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Cursed	By : AtomBunny Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Crossovers Views: 3721 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money from this story

Chapter List
- 8
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Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh! or Ranma 1/2. Those belong to Kazuki Takahashi and Rumiko Takahashi respectively. This is a product of my warped mind wanting to cross EVERYTHING over with Ranma 1/2 and actually writing it down this time. Of course, this is just for FUN and I'm not making any money out of this, so please do not sue me.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

When Seto Kaiba entered his soul room he was disoriented for a moment, but he soon regained his bearings and took in his surroundings. He quickly realised that the room he found himself in was closely modelled on his own room in the Kaiba Mansion, however, there were a couple of notable differences. One, that there was only one door leading out of the room, where his own room had an en-suite bathroom and a walk in closet, and two, there was one wall completely covered in what looked to be a mural dedicated to his Ancient Egyptian past. He turned his back on that as he really did not want to think about it at that moment.

Looking around the rest of the room, his eyes alighted on three picture frames situated on the bedside table. Curious as to what images the frames may contain, he crossed the room to get a better look. He was unsurprised to find that the first frame he looked at contained a picture of Mokuba. He smiled softly as he took in the image of the dark haired boy, then he turned his attention to the frame at the back of the table. That one contained a fuzzy image of his real mother and father together. Looking at the lack of focus, he guessed that as time passed and his memories of them faded, the picture would become more and more fuzzy. He touched that frame sadly, then turned his attention to the final frame on the table which was turned to face the wall, making it impossible to see from his position.

As he picked up the frame and looked at the image contained within, he almost dropped it in shock. The image was of Jonouchi smiling and laughing, his joy at simply being alive shining through. A sharp lance of pain shot through him as he thought about how long it had been since he had seen the other teen in person and he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed, cradling the picture frame in his hands as memories played through his mind unbidden, unable to be suppressed any longer.

He remembered his life in Ancient Egypt, his first meeting with the slave boy Jono. The slave was about to be put to death for some transgression - real or imagined, it didn't matter in those days - but something had called out to him and he had saved the feisty blond just before the fatal blow had fallen.

If Seth had expected Jono to be grateful he was to be disappointed as the blond fought against him at every turn. He tried to make Jono conform to the role of a slave, but Jono would not bend and they often came to blows. For anyone else it would have meant instant death, but Seth was loath to order such a thing as he knew that the blond was important to him, although at that time he was not sure exactly how. They continued to clash over and over, both of them fighting the obvious attraction between them until one fateful night they had broken down and ended up in bed together. After that, they had a long talk and came to an understanding. Seth had come to understand that Jono hated being a slave and did not have the temperament for it, but Seth convinced him to feign it, with the promise that things were to be different in private.

They now knew, thanks to Seth being the High Priest, that they were Soul Mates, Seth having realised it as they finally came together, but the dilemma was that because of Seth's station he could not be seen to have a slave as a soul mate. He would lose major prestige in the eyes of the Pharaoh's court if such a fact were to become known and that would cause trouble in turn for the Pharaoh himself. As it was, Seth had no choice but to inform the Pharaoh that he had found his soul mate, but Atem had agreed that it would be for the best if it were to be kept a secret, at least until they could find a way to make Jono acceptable to the rest of the court.

Then came the threats and assassination attempts. As the assassins failed to get at the High Priest Seth, they decided to kill Seth's favourite slave instead to send him a message. Seth had felt Jono die, the pain had been immense and by rights he should have followed immediately, but he resisted the call of death, knowing that if he were to die now then the assassins would have won and the country would be badly affected as a result. Atem, knowing what had happened, helped him to stay alive and stabilise himself so that he could go on, at least until a time arrived when he felt that he could let go and follow his soul mate into the afterlife.

But that time never seemed to come as there was always some new crisis that needed to be dealt with first. Then six months after Jono's death, Pharaoh Atem had given his life and split his soul in order to seal the rampaging Zorc away before he destroyed the world. The decision to let go had effectively been taken out of Seth's hands as he had to become Pharaoh and now, even more than ever, he had to go on for the sake of his country.

No-one except Seth knew the terrible cost, the pain that hounded him for every minute of every day until the end of his life and beyond, even into the next life.

