Eternal Dragon Rising

Note: I was searching for reasons for my own Behavior, and found that both I and Seto Kaiba shared many of the same symdrome of this disorder, and I turned my observations into a fic.
Thank you Nemi for helping me with this chapter and giving me ideals.
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Cerulean eyes flickered around the trimmed office, and took note of the degrees that hung on the wall, and then the game set out before him by the redhead man with blue eyes and gold-frame glasses.

“Now Mr. Kaiba, this test isicasically one that explores your ability to connect events into order and draw a conclusion from it.” Dr. Robert Washi explained in a soft, patient baritone, expecting a demand of how a child’s game is suppose to help.

“Whatever, I just want out of here.” The CEO snarled as he picked up the picture tiles, noting the images that are on them. He grumbled as he laid them out in the correct order, and cursed the legal obligations of having to take a psychological test every ten years.

“I know this isn’t your cup of tea, Mr. Kaiba, but the good news, this is the second-to-last test you have to go through for today.” The Englishman smiled softly as he jotted down notes. “So Mr. Kaiba, do you have anything interesting going on in your life?” He questioned off-handily, to gauge the reaction of the teenager.

“My Virtual Reality program is going along smoothly; I had added another storyline and more characters.” Seto replied with a tone of pride, and removed his hand from the table; he looked as though he was debating on whether he should elaborate on it or not.

“That must be a great source of pride, Are you willing to explain to me about what you did exactly for it? And what of other aspects of your life do you want to discuss openly?”

Seto stiffened at the blatant probe into his personal life. He could not gauge the expression the man wore, but he did not like the question at all, or just the way the voice sounded to him.

“No.” The voice was cold, and distant, his face drawn tight.

“I know it’s hard to bare yourself in front of a stranger, especially one that you have to do tedious annoying tasks for.” The redhead smiled good-naturedly, as he tried to lighten the mood.

“Can we just get it over with?” He stated with arms across his chest, slight annoyance just barely flickered over his handsome features, sapphire eyes burrowing into the psychiatrist’s notebook.

“Doesn’t have to be anything important, maybe it’s something stupid your friend did, or something your brother did that you just happen to find funny, anything of that nature would be fine.”

“I have no friends.” The older Kaiba retorted; his expression seemed almost indifferent to that fact.

“Oh, I see.” He jotted it down, and made a mental note to go back to that later. “Well, what interests do you have then?”

“Duel Monsters, Programming, Chess.”

"Oh yes, I heard about that, World champion, yes? And your favorite card is the Blue Eyes White Dragon?"

“That is correct.” The chestnut-haired man started slowly, unsure, his mind wondered just why the conversation turned the direction it did.

"I've seen some of the art on the cards, gorgeous, though some of the zombie ones are disquieting to my stomach," he admitted. "Do the visuals appeal to you?" The Psychiatrist asked as he sketched lightly.

"Partially, though a nice picture isn't a deciding factor." Seto admitted as he looked to his deck on instinct.

A shrug and a small smile, "I'm no lover of dragons, like yourself. Most of the Dragon cards are very rare, aren't they? I haven't even seen many scans of them up on the Internet, the best I've seen are pictures from Pern book covers."

"Pern?" He asked as his curiosity was piqued.

"A series of books written in English that centers primarily about people empathetically bonded to dragons. Fascinating books and very well held together. There's even a guide or two with everything from muscular recipes, background, even the musculature and skeletal systems of the dragons."

“Can you tell me more about?” Seto leaned forward; this had caught his attention immediately.

He noted this and led him along a bit, "How they breath fire, wing structure, some organ diagrams if I recall correctly, I was very impressed with the muscles and bones, well cartilage structure since McCathry didn't give them bones. It was something out of a biology book." He gestured appropriately, giving a good gesture of just the amount of details given to the series.

The young CEO’s azure eyes flickered brightly; this could be just what he needed for his world. Just detail structures should surely cut down on the workload needed to work out the wire frames and pixelating of the dragons. “This sounds good.”

"I will give you a copy of the books if you like, I'm sure you would enjoy them." The doctor smiled softly as he then put a reminder of it on his Palm Pilot.

“That would be most helpful.” The teenager nodded in appreciation.

"There were even different kinds of dragons in Pern," he said, "If you could bond to any kind of dragon, what kind would you choose?" He questioned, to try to get more insight on how Seto’s mind works.

Seto spoke without even giving a second thought. "The Blue eyes white dragon, or it not it, then a dragon very similar to it."

"And why would that be? Can you describe it to me, in your own words why you chose that dragon and not any other kind?" The man probed for a response as he cleaned his glasses. He was attempting to go around the defenses this boy had up by going for his interests and thus exploring him. In his personal experience, this kind of route always yielded the most accurate of results.

Seto paused to draw in his breath, and his lips part to start to speak of his reasons.

