Kaiba gasped and his eyes widened as he stared at the girl in the doorway—it was the girl he'd seen from his office window yesterday, he was sure of it. But why was she here? Did she have anything to do with what happened to his brother?
"Who are you, and why are you here?" Kaiba glared at the girl, silently taking in the sight of her greenish hair and blue eyes, his attention captivated by her appearance. She was beautiful, though she seemed too thin, and she wore ill-fitting clothes.
"The name's K-Lyn and I'm the one who called for the ambulance for your brother."
Surprised, Kaiba stepped back and glanced once more at his brother resting on the bed, before returning his gaze to K-Lyn.
"Do you know who did this to Mokuba?"
"Two punks, one of which I'm sure is somewhere in this hospital since I cut him pretty deep." K-Lyn replied and then turned to leave the room.
"Wait, I…did you save Mokuba?"
"Yeah." K-Lyn shrugged and walked out the room without waiting for Kaiba's reply.
Hesitantly Kaiba stared after K-Lyn, but didn't follow; instead, he turned back to Mokuba and watched as he slept.
Walking unhesitatingly to the ground floor of the hospital, K-Lyn glared at anyone who looked at her—she didn't need people looking at her strangely, and wondering why she was here.
Most people who saw her noticed her figure more than anything else, and, by how thin she was, most thought she was ill or anorexic—she could tell by their pitying stares what they thought.
She wasn't anorexic—god knows she'd eat until her stomach hurt if she could, but she never could steal enough food. Even when she was sick she forced herself to eat, for how else could she keep up her strength to do what she must? God, she felt jealous of those who had the luxury to become anorexic or ill for they didn't have to struggle so hard to survive, they always had someone to look out for them. She had to look out for herself and couldn't afford to obsess about looks or health—but god knows she wished she could.
Narrowing her blank, blue eyes, K-Lyn gritted her teeth and ignored the continuing stares of passerby, though it was on her tongue to say something so ugly no one would forget it.
Something held her back from walking out the door; something pulled her to look around when she'd rather leave. She didn't know what compelled her though; she hated hospitals. Too many times she visited people in hospitals to not know the truth—these were buildings of death, that tried futilely to save life until the dark reaper took it away in one un-seeable rush. Most people who live, die in hospitals and nowhere else is death's stain so proficient. The dead may lie in cemeteries, but they died in hospitals—or on their way to one. So what was so great about hospital?
Three times K-Lyn visited people in a hospital, and three times she lost someone to death in one—so where was the good in one?
Tensing, K-Lyn averted wary eyes to look at the décor and furnishings, trying to avoid the passerby. Oh, god, she gulped when her gaze flitted to a familiar painting; the furnishings below it were familiar as well. Never had she wanted to see this place again, but after five years of being away she wound up in this hospital, its layout unchanged; the hospital in which her brother died.
Tears glistened in her eyes, though she held them at bay; there were too many horrible memories in her mind of this place.
She lost her brother here—a brother who never knew of her and whom she could only watch from afar, who had everything when she had nothing. But her brother nonetheless, even though she had hated him before he died, before the accident.
Maybe it was guilt numbing her hatred, and cutting at her heartstrings, guilt that bound her indignation and jealousy so that she hated being here but couldn't leave. Regret, such a familiar word to her, she lived it everyday, in every moment and breath though she tried to forget.
Though she tried to forget, her mind played the memories over and over in movie fashion, taking her back five years before.
Everything around her was a blur as she ran, terrified of all the strange sights and unfamiliar faces, her palms sweaty, and lips trembling. Nowhere around was there a friendly face; hardly anyone noticed her, instead they hurried in the direction whence she came.
Heart pounding and legs sore from her long strides, she continued running, her lungs burning, until she saw a street she recognized. Turning onto that street, still running on the sidewalk, she thought her lungs would burst before she'd get to where she needed. Her long, greenish hair trailing like a flag behind her from her pace, she blinked her blue eyes to hold back the tears.
You pushed him, pushed him.
The tears gushed into her eyes more readily, blurring her vision as she kept them from falling.
"Papa, papa, where are you?" A weak, helpless voice escaped her lips, followed by a sob, dry since she held back her tears. Straining to make her eyes clear without crying, she looked around wildly until she saw the familiar eyes, hair and clothes of her stepfather.
"Papa!" She clung to him desperately, trying to ignore her screaming thoughts. You pushed him, pushed him. "I did whatcha told me to, papa." She clung tighter to her stepfather's unresponsive arm, holding her tears at bay—her stepfather hated tears. "I did—don'tcha love me, papa?" She trembled seeing the icy glare in his eyes, and the thin rigid line of his lips. "Papa, don'tcha? I did whatcha said, I pushed N…."
Swiftly her stepfather's hand clamped over her mouth, his eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth.
"Never mention this again." He let go of her then. "Now go home."
"But papa…."
"Go home!"
"But…." The sharp pain of her stepfather's slap shocked her as she fell to the sidewalk, her eyes filling with tears again. Looking only once at her stepfather's furious expression, she stood up and trembled, backing slowly away hesitant to do as her stepfather said.
"Kailyn, go home." He made to hit her again, and she darted away, trembling more than she had been.
Feeling numb, K-Lyn placed her hand over her mouth, feeling her throat tighten, as she felt detached from her surroundings.
"Are you all right?" A voice from behind her asked and she felt someone place his or her hand on her shoulder.
"Don't touch me." K-Lyn shrugged off the hand roughly, turning to glare at who was behind her. "What do you want?"
"To talk to you, I didn't thank you for saving my brother." Kaiba replied his lips twitching as he kept his temper in check. "There was no reason to snap at me."
"Hm, you don't need to thank me."
"Yes I do, my brother means everything to me. Now if you'll allow me to thank you properly, tell me what you want and I'll get you it." Kaiba crossed his arms in front of him, his brown eyes studying K-Lyn closely as she shrugged.