These disclaimers at the beginning of every chapter annoy me, so I may just have a random author blurb in here somewhere. Don't own YGO-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ohhhhhh!

Fire and Ice

By Sakura Takanouchi

Chapter Four

On my way over, my cell phone started ringing. "Hello?" I answered.

"It's me." I recognized Seto Kaiba's voice instantly.

"What is it?" My voice seemed a little too harsh to me, but inside I was screaming, 'Why did you call?'

"About… the festival. How about meeting at my place at four, after school, to work on … …" Seto's voice wandered.

"Stuff?"

"Something like that."

"I'll be there." I responded.

Click.

'Now I've got to find out a way to get into his house without anyone, especially Joey, seeing me,' I thought as I walked. I knew where the Kaiba mansion was. I had driven by it when I had first came to Domino. I had wondered, 'Who could live in such a huge mansion?' Back then, I had known nothing of its owner.

Tomohiko joined me at the school gate. "I heard from Imato-sensei about your idea. It's great!" She talked enthusiastically about the festival. "I heard that the art class is putting on an exhibition, and the drama class will be performing a play."

"That's great, I really want to see them," I replied.

"Yeah, and most of the academic classes are selling food. But we have the whole gym to decorate like a carnival!" She gushed happily.

"Yeah… hey, why don't you and Kaleigh help me with the carnival theme by figuring out decorations for the booths and stuff like that?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" She said. "I'm also sure that the girl's volleyball team could help us out, since Kaleigh was complaining about that yesterday."

"Good idea!"

"Do you want to meet up after school? We could go shopping for material and other stuff." Tomohiko looked at me. I frowned and shook my head.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going over to Seto's house so we can work on the carnival. Imato-sensei did put us both in charge, so I can't do anything drastic without letting him know…you know?"

"Suuuuuure…" She replied, rolling her eyes. "Just an excuse to see him yourself. Fine then. Have fun at his mansion." She strolled into a different building than the one I was headed into.

I felt my face heat up even though I wasn't even talking to Tomohiko anymore. 'We quarrel so much, I couldn't possibly like him! But… I'll be at his house, all alone… except with his little brother, but, if he kissed me in an empty gym, then I can't imagine what he might do in an empty house… or excuse me, mansion.' My face was burning red as I walked to the nearest bathroom, aware of the odd stares I was receiving.

I entered the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. Thankfully, I was alone in the bathroom. I shivered, and hugged myself, looking into the mirror.

I stared at myself until the bell rang, and even then barely noticing it. 'Am I someone men would find attractive?' I thought, remembering the incident that had caused me to finally move to Domino.

I had unwittingly talked to an overly outgoing man on the bus going home from school, and he had started stalking me. Not wanting to tell my mother for fear of alarming her, and also as he had threatened me, I decided that moving to Domino to be with my brother was safer.

After school, and after a horribly close call with a basketball, I changed quickly and began the 20-minute walk to the Kaiba Mansion. I was walking along when I noticed a black limousine following me. I began breaking into a cold sweat. Could this be another stalker…? I had heard plenty about the crime rate in Domino, but this was a high-class part of town; I had not thought about this before I began my walk.

I started to walk faster, but out of my peripheral vision, I saw it speeding up to match my pace. I tried to inconspicuously start jogging, but the limo kept with my pace, with every street I crossed and jogged down.

I could swear my heart stopped beating when the car sped up to drive in front of me, and then stopped. Now I could feel my heart beating, but it was pounding in my chest. 'Oh my God…' I thought, panicking. 'What's going to happen to me?'

The front window rolled down, and I gasped. "Get in the car, we'll get to the mansion a lot quicker," Seto Kaiba said from the driver's seat of the limousine.

I weakly nodded, feeling like a fool. I climbed into the passenger seat of the limo, and an awkward silence rose between us.

"Why did you start running back there?" Seto asked, breaking the silence. I wished he hadn't. I would rather have sat in silence than had Seto Kaiba think me a fool. But…he probably did, anyway.

"Oh…It's nothing. Just a…paranoia." My voice wavered as I spoke.

"Let me guess. Of stalkers and black limousines?" Seto laughed out loud. "Trust me, all of the limos in this city belong to me, in one way or another."

I felt a little reassured, but I was happy to pass through the gated lawn leading to the Kaiba mansion. I looked outside my window, impressed. My 5-room apartment at home would no way compare to this.

Seto parked the car and we got out. I entered the huge entry hall, and spent at least a minute gawking.

"Try not to drool on anything, Wheeler," Seto said. "Most of the antiques in this mansion cost more than your life's savings."

"It's…beautiful." I chose to ignore his comment and stared up at the atrium caused by the overlapping of each floor opening into a grand staircase leading into this room. "Tell me, have you never stopped to consider the beauty of your surroundings?"