"Because they are very powerful, it is a creature, a being of light that you can just watch and feel the power emanating from it. Nothing can hurt them ever. You can see it in their scales, flawless pearl-white, but white gold at dusk and silver at night. Glimmering like mirrors and protective like shields, and lapping over each over like banded-armor. Nothing can penetrate it, nothing can scar them. And if anything does they can simply shed the scales and grow new ones perfect and clean and shining with light again, more because it ate the wounded scales so not to waste anything. Their wings, magnificent," his hands and arms moved, sketching out shapes and movement, "Even they would be armored by thick silver skin, clawed to be weapons as well. Their wings would stretch out casting shadow over all because they are so high up nothing can touch them, and everyone down below fears them because of this. The ultimate creatures, majesty, strength, beauty unrivaled. There's nothing like them." His words were vivid, emotion like wonder and longing in his voice while he mimicked the dragon's movements, the unfurling of wings, the lashing of sharp deadly talons, some of the smaller movements were recognizable from Seto's own repertoire of graceful movement.

Icy eyes gleamed and dilated as the image in his mind became more and more real than before, filling the inside and outside with knowledge and ideas. He could almost feel the hot, firm scales, and smell the Ozone from its electrical breath. "In flight is sweeps across the land, at times blocking out the light of the sun as it darted though clouds. When it mates it would be like eagles, dancing and twisting in the skies, locked and wrappedund und each other, power drawing power, drawn to power. They're eye to eye, endless sapphire orbs glowing and shining." He released the breath he was holding unconsciously, delighting in the picture he had made in his mind. Yes, he would use it, and it will be divinely gorgeous in the Virtual Reality world. But how to fit it in? His brow furrowed, plot needed tending to after all, but.………Oh! Something clicked in his head, turning like a puzzle; he'd soon be able to understand it. "I even have a personal jet I made to look like one of them. It’s stiff and not as agile as a real dragon, but it doesn’t need a runway, it’s the closest thing I can get.”

He wrote it down, the change of attitude, the swelling of emotion, and the massive detail that the Kaiba pulled out so quickly. "I can just picture it." The man smiled at the sudden vivaciousness of his client.

Seto smiled a little, "I'm glad," and he'd make sure many other people could see it as well, as he let out a somewhat stifled chuckle, for he still rode on the high he experience from the vivid imagery and the chance he had to fully brain-storm.

"Well, I hate to disrupt your brain-storming, but I believe we just have one more test to conduct." The Britain shrugged as he opened a manila folder, and slid several white cardboard sheets from it.

The young man snapped out of his rush, his sapphire eyes narrowed, his posture more rigid now, again becoming aloof and unapproachable.

“I believe you probably heard of it as the Ink-blot test. I will not go into any terminology here for the sakes of time and to keep a more casual atmosphere here.” He explained softly as he tapped his clipboard with his pen.

Seto twitched slightly, the sound grated on his nerves, his eyes followed the movement of the writing utensil, it was extremely distractive to him; he found he could not focus fully on what Dr. Washi was saying while the damn pen was making that irritating tapping noise. Then without warning he snatched it from the doctor’s hands and snapped it in two.

“You should have just told me that it was bothering you.” The redhead spoke numbly as he stared at his now empty hand. “I guess we shall start the test. What you do simply is what we call free-association, you tell me what the ink blots look like and why.”

“Ink blots.” Seto replied slowly as he eyed the cards with disdain. Children’s games! Is a mental diagnosis based entirely on games?!

“No, no, no, I mean what does it remind you of?” The man sighed as he grabbed a pencil; he didn’t really expect Seto to be very cooperative.

“Someone with bad hand-eyed coordination.” Seto crossed his arms over his chest, a smirk threaten to form over his lips.
“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” The Englishman groaned quite audibly.

“Yes.” The smirk flitted over the chiseled features as he mentally laughed at the Psychiatrist.

“This may be funny to you, but please try to take it seriously, I’m sure you actually want to end this as soon as possible. I’ve yet to met a man who enjoyed getting his brain poked at.” Washi sighed softly as he put down ‘Likes to get a rise from others’, which many would mistakenly (or correctly depending, on one’s views) translate as ‘loves to be a bloody arsehole.’

Seto almost flinched at the choice of words, but then reminded himself that it was not literal. “Let’s get started, then, Washi-sensei.” The smirk faded; the mischievous glimmer in the Prussian eyes vaporized, and left a sullen young man in its place.

“First one, what is this to you? You can go ahead and turn it about if it would give you a better ideal what to make of it.” He coaxed as he handed the image to the billionaire.

“Well, the Norse World Serpent, it’s long and sinuous, and it looks like it’s biting its own tail.” Seto traced the circular form and gestured to points of interest.

“Very good, and this one?”

"Like fire, or someone's hand, maybe Yugi's head, spiky and flaring out," he contemplated, the wheels in his head still working overtime at the ideas that were brought out by the seemingly innocent question from earlier while the direct force of his consciousness was on the card presented.

"Yugi? Can you tell me about this person?" He asked softly, feeling like he found another line to hook on.

"He's a duelist. The only one to ever beat me with something other than dirty, cheating tactics," he growled venomously, shoulders hunched and brows furrowed at the sting of the literal string of defeats by that...that other Yugi's hands! "He's lucky, always getting the right cards when he needs them. I do respect him as a rival because it takes skill to put together a deck with the right cards. But I will defeat him someday, his power is a match for mine, but I am better because I have fought harder and my monsters are stronger." He raised his head, voice and movement as arrogant and as prideful as any draconian creature.

