Author's Note: Here's a short chapter after a long delay. Sorry! I had several new readers review the last chapter. I wish I could tell you all that this long span between updates was abnormal. I regret to inform you otherwise.

Seto

"I would like to come."

I stopped halfway through typing my shoelace and looked up at Kisara. Small sparks burst from her fingers as she tapped them against her side. She pressed her lips together, waiting my response.

"Why?"

"Because you like doing it. I want to do the things you like." She spoke every syllable with perfect enunciation, as if she practiced it a hundred times before. But her eyes were locked firmly on mine.

"You won't enjoy it."

"I don't expect it to be fun," Kisara said. She ran her toes across the carpet, still staring at me.

"They won't like you being there." I was running out of ways to deter her. I saw that she was anxious, but she did seem set on coming along. I finished tying my shoe.

"Would you like me to be there?"

The question hit the room with an uncomfortable pause. While the past five days had shown a change in Kisara, that wasn't enough for me to want to do anything with her. When I had gotten the chance to sit down with Mokuba, all he told me was that Kisara was sorry and that she never wanted to upset me again. I knew there was more to it than that, but Mokuba stood adamant in his silence.

"Seto?"

I ran my fingers back through my hair. "If you would really like to come, I won't stop you."

Kisara's smile didn't reach her eyes. The sparks coming from her hands faded. "Thanks, Seto. I won't be a problem."

As soon as Kisara finished speaking, I realized that there would be a problem with her presence. Since Yami and I had been unable to meet on Sunday, he agreed to meet me at the hospital today. It wasn't necessarily against the rules Krin put in place, but he would not like it. And we wouldn't really be able to have the discussion that we needed to have with Kisara hovering.

When I stood, I saw Kisara looking down at my hand. She said nothing, but her own fingers spread open and closed.

"Are you ready?" I asked. She looked the same as she always did, hair down, feet bare, simple brown dress, so I assumed the answer would be-

"Yes."

"Then let's say goodbye."

Kisara followed me as I headed towards the living room. I stopped by Mokuba's room where I saw him taking slow, shaky steps from his bed to the opposite wall. His crutches were propped up by the door and Kuriboh watched from the bed.

"Hey Seto! Look at me! I'm walking!"

His excitement far outshone his walking abilities. His steps were so careful and uneven, like he was learning to walk for the first time. Mokuba kept shooting his hand out to press against the wall, depending heavily on it for balance.

"That's great, Mokuba."

"You could be more excited."

"I am excited. You're doing a great job. But I'm heading out."

"When you get back, I'll be jogging laps around this place." Mokuba stuck his tongue out.

I gave him a stern look. "Don't even try. Little steps."

"I couldn't take smaller steps if I tried."

"I'll be back in a few hours."

Mokuba nodded and took another step. He wobbled, but managed to keep standing.

Kisara said nothing as we walked into the living room. Krin leaned against the door, waiting for me. His arms were crossed and his head down. He flicked up his eyes as I entered. "Three hours."

"I'm aware."

I grabbed my coat while Krin stepped away from the door. He must have noticed Kisara standing with me. "What are you doing?"

"Seto said I could go."

Krin gave me the most surprised expression that I had ever seen on his face. For several long seconds, he found no words. "You want her to go with you?"

"I said she could go," I said.

On the couch, Kara started laughing. "Sister, dear, dear sister, you do realize that he does not want you there?"

I glanced to Kisara as she glanced to her feet. She brought a hand to her mouth and started chewing on her thumbnail. She flinched when Krin spoke up. "He never wants you around."

"Let's go," I said. I walked out, not checking to make sure that Kisara was behind me. If I had a strict time schedule to upkeep, listening to Kara and Krin mock their sister was not worth it. I heard the door close and knew that Kisara didn't feel like waiting around for additional taunting either.

Kisara walked quietly beside me. If I couldn't see her, I might have thought she turned back. Her footsteps made no sound. She didn't hum. I couldn't distinguish her breathing from the wind hitting my face. She hung back to the point where I almost needed to turn my head to see her.

