She stared blankly out the window as the teacher spoke. Kaiba changed his seat and now took the one next to the window. He didn't care for the lesson either as he shuffled his deck and looked through his cards. She stared as she saw the silver foil on his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. He gave her a glance back; his eyes were such a pure shade of blue. It was like staring at a lake when the sun hits it. She felt like if she stared long enough she'd drown.
Kaiba stared back at her with a puzzled expression, noticing her new book. Jane Eyre. He should have figured, she had a real love for the classics. It had ranged from novels to poetry.
He watched as she pulled her long black hair into a ponytail, the ends brushing his desk. Their eyes met as she turned to her bag. They just didn't look right. They were cold and dark. He felt alone just staring at them. The black hair that framed her face did nothing to warm her appearance, she had pale skin that had a sickly glow to it. She looked like she had caked on more powder and makeup than he could find in a department store. She was incredibly thin and willowy, and looked worn down if anything. She was pretty but there was something off about her appearance. There was something off about her in general.
Many girls swooned over him like persistent nats. She treated him with indifference; she seemed to treat everyone that way. She never spoke unless she was called on or someone spoke to her first. It seemed odd though the school year was almost over, it was their last year; why change high schools so late?
She turned away quickly and looked back down at her notes. He realized that they must have been staring for a few minutes at least. Once class ended, she quietly left the classroom and began walking towards the library.
Kaiba followed quietly, his shoes barely made a noise in the busy hallway. He had no issues getting through the groups of students. He watched as Karin swerved around them halfway knocking them over. She seemed so flustered being around so many people, he noted something peculiar. One strand of bright red hair peeked out from the black. Maybe it was just a bad dye job? She quickly snatched it up as she passed her reflection in a window, hiding it amongst the black strands.
He watched her unplug some wire from the desktops and hid at the far end of the library. She sat on the ground with one of the school's laptops in her lap, the wire plugged into it. It was the ethernet cable.
"The hobbies section? Please don't tell me you bird watch." She glanced up at him briefly and then continued to type.
"Do you have a problem with birds? You seem to love dragons."
"I'm too busy."
"My dad always would take me into the forest to find Fairy Pittas. His favorite bird but he never could find it." He rolled his eyes. She laughed, watching him.
"For someone "too busy" you don't seem very busy." She typed, scrolling through text. "But I am so could we do this some other time?"
"Why do you need that cable? Couldn't find the wifi password? It should actually already be on the laptop." He asked, sarcastically as he sat down next to her. She tilted her body so that the screen was out of his view.
"I don't think you understand what too busy means. Don't you have some small business to bully?"
"No, not at the moment but I am curious to why you're using the school as your hacking playground." She raised an eyebrow and put the computer down.
"If I duel you will you please leave me alone?" He snickered and snatched the computer, scanning the screen. He looked like he just earned a trophy. "Give me that back! I don't want your help." She snapped trying to grab it back.
"Really? You could really use some help. I know children who could do better." He stared at the servers and didn't recognize the company name on the screen. "What's Wendigo?"
"A cannibalistic creature." She quipped back. "From Native American folklore."
"I meant the company-"
"Please give it back," She said impatiently, cutting him off. He looked back at her and put the computer back in her lap. He stared at her for a brief moment, she looked down at the keyboard. She wasn't paying attention to anything around her.
"Whatever. I have better things to do than help some-" He began walking away from her when suddenly she got up and ran up to him.
"You should be careful, Kaiba. Make sure no one else ends up like Kurosaki." She told him, her eyes wide. He watched her as she shook, her fists at her hips, eyebrows furrowed and sweat dripping from her face. "If you can."
Kaiba walked around her and left before anything else could happen, not wanting to cause a scene.
She quietly walked into her small apartment, Mason stared from his spot on the bed. His eye trailing on her as she walked into the bathroom. She placed her thumbs under the top of her hairline. She felt tugging at her scalp as the black hair fell to the floor in a pile at her feet. The clicking of bobby pins against the sink rung through the bathroom. It felt like a weight fell off of her shoulders as she jumped into the shower. She scrubbed her face rigorously, makeup and black mascara staining her hands. Everything started hitting her in waves as she crouched down under the water; her face in her hands as she weeped quietly. No tears fell only silent sobs. It was just so much in such a short time.
She wouldn't have felt right if she hadn't warned him, it was in her power now. It could have ruined everything, if he poked his nose in too deep. It still could.
There was something swelling in her chest, making her feel warm. Maybe she had done the right thing. She wanted to protect other people. It seemed natural after losing all of the most important people in her life. She had been alone for so long, unable to put her trust in anybody.
She wasn't sure if she just didn't trust Kaiba or if there was more she didn't know.
Kaiba looked over at his brother who was on the other side of the leather couch, blissfully asleep with his messy black hair covering his face. He hadn't even changed out of his clothes. Hopefully he would be done figuring everything out soon so he could wake Mokuba up and go home. Sleep in his own bed for a change.
He had spent some time looking over the companies that KaibaCorp worked with while his brother slept. He watched the rise and fall of the boy's chest.
Wendigo, Wendigo, Wendigo…..It swirled around his head like a thunderstorm.
There was no mention of this company anywhere on his records. Was this girl so stupid to think he couldn't protect himself? How could anything slip past him? He wondered what was so off to him about Karin. He chalked it up to paranoia since he couldn't find a company by that name. He had met her once at a Duel Monsters Tournament, she was so bubbly and cheery, he wasn't sure she was even capable of thought. This girl wasn't though, she was silence and witty remarks when necessary, a new book every time he saw her. People didn't change like that, it was day and night.
But she had. He saw their servers, their files, and even some names of employees. Could she have faked all of that? It seemed unlikely.
She could've explained something. There was a clue.
She had mentioned Riko Kurosaki who had worked in his Virtual Reality Department and was one of the main developers on the Duel Disk System. There were other people who had also died of late and maybe they would have the answers. Then others who had died years prior who had barely been connected. He watched the news online and listened to the names and the circumstances. He went through their obituaries There was a couple amongst the names which stuck out to him. Felka and Ichiro Sato were an older couple who had worked for Industrial Illusions years ago before starting their own company. They had been found in their beds. He looked at their obituaries and stared at the picture of a small girl.
She couldn't have been much older than four with long black hair and dark eyes with her parents, her mother held her. Their skin contrasted. Her small tanned frame against her mother's pale skin. Vibrant red hair and green eyes were prominent features for Felka while her father stood in the background with shaggy black hair and dark eyes.
His stomach sunk as he realized she had probably died as well. Her body was never found.
He shut his computer. Maybe it was because of the resemblance to Mokuba but he couldn't read anymore. He looked over at his brother as he wrapped him in a blanket. He tried to sleep on the opposite couch.
