Strong Enough

Makura

"HiKari?" I said, "I'm Makura."

"Oh," he said in a tone that sounded a little disappointed, "One of the guards said they were bringing the Bruder kid up, so I just assumed…"

"No, It's fine," I reassured him, "I just was wondering why you called me that. Now I know, and now you can tell me how you intend to get us out of here."

"We'll get out of here…" he began, going back into the corner and bringing back out something that looked like a handheld TV, "…with this!"

"Wow," I said, "How'd you get them to bring you that?"

"I didn't," he smirked, "I made them bring me a toaster, and I made this with it's parts."

I stared at him in amazement for a few seconds, then asked, "So, what's it do?"

"It's an audio-video signaling output device." He said proudly, "If we can get out of the parameters of the castle's anti messaging radius, then we can call my Ni sama to come and pick us up. The only problem before was, I didn't have a long enough rope to reach the ground and I didn't have someone to stay here and make sure no one notices I'm gone until I can contact Ni Sama."

"So, I'll stay here while you get out of the par-meter thing, then once you're done, I come down too and we find HiKari and have your brother take us back to Domino City. I get that part, but there's still the matter of the rope…" I looked around. Every last scrap of fabric in the room had been used for the rope… then I noticed the blanket I had draped over my shoulders. No, I can't give that up. I said to myself. That blanket was the second most precious thing I owned, next to the picture of Kari. That was because it was the picnic blanket Seto and I had sat on our last date. That was where he told me that I was "an obstruction to his career and the future of Kaiba Corp," and that, "Sometimes, drastic steps must be taken." It broke my heart; him choosing his company over me, but the blanket, to me, represented all the good times I'd ever had with Seto. But I had a decision to make, the blanket, or my freedom. Seto had chosen his corporation over me, so I'd choose my freedom over his memories. I sat down and began to cut up the blanket.

"What are you doing?" Mokuba asked. "I thought that was…"

"Just a stupid blanket." I replied as I finished cutting it into strips. "Help me tie these together," I said throwing him some of the strips of cloth. He hesitated at first, but then started to tie the strips of fabric together. We worked in silence, but when the rope was done, I turned to him. "Mokuba," I said, "I'm gonna record two messages on that thing, and it anything happens, can you send them for me?"

"'Course!" he said with a smile.

I went over to a corner where he couldn't hear me, and made my messages: one to Kari, and one to Seto. I went back to him and gave him the message sending thing back. He smiled and said thank you, then began to climb down the rope, as I watched the other end, which was tied to a heavy table, to make sure the knot stayed tight. It did, and everything seemed like it would turn out perfect, when I heard Mokuba yell.

"Mokuba, what is it?" I yelled back.

I ran to the window and saw that he had almost fallen, and was now just barely holding on to the rope with one arm.

"Don't worry!" I yelled to him, "I'll lower you down!"

I ran to the rope and untied it from the table, took it to the window and started lowering it down. I had to lean out the window to get him to the ground. Just as he had gotten to his feet, I heard a voice from behind me yell, "What are you doing!" I screamed as I dropped the rope from shock.

"Mokuba" I yelled after him, "Find HiKari! Don't stop until you do! Tell her I promised you that she'd protect you!"

Then a cold hand pulled me back into the room.

Mokuba

As soon as I reached the ground, I ran. I couldn't get caught, or that would ruin the chances for both of us. Suddenly I heard a scream and Makura telling me to find HiKari and not stop until I did. I ran through the forest, not knowing which way to go. I kept running and running, but finally I had to stop or I'd collapse. I sat down and sent a message of my own to Seto, asking him to pick us up. Almost seconds after I sent my message, a reply came, saying that he was on his way there and that we should meet him at the docks. I replied that we all would and as I did, I saw four shadowy figures in the distance. Suspecting the worst, I ran and hid behind a tree. As they came along further, I saw that they were really Tristan, Tea, Yugi and Kari. I ran down to them yelling for them to wait up…

HiKari

I turned around and saw Mokuba running towards us. "Hey, everybody, stop!" I yelled, "Mokuba's here"

They all turned around and stared as Mokuba came running down the path. As he ran, I could see that he wasn't running towards Yugi or Tea or anyone else, he was running for me. He finally caught up with us, "HiKari, We've got to get down to the docks, quick!" he said, grabbing my hand and trying to pull me in that direction. "What's the big rush?" I asked curiously.

