A/N: Yes, this was supposed to go out yesterday…I know that, but circumstances moved outta my control. If you move to Florida…you get company…that interferes with normal life and everyday flow. Anyway. You all know the drill I do no own Yu-gi-oh or any characters, but I do own my storyline…

Chapter 30

Teach Me to Believe in Something

The first thing he noticed when he drove up to the front of the mansion was that Wheeler's car was missing. This had to be the product of a bad dream, had they all left?

"You were given specific instructions not to let them leave." Kaiba growled to the guards, who raced out to greet him and Mokuba. His mind raced as his heart pounded. If she received a check and she thought he was paying her for her services—how on earth would he convince her that it was a mistake? His hand, instinctively, touched the lump in his chest pocket—this was hers. Kaiba's eyes narrowed.

"Fire whoever made the damn mistake," He walked to one of his cars; the limo was too bulky and slow. Mokuba raced over and slid in with him.

"You may need some help big brother," for just a moment Kaiba noticed--the raven-haired teen looked like his biggest fan, once again. It had been ages since Mokuba acted like this. He had the sudden urge to throw his briefcase at the boy, who was almost a man. "Let's go get her…" Mokuba chirped with glee.

Kaiba smirked; he was ready for this. It figured someone would screw this up. Hell, most things, if not done by him personally or Mokuba, were screwed up. They took off.

Mokuba gave him directions to Joey's house—Kaiba had never been there before. As soon as they arrived Kaiba parked and approached the door. He tried the bell and knocked. Hopefully, she would see the stupid mistake that had been made. Could she really believe he would do that even after last night?

"Seto," Mokuba called out. "I don't think they're here…Joey's car isn't in the garage, and I don't see it anywhere else."

"Damn," Kaiba growled. Where the hell was she?

Serenity stood there, watching the passengers board, her heart in her throat. She had come home so full of dreams and hopes. It was here, in this same airport, that she had first seen Kaiba, after all those years. If she knew then what she knew now, what would she change? A tear trickled down her cheek. The experience of a lifetime, wrapped up in a billionaire's arms. Her mind wouldn't stop repeating the last few frames, but her heart recalled fevered glances and warm, wet kisses. She touched her fingers to the glass, tracing the Kaiba Corp. building that loomed in the distance with her fingertip. He was there, in that building. Having repaid his debt, his life was moving on.

"It'll get easier," Mai whispered, squeezing Serenity's shoulder. "You'll settle in and start taking pictures again. There are so many men in New York—you'll have your pick ya know?"

"Will he have blue eyes and chestnut brown hair that feels like silk? Will a million butterflies stir me when he looks at me? Will I want…him, the way I want Seto?" Serenity shook her head. Why couldn't the thoughts and memories be pushed aside? "Who said it's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all?"

"Someone who never had their heart shattered." Mai shrugged, looking away. "I'll miss you."

Serenity tried to smile, "I'll miss all of you more, but I have to be away from here. I don't think there is a place in Domino that I wouldn't look up and see that damn building. I can't live under the shadow of 'could-have-been', it would drive me insane."

"Then go…heal and be happy Serenity. We'll always be here for you, if you need us." Mai hugged her tightly. She turned out of Mai's arms, after the hug, and looked towards Joey. He was quietly standing there, holding her bag. He had hardly said two words since Yugi and Tea had helped them pack.

Serenity slowly walked over to him, "I think I'll miss you most scarecrow…" She giggled. How many times had they watched that movie together?

"Leave it to Kaiba to screw this all up. I thought I'd be able to have you for a while. It's not fair." Joey turned from her, not wanting her to see his eyes mist over.

"What happened…happened. I wouldn't change anything Joey. He might have died if I hadn't intervened, who knows, maybe someday he'll change and it'll be because of me." She shrugged. He might actually learn to love a woman someday—all because she had stirred something in him. Had she? She still wasn't sure.

"Yeah, but I get to lose you because of him. How is that just?" Joey grabbed his little sister and hugged her tightly. She held him as well.

"It all happened for a reason Joey…now you have the money to get the ring and have a great big wedding. You and Mai can start a wonderful life together." She held back a sob. "Maybe that's why it all happened—to give you and Mai and Yugi and Tea happy endings." She pulled out of his arms, stood back and tilted his chin up. "I'd be happy and satisfied with that, just fly me home when the wedding happens."

"Where's your happy ending Serenity?" Joey asked.

"Not here…" she looked out the window, back to the Kaiba Corp. building. "I love New York, I think my happy ending is waiting for me there…" She wanted her happy ending to be here, with her friends and Joey. She wanted it to be in the Kaiba mansion, snuggled in Seto's arms. She wanted what was over. What Seto Kaiba had massacred. She wanted what never will be and maybe, never was.

