Chapter VIII: Shadow of the Moonlight

Stand on the brink of my own demise
Fallen again for another
Mistress of burden

"Hey there, Seto," the girl spoke to him, her smile holding a dark aura around it, while her eyes held a sensitive shield of shadows within them. Kaiba Seto looked at her, then cleared his throat and looked at the younger boy, his little brother, Mokuba.

"Mokuba, where were you? I've been worried," he spoke sternly.

"Told you," the girl teased the young one. He laughed as she swiped her hand playfully through his hair, and then he smiled at his brother.

"I went out, met up with Rika, and she took me to this lake that was really cool. It was a beautiful place Seto. We were there for hours, and then we head back for some ice cream," he said happily. Kaiba smiled, but wasn't the least bit surprised. Rika always did things like that with Mokuba years ago. However, something about seeing her again didn't feel right to Kaiba at all.

"Mokuba, I think it's time you went to bed," Kaiba insisted on his little brother.

"Ah, but Seto! Rika's here! Can't I stay up?" Mokuba asked.

"Tomorrow I have a board meeting with several accountants, and I need you to be there with me. I think it's best you get some rest," Kaiba spoke. Mokuba looked at Rika, hoping he would get some aide from her. However, the look in her eyes disagreed with his own.

"Your brother's right, Mokuba. You need to head off to bed," she said. "Tell you what, I'll see you to your room."

"Thanks, Rika." The two of them raced past Kaiba and up one of the flights of stairs, disappearing into the hallways above. Kaiba remained to that spot in the entrance hall, questioning what to do next. Rika was back here, in his home, tucking Mokuba in and taking him out during the day, like how she used to. He shouldn't rush things. He didn't want her back, mainly because it was her choice to leave. But he was confused on several matters. She never told him why she broke up with him. They never talked once since then. When Kaiba called her house or went to go visit, no one was there. It was as if the whole place was deserted.

A couple of years back, Kaiba and Rika went to different schools, but worked at the same company. Rika's family lived across town and her parents were quite nice to him. They approved of their relationship, especially Rika's mother. Her mother was quite lovely. An averaged height woman with long caramel curls and dazzling green eyes. No matter what, she was always home to take care of her husband and only daughter. Rika's father was a broad older man, having been in the military for most of his life. Kaiba didn't know where Rika got her looks from, because her father didn't have black hair or silver eyes. In fact, he had no hair at all, a clean-shaven man with a serious and stern look in his brown eyes. The military did a lot to him, but he never treated anyone bad outside of the war zone.

Exactly two years ago, before they broke up, Kaiba went to go see Rika at her home. When he arrived, he wasn't greeted with open arms literally by her mother. He didn't shake hands with her father. He wasn't jumped on by the many animals they kept inside the house. There was no furniture there, no life. It was as if they never lived there. At first, he was confused, but the next time he saw Rika, before he could ask what happened, she insisted they not each other again and that she would never come back. He didn't understand it. But then a week ago he saw her again, with that classmate of his, Bakura Ryou.

A few minutes passed and Kaiba remained to that spot as Rika came silently down the stairs, a slight shy smile on her face. That smile vanished when she looked up at Kaiba, noticing him blocking the doorway out. He stepped forward, and then she looked down, the dark aura surrounding her facial features once more.

"Seto, I need to get home," she spoke.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Where exactly is your home?" he asked.

"Why?" she mocked.

"You never told me the reason we broke up. I've been wondering that for two years, Rika," he spoke.

"Oh, I didn't? See, that's my fault, sorry," she said in an embarrassed tone. A faint red grew around her eyes.

"Well, why did you decide to break up with me?" Kaiba asked. She looked at him, the darkness growing more in her eyes. He wasn't familiar with this look. It was more of a depressed, murderous gaze.

"You're not going to let me leave unless I tell you, right?" she asked. He nodded. "Seto, you pull this stupid trick all the time. You think I would've figured a way around it."

"What? Not letting you leave unless I get my way?" he teased.

"Precisely. But if you insist…" she let her sentence wonder, and Kaiba was immediately pulled down a memory trail of the times he pulled this same stunt with her. Usually, it ended up on the floor with them wrestling each other or Kaiba tickling her until she cried. He remembered that, and smiled at the memory.

