The Yellow Rose
Chapter 1: Egyptian Princess
A Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction
By: Mazakai
Started: November 23, 2005
Completed: May 5, 2007
Folks: This is the first part to the trilogy that I'm writing. Hailey Ishtar is the character that I made up for myself, so I, Mazakai am Hailey Ishtar and Seto Kaiba is mine!
Disclaimer: Okay I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I wish I did, but I don't so I have to live with it. I really don't know what's really going to happen in this story, so don't get mad at me. Remember, this is just for fun.
For the three years she had lived in Domino City, Japan, Hailey Ishtar had set her sights on Joey Wheeler. He wasn't the most popular boy at Domino High School, but he was nice to her during her first week at school, mostly because he was the class representative's best friend, or at least one of them. She had heard of him before during Duelist Kingdom, but other then that she didn't know much about him. Then when she had attended the beginning ceremonies of Battle City she had met up with Joey and the other guys. And that's where our story begins.
Hailey was walking down the street when she spotted her new found friends standing off to the side, talking and laughing animatedly. She hurried over to them when she saw that Joey was standing with them.
"Hailey, good to see that you're up and ready for the start of the Battle City Tournament," Joey called out when he saw her running over to the group.
She was wearing a black mini skirt, lavender t-shirt, black leather jacket, black knee high boots, black studded belt, silver earrings (like Marik's in B.C.), and her now ever present duel disc. And of course Joey noticed all of these things, though what he would remember the most from that day was the way Hailey's long, straight black hair streamed out behind her as she ran towards them, and her bright cerulean blue eyes gleaming from the light of the street lamps at night.
It was then that he realized that he was very much attracted to Hailey. Well, who couldn't be attracted to Hailey Ishtar? She was practically every male's fantasy girl. Tall and skinny, nice chest, soft long black hair, and a perfect face. Oh and she had that natural tan hue to her skin that never went away during the winter, and got deeper during the summer, or at least that's what Joey Wheeler thought.
"I don't think I've been more ready for a start of a tournament, but this one is a lot more important, well for me at least," Hailey replied to Joey's comment.
"Hailey, why's that?" Tea asked.
"Well, my brother is possibly going to be competing in the tournament, and I haven't seen him for a long time," Hailey, made up on the spot so the guy's wouldn't suspect anything out of the ordinary about how Hailey addressed her brother.
"Who's your brother? How come he doesn't go to DHS like the rest of us?" Duke asked.
"Well he doesn't exactly live in Japan like my sister and I do. I think that he moves around the world because of his job." Hailey answered again hesitantly. "Oh and his name is Marik. Marik Ishtar," she added; quickly trying to cover up the tension in her voice.
"Well I'm sure he's not doing something bad. I mean it would be impossible for him to be bad with sisters like Hailey and Ishizu." Tea added in Hailey's defense. Tea was the only one that knew really what Hailey's twin brother did for a living. And why the Ishtar's were really in Japan for three years.
The truth was that Hailey was one of the last remaining members of the Egyptian royal family. Going back to when the pharaohs existed, she was a descendant of the ancient Egyptian king, Pharaoh Seth (aka "Seto" and in the TV episodes, or so I've read, after Yami dies, Seto becomes pharaoh). Her family had been to Japan before this trip, but this time Hailey was there to stay. Marik was the first born son, so he would someday take the throne, yet it was only a title, sometimes. Ishizu would forever remain the crown princess under him as would Hailey.
Though the Ishtar sisters weren't in Japan just for a change of scenery, they where there to finally fulfill the prophecy that was set five thousand years ago. But one of the main characters in the prophecy was missing, well unaccounted for at the moment, but he would soon be there, it was his tournament after all.
As soon as Hailey thought that thought, the wind picked up and a loud noise filled the night air. All of the teenagers looked up at where the noise was coming from and noticed a helicopter hovering above the square. A lone figure leaned out of the copters open door, his trench coat and brown hair flying about him.
It was Seto Kaiba.
Suddenly all of the television screens in the square were adorned with a life feed of what was going on in the sky. Kaiba's head was enlarged on the screen and project all through out the city.
"Welcome fellow duelist to the Battle City Tournament! Before the tournament commences I'll fill you I on how this tournament is going to work. All of you have been given special duel disk that will project your duels with out the need of gaudy dueling arenas." Kaiba said to the crowd with a small smirk crossing his lips.
