Dedicated to Dragontamer05
Thank you for the feels and inspiration ^^
Chapter 1
"So is today the day? Are you finally going to ask her?"
Seto's eyes wandered from the glow of his laptop screen and over to where Mokuba was sitting at the opposite side of his desk, happily twirling around in the swivel style office chair. He sighed. Sometimes it was hard to believe that his little brother was almost 16 years of age. "Stop. If you keep spinning like that it will come off the axis. Again."
His brother's command was obeyed as Mokuba stopped the chair from turning. A huge grin remained plastered on his face. "Don't try to change the subject. Are you or are you not going to ask Kisara to marry you?"
Without saying a word, Seto returned to his work. He and his girlfriend had been together for almost two years now. During that time he'd slowly opened up, sharing himself with her in many ways that nobody else had ever experienced. And although the fact that he'd never once spoken those three little words,- words that scared him so god damn much,- he made sure to express his love in other ways.
In short; they knew each other well. Their love was very much reciprocal and he had often pondered about taking the final step in giving her his wholehearted commitment.
"Oh come on! You've been sitting on that engagement ring for the past month now. Quit stalling and ask her already!"
"It's not as simple as that Mokie." Seto stopped his typing yet again to stare at his brother's giddy face. "I have to wait until the timing is perfect."
"And when would that be?" There was no answer to Mokuba's question, just more clattering of keys. He rolled his eyes, but only a little. Sometimes it was hard to believe,- though perfectly understandable,- that his big brother still harboured the insecurities of their youth. "Kisara won't care about how you propose to her Seto. She's not going to walk away and leave you just because the situation wasn't romantic enough… She loves you for who you are. Nothing more, nothing less."
Deep down he knew his brother's words to be true. But still he couldn't quite vanquish that tiny trace of doubt which wouldn't be remove from his soul, no matter how hard he tried.
"What else are you scared of?" Mokuba asked softly as he saw the distancing look take a hold of his brother's face.
"It doesn't matter." Seto assured with a slight shake of his head. "The point is that I will ask her, but in my own time and not a moment before. Now quit pestering me already or I'll ban you from my office."
"Hey, it's my office too." He shot back before pushing himself away from the desk and over towards his own on the other side of the room. "Wheee!"
An amused smirk crept on Seto's face as he watched the chairs coasters roll across the floor.
Kisara was slowly coming around from the darkness of unconsciousness. She felt disorientated as she did so and had trouble opening her eyes. Not only that but she then became aware of her hands and feet bound together. Something was far from right.
"Hurry and take the photo before she wakes up." A male voice sounded. "The boss says he wants Kaiba to see her ASAP."
"See what? Where am I?" Panic set in and Kisara's heart began to pound double time. "What have you done to me?!"
"Shit she's awake! Gag her."
She opened her mouth to scream but was soon silenced as the gag was forced into it.
"I told you she'd scream." A female voice stated. "I would too if I was her."
"Yeah, well she can't now." A second male retorted. "Are we done here?"
"For now." The first male confirmed. "Now let's get this e-mail sent."
"You want a coffee bro?" Mokuba asked as he got up from his seat and stretched the muscles in his back. They'd been working for almost two hours straight and were overdue a break.
"Hmm?"
"Coffee. Do you want one?"
"Yeah,... sure." Seto continued to stare at the facts and figures displayed on the screen in front of him. A small notification window popped up. It snapped him out of his trance as it alerted him to the fact that he'd just received an email. He clicked on it and as he waited to be redirected to his inbox, saw his laptop forced shut.
"Take a break." Mokuba ordered with his hand still firmly holding the device shut. "Don't burn yourself out. Again."
Reluctantly Seto agreed and he too got up to stretch his legs and back. "I wasn't focusing on my work just then." He called over to the corner of the room where his brother stood grinding enough coffee for them both.
"Yeah right! What else would you have been doing?"
"Thinking. About what you said earlier… I'm going to do it. Tonight. The two of us are going out for dinner anyway, so I guess it wouldn't hurt to propose then."
"For real?!" Mokuba laughed happily as he loaded the coffee into the pot to brew.
"Yes." Seto gave a confident nod. "This time tomorrow, I'll be engaged." He grinned at the thought. His life was gradually falling into place. A happy place on high ground and not in the pit of despair that he'd been thrown into as a boy.
"You know, after marriage babies are usually the next thing on most people's lists."
"One thing at a time Mokie. Let's get the wedding out of the way first before the subject of children is raised." He casually shrugged off the tease. That's enough stretching; back to work.
Whilst still on his feet, the laptop was opened up and he continued to check his email. His heart fluttered at the sight of seeing a message from Kisara in his inbox. It was almost as if she'd known they'd been talking about her. He clicked and opened it...
'I have your girlfriend.' The unexpected sound of a distorted voice accompanied by the image of his signifiant other blindfolded, gaged and bound with duct tape made his blood freeze. Kisara..!
"Seto? What is it bro?" Mokuba asked with concern as he witnessed the colour drain from his brother's face. He approached to see for himself what had caused such a reaction. As soon as his eyes caught sight of Kisara his hand covered his mouth in an attempt to muffle his gasps of horror. "Fucking shit!"
'I want $3million in 50s and 100s.' The ransom demand was now being made. 'No consecutive serial, new or marked notes. Do not involve the police or media; if you do I will kill her. If you place tracking devices on the money, again I will kill her. You have 24 hours to gather the ransom. I will contact you then.'
Both brothers remained silent long after the message had ended.
This can't be real! This can't be happening! Seto failed to hold back the silent tears seeping down his cheeks. It was his worst nightmare come true.
Mokuba finally found his voice as he looked at his brother forcefully wiping the tears away. "What are we going to do?"
"The only thing that I c-can do." Seto replied with a slight quiver to his vocal cords. He picked up the phone and dialled his bank's number in order to arrange for the meeting that would allow him to withdrew the $3million in cash from his account.
