This is going to be a long one—and hopefully I can crank out a chapter a day so stay tuned. I apologize beforehand if things are not completely accurate according to the show timeline, and certain characters meet at different points in my story than when they do in the show. I try to stay true to the characters themselves however, so bear with me and just know its for the benefit of the story. I also apologize if the writing itself is not completely on point (I know there will be grammatical errors) I would rather go back and edit occasionally than spend a week on a chapter, for your benefit and my own. Also, the first few chapters will be much lighter than the majority of the story, I find them to be perhaps a little slower than what is to come, so keep reading. :) Thanks everyone—and enjoy! -EBrooke
Taking her heavy keychain out of her book bag, Kadima locked the front door of her main street apartment, and stepped out on the muddy sidewalk to begin her trek to school. She had called that concrete apartment, home for the past twelve years of her life, even if most of the time it was only occupied by herself. Kadima's single mother was almost always out of town on business, but Kadima was so used to being on her own she hardly ever gave it a thought. She found her real family in her two best friends at school, with whom she spent most of her time. Kadima had to admit, on this particular rainy Friday morning, that she was ready for something exciting to happen.
"Domino City really was an unattractive place," she observed as she paused to look at the industrial buildings and dirty street, splotched with mud and water from the constant rainfall of the week before. She glanced at her watch then quickened her pace; she didn't want to be late for her first period English exam that morning. She arrived a few minutes early and removed her soaked jacket as she as she sat in an unoccupied desk near the front.
"Duke, tell me you didn't study either." A familiar voice interrupted her last minute study attempts. "Of course you did- You're such an overachiever," the high-pitched voice continued, "I won't come over anymore if you don't start helping me."
Duke Devlin smirked,"Ali, I'll help you study if you start reading the material for once."
Kadima was used to listening to Ali Ferguson and Duke Devlin flirt in English class—or in any class she had the misfortune of attending with them. Kadima, though she would deny it, had always had a certain something for Duke; he was the most attractive guy in school, was nice to everyone and always maintained a natural edginess others might try to imitate. His girlfriend Ali, who was gorgeous, always seemed, to Kadima, to get what she wanted. More importantly, she never went out of her way to be kind to anyone she couldn't get anything from. Domino City High, however, never was a stomping ground for those individuals who have the strange desire to lower other's self worth, but if anyone came close to making people feel uncomfortable about themselves, it was Ali Ferguson. She was never obviously a bitch, but she had that ability to lower a person's self worth with just a glance, or a passive response. Kadima disliked her immensely. Often, nice guys or nice girls make excuses, or try to rationalize being with someone with whom they have nothing obviously bad, to say about. For Duke, upon first meeting Ali, she seemed like a fun person to date. He had been with her for a few years and had only just begun to see those other sides of her personality which had been clearer to others from the start. Kadima, however, saw no end to the relationship, and thought it was a hopeless cause to pine after someone taken by such a girl—so she tried not to.
Fridays for Kadima were slow to say the least—she had zero classes with her two best friends, Mai Valentine and Ryou Bakura, so she had to wait till after school to see them, which for the three of them was like a lifetime.
"Where were you at lunch!?" Mai, a gorgeous girl with long blonde curls and dark blue eyes, ran up to her best friend seeing her on the lawn as the after school rush began.
"Hey!—Oh I know, I had to run home and grab my math homework during lunch, I had forgotten.. I haven't even eaten yet. I'm starving!"
"Let's find Bakura and grab a bite—we should go out tonight too!" Mai added smiling. Mai was always ready for a good time.
The two friends found their third laying on the grass reading a novel in the shade. "Ahh, there you two are—been waiting out here. It's so nice now that it's not raining." Bakura sat up lazily his long whitish silver hair filled with twigs from the grass. Bakura was the most quiet of the three friends and also the most calmly observant. He was originally from England but moved to Domino City at the beginning of middle school. Mai and Kadima were never really sure how they became such fast friends with him but they had been inseparable ever since.
The three friends walked to a nearby pizza parlor chatting about their day—it was only the second week of school and they were already feeling the stresses of junior year.
"I just can't fail math again—" Kadima sighed, "I promised my mom."
"Your mom hasn't exactly been around this summer for you to owe her too much." Mai said rolling her eyes.
"I know, but she relies on me—and I know she feels guilty about not being around. "
"I just don't like you always being home alone." Bakura added to Mai's concern. "It's not right."
"I think if my mom decided she was going start being a mother all of the sudden I might not like it." she laughed. "It's not like this is a recent development. I can take care of myself and she knows it."
Bakura sighed and looked at his friend as they crossed the street to the parlor. She, and Mai both, were absolutely gorgeous in his eyes. Kadima had long black hair, olive skin, and striking violet eyes. To him it was as if they were a family and they like his sisters. They all looked out for each other.
"Oh hey!" Mai remembered as they took their favorite booth, "some new students are transferring from the other high school that's over crowded. They'll be starting Monday!"
"No way—that's exciting!"
"I know, I wonder if there will be any interesting guys." Mai smirked. "But you know what I'm really excited about…"
"Kaiba." Bakura and Kadima said simultaneously.
"Yes!" She ignored their eye rolls. "I still can't believe he will be moving the headquarters of Kaiba Corp. to Domino City this month. Such a miracle."
"You and Seto Kaiba." Kadima smiled.
