Anaya's Creator: Chapter 6!
Kaiba: Here are the reviews:
Arrathir:
I love you! Thanks for that bit of information. You don't know how frustrating it is to not be able to respond to your reviews. (hangs head) Yes, you did warn me and I should have listened. But I'm known to be a bit rebellious. Forgive me. I did use the time to go through my story and futher edit it. Is there any particular chapter you think I should look at?
Zuko's 1 and only:
You have the great honor of being my first reviewer! (Throws confetti) Thanks so much. Trust me this is a long story. And something similar happens in this chapter like you suggested in your review of chapter 4.
Anaya's Creator: Thank you reviewers! I don't own Harry Potter, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Inu-Yasha. Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Confession Rejection
Finally dawn came. There was a high-pitched creeeeeeak as Dumbledore opened the door to his niece's prison. The sparkle in his eyes faded slightly as he gazed about the dungeon. More blood was on the walls and the deer which had been left for her had been mercilessly devoured along with a few rats and the remains strewn about the dungeon.
Sakura was lying against the walls she was chained to, the sunlight gently illuminating her tired face. By the looks of her, it had been a rough night. The robes she wore were damaged beyond repair; they were stained with blood and torn in several places. Her face also had blood on it along with her claws, which had shrunk back to their normal size. Her eyes, also normal again, slowly opened. "Good morning, Uncle," she murmured sleepily.
"Yes, it is," He walked over to her, unlocked her shackles, and helped her up.He handed her a damp towel and she wiped the dried blood off her face and claws. "Before you go to see Madam Pomfrey, there's a young man outside who you may want to speak to about this."
Perplexed, but intrigued Sakura nodded and walked out.
In the hallway, she saw Seto Kaiba sitting on the ground, fast asleep. She chuckled softly to herself and gave him a light nudge with her foot.
He didn't stir.
"WAKE-UP SLEEPYHEAD!" she bellowed.
"Did you have to yell that loud?" he groaned as he got up. His azure eyes widened as he saw her. "What in the name of God? You're normal again! And covered in blood! The last time I saw you, you were..."
"A true demon," Sakura put in, finishing his sentence.
"What in all of hell happened to you in there?"
"I transformed; it happens every full moon. I'm covered in blood because there was a deer left for me to eat." Without any further explanation, she began walking away.
"Wait a minute; where are you going now?" Kaiba asked, chasing after her.
"Hospital wing, I need a new uniform and to get this blood off of me," Noticing that he was coming after her, Sakura stopped so he could catch up.
"When you faced the boggart, is that what it became wasn't it? The demon you?"
"Yes."
"Why do you transform?"
"Well Seto Kaiba..." a voice near Seto's ear began to say
"Myoga, you're back," Sakura interuppted as the flea demon leaped off of Kaiba's shoulder and onto her outstretched finger.
"So why do you transform?"
"Save your breath, Myoga,"she told the flea demon as he opened his small mouth to explain. "Since I have a very small amount of pure demon blood in me, due to my father being a half demon and my mother pure human, I transform into a true demon once every lunar cycle." She crossed her fingers behind her back to excuse her lie. "My time is the full moon, and I don't know how much you saw, but as youcan see it isn't pretty. I have absolutely have no control over my demon self. I would slaughter the whole school if given the chance. Why did you follow me last night?"
"I didn't follow you."
"Right and I suppose you just sleep-walked all the way down here."
"Okay I admit it: I followed you, but only so I could return this," Seto reached into his robes and pulled out Sakura's notebook. He smirked as her eyes widened in surprise.
"Where did you get that?" she demanded maliciously as she tried to snatch it from him, but Kaiba held it up in the air as high as he could; and since he was about a foot taller than her, it was way out of her reach. "Give it back, Kaiba!" She jumped, but she wasn't any closer to getting it back.
"Heh, you'll have to jump higher than that, Yasha," he teased as she jumped again. Her frustration is so amusing, he thought as she hopped up a third time. Although, she is kind of cute when she gets mad like this. Wait a minute, what the hell am I thinking!
