Another update! I know I'm slow, but finals are here. And there's a bunch of other stuff I try to do every day, too, so it's do this thing one day, this the next, and so on. I'm not forgetting about it though, don't worry…

Okay. I don't own Yugioh…or anything else you know I don't own. There you have it.

On with Chapter XVII!

Weeks had passed since the meeting and the torn message. Christmas and New Year's had flown by in a flurry of snow and wind. School had started once more, a toil and weight in many minds that was wished to have never come, a wish that there was another free week of fun and play. However, it was not so.

Even out of school, Serenity felt it was the same. She had continued to balance chores, working things out with her brother, homework, and helping Kaiba. There was little time left to follow her hobbies of drawing and writing. But that wasn't it. It seemed these days that she was constantly under pressure about helping her friend. Her brother and friends still seemed to be at odds with her, and she didn't have much time to make it up to them like she wanted. Kaiba felt that there was a possibility that she had been seen and recognized, and had kept her from following him after school hours most of the time. It was safer this way, he had said.

But today was a day to let herself free from all of these worries. It was Saturday, and she was free of a huge load of homework that she usually had. She had been assigned little in the beginning, and the rest was simple, so she had finished her homework yesterday. There were no projects, either. And the forensics and speech club seemed to have become a place of turmoil, so it was all fighting and little work to be done. It felt good.

Serenity was at her desk since the early morning hours. She was in a habit of waking up around six o'clock, even if it wasn't a school day, so she had sat at her desk and doodled away the hour until her brother woke up and started breakfast. However, after breakfast, her interest had become a full effort to make a masterpiece.

She pushed herself away from her sketch, squinting her eyes. The puppy that she had drawn was resting its head in its paws, staring mournfully at the observer. The collar was bothering her…

Of course. It was too far from the puppy's head and almost down to its shoulders. She erased the light lines quickly and looked over the picture once more to get an idea of where the correct place was to sketch it, and drew a quick curve of the general idea of where it was to be. That looked right.

She continued to sketch away the remainder of the morning. By the time she had finished the basic sketch, it was almost ten o'clock. She didn't really want to polish it just yet. Her skills were at their best when she did a little each day, instead of all of it at once.

Pushing herself away from her desk, she stretched and decided to change out of her pajamas. If she didn't do so now, she probably wouldn't do it for the rest of the day…

Kaiba was at his office again, on Saturday morning. He had been there since eight to finish a bit of his work that he hadn't been able to complete yesterday. That business deal hadn't been worth his time. If it wasn't for the three-hour long meeting, he could be at home right now, and relaxing. Which he rarely got to do these days.

Well, actually, that wasn't true. He needed to stop by the city's police center and check if they had found anything about Mokuba yet. So far, little had been found about him and his kidnappers' whereabouts. But if never hurt to check.

He quickly finished an email to a business associate, and proceeded to check a few statistics and other pieces of information that would be important to Kaiba Corp in the long run. Nothing much had changed since yesterday; he had little to worry about.

The last thing he did before turning off the computer and getting out of his office was to check the time. 11:30.

And his email.

Nothing.

Walking down the street from her house, Serenity breathed in the cool January air. Though it was still very early, she thought she could detect the scent of spring flowers slowly making its way into the city. The sun that glowed faintly behind the blanket of thin clouds of early afternoon gave a soft light to the bare branches and bushes, and for a moment, the water that had collected on various plants and structures twinkled with a mirage of crystal flowers. Little bits of plants peeked out from the snow, some with a promise of green leaves and buds. Spring was so close, yet so far, she thought.

Clutching her shoulder bag to her, she gazed up into the sky. Clouds glided across with varying speeds, making so many different patterns above her. It was so pretty, even when most of it was so gray. She imagined she could see the sun and blue sky just beyond it.

Before she knew it, she was out of the neighborhood streets and on the busy roads. She walked the short distance to the bus stop and waited for a trip to the library near the other side of town.

