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~Seto's POV~

I smirked, alone in my home office. My plans were coming along nicely.

This would be my chance. I had missed Duelist Kingdom because of Yugi, where I would have won the King of Games title I so rightfully deserved, but this would be better. Pegasus' demented scheme had only set me back temporarily, but what I was planning would put his tournament and reputation to shame. I pressed on. The plans were finished, but I still had a lot to do.

I heard my door creak and I glanced up. "What is it, Mokuba?" I asked.

"Hey Seto," Mokuba began. He held a paper and I heard it crinkle in his hand. "I was wondering if you had a minute to help me with my homework."

"I really don't, Mokuba. I'm in the middle of planning this tournament."

"Oh!" Mokuba perked up. "You're working Battle City?" he asked, coming around behind me to view my screen.

"Mm."

"What is it you're working on right now?" he inquired.

"I'm programming the locator cards for the finalists to find the dueling site," I answered.

"They're going to be blown away," Mokuba raved.

"You need to stop stalling and get your homework done, Mokuba. Then I'll talk to you about the tournament. Do you want me to call you a tutor?" I redirected.

I heard Mokuba sigh next to me. "No, I don't like working with tutors. They're all intimidated by working for you and it makes them mean or too nervous to really be helpful."

I couldn't contend with this as I could relate to what he was talking about. I was the best teacher I ever had.

He was next to me and I glanced at the homework sheet. It was science. And though I had become consumed enough to banish her, suddenly she was back.

"Maybe Yugi or one of them could come over and help me?" my brother asked, slightly timid as he should have been.

I narrowed my eyes. "No," I replied sternly. "Yugi is not coming into my house, none of them are, and certainly not while I'm working on this tournament to dethrone him." Then I reached for my phone, picking it up and quickly dialing. It didn't take long for her to answer.

"Hey Jude," she answered. She had assumed, considering he must have been the only one to call her. Good, I didn't want anyone else to have a reason to speak to her.

"It's Seto," I corrected. Mokuba had been studying my screen, but his head shot in my direction when I used my given name.

There was a slight hesitation before she replied, "Oh, hi, Seto. Is everything ok?"

"Are you busy?" I implored hastily.

"Not particularly-"

"Well, I am," I persisted. "And Mokuba needs help with his homework."

"Oh, yeah, I can do that," she answered, more friendly this time. She had probably thought that it was something bad, as I had never bothered to call her before. "Your house?"

"Yes."

"I'll be over soon," she confirmed amicably.

I hung up. Before Mokuba could ask, I told him, "Jem will be over soon to help you."

"Jem?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "I didn't know you still talked to her. I was wondering what happened to her."

"We have Chemistry together," I replied flatly.

Mokuba froze, mouth open and eyes wide. "Wow. I'm really surprised to hear you admit that," Mokuba replied, looking at me bewildered.

I hadn't looked at him through this conversation, but furrowed my brow at this comment, slightly confused. "What? Why?"

Then something seemed to hit him, and he said, "Oh, you mean the actual class."

Then I realized what he thought I meant. I narrowed my eyes. "Out, now."

~Jem's POV~

It was Mokuba who had let me in and Mokuba who I sat with now. Luckily Jude had left earlier, feeling bored and knowing he would see me again soon. I say luckily because otherwise I would have been busy entertaining him, and I liked Mokuba.

At first I had found it slightly hard to focus, seeing as we were in a study filled with books, but I refocused once I started to look over his sheet.

"Ooh, biology," I remarked excitedly. "I like biology. I'm planning on taking Advanced Bio next year, probably Advanced Physics, too, though I'm not as excited about it."

"My brother already took those," Mokuba shared unenthusiastically. "He said they were boring and presented no challenge to him."

"I don't doubt it," I replied. Seto's brilliance was only one of the things I found so alluring about him.

"You're actually excited about this?" Mokuba grumbled, his hand resting on his cheek. He was clearly disinterested.

"Yeah, I liked learning," I answered. "I like the stories of literature. I think language arts separates us from the Joey Wheeler's of the world. I like how math is all interrelated and find the intricacies and workings of science fascinating, and so on. What were you thinking about that could have possibly distracted you from Punnett squares?"

Mokuba just looked at me. "I can't tell if you're being serious or not." I didn't know what to say. He sighed. "Never mind, I recognize that look, you're being serious." So I waited for an answer. "Oh," Mokuba began, remembering the question. He looked down at his hands as he played with his pencil. "I just worry about Seto."

My eyes darted from the paper to Mokuba. "Why? Is something wrong?"

He stared at the table. I could see his body was tense, and there was clearly a great deal on his mind. I think he was struggling with whether he was allowed to share with me or not. Then his eyes glazed and he shook a little. I promptly stood up, my knees pushing the chair out of the way.

"Oh whoa whoa whoa," I intervened. He started to break down and I reached out, hugging him to my stomach. I wrapped my hands around his little head, stroking his hair. He in turn leaned into me, reaching up to take hold of my arm in his two hands.

"I just really miss the way things used to be. I know we had some rough times, but I don't know why he has to be so miserable all the time. Once, just once, I'd like to see him smile when he's not causing some sort of destruction," he sniffled.

