The Fool

Fool:

(Noun) A person who acts unwisely or imprudently

(Verb) To trick or deceive

The heart was a curious thing.

Physically it was a biological organ, a deformed muscle whose purpose was to sustain life by pumping blood around the body. To everyone else the heart also represented something deeper, an understanding Seto had failed to comprehend.

Seto knew his heart was more deformed than most; scarred with the brutality of his childhood and hardened with the reality of life's cruelty. He had previously prided himself on his cold aloofness; it had sheltered him from the harsh realities of the world, and feelings and emotions were something he deliberately disengaged with. It was interesting that he had never cared until now when it suddenly mattered; Serenity had exposed his crippled emotions and forced him to consider the lack of softness to the jagged edges of his emotional fortress.

Seto had never pursued a woman before. It was impossible that he was even considering it and he knew it would be even more impossible to unleash his feelings onto Serenity without expecting her to be repulsed by his obvious inadequacies. Seto knew that his unworthiness of her attention meant he was beyond foolish to hope that she may even vaguely reciprocate his feelings however selfishly and desperately he wished she would.

Yet something within him couldn't seem to let go of the idea.

It was too damn confusing. He was being pulled, stretched and twisted between what he wanted, whilst simultaneously knowing he did not deserve to have it. Seto was not a patient man. He was not used to being refused things. Seto usually got what he wanted and he had enough money to buy anything he needed a thousand times over. Except now the thing he truly desired was dangled cruelly in front of him on a daily basis and he knew he could never have it.

…could he?

His hesitancy in dismissing his situation as completely hopeless was ludicrous, but despite everything, he could not smother that tiny, foolish spark of…was it hope?

Seto was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he almost didn't notice Mokuba trudging into the dining room for breakfast. It was only as Mokuba pulled out the chair opposite him, the sound of the wood scraping against the marble floor that Seto finally acknowledged his little brother.

Seto watched with wry amusement as Mokuba slumped into his chair, yawning as he tugged on the stubborn knots in his hair with little success. Mokuba was not known to be a 'morning' person, and clearly today was not an exception as his brother sleepily poured himself a generous helping of brightly coloured cereal. Seto wrinkled his nose, choosing to sip his black coffee instead as he returned his attention to his newspaper.

Mokuba was coming to the office with him today. Although he would never admit it, Seto envied Mokuba's innate goodness. It was almost as if his little brother absorbed all the charm and charisma in the Kaiba gene-pool and left nothing for Seto but an emotionally stunted shell. It all seemed so easy to Mokuba and his intrinsic kindness meant he could even find positive things to say about Seto. In considering his decision in allowing Mokuba to come to the office with him, Seto wondered if he was influenced by the knowledge that he could depend on Mokuba's innocent nature to unwittingly sing his praises to Serenity and genuinely mean it. He probably should have felt ashamed about exploiting his brother's amiable disposition, yet he found himself strangely at ease.

It was several minutes later when Seto's perusal of the morning newspaper was interrupted by a small cough. Peering over his newspaper he saw Mokuba shifting nervously, his eyes suddenly alert for so early in the morning as he looked at Seto. Seto instantly recognised that look, and inwardly groaned. Mokuba usually only gave him that look when he wanted someth-

"Seto, you know that it's my birthday on Saturday, well I-"

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Mokuba exclaimed, pointing his spoon accusingly at him.

Seto set down his newspaper, fixing Mokuba a serious look. "You are not having a party."

"But…why not? You say that every year and we both know you always give in." Mokuba was using that whiny voice that grated on Seto's nerves.

"Well not this year."

"You always say that too," Mokuba mumbled, discarding his spoon and petulantly crossing his arms.

"This year I mean it. I'm not having your feral friends and their gold digging families traipsing through the house and nosing through our belongings. It happens every year and I hate it."

Seto picked up his newspaper again, signalling the end of discussion. Unfortunately Mokuba didn't pick up the hint.

"But you could invite your friends too. You never ask people to come over."

Seto grunted. He hated those cretins Mokuba referred to as friends and their parents were even worse. He only endured them for the sake of Mokuba. As for inviting people over himself, he couldn't stand the presence of other people long enough to want to voluntarily engage in social activity beyond what was absolutely necessary.

He frowned.

