AN: Part 3 is up!
Dangerous Thoughts
He hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks. Seto Kaiba dried his hair from his morning shower, and combed it smooth. As he looked as his reflection in the mirror, he noticed the dark circles under his blue eyes. Almost every night, she came. In his dreams, in the recesses of his mind, Kikyo the priestess came to him, using her feminine charms to seduce him. Because of her tricks, he'd started to lose sleep. He'd stay up at night to avoid dreaming.
"She's haunting me," he said aloud to his reflection.
Later, he met with his girlfriend, Serenity, and hung out with her, her brother, and their friends from Domino High. The rest of them went about their lives, never guessing what Seto suffered each night, alone. He wanted to tell them. He truly did but… What would Serenity say? What would any of them say? Yes, they would offer him help- that was their way- but wouldn' they also be angry, appalled, that he'd gone down the well? Or worse, Yugi and Wheeler might start teasing him about giving up his stubborn disbelief of their past lives. No, he couldn't tell them.
The whole situation was made worse later that afternoon. After school they were in Yugi's grandfather's card shop. Kaiba had his back to everyone, looking at the new cards on display. Suddenly… a slender hand from his nightmares grasped his arm. He shot up and spun around slapping away that hand.
"What's you're problem?!" Kagome Higurashi yelled. "I was just trying to say 'hi'."
"I… Forgive me…" Seto said, breathing in deep. "You startled me."
"Whoa, wait," Kagome said sarcastically, "You mean I scared you, the King of Ice? I don't think so." She crossed her arms, and stared at him. His pulse slowed at last. Yes, Kagome was Kikyo's reincarnation… yes, she did look too much like her at times… but right now, she was just Kagome. Not the woman of his nightmares.
"It's rude to sneak up on people," Seto said calmly.
"You should talk," she replied.
"Guys, don't fight," Tea said.
"We need to get going if we're all gonna make the movie," Yugi said. They group walked out of the card shop. As he strode beside Serenity, Seto reached over, and took her hand. She gave a little gasp of pleasant surprise, then smiled and blushed as they walked hand in hand. Seto rarely held her hand, but he needed her touch now. It was a gentle touch. A warm touch. Alive.
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As the moon took it's place in the sky, Kikyo walked out into the chilly air. After several attempts at subtle seduction, she'd till failed to make Kaiba give in. Tonight she would push harder than she had before. She raised her face to the moon's pale beams, centered her mind… and waited.
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After the movie and post cinema pizza binge with the others, Seto asked Serenity to come over and watch TV with him and Mokuba. Much to her brother's disliking, she accepted. The rest of the evening had gone on in a normal fashion. They watched cheesy sitcoms and degrading reality shows until Mokuba fell asleep on the couch, and after Seto had taken him upstairs and tucked him in, he escorted Serenity to the front door, where outside a limo waited to drive her home. But tonight, on this night of normalcy, Seto did something very unexpected.
"Would you… like to stay. Over night?" he asked Serenity.
She blushed, and laughed nervously, "Seto. I… I'm really not like that, you know. I mean I goof around, but-"
"I know that," he replied, "I would never ask that of you. I only don't want to feel alone tonight."
"Alone?" she asked him. "Seto, sweety, you have Mokuba and all your staff here. You can't possibly be alone."
"I don't mean in a literal sense," he tried to explain. "I… I haven't been sleeping peacefully for some time. I keep having nightmares that… that disturb me deeply. And I simply don't want to feel like I'm suffering alone."
"Oh, my sweet Seto," Serenity said kindly, putting her soft warm hand up on his cheek. "You're never alone. You have Yugi and my brother and the others as friends, even though sometimes they don't act like it. And you have your brother, who looks up to you and thinks the world of you. And you have me. Always." She hugged him, laying her head on his chest. He took in a deep sniff of her hair. It smelled like green tea. He put his arms around her and held her close to him. Then, she raised up on her toes and kissed him, softly and deeply. When she pulled away to go, he held on to her hand until she needed it to close the door. Her sweet, loving face smiled and smiled even as the closed. Then, Seto went up reluctantly to his room.
