V.E.: I apologize for the lateness of the update. I had to figure out what I wanted to do with this chapter, and to be honest most of what my muse is giving me are good one shot ideas. And a lot of vasehipping, blueshipping, and other stuff.

Ah well, I wanted to get his one done first, but to honest I have no idea how long I'm going to make this story. Aside from that, I'm looking for a place where I can watched Yugioh English subbed. There is a huge amount of the dub, not so much the sub.

Roll chapter!


"And then Kaiba came back into the ballroom and stayed near the exit until the end of the night."

Lena nodded, confirming her sister's statement. Both sisters were seated at the table with their mother, recounting the events of previous night in both detail and some exaggeration(in Kisara's opinion). While mother and daughters didn't eat with each during the week, they would always have breakfast together every Saturday that Regina wasn't away on business.

Kisara supervised the breakfast meal, the menu often changing depending on Regina's new diet craze. Today, Regina was still obedient to her salmon diet and had some orange juice to go along with it. Carrie had traditional eggs and bacon whereas Lena was a vegetarian(which was always somewhat of a challenge to cook) with her yogurt and freshly pealed orange.

Kisara had lingered in the room to mostly hear what Lena and Carrie's version of the Masquerade was. At the same time, she couldn't help but feel their impressions of her and Kaiba were off the mark.

Then again, we did almost…..don't even go there!

Regina listened with a patience that Kisara had never experienced, but had seen when she dealt with her daughters.

"I guess Brittany wasn't pleased."

Carrie's eyes widened and she shook her head furiously.

"Oh not at all! And before that, there was the mess with the punch. She spent most of the night in the bathroom trying to get the stains out."

Lena sighed, like a great tragedy had occurred.

"It was too late to save it. Brittany had every right to be angry, it was a one of kind dress her father had ordered specifically for her from Paris."

Kisara felt her eyebrow go up skeptically.

"All that for a dress she's probably going to wear just once?"

As soon as she said those words, she regretted it. The sisters and mother glared at Kisara, like a foreign creature who didn't understand anything civilized. Regina's scorn was the most prominent as she finished her salmon and gave a scornful reply.

"Just because some of us don't care much about their appearance, doesn't mean some people are the same. When was the last time you dressed up?"

Kisara sighed.

"Not since my father took me along to one of his shows. I certainly haven't been to any party since then and you know that very well."

That they know of.

Regina 'hmmed.'

"I suppose so. So how was your evening with the paperwork?"

Kisara leveled Regina a look.

"Do you really want to know or do you just want me to keep quiet for the rest of breakfast?"

Regina considered it for a moment before turning back to her girls, obviously giving her answer.

"Still, I doubt that girl's costume was that impressive."

Carrie got out her phone and pushed her touch screen for a couple of moments before showing it to her mother.

"Take a look for yourself then."

On the phone, was a picture directly from Facebook(Her phone had internet access while Kisara's was mostly just for Regina's orders). The scene was Seto shepherding the girl outside the dance room. Despite this, it was still a wonderful picture of dress considering it was taken by some teenager on their phone.

Regina's eyes widened, almost greedily. Kisara knew exactly what was going on beyond that face. Regina knew talent and was always in the market to snatch up good designers for her business.

Most people thought Regina designed all of the clothing, but that was actually all wrong. Regina was the face of Regina Royale, but she mostly just ran the business. Instead, she stole the designs of the people who had thought working with Regina would be a great opportunity. They couldn't sue because of the contract Regina had them signed for coming to work for her.

Kisara wasn't particularly interested in the fashion business, but she definitely had great empathy for Regina's employees. At first, she hadn't been treated very nicely there considering that Kisara was Regina's stepdaughter, but they warmed up to her when they realized Regina treated Kisara just as badly as she treated them.

Kisara was just glad she warned Ishizu not to show Regina her designs when she had interned there a couple years ago. Otherwise, she would be beyond screwed. Regina would have recognized it(she never forgot anyone's work) and it wouldn't have been that big a jump to Kisara.

For once in her life, Kisara was glad that Regina left her room intact. It was so small that except for sometimes checking in to make sure Kisara was there, Regina almost never set foot in there.

She had woken up early to make sure the costume was pushed deep into the closet, ready to be taken back to its designer at the next chance. The boots were currently in her bag, also ready to be returned.

Regina reached out for the phone and looked at it even more.

"Impressive."

