And it's another update! Thanks so much to all my lovely reviewers! Since I'm a bit tired out lately, I'm going to skip replies, and just say a great big thanks to ShadowedPuppeteer, ColonKellyHigginsGoil304,jeniashi,Divizzle513,fantasyguardian, Smash41KMF, Blonde, Little-Angel-7698, MewMewRadish,Chrimson fox, Nightcrawlerlover, roxas' billa kaulitz, Seto kaiba 4 eva, MikaUchiha666, thenewanniecresta, DaAmazingMeepers, The Karma Chameleon OO, shaila, BleedingAutumn, God Wears Gucci, MitternachtDressage, sleepy dreamer 9 and Azura Soul Reaver for all your beautiful reviews, love, and support!

Chapter 14

No way. There was just no way this was possible. I had a better shot at getting hit by lightning, or eaten by a shark, or swept up by a tornado. If there wasn't a dull ache in my side to bring me to reality, I'd have pinched myself until I actually started bleeding. Though there was no doubt in my mind that this was real, I was almost convinced that my head was playing tricks on me; I was hallucinating, high off hospital meds. There had to be some logical explanation as to why we were pulling into the long drive of the Kaiba estate.

My dad was practically glued to the limousine window, staring at the beauty beyond the tinted glass. It was a winter wonderland rimmed by neat, snow-capped hedges and trees, all sprawled out in welcome. My eager eyes followed the salted gravel drive to where it looped around before the mansion I'd only dreamed of seeing in person, and I felt the breath catch in my throat. It was beautiful, an architect's masterpiece; three stories high with marble columns framing carved oak double doors, and above it, an abstract stained glass mural.

"Why... are we... here, sir?" I managed to croak, unable to bring my gaze away from the awe-inspiring sight before me. I knew the answer, but I felt that this was just too good to be true, another one of my silly fantasies that I'd wake up from with a sobering sense of disappointment.

Seto Kaiba was the picture of the stoic businessman, but there was a sparkle of something in his eyes as he regarded me coolly. "I think you know why, Leena." Amusement made the corner of his mouth twitch briefly before he relaxed into his normal, calm, aloof expression. "I'd rather have you both under a roof where I can keep a close eye on you; this is where you'll be safest."

So that's what this was all about? Keeping me and my father safe? I felt a growing sense of admiration for this man, joy bubbling up in my chest, so powerful that I almost couldn't breathe. I calmed myself enough to ensure that my grin didn't stretch my face to breaking, trying to reign in my excitement that I would be living with him, Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation and the object of my adoration.

Mokuba had been right; I wasn't just a secretary to him. The thought brightened my spirits considerably, even when something niggled at the back of my mind, whispering that the reason Mr. Kaiba would house me with him was if he truly believed I wouldn't be safe alone, that I was still in danger.

Refusing to be dampened by the frightening thoughts, I lifted my face to the overcast sky and inhaled the chilly air as soon as I stepped out of the limo. Shivering with cold and delight, I allowed Mr. Kaiba to lead me and my father into the grand and lavish house.

The interior was so beautiful, I could have cried. None of this felt real; it was almost like Dad and I had won a VIP trip to stay in a castle in Europe. My eyes soaked in everything like a dehydrated sponge thrown into the sparkling waters of the sea; the marble floors, the lush, exotic carpets, draperies, taperstries, the expensive trinkets, the spiraling staircase, the crystal chandelier twinkling like brilliant stars overhead.

A long, high-pitched keen, which I recognized as my name, snapped me out of my stupor; my neck cracked as I abruptly sought out the source of the sound and found it at the very tippy-top of the staircase, waving like a maniac and grinning like he'd won the lottery. Mokuba proceeded to straddle the banister and slid the entire way down, the smooth surface slick enough that he gained speed, hurtling towards us at such a pace that my elation melted away to pure terror, and I flung myself forward to catch him as he hopped off in a fluid motion, almost as though he'd been flung. To my complete surprise, the momentum carried him far higher than I expected and I watched him sail completely over my head and land in a crouch behind my back.

"Okay, that was not humanly possible," I grumbled to myself, wondering if I'd imagined the whole thing, but sure enough, there was Mokuba, straightening and stretching his legs out before turning back to me.

"Hey, Leena! I'm glad you're feeling better! And gosh, when Seto said you'd be staying with us, I just couldn't wait 'til you got here!" he babbled excitedly, "I had the maids clean up the guest room for you guys and I wanna show you a tour of the house, and-"

I was spared from more of his tirade by his older brother, calmly placing a hand upon Mokuba's shoulder and stating, "There will be enough time for a tour later, Mokuba. Let Leena and Mr. Marr get settled first." He turned to my father. "I took the liberty of gathering the necessities from your home and bringing them here."

