It was that night.
The night of the dance, if she hadn't made the mistake of turning back and seeing what she saw, then she could have been okay. But she did turn back and she did saw him.
But under the candlelight, he didn't look like Ryou Bakura. His light hair, his slightly darker skin glowing with the light of the candle, and his face.
Nadina thought that she was staring straight into the face of Marik. And although it wasn't, the shock of seeing Marik again made Nadina more heartsick for home than ever.
She grew so homesick that she was no longer bouncy and cheerful in Kaiba Mansion, she wasn't caring to try to do well in school, and leaves Yugi and his friends puzzled when she ignored them.
As for Kaiba, he didn't know what's going on with Nadina. She doesn't talk to him in the limo on the way to school, she doesn't give him the perky hugs which she use to give him often, and she hides in her room from him and Mokuba when they were all at home.
Was it the kiss, maybe I was too bold? He often debates the reasons when he's at his office. He remember the night of the dance. She had felt feather light and fragile in his arms when the danced. In the moonlight, she'd looked wispy soft and beautiful. Kaiba shook his head to get rid of the thought. Or could it be too much stress from school? Is she coming down with something, like maybe she caught that flu from Mokuba last week.
Overall, he doesn't know. But he sure knows that he doesn't like being cold-shouldered in his own house. And if she was giving him the cold-shoulder, he wants to know why.
Maybe it was time to have a talk with her.
"It's almost Christmas." Clark Black said to no one in particular at he looked outside the window, where snow was falling harshly.
"Hey, you're right." His twin all of a sudden popped up from behind the couch where he was half dozing off in front of the fire. Now that it was winter, their little lady was gone, and the Master isn't going on any trips, every worker—especially the Blacks—just lounge around the Ishtar Mansion with nothing to do and nothing to guard. After all, Marik did hire them to be Nadina's personal bodyguard and his own security team.
Clark jumped before swirling around. "Edward! What in seven hells are you doing there? And why do you have to be so bloody quiet?"
"Hey, I was taking a nap." His twin defended, holding up a hand before getting up and crossing over to his brother. "Why the hot temper?" Clark sighed.
"It's almost Christmas." He repeated himself. Edward looked at him dully.
"Yeah, so?"
"Don't you remember what Christmas was like? Did you forget everything?" He waited a moment, then stomped over by the fireplace and ignoring his brother.
His brother trumped over to him. "I still don't get it." He stretched himself on the sofa.
"Nadina's birthday is tomorrow." Edward sat up, his eyes wide.
"That's right! Dang it! No wonder Master Marik seems depressed and more touchy than ever."
"Don't say that!" Clark gasped. "If Master hear you say that—"
"He won't," the younger of the brother interrupted. "He locked himself in his room remember?"
Someone coughed behind them.
"Ahem."
Clark whirled from the fireplace and Edward scampered up from the couch.
"Master!" With totally comical expression on both of their faces, they saluted, then wondered afterwards why they did what they did.
Marik ignored them as he walked over to the loveseat and sat down. He crossed his arms as a sullen look crossed his face.
"What's that under the Christmas tree?" He pointed out as he gestured to the gold paper wrapped box under the tree that the staff of Ishtar Estate had set up. Clark turned red before making a dash for the gift-wrapped box.
"It's for Miss Nadina, sir, I though she might return in time…" But Marik was faster. Within a blink of an eye, he had the small package in the palm of his hands, looking at it as if it was a bomb detonator and would go off any minute.
"Master…?" Edward came toward them uneasily. But Marik wasn't listening.
Nadina's birthday is tomorrow, she's going to turn fifteen. Even though I'm gone most of the year, I've never missed her birthday before. He thought about what he had gotten her before he returned home from his last trip. She would have loved what I got her this year. She's always said she wanted to see a real genuine pearl. She's got every kind of precious stones, just never pearls.
Marik slipped his free hand into his pocket and took out a small velvet box. He flipped the lid open with his thumb and stared at perfectly round, golden-pinkish cast pearl as big as a quarter.
It was a rare found that he had spotted while he was off in the West Indies. It was in an open market where he and his Rare Hunters were weaving through all the people when he spotted it.
In addition to that one pearl, he had a matching set of pearl necklace, earrings, bracelet, and the pearls for the hair on order which it just arrived this morning.
His fingers trembled as he shut the box bluntly. He turned and barked at Clark, broken from his trance, more upset and sad than ever.
