Chapter IX: Listen To Your Heart

(A/N: I'm using lyrics still from Disturbed, but a song called "Listen to Your Heart" by a woman inspired this chapter, but I keep forgetting her name. Anyways, enjoy. Oh, SD (Shadowed Darkside), no, the special scene was with Seto Kaiba and Rika. I added that for gore. Enjoy!)

Stand on the edge of the night
living inside a moment
from which I will never awaken

A couple of days passed by quickly as news about the charity dance spread like wild fire throughout the Domino High School. All around there were groups of kids huddled together, discussing about the theme and decorations of the dance, or of their dates and possible-dates that they would take to the dance with them. A young boy with long, flowing white hair and dreamy dark eyes was rather persistent to gaining the attention of one girl whose hair was pitch-black with randomly placed crimson streaks running through it and dark, cold silver eyes. However, this girl was avoiding and ignoring almost everyone in her path, mainly because there was only one person she wanted to take to the dance with her. However, this person was hard to find, mainly because he was known around the city as a "serial killer." The one person responsible for the open wounds around her shoulder that she was subconscious to witness their creation, not to mention also under his control. He was the only one she was considering a date. The only difficulty was finding where he was. No one knew, no one has seen him. However, his work kept popping up all over the city. Bodies, cold and still, tortured and bled out completely to where their faces are white and crimson. He was the only one she thought about now. All besides Mokuba. Though she no longer held feelings for his older brother, she still cared for Mokuba, and has always dreamed about becoming a family with him. However, those dreams are long gone now.

One afternoon, though, she was forced to make a quick decision on who she wanted to take with her. Her mind became riddled with confusing moments and questions, not realizing that she was going to bump into a familiar person, literally. She was walking alone after school to her home when she closed her eyes and lowered her head, lost in thought. She didn't understand why, but she felt like something bad was going to happen, something horrible and dangerous, yet she couldn't focus directly on it. Her mind became stressed and relentless. Every night, she found herself falling deeper into the darkness of her mind, fighting and struggling against every emotion and thought in her mind. At this particular moment, those thoughts vanished completely as she collided headfirst into another older boy.

This boy was instantly familiar to her. A tall boy with maple brown hair flowing over his dark and serious sapphire eyes, around his body flowed a large indigo colored trench coat with pronounced shoulders, and wide arms, the hem flowing around his knees. His out fit was peculiar beneath it, though. Black slacks, and a long sleeved black shirt, with a bit of a turtleneck to it, a belt with the engraving of KC upon the buckle, a pair of steel cuffs about the forearms, and very high black boots with a slightly raised heel in the back. He was quite handsome. And as her silver eyes lingered on him, at once her face fell red at her naïve actions and deluded faults. Was it possibly more than a coincidence that she would bump into her ex-boyfriend right there on the street, walking home? No, but nothing stopped her from being suspicious of it. After all, she did question whether he had gotten over her or not. She saw the truth in his eyes as he looked at her, not knowing what to say.

"Sorry about that, Seto. I'll look where you're going next time," she mocked, flipping her hair slightly over her shoulder as she walked on, passing him without even a look. However, as she passed, she felt a pull inside her chest. It was as if someone was tearing at her heart bit by bit. She ignored it, walking on, but at once, someone grabbed her wrist. She turned and looked directly into Seto Kaiba's eyes, feeling an intense warmth crawl up her wrist and under her skin, into her veins and into her heart. She tried to pull away, but his grip held her there, still and motionless.

"I need to talk to you, Rika. I need to know more, now. Please, will you come with me?" Kaiba begged, staring directly into her eyes. She felt a very wonderful sensation flow into her body and into her heart. A faint memory floated into her mind where she saw herself standing in a playground behind a swing set, pushing Mokuba higher into the air, while Kaiba stood far from them, watching with happiness in his eyes. She forced that memory out, trying to think right.

"No, leave me alone!" she ordered, pulling her wrist away. She ran the opposite direction from him, and the more she ran, the more memories flooded into her. She felt her body pull her towards her home, and into the streets, she fell hard on the concrete. As she hit the ground hard, a memory came flooding directly into her mind. Tears burned in her eyes, and she forced them all away, yet one thing she couldn't deny. She still cared about Kaiba and Mokuba. That she couldn't deny, she couldn't refuse and push away. But as she rose herself off the ground, she approached her home, only to see another familiar person stand outside on the porch, a broad smile shining on his face. Motou Yugi.

