Chapter 3
She sighed, flipping through her notes from class as she studied. It had been a few days since her last study session with Kaiba, however that didn't mean she could get lazy and not study at all. But, there was something about his excuse for canceling said sessions that unnerved her…
"I have better things to do."
In a way, it was truth, she knew. But… It was as if he had a deeper reason behind it. He was holding something back, she could hear it in his voice. Sighing again, Angelique looked at the ceiling, her mind dropping back away from the notes in front of her. Of course, being Kaiba, he would never tell her what was truly wrong. He didn't trust her, let alone anyone else for that matter, to let her past his hard outer shell.
' I know he's hurting behind that mask… I had hoped he found me trustworthy enough to at least tell me a full truth instead of a half… ' She thought absently to herself. ' He has known me for awhile, after all… '
A voice from the back of her mind snickered, laughing almost cruelly. ' There you go, Angelique. Pipe dreaming again. '
She sighed at the faint light that came from her nightstand, a shadowed figure of herself appearing above her. "Not now, Tenshi… I'm not in the mood…" She muttered, turning away from the dark spirit of the Millennium Tiara.
' Why do you torment yourself over that boy when all he does is ignore you at every corner? I mean, it's not like he has a heart or anything. ' The purple haired yami snickered.
"You're wrong!" Angelique bolted from her bed, glaring at her darker self. "Seto-chan has a heart, he's just afraid to show it to everyone else, afraid that what ever hurt him before will do so again!"
Tenshi fell from her hovering post above the girl's bed, falling from it and rolling onto the floor, laughing her head off cruelly. ' Now that's crazy, Angelique! Kaiba never has and never will have a heart! He only cares for himself! '
"That's not true! If it were, would Mokuba be with him? Huh? If he didn't have a heart, he would have abandoned little Mokuba long ago!" She growled, her Scottish accent filling her voice hotly, her eyes glaring flames. As if on cue, the doorbell sounded.
Sighing, she jogged from the room and down the stairs, ignoring the grumblings of her yami. But, her soothing cover soon disappeared as Mokuba lunged through the door at her, sobbing something fierce. "He's gone, Angie! He's gone!"
"Whoa, calm down, honey…" She whispered, kneeling down to his level, wiping his face clean of tears. "Who's gone?"
"Seto-nii! He left and I don't know where he went to…" He sobbed softly.
Pulling him close, she hugged the child tight, running a soothing hand in his hair. "It'll be alright, honey… I've got you now." She whispered, squeezing him gently.
' He cares about Mokuba, huh? ' She glanced up at Tenshi, lowering her eyes a second later, away from the arm crossed yami's glare.
' Please, Tenshi… Not now… Not now… ' Closing her eyes, a tear fell down her cheek. ' Seto… How could you? '
She sighed, relieved to have finally calmed the small Kaiba child down. Easing him back into the overstuffed couch, she tucked the blanket draping over the back around him before leaving the room. Picking up the kitchen phone, she started to dial out a number she thought she would never use: The Turtle Game Shop.
"Moushimoushi?" The sound of an elderly man on the other end of the phone eased her racing heart a little.
She smiled slightly, sighing. Thank god some one was there. "Konnichiwa, Motou-sama. Is Yuugi-san home?"
"Watashi gomen, he left for Pegasus's tournament last night…. May I take a message for him, though?"
"Oh, just a school friend... Arigatoumaimasu." She sighed, hanging up. How could she have forgotten about Duelist Kingdom? Just the other day Mokuba was trying to convince his brother to go. It was then that a thought struck her. 'Maybe he went after all?' She thought, dialing a second number, punching in an extension as the automated answer service for KaibaCorp. chimed in her ear.
"KaibaCorperation, Roland speaking. May I help you?"
"Roland-san, it's Angelique. Have you heard from Kaiba-kun the last day or so?" If anyone knew, Roland would. He seemed to be Seto's political, financial, and all around business advisor as well as his chauffeur. He was bound to know something of the brunette's whereabouts.
"Hai... He was looking a little pale the other day, when I last saw him. He was finishing up some reports and I had suggested he go home. But, as usual, he would hear nothing of it." He continued. "I saw him leave in a hurry, ordering that his personal helicopter be prepped. Where he was going, he didn't say. I assumed that he was going to a meeting, since the board had mentioned wanting to speak with him."
