Fun fact: This Friday (February 13th 2015) it's been exactly one year since I first started working on this fic! Hooray! ^^ If only I had known what I was getting myself into... He he. I had intended to do something for the anniversary, maybe post a few more chapters than usually, but my school has this partnership with a British one, and I'm having two British girls stay at my place from tomorrow until next week sometime... so I'm going to be really busy and won't have time to do it. -_- But still, I hope you enjoy this one chapter you're getting now, and maybe I'll be able to give you more chapters after my British guests go home. ^^ And hey... Please tell me what you think of this chapter! :)
Chapter 21 – Obelisk's Wrath (Part I)
Kisara Aoi was not in a good mood (not that she ever really was). She loved Saturdays because that was her chance to get away from all the people in school and get some peace of mind. The only person in school that she actually liked was Shizuka, who had been her friend since kindergarten. The other students usually assumed that Kisara was just like her best friend: quiet, shy and very kind. However, Kisara wasn't really like that at all. Sure, she was quiet, and very shy, but under that façade, she was more sharp-tongued and cynical than one might have expected. Not many people had seen that side of her, and she had no intention to show them either.
"Hello!" Shizuka was standing at her doorstep. That fact wouldn't have bothered Kisara very much, even if she was currently busy painting a picture with the oil paint she had received as a Christmas present. However, the fact that Mai Kujaku was there with Shizuka bothered her more than she wanted to admit. Why did Shizuka spend so much time with her brother's girlfriend nowadays?! It made Kisara a bit jealous, even if she didn't want to admit it...
"What are you doing here?" Kisara asked, only barely managing to disguise her negative attitude. "I am busy, as you see..." She gestured down at the clothes she was wearing, an old jumper and baggy jeans covered in blue paint.
"I can see that, but can we please come in?" Shizuka asked, and Kisara now noticed that her friend sounded scared. Kisara looked at Kujaku, and then back at Shizuka, and sighed.
"Okay." She turned on her heels without waiting for Shizuka and Kujaku to take their shoes off, and returned to her room, where her unfinished painting was standing on an old easel. Kisara picked up the paintbrush, and continued painting. She heard footsteps behind her as Mai and Shizuka stepped into her room, and heard Kujaku gasp in awe.
"I never knew you were such an artist, Aoi!" Kujaku's tone was full of admiration. "I didn't know you like Duel Monsters too!" Kisara's walls were covered in paintings and intricate drawings, all of them inspired by the famous card game. Kisara suddenly remembered that the blonde was one of the few girls in the school who played the game, and found herself respecting Kujaku a bit more.
"I don't play it", she replied, feeling a bit warmed up to Kujaku after the compliment. "I'm not interested in the playing cards themselves. But I love the designs, and I love doing paintings inspired by them." She added a few finishing strokes to her painting, which now clearly showed a picture of the Harpy Lady.
"Hey, that's my favourite card!" Kujaku exclaimed and leant closer to inspect Kisara's painting. "It's beautiful!" She inspected Kisara's walls again. "Hey, is Blue-Eyes White Dragon your favourite card? You have more drawings of it than of all the others." Kisara nodded in confirmation, but she wasn't going to tell Kujaku exactly how special that card was to her, though.
"Yes, it is. It was the first Duel Monsters card I ever saw." That she had seen the dragon in a dream long before she had ever even heard of the game was nobody else's business. That was her secret, and hers alone. Kujaku smirked.
"You know Seto Kaiba? It's his favourite card too. I bet he'd pay a lot of money for those drawings. When I think about it... Have you seen the way he looks at you? He's the most stuck-up guy I've ever met, and I've never seen him look at anyone else like that... I bet he likes you... I'm sure he somehow has sensed that you two share a favourite playing card..." Kujaku snickered a bit. Kisara was just about to give a frustrated reply when a small voice spoke up:
"Excuse me..." Shizuka, who had taken a seat on Kisara's unmade bed, looked even more timid than usual. "We had a reason to come here, Kisara. There's something we need to ask."
"And what is that?" Kisara retorted and put away her paintbrush. Now, Kujaku took over the discussion.
