AN: This is a pretty short chapter but covers a lot of content. For those of you thinking Seto is OOC, my excuse boils down to "he's young". Contrary to what Gozaburo thinks, breaking him completely is still a few years in the making. It takes a long time to break down anyone's childhood ideals, especially if that person is as stubborn as Seto. We also get more Gozaburo content and why I considered marketing this fic as a psychological horror. So what are your takes? Is Aiko evil? Or is Gozaburo just insane?

Blueshipping cuteness is hardly ever something I get to write, and that's why I started this fic in the first place.

'Absol, why does Aiko call Seto -sama while he calls her -chan?' Aiko's just really polite that way, and it could also be due to her subconscious memories of Kisara, who always called Seth "Lord Seth" or "Seto-sama", at least in the anime. Aiko, at least subconsciously, sees Seto as her "lord" who had authority over her, while Seto, whose ancient memories aren't as strong, sees her as more of a peer. At least that's my take.

Five is going to be a little while since, unlike before when I was about halfway through Four when I posted Three, I haven't started Five. I will say Five's probably going to be more Mokuba centric. Aiko has to win him over too (although I'd say she probably has). after all. Anyway, on to the story!

Four

"You," Gozaburo ordered a random maid. "Go show Aiko-chan to her room."

"Yes, sir," the maid replied with a dip of her head. The phone suddenly rang, and Gozaburo answered it. Gozaburo was short and terse, stealing looks at Aiko the whole time as he talked to the man on the other end.

Gozaburo looked almost… afraid of Aiko.

Even though Seto knew that it was ridiculous for a tall, broad-shouldered arms dealer versed in all forms of combat to be afraid of a tiny, frail-healthed ten-year-old girl.

"Aiko-chan," Gozaburo said as pleasantly as he could manage. "Go ahead and get settled in. There is an urgent matter at the company that has just come to my attention. Seto, as I recall, you still have some studying to do, and I'm sure Aiko-chan needs rest from the long journey."

"...Beg your pardon, sir, but… uh… Mother made me sleep before coming here tonight."

Gozaburo looked furious and panicked for only a second. "I assume you want to at least start unpacking your things?" he asked with a fake smile.

"Yes, I would," Aiko said. To Seto, she said, "I won't be long. I… don't really have much to unpack."

Seto nodded to indicate he understood as she dipped her head to Gozaburo and left, shooting a worried glance back at them both.

"What about Mokuba?" Seto asked Gozaburo.

"It's very late and your brother should be in bed," Gozaburo said. "You." He pointed at a random staff member. "See that the boy is safely put to bed."

Mokuba was led off to bed, knowing better than to protest. "See you tomorrow, Nii-sama," he whispered after wrapping Seto in a tight hug.

"See you tomorrow, kid," Seto replied, returning the embrace. As Mokuba disappeared up the stairs to his own room, the maid leading him by the hand, Seto dipped his head deferentially to Gozaburo. "I'll be up in my room, sir."

Gozaburo nodded distractedly, still looking in the direction Aiko had gone. As Seto stood there, confused as to why Gozaburo looked so distracted, Gozaburo hung up the phone.

Gozaburo had kept his hand hidden for much of the evening, and now Seto could clearly see why. A massive purple blotch, accentuated by deep fingernail gashes, stretched across the back of Gozaburo's hand, roughly in the shape of a petite child's hand but a deep enough bruise it looked more like a bodybuilder had done it.

"What are you still doing here?" his stepfather demanded to know.

"Sir… what happened to your hand?" Seto asked. He knew full well what, but he had the feeling he wasn't supposed to, and the last thing he wanted was for Roland to get in trouble. In addition, he wanted to goad his stepfather into admitting his hand had been just about crippled by a sickly little girl.

"It's none of your concern what happened to my hand, boy," Gozaburo spat, punctuating the retort by cuffing Seto on the cheek.

Seto's hand started to reach up, instinctively, to the stinging, rapidly turning numb spot on his cheekbone, but he gritted his teeth and kept it down. He knew with certainty that he would get no sympathy for the bruise, and calling attention to it could further aggravate his stepfather's temper - it had in the past.

"I understand, sir. I'm sorry," Seto managed, dipping his head and starting up the stairs to his room, barely noting Gozaburo storming out of the room and up the other set of stairs to his study.

When Seto was halfway up, however, he saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning to look, he saw a pale hand gripping the banister and a pair of abyssally dark blue eyes, framed by a curtain of white hair.

Aiko was standing at the top of the stairs, peeking around the corner of the upstairs hallway.

"Aiko-chan?" he called up quietly.

In a second, Aiko's face disappeared around the corner.

