"Skye…may I come in?"

Not that she needed to give an answer, because as she turned around, Skye saw her mother, Niamh, waiting timidly in the doorway of her bedroom.

"I won't be long." Skye said, continuing to pack up her belongings. It had been a couple of weeks since her meeting with Seto, Mokuba and Domino City Council, and now the day had come for her to move home. Of course, she expected no farewell from her father or grandfather. In fact, neither of them had spoken to her since their last altercation.

"You don't have to leave. I could talk to your father, I'm sure he'll - "

"Please don't, ma."

"You're our daughter!" Niamh pressed on, her voice tight with emotion, "You don't have to cut everything away. I could make them see reason."

Skye stopped packing when she felt soft hands come from behind and onto her elbows.

"They didn't mean what they said"

"Yes they did," Skye turned to face her mother, "They've always meant it. So can we stop bullshitting now?"

"You know I don't like that language -"

"And I don't like being told I'm not wanted because I'm a girl and I want to be teacher. But there you go, I have to listen to it and I know they goddamn well mean it as well."

Niamh started crying. She may have been right in what she said, but Skye was surprised to see some very rare yet genuine emotion from her mother. Why now?

"I should have stuck up for you more." Niamh whispered.

Shaking her head, Skye returned to her packing and replied, "It's a bit late for that."

"I'm sorry, Skye."

Skye finished with the suitcase and sealed it. She looked around her room, wondering how everything from her life so far had been squashed into only a few boxes. Once they were gone, it would be as if she had never lived there, as if the McLaughlins had never had her.

Yes, her mother should be sorry. But little good it anyone now.

"The moving men will be here soon. Tell Dad I've sorted the bill."

Niamh's face blanched, the tears continued to fall. It was a pitiful sight really, for a prominent lady to be reduced to a blubbering mess. For all that Niamh seemed weak willed under the guise of her husband and father in law, she had never broken down like this before. Skye pulled her suitcase off the bed she had slept in for over twenty-years and went to stand before her mother.

"Bye ma." She said quietly and kissed her on the cheek. Then she walked off with her suitcase towards freedom.


Mokuba couldn't concentrate on his homework, no matter how much he chewed on the end of his pen and flicked through the notes he had made from his classes. He had to find out where Skye was, how she was getting on. It was her moving in day today. The least he could do was try to make her feel welcome when she didn't know anyone other than him and Seto.

Without further thought, Mokuba called Roland and the limo. Seto wouldn't be back for hours yet, even though it was the weekend. The homework could wait.

He arrived at the orphanage and was instantly impressed with how much better it was than the rat-hole he and Seto had found themselves in so many years ago. Everything was big, spacious, modern. Hopefully the kids coming here would be a lot happier here.

Weaving and weaving through the corridors, he finally found Skye's room. She was already in there, looking flustered with her flushed cheeks and ponytail askew. When she looked up, she jumped when she saw Mokuba lurking in the doorway.

"Mokuba – hi. Didn't see you there." She blurted out, standing up to smooth out her dress and her hair.

"I'm sorry, I…I wanted to see you moved in comfortably – not that I didn't want to see you also, of course. Just – never mind..." Mokuba's cheeks heated up with embarrassment. Way to sound like he'd grown up since their childhood.

Skye eyed the teenage boy wondering cautiously towards her. Should she get up and hug him? Or maybe offer her hand to shake? Maybe she should do nothing at all, she thought. Damn, this awkwardness was making her anxious.

As Mokuba reached the desk where she was sat, he looked again at Skye. Truthfully, she awed him, sat there before him. She was not the once sweet smiling girl he had met all those years ago, but now a serious and almost regal looking young woman dressed in a smart looking purple dress. But she was still so calm, so serene.

Skye on the other hand took a proper look at the youngest Kaiba brother and a heavy sadness came down upon her like the last time. Even more so in his smart school uniform, he looked every inch a budding young man. It hadn't been her fault that she had missed out on all those years. But all the same: what a young man he was becoming!

The two then realised they had been staring at each other for some time. Both smiled faintly and dropped all insecurities for a few moments, as though they were children again.

"You're looking well, Mokie. How are you?" Skye asked, standing up from her desk chair.

"I'm alright, I guess." Mokuba looked ahead at the large window at the end of Skye's room. It was overlooking the garden, now radiating gloriously in the sunshine, "I…haven't been able to stop thinking about you since we last saw each other."

"Oh?"

"It's stupid, really. I thought we could maybe catch up, y'know? Really get up to date on what's happened with each other. But now that I'm here, seeing you…I should have asked first."

