Ok, here I am, updating with Chapter Six! I hope that you all are having a wonderful day (or night, depends on when you read this) and ENJOY!
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6. Going Places
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Serenity awoke in the hospital room to the sound of the door opening and the rush of someone coming in. Not giving her the chance to even say 'hello', Joey ran over to the side of her bed, grabbed her hand, and started bombarding her with questions.
"Hey Sis are you ok does it hurt do you need anything what can I do, oh if I see those creeps I'm gonna kill em—"
"Joey!" said Serenity, "Calm down!" She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. "Joey, I'm fine."
"But Sis-" Joey said, "Your face…" He gingerly reached out his hand and touched her cheek.
"It's really not as bad as it looks…" Serenity told him, trying to smile.
"Well, they got them bastards locked up now, don't they?" Joey asked, "Cause if they don't—" he shook his fist in the air menacingly.
"Yes, Joey, they're in custody now," she answered, "and don't worry. Seto Kaiba did a very good job of beating them up for me."
"Yeah, I guess." Joey said reluctantly. He looked at Serenity out of the corner of his eye. He didn't like the way she was talking about Moneybags, but he decided to let it go. The jerk had risked his life to save her, after all. "So how is ol' Kaiby? He's as cold and as emotionless as a freakin robot, I'm surprised the bullet didn't bounce right off him."
"Joey!" Serenity said, anger coming into her face and voice, "Seto Kaiba saved my life! Who knows where I would be right now if it weren't for him!"
"Hey Sis, ok, I'm sorry…" Joey trailed off, not knowing the words with which to comfort her.
"You just don't understand…" she said, and then turned her eyes up to him. "I-I need to see him. I need to know how he is. Don't you understand, Joey Wheeler, that he may be dying and it is all my fault!"
Joey looked down at his little sister, surprise coming into his face from the force of her words. Mentally, he kicked himself for what he had said about Seto Kaiba.
"I'm sorry Sis…" he tried, "you know that me and him have never been the best of friends…he's so…" he stopped; now wanting to upset Serenity anymore with his words. But neither did he want Seto Kaiba to be a hero in his sister's eyes when Joey knew who the real Seto Kaiba was. To Joey, he was anything but a shiny golden hero.
"Well, Serenity, tell ya what. As soon as you get released we'll all go and see him, ok?" Joey reached down and smoothed out her hair. "Ok Sis?"
Serenity looked up at him with her big hazel eyes and nodded. The anger she had felt left her and in its place there was only exhaustion.
"I think I'm just going to go back to sleep now, ok Joey?" She smiled up at him and moved down in her bed, drawing up the blankets around her.
"Sure thing Sis." Joey leaned down and kissed her forehead. "This is all kinda familiar, huh? I mean you and the hospital and me being here."
"Yeah, it is." Serenity said, remembering how her brother had helped to give her the courage she needed to go through with her eye operation. "You helped me then, Joey, and you're still helping me now." She reached out her arm and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. "I love you, big brother."
"Yeah, me too Serenity…oh hold on, I've got somethin in my eye!" he turned around, rubbing his eye.
Serenity smiled at this, then asked him a question that had been bugging her. "Hey Joey, how come you were so late in getting here? And where is everybody else who was with you?"
Joey turned back around and answered, "Yeah, well, they would only let family members in so the rest of the gang is all in the waiting room." Then Joey grinned sheepishly and scratched his head. "Yeah…and I got three speeding tickets on my way here. I tried to explain to em how things were, but they thought I was some kind a nutjob or somethin…Imagine!"
Serenity grinned from ear to ear. "Oh yeah, Joey, I can imagine." While Joey laughed at this, Serenity felt her smile slowly fade away. 'Here I am, laughing,' she thought, 'while who knows what Seto is going through.' She immediately felt guilty and stopped the feeling of happiness that her brother was instilling in her. She looked up at her big brother and said, "Joey, I'm sorry, but I'd really like to rest now. But remember, they said that I could be released later this afternoon, so don't forget to come and pick me up, ok?"
Joey looked down at her and smiled. "Like I would ever forget." He looked around. "Alright then, I'll stop by the front desk and ask what time it will be. In the meanwhile, though, I better get Yugi and the gang back home. It may be four in the morning , but today is a school day, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Serenity said. "Well, I guess I could miss school today…" She smiled up at Joey.
"Yeah, I think ya could." Joey joked back. "Well, I'll be back later. I'll tell the guys you're alright and try to keep them from worryin. Just know that you'll be all that I'm thinkin about, ok?"
"Ok." Serenity said. "And thank you, big brother."
Joey turned to leave and called back over his shoulder, "No problem, lil' sis. Now get some rest."
"K." said Serenity as Joey closed the door behind him. She settled back into her bed and closed her eyes. Her feelings were so mixed up. She was happy about her brother and sad about Kaiba and overall thoroughly confused.
'Oh well.' she thought, hoping that her mind would clear up after she got some sleep. After only a few minutes, her breathing deepened and she slept until they woke her up to go home.
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Joey opened the door to Seto Kaiba's hospital room and walked in.
'So…' Joey thought incredulously, walking over to the side of Kaiba's bed, 'this guy actually saved my sister, huh?'
He looked down at Seto, who seemed to be sleeping. The only sound in the room besides Kaiba's breathing was the beep from the heart monitor.
'I just can't believe this.' Joey thought, 'My only enemy rescues my only sister. Geez, this is great.' Joey thought as he looked down and saw an IV needle sticking in Seto's arm.
'Great, wonder what the hell he'll want from me now…' Joey thought, imagining all kinds of torturous things that Kaiba would make him do for 'saving his sister.'
