Thanks for the reviews!

………………………………………………………………………………………………

XXVIII

After deleting that email, Kaiba shook his head and tried to occupy his time by doing some sort of work. He was actually starting to play along with the Plot now and hoping that if he was busy doing boring, complicated things that the author couldn't describe, then he would be skipped over in the narration and therefore no Sues could attack him.

Even though that was quite clever, his plan had one fatal flaw, and that was that he could never comprehend how important he was to the Plot as the Mary Sue's lover and how much of an influence the Mary Sue had in the story. Therefore, before he could even start on the schematics of his latest Duel Disk (the author knows at least that much), he heard a loud set of footsteps approaching his door. Bracing himself for another Sue – and praying that it was not Cat – Kaiba rose from his seat and glared at the door.

The door was flung open with no care for introduction. A red-haired girl, obviously a Sue-figure, rushed into the room so quickly that it had to be her Mary Sue special talent. She flung her arms around Kaiba's neck and started sobbing into his chest.

"I'm so sorry, Seto! Forgive me, I had no idea all of that would happen!" she wailed. Kaiba peered at the top of the Sue's hair and noticed only blue and green streaks. Also, the Sue was wearing a relatively simple outfit – no trench coat get-ups or French maid aprons – and therefore he came to the conclusion that finally, the real Sue of the story was back. The only Sue that didn't try to take over his company, or challenge him to a freaky duel, or seduce him in three seconds.

"Sakurelle?" Kaiba asked. The redhead raised her face and narrowed her gorgeous violet eyes.

"Who else would I be?" she asked. Kaiba opened his mouth and shut it. There was no reason to explain what he had been up to.

"Never mind." Sakurelle immediately burst into tears again and buried herself into his shoulder. Kaiba hoped that there was only one Sue allowed per scene, because he would – though he hated to admit it – much rather have this one than any of the others that had accosted him over the previous chapter.

After a few moments, Sakurelle separated herself from Kaiba's shoulder and sniffed. She had her head tilted towards the floor and her whole posture screamed sadness, but still Kaiba wasn't in much of a mood to figure out why she was so upset. Still, Sakurelle explained anyway.

"I should have known better, Kaiba. You have given me nothing but your love and I've gone and ruined all of that. I'm so sorry."

"What are you talking about?"

"I…some people…kissed me." Kaiba raised an eyebrow as Sakurelle stammered awkwardly.

"Yes?"

"And I kissed them back. Well…two of them anyway." Kaiba narrowed his eyes this time.

"Them?"

"Yeah…there was more than one. Not at the same time, of course." Kaiba's eyes normalized, but he was still confused. He thought his experiences over the past chapter were interesting as it was, and then Sakurelle was admitting to doing something else.

"What am I supposed to do about that?" he asked. It was Sakurelle's turn to look confused.

"Aren't you jealous? Or at least angry?" she asked. Kaiba narrowed his eyes yet again. Jealous? The great Seto Kaiba was never jealous. That would imply that he would have to want something someone else had and he could not have, and Kaiba had everything he wanted. And besides, he didn't want Sakurelle anyway.

But then again, there was that weird prickly sensation on the back of his neck. He had heard jealously was painful, and that sensation was borderline pain. It was more of an irritation. And where was Malik's voice? He would have heard a dozen comments by now…

"No…" Kaiba said slowly. Sakurelle beamed.

"You are the awesomest boyfriend, Seto. I love you!" She clasped her hands even more firmly around his neck, and the annoying sensation got worse. Wait, jealousy wasn't supposed to get worse when you got what you wanted. Not that Kaiba really wanted Sakurelle.

Sakurelle raised her eyebrows as if waiting for something. She cleared her throat. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"I love you, too," he said. Sakurelle smiled again.

"Thanks." She leaned forward and kissed him, and the sensation on his neck crossed the border into minor pain. It was confirmed: the feeling was not jealousy. Of course, Malik would have told him that a while ago if he hadn't mysteriously disappeared, since anyone knows jealousy usually doesn't limit itself to some ignorable part of the body. But the absence of Malik and the weird non-jealousy sensation made Kaiba correctly guess that something else was bothering him.

