Strong Enough

------------------------

When I turn the lights out, when I close my eyes

Reality overcomes me, I'm living a lie…

------------------------

Makura

As I lifted up my wrist for Seto to see, HiKari had run to the screen and asked me what had happened.

I quickly put my wrist down, took some of the extra cloth left over from Mokuba's rope, and tied it around my wrist to stop the bleeding. "Kari," I said, looking up to her, "Kari what are you doing there?"

"That's exactly what I was about to ask." Seto said.

"I had to," Kari said, starting to cry, "I had to come, I couldn't leave you alone. I couldn't just go and leave you there. But… I don't understand. You… you would never hurt yourself. You would never do anything like that. You… you can't. You're okay, right? You've got to be okay, right?"

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door.

"Kari, I promise I'll be okay." I said, "But I have to go now." I didn't want anyone to know that I had been talking to them.

"No." Kari said, "You can't go, I don't know if you'll come back again."

"I… Kari…" I sighed and looked around the room. Suddenly I saw a piece of chocolate lying on the floor. "I swear to you, HiKari, on this piece of chocolate, that I'll be fine."

HiKari

I smiled a little at this. I knew she'd be okay, because to her, swearing on chocolate was like a holy, sacred, unbreakable oath. "Just hurry back." I said.

"Love ya!" She said, "Kari, just talking to you makes everything fine."

"Love you too!" I said as the busy light lit up on our A/V communicator.

"You let her go after she swore on a piece of food?" Seto asked, "She's probably just gonna eat it, then she'll…"

"You don't understand," I said, "chocolate is almost the most important thing to her. She'd do ANYTHING for chocolate." Then I thought to myself, "Even if you did know that, you still couldn't understand. I could tell just by the look on her face that she was fine. I could always tell how she was doing… at least I always thought I could…"

Suddenly I turned around as Pegasus popped up on the screen and said, "Hello, Kari-girl, Kaiba-boy, Mokuba-boy, how are you?"

"You…" I hated that man with all my heart. He made Makura do what she did, he seperated us, and he was about to pay. "You're going to wish you never existed." I said, and , forgetting Pegasus was inside a TV screen, made a move to punch at him. I was inches away when Seto pushed my arm to the side and took my place in front of the A/V.

Seto turned to me, and I think I caught a smile on his face for a second as he said, "You're just like your sister, HiKari," but after that, he put on his business face again, "But, this particular situation requires negotiation, not action."

"No," I said, "This situation requires a sister, not a… a… a CEO." CEO was the last ting I planned on calling him, but I remembered that Mokuba was in the plane.

I pushed Seto out of the way as I went up to the A/V. "Pegasus, my sister…" I started in my calmest voice, but he cut me off. "is being taken care of. That cut isn't as bad as it could have been… But anyway, Kari-girl, down to business, according to these calculations, you'll be arriving here in 2 hours, and I wanted to know…"

Seto pushed his way in front of the screen, not pushing me out, but so we were sharing it 50/50.

"How do you know where we're going?" Seto asked.

"And how do you know what happened to Kura?" I added.

"I know about Kura because I've been listening to your conversation the whole time. In fact, the reason your conversation was interrupted was the medical team coming in to get her. Oh, and I know about the time of your arrival because you are on Industrial illusions radar. So, Kura girl has a few secrets… Well, well, well, this IS interesting."

"Tell and you die!" I said as I brandished my fists at Pegasus, "I have to warn you, my hands are lethal."

"And what did you want to know?" Seto added. Suddenly Mokuba popped up between Seto and I.

"And Makura'd better be alright, 'cause she saved me and…"

"QUIET!" Pegasus shouted. We all went silent. "Now," Pegasus said, "I wanted to know wether you'll want to watch the duels personally, or just be informed of the results."

"Why do I care who wins the stupid duel? Whoever beats you gets Makura back, so long as I have her, I don't care if the king of Spain wins!" I said.

"Look," Seto said, "Kur… I mean, Makura saved Mokuba. I have a debt to repay, and I'm going to do it. If I have to blow the place apart, I will. I'm not going to live in debt to her.

"Yeah!" Mokuba said, "You hear that, you nimrod? Seto's gonna blow your little 'duelist kingdom' to pieces, we'll save Kura, and then Kari's gonna come and kick your butt!!!"

"It's not that simple…" Seto said out the side of his mouth to Mokuba.

"That's right, Kaiba-boy, This castle's got an armed missile launcher that can stop any attack, land air or sea. You'll have to think of another… tactic."