"You and the rest of the world." Bakura added. Everyone knew who Seto Kaiba was. He was the best duelist in the world, the owner of Kaiba Corp. and the sexiest man alive. Mai, being an avid duelist considered herself his number one fan. Kadima spaced out for a minute as Mai continued to rant about the how incredible it was that Seto Kaiba would choose their humble city to move to. After the friends ate their dinner, Mai tried to convince everyone to go out but Kadima was tired—and wanted to take another look at a new book she had checked out from the library—on Egypt of course.
"We'll go out tomorrow! I need to at least study a little for Geometry tonight." Mai saw right through Kadima's excuse.
When Kadima arrived at her dark house, she really did attempt to study but her mind fell into a daydream—Egypt, ancient Egypt. This was always the setting for her daydreams. Even when she was a child she would imagine herself an Egyptian princess, living in the most magnificent civilization, and of course, ruling justly. As she slipped into this familiar daydream, she began to doze.
"Yes pharaoh, I will bring her to you." She heard someone saying as she walked up the stairs of a beautiful palace next to the Nile. All of the sudden a man appeared who's piercing blue eyes she seemed to recognize. "Come with me Kadima." He spoke.
Although she never saw the great pharaoh's face when she arrived in his vivid chamber, she heard herself speak:
"Thank you for welcoming me, my pharaoh."
Before he could answer, her mind began to swim and she awoke with a thud, she had fallen off her chair and hit her head on the floor. "No!" She tried to keep dreaming despite her aching head. "That was so wonderful." Recognition flowed through her brain as she recounted every scene to her memory before it was gone. "That's funny," she thought, "Seto Kaiba was in my dream, but not as himself." She laughed at the idea that her brain had included him most likely from hearing Mai rant about him that afternoon. She would have to tell her about it later.
Kadima believed that her obsession with ancient Egypt stemmed from her looks. People her whole life had told her she looked Egyptian. She knew, however, that she had no Egyptian lineage in her blood. Her last name was Crawford from her father, who had passed away when she was just a baby. He had been blonde, and from England. Her mother, who did resemble her more than the old photos she saw of her father, did not have that same olive skin and black hair she was born with. It was a strange mystery about her self she was intrigued by.
The weekend passed far to quickly and yet again Kadima rose for school Monday morning. When she arrived, there was a flurry of activity.
"So everyone got to school early today—including me," Mai said slowly when she found Kadima amongst the crowd, "Because there was a rumor that Seto Kaiba would be at the school today looking for Mokuba Kaiba. I knew of course that it was just a rumor—but I came just in case."
"And he wasn't here."
"Of course not! But everyone is freaking out anyway." Mai laughed.
Kadima smiled, and thought it might actually be pretty cool to meet Seto Kaiba.
In English class that morning, Kadima felt satisfied. Ali was out sick. Out of the corner of her eye, Kadima saw Duke slouch to the front of the classroom and for once, sit next to her.
"Hey Kadima," he smiled. She returned the acknowledgment, smiled back her face flushing, making her complexion look even more bright than usual. Duke's green eyes were kept longer than usual on her violet ones before turning away in his own mind, a little awestruck. Kadima of course did not notice any of this, but smiled to herself excited that Duke said hello.
At the end of the day, Kadima rummaged through her locker looking for her Chemistry book—all of the sudden, a hand touched her shoulder lightly.
"Now be very quiet, Dima." Bakura said his eyes lit up. "Don't be loud and don't immediately tell Mai, but-Seto Kaiba is at the school right now. He's in the back lawn talking with the headmaster."
Kadima opened her mouth in an amazed smile. She had to admit that was pretty awesome. They told Mai to follow them but refused to tell her why. Kadima opened the big blue doors in the vacant part of the school that led to the usually unoccupied lawn. Right as she looked up she felt an awe inspiring sense of déjà vu, for there were the two piercing blue eyes she had seen in her dream the night before. She felt it was minutes before she could pull her stare away, and attempt to act normal, but somehow it was not as easily said as could be done—his presence was more intense than she had anticipated.
"Holy shit," Mai's voice was weak. "Seto Kaiba."
"Truly sorry Mr. Kaiba—" they heard their headmaster's voice, "this part of the school is usually empty at this hour," he turned towards Kadima and her friends as they slowly approached unsure of what to do next.
Kaiba seemed a bit out of sorts when they approached—his face almost looked terrified. Bakura who seemed the most put together finally spoke up,
"We won't tell anyone you're here Mr. Kaiba—but do you think you could give my friend here an autograph?"
Finally Kaiba spoke turning his gaze from Kadima to Bakura. "I think that is a fair deal." He scribbled something on a duel monsters card Mai had in her bag. "To who?"
"Mai," she winked her old self feeling all of the sudden more comfortable.
Kadima was surprised that he even assented,
"I'm Ryou Bakura, very nice to meet you—and glad you chose Domino City! It's going to be great for jobs here. Don't you think, Kadima" Bakura turned to his friend who acquiesced
"Kadima—" Seto Kaiba trailed off staring into her eyes. Suddenly he turned away quickly towards the headmaster who was looking pleased that he had such polite students, when Kaiba's face turned cold.
"I do not think it will be necessary to make any further inquiries for Mokuba. I will be privately tutoring him. Thank you for your time." With that he turned away without a glance, his long blue jacket flowing behind him.