Thanks to my beta.

Thanks to all the reviewers!

Chapter eight is on. This is dark humor—I tell you. And Mokie sounds like a pervert.

Sangha

Reviews and questions on Chapter seven:

To Pippin: I'm glad that you like it. Well, like I mentioned at the beginning of chapter one, Kaiba's OOC—off original character—normally he probably wouldn't need anyone. That's at least what he would tell. What he might think no one knows. It's fiction after all and I just wanted a lonely and desperate Seto If Joey is getting married? I left it open for people to hope for XD (you'll see soon).

To Tigresita: Hello back to Peru! I'm not English (nor American), too. I'm German but I'll spare you my original language… I'm happy that you like my story.

To Flowerperson: Mokie's a tough one—he lives with Seto—he easily shrugs off the pain of a tongue piercing. The idea of cyber-kitty's an easy calculation. Lara Croft + Robocop + a normal cat + Seto Kaiba's SuperCPU Cyber-kitty! LOL Just perfect for Mr. CEO.

To Slythervixen: Everything what'll happen is based on what Ms. Wheeler teaches her student… this is the riddle about the first kiss!

To all the other reviewers: Thanks a lot, especially my very faithful ones—you know who you are!

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How To Find A Girlfriend In Seven Days?

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Chapter Eight

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"Final Day – Part I"

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Serenity pressed the button for the bell and sighed. It was the last time she had to come to Kaiba. Disappointment went throughout her soul, even though he was definitely an ass—not evil or cruel, but an ass. He was stiff, uptight and cold. But he was a guy—an extremely hot example of the male populaton, even—that she had fallen for.

Had she? Bad, Serenity, bad. Well, she liked him.

Had it been for the fact that he had told her that she was sweet and beautiful, or for the glimpse of his soul he had shown her lately—she had no clue. But she knew damn well that she wanted more of Seto Kaiba.

Great—she was falling for the only guy in the world who didn't see her as a beauty queen but despised her for being a Wheeler.

And what did he want? A woman—plain and simple—who'd fall for his freshly learnt knowledge and not for him. Serenity probably was the only one who truly knew him. At least she knew him better than any other girl. She could accept him the way he was. She wanted that dumb nut, who wasn't capable of everything—like chatting up girls and flirting. She wanted the one who didn't care; who told her what he believed in; who wasn't hypocritical but honest; who was simply anything but Seto Kaiba.

Damn, she should tell him that he would make a hypocrite out himself if he were going to tell a poor female victim something he didn't mean, but thought was right. God, Serenity's mind was spinning. Hadn't she told him to do so? Wasn't she the hypocrite? She had taught him all she knew—was it even right? Who was she to know what was right or wrong?

Why had she agreed to tutor Kaiba in 'Flirting' again?

Money.

Serenity didn't give a shit about the whole sum if—yeah, right, the if-sentence—if Kaiba felt the same as she. Okay, last day—last chance to make him. It wouldn't hurt to try. Test him somehow…

"Ms. Wheeler, good evening. Mr. Kaiba's awaiting you in the living room. Please, if you would follow me."

The auburn-haired girl went after the man clad in a dark suit. She had seen him once on the blimp—hadn't he introduced the challengers? He was one of Kaiba's right hand men, that much she knew.

Hello, mister, what is it like to work for Mr. Kaiba?
"It is like—Mr. Kaiba, Mr. Kaiba, I located Obelisk the Tormentor!"

Or maybe…

Miss Wheeler, what is it like to work for Mr. Kaiba?
Well, genius boy is a miserable loser when it comes to women!

He-he. Suppress the giggles, girl! Mr. Kaiba was… uh… currently gazing at her over his shoulder while he was standing in front of the big windows. Hands in his pockets, casually clad in jeans and a black t-shirt—hell, he's hot! Damn. She might ask herself if this was real. He wasn't even glaring. Was today something special? His birthday maybe? No, that was in October as he had told her.

"Ah… Wheeler. I hope you're ready for our final day." A smirk, of course, as if he wasn't able to keep from smirking just for one day. Yugi wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance in a smirking battle!