"So, are you going to tell me or not?" he asked.

"Fine, I'll tell you, but I warn you. You're not gonna like what you hear," she forewarned.

"Try me," Kaiba spoke.

"That week, something happened that changed my life, Seto. On…our special night, my parents were driving home from a party with their friends. A few teenagers were drag racing opposite them. One of their cars lost control and hit my parents. Their car fell into a ditch and burst into flames automatically. I got the message as soon as I got home. I was forced to be relocated in the city to different guardians. A couple months after, I was stuck with my Uncle Shinto. On that week, though, I was so devastated I blocked and pushed everything and everyone away. Unfortunately, they included you and Mokuba. That's why I broke up with you, Kaiba Seto," she spoke in a low and calmed voice, but her tone and depth were echoed by a dark aura. Kaiba had never heard anyone speak of their parents' death so dark and cold. In fact, he was surprised to hear her parents died.

"I'm…I'm so sorry. But that explains why I couldn't find you. Is there anything I can do?" Kaiba offered.

"No, it's been two years since. I can live," she said. He looked into her eyes and saw no tears or depression. That was a first. Every time he talked of his own parents' death, he always felt like crying. But in her eyes, he saw no emotion, no soul. Nothing but a silver gaze that seemed distant and lost. He had seen that type of gaze before. Several times, and each time it pulled him in. Like this one.

He felt a hand crawl up to her face and leaned down quickly, pulling her in just as her eyes pulled him. At once, in a quick movement, his lips found hers and softly brushed before pushing into her. He felt her gasp be stifled by the kiss. But he didn't pull away. Instead, one hand found her waist and pulled her closer, feeling his body brush against hers. He hadn't realized what he was doing until she brought her hands up to his chest, and with amazing strength, pushed away, breaking it. She was glaring at him, anger and rage surging through her eyes like lightning piercing the black sky.

"Kaiba Seto, what the hell was that for!" she yelled. He looked at her, confused of his own actions. He hesitated for a moment, feeling his heart pound inside him.

"I'm sorry, I was just caught up…. I remember whenever you gave me that look, that lost and distant look, I would always kiss you. That was how our first kiss began…." He didn't know where he was going with this, but he noticed that when he said that, the anger and rage in her eyes decreased, relaxing slightly.

"You remember that?" she asked. He looked at her, feeling everything fade.

"Of course I do. It was four years ago, it was a beautiful night. I needed your help in a business meeting and right after it was sunset. The meeting took place in a building across from the pier. After, I thought it would be nice to watch the sunset on the pier. We stood there, together, watching it on the horizon. You started talking about how you and your father got along so well, that if anything would happen to him and your mother you would devastated. Then the topic changed to Mokuba, because of me. While we were talking about our families, you got that look in your eye. That lost, distant look, like as if you were dreaming up a nightmare. That's when I kissed you," he spoke. He saw a bit of a smile form on her face, and he was glad to see it.

"I can't believe you remember that. I thought you would've forgotten it by now," she said sadly.

"What? No, never. That night was one of the most beautiful nights I've ever seen or been through. I would never forget something like that," Kaiba assured. He felt as if a flame was growing inside him, burning passionately and brightly. He saw in her eyes a flame was growing also, but then it vanished, as if forcing the emotion away.

"I'm sorry, Seto, but those days are long gone. I can't be with you, I can't take care of Mokuba anymore. It's just not the way it's meant to be," she said as she walked past him, and closed the front door behind her. Kaiba stared after her, wondering if what he had done was huge mistake or not.

To idolize
hoping that one of them will decide
to let me in

The moonlight strung onto the balconies and ledges of all the open windows, the night's air warm and shallow. It flowed in coolly to an open room, black paint spread across the walls, a barren space left between the large queen size bed and large dresser, where the reflection of a slumbering girl was shown on the large Victorian mirror. The girl slumbered, unaware of a stranger lurking in her room. The stranger's spiky, golden blond hair shimmered in the flooding moonlight, framing his elegant, dark face and emotionless, murdering amethyst eyes. He watched the young girl slumber peacefully, looking back on the previous days where he had sought several victims and souls, and each time he would attack or finish, she would appear, admiring his work. He never understood why, but each time she did, she never revealed herself, and he always urged to kill her, like so many others, but never had the courage to do so. Why was that?

