Author's note: I would first like to thank setos angel01 for taking the time to help me with the bulk of this chapter. Once agian, blame my laptop for the delay in updating. Enjoy the read and please remember to review!

For a moment, a worried look came into her topaz eyes, and she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose in order to give herself time to think. Sitting up straighter in her chair, Tamara favored him with a cold stare. "Oh, and what would you like to speak to me about Mr. Kaiba?" She asked in a hard voice.

Kaiba looked down at the frail young woman, "The arranged marriage that our fathers have so kindly set up for us." he said with a slight growl in his voice. Just mentioning his step-'father' made anger flair up from the very depths of his soul.

"Jake says that with the deaths of both our father and your stepfather the contract is now null and void." She answered, turning her face away from him

"He could be wrong; our fathers weren't as stupid as we would like to think. They could have put something in the contract about what to do incase of their deaths." He said with a slight scowl on his face. "I knew Gozaburo, he would have thought of something like this so as to make my life more miserable than he already did." He continued, never taking his icy blue eyes from her.

Tamara shrugged, not looking at him. "If you don't want my brother's company, don't marry me." She said simply, still looking at her desk with seemingly unfocused eyes.

He glared at her with fire in his eyes, "I do want that company," he said a little louder than he had intended.

Now Tamara's head snapped back to face him, her eyes now blazing with their own fire. "We'd give you the company if we could. Trust me." She said bitterly.

Kaiba looked at her, shocked for a moment, "What do you mean if you could?" he asked in a deathly calm voice.

"I meant just what I said. Three generations ago, my great-great grandfather set it up so that Fear Corp could legally only be passed down though the male side of the family. The only way my brother can get rid of it and still be able to support us is by giving it to his son. Only if Jake dies without a legal heir, would it pass to my husband, not directly to me."

Kaiba was starting to get a little mad as he listened to her words. The one company he actually wanted, he legally could not have. "What?! I've wanted the power of your father's company since my stepfather died and now I can't even touch it?!" he shouted angrily.

Tamara flinched and closed her eyes. "Please don't shout at me, Mokuba might hear you. It's not my fault your father was blind to the small print. Yet, as it turns out, there was also something in the fine print that my father missed as well: If my brother wanted to give up the company before he had children, the only person that he could pass it onto would be my husband." She said quietly. "Besides, if you had really wanted our father's company so badly, why are you making a fuss over it now, instead of when you heard that our father had passed?"

Kaiba bowed his head in frustration, and then said in a slightly softer voice. "I was trying to turn my step-father's company from a war supplies corporation, to that of a gaming one." He wanted other children's lives to be better than his was.

"Still, why are you acting like this is our fault? We didn't want this either, you know." Her voice was very quiet, and she still was not looking at him.

He did not really know how to reply, no one had ever questioned him as much as this girl had. Maybe, just maybe, she was not as bad as he imagined that she would be. Finally, after a long pause he answered, "I really don't know." he admitted, though his eyes still appeared glazed over with ice when he met her gaze.

"How did you even know that we were coming back here?" She asked, or rather, demanded of Kaiba. The sudden question felt like a bomb going off after the few minutes of utter silence between that stretched between them.

Kaiba thought over what to say, the letter said not to tell him and he did not want to let her know Mokuba had told him. "I have my own ways of finding things out," he said with his head high and a slight smirk on his face.

The redhead sighed and shook her head upon seeing the older Kaiba brother's smirk. "Damn..." Rubbing her temples, she tried to get her thoughts in order. "This wasn't when I wanted this discussion to happen..." She muttered.

"Then when would you have preferred to have had it? About two years after you moved here?" he asked trying to redeem himself in his own eyes for letting some of his emotion go.

"Preferably, you would have never known we were back at all." Tamara said flatly.

Kaiba glared at her, "I would have found out you know. Mokuba would have told me even if you asked him not to," he said sternly.

"There's nothing you can do anyway. My brother wouldn't let you marry me." She said firmly in a cold voice. The redhead sounded very confident about that, almost too much so.

"I guess my father's not the only one who didn't read the fine lines. It clearly states that if we are not married by our twenty-first birthdays that not only will I loose my company but so will you. That means you will have nothing left but the clothes on your back and what little money you have saved in your bank account." He stated firmly, feeling as though he had just won the argument.

