Dark Magician Girl Of Chaos: Here ya are. Only two chapters left to type!
Magician Of Black Chaos: Dark Magician Girl Of Chaos does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or any of it's characters, Kazuki Takahashi does.
Dark Magician Girl Of Chaos: Enjoy lovelies!

Chapter Eight

"Well?" Her Mum asked as Ashely locked the door behind her. "What was that all about then, Lucky?"

Ashely noticed the emphasis on her new name, and laughed nervously. "Erm…Well…"

"Ashely…" Her Mum said dangerously.

Ashely sighed, and went to sit on the sofa in the living room. Ruby followed her and sat in one of the chairs. "It's kinda complicated Mama."

Ruby frowned. "Why?"

"Okay. Well, we were talking on-line and, after awhile, I figured out who he was, so I asked him outright. When he told me that, yes, he was Seto Kaiba, he asked me who I was. I knew what Dad would say if he knew that I was talking to a Kaiba, least of all Seto, so I told him that I could tell him what most people call me, and that when I could, I would tell him my real name."

Ruby thought this over. "Yes, that is a little complicated. However it is understandable. To me it's understandable anyway."

Ashely nodded.

"Although," Ruby continued, "I think you did the right thing."

Ashely raised one eyebrow, her left one. "Really?"

"Yes. It's best to hold off telling him your real name, for as long as you can, or at least until we've tackled your Father. Who, by the way, isn't going to be best pleased that you've run into Seto."

"I know, and Kaiba knows that too. I will try to keep him away from the house, so Dad doesn't see him, but it probably won't last long."

"It was really risky bringing him here you know."

She sighed. "I know, but he insisted that he had to walk me to my door so that he knew I got home okay."

Ruby tilted her head. "Really?"

Ashely nodded, and stood up. She began to walk towards the stairs, but stopped suddenly and turned around. "Oh, by the way, I had to change my surname."

Ruby looked up from the television guide she had just picked up and smiled. "Okay, so what's our surname now?"

Ashely smiled. "I had to think it up on the spot."

"So…What is it?"

"Kaikimi"

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "Doesn't that mean that you're next to Seto in the register?"

A small smile from her daughter was the only answer she received, before Ashely turned and headed upstairs. Ruby shook her head, smiling. "What am I going to do with her?"

Kaiba walked home, thinking about Lucky and what she had told him. 'She's the Egyptian Queen of Games? Maybe there's something on the Internet, so I can find out who she is.' He stopped to cross a road, and put his hands in the pockets of his school blazer. 'No, I can't do that. She said that she would tell me when she could, and I'm not going to go behind her back and betray her trust. There has to be a good reason why she can't tell me who she is yet.'

Ashely's week flew by, with the same routine; hanging out with Joey and the others at school, and walking home with Kaiba. Unluckily for her, he always insisted on walking her home. Luckily for her, her Dad had to work late everyday that week. She knew that this current streak of luck wouldn't last forever, she was sure that she was going to get caught out soon. On Thursday evening, Ashely discovered that her Dad was going to be working on Saturday morning too.

She had to put up with a few snide comments about her name, but, as she said to Kaiba when they had been talking on-line the Sunday before she started Domino High, it was nothing she heard before, so it was no bother.

Mokuba had noticed a sudden change in his big brother, when Seto had returned home on Monday night with a small, but genuine, smile on his face. Kaiba's staff, at home and at KaibaCorp had also noticed the change in their boss. Mainly in his attitude, towards them, and the things they said or did. They also noticed that he was slightly happier.

Although, neither Kaiba's staff, nor Mokuba, had the faintest idea what (or, should we say, who) had had such an effect on Seto Kaiba.

Isn't it strange how one person can have such an affect on someone in such a small space of time?

During this first week, Ashely discovered that she was in most of Kaiba's classes, and if she wasn't in the same class as Kaiba, then she would be in the same class as Joey. Normally, if Joey's about, so are Yugi, Tristan, Bakura, Téa, and, sometimes, Duke.

This little piece of knowledge made her feel better, knowing that she knew at least one person in all of her classes. Even when she had P.E. on Wednesday, Téa stuck by her in the changing room, and they chatted while they changed.

It turned out that, according to Téa, Joey wasn't happy about her (Ashely, or, as they know her, Lucky) hanging around with Kaiba, but they (Joey, Tristan, Bakura, Yugi, Duke and Téa) weren't going to just stop hanging out with her (Lucky) because of it.

As Joey said (while laughing), Téa and told Ashely; "Maybe ya can stop him actin' like such a jerk! Get him ta lighten up a bit, an' have some fun!"

