Hello everybody! Here I am again, this time with chapter seven, and I hope that you all like it and review it. Remember, I do not own YGO or its characters.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

7. The Important Things in Life: Food & Sleep

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Seto unconsciously shifted in his bed, almost waking, but still managing to stay inside of his dream. Images passed through his mind, but one in particular kept coming up over and over. It was for this image that Seto longed to stay inside of his dream.

He saw a young girl, around sixteen or seventeen, with light auburn hair that reached almost to her waist and big hazel eyes. The way she looked at him in his dream made him feel something that was so familiar to him, and yet still so unknown. Whatever the case was, however, he didn't know. He just didn't want it to end.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"Right this way please." a nurse said, directing Serenity and Joey down a hallway towards Kaiba's room. "I'm afraid that you can only stay for a few minutes, however. Mr. Kaiba needs his rest." She opened a door at the end of the hallway and led them inside. "I'm just going to check his vitals, but after that I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Ok." said Serenity, walking over to the side of Seto's bed. He was lying flat on his back, sleeping peacefully. There was an IV tube leading its way down into his arm and various other monitors surrounded his bed. What drew her eyes, however, lay covered with cloth and blanket. Hiding under there somewhere, she knew, was the bandage that covered his gunshot wound.

'I still don't know where it hit or what they had to do to him.' she thought. Then she brought her eyes back up to his face. His perfectly drawn, handsome face. 'Well, he looks ok,' she thought, 'whatever happened, I think he's coming out on the better end of it now.'

She wanted to turn and ask the nurse where the bullet had hit, what they had done, and how he was recovering, but seeing Seto lying there so peacefully, well, she couldn't bring herself to make any kind of noise that might disturb him.

'He doesn't look so bad.' she thought, thinking of all the horror stories that Joey had told her about Seto in the past. 'He looks very…nice.' she thought, noticing how smooth his pale complexion was and how his brown hair lie tussled on the pillow. 'He looks very nice indeed.'

"Ok," the nurse said, startling Serenity out of her thoughts, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave now. You can come back later if you like, when he's awake, but for now you're going to have to come with me."

Serenity looked towards the door, where Joey was standing, waiting for her. "Ok." she said, then looked back at Seto and gently touched his cheek with her hand. "Get well soon." she whispered to him, and then turned around to leave.

Walking out of Seto's hospital room, Joey placed his arm around Serenity's shoulders. "See sis? Kaiba's ok." Joey said, looking down at her. "He'll pull out of this like he does with everything else." Serenity looked up at her big brother, smiling at the fact that this was the first time she had ever heard Joey say something about Kaiba that wasn't criticizing.

"Yeah, I know." she said back to him, "He will be fine."

"That's the spirit, Serenity," Joey said, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "Now let's go home. I'm hungry."

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Riding home in the car, Joey became silent. Serenity stared out of the window, wondering if it were better to break the awkward silence of the car or to leave Joey to whatever thoughts he was having.

Serenity decided to break it and was just about to open her mouth and comment on the weather when Joey beat her to it.

"Look, Serenity," Joey started, "I think we may be in trouble."

Serenity looked over at Joey, and then asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Joey continued, "when I was signing those papers back there, well…one of them was the bill. Put that together with those three speeding tickets I got and we have trouble."

"Oh." Said Serenity. She hadn't even thought of the bill. She looked over at her brother, trying to figure out what to say to him.

"Damn it, Serenity!" he said, anger in his voice, "I'm tired of being so poor! It's just not fair! And what makes it worse is seeing that bastard Kaiba laying in there, not having to worry 'bout none of it while we've got all these troubles out here! Damn it!" he said again, pounding his fist on the wheel.

"I-I'm sorry, Joey." Serenity said quietly to him. She looked down at her hands. Now her brother was mad because of her and the earlier hope she had of him actually liking Kaiba was shattered. "You know that I…I didn't mean for any of this to happen!"

Joey sighed deeply, and then looked over at her. "I know sis. It's ok. I know that none of it was your fault…or Kaiba's fault. I'm just frustrated, that's all. It seems lately that the only thing we actually have is each other."

Serenity smiled at him, trying to bring him some tiny bit of comfort. "That's enough for me, Joey," she told him. "We'll get through this somehow, don't worry. We always do."

Joey looked over at her skeptically and smiled. "Yeah," he said, "you're right. I'm sorry for acting like such a jackass there. We'll be just fine."

They pulled up in front of the small apartment they shared and Serenity sighed. With them already scraping by with just paying the rent, she didn't know how they were going to afford this.

"Maybe I should start looking for a job, Joey." she said, before they got out of the car.

Joey turned off the ignition and sighed. "I don't want you to do that, Serenity. I'm your big brother and I'm the one who's supposed to take care of you."

