"It is love.

From the first

Time I set my eyes upon yours

Thinking, 'Oh, is it love?'"

Oh, It Is Love by Hellogoodbye

XXI

The last three months had gone by quickly for Kisara. Although work never took breaks, it didn't dawn on her until the middle of May that there was less than a month left in the school year. Kisara never missed a day of school but with work and with Seto usually preoccupying her at or after work, she hardly paid attention to what was going on in school. Her grades remained unaffected and with her recent acceptance to the prestigious Yokohama School of Business, her focus continued to be fixated on doing well in school. Unfortunately, being so focused on her grades meant that most of the school year had gone by without her getting to know the people around her or being aware of school events. She mostly relied on overhearing other students' conversations to know about the latest school functions.

"I hear the theme for this year's Graduation Dance is going to be Overseas Fantasies. I think they're trying to get us to want to learn more about other cultures or something like that. It's so stupid, since when did dances have to be educational?" Kisara's attention was immediately taken away from the book she was reading at the word 'dance' and turned around to the two girls talking behind her.

"Did you guys say there's going to be a dance?" The girls honestly looked surprised, as if the question had come out of nowhere.

"Um, yeah, haven't you heard? It's all everyone's talking about," One girl stated.

"It's all anyone's ever talked about," The other girl added, "Once a year, the graduating class has a dance that happens the night after graduation. It's sort of a celebration for the seniors who are graduating; one last night to party together before we all go our separate ways to college. Do they not have that in Egypt?"

Kisara couldn't really remember if they did. Her days as an underclassmen were spent barely noticing what the upperclassmen were up to and by the time she was a junior in high school, she had become so involved with her romantic relationship at the time that she hardly noticed anything else. The only dances she had gone to were ones that revolved around family or holidays. The mentioning of a school dance, though, got her interested because in her heart of hearts, she loved to dance.

When class began, Kisara could barely focus on the lecture her teacher was giving. Her mind drifted into scenarios, imagining the music they would play, the moves she would display… her hands began to softly sway to music she heard in her head. She had always loved to dance, ever since she was a little girl. It wasn't that she was a great dancer, in fact, the way she danced probably made her not so great. Kisara loved to let the music take over, though, and that was what truly got her going. On the dance floor, the music was her only muse and she never had a care in the world. The only trouble she found in attending dances was finding someone to go with her. As much as she didn't care how she looked when she danced, Kisara did feel out of place going by herself.

Upon hearing there would be a Graduation Dance, however… it was all she could think about and naturally Seto was present in her imagined scenarios of attending it. The two of them had been 'official' for over four months so naturally her ideal world included him taking her to the dance. Nevertheless, in dating him for four months and having worked with him for eight, she had come to learn a few things about Seto. The first thing was that Seto hated social events that weren't business related. The second related to the first; the reason he hated social events was because he hated people—more specifically being around a lot of people—therefore making the only social events he ever went to business related. Kisara knew it would be a bit of a stretch to convince Seto to take her to the Graduation Dance but she had to try which was why when date night came along that week, she put on her best dress and most friendly face after Mokuba invited her in to the Kaiba Mansion.

"You look really pretty today, Kisara!" Mokuba exclaimed after closing the door after her, "Do you guys have an anniversary today or something?" Kisara shook her head. The boy couldn't have known that neither Kisara nor Seto celebrated anniversaries. As a result of the media publicizing every aspect of their relationship as much as possible, both of them had agreed not to make a big deal of anniversaries. Although neither of them would admit that the underlying reason they didn't want to celebrate anniversaries was because neither of them felt comfortable celebrating their love when they hadn't fallen in love with one another. It seemed like a rather strange concept to them considering the context.

"Kisara, you're here early," Seto said with a smile as he descended down the stairway and walked over to her, "You look positively beautiful tonight, as you look every night." Kisara smiled back as Seto kissed her on the cheek and gave her a quick hug.

"I have some good news to tell you," Kisara said. She turned to Mokuba, whom was still standing in the room, wide-eyed and on the edge of his seat. "If you wouldn't mind Mokuba, I'd like to talk to your brother alone." Mokuba frowned and said nothing. He left without protest, leaving the two alone. The boy had grown to accept that Kisara and Seto did need their privacy at times. Seto turned to Kisara when Mokuba had disappeared up the stairs.

"You want me to pour you some coffee? I just brewed a fresh pot."

"Sure," Kisara replied, following Seto into the dining room. She sat at the table and tried to plot out her words for the conversation. The dance wasn't the only news she wanted to break to Seto. She also had yet to break the news of her getting into business school, though she was still waiting to tell Seto that.

Although she had gotten to know Seto very well in their four months of dating, there was still a lot she didn't know about him. One of which being how he would react to her leaving for business school in Yokohama. Although she had only saved enough to attend one semester of schooling, it would still be four months they would spend apart from one another. Kisara had decided the day she got the letter that she would wait for the perfect time to tell him—a time she hoped would come sooner rather than later, though she hadn't set a precise date.

"So what's the good news?" Seto asked, passing her a mug of coffee. Kisara took it from his hands and waited for him to sit down across from her before speaking.

"Well, for the past couple months, my family has been saving up money and they now have enough to finally fly over here to see my graduation! Isn't that great?" Seto looked more puzzled than excited by the news.

"Your family? What family?" Kisara chuckled.

"My parents, of course! As well as my grandparents. They've been missing me so much since Christmas and they can't wait to meet you. I'm sure you'll love them!" Seto took a long sip of coffee, trying to hide his obvious confusion. He was too embarrassed to admit that he had almost forgotten Kisara had parents, thinking they were dead due to Kisara living alone and being almost completely independent financially. She would mention them occasionally but mostly their conversations never led to discussing her family. Perhaps it was because of his own deceased family that the idea that she had parents he would eventually have to meet never crossed his mind.

