Interlude #2: Mokuba's Perspective

My name is Morio Abdulatem.

Actually, it's not but that's the name I signed on the convention register. Mai and I grinned at each other as I handed the pen to her boyfriend Yugi.

I don't use my real name anywhere but at home. I have a passport issued in my false name by special Government request. I also have a concealed weapons permit. Both will tell you who I really am if you have the security clearances to find out; not that it ever gets that far.

Usually, I get caught with a knife or a gun, and then the local authorities take me into custody and try to call my parents. I'll show them my ID and the permit and they'll insist that both must be fake — which they are, but not in the way that matters. They will then run both through the computer. Ten minutes after they type my name in, the highest authority in the building comes to wherever I am, apologizes for the inconvenience and insists on paying for my trip or my convention pass or whatever. It's actually pretty funny.

It would be funnier if I didn't actually need a fake name and a concealed weapon.

Mai, Yugi and I grabbed our luggage and headed to our room. This weekend we were at a comic book convention in Okinawa. Last month, it was an LRPG con in Kyoto. The month before, it was The Kaiba International con in downtown Tokyo. So long as it's in Japan and Dad's security knows where I am, I can go pretty much anywhere I want.

Dad's security are a tricky bunch. They are absolutely loyal to KaibaCorp in general and Kaiba Gozaburo specifically. He runs it like a shogunate. Once a year, he even goes on training missions with them. It's a smaller group, but I still wouldn't take a bet on who would win between them and the Army. And if a war broke out, they would follow Dad, not the Emperor. Scary, scary guys.

Except that they all feel a little sorry for me so they don't always tell Dad where I go or when. The rule pretty much is if they didn't have to get me out of it, Dad doesn't need to know about it. So I get to hang with my friends and get away with anything just short of murder and Dad gets to believe that I'm the good son.

If he knew the truth, he'd have a stroke.

Mai pays for everything when we go to these things because she's over 20; Yugi's almost 18 and I'll turn 14 this summer. Though she always 'pays', I provide the actual cash flow. I have money in my Kaiba accounts and I get my allowance every week. And then Morie has an on-line bank account that is funded by a few investments that Dad and my brother, Seto, don't need to know about. If anything ever happens to me, Seto and my 'governess' Isis split that account and a few other assets. Dad taught me: know, but don't show, everything you have.

So anyway, for the convention, Mai booked us as a double king-sized suite with hot tub. Yugi is always overwhelmed by opulence but Mai and I love it. The first thing we do is wait for security to give the room the all clear. They put cameras in over the main door and over any other possible entrance, angled to see who comes and goes, but not to see what goes on in the room. I could get stoned out of my mind and so long as no unauthorized person opened the door, security wouldn't bat an eye. Really; I tried it and they didn't.

After security does their bit and gives me the room key, we go in, lock the door and get naked!

Yugi is the aggressive one in bed, actually. People who know Mai wouldn't believe that, but really she likes to cuddle more. Yugi's enthusiasm for anything fun puts him on the top of the stack or the first to try any crazy new idea.

I don't like sex. Not that I've actually had sex — I'm 13! — but I don't get excited like other people do. I just like being naked.

Sometimes, when they've finished, I'll cuddle with them. It helps me sleep. I feel safe between them. I feel safe sleeping with Seto too, but that rarely happens any more. I haven't slept with Dad since I was 9.

Generally, I do research. I use the time they're being bunnies to find as many local newspapers, libraries and temples as possible. The older the better. Then, during the convention — when there isn't something I want to do — I go check the archives and the places I find. Sometimes it's a waste of time. But sometimes I find interesting things.

We're early for the convention, but late for archive I want to go to first, so after I get bored watching Mai and Yugi go at it, I get dressed again and go down to the dealers room. Comic cons are fun but I like game cons more. Really, I'm only here because the orphanage Seto and I was in was not too far away; which means that there's a good chance my biological parents are buried in the area.

I don't really remember my bio-father. He's this blur in my memories of a Christmas party when I burned my hand on I light I wasn't supposed to touch in the first place. Seto held me and told me everything was ok and someone I think of as father bandaged me. I kind of remember my father's funeral. I remember sitting with Seto, in black kimonos, and having to be very still. My brother is very good at being very still, but I hate it. So every time I moved, he held me still. I remember that the whole day was very, very sad. That's not much really, but I was only five at the time.

But comic cons are for fun, not depressing thoughts. I goofed around the dealer room for a while and then wandered through the artist's room until Yugi and Mai came down. We got some food, found some duelist and some dice games and played both for a while. And then we got some more food. You know, convention stuff. Around midnight, we went to bed — all three of us, together.

It's always a large man, in my dreams. He's wrapped in black and I can't see his face. I just know that he wants me, to take me away. He's a bad man. You would think these nightmares started recently, after I was kidnapped. But really, I've had them for as long as I can remember. Seto was always there at first, always holding me at night, always promising to keep me safe. He thinks I don't know that I'm the reason we didn't get adopted for the first year. We were young and cute and then a prospective family would find out that I wake up screaming five days out of seven. I told Seto to go without me. He wouldn't.

He gave up a chance for a real family to protect me. I don't think anyone knows how much my Nii-sama loves me. Or what I would do for him. I'd die for him. I'd kill for him. People talk about Seto being heartless. They have no idea how much heart he has.

