Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / X/1999 Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Then came an angel ❯ Twisting Fate ( Chapter 27 )

Chapter 26

 

By Sapadu

 

A/N: I'm not going to deny it- this piece coming up with Ishizu is DISTURBING. Enough that it has boosted the fic's rating up to 'Mature' or 'X' or what have you. But, there's also some important stuff here- stuff which I think Takahashi-sensei wouldn't have wanted to touch, or possibly didn't know about, but what the 'Mysterious visitor' talks about is referencing factual stuff that DOES happen in many third-world countries, even today.

 

...Just so you know.

 

Ishizu stared out the window at the solid wall of metal and grate. It felt like she was underground again, the sunlight denied to her and her family, the fresh air being shut out, and the feeling of being caged in with nowhere to go...

 

She was trapped- just as she had always been. Trapped by her fate. Trapped by her family. Trapped by the traditions. Trapped by the rules of the world she lived in.

 

Marik had been trapped once by those same things... but he'd grown angry at it...

 

Ishizu could easily become resentful and hateful of this life... scratch that: She already WAS... but to act on it... she simply couldn't. She was a girl. The ritual on her tenth birthday had been supposed to make her pure and cleanse her of such indecencies. Even if it hadn't worked, she was not going to give in. After all the pain that she'd suffered for and because of her purification, she was going to force it to work- she would make HERSELF work.

 

Ishizu clenched her fist and leaned against the cool glass of the window, letting the refreshing shade chill her temples, now aching in despair.

 

Marik had fought so hard to break free of the same things that still trapped them both... only to encase himself further- to be trapped by a darker half of himself. In the end, even as you fought against your destiny, it would pull you in, deeper into it's vortex, like a pool of quicksand, or a ship in a whirlpool.

 

Ishizu sighed.

 

"Frustrating, isn't it?" A voice said behind her. Ishizu jumped and turned, to see nobody.

 

"Sh-Shadi? Are you there?" She stammered, insecure in her solitude for the first time. The voice hadn't sounded even vaguely familiar, not the ghostly keeper of the Millenium Key or Scales, not the monster inside Marik's body, certainly not any of the guards... And too masculine to be the shinigami pair of women who had stowed away.

 

Ishizu went to her door, peered out and looked around. Seeing nobody, she closed it and pulled the locking bolt, before going to sit on her bed.

 

Two arms wrapped around her shoulders, so suddenly and firmly that she couldn't even jump, not even as the same voice whispered in her ear,

 

"Hello, lovely." All Ishizu could do was turn her head, looking straight into a pointed, but manly face. The eyes were narrow and dark, and the black hair framed the entire head in thin, beautifully silky sections. Every curve of the face was perfect, as though sculpted by masterful hands, and the skin was smooth, soft, and colorless. Inside the eyes though, and the facial expression and body language, Ishizu felt a threatening, domineering sort of air- one that showed the owner's possessiveness, overpowering, and self-serving nature, and the utter careless regard he held for his victim... was that what she was?

 

"Wh-Who...?" She stammered, shaking and trying to pull out of his grasp. The man smiled, causing his wax-like cheeks to flex into a very sinister expression. His grip on her shoulders lessened and she jerked away, crawling backwards until her head hit the wall as he pursued her in a prowl.

 

"...Who....?" Ishizu stammered again, unable to properly form a sentence at the impropriety of being alone, in her room, on her bed, with a complete stranger- a MAN, no less- and she not even married to anyone, much less this person.

 

"Who are you?" The man murmured in a purr, his face closing the distance between hers and his rapidly, "Is what you would LIKE to say, isn't it?" Ishizu didn't reply, her mouth shutting itself firmly, just in case he got closer.

 

"Don't be scared- I'm not going to hurt you." He whispered, putting a hand firmly on Ishizu's stomach, "No, any encounter that takes place here will be anything but painful."

 

"Please go away." Ishizu whispered, though more to avoid drawing attention than out of fear- she had a firm idea of what this man's intentions were, now, and a clear plan of how to defend herself. She had just been taken off guard, that's all.

