Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. If I did I'd be rich right now...
Chapter 15 - Fatal Wounds
Shiro came home later that day wearily after the situation had been dealt with. He sighed heavily with a tired look in his eyes and plop down onto the couch in the living room.
"Shiro?" Maaya came into the living room, hearing him come into the house. "Oh your back. How was the meeting?"
Shiro suddenly remember that he had told his wife there was a meeting with the director at the museum. He couldn't tell her the truth. He knew she would bombard him with questions that he didn't have time to answer. Should he tell her now? He look straight at her, trying to decide. "No." he thought, it would just worry her. Instead he said. "It was really stupid. He was droning on and on about the new section in the Egypt exhibit. He wanted to know if I was done so he could decide when it should be opened to the public." which was partially true, only he talked with the director a couple days before.
"Well, are you done?" Maaya asked.
"Yes. Just finished. And I won't be working on anything else anytime soon."
Hearing this, Maaya's eye's light up. "Really? No more late nights at work?"
"Nope."
"I'm so glad." she said. "Not that I don't want you to do what you love." she said quickly. "It's just that sometimes you go a little overboard."
"I won't be doing that anymore. I promise." he gave her a kiss for reassurance.
Maaya smiled. "Maybe you can spend time with Vari. Now that you are free. She got back from her duel tournament."
Shiro slapped his forehead with his hand. He completely forgot about Vari's tournament and haven't asked her how she was doing since her first duel. He suddenly felt a little guilty. "How was Vari's duel?" he asked.
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Maaya smiled widely. "She's out back practicing."
"Practicing." Shiro thought. It wasn't wise to barge in when Vari was practicing. She almost knocked him out when he walked in one day with her in a fighting stance. Without warning she did a high kick and nearly struck him in the face. Luckily she missed by an inch.
Shiro trudge cautiously out into the backyard. Sure enough Vari stood in a fighting stance, with a sword in her hand.
"Is that my fifteenth century sword your holding in your hands?" Shiro asked wide eyed.
Vari turned around and quickly put the sword behind her back like a little child, with a guilty look on her face. "Uh..." It was stupid to hide it. She knew her father saw it already. "I was just borrowing it for practice." she said innocently. "I promise I won't break it."
"Just be careful with it." Shiro said uneasily. "In fact, don't swing it around too hard." as if he wasn't quite sure she really wouldn't break it.
"Okay dad you've made your point. I'll put it back." Vari said. She could tell her father gave a sigh of relief.
"How was your duel? he asked. "By the look on your mother's face, I take it went well?"
"I'm in the finals!" she exclaimed happily.
"I'm very proud of you." Shiro smiled. "Hey!" an idea popped into his head. "How about we celebrate? You and me going to the ice cream parlor like normal people."
Vari considered the idea. "I'd like that. I don't think I've ever done that with you before. But don't you have work." Vari asked bracing for disappointed.
"Not anymore." said Shiro. "I've finished my research and the exhibit is going to open, so I won't need to work right now."
"That's great!" Vari said. "Can we go later today?"
"Sure we can." Shiro replied. He looked at his daughter with sad eyes. Thinking deeply from before.
"Dad? Are you okay?" Vari asked all of a sudden. It caught Shiro off guard.
"I'm fine."
"But you had a strange look just before." Vari said, closely examining him, reading his facial expression.
"I'll tell you later." Shiro replied.
********
Seto called Mokuba into the private study room. He was sitting at his desk reading company documents with a cup of coffee next to him. He had been reduce to drinking caffeine to keep himself awake during the day. The sad thing was, he needed it more and more.
"You wanted to see me big brother?" Mokuba asked walking in.
"Yes. I want to know why you went to Vari's house without telling me." he look down at Mokuba with a stern eye.
Mokuba gulped and stared at Seto in silence. Did Vari tell him?
"Vari didn't tell me." Seto said looking at Mokuba's wonderment on how he knew. "I found out because the bodyguard that lives around that area saw you with her."
Mokuba tried to explain. "I wanted to help you Seto."
"By sending the person I hate?" Seto asked, looking away with anger in his eyes.
"That's not true Seto. You don't hate her." Mokuba argued.
"And how could you possibly know that?" Seto asked.
"Because you love her." Mokuba replied.
Seto's body stiffen with Mokuba's startling words. "That's insane." he said bitterly.
"I just want you to be happy Seto. And I think that Vari could be the perfect match for you. After all, you two argue like a married couple." Mokuba smiled.
Seto didn't say anything.
********
"Are you ready to go Vari?" Shiro asked.
"Yep." Vari replied. "Let's go." Just as they walked out the door the phone rang from inside the room.
"Shiro!" Maaya called and rushed over to him. "It's for you." she handed him the phone. "It's the museum."
In an instance Vari's face fell with disappointment.
Shiro sighed and grabbed the phone. "Hello?...Yes...Do you need me right now?....Fine....Okay....Bye." As he put the phone down, he noticed Vari's disappointed face. "They need me for a little while." he said.
"Oh..." Vari mumbled.
"But only for about an hour." he reassured her. "Then after that we can go to the ice cream parlor. It's only a block away. You can meet me at the museum and then we'll go together. Alright?"
"Alright." Vari agreed.
Shiro smiled and kissed her forehead. "It'll only take an hour. I promise." He stepped out of the door.
Vari went over to the living room to kill some time. Her mother walked up to her and sat on the couch beside her.
"You know your father loves you right?" she asked.
