Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Human ❯ A Bittersweet Valentine's Day ( Chapter 3 )

Thanks for the reviews (Even though there were only 3 the last time I checked.) Oh, and a huge special thanks to Oakland Peanuts for answering my questions. The whole pushing his stepfather out of a window thing? Whoohoo! You go Kaiba!

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~ STAIRCASE: LUNCH ~

It was St. Valentines Day. 'What a stupid holiday. Just another reason to spend money, I suppose.' Seto had forgotten it was that day of the year when all those stupid, bubble brained girls gave rubbish to mindless boys who probably only wanted to get under a girl's skirt. 'Even that girl, Shido, gave Yuugi and his friends chocolate.'

~ FLASHBACK: BEFORE CLASS ~

"Here you go, guys," said Li as she handed each of the 3 boys a plastic sphere's about the size of a baseball with a red ribbon wrapped around it twice. Each sphere was filled with small chocolates. "My bakery sold these special for Valentines Day. I hope you like them."

~ END FLASHBACK ~

Seto started to think about what he was thinking last night. The whole situation seemed ridiculous now that he thought about it in the daytime. The thought that he had emotions disturbed him to no end.

'But then again,' Seto grinned to himself, or as far a grin could go with Seto Kaiba, 'emotions were the thing that that bastard Gozaburo didn't want me to have, therefore, having emotions would be defying him.' Oh, and Seto wanted nothing more than that. But Seto wondered if he could still feel. He knew he probably still had emotions, somewhere in the now newly thawing depths of his heart.

Seto finally arrived at the roof and saw, as usual, Shido sitting there with her lunch. But the girl wasn't eating. She was just sitting there, with chopsticks in hand, with a faraway and sad look in her eyes, as if she were remembering something painful.

She blinked and looked up when she noticed Seto. "Kaiba-kun," she smiled, "please sit down." Seto sat down. "So, Shido, are you going to tell me what happened or what?" Li smiled sadly. "Yes, I'll tell you. I guess you deserve to know after I've preached to you about why you should not ignore your emotions. You probably know these things, but I will elaborate"

"My home was never a happy one, even before I was born. My older sister Kioko had told me so. My 'kaa-san never seemed to love my sister or me and she often left us to our own devices. My 'tou-san never watched us either, seeing that he was almost constantly drunk. My sister, however, did take care of me. If we didn't sleep at home, we were practically living in the streets. Our friends taught us how to survive, and by survive, I mean learn to how fight and shoplift. Our parents didn't care. Our 'tou-san would beat us if we came home too late, though. We still went to school, but my sister often skipped or left during the middle of the day. She preferred to be with our friends. But Kioko was like a mother and sister to me. She protected me and made sure I was in school and that I did all my homework. She told me people like her weren't meant to be in school, but a bright kid like me would dominate. I was something of a child prodigy, people told me.

"Then my parents got divorced and it got worse at home. Beatings became a daily thing for Kioko and I. She started to cut her wrists. When I asked her why, she told me it was because it made her feel better, but she kept me from doing it, saying that a girl as pretty as me shouldn't be scarring my skin. She would sometimes come home with strange men or she wouldn't come home at all. She had become a prostitute. I took small jobs, like babysitting and delivering papers to buy some food for my sister and I. Only cheap fast food, but it was food. My sister used the money she had to buy us clothing if we needed it, some liquor for her, and used books for me. It was lucky I wore a uniform. She told me to never drink because liquor killed brain cells and I needed them all if I was going to get through school. Even after all this time, my sister was still protecting me. My father had somehow kept his job. He was never drunk at work. That was the only way we were able to pay the bills and the only way my family survived.

"Then my sister died and everything went to hell. My 'tou-san would beat me more brutally, but would always avoid my face. I started wearing a boy's uniform to cover the bruises on my legs. I lied that I had an illness that weakened my body to get out of P.E so I wouldn't expose my arms. I should've told someone, but my 'tou-san was the last bit of family I had left, so I clung to old memories to keep me going, telling my self that the beating would be over soon. I had to stop going to school and get a full time job as a waitress. I lied about my age so they would hire me.

"Then one night my father tried to kill me. He hadn't eaten for a few days so the alcohol traveled through his system faster. It was lucky a teacher had been sent over, or I wouldn't be talking to you right now.