Dr. Washi nodded. "Well, good luck. What do you think of Yugi as a person?" He again coaxed as he added this new information to his notes.

"I guess he's naïve and lucky... helping those who do not deserve it and still managing to get away fine... and friendly... he has a darker side though... like a Yin-Yang, I guess. It's hard to describe... you know what I mean if you see him." He rubbed his temple, as he grasped at words, nothing he said sounded quite right to him, he growled in frustration, he never liked talking for long periods of time on subjects he is not intimate with, he always felt like he isn't speaking correctly, he isn't getting the point across in the manner he wanted it to be. He made a mental note to study up on psychology so he could better communicate with this man. For was it not worth it? He had after all set this puzzle turning and clicking into place in the back of his head, better communication would lead to better ideas. He also made a note to look up on physiology, biology, and art, for this tremendous idea he had.

Again the doctor made brief comments upon the awkward gestures, and the choice of wording. Light and Dark sides? The man pondered as he lifted his pencil. Does it mean that this person has mood, maybe even a personality disorder? Did it really concern Mr. Kaiba's health? He shook his head, and set his opinions aside, it wasn't professional to jump to conclusions about people he hasn’t met.

"Well, we got a few more blots to go through." The examiner reminded him.

Seto crinkle his nose in disgust, and then stared at the wild stain he was presented. He covered half of it to block out the 'Reflection' of it. "Mai Kujaku." He stated simply.

"And who is this young lady?"

"Second-rate duelist with a harpy-lady centered deck. She knows how to utilize her cards, but it's too reliant on too few creatures for my taste. She had worked for me briefly, she is very clever, and devious, far more then the average I believe." He explained simply.

"Is cleverness and being quick thinking traits you value very strongly?" The green-eyed doctor asked as he briefly went through the medical record. An Intelligence Quota of 197, a reading level of a college sophomore in the third quarter, and math and science skills of a Doctorate, and yet he is still in high school? Why isn't he out getting Ph.D.s and Judicial degrees? No wonder why he has behavioral problems with his teachers, those classes are below his skill levels!

"Yes, and I find too many are simply lacking in that area." He snorted in disgust.

"I see." That's because you are at a genius level, there's only a handful of people within a 10-point range of your results, Washi added silently. "Let's continue on."

And so the young KaibaCorp President and the Doctor continue the testing, discussing each interpretation and any other subject that may spring from it.

“And……… we’re done for today. Thank you for being cooperative for the most part.” The psychiatrist smiled sheepishly, and more then a little exhaustively.

“And that is all?” Seto questioned as he stored away all the brilliant ideals he had gained during the session.

“This part, yes. But there are a few more tests you will have to do, an MRI, an Electromagnetic scan, and a CAT scan if for some reason you cannot do an MRI.” Dr. Washi explained as he pulled out diagrams, and went through the procedure of each examination, and what Seto should do before hand for the most accurate profile. “Then it may take a week or so before we get the full results in, Shall I stop by your home with the prognosis as well as a copy of the Pern books? I am sure that no one would suspect it to be more then just lending some paperbacks to a client.”

Seto Kaiba considered the suggestion for a moment, he was indeed very keen on checking out these books that Dr. Washi had mentioned, however, he wanted everything to be as discreet as possible—well, until the contractual obligation kicks on and his record had to be given to the board of directors as so they can deemed him fit for duty.

“Yes, that would be good, as for the Scans, who do I make the appointment with? I wish to get this behind me as soon as possible.” He winced slightly, for the Electromagnetic scan sounded like it would’ve been a messy business, with wires and glue-like gunk placed over his head.

“I’ll get the Clinic on the phone.” Robert raised a hand as a sign of patience as he took his cell-phone and started to dial the number. “I’ll give this to you after I get an answer on here.”

“Thank you.” The Kaiba nodded, and waited somewhat impatiently for the phone, and often checked his watch for the time.

“Here you are.” The Britain handed over the phone.

The doctor watched as Seto took out a PDA, the pen gliding over the LCD screen at an unbelievable pace, as he constantly denied or confirmed possible times for the next phase.

“Yes, Tomorrow will be fine, I can take the day off from school.” Seto hung up and handed the cell-phone back to Washi. "By the way, thank you, Washi-sensei." Seto bowed his head in appreciation.

"For what, Mr. Kaiba?" The redhead smiled softly, this is a reward one doesn't expect from this line of work, so whenever he hears it, he felt like he did something right.

"For the questions, it has inspired me to create something completely new." He had a rare smile upon his chiseled face that softened the normally hard, cold appearance.

"Glad to be of some help, Mr. Kaiba. Well, they can get you in for the morning, and I'll see you in a week with the results."

"Right." The young man stood up and promptly left the office, he fumed quietly to himself. Damn Gozaburo, he thought, if it weren't for your damn contracts, I wouldn't have to waste my time here.…….. Though the man did give me ideals of what I can do with my VR programs.……...

"He is the most peculiar chap I have ever have the opportunity to talk to." The Britain commented to himself as he placed his notes into the attaché case. "Most curious."