Ok my readers, here is chapter nine of the 'The Meaning of Life'. Hope that you guys didn't mind the wait too much…schoolwork has a way of keeping one busy (curse school and all it's work!) so…my apologies for not getting this chapter posted faster…meanwhile, thanks for all the reviews! Woo-hoo, chapter eight put me at now over 100 reviews! This makes me VERY happy and I would like to thank you all very much! You guys are the best! Before I forget, I do not own YGO.

Ok…now on to chapter nine!

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9. First Impressions Last the Longest

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'Ok Serenity, come on, there's nothing to be nervous about, you can do this…' Although she still felt as nervous as ever, that's what Serenity kept repeating to herself as she walked ever closer to the ominous hospital entrance that loomed before her. Ever since school had let out she had been giving herself these pep talks, trying to encourage herself for when she would actually see Kaiba awake. Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside of the hospital and made her way to the front desk.

"Excuse me, but you could please tell me what room Seto Kaiba is in?" Standing in the main lobby, Serenity shivered despite the fact that it was actually quite warm. 'Why am I so nervous?' she thought to herself.

"Umm…let me check…" replied the red haired woman, her dark blue eyes trained on the computer screen. "Oh yes," she told Serenity, "Mr. Kaiba is now in room 225, which is in the west wing." She pointed towards a hallway. "Just take the elevator on up."

"Thank you." Serenity replied, smiling, and proceeded to make her way towards where the woman had pointed. 'Room 225' she repeated to herself so she would not forget as she pressed the button for the elevator. Once inside, she felt her stomach start to twirl and tried to take a deep breath until the elevator once again released her.

Getting off of the elevator and onto the second floor, she made her way down the hallway until she found Seto's room. Knocking on the door lightly, she waited patiently until she heard someone call out gruffly, "What is it?"

Opening the door slowly and peeking in, Serenity saw that Kaiba was sitting up in his bed, a book in his hand. His hair was disheveled and his clothes wrinkled, but his piercing blue eyes looked alive and alert. Those eyes told her that the real Seto Kaiba was very active within, despite his being restrained to the bed for the time being.

"Umm…hello, K-Kaiba." Serenity tried, feeling herself grow nervous with every word that made its way past her lips. "I-I brought y-your schoolwork for you…I-I though you m-might want it…"

"Yeah?" he answered, and then pointed to a stack of papers on a nearby table, "and so did a lot of other girls."

Serenity felt her face redden in embarrassment, then stammered, "O-Oh, I-I'm sorry…I-I didn't k-know."

Bowing her head down, she still nonetheless caught his gaze as he looked at her. For an instant his expression seemed to soften. "So…how are you?" he asked, hesitantly.

She looked up from where she had had her head down and answered, "Well…I-I'm just fine…" she paused and then smiled at him. "Thanks to you."

Seto looked startled, but then quickly cooled his gaze and shifted his eyes to the papers she was holding. "Here…" he told her, "Let me see what you brought."

"Oh…ok." Serenity said, moving over to his bedside. Noting the way he grimaced when she handed him the books and papers, she asked, "So, how are you feeling? When I first came here, they told me that you had just gotten out of surgery…" She pulled up a chair next to his bed and sat down. "I've been visiting you but so far you've been asleep every time that I've come."

"Yeah," he replied absently, "They gave me a bunch of drugs for the pain. Like I couldn't handle it." Looking through the stuff that she had brought, he quickly dropped it onto an empty nightstand next to him and then leaned back against his raised bed, his eyes closed.

"I-I'm sorry," Serenity told him, desperate to be out with it. "I mean, I k-know that i-it was my fault and e-everything…I-I'm really s-sorry…"

Seto opened his eyes and looked at her. "Hey. It's ok. If I didn't want something like this to happen then I wouldn't have been there in the first place."

"You…you wanted something like this to happen?" She asked him, her eyes wide.

Looking at her blankly for a few moments, he finally opened his mouth and said, "No."

Serenity smiled in relief at him. "Good. I…I just wanted you to k-know how sorry I am…"

"Yes, I know." he interrupted. "You've made yourself quite clear on that aspect. Now is there anything else you want or are you quite done for the night?"

Taken aback by his remark, Serenity paused. "Well…no…I just thought…"

"Just thought what?" he said, again interrupting her, "Just thought you could come in here and apologize and that would make everything all better? Listen, I've already heard what you have to say and I told you that I don't blame you. Don't feel like you have to hang around here just because you've got a guilty conscience."

