A/N: No Yu-gi-oh ownership claimed here.

Chapter 12

Serenity sat in Kaiba's office with her feet propped up on his desk, arms folded across her chest. The reaction to her donning of his shirt and, heaven forbid, white trench coat would be worth whatever retribution she faced. The man seriously needed to loosen up, he was so uptight. Goading his temper wasn't the best way to gain his friendship but it sure was amusing.

She looked around the room. It certainly didn't remind her of the cold-hearted CEO. It was actually pleasant. There were bookshelves covering one wall, with enough books to keep a person busy into the next decade, plants, and a wonderful stone fireplace. Two leather armchairs were placed before the hearth. Could it be possible to find Seto Kaiba reading quietly from one of these books before a roaring fire? The scene was positively romantic. Wait a minute, her heart lurched, romantic? What was she thinking? He was an iceberg and even though he somewhat knew how to kiss he was not the man for her.

Tristan, now there was a man. He was warm and sweet and he respected her. Heck, he actually apologized after he kissed her for moving too fast. Kaiba, on the other hand, had invaded her privacy in the bathroom and then he kissed her this morning as if he were going to devour her. What was with that? Tristan would never do something like that. Would he carry her for miles? Would he tend to her hurt ankle? Kaiba had. Would she want Tristan to kiss her the way Kaiba had? She sighed, if Tristan did manage to kiss her the way Kaiba had she would have retched. No, she most certainly didn't want Tristan's advances, her mind involuntarily reminded her of his sloppy kiss. Question was did she want Kaiba's?

The door opening brought her back to the present. In glided Seto Kaiba. He was wearing all black and despite herself she thought he looked amazing. He stopped as the door shut behind him. There she was in his chair, behind his desk, with those long legs propped up. Damn her legs were shapely and long. She wasn't the gangly, lanky child from years ago. His blue eyes greedily took in her form. If she had telepathy she would have been trembling at his thoughts. As it was, her blushed stained cheeks were a deep pink that he decided wasn't unbecoming.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked unenthusiastically, ending the silence.

She sat there speechless, he smirked, eyes glinting. He approached the desk. Quickly she yanked her feet down, she had to stop the progress of his gaze that was going slowly up the length of her body and would have soon settled on her backside, which was slightly exposed due to her position. What the hell had she been thinking?

His eyes were beginning to take on a smoldering quality. He looked dangerous. What was he thinking?

"If you intended to distract me from work you have succeeded." He circled his desk and began approaching. Quickly she jumped up and tried to make her way aroundto the other side of the deskin an attempt to evade him. Unfortunately the long trench coat had other ideas as it became tangled in her feet and caused her to trip forward. How come it flared out for him, yet snarled around her? Two wonderfully strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind. He pulled her up and pressed her against the length of his body. He was so warm…and strong.

"Let go of me." She hissed.

"No," he replied as he buried his face in her neck.

"Kaiba I demand…"

"Demand?" He cut her off.

"Yes…demand…that you let me go." His warm breath tickled her ear and sent shivers down her spine.

He released her and she fell forward onto the floor with a thud. Luckily she had had the sense to place her hands out to break the fall.

"Why did you do that?!" She asked as she tried to regain her composure from her sprawled out position on the floor. As fast as possible she regained her footing and stood before him.

He looked her up and down, thinking she looked quite charming in his shirt, absently wondering how wonderful she would look out of it…

Tugging the shirt down as far as it would go she sneered at him. He was sinking to new lows and she was having none of it.

"Do you mind?!"

"In fact, I do. Why are you wearing MY clothes? If this is an attempt at seduction…my answer is…" His words halted at her reaction.

He smiled wickedly as her face quickly paled. Seduction? She never had that in mind. What was Kaiba's problem?

"I need clothes and you told me to raid the closets and find something. I couldn't find anything more appropriate. I won't wear a coat with nothing underneath!"

"You're wearing my coat now."

"Yes, but I'm also wearing your shirt underneath."

"What's under the shirt?" He sneered. She shivered, thinking he was acting like a wolf. What was he doing?

"That's none of your concern!"

"It is, when I demand you return my things I have to know how you'll be walking around my home."

"You expect me to remove my clothing and walk around?" She was flabbergasted.

"Correction Wheeler, MY clothes. You don't think of the consequences of your actions do you?"

"I do!"

"Then you wouldn't have done this to further anger me." It was lust in his eyes, not anger, but she was too naive to notice the difference.

"You should have taken me clothes shopping and then none of this would have happened! I was merely trying to prove my point."

"What point would that be?" He asked.

"That I needed a change of clothing. Are you listening to me?" She was getting more aggravated by the minute.