"You don't think he left for Duelist Kingdom, do you?" She was a little worried now. Not only was it not like Seto to leave Mokuba with little or no notice, he wasn't one to ignore his health. He knew his limits, or so she had hoped.
"I doubt it. He was obsessing over the duel against Yuugi, true, but he had no interest in a rematch with him so soon. He was always saying that he was to busy to get wrapped up in the tournament."
She bit her lip nodding slowly. Once again, she remembered him saying so to Mokuba. Another idea then came to her. "Roland... Do you know where the copter was going?"
"Kaiba-san wouldn't tell anyone. He was quite clear he didn't want anyone to know what he was doing, but I fear for him. He didn't seem mentally stable..." His voice only reflected his words of concern for the CEO. But, she had to honestly wonder if it was because Kaiba signed his paycheck every week.
"I feel the same, Roland-san... Thank you, though. If you hear from him, let me know, onegai? Mokuba-san is here and both of us are a little worried..." Her eyes glanced towards the living room making sure that the child was still there.
His voice cleared, becoming all business as if relieved to know where the young Kaiba had run off. "You will be the first to know, Angie-san."
She nodded subconsciously, even though he could not see it through the phone. "Arigato, Roland-san. I'll bring Mokuba-san home soon." Hanging up the phone, she turned towards the stairs leading to her room. 'There's only one way to track him down now...' She thought, booting up her computer.
Hitting a few keys on the old machine, she brought up KaibaCorperation's main page, a small black and silver box appearing over a corner of it a moment later. Her fingers took off running over the keys, lines and lines of text and code filling the box. "If those morons won't look for him, I will…"
'What are you up to now, Angie?' She ignored the Yami as she sat upon the monitor, glancing down over the screen.
"Every helicopter has a tracking device that links it to some sort of radio tower or landing base. It's a standard precaution in case of errors to stop what could turn into a fatal accident." She retorted almost monotonously. "If Seto-san is the man I believe him to be, he didn't leave without the radio connections. He wouldn't take that chance." She muttered, several more screens flashing open on the screen, her indigo eyes roaming over each one before moving to the next.
Pushing herself away from the computer in front of her, she turned to a second at her side, one that was much newer in style and technicality. Typing on it a moment, she glanced back to the first and then to the second before smirking.
'You never let me down, do you Seto?' She thought with a grin before making a print out of the map in front of her on the second computer, closing out of everything on the first with a few simple keystrokes.
'You're not going after him, are you!' Tenshi exclaimed, chasing the girl down the hall as she scooped up the printouts. The sight of her hikari pulling on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt and then throwing a few odd things into a small backpack answered her question.
"You could always just keep the house company while I'm gone you know." Angelique hissed as she headed back down the stairs to wake the sleeping Mokuba. She didn't want to keep him away from home too long. Roland had enough to worry his pretty little head about with the company's CEO missing.
'But what about him!'
Angelique froze. She knew who 'him' was and it wasn't referring to either of the Kaiba brothers. A broken, almost lost look covered her face a moment, but was soon replaced with one of determination. "My friends are more important… I'll deal with my brother when I get back."
'Seto may be in more trouble than he needs to be right now….' She thought before dropping her bag innocently in one of the armchairs near the couch, leaning over to wake the snoozing ebon haired.
She wasn't about to lead on to the child that she was going after his brother. Giving him that kind of knowledge would mean having to argue down his pleas to go with her or worry about him running off to do the same.
"Angie-san… Wha…?" He muttered, sleep clouding his mind.
"It's late, kiddo. Let's get you home." She stated, placing a cheery smile on, helping him to sit up before adjusting the bandana he wore about his neck.
'I hope you know what you're doing, girl.' Tenshi muttered, vanishing from her leaning post at the bottom of the stairs.
Closing her eyes a moment as she led Mokuba out the door, Angelique sighed. 'Just have a little faith in me… For Mokuba and Seto's sakes, have faith…'
1.) Yes, I decided to give my character the all Mary-Sueish "eighth item" and an evil side to call her own. The visual differences between the two are hair color, Tenshi's is a darker shade of purple, eye color, same concept as with the hair, and her hair also isn't nearly as wavy as Angelique's. Tenshi's name is also reflective of Angelique's name, they both mean/refer to angels.
2.) I was a little unsure on how to end this chapter right, but at least I've got the ball rolling some now! . R and R, onegai!
