Disclaimer:
No fan fiction writer typically owns what they are fan-ficcing. (May this statement never come to bite me in the...oops, too late! grin)

Author's Notes:
I can't tell if it's the story or me, but it appears something is falling asleep around here. I could be wrong, but something just isn't working out here. It is possible it's all in my head. I am my own worst critic. Maybe you guys can tell me what you think.

I'm also feeling a bit stuck. I had some very vague notes for this story, and it's ended up playing out in a way that makes incorporating my notes difficult. I'm working on putting it back on track, but I feel...I don't know...I feel like I'm fighting with this story. Perhaps I need to just walk away from it and work on other pieces until inspiration hits again. I may take a vacation from this piece and go work on my manga script again.

We'll see how this chapter goes.

Chapter 5

For the next week, Serenity couldn't look at Kaiba without blushing. She'd started doing anything in her power to not have to deal with him. At school, she'd risk being late to classes, afraid he was still stalking her. Gym was a nightmare. She stayed close to Joey and his friends, her eyes more often than not fixed on the ground just to avoid the potential of accidentally looking up and seeing the moody upperclassman. At work, she would come up with one of any number of tasks to do in the back room of the coffee shop when she saw the Kaiba brothers coming. To most people, she just came across as moody. Her supervisor figured her out pretty quickly, and did her part to help get the redhead out of the main shop.

The only Kaiba noticing Serenity's disappearing act was Mokuba. "Hi, Junko! Does Serenity still work here? I haven't seen her in ages!" The supervisor smiled as she steamed the milk for the younger boy's hot chocolate, the smile evaporating as she noticed the elder Kaiba's scowl. She wasn't sure what was behind it, and she was even more certain that she didn't care. Seto Kaiba had done something to Serenity. Junko knew that much, even if she didn't know what. She'd be damned if she was going to say anything too informative while he was standing right there, even though Mokuba was friends with the girl.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mokuba. It's only been a week!" Kaiba admonished his younger brother. Since the day in the schoolyard. "Don't exaggerate." The smaller boy nodded, his mood sobered under his brother's gruffness.

"Yes, she still works here. I think she's still really busy with school, though." The dark-haired boy took his cocoa. Extra sprinkles! She made it just the way Serenity did! The younger Kaiba literally bounced all the way to the door, followed by his older brother. Kaiba stopped at the door, sweeping the room with his eyes once before following his sugar-hyped brother out of the coffee shop. As much as she didn't care for the elder Kaiba, it made her feel better to know that she brightened the younger one's mood.

The door from the back area swung open moments later. "Is Seto Kaiba stalking you, dear?" Junko didn't have to turn away from the counter where she was preparing samples to see the startled look on her employee's face.

She heard the deep breath that preceded, "No, I don't think he's stalking me. He just..."

"Keeps turning up the same places you do?" the woman completed gently, the knowledge in her eyes filling her voice.

The girl blushed nearly the color of her hair. "I know he doesn't get along with my brother. I think he's only doing it to make Joey mad."

"Is it working?" the older, wiser woman asked.

"I don't know," Serenity admitted.

Serenity's disappearing act found itself doomed a couple of days later. She had waited in the girls' restroom during the passing period, pretending to primp whenever another girl walked in. As the bell rang, she took a deep breath and headed into the hallways. Most of her teachers, although disturbed by her newfound tardiness, had been pretty forgiving, but Serenity really hated being late and disrupting class. Once she determined the halls were mostly clear, she started running to her next class. Rounding a corner too quickly, she tripped over herself and sent the books in her arms flying. She quickly gathered most of them, unable to find her notebook. Behind her, she heard footfalls. She turned, only to have the notebook thrust quietly onto her pile of disheveled books. Her benefactor moved too quickly for her to notice who it was. As she spun around to thank them, her stomach turned inside out. An all-too-familiar figure was rapidly vanishing down the hallway.

With an angry sigh, she headed on to class, realizing she was going to have to come up with a Plan C for avoiding him at school.

Gym class, her favorite part of the day, was becoming a chore. Serenity couldn't figure out how to keep herself out of Kaiba's line of sight, and she was disconcerted to find his eyes on her frequently during the period, an emotion hidden within them that she couldn't understand. Inevitably, she was remaining after class nearly every single day with her brother's friends as Joey tried to bait Kaiba into half a dozen arguments. Over the past couple of days, though, they'd all noticed the upperclassman showed little or no interest in the blond. Even Joey had become concerned about the brooding teenager's silence. That afternoon, however, the silence never had a chance to be appreciated. Kaiba was absent from class. The group noted it quickly, and the end of class was punctuated by Joey's constant claims that he could have outperformed the older duelist at any of the afternoon's activities, not much of an improvement over his picking fights with the teen. The others chuckled and placated him. It didn't lighten the mood or cure the unease that seemed to settle on the group.

"Hey, Serenity, didn't you say Kaiba and Mokuba come into the coffee shop sometimes?" Yugi asked. She nodded uneasily. "Has he seemed different lately?"

The girl shrugged, "I've been spending most of my time in the stock area recently, so I haven't seen them." It wasn't a lie; she just didn't want to tell her brother's spiky-haired best friend why she'd been hiding at work.

"Hmmm," Yugi looked contemplatively at his Puzzle, almost as if he was communing with it.

"We should visit the coffee shop!" Joey decided.

"Don't do anything that will get your sister in trouble, Joey," warned Tea.

"Who's gettin' in trouble?" Joey smirked. "Besides if that jerk Kaiba shows up-"

"You'll do nothing, Joey!" Serenity cut him off forcefully. She might as well have slapped him from the look on his face. "I don't need your protection. Kaiba isn't doing anything except living his life."

"And getting up in Joey's grill every chance he gets," Tristan offered helpfully. Joey's snarling face made it clear how helpful he found the brunette's contribution to the conversation.

"Kaiba's just being himself. He'll keep doing this until he's gotten a reaction from you," Tea reminded Joey. Serenity couldn't help but wonder how the young CEO would recognize Joey's anger over his behavior toward her, given that the two were constantly at each other's throats.

Yugi, who had been silently listening to his friends while playing with the Millennium Puzzle, finally broke out of the trance he'd appeared to be in, "I think we should go to the coffee shop. It'd be nice to just sit and relax for an afternoon." Both girls looked gratefully to the shy duelist for trying to help smooth things over by repurposing the afternoon's coffee break.

Joey's annoyance screamed on his face. "If he shows up, I'm not taking it lightly. He's harrassin' my sister!"

Remembering her recent conversation with Junko, Serenity sighed, "Or maybe he's trying to harrass you!" With that, she turned and walked toward the locker room, Tea close behind. The guys looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to their own locker room.

Author's Afterword:
It's slowly occuring to me that the story just feels like it's stagnating. I know there's a point in here somewhere. It's just having trouble coming out. Perhaps when it gets its editing week, that which feels stagnant will become more useful. I just don't know.