I've been needing to update this for a while and what better occasion that my best friend Fire Edge's birthday?

I suffered through Wheeler's presence, slipping him a condescending remark under my breath every now and again for good measure. Serenity either didn't hear or chose to ignore it, obviously happy that I was there sharing the day with her.

She went back to school soon after that and we returned to our normal routine of texts throughout the day and hen a phone call in the evening before she went to bed.

It made me wonder if we had been in a relationship long before I allowed myself to acknowledge it as such.

For Valentines Day she sent me a box of homemade cookies along with chocolates, both fr myself and to pass along to Yugi and company.

I did so under great protest; Yugi and Téa accepted them gratefully, even going so far as to invite me to the coffee shop they were headed to. I chose to accept their offer largely due to the fact that I respected Yugi's opinions when it came to Dule Monsters and wanted to hear his thoughts on the new, light weight Duel Discs due to be released in late spring.

Téa seemed ready to burst with some long speech about friendship, but she reigned it in, Aside from that I could honestly say I enjoyed their company. My sarcastic and biting remarks slid of Yugi like water off a duck's back, treating them like a joke long before even considering taking them seriously. Luckily, they were seeing Duke Devlin later that day and offered to take his box to pass on for me.

My delivery to Taylor was much less pleasant. Tristan was incredibly hostile, which I found to be odd considering his usual benign, unnoticeable nature. He accidentally let it slip that he and Serenity had been somewhat involved prior to me and believed me to b the one she dumped him for. From there it was clear that he was behaving like the typical jealous ex and I remembered Serenity mention something of the sort back during our mentoring. Clearly he hadn't gotten over it.

My meeting with Joey was even worse, I had chocolates for both him and Mai. He was no more pleased to see me than I him and our bickering began nearly right away. We were complete opposites and it was simply too easy to bait him. Our encounted ended with me shoving the box of chocolates at him while he yelled threats about what would happen to me if I hurt his sister.

My favourite was that he would "beat me until my insides were my outsides".

White Day was more enjoyable. Unsure of what to send her I decided to go and visit for the day instead as it fell on a weekend that year. Had it been a weekday I have no idea what I would've done.

I wore my white trench coat that day to keep with the theme of the holiday and Kaiya had kindly given me the address to Serenity's apartment.

The look of joy she wore when I greeted her with a kiss, something I found I quite enjoyed doing, was worth the long drive. She spent the day giving me a tour of her school, introducing me to her friends and showing me around the neighbourhood she had begun to call 'home'.

Surprisingly he never introduced me as 'Seto Kaiba, CEO and billionaire', I was just simply introduced as 'her boyfriend, Seto'.

When she came home in the summer I adjusted my hours at work to allow us to spend some time together.

I did not suddenly take three day long weekends or clock out at five, though I may have started my days a little earlier and not gone in on Saturdays so much. When she invited me to take a beach trip with her I accepted, even if it meant spending the day with certain individuals. Mokuba and Rebecca were also invited now that I was aware of our mutual acquaintances.

We rented a van for the day so that all of us could drive together. It was not my idea, but being the tallest and the oldest I was given the task of driving which helped sway me a little.

I hooked up my iPod and played my music, it seemed not everyone liked AC/DC or Black Sabbat, but Serenity and Yugi both argued in my favour that car rules state driver chooses the music, just like girlfriend get's automatic shotgun. I was not priorly aware of these 'car rules', but was happy none the less that they worked out in my favour.

If Joey happened to really hate Back in Black, well that was just an added bonus.

It had been years since I'd last gone to the beach and was surprised by how much I enjoyed myself. Swimming, a highly competitive game of volley ball and a barbeque were things I didn't realize I had missed until I was faced with them again.

The drive back home was quieter, everyone exhausted from the busy day. I dropped everyone off, one by one, until it was just Serenity, Mokuba, Rebecca and I. I left the van at Yugi's as he had been the one to rent it and would need to return it the next day. I was just happy to be back in my sleek Lexus.

"Did you want to spend the night Serenity?" Mokua asked as we pulled away. "Rebecca is." I caught my brother's eye in the rearview mirror, I had most definitely not okayed her to stay the night and he knew it.

"Well, I don't know. I don't have a change of clothes or pajamas with me," Serenity hedged.

"Don't worry about it, if you stay you'll get to enjoy our special Sunday breakfast."

She chewed on her lip, trying to decide before finally nodding. "Okay, sure."

I was unsure whether to be angry with my brother's trickery or pleased with his cleverness.

"So, where should I sleep?" Serenity asked after phoning her mother to tell her she was staying at my place.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you have a guest room or anything?

