Chapter 6

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Kaiba sat at his over-sized desk, typing furiously on his laptop. The weekend had just started and he was up early and getting a head start on his work. By the time 9 AM rolled by, he could see people beginning to filter in for their 9:30 shift. The security cameras picked up all the usual weekend workers. They seemed awake and happy, probably because they only worked on the weekend.

Kaiba had two groups of people working for him. There were weekday workers, usually consisting of middle-aged people whom require lots of hours and weekday worker benefits to pay for their families, and sometimes the occasional college student, trying to make his tuition. Then there were the weekend workers, all different ages, of people who Seto Kaiba trusted to work with him and not bother him at the same time.

"Hey, Mr. Kaiba, Coffee? I'm making a fresh pot." Kaiba looked up to see his weekend secretary, Daniel. He lifted his cup, showing that it was still semi-full. "I'll make you some anyways, the other pot was really old." Daniel said, closing the door before Kaiba could protest. He loved his weekend employees.

"Sir, representatives from Sony have arrived, they uh . . . they seem disgruntled." The intercom buzzed. Kaiba squeezed the bridge of his nose in frustration. Those underdeveloped idiots sent over a representative every other week, taking time, and patience Kaiba just didn't have.

"Do you have anything to throw at them?" He said, aggravation showing in his voice. He could see Daniel stop, turn and look at the one sided mirror that Kaiba used as a window to look out of his office. Daniel could only see himself, but he knew Kaiba was in there, watching the look of desperation and embarrassment on his face. The representatives were looming over his desk, listening to the conversation via the intercom. They weren't happy.

"M-Mr. Kaiba . .?" Daniel stuttered, trying to regain his composition. Kaiba had enough. He got up, ruffled his hair, messed up his jacket and pulled down his tie, looking only a "little" disheveled. He busted out of his office, slamming the door into the wall next to it. Even Daniel jumped.

"Listen, you overpaid, under-educated morons. I dont care how high in demand my products are, I told you the release date, and you're not getting it any sooner than anyone else, so you'll just have to wait, like the rest of the world. God, Toshiba doesn't bug me as much as you guys do, and they're in serious need of my products. You know what? I think I'm gonna bump them up a slot in the delivery list." Kaiba finished his rampage, looking a bit crazy, which is what he intended. Daniel tried to hide his amusement.

"But, we were right ahead of them . . ." the balding one said.

"Not anymore. And for every representative sent to my office I'll move you down one more space, until you're at the very bottom. And you don't want to know what happens if you send one after that." Kaiba turned and walked back into his office, leaving the representatives horrified in his wake.

Daniel waited until he was sure the men from Sony left and then he felt secure enough to leave his desk.

"Sir," He said, opening the door to his semi-crazy bosses office. "I've got your coffee . . . and it's about time for my lunch break, so, do you want anything to eat?" Kaiba ran a hand through his hair, instantly fixing it.

"Yea, some of that Chicken Teriyaki from Sarku." He said, sipping his new hot coffee.

"No veggies, steamed rice, double chicken, extra sauce?" Daniel said, smiling. Kaiba nodded in agreement, and Daniel left. He really really loved his weekend employees.

Determination, excitement, and . . . unease? Yami honestly felt like he was about to puke. Doubts suddenly raced through his mind. What if this was all just a myth? What if the possibility of him getting his own body was as real as the Egyptian Gods? Maybe the Millennium Items only had the powers they had witnessed and no more? Yami swallowed hard.

In front of him was the Domino museum, towering in intimidation. It made him feel even more queasy.

"Yami. What a surprise." Yami turned rather suddenly.

"Ishizu . . . Hi." Yami felt a bit relieved, but somehow worse. "Actually . . .I need to talk to you . . . about something important . . . and private." He said, not really knowing how to start. Ishizu looked at him, a bit confused, and ushered him into her office.

"What's the matter Yami?" She asked, seating herself in a black leather chair behind her desk. Yami sat himself across from her in a much less comfortable chair.

