Disclaimer: Still not rich so pretty sure I don't own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" -sighs-
Author's Note: Well, welcome welcome to our story as January rings in the new year! … Ha… little late for that I know, but… it is the first chapter of the new year, so there's that! But seriously, I hope everyone had a good holiday and that you're all feeling refreshed and ready to go! So without further adieu, let's get to the new chapter!
Terms - (Just one!)
"Ita" - short for "Itai" which means 'ouch' or 'hurt' depending on the context.
Today's chapter title is a noun most closely meaning a "purpose, goal, aim, objective, or intention".
-YGO-
(English Translation / Original Japanese)
"Will we lose it someday? / Itsuka ushinatte shimau no kana?
I want to protect you and that disappearing smile, / Usurete iku egao to kimi wo mamoritai kara,
The ringing voice that calls me dries out, / Hibiku boku wo yobu koe sae kare,
Even if it gets erased by the wind along with time, / Toki ni sou kaze ni kaki kesaretatte,
I will find you. / Kimi wo mitsuke dasu."
-"D-tecnoLife" by UVERworld
Chapter Twenty-Eight: 目的 (Mokuteki)
It was hazy. Like some kind of messed up fog that clouded over a sandy beach. But instead of a salty sea breeze, he smelled the polluted city air of Cairo. Sound passed by in a kind of doppler effect, getting higher and louder, then quieter and lower all of a sudden, though none came from the same direction. He wasn't even very sure of where his feet were, if he was right side up, upside down, sideways... the images, like a grainy photograph, kept coming in and out of focus.
Yugi blinked. He could swear he saw Mana... then Mahad again. Where was... Was this another duel... then another person... it was Shadi, turning to go... He reached out... no, not again, he wasn't going to let him just leave... Pushing through the heavy air, Yugi reached out, squirming, trying to move his legs, willing himself to move forward. Just as he thought the image would pass into the bleak nothingness around him, Shadi turned.
"...ely on the heart."
"Shadi!" He yelled, "Shadi!"
In a thump Yugi found himself on the floor, head aching from the impact.
"Ita..." He muttered, rubbing the back of his skull.
That had hurt.
He glanced around his room. Well, he was certainly over jet lag. Of course he'd hope so at this point, but more to the point, he could tell because it was still rather dark out and when he was jet lagged, he tended to stay up and wake up late. He sighed. He had kind of hoped that he could sleep off the failure of his to talk sense into Kaiba, but no such luck. Standing up, he headed for his closet where he proceeded to pull out the appropriate attire for work. He might as well go now.
After getting dressed, he headed for the bathroom, where he began to brush his teeth almost violently, his mind falling back to his dream. 'ely on the heart'. 'Rely on the heart'. The heart of the cards? That was an expression he rarely heard anymore. But, could that be what Shadi meant? Maybe he had to let Kaiba just come around. Maybe the Blue Eyes cards would somehow guide him back. That had happened before. He couldn't count the number of times Kaiba often seemed unwilling to budge and they had to let him go off and do his own thing, only to find him returning to help.
So did that mean... they just had to wait? But if that was the case.. what did that mean for Kisara? That seemed like a pretty crappy answer for her. There was nothing definitive about it. But really... what else could he do? It was all he had.
-YGO-
The card reader unlocked, allowing for one particularly early bird to enter. Odd. He shouldn't have been able to. Bakura glared at the key card formed to look like the "Change of Heart".
'Cruel, Pegasus, cruel,' he thought.
Holding the artifact in his hand tightly, he had made his way here almost immediately upon returning home. The whole night, he'd spent his time wandering for the most part through the streets of Domino, the artifact practically whispering to him, pleading with him, taunting him until eventually, he decided to just go to Industrial Illusions' Lab.
True, he was now an employee, but he shouldn't have been able to get in here. Even some places were off limits to him, Yugi, or Ishizu. Pegasus must have made this easily accessible for his convenience.
