This is new. I hope you all like it an please forgive me if I seem out of it a bit, I'm a bit sick.
Seto Kaiba released a long sigh as he set down a report and his reading glasses on the desk before him, covered in stacks of neatly piled papers, some with red marks adding things in or taking things out with others just had his signature written on some unseen line in their depths. Already the sun was setting in the horizon, looking like the fourth wall of his office had turned from glass to orange fire.
The 21-year-old released a sigh and rubbed the back of his neck as his 16-year-old brother walked into the room.
The younger Kaiba had hit an impressive growth spurt somewhere around his fifteenth birthday and shot up from 4' 8" to 5' 11". Most of his child-like features had given way to time so he looked a bit more like his brother. His black hair was still long but held back in a ponytail. He was dressed in a red t-shirt, jeans and black sneakers. A pair of black leather motorcycle gloves that matched the black leather vest that hung onto his fingers and black motorcycle helmet tucked under his arm.
"Hey bro, you just about ready to wrap it up in here?" he asked. Seto smirked a bit as he stood up.
"Here, yes. But I have a dinner meeting in a little while so I won't be going right home." To this, Mokuba's face fell a little as he shook his head.
"You're gonna work yourself into an early grave, old man."
"Well, I'm pulling a little less weight than before, since someone finally started taking his responsibilies seriously." Mokuba blushed a little before putting his hand on the door handle.
"Well, if you're done reading me the riot act for being 14, I'm gonna head home. give me a call or something so I know you're alive."
"I should be saying that to you young man," Seto teased just before his brother slammed the door shut. The man chuckled to himself before moving to look out the window, not looking away until he watched Mokuba leave the building and ride off on his motorcycle. The brunette released a sigh before returning to his desk and collecting his wallet, keys, phone and black coat that he pulled over the matching suit.
He left the office quickly, ignoring his flatter-happy secretary until he could finally escape into the sanctuary of his car. He started the vehicle up and quickly left the garage.
He continued driving until he reached a small restaurant. he parked the car a and went inside, quickly finding a table with two other men, one being older and more war-scarred than the other who looked much like Seto in the fact of youth.
The older gentleman had lots of silver hair that fell to his shoulders and covered the right side of his face. He was dressed in a flamboyant red suit, a stark opposition to the two young gentlemen seated across from him, both dressed in black suits. The man next to Seto had somewhat darker skin than the two others in company and his black hair was trimmed neat and short. His ruby-red eyes stared down at a knot in the table's wood.
The second Kaiba sat down, the older man raised a glass half-full of red wine.
"Ah Kaiba-boy! We were beginning to worry you weren't going to show up. Care to see the menu?" Seto released a sigh, as did the other young man.
"Mr. Pegasus, may I remind you this is strictly a five-minute meeting between us and Mr. Kaiba," the black-haired man said. Pegasus pouted.
"Oh Damien, must you be such a spoilsport? I thought maybe we could talk over a bottle of wine or three." Damien slapped his forehead.
"Mr. Pegasus, you must be joking. As a department, we cannot afford that."
"Does no one remember I own my own company and card game?" the older man pseudo-whined. Kaiba began tapping his finger against the table.
"You called me here for a reason Pegasus, now what is it?" Damien pulled out a few newspaper clippings from his jacket and handed them to Kaiba. He glanced over the titles and pictures, each one depicting some poor human corpse and detailing the ME's post-mortem details. "No signs of struggle, no DNA, no prints, only two holes in the side of the neck and almost all blood drained from each victim. I'm well aware of this being an open police investigation," Kaiba said dully.
"We want you to investigate this Mr. Kaiba," Damien said as he collected the papers and hid them in his jacket. Kaiba nodded.
"In that case, I'll need a partner. Unless the rules have changed since the last time I checked," the brunette said as he stood up.
"You'll meet them tomorrow Kaiba-boy. And don't worry, they'll find you so just investigate as you will. Oh and you'll need this," Pegasus finished as he pulled out a white envelope and handed it to the brunette. "Don't open it until you get home." Kaiba nodded before he left.
It was late by the time Kaiba sat down behind his desk. Carefully, he pulled the envelope Pegasus had given him from his jacket pocket and opened it. The golden edge of a single card peeked out the top and Kaiba pulled it out, turning it over to see the picture of a white dragon with blue eyes.
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon," he read aloud. The card began to glow and vanished from his hand, turning into a ball on his desk. When the light vanished, a small version of the creature rested in its place, curled up like a cat sound asleep. Slowly, the creature stretched itself out and curled it's tail upward, then stood up as tall as it could on four stubby legs. The creature turned to Kaiba and bowed its head.
