Sunday was an eventless day. I spent it cleaning my apartment and looking over case files. The work had piled up and although I didn't look forward to it, I would have to go to an important luncheon with Jesse tomorrow to meet a client regarding a murder case. Why did we even take this stupid case? The evidence against the idiot was concrete and it looked like we were going to be in a tight spot. It would have been better if he had just confessed that way we could at least reduce his sentencing. Oh well, we had to find something. I kept digging through the evidence, going over the police report, trying to find some kind of loop hole.
My phone buzzed and I looked at the screen. Joey was calling.
"Hello brother of mine. How are you?"
"Serenity! Hey! Guess what?!" Joey sounded excited and I stopped reading the coroner's report of the victim and gave him my full attention.
"What?"
"I'm coming to New York! Mai's aunt is hosting this fashion show thingy and she invited us. Says it's an early wedding gift to us! Sweet right?" I heard Mai talking in the background and I wondered how she felt about it. From what I remember, she hated New York, why though she never told us.
"Joey that's wonderful. Just let me know when your going to be here, I need to take off from work to give you guys some time." That's assuming I still have a job after tomorrow.
"Of course, we will be there next week. Oh Ren, I haven't seen you since Christmas. It's almost been a year!" I thought back to the last time I was with my brother and the rest of my friends. It was a very special time for him, he had just proposed to Mai on Christmas Eve and I remembered how happy the two of them had looked together. My mother was planning the wedding for this upcoming New Year and I knew I'd be heading home too to celebrate.
"I know. I can't wait to see you either. I miss you." I said and I realized I really did. I shared everything with my brother but I couldn't share what had happened two nights ago.
"Ren, are you alright?" My brother asked, his voice lower than before. Maybe mom was there too.
"Sure Joey, I'm fine, why do you ask?" That was my brother. He always knew something was wrong as soon as he heard my voice, no matter how hard I tried.
"Serenity." He said sternly this time.
"Joey, honestly, don't Serenity me. Listen I have some paperwork I have to finish for work tomorrow, so I'll catch up with you later okay? Email me your flight itinerary so I know when and where you'll be landing." I said quickly, trying to change the subject.
My brother was quiet for a long time but he finally said, "Alright Ren, love ya and take care of yourself. I swear you work too much. That's gonna change when Mai and I get there, Night Ren."
"Love you too Joey, goodnight." I said and hung up. That was close. I would have to be careful when Joey came next week to not mention any of this. He would kill Jesse if he knew what he did to me and he'd probably kill Kaiba too for getting near me again.
I sighed and pushed the paperwork aside and walked to the window of my apartment. This was a quiet neighborhood, peaceful and serene. The streetlights filtered in through the window, illuminating my figure.
"Why do I keep thinking about him?" I said aloud and looked towards my sofa. He had been in here, sleeping on that very couch. I closed my eyes and went back four years.
FOUR YEARS AGO:
"Serenity!" Tea called out to me as we exited the school. The senior was closely followed by Yugi, her boyfriend. The two had recently started dating and it came as no surprise. After the Pharaoh's passing, Yugi and Tea had grown more closer and it was nice to see the two finally coming together. I wished I had a boyfriend like that, but unfortunately the boy I liked was forever going to be out of my reaches and that too for quite a few reasons.
"Hey Tea, what's up?" I said as the brunette fell into step with me.
"Tea, don't just run off like that!" Yugi said catching up. He gave me an adorable smile and I returned one of my own. "Serenity, have you seen Joey and Tristan anywhere?"
"No, but weren't they supposed to meet you two after school to get ready for the Expo next week?" The school was throwing some kind of cultural exposition from around the world and all the seniors had to take part in it as it counted towards 25% of their final grade in history class.
"Yeah, like half an hour ago in the library. They aren't there and they're not in the gym or cafeteria either." Tea said. She flipped out her phone and checked for any missed calls. It was unusual for BOTH Tristan and Joey to disappear like that. I hoped they weren't getting themselves into too much trouble.
"Hey Wheeler's sister!" A short boy with weird blue hair and yellow rimmed glasses shouted to me.
"Weevil?" Yugi said.
"Hello, King of Games." Weevil said and Yugi looked uncomfortable at being called by his official gaming title.
"What are you doing here?" Yugi asked and I heard a hint of mistrust in his voice. Not that that was unnatural, after all Weevil Underwood really was a weevil, butting his nose into everyone's business and making everyone's lives a sticky hell with all of his creepy crawlies. Like me, he had just recently enrolled at Domino High and like me, he was a sophomore.
"I'm here to tell you lot that Kaiba and Wheeler's got it going again in the field behind the school. There's a whole audience, even teachers are watching. I didn't want you guys to miss out on your friend being humiliated by Kaiba again." He laughed and I scowled at him. Yugi was already running towards the school again and disappeared around the side of it.
