"Just let me out here." Kaiba ordered the chauffeur. "I'll walk to the house. You're off for the night." He opened his door, and immediately, the gust of wind tousled his hair and billowed his trenchcoat behind him. He had just finished the most important task in his life. Or…close to his most important anyway. That task was in his pocket right now. But in a way, Kaiba felt more remorse and grief rather than happiness.

"Thank you, Mr. Kaiba." The driver tilted his hat and drove off, leaving Kaiba at the majestic iron gates of Kaiba Mansion. Kaiba gave a dispirited sigh as he opened the black gate and began trudging down the long driveway.

"Kaiba!" He looked up.

At first sight, he didn't recognize her. She was wearing a black low-cut blouse with black dress pants and black felt heels, looking gorgeous. Her sunshine golden hair was accented with a velvet black ribbon pulled back as a headband. Her rosy red lips were calling his name as her slender body swayed from waving furiously at him.

This was her first time in pants, and her first time in black. But Kaiba recognized her.

"Nadina!" He shouted as he began running down the driveway. His shoes thudded as he ran and he thought he could hear her heels' rhythm as well. They met halfway and fell into a tight embrace.

"Nadina, Nadina…" Kaiba murmured as he buried his face in her silky, sweet-smelling hair, holding her with a locking grip.

"I've missed you so much, Kaiba." Nadina's voice was muffled due to her face being buried in his dark shirt. "So much."

I've missed you, too, Kaiba wanted to say. More than you'll ever know it. And it's been killing me. He added to himself wryly. But aloud, he only said, "Let's go inside. It's too windy out here." She pulled away and he couldn't help but brush a curly tendril away from her face.

"Let's," She said softly, her eyes never leaving his face. He led her inside the house and once they were inside, they couldn't help but embraced again. The wait had been too long, and their desires were too large to contain.

"Oh, Kaiba. Let me take a good look at you." Nadina pulled away and she reached her hands up, her fingertips brushing away locks of his hair.

"Do you approve?" He smiled and bantered in a mocking voice.

She looked up to meet his eyes and tears trembled at the bottom of her thick, curled lashes. "I approve." She said softly. They stared at each other intensely until she broke the silence.

"So how's Mokuba?"

"Oh…" He leaned back and drawled. "More out of control for sweets than ever. Ever since you left, he's been burying his grief in candy and pastries. At least my money could buy a little happiness for him. I don't want to think what would happen to him if I can't afford French pastries."

"I see," she teased. "And you're just as loving as ever."

Don't you know it… Kaiba thought silently, looking down at her. You're such a piece of artwork, Nadina. A piece of artwork my money can't buy.

Such perfection…Was going through Nadina's mind at the moment. This time, Kaiba broke the uncomfortable, intimate silence.

"So…what's with your clothes?" He gestured to her new fashion. "I thought you only wore dresses. Not that you don't look good in this or anything…" He added hastily afraid that he would have offended her. But Nadina's answer was light.

"I thought you might be tired of seeing me in dresses all the time."

"I'll never grow tired of you, Nadina." That came out before Kaiba could stop himself. He mentally slapped himself and blushed into a dark shade.

"I'm sorry…I—"

"I'll never grow tired of you either, Kaiba." He heard her say softly, as if it was a phantasmal touch. His heart thumped as he swallowed.

I shouldn't do this. She's too innocent and too naïve. She probably wouldn't…feel the same way. Kaiba respected Nadina too much to put her through such a large step. So flawless, so respectable, so refined, what would she see in me? Nadina's well-breeding and regal air has always made Kaiba's respect for her strong. He was too scared to even give her a small kiss that day under Ishtar Estate in fear of ruining such pureness.

"Clark and Edward came here with me, but are at the hotel currently." Nadina was saying. I love him…so much. So, so much. But, I…I don't deserve him. He's too impeccable. Successful, rich, powerful, full of knowledge on the depth of life. I know nothing. I'm just pretty that's all, and Kaiba deserves more than that. And I—I have a lot more to learn before trapping a man with me for life. She set her jaws against the ache in her heart and continued simply, "I don't have much more time, Kaiba. I came here to say good-bye."

Good-bye!! Kaiba's mind screamed as he thought back to all the pain and torture he had gone through. No, she can't say good-bye. I finally have her again and I can't let her go! I can't. I won't. Not again. Not EVER again! He realized that protecting his pride no longer mattered and now is the time to act. To conclude their story, whether it's a good or a bad ending.

"Nadina…" His voice was low and his breath brushed her neck like the touch of a phantom lover. "I love you."

His voice was calm and the three difficult words came out smooth, but Kaiba's heart was beating so hard that he could feel his brain vibrating.

Nadina gasped. There was a look of desire, respect, hope, and devotion in the depth of his eyes. Kaiba was serious! She held her breath.

"I've lost you once, and I don't want to ever loose you again. Ever." "Kaiba…"

"I want you to be mine. Now and forever." With that Kaiba pulled out a small dark blue velvet box from his coat pocket. Inside, from the sheet of white satin, he extracted a delicate diamond ring. The task he had done this afternoon. There was diamond surrounded by a teardrop-shaped sapphire on each side. The tip peaks of the teardrops curled around the diamond, encircling it. It wasn't huge and embellished, but the simple, intricately made ring was elegant and beautiful.

