Hey people! I was so surprised when I signed online and saw that my mail box was stacked with review alerts! It made me really happy and now I'm gonna work my butt off to update for you guys. So here ya go.
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Thanks to Dan who gave me an idea for this chapter. Dan also said that Kea should have a change of heart, but I'm pretty sure most of you guys saw that part coming. Don't forget, this IS a romance.
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Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. But I'm waiting for Kazuki Takahashi to give it to me for my birthday ... yep. Stiiiiiiiill waiting. *taps foot*
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Kea sat in the livingroom, watching Kaiba carefully. He was still out cold, tied securely to a wooden chair with armrests. The longer she looked at him, the more guilty she became. She wanted to let him go, but she knew Vinny wouldn't have it. Although she had worked with Vinny for over five years, he could be very dangerous, and Kea didn't want to take the chance of getting more people killed than necessary by trying to save Kaiba.
Growing tireder and tireder, Kea closed her eyes to rest for a while, waiting for Kaiba to come around.
Kaiba's head lolled from side to side and he groaned in discomfort. It didn't take him long to realize that he was tied to a chair, and there was duct tape over his mouth. He looked around, trying to recognize his surroundings, when he saw Kea sitting in a chair across from him with her head in her hands.
The groaning from across the room startled Kea. She looked up at Kaiba, and upon seeing that he had woken up, she rushed over to him and sat down on her knees in front of him. Slowly, she began to peel the duct tape off of his mouth.
Kaiba winced in pain at the duct tape being removed from his face. When it was completely off, he groaned and moved his mouth around a few times to get the feeling back.
"Here," Kea said, holding a glass of water to Kaiba's lips. He drank a little of it before Kea took the cup back. "Are you okay?" she asked him.
"I have a splitting headache," he said. "What happened?"
Kea was hesitatant to tell Kaiba what was really going on. "Um, well, after you came to my house there was this, um ..."
Before Kea could get another word out, Vinny walked in from the next room. "Kea, what are you doing, put the tape back on him!" he ordered.
"I was just checking on him, Vinny," Kea said softly.
"Yeah well it's not gonna matter tomorrow," Vinny said. "Stick the tape back on him or I'll do it myself."
Kea glared at Vinny. "His head hurts, I'm gonna get him some asprin," she said. She touched Kaiba's face lightly and said, "I'll be right back." She stood up and walked out of the livingroom and into the kitchen.
Vinny walked in front of Kaiba and studied his face. "Who are you?" Kaiba asked. "And what happened?"
"I'm Vinny Nocelli," Vinny said. "That girl who was just in here would be Kea Shatsana."
"I know who she is," Kaiba said.
"Or so you think," Vinny said. "I bet you had no idea that she works for the Italian mafia, huh?" He stopped and looked at the disbelief on Kaiba's face. "Why do you think you're tied up here? She does assault and hostage jobs. She's gotta have you bloody and damn near dead by tomorrow when the mob boss comes in here to take care of ya."
"What?" Kaiba said. "That's impossible."
Vinny lowered his face to Kaiba's and threateningly said, "There's gonna be a guy coming around tomorrow to blow your brains out. Don't test me, Kaiba, or I might just have to kill you myself."
Kaiba scoffed. "You won't touch me, you brainless monkey."
Upon being insulted, Vinny whipped out a switchblade from his back pocket and flipped it open. "Listen to me, moneybags," he said in a deathly tone as he held the knife tight against Kaiba's throat. "One wrong move and I won't hesitate to slide this blade all the way across your throat nice and slow so you'll feel it ripping through your flesh."
Vinny pressed the knife against Kaiba's neck so hard he had to tilt his head all the way back to keep it from cutting him. "Do you understand me, rich boy?"
"Yeah," Kaiba said, barely in a whisper.
"Vin! What are you doin', get the blade away from him!" Kea yelled from the kitchen doorway. "Are you outta your mind, you'll freakin' slit his throat!"
"That's what I'm intending to do," Vinny said eerily, pressing the knife tighter on Kaiba's neck.
Kea dropped the pill bottle she had gotten and went over to Vinny, pulling his arm away from Kaiba. "Stop it!" she ordered.
Vinny whipped his other arm around and hit Kea across the face. She wasn't expecting it and fell hard onto the floor. She stayed down with her face covered as Vinny cursed at her in Italian. Before he left the room, he spoke harshly to Kea in Italian.
"Don't you dare let your feelings for this asshole get in your way of finishing this job or I swear I'll kill the both of you with my bare hands."
Kea kept her face to the floor, hiding her tears and surpressing her sobs as Vinny walked out of the room. When she heard the door to the next room slam shut, she sat up and let her sobs out.
