Ohayo, minna-san! After three months, I finally decided to update. I'm really, sorry, Cara, I know you've been watching out for this story a long, long time, and I really appreciate that. So here, this chapter is dedicated to you.
And to my other readers, thank you so much for stopping by here, even though I've been lazy. See, my computer broke down, and school just finished, so it's been quite a hectic time for me, what with final exams and all. So here you go, and I hope you enjoy! Sorry it's so short, I just decided that would be a good place to cut it. And sure, I'll try to update faster, since up to now I realized nothing much has been happening yet, and there's not much plot that's evident. sweatdrops So here's chapter six. As usual, please read and review! Comments welcome!

I followed Kaiba to our classroom. Just outside the door, he stopped and turned to me.

"Try not to make it look like we came here together," he said coolly.

I understood what he wanted. The mask was on yet again. Oh well.

"Sure, Kaiba. Whatever you say."

And for the last time, I glimpsed another of his amazing smiles before he pushed open the door and entered the classroom.

Both Yugi and Jounouchi were already there, playing a game of Duel Monsters before classes. They didn't notice me, but the other students sure did. As the door shut behind me, the room became about two decibels quieter, and I couldn't figure out whether it was because Kaiba had entered the room or because a new girl was trespassing into their territory.

Anyway, Yugi had caught sight of me by then. He smiled at me and motioned for me to go to him. Jounouchi glanced back at me, then scowled and turned back to their game.

I came over anyway. I wasn't about to let some blonde bother me. "Hi Yugi," I said, sliding into a seat next to him and scooting closer so I could watch them. "Who's winning?"

He looked surprised. "Um… well, I am. You know Duel Monsters?" He suddenly chuckled softly. "Sorry. I should have expected you did, with Kaiba-kun as your cousin… you play?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, a little, but I'm not that good."

Yugi brightened. "So you have a deck! I'd love to duel you sometime."

I hesitated at that. I had left my deck back at my old house. When they had told me I would be put in the orphanage, that was the time I had run. So now I didn't have anything with me…

"Well," I said slowly, "I had a deck. But I left it in my other house. Sorry. I sure wish we could duel though. I could hone my skills then."

"Oh, don't worry, we sell some packs at home. My grandpa has a game shop, you see. We could go over there later and—"

Jounouchi chose this time to interrupt. "There is no way I'm going to your house if she's going," he said shortly, switching his monster to defense position and setting down two cards. "Your turn, Yugi."

Before Yugi could say anything, however, I turned to Jounouchi. Enough was enough. This boy was really getting on my nerves.

"Excuse me, Jounouchi, but what have I done to piss you off so much?" I demanded. "Is it because you saw me with Kaiba?"

Jounouchi turned to me with a cold look in his brown eyes. "You could say that," he said smoothly. "I don't like him much. So I don't think I like you."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, sure, just because you saw me with somebody you hate, doesn't mean you should hate me right away! You don't know the whole story, Jounouchi. It's not what you think."

He glared at me. "Talkative and defensive. Just like your cousin. Okay, fine. Go ahead. Try me. Tell me the whole thing." He threw his cards onto the table and crossed his arms, looking at me expectantly.

"I was—" suddenly I couldn't say anything. I didn't know if Kaiba would allow me to tell the truth to anyone else. I mean, I was masquerading as his cousin after all, and if I told someone, they might spread it around, and then they would realize that Kaiba wasn't so cold after all, and—

"What, no story to tell?" Jounouchi sneered. "I knew it. You're a liar, just like Kaiba."

"Who's a liar, mutt?"

Jounouchi jumped and looked behind him. "Kaiba!" he said, smiling slyly. "I was just talking about you."

Yugi looked uncomfortable, and he glanced around to make sure no other students were watching. "Jounouchi-kun, I think you better stop—"

"Let him talk, Yugi," Kaiba said, his eyes fixed on Jounouchi. I could feel the tension emanating between the two of them.

"If I told you the truth, would you shut up?" he said, eyes finally flicking to me for a second before looking at Jounouchi again.

