Man, my March chapter is so late. sorry about that ^^" at least it's still March? Anyway, next chapter will be the formal and after that will be All New! The time spans of each chapter will shift from months to probably seasons.

Oh! And to reply to ralekIX's review (I tried to PM you but it wouldn't let me) Serenity does mention that her friends look forward to her chocolates every year so Seto just assumed she made for them as well (which she does). Also I'm trying to portray Kaiba as human, too many authors focus on the CEO side and will have him fire people left, right and centre and be a general dick to everyone. With Resignation as well as my other YGO fics I try to let Kaiba have some warmth, humour and emotion. After all he can't have a stick up his ass all the time. That being said, here's hoping that the scenes where Kaiba is dealing with people he's not close to you see that I do have him be his douchy self.

Aside from that, thanks to everyone else who has reviewed. They really mean a lot to me and sometimes when I need a pick me up i'll got back and read your kind words again ^_^

On the phone a few days later I felt a little odd, I knew my telling her I loved her was nothing more than an absent minded slip, but it had still unnerved me. One thing I could be thankful for was that she hadn't heard me.

"So, do you get things for White Day?" I asked, tinkering with the first prototype of the new duel discs.

[Yeah, my brother will buy me a small stuffed animal and I have a couple friends who give me things.]

"Oh? What about that boy you mentioned a while back?" I didn't care, but it seemed odd that she didn't mention it.

[Well the first boy, the one I was dating will. We're still friends and I gave him chocolates.]

"What about this new boy," I asked. "The one you've developed feelings for?"

[Oh, um, I don't know. I gave him chocolates...]

"Which you said you make for everyone," I interjected.

[Yeah, but I gave him something a little more special. I don't think he'd give me anything in return though, he's not the type.]

I hummed in acknowledgment, feeling slightly less special. My chocolates had been wonderful, and she had paid attention to what I liked, Like friends are supposed to. It made me wonder what made this guy's chocolates so special. Not like it mattered, she said he wasn't going to give her anything in return anyway.

I found myself staring at a date on the calendar, one that had never meant anything to me before.

March fourteenth, White Day, was just over a week away. Despite the mountain of work I had to do I couldn't help but look out my office window in the direction I knew Serenity was. She was a friend, my only friend, and I wanted to pay her back for the things she had done for me.

No, 'pay her back' wasn't the phrase I was looking for. I wanted to give her something, not because I felt I owed her, but because I legitimately wanted to. I didn't give or receive many gifts, Mokuba and I had both agreed there was little point.

The fact that I'd be showing up this boy she liked had nothing to do with it either. Well, maybe a little. I always was the competitive type, even when I didn't know who I was competing against or for what reason.

Regardless of my motives, on my lunch I found myself in the most expensive art supply shop in town. From what my research told me all the masters bought their products here, and I knew Serenity would want a set like this.

"Anything I can help you with?" the shop keeper asked.

"Yes, I want the full collection."

"The full collection?" he asked, eyes going wide.

"That's right. Every brush an artist would need."

"That's a very expensive request, it's out of the price range for a young man like yourself." I smirked, perhaps being involved with the art world left him a bit clueless to what the rest of the world paid attention to; he clearly had no idea who I was despite my not even bothering to disguise myself.

"Believe me, money is no object," I assured him. "Would you prefer cash or cheque?" I lead him to the sales desk and opened my briefcase revealing more money than was probably necessary for the purchase, but I had a few other things I needed to buy on the way home and sue me, sometimes I liked to be a bit of a show off, I earned it.

"C-cash is fine," he said weakly. I smirked again and began counting out bills while he wrote out the order.

"Oh, and one more thing. I don't care how much extra it costs, but it'd like the handles and bristles to all be white." I almost pitied the poor man, after I had paid and given him the number to call when they were ready he stood silently gaping at me. He probably thought it was a dream.

Perhaps it was the fact that I had paid cash up front, or maybe he realized who I was once I signed my name on the order. Either way it was only a few days later when I received the brushes. I sent Watanuki to pick them up for me and when I got home they were set out on my desk.

It occurred to me that I hadn't planned out how to give them to her. I knew I'd put them in my student mailbox with instructions to give them to Serenity, but I still needed a way to get her to go and ask for them without suspecting what I was up to.

I finally settled on keeping it simple and decided I'd tell her I forgot something, I dialed her number and nodded to myself, it wasn't like I was really lying. For some reason the thought of lying to her more than I already was bothered me.

"Hello Kisa," I said, before she had a chance to say it first.

[Hey Seth. What's up?] Her voice was still cheery, but there was a tired, bordering on frustrated, tone to it.

"Just giving my nightly call," I replied. I hesitated a moment before going ahead and asking. "Are you alright? You sound like you're stressed."

She explained that she was studying for her entrance exam and trying to get a scholarship so that she could go to the Tokyo University of the Arts. Even I knew about the school, many well known artists had gone there and I found it admirable that she had set her sights so high. I was still a little concerned that she was trying to earn a scholarship however. Was Kaiya not earning enough to pay for her daughter's schooling? I thought I paid her well and she never asked for a raise, but then again I never asked her if she needed one.

"Does your mother not make enough money?" I asked finally, to set myself at ease.

[She does,] Serenity assured me and I breathed an internal sigh of relief. [And I know she'd probably be more than happy to help me pay for it. But because I'd have to go to Tokyo I'd need to find a place to live and pay for school. I figure if I get a scholarship then at least Mom has less to worry about. If I don't get the scholarship then I'll probably go to Domino University since they have a pretty good arts program.]

"Work hard," I told her, I didn't believe in 'luck' and I was impressed by her determination and consideration. She had told me before that people often assumed she was too naïve to take care of herself and I knew that this was probably her way of letting them know she was independent. "I have faith in your abilities."

