Chapter 7

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The two weeks of spring vacation went slowly. Sakura actually found herself with very little if anything to do. Jiro was in the hospital full time now. His condition was worsening faster than the doctors could keep up with. She knew they didn't want to alarm her, but it was plain as day that Jiro had much less time than six months. Apparently the tumor began growing, not faster, but in a different direction, and was crushing multiple parts of his brain, causing complex issues that they were constantly finding and having to deal with.

She actually couldn't wait for school to start back up again, which wasn't too big of a surprise. But now she had something else to look forward to. Joey would be back. She got to study hall early and waited for him to arrive. She didn't have to wait long, the group came in together, laughing and talking as usual. She offered them a smile as they found their way to their seats. Behind them she caught a glimpse of Kaiba entering. His eyes met hers for an instant, but she turned to Joey.

"Hey, welcome back."

"Yeah. It's good to be back." He replied. He hadn't quite made eye contact with her, and she was beginning to think something was wrong.

"Did you save Yugi's grandfather?" She asked, trying to get him to say something more.

"Yeah. And I won a lot of money." He said proudly, finally looking her in the eye.

"Not to mention met that girl." Tristan snickered. Joey glared at him, but the damage was done.

"Girl?" Sakura asked, looking Joey over. Kaiba glanced between them all. He had had a lot of time to think while he was at Pegasus' island. He owed Yugi for saving him and his brother, but held no love for his friends. Still, throughout it all, he couldn't figure out why Sakura was interested in the moronic dog. He had tried to focus while out there, but she had always crept into his mind. He was afraid it was too late though. She was one of the few he considered as a potential friend. Not being good at relationships to begin with, he'd only imagine failure if he tried to mend an already broken one. After all of the failure he'd experienced in the last few weeks, he couldn't deal with anymore of them.

"Yeah... I actually wanted to talk to you about that." Kaiba watched as Sakura fell into herself. Joey couldn't possibly be doing what he thought he was doing... He couldn't be. She was way too good for him. He couldn't be saying... "I met someone... And nothing happened." He felt he needed to point out. "I just... I cant stop thinking about her and-"

"No, it's fine. I mean, we only dated once. It's not like we were serious or anything." She said, giving him a polite smile. Kaiba saw right through it. He could tell when she had her guard up, and she was definitely hiding herself somewhere within.

"Really?" Joey was not observant enough, or maybe, just didn't know her well enough to distinguish when she was not being honest. He gave her a warm smile and she turned away, unable to look at him anymore.

"Is... Is she pretty?" She said, trying to get the focus off of herself and honestly curious. She wasn't the type to get jealous, but she knew which of her features were her strong ones, and she had really never been called pretty, or considered herself attractive. She was always too busy to think of fluffing herself up for some boy. She was sure she could put on makeup and make herself look good, but that wasn't something she wanted misconstrued. Now she almost wished she had put more effort into herself.

When she looked up, Joey had turned away, obviously trying to think of a way to answer honestly and still not hurt her. She must be beautiful. When someone finally did speak however, it wasn't Joey.

"Oh man, She's got perfect blonde hair, and legs that go on forever and the best ra-"

"Tristan!" Joey shouted, stopping him mid word and forcing him to look over himself. He realized he was squeezing the air around his chest in a lewd fashion and straightened himself. Sakura fell farther into herself. Not only was she being dumped, now her entire self esteem was crushed.

"Well, that's great. Um, I forgot something in my art class, but I'll see you guys later." She said, excusing herself as her control crumbled from her. Joey rose to follow her but stopped suddenly. He looked down and reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He glanced up at the teacher, then moved to a spot where he wasn't well seen and answered it.

"Hey, Mai?..." Kaiba couldn't believe it. He actually did it. That idiot threw away possibly the best, smartest thing to ever look his way. For what? Some curvy bimbo? Kaiba had had his fill of those. They were shallow and heartless. They either wanted some pretty boy or a walking wallet, two things that mutt definitely wasn't. He literally threw away the best thing to come to him for something that wouldn't look at him twice.

Kaiba almost rose and followed her out of the room, but stopped himself. Why would she ever want to talk to him? Especially after their last conversation. He sat back down and sighed. He should just leave her alone. She'll be happier that way. Right?

Kaiba spent the entire night thinking about any reason at all to talk to her. He knew he wanted her to return to work for him. With Mokuba's kidnapping and the whole Pegasus fiasco, he hadn't considered anyone to replace her yet, and he figured he'd have a hell of a time finding someone with her work ethic, talents, and professionalism that didn't annoy the crap out of him. But how could he ask her to return? She was completely right. He was being selfish and childish. There were more mature ways of dealing with problems, and he had truly been in the wrong.

That was it. He would tell her he was wrong. And if he could work up the guts, he would tell her he wanted her to come back to work for him. He left for school with that being the only thing on his mind. When he got to the building, he found he was late. The bell had already rung and she would have left her first art block to go where ever the art class went for the second block. He knew they took the class to a different room for some reason, but didn't know where. He would have to wait for study hall. The issue there was, he'd be saying all of this in front of Yugi and his lame friends, which only complicated things.

What if she turned him down? In the middle of everyone... in front of Yugi and his gang. He didn't know if he could take it. He didn't want to deal with anyone other than her. Sitting and waiting for her to show up, he could hear Joey talking on the phone with who he presumed was the bimbo. If anything, she was lucky to be rid of him. He's just proven he's as shallow as the broad he left Sakura for. She should be marching in the room any minute now, holding her head high and completely free of him as a burden on her.

When fifteen minutes passed and she didn't make an appearance, he began to wonder. Could she have skipped to avoid Joey? How could she let him effect her so? Suddenly a girl entered. She poked her head in and glanced through the class. The teacher questioned her, but she held up some papers and started towards Kaiba.