"Yugi! Wait! Serenity, come on. Forget Weevil, we need to help Joey!" I gave Weevil's sneering face one last scowl before breaking into a run behind Tea. True to Weevil's words though, there was quite the crowd gathered in the field. In the center, I saw my brother looking very pissed off at a very determined Kaiba.
"JOEY!" I shouted out and both of them turned to look at me.
"Oh looks like the entire party is here now. I'll have more fun humiliating you now Wheeler." Kaiba said to my brother and I could tell Joey really wanted to punch him.
"Joey, what on earth are you doing? Why would you duel Kaiba?" Yugi said to my brother.
"Yug, stay out of this one. I got a score to settle with moneybags over there." He said, glaring at Kaiba who threw his head back and laughed.
"Yes Yugi, stay out of this duel. Wheeler and I are both fighting for something very special this time." Yugi looked disturbed at that but didn't say anything.
"Yugi, why would Joey duel Kaiba? He knows he's not strong enough yet to be beat him and you know how he gets once he loses…." I said. Yugi knew this too. The last time the two had dueled was in the Battle City tournament, and although Joey came close, he didn't win. Of course Joey was a great duelist, and to me, he was probably the best, but when looking at the situation practically, Joey was going to lose. Kaiba was simply better.
"I don't know Serenity but there's nothing we can do about it now. Looks to me like both of them have lost quite a few life points. But Joey's are lower. If he takes on more hit, depending on the monster Kaiba uses, the match will definitely be over."
"Watch out moneybags, here comes my red eyes!" Joey shouted and just like that, there was a shimmer of lights and his dragon appeared. It was just a holographic projection but the being itself looked so real. "Red eyes, attack his X-Head Cannon!" The dragon did as his master said and soon Kaiba's monster was obliterated and his life points to another dive. Joey might actually be able to win this one. He grinned at Kaiba who simply looked at him.
"I'll admit Wheeler, you're dragon is quite remarkable but it is nothing compared to my legendary blue eyes" Kaiba drew his card and out came his blue eyes and we all knew Joey was a goner. Another duel, lost.
"Watch Wheeler, as my precious Blue Eyes takes out your Red Eyes. Blue Eyes, white lightning attack!" And we watched as Red Eyes got obliterated and Joey's life points vanished. Joey looked more pissed off than upset though. Why had my brother been dueling Kaiba in the first place?
"Look's like I win mutt!" Kaiba said and laughed at him.
"Joey!" Yugi shouted Joey's name and started running towards him. Tea followed and I saw Tristan, Duke, and Bakura jump out of the crowd too. I was the only one who stayed hidden though. Joey, you idiot. Why did you always have to get yourself into messes like these?
"Time to pay up Wheeler, you know the deal we had." Kaiba said and then he did the unexpected. He looked over at where I was standing and smiled, well more like smirked.
"Serenity!" My brother shouted my name and I looked over at him. Tristan said something to the others and all of them turned to look at me. What on earth was going on? The crowd gave way and I started walking towards my brother.
"Joey, you really did it this time. Serenity's going to kill you." Tea said nervously to my brother who looked like he was in his own hell. When I approached them, they got quiet. What had my brother done?
"Joey, are you okay?" I asked my brother, eyeing him carefully.
"I'm fine, listen Serenity, you know I love you right? And that I would do anything for you? So will you do me one teeny tiny eensy weensy little favor?" Joey asked and I rose my eyebrow. Why was he getting so brotherly all of a sudden? Not that he wasn't an overprotective doting brother all the time, but there was something fishy going on here.
"What's going on Joey?" I asked.
"Tell her, Joey. You know you have to." Tristan said, looking about ready to beat Joey up.
"Tristan, what is going on? Why was Joey dueling Kaiba in the first place? Did they get into another fight or something?" I looked over at Kaiba who was watching us quietly. I hadn't noticed it before but Mokuba was now at his side looking from Kaiba to us and then back at his older brother.
"Serenity. Your stupid brother here fought Kaiba because some idiot was saying some really non gentlemanly things about you." He blushed and looked the other way.
"Wait, so Kaiba said something bad about me?" Somehow it didn't make any sense. It hurt though...why would he say anything mean about me at all? I hadn't done anything to hurt him. I only ever spoke to man once in my life, or maybe twice if we counted the incident in the gym last month.
"No, HE was defending you and Joey got the wrong idea and soon the two started quarrelling and the whole thing just broke out into a duel. Joey said if he won the duel, Kaiba would apologize to him in public and admit Joey was a better duelist...but if Joey lost…" He stopped and looked at me. Joey threw him a nervous glance before looking at me. Then my idiot brother finally manned up and said, "Kaiba told me that if I lost, you would have to go on a date with him. And like an idiot, I agreed."