When Destinies Collide

By Ash Kaiba

DISCLAIMER! We don't own any of the characters/term(s) from the Yu-Gi-Oh show and games. We do own Ashley "Ash" Black, Kathryn Takemura, and Mae Black, and everyone else not seen in the manga or anime.

Note: Just a reminder that "floods" means years, since Egyptians measured years by recording when the Nile River flooded its banks every spring.

Ash Kaiba: This is the nineth chapter. Sorry it took awhile. I had a test to study for. Fun, fun. Anyway...enjoy!

Previously in When Destines Collide: Chapter 8: First Day

Kaiba and Ash meet. Ash doubts Kaiba's motives (though they are peaceful).

Chapter 9: Shadow Act

"Welcome to another exciting year of learning, students!" Mr. Tundra greeted the class. Then the teacher stared at Joey. "Mr. Wheeler, no funny faces please. Now, where was I…? Oh yes, for the time being, the principal has ordered all teachers to hand out detentions for attempts on the life and health of any injured students."

"Oh, yeah, right. Who's the hurt one?" one of the class jerks asked, making his friends laugh. If their goal was to annoy the injured person, they succeeded. Kaiba glared at them with anger in his eyes. His temper was about to be set off. "I don't see any broken arms or legs, 'Teach.'" Kaiba had had enough of the dummy. With a loud clatter, he rose out his seat and glared them in the eyes. "What, Kaiba? You've ignored us since sophomore year." He chuckled.

"You show no respect to teachers or fellow classmates. You might as well mature now before graduation. If you don't, you know what will happen," Kaiba warned. The kid didn't take his warning seriously. He stood up and stomped to the lane where Kaiba sat. The two stared each other down, neither willing to be the first to blink or look away.

"Is that so, Rich Boy? Hate to break it to you, but nobody cares what you have to say. Just because you are in charge of a multi-million dollar company doesn't give you the right to be smart with me." He sneered, poised for a punch.

s—t! Mitchell's doin' it! Joey mentally yelled as he watched with the rest of the class. Uh…Kaiba seems really calm about this. What is he thinking, though? Not only is Mitchell the class jerk, he's a bully. In his condition, Kaiba is asking for a fight. I gotta do somethin'. Joey got an idea and stood up. "Yo, Kaiba! Would your brother want you to do this?"

Kaiba remained silent. Mitchell, the bald bully, released a blow to Kaiba's chest. "Ha, ha, ha…this is your end, Kaiba! Say hello to the infirmary." He laughed as his fist flew. "What?"

"No way! He escaped from the punch! That's impossible!" His group gasped.

"He dodged it with a simple dance move," Téa replied. She looked at Kaiba. "How do you know those steps?"

Kaiba ignored her as he dodged another punch. The ease with which he dodged Mitchell's blows finally set the bully off. Mitchell came at him at full force. Mr. Tundra ran to protect Kaiba from the blow, but he was too late. Kaiba yelled in agony as he fell to his knees. Joey ran to Yugi's fallen friend. Then, he faced Mitchell. "That's it. No one's getting away with that move, Mitchell."

"Oh really, Wheeler? What are you gonna do about it? Why are you even protecting him, anyway?"

Kaiba rose to feet. "Step aside, Wheeler," he ordered. Joey was about to decline.

"Joey! Do as he says!" Yugi warned him. "It's his temper. If you don't want to get hurt, get out the way!"

Oh, yeah. Mokuba warned us about that, Joey remembered as he stepped out of the way. "There ya go, Kaiba. I understand. Ya wanna face Mitchell like a man, despite your condition. You can have him," he replied as he walked away. He felt Kaiba's glare on his back as he approached his desk. Then, Kaiba grabbed Mitchell by the collar. He jabbed him in the stomach with his knee. Mitchell winced in pain as Mr. Tundra broke the two up. He handed Mitchell a detention slip. Mr. Tundra turned to Kaiba. His arm throbbed. If he weren't in his school uniform, he would've asked for an ice pack. Kaiba got back on his feet and returned to his desk. He took his right hand off of his left arm. He looked at the teacher, ignoring the pain.

