A/N I wrote this years ago and it has just been sat around gathering dust. Enjoy.

Unwilling hero

This place was hell on earth.

Kisara blinked and stumbled back a step as the strobe lighting stabbed her in the eyes. Glass crunched under her feet and she looked down at the littered shards in the darkness in disgust. Deliberately she stepped away from it in case one decided to spear her through her shoe. The harsh music pounded through her ears, drumming into her head until she felt the vibrations of each beat in her chest. For the millionth time she asked herself why she'd come. The answer was her friends. They enjoyed this kind of thing, so she'd joined them, only to be separated from them almost immediately. Each room was a heaving mass of bodies and noise. One moment they'd been behind her and the next they'd gone. She knew it wasn't deliberate but that didn't make it any less scary.

Kisara moved further to the side of the room, where the music dipped in volume, aiming for the seats but she hesitated when she reached them. The leather was sticky from spilt drink and scattered with empty drink cups and bottles. More obstructively however it was being draped across by a couple trying to dive down each other's throats.

Kisara turned away quickly and ran a strand of silvery white hair through her fingers in thought. Maybe she should just go back to where she lost them...

A hand grabbed her arm. Kisara's heart thundered in her chest as a face loomed above her.

"Wanna dance with me?" The stink of alcohol on the breath made her recoil and she shook her head vehemently, attempting to pull away. The grip on her wrist tightened and she winced.

"I think you do."

Kisara cast her eyes desperately over the room, but no one had noticed, no one who cared anyway. Any shouts for help would be drowned effectively by the music. Where were all the Bouncers? She would have to deal with this herself. Kisara glared at her assailant and in one sharp move slammed her heel down on his foot. The student let go of her with a jerk, swearing colourfully – most of which she was thankful she couldn't hear.

Not wanting to stick around she quickly started to move away, but her attacker was fast and now he was angry. She felt the hands on the back of her arms only briefly before she slammed into the wall. The impact knocked her breath right out of her. The leering face swam in front of her, saying something she couldn't make out and there was a taller silhouette behind it. Kisara frowned in bemusement.

A hand dropped onto the shoulder of her assailant, long with slender fingers, and wrenched him around. Kisara steadied herself against the wall, free from the bruising grasp, and watched.

Her rescuer was tall and slim with a mop of brown hair. He was dressed extremely well in a dark suit and trousers, covered by a long coat of white leather. He was so out of place here and he must have been roasting. He spoke coolly to the drunk student and angry words flew back at him. Kisara saw the violence mounting in her tormentor like a gathering storm, before he snapped and launched at the man in the white coat. She felt a moment of fear that turned rapidly into amazement. The newcomer suddenly moved. He swung a quick upper cut on the lower jaw, knocking the attacker backwards and onto the floor. Kisara stared.

"Move – now!" the low voice ordered in her ear and she felt herself propelled through the dancers and the crowds by his hand on the small of her back. He weaved her expertly in and out, moving them further away from the scene and – in all probability – the very angry floored student.

Finally they worked their way through another dance floor and off into a side room by a bar. Kisara let herself get manoeuvred around in some sort of daze. The edge of the bar loomed up in front of them quickly, despite the crush of people, and something was said. Water was dumped in front of her as it sloshed in its plastic cup. Her companion picked it up, shoved it into her hands, and led her away.

The antechamber contained some seating around tables lining the sides of the room, and in the centre was a covered pool table, clearly not in use this evening. All the seats were taken.

"Sit," he ordered brusquely and nodded at the pool table. Kisara managed to lift herself up onto the table where she sat quietly, fear slowly draining from her, taking her energy with it. Her rescuer leaned against the table next to her, long legs crossed gracefully, arms folded. Up close, in the better light, she could see the thin lips that made a cruel mouth and sharp blue eyes. It was hard to believe that this harsh looking young man had stepped in to help her out. He didn't look the type.

'He's quite attractive though,' she thought to herself.

He twisted his head to fix the cold eyes on her. Kisara blushed at being caught looking but she tilted her chin defiantly and took a long drink of water.

"You're way out of your depth."