"It'll be just a second." She said to the teacher, then turned to Kaiba, the smile she had just given the teacher fading instantly. "Here. Sakura's papers and identification stuff for Kaiba Corp. She forgot to give them to you yesterday." She handed him the papers and he took them looking at her curiously.

"Where is she?" The girl rolled her eyes.

"She's out today." She said briefly. Apparently she didn't like Kaiba at all, but he was used to this as a reaction from some people.

"She cant possibly be this torn up about her break up." He said, not willing to accept that someone as low as Joey could hurt her like that.

"Break... Do you practice being an asshole? Or does it come naturally? Cause I picture you as a natural sort." She said venomously. " She's not skipping because of some lame boy issues. She's... She's planning a funeral." It couldn't be. The last he had heard, he still had six months left. It had only been about two. The girl turned to leave, but Kaiba's arm shot out, grabbing hers and stopping her. She turned to glare at him incredulously, but he didn't release her.

"... Jiro?" He asked, worried about the answer. The girl's angry glare turned to a look of sadness and she couldn't keep his stare. She nodded quietly and he let go, allowing her to retreat into the hall. Kaiba stood there, frozen as the classroom watched him. Without a word, he gathered his things and left.

The papers sat in front of her in a messy pile. She tried to go over them, but no matter how much she tried to focus on them, the pain of their meaning clouded her ability to function. She knew she had to get them done and mailed out by the next day or they wouldn't be processed in time, but... it was just so hard. She thought she had more time. She thought she'd have been able to at least say goodbye. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

A knock at the door momentarily ripped her from her depression. She looked down at herself and cringed. She was still in her pajamas and hadn't showered yet. Her face was still red and puffy and no matter what she tried, her tears were constantly threatening to spill out. She debated pretending she wasn't home, but the knock came again. She sighed and went to answer it after an eternity of mulling it over.

The door moved slowly as she opened it. Her body had been rather lethargic since the night before and she hadn't gotten any sleep, so she wasn't even close to one hundred percent. Her eyes traveled p to her visitor and her breath stopped.

"Kaiba..." Her gaze fell away immediately, but she did catch a glimpse of something in his eyes. It almost looked like pity... but... no, it was... sympathy? The fact that she couldn't keep his gaze told him how broken she was, and she knew it. She wasn't about to look and act like a fool. Not in front of him, nor anyone. She had pride too.

Her eyes wandered to the stack of papers in his hand, and she noticed they were her identification and employee status reports for Kaiba Corp. She straightened herself and controlled her breathing, then looked him in the eye again.

"Is there something missing?" She asked, holding out her hand for the papers so she could double check. She had shut down her emotions and put back on her business face like he had done so many times. So much so that he almost thought that his business face was the only one he had. Seeing her like that... Like him... It killed him. He dropped the papers to the floor, moved to her and hugged her.

She blinked a few times, wondering if this was really happening. She was paralyzed in his arms, unsure of what to do or where to go from here. He looked around at her home and it felt... empty. On the counter he spotted the papers she had been struggling with over and over. He broke from her, moving to the papers and she, still in shock at what had just happened, could only close the door and look at him as he picked up and read what she hadn't done.

"These... These aren't done." He observed. He looked up at her and she back to him.

"I was just getting to them, I-"

"Drop it." He said rather rudely. She looked up at him confusedly and he pierced her with his own stare. "Stop with all the emotional vacancy. Jiro deserves better than this." He watched as she slowly began to tremble. Walls were coming down and he planned on being there to catch her when she finally fell.

"I... I tried... I keep going over the papers and when I reach the bottom I realize... I haven't read a freaking word." She said between unsteady breaths. He moved next to her and guided her to a stool, sitting her in it and going around the bar fashioned table, putting it and the papers between them. He leaned against the table and removed a pen from his breast pocket. He read all of the documents individually while she tried to stop herself from crying.

"Sign here... and here... and on this." He said, pointing out where she needed to write. She did as he instructed and he took the pen back, dated the pages and continued on. "Do you have a funeral home in mind?" He asked, picking up one of the slips.

"I was thinking of having it here." She admitted absently. Kaiba glanced around the room and sighed.

"You're not having it here. You're not emotionally stable enough to have it in your home." He said and she looked at him, seeing the truth in what he was saying. He wrote something down on the paper that she couldn't see and moved on to the next issue. "What about flowers?" He handed her a page that had several flower arrangements on it for her to look over. She glanced at them and back to him.

"He loved geraniums." She said quietly, taking the pen to mark off the box next to the small geranium and lilac arrangement, but Kaiba took the pen and marked off the larger selection, placing a number in the box for quantity. "No, I cant afford that one, the small one is-"

"Don't worry about it." He cut her off. She looked up at him and shook her head.

"I'm not taking gifts." She said plainly and he smiled.

"Good, because this isn't a gift. Consider it a bribe." She looked up at him questioningly. "I want you to work for me. Hopefully this will... hold weight on your decision." He said, then moved onto another slip to fill out. She sank into herself quietly, trying to figure out what was happening. Finally she rose from her seat. Kaiba finished what he was writing and glanced over at her, just in time to see her pull him into a hug as she sniffled and squeezed him. It was his turn to freeze up.

"Oh come on now. This isn't going to happen often, might as well hug me back this one time." She said into his blazer. His arms moved on their own to circle her and he rubbed her back.

"I... I was wrong... I'm sorry."

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Another chappie done. I'm speeeeeeedy. don't forget to review and tell me what you all think (sounds like a broken record)

Read, Review, Enjoy~Love!