Ok, well this might be the last chapter for a while. That is, if I can get the next file to edit from Battygirl. Anyways, if you care, review. I'm gonna try to not beg for the damn reviews anymore 'cause apparently you guys don't care, so neither do I.
-Egyptian Wolf
Risika laughs a little and follows Misty as she leads them farther into the Temple. "Follow me... again... I think he's dueling Master," she contemplated aloud.
Seba shivers, a little scared before asking shakily, "Who's 'he'?"
Misty moans, and holds Seba closer in the dark of the tunnels. Aurora looks back, not yet aware that her brother's eyes glow green in the dark, and screams. "MOMMY!" She began to cry again.
Misty walks into Hakuoh's old dueling chambers to find Kokujo dueling this guy in a cloak that makes him look like he has no arms. 'I WAS RIGHT! COOL!' she screams in her head.
Master has only one shield left, but remains calm and collected before Kokujo makes his final attack (todomeda).
"Now, I attack your last shield with Bone Assassin; Eka!" Ko cries as his monster destroys the Master's last shield, "and, now, Deathliger attack! TODOMEDA!"
Deathliger then proceeds to attack Master, sending him flying into a wall with a sickening thud.
As Seba watches this, he hides behind Misty by nuzzling closer to her, terrified. Risika glances over at the two and her eyes narrow when she sees Seba hide from his own father like that. Misty sighs and takes him off her back, holding Seba to her and letting him nuzzle against her neck as he shut his eyes tight. Risika marched up to Kokujo and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket, getting right up in his face.
"You have been such an asshole for these past seven years. I should of put an end to that before you hurt Seba!" she yelled.
Kokujo tries pushing her away, too shocked by her presence to comprehend why she was there. "What are you doing here? How'd you know I'd be here?" he asked as he tried jerking away from her.
Risika throws him onto the ground. "How dare you try to push me away like that, you son of a bitch!" she screeched.
Ko glared at her and stood again, brushing himself off.
"How did you know I'd be here?" he asked sternly.
Risika laughs evilly. "Just like I told Misty, you should know my ways by now," she chuckled.
Ko folded his arms across chest. "Let me guess; Misty led you here?" he asked in a mocking tone.
"You just leave her out of this! I'm surprised she even tolerated all the arguments and pain she's been through because of you!" Risika yelled back. "And now to abuse your own son, that crosses the line!"
Ko rolls his eyes, obviously not caring about any of this. In the hallway and hiding from Ko and Risika, Misty now has her eyes shut tight and is covering Seba's ears so he can't hear this. Risika glares at his insolence and uses her powers to pick him up and slam him against a wall.
"How do you like it, huh?" she asked, glaring evilly.
Ko moans and rubs the back of his head, but otherwise doesn't reply.
"I know what it's like to be abused and no one should have to go through that, except for maybe you. You deserve to know what pain you've brought those two!" Risika yells, sending him flying into another wall in rage.
Kokujo moans in pain, thinking, Is not being able to feel your back a bad thing?
Risika sends him flying again, only this time he lands at her feet. She kneels down, still glaring at him and picks him up by the collar of his jacket again. Misty is now leaning against wall and has fallen to her feet, trying not to listen to this.
"So if you have a sensible bone in your body I will not see any more bruises on your son, nor see him cower in fear every time he sees you. And I will not hear any more arguments with Misty, got that?" Risika ordered the beaten duelist.
Kokujo glares at her and looks away from her and everyone else, keeping his mouth shut.
"I said 'DO YOU GOT THAT'!" She urges through gritted teeth as she flicks out one of her majorly sharp claws and presses it to his throat, drawing a hint of blood.
Kokujo looks back at her but says nothing and only nods.
Risika smirks and withdraws her claw. "Good..." she says, kicking him before leaving and licking the blood off her claw in warning. She then proceeds in walking out to Bakura and the others. "C'mon you guys."
Ko stands unsteadily and glares after her before walking in the opposite direction to another exit as Risika heads out toward her truck.
She takes a look back. "Misty, Seba, are you coming?" she asked.
Misty nods, crying, and follows Risika and the others.
Once they were back at home, Lupus didn't hesitate in congratulating his mother. "THAT WAS SO COOL MOM!" he exclaims, bouncing around the living room.
Misty walked up to her room after setting Seba down first. She walks into her room, crying, and sits on her bed, staring at the floor.
"Hopefully that knocked some sense into his fool head..." Risika utters, her eyes close as she lounges on the couch.
"I think Misty took that kind of hard though..." Bakura noted.
"She takes almost everything hard though. Why does she care so much about him? All he does now is bring her pain," Risika mused in response.