As she stood there, she studied the people around her. She always thought it was fun to do so, and to guess what type of person they were. Across the street, a man was striding purposefully across the sidewalk, his long legs covering the ground quickly. He looked like a busy sort of person, but the way he held himself seemed to say that he was proud and happy with his life. She guessed he had a happy family. A woman walked past him, and Serenity turned her attention to her. She was walking at a normal pace, much slower than the man; her head kept moving around, as if to see everything. She must be a tourist. Serenity's eyes then switched over to her left, as cars blurred the sidewalk on the other side. An elderly couple was making its way towards the bus stop. As she watched them, the woman helping the struggling man past the bus stop, she could tell that they loved each other a lot, even with all of the troubles they must have. But the sad air around them told of something missing. She guessed that the hole in their life was children.

As they disappeared into the crowd, someone caught her eye. He was dressed in dark colors, a long coat trailing behind him. Sunglasses covered his eyes, even though the sun was behind him. Serenity was immediately alert. He was dressed similarly like the men that Kaiba had talked to, though he seemed to be in older clothes that weren't kept as nicely.

She quickly averted her gaze, not wanting to be caught staring. He seemed dangerous. However, she saw another man crossing the street towards her, dressed in the same shades of color, also wearing sunglasses. Her eyes widened. Surely they weren't looking for her? She turned around and walked to the back of the small crowd that was waiting for the bus.

She peeked between the people before her. The two men met a short distance away from the crowd—no more than five feet—and bent their heads together to whisper. She cringed away once more, keeping an eye on them. As she watched, they broke the conversation and joined the crowd.

The sound of a bus coming towards them made her look up for a second. Good. This was the bus she was taking. Maybe she could get away from them. The bus seemed pretty crowded; she would just have to find a way to get in before it was full.

As the bus rolled to a stop before her, she skirted the crowd in the opposite direction of the two men and weaved her way in. She dropped her fee in quickly, which was already in her hand.

Quickly, she scanned the bus for an empty seat. There was one near the back, a double seat that had one person in it. She made her way there as fast as she could, and asked, "Can I sit here?"

The man looked up and nodded, not bothering to answer otherwise. He immediately went back to listening to his music on his earphones. She slid in, clutching her back to her, and let her breath out quietly. She hadn't even known she had been holding it.

Serenity looked up when she felt someone stand beside her. Her breath caught. It was one of those men…As she quickly scanned the bus, she saw the other man sitting before her. And just before the bus pulled away, another man ran in, looking just like the other two.

Kaiba had finally gotten out of the police station. They had found nothing. Earlier, he had eaten a small lunch at one of the little restaurants near his office. It wasn't till after then that he had checked on any information on Mokuba. If they found something extremely important, they would call. That half hour had given them a bit more time to find something.

Now, his afternoon was pretty much free. It felt good, but he was a bit at loss for what to do. Usually, any free time was spent on catching up on projects, and recently, trying to get his hands on anything about his brother's disappearance. However, he had already done all his mind could think of, and there was not much else to do. He would have to wait until later to check again, or for his mind to think of something else.

He was still pondering what to do, and had just gotten in his car, when his cell phone rang. He picked it up and saw a number he didn't recognize. Well, why not see what it was, anyway?

"Hello?" he said.

The bus had taken two stops so far since Serenity and the three men had gotten on. One of them had occupied a seat near the front when someone else had left, but he could plainly see her, even if he acted like he didn't see anything but the window and heads before him. The other seats that had been vacated had been near the front, too, and new passengers had gotten on.

The bus slowly drew to a stop once more. "Excuse me," said the man that had sat beside her. She had been so preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed when he had stood up and gathered his things. She hastily moved her legs over the side to let him through, and accidentally hit the man standing on the other side.

She froze as she suddenly realized that she should get off this bus, leave it and take the next one. That man…he would want the empty seat. But by the time she was able to move again, the bus was already in motion. "Can I sit here?" he asked pleasantly.

For a moment, she was indecisive. She didn't want him sitting there, but she couldn't just say "no". He would be suspicious. She nodded, the motion barely perceptible.

He moved to the inside seat, thankfully. At least she had a way out. But before she can think of any more, he said, "Why, you're a pleasant young lady. Where are you heading for today?"