"Kaiba!" Nadina wanted no more than to say yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes! Oh, say yes and be happy forever! You love him! But she refrained back by saying. "You can't be serious!"

"But I am. Very serious." His eyes was steadily on her, as if trying to catch any sign of rejection in her actions. She gave none.

"I'm an Ishtar." She desperately argued.

"You're Nadina."

"I'm only fifteen."

"But a young woman."

"My brother wouldn't be happy."

"I'll convince him."

"I…uh…" She was running out of things to say. "Am nothing really besides being pretty."

"You saved me and my brother's life."

"Why would you want me?" She finally gave up and asked quietly. "I am just a girl. An ordinary girl of no experience to the world. Who is silly and mutinous and has dreams that could never be fulfilled. Why would someone as perfect as you choose me?"

"Because I love everything about you, Nadina." He answered lowly. "There is nothing 'ordinary' about you. I love your every 'silliness', your every 'mutiny', your every dream that could someday be fulfilled, right down to your every last tear."

"What about my cowardice?" She argued. "My weakness? My stubbornness? My—"

"I know of no cowardice in you. Only courage." Kaiba answered patiently. "Your strength when it comes to the road of righteousness. Your patience when it comes to the weak. Your love in your every touch and move. Your innocence of this world. Your persistence in justice. Your honesty to yourself. These are all you, Nadina. And I love you." He finished softly, yet solidly.

"But you can't possibly—" She was cut off as Kaiba's lips pressed hers and kissed her with a fire of passion that she hadn't known existed in the very hearts of human. And when they broke off, she was gasping for air as the burning sensation surged through her, making her dizzy with desire.

"Your brother is right." He smiled as he pulled back. "You are very stubborn."

"I like to cry." She warned, her heart thudding with rapture. Her first kiss, and it was as perfect as she's ever imagined.

"Gives me a chance to kiss away every tear." He whispered back as he reached out to touch the silky skin of her neck.

"I'm not perfect."

"Like I've said, I don't want a mannequin."

"I am very persistent."

"I like a good debate once in a while." He murmured, wanting to kiss every inch of that perfect neck but was too well-bred and filled with too much respect to the girl to give in to his urge. That can come after the wedding.

"Sometimes, I might throw tantrums." Nadina was definitely running out of excuses, and Kaiba knows it.

"Excitement in life is good. I can take it."

"I am unreasonable and imprudent."

"You're just the opposite."

"I am just not marriage material. Period!" She finally cried, throwing out one last obstacle.

"That is a lie." He gave a cocky smile, knowing that he had almost won this battle of love. "And I do love your skill at lying."

Nadina stared into his eyes with the longing and love in her eyes. The love that she could finally allow herself to divulge. There's no way she could doubt him now, after all that he's expressed. "All right, Kaiba." She said, with the beginning of a small smile. "If you really love this imperfect girl, then take her."

Kaiba answer was a tight loving embrace and another soul-touching kiss.

"But I'm warning you," she said seriously, once they parted. "Once you put that ring on, you can't take it back. And from my point of view. I am something no man deserves to have. I'm a hazard to all mankind. And I might just be the death of them."

"Then let me be that man, I'll have no regrets." Kaiba said curtly. Nadina felt as if she was going to cry. She truly doesn't understand why someone as powerful, as successful, and as perfect as Kaiba would want her, yet she knew and understood every reason why she wanted him.

Kaiba gently slipped the ring onto her engagement finger. And there it encircled, sparking and glistening like a crystal tear. Perfect, like their relationship.

"Tears of all we went through to be here." The young billionaire said softly. "I was going to have it made in blue diamond, but decided you'd probably prefer not to be weighed down by the value of that diamond."

"Blue diamond?"

"It's the rarest of the diamond specimens." A frown. "Would you prefer that?"

"No!" Nadina clutched on to her ring in such a way that Kaiba smiled, knowing that his ring was in a good place, with a good owner. She reached up and tapped him on the nose. "I love this ring because it's an symbol of our love, and because you—Seto Kaiba—gave it to me. I would love it just as much if it were…plastic or came from a Cracker Jack box." He chuckled.

"I'll have no wife of mine running around in a plastic Cracker Jack ring." He wrapped an arm protectively around her waist. Grinning to himself with contentedness because he finally has the privilege to do that.

"I'm not your wife quite yet. I'm only fifteen."

"I'm willing to wait until you're older and ready."

"That could be a few years."

"For a girl like you, it'll be worth waiting."

"You can say the sweetest things when you put your mind into it."

"I need to save it for occasions like this."

"'Occasions?'" She looked up at him and arched a brow.

"Okay, this one occasion." He corrected himself with a cocky half-smile.

"I do believe this is the first time you've let on so much patience."

"It was well worth my effort." He said softly, looking down at the ring that's sparkling on her engagement finger. "Well, it was well worth it."

Nadina gave a happy sigh. He couldn't help giving her a small kiss on her nose. She giggled, then looked up at him and said seriously,

"You know, we're going to have to tell my brother about this." Kaiba, hearing this, gave a long, heavy sigh.

"Bring it on."