Adult-FanFiction.org : Yu-Gi-OH

Wish Potential	By : DarkTemptations Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > General Views: 1250 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Wish Potential
- 1
Title: Wish Potential 1/1

Author: Dark Temptations

Beta: Vash is my Angel

Rating: PG13 *smiles innocently*

Warnings: Mild fluffiness - no angst

Summary: Every wish has the potential to be good or bad if it comes to pass. How they turn out depends entirely on the hand of fate. Wishes can come true - as Joey is about to discover.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of its characters - all I own are a few thousand cards and a few dozen dvds, mangas and action figures of Joey, Seto, REBD and BEWD.

Author's Notes: Written as a gift to my friend - Vash is my Angel.

@-->-->----

Dark Temptations Presents

Wish Potential

@-->-->----

Seto Kaiba and Joey Wheeler stood toe-to-toe - glaring at each other as they snarled out insults.

Although they were standing in the middle of the school hallway, the other students ignored them and went about their own business. Even the teachers did nothing more than glance at the two teenagers and sigh before going on their way. Happening at least once almost every day - Seto and Joey's arguments had become part of the daily school routine. The only thing that ever changed was the location of their fights. That day it was the hallway - the previous day had been outside the art room and the day before that had been the computer room before third period and the locker area after school.

Even the insults were much the same each time.

"Listen moneybags, just because you're rich, it doesn't mean ya can treat everyone else like dirt!" Joey growled out the words between clenched teeth, his brown eyes alight with fury.

"I assure you, Wheeler, I do not treat everyone that way. I reserve such treatment purely for second rate duelists, such as yourself." Seto smirked as the blonde teen bristled in anger.

When his opponent could do nothing more than splutter - too enraged to give any sort of sensible reply - the brunette gave Wheeler a smug look and stalked away.

Another win to him. Naturally.

Joey glared at the brunette's back for as long as he could still see him, then his shoulders slumped and he groaned softly - annoyed at himself for letting Kaiba get to him that much. It happened the same way every time they argued. He could give as good as he could take and he could take everything that jerk dished out... except for that one insult.

Of course - Kaiba being Kaiba - it hadn't taken long for him to figure that out.

As he went off to his next class, Joey silently swore to himself that he would find some way to make Kaiba pay for calling him that. He'd come up with a great insult and the next time the jerk called him second rate... he'd let him have it!

All he needed was something really good to say. It was a sure thing that he'd get the chance to use it. After all... Kaiba said it every time they fought. He even said it during duels! It was the insult he used the most.

Joey smiled to himself as he got an idea.

He'd make Kaiba regret every time he'd ever said it.

His chance came later that afternoon.

@-->-->----

Joey shoved his things in his bag and slammed his locker closed - starting to turn even before the lock caught. He grunted as he ran straight into an object that was firm and immovable - yet oddly soft. It was something he'd run into far more often than he'd like and he didn't have to look to confirm what it was. He looked anyway and sighed when his eyes were met with a glacial glare.

"Why is it every time I turn around, you're standin' where I'm headin'? Do ya like gettin' run into? Is it some sort of weird hobby for ya or somethin?" Joey scowled at Kaiba, then shook his head when the brunette started to reply. "Sorry, no time to fight. Gotta run." He dodged around the taller boy before the startled teen could do more than arch an eyebrow.

Even as he moved - Joey kept his guard up. He knew his opponent hated to be ignored and there was no way Kaiba would let him have the last word like that. But if the last word was what it usually was... The smug CEO was in for a shock.

"Running into someone and then insulting them rather than apologising. Why am I not surprised? Although they call it 'common' courtesy, it seems that you are even beneath that. You truly are second rate in everything, Wheeler." Kaiba smirked and watched Joey, waiting for his response.

Joey tensed but then smiled. He looked over his shoulder - his smile growing when he saw surprise in his opponent's face. "Ya know Kaiba... for someone who's supposed to be a genius, ya use the same insults a lot. If I had a dollar for every time you've called me 'second rate', I'd be richer than you, by now."

For the first time since Seto had discovered the power of that phrase over eight months earlier - Joey walked away from a fight victorious and it was the brunette who was left lost for words.

@-->-->----

As it did every morning just before four o'clock, his dad's alarm woke Joey out of a sound sleep.

He lay in bed - listening for the sounds that would tell him the man was getting up and hadn't just turned the alarm off, then rolled over and gone back to sleep. His dad began to loudly grumble and curse and Joey grinned as he snuggled into his bed.

Although he didn't mind getting his dad up to go to work, the man tended to expect his son to stay up and have breakfast with him and Joey much preferred to get a few more hours of sleep before he went off to school.

Knowing he wouldn't get to sleep again for a little while - his father tended to curse at random intervals while getting ready for work and he didn't bother with trying to be quiet - Joey indulged himself in enjoying the memory of leaving Kaiba speechless.

