Destiny and the Dragon
Author's note: I apologize for the format of the previous chapter. I uploaded it as a Microsoft Word document, which apparently doesn't translate well to Fanfiction.net. Thus, italics were normal, and sentences were grouped together where they shouldn't have been. This one is HTML, so I hope it works right.
Copyright info: I do not own Yu-gi-oh! If I did, though , you can bet we'd see a lot more Seto Kaiba(and, considering he already appears a lot, they'd probably have to rename the show "The Seto Kaiba saga", or some other, less crappy, title.).
Continuity info: First, I'm using all Japanese names, as well as personalities (in short, Jounouchi isn't going to have that heavy New York accent, and Bakura won't be British). Thus, Joey is Jounouchi, the Millennium items are sennen items, and so on. Finally, the actual continuity is kind of a mixture of the manga and anime. This takes place after Battle City, but the Noa saga did not occur. However, in the manga, Yugi immediately uses the God cards to open up the doors to Yami's memory world. In this, like in the anime, he must wait until the appropriate time. Also, this is going to act as an alternative to the Memories arc in the manga so I can add my own little spin on the ancient past. Enjoy.
I want to run away,
I want to know the truth
I want to know the answers,
I want to shut the door and open up my mind.
-"Runaway Reanimation", Linkin' Park
Chapter 2: Renewed Bond
By Blue Eyes Shining Dragon
Yami Bakura grinned as he overlooked his room. His door had been barred shut in the event that Bakura's father should return. All the lights were off. Several candles were arranged in a large circle in the center of the room. In the center of the circle of candles was a pentagram painted in red lines. "Blood always did have such a perfect shade of red." The ancient thief chuckled maliciously.
There was finally one last piece to the ritualistic set-up. At the center of the pentagram was the sennen eye. Yami Bakura sat down on the hardwood floor. Closing his eyes, Yami Bakura began chanting in an unintelligible language. As each word was spoken, the room shook ever so slightly. With each chant, the blood that made the pentagram began to glow brighter. At last, Yami Bakura stopped, the bizarre incantation complete. The pentagram was glowing brighter than the candles, and the sennen eye in its center shined as well, engulfing even the pentagram's light in a field of golden rays. Yami Bakura looked directly at the floating eye in spite of the array of near-blinding lights, and asked, "Are you ready to come out and play, Priest?"
Outside the doors of Domino High, Seto Kaiba stood in waiting. He had promised Kisara to meet her here so that he could give her a tour of Domino city. "She's late." He muttered to himself.
Seto had told Mokuba before he left for school about how he had met Kisara. The raven-haired boy had been ecstatic. "Seto's got a girlfriend!" became that morning's mantra for Seto's younger brother.
Waiting for Kisara, Seto had been given time to contemplate that incident. On one hand, Seto found Mokuba's immature reaction quite humorous. On the other hand, however, he felt sorry for his little brother. The boy so desperately wanted to see Seto happy, but the elder Kaiba seemed unable to let go of his anger. "So much for letting my hate sink with Alcatraz." Seto thought sadly. At the end of the Battle City tournament, Seto had promised Mokuba that he would destroy Alcatraz, the last remnant of Gozaburo Kaiba. He hoped that doing so would finally allow him to be free of the hatred left within him by his abusive step-father, but it seemed that even from the grave Gozaburo continued to persevere. Just then, Seto heard a familiar voice. "Mr. Kaiba!"
"Kisara.", Seto said.
"I'm so sorry for being late!" She said, bowing her head shamefully.
Seto suppressed a chuckle at the girl's overly anxious behavior. "It's perfectly alright. What kept you?" He asked.
She grinned sheepishly. "Well, I met these two boys on the way here and decided to talk to them. Jounouchi Katsuya and Yugi Motou, I think were their names."
Seto tensed at that. He had always despised Jounouchi, and he and Yugi had been heated rivals ever since the young boy had defeated Seto in their first duel. Just thinking about the two of them had always left Seto a little angry. This time, however, there was something more. He felt angry not just because of his previous experiences with Jounouchi and Yugi, but also because Kisara had chosen to talk to them even though she knew that would leave him waiting. It surprised him to feel that. "Jealous, huh, Niisan?" Seto could just imagine Mokuba taunting him.