Sakura suddenly stopped jumping and moved to punch him in the stomach, but he caught her wrist before she could make contact.
"Nice try."
"You're lucky I didn't put everything I have into that punch," she growled wrenching her hand free from his grasp. Backing up a bit, she let out a sigh. "Let's try this again. Seto, please give me back my notebook."
"Take it," in one smooth motion, he brought the book down and shoved it into her hands.
"Thank you."
Seto plunged his hands into his pockets and they resumed their stroll, beginning to discuss life back in Japan. "So what happened after I left?"
"Not too much in general, there was just an announcement on the news that your family died in a gas explosion..." but Kaiba was cut off when Sakura burst out laughing.
"Ha, ha, ha... A gas explosion? That's the best excuse for the truth the Ministry could come up with?"
Kaiba gave her a weird look.
"My family didn't die in a gas explosion. They were murdered..." Sakura slapped her hand over her mouth when suddenly she came to grips with what she was saying. Crap, I said too much, she thought furious with herself.
"They were?" Kaiba asked, giving her a weird look.
Thinking fast, sheoffered a different question. "So how did you get to be in Gozaburo's care? Did he marry your mom after your biological father died or something?"
"Heh! A heartless snake like my stepfather, marry? Don't make me laugh." Kaiba suddenly realized they had reached the hospital wing. "So, here we are. Uh, you go on inside and I'll wait for you out here. Then maybe we could go down to breakfast together if you'd like."
"I think breakfast sounds nice, but I need to take some Stomach Settling Solution first. Mine's a little queasy from eating all that raw meat last night." Without another word, Sakura disappeared into the hospital wing.
"Well, that was a bit of unnecessary information," Kaiba muttered under his breath. As he pulled his hands out of his pockets, he noticed his hands were damp with sweat. What the hell? he asked himself as he wiped off the sweat that had accumulated on his palms.
"Well,someonecertianly sounded like an insecure fool just now," said Myoga's voice in Kaiba's ear. He was once again on the teen's shoulder. "And by the look of things, you seem to be very fond of Lady Sakura."
"If you mean I'm in love with her, parasite, think again."
"Typical," Myoga sighed. "T'was the same way with Lord Inu-Yasha and Lady Kagome--milady's noble parents. Both so perfect for each other, but blinded by their pride to the bond they shared until it was almost too late. What tragedy."
Having heard quite enough, Kaiba flicked the flea as far away as he could manage.
"Ouch," the thimble-high demon groaned as it hit a nearby suit of armor.
A few minutes later, Sakura reappeared all cleaned up in a new uniform with her hair plaited back and the two of them resumed their trek to the Great Hall. As they walked, Seto was in deep thought, with Sakura at the center of them. Unlike the other girls he had met, instead of liking him just for his money or looks, she had given him a chance to prove himself to her. She was easy for him to talk to, and once he got to know her he found that he actually enjoyed her company; disregarding the fact that she made his palms sweat until they felt like jellyfish. Could it be that Myoga and his little brother were right? Could he really be falling for this girl?
After a simple breakfast in the Great Hall, which was fortunately empty because everyone else was sleeping in this Saturday, Sakura decided to show him around the school grounds. As they strolled, she began absentmindedly humming a tune that had popped into her head.
"Is that a song from Phantom of the Opera (1) you're humming?" Kaiba inquired, recognizing the melody.
The albino demon blushed. "Yeah, it is. Dumbledore took me to see it in London when I first came to England—he has a liking for muggle plays—and I've been obsessed with it ever since. You ever see it?" They had come to a large rock as high as Seto's torso near the edge of the Forbidden forest and Sakura climbed up it and sat down.
"Yeah, Gozaburo took me on one of his business trips and the tycoon he was cutting a deal with took us to see it. I thought it would be torture, but it really wasn't all that bad." Seto shook his head as he stood beside the rock. "Damn, I haven't been this open with someone in... forever."
"I've noticed that you tend to shy away from interaction with others. How come?"
"It was part of my stepfather's training."
"Training for what?"
"Taking over Kaiba Corp."
