Full Summary: A fairly depressed and stressed out Seto Kaiba has just about had it with all that life has handed him so far. An odd set of circumstances leads him to repeated encounters with the same girl. She is sensitive, perceptive, intelligent and just about anything you would want or expect from a female lead. She also happens to have some secrets and a bit of a wild streak, which could either get in the way of Seto getting to know her, or could come in handy. Despite her attempts to help Seto battle old ghosts that keep cropping up as well as plenty of new ones, Seto won't allow himself to accept a new person into his life so easily.

Warnings: This story has been rated M for future chapters due to some strong language, sexual situations, underage drinking, drug use, references to trigger warnings such as sexual abuse, physical abuse and mental wear-and-tear. Any "adult scenes" will likely be written off-site and linked, however it is possible that some chapters may incorporate sex scenes which will be noted prior to the chapter's start including a link off-site where the content can be read, and thus allowing for you to opt out of reading them. All of the above will be sprinkled throughout, but we decided to give you advanced warning so it won't come as a shock if you are one of our more sensitive readers.

Disclaimer: We do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! nor do we own the items or settings where this story takes place. All we own is the idea for this nifty little story and our original characters. Please don't sue, as all you will get from us is a stick of gum and two very disobedient cats who will keep you up all night.

Title: Clarity
Chapter 1: When First We Met
Chapter Written By: Peggi, Kit and Resa

It had been another stressful, long, difficult Friday for the 19 year old CEO, and Seto mostly just wanted to have some sort of an escape. As he'd gotten older, his days had pretty much started to resemble one another. Wake up in the morning alone, drink coffee while his younger sibling ate breakfast, go to work, come home, do more work, sometimes manage to force down some dinner with Mokuba, and then try to unwind. Usually unwinding meant drinking, since alcohol was one of the few things that could slow his active mind down enough to relax and sometimes fall asleep. It also meant nasty hangovers in the morning and probably caused his lack of appetite, but not much else helped him. He had been in this routine for over a year, and in a lot of ways he resented himself for it. Sometimes, he worried he would become just like the man who had adopted he and Mokuba, but his brother assured him many times that this wasn't the case. He continued to get trashed almost nightly, come home sick, and occasionally pass out in the bathroom.

One of the few places he could go and drink without a cut-off and where smoking was allowed was at a local strip club, and as long as he sat in the back corner, he'd never had an issue there. No one seemed to look twice, which was also nice, because avoiding his fans was also a priority when going out in public. Being in charge of one of the biggest companies responsible for gaming technology meant lots of cameras, requests for autographs, constant harassment and extra headaches. So far, tonight, he'd been left in peace. One of the servers noticed his glass was empty and came over, replacing it with another glass of sake, and walked off without a word. He was grateful.

A couple of hours into his night out, his vision was starting to get a bit fuzzy, and he figured it would be time to cut himself off soon. He lit up a cigarette and leaned back against the wall behind him, instantly feeling the combination of nicotine and alcohol affecting him. As he closed his eyes to enjoy the semi-lightheaded feeling he heard a voice that instantly grabbed his attention and boiled his blood. Joey Wheeler. He had just walked in, a starry-eyed Yugi and uncomfortable looking Tea following behind him. Tristan had led the group and was practically drooling over the girls who were on stage, and Joey had his arm draped over some dark-haired girl's shoulders. Seto laughed to himself, insulting Joey for being an idiot and bringing his date to a strip club. It seemed that just about every time he saw the blonde, he had a different girl hanging all over him, usually fake-looking and possibly paid to be there. At least this one was drop-dead gorgeous, which made Seto wonder how the hell a mutt like Joey could even approach her.

After a long day, the last thing he wanted was for Joey to notice him, so he rushed to finish what was left in his glass, and thought about all of the reasons he couldn't stand the other boy. He remembered how annoying he'd been in school, how pushy, how obnoxious. He was so busy steaming over him that he didn't realize he'd dropped ashes from his lit cigarette onto his other hand, and it burned him. He jumped from the sudden, sharp pain, and yelped a little bit, quickly brushing the ashes off. No one seemed to hear or notice, so he put the cigarette out in the ash tray and began to stand. Apparently, he'd been spotted. He could see the blonde boy walking up to him, pulling his date behind him, Tristan willingly following, and Tea and Yugi staying put with aggravated looks directed at their friend.

Seto was not in the mood to deal with Joey, but then again, he never really was. He watched out of the corner of his eye as they approached, desperately trying to find an exit he could make it to before he was reached. Unfortunately, the downfall of sitting in the corner was that he was just that; cornered.