Aqua runs up to Seba and embraces him in a death hug, smiling happily. Seba winces, but says nothing and lets her hug him, knowing it's futile to push her away.
"Can we sit down Aqua?" he asks in a quiet voice.
"Of course!" Aqua squealed.
Seba smiled a little and took her hand. He then proceeded in leading her to the couch and sits down with her. Smiling, Aqua huggles him on the couch, making Seba blush, but smile as he lays his head back against the back of the couch, feeling tired. Aqua suddenly stops hugging him and stares down silently.
Seba takes instant notice of this and sits back up. "What's wrong?" he asked in the quiet voice of his.
"Oh nothing... just thinking," Aqua replied, smiling half-heartedly at him.
"About what?" Seba questioned, still looking worried.
"Nothing... just nothing," she urged.
Seba looks down and leans back again sadly.
Later that night, while Misty is tucking Seba in, she notices that he's looking sad and very lonely.
"Good night, Seba..." she whispers, a hint of worry in her voice.
Seba doesn't answer, and just lies on his side staring at the wall sadly.
"Are you ok?" she asks.
Seba merely nods. "Mmhmm."
Misty sighs and kisses his cheek good night before she walked out. She looked back at him, and then turned out the light, leaving his nightlight on. She then walks downstairs and sits on the couch, staring down.
"Hey Misty..." Risika says, having been down there on the couch already.
Misty looks up, just now noticing Risika and replies, "Oh... hey."
"Ya'll right?" Risika asks.
"Yeah... I'm fine," Misty said in a solemn voice.
Risika, however, doesn't believe her and sighs, looking down. "I'm sorry I had to do that today," she says.
Misty looks back down sadly, the memory still fresh in her mind. "You don't need to be sorry. I understand why you did that," she said staring down.
"Well, I just don't want to see you in pain like this," Risika continues, trying to comfort her.
"I know..." Misty replies, nodding.
Risika's wolf ears fold back against her head and she stares down at the floor as well.
Seba walks downstairs and stands tiredly in doorway of the living room.
"Mommy, I can't sleep..." he said in his too quiet voice.
However, and despite how morose he sounds, Misty smiles and stands. She then walks over to Seba and picks him up, carrying him back to the couch and sitting down with him in her arms. Risika takes a quick glance at Seba and Misty, smiles, then looks back down at the floor. Seba smiles a little in the comfort of his mommy's arms and closes his eyes and nuzzles her lovingly. Risika gets up and goes to the window, noticing that it's raining and sighs.
Misty, who watched Risika get up and walk over to the window, asks casually, "What's up?"
"Hmm?" Risika asks in return as she looks back, "Oh, nothing."
Misty just shrugs and looks down at Seba, who's now sitting up.
He looks up at her sadly. "Mommy, Aqua was acting weird after we got home today; she looked really sad for some reason, but she wouldn't tell me what was wrong," he said, speaking a little softer then usual, "Why would she look so sad?"
"For some reason I noticed she has been doing that recently. I mean, being happy one minute, then looking so solemn and lifeless the next," Risika agreed.
"Is there something wrong with her? Is she sick?" Seba asked worriedly.
Risika merely shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know. I'm going to try to find out though," she replied, smiling at Seba reassuringly.
Seba smiles back and rubs his eyes tiredly.
"Is that what was worrying you earlier?" Misty asked holding Seba closer.
Seba blushes a little and nods, still smiling.
"Ok, well... Risika will take care of it. You should go to bed now, Seba..." she said, ruffling the boy's hair and kissing his forehead.
Smiling, Risika turns back to staring out the window.
"Ok..." he sighs, hugging Misty goodnight. "Good night, Mommy." He then walks back up to his room to get a good night's sleep.
Misty smiles after Seba, then stares up at the ceiling, thinking about what had happened. She shut her eyes, however, to expel the horrible memory from her mind. She then lay back against the couch and opened her eyes, staring at the patterns engraved in the ceiling. Risika sighs again before turning and sitting back down on the couch with Misty.
"You ok?" Misty asked again.
"Me?" Risika asks in return, "Yeah I'm fine. Just a little worried."
"'Bout what?"
"Oh, the way Aqua has been acting lately," Risika answered. "It's like she's got two personalities... it really is."
"Yeah, it's easy to see that Seba's worried too," Misty added.
"That's so cute though," Risika laughed.
"Yep," Misty agreed, laughing with her.
As the gentle sound of the rain is slowly putting her to sleep in the silence of the house, Risika stands.
"I think I'm going to go to bed too. See you in the morning, Misty," she said, walking up the stairs.
Misty smiles after her, but decides to stay up for a little while longer. She hears knock on door shortly after Risika leaves and stands, walking over to the door with a smile still on her face. She opens door to an angry looking Kokujo and that happy smile disappears as she gasps quietly, shivering a little, but saying nothing.
