Just a little story I wrote a little while ago and finally decided to post. So this story starts off sounding really cheesy and OoC but it isn't actually that bad and I promise you it gets better as it goes. I'm generally not a fan of OC's having high involvement in stories. And I also generally don't like stories with Kaiba being in love. But I thought of this and I had to do it and now I'm posting it. And I didn't really know what to name the story so that's how you get that (I know it's a bad name but I didn't really know what to do).

Also, I have a 'Time 0' I guess you'd call it so all the time frames are in relation to that unless it specifies like '2 weeks after the above incident.' And keep track of the time, cause I don't go in anything remotely resembling chronological order haha. I'm sorry if it gets confusing at all but I think the story's better jumping around than if I just wrote everything in the correct order.

Thanks again for reading and brace yourself for this first chapter (especially the first time frame) because it is EXTREMELY cheesy and OoC (Again, I promise the rest isn't this bad. Please read past the first time-frame because as I said, the first time-frame is really cheese and bad. Just trudge through it haha. I know if I started reading that I would stop right away, so please don't stop right after the first time-frame, thanks)


In the "Now" time frame:

Seto Kaiba- 20

Laken Bromden- 20

Mokuba- 15

Roland- Don't know, not too important (sorry Roland)

Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh (insert 'but-if-I-did' joke here) I also don't own the characters except for Laken Bromden.


3 weeks ago

"I fail to believe you're human."

"Why is that?"

"Well people bother me. But you don't." She smirked.

"I assure you, I'm just a regular girl." He scoffed.

"Yes, because your life is just like that of every college student. It's close, but I think that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all week."

"What's the second most?" He snorted

"That I'm in love."

"Well since I'm a regular girl and that's crazier, than I guess you're in love." She shook her head and smiled before taunting him. "So… Who's the lucky girl?" She looked him in the eyes as she mocked him and his eyes only looked back in return without much emotion, but without their usual coldness either. "Are you in love?" Her shiny eyes stared into his blue ones. She had bright green orbs and straight dark brown hair, almost like dark chocolate but richer in color, that went just past her shoulders. Now her hair was up in a pony-tail that would swing as she moved. She was thin but muscular and small, being only 5'1". She had a lot of scars, though few were visible at the time. The ones that were were some red marks on her arms and a long light streak across her face. It stretched from above her left eyebrow into her hair line, in between her eyes and a little over the right one, leaving a sky blue streak on her green iris, and down her right cheek to her jaw line. Icy blue met forest green and his softened as he pushed a stray lock of hair out of the girl's face and spoke quietly almost as a whisper.

"Unbelievably so."


(Hurray, first time-frame done! Thanks to the brave ones who mustered through! I'll stop interjecting now.)


Now

They say it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. But now that Kaiba stands in the empty hallway with the note in his hands and tears threatening his eyes, he isn't so sure. He continues rereading the note over and over to prove to his brain it's true but his vision is blurry from the tears forming in his eyes and he isn't so much as reading as trying to capture her soul in her words, trying to take in every bit of her handwriting because it's what he has left of her; that and the memories, but the memories come from his mind and the writing on the paper comes from her hand and his mind can't distort it. It's all that's solid and absolute and wholly her. He holds the paper firmly in his hands, refusing to let it go. He traces a finger over the graceful handwriting that he now knows is one of many she could forge. He feels a new wave of grief crash over him as he realizes that he will never know her true handwriting, just as he will never know her real name, and countless other things that he will never know about her. He even realizes that many of the things that he thinks he knows about her probably aren't true. But one thing he is sure of is that he knows that she, despite her countless flaws, her scars and evil doings, is perfect.

Seto,

First thing I need to tell you is to make sure you immediately get really incredible security on you 24 7. You're in danger and I wouldn't be able to bear if anything happened to you.

Kaiba took her advice and immediately called security to get on him.

I'm sorry for everything I've done to you: the lies, the deceit, all the pain I've caused you over the past years… everything. And I need to explain to you that you're reading this right now because of another lie I told you. I'm sure you remember the night I told you about my job. A year later I told you I escaped. I lied. For that I'm sorry. For once I can say I feel sorry for something I did to someone, for a lie I told; and obviously this guilt and sorrow is misplaced. We both know I've done far worse. But that's one thing I'd like to thank you for now, is that when I was with you, I could feel bad again. It may not sound good, but being able to have negative emotions because of you is the greatest gift I've ever received. It proved to me that I was, in fact, human, just like I argued with you that I was. I've lied to you countless times, but now I can say honestly say that if I were given a chance to redo everything, I would have never met you, because I wouldn't want to cause you all this pain. Being able to feel enough for someone to want to protect them from pain is something I never knew, and you gave me that. So thank you. I haven't left earlier because I'm greedy as well. Now I leave for myself but also partially for you. I suppose I should tell you that the reason I am leaving now is because I didn't quit. Now I am because my next assignment… was you. This is why I tell you to get security going. You have probably less than 24 hours before they realize I'm gone because I'll be faking my own death and starting over with a new name. And this time, I promise you that I'm quitting. So prepare yourself because you're the target of assassins now. Good luck. Luckily I'm the best they had though. But still good luck. I couldn't bear for anything to happen to you. So Seto Kaiba. I love you. Thank you. And Goodbye.