For Kisara, the silence came across as eerie. I paused a step for her to catch up. When I did, she nearly stumbled. "Is something wrong?"

My answer came after a delay. I expected an endearment to follow her question. None came.

"Nothing." I kept walking. Kisara held pace beside me this time. She glanced side to side, as if she was surveying the street. She looked out of place. Kisara dressed differently than other women. I didn't know if that was actually her decision. Her clothing had always remained constant. But her long, white-blue hair stood out in bright contrast to the rest of our surroundings.

"You're staring."

I blinked and redirected my gaze. Her tone sounded matter-of-fact and very unlike her. She started chewing on her lip as she stared at her feet.

"What did Mokuba say to you?" I asked. I stopped walking and turned on Kisara. Her angst had become far too prominent. She needed to find a happy medium and she was no where close to it.

She just shrugged, but had to stop as well. Kisara didn't know where the hospital was. We both stood so still that the only thing moving was the wind brushing our hair and clothes. Kisara moved first, sighing and holding her arms up. "What do you want from me, Seto?"

"I don't want anything from you."

I could see the tears building up. To her credit, Kisara held them in. "Why not?"

I understood the direction she wanted to carry the conversation, but my head spun trying to figure out any answer that would kept the subject distanced. I didn't have a response that she would believe, at least not that would make her happy. The best I could do was to find an indifferent comment that would keep her somewhat calm.

After coming up with a reasonable response, I put on my fake expression that I typically used in dealing with Kisara. As I prepared to speak, Kisara held her hands out, stopping me. "No! I'm sorry. Please forget I said anything."

She kept walking down the street, but slowly, since she needed to follow me. I took a few seconds before jogging after her. I caught onto her arm and pulled her to a stop. She didn't give me a chance to say anything.

"I'm trying, Seto."

"You don't need to do that." She had no reason to prove anything to me. Nothing she did could change my opinions of her.

"I do. I love you. And I know that you hate me. Why won't you let me try?"

"You took everything from me."

Kisara shook her head. "I'm trying to give it all back! I want you to live your life. I just want to be a part of it."

"Kisara, this isn't my life."

I realized that my hand was still on her arm, so I let it fall. She turned down to stare at the place where my hand had been. "I said I'm sorry. But it isn't just me that gets a say in what you do. I want you to be happy. That's what I want most."

"Did you ever think that no one should have a say in what I do?"

"Mokuba does."

"That's different."

Kisara shrugged. "Why? Because you love him?"

I clenched my teeth. A sudden burst of wind sent a long shiver down my back. I shoved my hands in my pockets and faced away from Kisara. "I'm running out of time. We should get to the hospital."

We continued on. This time, neither of us spoke. Kisara kept a fair distance between us, standing at the end of the sidewalk near to the street, and I stayed close to the buildings. The temperature was colder than I expected it to be, and I couldn't stop shivering. Kisara seemed fine with the cold. She wore far less clothing than I did.

For the first time since the end of last winter, when I breathed out, my breath turned hazy. Domino had never seemed this chilly in the beginning of October. I shrugged off the cold front. Hopefully it would soon pass.

Kisara noticed when the hospital came into sight. She looked at it and turned when the street came up. Not much had changed about the hospital. It was still the largest building in the area, which I supposed was the reason she went that direction. I followed beside her, trying to avoid the stares of people as the streets grew more crowded. The stares came plentiful. Kisara attracted a great amount of attention.

Specifically, she drew Yami's attention as we got to the hospital. He had been waiting outside the front door, and I could practically see his irritation radiating from him when he saw her.

"Kaiba."

"Yami."

Kisara moved closer to me when she recognized the name. She didn't move any closer to me, but kept her eyes locked on Yami.

"I don't believe we've met," Yami said.

"I'm Kisara." She smiled, but it was the fake smile that she had been using for the past several days. "It's nice to meet an-" she paused and looked at me, "-acquaintance of Seto's."

She bit her lip and kept glancing at me nervously. I shook my head, not understanding her odd expression. Her chest fell with a sigh. "That's what you had said, right?"