Joey had a smirk on his face as he started the typical back-and-forths, "oh hey, it's rich boy! Didn't see ya all the way over here in your dark little corner, drinking all by yourself!"

Seto tried to ignore him, but he and Tristan had him blocked in, and he wasn't about to not stand his ground, "I guess someone needs to call animal control. I'm pretty sure there's a rule against pets in the strip club, Wheeler."

"Yeah, you're just mad because you're over here all by yourself and I have a whole group of friends to hang with. I figured you'd have bought some for yourself by now, though. Or is no amount of money worth hanging out with ya?" Joey laughed, feeling like he'd won.

As Joey felt triumphant, he turned to walk away, but Seto wasn't going to let him have the last word, "you'd know all about paying for friends, wouldn't you? How much did that one run you?"

The girl who Joey had been dragging around by the wrist broke free and turned around, arms crossed, glaring at Seto. He almost dared her to challenge him with the mood he was in, but she didn't. Joey turned to come to her defense, but she just made a disgusted face at Seto.

"Rude," she directed at him, grabbing Joey and Tristan and dragging them both back to the other two.

After a few seconds of cooling down, Seto felt like he had enough balance to leave without stumbling all over himself, and took that opportunity to get out before Joey tried arguing with him again. He had just paid his tab and was headed back for the door, which was in the general direction of the people he wanted to avoid, when he heard the annoying headache-causing blonde boy call out again to him.

"Sorry, Kaiba. You know I like to kid with ya! Why don't you come on over here and we'll let you buy us a drink, for insulting a lady?"

Seto narrowed his eyes as he turned to face him, "hn, I'd sooner set myself on fire than sit anywhere near you, willingly."

"Ya see, I try to be nice and this is how you repay me!" Seto was now facing Joey, watching as Tea put her face in her hands in avoidance and Yugi tugged on his sleeve to try and get him to stop, "it's no wonder no one likes you except Mokuba, and with your attitude probably not for long! You're nothin but a snobby loser with no friends and a brother who probably wishes Noah got out of the virtual world instead of you! You're nothing but an ass!"

Seto really held himself together well, but bringing his younger brother into it and digging up bad memories wasn't the way to keep his anger inside. He felt his face turning red from anger, and he knew that his words were already slurring, and he couldn't think of anything too creative to say back to him. He couldn't just stand there like a scared little kid who was being bullied, so he decided to do the only other thing he could think of. He stepped closer to Joey and decided to take a swing at him, hoping that with the alcohol-induced double vision he was aiming for the right Joey. Unfortunately, despite his accuracy, Joey was more agile since he hadn't been drinking, and laughed as he stood up, grabbing Seto's wrist. Yugi was instantly trying to stand in between the two, but neither boy wanted him in the middle of it.

"Just stop guys! Not here! Joey, just let it go!"

Like hell was he going to let it go. He took one hard swing at Seto's face, one that would've likely hurt a lot more if alcohol hadn't numbed his whole body already. As Seto started to fall to the floor, he grabbed Joey's wrist, trying to at least take him down too, but the blonde easily pulled away, shoving him hard into a table. A bouncer tried to break through the circle of people who were now watching the fight, no one trying to help, other than Yugi who Joey just shoved away. Standing up and very dizzy, Seto did the only thing he could think of and tried to wrestle Joey to the floor, which didn't work either, and he ended up falling flat on his face, feeling himself being kicked once in the side. He saw the bouncer break through the crowd of people but before he managed to make it there, he heard the sound of skin-to-skin contact, like someone had been hit pretty hard. He couldn't tell if Joey had hit him again, and as he tried to stand, he realized what happened. The girl Joey had brought with him had apparently slapped him, and he was just staring at her, stunned.

"Stop it! Just cut it the hell out, Joey!" she screamed in his face.

The bouncer helped Seto up the rest of the way, and before anything could be said, he stormed out, stumbling the last few steps as he walked out the door. He felt humiliated and angry, kicking a trash can as he walked to the parking lot. He reached into his pocket for his mobile phone, realizing it must've fallen out during the fight, and he wasn't about to go back inside for it. He just wanted to sit down for a few minutes, and then he would try to figure out how to call for a ride. He walked across the parking lot, sitting on the curb and putting his face in his hands. He was frustrated, sick to his stomach, and the pain was starting to set in. His eyes started stinging and he realized he was crying, and he couldn't stop at that point. No one was in the parking lot to see, luckily, because he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself. He'd had it with everything.