"Hey!" Seto called up after her, before racing the rest of the way up the stairs.

The hallway was empty when he reached the top of the stairs. "Aiko-chan! Where'd you go?"

He saw a flicker of movement again.

"Listen! I just want to talk! Why were you standing on the stairs like that? How much of that did you see? If Gozaburo saw you-"

One of the cleaning closet doors edged open, and Seto saw Aiko's eyes glittering in the darkness, strangely wild. Like he was looking at a feral animal rather than a girl of upper-crust society.

"Gozaburo?" she asked.

"Yes, him. He could have seen you from the bottom of the stairs, and I know if he thought you saw him acting out of character then he'd-"

"That's not what I meant," she said flatly. Slowly, she climbed out of the cleaning closet, staying a few awkward steps away from him. "You call your own father by his first name?"

"Stepfather, and he insists on it. Even Mokuba learned quickly never to call him something like 'Dad'."

"Does he often strike you?"

"Who's asking?"

She didn't seem to hear that question, or perhaps took it as a yes. "Does he hit Mokuba-kun?"

"...Sometimes."

Aiko frowned. "He is a wicked man."

"It's how he operates. Don't most corporate families do the same?"

"Not mine. Father told me many times that a man who strikes his children is a wicked man and a coward."

"Good for you," Seto replied sharply. "I need to study."

As he stalked past her, Aiko called after him, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to boast! Seto-sama, wait!"

Seto stopped, knowing he should probably ignore the girl but figuring he should at least be polite. That old lesson, that had compelled him to follow the strange girl before, was rearing its head again.

"What?"

"I was glad to meet you and your brother before. Not very many people would receive a girl like me into their home so enthusiastically."

"Mokuba's been excited for weeks. I don't even think he knows what's going on, just that he's getting a sister."

"I didn't mean just Mokuba, although I'm equally delighted to have such a sweet little brother. You've raised him well."

"...Thank you," Seto replied, wondering why this girl was paying that compliment to him rather than Gozaburo, Mokuba's - ostensible - guardian, as much as someone complimenting his brother, rather than feign sympathy for Seto having to care for him, as if his beloved Mokie was a burden, felt like a breath of fresh air.

"But I'm sure you were glad to meet me, Seto, even if you didn't show it at the dinner tonight. You've been kinder to me than you could ever imagine." A change came over the shy little girl, her eyes shining with brazen confidence and an impish smile crossing her face. "After all, you got my treasure back."

Seto rocked back in shock. "The Blue-Eyes card, the girl in the garden - that was you?!"

Aiko's smile widened. "I needed to meet you without pretense. When I met your stepfather, I knew that while he acted nice towards me, it was only because of what I could give him. In fact, I determined during that meeting he secretly hated me. He found me weak. I knew then that you were likely to follow his example in hiding your true feelings when I introduced myself to you as your future bride. If I wanted to know you, really know you, I had to approach you as a normal girl."

"...I guess that makes sense," Seto replied, feeling annoyed, like he'd been played, but sort of understanding what she meant. "Listen, I don't know how I got your card after I passed out, but it's up in my room, if you want it back-"

"You can have it. You earned it tonight, and I know you'll look after it." For a moment, she looked guilty. "I'm sorry the beginning of our relationship was based on a lie, but I know Kaiba-sama, and a girl that climbs on rooftops and talks about ancient rituals of magic is not the bride he wants for his son."

"Aiko-sama!" A maid came around the corner, before hurrying over to them. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Kaiba-sama insists you not exhaust your strength!"

"I am alright, Miss Kyoko, I just wanted to speak to Seto-sama before going to bed."

Then she dipped her head. "I'm sorry to have interrupted you. I don't want you to get in trouble with your father."

Then she took the maid's hand and walked back to her room, only looking back to wink at him, as if they shared some special secret.

Seto found himself unable to concentrate on his studies. Even as Hobson hounded his reading with the switchblade and the hours dragged on from nine, to ten, to midnight, he found his mind wandering back to what Aiko had said.

Even the knowledge that Aiko had been lying by omission to him throughout the dinner didn't change the fact Aiko felt… genuine. No matter what angle he tried to analyze what she said, Aiko just seemed nice, with no ulterior motive in sight for her friendliness. Seto knew people and how they operated. Almost everyone he knew had some kind of hidden nastiness no matter how friendly they acted. Mokuba was the sole exception.

But Aiko… also seemed to be an exception.

And to be honest, it was throwing him off-balance, not knowing what to expect from someone this unapologetically kind.

He'd gone into this expecting to at the very least dislike his fiance. Gozaburo had picked her out himself, after all, and the kind of people Gozaburo picked to be around were usually just like him in some fashion.

