Chapter 15 - Ishtars and arguments

Ishtars and arguments



When they arrived back at the house they found the kitchen had been completely taken over by the Ishtars. Ishizu and Odion were sitting at the table, still wearing the clothes that would make them blend in perfectly in Egypt, but here in Domino City they stuck out like a sore thumb, surrounded by electrical kitchen appliances and modern furniture. Kaede smiled at them both and hugged her grandmother, who was bustling around making the Ishtars feel at home. Kaede quickly dragged Joey and Marik away before her grandmother forced them to eat some toast or have a cup of tea.

She and Joey began showing Marik around the house and took him upstairs. He was fascinated by Kaede's various make-up boxes and perfume bottles, and was stunned by the aerosol body spray, and almost blinded himself by putting it close to his face and pressing the top down, but Kaede caught him and grabbed the car away just in time.

`So how was the flight?' Kaede asked, pushing Marik into a chair away from her cupboards so that he couldn't cause any more trouble.

`It was good, and really amazing. How do they make the plane fly?' Marik asked brightly.

`Physics,' Kaede shuddered. `It is pretty boring actually.'

`It was great, we were flying,' Marik's eyes glazed over as he remembered the flight. When he came back to reality he laughed a little. `But Odion said I shouldn't have phoned you in the middle of the flight.'

`Yeah, well, it was nice that you phoned me to warn me, otherwise I would have had a heart attack when seeing you in the playground,' Kaede smiled. `So, when does the inquest start?'

`Tomorrow, and they think it will last all week,' Marik attempted to smile. `Are you actually going to go?'

`Hopefully, but I dunno if I'll be able to get out of schools,' Kaede shrugged.

Noticing Joey felt a bit left out, Kaede took them both downstairs and watched as Joey tried to teach Marik how to play a games console. Marik fumbled several times about which button to press and eventually threw the controller down in a fit. Kaede knelt beside him and whispered a little strategy in his ear. Marik nodded and picked up the controller again. Joey started a new game and they began to hunt each other around a labyrinth, and Marik quietly planted several detonated bombs when Joey wasn't looking and hid somewhere close by. When Joey's character ran past the spot where Marik had dropped the bombs. Marik pushed the detonate button and Joey's side of the screen went red with his character's blood.

`Yes,' Marik punched the air like a little kid. `I won! I beat you!'

Kaede grinned at Marik and at Joey, who was fuming. Marik was saved from certain death by Kaede's grandmother calling them to the kitchen for dinner. It was a squish to fit everybody around the table, as there were twice as many people as there normally was, but they somehow managed.

When they were all sitting down and eating, Kaede struck up the conversation about the inquest. `Am I actually going?' she asked her grandparents, who both stopped eating. Her grandfather whipped his mouth on his napkin and leaned back in his chair.

`What?' Kaede asked, looking from her grandfather to her grandmother and then back again. `What's the matter?'

`Kaede, sweetheart,' her grandmother reached over the table and took hold of her hand, gripping it. `We thought about whether you should go with us or not and we decided that we really can't put you through that.'

`But why can't I go?' Kaede's voice rose steadily higher as she said this, getting louder. Her hand underneath her grandmother's began to tremble with rage and fury.

`Well, darling, because there isn't much use in you being there as you weren't there when they died-'

`Neither were either of you!' Kaede was now shaking with rage. `Why are you going and I'm not?'

`You have to go to school this week, they won't let you out because of an inquest,' her grandmother tried to reason with her, but Kaede was shaking her head now, her eyes closed, clearly not listening to what her grandmother was saying.

`Kaede, please listen, we just don't want you to get upset by it,' her grandmother said, still reasoning.

`GET UPSET BY IT?' Kaede was now shouting at her grandmother. `I'LL GET MORE UPSET BY NOT BEING THERE.'

`DON'T SHOUT AT YOUR GRANDMOTHER, YOUNG LADY,' her grandfather roared above her yelling. He dropped the level of his voice at Kaede's shocked face. `We don't want you to have to hear how it happened that's all.'

Kaede pushed her chair back and stood up. She gripped the table as she stood, making it shake with the force of her templing. Tears filled her eyes as she pushed her chair back under and looked at her grandfather straight in the eye. `It's not like I don't know how it happened,' she said, biting her lip to stop the tears. `I know exactly how it happened, and not letting me go is as bad as not letting me go to their funeral, which I will never forgive you for.'

Unable to stop the tears now, she ran out of the room. Joey and Marik both jumped up and ran after her. They heard the front door slam and opened it, gazing out into the dark street. They saw her running fast down the street, and took off after her. Kaede heard them behind her and pushed herself harder, made her muscles work harder than ever. She ran further and further away, and deeper into the night, where she knew they would never find her.

Leaving the street lights behind she ran threw the trees of one of the parks grouped close to her house. She ran through the park and hid in a group of bushes, wrapping her arms around her knees and hiding her head in between her arms to make herself as small as possible. Her breathing was deep and loud, and she bit her shirt to try and muffle it as she heard them run past, calling her name. She heard Joey curse and shout her name one more time, and then they left the park, continuing on their search.

Kaede breathed a long and deep breath and breathed out slowly. She lifted her head slowly and looked around, but could hear nothing anymore. She sighed and leaned back against a tree, and allowed her grief to overcome her. She wept for everything, her parents, her little brother, her twin sister, for the rest of her family in Egypt who she would probably never see again, for everyone in the world who had lost someone they loved. She let all her sorrow go and when she had no tears left to cry, lent back against the tree and closed her eyes, exhaustion overcoming her. She was just about to fall asleep when the tree she was leaning against suddenly hugged her.

Screaming, she jumped up and back away, only to see that she hadn't been leaning on a tree at all, but a person. She squinted, trying to make out who it was in the darkness, but they stood instead and walked towards her into the light.

Kaede almost screamed again, and leaned bent over as a she had a sudden rush of blood to the head. She heard him step towards her and almost laughed, because if she hadn't been terrified, it would have been funny. She rubbed her face with her hand, trying to wake herself up a bit more because crying had make her tired, and she stood up straight again and looked up at him, at Seto Kaiba.

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