He gripped the artifact even tighter as the door slid open to reveal a room filled with safety deposit styled boxes. Bitterly, he wondered if it was all for show. How was he supposed to find... he felt the artifact shudder and opened his palm. It pointed to a blank wall. His eyes narrowed. Had he followed it down the wrong way?
No, he wouldn't bet his life on that.
He ran his fingers over the wall, the plaster under the paint so smooth, it could have been marble stone, when he felt it. The slightest indent, practically invisible. He ran his hand over it when a green light emanated from the sensor.
"Ryo Bakura, recognized."
His prints. He mentally cursed, half expecting an alarm to go off, but when it didn't, he hated Pegasus all the more. Instead, the wall shifted forward, then slid off to the left. He found himself shaking before he saw it, as though he could sense it. The golden ring, dirty, but completely recognizable.
How dare he.
The thought kept running through his head. This thing should have been destroyed. He felt the strongest urge to march right into Pegasus' office and lace it with acid, though that was something he supposed he could never really do. It was against his nature. But what did Pegasus think he was playing at? Why was he tempting the forces of destiny? Did he just want to ruin the lives of others? No. He just wanted to defy the odds.
Fat chance of that. No one could defy destiny.
"Oh, so you recognize that, do you?"
Bakura flung himself away from the Millennium Ring. Come to think of it, he should have expected this but...
"Come on, now, I've been so patiently waiting for you. Our reunion is but fate!"
"Your fate is to be destroyed," Ryo stated bitterly.
"Oh, by you?" The Spirit within the Ring taunted him, "You really think you can do that?"
"I will do that," Bakura stated, though his voice quivered, if only slightly.
"I doubt it. You never could do anything of any real significance without me," The Spirit relayed through the air.
Bakura steadied himself, "I will destroy you."
"Prove it then!" The Ring laughed, "Pick me up, take me away from this cell."
Bakura glared at the Ring. He knew what the Spirit was playing at. This had to be the Thief King of the Pharaoh's time. He was a trickster, manipulative, and willing to wait to strike. He wanted the opportunity to come into contact with him. That's when he would make his move and attempt to take him over, like all of those times before.
But at the same time... Did he really have a choice? Confronting Pegasus was likely to end in disaster. Despite clearly allowing for him to find the Ring, Pegasus would use the infiltration against him. He could go to Yugi, but would the Ring even be here when they returned? Pegasus would know someone had been here and would move it… It was like playing a game with four teams and two were being manipulated by the same player - Pegasus, cornering him. Could he trust Yugi, the fourth player?
He heard it laughing, "You're thinking of going to that empty vessel for help?! What a joke. You really are worthless!"
"If I'm so worthless, then why did you choose me?" Ryo snapped back, "You could have chosen anyone!"
"You're weak minded," The Ring responded, "You're easy to control."
"I'm not," Ryo shot.
"Then prove it!"
Impulsively, Ryo grabbed the center of the Ring and ripped it from the wall. He felt a slight pressure, like something encroaching on his skull, when suddenly, it stopped. He blinked, looking at the object in his hands. Had he been... had he just been hearing things? Was it post traumatic stress? Where was the Spirit? He couldn't sense anything coming from it... But he had been so certain... He glanced around the room. Had Pegasus been manipulating him? Did the CEO want him to steal it and then catch him in the act? Make him look insane? No, that didn't make sense. He would have been caught right then and there if that had been what Pegasus wanted...
No, Pegasus wanted him to find this. He was sure of it. But to what ends... it didn't matter. It had to be destroyed. Quickly grabbing the remaining pieces around the rim, Bakura quickly threw the relic into his bag and moved to escape. His footsteps echoing throughout the empty room, now devoid of its most valued item, seemed to chase him through the dark. Chasing him down a long road... one that he hoped he could escape from.