"After that, I went to a lot of foster homes. They didn't really want a child though; they just wanted the money that came with me. I despised every school I went to. The children were so stupid, thinking that nothing bad could happen to them. I hated bullies. I often went around beating them up if they were picking on someone, so that is how I became the quiet vigilante to the students. Finally I came to a couple who really did want a child. They treated me with the care of the parents I never had. It was a quiet neighborhood and I was home schooled. My foster parents were delighted about how intelligent I was and let me learn how to cook. I never got a good home-cooked meal as a child, so I had an attachment to home made food. Especially sweets because I rarely had enough money to buy them. Then a couple of years later the couple passed away in a car accident. I couldn't stand Japan anymore. This had been where all my pain was, so I moved. I had always wanted to go to America, and I had won my independence in court, so with the money my foster parents left me, I went to America and moved into an apartment.

"I registered at a local high school. Then I found a friend. It had been so long since I had a friend, so it felt kind of nice. She was living in a foster home because her mother was an addict. Her name was Lily, she was my best friend and the only one I really cared for since my sister. But the fates were against me once again and tragedy struck. As it turned out, Lily had some sort of illness and she didn't have long to live. I started to avoid my feelings and drew back until my body was a soulless shell towards others, even towards Lily. I thought, 'Having no emotions at all is better than being hurt.'

"Finally, I got the call that Lily was on her deathbed. No matter what, emotions or not, I had to go to her. Nostalgia, I had told myself. She begged me to promise to do something for her. She told me she would only tell me if I promised. I finally gave in; after all, who would refuse something to a dying girl? She made me promise that I would feel again, that I would stop from becoming cold ever again. It broke her heart that I had acted so cold towards her the last few months. I started to cry. Now, you have to understand something. It's quite the site when I cry because I hadn't cried in years. Not since the day my sister died. With that, she died with a smile on her face.

Li looked deathly pale. Throughout her whole narration, she had kept a mask of calm. "You see, Kaiba-kun, by refusing to acknowledge my emotions, I refused the happiness of the one I cared for. I saw you, and I knew you were doing the same thing I did. I also knew you had a little brother. I couldn't stand to see one more person that was dead inside and one more person that was filled with sadness because the one they loved, their only family, no longer cared for them."

Seto frowned. "I still care for Mokuba." Li smiled sadly. "You love him now, but how long will it be before even the love for your little brother dies like your heart?" Li leaned over and took his hand between both of hers, sending a sort of shock through Seto's system. "You have to realize that you are human, nothing more, nothing less."

Seto sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. But that was not the only reason he had sighed. The feeling of her warm gentle hands made him feel good in more ways than he cared to admit. He looked into her eyes once more. 'Curse those damn eyes.' Their depths locked him in place. 'I wonder what color they really are?' No sooner than he had thought of the question, Li moved to retrieve something from her bag.

"Before I forget, here. Happy Valentines Day." Li handed him a beautiful wooden box. It was about 8 inches wide on each side and 5 inches tall. On the top was an elaborate engraving of what looked like the sun, and on the bottom was an engraving of what looked like the moon. "The latch can easily open whether it's upside down or not so you can flip it to any side you prefer." Indeed, it appeared that he could.

He opened the box. The inside was lined with a smooth red fabric, and nestled snug in between the fabric and empty space was a translucent midnight blue box with a pattern of stars etched into the surface of the lid. He could just make out what appeared to be other objects through the surface of the opaque lid of the smaller box. He lifted the lid to find foil wrapped chocolates. The box lid looked like glass or perhaps plastic, but it didn't feel like either. The material was a little less than 2 millimeters thick. Li saw Seto wonder at the light material in his hand. "It's candy glass. It's edible and quite good. I think this flavor is blue raspberry." Seto looked at the girl in confusion. "Why? Why did you give me this?" Li smiled at the boy before her, the boy whom she had desperately wanted to save. "Because, dear Kaiba-kun, I consider you my friend. Had you been just another boy, I would've given you what I had given the others. But we understand each other's inner turmoil, so I feel connected with you in some way. Besides," Li grinned, "I had a feeling you would've said something like, 'Nothing but the best for Seto Kaiba', and throw the candy back at me if I hadn't given you some of the best in my shop."

Seto was, well, he guessed the current feeling he was experiencing was the feeling someone felt when they said, 'I'm touched'. He didn't exactly know what to say, so he said in a low sort of grunt "Thanks". He sounded ungrateful, but he meant it. It had been so long since he had meant that word.

