"I will not break,
The way you did, you fell so hard.
I've learned the hard way,
To never let it get that far."
Because of You by Kelly Clarkson
XXIII
With every step Kisara took, her heart was filled with more and more excitement. The Graduation Dance was being held on the top floor of the most prestigious hotel in all of Domino City. Everywhere Kisara looked, there were girls in fabulous dresses of every color, linked in the arms of handsome men wearing ties that matched the color of their dresses. Despite the fact that Kisara wasn't wearing a dress that was nearly as lavish as everyone else's, she felt quite confident to be holding the hand of the one and only Seto Kaiba. She could pretend that people were turning their heads because of her dress rather than who her date was and that was all she needed to feel like she looked just as fabulous as everyone else. Besides, she knew that in the grand scheme of things, none of that mattered. What she was looking forward to was getting on the dance floor.
Seto on the other hand was becoming increasingly uncomfortable the longer he was in the hotel, making the journey up to the top floor. There were so many people all trying to get to the same place and Seto didn't enjoy being in such close proximity with all those people. He realized early on that he didn't recognize a quarter of the people talking about him in hushed voices. Weren't these all students he had supposedly gone to school with for the past four years? As if Seto could believe that. Up until Yugi and his friends made an appearance and just so happened to get into the same elevator as Kisara and him.
"Hey Kaiba, Kisara! It's good to see you two," Yugi exclaimed. Tea immediately lunged forward and pulled Kisara into a hug, squealing all the while.
"Oh my gosh, Kisara! You look SO cute! I love your dress! You really went all out on the Overseas Fantasies theme for this year, didn't you? You look like an Egyptian princess! Oh, and I love your hair." Kisara had completely forgotten about the theme for the dance… nor did she realize her dress was specifically Egyptian. She didn't think too long on it though.
"Thank you! You look great too," Kisara was trying to think of something else to say, not knowing much about the ways of womanhood, when Seto interrupted their girl talk.
"Can you stop squealing? It feels like you're practically yelling in my ear," Seto stated, the dissatisfaction oozing from his lips. The elevator door opened before Tea could say anything else. Seto grabbed Kisara's hand and moved forward out of the elevator.
"We'll see you on the dance floor then!" Seto heard Yugi cry out amongst the crowd that was waiting for them immediately after they left the elevator. Seto had never heard such a preposterous suggestion. Seto Kaiba… on the dance floor? Yugi was out of his mind. He was only there because of some crazy desire Kisara had to go to a school dance. That is, at least, the reason he had thought they had come.
"Do you hear that? Do you hear it?" Kisara asked, bouncing up and down, "That's my favorite song and it's just starting! Let's go!" Kisara took hold of Seto's hand and dashed through the crowd that was slowly shifting its way into the dance floor. Seto uncomfortably followed as Kisara pushed past couples and groups of people right and left until the hardwood dance floor was beneath her feet. It was then that she took his hands and drew his attention back to her.
"Let's dance!" Kisara started moving back and forth, swaying the music that was blasting overhead. Seto remained completely motionless, feeling as though everyone in the room was staring at him. Kisara opened her eyes and stopped moving when she saw Seto was standing absolutely still. "What's wrong? Do you not like this song?"
"Kisara… I don't dance."
"You mean you don't know how to dance? Not a problem, neither do I! I just let the music take over…" Kisara closed her eyes and began moving all around as the music consumed her. Seto grabbed her hand and brought her back to reality.
"No, I mean, I don't dance… period. I'm a businessman, not a performer." Kisara stared at him for a moment and then turned away and began dancing again. Seto grabbed her hand once more and turned her around. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't realize you had wanted me to dance."
"Well, that's what I want to do and that's what I came here to do so if you don't plan on dancing, I'm fine by myself. You can wait over there for me." Kisara hadn't spent this much time on her hair and make-up only to stand around and look pretty. She would've come in sweatpants and sneakers if she had felt the impulse. All she wanted to do was dance and have fun! Certainly Seto wouldn't be needed for that. So she began to dance once more and ignored as Seto shifted to the edge of the dance floor, doing nothing but stand there. He wasn't sure what was more awkward, standing in front of Kisara while she danced or standing alone.
