Summary:  Valentine's Day.  Love is in the air... and what kind of big brother would Joey be if he didn't keep an eye on his sweet, innocent sister?  Of course, he'll need help.  Seto/Joey... eventually.  Follow-up to "To Seto, From Joey".  Post Dungeon Dice Monsters AU in which Serenity recovered her eyesight earlier than expected.

Author's notes:  Thanks for taking the time to review! And Happy Valentine's Day 3 3 (please pretend those look like hearts).

I'll try to get another chapter up sometime next week. Currently, I'm using the school computer because my own compy had a serious hard drive failure (meaning: hard drive will make a unique paperweight). Good thing I managed to back up some stuff. Still, it's bloody hard to fic at school. Saturdays are not meant to be spent in classrooms, but I need my internet, dammit!

Cyristal: Nope, not going to update every day. Never again. If I have a chapter done, it'll go up. If not, I'm not planning to stay up late to finish it. School is top priority (I failed half my courses last time ;_;).

innominate: Glad you like it! Actually, I'm a little worried that the Seto/Joey luvluv isn't obvious enough, or moving fast enough. From the looks of it, it's going to stay non-obvious for the majority of the story.

Jou-pup: I'll continue, don't worry ^_^

Warnings:  Occasional language.  Occasional shounen-ai. 

Disclaimers:  I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.  Takuma Fudou is a fictional character and any resemblance to a teacher I had a few years ago is purely coincidental.  And remember, kids, don't sign your own absence notes.  No pens were harmed in the making of this fic.

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Operation: Valentine

Chapter Two:  The Detention That Never Ends

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I trudge back to The Finger's classroom after school for my detention.  I didn't get a concussion, but from the way my head hurts, I'm gonna get a nice bruise on my forehead.

Mr. Fudou and Kaiba are already there.  Kaiba looks pissed off, but Mr. Fudou looks kinda smug.

"I don't have time for this, Fudou.  I have a corporation to run," Kaiba says icily.

Mr. Fudou ignores him and focuses on me.  "So glad you could join us, Mr. Wheeler," he says sarcastically.  "Sit down, shut up, and stay that way until I say otherwise.  Oh, and I have taken the liberty of contacting your father.  He won't be expecting you back for a long, long time."

Same old, same old.  I sit down and keep my mouth shut while Kaiba gets madder and madder.  Mr. Fudou picks up a pile of blank notepaper.  "Sit down, Mr. Kaiba.  The sooner you get this done, the sooner you can leave."

After some thought, Kaiba finally sits down.  "I can have you fired, Fudou," he growls.

Mr. Fudou throws him a nasty smile.  "I don't care.  I'm retiring this year."  Goodbye and good riddance. He can't leave soon enough.  He hands Kaiba the stack of paper.  "What is my name, Mr. Kaiba?"

Kaiba blinks.  "Fudou."

"No, it is not."

Eh, it's not?  Unless he means "The Finger", but I don't think so.  "I'm quite sure it is Takuma Fudou.  I have done a background check on you," replies Kaiba, crossing his arms.

The teacher from hell slowly shakes his head.  "Ah, but you're wrong."  He leans into Kaiba's personal space.  If I were Kaiba, I'd be getting a big whiff of Fudou breath right about now.  Good thing I'm not him.  Kaiba stands his ground, though.  "Shall I tell you what it is?" breathes Mr. Fudou.

Kaiba lifts an eyebrow.  "Please do."

"It."  He gets closer.  "Is."  And closer.  Poor Kaiba.

The CEO of Kaiba Corp. is not a guy that backs down.  "Yes?"

He gets real close to Kaiba's ear.  "My name is..."  He takes a deep breath and lets loose.  "MISTER FUDOU!" he screams at the top of his lungs so loud the windows rattle.  Birds burst from the trees.  Dogs howl and babies cry.  Kaiba topples right outta his chair.  I'm halfway to Kaiba's desk when the crazy teacher straightens, panting a little.  "Or 'sir'," he finishes.  He shoots a look at me.  "Are you out of your chair, Mr. Wheeler?"

"No, uh, sir."  And I back away until I hit my desk.  I sit down pretty damn fast.  The man's insane.  I mean, really, really, insane.

Kaiba stalks over to the teacher, so boiling mad I'm surprised the teacher's not calling the cops.  "You can't treat me like this!" he hisses.  "I AM SETO KAIBA!"

Mr. Fudou just smiles, calm as you please.  "See all that paper?  You will write, 'I will not call Mr. Fudou 'Fudou'' on every single line, on every single sheet of paper, both sides."

That's... a lot of paper.  What's wrong with the teachers at Domino High?!

Kaiba chokes.  "You can't be serious!"

The smile gets wider.  "I suggest you get started, or else you will find all of your assignments mysteriously receiving a failing grade.  And wouldn't that be a shame for such a bright boy as yourself."

I can hear Kaiba grinding his teeth from here while he grabs a pen and starts writing.

Man, and I thought Kaiba was a bastard.  I don't like Seto Kaiba, but this is just plain wrong.  It's cruel and unusual punishment, worse than what The Finger likes to give me!  I can't let this sick excuse for a teacher do this to the guy.  I just can't.  "Uh, Mr. Fudou, sir? Isn't that kinda, well, much?" I butt in.

He glares at me.  "Did I say you could speak?"

"No..."  I decide to go ahead anyway.  I'm too nice for my own good.  "But it's not like he did anything!  I'm the one that made the scene!  Not him."