"Save your foolish ideas! Take it away!"
He slipped the velvet box back into his pocket and left it there, alone and forgotten.
"Nadina." Kaiba came into the room and stopped when he saw Nadina curled up on the blue damask divan.
"Yes, Seto?"
"Nadina, what's wrong with you these days?" Kaiba spared no time in launching into his lecture. "You're not trying in school, you refuse to communicate with me or Mokuba, and you are determined to not try to make any friends. But what I'm most worried about is your education."
"What does it matter? Men don't care whether a pretty girl has knowledge or not." Was the bitter answer from the girl.
Kaiba paused and eyed her sternly. Then said, in his firm no-nonsense voice. "What's wrong with you? You don't still believe that junk that your brother filled your head with, do you?"
"And if I am?"
Kaiba was taken back by the unusual negative and sulky manner that Nadina was hostile giving him.
"Listen, I don't like your attitude, young lady." Kaiba's patience was wearing thin with the girl's sullenness. He no longer cared whether he sounded like an over-concerned father or not. "You better start shaping up, missy."
"Or what, you'll kick me out of your house?"
"I don't threaten girls with their weaknesses." Kaiba replied coldly. "But don't test me out. Because I'll bring on something you could take, but much worse then kicking you out of my house."
With that, he left the room. But by the end of the day, he would have wished that he wasn't so cold and hard.
"Mokuba, have you seen Nadina anywhere?" Kaiba walked into the little Kaiba's room. Mokuba looked up at his older brother and grinned. Then he put on a sober expression.
"No, Seto, I haven't." Then he looked concerned. "Why? Isn't she in the house?"
"No, I couldn't find her anywhere. Unless she's hiding." Kaiba ran an exasperated hand through his unruly chestnut colored hair. "But why would she be hiding?"
"Maybe because you yelled at her this morning." Mokuba suggested innocently.
"I didn't yell at her." Kaiba grimaced at the sound of the word. "I simply gave her a lecture. She needed one."
"Well, maybe she's feeling bad over that."
"Maybe. Anyway, tell me when she gets back." Kaiba turned to walk back into his home office. "Tell her that I want to see her and that I don't have time for such tantrums."
Nadina was forgotten for a few hours as Kaiba furiously worked on the protocols and pacts of KaibaCorp. It was a week before Christmas and snow was heavily falling outside the young CEO's office, but he was too busy to look out. He worried unconsciously, but not to his own knowledge, until through the mists of work and silence, his phone rang, echoing through the whole room.
He snatched up the phone in his usual way and barked, "Kaiba!"
"Hey, Kaiba," an all-too familiar and usual annoying voice said from the telephone as Kaiba stared at the phone with disbelief.
"Wheeler?! How the heck did you get this number?" He jumped up. "This is a number that's filed and classified not to be accessed by just anybody."
"Let's just say that I have a friend, whose friend, whose friend's friend, whose friend's brother—"
"Never mind, I don't have the time to listen to you bark. What do you want?" He thought it would be better to ask rather than just to hang up on his. If Joey had taken time to find the number of the guy that refers him to "the puppy" or "the third-rate duelist" or even better, "the dueling monkey," then it could be important.
"I just thought you might like to know," Joey's obnoxious Brooklyn twang sounded irked. "That we just saw your Nadina and she doesn't look very good."
"What?!" Kaiba's heart thudded. "Get to the point, Wheeler, where is she and how is she?"
"We saw her down at 3rd avenue Domino, when me, Yugi, and the other guys were shopping with Téa for Christmas."
"Where is she on 3rd avenue?" Kaiba growled, wanting to rip the words out of Joey's throat. 3rd avenue was one of the lower quality parts of the City of Domino, just thinking about Nadina in that section gave Kaiba the chills.
"She's at the bar, the bar where—"
"Catch you later, Wheeler." Kaiba managed to say before dropping the phone, grabbing his trenchcoat, and hurrying out the door, yelling on his way to inform Mokuba where he's going.
"Hello? Hey, Kaiba, hold on!" Joey's voice came from the phone that was hanging off the table. His voice could be heard saying to Yugi in the background. "I think he just left. Man, Kaiba doesn't even know which bar I'm talking about. When he gets there, he's going to have trouble figuring out which saloon she's in." He hung up, hoping that Kaiba knows what he's doing.
Meanwhile, Kaiba got out of his limo and stood out in the middle of 3rd avenue, staring bewilderedly at the signs in front of him.
