't even raging at him, "I wouldn't have hurt them."
"You certainly hurt Mana," Ombre's smirk turned into a glare, "Kari was afraid you'd do it again and you're the one who pushed Mokuba away."
"I know." Kaiba hated admitting his weakness and didn't catch her eyes.
"Is that why you pushed them away, you were afraid they'd hurt you? Or was it because you were afraid you'd hurt them?" Ombre asked.
Kaiba ran a hand through his hair, then looked at the stray hand in confusion, when had he picked up that nervous habit? "I don't want to talk about this."
"Until you work this out, Seto Kaiba, your brother's not going to want to come back." Ombre told him bluntly, her magenta eyes watching him carefully.
"Ombre…" Seto started, then shook his head and she started for the door once more, "Ombre," The yami paused, "Is Mana all right? Kisara was brutal earlier."
"Mana is fine," Ombre answered, one hand on the door handle, "Geki stopped Kisara from hurting her too much."
"You didn't have to reassure me after what I did today." Kaiba said as she opened the door, "Why did you?"
"Because it's what my Hikari would want if she wasn't so stunned about possibly losing her job."
"Is that the only reason?"
"I thought you should be allowed to know that your brother is safe and that he's being looked after." Ombre admitted, a thoughtful look on her face. "After all, you can't learn what you need to learn if you go mental looking for him." She nodded to him, "Goodnight Kaiba."
Kaiba nodded back and watched her leave, exiting the Mansion but leaving plenty unanswered questions for Kaiba to work out his own answers to.
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When Ombre got back to the apartment, everyone was asleep. Joey had fallen asleep in one of the chairs and Kari and Mokuba had fallen asleep on the sofa. The Princess smiled and woke Kari up gently. "Hey, go to bed sleepy head."
"We were waiting for you to get back." Kari yawned quietly, trying not to wake up the sleeping boy next to her.
"I'll sort him out, you go." Ombre said with a grin.
Kari yawned, nodded and vanished into her bedroom. "G'night Ombre."
Ombre grinned slightly and woke Joey up. "Out."
Joey shrugged and left, used to Ombre's whims by now. She'd been like this all Summer so it wasn't like he wasn't used to her kicking him out randomly. "Night Ombre." He said as he shut the door.
"Mokuba?" Ombre asked as the boy stirred.
"Hey." Mokuba nodded once he got his bearings, "You alright?"
Ombre nodded, "My room's that one." She pointed to the open door of her bedroom. Mokuba nodded and headed inside, shutting the door behind himself.
Ombre led down on the sofa but sleep didn't come easy.
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Seto Kaiba hadn't slept all night.
His mind had gone on overdrive the moment Ironhide had left the mansion, going over everything she had said.
It was obvious his brother was staying with the Ironhide's, but if Ombre had been telling the truth, Mokuba didn't want to see him and going after him now would only push him away.
Was this what she'd meant he had to learn? That he couldn't always have everything he wanted? Or was there more to it?
He'd ask Kari when she…
He couldn't ask Kari.
He'd fired her.
Her attempt to help Mokuba had been what had started this in the first place.
He shook his head, heading into work with no sleep and little interest in the outside world. Kaiba Corp could practically run itself for a few days, even without Seto and Mokuba's help. It was all the business deals and meetings that they dealt with that kept Kaiba Corp on top and he didn't have any of those for a week or so, they'd dealt with most of the major meetings the first two weeks back from school.
He'd been furious and Kisara more so when Kari had threatened to break down his door and he'd broken his own rule about letting his temper get the best of him. He was Seto Kaiba, he didn't loose his temper, not to a pair of women who should have known better then to threaten him.
His thoughts had none of the rage of yesterday though, not after realising last night that Mana could have been killed by Kisara in their shared rage, and he had no idea what that would have done to Kari.
He'd been doing it again, shutting people out because he'd made a mistake, because he'd failed.
Shutting Mokuba out.
Just as he had before Yugi's… no, it had been Yami's Mind Crush, which had set his mind straight.
Mokuba had gone to the one person in all of Kaiba Corp he knew wasn't afraid to face Seto in battle and would help him out if he needed her. Seto couldn't think how many times he'd gone to her, through Mokuba to ask advice or a favour.
No wonder Geki, who was normally pacifistic, had gone for Kisara quite so badly. Seto had ignored Geki's partner for days, locked him out of the office, gone for Mokuba's friend and then bellowed at him.
And Seto had felt the echo of Mana's pain through the damn link that connected all of their Duel Monsters…
No wonder they'd fled in fear when he'd ordered them out.
He'd been acting like he had before he'd been forced through shared living space, to interact with and trust in people. He'd hated it to start with, but he'd gotten quite used to sharing a dorm with his house mates. They didn't interfere with his work, and he was teaching them about computers in his spare time.