He looked at me with expressionless eyes, a stare I wanted to break. "Let's just get this over with," I said.

He led me into a living room twice the size of mine, complete with a plasma TV and air hockey table. I sank down comfortably into an oversized couch. I retrieved a notebook from my book bag and a pen, to take notes.

"I think, that since we have almost the whole gym to use, we can set up a full-blown midway, with games, contests, and food," I started. Seto said nothing, just kept staring at me.

"Do you have any ideas?" I asked, annoyed. 'If I'm going to get all mood-swingy on him, I should've taken Midol,' I thought.

Seto merely grunted, which I took as 'no'. "It's your show," he said.

"No, It's not," I insisted. "I told you, I shouldn't have been picked to do this. To pull this off, we need financing, and we need your input."

"We need?" He asked, leaning back into an armchair. "Or you need."

"Both, I guess," I replied. "Do you have any ideas of arcade or carnival games that we could put together in about a month?"

Seto stood up and motioned for me to follow him. We entered a room filled with electronic games. A snowboarding game stood in the corner. Dance Dance Revolution was near the door. Several racing games lined up against a far wall. I gaped at the sight.

"Wow…" was all I could say. "You have DDR? I never thought of you as the dancing type."

I could almost detect a faint blush soften his features. "It's Mokuba's," he replied.

"Well, I guess that settles the arcade front," I said, "If you're willing to lend the school a few of these."

He nodded, and left the arcade room. Back in the living room, I resumed talking. I just had to fill the empty void Seto was creating in this room.

"What kind of carnival games did you have in mind?" he asked.

"Well, the usual. There's the duck pull, the balloon dart game, random target games, like throw the ring over the bottle game, bowling, and a basketball shoot." I paused, looking up from the notebook to glance sheepishly at Seto. "That's all I came up with."

"That's enough, for now," he replied, and just then, we heard the sound of the front door opening. A young voice called out, "Seto, I'm home!" And I turned to see a kid dressed in a blue Rugby shirt and baggy jeans leaning in the doorframe.

He had long raven locks and piercing violet eyes. "Are you Mokuba?" I asked. "I'm Serenity."

He started bug-eyed at Seto. "You've never brought anyone over before," he said in a small voice.

"Your point?" Seto asked coldly. Mokuba shrugged and walked into the game room we had just been in.

"So that's your little brother," I commented. "He's cute!" Seto looked uncomfortable until I changed the topic to the festival.

"We could also get a few clubs to help us, with selling stuff like snow cones and other foods. We could offer American Cuisine, as an alternative to the traditional food most of the other clubs are going to sell."

"Sounds good to me," Seto replied.

"One other thing… do you mind if some of my friends and I go out to buy material for the booths?"

"Booths?"

"Yeah," I said, "The food, and games must be put inside booths. Well, except for the basketball shoot, and we'll think of something for that."

"I'll get volunteers to help with the construction and lighting," he added.

"And I'll get donations to buy the prizes and the little duckies for the duck pull!" I said. Then, suddenly, I started laughing. Seto stared at me, a mixture of confusion and his usual look of contempt marking his face.

"Why… are you laughing?" He asked cautiously. 'Heh…he probably thinks I'm laughing at him,' I thought.

"It's just… that we've been constantly fighting until today, and we're totally in sync now. I mean, have you run out of insults or something?"

"Nah," he crossed his arms and stared at me incredulously. "Hey, Wheeler---"

"How did you know my last name?" I stood up and moved to where my book bag lay on the floor, struggling to get something out of it. I wanted to do anything to escape that stare. And yet I yearned to lose myself in those ice blue eyes again.

"Our gym teacher," I hadn't noticed until then that he was standing over me. I felt his hand under my chin, willing me to stand up, although my height in no way matched his.

"You were saying earlier?" I asked, smiling at him and absentmindedly twirling a lock of hair in my fingers.

"You're right. We are in sync," He said, grabbing my shoulders and pulling me towards him. I looked into his eyes, knowing full well what he was going to do. But I did not say anything. I closed my eyes and let him kiss me.

POV CHANGE! (SETO'S)

I don't know what was coming over me. One minute, I was rational as ever. The next, I've got Serenity pinned to the wall and I can't stop. I've come to grips with it; I know I want her. I can't stop myself. When she ran her fingers through her beautiful auburn hair, I wanted to feel that same sensation. I just know there better not be a kissing booth at that festival.

What I didn't know was that through the keyhole in the door, my little brother was spying on us. He finally looked away, giving back what little privacy we had in the first place. "Go, Seto," he whispered.

POV CHANGE! (SERENITY'S)

I finally had to stop kissing him, or else I was going to faint from lack of air. But that wouldn't be too bad if Seto knew CPR. I giggled, which made him stop. He was pushing me against the wall, but I didn't mind. I reached up to touch his shiny brown hair when I paused. "Why doesn't anyone call you Seto?"

