Stupid Chinese exams. They kept me from writing anything for at least a week, 'cause I had to study for them. But now I'm done, I have more time on my hands. That's why this chapter is a little longer.

I'm sorry if some of the stuff in this chapter is a bit off. My dad's a computer engineer, but I don't know much about computers and he doesn't teach me anything, unless I beg, which I've given up on. So my knowledge on such is a bit off. Also, I haven't had a chance to watch most of the Yugioh episodes, so I'm not sure that's what Kaiba's office looks like. I've seen it once or twice, and what I've written is what I remember about how it looks like in the episodes. Sorry.

Thanks to:

Bingbing: That's just how everyone else does theirs, and I don't want to be so different. And he is a bit overprotective, if you look closely.

CoCoSpazemDog: What's so 'poor' about Kaiba? You mean the part where he gets sorta told off by Serenity? Sorry, me a little lost.

Disclaimer: Like I said before, I don't own Yugioh.

So here's the story!

The next morning, Serenity woke up to the telephone ringing. She took a look at the clock, then groaned and turned over, burying her face in her pillow. She wished she could have just half an hour more in bed, or, better yet, no school at all for the day so she could sleep in. Yesterday, she had been kept up thinking and rethinking about her decision, and she had little precious sleep. She felt so tired…

As the phone continued to ring, she threw her covers off with another groan and stumbled out of her room. She knew her brother would never let the phone keep him from a few spare moments in bed. Sadly, the phone was not in her room, and she had to head over to their sitting room to get to it. Dragging her feet over, she plopped on the couch beside the table before picking up the phone. "Hello?" she greeted sleepily.

"Hey, it's Yugi. Is this Serenity?"

"Oh, hey," she answered, surprised. "What are you calling so early in the morning for?"

"I need to talk to Joey. You sound tired. I guess he's not up yet, since you sound like you've just gotten out of bed, but could you please get him? It's urgent."

What could be so urgent? It wasn't her business to ask, though. "Okay, I'll get him. Will you wait a sec?"

"Sure."

Serenity carefully put the phone on the table, then ran to the back of the apartment she shared with her brother to where their bedrooms were. She knocked on the door. "Joey!" There was no answer. "Big brother!" She knocked again. "Joey, wake up! Yugi wants to talk to you! He's on the phone, and he's waiting for you. Come on, wake up!"

She heard mumbling, then sensed that he was walking to the door. Sure enough, he opened it a moment later. "Did you say that Yugi needs to talk to me? About what, and why at this time of the morning?" His blond hair was ruffled and certainly more messy than usual, and his eyes were still half-way closed. His pajamas were wrinkled, too. He barely covered up a large yawn with his hand.

"I don't know," his sister said. "He just said it was urgent. I think you should go ask him."

"Alright." Joey yawned again, then went down the short hallway to the room beyond. "Hey, Yugi?" she heard. There was a bit of silence, then a "What? What do you mean? Here, wait, let me get the phone in the kitchen." She didn't hear the rest of the conversation as he changed to the wireless phone in the kitchen and blocked out his voice to a muffled tone.

After one more attempt to hear what was going on, she gave up and went into her room to get ready for the day. She changed into her school uniform and fixed her bed and room, then went over to the bathroom she shared with her brother to prepare for the day. The daily routine of brushing her teeth, fixing her hair, and cleansing her face was gone through once more. She then went back to her room and organized her schoolwork on her desk, making sure she had all of the homework that she had worked on and all of her textbooks in her backpack. With one more check around the room to make sure everything was in the right place, she turned off the lights and walked out to the kitchen with her backpack.

Joey was just ending his conversation on the phone as she walked inside the room, much to her disappointment. She wanted to know what Yugi needed to tell her brother that was so urgent. At least she could get it from her brother later. "Yeah, alright," he said, his back still to her. "Don't worry about it, Yugi, everything'll be fine. Just, are you sure we're doing the right thing? I mean, we don't have to." After a long period of quiet, he sighed. "Alright, if you say so. I won't tell her, I promise. Yeah, see you later."

