Yes, long update time...27 days!!!! So sorry!!! But this is one of the longest chapters ever so...you know it had to take me forever. Rating had to go up for this chapter...sorry for all who like the PG. A/N when Seto speaks out of the story it is written like this: Seto's admonition. Once again, my reviewers...YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!! Response:

Living Arrow: THANK YOU! I love when someone points out my mistakes, because it helps me with my writing, (which in all honesty could be improved, you know?), so I have to say that I thank you for noticing my error in the last chapter. If you want to look back to it, I fixed it and everything is fine, so future readers won't point and laugh at me-! Thanks again!

Lady Moofin: Oh, thank you kindly!!!!!!! This is your Seto/Serenity Chapter, (and I did put a little, teensy bit, of Joey-bashing.) Hope you like it!!!!!!!!

CaptainInuyasha777: I am so glad you like this story so much! Thank you kindly for taking the time to read it, (and in the process not do your homework), and please let me know what you think of this one!

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, I'll tell you what I would do with it: Write so many pro-Kaiba episodes, no one would watch the show anymore! But I'd be happy.....anyway, the fact remains that I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. Sorry Seto!

Chapter 11: Of Love

Preface from the Narrator: If you were to listen to my retelling of what happened next, I'm sure you would not believe me. Hell, sometimes I don't even believe it myself, looking back on it.

So, I have decided to tell it in a normal way—quite unlike what actually happened, (it is enjoyable more to me, really).

That day, when I heard Serenity walking toward me with all the grace of a lioness, I knew something was about to change....I felt it. It was bound to happen, I had known it and—

Damn. This isn't working. Ok, no more lies. This is what really happened.

Serenity stood behind me in a semi-natural way. I could hear her breathing rhythmically, in...out...in...out. Why had she come back? Obviously for Wheeler. He had lost to me, again, and she was bound to cheer him up. It was not for me. I thought, why would it be?

"Hey, Joey. Kaiba." The last greeting she spat out, I was detached from her repertoire, I suppose, at the time. I noticed she had left out Mokuba and Lock, but then Mokuba said, "Umm....we'll just be going now...." I already heard the two backing up. So much for their promise to stay by me.

"Yes....(good idea, young Kaiba)....bye!" Lock. That dirty old man!

Pretending not to notice, or not to care about, I left it up to the Wheelers to decide, their sudden leave, I spat back Serenity's heartless greeting, "Serenity."

"What's up, lil' sis'?" Oh, right. She was Wheeler's little sister. I had almost forgotten. How different could they be?

"Nothing. Want to leave this place?" She was being cruel, and I knew it was because of me and what I had said to her the other day. How childish her plot was.

"Yeah...pretty much...Just one more thing Kaiba. I just want to let you know that one day I will beat you at this game."

"Yeah, and maybe I'll still be alive by the time that happens." Serenity had ruined my sympathy for the poor bird-dog. Besides, our duel was over. Our "friendship" wouldn't—and couldn't—be permanent.

"Hey, what was that?"

"It's called an insult, Wheeler, I'll offer you lessons sometime if you want."

"Hey, fine! I was just trying to be nice. Let's go, Serenity." And good riddance.

"Wait." Serenity stopped their departure. How long would this take? "Kaiba, you didn't even listen when I was talking to you the other day did, you?"

"No, I did listen. I just didn't care." There's a difference.

"Well, I think that's a shame."

"You don't exactly have the way with words you think you do, let me just say that."

"No?"

"No."

"Hmm....some people don't think so. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people. Let me repeat what I said."

"Really, you don't have to."

"I think I should."

"I think you should, too," Wheeler's annoying voice floated over our ears to remind us that he was still there—and that Serenity had somehow omitted the conversation she and I had that day. "You never even told me you had talked to Kaiba before now!"

"...I didn't?" Ah! I detected it. The blank second in her speech—the nervous hesitation. She knew very well that she hadn't mentioned it to her brother, (how smart she was not to, though). She was lying. I liked it.