Kaiba stared out of his office window, just thinking about the mistakes he'd made over the last week.
The phone went and Seto strode over to his desk and picked it up. "Mokuba?"
"Mr Kaiba, Sir." Roland, of course it would be him, only the PA, Roland and Mokuba had this number. "I have news about your brother. Apparently he's gone to the mansion to pick up some clothes with the Ironhide's."
"Have the limo ready for me when I get down or there'll be hell to pay." Kaiba growled and headed straight down, Kisara launching out of the office window. 'Don't hurt them.'
I'll be careful. Kisara replied.
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They'd just been heading out of the mansion when Kisara had arrived and they'd been forced to leg it.
Mokuba had grabbed some more clothes and his laptop, along with a pile of work from Kaiba Corp and a rather large pile of comics that Mokuba had explained came from a shop that held them in reserve for him while he was away.
They'd legged it most of the way home, walking the down the last road and to the apartment building doors. Mana had held the door open and Shadowfae and Geki had swooped in above the three's heads as they headed for the flat the two girls shared.
Kari was now sat on the sofa, writing her weekly letters to everyone. The last ones had gone out before the Pyramid incident, she'd been distracted since and she wanted to tell everyone that they were fine and that they hadn't dropped off the face of the planet.
Ron's and Hermione's letters could go MA, Magical Airmail but Harry's letter would have to go MAM, Magical Airmail to Muggle, so it arrived in the UK quickly but arrived in a manner that wouldn't cause the Dursleys to throw a head fit.
Mokuba was attempting to do some work on his laptop with a dedication that made Ombre smile. He was staying here because his brother had pushed him away and yet he was still making sure his quota of the work was done and sent off by the end of the day.
Mokuba wasn't really working, he was attempting to write letters to his friends and failing miserably. He was trying to take his mind off of Seto, but trying to write to his Gryffindor friends was impossible. He didn't want to speak to any of them. He couldn't confide in any of them, it was as bad as the gang he used to lead.
They looked up to him because he was rich and had powerful family ties, the Gryffindors didn't care that he was Muggle Born (Or so they assumed, they'd been young when their parents had died and they didn't remember much about them, they'd never been around), or that sometimes he needed someone to talk to, someone he could talk to about things like this, just that he was their leader.
He couldn't even talk to Kari or Ombre about this, they had problems of their own and while he'd trust them with most things, the last thing they needed right now was more problems, Kari was pregnant and fired from Kaiba Corp, Ombre worked in the Kame Game Shop for nothing and Joey earned just enough to get by,
He couldn't drop his misery on top of them too.
"Squirt, could you get me some more paper from the desk? This letter to Hermione seems to be getting longer by itself."
"Magic?" Mokuba asked as he got up and looked for the paper on the desk.
"No, just filling her in on everything." Kari answered, chewing her pen, "Middle drawer, purple paper, Hermione gets purple paper, Harry blue, Ron green."
"Why does Ron get green?"
"To annoy him mostly." Ombre answered for her as Kari started writing rapidly on the new purple sheets, "Green to him represents Slytherin but Kari couldn't find lined red paper so she uses green to annoy him."
"Yeap." Kari smiled slightly as she continued writing.
Kari's phone rang and she tossed it to Ombre who caught it and answered in one smooth movement, "Ironhide residence? Oh, Joey…"
"Give me that!" Kari glared at her yami who sighed and passed her the phone, "Joey. Hi!"
Mokuba rolled his eyes as he was treated to ten minutes of typically girlfriendy talk, care of someone he wouldn't have expected it from. Then she put the phone down, grinned and slumped back into the sofa, "Joey'll be over in a couple of hours, apparently the store is insane, they could really use Yugi and Yami, but…" Kari shrugged. "Anubis did a number on both of them."
The phone rang again and once again it flew across the room, "Ironhide Residence? Kaiba?"
Kari and Mokuba froze, one looking up from his laptop, the other from her paper.
"They're busy at the moment. Why would? Ah. No, I won't tell him. Yes, I'll ask. Mokuba, do you want to talk to your brother?"
Mokuba grabbed the phone, "Se… I'm fine. I'm fine. You want to talk to me? Face to face? Are you going to fire Kari?"
The was a pause where Mokuba said nothing and there was no murmur from the phone.
Then a murmur.
"Good. If you promise her job is safe I'll come talk to you." Another pause, "Ok, where? Domino Park? Half an hour?" Mokuba looked at Ombre, who nodded, "I'll meet you there." Mokuba tossed the phone back to Ombre who just shut it off.
"Are you sure you're ready to see him?" Ombre asked.
Mokuba didn't look sure but nodded. "I have to talk to him, he's my brother."
"Do you want an escort?" Ombre asked, Kari put her paper down and started getting to her feet.
"Can you…?" Mokuba trailed off.