"Seto," he gasped, "Seto's gonna be here to take the both of us home. I contacted him with this. Makura wants you home too! And she promised me that you would protect me. And…"

"Wait a second," Tea said in her annoyingly friendly voice, "How'd you get here in the first place?"

"Pegasus captured me and threatened Seto with my life, but then I escaped with the help of…" He started.

Yugi interrupted, "Well, we'd better get going HiKari" he said as he reached up to hold my hand. I pulled it away, and then (to make him even more jealous) held Mokuba's hand instead.

"Wha…?" Mokuba started.

"Makura promised I would protect you, didn't she?" I asked.

He nodded, "But what if Pegasus comes and…"

I squeezed his hand tighter and said, "Well, then, I've got to hold your hand. Then I can protect you from being scared if him too."

He smiled at me, reassured, and with that, we set out for the docks.

When we got there, Seto was in the pilot's seat of the biggest helicopter I'd ever seen. I stared up at it until Mokuba pulled me inside.

"Everybody in?" Seto asked, Mokuba started to answer, but then Seto added, "Like I care. As long as Mokuba's here…"

He turned around and stared at the rest of us. "What are you doing here anyway?" he said, glaring at Yugi. "Don't you want to win that stupid tournament Pegasus's putting on? Save your grampa?"

Yugi nodded. "Sorry, Kari. I've gotta win this for grampa…"

"It's not like I'm gonna miss him." I whispered to Mokuba. He laughed, and by that time Tea and Tristan had gotten out too.

"Aren't you going too?" Seto asked me.

"No," I answered, "The only reason I'm here is because Pegasus threatened to do something to HiKari if I didn't go to his contest and…"

Mokuba started to say something, but Seto interrupted him, saying, "Oh, I see…" then his voice trailed off.

"Are you gonna be okay, Ni Sama?" Mokuba asked.

"Of course I'm fine!" Seto shot back, "Why shouldn't I be?"

"Well, you just sort of… trailed… off…." Mokuba said, trailing off himself on the last three words, "You… usually… don't… do… that… you… usually… finish… your… sentences…" He went silent, then yelled, "WITH MEANING!!!" as he slammed his fist on the table in front of him.

I laughed, "Don't make fun, Mokuba. I bet he was really worried about you…" I found myself trailing off too, thinking of what Kura would say when she saw me.

"Okay, that's not funny!" Seto said, annoyed.

"But… Seto…" Mokuba pleaded, "It's… funny…"

"Alright, from now on, I can't hear anyone who trails off at the end of anything!"

That gave me an idea, and I said, "Seto… is… a… moron…"

Seto pretended not to hear me.

Then Mokuba joined in, "Seto… is… ugly… for… the… brother… of… the… cutest… person… on… the… face… of… this… earth…"

He still ignored us. So we continued to taunt him the rest of the way. When we finally got to the Kaiba Corp. helicopter pad, he went back to me and said, "HiKari, do you want a ride home, and if you talk like that again, then it's a no."

I shrugged, "I'll give you a deal. I'll never speak of this again if you do one simple thing for me."

"Never speak like that again?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Alright then!" he said as he shook my hand, "What do I have to do?"

"You and Mokuba have to come to our apartment with me, you'll talk to Makura while Mokuba and I bake cookies." I said.

"You guys, I really need to tell you someth…" Mokuba began, but he was interrupted by Seto.

"I'm not going to. I'll take you there, but I'm not…" He began

I interrupted, "We shook on it!"

"There were no witnesses!" He shouted.

"WITTNESS!" I yelled, pointing to Mokuba, "I DO BELIEVE THIS IS A WITTNESS!!"

"Fine then," he said grudgingly, "I'll go."

"But…" Mokuba began

"Mokuba, I've just convinced him to go, don't mess it up," I said to him.

We all three got in the car and drove there. Once we got to our apartment, I made Seto knock on the door. When no one answered, I went around and got the spare set of keys.

"There's a spare set of keys!" Seto said in disbelief.

I nodded.

"Then why couldn't we have used them in the first place?" He asked exasperatedly.