I started to talk, thinking that Pegasus had finished, but he hadn't. He continued, "But wait! I've got a special offer for you, Kaiba-boy! Get one other duelist, and I can let you, Makura-girl, and Mokuba-boy into the final duel… if you can get 4 star chips each within an hour of your landing. Oh, and to make up for your missing star chips, you'll have to duel on television, worldwide as you try for your four star chips. You will be the entertainment that Kura-girl dismanteled."

"But I don't have a d.." Mokuba started.

"Don't worry, Mokuba-boy, I'll send someone out with a deck for you, and one special card for each of you that you must include in your decks, along with your star chips."

"See you at the finals!" Pegasus said as the connection ended.

"Wait, we didn't agree to this!" Seto said as he slammed down hard on the control pannel. Suddenly the computer's automated voice said, "Speed: Max. Estimated time to destination: 1 hour."

Makura

"Why me?" I asked as I walked to the door. I didn't even bother to go open the door, I just yelled, "Come in!" I didn't feel like doing more for Pegasus's idiots than I had to. Suddenly 4 men wearing all white came in, wheeling a hospital bed.

"We've been instructed to take you to Medical room four. Get on." The tallest of the four men said, pointing to the hospital bed. I got on hesitantly. They took me down the hall, up an elivator and into Medical room four.

"Just stay calm," the tall man said, "We're going to put you in anesthesia, but the procedure'll be quick. Soon, you'll be good as new. "Good as new?" I thought to myself as I drifted off to sleep, "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

--------------------

I was lying somewhere. I knew it wasn't the white room, but that confused me, because the tall doctor was still there. He was sitting by my bed, and as soon as he saw I was coming to, left the room. As I became more alert I saw that I was in my room in the castle. I tried to sit up, but after several tries I found that I couldn't, so I decided that it would be best to just prop myself up against the side of the bed. As soon as I got myself comfortable, another pair of footsteps came into the room. "What perfect timing, Kura-girl!" Pegasus said with a smile on his face, "I need you to run an errand for me…"

"I'm having a hard time just sitting up! How do you think I'm gonna be able to run this "Errand"?" I said. Actually I was happy to have an excuse not to do Pegasus's bidding.

"You misunderstand! I'm LETTING you do this as a favor to you, " Pegasus said with a laugh, "Your sister just landed here, and she, Kaiba-boy and Mokuba-boy are waiting for you to give them their things. You see, they've agreed to compete here… for your sake. If you don't feel up to giving them what they need in an hour, I guess you won't be able to see your sister after all…"

"What are you talking about? I'm fine!" I said, just barely managing to stand on my own. Then I remembered, "Hey, what did they do, anyway? I didn't need surgery…"

"Look and see." He said.

I looked at my wrist. I didn't see anything. It was just the way it had been before, it was like I had never been cut.

"Why…" I started, but was interrupted, "You're the princess of the duelist kingdom. You have to be… dare I say it… perfect. Well, of course, you're far from perfect, but, as perfect as the situation permits." Pegasus smirked at this. "Yes," He continued, "everyone has their weaknesses…"

I looked at the clock. "Shit! I've got to go! I've already wasted 5 minutes." By this time I had my footing, so I ran to the door.

"Your helicopter is on auto-pilot, and is waiting, out this room and down the hall. Your instructions are there." Pegasus said as I ran out of the room.

I got into the helicopter and the autopilot started. In the passenger's compartment was a deck, three special cards, one marked Seto Kaiba, one marked Mokuba Kaiba, and the third marked HiKari Bruder. There were also 8 star chips and a whole bunch of cards. I looked through the cards, and there was a note inside saying that I was to make one 40-card deck for Mokuba. I looked through the provided cards carefully, and I picked out the same ones I would have chosen for Kari. I knew that Kari would look after Mokuba, and I wanted Kari to know that I was always there.

The helicopter ride was short, but I enjoyed every second. I had always dreamed of being a pilot, but instead I enede up working the late shift at Burger-burger, just to get chocolate every weekend. "But still" I thought to myself, "I wouldn't trade this life for the world. I had the oppurtunity once to go into the air force, but I'd have had to leave Kari, and I couldn't do that. Kari was always all I ever needed…"

The helicopter door opened, and I saw Kari, Seto, and Mokuba standing there…

----------------------------------

Okay, it's three a clock in the morning, and I have to drive tomorrow. I wanted to finish the scene when Makura gave them their cards and stuff tonight, but I don't have the energy. I finished this just for you Kari, 'cause the songfic just wasn't workin'

LOVE YA FOREVER AND EVER -

-Kari