Yani's POV

"Σιωπή!" the voice roared as lightning charged the air. "Έχουμε ακόμη να κρίνουμε της!" The noise died down automatically, but the three glares continued. "Άρης, ποια είναι η απαίτησή σας!"

"This girl accuses that I have raped her. Treachery!" the god with the ammunition belts bellowed, "I would not touch a goddess, much less a minor one!"

"Αυτή δεν είναι μια μικρή θεά," the pale god declared. "Είναι κληρονόμος μου, αν μου ήταν να εξαφανιστούν."

"Do not stand up for me, my lord," I whispered, turning to Death's bearer.

"DO NOT SPEAK WITHOUT BEING SPOKEN TOO, FOUL-MOUTHED WOLF!" she screamed, making the crystal wine glasses rattle.

"You just did, Hera," the wise one pointed out. There was silence as the goddess' looked at each other; one glare filled with motherly rage and the other filled with calm intellect. "Besides, only the Three Original Sons may use the ancient language in the throne room. She must speak to be heard if she may not speak in the original language."

"Some kind of heir she turned out to be, Hades!" the god with the whip by his side sneered. "And if she isn't a minor goddess, she sure isn't a major one!"

"I retract the charges of rape." My voice rang clearly throughout the hall. "I made the story up."

"Γιατί το έκανες αυτό, λίγο νερό σταγόνα μου?" The ocean rustled as he spoke.

"I was jealous of Lady Aphrodite for being fickle. I wanted her attention. Maybe if Ares were to supposedly rape me, I would have her sympathy. So I made up the story but obviously, it didn't work." I turned to the god with the knives in his belt. "I'm sorry for accusing you falsely, Lord Ares."

"Too smart," my creator whispered. "Believable. Behold! This is what red wine does to the body."

"Let her work in my forges, making jewelry for my wife," he smith god said, hasty to save my nimble fingers.

"Or on the fields, where she is as apt as taking care of nature as Pan or my daughter," the mother of harvest said, also eager to keep my blood from spilling.

"Or let her suffer on earth, this is what I decree." The sweet, lecherous voice echoed in the stillness of the throne room. "Being that I am the one most sorely deceived, I desire to take the punishment in my own hands."

"An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind," Apollo voiced, staring seriously at the Seducer.

"Did you make that up brother?" my lady asked, mildly impressed.

"Yes," he lied, keeping a straight face.

"This is what I wish for, Father Zeus. She will be reborn until she finds someone to fall in love with her. Life after life, pain after pain. Then she will truly know that love is not a force to be tampered with!" Her perfume drifted to my sensitive nose, too strong. Father Zeus thought while the hush resounded louder than any catcall.

"Πολύ καλά."

"No Father! She is one of my very best maidens," my lady cried, truly distraught.

"Hush Artemis," the goddess of love mocked, "Leave the affairs of love to those who can love." As the throne room erupted in protest, Hermes slowly floated to me.

"Come child," Hermes whispered sadly, kissing me on the cheek, "Let's get you some jeans."

I woke up screaming. I opened my eyes and saw the leering face of the god with brutal hands in front of me. He was reaching for me, trying to strangle me again.

Then, the hallucination was gone. I was still crying, silently again, but a warm hand had covered my eyes, shutting out the floating threat in front of me, even though I couldn't see.

"Shhhhhhhh Yani. There's nothing in front of you." He kissed me on my cheek and I felt the terror start to subside, being replaced by limp relief.

"D-don't kiss me, Kaiba." He sighed but still kept his hand on my face.

"Seto. Please call me Seto." I trailed my hand upward and covered his eyes with my hands.

"It's so dark, Kaiba," I sobbed, wanting him to see the darkness that I saw. "So dark."

"I know, love, I know." He stroked my hair, pulling me closer with the hand that had been covering my eyes, gently removing my hands from his eyes, and putting it to his cheek.

I had been reborn five times, replacing daughters all across the globe. And every time, Aphrodite had made it miserable for me. I found the world to be without love, without any sort of affection besides bodily attraction. Never had I lived out a full term; I had always been killed by brutal rapes or by my own hand.

The world had been horrible to me.

So how had I made friends this time? How had I met my Egyptian brother? How had I experienced Mokuba's fierce hugs? Of course, there still was animosity towards me from students but how had Kaiba said he loved me? Placed those few gentle kisses he had managed to get past my wall? Instilled that intense happiness when his mouth touched my skin?

I didn't know how, except they were all tricking me. That's why I never believed Kaiba when he said he loved me. Because he didn't. Aphrodite would make sure of that.

"Are you okay?" Kaiba asked, grazing my mouth with his fingers. I hadn't had that dream in a while. That meant something big was going to be taken from me if I didn't punish myself soon. In my last life, my best friend had been killed in a gang fight. I couldn't let any of my friends get killed this time. Especially Mokuba or Kaiba.

I had to leave.

"Yani, where are you going?"

"I'm going to take a walk. Don't follow me."

There was one place I could go to get the most punishment. It was fine; I would just meet Kaiba later at school if I survived. Not that I cared if I did.

"Yani, I'm coming with you."

"No you're not." I took my silver knife and slashed through his chest.

He fell asleep instantly.

I walked out the front door just as the clock chimed seven thirty. Mokuba would be up by now. HE would be getting ready for work. But Kaiba wouldn't, not for awhile anyway. I started to run for the place I spent my first two years in this life. As the rich neighborhood started to blend into the middle-class neighborhood, I took a right turn and felt for an apartment with steel and bronze foundations in the ground.

