Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Millennium Dark ❯ We're digging up the past ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7 "We're digging up the Past."

Author's notes: YAH! NO MORE BLOODY SCHOOL FOR A WEEK! *Breathes* Ah, I had to get that out. But I finished my second part of my English final, so there's no school for me for a week until the 29th, since my Bio exam is on the 29th. ^_____^ Enjoy.

Important note: Jeez, I'm so stupid. I messed up on the translation of Yami's last name. It's supposed to be Yami Akaiame. THAT means "red rain" the other one … means red something.

* * *

Finally. Some time alone. How long had he needed this? Eh, far too long, by his account. Not that he didn't mind helping out his band-mates, but there were times when he felt a bit … stretched. Like butter spread over too much bread. Everyone else was sleeping, and he had gotten up early, to enjoy the hot tub by himself. Stripping down to his swim trunks, he had gotten into the hot tub, and immediately melted into it.

There was one problem for finally getting some time alone-he didn't know what to think about. Shadi Karasu [1] was actually stuck on where to let his mind wander. There was nothing in his life other than the promotional tour and this time alone was to get away from the band, and from the troubles of his band-mates. Everyone was allowed to be a wee bit selfish once in a while, don't you think?

He fingered a strand of his jet-black hair that was actually dyed a dark blue that could only be seen in bright sunlight. Glancing over to the corner where his clothes were neatly folded, and on top of the neat pile was his Millennium Ankh. Idly, he thought back to when he received the Ankh. It had come in the mail, out of nowhere, with the address to him, everything was correct, yet there was no return address. Thinking nothing of it, Shadi had opened the box to discover a long, golden artefact, the Ankh, which the end was shaped like a key's ridges. What it opened he had no idea. Thinking of it more, he had thought there was no lock that a key such as this could open. What was the point of it then?

No more had he thought of its purpose, than when he first met Yami. It was their idea to form Millennium Dark, as they both found out that they both had musical talent. At the time, they really could not do much with just a drummer and a vocalist. That is when they came across Bakura and Malik. Bakura had been found first and not really in a surprising way: they had found the white-haired pessimist in a fight. One that he was winning, if no one had figured that out. Apparently, from what Yami and Shadi found out later, some street `punks' [is what Bakura called them] wanted to steal his prize guitar, one that was signed by one of the most famous guitarists of their time-Ryuiji Otogi. He was only a year or so older than Bakura, but that only made the worship stronger.

Shadi recalled when Yami finally broke Bakura away from chasing down the punks; Bakura nearly decked the vocalist thinking it was another ambush. Finally, Yami explained that they weren't interested in his guitar themselves, they wanted him *and* the guitar. Bakura was surprised, but he agreed with a characteristic, `what the hell?' and a shrug of the shoulders. That was almost all the band. But they were missing one person. One more person to make the band complete. And that person was Malik Ishtar. And getting him to join the band had been harder than getting Bakura.

Malik wasn't interested in joining a band. Well he was, it was just that he wanted to join one that had a chance of going somewhere. At first, Shadi spotted him playing his bass on a street corner, not begging for money, but simply, just playing. Shadi offered that he joined the band, and Malik promptly said no. Defeated, Shadi told Yami and Bakura about Malik and about his amazing talent. Bakura was impatient and walked over to Malik, and TOLD him that he was joining the band, and in his words, `not going to be a dumbass for passing up something that's going to change your street-corner standing life.' It wasn't so much what Bakura was saying that got Malik to join, it was Bakura *himself*. The radical blond was taken in by Bakura's attitude, and no doubt his looks…Millennium Dark was born.

The name hadn't come till later, Shadi remembered, since they had not thought of one until they actually had a band. They sat around in Yami's apartment, and threw names out that sounded good, or at least sounded good mentally. Finally, Malik glanced around, at everyone holding an item that looked to have the same motif. Shadi and his Ankh, Yami and his half of a puzzle, Bakura and his golden eye, and Malik himself with the rod. Judging from their personalities, he reasoned that they were going to be called Millennium DARK. Even Shadi and Yami, for all their maturity had a part of themselves that was not wholly good and responsible, and Malik noticed and noted that. Each of the items had a name-the Millennium Puzzle, the Millennium Eye, the Millennium Ankh, and the Millennium Rod. There was that running motif Malik pointed out.

Even Bakura had to admit that it was a stroke of genius. Malik had blushed like a tomato as Shadi avidly recalled when Bakura complimented him. So it was decided, they were Millennium Dark…now all they had to do was get a record deal, get noticed. As he slid further down in the hot tub, Shadi chuckled, remembering the hell they went through in that part of their rise to fame…

* * *

Seto Kaiba, the eldest child of the Kaiba family, and regarded as the best in the business sighed and flopped down into his chair in his high-rise office. It was all so…empty. Glancing out the window, he looked out at the many apartment buildings that also densely populated this part of Tokyo. Those people probably didn't have nearly as much to do as him, probably not even close. But they had something he didn't. They had something that kept them going, something that wasn't material or a status being coveted. Simply put, Seto Kaiba had no *one* to share this success with.

Well…he did once. And in true Seto fashion, he screwed it up beyond repair. Twirling a pencil in his fingers, Seto remembered the days before he became so successful, and the few days early into his management career. He remembered that he had a past with Mai, but all the years and workloads placed on his shoulders, he had forgotten almost everything that was further back than a year ago. Seto knew why Mai was so set on her revenge path, at least *now* he remembered why. They had something of a fling, the only other time he got caught up in the moment, was with…

He stopped. Don't think that far back. You told yourself not to think that far back. The only thing that came out of thinking about her was … well what you're like right now. Depressed and thinking about what could have been. That's not what got you this far, thinking about the `what ifs'… Seto sighed. He wasn't the best person for a relationship. Mai thought that they had something, but he didn't. It was just the heat of the moment that he actually went to bed with her. True, he did feel something, but it wasn't deep, it was just attraction. She was more of a rival than a lover in his eyes. When he was named the manager of Millennium Dark… that's when he cut it off with her. Their personalities, they just didn't mesh like they were supposed to.

