Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. That honor belongs specifically to Kazuki Takahashi. I do, however, own this plot and the characters Mizuki Asahi and Teruo Sato.
Note: This story takes pieces from both the anime and the manga. Be prepared for things to not line up exactly with either piece as differences exist between the two.
Summary: Seto Kaiba can't let go of a millennia old obsession. Can he be saved when he realizes he cannot win this time? SetoxKisara-centric.
Warning: This story has strong language, violence, underage drinking, underage drunkenness, suggested character insanity, and character death/suicide and has been rated accordingly. If you do not want to or are not allowed to read about any of these, please exit the story immediately. Also, due to the warnings above and their affect on the character, there is definite OOC, especially towards the end. Don't flame me for it; I warned you it would be there.
Obsession: King of Hearts
Seto Kaiba was a man ruled by emotions; and although many thought otherwise, he was finally beginning to understand this fact. When he disliked a person or idea or thing or noun of any sort, he either tried his hardest to keep it from mind and life, or used all the weight of his company's power to destroy it. When he liked, appreciated, enjoyed, or in any other way found pleasure in a person, idea, place, or thing, he became obsessed with it, with preserving it for himself and for all time. Although the CEO of a technological company, and himself a fan of computer programming, the man could not seem to let logic control his life – after all, he was not one of his own brainchildren, although he sometimes wished it so.
But the young CEO had only stumbled upon this fact fairly recently. If he had been told so even months previous, he would have denied it with an icy glare and a cold shoulder. He was just now beginning to understand his weakness.
He bit his lower lip as he studied the card he held carefully in his left hand. He turned it over and stared at the plain back then flipped it back over, only to come into contact with those piercing blue eyes once again. He frowned and his brows creased as his gaze momentarily left the card he cared so much about, obsessed over really, and glanced at the unread e-mail staring back at him from his computer monitor.
It had taken at least a month for Seto Kaiba to finally gain the courage to ask for the information he seeked after finally realizing that no amount of research could come up with all of the information he wanted – no, needed.
It was his obsession to finally understand and believe that had led him to contacting Ishizu Ishtar two months after he had flown to Egypt and hallucinated that entire time, an entire life, in Ancient Egypt. He had believed it to be due to Yugi Mutou and his annoying friends and that strange British kid Ryou Bakura at first, and had tried to push it out of his mind and life after the whole ordeal – just as he had before his little trip; but for some reason, a reason he was finally beginning to understand and accept, it had not been so easy to brush off the memory as quickly as he had anticipated.
Although he disagreed completely with the idea of and the existence of magic, miracles, and the inexplicable, it was not the problem he had with the lecture Yugi had given him so many times. It was the idea that everything that happened, everything that he did, was pre-ordained, destined to occur. He had not liked the idea of not being in charge of his own fate. He had worked so hard to get his brother and himself first out of the orphanage and then out of Gozaburo Kaiba's wicked control. He had built Kaiba Corporations into the success it was. And these simple kids thought they had the right to tell him it was destined to happen? No, Seto Kaiba did not like that idea one bit. So he had pushed it away; refused to accept it or even consider it. But her eyes had changed it all.
The blue-eyed businessman finally returned his gaze to the entrancing blue eyes on the card in front of him. She had those eyes. Whenever he was threatened, she had those eyes: angered and caring, cold covered worry. Others saw destruction and hate, they only saw the mask. He saw beyond, he felt beyond – into the dragon's soul. Whether it was in play and on the field, or on cardstock in his hand, he had always felt a strong connection to the Blue Eyes White Dragon. And it had only grown since he ran into her in that Ancient Egyptian alley. Now he could not get her eyes out of his mind: loving but scared, self-assured but meek; Kisara was all he found his mind dwelling on when he allowed himself to rest for even a moment or two.
He set the card down on his desk, where he could easily keep it in his sight while he worked and turned his full attention to the monitor. He finally opened the letter.
The first paragraph was of no honorable mention. Of course Ishizu had to congratulate him on finally accepting, or at least considering the possibility of, his past life. It was not until the second paragraph that he truly started reading the e-mail instead of the quick skimming he had been doing previously. She had attached images of tablets and documents that had to do with him or the White Dragon and had also written up translations of all the hieroglyphics on each tablet and on each papyrus.
Seto Kaiba clicked on the first image and the picture immediately loaded, showing the ever-so familiar tablet of his past self facing Yugi's past self. He zoomed in on the hieroglyphs and ran the slightly fuzzy image through a program. Much to his surprise, he was able to understand the pictographs once he could clearly see them; he never had to open the translated file!
This had happened before, he remembered, during his first Tournament when he was researching the Winged Dragon of Ra Egyptian God Card. He had thought it had been a mere fluke then, but now he was not too sure. If what Yugi, Ishizu, and everyone else had been telling him was true, if she had actually existed, then his past self would be completely fluent in the language.
He opened all of the untranslated images Ishizu sent him and could, and did, read each and every one. It was drawing near sunrise the next day, but he could not tear his eyes away from the screen except to glance momentarily at the card that started it all, his whole mad search for something that his mind told him could not have possibly happened but his heart begged to be true.