Now Kaiba was the one getting the weird look.
"Kaiba Corps wasn't always a gaming company like it is today. In Gozaburo's time it made weapons of war."
"That's terrible."
"He considered my emotions weaknesses and using certain methods trained me to become cold, unfeeling, detached."
He noticed Sakura's eyes had a very strange emotion in them. She looked both sorrowful for him and filled with anger at what he had told her his stepfather had done. Deciding not to waste time figuring out what the look meant, he continued.
"It's worse than you know. For many years after his death, I was the cold, heartless monster he had molded me into. Then Yugi and I dueled, and from that point on I realized what had happened to me. How fucked up my life had become. Mokuba was my only companion; otherwise I was truly alone..."
"The boggart, that's what it changed into when you faced it. That old man in the hidious pinkish business suit?"
He nodded.
Sakura reached out to Kaiba and took one of his hands in one of hers. "You don't have to be alone... not anymore," she said simply. "I used to think the same thing, that is until Britts and Lara reached out and told me they didn't care about my heritage. Perhaps you just need someone to do the same for you."
Seto's sapphire eyes searched her wine-red ones, searching for falsehood, for deceit, but found none only acceptance. He leaned in close to her so that his lips were nearly touching her cheek and said two simple words he hadn't said to anyone in a long time: "You're right." His free hand gently lifted her face to his until their lips met in a sweet, gentle kiss.
Sakura had no idea what was happening to her; never in her life had she felt this way, or even dreamed she could for that matter. A thousand strange feelings were erupting inside her. She felt dizzy, excited, and terrified all at once as the hand that had been in hers wrapped around her waist. When Kaiba pulled away, she wasn't sure how to react, part of her wanted to grab him by the neck of his robes and pull him back to her, but more than half of her wanted to run. That part got the better of her, for the next thing she was doing was wriggling out of his embrace and sprinting towards the castle, limpingbecause of her bad knee.
Kaiba hung his head. He had been afraid of this. As soon as he got his hopes up about someone--they rejected him, leaving him as cold and empty as before.
The white-haired girl flew up the steps, dashed to the Fat Lady's portrait, barely mumbled the password and burst into her dormitory, slamming the door behind her. She sunk to the floor, gasping for air; elbows in her hands,
"Sakura, did you have to slam the door?" Hermione moaned as she was abruptly awokenfrom her slumber.
"Yeah, some of us actually like to sleep in on Saturdays," Lara groaned, pulling her pillow over her head.
Britts awoke as well, but before she could say anything she laid eyes on Sakura. She was paler than she normally was, and her wide eyes staring blankly at the floor. Never before had she seen her friend in this state. Worried, she rushed over and put her arms around the girl. "Sakura, what's happened? Tell me please."
"Britts, I'm scared."
At this pronouncement the eyes of the three girls that were up widened. Hermione even fell out of bed in utter shock. Sakura Yasha... that fiery Demon teenager... scared! That was something that just didn't happen;Sakura was fearless, with guts made of unbreakable diamond. When they had to add something gross to a concoction in potions class, Sakura was the only girl who didn't flinch or make a face when she added it to her cauldron, with her bare hands no less.
Everyone was now wide awake except for Lavender Brown—she was so thick she could sleep through an earthquake and still not wake up. (2)
Lara immediately leapt out of bed and ran over to the two teens on the floor. Hermione soon joined them. "Fangs, you are the daughter of Inu-Yasha. What possibly could have gotten you so shook up?" Lara asked.
"It's... Kaiba," she croaked. Her throat had suddenly become very dry and she found it very hard to talk. "He... kissed me..."
Everyone's eyes dropped and, if it had been humanly possible, eyeballs would have instantly popped out of their sockets. Sakura, who swore she would never have a romantic interest with anyone—man, woman, or demon, just lip-locked with the richest and most eligible bachelor in all Japan! And it had scared her shitless! WTF!
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"Why so melancholy, big brother?" Mokuba asked as he watched the blue-eyed dragon shuffle his dueling deck for the fifteenth time in a row.
