Operation: Valentine Chapter 3: The Plan, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

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: Thank you all for the reviews! Spot any mistakes? Please let me know and I'll try to fix them.

Yay, my computer's running again (and just in time for midterms)!

Cyristal: There's a reason why Kaiba's mellowed out.

innominate: What possible explanation could ff.net have for doing away with paragraph breaks? And my computer is now fixed ^_^ The hard drive is so much quieter now. I'd gotten used to the constant rattling, clacking, and scratching sounds the old one made.

Jou-pup: Don't worry, we won't be seeing the evil teacher again for a while. *zaps Fudou out of the story*

Shousetsuka1: Sorry for taking forever to get to the point. Hopefully the story will move a bit faster after this chapter...

Warnings: Occasional language. Occasional shounen-ai.

Disclaimers: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. And remember, kids, don't take certain words or phrases out of context. No doors were harmed in the making of this fic.

Operation: Valentine

Chapter Three: The Plan

I will not call Mr. Fudou 'Fudou'.

Why the hell am I doing this? And for Kaiba of all people!

I will not call Mr. Fudou 'Fudou'.

I mean, I'm not the guy who got Fudou's name wrong. Still, this is pretty harsh just for calling the guy "Fudou". At least next time Kaiba'll know better and not call him that.

I will not call Fudou 'Mr. Fudou'.

Poor me. Poor Kaiba.

I will not call Fudou 'Mr. Kaiba'.

...Dammit. Just thinking about the guy makes me mess up. "Kaiba?"

He sighs and slides the correction stuff to me with one hand. I run the white tape thingy over my mistakes and problem solved. Way neater than the runny white stuff. I slide the thing back to Kaiba. Back to work.

I go at it for another fifteen minutes until I just can't take it anymore. "Kaiba?" I stop him before he hands me the correction tape again. "No, I didn't make another mistake."

He keeps writing. "Then what is it, Wheeler?"

I yawn and lean back in my chair. "Nothin'. I'm just dying from boredom." Doing lines does that to a guy. I swear, any more and I'll really go into a coma.

"Well, that's just too bad. Feel free to go back to your desk so you can sit there in silence. That's what you're supposed to be doing, anyway."

I pretend to think about it. "Nah, that'll just do me in faster." I rub my hand. It's gonna be all stiff tomorrow, I just know it. "Man, this detention is killer! Duke and Tristan are really in for it once I get outta here."

"You should be used to getting detentions by now." Kaiba keeps writing until he's finished with that side. Then he flips it over and starts the next side. I groan and get back to work.

I slip back into my detention trance and we write lines for who knows how long. After a while, Kaiba puts his pen down and breaks the silence. "Why were you attacking them, anyway? Did Devlin throw one die too many?"

Hey, Kaiba's actually starting a conversation with me! Too bad he picked such a sucky topic. I put my pen down too and rub my eyes. So tired. "They were talkin' about Serenity." But the dice thing pisses me off, too.

"And?"

I peek at Kaiba outta the corner of my eye. "And they... said stuff. About Valentine's Day. About her." I make a face. "And them." Talk about images I don't want in my head. Sick. I play with my... Kaiba's... pen. Looks like I've been chewing on it while doing the lines. At least, I hope it was me. If this thing's been in Seto Kaiba's mouth... "So I freaked out. C'mon, she's my little sister. It's, like, my duty as her big brother."

"How noble." I can't tell if he's being sarcastic or not. "Still, you should have waited until after class."

I shrug. "Maybe."

Kaiba picks up his pen again, starts on a fresh sheet. "Personally, I don't understand the insanity that surrounds that holiday. It's a complete waste of time."

My thoughts exactly, especially after all the trouble it's gotten me into. "Yeah, it's so fake. All... flowers and chocolates and cards and stuff."

"Indeed. And, like the sheep they are, people blindly follow the tradition of commercialized imitation love." He writes some more. "Even the students here. Pathetic."

Or something like that. Whatever, man, but I wonder... "So whatcha gonna do on Valentine's Day?"

Kaiba blinks. "The same thing I do on any other day. Work." The pen slows down. "I'm designing the prototype for a new duel disc system."

Something to look forward to unless he's gonna test it on me. The thought gives me the shivers. Bad memories. "But... on a Saturday?"

He stops writing. "Kaiba Corp. doesn't shut down on weekends, Wheeler." And it's not like he's gonna be with somebody on Valentine's Day, anyway.

That sucks, but, hey... "Can't you take the day off or something?"

"I suppose I could, if I had a reason to do so. I am the CEO. "

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense."

We both sit there. I'm sorta waiting for him to pick up the hint, but he's taking his sweet time about it.

After a while, Kaiba sighs. "What are you planning to do on the fourteenth, then?" he finally asks, pretending to care.

I lace my hands behind my head. "Maybe I'll get a date." Yeah, right. I've got bigger plans.

A snort. "You? Date?"

What makes you think I can't, Moneybags? I glare at him. "Maybe I'll hook up with a hot babe and party all night."

He smirks. "And who's the lucky girl?"

Good question. "Eh..."

Kaiba leans back in his chair. "Just admit it, Wheeler. You're going to spend the day alone with a tissue box while all your friends spend it with their sweethearts."

I grit my teeth. Bastard. "It's just a stupid holiday." That Duke and Tristan are gonna be enjoying way too much for my peace of mind. I know what Tristan's like around girls-

-and I just got totally sidetracked. My plan's no good if I totally forget to mention it. "Besides, I'm not gonna be sitting around doin' nothing," I try to say sorta mysteriously.

He raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Yeah. "I'll keep an eye on Serenity. Make sure those guys don't mess around with her." Now is that a plan, or is that a plan?

Kaiba's not impressed. "You mean you're going to stalk your own sister."

Look who's talkin'! "Look me in the eye and tell me you're not trackin' your brother on your fancy gizmos right now," I challenge.

He doesn't deny it. Ha!

Kaiba goes back to his papers. He's almost done. "I wish I could be there to see the mayhem that will follow when she catches you at it."

Brilliant. Perfect.

"So come with me."

Kaiba stiffens, drops his pen. "What?"

Whoops, I guess we weren't on the same page, after all. "Come with me tomorrow!" I insist. "You could back me up!" Usually, I'd get Tristan to do this kinda thing with me, but since he's one of the guys after my sister… and Tea'll stop Yuugi from helping me out and I don't wanna wreck their date... and Bakura's just too damn nice... "C'mon, please?"

He picks his pen back up and taps it against his bottom lip, thinking. "And you want me to take a day off to participate in this brainless, and possibly illegal, scheme of yours?"

Seto Kaiba can make my best plans sound totally stupid. "Uh... yeah..." Dammit, I want Kaiba with me on this. "Look, I just wanna make sure my sis is gonna be okay. I... worry, ya know? Just because."

He gives me a measuring look. "And you do understand that you'll deserve it when your plan explodes in your face?"

"Not gonna happen!" Unless he's totally jinxed it with his Kaiba doom 'n gloom. Nothing ever goes the way I plan when I'm around this guy, but I still want his help. You can say a lot about Kaiba, but if he's on your side, really on your side, it's all good. "Nothing'll go wrong."

"Oh, but it will. Spectacularly. After all, it's your plan." He smirks. "It should be rather amusing."

Kaiba, you rotten little- wait, was that a "yes"? I look at him. He looks at me. Must be a "yes". Can't not be a "yes".

Perfect. I can't keep the grin off my face. "You drive? Something not too flashy?"

"I might."

The guy's rich. He can get any car he wants. "Great! Let's meet up at my place on Saturday at..." What time did Tristan say the date was...? 5PM? "...4:30PM. We'll work out a battle plan and then go stake out Serenity's house." I check to see if Kaiba's paying attention. "That okay with you?"

He dodges my question. "It sounds... interesting."

"Forget how it sounds! You in or not?" Quit teasing me, Kaiba...

He opens his mouth...

And the doorknob rattles.

SHIT! Mr. Fudou! I fly over the desks 'til I'm back where I'm supposed to be while Kaiba grabs all the work I did for him and dumps it on his own desk. He kicks the desk I moved back to its old spot right before the door opens.

Mr. Fudou walks into the room. Kaiba's doing lines like he hasn't been doing anything else. I'm sitting at my desk like a good little boy. Kaiba quickly waggles his pen at me. Shoot, I almost forgot! I drop my own chewed-up pen into my lap before The Finger sees it.

The teacher from hell sweeps us with his evil gaze. I make myself look miserable. Easy to do. He smiles, satisfied.

He switches his attention to Kaiba. Kaiba glares back, but then thinks better of it and looks down at his desk, instead.

Mr. Fudou leafs through the pile of paper. They're covered with "I will not call Mr. Fudou 'Fudou'". Every single last one. He smiles. "Have you learned your lesson, Mr. Kaiba?"

"Yes, sir." Wow. I didn't know Kaiba could do weak and submissive. You learn something new every day.

"And what is that lesson?"

He doesn't look up. "I must address my superiors with the respect they deserve, Mr. Fudou, sir. I neglected to do so earlier, which was wrong of me, sir."

"Yes, it was." Mr. Fudou walks back to his huge desk and sits down. "I am your better, and you'd better not forget that."

"I apologize for my behaviour, sir. It will not happen again."

Kaiba sounds like he really means it, too. Mr. Fudou nods. "Make sure it doesn't." He checks the clock. It's pretty late. "I suppose you can both go now."

At last. I can't wait to get outta here! "Thanks, Mr. Fudou, uh, sir!" I grab the pen off my lap and try not to run for the door.

"Thank you, sir." Kaiba slowly gets up, brushes himself off, and walks past me with all the dignity a CEO of a powerful corporation can muster. He walks pretty damn fast; it's a miracle we don't mash ourselves trying to get through the doorway at the same time. Kaiba closes the door behind us once we're in the hall and stalks off at the speed of light.

I run to catch up. "Yo, Kaiba!"

"...wretched excuse for a teacher shouldn't be allowed to live," he growls. He glares at me, not even slowing down. "What do you want now?"

Looks like Mr. Fudou made Kaiba all pissy again. "About the plan..."

That eases his bad mood. I catch a quick smile. "I'll see you on Saturday."

Kaiba's onboard! "Great! Do you need my address or anything?"

"No need." That smile twists into something that'd look right at home on, say, a man-eating shark. "I know where you live."

He's scary when he looks like that. I try to shrug it off. Kaiba's just playing with me, I know. He gets off on that kinda thing. "Yeah, whatever, man. Just be there at 4:30."

"Of course."

He swings open the last set of doors and the cool night air blasts us both. There's a limo waiting outside for him. He heads for it.

"See ya tomorrow, Kaiba!" I yell after him.

Kaiba half-turns and sorta waves at me before he gets into the limo. The driver closes the door for him and, a second later, they're gone, driving off into the night.

I stretch a little before heading down the street. I think I'll get started on my homework a little earlier tonight. Big day tomorrow.

TBC...