Except…that was no longer the case. There was someone he wanted to spend time with. His frown of confusion turned into a thoughtful expression as his mind mulled it over. Perhaps a party at the Kaiba home could be an ideal opportunity to casually invite Serenity over. Normal people did things like that all time, surely it couldn't be that difficult? Seto kept his face obscured by the newspaper. He didn't need Mokuba knowing he was beginning to see the merits of the idea.

Mokuba had launched into a tirade of reasons as to why he had to have a party and was listing a series of increasingly amusing promises if only Seto would say 'yes'. It was only as Mokuba was solemnly swearing to clean the Koi pond every Sunday that Seto finally put him out of his misery.

"Fine," Seto said, feigning disinterest as he interrupted Mokuba mid-babble.

Mokuba was clearly as surprised as Seto was that he had agreed so easily. It had taken Mokuba much longer to ground Seto down in previous years. Seto smirked and carried on reading his newspaper. It was only a moment later that he felt a small tug on his shirt sleeve and he looked up to see Mokuba's beaming face. Seto nodded his head, knowing what Mokuba was silently asking for and Mokuba immediately launched himself at Seto, wrapping his arms around him and burying his head into Seto's shoulder, squeezing tightly.

"Thank you Seto." His voice was muffled by his face pressed into Seto's shoulder.

Seto found himself unconsciously smiling; no matter what he knew he always had Mokuba.

"Anything for you, kiddo," he whispered quietly into a mass of black hair, as he wrapped his own arms around Mokuba, pulling him closer.

…

They arrived at the office early. Serenity wasn't even there yet.

The obstacle that Seto now had to navigate was deciding how the heck was he going to invite Serenity out on a…Seto eventually settled on the term 'social event'. On the surface it sounded innocuous enough, people invited other people to social events all the time, but Seto needed to factor that he was a social cripple with precisely zero experience in this arena.

Seto usually had two approaches to getting what he wanted; the first was to intimidate, oppress or demand what he wanted until he got it. The second method was to employ planning, strategy and careful maneuvering in order to manipulate his way into getting what he wanted. In considering the conundrum at hand, neither approach seemed viable. Apparently he just had to suck it up and go for it.

Shit.

It was a challenge to finally get an excitable Mokuba settled on the sofa testing a new prototype game, but once Mokuba was safely preoccupied, Seto used his time to peruse Serenity's personnel file. He had already meticulously studied the files contents before but with this fresh revision, he carefully dissected the information for anything which he could exploit in his pursuit of her. There seemed to be nothing he did not already know; impeccable school record, clean driving license, divorced parents, an idiotic brother, a cat named 'Ginger'...for once, technologically was not giving him the answers he greatly needed.

It was a while later when the door clicked open and Serenity breezed into his office with a steaming mug of coffee.

He hastily closed the file down from his screen and tried to rearrange his face into an amiable expression. His mouth twitched into an uncomfortable half smile but he instantly felt ridiculous and reverted back to his usual impassive frown.

She was wearing a pale, yellow shirt tucked into a grey, knee-length pencil skirt. Although she essentially looked the same as before, his feelings for her swept up in a crippling rush, completely overwhelming him. He couldn't ask her out, who the heck was he trying to fool! It was taking all of his cognitive energy just to maintain his composure in front of her.

He wondered if his anxiety showed because her face seemed to mirror his anxious expression. He watched her carefully, noting that her hand wobbled as she dutifully placed the coffee in front of him and with a small bow of her head and not quite meeting his eye, she took a step away from his desk and nervously started to wring her hands together as if she was trying to gather the courage to speak.

Seto remained still, watching her like a caged animal as she opened her mouth a few times but nothing seemed to come out. She was definitely behaving oddly, she usually couldn't stop bloody smiling at anybody within a five metre radius and now she looked like she had swallowed a fly as she fidgeted from one foot to the other.

After a few false attempts to clear her throat, she finally managed a few strangled words. "Mr. Kaiba, I have been meaning to say thank you for looking after me the other night. It was very kind of you and I am sorry to have troubled you."

Seto forced himself to maintain his steely expression, although his mind became clouded with her words. No one had ever said he was kind before. It made him feel a strange combination of uncomfortable, yet surprisingly warm at the same time.

