I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I am a poor college student. Please do not sue me, as I do not have much to offer.

This is my first YGO! fic, and it would be nice if a person or two or three could find it in their hearts to review it. (Read: review or I won't write more!) Also, I have only access to the English versions of YGO!, and as such I will be using Tea, Joey, and Tristan instead of Anzu, Jou, and Honda. Sorry… Also, the chapters will tend to be short so I will actually write this. When I start to focus on length, I get obsessed and I can't write. Thank you for reading, and enjoy. ^_^

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The Heart of A ... Kaiba?

Chapter 01

He was strong. He was unemotional, cool, collected, and he was powerful. Not the same as being strong, mind you, but the kind of power that made people recoil from you.

His name was Seto Kaiba. He stood at an impressive height of 6'1 and had striking blue eyes. His brown hair wasn't spectacularly imposing, but it's short, controlled cut both accentuated his face and the aura of power around him. Kaiba Corporation was his life, but his love lay in the form of a small boy. His little brother meant the world to him, and a few years ago he had wagered and lost his soul for Mokuba. It had not been one of the crowning moments of his life, but he had made it through.

Unfortunately, what he had made it through to was more problems from Kaiba Corp. It seemed that every greedy bastard in the world wanted to steal away what was his, what he had earned for in blood and in hard work. The latest problem, at least, had nothing to do with hostile takeovers, kidnappings, or being trapped within a game. It did, however, have a lot to do with the reason why he was currently sitting in an advertising class, a fundamental one, no less. The teacher, an older man with a rather large nose, was currently droning on about the importance of the font face used in advertising. Personally, Seto could care less. Unfortunately, Kaiba Corp needed some help with advertising, and since the hired help was apparently useless when it came to doing what they had gone to college for, he had decided to try it out before going on a pink slip rampage.

It wasn't interesting.

But, at least he knew that if he hinted towards a few terminations here and there, it would get the people who had supposedly studied years of this some incentive. After all, it couldn't be that hard to find an image, get some copy, and pick a font, could it? He supposed that he could always just go to some advertising firm, but he wanted people who were focused on just Kaiba Corp, not Kaiba Corp, Slim-fast, Tampax, and Nutra-grain bars all at the same time.

Still. The boredom was beginning to get to him. He was not a patient man by nature and this was severely stretching his limit. Still, he supposed it would not be wise to antagonize the man, who insisted on being called Adam (as opposed to professor), further than he already had with his "this is why we have computers" remark. Apparently this man was not a big fan of computers. Seto's mouth quirked when he thought of what his artificially intelligent computer at home would have to say to that.

He had been in the class for several weeks and had to turn in many projects. He wasn't even trying to get credits, but his teacher was apparently sadistic and demanded not only more of Seto's valuable time than any human other than Mokuba had the right to do, but he also demanded that Seto make stupid little illustrations. Seto was many things, but an artist was not one of them.

Absently, he put his hand in his pocket and thumbed his deck. He wondered idly if there would be any way to get in touch with Yugi Mutou; he wanted a decent duel for once. He put the thought out of his mind quickly -- since when had he gone out of his way to contact Yugi? Never. And he planned never on beginning. Though his feelings towards the younger boy had morphed from being pure loathing to tolerance, Seto had never quite mastered friendship. He almost wished that he could say it was from lack of trying, but, well, it was and he still didn't want to try. He had no need for lesser humans. Since this encompassed most of the world, he basically kept to himself.

Still, there was one thing that had managed to catch his eye. He felt almost stupid, insomuch as he could feel stupid, for letting this catch his attention. During class, while the professor talked about things that Kaiba could probably read a book on and grasp quicker, he sneaked peeks to the desk next to his. Its occupant showed absolutely no hint of paying any attention to the professor at all. Seto always found it amazing that Adam never commented on it. More amazing, though, was the fact that she always did her assignments and did them correctly. When it was her turn to comment or critique a work, she never seemed to miss a thing.