"Sure." Kari slipped her shoes on. "Let's go."
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To Hermione,
Guess where Yugi and Yami landed themselves.
You get three guesses and the first two don't count.
Yes, you guessed it.
There was an… 'incident' during a Duel and Yami was drained of most of his life force and Yugi was badly injured so we had to take them to hospital.
They'll be fine, honest, Yami's almost fully recovered and Yugi's fine for the most part, the Doctors are keeping him in to keep an eye on him and to make sure he rests more then anything.
Seto's paying for their hospital treatment too, which shocked everyone, apparently since it was something he did which landed them in there, he's paying his debts, but I don't know why he does these things, he actually apologised to them the day it happened, just before he left and they passed out.
They'll be fully recovered in plenty of time for the new school year.
I can't believe that it's nearly the middle of the Summer already. I haven't got any of my homework done yet. I'm gonna have to take mine to the hospital with me, maybe keep Yugi company while he does his Potions essay (Blegh potions).
Would you believe I managed to get myself fired and rehired in the space of two days? It's strictly probationary status at the moment, but I'm sure it'll be fine, I just have to make sure that I don't do anything else to annoy the Boss… that I can get caught doing… I wonder…
Anyway we'll give you more details on the 'incident' when we get back to school, you know how things are. I'm sending a note round to Ron and Harry too, but Harry's letter will take forever since I have to send his the Muggle way, you know what his family are like. shrug
How's your Summer been for the last couple of weeks?
Kari and Ombre.
P.S. (Note continues for several pages)
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To the entire gang,
Are you all mental?
What sort of incident? How badly was Yugi hurt? Is Yami alright? What happened? How did Kari get fired?
Kari, I'm going to kill you for not telling me more!
You'd better reply quickly, or I'm coming over there just to check on you all myself.
Hermione.
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To Hermione,
In order.
Possibly.
A Duelling Incident of the type we don't like to talk about in public.
Depends on how badly injured you consider getting blasted by a big ball of dark magical fire is.
Yami's nearly got all his energy back, it started returning after the incident, guess the problem resolved when the uhhh damn it… when the bad guy was beaten.
I can't tell you until we're in England since we don't really want it to get out other then where people already know about certain M Items and you know what the post is like.
I annoyed Kaiba too much.
And yes, I'm aware you're going to kill me.
Kari.
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To the gang,
I hope that Yugi and Yami are alright, not much is going on since we got back from holiday, so I'm bored, though I'd rather be bored then in St Mungo's. Yugi'll be out of hospital by now I bet. Looking forward to meeting up to exchange stories, I want to know what the incident was
Gotta go, Fred and George are being pests,
Ron.
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To Harry,
Did you get the first letter?
If you did things are looking up from last time, Yami's out of hospital now and Yugi'll be out in just under a week. (Apparently he won't get enough rest at home so they're keeping him in).
I hope you're alright.
I've enclosed stamps with this letter since Hermione had it first.
Please reply soon or we might come hunting.
Kari.
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(By owl)
To Harry,
If you've run away from home you should have contacted us, you have all of our phone numbers. We're all really worried about you. I found out in the end that you made it to Diagon Alley alright.
By the way, sorry but Joey, Ombre and I kind of had a run in with your family when me and Ombre came to see if you're alright. That's when we found out you weren't home, I figure an owl can find you in Diagon Alley.
There was an incident over the Summer so we have a lot to talk about,
Looking forward to seeing you in September,
Kari, Ombre, Joey, Yugi and Yami. (Mokuba says hi too and possibly Kaiba but who can tell)
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To Kari,
Sorry for not getting in contact but I honestly thought I was going to be expelled from school. You're not the only ones to have an interesting Summer, though I have to ask if the incident SM related?
Please tell me you didn't injure my family too badly, I do need to go back there next summer,
Harry
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Hi Harry,
Kari's late home from work so I'm writing the letter this week.
Yes, it was SM related, but everything is fine now. Yugi's getting out of the hospital in a couple of days and Yami's out already so it's all good.
No, we didn't injure your family, but we do have plans for escape routes for next year if you're interested just in case. Yami wanted to come with us, but he wasn't out the hospital then.
From
Everyone (including Kari who just got through the door)
PS Is your cousin involved in a gang because Joey got a gang-vibe off of him?
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To everyone, (including Kari even if she's at work)
Yugi and Yami were in the hospital?
Why?
Dudley leads a gang, so yes, he is.
Joey gets gang-vibes? Is it because he used to be in one?
Is Japanese Hospital food better then Muggle Hospitals over here?
Harry.
PS I bet Joey scared Dudley to death. Shame Yami couldn't go, he'd have scared my entire family to death.
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To Harry,
Yugi says Hospital food is bland and he's glad to be home, it's certainly been a while.
