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!

FIVE

"Joint Separation"

LAST TIME…

Just as the limo pulled into the school courtyard, the students moving out of its way, Akemi reached for the door handle as Seto did for the opposite one but she paused. "I guess I really did say good-bye to my friend that day Mr. Kaiba took him away." She said softly.

Before Seto could even answer, she pushed open the door and quickly walked away. Seto also exited and his eyes followed her. Akemi was greeted by Yugi, Jonouchi, Honda and Anzu. He smacked the hood of the limo as he did every day and it pulled out, leaving the cerulean eyed CEO to walk into the building alone.

"Good-bye…"

THE STORY CONTINUES...

"Akemi, did you actually ride to school with Kaiba?" asked Anzu as the group of friends came up to her. They all wore faces of extreme curiosity and looked at her, waiting for an explanation. How was Akemi going to tell them yes without having to explain the entire story…the story she didn't want to share?

"Yes." She replied. "Yes I did."

"Did he do anythin' to yah?" asked Jonouchi. "It would be just like that lil' bastard to somethin'-…"

"No!" Akemi said firmly. They stared at her. "He didn't do anything. I just thought…he's just…different then I expected. I wouldn't really like to talk about it. Um, would you guys mind if I…uh…hung out with you?"

"Of course you can." Yugi said with a smile. "You bring your desk over with ours when lunch time rolls around."

Something burst in Akemi's mind and she gasped and smacked her forehead. "Damn it!" she cursed. "I forgot to get a lunch this morning at his house! Man, at least Mokuba gave me all the food to eat for breakfast."

"Are you saying you ate at Kaiba's house!" gasped Honda.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I spent the night." She said absent mindedly.

"Whaaaaaaat!" the friends said in collective surprise.

Seto watched as Akemi moved her desk over to Yugi's group with a tiny smile on her face. Suddenly he felt like he wanted to cross the room and rip her away from them. He shook his head and returned to his work, reminding himself that Akemi was no longer his friend and never would be again. She belonged with that stupid little group…with that stupid Yugi...

For the rest of the lunch period, Seto tried desperately not to look at her and succeeded for the most part. However, when he saw Jonouchi lean closer to talk to her, his temper flared and he smacked down the cover of his laptop. Nearly the entire class jumped and a few students dared to stare at him –Akemi, Yugi and his friends among them- but Seto glared at them until they looked away.

Once no one was staring, Seto reopened his laptop and set out to work again. 'What am I doing?' he thought loudly to himself. 'She's not worthy of my time…I hate her…I know that I do.'

The rest of the day seemed to take forever and Seto was so relieved to finally get out of school and away from those people that caused him annoyance. As usual, the limo was waiting with Mokuba all ready inside and Seto slipped through the door and onto the leather seats.

"So, did you talk to Kemi?" Mokuba asked with vigor. "Did you make up or what?"

Seto glared at his younger brother. "I thought I told you this morning while she was in the shower. She is no longer our friend, forget about her. I've alerted the security staff to keep an eye out for her in case she does something rash. If she's as foolish as she was in the past, she will definitely try something." He replied in snippy voice.

Mokuba sighed and slumped down in his seat. "Whatever you say big brother; are you going to test that new stuff for Kaiba Corp today?" he said.

A smile tugged at Seto's lips but he kept it under his stony mask. "Yes Mokuba. So you better be ready to miss dinner." He replied.

The people outside the limo could then hear a very loud, "ALL RIGHT!" that came from the small boy inside.

-

"Akemi, dear is that you?" asked her aunt as Akemi walked through the door. She appeared in the hallway as Akemi yanked off her shoes and put on some slippers that were waiting.

"Yes Auntie, it's me. I hope I didn't worry you too much." Akemi apologized.

Auntie enveloped her into a large hug and choked back a few tears. "My god Akemi, don't do that to me ever again. I was so frightened! I wanted so much to go to the school and check to make sure you were there but I was on duty at the hospital and had to leave. Where were you?"

"I told you Auntie," Akemi said as they pulled away. "I was at Seto Kaiba's house."

