A/N: Well, here it is. If you want to know why I've decided to finish this fic, it's for mainly two reasons. One, quite honestly, is that I have too many other ideas for fics outside of the YGO fandom, so I've decided to finish most if not all of my YGO works before moving on to other things. Second, you people have been such loyal readers that I think you deserve for me to finish this fic without dragging you through about four or five excess chapters. So, ladies and gentleman, here it is. Enjoy...
Angry People
Final Chapter
Bliss.
That's the only word that they could use to describe it. It was a strange sort of kiss...it wasn't a simple peck on the lips or cheek a young boy or girl would give their crush on the playground. Neither was it a sloppy, lusty kiss that you would probably see in many adult films. It was a kiss that confirmed the feelings they felt for each other were real and very powerful. A kiss of true love, the fairy tales called it. It's something neither thought they would ever have. Tea had numerous suiters, some of them her own friends (she and Joey went out briefly their freshman year and Duke was always half-joking about wanting to date her). But she was a little hesitant, especially when she started to suspect that Yugi had a crush on her. Of course she had her own crushes, Seto Kaiba being one of them for a while, but she resisted the impulse to act out on those feelings. Maybe it was fear of being rejected. Maybe it was fearing that her strong friendships with her male counterparts would suffer. No such fear was in her mind right now. Marik was thought of as very attractive by most of his female classmates, both past and present. But the fact that he was a target of senseless aggression from other students, combined with his sometimes abrasive attitude, usually sent the girls running towards the hills. But not her.
She stood by him.
She didn't care who harassed him.
She didn't care about his reputation.
She didn't care that they were from different races.
She didn't care that they saw things in the world around them differently.
She loved him.
He stood by her.
He didn't care that she was slightly annoying at first.
He didn't care about the rumors going around about their relationship.
He didn't care about people and the standards they tried to enforce to keep them apart.
He didn't care that his sister was selling all that they owned so that they could leave the city.
He loved her.
Damn, he loved her!
How long was it? A second? A minute? An eternity? The kiss that seemingly lasted forever finally ended and the two lovers just looked at each other for a moment, as if checking to see if what they had done really happened.
Tea's brother just stood there, his mouth agape.
"Marik?" Her voice was soft and sweet, if not cheerful.
"Yeah?"
"We still have a date, don't we?"
The boy smiled. "Yeah."
California Family Court
Mokuba fidgited in his chair as he and his brother waited to be summoned into the courtroom. "Um...big brother...why are we here?"
"To take care of something."
Mokuba looked at him with suspicsion. "What? I thought our monthly hearing with the family court was next week, isn't it?"
The elder Kaiba stood as he saw a young female receptionist approach him. "We're not here for that."
Mokuba's confusion was even more apparent on his face as his brother walked into the courtroom. He hurriedly followed behind him and took a seat next to him at their designated table.
The judge, a middle-aged white woman with greying brown hair, looked at the file that her assistant had brought to her. When she spoke, her voice had a deep, authoritative quality to it. "Mr. Kaiba...this is an unusual request, I must say. Pardon my crudeness, but someone at your age is usually out making their own children instead of adopting. Why this child? Why now?"
Kaiba glared at her, his blue eyes fixed on her with their usual fridgidness. "That's not your concern, with all due respect. I'm not here for a publicity stunt, if that's what you're wondering. Will you or will you not grant my request?
The woman, who appeared used to Kaiba's antics, took off her reading glasses and massaged her temples. Then she took a deep breath before beginning to speak.
"Seto...are you aware that you are underage and that your probationary adoption status of your brother will remain in effect until you turn 18 years old?"
"Yes."
"Are you also aware that inthis previous ruling, there is no mention of if you seek to adopt and or "take in" another child?"
"Yes."
"Okay...I'll tell you what I'll do, Mr. Kaiba. Under normal circumstances, I would refuse your request. This, however, does not qualify as a normal circumstance. Most seventeen-year-olds can't raise a child, yet you do it and run a multi-million dollar corporation. And your brother seems to be well-taken care of...Alright. Does the State have anything to add?"
The "State", or a lawyer representing the state of California, shook his head and gave a quiet "No, Your Honor."
Then the judge smiled. "Then be it know that Ruth Alphonse will now be known as Ruth Kaiba." As quickly as the woman's smile appeared, it faded. "I'm trusting you, Seto. Don't let me or this child down."
Mokuba was stunned by what he saw next. Was his brother...smiling? And not one of his usual snarls or smirks either. A pure, honest to goodness smile?
"I won't."
"Good...if we have no further buisness, we stand adjourned."
April 23, 2005 (Domino High Prom Night)
Two friends sat outside the entrance of the ballroom rented for their high school prom. One was dressed in a traditional black tuxedo with a black tie, the other in a more extravagent all-white suit. The one in black looked on in disgust as his friend lit up a cigarette.