"No," Seto told himself, "not jealous; just frustrated that the reason I was kept waiting was because of that mutt Katsuya and Yugi."
"But," the imaginary Mokuba argued, "Isn't that kind of the same thing?"
Seto decided to save this bizarre mental dialogue for some other time, and chose to begin the tour. He thus walked towards his limousine, which was parked on the curb nearby, and motioned for Kisara to follow. The silver-haired girl did so, and soon, the pair were sitting in the backseat of Seto's limo. As the chauffer began driving off, Kisara bowed her head again very slightly. "I'm so sorry I kept you waiting, Mr. Kaiba. I really do appreciate what you're doing."
Seto shrugged. "You already apologized, Kisara. Oh, and you can just call me Seto."
As soon as he finished his sentence, Seto began mentally berating himself again. "What is WITH me lately? First, I agree to take this girl on the tour of the city, and now, I'm allowing her to call me by my first name?"
Kisara nodded. "Thank you…Seto."
Seto turned to the window, and soon began pointing out landmarks to the young girl. This continued for some time until, at last, they reached the Kaiba Corp. building. "This is where you work, right?" Kisara asked.
Seto nodded. "It must be difficult."
Seto cocked an eyebrow. "What?"
"Being the CEO of such a big company. How do you have time for anything else?"
Seto frowned. "I don't, really. With the exception of school, there's very little else I do besides work at Kaiba Corp."
"Except play Duel Monsters." Kisara said, pointing at the card that hung around Seto's neck.
Seto looked at the card himself. "True, but even that has become increasingly difficult to do without some kind of backing from the company." Seto said.
"What card is it?" Kisara asked.
She noticed Seto looked puzzled, so she explained. "The card on your neck, what Duel Monsters card is it?"
Seto grinned. "It's not a Duel Monsters card at all, it just looks like one."
Kisara nodded. "Well, what is it, then?"
Seto put his hand on the card, opening its front to reveal a young, raven haired boy playing chess. "It's a locket."
Kisara looked at the picture. "Who is that cute little boy?"
Seto chuckled as he imagined how Mokuba would react to being called a "cute little boy", and said "This is my younger brother Mokuba when he was five years old."
"I've gone insane. That's it. I have to be insane to be telling this complete stranger everything about me." Seto thought to himself.
"He sounds like a very important person to you." Kisara said.
Seto nodded. Kisara then said, "Mr. Kai…I mean, Seto, I really appreciate that you've done all this for me. Thank you."
Seto nodded. Seto had told Kisara that the Kaiba Corp. building would be their last stop before taking her home.
"Now then, where do you live?" Seto asked.
"Oh, I live near the Kame game shop." Kisara said.
Seto groaned quietly. "Why does everything I do seem to end up leading back to Yugi Motou?"
The Kame game shop was the game store owned by Yugi's grandfather. More often then not, it was also the place Yugi and his friends hung out together at. Seto turned to the driver, and said "Take us to the Kame game shop."
As the car turned around to head for the game shop, Seto decided to take this opportunity to get to know Kisara better. "After all," he reasoned with a bit of sarcasm, "she already knows everything about me."
"So, Kisara, what is your last name? I didn't catch it."
Kisara looked up at him. "Oh. I don't have one."
Seto looked confused at this. "Well, what's your family's last name?"
Kisara looked at the floor of the car sadly. For whatever reason, this made Seto nervous that he might have hit a sensitive area. "Well, what do I care?" he asked himself.
Still, for all the callousness he had surrounded himself with over the years, the forlorn look on Kisara's face made Seto feel sorry for the girl. It had been so long since Seto had felt sorry for anyone that the emotion was quite alien to him. "I… I don't have a family, at least, not that I know of."
Her voice was not its usual upbeat tone. Instead, it had taken on a sense of sadness. "No relatives? No siblings? No…parents?" Seto asked cautiously, almost afraid of upsetting the girl any further.
