Snegopady

Me: Hey all! Okay, this is kinda random and partially spurred by boredom due to exam-leave, it's silent shipping. A very odd take on Kaiba, but this is written from after his life has taken a turn for the better, so to speak. Serenity's character had some serious vamping (that having nothing to do with vampires ahem), I tried to make her into the kind of person that I think Kaiba would find attractive, which probably shows what a crappy authoress I am, but it was quite difficult to write her lines and show how I wanted her to be saying them. Trying to think of people who I can compare her with, I would go with Anya from the 1997 Fox film Anastasia, but with a little more reserved wit. Kaiba shortens her name from Serenity to "Rena", pronounced "Rain-ah", with the Russian accent.

The title means "Snowfalls" in Russian, and is the name of one of t.A.T.u.'s latest songs.

Quick Russian lesson:

Priviet - Hi

Kak dela - How are you?

Spasibo - Thank you

Da - Yes

Niet - No

Dobraye vecher - Good evening

Ya lyublyu tebya - I love you

Ya znayu - I know

Ne znayu - I don't know

Ne znayut - They don't know

Ya tebya slu'shaya - I heard you

Mne nuzhna ona - I need her

Mne nuzhna tebya - I need you

The translations for the song lines are in the text. REVIEWS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!!!

Seto Kaiba smiled to himself. This was an extremely rare occurrence, one that he only permitted to happen at certain times, normally when no one was watching. It was, for the first time in his life, ever, that he could remember, that he had been truly happy. Consistently happy, not pretending to be happy. Rather ironically, for a university student, he was doing something that he hadn't done in a long time. Washing up.

There was something about the chore that soothed him, the warm water washing over his skin. Sometimes he even felt childish enough to hold his hands up and blow the bubbles across the kitchen, such was his joyousness. It was, to him, one of life's simple pleasures, one that required no thinking power whatsoever, where his mind could relax and his hands could do the work. Of course, this is not something that one would expect a world-famous entrepreneur such as himself to be doing. And if Lidiya hadn't insisted that everybody take their turn, he probably never would have. Life was different, in the best way imaginable.

Two years ago, on the twenty-fifth of October, the morning of his eighteenth birthday, a letter came through the post. Seto was not one to make a fuss of his birthday, but this was the day he had waited for for a long time. He was finally a legal adult. No more compulsory high school in order to remain Mokuba's legal guardian – he could leave the next day if he so wished. Now he was truly free of everyone. It was a very hollow feeling, like he should have been triumphing to have made it this far but he simply didn't have it in him to rejoice. It didn't even hit him particularly hard. Not even a smirk appeared on his face when he thought about it. Nothing. Even though that as a child he had clutched his pillow in fear of he torture he would receive and blocking out the pain and fatigue, he had wished with all his might to be eighteen. He was empty. The letter lay unopened on the table as he and Mokuba ate breakfast, it was the one he had left until last out of the giant pile that had been stuffed through the letterbox. Bills, mostly. He picked up the letter wordlessly and sliced through the envelope. Unfolding it, the printed words across the very top of the page leapt out at his eyes.

DOMINO SOCIAL SERVICES

Dear Mr. Kaiba,

As you are most probably aware, with your eighteenth birthday your details are officially signed off the Domino Social Services database. We are obliged to store and keep all data that we receive as is stated on our insurance policy, for the purposes of crime prevention. However, given your exceptional circumstances, we wish you to state as to whether or not you wish this data to be destroyed for privacy purposes. Please respond by letter to this proposal. We also wish to inform you that as of your eighteenth birthday, you are legally entitled to access our data regarding the identities of previously unknown relatives, providing that proof of relation is evident. We await your immediate reply.

Yours sincerely,

Izukaya, Tsuda,

Data Services Regulator

"What's that one Seto?" Mokuba asked, wiping the remainders of chocolate sauce and pancake around his mouth, after having gotten up at five thirty and cooked for Seto especially.

"Social Services want to know whether or not I want my data destroyed, to keep it away from the media." He said, "Said something ridiculous about the right to find former family as well…"

"Hey!" he swallowed a mouthful, "What if they can find someone?"

"They're dead Mokuba." he said quickly, "All of them. Now wipe your face and get ready for school."