But Seto - apart from the awkwardness that came with the territory of talking to a girl and knowing full well he'd be marrying that girl in eight or so years - found himself… liking Aiko. He could almost see her as a friend, and Seto had long since determined that his only friend in life was going to be his own little brother.

And Seto, not used to the idea of liking another person or wanting friendship, wasn't sure how to approach it.

When Hobson finally sent him to bed - striking him once with the switchblade to ensure he remembered in the future to stay alert - Seto went to his nightstand and pulled out the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card hidden there. Something in the cardstock drawing's eyes seemed to glitter.

When he went to sleep, he dreamed he was standing in an endless black void. The only light came from a figure, a long way off, standing there as if waiting for him.

He began to run, not knowing why but feeling that reaching this figure was somehow vital.

As he drew closer, he could make out now that the figure was a young woman. Despite the fact she looked at least five years older than him, the woman had very familiar flowing white hair and, as she turned around at the sound of his pounding footsteps, deep blue eyes.

Aiko-chan?

But this woman was dressed in a long-sleeved cream-colored dress, ragged, dirty, and too small for her, and her hair was more unkempt, as if a modern hairbrush had never touched it.

The woman reached out her hand, her eyes begging him to take it. But just as he touched her fingertips, the black void, and the woman, disappeared, and he awoke, panting as if he had really been running.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Gozaburo had quickly determined he was not going to like Kamiya Aiko. The brat had kept up her behavior of coldly staring him down, like she was dissecting his mind and disgusted by what she saw, all through dinner. Her gaze flickered, from him to Seto and back again, her air one of someone coming to an unpleasant conclusion. He could almost hear the cogs turning in her little white-haired head.

He assumed after not too long her parents would notice the obvious distaste the girl was looking at him with and get her to stop, but they didn't even seem to notice, and it would be a breach of hospitality - and his image - if he pointed it out, even politely. So with the girl and her thoroughly unsettling hatred of him he was stuck, at least until her idiotic parents left and he could begin the process of persuading the girl to let go of her completely unfounded feelings.

However, he ended up being so rattled by the end of the evening that he settled for shutting her up in her room. The fact that Seto had the gall to acknowledge what his bride had somehow done to his hand did not help his mood. The boy had played innocent, but it was plain as day to Gozaburo that the little wretch was trying to get under his skin by asking. After that, he went to KaibaCorp Tower to settle that business matter he had told the Kamiyas about.

Of course, no such emergency existed, and he spent his extra company time thoroughly researching everything he could find about the Kamiyas.

Rather than calm his nerves, what he found further infuriated him.

What he found was… nothing. For Kamiya Group, most of the information he found were on the company's bankruptcy, something he already knew about extensively, and the rest was about the lavish parties the wife was prone to hosting prior to it. And as for their private life… well, Gozaburo only found three short articles about the couple's background, and only one that even mentioned Aiko at all. That article had been a tabloid article yammering on about the massive first birthday party they had thrown for her, oh-so-helpfully paired with an image of the girl as an infant, her face just as pallid as it was now, but made even uglier paired with the rolls of fat and wrinkles typical of infants. She was wearing a frilly green baby dress and matching green lace headband wrapped around her sparsely-haired head, as if that improved on her looks at all.

The Kamiyas, as tremendously popular as they were in the highest social circles, were all walking enigmas without exception, and it was threatening to drive Gozaburo mad.

He forced himself to breathe deeply.

That girl was going to be a problem. He already knew it. And yet, he couldn't undo what he'd set in stone today. His public image would crumble if he tried.

His only option was to work with what he had - a sickly, albino girl who was much more defiant than she had any right to be.

But I can deal with defiance. Wasn't that the reason he had arranged this plan in the first place? He had crushed the fight out of Seto, hadn't he? Aiko was just insurance to keep it that way.

Aiko's attitude hardly threw a wrench into his plans, more like a tiny bolt. All he had to do was pluck it away, and the plan would keep running as it was. And he could do that. With that resolved, he left his office, intent on starting right away.

Roland was waiting in the hall.

"Is everything alright, sir?" he asked.

"Everything has been taken care of," Gozaburo said in lieu of a real answer. He would have trusted Roland with the real plan, but his assistant had been acting strangely lately, especially when it came to matters concerning Seto. Until he could be absolutely sure of Roland's loyalty again, his assistant would only be told the surface level plan - solidifying an alliance through the two preteens now sleeping at home, not in the same room, but in the same house.

After all, a man like him had enemies everywhere.

Roland accepted that answer, and the two of them went their separate ways, Roland to his home and Gozaburo back to the mansion.