 

"Oh, don't play hard to get- saying things like that only turns a man on... or is that part of your strategy, the master player that you are?" The Man hissed, sweetly diabolical, leaning forward as Ishizu craned her neck so that he missed her face and his lips met her ear.

 

It was just that much louder as she heard him chuckle.

 

"It's your brother, isn't it?" He muttered. Ishizu froze, and the Man chuckled again, "I thought so... family matters are always the touchiest..."

 

"You know nothing of it." Ishizu whispered, firmly. She felt the Man smirk, and he pulled away, with a satisfied air.

 

"Eu Contraire, Madamemoiselle. I've been watching from the beginning..." He purred, his hand moving down Ishizu's stomach towards her leg. Ishizu's hands moved to slap him away, and the Man's other hand promptly gripped her by the wrists and restrained her.

 

"Your beginning, to be precise." He added, leaning back over her as Ishizu turned her face as far away as she could while keeping an eye on him. His hand pressed against her hipbone, right on the socket where her leg attached to it.

 

"It started with your mother, am I right? Since your mother died giving birth to the little one, you naturally resented the exchange of your beloved mother for a little brother and a now mentally unstable father..." The Man whispered, while Ishizu hissed in pain, trying again to wiggle out of his grip.

 

"That's not true!" She said, sharply, her voice now normal speaking volume, though she retained enough control to not shout.

 

"Well, you didn't realize it then- you were only four, correct? But six years later, your tenth birthday comes... along with your own 'Initiation', hmm?" His hand slid around Ishizu's right thigh and pressed against the inside, close to where her legs came together. Ishizu shuddered violently, and attempted to kick her assailant. It did little good, as the Man only seemed amused by her efforts.

 

"If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one. And there are many countries today where they do even worse than what was done to you." The Man purred and Ishizu cringed away, feeling like he was dripping poison in her ear, "But that was just it- the older women told you that you would be a woman after this..." His hand slid off her leg and pressed between them, "And even as you screamed for help, nobody came. Not even your dear brother."

 

Ishizu shut her eyes tight, realizing exactly how similar this sounded to what Marik had said about his own experience in the Tomb Keeper's Ritual.

 

"This was why your mother died in childbirth- many women do, because of this, since the pressure of a child leaving the womb reopens the scars. They just bleed and bleed and bleed. Though, if they don't die from the blood loss, the wounds become infected, and the women die from some very terrible diseases. Be thankful that your mother had a mercifully quick death." The Man hissed and Ishizu flinched away.

 

"But... after all, since your own brothers abandoned you when you needed them, you only thought it was fitting when Marik's ceremony came, four years later, you didn't lift a finger to help him. Or stop the other from scarring his own face. Now, all three of the remaining Ishtars are scarred- each in their own, unique way..." He mumbled, his hand leaving contact with Ishizu's body, much to her relief. It was short lived, as he moved to pull her skirt open along the part near her knee.

 

"STOP!" Ishizu demanded, trying to squirm away without pressing against him.

 

"Given the dress you're wearing, I don't think you have much room to complain." The Man said, sliding a hand under her leg and propping it up, bent at the knee.

 

"Stop this... It isn't right... This is a SIN!" Ishizu spat out, furiously kicking with her other leg.

 

The Man paused, cocked his head for a moment, then leered.

 

"A sin? What do you care about 'Sin', Madamemoiselle? If I recall correctly, one of the commandments is 'Thou shalt not have any false gods before me'. You, a worshiper of Ra, Osiris, Isis, and all the other Egyptian Gods, are already unforgivably sinful. Don't tell me what is a sin and what is not when you're a heathen, yourself." He hissed, leaning over her.

 

Ishizu turned her head away.

 

"Did you know that many Christian churches will condemn rape as a sin? Not the rapist, but the victim- after all, a woman's duty is to submit to the will of men. And she must have sinned in some way for God to punish her like that, or maybe she led the man on, or seduced him, or something of the matter. Is that how Ra treats his daughters? Or do you suppose he would be forgiving?" The Man asked, and Ishizu wished that her hands were free for her to strike him at that comment.

 

"Another interesting thing about the practice of female circumcision is that it's never fully completed- the most sexual organ in the body is the brain. To truly nullify all these 'Impure' thoughts, essentially, girls would have to be lobotomized. After all, nobody can PROVE if you were just THINKING about these things, right?" The Man whispered, his hand coming up and resting on Ishizu's chest to push her down.

