Somethings Are Better Left Unsaid

Disclaimer: Sigh...I still don't own it, and I never will...

Notes:

"Speech"

Thoughts

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Chapter 4: The Mini Manipulator Gains Reluctant Allies

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Joey Wheeler, a glass bowl with two small goldfish in his hand, walked rather reluctantly down the street. Over and over he mentally asked himself why he was doing this. Mokuba really didn't need these goldfish back, did he? Kaiba could easily buy the kid two full grown pet sharks instead, so what was the purpose of returning the tiny carnival fish with life spans lasting no more than a week.

Joey grimaced at that last thought. If Kaiba found out who got him drunk during the festival last night, Joey was going to have a lifespan shorter than the fish. The blonde sighed, sending a prayer to any listening deity to protect him from harm.

Along his way, Joey passed by Domino Park. The park looked nothing like it had the night before. Trash, confetti, forgotten fans, and used firecrackers lay strewn across the grass. The strings of colorful lanterns that had hung in the trees were gone. Most of the booths were either packed up or halfway down as a crew of volunteers worked hard to return the park to its former appearance.

It didn't take the blonde teen long to get to the Kaiba residence. As he crossed the large span of grass, he wondered if the walk from his apartment to the mansion's front gates was shorter than the walk from the gate to the front door. He supposed the latter was longer; the lawn was like an endless sea of green blades with great trees dotting its surface.

As he approached the front doors, Joey halted. Mokuba was sitting on the front steps with a dejected expression on face.

"Hey, Mokuba! Why da long face?" Joey asked, closing the distance between them with a few quick strides.

Mokuba sighed heavily, "I forgot my goldfish at the festival."

"Oh," Joey said, a grin on his face, "you mean these guys?" He held up the bowl as if it were a grand prize.

Mokuba's face brightened as he took the fishbowl from Joey, "Lily and Serenity! They're okay!" He hugged the clear container, startling the two fish into swimming rapid circles.

"Serenity?" Joey blinked, confused at the mention of his sister.

"Yea," Mokuba nodded, "I named the black fish after Serenity." He smirked suddenly; a smirk that reminded Joey too much of Kaiba to be considered safe. The young boy had just been hit with a devious idea. "Joey, I need your help with something."

Joey wasn't sure why, but he got an ill sense of foreboding, "Uhh, all right, Mokuba. What do ya need?"

What Mokuba blurted out next was the last thing the blonde would ever have suspected. "I need your help getting Seto with Serenity!"

"What!? Are you out of your mind!?" Joey demanded of the once seemingly innocent boy.

"Not at all," Mokuba replied, his tone deadly serious, "I'm just tired of Seto always moping around and being depressed, it's no fun."

Joey shook his head violently, making his hair even more ruffled, "I get dat, but why Serenity?"

Mokuba blinked at what he thought was the most obvious question, "Because Seto likes Serenity."

That caught Joey off guard. His worst enemy had a thing for his sweet and innocent little sister!? No, not possible! "You're pullin' my leg, kid."

"No, I'm not," Mokuba said, frowning, "ever since that day when you, Yugi and Serenity came over, Seto's been even more down than usual. And he gets more and more out of it each time he runs into Serenity, like at the arcade. You should have seen him when we left, I've never seen him act like that before."

Joey crossed his arms, glaring down at the boy, "I don't care how Kaiba's actin'. It's none of my business. I'm definitely not helpin' ya, and dat's final!"

Yugi blinked with relative surprise as Mokuba finished telling him his plans to get Seto and Serenity together. "I'd be happy to help, Mokuba, what do we have to do?"

Mokuba paused, unsure of the answer. "Well, that's why I asked for your and Joey's help. So we could think up some ideas."

Joey, not at all in a good mood, muttered under his breath, "How da hell did I get into dis mess?" Mokuba just had to use the all-powerful Puppy Eyes, didn't he? Being an older sibling, Joey naturally had a weakness to those eyes, and Mokuba had exploited that weakness. Now, the blonde was Mokuba's reluctant partner in matchmaking, plus, they had just added Yugi to the team.

