Chapter 02: Determination

"What if we make a game of it?"

Kaiba could only imagine the type of perverted games Yami had invented out of boredom. "Not interested," Kaiba told him without taking his eyes off of the report he was attempting to read before class began. "Go bother Yuugi if you're that interested in studying with someone."

"You know more than him."

"Stroking my ego," Kaiba started to say before looking up and noticing the gleam in Yami's eyes, "or anything else for that matter isn't going to change my mind."

"Shall I give it a try?" Yami asked as he leaned over Kaiba's desk.

Glaring up at Yami, Kaiba warned him, "Don't even think about it." He was pleased when Yami finally took a seat at his own desk, but Kaiba knew that the discussion was far from over.

"What if I challenged you?"

Setting the report aside, Kaiba focused his full attention on Yami since it was obvious that the other wasn't letting the matter go so easily. "First off, there's nothing in it for me—"

Unable to resist, Yami interjected, "I wouldn't be so sure about that. I told you before that I could make it worthwhile…"

Ignoring the leer and innuendo, Kaiba continued, "And secondly, it wouldn't be much of a challenge since there is no way you can defeat me."

"If I fail my classes then I can't stay here," Yami pointed out, although he wasn't in danger of that any time soon.

Having no sympathy for such things, Kaiba told him sternly, "Then that's your problem. If that's not incentive enough for you to work hard, then that has nothing to do with me."

"You had people like Sakaguchi-san—"

Not liking where the conversation was headed, Kaiba cut him off with a curt, "That has nothing to do with this."

The instant change in Kaiba's demeanor was noticeable, but Yami wasn't sure what aspect of his sentence had triggered it. "He was one of your tutors—"

"He was a teacher," Kaiba corrected him in an irritated tone, "which is entirely different."

Yami recognized that he shouldn't pursue the conversation any further based on the way Kaiba was becoming increasingly defensive, but he had to ask, "You didn't go to school when you were a kid?"

Gozaburo had insisted on Kaiba being home schooled in order to make sure that he was given the best and most advanced education possible; preventing him from interacting with other children had also been a factor in his adopted father's decision. Kaiba had enjoyed the break from the other orphans and the challenge of such advanced learning opportunities, but he soon grew to hate it because it was yet another thing that he liked which was used as a weapon against him. "No," he finally forced himself to answer, since saying nothing would only seem suspicious.

The answer surprised Yami and he accidentally commented, "Huh, I would have thought that you would have attended a really elite private school or something."

Once Kaiba had considered trying to attend a private boarding school to get away from Gozaburo, but he would have been forced to leave Mokuba behind which was unacceptable. The more he had thought about attending a local private school, he came to realize that it would mean putting up with a lot of sycophants and children acting out their parents' corporate politics and he'd rather not put up with the bullshit. Instead he decided to do the one thing that infuriated Gozaburo more than any other: enrolling himself in the local public school that had a less than stellar reputation. The beatings he had received had been worth it to know that he had successfully managed to outmaneuver and defy Gozaburo in such a way.

It had been a calculated move on Kaiba's part and one with significant risk. The press generated from a billionaire's son attending a public school had been priceless and to pull Kaiba out would have caused even more of a controversy. Not only would it mean showing the general populous that Kaiba had defied him in such a manner, it would only serve to isolate Gozaburo and Kaiba Corporation from their customer base. Because of that, Gozaburo had tried to use it as a way to generate good publicity for the company by proving that he had enough faith in the local school district to allow his genius adopted son to attend, even going so far as to make a significant financial donation to the Domino school system.

Kaiba considered it one of his most important achievements under the bastard's reign because it meant that Mokuba had to be enrolled in the school as well. It gave Mokuba an opportunity to experience something akin to a normal childhood since it provided him with the chance to get an education and to make friends as well. In the beginning it had been a little rough for Mokuba, but once he got used to it, Kaiba was fully convinced that he had made the right decision.