He was tired of run-ins with people he couldn't stand, tired of feeling so stressed out each day, tired of running a company, tired of having to be a parent to Mokuba even though he loved him. It was starting to be too much for just one person, with not enough hours in the day. He could hear footfalls over the sound of his sobbing, and held his breath, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't notice. With the sort of luck he had, it was probably Joey, there to try and humiliate him even more, or maybe even finish the fight. He wanted to look up, mostly for his own safety, but couldn't think of a clever enough way to wipe the tears off of his face without it being obvious that he'd been crying. He heard movement as someone sat next to him, and the moment he felt a hand rubbing his back, his head snapped up.

"Are you okay?" it was Joey's date, and she was alone.

He quickly wiped the tears from his face, changing his poor-me expression to his usual cold stare, "I'm fine."

"Yeah," she laughed "you look totally fine.

"I am. Just leave me alone. Go back to your date. I don't need you here, patronizing me."

She just smiled warmly at him, even as he pulled away from her so that she wasn't touching him anymore, "fine, bleed all over yourself. See if I care. I'm not patronizing, by the way. I'm sure you're fully capable of taking care of yourself, but it just looks like you can use some help. Plus, there's no way you're driving yourself home. You better call a cab."

She stood and began to walk off, and Seto pulled himself up, staggering a bit, "do you have a phone?"

She stopped and turned, a confused look on her face, and he realized he was slurring so badly she probably didn't understand him, so he tried again, much slower the second time, "a phone, do you have one I could use? I need to call for a ride."

"Oh, no sorry. I didn't bring it. I drove myself, though. I can drop you off somewhere, if you want. I don't mind. I'm not sticking around here anyway. Joey's in there complaining and I don't feel like dealing with that drama."

Seto wanted to argue, but he was too tired and too dizzy to complain. He just nodded, and with his eyes half-closed, he let her lead him to her car. He sat in the passenger seat, and for the first few minutes he directed her, but the next thing he knew, she was standing outside the passenger seat, shaking him awake. He didn't remember falling asleep, or drooling all over himself, for that matter, but apparently he had.

"Oh. Now you wake up," she sounded very sarcastic and had a slightly irritated expression on her face.

He groaned, pulling himself out of the car, but then as he looked around he had a very confused look on his face. She recognized it right away.

"Mhm, this is what happens when you fall asleep directing me to your house. You end up at mine so I can at least fix up your face and call you a cab."

At least she was nice enough to help him inside, and the second they got into the bathroom he sat down on the floor in front of the toilet, in case he was going to throw up. Given his track record for each night after drinking, that was extremely likely. He watched her pull a box out from under the sink, realizing it was some type of first-aid kit. He leaned his head back, resting it against the wall behind him, and closed his eyes. He hated people treating him like a child, and he just wanted her to hurry up so he could call for a ride and get away from her. She would probably run back to Joey, laughing about how pathetic he'd been, how he'd been crying in the parking lot and couldn't even tend to his own wounds. He opened an eye when he heard water running, and watched as she wet and rung out a wash cloth. She gently turned his face to look at him, wiping away the blood.

He hadn't realized he'd been bleeding so much, as he watched it come off on the wash cloth, and suddenly wondered just how bad he looked. He knew he'd probably feel miserable the next day. He glared at her the entire time she was tending to him, not even taking his eyes off of her when she worked on his forehead, which he didn't even know had been injured. He had a sharp pain in his stomach, which wasn't anything unusual, but it caused him to wince a little bit. Her slightly irritated look instantly changed and she looked apologetic.

"I'm so sorry, did I hurt you? I'm trying to be careful."

"No. It wasn't you."

He tried to avoid conversation and focused on what she was doing rather than the stomach pain. He looked this girl over, not understanding what she'd been doing with Joey in the first place. He was rough around the edges, not very smart, and in his opinion, not much of a looker. The girl in front of him was actually very pretty, definitely not Japanese, but had long silky dark hair and bright green eyes. She clearly didn't go out in the sun often, because her complexion looked similar to his. Very fair and almost perfect. He suddenly wondered if she had naturally almost black hair, or if it was dyed. Then he suddenly wondered why he was wondering about her hair. He hadn't realized she was finished with him, and when he noticed her giving him an odd look, he realized he must've been blushing slightly. He just put his typical glare back on, hoping she'd think it was just the alcohol making him a little bit red. She seemed to ignore it.

"Can I go now?" he asked, impatiently.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "in a few minutes. You might want to stay here for a bit."