"Oh, so you're in this together," the blonde said coldly. "Come on. Let's see if you have the guts to tell me what the truth is. If there even is one."

I knew what would happen if Kaiba told the truth. He didn't want people to think he could actually open up to people. And if he did tell the truth, then Jounouchi would most likely spread this piece of information around, and then his reputation would be ruined.

"Kaiba, I—"

He looked at me again. "It's okay." He moved a step closer to Jounouchi, then said, "She's not my cousin."

Jounouchi looked at me, horrified. "So she's your girlfriend? Damn, Kaiba, I didn't know there would be a girl out there who would actually fall for a creep like you."

"She works for me." Kaiba said, just as the bell rang to signal the start of classes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to the teacher." He walked away.

Jounouchi watched him for a minute longer, then turned to Yugi and helped him clean up the cards, avoiding my gaze.

Sighing, I glanced at the teacher, who beckoned me to come forward so he could introduce me.

"Class, this is Tsuki. She's going to be your new classmate. So I hope you treat her right and make her feel at home. Now, let's find you a seat."

My day wasn't so bad, but it could have gone better. First, I ended up with Jounouchi as my seatmate. He still wasn't talking to me, for some reason. Then during recess, some of my classmates came up to me and asked "Where do you work in Kaiba's house? In the kitchen, or in the bedroom?" which unnerved me very much and told me Jounouchi had been spreading rumors.

Kaiba took those rumors very well, but I think that was because most of the students were teasing me, not him. I think they were too scared to actually target him. I guess most of them targeted me because they knew I wasn't related to him and that he wouldn't care.

The lessons themselves were pretty easy, because we had taken them the semester before at my old school. The method of teaching was kind of different though, which I would have to get used to.

Was I glad when we came back from the biology lab after a quick experiment (Yugi was my partner, so no harm there) and took out our Algebra books for Math, the last lesson of the day. I'm good at it, and I love it. So there wouldn't be much problem for me here, no matter how the teacher taught it.

Jounouchi glared at me as I waited for the teacher, sitting erect in my chair, hands in my lap and trying to pull the skirt down below my knees. "Trying to be teacher's pet, are you?"

I was tired of arguing with him. "No, I just like this subject. So sue me."

"I will," he assured me. When he wasn't looking, I rolled my eyes.

The teacher came in and put her things down on the table. "Good afternoon, class," she quipped lightly.

There was a scraping of chairs as the class stood up and greeted her in the customary fashion. "Good morning, Miss Takeshi."

She motioned for them to sit down, then wrote down today's agenda on the board. "We're just going to have a drill on Factoring Polynomials," she said briskly, tucking her hair behind her ear and pulling out some flash cards. "You know what to do, people. Stand up, read out the problem, then give your answer."

The whole class groaned. I guess they didn't like this very much. I was getting quite nervous myself. I didn't want to make a fool of myself. I was determined to get this right.

The teacher began from the back and worked her way along the rows of students one by one, giving each student some hints if they weren't able to give the answer right away. From the very beginning, I liked her. She was brisk, but very warm to the students. I could sense that, even though they didn't like this exercise, they trusted her. I began to feel more relaxed, not only because she seemed friendly, but because the problems were fairly easy.

Jounouchi stood up before me. I noticed he had broken out into a sweat. "Quantity A plus one times the quantity A minus one," he read aloud in a slightly choked voice. Then he became silent.

"What do you do in addition and subtraction of the same two terms?" the teacher asked. "Come on… this was the last thing we reviewed. I know you know this."

Jounouchi habitually tugged at the hem of his jacket, still not knowing what to say.

The teacher sighed. "I've had enough of you, Jounouchi. From the beginning of the year, you're inattentive in class, you've submitted just a handful of assignments that have no right answer in them, and your tests are all flunking! So you're not sitting down unless you get this one right."

Some students that were supposed to come after him breathed a sigh of relief. I suddenly felt mad at them. Jounouchi must really be bad at this, if the students acted this way.

I took up my ballpen and quietly began to write, pretending to be solving it, but I wasn't. That was an easy one, and I was going to help him. I don't know why I wanted to, but I felt sorry for him.

