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Recap:
"Good luck! Tell Max I'm sorry I helped Oliver." Kaiba stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"Tell her yourself!" Kaiba said, Kaede smiled and nodded turning away to do what she was asked. Kaiba turned back to his task and ran down the hall to the door the Kaede had told him Max was behind. Kaiba silently promised he would kill her if this was a trick, but didn't ponder that thought for long after hearing the muffled voices behind the door.
"You will answer to me and me alone!" Kaiba gritted his teeth eyes narrowing in anger, but not acting incase it was a trap.
"No! No! No!" Max yelled unmistakable anger in her usually calm voice. Kaiba growled fresh anger coursing through his body he twisted the door handle and found it locked, giving the door a glare that could have set it on fire Kaiba turned and walked back two paces.
"Talking" 'Thinking'
Max felt something give inside her releasing all her hidden anger like water out of a broken dam. She pulled her arm back sent a punch at Oliver's torso it connected with a sickening sound of bone breaking, Max jumped back to avoid the fist Oliver had let loose aimed at her head she felt the air being distorted as his fist sailed right in front of her face.
"You sicken me!" Max hissed angrily as Oliver wrapped his arm around his now broken rib.
"You bitch! I'm going to make you watch while Slade guts Kaiba!" Oliver spat wincing at the pressure talking was putting on his ribs and took a phone out of his pocket. Max curled her lip and went to kick the phone out of his hand, but was interrupted when the door came crashing inward. Max ducked as a large piece of wood sailed past narrowly missing her head. She straightened up and looked past the settling dust to see Kaiba lowering the leg he used to kick in the door. Max felt her heart leap and couldn't control a smile appearing on her lips.
"It's too late for that!" Kaiba stated calmly seeing that Oliver hadn't yet done anything to Max. "Slade is chained up in the dungeon rethinking his career." He walked into the room moving loose wood with his foot. Oliver's face screwed up in rage as Kaiba's words hit him. "Why don't I string you up next to him and see how you like it?"
"No!" Max spoke up her voice flat as she turned to smirk evilly at Oliver. "This one is mine!"
"You finally admit it!" Oliver wheezed looking triumphant. Max mover forward kicking Oliver in the stomach sending him flying back into the dresser.
"That's not what I meant!" Max said clenching her teeth and walking to where Oliver landed face down. "That was for George!" Max said her voice clouded with rage as she picked him up by the front of his shirt and punched him in the face again. "That was for hurting Mokuba!" Oliver's shirt ripped and he fell to the ground, Max knelt down straddling his waist, she launched more punches at Oliver ranging from his face to his stomach listing off the reasons she had for pummeling him. "And that was for kidnapping Kaiba, and that was for touching me! And that was for kissing me!"
"Max stop!" Max felt her wrist stopped in a gently grasp, looking up she saw Kaiba's almost amused eyes.
"Kaiba." Max breathed out in a whisper, Kaiba nodded and Max shamelessly launched herself into Kaiba arms wrapping him in a tight hug. She was surprised at her actions, but what surprised her even more was two strong arms wrapping themselves around her waist accepting and returning her affections. Kaiba looked down at Max her face was buried in his chest and her eyes were closed as she calmed her breathing, there were streaks of dark red blood on here pale skin. Frowning Kaiba unwrapped his arms from around Max's waist and held her at arms length inspecting her, she was still wearing the short black dress, but it was spattered with blood in a few places. Kaiba was relived to find that it was not hers; the blood came from the many punches Max threw at Oliver breaking his nose and splitting his lips. He almost winced in pain for Oliver when he saw the heeled footwear Max was wearing. Kaiba frowned when he saw Max's hands; the knuckles were bruised and bleeding from all the punches.
"You're a mess!" Kaiba said finally meeting Max's eyes, Max blushed and looked down at herself. Seeing her blood spattered outfit and bleeding hands Max shrugged and grinned at Kaiba.
"It was worth it!" Max said her weariness obvious in her voice.
"Freeze police!" Max and Kaiba both turned to the door to see three officers with their weapons drawn. "Hands above your head!" Kaiba and Max both did as they were told, relief flooding through both of them.
Two hours later ...
Two hours later Kaiba and Max had both given their testimonies to the police officers at the scene, when the police were sure Max and Kaiba were not the ones who needed to be arrested they had separated them to get their various wounds taken care of...