Yes they were in hospital but we had a big welcome home party for Yugi yesterday so everyone but Yugi, who's still on pain killers, is a little hungover.
Apparently I'm writing too loudly.
And yes apparently the vibes were because he was in a gang and he did scare Dudley.
Ombre (but everyone awake says hi)
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To everyone,
When are you coming over for Hogwarts? I can't wait to show you something.
Hospital food the world over obviously doesn't change unless you're at Hogwarts…
You didn't tell me why Yugi was in hospital. You're all evil.
See you soon,
Harry.
Mana watched over her partner as the stunned pair walked the streets, too shocked to call anyone. Mana made her own mind up, Shadowfae, Tobias, can you hear me?
Mana, what's happened? Shadowfae asked, we all felt that earlier, were you in a fight?"
Are you alright? Tobias asked, what was that earlier?
We had a run in with Kaiba and he tried to fire Kari. Mokuba said no. I'm not sure which of the Kaiba's are gonna win this battle of wills. Kisara and I had a disagreement, but I'm fine, she's fine and other then Kari got fired everything is fine.
We're on our way. Tobias said.
Ombre can't leave the Game Shop, Shadowfae sounded frustrated, Mr Muto isn't back from lunch yet.
Joey says we'll take her there.
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The PAs were still in shock from the brawl that had erupted earlier, between the Dark Magician Girl belonging to Miss Ironhide, the Blue Eyes White Chick belonging to Master Mokuba and the Blue Eyes White Dragon belonging to Mr Kaiba when the banging started.
The two jumped out of their skin, before looking at each other with terrified looks.
Who was Mr Kaiba killing in there?
"You knock." Seto's PA gestured at the door.
"He's your boss." Mokuba's said, inching away from the door.
She scowled, gulped and lightly knocked, "Mr Kaiba, Sir? Do you need anything?"
A much calmer Seto Kaiba answered the door, but the PA couldn't help but notice the reddish mark on his forehead and the ragged look to his hair. "Coffee. And bring up the files on Ironhide." He growled.
He's really gonna do it. Master Mokuba's not going to be happy.
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It was the worst day of Kari's life.
She was as good as fired from a job she loved doing and needed the money from as well as which gave her somewhere to live, for helping the younger brother of the CEO, who was willing to fight for her, she'd managed to lose Mana, who'd been calling in her friends to give her a hand and was currently wandering around Domino Park with one Mokuba Kaiba, who had basically been kicked out of the Kaiba Corp building by his older brother.
She would have fought for her job, but Seto had looked ready to kill and while she would have been willing to risk her own safety, she hadn't dared risk him sending Kisara after Mana again.
Mokuba hadn't said much about the incident, he was being uncharacteristically quiet, but she could understand that, he'd just been ordered out of the building by a homicidal brother and now he wasn't sure quite what to think.
She didn't want to go to the Game Shop, where the others would fuss over her, and it was past visiting hours in the Hospital, so she just kept wandering, she knew Ombre knew where she was, after all Kari was still wearing the Orb, but she was grateful that she was keeping her distance, Kari just needed time to go over things in her head.
She paused on the bridge over the river, unless Mokuba was successful, they wouldn't have enough money to support the baby when it came or go to Hogwarts...
She felt dizzy. She hadn't eaten enough. She changed her plan, deciding to head for the flat, she was hungry and for a Summer evening, it was ridiculously cold.
Geki, who was flying overhead, dove and then soared again, enjoying the last thermals of the evening. She turned to Mokuba, "You all right squirt?"
To be fair it was a stupid question, and she wasn't surprised when she didn't get an answer from him.
Kari sighed, "Are you planning on going home?" She asked, concerned for her young friend.
Mokuba shook his head.
"Do you want to stay at my place?" Kari asked, "He won't come looking for you there since he's so mad at me."
"Are you sure you're not mad with me?" Mokuba asked, relieved.
"No, I'm not mad, not at you," Kari said with a small smile, then felt the chill which her stunned state hadn't allowed her to feel before, "Come on, let's get warmed up."
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Ombre, Shadowfae and Mana were home, along with Joey and Tobias, when Kari, Mokuba and Geki arrived, shutting the door quietly behind them and turning around to find Ombre in one doorway, Mana in another, the dragons by the heater and Joey on the sofa. "I think they've been waiting for us." Kari said with a small smile.
"Where've you been?" Joey asked, "I've been..."
"Don't start with the over protectiveness Joey," Kari cut him off, "I know I've been wandering around town all day, but I needed some time to think and I don't want to talk about it. The squirt's staying here for the night, he can have my room and I'll sleep on the sofa."
"No." Ombre interjected, "You need a bed because of the little one, you can have mine Mokuba."
"Thank you." Mokuba said quietly.
