Whew.... yes, it is 12:45 in the morning, but I woke up about an hour ago and decided to finish this chapter up. It's a tad long, but more importantly, I must forewarn you guys-- this chapter is a big one. One of the most important ones in my story; my hands were shaking after I got done with it. Now that half of you have closed this window in fear, I bid you remaining people to read on.

Chapter 12: If

Kiseki arrived a few minutes late, now adorned with the school uniform; she had made a trip to the office before she came. She quietly excused herself upon opening the door and sat down, turning her eyes up to the board and Unishiwa. He stared at her for a moment, confused at the saddened look upon her face, before turning back to teaching math.

I don't want to be here… she thought to herself as he did a few practise problems. I want to go home… I wish I were back in the US… Daddy shouldn't have gone on this business trip and dragged Mama and me along… I'd have never found the card… I'd have never met Seto—She stopped in her thinking. Her eyes were still on the board, her back still straightened with good posture, but her eyes were slightly unfocused. …why did I just call him Seto?

The lesson finished and Unishiwa gave her a somewhat imploring look before he left to remind her about their meeting at lunch, and she gave a small bow of her head. As soon as his back had disappeared through the door, she let her head fall heavily upon her arms on the desk, an odd feeling of despair starting to well up in the pit of her stomach. I don't want to give up the card… but… Shizuka's involved now because of it… I should have just given it to him in the first place…

Seto watched as she hunched her shoulders slightly, giving a deep sigh as she did so. It looked to him like her mood had worsened when she came back, and he wondered why. Throughout the remaining classes before lunch, he kept working on his laptop, his mind staying quite frequently to the slumped figure in the desk at the front of the classroom. The bell finally rung, and Kiseki slowly picked up her bag and made her way out. It was only when she reached the lunch area that she realised that she and Unishiwa had not designated where they would be meeting.

Hardly reacting to it, she stood silently, trying to think of what he'd have in mind. The fact that she would have no food if she didn't find him didn't even pass over her. After almost a minute of not moving, she became vaguely aware that there were footsteps behind her, rapidly approaching. She turned to see Lokhai and her gang of preps in a half circle around her, and observed them with a blank expression.

"Why were you crying, little kohai?" she sneered at Kiseki.

"Why do you wish to know?" As soon as the redhead had opened her mouth, Kiseki could feel a small flame of anger arise within her. She would make Lokhai leave her alone.

"Because you looked so distressed, we thought it might have something to do with your precious Unishiwa."

She scoffed. "How did you come to that conclusion? You're stupider than you look," she hissed; all the stress of the previous day seemed to be surfacing, and she had found the perfect target.

Lokhai put her hand to her mouth in mock surprise. "Ooooohhhh… little kohai said 'stupid'. What next? Darn?" She and the other girls laughed.

"Don't push me, you egotistical airhead…" Kiseki growled out, clenching her fists.

Lokhai and her friends all put up their hands in front of them, backing away and making sarcastic frightened noises. Kiseki lost her temper and took a step forward, getting a hold on Lokhai's shirt and pulling her close, glaring at her. "Back. Off." She pushed the girl away and kept the scowl on her face pinned up.

The one with blonde pigtails let out a laugh. "Lokhai-kun, I thought she was gonna kiss you!" she squealed.

The prep straightened her top and put her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the side to look at Kiseki. "Aw, kohai, I know I'm hot, but I'm not your type! At least find out if someone's gay before you make a move on them!"

"I—I wasn't trying to kiss you!" stuttered Kiseki. "You guys don't know a threat when you see one?"

"Oh, this is good…" sneered Lokhai. "Wait 'till this gets out… Girls, meet the lesbian," she snickered, pointing at Kiseki.

She could feel a slight rush in her cheeks as she stood up a little straighter. "I am not a lesbian!"

"Right, sure! We believe you!" Two of the girls hugged each other and pretended to stroke each other, making weird noises with their tongues out, making the rest laugh even harder.

"I'm NOT!" she shouted, disgusted by the pair.

"Then make out with the next boy you see, we dare you!"

"The next—" she cut off. "That's absurd! You're an idiot if you think I'd do something like that to prove my sincerity!"

"Well then, without any proof—" Lokhai shrugged her shoulders, still grinning twistedly.

"I don't need to prove anything to the likes of you!" With that, Kiseki stomped off; the girls laughed some more and then went to lunch with the epidemic of a rumor upon their lips.

Kiseki could feel her anger boiling up inside her as she walked further to her usual spot beneath the trees, her nails digging into her palms from how hard she was clenching her fists. When she reached her place, she leaned heavily against one of the trees, brooding and staring at the ground. When footsteps once again reached her ears, she did not look up, keeping her eyes fixated upon the grass. It was only when she heard a cold voice that she broke out of her trance and raised her eyes to see Seto standing a few feet away from her with his arms folded.

