Our Love

Chapter 1:

Everyone knows his name. Nobody knows who he is. Except his little brother, I mean. But even still his little brother won't say anything. Seto Kaiba is a mystery. At least that's what everyone thinks. I've met with Seto himself a number of times. Cold, mean and distant. So it appears. I see through it. To the man that truly lives inside. I doubt he knows it but that doesn't mean he can't. Seto isn't overly kind to me and he doesn't consider me his friend, but we're not enemies. I care about this man. I care about all people. But him more so because I see the pain that lies behind the wall.

Again he sits at his over-sized computer, searching for a strategy that will ensure victory over Yugi Muto. He wants so badly to reclaim his championship title and is hell bent on doing so. He wants to be the best duelist out there, but as long as he remains focused on himself, he'll never succeed. Being a good duelist has nothing to do with having the ultimate, invincible deck, but it's about the kind of person you are during and between those duels. Yugi is accepting of anyone and everyone around him. Seto wants nothing to do with anybody. Until he learns that other people exist, he'll fail continuously.

I have known Seto and his brother for years now. I'm not sure how it happened. I think it was something to do with our parents. Family friends, I guess. But my family is no longer. They've all died. My brother viscously, murdered my parents. When the cops found him, he was sentenced to death. My soul has come to peace with my lost family, but sometimes, my heart still refuses. It refuses to believe that my own dear brother could have done something so brutal. I made peace with my brother-in a way-before he died, but I still cannot forgive what he's done. I've been in this city for a month now, staying with Seto and Mokuba. Seto provided me with my own room, only because I was a friend of the family. He would not have done it otherwise. I help him out as much as I can. With taking care of Mokuba and designing new strategies. None of the strategies will work by themselves. They still need to be combined with a heart and the proper dueling ambition.

I stare at the hidden man in front of me as he remains transfixed on the screen in front of him. I glance at the clock on the wall. 12:32 am. "Seto," I'm sure he heard me but he doesn't let on. "Seto, it's getting late. You should rest." He frowns.

"I will not rest until I have found the perfect strategy."

"Yes, but you will not find that strategy if you don't rest. Your mind needs a break. You need to refresh your energy so you can be in top shape and come back to this tomorrow. You'll have more of a chance that way." I have to explain everything to him don't I. He looks at me thoughtfully. "I'm thinking of you, Seto."

"Fine, I'll rest. Just give me fifteen minutes to finish what I was doing." There's that 'don't bother arguing 'cause it won't work' tone again. Yeesh.

"Alright. But promise me you'll rest. You're eighteen Seto, you should know how to take care of yourself by now."

"I said I'll rest! What are you so worried about me for anyway? You're seventeen you need just as much rest as I do. Start taking care of yourself and leave me to myself." There's the wall that breaks my heart so. Everyone needs somebody. Why can't I be there for him? I can. He looks at me startled, but quickly regains composure. "What's the matter with you?"

"What?"

"You don't usually look so sad in front of others. What's the deal?"

That was odd. He never pays attention to peoples feelings or expressions unless they're laughing at or cowering in front of him. I smile and shake my head. He looks back at the screen. Does he know that he can come to me for anything? Have I ever told him so? Now's as good a time as any. I hesitate a moment before I lean down and gently kiss his cheek. "Good night, Seto." As my hand rests upon the doorknob, his voice calls out to me quietly.

"Jade," I turn around to look at him as he speaks. His back remains turned to me. "Why did you do that?"

I smile. "I was hoping to get it through to you that I care, and you don't need to put up walls to block me out. They don't work against me." He doesn't say anything but he doesn't continue what he's doing either. I wait. Nothing. "Sweet dreams," I say and exit the room to make way to my own.

One floor down and near the end of the hall. One room between Seto and me. Mokuba's at the other end. I lay on my bed, wrapped in the cozy blankets, listening for Seto's door to open or close. I never hear the sounds of him turning in for the night like he promised before I'm consumed by slumber and the world of dreams.

Alarm clock blares in my ears. I snap awake and my hand instinctively shoots for the off button. Silence. Sit up and stretch. 8:00 am. Looking at the giant mirror on my dresser, I take note of my messy excuse for hair. Terrific. I yawn and stumble over to bathroom where I go through my usual routine of brushing my hair and teeth, etc.

First floor. Still in my pajamas. I don't plan on getting dressed until noon today. At least! Mokuba's already in the kitchen when I get there, sitting in a chair staring at his burnt toast. "You know, it's usually done before it turns that color." He looks at me tiredly and manages a tired sounding greeting.

"'Mornin, Jade. Where's the cook? I'm hungry."

"Cook's day off smallish dude." When I moved in with Seto and Mokuba, I managed the 'majority rules' technique and got Mokuba to agree with giving the cook and cleaners and such two days off a week. He wasn't happy, believe me. "I'm in charge today, bud! The cooking will be all my own."

"Run while you can!" sounds the groggy voice of none other than the eldest Kaiba brother.

"Ha-ha" I comment dryly.

"I'm serious. Anything you make is probably poisoned."

"You've never even tasted my cooking!"

"I don't wanna risk it."

