For the rest of the afternoon, Seto shut himself up in his office and buried himself in his work. It wasn't until late afternoon that the boy stood up from his computer and stretched. Seto massaged his aching temples – he had gotten so caught up in his work that he had forgotten to eat lunch and was starting with a tension headache. Mokuba was right -- he did work too hard sometimes. The boy settled himself on the couch across from his desk, shut his eyes, and almost immediately fell asleep.

But even in his dreams he couldn't escape the conflict that was eating away at him.

She's our sister, Seto. And we've gotta be there for her.

Don't hate Serenity. She's the innocent one in all this.

My sister Serenity is your sister too. Yours and Mokuba's.

Seto awoke with a start to discover that nearly an hour had passed since he had lain down for what he had intended to be a brief nap. But despite the sleep, he still didn't feel better. And then he realized that if he ever wanted to have a peaceful night's sleep again, there was one thing he had to do.

---

Serenity was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the knock at her door at first.

She turned her head at the sound of the door opening and saw that her visitor was a tall, unsmiling, brown-haired boy a few years older than she was.

"Hello. Are you Seto?" Serenity asked her visitor curiously.

The boy was momentarily taken aback by Serenity's knowing who he was, since he had never met the girl before.

"All Mokuba does is talk about you," Serenity replied with an amused smile at the surprised expression on Seto's face. "Even if I still had my bandages on, I would've known who you were." She patted the edge of the bed. "Sit down."

"I'll stand. I'm not going to stay here long," the boy replied, keeping his distance. He was still uncertain about Serenity and what to think of her.

"Joey talks about you a lot too, although not in the same way Mokuba does," Serenity said, her smile fading.

Seto didn't respond, but continued to study the girl silently.

Feeling uncomfortable by Seto's gaze, Serenity blurted out, "So you're my brother, huh?"

Seto was taken aback once more. "Who…? I thought Mokuba said that you didn't know about what happened between your mother and my father."

"My mom told me a little while ago. After everyone left. I'm still trying to deal with it," Serenity replied, her face serious. "It's kind of strange…finding out you're not who you think you are. And I'm still pretty mad at my mom for not telling me sooner, but I understand why she did it. I was having so many problems with my eyes that she didn't want to upset me even more."

"How are your eyes?" Seto asked, drawing a little closer to the girl's bed. "Wheeler…Joey said that you had an operation a few days ago."

"Uh-huh. I just got the bandages off a little while ago. It's so nice being able to see again. I haven't been able to see this clearly in years." Serenity smiled at her visitor. "Before I had my surgery, I wouldn't have been able to tell what color your eyes were or that your hair is almost exactly the same color as mine."

Seto unconsciously ran a hand through his brown hair.

"It's kind of nice having two new brothers," the girl continued. "And Mokuba is really happy about it. He started to teach me how to play Duel Monsters this afternoon. He's so sweet."

"He's the best brother anyone can ever have," Seto replied. "And the last thing in the world I want is for anyone to hurt him."

"Yeah, I know how that is. Mokuba told me about how you took care of him when your parents died. At least you two were lucky enough that you were able to stay together. I wish that Joey and I could've stayed together when our parents split up," Serenity said sadly. "But now…" Her face brightened. "I have three brothers!"

"Look, Serenity…I'm still trying to deal with all this too, so don't expect me to suddenly become your loving big brother who's eager to welcome you with open arms. That's not why I came here."

"If it's not, then why did you come here?" Serenity asked curiously.

"I…I don't know," Seto replied, suddenly feeling more uncomfortable than he already was. "Anyway, I'd better be going now." He quickly headed for the door.

"Thanks for stopping by anyway," Serenity called out at Seto's retreating form.

Seto breathed a sigh of relief as he headed down the corridor. The truth was that he had felt his heart opening up to Serenity and it had frightened him. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was get close to her, or anyone for that matter. Seto had been hurt so much the last few years by losing the people he had loved, and his adoptive father had shattered any trust he had felt towards others that the truth was that Seto wasn't able to love anyone else except Mokuba. He didn't want to take a chance of opening his heart up to someone, only to have them either die or betray that trust. And even if Serenity was his sister and she did seem like she wasn't out to deceive him, he wasn't ready to let himself get close to her. He doubted that he ever would get close to anyone ever again. It hurt too much.

But as he passed by the sign in the hallway that read "Billing", he hesitated for a moment. Then before he could stop himself, he opened the door and approached the woman seated at the desk inside the office.

"Can I help you?" the woman at the desk asked pleasantly, smiling up at him.

"Have all the bills for Serenity Wheeler sent to this address," Seto said, handing her a business card.

To be continued…