 

"And, of course, there are other erogenous zones on the body. In many women, their underarms..." He trailed the lightest tip of his finger up one of Ishizu's arms, from where it connected with her shoulder to her elbow. She bit her lip to hold in any noise- it tickled, but it was strangely... tantalizing... She wasn't happy this was happening, by any means, but the fact of the matter WAS that it felt a certain way- her nerves tingled at the barest of touch and she shivered as he did it again, goosebumps rising on her skin as he tickled the skin of her arms.

 

"Then, there's pulse points- the throat, the wrists, the inner elbows, under the knees, the soles of the feet..." The Man's hands wandered and Ishizu shut her eyes tightly, trying to will her skin numb so she did not feel the touch. But it was there, all the same, and she hated herself for it.

 

"Please... don't..." Ishizu whispered, releasing her lips briefly from her teeth. The Man chuckled.

 

"Now, don't be so shy- if you really want to be technical, I'm not going to FUCK you. I'm just going to help you get off. Not such a bad deal, is it?"

 

Ishizu felt her cheeks go very red at the profanity. She started to stammer her protest, but was cut off.

 

"What, are you worried that it's a complete stranger doing you a favor like this? I doubt that you'll ever see me again- and even if you do, I doubt you'll recognize me. No awkward relationship to worry about. And I won't tell a single living, breathing thing. So your lovely reputation is saved. But now..."

 

Ishizu's legs buckled and she tried to draw them together as he undid the strings that held her skirt closed, but found her stomach quite unavoidably bared. His fingers traced around her naval, causing her abdominals to tense at the ticklish touch and her skin to tremble. Her top came undone at the same time, and Ishizu drew her breath in to stop herself from making any noise as his mouth came down.

 

"It's an interesting concept- to want your daughter to not feel sexual pleasure so she is pure and faithful, but also wanting her to happily and willingly be a baby-making machine... It's as though saying you want a worker to happily and willingly do a thankless, hard, exhausting, painful job for no pay or benefits. There are many scholars who believe that women are meant to feel pleasure specifically it was God's intent to give them some side benefit for all the trouble that pregnancy gives them. In exchange for all the sickness, dizziness, overall horrible feelings, and the pain of labor, they're at least given an orgasm for their trouble in the beginning." The Man said around the skin of her breast. Ishizu didn't deign to respond.

 

His fingers took hold of a patch of flesh on her thigh and squeezed.

 

"I'd appreciate a response, dear- I feel like I'm interviewing a doll, not a girl." Ishizu whimpered, still biting her lower lip with some venom.

 

The Man sighed, blowing air against Ishizu's rapidly hardening nipple.

 

"Oh, well. I'll just have to work for it, then, won't I?" He murmured, though more to himself, sliding down Ishizu's torso and licking at patches of skin as he went. She squirmed, partially involuntarily from the ticklish nature of her sides, but also to try and kick again.

 

"What's even funnier is the actual effects of this whole operation- the lips of the vulva and a clitoris are supposedly unattractive and if a girl has them, she's ugly and nobody will marry her. Given how modest they are in most of these countries, how does the husband determine whether she's ugly or not? Even in Ancient China, when girl's feet were bound so their toes were deformed, at least a man could tell by just looking at her feet." The Man noted, pressing his hand on the spot right over her hip where it transitioned into her pelvis. Ishizu made a noise somewhere between a growl and a whimper.

 

"And then, because of the fact that the razors used to do the cutting aren't sterilized, and the blood lost, the girls often go sterile themselves, thus making them even more unattractive to their husbands than any exterior genitals could ever make them." He continued to mumble. Ishizu ground her teeth, trying to ignore how much this Man was talking about marriage, to her, especially.

 

It was when she felt something that felt very much like a finger being pressed in between her legs that she yelped and wished for her hand's release, if only so she could muffle herself. Being assaulted was humiliation enough but if someone still on board HEARD...

