I am alive! Yeah, sorry about my slowness, but I hope you guys don't forget about me! I'll make this chapter extra-good to compensate!

Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Now that I think of it, don't really want to own Yu-GI-Oh!

Fire and Ice

By Sakura Takanouchi

Chapter Seven

Seto's voice caught me off-guard. "So, is what you told Yugi true? What do you think…" He said, putting one arm on my shoulder and another on the doorframe, "Of me? Of…us?"

"You…heard that?" I asked softly. Oh, now what was I going to do?

"Yes, I heard everything. If you don't want to be in a relationship, I understand." Seto swiftly turned around and walked out of the gym, leaving me so confused. I sank down onto the ground, my eyes watering, first out of sadness, and then out of rage. I didn't need him! I stormed outside, ready to take on the world. Oh, man. I was drenched the instant I stepped outside. I quickly gathered my things and ran to the first place I could think of.

I opened the door of the game shop to find Yugi staring at the newest card display. He looked just like I felt. But the ringing bell on the door alerted him to my presence. His face suddenly turned happier, and he smiled at me. 'Or was it for me?' I couldn't help but think. This, of course, made me think of Seto, and I almost started crying again. Yugi immediately picked up on this.

"Serenity, what's wrong?" he asked. Blinking back tears, I ran into his arms, where he gave me a reassuring hug. Then, we sat down on the couch in the room while we talked.

"Was it something I said?" Yugi asked, after I had calmed down.

"Not really," I replied. I didn't want anyone else to be hurt because of me. "Seto, he…I'm not really sure, but he was mad at me and then he stormed out," I said.

"I can relate," Yugi said, having known Seto for the longest, even before we all knew him. "I think he bases his moods on the weather."

This made me smile, which seemed to make Yugi smile, too. "Thanks, Yugi," I said. "You're a true friend."

This made him look really lonely, so I decided to change the subject. "So, how about showing me some of the new cards?" I asked. He brightened up, and we started looking at the new card shipments the game store had gotten.

I couldn't help feeling nervous as I biked home, so I decided to head over to Joey's to spend the night. I always felt better around him. 'Unlike someone else I know,' I thought bitterly.

I had my own key, so I entered the apartment to find Joey, Tristan, and Anzu watching a movie. "Hey, sis, what's up?" Joey asked. I smiled and asked him if it was alright that I spend the night there. "That's what your room is here for," he said. "Come out and watch the movie with us if you feel like it." He punched Tristan in the shoulder as I headed towards my room. Joey had been trying to set him up with me for ages. Maybe now that Seto was out of my life, I could take him up on his offer.

After showering and finishing my homework, I layed in bed for what seemed like countless hours, listening to the sounds of Joey, his friends, and the movie. Those were comforting sounds, unlike the ghostly silence of my apartment. I settled into sleep, hardly noticing the empty feeling just above my stomach.

Seto Kaiba slowly went about his evening schedule, eating whatever his cooks prepared, and for once, not yelling at the staff about their incompetence. Mokuba gently tried to find out what was bothering him. "Seto, what happened to that girl you brought home several days ago? She was pretty, I liked her."

"So do you and twenty other people!" Seto screamed harshly. Mokuba shrunk back, and went on eating his food. Seto left the table without bothering to finish.

He went immediately to his room and started working on a new prototype for the latest dueling disk. He knew he should have gone to bed before he started working, but he pushed those feelings aside until his fingers started aching. As he bandaged them, he couldn't help remembering Serenity, her smiling features, her fingers massaging his hand, warning him that his standards were set too high.

"Uhhh!" He growled, standing up from his chair and pacing around the room. Why couldn't he get her off of his mind? Why were there so many men after her? Because she was so…perfect. She had no flaws except that dog of a brother, and it drove him mad.

"I'll make her come back to me," he decided, as he finished bandaging his fingers. "She'll have no other choice." Then his thoughts wandered to the others. His rivals in the quest where there was no second place. He could get rid of that Tristan Taylor guy easily. And Yugi…he was one duel away from humiliation. Hie thoughts turned to the anonymous stalker guy Serenity had mentioned earlier that day.

"I made her a promise, and that is one I intend to keep," his hand formed a fist as he punched the wall nearest his computer in rage.

Mokuba, whose room was on the other side of that wall, woke up to the punch that had just been delivered. He could tell something was wrong with his brother. Something was eating at him from the inside, and he could bet it had to be something about that girl. He just had to get them back together. He would start making plans tomorrow. He needed sleep now.

I woke up, feeling refreshed and ready for another day of school. I just hoped I didn't have enough energy to combat Kaiba in gym class.

I biked quickly to school, ignoring all of the people I would usually notice. I didn't even say hi to the flower shop guy. Just looking at all the commuters heading for work made me think of Seto. I saw Yugi in the hallway, and he came up to me, holding the umbrella I had loaned him the previous day. "Thank you," he said. "Look, I'm sorry about Kaiba being such a jerk to you--"

"What'd you say?" I paled at her brother's voice. "Its nothing," Yugi said, covering for me. "I was going to ask Kaiba for a duel, but he refused. Something about working on his company."

"Yeah, that's one guy with all money and no brains," Joey said.