The older woman shook her head. "Akemi, I don't know why you need to lie to me and your parents about this. Seto Kaiba is a cold, heartless boy running the largest gaming company in the entire world. He inherited it from his father. There is no way on Earth he would know you. I doubt his father would allow it."

Akemi was silent at that, realizing that no one really knew about Seto's true background. Part of her wanted to blurt it all out, but the she kept her mouth shut, knowing that Seto wouldn't like it if she blabbed to everyone. Her aunt didn't really count as everyone but there was the chance that Yugi and his friends would bring it up again. And the sooner she started to keep her mouth shut, the better.

"Auntie, I'm tired. I got a little lost on my way home," Akemi said truthfully. "I'm going to take a bath and relax for a little while all right?"

"Of course dear, what ever you need."

Once Akemi was upstairs she turned on the bathwater and filled the tub up. She slipped into the water, letting her skin adjust to the temperature before relaxing. The humidity of the bathroom at that moment helped her headache subside. The entire day she had concentrated on not looking at Seto. The only time she let herself was at lunch when he smacked his laptop shut.

"So Akemi, what do you like about Domino City so far?" asked Yugi as he shared some of his lunch with her.

"Well, I've live in the suburbs for most of my life so I find it all sort of overwhelming. Yesterday I got lost and I had to ask someone for directions and run all the way here. This map that my aunt gave me was confusing…" she replied, pulling the hand drawn map out of her bag.

Jonouchi leaned closer to her so he was able to see it. "There's yer problem." He told her. "Yer aunt got her streets mixed up. Dis one comes out here, not here." He ran his finger over the pen line to show her what he meant.

A loud slam echoed through the classroom and the a few students picked their heads up to stare at Seto Kaiba. He was glaring at the group with such vigor, that Akemi felt as though she would turn to ice under such a cold gaze. When everyone was done staring Honda said:

"What the heck is Kaiba's problem all of a sudden?"

"Who knows?" put in Yugi.

"You think he would be a bit nicer to us since we've helped him and Mokuba so many times." Anzu said thoughtfully.

"Huh?" Akemi asked. "You know Mokuba Kaiba?"

"Yeah, he's a sweet kid, despite wat his brothah is like." Jonouchi replied.

"Oh."

That is where her mind drifted away from the conversation and Akemi began to walk down memory lane. Her images of Seto and Mokuba were when they were still young, because she hadn't taken into account that they would have changed over the years just as she had.

But now, those images were in shambles. From the way that Yugi, Jonouchi, Anzu and Honda spoke, Akemi realized that Kaiba wasn't just disliked…perhaps he was even hated to some degree. After cleaning up, she let the water spin down the drain and Akemi began to dry her body off with a fluffy down. That is when she heard her aunt talking on the phone.

"Mitsko? Yes, it's Natsuko." She was saying. "Akemi came home this afternoon…yes, she's just fine….taking a bath…I don't understand it either Mi. I know she's always been a good girl…no…no I can't just ask her something like that! All right…I understand. Bye Mi."

Akemi heard the receiver go down with a click and she took her ear away from the bathroom door. So her parents and aunt still didn't believe her…goodness knows what they thought she was doing. She gathered up her things and opened the door, heading towards her room. Her aunt had her back turned to the doorway and didn't see Akemi. She was glad about that, because she didn't really feel like talking to her aunt about Seto at the moment.

Once inside her room, Akemi changed into more comfortable clothing and put her slippers back on before heading downstairs to get something to eat. Sitting in the kitchen, she turned on the small television and found it was on a news station. Just as she was about to change the channel, a picture of Seto appeared on the screen.

"Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corp, has announced his company's plans to release the popular underground game, Dungeon Dice Monsters sometime during the next few months. The creator of the game, Ryuuji Otogi has been meeting with Seto Kaiba to fine tune his game so it will be quote: 'The best game possible'…"

Akemi let the remote drop onto the counter after she shut the television off, not wanting to hear any more about Seto Kaiba. Rummaging through the refrigerator, she found something to eat and thought:

'Auntie was right…there is no way on Earth he would know me…'

-

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Lookie! Another chapter! I am trying to maintain Kaiba's cold continence, but it's difficult. I've never had a character as heartless as he is…but half the fun is in the challenge right?

Stay tuned for more!