The teacher nods.  "So you did, but that kind of behaviour is expected from, ah, someone of your breeding."  And what kinda breeding is that, huh?  "A person such as Mr. Kaiba must be held to higher standards."  He smiles evilly.  "Much higher standards."

Wow, he really hates Seto Kaiba.  He must be touchy about being called "Fudou".  "But-"

"Each word you utter from this point on will add an equal number of hours to your detention."

"Uh-"

"One hour."

"You-"

"Two hours."

A pen flies across the room and almost puts out my eye.  Kaiba.  "Just shut UP,  Wheeler!" he hisses.

Mr. Fudou picks up the pen and walks over to his great big teacher's desk.  He pulls out ten more sheets and drops the pen and paper on Kaiba's already-crowded desk.  Kaiba throws him the ugliest look I've ever seen.

I shut up.

The teacher from hell strolls back to his desk, opens a drawer, grabs a thick paperback novel, and starts reading it.

It's gonna be a long night.

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The worst thing about Mr. Fudou's detentions is that they last forever.  My butt is going numb.  Do you know how hard it is to sit in a hard chair and do nothing for hours on end?  The only sound is the teacher turning the page and the scratching of Kaiba's pen.

Seto Kaiba.  Rotten brainy school bully by day, evil genius businessman by night.  A puzzle in a white trench coat, except when he's a puzzle in a blue school uniform, instead.

Ever since that "birthday party", he's been... well, not nice, but not super-mean, either.  It's like he's trying to be nicer to me, but he doesn't know how.  Like the way he snerks but doesn't actually mock me when I do something stupid, like today.  Or the way he doesn't call me a dog anymore.  Everything else under the sun is fair game, but not "dog".  Or the way he threw that pen and snarled at me so that I'd stop adding even more hours to my detention.

I wonder what he did with that costume, anyway?

Seto Kaiba.

Duel-crazy weirdo.

Geek with a Grudge.

Moneybags.

Big Bad Rich Boy.

Seto Kaiba...

...is staring at me 'cause I'm staring at him.  I snap outta my boredom-induced coma and try to act all casual.  He gives me a funny look but goes back to his lines.

Forget about Kaiba, what am I gonna do about my sister?  What am I gonna do about Duke and Tristan?  What can I do?  The date's tomorrow.

I hear some noise from the teacher's desk.  Looks like Mr. Fudou's done with his novel.  He stretches.  "I'm going to get something for dinner.  You two had better still be here when I get back," he warns.  I nod like a good little boy.

And the teacher from hell is gone.

Finally!  I drag myself outta my chair, shaking out my arms and legs until the blood starts moving again.  Mr. Fudou won't be back for at least an hour.  He likes to take long dinners before coming back to his classroom.  I think he lives here.  There's something seriously wrong with this school, I swear.  Full of freaky teachers and, come to think of it, freaky students.

I hear a long sigh.

Kaiba puts the pen down and slowly stretches.  I wince at the sound of his joints popping.  His fingers must be hurting by now.  "You okay?" I ask him.

He gives me a pissy look.  "What do you think, Wheeler?  I've been writing lines for the past two and a half hours!"  He massages the cramps outta his hand.

Okay, okay, it was a dumb question.  I make my way over to his desk.  The poor guy's not even half done.  That teacher is sick.

"Go make yourself useful."  Kaiba plucks a sheet he's managed to fill out from his "done" pile and gives it to me.  "Take this, and make-" he eyes the "not done" pile, "twenty double-sided colour copies."

Nice try, Kaiba.  "Love to.  Won't work."

He glares at me.  "What do you mean, 'won't work'?"

I move both piles outta the way and sit on the edge of his desk.  "Tried it before.  He checks the writing."  I pick up Kaiba's pen.  "If two pages match, he makes ya do it all over again."

Kaiba groans.  Grabs his pen outta my hand.

I'm not gonna...  not gonna...  "Want any help with that?  Since I'm not doin' anything."  Dammit.

"You can write?"

Ha ha.  "Funny guy.  Yeah, I can write."

Arched eyebrow.  "Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but wouldn't 'Mr. Fudou'," and he spits out the name, "notice that something is amiss if my handwriting suddenly changes halfway through?"

I grin and hop off the desk.  "Nope.  Gimme a pen and I'll show ya."

Kaiba takes out another pen from his inside jacket pocket and hands it over, probably wondering what I'm gonna show him.  "Well?"

I take a close look at the filled sheet he gave me before.  "Wait a sec."  Sharp corners there, a bit of a loop there, and a sorta stabby motion right there.  Press down hard like it's the teacher's face.  Got it.

I pick up a fresh page and write out five lines.  Scritch scritch scratch and there we go.

Kaiba grabs it, scans it, looks surprised.  "This is my handwriting!"  He gazes at me with something that would almost be respect if he weren't Kaiba.  "Quite impressive.  Where did you learn to forge someone else's writing?"

I shrug.  "Taught myself.  Easy."  Especially if your dad's too "busy" to sign his name on school forms.  School would suck even more if I didn't know how to do it myself.  "So do I pass or what?"

He smiles.  "I wouldn't dream of stopping such a learned delinquent from doing the most tedious work on earth."  He shoves the "not done" pile in my direction.  "Help yourself."

Whoa.  "I didn't say I'd do it all!"

"Well, you're the one complaining about having nothing to do," he fires back… but he starts filling out another sheet.

I grab the desk beside Kaiba's and drag it over until they're touching.  The guy gives me a weird look, but then he just moves the pile of paper over a bit so that we can both reach it.

I sit down at my new desk and start writing.

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TBC...