Part | One

Outskirts of Downtown Domino City, Japan

12:00 AM

"I'm going to kill Kaiba." Atem cursed under his breath as he tightened his hold on the steering wheel.

A giggle escaped from the blonde hair woman, who stood under a light post, as a group of men tried to take her with them.

Atem growled under his breath, his red eyes glowing with rage. How dare they assume Mana was someone who would sleep for money! Everything inside of him wanted to go over there and beat the cr-p out of those men.

The men received a sultry smile from Mana before she leaned in and whispered something to their ears. Atem couldn't help but sigh in relief as the men quickly walked back inside their black SUV.

Inside their undercover car, Atem growled again. He couldn't believe that this was happening in the first place. He had never imagined Kaiba assigning him a partner for this case. Especially someone who he had feelings for since childhood.

"Are you f-cking serious Kaiba?" he demanded.

The CEO could only glare at his best agent.

"I assume a female partner would be great for this mission as you wouldn't look good disguised as Dark Magician Girl, no?"

"Cut the bullsh-t. Out of every agent you could've chosen, why her? How am I supposed to stand, forced to see Mana dressed up as a duel card character for a nightclub and flaunt to any piece of scum that sees her?"

"That's your problem, deal with it, or I'll assign someone else the mission with her."

Atem grimaced, watching men try leering Mana into sleeping with them. It made him sick to his stomach when some men took it as far to master bate in front of her. These pathetic pieces of garbage deserved nothing but to go to the Shadow Realm.

How could they see Mana as just a source of physical pleasure that they could take and toss?

She was so much more than that. She was fierce, kind, loyal, humble, funny, and utterly breathtaking.

Instead of standing outside a nightclub in the worst part of Domino, parading herself to help Kaiba and him with this murder case, she should be enjoying her night doing as she pleased.

She should not have to come to work on her day off.

Atem cursed at Kaiba again, the steering wheel cracking under the intense pressure placed upon them.

What was he doing?

What was he f-cking doing?

He should've told her a long time ago about his feelings.

Not push her further away from him.

"We leave in ten minutes. Do not waste my time," Atem spoke, refusing to meet her eyes.

She scoffed.

"If we're going to work together tonight, please refrain from talking to me in your ignorant way," she replied as she gathered Dark Magician Girl's costume and walked towards the ladies' room.

She paused halfway and turned around. "Some of us, unlike others, do have a life outside work."

Atem raised an eyebrow at her.

"I could've just ignored Kaiba's call and carried on with my date tonight. You should thank me for coming to your rescue instead of acting like a d-ck."

Mana pretended to powder herself as she spoke to him through her small commlink earring, "Are you ready to apologize?" she asked coldly.

"Stop fooling around with those men. Be alert for our killer." Atem answered back sharply.

Mana growled as she continued to doll herself up.

"As-hole." she cursed at him.

"And take off some of that makeup. You're wearing too much of it."

"Excuse me? Are you saying you don't like the way I look?"

Atem groaned. If only she knew how he felt and thought of her.

"I did not say that." Atem managed to say.

"I'm flattered by such high praise," she briefly murmured, but Atem saw the flittering hurt that passed over her face.

As much as his heart yearned to tell her how he was madly deeply in love with her, he knew it was far too dangerous to be close to him.

As the best and top detective of the incorporation, his life was constantly in danger.

He wouldn't forgive himself if something were to happen to her.

She didn't deserve him.

He could never be happy. He didn't deserve it.

After another hour of sitting in the car, Atem sighed. Refusing to see her stand more time under that lamppost, he decided to call it a night.

"We haven't captured our killer," she pointed out with outright exasperation with him. "Kaiba won't be too happy."

"I don't care. Let's go," Atem shot back, both of them angry with the other but neither willing to back down.

"Now, Mana!"

"No!"

Both Atem and Mana had a pretty nasty fight during the ride here. It wasn't a big surprise; they were both mad at one another. He tried to convince her to go home and that he would be better alone. She had even threatened to go out there alone without him.

"I'm done with your sh-t," Mana angrily hissed, cutting the commlink off.

If only he dared to tell her. To tell her he loved her so much. Tell her to stop being so nice to him as he is a complete jerk to her. To tell her how he could never be with her as he was a coward.

"You don't have to sit out here with me if you get bored. I can defend myself." Mana softly whispered as they pulled up near the nightclub.

"No," he replied through clenched teeth. "I'm not leaving you out here all alone."

"I can take care of myself!" she hissed back.

"I know you can, but we're in this case together!" he shot back.

At that moment, a dark Rolls Royce pulled up in front of Mana, causing Atem to break from his thoughts.

Bingo.

Mana smirked as she made sure to show off her long legs and rake her fingers through her long blond hair, shaking the strands out as she tilted her head back. She was using this as her chance to turn on her commlink.

The car's back window rolled down. She leaned over to talk to the man, her lilting laughter filling Atem's ear.

It was shattering his heart.

Note:

Artwork on cover is all credited to Siosiri on Tumblr.