"You didn't tell me you spoke Italian," Kaiba said, recalling the first day he met Kea when he spoke to Mokuba in Italian while she was in the room.
"I didn't want you to know," Kea said between sobs. "Kaiba, I'm so sorry," she said, wiping her face. She stood up and paced, slapping her pockets nervously. She lowered her voice and said, "I can't go through with this. I can't. I just ... I can't do it. I gotta get you outta here, Kaiba."
"How?" Kaiba asked, keeping his voice as low as hers. He was no longer worried about Kea lying to him; his mind was set on escaping. He would deal with her layer. "Vinny's right next door, he'll hear us if we try to leave."
Kea stopped pacing and took a deep breath. "Tomorrow morning. The man that's supposed to come here to take care of you, Mr. Salvador. He's flying in from Italy at eight a.m., and Vinny's going to the airport to pick him up. We can get you out of here while Vinny's out of the house. Okay? Can you wait that long?"
Kaiba closed his eyes. "Yes," he said.
------------------------------EARLY THE NEXT MORNING------------------------------
Kea woke up at six o'clock to leave herself enough time to get Kaiba out of the house. She rolled out of bed and changed her clothes, quietly walking down the steps as to not wake Kaiba yet. But what she saw made her stop dead in her tracks.
"Good morning, Miss Shatsana," Mr. Salvador said, standing erect with his hands in his pockets.
"M-Mr. Salvador," Kea stuttered. "I thought your flight wasn't supposed to arrive until eight o'clock."
"Well, Vinny here called me last night and said that he had a hunch something might happen if I came so late, so I changed my flight and arrived here about an hour ago," Mr. Salvador said.
Kea shot Vinny a death glare, only receiving an evil smirk in return. "Well, um, what do you plan on doing now that you're here?" Kea asked a little uneasily. "I mean ... since there was a change in plans and all."
"Miss Shatsana, I'm going to assign you a job," Mr. Salvador said.
*Do I even want to ask?* Kea thought. As she walked down the steps she looked at Kaiba, who had the duct tape over his mouth again. He gave her an expressionless look before she looked back at the mob boss. "What is it, Mr. Salvador?" she asked.
Mr. Salvador snapped his fingers and the man next to him, who Kea recognized as a guy called Max, handed him an automatic gun. Mr. Salvador took the gun and turned it around in his hands. "Do you know what this is, Kea?" he asked.
"It's a 22 automatic," Kea said. "That's small for you, Mr. Salvador, I use 22s, I thought you used a 44."
"Precisely," Mr. Salvador said. "But I'm not going to use this gun." He handed it to Kea and said, "You're going to use it to kill Mr. Kaiba."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Kea said. "There's no way I'm killing anybody. I do hostages, okay? I never killed nobody before and I don't plan on starting now. This is not my territory, I did my end of the job."
Shrugging, Mr. Salvador calmly said, "Fine." He pulled out another automatic handgun, this time a 44, and held it in Kea's face. She jumped back in fear. "Either you take his life, or I'll take yours," Mr. Salvador said.
Kea's breath caught in her throat when she heard Mr. Salvador's words. After a moment of silence, she put her hand out and hoarsely said, "Give me the gun."
Mr. Salvador handed Kea the 22, smiling to himself as he watched Kea turn and face Kaiba, who was still tied to the chair. She fingered the silencer on the end of it for a moment before sliding the clip out of the gun and checking to see how many bullets were left in it.
"One shot," she said to herself as she put the clip back into the gun. "Guess I gotta do this quick." She laughed off her own comment, nervously. She held the gun out towards Kaiba, pointing it squarely between his eyes but keeping herself at arm's length from him.
It was painfully obvious that Kea had never killed anyone before; if she hadn't said it, Kaiba would have figured it out by himself. But it didn't help him any. His breathing rate intensified and he was sweating nervously, literally scared for his life.
Kea held the gun at him, shaking so much that she had to use both hands to keep the weapon in any kind of control. Her finger resting on the trigger, Kea kept her eyes locked on Kaiba, who was staring right back at her. Not blinking, shaking with fear, but eyes that were empty of emotion.
Kea didn't break her eye contact with Kaiba, and ignored the tears welling up in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she repositioned her fingers and firmly pulled back the gun's trigger, aiming for Kaiba's head.
BANG!
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CLIFFHANGER!! Did Kaiba die?? Where'd the shot go?? Who did Kea shoot?? What happened?? Well, there's only one way to find out. *points to review button* I got 9 reviews for the last chapter after only requesting 5, so this time I won't update until I get 7 reviews. Ja ne!
