Disclaimer: Let's see if I'm rich… Nope! Guess I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh then... and I don't own the characters in the show too.

To Yamiko Yakou: Thank you very much for supporting my fic! I'll update as soon as I have time.

To Coffee-Time: Thanks! You just gave me a great idea… Maybe Bakura will fall for Serenity… I'll see how I can fit that in…

To Goddess-Hope: Yes, something disastrous will happen at the wedding. Bakura's story will be reveal soon too…

To Kikoken: Thanks for reading my fic! I like a lot of your fics! Good luck on your finals!

By the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! Now, continue with the story…

The Spirit of the Sword

Chapter 7

The Confession of Love

The carriage was running toward Domino Kingdom when it began to rain. The sky was covered with dark clouds, making the sky grayish in color. The thunder roared loudly and the rain fall heavily, as if the whole world was crying for poor Serenity.

Serenity's body was shaking violently. She kneeled down at the inner corner of the carriage, far far away from the devil Seto Kaiba. Serenity put her hands around her knees, and then put her head down. One could tell that she's crying by the trembling shoulders.

What can I do? I don't want to go with him…right? Serenity was doubting herself a little, because she did liked the person who saved her in the garden, but that person was Seto Kaiba! Of course not! I want to stay with Joey! But… why am I so unsure… Why are they the same person?

Seto's brown hair bang was hanging down his forehead. He closed his eyes and was sitting near the only exit of the carriage, as if he was guarding the exit so that Serenity couldn't run away from him. He didn't even bother looking at her, although he knew that she was crying.

The sobbing continued throughout the ride to the castle. Finally, the carriage arrived at Seto's Domino castle. Bakura knocked on the door of the carriage, then he opened the door.

"We're here, Kaiba" Bakura announced. He looked at Serenity, who was still crying, from the side of his eyes. Poor, poor girl… Bakura thought, sarcastically. He had no feelings toward anyone; his nature was simply apathetic and a bit cruel. He also looked at other weak people disdainfully because he had the millennium ring that allowed him to take away others' souls. Perhaps his pitiful childhood as an orphan led him to crave for power.

Seto stood up and jumped off the carriage. He walked toward the entrance of the castle, without looking at Serenity. However, after he walked for a while and didn't hear Serenity's footstep, he stopped.

"Are you going to get off that carriage? Or do you want me to drag you off the carriage?" came the cold voice of Seto.

Serenity didn't moved at all. She didn't want to listen to his order. She continued to stay in the same position in the corner of the carriage.

Seto's blue eyes narrowed; a little fire flashed across his eyes. It was hard to tell that he was angry, but he was. He turned back and walked slowly toward the carriage. He was staring into the carriage at the frail body. He couldn't see her face, only her long auburn hair.

"I'll prepare the room for Miss Wheeler" said Bakura. He could tell that Seto was really angry at the defiance of Serenity. He didn't want to be the one to be scold at when Seto was in the bad mood, which was most of the time. Then, Bakura walked away, leaving Serenity and Seto alone.

Seto walked outside of the carriage. "I'm not going to repeat what I said. Don't make me go in there" Seto warned.

Serenity shivered at the horror of Seto's warning. But she didn't make any effort to obey his order. She was tired and really didn't have much energy left because of all the tears she shed.

Now Seto was really angry. How dare she defied me twice!!! He suddenly jumped onto the carriage and rushed to the corner where Serenity was sitting. He reached out and grabbed Serenity's left wrist with his right hand. His grip was really tight.

"Ah…" Serenity bit her lower lips so that she wouldn't cry out too loudly. Seto's grip was hurting her.

"Let's go!" Seto said in a low but danger voice. He pulled Serenity's wrist and got off the carriage. Serenity almost stumbled out of the carriage if Seto didn't catch her in time.

"Let go… you're hurting me…" Serenity whispered in a low voice. She was frowning at the pain caused by Seto's grip. Tears filled up in her big eyes again, making her looked frail and pitiful. She tried to get away, but her struggling seemed nothing to Seto.

Seto didn't answer her. He smirked and grabbed even harder on her wrist, as a punishment for her disobedience.

"Please… you're hurting me!" Serenity yelled a little louder.

"Hmph…" Seto groaned. He lowered his cold blue eyes and looked at her. He felt his heart tightened a bit at the look of her big, teary eyes. But he quickly ignored what he had felt. He did loosened his grip on her wrist a bit.

Seto walked up the stairs and down the long hallways, while holding onto Serenity's wrist with enough force that she couldn't break away from him but the force wouldn't hurt her. He stopped at one of the doors at the very end of the hallway. Bakura was standing beside the door. Seto opened the door and dragged Serenity inside. He threw Serenity onto the bed roughly.