"No. I was born and raised in an orphanage, although I still don't know who gave birth to me." She said, sadly.
Seto's face darkened. He knew the anguish of living at an orphanage, of being treated as some sort of luggage to be handed off to whoever paid the highest price. He had lived at one for two years with Mokuba, before Gozaburo adopted them. This girl, however, had spent her whole life in one. Seto put his hand on Kisara's shoulder in spite of himself. "I understand."
Kisara looked up at Seto. She looked near tears, but was smiling. "You'd be the first." She said.
Seto smiled. Something about this girl was making him act different, making him feel completely new emotions. For all the mental scolding, he was enjoying it. "Maybe, but I doubt I'd be the last. I find it hard to believe there aren't thousands of people who could understand and appreciate you." Seto spoke without even thinking.
Kisara smiled, the sadness in her face all but gone. "Thank you, Seto."
"We have arrived at the Kame game shop, Mr. Kaiba." The driver spoke, interrupting Seto's conversation.
Seto looked out the window. "Which one is yours?" Seto asked.
"The first one to the right." Kisara said.
Seto opened the door for her. "Goodbye, Seto. I'll…I'll see you tomorrow at school. Thank you…" Kisara said, shakily, "for everything."
Seto simply nodded. Now that she was no longer in the car, he found it easier to maintain his usual air of disinterest. Once she had entered her home, Seto closed the door. "I must be insane." He muttered as the car drove off.
From the rooftops, two shadowy figures watched Seto's limousine drive off. The first was Yami Bakura. "Excellent. We know where the girl lives." The ancient thief chuckled.
The second figure hid all his features behind a draping white cloak. The only attribute one could ascertain from the hidden figure was that it was taller than Yami Bakura. "When do we start?" It asked in a gruff male voice.
"We need to wait, old friend. If we strike too soon, we may ruin our chances." Yami Bakura said matter-of-factly.
The cloaked man simply grunted in response. Yami Bakura ignored it, and instead leapt to another nearby rooftop. "You know the plan!" He called back to his shadowed companion, and both leapt off into the darkness.
As the lights and buildings flashed by the car, Seto waited for his arrival home. The night had been…intriguing, to say the least. Now that it was over, Seto did what he always did with any situation: He looked back at it and analyzed it. Kisara bore an uncanny resemblance to the girl he had been seeing in his dreams as of late. She also had the same name. Therefore, there was some kind of link. The dreams he had been having all took place in Egypt. This meant that, in one way or another, these events were linked to Ishizu's ramblings about his "ancient past". He did not much care for the Egyptian woman. Even if she were right, her high-and-mighty attitude always managed to enrage Seto. Still, even he was not blind to the facts: She would have the answers. "Driver, take me to the Domino museum." Seto said.
He knew Ishizu was leaving Japan to return to Egypt in one week. That meant if he wanted answers, he would need to get them now. "Still, if she starts another one of her little tirades about Egypt again…" He thought angrily.
Kisara entered her house quietly. It was small. There were only two rooms to the whole thing, the living room and the bathroom. Still, it was her home, and she was proud of it. It was difficult to get even this much. She had spent sixteen years in that dreadful orphanage, and not a single person had wanted to adopt her. When she had turned sixteen, the orphanage owner had a proposition for her: Since it was quite obvious no one was going to adopt her any time soon, the owner would give her the option of leaving the orphanage with just enough money to eke out a living. Kisara had jumped at the offer. "And I have yet to regret it." Kisara thought happily.
The drive with Seto had been incredible. She had heard that he was a heartless monster of a human, but she felt it couldn't be true. "There's good in everyone." She had said.
Tonight had proven it. Seto may have seemed cold at first, but all it took was a little digging, and the real Seto Kaiba came out. "He was quite charming." She thought, giggling.
She soon set out making herself Ramen for dinner. As she sat on the couch to let the water boil, she heard a creaking, and realized she was not alone. "Who…who is there?" She asked. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a man dressed in a white cloak appeared right in front of her…
To be continued…