"That's… great! It will be a pleasure to meet your parents." While there were things Kisara still had yet to learn about Seto, Seto in turn found there were still things he had to learn about himself. One of which being the fact that in the four months they had been dating, he was still surprised and shocked that he had a girlfriend. He simply wasn't accustomed to being a "taken" man… or rather, having a woman in his life that he was taken by. The idea that he had a girlfriend remained foreign and strange to him. Every time Kisara kissed him, Seto was bewildered because in the world he envisioned himself living in, he never foresaw any woman every treating him the way Kisara treated him. It was nice and yet always astonishing.

"There's also something else I wanted to run by you," Kisara added, putting on her sweetest smile as she said it, "Have you heard of the Graduation Dance?" Seto chuckled.

"Oh, yes, the senior gathering of buffoonery? I've heard of it. Why?" Kisara's smile disappeared.

"Oh, well, I was just wondering if maybe you would take me to it."

"Wait, what? You want me to take you to a dance?" Kisara looked down in the coffee she was holding, secretly wishing she could drown in it. She felt completely and utterly embarrassed.

"Well… yeah. I like to dance. It's a lot of fun," Kisara looked up once more, "I thought it would be nice if you went with me too, especially since I'll feel stupid if I go by myself."

"How do you think I'll feel?" Seto asked, agitated by what Kisara was asking of him, "You know I hate going to social events." Kisara got up from the table and walked into the living room, hiding her hurt feelings. It was then that Seto realized the damage he had done and quickly got up to right his wrong.

"Kisara, wait… I didn't mean it like that." Kisara twisted around to face him.

"Don't lie, I know you did," Kisara spat before plopping herself down on the couch and crossing her arms. Seto paused for a moment, feeling as though Kisara's disappointed eyes shot arrows through his heart. What was this strange feeling? Why did he seem to feel just as upset as Kisara looked? He was reminded of the time Kisara asked him to go to the New Year's party with her. He hadn't wanted to go but something about Kisara made him want to go just for her, only this time around he felt ten times worse saying 'no.'

Perhaps it was because it was the first time Seto was truly experiencing guilt, an emotion his late step father had spent a lot of his childhood beating out of him. Seto had never been so involved with another human being that he had ever felt this way; as if his own happiness relied on the happiness of another person. The only other time he could think he had felt that way in the past was towards his brother but this time it was different. Something about Kisara just made him want to change and to be more of a man, if only it would make her smile.

"I know you hate dances and social events but I just wish you wouldn't shoot down my request as if I was an idiot for even asking," Kisara said, avoiding Seto's gaze by staring at the floor, "And you never know, you might just like it." Seto knew for a fact that he would hate going to a dance but she was right regardless. It would be a new experience for him and she was always open to new experiences herself. After all, Seto had asked Kisara to attend the big gaming convention in Tokyo two weeks earlier and she had accepted without a second thought. The least he could do was return the favor.

"You're right," Seto said before walking over to where Kisara sat. He got down on one knee and took Kisara's hand gently into his. She looked up upon physical contact and stared him in the eyes. "I'm not usually open to doing things outside of my comfort zone, but I think you're right. It'd be good for me to do something new… at least for you." It was times like these where Seto could honestly get lost in Kisara's beautiful blue eyes. They held so much depth, so much vibrance, and so much… warmth. There was something so warm and comforting about staring into those deep blue eyes.

The comfort, the depth, the vibrance, however, only went so far. While Seto had come to learn so much about himself while being with Kisara, he in turn devoted time to understanding her. Seto had never realized how many emotions Kisara had—or that people could have in general—until he began spending time with Kisara. It was moments like these, up close and personal, where he could lose himself in the emotions of her face. She could be so open with him about her opinions or life experiences, but there was always a point in which she would cut herself off from him. It sometimes felt as though there was a whole other side of Kisara that Seto didn't know about that she wasn't willing to let him see.

Kisara leaned in and kissed Seto on the lips. Even when they kissed, he felt she was holding something back.

"Thank you, Seto. You have no idea what that means to me." Seto knew that he didn't and perhaps he never would. He refused to push too hard to see what Kisara was hiding, knowing full well that he had his own walls surrounding his inner most self.

"I can't help it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for blue eyes," Seto said, jokingly. Kisara smiled, easing Seto of the previous pain he felt when he had initially upset her.

"What a coincidence, so am I." They kissed once more and it was in that moment, Seto knew he would do anything if it meant seeing her smile again. Strange feelings arose within him, pressing his lips against hers. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but he felt like he was falling. Not the kind of falling he was typically familiar with, which was agonizing and painful, but something entirely different.

Seto was beginning to fall for Kisara… and he realized that if he did, he wouldn't be able to get back up.

A/N: Yes, I know, I'm late on updating. I'm pretty disappointed myself. I was really looking forward to having this up by 12/12/12 but that didn't happen because finals happened instead. On the plus side, though, I think this turned out to be a much better chapter than it would've been had I pushed myself to finish it quickly rather than taking my time to really develop what I had. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. I'm a little confused as to why Microsoft Word thinks "vibrance" isn't a word but I guess every program has its mystery. As for the next update, I'm going to try and put another one up sooner than usual. My last final is tomorrow which means I'll have an entire month of nothing to fill with something… particularly writing. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I plan on getting another one out to you real soon! Stay tuned.

P.S: A big thanks goes out to my boyfriend's big sister for helping me perfect the last line of this chapter. :) Without her, it probably would've come out sounding silly.