"Final call for flight 732 non-stop to San Francisco…Final boarding call for flight 732."

"That's me," Serenity sighed. "Take care of each other and everyone." They all hugged together. Mai and Joey watched as Serenity disappeared down the tunnel, on her way to an altered future.

Kaiba and Mokuba sped off to Yugi's game shop. Maybe they went there. Kaiba didn't know what to think; only that he had a very bad feeling. Mokuba refused to meet his eyes when Kaiba asked how Serenity had reacted to the check. How stupid was he? He should have put names on the checks—this would have never happened if he did.

"Slow down Seto…you'll get us both killed at this rate!" Mokuba growled at his brother. He had never seen Seto look so demonically possessed.

When they got to the game shop, Mokuba realized Joey's car wasn't there—but Yugi's was. Progress. Possibly Yugi and Tea would know where Serenity was.

Seto slammed his way into the shop; he hadn't been here since he had challenged Yugi's grandfather for the fourth Blue Eyes. Was he foolish to think Yugi might help him? Then again, Yugi had helped him many times in the past, despite his crappy attitude. Kaiba rolled his eyes, thinking about what a wonderful person he had been. He had no intention of changing and showing weakness, but he had let her in. Now that she was embedded in his heart, he would fight to keep her there.

"Kaiba…what are you doing here?" Tea's voice stopped him.

"Where is Serenity?" He asked the much shorter girl. He would use intimidation to get the facts.

"She's where you'll never find her," Tea growled back. She had never been afraid of him and she'd be damned before she started. "Why the hell do you care anyway? Want to purchase more services from her?" Her sarcastic tone was cold and cutting.

"I don't have to explain anything to you. Where is she?" He had never hit a girl, but he wanted to hit her. What the hell did she mean by 'somewhere he would never find her'?

"If you came here looking to get information out of me for—get—it! She wants nothing to do with you anymore. She put everyone's lives on the line to save you, you cold-hearted jerk. Nice payback, you treat her like a common whore!" Fire flashed in her blue eyes. "I never thought you could sink so low…I remember in Duelist Kingdom when you forced Yugi's hand, then criticized his actions—actions that saved you. You're unbelievable Seto Kaiba. Why not go home to your computer? It seems to be the only thing you care about."

Her words stung, but he listened to every one of them.

"Tea," Yugi rushed out. "What are you…" his words stopped. "Kaiba? What are you doing here?" Yugi tilted his head, trying to figure out what was going on. He had missed something, he supposed.

"Where is she?" Kaiba asked, barely able to stop his voice from betraying his inner torment. Was she where he would never find her? Could they have hidden her that well? He would tear up Domino looking for her, and never stop until he succeeded.

"Serenity?" Yugi asked, knowing his answer already. "I don't understand…why? Why do you care Kaiba?" Yugi's voice was slow and even, not judging or screaming. Level and calm, as always, giving the benefit of the doubt—it was his gentle nature.

"I need to explain something…" Kaiba's voice lowered as his eyes fell to the floor.

"What! That maybe you paid her less than what her heart was worth!" Tea, once again, charged at him, angry as hell.

"You should tell her to calm down, and not judge so quickly." Kaiba hissed in Tea's direction, even though the words were meant for Yugi.

"Judge quickly?" Tea wanted to hit him—really hard. "You paid her for services rendered. She loved you and risked everything for you. You betrayed her heart and her soul. I should be calm? Maybe you should catch a clue Seto Kaiba. You treated her worse than the lowest common denominator, and now you have lost any right to see her—ever again." Tea's arms folded across her chest.

Yugi held a hand up in Tea's direction, as if to give her a silent warning of 'let me'.

"Why the check Kaiba? Why do that to her?" Yugi asked, not thoroughly convinced Kaiba was the bad guy.

"Why should I explain myself to you?" Kaiba spat.

"Because he's your last chance Big Brother." Mokuba had come in at some point and was standing behind Kaiba. "Tell him what happened, or I will."

Kaiba gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He never had to explain motives or actions. He really hated that he would have to now. Did she mean enough to him that he would back down and show a bit of his soul? He closed his eyes, contemplating for a moment.

He could feel her eyes on him and so he opened his. Cool ocean blue met honey brown for the first time in hours. She was smiling at him. He moved forward on his chair, so that he was closer to her. That didn't satisfy Serenity; instead she shifted in the bed and patted the place beside her. He complied, quickly wrapping her in his arms, she scooted slightly on top of him—sliding one of her legs between his two. She tilted her face up to him; he caught her mouth with his. Hours ago he was terrified he had lost her and now here she was in his arms—alive and no worse for wear. Softly he nibbled her lower, then her upper lip. She sighed against his mouth, terrified that she would wake up and this would be a sweet dream.