Folding up the letter and digging his fork into a chocolate sauce and cream-covered pancake, he shook his head to himself. But a seed had been planted in his mind. Whenever Seto had been emotional enough to wish for something, he had always wished for more time with his parents. Who was he? He knew that his father had been a French doctor working in Moscow and his mother was Russian, yet there was so much that he wanted to know that he didn't know. The seed finally sprouted when the picture of a younger Mokuba had fallen out of his locket. It was folded over neatly several times so that it would fit in the tiny space. Picking it up off the carpet and gently smoothing out the creases that left white lines over the paper, he had unfolded it for the first time in years. Next to Mokuba, folded out of the locket-view, sat his parents, large smiles plastered on their faces. A smile crept onto his own as he saw the wonky picture - he remembered he had been the one who had taken that picture, back when the camera was almost as big as he was. And he had been the one that had folded them out of it when he put it in the locket.

Why?

He wasn't sure, it had caused him so much pain to see them that he had tried to forget them completely, but staring at their faces again after so much time he realised how desperately he wanted to remember them. They were only in his memory. If he erased them from his memory, then nothing of them would be left in this world. His ribcage shook uncontrollably, his nerves frayed at their ends. His father was tall, physically the exact frame as he was, with blond hair and the same blue eyes that he possessed. His mother was also tall, and had long, wavy black hair and Mokuba's violet eyes. He blinked hard as his own began to shimmer with tears. They were gone. Tears were, in his opinion, embarrassing and unnecessary, but it unnerved him slightly how the only thing that seemed to prevent them from spilling freely down his cheeks was the presence of other people and the need to fulfill his professional image. At night, long after the rest of the world slept, tears would flow from beneath his eyelids, soaking the pillow on which his head lay. Of course he had a heart. A beautiful, warm, loving heart. It was just broken. Shattered. His thoughts could no longer override the leftover shards that cut into him like silver knives, leaving him bleeding. They had left him. They had left him alone in a cold cruel world. He and his beloved brother were lucky not to have been killed too. But there was a voice inside him screaming, why didn't they take him with them? Why didn't he die too? And no matter how selfish it was, he couldn't deny that he only wished that he had. He had to move on. It was the only solution. Even if that meant answering some questions. He refused to believe that there was no other living person on the planet apart from Mokuba that he was related to.

And so he had begun his search for family - any that were still alive. After much searching, he discovered that his cousins, his mother's sister's children, with whom he had once shared a roof with, were alive. Their parents were, sadly, also dead. Their father had been in the same car that had crashed, killing his own father. They had lost their mother too, to leukaemia. His curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he returned to Moscow, to the house he had lived in as a child. How he had ended up in Japan was anyone's guess, but leaving seemed to relax his frayed nerves. It felt like a lost part of him flowed back into him when his ears and mind filled with his mother-tongue, Russian. Already memories he didn't know he possessed spiralled in front of his vision, simply from hearing the phonetics, the pronunciation that westerners found impossible, the mixture of words forming meanings in his head. Familiar voices, not so much by how they sounded, but what they said. Little quirks that his brain remembered, but he didn't. The first was Lidiya's laugh. It had never changed, despite the years. Kai and Lidiya were twins, only a few months younger than him. Kai looked very similar to him, except he had chesnut-coloured eyes and very dark brown hair. Both were tall, with Kai being his height and Lidiya only a few inches less. He had never been so happy to see two people in his life. Neither had Mokuba. They had sat in front of the fire for hours, eating snacks and talking about their lives. Seto soon found that he didn't want to leave. He was home. He couldn't bear to be wrenched away again, and when Lidiya mentioned that they wanted he and Mokuba to come and live with them, a hope began to formulate in his head. What about KaibaCorp? Kai had casually suggested that maybe forget the company for a few years, hire someone else to do it, and then maybe go to University or the like.

Easier said than done.

Could he really move KaibaCorp HQ to Moscow? They had a fairly large branch there which could be renovated, but it would be messy. The hope in his mind developed into a plan. He could do it, he decided, he could do anything. And so he did. A year off after school to supervise and conduct the moving of KaibaCorp HQ to Moscow, and then to University for a few years. He hired a German man - not Siegfried - who was proven to be exceptionally talented in running large businesses, as a stand-in CEO for him, but still did a proportion of the work himself. Mokuba looked forward to the transition, as he was leaving his elementary school that year anyway. Kaiba had had little trouble making decisions when he chose his degree course. He actually already had a degree, a masters in advanced Mathematics, which Gozaburo had forced him to complete alongside his regular studies when he was fifteen. Seto wanted to study human medicine. He found the science of it fascinating, and there was something about it - maybe it was because his father loved it so much, and by doing it he felt he could get closer to his father. He could experience what he had experienced before him, so he would know what it felt like to be him, having missed all those times when he should have been sitting at the dinner-table, with his father telling him about his day. Getting in wasn't as difficult for him as it was for other students, admittedly, the Faculty of Medicine of Moscow State University welcomed him with open arms, and agreed to let him use a false name in order to avoid unwanted attention, he had borrowed Kai and Lid's surname. That was when his life really was turned upside down.