'Probably something to do with a dog costume…' Joey thought bitterly.
Lying flat on his back with his eyes closed, Seto didn't look so threatening. 'Why was I ever scared a this chump?' Joey thought, looking down at Seto in disdain. 'Damn it! Of all the people in the world, of course it had to be Seto Kaiba!'
Joey shook his head to clear his mind and then once again turned his gaze to Seto. 'Maybe he's not so bad…' thought Joey, 'I mean he did rescue my sista. And he knows I love Serenity like he loves Mokuba. I'd do anything for her.' He sighed. 'Well…maybe that bullet knocked some sense into him and he'll be a nice guy when he wakes up…'
Then Joey rolled his eyes. "Who'm I kiddin?" He said aloud. "This guy is never gonna change. And what makes it worse is that Serenity doesn't even see this and whatever I tell her she's not gonna believe…"
Joey looked down at Seto for a few minutes, then bent down low over his face. "If, when you wake up," he said to Kaiba, "you manage ta hurt her or ta make her feel bad just because she is worried about your sorry ass, then you had better watch out cause then I'll have ta finish the job that that bullet started."
Seto's face remained expressionless in his sleep.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." Joey said to Kaiba before turning around and going to the door. Turning the knob, he looked back and said, "I'll be seein ya later, Kaiby."
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"Uhhh…" Serenity moaned, opening her eyes groggily. Someone was shaking her gently.
"Wake up, Miss. It's time to rise and shine, even though it's three in the afternoon." Serenity looked up at the person from whom the voice was coming from. It was the same woman who had brought her food during the night. "It's finally time for you to go home. They're releasing you!"
"Oh…ok." Serenity sat up in the bed and yawned. "Boy, do you work this much all the time?"
"Oh, no," the woman said, smiling at her. "Not at all. My last shift ended right after I had brought you some food. Now I'm on my new shift."
"Oh, I see." said Serenity. "Well I guess that makes sense…ummm…anyway, do you know if my brother is here yet?"
"Why yes," answered the woman. "He's out in the lobby right now signing some papers." She then handed a backpack to Serenity. "Here. He brought this for you. Thought you might need it. So why don't you get dressed and then come out there? He is very anxious to see you."
"Ok." said Serenity, opening the backpack. "Thanks a lot. I appreciate it."
"No problem. It's my job." The woman got up to leave. "Well, I hope that the rest of today goes well for you. I'm sorry that you had to go through all that last night."
"Yeah. Me too." Serenity said, then looked up and smiled. "Don't worry. I-I can't let this control my life. I have to move ahead. My brother will help me."
"Yes, I'm sure he will." The woman told her. "We could hardly keep him in the lobby to sign those papers, that's how bad he wanted to see you. He really cares a lot about you."
Serenity smiled at the woman's words. "Yeah," she said, "he's great. Well, I better get dressed then."
"Ok, Miss." the woman said. "Then I'll go tell him that you'll be out in just a few minutes."
"Great." Serenity said. "Thank you." The woman nodded and then left the room. Opening the backpack, Serenity saw that Joey had packed her a change of clothes and her toothbrush and toothpaste.
'Good job, Joey.' thought Serenity, getting up to brush her teeth. When she finished, she changed into the clothes that Joey had provided for her and then walked out the door, in search of the lobby.
"Hey Sis!" Joey yelled at her, running down the hallway. "Ya ready to go now?"
"Of course!" Serenity said back, excited to see her brother and to be able to finally leave the hospital.
"Good. Then let's—" Joey started, but was interrupted with an insistent tap on the shoulder. He turned around to face a very angry old nurse.
"Excuse me young man!" the grey-haired lady exclaimed, "But what do you think this is? A schoolyard! You can't just run around and shout in here! There are sick people in here trying to get some rest you know!"
"Uhhhh…geez. Sorry Ma'am." said Joey, "I was just excited to see my sister, that's all."
"Well…that's still no excuse!" the woman fumed.
"Hey…wait a minute." Joey interrupted, "Shouldn't you not be yellin either? Remember, there are sick people in here!"
"A…a…hmmpppt!" she said, walking away quickly, muttering to herself about young people not having any manners.
Joey stared after her, then looked down at Serenity, smiling. "Ready to go home, sis? Or are you hungry? We could go get some icecream or somethin."
"Ahh, yeah, that sounds great, Joey." Serenity answered, "But…"
"But what, Serenity?" Joey asked.
"Well…I wanted to go and visit Seto Kaiba before I left…remember? I want to see how he is, how he's doing."
"Oh yeah…" Joey said. Then he sighed. "Look, sis, I went to see him and he's ok. He was just sleepin. Now, I really think it would be better if you just left him alone…"
"Joey, he got shot! I need to see him!" Serenity grasped her brother's arm. "Please, Joey. I need to."
Joey looked down at Serenity and sighed disapprovingly, but then gave in. "Ok, sis. Let's go see Seto Kaiba."
Smiling, she looked up at him and grasped his hand. "Ok, Joey. Thanks."
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Ok, there was chapter six! I hope that it was good…I tried to make it the best that I could…what do you think? I've got some ideas for future chapters (Don't worry, they start getting happier!) but I welcome any suggestions or comments. Even I, right now, am like, come on, this story needs to start getting more happy…but yeah, the beginning is a suspense. Anyway, I really hope that everyone liked it! And, let me see what I have for the wonderful readers this time…let's see…oh! Here you go! You get a 'duel monsters card' locket (think Kaiba) and a large bag of your favorite chocolates! Yey! Now isn't that good? Well…guess that is all for now, thank you for reading my story and please continue to!
~Seren147