Hailey look questionably over at Joey at that comment and he just shook his head no, meaning he would tell her later. She turned back around to face Kaiba as he continued his speech in the air.
"To proceed to the finals of the tournament you must collect six locator cards. You all have been given one at the start of the tournament. When you win your duels, your opponent must give you their locator cards and their strongest card. Once you gather all six of your locator cards, place them in your duel disk and the location of the finals will be revealed to you. The tournament commences at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, so duelist prepare yourselves." Kaiba finished before flying off in his copter, laughing maliciously as he flew off into the night.
As she listened to Kaiba speak, an odd sensation settled over Hailey. It was as if he was putting some sort of spell on her with his voice, though she knew that wasn't even possible, at least not at that moment.
She was shocked out of her trance when Yugi tapped her on the shoulder. "Hailey, the rest of us are going to go get some pizza, do you want to go?"
"Sure! Let me call Ishizu and tell her," Hailey replied and pulled out her blue flip phone. She quickly called the older Ishtar and told her where she was going.
With Ishizu's approval, the whole gang went to their favorite hang-out and celebrated the opening of the tournament they all were participating in.
The guys played almost every arcade game in the building competing for the last slice a pizza and little things like that. Tea, Mai, and Hailey sat in the booth talking about their latest shopping excursion and the new tournament.
They watched the guys stuff their faces with pizza and Joey nearly choked, trying to stuff five slices into his mouth in his mouth. It was both disgusting to watch and hilarious at the same time.
Hailey and Tea got up around eight and jumped into a heated competition of DDR. Both girls loved dancing and collected a small crowd through their performance.
Lights flashed and their bodies glistened with sweat, both having discarded their jackets earlier in the night. Hailey swung her hips in beat with the music and sang with the lyrics.
Joey watched in fascination. Both of his friends were up on the raised DDR stage, dancing like some of the girls from one of the clubs he had been to. He watched Hailey's shirt ride up with a force of her arm movement, showing off her firm tan stomach, and felt his mouth go dry; but something was wrong. It was almost like something else was pulling for his attention.
He turned to his right and caught sight of Mai, the blonde bombshell of the group, talking to Duke. And before his very eyes she started flirting with the ebony haired teen. A fire of jealousy sprung up surprisingly within his stomach. He never felt like this when Hailey got attention from other guys. So why with Mai?
He tried to turn away from the scene in front of him and watch Hailey again, but something wouldn't let him. A jealous fire burned behind his green eyes; which is what Hailey saw when she looked down from the stage to the object of her teenage affections.
A pain seared through her young heart. She saw exactly what he was looking at, rather who he was looking at. Mai Valentine. And she was flirting with Duke and Joey looked like he would like nothing better than to walk right over to Duke and wring his neck. It was obvious who he like more out of the two girls.
After all this time she thought that he liked her and her feelings were welcomed, but obviously he had been joking around. Mai held his attention and his heart even if he didn't realize it yet.
Tears came unwanted to Hailey's blue eyes. Quickly, as if rearranging her hair, she wiped her eyes and continued with the dance.
As soon as the number was over she told Tea she was tired and was going to leave money on the table and go home. Tea said she would tell the rest of the guys that she was leaving and to rest up before the tournament.
Hailey ran past Joey to their booth and collected her jacket, purse, and Duel Disc from her spot and left five dollars on the table to help pay the bill. Slipping into her jacket on the way to the door, she barely made it outside before a few tears left her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
She ran down the street and into a local park. The path led to the pond at the center of the park. Soon Hailey found herself on the bridge the spanned across the center of the pond. Finally, in the dead quiet park, she let out a stifled sob and the tears cascaded down her cheeks.
Why did this bother her so much? It wasn't like she and Joey were engaged to be married. It was just a stupid high school crush. Still the sobs escaped her throat and the salty tears escaped her closed eyes.
"Miss, are you alright?" a voice asked, making the young Irish women jump from her place on the bridge.
There standing in front of her was the one man she wouldn't have expected to see so soon. Seto Kaiba. Tall, dark, handsome, blue eyed teenage tycoon Seto Kaiba.
"Oh, nothing a few gallons of chocolate ice cream won't fix, unless they've developed a cure for a broken teenage crush," Hailey answered back, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her leather jacket.