He had been looking forward to a fresh start with Uni, no one there would know him, as in Domino, he could forget he was a billionaire, and be a normal student. Apparently that was too much to ask. On the first day, to his surprise, a pretty girl with red hair came and sat next to him in the lecture theatre. He couldn't believe his eyes. At first he thought he was hallucinating. Blinking a few times, he realised he wasn't. Joey Wheeler's sister was sitting next to him.

"Priviet." she had said, a smile on her face. "I never thought I'd see you here."

"You speak Russian?" he asked.

She shook her hair over her back. "When I lived in America, I had a Russian au-pair who taught me." she said. Seto was taken aback slightly by her tone of voice. She spoke with such strength, yet she was so down-to-earth. Like she had a real personality. He was also impressed by her fluency in the language, only just remembering that she was American - the mutt's parents lived in Japan as the father worked there, but they weren't actually Japanese. "So you speak Russian?" she asked.

"I am Russian." he said simply.

"I heard you were moving here." she continued, "Good on you, Domino can't have been the place for you."

"It wasn't."

Seto was slightly unnerved by the fact that when he tried to manifest the hate inside him that he held for Wheeler and his family, he found it just wasn't there. Had the change of home, family, mellowed him that much? The feeling of emptiness that had previously been filled by fire fuelled by the sheer annoyance caused to him by Wheeler was gone. He felt no desire to snap at her, to insult her, to take her down. Only the wondering why she would even want to approach him knowing how he disliked her brother.

"I don't know anybody here." she said, "I arrived after fresher's week, so they know each other. I presume you didn't turn our for fresher's week either."

"I didn't." he said. He was glad he hadn't too. Pub-crawling was the last thing he wanted to be seen doing, and the last thing he would ever want to do. He held no desire to get so out of his head drunk that he was crawling around in a gutter. It looked like she already knew that.

"Yeah, not my cup of tea either." she remarked. Both of them diverted their attention to the lecturer who had just walked through the large double doors.

Possibly the most awkward day of his life, she had continued to talk to him, his responses becoming less and less monosyllabic. Simply by listening to her, the way she talked to him, and to other people, his disdain at her presence began to fade away. He found it unsettling that she was one of the very, very, very select few people on the planet that he could stand. Mokuba, Roland, Helen - his long-serving, efficient and almost aunt-like secretary, and Blue, his loving and loyal German Shepard dog, whose basket always sat at Seto's side. When he had been a puppy, and too young to leave at the mansion all day, he used to lie in a blanket in the top draw of Seto's desk, and the habit never really died. The people he liked he could count on one hand. Finding another at that stage felt odd. Their relationship evolved very slowly. Seto had at first been worried that she might have revealed his identity to someone, but as the weeks passed, and no one seemed to be any more the wiser and the tabloids were devoid of any mention of him, a small gratitude extended from him. Gratitude slowly became acquaintance, and acquaintance morphed into friendship.

"Come on." she had laughed, pulling on his coat sleeve, "Celebratory coffee!"

A year passed, exams were over, and marks revealed. Both of them had stared unbelievingly at the pieces of paper in their hands. They had gotten exactly the same marks, and were both top of their year. She was so ecstatic he thought she might have been in danger of exploding.

"So what exactly did you do to the professor to get those marks?" he asked her as the two sat back in Starbucks with massive cups of hot coffee in their hands.

"I might even have gone so far as to pretend that Seto Kaiba was a personal friend of mine." she said over the hot cappuccino, smirking a little as she said it.

"We're not friends, Rena." he chuckled.

She had laughed and pulled a face. "I am not your friend!" she joked, "What would everyone say if they knew I was sitting in Starbucks talking to you eh? They'd shun me! It's not the cool thing to be doing you know."

"Well I can think of lots of people who would beg to differ." he retaliated. "So are you still homeless next year? You can sleep on my front doorstep, if you like."

She scowled at him. "As a matter of fact, yes I am still homeless. Halls have officially kicked me out."