To Mokuba's surprise, Skye smiled.

"It would be a pleasure to catch up, Mokie. I imagine I haven't had nearly as many exciting adventures as you, but we can start from the beginning. If you still want to." She replied.

"Really?"

"Yes." Skye's gaze was finally warm, the green of them now more vibrant than their usually greyed out sadness.

"Alright!" Mokuba punched the air excitedly, "Do you need any help with unpacking?"

"It can wait," Skye walked towards the coffee table and picked up her handbag and mobile phone, "Fancy giving me a tour around Domino?"

"Would I ever! Let's go!"


The city of Domino was incredible to Skye. Mokuba, used to the busy streets, spent most of the day ploughing through anyone who got in their way, all the while trying to drag Skye away from dawdling and awing at every new sight she found. It was nothing like the McLaughlin country home in Ireland, or the sweet little cottage that was home to her Grandmamma Iris. Every building was aiming to get taller and taller, as though even the sky wasn't the limit.

"So it's pretty damn amazing, huh?" Mokuba grinned when Skye took a greedy gulp of the strawberry and cream milkshake he had treated her to.

"What, the city or the milkshake?"

"You can review both if you like."

Skye grinned and said, "Pretty damn amazing."

"Good." Mokube replied, sipping his own chocolate and cookie dough milkshake. He looked thoughtfully at her. "I did mean it the other day, you know."

"About what, Mokie?" Skye looked confused.

"When I said I missed you. Before Yugi and his gang showed up, it was pretty lonely without you –" Mokuba bit his lip, feeling like he had said too much too soon.

Skye stirred her milkshake with the straw.

"I always wondered what happened to you both." She said softly. "Sounds like a rough ride."

"That's one way to put it."

Not wanting get stuck with talking about the past and all the miseries that came with, Skye hesitantly put her hand across the table and placed it on Mokuba's free one.

"I'm glad we're here now."

Mokuba looked up from his hands and smiled, finding the will to cheer up so they could enjoy the rest of the day.

"How about we hit the arcades at Kaiba Land?"

He laughed when Skye's dropped open in shock.


Eventually Skye and Mokuba made it back to her room in the orphanage, both smiling ear to ear from the amount of fun they'd had at Kaiba land. He showed her everything from the cafes to the rides, before finishing at the arcades. It turned out Skye was a very skilled at table soccer!

"Please tell me you play xBox." Mokuba almost pleaded as they sank down onto the sofa.

"I'm a Playstation girl, though some boys at university did show me the ropes."

"Why do you call it university?"

"Because I'm not an American and therefore the beauty of the English language isn't bastardised."

"Ouch, don't tell Joey that, he's as American as they come." Mokuba then grinned. "Actually, do tell him. It would be funny to see it go over his head."

"Not an Einstein, then?" Skye teased.

"Anything but."

Both then sighed contently, nestling into the sofa. Minutes flew by as the exhaustion set in, especially for Skye. She had only just moved into her part of the orphanage and before she'd had a chance to catch her breath, along came Mokuba. But it was a happy kind of exhaustion, one she had not experienced for a while.

"Mokuba?"

The pair jumped in their seat and quickly looked to see Seto leaning against the doorway, his face in its usual frowning state.

"Oh. Hi Seto." Mokuba smiled awkwardly as he got up from the sofa. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Skye stiffen slightly in her seat, her gaze focused to any empty space in the room that avoided eye contact with either of the Kaibas.

Deciding to get down to business, Seto moved swiftly towards the pair, his eyes however locked on Skye.

"You are all settled in, I presume?" He asked sharply, watching her intently as she continued to avoid looking at him.

Slowly, Skye rose to her feet and bestowed him with one of her clear eyed gazes,

"I am, thank you." She replied, trying to conceal the uncomfortable bubbling in the pit of her stomach from the way he stared at her.

Seto nodded coolly. "I expect you to be ready to start in two days."

"Of course."

"Is there anything else you require?"

Skye shook her head. Her eyes strayed to the doorway and in an instant she felt her heart skip when a familiar face appeared from the shadows of the corridor.

"Well, well, well – how sweet to see you all settled in, my lovely Skye."

Seto turned around and instantly recognised the ugly smirk of Edison and frowned. What the fuck was he doing here?

"I thought Miss McLaughlin would have already made her goodbyes." Seto stated by way of distraction, not missing the way Skye looked guarded.

Smirking even more, Edison walked to Skye's side and put an arm around her waist. The way he did it instantly set the Kaiba brothers on edge. The action was borderline perverse, clearly used to make Skye feel at her upmost discomfort. And uncomfortable she did feel, for Skye looked like she was about crawl out of her skin.

