Yami: How in the name of Ra did you manage to finish at least 6 chapters from the last time you uploaded?

Edgrl16: Well, I started writing this story in January, but I didn't think anyone would like it. So, I have at least 8 or so chapters left to upload before I start writing again.

Yami: You're hopeless…*shakes head*

Edgrl16: Exactly. I pride myself on being hopeless. It's one of my best qualities!

Kaiba: May I ask what your other qualities are?

Edgrl16: None of your business!!

Yami: *whisper* I'll tell you later

Kaiba: *grin*

Heading back up to Kaiba's office, Alec and I continued talking about what was going on with us and I finally figured out why he was working for a guy like Kaiba.

"If I'd known that it would take you that long to put some papers away, I would've put you on a leash to hurry you up," Kaiba said as we walked into his office.

"Just ignore him…Just ignore him…" I kept repeating to myself, my hands clenching ever so slightly.

For the rest of the day, Kaiba had me run all over KaibaCorp doing his errands for him. Alec stayed with me, talking and helping when he could. Finally, it was 6 o'clock and I had permission to go to Yugi's house. "Um…are you forgetting something?" I asked before I left, holding out my hand.

Without looking up from his laptop, Kaiba reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out my Brain Control spell card. "Let's go, Alec," I said, grabbing his arm as we walked out of Kaiba's office and out of KaibaCorp. As soon as we were outside, what should happen but my phone rings. Pulling it out of my pocket, I held it in front of Alec, showing him the caller id.

"Let me listen," he whispered as I flipped it open. Nodding, I held it between our ears, listening while Alec tried not to breathe so loud.

"Hello?" I asked, a slight nervous edge in my voice.

"Emilee," my father's voice came through the phone.

"Yes, sir," I replied, feeling Alec's arm slip around my waist to steady me.

"Your mother decided to go to a meeting tonight alone so I'd like to see you tonight," my father told me.

I gulped when I heard his voice slurring slightly as he talked. "Yes, sir. Where do you want to see me?" I asked. "I have plans tonight so it can only be a short meeting."

As soon as I got the address and room number of the hotel he was staying at, I closed the phone and slid it into my pocket, looking over at Alec. "Will you come with me?" I asked. "Please? He's drunk and I can't have Yugi seeing what happened."

"You know I will," Alec replied, hugging me. "My house isn't that far from where your dad is staying. Just go down 2 blocks to a small white house and just come in."

"Thanks, Alec," I said, smiling up at him. "Make sure to bring extra bandages to Yugi's tonight just in case." Alec nodded, then slipped an arm around my shoulder as we walked toward me dad's hotel.

The minute Alec left me in front of my father's room; I just stood there, staring at the door. We had stopped at his house first and I'd changed into his clothes, leaving my uniform, belts, deck, and ears in his room. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and a hand immediately came out, grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me in, slamming the door shut behind me. Looking up, I saw my dad, a half-empty bottle in his hand, many empty ones littering the floor.

"Dad, let go!" I exclaimed, struggling to loosen his grip on my shirt.

"You're finally here," my dad slurred, dragging me over to the couch in his room. "Where were you?"

"I was doing something for a friend," I replied, glad that my voice hadn't slipped up when I called Kaiba a friend. I tried to slip out of my dad's grip, but it was hard. My dad was pretty thin, but he was strong as he pinned my wrists to the back of the couch. "Why did you ask me here if mom's gone and you're drunk?"

"Your mother wanted to go to this meeting alone," my dad slurred, taking a knife out of his back pocket. "So I had a reason to visit my worthless excuse for a daughter."

Clenching my teeth together, I swung my leg up to his side and kicked him away, stumbling toward the door. Before I could get very far though, when I felt the handle of the knife jab into my side, making me fall to the floor, positive I was going to have a giant bruise there in the morning.

"Come back here, little girl," my father growled, using a hand to keep me on my stomach on the floor.

"Dad!" I exclaimed when I failed to pull myself up and out of his grip. I could feel the knife when he made the first cut diagonally down my back, the blood soaking through my shirt. He managed to cut me at least 6 more times before I finally got the knife out of his hand. I ran for the door and out of the hotel room, jumping over the banister for the 2nd floor, landing in a crouch on the concrete, wincing in pain when I overexerted my back.

I took off for Alec's house, ignoring the pain shooting through my back when I ran into someone. "Sorry," I managed to get through my teeth.

