Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.
Life at the Kaiba house was very different than Serenity thought it would be. She'd imagined spending quiet hours alone with Mokuba in the den while she read a book and he did whatever it was twelve-year-old boys did. Unfortunately, there was one, or rather, two things she hadn't counted on.
"Yes, yes, My Fair Lady is okay, but there's no way it could even hope to compare to Breakfast at Tiffany's." Said Marx Edgar Anatolius III, the new, completely insufferable boyfriend of Murphy. As soon as she'd recovered, she'd been taking off everyday to someplace she refused to speak of. Roland and Serenity had been afraid it had something to do with drugs, that maybe this time she'd dug herself a whole so deep even with Kaiba's help she couldn't get out of (not that she'd spoken a word to Seto at all since she'd been there), but instead one day showed up with Marx, the son of some billionaire or another, and who spoke with, what Roland and Serenity were convinced was, a fake, British accent, and also was convinced he and he alone were the expert on everything there was to know about good taste.
"Well, of course," Murphy agreed (as she always did), "But that's only because Holly Golightly is so much more memorable than Eliza Doolittle."
"I don't know," Serenity chimed, "I really liked Eliza."
Marx, who Serenity hated more and more everyday, turned to her with a smirk and said, "Well. That's a rather large disappointment, isn't it?"
"Yeah?" Serenity growled, "And why is that?"
"Because, as a woman, Holly would be higher on the feminist scale that Eliza could ever hope to be. She's independent, driven, and-"
"A prostitute." Came a voice from the door. Serenity turned to see her boss, briefcase still in hand, with a look of agitation, stronger than Serenity could recall seeing before, on his face. Apparently she and Roland weren't the only ones in the house who'd had enough of this guy.
"Well, yes, but if you really got the film then you would understand that her being a prostitute it a metaphor." Marx said with a small smile, as if forgiving Seto's ignorance. "As Friedrich Nietzsche said, 'While one man can discover a certain thing by himself, another is never able to understand it, even if taught by means of all possible expressions and metaphors, and during a long period; his mind can in no way grasp it, his capacity is insufficient for it'.
This did not go over well.
"I'll start by having you know," The CEO growled, "that in no way was Holly being a prostitute a metaphor. And second off, that it was not Friedrich Nietzsche who said that, it was Maimonides. And lastly you pathetic scum-bag-"
But Murphy had grabbed Marx, who looked like he was either in shock or was about to try and attack Seto, by the shoulder and was pulling him out of the room.
A few seconds of silence passed before Serenity said, "Mokuba was doing really well with his French today. I couldn't understand him of course, but he said a whole paragraph without having to stop and think at all."
Seto nodded once. This looked like it was going to be all she would get out of him.
"Well, I guess I'm going to go home now." Serenity said. No reply. Then again, she hadn't expected one. However, as she started walking down the hallway, Kaiba's footsteps could be heard behind her. It was one of those unspoken things. Seto always drove her home, even though she never asked and he never offered. Serenity always had her mind set to call a taxi to come get her, just incase today might be that one day he changed his mind, but for the past week and a half he never had.
There were a few things about her boss that these drives had taught her. The first one was that he never listened to music. Ever. Serenity wondered why he even bothered buying the souped-up stereos for his cars (three of which Serenity had now ridden in), but then again, it was Kaiba, so she wasn't really surprised that all of his vehicles had to perfect in every single way. The second was that he wasn't one of those people who felt obligated to talk during car rides. Serenity, however, was one of these people, which had led to many awkward failed attempts at conversations. Serenity had given that up, obviously. And the third, and to her, the most interesting, was that she was pretty sure Seto didn't actually go home after dropping her off. There was no way he was. Serenity knew the road he took after he left her on the curb outside her old workplace, and she knew for a fact that it was a dead-end. She'd tried to think of all the places on that street, but none of them seemed like anything that would interest the CEO. The only thing she could come up with was that he must have some sort of girlfriend living in that area, and decided that, just in case that really was why he went down there every night, never to bring it up, as much as she may have wanted to. Back in the day, Serenity would have run her theory by Murphy, but now that she had Marx, Murphy seemed to have little time for anyone else. And there was the fact that every time Kaiba's name was brought up she quickly changed the subject, no matter how obvious it was.