Lena nodded.

"Told ya. But I bet if you designed our dresses, they would have been even better."

Regina's smile twisted slightly, but seemed to be sympathetic as she went on in the conversation.

"Yes, but then they would have gotten ruined. How bad are the stains?"

Carrie shrugged.

"Not too bad compared to Brittany's dress. It was just some chocolate frosting. Nothing a trip to the dry cleaners won't fix."

Regina nodded before turning her direction back to Kisara.

"That's right. Take the dresses to the dry cleaning today when you go out for your errands alright?"

Kisara sighed as she nodded, inwardly thrilled for the chance. The sooner the dress was out of the house and Regina's close proximity, the sooner she could breathe easier.

She turned around to head for the closet and the dresses, knowing very well she would have a chance to visit Mana and drop off her costume while waiting for the dry cleaning to get done.

However, that would also mean that Mana was going to grill Kisara about everything last night. That was a little scary.


"How many times do I have to tell you idiots?! Nothing happened!"

Duke pulled out his phone in response and pointed to the picture which had been previously shown to Regina Johnson not more than a couple of hours ago.

He pointed to Kaiba holding her hand.

"That does not look like 'nothing happened' to me!"

Seto felt himself give a small growl.

The Duelist group was currently at a dinner at big booth in the back, catching Duke up on what had happened last night. In the way of high school, the pictures had made themselves all over Facebook and Duke had known all about it before this.

Atem, Yugi, Joey, and Duke sat on one side of the booth while Bakura, Marik, and Kaiba were on the other side. Tristan had to go to the mechanic to check on his motorcycle, Tea had dance class, and Ryou didn't want to hear any more teasing about his costume the other night. The seven had already gotten their drinks and were not occupied with food. Therefore they could grill Kaiba like they couldn't last night.

Duke faced the phone back to his direction.

"I still can't believe it."

Joey nodded as he glanced at the picture again.

"I was there and I still don't believe it."

Marik nodded as well as he stirred his straw in his glass, his hand on his cheek with a bored expression.

"Well at least we have that proof Kaiba is a human being. Of course so does everyone else. I can't believe those picture are all over the place. It's going to be all people are going to talk about on Monday."

Kaiba groaned, sarcasm oozing in his voice.

"Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful."

Yugi tried to dispense the tension as he realized Kaiba's disdain only become more deeply etched on his face.

"Is it really that important that we talk about this right now?"

Atem smirked slightly.

"Of course, otherwise Kaiba is never going to tell us anything."

Seto 'hmmed.'

"You're the one to talk."

Atem raised his eyebrow slightly.

"Come again?"

Seto's face rearranged itself into a slight smirk.

"Don't play dumb. I saw you eye the Dark Magician Girl she was with. I don't know what's sadder. The fact you threw yourself at her cause she reminded you of Mana or that even though you've faced crazier duelists you're such a wimp when it comes to a certain green eyed girl we all know you…"

SLAM!

The noise startled the whole table back, only Seto was unaffected. Joey and Duke looked like they wanted to leave as soon as possible while Bakura and Marik thought it was going to be an interesting show. It had even attracted some of the other patrons and waitresses. The silence was almost deafening. Yugi looked some what anxious and scared at the look of loathing in his brother's eyes which had turned blood-red.

"Don't you dare think you know everything!"

Seto turned his smirk to the side.

"Know? I don't know anything. Though I still think you're a fool."

For a moment, Seto's smirk dropped for a just a moment. His expression was looking back at something no one else at the table could see.

"If you have something to say, but don't say it, you'll definitely regret it. In the end, it's your own fault and there's nothing you can do about it."

Silence filled the air for several moments as Atem's hands relaxed and he sat back down. All the people at the table realized that Kaiba wasn't talking about Atem at all.

Duke then scrolled back to his phone, pausing at the photo of a red queen drenched in punch.

"Still, have to admit Middleton takes the cake, or should I say punch, on 'High School Public Humiliation'."

Atem got a look at the photo briefly before smirking.

"You think you could send me that photo? I want to print it out and make some for my wallet."

Bakura eyed the duelist with skepticism.

"And I thought I was vindictive. Again, what did Brittany Middleton do to you to make you hate her so much? Goodness knows you're not attracted to her."

Atem grimaced.

"If I ever feel anything for Brittany Middleton besides loathing, please shoot me."

Bakura smirked.