She swore quietly but intensely, using words that Jake would not have known she learned. As the girl was openly venting her feelings she made a beeline for the ugly backpack again and when she unzipped yet another compartment that Kaiba had not noticed the first time, she commenced taking out some very heavy folders. "Which one did I put the fucking thing in this time…? That can't be right; I've read the thing a thousand times..." She kept muttering.

"Well clearly, you didn't read it enough." he said, looking over her shoulder, glaring at the offending contract in her hands. "I wouldn't lie about something like this! If I could get out of marrying you, while still getting your company, believe me I would." Kaiba ran his hand through his thick brown hair as she filed through the collection of papers. "It's at the very end of the contract," he said as she flipped through the large document.

Still muttering, she leafed though the document, squinting her eyes. She was silent for a few long moments as she read to herself. "Shit, Damn, Hell..." She suddenly spat out, growling curses to herself.

Kaiba smirked in glory at being proven right, then scowled in disapproval of the redhead's choice of nasty language. Just then, Mokuba came bursting through the door, "Houston we have food!" he said happily bouncing over to Tamara.

Looking up, Tamara stopped her flow of curses and somehow managed a smile for the younger Kaiba brother, though it never reached her eyes. "Thank you little brother. Could you ask my brother to come in here please?"

Mokuba nodded, though not as happy when he left.

"I'll let you tell your brother alone." The older brother said smugly, before making his way out of her room, and safely out of range of the coming emotional storm that was going to take place. The older Kaiba brother just made himself comfortable on the couch watching the others fool around.

After about ten minutes, both of the twins joined the others. They were a little pale, but otherwise neither one gave any sign of being upset while in front of their guests. Giving everyone a smile, Jake headed for the boys, while the girls followed Tamara into the kitchen. Mokuba snuck off to join the girls, not really wanting to let his redheaded unicorn out of his sight when he sensed that something had upset her.

Mokuba popped up beside Tamara, "You okay unicorn?" he asked as the other girls were looking around the kitchen and putting the food away. Meanwhile, in the living room all the males sat around and watched a little bit of television. Kaiba glanced over at Jake and saw a slight scowl on his lips along with a dark shadowed look in his eyes, he did not have to ask why Jake was upset, it was because of him. However, Kaiba would not have asked anyways.

Tamara smiled at Mokuba. "Yeah, I wasn't expecting your brother to show up though. I don't think he likes me, not that I blame him." She said quietly as he helped her put things away.

Mokuba smiled his usual warm smile, "You just have to give him a chance to warm up to you is all. I actually think he might like you a little bit," he said with a small twinkle in his eyes. He would make his brother be nice to her even if he had to do it the hard way.

"Oh really? How do you figure? If looks could kill, I'd be dead already little brother." She murmured, giving him a cookie.

"Well he hasn't said anything nasty to you right? That means that he doesn't dislike you," he said while stuffing his face with the cookie. In the other room, Jake finally had to say something so he followed Kaiba into the kitchen right after he left.

"Your brother has already made it clear he isn't happy about the idea of marrying me Mokuba." Tamara answered calmly, keeping her voice down.

"That's just the kind of person he is, if you knew him like I do then you would understand what I mean." Mokuba told her while giving her a hug.

Jake smirked at Kaiba. "It never says you have to marry her in the contract if you want to keep your company." He said quietly with a nod as he watched the older Kaiba brother fill a glass with water.

Kaiba, who had been taking a drink, nearly spat the water out of his mouth when he heard Jake say that. "Yes it does, maybe you just overlooked that part.," he said in near invisible panic.

"Not unless my father changed it after I left the room." He answered, smiling at the women, seeing Mokuba come back into the kitchen with another cookie in hand.

The older Kaiba brother saw that he could not convince Jake. "Okay, you caught me with that one, but you are forgetting that there was a reason behind the marriage arrangement." Kaiba said in a hushed voice watching Mokuba smile at him from where he was with Tamara as he walked into the living room and resumed his seat on the couch.