"Shizuka says you're a real nerd. I didn't mean that in a rude way", the blonde added quickly. "She says you're really interested in magic and things like that." Had Shizuka gone out and blabbered about Kisara's personal life for no apparent reason? That didn't make much sense, considering Shizuka's personality, so Kisara decided to forgive her for that and listen until Kujaku had finished talking.
"Go on", Kisara urged her. But before Kujaku had a chance to reply, the door was opened and a brown-haired girl dashed in.
"I'm sorry I'm late!" Anzu Mazaki shouted, panting heavily. "I was down-town with Miho and Amane and I had to come up with an excuse to leave early!"
"What are you doing here?" Kisara asked, failing to avoid sounding rude this time. Mazaki looked a bit taken aback by Kisara's tone.
"I'm sorry, but there's no need to act like that", she said, sounding a bit hurt as she sat down beside Shizuka and Kujaku on the bed.
"I'm sorry, but I don't like it when people show up uninvited at my house", Kisara retorted in irritation and glanced over at the three other girls now sitting on her bed.
"I told her to come here. She's my best friend, just like you're Shizuka's. So I thought she should hear this too", the blonde of the three explained. "Now, Aoi. Do you know anything about this thing called Shadow Magic? It could have something to do with golden items, and Duel Monster cards." Kisara's eyes narrowed as she thought about it. Shadow Magic? She mentally shuffled through all the different mythologies of the world that she knew anything about.
"It's nothing I've ever heard of", she replied. "How so?"
"Well, you see..."
–
"Can you see them anywhere?" Ryou asked. Bakura leapt down from the bench and shook his head. They had arrived at Mai's house to find that no one was home, and now they were searching in every place imaginable. Right now, they were in the middle of Domino's biggest shopping center, with no trace of the girls anywhere. Pegasus shook his head in despair as he shut off his phone and shoved it back into his pocket.
"Rishid just called. He, Mariku, Jonouchi and Malik just left Shizuka's house. Seems like Shizuka wasn't home either..."
"You don't think they'd still be at the bridge where the Shadow Game happened?" Bakura wondered.
"Who in their right mind would stay in a place where something like that happened?" Pegasus retorted. "Seto called me too. He went to the bridge with Atemu and Yuugi, but there was nothing there to find either." Bakura was about to give a cheeky reply, but Pegasus had obviously foreseen that and interrupted him. "Why don't you and Ryou stay here while I take a look around? They might show up." And with that, Pegasus turned on his heel and left Ryou and Bakura alone on the busy street.
"What will we do when we find them? Will we tell them the truth about all this Egyptian magic, or what will we..." Bakura began, but noticed that Ryou wasn't paying attention. Ryou was staring at something behind Bakura, looking very worried. "Hey, what's wrong?" Bakura turned his head, and quickly spotted the obvious source of Ryou's worry. "Oh. Dammit..." Ryou's very own twin sister was heading towards them, accompanied by Miho Nosaka of all people, to Bakura's great frustration. However, the two girls hadn't seen them yet. They were too busy chattering about their own business.
"I really don't feel like talking to those two now..." Ryou groaned. "Let's hide somewhere." He grasped Bakura's hand firmly and was about to escort him away, but it was too late.
"Hello, Bakura!" Miho said brightly with a wide smile. Bakura and Ryou both tensed as they saw the two girls approaching them. Amane was clearly trying her best to stop glaring at them, but Miho was still smiling... "...Oh. Hi, Shiromune." Miho's happiness faded away and became replaced with very apparent awkwardness. Bakura just wanted to groan. Had she not seen Ryou until now?
"Hello", Bakura replied breezily and pulled Ryou closer to himself. "Fancy running into you two. What are you up to?" He did his best to keep calm, despite how irritated he felt by the entire situation. He wasn't really sure about what Miho was thinking as she observed him; her expression was entirely unreadable.
"We're out shopping", Amane stated in the end, the conflict in her mind apparent by the look on her face; it was like she was trying to decide whether she should be angry at them or just let it go. "Just looking for pretty clothes, you know?" She let out a nervous laugh without any actual joy in it. Bakura nodded, not even bothering to fake a smile. Instead, he smirked crudely.