"Hey Mai, hey Joey." Serenity smiled as she walked into the apartment. Mai waved and Joey grunted some form of greeting.
He hadn't exactly been excited at the prospect of Serenity working for Seto again, but once he found out how much she was going to get paid, he lightened up a bit.
Without thinking, Serenity walked over to the window and watched the turn Kaiba had taken. For a wild second she thought about walking down the street herself, but she quickly pushed the idea away. It wasn't any of her business really. Besides, how stalkerish would that be?
But the next night Serenity was hardly able to contain her curiosity. Sure it could be a secret girlfriend, or maybe it was something else. But what she didn't know, and, as she came to admit to herself, she desperately wanted to find out. Just to stifle the curiosity, of course.
So that night, after she'd been dropped off, instead of going up to the apartment, Serenity waited in the lobby. After about ten minutes, she walked back out again and started making her way down the dead-ended street.
For a few minutes she felt extremely stupid, as there was no sign of Kaiba anywhere. But just as she was about to turn around and try never to think of this night again, she noticed the sleek black Mercedes parked right up ahead. Serenity walked, a little more quickly this time, up the street. Crammed between an appliance store and a leather repair shop, was a small coffee house, not unlike the one she used to work for. And from her spot Serenity could see Seto sitting, alone, at the back corner with a to-go cup on his table and nothing else. For a minute she thought about walking in, but then another thought came into her head. Why? They weren't friends. They didn't even like each other. Why was she doing this at all? And with that Serenity turned around, realizing she had no business down there after all.
"Yeah? Well at least I'm not man-orexic!" Murphy shouted at Seto one night, long after Mokuba had gone to bed.
"At least I'm not a whore." Seto said, keeping himself calm, as he always did.
"Psh, that's not what your secretary says."
Even Serenity had to stifle a laugh at this one. The two girls were convinced that her boss and his new blonde secretary were sleeping together. It had become more of a running gag between them.
"At least I have an ounce of dignity," The CEO growled back.
"Whatever! At least I don't have AIDS."
It had become pretty obvious to the pair that they couldn't live in the same house and avoid speaking completely. For a few days this had been nice, the two were hesitantly civil towards each other. Serenity thought maybe this was the dawn of a new era, a time of peace in the Kaiba mansion. She was wrong.
"Oh, yes," Kaiba scoffed, "Says the walking STD herself."
"Okay, seriously?" Serenity cried with exasperation, trying to hold Murphy back as she lunged at Kaiba, "I can understand Murphy doing this as she obviously never matured past thirteen, but come on, Kaiba! Really?" Seto scowled and turned back to his laptop.
Serenity had quickly learned that Murphy and Kaiba brought out the worst in each other. Murphy went from inappropriate at times, but otherwise perfectly tolerable, to a vicious insult-hurling bitch, and Kaiba…Well, he just turned into a male version of Murphy.
"He started it." Murphy mumbled, crossing her arms and staring the opposite direction.
"I did not!" Seto growled, "It was you who-"
"For one night, can we please watch Kill the Zombie Lord 5 in peace? For one night!" Serenity cried, slamming her fist on the armrest of her couch.
There were a few seconds of silence before Murphy said, "Yeah, seriously, Kaiba. I mean you're supposed to be Mr. I'm-So-Above-This-I-Have-My-Own-Company and here you are-"
"Walking STD."
"You know what? Fuck you, asshole! Fuck you!"
"Murphy!"
"What? Did you hear him? I was just stating the facts!"
"You were instigating." Serenity sighed.
"Well…Maybe. But he was reacting, and that's just as bad!"
"No it's not." Came Seto from behind his computer.
Murphy opened her mouth to retaliate, but Serenity glared at her and she stopped.
"You always take his side." The girl muttered, but luckily that was the end.
