HopelessRomantic183: You sure wrote a lot for someone who was about to leave for work! And thanks for taking the time to read it even when you didn't have all the time you would've liked. It really gets me suspecting that you actually like this story… haha. Thank you, I hope you had a great Fourth of July as well! I enjoy all of your reviews, even the ones that you don't have enough time to write. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Velgamirdragon: I haven't lost my parents either but I know friends who have so… it's pretty difficult. Thanks for the review!

SandstormAmaterasuZira: It's alright if you didn't see the death coming, most people were not supposed to see it coming but then I suppose… that means they know too much *takes out knife* Nah, but some people make good assumptions which you can't blame them for. Thanks for the review!

Cuteandsweet: Thank for the compliment and the review! I think you'll like this chapter more than you liked the last. Let's find out!

MythCreatorWriter: Love confession chapter is coming up, don't worry! Oh wait… is it? Oh wait… never mind, it's going to take a LONG time before that chapter. But this chapter has a section of romance… if I explain anymore about how I'll give it away so I'll leave it at that. And it would be 'lied.' I've checked. Thanks for the review!

Rena Redhead: Well, well, well… LOOK WHO IT IS. Rena Redhead herself, rearing her ugly head back into the review section of my story as if to pretend she hasn't been gone. WHAT A JOKE. Nah, I'm kidding, I always love your reviews, especially when they come at random times. Keeps me on my toes and on the alert. You think I worry too much? You like me too much! Or rather, you like this story too much. Oh good, you got how this was all a result of suppression (not that I explained that to you or anything… so it totally shows I'm a good writer :p) Well, as always, I enjoy your reviews when I get them and I love knowing you love my stories, so I hope this chapter continues to fuel that forbidden love!

KaelynnD: Hey! Way to review just in the nick of time so that I can still write a review reply to you ;) Seriously, I was right about to upload my finished document onto and put in the bars and what not and suddenly I see have 202 reviews rather than 201 (I'm not obsessed, I just… remember these things) Got me to check my e-mail though, didn't it? And I understand, I don't mind. Thanks for the review!

Chapter 35: Quandary

In the distance, Mai could hear a door being slammed shut and all she could do was sigh. Before, it used to make her jump out of her skin. Mai was a naturally jumpy person so any sudden noise would cause her to jump. Not this time though… only because such noises had become common in the Kaiba Mansion since they would be made all day long. She knew where each noise originated from and she knew the exact person who was making the noise; Kisara.

Mai: According to the Kübler-Ross model, a person goes through five stages of grief after a person close to them dies or something traumatic happens. The order goes: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and then finally acceptance. It was clear that the first couple weeks Kisara was in denial, and of course, the length of time said person spends in each stage is different depending on the person. Recently, however, Kisara's gone from the stage of denial to anger… making her the bitchiest bitch in the entire house and freaking out over every little thing.

Mai shrugged and continued doing the laundry. Since the death of Kisara's mom, Mai had taken over the womanly duties Kisara had taken upon herself to do for the time they had been living there. It was hard and tedious work, Mai couldn't figure why Kisara had volunteered to do such chores around the house out of her own willingness. She knew, though, it would be useless to get the 'boys' into the routine of taking care of themselves so to keep things running smoothly, she decided to take over.

As she switched the laundry from the washer into the dryer, Mokuba walked into the laundry room with a gloom look on his face, obviously needing to talk. Mai started the dryer then turned to the troubled boy. "You okay, kid? You don't look so good," Mai stated, eyeing him. Mokuba looked up.

"I was just talking to Kisara and I'm not even sure what I said, but something set her off. Then she yelled at me to leave her alone and slammed the door in my face." Mai nodded with understanding, turning back to put new laundry in the washer.

"Its okay, Mokuba, don't take Kisara's actions to heart. She's only acting that way because she's in pain." Mokuba titled his head and stared at the ground. That's what everyone had been telling him lately after Kisara would flip out and frighten him with her anger. It was hard to believe that the calm and nice Kisara Mokuba had lived with for the past three and a half months could be so angry and say such hateful things.

"It's just hard to take… she's not usually like that. Kisara has never been like that," Mokuba stated, wanting to say his feelings out loud. Mai stopped what she was doing and walked over to him, giving him a quick hug.

"I know, I know. It's hard for all of us to see Kisara like this… not mention have to listen to this," Mai added the last bit when she heard another bang coming from upstairs. She quickly glanced angrily at the ceiling before turning back to Mokuba, "This is what all people go through when they deal with death. In time, Kisara will be back to her normal self, you just have to be patient. I promise."

Mai: Poor kid… He's been having a hard time dealing with this. I can't blame him though we've all been hurting seeing Kisara like this. We all want to help her in our own way but it seems the pain she's going through can't be alleviated from her. I just hope she can get through this stage before she goes and does something she'll regret.