----
He closed his eyes and shook his head to get over the small headache that had begun to form from staring at the computer for too long. He had finally finished and he had yet to remember anything from a past life, though he had to admit a lot of what he read sounded familiar; but that could have just been from all the spiels he had received about his past life from Ishizu and the hallucinations, possibly visions, from her necklace and that all-too-familiar tablet.
The next day was pure hell for Seto Kaiba. He usually managed to get a few hours of sleep in between his long and grueling work hours, but he had not even left the office the last night because he had been so caught up in that e-mail – that e-mail that had not even proven anything to him. A wasted night, he decided when his secretary came in at seven o'clock with a disapproving look when she noticed the exhausted CEO was still wearing yesterday's suit. Mokuba had even stopped by before school to reprimand him for never coming home the night before. When Seto asked how the boy had known, he had been forced by duty to ground him when the boy responded he was old enough to not fall asleep half-way through the night while waiting for him to come home – or at least call.
All in all, the day was not going well, and considering the meeting he had with the board members that afternoon, things were not going to be looking up any time soon.
----
It was not until later that night that Seto Kaiba sat down in one of the pneumatic chairs in his living room, his laptop closed on the table beside him, and his jacket and tie on the back of the chair. His shirt was slightly unbuttoned at the top, so as to give him more room to breathe and relax while the sleeves of his shirt were pushed back toward his elbows. A clear glass with the remnants of some alcoholic beverage sat next to the laptop because, although he was not yet twenty, it was simple enough for him to get liquor and, with a stressful job such as his, he needed a drink to relax every once in a while.
He twirled one of his almighty Blue Eyes White Dragon cards absentmindedly between two fingers, staring at the creature whenever it turned face-up to greet him.
"This is all just a bunch of hocus-pocus crap," he sighed as his eyes flickered once out a nearby window before returning to the card in his right hand. "You're not real, you never were; were you? You're just a card," he said to the thing before realizing what he was doing and groaning in disgust as he tossed the card on top of his laptop. For some reason, a part of him felt bad for saying that, and another part felt as if he had somehow lost a very precious part of himself. Even the dragon's eyes on the card seemed to take a sullen turn. He sighed and rested his head in his hands, wishing to just escape from it all.
A servant knocked on the door and brought in a tray with a glass of water and a singular pill – Seto Kaiba's savior. The exhausted, overworked CEO took the pill willingly and downed it with the glass of water at a rate he did not know he could move at considering how tired he was; but he knew the pill was a necessity. The little sleeping pill he took every night before he went to bed kept the dreams away, kept her away. He was able to sleep the way he had before he had become involved with Yugi Mutou and his whole group of friendship-preaching followers.
As the pill began to take effect, he retired to his room, making sure to make a quick pit stop to check on his sleeping brother before quickly undressing and collapsing into his comfortable and much missed bed. He smirked softly, something akin to a smile, as his eyes shut and his body relaxed and his breathing deepened.
----
The alarm clock beeped loudly, someone was pounding on the door, the sun shone through a crack in the curtains over the large bay windows in his room.
Mokuba Kaiba yelled through the door, telling his older brother to turn off the alarm clock which had been beeping for quite a while since the man was normally up before the sun.
The exhausted CEO sat straight up, soaked in a cold sweat, eyes wide and fearful as he clutched at his chest and heaved for his breath. He had had that dream again; the one where she died. But, for some reason, this time it seemed more real, more tragic. He still felt the clogging created in his throat and the pressure building in his eyes from nearly crying as she breathed her last in his arms. He had to delete that e-mail as soon as possible!
Once he regained his surroundings and calm demeanor he shut off the alarm and shouted to Mokuba that he was up before actually stepping out of bed and preparing himself for another day at the office. He was glad that he had gotten ahead in work yesterday; it meant that he would not be behind today due to his sleeping in, but for a moment he wondered how much he would actually be able to focus on the work he needed to complete. Never before had he dreamt when on his sleeping pills, and never before had he ever dreamt so vividly. But his company did not wait for him, as much as he wished it, and others thought it, to be; so he grabbed a piece of toast from the maid as he tossed his suit jacket on and took his coffee in a thermos.
By the time his white town car pulled up in front of the impressive Kaiba Corp. building, he had inhaled his toast and fixed his blue necktie which he had put on haphazardly without a mirror while running down the stairs that morning. He calmly sipped some of the coffee as he looked through the e-mails that had piled up in the six hours since he had last checked it. Because he held business contacts internationally, including silicon companies for his computer chips in California, a place approximately seventeen hours behind Japan, important e-mails and phone calls could come at all hours of the night. For Seto Kaiba, business truly never slept, and his schedule had morphed to one that allowed for the necessary management.
He finally deleted the last piece of spam mail that had somehow managed to worm its way into his mail box when the e-mail Ishizu had sent him popped up. He cursed as the images began to load and quickly went to shut the e-mail before he had to deal with the whole thing again, but could not press the delete button as he had planned.