"I don't like dis, you guys," Joey said, a frown on his face.

"If you don't help," Mokuba replied with a grin, "then I'll tell Seto that you were the one who gave me the sake to give to him. And he'd probably kill you."

Joey blinked, wide-eyed with shock, "You...you knew it was sake!?"

Mokuba nodded, "Yea, I'm not some stupid little kid. I knew it was sake, Seto didn't consider that, seeing as I had given it to him. But he could always find out..." He smirked, knowing all too well that he had won this conversation.

Joey slumped into an armchair, "Aw man, you really are Kaiba's brother. I can't believe you're blackmailin' me!"

Mokuba chuckled, "Seto's taught me a lot about business. He always said," he straightened his stance, a hand in the air as if he were saying a pledge, "if money can't get you what you want, just resort to blackmail!"

"Dat's one seriously twisted way ta think," Joey remarked, staring at the raven-haired boy.

Mokuba cocked his head to one side, blinking, "Not really, considering that Seto grew up having to learn how to get anything I needed with just his wits. Obviously he had to use blackmail sometimes." He paused suddenly, frowning, "Can we get back to business? Joey, are you in or are you out?" He gave Joey a level steely-blue gaze.

Joey scratched his hair, eyes screwed shut as he thought over his options, "Aww, all right! I'll do it!" Before Mokuba had a chance to cheer, the blonde held up a silencing hand, "But just know dis, I ain't gonna enjoy. Heck, I wouldn't want to hook Kaiba up with my worst enemy!"

Yugi grinned, "But Joey, Kaiba is your worst enemy. You can't exactly get him to date himself."

Joey laughed, "Ha! Da guy's so full of himself, I bet he'd actually like dat!" He winced in pain as he received a sharp kick in the shin from Mokuba. "Sorry, just jokin' around, Mokuba."

"Now," Mokuba said, taking a seat on the floor beside Yugi, "we need to think of a way to get Seto and Serenity to run into each other, and it's gotta look like an accident. Seto gets suspicious really easy, so we need to be careful."

"Please, big brother?" Mokuba begged, tugging on Seto's arm. If he didn't hurry up, he would be late for his rendezvous with Yugi and Joey. The three had agreed to go the beach and camp at the nearby campgrounds for three days, no doubt Seto and Serenity would run into each other constantly--especially since Mokuba had called ahead and reserved their camping spots to be right next to each other.

"Mokuba, I'm busy. We can go to the camping by the beach some other time," Seto replied, doing his best to tune out the incessant whining.

"But, Seto," Mokuba pleaded, eyes wide and teary, "we gotta go see the seahorses! Don't you wanna see the rest of your family? I bet they miss you!"

Seto smirked, blue eyes shining with hidden amusement. Mokuba enjoyed teasing him about his name whenever possible. "Even if we went, Mokuba, we wouldn't see any seahorses, they live too deep under water."

"And you live too deep under mountains of work!" Mokuba retorted, getting frustrated with his stubborn brother; he would win this no matter what.

Seto sighed, giving his younger brother an intent look, "You're really dead set on going to the beach, aren't you?"

Mokuba flinched inwardly, his constant pestering was getting Seto suspicious. Scuffing his foot on the carpet, he replied, "I just want to spend time with you, big brother. We never do anything fun anymore, and I thought the beach would be really great because not many people go there in October." He took a deep breath, his tone becoming quiet as he looked down at the floor, "And I thought, maybe...maybe we could build a sandcastle or two, like we used to..." He sniffed, wiping at his eyes. Heh, heh, game, set, match! I better get my camping equipment ready.

"Next week, Mokuba. I'll make time for a day at the beach next week," Seto said, turning away from his dumbstruck brother.