Quietly, he slipped into the house, and found each of the little brats' rooms. The youngest had somehow completely kicked off his sheets in his tossing and turning and was now squeezing a pillow for dear life as if that compensated for the resulting lack of warmth. Gozaburo heard the little urchin stir and mumble, "Nii-sama," into the pillow's goose-down plumpness. Sighing in irritation, Gozaburo shut the boy's bedroom door. That tagalong was not important to the success of this plan.

Seto was also asleep, with Hobson reporting he had only just gone to bed after a busy night of studying. Good. Seto shouldn't be using the occasion to get out of a day's hard work. He was curled up into a fetal ball, as if that were any defense, with his hands clasped - like the stereotypical depiction of a mummy - over his heart. Gozaburo left him alone, satisfied that Aiko's insubordinate attitude had not immediately infected his heir - it had taken a long time to train him up into something worth the effort, and he didn't want that hard work invalidated.

Last of all, Aiko's room. Fit for a princess, as he'd specifically ordered. Yes, force worked fine results, but softening her up first with possessions and favors didn't hurt.

As soon as Gozaburo entered, though, something about it put him on edge. He only set one foot in the door and immediately got the oppressive sense he was being watched. More than that, he was in danger. The plush white carpet suddenly swished far too loudly under his oxblood shoes, every tiny creak of the dawn-pink mattress as the girl shifted in her sleep cut through the silence like a knife, and in the dim light cast by the rosy nightlight, every purple shadow cast by the fluff and frippery seemed to flicker with movement.

It was almost as if he had just stumbled into the den of some massive predator - and it knew he had intruded.

But little Aiko was the only one in the room, and she was clearly asleep, snuggling deeper into her new expensive bed with a contented sigh. There was no way - at all - that she could sense his presence.

But the feeling persisted.

Then, Gozaburo heard a louder creak.

"Konbanwa, Gozaburo-sama. What would you be doing in my room at this hour?"

The voice came from the girl's bed. Her lips moved along with it. It even mimicked some semblance of the girl's soft politeness.

But this voice was not Kamiya Aiko. It sounded older, definitely a woman's, and it echoed strangely as if three of her were speaking at once, with the undercurrent of an animalistic growl.

Gozaburo's mouth dried up and he tried to back away, but his feet seemed frozen to the ground. Aiko's eyes snapped open.

He'd had his suspicions in his office when they'd met, but he'd dismissed the strange glow in her eyes as a trick of the lighting and nothing more. Her eyes were definitely glowing now, the unearthly blue shine cold, pale, and inhuman. Her pupils narrowed to reptilian slits. Gozaburo felt a shockwave ripple across his system - a strange, vast power only barely contained, like wine in a too-small bottle, in the body of this tiny girl (she was supposed to be frail! Weak!).

Aiko smiled shyly, something much more in line with his initial assessment of her and how she acted at dinner, but it was so deeply removed from what she looked like now that it didn't reassure him at all. "What are you afraid of, Gozaburo-sama? Surely not me."

She slipped out from under the covers, staring up at him with such eerie calm he had to remind himself he was twice her size and could easily overpower her if-

"If something happened, is that it?" Aiko asked. Her shy princess smile widened into a monstrous grin, baring predatory fangs that had not been there before. "I'll ask you again, Gozaburo-sama. Why are you in my room?"

"What…what on earth are you?!"

Aiko giggled, the laugh sounding like a little girl's again. "You already know who I am, Kaiba Gozaburo-sama, most pathetic of the Dark Master's pawns." She leaned in close, and Gozaburo scented, thick all around her, the smell of ozone, the crackling, metallic taste of-

With the force of an artillery shell it came down. Everything went dark all at once - Lighting! She called down lightning!

He could still hear the sound of Aiko giggling like a madwoman over the deafening clap of thunder as he dropped onto the soft white carpet and lost consciousness.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Seto was awakened by a clap of thunder. Jerking awake, he looked around his room, slowly calming from the sudden scare.

…Wait… thunder? But the sky is clear! The moon shone through the glass, forming a silver puddle of light, perfectly square, across his bed sheets. Not even a wisp of cloud blocked it.

But I swore I heard thunder. If it wasn't that, then what woke me up?

He tensed as he heard footsteps outside his room. As silently as he could, he slipped out of bed and peeked around his bedroom door.

Gozaburo stormed past him, not even seeming to register his presence as he hurried down the hallway, becoming more manic the further he got down the hallway. He was muttering to himself, each word coming out as a wheeze, as if Gozaburo couldn't get his breath. Seto's eyes widened in shock - it sounded as if the normally hale and healthy man was having a heart attack!