"Where is the card, kohai?" he asked.

"I don't have it." Her apathy began to take over by instinct, knowing that if she flared out at him, she could get hurt.

"Why not?" He knew perfectly well why not, but didn't feel like explaining to her why he did.

"What's it to you?" She stood up slightly from the tree and faced him.

"It's all that's keeping me from following you home and just taking it for myself."

"Well I'm sorry you get that excited over a piece of paper, Kaiba—"

"It is not just a piece of paper!" His voice rose and he took a step towards her, making a cutting motion through the air in front of him as he threw his arms to his sides. "It is a symbol of power! Something that is worth more than anything else in the world of Duel Monsters! But of course, you are too ignorant to know about what that feels like, aren't you?" he finished, his ice-cold eyes ablaze.

"What makes you think that I don't know? You think there's nothing like that that's important to me?" she asked in a whisper, her anger starting to surface again; she was doing her best to keep it at bay.

"Nothing that could measure up to what's important to me, kohai," he hissed, leering down at her. "My entire company is based upon those cards."

"And one day my paintings could earn me a living! I don't see your point!" Kiseki snapped back.

"Your paintings?" he scoffed. "Have you sold any yet?"

"No, because I'm not ready to part with them."

"Not ready to part with them… what, are they some sort of magical diary you keep for yourself? Or are they just too terrible to show without embarrassing yourself?"

"Shut up!" she yelled, her frustration reaching its peak. "I keep them because they are my memories! My whole life since I was seven years old! Someone as cold hearted as you could never understand that!"

"I am cold hearted because of my memories; don't you dare say that the past is something good to have. People like you make me sick; holding onto happiness they had before, rather than focusing upon how to survive in the present."

"And how the hell am I supposed to survive with my life now with you following me around school, not letting me alone? Am I supposed to get over what you do to me in a matter of days?" She yanked up her sleeve to manifest the bruise she had gotten from him. "I go back to my memories to remind myself of what my life was like when people like you weren't in it!"

Seto stared at the bruise for a moment, disguising his surprise quite well. He turned his eyes back onto her; she hadn't moved since she pulled up her sleeve, and she was panting slightly, her face flushed. "If you would just give up the card, kohai… that would have never happened."

Kiseki let go of her jacket, staring at him in utter disbelief. At that point, her anger pushed through her barrier and she took a step forward, raising her hand to slap him hard across the face.

The teen flinched a great deal as the sting rose to his skin, bringing him back instantly to his days with Gozaburo. He put a hand to it as he stared down at Kiseki; her eyes were nearly overflowing with tears as she glared up at him. "If you would just leave me out of your obsession… if you had just left me alone… if—if you had just asked me for it without frightening me beyond reason… if you had been kind…" She stopped, taking a few shaky breaths. "…none of this would have happened."

With that, she pushed past him, back towards the school. Seto still stood with his hand upon his cheek, staring straight out in front of him, his eyes wide. The noisy sounds of students eating their lunches began to rise as his ears tuned into it, leaving his mind behind to wallow in itself. He couldn't come to grips with what had just happened, but Kiseki's words had driven home what he had never grasped.

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Kiseki skipped out on her classes after lunch, instead choosing to sit, hunched against the side of the school building in the grass. Time merely passed as she slowly picked the grass around her, taking off little bits off each blade until it was completely gone before moving onto the next. A soft wind would blow by frequently, ruffling her hair and her clothes. Her mind was completely blank, though every now and then it would stray to Seto. The image of him after she had hit him was imprinted into her mind, and she wondered slightly why he stayed as quiet as he did. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

He just stood there, rather than… from the past few days he would have hurt me or something… yelled… Why didn't he? She wrapped her arms about her knees and rested her chin upon them, narrowing her eyes slightly ahead of her. Then again… getting slapped isn't exactly the most pleasant thing to happen to someone… I acted just like that when Mama slapped me… but he deserved it! He seems like he'd be smart enough to stop crossing over the line… maybe he's so obsessed with getting it that he forgets about everything else… he's losing his mind over a stupid card… maybe he's becoming confused by it all… She curled up a little tighter, closing her eyes. Idiot…

The rest of the afternoon passed by without incident, and when the bell rang, she raised her head to see Unishiwa emerge form the building while everyone went to cleaning duties. He walked to the middle of the courtyard, casting around everywhere almost a little frantically. She called out to him and he whipped around, his bag swinging around him.

"Kiseki!" he came to her and kneeled down in the grass. "Where were you?"