"We have extra rooms if you want to sleep in one of them, but I thought perhaps you might like to stay in my room. With me." Her cheeks reddened and I felt the need to hastily add. "Just to sleep. If you aren't comfortable with more we don't have to. Not that I was expecting more or anything. I-"

Serenity laughed and I was glad Mokuba and Rebecca had made themselves scarce once we were inside. I would have probably died of embarrassment otherwise.

"It's fine Seto, don't worry." I cleared my throat and led the way to my bedroom. It felt strange having someone who wasn't Mokuba or one of the maids in it. I pulled a plain white t-shirt out of a drawer for Serenity to sleep in.

"You're so short this should be a good nightgown length," I told her, handing her the shirt and politely turning my back for her to change.

"I'm not short, you're just giant," she teased. As I thought the shirt reached to her knees. She crawled into my king sized bed while I stripped down to my boxers. Really it was no different than being in a bathing suit earlier. I shut of the light and slid in to bed myself, I was not surprised to learn that she was a cuddler.

"You know, I never thought I'd find somebody," she confessed. "And here I've met this amazing person, and I've become an amazing person because of this other person. It's because of them that I'm this happier, more secure and together person," she rambled.

"And who is this person?" I asked suspecting I knew the answer.

"You," I could hear the smile in her voice. "You made me this way." I kissed her, absently letting my fingers trail along her legs. I felt nervous, both about my lack of experience and about pushing her too far, I let her lead the way and would wait for encouragement before continuing.

Today I look back and wonder how I could have been so nervous about something so obviously wonderful.

So our relationship continued at a steady pace. Mokuba started school in the fall, experimenting with different classes until in his second year he decided to get a degree in archeology. He viewed the connections between Ancient Egypt and our current Duel Monsters to be important and planned to incorporate what he could learn from the past to the future of our industry.

Serenity had a rough spot in school when she was told that she didn't push her boundaries enough. It resulted in a phone call filled with depression and readiness to quit and the following weekend I had to go visit and play model. In the end it was worth it, she broke away from her usual landscapes and stylized portraits to a darker and more realistic portrait style.

Serenity then forwarded her portfolio to an acquaintance who ran a small business in doing the artwork for the Duel Monsters cards. They weren't very well established, but they did produce great work and offered her an internship that she gladly accepted.

Time went by quickly, soon enough we were celebrating one, then two and finally three years of dating. We chose to celebrate our anniversary on Christmas eve, the day she first kissed me.

We had a great relationship, but of course in every relationship there are fights and ours had been building up for years.

I can't remember what it was I had said, some offhand remark that had made Joey's blood boil. Serenity kept quiet until we were inside my house, finally letting out a grievance that had been bothering her for some time.

"You are so immature!" She shouted. "Holding a petty grudge over nothing. What did he ever do to you?"

"We have never gotten along. He's been jealous of me since high school and I find him to be an insufferable idiot," I coolly replied. "Not that any of this matters as this is a rivalry between him and I. It has nothing to do with you."

"It has everything to do with me! He's my brother. We're family so when you insult him you insult me. This isn't rivalry, it never has been. Rivalry is what you and Yugi have. You are so much more civil with him than you are with Joey."

"You are nothing like your brother. He's an ignorant fool, but you are a brilliant artist. It's hardly my fault that your brother's temper runs so high, Yugi doesn't take any of my remarks seriously." We had had minor spats about how I treated Joey before, and there had been times where I held my tongue. There were also times when Wheeler was the one starting it. "This isn't all my fault you know. You always side with him, why not try siding with me for once? The truth is you don't know the first thing about what goes on between him and I."

She glared at him, her eyes blazing like fire, the complete opposite of my own frigidness. "You know, I don't know why we ever thought this was going to work. Maybe I should just go." She turned and headed towards the hall, my anger melting away.

"No, Serenity, wait."

"Why should I Seto?" Give me one good reason."

"Because... You're my girlfriend and... I love you."

She froze and slowly turned back to face me. "You've never said that to me before." Not technically true, but she didn't need to know about my slip up over the phone all those years ago.

"Just because I never said it doesn't mean I never felt it," I told her. She was aptly named, she gave my mind peace and calmed me in so many ways. "And you never said it either." I hesitated a moment, almost afraid to know the answer. "Does that mean you don't feel it?"

"Of course I love you Seto, and I really don't just take Joey's side. When I see him at dinner tomorrow he'll be getting the same lecture as you. Just, can you please both try to get along? For my sake." I hugged her tight and insisted I would. For her, anything.

We are not the kind of couple who say we love each other on a daily basis. Not even on a weekly basis. The moment has to be just right either one of us to say those not so little words.

For us, I think that made them a little more special.

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