Joey looked sceptically at the two of them and then shrugged, getting up and kissing his girlfriend. "We'll work something out."
"Mokuba's gonna try and stop him from firing me." Kari said, with a grateful smile at the boy who smiled back.
"Cool," Joey grinned at Mokuba, "And if Rich-Boy does fire you, Duke's already talking about giving you a job."
"Duke already knows?" Kari yelped.
"Most of the industry does, the PA's spread it around faster then the news about Professor Quirrel got around Hogwarts. You've had calls to the house with job offers from Duke, Industrial Illusions, Capcom, Nintendo and a couple of others."
"Wow," Kari grinned slightly, then looked down at Mokuba who was frowning, "I won't leave Kaiba Corp if I can help it."
"Your decision." Ombre shrugged, "Food's in the microwave, as per usual I cooked too much so there's more then enough for Mokuba too." Ombre turned to Joey, "Keep an eye on them for me?"
"I don't need a baby sitter, Ombre." Kari glared.
"Not yet, not till little one's born, but you're tired and I'd like Joey to stay. You need the company." Kari just smiled at Joey who grinned back as Ombre left the building.
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Kaiba wasn't one to admit he'd made a mistake, however scaring his little brother out of Kaiba Corp had been a huge one.
He'd assumed that Mokuba would head back to the mansion, but when he'd phoned up to ask, Mokuba hadn't been seen there since he'd left this morning.
Obviously he wasn't ready to come home yet.
Mokuba still wasn't home by the time Seto had gotten through the doors at nine o'clock at night and Seto started getting worried.
He trusted that Geki could protect his brother from most things, that wasn't the issue, the issue was that Mokuba had never stayed away after a fight, he always came back.
But this time he hadn't.
Seto had finally pushed him too far away
Kaiba paced, wondering where Mokuba would go. Would he have stayed with Ironhide, or found somewhere else to stay?
He considered calling the flat Ironhide used when she was home from Hogwarts but admitted to himself that he wouldn't get an honest answer from them right now.
For the same reason he couldn't find out if Mokuba was staying at the Game Shop and he didn't have the Mutt's number even if he wanted to ask him.
He wondered if Mokuba was doing this deliberately to make him realise how wrong he'd been, but knew his brother wouldn't do that to him.
Kaiba really didn't know what to do.
Someone knocked on the door timidly. "Come in."
"Miss Ironhide at the door to see you, Sir." Roland said, "Shall I turn her away?"
"Kari?" Kaiba growled.
"Ombre Ironhide, Sir."
"Did she say what she wanted?"
"No, Sir, she just mentioned it was important."
"Send her to the Dinning Room. I'll meet her there." Kaiba growled.
"Yes Mr Kaiba." Roland shut the door again and Kaiba straightened himself out, going down to meet the yami of the woman he'd as good as fired. It had to be information on Mokuba or pleading for Kari's job, and one was a lead and the other was a welcome distraction. He'd tolerated Ironhide's attitude for long enough and threatening to get the Dark Magician Girl to blow up the doors to his office had been the final straw.
The woman who met him in the Dinning Room was too calm for someone who was about to plead for a friend or relative's job, "What do you want Ironhide? If this is about Kari's job..."
"Kari can find a new one, she's already got offers pouring in." Ombre shrugged, "That's not why I'm here."
Kaiba glowered, it was true that ex Kaiba Corp employees were usually snapped up by rival companies, after all a couple of years under him was worth four or five in any other company, but how did everyone in the industry know already?
He'd be having words with his PA in the morning.
"What do you want then?"
"It's about your brother, Mokuba."
Kaiba sat forward, he knew it had to be one of the two things, "What about him?"
"I thought you'd like to know that he's safe and sound." Ombre replied, "I won't tell you where, but suffice to say he's safe and unharmed and probably stuffed to bursting."
"How much?"
"Excuse me?"
"How much will it cost for you to tell me where my brother is?"
"That's your way to sort out everything isn't it." Ombre looked amused, "If in doubt, chuck money at it. Well this one won't get sorted using money, so I suggest you find another way. Goodnight Kaiba." She stood up.
"Ironhide…" He called as she made it halfway to the door.
"What?" She asked, a small, smug smirk on her face as she looked over her shoulder.
Kaiba had never realised just how scary Ombre could be when she wanted to before tonight and she wasn't even raging at him, "I wouldn't have hurt them."
"You certainly hurt Mana," Ombre's smirk turned into a glare, "Kari was afraid you'd do it again and you're the one who pushed Mokuba away."
"I know." Kaiba hated admitting his weakness and didn't catch her eyes.
"Is that why you pushed them away, you were afraid they'd hurt you? Or was it because you were afraid you'd hurt them?" Ombre asked.
Kaiba ran a hand through his hair, then looked at the stray hand in confusion, when had he picked up that nervous habit? "I don't want to talk about this."