"Well," Téa had then said to Ashely, "maybe you can, it's worth a shot, isn't it? Maybe Kaiba will realise that he has some friends if he just lightens up and relaxes."

Anyway. It was Friday afternoon, and everyone was just leaving his or her last class. Ashely was leaving art, the one class they all had together. By everyone, I mean Joey, Tristan, Duke, Bakura, Téa, Yugi, Kaiba and Ashely.

Ashely said goodbye to the others and quickly walked to her locker to pick up some books. As she shut her locker, she was thinking about the walk home. She was walking alone today, because Kaiba had left school at lunch for a meeting, at KaibaCorp, she assumed, and hadn't returned. She wasn't going to walk home with the others, no matter how much she wanted to, because they were going stay to watch the football match, which she had forgotten about. She had explained to the group that she had to give her parents at least twenty four hours notice for anything to do with school, and she had forgotten to tell them about the match. That, and she kinda wanted to go home anyway, but she hadn't told them that.

Ashely started walking home with her hands in her blazer pockets, staring at the pavement as she walked, lost in her thoughts. She walked past the park, stopped and looked up at the swings where she and Kaiba had sat on her first day. She smiled to herself and shook her head slowly. She brushed her hair out of he face, put her hands back into her pockets and carried on walking, just the same as before she stopped, except now, all her thoughts contained Kaiba.

She hadn't walked that far, when she bumped into someone. "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" She apologised, and felt someone steady her before she fell over. She looked up slightly to see who had prevented her from landing flat on her face, and looked straight into the most devastating pair of blue eyes in the whole of Domino City.

"You okay?"

"K-K-Kaiba?" She spluttered. "Yeah, I'm okay, thanks."

"It's okay." He let go of her arms with a small smile on his face.

"What are you doing here?"

"I decided to walk home from my meeting for a change."

It was then that Ashely noticed that he wasn't wearing his school uniform. Instead, he was wearing a black polo shirt and black trousers, with a dark blue trenchcoat. Her eyes travelled from his eyes to his neck, where she noticed that the top two buttons on his polo shirt were undone, and that there was a black cord running down, underneath the shirt, with whatever was on the end of this cord out of sight. She swallowed slowly, and bent down and pretended to tie (or, rather, retie) her shoelaces so he wouldn't see the blush that she had felt rise to her face.

When she had felt her face cool down a bit, she straightened up. "How was your meeting?"

Kaiba bent down and picked up a scrap of paper that had fallen out of Ashely's backpack, or pocket, he wasn't sure which, as she had stumbled. "Boring actually."

"Oh."

He looked at the scrap of paper, and smiled. "What's this?"

Ashely took the piece of paper from him, and half laughed. "Oh, part of my artwork. I was bored, so I started doodling."

"It's good."

"So, you prefer my cartoon, baby Blue-Eyes, to Pegasus' Blue-Eyes Toon?"

"Is that what it is? A baby, cartoon Blue-Eyes?"

Ashely put the paper in her schoolbag. "Um, no, not really. He's just a baby Blue-Eyes, that's all. But, he just turned out kinda toon-ish, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do know what you mean, and yes, I do prefer your Blue-Eyes."

Ashely started walking again, and Kaiba followed her. "Thank you. Erm, excuse me for asking, but, why are you following me?"

Kaiba looked at her. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Nope, that's why I asked."

Kaiba sighed, a soft sigh. "I'm. Walking. You. Home."

"Why?!" Ashely sounded a little bit annoyed.

"Because I can." He replied, although he was thinking; 'Because I want to.'

Ashely sighed. "Alright then. Although, I don't suppose I have much choice in the matter really, do I?"

Kaiba grinned slightly. "Nope."

They continued walking and talking, mostly about Duel Monsters and school, until they reached Ashely's house. They stopped outside, at the end of her garden path just like they had every day of that week.

"Ah. Here we are again." Kaiba stated with a small, almost sad smile.

Ashley smiled shyly. "Do you want to hang out tomorrow or something?"

Kaiba was taken by surprise. "Erm…" Ashely giggled. "What?" He asked.

"Consulting your mental filofax?"

"Yes actually," Ashely raised an eyebrow. "Um, yeah, sure why not? I can always work overtime later in the week to make up the hours."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. You can meet my little brother tomorrow if you like. What time?"

"I don't know, about ten?" Ashely suggested.

"Shall I come and pick you up at half ten, and then we'll…Go and do something?"

"Yeah, okay sure. As your brother what he wants to do, and we'll do that."

Kaiba scratched the back of his head thoughtfully. "How about bowling or something?"

