Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. That's all I'll say.

To Goddess Hope: Thanks for supporting my story! About the jade dragon, Kaiba won't see it anytime soon, but once he saw it, yes, he will eventually remember Serenity.

To Coffee-Time: Thank you very much for encouraging me! That meant a lot to me!

To Sakura: Thanks for reading the story. I'll try to update soon, since I have some time recently because of the Christmas vacation.

The Spirit of the Sword

Chapter 4

Seto Kaiba's Scheme

King Yami was sitting in the golden seat for king. There was a table in front of him with stacks of documents concerning the condition in his kingdom. Yami had spiky hair, with yellow, red, and purple color. His purple eyes showed his intelligence and sharpness. He wasn't very tall compared to his friends Joey, Tristan, and Duke. He was reading one of the document and he frowned at the problems mentioned in it.

"Yami, do you need any help?" asked a beautiful girl as she walked toward the table. She had dark brown hair up to her shoulder. Her blue eyes seemed worried that Yami might be too tired after reading those boring documents for hours. She was tall and slender, with beautiful legs. Tae Gardner was the private servant of Yami, but everyone respected her and thought of her as a friend.

"Hi Tae. No, I'll be fine" answered Yami, looking up from the document. Yami's eyes showed a little affection for Tae, but he tried to hide that from her because of fear of rejection.

"Yami, I brought you some desert. You must be hungry" Tae said, putting down the plates of delicious cakes and cookies. She never called Yami 'king Yami' and he allowed her not to call him king. They were more like friends than king-and-servant.

"Thanks Tae, you are always so thoughtful" Yami smiled and began to eat the chocolate cake.

"Your welcome" Tae smiled too. "Rebecca came today and visited Yugi."

Rebecca was the granddaughter of the old King Motou. Yugi was Yami's little brother, with similar hair and eyes as Yami, but just shorter. Yugi had a soft heart and was always very thoughtful and caring for others.

"Really? Ha ha ha… Rebecca really liked Yugi, doesn't she?" asked Yami with a playful smile.

"Yea, everyone can see that" Tae was smiling too. "They look so cute together, don't you think?"

"Yes, they do indeed. I…" Yami was cut off by a loud bang of the door. The door was pushed violently opened by someone.

A tall figure walked into the room with august movement. His silver trenchcoat was billowing behind him as he rushed toward Yami.

"Yami! I challenged you to a duel right now!" said the man who just rushed in. He threw down decks of dueling cards on the table. He was the one who re-created the dueling cards from the ancient Egyptian games that he read about in his many textbooks. (Of course, the technology was not as advanced as today, so there is no dueling disks.)

"Kaiba! What are you doing here?" demanded Yami. They were rivals and their kingdoms were rivals. However, they didn't hate each other at all. They were just rivals for being the number one kingdom in the world. There were currently three kingdom: Domino Kingdom (Seto's), Yami Kingdom (Yami's), and Duelist Kingdom (Pegasus'). Domino Kingdom was on the East; Yami Kingdom was on the West; and Duelist Kingdom on the North.

"Are you deaf? Didn't I just told you why I am here?" Seto said impatiently and coldly.

"Why should I accept your challenge?" asked Yami. It wasn't because he was afraid of or unfamiliar with the Duel monsters cards and the duels, but he was confused at the moment.

"If I win, I want Serenity to be my Queen. I need her to help me accomplish my goal" said Seto arrogantly.

"What?!?" Yami and Tae yelled at the same time. Their eyes wide opened and they were shocked that they might even faint right on the spot.

"You couldn't be serious, Kaiba" whispered Tae with disbelief. "How did you know Serenity came back? Have you even seen her before? What can she possibly help you with? Are you even sure you want to do that? Did you even ask her about it? How do you think she would feel about this? Huh? You arrogant jerk! You didn't think about her feelings did you?" Tae bombarded Seto with lots of questions really quickly.

"Humph… Shut up Gardner. That doesn't concern you!" Seto grunted. I don't need to know her. She is just a tool to help me rescue Mokuba. Queen? Ha ha, that was just a plan to get her to fall for me. Then, she will tell me everything I need to know about welding the finest sword to beat Pegasus. Every girl would fall for me, she will not be an exception! Seto thought about his evil plan. After all, he was a heartless person, cared for no one except his little brother Mokuba.

"What? How dare you!" Tae was fuming for no one had ever told her to shut up.

Seto ignored the infuriated Tae. He turned and looked back at Yami, who still had his mouth wide opened at the situation they were in. "Well? Are you going to accept? If not, I'll just join forces with Pegasus and destroy you, which I'm not willing to do. But that will be the only way to accomplish my goal. Think about all the people that will suffer because of your refusal to duel me. I know you are a good king, so don't let your people suffer. I don't have all day, decide right now!" threatened Seto coldly. He couldn't waste all day here waiting for Yami's answer. He wanted to save Mokuba as soon as possible.

Tae was slowly sneaking out of the room. I must tell Joey and Serenity right now! That crazy, arrogant jerk! He better now win, otherwise… Otherwise what? No, I don't know, I have to hurry. Serenity must leave right now! Once Tae got into the hallway, she began to run really fast, as if some monsters were chasing her. She must warn Joey and Serenity about the situation right now!

"Fine. I will duel you Kaiba. But I won't let you win. Serenity can't go with you!" Yami said firmly.

"Good, because I WILL WIN! Now, let's duel!" said Seto. I MUST win! Failure is NOT an option!

"Joey! Joey!" Tae shouted as she speeded down the hallway. "Joey! Sometime is not right!"

