Author Note (PLEASE FOR THE "LOVE" OF "GOD"—READ!): Okay, I have noticed that I am getting a lot of complaints about Shizuka and Seto's character. I am going to try to be as nice and as forward as I can be on this, so let's all try to work together, okay? However, before I start to explain my case—I want to reassure all of you, that there will be 'romance' between Kaiba and Shizuka… It's going to take time, so please bare with me. First of all, um… Kaiba's character. I am not following the anime—AT ALL. This is entirely based on the "Death-T" saga in the manga. (manga: Japanese comic books—authentic when read backwards—often the origin of many animes). In the manga, he was pure evil—if you want insight to his maliciousness, I suggest you go to your bookstore and read issues 4-5 of Yu-Gi-Oh (the manga—not the crappy American junior-novelizations) and bloody read! You won't understand this fiction if you don't read those books! Now for Shizuka's character. I regret to be the one to break this to you, um… "Serenity" fans in America—but in the original Japanese anime and manga—Shizuka possessed the personality traits of shyness, gullibility, and total, child-like innocence. I understand and know, that they sort of gave her an 'attitude' in America (one of the only things I truly like about their dubbing)—and in most fanfictions that you see today (like Pinkstarz's beloved With the French Maid in Kaiba's Room—god, I miss that fiction… And damn the person who reported it—lousy bastard) they often tout her as a more self-reliant, firey, "OUT-OF-CHARACTER" Shizuka (she's an in-character Serenity, believe me)—just as she is in America. Allow me to get my point across. This fiction is NOT based on 'anything' in America. This is totally based on the Japanese Shizuka—so therefore her character will be just as she was intended to be by Kazuki Takahashi himself. Once more, this is based on the manga—so Kaiba will be as he is intended to be in this saga as well. And no offense or anything—but if you completely rely on information from the American Yu-Gi-Oh, please don't complain to me. It only causes me to emanate 'pity' towards you for not knowing the truth about this show and comic—
Disclaimer: —which I do not own.
Plot: After being defeated by Mutou Yuugi in the Magic and Wizards card game, Kaiba Seto will go at any lengths to get revenge on him and his friends. However, when Jounouchi's little sister Shizuka enters the picture, how will that work to Kaiba's advantage? Nonetheless, the abduction of Shizuka is merely an "upgrade" for his ultimate plan for vengeance. Or rather, the Ultimate Game.
Genre: Romance/Angst/Drama/Suspense
Pairing(s):
Seto/Shizuka
Warning: T (PG-13) (Parent Guidance Suggested) For Scary Scenes, Cursing and Mild Sensuality
-Imperfect Paradise (Yamiko)
To Freeze Her Heart
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By Imperfect Paradise
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-Chapter Six-
"Shattered Hearts"
Shizuka was running through the halls of the Kaiba Manor—never stopping, never ceasing in her spring, listening to the sound of that maniac and diabolical laugh, which followed her, filling her with utmost fear. There were so many doors as she ran down the halls, so many doors—each one of them most likely leading into the dark abyss that appeared to be enclosing upon her.
Indeed, following her, was a mist of black, with maroon, indigo and navy-blue mirage-like images emerging from the ominous energy in which it was comprised of. Every time she turned a corner, the mist would follow her directly and accurately. It was almost as if it were a sentient being—knowing and following her as if it were a hoard of ravenous beasts, snapping at her heels, enclosing upon her, ready to rip her to shreds. As it drew closer—the evil and crazy laughter seemed to become louder and louder.
She continued to run, eventually finding herself not being able to resist cocking head backwards, wanting to take a look at it. Upon doing so, she shrieked—seeing that it was even closer to her than it was the last time she had checked. She forced herself to look back directly out ahead of her again, biting her lip, trying to hold back her tears.
Why was this happening to her? What had she had done in life to receive such a sub-zero penalty? Furthermore, she couldn't help but wonder what in the world that black mist was actually. What it was made of, maybe. What was fueling it? Why it wanted her in the first place, perhaps. What value was she to the darkness? What could it possibly desire from her? What could she give it and how would it benefit from whatever she had given?
Still, she could feel the darkness of the mist gaining on her, and she ran even faster, desperate to get away.
Then, suddenly, the floorboards beyond her, seemed to spring up, and she tripped, causing her to fall to the ground. She screamed as she hit the ground, feeling the sharp charges down her back, but then whimpered as the black mist finally enclosed around her.