"Kaiba." Serenity returned the smirk. "If you are."

"I am as ready as ever." He walked slowly to the sofa and sat down on it.

Okay. Step one. Serenity chose to sit next to him and smiled, batting her eyelashes a bit. Works 99 percent of the time. "I was thinking we should talk about the actual rendezvous a bit. Do you think you'd be ready for something like this?"

"Don't waste time with questions, Wheeler. Just tell me." Something seemed different about her today. Seto just couldn't put his finger on. She was being strangely nice, putting a melodious tone in her voice—scary, really scary.

"Well, for the rendezvous you should have an emergency backpack."

"Are you kidding me? Don't tell me to go with a first-aid kit."

"I thought that's what's in your silver briefcase, is it not?" The girl mocked surprise and pretended to be naïve. It was an attempt to make him see how silly he always looked, walking around with that huge briefcase. She held up her hand to stop him as he took a deep breath in response.

"You think you're funny, Wheeler," he chuckled coldly. "Cut the crap and tell me about your oh-so-important emergency backpack."

God, he sure is short-tempered today. But he's also being oddly easy-going and hasn't made further comments, as well as being a bit pushy… strange. "Okay, the emergency backpack should include plaster, some aspirin, mints, a needle and thread…"

"Needle and thread? Do I look like a dressmaker?"

"If the unthinkable should happen and the button of your pants fell off, I'm sure you'd still look cute in just your boxers." That would surely be a very funny situation as well. Serenity would laugh her own pants off—

That'd be quite a sight.

"You wish." Kaiba smirked with some kind of sympathy. He was sure many people would like to see that but it was out of the question. The president of Kaiba Corp. without his pants on in public was a very demanded photo at the press—unfortunately they had none!

Serenity blinked. Had he seen through her? You wish? She wishes? Oh God, oh God, oh God…

"Nothing I wish!" Oops. She hadn't meant to hiss at him.

There it was again--the fiery demon that was lurking inside of the oh-so-innocent looking girl. Yeah, Kaiba wasn't easy to fool—he was too smart. "O-kay."

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out… Maybe she shouldn't even picture him in his boxers. His naked torso had sent her into some sort of daze of bliss—what could the rest of his body do? She would just think of something disturbing. Solomon Moto, Solomon Moto, Solomon Moto…

Worked wonders.

"Okay, a little checklist before going to a rendezvous. Write this down!" Serenity ordered him and Kaiba immediately obeyed. How sweet… Arg! Solomon Moto! Solomon Moto! Damn it! Solomon Moto once again! "Have you showered?" She counted with the help of her fingers. "Hair washed? Have you washed you ears? And that means inside, outside and behind!"

"You are weird, Wheeler, really." Seto suddenly looked up from his paper and his blue eyes blazed with amusement from under his chestnut bangs.

The hazel-eyed girl looked at him puzzled, then smiled. Yes, to tell him to wash his ears was weird. But he was amused! That was good, wasn't it? "I mean it. Be sure that you've brushed your teeth as well, that you've cut your fingernails and that you're shaved. Don't forget some deodorant, fresh clothes and…" she paused dramatically, then grinned. "Fresh underwear!"

"I get the picture: you don't have the best opinion of my body hygiene. But thanks anyway for the checklist." There was a bit of an undertone to his voice, yet he seemed amused.

"There's another checklist I've got for you."

Now he looked quite uncertain. "And that is…"

"Make sure you know where to go. No more questioning about the place when you've already met the girl. That's annoying. Be sure to know how to get there! The best is to drive yourself. Make sure you've got enough gas. An unplanned stop because of no more fuel would screw the whole thing. Then make sure to know how much expense the whole thing would cost. Check that you've got enough money with you. And take another fifty bucks for emergencies. You'll never know. Last but not least, be sure that your watch works precisely. We don't want you to come too late, do we?" Serenity blew at the auburn strand of hair that had fallen into her face. She had told him everything she could think of and that was quite a lot after all. With every passing minute of teaching Kaiba and telling him what mattered, the end of their arrangement was coming closer.

Serenity sighed.