"Yugi, what are you doing here?" she asked, approaching him. He smiled gently at her, and at that moment, she felt a weird aura around her. Something wasn't right with Yugi, something different. She felt like she wasn't looking at Yugi, but at another person. Someone she was well familiar with, but she had never seen in years. She looked at the being once more, seeing a more mature, taller, and masculine version of Yugi. This was another person, not Yugi. Someone more stronger and dominant. But who was he? A name flowed to her mind, and at once, she spoke it, feeling it rush through her like instinct.

"Pharaoh…"

Immediately the stranger looked up in response to the mistakenly spoken word and smiled at her in a mature way. Something about this stranger made her feel safe and secure in his presence. Who was he? And why did he look so much like Yugi? And…why did she feel like she knew him? She couldn't have possibly knew him before, she's never seen him. However, what if this familiarity was because he resembled so much to Yugi? She didn't know the reason, but her mouth moved instinctively to him, confusion fluttering in her words. She felt so distant and removed as she spoke to him, but felt safe and secure all at the same time.

"Hello. Would you like t o come in?" she offered. The stranger nodded, but didn't move. He stared directly into her eyes and felt mesmerized completely to touch her face. Yet he held back, knowing his other would feel disfigured by it. He followed the young woman into her home, though didn't speak a word until he saw a faint glow of gold surround her. He knew at once that she was not whom she led on to be. Rika disappeared into the kitchen for a moment, and returned with two cups of cocoa, one for her, and one for her guest. As she handed him the cup, she looked at him, and at once popped the question.

"So, what should I call you? After all, I just invited a total stranger into my home," she mocked. The stranger gave a smug smile, looking at her in a flattered way. He really didn't know what to call himself. So he gave her the only name he could think of.

"Call me…Mou Hitori No Yugi. It's pretty much what everyone's calling me," the stranger spoke in a deep and mature voice. This was Yugi's body, but not his being. His presence wasn't there. It was this stranger's.

"Mou Hitori no Yugi? Another Yugi? What are you, some kind of alter ego?" she asked in a mocking way, sitting in an armchair opposite him. He smiled at her, and told her the whole story of how Yugi came into possession of the Millennium Puzzle, how he put it together, and of how the stranger became a part of Yugi. He told summaries of the adventures they've been through, Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, and everything. He filled her in of his little memory of being an Egyptian pharaoh was completely gone, and he was on his search to discover his memories again. Although this information was hard to understand, a part of Rika believed every bit of him, and eventually most of her did as he finished. She looked at him, having been told something that she would probably only have read in fictional books, yet believing every sentence, every word he told her. She somehow trusted him…a lot. But why? She had only just met him.

"So, if you are who you say you are, and what you say is true, why did you come over here? What about me interested you?" she asked.

"One of the opponents I've faced before, Malik Ishtar, had an evil side to him. This side surfaced and revealed himself, nearly killing all of us and he was more evil than anything you could ever imagine. We called him Yami no Malik. Rika, he's the serial killer around town, now," the boy explained. Her eyes widened slightly, and her mind traveled to a memory of the killer in an alley, face-to-face to her. It felt weird to her, remembering him. But she smiled pleasantly at the thought of him.

"So, are you saying he's after you again?" she asked. He waved his hand as a gesture of no.

"This time, he's after something more, far more valuable and powerful than me. He's after the ancient, hidden power of an Egyptian god, Horus. He already possesses the key to finding it, the Eye of Horus, but he still needs to find the hoste to Horus. Horus was reincarnated into a mortal being, and I have reason to believe that you may know them. That's why I came over. I want you to tell me about the people you know that could hold similarities to Horus," he spoke softly to her. He looked into her eyes, and then felt a powerful aura surround them tightly. What was going on?

He couldn't take his eyes off her, but she didn't answer. Her eyes seemed so deep and empty, the depth went on for kilometers. He felt being pulled in, but he knew it wasn't her eyes pulling him in. It was something else, something tempting and strong. He leaned forward slightly, staring directly into her eyes. The aura increased, but he pulled away before it dragged him in. Rika explained to him that there was only one other person she knew that he didn't named Anna Marie, who lived next door. However, they weren't friends, only acquaintances. The stranger looked at her, and then smiled, feeling a strong emotion rise in him. He knew he had to figure out who Horus is before Yami no Malik did. But that was going to be tough, and time was running out.