"I'm sorry, sensei… I got held up by something."

"What was it?"

She opened her mouth, looked slightly to the side, changing in mid-sentence. "Set—a student came to ask me about where I had been and I… had a hard time coming up with something to say."

He narrowed his eyes. "Alright, Kiseki; there's something you've been keeping from me. I'd really like to know what; I might be able to help."

Kiseki looked up at him as another wind blew by, blowing their hair over their faces slightly. She swallowed and slowly got up, bringing her bag over her shoulder. "I'll explain on the way home…" she murmured, walking to the gates.

He hurriedly got up and followed her, looking slightly angry. As soon as they began walking down the street, a blue Mercedes slowly started making its way after them--Seto in the driver's seat.

He had gone home immediately after lunch and sat down in his bedroom, warning his housekeepers that no one was to be let in until he said so; not even Mokuba could come in. Heavily sitting on the edge of his bed, he once again reached up to put a hand upon his cheek, Kiseki's voice echoing in his mind. "If you had just left me alone… if you had been kind… if you had been kind… He focused in on the last one. If you had been kind. His eyes narrowed at the ground in a puzzled expression, his fingers slowly trailing down his face as he let his hand fall.

If I had been kind… if I had been kind what? We'd be friends? I'd be on the same level as Yugi and the others to her? If I had been kind… "None of this would have happened." He ran his hands through his hair, letting his forehead rest against his palms. If she wasn't so attached to the damn thing… if she had given it to me in the first place… if I had been kind, she'd still have kept it… Another voice started to rise in his head.

Why did I go to speak to her? If I hadn't come up to her at lunch, she wouldn't have slapped me… I knew she didn't have the card, so why did I go to see her?

I wanted to remind her to bring it. If I hadn't, she wouldn't have remembered to bring it on Monday.

If I hadn't, she wouldn't have slapped me.

She slapped me because she was afraid. She couldn't handle that I won't give up on getting that card from her.

Do I even know what the card is? I remembered the information that the runt recounted on the first day… but that's all… the mutt's sister wouldn't tell me anything… what if it's a weak card?

He looked up suddenly, staring at the wall ahead of him. What if… what if the card isn't what I think it is? Do I even know if it's stronger than anything I have? I don't even know what it looks like for God's sake!

If I had been kind… I could have at least seen it… and then what? If it was the legendary card that Pegasus was rumored to have created, I'd have done what I'm doing now… if it was a weak card…

His thoughts halted. As he looked at the bland white paint upon his wall, he interlocked his fingers and put his chin on them. It can't be weak. As much as I loathe to say it, Yugi probably knows as much as I do about the cards, and if he thought that it was powerful… but he only got one glance at it; maybe he got the wrong idea…

What would I do if in the end it were a weak card?

I'd… I would… give it back? Tear it apart? If she finally gives it to me and I don't want it, I'll give it back and go on with my life. She can keep it if I don't want it. What would I say, though? "Here's your card, take it back." I can't imagine the look on her face after all I've done to get it from her.

The image of her pulling up her sleeve appeared in his mind. I bruised her arm… He held out a hand in front of him and stared at it. I didn't have to… if I hadn't threatened her, that idiot Unishiwa wouldn't be putting his hands all over her to try and make her feel better… His hand clenched.

He shouldn't be doing that. He can't. He just can't. If he thinks that he can get away with it… He let his hand relax slightly. If he thinks that… he's wrong. If she needs help, it should be from someone else. Not some pedophilic teacher… She could get hurt.

Why the hell am I dwelling on that so much? It's not my damn business, and I've never cared about what anyone else was going through… why do I care about what happens to her?

Because… because I want the card.

Somehow, he wasn't convincing himself. That's why… I want the card…

His eyes went wide as something slowly dawned on him. Something that had been waiting to manifest itself for the past few days. I care about what happens to her… because… I care about her… I care about Kiseki…

His lips slowly opened in a shocked whisper into his empty room. "I… I love Kiseki…"

Now, in his car, he was following her and Unishiwa to find the perfect time to get her away from him; to get her away before she was hurt by him. He can't possibly understand how much he's affecting her, he thought, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. He noticed too late that they had gone into his apartment building, so, cursing at himself, he pulled into a parking space across the street from it, deciding to wait until they came back out. He would wait all night if he had to.

Kiseki had been very slow in telling Unishiwa about Kaiba, but as he opened up the door and they came inside, he was just as enraged. "I knew he had something to do with it. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I… I didn't want you worrying so much about me, sensei… you've been so kind to me these past few days, and I thought that—" She stopped, putting a hand to her arm. "—that if you knew what Kaiba was doing to me, you'd go and do something drastic or… if you had done any more for me, I'd feel forever in debt for how much you've done."