He dressed in his night clothes, took the Millennium Rod from it's safe, and climbed in bed. He made a quick wish- or perhaps a prayer- that tonight he would sleep peacefully. Then, he close his eyes…
------------ This time, he felt grass under his hands. Again, he was half naked, but it was nighttime, and in a forest. Like the first night…
"No." he whispered. He grabbed the Millennium Rod, and scrambled to his feet, but before he could run, his body was seized by hundreds of scratching, rough hands. No, not hands. Tree branches. A tree had his arms raised above him, caught in it's limbs. It's roots wound tight around his feet. He was trapped. He writhed in the leafy bonds and called up his powers. Though his arms burned with fire, they did not burn the tree's braches.
"Struggle all you wish," Kikyo's husky, mesmeric voice said as she stepped from the shadows, "You will not escape tonight."
"Not likely," he said, "As long as I have my-" he looked up to his hand. His empty hand. The Rod! It wasn't there! He looked about, and saw it on the ground. He must have dropped it when the tree first caught him.
"Oh, you mean your magic Item?" Kikyo asked coyly. She stepped up to the Millennium Rod, and kicked it sideways into the darkness of the forest. "You do not need it now."
"Release me, you carnally corrupt cadaver!" Seto shouted.
Kikyo merely smiled, "You hurt me, Sorcerer. I had thought perhaps you would enjoy some company," she reached up and untied her hair. It cascaded down her shoulders like a black waterfall. Then, with a flourish of her hands, she untied the sash around her waist, and threw her kimono from her shoulders…
She stood before him in absolutely nothing.
She slowly stepped out of her discarded clothes, and with grace and ease she stepped up on the roots of the tree that bound Seto. She pressed her heaving, naked chest against his. Lifted her hands to touch his face. He moved his head around, closed his eyes. But Kikyo's cold palms forced him to face her. Her breath in his face forced him to open his eyes.
He looked into her deep brown eyes knew he'd made a fatal error. Already he felt himself slipping away.
"Don't hold back," she whispered as her frigid fingers caressed his face. "Let me own you. Let me have all of you, mind, body, and soul. Give yourself to me, and I will give you all that you desire. Power, immortality; everything. Just let me touch you, hold you, know your body more than you know it…Please," she whispered as her icy lips met with his warm mouth.
The intensity, the passion, the urgency, of that kiss was incredible. He couldn't stop himself. He kissed her back and let her tongue explore his own mouth as they kissed harder and stronger. She pressed her bare flesh against his partially clothed body. Wrapped her arms up around his neck.
He was dying. He could feel it. The longer he kissed this soulless Siren, the more he lost of himself. He felt his very essence draining away. But why, WHY, did such a horrible, frightening experience feel so pleasuring? He was demented! He was going crazy!
Suddenly, a part of him - a part that was still the rational, thinking, living Seto Kaiba- grabbed and brought up a memory from the darkness that invaded his brain. It was a recent memory. Serenity, and him, at his front door. She was kissing him, and holding his face in her hands, just as Kikyo had done, but…but he remembered the warmth of that touch. The honesty and sincerity of it. The life in it.
Seto opened his eyes and pulled his lips away from Kikyo's. Before she could pull his face back and kiss him again, he let out a guttural cry, and opened his right hand. The Millennium Rod flew from the darkness and went straight to the hand of it's master. As Seto's cry turned into a full out, animal scream, he called up all his energy, all his power.
It wasn't enough. The tree, though it shock and trembled, did not release him. But at least as the tree shook in it's earthy foundations, it made Kikyo lose her balance on the roots and fall to the ground.
As he thrashed about, trying to pull himself from the tree, he heard Serenity call him in his mind.
'Seto!,' Serenity's voice said, 'Call him!'
