First of all, thanks to my new beta; she's really the best! She did a great job, you'll see. ;D
Thanks to all the reviewers! You're my motivation, driving force, inspiration, spur, energy and so on. Please review! There's way to go for me…
I hope this chapter's still as funny as the other ones, though it gets a bit… um closer to romance than before. You'll see. Have fun! ;D
Sangha
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How To Find A Girlfriend In Seven Days?
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Chapter Seven
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"Day Six"
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"M'hello…Kaiba."
Serenity stifled a yawn as she entered Kaiba's office, where he was apparently writing on some papers. When he realized the appearance of his visitor he stopped, nodding his reply before stuffing the papers hastily into one of the drawers. The girl meanwhile plopped onto the sofa, used to her 'work' already. Teaching Mr. Kaiba. Heck, the whole thing might be recorded as a movie one day as it was becoming more and more interesting with each passing day.
The young Ms. Wheeler had abandoned every thought of liking the blue-eyed ass since last night's dream, fantasizing about how he would ask her out. This was becoming too weird for her liking. If he really asked her out she'd probably say no anyway. The problem was the 'probably.' But anyway! She had no interest in him. She was just curious.
Now, someone should tell the red-haired dense beauty the difference between curiosity and interest. Or should it be common sense? Just a thought…
"What have you got up your sleeve today, Wheeler?" The CEO asked, joining her.
The girl looked at the brunette and smiled. He was human. Yes, he definitely was. How come she had never noticed this before? It was odd somehow, to suddenly discover that someone was human. Of course he was, but… the realization had to dawn on one in connection with Seto Kaiba. Well, it did.
"I was thinking we should go on to talk about the aspect of asking for a rendezvous. It would be step two after chatting and small talk. Interested?" She was just guessing that if he really were up for a proper relationship, then he'd be more than interested.
The CEO's thoughts were quite similar. "Sure. Go ahead."
Can you imagine your personal computer urging you on? Well, with the blue-eyed CEO named Seto Kaiba it was almost the same. There was that particular emotionless tone in his—quite sexy, all manly, erotic, husky but deep and extremely grrrrr—voice, which spoke monotonously to you with words like 'go ahead'. Oh dear, don't even think of saying Kaiba that to you when… arg, don't… just don't think about it. Was he really human?
Serenity couldn't choose, not that she would have the time to do so. On with the lesson then!
"It may be a frightening thing to ask someone out, but if you think of it, you won't die if she really says yes and life will go one no matter what her answer is."
"I'm not frightened." Never was he frightened. At least he wouldn't admit he'd ever been.
"Of course you're not." She was imagining patting his head like a stubborn child, but she suppressed the urge to do so, frightened that he'd snap her bones in the hand. At least she could admit she was frightened of something, even if it was him—who practically was the devil himself, so. "Never ask for a Friday or a Saturday evening. Start with Wednesday or Thursday maybe and don't ask her to go with you sometime! Mention an exact date and be flexible about the meeting place. And try to ask about one week or even ten days beforehand."
---Flirt instructor over.--- ---Roger, Roger.---
"Yes ma'am." Funny, she could really be a teacher, except for the fact that Kaiba was feeling too old to be a student really and therefore hated to receive orders! It wasn't necessary to mention that anyway but what could he do? He damn well knew he needed this. The least he could do was to take it like a man. Sigh. "Ten days would be needed anyway until my next free time with my busy schedule, but mid-week will be a problem. The weekend is the only time my company doesn't eat up all of my time. Is there any chance that I may ask for a day on the weekend?"
"Sure but that's your risk. Politeness is very important and it bids to not ask for days during the weekend." Certainly he would not understand that, would he? An example was needed. Badly. "You might suggest the 'sleepover' as well then," she ironically added, hoping he'd get the hint.
He did. Who would have thought? A nod sealed his new knowledge.
"Now, we'll see to how to plan a rendezvous. Ready?" Serenity already had a schedule for her 'work' with Kaiba. She wasn't an unprepared girl.
"Allow me to ask you something, Wheeler. What exactly are you studying at University?" Maybe she was indeed turning into a teacher? Out of curiosity Seto desperately needed to know.
The hazel eyes of Ms. Wheeler furrowed slightly, confusion taking over. Was he interested in what she was doing? Seto Kaiba was curious! He was interested in something! In her! Hyper-hyper! This was like Christmas and Serenity's birthday at the same time. And Joey's birthday as well, because usually his birthday was even better with everyone getting drunk and all. But—oh, Kaiba-boy, I'm flattered, you're interested in me. Great time for batting eyelashes at him!
"I'm studying history and art, you know?" She proudly announced her choice of interest in culture. She was an intellectual! Yeah, she was. That's what our female champion of naive thought.