"Wait here. Don't even try to run away. You'll just get lost in the castle" Seto said with emotionless voice. "The wedding will be tomorrow morning at nine. Bakura will bring you the wedding dress tomorrow morning. Don't play any tricks on the wedding. Think about Yami Kingdom."

With the warning, Seto walked out of the room and slammed the door closed. Serenity heard the door being locked from the outside. She jumped off the door and ran to the door. She tried to turn the golden doorknob, but it was locked.

"Kaiba! Let me out! You have no right to lock me in!" Serenity yelled with all her remaining strength.

"Save your strength, Serenity" answered Seto from the hallway.

Serenity pounced several time on the door, but no one answered her. She was really tired after running away for the whole day and all the crying. She gave up because she knew that she couldn't get away right now. She decided to take a nap first. She walked toward the big white bed in the middle of the room and lied down with her face buried into the pillow.

I hope when I wake up, I'll find this to be a nightmare…

Joey was walking toward Yami Kingdom in the rain. He looked terrible because of the fight he had earlier with Kaiba. His head was lowered, and his blonde bangs were hanging down, covering his eyes. Parts of his shirts were sliced open. He was limping a little because he fell during the earlier battle. However, he wasn't really hurt or bleeding. When he raised his head, it was revealed that his brown eyes were full of hatred and regret. He hated Kaiba for taking his little sister away from him, but he blamed himself from letting Kaiba took Serenity away.

Sis, I promise ya, I'll think of a plan with the others and go save ya soon. Hang in there Seren…

Finally, he saw the castle entrance several miles away. He was tired from the search of Serenity and from the fight with Kaiba. He hoped that his friends would be all right back at the castle. I hope Kaiba didn't hurt them or anything…

As he got closer and closer to the castle, his heart began to jump faster and faster. He saw that no guards were around; they all disappeared. As he walked into the castle, he saw a lot of 'bodies' lying on the floor. Those 'bodies' belonged to the guards of the castle.

What tha hell happened here?!? Joey was shocked. He never would have thought that Kaiba had the ability to knock out all the guards in the castle.

"Mai! Yami! Tea! Yugi! Tristan! Duke! Anyone?" Joey shouted. He wandered around the castle and then walked toward Yami's room.

"Joey? Thank god you're back!" Tea's cheerful voice came out of Mai's room. "Are you all right? You look like you just had a fight with someone…" her voice trailed off because she guessed that the person Joey fought was probably Kaiba. Then, that means… no… Serenity couldn't be... gone…

"Tea! What happened here? Where's Mai? And the others?" Joey asked worriedly.

"Yami, Yugi, Rebecca, and I are fine. Tristan and Duke are knocked out just like the other guards, and Mai…" Tea's big eyes looked a bit worry at Joey's reaction.

"What happened to Mai?" Joey's voice was tightened. He felt really hard to sound normal.

"She was also unconscious like the guards…" Tea's voice was a bit tense.

"WHAT?!?" Joey shouted. "Who did that ta Mai? Kaiba, tha creep?"

"Joey! Please, don't be so loud! Mai is fine, she's just unconscious. She's not hurt or anything. Calm down, will you?" Tea had to cover her ears so that Joey's angry shout wouldn't make her deaf.

"Sorry… how's Mai? Oh… and how's Tristan and Duke?" Joey asked Tea. He had calmed down a bit.

"Don't worry, they are all in their rooms. The doctor said they'll regain consciousness in a while" Tea answered.

"Okay… I'm gonna go see Mai…" Joey said with a worried face.

"Okay…" Tea said. "I'm really glad Kaiba left without hurting Yami…" she mumbled and sighed with relief that her Yami wasn't hurt. She walked toward Tristan and Duke's rooms to check on them…

Joey walked into Mai's room. The room was really big and pinkish; very girly, just like Mai's personality. Joey saw that Mai was lying on the middle of the bed. She looked really peaceful while asleep, or in this case, unconscious. Joey walked toward Mai and sat down on the chair next to the bed. He picked up her hand and put her hand to his face.

"I'm sorry Mai… ya got hurt because ya wanted to help Serenity. If I weren't searching for Seren, I coulda protect ya…" Joey's heart ache because Mai was unconscious, even though she wasn't hurt at all.

Mai's eyelashes began to move a little, but Joey wasn't looking at her face, so he didn't realize that Mai was about to wake up. He rubbed his face against Mai's hand.

"Mai…" Joey was just saying her name repeatedly. "Mai…"

Mai's eyes began to open. At first, she couldn't make out the surroundings, but after a few seconds, her vision became clearer and clearer, until she saw a big blonde head blocking her views. She also felt that her hand was being held by someone.