"Good evening, sir. My name is Shiryu. Nice to meet you," it said, in a voice strangely deep for a creature so small. Kaiba ran two fingers over the curved brow, over the three spines that served for ears, down the thin neck, following the line of scales that protected the spine and down the tail to the tip.
"Good to meet you too, Shiryu. Do you understand why you are here?" The dragon nodded his head once.
"To assist you until you find your partner in this investigation and to make sure first introductions go smoothly." Kaiba nodded.
"That's just about right." The brunette pushed his chair back a little and pulled a few newspaper clippings identical to the ones Damien had earlier. The CEO laid them out in front of the dragon, interlaced his fingers and started studying the papers, text and pictures.
"According to all of this Mr. Kaiba, the killer seems to be based in a town but a few hours from here by car. Roughly an hour less by train. If you leave now, I can send word to my brother and he can tell your partner how to find you." Kaiba shook his head.
"I'll leave in the morning. I need to let Mokuba know where I'm going first so he won't worry." The dragon nodded as Kaiba stood up and headed for the door. "Study what you can tonight. I'll come get you when I'm leaving."
"Good night Mr. Kaiba," Shiryu said quickly as the brunette left.
"Based on the way the killer leaves his victims, the Bureau has decided to label this case 'The Vampire Case'." Shiryu said pointedly from Kaiba's shoulder as the man wandered down the street. The human had replaced his suit with a pair of black slacks and turtleneck and a black trench coat.
"I could care less what the case is called, all I care about is finding who's responsible," he growled lowly as he turned a corner, just as a woman ran into him, knocking Shiryu off his shoulder and into a nearby alley. "Excuse me, I didn't see you there," he said quickly. The woman leapt away from him and darted off in a streak of red and black. Kaiba's eyes followed her. "She seems to be in a hurry," he said as he rubbed his neck, pulling away when he felt something that shouldn't have been there. Streaked on the side of his hand was a bright red liquid. "What in the world..."
"Mr. Kaiba! Over here!" Shiryu shouted from the alley. Kaiba looked in and his teeth clenched at the sight before him. A college-age boy lay on the ground unmoving with two fresh holes in his throat oozing out what little blood his body had. Kaiba's hands clenched.
"That woman!" he said as he took off in the direction she'd run in.
"Mr. Kaiba! Wait!" Shiryu shouted as he furiously started flapping his tiny wings in an effort to catch up, but the human was too fast for him.
Kaiba leapt over a low fence into a park and snarled under his breath when he saw it was deserted, save for an old man in a silver suit reading under a tree. Normally, Kaiba wouldn't have wasted his time on such trivial things but something held him in place as the man closed the book, stood up and wiped at his left eye. His goatee was long, almost brushing his chest and half of it was darker than the other, more than likely more tears the man hadn't wiped away during his reading. The man's grey hair fell over his right eye, covering it completely but the rest was close-cut like he was in the military.
The man turned to Kaiba and straightened up, as if the man's presence was expected but also surprising, like an old acquaintance showing up before they were due.
"I'm sorry to trouble you sir, but by any chance did you see a woman with black hair dressed in red run by here?" Kaiba asked. The man blinked once and relaxed before frowning.
"I'm afraid not young man. If I may, who is she to you?" Kaiba reached into his pocket and pulled out a black leather wallet and flipped it open, showing the gold badge of a detective and an ID card to match.
"Detective Seto Ryuzouwa. That woman is a person of interest in my investigation." The man nodded.
"Dr. Aku Nadine. Sorry I couldn't be of further help to you Detective," he said as he bowed his head and left the park. Kaiba shook his head and headed in the opposite direction, a more populated area of the park.
He walked around the trails leading between the entrances and exits of the park, scanning the growing crowd for anyone that matched his description of the woman. His actions continued for a couple hours before he gave up and headed to the main entrance.
"I know I saw her come towards this park. And even at her speeds she wouldn't have been able to leave the park without getting noticed by someone. And if she'd run into anyone or past anything that caused a disturbance people would still be talking about it at least. So where could she have gone?" he wondered to himself before feeling something hard press into his back and heard the click of a gun's hammer. "What-"
"Don't move," said a woman's voice. Kaiba did as told.
"Listen, I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding here," he said slowly. He felt the gun press harder into his back.
"Put your hands on your head, interlace your fingers and turn around slowly." Kaiba did as instructed but his eyes widened upon seeing the person holding him at gunpoint. It was a young woman, no older than twenty with pale white skin, bright blue eyes and knee-length white hair that cast a thin curtain over her eyes. She was dressed in a pair of jeans, a pale lavander t-shirt, denim jacket and tennis shoes.
"You've got to be kidding, she's just a little girl." The girl's eyes narrowed.