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

"What's wrong, Seto?" Mokuba asked that night, spread out on the sofa in a tired way. Seto Kaiba looked at him with a pleasant smile, yet there was no pleasant emotion behind it. He entered into the room and fell sadly into an armchair beside the sofa, his mind traveling a mile a minute. He kept thinking about Rika. He missed having her around, and all he wanted to talk to her about was if she could baby-sit Mokuba again. But she brushed him off like nothing. Was that what she thought of him now? Nothing? He didn't understand any of it, and he didn't want to think about it. But the memories kept flooding in. He kept seeing him and Rika together, happy, laughing, as they used to. They didn't have to be a couple again. Just friends would have been great. But for some reason Rika couldn't even see that for herself. Why not?

"Nothing, Mokuba," Kaiba reached over and tussled his little brother's hair before returning to his thoughts. He kept remembering that night lately. He kept remembering coming into this room, finding Rika alone, watching the large, wall television. She was dressed in a rather unusual, yet sexy outfit. He kept blushing when he thought of it. A rather large and draping polo white shirt, buttons, collar, long sleeves, the works. Plus that navy blue silk skirt that hovered a few inches over her knees wasn't much help in hiding his blush. It was ridiculous to think of that night after two years, but it was that night he was made a man officially. What was he to do? He never discussed that night with Mokuba, knowing he was too young to understand and he would be hurt, knowing to have a crush on Rika. But that night was never forgotten…on both sides.

Kaiba even remembered every detail of that night. What the first thing she told him as he entered the room. "Finally, you're home. I was beginning to worry." She never said those words to him. That was the first time, and the only time after that. He was so amazed by the action that he began to flirt and cuddle with her, and then when he couldn't take it anymore, he dragged her into his room, asked for permission, and was immediately thrown into the passionate aura surrounding them. He was just lost in the moment, and couldn't think straight. But that night remained forever. It would never vanish, it would never go away, even when he forced it to. It was there, it was never going to change. Something was taken from them both, and it will never return.

"You know, your school is hosting that charity dance. Why don't you go?" Mokuba's voice broke his thoughts, and at once Kaiba looked up at him, confused by the offer.

"What are you saying, Mokuba? You know how much I hate those mediocre dances and parties they have," Kaiba spoke.

"Oh, I just thought it would get your mind off of work and Rika. You've been thinking about her a lot, and don't deny it! It would help if you got out of the house and away from work. It would be fun!" Mokuba spoke. "Everyone's going. I even got a date."

"You do? Who?" Kaiba asked, curious that his little brother was going to a dance with someone.

"You know that blond, shy girl that lives across the way? She asked me to go with her. Her name is Chelsea. She's pretty sweet and cute, kind of reminds me of Rika….Hey! Why don't you ask Rika to the dance?" Mokuba suggested. Kaiba was taken aback by this.

"Are you kidding me? I can't ask Rika to a dance. We've broken up, remember?" Kaiba snapped.

"I know, but who said it's has to be a date as a couple. You guys can go as friends, right?" Mokuba asked again. Kaiba thought about this for a moment. It would change the feelings towards each other, and it would help in their friendship. She was the only one he ever considered a friend, let alone a girlfriend. So, what was stopping him? The possibility of her getting the wrong message or saying no.

Goddammit! He had this same problem when he asked her out for their first official date. She was either going to think the wrong way or say no, thinking of him as an idiot. Plus, what if she already had a date? Then he would look idiotic before her, asking her again.

"I don't know, Mokuba," Kaiba spoke. "What if she says no? Or gets the wrong message? Or what if she already has a date? Or--"

"Seto, calm down! This is what happened when you first asked her out. Just don't think about it. Pick up the phone and call her. The party is in two days," Mokuba ordered. He immediately picked up the phone beside him and dialed a number. He then tossed the phone to his brother, who caught it with a slight stumble. He looked at Mokuba before placing the ringing phone near his ear, preparing to hear the voice of his ex-girlfriend on the other line, thoughts of hanging up quickly and pretending it never happened running through his head. But at once the line picked up and a familiar voice spoke.