"Curse it!" He cursed under his breath. "I forgot to ask that third-rate duelist which saloon he saw her in!"
Shrugging his shoulders and stomping in the foot-thick snow to keep from shivering, he motioned his chauffeur to drive a circle around the block, and come back for him later. Afterward, he trudged through the thick, slushy snow to look into each one of the saloons.
"What is she thinking?" He muttered as he felt the coldness of the snow against his legs. "What is she doing in a bar?"
There were three saloons on 3rd avenue. Kaiba was more than relieved to not have found her in the first two he checked, considering that they were strip bars. He couldn't help the look of pure disgust on his face as he walked in, keeping his eyes off the stage and into the audience. But he had to force himself to look up once to make sure the girl on stage wasn't the girl he's looking for. Men acted peculiar when he entered. Maybe because he was younger than all of them and was the most successful. Some of them glared, some of them looked ashamed of themselves, and the drunken ones yelled at him to join them for a round of drinks.
"Sick fools." He trudged through the snow for the last saloon, hoping he would find her there as well as hoping he wouldn't find her there.
In five minutes, he was staring at the girl with the shock and disbelief on his face and almost didn't recognize her.
This bar was quieter and only several people occupied the room. The bartender was a heavyset man with coppery red hair and a droopy mustache.
"—yeah, so I told him, 'Fine, if you want to do that, go ahead and do it!'" He heard Nadina's laugh as he found her sitting in front of the counter, talking to no one in particular. She sat perched on the high backless stool, wearing a taffeta gown. The airy skirt floated around her ankles, drifting folds of shimmery wisteria green. More lace trimmed shirring accented the bodice. The green made her eyes smoky and brought out the richness of her hair.
"Nadina? W—"
Kaiba almost fainted when he saw the pyramid stacked wineglasses. He turned toward the bartender, who shrugged.
"Hey, I tried to stop her." He defended. "From buying the drink, drinking the drink, and stacking my martini glasses. But she attacked me and almost scratched my eyes out when I tried to stop her. She declared that she bought all the drink and insisted that she paid for the glass as well. Heck, I'm not stopping her again."
"Hey, Mr. Bartender," Kaiba watched as Nadina waved her hand at the bartender. "I want another vodka. Black vodka. I think I can try another one n-now." She hiccuped. He watched as she pulled a glittering hairpin from her hair and gave it to the man. Her hair fell from the luscious honey colored knot on top of her head and her golden hair rippled around her face, spilling dramatically over her shoulders. The bartender, who the men were calling Martin, didn't even look at her, but absentmindedly took her jeweled hairpin, dropped it into a wineglass, where—Kaiba could see—a dozen hairpin was held, and gave her a glass of vodka.
Kaiba finally interfered.
"Hey, no, you're not drinking that." He lurched forward and grabbed the glass. Nadina turned toward him with fire that Kaiba's never seen in her eyes before and swallowed hard.
"Kaiba?" He let out his breath slowly as Nadina's eyes focused and her anger dimmed. At least she seemed not as drunk as he thought she was. That is, until she slurred out the next sentence.
"What are you doing here? And where's M-Marik? I thought you two were p-playing cards together tonight. Remember? Friday n-nights, you guys get together to play poker?"
"No," Kaiba said curtly, staring at the drink in his hand. "And you're drunk."
"I'm n-not drunk." She protested. "Nevverrr drunk. I just got starrrrteed." She wavered in her seat. She turned to face Kaiba's piercing, stern gaze and gave a gulp. Then, she composed herself and lifted her head up proudly as she ordered a glass of champagne. "Y-you want to know why I chose today, Kaiba?" She drawled as the bartender got her drink ready.
"No," Kaiba said, cautiously sitting down beside her. "Why?"
"Today is a b-big day." Nadina eyed the vodka in Kaiba's grip and plucked it from his fingers and gulped it down with one swig. She coughed and Kaiba stared at her with horror and disbelief.
"It's my birthday today." She finally said lazily. "I turn fifteen. I want to try something new this year, since Marik isn't around anyway." She turned to the young businessman, smiling despite the frown he gave her. She daintily took the delicate champagne chalice and took a sip.
"Hey, Mr. Bartender," she called out. "This time, I want a Sherry, I heard that they are good."
