Chapter 13.

It was around lunch time, and Mai sat down to eat alone at the park. She sighed, kind of missing having Kaiba's company there with her. He hadn't been able to go to lunch with her lately, since he'd explained to her how busy his work had picked up.

"Hey Mai....how's it going?"

She turned towards the voice, and found Joey not far from her leaning against a tree. "How long have you been there?" She asked.

Joey answered, "Actually....quite a while. I can't believe how long it takes for you to get a break at that place."

Mai shook her head, saying, "You know....I should have known when Kaiba said you'd stay away, that you wouldn't actually listen to him."

"He never told me to stay away! The guy's a lying creep!" Joey snapped, getting pissed off.

Mai sighed, "Listen Joey, I'm really sorry you feel this way. But what do you want from me? Kaiba asked me out, I said yes, I don't plan on breaking up with him, and he just got me the most gorgeous fur a couple days ago....!"

Joey calmed down, saying, "Listen Mai, I'm sorry I yelled....I didn't come here for that. I came because I feel we're friends, and I care about you, and I don't want you getting hurt."

"Awww, well that's real sweet of you Joseph, but I'm a big girl....I can take care of myself." She smiled, talking down to Joey like he was a child, something Mai had a tendency of doing.

Joey said, "You don't get it! Kaiba's just using you....he's on some 'public image', kick. He don't want no one knowing the truth about him. Well....him and me...."

"What??" Mai looked at Joey, she then laughed so hard, she fell out of her seat.

"Hey, I'm serious here...." Joey said.

But Mai continued to laugh, saying, "Oh Joey, I know you're jealous....but that one just takes the cake! Listen kiddo....if it makes you feel any better, I'm using him too, okay?"

"You're....you're WHAT??" Joey said.

"Come on, did you honestly think I'd have a thing for him? Look, I've been lonely lately, and he came along and I thought....why not? Besides that, I've been getting showered with expensive gifts that I'd never dream of buying for myself. We both have an understanding with each other, okay? He'll use me, I'll use him, we'll break it off when we're done. No big deal." Mai said.

Joey couldn't believe it. He came here because he was worried about Mai being hurt, but she was using Kaiba! Somehow, that made Joey even angrier. "Well, what you're doing aint right, Mai! And I aint gonna put up with it, you hear? You stay away from Kaiba, or you're gonna hear from me again!" Joey spat at her, and stormed off.

Mai just sat there on the ground, speechless. It sounded like Joey actually 'was' jealous about her with Kaiba, for a moment there. She blinked, "Joey got a thing for....Kaiba?? No....way...."

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Back at Kaiba Corp, the next experiment took place, this time with a tom cat. As the machine turned off, they opened up the containment device, to see the cat, laying there....in one piece. The only difference was that it's hair had grown all over it's body. The scientists cautiously approached closer, as if worried the thing was going to explode. Kaiba snapped, "Well, is it alive this time??"

One checked it, "Yes!" He said excitedly. "And it just opened it's eyes!" He checked the feline out, then picked it up, saying, "And it's a girl!!" The scientists applauded, since when the cat was originally put into the machine, it started as a male.

Kaiba breathed easy, he finally got them to duplicate the device he was in. "All right, I want that animal completely tested in and out, to make sure there was no internal damage to it."

One of the scientists approached, saying, "Before we can ever claim this experiment to be a total success, we'll have to eventually test a human."

"I understand that. And once that gets worked out, I'm plan on starting the next set of tests." Kaiba answered.

"What tests would that be?" The scientist asked.

Kaiba looked down at him, answering, "How it affects a human being on an emotional level."