Kisara was sitting on her bed, finding it hard to stay in one place for too long. She got up and paced around her room. She had so much anger and energy pent up inside her, it was like she couldn't get it out no matter what she did. Kisara spotted one of Mai's posters on the wall and decided it would be her next victim. She tore it from the wall before ripping it in half and let it drop to the floor.

Her hands were shaking. She had to do something, she had to go yell at someone. The first weeks after her mother's death, her housemates would come and had tried to keep her company. Lately, though, since she had become angry, her housemates stayed away. Leaving her with a lot of fuel and no one to light the fire and explode at. She was desperate to be angry at someone… but whom? Then someone came to mind.

Kisara: Everyone in the house has come to see me more than once since my mom's died… everyone except for Seto. It's like he disappeared entirely from the house, he wouldn't come down to eat meals or anything. I know it's all because he's been trying to avoid me. Well, little does he know that today I'm going to make the effort to see him since it's clear he's not going to come see me.

So she left her room in search of Seto. She wandered for a while, in the big mansion, in the empty hallways, looking for the only person on her mind. The one person she had, up to a couple weeks ago, considered one of her closest friends. Why hadn't he tried to talk to her at all if they were such good friends? Kisara would've thought Seto to be the first one to be by her side. Instead, she hadn't seen him at all since her mom had died. With each and every step she took she became angrier and angrier. She couldn't wait to find Seto and corner him into giving her an explanation for his absence.

That was when she spotted him, alone, just as he was walking out of his office. Seto stopped the moment he spotted her, knowing there was no escape at all as she came closer. Seto stood completely still even as Kisara walked up and stood right in front of him. There was nowhere else to run, not that Seto would consider running even if he had the opportunity. Seto was raised to face every obstacle that came his way and never to run from anything.

"Fancy meeting you here in your own house, where have you been?" Kisara asked, almost in a mocking tone. Seto said nothing. This ticked Kisara off even more than she already was, "It's been weeks since I've last seen you. I hope you're not going to try and pretend that you haven't heard what happened to my mom. So where have you been?" Again, Seto remained silent. He knew no words would change how Kisara felt about him in that instant, so he kept quiet.

Then Kisara narrowed her eyes as she stared at him, "You just don't care, do you? You don't care about anyone other than yourself!" Seto felt this required a response.

"What makes you say that?" Seto replied flatly.

"You haven't attempted to comfort or console me since my mom died. In fact, you've been avoiding me ever since you found out she was dead. You said we were friends!"

"We are friends."

"What kind of friend avoids them in their moment of need, huh?" Seto placed his hands on Kisara's shoulders. Normally, Seto would never volunteer to physically touch another person other than Mokuba but in this case, it needed to be done to show the seriousness in what he was about to say.

"Because I know best what you're going through and what you need," Seto began in a stern voice, "No one's pity or comfort can change how you feel inside. You think that's what you need but at the end of the day, you know that the only thing you truly want is for your mother to hold you in her arms again. But you can't get that, Kisara, not anymore or from anyone else. The path you're walking on will always be your own. No one can take away the burden, no matter how much they love or care for you."

SMACK! Seto's face was turned to the side as his right cheek began to throb.

"Seto Kaiba, you are the biggest asshole I have ever met." Seto had never heard Kisara curse before and to hear her curse now let him know not to let it hurt him, even though the word seemed to hit him hard. The way she had said it with such hatred made it hard for Seto to remember that she was only saying it because of the emotional state she was in. Even still, the insult was crippling, only because it was coming from someone he truly cared for.

Seto took back his hands from her shoulders and looked forward, "I'm sorry for your loss. See you on the other side."

Seto: When I left Kisara's side after that, a small part of me did something I hadn't done in my entire life; hoped. A small part of me hoped that Kisara would call me back to say she was sorry and didn't mean it. I knew that if she didn't say it then, she would say it later on, when all of this was done and dealt with but… still. It didn't ease my nerves. I knew that Kisara wasn't herself but to continue to remind myself of that was hard.

Hours passed from Seto and Kisara's encounter. Seto resided in his room with the doors closed and didn't come out for the rest of the day. Something about what Kisara had said had really wounded him and he needed time to process it. As he sat and processed, he would unconsciously begin to replay the scene, over and over again, causing him to feel even more pain. Seto shook his head… he needed to stop thinking about it.

Seto was thankful to hear a knock on his door; a distraction, at last! Seto was even more thankful when the person that walked in was Mokuba, the only person Seto had wanted to see. "Hey Nii-sama, where have you been? You missed dinner. Kisara wasn't there so you could've come down…" Seto shook his head and let his shoulders dropped.

"I talked to her today."