As he turned off the phone and put it back in its cradle, Serenity asked, "What was so urgent?"

"I don't know, really," he replied, shaking his head.

"What were you guys talking about?" she insisted.

He smiled quickly, trying to look reassuring. He failed, though, and looked slightly distracted instead. "Oh, nothing. It's really not that important." Before his sister could say anymore, he walked out of the kitchen. "Cook some breakfast, will you? I'll be back down in a sec, I just need to change."

She opened her mouth to say more, then decided it would be useless to do so and shut it again. Serenity turned to the refrigerator to find something to make for breakfast, then closed the door and decided to look through the cabinets instead. A box of cereal came out with two bowls and spoons, then she reached back into the fridge and took out a gallon-sized jug of milk. She didn't feel like making much this morning; she wanted to keep it simple.

Just as her brother came back in looking somewhat more decent in his school uniform, the phone rang once more. They both simply stared at the object on the wall. With a sigh, Joey broke the silence by saying, "Why do we have so many phone calls this early in the morning?" He dragged himself to the phone, then picked it up and answered. "Hey."

As Serenity pulled herself up on a stool and poured the cereal into her bowl, she tried to catch the words coming from the other side. Again, she couldn't hear more than a buzz. "What?" Joey said, his bored tone instantly building up. "How did you get our phone number?" Again, the buzz continued. "Mokuba? Oh. Fine then, just wait a second. Oh, yeah, and let me remind you before you start doing anything bad, I'm going to get the whole conversation from her later anyway, so don't think that you can get away with anything." He turned to his sister. "Here, sis, it's Kaiba."

"Kaiba?" she questioned as she slid off her chair. However, she didn't say more until she picked up the phone. "Hello? Kaiba?"

"Tell me, is your brother always so bored and cranky in the morning?" His voice was slightly dry.

"Huh? No, it's just because we've already been woken up by another call."

"Woken up? Don't you know what time it is? So that's why your brother's always late to school."

Slightly annoyed, she ignored his attempts to anger her. "What did you call for?"

Just like she hoped, he left off annoying her. "You're still helping me, aren't you? I'll meet you at the parking lot, like yesterday, at the same time."

"Why?"

"We're going to head over to KaibaCorp. There's not much we can do without the technology there."

"Oh."

"So I'll see you then? You won't be running off to get home with your brother?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "I mean, no, I won't run off."

He merely made an incomprehensive sound over the phone. "Is that all?" Serenity asked tentatively.

"Not unless you have more to say."

"See you then," she said. All she got back was Kaiba hanging up on her. Taking the phone away from her ear, she looked at its white surface, then put it in its cradle.

"So what did he say to you?" her brother asked as she started her breakfast.

"Not much. He just told me that he was going to meet me in the parking lot…"

Again, school seemed like a nuisance to her. It passed by the same way it always did--walk to school with friends, go to classes for forty five minutes each, eat lunch, go to more classes, then go to club. The difference was that everyone seemed…different. Yugi, Joey, and the rest of the gang had seemed hushed instead of being the loudest people on the street during their walk to school. Her classmates and friends avoided talking to her so much, and she was alone almost all day. The teachers didn't seem like they were teaching anything of great importance, either; they were doing more of a review.

By now, it was certain that news of Mokuba's disappearance had spread everywhere. Television channels and radio stations had broadcasted the missing younger brother of the world-famous CEO like he had been the son or close relative of one of the most important politicians in the world. Everyone was busy talking about it, since so many had known him or his older brother. Serenity didn't even want to think of the burden Kaiba was putting up with right now. What bothered her so much today must have paled in comparison to what the older Kaiba brother was being bothered by. Maybe the news was the reason everyone seemed so unusual and strange.

Cars coming towards her took her from her mulling. One of them, the only one visible, was definitely Kaiba's. She squinted behind his car to catch a glimpse of who else would be following him. He wouldn't bring anyone dangerous trying to hurt him to a school with him, would he?