It curled itself her ankles, much like a snake or serpent or some kind—securing itself to her, not letting her escape it again. She then heard the laugh transform into a soft yet dangerously quiet chuckle—as if the entity was pleased that it had finally caught up to her. Shizuka tried to struggle, but her attempts were rendered useless.
She could no longer run: It had caught her.
The darkness… The ubiquitous and vile darkness… It was cold. So cold. Like ice! Sharp icicles, digging into her flesh and freezing her in her place. She could feel her fingertips shaking, see her breath as it emerged from her mouth in mists, and she could hear—by god she could hear— as the voice cooed softly to her, taunting her, just as the black mist began to swallow her whole.
Shizuka-chan… the voice purred. Poor little Shizuka-chan…
Shizuka looked down at her hands, and watched helplessly as the darkness engulfed them, watching as they faded away into shadow, turning them into the darkness itself. She could feel herself sinking… sinking… sinking into the abyss itself. It was as if it were quick-sand.
You can't escape me now, Shizuka… You are eternally caught in my web…
As the mist began to cloud over her vision, she thought, tears falling from her eyes as she witnessed the last traces of the world around her before the darkness took her… 'Please… Onii-chan… Yuugi-san… Anzu-san… Honda-san… Save me… Please…'
She then watched as the shadows engulfed her, and then she saw nothing but two glacier colored eyes staring down at her, smirking at her, causing Shizuka's breath to catch in her throat.
You're mine, Shizuka… Mine…
Shizuka woke up, completely petrified, a cold sweat running down the edges of her sideburns. She sat up directly in her bed, the covers falling from her chest to her lap, ragged breaths escaping from her throat. However, no comfort from the end of dream had arrived, for she was still in the source of that evil and wicked fantasy's dwelling.
The room was well furnished—with beautiful, warm, happy colors, ones which would remind a person of a rainbow of some sort—but nothing here could bring any sort of cheer to the heart of Shizuka.
After she had been escorted from the building of Kaiba Corporation, she had ridden, alone, in the backseat of a limo (the doors were locked—of course) to the Kaiba Manor. Once they had arrived, she had been pulled into one of the guest rooms by the guards, one where they had locked her inside, silencing any hope for Shizuka to run away. She had also been told that the alarms would surely alert them if she had tried any illicit (by their means) activity.
Shizuka was trapped—in a situation where there were no chances of escape or rescue.
She looked back down at her blanket, deep in thought, her fingers groping the edge of the velvety bead-spread tightly.
The bed she was sleeping on was a queen sized canopy bed, with beautiful rose, magenta curtains, held up by mahogany poles. Lilac sheets and a light yellow bedspread covered the mattress and Shizuka's lower abdomen, along with a beautiful watermelon colored trim which clung at the base of the bed, barely draping over the floor. The carpet was of languid lavender color, reaching out all the way to the far corners of the room. The tall, glass, cathedral-like window, which stood beside the bed (on it's left hand side) had beautiful, translucent, white silk curtains hanging from the window pain atop it, with tints of lavender and pink seemingly glowing upon its edges. (A/N 1)
The moonlight still shone through the window, it's elegant light reflecting just off of Shizuka's blankets, lighting up her lap with its faint luminosity, looking almost ghost-like, with the only the shadows of the window panes interfering with the image.
Shizuka looked around the room for a few moments, before she brought her hands up to her eyes and sobbed, wanting very much to leave the home of the monster who had abducted her. Her sobs caught in her throat, breaking into a thousand pieces, tears streaming down the edges of her face.
She missed her brother so badly… She could not recall a time, other than when she had first moved with her mother, when she had most desperately needed him. Moreover, seeing that actually seeing him was out of the question—at least for her—all she wanted to do was to hear his warm, gentle voice, even just once. She didn't know if she would ever hear it again.
I can't let you out of here after seeing it—especially before Yuugi and his friends get wind of it. It would ruin the experience for them…
As she continued to let out her negative thoughts and feelings, the door to her room slowly began to creak open—Shizuka unknown to this faint detail. It opened, silently and slowly, Shizuka not catching notice of it at all, until it had swung all the way open. The faint sound of the doorknob hitting the edge of the wall appeared to have been just enough to catch the young woman's attention. Shizuka suddenly ceased in her cry and looked up, her eyes widening at the scene. Seeing the open door caused a swarm of thoughts to fly into Shizuka's train of thought.
