Hello everybody! I'm am so sorry it took me so long to update... I really am and I'll try to keep this to a minimum.
But before we start I'd like to you all that I've gotten a beta! :3 so now you don't have to put up with my mistakes! XD
A big thank-you to DaAmazingMeepers for helping me out.
And now! on with the story... Enjoy!
The Tournament
The man cursed and looked at the sky as the first drop hit his nose. He quickly found cover under a tree, pulled out his cell phone and dialed a memorized number. As the phone rang the rain increased and soon it was pouring down. Finally he heard the familiar voice of the answering machine. "It's confirmed. She'll be at the tournament tomorrow." And with those words he hung up and started running towards an awaiting car.
Nikki glanced out the window and sighed for what seemed to be the 67th time. She was bored. Beside her lay the finished assignment Kaiba had given her yesterday; background checks on the new applicants. Not particularly interesting.
She looked at the clock and growled in frustration. It was only 4 pm. "What's a girl supposed to do?! What do ordinary people do Friday afternoons?" She thought about it for a moment, "Go shopping? No way. See friends? Haven't gotten any…well, except for Tea, but you can't really go visiting her now, can you? Work? Snowballs chance in hell. ARGH! I'm going crazy!"
At this time she'd normally hang with Mokuba, but he was with some friends and wouldn't return until later. "What did I used to do?" she shuddered at the thought and got up, deciding to at least to something physically.
Kaiba had unlocked the door to the garden, but due to the damn rain she couldn't even go out to get some fresh air. A door slammed and Nikki felt a wave of relieve floating through her. Mokuba was home.
She quickly began running towards the stairs, but stopped. Yesterday Mokuba had jumped her as she entered the kitchen and now it was payback time!
So instead of using the main stairs, she sneaked down a little staircase she'd found on one of her many explorations. It led down to the kitchen. "Just perfect!" she thought as she hid behind the door, figuring Mokuba would go to the kitchen for a snack.
And true enough the door started to open and Nikki jumped. It wasn't until she was midair she realized her mistake.
Kaiba had had a rough day at the office and thought he'd take a cup of coffee before focusing on the final details for tomorrow. Feeling a bit more relaxed by being home he entered the kitchen—
Only to get hit by something flying through the air. Suddenly he found himself on the floor... with a girl on top of him?!
Nikki's first thought was: "Might have used a little too much force."Her second thought was: "Oh shit!"
Now beneath her was none other than the almighty Seto Kaiba, the fearsome leader of KaibaCorp.
And she couldn't help giggling as she saw the perplexed look in his eyes. "Bet this is the first time he'd been knocked over by a flying girl..."
As his eyebrows vanished under his bangs her giggling turned into laughter and it took her several minutes to get a hold on herself.
"If you have finished I'd be delighted if you would move away. I seriously need a cup of coffee." Kaiba said to the now panting girl (who still was on top of him), trying to ignore the warmth spreading in his skin everywhere their bodies touched.
For some reason Nikki hadn't realized the rather compromising position they were in until now; he was flat on his back while she was straddling his lower stomach with her thighs, supporting herself with both hands on his chest. She could feel blood rushing to her cheeks and quickly (very quickly) stumbled of him. "Ehh... s-sorry 'bout that... thought you were Mokuba." She managed to stutter.
Kaiba slowly got up and groaned. How could such a seemingly frail girl hit that hard?
"I'd prefer it if you'd double-check next time you decide to jump someone." He just said as he made his way to the coffee machine, still ignoring the strange feeling in his abdomen. "Just need a cup of coffee..."
"Yeah... I better do that. I'm really sorry." And with that, Nikki quickly left the kitchen, not waiting for Kaiba to answer.
As she later tiptoed down to the kitchen to get some food, she was relieved to find Mokuba eating his dinner. "Hi!" she called to him.
Nikki's voice startled Mokuba causing him to drop the food he was chewing, but a smile soon spread across his face. "Hi there! Want something to eat?"
"Yeah, I'm starving." She slumped down in a chair beside him and started to fill a plate.
"Uhm Nikki.. Do you know what's wrong with Seto? He seemed very absent…and complained about being…sore?"
Nikki instantly turned red as a tomato. "Ehh.. well... I kinda... jumped him" she grinned sheepishly.
Mokuba dropped another mouthful food. "Jumped him?"
"Yeah, I thought he was you, and I wanted to get back at you for yesterday…but obviously I tackled the wrong person."
To her surprise Mokuba started laughing. "Hahaha! I'd love to – hahah – to have s-haha seen his face hahaha! Priceless!"
Mokuba didn't stop teasing her about it for the rest of the evening. She was relieved when she finally lay in her bed. This had been a very exhausting day.
Next day aka. Tournament day.
Nikki woke up to the monotonous sound of rain tapping on her window. She sighed and got up.