She looked pissed. During the Halls reshuffle as the new freshers were accommodated, somehow her name had been lost in the system and she now had no room. They had told her to find her own accommodation for the second year.

"Because I don't want to be seen with a tramp…" he began, already making her laugh, "You can come and stay with my cousins and I."

"I already told you the front doorstep's not good enough!"

"No, but you could have the doorway of a guestroom if you like. They're wide, you could fit an entire sleeping bag in there."

"And a pillow?" she asked, as if enticed by the opportunity.

He nodded. "Three."

"And your dogs won't mind?"

Seto thought for a moment. The four of them had two massive golden retrievers who padded through their halls looking for attention and places to sleep. Blue of course slept in Seto's room. "I'm sure they'll deal with it."

She pointed at him. "This had better not have anything to do with your front doorstep Seto or you're a dead man!"

Seto looked down and realised that he had been scrubbing the same plate for fifteen minutes. t.A.T.u.'s new song, Snegopady, was playing on the radio, and looking out of the window before him again, he saw how ironic it was that snow was falling thickly onto Moscow.

Chyornaya, belaya

Black, white,

Razniye, polosy

Different lines

He felt very deeply for Wheeler's sister. They weren't an item, but both Mokuba and Kai had dropped it into conversation that they were so 'into each other that they might as well have been much more'. Family never knows when to keep it's mouth shut. Only Lidiya was vaguely understanding, and left him be over it.

Vsyo ischezayet

Everything disappears

I povtoryayetsya

And reappears

Perekluchayetsya

It switches

I ne konchayetsya

And never ends

Vsyo prodolzhaetsya

Everything continues

Vzlyotami-spadami

to rise, to fall

Pod snegopadami

Underneath falling snow.

A ring at the doorbell knocked him out of his thoughts. He dried his hands on a tea towel before striding to the door. He drew back the catch and opened it, letting in a draft of cold. A short, plump man in a police uniform stood in the porch, his coat wrapped around him and his nose red from the bitter chill.

"Dobraye vecher. I'm looking for a Mr. Sarov?" he asked.

He froze. A year gone by and he still wasn't used to not being recognised. Was he looking for him or for Kai? "He's not here, can I help you?" he asked, presuming Kai.

"Is this the address of a Miss. Wheeler?" Seto nodded, "Can I come in?" As if reduced to a child once more, Seto nodded again and opened the door wider, allowing the policeman to step inside the foyer. He glared at the little man, afraid that panic might show through his eyes. "Maybe you would like to sit down." the man suggested.

Seto glared harder. "I'll stand." he said, his voice indicating his impatience.

"There has been an accident on the bridge." Seto froze even more. The man gulped before continuing, "A lorry skidded on some black ice, and collided with a taxi, knocking it off into the ice." he explained, "Miss. Wheeler has been admitted to the general hospital in critical condition."

Seto's world came crashing down. "W…Wh… What?" he managed to stutter.

"Pardon me sir, but is your first name Seto?" Seto didn't care about being recognised anymore. He nodded stiffly. "She was semi-conscious as she was taken to hospital, she was asking for you."

"Oh God…" Pale-faced, Seto grabbed his coat from the coat peg by the door and the door key and his carkeys from the key-hook.

"Might I offer to drive sir, it would be safer."

"Fine."

As Seto climbed into the unmarked police car, his blood ran colder than it ever had before. It was only comparable to the times when he had nearly lost Mokuba. The policeman sped off into the dimly lit road. Seto had to admire his vague attempts to lighten the mood.

"… You live with Mr. Sarov?"

Seto couldn't drag his eyes away from his lap. "We're cousins." he said lifelessly.

"So what is it you do?"

"I'm a student."

"Ah! Whatcha studying?"

"Medicine." Another small silence. "She asked for me?"

"S'what the paramedics said." he said, gripping at the wheel. "Kept murmuring for you to come help her. Thought she might have been your girlfriend."

"We're…" he frowned and blinked, "just friends. Tell me," he said, his voice becoming faint, "How… critical…?"

"I'm not a doctor lad. She was pulled out of the water unconscious, but came around for a few seconds in the ambulance…"

"It went through the ice???" his voice shook in his throat.

The policeman nodded. "I don't reckon they'll retrieve the taxi, not until the ice melts at least. The driver managed to get her out and he's in not such good shape either."