There was another reason, his conscience told him. Another reason that Seto ended his sort-of relationship with Mai so abruptly and coldly. Groaning, he nodded to himself in defeat. The reason he ended it with Mai was because he hadn't gotten over her…light mocha skin, hazel eyes, layered blue hair [Seto chuckled here, he remembered the incident in which her hair turned from black to blue in a dye accident]. And blonde face framing bangs, which started at the middle of her forehead and came down to her chin. You wouldn't believe that they had been together, she dressed like a skater-punk and he dressed like a prep.

It was her attitude that drew him to her. She could be nice when she wanted to be, but also, she could be your worst enemy, and cut you down with words in moments. Their first meeting wasn't fairytale like, not in the least bit. They collided in the hallways of their high school, and she plowed him over, not the other way around. Seto had jumped up, and demanded that she apologise to him, and she didn't. Instead she had poked him in the chest and told him to get the hell off his high horse, then simply walked away.

To someone that had thrived on people doing what he told them to, meeting someone like her had turned his world upside down. And he let it turn his world upside down, it would have been just a meaningless occurrence, but Seto didn't want her to have the last jab. After a few days of getting himself together, he sought her out and they talked, one on one. She didn't seem impressed with his last name, nor did she feel intimidated like everyone else had with the knowledge that he was part of the prestigious Kaiba family. He tried to get something out of her, something that could explain why he felt the need to go and try and talk to her. She answered his questions evasively, and then told him she had other places to be than to be talking to a spoiled brat.

It was her accosting of him being a spoiled brat that turned him around, almost instantaneously. In the last two years of high school, he had become a respected person in the school, and almost everyone was in love with him, completely forgetting who he was in his freshman year. Seto didn't want their admiration, he only wanted hers. It had become almost like an obsession, that he wanted her approval for this new transformation. A few people knew that he was doing this for her, but everyone else didn't care. They liked him, as he was now, who cares as to why he changed?

Seto remembered that it was almost near the end of his senior year, when he finally got a decent answer out of her. He asked her if she liked what he had become. She replied `At least now you don't piss me off as much.' This was, he figured, as close as he was going to get. He decided to play a hunch, and ask what he, admittedly wanted to do for a long time. He asked her to the prom. She stood there, shocked as hell. `Why me?' she asked, trying to make it sound like a demand, but Seto had caught a slight hesitation.

He gave her a smile. `Out of everyone here, you're real. Everyone is so fabricated, so materialistic, you're not…' She said yes, although she didn't know why. Seto could not have been happier, and truth was, he never was again since that moment. At the prom, he was really surprised to see her in a gown, but told her that it suited her. In a moment of vulnerability, she looked up at him uncertainly.

`Really?' she asked quietly. Dresses were not her thing, as she had told Seto out on the balcony of the hotel where the Prom was being held. He told her that she looked absolutely beautiful, and actually saw her blush. In all honesty, when he kissed her, it was about as fairytale as their relationship would get. A smile appeared on Seto's face as he remembered the months before they set out for University. He began to crack her protective shell that she had set up around her past, and in turn, she did the same to him. Their personalities fit perfectly together, and they kept the other on their toes.

She fully supported his decision to go into the music management business, and was brutally honest when he needed her to be. But, as the nights at work became longer, his temper shorter, it just went in a downward spiral from there. She wasn't one to wait around for someone to make time for her, and while she understood the stressfulness of his career, what he said to her at times was not justified. One day, everything just exploded, and she was gone from his life, just like that. She told him, she didn't want to hold him back anymore, and that she knew how important his job was to him. With a final soft kiss, she took off her Lionheart pendant [2], one that she had had for as long as he knew her, and put it around his neck. `Good luck to you, Seto.' And left.

Opening his eyes, Seto's hand travelled to the opened collar of his shirt, which was always unbuttoned a button or two, where the necklace still was around his neck. Now I remembered why I never sat around long enough to think. I keep thinking about the past, and how I could have changed things. Well you can't, Seto. You can't change what happened and how you ultimately screwed up the best thing to happen to you. What can you do now? All you can do is focus on your work, and not yourself. When you do, you end up like this. Pathetic. You're better at managing a band than you are at your own life. He reached for his wallet, and opened it, taking out an old, yet still in good condition photo. It was her…he never threw it out, even when he told her that he had.

He stared at the photo, tracing the lines of her face with a finger before suddenly shoving it back into his wallet, and the wallet went back into his pocket. "This is why the past should remain buried," Seto said softly, almost bitterly to himself. Pushing himself out of his seat, he realised that he had been sitting for a good two hours, thinking of the past. Grabbing a cup of coffee, Seto walked to the window, and looked across to the apartment building that was close by. So close, he could see through the window of the apartment just across from his window. The blinds were always closed, but this day, they were open. Idly curious, Seto glanced over, and nearly dropped his coffee.

It was her…she was living in the apartment across from his window.

-TBC-

[1] Karasu means, "Raven" in Japanese

[2] Think Squall Leonhart's necklace in FF8. *Hides from Squaresoft goons*

Author's notes: So just who is Seto's mystery woman? Tune in and find out! If you want to see a picture of the girl I described, go here: http://www.geocities.com/darksaiyajin_26/setos_girl_past.jpg and see for yourself. Adios!