Chapter 3

Kaiba found Toria on the landing, still dressed in her leather motorcycle jacket, violet helmet under her arm. Her eyes flickered around the foyer, looking for his tall figure and piercing ice blue eyes. Seeing him come down the main staircase, she was overwhelmed with desire, and with a moment's burst of untold strength, she flung herself at him. He was so solid, so really, so loving...so different from the memories she seemed to be trapped in. Holding him was like clinging to a tree in a foggy gale as her mind was swept away.

Kaiba was amazed as he held her in his arms, kissing her long and passionately, breathing hard, not stopping to wonder the strange behavior in his girlfriend. As any teenage boy would be, he was simply loving the way she ran her hands fiercely through his hair, and he ran his hand down her arm, pulling her closer...

Suddenly the sensations seemed to stop. Kaiba was dimly aware that she was still there, still kissing him, but his mind was functioning again. He broke the kiss, seeing her eyes for the first time that night, and struck by how misty and shining with tears they were. He gazed deeply into her eyes, almost seeing the rolls of fear that exuded from her like gray smoke from a wet fire.

Holding her away from him to see her properly, he asked her gently:

"Are you ready to tell me what's going on now?"

She didn't like to cry – she had always seen it as a sign of weakness. But she suddenly felt her eyes grow hot, a sharp prickling at the corners, and burning tears washed down her face like acid rain, pouring, washing away the harsh nightmare of her past. She saw Seto's face through the saline film, real and unimagined. Her legs wavered and she collapsed against him, sobbing, but still somehow trying to keep the tears from flowing.

Desperately, she told him the whole story, every detail, from that first night to the day the FBI had arrived at her parents' New York apartment with a warrant to arrest Mr. Shinatashi.

Kaiba held her to him as the feverish pain left her, draining into him. His fury smoldered, and deep inside himself he felt a blue-eyed dragon shift angrily. The thought that any man would hurt her that way – especially one she trusted – made flaring white lightening blaze in his heart. He gripped her tightly, rocking back and forth slowly, reliving her past as easily as he could watch a hologram.

...blood...fear...pain... 'No, don't, please...' ...and then the screams that no one would ever hear...

"And now," she said slowly, as though trying to stay strong, "He says that my adoption was done illegally and I legally am still his daughter. ...I'm – I'm his property." She fought for breath, long and slow quivering gasps like the rattling of the bones of Death.

"If he convinces the courts that I should be placed into custody with him, he'll take me back to New York City and...It'll happen all over again."

He opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly realized her body had gone limp and heavy. His cobalt eyes drifted down to her face, seeing the pale eyelids closed with the exhaustion of battling Fear. She had passed out entirely, unconsciously slumped against his supporting form. He lifted her effortlessly, mounting the stairs to his study.

There, he laid her down on the leather, brass-studded love seatee. He removed his white trench coat and draped it over her sleeping figure. He stared down at this girl he had fought to find for five thousand years. If anyone thought he was going to give up now, when had finally found her at last, then they didn't know Seto Kaiba.

He turned back to his glowing laptop, remembering his earlier objective. But before he could even so much glance at the screen, his cell phone chirped. Answering with a brusque greeting:

"Kaiba Corp Executives."

"Mr. Kaiba, you asked me to keep you updated on the Hallowell-Shinatashi affair. Well, according to my sources, Mr. Hallowell has been imprisoned at the American embassy for attempting to flee the country. He will be collected by American authorities shortly."

"You've done well. Now, inform me when the authorities arrive." He slammed the phone shut before his contact could reply. Then, redialing a fresh number, he spoke into the mouthpiece.

"Hello, Taryn & Taryn? I need all the KaibaCorp lawyers here, right away. Yes I know what hour it is. I hired you for constant service to the company. Now get your asses over here, or you're fired. We have a crisis situation."

He sighed and closed the computer document with his release statement for the DuelDiscs. They could wait for the next three months or the next three hundred years for all he cared. He had to somehow find a loophole, and save her like she had saved him.