Seto remained silent for the rest of the way. He couldn't make any sound come out. The policeman seemed to notice, and didn't ask him anymore. Seto had never seen a hospital in such a light before. It looked like a place of death. A Mausoleum, the little lights coming through the window like reflections of the souls inside. The car pulled up outside the doors and he stepped out into the snow. "Spasibo." he said, before rushing towards the front desk.

The receptionist at the hospital desk saw him coming before he had even walked through the doors, and lowered her brow. "Can I help you?" she asked calmly.

"Da, I'm looking for Serenity Wheeler, she was admitted to intensive care." he said, the words tumbling out of his mouth and only just forming a sentence.

The woman checked her computer. "Da, Miss Wheeler is here, but I'm afraid I cannot allow you to see her unless you are immediate family."

"I'm her boyfriend." It fell out of his mouth. It if meant he got to see her, then he didn't care. And a part of him liked the sound of it rolling off his tongue. It felt far too right. And that unnerved him to his core.

The receptionist gave him a bland look. "Third floor, Room Four."

"Spasibo." he said. He was only walking, and yet it felt like he was travelling at ninety miles per hour. And that was still too slow. The lift was too slow. Room Four was filled with nurses, and a doctor looking at her chart. His breath caught in his throat. He opened the door. "Dobraye vecher."

The doctor looked up from the chart through his spectacles. "May I help you?" he asked.

"Rena…" he stuttered, not able to tear his eyes away from the atrocity before him. She was so so pale, her red hair, tousled and still wet from the dirty river water, splayed out over the pillows. Numerous needles were poked into her arm, and electrodes attached to her everywhere. Monitors bleeping, voices quietly talking.

"Your name, please?" he said, taking a look at his computer screen and then a stray glance at the clock.

"Seto Sarov."

"You're signed in. Alright… You can stay for a while." he said, noting that it was well past visiting hours.

"Please… Will she be alright?"

The doctor sighed. "Hard to say." he said, grasping his stethoscope, "She's stable, but very very weak. She may develop pneumonia and if she does, I don't know if her body will be able to fight it after the cold shock from the water."

"I can pay for any treatment, any surgery, anything." he said quickly.

The doctor nodded. "I'll bear that in mind." he said, "Have a seat, would you like a drink?" He shook his head.

"Doctor…" he said, his grasp on his words fading.

"Yes?"

"Can people really hear you when their unconscious?"

The question was a sudden one, and he watched as the doctor considered it. "Some can. It depends I suppose, I've had patients swear that they've been able to hear their loved-ones, and some that haven't. I think it's good to talk to her anyway. It will help you." he nodded again, "I also need to know if you have any contact details for her family?"

"Uh, da." he said, "Can I log onto a computer?"

"Help yourself."

He numbly keyed in numerous passwords to the KaibaCorp database and opened up Joey Wheeler's file. Scribbling the phone number onto a scrap piece of paper, he handed it to the doctor and quickly logged off before the doctor saw the page. "Spasibo." he said, "I'll make sure they're contacted. Do you anticipate they'll come later tonight?"

"They live in Japan."

"Oh." the doctor remarked as he checked the IV fluid. "Well, the fluid levels look stable."

"I'll let you know if they drop." he said absently.

"Are you a medical student?" he nodded, "Forgive me if this seems out of place, but I once had a French colleague, years ago, who looked very like you. He married a woman whose last name was Sarova…"

Seto looked up. "You knew my father?" he interrupted.

"Yes. Excellent doctor. Incredibly clever. You do look very like him." the doctor reminisced.

"I miss him." Seto whispered.

"And you don't want to lose anyone else from your life."

Seto drew his chair closer to her bedside, and clutched her hand in his. "I can't lose her. Mne nuzhna ona."

"We will do our very best. I promise you." said the doctor, before silently leaving the room.

Seto let a lone tear leak down his face. Why was life so cruel to her? She didn't deserve to be here, in a hospital bed. Her life was barely beginning, how could it be taken away from such a wonderful person?