I knocked on the door just as he opened the door to go to work. We stared at each other for what seemed like eternity, my mother behind him, staring at me, too.

"What the HELL are you doing here?" my father breathed, dropping his suitcase.

"I—" He picked up a small side table and slammed it into my chest. I went tumbling backward down the ten stone steps and landed hard on the ground.

"Didn't I say to never come back?" he growled dangerously, coming down the steps slowly. I didn't say anything, just coughed up blood. I received a sharp kick to the stomach that made me skid backwards on the concrete.

"Answer when I speak to you," he said calmly and rolled me over with his foot. "You know, I thought we had a lot of potential in you, at least to marry off for some money. But it seems like nobody took a liking to you anyway." He put a foot on my throat and started to crush my air passages. "Now look at you, you're a freak and we couldn't get anybody to marry you." He stopped trying to choke me and let me sit up. "You're good for NOTHING!" I slid backward a couple of feet when he placed a blow on the side of my cheek. He was staring at me with pure hate in his eyes.

"WHO'S GOING TO MARRY YOU NOW? WHO'S GOING TO LOVE YOU? YOU'RE BETTER OFF DEAD!"

He was pulling back his leg for another kick when something hit his face with a dull thud.

"I will." My breath froze in my throat, and my chest tightened painfully. My father picked himself up.

"Hello Mr. Kaiba. Nice to see you outside of a meeting."

"I'll come back with the marriage papers tomorrow, is that ok?"

My father snorted and started to laugh.

"Are you really willing to take this bitch? She's lazy, selfish, annoying, slutty, stupid… well… I can go on and on but you get the point."

"Her name is Yani. She not 'this bitch'. And yes, I am willing to take her."

"Well I sure am not paying for the fucking wedding. Nor the dowry, even though this slut is worth maybe a dollar."

"I will pay for everything. In fact, I'll be the one paying the dowry to you. But we won't be able to get married immediately because she's…" He looked down to me, his head outlined by the sun, making him look like he was glowing.

"Dear, how old are you?"

"Seventeen," I answered automatically from where I was sitting at his feet, too numb and shocked to give a more eloquent answer. He frowned.

"You're birthday passed? Why didn't you tell me?" He faced my father again.

"Because she's seventeen. However, I'll bring the papers and the dowry later so that you won't be bothered in the future." My father looked as if he wanted to laugh and I thought I could hear my mother cheering in the back.

"That's fine with me. Now if you excuse me, I have to go to work."

"One more thing, Mr. Mizuko."

"Yes?" my father asked, in good humor now that I was gotten rid of.

"My sincerest sympathy to the loss of your company," he said, smiling innocently and sweetly.

"Since when did I lose my company?"

"Since now." My father's phone rang and I could hear the frenetic shrieks of his workers.

Then, I was in familiar arms, being carried away from that dreaded human.

"Yani, I was so worried when I woke up and you weren't there. I didn't know where you went and neither did Mokuba."

"Kaiba…" I whispered, pulling on his shirt.

"We didn't think you went to school because you knocked me out with your knife. And you had a bad dream the night before. It was Mokuba who figured out that you were going to your parent's house…"

"Kaiba…" I said louder, my voice still weak from the table slamming into my chest.

"…to punish yourself. So I followed you and stepped in just as your father was about to kick you. I knew something like this was going to happen so I bought out his company. I'm sorry for the informal way I proposed though. I wanted to wait until you wanted to marry me, but the situation called for desperate measures. But we still do have to wait until you turn eighteen. I didn't buy a ring either but I will as soon as…"

"S-seto…" Even though I said this quieter than all my other calls, he stopped and looked down.

"S-seto, I don't want to marry you."

"Ok," he said after a pause and started to walk again.

"I don't know why you keep insisting you love me. I know you don't. Aphrodite wouldn't let you love me, ever." I started to cough, blood coming out of my mouth. He walked slower so that I wouldn't shake so much.

"Put me down," I demanded.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I love you."

"Stop saying that!" I tried to get force into my voice but I couldn't. Suddenly, he sat down on some steps and stared at me, his eyes glittering.

"Can you hear my heart?" I listened closely for it, but I couldn't hear the steady thump.

"W-why isn't your heart beating," I stammered, frightened, still cradled in his arms.

"Can you feel it?" he asked, putting my hand to his chest. I shook my head. He gently sat me on his lap and pressed my head against his chest.

"Can you feel it now?"

At that very moment, I realized that miracles were possible in this world.

My heart started to speed up and his heart sped up too, beating exactly in sync to mine.

"When you were healing me from those bullets, my heart just… stopped. And when it started to beat, it was abnormally fast, even though I wasn't nervous or anything. When you cried over me, my heart started to slow down and cry on its own, although I wasn't crying. And… I don't know what to say when you say I don't love you. My heart adopted your beat, what more can I prove?" There was dead silence we both stared at each other.

"Yani… I… I need you to do me a favor."

"What?" I questioned my mouth dry.

For the first time since I met him and for the first time in Mokuba's memory, a tear traced down Seto Kaiba's cheek.

"Fall in love me!" he said fiercely, brushing away the tear while more poured down his face. "Fall in love with me as I have fallen irrevocably, severely, hopelessly in love with you."

"Seto, I—"

"Say my name again."

"Seto…" He took my face in his hands.

"Again," he whispered.

"Seto…"