Disclaimer:
Blah blah not Kazuki Takahashi. Blah blah don't own any of the characters or settings in Yu-Gi-Oh. Blah blah this is a derivative work.

Author's Notes:
Trains are good places for writing, especially when you realize that you are facing down four or five weeks of having your writing schedule disrupted. By the time you see this chapter, it will be a week old, and I likely will hate it, even if I do feel that I've maneuvered Kaiba and Serenity back into something that more closely resembles their normal personalities.

I may also have dealt with half a dozen computer problems. It started when Firefox decided I really didn't need to click on any links. I've switched to Opera for the time being while I decide what to do about Firefox. Ultimately, I'll end up uninstalling and reinstalling it, I suspect. ( I did, in fact, end up uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox and am back to my happy browser.) Then, during my trip to Portland, my power cable broke. We don't know how, but one end started pulling out of the box. Joy! Fortunately, the friend I was visiting works at a computer store, and was able to get me up and running again, but those were a bitter twenty-four hours. Now, I'm just waiting for the next issue to pop up. I might just cry. (It ended up only being two problems. One is fixed; the other is really grating on my nerves. Oh, well.)

Chapter 8

Serenity didn't remember collapsing on the couch in Kaiba's office after trying to yell at him. The next time she woke up, however, she was neither at home, nor in Kaiba's home office. She was in a soft bed, probably the softest bed she'd ever slept on in her entire life. She couldn't prove it, but she suspected she was still in Kaiba's mansion. He had agreed to take her home once she was recovered. Serenity wondered who was going to get to decide when that was, knowing it wouldn't be her.

She tried to find a clock in the room to no avail, and finally walked out in search of...well, anything that could possibly get her away from Kaiba and on her way home. The first person she ran into as she wandered the mansion was Mokuba, who excitedly hugged her and promised her breakfast. She never even got a chance to ask him for the time.

Her path soon took her into the foyer of the manor. This would be helpful if I had seen where I was taken last night! She sat down on the bottom step and tried to think. Of course, sitting right across from the front door, she realized there was nothing saying she couldn't just walk out it. Deciding that she wasn't in the mood to find out how long Kaiba intended her to remain his guest, she managed to get her small hand wrapped around the door knob before she heard the voice she had been dreading.

"Leaving so soon? And without even saying goodbye." Serenity turned slowly, already knowing who she'd see behind her. Kaiba leaned casually against the stair railing, watching her with amusement. "One would think your brother would have taught you better manners...oh...wait...no. Your brother is a mutt."

"I wish you'd stop calling Joey that. He's really a great guy!" Kaiba snorted. Serenity shook her head, "He's got to be worried about me by now. I really have to go home."

"He knows where you are," the young man said, far too off-handedly for her taste.

"What? How?" She tried hard to remember anything after waking up in Kaiba's office, but realized she had no memory of calling home.

Kaiba smirked. "I ran into Yugi Moto this morning at his grandfather's game shop." Serenity nodded, understanding what had happened. She never called home, and Kaiba didn't have to waste his time telling her big brother where she was. The good-hearted duelist probably wasted no time in letting Joey know where she was the moment Kaiba stepped out of the game shop.

"What were you doing at the game shop?"

"I had business with the old man." Nothing more, nothing less. Serenity was a little surprised at the curt response, but not the disrespect toward Yugi's grandfather. She expected nothing less from the pretentious Seto Kaiba. His sharp sapphire eyes focused on her. "How are you feeling?"

She thought about it for a moment, then offered the most honest response she could, "I don't know. I think I'm fine, but I still seem to be tired."

"It was a rough night," Kaiba agreed absently, "Out of curiosity, where were you headed?"

"Home." If he felt she deserved terse replies, she would respond in kind.

As if he had read her mind, the older teen's eyebrow raised in both amusement and approval. "You were going to walk there?" The girl nodded. "In your current condition?" She nodded again, confusion flooding her face. "Serenity, you were running a high fever last night. You wouldn't have made it down the front steps, let alone home." Her eyes widened. He couldn't be right! She couldn't be that sick! "Actually, I'm impressed you made it all the way down here without hurting yourself. If only your brother had your stamina..." He let the insult trail off.

"Yeah, well...," she fought for some kind of witty comeback. Joey had always been the source of her own fire, her own determination to fight, to overcome. Desperately, she tried to find a way to express that to Kaiba. Words failed her quickly, though, as the room suddenly tilted at strange angles.

"You're obviously still feverish. Let me walk you back up to your room." If she'd had the strength to twist her arm out of his hand, she would have. The condescension in the young president's voice infuriated her. With little choice, she surrendered to his guidance as his slender hand gripped her arm with an unexpectedly gentle strength.

The next day, Serenity was absent from school. Mokuba had taken one look at the unusually pale girl that morning and decided they couldn't let her out of bed. Resting the back of his cool hand on her forehead, Seto quickly had to agree. Her fever had returned, no doubt due to her walk around the mansion the day before. On his way in to the school, Kaiba informed the office that Serenity Wheeler was sick at home.

The geek squad surrounded him almost immediately after he took his seat in his homeroom class. "Where's my sister, Kaiba? What have you done to her?" Joey looked like he was more than ready to deck the billionaire.

"Now, now, Wheeler. Is that any way to talk to someone who has taken care of your sister while she's sick?" The upperclassman enjoyed the look of dismay in the blond's eyes.

"Serenity's sick! What...when...how?" The older Wheeler completely flustered, feeling guilty that he hadn't realized his sister was becoming ill. He hated the thought that she needed care and he wasn't in a position to give it to her. At least, for now, it was more than sufficient to fuel his anger at KaibaCorp's arrogant president.

Trying to rescue his best friend before he managed to say something stupid, Yugi stepped in, "Where is she now, Kaiba?"

"If she's where she was when I last saw her, then she's sleeping in a guest room in my mansion," Joey seemed to flinch at this. "Mokuba was worried about her health." Somehow, pinning all of the concern on his brother made it a little easier for him to pretend that he hadn't taken her home to begin with purely out of an unexpected fascination with the auburn-haired Wheeler.

Joey took a deep breath, trying to force himself to be calm, "I'll come get her after school."

Kaiba calmly responded, "I'll send her home when I'm ready." The resulting explosion brought a satisfied smile to the CEO's face. Hosting Serenity Wheeler in the mansion might just provide more amusement than any torment he could have leveraged against the fiery girl.