"I too am surprised by your carelessness. Getting caught by a little girl like me must be quite embarassing for you, huh?" Her tone was harsh as her finger moved to the trigger of her gun. Kaiba's eyes widened further as he lowered his hands a little, earning the gun's muzzle pressed into his chest.
"How did she know what I was thinking? Just who is this girl?" Kaiba's eyes scanned the area, looking for anyone to help.
"Don't bother. No one comes around here at this time of year," the girl said coldly. "But I've been watching you lurking around here, pretending to be inconspicuous and all."
"Listen, you've got the wrong idea here. Let me explain and you'll understand," Kaiba said, not really pleading but trying to press the girl to let him have some room to speak.
"I understand something alright. I understand that if I pull this here trigger, there's a bullet that'll come out of here at around 1200 feet per second, blowing a hole the size of a baseball in your brain, killing you in a matter of milliseconds, or a nice through-and-through shot in your heart, killing you even faster. Either way, vampire, you're done here."
"Wait! Vampire?! Are you kidding me right now?!" The girl tightened her grip on the gun.
"No, I'm not," she said as she started tightening her finger's grip on the trigger. Kaiba pulled in a slow breath as she did.
"Wait just a minute here!" shouted Shiryu as he landed on the girl's hand, forcing her gun to lower as he flew up to be eye-to-eye with Kaiba. "Just what do you think you're doing, running off like that? I tried to keep up with you but you wouldn't slow down for anything!"
"First off," Kaiba said, moving to face the girl. "Will you put the safety on that thing please?!" he finished looking down at the gun that was pointed right at the one place it never should on a man. The girl instead raised her gun and pressed it back into Kaiba's chest.
"Shut your mouth Vampire," she snapped.
"Will you just let me explain?" Kaiba retorted, getting extremely frustrated at this point.
"Miss Kisara!" cried a new voice, this one higher than Shiryu's but still rather deep. The owner dropped out of the skies and landed on the girl's hand, pushing her gun back down. The creature matched Shiryu in every way but was just a bit smaller than the dragon. The dragon quickly made his way up Kisara's arm to face her. "What do you think you're doing? I called for you a million times!"
"I was chasing a suspect, what else?" the girl said defensively as she pressed her gun harder into Kaiba's chest. He was certain he was going to have a circular purple mark later at this rate.
"But Miss Kisara, that's your new partner!" the tinier dragon cried in a near panic. The two humans looked at the dragon then at each other.
"What?!" they said together.
"I propose a toast to new acquaintances," said the smaller dragon, Ryushi as he'd introduced himself to be, as he lifted a tiny shot glass of alcohol with his claws. His brother did the same.
"Bottoms up!" they said excitedly as they took their drinks. Kaiba and Kisara were seated on opposite sides of a table with a rotator on top holding small boxes of Chinese food. Kaiba held a flask of hard cider in his hand while Kisara held a matching one of regular cider in her own. The two were avoiding the others' eyes as they sipped their drinks. Shiryu waddled over to Kaiba and climed up to his shoulder.
"Come now Mr. Kaiba, introduce yourself, crack a smile. Do something," the dragon whispered.
"Fine," Kaiba sighed. "I'm Seto Ryozouwa, nice to meet you." Kisara looked at him as if he'd offered to give her a lecture on algebraic equations.
"Kisara Hawkins," she said dismissively. Seto put his drink on the rotator as his teeth clenched.
"What is that attitude about?" Kaiba thought bitterly as he started tapping his finger against the table. The two dragons looked at the two humans and then to each other worriedly.
"Miss Kisara was selected because of her ability to sense anything spiritual, from emotions to thought patterns," Ryushi explained quickly. Kaiba blinked and relaxed a little.
"So that's how you read my mind earlier, huh?" Kisara nodded but said nothing. Kaiba pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "So how long have you been one of us?" Kisara looked away.
"Four years when I turn 20," she replied flatly. Kaiba covered a laugh with a cough.
"So life's present for your sixteenth birthday was death? Ouch talk about ironic. What was it? A car accident?" The two dragons looked at each other, then at Kisara apprehensively as she took a large gulp of her drink and set it on the rotator.
"Pancreatic cancer, stage 4. What about you? How long you been here and how'd you die?" Kaiba leaned his cheek on his knuckles.
"I died at thirteen when my step-father shot me in the chest. It only took me a week to learn what I needed and come back. Just in time for him to come back from a business trip."
"It took me a month!" Kisara said a little surprised. For the first time since they'd been interrupted in the park, she met his gaze. "I guess that would explain why Mr. Pegasus said you're the most elite Spellcaster Guardian he has yet to see. But tell me something why are you still doing the dirty work of a ManHunter and not something else?" Kaiba narrowed his eyes, not in anger but in confusion.
