4. Mysteries Unfold

(Seto's POV)

I will cause myself to go insane by looking at this recording repeatedly, from the minute a captor grabs her to the moment she goes limp and is tossed into the van. I know there is something here that can help me. I have to at least hope there is, since no one else will seem to do anything more to try and find my sister. Truth be told no one has any idea where to start but still, they could at least try harder. We needed to find her soon before her body turns up in a ditch somewhere, or worse. It was also starting to get harder to maintain the cold outer shell of mine that my employees fear with passion. I could not let anyone know this was getting to me, not a soul. Even that now was proving to be quite difficult no matter what I did.

Come on, there has got to be a clue in here somewhere. I kept stopping and pausing trying to analyze every aspect of that damned recorded video. I felt like the police didn't look at it thoroughly enough to say it was useless. Reliving everything that Nakia is going through again and again was painful and it was just hard to watch as she tries desperately to get away but her captors are too strong. Trying not to think of what they could be doing to her right now as we speak was also proving quite impossible to avoid. I was watching her limp body being carried back to the van and then suddenly, I managed to make out what looked like a license plate. Cleaning up the video footage, I got a whole number off the plate and started running it through the systems. It came up as a missing van to Haruko Kumi; he is a professor at the Domino City Community College. It's been missing for about two weeks; two days before Nakia was taken it was stolen. Realization hit me like a car as soon as the van came up missing, this man might know who took the van. He might have seen something that could help us locate Nakia. He lives in Karenaville, where this footage was captured. I printed out a copy of the cleaned up still to take with me and left after telling Mokuba I was leaving. Maybe I could find Nakia and bring her home tonight.

(Nakia's POV)

I woke up on my own. It was the first time since I've been here that I've been left alone for a full twenty four hours to sleep or do whatever. I was happy, or at least as happy as I could be being trapped in this godsforsaken bunker in nowhere land I bet. I just laid there on the bed, caressing my mother's necklace in my hand as my eyes closed and I tried to picture all that I had lost. It was a bad idea yes, and it would only upset me even more, but I am so afraid I'll forget everyone. Caressing my mother's necklace definitely helped though, as if somehow they were all connected through it so I could remember them easier. I was hungry, even though I had gotten up earlier to eat something from the cabinets. I dared not to move though, I was comfortable, content, and I felt safe as odd as that sounds. It was like I really wasn't alone, but I knew I was but somehow I felt comfort and I didn't want to lose that feeling. So I just stayed there, holding my mother's necklace as I remembered faces, voices, scents anything that would make me happier.

I think I must have dozed off at some point because I was roughly woken up by the hard tugging on my chain. Mariku and Bakura had come into the bunker. Mentally I prepared myself for what was going to come next as I slid up and sat knees to my chest against the headboard looking dead into their eyes.

I gripped my mother's necklace tightly, praying for strength, but instead of demanding me to lie down and get ready they just sat at the end of the bed and Bakura says, "Brought you something to eat Nakia."

I gulped; I wasn't sure if I could trust anything they wanted to feed me so I stayed curled up against the board, unmoving, silent and I stared at them. Bakura sighed and stood up coming over to me and sat down and reached out to touch me.

"Don't touch me!" I shrieked and backed away further.

Bakura sighed and whispered, "Nakia, I do not want to hurt you."

I glared at him and replied, "Then why am I still here? If you really did not want to hurt me then let me go! I've done nothing wrong to you, I just want to go home please let me go home. My brother will pay any money you want just please let me go."

Tears come to my eyes as I spoke; I just wanted to go home, was that so hard to understand? Mariku started to come towards me with anger in his eyes and Bakura stopped him and held him back, shaking his head.

Mariku scoffed and said, "I'll be waiting outside. Why he let you take over for a little bit I don't understand Ryou. But get this straight, you try one damned thing to help her escape don't think I won't hesitate to blast your soul to the shadow realm, got it?"

Bakura gulped and then nodded and Mariku left us alone and Bakura turned to me and said, "Nakia please, you have barely eaten, you have to keep up your strength or you'll never make it out of this."

I hissed and answered, "Why do you fucking care? After everything you've done to me already, I think dying would be easier than living and telling the story!"

Bakura looked at me with surprisingly softened eyes and said, "Nakia, I am not who you think I am, well I am but he's not in control right now. I managed to convince him to let me come out so I could try to get you to eat something."

Bakura's voice was softer, and gentler too. I looked at him and said, "What the hell does that mean, "he's not in control" and why are you using such a fake voice like you think it'll make a difference." I was gonna say something else but something inside me stopped me and said, he's telling the truth Nakia. If anything you need a friend right now if you ever want to escape. My mind wandered as I tried to figure this out. Then I wandered to Mariku's last words before he left the bunker, "…why he let you take over for a little bit I don't know Ryou…" could it be that perhaps the person before me wasn't my captor Bakura? I looked at Bakura again and this time I noticed, his hair wasn't as wild and his face was more innocent.