"No, you didn't. Why not?" He was demanding her to tell him.

"Well, I guess I forgot, I mean, I meant to tell you and all that....but I guess I just didn't...umm..." She sounded like Lola, my secretary then. I sneered inwardly.

"You forgot?"

"Umm...yea....I guess..." If I could have seen her, I would say that she didn't have a very good poker face.

"Fine. Whatever. Go on with what you were saying."

"No, please don't." Really, I had heard her speech enough times in my sleep; I didn't need her to say it again.

"Kaiba, she can and she will." Why was Wheeler talking again? Hadn't he tortured us enough already?

"Wheeler, stop talking."

"WHY??" He seemed to spontaneously explode. I was caught off guard for one second and actually had enough surprise in me to raise an eyebrow!

"Why not? You're only making a fool—I'm sorry, even more of a fool—of yourself every time you open your damn mouth, anyway." Some people say I'm mean. I think I just speak my mind.

"KAIBA!!! Why YOU!!!!" I heard him running towards me. I knew what he would do. (A/N: Joey's really stupid in my stories. Sorry to all Joey fans! Please forgive me!) I was ready. Lock had trained me well.

When he swung at me with a sloppy, anger-induced blow, I dodged it easily. He tried again. I could hear and feel his hand slicing through the wind as he missed once more. Basically, in this particular fight, I was on the defense. I could have hit him if I wanted to, but that would have been like a shot-gun wielding hunter killing a rabbit—too easy and unfairly matched. (A/N: yes, I'm very against hunting. Deal with it all you hunters out there reading this story.)

Suddenly, "Stop, Joey!" The silky flow of Serenity's words washed over us like water over a dying man's throat. She did not scream, but rather announced it powerfully to make the crazy blows stop charging at me.

"How could you?" she asked, obviously hurt. Wheeler was in trouble now.

"Serenity...he was disrespecting you...." Wheeler was rearranging the dust on the ground with his foot in remorse, I could hear it. I bet he had his hands held behind his back, too, the coward.

"It doesn't matter, Joey! Too much physical violence! Go home!"

"What about you?"

"I'm staying! To have a human conversation with Se—Kaiba." Was she honestly going to call me Seto? What had changed?

"Ok.....but if he touches you I'll"—"Joey go home!"

"Ok....bye...." He began trudging away, sorrowfully.

"Bye, Wheeler," I said. "Don't kill any cats on your way back."

"Shut-up."

Once he was gone, we could talk. I was surprised how much I wanted to talk to her now, it had been like a prize or something at the end of a long, (and dangerous), wait.

"You know sometimes he just....I don't know...." Serenity seemed full of regret over what Wheeler did—maybe even more than he did. Was she always like that? She must have gotten embarrassed a lot; the boy was no stranger to fighting, I could tell by the way his fist stabbed at me, (in the darkness I saw, I could pin-point exactly where he would be striking and they were all major hit points that a novice would not know to hit at).

"I'm sorry." She didn't really have to apologize......should I tell her?

"You don't have to apologize for him."

"Really?"

"Of course. Why is he your problem?"

"I guess you're right." She was silent then. I could sense the change of the day into early evening. It was cooler and crickets had just begun to chirp. In fact, I think Serenity found it very romantic.

"Hey, umm, it's kind of late." I know. "I don't really want to go home and face Joey when he gets into one of his moods, like, now. So, umm, can I stay at your place for a little bit?"

Of course not, how could she even think such a thing? She was too forward with it, too sudden. But, yet, I told her, "Fine, but not the whole night. Mokuba doesn't like when strangers sleep over." That was a lie, and a stupid one. Mokuba loved having guests over. And he loved sleepovers. I was the one who couldn't stand having unknown people spending the night in my house. I don't know why, but it gave me a sense of unease to know that someone I didn't know was helplessly unconscious in one of my rooms. Again, I don't know why.

"Oh, ok. I wasn't going to spend the night....I was just going to spend a little time...yeah." She was the uneasy one. I could understand why.

