"Holy cow," Tessa said as she peeked through the chain link fence at the black car, her small fingers entangled in the wiring as she looked that the vehicle. She glanced at Peter who looked back at her, his hands grasping the fencing also, "These people must be loaded, just look at their car!" Peter gave an unsure look. "I'm positive it'll work this time, come on." She left the fence, her brother following her quietly. She ignored the adults and went over to the board box that held all the board games. She knelt down and shifted through the box; there was monopoly backgammon, chess… Peter watched over her shoulder and she finally found what she'd been looking for. She grinned and pulled out the folded up black and red board. Peter sighed and shook his head and Tessa gave him a look of annoyance. "Would you quit that, it'll work, I know it will." Peter looked ever doubtful, but Tessa ignored the doubt. If she didn't try, she couldn't win.

The blonde girl stood and went to see the potential adopters. She observed the men from a safe distance, where if they saw her, they would have to move closer to speak to her. Peter joined her side, but knew her younger sibling would not approach the adults any further. She saw the blonde man was a cheerful adult, joking with the children that gathered around him. Tessa was weary of adults like that; they could easily turn malicious in seconds. She looked to the brunet of the pair, who watched the blonde man and the children that surrounded him. The slightly taller man had a cold sense to his being that almost made her rethink her own actions and the brunet seemed less trustworthy than the blonde did.

Faintly she wondered why it was two men instead of a man and a woman; that's how couples usually came; hardly ever did people like them show up. The brunet looked like a business man, even without his suit, his straight posture still held fast and the blonde was casual, but well dressed as well. Why would a couple of rich men come to a run down orphanage like this?

She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself and clutched the game board closer. She was going to do this, she was going to get them out of there; the plan would either scare them away or get them noticed. If they would take notice she would have a good chance to get them adopted. She decided to approach the brunet, he looked more ready to make a deal than the playful blonde. She walked over, but the brunet didn't notice her at first, his focus lingering on the blonde man who was talking to the kids, learning their names and so on, getting to know a couple of them. Tessa glanced at Peter who stayed in his spot, begging her with his hazel eyes not to do it, but she was determined to get them out.

"Hey!" Tessa said loudly, getting everyone's attention around them, the adults' also. The rest of the orphans all knew what she was doing and made mumbles of 'not again' and 'oh geeze'. Tessa ignored them and met ice blue eyes with her own nearly equal blue. "I challenge you to a game of checkers." The brunet man raised an elegant brow and the blonde blinked his eyes at her from within the crowd of kids.

"Oh really?" the tall man asked, she could tell he wasn't taking her seriously with that tone of amusement in his voice; she hated that tone and scowled deeply at him for it.

"Yeah, and if I win, you adopt me and my brother." She said.

Seto stop the corner of his mouth from curling u in an amused smirk, a small chuckle escaping him. This scenario seemed so familiar, like the deal he'd made with Gozaburo; though he had been more civil and crafty in making the old man adopt them. Checkers, ha, such a kid's game. This little girl was so loud and rude; he couldn't possibly consider adopting her.

"I don't think so." He said waving her off and this seemed to tick the girl off more.

"Why?" she challenged, "Are you scared of loosing to a girl?" When he was younger, that might have worked, but Seto was older, more mature than that.

"You wouldn't last long." Seto said, refusing to take any bait that she threw at him.

"I would so!" She stated angrily. Seto snorted apathetically, clear that he found it funny and didn't take her seriously. Joey managed to maneuver from the crowd of children and stood beside Seto, resting a hand on the brunet's shoulder. Seto's eyes shifted to the slightly shorter man, softening ever so slightly; Joey had that effect on him.

"Give it a shot." Joey urged; he doubted that the brunet would loose, but he was curious to see how the girl faired. Seto thought a moment as his eyes lingered on Joey's. He remembered Gozaburo had lost to him in a game of chess because he had underestimated the young brunet. Seto had had his mind set on a boy for adoption, to train him to be a corporate executive, to take over Kaiba Corp. He knew his boundaries though; he wouldn't treat a child like Gozaburo had treated him. The man had made him sleep, breathe and eat calculations and legal documents. He might be the man he is today because of it, but he hated himself before Joey had come along and urged him to trust him. He hated Gozaburo with every fiber of his being.

He supposed he could give the girl a chance, she was quite determined, and who knew, she actually could be an intelligent girl.