"Now that that little fiasco is over, let's get back to class. The first subject of the day is history. For the entire school year, we will be doing an in-depth study of Ancient Egypt: its rise to brilliance; its many dynasties; its great inventors, mathematicians, and philosophers; and its mythology, to name a few of the topics. The first topic is the Dark Age. In this time period, Egypt was engulfed in darkness. Legends have it that Ra, the supreme Egyptian god, came to the sands of Egypt and chose a woman to give birth to his 'chosen.' After she gave birth, Ra left her specific instructions on how to raise her son. Of course, no one is sure that this happened." He paused, watching the students' pencils scratching at their notebooks. "But on to the facts. During the Dark Age, a pharaoh gave hope to his subjects…"

He went on. Kaiba listened to his voice and the lead of his classmates' pencils. Somehow, he knew what Mr. Tundra was going to say. He could hear a mental voice of his teacher in his mind. His paper was full of notes, many of them things that Mr. Tundra hadn't even said yet. That surprised the students around him. At that moment, he could hear them thinking. Kaiba wondered about his dream, when he had met Ra. Instead of thinking of it as a dream, he thought of it as a real meeting with the Egyptian sun god. Everything felt so strange; he couldn't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. It made no sense to him. Could he be gaining his 'demigod' power?

"Okay, class, Pop quiz for bonus points. Who is the son of the god Osiris and the goddess Isis?" Mr. Tundra asked as the entire classroom moaned. "Yugi, Kaiba. Do either of you know the answer?"

"No, sir. I don't know it," Yugi answered, a look of embarrassment on his face.

As Yugi answered, Kaiba immediately knew the major gods of Egyptian mythology. It was as if he had suddenly remembered that he personally knew every one of them. He looked at the class and Mr. Tundra. His teacher was waiting for his response. "Horus," Kaiba said after a moment of hesitation. Beads of sweat started to form on his brow. Mr. Tundra congratulated him, but he didn't hear it. The darkness stirred within him as the teacher continued lecturing. Its sudden activity started to make Kaiba light-headed and dizzy. Voices blurred into one mess, which forced him to separate the sounds until he found the one to which he wanted to listen. Then, someone pulled him out of his seat.

"Come on, Kaiba. I'm taking you outside," A voice replied. It sounded deep and forbidden to him. However, he caught a glance of the person's eyes.

"Taylor…" he whispered. The shadows began feeding on his emotions. Kaiba started to feel limp as they seemed to consume him from the inside. He immediately realized that the shadows were thriving on his anger.

"Kaiba! Let's get him outside, Tristan!" A young voice said in a panicky tone as Joey helped Tristan get Kaiba onto his back.

Tristan nodded as Kaiba started breathing heavily. Mr. Tundra opened the door and the boys ran through it, hurrying to get Kaiba into the fresh air. Tristan and Yugi quickly walked in the halls toward the courtyard.

In the Shadow Realm…

"Ah, there you are…" A man grinned. "You ran from me all these years. Now, I have found you."

He wore an Egyptian robe. His skin was wrinkled and a pasty gray. It looked as if all of his skin could fall off at the slightest puff of wind. "You thought you could escape the shadows, Seth…the chosen one of Ra." The man watched Kaiba in a giant, magical mirror. Its black glass blended into the crystal pedestals on which it stood. "Yugi and Tristan, eh? They can only temporarily help you. No one can relieve the pain you're in, not even the pharaoh." He grinned, his brown eyes glistening in joy.

"Master Heishin…" A hissing voice asked, "Have you found him?"