 

"Of course, this is the worst part- since the girl's organs are damaged by the treatment, her entry doesn't produce it's natural lubricant any more. And since sex products in most of these areas are not provided, the couple can't find a good replacement, and even if they manage with beeswax or something, the woman just can't enjoy a good carnal romp anymore. Being penetrated by someone, who's more like a something, and whose only objective is to make babies and not caring for her comfort, it hurts like a sonofabitch. A lot of the time, the man doesn't even enjoy it, either. Quite a shame, really..." The Man commented, as though making a remark on the weather as his finger wiggled. Ishizu bit down on her lip again, not hard enough to draw blood- though that was probably only because her teeth were so dulled. It... didn't hurt... but she was entirely unused to the experience, and it was so strange that it took her off guard.

 

"You really should get laid more, m'dear- You're very attractive when you're being fucked." The Man said, and Ishizu felt another finger enter her. Despite how much it wounded her pride and dignity... she squeaked... because it did feel good...

 

"...Don't... tell me... what to do..." Ishizu growled through her teeth. The Man smirked, and lowered his head again, mouth covering her breast entirely and sucking on it. Ishizu clamped her lips tightly together to stop any noise from getting past them.

 

"Oh, come now- don't tell me that you actually aren't USED to it. By your age, most girls have at least learned to pretend to be happy to obey a man's every whim. I think some of them even delude themselves to think they really ARE happy- it's much less degrading that way. And, then, there are women who tell themselves 'This is the best I can get- I should be happy that I've been honored with such a fine husband, willing to take me from my parents despite the little dowry I had' and other crap like that." The Man said, twisting his fingers around inside her.

 

It was something of a mercy in more ways than one that Ishizu was so horribly unused to it that her body released relatively soon. The Man made a disappointed noise.

 

"Well, since my work here seems to be done, I'll leave you and your self-persecution complex alone- you two obviously have things to work out."

 

And then, he was gone.

 

Ishizu checked the lock on her door again, then hid under her covers.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The computer slut, Kendalina had found, was very tiring. Sure, the same could be said of herself, but that was Kendalina, so she didn't care.

 

"You know, if we're going to be working together, we should at least know something about each other- what you can and can't do so I can cover you, same thing the other way around."

 

"BEAST has no weaknesses." The computer slut girl tonelessly responded. Kendalina made a face.

 

"Fine- is your precious beast going to save your sorry ass whenever something bad happens?" Kendalina snapped, with her usual temper.

 

"There is nothing BEAST can't do." The girl responded. Kendalina snorted, trying to figure out what she could make a point with.

 

"Can he make an ice cream sundae?" She challenged. The girl didn't respond.

 

"What about poetry, can he do that?" Kendalina pressed, again, receiving no reaction. She thought for a moment.

 

"Can he dress up in black leather, heels, and a spiked collar and role-play a 'Master-slave' night in bed with you?" She asked. It was her usual squash when someone said that they were better than Triclops, and was quite effective in shutting people up. The computer slut girl didn't even seem to see the humor in it.

 

"I have no need for such things." She replied, just as icilly as before. Kendalina gave her a good, long stare. Mentioning of sex activities usually at least got people huffy. This girl honestly didn't give a damn about anything. It was quite perplexing.

 

Kendalina had a feeling she was going to have a good time studying her.

 

"Girlie, you need to get a clue as to what you're missing- Don't you have any HUMAN friends?" Kendalina asked, disgustedly.

 

"I have no need for friends, and humans are inferior to machines. They serve no purpose." The computer slut said, flatly. Kendalina cocked her head, feeling even more disgusted than ever.

 

"Then why are YOU still here- you're human, too." She challenged. The girl didn't even pause.

 

"I am simply here. I don't need a purpose, and if I did, it would be because BEAST wants me around." She answered. Kendalina snorted.

 

"Oh, nihilism- goodie..." She muttered, sarcastically. The girl ignored her.

 

She wasn't looking forward to this trip.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"So... you're trying to get me out of here so I can go back to my body..." Marik surmised, watching Ken fumble with his chants. He'd been trying for the past, what seemed like, half hour, and three different chants hadn't done the trick.

 

Ken kept smiling and saying 'Next one will work.'

 

It was quickly becoming evident that the boy really was inexperienced.