"Priviet Rena." he said, stroking her hand, "Kak dela?" he sighed, "Stupid question." more tears fell. Anyone might have thought that they would have turned to ice and fallen like snow on the icy CEO's cheeks, Snegopady, but they fell warm and true, "I can't lose you…" he breathed, "Mne nuzhna tebya… I need you here, please come back…"

It was so true that you never know what you have until it's gone. Belovèd knows not, as Shakespeare might have put it. Seto couldn't imagine his life without her. She was just there. There was so much he still wanted to do, with her by his side. His heart was beating hard. He suddenly realised something. He didn't want to go through life without her being somewhere nearby. He didn't want to complete his degree without her sitting next to him in lectures, or without taking it in turns with her to fetch another cup of coffee when they were up all night studying. He couldn't truly laugh without her laughter to coax it out of him, he couldn't stand the toll of his life without her there knowing that he needed reassuring, even when he told her he didn't. He realised, that he didn't want to live the rest of his life, without having kissed her. In a second his feelings for her rushed to the surface. Asking her out had never even crossed his mind, and now he kicked himself again and again for not having done so. He leant over her quietly, his breath soft, as if he was worried he might break her. He gently lowered his lips to hers, and massaged her mouth tenderly. She was ice cold, her unresponsiveness breaking his heart. This wasn't Sleeping Beauty. He laid his head down next to hers, his left arm lying over her waist, and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair, which was mixed in with the smell of dirty water from the river.

"Oh God Rena, what have you done to me?" he whispered, more tears falling. He could feel his chest shaking as he stifled sobs. Still the equipment bleeped, the lights from the traffic below them shone through the window.

"Ya lyublyu tebya Rena… I love you…"

Seto thought, that by some miracle, the words might have awoken her from her slumber, but once more he was proven disappointed. He closed his eyes, and faded away, the bleeping getting quieter and quieter…

As he drifted off into sleep beside her, he didn't even noticed her eyelids fluttering, her heart quicken. But, as he gradually lost his reception to the outside world, he swore he could have heard her voice whisper. "Seto… I love you too…"

"You mean he's been 'ere de whole time?"

"Yes sir, although he's been asleep for about twelve hours."

Joey Wheeler wasn't sure if what he was seeing was real or not. He might be dreaming, hallucinating, even going mad, Hell any one of those would have been more likely than the picture in front of his eyes happening in real life. But the monitors were real. So were the IV drips, the hospital chart, and the attached doctor. Seto Kaiba was sitting next to his little sister, his arm around her waist, his hand on hers, and his head leaning on her neck peacefully as they both slept. Seeing her made relief wash over him - he had caught the first flight from Tokyo to Moscow after the hospital had called him. He knew very well he didn't have the money to pay for such a last minute flight, but his sister was more important than any bank. Seeing Kaiba on the other hand was another thing entirely. She had mentioned a friendship with him a few times over the last year, but he honestly couldn't imagine why Kaiba would want to be anywhere near his precious baby sister. Despite the scene being overwhelmingly sweet, Joey was only just refraining from shaking the man awake and demanding an explanation. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but want to be Kaiba. He wanted to hold her and reassure her, but Kaiba was in the way somewhat. He watched as the CEO began to stir, realise he was still at the hospital, and sit up slowly.

Joey gave him a wary nod. "Kaiba."

"Wheeler."

"Whatcha doin' 'ere???" he demanded. On seeing that Kaiba was not paying the slightest bit of attention to him, he continued. "'Ey, Did 'dey say anything? Is she gonna be okay?"

Seto wiped his eyes, his brain readjusting from Russian to English. "They don't know." he said simply.

"And how come you was called?"

"A policeman came to the door and I was the only one home." he replied emptily. He didn't have the strength to be spiteful now.

"Wait… Why would a policeman go ta your front door?"

"Because it's her address as per the University records."

Joey looked confused. "Why?"

Seto narrowed his eyes. "She didn't tell you?" he asked, annoyed, "She's been living with us since the year started."

Seto was sure that if this situation had not entailed the life of his baby sister, Joey probably would have attempted to pick him up by the collar and hurl him across the room. Instead he looked even more confused, almost bewildered. "But.. But why didn't she tell me?"

"When Halls were reshuffled her name got lost in the rooms lottery, and so we said she could stay with us."

Joey looked almost like a sponge as he absorbed the information, before his face disintegrated. "She was in a hospital for so long…" he murmured, "And now she's back. I don't geddit. What did she eva do ta da world?"

"Only good." said Seto quietly.

There was another awkward silence, and Joey looked like he was about to swallow a lot of pride. He gave up his tough act. "Hey Kaiba," he began, "Thanks." he swallowed and continued, "For bein' there for her when I couldn't be."

Seto nodded respectfully and silently. It was the first time they had ever come to a peaceful conclusion together. Both of them looked around as Seto's cousin opened the door.

"Priviet." she said, closing the door quietly behind her. "Kak dela Seto?"

"Ne znayu." he said, his voice devoid of life.

"Hey, I don't speak dis language!" said Joey despairingly, "Whatcha both sayin'?"