"Until you work this out, Seto Kaiba, your brother's not going to want to come back." Ombre told him bluntly, her magenta eyes watching him carefully.
"Ombre…" Seto started, then shook his head and she started for the door once more, "Ombre," The yami paused, "Is Mana all right? Kisara was brutal earlier."
"Mana is fine," Ombre answered, one hand on the door handle, "Geki stopped Kisara from hurting her too much."
"You didn't have to reassure me after what I did today." Kaiba said as she opened the door, "Why did you?"
"Because it's what my Hikari would want if she wasn't so stunned about possibly losing her job."
"Is that the only reason?"
"I thought you should be allowed to know that your brother is safe and that he's being looked after." Ombre admitted, a thoughtful look on her face. "After all, you can't learn what you need to learn if you go mental looking for him." She nodded to him, "Goodnight Kaiba."
Kaiba nodded back and watched her leave, exiting the Mansion but leaving plenty unanswered questions for Kaiba to work out his own answers to.
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When Ombre got back to the apartment, everyone was asleep. Joey had fallen asleep in one of the chairs and Kari and Mokuba had fallen asleep on the sofa. The Princess smiled and woke Kari up gently. "Hey, go to bed sleepy head."
"We were waiting for you to get back." Kari yawned quietly, trying not to wake up the sleeping boy next to her.
"I'll sort him out, you go." Ombre said with a grin.
Kari yawned, nodded and vanished into her bedroom. "G'night Ombre."
Ombre grinned slightly and woke Joey up. "Out."
Joey shrugged and left, used to Ombre's whims by now. She'd been like this all Summer so it wasn't like he wasn't used to her kicking him out randomly. "Night Ombre." He said as he shut the door.
"Mokuba?" Ombre asked as the boy stirred.
"Hey." Mokuba nodded once he got his bearings, "You alright?"
Ombre nodded, "My room's that one." She pointed to the open door of her bedroom. Mokuba nodded and headed inside, shutting the door behind himself.
Ombre led down on the sofa but sleep didn't come easy.
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Seto Kaiba hadn't slept all night.
His mind had gone on overdrive the moment Ironhide had left the mansion, going over everything she had said.
It was obvious his brother was staying with the Ironhide's, but if Ombre had been telling the truth, Mokuba didn't want to see him and going after him now would only push him away.
Was this what she'd meant he had to learn? That he couldn't always have everything he wanted? Or was there more to it?
He'd ask Kari when she…
He couldn't ask Kari.
He'd fired her.
Her attempt to help Mokuba had been what had started this in the first place.
He shook his head, heading into work with no sleep and little interest in the outside world. Kaiba Corp could practically run itself for a few days, even without Seto and Mokuba's help. It was all the business deals and meetings that they dealt with that kept Kaiba Corp on top and he didn't have any of those for a week or so, they'd dealt with most of the major meetings the first two weeks back from school.
He'd been furious and Kisara more so when Kari had threatened to break down his door and he'd broken his own rule about letting his temper get the best of him. He was Seto Kaiba, he didn't loose his temper, not to a pair of women who should have known better then to threaten him.
His thoughts had none of the rage of yesterday though, not after realising last night that Mana could have been killed by Kisara in their shared rage, and he had no idea what that would have done to Kari.
He'd been doing it again, shutting people out because he'd made a mistake, because he'd failed.
Shutting Mokuba out.
Just as he had before Yugi's… no, it had been Yami's Mind Crush, which had set his mind straight.
Mokuba had gone to the one person in all of Kaiba Corp he knew wasn't afraid to face Seto in battle and would help him out if he needed her. Seto couldn't think how many times he'd gone to her, through Mokuba to ask advice or a favour.
No wonder Geki, who was normally pacifistic, had gone for Kisara quite so badly. Seto had ignored Geki's partner for days, locked him out of the office, gone for Mokuba's friend and then bellowed at him.
And Seto had felt the echo of Mana's pain through the damn link that connected all of their Duel Monsters…
No wonder they'd fled in fear when he'd ordered them out.
He'd been acting like he had before he'd been forced through shared living space, to interact with and trust in people. He'd hated it to start with, but he'd gotten quite used to sharing a dorm with his house mates. They didn't interfere with his work, and he was teaching them about computers in his spare time.
Kaiba stared out of his office window, just thinking about the mistakes he'd made over the last week.
The phone went and Seto strode over to his desk and picked it up. "Mokuba?"
"Mr Kaiba, Sir." Roland, of course it would be him, only the PA, Roland and Mokuba had this number. "I have news about your brother. Apparently he's gone to the mansion to pick up some clothes with the Ironhide's."
"Have the limo ready for me when I get down or there'll be hell to pay." Kaiba growled and headed straight down, Kisara launching out of the office window. 'Don't hurt them.'