"I won't see my sister married off just for money." Jake said in heated but low tones as Jake followed him. "I don't give a damn about my father's company, I just want her happiness."

"My father told me and also wrote in a contract that I would loose my company if I didn't marry before I was twenty-one. I don't date, so I was hoping that I would use the contract to my advantage." Kaiba whispered in a solid voice.

"Marry for another company then, but leave my twin out of this. Marriage isn't in her plans, much less marrying you." Jake snapped back.

He growled softly, "It's not up to you is it?" he said a little louder. No matter what he had to do, they would be married; at least he would have a chance to get to know her first. Besides that, Kaiba would never marry a slut who just wanted him for his money. Mokuba looked back and forth between the kitchen and his brother in confusion, wondering just what was going on between the two older brothers.

"It's her choice, not mine." He replied with a shrug. "But if she says 'no' I will support her." Jake added. "Why would you want to marry her anyway?"

"Of course you will. You can't stand me or the thought of me marrying your little sister." Kaiba said with a smirk pasted on his face. He looked up at Jake, "Well for one, she's not after my money or my looks." Kaiba said.

"She doesn't like you, or most men for that matter."

"Well she doesn't even know who I am. And what do you mean she doesn't like men?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

"She doesn't trust them. Our father was worse than yours, let's just put it that way and leave it at that." The older brother replied grimly.

Feeling as though he'd just been stung by something, Kaiba's sharp blue eyes now stared at Tamara. The redhead in question had just entered again, and Seto found himself trying to figure out how she could be so sane given what her older brother had just told him. Kaiba couldn't imagine what could have possibly been done to the girl for Jake to speak so bitterly.

Tamara looked at her brother worriedly. When the brother nodded, she relaxed. Yugi walked over and began talking to her, making her laugh. Her laughter was odd, sounding as though she couldn't get enough air into her lungs.

Both older brothers looked at the young woman, "So what exactly is wrong with her? For one I don't remember her in a wheelchair." Kaiba asked, getting another glass of water before rejoining the angered protective brother of the girl he was to marry in order to save his company.

"Your memory must be faulty then. She was born with cerebral palsy. While she can walk, it takes a while and it looks odd, so she just uses her chair when she goes out. Her laugh sounds strange because of a body brace she had to wear when she was thirteen after she has corrective surgery on her spine." Jake said quietly, watching her talk with the others.

"Oh…" Kaiba muttered softly, he had never met someone who could be so happy after all she had been through. He had always blamed his father for the way he is now, but she didn't use that as an excuse. Maybe he would really start to like her.

"What she has now, she has earned." Jake said softly, flexing his fingers as he watched her.

As though sensing this change in her twin, Tamara looked over at her brother before giving him a loving smile and driving over. "Itchy painter fingers brother?" She asked knowingly, ignoring the older Kaiba brother.

Jake looked chagrined as he nodded in agreement. "Am I that transparent sister?" He asked.

"Not to most my dearest brother, but of all alive, I know you best." The smile she bestowed on her brother said volumes about how much she loved and trusted him. "Who cooks today?" She asked, changing the subject.

"I will, at least until we can fix the kitchen to where you can get to everything. Think you can keep the guys busy for that long?" He asked with a grin.

"I think I can handle that brother." She said calmly. "Just make a lot of food; they'll be too busy eating then. If they get too rowdy, the girls and our younger brother will help me keep things in line. There are some very interesting dynamics within this group." The last was said with a somewhat evil grin.

Jake groaned. "Just please try not to get your fingers into too many pies, okay?" He asked, a hint of desperation coloring his voice.

"Who? Little ol' me?" The girl asked innocently, batting her laughing blue eyes at Jake. When her older brother almost doubled over in laughter, she steadied him with a slender nail-bitten hand. "Don't worry about it, I'm good at this. I'm the people person remember?" She said in a more serious voice, with a somewhat bittersweet smile curving her lips.

The older brother got his breath back and grinned at her. "I never doubted you hon." He said, leaning forward to kiss her forehead before standing. When she rejoined the safety of the others, he headed to the kitchen.

Seeing that his unicorn and her brother were now otherwise occupied, Mokuba ambled over to his brother to check on him. "How are you doing Seto? If you're bored, you don't have to stay for lunch just because I'm here." He told his brother, unsure of what the shocked look on his face meant.

