Author's Notes:

I'm on a roll. It will be weeks before you guys see this chapter, but here I sit writing it anyway! I technically should be writing and revising The King's Dilemma over on my FictionPress account, but instead, I'm sitting here torturing Seto Kaiba. I think I'm suffering from Yu-Gi-Oh withdrawals. Good thing the current season starts back up on Saturday! (Not like I don't have some 20-30 episodes of it scattered around my room! I like to think of my collection of every single translated Yu-Gi-Oh DVD and manga as "research material".) Sadness of all sadness. The WB lied. I was left Yu-Gi-Oh-less. It was quite sad.

For anyone who might be interested, I have, as of this writing, roughly forty episode extenders written for Yu-Gi-Oh GX. If you're interested in reading those, just drop me a review or a message or something. If there's sufficient interest, I'll start typing them up and uploading them. I basically took each episode and treated it as a writing prompt, creating a 250-word scene to follow or reaction (or in the case of multi-part episodes, Jaden talking to himself). If I type them up, I'll likely edit them and add a bit to finish out the ones where I ran out of word count (and pages. I have a page limit that's more the definition of the limit than 250 words is.) Again, if you're interested, let me know.

Chapter 11

Kaiba was dismayed the next morning to see Serenity walking in to school with her brother and Yugi Moto. He knew she wasn't well enough to be up and about, but the strong-willed girl had probably convinced her brother to let her come to school anyway. So be it, he decided. If she makes herself more sick, she's not my problem.

Trying to convince himself he honestly didn't care what happened to Serenity Wheeler, he changed his path twice during the day to walk past her locker when he knew she'd be there, just to make sure she was still all right. Her skin was still fairly pale, a fine porcelain against her auburn hair. He stopped and stared at her for just a moment as he passed her during the afternoon. She realized fairly quickly that he was looking at her, and quickly slammed her locker shut, nearly running toward her next class. Wearing a mask of indifference to cover the small sting he felt as she turned away from him, he continued on to his next class.

He picked up Mokuba after school and headed to the coffee shop, afraid he'd find his favorite barista trying to work through her illness. Sure enough, Serenity was behind the bar, her long hair twirled up into a bun, just as it had been the night he took her home. Her cheeks were slightly flushed...again. Letting Mokuba order their drinks, he walked over. "Don't make yourself even more sick."

If Serenity had been working with any of the hot liquids around the bar, she'd have been scalded as she jumped. "Kaiba! What are you doing here?"

"My brother likes the way they make his cocoa here," he replied pointedly. Serenity blushed. She was the one who has started making Mokuba's hot chocolate with extra sprinkles guaranteed to make him difficult for his controlling older brother to handle. "The more important question is: what are you doing here?"

"I had to work today, and I had already missed a couple of days."

"You really are just like your brother. No sense at all."

"I have plenty of sense, Kaiba, but I also promised myself that Joey wouldn't have to be responsible for me," the girl spat at him. He couldn't believe how calm her voice sounded as she all but yelled at him. It was just one more thing to add to the list of what made the mutt's sister worth watching.

He watched as she started his brother's drink. Like the other night, her hands moved deftly as she created the drink, but this time her movements didn't have the elegant efficiency to them. She was still sick, and it was wearing on her. Mokuba walked over with a cup of coffee and the girl finished the cocoa and set it in front of the brothers. Kaiba took one look at her and walked over to the register where the supervisor was straightening the counter. Junko froze for a moment as the CEO spoke quietly to her, but then nodded and started pouring a cup of tea.

Kaiba returned to the bar where Serenity was wiping everything down in preparation for the next order. He watched her for a moment, giving the older woman time to finish preparing the drink he had just ordered. Then he watched with some satisfaction as she walked over to deliver it.

Junko, looking nervously at the teen on the other side of the bar, handed the cup of tea to Serenity, "Here, dear. Why don't you go take a break? No need to overexert yourself your first day back."

Serenity looked at her in surprise and took the mug slowly. The aroma wafting up through the steam let her know the mug contained her favorite tea. She stared at it for a long moment and then nodded, realizing she felt more tired than she was willing to show in front of Kaiba. To her greater surprise, no sooner had she nodded than Kaiba subtly ordered her to sit with Mokuba and him.

Uncertainly, she followed her schoolmate to the table where Mokuba was already enjoying his drink, "Serenity, you make the best cocoas!" The girl blushed at the compliment as she took a seat beside the raven-haired boy.

Kaiba seated himself across from her. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she replied shortly. It was her least favorite question, and fielding it from him just annoyed her further. His face clearly showed how much her small lie bothered him. She sank in her chair and quietly sipped her tea.

"You're coming with us," he said after watching her for a moment, hoping she'd give him a more truthful response. Her brown eyes widened for a moment, though nowhere near as much as Mokuba's gray eyes did.

"Really?" they both asked. Serenity's voice held the hint of a challenge; Mokuba's was more pleased. He had been thrilled to have Serenity in the house.

The teen nodded. "Your supervisor agrees that you still don't look well, so you're coming home with us."

"Wait! You mean right now?"

"When we're done here, yes." Serenity's eyes flew back and forth between Junko working behind the counter and Kaiba smiling smugly across from her. "What will it take to convince you that this is for your own good?"

"Staying out of my business!" she responded flatly.

True to his word, once the three had finished their drinks, he escorted both his brother and Serenity to the waiting limo, which promptly carried them to the Kaiba mansion.

Serenity couldn't figure out how she kept ending up in Kaiba's home. After setting her jacket and purse in the guest room, she found her way to the game room. Mokuba was predictably playing a video game. Kaiba was stretched out on the couch reading some sort of document. She couldn't help but glare.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she approached the couch.

His cerulean eyes never left the stack of papers in his hand. "Spending time with Mokie."

"I'm sure he'd prefer it if you actually spent time with him instead of just sitting in the same room while doing work."

"We have our way, Serenity." She huffed at that. He looked up at her for a moment and then invited her to sit on the couch with him. "You look tired. You should rest." She sat slowly beside him, noticing he hadn't really moved to give her room. Unexpectedly, he reached out and pulled her over to lean against him. "You'd probably be more comfortable lying down," he whispered. She shuddered, unsure if it was because of her proximity to Kaiba, or because of the sheer comfort of the warmth radiating from the icy corporate president.

Before she realized what was happening, she was lulled to sleep by the surprisingly comforting presence of Seto Kaiba.