Guardians
Note: Well, here we are, chapter thirty seven, and the plot thickens. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post this...I've been busy with a million different things, including redoing my room! Anyhow,I hope you enjoy this next installment! Okay, on with it, then! Alexandra, thank you very much for your suggestion of using The Math, by Hilary Duff. Even though I have that CD, I never noticed it! YAY!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh, coke, or The Math, by Hilary Duff.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Pizza Palace Performance
Karmina sighed and slapped the alarm clock with such ferocity that it promptly fell to the floor and made a loud crash.
"Karmina?" Joey called from, surprise surprise, the kitchen.
"Sorry, knocked something over."
"Okay."
She sighed again and picked it up, switching on the radio and searching for something warm to wear.
"So, that Seto Kaiba is a real jerk, ain't 'e ya'll? That's right folks, today's subject for the Really Early radio talk show is Seto Kaiba. Call us up and rant all ya want!" The radio personality said in a booming voice.
She stared at it. "Seto is not a jerk," she told the radio. It didn't answer. Instead, the personality kept on talking as if never interrupted.
"Caller number nine, you're on the line."
"I'd just like to say that although many people were fooled by his business meeting excuse for his long absence, I for one want the real truth. Do you have any info on what actually happened?"
She gaped at the radio and nearly turned it off, but not soon enough to drown out the next words. "Sources tell me that he was seen in the park with a teenage girl. No one seems to have any idea who the girl was, though."
"I knew it! Seto Kaiba is such a dirt bag, he's probably been off having an affair, only to come back and resume life as usual, breaking the poor girl's heart."
Karmina stared disdainfully at the radio now. It was almost true, but people really ought to get the story straight… maybe she should clear Seto's name for him…
"Well, that's the thing… no one's seen this girl since. It's like she vanished."
Without another thought, she picked up the phone and dialed the number that the man had given her.
"Caller 14, you're on the line," the voice said from the radio and the receiver.
"Um… listen, I think you've all got the wrong idea about S- Kaiba. He really was at a meeting, you know."
"How do you know that, miss?"
"I, er, work at Kaiba Corp, of course."
"Really? What's your name?"
"Kar-Karen," she lied.
"I see. What more of this CEO can you tell us?"
"I can tell you this; you forget that he's human too. And he no doubt is tired of all your ridicule. Why can't you people just leave him alone? Don't you understand that it's your fault he's like this?" She felt herself start to cry and willed it to be silent.
"Thank you, caller 14," the personality said sternly, "but that's enough of your opinion."
"Wait-"
And then it was caller 27's turn. She threw the phone and the radio in a heap and forced her legs and arms into respective garments before running out the front door and into the park, where she found a nice quiet bush to hide in while she cried.
Why does it hurt so much to hear them talk about him that way? Is it because I still love him as much as I did… even after what he's done… what I've done? Why do I still feel this way? Why can't I move on?
She heard footsteps and shrunk farther into the bush, tears still falling rapidly from her eyes, freezing onto her cool cheeks.
Something soft brushed up against her hand and she jumped. Looking down, she saw a pink lily, so very much like the one Seto Kaiba had once slipped gingerly into her hair. For some reason, she put it in her pocket before she stood up. She'd nearly forgotten it, but she had school today, and if she didn't hurry, she'd be terribly late.
Running into the house, throwing on her uniform, and then running down the street took up so much of her time that she managed not to think about Seto Kaiba at all, until she slowed her pace and realized with a pang that she was not going to make it.
"DARN IT! STUPID KAIBA! Now he's made me late."
The instant the words were out of her mouth, a long black limo came into view. She stared hostilely at it as it slid by. For a fraction of a second, she considered trying to wave it down, but then knew that's only make him tell the driver to go faster. With a sigh she continued down the street, her tears streaming down her face and freezing once more.
"I hate you, Seto. I hate everything about you. Your perfect blue eyes, your harsh attempts to laugh and smile, your amazing brown hair, and everything else that makes you so… so… you. I hate it."
She sobbed but kept right on walking anyway. Finally, she reached the school building and spotted a single piece of paper lying on the sidewalk. Picking it up, she found numbers and big words that made no sense. Kaiba dropped this. She knew it at once. Turning crimson, she folded it and put in her pocket with the lily.
Her locker wouldn't open, and there was no one in the hall to help her. She yanked and pulled and finally punched it, feeling all hope of not being late slide out of her. And then she heard carefully measured footsteps coming towards her. She didn't need to turn around to know that Seto Kaiba was coming down the hallway.
"Go ahead, laugh at me," she told him in a whisper so low that she didn't think he could possibly have heard it. A sharp, cruel, jet of empty laughter told her that he had.