'Guilty conscience?' Serenity thought, 'Is that what he thinks I'm here for? To clear my conscience?' She stared at him, mouth slightly open. Then she shook her head and placed her hand on his arm.

"Look, Seto, I'm not here to sputter out apologies. I came because I care about you. I want to know how you're feeling." Her warm hazel eyes stared into his icy blue ones. "I came because I'm your friend."

At her remark, Seto's eyes widened. 'My friend?' he thought, 'this girl! But…why? She doesn't even know me really…probably just knows that I'm rich and…and she called me Seto…no one is allowed to do that but Mokuba…' his thoughts trailed off as he thought of the dreams he had had of her and of waking in the middle of the night and finding her there with him. 'Maybe…she is different…' he thought.

When Seto didn't reply to her comment, Serenity felt heat start to travel up her cheeks. Had she said something wrong? Why was he staring at her like that? Moving her hand off of his arm, she decided to change the subject.

"So…if you don't mind me asking…" she paused, not sure as how to bring up the subject of his wound. She was dying of curiosity, but…how could she put it gently?

"What, do you want to know about this?" His statement startled her out of her thoughts as she watched him pull up his shirt to show her a place on his right side that was covered with gauze. She nodded, and he continued. "Well…they only did surgery to go in and remove fragments of the bullet that were lodged in there…it's really not that bad. The bullet, when it entered, hit my bottom right rib. The rib is shattered now, of course, but a few inches up or down and that bullet would have pierced a vital organ…guess I'm really lucky…" He smirked. "They said I could be out of this hellhole within a week…but I plan to make it my business to get out of here in less time then that."

Serenity gasped slightly, and then looked up at him. "But…but don't they need to…"

"Those imbeciles can't keep me in here. The wound is stapled closed; I'm doing fine, what more do they want? They expect me to lie in here and do nothing? I've got a company to run. I can't just be sitting here twiddling my thumbs all day."

"But…but you need rest to recover…" Serenity told him.

"Recover? People get cracked ribs all the time." He pulled his shirt down. "It's nothing."

"If you say so…" Serenity said quietly, remembering how he had grimaced earlier. "Well, I'm glad that it's nothing really serious…I called the police as soon as I could…"

She looked at him and then stopped, not wanting him to think she was here out of a guilty conscience again.

"So…what are you going to do now?" She asked him.

He sighed, and then rolled his eyes. "There's nothing to do around here. This place is unbelievably boring. They took away my laptop after I was working on it for only a few hours this morning…damn it, they'll pay for that…"

"Why'd they take it away?" Serenity asked him, in hopes of encouraging him to talk more openly to her. She wanted to prove that she wasn't here out of guilt…she really did care about what happened to him.

"They said that I needed to rest…what a filthy excuse! I don't need to rest! I'm just fine! Who knows where my laptop is now?" He frowned in anger. "It's probably been stolen by now…you can't trust anyone anymore…"

Trying to think of something that would calm him down, Serenity thought back to what she usually said to Joey when he was in this predicament.

"Ummm…hey, are you hungry? I could go down and get you a snack or something…"

"The food they serve here is trash." He pointed to an untouched lunch tray on the other side of the room. "They should throw it all out. It's not fit for a dog."

"Oh…" Serenity responded, trying to think fast. Before she could offer out a new idea, however, the door to Seto's room slammed open, the noise resounding throughout the room.

"Nii-Sama!" someone from the doorway cried. "You're finally awake!"

"Mokuba!" Seto said, as the younger boy flew into his arms. Over his little brother's shoulder, Seto's face showed both pain and joy for Mokuba's enthused action. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, big brother." Mokuba told him. Letting go of Seto, he stood facing the bed. His shaggy black hair hung down past his shoulders and he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. "How are you?"

Seto smiled at him and then replied, "Well…I've been better…but good. I'm to be released in a few days."

"Good." Mokuba responded, taking a few steps back from the bed. "The mansion feels so empty without you. And boring."

Kaiba smiled again at his little brother, but also felt a pang of guilt. He knew that his younger brother adored him, but he also knew that he couldn't fool Mokuba that much. Seto was never around often enough to actually keep Mokuba company, so how could the mansion be boring without him? He was never there to begin with…

Putting all of these thoughts aside for now, Seto reached over and ruffled Mokuba's hair. Mokuba was fourteen years old now, but to Seto, he would always be the small boy that, throughout all the trials of their lives so far, had remained steadfast by him throughout it all. Even when Seto didn't deserve it, he always knew that Mokuba would be there with him, that he would never abandon his older brother no matter what choices he made. Thinking of this, Seto spoke with the affection that he had only given to one person in his life. His little brother. "I've missed you too."

