Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, yadda yadda yadda

Chapter Seven – Encounter with Kaiba

"That was some battle, eh Yug?" Joey asked his best friend as they walked along the streets of Domino, battles happening all around.

"That it was Joey," Yugi replied, his eyes glancing over at Serena. It was just the three of them because the others had things they needed to do. Serena had remained quiet during Joey's duel. It didn't even seem like she was paying much attention to it, but rather to something, or someone, else.

~*~*~*~*~

She stared at him from across the crowds, trying to remember where she had seen him before. He was dressed in a dark cloak, his face barely visible, but his eyes; she had seen those eyes. Whether in reality or a nightmare, she knew she had seen them before.

He looked at her, his eyes narrow, cold, and evil. A sinister look played upon his face. It was enough to cause her to look away.

Serena glanced back to where the man had been, only to find he had disappeared. He hadn't been wearing a duel disk, but the three men standing beside him, dressed in lighter black cloaks were. They must have been his…followers or something. She shivered lightly as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you ok Serena?" Yugi asked, his eyes overflowing with concern.

She smiled at him and nodded her head. "I'm fine Yugi, thanks."

The image of the man's eyes flooded back to her and she shuddered. She didn't understand why, but try as she might; she had been unable to read his mind. There was something very malicious and wicked about him.

~*~*~*~*~

"Serena, are you in there?" Yugi asked, waving his hand in front of her eyes. They had stopped walking as she had done, but her eyes were far off in space.

She didn't respond, her eyes still seemed to be glazed over. She was still searching for who the man may have been.

"Allow me Yug," Joey said, pinching Serena's arm gently.

"Ouch!" she yelped, jumping and blinking a few times as her eyes focused on Joey. "You pinched me!"

"You zoned out," Yugi whispered and saw Serena's face turn pink.

"Sorry guys…"

"Come on, I'm starved and we're standing in front of a pizza place. Dueling makes me hungry!" Joey said, grabbing Serena's hand and dragging her along.

"Ok Joey, just don't pull my arm off in the process," she laughed as she forced her feet to move so she wouldn't fall over; Yugi right behind her. Neither of the three noticed Kaiba who had just turned the corner and was heading their way.

Kaiba heard a sweet laugh and his head shot up. There, not far away, was the girl who was making her way to the top, with already five locator cards; and she was the same girl who was haunting his thoughts. He saw her hand enclosed in Joey's and a sickening feeling washed over him. His eyes narrowed as he watched them walk, or rather run, into the pizza parlor. What is she doing with that dog?

Leisurely, he sauntered up the street to the pizza parlor. He was going to find out just why she was hanging out with someone who was far below her in dueling skills as well as in brains.

"Yeah, make that two large instead of just one," Joey said to the waitress who was taking their order.

As she was walking away Serena laughed. "Are you sure you can eat that much Joey? Two slices is enough for me and I doubt Yugi is a pig like you," she teased.

"Hey!" he said, "I'm hurt." Looking at Serena, he gave her his best impression of a wounded animal.

She laughed softly, "Aw, poor baby. Here, let me make it all better."

Kaiba opened the door and entered the restaurant. He spotted Serena right as she planted a kiss on Joey's cheek. His eyes lit up with anger as he saw Joey's face turn red and heard him say, "Ah man Serena, ya missed the lips."

Serena burst out laughing at Joey's comment. "Au contraire, Je n'ai pas manqué," she replied cunningly.

"Say what?" Joey asked, his face showing his confusion.

Serena laughed again and opened her mouth to translate for him, but was interrupted by another voice; one she could never forget.

"It means, 'On the contrary, I did not miss.'" All three pairs of eyes looked up at the speaker.

"Kaiba," Serena said softly, her eyes locked on his.

"What do ya want Kaiba? This was a perfect day until ya showed up," Joey spat at him angrily.

Kaiba ignored him, his eyes locked with Serena's. "Why do you spend time with a dog like him? She's out of your league Joey."

