Disclaimer:
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or the characters or anything of the sort.
(Kaiba in my dreams) Just the Evenstar, not the magical kind)
"Ahem...Mr. Kaiba, I have the medical reports." The faintly grey haired doctor stood at the door of the waiting room of Domino Hospital, a professional look etched into the man's fine lined face as he read over the clip board one last time, glancing up at the young man across the room.
"Yes? Go on..." The CEO of possibly the most powerful company on Earth, Kaiba Corp, sat elegantly in a chair, seeming to glare at the man, waiting for him to continue the analysis. He smirked calmly yet slightly annoyed as the big shot standing before him started to sweat.
"Right, eh... The girl you found is extremely dehydrated and
suffering from malnutrition. We put her on several drips and IV's
and inserted a feeding tube for right now. We also treated various
cuts and gashes on her back and cleaned and dressed the wounds on her
wrists after being bound for so long. The rope was almost to the
point of cutting off the circulation. But beyond that, as soon as we
get her hydrated and something on her stomach, she should be fine
after a few weeks. Perhaps she'll be awake in a few hours and you
can try and get a name out of her. As we were treating her, the
nurses mentioned she was muttering and trying to fight them, so I'd
suggest that you be very careful around her- considering of what it
looks like she's been through..."
Seto stared down at the man, dominating him by a full 7 inches before nodding, barely showing any emotion. "Mm…" He nodded silently and pulled out his cell phone, little beeps sounding as the device speed dialed. "Roland. Cancel all of my appointments and meetings; I won't be in the office today. And call Domino High. Tell them I had something important to take care of." His white trench coat swished a little as he subtly turned his back to the doctor. "Yes, it's about the girl from this morning. I'm going to find out more, just make sure Mokuba gets picked up from school."
As soon as the youth folded the phone, Dr. Trinh piped up hesitantly behind him. "Erm, where did you say you found her again?" Seto rolled his eyes and let out an indignant snort. "It's barely any of your concern. But she was in a cage outside my mansion gates."
"A
cage? Sir by safety standards, I'll have to notify the authorities,
they'll have to do an investigation and certainly-"The old man
was stopped short as Seto whirled around and narrowed his eyes. If
looks could kill, this poor doctor would be six feet under. "No. There's no need to get anybody involved. There will be no
investigations and absolutely no publicity or media stunts. You just
do your job and take care of the medical procedures. If anything else
needs to be done, I'll take care of it. Understand? It would be
extremely unfortunate if this hospital just suddenly went bankrupt
and your career went down the drain with it." Kaiba sneered with
another threatening glare. His short, yet shaggy bangs hung down in
his eyes as he straightened up, not waiting for an answer before
leaving the room. Seto Kaiba was intimidating and he knew
it; CEO of Kaiba Corp and probably more powerful than the government
if he pulled the right strings. The 17 year old business man stood at
exactly 6'1 with neatly cut brown hair, bangs often found in his
bold and serious blue eyes. He was always this cold and emotionless
towards people, well, most people. The only person he was decent to,
was his little 11 year old brother, Mokuba. The two had been orphaned
together before any company and riches, and he had vowed to protect
Mokuba from then on. Ever since Kaiba was 12, he carried around a
duel monsters locket with Mokuba's picture inside, and vice versa.
Heavy thuds could
be heard echoing through the close-to-empty corridor as Seto strode
silently towards room 322. He was clad in his Battle City outfit,
consisting of black slacks and a long sleeved black shirt. Around his
waist was a silver buckled belt with an engraving of KC and on his
feet were black boots with a slightly raised heel. Pairs of blue
belts looped around each of his shins and upper arms. The main piece
was the trench coat that everyone seemed to love, and was personally
his favorite. The coat was custom made only for him, sleeveless with
unusual shoulders and steel rivets around the entire area. The inner
lining was red and had a very pronounced bottom, made a bit stiff so
it could stand off a bit. And last but not least, Kaiba's favorite
part of this jacket was that it had a hidden communication device in
the logo KC on the collar. Simply put, this made white on black look
hott. Kaiba stopped in front of the door and peered into the
little window, although there really was no point since the curtains
were drawn and the lights were dimmed, making it too dark to see
anything. With a soft click, he pushed open the door and quietly
walked in, eyes swiveling towards the bed and the figure that was
lying unconscious in it. Seto studied all the IVs and tubes she was
hooked up to and gazed at the nameless girl in front of him. She was young, looking about 15 and garbed in a crude black net
costume of some sort that afforded her little modesty. It clung
loosely to her body in a solid X form, held on by black leather
straps looped around her knees, thighs, and under her ribs. The top
looked like it tied around her neck like a halter, yet was connected
to the legs in the back by a long net strip running down her spine
with more straps to keep it on. Not much coverage for a girl at all,
and it was see-through in the chest area if you were one to focus on
that type of thing.