Lidiya looked at Joey. "I just asked him if he was alright." she answered. Joey listened to her - she was slightly harder to understand, as she had quite a strong Russian accent. She smiled and extended her hand. "Lidiya Sarova. I'm Seto's cousin." she said as Joey shook her hand grimly, "You must be Serenity's brother Joey."

"Yeah I am." he said sadly, as all of them looked at Serenity.

Lidiya walked forward and put her hand on Seto's shoulder. "Go and get something to drink." she said. Seto shook his head. "You haven't had anything in a long time. Stretching your legs a bit won't hurt either."

Slowly and unwillingly, Seto got up and made his way out without saying a word, leaving Joey with Lidiya.

"He's different…" said Joey, "I ain't never seen him like dis before."

"He's changed since you knew him. He's changed since he's known her."

"Dat guy always has a motive…"

She gave a small smile before continuing in her matter-of-fact tone. "I'm really not a romantic, but quite honestly…" she said, "I think he's in love with her."

Joey's eyes widened. "What???"

"I don't think he's even realised it until now. It's been obvious for a few months."

"Like how?"

"Their friendship is really…" she searched for the words, "spiritually intimate. They understand and complement each other so very well. They're practically inseparable."

Joey swallowed. He couldn't even imagine them as friends. Now what? "Ya know what? I don't care, not at da moment." he said, "I want her ta get better, dat's all."

"We all do."

Joey made a bland attempt to change the subject for the better. "So where is Mokuba, is he okay?"

Lidiya didn't move. "My brother's taking Mokuba to school." she explained, "He said he would come later."

"Ya have a brother?"

"We're twins. Kai's a few minutes older." she smiled briefly.

Seto walked back into the room silently, three cups of coffee in his hands. He passed one to Lidiya, before holding one out to Joey. Joey looked at it for a moment, before taking it gratefully.

"Wheeler…" Seto began, struggling to keep his voice sincere, "I understand that this trip was unexpected and financially inept." Joey looked at him, "So I would like to offer you a place to stay for the mean while. I will also pay for your flight tickets."

Joey stared. "Why would you do that for me?" he asked outright, almost suspiciously. He couldn't beat around the bush at this time. Not now.

"I could never keep her from you." he said simply, laying down his weapons, "If there's one thing about this wretched life that I do understand, it's the bond between siblings."

Joey could barely believe the taller man in front of him. But he too knew this pain all too well. He could have sworn that at that moment, he felt a fleeting understanding with Kaiba, a tiny, thin, fragile thread that could be cut with the bluntest of scissors, in a fraction of a second. But there it was. It had snapped, before he had even had a chance to look properly a it. He was back. "Thank you." he said.

All of them turned around to face the door as they heard the familiar click of the latch. It was the doctor.

"My my, Miss Wheeler certainly is a popular young lady." he commented at the little ensemble. He began examining her, her eyes, then her pulse, and then her chart. "This is good progress." he said, "We have given her some strong antibiotics to minimise the possibility of pneumonia developing, and it seems to have worked." The doctor was busily looking at one of the instruments, which seemed to be connected to the electrodes attached to her temples. His face crumpled into a concentrated frown. "Her brainwave patterns have altered..." he commented.

"Hmm…"

Something very deep down inside Seto stirred. A previously unknown part of him was awakening, like a golden, flaming phoenix out of the ashes. His soul being reborn. His heart clenched. He was started to feel frightened of what this was doing to his body, how strong it was.

Serenity's head twitched to the side slightly, her eyelids tensing. "Seto…"

The doctor heard it almost as soon as Seto did. "Miss Wheeler…" he said clearly, "Miss Wheeler can you hear me?"

Everyone, except of course Serenity, was suddenly wide awake. The doctor placed a hand on her shoulder and repeated himself. "Miss Wheeler, can you hear me???"

Joey tensed. "Ren?" he said, coming closer to her bedside, "Can ya hear me sis?"

Her eyelashes fluttered, and the hazel pupils of her eyes could be seen beneath them. "Joey…" she jerked as the doctor flew out of the room to call a nurse, "Where am I…? The ice…"

"You're safe…" he said, clutching her hand in his.

She gave a weak smile and breathed deeply. "You came for me…"

Joey grinned. "A course sis, couldn't leave ya here like 'dis!"