She stiffened. "N—None of your business," she answered. She didn't have to have an excuse for not telling a stranger where she was going.

But instead of stopping him from talking to her, it only encouraged him. "A friend's house, perhaps? Or the library?" He pointed to the corner of a book, barely visible inside her bag.

"M—Maybe," she said, uncertain. Why hadn't she hidden it better? More important, who was this man? Why was he so interested in her?

"Well, it happens my stop is at the center of knowledge, too. Tell me, what do you often like to read there?" His voice was a lazy drawl, seemingly unimportant. But something warned Serenity of danger.

She examined the bus, pretending not to hear. The man in the front quickly averted his eyes when he saw her looking, acting as if he had been staring out the window the whole time. He had been watching, she was sure. The man in sitting in the seat directly in front of her seemed not to be interested either—in fact, he was on a cell phone—but she doubted there was really someone on it. He shouldn't have been able to hear much on such a loud bus.

"Fantasy, mystery? Or perhaps romance?"

The rest of the bus seemed oblivious to the presence of the three men scattered about the bus in almost identical outfits. Didn't they seem suspicious? Why did no one else notice?

He tapped at her bag on her lap, and she couldn't help but to jump in violent surprise. "May I see that book?"

She carefully let out her breath, scared even more, now. "Of—Of course," she stuttered, taking it out and handing it to him. However, she also took out her cell phone.

He didn't seem interested in the book anymore. "Who are you calling?"

She didn't have to pretend to be embarrassed. "Um, I'm just calling…my brother. To let him know I'll be at the library," she lied, hoping that he couldn't hear the lie in her voice as obviously as it sounded to her. "Please excuse me."

He simply nodded, and thumbed through the book. She took the opportunity to quickly turn off the screen light, and then dialed the number, careful to not let anyone see what she typed. Taking a breath to calm herself, she sent the call.

"Hello?" A man's voice was heard over the line.

The man sitting beside her, thumbing through the pages after reading the summary, looked up sharply.

"Um, hey, big brother!" Kaiba heard. "I just forgot to tell you I was going to the library…I hope you aren't worrying right now."

"Serenity? You're--" talking to the wrong person, he was going to say.

"I needed to return a book," she said.

Play along, her voice pleaded. There was something dangerous going on. "Are you taking the bus?"

"What?" Serenity asked, straining to hear. The bus was too loud. The man beside her had suspicion lying plainly in his eyes. She nervously smiled back at him.

"I asked, are you taking the bus?"

"Oh, yeah, I am. I was planning to spend awhile there, and I knew you would a bit bored there, so I didn't want to bother you." The man had finally looked back down at the book. It eased her heart just a bit.

A sigh came over the line. "I thought you remembered what I told you about being alone in public. You know, since you got mixed up with him in the whole deal."

He desperately hoped she knew that he understood the predicament she was in, and not simply talking in a careless manner. "You should have at least told me first…" He searched for the name he always heard her brother calling her by. "…Seren."

She didn't answer for awhile. Trust me, he thought desperately. The answer finally came. "I'm sorry."

"Well, at least tell me where you are now. And when do you plan on coming back?"

Serenity spared a quick glance at the three men. The one in the front was watching closely, and the man in front wasn't speaking anymore. The one beside her was still flipping the pages, but he didn't seem to be interested in that anymore. The first was sent to spy with his eyes, the second with his ears—that cell phone might be a recording device in disguise—and the third to make sure she cooperated; she was sure now. "I'll be back in an hour and a half," she said quietly, hoping desperately that they couldn't hear. "And I'm on Fifth. We just passed the stop near my school." Her voice dropped even more.

"Speak up, I can't hear you," Kaiba said, stopping his car with a violent jolt before he passed a red light. He cursed under his breath. Talking on the phone in a situation like this and driving was not a good idea at all. But what else could he do?

The voice spoke up clearer this time, as if nothing had happened. "Fifth. By the school."