'Who?!' Seto's mind asked. 'Call who!?1'
'Me…' said a voice that sounded like his own. Seto opened his eyes, and looked over his shoulder. Beside him, partially within the trunk of the tree, was… Himself! No, not himself. It was the spirit of the Sorcerer of Egypt. His ancient counterpart.
'How do I escape! Please! I need help,' Seto pleaded the spirit.
'Now you open your eyes to the truth,' said the spirit of the ancient Sorcerer. Remain calm, and repeat after me,' he said.
Seto nodded, and as the Sorcerer's spirit spoke to him, Seto recited the ancient incantation aloud, in a strong, but calm, voice. With each word, the tree that held him seemed to be screaming, and as Seto reached the end of the phrase, the branches and roots loosened their grip, and threw him away. He landed several feet from both the tree and the priestess. Seto turned over, sat up, and watched a the tree dissolved and turned into a writhing, massive tangle of the soul gathering demons.
Meantime, Kikyo had grabbed her robes and had them wrapped about her. With one hand she held the white and red robes closed, and the other she extended.
"You will not escape me again!" she cried. Kaiba raised his arm above his head, but he was too weak. He wouldn't be able to bring himself out of this nightmare.
Suddenly, the sky above them erupted in light. Not the light of day. This was a different light. In this light, the form of a human body appeared. The person had wings.
"Serenity!" Seto gasped. She was surrounded by light, but aside from that and the wings, she seemed her usual self. She was even dressed in normal clothes. She reached out for his hand.
"NO!" Kikyo screamed. As she wound up her arm and threw a pink and purple orb of energy at them, but a second orb of similar energy smashed into it. Kikyo looked up, and her face twisted in utter contempt and hate. Beside Serenity, also with wings, was Kagome. She had thrown a psychic, spirit attack at Kikyo. During this diversion, Serenity grabbed Seto's hand, and pulled him up into the air with her. She nodded at Kagome, and they both took hold of Kaiba's arms, and flew up to the light. ----------------
Seto fell again from the air to his bed. But as he lay on the torn sheets, he looked around. Beside him were Serenity, Mokuba, and Kagome. Serenity's necklace was glowing, and Kagome had hold of a bed post to hold herself up. Both of them had haggard, ashen faces.
"Mokuba heard you screaming," Serenity said. "He called me, and I called Kagome. We came as soon as we could. We saw you floating above your bed," the girl started to cry as she continued, "You were tossing… waving your arms around…I was so scared."
"She used her necklace to connect with your mind," Kagome said, finally catching her breath. "I used my powers to take us to where you were."
"You… you saw…" Seto looked between them. He felt his heart - and stomach- dropping.
"We saw." Kagome said. "But we know you it wasn't your doing."
"I…" Seto looked from the miko to Serenity. As they looked at each other, he felt something in him break. He lurched forward and wrapped his arms around her. He had his chin on her shoulder. He held her and let the living warmth of her flow into him. Finally, he said, "I'm sorry! I… She…"
"I know," Serenity said, putting her arms around him, too. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry. I had… I thought you were strong enough. I should have listened to you."
"Please," he said. He raised his head, and looked at her, then looked at Kagome. "Please, don't tell anyone about this."
"But-" Serenity tried to object.
"We wont." Kagome agreed. "But if she comes back, we'll be here. And we will bring the others. We won't be strong enough next time. We were lucky that we caught her off guard."
"Th… Thank you," Seto said as he sat down again. As the sun rose outside, the silent Mokuba climbed up and hugged him, and Serenity and Kagome walked out of the room to fix breakfast. Seto was very thankful. He'd survived another mental attack from Kikyo. But… would he be lucky enough to survive next time? He hoped there wouldn't be a next time.
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Kikyo rose up from where she'd collapsed. The night was gone, and so was her chance to regain control of Sorcerer Kaiba's mind. She was too weak to try again this night. Or even tomorrow. She would need rest and reviving. But she knew she was close. She would have her companion. She would not be alone forever. She would not.