"Tae! What are ya doing? What's not right?" Joey asked suspiciously. He had just finished arguing with Mai. He was cleaning his sword right now, waiting for Serenity to come back. He was the only one left near the front door, beside the stairs to the second floor.

"It's Kaiba. That jerk! He wanted to duel Yami. And if he wins…" Tae was cut off by Joey.

"What?!? Kaiba's here? What's he doing here? I'll go teach him a lesson not to come to his enemy's castle alone!" Joey said and he stood up, ready to rush to Yami's room.

"Wait Joey! Let me finish!" Tae pulled Joey's arm so that he won't rush away. "If Kaiba wins, he wants to marry Serenity!" Tae shouted in fear.

"WHAT?!?!?" Joey's eyes and mouth were wide opened, with a mused look on his face. "NO WAY!!! He's not marrying ma sista!" Joey was fuming right now.

"That's why I told you about it! Did you see Serenity? You has to leave right now! She has to hide from Kaiba! Who knows what that psycho wants with her?" Tae suggested.

"Run away? Escape? Why would she do that! Tae, ya have ta have some faith in Yami that he'll win! Kaiba would neva win!" Joey tried to convince Tae, but even he looked unsure. Everyone knew that both Yami and Seto were top duelists. The last battle, Yami won, and only barely.

"Joey! Stop that! Serenity has to go! This is just a safety plan, just in case Kaiba wins" Tae yelled. "Now tell me, where is Serenity?"

"Seren just went out alone to ta garden. She'll be back soon" Joey said. "Maybe we should go and find her. I guess ya're right. She should hide somewhere for a while."

"Great, let's go!" Tae said hurriedly and rushed out the door with Joey.

Just when Tae and Joey got out of the castle, they saw Serenity walking slowly towards them. She seemed deep in thought.

"Sis! You have ta leave!" Joey shouted.

"Huh? Joey? What did you just say?" asked Serenity confused by Joey's last statement.

"Serenity, we don't have time to explain. But Joey is right. Actually, Kaiba, the king of Domino Kingdom, just came and challenged Yami to a duel. If he wins, he wants to marry you! But Yami has to duel, because otherwise Kaiba would join forces with Pegasus and risk war with our kingdom!" Tae explained the complex situation to Serenity briefly.

"What? Kaiba, that cruel and evil king that I heard about wants to marry me?" Serenity was horrified. All the rumors she heard from the servants about the rival kingdom's dark ruler Seto Kaiba wanted to marry her? No way! No! I'm not marrying that evil creep! No!!! Serenity almost cried, tears filling up in her eyes. I just met that handsome looking guy… No way am I marrying another evil man. He's probably very horrible-looking and kill people without blinking his eyes. "No! I don't want to! Help, Joey! What can I do?" Serenity said with a shaky voice on the verge of crying.

"Don't worry sis, we're gonna help you. We should go to Mai's own mansion near the beach. Kaiba won't suspect Mai!" Joey suggested.

"Yea, Serenity. We'll help you out. I'll go find Mai right now!" Tae ran back into the castle.

"You're not going anywhere" said a deep, creepy voice. A young man with long white hair and white eyes walked out from behind the tree. He was tall and slender, with a millennium ring on his neck.

"Bakura! Why are ya spying on us?" Joey fumed at Bakura, the priest of Domino Kingdom. Yami especially hated Bakura because he steals information from Yami Kingdom and transported it back to Kaiba. He was the one who found out about the information on Serenity and Joey and the fact that Joey knew about making a good sword.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk… that's my job, swordsman. I was told to watch you, and especially your little sister. She must not escape because she will be the queen of Domino soon" smirked Bakura.

"Shut up, Bakura. We're going!" Joey yelled. He tried to walk pass Bakura with Serenity, but was blocked by Bakura.

Serenity began to cry hopelessly. I can't get away… Kaiba even had a spy watching me… Why would he do that to me? What did I do wrong? Serenity hid behind Joey's protection from Bakura.

"Let me give you some suggestion. If you don't want Kaiba to see you right now, you should go back to your room and wait for the wedding tomorrow. Otherwise, Kaiba might drag you back with him right now if he sees you, for he is very short tempered and wants to accomplish his goal immediately. For that, he needs your help. You see, he might just drag you back so you can start helping him this instant" Bakura said, trying to scare Serenity. Ha ha ha ha… her tears amuses me… ha ha ha… He was scaring Serenity just for his own entertainment.

"Joey… he's right… we should go back now. I… I don't want Kaiba to see me now…" Serenity whispered and she pulled on Joey's sleeve.

"But sis, he's just scaring ya!" Joey wasn't even intimidated by Bakura.

"No Joey. We can think of something tonight. I don't want to see him now!" Serenity looked frightened. Tears streamed down her cheeks again.

"Okay, sis. We'll go back now" Joey said, seeing his sister frightened made his heart ached. "Ya betta be careful around here, you jerk!" Joey fumed at Bakura.

Joey led Serenity back into her room, so that Kaiba won't see her today. I'll think of something tonight! I have to get Serenity somewhere to hide!

I'm doomed… I don't want to marry Kaiba… Help… someone help me… Serenity felt hopeless and helpless. The only image that popped into her head was the handsome young man that she saw today in the garden. She hoped that he could come and save her. But I don't even know his name… More tears rolled down her pale cheek. What can I do?......

Okay, I have to go to bed now. I'm really tired. It's 2:00 a.m. now! Sorry, but I really must go to bed. I didn't mean to leave a cliffhanger here, but I really need sleep. I have school tomorrow.

How's the story so far? I hope it's getting more interested. You'll find out who wins the duel next chapter and what will happen to Serenity. But I'm not an expert on the duel, so there won't be much details on the duels, sorry if you are in to the battles.