"The name is Martin, I told you that already." Kaiba heard Martin grumble under his breath as he accepted another gem covered hairpin and dropped it in the martini glass. Nadina offered her drink to Kaiba.
"Wanna sip? This drink is like nectar and ambrosia all in o-one."
"Disgusting," Kaiba narrowed his eyes. "You're going to make yourself sick drinking that garbage. You're going to get a splitting headache tomorrow along with a hangover."
"A hangover…" Nadina repeated slowly, pronouncing each would as if it was in an ancient language.
"You're going to be throwing up all morning." Kaiba corrected himself. And he was going to get sick from listening to Nadina slur and talk nonsense. Why in the seven hells was he allowing her to drink all that junk?
She's depressed, he told himself. Just humor to her today. Pamper her, it's her birthday. She's just depressed. She misses her brother.
She giggled all of a sudden. "A hangover," she repeated. "Oh, Kaiba, you're just so funny!"
Oh, God…
Kaiba remembers the effect of alcohol. First comes the giggles, then comes the tears, followed by total lost of control, and at last comes the hangover.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Kaiba looked over a Nadina, who was bubbly and flushed. "I heard that if you mix a Bloody Mary with soda water, it tastes like an Italian Soda!" Without waiting for Kaiba's comment, she turned and began to order the concoction. "—can you put a cherry on it too? Yeah, with whipped cream and an umbrella." She finally nodded with satisfaction, smiling happily despite of Kaiba's stern look. When Martin offered Kaiba something, he refused.
"I'm serious, Nadina, you're going to make yourself sick." He said seriously.
"It doesn't matter." Nadina took a sip, then turned to wink at him. She wagged her finger at him, "My brother isn't here to see me. He doesn't want me anymore, so it doesn't really matter."
"Like I said earlier, you are drunk."
"It doesn't matter." She chirped in a high-pitched voice.
"It will matter in the morning." Kaiba muttered.
"You know what?" Nadina asked after finishing her second glass of Rose Hall with vanilla coke in silence. Kaiba refused to humor her by offering any sort of wonderment, so before she continued, she ordered a Bourbon. "I don't care if Marik doesn't want me anymore. I can do fine without that jerk."
As if oblivious to the statement she has just made, she sipped at her drink calmly through a straw.
"Conceivably," Kaiba said shortly, watching her and still unsure of what to do.
"I am perfectly serious." She looked perfectly serious, playing with her melting ice and concentrating on stacking her latest element on the next level of the liquor-glass pyramid.
"You're not serious." Kaiba interrupted, scowling. "You're simply in denial that Marik still wants you." He jerked back when something hit him in the face, very closely to his eye. He glared at her as he realized that she had just flicked her cherry pit at him. In return, she giggled, made a face, and offered him a sip of her drink. Upset and not realize what he was doing, he took a sip.
His eyes widened at the amount of alcohol that was in the drink. He gagged afterward, not from the liquor, but from the shock of how much alcohol was actually in the drink that Nadina's inhaling like air. His expression sent Nadina into another burst of giggles.
"How much alcohol does this thing have?" He asked, clearing his throat and disallowing to give the glass back to her. Nadina scowled when he didn't give her her glass back.
"Not enough..." She immediately summoned Martin and demanded a Scotch. Her cheeks was flushed pink, but the look in her eyes expressed that she was still depressed. When she finished half of her drink, she decided to order Kaiba a Boiling Mac, which he refused, but from the glare she gave him he unhappily drank it. He couldn't stand the alcohol, but had a feeling that if he doesn't drink it, Nadina would end up drinking the rest.
"You're too unhappy," she said from out of nowhere, pausing from playing with the remnants of her Scotch. "You are a very unhappy man. What you need to do is smile!" She smiled and hopped off the stool. "Have you ever heard that McDonald song? 'Put a smile on, put a smile on, everybody c'mon, put a smile on—'."
Kaiba groaned, realizing that Nadina was really drunk.
"But you know," she added thoughtfully after he grabbed her and propped her back into her chair. "Being unhappy is better than being a jerk, so that's why I love you more than Marik. I mean, who n-needs a jerk anyway?" She sniffled and reached for the skirt of her dress.
"Wait—" Kaiba started but was too late as a loud riiiip was heard and the inner silk petticoat of the dress was torn off by Nadina.
"You could have just asked for my handkerchief." Kaiba said crossly. "No need to rip your dress."