 

"Yep. And I don't know why all of these haven't been working- they're supposed to..." Ken mused, sitting back on his heels.

 

"Maybe, since we're in the Shadow Realm, things are harder for you to deal with, here..." Marik offered, not sure if this would help or not. Ken shook his head.

 

"No... for one thing, we're inside a dreamscape, not a realm of shadows, or whatever... for another... I dunno- It's worked before once, when Kaa-oh refused to wake up... Toh-ma put me into her dreamscape and we essentially booted her out of her own sleeping mind... But I don't get why it isn't working now..." Ken protested, in a huff. Marik shrugged, noncommittally.

 

"It's okay- I really don't care if you get me out or not." He said, in a bored tone. Ken frowned, then blinked.

 

"You REALLY don't care about yourself THAT much?" He asked, in a cautious tone. Marik caught it, and gave Ken a sharp glance, before softening, turning away, as though thinking.

 

"... I... I've caused people close to me... a lot of suffering... If I return now, I don't think there's anyway for all of us to be happy... as a family... again..." Marik said, slowly. Ken stopped his efforts, finally, and stared at Marik long and hard.

 

"...Do you hate them?" Ken finally asked. Marik shrugged.

 

"Not... really..." He said, though, thinking about it, it was more of a desperation to be accepted than an acknowledgment of actually caring about someone.

 

"Then, you'll be fine! I mean, what's the WORST that could happen?" Ken asked, smiling. Marik didn't return it.

 

"Your one friend turning on you, your sister disowning you, getting the living shit kicked out of you by the people whose friends you manipulated and tortured, and being left to the rest of the world to take their vengeance on after that?" He said, with a face so straight that it really wasn't funny. Ken shifted uncomfortably, and didn't respond.

 

"And if you say 'But APART from that', I'm going to cave your head in." Marik added, thinking over how much of a smartass this kid had been in the time they'd been talking and bickering.

 

"...Well, if everyone will just beat you up, at least you're not going to be... raped or anything..." Ken suggested, with a shrug. Marik made a disgusted face.

 

"...Where do you GET this stuff?" He asked, sincerely wanting to know how this other boy's mind became so twisted. Ken didn't answer but instead said.

 

"Well, am I RIGHT?" He demanded. Marik wrinkled his nose and snarled.

 

"That's not the point!" He snapped.

 

"Then what WOULD it take for you to want to go back?" Ken asked, irritably, while Marik thought as hard as he could to find the best answer to aggravate the other, but his thoughts were interrupted by the other boy finally saying.

 

"Oh, I GET IT... You're too CUCKOO to go back to your body- you don't have the intestines to face whatever record might be playing against you back in the world of the living, isn't that it?" Marik looked up and gave Ken a strange look- one which clearly read that he didn't understand a word of what the other had said.

 

"Huh?" Was the first thing that Marik could manage before Ken kept talking.

 

"Yeah... that's it, right? Because little Marik is so lilac-livered- such a posie, such a duck, such an octopus, such a hamster- he doesn't have the vertebrae to go back." All said with a look that, even if his speech made no sense, it was quite clear that Ken was attempting to be condescending.

 

"What the..." Marik finally said, audibly enough that Ken rolled his eyes and glared at him.

 

"I'M CALLING YOU A COWARD, DAMMIT!" He exploded. Marik's jaw dropped, and it suddenly made sense.

 

"You've been mixing the words up- what you meant was 'I'm too CHICKEN to go back to my body- I don't have the GUTS to face THE MUSIC back in the world of the living. I'm so LILY-LIVERED- such a PANSIE, such a CHICKEN, such a JELLYFISH, such a MOUSE- that I don't have the SPINE to..." And suddenly, Marik felt all the rage that should have come with the correct statements welling up.

 

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING CHICKEN?!" He demanded, banging a fist against the glass.

 

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SAID 'CHICKEN'! I SAID CUCKOO!" Ken retorted.

 

"CUCKOO MEANS INSANE, DUMMY!" Marik snapped, "I just started studying the language and I'm better at it than you."

 

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING DUMMY- I SKIPPED TWO GRADES IN THE CLASS I'M IN." Ken protested, feeling that he had every right to be slow on the uptake of the language on this planet, given that he was technically from another galaxy altogether.