"Quite a lot." Kaiba hadn't missed her sigh. "To be honest I wouldn't have thought you could tell me that much about flirting, asking women out and so on. You know, you really should think about becoming a schoolteacher or something similar."

Serenity wryly smiled. "Maybe." Maybe not. She could if she wanted to. She might teach history and art but she doubted that every student would be so interesting, entertaining, intoxicating, hot… Damn it! Solomon Moto!

"Make a last list that you're going to check just before your rendezvous." She rubbed her forehead in order to concentrate on teaching. "Check your breath." Again she decided to support her statements visually by counting with her fingers. "Teeth. Wallet. Clothes. Babysitter…"

Kaiba suddenly coughed. "I don't think I need a babysitter."

"Well," Serenity rolled her eyes thoughtfully upward. "Maybe not you, Kaiba. What about your brother?"

Hey cheeky witch! Kaiba's blue eyes narrowed slightly. She was walking on thin ice sometimes; that was for sure and Seto saved it in the back of his mind, always the revenge-seeking type of human being!

"You know, I should be thankful if Mokuba would ever stay at home at all—whether with or without a babysitter. Go on with the checklist." He smiled rather lethally.

Eep.

"Okay." The girl tried an innocent grin but failed miserably. "Check your calendar once again if it's indeed the day of your rendezvous. Then make sure to have the telephone number of the girl you want to meet, as well as her address and tickets if you're going to need some."

"Noted." The brunette had written down all the info he had gotten. "That's it?"

"Yeah…um." Serenity frowned. "I want to talk about a few other things as well. One is the question of who is going to pay. I know you're sickeningly rich, Kaiba, that's why I'd normally say you should pay—one way or the other. But, thing is, in truth there are two rules."

"Sickeningly rich, huh?" He turned his gaze to the small girl next to him. "Funny, last time I checked I was in perfect health. It's scary but sometimes it seems like there's a reason why health rhymes with wealth." His grin grew wider at his smart-assed remark.

Serenity pressed her lips together in an attempt not to scream at him what an arrogant jerk he was. The urge to vomit rose inside of her. God, yes, she envied him for his tons and even more tons of million dollars! It was sickening after all when one had to save every little cent just to attend college, buy food, rent an apartment, etc. And there he was, the great and mighty Seto Kaiba, who was joking so stupidly, arrogantly, pompously, and rudely about his damn wealth.

Yes, this was sickening!

She wished she could smack her hand across his face so hard that you could hear it in Europe! Instead she just attacked him mentally, her hazel eyes drawn into tiny slits with burning hatred for the CEO. This hurt! Now that she liked him—kinda—it hurt when he was being the jerk he usually was. Great, just great!

"Think positive, Wheeler." Seto reached out to touch her shoulder supportively—or whatever he actually was trying to do from Serenity's point of view. Her eyes widened at the sudden contact and the bastard next to her grinned. "After this you'll own at least 700 dollars cash. C. A. S. H. And you deserve it."

Seto drew his hand from her shoulder when she stared at him somehow in a mixture of anger, daze and confusion. Her cheeks had a slight purple tone and Seto suspected she was angry. Daft chicken.

Anyway, you could call the guy clueless.

And she deserved the bloody money! Gritting her teeth, she decided to drop it. Money? All this man is concerned with is money. And finding a woman who wants to go out with him—whether for his money or not. Not that he cares. Poor, poor bastard. Serenity inhaled deeply and went on with her actual task. "Are we going to discuss the payment again or do you want to hear the two rules?"

"Spill."

"Rule number one is, that whoever invites is going to pay. Quite simple, isn't it? But it also means that the one who invites knows the whole rendezvous' expense and has the right budget for that."

"Clear." Kaiba said and gave a nod to urge her to continue.

"Rule number two says that the other person offers at least to pay their part by themselves. They don't have to, though. Strictly no discussing about who pays in the end. The other person's offer should be seen as a question of politeness; it should be declined and the other person should not insist any further. Instead the other person might offer to pay at the next occasion."

"It makes sense," he replied monotonously. "But what if she offers to pay for a next date and then won't even meet me again? Women are like that."