"And here's a guy with no money and no brains," Tristan came up to them, and they immediately started fighting. Yugi and I heaved a sigh of relief. That was a close call.

Later, in the afternoon, Tomohiko, Kaleigh, and I got ready for gym, and although I knew that we would be working on the booths and stuff, that he still had something planned for me.

Imato-sensei motioned for me to come talk to him, so I left my friends to come over. "The other clubs are making fliers and advertising, to let others know what their classes are doing. So you and Kaiba go to my office and use the computer there to make some advertisements for the carnival."

"Okay, Imato-sensei," I said reluctantly. I headed to the office where Seto Kaiba already was. "Hello, Kaiba," I said cooly. He did not reply.

"Hey, did you hear me?" I said angrily. Seto looked up at me from his chair by the computer.

"Yes, I did, but I choose not to shout about it like you are doing," he replied, focusing his attention on the computer.

"Why you--?" I said, stomping to where he was typing on the computer. My jaw dropped as I stared at what he was doing. He had designed a full-page layout for an ad about the carnival. It was a good advertisement, it even made the carnival look good, not like a cheesy school fundraiser, and he had done it in such a short period of time.

"So maybe there is one bonus to spending your life staring at machines all day," I said, a sudden antagonistic feeling welling up inside of me. For some reason, I just wanted to pick a fight right now.

"And what would that be?" Seto stood up, slowly and menacingly, walking towards me, a determined smirk on his face.

"Well, you've become a lot better at talking with computers than people," I said, knowing that a verbal spar with Seto Kaiba was one that I was probably going to lose. "Probably know binaly code better than Japanese," I mumbled, but he heard me. With every step he took forward, I took one step back, until I felt the cool texture of the wall on my back.

"That's binary code," 1 He said teasingly, but gently. We locked eyes for a second, and then I felt him move towards me. He kissed my forehead first, then his lips found my mouth.

I was shocked. I mean, we weren't talking this morning, but here we are making out in a teacher's office! I almost pushed him away, but I didn't want him to get angry with me again.

Finally we both had to stop for air. He then silently hugged me and we stayed like that for several minutes, with just the sounds of our breathing interrupting the silence.

We both could hear the bell ring, signaling the end of the day. I quickly ducked out of his embrace, and not a moment too soon, because Imato-sensei had opened the door, to find us both busily working.

"I hope these will be good enough," I said, showing him the ads that we had printed.

"Yes, they'll work just fine," he said, handing them back to me. "Can I trust that you can put these up all over the school? It won't take up that much of your time. Well, I must go." Imato-sensei then left the office. I counted the fliers.

"Seto, can you print out several more? Then we'd each have ten to put up around the school grounds--"

Seto stared at me strangely. "If you think I'm going to waste an afternoon putting up posters when I have a company to run, you're outta your mind. Get one of your friends to do it. That's what they're there for, right?"

"Kaiba, you've gone too far!" I said angrily and stormed out of the room, taking all of my things and the fliers with me. I was halfway across the gym when I heard him running after me.

"Serenity, wait! Where are you going?" I wheeled around, too caught up in the heat of the moment to back down. "I am going to put up these posters, and you, Kaiba, will have to clean everything up in here." And then I ran out of the gym.

"Augh…" Seto sighed as he slowly sank down until he was sitting on the floor of the gym. He looked around at all the paint cans, tarps, and other accessories that needed to be moved.

I ran through the halls like a madman, until I came to my locker. After making that scene in the gym, I had to forget the tape! Now I trudged through the lunch area, tacking up posters with no real aim. I had only a few left when I heard the thunder clouds. I huriedly ran to finish my work. As soon as I put up the last one (inside), rain came pouring past the window.

"Just great," I said aloud. I frantically searched my backpack for an umbrella. 'Thank goodness Yugi gave me my umbrella back,' I thought. "Here goes," I saif, and threw open the doors, running towards the school gates, trying to stay as dry as possible.

Impossible.

It was raining so heavily that I was soaked immediately. It was one of those sideways rains that you can't keep off with an umbrella. I knew I would never be able to make it if it kept raining this hard. I had decided to keep my bicicle here overnight because riding a bike in this weather was suicide. I could barely see the sidewalk in front of me. I staggered out into the intersection wondering if I was even going in the right direction. My umbrella snapped up from the force of the winds. I struggled in vain to fix it, but I couldn't do anything. That was when I saw the car. Then nothing else.

A/N

Yay! Another chapter finished! And this one is a lot longer than I thought it would be, so there! If you want to make me really happy , then review to this fic and I'll update faster! Really!

RANTING TIME! Also known as laugh-at-my-stupidity time!

I just figured out how to tell how many hits you have on a particular fic. Naturally, I looked up mine, and that made me happy. Then I looked at the number of reviews, which is still really good (yay reviewers!)(gives all reviewers a can of chicken noodle soup), but I can't help wanting MORE! I mean, seriously, even if like 20 people read this and ten review, that's still really good. Reviewing helps everyone, I mean, I get info (and you have to admit it looks really cool to have a lot of reviews) and you get a can of chicken noodle soup!

Hasta la Pasta,

Sakura Takanouchi