I thought about this for a moment. "... I know he's not particularly warm or friendly, but don't think your brother is miserable, Mokuba," I started slowly.

"How can you say that?" he asked.

"Well, my brother recently had the same concerns about me. We had a fight, then he confessed that he thought I changed, he missed the way things used to be, and was worried I wasn't happy. So even though my brother, who knows me better than anyone, couldn't see it, I am much happier than I was before." I sighed, then reverted. "I don't know, Mokuba, I don't see it when I'm with him anyway." This somehow quieted him down. I continued. "You know him better than I do, but I think your brother just has a different way of smiling."

From this point I only heard a few end sniffles as he thought. I continued to pet his long raven hair and try to comfort him. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he settled. He looked up to me, then glanced back down. "Sorry, I just miss him sometimes, and I don't have anybody else."

"Mokuba," I said gently, taking his face in my hands to look at me. "Your brother loves you. Things could always get better or worse, but it will never change how much he loves you."

He looked at me for just a moment before standing and embracing me. I felt caught, unable to move, but... it wasn't bad. "I know," he said. "Thanks."

I waited a moment. "So... are you ready to learn about heredity now?"

"I'll do my best," he answered as he pulled back.

"Good, that's all I could ever ask of you."

~Seto's POV~

I worked for about a half hour after that, the whole time being frustrated with my brother. He had allowed her back into my head, just when I had freed myself of her, if only temporarily. And now to know that she could be in my house right now, so close. I hated how it tortured me. I backed up my program and pressed on, though not as fluently as I had before Mokuba came in.

For a while I continued to push the thoughts back with one hand so I could work with the other, but it hindered me. All of this was nothing compared to when my door opened next. I looked up, expecting to see Mokuba or perhaps one of my staff, but it was her.

She knocked, then slowly cracked the door, peering in. I stopped completely for a moment when I looked up and saw her.

"Mokuba's all set. He said you wanted me to stop by before I left," she offered. I paused, trying to think of what I wanted to do about this. Dammit, Mokuba. My problem was I couldn't say it wasn't entirely true. Now that she was here, I was torn. With my silence, she continued. "... Did you want me to read to you? I brought the book just in case."

That worked. "Go ahead," I replied, then turned back to my work.

Jem entered the room, looking around at my bookshelves. This caused her to take longer to reach the seating nearest me, helplessly pausing to read titles. I was surprised when she crossed the room without touching any texts.

She set her bag between her feet and proceeded to rummage through it. I sensed her glance up at me, and as she searched, she asked, "Are you usually this busy?"

I only answered with, "More or less."

She nodded, finding the book and abandoning the bag. As she settled back, she looked at me. It was quiet for a moment.

"Seto, can I just ask, why do you bother with completing high school? You clearly don't need it."

I answered her passively. "It was the first goal I ever had. My birth parents didn't have their degrees, I'd be a first generation graduate. Besides, I finish what I start and want to set an example and a standard for Mokuba."

Jem looked up and nodded with a slightly pouted lip, and somehow a slight smile. "Fair enough," she affirmed, then began to read. And it was perfect. Her voice was a constant reminder that she was there, that I had her close. Tonight, it allowed my longing for her to ease and for me to focus on the tournament that would reclaim my title.

After a fair amount of time, she yawned and called it. "Ok, I need to be heading home. The loft is a little further from here than your company."

I glanced up briefly, now that she had stopped. "You're settled?"

"Yeah," she answered, leaning to put the book away. "Jude came up and helped me move in. It made it a little harder to keep up with since he's like a child, but it's just me now."

This caused me to cease. "You're alone?" This was something I had overlooked. I rarely saw my house staff, so I had forgotten about their role. Not only that, but I wasn't sure if it was safe or not for her to be alone.

I looked at her. "Have you ever had a staff member somewhere that you trusted?"

She closed her bag and sighed, looking up. As she thought, she stood up, slinging the bag over her shoulder. "There was one," she said finally. "I haven't seen him in years though. He was our nanny up until my mom passed and everything changed. You could tell that he really loved us and that was why he was there, not just for the job or because of loyalty to my parents. In fact, I don't think he really liked my father. He disagreed with him on some things when it came to raising us. Why?" she asked, looking to me.

It was odd that the nanny was a man, but still, this sounded like it met my standards. "You should find him and hire him." I looked back down to my work. "Bring him in to live with you. It'll be safer and he can take care of the work that is beneath you." I heard a breath. It was clearly a singular laugh as she nearly smiled and nodded.

"That would be nice," she agreed. She shrugged. "I'll look into it." She lingered another moment before she disclosed, "Your brother misses you." I looked up at her with this. "See you in class," she offered as a farewell, then turned, and she was gone. I sat for a moment.

Alone, I called for Mokuba. "What is it, Seto?" he asked in his raspy voice, and I noticed the subtle sullenness in it.

"You're done with your homework?" I clarified first. He nodded. "Then come here. We'll talk about Battle City."

Next Chapter: Personal

She had just seen a tinge of my cruelty, which may have been a lot to a person, and I watched her very carefully to see how she responded to it.