Oh, is the little CEO-boy bitter? A bit, maybe? Gah! Shuddup! What did he know about women at all? Serenity raised a rather pitiful eyebrow at the tall brunette. "There's just no guarantee. Take it or leave it."

Seto opened his mouth to reply but was cut off when there was a knock on the door before his brother's head peered inside the room. A hand covered the boy's blue-gray eyes but he gazed through the gap between his fingers anyway, which he had left on purpose.

"Everybody dressed?" Mokuba snickered in a cheerful tone but stopped, realizing that his big brother was about to reply with whatever amount of sharp words he could come up with. Quickly he drew his gaze to the girl and continued talking. "Eh, Serenity, I gotta question. Since you're teaching Seto how to find a woman, I was thinking you could help me with something."

Kaiba leaned back into the sofa and grunted.

"Well, what is it?" Serenity was curious what a teenager like Mokuba could want. Hopefully his ice cube of an older brother had had 'the talk' with him already!

"How far would you go on a first date?" Mokuba bluntly asked and slid on the armrest of the sofa in a sitting position next to the slightly older girl.

Serenity's eyes widened in surprise and a blush rose on her cheeks! Kaibas were all the same! Ever so straightforward, direct… simply blunt. She exhaled but no word came out of her mouth.

"I mean, Serenity, I'm going to meet someone—soon—and I just want to know how far can I go without scaring her off?"

"Good question, Mokuba." Kaiba suddenly barged in and leaned forward again, paying more attention to their little conversation now.

Serenity simply gawked at Kaiba, then Mokuba, again at Kaiba, then back to Mokuba. How could they? Men were such pigs! As if that was important!

"Serenity?" Mokuba looked at the girl intensely and made big, concerned eyes.

"Uh…is the girl important to you? Then hold back, boy!" She screeched suddenly in an outburst of authority and stomped her small foot on the ground.

"Well, she kinda is; that's why I desperately need to go out with her, kiss her, hold hands with her… God, I want to touch her, show her how much she means to me, carry her in my arms if it has to be! And I want to…"

"Mokuba!"

"…that it hurts! And after that I make her…"

"Mokuba!"

"…again! Cause I so want to…"

"MOKUBA!" Finally the older Kaiba had made his little brother stop babbling. Seto glared at him, annoyed at his behavior—normally he wasn't that… extreme. "Too many details."

"Oh." The boy shifted his gaze at Serenity. "Is that bad?"

The girl sighed and smiled with sympathy. "No, not bad, you're just in love, I suppose. Don't go too far, Mokuba. If she means that much to you, you'll have plenty of time to experience all the other things with each other later. Enjoy the time, taking slow steps."

The teenager thought for a moment, shifted off the armrest and gazed at Serenity quite seriously.

"Thanks. I guess you're right. I just hope I can hold her back…" He wiggled his eyebrows and with a last cheeky grin stormed out of the room, slamming the door so hard that it left the remaining adults frightened to their bones.

Serenity shifted her hazel-eyed look at Kaiba who shrugged quite helplessly. "The girls want him. What can I do about it?"

"I just hope you've talked to him about the birds and the bees." She sighed, concerned but Kaiba smirked, amused.

"He knows pretty well how to make the flower bloom, yes."

Suddenly, he laughed.

It wasn't that cold laughter he usually gave; it was different. Softer. Closer to a chuckle. But he laughed, grinning even. Was he making fun of her? Yes, the birds and the bees example was funny but this was serious after all, wasn't it? Strangely, she had to laugh as well. Ha-ha.

But his laughter faded quickly. A pity, really. "We should go on with the lesson."

"Uh…okay." Serenity couldn't believe Kaiba actually had a sense of humor, even if it concerned gardening—she was way funnier. "Topic: Opening the talk. We shall talk about what to say on a first date. Questions in order to break the ice are necessary at the beginning."

Breaking the ice sounded so damn perfect in connection with Seto Kaiba—why was that again?

"I'll just give you some examples, okay? You might ask 'what did you do today?' Simple and easy. Not offensive in any way, just nice."

"But—" Kaiba was about to ask something when Serenity cut him off.

