Authoress' Notes: Without further a-due, I present Chapter Five.
Disclamer: Yu-gi-Oh isn't in my list of posessions.
H
As promised, I deidcate this chapter to Flowersperson, the first one who reviewed the last chapter.
Thanks, and enjoy.
H
Chapter 5-Drunk
Second Round, Part III
H
Febuary 15, 3 pm, Domino Kingdom
I watch my friend, Countess Tea, as she walks through the crowd, glad I have finally located her. Only thirty minutes ago, I met Bakura, my partner, at an unexpected turn of events to which I'm sure you, Prince Seto, would not be interested to recall.
Bakura is a friend of my brother, and I was hoping to live with them and two others when I first came here, not two days ago. But you aren't interested in that. I honestly don't see the point of writing an essay, of all the things, when I know that you can't be bothered with such minor things as a person's life. In fact, Bakura told me a lot about you that oposess the idea of this essay.
Anyway, he also brought me this notebook, some ink and a pen, since I had none with me and suggested I write as we go along. That way, I can relate to things better and hopefully bore entertain you. And he was gallant enough to also suggest he pay for it when he knew full well I would not let him, being so that I have a particular gold credit card at my disposal. Maybe you'll see said items in my bill.
So Bakura and I have been following Tea around for some time now. I hardly want to go around booths playing games with small children and wasting your precious money. So instead, I watch Tea walk beside a young man who's name, if I remember correctly, is Atem. He is rather strange, I might add. His hair goes with spikes of black, yellow and violet, and I am disturbed by that smile he's been wearing all day.
But he acts a gentleman, and Tea does seem to enjoy herself. Bakura tells me to stop observing them for the umpteenth time. He says it's rude. I wonder where I got the idea to watch them anyway.
Serenity puts the pen down and sighs. "How long does this celebration take anyway?"
Bakura laughed. "Usually until about nine in the evening. Still a long way to go. How about going to the shooting range?"
"I'm not good at shooting."
"Well, you're not bad either. Besides, It's better than sitting around all day."
"Despite what you think, Master, not all people are born with the burning desire to shoot at small birds or cardboard targets. Besides, I'm pro-life and pro-animal protection."
"You're anti-do-something. You don't want to cook, don't want to read, don't want to play games. What do you want? Perhaps some camping or gambling..." Bakura sighed.
"That is not true!" Serenity huffed. "I like to cook, I like to read, and play games. I'm just not in the mood to right now. Camping? Gambling? Are you crazy?"
Bakura chuckled. "Why not?"
"Because--" Serenity paused, thinking. A small smile crept to her face as she took out a small golden credit card from her purse.
Bakura watched this change, a little alerted. "You're not thinking about..." His voice turned more urgent when her grin grew wider. "No, Seren'! I was joking! Joking!"
"Indeed, why not? I'm sure Prince Seto won't mind. Goes to show, you don't mess with Serenity Wheeler."
H
February 15, 6 pm, Domino Gambling House
Serenity smiled as she picked up yet another set of winnings. She had renewed her passion on poker, the card game Joey first taught her about when they were young. All in all, she gained some money which she could personally use after the whole princess-thief affair.
If she were smart, she'd backed own now, satisfied with her money. But Serenity Wheeler was too far in and engrossed to notice that the more she won, the more proffesional the players came to her table. And too strong was her sense of trust to notice that not all people practiced fairness.
So she kept playing.
H
"What are you waiting for? Place your bet." She heard a voice far, far, far away.
She smiled lazily, her vision blurred slightly. She blinked, finally noticing the empty glass of wine she held in her fingers. Huh? She didn't remember asking for any.
She blinked again, trying to focus on her game. How many games had she participated in? Suddenly, she didn't remember. Detachedly, she took her last pile of chips and tossed it in. She didn't know what the hell she was betting at, but the crowd--crowd? where did they come from?--around them urged her to.
More wine filled her glass. She drank.
It was her turn again, but when she reached for her stack, it was...gone. Had she spent all of them?
And when she looked up, everyone was leaving already. She swayed in her seat, feeling for her purse, but it was gone too.
A long, painful headache suddenly jolted in, and she gasped. She fell from the chair, in the process accidentally splashing all her wine to an unfortunate somebody.
"Ughhh..." The floor was cold to the touch.
"What the hell!" The man jerked backwards, trying to wipe away the wine stain from his beloved newly-bought white shirt. "What's your problem, boy!"
He caught her the front of her shirt, lifting her from the floor. She tried to speak, but the headache was too much.
His grip turned painful as her feet left the ground and she was smashed to a wall.
