Casket
Chapter One:
I look to the East to see the sun./But all I see is my shadow.
She irritated him to no end. He watched her from across the neatly organized mahogany desk and realized her hands were folded in her lap. His blue eyes traced the line of her slightly bent elbow beneath her shirt to where they vanished under the wooden edge of the desk. Isis was smiling, serenely, as if she knew something he didn't. And she did, which was the infuriating part. The torque around her neck taunted him with the scratched soft gold surface, the eye staring at him. He thought, idly for a moment, that she should have been given the Scales, since her gaze judged so harshly.
"Yuugi tells me you see the future," He let his voice fall flat, watching her ears capture the sound and search for the deeper meaning to his words. She smiled when she found it.
"...this shows me the future, Kaiba, I do not see it." As if the torque had a mind of its own. Which wasn't stretching it, since both the Ring and Puzzle seemed intent on posessing their bearers so fiercely. Seto frowned to himself. Since when had he believed in that?
"Well then," He leaned forward, elbows resting on the quarterly report, typed in 11 point font, single spaced, as he remembered, "Does it show you the past?" The sneer crept into his voice at its own will, but he let it. Isis tilted her head to the side in response, the cool smile never breaking.
"Perhaps, is there something you seek?" When her question came to an end her hands revealed themselves, resting on the edge of the desk. She was wearing four rings, one with a square cut stone, he noticed. Square cut, diamond, perhaps? Seto brought his attention back to her eyes, where his gaze inevitably wandered, to her nose, between her eyes, her stubborn chin, earrings... one would never notice the slight unfocusing of his eyes, but Seto never looked people directly in the eyes.
"Why do you ask that"
"Perhaps I've seen it?" She was laughing at him. His fingers curled, dragging the report into a furrowed, wrinkled piece of paper. Seto made a mental note to make another copy.
"Don't play games with me," "What you seek won't be found in the future." She sobered rather quickly, gaze turning down to the wood, and when she lifted her face she was teasing him again,
"...try asking a historian." Seto knew what she was insinuating. He didn't like it.
"...We're done for the day," He stood up, "It was nice speaking with you, Ms. Ishtal," His long legs took him to the door faster than her smaller steps. Seven strides, he knew exactly, and he'd always end up on the blue diamond on the floor. Not a perfect square, this diamond wasn't, but more like a kite shape.
"It was nice speaking to you as well, Mr. Kaiba," As she exited his office, Isis turned in the doorway, "Funny, how the past has a way of invading the future." He scowled at her retreating back, slamming the door shut.
He cancelled the rest of his meetings for the day.
Attack. Defend. Trap. The neat stacks of decks on the table made him feel powerful. He could name every card, its effects, the best strategy to use when playing it. Seto Kaiba owned this game. He practically owned the industry as well, Kaiba Corp. had a monopoly over the dueling franchise. And yet... Somehow he doubted he was missing the mysterious 'Heart of the Cards', but whenever he assembled a deck he wanted to put one more card in. Except he didn't know what the card was.
When he put together a report, he felt he needed one more page, but couldn't figure out what to write. In the morning, after a dream he couldn't remember what it was, but felt that it was important.
It was a life of gesture, and no matter how crude nothing shattered. Except himself.
"...burst stream," Three Blue Eyes and he couldn't put them anywhere. A God Card and he couldn't bring himself to play it. When did he become such a coward? With a snarl he knocked all the decks to the ground, watching with mild satisfaction as the cards spilled across the table and the floor.
They were just cards.
Seto Kaiba picked up one at random, and ripped it in half. They were just cards. He'd been awake for too long. He'd lost count after day four, because it was hard to keep track of time when you never slept. He ripped another card in half and tossed the pieces in the air, watching them slowly drift back down.
They were just cards. And he was just a man with no past.
Hn. The first full chapter. Isis is one of my favorite characters in YGO. I think she is definitely my favorite female character.
If I remember correcly, 'burst stream' is the attack the BEWD has in the Japanese version. I haven't actually watched my DVDs in a long time. So I might be wrong.
How'd you like it?
CC