"Come on, give me your arm," I demanded sullenly.

"Why?"

"We're going to walk to my mansion. I need to know that you're still there."

"O..k...fine." She gave me her arm and I quickly wrapped it in mine, protecting it form the night chill, (accidentally?). Serenity did not realize that I could hear and feel her walking away from me even if she was across the street on a crowded Saturday. I just wanted to hold her arm and make sure she couldn't get away...I think.

I turned in the direction I knew lead to home. I set to tap out with my cane automatically and I hit Serenity's leg. She was very close to me.

"Ouch!" She said. "That hurt!"

"Sorry, but it happens." It didn't. Mokuba was the only one I had ever clung to, and he never ever stood that near to my cane—he knew to keep a sharp distance away from the hunk of pure wood when I was wielding it. Why didn't she?

"Did you happen to notice which way Lock and Mokuba went when they left?" I asked. I knew they had gone this way, I could hear it, but after a certain amount of time their footsteps died away from my ears—out of my range. They were lost to me after that.

"Well, they went this way first, but I didn't really follow them." Great. Now I would have to wait and be surprised when I got home to find out if Mokuba ever got back. That was wonderful, really.

We were silent as that thought concluded itself. I was thinking about what Serenity wanted from me and why I was so willing to let her into my home. This subject took a fair amount of time to think over, as a matter of fact.

Naturally, Serenity was the one to break the silence. "How have you been?"

What the hell? What question....what? "Fine." Huh? What were we saying? It was like some code. Translation, (not exact, translator is not fluent in current language):

"How have you been?" "Have you been thinking about me?"

"Fine." "Yes."

(Next steps in conversation) "Good." "Really?"

"I should say." "I should say."

".......I've been good too." "I've been thinking about you, too."

"Lovely." "Just great."

"You know, I've been busy." "I've been thinking about you a lot."

"Same." "Same."

"Wow, this is really boring!" (End of translation) She broke the chain.

"How exciting did you want it to be?"

"I don't know...a little."

"Well, don't worry. This is the last turn and then we arrive at my house."

"You're is my house, after all..." What kind of question was that? I went this way almost every day, how could I not know which turn leas to which house and such? But then....she had noticed my blindness....and it was only recently that I had begun to do this, so I guess....whatever. It mattered not.

I heard our footsteps echo loudly as our surroundings became less and less crowded. My mansion was in an area all by itself, I had no neighbors or anything, (it was nice). As we neared the front of the building, (that's what it really was, it wasn't just like a house, it was a building), Serenity gasped and proclaimed, "Wow! It's so big! How do you get around in there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your house—sorry, mansion!—is so huge, I don't think you can get around in it!"

I went on the defense. "Why, because I'm blind?" My tone was angered.

"Oh, no, I meant, wouldn't you loose your way? I bet you've never even been in some rooms!"

"Of course you're wrong," I said, still mad, but leading to the enormous, rod-iron gate in front of my mansion. "I spent time one day going through every room. I'm not saying I memorized every room, but I still went in each one."

"O...k...whatever..."

At the gate, I fished out my keys and felt the tips of each one, searching for the right edges, (I had committed to memory the feel of the ridges in each key to match its lock). Finding it, I opened the lock and opened the gate. Its hinges moaned in protest, overcoming my sensitive ears momentarily.

We walked up the rather long driveway to my front door. I noticed Serenity's quietness and inquired about such before I tried the knob, (I wanted to check if Mokuba was home before I used my key).

"Why are you so quiet?"

"Well, you know, I was just thinking..." I tried the knob. Clicked right open. Intrigued by this new discovery, I forgot to finish my conversation with Serenity, and instead walked into my house and called, "Mokuba?" The nervousness built up in my chest—what if he wasn't home?

"Hey Seto!" his voice sounded from high up. I breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Mokuba, where did you go so suddenly and why?" I heard the pit-patter of his feet scamper down the hallways and stairs to greet me. He talked as he ran.