Wait...did he just call me 'boy'!, Serenity struggled to think, let alone breathe. The man was crushing her throat.
Boy...yes, she remembered. Bakura suggested she dress as a young boy. They visited a shop and got her clothes, complete with a cap to hide her long, auburn hair. She had bound her breasts and worn a shaggy shirt and many, many thick coats to hide her figure. No one would suspect her feminine voice, passing it off as a boy who had not matured yet.
That was all because ladies were forbidden to be in a Gambling House. It was all strictly a no-woman area. Anyone caught dead there would have an irreperable reputation. This was unfair, but who was she to say otherwise? And Bakura reassured her that Joey would kill them both if he happened to see her here.
But Serenity pleaded and successfully got him to escort her here--as a young boy.
She concentrated on the man who was choking her. He must be in his thirties, and he looked angry. Really angry. And she finally noticed the big stain of wine at the middle of his shirt.
"What's wrong, boy? Haven't got any strength in your muscles? Oh, I forgot, you don't seem to have any muscles." He taunted.
She choked at that.
"None, huh? Maybe that little pretty face of yours ain't gonna look that pretty after I fix it a bit." She had no doubt that 'fix' meant 'punch'. Damn this geezer. It was just a stain.
"L-Let..go...can't...b-breath..." She spat feeling the air close around her. Oh no, she would not faint.
Gathering the last bits of her strength, she let her foot fly, hitting him square at the shin.
Instantly, she fell to the ground hard. She took in large gaps of air as blood rushed back to her head. She coughed and when she drew her hand, it was filled with blood. The world was spinning. The man was slowly getting up.
He reached for her, but a large figure came just in time, blocking her from the light. She gripped the wall for support, struggling to hear what the man was saying.
"...don't wound what you cannot defeat. Otherwise, they'll wound you back." He was talking to her. But that voice. Where had she hear it before? She could only see her savior's back.
"Get out of the way, mister!" The angry man yelled.
"There's no need for this. I will pay for your shirt. I have ah--business--with this young man. Business much more important. So I suggest you move away before things get nasty."
"Who do you think you are?"
She didn't hear the tall figure that saved her reply, but instead, there was a loud, sickening noise of a rib breaking, and her oppressor fell to the floor.
That was the last thing she saw before darkness took over.
H
Serenity woke up with a start. Her head was aching as painfully as ever.
"You're awake. And probably experiencing a hangover. What is it with youngsters today that they keep getting themselves drunk?"
She opened her eyes slowly. Everything came back to her in a whirlwind of events.
"Master! The Gambling House!" She jolted into a sitting position, looking around frantically. This was definitely not the Gambling House. Her gaze stopped dead at the one other person in the room.
Beside her stood none other Crowned Prince Seto Kaiba.
"What are you doing here!" She demanded. Last time she saw him, he had been rather angry, but now only slight confusion was revealed in the wrinkling of his forehead.
He cleared his throat. "Have I met you before?"
Serenity's eyes widened, then she looked at herself. She was still wearing her young-man disguise. Perhaps it would be better for him not to know her. "...I don't think so."
H
Prince Seto watched the young man that slept peacefully on the bed from the nearest inn he could find. It was filthy, but he wouldn't stay here long. Just long enough to get some answers.
The youngster stirred in his sleep, and he couldn't help but stare at that face. It was flawless, and it seemed familiar...
Suddenly, the young man's eyes flew open, and he could see they were of a greyish-green color that reminded him of emeralds.
"Master! The Gambling House!" He sat up, looking around wildly before stopping to meet his gaze.
Master? He frowned.
"What are you doing here!" He asked angrily. Angry? He just save him, the idiot.
"Have I met you before?"
His eyes widened, comprehension dawning, it seemed. "...I don't think so." He said slowly.
He rolled his eyes. This boy really reminded him of someone. Someone who he met but hours ago. Someone he found rather interesting, if not weirdly different and half more willful than the general women population. Stupid girl probably got herself to some fight. Not everyone could stand a girl as nosy as her.
Seto forced his thoughts back to the young man. He really was thinking too much about some little commoner...why was he anyway? She didn't mean anything. "Right. Whatever. You have a lot of explanation to do."
More confusion entered his face. "Explaining? I didn't do anything wrong."
He crossed his arms impatiently. "You're stealing from my bank. Rather a big amount, I say. Cashing with a credit card only given to Princess Candidates. Identify yourself and admit you obviously stole the credit card."
"I do not steal! I--" Serenity stopped. She was a thief. Stealing is what thieves do but... the Credit Card! Of course! How could she have forgotten that! She had charged the money she gambled away to that card. "I-I...No, I didn't!" She lied.
