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Ok, here is chapter 3!!! A little bit more information on Toria and her smoky past...
* * *
"Oh, that Kaiba!" ranted Toria as she changed out of her uniform. Tea absentmindedly lay on the bed, flipping through American fashion magazines. The girls had got permission for a sleepover – thankfully. As bold as Toria was, she didn't feel up to searching the streets of Japan for Kaiba's mansion alone. She pulled her violet top on over her bra, slipping her arms into her flared angel sleeves.
"Kaiba has never been what you call friendly," said Tea. "Mind you, he's not all bad. His little brother Mokuba is just adorable." She flounced off the bed, turning away from the searing glare of Toria's eyes.
"I'm going to beat this guy. Don't tell me how sweet his kid brother is." She strapped on a single black silk glove, dangling with a silver charm bracelet. The charms glinted in the light. She noticed Tea's interested glance.
"This is my duelist glove. In America, you wear a charm bracelet with a charm for each duelist you've defeated. Different colored gloves are awarded for different tournaments." She gently tapped each charm for luck.
"Which tournament did you win the black glove for?" asked Tea, vividly remembering Joey's and Yugi's Duelist Kingdom gloves and star chips. Each star chip was a defeated duelist...with ten to qualify entry to the castle. She looked at the charms. Each was sparkling red stone, accented with silver. There were over one hundred small red charms.
"Well, this isn't a widely known fact..." Toria blushed, regaining a portion of her dreamy composure, "But my real name, before I was adopted by my father Leo Hallowell, was Cassandra Shinatashi."
Cassandra Shinatashi! Tea's mind burst into bright rainbow stars of memory, of watching Cassandra on television, of reading articles of Cassandra, even seeing her pose on the cover of Duelist Elite Magazine. It was amazing that she hadn't recognized her, but as she looked closer she saw the telltale signs of someone who understood the limelight – the toss of her head, the proud stance.
"Then you won that for..." she trailed off, recalling the duel she had seen on television – and the winning move made with the Witch of the Black Forest.
"Yes," announced Toria proudly, "I won this glove for the United States Nationals Black Glove Tournament."
"How did you get into Duel Monsters?" asked Tea, watching her new friend expertly shifting the smooth cards into the reticule hung at her waist.
"Well, my mom and dad were white-collar crime, and when I was eight I was put into foster care." She placed three cards down on the bed, a Just Desserts trap card, a Princess of Tsurgi, and the Witch of the Black Forest.
"Mom and Dad got put away for embezzling money from the government. It was really just evading taxes, but they got locked up. They were in the news forever, it was so embarrassing. Lillith Shinatashi and her husband Cole Shinatashi." She pushed the trap card and Princess of Tsurgi away under her pillow. Then she presented the Witch forward again.
"So I was shuffled around to different foster homes until I met dad." She placed the card into the center of her deck, shuffling it and then pulling out two cards from the top – the Witch and the Reliable Guardian.
"So dad and I have been together for only three years now, and we only moved to Japan three weeks ago." She took the storytelling cards and placed them back into the center of her deck. "He's really turned my life around. I got interested in Duel Monsters from one of my foster brothers – and begged the 'girly' cards off him he didn't want. He never thought I would be Cassandra Shinatashi, Duelist Elite."
"I've had a lot of families, and it isn't until dad that I knew what a family really was." She clenched her fist, her violet eyes as bright as twin lamps.
"And that's why Kaiba won't get away with insulting my father."
* * *
Ok, chapter 4 coming soon, keep a look out...R&R!
Ok, here is chapter 3!!! A little bit more information on Toria and her smoky past...
* * *
"Oh, that Kaiba!" ranted Toria as she changed out of her uniform. Tea absentmindedly lay on the bed, flipping through American fashion magazines. The girls had got permission for a sleepover – thankfully. As bold as Toria was, she didn't feel up to searching the streets of Japan for Kaiba's mansion alone. She pulled her violet top on over her bra, slipping her arms into her flared angel sleeves.
"Kaiba has never been what you call friendly," said Tea. "Mind you, he's not all bad. His little brother Mokuba is just adorable." She flounced off the bed, turning away from the searing glare of Toria's eyes.
"I'm going to beat this guy. Don't tell me how sweet his kid brother is." She strapped on a single black silk glove, dangling with a silver charm bracelet. The charms glinted in the light. She noticed Tea's interested glance.
"This is my duelist glove. In America, you wear a charm bracelet with a charm for each duelist you've defeated. Different colored gloves are awarded for different tournaments." She gently tapped each charm for luck.
"Which tournament did you win the black glove for?" asked Tea, vividly remembering Joey's and Yugi's Duelist Kingdom gloves and star chips. Each star chip was a defeated duelist...with ten to qualify entry to the castle. She looked at the charms. Each was sparkling red stone, accented with silver. There were over one hundred small red charms.
"Well, this isn't a widely known fact..." Toria blushed, regaining a portion of her dreamy composure, "But my real name, before I was adopted by my father Leo Hallowell, was Cassandra Shinatashi."
Cassandra Shinatashi! Tea's mind burst into bright rainbow stars of memory, of watching Cassandra on television, of reading articles of Cassandra, even seeing her pose on the cover of Duelist Elite Magazine. It was amazing that she hadn't recognized her, but as she looked closer she saw the telltale signs of someone who understood the limelight – the toss of her head, the proud stance.
"Then you won that for..." she trailed off, recalling the duel she had seen on television – and the winning move made with the Witch of the Black Forest.
"Yes," announced Toria proudly, "I won this glove for the United States Nationals Black Glove Tournament."
"How did you get into Duel Monsters?" asked Tea, watching her new friend expertly shifting the smooth cards into the reticule hung at her waist.
"Well, my mom and dad were white-collar crime, and when I was eight I was put into foster care." She placed three cards down on the bed, a Just Desserts trap card, a Princess of Tsurgi, and the Witch of the Black Forest.
"Mom and Dad got put away for embezzling money from the government. It was really just evading taxes, but they got locked up. They were in the news forever, it was so embarrassing. Lillith Shinatashi and her husband Cole Shinatashi." She pushed the trap card and Princess of Tsurgi away under her pillow. Then she presented the Witch forward again.
"So I was shuffled around to different foster homes until I met dad." She placed the card into the center of her deck, shuffling it and then pulling out two cards from the top – the Witch and the Reliable Guardian.
"So dad and I have been together for only three years now, and we only moved to Japan three weeks ago." She took the storytelling cards and placed them back into the center of her deck. "He's really turned my life around. I got interested in Duel Monsters from one of my foster brothers – and begged the 'girly' cards off him he didn't want. He never thought I would be Cassandra Shinatashi, Duelist Elite."
"I've had a lot of families, and it isn't until dad that I knew what a family really was." She clenched her fist, her violet eyes as bright as twin lamps.
"And that's why Kaiba won't get away with insulting my father."
* * *
Ok, chapter 4 coming soon, keep a look out...R&R!