"Puppy?" I heard Kaiba ask.

I looked up and saw Kaiba standing in front of me, a slight confused look on his face. "Shouldn't you be at Yugi's?" he asked.

"I'm going," I said as I started walking again. "But I had to meet my father and now I've got to see Alec before I see Yugi or Joey." I hissed in pain when Kaiba took my shoulder when I walked in front of him. "Could you please let go? That really hurts."

"Did your father do this to you?" Kaiba asked. For a second, I thought I could sense a little bit of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, but Alec's gonna fix it up," I replied as I stared moving again. "You can come if you want to make sure he'll do it right."

Nodding slightly, Kaiba walked with me to Alec's house, asking me a few more questions about my parents before I walked up to Alec's room. "Be right there, Em!" I heard him call as I stopped in front of the floor-length mirror on his door. The blood had thoroughly soaked the back of Alec's shirt and, from the looks of it, run over the butt of his jeans and down the sides of the legs.

"You might not want to keep these clothes, Alec," I called to him, taking a second look at my back.

"That's okay," he called back. "I was gonna throw them out anyway. They were a little too small for me." A few minutes later, he came back, a wet T-shirt in his hands that he had at one point been wearing. "What's he doing here?" Alec asked, gesturing to Kaiba as he stripped off the shirt he was currently wearing.

"He wanted to make sure you did a good job with my back," I replied. "Apparently, he doesn't trust anyone with his puppy." I could see what could've been a grin on Kaiba's face, but it was gone before I could get a better look.

"Alright, girl, shirt off," Alec ordered, grabbing a box from under his bed.

"What do you mean shirt off?" Kaiba asked, then stared when I lifted Alec's shirt over my head, wincing as it scraped against my fresh cuts.

"Stop staring," I snapped, tossing the shirt at my feet. "Since I started dueling, I've been bandaging my chest back so I could move easier. My father only started drinking when I started dueling which was when I was maybe 8 or 9 so this made it a lot easier to move." When Kaiba looked up at my chest, he noticed that it did have a layer of bandages around it to keep it in place. Suddenly, my hand flew up, slapping Kaiba. "And that's for staring," I smirked.

"Calm down and sit," Alec ordered.

"So you'll follow his orders but not mine," Kaiba said, ignoring the pain in his cheek. "Would you like to explain that?"

"Simple," I replied as I sat on the carpet, shivering slightly as Alec took his wet T-shirt and ran it over my fresh cuts. "Alec's a friend and he's helping me at the moment. If you were the one who was bandaging my back for me, I'd follow your orders but you're not so I'm going to do my best to rebel against your orders."

Kaiba sighed and resorted to watching Alec wrap bandages around my fresh cuts before he noticed the large bruise that was forming on my side. I yelped in pain as he experimentally poked it.

"What was that for?!" I demanded, snapping my head around to glare at him. "That hurts!"

"How did you get this?" Kaiba asked calmly.

"I almost got away unharmed," I replied, placing a hand over the bruise. "He'd pinned me to the couch and pulled out a knife but before he could do anything, I kicked him away. To stop me from running out the door, he hit me with the handle of his knife and when I was on the ground, he kept me there so he could do what Alec is currently fixing."

"Done," Alec announced, running his hand gently across the newly applied bandages. Taking his hand, I stood up and admired his handiwork in the mirror.

"Good job, Alec," I said. "As usual."

"I live to serve," Alec replied, giving me a mock bow. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, just let me change real quick," I said, turning back toward Kaiba. "Is it possible that you could take my uniform back tonight? Just so I don't have to wear it to Yugi's. I still have the collar and I unfortunately can't find a way to get it off so I'll still have that. Please?"

"Have a good time," Kaiba said, taking my uniform from Alec's bed before he walked out of the room.

"Wow," Alec said. "I've never seen Kaiba be nice to anyone beside his brother. You must be doing something to him."

"I don't know," I replied, walking over to Alec's closet. "But I'll need to borrow some clothes for tonight."

"Go ahead," Alec said, waving a hand at the closet. "Wear anything you'd like."

"Thanks," I told him, quickly changing out of his bloody jeans into a pair of ripped blue jeans and an old faded blue T-shirt. "Let's go."

Grinning, Alec grabbed the small backpack that held some extra clothes and bandages and followed me outside, walking with me toward Yugi's house.