"It was no trouble, I assure you Miss. Wheeler."

Her shoulders visibly relaxed and she finally looked him in the eye and gave him a timid smile. He felt strangely unbalanced in that moment as he stared back into her amber gaze, like the world had shifted on its axis and he was the only one to notice.

Looking at her, he knew this was it. This was the moment. All he had to do was say the words and invite her to-

"SETO!" Mokuba unwittingly interrupted from the sofa. "How do you kill the harpy on level two?"

Seto clamped his mouth shut as Serenity jumped like a startled rabbit. "Forgive me Mr. Kaiba! I did not realise you had company!" He noticed her cheeks flushed an interesting shade of pink as she lowered her head in embarrassment.

The moment to ask her was lost. Seto shifted in his seat, trying to regain his composure.

"Miss. Wheeler have you met my brother, Mokuba?" Seto asked cordially, whilst inwardly congratulating himself on his impeccable recovery. Perhaps this social business was not as difficult as he initially suspected.

She looked up at him with surprise, her mouth forming a silent 'o' in understanding and she turned her attention to the mass of black hair sat on the sofa. At the mention of his name, Mokuba paused his game and politely turned around, however he froze with his mouth open when he saw Serenity.

Great, even Mokuba was besotted with her; he was not even twelve yet.

"Hello Mokuba," she said sweetly. "We have met before actually, although it was only briefly."

"We have?" Mokuba squinted at her with a dumbfounded expression. Seto hoped he didn't behave the same way around her.

"We...erm…" She peeped briefly at Seto before turning away as her face turned pink. "…we met at your brother's tournament a few years ago."

It was the first time she had outwardly acknowledged where they first met.

A flash of recognition spread across Mokuba's face. "Your Joey Wheeler's sister!"

Seto narrowed his eyes at his little brother. Why did Mokuba have to mention the unmentionable; the Mutt.

Serenity nodded sweetly and perched on the arm of the plush sofa next to Mokuba. Mokuba looked like all his Christmases had arrived at once and scooted closer to her. Seto felt a petulant stab of envy, why was it so easy for Mokuba?

Serenity smiled. "What brings you to KaibaCorp today Mokuba?"

Mokuba shrugged his shoulders casually. "It's my birthday at the weekend. Seto said we can go to the arcade after work."

"That's kind of him."

Seto felt oddly smug at her compliment. Clearly bringing Mokuba to work was an excellent idea.

"But what Seto doesn't know," Mokuba said in a conspiratorial whisper, like he was telling Serenity a secret. "The reason I'm really here is to stop Seto from being such a bore."

Wait, what did he just say? Seto gripped the edge of his desk tightly.

But Serenity didn't notice and just ruffled Mokuba's hair playfully. "He is lucky to have you as a brother."

"I keep trying to tell him that but he says I'm an annoy-"

"So how is your brother, Wheeler?" Seto smoothly interrupted, attempting to feign interest. He really couldn't give a damn about her ridiculous brother but it was the only thing he could do to steer the course of the conversation.

It seemed to work; although she looked surprised at his mention of her brother, her face quickly lit up into a dazzling smile. It was breath-taking.

"Joey is great. He and Mai are touring around America at the moment," she said enthusiastically, standing up again.

"Admirable," he managed to begrudgingly choke out. It was the closest word to a compliment Seto would allow himself to give the Mutt.

"Wow!" Mokuba chimed in. "See Seto, you were wrong! Joey didn't become a 'waste of space that amounted to nothing' like you said he would!"

He loved his brother very much, but in that moment he felt like throttling him. Seto couldn't bring himself to look at Serenity and suddenly turned his attention to an apparently interesting report on his desk.

Mokuba seemed to realise his innocent mistake and his cheeks reddened. "Oh, I mean, Seto never really said it quite like that."

Which was true; the words Seto had used to describe Joey Wheeler were far, far worse. Unfortunately this came out as a snort of derision which was immediately noticed by Serenity and she looked at him with a hard gleam in her eye, like she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Is there something stuck in your throat?" Mokuba asked innocently.

Seto glared at Mokuba but he didn't seem to notice as he had immediately resumed his babbling about Joey.

"You're so lucky to have an awesome brother like Joey! I can't believe that he still plays Duel Monsters, that is so cool! He must be really brave to just take off so easily to start a new life. I bet he wasn't scared at all!"