I shook my head again. "Sure."

Kisara turned away from both of us entirely. I gestured for Yami to follow me inside, knowing that neither of us had planned to volunteer. We walked through the entrance, and Yami said, "Joey is coming as well."

We were supposed to be digging through the Game Shop rubble all afternoon, not passing out pills to the slightly ill. Kisara kept close behind us, so I couldn't even tell Yami about my latest discovery from my talk with Pegasus. There was no discreet way to bring up the subject.

We went to the front desk to sign in. I signed my name and Kisara's, and grabbed two volunteer badges. The woman behind the desk didn't have to say anything, but she did eye Kisara warily. There was no way for her to know Kisara was one of the monsters, not unless she had heard about Kisara's appearance. I held the badge out for Kisara, who took it and stared.

"You have to clip it on."

She messed around with the metal clasp until she found how to do so. I attached mine and waited for Yami to sign in. As he did, Wheeler walked inside.

"Yami! Kaiba! And one of the-"

"Wheeler," I said, shaking my head. "Just Kisara." I was worried that he might mention who she was in front of the hospital staff. If they threw us out, or more likely asked us to leave, I couldn't find time to let Yami know about the cards.

"You're Seto's friend who took Mokuba to the doctor."

Wheeler snorted and went to sign in. "Friend might be pushing it. Let's go with begrudging ally."

The woman at the desk directed us to the left hallway, which I knew from experience was the children's area. It was also where the largest of supply rooms was located. We would very likely be asked to do some sort of organizing.

At the end of the hall, we approached another desk. The nurses there glanced to our badges before speaking. "We hoped some of you would show up today. The flu is going around and we're swamped."

Kisara edged closer to me, her arm brushing mine. She leaned side to side while adjusting her feet so that neither stayed on the floor for more than a few seconds. Her fingers played with the badge, which she had pinned to her left sleeve.

I nodded. "Where do you need us?"

"Two of you can go to the cafeteria. The other two can stay at the supply closet."

Yami, Wheeler, Kisara, and I all exchanged a knowing look. It was obvious how we had to divide. "We can go to the cafeteria," I said, using my head to gesture to Kisara. Yami and Wheeler nodded.

Other nurses passed by, wheeling carts and cots down the hall. I could see from their expression that they were stressed. Many looked like they hadn't slept for too long. My two hours here would do little to help them.

Since it was about lunch time, I knew that we would be delivering food from room to room so that the nurses could focus on more meaningful tasks. I started walking over to the cafeteria, Kisara following me. She received even more curious gazes as she walked barefoot down the hallway. Much to my relief, no one stopped us.

"What do we do?" Kisara asked.

I opened the swinging door for her. "They will have food carts set up. We just take the meals to the patients."

"And you like doing this?"

"Not particularly. But it needs to be done."

I headed straight for the kitchen. The staff recognized me and let me through without complaint. Like I had predicted, they already had three carts full of the covered dishes. "These are ready?" I asked. Three of the cooks turned to nod.

"Where are you two headed?"

"Children's wing."

I grabbed one of the carts, and Kisara followed my example. We wheeled them out, and I used my back to hold the door open for her again. Kisara tapped her fingers on the cart, but no bursts of lightning appeared.

"So, in your life," she began. "You like doing things just because they need to be done?"

It took a second for me to realize that she was referring to our conversation on the walk over. The more she talked, the more I came to realize what Mokuba had said to her. Because we were in public, and it would seem strange if I ignored the person I brought along, I answered.

"I want to do something. My time used to be important. I used to be important."

"Mokuba says you are important."

I shook my head as we turned the corner. "No. You three are important. If you weren't here, the government wouldn't be as interested in me."

Kisara was quiet for a moment. "Why does it matter?" she asked, then added, "I just want to know. I'm not saying that it shouldn't matter."

It took me the length of the hallway to think of an answer she would accept. "I worked for what I had. I spent years fighting people who thought they had the right to control me and won. Without doing something, I've lost all of that."

