LefthandedFreak: Hello alls!!!
Josh, Figment Man: She still continues to haunt you even outside of your dreams!!
LefthandedFreak: (whacks Josh with shovel) It's quite late, but I'm actually in so much pain I can't sleep (smiles)
Josh, Figment Man: Why are you smiling?
LefthandedFreak: Because I've reached the state of delusion!
Josh, Figment Man:….Anyways we did have… (Looks at review chart)…. One reviewer.
LefthandedFreak: WHOOO!!!! (Kicks Josh in the face to get to it)
Victoria – THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!! (Hugs you and dances) I'm so glad you love it!! So just for you! (Gives you Bakura plushy)
Josh, Figment Man: Take it and burn it!!!
LefthandedFreak: (whacks him in the face) ENJOY!!!
Kaiba walked silently through the streets, arms folded tight across his chest, as he glanced through the closed shop windows. He had walked quite awhile to have travelled out of the hustle and bustle of the main part of town to the quiet area of the town. It seemed awkward to be doing this, especially without Mokuba with him for one, and Akira trying to pull his arms away from his chest for another. Of course, he could do without that.
Akira had been nothing but a bother ever since she had arrived into town from Egypt. She had declared that she wouldn't move again, seeing as she had travelled around for most of her life since her parents where explorers, when she moved into Domino City, and to make sure she stayed, she went out for a job.
A well paid, maintained, beneficial job at Kaiba Corp.
At first Kaiba had thought there was some mistake when reading through the resumes he received (he'd have someone else do it, but why bother letting an idiot weed through the eligible applicants?), but there was no denying that one of his fellow classmates had requested a job through him once he had called her in for an interview.
She had been respectful, addressing him politely, handing him a file of her talents and old job information, and though Kaiba wasn't too impressed, he decided to at least sleep on it.
And then she had met Mokuba, who became immediately attached to what seemed to be a mature and adult woman.
And what really was a wild and crazed teenager hiding in a shell she placed up for interviews only.
After that, Akira always seemed like the type to him to work in a daycare center, seeing as she was always full of energy and how she took to kids like Kaiba took to seven nonstop cups of coffee.
Of course, seeing how childish she really was, he wasn't too quick to process her request, actually deciding he would probably shred her file and then burn it to make sure there wasn't any evidence that he had even debated hiring her, before she really made an impact.
It was during a normal week at school when another student came running in, claiming that Akira had gotten into a fight. The teacher immediately took off, a few girls of the class squealing in terror at the creeps that inhabited the world to just randomly attack a normal girl, before the actual events spread through the school.
Akira had gotten into a fight alright….
…and had kicked the living he out of some stupid kids from the high school who had decided to steal the belongings off the elementary school students. A few bruises gracing her arms, she had returned to class a few minutes before the teacher had, and finished the day with not so much of an acknowledgement that she ha done anything remotely suspicious.
And despite her well earned week out of school (AKA: Out of School Suspension), she continued to go by the elementary school everyday after that to make sure the idiots didn't come back, usually walking Mokuba home.
To which she had quickly won not only Mokuba's heart, but his preference that she accompanied him places rather than Roland or any of his other guards that usually escorted Mokuba from place to place.
How could Kaiba blame him?
Here was a teenager, who loved to do anything with Mokuba, took him everywhere, laughed at his corny jokes, and cared for him, compared to a sullen, stiff jawed guard who would prefer Mokuba get in, get out, and back home before the guard got stuck with overtime.
And when she started making common appearances in the house, she had been as good as hired, just not with the job she had actually went for, but as Mokuba's, for lack of a better word, Nanny.
Kaiba had deeply regretted hiring her under that name soon after, for she then proceeded to take over his life. It seemed she felt that Mokuba wasn't the only person on the household needing someone to hold the reigns.
She brought Kaiba lunch to work, hassled him if he stayed at work even a half hour late, and spent her time trying to get him to take some free time to spend with Mokuba, accompanied by her of course. She even started working at Kaiba Corp, without pay of course, fixing computer problems and correcting errors in programs. And after he had fired his receptionist for being incompetent and, for lack of a better word, stupid, Akira had quickly filled the position before Kaiba could even think of issuing a help wanted ad. She had, without his knowledge of when and how, suddenly slipped into his life without his meaning her to.
Picking random days, she would come by and rouse him from bed, sometimes throwing a cube of ice down his shirt, so he could accompany Mokuba and her to the park for a picnic. Akira always made the lunch herself, and never brought coffee, giving Kaiba tea instead, and usually forced Kaiba to try new and strange foods that she had learned to cook from her travels.
Afterwards, she would run after Mokuba around the park and just play random games with him, sometimes trying and failing to get Kaiba involved. Other times, she would open a book and read to Mokuba, even though he was more than capable, and they would end the day with an ice cream before she took them back home.
He smirked at the memory as he watched a ghost car travel down the road, the headlights creating an awkward glow around the eerily dark and dead street life.