Eventually Yugi and his friends had managed to find Kisara dancing alone and decided to join her.
"Hey Kisara, nice moves!" Tristan commented.
"Thanks!" Kisara said, not even realizing she was out of breath until she spoke. Her mind and body had not been in tune the entire time she had been dancing. When her body was moving to the music, the music was the only thing that mattered. It was the only presence that made sense within her.
"Where'd your date go?" Tea asked, looking all around for Seto.
"He didn't want to dance so he's waiting over there," Kisara said, pointing over to the other side of the room. Tea and the others turned to look at him. Seto felt out of place just standing there and watching Kisara, so he decided to leave and grab something to drink. Tea, in the meantime, turned back to Kisara and laughed.
"Yep, that's Kaiba for you. Kind of a fun killer."
"Honestly, I don't mind. I don't do the bump and grind thing so I technically don't require a date for dancing," Kisara said with a grin, "As you can tell from some of my moves." Kisara wasn't lying either. She was having the time of her life, tossing and turning each and every limb to the beat of the dance floor. She hadn't felt this alive in years. It was as though she was able to turn her thoughts off for the first time and just be for a moment in time. That was until she felt the presence of another body pressed up against her backside.
Kisara immediately stopped dancing and turned around to face the man who interrupted her dancing. She recognized him immediately as one of her more vocal classmates in her government class, Toshi.
"Why did you stop dancing? We were just getting started," Toshi said, pushing his body up against Kisara's once more and beginning to dance. Kisara remained motionless before stepping forward again. It was around this time that Seto returned from his jaunt to the punch bowl and saw Toshi talking to Kisara. He became frozen in time as he focused on trying to assess the situation that was unfolding.
Toshi tried grabbing Kisara's hand and pulling her into his arms. Kisara slipped her hand out of his, "Excuse me, but I'm not dancing with you. In fact, it would be greatly appreciated if you just left." The exchange between Kisara and Toshi was starting to gain the attention of Tea and the rest of her friends as they stopped dancing to watch.
"I'm only trying to help. A pretty girl like you shouldn't have to be alone on a night like this." Toshi moved forward to make another move on her. Seto placed his cup down on the table, recognizing one too many similarities between this interaction and the one that occurred at the New Years Eve party to be able to stay put. He started moving towards Kisara to intervene right when Kisara put her hand on Toshi's chest to stop him.
"Actually, I have a date so you're assistance isn't needed." Toshi chuckled.
"Is that so? Who would that be?" Kisara pointed to Seto right as he approached Toshi and Kisara. Toshi's body slowly shrank as he saw who was standing a couple inches away from him, his fists slightly elevated in an offensive position. Toshi turned to Kisara and held out his hand. "I'm sorry to have bothered you. Have a lovely night." Kisara took his hand and shook it, then took great pleasure in watching him slink off and disappear amongst the dancing crowd.
"Well, that went better than I thought it would," Seto admitted, lowering his fists and relaxing a bit.
"Wow, Kaiba! Way to scare the crap out of Toshi!" Joey said, holding up his hand for a high five. Seto only glared at Joey and did nothing else. After a couple seconds, Joey got the picture and the rest of them returned to dancing. Seto looked to Kisara for clarification.
"Are you alright? He didn't touch you, did he?" Kisara shook her hand.
"Don't worry, I stopped him before he got too close," Kisara put her hands on Seto's chest and smiled at him, "You were great, by the way. I love the way your glare strikes fear into others so effortlessly."
"It comes from years of practice, trust me," Seto joked, "You're really okay though, right? I should've been here to protect you. Can I get you anything?"