Seto let out a small chuckle. "I'm sorry, it might not seem funny to you, but I haven't heard a remark like that in a long time from someone other than myself."
Hailey smiled weakly back at him. In the light of the full moon through the trees of the park, Seto was starting to look like a good cure for a broken heart. Maybe it was his silky looking shaggy brown hair. Or his impossibly deep midnight blue eyes. Or his well toned body from what she could see.
He approached her and pulled a silk handkerchief from inside his wool jacket. "Here, you don't want to ruin your jacket."
She took the offered silk square and wiped her eyes. He was different from what she had heard. Supposedly he was the ruthless, quiet, sarcastic, callous, business man and high school junior. She knew from that very moment that those were only rumor and she had just proven them false. Maybe this was who he really was on the inside.
Seto walked up the rest of the way and stood beside Hailey and they both looked down at the water below them. The scent of his cologne floated through the air to her nose and she inhaled deeply. 'Instinct by David Beckham.' She thought, recognizing the scent. It was one of her favorite men's cologne.
"I like it here when there's no one else to bother you. Some things are better at night." He said, breaking the silence. "Everything's more peaceful I think."
Hailey nodded and he smiled looking at her through her reflection from the water.
"You're different from what I heard. Supposedly you're this hard-core callous, cold, ruthless, eighteen year old prodigy CEO of a multi-billon dollar corporation. But that's not how I see it now. Those were all lies. And I'm usually a good judge of character." Hailey said, watching his eyes change in the light of the moon reflected over the lake.
"I usually don't let my guard down in front of people I really don't know. I somehow just knew I could trust you. By the way, I'm Seto Kaiba."
"Hailey Ishtar. Pleased to meet you Seto. Or do you prefer for people you just met to call you Mr. Kaiba?" Hailey asked sarcastically.
"Seto's just fine."
"That was a pretty impressive opening for your tournament earlier this evening."
"You were there?" Seto asked, this time looking at her rather than her reflection in the dark water.
"Yeah, I'm competing actually. Maybe I'll see you around and we can duel. I'm the top ranked duelist back in Egypt." Hailey replied, looking up and into his eyes.
They both felt the spark of something when their eyes connected. Hailey was the first to break the contact, looking up and leaning her back against the railing of the bridge.
"Don't you wish that sometimes that life wasn't so confusing? I mean, sometimes I wish I could go back to when I was like five and live forever like that. So carefree and innocent." Hailey sighed, realizing she was getting philosophical on some poor guy she barely knew.
"You have to learn to live with the things that the world throws you and learn form your experiences and trust God to guide you in your choices." Seto answered. "Though it would be nice sometimes to go back to that time when all you were worried about was whether you were going to make a new friend the next day at kindergarten."
"Do you want to be friends? I mean I'd like to get to know you better. You seem like an interesting person. It'd be like kindergarten all over again." Hailey asked, sticking her hand out to him in an offering.
"Sure, why not? Like kindergarten. Hi, my name's Seto, you want to be friends?" he asked in a younger sounding voice, smiling goofily.
Hailey smiled and pumped his arm up and down and rewarded him with a smile just a goofy as his own. "Best friends! I'm Hawey!" She even slurred her 'r' like she used to back when she was five.
"Would you like to walk around the park with me Hawey?" Seto asked imitating her slur on her name.
"Okay, but you'll have to walk me home afterwards. I'm not supposed to walk alone after nine." He nodded and offered her his elbow.
Smiling and talking, the two walked around the large park learning more about their new friend. They both had some things in common like they both liked to sing. He was a tenor where as she was a versatile alto. They also both liked to dance and watch old and new musicals. He admitted to belting out his favorite Broadway tunes in the shower and having the dream to one day fly his own personal jet; which he was learning to do.
She told him how her family had finally consented when she was twelve to make her bathroom soundproof so she wouldn't bother the rest of the family when she showered since sometimes she wasn't always on-key, but that rarely happened nowadays. She wanted to fly as well, but hadn't had time to attend flight school yet.
He told her of the club he went to sometimes and told her that he would have to take her sometime. He also told her about his little brother Mokuba, who basically could get anything he wanted from his older brother with his infamous puppy dog eyes; and of course it always worked on the older Kaiba because Mokuba was the most important thing in Seto's life since he was the only family he had left.