I'll be careful. Kisara replied.
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They'd just been heading out of the mansion when Kisara had arrived and they'd been forced to leg it.
Mokuba had grabbed some more clothes and his laptop, along with a pile of work from Kaiba Corp and a rather large pile of comics that Mokuba had explained came from a shop that held them in reserve for him while he was away.
They'd legged it most of the way home, walking the down the last road and to the apartment building doors. Mana had held the door open and Shadowfae and Geki had swooped in above the three's heads as they headed for the flat the two girls shared.
Kari was now sat on the sofa, writing her weekly letters to everyone. The last ones had gone out before the Pyramid incident, she'd been distracted since and she wanted to tell everyone that they were fine and that they hadn't dropped off the face of the planet.
Ron's and Hermione's letters could go MA, Magical Airmail but Harry's letter would have to go MAM, Magical Airmail to Muggle, so it arrived in the UK quickly but arrived in a manner that wouldn't cause the Dursleys to throw a head fit.
Mokuba was attempting to do some work on his laptop with a dedication that made Ombre smile. He was staying here because his brother had pushed him away and yet he was still making sure his quota of the work was done and sent off by the end of the day.
Mokuba wasn't really working, he was attempting to write letters to his friends and failing miserably. He was trying to take his mind off of Seto, but trying to write to his Gryffindor friends was impossible. He didn't want to speak to any of them. He couldn't confide in any of them, it was as bad as the gang he used to lead.
They looked up to him because he was rich and had powerful family ties, the Gryffindors didn't care that he was Muggle Born (Or so they assumed, they'd been young when their parents had died and they didn't remember much about them, they'd never been around), or that sometimes he needed someone to talk to, someone he could talk to about things like this, just that he was their leader.
He couldn't even talk to Kari or Ombre about this, they had problems of their own and while he'd trust them with most things, the last thing they needed right now was more problems, Kari was pregnant and fired from Kaiba Corp, Ombre worked in the Kame Game Shop for nothing and Joey earned just enough to get by,
He couldn't drop his misery on top of them too.
"Squirt, could you get me some more paper from the desk? This letter to Hermione seems to be getting longer by itself."
"Magic?" Mokuba asked as he got up and looked for the paper on the desk.
"No, just filling her in on everything." Kari answered, chewing her pen, "Middle drawer, purple paper, Hermione gets purple paper, Harry blue, Ron green."
"Why does Ron get green?"
"To annoy him mostly." Ombre answered for her as Kari started writing rapidly on the new purple sheets, "Green to him represents Slytherin but Kari couldn't find lined red paper so she uses green to annoy him."
"Yeap." Kari smiled slightly as she continued writing.
Kari's phone rang and she tossed it to Ombre who caught it and answered in one smooth movement, "Ironhide residence? Oh, Joey…"
"Give me that!" Kari glared at her yami who sighed and passed her the phone, "Joey. Hi!"
Mokuba rolled his eyes as he was treated to ten minutes of typically girlfriendy talk, care of someone he wouldn't have expected it from. Then she put the phone down, grinned and slumped back into the sofa, "Joey'll be over in a couple of hours, apparently the store is insane, they could really use Yugi and Yami, but…" Kari shrugged. "Anubis did a number on both of them."
The phone rang again and once again it flew across the room, "Ironhide Residence? Kaiba?"
Kari and Mokuba froze, one looking up from his laptop, the other from her paper.
"They're busy at the moment. Why would? Ah. No, I won't tell him. Yes, I'll ask. Mokuba, do you want to talk to your brother?"
Mokuba grabbed the phone, "Se… I'm fine. I'm fine. You want to talk to me? Face to face? Are you going to fire Kari?"
The was a pause where Mokuba said nothing and there was no murmur from the phone.
Then a murmur.
"Good. If you promise her job is safe I'll come talk to you." Another pause, "Ok, where? Domino Park? Half an hour?" Mokuba looked at Ombre, who nodded, "I'll meet you there." Mokuba tossed the phone back to Ombre who just shut it off.
"Are you sure you're ready to see him?" Ombre asked.
Mokuba didn't look sure but nodded. "I have to talk to him, he's my brother."
"Do you want an escort?" Ombre asked, Kari put her paper down and started getting to her feet.
"Can you…?" Mokuba trailed off.
"Sure." Kari slipped her shoes on. "Let's go."
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To Hermione,
Guess where Yugi and Yami landed themselves.
You get three guesses and the first two don't count.
Yes, you guessed it.
There was an… 'incident' during a Duel and Yami was drained of most of his life force and Yugi was badly injured so we had to take them to hospital.
They'll be fine, honest, Yami's almost fully recovered and Yugi's fine for the most part, the Doctors are keeping him in to keep an eye on him and to make sure he rests more then anything.