"Well, I wanted some expert advice, and I couldn't think of anyone else to turn to." He said, fingering the Millennium Puzzle.

"Yami, if it has to do with your past, I told you-"

"I'm more interested in my future." he said, cutting her off. She gave him a look of confusion.

"My expertise is in ancient culture-"

"Ancient Egyptian culture." He corrected. He took out the book he had been reading the day before and placed it on her desk, opening it to certain pages and showing her certain paragraphs.

"I just don't get it Ya- . . . Is this possible?" She said, finally realizing what he had known.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"Yami . . . We need to go to Egypt."

"Serenity! Eric wont let me play with the plane!" Serenity tried to avoid stepping on toys while she made her way over to the two arguing children.

"Melissa, you didn't ask if you could play with the plane, Eric did, and Eric, you're eleven years old, and she's only five. Why don't you two play with the plane together?" The little boy, Eric, gave a sour face, but eventually turned and played with the little girl.

"Hey, I saw that! There is no pulling hair!" Mokuba's voice sounded, alerting Serenity to what could turn messy. She looked over and saw that Tyler and Joanie were sitting down, being scolded by Mokuba. He was so good with the children, strict when he needed to be, and playful and energetic as well. Having him around not only made the time go by faster, but made the job a bit easier too.

"Hey, Serenity, when do you get out tonight?" He said, after finishing with the two troublemakers.

"In about fifteen minutes." She said happily.

"Hey, wanna go to the mall?" he said excitedly, looking at her with big puppy eyes.

"I . . .If . . .ask your brother." She said, trying to look away. Mokuba pulled out his cellphone and hit speed-dial 3.

"Seto? Can I go to the mall?" Serenity could hear the cold deep voice on the other end, but only in a muffled fashion. "But- No, Serenity will be with me!" He said. The other end went silent. The moments seemed like hours waiting for a response.

Finally, an answer came. Serenity didn't understand it, but by the look on Mokuba's face, he'd said yes. Mokuba swung the phone shut and gave a big toothy smile to Serenity.

"Sir, you ok?" an older man asked, looking up at him. Kaiba didn't even realize that he had been standing outside his office, staring blankly down the hall. He snapped out of it quickly, taking in his surroundings.

"Jeremy . . .I . . .I'm fine." He told the janitor. "Why . . . why dont you take the rest of the day off. Actually, everyone can take the rest of the day off. I think I want to close early." Employees began to surround him. They obviously realized something was wrong.

"Really? Cause all I hear is one half a days pay. We only work on the weekend you cheap brat." Daniel said, laughing at him.

Kaiba frowned. He wasn't trying to deprive them of their pay.

"I'll tell you what, I'll close up tonight, and you can take the rest of the day off."

Kaiba was a bit relieved. He knew Daniel would do a good job closing. He nodded to him, and locked up his office, leaving the run of the company to his most trusted employees.

Not wanting to go home, but not sure of where to go, Kaiba grabbed the keys to his Ferrari and began to drive in a random direction.

After about an hour of just driving, Kaiba found himself in the middle of town. He'd probably gone in a few circles, but he didn't quite recall exactly where he'd been. People were checking out his car, and trying to get a good look at him in it, or trying to get pictures and whatnot, but today, he just didn't care.

He pulled over by a sub shop and bought an over-priced sandwich and decided to go for a walk.

Wandering randomly through town, Kaiba didn't even think. It was extremely strange for him to just leave work, drive around randomly, then just walk around town with no real direction. For some reason today, it just didn't phase him. That didn't keep it from intriguing everyone else though.

"Hey, Serenity. Thanks for going with me to the mall. Seto would never have let me go alone." Mokuba said, sipping a slushy.

"No problem Mokuba, thanks for the ride." She replied, sipping a slushy of her own.

"Are you sure you want me to drop you off all the way over here?" He said, taking in the section of town. "It's starting to get dark." He said, giving her puppy eyes.

