Tornado: hiya peeps. Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. I was on vacation, then my computer had a virus, and then the Internet didn't work. So, yeah.
DT: We've also been up to our eyeballs in homework.
Tornado: Can't teachers see that we have lives!!!
DT: Thanx to our reviewers for reviewing, and now on with the fic.
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Sclera's POV
I'd been living in Domino City for a month, and there was still no routine in my schedule. Monday through Thursday was completely devoted to school and Friday and Saturday nights were always spent in the restaurant. Sunday was my only day to relax. I began spending many Sundays at the park just wondering aimlessly around. It was my release from the world around me.
The weather had finally begun to feel like fall as October waned. The chilly air wrapped around my body strolled down a path of the park. It was a path that I had become very familiar with. It was nearly hidden beneath the dying grass and fallen leaves, but my feet knew the path from the first time I had walked it in September. The once green leaves had now been set ablaze by the season. It was truly a beautiful sight.
The path suddenly disappeared and the concrete began. The clearing held a small paved plaza with a large fountain in the middle. The fountain was not a sculpture, but just a rather decorated pole. Several stone benches were placed strategically facing the waterfall, but one lone soul sought refuge from the bustling city in this opposite world.
He was hunched over a tablet facing away from the focal point. The scratching of his pencil could scarcely be heard above the low whistling the wind created or the tumbling of the leaves. His long black coat lay abandoned on the ground along with a leather briefcase. I had to smile.
"So this is where teenage businessmen go when the world becomes too much," I said.
"Obviously because you're here as well," he replied without facing me. "This your day off?"
"The one and only. All the other days are dedicated to school or work."
"I know the feeling."
"What are you doing?" I asked curiously.
"Drawing," he replied simply.
"Drawing what? I don't see anything worth drawing out here," I informed him looking around.
"No, you're right. But what exists in nature is sometimes not as impressive as what exists in the mind's eye."
I leaned over his shoulder attempting to see what he was sketching. I felt my mouth drop open as I caught sight of a beautiful dragon with a giant ball of what resembled lightening forming in its mouth. It took me several moments before my mind classified the beast as the Blue Eyes White Dragon and even longer to notice a shadowy figure standing directly at the front of the monster. The figure was male with an odd turban-like hat and a flowing cape. His eyes were set forward into a tightened glare, and his hand raised as if commanding the opposing beast to cease its attack. The scene was so familiar as though I had once witnessed it within a forgotten dream. I attempted to shake the feeling, but it became even more prominent within my heart.
"Is there something wrong, Miss Marshal?" Seto asked.
"Miss Marshal? Why so formal?" I shot back.
"To insure that your mind began to move forward once more instead of being in reverse for an eternity," he replied with a slight smirk on his face.
I forced my body not to smack the look off his face. I glared back with my fiercest eyes not faltering once when his gaze packed the same ferocity. I watched as the wall of ice frosted his eyes providing an opaque shield to his emotions. I felt my own shield of fire rose to guard my own weaknesses. And yet it was not in place before the sword of pain stabbed my heart at the frosting of his orbs. Had I been a more open woman, tears would probably have spilled from my eyes, but since I am not the type of woman, there was not one hint of the sting that his actions caused. Or at least I hope…
Seto's POV
Once again our staring contest had begun. This always happened whenever there was even the slightest disagreement between us. It was a test of willpower and defensiveness. No matter how hard I tried I could not prevent my shield from materializing in my eyes, but it seemed as though she could not stop hers either. For a short moment, just before her armor fell into place, I could have sworn that I saw glimmer of hurt, but it disappeared just as fast as it appeared.
"Fine, you win," I stated, turning back to my drawing.
"Okay," she said uncertainly. "What's my prize?"
"You have the displeasure of my company."
"At least you didn't make me say it."
I snorted at her wise crack. She was the only one that I allowed to amuse me besides Mokuba. I thought of my life before the orphanage and remembered how much I used to laugh. But that was no longer my life. There would be no more events, which caused me to roll on the floor laughing so hard that I nearly wet myself. No, there would be no more of those times.
I'm not sure when exactly she sat down beside me, but I felt her hand rest on my shoulder, causing me to look in her direction. Our faces were inches apart. My head turned away from her. She said nothing as her hand played with the material of my black blazer. The whole world seemed to stop as we sat there, for there were no disturbances of the still air. The longer that I sat next to her, the surer I became that I was going to become extremely close to her over the course of the weeks to come.
The shrill ringing of my cell phone broke the perfect serenity. I answered it and spent the better part of three minutes listening to an idiot babble about the problems that were occurring in Kaiba Corps. Precisely what I wanted to do today. Fix the goddamned computers and listen to idiots' apologies.
"I'll be there in five minutes," I barked, cutting him off in mid-sentence and hanging up the phone quickly.
"Let me guess, the world is in trouble and you must go save it?" she asked innocently.
"Yeah. The world cannot function properly unless I am there acting like a dictator yelling commands to everyone. I hate my life."
She did not say anything as she stared at my face. She carried a look of sympathy and concern. She actually gives a damn, I thought rising from my seat. She stood as well, but still refused to speak. I observed her as she tied my tie, which I had untied the moment I'd left the building earlier that morning. She glanced up at me once she had finished, allowing her hand to brush over my cheek.
"You do know that there are things to live, right?" she whispered.
"Not like anybody would care if I died. They might actually have a party."
"That's not true. People would care. I know that at least two would care."
"Okay, so my brother, but who else? Not even Yugi would care. Actually he'd probably be hosting the party."
"No if anyone would be hosting a party it would be Joey. Who else would care? I would."
I stopped. She actually did give a damn, even after all the shit I put her through. My mind had begun to swirl. She cares? Since when? And why after all the shit that I put her through at school and at her restaurant and at my house. Jesus, I can't let her get too close or else I'll destroy her.
"Sclera, you, like everyone else, will eventually hate. I can guarantee that," I informed her before turning away.
I didn't look back as I walked off, but a vivid image of her standing there watching me walk away played through my mind. My heart wanted to turn around and hold her tightly, but my brain told me that only one thing would emerge from that; she would end up hurt, and I would once again be banished to the shadows with even more damage inflicted on my heart than before. So I continued my journey back to the hellhole that I had crawled out of that morning, but I was different. I was colder, and I wanted Sclera Marshal even more.
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Tornado: How'd you like the chappie?
DT: MORE ACTION!!!!!!
Tornado: Hush you!!! Your action is coming. Anyway R&R.