After a long silence and in an irritated voice, Ko finally speaks to her, "Are you going to let me in?"
Misty winces, but moves aside and closes the door behind him. While she stands, waiting for him to say something else, he wrings his hair out and takes off his wet jacket.
Misty finally finds her voice and says in a quiet voice like Seba's, "I'm sorry about what Risika did today..."
Kokujo pauses at her words, then turns to her honing a venomous glare.
"You think a simple 'I'm sorry' from you is going to make me forgive either of you for what she did to me!" he nearly yells at her.
Shutting her eyes tight, Misty winces and whimpers a little, her eyes tearing up. In the dark sanctacty of her room, Risika is lying on her bed when she hears a knock on her bedroom door. She opens it to find Aurora standing in the doorway and kneels down to meet her eyes.
"What's the matter, Aurora?" she asks gently.
"Something loud woke me up..." Aurora replies, rubbing her tired eyes.
"Something loud? I haven't heard any thunder..." Risika muses.
Ko walks into living room and sits on the couch, disregarding Misty's tears completely. Misty follows him, trying desperately to get him to forgive her.
"Ko, I said I was sorry... I didn't want that to happen," she cried.
"Leave me alone..." he snapped back.
Misty sits next to him and collapses on him, crying, "I'm sorry Ko... please forgive me."
Kokujo pushes her away angrily, however, and nearly yells, "Go away, Misty! Go away and leave me alone!"
Misty falls off the couch and onto the floor from the force of him pushing her away, but stands quickly and runs away and to the stairs towards her room, crying. Around this time, Risika is about to shut the door to her room, while leading Aurora in, when she hears yelling coming from downstairs. Misty has chosen to sit on the bottom step, not wanting to go upstairs yet and cries into her hands. Hearing Misty's sobs, Risika looks down the staircase to see her crying. At the bottom step, Misty sniffles and keeps sobbing, without noticing Risika.
"Misty, what's wrong?" she asks, staring down at her disheartened friend.
Misty's eyes widen when he hears Risika and she quickly rubs her eyes hastily, wiping away the tears.
"Nothing..." she replied with a sniffle.
Aurora grabs onto her mom's shirt, gently tugging at it and gaining Risika's attention.
"That's the sound I heard..." she explained.
Misty looks down sadly, but stays quiet, trying to muffle her sobs.
Risika looks down at Aurora and instructs in a quiet voice, "Alright, go back to bed now..."
She then walks downstairs and sits beside Misty on the bottom stair.
"Why are you crying?" she asked, staring worriedly at Misty.
Misty looks upstairs then back to her, replying timidly, "Just promise you won't get mad?"
"Sure, what is it?" Risika urged.
Misty stares down and explains quietly through her sobs, "W-well... K-ko's here... but please don't get mad, he's mad at me enough already for today. I just want to let him try to relax... and calm down is all."
Risika sighs and stares at the ground angrily.
"Just don't mess with him, I don't want any more of the kids to wake up to his fucking yelling," Risika finally replied through gritted teeth.
"I know..."
"And unless he wants to get his ass kicked again," Risika continued, "I suggest he stay away from me and my family." She then stood and trudged back upstairs to her room.
Misty watches her walk away sadly, then stares back at the floor and continues to quietly sob to herself. She finally stands after a few minutes and looks into the living room to find Kokujo sleeping. Walking quietly up to her room, she crawls under the covers of her bed.
Risika turns on mildly loud music in her room before going to sleep that night. In her own room, Misty sighs and takes a slight hold on her sheets, still crying and finds she is unable to sleep. Seba can be seen standing in her doorway, watching her cry, and eventually walks over to her bed. He crawls quietly into the bed with her and snuggles
close, trying to comfort his mother.
Misty closes her eyes tight and holds Seba close too, still crying a little. Meanwhile, Aqua wakes up in the middle of the night, screaming with tears rolling down her face. Misty and Seba sit up suddenly at hearing the scream.
Ember is now standing over Aqua, shaking her sister by her shoulders. "Good lord, Aqua! What is wrong!" she asks over Aqua's screams.
Seba runs into Aqua's room, looking really worried. "Aqua, are you okay?" he asked, his eyes wide.
Aqua buries her face back into the pillow, still crying, and doesn't respond. Seba walks over to her and gently touches her arm, trying to make sure she's okay.
"Aqua? Aqua, please tell me what's wrong," he urged.
"This is the fourth time she's done this..." Aurora explained worriedly.
Seba looks up at her, then stares at Aqua worriedly and sits next to her, trying to comfort her.
Aqua, who still has her face buried in the pillow, crying, says in a muffled voice, "Let me be... just go away!"