Kisara shook her head while messing with the lid of one of the containers on the cart. She looked up at me. "But Seto, you do things all the time. Not just this-" she gestured to the carts. "Which I'm sure does help people, but you help Mokuba."

We made it back to the children's ward. I knocked at the first door rather than giving her a reply.

The first room had four children, filling each of the beds that were forced to fit into the room. I could see that they were sick, with swollen eyes and tired expressions, but they seemed in good spirits. They smiled when we entered and began cheering for the meal.

"Do we get jello?" one of them asked. They sat up straighter in their beds, a few holding out their hands for a tray. Kisara looked to me for what to do.

"I'm not sure what's all in here," I said, picking up the first tray. I handed it to the boy in the first bed, who had sat up. He jerked the lid off and scanned over the contents.

"Chocolate pudding!"

Two beds down, another young boy slowly raised his fist into the air as if he had just won an award. "Yes," he whispered.

I had to turn my head down to hold back the smile that threatened. When I turned from the children, I ended up meeting Kisara's eyes. She smiled back, and I wanted to return to a neutral expression, but couldn't with the boy's reaction still in my head.

I passed out the rest of the meals without letting Kisara use hers. I needed an excuse to leave her alone, and if I ran out first, I could take a few minutes to go back to the supply closet. She would be able to hand out food without me following along. Over the next two rooms, I used eight more trays.

Kisara noticed that I was running out. "Am I going to use mine?"

"If you start handing them out." I tried to make it sound like she was doing something wrong, rather than anything on my end.

"Okay." She slowed down as we walked to the next room. "You never answered me."

"I will always help Mokuba. But that doesn't mean that it is enough for me. Mokuba rarely requires much assistance."

Kisara started to speak, then stopped. She shook her head and tried to walk off.

"Go ahead and say what you have to."

"It's just, I still don't understand. I haven't seen you do anything really for yourself. It is all for Mokuba, or these people."

"You can't expect to just suddenly understand me because Mokuba told you to try."

"We have time."

This time, she walked in front of me into the room. I stalled behind and waited in the hallway for her to come back out. I could have gone to the next room, but I thought it would be best to hold back. Kisara would want to show me how well she had done alone. At least, I thought she would want that. I was beginning to lose my grasp on her personality.

Kisara came out and went to the next room without glancing toward me. I knew that she wanted me to follow her, to continue the conversation, but I needed to catch up with Yami and Wheeler. My cart was just about empty, so as soon as Kisara disappeared inside the next room, I pushed it down an adjacent hallway and hid it around another corner.

I walked quickly to the supply closet, hoping to make the trip as short as possible so that Kisara wouldn't notice my absence as much. While I wasn't leaving the hospital, I would rather she didn't mention my disappearing to Krin.

I opened the closet door and stepped inside, closing it behind me. Yami and Wheeler turned around, still holding the containers they had been about to set on the shelf.

"Where's Kisara?" Yami asked.

"Handing out meals. I spoke with Pegasus last week."

"Sheesh, Kaiba. I know things are bad and all, but-"

"Not now." I focused all attention on Yami. "Our monsters are connected to the cards."

Yami put up the soap refills he held. "Just ours?"

"Less than a hundred of them."

"So we can kill them," Yami said.

I nodded. "I think so."

I wanted to give them some time to think it over, to fully appreciate the situation. We had a way to get rid of the largest monsters plaguing the city, the ones bothering us. We had a solid lead that we could actually follow and expect results. Unlike our search to close the portal, this could work. But there wasn't time.

"Where is your deck?" I asked Yami.

"The Game Shop?" He didn't sound certain.

"Wheeler?"

"I lost mine, 'member? I told you about that a while ago."

"And mine's at the mansion."

We stood in the closet for several seconds saying nothing. I knew that Wheeler's deck would likely be the easiest to find, since finding Yami's required digging through the mound of rubble we had been unable to get through over the past month, and mine was under the mansion that was full of the monsters. Knowing Wheeler, he probably just misplaced it around his house. Red wanted him, which meant that his Red Eyes card had to hold Red's soul. If we could get the card, we could test the theory.