His mind drifted off to a memory of one evening where she found him on the empty and deserted beach outside of the city, leaning over his newly fallen soul, a departed young teenager who held much resemblance to his first victim of the shadows on board of Kaiba Seto's blimp, that pathetic Kujaku Mai. She held that familiar gaze in her silver mooneyes. That distant, lost, yet dreaming gaze that no light could penetrate, no hopes could tear. He had seen that look only twice before on different beings. Once was during the Battle City tournament where that fool Jonouchi Katsuya jumped in between his attack on Mai and tried to save her. The wench held the same gaze for the mutt. Then in the alley, two teenagers were talking, and the girl had that same gaze towards her lover. Could this girl have the same emotions for him?

If so, he didn't know whether he could handle having someone care for him in those exact ways. It was unheard of, and more so, it was unthinkable. He could never care for someone. He had no feelings except hatred and evil. He was born from those emotions. He knew nothing else. Yet his mind was torn on thought of this girl. He looked over her slumbering features. Her black hair with randomly placed scarlet bonds spread around her bare shoulders, framing her fair face. He knew behind those elegantly closed eyelids were those endlessly deep, fogged, dazzling silver eyes. He didn't know why he kept looking at her, but he felt dazed and complex by her features. Why? He held no feelings for this girl. He wanted to know what it was about himself that interested her.

He approached closer to the bed, gazing into her face, allowing the moonlight to stream past him and onto her perfectly fair face. His eyes trailed down her body, revealed to the moonlight, covered by a black tank top and black jeans. Why did she wear uncomfortable clothing for when she slumbered? He wanted to know so much about her, to taste that sweet bitterness that ran through her veins…to long for the uprising pain and surging screams escape her lips…have her twitch and fight beneath him…. The moonlight streamed onto the blade in his hand, anticipating the moment he would cut her flesh. He brought the blade up to his level, crawling slightly into the wide bed before feeling the heat of her flesh radiate onto him. So warm, so mesmerizing, like the sun. How could a girl so dark radiate so flaunting aura?

He couldn't help but allow his hand to hover closer to her shoulder, feeling her soft, warm flesh tremble under his touch. It crawled away from him, resisting him as much as it could, knowing what was coming, though in her subconscious mind she did not even realize he was there. He brought the blade closer and licked it across her shoulder's flesh before piercing it with a rough meticulousness, a long, thin scarlet line running down from the piercing blade and droplets of scarlet tears streaming down onto her pale and warm flesh. He felt agitated by this action, longing to taste the blood that ran through her veins. He leaned down, and immediately the hypnotizing scent of her blood filtered into his nose, immediately sending shivers of excitement and anticipation through him. He touched the trickle gently, grabbing a large drop upon his index finger and he placed it in his mouth. Immediately the sweet, bitter taste rushed onto his tongue and he let out a gasp of enjoyment. It was so sweet and bitter, warm and rushing, flowing greatly into him from her veins. He couldn't take the resistance anymore. He stroked a finger across the black opal on the amulet, and at once, a golden eye appeared on her forehead. Her eyes opened and a dark abyss appeared in her silver eyes. Perfect, she was under his control now, like several other victims of his. Soon, she will join them.

But was he willing to kill her, and waste such delicious tasting blood? It was only good and warm if she was alive. He shook off the thought, deciding to torture this girl as much as he could before killing her off. He took both her arms and bond them above her head, and, with one hand grasping her wrists together, he drew the blade down her warm flesh around her shoulder, excitement flowing through him as he spotted the crimson liquid pouring lusciously from the newly made wound. He could smell it fill the room, the hot, bitter smell, like the taste of it. He leaned down and immediately picked up the trail into his mouth, feeling the hot liquid rush into his throat. The more he tasted, the more he hungered for it. Her blood was so warm, so hot, so sweet, so bitter, so….