She had even managed to become friends with the 'Friendship Pack', Joey always getting onto her about hanging out with Kaiba and, as he put it, his 'Spirit of Doom and Evil'.
However, Akira had only laughed, calling Joey silly for thinking that Kaiba was nothing but a heartless slime ball, which he wholeheartedly agreed with Joey, though he wouldn't tell the idiot that, and she had insisted that Kaiba wasn't as mean as he appeared to be.
Which didn't exactly mean that Kaiba could make fun of any of her other 'friends' just because she had stuck up for him that once. Even when Kaiba had threatened to fire her, from her secretary posistion at least even though she wasn't being paid for that, she had stood her ground and told Kaiba that he was being nothing but 'soar' towards the others and that he needed to lighten up.
And though he continued to threaten her with unemployment and no means of ever getting a job again in her lifetime, Kaiba just couldn't shake her off. She had become much more than just an employee, more than a bodyguard for Mokuba, more than just some other annoying girl who hung out with Yugi and his obsessive 'Friendship is everything' gang. She had become something important to him, though he wasn't sure of what she was to him.
He stopped his walk and looked up, noticing the Kame Game shop with its turtle emblem and 'closed' sign hanging in the door.
Then there was the tournament that came up.
Some guy named Geno Zane started a great new thrill for Duel Monster players, offering a 10,000 dollar prize to the winners of the tournament, and a chance to win an extremely rare and powerful card.
Only until Yugi entered the tournament did Kaiba even decided to give it a go. It was just natural for the two to be competing against each other, and if there was a new and powerful card for grabs, bonus for Kaiba.
Of course, Akira had insisted on entering as well, despite Kaiba's constant threats to have her removed from the premises if she had even showed up to watch the finals go down. She was determined to play, even though she had said she wasn't in it for the money or the cards. He guessed that she was probably in it for the same reason he was, to play against Yugi, or maybe Joey who had decided to enter the tournament as well even though he was pathetic.
She had only said one thing to his bickering and complaining of her stubbornness, and that was..
"If I disappear, if you don't see me again, try to at least find me, please?" Akira had said, worry that he had never seen, etched on her face.
"Why? If you're going to take off, why should I bother looking for you?"He had still been defiant of her even discussing anything about the tournament.
"I would never leave intentionally Kaiba. I love it here too much, and there's so much here that… I could never leave even if I wanted to." Her eyes had fallen to her Duel Disk which she had purchased the day before from a shop downtown. Reaching for it, she pulled a card off the top and handed it to Kaiba.
"Thanks, but I'll be fine with my own cards, thank you." She shook her head and pressed the card into his hands, making sure he actually took it before she spoke again.
"There's a number hidden on this card, I put on it because I have a feeling something is going to happen. I keep having these funny dreams about being in an alternate universe…. And this number is the only way you can reach me." Squeezing his hands, she smiled up at him. "Try to at least reach me within a month's time if you're so skeptical."
"Whatever"
And then she had proceeded to enter the contest…
…And immediately disappeared during the entrance test, along with the actual host of the tournament.
It seemed that Yugi and the others had insisted that something had pulled Akira into the so called 'Shadow Realm', along with Geno Zane, and though Kaiba was too high to believe such nonsense, Akira's prediction rang clear in his head.
"If I disappear, if you don't see me again, try to at least find me, please?"
Those words echoed through his mind, during work, at night in bed, through Mokuba's pleas for Kaiba to try and look for Akira, and even through Joey's rants about how heartless Kaiba was since he didn't care that she had just disappeared.
Truth was he did care. He didn't think he would have at first, but he slowly began to realize that she had been something at least slightly important in his life, and now she wasn't there.
He had wondered how long he had been standing there staring at the Kame Game shop, peering through the glass and into the darkened room filled with shelves of useless games and assortments of a few exotic objects.
It took him awhile to realize that Yugi had been on the staircase, still dressed, and watching Kaiba stare. It looked like he was trying to decide if he should attempt to talk to Kaiba, or to at least see why he had been transfixed with the innards of the shop, before he moved and opened the shop door.
"You ok Kaiba?" Yugi's wide eyes peeked up at Kaiba through his blonde bangs, his hair just as crazy as ever, as he leaned against the open door.
"Why would something be wrong?" Kaiba wasn't about to act like he had been thinking about anything important while transfixed with the rickety excuse for a business.
Yugi continued to stare at Kaiba, a mixture of confusion and what appeared to be a hint of pity etched on his face.
"I don't know… you've just been standing there for about a half an hour…" Kaiba glared down at him.
"I wouldn't tell you even something were bothering me. I'm not apart of your stupid gang of airheaded friends so don't confuse me for one of them."
"Akira didn't think we were so airheaded". Kaiba stopped, his anger caught between rage and slightly irked, as Yugi stood straight and opened the door wide.
"Come in, there's something I wanted to talk to you about".
"I'm not interested"
"I think you probably are"
"Why would you assume that?!"