Dad rubbed the back of his head, humbled. "Why, thanks, Mr. Kaiba. That was thoughtful."

Mr. Kaiba waved a dismissing hand and walked away. "Mokuba, show them to their rooms," he threw over his shoulder. I watched him disappear down a long corridor lined with paintings and assorted knick-knacks, wondering where it led to and where he was headed, but I didn't have much time to ponder this as Mokuba seized me by the elbow and half-dragged me up the stairs.

"Sure thing, bro! Come on, Leena, you guys are gonna love living here!"

I glanced back at my father, who followed close on our tail at first, but by the time me and Mokuba had reached the top of the stairs, he was still only half-way up. I implored Mokuba to wait patiently while my dad caught up to us, but he was practically bouncing from foot to foot, eager to show off his luxurious abode. We all turned the corner, and at this point, it didn't matter if Dad fell behind since this long corridor was a straight path.

The raven-haired teen glued to my side finally stopped in front of a door at the very end of the hall, detatched himself from my arm and flung the door open, practically shoving me inside. "This is your room, Leena!" he chirped, immediately sprinting for the windows while I took a few tentative steps into the room and found myself awestruck.

It was larger than my room at our home, that was for sure. I walked over to the bed and sat down upon the quilt-like, satin coverlet, black with ropes of embroidered turquoise curling intricate loops everywhere, pulled back to reveal black flannel sheets that would keep me toasty and warm in the winter. The headboard was a dark mahogany, more knotwork carved into it, and I ran my fingers over the crevices reverently. On either side of the bed were twin mahogany nightstands with blown-glass lamps and a matching dresser with a large mirror stood against the wall directly across from me, making the room look even bigger.

I sank into the pillows and decided that I didn't want to get up ever again; it felt like laying on a silky soft cloud. Above me, the ceiling was a blue that looked dark without the lights on, but I knew that it would lighten once I turned on the bedside lamps, or if the sun was shining brightly.

"Hey, you have to come see the view!" Mokuba's voice pulled me out of my dreamy state and I bounced up and off the bed to get to his side.

Even though we were only up on the second floor, looking out the window to the ground below still made me woozy, though I had to admit, the wide expanse of snow-capped trees set against a grey sky was quite a pleasant view. Pressing closer, my breath fogged the window up and I resisted the urge to draw a little smilie face on the glass. Besides, it would only be more work for the maids and I didn't want to make trouble for them, even though I knew it was their job; I wanted everything to appear normal, as if my dad and I weren't even here.

I turned to speak to Mokuba, but he was nowhere in sight, probably off showing Dad to his room, so instead I took the time to inspect the contents of the dresser. Inside, I found most of my clothes; my T-shirts, sweat pants jeans, skirts, and even—to my embarrassment—my undergarments, all folded neatly and put away. Tucked away in the corner was a closet, filled with my jackets, scarves, dress shirts, and the only two dresses I owned; one a summer draw in a black and white floral pattern that shouldn't even have been here since it was now winter, and the other my mother's dress that I had worn to the corporate banquet a while ago.

Looking at the dress brought back bad memories, even if it belonged to my mother before those memories were made. I shut the closet door and vowed to tell Dad to put that dress away. In the future, I would buy a new dress for myself and make new memories with it, and hopefully, they wouldn't involve near-death experiences.

My heart heaved in my chest when something solid collided with me, and I flinched in shock before realizing it was only Mokuba. Silently, I willed my heart rate to slow even as I turned a wary smile his way. "Come on, Leena! I gotta show you my room!" With that, he pulled me out the door again and down the hall.

After a confusing trek up a hidden flight of stairs and a maze of endless hallways, we arrived at his room. Even as he opened the door, I turned my head to look down the hall to a set of double doors at the very end, wondering where they could possibly lead to. Mokuba popped his head out of his room in time to answer my silent query. "Oh, that's Seto's room down there," he said before disappearing into his room, but I was still staring at those doors.

I tried to imagine what Mr. Kaiba's room would look like, as there was little chance of me ever setting one foot in there. Probably all dark wood and silk, smoky hues of blue, maybe the silver chrome of metal. It would be a sanctuary after a long day at work, a place of rest and relaxation, and-

"Check it out, Leena!"

I turned my attention back to the younger Kaiba brother and froze. Four sets of beady eyes seemed to blink menacingly up at me and I could swear those hairy legs were itching to crawl all over me.

"His name is Taran, he's my pet," Mokuba beamed, proud of his acquirement, meanwhile, I was still frozen in horror. All I could see was that spider, and all I could manage was a squeak of fear.

The world around me faded to grey and the ground rushed up to meet me. I could hear Mokuba's concerned cry as my vison swam in a dark ocean abyss, and I was out.

