Chapter 10
A/N: Well, people loved the last chapter, thanx for all the rockin' reviews! As you can tell, this is not the end for Toria, as Kaiba has just stolen her away from her dad. This next bit is rather long, and rather unexpected, except for one of my reviews who GUESSED before I could write it. You know who you are :)
Mokuba looked up at the helicopter, the wind whipping back long hunks of hair across his narrowing eyes. That was the signal. He quickly turned to the gang, who was looking thunderstruck. The suits would be mobilizing soon. They had to get out of there.
"C'mon guys, we've got to go!" said Mokuba, running across the landing strip to another plane – a small, unnoticed white jet no one had noticed, bearing the KaibaCorp logo.
"What's going?" yelled Tea into the roaring wind.
"I'll explain on the plane! We haven't got time to waste. Shinatashi is going to be all over us in a few minutes. Just trust me!" He tore across to the plane, punching numbers into the security system. The long ramp descended downwards, and they all clambered on.
Toria gasped for air as she felt herself pulled into the cab of the helicopter, the noise whirring inside her head. But her heart soared, as she realized that she was away from her father – the fate had seemed so close – had stopped. There was hope. A faint light at the end of the long black tunnel. Twin blue lights.
Kaiba didn't waste any time with two things. He caught his breath, pulling in air like he had been swimming underwater, and without even speaking, drew her strongly into his arms and kissed her as hard as he could, as though in the next second she would be gone. The force of it left Toria shocked, amazed any human could be filled with so much passion and energy, and they both stood breathing heavily in the hold of the helicopter, Kaiba's hands around her face, Toria's clasped tightly around his neck.
"I told you," he said roughly, his throat dry with anticipation and altitude, "I told you I would never let you go." He fumbled for something under his shirt, and pulled out the silver cigarette lighter shaped locket. She chuckled softly, a whiff of air like a soft misty cloud, eyes cast down. He would surely think her foolish for putting her faith in a hunk of metal with a few scraps of paper. But to her surprise, he held it out to her.
"Sealed with a kiss?" asked innocently, smirking. Smiling, she held it gently to her lips, leaving a soft apparition of a print on the metal, warm from Seto's skin. She passed it back to him, letting it drop onto his chest, the silver mingling with the dark of the locket holding Mokuba's picture.
It was like a magic signal – without another second's pause, they began to kiss feverishly, as though it was their last moment together for eternity. Within seconds they had worked their way over to the low gray leather bench, her violet hair splayed loose, sheets of silk wild and uncombed from wind and excitement. He knelt above her, kissing her eagerly, brushing her hair through his fingers, feeling electricity crackle in his spine as she curled towards him, her lips kissing his face through his long dark bangs...
The sudden ringing of the telephone in the helicopter's control station.
There was a moment's pause as they both caught their breath and Kaiba rolled off the bench, his hair flopping over his eyes and masking a muttered, "Damn it, this better be good."
He got up and straightened his collar, casting a second glance at Toria as he reached the cockpit door. She was sitting upright, adjusting her black blouse and long violet skirt patterned with iridescent moons. She gave him a tiny smile when she felt his eyes and nodded towards the ringing phone.
The phone gave another, more persistent ring, and he glared at its presence before disappearing into the control center and picking it up. He growled into the mouthpiece:
"Hello?"
There was a strain of surf coming from the background, but he could clearly hear his brother's voice flowing smoothly into the apparatus.
"Seto, why aren't you here yet? I've got everyone waiting. You did put the chopper on autopilot, didn't you?"
"Of course I did," he snapped, but then a reconciled quietly, "I just...took the scenic tour."
"Scenic tour?" moaned Mokuba in exasperation. "We don't have time for a scenic tour. If this plan isn't executed by sunset, it's all over, big brother."
"I know," he said brusquely. "I don't know how to say this. How do I tell her?"
He could almost see Mokuba rolling his eyes. "That's up to you. I've got to go, it sounds like it's getting crazy on my end. Hurry it up."
Kaiba hung the phone on its cradle with a ringing clang. He felt in his pocket for a small lump of a package, before taking a deep breath to steel his nerves and reentered the hold.
He saw her, some of her fear returned, as she anxiously watched through the window, as though expecting her father to come chasing after her through the skies. But as she noticed him, she turned, and light came back to her face.
"What was that about?" she asked.
"Nothing," he said quickly, and decided to go on while he had the nerve. He took a deep, shuddering breath, and then dropped hard to one knee. Toria rose from the seat, worried, and knelt before him.
"Are you hurt?" she asked uneasily, pulling at a small bag hidden inside the waist of her skirt. It smelled strongly of herbs. He pushed it away, letting it fall to the floor. He looked into her eyes, his breathing shallow and ragged, as he reached deep into one of the hidden pockets of his cloak. His eyes locked on hers, he held out a blue velvet box.
He snapped the lid back, revealing a platinum ring, amethysts and diamonds catching the light.
"He can't bring you back to the States if you're legally mine by Japanese law," he said roughly. Then, his voice softer as he looked away, "If you marry me before sunset, he'll never be able to hurt you again."
The whir of helicopter blades filled the cab, and Toria closed her eyes tightly, trying to breathe. Then they snapped open.
"You have to understand, Seto," she said quietly, reaching for his hand, "I can't be kept like a plaything, a tiger in a zoo. I don't want to be the subservient Japanese wife, waiting for you to come home, locked in house like a beautiful toy in a cabinet. You need to promise me," she said, her voice breaking, "That I'm not trading one prison for another."
His heart broke, like the ventricles were being torn apart, and he let his hair fall over his eyes in a heavy curtain, pain flooding through him at first that she didn't understand – and suddenly realized exactly what she had been through. She had always wanted to be free – not alone, not abandoned – just free. He had promised her freedom a few seconds ago. But so had her mother, her father, her adopted father. What she meant, when her lips moved and she looked into his eyes:
Will you keep your promise, Seto Kaiba?
And he answered, his throat coarse and tongue dry:
"I've never thought I owned you," he began, reaching for words somewhere deep inside him, trying to explain, "In Egypt, it was life's work trying to free you from the Pharaoh's magic. I've always fought for your freedom. Do you doubt me now?" He looked down, the box falling in between their knees.
Toria slowly reached for the box at the floor and slipped the ring on her finger.
"Seto," she said quietly, as he raised his face to hers, "I would give up my freedom to be with you."
"I never want you to give it up," he said, not seeing the ring on her finger, his voice ragged. "I don't..."
He was cut off as she kissed him, slowly and softly, on the mouth, leaving the faintest trace of almond lip-gloss.
She said softly, laying her hand in his, "I choose to belong to you."
He watched the ring glinting for a second, the platinum glimmering in the pale sunlight that was trying to brighten. His heart felt lighter than it ever had, like a bubble, and it was floating into the heavens, leaving his body a thousand feet below. But just as suddenly it returned, he drew her to him as they knelt on the floor of the hold, kissing her face and neck, letting her heart beat on his chest, pumping in time with his.