Lu: Sorry about the late update. A friend slept over last night so I couldn't update.

Yami Lu: Happy Valentine's Day!

Lu: Have you been in the sugar?

Yami Lu: No. I've just eaten way too much chocolate. Ooh, I'm doing the disclaimer. Lu does not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 6 – Serenity's Shadows

"Hey, Serenity," Joey said after he'd dialled the number. "Tell Dad I'm not comin' home. I'm at Kaiba's mansion." He paused for a moment. "I made a deal with him, I'll tell you tomorrow." He paused again, listening. "What? He did what? Shit. OK, umm, what can we do?" Joey thought for a moment, and then looked at Kaiba. "Hey, is it alright if my sister spends de night too? It's just..." he began.

Kaiba's heart leapt. Serenity? Sleeping at his house? Kaiba nodded before Joey could finish.

"Hey, sis, Kaiba says you can spend de night. Is dat cool? ... Just try and get out of dere without disturbing him. Can you catch a cab? ... OK, I'll see you in 20 minutes. Bye," he said, hanging up the phone.

"Thanks, she really needed to get out of dere. My dad's..." he trailed off.

"What?" asked Kaiba.

"Doesn't matter. She'll be around in a while. I'll talk in dog now. Woof," said Joey.

"No, what's the matter with your dad?" asked Kaiba.

"It's none of your business," said Joey. "Why do you care anyway?"

"No reason," said Kaiba quickly, in case Joey suspected something. Joey looked at him like he was a freak for a couple of seconds, and then looked away. They sat in silence for ten minutes, and then the doorbell rang. Joey jumped up.

"I'll get it," he said eagerly. But Kaiba grabbed the back of the suit.

"Stay, dog," said Kaiba. Joey growled but stayed put. Kaiba walked out of the room and up the hallway. He opened the door.

There she was, looking like a fallen angel. It had started raining while they were eating dinner, and she was drenched. Her clothes clung to her, revealing her curves. Her long brownish-red hair fell limply behind her back. She was wearing a lavender t-shirt and short denim jeans. Her hazel eyes looked red, like she'd been crying.

"Hi Serenity," he said.

"Thank you for letting me stay," she said in a hoarse, monotonous voice.

"Come in," he said, stepping aside. She came inside, clutching a small backpack.

"Err... can I take anything?" asked Kaiba awkwardly. Serenity shook her head. Joey came out at that moment. He had taken off the puppy dog suit.

"Serenity!" he said, and ran to her, giving her a hug. "You're not too hurt, are you?" he asked, stepping back and surveying her. She paused for a moment, then burst into tears, running into Joey's arms, dropping her backpack.

Kaiba was starting to piece together what was happening. Their father had hurt Serenity for some reason.

"It's OK. Nothin' can get you here, although I wouldn't trust Kaiba completely. But even he's better to be with dan dat drunken bastard," said Joey, hugging his sister as she cried.

'OK, so their father was drunk,' thought Kaiba.

Joey broke their hug, and held Serenity by the shoulders at arms length. "He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?" he asked. Serenity sniffed.

"He beat me, so I have a lot of bruises," she whispered.

"Oh, god, we've gotta get you some kinda help," said Joey desperately. He looked at Kaiba with pleading eyes. "Please, I'll do anythin'," he said. Kaiba shook his head.

"You don't need to do anything. What does she need?" he said. Joey seemed stunned for a second, but then answered.

"Somethin' to help with bruises, if possible," he said. Kaiba nodded, and rushed off to get something.

'I hope she's OK,' he thought.

"You'll be OK, Kaiba seems willin' to help for once," said Joey to Serenity who was hugging him again and crying. "Dad can't hurt us here, not if Kaiba's security can help it. Plus, he'll be too drunk to just run up here to get us." Kaiba came back then, with some kind of ointment. "Where do you need it?" asked Joey.

"Mainly on my back," she said in a hoarse voice.

"Is dere anywhere around here where we can put dis stuff on?" Joey asked Kaiba. Kaiba nodded, and lead them to a room. It had a bed in it, and Serenity sat down on it, sniffing.

"Can I help?" asked Kaiba. Joey looked stunned again, but snapped out of it.

"Err, yeah, you can hold her shirt up while I put dis stuff on," he said. Kaiba nodded. Serenity sat with their back to them. Kaiba sat down next to her, and lifted up her shirt slightly. His heart skipped a couple of beats when he saw her back.

In some areas it was bruised so badly it looked purple, and some places actually had open cuts.

