A Single Moment
By Shardy

This is an extremely dark and sad story I wrote one day while in the library. I do not know what possessed me to write this. For some reason it came to me when I read that Shizuka falls in love with Honda in the anime series (but falls in love with Seto in the manga!?!?! I’d sue if they changed my couples!!! >_<). Not that I have anything against Honda. I love Honda. He’s funny. Don’t ask how reading that spurred on this story. Am not quite so sure myself. * is a victim of Jouno-itis.* Hmm…maybe I do have a yami. *gasp!* This fic is a one-shot mind you. It’s gonna be kinda obvious at the end. Keep in mind while you read this that Seto Kaiba is my absolute favorite anime character. This was rather tough for me to write…Actually, to tell the truth, it wasn’t really that tough at all. GAHHH!!! Jounochi is my yami!!!! O_O One more thing, this fic is a deep thinking kind of fic. You will have to use a lot of your own conclusions. One more thing, this fic is FINISHED, though it will not seem like it due to shortness and other factors. One more thing, I MUST STOP TALKING LIKE UNCLE!!!!!

Enjoy the story. ^_^;;

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Battle City Finals were over. Everything was over. The world was saved. The quietness of the blimp's interior was a blessing upon Kaiba as he stood by the blimp's controls. He took over on manual, steering it himself. There was something about driving that always made him feel more relaxed, be it a car or a blimp. He had much going on in his mind, and now that stupid mutt was silenced for the night (despite his snores), Kaiba could chase his thoughts in peace.

The first and foremost thing that gripped his mind was that whole craziness dealing with spirits, millennium artifacts, ancient magic and so forth. It was insane enough having to verify Yugi's claim about the whole "Heart of the Cards" crap. Now this. For the first time in his life, Kaiba felt his brain was freaking fried. Why did he have to be dragged into this mess? So what if that Ishizu chit who desperately needed to be locked in the psychiatric ward told him that he was once a high priest for an Egyptian pharaoh? It wasn't his problem now. So what if the world was destroyed tomorrow morning?

At least in death, no one can hurt you.

Kaiba closed his eyes once he felt that sharp stab of pang slice its icy blade through his heart. It was worse this time, and getting worse. If it were possible for a severely wounded heart to kill you, Kaiba would die soon. He had given his heart to someone once, and that man crushed it in pulp within his palm, walking away as the small boy was forced to pick up the bloody pieces and try to put them back to together. It had been like connecting shreds of flesh with Scotch tape. Every sharp word, every slap, every time he was told he was worthless and unfit to be of use to anyone caused another piece of his heart to crumble until nothing remained but a pulsing mass of gore just trying to keep him alive.

What had Kaiba ever done to deserve this misery?

His heart would never rebuild itself. It was always in pain. But now this pain was greater for no heart can survive alone. It was lonely, wanting to love and be loved, but not just by Mokuba, but by a companion, a lover. He was reaching that age where the heart begins to long for the arms of another, yet it was torn because he did not want to give his heart to anyone ever again. And he knew who this other was, but not only would he never admit under any torture you could put him through, she belonged to someone else.

That song. He could never get that song out of his head. She had been taking a shower in one of the bathrooms, and Kaiba had accidentally walked in. Considering there was only one bathroom and about twenty people in the blimp, including Mokuba and the guards, the door had to always be open. It was common courtesy. Not that you could see anyone taking the shower for the curtains were extremely thick. Kaiba had been too embarrassed to allow nature to do its dirty work in front of someone else, but at the same time he could not bring himself to move. Though he could not see her, he could hear her sing. It was more than the song's lyrics that seemed to pull at his heartstrings.

It was the tune.

He had heard it before.

Another icy stab shot through Kaiba's heart, and he clutched at his chest, gasping over the wheel. Was it really possible for one to die of heartache?