"You realize I'm going to take you up on that."

"SETO!"

Seto snapped out of his musings as everyone looked to see Mokuba coming at their table in a hurry, his face relaxing at seeing his older brother.

Seto's voice betrayed the confusion he felt.

"Mokuba, what's going on?"

Mokuba took a deep breath, catching up after running for so long. Finally, he managed to breath normally again.

"You gotta come back to Kaiba Corp right now."

"Why? The von Schroeders(Seto said this with a grimace as he remembered Ziegfried's pink hair) aren't expected until next week and our contacts in Europe are going pretty smooth."

Mokuba's face twisted slightly.

"Um..well..you're not going to like this."

Seto leveled his brother with even stare.

"Try me."

"Pegasus called to say if you didn't come over for dinner with him soon, he would cancel our upcoming deal. And he wants your confirmation personally."

Seto groaned as he pinched his nose. He stood up and walked away from the table.

"I'm just going to use the restroom. Mokuba, give these guys something to cover my part of the bill."

Marik hmmed as Seto was out of earshot.

"Liking a girl…going to the restroom. Who knew Seto Kaiba could actually act normal?"

Mokuba had taken out his wallet and handed a twenty and a five to Yugi and was immediately interested by the statement, surprise was in his voice.

"Seto likes someone?"

Joey sighed while nodding.

"Believe me kid, we were just as surprised."

Duke pressed his phone a couple of times to get back to the original photo the group had looked at before Brittany Middleton's humiliation. He handed it over to Mokuba.

"Take a look for yourself."

Mokuba took a glance at the photo for one moment before understanding filtered across his face.

"Oh, I see."

Yugi looked confused as everyone else did at the lack of surprise on Mokuba's face.

"You don't sound that surprised."

Moluba sighed as he handed the phone back to Duke.

"That's cause she looks a lot like a girl Seto and I knew a long time ago back at the orphanage. Seto had a huge crush on her, so I'm not surprised. Probably reminds him of her. Even if he doesn't realize it."

Atem continued the talk as Joey, Duke, Atem and Bakura had incredulous look on their faces. Marik was checking his phone as he felt a vibration go off that signaled a text.

"Hypocrite. Why haven't we heard anything about this before?"

Joey gave a leveled look at Atem.

"This is Rich Boy we're talking about here. When has he ever been open about his past? Anyway, are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with Kaiba's well-known Blue Eyes Dragon fetish? I mean, we all know he has one and the girl was dressed as a Blue Eyes."

Yugi gave his best friend a reproving look.

"JOEY! That's rude!"

Mokuba obviously agreed with Yugi, his eyes were narrowed in a glare that put any doubts aside to him being Kaiba's brother.

"How would you like it if I called you 'a pathetic mongrel who doesn't know his ABC's from his 123's' like Seto does?"

Joey was taken back, unaccustomed to hearing venom in the younger Kaiba's voice.

"Your brother's never called me that."

A reply as sarcastic as usual cut deep, as its owner moved past the table.

"No, I haven't, but good one Mokuba. I'll have to remember that for next time."

With that, Mokuba turned and walked beside his brother as the two walked outside.

Marik hadn't taken his eyes off his phone as his face became a grimace.

"Speaking of people acting OC…"

Bakura looked at his best friend with concern.

"What's wrong?"

"Ishizu's been weird."

Bakura's eyebrow lifted quizzically.

"Define weird."

"She's sang in the shower this morning."

Joey didn't look that impressed.

"So? A lot of girls do that. Serenity sang all the time before our parents divorced. Everywhere from helping Mom with the dishes in the kitchen to playing in the park."

Marik shook his head incredulously.

"You don't know my sister, she doesn't sing. That's not all, she cooked breakfast this morning."

Yugi gave his opinion then.

"Maybe she just thought it would be a nice thing to do? I mean you did have a late night last night."

"She gave me back my motorcycle keys."

That statement bought a couple moments of silence before Bakura burst out incredulously.

"What!? I thought you were grounded from your motorcycle privileges because the computer teacher caught you looking at porn."

Marik pointed his finger to Bakura suddenly.

"That was never proven!"

Atem's reply was right on the mark.

"Mrs. Hardesty caught you looking at Victoria Secret models pictures when you should have been researching for your English paper."

"That isn't porn. I'm telling you, I was set up!"

Bakura waved his hand hurriedly, eager to brush away the topic.