It was as good the sixty-eighth time as when it had happened.

As satisfying as it was to remember, though... Joey knew he'd pay for it sooner or later. Chances were good that Kaiba would have a new insult all ready for him, the next time they fought. The best he could hope for was that the brunette wouldn't continue to call him 'second rate'.

Joey sighed. He knew he shouldn't let it get to him like it did. It wasn't even that much of an insult, really. He'd been called a lot worse. So why did it always make him so angry?

He sighed again and rolled over onto his side. As much as he wanted to pretend that he didn't know the answer to that question - his mind was very insistent and kept poking him with it.

His anger wasn't over his being called second rate - or even because he'd proven the insult wrong more than once. It was simply because he didn't want Seto Kaiba to think of him like that.

Joey closed his eyes and settled down to try to get some more sleep.

One thought whirled around inside his mind. It called to something deep within his soul that responded - echoing the mental cry until it became more than a mere thought.

It became a wish of both heart and mind.

If only Kaiba could see me for what I really am.

Wishes sometimes do come true.

@-->-->----

Every wish has within itself the potential to be either good or bad. To come to pass in a way that brings either pain or pleasure - happiness or heartache. What it becomes depends on the hand of Fate - but the yearning heart and the dreaming mind can influence it.

A wish made of desperation, by a heart and mind united... Such a wish is stronger than any other.

When it is wished by one who has been blessed with the gift of luck... One with more than a trace of Shadow Magic within his blood... One who has earned the love and respect of a Shadow Monster... There is no limit to its potential.

@-->-->----

Seto stood off to one side of a duelling arena - his arms crossed and a smirk on his face as he watched the duel. "You might as well give up, Wheeler. You are nothing more than a second rate duelist and you know it."

Joey glared at him but didn't reply. Instead, he drew a card and made a play that decimated the rest of his opponent's lifepoints in a single turn. As he turned to head off the field, he gave the brunette another glare and shrugged. "Then I guess you've got nothin' to worry about."

Another duel - again Seto watched from the sidelines as Joey played a seemingly random series of cards that had his opponent jeering at him. Seto felt almost embarrassed at how badly the blonde was playing. "Honestly, Wheeler... just because you are a second rate duelist, you do not have to play like a complete beginner."

A shrug and lopsided grin, along with a quiet 'I'll keep that in mind if I ever need it', was all the response Joey gave before he drew a card and performed a move that brought his Red Eyes Black Dragon onto the field. The dragon then not only destroyed the other duelist's line of defence, but also took out his life points with it. Joey's opponent began to rant about how unfair life was but all Joey did was glance at the stunned brunette watching and shrug again. "Beginner's luck, I guess you'd call it."

The third duel was darker. Seto felt uneasy as he watched it. The opponent was standing in the shadows and he couldn't make out his face, but he was playing with the quick motions and quiet confidence of an expert. Seto sneered as he looked at the blonde and prepared to taunt him, but his words caught in his throat. The other teen was focused and intent on what he was doing. Although his moves seemed to lack any forethought... there was no hesitation in his movements. "Second rate." The brunette didn't know why he said it. He hadn't even realised he was thinking it. He said it quietly but he was sure the blonde heard him - even though he made no reply.

Two cards later, the duel was over and Joey stepped down from the duelling platform - victorious. He glanced at Seto. "Still think that, huh?" His voice was very quiet.

Seto opened his mouth to reply, then looked around in surprise when he found himself standing on a dueling platform. He quickly played the card he was holding - then sacrificed his monsters to summon a Blue Eyes White Dragon to the field. His turn complete - he looked over at his opponent to see what fool dared to go up against him. His breath caught in his throat when he saw him. "How could you ever hope to defeat me?" The words slipped out before he could stop them.

Joey didn't even look at him as he played two cards. He sacrificed one with the monster he had on the field to summon his Red Eyes Black Dragon, then turned the other card over - revealing it to be the magic card 'Change of Heart'. As Seto's beloved dragon moved to stand beside Joey's partner in dueling - leaving Seto's lifepoints completely exposed - the blonde teen looked up.

Seto recoiled in shock at the look of scorn in the blonde's normally warm brown eyes. "So how does it feel... to be beaten by a second rate duelist?"

@-->-->----

Gasping in shock, Seto sat up in bed. His hand fumbled for the switch to the bedside table lamp and he looked around wildly when it's soft light filled the room. Seeing the familiar furnishings of his bedroom calmed him a little and a couple of deep breaths soon had his racing heart beating normally again.

As he raked a trembling hand through his hair, Seto tried to get the memory of scornful brown eyes and a mocking voice out of his mind. When his attempt failed, he became impatient with his own weakness. Deciding that a distraction might prove more effective, he got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

It wasn't as if he said it all that often. He'd said it that afternoon, but that had been the first time since... earlier that day. Well then - that had probably been why he'd said it! The insult had still been in his mind. It had probably been in there from the day before, as well.