Jounouchi had his head down, and he was staring at his desk, writing on it with his finger as if trying to solve it, like I had pretended to be doing. I quickly nudged his shoe with my own, hoping he wouldn't make it obvious that I had called his attention. Thankfully, he shifted his eyes to my table and saw what I had scribbled in big letters to make it easier for him to read.

"SQUARE THE FIRST TERM, ADD A MINUS SIGN, THEN SQUARE THE LAST TERM."

He glanced up at the teacher again, reread the flash card, then said, "A squared minus one."

Both the teacher and the students looked surprised that he had gotten it. "Very good, Jounouchi," the teacher said, sounding amused. "Uh… Tsuki. You next." She flipped the flash card.

I loved the problem she had given me. "Quantity two A plus three B, close quantity cubed." I slowly dictated the answer as I solved it. "A cubed… plus… twelve A squared B… plus… eighteen A B squared plus B cubed." The teacher nodded, and I sat down.

Everyone in the class looked at me incredulously, including Jounouchi and Kaiba, the last two people on earth who I expected to look at me that way. Embarrassed, I looked back down at my desk and began doodling on the page I had scribbled my note to Jounouchi on.

Suddenly I felt Jounouchi poke me on the arm, and I turned to look at him. "Thanks," he whispered softly, "For that." He pointed at my notebook.

"No problem," I whispered back, smiling. "I just didn't like the way they were picking on you. No one has the right to enjoy that kind of torture."

For once, he gave me a smile. My heart jumped slightly, because he actually looked cute smiling at me like that. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you then. I've just been undergoing a rough time at home, something I'm too terrified to tell Yugi about."

"You don't have to tell me," I said, shaking my head. "At least now I know why you act that way. A friend of mine from my old school did that too. Then I found out she had family problems."

He continued to smile and looked down at his notebook again. "I stink in Math," he said, after a while. "Will you—well, if Kaiba will allow you to—will you teach me?"

"Sure," I said brightly, "on one condition."

He looked at me. "What's that?" he said, beginning to look uncomfortable again.

I tapped his arm with the tip of my ballpen. "We have to become friends. Because you wouldn't want to see the way I tutor anyone who isn't close to me."

He beamed and shook my hand. "Deal."

I smiled and turned to watch Kaiba, who was reading off the flash cards.

"Thirty-six A squared minus thirty-two A B plus four B squared, six A minus two B." He sat down.

Jounouchi looked at me again. "Kaiba used to be the only one who could solve that fast," he commented, studying me closely. "Not until you came along."

The bell rang.

I smiled at his remark and copied down the assignment the teacher dictated, while Jounouchi joyfully threw his things into his bag. Shaking my head, I wrote the assignment again on another piece of paper and stood, gathering up my Math things and tucking them into my arm, not bothering to put them in my bag.

Jounouchi stood up as well, and we walked out the door together.

"Here," I said, when we reached the gate, "I thought you might need this." I handed him the paper I had recopied the assignment on.

He read it. "What for?" he asked.

"You better do it. Or at least try to. I'm going to help you from now on."

He cocked his head, then smiled. "Really? You'll do that?"

I smiled and shrugged. "Why not? I have nothing else to do… but you'll have to wait until tomorrow, I guess, I have to go to work until seven tonight, and then I have to do my homework, plus I don't think Kaiba would want to see you at his house, seeing how you can't get within three feet of each other without shooting bad remarks at the other."

Jounouchi smiled. "Deal," he said happily. "I'll come to school early, I promise. I'll be here around six forty. I'd rather be here than at home, anyway." He suddenly fell silent.

I reached out and touched his arm for a moment. "Don't ask why I'm staying with Kaiba, and I won't ask why you'd rather stay here. Deal?"

He nodded. "Deal."

I waved goodbye and headed down the street. When I turned the corner, I stopped suddenly and groaned, realizing I had no idea where the Kaiba Corporation building was.

I was lost again.

There we go. So, please, click on the little button below! Please review! Thanks! Remember, more reviews means more chapters!