"I see. Personally, I'm out on a date with my dear Ryou here", he said and gave Ryou a kiss on the cheek, just to make his point even more clear. Ryou seemed surprised by Bakura's sudden public display of affection, but Bakura had really stopped caring about his reputation by this point. Bakura looked back at the two girls. Amane's face showed a mixture of confusion and anger, while Miho just stared at him and Ryou with a strange frown on her face. Ryou seemed to get what Bakura was doing and relaxed, his grip around Bakura's hand becoming less forceful.
"Yes... Of course..." Ryou stated, even managing a small smile. Then he turned to look at Bakura. "We should go find that restaurant you mentioned, Bakura..." He began leading Bakura away, while blabbering on. "I really love Chinese food, it's my favourite! How did you know? And you even booked cinema tickets! I didn't know you like horror movies too..."
"It's okay now, Ryou", Bakura whispered once they were out of hearing range. "They won't hear us any longer." Ryou let out a sigh of relief and stopped his monologue.
"That was horrible", he said and stared down at the ground. Bakura placed a hand on his shoulder, and Ryou let out a small laugh. "But still... did you see their faces?" He looked up at Bakura, seeming a bit unsure. "I... I thought you were concerned about what people thought of... us." That forced Bakura to think about it. In the beginning, he had been scared about what everyone would think, and it had turned out that his fears had been justified. His friends and his dad had been okay with his decision, but Ryou's family and some of their classmates hadn't reacted as positively. That was when it finally hit Bakura. Did it really matter to him what they thought? He quickly came to a decision: no. He was a very self-centred person. He had loved Ryou as far back as in a previous life several millennia ago. Giving that up was not possible. And it was too late to go back now, after all...
"Well, it seems like I've stopped giving a fuck", Bakura said before leaning in to kiss him. They had made their choice, and there were no regrets.
–
"Where the hell are they?" Atemu shouted in frustration as they left Anzu Mazaki's house. Atemu knew that Anzu and Mai were best friends, so he had thought that Mai and Shizuka could have gone there, but nope; of course not! Anzu hadn't even been at home! This was getting so annoying!
"It was a good idea to search at Anzu's place, though", Yuugi pointed out and walked up beside Atemu. "We can still find them. It's not too late!"
"Oh. Thanks, Yuugi. But what if it is?" Atemu countered. "What if Shaadi has already gone after them? It's not impossible!"
"Come on, cousin!" Seto urged with a smirk on his face. "It's not like you to give up so easily. I have an idea. You know the girl who sits in front of me in class? The pretty one with blue hair?"
"Kisara Aoi? Yes, I do. How so?" Atemu asked, before stopping and staring at Seto when his brain finally managed to process exactly what his cousin had just said. "Hey... Did you just call her pretty?" He had never heard Seto praising someone for their looks before. He'd just assumed that Seto was being a prude. Seto frowned at Atemu's reaction.
"I didn't mean to say that out loud", he muttered and glared at Atemu, who almost burst into laughter at the spot. "I was going to point out that she always hangs out with Shizuka, so they're obviously friends. It could be that they went to her place." Atemu was impressed by the fact that Seto had been able to come up with that idea, but he could see a big flaw in Seto's plan.
"But Seto, we don't know where Kisara Aoi lives", Yuugi pointed out before Atemu had a chance to do it.
"Actually, I do", Seto grumbled and glared down at the ground. "I... well... I have my methods." He was obviously very embarrassed by now, so Atemu couldn't resist bursting into laughter for any longer.
"Ha ha ha ha! Oh my god! Seto, you stalker!" he cackled, before stopping to actually think about it. "Oh my god. Seto, you brilliant man. Now we might be able to find the girls!" Yuugi sighed at Atemu's words, and Seto just glared at his cousin.
"Shut up, Atemu. Let's just go find her and see if she knows anything, okay?"
–
"...and then he just took his bike and left!" Mai Kujaku finished, leaving Kisara Aoi and Anzu Mazaki staring at her in shock.
"You know that this sounds like something out of a fantasy novel, right?" the latter of the two asked in disbelief.
"A fantasy novel with extra trading cards", Kisara added. "But you mentioned Osiris? Osiris is a god in Ancient Egyptian mythology. And you said that the strange man was a foreigner? Do you think he could have been Egyptian?"
"Maybe..." Shizuka whispered, sounding insecure. She then turned to look at Kujaku. "Mai. You play Duel Monsters, right? And you said that the card..."
