AN: I have to say this chapter was rushed, and it isn't all that great, but I'm working on the next chapter and it'll be much better, so please, thank you all for being so very patient. Not much happens in this chapter, except Seto goes missing! What will Mokuba and Ischizu do, with only 45 minutes left until Duke's party starts? xD
c h a p t e r e i g h t
a t t r a c t i o n
The ride home was silent. Once in a while, while Kaiba made a left turn or was waiting at a stop light, he'd reach over to brush Ischizu's hand. He would palm it, pressing his fingers against the smooth surface on the inside of her hand. Ischizu put on a weak smile and looked ahead, feeling suddenly very sick and distraught. She'd shuffle her legs nervously, looking up at the windows and then back down in her lap, focusing and refocusing on the white of her dress.
Seto leaned back into the seat until he had finally arrived at the Ishtar residence. Mokuba in the back, had woken up, surprised to see his brother's hand travel to find Ischizu's across the car panel. Walking back to the residence, Mokuba noticed the tension strung in his brother's taut expression, and his stiff walking style. He walked stiffly, but he didn't usually do it when he wasn't at work.
Ischizu fumbled with the keys twice, and then had Seto tear the keys from her hand and open it for her. Mumbling a swift thank-you, she disappeared into the house, her light footfalls a little too quick to be walking. Mokuba did a small yawn, collapsing on the couch across from the T.V. in the living room. He'd have to start getting ready for the party at the Hotel tonight.
Ischizu raced to her room, locked the door and collapsed on the floor, her bare knees against the soft, beige carpet. Her naked legs felt cool and comfortable against the hem of the dress as she lifted it over her head. There was a swift pound on the door, and her knees buckled as she struggled to get her dress off. She couldn't reach the zipper in the back, the long, slim zipper.
This was the first time she had worn it, and she'd never learned how to get out of her dress. With a stifled whimper, she painfully reached her arm around the back, missing hold of the zipper by an inch. With frustration, she lay down on the bed, and reached back. Still, her arm was too short. Running her hands through her hair, she contemplated ripping it off.
"Open the door," Seto said firmly on the other end, pressing his palm flat against the wood. "I-I am undressing right now," She mumbled on the other end. He leaned his head against the door, his patience dwindling as each second went by.
"I don't care." He icily reached for the doorknob, and began to turn it.
"You will not be able to open it anyway, it is locked." He heard the superior tone in her voice and wanted at the moment, to let it slide. "Seto, here." He heard the faint click of a lock.
"Come in. I need you to do something for me." Surprised, he entered the room. The lights were dim at the moment, and she stood at the dresser, attempting to reach something at the back of her dress.
"What?" He asked, as he approached her, noticing that her hair was getting in the way of her hands as she tried to unzip her dress.
"Can you unzip the back?" She asked innocently, perhaps too sweetly to him, and so as his hands reached for the zipper, she lifted her hair up. He studied the defined lines of her shoulder blades. They seemed like angel-wings, and he almost wanted to pluck them right off her back. He felt a strange frenzied feeling rush through him, his finger outlining the smooth ridges of her back. Seto watched her shoulder blades rise up, in tensed positions, as if crouched on cliffs.
"Did you unzip it yet?" She asked, her hands still fidgeting on top of the dresser.
"Yeah," he said, almost hoarsely, and with that he gave the zipper a quick tug downwards.
"Thank you." She murmured, motioning towards the door for him. He'd been studying her face now, the light cheekbones, accentuating the soft, elegant shape of her face.
Their eye contact was broken when the bell rung.
A smirk grew on his face, and he sprinted towards the door. He should be here by now. Turning the golden knob of the door, he mustered the most innocent look he could. Mokuba had tracked over to the kitchen table, licking an ice cream cone absent-mindedly as he watched his brother.
"Hey, is Ischizu here?" The man with dark locks scattered across his forehead and a gleaming brown tan leaned against the doorframe, his hands buried in his pockets. Mokuba raised an eyebrow.
"Seto, who's that?" He'd hopped off the char and stood by his brother's side, now scrutinizing the man whom he had not seen before. The man gave an odd look towards the younger Kaiba, and then back at the taller man in front of him.
"Is Ischizu here?" Kaafi had repeated the question, almost darkly. Mokuba scrunched up his eyebrows, almost as if he had a sudden dislike for the man and why he was here. Seto motioned for him to get inside.
"She's in her room." Kaiba walked over to the desolate hallway to Ischizu's room and knocked gently.
"He's here."
There were sounds of shuffling and movement, and then the door opened slightly.
"C-Come in." The stutter in her voice could have been mistaken for rushing. But it wasn't that at all. Kaiba shoved open the door, with the shorter man behind him, following close behind. Kaafi strutted his way over to Ischizu, who was busy attaching a pair of jade earrings to her ears.
"Hello, Kaafi." She didn't bother looking at him. Ischizu studied her hands, worn from washing dishes and regular household chores. With a brief sigh, and no response, she asked again.
"What do you want?" She'd turned around to face him, one hand timidly behind her, the other slightly at her side. Seto had settled himself leisurely against her bed, his long legs crossed. Kaafi awkwardly looked behind to see a stern-looking man with a mass of chocolate hair atop his head.
"I'd like to talk with my fiancée alone." Kaafi's caramel eyes became thin slits as he looked at him. Mokuba, who had been listening intently at the door, was given a glare by his older brother. He scurried off into the hallway to avoid being reprimanded.
"He is not your problem. Whatever it is you need to say, you can say it in front of him." Ischizu said, her voice on the edge of cracking. Kaiba rose from his position on the bed and slid his back against the smooth dark-wood of the dresser. Ischizu shifted her weight uncomfortably from one foot to another, unsure and uncertain.