"I love you, Kaiba. I love you more and more and more and much more than I ever love Marik." Tears filled up her eyes and she leaned over in order to put her arms around Kaiba's tall frame. Kaiba nodded and agreed, more upset than embarrassed. Nadina was obviously missing her brother very much on her fifteenth birthday and now, with Kaiba here, she was desperately trying to convince herself that she doesn't need to have Marik in her life as long as she has Kaiba.
The thought of her being so desperate and sad and in denial made him feel bad.
It also made him feel a boil of anger erupt within himself. Anger at Marik. At how he could make his own sister act this way. At the lack of love and care he's given her to make her feel so undesirable. At putting the thought that he hates her in her head.
Everybody was gone now from the bar, and only Martin, Nadina, and a fuming Kaiba was sitting in the room. And Kaiba was sure that the heat of his anger was radiating through the whole room.
"I'm sure your brother still loves you very much." Kaiba said after five minutes of silence and watching Nadina cry. She nodded, although there were still tears falling her eyes.
"I can live without him, Kaiba." She said softly. "I really can."
Kaiba was about to respond, but Nadina had swiftly turned back to the tired and warily bartender and asked for a cocktail. In turn, Kaiba groaned and shook his head in amazement, wondering why Nadina hadn't passed out yet.
"No more drinks for you, young lady." Kaiba said stoutly as he stood up. "I think I've let you had more than enough. Too much." He added to himself. "Come on, it's time to go home."
"No," Nadina whimpered as Kaiba put his arms around her. "Marik doesn't want me home, remember?"
"Let's go back to our home." Kaiba said smoothly, not wanting to make her cry again tonight. "Come on," Kaiba said, reaching out for her hand. He draped her arm around his neck and hoisted her up with his arm around her waist. They stood up.
"Hey, Mister," Kaiba looked up as Martin handed something to him. He opened his palm and stared at the content that was dumped into it. He looked up at the bartender. Martin shrugged.
"I figured the lady would want them back." Kaiba nodded in gratitude and fumbled to put the diamond hairpins back into his pocket.
"Thank you. You shall be well compensated for all your doing tonight. And for all the drinks she didn't pay for." He added, remembering the point of the pins.
"Nah. Just glad to help out." Nadina was half unconscious with the alcohol as Kaiba brought her out to the limo, who was just rounding the block for the dozenth time.
"Back to Kaiba Mansion." Kaiba ordered, after gently seating her down. He managed to slip in after her. He was very self-conscious about Nadina's limp body leaning against him while his arm was still around her. He blushed madly to himself as she snuggled closer.
"Marik…" He heard a whisper that was so silent that Kaiba thought it was part of the air. But he looked down at Nadina and realized that it was her talking.
"Marik, I so want to go home…" She bit her lips as a tear found its way down her face. "My place is with you, you're all I have after Mother and Daddy died."
Kaiba felt his throat gone dry as he was speechless. She continued, "I need you so much in my life. I need you so badly. But…but…"
At this point, Kaiba couldn't stand listening to Nadina anymore. He gently shook her, leading her out of her unconsciousness, "Nadina, wake up."
"Kaiba?" She asked, words slurred. "Am I drunk? Why are you here? I'm really drunk, aren't I?"
"Yes, you're very drunk. I'm taking you home right now. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Kaiba said soothingly as he fumbled with the soft music playing in the background. The classical music seemed to calm the Ishtar heiress down a bit.
"Kaiba," she asked again, looking sleepy and dazed. "Are you mad at me?"
"No, I'm not mad, I'm upset."
"I'm really drunk, aren't I?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, you are. You're terribly drunk." He looked down at the small figure in his arm.
"Have I asked you that already?"
"Yes, you have."
"I'm sorry."
"How much did you drink?" Kaiba interrupted her before she continues to apologize for everything that's not her fault. He figured that she wouldn't know, but it was worth a try.
"Hmm… some rum and some whiskey, and some other stuff... lots of stuff. I drank too much, didn't I?" She doesn't seem to remember the rest of the junk she drank, only the ones she drank in the beginning.
"Yes, you did." Kaiba said sternly. "That is a lot."
"I know…" Her voice sounded small as she hid her face in his clothes. Kaiba adjusted so that his trenchcoat covered her body to keep her warm. "What time is it?" Her voice was muffled through his jacket. He looked at his watch.
"Two-thirty."
"In the afternoon?" Despite of her being drunk, the look in her eyes as she looked at Kaiba was one of naiveté and innocence.