"Sakurelle…" Kaiba started, reaching behind to pull her hands off from behind his neck. That's when he noticed. His fingers grasped not just her perfectly slender wrist, but also something metallic. He pulled her hand forward and squinted at the bracelet.

"It's the Millennium Bracelet," Sakurelle explained before he had to ask. She pointed to the various other golden accessories that she was wearing and that Kaiba had ignored because he didn't care enough to give a damn. But, now that she had introduced the Item, Kaiba narrowed his eyes. It was a Millennium Item. He hated to admit it, but Malik was right. A Plot advancement had arrived the day after he kissed Sakurelle.

"You have four Millennium Items with you?" he asked. Sakurelle thought for a moment.

"Well…if you count the Jewelry Box, it's five. But I don't think the Box can do anything…that's kind of stupid. I mean, if you're in danger, and your last defense is a Millennium Jewelry Box? How retarded is that? I mean if Malik wanted that I'd gladly give it to him to see him try to use it—oh my gosh! Malik!" Sakurelle had let the dialogue get carried away.

"You know Malik?" Kaiba asked. Sakurelle nodded furiously.

"You probably know him because he was the opponent during Battle City and all, but he's trying to take the Millennium Items away from me!" Kaiba wasn't surprised at all by this revelation. He was part of that plan, which reminded him that now that the Items had appeared, he needed to deliver them to Bakura and Malik.

And then he realized how obedient he sounded in the previous sentence, which was when Kaiba also came to the conclusion that though his personality hadn't been as severely mangled as some other characters', he was still a slave to the Plot.

And yes, even though he could tell what was in the narration, Sakurelle couldn't. Even though she could most of the time. It's a necessary Plot inconsistency to insure that Sakurelle doesn't know about Kaiba's betrayal until a climatic, tear-jerking, heart-wrenching moment. And that right there was foreshadowing.

Anyway, enough stalling. Kaiba had a few seconds to come up with an idea, and it was a good thing he was such a genius. Usually he had Malik's help, but he figured after twenty-seven chapters of this, he could come up with something on his own.

"We must do something to stop him," Kaiba declared. He fingered Sakurelle's cheek. "I won't let him harm you." Now, if Kaiba were being serious, that would have been probably the sweetest thing a guy could say to his girl. However, since he was not serious, it makes the experience sour for the rest of us who know. But at least Sakurelle could enjoy the moment.

"Thank you so much, Seto. That means a lot! And you're right! We need to work together to keep him from taking the Items and summoning other things that could also destroy the world." She took both of Kaiba's hands. "If we do it together, we can show the whole world that love will prevail!"

Kaiba internally gagged, wondering why the theme of the Plot could have been mistaken for that of a toddler's Disney movie. But, he had to play along.

"Yes, our love will prevail." Sakurelle kissed Kaiba's nose and then tugged on his hand to lead him somewhere. He followed. She led him up to her room and then told him to wait outside. He nodded and she entered and closed the door.

What the hell happened, Kaiba? Malik's voice immediately yelled.

"What are you talking about? Where the hell were you?"

I was right here…until some giant golden thing obscured my vision and blocked out your head-voice with a badly sung remix of Britney Spears. Seriously, these Millennium Items need to work on their shield skills. Kaiba ignored that part and instead immediately began to pour out the information.

"Sakurelle has received the Millennium Items. She has five in her possession, though she has told me that one is relatively useless."

Any sign of the God Card?

"If there was, she hasn't told me. But as that item is mine, you will not worry. I will handle that myself." There was a slight pause on the line.

Of course…it's yours. I knew that.

"Malik…"

Forget that. Anyway, Kaiba, bring the Sue over to a location that I will reveal to you in your brain.

"Agreed. The God Card is mine."

Of course. Malik's voice abruptly cut off. Kaiba scowled internally. The Egyptian's tone was not comforting, and after all this torture, Kaiba would settle for nothing less than the Fourth All-Powerful God Card in his deck. But, soon his head filled with images of the super-secret location and he decided to pay attention to that.

Now that there was a significant pause after the conversation, Sakurelle opened the door and re-entered the scene. Kaiba raised his eyebrows.

"What-?"