"Well, you know, Lock decided it was time to go when I told him Serenity had come—I don't know why, though—and"—He stopped as he had finally reached us. "Wow....what's up Serenity?" I hadn't asked his approval before inviting and I was sorry for that, but I felt worse over what Serenity thought about my little brother: She thought he didn't want her there from what I said that he didn't like company. How had I managed to confuse this whole situation for the two of them?

"Hello...." She said, uneasily.

"Hiya! Welcome to our home! Want something to ea or drink? Please sit down." Ok so he knew how to treat guests better than I did. Hey, my step-father never taught me manners!

"Umm, just a water would be good please." She seemed unsure of where to sit though. I walked up stairs, (counting as I went), and showed her the way, sitting down on a random couch myself, (oh in case you were wondering, by that time I had memorized the exact place of my furniture in all the major rooms. For some places in my house, I still needed my cane, so I kept it with my always, but I was getting somewhere, at least), and she sat with me on my right.

Mokuba dashed off to get her a glass of purified water. He had gotten off task, again. "You were saying, Mokuba?"

"Oh right. Well, Lock asked to be taken to the nearest burger stop fast food place, so I took him to the Fast-DeathDonald's down the road" (A/N: yeah, I made that place up. I'm against fast food, too, by the way, but I don't own any McDonald's stuff, so don't sue please!) "and well he just wanted to be left alone after that."

"Was it impossible for you to take him to some place healthier?" Really, how could anyone willingly submit to the disgusting deception of greasy fat burgers? I mean, sure they tasted good, but did anyone ever ask what was IN them? How much fat? Where they cooked their burgers—it could be over an exhaust pipe, as long as it still tasted good. It's just sad. I hate it.

"Seto, you have to just relax. Not everyone can be a strict vegetarian like you!"

"Vegan, Mokuba, vegan!" He always slipped up there. Who the hell called vegans "strict vegetarians" anymore? It was all so outdated.

"Kaiba, you're a vegetarian?" Oh, yes. Serenity didn't know, did she?

"I prefer the term 'vegan' if it's all the same to you."

"Sure. I think that's cool." Her voice sounded so bubbly childish right there. In truth, I wasn't doing it to be cool, I was doing it to be healthy, and to stop cruelty in butcher shops. Did anyone have any idea what those heartless butchers did to animals in their little slaughter houses? I did. Let's just say the slaughter houses earned their names well. Oh, and yes, I do have quite the soft spot for animals, in case you were wondering.

But, enough of my ranting. I have to stay on track, here. No one really cares what I think, and apparently Lock couldn't even take the time to think about how bad burgers were for him. So, Serenity and I left the subject alone for the time being and moved on to other things.

Mokuba did come back with Serenity's water, eventually, but after that he left us alone, (not to return until the next day, I believe). She thanked him and sipped daintily on the precious liquid, swallowing quietly when her mouth filled up. I heard her and couldn't help compare her to the water. They were both pure, both smooth and without definite shape. By scientific definition, water will form to whatever shape its container has. Maybe Serenity is the same way.

We sat there, not talking much, not doing much, for little over a half hour.

"Kaiba, did I ever finish what I wanted to say earlier?" Serenity threw out there all of a sudden. How long would she go on about this?

"I do not believe so."

"Ok, so let me. What I tried to say that day, when I first talked to you, was that I...well...I understood you, ok?"

"But you don't understand me." She had NO idea what she was getting herself into, here.

"No, you're right, I don't really." I was right? "I just wanted to be your friend and well, to be a comfort to you." Her voice sounded different. A little worn out.

"Yeah, but you see, here's the thing that troubles me." I moved to a position that was very business-like with my head resting on laced together my hands and my legs sprawled out underneath my elbows. "Why?"

"Why? Well, why not?" She began giggling. Really badly, too, like a school girl, (which I guess she was....). It was infectious. I smirked and then internally scolded myself. She would not win me over with her little laughs.