"Is that what you think I'd want to do?"
She almost didn't respond, but then she remembered the paper. Pulling it out, she handed it to him without looking at him. "You dropped it in the driveway," she mumbled, fumbling again with her lock.
Kaiba snatched it and opened it for her. "It was getting on my nerves," he said before she could ask. For a moment, she looked up and met his deep blue eyes. She started to forget who she was, what she was doing… everything except how she wished those eyes wouldn't be so cold, so alone. And then she was staring at his back as he walked away.
"You are too confusing," she told his back as it rounded the corner. The bell rang and she sprinted after him to get to her class.
"You're late, Karmina," the teacher reprimanded. Everyone looked strangely at her for a moment before resuming whatever else they'd been doing, forgetting the strange name that didn't register in their minds. Joey smiled at her, but she didn't return it. Her eyes were only for the teen sitting stick straight in the back with his laptop.
"Sorry, ma'am," she whispered, staring still at Seto. He didn't seem to be willing to acknowledge her existence at the moment, so she just took her seat and stared at the teacher, never hearing a word that she said.
And through the whole day, she was like that; inattentive, unable to think of anything except Seto. When lunch came around she sat alone in the hallway, eating only half a cup of yogurt. Her depression was catching up to her and stealing her appetite.
"I still hate this," she said softly, now apparently talking to the soda and coffee machines, neither of which seemed very keen to help her out.
If Seto were here, he'd tell me to stop talking to inanimate objects. Or rather, he'd go on pretending I wasn't here.
She threw the rest of her lunch away and then wandered aimlessly through the halls for a while, too sad even for tears.
"I need… I need him. I can't… shouldn't… go on like this," she said resolutely, heading for her next class. "But first… I need to get a job."
And as soon as she got home, she checked the messages and found one from Betty. "We've decided to give you a chance here, Karmina, but remember, you'll need to be more of a people person. Come down today at five and we'll give you some basic training to see if you'll work out here or not."
Karmina smiled, but it was as empty as Seto's earlier laugh. She changed into something far warmer than her school uniform and set off. Suddenly, back in the cold, she wondered what a lily had been doing in the park. Some lucky girl's boyfriend was probably bringing her a bouquet. She sighed and pushed open the door to Pizza Palace.
"Welcome back, Karmina! Come on back and we'll get you an apron and introduce you to the team."
She followed numbly and pulled on the apron that was handed to her. Betty pointed to the freckeled guy at the cash register first. "This is Kevin," she said with a smile. "He works the cash register and answers the phone. He's too clutzy to make the pizzas." Kevin grumbled but gave Karmina a warm smile and shook her hand. She gave him a falsely warm smile back and then followed Betty into the kitchen.
"Here's where we make the pizzas," she said unnecessarily. "This here's Karen and Seth."
Karmina fake smiled and inclined her head at them.
"But we need you to take the orders. You see, over there's where they order, then Kevin rings em up while you get the pizzas and then you hand them to Kevin. That used to be Bob's job, until he quit. Now we need you to do it."
Karmina nodded and walked over to the indicated spot.
"Okay," said Betty. "Here comes a customer. Greet them and take their order, then say it into this microphone. Then the girls'll find what you need and put it on the counter over there. Then you just hand it to Kevin."
Karmina nodded again and turned her attention to the customer. "Welcome to Pizza Palace, may I take your order, sir?"
The man didn't even glance at the menu. "I'll have a large pepperoni and a two liter of diet coke to go."
"Large pepperoni and a two liter of diet coke," she said into the microphone.
She could just see a pair of hands as they deposited the mentioned objects onto the counter, where she picked them up and handed them to Kevin.
"Good job," he whispered before ringing up the man's order and taking his money.
The next few people were dine in, so she had to take the orders and then deliver the pizzas to the tables. It all went very well.
The door swung open and a tall brunette teen stepped in. "Heya all, I'm here for the next few orders."
He had a striking resemblance to Seto Kaiba, but was most certainly not him, for he smiled when he saw her and introduced himself. "I'm Jeff, the delivery guy. You must be Karmina."
It was weird having someone know her name. She smiled and it was a little more real. "Yeah, th-that's me," she told him, trying not to think about the person he looked like.
"Let me guess, you think I look like Seto Kaiba," he said with a grin. "I get that a lot."
She looked at her hands to keep from crying. "You do," she said sadly. "But… it's pretty obvious y-you aren't him."
He cocked his head to the side, accepting a large stack of pizzas from Kevin at the same time.
"You're s-smiling," she said simply, glad when the door opened and another customer came in. Jeff left while she was taking the order, and she was certain that everything would go back to being fine now that him and the bad memories he stirred up were gone.