Around her neck
was a silver collar with a chain link leash hooked on the front. Seto
was surprised the nurses hadn't taken it off, wouldn't they think
she could choke with it? Psh, some hospital this is… Kaiba
thought to himself uncharacteristically swiping a strand of the
straight brown hair from her face. Wrapped along her forehead was a
black leather headband with golden metal studs that ran down her
temples to cover her ears, each with another stud in the middle.
The strangely dressed girl was pretty, and it took a lot for Kaiba
to even notice a supermodel in the gobs that flocked to him every
year. But she was different, and it wasn't her clothes (or lack
of), Seto was way above such things, yet he couldn't put his finger
on it…
The girl stirred a little and curled up, goose bumps erupting all over from the coldness of the room. Seto reached down and grasped the blanket she had kicked away and pulled it up to cover her form. He thought she would wake but it was just a false alarm, so he crossed the room and found a chair, settling down to wait.
Seto looked over towards the bed again and thought back to that
morning. It had been a regular dull start of the day, his limo about
to pull out of the driveway when all of a sudden the driver had
slammed on brakes in surprise. "Whoa! What's up?"
Mokuba had cried out as the seatbelt caught him tight, Seto also a
bit shaken. "I'm sure it was just a cat or something… Roland,
what's wrong," he asked into the intercom on the side of the
door. His driver replied sounding shocked and confused from
the other side of the divider. "My apologies, Mr. Kaiba, but there-
there's a girl out here! In a dog cage!" "Huh? …What
is he talking about, Seto?" Mokuba blinked up at his big brother.
Seto wrinkled his brow, opening his door. "I don't
know, stay in here Mokuba. I'll be right back." The CEO stepped
out of the car and soon saw that his driver was correct; there was
a girl in a dog cage! Roland was already there in front of the car,
peering inside the wooden bars. "Look Mr. Kaiba, I think she's
unconscious." He glanced up at his employer and started shaking the
trap. "Hello….Can you hear me? Are you alright?" Kaiba raised an eyebrow and snorted. "She's unconscious, Roland.
She can't hear you." He kneeled down and looked at the girl for
the first time. She was facing the back of the wooden cage, wrists
bound tight together in front of her as she lied there limp on the
floor. On her back Kaiba noticed the dried blood and scratches
crisscrossing each other like she had been whipped and the dirt
smudged on her cheek. "Oh wow, who is that? We should get
her to the hospital!" Mokuba was hanging out of the window, jaw
dropped. Seto looked back and nodded to Roland. "Get her out and
put her in the front seat, Mokuba will just be late today." "Yes Mr. Kaiba." Roland nodded respectfully and started tugging
at the rope that locked the door. After a few hard tugs, he finally
got the first knot out, working very hard for the next few minutes to
unravel the rest as Seto stood there with his arms crossed. Something shiny caught Mokuba's eye after Roland had pulled the
girl out and laid her in the front seat. He glanced at his brother to
make sure he wasn't paying attention and got out of the car, going
over to pick it up. "Hmm…" In his palm was a dirty necklace
with what looked like a cracked and broken six pointed jewel star in
the middle, with winged ends curving out the top and a thin border
wrapping around them to twist into two loops at the bottom. Sound
familiar, does it? Well it should, because what Mokuba had found was
a grimy, broken Evenstar pendant- although he didn't know it of
course. "Come on Mokuba, we're leaving." Seto called
over to his brother, getting back into the limo. It must be hers…
I'll keep it safe, well, what's left of it... Mokuba stood up
and hid the piece of jewelry in his pocket, running over to the car,
which brought Kaiba's thoughts back to now, sighing with
anticipation. About two hours passed before the mysterious
girl showed any sign of waking up until she started moving a bit,