"Yes, Kyle. I have." Heishin smirked. The ghouls of the shadows were at his command; however, he only gave names to the high ranking ghouls. When Seth is brought to the eternal darkness, Heishin planned, he will become one of the high ranking. The ghouls were only shadows with empty, yellow eyes and voices that can enchant a victim. A ghoul's spells could instantly kill a person. For millennia, Heishin had searched the globe for his apprentice. Now, after 5000 years, he had finally found him. However, Heishin had a few problems to watch out for. Firstly, he didn't want Siamun, the pharaoh's advisor, in the way. In ancient Egypt, Siamun had freed Seth from most of the shadows within him. Another problem was Kanika. Heishin recalled the day he was sent to the Shadow Realm. He had attacked the hut on the Pharaoh's ground, and she had appeared after he had fought with Seth. Kanika also loved Seth and knew about Heishin's secret plan. Since Kanika had left his class, when she was only 8 floods old, she had been trying to find a way to stop his plans.

"Do you want me to get him?" Kyle questioned.

"Not yet…" He sneered in delight. I will get what I want, Seth.

At Domino High courtyard…

"We brought your lunches out, Yugi," Téa replied. "You guys have been out here with him for two and a half hours."

"Yeah, ya had the entire class worried!" Joey yelled. Then he looked over at the tree. Kaiba sat in the shade of the leaves. His eyes stared ahead into space, as if he was daydreaming. "How's he doin', Yug?" the blonde asked as he gestured toward their classmate.

"He's better now, but I think he's isolated himself from us. He hasn't answered us since his breathing calmed down," Yugi answered with some concern.

"Ah, uh…Kaiba is like reactin' to something. Something that is possibly worse than exhaustion," Tristan added.

Téa looked over at Kaiba. She walked up to the tree's trunk and sat by him. The president of Kaiba Corp remained silent. His eyes stared ahead at the basketball court, unfocused. "Kaiba, you should really eat your lunch," she suggested to him. Kaiba stayed silent. Téa had a strange feeling that his voice was being muffled into nothingness. "Please, Kaiba, say something. You have a voice to use. Unless your voice was taken from you," she pleaded.

"You wouldn't understand," his voice whispered in a small breath of air. "And…I'm not hungry."

"Kaiba, you have to eat," Téa told him.

Kaiba relapsed into his silent state. Yugi ran to his friend and put his hand on Kaiba's shoulder. Then, he rubbed Kaiba's right shoulder. Kaiba looked at him with darkened irises. He knew the shock Yugi was going through. Suddenly shy, Kaiba looked away with small patches of blush on his face. Deep down, he knew what was happening. Tristan had one part correct: he was reacting to something worse than his exhaustion. He couldn't keep it a secret forever, but he also didn't want Yugi's concern.

"I think Kaiba just chickened out. Ya were so ready to take on Mitchell that ya couldn't finish what ya started, Kaiba!"

"Joey, stop teasing him!" Téa jumped to his defense.

With Yugi and the gang trying to stop Joey, Kaiba grabbed his lunch and quietly ate. His mind kept returning to his task. At first, he thought it was impossible, but now…it was possible. He felt a power in Ash, Yugi's sophomore friend; it seemed to be waiting for something. Then, he felt a connection to her. Kaiba was positive it wasn't love…at least, that was what he was telling himself. At that moment, he felt incomplete. Maybe Ra wasn't answering him so that Kaiba could discover his past on his own. Then, he looked behind Yugi. Mrs. Kurosaki, the school nurse, was walking through the crowds of students eating and talking outside. He closed his empty lunch box. Kaiba slowly stood, but remained in the shade.

"Good afternoon, Yugi," Mrs. Kurosaki greeted him. She held a blue bracelet in her hand. "Have you seen Seto Kaiba?"

"Does he have a phone call?" Joey quizzed, making Mrs. Kurosaki chuckle.

"No, Mr. Wheeler. He needs to come with me to the infirmary."

"Whoa! Ash was right!" He yelled.

"What is the bracelet for, Mrs. Kurosaki?" Yugi asked.

"It's a medical bracelet," she replied with a smile.

"I wish you would shut your mouths, all of you," Kaiba growled. He still felt exhausted. He stepped forward and looked at the nurse. "Why do I have to go to the infirmary?"