We moved on to the other topic that had been bothering her; her dress. She said she simply wasn't sure how formal she needed to be, I shared what I knew about the dress code and even went so far as to give her a place to go and buy a dress.

I had decided on the spot that I wanted to buy her dress, because I could and partially as an apology for hiding so much from her.

It was then that I finally told her what I had wanted to from the beginning. I played it very casual and informed her that I had left something in my mail box and she'd need to get it for me. I didn't say 'forget' though. I opted to tell her half truths when I could instead of full lies.

I'll admit, I was a bit surprised she didn't realize the date. Then again, I had never directly given her something before so it was understandable she wasn't expecting anything.

We said our good nights and I went back to work, looking forward to hearing her reaction the next day.
I stopped by the university in the morning, giving the person working the mail boxes Serenity's description along with her name and alias, just to be sure.

I waited all afternoon the next day and kept my phone on my desk so I would see the moment she called. I had left instructions to call me when she got home, which I knew would be between four and five. I was impatient however, I wanted the day to go by faster.

To kill time I phoned the shop Serenity would be going to that weekend and informed them to charge whatever she bought to my account. As with her White Day gift I gave them both her name and alias as well as a description of her appearance and informed them she would likely be in the company of one or two other women.

"Hey Seto." I looked up to see Mokuba walk in and take a seat in one of the chairs. I glanced at the time, twenty to four, we weren't supposed to be at the restaurant until six.

"Hello Mokuba. I didn't know you were going to meet me."

"Of course I am, I need to make sure you actually finish your work when your say you will so we can go out."

Just then my phone rang and I answered before it could do it a second time. I caught Mokuba raise a brow at my actions just before I turned my back, though it offered little privacy.

Serenity sounded breathless and excited, the curiosity about my gift had apparently been nagging at her the entire trip home. And yet she still followed my instructions and hadn't peeked. I was impressed; Mokuba would've opened it by now.

I told her to open it and was treated to the sound of the phone being shifted and the rustling of paper before I heard the sound I had hoped for; a small, surprised gasp.

"Happy White Day," I told her softly, almost forgetting Mokuba was there and likely listening in. "Do you like it?"

[Seth, how- I mean- Seth, they're beautiful,]

I smiled at her words, it was a nice feeling to give her something. I wondered if other people felt this way when they gave gifts.

"I wanted to give you something in return for the gifts you've given me," I explained.

[But Seth, how could you afford these? Normally brushes like this are like 65,000 yen. To get them custom ordered...]

I fed her some lie about getting the brushes for a great price online and saving up for them. As if I would ever need to do either. Money was never a problem, I didn't care how much something cost. To be honest I didn't even know how much I spent on most things.

And saving up? Please. The last time I 'saved up' for something was when I was five and I wanted a toy from the store that my mother wouldn't buy for me.

She promised me a hug, the biggest in the world apparently, and we said our goodbyes.

"What are you going to do, Seto?" Mokuba asked the moment I had hung up.

"Do about what?" I turned to face him, I performed my best poker face, however this was my little brother and such tricks didn't work on him.

"Kisa."

"I have no idea what you mean," I replied, getting my paperwork together. Things were fine the way they were.

"What happens when Kisa finds out that you're, well, you," Mokuba elaborated.

"She'll never find out, that's the point of lying."

"Did you forget you'll be meeting her in a month? Unless you have a plan to use some sort of hologram to disguise yourself she's going to find out it's you." Shit. I had forgotten. Maybe I should look into this hologram idea... "You did forget, didn't you?" Mokuba sighed.

"Of course I didn't. You're assuming I plan to attend this formal in the first place."

"Seto, just go and deal with it. You know it can't stay this way forever."

I knew it couldn't, but that didn't stop me from wishing it would.

A few days later Serenity phoned me again, sounding excited. I assumed she just got back from her shopping trip.

[Hi Seth! Why didn't you tell me the real reason you were sending me to that shop?]

"I wanted to surprise you," I told her getting up from my desk and stretching my legs a bit, I had been sitting in front of my computer for hours. She told me that she would've felt like she was taking advantage of me by letting my buy the dress so she paid some. she claimed half, but I highly doubted it. Regardless her actions touched me, I was so used to people trying to use me for my money that to have someone outright refuse to do so was... Nice. Even if she wasn't aware of who I was.

I asked her what her dress looked like, mostly out of curiosity but also so that I would be able to spot her easier. She informed me that it was a surprise. She did cave a little and let me know that it was a long dress and was white with blue. I paused my pacing and lightly touched my fingertips to the vase of flowers one of the maids had left in my study. They were my favourites and from my own garden if I wasn't mistaken.

"I propose we find each other based on our corsage and boutonnière. Are you familiar with irises?"

[I think so, I can always ask Mom or my brother. He said he was going to buy my flower as a graduation gift.]

"Well tell them you want a blue iris, it's not a very common flower so we should be able to find each other relatively easy." I would be able to find her without the flowers, but I felt it would be better if she found me. It would give her the choice.

[Blue iris?] she laughed. [Pun not intended? Okay, I will.]

I smiled, I hadn't even noticed the play on words. I bid her good night and I sighed heavily as I hung up the phone. I liked what we had, the anonymity suited me. I wasn't sure how she'd react to know that all this time it had been me, her mother's employer and a man she detested.

Everything we had was going to change in less than a month and I wanted to fight it, to stop and keep things as they were. I sat back in my chair and looked at my irises.

"All I have to do is figure out what I'm going to do," I muttered to myself. "After that I'm all set..."

Once again, sorry this chapter took so long to put out. Took me longer than I thought to decide how I wanted to end it. After the April/Formal chapter updates may be slower since I don't have a prelaid plan anymore. I do however have a general idea of what I'll be doing so don't worry.