Reaching for Heaven

Alright, back again with another installment!

I barely had any time to write because of work. I now officially hate working on Sunday mornings. Too many damn church groups and such come in, we get totally swamped, tension between co-workers increases, and you begin to lose the feeling in your legs. But I'm making money, so I can't really complain. Plus, my computer just recently decided to hate me, and it took it forever to start working right again. Damn electronics.

The countdown for my vacation is now at 1 week, 3 days! North Carolina here I come!

I was very pleased with the number of people who participated in my poll. Sorry Bakura/Ryou fans, but it looks like i gets to use my original idea! Thanks for the votes anyway!

Finally decided to get off my ass and write this chapter. Figured I better get it finished before I head off to North Carolina for TWO WEEKS!! Woo hoo!

So, as you all know, Seto proposed in the last chapter. Honestly, I couldn't freakin' wait to write that scene!! I've just been dying to write this chapter as well!!. Even during the summer, I'm a very busy girl, but I will try to update as quickly as possible! XP Anyway, I'll end there for today. Let's get back to what you're all waiting for!

Disclaimer: Please don't sue me!! I swear I'm not trying to steal Yu-Gi-Oh...just Seto!! XD

--

Chapter 2

Ari couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Her tongue felt thick and swollen, preventing any coherent response from being made. She sat there in shock, unable to move even a tiny bit.

Everyone in the room staring at her, their eyes boring holes straight through to her soul, none moreso than Seto. She tried to say something, anything, but she seemed to have forgotten how to speak. It was like her brain had comletely shut down, along with every other system in her body

Using a tremendous amount of effort, Ari gathered her scattered senses. Gently, she took her hand out of Seto's grasp, heart twinging when a flicker of hurt appeared in his ice blue eyes. She closed the tiny box held in her other hand, and pressed it to her heart. Tears streamed down her face as she gave the smallest of nods.

With a single trembling hand, Seto cupped one side of her face, eyes searching.

Smiling, she nodded again. "Yes."

She was only allowed a moment to admire the look of absolute joy that completely dominated his gaze, before she was tackled by an all too familiar blonde blur.

"I can't believe it!" Laine shouted gleefully. "My little Ari is all grown up and getting married!"

The other girls circled her in a flash, each offering their own congratulations in excited voices. Ari barely had time to answer any of the questions that were thrown at her, one on top of the other. A glance over one of her friend's shoulders showed that Kenta and Mokuba hadn't moved, both still in shock, but obviously pleased. A little farther away, Seto was in the same position as she was; the boys had him surrounded, clapping him on the back and laughing when he glared at them.

Once they were both able to escape from their overly-enthusiastic friends, Seto took the chance to actually slip the engagement ring onto her finger, inciting another round of squeals, congratulations, and laughter from all present.

--

Hours later, when the excitement had worn down, Seto, Mokuba, and Kenta began taking everything down (since they hadn't really helped put much of it up) while Ari saw their guests to the entrance. Everyone agreed that it was time to call it a night. Everyone that wasn't Laine.

"The party may be over, but I'm sure as hell not done celebrating," the blonde proclaimed. "Who's up for some clubbing?"

Most of them shook their heads, laughing nervously at her boundless energy.

Bakura shrugged. "I'm game."

"Suweet!" Laine threw an arm over his shoulders. "By the way, I'm broke, so you get the privilege of buying me drinks."

"Wait, what?!" There was an unbroken stream of curses and protests as she half-dragged him out the door.

"Well, we've got to get going, too," Yami said. Yugi had crashed a little while before, and the former pharoah was now carrying him piggy-back style. With a soft mumble, the younger of the two shifted a little before going still again. Yami grunted. "He's a lot heavier than he looks."

"Alright," Ari laughed, "Just get home safe."

Tristan gave her a dramatic salute. "Will do."

"I'm so happy for you," Serenity said, giving her one last quick hug.

Joey stared at her for a few moments, a wide grin plastered across his face.

"...What?"

He snickered. "Guess we gotta start callin' ya' Mrs. Moneybags, eh?"

Ari blushed crimson. Someone in the back giggled. "That's it, I'm officially kicking all of you out."

"Fine, we're goin'. See ya' 'round, Mrs. Moneybags!"

"Bye, Ari. We'll see you again soon."

"Don't forget to send us our invitations to the wedding!"

"I won't, don't worry!"

She waved goodbye as the darkness swallowed them one by one, before going back to the living room. The boys were still busy putting a few things away, but Ari could hear the excitement in their voices as they talked. Mokuba glanced over, spotting her in the entrance. He nudged Kenta with an elbow, and they both scampered away, smiling all the while. Seto was still facing away from her, folding up the banner. Silently, Ari walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing tightly. He froze for a second before setting down the banner, turning to face her, and folding his own arms around her back, grip just as tight.