Hailey shared that she herself only had her siblings as well, both her parents having died when she was younger. Though she was the baby of the family, being a whole thirty minutes younger than her twin brother.
Finally, two hours later, the two teens where back on the bridge where they had first met. Then they were at the front of the park and Seto hailed a horse and carriage, knowing now that Hailey had always wanted to ride on one from what she had told him earlier.
She looked up at him questioningly, wondering if he really was doing this for her only after knowing her for about two and a half hours. He only nodded and held out his hand to help her up into the white carriage.
Smiling, she took his hand and gracefully climbed into the carriage, minding her short skirt. Seto climbed in after her and sat beside her and told the driver the name of her posh neighborhood. The driver smiled and tipped his hat to the young CEO, urging the two black horses onward.
Seto leaned back into the seat and draped his right arm behind Hailey's back. They continued to talk as the carriage ambled through the streets of Tokyo.
Hailey squealed with excitement as she watched the city roll by her and turned to Seto, smiling brightly. "Thank you so much for doing this for me. This is exactly what I needed to feel better. It was really nice of you. Is there anything I can do in repayment for you?"
"Just smile and I'll be happy. Though if you don't mind sticking around as my friend I'll count that as repayment." Seto replied with a smirk.
Hailey bobbed her head up and down and squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Oh, by the way, I was wondering about something earlier; during your speech, you mentioned something about gaudy dueling arenas. What was that all about?"
"Back a few years ago there was a tournament called Duelist Kingdom that I competed in and instead of using Duel discs that I developed, the coordinator Maximillion Pegasus used his own huge dueling arenas. Don't get me wrong they're good for the technology that was around, but not so much reasonable for a tournament that's as randomly conducted as this one that I'm hosting. I can't just install dueling arenas where ever someone challenges someone else to a duel. Duel Disc is much better suited for a job like this."
"I see. That makes more since. And these projectors that you've developed are much lighter than having to cart around a foldout table for regular duels. Holographic duels are much more intense than regular tabletop duels." Hailey said in agreement. She knew a far amount about the kind of technology Seto's company developed and worked with. Someday she hoped after college to work with that sort of technology, a fact that Seto now knew.
"You know after we graduate I could offer you an internship at Kaiba Corp. if you'd still like to peruse that dream of engineering. We've got different sorts of scholarships and offers for gifted students that we monitor during their college education." Seto said, looking into Hailey's bright blue eyes.
The prospect of already having an internship set up before she even left high school was to tempting for her to even consider reconsidering. Quickly she nodded her head in excitement. "I could give you my transcript when we get to my house. I think you'll be impressed. My older sister always pushes me to do my very best which is pretty darn good if I do say so myself. My grades and completed course work are as good as an above average college senior."
"If they're as good as you say they are then I think something could be arranged by the end of the week. Of course the internship wouldn't start until after the tournament unless you're willing to give up that time for dueling to come in and work." Seto asked, his truth in his words plain in his deep blue eyes.
"For a job at Kaiba Corp. I'd willing give up my spot in the tournament if I needed to. I've always wanted to work at your company. I think I decided to leave Egypt once I was old enough and out of college and move here to Japan and see if I could get a job. But we moved before I even finished high school and unknowingly my sister brought me one step closer to fulfilling my goal." Hailey explained, her enthusiasm radiating off her face.
"It's settled then. Welcome to the team Hailey Ishtar; as CEO of Kaiba Corporation I'm proud to have you working in my company." Seto replied, shaking her hand with a sort of finality.
Suddenly the carriage came to a halt and the two teens found themselves in front of Hailey's neighborhood. Seto climbed out first and reached a hand out for Hailey to help her down. He pulled out his wallet and handed some cash to the driver and the driver tipped his hat at the young man and drove his team down the street.
"Well, you'll have to lead me to your house; but I think that's still considered walking you home." Seto said offering his arm to her for the second time that night.
Smiling, which she found herself doing more often around her new friend and now boss, Hailey slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and led them down the street into the wooded neighborhood.
They walked down ten streets and turned down a lane at the end of the main road. Moonlight shone through the leafy tree branches. Hailey looked up at Seto and forever implanted the picture of him from that night into her mind. All thoughts of Joey were almost gone from her mind; and in their place were thoughts of this new friend of hers'. Seto Kaiba.