"I'll be fine! I wanted to visit joey today. He said he'd be home around now." She said excitedly. "And when I want to go home, Joey can give me a ride on his motorcycle." Mokuba's eyes lit up.

"A motorcycle? Cool! Seto never takes me on any of his motorcycles!" Mokuba said, pouting.

"Maybe if you ask Joey, and no one tells your brother, then Joey will take you on a ride!" She said quietly, making Mokuba get extremely excited extremely quickly.

"Ok, cool! Well . . .See ya Serenity tomorrow Serenity! Have fun on the bike!" He said as she stepped out. Serenity waved at him, and walked up to the apartment building Joey lived at. His apartment was in the back, on the second story, so she walked around and up the metal staircase.

Serenity went to knock on Joey's door, but it was already opened. 'He's so absent minded sometimes.' She thought to herself, walking into the apartment.

Kaiba was yanked from his thoughts by a shrill scream. He walked around a broken down looking building where the screams seemed to be coming from. As he made the last turn to get to the back of the building, he saw a girl on the far side of the building, running down a metal staircase, being chased by three or four men. She almost made it down, but one of the guys jumped the railing, landing in front of her, and trapping her on the stairs.

Kaiba made a beeline for the girl. Unfortunately, before he made it to her, they had grabbed her and dragged her upstairs, into an open room or apartment. He ran up the stairs and attempted to open the door but it was locked. After a quick analysis of the situation, Kaiba measured the distance from the railing to the door, then made a quick estimate of the door's thickness and the lock's quality, and proceeded to kick the door open in the first try.

Everyone in the room came to an abrupt halt. He could see four men, looking at him, and one girl, lying face down in the middle of them. Three of them moved up to take him on, while one of them struggles with the fighting girl, trying to pull her into a different room, or maybe another exit.

The three men stood in front of him, in the dark apartment, but Kaiba could see enough of their outlines to size them up and know how they stood. He closed his eyes, cleared his throat, and flicked on the light-switch, momentarily blinding them.

Before they regained sight, Kaiba had placed himself behind them. He kicked the middle one out the door, and grabbed the two "outer" ones, throwing them after him. He shut the door to the apartment, using a chair as a barricade seeing as he destroyed the lock kicking the door in. He could hear them trying to get in, but ignored their attempts. He ran down the hall in the direction of the man with the girl.

Three doors lined the end of the hall, none of which was an exit, so Kaiba had options. Sudden thrashing and bumps alerted him to the middle room. He kicked at the door, which stubbornly decided not to budge. He could hear muffled screaming and crying on the inside of the door. He attempted the doorknob, but it was locked.

Banging at the front door stopped for a minute or so, but Kaiba was continuing to kick at the door in front of him. He heard a loud crash behind him, but he was a bit more distracted by the door in front of him giving up and breaking down. The light in the room was off, and the window had been covered. Kaiba could barely see the figure of the man curled up behind the bed, but barely seeing was still seeing.

Kaiba jumped onto the bed, pulling the man up and landing a punch in his soft stomach. Kaiba grabbed at him as he rolled off the bed, but the man took off once his feet hit the ground. He got up to go after him when he remembered that there was supposed to be a girl in the room.

He walked around the bed to where the man was crouching, and found the girl laying in a fetal position close to the bed. He turned on the lamp by the edge of the bed and revealed a bloody and beaten Serenity. The sudden light forced her to squeeze her eyes shut. He climbed off the bed, and around to get a better look at her.

The second his hand touched her arm she began shaking and sobbing.

"P-please . . .I . . . I didn't do anything." She pulled away from him, curling into a tighter ball, and flinching when he tried to touch her.

He scooped his arm under her head as gently as he could, and tried to pull on her arm, to get a better look at her face.