"Just this." Kisara wrapped her arms around Seto and planted a big kiss on his lips. Kisara and Seto kissing always led to strange and extraordinary realizations, it seemed. For Seto, it brought forth so many feelings and thoughts he never thought he would have. He began to greatly regret his stubbornness in not wanting to share a dance with Kisara despite his disgust in the practice of dancing. Not only that, but he was overwhelmed with the chemistry the two of them shared. In those moments, he could honestly not deny his true feelings for her. Seto wanted to tell her that he loved her.
For Kisara, time would stand still, and she recognized her feelings for what they really were. It wasn't just that she loved Seto for his glare, but so many other attributes he had. She loved how caring and considerate he was, despite how much he tried to hide it. She loved the way his arms tightened around her when they shared intimate moments like this. Above all else, Kisara loved the fact that despite how logical a person he was, it was truly his heart that guided his decisions each and every day. Seto was a passionate person, in both his personal and his professional life. As cold as he made himself out to be, it was his emotional perseverance that got him the title he held.
In a perfect world, their kiss would've never ended. He would've stayed by her side and danced for the remainder of the night. In a perfect world, she would've never let him go. She would've never gone home that night. Nonetheless, she didn't live in a perfect world so there she was, at three in the morning, saying goodbye to her date after a full night of dancing solo. The hours in between left her dress with sweat from dancing but also filled her soul with glee.
"Good night, Seto. Thanks for taking me," Kisara gave Seto's hand a squeeze and then opened the door to the stairway of her apartment, "Drive safe."
"I will. Good night to you as well, Kisara." As Kisara disappeared into her apartment and made the long journey up the stairs to her home, she couldn't ignore the strong feelings that were building inside of her. They had risen up before, it wasn't as though they weren't present before that point, but she had been good about ignoring them up until the dance. Now she was faced with genuinely affectionate feelings for the man who had treated her with nothing but kindness and yet her chest tightened at the thought of accepting them as fact. She didn't want to believe she could ever feel this way again about a man. These feelings threatened the life she had built for herself and the decisions that led her to runaway to Japan. Still… how could she ignore them?
It didn't matter, she decided, turned the lock to enter her apartment. She was tired, confused, and couldn't wait to jump right into bed…
"You were out awfully late." Kisara's sense heightened at the sound of another presence outside of herself. There was only one light turned on in the whole apartment, and it was the one in the kitchen. It was there that she saw Granny King standing over the stove, a cup of tea in hand. There was a light whistle that the kettle produced, meaning the water had just finished boiling. Kisara took a sigh of relief upon seeing her grandmother instead of… well, a number of other people she imagined waiting to kill her.
"Granny, you nearly scared me half to death. What are you doing up?" Kisara whispered, walking over to Granny King whom was huddled by the heated kettle on the stove.
"I'm a restless sleeper, you know that," Granny King got out a second mug from the cupboard above the stove, "Want some tea, love?" Kisara's initial thought was to refuse due to her exhaustion from the dance but she also knew that sharing a cup of tea with Granny King was one of the better times to talk to her and Kisara knew she had a pressing issue she wanted to discuss.
"Sure." Kisara walked over to the tiny table just a few feet outside of her kitchen. Her apartment wasn't very big, meaning that everything was close together and that there was very little space between the division of one room to another. She waited patiently for Granny King to fix her a cup of tea before sitting down across from her. The moment she sat down, Kisara jumped right in to what she wanted to talk about.
"So Granny, tell me honestly, what do you think of Seto? You're the wisest woman I know and you're rarely wrong about people and their true intentions." Granny King took a long sip of her tea before answering.
"Well, you've certainly come a long way from the last boy you dated." Kisara looked down at her tea, "Tell me the truth, dear… was the lad back home the real reason you moved away?"