Mokuba blinked, how had Seto managed to beat the Whine, Fake Tears and Puppy Eyes combined!? It was like facing the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon with a just Kuriboh. And yet, Seto had somehow managed to defeat Mokuba's all-powerful offense. But the boy wasn't going to take no for an answer!

"Seto!" Mokuba, his tone sounding like an order, glared at his startled brother, "If we don't go camping now, I'll hate you forever!"

"Mokuba," Seto began, taken aback by the young boy's sudden anger.

"No, Seto! You always put things off with me, because you know I don't mind. But this time I do mind, I don't wanna be pushed aside! You always pick your work over me!" Mokuba shouted, real tears in his eyes.

"That's enough!" Seto ordered, jumping up of his chair and pulling Mokuba into a fierce hug in one swift movement. "I'm sorry, Mokuba. I didn't even notice I was doing that, forgive me?" He smiled, looking Mokuba directly in the eyes, "Forget work, we'll go camping right now and we won't come back until you're ready to, all right?"

Mokuba nodded, completely stunned into silence. He hadn't expected to go so far as to accuse Seto of being a bad brother, but the words had escaped his mouth before he knew what he was doing. Yet, it had turned out for the better, Seto was already hurrying around, packing whatever he believed would be necessary for their trip. Mokuba grinned, moving to help Seto, the plan had worked out better than expected.

In little under an hour, the Kaiba brothers had gathered and packed everything from a large three room tent to chairs, food--consisting mostly of sugar packed food--, clothes, beach equipment, games, bikes, skateboards, roller blades and anything else they would need. While Mokuba piled bags into the back of the large black SUV they had bought for just such an occasion, Seto finished tying down the larger equipment to the roof of the vehicle.

With a final glance at his work, Seto turned to Mokuba, "You know, we could have taken the limo, then I wouldn't have to drive."

Mokuba laughed, "Could you imagine how weird it would look to have camping stuff tied to the top of a limo? Plus, if someone drove us, we wouldn't have any other form of transportation, so we couldn't go to the general store."

Arching an eyebrow, Seto smirked, "General store? Mokuba, we could open our own general store there with all the stuff we have. You'd think we were taking a starving army camping with us."

Mokuba snickered, climbing into the passenger seat of the car, I'm sure Joey eats more than a starving army does...

"Wah! Help!" Joey called from beneath a mass of green nylon. The blonde was having quite a bit of trouble setting up his tent, and for multiple reasons. One, he was positive he didn't need instructions; two, he had lost the instructions to a ferocious squirrel; and three, tents just didn't like Joey Wheeler. They were definitely going on his list of things he hated, right next to Seto Kaiba.

Speaking of the stuck-up rich boy, where in the seven Hells was he? Mokuba said they'd arrive by six. It was now going on seven fifteen. But that was the least of his worries at the moment. He was certain he wasn't alone inside the collapsed tent; something that was definitely fluffy had just moved past his leg.

Without warning, the fellow tent occupant launched itself at the blonde's face.

"HELP! I'm being attacked by a badger!" Joey fought valiantly to escape from the tent's grasp as whatever had latched itself to his face sunk needle-like claws into his skin. After much struggling, the nylon material unwrapped itself from around Joey, causing the teen to tumble backwards into the dirt.

It took a few moments for Joey to realize that his attacker was no longer attached. Blinking in confusion, Joey climbed to his feet, coming face to face with none other than Seto Kaiba.

"Wheeler, I'm only going to ask once," Seto begun, obviously trying to keep his temper in check, "what the Hell are you, Yugi and your sister doing here? And why were you attacking a defenseless kitten?"

Joey, obviously confused, frowned, "Wha? Kitten? What kitten? I was bein' attacked by a vicious badger! It to be at least dis big!" To emphasize his statement, Joey stretched his arms as wide as possible.

"You mean this big?" Seto asked, holding up a tiny, far too fluffy and underfed brown kitten with narrowed eyes as blue as a sapphire. The feline immediately reminded Joey of Kaiba, right down to the chocolate brown hair, cerulean eyes and the way it had targeted him out of all people.