He felt a tremor run through her body. "What's wrong?"

Ari shook her head. "Nothing, it's just...I kind of knew you were planning something, but I...definitely didn't expect that."

Seto let out a breath of laughter. "You have no idea how long I've been trying to get up the courage to ask. And I was still scared stiff."

"You? Scared?" She laughed, craning her neck to get a better view.

"Hey, I am human."

"Seto Kaiba, admitting that he's human?" She pushed back a little. "Who are you, and what have you done with my-"

She stopped midsentence, an odd look in her eyes.

"What?"

A timid smile formed on her lips. "It's going to take me a while to get used to calling you my fiance."

He grinned, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Same here," he said quietly, moving closer.

Their lips pressed together gently, moving together in a slow, practiced dance. It was as if they were in their own little world, where no one could touch them, and they enjoyed every single second of it.

They finally drew apart after what seemed like an eternity. Seto gazed down at her from under half-closed eyelids.

"As much fun as today was, I think I'm going to enjoy tomorrow even more."

Ari cocked her head to one side. "How come?"

"Because, I get to have you all to myself, instead of sharing you with everyone," he replied with a smirk.

She smiled back, but dropped it after a moment. "Actually, do you mind if I do something on my own first?"

He frowned. "What is it?"

"It's something that I haven't done in a while...and I think now is a good time to do it. It wouldn't take that long, just an hour, probably a little less." She paused, watching him anxiously. "You don't mind, do you?"

"No, but promise me that you'll explain what it's all about when you get home, okay?"

"Promise."

--

Ari left early the next morning, before anyone else had even woken up. She left a note on Seto's door, reminding him that she would be back as soon as possible.

Now, standing in the open air, she took a deep breath. The light breeze ruffled the small bouqet of flowers that she held. Carefully, she set them down on the empty patch of grass between two similar polished headstones. With a shaking hand, she traced the each carved name in turn.

"Hi, mama...papa." Her voice was quiet. "I'm...I'm really sorry I haven't come to see you guys in a while. Everything has been-" She searched for the right word. "-really crazy this past year. You probably wouldn't believe half of it. I did manage to get a place of my own. Kenta and I only got to stay there for a little while, though. It got completely trashed after this big storm. Place was a dump anyway, but it was still our home. I'm glad I followed your example and kept all the photo albums and stuff under my bed. Those were practically the only things that didn't get ruined."

She laughed. "I know for sure that you wouldn't believe who got us out of that situation. Seto Kaiba. Remember how we would always see stuff on the news about him? Papa, you would always tease Kenta, asking him if he planned on taking over any big companies when he got that old. He would start saying that he didn't plan on doing that, because he wanted to become an insurance salesman, just like you. And I wanted to be a vet, even though I got queasy around blood. I was always better with electronics anyway. Still am. Guess that's a good thing, too. Otherwise, I might not have started working at Kaiba Corporation, and there wouldn't have been anyone to save us. Seto actually took us in, gave us a place to stay, and...I guess it was only natural that I would fall in love with him. Who would've known that behind that cold, business-man facade- and I know what you'd say, papa; facade, that's an awfully big word for me, haha- he was so kind, and caring, and sweet, and...just all around lovable."

Ari shook her head, letting a small laugh escape. "I never thought that I'd being saying something like that about someone. You guys always said that when I fell in love, I'd find myself doing things that I used to think were mushy, or weird. Guess you were right about that. And, boy, did I fall for him. I never really thought that I'd feel that kind of love for anyone but you, or Kenta, or even Laine. She's helped me out a lot since..." She paused again, taking a deep breath to calm her raging emotions. "Since you guys left. She's like the twisted, demented, hyper-as-hell sister I never had. Her dancing school has really taken off. She's come a long way from taking ballet lessons at the community center."

"I...I guess I should get to the point, huh? I've always had a bad habit of trying to put off telling big news. You guys knew that, though. Anyway, I'm, uh...I'm getting married. Seto proposed to me yesterday. On my birthday. That was one hell of a present. I never even saw it coming. I mean, I know he loves me; he tells me that much everday. But still, it was a shock. It's not like I haven't imagined it before, but it was always kind of like a fantasy for me. The excitement hasn't really hit me yet, but I guess it will soon. Probably sometime this week. I know Laine is going to want to help me plan everything. Tea and Serenity, too. But..." Ari finally let the tears that had slowly been building throughout her entire speech fall. "I really wish you guys were here for this. It's times like this that really make me realize how much I miss you. You've missed Kenta growing up- he's in high school now- and you've missed so many birthdays, and big moments, and now this."