Instead of slowing down and pulling into a parking spot, he kept up his speed to the curb where Serenity was standing and pulled up at the last moment, swerving right before her. She involuntarily stepped back and away, afraid that the car might hit her. Fortunately, Kaiba was skilled enough to be able to stay on the road. He rolled down the passenger window and called to her, "Hurry up and get in! I don't want them to catch up with us!"

Though she wanted to ask who he was talking about, she quickly got into the car instead. A glimpse through windows towards the entrance of the parking lot didn't give her an answer. As Kaiba sped back towards the entrance, she couldn't hold back her words anymore. "Who do you not want to catch with us?"

"Look." As he raced on out of the parking lot, two cars passed them by. It was not until she looked through the windows of one and heard a voice coming from another that she realized who was following them. "Them," Kaiba emphasized.

She watched the other two cars disappear behind the trees encircling the parking lot, the said, amazed, "Duke and Mai? Why?"

"Not just them. The rest of your brother's friends are with them. Maybe you should ask them why they're following me first." His was outraged. "They have no right!"

A memory jolted her. Joey asked Yugi if they were doing the right thing and then told him he didn't have to worry. "Um, Kaiba, I think they planned to do this."

He faced the road, but his eyes glared at her edgewise. "So you know about it? Did you tell them to do this, too?"

Words momentarily slipped from her. "I-I didn't know about it until now. Yugi called Joey this morning, and I only heard Joey say something about them not needing to do something, and not to worry. I didn't realize until now that they were talking about…about…" Again, she struggled for words.

"So they're following me," Kaiba growled, "after some phone call? Are they trying to spy on me, or do they think you're going to be raped by a supposed criminal if they don't keep an eye on you?"

"Kaiba, I think you're going a little far…"

"Shit," he said darkly. Pulling his cell phone out of a pocket, he flipped it open. Not bothering to check the number, he put it to his ear. "What is it?" he spat into it, not bothering with a greeting.

His face steadily got darker and darker as a voice came through. Serenity could hear a man going on about something, but she could barely tell for the few words that she could catch clearly. She glanced curiously at the man sitting by her, then jumped as he suddenly snapped at whoever was there.

"You--you--you imbeciles followed me so you could help me! What is wrong with you? I knew your brains were somewhat short of functioning properly, but not this short! Why the hell do you people think that stalking a person will get you permission, anyway? If someone wants to do something not in his control, then he usually asks first. I don't want your help, and I don't need it." With that, he snapped the device shut and harshly jammed it back into his pocket. "Damn Yugi," he muttered, still livid. "I should have checked the number first or hung up on him."

KaibaCorp was before them after a few moments of tense silence. Unfortunately, so was another call. "Here," Kaiba said, thrusting the phone at Serenity. "You persuade those fools that your dog brother calls friends to leave me alone." She took it hesitantly.

The first thing she heard when she put the phone to her ear was a loud voice that sounded slightly familiar, if not for the madness laced in it. "--and answer, Kaiba! Stop ignoring us, 'cause we want to help! Is it that hard to understand! If you don't hurry up and answer, I'll--"

As he turned into the parking lot before KaibaCorp, Kaiba sighed. Obviously, he had heard the loud voice of Joey Wheeler, and every word he said. "Doesn't your fool brother ever learn to listen? Hang up on him."

She hesitated again, then decided to follow the CEO's first instructions and not the last. "J-Joey? It-it's Serenity. You don't need to shout so loud."

The voice was flustered. "Eh? What? Seren? What are you doing with the phone? I want to talk to moneybags."

"He doesn't really want to talk to you guys right now," she said, looking over at him.

"Well, why not? He can at least listen to what we are going to say, instead of hanging up on Yugi like that."

Serenity cut in quickly before he started shouting louder. She didn't want Kaiba to hear her brother sounding so foolish, though she couldn't say why. "He's annoyed that you guys are following him like this, big brother. You know, he has a right to feel so. You guys should have said something to him first."