------------------------------
Thanks to Dan who gave me an idea for this chapter. Dan also said that Kea should have a change of heart, but I'm pretty sure most of you guys saw that part coming. Don't forget, this IS a romance.
------------------------------
Disclaimer: No, I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. But I'm waiting for Kazuki Takahashi to give it to me for my birthday ... yep. Stiiiiiiiill waiting. *taps foot*
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Kea sat in the livingroom, watching Kaiba carefully. He was still out cold, tied securely to a wooden chair with armrests. The longer she looked at him, the more guilty she became. She wanted to let him go, but she knew Vinny wouldn't have it. Although she had worked with Vinny for over five years, he could be very dangerous, and Kea didn't want to take the chance of getting more people killed than necessary by trying to save Kaiba.
Growing tireder and tireder, Kea closed her eyes to rest for a while, waiting for Kaiba to come around.
Kaiba's head lolled from side to side and he groaned in discomfort. It didn't take him long to realize that he was tied to a chair, and there was duct tape over his mouth. He looked around, trying to recognize his surroundings, when he saw Kea sitting in a chair across from him with her head in her hands.
The groaning from across the room startled Kea. She looked up at Kaiba, and upon seeing that he had woken up, she rushed over to him and sat down on her knees in front of him. Slowly, she began to peel the duct tape off of his mouth.
Kaiba winced in pain at the duct tape being removed from his face. When it was completely off, he groaned and moved his mouth around a few times to get the feeling back.
"Here," Kea said, holding a glass of water to Kaiba's lips. He drank a little of it before Kea took the cup back. "Are you okay?" she asked him.
"I have a splitting headache," he said. "What happened?"
Kea was hesitatant to tell Kaiba what was really going on. "Um, well, after you came to my house there was this, um ..."
Before Kea could get another word out, Vinny walked in from the next room. "Kea, what are you doing, put the tape back on him!" he ordered.
"I was just checking on him, Vinny," Kea said softly.
"Yeah well it's not gonna matter tomorrow," Vinny said. "Stick the tape back on him or I'll do it myself."
Kea glared at Vinny. "His head hurts, I'm gonna get him some asprin," she said. She touched Kaiba's face lightly and said, "I'll be right back." She stood up and walked out of the livingroom and into the kitchen.
Vinny walked in front of Kaiba and studied his face. "Who are you?" Kaiba asked. "And what happened?"
"I'm Vinny Nocelli," Vinny said. "That girl who was just in here would be Kea Shatsana."
"I know who she is," Kaiba said.
"Or so you think," Vinny said. "I bet you had no idea that she works for the Italian mafia, huh?" He stopped and looked at the disbelief on Kaiba's face. "Why do you think you're tied up here? She does assault and hostage jobs. She's gotta have you bloody and damn near dead by tomorrow when the mob boss comes in here to take care of ya."
"What?" Kaiba said. "That's impossible."
Vinny lowered his face to Kaiba's and threateningly said, "There's gonna be a guy coming around tomorrow to blow your brains out. Don't test me, Kaiba, or I might just have to kill you myself."
Kaiba scoffed. "You won't touch me, you brainless monkey."
Upon being insulted, Vinny whipped out a switchblade from his back pocket and flipped it open. "Listen to me, moneybags," he said in a deathly tone as he held the knife tight against Kaiba's throat. "One wrong move and I won't hesitate to slide this blade all the way across your throat nice and slow so you'll feel it ripping through your flesh."
Vinny pressed the knife against Kaiba's neck so hard he had to tilt his head all the way back to keep it from cutting him. "Do you understand me, rich boy?"
"Yeah," Kaiba said, barely in a whisper.
"Vin! What are you doin', get the blade away from him!" Kea yelled from the kitchen doorway. "Are you outta your mind, you'll freakin' slit his throat!"
"That's what I'm intending to do," Vinny said eerily, pressing the knife tighter on Kaiba's neck.
Kea dropped the pill bottle she had gotten and went over to Vinny, pulling his arm away from Kaiba. "Stop it!" she ordered.
Vinny whipped his other arm around and hit Kea across the face. She wasn't expecting it and fell hard onto the floor. She stayed down with her face covered as Vinny cursed at her in Italian. Before he left the room, he spoke harshly to Kea in Italian.
"Don't you dare let your feelings for this asshole get in your way of finishing this job or I swear I'll kill the both of you with my bare hands."
Kea kept her face to the floor, hiding her tears and surpressing her sobs as Vinny walked out of the room. When she heard the door to the next room slam shut, she sat up and let her sobs out.