"I do this because I want to, Kiseki," he said, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes. "I'm not doing it because I feel obligated as a teacher… I'm doing it as a friend. I don't expect anything back from you."

She was about to respond when they heard a phone ring across the hall, and Unishiwa went to the door and finally closed it, drowning out the sound. "You should call your parents again, Kiseki," he said, turning back to her.

She nodded, dropping her bag to the floor and going to the phone, picking it up and dialing. Ever since she started talking about Kaiba on the way home, she had remembered that she would need to make sure the card was still there. The ring tone sounded a few times before it picked up, Takai's voice coming out of it.

"Hello?" She sounded utterly exhausted.

Kiseki did not speak, merely holding the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" her mother asked again.

The girl took in a deep breath. "Is Dad there?"

"Kiseki?" she nearly shouted.

"I want to speak to Dad, Mama."

"He's—he's not here, Kiseki," she replied, lowering her voice again. "Are you still safe?"

Kiseki closed her eyes, her other hand grasping her skirt tightly. "Yes, Mama…" she said slowly. "I want you to check something for me."

Her mother was silent for a moment. "Kiseki-kun… where—"

"Mama, don't. Will you walk out on the balcony?"

More silence, but Kiseki could hear soft footsteps and the sliding of a door.

"There's a painting of a dragon on my easel. Is there a card in the little rack at the bottom?" she asked, almost in a statement.

"Why are you asking me this?" her mother practically pleaded.

"Please, Mama… just tell me that the card is still there."

She could have sworn that she heard her mother sniff before responding. "…no, Kiseki-kun… there's no card there."

"But—check again, Mama; it looks just like the painting." Kiseki's hand tightened even more on her skirt as butterflies started multiplying in her stomach.

The sound of rummaging reached her ears. "I don't see it… if it was small… it might have blown off the balcony in last night's storm… why are you asking me to find it? Can't you come home?"

Kiseki didn't respond, her eyes widened in shock. "It's not there?" she asked.

"No, Kiseki! If you want to look for it some more, come home! Please!"

The girl dropped the phone noisily to the floor, making Unishiwa jump, as he had been sitting a few feet away, watching her intently. He immediately reached to pick up the phone to speak to her mother.

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A little while later, Unishiwa and Kiseki were walking down the stairs of the apartment. He had convinced Kiseki to go home, and given her mother directions to get to his house as soon as her father came back. It had started to rain heavily, and Seto only noticed that the blurred light in front of the building was blocked twice as they passed in front of it, and he watched as an SUV drove up and stopped rather fast beside them, blocking them from view.

The door to it closed and it drove off, leaving Unishiwa staring after it slightly, letting the rain slowly drench him. Seto looked at him for only a moment before turning on his car again to instead follow the car of Kiseki's parents.

Inside their car, they were silent, but Kiseki could tell that her parents had been fighting on the way over. Both looked tense in their seats, and would occasionally shoot a small glance when the other wasn't looking. She felt awkward and wished for a moment that she was back with Unishiwa. She could see her father from the side, but not her mother, as she was in the passenger side of the back. "Um…" she murmured, trying to think of something to say. "I… I'm sorry I… ran off… I didn't mean to—"

"You didn't mean to make us worry our asses off about you?" cut in her father angrily.

"Korosu!" said her mother in the same tone. "How dare you talk to her that way!"

"Who are you to talk? Do you see me reaching back to punch her?" he snarled. The car slightly skidded on the wet pavement and he turned his attention back to the road, growling about not being able to see anywhere past his fog lights.

Her mother had straightened up. "I've told you how much I regret that; you can't just leave it be?" she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

Kiseki remained quiet in the back seat, nearly crying herself at seeing her parents fighting about her. Korosu once again moved his eyes to his wife.

"No! I can't! It's because of that regretful thing that our daughter ran away. She could have been kidnapped by someone!"

"You think I don't know that?" her mother yelled back. "She was taken in by her teacher; we should be thankful for that!"

"Oh yeah, so we'll just rely on luck to keep her safe; the next time she's in danger, I won't worry!"

A honk interrupted them and Korosu whipped his head around to the bright lights approaching from his left.

Behind them, Seto heard and saw the other car as well. He watched as Kiseki's car swerved slightly before the other smashed headlong into the left side with a sickening crash. The lights of the other car went out as they were crushed, but the SUV's stayed on, swaying out into the darkness as the car swiveled from the impact, finally coming to rest about ten feet away.

Seto slammed on his brakes and stopped his car, staring in horror through his windshield. His hand blindly groped around for his cell phone and fumbled with it before picking it up and dialing 9-1-1.