I smiled, "I wanted you to make an entrance" I said, and then whispered to myself, " so then mabey Makura won't be mad at me"

Apparently Mokuba heard me, and said angrily, "You don't need to worry about that."

Seto apparently heard too, because he commented. "Is that what this is about? Listen, I know Makura, and Makura would never get angry at anyone she cares about, just… disappointed." He said as he looked down to his shoes.

"Well, as long as you're here, you might as well come in." I said, "You don't have to see Makura"

I opened the door and we went inside. No lights were on, and it was quiet… mabey Makura was out.

"You sit here," I said, "and I'll look for Makura,"

"Don't you get it?" Mokuba said "Makura's not here!"

"What are you talking about?" I asked as Seto and I turned to him.

"You were at the duelist kingdom, weren't you?" Mokuba asked me.

"Yeah," I said, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"You saw the princess of the duelist kingdom, didn't you?" He asked.

"Well, I didn't SEE the actual face, I mean I saw, but…" I started

"It's Makura!" He said angrily, "Makura's the princess! She's the one who got me out, she's the one who's still there because of me, and she's the one who sent you two these messages!" He said as he put a disc in the computer. A picture of Makura appeared, and she began to talk

Kari… You probably want to find me… Help me… Something… I don't know, but don't. You left me, right? Well, I guess you'll just have to live without it. Seto owes you for what I did to help Mokuba, so they can take you in. If Seto says no then have Mokuba talk to him. I know that you'll have everything you could ever need with them… If Seto still says no, show him the next part of this message… by himself! Don't you dare watch the next part of the message, HiKari Joan Bruder, or I'll… just let Seto see the next part, okay?

I gasped, "What the… what the hell is she thinking! How did Pegasus get her to come to the Duelist Kingdom anyway?"

Seto sighed. "It's obvious. He invited you, threatening to hurt Makura, so you went. He knew you would. That's when he got Makura, threatening to hurt you, and since you, Yugi, and I know her, Pegasus thought it would be… interesting, let us say, to see our reactions when her life was put on the line.

"How did you know he was going to put the princess's life on the line, I thought only contestants knew about that."

"I'm rich." He replied.

"But what are we going to do about Makura?" Mokuba asked.

"Here," Seto said, starting the next part, "Mabey after this, we'll know what to do.

Seto, Okay, I know we're not on the best of terms, and that's okay. I know you have a company to run and I understand that, but I really need to ask you a favor. Take care of HiKari for me. I'm not gonna… I can't… I'm not going to stay here like this. I've gotta… DO something. I'm going to try and escape, but if I can't… Remember when you followed me home that one time… I might have to… Just don't worry HiKari, okay? If she won't have me, the least you can let her keep is hope. Please take good care of her…

I stared up at Seto, confused. "What's she talking about, Seto," I asked, worriedly, "why's she crying."

He turned to me, "She… just…" he looked flustered as he tried to explain.

"Seto," I said, really scared now, "Seto, she's alright, Right? I mean, what could happen to her? She's strong enough to withstand any other person on the face of this earth."

"That may be true," I heard Seto whisper to himself, "But is she strong enough to withstand herself?"

"Herself? What are you talking about Seto?" I started. He just stood there, silent, so not being able to take the pressure anymore, I started to yell, "THAT'S ENOUGH SECRETS! MAKURA WOULD WANT ME TO KNOW EVERYTHING, SO IT THERE'S SOMETHINGYOU KNOW THEN TELL ME NOW!"

Seto suddenly snapped up, as if he had awakened out of a strange dream then said, "Makura's gonna…" then gasped and ran to the door with Mokuba and I in hot pursiut. He jumped into the helicopter, and Mokuba and I snuck in the back. We waited quietly until we were far away from Domino, then Mokuba asked, "Seto, where are we going?"

He turned around in shock and saw Mokuba (I was still sitting in the back) standing there. He sighed, "Can't I go anywhere without yo…"

"Nope." Mokuba replied before Seto had even finished, "So, where are we going?"

"The Duelist Kingdom." Seto awnsered

"Seto… steals… Froot… Loops…" (Oops, that's Sean)

Umm… Yeah, I'm splitting up this chapter into two parts, since Kari wants me to update now.

Awright - I've gotta work on my new story . 'sgonna be SO good o

HiKari, You're the best sister anyone could ever ask for

Love ya!

-Kura