"Well, we're talking to him now. Or trying to. Will you give him the phone back, please?"

Kaiba cut off her answer. She realized that the car was stopped and the engine off. "Can I have my phone back?"

She covered he mouthpiece and took it away from her mouth. "One second," she said. "Um, Joey?"

"Give it to Kaiba. I need to talk with him."

"Um…okay. Here, wait a second."

Kaiba almost snatched his device from the girl. "Okay, listen here," he said savagely. He talked right over Joey. "I don't care who the hell you are. Shut up with the crap already. I don't need anyone to bother me just now, and I'm not intending to make any exceptions for anyone. Especially not any of you. I've had enough of you people. I can take care of myself. One person helping is enough."

"Hey--"

"Good riddance," he said into the phone. He quickly ended the call and turned it off. "Come on," he ordered. "Out of the car. We have work to do."

"You know how to operate computers, correct?" Kaiba asked as they went up the elevator. His anger had died away a little since coming in to the familiar surroundings of his office building, and he did not snap as much.

"Yes."

They were silent once more as they went up the elevator. The doors slid open in a few moments, and as they walked out into a hallway, Kaiba once more asked a question of the girl next to him. "You said you knew how to use a computer. How good are you? Give me something to compare to."

"Ummm…well…" she stuttered, trying to find something that wouldn't make her sound stupid, yet not make her sound like she knew more than she did. "I-I take the same computer class as Mokuba and get A's in it. I'm not as good as Mokuba, but few are better than me."

Kaiba was quiet for a moment. "I forgot you were in the same class as Mokuba. He told me once before." He paused, then turned back to his old self. "But how good is that class? My brother says it's easy."

"Well, that's because you're both computer geniuses, and I'm not," she retorted, not shy when it came to talking about her best friend.

He chuckled at the back of his throat. "No doubt you ask for his help every once in a while? We'll see how good you really are when I see you handle one."

With that, he turned into one of the rooms, trench coat billowing behind him. He took a card from him pocket and ran it through a key slit on the door. As a green light blinked, he opened the double doors and went in.

What greeted Serenity's eyes was what she knew instantly to be the CEO's office. It was huge, with a colossal glass window as the back wall. Most of it was bare except for the huge desk sitting near the middle of the window and the chair behind it, but they were definitely of great quality. Heavy curtains hung over the window, which were pulled back by Kaiba as he entered to show a great view of the city below. A few shelves and such were put in intervals around the room.

"Stop looking around. You can do that some other time. I'm only in here to get a few things, and then we're going to go deeper into the corporation to do our work. Here, take this for me."

Serenity dutifully walked over and took a few disks, memory cards, and accessories from Kaiba, who was rummaging through his desk. He took out a few thin binders from a shelf for himself, then dropped off his keys and something else Serenity couldn't catch into the one of his desk drawers, which was under a lock. Picking up the phone, he dialed an extension and said, "I'll be busy, so don't bother me. If there's an emergency, call my cell phone. You know what needs to be done."

He put the phone back in its cradle, then picked up the binders with one last glance around the room. "Alright, let's get going." His briefcase was in hand once more.

The girl followed him out of the room, almost tripping after his long, quick strides. He impatiently kept the door open for her, then locked it and led the way to the room deep in the corporation.

Serenity and Kaiba stayed in the room for at least half an hour without interruption. It was filled with computers and other technology, either up against the wall, on the wall, or in rows. Serenity had proven her usefulness, and as Kaiba told her what needed to be done to improve the technology, she ran around the room to do as he said. Soon, the program was well on its way to its new task--searching the country for any trace of the missing boy without any human handling.

According to Kaiba's plan, the program was to be connected to all KaibaCorp devices around the country for any traces of Mokuba. Data of the younger sibling would have to be entered, but that would be done later. For now, the entire program was being rewritten to search without interruptions. In the end, it would be able to do so twenty-four hours a day with no need for commands other than the ones that Kaiba put in. People would only need to be there to supervise its progress, and he would soon write it to be viewed not just in the huge room, but in his office, his laptop, and the rest of the company building. Of course, he would make sure no one else could get to it.