"Art and history?" The blue-eyed hot-ass CEO quirked a disapproving eyebrow. "Art is something unnecessary…and history? What use has history here and today? No one needs to know when some European aristocrat went on an ego trip and traveled half of Asia. Anyway, what do I expect of you, Wheeler? I bet this is Yugi's influence. The mutt's too dense."
"ARG!" The red-haired beauty queen of destroyed pride was fuming; meanwhile her blood boiled and her ears spewed smoke! "MY BROTHER IS NOT A MUTT!" Defending herself was useless anyway, so she decided to at least defend Joey.
"He is." Matter-of-fact, Seto's calm voice agreed to his own judgment.
"NOT!" The girl screamed at the CEO so loud that he thought the ringing in his ears would never stop.
Doesn't matter. What mattered was that his hair didn't fall out of place.
He smirked at her. "Calm down, Wheeler. You won't change anything on my opinion. You're just wasting my money and the nerves within your beautiful skin. Just, do what you're here for. Understood?" Ah, yeah, he was an ass.
But a sexy one.
She had beautiful skin? Serenity's right eyebrow twitched. She had beautiful skin. He had said so and Kaiba was always right, right? He had said Joey was a mutt, too. Well, she guessed then that her poor brother was a bit of a mutt then. Hell, what was more important? The fact that Joey was a mutt? Or Serenity having beautiful skin?
The latter, she decided and smiled.
"Okay, well, there are ten rules you should always follow whilst going on a rendezvous. The first one is—choose an activity that's fun."
"Fun." Kaiba repeated, honestly and seriously thinking with both his brains. (He had this theory about his intelligence that he simply must have two brains inside of his head. Super-brains they were. Like computer chips – small but extremely efficient.)
In annoyance Serenity watched him struggle to come up with an idea of what might be fun. Her patience was short today. But she would let him chew on this one, seeking wrath for judging art and history as crap.
"You better note this, so you'll have the time to think of something later. We don't have all night and we don't want to waste your precious time, now do we?" Now it was time for batting eyelashes as well. But smart-ass eyelashes. Daft cookie of a CEO!
But, she had a point. Kaiba did as he was told… well, suggested. It sounded better to his double-brain. Scribbling down the first point he nodded for her to continue.
"Second rule: Chose an activity you can afford. Shouldn't be that much of a problem for you." No need to go into details here. "Rule number three is, go somewhere you can talk. No loud clubs or something like that."
"Sounds logical," he replied, writing as quickly as lightning. He couldn't just type like a maniac but write as well. This man was skilled in so many ways, leaving a girl to wonder where his further skills were hidden…
"Rule number four: Do something you won't need to buy new clothes for! This goes for the girl mainly, do you understand, Kaiba?" She doubted he had anything else than black trousers at all. Maybe Mokuba had given him the one or the other thing apart from that cute Blue-eyes plushie t-shirt? Fingers crossed. "Expensive evening gowns aren't proper for a first date."
"So, not the opera." Kaiba's trademark sign—the smirk—appeared.
Scarier than anything you've ever seen before.
Watch out for…
THE SMIRK
Coming across Asia this summer.
Serenity giggled. He-he. This was funny. Kaiba was funny. Just not when he wanted to be but when he thought he was so damn smart. Ah, sooo cute…
Huh? No, no…warning! Don't ever go there, not even mentally. Stop here or shoot yourself soon.
"Uh… rule number five. Chose a place easy to reach. That means, no other towns, no outskirts, and no other far away places. Places near a bus or train station are good. Or you simply pick her up at home, all traditional so to speak." Hard work, Serenity could tell. But it was fun. Who had thought?
"Saved," Kaiba simply commented while writing down the information. "Number six?"
"Do something in which neither of you can win or lose. No Duel Monsters or other things like that, Kaiba. She's going to hate you if you shove your ego on her." Just to be sure, she should tell him. One could never know what possessed that mind of his.
"A pity. Sooner or later she's going to hate me anyway, then." He was simply the best. His future girlfriend would have to agree and accept that point. That was final.
"Be optimistic, Kaiba. Once she loves you for the guy you are she will be able to see past your huge ego. But, just to be sure, try to suppress the need to overpower her at the beginning." With sympathy she thought of the hard emotional work for the poor woman. Would there really be someone who could see behind his façade—like Serenity could? Oh, she guessed, she could.
"I don't have a huge ego. I just know what I can do and who I am." No, him? A huge ego? Kaiba? Impossible! He was just…him. Errr…
"Yeah, right." Serenity was honestly too tired to disagree and discuss what his shrink should have done long ago. "Rule number seven: Don't drink too much alcohol."