He seemed taken aback, but he enjoyed the feeling of my fingers running through his hair, I could tell. "I dunno. I don't think the name suits me very well."

"Well, I'm going to call you Seto," I decided, holding onto the last strands of hair that fell down his neck. "Maybe I'll even come up with some cute nickname for you--"

Seto silenced me by another kiss. He moved towards me, filling in the space that was between us. I felt like I my lungs were going to burst, but I never broke his kiss. Then, I faintly heard my call phone ringing through my bag. I was trying to break the kiss and move away from him, but I couldn't, as his arms were pressed against the wall on both sides of me.

"Seto, I…" I started, but he put a finger over my lips and kissed me again, quickly. He released me and I reached my bag by the fourth ring. "Hello? Oh, hi, Joey! What? You and Mai? Seriously? That's great, Joey! Yeah, I'll be by there in 20 minutes, ok? Bye!" I turned to Seto sadly. "I've got to be outta here…"

"I know, in twenty minutes," he said, angry that her dog of a brother had interrupted them.

"Seto, will you give me a ride to my brother's apartment?" I asked.

"No."

"Come on, please? It's not very safe around my brother's apartment, and it's a very special occasion for him. Please?"

"I refuse to do anything for that mutt."

"Mutt? You don't mean--" My eyes lost all of their pleading looks and my expression turned into one of anger. "Don't call Joey that!"

"Why not? He is far beneath me, so I'll call him whatever I like. Besides..." He stopped to stare at me with his trademark emotionless face and glittering eyes, "I think the name suits him quite well."

"Kaiba, you're such a jerk!" I would've slapped him, but the difference in our heights wouldn't have made for much of the dramatic effect that I desired. "I'm leaving…and I don't want a ride." I walked quickly to the door and opened it, preparing for the long walk down the perfectly manicured lawns of the Kaiba Mansion.

I was halfway to Joey's apartment when I realized that I had left my bookbag, and my phone, at Kaiba's place. 'Now I'm going to have to call him.'

I reached Joey's apartment five minutes late, since the walk wasn't too bag. I just never thought to compensate for the walk from his house to the gate, which was why I was late. I ran to the front door of Joey's second floor apartment and rung the bell. It was answered by a cheerful woman in a tight white tank top and purple denim jacket. A short black skirt and boots completed the ensemble.

"Mai! It's great to see you!" I said as she let me in. "I couldn't believe it when Joey told me earlier on the phone!"

"Yeah, great too see you too, kiddo," She said jokingly. "Although I have to admit, It took your brother long enough…" We both laughed and Joey came over to us with a huge bear hug.

"You're late!" He said, smiling to show that he wasn't angry.

" I'm so happy that you and Mai are finally a couple!" I smiled, and Joey looked flustered.

"Yeah… well…I'm hungry, so let's eat!" We all piled into his beat-up old Mitsubishi and headed for Nakato's, our favorite Japanese Restaurant. We had a great dinner, and I could tell without looking that Mai and Joey were holding hands under the table.

I left as soon as we got home, as I knew that Joey looked like he needed some alone time with Mai.

Joey had let me take my old scooter from his garage, and riding it home took less time that if I had just been walking. I unlocked the front door and dragged the scooter inside. Shutting the door behind me, I finally realized that I had left my bag, and my phone, at Seto's house! I decided to check the answering machine to see if he had left a message. I had three messages.

The first was from Seto: "Hey, Serenity? I'm calling, to, well… I'm sorry for what I said, ok? You also left your bag at my house. It's got some of your books in it, so I'll get it to you before your first class tomorrow, all right? Also, we need to meet during lunch to decide what we're going to tell the gym class tomorrow. See ya."

The second, Serenity couldn't quite place the voice, but he identified himself right away. "Uh…it this thing on? Oh, hi, Serenity! It's Mokuba. Sorry, I stole your phone after Seto used it to call you. He really likes you, I can tell. So wear your hair down tomorrow! And wear blue. He likes that color. Okay, see you around later!"

The third, the speaker never identified himself, but the sound of his voice brought chills to my whole body: "I know you're here… and I'm coming for you….."

A/N: Now try to guess who that dude is? Can ya? Well, all shall be explained in the next chapter. Do you think I'm taking their "relationship" too fast? Or too slow? First, let me explain something. Serenity did have a boyfriend before she moved to Domino, so she's not going to be all, "Oh my gosh, Seto stole my first kiss!" I find that a little cheesy, especially since she's 16 years old. And Seto…? Well, he knows he wants her, like he said in this chapter. Serenity just doesn't know her feelings yet. Also, in this fic, Mai is going to be 18. So she can drive, but she can't drink. Or can she…?

But I'm definitely kicking up the pace for chapter five, which will be up shortly, I promise!