To Be Continued…
AN: Please reveiw
Dangerous Thoughts
He hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks. Seto Kaiba dried his hair from his morning shower, and combed it smooth. As he looked as his reflection in the mirror, he noticed the dark circles under his blue eyes. Almost every night, she came. In his dreams, in the recesses of his mind, Kikyo the priestess came to him, using her feminine charms to seduce him. Because of her tricks, he'd started to lose sleep. He'd stay up at night to avoid dreaming.
"She's haunting me," he said aloud to his reflection.
Later, he met with his girlfriend, Serenity, and hung out with her, her brother, and their friends from Domino High. The rest of them went about their lives, never guessing what Seto suffered each night, alone. He wanted to tell them. He truly did but… What would Serenity say? What would any of them say? Yes, they would offer him help- that was their way- but wouldn' they also be angry, appalled, that he'd gone down the well? Or worse, Yugi and Wheeler might start teasing him about giving up his stubborn disbelief of their past lives. No, he couldn't tell them.
The whole situation was made worse later that afternoon. After school they were in Yugi's grandfather's card shop. Kaiba had his back to everyone, looking at the new cards on display. Suddenly… a slender hand from his nightmares grasped his arm. He shot up and spun around slapping away that hand.
"What's you're problem?!" Kagome Higurashi yelled. "I was just trying to say 'hi'."
"I… Forgive me…" Seto said, breathing in deep. "You startled me."
"Whoa, wait," Kagome said sarcastically, "You mean I scared you, the King of Ice? I don't think so." She crossed her arms, and stared at him. His pulse slowed at last. Yes, Kagome was Kikyo's reincarnation… yes, she did look too much like her at times… but right now, she was just Kagome. Not the woman of his nightmares.
"It's rude to sneak up on people," Seto said calmly.
"You should talk," she replied.
"Guys, don't fight," Tea said.
"We need to get going if we're all gonna make the movie," Yugi said. They group walked out of the card shop. As he strode beside Serenity, Seto reached over, and took her hand. She gave a little gasp of pleasant surprise, then smiled and blushed as they walked hand in hand. Seto rarely held her hand, but he needed her touch now. It was a gentle touch. A warm touch. Alive.
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As the moon took it's place in the sky, Kikyo walked out into the chilly air. After several attempts at subtle seduction, she'd till failed to make Kaiba give in. Tonight she would push harder than she had before. She raised her face to the moon's pale beams, centered her mind… and waited.
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After the movie and post cinema pizza binge with the others, Seto asked Serenity to come over and watch TV with him and Mokuba. Much to her brother's disliking, she accepted. The rest of the evening had gone on in a normal fashion. They watched cheesy sitcoms and degrading reality shows until Mokuba fell asleep on the couch, and after Seto had taken him upstairs and tucked him in, he escorted Serenity to the front door, where outside a limo waited to drive her home. But tonight, on this night of normalcy, Seto did something very unexpected.
"Would you… like to stay. Over night?" he asked Serenity.
She blushed, and laughed nervously, "Seto. I… I'm really not like that, you know. I mean I goof around, but-"
"I know that," he replied, "I would never ask that of you. I only don't want to feel alone tonight."
"Alone?" she asked him. "Seto, sweety, you have Mokuba and all your staff here. You can't possibly be alone."
"I don't mean in a literal sense," he tried to explain. "I… I haven't been sleeping peacefully for some time. I keep having nightmares that… that disturb me deeply. And I simply don't want to feel like I'm suffering alone."
"Oh, my sweet Seto," Serenity said kindly, putting her soft warm hand up on his cheek. "You're never alone. You have Yugi and my brother and the others as friends, even though sometimes they don't act like it. And you have your brother, who looks up to you and thinks the world of you. And you have me. Always." She hugged him, laying her head on his chest. He took in a deep sniff of her hair. It smelled like green tea. He put his arms around her and held her close to him. Then, she raised up on her toes and kissed him, softly and deeply. When she pulled away to go, he held on to her hand until she needed it to close the door. Her sweet, loving face smiled and smiled even as the closed. Then, Seto went up reluctantly to his room.