"It makes people ask weird questions and force others to touch their breasts. Very impolite on first dates. Fortunately we never had one, huh, Wheeler?" Cold laugh. Very cold laughter. Ooh. Freezing temperature in the room and just because a certain blue-eyed bastard thought he was funny.
"I wonder if you ever have been drunk, Kaiba. Have you ever? I bet either you're so used to drinking that it won't affect you anymore or you never drink because you're too afraid of suddenly becoming someone who isn't such an uptight and arrogant smart-ass." Score.
"You just lost your bet. I have been drunk once or twice, but in better company." Smirk. Score.
Groan. An auburn-colored eyebrow rose. "You honestly have been drunk? But, still, I have to see a full body x-ray of you before I believe that you're human." Smirk by the smart chick.
Hey, that's what he liked about her! Quick thinking, smart-assed, dirty-minded…well, the last one he assumed. ARG! What was he thinking at all? The doctor had said he was fine (though Kaiba still doubted it). What was wrong with him? A malfunction of his brain system? CPU overloaded? Overworked? Or worse… was he developing some horrible disease? Oh no…
"Rule number eight is to plan time to get to know each other. If your first date really ends up in the cinema, you should invite her for something to drink beforehand or afterwards. Whichever you prefer." Almost bored, she kept on teaching. If only he weren't so damn hot… if she pretended—to herself in this case—to be bored it would hopefully go away: that… that… that… bloody attraction to—urg—him.
A nod was the only reply she got. Seto was busy writing and blocking weird thoughts from his mind. With difficulties as statistics prove that males don't possess the ability to do many things at the same time. Even two brains weren't much help.
"And rule number nine? Well, do something that two can do."
His eyebrows shot upwards, almost to the beginning of his hairline, unwillingly. Two can do, two can do, two can do… he knew there was something!
Though, she certainly hadn't meant what he was thinking. A shame, really, a pity. Sigh.
"A stupid rule after all." Serenity added. "The rule is so abstract that it's not really a piece of advice. However, write it down!" She instructed the CEO and finally, saw his facial expression. "AAARRRGGG, I know what you're thinking of…! You kinky pervert!"
The usually beautiful girl grimaced, making her features appear less beautiful. But who cared? Not Seto. Not anymore. Long ago he had crossed that certain point.
"You have no clue, Wheeler." Now that smirk was disgusting even! Yeah, she had no clue of how much a kinky pervert he really was. He was perverted enough to hope for Serenity to be dirty-minded… if that wasn't evidence for a really, really, bestial, kinky pervert.
"No details please, Kaiba." Though, it was tempting to know about his wet dreams. Hee-hee. That is if he had any.
Imagine that sexy blue-eyed beast tied up on a huge four poster bed! Yeah… Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump… it was a heart-quickening thought. Then again, would he struggle or would he just be bored? He was so damn complex! You would think he'd struggle, as he didn't like to be controlled by someone else. But on the other hand he might just yawn and whatever you do with him wouldn't even affect him. Bloody robot. Ah, Serenity, please, stop thinking about it!
"Well, rule number ten and final rule is to find an activity that won't take longer than a few hours."
Oh, no. What had she done? Rule number ten was true but a mistake to mention. The kinky CEO had just confirmed that he was a pervert and she was giving him more ideas. God please, open up the ground and swallow that dense girl. Who can take it any longer? Not that it wouldn't be interesting how long he'd take but… knock-knock! Mentally Serenity had just knocked at her own head, begging her brain to set into gear, shutting down all disturbing thoughts.
'You're simply the best…'
Ego-freak's cell phone was ringing. Gladly. There seemed to be a God after all. He had just opened his dirty mouth and was about to comment on rule number ten when Tina was set off to croon and save a certain red-haired girl's ass. Pooh. The geeky CEO was a weirdo if he needed a ring tone to tell him that he was better than all the rest, better than everyone and so on. Okay, okay, who else was there to tell him?
Serenity was a good girl. Just good. As good as an angel. Angel good. However, her cell phone's ring tone was Blondie's 'One Way or Another'! Good? Oh yeah, she was so good.
"Yes…" Kaiba answered his phone.
Oh, yeah, right, who was daring to call Kaiba at all? Let's listen.
"This is he… yes… no, wait… I'll get him… I'll be there in a few minutes."
Usually Kaiba glared. But now he was frowning when he gazed at his teacher, the girl who sat on his sofa. She frowned as well when she realized that he looked concerned. That made her concerned in the end.
"What's wrong? Is everything okay?" She dared to ask, feeling a bit uneasy.
"Could you wait here for a few minutes?" He asked suddenly when his frown had disappeared. "I need to pick up Mokuba and get him home. It won't take long."
