Sakakku

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Chapter 16

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Seto was vaguely aware that something felt odd about his hand, but he didn't have the energy to figure out what it was.

The sand was awfully soft… or was it sand? Was he still in the desert? He couldn't remember. If he was in the desert… there was a storm, wasn't there?

The thing on his hand… it felt warm. And rough.

Was he dead? He found he didn't mind the idea. If this was death, it was a lot more comforting than struggling through that storm had been.

His hand was being tugged on. No; not tugged on… something was putting pressure on it. Just a little.

Had he been with anyone? He tried to remember, but he didn't try hard. There had been a… a Monster? Three of them. A flute. A loud noise. Then a companion- a voice on the wind… a figure disappearing into the distance… a boy his own age, not entirely happy with him…

Duke.

His eyes snapped open. A jackal was licking his hand.

He stared at it a moment, uncomprehending. Was he still in the desert? Had this jackal mistaken his lifeless body for food? Were the buzzards circling overhead, ready to tear at his-

The jackal cocked her head at him, plainly saying 'That's disgusting'.

"If you're not eating me, what are you doing?" he mumbled, trying to sit up.

"Anuba?" A girl entered the room, looking about his own age. Maybe a few years younger. Something about her golden eyes looked familiar… he blinked and hefted his weight.

"No, no, no!" the girl said hastily, hurrying over. "You need to lie down. It's not good for you to sit up right away."

The eyes. He'd seen them for a moment in the desert. This girl had saved him…

He scowled. This girl had saved him. He sat upright and immediately the room began to swirl.

"Really," the girl pleaded. "Please lie down."

"I'm fine," he said, trying to glare at her.

Although he couldn't see it, the girl's lips twitched. "You're talking to the wall," she said mischievously. "I'm over here. To your left." Seto set his jaw; the other sighed. "You obviously can't see right," she said sensibly. "You must be sick. Just lie down, maybe only for another hour or two-"

"I can see fine," Seto said irritably, turning his head. He could make out a blurry outline now. "And I'm not sick."

"If you don't lie down, I'll force you to," the girl threatened.

"Oh?" he tried to raise his eyebrows but it caused his head to hurt too much.

"There's a man in this village who deals in herbology," she told him. "He keeps a couple of powerful dried plants. One sniff of it and you'll be out for a week."

"Excuse me?"

"It's for your own good," she said. "Come on…"

"It's-" Seto began, but fell silent. He was having difficulties seeing and his vision was worsening again. He felt a gentle pressure on his shoulder. At first he thought it was the golden-eyed girl, but he heard her giggle. She hadn't moved.

"That's right, Anuba," she coaxed. "There you go. Listen, just lie down. Anuba has her paw on your shoulder. Trust me, she can get rough when you don't go along with her. Just lie down. You can get up soon."

Seto fought desperately to retain his pride. He fought as the jackal pushed him into a lying position, he fought as his eyelids slowly closed, and he fought as he drifted off to sleep.

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He awoke feeling much better. His limbs were a little sore, he had a slight headache, and his throat was as dry as the desert, but he felt good enough to yell at the girl who had confined him to… where was he, exactly?

Seto glanced around the room. He was lying on a cot in the corner of a largish room. It was well-furnished; he supposed people like Yugi or Yami- people who actually cared- would have felt at home there. The jackal dozed in the corner and the only doorway was across the room. He stood up, testing his feet; they were fine. He was debating whether he should go through the doorway when the girl appeared again, brushing her shoulder-length ginger hair over her shoulder.

"You're feeling better?" she asked, eyeing him critically.

Seto crossed his arms indignantly. "I feel fine," he said.

"Hmm…" she said, eyes glinting. "That's great, then. I guess that twenty-hour nap did you some good."

He stared at her blankly. "Twenty-hour nap?"

"As far as I can tell," she said, suppressing a giggle. "You were thrashing around quite a bit. Having nightmares?"

"I was not," he said coldly, but a blush rose to his cheeks. He was annoyed; had he been having nightmares? He wanted to know if he'd been saying anything in his sleep but there was no way he was about to ask.

Luckily, the girl supplied the answer for him: "You were calling 'Yami, Yami'. Friend of yours?"