He dressed in his night clothes, took the Millennium Rod from it's safe, and climbed in bed. He made a quick wish- or perhaps a prayer- that tonight he would sleep peacefully. Then, he close his eyes…
------------ This time, he felt grass under his hands. Again, he was half naked, but it was nighttime, and in a forest. Like the first night…
"No." he whispered. He grabbed the Millennium Rod, and scrambled to his feet, but before he could run, his body was seized by hundreds of scratching, rough hands. No, not hands. Tree branches. A tree had his arms raised above him, caught in it's limbs. It's roots wound tight around his feet. He was trapped. He writhed in the leafy bonds and called up his powers. Though his arms burned with fire, they did not burn the tree's braches.
"Struggle all you wish," Kikyo's husky, mesmeric voice said as she stepped from the shadows, "You will not escape tonight."
"Not likely," he said, "As long as I have my-" he looked up to his hand. His empty hand. The Rod! It wasn't there! He looked about, and saw it on the ground. He must have dropped it when the tree first caught him.
"Oh, you mean your magic Item?" Kikyo asked coyly. She stepped up to the Millennium Rod, and kicked it sideways into the darkness of the forest. "You do not need it now."
"Release me, you carnally corrupt cadaver!" Seto shouted.
Kikyo merely smiled, "You hurt me, Sorcerer. I had thought perhaps you would enjoy some company," she reached up and untied her hair. It cascaded down her shoulders like a black waterfall. Then, with a flourish of her hands, she untied the sash around her waist, and threw her kimono from her shoulders…
She stood before him in absolutely nothing.
She slowly stepped out of her discarded clothes, and with grace and ease she stepped up on the roots of the tree that bound Seto. She pressed her heaving, naked chest against his. Lifted her hands to touch his face. He moved his head around, closed his eyes. But Kikyo's cold palms forced him to face her. Her breath in his face forced him to open his eyes.
He looked into her deep brown eyes knew he'd made a fatal error. Already he felt himself slipping away.
"Don't hold back," she whispered as her frigid fingers caressed his face. "Let me own you. Let me have all of you, mind, body, and soul. Give yourself to me, and I will give you all that you desire. Power, immortality; everything. Just let me touch you, hold you, know your body more than you know it…Please," she whispered as her icy lips met with his warm mouth.
The intensity, the passion, the urgency, of that kiss was incredible. He couldn't stop himself. He kissed her back and let her tongue explore his own mouth as they kissed harder and stronger. She pressed her bare flesh against his partially clothed body. Wrapped her arms up around his neck.
He was dying. He could feel it. The longer he kissed this soulless Siren, the more he lost of himself. He felt his very essence draining away. But why, WHY, did such a horrible, frightening experience feel so pleasuring? He was demented! He was going crazy!
Suddenly, a part of him - a part that was still the rational, thinking, living Seto Kaiba- grabbed and brought up a memory from the darkness that invaded his brain. It was a recent memory. Serenity, and him, at his front door. She was kissing him, and holding his face in her hands, just as Kikyo had done, but…but he remembered the warmth of that touch. The honesty and sincerity of it. The life in it.
Seto opened his eyes and pulled his lips away from Kikyo's. Before she could pull his face back and kiss him again, he let out a guttural cry, and opened his right hand. The Millennium Rod flew from the darkness and went straight to the hand of it's master. As Seto's cry turned into a full out, animal scream, he called up all his energy, all his power.
It wasn't enough. The tree, though it shock and trembled, did not release him. But at least as the tree shook in it's earthy foundations, it made Kikyo lose her balance on the roots and fall to the ground.
As he thrashed about, trying to pull himself from the tree, he heard Serenity call him in his mind.
'Seto!,' Serenity's voice said, 'Call him!'