-YGO-
Pacing in his brother's office as he listed off the profits made by Kaiba Corp for the month, along with the losses though they were few, Mokuba continued to drone on while Seto found his gaze turning out the window until finally, Mokuba decided he'd been through enough of it.
"Nii-sama!" He yelled.
"Huh, what?" Seto said, completely pulled out of his trance.
"Have you even been listening to me? I mean, honestly, why pull me out of school for the day for this if you're not even going to listen to what I have to say?"
"I was listening," Seto snapped.
"Then what did I just say?" Mokuba demanded.
"Uh..." Seto found himself coming up blank. His mind had been on other things. Shoot, what had Mokuba been talking about?
"See!" Mokuba asserted, "Are you still moping about losing to Yugi?"
"No," Seto quickly deflected, turning his chair away and looking back out over the cityscape.
Mokuba pouted, before walking around to see his brother's icy gaze completely back in the zone that it had been before.
"Is this about Kisara? Did she say something? Did you do something stupid?"
"No one did anything stupid," Seto said after a moment, rather uninterested in responding.
"Oh, so it was something to do with Kisara then, wasn't it?" Mokuba concluded.
Seto's head swivled, "No."
"Whatever, I don't care anymore," Mokuba said, walking back around the front of the desk.
"What do you mean by that?" Seto asked, turning back to his brother.
"I mean, I've given you plenty of perfect opportune chances for making the move on her and you've done nothing."
"What do you mean plenty-"
"Kawaguchiko, Kyoto-"
"You blackmailed me into-"
"And Saturday I got you the corsage for her-"
"I never asked-"
"The point is, you late bloomer, that you just keep tossing all of my help aside, so now that you're stuck, I'm not going to help you anymore. You got yourself into this mess, so you can get yourself out of it," Mokuba told him.
"There is absolutely no mess, Mokuba," Seto insisted as though trying to make the notion seem ridiculous, standing up and looking out the window again. Honestly Mokuba could be so… But the truth was… he had been thinking about her… and what had happened at the duel disk release, the events after the duel of that evening having almost completely absorbed him on and off since that day had ended...
"Then what's on your mind? What's going on?" Mokuba asked, coming to his side.
However, he stopped when he saw the look in Seto's eyes, perhaps for the first time really all day. Like he was very deep in thought on something... important, something he was trying to figure out. The realization of what it had to be hit Mokuba like a happy load of popcorn being dumped all over him, but he couldn't be sure just yet. He had to ask.
"Nii-sama... are you... have you fallen for her?" He questioned, trying to mask his earnest interest and hope.
"Huh?" Seto said, again, out of the trance, albeit with resistance, "What, no, I-"
"You have, haven't you?!" Mokuba repeated, "Oh my gosh, no, I can't believe it."
"Mokuba stop-"
"I knew this day would come! My brother, Seto Kaiba-"
"Mokuba-!"
"...is in love!"
"I am no-"
"Oh shut it, you know I'm right," Mokuba said, turning on heal with a taunting smile on his face and Seto wondered how it was possible for a boy of 18 to be so wound up about something like this.
Seto rolled his eyes, "Would you quit it with this nonsense? I am absolutely, one hundred percent not-"
"Alright, prove it," Mokuba told him.
"What?" Seto said with scrupulous suspicion.
"Look me in the eye, right now, your little brother, the only one in the world you trust completely, and tell me that when you see Kisara, you don't automatically feel different," Mokuba finished.
"How could-"
"Anything, like your heart racing, adrenaline, you start to sweat, heck, even just feeling happier, maybe more relaxed-"
"Mokuba-"
"Come on!" Mokuba yelled, "Nii-sama, just be honest with me. Don't tell me after like two months of seeing her for lunch every day, taking her to Kyoto, and then laughing with her on a night where you dueled Yugi Muto and LOST, don't tell me that that's nothing."