~*~*K.C.*~*~

"Really? You're afraid of spiders?" Mokuba watched as a tremor passed through my body at just the mention of the creepy-crawlies. I shook myself to get rid of the sensation of eight hairy legs ghosting across my skin, now only a memory from a time far back.

When I'd passed out, he'd called for help; and two bodyguards came rushing and brought my limp form downstairs to the living room couch.

"Well, you can't blame me. I've had bad experiences," I muttered, rubbing my arms, "When I still lived in America, we went on a camping trip in the southwest; Arizona, I think. I got bit by a brown recluse spider. They're pretty nasty, venomous spiders, so I was rushed to the hospital. And a few years later, I found out I was allergic to spider bites when I swelled up from a normal house spider."

The teenager winced. "Ouch," he sympathized. I just nodded, mutely, too caught up in my own thoughts.

Of all the pets Mokuba had to have, why did it have to be a tarantula? I would have taken him to be a dog person, just because he was always so bright and exuberant, so energetic that the dog would have to be the one to catch up to him, but a spider?

"Did you have any pets in America?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I had plenty of fish, but they never lasted five minutes." At his curious look, I shrugged sheepishly and cupped my hands together, bouncing them up and down as though I were flipping and catching something. "I, eh... liked to play with them outside the water."

He burst out laughing so hard that he clutched his sides and fell from the couch as I scowled at him. "I was five!" I exclaimed in my defense, throwing my hands into the air in exasperation and crossing them stubbornly as I sank into the couch. Mokuba had righted himself but had to lean on me since he still shook with mirth.

I glanced at the stony-faced, shade-bedecked bodyguards standing on either side of the couch for some change in expression, but they were living statues. I felt incredibly intimidated just looking at them, so I turned my attention back to Mokuba. And that was exactly the moment when Mr. Kaiba waltzed back in, another guard following in his wake.

I was expecting him to be angry; I'd only just arrived and was already making a nuisance of myself, so I ducked my head and peered at him through my bangs. However, I both saw and heard the chuckle that spilt from his lips as he twisted an odd smirk at me. "Spiders?" With that, he shook his head and walked away. Mokuba and I exchanged surprised glances and shrugged to ourselves, continuing our conversation as though nothing had happened.

~*~*K.C.*~*~

After Mokuba's tour had concluded, I asked him to bring me back to the kitchen and we sat together at a bar counter perched atop the comfiest stools that money could buy. I immersed myself in the cozy, yet lonely atmosphere; the space reminded me of one of those TV cooking shows, and I amused myself with the thought of a special, "Cooking with the Kaibas".

"Does your brother cook?"

Mokuba munched thoughtfully on a granola bar he'd pulled from a cabinet over head and tossed me one. "Sometimes, but just basic stuff. He's a CEO, not a chef."

I nodded, supposing that made sense. He was a busy man after all, a workaholic to the core, and probably didn't have time to learn how to cook four course meals and the like. It was a fanciful thought, though, and I kept it to myself, wondering what Mr. Kaiba would look like in a chef's smock. I giggled to myself around a mouthful of granola and Mokuba stared at me; blinking, I sheepishly pointed to the bar in my hand with a mumble that was supposed to come out as "It's really good" but ended up sounding along the lines of "Ifs wearry goof," and this only served to make the younger Kaiba burst into a giggle fit, me joining in heartily.

"Can you cook anything other than cookies? Like real food?" Mokuba asked, and I wondered if I should be offended. What, was he going to have a cook off of me against his gourmet cooks?

I shook my hand in a "somewhat" gesture, and gobbled the rest of the sticky, chewy granola, before I swallowed and answered, "Just what Mom and Dad used to make, but I have such a big sweet tooth that I wanted to focus on baked goods." I glanced around at the emptiness of the kitchen, searching for listening ears before I leaned towards Mokuba. "Can you keep a secret?"

His eyes widened at the thought of a secret, showing just what a kid he really was as he nodded enthusiastically. I held an anticipated breath and let it out slowly, trying to build momentum, as I let out, "When I was little, I wanted to open my own cafe."

"Wow, really?" Mokuba's fascination was endless and he was practically bouncing in his seat at my confession. I nodded and watched a thousand different questions flicker through his eyes, until he finally settled for one. His expression seemed to sober with confusion as he asked, "What changed?"

My gaze became unfocused as I asked myself the same question. Nothing had really changed; I still had that drive to create sweet concoctions, delicious blends of sugar and spice, froth and cream, liquid and solid heaven. What I lacked was the proper outlet to do so, and on top of that, I had a nice, high-paying job; I'd have to be crazy to ditch this job to switch to baking, even if I wasn't 90% in it just to see my gorgeous boss every day.