'Who?!' Seto's mind asked. 'Call who!?1'
'Me…' said a voice that sounded like his own. Seto opened his eyes, and looked over his shoulder. Beside him, partially within the trunk of the tree, was… Himself! No, not himself. It was the spirit of the Sorcerer of Egypt. His ancient counterpart.
'How do I escape! Please! I need help,' Seto pleaded the spirit.
'Now you open your eyes to the truth,' said the spirit of the ancient Sorcerer. Remain calm, and repeat after me,' he said.
Seto nodded, and as the Sorcerer's spirit spoke to him, Seto recited the ancient incantation aloud, in a strong, but calm, voice. With each word, the tree that held him seemed to be screaming, and as Seto reached the end of the phrase, the branches and roots loosened their grip, and threw him away. He landed several feet from both the tree and the priestess. Seto turned over, sat up, and watched a the tree dissolved and turned into a writhing, massive tangle of the soul gathering demons.
Meantime, Kikyo had grabbed her robes and had them wrapped about her. With one hand she held the white and red robes closed, and the other she extended.
"You will not escape me again!" she cried. Kaiba raised his arm above his head, but he was too weak. He wouldn't be able to bring himself out of this nightmare.
Suddenly, the sky above them erupted in light. Not the light of day. This was a different light. In this light, the form of a human body appeared. The person had wings.
"Serenity!" Seto gasped. She was surrounded by light, but aside from that and the wings, she seemed her usual self. She was even dressed in normal clothes. She reached out for his hand.
"NO!" Kikyo screamed. As she wound up her arm and threw a pink and purple orb of energy at them, but a second orb of similar energy smashed into it. Kikyo looked up, and her face twisted in utter contempt and hate. Beside Serenity, also with wings, was Kagome. She had thrown a psychic, spirit attack at Kikyo. During this diversion, Serenity grabbed Seto's hand, and pulled him up into the air with her. She nodded at Kagome, and they both took hold of Kaiba's arms, and flew up to the light. ----------------
Seto fell again from the air to his bed. But as he lay on the torn sheets, he looked around. Beside him were Serenity, Mokuba, and Kagome. Serenity's necklace was glowing, and Kagome had hold of a bed post to hold herself up. Both of them had haggard, ashen faces.
"Mokuba heard you screaming," Serenity said. "He called me, and I called Kagome. We came as soon as we could. We saw you floating above your bed," the girl started to cry as she continued, "You were tossing… waving your arms around…I was so scared."
"She used her necklace to connect with your mind," Kagome said, finally catching her breath. "I used my powers to take us to where you were."
"You… you saw…" Seto looked between them. He felt his heart - and stomach- dropping.
"We saw." Kagome said. "But we know you it wasn't your doing."
"I…" Seto looked from the miko to Serenity. As they looked at each other, he felt something in him break. He lurched forward and wrapped his arms around her. He had his chin on her shoulder. He held her and let the living warmth of her flow into him. Finally, he said, "I'm sorry! I… She…"
"I know," Serenity said, putting her arms around him, too. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry. I had… I thought you were strong enough. I should have listened to you."
"Please," he said. He raised his head, and looked at her, then looked at Kagome. "Please, don't tell anyone about this."
"But-" Serenity tried to object.
"We wont." Kagome agreed. "But if she comes back, we'll be here. And we will bring the others. We won't be strong enough next time. We were lucky that we caught her off guard."
"Th… Thank you," Seto said as he sat down again. As the sun rose outside, the silent Mokuba climbed up and hugged him, and Serenity and Kagome walked out of the room to fix breakfast. Seto was very thankful. He'd survived another mental attack from Kikyo. But… would he be lucky enough to survive next time? He hoped there wouldn't be a next time.
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Kikyo rose up from where she'd collapsed. The night was gone, and so was her chance to regain control of Sorcerer Kaiba's mind. She was too weak to try again this night. Or even tomorrow. She would need rest and reviving. But she knew she was close. She would have her companion. She would not be alone forever. She would not.
To Be Continued…
AN: Please reveiw