"Don't you dare answer with 'it's not any of your business'. Just tell her something that isn't top secret."

Kaiba groaned.

Serenity continued. "You might ask her about her favorite book or talk about your favorite movie or TV-show." That was a good example. Serenity mentally patted herself on the shoulder. Wait a second… "Just don't mention 'Cyber-kitty,' " she added bleakly.

Kaiba seemed to have stopped in his tracks. No movement. No noise. Not even breathing. Slowly but deathly he turned to gaze at her. Then he smirked, which never meant any good as far as Serenity could remember. Oh. My. God.

"Were you snooping?" His voice was calm—too calm.

"Err—I was looking a-around a bit while you were pi-picking up Mokuba yesterday. But, I-I didn't touch anything!" Please don't kill me, she added mentally.

Then, he grinned. Why? No clue. "You deserve punishment, little Serenity."

Kaiba reached out to lift her chin with two fingers, an evil smirk crossing his feature. Okay, the end was coming. Goodbye world, goodbye family and friends, goodbye new shoes… Serenity swallowed visibly and thought of something to say, but no words would form from out of her mouth.

"I know what you deserve." His smirk grew even more evil. "To watch the whole movie!"

"WHAT?" Suddenly she found her voice, yippie, shaking her head repeatedly. "No… I would never… ever…watch that!" She spat the last word like it was poisoned.

And Kaiba? He laughed. Coldly and evilly the way he normally did. Bastard.

"You sick-minded jerk! What are you laughing at, huh? You are more of a freak than I even thought was possible!" She hissed, disgusted by the idea of watching anime porn.

"I'd even lend it to you." He couldn't even stop laughing—this was way too funny.

"ARG! No! Don't you get it? I'm not a pervert like you are!" The accusing finger pointed at Kaiba like the judgment of Mr. Pharaoh in his good old days.

Kaiba laughed even harder, holding his hands to his belly. "You are funny…"

"Funny? I…" She growled like her brother when he met Kaiba. "I dare you…"

Then Seto stopped and looked at her with a smirk. "Oh, I'm so scared. Calm down, Wheeler. That's for snooping in my things."

"I wasn't snooping! Just…"

"Just?" He brought his face close to hers, challenging her with his icy blue gaze.

The girl swallowed. Did he smell of cinnamon? God, you would think he worked in a bakery shop. He smelled of either fresh coffee or cinnamon. Maybe on Sundays he smelled of fresh cookies. Damn that man! She was hungry!

"Never mind. Can we go on with the lesson?" Suddenly Serenity turned away, another blush rising on her cheeks. She hated her reaction to Kaiba. She truly did.

Kaiba chuckled and mumbled, "chicken."

She probably was. With him she was. God, it was making her cringe inside. She would bite his head off, if only… if only she hadn't developed some strange attraction to him. Freaky.

"Where were we?" Serenity muttered, dropping her gaze.

"Breaking the ice," he replied, studying her. Since when did she back away like this? Usually she fought back fiercely. What was wrong with her? Had he done something to upset her? Now this thought was weird. But really, he meant it. He had had no intention of upsetting her. It had been fun and usually she wasn't offended that quickly. Strange.

"Okay, let's go on with good topics to talk about." Her voice had completely lost its usually melodious tone. It was so monotonous that Kaiba hated himself a bit. It was his fault, wasn't it? "Try to build a comfortable talking atmosphere with superficial topics, where both of you can relax and enjoy yourself."

Kaiba's blue orbs observed Serenity. What was wrong with her? How could he fix her? He meant, make her normal again. Whatever. She was different and Seto didn't like it. And if Seto didn't like something he turned into a stubborn little boy who would desperately like to stomp with his foot and scream 'I want ice-cream!'—except that he wanted Serenity back to normal.

"You could even talk about the weather. Don't go with phrases like 'nice weather today'; but you could admit to the girl that you like spending your lunch break walking though the park… barefoot maybe. That'd be sweet and not boring."

"Okay," he said, even though he wanted to say something more like 'I don't have a lunch time and I never go barefoot in any park.' He even forced something like a smile but she just forced another one back. WHAT HAD HE DONE, DAMNIT? ARG!