But my nightmares. They've gotten better over time, but I still wake up screaming sometimes. Yugi and Mai are almost used to it. That's why they let me sleep with them. I'm less likely to have a nightmare and it's easier to calm me down if they're right there with me. Tonight, I could almost see him. I felt like he could touch me. Seto couldn't stop him; Dad couldn't stop him. I almost called Nii-sama at four in the morning just to hear him say, 'I won't let him take you.'

Even so, I was up and out by seven.

I went to the local newspaper office. I had to beg — even shed a few tears — but finally their librarian agreed to let me search their files. I'm not going back that far. Not more than 15 years. Everything I need information on happened after that.

Mostly I look at obituaries. If they have funeral tapes, I scan them. Over the last year, I've downloaded some interesting details. For instance, my bio-father's last name was Abdulatem. Funny coincidence, huh?

Actually, no. It's my Dad being ironic. Using my real last name to hide my adopted one. I don't think he knows I remember it. But really; I was young, not stupid. I knew my name and becoming a Kaiba didn't make me forget it.

'Abdulatem' is not a common name in Japan. In fact, it's not common anywhere. It's Coptic, from Egypt — like Isis, another coincidence. There are maybe 300 speakers of Coptic in the whole world. Anyway, I have only found one guy named 'Abdulatem' in Japan in the last 15 years. He was a professor who studied air pressure at TIT — Tokyo Institute of Technology. I can't think of a more boring topic but apparently, he was very interesting to several government officials.

Abdulatem was working with a biologist and they discovered a way to make concussive force grenades. They were non-lethal and did not use any form of projectile but could render an area of people unconscious for some time. I didn't read the details — I couldn't care less about that — but his partner's name was really interesting. Kaiba Kisara. And guess what? They ran away together and settled in the Okinawa area to start a company to develop these force grenades into something that police worldwide could use instead of guns.

I'll bet my Dad was real interested in that.

The archive's obituaries didn't list either Abdulatem or Kaiba. I switched to their video collection. The tapes were raw footage, no sound or commentary. I played them fast-forwarded to get through as many as possible. Apparently, they had a cameraman who would go to a cemetery and just film everything for the day. In about the middle of the tape, I saw a boy who looked familiar. Brown hair, stone face.

Seto.

I went back to the beginning of the event. The cameraman got to the gravesite at the same time that the hearse did. As the staff got the urn, someone opened the passenger door and a tall man with brown hair and glasses got out. He was carrying a black-haired infant. Behind him, a brown-haired boy got out. I couldn't see him clearly, but it was the same kid that made me rewind the tape. The priest tried to give the urn to the tall man but he indicated that Seto should carry it. Together, they walked from the car to the funeral site.

The camera zoomed to follow them and focused on the tombstone for a moment. The kanji read 'Sapphire-eyed Daughter of the Dragon'. Then he moved to focus on the priest as he began chanting. Another priest was handing out incense.

About a third of the guests looked Middle-Eastern and seemed confused by the rites. A pair of priests spent some time explaining to them what to do. I noticed that the Japanese guests did not move a finger to assist the foreigners.

Finally the camera returned to the man and the boy. To my Father and Seto. And me, probably, around three days old.

It was a normal funeral. Apart from the apparent bad blood between the races, nothing unusual happened really until the chant ended. Father and Seto stood up to leave and were stopped by a teenage-girl and a boy about Seto's height. They spoke for a moment and the boy gave something to Seto. Father seemed grateful and hugged them both, carefully so as not to drop the baby. Both of the children asked and were allowed to look at the baby and the girl kissed the tiny black head. Then a procession started and everyone placed flowers inside the casket.

My mother's casket. They were placing flowers around her head. I cursed that the cameraman couldn't get an angle to see her. Even in death, I have never seen my mother's face.

Seto and my Father were the last two to pay their final respects, and then father handed the baby — me — to Seto and closed the casket himself.

Suddenly, the camera swiveled to someone just arriving. It must have been loud because everyone the camera passed was turning to look too.

The large man. The man in black. The bad man in my dreams. He snatched incense and flowers from a priest's hands and stormed to my Father. There was an exchange and if I had to guess, they were yelling because in the middle they both stopped and looked at Seto and me. Nii-sama was rocking me in his arms, his face close against mine. I know, without seeing his mouth, without hearing his words, what he is saying.

"I won't let him take you."

I stopped the tape and took it with me.

Yugi and Mai left me a note with their itinerary. I had the room to myself for another few hours. I played the video again, paying close attention to as many faces as I could see. I didn't recognize any of them. I did notice that Nii-sama's expression changed after Father handed me to him. He was no longer stone faced. He smiled. He looked at me and smiled.

And then, the bad man arrived. I couldn't see his face clearly from any angle on the tape. After he and father argued, the bad man pushed past father and reopened the casket. He looked at the woman inside for a moment, placed the flowers inside and closed the lid. Then, he walked past everyone, apparently without another word. The cameraman followed him as he got into a white limo and left. A white limo with a corporate logo on the back. The Cameraman saw it too and moved to catch a better shot of it. He got it clear and in focus for three seconds.