Kaiba couldn't believe that this otherwise timid sounding young woman had this new side to her, oh yes; she was going to be an interesting person to be around. "I think I'll stay Mokuba, I know you want me to." he said even though that wasn't the real reason.

Eyeing his older brother oddly, Mokuba nonetheless nodded. "Okay. You might have some competition though; Duke's been looking kinda strangely at Tamara when Serenity isn't paying attention to him." He warned quietly.

"What makes you think I care." he said, though just the thought of Duke touching Tamara made him sick. She wasn't his, at least not yet, but he wasn't going to let some other guy have her.

He shrugged. "I just thought you'd want to know." As Mokuba spoke, his eyes drifted towards Duke, who was smiling charmingly at the young redhead.

In his mind he was yelling and cursing at Duke, but he would make sure they wouldn't get too close. Kaiba decided that he would stay and sit next to Tamara at lunch today. "Thanks for telling me bro." he said patting his brother on the head, showing a smile only his brother ever got to see.

"Your welcome, I'm not too fond of him either." The younger brother replied as Tamara smiled back, nodding at whatever Duke had said, but backing up slightly when he seemed to be (in her eyes anyway) getting too close for her comfort.

Kaiba glared intensely as Duke moved a little too close, too close to Tamara for his liking. As though reading his older brother's mind, Mokuba walked back over to the group and sat in the redhead's lap as to make it clear that no one was to get too close her. Mokuba looked over at his brother who gave him a small nod, then went to start a conversation with his unicorn.

"Was I that obvious Mokuba?" The redhead asked softly as Duke now danced attendance on Serenity again.

"Sorry sis but yeah, you were… plus, I think someone else here likes you." he said with a small knowing smile on his face as he cuddled. Mokuba hoped that his two most favorite people in the world would get together, though he knew that it would take a while for both of these stubborn people to come around to that idea.

"I was trying to be discreet." She said, hugging Mokuba for a minute, ignoring the pain in her legs from his weight before parking her wheelchair next to the other couch. "Duke invited me to his shop to take a look at the dice game he invented."

Mokuba got up and sat on the arm of the couch next to her. "I hope you said no, it's not a very interesting game, plus I don't want you alone with him. He just wants to get into girls pants."

"Mokuba! Watch your tongue! You are too young to use that kind of language! Even if the game does turn out to be boring, I would still like to learn about it. I'll ask Yugi or Jake to come with me though. You are right about not being left alone with him." She said, staring into space as she turned this over in her mind.

The younger Kaiba brother grinned wide, "Okay, but then you have to come and take a tour of Kaiba Corp. It's so cool, you will love it." he said happily knowing this would turn out to be a great idea.

"You aren't going to lock us in a room together or something are you?" She asked suspiciously, expecting a tick of some sort would end up being played on her during the visit.

"Psh no, cause when the door was unlocked I would be a dead man. It's just a great place to look at, trust me I practically live there some days." he said.

"I know. I might stop by there on business for Jake later in the week." Tamara replied, smiling affectionately as she ruffled Mokuba's hair. "Mind watching this horde of people for me for a few minutes? I'm going to go change my clothes."

"You bet!" he said as he stood up on the couch, "All right everyone I'm in charge now!!! FEAR ME!" he shouted sounding like a wild man. Kaiba just stared at his little brother like he was on some sort of crazy drug or just a sugar high.

Tamara chuckled softly, shaking her head as she turned her wheelchair around to go back down the hallway to her room. When Jake popped his head out the kitchen door in concern, the girl just nodded, and Jake went back to what he was doing.

Just then Mokuba ran to the small radio that was placed on the counter next to the phone and turned it on. 'Animals' was playing which the young brother sang to much to his older brother's dismay. Everyone watched the boy sing and dance around and soon everyone was doing the same, except Kaiba, who still sat on the couch in deep thought.

Duke was chatting with the girls, but his jade eyes kept wandering back to the hallway where Tamara had vanished. Jake came out of the kitchen grinning as he joined in the dance. The older Fear sibling didn't seem as all concerned about dignity as he took turns with all the girls on the impromptu dance floor.