She stood and grabbed a plastic cup out of a bag, and he watched her, wondering what she was doing. She put the first-aid box away and pulled out some mouth wash from under the sink. Before she could even open it, he realized that for whatever reason she was able to, she must've known he was about to throw up, because he barely had time to lift the lid before he did. She wet another wash cloth and placed that and the cup on the side of the sink for him.

"Need me in here or do you want some alone time?"

He glared at her in return, and she held her hands up in surrender, walking out of the bathroom and closing the door. His stomach felt like it had completely flipped, and he knew he was going to be sick for a good while. He felt like crying again, at that point, but his side hurt too much and he was afraid to make it worse. It was already throbbing from his retching, and he wanted to just die right there on the bathroom floor.

Seto remembered getting sick a few more times, he remembered placing the cool wash cloth on his face and having used the mouth wash, but he didn't remember falling asleep. He heard a knock at the door, and he grumbled as it cracked open. He was still dizzy, still feeling sick, and now there was this girl who he wished would just go away, standing in the doorway.

"Do you want me to call a cab for you now?"

"Just go away!" he almost yelled at her, making his head hurt worse.

She just laughed at him, "so you'll be sleeping on my bathroom floor then?"

Had a sober version of himself been watching this all take place, he'd have beaten drunk Seto to a bloody pulp, but unfortunately, trashed Seto clearly had no manners and didn't quite give a shit about appearances. He just glared at her, willing her away. Really, though, it was her bathroom, so he probably should've been a bit nicer. But of course, Seto Kaiba does not do 'nice'. He just received a little bit of a giggle, followed by her turning the light off, a nightlight coming on as soon as it was dark, and she closed the door.

"I'll be in my room down the hall if you need anything," she said just loudly enough for him to hear, before walking off.

Seto mumbled slurred swear words at her, laying his head on his arms, which were resting on the side of the bathtub. He managed to fall asleep at some point, waking when he shifted to get more comfortable, and realized he wasn't in his own bathroom. He was still pretty drunk, but he did remember at least where he was after a few seconds of thinking. His head was pounding and he could hear his own heartbeat. He reached for the lightswitch where he'd seen it before, and instantly regretted it when the bright light was like looking into the sun. He felt nauseated again, but figured he wouldn't get sick just yet. He rummaged through the medicine cabinet, hoping to find some Aspirin. He didn't find any, and took a few sips of water from the sink.

He didn't want to pester the girl who was nice enough to take care of him, but his head hurt so bad he really didn't care. He stumbled through the house, walking into a couple of walls, before he finally found the bedroom. It was clearly still night outside, and the moonlight was shining in through the window.

"Hey," he called out, a bit more loudly than he'd meant to.

The girl who was sound asleep jumped, and even in the dark he could see on her face that she was trying to catch up to what was going on and why there was a stranger in her room.

"What?" she turned onto her back, putting a pillow on her face.

He could tell she was annoyed, so he walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, pulling the pillow off of her face, "hey I needed something."

She rubbed her eyes, clearly trying to wake up enough to be able to help him out, and he waited as patiently as he possibly could, before finally asking.

"Do you have Aspirin?"

She nodded, eyes half-closed, looking like she was about to get out of bed to go get some for him, when he felt extremely dizzy again, almost like the room was spinning. He was pretty sure if he tried to stand he would pass out, and with no regard for her personal space, he casually just laid down next to her, and she tried to pull away. Unfortunately for her, he snuggled up to her in his drunken state, a move that he'd probably kill himself for the next day, and she just sighed heavily. Crossing her arms and giving up, she pulled the blanket back over herself, thinking for a few seconds, before deciding to cover him as well.

"You're an awful lot of trouble, you know."

As he fell back asleep, all she heard was a really quiet "mhm" and then heavy breathing. She just laid there, staring at the ceiling, swearing to never, ever try and help a wasted stranger out again. Extremely uncomfortable with another person's presence in her bed, she just laid there, awake, hoping that he was a morning person so that she could get rid of him early enough to take a nap.

Kit: We hope you enjoyed chapter 1 as much as we enjoyed writing it! We promise we're not trying to rush any friendshippy feelings just yet, and that we will keep everybody's favorite CEO hottie in character...at least while sober! If you liked it, please review! We love feedback!

Seto: So, if they don't review will you stop writing this nonsense?

Peggi: No way! We'll just take longer to post new chapters because we love withholding when we don't get our way!

Resa: Roleplay turned fanfic stories are AWESOME! This was super fun to write with these two awesomesauce chicks!

Peggi: Yuhs, so puhleeze review and we'll have the next chapter up a whole lot faster!