Little did she know, but he was thinking the same thoughts. Hailey was an interesting young woman that was for sure. She was outgoing, understanding, intelligent, competitive, beautiful, and many other things. And he couldn't deny that she was attractive, because that would be an utter lie. Once she was ready to open her heart up to someone in a more than friends matter, he hoped he would be at the front of her line of suitors. That he promised to himself.
Soon a large manor came into view. It was much like his own mansion, yet on a smaller scale. It was obvious that her social and finical status was near his own.
"There it is my home sweet manor. Not even my friends know that I live here. Well all of them except you Seto. They all think that I have a flat in Tokyo, which I do, that I share with my sister when she's home. They would make to big of a deal if they knew that I was practically as rich as you." Hailey explained to Seto, walking him around the large circular driveway.
"Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee or tea or something? My sister won't mind." Hailey asked, placing a hand on the large door handle.
"If you don't mind. That's very generous of you." Seto answered and moved to open the door for her; always a gentleman.
Hailey walked through the door and Seto followed her through the entrance hall. An older man in a suit came from one of the side hallways and bowed to Hailey.
"Miss Hailey, you've arrived. Your sister told me to tell you when you got back that she had to catch an emergency flight to Sapporo on business and that she wouldn't be home until the end of the week," the older man said, taking Hailey's coat and turned to Seto. "Young sir would you like me to take your coat for you."
Seto nodded and handed the man his wool jacket. Hailey was looking out a window and Seto saw the pain in her eyes. Evidently the news about her sister bothered her deeply.
"Charles, did she say what kind of business that she had to deal with?" Hailey asked, shaking her head and looking strait at the butler.
"She said something about another snag in the prophecy that she had to stop before it all started again. I'm guessing you know what she meant by that." Charles said, staring at his young mistress before she nodded an affirmative. "Well, ring for me if you need me. Goodnight Miss Hailey."
Charles walked back down the hallway he had come from and Hailey sighed. She turned back to Seto and smiled weakly.
"How about that drink?"
The two teens sat in the private den, warm mugs of coffee in their hands, before a warm fire. They had been sitting there for about an hour talking about random stuff, getting to know each other better; just like it had been at the park.
It was amazing how many things the two had in common and how they could talk for a good amount of time about any and every topic that came up.
Seto told her more about his company and the kind of work they did. It was clear to him how much Hailey wanted the internship he had mentioned earlier. She even pulled out a pad of paper from a nearby table and took notes about what he was talking about. She asked questioned and he answered them as well as he could off the top of his head; which was pretty thorough.
A clock somewhere from within the manor rang twelve times, startling the two. Hailey gasped and Seto promptly looked down at his watch to check and see if the clock was right. It was.
"Good heavens is it really that late?" Hailey exclaimed looking down at her own watch. "I didn't even hear the clock at eleven."
"I should be going. Mokuba will be worried that I'm not home by now or that I didn't call him. Do you have a phone I could use?" Seto asked standing up and helping Hailey up as well.
She nodded and led him back into the kitchen. Grabbing her cell phone off the counter where she had left it earlier when they got back, she handed it to Seto and he flipped it open and called his little brother.
Much to Hailey's surprise the younger Kaiba answered the phone and Seto explained why he wasn't home, but that he would be in a few minutes. Seconds later he said good-bye and hung up.
"Let me get your coat and I'll drive you to your house." Hailey offered and Seto began to protest, but she held up her hand and silenced him. "Please, you've done so much for me tonight, it's the least that I can do."
Seto nodded slowly and Hailey smiled, taking a pair of keys off the wall and walked back to the main hall. Seto waited in the entrance hall while she disappeared down the hall Charles had both came and gone from. A minute later she returned with her own jacket and his wool coat.
He followed her back through the kitchen and into a garage. Cars lined each wall, all of them in their own little stall like horses. Most of them where silver, black, or navy blue; but there was a sleek red Mercedes convertible stuck out in the middle of the garage.
And of course that was the car that Hailey walked up to and unlocked the driver side door. Seto followed her and stared in obvious awe of the impressive car. He wouldn't have expected her to have a car like this. She seemed more like a black or silver type. But hey, he had a red Mustang in his collection as well, so he couldn't point fingers.
