Four Months Later
Seto Kaiba watched as his younger brother's face suddenly broke out into a grin as they neared the old man's game shop. He really didn't want to do this, but it's what Mokuba wanted, so he'd have to deal.
The limousine then drew to a stop, and the younger Kaiba ran to the door, while his brother followed at a more sedate pace. They both walked in then, only to find the shop void of human life.
"Uh, hello?" Mokuba called. "Is anyone here?!"
There was a loud thud from upstairs, followed by a muffled someone saying 'ouch!'
"COMING!!!" a voice cried from upstairs. "BE THERE IN A SECOND!!!"
The soft thuds of someone running upstairs were heard, and then a door opening and closing. Then there were the slightly louder thuds of someone running down the upstairs hallway, and then there was a loud 'thunk', followed by a 'what in the world is that doing there?!'. Finally, the thuds of a person charging down the stairs were heard, and someone emerged from the stairway.
It was a small girl, who looked young, somewhere around ten probably. Her shoulder-blade length black hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, still allowing her curved black bangs to frame her face. The girl's gray eyes shown in greeting, and her smile was welcoming. Her clothes consisted of tan shorts, a white tank top, and black flip-flops that had white flowers embossed on the strap.
"How may I help you?" she asked with a nice, not-high-and-squeaky voice that a lot of young girls had.
"Who are you?" Kaiba asked coldly.
"My name is Cara Moto sir," she said, bowing.
"Moto? So you're a relative of Yugi's?" Mokuba asked, slightly surprised.
"Yeah, I'm his foster sister," Cara said, smiling brightly at him. "Wait, hold on a sec."
She looked intently at Kaiba.
"You're Seto Kaiba!" she said, her smile getting larger. "I've seen you on TV. Yugi's also told me all sorts of stories about you…and you must be Mokuba Kaiba, his younger brother right?"
Mokuba nodded, a faint blush tinting his cheeks when she looked at him with that smile.
"Would you like me to go get Yugi?" Cara then asked, her gaze switching to the older Kaiba. He nodded sharply, his cold blue eyes glaring at her.
Cara didn't flinch at his gaze; instead she nodded, and ran upstairs.
Again, there were the thuds of someone running down the hallway, and then another loud thunk, followed by a 'I thought I moved that darned thing!' and then there was a knock, and muffled voices talking. Then there were two sets of walking feet, and two people emerged from the stairway. The people were Cara, and Yugi Moto.
"Hello Kaiba! Hey Mokuba!" Yugi said in his cheery voice.
Cara then gained a huge smile when she looked at the doorway and saw a guy in tan coveralls standing there.
"The new merchandise is here!" she said, and then turned to Kaiba and Mokuba. "Excuse me Sirs, but I have to go get some things."
With that, the girl ran outside and followed the guy to somewhere.
"Cara told us she was your foster sister Yugi," Mokuba said, turning to Yugi. "I didn't know you had a foster sister."
"She's only been with our family for four months now," Yugi said. "Cara's really nice, and very helpful as I'm sure you've found out…but anyways, what did I do to gain a visit from the Kaiba brothers?"
"Well, I wanted to invite you to my birthday party in the Caribbean," Mokuba said, smiling. "Actually, it's going to be more like a birthday week. You'd be coming with us to the Kaiba mansion in the Caribbean, and spend an entire week there for a sort of vacation. You're allowed to bring one friend."
"Is anyone else invited?" Yugi asked.
"Yeah, Seto and I are going to Tea's, Joey's, Serenity's, and Tristan's next," Mokuba said.
The little bell on the door then jingled, and they all turned to see who had come in.
It seemed to be Cara, but her entire upper body was hidden behind two huge boxes.
"Cara!" Yugi cried, rushing over to her.
"I'm fine!" Cara said from behind the boxes, walking to the desk. Yugi then took the top box, and together they walked over to the front desk, and put the boxes behind it. "Thanks Yugi, but I was doing fine."
"But Cara-" Yugi started.
"Yugi, I'm fine," Cara said, playfully glaring at Yugi. "Now, these people came all the way down here to talk to you, so talk to them! I'm fine, really."
With that, Cara took some scissors and opened one of the boxes, before taking out a clipboard and marking off what they had gotten.
Yugi sighed, and stood up, walking back over to the Kaiba's.
"I'll ask my grandpa ok?" Yugi said, regaining his cheerful look. "I hope I'll be able to come though, it sounds really fun."
"Ok Yugi," Mokuba said, and then handed him a piece of paper, "when you get an answer, call this number ok?"
"Ok," Yugi said, agreeing, and then the Kaiba's left.
Yugi then looked back at Cara, and walked over to her.
"Cara, let me help," he said, and then made to help her unpack.
"No Yugi, you have homework to do, I can do this," Cara said, smiling at him, and continuing to unpack the box.
"Cara," Yami said, fixing his dark violet eyes on her. Yugi and he had melded, since Yugi didn't think he was getting anywhere with the stubborn girl, and Yami had a much more commanding voice. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Cara said, turning her head down to look at her work.
"Cara," Yami said, taking the young girl's chin in his hand, and pulling her head up. "I know there's something wrong. Please tell me."
Cara looked into his eyes, which were watching her intensely, before sighing, and looking down.
"I told you and Grandpa that I would work really hard for the shop, and I'm going to do just that," Cara said, looking back at him with her blazing gray eyes.