Kaiba didn't answer. It had been nearly week since he and Sakura had their passionate exchange by the forest and she hadn't spoken or made contact with him since. In fact, she seemed to be avoiding him. Not to mention that the O.W.L's were due to start in less than two days and he hadn't studied one bit.
"Are youstill upset because sweet Sakura isn't talking to you?" Bakura taunted, appearing on his hikari's bed in spirit form.
"Shut-up tomb-robber!" the C.E.O. retorted.
"I think he hit a sore spot," Ron muttered. He, Harry, and all the Japanese boys had gathered in their dormitory, away from all the hustle and bustle of the common room. Dean, Neville, and Samus had been moved to another dormitory to make room for the new boys.
Not wanting this conversation to continue a moment longer, Kaiba pulled out his laptop and began typing.
Suddenly, Mokuba shut the computer, almost snapping his brother's fingers, but thanks to Kaiba's quick reflexes, his phalanges were spared. "You have to go talk to her, Seto! You just gotta!"
"What are you talking about, Mokuba?"
"Sakura; if you're so damn crazy about her, try telling her how you feel. She'll listen, I just know it." Mokuba gave his brother puppy-dog eyes to convince him even more.
Kaiba let out a growl. "Fine," he said, giving in.
"Cool, let's go find her now, no time like the present." The black-haired colt grabbed his older brother's hand, dragged him towards the door, down the staircase, and over to a pack of first years. "Hey Lindsey!"
A blonde girl that looked like a mini-Britts only with greenish eyesturned around. "Yeah Mokuba?"
"Know where Britts and Sakura might be?"
"Britts mentioned something about going outside and playing cards, no idea where though."
"Thanks,"
Outside, the Kaiba brothers saw Lara, Britts, and Sakura sitting on the ground playing cards with some other sixth year girls from Ravenclaw, who were seated on some benches.
"Alright Carole, beat this: four of a kind, eights," said one of the Ravenclaw girls as she put down her cards for all to see.
"I fold, I got nothing," Sakura put down her hand, a hodgepodge of cards that didn't have a single match.
"What you got, goddess of innocence incarnate?" Lara asked, using a name she sometimes used to refer to Britts.
"Straight, in clubs," Britts laid down her playing cards.
The rest of the Ravenclaw girls folded.
"Looks like I beat all of you: Royal Flush!" Lara proclaimed proudly.
"That's because you cheat," Sakura muttered.
"No, I don't; I just use a bunch of old family card tricks," Lara retorted.
"Cheater," Sakura said stubbornly.
"Was that supposed to be an insult?" Kaiba asked from behind her.
Sakura's eyes widened for a minute then she turned around and saw Seto and Mokuba. "Oh hi," she said quietly, not getting up her spot on the earth.
Kaiba knelt down to her height. "I was wondering if I could speak to you... alone." he cast a sideways glance at the Ravenclaw girls who were trying hard not to giggle.
Sakura nodded, got up, and followed him to an empty classroom. "So, what is it?"
"Last Saturday,"
The demon-girl's face fell. "Oh, that..."
Seto gently grasped her by the upper arms and gazed deeply into her eyes. "Sakura, I wanted to apologize for what happened. We've only known each other for three weeks now and I understand if that was..."
"Unexpected physical contact," Sakura put in.
"Yes, but I really do care for you and..." He leaned forward to kiss her, but before he could, Sakura put a hand on his mouth to stop him and turned away.
"Seto, I'm sorry." She stared deeply into his eyes. "But I can't do this... " Hesitating only for a moment, she twisted out of his arms and ran out the door.
Kaiba said nothing, just stared after her. The voice of his stepfather echoed in his head: "Seto, you ridiculous boy! There's no such thing as love! All there is, is lust and once your so-called lover becomes bored with you, they will move on to prey on others; leaving you more empty and alone than before." Suddenly a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Bee in your bonnet, Seto Kaiba?"
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(1) I do not own Phantom of the Opera, but it's an awesome movie, soundtrack, and play.
(2) I don't like Lavender Brown very much. Especially in the 6th book.
Anaya's Creator: Please review.