"I want you Serenity," he growled against her mouth. "When we leave here," he smiled at her like a child with a secret, "your bed will never be empty again."

She giggled, although it hurt her throat a bit. "I'm not giving that to you unless I know your intentions are pure, Mr. Kaiba." Her voice had a very raspy tone to it thanks to the smoke. He liked it, thinking it was quite sensual.

"Are you looking for a commitment?" He asked. She shook her head 'no'. He softly kissed her nose.

"I'd rather have your time," she croaked, smiling as she put her hand over her mouth. She sounded awful.

"How about I give you both?" He kissed her again.

Images haunted Kaiba, he had to do anything and everything. He had never swallowed his pride, was slow to give a thank you, and sucked at apologizes (not that he ever made any, the few he had were half-hearted at best). Would he change so completely for this girl—his whole way of living?

"The check wasn't supposed to go to Serenity. One of my staff made a mistake. It was supposed to go to you." His blue eyes caught Tea's lighter blue, slightly confused ones.

"You expect me to believe that?" Tea finally stammered. "Why would you write me a check? I did nothing…"

"You did, you let Yugi help. You let him put himself in harm's way for me. You deserved compensation as much as anyone." Kaiba looked away.

Tea blinked a few times, it was all sinking in. "You weren't going to give Serenity anything?" Tea asked, in a quieter tone.

Kaiba sighed in frustration. Now she was mad that Serenity wasn't getting a check? Two seconds ago she was ready to rip him apart because Serenity had gotten a check. What the hell was up with women? Was there any reason to them, hell was there any way to reason with them?

"Serenity wasn't going to get a check." Kaiba folded his arms across his chest, now he was really getting annoyed.

"Wasn't what she did…didn't it deserve something? I mean, the rest of us did things, but she was nearly raped." When the words left her lips Tea regretted them. Kaiba's face changed, as if all the sorrow in the world lay behind his blue eyes. Could it be his conscience wasn't so empty?

"Show them Seto," Mokuba coaxed, gently. "You have to make them understand."

Kaiba wanted Serenity to see it first. It was her ring, it would be wrong for them to know before she did. Then again, if he didn't show them, he might never have the chance to show Serenity. Slowly he reached into his chest pocket and pulled out the small box. He opened it and looked at the ring first, before he rested it on one of the glass cases. He heard Tea gasp, and Yugi take a deep breath.

"Kaiba," Yugi lifted up the box, confused and yet so full of joy. "This is for Serenity? Is it an engagement ring?…"

"Of course it is!" Mokuba couldn't contain his excitement anymore. "He wants to marry her!"

You could have heard a pin drop in the game shop, at that moment. All eyes fastened on Seto Kaiba.

"Do you…do you love her?" Tea asked, eyes wide.

Yugi smiled, and nodded. He was right, Kaiba had changed. Gone was the man looking to fight in order to prove he was free of Gozaburo Kaiba. This man's agenda was for love. He always fought for Mokuba, but Mokuba's heart was always his. This time Kaiba was going after something quite illusive. Seto Kaiba was in love.

"Quick," Yugi acted, "we have to get you to the airport, now!" He grabbed his and Tea's jacket, while Tea grabbed their keys. Kaiba and Mokuba looked very confused. Airport?

"Do you want her or not?" Tea growled as she shoved Kaiba towards the door.

The drive to the airport caused them each to lose several years off their lives. Even Mokuba was scared, and he had driven with his brother before.

They abandoned the car in the red 'no loading zone' and made their way into the airport, disregarding the screaming security guards.

"She's on her way to New York, I just have no idea which airline she would take." Yugi gasped as he tried to catch his breath.

"We have to look for all the flights to New York." Tea stopped in front of a monitor.

"No flights go directly from here to New York." Kaiba countered, "There has to be a stop over of some sort…" He pulled out his phone and flipped it open. Calling the office he had his people try to find her on a flight…any flight.

"Isn't it illegal to pull up plane manifests?" Tea asked, with concern.

Mokuba smirked, "for some yeah, but not for my brother. No one will know he even entered the system."

With only a slight change in his eyes, Kaiba flipped his phone shut.

"I missed her," it was barely whispered.

"What do you mean?" Mokuba asked.

"Her plane took off a few minutes ago, and I missed her. She left thinking that I…" He couldn't even finish his statement. She left believing he thought she was a hooker, a common street whore. She hated him. He hated himself.

"Where was she going in New York?" Mokuba asked Yugi.

"She said she would call and let us know when she got settled… She didn't give us anything specific. I'm so sorry… Maybe you could fly there and find her?" Tea bit her lip. Kaiba hadn't looked this lost since he was almost defeated by Yugi at Pegasus's castle. It was as if he were shutting down.