There was a pause in their arguing and Seto's gaped mouth slowly closed, his brain going back to his thoughts from before. He... he really couldn't deny that. He couldn't deny how it felt good to be around her, how she seemed to put things in a different perspective for him and not in an annoyingly optimistic way. She was just naturally able to find the good in bleak situations. Not that she ignored the bleakness, she just... always said what he needed to hear while going through whatever it was he was facing. And that feeling, that feeling of relief when he spoke with her, was with her... it felt good. Warm, even. Like the weight of the world was just a little lighter...
"I..." He started, but nothing came out.
His brother smirked and began to pull out his phone, "Well, good, I'm glad that you've come to that conclusion finally."
Mokuba dialed a favorite in his phone, "Isono, can you bring those items into Seto's office that I had you get?"
Seto's eyebrows shot up, "What?"
"Thanks, Isono," Mokuba said, ending the call, "You didn't seriously buy what I said earlier, did you? Of course I'm still going to help you!"
"Mokuba, I never asked for-"
There was a knock and Mokuba called out, "Come in already!"
The two doors opened and Seto suddenly felt sick. In came giant bouquets of flowers, jewelry, chocolates, cards... it didn't seem to end. The red in his face was on an entirely different level than it had been two minutes ago as the thought of all of his employees having to must have seen this all heading towards his office. Finally though, it did end and Isono and the others exited the room much to Seto's relief.
"Mokuba-"
He was caught between a mixture of embarrassment, fury, rage, annoyance, fluster, and an ineptitude that left him unable to tell his brother off at all.
"So, what are you going to bring her for when you ask her to be your girlfriend?" Mokuba asked with a smile.
"I-" Seto raised a hand, but slowly it dropped. Girlfriend? Was that what he was supposed to do? Why? Why would he...
He looked at all the items that had suddenly appeared in the room. Roses, lilies, orchids, lilacs, forget-me-nots. Caramels, coconut shavings, peanut butter, hazelnut creams, all covered in chocolates. Pearls, diamonds, rubies, sapphires. It all seemed... very distant to him all of sudden.
His brother's words rang in his head. 'Fallen for her', 'in love', 'don't tell me that's nothing'... Nothing... 'Nothing' were things of no significance. Like everything that Mokuba had just brought in. They were all empty gestures to him, a flaunt of wealth, which admittedly he did at times enjoy doing... Yet... in his whole life, his wealth wasn't the thing that had brought him happiness, merely an illusion of it. Happiness had been seeing Mokuba grow up safe, happy, enjoying himself... a very human connection.
A human connection.
He shut his eyes and thought of the human in question. Kisara. A girl he had met merely two months ago. A girl with an outlook of sympathetic optimism. A girl who he could laugh with, talk with normally. A girl who made him forget about the frustrations, aggravations in his life. And a girl... a girl that every time he saw her, every time, he felt perfectly complete with. He could admit that much to himself at least.
His blue eyes flashed open and he went for his jacket which was slung over his chair. Mokuba's smile widened.
"That's the Nii-sama I know. Now what... wait, Nii-sama where are you going-" He started as his brother walked past him, ignoring the items around them, "You have to decide what to get her!"
But his brother didn't stop, he just headed straight for the door.
"Seto!" Mokuba yelled after him.
"Those aren't good enough!" Seto yelled back, before slamming the door behind him and setting off to the one place he was sure she would be.
The Game Shop.
-YGO-
A/N: Things about to go down man, haha. I hope you enjoyed it! That last section was hard - I tried to relay what in my mind would be Seto's contemplation along with sheer embarrassment over the whole thing, but I don't know how well that came across… honestly, writing Mokuba is too much fun, sometimes I get caught up writing that kid that Seto gets shoved off to the side. (He is one of the main characters here though, so I really gotta focus, haha). Anyway, let me know what you thought! Next chapter is going to be… tricky for me, so there may be a slight delay, but I'll try to keep it minimal. In the meantime, stay amazing everyone!
Later,
~Rena