Seto froze - his hand on the doorknob to his ensuite bathroom - as he replayed what he'd just thought.

He'd used the same insult two days running. Wheeler had accused him of being unimaginative but surely that wasn't so? He had just used it a few times.

Casting his mind back over their recent arguments, Seto tried to remember a fight he hadn't won with that same insult.

That he was unable to... shocked him.

But not nearly as deeply as the realisation that the insult was actually more insulting to him than it was to Wheeler.

The blonde had won many duels - often against opponents who were not only more experienced but who also had rarer and stronger cards. Although Seto had scoffed over the wins at the time and blamed them on luck... he wasn't so stupid as to believe that was all there was to it. Wheeler had shown his skill on several occasions. He was a somewhat random duelist - but he was not 'second rate'. Only a fool would say he was.

Seto Kaiba was no fool. But he was used to undermining his opponents' confidence in any way that he could. It was a business strategy his adoptive father had taught him. It seems he'd learned it too well.

The dream had shown him something he hadn't realised about himself. Undermining his opponents' confidence had become a habit for him, without his even realising it - but it had also become something far more serious.

A means for him to boost his own confidence.

Seto knew now why he said the same thing to Wheeler every time they fought.

He didn't honestly believe the blonde was 'second rate' - in dueling or anything else - but by telling him so often that he was... Seto was making himself believe it. That - combined with his admittedly arrogant belief about his dueling skills being superior to everyone else's - meant that he could continue to deny the truth that had been staring him in the face for some time now.

Every time he and Wheeler dueled - the blonde came closer to winning.

Seto leaned forward and rested his forehead against the ensuite door as he mentally chastised himself for not realising sooner what he was doing. That it had taken a dream to make him see how self-deluding his actions were made them all the more pitiful.

This feeling inside him... could it possibly be... shame?

Straightening, Seto made himself a promise. He would not continue to boost his morale in such a way. Of course, that would mean he would no longer have that particular edge over Wheeler in their verbal sparring but he was sure he could come up with another way of ensuring his victory.

As the blonde himself had said - he was a genius.

@-->-->----

Joey had actually tried to avoid fighting with his nemesis. A couple of times he had spotted him heading his way and had done everything in his power to evade him. The first time he'd ducked into a nearby classroom - he was quite proud of his improvised 'uh... sorry, I thought this was the bathroom'. The second time he'd managed to hide behind the water cooler. The third time he'd managed to lose him in a crowded hallway.

At least - he thought he'd managed to lose him until he turned around and bumped right into the object of his avoidance.

"Uh... hey Kaiba." Joey tried to grin but could tell by the way Kaiba arched his eyebrow that he hadn't really succeeded. "So... what's up?"

"You have been avoiding me all day." Was that a trace of disappointment in those cold blue eyes?

Nah - couldn't be.

Joey shrugged. "What makes ya think that?"

"I saw you duck into a classroom this morning. You also looked rather ridiculous crouching behind that water cooler, earlier. Then there was way you wove through the crowd just now." Seto waited and looked mildly amused.

"You enjoyed that." Joey could tell from the look his opponent was giving him. "Jerk."

The brunette's eyebrow moved up into his hair. "Hardly original, Wheeler."

They both went still - the remark reminding them about the blonde's parting comment the previous afternoon.

Joey shrugged and grinned more easily - now back on familiar territory. "Yeah well... I never claimed to be a genius." Insults he could handle.

Seto also relaxed a little. "Which is just as well since no one would believe you if you did."

"Bite me, Kaiba." Joey smirked.

"Your lack of originality is really most impressive." Although he looked bored, there was a light in Seto's normally hard and cold eyes that seemed to bring them to life.

He was enjoying the fight. Joey could tell.

"Do ya really wanna talk about originality? I mean... how many ways can ya win a duel with the same monster?" Joey snickered.

Seto made a sound halfway between a snort and a chuckle. "Again, not something you should be saying considering that your 'ace' is always the same as well."

Joey shook his head - his grin widening. "Nah, not always. I'm far from bein' a one-trick duelist. Unlike some people..."

"Meaning me, I assume?" Seto arched his eyebrow questioningly.

"Know someone else who ends every duel with the same attack from the same monster?" Joey showed Kaiba that he wasn't the only one with archable eyebrows.

Seto went for the 'I can arch my eyebrow higher than you' award. "Hardly 'every' duel and not always the same monster, either."

"A fusion of three of the same monsters counts." Joey's eyebrow took out the award.

As Seto's other eyebrow joined the first to commiserate on losing the challenge, the brunette shook his head. "Tell me, Wheeler... is anyone else ever able to follow your dazzling leaps of illogic?"