Ashely brightened. "Yeah!" She frowned. "As long as we can have the bumpers up, because I'm not very good."

"Sure."

"Cool. I have my own bowling shoes, and bowling ball, so I'll bring those."

"Why do you have your own? If you don't mind me asking."

"Oh. Me and my Dad used to play a lot." She looked a little sad. "Not so much now though."

"Oh. Okay then. Actually, myself and Mokuba, have our own shoes and bowling balls, so we'll bring ours too. And Lucky?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll pay."

Ashely frowned. "Are you sure? I can pay half if you want."

"I'm sure. I'll pay the whole thing. Don't worry about it."

Ashely looked towards the kitchen window, then back at Kaiba. "Well, okay then. Thank you for walking me home Kaiba. I'll see you tomorrow then. Are you picking me up here?"

He nodded. "Yes. I'll see you tomorrow Lucky. Goodbye."

"Bye." She watched Kaiba walk away, pulling a cell phone out of his pocket as he did so. She sighed, smiled, then turned around and walked indoors. "Mama, I'm home!"

Ruby walked out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a paper towel. "Alright, you don't need to shout. I was only in the kitchen."

"Sorry," Ashely said, smiling a little sheepishly. "I didn't know."

"Okay. So, how was school?"

Ashely had disappeared into the living room. "It was okay." Ruby followed her, and watched as Ashely checked the post on the coffee table. "It's always fine. It's a good school, and I'm happy there." Ashely walked past her Mum and sat on the stairs, undoing her shoes.

"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?"

"No." Ashely disappeared upstairs.

Ruby took a second to think about the tone and abruptness of her daughter's answer, and then followed her upstairs. She stood in the doorway to Ashely's bedroom, and watched as Ashely stood in front of her open wardrobe, looking in her full length mirror, which was on the inside of one of the wardrobe doors. She pushed her hair back and started going through her wardrobe.

"Got a date?" Ruby asked.

There was a bang. "Ouch!" Ashely moved her head from out of her wardrobe, rubbing the back of it. "What?"

"I said; have you got a date?"

Ashely was a little shocked. "No!"

"Why are you fussing about your clothes then?"

Ashely stuck her head back in her wardrobe, looking for something. "I just have plans for tomorrow, that's all."

"Which are?" Ruby inquired.

There was a sigh of frustration, and then a muffled, "I'm going out with some friends. We're going bowling."

"You're going bowling with Seto and Mokuba then."

There was a louder bang which was followed by a louder "OUCH! Ra damn it!"

"Are you okay?"

Ashely moved out of her wardrobe, and rubbed the back of her head again. "I've been better."

Ruby rested her fingers where Ashely was rubbing. "There isn't a lump. So, are you going out with Seto and Mokuba tomorrow?

Ashely scowled at her Mother, and then sighed. "Yes." She murmured quietly.

"Aww!"

"It is NOT a date!" Ashely fumed, while Ruby just nodded. "We're nothing but friends, okay?" She sat down on her bed. 'And that's all we'll ever be.' She thought sadly.

Ruby was a little surprised at her daughter's sudden outburst. Normally there were little signs to let her know that her daughter was going to 'explode' so to speak. "Okay! I'm sorry!" her tone softened. "I'm sorry okay?" She sat down next to Ashely and stroked her hair. "I didn't mean to upset you."

Ashely sighed and looked at her. "It's okay."

"What time are you leaving tomorrow?"

"He's picking me up at half ten."

"Really? In his limousine?"

"I think so."

Ruby kissed her daughter's forehead. "I'm going to go downstairs so you can find the perfect outfit for tomorrow okay?" She kissed Ashely's forehead again. "Just have fun, yeah?" Ruby walked to the door.

"Mama?" She turned. "Why won't Dad get to know Kaiba first, and then judge him?" Ashely sounded a little sad. " I hate having to lie to him. I know I haven't been doing it long, but I hate having to lie, to Dad, to Kaiba, to anyone." She sighed. "Lying to Seto is the worst."

"I know you don't honey. Moreover, I don't know why your Father is so stubborn." She shook her head, leaning against the doorframe. "Don't get worked up about it okay? I'll help you tackle your Father about Seto when we have to. Okay?"

Ashely looked up at her mum and smiled. "Yeah, thanks Mama."

Ruby smiled. "That's okay." She walked out of the room, and Ashely heard her going down the stairs. Sighing, Ashely stood up, shut her bedroom door and pressed 'play' on her cd player. When Bon Jovi's 'Living On A Prayer' filled the room, she nodded to herself, smiled a little, then continued rooting through her wardrobe looking for just the right outfit to wear for bowling, singing softly to herself as she did so.