Serena stood up from the table, her eyes stern. "I'll be right back you two, feel free to eat without me," she said, grabbing Kaiba's arm and leading him away from Joey who was ready to attack. "Who do you think you are, insulting Joey like that?" Her eyes were throwing daggers at Kaiba and her voice was angry, but it didn't faze him.

"He's—"

"I don't care what you think of him Seto Kaiba; you have no right insulting my friend like that." Serena's voice had risen as she stated her point. "You don't even know him," she exasperated. "He's a wonderful person and if you weren't so wrapped up in yourself, maybe you'd realize that everyone else isn't below you like you think they are!"

Kaiba stared at her, his face emotionless, but his eyes gave way to his thoughts.

"What is so funny?" Serena asked, her face turning red in anger.

Kaiba smirked and made sure Joey was looking their way. He pulled Serena close and planted a passionate kiss on her lips, to which it seemed she gladly responded. He was actually losing himself in the moment when she pulled away and looked in his eyes which were still amused. "You look cute when you're mad," he said quietly and turned to leave.

"Kaiba, wait," Serena called after him and followed him out of the pizza parlor. "What was that?"

"Well, I believe it's called a kiss Miss. Pegasus," Kaiba replied, his voice now cold.

"Kaiba," she said softly, grabbing his arm gently.

"What do you want?" he asked as he faced her.

She looked up into his cold eyes and stared into his soul, begging for an explanation. "Why did you…kiss me?"

Slowly, he pulled her closer to him and gently kissed her forehead. "Because maybe I'm not as hard hearted as you think I am. Maybe I do care," he whispered hoarsely. He let her go and turned to walk away.

"One more thing," she said gently before he started to walk away. She leaned up to him and whispered emotionlessly in his ear, "Thank you for the kiss. But please, don't take advantage of my heart like that again…you could really confuse me."

Before he could even respond, Serena was back inside the pizza parlor, and made certain she wasn't crying. She knew he had kissed her to spite Joey, but she was almost certain there was more to it than just that.

She walked up to the table she had left her friends at and noticed that one of the pizzas was already gone and Joey was about to inhale the other one.

"So when's the wedding?" Joey asked as she sat down.

"Excuse me?" Serena replied, her face going white.

"Kaiba seemed to give ya a kiss that says 'I want you' so I was only asking."

"Oh no…" Serena covered her now bright red face with her hands. "Did you guys honestly see that?"

"We weren't the only ones, I think the whole pizza parlor saw it," Yugi said, a glimmer in his eyes.

"You guys…it isn't what you think," she said, ready to defend herself.

"We know that, Kaiba is unable to be caring," Joey said, inhaling a slice of pizza.

"You never know," Serena replied softly as she remembered his words, her fingers gently touched her lips. Maybe he does care…

~*~*~*~*~

"I'll see you two tomorrow!" Serena yelled as she hurried down the street in the opposite direction of Yugi and Joey. Despite their efforts, she had declined the need for an escort, claiming she was a big girl and could take care of herself.

She glanced up to the sky, watching the sun set off its bright color. Deciding that the sunset was too beautiful to miss, she sat down on the nearest bench and looked up, enjoying the picture before her.

"Sunsets are better when you have someone to share them with," a voice beside her said.

Startled, Serena turned to look at the person who had taken occupancy on the bench. He looked to be about thirteen or fourteen with long black hair. She returned his smile and looked back at the sunset.

"My name is Mokuba," the boy said, looking intently at Serena.

"Serena," she said quietly.

"Shouldn't you be watching the sunset with your boyfriend Serena?" he asked her curiously.

Serena laughed softly. "I don't have one."

Mokuba saw a faraway look come over her eyes as she said that. "Sorry," he said quietly.

"It isn't your fault. I'm just holding out for the one everyone calls uncaring. Shouldn't you be at home? It's getting late," she said, quickly changing the subject.

"I'm waiting for my brother. He had to go call someone. I guess its important business, which is why he told me to sit here while he was on the phone. Shouldn't you be at home?"