sighing deeply. Oh God, where am I now? I'm almost afraid to
open my eyes… Slowly and cautiously, she peeked open one eye,
glancing around the darkened room. Huh, this can't be Kaiba's
unless- Ack! Oh damn, IV's! I hate hospitals! She sat up,
about to freak out when she was distracted by all the bandages
wrapped around her arms and middle. "Well…At least I'm not in
that cage anymore." She muttered after pulling the feeding tube
out that threatened to gag her. "Look who's up." Her amber cat eyes swiveled to the corner of the room to discover
Kaiba lounging in a chair, resting his eyes. "Oh, um… hi." She
looked down, trying to hide the little grin twitching at the corners
of her mouth- she knew who this was. Come on Allana, don't crack
a smile! This is serious.Seto ignored her as expected
and stood up, crossing over to the side of the bed. "So you speak
English then. Good. I was wondering about that from the look of those
clothes." Before Allana had time to comment, Kaiba charged right on
talking. "But first of all, who are you and how did you end up on
my doorstep?" Geez, not even a "How are you
feeling?" Thanks. Allana mentally rolled her eyes but played
the innocent. "My name's Allana," She looked directly up into
his eyes for the first time. Oh wow, you can get lost in them…
But Kaiba wasn't thinking the same thing about her. The light
hearted girl blinked as Seto's eyes widened a little, staring
directly into hers as well. "What? What's the matter?" And then
it clicked- her cat eyes! "Ohhh, my eyes! Don't worry, they're
just-" "Cat eyes." He finished for her. Who is this
chick? Oh, right, 'Allana'. "Nope! 20/20 vision right here. Besides, I like them, all
the better to see better with don't you think? Night vision and
all…" Maybe she was rambling on too much. Oh well! Frankly she
needed all the time she could get to think of a cover-up story. Kaiba shook his head. It didn't matter. They had to be contacts;
this girl was just being a moronic kid. "So how did you end up in
my driveway?" "Well, you see, um… I'm from the
circus and…" Seto snorted and cocked an eyebrow, "The
circus?" " Yes, the circus. We're working on a
new Arabic side show you see, that involves me being in really tight
places- which explains the cage. You know, practicing and endurance
and whatnot!" "Unh huh." Kaiba grunted, humoring her.
This is such a lie. "Yeah so," Allana continued,
frantically pulling things from the top of her head, "We were
heading across town last night and we hit a bump so I painfully fell
off from…everything and landed at your house." Please, Seto,
please be dumb for two seconds of your life and don't ask me
anymore questions about my pathetic excuse!! "Oh! I
know what you're talking about. You must be from the Flaming Swords
Domino Circus from across the bridge." "Yeah! That's
the place! They-" Kaiba cut her off with a sneer, "Enough
with the act, Allana. There is no Flaming Swords Circus, I was
testing you." "Seto Kaiba, I know, CEO of
Kaiba Corp. Sorry, I just can't remember anything. My head hurts
really bad," Which was true, her whole body ached with the wounds
on her back, the IVs… Seto nodded silently and backed off
a little, still a little skeptic. Alright, so she's not talking.
I need to head out of here anyway. "Well Allana if your head is
hurting then get some rest. I'm leaving," and with that, turned
around and started for the door. Allana gasped a little,
"Hey wait! You are coming back, aren't you? Don't leave
me in this place!" He stopped in the open doorway, back turned to
the girl with a smirk, "You're not scared of hospitals are you?
And you never know, I'll think about it." And, as usual, Seto
walked out without a reply and shut the door. "Wow, did
Kaiba just joke? That's a first. "Allana sat back against the
pillows to relax a little. And I would have believed I was from
the circus… a painful dirty one, anyway. Meh, I have to think of a
better excuse if there even is one. No way in hell I can tell him the
truth."Oh crap, the Evenstar!" Allana threw the
blanket off and sat on her knees, patting herself and around the bed.