"Who the hell is he?" Kaafi barked at her, pointing at the taller man.
"Seto Kaiba." Seto said icily from behind Ischizu. He had decided to law low like a snake before an attack, and then raise his head when the prey was vulnerable. At this point he decided to let the foolish man think whatever he wanted to.
"Of Kaiba Corporations?" Kaafi asked, his eyebrows up in surprise, but the malice in his facial expression was remnant. Ischizu lowered her head. She could almost feel the tension in the room strangling itself.
"Kaafi, please! Whatever it is you want-" Ischizu had begun, her fingers sweeping away the wispy curls and tucking them behind her ears. In a desperate attempt to one-up Kaiba, he took the opportunity to lean in gently towards Ischizu.
"I want you." He said, in a strange, alien tone. Ischizu lifted her head just in time to have her lips crushed against his. It was a desperate attempt to one-up Kaiba, who had narrowed his eyes to thin slits before anything had even begun. She'd brought up an arm to push away his shoulder and in the process, let out a weak cry. Ischizu could feel strong hands grasp at her waist, and a split-second later, they pulled her out of Kaafi's kiss.
"She obviously doesn't want you. Get out and save yourself the humiliation." Kaafi froze as he heard Kaiba.
"Shut up. How the hell do you know him?" He directed his attention from Kaiba to Ischizu.
"He is someone I met during-" Her explanation was cut off, apparently as both of them had a disregard for what she had to say.
"It is none of your concern." The CEO leaned across the dresser and looked upwards at Kaafi.
"Hey, Kaafi." Marik had come in at just the right time, finding the trio in the room but unaware of the tension between the three of them.
"You got a call from your secretary." He held up the phone and handed it over to Kaafi, who now seemed tenser than before. Rising up from his slouched position, he turned to face Marik.
"Actually, I'll go. I have somewhere important to be." Marik shrugged from Kaafi's response and strolled into Ischizu's room.
"You came from work already?" Ischizu took a step towards her brother to get her farther away from Kaiba, who, during the conversation, had become increasingly close to her. It wasn't that she disliked the attention; she was unaware of his intentions and what was bothering him. If anything, she wanted to understand before acting to anything. This would call for some serious investigation into Kaiba's mind, a task in which she had no interest in.
"Yep." Turning away from his sister, he glanced at Kaiba.
"Oh yeah, Kaiba – your brother's out there waiting for you. He's been bugging me to come and get you for a while now." Marik sighed gently. It was strange how easily he disappeared from the room. Outside, Kaiba found Mokuba sitting on the floor with his knees drawn up to his chest.
"Who was that man that wanted to talk to Ischizu?"
"I don't know and I don't care." Kaiba walked past into the livingroom. Sliding out his laptop from underneath the couch where he had put it, he began to type feverishly.
"Whatcha working on?" Mokuba had crawled up next to him, and noticed that Kaiba had begun to use a tablet, his pen scratching gently on the surface. "Character models for the virtual game." Kaiba said, his pen now halfway in a fluid motion across the tablet.
"Can I see?" Mokuba peered over his shoulder.
The laptop snapped shut.
"No." Kaiba rose from the table and left, carrying the laptop with him. Mokuba heard the small slam of the door leading outside the house, but he had slunk his head far into the table, resting his eyes. He could hear Marik arguing with his sister down the hallway, but he didn't bother getting up to look. He was just going to be told to get out or leave anyway.
A few hours later, Mokuba shoved a hand up to his forehead, noticing that it was slightly throbbing. The distant, carousel music echoed in his mind. He scraped the table with his fingernails, noticing that it didn't stop. In a dreamlike sequence, he remembered getting up, walking down the hallway. Everything was in a deep, sepia-tone, and he heard screaming. A fierce, sensual scream coming from Ischizu's room. He felt his fingers go up to touch the golden doorknob, and he could then see inside the room by touching it.
His brother. Was there. And he remembered a dull, throbbing ache that came and went at rhythmic intervals. He could see. And he saw what he thought was not possible. Ischizu was laying there, underneath his brother. He could see his brother's lean back, naked and lacking attire, and then he remembered-
"Mokuba?" He felt warm arms lifting him up.
"Your brother is gone!" Her voice was a thick whisper. The house seemed empty and vacant, and the LED of the clock across on the table opposite from him read 6:27.
"What?" Mokuba rubbed his eyes, and lifted his small body out of the corner that he was in. His brother was missing. Glancing at the clock worriedly, he turned towards Ischizu.
"The party starts at seven. He's going to be late!" Mokuba paced back and forth, and he saw Ischizu's face alight. She crossed back into her room, carelessly tossing articles of clothing out of her closet.
Ischizu's face went alight, and she sprinted to her room. The younger Kaiba followed closely behind, and slightly confused. Rummaging through her closet, she began to toss articles of clothing out onto the bed.
"Ischizu..?" Mokuba brought his hand to his forehead, only a little frustrated.
"We will be attending the party as well. You and I will go looking for him and when we do, we're going straight to Mr. Devlin's party!" Pressing on a shimmering white satin dress, cut off on the shoulders, she posed in front of Mokuba.
"What do you think?"
"You look beautiful." He sighed gently, and then slapped his forehead. "We should hurry up!" Ushering him out of the door, Ischizu hopped into her dress, the one that she had secretly bought for special occaisions. She'd rushed out of the door, on one foot as she fixed her heel.
"We'll find your brother!"
AN: Crappy chapter, so sue me. Writer's block is attacking me. The next chapter will be better, promise. No more of these 'crappy' chapters since I owe my readers so much more than this. Please read and review, and thanks for being undyingly patient! Thanks to my lovely reviewers, and all my great readers!