"Absolutely not!" Seto snarled. Across the room, the jackal lifted her head, glanced him up and down, and lay back down.

"All right, then," the girl said, lifting her eyebrows and continuing to grin at him. "Well, if you're okay, shall we introduce ourselves?"

Seto snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "If you insist."

She waited a moment for him to say anything; he didn't. "Okay, Seto Kaiba," she said teasingly. "My name is Ezra. My jackal, who I believe you owe a big thank-you, is Anuba."

He wasn't about to give her to satisfaction of asking how she knew who he was. She seemed to sense it, too, for she carried on: "I recognized you from the 'old world'. Before I moved out here, I lived close to Domino, as a matter of fact. Also…" She gestured at the trenchcoat he wore. "You still have the KaibaCorp logo on your clothes. Aren't you afraid someone would recognize that?"

"I didn't intend anyone to be close enough to me to find out," he answered stiffly.

Ezra shrugged. "I guess nothing really goes according to plan," she said vaguely, studying him. "You're sure you feel okay? You look a little pale."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't feel like repeating myself."

She rolled her eyes back at him, seemingly unintimidated. "Why are you being so churlish?"

Seto folded his arms across his chest, deciding once again to say nothing.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, you know," she told him gently.

"What?" he demanded. "What are you talking about?"

She bit her lip, a hint of a smile appearing. "You seem a bit embarrassed that Anuba and I saved you. If it makes you feel any better, it was Anuba that found you during the storm. She helped me drag you back."

Seto's back tightened. Drag? He had the strongest urge to strangle someone.

Maybe he was just a little embarrassed.

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Ezra traced lines absently on the kitchen table. Across from her sat the surly Seto Kaiba, studying the map she'd provided him with. He was a strange one, Seto was. Wouldn't most people be grateful to be saved from certain death? He shouldn't have been out in the storm anyway.

And that was another thing- why had he been out there? She'd wondered that at first, but then he started talking in his sleep. She hadn't been lying when she told him he'd been calling 'Yami, Yami.' She just hadn't told him everything.

"Do you need more water?" she asked, her eyes focusing in on his empty cup.

"I don't need anything," came the curt reply. His hoarse voice betrayed him.

"Well, do you want more water?" she asked innocently, already knowing she wouldn't get an answer. Her prediction was right, and she rose to get him the pitcher. Instead of pouring it for him, she placed it close by his elbow; two could play at this game.

He studied the map a few more minutes, and she carefully pretended not to look. It was like taming a wild animal; like how she'd tamed Anuba. Eventually, Seto reached out with utmost casualness and poured himself a glass of water; he took what seemed to be a dainty sip but when he put the cup back down Ezra saw that it was half-empty.

"Are you deciding the best way to get to Akuma?" she ventured, unable to stand his silence, but realized what a mistake it was. Seto's blue eyes slowly lifted to meet her own golden ones, and she winced.

"What makes you ask that?" he demanded.

Why was he so rude? She bit her lip in annoyance, telling herself that he was just tired. He must have been traveling a long way. Then there was that desert storm. And she was pretty sure Seto was feeling really humiliated, especially after she mentioned that she and Anuba had had to drag him back. He must also feel really frustrated, if what he was saying in his sleep was at all true. And he probably felt lost and lonely…

All of a sudden, she felt a lot more tolerant towards him.

"You were… talking while you dreamed," she said carefully. "I thought you said something about going to Akuma?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, scrutinizing her closely. She refused to back down, even though his stare was intimidating. "What else did I say?"

His voice echoed in her head. 'Yami! Yami! Watch out!… they're coming for you! Bakura and Marik are mustering their powers …Obelisk is MINE and you had no right to take it from me! I challenge you to a duel! …I have to go to Akuma. That's where everyone is headed. That's where the final battle will take place. …Stay away from Mokuba! You will NEVER hurt my little brother!'

"Not much else," she lied, cutting her eyes away from his face. "You just seemed really upset. You screamed a lot."

She expected him to shut up again, to close himself off to her. Instead, he glanced around the room, as if nervous, then leaned forward with a sigh. Ezra debated asking him if he was okay, but it looked like he was about to talk.