In this lifetime, when he had first met Jonouchi he recalled seeing the blond's face light up in recognition, even as his own soul soared, but moments later pain crashed down on that joy and he had not been able to stop himself from hurling insults at the other boy. Jou had refused to be cowed, even as his face gave away his confusion and, just as Jono had done in their previous life, he had given as good as he'd got. After that, Jonouchi had always done his best to attract his attention, probably not understanding what was driving him to do so, even though they usually ended up fighting. Jou had even become a fairly respectable duelist, although Seto had continued to belittle him over this, constantly calling him a second rate duelist, much to Jou's ire.

Then came the ceremonial duel for Yami's right to return to the afterlife. Before it had commenced, Yami had taken Jou and himself to one side and explained that they were, in fact, soul mates, something that he had scoffed at and dismissed, even though deep, deep down he had known it to be true. He had been even more annoyed when Jou had simply stood there with a contemplative look on his face and had said that it explained a lot, so during the duel he had laid into Jonouchi for being a gullible fool. Despite that, Jou had tried to get along with him, but he had refused to listen, the echoes of the utter pain he had experienced in his previous life making it impossible for him to reciprocate.

Then the curse had happened. Yami was right, Jou really had gone out of his way to make life easy for him and he had simply taken it for granted. If he were honest, he'd hardly noticed any difference in his life after the curse, but when he considered what Jou had given up for him, it was really quite horrifying. With his own thoughtless words and actions adding to Jonouchi's pain, it was no wonder that he had felt driven to attempt to take his own life.

These thoughts only served to remind him as to what he was actually supposed to doing here so he stood, placing the picture frame carefully back on the bedside table. Then he took one last look around his room, finally acknowledging that Egyptian mural on the far wall and resolving to take a closer look at it later on. That done, he crossed to the door that stood where his own bedroom door should be, pausing for a moment before seizing his resolve and carefully pulling it open.

He took a deep breath as he stepped out into the strange, star filled corridor, looking around at the unfamiliar scenery before his eyes alighted on what could only be the door to Jonouchi's soul room. He was shocked at the state the door was in, all broken down and creaking on rusty hinges. From what he could see, the inside of the room was extremely dark and foreboding.

He was getting his first real clue as to how badly Jonouchi had been affected by what could only be described as utter isolation and he felt uneasy as he moved towards the dilapidated opening, worried about what he might find within. Finally, he reached the door and called out into the room, sighing when he didn't receive a reply. It looked very much like he would have to go in.

Hesitantly, he pushed the door open, wincing at the screech that came from the rusted hinges as he stepped through the doorway. Once he was inside, he felt guilt lance through him as he took in the state of Jonouchi's soul room. Everything seemed to be breaking down and there was graffiti scrawled on the dirty walls. He blanched as he read the words 'worthless', 'useless', 'failure' and 'unwanted', amongst many more derogatory terms. He could no longer suppress the guilt and pain he was feeling as he knew that he had been a major factor in this... breakdown.

Now feeling a sense of urgency, he set to looking for Jonouchi's spiritual form, becoming worried when he did not find him straight away. After searching for what felt like an eternity, but was in reality only a few moments, he found Jou curled up in a particularly dark corner of the room, feelings of despair and hopelessness coming off him in waves.

At the sight of his soul mate in such acute distress, barriers that Seto had maintained for years finally came crashing down. All the pain and longing suddenly flooding through him was overwhelmingly powerful and he fell to his knees beside the blond. "Jonouchi," he choked out as he reached out to touch the other boy, realising that Jou's acute distress was resonating with the pain within his own soul, making everything feel so much worse.

"Kaiba?" Jou said shakily as he looked up. "Oh God, I've started hallucinating, damn it!" Seto watched in horror as the blond screwed his eyes shut, broke down and began to cry. "There's no way that Kaiba would ever look at me like that. Stop. Torturing. Me!" he shouted, tears continuing to stream down his face.

"Jonouchi, I'm not a hallucination," Seto grabbed hold of Jou and pulled him close. "I'm sorry, so, so sorry for what I've done to you - to us." When Jonouchi began to struggle, Seto simply held him closer. "I can call you Mutt if it will make you feel any better," he said sadly.

"Suddenly, Jou stopped struggling and began to cry in earnest into Seto's chest. Not knowing what else to do he continued to hold the sobbing teenager, whispering soft words of reassurance, hoping to alleviate the utter pain the other was feeling, at least a little.