...That had been almost forty-five minutes ago. Max sat there impatiently tuning out the Med Tech who was now giving her instruction on how to care for her wounds, she had watched them take Oliver away in an ambulance with an armed escort, the same with Slade a few minutes later. Max couldn't help but feel sorry for Oliver, he had done all these things in the name of what he though was love however twisted it might have been.
"Here you go miss." Max looked over the young man who had patched up her hands, he was now handing her a grey wool blanket. She stood up and took the offered object with a smile and a word of thanks she walked away out of the flow of traffic that was still going in and out of the mansion they had been kept in, the ground was wet with sunken pits in some places that she tried to avoid. Multiple and men and woman alike dressed in dark blue uniforms were bringing out cuffed guards and stuffing them into their cars. Cars that boasted flashing red and blue lights, all of which were on and spinning madly covering the neighborhood and drawing a curious crowd. Max saw a limo pull up and wondered who it could be until Mokuba came running out pushing through the crowd to find his brother, obviously someone had called him and told him that his brother had been found, she lost the boy who was to short to be seen over the taller people that the crowd consisted of. Max wondered where her cell phone was since there was nothing she wanted more than to call a ride and go home. Kaiba pushed his way through the crowd holding Mokuba's hand, well there was only one thing Max wanted more than to go home. Max closed her eyes and sighed letting the cold breeze wash over her, earning a few minutes of peace.
"Max Max!" Max looked up to see Kaiba and Mokuba standing in front of her.
"What?" Max asked looking down at the violet eyed boy. Mokuba pulled his brother closer and grinned up at Max.
"Seto has something he wants to say!" Mokuba said seriously and then walked away getting the attention of a young female officer who crouched down to be on his level, he whispered something in her ear making her laugh. Max looked from the young trouble maker to Kaiba who was watching her intently.
"What did you want to say?" Max asked softly looking into Kaiba's sapphire eyes hoping that Mokuba wasn't planning something again.
"Thank you Max." Max looked at Kaiba surprised for a second before dipping her head in embarrassment as a soft blush tinted her cheeks pink. Kaiba caught himself watching Max's face in the harsh red and blue lights she still looked beautiful.
"I can't believe you just thanked me." Max said shaking her head and looking seriously up at Kaiba. "I'm the reason all of this happened!" Kaiba raised his eyebrow and let a corner of his lift in a small smile.
"Remember that talk we had earlier about blaming yourself?" Kaiba asked, Max nodded and blushed at the memory of Kaiba's body pressed against hers, his mouth close enough to kiss. "So then what are we going to do?" Kaiba said playfully mocking her like he was talking to a child.
"Not tell you I feel bad about it!" Max said folding her arms across her chest and going along with it.
"Max!" Kaiba said warningly.
"What?" Max asked cocking her head innocently.
"Don't!"
"Don't what?" Max asked hiding a grin behind an innocent facade.
"You know what I'm talking about!" Kaiba said narrowing his eyes.
"No, I don't believe I do." Max said blinking and putting on a thoughtfully look.
"Max... I swear! Stop it!" Kaiba said resisting the urge to smile at Max's antics.
"Aww, I was just having some fun." Max said sticking her bottom lip out in a pretend pout. Kaiba's amused eyes betrayed the frown he was wearing, shaking his head he looked down at Max.
"Come on, I'll take you home." Max nodded accepting Kaiba's offer as he turned away to find Mokuba and leave.
"Oh, ow!" Max mumbled as she walked after Kaiba. He turned to see what had caused her problems; she just looked at him and grinned.
"The lawn has holes and I'm in heels." Max pointed to the footwear she had been made to wear and took another few steps forward tripping once again she closed her eyes waiting for the wet ground to catch her, something stopped Max before she had time to make it to the hard ground. Opening her eyes Max saw her hands resting on Kaiba's well muscled chest, she looked up to find him looking seriously down at her thoughtfulness gracing his sapphire orbs. Max relaxed feeling the two arms around her back holding her up.
"Max," Kaiba started his voice low and almost strained. "Did he really kiss you?" Max blinked in surprise before nodding once.
"Yes," Max said slowly. "That was one of the reasons I was so angry with him." Kaiba leaned closer to Max closing some of the space between them.
"Would you have that reaction to anyone who kissed you?" Kaiba asked softly.