"Alright, one game." Seto finally said, eyes flickering back to the blonde girl. The girl looked mildly surprised before she covered it with a smirk.

"Good." She said confidently and ran over to a creaky picnic table by the building, a shady spot in the middle of the day where some of the kids would eat. Seto followed and sat across from her on the old, slightly splintering wood and watched as she set up the board. He noticed some of the pieces were replaced by some buttons or chess pawns. He wasn't surprised really; it was an orphanage full of little children. No doubt the infants either chewed on them or lost them.

"What's your name, girl." Seto asked as she set up the pieces; he might as well know for reference. She didn't even glance at him, setting up her side of the board.

"Tessa," She stated clearly, "My brother is Peter." She glanced into the crowd and Seto tried to follow her gaze, but didn't see any other dirt blonde haired boy that resembled her. Her eyes snapped back to him before he could take a better look, a crowd was already around to watch.

"Who are you?" she asked back; the board was finally set up.

"Kaiba, Seto Kaiba." Seto replied and some of the children began chattering a bit excitedly; no doubt at least a good few of them knew who he was; CEO of Kaiba Corp., the creator of some of the most popular entertainment technology in Japan. Tessa appeared unimpressed and Seto smirked. "Ladies first."

"Age before beauty." The blonde replied and Seto frowned, making the first move. Joey sat beside Seto, watching, but he didn't comment; Seto liked his concentration when he played, whether chess or dueling.

Tessa was fierce in concentration, and got frustrated when a couple of her pieces were gone in the first few turns. Seto was calm; poker face set as he swiftly calculated moves and took her pieces without mercy. When half the pieces were gone he noticed she tried to be tricky instead of straight forward, but Seto knew all the tricks to checkers, even if he hadn't played for a while.

In the end, Seto won, with 5 kings on the board still. The last of Tessa's pieces were cleared off the board with her loss and her eyes were wide in shock, as if in disbelief that she lost. Seto didn't boast there really was no point in mocking the girl; the rest of the children mocked her 10 fold. "Ha! You thought you could beat Kaiba?" "You should give up already, it never works" Tessa huffed at the spiteful words and got off the bench, sour with her defeat.

"You were lucky." She said and pushed past some laughing children, her face red with embarrassment. Seto snorted indignantly and stood. He had to laugh mentally at his previous thought; thinking she had potential. He glanced at Joey who still sat down on the bench, giving a slightly disapproving look. Seto sighed, realizing he should have gone a bit easier on her, but what was done was done and he wasn't forced to adopt anyone.

"Let's finish here already." He said to the other man and Joey nodded, standing up.

---

The bed creaked loudly under Tessa's weight as she flopped down on one of the many beds in the bedroom. She stared at the ceiling blankly for a minute before tears started to build up in her blue eyes. She hated being humiliated like that, it was worse than the adults that just turned her down out right. Why is it the only time someone agrees to the deal is she beaten so easy? Kaiba didn't even flinch during the game at all. She angrily let a balled fist fall heavily onto the squeaky bed; she hated being stuck in this orphanage, she hated that old crone and she didn't like any of the other kids there, the acceptance only being Peter. It almost made her wish that she was home…

She shook her head, angry with herself now. No, she didn't want to go home, it wasn't even 'home'. She and Peter had never had a real home, not even with their parents.

Parents, Tessa snorted at the title, biologically yes, but they weren't her parents, never did love them at all.

She was startled when a gentle hand was placed on her arm and her sudden movement caused Peter to retract his hand from her. She sighed and sat up, supporting herself with her arms.

"Its ok Peter, sorry, I kind of ran away on you." She said and Peter just nodded slightly, his way of accepting the apology. Tessa's eyes drifted sadly to the bed and she crossed her arms, resting them on her bent knees. "I'm sorry I didn't win, we're stuck here still." Peter shook his head, as if she'd said something absurd and sat down on the bed also, making the bed creak dangerously. He leaned his shoulder against hers, looking at her straight in the eye. She looked away, hating it when he insisted on eye contact. "Don't worry, I'll get us out of here," a smile crept onto her face and she looked at him, "We'll get to the circus and we'll get you a big red nose." His face nose wrinkled in dislike and she laughed lightly. It was better to turn the worry into fun; she couldn't stand to make Peter worry about her.