"Those'll kill ya, ya know."
The one in white looked over at him and laughed. "Yeah, and so is the principal if he ever finds out you're bangin' his daughter."
The young man blushed, his mouth almost hanging open in astonishment. "How...how did you-?"
"Dude, with all my female connectionsI know the personal buisness of ninety-eight percent of this whole damn school. You didn't think you were immune, huh?"
The one inblack sat still, thinking of a way to quickly change the subject. "Um...where are you going tocollege?"
"Grambling State."
"Isn't that out in Louisiana?"
The boy pulled out a blade of grass nearby the steps of the building. "Yeah, my family wanted me to get the whole 'black' experience, I guess. School's damn near all black, you know."
The white kid nodded his head, as if he understood. "...I got accepted to USC (University of Southern California), my dad's old school, but I'm not going."
The black kid laughed again. "A dumbass like you managed to get into USC, and you say no thanks? Why?"
"Because they wouldn't give me a football scholarship. The academic one would have barely covered tuition."
"Why don't you just walk-on and try out? Gut it out until a scholarship opens up."
The other boy shook his head. "I got a better deal...from UCLA (University of California-Los Angeles)."
This inspired another fit of laughter from the boy in white. "Are you just asking for your old man to disown you?" (A/N: USC and UCLA are both located in the Los Angeles area, and are bitter rivals in most college sports.)
"Nah, I told him about it. He said he'll disown me only one Saturday a year."
The two boys laughed again, after which there was a long, hesitant pause.
"I'm gonna miss hangin' out with you, Johnny."
"Yeah...me too, Will."
The two heard a rustling nearby in some bushes and looked over.
"What the hell was that?"
John shrugged. "Don't bother, probably just some cat or something."
Marik was adjusting his lavender tie in the bathroom mirror, his sister watching. He decided on a white tuxedo and incredibly shiny white shoes to match.
"Sister, how do I look?"
"Like someone who won't be in until early the next morning." Ishizu smiled, something that she rarely did. Not that she was always grumpy or had a reputation of being an "Ice Queen", it was just that she rarely had anything to smile about. "Just a word of advice: bring a condom. Maybe two."
Marik stood there with his mouth wide open, his eyes wide. A month ago his sister was preaching the benefits of abstinence, and now she's telling him to pack rubbers?
"Um..."
"Don't worry about it. I know you and Tea are going to do what you want to do tonight, regardless of whatever her parents or I tell you. Just be careful, ok?"
"Sure..." Marik laughed nervously. He expected to get something similar to that statement from his sister sooner or later, he just didn't expect her to be that blunt about it.
"Oh, do you have all of your things packed?" Ishizu had gone into the living room and sat at her desk, but her voice easily carried through the apartment.
"Yeah...have you decided on where you're going?"
"Not too far away, probably San Diego. Ryou's father is okay with you moving in, right?"
"Yeah." Marik slightly cringed at the thought of moving in with Ryou. He was grateful (but a bit sad) that his sister had allowed him to stay behind while she started a new life for herself, but he already saw that Ryou would be a bit of a challenge to get along with in a living situation. He was a neat freak, Marik was a little sloppy. He listened to soft, instumental music; Marik listened to eardrum-bursting rock. Throw in a near-nympomaniac that Ryou has for a girlfriend (he had accidentally walked in on one of their trysts and nearly fainted), and it all screamed run for the hills. But, hey, it's only one year.
He had other things to worry about tonight, like his prom date.
Joey and Mai were riding to the prom site in a limo that Joey had saved money to rent (he worked two part-time jobs over the summer). Mai was looking cheerfully out the window as Joey tugged at the collar of his shirt. Man, he hated formal wear.
"Joey, remember when I first came to school here? What the other kids called me?"
Joey grimaced. He hated that term and wanted to pummel anyone who used it on her. "I think they called ya...Robobitch."
To his surprise, Mai giggled. "Yeah, I guess when I got here I was a bit of a bitch. I didn't have many friends at my old school, and the ones I did have were even more stuck-up than I was."
"You weren't that stuck-up...just a little tough to get ta know." Joey spoke hesitantly as he realized how close they were now. He could almost hear her breathe. "But you were worth tha effort."
Mai put a hand on his shoulder slowly, as if she was worried about something. "Do you really think that about me?"
Joey looked in her direction nervously. The sweet smell of her perfume was starting to become almost unbearable. "Yeah..."
Joey tried to look away from her; even though they had been going steady for six months, he still found her beauty intimidating. Her strapless violet dress left little to imagination, hugging to her unbelivably curvybody, and her face...Damn that beautiful thing! She could coax almost anything out of him by simply smiling.
She gently turned his face towards hers, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Joseph. You and your friends helped show me how wonderful life can be with friends who care about you. Tonight, I'm going to repay you."
Joey could barely get out the word. "How?"