"I'm sorry?" he said as he picked up a pair of chopsticks and turned the rotator to pick up a couple eggrolls.
"Mr. Pegasus told me that you rose up the Spellcaster ranks faster than anyone in history," Kisara pressed.
"That may be...I honestly don't know, never checked." The two dragons looked at each other and began laughing.
"Miss Kisara! You're too easilly tricked by the boss, you poor girl!" Shiryu said through his chuckles.
"Huh?" the two humans said.
"Its true Miss Kisara," Ryushi said. "The rule states that each investigation must be headed by a partnership but no one ever wants to work with this guy once they find out he's the CEO of Kaiba Corp." Kisara's eyes widened as her teeth visibly clenched and she stood up, throwing her seat back as she did.
"There is no way! No way on this earth I'm gonna work with some snot-nosed brat who expects me to do all the work!" she exploded, slamming her hands on the table as she did. The whiette straightened up and turned in the direction of the exit but only made it a few steps before Kaiba grabbed her arm.
"First off, I prefer to work alone so don't think you're the only one displeased by this little arrangement. Second off, if you want to be the one to tell the victims' families that we can't find the one who murdered their loved ones because you don't want to work with me, be my guest. Third, sit back down, you're causing a scene and embarrassing yourself." Kisara looked around at the other patrons and waiters staring at the two. She grit her teeth and sat back down. Kaiba did the same as he reached for the cider in front of him and picked up one of his eggrolls. "And a final thing..." Kisara looked up warily. "I never expect anything to be easy." Kisara glared and picked up the cider in front of her.
"We'll see," she said as she started guzzling down her cider. Kaiba took a sip and froze. He was drinking Kisara's order of regular cider which meant-
"Kisara, wait!" But the girl had already finished the entire thing of coder, cheeks already turning scarlet and eyes beginning to droop. Kisara groaned a little before falling forward onto the table, passed out. "Oh boy," Kaiba said to himself as the two dragons poked at Kisara with their noses.
"Mr. Kaiba, we need to remove her before someone gets suspicious," Ryushi said in a near panic.
"Alright, alright, calm down," the CEO said as he got up and put a few bills on the table to pay for the meal.
"Lay her down here and get her some water!" Shiryu said as Kaiba walked into the motel room he'd just rented. The man hoisted Kisara higher in his arms before laying her on the bed and heaving a sigh.
"Remind me why this is necessary," he said. The two dragons fluttered out of his coat pockets and landed on either side of the sleeping girl.
"Because you're her partner Mr. Kaiba," Shiryu said as he nuzzled Kisara's cheek, trying to move a few strands of hair. Kaiba's fingers did the job instead, revealing the long black eyelashes that brushed against Kisara's cheeks as she dozed on. Ryushi licked Kisara's exposed cheek.
"To be a ManHunter at only 19. And to think she developed her disease roughly the same age as you died, Mr. Kaiba. Rather tragic. But then again, all those who die young are tragic," the tiny reptile said, licking her one more time, pulling a piece of hair back into Kisara's face. Kaiba pinched it between his fingers again and pushed it back and trailed his knuckles down the girl's temple to her cheekbone. Her head twisted into his palm and nuzzled against him before lying still.
"I agree, most people would've chosen death over working like this. But she didn't. Whatever the reason, it must be enough for her and I suppose it'll have to be enough for me too, huh?"
Kisara let out a groan and stretched her neck before lowering it back into Kaiba's palm as if she were nodding.
"She can actually be kinda cute if she just lets herself be," he admitted before Kisara scowled.
"Stupid Kaiba," she muttered, taking the CEO aback a little. He removed his hand. "Arrogant...self-centered," she said in her sleep, clenching her hand into a fist as she did before relaxing again.
Kaiba sighed. "Forget everything I just said."
For a moment, the only sound to disturb the quiet of the room, was Kisara's oblivious breathing. Then a loud BANG rattled the shutters and shook the very foundation of the motel. Kaiba snapped around, grabbed the gun out of Kisara's holster and aimed at the window, waiting for something to appear behind the glass. Slowly, his hand snuck down to the end of the bed, collecting the blanket resting there and pulled the white sheets as far up Kisara's body as he could.
He carefully crawled over her so he was closer to the window. His shoulders loosened as he wrapped his finger around the trigger.
BZ: Okay, I really hope you guys like this story. Its been bugging me for a long while now. Almost like the little kid hanging onto you saying the same thing over and over. But enough of me and my crazy analogies. Please leave a review and we'll see ya next chappie. And no, I have no abandoned my other stories but this one was first in my mind. So if you guys wanna pop by those stories too and seeing what they're all about, please just review.
Special thanks to my beta: white pedal.