A/N: Writing this directly after the last one! Did you know that it's the Christmas holidays this week? I get to get off College for a few weeks! EXPECT UPDATES. XD
SHADOOWWWW: Ahhh, I've missed you~~ ¬_¬ How dare you be completely correct. OH, I AM SOOO INVOKING THE SHADOW PROCLAMATION ON YOU, BETCH. XD
ALSO: NEWS AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER. AWESOME NEWS.
~Ava
~XxX~
"Oh, fuck off."
This was not the answer Kaiba expected to get from me I guessed, due to his raised eyebrow and vague look of inexplicit shock.
"And why would you say that, Callaghan? May I bring to attention the fact that it was you lurking outside my bedroom?" A very, very faint smirk appeared on his face at his own word. And once more I felt myself wanting to slap him.
"I'm going to make three things extremely clear, Seto." I hissed his first name, fully intending disrespect and being rewarded with narrowed eyes. "Thing number one," I held up three fingers and ticked them off one by one from my position of being partially sprawled on the floor. "I was not lurking, I was catching my breath." I glared at him but continued before he could interrupt, "Thing number two, I was catching my breath because I had been running for my life. And thing number three, I had been running for my life because I had just been in the hospital wing and was confronted by a freakishly psychopathic Marik." I frowned at the last point and raised another finger, "Adding a fourth point, I had no idea that that was the door to your room. Why are you so close to Yugi's?" Another pause, "Why are you still awake?" And another, "And why isn't your room near the office-thing?"
"Are you quite finished, or are you going to get distracted by a piece of dust next?" Was Kaiba's 'answer' to my questions. I shot him a glare but stayed silent. He nodded curtly. "I assumed you were lurking because you always seem to be nearby, you are alive after your confrontation are you not?" I nodded, "Then I see nothing the matter. I am awake for reasons I don't care to divulge to you and finally, contrary to both popular belief and my own wishes, I do actually have to sleep sometimes, hence the room." There was another awkward silence.
"Look," I began, "I've just narrowly escaped a murdering psychopath, and you somehow contrive to not be concerned? At all?" He looked down at me for several seconds.
"I didn't say that I wasn't concerned, Callaghan."
"Yes you did!"
"I said," Kaiba sighed exasperatedly, "that I saw nothing the matter. And there is nothing the matter with you still being alive. If you had been murdered, then there would have been some cause for concern."
"…"
"…"
"…So you'd rather have me alive?"
"…There's less paperwork that way, Callaghan."
"Hnnn, yeah, I have nothing to say to that casual disregard for my life." I glared at him from the floor, smirking slightly. He raised an eyebrow.
"You could take it by getting out of my room, Callaghan. I don't even know why you decided upon this room in particular." The glare he gave me clearly meant, 'explain." I glared right back.
"It wasn't on purpose if that's what you're suggesting." I stated flatly, narrowing my eyes, "I just needed to stop for a breather. You're the one who opened the door." I gestured to him, "Blame yourself!"
"Oh believe me, I'm regretting it now."
"…"
"…"
"…Why did you open the door anyway?"
"Reasons."
"Reasons? That's a word, not an answer."
"Reasons I don't care to share with you, Callaghan."
"…"
"…"
"…Knight to A3." I broke the silence and changed the subject. The reply came back lightning-quick.
"Knight to C3."
"Knight to F3."
"Pawn to E4."
"Haa…That's a TV Ch-" I broke of at a mildly amused, mainly disparaging look from Kaiba. "Fine, Knight to G5."
"You're easily distracted for a chess player. Pawn to H3." He said, still looking down at me as I crossed my legs at looked up at him. The last few moves had been made in the space of a minute and I ran over the suspected positions on the board in my brain.
"It's my style, what can I say? Hnn...Knight to H3. I take your Pawn." A raised eyebrow from my opponent as I sighed at his smug look, "You, of all people, know that I had to have seen it coming."
"Queen to H3. I take your Knight." He paused for a second, "A Knight for a Pawn? Really? Do you think that was worth it?"
"It depends," I shrugged and smirked, "Are you any closer to telling me the reason you opened the door?"
"No." He paused and frowned at me, "And what on Earth does that have to do with chess?" I rolled my eyes overly-dramatically.
