Aren't you all just DYING to know what horrible crime Raia has committed? Well, this is the time of the awful truth! (This is also the next-to-last chapter!) Thank you all for being so loyally devoted to this fic. It means a lot to me. And don't forget to R&R!!
Part Eighteen
Kaiba stood at his locker. If he didn't head to third period soon, he was going to be late, just like he had to first and second already. He couldn't help himself. He stood there still, watching every person as they passed by. He hadn't seen Delaney anywhere yet, but there was still a long rest of the day to go through. The hall gradually cleared and the crowd of students thinned out to a trickle. Seto winced as the bell rang.
Damn. He sauntered off to his next class.
And so went his day, and still not one trace of Delaney. He became more and more puzzled, and more and more impatient. He really wanted to see her again. Seto had gone through that entire day only for her, since concentrating on assignments was pretty much impossible in his condition.
Eventually, he found himself back at his downtown high-rise. Exaclty where this little adventure of his had begun only yesterday. It still unnerved him that... well, this whole ordeal was starting to unnerve him. He sat at his computer, and started searching anything he could: local online yellow pages, records departments, heck, he even thought of hacking into the police department. If she WAS some kind of master hacker, she might have a record. Or she may have hacked it right out.
After hours, his eyes hurt from staring at the blinking screen, and he STILL hadn't found a trace of her. His eyes narrowed in anger. He stood up sharply and walked to the window. Not only was he now upset that he just couldn't find the one woman he was still in love with, but he was angry at himself for letting someone get into the game without detection. It wasn't possible!! How could HE, of all people, be so careless? Or so outdone! By a GIRL!!
His thoughts threw him into a rage, and he turned back to his desk. In a fit he swept his arm across it, knocking everything off and sending the computer across the room. It shattered against the force of the wall, and he just looked at it with a blank stare on his face. The machine sputtered and hissed, as its last breaths before death. He looked down at the rubble that now covered the carpeted floor of his office. Through all the papers and files and what-not, the corner edge of a silver picture frame peeked out. Kaiba knelt down and picked it up. Through the shattered glass front, he gazed at an image of himself when he was five or six years old.
Oh my God... he thought. He hadn't seen this picture in forever. It must have been buried beneath the rest of his life on the desk. The picture was him as a young boy, holding a bundle of cloth. A person really had to look closely to see the tiny face of a baby, he was so small. Mokuba. Seto closed his eyes and thought for a long time. He had been so transformed, that he realized he had nearly left everything else in the dust. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had spent some real time with his little brother. And his sister, too. She had just recently been reunited with them. What did she think of him now? He was not the same person he had been when they were separated. He thought of how his family was still always there for him, even went he didn't return it.
He looked again at the murdered contraption on the floor. Seto breezed out the door, stopping at the blonde secretary's desk.
She looked up at him, simply waiting for the prompt of his instructions.
"I want those pods destroyed," he ordered.
"Excuse me?" she said, taken aback.
"You heard me," he snapped. "I want all seven of those virtual pods dismantled by the time I get back tomorrow. I'll take care of erasing the programming myself." He walked off, not even waiting for her response.
"Y-yes sir," she said after him.
He reached the streets of the city. A limo sat right in front of the building, ready to take him anywhere he wished. The thought made him sick. He turned instead and snuck around the side of the building. He checked his watch. Mokuba would be just getting out of school, and Seto was more than willing to walk him home.
About ten minutes later, he and Mokuba arrived at the mansion, completely on foot. He was kind of glad that Mokuba hadn't offered any protests to walking. It meant that he hadn't become too much like his brother yet. At the same time, Raia was approaching from the other direction. She caught up to them.
"Well, well, the great Seto Kaiba? Reduced to using his own physical power for transportation? What happened, rent out all your limos?" she asked.
"You know, for an older sister you are REALLY annoying," Seto said.
Raia grinned. "Just doin' my job." She looked him over for a moment, and her face turned more serious. "Where's your computer?" she asked.
"It, um, kinda crashed," he said, not ENTIRELY lying...
Raia raised a brow, but she was apparently appeased by his response. "C'mon, Mokuba, I'll make you a snack," she said. Mokuba emphatically followed her into the kitchen.
Seto looked after them. He just stood there for a while devoid of thought or consciousness. He almost envied them. It was obvious that in such a short time they had developed a real bond with each other, while he had been floating off into the distance. It seemed strange that he had to leave reality behind to realize what should be really important to him. He vowed then and there that he would try to change. As difficult as it might be, he had to live his life with the ones he loved before he wouldn't have any life left.
But I'm still missing one, he thought.
"Raia," he said. "Can I borrow your computer?"
"Mine? Don't you have a zillion others?"
"No. My other one is at the loft, and I really didn't feel like going all the way back downtown if I'm already here with you guys."
"That's never stopped you before," she replied.
Seto sighed. His sister never failed to point out his faults. Yet he had somehow managed to ignore her for such a long time.
"I suppose. I'll go get it," she said, heading to the upper floors of the mansion.
Seto sat down next to his brother, who had already devoured half a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.
Mokuba looked up at Seto. "You want some?"
Seto smiled. "Sure," he answered.
"Okay!" His brother hopped off the stool and rummaged around for the ingredients. "I don't think I can make 'em as good as Raia can, but I can try," Mokuba said.
"Make what?" Raia asked as she came back into the kitchen. She handed Seto her laptop.
"Thanks," Seto answered. "I'll, uh, be in the study if you guys need me."
He left the kitchen and headed for another room. He shut the door of the study behind him and looked around.
Study, schmudy, he thought. In all reality, it was another office. Talk about taking your work home with you.
Regardless, he hooked up the laptop computer. His sister's computer was a little slower than he was used to, but he seemed to manage. When the whole thing had finished starting up, he looked at the files on her desktop, and one in particular caught his eye.
A program? I didn't know that Raia could do that. Then again, why not? They were twins, after all.
His curiosity piqued, he opened the file and ran the program. His eyes widened as he saw what the screen presented him with.
"RAIA!!!!!" he screamed.