"It has to be here, I had it with me earlier." She leaned over
and looked on the floor, then threw the pillows across the room. "Not
here either… Damn it! That's my only way out!" She wrung
the chain around her neck in her hands nervously. "I guess I'll
have to hang out here for awhile… I hope Kaiba doesn't leave me
all by myself, although I wouldn't be surprised." Why
was it such a big deal that she find the Evenstar? Well it wasn't
just an ordinary piece of jewelry. At risk of sounding clichéd,
it was magic, capable of transporting, materializing, and even
changing looks and enhancing senses. The only thing it couldn't do
was bring back the dead; unless you wanted a zombie walking around,
but Allana had no use for things like that. The truth was,
she had been traveling to different worlds and I hate to say it but,
meddling in the main people's affairs. Not in a bad way, just
helping them out and making things easier whatever the problem was.
So far Allana had traveled to Satellite City to the Supernaturalists,
Harry Potter a few times, Artemis Fowl and various other places.
Before winding up in Domino, she had zapped herself to the dreaded
Jabba the Hutt (bad idea, I know). The plan was to just hang out in
secret until Luke got there to rescue his crew, giving her a front
row seat. But it obviously didn't work out that way. To
make a long story short, Allana got herself caught and made one of
Jabba's slave girls; which explained the outfit (No Arabic side
show involved). As you can imagine it was terrible there! She mostly
danced for the sadistic crime lord until he wanted more which just
wasn't going to happen. So what do you do with a disobedient and
feisty slave? You beat the crap out of them apparently, just a guess
since that's what happened. Why didn't Allana just transport out
of there if she was such a sneaky genius? Great plan except that as
soon as they saw it dangling around her neck, they swiped it. So Allana sat, and danced, and fought, and got hit while waiting for
her chance to get back the Evenstar and get the hell out of there.
Finally after what seemed like ages the girl was tied by the
wrists in her cage after a rather stinging whip-round with the
Gamorrean guard. Barely conscious, she spotted a rat passing by the
back of the kennel with her necklace, dragging it along the floor to
his nest somewhere. Oh no you don't! With her last
bit of strength, Allana pulled back against the rope and slammed
herself forward against the bars, driving the cage into the stone
wall to pin the rat and necklace. She quickly ducked down and used
her tongue to hook the Evenstar's chain and pull it into the cage,
plopping her ticket out into her bound hand. Things started to go
black and Allana barely managed to choke out, "Kaiba!" but she
was finally out, being zapped right outside Seto Kaiba's mansion. "Well circus act or not, I'm never going back there
again." Allana shook the memories out of her mind and started to
get up before being tugged back down by the underside of her arms.
Ow! she looked down to see that all the IV's had gotten
tangled up. "Ewww I hate these! Get 'em out, get 'em out, get
'em out…" Allana bit her lips and tugged each needle out
wincing. Damn doctors, they aren't touching me anymore.The girl casually flipped her chain over a shoulder and walked
to the window, pulling the curtains open. It was a nice morning
outside, nearly noon with the sun shining down on the garden below.
She could see various patients walking or being rolled around by
their nurses along the pathways. Pft, such hospitable niceness,
sickening. With that, she unlatched the window and hopped out
onto the ledge, amber cat eyes shining, crouching down about to jump
down to the grass below. "NO, STOP! Don't jump!" Allana jumped in surprise, barely having enough time to see who the
crazy, screaming woman was before she found herself being tackled and
dragged across the floor away from the window. On any other day she
would have instantly flipped this lunatic onto the floor but due to
her current weakness, Allana's kicks and slaps barely had any
effect. "Whoa, what the hell!? Get off me you psycho!" Her
vision cleared as the woman stepped back, yet still holding tightly
to Allana's sore arms. "Honey I know you're shocked, but
everything is going to be fine. Whatever you're feeling we
can help you with, do you know where you are? You're at Domi-"
The rambling idiot was dressed in a form fitting white suit with a
red cross on her hat, a nurse's hat, pulled loosely over her soft
pink hair. Allana raised an eyebrow and squirmed, "Ok,
ok, hold it hon. You're gonna have to stop talking. First
off let me go, and why the hell did you just tackle me??" The nurse blinked, eyes lingering into her own for a few seconds.