"You do take care of me, Joey," Serenity countered, "But it's time that I start helping out too." She looked at her big brother, then said, "You can't do this alone."

"No," he said quietly, after a few minutes, "I guess I can't."

"Besides," she continued, "we're a team, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're a team." Joey said, knowing where she was going with that. He finally gave up and said, "Fine. You can get a job. But if it gets too much for you I want you to tell me right away, ok Sis?"

"Yeah, sure thing Joey." she answered, opening the car door and quickly getting out before he could change his mind. She breathed in the crisp air and looked around. Street lamps were already coming on and darkness was beginning to make its way into the town of Domino.

"Hey Serenity," Joey called out to her from the other side of the car, "Are you gonna be alright? I mean what you went through and all…"

"Hey Joey, its ok." she said, looking over at him. "I-I can't dwell on it. I…I have to move on with my life. Be normal. I have to, because I'm afraid that if I stop and think about what happened for even a minute…I…I don't know what would happen. All I know is that I am afraid to do it. Do you understand, Joey?"

Joey looked over at her for a minute and then moved around the car to give her a hug. "Of course I understand, Serenity. It's just like how I felt after Dad used to hit me when he drank too much…eventually you get over it, but deep down inside, it never really goes away. It's scary, sis, but I'm here for you, and I promise to keep all the boogymen away, ok?"

Serenity looked up at her big brother and nodded. "Ok Joey. Now let's go inside and I'll make you some dinner."

"Now that's what I wanna hear!" he said, laughing. They turned and walked in the house together, forgetting their own personal troubles for the moment.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Sitting around their kitchen table, finally pausing from stuffing his mouth full of noodles, Joey said to Serenity, "Well, now that ya know Kaiba's ok, guess everything's back to normal, eh sis?"

"Yeah…I guess so…" Serenity said, trailing off.

"Well what's a matta sis? You saw for yourself, he's doin fine. He was sleepin."

"Yeah, I know Joey." she answered. "It's just…I don't know…I feel like I should be there with him or something. I think he needs me."

"Kaiba!" Joey snorted. "Yeah right. Kaiba doesn't need anyone. I'm tellin ya sis, he's fine so just leave that guy alone. He's nothin but trouble. Heck, savin you was probably the first good deed he's ever done in his life." Joey shook his head. "I still don't know what possessed him to do it…I guess even the great, cold Seto Kaiba has a heart…"

Then he snapped out of it and looked at Serenity. She had barely touched her food and he had the feeling that Kaiba was behind it. "Look, Serenity, you can't be worrying over that moneybags. He'll be fine." He motioned to her plate. "Now eat some food sis."

Serenity took a small bite of noodles and then pushed her plate back. "I'm not really that hungry, Joey. I think I'll just go to bed early, k?"

Joey frowned, but then said, "Alright Sis. You do need to get some rest."

He watched her put her dish on the counter and then start walking back to her room.

"Good night, Joey." she called back to him.

"Goodnight, sis." he said back to her, quietly. He sat there for a few minutes, staring at his plate, then got up and put his dish with hers. He knew that Kaiba was on her mind, but what could he really do about it?

'Oh well.' he thought, hoping that she would snap out of it soon. Then his thoughts got back to what was really important. 'Now it's time for some video games!' he thought, running off into the living room and turning on the TV.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Serenity looked at the clock. It was hours after she and Joey had finished eating dinner and she was still awake.

She had told Joey that she wanted to get some rest so that he would get off her back about Kaiba. She knew that he meant well, but he still didn't understand.

She glanced up at the clock again. 12:02 am. 'I wonder if Joey is still awake…' she thought, and got up out of her bed. She felt that if she had to remain still any longer she would scream. She was wide awake and felt like she had to do something.

She peeked out of her door and looked into the front room. Joey was snoring loudly on the couch, a game controller still in one hand and a bag of chips open beside him.

She quietly crept out to where he was and looked at him. He was out cold. After turning off the TV and placing a blanket over him, she stood by the couch with her hands on her hips, wondering what to do next.

'I can't just stay here in bed.' she thought. 'If I think anymore of these thoughts I'm going to go insane!'

She looked around the room and then noticed that Joey's car keys were lying on the coffee table.

'Maybe I'll just go for a little drive…' she thought, picking up his keys. She knew that Joey would be really upset with her if he found out that she had gone out driving during the night, but she didn't plan on him ever finding out.

'I'll just drive around until I get a little sleepy…' she thought, and then went to get her coat.

Slipping out of the front door quietly so as not to disturb the sleeping Joey, Serenity quickly closed the door behind her and sighed. Taking in a deep breath, she made her way down to where the car was parked. After getting in and starting the ignition, she turned on the heater to chase away the night's cold chill and smiled. It felt good to be out on her own at night and yet still feel safe.