Oh how he hated that damned Mutt and was getting increasingly annoyed that Mokuba was idolising him. Realising the conversation was close to venturing into dangerous territory, Seto opened his mouth to smoothly steer the course of the discusiion to Mokuba's party. Unfortunately the words that actually came spilling out of his mouth were rather different.

"Mokuba, I hardly think you can praise that moron for acting in an impulsive and irresponsible manner. I certainly would not expect you to shirk you responsibilities in such a careless way."

"Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed, getting up from his seat and putting his little hands on his hips.

Serenity placed a calming hand on Mokuba's shoulder. "I'm sure that's not what he meant Moku-"

"Don't put words in my mouth Wheeler." Seto couldn't seem to stop himself, there was no way he was going to pretend that ridiculous excuse of a human being was something to be congratulated. "You can't expect me to pretend that inept fool has any redeemable qualities worthy of note; he has the intelligence of a gnat, and the competence of a teaspoon who has to rely on shoddy luck to win his battles. The less you have to do with him the better Mokuba. "

Serenity gasped with shock.

"Seto!" Mokuba exclaimed again, looking worriedly at Serenity. Serenity shifted uncomfortably on her feet and lowered her gaze to the floor like she was hoping it would swallow her up.

"It's ok Mokuba," she mumbled quietly, looking embarrassed. "Joey can be a bit impulsive, but he is not afraid to follow his heart. There is nothing wrong with that."

Seto considered her words for a moment. He should have stopped himself but the urge to analyse and unpick a subject was instinctual.

"It's interesting Miss. Wheeler that you choose to defend the actions of your hapless brother. Is that because of your hopeless optimism that your brother may actually achieve the impossible and stop being so useless? Or is it a reflection of your unfailingly idealistic view of the world in general? Either way, I feel your faith in people is grossly misguided."

Serenity looked instantly defensive. "I don't know what you me-"

Seto leaned in closer. "The world is ugly, people are ugly. Hiding behind your pretty smiles and impeccable manners won't make it any less hideous, it just means you won't see the ugliness until it smacks you in the face."

Serenity reeled back and he saw hurt flash briefly across her features as her wide amber eyes met his challenging stare.

She seemed to recompose herself after a moment and responded. "You may consider me naïve Mr. Kaiba, but I don't believe it is my faith in people that is grossly misguided."

"Am I to assume your comment is directed at me?" Seto was surprised by her comment and found himself intrigued to hear more.

Serenity shifted, her shoulders hunching forward in a self-conscious gesture as she eyed the door for an escape. "I…forget I said anything. I should probably return to my desk. "

But he wanted to hear her views, particularly in relation to him. He smirked, leaning forward to goad her further. "Leaving Wheeler? You were dangerously close to expressing an honest opinion for once."

Her head snapped up and she looked at him, matching his challenging gaze. He had not seen that expression since the day she had marched into his office on the blimp and started shouting at him.

"What I mean," she said. "Is that you have no idea what you are missing. You may think that by being cruel and lashing out at the world will protect you from it but you're wrong. You are so wrong Mr. Kaiba. You're not protecting yourself from it all, you are just hiding from it."

Seto was surprised by her candidness and was rankled that she had seemingly misunderstood him. Mokuba looked completely confused by the entire conversation and was watching the exchange with his mouth open.

"I am not hiding from anything Miss. Wheeler, I am simply cynical of your optimism. There is nothing wrong with having a calculated, measured and critical approach to life which is firmly rooted in reality. People cannot be trusted and it is negligent to suggest otherwise."

"How do you know unless you try?" She lifted her chin and pursed her lip in quiet determination.

Seto snorted. "And behave more like you? Or your witless brother? KaibaCorp would go bust in a week. I trust no one."

She seemed to consider his words and her expression then softened. She looked almost pitying.

"If you believe that then I think you are a fool Mr. Kaiba."

That was unexpected.

What was even more unexpected was that Seto seemed incapable of saying anything in response. He had received far more scathing reproaches in the past; he had been encountering cruel words, harsh criticism and loathing condemnation from people his entire adult life. Yet Serenity called him a fool and he just gawped at her!