Kaiba holds the paper in his still hands and runs his eyes over her eccentric signature over and over. And his thoughts return to few words in her letter: 'I told you I escaped. I lied… my next assignment… was you… I love you... Goodbye.' He wants to crumble the paper in his hands and tighten his grip around her words, but he can't bring himself to harm the sheet of loose leaf. He needs to preserve it, to keep it perfect and safe. Kaiba holds the paper and slowly squats on the ground to open his silver briefcase and put it in. He takes some confidential papers out of their protective folder and places the note inside instead. He locks up his briefcase and stands back up as some of his guards arrive and come to his side. He goes back to the mansion. He doesn't say a word to anyone and simply goes up to his bedroom and lazily allows himself to collapse on the bed facing the ceiling with a hand behind his head and the other over his stomach. He just stares at the ceiling playing with a button on his shirt and occasionally blinking. He doesn't even hear his brother knocking on the door and is only made aware of his presence when he opens it and the thin streak of light expands across the room from the hallway as the door swings open. He doesn't bother turning his head to look at Mokuba, who just stands in the doorway and watches his older brother. "Seto, what's wrong?" He feels a twinge of pain at the name. He only ever let 4 people in his life call him 'Seto:' his parents, now deceased, his brother Mokuba, and her. Now she was gone and he would never hear her say his name again. He stops playing with the button and rolls over onto his stomach with his arms crossed in front of him and his chin resting on them. "Laken's gone." He says it without emotion or looking at Mokuba. But he can tell that Mokuba is confused.

"What do you mean she's gone?"

"She left town. She's never coming back and I'll never see her again." He continues speaking without emotion but he knows that Mokuba can probably tell he's hurt.

"Where'd she go? Why'd she leave?" Mokuba leans his cheek against his hand on the door frame watching his brother. Kaiba slowly sits up and looks at Mokuba's silhouette in the frame. He could see a little light on his eyes which he could see were wet. He sighs and looks away into the dark.

"Mokuba. You know that she had… done some things in her life, that she wasn't exactly proud of." Mokuba nodded gently. "But there were some things I never told you about her." Mokuba raises an eyebrow intrigued and lowers his hands into his pockets as he slowly walks over to his brother and sits next to him on the side of the bed. "You should know that she was an assassin." Mokuba's eyes shoot open and he scoffs at the idea.

"An assassin?" The sarcasm gushes from his voice. "Come on Seto, I know Bromden's done some questionable things but she's not an assassin." He rolls his eyes and Kaiba stares ahead. "Seto, do you really think this?"

"I know it for a fact Mokuba." A frown traces his previously stoic face. "She was always a good liar."

"But_"

"She told me 3 years ago, I've seen the blood, I know it's true." Mokuba looked utterly shocked. "She told me she quit 2 years ago… I should have known better, you don't just quit from that sort of job…"

"But… she was so_"

"I know Mokuba…"

"So why'd she leave?" Kaiba swallowed hard and closed his eyes and looked away from Mokuba. "Seto?"

"It's because she was assigned to kill me so she's going to fake her own death and leave." There was a silence that managed to pierce through the darkness.

"Someone's trying to kill you?" Kaiba nods.

"It'll be okay Mokuba. I have good security. And a lot of people have attempted at my life before."

"But an organization of assassins is after you!"

"Security's good Mokuba." Mokuba clenches his fists and becomes angry.

"Obviously not good enough Seto!" He's yelling and angry. Kaiba raises an eyebrow. "You've spent four years with an assassin and no one had any idea!" He looks away and closes his eyes tight as the tears come. He speaks facing away with tears in his voice. "I know she wouldn't because she loved you, but if she didn't love you. She could have just acted. You said she was a good liar. And she was just assigned to kill you! If she had been acting… You'd be dead… And I know it's different because you knew her. But you had spent time with her when you didn't know her that well and she didn't know you. If she had been assigned to you back then she would have had no problem with…" The tears run down Mokuba's face. He sniffles and turns to look back at his brother and almost gasps when he notices he's fighting tears. Mokuba throws his arms around him and cries into his shoulder. He composes himself but keeps his head in his shoulder. "Seto… Why are you so upset now? You're life's always at risk…" He lifts his head from Kaiba's shoulder and opens his eyes to look at his face. His eyes are still wet and tears are threatening to spill over. Mokuba buries his face again and closes his eyes as tightly as he can. He tightens his grip on his brother's shirt and tightens his arms around him too. New tears spill. "I'm sorry I made you fall in love with an assassin" he sobs out. Kaiba reaches his other arm across his body to pat his brother's head. His other arm is pinned down by his younger brother. He keeps imagining the words on the paper: 'I love you.'

"You didn't, Mokuba. She did."


Wow, hope you survived that, but again, I promise the other chapters aren't as OoC or cheesy. It does get better! Promise! And thanks for reading, remember to review :)

-ajzeta