The door opened again, and she called out "Welcome to Pizza Palace, may I take your or-" She stopped dead in the sentence and stared at this brunette teen and his little brother. No doubt about it, this was the real thing. Seto Kaiba. The frosty gaze and frown were enough to tell her. "-der?" she finished anyway, regaining her calm and pretending he was just any other customer.
"Mokuba, order your food, and be quick about it," Seto said coldly. "I can't stand third rate places like this. Reminds me of that dog Wheeler."
Karmina balked a little at his behavior, the beautiful image that he was to her shattering before her eyes. Mokuba still looked perplexed, but in this better light and closer up, he recognized her.
"Look Seto! It's the girl who won the singing contest!"
Seto did look, and in his eyes Karmina saw only disdainfulness at being forced to do so. Either he was a really good actor, or he loathed her completely. "So it is. Now order your food, Mokuba."
"We'll take a large pepperoni, a coke, and a glass of water," he said joyously, oblivious to what was truly going on between Seto and Karmina.
"Large pepperoni, coke, and a glass of water," Karmina said into the mike, her voice sounding falsely nonchalant and unreal. She picked up the food and took it to a table, despite the fact that the Kaiba brothers had not sat down.
Seto Kaiba stared at the table in the same way he had Karmina before sitting down and sipping the water. His little brother attacked the pizza with a grin. "So Karmina, right? Will you sing a song for us?"
Seto looked outraged at the 'us' but otherwise said nothing. Karmina stared at the little boy for a moment before she found her voice. "I'm not so sure that now's a good time, Mokuba," she said sweetly, jerking her thumb at the other employees instead of where it should have pointed, at his brother.
"Aww… please?"
Betty's face appeared in the window. "Go ahead if it makes him happy. Besides, if you won this contest, we'd all love to hear your voice."
It was undeniable that the others were curious. Kevin was staring at her and two pairs of hands were visible through the slot in the back. Karmina heaved a deep, deep, sigh. "I don't know what to sing," she said, stalling.
"Whatever you feel like," Mokuba said eagerly. Seto was now staring fixedly at the water as if it really interested him. Karmina sighed again.
"Um…" she searched her mind, and let the first words she found come out of her mouth. "You're always trying to figure out, what I am all about. If you don't know what the answer is, then just shut up and kiss. It shouldn't take forever to put it all together," her voice rang softly, nervously, and didn't fit the melody. She shifted into her singing self and out of her shyness. "If you can't do the math, then get out of the equation. I am calling you back! This is star 69. Is it a minus or a plus, does enough equal enough? If you can't do the math, then nothing adds up. Tell me why I'm here!" She glanced around, but everyone seemed to want her to go on (everyone had increased a bit, and there were now would be customers watching her as well.)
"Sure I want someone to understand, but I don't need the stress. I'm not about bein' analyzed. Like it's some kinda test. Don't have to be a genius, to figure what's between us! If you can't do the math, then get out of the equation. I am calling you back! This is star 69. Is it a minus or a plus, does enough equal enough? If you can't do the math, then nothing adds up. Tell me why I'm here!" She let her eyes go where they were drawn, to Seto Kaiba's face. He was watching her intently, with an unguarded expression for once. She gave him a soft smile and his face closed off.
"You can spend your whole life analyzing, justifying, quantifying and dividing, till there's nothing anymore. Why don't you just close your eyes and kiss my lips and let it go, just let it flow, it's what I'm waiting for! Don't have to be a genius to figure what's between us. If you can't do the math, then get out of the equation. I am calling you back! This is star 69. Is it a minus or a plus, does enough equal enough? If you can't do the math, then nothing adds up. Tell me why I'm here! If you can't do the math, then get out of the equation. I am calling you back! This is star 69. Is it a minus or a plus, does enough equal enough? If you can't do the math, then nothing adds up. Tell me why I'm here! Tell me why I'm here!"
She tore her eyes off Seto, as if suddenly it burned for them to take in his perfection. The words she'd just sung were so close to the truth that it hurt, but she couldn't let him know that. It was just a song. Still, she remembered telling him how she chose the ones to sing. But surely he wouldn't think of such a trivial thing now. His eyes were colder than solid ice, and much more painful to behold. It seemed as if nothing would ever stir beneath that frozen façade… as if there no longer was a soft side to Seto Kaiba. She wanted to say something, anything, to unfreeze those eyes, but her mouth was stuck shut as she accepted praise and applause.
"I… I'll take your orders now," she said lamely to the customers, sliding the bill onto Seto and Mokuba's table without glancing in their direction.
End note: Yikes, what a long chapter! And some long paragraphs, too! I hope you liked it! Review or the doom bunnies shall devour you!