"Do you really want to be rid of me Seto-sama?" a voice asked and the man looked around him only to confirm that he was alone in the back of the car. But how had he heard her voice? He knew it was her because she was the only one to call him that. He knew it was her because he had memorized her soft, melodic voice a long time ago; he could recognize it anywhere. He closed the window the e-mail was open on and shut the laptop, shaking his head to be rid of all thoughts of her before stepping out of the door as the chauffeur opened it for him.
----
So far, this day had gone considerably better than the previous for Seto Kaiba. The shipments of the latest duel disk chips had reached all their destinations across the globe without so much as a glitch; he was making off like a bandit with the newest deal he had struck with his silicon suppliers in the U.S; his stocks had almost hit a new record high. Needless to say, Seto Kaiba was a happy man. But when the company was running so smoothly, there was very little for him to do, which gave him a lot of time to sit and think and Seto Kaiba was beginning to realize that this was a dangerous thing.
The only sound that could be heard in the office was the ticking of the clock on the wall to his right as Seto Kaiba continued to stare at the computer screen. His hands folded on his desk in front of him, he could not seem to lift one to the mouse to press the delete button or open the e-mail back up. This indecision and confusion was killing him and he was sure it would begin to affect his work soon.
With much difficulty, he brought his right hand to the mouse and placed the arrow over the delete button.
"Seto-sama, do you really want to lose me?" the voice, her voice, came again.
Seto Kaiba looked up from the monitor, but could not see anyone in his office. After several minutes of silent watching, he brought his gaze back to the computer screen and back to the delete button.
"Please, Seto-sama, do not leave me."
This time, the brunette stood up, sliding his black office chair back a few feet as he walked away from his desk and looked through his entire office for a person or a speaker. He even opened the door and looked outside, but not a soul was there. His receptionist had even left for lunch. He slowly shut the door and walked back to his desk, settling himself back in his chair and calming his breathing.
He looked down at the card on his desk and the dragon's eyes seemed to be pleading with him. He quickly dropped the card into his top drawer and slammed it shut. He dropped his head into his hands and closed his eyes in exhaustion, frustration, and confusion. He was not going crazy! It was just that stupid e-mail. Ishizu probably did something to it, although for the life of him he could not figure out what. Still, there had to be a logical explanation behind this, he was not actually hearing voices.
He brought his hand back to the mouse and was about to click delete once and for all when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Seto-sama, please!" she begged of him.
He jumped out of his chair and turned around only to face air. "Who's there?!" he called out anxiously. "Speak now!" No one responded. "I could have security up here in a moment's notice – this is trespassing!" He still found no response. He brought his hands to his forehead and ran them over his face. His eyes were wide with anxiety and fright and his hands were shaking. What was happening to him?
"I need…something," he murmured to himself as he brought his hands down from his face, "something to relax me."
He walked over to a cabinet and slipped the duel monsters card locket into a slot next to the doors. It took mere moments before he heard the sounding click signifying that the doors had unlocked, but to Seto Kaiba it seemed like centuries. He ripped open the doors and reached his hand in to grab the first bottle it came in contact with. Whiskey, an American hard liquor he had had imported for when the lighter Japanese alcohol was not enough. Seto Kaiba smirked tiredly; now was definitely such a time.
The tall brunette ripped open the bottle and raised it to his lips, draining as much of the amber liquid as he could before it burned his esophagus and brought tears to his eyes. He slammed the bottle down on his desk and brought his left hand up to his chest as he coughed the burn away.
He looked wearily back at the computer screen as he caught his breath from the strong drink. The e-mail still sat there, teasing him.
"Seto-sama."
He was not sure if the voice was in his head or if he truly was hearing her and so he took another swig from the bottle of Jack Daniel's.
He felt her fingertips brush against his cheek, and his eyes – which had already been closed against the strong alcohol – clenched even tighter because he knew that what was happening could not be real.
"Seto-sama, will you not look at me?"
The voice, it sounded so real to him. She might have been in that very room with him.
"Kisara?" he asked pleadingly as he slowly opened his eyes. His pupils were already dilated, showing signs of the strong effects the alcohol was having on him.
The white-haired, blue-eyed haunting from his dreams and nightmares stood before him, smiling beatifically. The CEO, forgetting who and where he was, stretched out a clumsy hand to rest on her cheek, only to have it go right through the image.
"Kisara," he murmured dejectedly, "You make me look, but I cannot touch?" He lifted the bottle once more to his lips.
When he brought the bottle down, the girl gazed at him worriedly and sadly, "Seto-sama, what do you mean? I am right here."
The man reached his hand out again and touched solid flesh this time. "Kisara," he mumbled happily before pulling the girl tightly against him. "Kisara." He could not seem to stop saying her name. She was truly there, in front of him.
"Seto-sama," she cried happily in response.
"Kisara," he asked as he pulled away, "Where have you been? All this time, I couldn't find you."
"Why, I was with you, Seto-sama," she replied with wide, innocent eyes, "I've always been with you, protecting you. You just refused to see me."