After a few minutes, Jou began to calm slightly and Seto relaxed minutely as the painful feelings emanating from his soul mate eased a touch. "Come on," Seto said gently, "We need to get you out of here, at least for now." He helped the now quiescent Jonouchi to his feet and guided him out of the currently wrecked soul room and across the corridor into his own neat and tidy room. He was gratified to see that Jou's room was lightening slightly before they left, which he took as an encouraging sign. Hopefully he'd have Jou back on his feet in no time.

Soon Seto had the other boy safely settled on the bed. He climbed onto the bed next to Jou and wrapped him in his arms, knowing that the contact was much needed for both of them. He relaxed as he realised that he was feeling whole for the very first time in his entire life.

"Kaiba," Jou finally managed to find his voice, pulling away slightly after several minutes of simply lying together, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, this is my soul room," Kaiba said with a smirk," But really, Yami told me that I had to come in and talk to you." He paused as he felt the other boy stiffen, realising that his words had come out sounding wrong and knowing that he had to talk fast. "I hadn't realised just how bad things were for you. I really am sorry." He was relieved to feel the other relax against him.

"Do you mean that Kaiba?" Jou asked, the light of hope once again shining in his eyes.

"Yes, puppy, I meant every word," Kaiba replied.

"Alright, apology accepted I guess," Jou said warily, "but do you have to continue with the dog thing?" he asked with some defeat in his voice.

"Jonouchi, puppy is more of a… pet name," Seto said sadly, "but I won't call you that again if you don't wish for me to."

"I'd really rather that you wouldn't," Jou said, his face filling with a pained expression, "It's better than being called mutt, but I really can't stand being compared to a dog."

"Dogs are loyal creatures," Seto protested, "but I suppose that I understand how you feel." And he truly did. He could not help but recall how he'd always yelled those dog related insults at Jonouchi - and that Jou's own father had called him a worthless mutt to boot. It was no wonder he would not want to be reminded of that. He sighed, knowing that he could not spend too much longer in here and he gave Jou a concerned look "I am going to need to go back out soon," he said with some regret, "Both Yugi and Ranma are out there."

"That's OK, I don't want the little guy to worry too much." Jou said, unsurprised that Yugi had come to find out what had happened to him. "But, how come Ranma is here?" He asked.

"We owe Ranma our lives," Seto said seriously, "I honestly thought we were done for when I fell off the edge of the building. If he hadn't been passing by..."

Jou looked at Seto, eyes wide in horror as he realised just how close they had come to dying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Jou said, burying his face into Seto's chest again.

"No, Jonouchi, I'm sorry for driving you so far," Seto sought to reassure. "Did you really intend to kill yourself?" Jonouchi hadn't acted surprised in the slightest that they were still alive, so he had to know.

"I wasn't in my right mind when I went up to the roof." Jou began, refusing to look at Seto. "I had intended to throw myself off the edge, but I changed my mind and I wasn't going to go through with it. I was going to move back from the edge and call Yugi to see if he could help in some way when I found myself back in my soul room." He began to shake slightly. "I know I didn't have the right to take your life and I didn't want to take you away from Mokuba. I'm so sorry I fucked things up and nearly got us killed." Tears began to spill from Jou's eyes again, showing just how fragile he was right now.

"It's not your fault Jou," Seto said as he pulled his soul mate's spiritual form close. "Blame that damned Jusenkyo curse, blame me, blame the weather, but don't blame yourself," he moved back slightly and looked Jou in the eye, "please."

"I really must be dreaming," Jou said as he shook his head.

"Oh? Why is that?" Seto asked.

"Since you came to talk to me you have apologised, been nice to me and now you just said please." Jou's eyes continued to fill with tears. "I really don't want this to be a hallucination."

Seto, who had been about to get up from the bed in preparation to leave, changed his mind and simply held Jou close. "I'm sorry for making you feel this way. I promise I'm real. Please forgive me."

Jou relaxed into Seto's embrace. "I forgive you," he whispered, "just... please don't leave me alone again."

"I do have to go back out," Seto said apologetically, "but you can stay in here for as long as you like."

Jou smiled slightly. "I think I'd like that. Can you come back and see me later though? I've missed being able to see you so much…" he tailed off and looked away in embarrassment.

"I've… really missed seeing you around too Katsuya," Seto said, "although I never would have admitted it before tonight." Reluctantly he let go of Jonouchi, got off the bed and straightened up. "I'm sure that Yugi would like to see you to make sure that you really are alright for himself, so expect to be out soon."