"You were jumping out of the window! You aren't even supposed to
be up, how on Earth did you get these tubes out-" Before Allana had
to shut her up again, Dr. Trinh came into the room. "How
is our patient Nurse Trinity? Hopefully everything- Oh, you're
already awake." He looked up from his clip board and smiled Allana
until he saw the nurse's face. "What's wrong? Is everything
ok?" "I don't think so, Doctor. It looks like we have
a jumper, I walked in to check on her and found her on the ledge."
Nurse Trinity stood beside him now with her arms crossed, both adults
staring at Allana who stared back with a raised eyebrow. "First off, my name is Allana, and no I was not trying to
jump, I was going to the gardens down there. That's all. And
to answer your question Nurse Tyrant, I pulled those wires out. I
hate needles and you aren't putting them back in." She shuddered
and crossed her arms, challenging them. Nurse Trinity
stared at her before turning on her heel to the door. "I'll just
let you handle her Doctor. I'll go check on Mr. Johansson." Trinh
watched her leave and stepped closer with another warm smile, not
intimidated by Allana's sudden attitude. "Well nice to meet you
Allana, I'm Dr. Trinh. Do you know how you got here?" "Yep, I've already talked to Kaiba. No need to fill me in. And
I'm fine now, I don't need an IV anymore." The doctor
chuckled and pulled out a pen light and put on his stethoscope from
his neck, "Well we'll just check everything out and see if you
still need them or not." Allana narrowed her eyes
suspiciously, "Ok…I guess…" So for the next 20 minutes, Dr.
Trinh checked out her eyes (being extremely shocked himself),
listened to her heart, checked for anything broken or strained and
Allana's blood pressure. No shots thank God, but she wasn't ready
to go without the IV, much to her dismay. "Now you just
stay in bed and Nurse Trinity will get you something good to eat.
Then later maybe you can go outside for a bit." He chuckled,
"And no jumping out of windows. We don't need you breaking
anything on top of all this." Allana scoffed a little to
herself. "I'm fully capable of jumping out of the window. I'm
Cat. That's what we do." She lied back, moving her wrist to try
and shake off the teeth-gritting feeling of the IV. The large
jolly man laughed again, "Ah, kids, always thinking up the craziest
things." Give me a break."Ah, here's
Nurse Trinity with your lunch. I hope you enjoy it, meatloaf with
corn and peaches, and some nice jell-o for dessert! I'll be in
later to check on you, behave now." Allana looked down at
the tray and wrinkled her nose when she smelled the rubber-looking
meat, classic cafeteria food. "Now eat this Allana, you need to get
your strength back up. Even if you could land safely from that
window, you wouldn't make it now- that's for sure." Tyrant left
the bubbling tray on her lap and disappeared to the restroom across
the room, emerging a few minutes later with tub of soapy water and a
wash cloth. "To clean you up, you're filthy. Dirt smudged all over
your face and what not. And after we're done with this, we're
going to get that collar off. What happened to you anyway?" Tyrant
sat down on a stool, starting to wipe off her face. "That's
none of your concern… I don't remember anyway. So don't even
ask." Ok, so she was being rude, but this nosey woman tackled her
to the floor and insulted her hygiene! Plus she just didn't like
her, didn't really need a reason. Nurse Trinity blinked,
not used to being snapped at and sighed. "Alright, forget I asked…
Are you related to Seto Kaiba? You seem to have his…personality."
"Haha! I wish! I'm just uh… his new friend."
The nurse didn't like the sly look growing over Allana's face but
nodded anyway. "I see." The girl stuck her shoulder out
towards the nurse to clean off and purred, getting chill bumps. Now
this was the life! Ohhh yeah. "Speaking of Kaiba,
where did he go?" Tyrant shook her head and shrugged, "Who
knows, Kaiba is a very busy young man, president of Kaiba Corp and
everything. He told the doctor that he'd be back later this
afternoon though." Oh, good! He is coming back. Allana
leaned sideways and hung her feet over the side towards Trinity,
noticing her sandals on the floor beside the bed. "And how are you
planning on getting this collar off? You can't just pull it by the
chain until it pops you know, I tried." The Nurse leaned away, a
little repulsed by the bottoms of Allana's dirt-covered feet; which
she expected her to clean off. "Uhm…heh, well I'm not sure yet
but I'll think of something." She dipped the cloth again and
reluctantly scrubbed the dirt off her patient's heel. Now this
she could have done herself! "Ahh, that's it. I hate
having dirty feet, don't you? Such a pain to scrub- Hey! I know,
why don't you get the janitor to this place? He has to have a lock
pick or something in those closets of his around here." Allana
perked up, tugging at the metal chain. "Huh, good
thinking Allana. I'll go find him right now, you keep
washing off!" Tyrant was thankful to be off the hook and quickly
handed Allana the cloth, hurrying out of the room. "Aww…
Well there goes my pedicure." She rolled her eyes and finished up
until there was no more dirt. Hey… Tyrant isn't here anymore…
The sly expression appeared once again as the stalked over to the
window, opening it once again so the warm breeze blew in her face.