"I see you now," he murmured as he once more pulled the girl flush against him, "I will not let you go."
"But, Seto-sama-"
"I refuse," he stated firmly as he planted his lips against hers, "You won't ever leave me, will you?"
She smiled and reached up to kiss him chastely, "I would never want to."
"I knew you had to be real," Seto Kaiba stated as he caressed Kisara's face, "When I saw you in that alley, I knew you had to be real."
Kisara smiled softly, "Of course I am real; I am here, aren't I?"
Seto Kaiba nodded his reply, choosing to forego vocals for the chance to place a kiss on her delicate neck and inhale her scent, "I would believe anything I was told if it meant you were real."
"It has been a long time, Seto-sama," Kisara said as she shied away from the man's advances, "I was sure that you had forgotten me."
Seto sighed and withdrew himself from the girl's intoxicating presence. He ran his hand through his hair as he took a few deep breaths. "I did," he admitted, "At first I had completely forgotten everything. There is still very little of that time that I do remember. I know that it has to be real, though, because you have to be real." His hands clenched as the seriousness of the man's plea came crashing down in the room, "You have to be real because I cannot function without you. Ever since I saw you in that alley, you've been on my mind. I have dreams. I can't focus at work. I feel stressed. I cannot sleep. But, now that you are here, I feel calm. So, you have to be real."
Kisara smiled sympathetically and opened her mouth to reply, but the door to the office opened as Seto Kaiba's secretary poked her head in to tell the man she had returned from her lunch.
"Can't you see I'm busy here?!" the angered CEO shouted at his secretary as he gestured to the woman in front of him.
His secretary looked to the space the man was pointing and a confused look came over her face. What was he talking about? But she dare not question the volatile man who held her job in his violent hands; she needed the money this position paid.
She apologized once and then left, closing the door quietly behind her before picking up her phone and calling security. What had her boss been doing before she walked in?
Back in his office, Seto Kaiba shook his head and sighed angrily at the stupidity of his staff. He turned to where Kisara was standing.
"She will not last the week-" he began but stopped when he noticed the girl was no longer there.
"Kisara?" he questioned blankly as he looked around the room, but she had disappeared completely.
The disgruntled brunette collapsed into his leather office chair with a slight frown on his face as he considered where the girl might have disappeared to.
"Kisara," he sighed and once more lifted the bottle of Jack Daniel's to his lips.
Seto Kaiba gladly left the moment he finished his work for the day, heading home much earlier than usual. His secretary had been giving him weird looks all day and Kisara had not come back and he might have drunk a little too much of that whiskey because his head was beginning to hurt. His town car seemed a sanctuary as he reached it and plopped inside, immediately rolling up the separator between front and back.
It was five-thirty, about time for Mokuba's club activities to be over for the day. The boy would probably appreciate his brother coming to pick him up, so he ordered his driver to Domino Junior High before heading home.
"You had a long day, didn't you?" a feminine voice came from the seat next to him. Seto Kaiba looked to his right in surprise before smiling tiredly. "I have no clue how you got in here, but I'm glad you're here, Kisara," Seto Kaiba sad as he softly laid his hand on top of hers. "I'm here to help you feel better," she continued as she patted her lap, "Go ahead and lie down, I'm sure you could use it." The CEO took the offer, willingly placing his head on her lap. The woman began to thread her fingers through his hair, gently massaging his aching head and dulling the pain. He groaned in pleasure and sighed as he relaxed even further.
"I am glad I left early today," he continued to talk to the girl, "I get this treatment from you and I will get to pick my brother up from school. Would you like to meet him?" "Of course I'd like to meet your brother, Seto-sama," Kisara replied, her voice soft and melodic, "I'm sure he is just as amazing a person as you are." "My brother's probably a much better human than I am," he argued before falling into a light trance.
"Mr. Kaiba, sir, we have arrived," the driver called from the front of the car. Seto Kaiba quickly awoke and sat straight up, fixing his wrinkled shirt and rumpled hair before the door opened and he stepped out to greet his brother.
----
"Big Bro!" Mokuba Kaiba called as he raced toward the tall brunette standing in front of the car that usually came to pick him up. He did not know what had come over the company CEO to get him to leave work early, but he would not argue it. It had been several days since he had gotten to be with his brother and he would not look a gift horse in the mouth.
"I see club activities went well," Seto Kaiba responded as the younger boy stopped mere seconds away from what would have been a painful collision. Mokuba Kaiba grinned sheepishly as he picked at the bandage on his elbow. "It's nothing really," he said, "It barely even bled. Plus, it got me out of clean-up."
Seto Kaiba eyed the boy for one moment longer before letting it go. He had someone waiting for him in the car.
"Mokuba, I have someone I'd like you to meet," he began as the driver opened the door for the two. "For me?" the young boy asked curiously, "Is it a girl?!" "Yes, she is a lady," Seto Kaiba answered, "So treat her with respect, because she is important."
"Your girlfriend?" the boy couldn't help but ask teasingly.
