Chapter Two- Paired Up

Kaiba sat in his science class, arms folded and legs crossed. His face was impassive and inwardly, he was resenting having to be there. His company kept him pretty busy but he was expected to take a few subjects that weren't business related like his math and technology science classes were.

He sensed the stares of his classmates, most a year or two younger than him. He ignored them; once the current school year ended, he wouldn't need to come back. He would be able to devote himself solely to his business. He had big projects he'd be able to start in the summer and he could hardly wait.

"All right, class. Now the moment I've been talking about all semester," Mr. Saxon, the science teacher said. He was an average-sized man with black hair and a mustache. His green eyes glinted joyfully behind his glasses. Mr. Saxon was one of those teachers who made learning science fun and the students loved him for it. "We will be studying ecosystems next semester and I've decided that this will be our research project. I will divide you into pairs and assign you an ecosystem. You will provide pictures to accompany either a paper or another creative way that I will approve. You will all have five weeks to complete your project and, throughout the semester, you will present it to the class as we begin to study your assigned ecosystem."

The students looked at each other and murmured as well while Kaiba scowled. He hated having a partner. He'd rather work alone. I could complete a project like this in less than five weeks. Mr. Saxon is giving everyone time to do it in addition to the homework and tests from the other teachers. Kaiba watched Mr. Saxon assign two pairs and their ecosystem with faint disinterest until he said his name.

"Seto Kaiba, you and Atem Moto will work together and your system will be the ocean."

The ocean? No! Of all the ecosystems in the world, how did I get the ocean? He looked back and to his right to see Atem looking at him with a small friendly smile. Atem was sixteen but quite good at science; in fact he was quite smart and his unusual looks won him a fair amount of admirers. He gave Atem a frown as he faced forward.

Atem sighed. He was still looking forward to the project but wished he could have gotten a different partner. Seto Kaiba was a cold, unfriendly businessman who only attended a few classes as a result. But, maybe Kaiba has an underwater camera. I could offer to take the pictures and dovetail it with my weekly swim. That would be perfect.

The bell rang and, as students gathered their possession, Atem called, "Kaiba!" The brunette waited as Atem came up. "Would you like to start our project? We could do some preliminary research in the library."

"I've got a board meeting this afternoon. If you want to do research, be my guest." He walked away and Atem stood there, frustrated. How are we supposed to work together if he's got company business to do? He sighed as he headed for his locker.

Kaiba sat in the limo as he rode to work. That Atem. We just got this project and he already wants to get started. He would prefer to not work on it at all, given the subject. He hated the ocean because it reminded him of his condition. He would gladly forget about it, but that wasn't an option as his tail would reappear once a month. Its reappearance, according to his research, was its way of telling Kaiba that he needed to be in the water with his tail and that his body needed to soak up water in order to walk among humans. Kaiba had thought that all he had to do was drink a lot of water, but this didn't seem to keep his tail from appearing. He could soak in his tub or swim in the pool with his tail, but every time he thought of doing so, his instincts pushed against it as he had been doing for five years. He was a human, not a half-fish freak!

"Grandpa, we're home!" Yugi called as they entered the card shop he ran. Solomon stood up from under the counter with a smile. "Welcome home. How was school today?"

"I had a good day, but Atem seems…upset, I think." Yugi said, looking at his solemn brother.

"I'm not upset, I'm frustrated," Atem clarified. "The science project is researching an ecosystem with a partner."

"Ah," said Solomon. He knew his grandson had nothing against working with a partner or in a group. So, for him to be frustrated when mentioning a partner, said partner had to be undesirable. "So, who is it?"

Atem sighed. "Seto Kaiba."

Both family members flinched. "Yeah, he can be frustrating," Yugi said.

"I may end up doing all the work, which may not be so bad."

"Which ecosystem were you assigned?" Solomon asked.

Atem grinned at this. "The ocean."

Solomon and Yugi also grinned. "That won't be a problem for you," the former said.

"I'm thinking of asking Kaiba if he had an underwater camera I can borrow."

"He probably does and he may come with you to make sure the camera doesn't get damaged and that he gets it back," Yugi said.

Atem smiled. "He'll likely want to handle it himself. Unfortunately that means we can't get real deep pictures unless we use scuba gear."

Yugi saw vague disappointment in his eyes and knew why: Atem prefers to be a merman when swimming underwater and loathes using scuba gear or other underwater means of travel. He could understand that: Vehicles and gear can unexpectedly fail and lead to serious trouble. "Well with Kaiba as your partner, you'll be using the best scuba gear available."

"That's true. Well, I'm going to tackle my other homework. The research project isn't due for five weeks." Atem headed into the house and up to his room, Yugi following his lead.

Kaiba took a long drink of water as his subordinates discussed his deals and proposals among themselves. He knew they would accept all of them as they were beneficial and, of course, profitable. He allowed himself to dwell on his science project.

There was an easy way to do the project: A report with cited sources and pictures printed off the Internet, also with sources. Such a thing would be easy for Kaiba to do himself, however, as he had a partner, he had to let Atem do some of the work.

His thoughts turned to the teen. Atem was smart, that was clear and it made him someone Kaiba could work with and respect. He won't leave me to do all the work, though I'm capable of doing it all. He also strikes me as someone who's not afraid to tell me what's on his mind. He's like me in that we're smart, stubborn, and prideful. We should be able to work together, despite our similarities. I'll talk to him tomorrow and work out a schedule to get together to work on the project. He returned to the meeting just as the discussions ended and Kaiba realized that all his water was gone. Hmm, if I keep drinking that much and then some every day, maybe my tail won't appear anymore.

"I don't know, Seto," Mokuba said when Kaiba mentioned this at dinner that night. "I don't think it matters how much water you drink if you don't change more than once a month. You always try to drink a lot of water to prevent the change, but it never works."

"Yes, but the more I try, I'm convinced that eventually it'll work."

Mokuba decided to change the subject. "How was school? You mentioned a research project in your science class. Did you find out what it is?"

"Yes. Mr. Saxon divided everyone into pairs and assigned an ecosystem to research. I'm paired with a boy named Atem Moto and we were assigned the ocean ecosystem." His sour expression made Mokuba wish he had never asked.