A week later, Joey paid a visit to the KaibaCorp offices.

"What the hell are you playin' at, Kaiba?!" Joey shouted as he burst into Seto's office.

"What do you want, Wheeler?" Seto replied, not bothering to look up from his computer.

"I'm talkin' about this, Kaiba!" Joey slammed down a statement on Seto's desk that read Paid In Full. "The lady at the hospital said that you paid all the bills for Serenity's operation!"

"It's none of your concern, Wheeler," Seto replied, eyeing Joey coldly.

"It is if it involves my sister!" Joey shouted. "The reason I went to Duelist Kingdom was so I could get the three million bucks for Serenity's operation!"

"Save your money and put it to good use – like buying yourself some dueling lessons," Seto replied, turning his attention back to his work.

"Why I oughta…!" Joey was ready to take a swing at his rival for that comment, but stopped himself. "What I don't get, Kaiba, is why did you do it?"

Seto sighed in exasperation. "If I have to explain it to you, Joey, then you're dumber than I thought. Now get out of here and let me work or else I'll have you thrown out."

"Fine!" Joey snarled. "But the Wheelers don't take charity!"

"It's not charity, you moron!" Seto shot back.

"You coulda fooled me!" Joey replied.

"Which wouldn't be hard to do," Seto retorted.

"Why you…!"

Seto dodged Joey's fists and tapped a button on his desk. "Security, come get this lunatic out of my office."

"Never mind, Kaiba. I'm goin'," Joey huffed. "But this isn't over, Kaiba. Not by a long shot."

Joey picked up the bill and stormed out of his rival's office.

---

"Kaiba paid all of Serenity's medical bills?" Téa exclaimed in surprise as she studied the statement Joey had just handed her.

"I don't believe it," said Tristan, peering over Téa's shoulder.

"Neither can I," Joey fumed. "I still can't figure out why he did it. That creep knew that the reason I risked my butt at Duelist Kingdom was so I could win the money for Serenity's operation. I think he's doing this just to piss me off."

"No, he's not, Joey," Yugi said, taking the statement from Téa. "He's doing it because he wants to help his sister."

Joey's jaw dropped in surprise. "Wha…? No way!"

"Yugi's right, Joey," agreed Téa. "Kaiba won't let himself get close to anyone, including Serenity, so the next best thing he could do was pay her bills."

"Even though Kaiba may be a creep, he does do a good job taking care of his younger brother. And now it looks like he's going to start taking care of his younger sister too," said Tristan. "Guess he's not as heartless as we thought."

"Yeah, well I still can't believe that I'm related to that jerk," Joey fumed.

"Joey, I already explained it to you. You're not related to Kaiba," said Téa.

"Yeah, well…I don't wanna talk about it anymore." Joey took the statement back from Yugi and stuffed it into his pocket. "Come on, let's go. I promised Serenity that I'd take her to Grandpa's shop so I can help her put together her Duel Monsters deck."

---

"Hey, Seto," Mokuba greeted his brother cheerfully as he bounded into Seto's office. "Serenity and I are gonna have our first Duel Monsters battle at the arcade at KaibaLand. Wanna come watch?"

"Sorry, Mokuba. I've got too much work to do. Maybe some other time." Seto continued working on the complex diagram on his computer.

"Oh, okay," Mokuba replied, somewhat disappointed. As he turned to leave, he hesitated for a moment. "Yugi and Joey told me about you paying all of Serenity's medical bills. That was really nice of you, Big Brother."

Seto waved his hand dismissively. "Charity. I needed a tax deduction this year."

"You can't fool me, Big Brother. You want to help our sister too," Mokuba smiled knowingly. "You really should spend some time hanging out with me and Serenity, Seto. She's really nice."

Seto appeared to be absorbed in his work, so Mokuba quietly slipped out of the office.

A few minutes after the door shut, Seto rubbed his eyes, stood up, and looked out the window behind his desk. On the sidewalk below, Mokuba appeared and ran up to a slender girl with long brown hair the same color as Seto's.

"Perhaps someday," Seto whispered to himself. "But not now."

Seto watched as Mokuba and Serenity headed off in the direction of KaibaLand, then sat back down at his desk. But instead of turning his attention back to his work, he picked up the picture of his parents that was seated on his desk next to his computer. The picture had been taken long ago, when Seto was still a baby – during the good times.

"Perhaps someday," Seto told his father's smiling face. "But not now."

And with that, Seto returned the picture to its original place on his desk and turned his attention back to his work -- KaibaCorp wasn't going to run itself. After all, Seto did have an obligation to provide for his little brother.

And for his sister too.

THE END