As everyone danced Kaiba got up looking for the bathroom. He walked down the hall opening each door then closing them back as he found them not to be the room. Looking into the next room that was cracked he realized that it was Tamara's room.

The redhead was humming softly, she had changed her clothes and was now wearing jet black jeans and a soft black sweater that left no skin exposed anywhere. Unaware that the door was slightly open, the redhead was concentrating on inserting her right hand into a support brace, now and then cursing softly as she quietly struggled to adjust her wrist into the proper position.

A deep voice boomed in the seemingly small bedroom, "You need some help?" Kaiba asked not trying to intrude on her getting dressed. Even though he, as some people said, had a heart of ice; he still felt he should help her. In the back of his mind, he told himself that the only reason he pretended to care was to prove to his betrothed that he could be a gentleman when he chose to do so.

Though Tamara jumped about a mile high, and turned deep red, she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Taking a deep breath, she forced her heart to calm back down to a more normal pace. "If you could please hold my brace still, Mr. Kaiba, I'll be able to get my wrist straight. Normally I'm able to do this on my own, but my hand is being stubborn today." She said quietly, yet oddly formally. There was a guarded expression in her light blue eyes, as though she was fully expecting a second nasty remark or seeing a disgusted expression on his face. The redhead still remembered his offhanded hurtful remark about not wanting to marry her while at the same time still getting her brother's company, and was absolutely determined that she wouldn't let his charm get to her.

Kaiba nervously took hold of her brace as she finished putting it on. Watching her gently flex and coax the twisted joints of her right hand into the brace, he couldn't help but wonder if it hurt when her joints snapped and popped, since it sounded like it did. Looking at her hand, Kaiba now understood why she didn't play Duel Monsters often.

"Thank you for your help." she said, when she had finished and pulled away from him.

He just stared at her for a moment then realized what he was doing and blinked a few times and put the cold back his eyes. "Sure whatever." he said as he turned to walk from the room. Then he stopped short of the door and said very softly, "Don't be afraid of me." was all he said then continued on into the hall.

With a quiet sigh, Tamara followed, ignoring the ache in her right hand for being in a set position. Almost too soft for him to hear, she replied. "Fear is what's kept me and my brother alive this long." Without waiting for a reply, the redhead rolled past him and headed back into the kitchen, smiling when she saw her brother having fun with the others.

All Kaiba could do was sigh as he walked into the living room and sat on the far side of the room, so as to not get in the way of the dancing fools. 'What a bunch of losers, I don't see what my brother sees in them' he thought to himself. Just then his phone rang; no one else heard it from what he could tell. He got up and walked to the end of the hall where a balcony was and stood out there the answered his phone. "This better be good" he said forgetting to close the door.

"Sir, we have the information you wanted on Fear corp. as well as the twins themselves." Was the neutral reply from the other end of the line.

"Really? Then please do go on." Kaiba said, sitting on a near by chair and listening intensely to what his employee would say.

"Mr. Jake may own the company in name, but it's really Ms. Tamara who keeps things running smoothly. It's rumored that he has a learning impairment, though their father took great care to stamp any evidence of that out while he was living. Many in her brother's company were fired because they refused to accept a woman acting as their employer's right hand."

"You must be kidding me; she looks like she could barely dress herself. How am I supposed to believe that she runs an entire company that is almost as good as mine?" Kaiba asked as he got up and slowly paced on the small patio area. "This can't be, check again" he said and hung up the phone the leaned over the rail slightly.

Needing a break, Jake soon joined him on the patio, smiling even as he caught his breath. "Having problems at work Mr. Kaiba?" He asked calmly, as he took in the scenery.

Kaiba sighed, "Sometime I wonder how the hell I even do this" he said picking his head up and glaring out onto the small pond that was in the distance. Even though he loved his company sometime he wished he could be like every other person, not a rich, coldhearted bastard he knew he was.

The elder Fear laughed quietly. "I completely understand what you mean. If it wasn't for Tamara, I don't know what I'd do besides go insane."

"What do you mean?" Kaiba asked even though he already knew, he just wanted to hear it straight from the horses mouth. Just then his phone rang again, but he ignored it, not wanting to talk to his people and at the moment being far more interested in the older brother's answer.