"I don't have a girlfriend," the older brother said after clearing his throat, "But as I said, treat her nicely."
"Sure, sure," Mokuba Kaiba said before crawling into the vehicle.
"So, when do I meet her?"
"Don't be rude, she's right here," Seto Kaiba scolded as he sat back down in the car as well.
"Where?" the boy asked in confusion. Seto Kaiba sighed at his younger brother's rudeness before turning to where Kisara had been sitting. "Right here-" he began before realizing the girl was no longer where she had originally been. "Well, she was right here," he said as the car took off. "She is pretty shy, so she might have left while I was waiting for you, although she did say she wanted to meet you. I guess it'll have to wait." For some reason that he was not too sure of himself, Mokuba became quite wary of the girl.
"What's her name?" he asked his brother, trying to garner as much information on the girl as possible. "Her name is Kisara and she is truly an amazing woman," the brunette replied.
"Her last name?" Mokuba continued, "Is she the daughter of one of your business contacts?" "No, she's just an average person," Seto Kaiba answered, "Her last name isn't important."
"Then does she work for you? Is that how you met her?" the young boy continued. "I can see that you're wary of her, but just hold off on your judgment until you meet her," Seto Kaiba finally said, "You'll see why she's so important when you finally talk to her."
The rest of the car ride back to the mansion was spent in an awkward silence. Something was off with his older brother and it had to do with this Kisara. That much Mokuba Kaiba was sure of. But how to find this woman he knew nothing about was another problem he had no idea how to solve. His brother went into the house immediately when they arrived, but Mokuba dallied behind, taking extra time to grab his book bag and baseball equipment from the trunk of the car.
"Hey, was there a lady in the car with my brother today?" he asked the driver before heading inside. Maybe if he could figure out how she looked, he could find her. "Mr. Mokuba, sir, there was no one else in the vehicle," the man replied, "I was not ordered to pick up or drop anyone off but you and the master."
"What?" Mokuba asked in confusion, "But he said that he was talking with this girl named Kisara."
"Mister Kaiba must have been mistaken because I have not seen a woman with him all day," the man answered truthfully.
The younger Kaiba sighed as his face scrunched in thought. What could be going on with his brother? The man memorized inhuman amounts of data by just looking at it. He would not get his days confused. "Mister Mokuba, will there be anything else?" the driver asked the boy. "No, no," he replied after being shaken out of his thoughts. He picked up his baseball equipment that he had set on the ground previously and headed for the house. Hopefully things would clear up when he finally met the woman.
Mokuba Kaiba had the odd feeling he never would, though.
----
Mizuki Asahi stood next to the head of security at six o'clock that night.
Teruo Sato, head of Kaiba Corp. security, had received a call from Seto Kaiba's personal assistant and secretary commenting on the man's peculiar behavior, at one fifteen in the afternoon, and immediately promised to look into it.
What he found had made him very wary, so he had called Mizuki Asahi at one forty-five, telling her to come to the security office the moment she could. That happened to be when she was finally let off for the day, which is what currently led to the two standing before multiple television screens at six o'clock in the evening.
The head of security, a former member of Domino's police force, sighed as he gave the young woman to his right a glance before slipping a tape into the recorder and pressing play.
Seto Kaiba appeared on screen, staring intently at his computer screen. Just as he went to move his hand to the mouse, he paused and looked around the room. Somehow calming himself, he continued whatever he had been about to do before stopping once more and searching the entire office.
Mizuki Asahi watched in confusion.
Teruo Sato fast forwarded for a time before pressing play once more.
"Kisara?" the CEO on the screen questioned as he opened his eyes.
Mizuki Asahi could not help but notice the half-empty bottle of liquor on the edge of the man's desk and turned to the security head for answers.
Teruo Sato cleared his throat and nodded to the screen. The secretary returned her gaze to it in time to see the man reach his hand out then pull it back in surprise.
"Kisara," the man on screen called out, "You make me look, but I cannot touch?" He took another swig.
The video continued as the head of Kaiba Corp. held a conversation with an empty room; calling out to, holding, kissing this supposed Kisara until Mizuki Asahi herself interrupted after returning from lunch.
Teruo Sato stopped the tape and ejected it from the VCR. He held it carefully in one hand as he turned to Mizuki Asahi with a worried look on his face.
He had no clue what to do with this information. Was their boss going insane?
Mizuki Asahi chewed on her bottom lip as she thought this over then gave the man next to her a serious look. Dare they confront him?
Mizuki Asahi and Teruo Sato waited nervously for two o'clock. The security head had requested a meeting with the company's CEO stating an oddity in a security tape. The young heir had immediately made time for him. If Teruo Sato believed it was something to bring up to him, Seto Kaiba knew it must be important.
The meeting began normally with the security head stating it showed someone in the company acting abnormally. Seto Kaiba had been through several meetings that started like this. None of them before had involved his secretary being present, however. When he asked as to the reason why, Teruo Sato replied that she was the one to bring the abnormal actions to his attention.