Yes, he remembered that tune very well. It had been the same one his mother had sung to him when she was alive. Every night before she went to bed, she sang Seto a lullaby to help him sleep for he had nightmares and often. No, the poetry was not the same as the one the mutt's sibling sang in the shower, but the tune was there, the essence was there. He did not know how she'd found out about the tune. There was no way she could have. And yet...

All through the shit Kaiba had been dragged through, that naive little girl reminded him very much of his mother. His mother, from what he vaguely could remember, seemed delicate, fragile, and dependent on the outside, but proved in the end that she was actually quite strong and will-powered. Though he never showed it, never had time to contemplate the indication, now that he was completely alone, his defenses dropped, his heart began screaming the obvious.

He had fallen in love with that naive little girl.

But it was a love that could never be. She did not return his feelings and why should she? Look at him; he was a melodramatic mess, a heartless bastard with no feeling save his own pride. Oh, but if only they knew. If only they could feel the constant stabbing of pain when they were completely alone, the same pain he felt, the pain that was literally killing him.

And through all this that song kept playing in his head.

He coughed, a moist cough, a few flecks of blood sprinkling upon his chin. That song is gonna kill me! I am going to die here! he thought wildly, but nothing could block out that haunting melody nor the image of his mother and the girl who had managed to capture the heart of the great Seto Kaiba and will never know it.

That tune had been the last lullaby his mother had ever sang to him.

Putting the blimp in automatic as before, Kaiba staggered to his room, holding onto the wall to keep from falling. He felt light-headed and dizzy and darkness was being to close around his vision. Once in his room, he collapsed in his chair in front of his laptop. Mokuba, sleeping peacefully on the bed, snorted once, but slept on, unaware that the next morning, he, too, will be alone. Kaiba did not want this, but it was something he could not stop.

Symptoms such as this cannot be cured if someone is so desperate to die.

He logged on his computer, hoping he would not be too late as the damn thing took eons to load, like technology always does when you are in a hurry. Finally, he brought up a word processing program, typed several lines, and printed out a copy, all within a span of two and a half minutes. Then, not bothering to shut the computer down, because tomorrow he will never need it again, he weakly forced his legs to carry him out of the room and down the hall.

She slept there alone, body curled into a tiny ball as she lay on her side, auburn hair spilling over her angelic face. Her cheeks were naturally flushed, and her mouth was open a little. Who could not fall in love with this girl if for her looks alone? He placed the paper on the night table beside the bed, and lingered there for a few more minutes. The room felt cold, icy cold, and it was excruciatingly painful to breathe. Gasps rushed out of him as though his next breath would be his last. He brushed a few hairs from her sweet face, leaned over, and tenderly pressed his lips against hers.

In the midst of her dreams, she responded, reaching up to run her hands through his hair. She allowed him to deepen the kiss, unaware of whom he really was. "A-ashiteru," she gasped in her sleep. "Ashiteru...Honda."

Kaiba pulled away with a cry, falling to his knees as the final stab sliced his heart in two. Awake now, she gripped the blankets, staring in horror at the display before her. "Kaiba!?" she shrieked, jumping off the bed and grabbing his shoulders, more concerned for him than what had just happened not three minutes ago.

He clutched his chest as blood ran from his mouth, staining his trench coat, spilt wine upon a white tablecloth. "Kaiba!! No, SETO!!!"

With a small smile, he reached up with a bloody hand, and she did not grimace as he wiped a tear from her eye. "Sh...Sh...Shizuka..." he breathed, then collapsed on the floor. The impact somehow caused a sheet of paper to fall from the night table. She picked it up and read the words, shaking violently from the emotion poured from just a few short sentences.

In the meantime, Seto Kaiba just lay there, and for the first time in over a decade, he allowed someone else to truly see his feelings even just for a single moment, and a tear, a tiny blood tear, ran down his cheek. Those once blazing azure eyes died of light. They closed as his heart took one last beat. He exhaled once and was still.

~*~End~*~



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