"You did? What happened?" Mokuba sat down on the ground across from where Seto was sitting in his chair, already interested in the story Seto was going to tell him.

"She found me and questioned me, asking where I had been and all that. She was angry and hurt. I told her my reasons for why I hadn't gone to see her and then…" Seto rubbed his right cheek without realizing it when he paused, "She smacked me across the face and called me an asshole." Mokuba couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Kisara cursed?" Seto nodded slowly.

"She was really angry… I know she's not herself right now and I can't take this to heart but for some reason… I am. Every time I remember what she said, how she said, even the way she looked at me… it hurts me in a way I've never hurt before," Seto looked directly at Mokuba, "What's wrong with me?"

The answer suddenly dawned on Mokuba; the reason why Seto seemed to be so affected by what Kisara said and did. Mokuba had been suspecting this for a while, always thinking it wasn't possible or that he was mistaken. In reality, though, it made sense. Mokuba knew the concept would take some convincing over on Seto's end, however.

"Nii-sama, I think I know why you feel this way. You like Kisara." Seto rolled his eyes.

"Well, of course I do. We're friends, you know. She might even be the only friend I have, besides you but we're brothers so it doesn't count." Mokuba shook his head.

"No Nii-sama, I think you like her as more than a friend." Seto cocked his head to the side.

"What do you mean? What are you saying?" Now Mokuba was grinning and how could he not?

"I think you like, like her," Mokuba said with a giggle. Then Seto laughed.

"What could 'like, like' possibly mean? Kids these days, I swear, they have their own lingo." Mokuba got up from where he was sitting and walked over to Seto. Seto wasn't getting it and as his younger brother, it was Mokuba's job to make sure he got it. Mokuba grabbed Seto by the shoulders and shook him.

"Nii-sama, don't you see? You have feelings for her, understand? You like her in a way that makes people want to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Do you get it now?" Seto pushed Mokuba's hand off of him.

"What! That's why you think I feel this way? Mokuba, you're nuts. I've never 'felt' that ways towards a woman before, ever. Just because Kisara and I are friends doesn't mean I have the hots for her." Mokuba put his hands on his hips and grinned again.

"Oh really? What about when Kisara was going to the ball with Seth?"

"What about it?"

"I remember the way you looked at her. And then how you called her 'beautiful.' No, even before that, Kisara's always been there for you, or tried to, since we've moved into this place. You've gone to her when you were nervous before even going to me… I know because I spied on you a couple times," Seto glared at Mokuba after that one but Mokuba continued, "Then remember, after Gozaburo lost his mind and attacked us all, when you found out about Kisara protecting me… you were so thankful you hugged her. You never hug anybody except for me. Oh, and then what about the time you went and saved her from that guy at the club… I mean, the list could go on. You guys have kind of had a thing going since you met."

"What do you mean by, 'you guys'? Are you talking about me and Kisara… the both of us?"

"Well, of course, you would have to be an idiot to not see that she like, likes you too. You guys have had that whatever-you-call-it tension since the very beginning. That much is obvious." Seto stared at him, trying to determine whether Mokuba was messing with him or not. Knowing Mokuba, he wouldn't do such a thing to his older brother, but it did get Seto thinking… Could he really like Kisara? Or more importantly… could Kisara really like him back? It was a lot to mull over and a major part of him just wanted to shrug off such thoughts like they didn't matter… only problem was that, they did.

"Nii-sama, you okay?" Seto shook himself out of his thoughts and looked back at Mokuba, "You spaced out on me for a second there."

"Yeah… sorry, as for what you were saying… I guess there's a distinct possibility that you could be right, but how can I know for sure? How can you even know, before I do?" Mokuba smirked.

"Just because I'm the younger brother doesn't mean I can't catch things you miss and I like to think I know you better than that anyway." Seto thought about it; the idea of such a thing as him having feelings for another human being and not in a family way but a romantic way. It all came back to his question of… how could he know?

A/N: Hello, hello! Kari here with an update ALMOST a week from when I last updated (okay, so I was off by a day, but does the fact that I'm posting this early on Saturday morning mean I'm still on time?) Maybe… anyways, so… for any of you following my Twitter feed (or even those who read my last author's note) I had a lot of ideas to organize. The problem was that I had thought of a lot of scenes, but wasn't sure what order to put them in and what I should put in between (in order to make sure nothing was going too fast). Well, I talked with everyone and it seemed no one could help until I hung out with one of my good friends from high school, we sat down and for 7 hours we talked (this is a normal hang out day for me and him, it's what we do) While he talked about his life, I talked about my story and sure enough he helped me organize it. It was awesome! Well, it seems that's all I have to report but I hope you liked this chapter and I have a feeling the lot of you will enjoy the next one even more. Have a great day!