"The first thing I did after my father died was make my twin second in command. I didn't trust anyone else. If it had been my choice, I would have burned it to the ground, but I had my sister and mother to support and we were both still in school." Bitterness twisted his mouth. "I made the best route I could, but I'm still wondering if it was the right one."

"I know I made the right decision the day Gozoburo died." Kaiba said thinking about the horrible things his step father did to him. "I would not have let Mokuba go through what I did, so I did what I needed to do in order to let him have the childhood I never had." Kaiba said with a deep angry sigh. "What I would give to know what its like to be a kid." he said softly. Both of the older brothers were unaware that their two very curious siblings had come looking for them and were now listening on the other side of the glass patio door.

Jake shook his head quietly. "It was already too late for that when our father finally croaked, but I have done my best to make my sister content. She's my best friend as well as my little sister. I would sooner cut off an arm or a leg than cause her any more pain." He said softly.

Hearing this, Tamara couldn't help but slip out onto the balcony and wordlessly wrapped one arm around his waist. Turning her face up to her brother, she tried to comfort him. "We are together, that's all that matters now. You did your best, that's all I could ask for. The only thing that could ever hurt me now would be to somehow lose you, or otherwise hurt you in some way."

Smiling, her brother returned the hug. "Well that won't happen, so don't even go there sis. Let's go back inside, it's almost lunchtime."

"Yes twin." Tamara replied in meek obedience, turning with her brother and heading back to the apartment.

Only after they left did Mokuba come out smiling at his brother. "Are you sure that you want to stay for lunch Seto?" Tactfully, the younger brother was pretending that he hadn't heard the twin's clearly private conversation.

Kaiba felt like he was reeling from a blow. If he had wanted proof of how close those two were, he now had it in abundance. They were even closer than him and his brother. "Yeah, I'm sure little bro. Let's go eat."

By the time Kaiba and Mokuba re-entered the apartment, everyone else was helping set the table. Wordlessly, the older Kaiba attached himself to Tamara, not liking the way the Duke kept looking at her even as he escorted Serenity to a seat before taking a seat beside the brown eyed girl. When the redhead parked her wheelchair in the space provided, Kaiba sat in her weaker right side, knowing that either her bother or Mokuba would guard her other side.

Throughout the meal, Seto Kaiba paid little attention to the others, but instead concentrated on unobtrusively watching his rather reluctant and rebellious bride. He noticed that when Duke tried one of his heavier come-ons, Tamara looked more confused than uncomfortable. She usually dodged them, but at times couldn't quite manage it completely. Seeing her honest confusion was the only thing that kept him from exploding at the table, however, he couldn't help himself from throwing Duke an icy heated glare. Seeing that this shut Duke up except for politeness for the rest of the meal, Kaiba turned his attention back to his food. Still, he couldn't help but notice that Tamara was careful to keep her braced right hand in her lap, rather then letting it rest on the table where the others could see it.

After lunch, everyone helped clean up. They were about to go back into the living room when both Yugi's and Jake's cell phones went off at the same time. When they both hung up a minute or two later, neither of them looked happy.

"Sorry Tam, but grandpa wants the car back, so we need to leave." Yugi hugged her though. "Go ahead and open our presents anyway. I know you'll let us know what you think later." Giving her another hug, the gang all filed out of the apartment.

"Sweetie, I need to go into the office, some of the mergers aren't going as they should." Jake was grabbing his jacket as he spoke and already walking towards the door. Then he seemed to remember something and stopped mid-step. "Do you need anything before I go?"

Mingled shame and disappointment briefly crossed her face as she rolled over to him, whatever she said into his ear made his voice fill with self-embarrassment. "Oops, I forgot about that. Okay." Taking her hand, they both disappeared into the hallway.

A couple of minutes later, they came back. Jake said goodbye to the Kaiba brothers and rushed out.

Tamara sighed and shook her head. "Well, that's that."

The Kaiba brothers left soon after that because Kaiba had to get back to work, but he couldn't forget the sad but accepting look on Tamara's face when Jake had almost left without saying goodbye to her.