Mokuba pulled out his own phone and flipped it open.

After retrieving the plane information he called the New York office of Kaiba Corp.

"I want two men to wait for flight 847 from San Francisco at JFK. It is a continuation of flight 732 from Tokyo. A girl will be getting off—Serenity Wheeler. Long red hair, slight build, about 5'5, brown eyes, age 20. Find her and have her tailed. Under no circumstances is she to be approached. Make sure she is never out of your sight, not for a moment…" Mokuba slapped his phone shut. The next call he made was to arrange travel for his brother to New York.

"You have grown up," Tea smiled at Mokuba. "I never thought you would take control."

Mokuba smiled, "I learned to be calm from my big brother." He beamed at Seto, who was slowly starting to come back around. "If you'll excuse us, we have a flight to catch."

The two brothers started to walk away, towards a private gate. Kaiba suddenly turned around and looked at Tea.

"You once asked me what I had at the end of the day. My answer then was 'all I need'." Kaiba started. Tea nodded in remembrance. "I think I'll change that now…"

Yugi smiled at Kaiba. "What do you have now?" His once fiercest rival asked.

"I have hope." With that, Seto Kaiba turned and walked to a plane that could possibly take him to his destiny.

Serenity called for help, and Kaiba was at her side instantly. She didn't notice how it took no time for him to reach her. She was in quite a deal of pain. He had her shoe in his hand, he dropped it into her lap and he knelt beside her.

"If you yell at me right now I swear I'll scream," she thought he looked exasperated.

"You already are screaming," he pointed out the obvious.

"I've fallen and I think I broke my ankle." She whimpered, but refused to cry.

"Just what were you doing out here Wheeler? As if I didn't know."

"I think I should go at this alone. I've caused you too much trouble already. If you just get me back to the hotel, I'll call my brother and then I'll set everything back to normal." She hoped he would see that this was the logical way of doing things, and that he'd agree.

"I don't think so. You pulled me into this and now I'll get us out." He smirked at her, "Besides, you're in my debt and I do intend to collect." His gaze lingered on her lips and she licked them gently. She felt herself blush, and had the strongest urge to smack him.

He leaned forward to assess the damage to her ankle, before he touched her she cried out in pain.

"The usual way it's done it to feel the pain before you complain about it," he explained.

"I was just preparing myself Kaiba, I know you'll inflict more pain so I decided to get a head start." She glared at him in defiance.

He had already figured out that it wasn't broken. It hadn't swelled up and she could move her toes without crying out.

She, naturally, didn't believe him. He wasn't a doctor. She leaned forward and placed a hand on his arm for balance to see if her ankle was, in fact, all right. Her face was just inches from his. She looked at her foot while he looked at her.

"It looks broken," she admonished.

"It isn't."

"Well it looks broken," she argued.

"But it's not."

She eyed him suspiciously and with a bit of anger. "You know, you should learn about sympathy Kaiba. This is a horrible thing that happened to me. I'm hurt and you're not being the least bit comforting!"

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been stupid enough to try to run away from me." He reminded her.

"I wasn't running away. I was just making myself scarce. I figured you would get in the car and drive away before you even missed me." She looked right at him when she told that lie. That was a mistake because only then did she realized how close he was. Neither said a word as their eyes locked. She couldn't seem to catch her breath. Those eyes of his seemed to make her heart skip beats.

She noticed a piece of his hair was looming dangerously close to his eyes and she reached out and brushed it away. He acted as thought she had just smacked him. He jerked back, looking quite annoyed. She was so embarrassed by his reaction that she turned her face away from him.

"You're a very hard person to understand Kaiba. I've been around you for a bit now and I've decided that you're a grump with a bad temper. You have so much and yet you're so ill mannered."

He smiled at the authority in her voice, "What else have you noticed?"

"That you don't like me." She stated that so simply.

She waited for him to tell her that she was wrong, but when a denial didn't come she continued, "You think I'm a nuisance."

"Yes, I do."

She took exception to his honesty. "I could learn to hate you, Seto Kaiba."

"No you couldn't," the look he gave her made her stomach quiver. "I may be unpleasant, but you're very sweet natured. I don't think you know how to hate."

She had tried to run before and was quite unsuccessful. He'd be damned before he let her get away this time. He was right back then, she couldn't hate. She would be reasonable and logical…and if she didn't shoot him on sight—he might be able to explain himself.

A/N: Yes, I used two flashbacks in this chapter. They were necessary in my eyes. I've never flashed back before, but Kaiba's about to do something very out of character—chase a girl. I think I needed to justify his actions. Besides, I happen to like their early interactions and it was fun revisiting those scenes. Hope you enjoyed.