"Well, yes… but I swear it wasn't the only one. I really do want to make it big here in Japan… although going out with Seto certainly wasn't part of the plan," Kisara sighed before she continued, "Now you have to tell me the truth, Granny. Do you think Seto is bad news for me?" Granny King leaned back in her chair and took another long sip of tea. She shifted her eyes and stared out the window. There wasn't much to see save for the bright lights of the city that just barely carved out the edges of buildings and streets. She then placed her teacup down, ready to give Kisara an answer.
"Darling, did I ever tell you the story of how I met your grandfather?" That hadn't been the answer Kisara was expecting, but she also shook her head. "Well, when I was around your age, I ran away from home too. The moment I turned eighteen, I traveled all over the world, starting a new life in every country I stayed in. My family didn't know where I was or where I was going for the majority of the next two years—I traveled too fast for them to find me which was exactly what I wanted.
"And then when I was twenty, I found myself in Egypt of all places, where I met your grandfather. I had barely dated at all during that time. I had too many dreams to count when I was that age so falling in love wasn't part of the equation. I had a new dream every day but the day I met your grandfather, I just knew. I not only knew I wanted to marry him but I knew whatever my new dream was, it included him. A year later we married and a year after that I was pregnant with your father." Kisara sat silently. The story of Granny King and Jiddo was cute but it didn't give her the answer she was looking for… or any answer at all.
"Love, I'm telling you this because not everything in life can be planned," Granny took hold of Kisara's hand from across the table and gave it a small squeeze, "I used to be just like you. I had ambitions, dreams, and plans to follow all of them. I never dated because that wasn't part of the plan. Meeting your grandfather wasn't part of the plan either, and yet here we are, and here you are many years later."
"I'm still not sure I understand." Granny King leaned forward and looked deeply into Kisara's eyes.
"What I'm saying is, you've got a lot of plans for a young girl your age. It's the King in you. You want to know where you're going and waste no time getting there," Granny King replied, "I guess what I'm trying to say is to follow your dreams, no matter what, but also be open to the idea that your dreams could change. As for Seto… I see a lot of promise in him. He's got a drive that's similar to your own but I want you to be weary of it. His dreams may take him to one place and you another, and I want you to always know the difference between the two.
"With your grandfather, I just knew. I knew what I wanted and I stayed in Egypt because of it. I didn't have as many choices as you, however. I didn't have an education, supporting parents, or a place to go. All I had was myself. I don't regret marrying your grandfather but I do wish I had been able to get an education. And it's okay to ultimately choose love for yourself but only after you've done all that you came here to do which was to get an education, go to business school, and become a CEO." Granny King's words made sense to her and she understood what they meant.
No matter what happened next, Kisara would follow those dreams and seize the opportunities given to her. She would be with Seto but drop him the minute the relationship interfered with her own aspirations for herself. Granny King was right; she was ambitious. Kisara knew she would rather die than give up her dreams just to be with someone. It was then that she made a promise to herself that she was sure to never forget: that the moment she fell in love with Seto, she would leave him because the last thing she needed was love and the last thing she wanted was to give up her dreams because of love.
A/N: Yep, I'm back with a vengeance! I bet you didn't see me updating any time soon. Well, guess what? I did! And it was… weird. I started school, got depressed (because I started school, wahhh), and then found all the inspiration I needed to write instead of doing homework. Man, isn't that how it always goes? When you have all the time in the world, you never feel like writing but the minute you have twenty things all due at once, you have all the greatest ideas. I'm glad I did end up keeping me word of producing a relatively quick update, though. Not sure if the quality was downgraded because of it but I was determined to move forward with this story because next chapter marks the fun part! The last couple chapters have kind of been a drag for me, not gonna lie. I'm WAY more excited about what's going to happen next chapter, which means you should be excited too! Anyhow, thanks for your continued support and I plan on putting up the next update on Valentine's Day in celebration of this story's two year anniversary! Check back in around then and thanks for reading!
P.S: This chapter was slightly rushed and I only proofread it 1.5 times so if you see any mistakes, do tell me! I may need to go back and edit some stuff but I wanted to get this out as soon as possible so that's what happened instead of intense editing.