NOTE: Ah sorry! My laziness knows no bounds it seems. That and I lost my thumb drive. If you're anything like me, your life is on that thing, including your story ideas. Alas. I make it all up to you with another installment of my story. I just wanted to let you guys know I'm thinking of switching series in the future so this could be it for Seto and Serenity! Thanks for the reviews.

Pixiewolf.

Chapter 8

"Seto do you really have to go? You have already missed so much school, and I thought, um well, I thought-, "pleaded Serenity from her seat at the corner of his bed.

"Serenity I'm sorry but this is a very important meeting that I can't afford to miss. You understand," interrupted Seto as he walked out the washroom running a hand through his wet hair in an attempt to get to cooperate. Serenity watched in envy as Seto's hand work its magic on his hair, making it fall neatly into place. She tried in vain to smooth over her own mutinous locks,

"Yes I understand," responded Serenity, pulling apart a tangle.

"This is the third time in the last two months that he has gone away for these stupid business meetings. I barely get to see him as it is and he always seems to need to work or he's in a bad mood when he returns. I wonder if it's me," thought Serenity impatiently, giving up once and for all on her hair, labeling it a lost cause. Serenity pushed back the warm covers and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, shaking her head absently trying to dispel all of the disparaging thoughts.

He smirked over at her, buttoning his shirt as he walked over to where she was seated placing two hands on either side of her and leaning down so that his face was inches from hers. She blushed at his nearness and at the way his gaze seemed to penetrate her very thoughts. She tried to silence the dirty thoughts that now raged through her head but she knew he could see through her as if she had shouted them. Seto placed two hands on either side of her, closing the short distance in an instant kissing her fiercely, delving his tongue into her surprised mouth.

"MMM…Minty, fresh," thought Serenity as he ran his tongue over hers. He felt himself swell against her thigh, causing him to pull back and let her go.

"You will be the death of me," he groaned as he took a few calming breaths to slow down his heart and redistribute the flow of blood to somewhere far less painful. With great effort he moved away from Serenity and walked towards the door.

"I will see YOU in a few days if all goes as planned."

"Alright then, good luck," she sighed, putting on her best sexy pout. Seto gave her his best sexy aloft rich boy smirk as he left the room, making giggle out loud.

Serenity sat in his room for a long time after he had left, she was trying to build up the will power to get out of bed and get ready for school. It was one thing to have Seto there beside her to draw strength from, but it was a completely different situation to face the people at school alone. High school was notoriously a cruel place, and being the main topic of the rumour mill did not make it any easier. Serenity let out one last sign before getting to her feet.

"It's going to be a long couple of days."

At School…

As Serenity walked through the packed hallways she couldn't help but feel the gazes of her classmates, and hear bit and pieces of their heated conversations about herself and Seto.

"Hey Hey that's you know who…"

"She's alone."

"Dumped by Seto."

"For another women."

"It's about time, this girl is to plain for him."

"Saw him with another girl yesterday."

"You think they did it."

"I'm sure. She's probably one of those types."

"A whore."

"Whore."

"Whore."

Serenity felt her cheeks heat at the comments. She felt angry and embarrassed and ashamed all at once.

"I don't regret what I did with Seto. I want to be with Seto. He wants to be with me," thought Serenity, reassuring herself. She looked up into the eyes of her peers; she saw only hatred and disgust. She hadn't expected this kind of reaction. Serenity walked through the hall as fast as she could, heading towards the doors leading to 'her' tree. She had to force herself not to run, but to appear strong and collected in front of the masses. A few moments later she pushed open the doors and turned in the direction of her solitude only to find it not so empty.

Joey stood leaning on the tree hands in his pockets staring straight at her. She felt her heart skip a beat in relief only to be reminded by her brain that he probably still really hated her. She stared longingly after him for a few seconds before turning back towards the school.

"Wait."

She paused. Wondering if she had actually heard right or had her brain made it up.

"Serenity can we talk? Please," asked Joey quietly. Serenity turned and walked tentatively back towards her brother.

"You know little sister, you gave me several heart attacks this week," stated Joey his face devoid of its usual grin.

"I'm-," began Serenity before being cut off.

"I know. Yer my little sister I know you better than anyone. Well mostly. This-"motioned Joey with his hands, "came right outta left field yah know. Kinda scary to find out like that that yer baby sister is all grown up and making these kinds of 'choices'," exclaimed Joey with air quotes.

"I guess what I'm tryin' to say is be safe. And that you're always Wheeler and my little sister no matter what…so don't beat him up to badly!" Joey grinned at the last sentence, rubbing his arm in memory. Serenity opened and closed her jaw several times trying to work it all through.

"Now please come home. I miss you and so does my stomach," exclaimed Joey patting his stomach with gusto. Serenity grinned at her brother poking his side playfully.

"You can cook, I've seen you cook for your 'Lady friend,' you're just lazy." Joey plastered a mock expression of hurt on his face as he put his arm around his sister and steered them towards the school.

Serenity smiled over at her big brother, feeling the rest of the weight on her shoulders float away.

"How could I have doubted him? Big brother's like Joey always come through!"

"You're losing your touch Kaiba my boy. Anything on your mind?" Sneered the man seated directly across the table. Seto gave the man one of his trademark 'smiles."