Serenity absentmindedly nodded. This seemed important to Kaiba and as soon as she had given her 'permission', the brown-haired guy was already on his way outside, destination unknown to what was left, or who. The young woman sighed and gazed around. She could wait.
But did she have to be bored? Hm…no.
Did she have to respect Kaiba's private space and things? Uh…yes.
Her cleverness told her quickly that she could look around a bit but just wasn't allowed to touch anything. Problem solved and so she stood up to her proud five feet and three inches and started wander over to the media center. The huge flat screen TV and the stereo had drawn her attention the moment she had stepped into this room for the first time. But she was even more interested in the long row of DVDs beyond the television and the high tower of CDs next to the stereo.
Satisfying her curiosity, she took in all she could see. Okay, here we go. Many films were about Marvel comics like Batman or Spider-Man. Nothing special so far; they were probably even Mokuba's. Then there was a typical row of guy's films, mostly action and ones with fighting. Jet Li kinda stuff. She remembered that Kaiba was a good fighter. What he had done to that rare hunter years ago had been impressive. Except that he was a freak seeing as how he'd thrown cards!
Hey, keep your fingers off my girlfriend or else I'm going to throw my Duel Monsters card at you!
In the name of Ra I punish you; fly my card, fly!
Star Wars was in his DVD collection as well. Serenity wondered if she should tell Kaiba that Joey loved this one as well. He had watched it over a hundred times with Tristan and they'd kept fighting on who would be Han Solo. Joey had once convinced Mai to do her hair like Princess Leia. Just once. Serenity guessed that Mai must have been drunk. She bet Kaiba secretly marveled at Darth Vader. Oh, she could live with being Amidala.
Hicks! What was that? A small but very unmistakable row of splatter movies! Urg! That freak-CEO probably loved to watch people's limbs being cut off! That was coming close to him. Serenity could already picture him watching, chanting 'Go, Jason, go!' That revolting jerk… AAAHHH! Had she just thought of him as being revolting? Well, screw that! There stood Pretty Woman and Meet Joe Black! How sweet…
And there was some comedy! American Pie, Galaxy Quest, Zoolander… Zoolander? Well, okay, it was funny. All in all usual stuff. Errr…what was this?
'Cyber-kitty needs to get fixed.'
Was that a title or a customer's demand? She realized that it was an anime as she pulled out the DVD and turned it to read the backside of the case.
EEEK! UUURG! BRRR! Cough…In her shock Serenity dropped the DVD and she looked at the fallen object hatefully. That was an anime porn DVD! Why didn't he hide such films like Joey did? (Under his boxer shorts in the third drawer of his commode by the way.) The younger Wheeler carefully picked up the DVD between her index finger and her thumb and placed it neatly back into the row where she had found it. FREAK. No wonder no one wanted to be with him.
Better pay attention to Kaiba's CDs, the nosey girl decided and darted her eyes to the collection of music which was sorted alphabetically in its tower. Nothing special so far to spot apart from a Ludacris album. Some hip-hop, of which she'd expected the least. Then Elvis – okay, so this was the least Serenity would have expected! Some punk music CDs like Green Day and Good Charlotte, then Linkin Park, one she had too; many albums of Heather Nova—whoever that was, as the snooping girl had no clue. R.E.M., The Wallflowers, Nirvana…
Marilyn Manson – everyone had a bad day once in a while.
Except for the five different soundtracks there was nothing really interesting and Serenity yawned lazily. She walked back to the sofa and sat down. Hell, she was tired. It had been a long day full with studying, homework, housework, Joey ranting about food—and yet she still had to deal with Kaiba. Just one more day…
The thought made her feel a bit… strange. The money Serenity would get was really something she should be happy with. She would buy new shoes… yeah, shoes, she swooned. Again she yawned and decided that she had no point in feeling strange about being done with the blue-eyed hottie that Seto Kaiba was. Oh, why was she so tired? She would just lie down for a few minutes until Kaiba would be back. She had nothing better to do anyway, had she?
Serenity put her head on the pillow and lifted her legs onto the sofa. Yawn. Yeah, this was good… but a bit cold and she shivered. She pulled at the blanket that lay across the head of the sofa and spread it across her delicate limbs. Holy Jesus, this was even better.
Serenity would just close her eyes for a few seconds… the blanket smelled of Kaiba… oh, closed eyes were sooo good… just one more second… that smell was intoxicating… but good… aaah…
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Kaiba entered his office and frowned. Where was his little witch? (A/N: I let him search for his witch on purpose.) He spotted her soon, lying snuggled up in a blanket, which she held close to her face like a baby would hold his favorite teddy bear. Seto sat down on the chair opposite and gazed at Serenity's sleeping form.
She was beautiful.