"...Dark master - what did it mean? - Stay away from me! - This is impossible!" Gozaburo sputtered, his cigar-ember eyes bloodshot and frenzied. Last of all, he spat something that made Seto's blood chill.

"She was… supposed to be… just a little girl…!"

Seto stared after his stepfather in the direction he had gone as soon as he disappeared around a corner to his room, quietly processing the fact that his already unstable stepfather had apparently completely lost his mind. And that his fiancee Aiko, the only little girl Gozaburo could possibly be talking about in his gibbering state, was somehow responsible

Then, he mustered up his resolve and broke one of Gozaburo's many rules he had carefully abided by for Mokuba's sake up until now - never to leave his room at night.

It didn't take long to find Aiko's room. It wasn't too far from his, and was easily recognizable by the warm, rosy-pink light pouring out of it from the small crack in the slightly-ajar door.

Seto frowned, debating whether he should actually do this or just go back to bed and forget about Gozaburo's strange behavior. Part of him was snidely going, The man was cracked anyway, you're talking about the same person who sees a death threat in how his tea is prepared in the morning.

Another was quietly wondering, Just what did Aiko-chan do? To scare Gozaburo!?

Finally, Seto took a deep breath and pushed the door open wider. He was met with a sea of calm dawn pink, shimmering gold, and fluffy white. The maids did know how to prepare a room fit for a noble girl, Seto would give them that.

"Aiko-chan?" he whispered into the room. "Aiko-chan, are you awake?"

"Hm…?" mumbled Aiko's voice from the rose-tinted dimness. "Seto-sama? What are you doing here? It's-"

"Late, I know - sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Yes, but I don't mind. Come in."

Seto quietly slipped into Aiko's room, closing the door behind him. Aiko had climbed out from under the covers and was sitting on the edge of the bed. She gestured next to her as an invitation to come sit down.

"What is it, Seto-sama? You sound anxious."

"Well, I'm technically not supposed to be here," Seto whispered. "I'm not allowed out of my room at night. Mokuba isn't allowed out of his room either. Once it's lights out, there's no talking until morning."

Aiko frowned. "I don't want to get you in trouble…"

"I'm more concerned about you getting in trouble," Seto replied. "Trust me, you do not want to see what Gozaburo looks like when he is disobeyed."

"I haven't left my room," Aiko reminded Seto, quietly slipping her hand into his. Seto initially flinched at the contact, but decided to let it be. Maybe the Kamiyas were more touchy than he was used to. "But that's not why you wanted to talk to me… isn't it?"

Seto scowled. "Gozaburo's acting weird."

"How so?" Aiko asked.

"He's storming around the house muttering to himself and looking around like he thinks he's being followed, and it sounds like he can't get his breath right. I know because I saw him go by my door."

"Is he sick?"

"Not unless he got sick in the past twelve hours, since he was fine earlier today. In fact, I've never seen him get sick, ever."

"...I mean… a sickness of…" Aiko coughed knowingly and pointed to her temple.

"You're wondering if he's lost his mind? That's what I was wondering!"

Aiko bit her lip. "He has been acting erratically toward me since we met. I assumed it was because of my looks. But you said you saw him acting paranoid and talking to himself. Do you have reason to think he's insane?"

"He's always been a paranoiac, occupational hazard of being so famous. There's… other things, too. But I've never seen him act like this."
"What kind of things was he saying?"

"He was shouting at no one to stay away from him and said something about a… dark master?"

Aiko frowned.

"Do you know what that means, Aiko-chan?"

"I've heard of him. Father had a hobby of studying old artifacts, and once, I found a book mentioning that name. But everything in that collection got repossessed in order to get money for our debts - including the book."

"So that's a dead end. Funniest thing about that is that Gozaburo didn't know who the dark master was either. He kept asking to himself what it meant and who it was referring to." Seto carefully left out the part where Gozaburo implied Aiko was responsible for his condition. "And did you not see him running past your room in a panic?" he asked instead.

"I thought I saw him walk into my room and watch me in bed, but then I jolted awake and he was gone. I assumed I dreamed it."

"I don't think you dreamed it. He was coming from this direction."

"But… why? Why was he spying on my room?"

Aiko looked so scared and confused that it felt painful. Seto gently squeezed her hand still in his grasp. "Don't worry. Even if he tries to hurt you, I won't let him." Briefly, Seto wondered where those words had come from.

"Don't let yourself get hurt, either," Aiko said firmly.

Seto felt his face get warm. "Uh - well, it was nice to have someone to talk to about this. It was confusing to watch." He stood up from Aiko's bed. "Good night, Aiko-chan. Again."

Aiko giggled. "Good night again, Seto-sama."