"Yours?" he asked. Well, he had an idea of where to go now. Just maybe, he could get her off the bus and out of there. As the light turned green, he stepped on the accelerator and immediately shifted lanes.

"Yeah."

Damn it all, this was all too complicated. "Well, I'm near by anyway…I just left to drop off mail at the post office not too long ago," he improvised, wincing a bit at how stupid it sounded. "Do you want a ride?"

The end of what he said sounded so unlike Joey that she could not stop from looking at the men once more to see if they had a reaction. Of course, they didn't, or at least they didn't show it; no one really knew of the feelings between Joey and her. "Um…no, it's okay."

So there was definitely something wrong. Someone was on that bus, or several someone's. "Well, okay then. Talk to you later, alright?"

"Alright," she answered, not bothering to hide the tremor in her voice. She was scared, and all of them knew it.

Kaiba flipped his phone shut and tossed it onto the passenger seat. As quickly as he could, he made his way towards the school and turned towards the library near by. Knowing which stop she would use—if she didn't, anyway, he could go ahead to the next stop—he took a parking spot on the street lying perpendicular to it and waited for the bus to come.

Soon enough, it came. He watched with a hawk's eye to see who would come off of it. There were a few people, nothing suspicious about them. And then Serenity appeared.

For a moment, it seemed as if no one else was there. But just as he thought that, three men followed her down. And as the bus drew away, he saw the four part their ways. One of them followed the girl.

As soon as the bus reached the stop, Serenity immediately took her book back and escaped as soon as she could. Hoping to loose them in the crowd, she clutched her bag to her and walked quickly in the thin throngs of people. As she waited to cross the street with a few other pedestrians, she spared a glance behind her.

The people around her began moving once more, and she was unable to see clearly if they were still following. That could wait, though. Right now, she needed to cross the street and make her way to the library.

She walked without looking at anything around her, which she usually did. The fear was still lodged in the pit of her stomach, and nothing she did could remove it. She knew that it was bad for her to stay tensed up for so long; her muscles would complain later, and she was actually walking slower. But she couldn't help it.

At the next intersection, she turned the corner and saw the library just to her left. This time, she spared a glance behind her. The men seemed to have disappeared—no, wait, the one that had sat next to her was still there. The other two were nowhere to be found. They had gone back to where ever they had come from, she thought, and figured out one person was enough to do whatever they needed to do. And they were probably right, she convinced herself.

But now, something else was also following her. As she turned around and resumed her trip, she heard the slow drone of a car not too far behind her. She had thought someone was following her before, but with the street so busy and loud, it was impossible to tell. However, here, were there were very few cars, she was almost certain she had another stalker.

Too scared to look behind her and see a face that would make her panic even more, she sped up and made her way to the library. In the end, just a few feet away from the parking lot entrance, she found herself running, her breath ragged. And she did not stop running until her hand touched the handle of the entrance to her destination.

Kaiba stayed in his parking spot until he was sure that one of the men in the matching attire was the only one following her, then kicked up his engine and waited for them to disappear a bit. Minutes later, he was creeping after them and watching.

Sure enough, she looked back and saw the car. Seeing the action, the man also did so. As he did, Kaiba quickly sped up the speed a notch as to look inconspicuous. Luckily, a car passed by him and blocked the man's view. When he was visible again, he was watching the girl again.

And the game continued as the chase made its way to the library. Serenity would try something, and the man behind her would react. And it became a chain reaction, and he would follow.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, he lost sight of both of them in the parking lot. Quickly finding a spot as close as he could to the library, he killed the engine and got out, close to slamming the door behind him. His strides covered the ground in large strides as he made his way to the entrance. He came just in time to see the man tuck a pair of sunglasses into his pocket and make his way in.

Cursing silently, Kaiba followed him in.

So, do you like it? The bus scene was written that way for a purpose; sorry if it was confusing. I wanted to make it like the scenes in the movie, where it's one person, and then it suddenly switches to another person. Too many breaks would look weird, so…yeah. And there's already a billion in this chapter...oh, yeah, and if something doesn't make sense, I probably left out a break. Whoops...

Well, hope it wasn't too bad…review, please!