"I know." Vari replied.
"And you know that your father loves his work?"
"Yeah."
"But he'll never love his work more then he loves you. Remember that."
********
One long hour passed as Shiro walked out of the museum. He should have said he was busy and told the director off. The man was starting to be irritating to him. One hour of nothing but mindless babble about the exhibit. It was a waste of time. He stood outside the museum to wait for Vari. He wasn't going to screw up this time. After this is all over he was going to set things right. "I wonder if Ishizu is safe?" he thought. "It won't be long now..."
Just as he looked over three men wearing dark purple cloaks with an eye emblem on the front surrounded him.
"What the..."
They grabbed him forcefully, covering him mouth so that no sound could come out. Two of the men held both his arms, dragging him to a near by alley way. Shiro struggled but he couldn't win against two. They threw him down on the ground as another cloaked man stepped up to him. Shiro stood up, baffled and afraid at the same time. The man that stepped up seemed to be the leader of the group. His face was concealed underneath the dark hood.
"Who are you?" Shiro exclaimed. There was no escape. All four men surround him with the leader in front of him.
The leader gave a small sinister laugh. "You know exactly who I am." he sneered, even though Shiro could not see it. "You've been running away from me ever since Egypt. But how long can you run? I'm afraid your fears have finally caught up with you." he lifted up his hood, revealing his white hair and vicious glowing eyes.
"Malik Ishtar." Shiro realized.
"I see you've been talking to my sister. You've seen my face haven't you? In the dark sands of the Pyramids of Giza. I've watched and waited for you. You flew here where you thought that you could be safe. Wasn't that why you came here in the first place?"
"You were the one who threaten me." Shiro hissed.
"You should have listen." Malik narrowed his eyes at him. "I'm tired of playing games. You will tell me where the chest is."
"I don't know where it is and even if I did, I would rather die then tell you anything." Shiro growled.
"You're lying. You can make this hard or easy."
"I don't know anything!" Shiro exclaimed.
"You've pick the hard way." Malik said. He indicated for one of his men to step forward. "Bakura, you know what to do."
Bakura stepped up to him with a sadistic smile. Shiro shook with fear, knowing that they would torture him somehow. The same two men held him down again as he kept on struggling. Bakura took out the millennium eye and held it up against Shiro's forehead. It started to glow. Shiro noticed an eye carved into the ball. The same eye that was on the chest.
Shiro suddenly felt an itch on him like some bug crawling on his skin. Then he felt it creep into his mind, if it was even possible. His mind opened like a book waiting for someone to read. He then realized they were somehow reading his thoughts telepathically, extracting information from him.
Bakura lower the eye. "He doesn't know where it is." he said finally.
"What?" Malik asked looking suspiciously at Bakura. "It can't be."
"The eye never lies. But I've found out that your sister has fled with the box. Her whereabouts are unknown."
Shiro saw the rage in Malik's eyes. "Damn her!" Shiro couldn't help but laugh at Malik's frustration.
Malik gave Shiro a menacing glare. His blood boiled as he looked at him with utmost contempt. He pointed at one of the men holding him. "You will kill him."
Shiro's eyes widen with horror once he heard those words. He noticed Malik grip tighten on a rod he was holding. The cloaked man pulled out a gun and pointed it straight at Shiro. He seemed hesitant for a second, his fingers shaking on the trigger.
Malik's grip on his rod tighten even more. "Do it." he commanded. "Let's go." he ordered the others. Malik was gone. It was just Shiro and the hooded man.
"Look. You don't have to do this." Shiro said pleadingly.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way." The man lifted his head up revealing his face underneath the hood.
"You!" But before he could finish two gunshots were heard.
********
"NO!" she screamed. Her feet ran towards her father who was lying on the ground. She saw the purple cloaked man quickly run off deeper into the alley.
"Oh my god, dad!" she cried out. She saw the massive amount of blood on his chest. It soaked through his shirt, bleeding profusely. She quickly placed her hand over his wound trying to stop the bleeding.
"Vari?" Shiro wheezed, his eyes went in and out of focused as his looked up at a blur image over him. He felt like passing out.
"Dad stay with me!" Vari kept her hand on the wounds. She was afraid if she let go he would lose too much blood.
"Vari I'm sorry." he gasped. "I should have told you sooner."
"Don't talk dad. Save your strength." she cried. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't think of what to do. She felt afraid.
"No, listen to me." he felt his lungs were about to collapse. "I realize now..." he took another hard breath. "That it's your destiny. The chest..." he paused, he felt the bullet dig deeper into his body. "Ishizu...will...come...to...you..." he struggled to continue. His eyes rolled over.
"Dad!" Vari screamed.
"Please...forgive...me...Vari..." his strength was fading. "I...love...you."
"Dad! I forgive you! Just don't leave me!" she cried. But he didn't reply. He stopped breathing. Shiro was gone.
Author's Notes: The tragic end to Shiro that I've been anticipating to write. Kinda saddens me that I have to kill off one of my original characters. But I've been planning this scene from the very beginning, which will branch out into other plots that I have evilly planned. Let's just say Vari isn't going to be a very happy camper. The next couple of chapters are going to answer all the questions that we're all so confused about. Is Hajime the guy that Shiro saw? Take a lucky guess and stay tune for the next chapter to find out what happens.
Thanks to the people who reviewed my story! Keep on reviewing. I want to know what you think of my story. I need lots and lots of reviews! Help me hit 100 reviews before I get up to Chapter 20.