"I will be soon, I don't live too far. I just wanted to watch the sunset."

"Do you duel?"

His question seemed to come out of the blue, but Serena realized she had her duel disk on. "Yea, I do."

"Me too. I'm only two locator cards away from making it to the finals. My big brother already has six. He's always in the finals; he's practically unbeatable."

Kaiba heard his brother talking to someone as he walked closer to the bench he had told him to wait at. He stood there, interest overtaking him at what he could possibly be talking about and with whom.

"I'm sure you'll make it to the finals Mokuba. Always have a back up plan to your strategy, but never forget to trust in the heart of the cards. I never realized I could make it this far into the finals, but now I'm only one locator card away and this is the first time I've dueled people who have had more experience than me. If you believe in yourself and your cards, you can make it." She smiled at the young boy who smiled back at her, nodding his head in agreement.

Kaiba knew the voice all too well. Great, Mokuba is making friends with the only person who can turn me soft. He turned away and closed his eyes. He truly did not want to face her right now. Especially after kissing her the way he did.

"This is my favorite card," Mokuba said, pulling it out of his deck and showing Serena.

"It's one of my favorites too," she replied as a soft breeze blew by. The breeze picked up and blew the card out of Mokuba's hand. Evil wind! Serena stood up from the bench and ran after the card. As soon as she had it, she ran back to Mokuba, holding the card in triumph.

Forgetting about the curb where the bench sat, she tripped and landed on her knee. Oy, I'm such a klutz sometimes!

"Are you ok?" Mokuba asked her.

"I got your card," she groaned out handing it to him.

Kaiba heard laughter and immediately turned around. Mokuba was gone, but he could hear his laughter, and Serena's. He walked closer to the bench and saw they were sitting on the ground, Mokuba placing a card back in his deck.

"Mokuba?" he asked, unsure of what else to say.

Serena stopped laughing and closed her eyes. Not now…please not now.

"Big brother!" Mokuba exclaimed, standing up.

Big brother? Oh no…Kaiba…

"Do you need any help?" The voice was directed towards her and it certainly wasn't a young teen, it was deeper and very masculine.

"No, I'm fine," Serena squeaked out, her face turning pink.

"My brother says you fell," he said, ignoring her reply. He squatted down beside her. She knew he was watching her and squirmed. "I'm going to watch you until you look at me," he whispered coolly, sending shivers up her spine.

Finally, she looked at him, and saw the amusement in his eyes for the second time that day.

"Let me help you up," he said, taking her hand and standing, pulling her up with him. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, noticing her wince.

"I scraped my knee, I'll be fine," she said quietly, sitting down on the bench.

"Let me take you home," he responded, and then quickly added, "Mokuba would be unhappy with me if I didn't."

"Alright," Serena sighed ruefully. "What are you doing!" she shrieked when she felt Kaiba's arms wrap tightly around her.

"Well, you had a little trouble standing, so I plan on saving you the trouble of walking and carrying you to the limo," he explained, a smirk on his face. Mokuba followed them, laughing.

This day just gets more and more interesting. It's hard to be this close to him without…wait, what am I thinking!?

~*~*~*~*~

"You like her don't you Seto," Mokuba stated rather than asked as they drove home after dropping Serena off.

When he didn't reply, Mokuba tried another approach. "She likes you."

"How would you know?" Kaiba asked coolly, his gaze focused straight ahead of him.

"She told me Seto. She said she was 'holding out for the guy everyone thinks is uncaring' and everyone thinks you don't care about anything except your company."

He does have a point…but why would she care about me? There must be another guy…if it is Wheeler…but he is definitely not fitting the description. I wouldn't deserve her if she truly did care about me. She does create feelings in me I never thought existed…I don't understand what is happening to me.

As Kaiba closed his eyes to fall asleep that night, one phrase echoed in his mind: "Don't take advantage of my heart like that again…you could really confuse me."