He slid onto the black leather seat of the passenger side and admired the inside of the car. It had obviously been a present since every single enhancement and setting that could be put into a single car was in this little red convertible.
"Do you mind if I drive with the top down? It's really a nice night tonight and this kind of weather won't last long." She asked, her hand poised over the button that would lower the top.
Seto shook his head 'no' and strapped himself into the seat. Smiling, Hailey placed the key in the ignition and the car purred to life.
Flawlessly she pulled the car out of the stall and opened the door to the garage. Once it was fully opened she pulled out and into the dark night. The wind blew her long black hair every which way and Seto's merely brushed against his forehead and cheeks. They pulled up to a stop light alone and Hailey pulled a hair tie from around her wrist and pulled her hair up messily into a pony tail to keep it out of her eyes as she drove.
Seto watched her concentrate on the road and took in her appearance. Her long ebony brown hair pulled up into a wild pony tail still looked cute. Clear blue eyes sparkled in the night and her cheeks were pink from the cool night air. Long elegant fingers held the steering wheel and finely manicured nails shone in the light from street lamps that lined the road. Never before had he been so captivated by someone that wasn't his little brother. And never before had someone wanted to actually be his friend, even after hearing about what some people thought of him. Seto was shocked more by that fact than anything that Hailey had told him that night. She truly wanted to be his friend. And he really wanted to be hers as well.
Sighing to himself, Seto sunk down into his seat and rested his head on the back of his cushioned seat; eyes closed in contempt and a light smile gracing his lips.
Hailey glanced at him in her rearview mirror and smiled to herself. It was nice to be around Seto. She enjoyed his company and found him extremely attractive. But who wouldn't. He probably had hundreds of girls wanting to be with him everyday. And yet she couldn't help but feel good about the fact that he was there with her that night and that he willingly wanted to be friends with her.
An old tune came unbidden to her mind as she drove through the streets of Tokyo. Seto had given her direction to his place before they left her neighborhood, so she knew where she was going. Humming she remembered the lyrics to the old song she had learned as a young girl back in Egypt.
I heard a whisper inside my soul
Like some familiar melody
A hidden chapter from a story left untold
I gotta feeling, I could believe in
There is an angel in my heart
Feels like I'm guided by a candle in the dark
It's taken all this time
To finally find out what I could never see
You were there for me
Now there is no doubt that there will always be
An angle in my heart
You were the friend; you were the one I could confide in
You gave me strength that I could never find
Deep emotions that I've always been denying
I believe in, it's so close now, it's you that
I'm feeling
There is an angel in my heart
Feels like I'm guided by a candle in the dark
It's taken all this time
To finally find out what I could never see
You were there for me
Now there is no doubt that there will always be
An angle in my heart
Finally found what I been searching for
(All my life)
It was right before my eyes
Oh you were my angel
I know you'll always be there
You are my one and only angel
To finally find what I could never see
(You were there for me)
Now there is no doubt that there will always be
An angel in my heart
There is an angel in my heart
Feels like I'm guided by a candle in the dark
It's taken all this time
To finally find out what I could never see
You were there for me
Now there is no doubt that there will always be
An angle in my heart
Before her parents had died, they had always taught Hailey the importance of having God in her life and now Hailey believed that more than ever. That her parents were watching out for her in the form of her new friend Seto.
During the short time that she needed someone to lean on, he had just shown up out of nowhere and comforted her when she needed it most. Maybe she was over-exaggerating slightly, but she really did feel that Seto was a positive thing in her life to help her through the hardships she would most certainly go through these next few months.
Since the night was silent besides the purr of her Mercedes, Hailey noticed the change in Seto's breathing. Instead of a faster paced breathe that most people had awake, Seto's breathing had become deeper and slower. He had fallen asleep. To bad they couldn't keep driving forever and stay like this.
To soon, Hailey was pulling her car into a long tree lined lane leading up to the Kaiba Mansion. She stopped right in front of the double doors and leaned over to Seto. Gently she shook his shoulder and whispered to him that they had arrived. His eyes slowly opened, blinking a few times and looking around for something familiar.
"We're here. It's time to wake up." Hailey said gently. Seto sat up in his seat and undid his seat belt and climbed out of the car. Hailey did the same and met him on the other side of the car.
"I had a good time tonight. Thank you for having me over to your house, it was very kind of you," Seto said, extending his hand to her.