Mai smiled again. Joey noticed the look in her eyes had changed a little. Scratch that...a lot.
"However you want me to."
Joey nearly melted. He heard the lust drip from her voice as she spoke. Was she going to let him...oh God. This was a moment that prom night was made for!
He silently hoped tha tthis night would go by very, very slowly.
Mokuba had managed to sucessfully sneak into to the prom through an open window. He almost got caught in the bushes outside the building, but was able to move quickly enough to avoid any suspicion. He didn't know in what part of the building she was in, but he'd find her. She was a couple of grades ahead of him due to her super-high intelligence, and sometimes scoffed at what she called his "childish" behavior. He loved to provoke her, just to see her face pout up (she was very cute when she was angry, although he would never admit it to her face or anyone else's). Now only one minor obstacle remained...finding his crush without running into his big brother.
Said big brother, Seto Kaiba was sitting in his own "private" corner of the ballroom, barely giving a glance at the students as they danced (if that hip-grinding, head-bobbing nonsense is what they wanted to call dancing). He wasn't into socializing, and definitely didn't enjoy dancing. Not that he couldn't when he so desired, of course...
Here he was, nearly 18 years old, and he had a secret that could easily bury him if it ever got out. He did take comfort in the fact that the only person who actually knew anything about the incident was his head bodyguard, Roland. But why did he adopt the girl? He already had one annoying (but loveable) brat to take of in his brother Mokuba, so why aquire another headache? Was it because he thought Mokuba was lonely and needed someone's company other than his? Was it because he was trying to cover his tracks? Was it because he saw that he had unintentionally wrecked this young girl's life that the only ways he could think of atoning for it without turning himself in were commiting suicide or raising the girl himself. Or was it that somehow, someway, that little girl reminded him of an innocence that he buried inside of himselfages ago?
He looked across the room and saw Marik and Tea enter the room together arm-in-arm. He had to admit that the aspiring dancer wore her royal blue gown very well. Her hair appeared to be combed normally, but he could tell that she was wearing earrings, something that she usually refrained from doing. She wasn't supremely beautifulbyhis tastes, but was still a very attractive girl nevertheless. It almost nausated him to see the the two of them sohappy, so blissful.In a way he was jealous of them. Sure the Ishtar boy had some tough times and was a little anti-social, but at least he was able to express what he was feeling most of the time. Most people simply thought of he, Seto Kaiba, as a human incarnation of Mount Everest: he's cold, tall, and just...there. He couldn't ever admit things that he felt, sometimes not even to himself. Feelings like he had for a certain young woman at one time. Feelings so strong that he would kill for her.
"Will all thecouples please report to the dance floor? This will be the last dance..."
(song: "When a Man Loves a Woman", sung by Michael Bolton)
As Tea felt her boyfriend's arms wrap gently around her, she looked around the ballroom. Joey was his usual clumsy self as Mai led him as best she could through the dance. Yugi and Serenity looked so painfully nervous as they danced, but appeared happy that they were together. Tristan and Duke (both had offered to dance with Serenity, but she politely declined.) were sitting down grumbling curses at one another. Mokuba, somehow, had managed to sneak in and steal a dance with Rebecca Hawkins. Her friends, all of them. She knew there weren't a lot of things right in the world. Senseless killings, senseless laws, senseless wars. People hating other people for no reason at all other than the color of their skin, the God they chose to worship or not worship, or the gender of someone they choose to love. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if not noticing that Marik had now pulled her to him, holding her gently. She thought of this night as sort of an escape, a dream. A dream from which she hoped that she would never wake up...
"Excuse me, Mr. Kaiba...do you have time to dance with a lady?"
Seto had heard that voice many times before, and knew instantly whom it was. "Does the lady have time to dance?"
He didn't have to look behind him to know the woman was smiling.
"The lady has all night."
Well...as a wise man on ESPN said, That's it and that's all. Some quick tidbits I may not have mentioned:
Jayden Yuki, the freshman who scored the goal in the soccer match, is a character from Yugioh GX, currently airing on the Cartoon Network (no, I don't own GX either).
MacAuthur High was named for the Gen. Douglass MacAuthur, one of the great American generals in US history.
If you want, I can send you to a link to the music that insprired the two fight songs in the soccer match portion of the fic.
I'd just like to thank you all so much for reading, and I hope that if you took anything away from this fic, I hope that you just stopped and looked at yourself for a moment. Do you have any predjucies and misconceptions about any groups of people? Is there any basis for these? Are you going to give them up? Are you willing to? Goodbye and I hope to hear some of your reviews.
Oh, one last thing, If your a fan of Teen Titans, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, or Inuyasha, look for some fics to start popping up in around Valentine's Day or so. Don't worry you YGO nuts, I'll finish my fics in this fandom, maybe start a new one. Until then...
BDB...out