Disclaimer- duh, do not own yu gi oh.

Chapter 1

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They were right behind him. Talking and laughing. It was insufferable. Just when he thought he could manage, they would burst out in some laughter, cheer or some other annoying noise. He just wanted to focus, but they made it near impossible.

"Would you just shut up?"

"Looks like Mr. Stick-up-his-ass is playing his usual role of dick head." Joey said leaning back in glancing over to him. He narrowed his eyes in return and glared at them.

"And the retarded puppy is especially noisy this morning." He retorted, making Joey's anger rise in turn. This was how it was every damned year. They would be in homeroom together, cause fights and yelling matches, and end up with a completely ruined day. Or at least Kaiba would end up with a ruined day. Joey seemed angry now, but in a few minutes he would have forgotten the entire ordeal and changed to relaxing with his friends again. Sometimes Kaiba wished he had the attention span of a goldfish too.

"Are you two at it again?" A familiar voice called behind them. Kaiba looked up and saw the girl Joey had brought with him on the blimp during his tournament. His little sister. Joey might be able to forget the arguments they shared but he might not as easily forget Kaiba insulting his sister. There was only a slight problem. He had no clue of anything about this girl. He assumed she was like the rest of them, but he had already overused the jokes and insults he would have with the rest of them. There was only one thing to do. Wait.

"He started it." Joey shot out and Kaiba's eyes narrowed more.

"Joey, I heard you from all the way in the hall. You guys are loud. It's too early for that." Kaiba smirked. Maybe she wasn't as bad as the rest of them. "But, that doesn't give you the right to just burst out and yell at people." She said, now turning on him. Scratch that last thought. She was just as bad.

"I don't think this has any-"

"Listen, this is my brother and as much as he's being a jerk, you are too. You like to think you're so much better than everyone, instead, why don't you act the part, don't just say you are. Be the better man you think you are and turn around. Ignore them." Just like that the faced away from him, as if he never existed in the first place. As if she didn't just put a verbal beat down on him. She wasn't as bad as the rest of them. She was worse. This was going to be a long year.

He moved into the library, his study block better spent away from the idiot blonde. The girl had left just before homeroom started, freeing him from her as he thought of a new way to get to her. The silence of the library held nothing but the hum of whispers and pages turned. It was the best noise he had heard all day.

He started towards the back to place a book he had borrowed a few weeks ago back on the shelf. It was his favorite, and a very rare copy. He had attempted to buy it from the school several times, but they refused to let it go. A high school, the owners of his favorite rare book, it was disgraceful. Unfortunately for him, it was also the principals favorite book. Kaiba would borrow it for weeks at a time, partly just to annoy the principal, partially because he never really had time to read it. Most days he would just open to his favorite section and read that short passage over and over, then get back to work.

He turned down the last row of shelves and paused. She was there. He watched for a moment as the girl from earlier paced back and forth just in the section he was preparing to place the book.

"Well, if it isn't Wheeler's sister. I didn't know you could read." The girl turned as he began to speak, but only offered him a scrunched dismissive face before going back to the shelf in front of her. She took a few steps back, eyes still glued on the shelf as he moved and lifted the book he was returning to it's proper place.

"I'll be out of here in a second." She said distantly. He could tell she wasn't really focusing on what she was saying. "The book I want is supposed to be here... but hasn't been for a few wee-..." She stopped as she looked at the book he was placing back. She lifted her and and slid it right back out from where he just placed it. "Never mind." Then she started towards a table without a second thought. He followed her tentatively and watched as she sat herself, completely absorbed in the books title.

She flipped it open about fifteen pages then skimmed through until she rested on page seventeen. He sat adjacent to her and watched her for a moment, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Page thirty five is much better." That did catch her attention. She glanced up at him for a moment then back down to the book.

"That's the page with Jericho's confrontation." Kaiba was taken aback. It was indeed, and she didn't even have to open the page to see it.

"Yes..."

"It's... ok, just a little... childish for me." Childish? The Jericho confrontation was the beginning turning point in the book where the main character gets his direction and starts his journey.

"How is it childish? He's standing up for himself and what he cares about." Kaiba said, now slightly offended. It was his favorite passage after all.