Her voice became thick and heavy, but she pushed on. "Mama, I know you would have made such a big deal about it. You would've been all happy and bubbly, insisting that I wear the same kind of wedding dress that you did, pushing me to plan every little detail. I know you would've been crying on the actual day of. You were always so emotional. And papa...god, I wish you were going to be there to walk me down the aisle. You would've been saying how proud you were of me. And I know that, at some point, you would've pulled Seto aside and told him that if he ever hurt me, you'd snap his neck. But I think you would have liked him. He's a business man, just like you. In fact, I bet the first thing you would've done would have been to try and sell him an insurance policy. That's just how you were. I...I really miss you. Both of you. God, it just isn't fair. It's not fair that you got taken away from us. It's just not fair."

She had moved on from just tears to heavy sobs. For what seemed like hours, she just stood there and cried. It had been a long time since she had just let herself cry. When she managed to get herself back under control, she felt better than she had in a long time. Faint voices reached her ears, and she decided that it was time to get going.

"Alright, well, I have to go now. I promise that I'll come by with Kenta sometime soon; he probably wants to see you guys, too. Bye..."

--

When Ari got home, the boys were just finishing up breakfast. All eyes turned to look at her as she came into the room.

"Hey, where did you go?" Kenta asked.

She knew that her eyes were still red from crying, but she didn't bother to try and hide it.

"I was just visiting someone."

Her brother's eyes clouded over a little. "Why didn't you take me, too?"

"There was just some things I needed to do on my own. I'll take you over next weekend, though. 'Kay?"

Kenta nodded, smiling half-heartedly, before he returned to his breakfast, though he only picked at what was left.

Seto and Mokuba had watched the exchange in silence. Both could sense the unease that the seemingly mundane words hid. Mokuba was the first to attempt the lighten the mood.

"Hey, Kenta, why don't we go hit the pool or something? The weather man said it was supposed to be a scorcher today."

"Huh?" Kenta looked up from his breakfast, broken out of his thoughts. "Oh...sure."

They gathered their plates and left the room, Ari watching them. She sensed Seto come up behind her, and unconsciously leaned into his gentle embrace.

"Who were you visiting?" he asked, the tension in his voice quite obvious.

She sighed and closed her eyes. "My parents."

He tightened his grip, dropping his head so he could rest it against hers. Ari appreciated the subtle gesture of comfort and affection. They remained like that for a few minutes, until he broke the silence.

"If you need to talk about it...you know I'm here."

"I know."

"Good."

He suddenly felt her go still in his arms. Her breathing became quick and shallow, and Seto grew anxious.

"Ari, what's the matter?"

"We're getting married..." she whispered incredulously.

"Well...yes."

"We're getting married!" she said again, this time a little louder.

"Yes, we're getting married."

"We're getting married!"

She practically squealed as she turned and threw her arms around his neck. Seto was so surprised by the sudden action that he almost fell over, just managing to right himself before they both tumbled to the floor. Ari had started laughing like an idiot, and before Seto knew it, he had joined in.

--

Okay, I'm finally done! I'm reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallly sorry that it took me so long to get this done. I have several friends that had already begun to threaten me in various ways because I was taking so long.

I know that there wasn't really any LainexBakura action, but I just needed this chapter to start throwing in the basis for it. I promise to keep developing it as I move the plot along. As I said, I'm going to be leaving for North Carolina this Saturday, but I promise to work on the next chapter while I'm there. My crazy friend ChaoticKinkyCola is the one who's taking me, so we'll be able to make some crazy crap up!

On another note, has anyone ever watched Operacion Repo? I was watching a marathon of it while I finished this chapter, and I'm now officially hooked. I like the boss-guy, his daughter, and big Mike, but I can't stand Sonia. She's so cocky and bossy and it drives me nuts.

Oh, does anyone remember this one murder case from a 10 or more years ago? It was the one where some guy shot his wife in what he claimed was self-defense after she stabbed him, but it was total bullshit. The knife wound he had was only from a paring knife, which is less than 2 inches long. Supposedly, his wife pulled this tiny knife from a block that was stocked with butcher knives and meat cleavers; if you wanted to hurt someone, you'd grab the bigger knife, don't you think? Anyway, the woman lawyer on the persecution team is actually my cousin! I saw a rerun of the court case played on TrueTV, and my dad told me that Karen Cox is actually my cousin. I thought that was kind of cool, seeing as how I'm related to someone who busted such a huge scumbag like that! Go, cuz!

Anyway, I'll see you guys next time!