He didn't really pay attention to what she said after that, but before he knew it, she had dismissed herself with a quick bow and a few polite words to Mokuba and had turned away, gliding out of the room to leave him staring at the door like an idiot.

"Why did you do that?" Mokuba seemed to echo his own bemusement and was now standing in front of his desk with his arms folded in front of his chest.

Seto didn't have an answer, feeling so utterly confused himself. So he ignored Mokuba and reached for the report in front of him, hoping Mokuba would leave him alone. An exasperated Mokuba pulled the report away, forcing Seto to look up. It was rare that Mokuba got angry, but when he did, he screwed up his face in a way that made Seto feel gut-wrenchingly awful.

"Don't look at me like that Mokuba."

"I wanted to invite Serenity to my party on Saturday but now because of you she will probably say no. What you said was mean." Mokuba pointed at him accusingly.

Mean? He was just being honest.

"I'm sure there are many other reasons she would say no," Seto said dismissively, yanking the report back out of Mokuba's hand. But Seto was beginning to wonder if Mokuba maybe had a point.

Mokuba just shook his head at his behaviour. "You're an idiot sometimes Seto."

Seto frowned at him, but Mokuba turned away with an exasperated huff and went back to the sofa to resume his game, leaving Seto to frown at mid-air.

Great, now Mokuba was annoyed with him. He felt like bashing his head against the desk. Why did people have to be so bloody confusing! One moment he was having a conversation with Mokuba and Serenity, failing miserably at trying to invite Serenity to his brother's stupid party, and now this? How had it gone so wrong so quickly?

Maybe he should just do away with people altogether. He didn't need to be liked by people, he didn't need to care about people, and he definitely didn't need to deal with all this feeling nonsense. He was fine on his own. Everything was fine.

But that wasn't true, was it? He was not fine. People were not the problem. He was.

He tried to read the report in front of him but all of the words on the page seemed to blend together. Maybe he shouldn't have said those things to Serenity. He wasn't even sure why he did say those things but they had just spilled out of his mouth like an unconscious form of self-sabotage. It was almost like his mind was trying to prove that he was incapable of behaving like a normal member of the human race. Well congratulations, his mind clearly succeeded and instead of asking Serenity to a…social event, he had succeeded in insulting her and her family instead.

Mokuba was right. He really could be an idiot sometimes.

He stood up, and without a word to Mokuba he bolted out of the door. It was like his feet were being pulled by an invisible string towards Serenity, not stopping until he was standing directly in front of her desk. She didn't notice at first, as she seemed to be muttering harshly to herself and frantically rearranging the objects on her desk. But when she looked up, she immediately stopped what she was doing and looked startled by his sudden appearance.

"Mr. Kaiba!"

"Wheeler, about what just happened-"

Her cheeks went bright red and she held her hands up in a defensive gesture, not giving him the chance to continue as she quickly started talking, her voice laced with panic.

"Mr. Kaiba it was completely unprofessional of me to allow that to happen and I -"

"Wheeler-" He tried to interrupt her but her voice was getting faster and more hysterical the longer she rambled.

"I mean, you should hear the things Joey says about you, I shouldn't have acted that way and I won't let it happen again if you could just forget all about it-"

"Wheeler I-" He couldn't think properly with her babbling. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to repress the urge to shake the girl to get her to stop talking so he could structure his thoughts.

"Everyone deserves a second chance so please don't fire me because I really want -"

"Wheeler! I need you to shut up!"

She instantly stopped talking and she looked at him with her mouth wide open with fear. With a frustrated grunt, Seto tried to work out what the heck he wanted to say, feeling his inadequacies completely exposed as he failed to decipher a meaningful thought from his scrambled mind.

Seto was consciously aware that she was waiting for him to speak and he could feel his own frustration mounting as he allowed the uncomfortable silence to stretch on. He just had to get it over with; like having kidney stones removed, the sooner the better.

"Wheeler, I have been thinking," he said, his voice feeling tight in his throat. "Actually I have been thinking a lot about things recently."

"Things?" Her fearful expression softened and was replaced by a look of confusion, which was unsurprising as his speech was coming out garbled.

"Yes. Things," he said shortly, suddenly unable to look at her. "But more specifically, the things that I want."

"Well whatever it is, I can get it couriered over here-" She picked up the phone receiver as if to call somebody.