After the half an hour, though, their peace and concentration was interrupted. It came in the form of the thought Kaiba had just pushed away to the back of his mind--Yugi and the gang. Somehow, they had gotten through the secretary and everyone else and had found out where he was. They stormed in with a huge slam of the doors against the walls.

He jumped up before the echoes had died away and quickly pulled the doors back together. Almost hitting Yugi and Joey in the face, he shut the large panels until only a crack of light showed through. His anger came back in full force. "What the hell are you morons doing here? I told you to get out of my life! Do you still have problems understanding words?"

Serenity quickly ran over to him from her work at the other side of the room. "Kaiba! Wait! Just listen to them!"

He glared at her ferociously without changing his grip. Blue ice flashed, and warm cinnamon wilted. Neither gave up, though. With a growl, Kaiba threw open the doors once more and let them slam against the walls even louder than they had before, the noise resounding through the room for a full ten seconds. He folded his arms over his chest and looked down at the intruders before him. "Alright, I'm listening. You have one minute to explain, or I'll personally kick you out of here."

Serenity slinked over to stand with her brother as Yugi said, "We're sorry about doing this so secretly. But we only did it so we could find a way to help you without you killing us all before we said a word. You know you need the help, Kaiba."

"I already have help," he growled. "The mutt's sister volunteered."

"If more of us help, you'll have a better chance of finding your brother," Tea countered.

It wasn't good enough for the angry CEO. "And how do you think you are going to help me? Searching around the city like little Wheeler and I did yesterday? You don't need my permission to do that; city officials are already doing so. You can do the same if you want."

It was silent for a moment, then Yugi piped up once more. "If there's another way we can help, then we'll do it."

Kaiba struggled to not let out all of his anger. "Look here," he explained in exaggerated patience. "The only other way to help is to use what's called the computer. Now, I'm sure none of you really know how to operate one well enough to issue what's needed to help find my brother."

"I know how to use a computer, Kaiba!" Joey exploded. "Whatever you think of us, we're smarter than that!"

"Really," he drawled, his voice turning dry. "Do you know anything of writing commands into a computer and making it understand?" He tried to keep it as simple as he could, knowing some of them wouldn't understand a thing he said if he made it any more complicated. "Can any of you work more than one computer at once? No. Let's rephrase that. Do any of you even know how to open or close a file?"

None of them answered, not even wanting to defend their pride by saying they did know how to open and close a file. "I thought so," he said, satisfied.

"Then why are you letting Serenity help you?" challenged Duke.

Serenity sweat dropped, but let Kaiba answer for her, knowing he would bring it home better than she could. "She's in a computer class, unlike you, Devlin, and at least knows more than you do about the usage of it."

"And what are you trying to imply?"

"Nothing but the truth."

Serenity jumped in. "Um, guys, we…we need to get back to work. I'm sorry, but I think he's right about this. I can barely understand him; do you think you guys can understand him any better when none of you have even attended one computer class, much less three? I think you should wait for him to think of some other way you can help him first. Right, Kaiba?"

He almost yelled at the girl at those words, then let it be with a long sigh. "Yes, yes. Just leave me in peace for the rest of the day." He ran a hand through his hair. "Get yourselves out of here. When we're done with today, I'll think about it. And I'll call you people if I think of something. If."

They settled for what he said. After all, what else could they do? With a few scattered good-byes, they left the two to finish their work of finishing the program to search for Mokuba.

So that's it for this chapter. I was going to add more, but it was starting to get long and I decided that since you people wouldn't review, I wouldn't put up as much. It's a little bit of torture. So now, maybe you'll learn your lesson. Only one person really knows this, and it's Bingbing. Learn from her. She reviews every single chapter.

C ya later!