Disclaimer: In an effort to avoid being locked in closets, I will admit that I do not own Yu Gi Oh!. However, please note that I don't do this gladly.

"Seto? Seetttttttoooooooo… Seto!"

Seto jerked, focusing on his brother. "Sorry, kid… Did you say something?"

Mokuba frowned at him from across the table, cocking his raven-haired head as he spooned cereal into his mouth. "What were you thinking about?"

"…Nothing, Mokuba."

"Oh, of course," he smirked. "Geez, Seto, you've got it bad."

"Got what bad?" he growled.

"C'mon, we all know that 'nothing' means 'Serenity,' doesn't it?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," was the mumbled reply.

Now that he didn't need his brother to cooperate with him as he had during their conversation the day before, Mokuba saw no reason not to have a little fun. He continued to tease the older boy as they finished breakfast and got ready for school.

Seto grew more and more annoyed, and just before they left the front entrance hall to go down to the limousine, he turned to his younger brother. "Look here, Mokuba. Unless you want to be grounded until you're his age," he jerked his thumb towards the goon who was waiting for them by the limo, "that information is not to leave this house. Do you understand me?"

Mokuba blinked. "Of course, Seto," he said, serious this time. "I'm not gonna tell."

"Good."

The two brothers walked together down to the limousine.

Same old, same old… Seto thought in annoyance. Why did he bother going to school again? Oh, yes, that's right, he had to set a good example for Mokuba. Anyway, he only had to finish up this year, which was already over halfway done, and survive the next one, and he'd be free to concentrate entirely on his company instead of wasting hours a day learning things that he had commited to memory ages ago. He already had a college education, or at least the moral equivalent. Gozaburo had seen to that.

He sighed as he gathered his belongings and moved to his next class, which would no doubt be just as boring as all the ones before it. He wasn't paying much attention to where he was going. He had memorized the blueprints of the school some time ago, figuring that it might come in handy someday, so he didn't need to think about which way to go. As for bumping into someone… well, people tended to get out of his way.

So he was surprised, to say the least, when someone ran smack dab into him.

The force of the impact sent him stumbling backwards, and, momentarily stunned, he fell with a muffled curse. Whoever it was that had run into him landed on top of him.

Releasing a string of obscenities, Seto sat up…

And froze when he saw who was lying dazed across his chest.

Serenity.

She sat up, mumbling hasty apologies. She lifted her gaze to meet his and instantly colored. "Mr. Kaiba! I'm… I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, I wanted to be early for my next class so I could talk to the teacher about something, I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry…" She said all of this very quickly as she rose to her knees and began to collect the various books and papers that had been scattered in the fall.

He sat staring at her, not moving. Noticing this, she stopped babbling and looked at him. "Mr. Kaiba? Are you okay?"

He jerked, snapping back to reality. "I'm fine," he replied gruffly. Trying to ignore her so that he could regain control of his shortened breathing and racing heart, he crouched, taking his laptop out of its case and giving it a quick once-over to be sure that it hadn't been damaged. Satisfied that it had not been, he replaced it in its case and rose to his feet.

Serenity had returned to collecting her scattered papers. She was stacking his own books as she did so, apparently sorting everything out. Content that she had gotten everything in line, she stood as well and offered him his dropped belongings.

"Here you go, Mr. Kaiba. I'm sorry this happened; I'll pay more attention next time."

He took them from her, swallowing as their hands accidentally brushed. Steady, Blue Eyes, he mentally growled. Don't make a fool of yourself any more than you already have – remember your training… Great Blue-Eyes White Dragon, did she just smile? At me? He nearly lost it at that, but some shred of sense saved him from losing his dignity.

"Have a good day, Mr. Kaiba."

He blinked, only now noticing that she had gathered her books and was hurrying away. He also noticed that the halls, which had been crowded earlier, were now empty. The bell must have rung sometime between the collision and just now. Odd, he hadn't heard it…

Seto looked about him, realizing that he was going to be late if he didn't hurry. The teenager spun around – his classroom was in the opposite direction from the way the girl had run off – and noticed something on the floor. He stooped down to pick it up, raising his eyebrows when he saw the sketch that had been drawn on the single sheet of white lined notebook paper.

It was a dragon. Quite a well-drawn dragon, he might add, its wings spread and its head raised high, every detail drawn with precision.

And in the bottom right-hand corner, in neat, elegant handwriting, was signed, "Serenity Wheeler."

He stared at it. He didn't know that she drew. As a matter of fact, it surprised him. Hadn't she been blind a few years ago?

He stroked the picture, careful not to smudge it. I didn't know she liked dragons…

He looked up, mentally kicking himself. Who cared if she liked dragons, he was going to be late! Seto Kaiba was never late.