"For no reason." She said looking at him levelly. She wasn't angered, wasn't arguing, just stating her opinion. Normally people were either rearing to argue with him, or they wanted to yes him to death. She was doing neither. "He starts this entire conflict just to argue something, though important to him personally, meaningless in the long term. It's like starting a life changing quest just because you and say... your fiance don't agree on the color of the wedding. It may mean a lot to you or her, but when it comes to the rest of your lives, one little color doesn't matter.

"They completely overlook the entire meaning of their lives and their personal beings because of one small disagreement. The quest wasn't a necessary one if they could just figure that out in the beginning. The end result is the same. It just takes longer his way." Kaiba was stunned. The confrontation was so perfectly written. So colorful the words, so elegant the phrasing. But was it all meaningless?

"I prefer this part, on page seventeen. Where he starts talking about his best friend. The person he trusts most in life. The person he pledges himself to, then over the next four pages it slowly sinks into everything he does, everything he gives up for his friend. Everything he's sacrificed. Then comes the 'but'. The point where he realizes the difference between a caring relationship and a sacrifice of self to this person. An unknowing slavery under the guise of friendship. It inevitably leads to the conflict that you've talked about, but they argue the wrong points. They travel towards the wrong goal. Their starting point was way off."

"Eventually they get it right." He said defensively. He was still in shock from this girls point of view. He had never discussed his favorite book. Never talked with someone else on the same level. The same level? No, just someone who has the same passion for it. That was all.

"Yes, which makes it one of my favorites. How many problems, no matter how complicated in relationships lead to each other, spinning an intricate web of complexity and depth in the characters. Everything is tied together so well... So beautifully. It's... perfect." She closed the book and looked over it again. He wasn't sure how to respond. She pretty much just stated what h felt about the book. A different view point on his favorite page, but a similar opinion overall. Now that he thought about it, she did make valid points. He had only ever seen it his own way. Before he could think of something, another person joined them, sitting across from her and adjacent to him.

"Hey, Serenity." The new girl said to Wheeler's sister while trying not to look at him. He had seen her all around. She was one of his 'fan girls' also known as a stalker. He had feeling she wasn't quite there for Serenity.

"Uh... Hi...um... what's your name again?" Kaiba held back a snicker. She definitely wasn't there for Serenity.

"Chelsea. My name is Chelsea. I pass you in the hall sometimes..." the girl tried.

"Oh, right. What's up?" Serenity didn't seem to remember her at all, but was being nice.

"I was just passing by and wanted to say hi. What's that you're reading?"

"Fennopan And Marria." She answered, holding the book out. Chelsea raised her eyebrow, looking at the thing.

"It's a fictional war novel." Kaiba clarified. A slight blush spread across the brunette's cheeks as he spoke and he fought the urge to roll his eyes.

"I always pegged you for a romance kinda girl." She said to Serenity. Something was insinuated in her tone, but either Serenity didn't pick up on it, or she didn't care.

"Pft. Romance. The bastard child of literature." Kaiba muttered. Both girls glanced over at him as he looked off to the side.

"I am a romance kind of girl" Serenity said, ignoring him. He turned to her and lifted an eyebrow. What was the point in reading those things? At least the war novels used strategies and had some coming of being inside them. The romance genre was littered with lewd scenes and pointless fluff.

"Why? It's just setting an ideal that men cant live up to." Kaiba asked. If it was any other girl or any other time he wouldn't have bothered, but she had just blown his mind with her in depth thought and consideration for a timeless classic that he loved. He wanted to know why someone who actually put any thought into what they were reading would give novels like those a second thought.

" That isn't true though. How many have you read?" Kaiba looked at her like she had three heads. "Exactly. Most writers of romance novels are women. We know better than to expect the perfect man. We don't want the perfect man. Perfection is boring and overrated." Kaiba sat back trying to wrap his head around this girl. "The men in the novels... the good ones, they're not perfect. They have histories. Pasts that haunt them. Things that stick with them forever. Things that make them think no one would ever care about them.