"Hello?" Rika's voice filled Kaiba's heart with pleasure and a lightweight, like feathers.

"Hey, Rika, it's me, Seto," Kaiba spoke, and there was a small, hesitant silence on the other line.

"Hey, Seto, what's up?" she asked.

"Um…you know, there's that charity dance coming up, right?" Seto asked. Stupid, of course she knows!

"Yeah…" her voice trailed a bit, and Kaiba could hear a gentle giggle under her breath.

"Well, I was wondering if you…would like to go with me to the dance?" Kaiba asked. He waited for a refusal, but didn't hear anything on the other line. It was silent, and Kaiba was starting to worry she hung up.

"Um…are you still there?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here," she sounded breathless for a moment, and then he smiled, feeling a familiar feeling fill him. This was exactly how their first date started. He hoped it would be the same way it ended.

"So, will you go with me?" he asked. There was a hesitant moment again, and then she spoke again.

"As friends…right?" she asked. That lightweight in Kaiba's heart vanished quickly when he heard that. But he sighed in acceptance.

"Yeah, as friends," he said. There was a brief pause, and he heard her voice once more, filled with a slight happiness.

"Sure, Seto, I'd love to go," she said, and then something happened that he'd never forget. There was a sound as if she was blowing a kiss over the phone, but then she spoke again.

"Tell Mokuba I said hi!" and then she hung up. He considered that it was just static. But now a broad smile was on his face. He finally had a date with Rika again. They would go to a dance together, and, hopefully, they'd get back together again.

Hoping that one of them will decide
To let me in
Look at what you've done to me
You've become my enemy

Rika hung the phone on the receiver, her heart fluttering like a butterfly in her chest. Sure, she wasn't going to the dance with the one she wanted to go with, but she was going with Kaiba, and that was perfect for her. She just knew she 'd have fun going to a dance with him again, like how they used to. A few memories flooded back into her, the memory of her first dance with Kaiba, her first kiss with him, their first date. This was a horribly wonderful déjà vu feeling that rushed into her. She even remembered their special night, and how passionate it was.

She ran directly into her room, and looked through her closet. There was only one dress perfect for this occasion that she would actually wear. She pulled the dress out, feeling a bit of déjà vu flow over her, turning her heart into a cloud, and she actually smiled at the beautiful clothing. She couldn't wait for the day to come, and as she thought this, she suddenly felt dizzy and tired. Her body felt weak and limp. All of a sudden, and the room began to swim before her eyes, dragging and spinning her.

"What's…happening to me…?" she asked faintly. Her body swayed, and, clutching the dress close by, she fell directly onto the bed, feeling darkness swim over her, and she fell deeper into the tunnel of her dreams. Yet what flashed before her eyes was no mere dream. Everything felt so real, so clear, and so vivid. She saw it all.

Dazzling, neon lights flashed over her head, spinning wildly…. A beautiful, soft song echoed throughout the air, mesmerizing and hypnotizing her…. She was dancing with someone so solid…so familiar…. And then something was spinning too wildly above her…causing her to become dizzy…. She saw a silver orb above her spin wildly and faster than any of the other lights…. It spun dangerously and deadly over her head…. And then it snapped from its holster above it, and fell down…a scream echoed in the room, louder than the music…crimson poured over her eyes, blinding her…she was swimming through darkness….

Just then, the dream changed completely, and she was somewhere else…. She was seeing herself, and a dark shadow behind her…gold shimmered in the light, and darkness covered her once again…but her body was slammed against something hard…and she felt a pressure inside her rise…someone was touching her…grabbing her…killing her…. She tried to scream…she tried to fight them off...but they were far stronger than her…. She was going to die…she was going to be murdered….

She opened her eyes and found herself in her room, confusion and frustration flushing over her. What a nightmare! Something terrible was going to happen at the dance. She just knew it. Someone was going to get hurt, going to be killed. But who? Who was going to die? Who was going to lose their life? She needed to find out who was going to get hurt, and fast. The dance was only one day away.

FD: That's all for now. I'm sorry I haven't updated in days, I've been having writer's block and didn't know where to take the plot into description. However, you got yourself a hint of what will happen. Who will get smashed in the head by the crystal ball? Mostly likely Rika, but I may surprise you. Anyways, enjoy.