Standing in the background, a silent witness to the brothers reunion, Serenity smiled. 'I think maybe I should leave them alone for a little while…' she thought. 'I'll just step outside…'

As she walked out of the room and then closed the door behind her, Serenity heard Mokuba ask why she was leaving. She figured that Mokuba was talking to Seto, so she didn't pause until a few seconds later when she heard the door to Seto's room open again. Turning around, she saw Mokuba standing in the hallway.

"You're Joey Wheeler's sister, aren't you?" he asked. "I've seen you around."

Surprised that he recognized her, she nodded. "Yeah. And it's nice to see you again too, Mokuba." He smiled at her, and she continued. "Well, I came here to see how your brother was doing…but he seems to be in quite a bad mood right now." She paused, then looked up at Mokuba. "But I can understand why, of course. He's probably in a lot of pain."

"Yeah," Mokuba agreed, but then looked at Serenity with an amused look on his face. "Bad mood?" he repeated, "Nahh….he's actually in one of his better moods, believe it or not…"

"Really?" Serenity asked, surprised. "Well he didn't seem like it…I was trying to think of a way to cheer him up or something, but I don't really have any ideas…"

"Well…" Mokuba told her, "I guess I could help you out on that one. I was going to bring in a chess board later on cause Seto really likes that, but if you want then you should do it. I can play Seto any old time, but…" he paused and looked up at Serenity, "I think he could stand to make a few more friends…besides, he may not seem like it, but I think he likes you. I think you might be just what Seto needs."

Feeling herself start to blush once again that day, Serenity looked down at the floor. Could it be true…? Maybe she could make friends with Seto Kaiba after all…I mean, it wasn't like she was asking for that much, just his friendship…

Seeing Serenity stand there, deep in thought, Mokuba smiled. He had an idea what she was thinking about. It was true that most girls fell for Seto as soon as they saw him, although it was always for the wrong reasons. None of them had ever tried to get to know him like Mokuba knew him, although they also never got the chance either because Seto knew what they were thinking and blew them off as soon as they came up. And that was often. All they cared about was that he was good-looking and rich.

Mokuba broke off from his own thoughts and looked back up at Serenity, who was still standing there, silently thinking to herself much like he was. Serenity, to Mokuba at least, seemed a lot different from all the other girls that ever came around Seto. She was quiet and seemed a bit shy, easily embarrassed, not like the other loud, rash girls that hung around. In her face shone a sweetness that seemed to radiate from the very depths of her heart, and her hazel eyes were full of a tenderness that remained undimmed throughout whatever hardships she had faced in her life. The beauty that emanated from her was, Mokuba expected, more of an internal thing then an external thing…

Yes, Mokuba decided. She was nice. Perfect even…for Seto…

"Well," Serenity said suddenly, interrupting both her own thoughts and Mokuba's, "I better get going then." Smiling at the startled Mokuba and feeling embarrassed for having zoned out on whatever he might have said in the last few moments, she turned to quickly leave and waved goodbye at Mokuba.

"I'll be back soon!" she called, "I'm gonna go get a few things first. But I'll see you later, Mokuba, and thanks!"

Staring after her, Mokuba raised his hand and waved back. "Uh, yeah, no problem." he answered. "See ya."

Smiling to herself as she walked down the hallway, Serenity thought to herself about how nice Mokuba was. 'I bet he's a wonderful brother to Seto…' she thought. 'They seem so different, but they get along so well…' Reaching the elevator, she pressed the button to go down. For the second time that day, she found herself on a mission for Seto Kaiba. Amused, she thought, 'Do I want his friendship that bad? Pretty soon I'll be hand feeding him…' Shaking her head, she walked out of the elevator and made her way to the gift shop, hoping to find what she needed there. 'Well…' she thought, walking into the store, 'here goes nothing…'

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Well there is the end of chapter nine…hope that it was enjoyable! Ummm please review and let me know how you thought it was…Thanks! And let's see what I have to give away this week…well now that I have the keys to Kaiba's mansion, I did a little exploring for you guys (ummm, he doesn't know about this yet, but once he finds out I'm sure that I'll be in for it big time) but anyway, look what I found! Well here is a bathrobe for each of you with the initials "SK" on it…and also here are some chocolates that I found in his room! Who says that that big mean guy doesn't enjoy a little sugar now and then, haha…well anyway, I think that that's all that I have for you tonight so please enjoy and leave me a review! Thanks a lot cause you guys are the best!

~Seren147