He moaned from anticipation, wanting more of her blood. Why did it taste so good? Why was she so warm? Why didn't she resist him, like the others? He hungered for more blood, and he finally finished with this one opening in her skin, the area around it a bit paler and cold, but still had flecks of blood seeping through. He wanted more, but then felt a horrible pull on his power. She was finally beginning to resist him, and he suddenly realized that she had a strong will to fight him off. This wasn't good. He removed himself from her, and saw that the bond he held over her was weakening the more she resisted. He stepped back into the window, watching her body twitch slightly, then her eyes closed as she let out a sigh of pain, and at once, the gold eye on her forehead shattered at once. That has never happened before. Either this girl had a strong will or she….

At that moment, though, the amulet began to glow a blinding gold light, and the echoing siren rung through the air, deafening any other possible sound. Yami no Malik covered his ears, trying to block out the siren, but then he realized it. He looked at the girl, and gasped in surprise and horror. No, this had to be a mistake! This couldn't have been real! But as he looked onto the bed, he saw the golden glow of gold wings surround the girl as she fell deeper into the slumbering darkness. No, this girl couldn't be-

But then it explained everything. How she was able to resist him. How every one of his victims he discovered around her. How that lake was able to heal her completely when he killed that taxi driver that dropped her and that little Kaiba off. But he tried to deny it, otherwise it would prove he was dense. But everything pointed to that answer. This girl, this dark and disturbing girl, was the host to the spirit of Horus!

At that moment, though, the girl began to stir, and at once Yami no Malik disappeared into the shadows, confusement filtering into his mind, as well as a plot and a scheme to gain the hidden power of the sky god, the hidden power that slumbered within that girl. He knew he had to have it, but how was he going to be able to draw it from her? There was no possible way, unless….

A multi-colored flyer blew in the wind around the night, and Yami no Malik snatched it instantly. He looked at it and smiled. A charity dance was going to be held at the Domino High School, and sure enough, everyone was going to be there. At once, an evil smile spread across his face as a scheme came to mind. There was only one way to force that power out of her, and that was to fool not only her mind, but also her heart. He'll play along with her, then by the time he's done, she'll wish she'd die. Then he'll grant her wish. He'll kill her, and the power of Horus will be his at last!

Miles away, a young boy slept fitfully in his bed, while his other watched on, knowing he couldn't do anything to help him. Motou Yugi tossed in his bed, the sheets tangling over him, nightmare after nightmare rushing over his head, over his eyes, blinding him. He saw a beautiful woman dressed in a black, extravagant floral gown smiling at him…he saw an evil figure stand beneath dozens of neon lights, being shielded by the shadows…he saw a large crystal ball falling from above and crashing over someone's head...crimson poured everywhere over already crimson hair…a beautiful gold phoenix crying in the distant…and a blood-curdling scream piercing the night from pain….

Immediately, Yugi shot up, the nightmare drawing him back in, but he tried to fight it. That charity dance was going to turn into a disaster, he just knew it. And what's worse was that someone was going to get hurt there. But who? He remembered seeing a girl being hit with the crystal disco ball that Honda and Jonouchi had put up earlier that day. He remembered, because they kept tossing it over people's heads, careful not to hit anyone. But why would it fall when it was double-checked to not? Yugi couldn't think straight, and his yami's voice kept fading in and out of his mind. The nightmare kept drawing him back in.

He couldn't resist the exhaustion any longer. He needed sleep, he needed to think straight. But that dance was only a few days away, and he had to make sure no one was going to get hurt. He had to think right. He had to find Yami no Malik before any more people died. He needed to save this world again. He needed to protect this world from the power of light falling into the hands of darkness. Isis' words echoed in his mind as he fell back into the darkness.

"When light meets darkness, chaos is born….Only light can find light, but it cannot set it free…."

To stand on the edge of the knife
cutting through the nightmare from which
I just cannot awaken

FD: That's all for now. I'm back, so this'll be fun to update. Anyways, this is where the plot will kick in, and a bit of romance. Anyway, this is a bit of a spoiler here, but in the next chapter, Kaiba Seto is forced to both deny his emotions completely and lose Rika, or to find her and ask for redemption. A bit of romance and Motou Yugi takes a big roll as he decides to spend some time with Rika. --'