She died down a little when she saw I was not joining her. "Well, I guess I didn't get through to you at all, did I?" I did not respond. I wanted to tell her about my dreams of her, but I didn't. "I better be going then...." She got up and made towards the door.

Wait! I thought, GO? Already??! I grabbed her wrist.

"What?" she asked, annoyed, now. I loved the way her voice changed to fit her brilliant moods.

"You did get through to me." Why deny it anymore?

"I did?"

"Yeah....a little too well if I may say so."

"How so?" She pulled her wrist out of my grip and sat down next to me again.

The thought of my old nightmares flew back to me on the wings of a night bat. I hadn't had one in a long time...I guess it was because Lock had shown me that I could go to my hideous caller, (who would haunt me forever), whenever I wanted to. I decided to tell her about the dreams. "I used to have some nightmares, when I dreamed that someone was calling my name and demanding that I go to them. But I couldn't, it was too dark. It seemed that every night my caller would say something different. And the night that you spoke to me about your life, well his voice changed to yours and your words." I was done. How would she take this?

"You had the nightmares, too? I used to get them, before my surgery. They were awful. I dreamt that someone needed my help and I couldn't see where they were and I accidentally made them suffer even more....because I was blind."

"Really?" Suddenly I didn't feel so weird anymore. Keep in mind that I had never opened up like this to anyone, ever, not even my little brother. But, after Serenity told me that, I felt like I just....didn't have to be so secretive anymore about my feelings with her and of her. It was strange, but somehow wonderful.

"Yeah. And you know what the worst part was?"

"What?"

"The person that needed my help was my brother, Joey." How horrible was that? I felt bad for her and stupid that I had underestimated what she had gone through just because she wasn't still blind now. "Was your, umm, caller someone you knew?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"My step-father."

"Oh, wow. What was he like?"

"Well....let's just say he didn't want my help, like Wheeler did of you."

"Huh?"

"He was not a....kind man, to say the least."

"He was mean to you?"

"Yes."

"A lot?"

"Yes."

"And he....haunts your dreams?"

"Yes. Sometimes."

"Seto.....Kaiba......I had no idea."

She wanted to call me Seto. I would let her. "You can call me Seto if you want."

"Really?"

"Of course."

She didn't say anything after that. She just sort of moved closer to me and laid her head on chest. Her hand grasped mine and held it tight. I put my chin on top of her head. It was so peaceful and dreamlike; I didn't want to move ever again.

A flood of emotions washed over me. I felt sad, for all we had been through, but happy that we had found each other and a way to deal with it. I had never really known too much kindness or love, but Serenity had given me both with the simple explanation of "Why not?". She was a goddess in my broken eyes. I wished I could see her and her beauty, but in a way, it was better that I couldn't. I wasn't so naïve to think it wasn't our blindness that had brought us together.

"Seto....." she said. Or rather, she whispered. It was like she was afraid to talk normally, and in truth so was I. Neither of us wanted to break the mood. She continued, "This moment is forever...."

"Yes," I said softly. "Let's make it last." I ran my lips down her tilted cheek, searching for her lips. She did not sit idly by, she helped me find them, and when I did, she opened them willingly and freely.

At first it was just a little kiss. One peck with some minor sound in it and we pulled away. But that was not enough. Our lips met again, this time stronger and harder, more forcefully. I was the first to slip my tongue in, and she followed soon after. I did everything by touch, as was the way with the blind man.

Our arms were straddled on each others' backs, pulling afraid to let go. It's a funny thing, the feeling of love I had. It was like being on the edge of a cliff with only her to hang onto, lest I fall and die.

I guess what happened next is only natural. Sometimes the body has wisdom that eludes the mind.

I can't explain it myself, and I told you not to read it, for I have no other explanation then it was meant to be. My admonition earlier should have given you some clues...oh well. I hope you enjoyed that. But the next part....well, it...won't be easy for me to tell you. All that are weak in heart, stop reading now.