 

"JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A BRAT WHO CAN STUDY WELL DOESN'T MAKE UP FOR A TOTAL LACK OF COMMON SENSE!" Marik returned, which only seemed to add fuel to Ken's fire.

 

"AS OPPOSED TO WHAT? HAVING AS MUCH COMMON SENSE AS YOU, TO GET INTO WHATEVER SHIT IT WAS THAT GOT YOU IN THIS MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Ken snapped back, which made Marik do the mature, adult thing to do, and stick out his tongue at the other boy.

 

"Either way, you still haven't convinced me you're not too... CHICKEN... to go back to your body." Ken insisted. Marik gave Ken a sharp look, before he said something which took Ken off guard.

 

"Then prove to me that YOU'RE not too... how did you put it? Too CUCKOO to go back to YOURS." Marik demanded. Ken looked a little shocked for a moment, before looking away....

 

"So... is that a dare then? We both go back to our bodies..." Ken clarified, and Marik nodded, quite firmly.

 

"And don't say that you CAN'T because you're scared you might get beaten wherever your body is- I've got to face up to that, too." Marik pointed out, as Ken opened his mouth, as though to protest.

 

"W-Well... that may be... but I don't even really know where my body is right now... like geographically, speaking... the whole reason I'm in this mess right now is because I was abducted by someone who thought I was a reincarnation of someone who he wanted dead..." Ken muttered, but it didn't seem to earn him any reprieve.

 

"No excuse. Do it or I'm not coming with you- deal or no deal." Marik said, in a very flat, 'it's decided' manner. Ken looked anxious for a moment, but in the end, didn't argue.

 

"Alright then! And, let's make an added bet: Whoever wakes up first has to FIND the other person and then that person treats them to something- drink, food, entertainment, whatever the winner wants." Ken argued, at last. Marik raised his eyebrows, but certainly seemed to consider it.

 

"Aw, but Ken, we've only just met- why would you do something like that for little old me?" Marik teased, with a slight sneer that could have been interpreted in other ways. Ken sneered right back.

 

"You're assuming that you'll win. You shouldn't say something like that to a person with Correllian blood in their veins." He warned. Marik snickered.

 

"Well, then, I'll hold to my end of the bargain IF you win. Just be sure you keep YOUR end if I win." He answered. Ken smirked.

 

"I'll see you on the other side." Ken said, finishing what he'd begun earlier, and freeing Marik from his prison.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

He was aware of sensations, first. He didn't know that there were words for these sensations, in fact, he didn't even know what words were. All he knew was that there was something around him. Around what would be called his face. It was soft, conforming with the curves of his body, dipping into every little crevasse and dimple, and if he moved, it moved around him, accommodating him.

 

Then he had a sensation of something... that was not good. The word for it, if he'd known it at the time, would have been burning, in a place called the chest. But it made him panic. He began to move around, began to thrash, the parts of him that he didn't know were called limbs flailing trying to find a way out. But he was quickly stilled- something else came in from above, something different, but that felt kind of like two of the things he had. He didn't know it was called a hand, but he did realize that it was holding him down, restraining his movements, before the hand pulled part of him up- the part of him that felt like everything was happening there, where all his thoughts were, all his sensations were, where the strange things were happening.

 

He didn't know that it was known as the head, and that what he was being yanked upwards by that caused the back of said head so much pain was his hair.

 

The stuff around him slid away from his top and he was emerging into something cool, but... not as heavy. It felt like there was nothing there, but there had to be, because he still felt SOMETHING against his, what most would call, face. Then, he saw something, just a ways away.

 

It looked... different... from everything else. Everything looked... empty, and plain... this thing was... it seemed filled with something different. He couldn't put the words to it, but he knew that what he found so enthralling was... colored, unlike everything els around it. It seemed to have a faint glow, that announced how special it was, how it was separated from... that flat thing it was against and on. He didn't know why, but a lurch inside him knew that it was the most beautiful, most perfect thing he would ever see.