"I have never seen a card like that one before", the blonde replied firmly. "It looked very powerful, but it was completely unfamiliar to me, and I know plenty of stuff about Duel Monsters."
"And this golden item he had... What did it look like?" Kisara asked. Kujaku snatched a paper and a pen from Kisara's desk, and drew something on it, before showing it to Kisara. "Hey... That's a hieroglyph!"
"Aren't hieroglyphs the Ancient Egyptian way of writing?" Mazaki asked in surprise. Kisara nodded, feeling rather satisfied to be able to show off her knowledge to people she didn't usually interact with. "But then... What does that mean?"
"I think it means that we're getting somewhere, Anzu!" Kujaku said with a grin. However, the grin quickly faded away. "Katsuya didn't want to tell us about this... What the hell is it really about?"
"He mentioned KaibaCorp", Shizuka added. "Maybe it's some top secret business..."
"We should go ask your brother, then!" Mazaki stated, grinning as widely as Kujaku. "We could always interrogate Seto Kaiba too!"
"Yeah, we can bribe him with your paintings, Aoi!" Kisara glared at the smirking blonde. However, she had to admit that she was getting interested. This was not an everyday problem, but something much more. If there was Ancient Egyptian mythology involved, somehow... what did this mean?
"I am terribly sorry, but you will not be getting away with that", an unfamiliar voice suddenly echoed from behind her. Kujaku's and Shizuka's eyes widened in fear, and Mazaki leapt to her feet. Kisara turned around, only to find a white-clad Egyptian man with a turban standing in the doorway.
"What do you want?" Kisara asked, stepping away from him slowly. Her first thought had been to scream for her parents, until she remembered that they weren't home, but away on a business trip. (Of course. Every time something interesting happened...!) Her second thought had been to ask the man who he was, but she was rather sure she already knew.
"I came here to stop two girls from telling anyone about what they've seen today", Shaadi stated calmly, not showing any traces of violence. "But now there are four of you. Four of you who are involved in something that you weren't intended to be involved with... No. Wait." His empty-looking eyes narrowed. "You. I know you." Kisara felt his steady gaze focus on her, and felt a sudden desire to just dump everything and run away from this place. "I think I might have been wrong. Your destiny... It is beyond that of the others in this room. Could it be...? Perhaps you were supposed to...?"
"What?" Kisara spat, her fear disappearing. Shaadi looked at her, gaze firm as the strange golden item around his neck flashed.
"Kisara Aoi... Or perhaps I should say, Priestess Kisara of the Millennium Rod?" Kisara felt her blood run cold. She wasn't quite sure herself, but she knew that what Shaadi had called her was somehow relevant, and she knew that it was not something he was supposed to know. Shaadi held out his hand for Kisara to take. "Join me in the fight against the forces of darkness."
A/N: I split this chapter into three parts. It wasn't supposed to happen, but it just got too long and so I had to split it into two parts, and then it was still too long so I split it into three. It screwed up all my careful planning, let me tell you that. But it works almost better this way, because I love leaving things with cliffhangers.
Kisara Aoi. She's not really at all like you might expect, eh? She wasn't supposed to be like this, I swear. But I started writing her, thought she was just too much like Shizuka, being quiet and shy and all that… and then I came to the conclusion that we don't exactly know too much about Kisara in canon... So I made her an introvert with a knack for art and imagination who has a bit of a rude side. Reminds me a lot of myself really, except that I'm not quite that rude... I think. She also likes Duel Monsters for the designs. I like that thought; that she doesn't play the game in itself but still feels a connection to it somehow.
Oh, and I wrote a Tendershipping scene anyway; I managed to squeeze one in regardless. Bakura has finally stopped caring about what people think about him. Way to go! I love writing Bakura confident. Just like I love writing him embarrassed. I just love writing him in general. And I love writing Ryou too. But the other characters keep getting in the way more and more… So giving you all a little Tendershipping now will have to make up for the lack of it in future chapters, since after we're done dealing with this plot point, focus will fall on the Bronzeshipping subplot for a bit. I hope you don't mind... It gets rather intense! ^^
What does Shaadi want with Kisara? And what's this about her being the Priestess of the Millennium Rod? Isn't that Set's job, you ask? (Okay, he's not a PriestESS, but… XD) You'll find out next chapter. Until then, see you (hopefully soon)!