If nothing else, it allowed them both to escape from Gozaburo and his wrath for a few merciful hours. Although it had been impossible to escape the bastard's influence completely; Kaiba had to take study hall instead of gym because of all the bruises he had consistently earned from his punishments would have otherwise been seen.

Yami had become increasingly worried as Kaiba's expression went from coldly removed to something that resembled a cruel maliciousness. "Seto?" he called out quietly, careful to keep any look of concern from his eyes for fear of it angering Kaiba further.

His eyes snapped up to Yami's and Kaiba cursed himself for allowing his memories to get away from him. "What?" Kaiba asked icily, even though he had no desire to carry the conversation on any further than it had already gone.

Unsure about what he was even apologizing for, Yami started, "I…I didn't mean to—"

"Enough," Kaiba told him, disliking Yami's presumptuous assumption that he had done anything significant enough that required an apology.

Before Yami could say anything further, the teacher walked in and started class, preventing any further conversation. It bothered him that he was being pointedly ignored, especially since he still couldn't figure out what exactly had upset Kaiba, but Yami would have to wait until later to find out more.

Yami never realized just how open Kaiba had become with him until he closed himself off again. It frustrated Yami to know that he had indirectly caused it by saying something, but he hadn't gotten any closer to figuring out what had been bad enough to cause Kaiba to withdraw into himself so completely. It reminded Yami of the collar incident and he hated that he couldn't find a solution to resolve the situation.

When class was dismissed, Yami had the faintest hope that Kaiba might have lightened up a little, but he seemed more remote now than he did before. "Seto…"

Not interested in hearing an explanation, Kaiba stood up and gripped his briefcase handle tightly in barely controlled emotion. "I have work," he said tersely, hoping that for once Yami would let him go without a fuss.

"I understand that," Yami told him softly so as not to draw the attention of the few lingering students left in the room. "What I don't understand is what caused this reaction."

"You never will."

Yami wouldn't accept that and he asserted, "I want to understand, Seto."

"You can't," Kaiba told him angrily before brushing past Yami and walking out the door.

Only because you won't let me, Yami thought to himself with a frown, although he was far from discouraged. Yami refused to give up and he was determined to figure out what had just happened, even if it was so that he didn't unwittingly repeat the same mistake in the future.

A/N: Hey, not even five hours into Sunday and there's already a new chapter! An added bonus for everyone thanks to my insomnia, so enjoy!

And now we're starting to get closer to the reason why this story decided to develop a plot, heh. I always found it strange that Kaiba ended up at Domino High School—which is filled with delinquent punks and morons according to the manga (with the few random intelligent members of student council)—instead of a school more befitting to his stature. As much as the idea of Kaiba at a place like Ouran High School amuses me, I think it's a bit extreme on the other end as well. But we have proof that Kaiba was wearing a school uniform during a few of his later meetings with Gozaburo, so at some point he ended up going from private tutors to public school and this is my attempt at trying to make sense of it all.

Unfortunately Yami really does get the raw end of the deal since Kaiba's lashing out at him for all the wrong reasons, but thankfully they're both too stubborn to give up, ne? This is only the surface of the situation, so for those of you who were questioning the level of Gozaburo's involvement, you were definitely on the right track.

I was really pleased at the response the first chapter of this received! The enthusiasm and wonderful compliments really were touching and I can't thank everyone enough.

NEXT CHAPTER: Untitled

Yami finally gets home from school, but he is no closer to finding an answer about what happened earlier with Kaiba. His friends are concerned, but Mokuba decides to take things into his own hands.

Because you know that anything that involves his brother, Mokuba is bound to get caught up in at some point. Yami's not the only one who has to learn the boundaries to the new(ish) relationship, after all.

That chapter will go up on Sunday, June 1st. Is anyone else as confused and surprised by the fact that it will be June in one more week? Where has this year gone?! In the meantime, there will be one more chapter posted this month. The second part of Whenever, Wherever will go up this Wednesday, May 28th, so for those of you who are interested, hopefully it can tide you over in the interim.

Thank you again for all of your thoughts and encouragement. I swear that's part of the reason for my high output right now… So thank you again and please feel free to leave a review!