Mizuki Asahi jumped up then, putting the tape into the VCR and pushing play. Seto Kaiba was shocked to see his own office. He turned questioningly to the two employees who stood to the side, heads bowed, effectively avoiding any and all eye contact with their employer.
This was what fully tipped Seto Kaiba off that this was not a normal security meeting.
"Kisara?" his voice called from the tape, "Kisara, you make me look but I can't touch?"
His head whipped to the screen just in time to see himself take another swig from the whiskey bottle. The girl that should have been standing right in front of him was nowhere to be seen on screen.
He turned questioningly, and nervously, to two of his most trusted employees, but they still refused to meet his eyes. Seto Kaiba watched the rest of the tape, stunned, as he held a conversation with an empty room and hugged and kissed air. There should have been a beautiful blue eyed girl there, but there was nothing. The tape was stopped when Mizuki Asahi poked her head through the doors on the tape to announce that she was back from lunch.
They swore they did nothing to change the tape and that no one else could have altered it at any time either. Seto Kaiba knew Kisara had been in that room with him, though. He had touched her warm skin!
His driver had talked to them that morning as well, questioning them about a young woman master Kaiba had thought he had been in the car with yesterday afternoon. The young master Mokuba had questioned him on it, but there had been no lady in the car. The driver had actually been surprised because the master had almost immediately fallen asleep in the car. He had almost felt bad waking him when they reached Domino Junior High.
Seto Kaiba collapsed into his chair and placed his head in his hands. What did this mean? The girl he could converse with, touch, and hold could not be seen by anyone else.
The two employees left their bewildered boss to sort through his thoughts, Teruo Sato making sure to take the alcohol out of the lost-looking man's reach first.
----
The place was full of salary men celebrating a week of work finished and a weekend of freedom or time with their family ahead. Loud hoots and drunken guffaws could be heard from the private rooms where companies or groups were celebrating a business success.
Seto Kaiba sulked over the drink he was currently nursing, several empty glasses already in front of him. The blessed thing of having so much power in this city was that no one stood against him. If he wanted to drink to oblivion, he could. No one would stop him.
He wanted to see her again.
He drank until the shop owner cut him off then moved onto the next shop, continuing this pattern until he was too drunk for the shop owners to even let him in the building. By then he was gone. He didn't remember what brought him to Domino City Park, but he suddenly found himself sitting on a bench facing the clock tower.
Kisara had not shown herself the entire night.
"Where are you?!" he shouted into the night, almost falling off the bench. He dropped his head into his hands and clenched at his hair, further mussing his already slovenly appearance.
"Kaiba!" called a young voice to his right, "Is that you?"
He looked over, completely lost, to find his ever-rival, Yugi Mutou, watching him with worried eyes.
Everything in his mind immediately snapped into a skewed picture that the drunken man understood perfectly.
"You!" he shouted as he stood and stumbled a couple steps toward the boy, "This is all your fault! You did this to me! And you got that…that bitch from Egypt to help you, too!"
Yugi stood shocked in confusion as the man took a few more fumbling steps towards him.
"It's all your fault!" the brunette continued. "That stupid hallucination where I met her! All this past life nonsense! If it were real, why isn't she here?! Why am I the only one that can see her?! Answer that one, why don't you!"
"Kaiba, you're drunk," the young gamer began as he walked towards the belligerent CEO to help steady him, "You're not making any sense. Come back to the shop with me and you can sleep this off, okay?"
"Don't come near me!" Seto Kaiba roared as he fell backwards while trying to shrug the boy off. "Kisara! Where are you, Kisara?! If you're real, show yourself! Show yourself, damnit! You have to be real…"
The man sobbed into his hands, broken and confused. Yugi Mutou stood silently several feet away, allowing the man what privacy he could by not looking at him.
"Kisara," the drunken duelist sobbed piteously, "Why aren't you here? With me?"
A heavy weight thudded against his hip as he stood and he reached into his pocket to still the motion. The cold metal of the unregistered pistol he had bought after the first time he was attacked bit at his fingers as they brushed along the smooth barrel.
"I'm here…" he whispered to himself, "I'm here, Yugi's here, Bakura's here, Ishizu's here. Why not her?"
"Why not her?" he asked himself quietly as his hand gripped the butt of the pistol firmly.
"Why not her?" he asked a bit louder as he unlocked the safety.
"Why not her?" he asked Yugi specifically as he pulled back the hammer.
"Why not her?!" he finally screamed at the teen as he pulled the cocked gun out of his pocket and aimed it at his rival. "You're supposed to know everything about this, right?" he shouted, "So tell me: why isn't she here, too?!"
Yugi froze in shock and fear, his eyes focused completely on the barrel of the gun.
"Kaiba, it's me," he began shakily, "Put the gun down, okay? Kaiba, put the gun down. You're drunk and confused right now. Once you sober up, you'll be glad you put the gun down."
"I've never been thinking so clearly my entire life," the CEO replied coldly, "You have three seconds to answer or I shoot."
"Kaiba, no!"
"Three," the brunette began to count as he placed his finger on the trigger.