"We're about to save the world, Seto! I have to wear my super-sexy outfit of world-saving!" And yes…she was wearing said outfit. Apparently Yami had set the trend of donning leather clothing during world-saving scenes, because that was the theme of her new outfit. Shiny black leather pants with cross-stitched splits running up the legs, a mid-riff baring halter top, also in black, shiny leather, and a long-sleeved, black, shiny leather jacket completed her outfit. She was wearing leather, shiny, black boots, and had a leather, shiny, black scrunchie pulling back the blue and green streaks in her hair, leaving the red strands to tumble down her back. The Barrette, Anklet, Earrings, and Bracelet stood out against her light skin. She had even applied thick black eyeliner and mascara to complement the look.

"That was probably my last outfit description," Sakurelle wistfully sighed. Kaiba wanted to raise his eyebrows, but they were already raised, so he narrowed them. "After all, after the saving the world part, all we have is falling action, in which we make out. So…this is my last outfit."

"A tragedy," Kaiba commented. Sakurelle nodded and took his hand.

"Let's go, Seto. We must save the world…wait, is it still Friday?"

"Yes…"

"Okay! That was random. Let's go!"

………

"Ah-ha-ha!" Malik laughed triumphantly. Bakura gave him a weird look.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Malik, in his creepy black robes, danced around in his underground secret hideout.

"The Millennium Items are here!" Malik cried, throwing his arms into the air. Bakura crossed his arms.

"No need to throw your personality into the wind." Malik rolled his eyes, doing a cartwheel and giving all the Rare Hunters in the room a scarring view of his underpants.

"Too late! My personality's gone through the blender! Whoop! The Millennium Items!" Bakura shook his head and turned to everyone in the room. They were glad to be given an excuse to ignore Malik for the moment.

"Since Malik here is…unable to give orders, I shall. Everyone prepare to face the Sue. You must brace yourselves against the power of her beauty and perform the God Card Summoning Chant without fail. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Bakura," they all replied. Satisfied, Bakura turned to deal with Malik and make him at least reasonably sane before Sakurelle arrived.

………

Mokuba had been ignored for quite a little while, yes? After he had hooked up with Rebecca, he was virtually left out of the Plot. Now, we must fix that tragic little flaw, because he has an important little role to play in the chapters to come.

No, he is not getting kidnapped. Remember, he knows about the Plot and the Mary Sue. In fact, let's see how he is using this knowledge right now.

Up until now, Mokuba has been in his room. Suddenly – while switching from present to past tense in one sentence – he sat up and looked out the window. Maybe it was just him, but he was sure he felt some sort of 'summoning' deep inside him. It didn't take him long to jump to the computer and research furiously.

Look at that! Just as he had thought, it had to do with the Mary Sue after all. Apparently, whenever Sakurelle was about to do something uber-important concerning the fate of the world and mankind, as we know it, and Mokuba was required in the scene, he would invariably be drawn towards the scene so that he could be present. He felt that very tug now and made plans to follow his urges and help out in any way he could.

………

Of course, if Mokuba was getting summoned, obviously Yugi, Yami, Téa, Tristan, and Joey would have to be summoned as well.

Do you feel that something strange is about to happen? Yami asked his lighter counterpart. Yugi shrugged.

"Is it another world-disaster that I will have to prevent by dueling a cliché villain?" he mentally asked.

You're right about the first part, Yami replied. But I think Sakurelle will save the world this time…

"Well, I need a break anyway," Yugi replied aloud. This caught Joey, Téa, and Tristan's attention.

"Anything we need to know?" Téa asked. Yugi thought.

"Yeah. Something world-threatening is about to happen, and Sakurelle is going to try to save us all. We better go and help her."

"But we don't know how," Joey interrupted.

"Yeah, and where is this?" Tristan asked. Yugi shrugged.

"We'll know. We're main characters…that's got to count for something right?" Téa, Joey, and Tristan shrugged simultaneously so that the author was spared giving them each individual sentences. And then, together, the gang left whatever unimportant thing they were doing (they were probably in school, who knows) and headed towards the unknown location of Sakurelle's world-saving task. Vague, yes? So much for main characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Well, only two more chapters left! That's good, isn't it? My next update is February 20. Please review!