"Today's the big day." she thought as she looked through her closet. After a few minutes of search she found a pair of plain black jeans, a red blouse and a black jacket.
As she "admired" herself in the mirror someone knocked at the door and as usual she nearly got a heart attack. "Come in!"
Just as her heart had started retuning to its normal rhythm, Kaiba stepped in and her heart was again trying to win the gold in speedway.
"Morning." She finally remembered how to use her voice.
Kaiba didn't answer, instead he just walked straight up to her, handing her a little package. Getting excited, Nikki quickly opened the little box and pulled out a pair of fingerless, black gloves. She stared questionably at Kaiba, but he only watched her with his standard smirk. Looking closer she realized that the box wasn't empty yet.
As she glanced into the box again, she felt a mixture of confusion and anger. "What. The. Fuck?"
"What is this?" She asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.
"Make-up." he answered. For a while both of them just stood glaring at each other. Then Kaiba left out an exaggerated sigh. "You're still blue."
Nikki was sure she looked like one big question mark.
"Even though the swelling on your eye is gone, it still as a very interesting color, and I'm sure you don't want to answer any awkward questions anymore than I do. The gloves, as you may have guessed, go on your hands." His smirk grew wider.
"Come on. I know you're dying to say it. SAY IT!" Nikki thought as she waited for the inevitable.
"Besides, it wouldn't hurt you to look a little nice."
"He shoots and he SCORES!"she thought as she gave him her most evil stare. Without another word Kaiba turned around and left the room, but not before Nikki caught a glimpse of his highly amused face. "Damn him!"
She did like the gloves though.
Half an hour later Nikki joined Mokuba for breakfast. He didn't comment on the make-up. Lucky him...
At 11:45, they were all seated in the limousine and on their way to Kaiba Land. Nikki had decided to ignore Kaiba and simply stared out the window.
It was hard to grasp everything that had happened in the past two weeks. In those two weeks Nikki had done her best not to worry about the past or the future, but as people and buildings were passing by, she became lost in her thoughts. She didn't know how long she'd been staring out the window, but suddenly she felt something nudge her arm. "...kki? Nikki? NIKKI!" Mokuba practically yelled.
"Wha.." she started to say, when she realized that they where no longer driving.
"We've arrived." Mokuba said slowly as if talking to a child.
Nikki just nodded and followed the two of them as they entered Kaiba Land, from some kind of backdoor. Too many journalists at the front, Mokuba had explained her.
As they entered the arena, Nikki felt like she was going to suffocate. All her senses was being pushed to the extreme. The people, the noises, the smells – it was almost too much to take.
"Great... now everybody is staring.." she thought with rising panic and inched closer to Mokuba, who just as his brother simply ignored them.
They parted at a staircase, Kaiba entering the duel-area and Nikki and Mokuba continuing up the stairs. Finally they reached something that looked like a mix between a commentator box and a technician room. As the door closed behind them, Nikki let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and slumped down into a chair. Mokuba started fiddling with various buttons and keys, and suddenly the arena's light changed; going dark everywhere except from a single spotlight pointed on Kaiba.
Nikki couldn't help admiring his courage. "Welcome," Kaiba's voice boomed through the speakers, "Welcome to the annual Duel-Monsters amateur tournament! This year's prices will be 100 000 yen to the winner, 50 000 yen to second place and 25 000 to the third place. The boards will show whom and where you will duel. The semi-finals and final will take place here. The duels will begin in 15 minutes. Any kind of cheating will not be tolerated."
Nikki could feel a shiver run down her spine at the last sentence and she was sure she wasn't the only one.
And then the duels began.
Nikki and Mokuba stayed in the technician room while Kaiba occasionally went to different duels for this and that reason. Nikki quickly spotted Tea on one of the many surveillance cameras and followed her dueling with interest. She was talented, no doubt, and had a lot of technical experience from watching others duel, but she still needed a lot of practical training.
Hours went by without Nikki noticing, this had to be one of the most exciting things she'd ever been to. As Kaiba's voice once more echoed through the arena, Nikki saw that the clock showed 3 pm. She returned her attention to Kaiba who was announcing who had made it to the semi-final, which would begin at 3.30. Shortly after he entered the room and Mokuba hurried to him.
Nikki could hear them argue about something, but she tried her best not to listen. After a few minutes Mokuba called her name with a triumphant smile on his face. "Come on Nikki! There are some friends I'd like you to meet!"
Even though she was hesitant to be around so many people, she couldn't do anything other than oblige the boy, not when he was looking at her with that smile. So Nikki just got up and followed, casting a short glance at Kaiba's very annoyed face. She got a slight idea whom she was about to meet.
And true enough Mokuba let her towards a group of people chatting happily with one another. "Hey guys!" Mokuba yelled enthusiastically when they reached them. "There's someone I'd like you to meet!"