"Kaiba, please, put the gun down and we can discuss this at the shop," Yugi pleaded.
"Two."
"I can't answer you when I don't even know what you're talking about!" he continued in a panicked, cracking voice.
"One."
Seto Kaiba braced his body for the shot's recoil and aimed as steadily as he could. Yugi closed his eyes as his body stiffened in fear and expectation of the gunshot.
"Seto-sama!"
The bang echoed off the nearby buildings, but Yugi did not fall. The king of games slowly opened his eyes to see that Seto Kaiba had dropped his arm to his side. The pain did not come, nor did the cold or the light and Yugi finally relaxed as he realized he had not been shot.
"Kisara?" Seto asked the vision before him, "Kisara, is it really you?"
The woman smiled at him kindly before placing her hand on his arm in a comforting manner. "Keep the gun down, Seto-sama," she told the man, "You'd only regret it if you did kill him. He doesn't know what's going on. I don't want my Seto-sama to have innocent blood on his hands."
The safety finally clicked back on.
The beautiful woman gave the brunette a sad, guilty look before turning her head towards the King of Games. "I apologize, Pharaoh," she said and Yugi's eyes widened as his attention turned fully to the woman standing in front of the miserable CEO.
Kaiba noticed the change in his rival's focus.
"You can see her!" he accused, "You can see her, so she must be real! I knew she was real!"
Yugi turned an apologetic face to his rival. "Kaiba…" he began, "To me, she is not even half as substantial as the first holograms your company produced. This woman is not real."
Kaiba's growing jubilation shattered into a million pieces and his smirk dropped into a broken frown. "What?"
"She flickers in and out of my sight and I can see right through her," Yugi explained, "Kaiba, tell me what's going on."
The blue-eyed CEO turned his face to the ground and began muttering to himself. Yugi scooted closer to try to hear what he was saying.
"No, no, she has to be real. I can see her and touch her and talk to her. She has to be real. I say she's real, so she has to be real. She's here right now, so she has to be real…"
"Kaiba…" Yugi called out in a worried tone, but the CEO did not hear him.
"Kisara," he called out, "Kisara, tell them, show them you're real. You can do it, right? You said you wanted to meet Mokuba!"
"I would love to meet Mokuba, Seto-sama," Kisara replied, "But I never will; not in this form anyway."
"But, you said you had always been with me," Kaiba argued, "Are you going to leave me now?"
"No, of course not," the blue-eyed girl replied vehemently, "I will always be with you, though not in this form."
Kaiba gave the woman a confused look.
"I will be with you right here," she replied as she placed a hand to his chest. Kaiba knew she did not mean his heart, however, and reached into a pocket in his jacket's inner lining to pull out one of his Blue Eyes cards. He gave the woman a questioning look and she smiled fondly in reply.
"A card?" he asked in disgust, "all I get of you is a piece of cardstock?! This isn't even you on the card!"
"It is my ka," she responded, "And when it was trapped so long ago, my soul was trapped with it, pulling me from the cycle of reincarnation. I will never be in this earth as anything other than the card you hold in your hands this very moment."
Kaiba stared blankly at the woman as he considered the sobering news she had just told him. He would never have her. When he came to that conclusion, the alcohol's hold on his body and mind disappeared but his true temper snapped.
"Then why?!" he shouted at her, "Why do this to me? Why come to me and torture me when I could never be with you?! I've been searching for you ever since I first saw you in Egypt. Did you come back to torment me as some sort of sick revenge?!"
"No! Never! I would never do that to you Seto-sama!" the girl replied, "I came before you because you were searching for me. I wanted to let you know I was with you and always would be. But if this is what it does to you, then I would gladly leave if it meant you would get better."
"Will I never be with you then?" he asked gruffly, "Will I never meet you in your true form ever again?"
"I don't know," Kisara answered truthfully, "At the very least, you have a long life ahead of you. You will surely meet a woman much better suited to you than me."
"No! There is none," Seto Kaiba replied, "It's you or no one."
Kisara pursed her lips in disagreement.
"When I die, then," the brunette suggested, "When I die, can I see you again?"
"Kaiba…" Yugi warned, memories of the CEO standing on the edge of Pegasus's castle in Duelist Kingdom swimming to the forefront of his mind.
"Yes," the blue-eyed beauty responded, "I don't see why not. So long as your soul is not immediately pulled into reincarnation."
"Good," the man muttered under his breath, but Yugi read his rival's mind and immediately knew where it was headed.
"Kaiba! Don't forget about Mokuba!" he reminded the lost man, "Don't do anything stupid!"
Kisara looked questioningly between the two before catching Yugi Mutou's gaze on the gun still in Seto Kaiba's hand. Realization flashed behind her eyes.
"Seto-sama! Please don't even think it!" she argued, "I sacrificed myself so you could live. Don't throw that away now!"
"I have nothing holding me back in this world," the man responded, "Mokuba is more than taken care of and nothing else matters to me. If I die now, I probably will not be reincarnated, right?"
"Kaiba!" Yugi called out, "Don't do this."