I whispered, barely audible, "I'm so confused…"

Bakura came close to me and lifted my chin up and said, "I don't want to hurt you Nakia. I wish I could stop Bakura from doing so but he is by far so much stronger than I am." Bakura held the sandwich to me once more and this time I took it and pulled off a little bit and ate it. He smiled at me, happy that I had actually eaten something even if it was a little nibble. I waited a few moments before deciding that it was safe and wasn't laced with anything, so I ate the rest of it with such speed it almost made me sick. It was peanut butter and jelly, it had been very long time since I had eaten a PB&J sandwich and it was delicious, best thing I had eaten since I've been trapped in this cage.

I looked up at Bakura…I mean Ryou and I said, "Thank-you. Now I have a question for you…do you think you could tell me where I am, city wise at least, or hell even tell me if I am still in Japan."

Ryou looked at me and said slowly and quietly, "You are still in Japan, you are somewhere outside of the town of Nizakei. It's a rather small farming area. Beyond that I know nothing else."

I nodded and said nothing else. Ryou after a few moments left the bunker, and I felt a tear slide down as I heard the clicking of the lock. I hoped I'd see Ryou again.

(Seto's POV)

One I like about private airplanes is they are small and get you places faster than driving. I stowed my plane in a patch of woods that completely hid it and I started walking around looking for Professor Kumi's home. I found it rather quickly and soon as I did, I was knocking on his door.

"Who's there? What do you want?" a raspy voice spoke from behind the door.

I replied, "It's Seto Kaiba, I have news of your missing van and I think it might connected to my sister's kidnapping. I just need to talk and I really do not have a lot of time Mr. Kumi."

I heard the door's lock start to click and then an older man about mid-forties, early fifties appeared and said, "Mr. Kaiba? From Kaiba Corp.?"

I nodded then asked, "May I come in Mr. Kumi?" He nods quickly, I'm not sure if he's intimidated or honored, and steps aside so I can step inside. He closes the door behind me and leads me into the living room.

He motions to the armchair then says, "What news do you have of my van? Was it found?"

I sat down and nodded and said, "Yes it was, only it had been burned to a crisp after it was used to kidnap my little sister."

"Then how'd you know it was mine?" Mr. Kumi asked politely.

"Because of this video still, that is your license plate number is it not?" I said quickly.

Mr. Kumi nods and says, "So it is, I'm sorry about your sister Mr. Kaiba, but I don't know of what help I could be."

"I just wanted to know if you saw anything the night it went missing, anything at all that might help identify the captors or even lead me to her. The cops say they are still looking but they've basically stopped, and said it's been almost three weeks, if we find her there is slim chance she'll be alive. So they've slowed the search down just waiting for her body to appear and I don't believe that she's dead, I still feel her like she lives, but they don't listen." I said trying to hold back the tears as I try to hide the cracking in my voice, if this man, a complete stranger, were to see me break down my reputation would be shot. I can't afford that.

Mr. Kumi sighed and said, "I want to help you Mr. Kaiba I really do, and I do sympathize. I had the same thing happen to me two years ago when my daughter Misuki went missing, they gave up too soon and six months later she was found in a ditch, dead. All I can tell you that I remember is one of the burglars had a nasty scar under his eye. They were tan skinned too, but beyond that I saw nothing else, they were robed and were gone almost as quickly as they came."

It was at least something, I looked at Mr. Kumi and stood up getting ready to leave and I said, "Thank-you. You've given me more than what the cops have discovered since they started working on the case. I am sorry about your daughter, and all I can say is I hope Nakia doesn't end up that way."

I started to leave but Mr. Kumi grabbed my arm and said, "Wait Mr. Kaiba. I think I might know someone who can help you. He's the reason my daughter's body was found at all. I could give you his contact information and you can decide if you want his help."

I stopped walking and looked at him then said, "Alright."

Mr. Kumi let go and ran into his office to get something and came out with a business card and he spoke, "Here, his card. He doesn't ask for much payment wise, he just likes helping families find closure whether it's a body or a living person."

I nod in thanks and take the card before leaving Mr. Kumi's house. When I got back to my plane the tears came along with my body shaking with anger. Why Nakia? Why her? And why haven't they asked for a ransom yet? I just want my sister back is that so hard to understand? I looked down at the business card in my hand; the private investigator's name was Jiro Oki, Detective Oki as he was formally known. I climbed into my plane and dialed in his number, it started ringing.

"Hello Detective Jiro Oki speaking, how may I help you?" said a gruff male voice over the phone. Before I answered, all I could think was I cannot believe that I, Seto Kaiba, was asking for help, I never ask for help.

Author's note:

I apologize for any who may be following that I haven't updated in a while. I have been having serious motivation drops and stuff so it's been proving difficult to stay dedicated. But here it is Chapter 4 sign, sealed, and delivered. I hope you like it, please enjoy, rate, and review. Thanks

-RowenaBasizaki