Not like a page-three model or the girls from O.C. California. She was beautiful in a different way. Serenity was small, had perhaps grown a bit since he had first seen her at Battle City, but still not more than five feet three. And her 'equipment' – he almost grinned at the memory of that particular word; she had been well shaped. Considering that she would become very old one day, it wasn't bad to have someone with smaller breasts than Téa Gardner. Yugi would see the point one day.
The red hair on top of Serenity's head could make a man only dream further but surely not turn off like she thought. It was indeed a witch's hair but long and angelic silky. One of those red strands was falling across her face right now and Kaiba knew if dice dude or pencil head could see that here and now, he would have to prevent them from coming onto her. Too true.
A few light freckles graced the skin of her face, not too visible but looking quite cheeky. Hell, she could be Irish. But a cute Irish. Her nose was small and delicate, matching her rosy pink mouth, with her upper lip that always seemed to be slightly pouting. And her eyes…her eyes were so big that she could express any emotion just by using them and only them. The color did its part as well, changing from dark brown to almost grass green when she was angry.
And when she became angry, it was also probably when she became the most beautiful. Her personality had obviously changed since Battle City, when she had been young and innocent. She was covering up her innocent side now quite well, but it was still there if one looked closer. She could be furious and shy, scheming and lovely, stubborn and smart, brave and frightened.
Yes, she was beautiful.
Seto couldn't deny it, although he wouldn't voice it out loud. The mutt's best part. Funny, as sometimes Seto thought of his own sibling being his best part. So even though Serenity was definitely not perfect, she was a real beauty. Like Seto's mom had been. He would have never thought that he'd meet someone who he even dared to compare with his mom. Who compared a girl to his mom anyway?The thing was that Seto had only known his real mom as she had been young before she died and God help him, but his mom had been a real beauty.
Serenity turned onto her back in her sleep and softly mumbled in a low voice, "Kaiba…"
Hey! She was awake! She had to be awake if she recognized him! Kaiba stood to his full height and bent over her, supporting himself with his hand on the back of the sofa. She didn't seem to be awake. But she had to be! She had said his name; ergo she had realized he was back. That could only mean she was pretending!
If only he knew…
Because Serenity was having this particular dream, again!
"Hey beautiful, would you give me that dance?"
"Of course, Seto."
"I was wondering if we might go out next Thursday. I would like to invite you for a picnic in the park."
"I'd love to!"
"Serenity?"
"Yes?"
"I have to make a confession."
"Tell me, Seto."
"Eh, Wheeler, I know you're awake! Make yourself useful!" His deep, raspy voice called out to her as Kaiba glared down at the 'pretender'.
HUH? What? Serenity's eyes flew open and she stared into two cold cerulean eyes. The man they belonged to was so damn close that the instant she saw him above her, she was frightened. ALERT! Help! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! Rape! Rape! Help! ALERT!
"SSSCCCCCRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"
What the hell? Kaiba instinctively covered his ears when Serenity started to scream like a dozen of sirens! What was her problem? Startled for once in his entire life Seto stumbled backwards, hitting the table in response, frighteningly turning left, right, left right, then backing up against the chair! A low but determined growl built inside of the annoyed CEO.
"WILL YOU FUCKING SHUT UP, WHEELER? I'M GOING DEAF! STOP SCREAMING!" Luckily, his voice was louder than hers, but his throat felt sore and hoarse for the first time. --- Voice limit approached. ---
The siren stopped making noise and pulled herself up into a sitting position, cradling the blanket even closer to her body as if it could protect her. Like a scared cat she gazed at Kaiba but seeing that he was looking at her as if she was insane, the girl simply glared.
"What the hell were you doing above me? You… you… you freak!"
"I'M NOT A FREAK!" She was beautifully insane, yes, right. "I was just checking if you were awake."
"Checking, huh? Then tell me how! By raping me?" She growled at him hatefully.
"Raping? You must be totally out of your mind. I wouldn't touch you even if my life depended on it! I'd rather die!" The blue-eyed king of snapping shot back at her.
"Then what were you doing above me?"
"I've already told you that I was checking if you were awake. You were saying my name! Why are you pretending to be asleep at all?"
His name? In her sleep? Shit. The bloody dream she had… uh-oh. No, no, no, no, no….
The door burst open so suddenly that both of them flinched, only to see a very exhausted but also concerned Mokuba standing there like a man from the fire department expecting Kaiba's office to burn down.
"What's wrong? I heard someone scream." The boy glanced from his brother to the girl.
"Nothing's wrong!" Kaiba snapped at his brother. "Go back to your room. You're grounded, remember?"
"Wha—" Mokuba instantly pouted. "I know that but it doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to go around the house, does it?"