"Unfortunately, she seems to have forgotten me already. So I decided to stop by and remind her of her friends. Our little is finally making it out into the big wide world properly now. Right, Skye?" Edison grinned down at Skye, now lifting a hand and stroking a finger down her face.

Desperate to get Edison away from her, Skye gritted her teeth and said, forcefully polite, "Of course. My apologies for not coming to see you, Edison. I have been quite busy."

Seeming satisfied that he had intimidated her enough, Edison took his hands off her finally, just as he caught the glare that was sent his way by Seto. Had he been a second longer holding Skye, he was sure there might have been more than just words next. Perfect. Just the kind of aggravation he wanted to make.

"In that case, farewell, my lovely lady. I'll drop by soon if Mister Kaiba doesn't keep you too busy."

Skye began to tremble at the dreaded thought of Edison paying her a visit. Goodness knows what he would say or do to her if he could.

Edison swaggered to the door and suddenly stopped, turning back to shoot a nasty smile at Seto. "A pleasure to meet you, Mister Kaiba. I'm sure you will enjoy our Miss McLaughlin. She is a beauty, isn't she?"

Before anything else could be said, Edison swept off triumphantly, leaving the rest of the company present to silently simmer over what had just happened.

Never had Skye felt more mortified, not even when Edison had last groped her at that gathering. She had never been so shown up in her life, especially in front of someone like Seto. Once again, she had been victim to an attempted squash on her newly found freedom. When would Edison just leave her alone?

Forcing herself to remain calm and keep as blank a face as possible, she looked to the Kaiba brothers left in the room.

"I think it's time you both left." She said abruptly, no trace of a tremor or worry in her voice, though the sure feeling that she was being scrutinised was inwardly making her shake. Both Kaiba brother's heads snapped immediately to look at her in shock. Mokuba couldn't believe that only moments ago, a bright, happy Skye had been his companion for a whole day, and now in her place once again was a woman with no trust in her eyes.

"Is that man hurting you, Skye? He seems like a complete asshole." Mokuba stepped forward towards her and Skye instantly backed away, turning her back to them.

"You have other concerns to be dealing with today, I should think. I thank you for today Mokuba, now please be on your way." Skye replied stiffly.

"But Skye -"

"There is nothing, it was nothing." Suddenly Skye's voice was sharp, before she checked herself. It wasn't Mokuba's fault that she was rattled, and instantly she was sorry for snapping. He had tried to make her feel welcome today after all. "Please, Mokie. My concerns are mine and you should not be troubling yourself with them. I will see you in a couple of days."

Crestfallen, Mokuba drooped his shoulders and scuttled out of the room, clearly upset. Seto watched his little brother go and then fixed Skye with a long, hard stare.

"Are you sure there isn't anything for us to be concerned about? I don't want this orphanage to be jeopardised, especially by cocky morons like that." He finally asked, refusing to ask the obvious question and seem like he actually gave a damn.

Skye shook her head once more.

"Then I will leave you to your business."

Just as Seto turned around, Skye said, "Thank you, Seto."

As curious as he was to know what her thanks was for, but Seto felt like he had exhausted the last of his goodwill trying to be polite to her. He had work to do and a little brother to attend to. He would not waste any more time trying to prod her for an explanation, even though he could already tell this Edison character was going to be a problem.

He would let it lie for now and hope it was right to leave her to whatever her concerns may be.

"Goodbye, Skye"

As he left the room, Skye couldn't help feeling a small sense of joy at Seto finally calling her by her first name. She hadn't meant to address him by his before, but it felt right to reach out to him, the boy she once knew, to let him know she was grateful to him for giving her a fighting chance at freedom.

She looked across to the window. It was still sunny outside, so bright that she could see herself in the reflection, the clearest thing she had seen all day. Today was the beginning of her new life and even though the path ahead of her was uncertain, she felt like she was looking at herself for the first time. She had emerged from muddy waters and now everyone would see her, quite clearly.

No more hiding.


xXxCometxXx: I have to say, thinking of ways to revamp this story and get a line of events that could/will happen in place is always harder when you come back to things after so long. But then at the same token, it's a greater reward to achieve a better potential for a story. I'm definitely glad to be able to start shaping Skye's story together and exploring all the ways in which she and Seto influence each other from now on...or if they don't ;) Wouldn't be much of a story if they didn't, I'm sure. So I'll let you guys wonder what's in store next. Stay tuned.