 

It was a brief moment, before he felt his head turned toward the thing that had pulled him out. It was also colored, but only slightly different. And the feeling he got from this thing... he hated it. It made him feel something that the word cold- though he didn't know such a thing existed- would describe. It was a feeling that made him panic again. He started to kick, and flail, and finally what he was in tipped over, sending him with a crash to something hard and solid.

 

"Such a troublesome doll." He didn't know what that meant- it was all garble to him, but he knew the noise was coming from the thing he was trying to get away from. It was following him, and that feeling of cold and horrible coming with it. He tried to get away as quickly as he could, but it caught him, lifted him so he was higher up, and then put something around him, moving his limbs so that he folded into whatever the thing was around him more neatly. It felt... a little better- the nothingness around him didn't feel as severe, like there was something between him and it, but that creeping still was on his skin. That feeling that he hated.

 

"Stay here." It made a noise again, and then turned to leave, putting more space between him and the horrible feeling that it brought along.

 

Soon, he couldn't see it anymore, and crawled over to the other thing, which now seemed more enticing than ever before. Upon putting his hand against the colored mass, he determined it was a very nice warmth.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

(A/N: For the sake of not tediously repeating what happens in the duels when you could just as easily watch the T.V. Show episodes, I'm going to skip around- this is when Puzzle-san has taken over from Kaiba's interrupted duel with Noa)

 

400 points left. Yugi had taken up this little freak called Noa who claimed to be Gozaborou Kaiba's true son, taking over the duel between him and Kaiba, with just 400 life points left.

 

(A/N: And, actually, I REALLY hate the English name given to Otogi, so I'm using his Japanese name. Be sure you don't get confused.)

 

Otogi was beginning to wonder if Kaiba's accusations of Yugi being full of himself weren't entirely baseless. After all, the way that Kaiba had always acted towards all of them wasn't entirely kind- what reason would Yugi have to want to help him?

 

Then again... Otogi took one look at the statues that Kaiba and his little brother had been transformed into. Otogi admitted that he didn't know that much about family relationships, so the situations might be completely different. It made him think about Joey and his sister- as much as he had the hots for Serenity, her brother protected her with literally everything he had. Otogi didn't know what it was like to have someone like that.

 

It didn't change the fact that Yugi had still taken up this psycho kid with only 400 life points. So he'd better have a kickass strategy to finish it in about one turn, or have a magic wand up his sleeve to return his missing life points. Though, knowing Yugi, it was probably the former.

 

It was still a pretty hopeless case- all odds against him, and with such high stakes, could Yugi really afford it if he lost? Of course not. But that wouldn't bother Otogi quite as much if it weren't for the fact that Yugi had almost ALWAYS been in this situation. His luck just could NOT last forever and that's all there was too it.

 

It would be at that precise moment that Otogi could have sworn he saw a shift in the world. The sky above started to spark electricity, even though there wasn't a single storm cloud up there. Even Noa looked shocked by this, as did most everyone else, but nobody expected what came next. Specifically that a black hole would appear, warping out of the sky, and a girl would come lowering down from it. Her hair was black, except the front of her bangs, which had been bleached, and short, like a dust mop. She had glasses covering her bored, blank, black eyes. Her clothes were black, but just barely covered the more significant parts of her skin, though the reason was apparent, as wires were trailing from virtually every inch of her skin, in fact, the wires were holding her in mid air, as she looked down on them with an attitude like Otogi imagined God would look down on the Earth.

 

Except he highly doubted that whatever God there was over them would look down on the Earth with disgust, as this woman was quite clearly doing.

 

"It's nice to meet another Kamui." She said, in a flat, bored voice, staring right at Yugi, who seemed to react quite badly to this statement. Tea also screamed.

 

"It's you! You were controlling the wires that attacked Shibuya." She shouted, pointing up at the other girl, who gave her a somewhat disdainful look. Otogi could have sworn he heard the words, 'It's rude to point, little girl' go through the air.

 

"I have no interest in you." The other girl said, with that same apathetic look on her face. Breaking the tension in the moment was another woman, whom Otogi recognized as Kendalina, falling out of the black hole and plummeting to the ground with a loud smashing noise.

 

"YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" Kendalina immediately accused the girl who was still being supported in midair with the wires digging into her flesh.