"OK Seto," Jou said as Kaiba's spiritual form disappeared from right in front of him. He lay back on Seto's sumptuous bed, feeling better than he had done in a long time, finally feeling that there was hope.

xo xo xo xo xo xo

Seto Kaiba opened his eyes after leaving Jonouchi resting in his soul room. The first thing he saw was Yugi Mutou (the shorter one) and Ranma Saotome (the male one) staring at him expectantly. He resisted the urge to snap at them, knowing that they were only concerned about Jonouchi. Instead he waited for them to speak. He didn't have to wait long.

"Are you alright Kaiba?" Ranma asked.

"And is Jonouchi OK?" Yugi added.

Seto sighed. "Yes, I'm fine and Jonouchi is… doing OK. He's currently resting in my soul room. His own room needs to... heal somewhat."

"Can… can I see him?" Yugi asked nervously. "I just want to be able to see him for myself."

"I…" Seto was about to object, then remembered what he said to Jonouchi before he came out. "Yes, I promised him that much anyway." Seto said, wincing as it sounded like he was only doing it under duress. "Ah, I didn't mean that the way it sounded," he said apologetically.

/Glad to hear that, Moneybags,/ a voice said in Seto's head. Seto suddenly stopped dead in surprise.

"Kaiba, is something wrong?" Ranma asked in concern, Yugi looking on just as anxiously.

"I… I can hear him," Seto said in shock. "Jonouchi just spoke to me."

"That's a good thing!" Yugi exclaimed. "It probably happened because you have finally accepted Jonouchi as your soul mate and because you are so close right now. It should make things a lot easier for both of you."

Seto shook his head ruefully, "I should have accepted things sooner," he said, uncharacteristically admitting that he was mistaken in not so many words.

/It's OK Seto,/ Jou's voice came once again in his head. /I forgive you./ Seto couldn't help but chuckle as he finally walked into the bathroom.

"Kaiba?" Yugi said questioningly.

"Just something Jonouchi said," Seto replied. Yugi looked on, a strange expression on his face. It was going to be odd seeing Kaiba acting like… well, like he was told he acted when he was interacting with his own darker half. Seto reached the sink and splashed his hand under the hot water, changing back to Jonouchi.

"Jou!" Yugi exclaimed as he tackled his friend hard. Jou hugged Yugi back just as fiercely, tears standing in his eyes. Ranma stood to one side, watching the reunion with a small smile.

Yugi pulled away slightly and looked up at Jonouchi with a stern expression on his face. "Don't scare us like that again!" he scolded. "What the hell were you thinking? We really thought that we were going to lose you both!"

"I'm sorry Yugi, I wasn't thinking straight," Jou said as he pulled his best friend back into the hug. "But I wasn't going to go through with it."

"Really?" Ranma interjected.

"Yeah," Jou looked at Ranma sheepishly as he released Yugi. "I was just about to step away from the edge and call Yugi back when the damned curse was activated by a rain shower that came out of nowhere."

"Hmm," Ranma mused. "I wouldn't be so sure that it came out of nowhere. Jusenkyo curses can seem to be almost sentient at times. But even if you weren't going to go through with it, I still think it would be for the best if you were to talk to someone."

"I dunno... do you really think I should?" Jou asked as they stepped back into Seto's office. "I do feel a lot better now."

"It may be a good idea," Yugi said, "If you felt bad enough to even consider it..." he shuddered at the thought.

"I'll think about it," Jou said. "But... what did you mean when you said that the curse was sentient?" he directed the question to Ranma, effectively changing the subject.

/It means that the curse is self aware and causing things to happen,/ Seto said in his head.

"Oh I see," Jou said, cutting Ranma off even as he was about to answer. "Thanks Seto."

Ranma gave Jou a strange look then continued, "It's possible that the curse knew that you would be saved and wanted to give you a wake up call. Seriously, some of the so-called coincidences that happen to cursed individuals can't be put down to anything else other than the curse exerting some kind of influence."

/Well, whatever it was, it worked,/ Seto groused. /I'm still sorry about that, Jou./

"That's OK Seto," Jou said out loud.

"Ah, Jou, you should just be able to think to him," Yugi said. "It's going to look even stranger than it already does if you start talking to yourself."

Jou flushed with embarrassment. "Oh, yeah, thanks for pointing that out Yug'," he said sheepishly.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Yugi asked,

"I dunno really," Jou shrugged as he flopped into the chair behind Seto's desk, "Probably just carry on as we were. Seto is the one with the company and responsibilities, I'm just a nobody." Jou was forced to stop there as everyone, even Seto in his head, was telling him off.