"Ugh…" Allana winced as she climbed onto the ledge for the
second time, the soreness of her back flaring up. "Ow! Get the hell off 'a me! Chokin' me
to death!" Nurse Trinity and the janitor beside her, stood there
staring as Allana scratched and kicked the air, flailing around in
circles, eyes shut tight. "Allana, I told you to stay in
bed! Do not go near the window again or I'll have to tell
Doctor Trinh!" The nurse was having a fit and this cat girl was
getting very annoyed. Oh yeah, these two were not going to get
a long. She stood up with a glare and sat back down on the bed,
rubbing her throat. Yeah, you keep on and see what happens, you
witch. "Ok, ignoring what you just did to me, again,
get this collar off, it's killing me." "Ah…Ok.
Allana this is Eddie. He doesn't have a lock pick, but he can
unscrew the latch that's keeping it closed." Eddie gave her a
slight nod and held up his screwdrivers. "Alright, now just move
your hair back and let me take a look at it. No lock, body fluid, or
dirt pile is a match for me!" Aww, a simple little janitor proud
of his work, cute. Allana silently complied, bowing her head to
reveal the clamp. "Oh, that's it? Don't you worry
Allana; this thing will be off in a jiffy!" With that, Eddie
selected the right tool and began to work. "There's a lot of sand
stuck in between, making it a little hard to turn." The girl sighed with relief,
straightening back up and rubbing her neck, "Alright! Thanks,
Eddie!" She happily picked up the collar and smugly tossed it
across the room to the trash can. This is so great, I'm finally
free, and I can work on helping Yugi and getting home somehow.
Ugh…But now I really am tired. I guess going outside will have to
wait until later. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to crash here for a while
after all… Allana yawned and then abruptly waved Nurse Trinity
and Eddie off towards the door. "I'm tired, so you two need to
leave. And don't wake me for any retarded doctor reasons." Before
Trinity could object, her patient was already under the covers with
her back turned towards them, faking a loud obnoxious snore. "But…Alla- UGH, I give up." Nurse Tyrant shrieked and stormed
off, pink hair whipping Eddie in the face before he followed her.
"You're welcome…I guess." Allana ignored them and
closed her eyes, dimming the lights until they were completely off
and snuggled up. The bedding wasn't too comfortable, but she was
too drained to complain and ended up falling into a dreamless sleep
thinking about Kaiba.
As soon as
she comes to, I'll find out how she got to my doorstep. Why am I
waiting here anyway? I should just leave; she's in the hospital-
and she definitely isn't my problem. Kaiba shook his head and
crossed his legs, Kaiba Corp doesn't need anymore media
attention… What's wrong with me? Why do I care so much?
"They must be contacts."
Oh, damn.
"I'm no fool. I deal
with greedy business men every day trying to bluff their way into my
company. My name is Se-"
"What's all that for?" Allana managed to choke
out while trying to swallow the meat. She was SO hunting after this.
"Now, time to
get me some real food," She crouched down, ready to spring, "Hyah-
AUGH!!!" Yep, you saw it coming. Yet again surprise, surprise,
Allana was caught at the last moment and dragged away from the
window, this time by a pudgy, yet a lot stronger than her,
hairy-armed man. Worse is that he accidentally caught her by the
chain, so she was choked until she hit the floor gasping for breath
and coughing,
Allana
winced, "Yeah I can tell, ooww."
"Oops, sorry!"
After
a bit of hard twisting, it finally got past the blockage, collar soon
clanking heavily to the floor.