She didn't miss his gaze on what held her attention so raptly, either. She tended to make notes in a sketchbook, rather than a conventional notebook. However, whenever she wasn't making notes (and, at times, when she was), she was filling up the pages of her book with doodles and words. Sometimes the doodles progressed to full page drawings, sometimes not. Her latest had been just a pair of eyes that were, he had to admit, quite good. There were a few lines that suggested a nose, and a slight curve that might've been the start of a mouth, but other than that she had left the eyes alone.

For a while he hadn't been sure of what exactly the words were, but after a bit Seto recognized the lyrics. The only time she ever acknowledged his interest in her work she had merely stared at him for a few seconds, her gaze devoid of any sort of emotion. No curiosity, no defiance, not even a hint of embarrassment crossed her face. She simply stared with her deep brown eyes, and then went back to scribbling a lyric. "Nobody gives a damn about me, or anybody else." At first, he thought that they were simply random lyrics, but he soon noticed a pattern. She had a presence, there was no denying it. It wasn't like his, though. It wasn't power. It was emotion, pure and simple. If she was happy, it was easy to tell. If she was upset, there was a dark aura around here. And whenever there was darkness, there were dark lyrics to accompany it.

Seto couldn't figure out if he was proud or irritated at himself for having figured this out. He was spending merely too much time paying attention to the antics of a flawed being. Being emotional was for the weak; the strong learned how to use their emotions to gain what they wanted. Though the closest she had shown him to an emotional outburst was the time she had informed a classmate, rather coldly, to leave her the hell alone, it was obvious that she was subject to all the female logic. In other words, none. And still, in spite of himself, he was intrigued.

Thus, he was glad when the class was over and Adam dismissed them. He thought about lingering, to see if she would say anything, then immediately felt foolish and left the classroom. Romance was the last thing on his life to-do list. He gathered his belongings and left, quickly, efficiently. Let the others remain and socialize; he had no need for their chitchat. He was there to learn, nothing more, nothing less. And so he left the college and located his Porsche. He admired the sleek blue paint, carefully matched to his eye color. Soon, he was cruising down the roads to Kaiba Land. Perhaps, by some freak chance, a player of some skill might actually show up.

No such luck, of course. He growled in exasperation at the severe deficit of people with plain talent these days. He almost thought about calling Yugi again, but his pride against abused and smacked down the notion before it became a reality.

"Big brother!"

At those words, the dark cloud was lifted. Seto turned in his favorite swivel chair to face Mokuba. Though he had finally started to grow a bit, the kid still had a while to go. His wild black hair was sticking out everyone, despite Seto's best efforts to try to get Mokuba to cut it, or, at the very least, get some interest in hair gel. Perhaps not to the lengths that Mutou had gotten involved in it, but just enough to tame whatever furry thing had decided to reside upon his little brother's head. "Hey, Mokuba. What's up, kid?"

"Look!" The excited preteen flourished a test that had a large, red A marked across the top.

"Great job! I told you that you could do it," Seto smiled one of his rare warm smiles.

"Yeah, yeah. Now can I get that new game that you promised me?" Mokuba wrinkled his nose at his brother.

"Sure. However, if you don't do well on the next one, I'm taking it away. Got it?" He stared hard at his little brother, letting him know that he was completely serious. Inward, he was so proud. Mokuba asked Seto to help him out with studying, and it was gratifying to see something work.

"Yup! Well, I'm off to go see Tyler. You better have that game for me when I get home later!" Mokuba waved and turned away.

Seto reached out a hand and grabbed a hold of his brother's arm. "Now, you wait a second. Do you have any homework?"

Mokuba scoffed. "It's Friday, Seto. No homework on weekends!"

Seto looked at him. "Lucky kid. All right. Be in no later than 7:30." He let go of Mokuba's sleeve.

"Yes, Seto," Mokuba said obediently, then zipped off.

Seto settled back into his soft chair and regarded the video screens in front of him. He was watching every aspect of Kaiba Land, hoping to see a challenge. He didn't expect to see, right in front of him, studying a game between two players, the girl from his class.