"It's not an ideal that is impossible. It's a basis. A way for women to figure out what they like and what they don't. They don't fall in love with the impossibilities, just the traits that they like in the men in the books. They can, and do apply the same trait finding in every man close to them consciously or subconsciously. They see similarities and pick men based on the traits they see and like from the books. It might be why men complain that girls only pick them because they couldn't get the guy in the book, but it's much deeper than that.

"It's the personalities and characteristics that they want in their man that they're looking for, not the character themselves. It's just easier to put a name with a set of traits then explain all of this out. But you boys have the same thing. You have your playboy books. It may not be the exact same, but that's what you do isn't it? Look at pictures of the ideal women? Thin and tall and curvy with perfect skin and hair?" Kaiba almost smirked.

"I don't do that shit." He said plainly.

"Well, you wouldn't have to. You could just invite the playboy bunnies to your place and they'd probably sign the posters of themselves." He shrugged and nodded, though he had never actually done that. She giggled at the casual way he just agreed and moved on. "But that's a little different in it's own. You boys just need a picture and that girl in the picture is anything you want them to be. They could be smart or dumb, sweet or mean. Anything. Meeting them in real life ruins that picture. You find that they're jerks, or really dumb, or cruelly smart, or even just a spoiled brat. Your pictures would be shattered.

"Girls don't look for pictures. They don't see the bodies, they want the personalities behind them. Good authors know that. A good series has the depth that more mature readers crave." She seemed finished, but her words prompted another question, though, this one was just to get to know her specifically.

"What about the ones you read?" She looked up at him for a moment, then back at her bag. He had a feeling she possessed one of those books with her now.

"I... don't usually talk about the novels I read. It's a personal preference thing, but the series that I love the most... There are many men. It's sort of King Arthur-esq in the medieval era. There's the king and the men in his personal guard. The first book starts off with the king. The story was good, but I never really pictured him as a personal 'ideal'. I probably wouldn't even approach him in real life, but the story was good and the under laying plot was amazing.

"The second book covered another of the base personalities that 'humans' can be grouped under. The author had a lot to work with making the series about so many men, so it wasn't hard to work in backgrounds and personalities for every reader. This one was the... 'I'm pretty and I know it' type. He was fun and sweet, but very very... pretty. He almost reminds me of Duke." Kaiba did roll his eyes this time. "And of course, because it's a romance novel, he finds the girl worth monogamy, which I think is where the similarities between him and Duke end." She giggled out. Kaiba didn't think it was possibly for the play boy to ever give up polygamy.

"I would love to be friends with this man. I would love to hang out and chat with him. But I don't think I could be more than that with him. He's not my interest in this series."

"Which one is then?" Kaiba asked, cutting her off before she could continue on her own.

"Me... I like... Byron." She had a soft blush across her face and was beginning to remind him of Chelsea. He pictured her 'ideal' to be something of a prince in shining armor. Some sensitive fool who was nice to everyone and was generally good in every way. It was almost sickening. "He's... he's not the most appreciated... His book sold the least. He's... strong, like the other knights, but different. He doesn't exactly take care of himself, he's... Malnourished. He's quiet. Reserved. Not the kindest person, but well intentioned. His entire body was scarred. " Kaiba could feel his veins tightening. Scarred? he resisted the urge to pull his clothes tighter against himself.

"He believes his scars leave him completely disgusting and undesirable. He hates being touched and isn't a naturally trusting person." Kaiba wanted to look away from her, afraid that if she looked up, she could see how he was being effected. "He was... abused. Hurt and rejected. He was at the bottom of society, but fought his way up. He's loyal.

"I don't care about scars. I don't care about looks. Someone with the strength to fight their way through torture and endure so much, only to make something better for themselves and come out on top... that's what I admire. That's... That's what I like about him." Kaiba rose, done listening to her. It was as if she knew his entire life. Like she was reading it out to him. He just hoped she would never find out that she had just described him.

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So... chapter one down. Kaiba was cruising for anything he could find on this new 'adversary' and has apparently uncovered so much more. But he's not a naturally trusting person... he's usually a loner. Reserved. It's his choice whether he wants to remain that way or not.

Worth keeping? still not sure. Keep me posted, I may just scrap this.

Read, Review, Enjoy~Love Ya