"Do you realize you buttoned my shirt incorrectly?" He walked over to her and began unbuttoning the shirt. She finally managed to climb out of the shock his touch had put her in and tugged the shirt up and around her.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She tried to button the top back up without exposing more skin than was necessary.

"I'm being a gentleman and helping you dress."

"You mean undress…" she muttered.

"I can do that too if you wish." She was astonished at his suggestion.

"You won't be undressing me anytime soon Kaiba."

"Then undress yourself and give me back my clothes." He folded his arms and waited.

"It will be a cold day in hell before I strip in front of you!" she challenged.

He sat down in his chair as she rounded the front. He regarded her with hard eyes as he steeled his fingers together.

"I will not remove my clothing!"

"Correction-MY clothing."

"Go to hell Kaiba."

"I'm already there thanks to you Wheeler."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"I have meetings to attend and a corporation to run. I can't do that from here and why am I here? It's because of you!" He stood and leaned over his desk glaring at the defiant redheaded witch who had been a problem from day one.

"I don't think I caused a man's death. What could I have done to make that happen? Besides the man was saying something about pushing a patent through and stall tactics because of some stupid prototype, oh, and the murderer was pissed because he had to bail his victim out of jail. I think it was stupid to bail him out to just kill him."

Serenity didn't notice Kaiba's eyes narrowing as it finally began to dawn on him.

"Sit down!" He barked at her. She quickly complied without a comeback.

"What did you hear in the warehouse that day? Tell me everything you remember, this is important."

"I don't remember much…" She sighed.

"Try," he growled.

"Well, the big guy, who was shot, was mad because he was told to confront someone…" she hesitated as if remembering. "Then the little guy said something about a prototype not being the real work, that it was just a distraction to keep the pain in the ass busy. I did take some pictures, but my camera was left in the car the day we broke down. Damn! I should have taken the film with us, but I didn't think because someone was yelling at me."

Serenity looked at Kaiba. He was hanging on her every word.

"What is it Kaiba?"

"I'm beginning to understand what you stumbled on to. I think this problem might be a bit more serious than I first realized." He started attacking his laptop with a fury. After a minute or two he turned the laptop around to face her.

"Is this the man?"

Her eyes glided over the picture, she shook her head slowly yes. She would never forget what the man looked like. Dread filled her, she was the last person to see him alive.

"I think I know what's going on now. This revolves around me and Kaiba Corp." He lamented.

"The short guy said something about it being a cover, the prototype thing. It was just to keep…I guess you…busy." Her eyes met his.

"Are we in trouble?" She looked scared.

"We're safe here, for now." He pulled the laptop back and began typing, her presence was inconsequential and slowly she stood and left the room.

Hours passed and night fell. A new storm had moved in. Lightening lit the sky as thunder shook the walls of the house. A pelting of hail fell as Serenity curled up tightly in her bed. Terrified of the turn of events, Kaiba was the intended target and she was now his partner of sorts. The colossal storm provided the assurance that sleep would be evasive.

He sat in his hotel room. The bottle of bourbon slowly drained into his glass. He had learned little, if anything, about the CEO's where a bouts. Going from store to store flashing the pictures turned up nothing. His only lead was when a young boy commented that Kaiba was the best duelist around. When he asked the kid if he had seen Kaiba around the town he was about to answer when his mother grabbed his hand and led him away.

"You shouldn't talk to strangers!" She chastised the boy.

He drained the glass and then poured another. His time was running out. If he couldn't find them he faced the same fate as… He didn't even want to go there.

He looked around at the cheap motel room. It was a damp, musty place that was intended for trysts not for actually sleeping. Sleeping was escaping. He wouldn't sleep well until Seto Kaiba was dead and the girl too. Reinforcements would arrive in the morning and then they could blanket the area more thoroughly. He knew they had to be here somewhere. The road they took from Domino led nowhere but here, so here they had to be.

Serenity restlessly shifted her position in the bed again. She couldn't sleep and her nerves were fried. Turning the light off might help, but the thought of being in this place in the dark was scarier than insomnia. The storm was fast approaching. She stood up and went to the window. Looking down towards the lake she noticed the two boats tied to the dock being tossed by the storm's wrath. Suddenly she was plunged into darkness. Her heat raced at the prospect of being here in the dark…alone. Her fear temporarily paralyzed her, it took a moment to recover. She raced for the door and took off down the hall, she cringed as she thought about her infantile fear, but Seto Kaiba's room was better than being alone.

A/N: Hmmmm Seto Kaiba's warm bed in a thunderstorm? Any takers?! Please read and review…I write off reviews: the more I get the quicker I update, and things are getting interesting are they not? LOL…thanks!