"Oh god," muttered Kaiba under his breath. Joey sat on the other side of Kaiba.

"He was really drunk, wasn't he?" said Joey softly. Serenity nodded.

"He was out all day. He had just come back," she said sadly. Joey began to apply the ointment. Serenity flinched, but didn't utter anything. Kaiba held up her shirt with shaking hands. All of this reminded him how his stepfather had mistreated him and Mokuba. Kaiba had ended up accidentally killing him. So he knew what it was like to have an abusive parent, and he was actually feeling sorry for the Wheelers.

"I take it your father was drunk when he did this to you," he said quietly. Joey stared at him in shock. Serenity nodded.

"I know what it's like to have an abusive father," said Kaiba sadly. A clap of thunder came from outside. "My parents died when Mokuba was a baby, so I was required to look after him. Then I met Gozubaro Kaiba, the owner of KaibaCorp. I challenged him to a game of chess. If I won, then he would adopt Mokuba and me. I won. But he was abusive, and he wouldn't even let us go to school and let us act like normal kids. So, one night after a beating, I'd had enough. I pushed him back for once, but he tripped and fell out the window. He died. I was the next in line for CEO of KaibaCorp, so I took over the company. And I tried to give Mokuba what I had missed out on - a normal childhood. But it's too late for me," he sighed. He didn't know why he was telling them this. He hated Joey. But he had the feeling that Joey wouldn't tell anyone. Not after what he had found out about their family.

And Serenity... he knew she wouldn't tell. Somehow he knew she wouldn't. Joey stared at Kaiba.

"Kaiba..." he began. Kaiba held up his hand to shut him up.

"Trust me, I don't know why I'm telling you. I hate you, you hate me. It's got something to do with the fact that we both have younger siblings to look after and abusive parents," he said. Joey nodded.

"I suppose we better tell you our story now," he said. "Well, when Serenity and I were young, our parents divorced, and my mum drove off with Serenity, leavin' me with my alcoholic father. Whenever he's really drunk, he'd beat me. De next I heard from Serenity was just before the Duellist Kingdom tournament, when she announced dat she was going to lose her eyesight. At de tournament, I was duellin' for de prize money to get an operation for her. I didn't win de tournament, but Yuge gave me de prize money anyway, 'cause he was only duellin' for his grandpa, and later for you and Mokuba, so Serenity was able to get her eyesight back. But our mum died in a car accident after de Battle City tournament, so she came to live with me and my dad. But, as I told you, our dad's an alcoholic, and he punches us when he's drunk. So we have to go and camp out at Yuge's house, or Mai's or Tea's or Tristan's. It's really depressin', but we don't wanna turn him in for child abuse, 'cause he's our father, no matter how much we hate him. So dat's our story," Joey finished. Kaiba sighed.

"You know, our families aren't too different," he said. Joey nodded.

"But dis is only a temporary truce, right?" asked Joey. Kaiba nodded.

"You'll always be the puppy dog to me," he said. Joey's eye twitched, but he was still applying the ointment, so he let that one go.

"Can we get somewhere for my sis to sleep?" he asked.

"She can sleep here. You, come with me," replied Kaiba.

"Wait, I just gotta get her backpack," he said, and ran out of the room. Kaiba let go of Serenity's shirt.

"Thanks again, Seto," she sniffed.

"Any time," he said. A pink tint appeared on his cheeks. Serenity giggled. Joey came back in.

"OK, sis, I'll see you tomorrow mornin'," he said, tossing her backpack on the bed. Serenity smiled.

"'Night," she said. Kaiba and Joey exited. Joey stared at Kaiba for a second, then looked at the path ahead of them.

"Where do I sleep?" he asked.

"Umm... how about here?" said Kaiba, opening a door. Joey saw a bed, and nodded.

"Whoa, dis thing's huge!" he exclaimed as he went in.

"This is just a normal sized bed," said Kaiba in confusion.

"Well, I normally sleep on a cheap bed dat my dad bought when he was still with my mum. We were a little short on money den..." said Joey, trailing off. "Anyway, thanks again for letting my sis stay, I don't trust her at home with my dad while he's drunk."

"No problem. And remember, temporary truce," he said with a small smirk. Joey grinned.

"You bet," he said. He went to bed in his normal clothes.

Lu: Well, what do you think? Review!

Yami Lu: Review, review, review. What a weird word. I reckon it should mean look at something.

Lu: OK, maybe you should lie down for a while.