"You might even talk about your meeting point. The place where you go to or where you are at that moment is certainly not a bad topic. Speak positively of the location, the food, music and so on."

"What if I don't even like it?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Then don't mention it. If you don't like the place where you're taking her, then you shouldn't have taken her there." Serenity was a bit annoyed but hey, it was better than thinking about an attraction to the smart-ass CEO of Kaiba Corp.

"If you've got common friends, you might as well talk about them. Don't rant about them, though. But talking about others in a good way builds harmony—though I doubt you would have common friends." She kept going through her list of teaching themes.

"If she's a friend of yours?" He probed carefully, shrugging slightly, trying out Mokuba's method of making puppy eyes for the first time in his entire life. Not that he even realized it! No, no, but he just wanted the normal Wheeler witch back—the one that he liked, damn it!

"If you consider me a friend?" Now Serenity was challenging him and Kaiba, well, he liked it. One corner of his mouth twitched, forming into a small smirk.

He crossed his arms in defense. "I might."

She smirked and mocked him. "You might?"

"Well," he shrugged.

That was enough of a reply for Serenity to know he had admitted it. As long as he wasn't denying something, he was clearly admitting it. And he was cute when he tried making puppy eyes, even if he failed miserably, ending up looking like he'd been smacked in the face with a baseball bat. Sigh. Back to the Solomon Moto mantra!

Satisfied, she smiled. "Okay, where was I? You could talk about news as well. Or culture, things like theater, movies, concerts, rock stars…" Damn. She had a question. Should she dare…? "Um… you might accuse me of snooping again, but who's Heather Nova? I never heard of her before and you've got plenty of her CDs, haven't you?"

"You officially snoop, you do realize that, don't you?" He asked but not in a snapping way. "Heather Nova is a musician who makes rock music, kinda. Well, soft rock, influenced with a bit of indie maybe. Hard to explain. You should listen, then you'll know."

"I'd like to sometime," Serenity smiled and shrugged timidly.

"It's good, you'll see." Kaiba stood up from his sitting position and walked over to the stereo. "I'm going to put on the newest I've got but I'm warning you, it's a bit melancholy," he commented as he put the metallic object into the stereo and pressed the 'play' button on the remote.

Serenity sat and watched. 'Complex' was the only word that swirled over and over again in her mind whenever she was with Kaiba. The guy was simply complex. When you thought he was a pervert, he put on soft-rock music in his stereo. When you thought he was the most arrogant jerk in the world, he suddenly showed a sense of humor. And when you thought he was being a bastard, he tried to lighten up your mood, even if he failed most of the time.

WHY?

Was he always like that?

"We should go on, though. You can listen during 'work,' " he remarked as he joined Serenity on the sofa again.

"Only few topics left, Mr. Kaiba." Serenity grinned at him and chuckled. He was all business but if she didn't take it too seriously, she didn't mind at all. He just was like that. "I guess we need to talk about the taboo topics as well. Topics like… sex."

"Agreed." Simple. No discussion at all.

"That was quick." The girl's hazel eyes furrowed to a slight extend. She frowned. "You don't like talking about this topic, do you?"

Kaiba frowned. "What makes you think that?"

"When I was drunk I asked you if you had ever been with a girl… physically. Seeing that you haven't had a girlfriend so far…" she trailed off, feeling a bit ashamed that she had asked such a question at all. God, she had been drunk but now… now she was totally sober.

Seto gazed blankly at nothing in particular; then he turned to look at her. She was right. But he wasn't a prude. He just had no intention of talking about something like this with his teacher. Why would Serenity Wheeler want to know anyway? It wasn't a secret but still it was none of her business. Not that it would have been a crime to not be a virgin anymore in his age. It was just that she should not know any of this.

The again, he could have a bit of fun with this.

Kaiba leaned down closer to Serenity and said with a smirk, "if you really want to know I guess you'll have to find out."