Seto's paying for their hospital treatment too, which shocked everyone, apparently since it was something he did which landed them in there, he's paying his debts, but I don't know why he does these things, he actually apologised to them the day it happened, just before he left and they passed out.
They'll be fully recovered in plenty of time for the new school year.
I can't believe that it's nearly the middle of the Summer already. I haven't got any of my homework done yet. I'm gonna have to take mine to the hospital with me, maybe keep Yugi company while he does his Potions essay (Blegh potions).
Would you believe I managed to get myself fired and rehired in the space of two days? It's strictly probationary status at the moment, but I'm sure it'll be fine, I just have to make sure that I don't do anything else to annoy the Boss… that I can get caught doing… I wonder…
Anyway we'll give you more details on the 'incident' when we get back to school, you know how things are. I'm sending a note round to Ron and Harry too, but Harry's letter will take forever since I have to send his the Muggle way, you know what his family are like. shrug
How's your Summer been for the last couple of weeks?
Kari and Ombre.
P.S. (Note continues for several pages)
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To the entire gang,
Are you all mental?
What sort of incident? How badly was Yugi hurt? Is Yami alright? What happened? How did Kari get fired?
Kari, I'm going to kill you for not telling me more!
You'd better reply quickly, or I'm coming over there just to check on you all myself.
Hermione.
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To Hermione,
In order.
Possibly.
A Duelling Incident of the type we don't like to talk about in public.
Depends on how badly injured you consider getting blasted by a big ball of dark magical fire is.
Yami's nearly got all his energy back, it started returning after the incident, guess the problem resolved when the uhhh damn it… when the bad guy was beaten.
I can't tell you until we're in England since we don't really want it to get out other then where people already know about certain M Items and you know what the post is like.
I annoyed Kaiba too much.
And yes, I'm aware you're going to kill me.
Kari.
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To the gang,
I hope that Yugi and Yami are alright, not much is going on since we got back from holiday, so I'm bored, though I'd rather be bored then in St Mungo's. Yugi'll be out of hospital by now I bet. Looking forward to meeting up to exchange stories, I want to know what the incident was
Gotta go, Fred and George are being pests,
Ron.
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To Harry,
Did you get the first letter?
If you did things are looking up from last time, Yami's out of hospital now and Yugi'll be out in just under a week. (Apparently he won't get enough rest at home so they're keeping him in).
I hope you're alright.
I've enclosed stamps with this letter since Hermione had it first.
Please reply soon or we might come hunting.
Kari.
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(By owl)
To Harry,
If you've run away from home you should have contacted us, you have all of our phone numbers. We're all really worried about you. I found out in the end that you made it to Diagon Alley alright.
By the way, sorry but Joey, Ombre and I kind of had a run in with your family when me and Ombre came to see if you're alright. That's when we found out you weren't home, I figure an owl can find you in Diagon Alley.
There was an incident over the Summer so we have a lot to talk about,
Looking forward to seeing you in September,
Kari, Ombre, Joey, Yugi and Yami. (Mokuba says hi too and possibly Kaiba but who can tell)
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To Kari,
Sorry for not getting in contact but I honestly thought I was going to be expelled from school. You're not the only ones to have an interesting Summer, though I have to ask if the incident SM related?
Please tell me you didn't injure my family too badly, I do need to go back there next summer,
Harry
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Hi Harry,
Kari's late home from work so I'm writing the letter this week.
Yes, it was SM related, but everything is fine now. Yugi's getting out of the hospital in a couple of days and Yami's out already so it's all good.
No, we didn't injure your family, but we do have plans for escape routes for next year if you're interested just in case. Yami wanted to come with us, but he wasn't out the hospital then.
From
Everyone (including Kari who just got through the door)
PS Is your cousin involved in a gang because Joey got a gang-vibe off of him?
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To everyone, (including Kari even if she's at work)
Yugi and Yami were in the hospital?
Why?
Dudley leads a gang, so yes, he is.
Joey gets gang-vibes? Is it because he used to be in one?
Is Japanese Hospital food better then Muggle Hospitals over here?
Harry.
PS I bet Joey scared Dudley to death. Shame Yami couldn't go, he'd have scared my entire family to death.
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To Harry,
Yugi says Hospital food is bland and he's glad to be home, it's certainly been a while.
Yes they were in hospital but we had a big welcome home party for Yugi yesterday so everyone but Yugi, who's still on pain killers, is a little hungover.
Apparently I'm writing too loudly.
And yes apparently the vibes were because he was in a gang and he did scare Dudley.
Ombre (but everyone awake says hi)
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To everyone,
When are you coming over for Hogwarts? I can't wait to show you something.
Hospital food the world over obviously doesn't change unless you're at Hogwarts…
You didn't tell me why Yugi was in hospital. You're all evil.
See you soon,
Harry.