"Yes, you did." He said firmly.
What was the point in lying? "But...h-how? How did you know?"
"Unlike you, I'm not stupid." The same arrogant tone. Serenity finally remembered why this man was a jerk. "I can trace the bills. This one came from a gambling house. Ladies don't go there. Somehow, you forged a certain Princess Candidates' signature and thought you would get away with it. Mokuba immediatly notified me of this little problem through my mobile phone, and since I happened to be playing in the same Gambling House, I came after you. And you should be thankful, I saved you from a fight. Apparently, you haven't got many friends. "
Serenity couldn't breathe. Great! How was she to get out of here innocent? And if he was at the Gambling House, how come she didn't see him? "It was just a small amount of 300 gold entrance fee." She said defensively.
He laughed. Like a maniac. "What? Did I say something wrong!"
"Three hundred? I'm not blind, mister. The bill said 200,000."
"Two Hundred Thou--That's ridiculus! I don't remember spending that much!"
And he laughed again. "Of course you don't. You were drunk."
"I...drunk..." She sputtered. Oh God! Drunk! That explained everything! No wonder she didn't remember anything clearly, and her headache. A hangover, he said earlier. Did she really drink that much? And in that state, she didn't notice him, and spent a whole lot of his money too.
...Come to think of it, where was she anyway? Kaiba didn't drag her off from the Gambling House...did he? Drunk! He could've taken advantage of her and--Oh wait, she still had her clothes on. Since when did she get perverted thoughts anyway?
"Yes, drunk. Now, admit your crime, hand over the money, and I just might let you go. As it is, I'm tired and merciful today."
"I c-can't...I don't have any money..." She realized that what she said was the truth.
He sighed in disgust. "Utterly stupid. Say hello to jail, boy."
"You can't put me in jail!"
"And who's stopping me?"
There was only one way out, and Serenity took it, albeit reluctantly. She sighed and pulled her cap down, releasing wave upon wave of long, auburn hair. "I'm a Princess Candidate. The credit card belongs to me."
Seto's eyes widened, and he was speechless for the first time in years. No wonder she was familiar. Those eyes, the hair, even the voice sounded the same!
But... "What the hell were you doing in a Gambling House!" He demanded, incredulous.
"Oh--I don't know--enjoying myself, getting drunk and spending chunks of your precious money." Come to think of it, that was her purpose wasn't it?
"What?"
She sighed. "Forget that. I just got carried away, alright? I wasn't supposed to get drunk."
"You bitch. In fact, you're not going to enjoy any more of this celebration, you're going back to the palace." He said, malice apparent in his voice. "And from now on, you no longer own the credit-card."
"Like I was enjoying this event." She wasn't known to be sarcastic, but there were a lot of things people didn't know about her. You had to be careful around a strict mother and a naively protective brother like hers. And these recent months, she had changed...a lot. "You aren't my father. You can't tell me what to do. It's against my rights to hold me prisoned in the palace."
He smiled evilly. "Unless you want no one to find out you've been to the gambling house. I doubt your Bakura would like that."
"That--That's blackmail!" She shrieked. "And where's Bakura anyway? Why didn't he stop you?"
Seto shrugged. "He saw the whole scene, but he just stood at the sidelines. Probably figured that since you got yourself into the fight, you could get out of it. Now come on."
Damn Bakura. She hasn't even finished her essay yet.
Fortunately for her, Bakura had smuggled the notebook into her room. Unfortunately, Seto got it before she did and didn't bother asking her if it was finished.
She slept early that night, thoughts of murder and wine lulling her to sleep.
H
Authoress' Notes: Hehe, what do you think? It was a bit predictable...okay, okay, so it was VERY predictable. And the bit of Seren's attitude changing, that's partially the result of her past, which I will explain in the future chapters. I know this chapter is nothing less of boring, but I need it for the plot.
Flowersperson: I'm touched, thanks, it's one of the nicest compliments I've ever received. Glad you like the conversation. I was worrying that they may be too OoC...
ANAYAS-CREATER: Hehe, I'm sorry about the mystery guy, but keeping him there got too complicated and weird...Haha, Serenity forgets the dagger for some time, then she...oh wait, i'm giving a spoiler...
KrystalSakura: Get rid? Uh yeah, Gozaburo's on the verge of dying XD
anonymous: Sorry to keep you waiting. Haha, and here I was starting to think that the summary sucked...
XXR.I.PXX: Thanks.
Sakurelle: Maybe I'll make Serenity left-handed...hmm...thanks, by the way, you were the only one who actually paid attention to the question...
Please C&C!