"Because this is the twentieth time this month I've caught you just staring at my house." Kaiba faltered and stared down at Yugi who shrugged. "I didn't think it was anything at first but when someone appears night after night and just stares at your house, you get a bit concerned."
Yugi stepped aside and nodded inside again. "Come on. If you don't want to talk, at least don't stand outside and attract all sorts of unwanted attention to yourself."
Glaring, and preferring to just kick Yugi instead of nod at him, Kaiba glided into the shop.
Elaine was absolutely enthralled by Bakura's apartment, peeking into every room and staring at all of his knickknacks.
Boy this was the funkiest dream she had ever had.
Never in her life had she dreamed such detail, especially with the kitchen and its elaborate counter layout, and was proceeding through the house with a sense of awe and wonderment.
"This is awesome!!!" she picked up some sort of glass paperweight and tossed it around, causing Ryou to nearly have a heart attack as it barely missed the floor as Elaine barely caught it in her fingers. Taking the item back from her, Ryou placed it back on its shelf.
"Please be careful." He moaned as she wandered off, not really paying attention to him.
"This is an awesome dream! The detail, the layout, I could write a fanfic with this stuff!!" She seemed way too excited for a girl who was questioning her sanity.
But hey, if you're going nuts, might as well enjoy it right?
Finding the bedroom, she proceeded to run and jump in the bed, kicking her shoes off as she nuzzled into the pillows.
"And the bed is a dream!!! I mean it's seriously a dream inside a dream. It feels so real!! And these pillows!!! There amazing!!!" Ryou sighed, a slight smile on his lips as he watched her nuzzle into his pillows. It really did remind him of Akira and how she had given him the pillows, claiming they were softer than Ryou's hair, seeing as she loved to nuzzle into his head.
"You can sleep in here if you like. I'll take the coach."Ryou nodded at his bed as Elaine looked up a little surprised before she pursed her lips.
What was the fun of having a dream with one of her favorite bishies if he wasn't going to molest her?
However, she decided, at least he was in the dream and being nice instead of taking on his evil counterpart and torturing her.
"Are you sure? I could sleep on the couch if you want. I mean, I will wake up in my bed anyways when this crazy dream is over so I really don't mind" Ryou shook his head.
"No, you take it. I'll be fine. I'll go next door and pick you up a change of clothes". Curious to what he meant by this, but not lingering on it because, when she woke up, it really didn't matter where he got the clothes they wouldn't be there and neither would he, she nodded.
Nodding a goodnight at her, he closed the bedroom door and headed down the hallway back to the living room. It was awkward, removing the extra key that Akira had given him from its hiding place, and heading over to her house. Picking the key up from under the potted plant it had been under; he proceeded out of his house and next door to Akira's place.
It was different without Akira having been in it for awhile, Ryou having cleaned it every now and then to keep the dust off and cobwebs down, and it still gave off a feeling of desertion. He passed slowly through the shelves of artifacts she possessed, most of them gifts from her mother who, even after Akira's fathers death, had continued to explore different places.
Picking up an old photo, he saw a little Akira in her parent's arms, hanging off of her father's neck, the sight of the Eifel Tower in the background. It was easy to see where her free spiritedness had come from, her father seeming more amused by the sight of his daughter hanging off his neck then the mother, where Ryou supposed Akira got her ability to be well maintained and mature
Smiling a bit at the sight, he placed the picture down and continued past a few more artifacts. Old Karate belts hung over a few of the bigger items, and postcards from exotic far away places cluttered the counters. Turning into the hall, he continued to her bedroom.
Stepping inside, he glanced around, remembering all the times she had had him over to hang out or just talk about anything. They usually hung out in her bedroom, seeing as she loved laying on her bed with either her head hanging off the edge or making Ryou, despite his protests, play with her hair. It seemed a lot more homely too than the rest of the house, seeing as she loved staying in it.
She even drilled a funny little phone that went from her room and into Ryou's, so she could ask him over if she didn't feel like leaving her bed.
This is how Ryou ended up with the extra key.
Shaking his head, he made his way to her closet and opened it.
Elaine was lying on Ryou's bed, her hair hanging off the edge of the bed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She really must be dreaming. She hadn't realized it earlier, but her clothes were completely different from what she had been wearing earlier.
Now she was wearing a black tank top belly shirt, a black scarf hanging around her neck, two silver cuffs on her wrist, and really slim, I mean slim fitting, bell bottom jeans.
She had even amazed herself by noticing that she had a bit of a build in her arms and stomach. It was kind of kickass. Never in her life had she been real skinny, and for that matter, built in anyway that included tight abs, and she just couldn't help but stare at herself.
Even for a dream, she looked awesome, swinging her head from side to side, watching her hair fly back and forth, as she stared at herself.
Rolling over she buried her face in the pillows, only taking one last peak at the mirror before closing her eyes.
If this was a dream, she wasn't sure if she wanted to wake up any more.
LefthandedFreak: And on that note I leave you. I'm in too much pain to sit up any longer…. Or lay down for that matter.
Josh, Figment Man: READ AND REVIEW!!