Stifled giggles could be heard from behind Seto, where Serenity, Mokuba and Yugi stood covering their mouths and laughing.

Joey shot the three a cold look before fixing his attention back on the small cat now cleaning a paw as it sat in Seto's palm. "Well, er, it seemed a Heck of a lot bigger when it attacked me..." He trailed off sheepishly. How could he have mistaken a kitten for a badger!?

"Now, mutt, are you going to answer my first question or shall I sic my new attack cat on you?" Seto asked with a slight smirk as he looked down at the kitten.

"Question...?" Joey paused, trying to recall what Kaiba had asked that didn't involve the cat, "Oh, dat question! Well, uhm..." He shot a glance at Mokuba, "Little help here?"

Seto's icy blue eyes instantly narrowed as he turned to fix Mokuba with his best 'YOU were involved in this too' look. "Mokuba..."

Mokuba, slightly cowering under that gaze, grinned helplessly. In his sweetest and most innocent tone he replied, "Yes, big brother?"

"Spill it." Was the only reply from the CEO.

Mokuba took a deep breath as his mind frantically sought out a plausible answer, "Well, you see..."

"We decided to go camping and I asked Mokuba if he wanted to come along too," Yugi answered for the boy.

Seto glanced at Yugi before returning his gaze to his younger brother, "And why was I not informed of this until we arrived and Wheeler landed at my feet with a cat attached to his face?"

"It was a surprise?" Mokuba tried weakly with a small shrug.

Seto sighed, "Mokuba, those are the kind of surprises that usually end with someone dead or seriously injured..."

The raven-haired boy laughed, "Sorry, big brother. But if I had told you in advance, you would have absolutely refused to come along."

"There's a reason I would have refused and it's called Joey Wheeler," Seto remarked with an annoyed frown.

"So..." Mokuba began, preparing himself to bring on the waterworks if necessary, "can we stay?"

The CEO paused, glancing down at the kitten now sound asleep curled in a tiny ball, "Fine, just as long as Wheeler doesn't howl at the moon."

"Heeey! I don't howl!" Joey retorted, amber eyes glinting angrily. This was going to be a long weekend.

As Seto moved toward his SUV to get his camping gear, he sneered at Joey, "That's not what I heard from Devlin..."

Joey tilted his head to one side, completely baffled, "Wha...?" Then it hit him, and with an angry growl he followed Kaiba, "You better watch it, Kaiba, or you just may find a rattlesnake in yer sleepin' bag!"

A short laugh came from Seto as he shot a warning glare over his shoulder at Joey, "I would advise against it, unless you wish to have this so called 'badger' re-attach itself to your muzzle."

Yugi exchanged worried glances with Mokuba and Serenity—she hadn't spoken a word since the Kaibas had arrived, completely startled by the appearance brown haired teen who had stolen a kiss from her. Oh, yes, this was going to be a very long weekend.

KT: Well, that's the end of chapter 4! Sorry for the long wait, school's started again and studies come first.

Seto: All right, who are you and what did you do to KT?

KT: What makes you say that, Seto?

Seto: KT hates school and never studies, even if her life depended on it.

KT: Senior year's a different story, my overly suspicious muse.

Seto: Yea, okay, whatever.

A Side note: Heh, how many of you caught the 'seahorse' reference? If you didn't know, 'Seto' means seahorse in Japanese. And, according to Japanese legend, the seahorse is the lost young of dragons. Hence, the whole Seto/Dragon thing. Oh, and just to amuse you all, 'Mokuba' means rocking horse (Their parents must've really liked horses...)

Another Note: The kitten...he's like a fluffy little idea that just came to me out of the blue one day while writing this. I didn't know what to do with it, then it hit me, think of the interesting moments he could cause between Seto and Serenity! Mu fu fu! All shall hail the mighty kitten!