I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the affiliated characters. I do own Starlyte and the Dhampira Clans, Hatuhukra and Fulira.
Slowly, with the tiredness of sleeping to long, Starlyte pulled herself from the floor. How long had she been out? No longer than twenty minutes if her brother wasn't beating down the door by now.
"Gods, why the hell am I bleeding? That wound is . . . was a scar last night." She spoke to herself, inventing reasons where there was none. Moving with a sluggish rhythm, she forced herself to take a shower and dress. She made sure to pick a piece of clothing that covered the mark.
It throbbed with a burning fury and she tried not to succumb to the pain that ripped through her. She wished she knew what caused such a violent reaction. She wished she knew what caused such pain to Kaiba.
Trudging to the kitchen, she found her brother sitting at the table. He was pouring over a newspaper. To say the least, she was shocked. Then, he smiled and she remembered today was Sunday. He was reading the colored comics.
"If you aren't reading the front section, let me have it Max." Maximillion Pegasus looked up startled. His crimson eye stared at her, and the empty socket was barely hidden by a handful of hair. She took the outstretched paper and then ran her thumb over the empty socket in a loving gesture. "Thank you."
"Star, something hasn't been right with you lately. Whatever it is, it's bothering you enough to lose interest in torturing me." A sly grin fell into place on her brother's face, but Starlyte refused to fall for his trick. Sitting down, she opened the paper and blocked their faces from one another.
Raking her eyes across the page, she saw nothing of interest, nothing was happening except Battle City.
Starlyte had hidden here at her brother's resort for the duration of the tournament; she refused to show until the Finals. It had nothing to do with her conflicting feelings for Kaiba, not that she knew of at least.
"Star, you've got that look." As he spoke, Starlyte glanced up and realized he had taken the paper from her and was assessing her. Huffing in annoyance, she grabbed the paper back. "You were thinking about the dhampira, weren't you?" his tone was curious, not accusing as she felt he would feel. Starlyte suddenly felt ready to tell him everything. She found, in her heart at that moment, that she had kept this from him for too long. He had a right to know.
"Yeah, I was. Do you want to know who he is?" to her amusement, her brother nodded his head vigorously. He had wanted to know who he was since the end of the Duelist Kingdom tournament. "Okay, but you have to promise not to blow up."
"I promise." His words came out quick, and she was glad he was in such a hurry to hear her tale. Otherwise, it would have been hard to get him to make a promise like that.
"Okay . . ." Starlyte told him everything, knowing her brother would understand in his over-enthusiastic mode. He didn't really hate Kaiba; Pegasus had just wanted his true love back. As Starlyte finished with her meeting with Kaiba three weeks ago, her brother stood. At first, she thought he was going to leave, to storm out in anger or betrayal.
He, instead, walked over to her and pulled her up into his arms. She felt so safe, so wanted, so loved. She felt everything that had never been in Kaiba's embrace.
"Star, that would make for a good romance novel." She smiled at her brother's ill-timed joke. "Still, I'm glad you didn't pine for him. And I think it was good for you. You've become a better person." Her brother had never been one to comfort her, so those few words meant much.
"Thanks, Max."