"We still couldn't get rid of all of the monsters," Yami said.

"Unless we pretend that all the cards are connected." Wheeler shook his head at his own words. "That wouldn't work."

"Actually," I began. "If we made examples of some of them, it might work."

"Do we have an idea? Is this what we're going t' do?"

"It's what we have to work with. We just have to find the cards."

"And kill them," Yami said. His hand clenched into a tight fist. "We can kill them."

"Speaking of them, I have to get back. Kisara has most likely realized that I'm gone."

"We have to finish here. Where were you?"

"Children's wing."

I left after they said that they would be coming that way after finishing. I had been gone too long as it was. The more time I spent away from Kisara, the more likely she would be to mention it to Krin or Kara. I might be able to excuse myself for the few minutes.

When I got back to the children's wing, I found a small group of nurses hovering around a doorway. Each room that I passed was empty, aside from the few sleeping children. Kisara's cart had been left in the hallway against a wall. I heard a jumble of voices that seemed to be coming from the room the nurses stood beside. They noticed me approaching, and one touched a finger to her lips.

She mouthed, "Story time."

I peered into the room and found Kisara surrounded by kids, most holding their plates. I leaned back before she could see me, but stayed close enough to hear. The voices became clearer and I could pick out enough to know that Kisara would be the one to tell the story.

"You have to start!" one of the kids shouted.

I rested my back against the wall right next to the door and crossed my arms. Kisara had the potential to tell an interesting story.

"O-okay," she said. I could hear the waver even from the distance.

"Um, so-"

"You have to start with once upon a time."

I let my head fall back to stare at the ceiling.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl."

"You mean a princess?"

"Yes." Kisara paused. I doubted that she knew what a princess was.

"Once upon a time," she continued, "there was a beautiful princess. At least, she wanted to be beautiful because she was in love with a boy."

"Was he a prince?"

"He can be, I guess. So the princess wanted to be beautiful for the prince. At first she thought that would be how she would win his heart, but he ignored her. He, the prince, he didn't really care about her looks or even her strength – and believe me, she was very strong – so she didn't know what to do. You see, she loved him so much that sometimes when she looked at him, her heart would feel warm and she would have to smile just because she couldn't hold it in. She didn't know before meeting him that love would be like that. She had loved people before. But this wasn't the same."

"Was the prince brave?"

Yami and Wheeler walked up and I held out a hand to keep them from going any further forward. Kisara might stop talking if she saw them. They stood in front of me and started listening when she answered.

"He was so brave. One time he even fought a dragon. And the dragon could breathe fire. And the prince, well, he didn't kill the dragon, but they did fight. The prince was so strong and smart and wonderful, and she just wasn't good enough for him.

"But she tried so hard. Because if he didn't love her, then they had to be apart. Being apart hurt her. She couldn't tell him that. She didn't want him to stay beside her because he felt bad. He needed to love her back. But the prince didn't love her."

"No!"

"Even after he fought the dragon for her?"

"Well, I mean, the fight wasn't for her. I think it was for a friend or something-" Wheeler frowned and I turned my head away from him. "-Anyways, the princess had to figure out what she needed to change about herself, or the prince would continue to hate her. And she didn't want that.

"She got some advice from the prince's brother. He told her that the prince thought she was selfish. And maybe she was. I mean, she said she loved him, but wouldn't do what she had to do to make him happy. She had only been thinking about herself.

"The prince didn't really get love. I think. Because he did love his brother. But, but that's a different kind of love. But the prince hadn't loved anyone like the princess loved him. She didn't know how to explain it to him. She didn't know how to explain a feeling. It is just a feeling that is so, so, so big. It's-" Kisara sighed.

"She tried to do the things the prince wanted to do. It was hard. Not because she didn't like the same things, but since she was also trying not to let him see how much she was hurting."

"What did she do?"

When Kisara paused, I noticed that both Yami and Wheeler were staring at me. I tried to pretend like I hadn't noticed.