"It does," Kaiba said stubbornly and crossed his arms, very pissed off. Serenity had no clue why.
"I just wanted to help. Are you still mad at me, Seto?" Oh, Mokuba looked so cute when he was sad.
"Very. We don't need help." Oh and Kaiba looked so… no, was so damn cruel to his own sibling!
"What's wrong with you two? Why's your brother mad at you?" The better option was to ask the easy-going Kaiba and so Serenity directed her eyes toward him.
"Uh… Seto's mad at me because I've got a tongue piercing."
"Really? Cool." The girl shot up from the sofa and quickly walked to the teen, eager to satisfy her curiosity about his new attachment. "Did it hurt?"
Mokuba grinned at the high amount of interest she was showing. "When the needle went through my flesh, yes, that hurt but only a little. I can't even feel that it's there anymore. See?" And he stuck out his tongue, which Serenity inspected closely.
Kaiba watched with anger. That boy! Tsk.
"And that's why you're angry at him?" She couldn't help her motherly—or sisterly—feeling towards Mokuba.
"That and the fact that he fainted because of that bloody stick of metal in his mouth!"
"I didn't faint!" The raven-haired teen defended himself but added sheepishly, "I was just feeling a bit nauseous."
"Your friend what's his name called me, panicking that you were wincing like a puppy on the ground, calling for emergency and begging Ra to stop injecting drugs into you!" Kaiba had a knowing look upon his smug face. "What do you think I'd do? Pick you up and mother you for being such an idiot? Last I checked you're still not of age and therefore would have needed my permission to do such thing. You're grounded and that's final."
"But you would have said no anyway." God, that boy could pout—and melt a girl's heart with that. "Or would you have allowed me to do that?" A slight hope built in the boy.
"No." Bang. The boy's hopes were crushed.
"See, Serenity? I had no choice but to do that without his permission. He just can't stand piercings and that's why he's so angry at me now!" Mokuba shoved out his bottom lip at Seto but his glare didn't falter. "Serenity likes it. Right Serenity?"
Okay, that wasn't quite fair now. He was pulling the girl into their fight. Serenity was out of words. True, she thought it was looking cool but Kaiba would snap her neck if she admitted that.
"I… well… I think it's nice but your brother's right." The safe side was to tell them both what they wanted to hear. "Mokuba, you are not an adult and should have at least told your brother what you where planning to do. I bet he would have given you permission."
"Over my dead body I would," Kaiba stated simply. Stubborn bastard.
"There! He wouldn't!" Mokuba cried out helplessly.
"Oh, c'mon, I'm sure he would. He's just sulking now, understandably. He's offended and angry that you haven't told him at all. He had to hear it from a phone call from your friend, telling him that you had fainted. What do you think you would have done if your brother hadn't trusted you and you needed to pick him up somewhere in pain?"
Mokuba was silent.
Kaiba was impressed. That girl was the psychological type. He should be careful in the future.
"I'm sorry, Seto," the boy began, and giving the puppy-eyes look to his older brother. "I should have told you at least."
Damn. Now he had him. Seto turned away. He couldn't stand up against that look! "S'okay."
"Really? Thank you so much, big brother!" Mokuba happily smiled. "Am I still grounded?"
"Yes." No reasoning about that.
"For one whole year?" The boy's voice sounded suddenly high-pitched.
"Well, one week should do." The brunette grumpily replied to his brother's luck.
"Thank you, Seto." The other sibling smiled, relieved and happy before he turned to Serenity, only mouthing the words 'thank you' as well. He then disappeared through the door, leaving 'the adults' on their own.
With a stressed sigh Kaiba let his body plop onto the sofa. "Sometimes I think I've done the wrong thing considering his wealth. I should have taken care of it so he'd have gone into a real family with a mother and a father, maybe another sibling…" His voice trailed off.
Usually Mr. Perfect kept his thoughts all to himself. Just in the irritation of the moment he let it slip that he indeed—he, Seto Kaiba! —had doubts about his decision when they had been orphans. God, Serenity felt uneasy with that. But Kaiba felt it even more.
"Don't say that. How old had you been then? Ten? Twelve? You did what you thought was right and Mokuba, hell; he's grown into a smart, good-looking, charming, friendly and very down to earth person. I never thought I'd say this, but you can be proud of yourself for raising him the way you did." She sighed when she flopped down next to the CEO who sent her a lazy smirk—though a grateful one.
"Then why doesn't he just do what he's told to?" Kaiba shrugged helplessly, more to himself than the girl.