"Melodramatics aside, you're right. Something is up."

Marik nodded.

"I know. Sis just went out for coffee and she didn't ask Odion or me for our orders! I mean, how else will I get my caramel mocha latte?"

Duke gave a level stare to the dramatic Arabian.

"You sound like you care more about your coffee."

Bakura nodded.

"And if my brother were here, he'd probably say you get enough coffee as it is."

"Hey!"


"YOU DID WHAT?!"

Mana put her finger to her lips and 'shhed."

Kisara blushed slightly, a little embarrassed at the volume her voice had reached.

"Sorry."

The two were currently having sodas while Kisara waited until she had to go back to the dry cleaners. The costume was bagged and hung by the closet door, ready to be taken back to Ishizu at any moment. Mana was sipping her trademark bubbly Sprite whereas Kisara preferred a mellow Diet Coke.

Just as Kisara thought, Mana wanted to go over the dance in all its glorifying and embarrassing detail. Of course, Kisara had equally pressed for detail on Mana's end.

Needless to say, she was both shocked and amazed at Mana's night.

"I still can't believe you sent Brittany Middleton straight into the punch bowl."

Mana smirked.

"Yeah, I've already printed out the pics and out it in my scrapbook. Though, I think you had just as interesting a night as I did."

Kisara felt herself even go more red than physically possible.

"Well..umm…"

Mana's face was a mixture of slyness and teasing.

"Come on, you two almost kissed!"

Kisara shook her head furiously.

"And by Monday, he'll have forgotten it even happened! And I'll go back to the way I usually do at school."

Mana shook her head slowly.

"I don't think you'll be able to do that. The pictures are everywhere."

Mana beckoned Kisara to the computer as she pulled up Facebook pictures. The most prominent pictures were Kisara as the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Comment were below it.

OMG. Tha gurl is fine!

Luv the custume!

Does Kaiba know her? He looks like he does.

Anyone know who she is?

Don't know, mystery to me.

And I thought he was gay or something.(This was Marik's.)

And that was just the recent comments.

Kisara felt her eyes go wide.

"Wow."

Mana nodded and then turned her attention back to her friend.

"And besides, if I know anything about Kaiba, he is not the type to let things go. Or at least the guys won't make him forget it."

"What are you girls up too?"

Mana and Kisara turned around to find Mana's mom in a casual shirt and jeans(an unusual sight for her since she mostly dressed in business suits), curious and slightly stern at the same time,. Mana's parents had gotten home last night, earlier than they thought they were going to stay(apparently Mana's mom's firm was handling some new case).

Mana exited out of the webpage, while the two girls chimed together innocently.

"Nothing."

Mana's mother 'hmmed,' staring at them like she would intimidate a witness on the stand. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to work on her teenage daughter and her friend. So she turned back to her case file on the table.

Mahad came down from upstairs at that moment, bounding down quickly and went to kiss his mom.

"Great to see you Mom."

His mother smiled as she pinched his cheek before letting go.

"Great to see you too. Is your father still trying to get that pipe fixed on his own?"

Mahad grimaced.

"Yeah. Better call a plumber before he floods the house."

"Already ahead of you. Will you be staying the lunch?"

A hidden emotion crossed Mahad's face.

"Um, no. I'm heading out."

His mother's face became sharper, as did her tone.

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere."

"Who are you seeing?"

"No one."

"Mahad!"

Mahad chuckled, knowing full well his mother was joking with him(a welcome change of pace). He stopped right before Mana who faced Mahad while Kisara looked over her a shoulder at the two siblings.

A blank look was on Mahad's face as he faced his sister.

"You should know I hate you very much."

Mana's own face didn't betray any movement.

Mahad then walked away, but that didn't mask the reply that was soft and slightly emotional.

"And thank you."

Mana smirked as she called after her brother as he went out the door.

"You're welcome!"

Kisara looked at Mana questioningly.

"What did you do?"

Mana smiled.

"I'll tell you when Mahad's ready to tell about it. Until then, tell me again how it felt dancing under a pavilion on a starry night with Seto Kaiba. Oh, and don't leave any of the questions out."


V.E.: Longest chapter I've written for this story yet, I think. And I was mostly altering it from what I originally planned in my notes. Ah well, sometimes stories take on a mind of their own.

I'll update this soon, but before that I'm going to post a oneshot or two.

Please review! Until next chapter!