He hurried down the hall, coming close to running as he raced to his next classroom.

The teacher looked up as he stepped inside. "Mr. Kaiba. So nice of you to join us."

Seto's eyes narrowed in anger as he heard snickers from around the classroom. He glared at the teacher, his voice icy as he spoke. "One more word and I shall inform the authorities about your activities on the twenty-second of October."

The teacher froze. How in the world did one of his students know about that! Then again, this was Seto Kaiba. It was best not to mess with Seto Kaiba; he had no doubt that the CEO would follow through with the threat. Annoyed, he turned to face the chalkboard and began to lecture his class.

Seto noted this with only half of the satisfaction he would normally have felt. He looked at the sketch that was still held carefully in one hand and tucked it into his laptop case, where it wouldn't get mangled. If he had the chance, he might give it back to her.

Or… maybe not.

The time was five o'clock, and Seto Kaiba was in a much better mood. He had come straight home after school, not wanting to bother with thebigots at Kaiba Corporation Headquarters that day. The CEO was now sitting in his home office, diligently working on a paper he had wanted to have finished the day before. He had had several hours of productive work already, and he was quite pleased with how smoothly things were going.

He glanced over at the dragon sketch, which was lying on top of a stack of files that he would have to look at later. Smirking, he returned to his work.

Just then, the door to his office swung open. He looked up to see Mokuba stroll into the room, looking cheerful about something.

"What are you so pleased about, little brother?" he asked with raised eyebrows, still smirking.

"I was going to ask you the same question. Did you have a good day at school?"

He rolled his eyes, his smirk fading into a scowl. "I'm not even going to bother answering that."

Mokuba grinned. "You know, it's not all bad. School can be fun."

"It's in my way. And I told you yesterday, I don't have time for fun."

"Or a girlfriend, yes, I know." Mokuba sauntered around the desk to stand next to his brother's chair. "Work going good?"

"Going well, Mokuba, going well. And yes, it is."

Mokuba's eyes drifted to the stack of files… and to the drawing on top of them. "What's that?"

Seto jumped, his hand reaching out to snatch the picture away from his brother's inquisitive grasp. He hastily slid it under a pile of papers. "Nothing. It's nothing at all."

"Mm-hm, of course it is," said his brother, his tone betraying just how much he really believed him.

"So… what did you want to see me for?" Seto asked, trying to change the subject.

Mokuba blinked, putting on a hurt look. "You mean I need a reason to see my most favorite brother in the whole wide world?"

"Only brother in the whole wide… Mokuba, no!" Too late, Seto realized that a corner of the sketch was poking out from under the stack of papers, and that Mokuba had reached over and tugged this corner, pulling the drawing free.

Seto reached to grab it, but Mokuba had danced out of reach, his eyes taking in the dragon – and the signature – as he did so.

"Ha! I knew it!" He smirked in triumph, waving the paper at his brother. "I knew it had something to do with her! Where'd you get this, Seto? Did she give it to you?"

"Not exactly…" he muttered.

"Then how?"

With a sigh, Seto explained about the incident in the hallway earlier that day.

"You're kidding! You ran into her – literally – had her on top of you, no less – and you… didn't say anything?" Mokuba squeaked.

"…"

"You're hopeless, Seto, hopeless!"

"Good. Now that we both agree that there's no hope for me, you can drop it."

"No way, big brother, no way."

Seto ran a hand through his hair. "Just give me the damn picture back."

"Or you'll do what?" Mokuba teased.

"Personally take apart your Game Cube and use its parts to assemble my latest Duel Disk model," he growled, not in the mood for games.

"Aw, come on Seto, where's your sense of humor?" groaned Mokuba as he hurriedly handed him the sketch.

Seto tucked it safely into his laptop case. "Sorry, I must have left it in my room this morning as I was getting ready for school," he replied sarcastically.

"Anyway, Seto," Mokuba said, sitting on the edge of the desk. "I actually did have a reason for coming in here."

"Of course you did. Care to enlighten me?" Seto scowled.

"Sure thing. I've decided. You need a break–"

"Mokuba, I didn't get any work done yesterday. I've had enough break time; I need to work."

"No you don't! Just 'cause you weren't working yesterday doesn't mean you had a break! Yesterday was really stressful for you."

"Mokuba…"

"C'mon Seto, please? Just come get dinner with me or something, I don't care. We haven't done anything together in ages." He reached over, putting a hand on his brother's arm. "Please?"

Seto sighed. Mokuba was right. It had been a long time since they'd been able to enjoy some time together. "Okay."

"Really! You mean it? All right! Where d'you wanna go?"

Seto smiled. "You choose."

A/N: Thanks to Caorann for the October twenty-second idea! I liked that a lot! (wink)

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