"Nothing! I don't know! I'm bored, I've still got residue adrenaline running through my veins! I want to talk to Téa but it's too late at night to do that. I want to find out why you're a vaguely normal person sometimes but not every time." I sighed, "And if you could tell me the time I'll tell you another reason why I'm antsy." Kaiba glared at me for a second before glancing at his watch, I noticed for the first time that he hadn't changed either. Which meant that no-one on this blimp had a wardrobe. I did wonder where the hell he'd stashed the coat though…
"It's just after two thirty, Callaghan. At night." The last two words were given deadpan, as if to make it a point that I really shouldn't be around.
"Huh. I spent longer than I thought with Mai…"
"The other reason, Callaghan?" Kaiba asked, sounding like I was trying his patience. I decided to strike a deal.
"A reason for a reason?" I bartered, splaying my hands to really push the point across.
"Why, Callaghan? What are you going to do once you've found out?" It wasn't a genuine question, I could tell that, partially from the tone of his voice, mainly from the smirk on his face. I snickered.
"My look on life is it's like...an easter egg hunt. I go searching for these things, people, reasons, people's reasons and when I find them I have no idea what's inside, just that it's going to make it all worth it." I said, looking pointedly at him after I'd said 'people's reasons.' The smirk on his face twitched slightly as he spoke again.
"Oh. Well," Kaiba said, seemingly holding back laughing at me, "that explains why you act like a five year old and are attracted to bright, colourful, plastic things." I whistled through my teeth and laughed.
"…I walked into that one, but the analogy stands true either way. Reason for a reason?" I looked up at him again as he leant against the wall opposite me. He sighed.
"Fine, Callaghan. Get on with it." He glared at me, "But after this, you're leaving, whether I have to throw you out or not." I tutted at his words.
"Tshk. So violent and tactless." He frowned slightly at my words and I snickered. "Today," I made a grandiose wrist flourish to myself, "Is my seventeenth birthday and it's the first time I've been away from home for one."
"What an extreme anti-climax, Callaghan. I was expecting something interesting from you." He smirked again. I rolled my eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time in his presence.
"Oh, like your's is any better. At least I wasn't expecting any kind of 'congratulations.'" I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Hmm. Mokuba stole my laptop from this room. I was going to get it back." He said feigning disinterest in his words as I laughed slightly.
"Ha! He probably knew you'd try to work again." I pulled a face, "He just wants you to sleep. Aw, that's actually quite sweet." Kaiba 'mm'ed' again, still feigning disinterest. I almost rolled my eyes again, everyone could quite clearly tell that he loved his brother and vice-versa, yet he still endeavoured to hide it. Another reason I was going to have to find sometime. I flapped a wrist at him to get his attention.
"Are you going to help me up?" I asked, glancing at him and sensing the almost-laugh.
"You are not an invalid, Callaghan, I'm sure you can get up by yourself."
"In that case, you are not a gentleman, Kaiba. To leave a distressed lady in stupid shoes helpless in her attempts to rise gracefully." I raised an eyebrow as he did at my words, flapping my wrist at him again.
"You're not a lady and if you were distressed by not being able to get up I would go out of my way to avoid being associated with you."
"Fine. I'll be rude. Help me up, jerk." I clocked the rolling of the eyes from the person opposite me as he leant forward a little and grabbed my wrist, puling me to my feet single-handedly. I dusted myself off. "Show-off." I muttered with a half-smile.
"You're essentially useless, Callaghan."
"You're essentially frustrating, Kaiba."
"Go away, Callaghan."
"I was already awaying, I assure you."
And with that grammatical murder, I flounced out of the still open door and knocked on the door of Téa's, not wanting to sleep in a room by myself after the Marik encounter
.
~XxX~
A/N: And so ends the filler chapters.
ANYWAY, NEWS.
Several things, (A) I'm close to hitting 100 reviews! And you know what that means? Character Q&A of course! Review and add in your questions to any of the characters, (Sophie, Kaiba, Yugi, Téa, Joey ect ect) And I'll have a chapter of answering them! You can also ask me questions, but I think you'd be more interested in the characters. (B) It's Christmas soon! I'm Jewish, so we've already had Channukah, but Christmas is now almost universally celebrated so hey. XD The thing here is…I'm going to be writing the DOMA arc too, right? Well, DOMA and the KC Grand Prix are set in LA. This means another continent and Sophie is going to be challenged to several duels, not tournament ones, oh HELL no she's nowhere near that good. But she DOES need opponents. THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN. I want YOUR OCs, new or established, to duel her. To be in the background of the Grand Prix, To chat with her and for her to chat with. Ect. Once again, review with a bio of the OC you want me to use.
Happy Holidays!
~Ava