For a while she drove around aimlessly with no destination in mind, but soon found herself in front of the hospital. In her heart she knew that she would have ended up here sooner or later that night, so she wasn't exactly surprised when she pulled into the parking lot.

Getting out of the car, she wondered what time visiting hours were over. Remembering back to when she had been in the hospital, she was pretty sure that they didn't let in visitors at this time of night.

'Oh well,' she thought, 'then that just means that I can't go in as a "visitor".' Walking over to the back of the car and opening the trunk, she pulled a clipboard out of her backpack and made her way to the hospital's entrance. Hoping that they would think she was there on "business", she proceeded inside like she belonged there and made her way to the elevator. The receptionist gave her a strange look when she passed by, but didn't say anything. The rest of the place was deserted.

Once inside of the elevator, she pushed the button to go up and felt her stomach flutter. It was almost midnight and here she was, trying to sneak into someone's room. Not just anyone's room either. Kaiba's room.

Bing! The door opened for her and she stepped out and quietly looked around. There was a desk to her left that a woman was working quietly at and there was a hallway to her right. Seto's room was just down that hallway.

"Excuse me, Miss, but visiting hours are over." the woman told her.

"Ummm…I'm not here to visit, Ma'am. I'm just…writing a report for school, and…thought I'd walk around to get a feel of the, um, hospital." Serenity smiled, hoping that the woman believed her while mentally cursing herself for not preparing a good story ahead of time. She hated to lie to this woman, but she didn't know what else to do. So she just smiled.

"You really shouldn't be out by yourself this late, Miss." The woman said, with concern on her face. "Can't this report wait until tomorrow?"

"Oh, it's due tomorrow!" Serenity said, surprising herself with her quick thinking. "I was sick the past few days and couldn't come in until now. And I have someone waiting for me in the lobby, so I'll be ok." She tried to smile reassuringly.

"Oh," said the woman, "Well, I'm still sorry Miss, but this ward is for those that have just come out of surgery. I'm afraid that you're going to have to go to a different floor."

"Oh…ok…umm, sorry." Serenity told her.

"It's ok." the woman replied. "Anyway, good luck on your report."

"Huh?" Serenity said, forgetting for a moment what her alibi was. "Oh, yeah. Well, thanks."

The woman nodded and Serenity turned around and pressed the button for the elevator. While she was waiting, the woman got up and went into a room close by her desk. Trying to see into it from where she was standing, Serenity noticed that it was a small break room. The woman had her back to Serenity and was placing change into a soda machine.

Just then, the elevator door opened, causing Serenity to jump. Looking back quickly at the woman instead of getting in, Serenity instead started walking down the hall towards Kaiba's room.

Quickly shutting the door behind her after entering his room, she waited silently for a few minutes to make sure no one had followed her.

After nobody came, she turned and went to Seto's bed. He was as she had remembered him, sleeping peacefully.

Dragging a chair up beside his bed, she sat down and looked at him. He had a slight smile on his face and was turned towards her. After staring at him for a few minutes, she gently took his hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. He stirred slightly, and she started, ready to let go, but then relaxed when he didn't wake up. "Don't worry…" she whispered softly to him, "Sleep now. I'm here for you."

She watched him sleep for a while, holding onto his hand, and then felt herself starting to get drowsy. She scooted closer to him and lay her head down in the crook of her arm, resting on his bed.

Staring up at him, still holding his hand, she felt her eyes begin to get heavy and finally closed. Before she knew what was happening, she was sound asleep.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Opening his eyes, Seto looked up into the darkness of his room. All was quiet and he lay still, thinking about what had happened to him in the past 24 hours and of the dreams that he had had.

'That girl…' he thought, 'she was the same one that I saved…I wonder where she is? How she is? What is her name? I know her from somewhere…from…from school! That's it! We go to the same school!' He sighed, and then rolled his eyes. 'Well…whatever.' he thought. 'I shouldn't be thinking about some dumb girl. I should be with Mokuba…and dealing with KaibaCorp…and...everything else…' he frowned and then tried to raise his hands up to rub his eyes, but something was holding on tightly to his left hand.

'What the hell…?' he thought, looking down. His eyes went wide as he saw, in the moonlight coming from his nearby window, his dream girl.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Well, that was the end of chapter seven! How did you all like it? Good? Well I hope so. Just wanted to say thank you for reading my story (and hopefully reviewing it too!) And this time I have lots and lots o soda for ya to drink…and let's see what else I can dig up…oh yes! Lookie here…a BEWD plushie…along with some BEWD pajamas…oh wait! Could those be Seto Kaiba's very own PJ's? O.o (I better run before he catches me!...on second thought, maybe I want him to catch me…heehee…ah decisions, decisions…) Anyway, hope you like my presents today, thanks everyone and have a nice day!

~Seren147