Oh my God. Oh dear hallelujah. Holy crap. My gosh! Was he… did he just… offer her sex? Serenity's eyes narrowed when the meaning of what he'd said finally dawned on her. Was he suggesting that he have sex with her? How rude! That abnormal bastard! Slowly anger rose inside of her and with that her cheeks started to burn. In that rude manner of his he could offer his sexual treatment to anyone but not Serenity Wheeler! Jerk! Double jerk! Mega jerk!

"Well?" Seto had to suppress a snicker that was forming in the back of his throat. God, she was starting to blush in an awfully crimson color by the look of her cheeks. It had worked. She was so embarrassed!

If only Kaiba had a clue…

Because meanwhile, Serenity was boiling inside. That rude jerk would never get a girlfriend that way! Sick-minded double-idiot! How could he? That was more than impolite. To Serenity it was an insult of the highest degree! Daft, spoiled CEO-ass. Well? What well? She would give him his well! Stuff it up your ass, freak!

SMACK!

Blue eyes widened in shock as Seto's jaw dropped automatically. Did she just smack me across my cheek?

Serenity looked at what she had done and realization dawned on her. Did I just smack him? Oh my God! She reached out to cover his cheek with her hand carefully as if she wanted to soothe the red mark left there.

"Kaiba! Oh God… I'm so sorry. I…I didn't mean to… I was angry and then… I'm sorry… deeply sorry…" she stammered but drew her hand back and flinched when he glared at her icily.

Joseph, gimme the shotgun—I'm gonna shoot my daughter, Serenity heard her mother say.

But then Kaiba began to laugh coldly, shaking his head and laughing at what was actually ridiculous. The small Wheeler chicken had just smacked me with her flat hand! Ha-ha.

"Ha-ha. Funny, huh?" The hazel-eyed girl chuckled nervously, uneasy. "What's so funny anyway?"

"You," Kaiba replied, controlling his laughter. "You just hit me."

Serenity stared at him. She had no clue what was funny about it but obviously he thought it was funny. Maybe it was a trick? She'd better keep her mouth shut.

"Usually nobody comes even close to hitting me, Wheeler. Because those who try fail. I guess I wasn't expecting this. Funny, huh?" His voice was raspy and cold and Serenity thought she detected a trace of discomfort in his tone.

"I'm sorry." Sheepishly she looked at her lap. "It's just that you insulted me."

"How?" No, that was beyond Kaiba's imagination. He had been a bit mean but he was just teasing her. Was to indirectly offer sex an insult?

"You… you know why!" She replied, offended. "You know that I'm not… you know, damn it! You shouldn't suggest things like this!"

It was an insult because she was still a virgin? Holy Jesus! Kaiba would never really understand women. But she was sweet when her innocent side ruled her. Yet, it had caused her to hit him. Wheelers! Too much of a temper for Kaiba's liking.

"I'm going to go get you some ice for that." She pointed at his red cheek. "Just tell me where the kitchen is."

It was the least she could do, Kaiba decided and mumbled, "out the door, right, the second door."

Serenity quickly stood to her feet and hurried off, trying to find the kitchen as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile Kaiba leaned down. It didn't hurt that much, still he was amazed. That prankster of a girl had just hit him. Him! It was really worth a laugh. The thing was, he wasn't even angry with her. A bit offended maybe, his pride hurt as well, but not angry. It both bewildered and shocked him. Why was that?

Serenity came back with a small pack of ice faster than he would have expected.

"Did you find it?"

"No problem. The nice maid from the day before gave it to me. But don't worry, I haven't told her what I was using it for." She winked and handed Kaiba the ice pack.

He gratefully put it on his cheek. After all, he didn't need a mark or a bruise today. He had plans.

"Is there any other topic I shouldn't talk about at a rendezvous?" He asked in order to finally get over with their little exchange.

"Yes, err… a former partner." Of which he had none, as far as Serenity knew. "Politics and religion."

"Shouldn't be a problem," he answered and shrugged. "Are there any more things we need to talk about tonight?"

"Well," she began but stopped. He seemed to be impatient but there was indeed one more thing she should talk about with him in order to fulfill her task as a teacher.

Serenity bit her lip, and then said, "our last topic should be 'the kiss'…"

-

TBC…

-

(A/N: Yes, the final day seems to be endless—but it has to be!)