Why was the door open? Was someone out there? Did he open it? Shizuka then felt goose-bumps rise off of her arms and the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
Had… "Kaiba" opened it? Was he the one who did it? Shizuka grasped the covers so tightly that she could feel her nails digging into her palms.
Was he out there? Was he… going to come in? 'No…' she thought, pathetically, 'Please, no… I don't want to see him… Not here… Not now…' Then she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door and her heart froze. She brought the blankets back up to her chest, her eyes wide and petrified with anxiety, and watched as the person stepped into the room.
The identity of the person surprised Shizuka. No, he didn't shock her or anything, but was enough to confuse her, at least. No… It was Kaiba. Although he did look something like him—it couldn't have been him. It was a little boy—somewhere around the age of ten or eleven—with chestnut brown hair and cobalt blue eyes—and he had a sort of gloomy expression upon his face, making him look somewhat put out. He was holding something in his hands, something that looked like a deflated rubber ball, holding it as a color guard holds a folded flag; carefully and delicately. He continued to walk into the room until he stood before Shizuka's bed and remained there, eyes locked upon the floor. Shizuka honestly did not know what to make of this. What was there to make of it? Then, the boy looked up at her, and stared at her, with that same down-cast expression, causing Shizuka's heart to throb viciously in her chest. (A/N 2)
The boy's expression was enough to pull at anyone's heart-strings. It was the one a disappointed child would give to his mother or father, after something had upset him. The face of one who had been looking forward to something so cherishing and exciting, something that one would never want to miss, only to have it disappear before him at the very last minute. No one could look upon a face like that and not show some form of pity or sorrow. It's impossible, really—and yet…
Still… Shizuka couldn't figure out what to make of this. In addition, she couldn't help but wonder what a boy like this would be doing in this mansion, out of all places in the world in the first place, let alone her room. Yet at the same time, as she stared into those sad, sad eyes, she found herself desperately wanting to remove that heart-breaking look from the young lad's features.
Shizuka, forcing a smile on her face, (the best she could do under the current circumstances) looked directly at the boy and asked, "H-Hello. Are you lost?"
The boy heard this, looked up and his eyes widened. Upon seeing Shizuka, he looked almost on the verge of blushing but then just as instantly looked away from her.
He did not answer her.
Shizuka, trying to find some other ways of getting the boy to lighten up, pointed at what was in his hands and asked, "What is it that you have there?"
The young boy looked towards her directly again, although, not looking at her directly in the eye, answered quietly, yet politely, "My hear—I mean, my 'ball…' It's broken…" Tears were beginning to form in the poor boy's eyes and Shizuka took notice of this.
Shizuka felt her heart wrench underneath her breast, and continued to feel absolute pity for the child before her. She couldn't stand this! She couldn't stand seeing him like this! She then narrowed her eyes. She had to do something about this.
She then got out of bed and held her hands out before her. The boy stared at her, oddly. She smiled and asked, "Can I take a look at it?"
The boy suddenly narrowed his eyes, and backed way from her, holding the ball closer to his chest, as a mother would do with her newborn. It was as if he was willing to sacrifice anything, even his life to protect it. Shizuka was slightly taken aback by this. She explained her cause, "Maybe I can fix it… You never know, right? It could be repair—"
The boy glaring at her, shouted, "You can't touch it." Then he just as suddenly threw the ball at her, and Shizuka responded by instinctually reaching out and catching it. The second she did and grasped the deflated ball between her fingers, she winced. She then felt something sharp travel her hands, pain to be more precise—in the form of broken glass. She looked down at the ball, and her eyes widened when she was thick blotches of red upon the ball and her fingertips. The ball was, indeed, "broken"—but broken in a way as if it had been broken into pieces.
The shards had cut themselves into her flesh—burying themselves inside her palms and the bases of her fingers. She dropped it almost instantly and stared at the gashes upon her hands, her eyes wide with fear. She dropped to her knees, staring peculiarly at the gashes upon her hands, continuing to wince at the pain as blood dripped from her hands.