"Serenity, look at me. I'm not going to hurt you." He said, trying to calm her down. Her eyes blinked open slowly, as she adjusted to the light. She looked at him once, and realized who was holding her up. New tears lined her eyes, and she grabbed onto him as if he was the only thing holding her to reality. He left her hug him and cry for a while before he pulled her away.

She had bruises forming on her face and around her neck. Blood was seeping out of her mouth and she had a deep cut on her collarbone. Her clothes were ripped and she was shaking violently.

"Serenity, you need to go to a hospital." He said quietly, leaning her gently against the bed.

"What the hell?" Kaiba could hear Joey's voice from the front of the apartment. Great, this was Joey's apartment, this was all he needed.

"Wheeler." He called, still crouched down next to Serenity. He could hear joey getting closer.

"What the hell are you doin in my place Kaiba!?" He yelled. Joey had a look of fury spread across his face that screamed 'I'm gonna kill somethin!' Kaiba had only a look of sympathy, which was rarely seen on his face.

"Is . . .Serenity! You get your hands offa her!" Joey jumped over the edge of the bed, taking his sister almost brutishly into his arms.

"Be careful!" Kaiba shouted, watching her visibly flinch at Joey's rough yank.

"J-Joey, he helped me. It wasn't him . . .It . . .It was Felix. Felix and some of his friends. Joey . . .I thought you were his friend too . . .wh-"

"Serenity . . . I'm sorry . . . God, this is all my fault. Damnit! I knew they'd pull something. . . DAMNIT!" Joey planted his fist onto the floor next to him. Joey hugged Serenity to him. If he hadk known Serenity would be hurt . . . " . . . Kaiba . . . Thanks. I don't even want to think about what coulda happened if . . ."

"Well you should." Kaiba said, finally returning to his usual tone of voice. Joey stared at him, shocked. "Imagine what could have happened, and maybe you'll be able to prepare better in case they decide to come back. Who knows. Maybe they wont come back. Or maybe they will. And if they do, what's going to happen to Serenity?" he asked, seriously.

"Serenity's not here all the time! She normally calls first . . ." Joey said, getting defensive.

"Fine, then Mai?" Kaiba stared him down. Joey held the glare, but wavered. What if they did come back and get Mai?

"Well, think about it later, she needs to get to a hospital." Kaiba said, standing. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed, stepping out into the hall.

"I'm so sorry Ren. I didn't mean to do this to you." Joey said again.

"It's not your fault Joey. You didn't make them do this." She said, trying to comfort her brother, which was a bit ironic.

"Ren . . . I wish I could tell ya . . ." He mumbled. Serenity didn't seem to hear.

Sirens screamed through the city, making their way for Joey's apartment. Kaiba met them at the front of the building and led the to Serenity. Joey rode in the ambulance with Serenity, and Kaiba got a ride from a policeman who was dispatched with the ambulance. The officer still needed to take the story from the victim and from the main witness.

After a brief fight with Kaiba about not taking uninsured patients, the doctors took Serenity into the IC wing, and got to work finding out what exactly needed to be done for her. Joey and Kaiba were put in the waiting rooms and both stayed there for a few hours, before the doctor finally came out.

"She will be fine, but for now she needs to stay in the intensive care unit. Moving her around a lot will slow the healing process. She has many bruises and cuts on the outside that need a bit of treatment, but she also has two cracked ribs that require her to stay still. . . . And, I need to talk to you in private about something that bothers me." he said, ushering Joey into the next room. Joey glanced back at Kaiba, who just gave him a blank stair.

Kaiba really wanted to go, but it wasn't his place. He tried to seem impassive, but somehow Joey knew.

"Well, C'mon Kaiba, they dont got all day." Joey said, sounding more tired than he thought he would. Kaiba made no remark, but just followed him. Once in the empty room, the doctor looked at Kaiba and Joey.

"There's something about Miss Wheeler that bothers me . . ."

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Oh! I like this cliffhanger thingie! MUST USE MORE OFTAIN! So read, review, and . . .enjoy?