"You didn't tell me you spoke Italian," Kaiba said, recalling the first day he met Kea when he spoke to Mokuba in Italian while she was in the room.
"I didn't want you to know," Kea said between sobs. "Kaiba, I'm so sorry," she said, wiping her face. She stood up and paced, slapping her pockets nervously. She lowered her voice and said, "I can't go through with this. I can't. I just ... I can't do it. I gotta get you outta here, Kaiba."
"How?" Kaiba asked, keeping his voice as low as hers. He was no longer worried about Kea lying to him; his mind was set on escaping. He would deal with her layer. "Vinny's right next door, he'll hear us if we try to leave."
Kea stopped pacing and took a deep breath. "Tomorrow morning. The man that's supposed to come here to take care of you, Mr. Salvador. He's flying in from Italy at eight a.m., and Vinny's going to the airport to pick him up. We can get you out of here while Vinny's out of the house. Okay? Can you wait that long?"
Kaiba closed his eyes. "Yes," he said.
------------------------------EARLY THE NEXT MORNING------------------------------
Kea woke up at six o'clock to leave herself enough time to get Kaiba out of the house. She rolled out of bed and changed her clothes, quietly walking down the steps as to not wake Kaiba yet. But what she saw made her stop dead in her tracks.
"Good morning, Miss Shatsana," Mr. Salvador said, standing erect with his hands in his pockets.
"M-Mr. Salvador," Kea stuttered. "I thought your flight wasn't supposed to arrive until eight o'clock."
"Well, Vinny here called me last night and said that he had a hunch something might happen if I came so late, so I changed my flight and arrived here about an hour ago," Mr. Salvador said.
Kea shot Vinny a death glare, only receiving an evil smirk in return. "Well, um, what do you plan on doing now that you're here?" Kea asked a little uneasily. "I mean ... since there was a change in plans and all."
"Miss Shatsana, I'm going to assign you a job," Mr. Salvador said.
*Do I even want to ask?* Kea thought. As she walked down the steps she looked at Kaiba, who had the duct tape over his mouth again. He gave her an expressionless look before she looked back at the mob boss. "What is it, Mr. Salvador?" she asked.
Mr. Salvador snapped his fingers and the man next to him, who Kea recognized as a guy called Max, handed him an automatic gun. Mr. Salvador took the gun and turned it around in his hands. "Do you know what this is, Kea?" he asked.
"It's a 22 automatic," Kea said. "That's small for you, Mr. Salvador, I use 22s, I thought you used a 44."
"Precisely," Mr. Salvador said. "But I'm not going to use this gun." He handed it to Kea and said, "You're going to use it to kill Mr. Kaiba."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Kea said. "There's no way I'm killing anybody. I do hostages, okay? I never killed nobody before and I don't plan on starting now. This is not my territory, I did my end of the job."
Shrugging, Mr. Salvador calmly said, "Fine." He pulled out another automatic handgun, this time a 44, and held it in Kea's face. She jumped back in fear. "Either you take his life, or I'll take yours," Mr. Salvador said.
Kea's breath caught in her throat when she heard Mr. Salvador's words. After a moment of silence, she put her hand out and hoarsely said, "Give me the gun."
Mr. Salvador handed Kea the 22, smiling to himself as he watched Kea turn and face Kaiba, who was still tied to the chair. She fingered the silencer on the end of it for a moment before sliding the clip out of the gun and checking to see how many bullets were left in it.
"One shot," she said to herself as she put the clip back into the gun. "Guess I gotta do this quick." She laughed off her own comment, nervously. She held the gun out towards Kaiba, pointing it squarely between his eyes but keeping herself at arm's length from him.
It was painfully obvious that Kea had never killed anyone before; if she hadn't said it, Kaiba would have figured it out by himself. But it didn't help him any. His breathing rate intensified and he was sweating nervously, literally scared for his life.
Kea held the gun at him, shaking so much that she had to use both hands to keep the weapon in any kind of control. Her finger resting on the trigger, Kea kept her eyes locked on Kaiba, who was staring right back at her. Not blinking, shaking with fear, but eyes that were empty of emotion.
Kea didn't break her eye contact with Kaiba, and ignored the tears welling up in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she repositioned her fingers and firmly pulled back the gun's trigger, aiming for Kaiba's head.
BANG!
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CLIFFHANGER!! Did Kaiba die?? Where'd the shot go?? Who did Kea shoot?? What happened?? Well, there's only one way to find out. *points to review button* I got 9 reviews for the last chapter after only requesting 5, so this time I won't update until I get 7 reviews. Ja ne!