"She tried harder. It made her sad, but that was okay, because sometimes he would look at her or talk to her without being angry. And he wouldn't leave when she came near him. He got more comfortable with her being a part of his life."

"Did he ever love her?"

"I don't know. I really hope so."

"Because they have to live happily ever after."

"She does really want him to be happy, so much more than she wants herself to be happy."

I slid away from the door before walking back down the hallway. I rubbed the back of my neck, clutching a fistful of hair and pulling on it. Had I really gotten more comfortable with the dragons being a constant in my life? I was trying to form a plan to kill them. I couldn't kill them if I was comfortable.

"Kaiba."

I let Yami walk ahead of me, but as soon as he began to speak again, I stopped him.

"I don't want to hear it."

It was Wheeler who spoke next. "Uh, when'd you fight a dragon?"

Kisara didn't tell Krin about my disappearance. She didn't say much to me on the way home, or at the house. She still stayed close, sitting next to me on the couch, but just stayed there. Mokuba was practicing walking across the room, showing off his ability to take a shaky step every ten seconds. Krin and Kara had left shortly after Kisara and I returned.

"Now Seto, you aren't watching. If I start wobbling too much, you have to catch me."

"I'm watching."

"Not really!" Mokuba took another step.

"You shouldn't be working your foot this much. Take a break."

"I have to walk to the chair first."

Kisara was bent slightly forward, picking at a thumbnail. She hadn't looked up all night. Mokuba had tried to talk to her, but couldn't get her to say more than a few words at a time. She had been wrong at the hospital; this wasn't comfortable.

"So, Kisara," Mokuba began, pausing long enough to sit down. "How was working with Seto?"

She looked up for a moment just to say, "Good." Then she dropped her head again.

Mokuba turned his attention to me. He raised his eyebrows and jerked his chin in Kisara's direction. I shook my head, but Mokuba kept glaring. He mouthed something, but I couldn't make out what exactly he was trying to say. He tried again, but I still couldn't distinguish the words. Mokuba rolled his eyes and started tapping his leg. I couldn't hear it, but I watched for the length of each tap. Talk. To. Her.

I shook my head again. Sitting in silence was preferable.

Seto. Talk. To. Her.

I decided then that I needed to tell Mokuba about the conversation with Pegasus. Since we weren't allowed to be alone, it would be difficult to do.

"Kisara, do you know how to read?"

When she looked at me, her eyes were huge, as though she was terrified. She dropped the expression almost immediately. "Not really."

"I think you would like stories."

She nodded and kept picking at her nails. Her hands were shaking.

"I have a book in the back. If you get it, I will read it to you."

She smiled, then covered her mouth. "Is it in the bedroom?"

I had barely answered "It is" before she stood and left the room. I waited until I heard the bedroom door open before saying, "We have a plan to get rid of them." I had to speak under my breath, knowing that Kisara could overhear us without much effort.

Mokuba kind of laughed. "What?"

"I talked to Pegasus, remember? The souls are trapped in the cards."

Mokuba leaned forward to look down the hallway. "So what does that mean for us?"

"I'm going to kill them."

Kisara walked back in holding the book. As she sat down beside me, Mokuba slouched down in the sofa chair. Kisara handed me the book.

"Is this the one?"

"Seto," Mokuba said.

I cut him off with a sharp expression.

"Mokuba."

"Is something wrong?"

I turned to Kisara. "Of course not."

"You're lying."

I breathed out, planning how to justify my statement. Then I stopped thinking about it. "Yes I am."

"You lie a lot."

Mokuba got up. He grabbed his crutches this time and called for Kuriboh. I thought he would go into his bedroom, but instead, he went towards the door. Kuriboh flew over to him and Mokuba opened the front door.

"Where are you going?" I asked, standing. I gave the book back to Kisara.

"I can't stay here." Mokuba waited for Kuriboh to leave before closing the door behind him. I ran after him, and Kisara followed close behind me.

...

Preview: Back to Mokuba's POV. Maybe we will see some of Kray too.