"No, two-thirty a.m." She didn't know what she was doing…
"Were you asleep?"
"No," he lied. I would have been, he added silently. I have a meeting and a conference tomorrow. I'm going to be getting a bloody headache in the middle of it now that I didn't get much sleep.
"I could have driven home."
"No, you couldn't have." Kaiba objected. "You don't know how to drive. And even if you do, I wouldn't have let you and neither would the law."
"Yeah, I could have. I know how to drive." She slurred, muttering into his trenchcoat. "I'm okay, I really am."
Kaiba watched the limo pull into the driveway and helped her out of the car. Nadina had fallen asleep again and he was forced to drape her over his shoulder and carry her inside Kaiba Mansion. It was a struggle to open the door with a partially passed out young woman over his shoulder, but Kaiba managed to do so without waking anyone up. It was near three in the morning, Mokuba would be asleep, and should be asleep if he was as good as a kid as he claims to be. Nah, he's a good kid.
"You should never had drank that much!" He suddenly snapped, upset at how sick she was with her outrageous hallucinating.
The drunk girl perked up at his tone. "Shhh, don't need to shout, Seto." She whispered dramatically. "Mokuba's asleep already and you wouldn't want to wake him up now, would you?"
Almost immediately, Kaiba calmed down. The anger diminished the slightest bit in his ocean blue eyes, but he still scowled, absolutely hating how Nadina knew if she mentions Mokuba, it would soften his heated disposition.
"Kaiba," Nadina wobbled as Kaiba set her on her feet. "I don't feel so good."
"Oh, boy," Kaiba muttered, scooping her up and hurrying down the hall, stopping in front of the bathroom and he made it just in time.
"I don't feel so good." Nadina was whimpering and crying as she slumped on the bathroom floor. "I want to go home. I want Marik. I want my b-big brother…"
Kaiba pulled her long hair back in a ponytail and secured it with a clip and wiped her face and neck off with a wet towel.
"It's going to be okay," he said in his soothing voice as his heart ached with every word she said. "Shhh, come on, Nadina, don't cry," he rubbed her back and pleaded, worrying himself sick. He desperately hoped that he hadn't let her drank too much. After all, she was only fifteen. No, she just turned fifteen.
"I wanna go home," she clutched the side of the bathtub. "I wanna go home…"
"Come on, Nadina." Kaiba coaxed tiredly. Not used to coax and cajole girls younger than him, Kaiba was tired and weary himself. "Let's go to bed."
"I w-want Marik…" She hiccuped and her lips trembled. She looked up at Kaiba. Her eyes were watery and filled with tears. She felt like she was staring up at a gigantically tall Kaiba. "I want to go home, Kaiba. Please take me home."
"Shhh…" Kaiba's low voice was gentle. "I promise I'll take you home, Nadina. I promise. I'll take you home." Attempting to pull her up was almost futile, so he just picked her up, cradling her small body against his, and carried her to her room.
He kicked the door to her room open softly and a breeze of her perfume floated past and surrounded him. He set her on her bed and stared at her. She looked uncomfortable in her dress. The gown had pinned her waist so that his hand could encircle around it.
She must be uncomfortable… Kaiba concluded. Sneaking a look around the empty room and house, the young billionaire flipped the girl over and untied the wide sash. Then he laid her in a neutral sleeping position and began to undo the two ribbons of green that held her dress in a crisscrossed pattern on the bodice and the upper torso.
If Mokuba walks in now, I'm going to be soooo dead. He would totally get the wrong idea. He moaned as he quickly finished the uncomfortable task.
He stood back and looked at her again as soon as he was done. The ribbon that he had undid was laying about undone and Nadina looked comfortable as she breathed deeply, her cloud of glossy golden hair tumbled against the pillowcase, spilling over the bed.
Kaiba felt a lump in his throat as he looked at the magnificent beauty that was in front of him. Surely, the angels could not be compared to her splendor. Couldn't help himself, he leaned down as his lip brushed her skin softly.
"Sleep well, Nadina," he whispered as he turned back from the door. "I'll take you back home tomorrow." He closed the door and walked over to his personal office where he sat down and turned on some soft classical music. Yes, good old Kaiba listened to classical music, although he doesn't look like it. It was extremely helpful when he needed to think and organize his thoughts. And right now, he was thinking acidly to himself.
I think it's about time I pay Marik Ishtar a visit…