"No problem. Besides you did your fare share of good deeds for me tonight as well, so I guess for now we're even." Hailey replied, amusement clear in her voice. She took his hand and was surprised when he pulled her forward into his embrace.
Without hesitation, she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him back. She could hear the steady beat of his heart against her cheek and smelled the rich scent of his cologne. He placed a brotherly kiss on the top of her head and squeezed her once before letting her go.
Hailey stepped back and watched him walk away towards the house.
"Goodnight Hawey, I really did have a good time tonight." Seto said quietly into the night, raising a hand in goodbye.
"Goodnight Seto, I had a good time tonight as well," Hailey whispered back and then walked back to her car and drove home.
It really had been a good night.
Three weeks later, the finals of the tournament had arrived and the finalists were no surprise to the public. Seto of course made it sense he was the national champion, then Hailey got in because of her title form Egypt, Yugi was the reigning world champ, Hailey's illusive brother got in by shear intimidation of the other duelist he faced (not to mention the fact that when Ishizu went to foil his plans she failed so he was back and stronger than ever), Joey got in by the skin of his teeth, and finally Mai got in with her talent and finesse.
Certainly with the amount of talent, or lack thereof, the finals would be interesting to watch.
The night before the finals were to start, Hailey sat behind her desk in her large library/study with a heavily bound book and feather quill before her.
The large book was actually her diary; a present that her father had given her when she turned twelve. Back then she didn't find the need for a fancy diary like the one her father had given here, but now as a young woman almost, she found it comforting to write down her thoughts in the secret confines of the numerous pages.
Over the last few weeks she and Seto had talked over the phone a few times and seen each other in the streets of Tokyo, but they hadn't been able to meet up like they did that night at the park. They still hadn't dueled together yet either.
Silent she wrote down everything that she had been thinking about, most of it having to do with Seto. She couldn't get him out of her head; not that she wanted to though. So much had happened in the last month and she and her sister were facing the stress of trying to stop her twin brother. He kept trying to foil everything their family tried to protect in their time in ruling Egypt. Why was he so dissatisfied with what they had? He was the freaking king of Egypt for gosh sakes.
Oh well, she was ranting again and nothing good ever came from ranting. She and Seto would spend more time together after the tournament was over and hopefully her brother would calm down as well.
Hailey laid her quill down and wiped the tip clean of any extra ink and screwed the lid back on the ink well. She felt better though than she had before writing everything out in her diary. Gently closing the large book, she stood and placed it back on the mahogany book case that lined one of the walls in her study; so many of her favorite books lined the wall along with her numerous journals and sketch books. Silently she walked down the row and touched every one of the spines of the thick hardback covers, immersed in her own private world of thought.
"HAILEY!!!!"
Ishizu threw the double doors of her sisters study open and made the younger girl jump and spin around in alarm.
"What is it Izz, is something the matter?" Hailey asked approaching her older sister with concern Ishizu's face was flushed and her hair look tousled.
"There will be if you don't tell me why on earth there is an amazingly handsome young man down in the front hall asking for you with a bouquet of white roses." Ishizu said exasperatedly, flailing her arms around for emphasis.
"What do you mean? I didn't have any dates planned for tonight nor does anyone know that white roses are my favorite flower…except, wait dose this guy have sort of ruffled looking brown hair, deep blue eyes, a pale complexion, and is quite possibly the most gorgeous guy you've ever laid your eyes on?" Hailey asked, wondering if it really was who she thought it was.
By then Ishizu was bobbing her head up and down in agreement. Hailey squealed and gave her sister a hug, before racing out of the study and to her room with Ishizu right on her heels.
"It's…"
And that's where I'm going to end it folks. Just in case you don't know, this is the first part of my trilogy called 'The Rose Trilogy'. The White Rose is the third part actually and I have no idea why I did that one first, but things just worked out that way. So yeah, this is the start of the saga and I fully intend to get it done within the end of the year, heaven help me. I start my junior year of high school in August and I'm almost done with my first year of Show Choir Competition Season. Hope you like this, and I'm sorry I didn't go into detail with the tournament, but I hate writing out duel sequences and find them quite boring if authors don't know how to write them. And I will say that I am one of those writers. LoL. Well you know the drill, please read and review and check out my other stories and my pride and joy The White Rose. Bye.
Mazakai