The three sat in silence, Murphy and Serenity watching a movie, Seto working, when the doorbell rang. No one bothered to get up (Roland always took care of that), but the entire group did look up from whatever they were doing. No one ever came over past ten.
"Miss. Wheeler," Roland said as he walked in. "It's for you."
Serenity frowned. "Me?"
"Yes," Roland said, walking back out the door, "It's someone who looks about your age. She says her name is Melina Wellsburg."
Serenity felt a chill run down her back. Impossible. Melina was gone. She had to be gone. The alternative… Serenity shuddered. "Come with me." Serenity whispered to Murphy, grabbing her arm.
"What's wrong?" Murphy asked, and Serenity was surprised that her face showed genuine concern.
"Nothing! I- please, just come."
Murphy's eyebrows knitted together but she nodded.
Serenity felt her heart thumping in her chest. This couldn't be happening. This wasn't happening. Melina couldn't be here.
But as Serenity walked through the entrance hall, another chill ran down her back, because there she stood. The tall black-haired girl was leaning against the doorway, smiling in a way that showed no warmth and only made Serenity want to run the other direction.
"Serenity!" She cooed, wrapping her arms around her, "It's been too long!"
Serenity pulled herself away. "What are you doing here?" She demanded. "You're supposed to be at boarding school."
"Um, it's summer silly! What's wrong?" Melina asked with a pout, "You don't seem excited to see me!"
And she wasn't. Serenity was the exact opposite, actually. She was terrified. Nothing good ever came from Melina's company. She'd learned that the hard way.
Melina was once Serenity's friend, or something close to a friend, at least. But that was a long time ago. Then something terrible happened, something that even now Serenity couldn't bring herself to think of. It had gone as far as to Melina being kicked out of their small private school. It most likely hadn't taken Melina long enough to realize that she'd been setup, not to mention why. There could be only one thing the girl wanted: revenge.
"Look, Melina, you should probably-"
"Oh, hold for a second," Melina's eyes let up, and the grin on her face stretched. "Who's this?"
Serenity turned around. Kaiba was now standing behind her and Murphy, one eyebrow raised. "No one," Serenity said with a shake of her head, "He's just my boss. But look-"
"Serenity!" Melina sighed, "Look, what happened, happened. Who cares? It's the past!"
"No, Melina, this is serious-"
Melina's smile faltered. "I said it was in the past." She growled. "But if you really want me to bring it up, I'm sure there are a large number of people who would be interested-"
"No!" Serenity said quickly. Melina smirked. "Look, maybe we should wait until we're with everyone else-"
"They're all gone, left to some private island or another. You're the only one in town right now."
Serenity took a deep breath. She couldn't do this alone. "Then let's wait until-"
"Wait?" Melina laughed, not a trace of humor in the voice, "Ren, I've been waiting for this in some hell-hole of a school for the last eight months! Trust me," She said, taking a step towards Serenity, "I've had enough of that."
Serenity quickly took a step back, bumping into Seto as she did so. "Melina-"
"But," She continued with a smirk towards the boy Serenity had just run into, "as you're obviously pretty, uh, busy right now, I'm sure one more night won't kill me. Let's meet tomorrow. Three o'clock at the little yogurt place? It'll be just like old times."
Serenity nodded dumbly and watched as Melina walked out of the Kaiba mansion. She closed her eyes, trying to get herself to calm down, but it wasn't working.
"I'll drive you home." Seto said shortly, and Serenity nodded.
"Serenity-" Murphy started, but Serenity shook her head.
"I don't want to talk about it. I just want to go home." And though she knew it would bring no relief, Serenity did just that.
A/N Ugh. Short chapter, I'm sorry, but I promise the next one will be longer. Just a warning, the next few chapters are going to be pretty dramatic, sorry in advance for that, lol. Anyway, thank you to those who reviewed last chapter! It means so much to me! I'm playing the birthday card here, it's tomorrow and a review would be a great present! I know, I'm pathetic, lol. Regardless, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!