"None of this is any of your business, Yugi," the man in question shouted back, "So shut up or leave now. Either way, stay out of my business."
The safety on the gun was once again clicked off.
"Seto-sama!" Kisara called out as she raced up to the man and grabbed hold of him, "Please don't. I don't want to see any harm come to Seto-sama."
"Kisara," Seto replied evenly, "Kisara, after this I can be with you forever."
"Seto-sama?" the white-haired woman questioned, "Forever?"
"I'll never leave you," he responded, "I will not reincarnate. It'd be pointless."
"Kaiba, think about what you're doing," Yugi warned. He still stood back, fear of where the gun was last pointed holding him in place.
"I'm not you, Yugi," Kaiba directed at his rival, "I can't just learn about my past and move on, leaving it all behind. I can't leave Kisara again."
"Kaiba! You are not your past self!" Yugi argued, "You are Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation and older brother to Mokuba Kaiba. You are not Priest Seto."
"Is there really a difference?" the man asked before changing the subject. "This is my last will and testament so pay close attention. I leave everything, including the company in Mokuba's hands. He will run the company autonomously. He is the only one that can carry on the dream I started that company with and the only one I trust to complete it. That is all."
Yugi glared at his rival for several moments. "There is a difference," he responded angrily, "You are the one tying yourself to your past. It does not have to be like this."
"Maybe it does," Kaiba replied as he held onto Kisara with one hand and pulled the hammer back on the pistol and brought the weapon to his head with the other, "After all, Yugi, you're the one who taught me not to fight fate.
A gunshot rang out for the second time that night in Domino. The ambulance Yugi had secretly rang for arrived mere minutes too late.
While the CEO's tragic death had been followed closely by the news since its occurrence, the funeral itself was quite small. Mokuba, Seto Kaiba's sole surviving family, had made sure only those closest to his brother appeared for the wake and the funeral.
Yugi Mutou stood to the side with Anzu Mazaki, Katsuya Jounouchi, and Hiroto Honda while Mokuba silently bid his older brother farewell. The teenager's ashes had just been buried.
"During the wake," Mokuba began before stopping to steady his voice and stop the nearing tears, "during the wake, I put the Blue Eyes cards in the casket."
"What?" Jounouchi and Honda asked in shock. They worked through in their head just how much money burning those cards had wasted, not to mention the power the dragon they represented held.
"That sounds about right," Yugi said with a soft smile toward the younger boy, "Those cards were truly meant for him anyway. No one else could have mastered them as your brother did because the Blue Eyes White Dragon was created millennia ago to protect your brother." The disillusioned younger boy turned to the group next to him, "Do you think he's happy now? After leaving everyone else for her, will he be happy?"
Anzu's heart went out to the boy and she pulled him into a close hug. "I'm sure he'll miss you," she said, "But your brother was never one to regret his decisions, no matter their consequences."
"Remembering your past life can be dangerous," Yugi continued, "Regrets, guilt, pain and anger from then can become inexorably tied to your state of being in this life. If you let it take over too much, it can seem better to leave this life behind."
"The Blue Eyes White Dragon was a girl in Egypt, wasn't she?" Mokuba asked flatly, already sure of the answer.
"Yes," Yugi replied, "One your brother tried to protect, but who sacrificed her very soul to protect him."
"Kisara," the young boy muttered under his breath, "He's in your hands now, so you better take care of him."
"Hmm?" Yugi asked.
"Nothing," Mokuba replied with a forced smile as he extracted himself from Anzu's sympathetic arms, "It's about time I went home."
"We should head back before it gets too late as well," the girl said as she watched the darker blues and purples of twilight begin to overtake the fiery golds and reds of the summer sunset.
"I'll be right behind you," Yugi told the group, "I have something to discuss with Kaiba."
"We'll wait for you at the entrance, then," Anzu replied, "Do you have a ride home, Mokuba?"
The four walked off, leaving Yugi to give his last words to his toughest rival and trusted friend.
"When we first faced off in Duel Monsters, fighting for my grandfather's card, I told you your heart was not in the cards, so they wouldn't listen to you," Yugi began, keeping his gaze level with the engraved name, "When I won, the penalty game was to help you realize the importance of the heart. When I defeated you the second time in Death-T, I shattered your heart completely so you would have to put it back together piece by piece. I didn't do it to punish you, but to help you realize the importance and intricacies of the heart – of your heart."
Yugi paused for a moment while he pulled something small out of his pocket and placed it on the grave marker.
"You beat me this time, Kaiba," Yugi finished, "You're the King."
He walked back to join his friends at the entrance while the last of the setting sun illuminated a simple playing card: the King of Hearts.
Thank you for reading this piece. It was the work of several months and many a late night and I am actually quite proud with how it turned out. I cannot know how it appeals to others, however, unless you readers review it. As an author, I want to know what people think of my works: character development, plot development, style, and overall ability. Let me know what you honestly think, please. It does not take long to submit a few words and it makes another person's day (mine) that much better.
Thank you for your patronage and support!
rockrchik