"Cara, you don't have to work THIS hard though," Yami said, motioning to the boxes. "You could've gotten hurt."
Yami then looked deep into her eyes, and saw the real reason why she was working so hard.
"Cara, you know we won't leave you," Yami said, letting go of her chin. "Don't you trust us enough to know that?"
The younger girl closed her eyes tight.
"I trusted them too, and look what they did to me," she said, her fists clenching at her sides. "If I make myself useful here, then maybe it won't happen again."
Yami rested his hand on her shoulder, and looked at her with kind eyes.
"We won't do that to you Cara, I promise," he said. "You have become part of our family."
Cara then looked up with sad gray eyes, with the beginnings of tears in her eyes.
"But I've only been a Moto for four months," Cara
said. "What if you change your mind?"
Then, to Cara's great
surprise, Yami pulled her into a hug.
"You may have only been here a few months," he said, resting his head next to her ear, "but both Yugi and I feel like you've been here forever. You are part of our family Cara, and you always will be. Unless you want to leave of course."
Cara was too shocked for words, before she wrapped her arms around Yami and buried her face into his chest.
"I never want to leave," she mumbled.
Yami smiled, resting his hand on the back of her head.
After a few moments, Cara pulled away, and rubbed at her eyes with her hands.
"Thank you Yami," she said, smiling at the young man.
Yami smiled, and nodded, before unmelding, and was then replaced by Yugi.
"And thank you too Yugi," Cara said, hugging Yugi too. "I don't know why I'm so afraid…"
"I understand," Yugi said simply, before pulling away. "Now, how about we finish this up, and then we take a break?"
"But the shop-" Cara started.
"The shop will be fine," Yugi said, smiling.
Cara smiled back, and then nodded.
-Half an hour later-
Cara followed Yugi up the stairs, and into the kitchen.
"Do you want a soda?" he asked Cara.
She nodded, smiling.
Yugi went over to the refrigerator, and pulled out a couple of sodas putting one in front of Cara, and putting the other one down as he sat down himself. They both opened their sodas, and drank in silence.
"Grandpa will be happy the new shipment came in," Cara said, breaking the silence.
"Yep," Yugi said, smiling.
The bells downstairs tinkled, and an elderly voice called out, "I'm home!"
"Speak of the devil," Cara said, grabbing her soda and going down the stairs as fast as she could. Yugi followed the girl at a slower pace.
"Hi Grandpa," Cara greeted.
"Hey Grandpa," Yugi said.
"Hello you two," Grandpa said with a smile.
"Guess what Grandpa, the new shipment came in!" Cara said brightly.
"Good, very good. I'm home now Cara, so you can go upstairs now and do what you like."
"You sure Grandpa, I don't mind staying down to help-"
"I'm sure Cara."
"Okay. Call me if you need me!"
With that, Cara sprinted up
the stairs while Yugi stayed down to talk to Grandpa about something.
Cara smiled as she came to her bedroom door.
On it was a sign that said, 'Queen of Games in training'. Yugi, Joey, Tea, and Tristan had made it for her when she had beat most of the kids in her school, and had beaten Tea and Tristan, plus she had beaten Joey once because he had underestimated her.
She then opened her door, and looked around her room. It looked a lot different from the first time she had stayed in it.
The walls were a deep violet now, and the furniture was all black, including the bed frame. White drapes hung over her window, and on her bed there was a dark purple comforter that had little wisps of glitter on it. Beside her bed was a black nightstand with a lamp that was round and white, and had the image of a white unicorn with long silver hair and silver horn and hooves on it.
Cara sighed happily as she fell backwards onto her bed, looking straight up at the Sorceress of Light.
You see, as a little added originality, Tea, Tristan, Joey, Yugi, Serenity, and Bakura had all come over and helped Cara paint her favorite Duel Monsters on the walls.
Now Silver Fang stood by the doorway under a full moon, the Celtic Guardian stood by the bookcase, his sword stabbed into the ground before him, the Mystical elf stood by the dresser, her hands clasped before her, and other such monsters were painted all over the room. Then, Yugi and Cara had both gotten up on a ladder and painted the Sorceress of Light up on the ceiling above her head, which had resulted in neck cricks for the both of them.
There was then a knock on the door.
"Come on in!" Cara called.
Yugi stepped in with a large smile on his face.
"You're coming with me for a week in the Caribbean," he said, eyes dancing.
Cara looked confused.
"Huh?"
"Mokuba Kaiba invited me to a week-long vacation in the Caribbean to celebrate his birthday, and he said I could bring a friend. That's where you come in.
"But what about Joey? Tea? Tristan? Duke? Bakura? Serenity?"
"Joey, Tea, Tristan, and Serenity are invited, and they'll pick up Duke and Bakura as they're friends."
"But what about Grandpa, the gaming store-"
"I talked with Grandpa, he said it was okay, and one of Grandpa's friends is going to come over to help with the store."
Cara looked somewhat shocked.
"You covered everything didn't you?"
Yugi's eyes were laughing.
"Yep," he said, smiling as big as he could.
"Well okay then. I guess there's nothing keeping me here then, so… WAHOOO!!!!"
Cara then jumped up and got out a suitcase. Items then started flying into the suit-case as fast as Cara could throw them.
Yugi stared at her, before shaking his head and heading to the phone to call Mokuba.