"No, not those things." He said irritably. He was completely screwing it up. "I mean, I have been thinking about the things that I…want."

He let the word hang in the air for a moment, allowing it to drift openly between them.

"Oh?" Her voice sounded strange. "And what is it that you…want?"

He steadied himself. This was it, he just had to say the words…

"I..."

…except he made the mistake in choosing that moment to look at her again and somehow the words got stuck. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"I…well by that I mean Mokuba wants you to come to his birthday party on Saturday."

He inwardly cursed himself. He wondered if she knew that was not what he wanted to say.

There was a long pause before she answered, confirming his suspicion.

"Mokuba?" she said slowly. "I thought this was about what you wanted?"

"No! I mean...yes it is, but…are you coming or not?" Unfortunately the last part of that sentence was expressed more as demand rather than a question. He kept his expression neutral as he waited for her answer, but all she did was look at him with a bemused expression

It was unbearable, why couldn't she say something. Anything.

"I see," she eventually said, drawing out her words. She nibbled on her bottom lip and lowered her gaze from his as her hands seemed to subconsciously resume rearranging the things on her desk. He had no idea if that was good or bad.

As the silence stretched on between them he was getting increasingly agitated. He considered demanding her to answer his question when she finally replied with a nonchalant shrug.

"If that's what Mokuba wants, then I guess I can be there."

"You will?" he blurted out a little too eagerly, leaning forward.

"Yes," she replied. She stopped shuffling and looked down at her hands but he could detect a small smile tug on the corner of her lips and he felt the corners of his own mouth involuntarily twitch.

"Good," he blurted out and cringed at his mistake. "For Mokuba, I mean."

He really was appalling at this.

"Mr. Kaiba?" her voice was timid, unsure. She peeped at him, looking up through her dark lashes.

"Yes?" He found himself unconsciously leaning even closer.

"I…" She seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Is there anything else you…want?"

She looked expectant, like there was another meaning to her words.

He blinked at her.

"I need you to fax the Whitmore documents over to legal."

She briefly lowered her gaze and he thought he saw a flicker of disappointment flash across her features. He must have been mistaken because she quickly looked up at him again, a smile on her lips.

"Right away Mr. Kaiba."

…

It was quiet when Seto returned to the sanctuary of his office, the silence punctuated only by the sound of Mokuba hitting the buttons on his game controller. Seto sauntered over to his desk, his mind a cloudy fog if thoughts as he allowed his fingers to brush over the report he had been trying to read earlier. He looked over at Mokuba who was deep in concentration as he frantically hit the controller, his eyes as wild as his hair.

Seto then did something he hadn't done before. He ignored the report on his desk and walked over to the sofa, plonking himself down next to Mokuba who paused his game to squint at him with confusion.

"What are we playing then kiddo?"

Mokuba grinned and immediately handed him a second controller. As Seto took the controller into his hand, he did something he rarely did.

He smiled too.

Yes, the heart really was a curious thing.

Dear Readers,

Shall I start with the bad news first? In all honesty, I hated this chapter. I just could not make it work and have tweaked/ changed/amended/scrapped/rewritten/edited this chapter within an inch of its life. I think the reason I really struggled was because it is so OOC for Seto to ask a person out and I played with so many different ideas but just couldn't seem to make them work. But it had to happen so I hope I produced something vaguely plausible. Quite frankly, I just want this chapter out of my life.

Moving on to the good news! It was your awesome reviews that spurred me on with chapter. If it wasn't for you, I honestly don't think I would have been able to finish it. THANK YOU! Second piece of good news… I got so fed up with this chapter that I started writing the next one before finishing just so I could see the light at the tunnel. I am really proud of what I have written for the next chapter so far (dare I say, it may even be my best one yet!) so please stay with me and hopefully I won't be so unforgivably long to update again.

Thank you all for your reviews: Zizu3, rubyrintama, sasukecutiepie, RanulfFlambard4, asdh, Peppermint, Silverxx, jclark775, Puddingpop, Ultimolu, Lppurplegirl11, ViscountessKiera, Sister of the Crimson Dragon, Charismatic Beauty, LivvyWoolf , September Samstar and guests.

And finally….

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

Love,

Mimzical

XXX