"He's sixteen," Serenity easily answered the CEO's question. "He's just a normal sixteen year-old… rebel. So let him rebel. At least you could be sure he'd settle down some day. Kids who never rebelled against their parents might have more difficulties in settling down one day. They'll always rebel inside. Somehow." Like Joey. He had been a rebel ever since he separated from their father. From then on he was a child again. Still is. But at least one who had settled down.
"Or kids who weren't allowed to rebel." The blue-eyed man mumbled before his gaze narrowed. He had to focus his mind on other things. Mokuba was taken care of. Now it was Seto-time. "Well, we should start from where we left off, don't you think?"
Where? When she had accused him for rape? God, no! Please, no! Don't let him even remember. That dream… and well… Kaiba… and now… Serenity was slightly panicking but covered it up with a nervous smile.
"I've written down your ten rules. Anything else I need to know?" He raised his eyebrows at the strangely smiling girl. PMS, he guessed.
"Oh… uh, no. Well, yes. Yes! I wanted to talk with you about meeting points." Relieved but still nervous, Serenity desperately would have loved to wipe her forehead. Under the stare of Seto Kaiba, she decided against it.
"Meeting points? Okay. There you go." He was all ears already. On your mark. Get set. Ready. Teach.
"The museum is a great place to meet. You might talk about inspiration while casually walking through the halls. It's really a nice place to get to know each other and experience the other's taste in arts. An invitation there won't even be expensive." Serenity couldn't help her dreamy expression. That was the date of her dreams.
Well, then she should take Ross Gellar from 'Friends.'
"Not a good idea, not at all." Kaiba, as usual, crossed his arms. "I've already told you I'm not really into art and the only inspiration of mine I could tell her about would be my new super-CPU in the main server. However, screw the museum. I try to avoid that place anyway in order to avoid any Ishtar. All of them are freaks—totally cracked-up psychos."
Said the psycho himself. Serenity suppressed a snort. "I kind of like Ishizu."
"She's completely ga-ga." He supported his choice of words by waving a hand in front of his face. "All that crap about me and facing my destiny, blah blah. She should save it, maybe for her kids one day, the poor brats. Only I am in charge of my destiny."
"How would you know? Maybe there is indeed something like destiny—"
"How I know? Because I'm proving it right now. I don't face staying alone for the rest of my life if that was planned to be 'my destiny'. I hired you instead to teach me to do better." His point was already proven, so he stopped.
He was kind of right.
Kind of.
Damn, he was!
"Okay, you're going to like the next possibility of a meeting point. Amusement parks!" She exclaimed as if she were telling a horde of ten-year-olds. "It should be fun and has the effect of feeling young and carefree. That is, if you can see past sticky fingers from all kinds of sweets and roller coaster rides that make you feel utterly sick until you would give anything for an aspirin! Sounds like fun to me, but for you… well." The hazel-eyed girl doubted that there would be a carefree side of Kaiba at all. Apart from 'cyber-kitty,' that was.
"At least I might have a chance to impress the girl. I mean who owns his own amusement park? And you say I shouldn't impress with money." Sly ass.
"She could be impressed by you by having fun with you there, not by the point that you own that thing." The red head shook in misunderstanding but kept concentrating on the task of teaching. "You could also go simply for a walk. Maybe in the park or the zoo, or the botanical garden's nice as well. It's cheap, entertaining, and free of any stress. Plus you can hold hands." She grinned.
Then the grin faltered. What would he have to add now?
"Why not? Well, maybe because I've got hay fever, so no botanical garden. The park's okay, just not in June and July. The zoo would be a problem again. I'm allergic to animal hairs as well." The park was nice from August to May, wasn't it? Unfortunately it was June and he was pressured with time. He wanted to get a girlfriend quickly.
There she was: Serenity Wheeler, who had thought of Kaiba as being almost a superhero with a body of steel, fighting skills to the maximum and not a single visible weakness. Yet here he was, allergic to plants! Kryptonite was green as well, wasn't it?
"Unfortunately for you, activities outside are always good: sport events, concerts, picnics and stuff." Shit, there went her dream… then again, luckily it went. Bye-bye. "Maybe you could go with the indoor activities as well. Inline-skating or watch a match of ice hockey."
"Concerts don't have to be open-air as well," he added, slowly becoming eager to get his lesson over with.
"Right. I just have some advice on where you shouldn't take a girl on your first date." She had to be sure he knew about these points as well. Kaiba was unpredictable. "Never go to weddings."
"Clear. I don't even know someone who's going to marry."
Don't mention Joey! Don't mention Joey! Don't mention Joey!
Enough about the inside of Serenity's brain.
"Never go to New Year's Eve parties. People get drunk and stuff. Not as a first date, no. Don't meet on Valentine's Day. That's too much for a start. Last but not least, avoid Christmas dinners. You don't want to have her parents around all the time on your first date, do you?"