Then, suddenly, a small hand touched hers. She looked up and saw that the young boy was staring at her. He then suddenly kneeled down and unwrapped Shizuka's palm, Shizuka cringing in pain. He then reached out for the small piece of glass, and cautiously removed it, as if he was trying to take it in the most gentle way possible. As he continued to pull out the shards, with the occasional flinches form Shizuka, Shizuka felt tears form in her eyes. Upon hearing her sniffles, the boy looked at Shizuka, and seeing the small streams of salty water pouring down her cheeks, whispered, "Don't cry…" Shizuka heard this and stared at the boy strangely. Then, the boy pulled out the land shard of glass from Shizuka's hand, and took both of them in his own, holding them with great care. Shizuka continued to look at him, not understanding what in the least was going on.
The boy seemed to understand her confusion, and furthermore, seemed to find it somewhat amusing and smiled at her—the first true smile Shizuka had seen upon his face. A smile tugged at her own features and in time, finally gave way. The second her smile appeared upon her face, the pain on her hands disappeared, along with the blood, and the wounds and cuts vanished, leaving not a mark or scar upon Shizuka's now soft looking skin.
Shizuka took notice of this and let go of the young boy's hands, staring flabbergasted at her own, not understanding how something like this could be possible.
Surprising, an action such as this did not upset the child. Rather, the boy's smile broadened, and he closed his eyes, a warm, school-boy like laugh escaping form his lips.
Then, the boy vanished, looking as though he was additively dissolving into thin air—leaving Shizuka kneeling alone, in the middle of the room. Shizuka stared, open-mouthed. This didn't make any sense. How could something like that happen?
Then, something else dawned on her.
She was able… to "see" that… She had witnessed the whole thing! She sawit—just as any other normal person. How could that be? She was progressively blind! Something like this shouldn't be possible!
Don't Cry…
…Don't Cry…
… … … Don't cry…
Upon hearing the sounds of birds singing and chirping, just outside of her window, Shizuka's eyes slowly opened up once more, this time flinching as the strong sunlight shined in her face from the window of Kaiba's mansion. Although, not being able to see it directly, it still hurt her eyes, all the same. She sat up in her bed and looked around the room.
She saw nothing—her vision was back to the way it was. She was back in a world of blurs and mirages—not knowing if what she was actually seeing was there. However, she couldn't care less. She looked down at her lap and stared at her hands, lightly biting her bottom lip.
It was so strange… That dream—from the previous night—It… It had been so… so real. So authentic but in another way—surreal and fantasy-like. She had never had a dream like that before.
However, the real enigma was the identity of that young boy. As far as she could tell, she had never seen anyone like that before in her life. Who was he? Where did he come from? Also, how did he manage to enter her subconscious and appear in her unconscious train of thought?
She would have continued to dwell upon those riddles hovering over her mind like a cloud of some kind—if the remembrance of what was going on in her life hadn't dawned upon her at that very moment.
She faced the facts. She was still in Kaiba's mansion, her brother was in danger—along with his friends, and she was probably wasn't far from the same fate. Then, the sound of a key on the other side of the door, silenced her thoughts and her heart stopped. After hearing a sort of metallic-related twisting sound, the doorknob slowly turned and whoever it was on the other side of the room stepped inside…
- TO BE CONTINUED -
The following is not meant to be counter fanfictionDOTnet format. These are merely author notes. They are not meant to counteract the rules or restrictions of the webmaster's policies in anyway. Thank you for your attention.
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Author Note 1 – Do tell me; how many of you were smart enough to know that the previous scene was a dream sequence? Well, good for you. Anyway, I am really relying on the manga for this story. The room just displayed is actually Kaibas room—the colored version from Shonen Jump issue number eleven. Yeah—sure doesn't sound like Kaiba's room, does it? (Kaiba's room is pink, and Pegasus's is blue. Something's wrong here!) However, I am going to be completely creating Kaiba's room from my own fandom (because even Kazuki Takahashi's original version doesn't sound right). So, his room is now the guest room. Thank you.
Author Note 2 – For those of you who 'want' to know—this is not the boy at the beginning of the story. This is a younger Kaiba—and yes, Shizuka isn't out of the woods of her unconscious fantasies just yet. As further proof—if you hadn't taken notice of this hint—how was Shizuka able to see? And yes, this whole scene is one lousy metaphor. Enjoy.
Random Note: Okay, um… I know that that was kind of short—and I am sorry to keep you guys waiting this long for something as pathetic as this—but with school, driver's ed and writers block—things just really suck. Also, I am fully dedicating myself to improving Love and Lust in Ancient Egypt, (I really hate that fiction—I am trying to improve it to have it live up to my own expectations, as well as everyone else's) so I want to complete that.