"Jonouchi, you ended up in this state in the first place because of this attitude," Ranma pointed out, "Just because you can actually communicate now won't help if you just let Kaiba take over your entire life. You need to find a balance!"

Yugi didn't say anything, but clung to Jou for dear life, getting his message across without words.

"OK, OK," Jou conceded, holding his hands up. "Even Seto is telling me that we can't go back to that arrangement, but it's going to be hard."

"What Kaiba needs," Yugi began cautiously, "is someone who can cover for him when he can't be here. Someone who knows about the curse and can think quickly to deflect any suspicions. You've been lucky so far, but it only takes the wrong person to see..."

"There's a little more than luck to it," Ranma interjected. "People, as a rule, don't know about magic and curses and unless you are in a situation that makes it totally obvious what has happened, people will usually find a different explanation for it. But Yugi is right; it could happen and you could probably do with someone to help."

Jou was quiet for a moment as he mentally communicated with the CEO. "Kaiba isn't happy about it but he agrees in principle," he replied. "He does say, however, that it has to be someone who already knows of the curse and is trustworthy. He thinks that too many people already know about it and I'm inclined to agree."

"That limits you a lot," Yugi mused. "I can't do it because I have to help my grandpa with the shop and Anzu also helps out when she's not at dance classes."

"Honda helps Otogi with his own store, when they ain't makin' out that is," Jou said, "not that I think Kaiba would be able to stand Honda for more than a few minutes at a time and I can't guarantee that he wouldn't share stuff with Otogi anyway.

"And as for Ryou," Yugi stopped for a moment. "Actually I haven't seen or heard of Ryou for months now. He's out of the question anyway as he doesn't know about the curse."

"Kaiba says not to mention Mokuba as a candidate either," Jou said. "He's too young to be taking this kind of responsibility on." The room fell silent as the boys realised that they had reached an impasse.

"If I could make a suggestion," Ranma said, "I know someone that might just fit the bill. She doesn't know about your curse – that I know of - but she does know about Jusenkyo curses in general and she may have some insights into your situation that you haven't thought of yet."

"Yeah, but if she doesn't already know about the curse, surely that would count her out," Jou observed.

"Possibly, but she already works for Kaiba and I'd bet that if she were here she would work out what was going on within seconds," Ranma stated confidently.

"Kaiba's interested," Jou said. "He says to get her to come and see him and he'll decide what to do. Would it take her long to get here?"

"If I know Nabiki," Ranma said, "She'll still be here working." He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and dialled a number. "Hey Nabs," he said as the call was connected. "Whatcha up to? Still working? Alright, see you later then." He hung up. "Yep, still here," he grinned.

Jou started up Seto's computer and opened the employee records. "What's her full name?" he asked.

"Nabiki Tendo," Ranma replied. Jou nodded and slowly began to peck at the keys as he followed instructions that no one else could hear.

"Jou, why don't you swap back with Kaiba for this?" Yugi asked. "It would make things go a lot faster."

"I already suggested that to Seto, but he insisted that I stay out for now," Jou replied. "There, found her."

"Where is she?" Yugi asked.

"She's on the twelfth floor," Jou replied, turning the monitor so that the others could see her picture. "Seto says there's no time like the present and could Yugi go and ask her to come up?" He gave his friend a strained smile. "I think he's setting this up as a bit of a test to see if what Ranma claims is true and if you go to fetch her it may throw her off balance a little."

"OK, I guess that's fair enough," Yugi replied as he made to leave the room. "See you shortly," he said as he went out of the door. Jou settled down in Seto's chair and Ranma made himself comfortable on the couch as they settled in to wait.

"So, Saotome," Jou began, before he was cut off.

"Ranma, Please," the black haired man said with a grimace. "and that goes for Kaiba too."

"Alright then, Ranma," Jou conceded. "What more can you tell us about Nabiki Tendo?"

xo xo xo xo xo xo xo

A/N - Wow, this chapter really needed an epic overhaul because I left so much out of it. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I'm at the point where if I don't post it I never will. Also, I'm considering writing the ancient Egyptian part as a side story. I don't like doing 'flashbacks' as they tend to come out as feeling 'clunky' so I had to write it this way, but a side story could work. That's something for the future though.

Hopefully I won't need to do as much to the next chapter, but I haven't really looked at it yet so you never know...
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Cursed