"That depends on who it was." Max admitted unable to look away from Kaiba's hold on her eyes. He looked so great, so handsome, so dignifying, so... close. His attitude, frame, cold posture, yet a relaxing inner-self... Burst into a million pieces and hit Max as hard as a rock, absorbing his greatest qualities. An affectionate face was ruling over her, she almost felt weak at the legs, weak in the stomach, almost too weak to carry on. 'What is this feeling... '
'God she's beautiful!' Kaiba thought blinking in surprise at his own thoughts. There was nothing wrong with thinking a girl was pretty! He was only human after all, right? That's not what he thought. The fact that he was thinking about it, made him feel embarrassed, even though no one had heard it. It was tough for him, as he had never really thought about stuff like this before. Usually when he met a girl, he'd avoid looking at her as much as possible. Not because he was afraid he'd think she was pretty, but because he was Kaiba. The Seto Kaiba, that never liked to think about people in such a good way, sure, he had sometimes thought Yugi was a good duelist, or Joey was a good friend. But this felt different. Every time he thought about her, his pulse would race. Every time she stared at him in the eyes, his stomach would twist. And every time she smiled at him, he'd feel the sudden urge to claim her mouth as his.
"What would happen if it was me?" Kaiba asked his voice soft; Max's eyes widened her mouth dropping slightly in surprise before she quickly caught it and closed it. What would she do? Wasn't this exactly what she wanted? Max swallowed and took a deep breath before answering Kaiba's question.
"I would probably kiss you back." Max said softly telling Kaiba the truth, Kaiba's mouth twitched up in the beginning of a smile as he ran his hand lightly up Max's back.
"Really?" Kaiba asked pulling her even closer. Max nodded a blush appearing on her pale cheeks.
"Yes." Max assured him as his hand came to a rest on the back of her neck. Kaiba leaned down slowly bringing his lips to Max's. "Wait!" Max said breathlessly. "There are reporters everywhere!"
"So!"
"So, do you really want the world to know?" Kaiba blinked down at Max bringing his lips the rest of the way to meet hers with his answer. Kaiba could feel Max melt under him as she ran her hands up his chest to wrap around his neck, he didn't know how he managed to stay standing with the sudden weakness that had overtaken his legs. This had been what he wanted, what had been affecting him the past week making his every other thought about Max. Kaiba registered in the back of his mind the snapping of dozens of cameras probably aimed at them. Max let her defenses come down and gave into the kiss wrapping her arms around Kaiba's neck; this wasn't anything like when Oliver kissed her. Instead of the cold hatred and disgust that flew through her veins, Kaiba made a warm feeling spread form her stomach to the tips of her fingers and toes. When Kaiba's lips met hers in their passionate embrace Max felt everything fall into place, all the hell she had been through this week seemed worth it to end up in his strong arms. Kaiba regretfully broke away from Max and opened his eyes giving her a soft look that he would never let another soul see, she opened her eyes seconds later and smiled shyly back at him.
"Finally!" Kaiba and Max turned to see Mokuba grinning from ear to ear while staring up at them. "And all it took was kidnapping!" Mokuba dramatically shook his head feigning sadness. "I think you two just set a record for hardest couple to get to admit their feelings!" Max blushed again while smiling down at Mokuba as Kaiba tried not to laugh at his little brothers drama. "You know they took like a hundred pictures of you kissing right?" Mokuba asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes." Kaiba and Max said as one, Mokuba nodded absently yawning once.
"Well now that your a happy couple and all, my work is done! So, why don't we go home?" Mokuba suggested. Kaiba looked from his little brother to the woman he realized he loved.
"Home." Max repeated softly looking to her new found love. "Home would be nice." Max agreed with a small smile, Kaiba nodded Mokuba picking up his hand and lead him to the waiting limo. Kaiba wrapped his arm around Max's waist, both supporting her and claiming her for the entire world to see as flashes from dozens of cameras went off.
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A/N: Ahh, thank you to all the readers that have come this far with me!! I really appreciate the reviews that I have gotten from you all! I am including the thank you's in this chapter and telling you all that there will only be once chapter left! Sort of like an epilouge to let you all know how everthing has gone!
Rhy-k: I am truly grateful to you for each and every review you have given me! They made me smile and continue when I felt like giving up on writing this one! And I am still sorry for killing off Geroge!
Alcatras007: blush Thank you so much! You really know who to lift one's spirits!
AnimeCrazy88: Thanks for each demand of the next chapter! You kept me not wanting to disapoint!
apples and roses: Thanks for the support! To many people tell me I make Kaiba to soft!