"Dr. Muran has given me a doctor's note," she answered as Kaiba stared at her. His eyes widened in surprise. She laughed. "You look like my son when you do that. Anyway, come with me." He reluctantly followed her shadow. She snapped the bracelet on his wrist. "Never take it off."

Sighing, Kaiba looked back at Yugi. He could feel tears begin to form in his eyes. He blinked them away, focusing on the task Ra had given him. His mind returned to Kanika. Ash reminded him so much of her that he was having a hard time considering her a normal person. Kanika… The name alone gave him hope that he would succeed. Unfortunately, Ash couldn't be her; she just couldn't.

Suddenly, Kaiba walked into a door. "Ow…" he groaned in shame, tears welling in his eyes again as he grasped his nose in pain. A teacher glanced around the door. She smiled at Mrs. Kurosaki and then gasped at Kaiba. "Ms. Chono!" he gasped. She was the one teacher at the school that he didn't like, mainly because he'd had to turn her down for millions of dates. Kaiba knew she was one of Yugi's "Penalty Game" victims, like he was. But that had been years ago. Hearing about her was one thing, but seeing her was another.

"Mr. Kaiba!" she squealed cheerfully. Kaiba's teeth clenched. "How's it going?"

"Not now, Ms. Chono. He's a little busy at moment," Mrs. Kurosaki explained.

"Oh…you again," a voice moaned.

Kaiba looked for the source of the voice. "Kanika!" he gasped. Then, he slapped his face. "I mean, Black," he corrected, hoping that Ms. Chono and Mrs. Kurosaki hadn't caught that. Thankfully, no one had noticed his Egyptian accent. Kaiba realized that he had addressed Ash as Kanika; and more importantly, at that moment, he felt complete. Ash has to be her. I don't know how, but she must, he thought to himself. Kaiba suddenly discarded the thought of approaching her, especially after what had happened that morning. He knew Ash didn't like him and he could deal with that. He knew most people didn't like him, anyway. "Sorry about this morning, Black."

"Sorry doesn't cut it. You have to earn my forgiveness," she growled. There was anger in her voice, which immediately told Kaiba that she was a fighter. "What is it?"

"Your father is here, ma'am," Mrs. Kurosaki answered. "Follow me."

They followed her in step. Kaiba looked down at Ash from the corner of his eye. She walked with a straight back. She reminded him of a soldier. He barely knew anything about her, but her appearance was telling him a lot. Most of the time, her nose was in the air. Man, she is pretty stubborn, he thought with a silent groan. Kaiba started to think that Ash was just plain stuck up. Then he realized that he acted the same way. Mrs. Kurosaki asked Ash about classes in the U.S.

"Our high schools had about an hour with a group of students. Then, the students switch classes in four minutes," Ash explained to her. Her voice was so full of respect that Kaiba winced in surprise. Mrs. Kurosaki told her a joke. Ash laughed quietly. Kaiba glared at her with envy. Why can't I be like that? He wondered.

"Here we are." She pointed at the door. "Mr. Kaiba, please climb into the bed. Ms. Black, please wait here while I fetch your father."

"Okay," they answered in unison. Ash gave Kaiba a hard glare. Not willing to start a fight, Kaiba scooted into the room. She remained out in the hall. He looked back at her, and then sighed heavily as he climbed into the bed. Uneasy, Kaiba laid down.

To be continued…

Next Chapter in the When Destinies Collide Saga: Chapter 10: Naptime Disturbed

Mokuba and Captain Black pop in for a visit. Kaiba learns that Ash is his personal assistant. Will Ash and Kaiba survive…each other?

Ash Kaiba: That's the end of Chapter 9. I also have a problem. This fanfic is going to be so long that I'm trying to decide to split it into two. I'll talk to Katie Mae about it. Thanks for reading and please review! Extra pointers are accepted. Thanks, Rosenkruez, for telling me Seto's true name.