Kisara moved the cup away from her mouth and fixed her eyes on him. His faintly sneering voice was perfectly serious and his eyes, locked on hers, had a glint of superiority.

"If you can't handle this sort of thing then you really shouldn't be here."

Kisara's eyes flashed in irritation at being chastised by a total stranger.

"Maybe I am out of my depth," she snapped back at him, "but I would've been fine if I hadn't been separated from my friends."

"Friends," he sneered. "It's that sort of thing that makes you better off without them."

Kisara held her tongue and just satisfied herself with glaring at him before taking another gulp of her drink.

"More Bouncers probably would've helped as well," she added, not really talking to him but voicing the thought. She saw him look sharply at her from the corner of her eyes and took a deep breath. "I appreciate the help anyway," she said reluctantly. "I'm Kisara."

He slid his eyes away from her face and looked into the club's interior. Was he ignoring her?

"Seto Kaiba," he answered finally. He didn't acknowledge her thanks and he seemed bored by even being with her.

Kisara sighed. This was awkward.

"Are you here with anyone?" she asked, trying to make conversation. She guessed the short abrupt answer before it came.

"No."

"Then why are you here?" she asked pleasantly.

"I wanted to see what all the fuss was about," he answered her off handedly, still not meeting her eyes.

"And?" she prompted.

"I'm not impressed." He looked at her again, fixing penetrating eyes onto her. She felt some scathing comment waiting to trip off his tongue but he held it back.

"It's better if you come with people...and I've been to much better clubs than this. I hate it here."

A twisted smile curved his lips. "I'll bet," he muttered and turned away again, the bored expression back in place.

Kisara waited and finished her water. He still volunteered no more information.

"You know you can go!" she snapped at last. "I've thanked you. You're under no obligation to stay!"

"If I leave you'll only get into more trouble," he replied in monotone.

"Why do you care?" she spat out.

"I don't," he growled.

"Then why did you help me?" she demanded. Kaiba's mouth clamped shut. His eyes burned with something strange. The lines in his face becoming unexpectedly harsh.

"Why?" she demanded again. "Why?"

"I – don't – know," he choked out sharply.

Kisara stared at him, and she believed him. This was the sort of man who walked around ignoring other people's problems simply because they had nothing to do with him. He didn't see the advantage to himself in getting involved. Helping her had been out of character for him. He truly didn't know why he had bothered, and that scared him. It was a fear that didn't show in the obvious way. He covered it in cool unconcern and sharp jibs but when pressed on it now it showed strongly in the tightening features in his face. He had been so shaken by his own actions that he'd stuck at her side, unwilling to stay but reluctant to leave. He wanted normality to be restored and so he'd seen his actions through to the end, hoping that his own motives would be revealed in due course.

They hadn't...or at least not in a way he found satisfactory as an explanation. The feigned boredom was a cover for his awkwardness Kisara realised.

The anger bled away from her and she smiled slightly.

"Oh. Okay."

His eyes swerved to meet hers so quickly she could still see the surprise.

"What?"

Kisara shrugged. "I said okay." She smiled teasingly at him. "It's none of my business right?"

Kaiba opened his mouth to reply when several voice drowned him out. Kisara found herself bombarded by many bodies all wanting to hug her in relief at the same time. The barrage of "I'm sorry", "where were you?" and "are you all right?" hurt her ears and she found herself being swept away from Kaiba while she tried to explain.

Twisting her neck to she could see through her crush of friends Kisara spotted Seto still lounging quietly in the same place.

"Guys, please!" she raised her voice above their clamour. "I'll tell you everything in a minute but I just have to say thank you to someone."

She extracted herself from the mob and – ignoring their conspiratorial whispers – returned to Kaiba.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"The rabble has found you. Better get back to them or they'll lose you again," he said sourly.

Kisara smiled at him softly.

"I just came back to say thank you again and goodbye." An impulse flitted through her head. Acting on it Kisara placed her hand lightly on Kaiba's arm and reaching up kissed him quickly on the lips.

She barely caught the stunned look on his face as she blushed, whispered "see you" and swiftly returned to the scandalised comments of her friends.

She couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard him say "I hope so" in response.