"Certainly not." The CEO snorted slightly, a bit disgusted even. "But I could invite her to my very own Christmas dinner. I don't have parents fussing around."
"You've got a precocious younger brother. That's almost as bad."
"You're right."
"I know."
Serenity had to smile. Kaiba could be easy-going. Just rarely. But he was nice. Ah, yes, he kind of was. And hot. Grrr.
'One way or another I'm gonna find you, I'm gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha…"Kaiba just loathed cell phones at times.
The red-head's cell phone just crooned with blaring 80's music and Serenity bit her bottom lip the instant she was startled by the noise. Quickly she fished inside of her purse to reveal the small black item. Pressing the green button she answered the call out of breath.
"Hello?"
Who was calling dear Wheelerette AT WORK? It was big fat CEO-time!
"Oh, I totally forgot the time, Joey. I'm sorry. I kind of fell asleep and then… what? NO! I just… Kaiba went to pick up Mokuba and I was alone… no, I'm sure he didn't… well… I… okay… Give me half an hour… see you then… bye!" Shutting down the phone, she sheepishly gazed at nothing in particular, avoiding Kaiba's not very decent stare.
"What did the mutt want?"
"I'm kinda late, sorry. Do you know what time it is?" She suddenly seemed in a hurry.
Kaiba lazily glanced at his wristwatch. "Half past ten."
"Oh no." The girl's shoulders visibly sank, as well as her head. She thoughtfully chewed on the fingernail of her thumb.
That was until Kaiba slapped her hand away from her mouth.
"Don't do that. It's not very ladylike." He glared with such an unfamiliar expression that Serenity couldn't keep up her own glare in response. It faltered to a frown. "What's your problem anyway?"
"My problem is… I…" It was embarrassing to tell him. He didn't care, she knew it. It was her problem and she certainly didn't need anyone to tell her exactly that! "Well, usually I take the bus downtown at ten fifteen but today, you see, it's half past ten and I'll have to wait until the next one."
"Okay." Something seemed wrong about this. Kaiba could smell it. "And when's the next bus going downtown exactly?"
"Um… quarter to twelve," she replied in low voice and grabbed her purse. "It's just that I promised Joey to help him with something and he won't be too happy if I come home at midnight. I'll just have to see if there's a bus line that drives to the bus station and from there it shouldn't be a problem to get home."
"But you have no clue when some bus will drive to the station, am I correct?"
"Yes, but—"
"You're just going to go down there to that bus stop and hope you'll be lucky to catch some bus to take you somewhere else instead of home in hope that from there you'll be lucky again to catch another one that'll finally bring you home, right?"
"Yes, but—"
"You don't even consider that you might end up even later at home than if you simply wait for the quarter to twelve bus. Correct?"
Groan. Very annoyed groan. "Yes, now can I say something?"
"Sure."
"I might end up at home later than usual, but it's a chance and I really need to get home as fast as I can. Okay?" Her patience was short from all his stupid lectures and questions.
"Yes, I understand. Then why don't you ask me to drive you home?"
"I…" But, this was Kaiba! He would have… but… why? Hell, she was confused. And out of words.
"You're just a coward like my brother. Now, get your things." With that Kaiba had already snatched his keys and started walking towards the door.
"Thank you." Serenity said quietly, cursing herself. She was a coward. She had scolded Mokuba for not telling his brother anything, not trusting him, not being honest to him and now, she didn't even dare to ask him a bloody easy question.
Too stupid.
They rode home in silence. Ten minutes went by and Serenity gazed at the apartment building she lived in. And it was so cozy in the sports seats. Sigh.
"Don't you have a driver's license?"
Huh? Serenity had almost forgotten that Kaiba was indeed there. "I have one but… I can't afford a car yet. I use to borrow Joey's but he needs it in the evenings."
"I'm surprised he knows where you've spent the last evenings at all."
"I haven't told him what we do exactly." She grinned.
"What have you told him?" He quirked a suspicious eyebrow.
"That I'm tutoring you in art. Joey was so proud; he literally shoved me out the door to go to your place. Plus I told him about the money."
"Buy a car." He smirked that asshole smirk but Serenity couldn't help her smile in response. The asshole smirk was nice, too.
"Good night, Kaiba. And thanks again for the ride. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Serenity?" Damn, he forgot to call her by her last name!
"Yes?"
"I'm glad you haven't told your brother about the true reason of our arrangement. You know, I'm quite… a bit… um…"
Too proud to let a mutt know?Damn, he was cute when he was out of words.
"I know."
Serenity slammed the door shut and walked up to the building. Meanwhile, Kaiba didn't hesitate to speed off. She knew. That was the scariest part of her.
-
End of chapter seven.