 

"Because you're annoying." The other responded, without even flinching, "This computer is exceedingly boring to hack into. Whoever made it should reconsider how to do so." The comment infuriated Noa, to whom the computer system was apparently a vanity.

 

"Well, let's just get business done, then, if you're so annoyed- first thing: Unfreeze those two." Kendalina called. The other girl gave her a sharp look.

 

"I don't have to take orders from you." She replied, icily. Otogi shifted his weight onto his other leg and wondered exactly what these two were DOING here.

 

"It's not an order- I'm telling you that you will because Set-kun over there was this Kamui's twin star in the past. Trust me- you'll do it." Nobody was too happy to hear this announcement, but Kendalina ignored everyone shouting at her to explain what the hell she'd just said. The girl hanging by the wires looked quite impressed.

 

"Oh... well, in that case..." There was a zap of lightning down from the sky and almost immediately, the Kaiba brothers were unfrozen. After completing their hug, Kaiba noticed the girl who floated in the air, giving him a strange look.

 

"Aah... I see it now..." She mused, not fazed by the glare Kaiba sent her as he stood up, carefully cradling Mokuba, as though to shield him from further danger.

 

"Who are you?" He demanded, and Otogi was impressed that Kaiba could act so confidently, even though he was technically being held hostage in this world.

 

"I am one of the Dragons of Earth." The girl responded, simply. Kaiba froze and these words apparently held some meaning to him.

 

"What is all this that you keep talking about? What do Yugi and Kaiba have to do with any of this?" Otogi shouted over the noise of static that her presence was causing.

 

"I don't need to answer you." The girl replied, blandly. It pissed Otogi off, but really, what made him truly mad was that she didn't give a damn about anything.

 

"Look, I don't know who you are, nor do I care, but you don't belong here- now LEAVE!" Noa demanded, a flash of what seemed to be lightning coming out of the sky, aiming at the two intruding ladies, but it dissolved before it got even close.

 

"It's almost amusing to hear that from you." The girl attached to the wires mused, with no amusement in her voice, "Couldn't you get rid of him?" Kendalina shrugged, giving Noa a look like she really couldn't care less.

 

"I personally think our little CMC needs to stay here, in hell, where he belongs." Kendalina shrugged. The other cocked an eyebrow, but in a moment, another burst of lightning zigzagged towards Noa, hitting him square in the chest. Otogi heard Serenity scream as she shrank against her brother, and he was having difficulty keeping his bowels from moving down at the shriek they could all hear from Noa, as he disintegrated.

 

This woman... honestly didn't give a rats ass... not even about human life...

 

They were so screwed!

 

"What the hell was that for?" Kendalina demanded. The other didn't look at her.

 

"He was annoying." She explained. Almost everyone shut their mouths, instantly, just in case she'd thought they were annoying as well. It was around that time that Otogi felt something curl around his leg, and looked down to see a rather twisted black vine clinging tightly to his foot and winding up. Various screams and gasps told him that everyone else was experiencing something similar.

 

"Quit panicking or it won't work and you'll go kaput with the rest of the system." Kendalina scolded, drawing Otogi's attention.

 

"System?" He barely had a chance to say, before the other woman spoke one word.

 

"Crash." And everything went suddenly black. Otogi felt as though he was being pulled down by the leg wrapped up in vine, dragged through the blackness to who knows where.

 

'That girl... you have feelings for her, don't you?' Otogi heard a voice say as he was pulled, 'She is the person... who you Wish to protect...'

 

Otogi couldn't say much to that, and, for a moment, wondered if he'd gone insane.

 

'Stay away from her. She will do nothing but bring you misery.'

 

And Otogi found himself flung into a bright light that blinded his eyes.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Her hand held the pencil to the world. The words on her page were the key to life and death.

 

And her little puppet, she was more than pleased to see, what screwing everything up, just as she'd been told to do.

 

"We'll see who wins at the end of the day..." She muttered, tracing circles on the floor with her finger.

 

A/N: That's it for this chapter... no, we haven't seen the last of either of the more bastardly Kaibas- don't worry. Sorry it took so long but, school has pwned my ass like you wouldn't believe.