Li said a quiet, "You're welcome" and exited the roof

~ AFTERSCHOOL: HALLWAY ~

As Seto was leaving his last class, he saw a group of guys ganging up on someone who was apparently a girl. "Come on baby, just one kiss, that's all I'm asking for." The group leader leered at the girl. "Back off, jackass, if you don't want to get hurt." Seto stopped. He recognized that voice. He peered over the head of the group to find that the girl they were ganging up on was, surprise, surprise, Li. The leader scowled. "Boys," he started, "I think Miss I'm-to-good-for-you needs a lesson. What do you guys think?" "Yeah!" the whole group cheered. The group closed around Li. It became an all out brawl. Li was doing pretty well, but not even she alone, could handle the whole group. It was a lucky thing that Seto stepped in. A boy swung at Li's head. "Li, watch out!" Seto shouted at her. With that warning, she managed to avoid the punched as she leaned out of harms way just in time. The boy, however, managed to knock her glasses off.

Soon the whole group ran away with their tales between their legs and left Seto and Li alone. Seto noticed Li's glasses on the floor, so he picked them up. "Here you go," he said as he handed her the pair of glasses. He froze as soon as he saw her eyes unshielded by blue tinted lenses.

Red.

Her eyes were crimson red.

They were deep and calm, yet at the same time they were filled with such life and passion. He couldn't bear to look away until Li replaced her glasses. 'What's this feeling I have? Why does it feel good and bad at the same time?' Seto didn't know it yet, but it was obvious that Cupid's arrow had struck his heart, big time.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Seto snapped out of his daze and reapplied that look of emotionless calm that he was so good at. "Yeah, of coarse I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" Li stared. "Well, maybe because of that whole group of guys that we just took out? I thought you might be hurt." "Don't waste your worry on me. Those guys were weak. How about you?" Li smiled. "A bruise here or there, but otherwise I'm fine. Thanks for helping me out." Seto looked at her with a blank face. "Do you need a ride home?" 'Why did I just say that?' Seto had now confused himself. Why would he want to offer this girl a ride home, when it would probably inconvenience him? "Oh, no," Li said hurriedly. "I couldn't impose on you like that." "Trust me, a ride home is the least I could give you after what you've given me." Li smiled once again. "Then I'd be happy if you would drive me home." As they walked to Seto's limousine, Li's smile became a roguish grin. "Hey, you called me by my first name. Does that mean I can call you Seto from now on?" Seto said in an uncaring tone, "Whatever." Li grinned bigger. "Arigato for helping me, Seto-kun." They entered the limo. "We're going to pick up Mokuba." "Alright."

They rode in silence; neither knowing exactly what to say, of course, Seto was use to not talking. It was a surprise that he was the one that broke the silence. "Tell the driver where you live." Li looked up from her lap quickly a little surprised at the sudden loss of quiet. "What? Oh, I live at the corner of Yashiko St. and Sakura Rd." The silence continued until they picked up Mokuba. "Hey big brother. Who're you?" Mokuba eyed Li suspiciously. Usually, when his older brother had a woman with him, she was either the company, or she was an outlet for Seto's sexual frustrations. That's right. He knew about his big brother's habit of bringing home women of the streets. But this girl did look different. She was younger than the usual women were and she was wearing Seto's school uniform. A boy's uniform, mind you, but a uniform. "Konichiwa, My name is Li Shido. It's very nice to meet you, Mokuba-kun." Mokuba shot a confused look at his big brother. Seto said rather flatly, "She's my classmate. I offered her a ride home." Now Mokuba was definitely confused. 'What the heck the matter with Seto? Why would he do that?'

As it turned out, Li's home was within walking distance of Mokuba's school so it was a short ride. The car stopped. Seto could certainly see why the street they just drove down Sakura Rd. Both sides of the street were lined with Sakura trees. The blossoms had yet to bloom, but when they did, they would coat the sidewalks in a glorious carpet of pink. They stopped at the Sweets and Things bakery/sweets shop. "You live here?" Mokuba was surprised. This girl lived at the bakery? "What? Why? How?" Li giggled a bit. "I own the bakery and there are living quarters above it. Hey, you want something to eat?" Boy did Mokuba ever! He had always heard how this place had the best pastries and sweets, but Seto never let him go because he said he was busy. He wasn't aloud to go by himself either because of security reasons. But now that he was here, there was about as much chance as a snowball's chance in hell that he would let Seto drag him away without trying just one pastry. "You bet I do!" The two entered the bakery before Seto could say anything.

"Choose anything you want and it's yours for free." "Free? Really?" "You bet!" Mokuba looked at his brother who had now entered the store. He could tell Seto's patience was wearing thin. "I'll just have some cream puffs to go." Li told a woman behind the counter his order and she put them in a white paper bag and handed it to Mokuba. "Thank you very much," said Mokuba as he bowed. Li smiled kindly. "You're welcome, and you can come back anytime you want and I promise my doors will always be open to you." Mokuba's smile brightened and then he turned and left with Seto.

Little did they know the extents of which that that promise would be put to use.

~ T.B.C ~

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