That wasn't to say I hadn't thought of what it would be like to run my own little shop, in fact, the thought seemed to cross my mind every time I made cookies or some other treat. There was just something satisfying about being up to my elbows in flour, somehow an apron seemed as comfortable and natural to me as my favorite pajamas.

If I hadn't become Seto Kaiba's secretary, I wonder what the odds would have been, had I opened a cafe instead, that I would ever bump into him outside of an office environment.

"Would you still want to open one?" Mokuba hadn't waited long for me to answer him before he launched into a different question, thus startling me out of my own thoughts once again. Smiling kindly to assure him that he hadn't lost my attention, I shrugged one shoulder, unsure.

"It would be nice, I guess." Maybe by the time Dad and I got all our debts taken care of, I could start saving to start a small business for when I was older, or for whenever Mr. Kaiba got tired of me and replaced me with a new secretary. That thought made me wince and so I carefully side-stepped it and tried to envision how it would be to run a shop. Of course, I'd have to hire some young hopefuls to help with sales and cleaning, make it tight-knit and almost like a family.

I sighed somewhat dreamily at the thought of family, but I had to be realistic about my future; it was blatantly obvious that I would never be the new Mrs. Seto Kaiba. He and I were on two different levels entirely, from two different sides of the tracks, so to speak. He was rich and I... Not so much. He had fame, fortune, glory, and power. What did I have? A fiddle gathering dust in the corner of my room and a head full of girlish fantasies, fed and fueled by romance movies and novels of knights in shining armor and damsels-in-distress. A love for a man I only knew from the brief moments we shared together in near-thoughtless routine.

Still, would I ever have a family of my own? Somehow, the thought of a husband to come home to seemed to bring me down even more, only because I knew it couldn't be him. So that's how it would be; I would end up a lonely spinster with (hopefully) a cafe to run, or turn into a crazy cat lady like my Aunt Bess.

"Hey, you okay?" Mokuba waved a hand in front of my face and brought my somber attention back to him. "You sure do like spacing out. Where do you go?"

I felt guilty, like I was neglecting Mokuba. He was only a kid, after all, and kids needed constant attention, didn't they? Or was Mokuba to that broody, leave-me-to-myself, teenager stage yet? No, he was too happy, and I prayed to God he never plunged into a downward spiral due to neglect. Peh, what was I thinking? He was bound to be the popular, rich kid in school, anyway, assuming he decided to stop being tutored and go to a public school instead.

I smiled at him and shook my head. "Miles away. I think I'm just a little tired from... everything."

"You can go lay down," he offered, "Seto told me to make sure you don't get stressed out and to make sure you rest as often as possible."

Quirking an eyebrow, my lips slanted into something akin to a smirk. "Did he? Are you now my conscience?"

That grin he had that split his face from ear to ear would stop hearts in a few short years, I just knew it. "Yep! So, do you think you know how to get back to your room now, or would you like an escort?"

As I rose from the stool, I stared down my nose at him, the corner of my mouth twitching and I contemplated, "I think I can manage on my own for now."

Mokuba's grin never faltered. "Don't come crying to me when you get lost!" I "hmph"ed and began to stroll away until he cleared his throat and pointed in the opposite direction with a smug look. As I passed him, I ruffled his hair over his face for good measure and set off toward my room.

Turns out I didn't do too bad a job of getting myself hopelessly lost, but this was my first time on my own and I was allowed to make mistakes. Only after I passed the same painting five times in a row did I realize that I was in the completely wrong part of the manor and set off to get myself turned in the right direction. Fifteen minutes later found me sitting against the wall in exhaustion, trying to calm my frantically racing heart before it sent me back to the hospital. I had to start excersizing again, jogs in the evenings were sounding like a good idea; I had to be in shape to wander aimlessly through this monster of a house.

Thankfully, I made it to the right wing, down the right hallway, and crashed through the right door only to flop face-down onto my nice, luxurious bed in time to watch the sun set behind the trees. I fell asleep without even bothering to cover myself with the blanket or even change into my sleepwear, too content to just rest after such a long and tiring day, and I hadn't even done anything! I didn't care, though; I was now living in the same house as Seto Kaiba, and even though I may not have had a snowball's chance in Hell of being with him, he was all I dreamed about when I finally drifted off.

Woah that took longer than I wanted it to. I've been dying to finish this chapter and upload it for you guys! Alrighty, please let me know what you think! Good? Bad? Want more fluff? Sorry there wasn't much Kaiba in this one, but he'll be back. Fufufufufufu... This was mostly filler to get some character development in. Heheheh, betcha never guessed Leena wanted to open a cafe! Well, that's all for tonight. Maybe I can sneak downstairs and upload this real quick... Hope so.