Chapter 1: An Old Friend
Seto Kaiba's limo made its way toured Domino City High School. Normally it would have only taken fifteen to twenty minuets to get to the school from the Kaiba Mansion, but today he felt like getting up early and riding around the city. It was 6:20 in the morning and the limo was making its way through the City Dumps (AKA, the poorer side of town). He didn't really know why he went this way, but something made it feel to him that it was right.
Seto ordered the driver to go down what seemed to be a "clean" street. The driver obeyed and turned onto the street. Most of the houses lights were out (except for the occasional porch light), all except for one. The house looked a little run down, but was in better shape than most of the houses that surrounded it. This houses downstairs lights were all on and shown brightly out onto the road. Seto ordered the driver to stop and turn off the headlights in front of the off set house.
From inside the limo, Seto peered into the living room window. From what he could see, the TV was on and a man and girl were inside the room. The man looked to be about twenty-four, twenty-five years old, and the girl looked about sixteen or seventeen. The man was holding what appeared to be a beer bottle and was obviously drunk, for he staggered a little bit. The man was also yelling at the girl. Seto got a clear view of the man's face: dark brown hair, green eyes, and white skin. But unfortunately, Seto didn't get a glimpse of the girl for her back was to the window. All Seto knew was that she had brown hair with red and blond natural highlights.
All of a sudden, the man in the window hit the girl with his beer-free hand a crossed her face and sent her to the floor. Then the man started to kick the girl with powerful blows. Finally, The man walked away from the girl and into another room. As quickly as she could, the girl got up painfully, and quickly limped to the door clutching her side where the man had been kicking her. She opened the door wide and ran out of the house, still clutching her side. The man caught her doing so and ran to the open doorway, beer still in hand. The girl was halfway down the front walk when the man chucked his beer bottle at the girl, nearly missing her head.
The girl fell but quickly picked herself up and started running for a clump of trees on the other side of the road. The man back in the house, had slammed the door and when back to the living room, sat down, grabbed a new beer bottle, and watched the TV. The man paid no more attention to the girl. Seto watched the girl run toured the trees. Without realizing what he was doing, Seto got out of the limo and closed the door behind him. The noise of the closing door caught the girl's attention and she stopped dead in her tracks, in the middle of the road, and turned to the sound. She saw Seto standing there and froze in fear.
Seto instantly recognized the girl. Her name was Kenzel. She had been in the orphanage before Mr. Kaiba adopted Mokuba and himself. Kenzel was a quiet, peaceful, pretty, and fearful girl back then, and she hardly talked to anyone. Seto and Mokuba found out why, the hard way.
Flashback:
One day, Mokuba asked Kenzel I she wanted to play with them. She looked up from her book and looked at Mokuba with frightened brown eyes. Seto was behind Mokuba, and as soon as her eye's landed on his, a sudden smile appeared on her face. She nodded her head slightly and got up from her chair. But the minuet she took one step away from the chair, a boy, much older than Seto at the time, came up to her and pushed her back into the seat. The boy looked exactly like the man in the living room, only younger. The boy yelled at the girl, telling her that she was to go back reading the book and not to talk to anyone. Seto tried to protest with the older boy, but this only made him even madder. The older boy told Seto his name (Johnny), said that he was Kenzel's older brother, and that he could tell her what to do no matter what. Seto tried once again to protest with the boy, but this time, the girl interrupted him.
"You better go." She said as tears started to flood her eyes. Seto gave her an angry look.
"Are you just going to let him push you around like th…" he started to say but was once again interrupted by the girl.
"JUST GO!" she screamed. Seto seemed a little taken back at her voice, but lead Mokuba away from the brother and sister, leaving them alone. But he was in for a surprise later that night when she showed up at there room. Seto was the one who opened the door. Mokuba was asleep. She said that she was sorry for the actions of her brother and that they should probably keep a distance from each other for a while. Before he could say anything to her, she kissed him on the cheek and hurried away and out of sight.
End of Flashback:
"Kenzel!" Seto called to her, "Are you ok?" Kenzel looked surprised. No one had called her by her real name since she was in the orphanage.
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" She asked in a squeaky frightened voice.
"Kenzel! It's Seto from the orphanage. Remember? Seto and Mokuba?" Kenzel's eyes went wide.
"Seto?" she asked him. Seto nodded his head and moved closer to her. But to his surprise, Kenzel turned and ran into the trees.
"Kenzel! Wait!" He yelled as he ran after her. While Kenzel was running through the trees, trying to escape from Seto's presents she tripped on an upturned root and fell face down on the ground. Seto had caught up to her by then and knelt down beside her, put his arms around her, and brought her close to his chest. Kenzel broke down in the arms of her old friend. Seto rocked her with his arms, hoping to calm her down, which it did. Seto looked down at her face. It was badly beaten up and bruised. Her hazel eyes looked dull and her once so lively hair looked as dull as her eyes.
"What happened to you?" he asked as he continued to rock her in his arms. Kenzel told him everything. From when Mokuba and him left, to being adopted by her older brother, and how he became a victim of Alcohol every night from then on. Seto listened to her story silently. Once she was done he helped her off the ground.
"You're coming with me Kenzel. I don't want to see you being beaten up even more than you already are." Kenzel started to protest but Seto stopped her by pressing his finger to her lips. It was 7:13 am by the time Seto helped Kenzel into the back of the limo and they were n their way to the Kaiba Mansion. Seto called the school telling them that he was sick and wouldn't be in that day. Once they reached the Kaiba Mansion, Seto helped Kenzel out of the limo and into the mansion. Once inside, Seto lead the way upstairs to a spare room. Mokuba had already caught the bus for school, so it was a good thing he was gone cause back when they were in the orphanage, Mokuba had a crush on Kenzel. Seto helped Kenzel over to the bed in the room so she could lie down.
"Get some rest, Kenzel. You're going to need it to keep your strength up." Seto said and turned for the door. Before he closed it, Kenzel spoke up.
"Seto! You do know John's going to come looking for me right?" Seto turned to her. She was as pretty as she was in the orphanage, even though she was covered in cut's and bruises.
"Ya, I know. But what he doesn't know is that you're here with me. I won't let him abuse you anymore Kenzel. Your safe here." Kenzel smiled and Seto's heart did a summersault.
"You're almost the same as I remember you all those years ago. You've grown up so much though. Thank you Seto," she said as her eye's light up like the used to a long time ago. Like the sunrise.
" No problem Kenzel. You're worth it. Now get some rest." He said to her and closed the door. As Seto made his way to his room down the hall, he couldn't help but wonder if her was starting to fall in love with his old friend.