Joey grinned. "Plenty of people and it's not 'illogic', it's 'creative thinking'."

The sound Seto made could have been a choked off laugh. "That is like saying that Motou is not short but 'vertically challenged'."

"Hey! Leave Yug's height out of this!" Joey glared at Seto as much as he could when he felt like laughing. Vertically challenged... that was a good one.

"I could say that he does not have much to leave out... but that would be somewhat small-minded of me." Seto smirked. "Not to mention being rather short on humour. I would never belittle myself by saying something that is so beneath me."

Joey groaned. "Speaking of beneath you... those lines should be buried six feet under."

Shrugging, Seto's smirk grew. "It takes genius to appreciate genius."

"In that case, I'm glad I'm not one!" Joey shuddered at the thought of actually enjoying such awful puns.

The bell rang for class and both boys started at the sudden interruption to their discussion. Out of time, they were suddenly more serious. They had to end their conversation now and that meant that someone would have to win and the other... lose.

Seto issued his challenge. "Fortunately, although one's mental ability does not depend entirely on the circumstances of their birth, you have never shown any signs that you could be considered, even remotely, to possess such a level of intelligence."

"Oh good. As much as I like to eat, I'd hate to have everyone think I'd eaten a dictionary every time I said somethin'." Joey accepted it.

A slight smirk curved Seto's lips. "A varied vocabulary is hardly a sign of intelligence. It is very easy to learn a lot of words, however true intelligence is knowing when and how to use them effectively. Clear and concise communication is far more important than showing off how many lengthy words you know."

Joey smirked back. "Yeah. Ya do tend to sound like ya have a stick up your butt when ya start talking like the smug and arrogant jerk ya are."

"However... you understand every word I say." Seto's eyes gleamed in enjoyment of the hunt and anticipation of the kill as he stalked his prey. "So I am obviously communicating effectively."

His eyes gleaming in the same way and for the same reasons - Joey pointed out the obvious. "Nah - ya still sound like ya have a stick up your butt. I just happen to know the words too. Just because I don't use 'em, doesn't mean I don't know 'em. I just don't wanna sound... pompous." He purred the word, leaning in a little closer so his opponent could hear him over the chattering of a particularly large group of overly-enthusiastic students walking past them.

Joey was rewarded by the look of surprise that flashed across the brunette's face before he schooled his expression into a look of disdain. "Instead you end up sounding second..." Seto stopped abruptly - stunned by the realisation of what he had been about to say.

The blonde glared at him with considerable heat. "Second... what?" His voice was a low and angry growl.

Seto swiftly recovered his poise. "I was going to say 'second class' but then I realised that was too high a standard for your language skills to be compared with."

"Uh huh... sure you weren't gonna say what you always say to end a fight?" Joey was still growling and glaring.

Seto smiled in a way that the hairs on the back of Joey's neck stand on end. "Today... I have a much better way of ending our little... discussion."

"Oh yeah?" Joey didn't believe him for a moment but that smile worried him. "What's that?"

"Considering that the victory lies with the one who renders the other speechless while they leave..." Seto spoke the words so softly, the blonde had to lean closer in order to hear them.

@-->-->----

Every day it was the same. Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba would get into an argument and trade insults with each other until one of them stalked off while the other spluttered and tried to make some coherent sound of reply to whatever outrageous or insulting thing had been said.

The students were all so used to the sight of the two standing nose to nose as they growled out insults that no one bothered watching them anymore. Whenever the two of them were together, it was as if they both suddenly became invisible to the other students.

Even the teachers were not entirely unaffected by the strange phenomenon. They noticed them there, but nothing more than that. They all knew that Seto Kaiba had the power to get them fired if he took a disliking to them so if he wished to make himself late for class by arguing with someone else... That was his business and they didn't want to know about it.

That was really quite fortunate for the two teenagers. If anyone had been paying the slightest bit of attention to them at that time, the sight of Seto Kaiba kissing Joey Wheeler deeply and passionately before striding off to class - leaving the blonde panting for breath and staring after the brunette in shock - might have become quite a juicy piece of gossip for weeks to come.

@-->-->----

In the Shadow Realm - a lithe black dragon lifted his head, his ruby eyes shining as he listened to the heart of the one who had earned his trust and friendship. A sound very much like a chuckle rumbled in the depths of his throat. He turned to his mate and smiled as he leaned forward and gently nuzzled her in the spot just beneath her ear that made her tremble.

[My human's wish has come true. Thank you.]

His mate purred as she nuzzled him back - her sapphire eyes shining as she listened to the heart of the one who had earned her trust and friendship. She arched her sinuous neck and moved to rub her white-scaled body against her chosen one's side. When she spoke, her voice was smug.

[I told you it would work. When one like us can sense the heart of a human... sending that human a dream of our choosing is a very simple matter.]

end
- 1
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Wish Potential