"I love you big brother…" she whispered, entwining her hand with his. Her hazel eyes scanned the room before her, blurry and swimming. She could make out Lidiya, and then Seto. He looked exhausted, but elated, and he smiled for her. The doctor gave a light-hearted roll of his eyes as he noticed the heart-rate monitor's bleeps suddenly pick up. Seto noticed it too.

"Ya lyublyu tebya Rena." he said, his eyes glassing over.

The bleeps became quicker still. "Ya znayu." she said, "Ya tebya slu'shaya."

"Easy, easy! And watch da car door!"

Serenity looked cheesed off. "Joey, I'm weak, not blonde!!!" Seto chuckled and the blond boy pulled a face. "Now take care of yourself alright? Cut down on the pizzas, say hi to the guys for me, and try not to fall asleep in the middle of your sentances."

"I'll try sis." he said, hauling his small, packed-at-the-last-minute suitcase out of the boot of Seto's car and closing it with a thump. "But I won't make any promises!"

It was still snowing. Had it been any other airport, the flights would have been cancelled, but Moscow had special equipment to deal with the snow. Planes took off and landed as if it were any other weather. All three of them huddled before the massive sliding doors. Serenity leapt into her brother's arms with all the strength she had left, and clung onto him in a bear-hug. "I love you big brother…" she said, burying her face into his collar.

Joey looked like he was going to cry. "Love ya too sis, don't forget ta come home once in a while either!!!"

"I'll see you soon!"

Joey reluctantly pulled out of his hug and glared at Kaiba over her shoulder. Stating clearly something like 'hurt my sister and there will be blood'. The message was crystally received. He gave his rival a nod. "Kaiba." he said.

Kaiba returned the nod as Serenity balanced herself onto his arm. "Wheeler."

"Well…" said Joey, "Here I go!!!"

"Bye Joey!!!!!!"

"Bye Ren!!!!!!!"

Serenity looked sad as Joey's sandy blond head disappeared amongst the people gathering at the check-in desks. Kaiba placed his arm around her waist tentatively. "Don't worry. He'll be back. As long as he can navigate an airport, that is." he said.

"Yeah." she replied.

Returning to the car, snowflakes caught in their hair and faces, blurred their vision and made them laugh. Seto felt so refreshed as they melted on his skin, leaving wet trails over his cheeks.

My s toboi

You and me,

Zyvozdami kazhemsya

Seem like stars,

Raznymi

Different,

Ty zvezda sinyaya

You are dark blue,

Ya - yarko-krasnaya

I am bright red.

Dotron'sya, neslyshno

Touch quietly

Stan' ryadom, stan'

Come closer, come,

Razryadom, po kryshe

Arranged on the roof,

Stan' ryadom, stan'

Come closer, come.

"Can he see us from here, do you think?" she asked him, turning to face him.

Taken slightly aback by their closeness, Seto raised his eyebrows in a truly innocent way, before looking towards the airport doors. "I don't think so." he said, before facing her again.

They practically threw themselves at each other, their mouths colliding in a passionate and desperate kiss. She ran her gloved hands up his back and then around his neck and burying them in his hair, standing on her toes to bring herself closer up to his height. Seto fought to suppress the moan building in his throat - he had never felt anything so good. The grasped each other desperately, intensifying, blooming in their love-struck embrace. She returned his every movement with equal ferocity, running her hands over him as they held onto each other so tightly that it was hard to breathe. She wasn't quite sure whether this was a dream, a figment of her sometimes unruly imagination. Serenity had always thought that going from such a strong friendship to loving would have felt more awkward, strange, somehow conflicted, as if maybe betraying him or his trust. It didn't. All that light-arguing, banter, laughing, competing. Had they been… maybe… flirting? She hadn't intentionally been trying to flirt with him, everything was open and honest and not involving sex in any way, shape or form. Tongue in cheek yes, but little more. This feeling was strong, engulfing them from inside out, and they were oblivious to the looks they were getting from passers-by. Running out of air, they broke apart, excited, flushed and very out of breath. Seto found it difficult to believe the desire coursing through him. "I can't ever lose you…" he whispered, as they pressed their foreheads together and closed their eyes, allowing the mist from their breath to rise into the night air. His heart was ramming against his ribcage and as soon as his brain had the minimum oxygen it needed to vaguely function, he was kissing her again, holding onto her so tightly he was surprised she didn't asphyxiate. He only knew she hadn't, because she whispered back to him: "I couldn't ever leave you…"

Vsyo prodolzhaetsya

Everything continues

Vzlyotami-spadami

to rise, to fall

Pod snegopadami

Underneath falling snow.