Run For His Money

YoukaiJilly

Seto Kaiba has only met his match in Yugi Mutou...or so he thought. When a new girl comes to Domino High, she'll make it her mission to deflate Seto's head. Although Seto constantly tries her patience she's not backing down!

TWO

"Remember Me..."

LAST TIME...

Seto opened it and his mouth formed a thin line. It was a picture of him and Mokuba, the same one that he had himself. It was when they were in the orphanage, before they had been adopted by their step-father. "So? I've seen it before." He told her. Akemi pointed to a child behind them, sort of hidden behind the others. He looked closer and his mouth sort of fell into a little o.

"That's...that's Kemi...one of our best friends at the...you are...?" said Seto un-nerved.

"Yeah, I am. Forgotten me all ready have you? I guess being such a CEO big shot would do that to you!" she snapped, yanking back the picture. "I don't know what I was thinking, coming here to look for you. It's been a waste of my time."

"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Seto in his normally cold tone. She jabbed him with her finger.

"That. You never sounded like that before. Go back to your work Mr. Kaiba. I'm afraid that I have nothing more to say to you." Akemi said. And with that, she walked back to the classroom just as then one minute bell rang, notifying all students wondering the halls to hurry back inside.

THE STORY CONTINUES...

Seto looked down at his hand, where the picture had previously had been. 'How...how could that girl be Kemi? Kemi was so shy and...' he thought, his mind a whirl of confusion. She had come back to look for him...Seto could barely believe it. Kemi had been the one to come and get Seto when Mokuba was being teased...she had actually socked an older orphan for them.

Seto went back to class and made it in a few steps before the teacher. Of course, it wouldn't have mattered if he had been late. The teacher would shrug it off and he would get a few disapproving looks from his classmates. It was nothing new. As he passed Akemi's seat, she huffed and turned away from him. He could see the picture sticking out from her bag. It looked like it had been folded and un-folded so many times...was she really looking at it that much?

As he sank into his seat, Seto told himself that it didn't matter. Their friendship was over. He had changed too much, she probably had too. There was no way that something so old could be re-kindled. It was best not to think about it. So away he went, back to typing on his keyboard as the teacher started the lesson. Every now and again he would glance up to look at the board, or at Yugi. But a few times, his eyes would flick over to Akemi's seat...and then he would tear his eyes away once again

The day went relatively slowly for Seto and more than once he left the class during the break to stand in the hallway, merely looking out the window. By the time it was time to leave the school, Seto had almost the entire front yard committed to memory. When the bell rang, he was one of the first ones out the door, walking briskly past the other students.

He saw Akemi shake her head from the corner of his eye to Yugi and his friends, and then smile and wave politely, heading out the door. She fell in right behind Seto and he could feel her eyes on his back. As he stepped out of the classroom and walked down the hall, he tried to catch her staring at him but she was instead looking out the window. Other students fell in around them.

"Akemi, why don't you come with us? We're heading to the arcade right now to see Anzu beat everyone at DDR." Yugi said with a smile. Anzu was blushing. Akemi thought for a moment and with a non-chalant glance at Seto as he headed towards the door.

"No thanks guys. Not today. My aunt would get worried." she replied, shaking her head. "Bye, I'll see you tomorrow." With that she waved and made her way to the door, clutching her school bag.

Akemi silently cursed as she fell in right behind Seto, but couldn't move backwards because of the other classmates that were behind her. Forced to walk behind him, she stared straight into his blue uniform jacket, mentally straining herself to keep from looking up at him. Once inside the hall, other students conjoined with them...but for some reason, Akemi felt like they were the only ones in the hallway.

'How...how can crazed limo boy be Seto? He doesn't smile, he doesn't laugh. He sits in class and types away on his keyboard the entire time. Has he changed that much? Well...one way to find out.' Akemi thought. She followed Seto, keeping a few other people in between them at all times.

As they exited the school, the kids somewhat separated to let Seto pass by. Akemi kept to the side, but still walking near by him. As he opened the limo door, Akemi rushed up and hopped in after him. The limo was moving by the time she had yanked the door shut.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Seto. He stared at her with both malice and surprise. Akemi just looked out the window. Then something heavy knocked into her and Akemi took a large gasp of breath. She looked down at a small, black haired little boy. She squealed and hugged him back, yanking him into her lap.

"Mokuba!" she shouted.

"Kemi!" was his enthusiastic reply. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you...and Seto," said Akemi, running her hand over the top of Mokuba's head like she was petting a cat. He didn't seem to mind and cuddled against her like one. Seto stared at them with a look of disgust.

"What's wrong Seto? Aren't you happy to see Kemi?" asked Mokuba, glancing at his older brother and seeing his foul mood. Seto slammed his fist down onto the side of the seat.