"I had a lot of strange dreams," he confided, seemingly forgetting about her. "There was one woman in particular. No one I knew. I don't think I'll ever know her… I don't know if she's human anymore." His eyes were closed, so he didn't see Ezra's eyebrows shoot up at that. "She was the one telling me I had to go to Akuma. Then I kept seeing replays of my duel with Bakura shooting through my head… he was one of the only people to beat me. And the last I saw of Mokuba. I kept imagining where he is now, what he's doing, what he's thinking. He should be at home still, safe and sound. Then… I don't know. A lot of pain. Something hurt me." All of a sudden, he opened his eyes, and Ezra saw something frightening in them. "Whatever dares to hurt me- I'll deal with!"

She felt Anuba nuzzling her hand. Gratefully, she patted the jackal on the head. "I- I'm sure you will," she said cautiously, not liking the violence in his face. She wondered if he was thinking of his little brother. At one point during the night, Seto had screamed 'Look at what you've done to him! Look at what you've done to Mokuba!'

"I think I'll leave here now," Seto declared, rising. It was so unexpected that it took Ezra a minute to register what he was saying.

"Wh- now?" she asked, scrambling to her feet. "Why are you leaving?"

"Why should I stay?" he countered, heading for the door.

"It's silly to leave without thinking it through!" Ezra said angrily, reaching the door before he did and putting her hand in front of his. "You don't have food or water or a disguise!"

As if realizing it for the first time, Seto put a hand to his head. "I seem to have lost my cowl," he mused.

"It fell off when Anuba and I were bringing you back," she told him, moving fully in front of his way to the door. She looked up at him determinedly; he was tall!

He studied her for a moment, then folded his arms. "Let me by."

"I'm not going to let you go out there to die," Ezra said, folding her arms as well. "You're being too impulsive."

Whatever Seto was going to say next was cut off. Anuba, padding up behind him, nudged Seto in the side. He was completely caught off guard and stumbled a little before whirring around and fixing the poor jackal with a menacing glare. "Don't do that!" he snapped.

"Seto. You can't yell at a jackal," Ezra countered; he fixed his glare back on her. "It's not like Anuba knows that she's annoying you!"

"She will if I yell at her," Seto grumbled, but he didn't seem angry anymore. Just tired.

"Listen," Ezra started, but Anuba nudged Seto's leg again. His cerulean eyes flared a little, but other than that, he didn't react. Anuba put her nose on Seto again. After a minute of no one moving, Anuba seemed to grow impatient and took up part of Seto's trenchcoat in her mouth, tugging gently in no particular direction.

"Hey…" Ezra said slowly; Seto glanced at her. Her eyes were slightly unfocused, as if she were remembering something. "That's what Anuba did to me when I first found her."

"What?" Seto asked grudgingly, shifting his eyes toward the solemn-looking jackal, still with a mouthful of his clothes.

"Well, I found Anuba when she was a baby. Her mom was dead; I couldn't tell what killed her. Disease, probably. I didn't want Anuba to die too, so I took her home and nursed her until she was strong enough to go live on her own. But when I went to let her go- we were in the desert- she grabbed my robe and wouldn't let go. We've- well, we've been together ever since." Her golden eyes lifted to meet his, there was a hint of question in them.

Seto fought back the surprising smile rising to his lips. He wouldn't allow Ezra to be put in danger. "I'm going to Akuma, and I'm going alone," he announced firmly, trying to dislodge his clothes from Anuba's grip.

Ezra snorted. "Fat chance of that now," she said, breezing by him. She didn't have to worry that he'd leave anymore; Anuba wouldn't let him. "Anuba is sticking by you no matter what; and where she goes, I go. Just give me a minute to gather supplies-" she spun around in her tracks and fixed him with a sweet smile. "And we'll be on our way." Then, with a small giggle, she left the room, presumably to gather water and food.

Seto glared down at Anuba; unfortunately, the jackal saw right through him.

A friend. The word, which had always seemed despicable to him, kept ringing through his head. He was okay on his own. He didn't need anyone; that included a friend.

But since Ezra seemed set on coming with him; well, who was he to stop her?

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Notes: Finally. You get to see what you already knew- that sleeping in a sandstorm is only a minor setback for the great Seto Kaiba.