"If you keep that attitude up I just might poison your food." With that I turned on my heel and marched back to my room. I know that was one of the few times that Seto seems to be insulting you but he's actually joking, but I am a little insulted. I've been cooking since I was nine and I worked as a chef for a year and a half until I moved away from my home town.

In my room, I sit down at the large desk, piled up with all my gadgets. Well, it's really more like a bunch of old motorized type toys that I've taken apart for pieces. A few days after I arrived I came up with something brilliant. I think it's brilliant anyway. Nobody even knows what I'm doing because nobody comes in my room. Not even the cleaners. I told them I can clean up after myself, so they've left me alone. With an extremely advanced program on my computer, I've figured out how to recode microchips for exactly what I want. It's been a lot of time and work, but I've managed to create a machine model of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. All I need to do now is paint it and it's complete. I put in small LED lights for the eyes, somehow I managed to get it to fly, so I put in a voice activation chip that makes it come to you when it's called. I also put in tiny sensors that allows it to detect objects a meter away, giving it enough time to turn and redirect it's course. It's kind of like a little robot that I created with my own two hands. I'm not sure how I came up with the idea. I just sat down and started building it on a whim. And it worked! I can't wait for the paint to dry so I can show Seto.

A knock at the door. "Come in," I call with the paintbrush still in my hand. I'm concentrating too hard on getting the details right to bother looking up to see who it is.

"What are you doing?" It's Seto, asking an excellent question to ask when you're curious as to what one is doing.

"Something." I reply. I gently set the model down on the tray in front of me to let the paint dry and look up at him. He half sits on the end of the desk, holding a glass in each hand and stares down at the dragon I built.

"What is that?"

"A model."

"So that's why you have stuff scattered everywhere. You actually are using it."

"How'd you know I had stuff scattered everywhere?" I frowned.

"I saw it last night, when I was in here."

"Oh really. What were you doing in here?"

"I came to ask you something but you were already asleep, and before you ask what the question was I don't even remember. I was too tired."

"See. Rest is important." He looks at me coldly.

"Here. I made you a milkshake. Strawberry." He holds out one of the glasses to me.

"A little early isn't it?" I say as I take the delicious treat.

"Yeah well, Mokuba suggested I make you your favorite treat to make up for what I said to you." Was it really Mokuba's idea? Or did I actually get through to him last night? He was pretty tired, so maybe his mind just couldn't be bothered to go against me.

"Oh…well…thanks." He looks at me over the rim of the other glass as he drinks from it, then looks back at the desk.

"So what is this a model of?"

"Guess." I grin excitedly. He's going to love this!

He shrugs. "Looks like a lizard or dragon or something." I beam at him. He looks at me oddly until it finally clicks and he looks more closely. He gets off the desk and squats down so it's at eye-level. "Is that really Blue-Eyes White Dragon?" He's shocked. I bounce in my seat.

"Yup! Isn't he beautiful!"

"It looks well-built," he compliments me. "Neat." He continues to examine it.

"You know, it's not just a model." Paint should be dry by now. It's quick-dry stuff. I picked it up and Seto stood up, eyes never parting from it. I turned it over and flicked the switch on the belly of it to activate the chip inside it. I put the switch there because I didn't want the chip to overheat. Seto watched in amazement as I held my palm out flat, the dragon began to flap it's wings and it flew around.

"That's amazing!" Seto said. He's obviously impressed by my work. I took a bow and stretched my hands out in front of me. I winked at Seto.

"Check this out. Blue-Eyes, come to me!" I commanded in a loud clear voice. The flying robot, turned and flew towards me. I caught and turned it off. "Not bad, huh?"

"Not at all. You must be some sort of genius."

I blinked. "What's with the compliments today, Seto? It's unusual for you. Or was that Mokuba's idea too?"

"If you don't want my compliments then fine, I'll stop. Believe me, it's no trouble at all." Death glare.

"Seto," I didn't have anything to follow that, but I didn't know what I was supposed to say. What is with him today? He reacted to my hurt look the way he reacted to the sad one last night. He sighed, walked to the door and shut it, then came back and leaned against the desk.

"Your creation is astounding, Jade. Am I not allowed to tell you that?"

"Well…yeah…but…you normally keep to yourself…you just don't seem yourself today."

He sighed and shook his head, staring at his feet. Thinking. "Jade, do you remember when you kissed me last night?"

"Yes."

"And what you gave as your reason for doing it…" he's hesitating. "Would you ever do that again?"

"Yes." Of course I would, Seto.

He looked up at me through unusually sad eyes. "Can you do it now?" No walls. Seto…

"Of course." I moved closer to him, pulled on his hands a bit to get him to bend down so I could reach, and pressed my lips to his cheek. As I did so, I felt something else on mine. His kiss. I gave his hands a light squeeze. I pulled away just enough so I could look him in the eye and I smiled at him. "Thank you." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he let it out, we heard him being called for in the hallway.

"Seto!" Mokuba called out. Seto opened his eyes and looked at the door. Without looking back at me, he walked over to it and exited the room. I stood, staring straight ahead, covering one hand with the other in front of my chest. I got through to him. Finally. I closed my eyes, smiled and whispered, "Thank you, Seto."