"Joey… is that you?" Mai said uncertain.

"Mai?" Joey raised his head and looked at Mai with surprised and unbelievable expressions. "You're awake! Mai! I'm so glad you're awake!" Joey shouted exuberantly.

"Joey… what's going on? I wasn't hurt or anything, was I?" Mai was confused by Joey's reaction. He acted as if she was cured of some incurable diseases.

"You're unconscious, Mai! Ya think unconscious was fine? Are ya crazy, Mai?" Joey was exaggerating the situation. He didn't mean to exaggerate anything, but he was really worried when Mai was unconscious. Joey suddenly hugged Mai. "I'm so glad you're all right now, Mai! I was really worried about ya!"

"Joey… I'm all right. Don't worry…" Mai blushed a little. She could tell that Joey really cared about her. She had always secretly admire Joey's cheerfulness. She admitted to herself that she had a little crush to Joey, but she would never admit to others unless she knows for certain that Joey likes her too.

It's time now, Mai. Tell Joey how you feel about him! You know how much Joey cares for you. He likes you too. Be courageous! Mai was trying to gather some valor to tell Joey how she felt about him.

"Joey… why are you so worried about me? I wasn't really hurt… I was just knocked out by Kaiba's guards, that's all…" Mai wanted Joey to admit his feelings for her too.

Joey let go of Mai. He was also blushing a bit. "I… I was worried because… because I… um…" Joey still couldn't tell Mai that he likes her.

"I understand, Joey. You don't have to say anything mushy" Mai was a bit disappointed. "But… I just want to let you know that… I like you, Joey." Mai didn't know how Joey would react, so she looked down on the floor and waited for his reply.

Joey was shocked. He never thought that Mai would have the same feelings for him. She was so pretty and clever, but he was so… sloppy. He just stared at Mai for a few seconds. Just when Mai thought that she was wrong about how Joey felt about her, Joey replied.

"Mai… I'm really happy that ya like me… I like you too… Wait… What I meant was that I… I love ya. Ever since I first saw ya, I… well, ya know what I mean, right?" Joey was blushing like a red apple.

"Shhh… I understand Joey" Mai hugged Joey. She rested her head on his shoulder. Joey was really happy. He hugged her back.

"Mai… ya need some rest now" Joey said, trying to stand up.

"Joey, stay with me for a while…" Mai suggested. "Tell me what happened today. Did you find Serenity?"

Joey tensed up suddenly at the mention of Serenity. "Kaiba took her." He said, lowering his head. "I'll go talk to Yami and the others later about what to do."

"I'm sorry Joey, for what happened to Serenity." Mai wanted to comfort Joey.

"Don't worry about it, Mai. We'll come up with some plan. You need some rest." Joey said. He kissed Mai on her forehead and sat back down at the chair. "I'll be here until ya fall asleep."

"Thanks, Joey…" Mai said, with a soft smile.

Joey stayed with Mai until she fall asleep. Then, he adjusted the cover so that Mai wouldn't get sick. After that, he walked out of Mai's room silently and walked toward Yami's room. He needed to talk to him desperately.

Kaiba is probably going to hold the wedding in the morning tomorrow. I betta go talk to Yami…

Seto Kaiba was sitting at his personal library. His chair was facing out the window, so he could see the scene of his kingdom. He appeared to be deep in thought.

"Kaiba. What do you want to tell me at this time of the night? It was passed midnight already." Bakura asked in a monotonous voice. His sharp eyes stared straight at Kaiba fearlessly.

"Is everything prepared?" Seto asked.

"Yes. Everything at the wedding is prepared." Bakura answered.

"Good. I don't want anything or anyone to interrupt my plan." Seto ordered.

"I understand. But I believe that Yami and Joey would definitely come tomorrow, not to attend the wedding, but to take Miss Wheeler away." Bakura predicted.

"Let them come then. They can't disrupt my plan to save Mokuba." Seto said firmly. The mutt can never stop him, so did Yami. He was expecting them to appear at the wedding. Seto grinned mischievously at the 'show' that would occur at the wedding tomorrow. The mutt can amuse me tomorrow, along with King Yami… Ha ha ha ha ha…

This chapter was mainly about Joey's and Mai's confessions to one another. They are finally together! Isn't that sweet? Oh, and Kaiba treated Serenity really badly in the beginning of this chapter. He's planning something evil on the wedding. The wedding will be the next chapter.

Please review and tell me how's the story so far… I really hope that you guys like it. Well, enjoy the Christmas vacation!