He instantly got everybody's attention and Nikki felt her cheeks turn red under their stares. Tea saw her discomfort and went to stand by her side and continued the presentation. "Guys, this is Nikki! She's staying at Kaiba as..." she looked at Mokuba for help.
"As a researcher." He said "She hasn't found anywhere to stay yet and I persuaded Seto to let her stay."
Tea nodded "Right. Nikki, this is Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Bakura and Serenity." she pointed to them as she said their names.
She hadn't really needed to, as Nikki already knew a whole bunch of things about these guys. However, she wasn't going to tell them that. "Quite a first-hand impression that would make." She thought dryly.
"Is she the friend you needed to help out?" Yugi asked, wondering how Tea knew the girl.
"Yeah, she is..." Tea admitted. Since Mokuba hadn't mentioned anything about what happened to Nikki, she figured he didn't want to let the guys know.
Nikki saw her struggling to come up with an explanation and interrupted, "We bumped into each other one day and started to talk, and when I told her I didn't know the city she offered to show me around. I asked her not to bring anyone, cause I'm kinda shy..." She looked down and hoped they fell for the shy-girl-story.
Apparently they did, because they now started questioning her about her living with Kaiba. She tried to dismiss it as best as she could. Luckily for her the semi-final was about to start…
It was interesting watching the semi-finals together with the guys and even though neither Tea nor Tristan had made it this far, the spirit was high. When a short break began Nikki excused herself, and went to the bathroom.
As she washed her hands, she felt a presence behind her and the blood in her veins froze. "No this can't be! Please no…it can't be! Can't be!" Nikki slowly lifted her head and glanced at the face behind her. If she had never seen that face again she would have been happy.
The man behind her was tall and sickly thin with blond hair and washed-out blue eyes. A cruel smile twisted his thin lips as he backhanded her and sent her flying to the floor. "You little bitch! You really thought you could escape me, didn't you?!" he snarled, and slowly started to approach her.
Nikki couldn't move. Panic had shut down any rational thought and she could only stare at the man with big eyes. He gripped her hair and shook her violently. "You are going to pay for what you did to us, the building and my DOG!"
With a surprising strength for such a thin and frail looking man, he lifted her by her neck with his left hand and prepared his right to a crushing blow. Nikki closed her eyes and waited for the pain. However, it never came. She slowly opened her eyes and felt her heart swell at the sight.
Kaiba had seen a strange man walk into the women's bathroom right after Nikki had entered and he decided to follow. The sight that met him almost took him by surprise, but he instantly grabbed the man's arm and twisted it before he could strike.
"Get your hands off me! You have no right to interfere!" the man hissed at Kaiba through his clenched teeth.
"Let go of the girl." Kaiba said calmly and gave the arm a sharp yank. The man groaned with pain and let Nikki drop to the floor.
She quickly scrambled to her feet and practically ran to Kaiba, almost hiding behind him. "Is this your stepfather?" he asked without taking his eyes off the man.
The man suddenly let out a scary rusty laughter. He kept on laughing even though Kaiba yanked his arm to the point where Nikki thought (hoped) it would break. Finally he stopped, but still kept a cold smirk on his face. "My dear Mr. Kaiba. What lies has she been telling you? That she ran from an evil stepfather?" he asked mockingly.
Kaiba didn't answer. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm principal Sanders, head of the Crystal orphanage, which until recently was the home of your precious Nicole."
Kaiba loosened his grip and Sanders used the opportunity to get free. He massaged his sore arm and shoulder as he continued, now with a look of pure hatred in his eyes. "I'm sure Nicole has told you all about how she stole my money, burned down my office and with it an entire building AND the fact that she killed my dog!"
The glare that Kaiba gave Nikki made her wish the earth would swallow her whole.
"The scars on her back and the man you sent after her should fully outweigh any damages she has done. Get out of my sight before I call the police." He told Sanders in a voice that could cut through diamonds.
Even Sanders stepped back as he saw the deadly glare in the younger man's face. He turned his attention to Nikki and she shrank, "You've seen her back? My, my Nicole, I didn't know you were that easy to get in bed. So you are a slut after all, who'd guessed?" and with these words he walked out the bathroom.
"Kaiba, I can expla..." She started, but was cut off by the disgusted look in his eyes.
Without a word or another look he grabbed her arm and led her out the bathroom and out the building towards the limousine. "Wait in the limo! And trust me; if you run, you will regret it dearly." The unsaid threat in his words froze her heart and she got in the limo.
As she saw him walk away her now frozen heart shattered into a thousand pieces that dug into her chest and she felt like vomiting from the sudden physical pain. She'd lost his trust, and possibly more, forever.
A tear ran down her cheek and for the first time in many years, Nikki started to cry.
Uhh now things starts to get interesting! ;)
Hopefully you liked it (you are welcome to tell me so or otherwise in a review).
I'll really try to post the next chapter sooner...