"I was only thinking, how much money are you losing every time you have to bail that son out of prison for his rather unfortunate 'habits'?" Seto watched as the man's face turn a rather alarming shade of violet before he stood up, his chair slamming into the column behind him. Throwing down his napkin the man left the table, his assistant trailing behind trying in vain to get his superior to calm down.

Seto leaned back in his chair rubbing his temples trying to get collect his thoughts over the angry pounding in his head. He pulled out his cell and read the time. 02:20. Letting out a tired sigh, Seto leaned back in his chair closing his eyes.

"That old bastard was right I am distracted. If I could only figure out what I want. When did everything become so dammed complicated? Obviously if I want to continue to be with Serenity she deserves to have me around more than once a week. But if I want to continue building a strong business would she understand that I couldn't always be around. He thought back to the look of disappointed on her face when he told her he had to leave. She had tried to cover it up with smiles. Arg. Why do I even care? The old Seto wouldn't care. Besides it's far too early to really care. We are in high school after all. I bet she feels the same way. She doesn't really care." Seto let out a sigh of relief at the decision he had reached.

"It will have to do." Seto stood up from his seat and started walking towards his room trying to ignore the constricting feeling he felt around his heart.

It had been 3 days since had left for his trip. Serenity looked down at her phone again the glowing words 'No New Messages' seemed to mock her. She shut her phone, disgusted with herself for checking it yet again.

"Of course he's busy and can't call me. Jeez. Stop being a ridiculous stalker girl. Besides you should be paying attention." With a new found resolve Serenity focused all of her attention on the teacher, determined not to look at her phone until the end of class.

Five Minutes Later…

"Arg. What's wrong with me?"

Lunchtime

Serenity sat alone in a corner of the cafeteria staring out of the window at the rain. She was bored. Really really bored. It was tiring trying to keep her mind from wandering to her dark place. She had started thinking about all the strange rumours she had been hearing at school and while she was working. While many people at school knew she was dating Seto,

"We'll probably not dating, screwing, is probably the word of choice," her mind interjected.

But then she understood and expected that kind of reaction.

"He's Seto Kaiba, and I'm Serenity Wheeler. It's not exactly a common match that's for sure. But that one woman's comment earlier that week, that was really strange." Pondered Serenity thinking back to the last week's at work encounter.

Flashback

Serenity had been busy restocking the shelves at the local grocery store she worked at. It had been the perfect job for her since she was allowed to take home all the misshapen fruit and banged up cans she could carry. She had been alone since it was around 9:30 pm and the store was closing soon. Just as she was finishing unpacking her last box she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Looking up she noticed a woman looking down at her. The woman looked tired and something else Serenity couldn't quite place.

"Hey I know you; I go to the same school as you. Wow it's too bad about you and Seto. I mean wow. But I guess you knew that going in right." Exclaimed the girl leaning sanguinely against the shelf across from Serenity.

"But you know, out of all the substitute girl friends I like you the most. Definitely better then that black haired one, she was snotty. Or that red head, she was just scary," continued the strange woman, tacking the girls off on her fingers.

"Though, I thought he would pick someone, ah how should I say this, less plain. No offense. Well then there was that last girl she was beautiful, smart, school president, he absolutely crushed her. You know, saying he had to go on trips, or I have to deal with this personally, you understand. And, I will be gone for a couple days but I will see you as soon as I get back. When he comes back he seems to have less and less time for you no matter what you do," said the women matter-of-factly. Walking over to Serenity she leaned over close enough for Serenity to smell the sickly sweet scent of her perfume. The woman slowly whispered into Serenity's ear,

"And that makes you feel used and cheap doesn't it. Like a whore." The women gave Serenity a sickly sweet smile before turning to leave.

Serenity was too overcome with shock at those last words to notice the girls' smile turn into a wicked grin as she turned away and walked out of the store and into the night. Serenity looked at the can in her hand and noticed that she was shaking uncontrollably with rage, fear and betrayal.

"What she said can't be true. Seto would never do that to me. Would he?" Serenity shook her head vigorously as she placed the last can on the shelf.

"He cares about me. I'm sure of it. I will talk to him about it tonight when he returns from oversees." Serenity looked down at her watch 9:30pm.

"Half an hour of work and then off to Seto's place. He will explain this situation for sure."

Serenity had wanted to talk about this meeting but by the time she arrived at his house there had been a note left for her saying that there was a problem that Seto had to deal with personally. This had been the night they had planned to spend together since he had just spent the last 5 days overseas. She read the note again. She couldn't keep the suspicion and fear from gnawing at her. The more time he spent from her the harder it was for her to ignore the remarks of her peers. She had even found out from Joey that her classmates where taking bets on how long she and Seto would last and how they would break up. At first she just ignored it as baseless chatter that was without meaning but the more time he spent away the harder it was for her to keep the shadow of doubt from consuming her. That woman from the store hadn't helped either.

"Everything is fine, we are fine, and I am fine." Serenity made her way to the door glancing behind her as she walked out of the room.

"But I can't help but miss him."

End of Flashback

It had been a 3 days since he had left and 4 days since he had returned and 2 days since he had called her and told her he would see her soon.

"I am officially the biggest sucker on the planet," thought Serenity with disgust.

So Uh one more chapter after this. Sorry this chapter was so lame. It was supposed to be the last one but a friend convinced me not to be so mean and tie up my loose ends. That and I'm experiencing major writers block. The last bit is in the works so expect it soon.

Pixie.