"That is not Kemi. We are not the same people anymore Mokuba. Those days are gone. You don't know this girl. Once we come to a stop light, she's getting out." He replied in his harsh voice. Akemi shivered. She wasn't used to being on the receiving end of such an abrasive voice.

"That's not true Seto!" protested Mokuba. Akemi stared at the top of his head. She shifted the boy she was looking at him. There was a some what saddened expression on her face.

"Actually, it is true Mokuba. None of us are the same people we were at the orphanage. We've all changed. I have, Seto has, even you have." She said quietly. "However, some people change for the better...and some for the worse."

Seto stiffened. She couldn't possibly mean him! Look at what he'd accomplished in his life! He'd become the CEO and owner of the largest gaming company in the world! He was one of the top duelists in the world as well, not to mention he'd done an excellent job at raising Mokuba. At least he thought so...

He watched Akemi for a moment, studied her as she talked to Mokuba. Something flashed in Seto's mind as he saw the smile on her face...it reminded him of the time when she had learned they were going to be adopted by Mr. Kaiba. It had been a rash decision. It was rare when Seto regretted it...but for some reason, he did at the current moment. The same look that Akemi had on her face was the same one that she had then. Sad...tormented.

The car stopped and Mokuba released Akemi from his hug and looked at her with a face that reminded Seto of one that a puppy dog might make when its master left. She put her hand on the car door handle and before it could even open, Seto grabbed her hand and lifted it off.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked her. "I didn't say that you could leave yet."

Akemi gave him a funny look but then just smiled and wrapped her fingers around his. "Thank you," she told him. Seto blushed and let his hand stay stationary for a moment before gently taking it away.

He coughed. "Don't go getting ideas. This is for Mokuba's sake. Not for mine." He told her hurriedly. "You can call your home once we get to the mansion."

"Mansion?" said Akemi in an exited voice. "That is so damn awesome!"

"I can't wait to show you my room Kemi!" said Mokuba. "And then I can show you Seto's! He's got bunches of new game stuff that people aren't allowed to see yet!"

"Now wait a minute!" protested Seto. "I barely allow you to see them Mokuba, what makes you think I'm going to show them to Akemi?"

Mokuba looked at his older brother like he had lost his mind. "Because, this is Kemi and we show her everything!" he said. Seto glared at his younger brother but Mokuba just stick his tongue out at him with a smile. Akemi just laughed.

"Welcome home Mr. Kaiba," said an electronic voice as the limo pulled inside the gates of the Kaiba mansion. Mokuba pointed out the window and Akemi looked, her mouth dropping wide open.

"Wow! You guys live here! That Kaiba man who came must have been more loaded than we thought!" she gasped.

"Well, not really," said Mokuba. "Seto bought this with his own money."

Akemi stared at Kaiba. "I guess you're pretty well off," she trailed. Before Seto could say anything she was peering out the window in awe again. When the limo stopped, the driver was quite surprised to see Akemi get out but when Mokuba explained she was their friend, he just smiled and welcomed her.

Mokuba dragged her inside and began to show her around the mansion. He showed her the large dining room, the kitchen, the living room and game room and the other various rooms before letting Akemi call her "aunt."

"Auntie? Yes, yes I'm fine...I'm over at a friend's house...his name's Seto Kaiba...yes Auntie I'm serious! I'm not joking...okay...bye." Akemi said with a sigh, hanging up the phone.

"What was that about?" asked Mokuba.

"She didn't believe me. She said I can stay but that I have to tell whose house I really was when I get home." Akemi said. "Do you really think she'd believe me when I said that I knew the infamous Kaiba brothers?"

"That reminds me," said Kaiba, glancing at her. "How did you know where we were?"

"You mean from besides all the new coverage that you get?" asked Akemi, her hand still on the phone. She let it down with a click. "I knew you lived here for a while. But it was a long time before I was able to get the grades and money to come here. My parents live in a town up North. They didn't believe me at first either but they finally let me come."

There was an uneasy silence then Mokuba took Akemi's hand and started pulling slightly. "Come on Kemi," he said. "I still have to show you our rooms!" She smiled and followed him out of the room and up the stairs. As they were ascending to the next floor, there was a loud booming noise and Seto looked out the window. Akemi and Mokuba did as well, and Akemi murmured, "A storm is coming..."

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Author's Note:

A rather bad way to end a chapter don't you think? Oh well, its page five and that's where I cut off. Goof for you however, because this chapter is a bit longer than the last one. Not that you can really tell...

...any who, I do hope you enjoy reading this and I do have to make one announcement. Please review and tell me whether you think I should put dueling in this story. I know I know...it's the entire basis of the show and without dueling there is no show! However, I find that writing down an entire duel, card by card would be too tedious of a task.

Please let me know your opinions and recommend this stories to others please, before the next update, that way I can get lots of feed back! I also need to come out with a more solid plot line...I am sort of just winging it now...can you tell?

Much love to all of you!