Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Tell ❯ Pure White Snow ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Mwuhahaha (I seem to do that a lot, don't I?)! You want to know what's so funny? Do you? Since you sued me into oblivion in the last chapter, you can't sue me any more! I claim bankruptcy! Wahoo! All right, all right... I do not own Yu-gi-oh (very robotic voice). Happy *now*?

A/N: O.O Wow... It's been, like, three months since the last time I posted... [sob] Forgive me! But, hey, I'm doing everything I can to make it up to you. For instance, this is without a doubt the longest chapter I have ever written, plus it's extremely fluffy... And more importantly, I've decided to just go ahead and post all the rest of the chapters in one go... probably what I should have done in the first place, eh heh... But seriously, this thing is two chapters long; what was I thinking? [grin]

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Chapter Four: Pure White Snow

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{Tuesday afternoon}

"Hi," Kaiba greeted Serenity as she came up after school the next day.

"Hey," she muttered, hugging him. He stiffened for just an instant, startled, then brushed his lips against her forehead. She grinned, and kissed him on the lips, pushing him into the limo door. Finally, needing air rather badly, they broke apart and got in. They sat closer than they had the day before, Serenity leaning against him.

"So, where are we going?" she asked, after a minute of comfortable quite. "We have plenty of time. I told my brother me and Mai and Tea were planning on some serious shopping, so he figures I won't be getting home till after dark; he won't be looking for me."

"It's up to you, really," he said. "I was thinking this one Italian restaurant though; as I remember they have some really good food."

She snickered. "I like it," she agreed. "It sounds like a really official date-ish sort of thing, you know?"

To her surprise, he just smiled. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it?"

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The figure watching from the school window stared after the limo long after it had disappeared, mouth hanging open, in a state of dazed rage. `How dare he...! How dare she...!' He didn't know who to be angry at first. `How dare...!'

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After a little bit of driving, they arrived at the restaurant. "Wow!" Serenity commented, taking it all in.

"You like it?" Kaiba asked.

"It's... huge!" she replied, for lack of a better word. "After being here, I'm surprised that you let yourself be seen anywhere *near* that pizza place..."

"I was too, trust me..."

"Hey!" she said, glowering good-naturedly.

A waiter found them a table, well placed with a good view of the lake behind the restaurant, and with a candle in the center of it. They ordered their meals and ate, talking and eating at intervals. Kaiba had indeed remembered correctly; the food was wonderful.

About an hour later, after dessert, Kaiba finally paid for it and they headed to the door. "We should do this more often," Serenity said contentedly.

"We can do it every day, if you can find enough excuses to give your brother," Kaiba purred as they got into the car.

Serenity was silent for a minute. "Anything the matter?" he asked curiously.

"Just thinking," she said.

"About what?"

"About how *wrong* that sounded, a minute ago," she confessed, then laughed till her stomach started to hurt. He groaned.

"You're sick-minded, do you know that?" he demanded.

"I know," she said, playing with his hair.

By the time they were halfway to her house, Serenity had fallen asleep; it was late and having eaten so much was having its affect. Kaiba held her close, feeling drowsy himself. When they finally got to the corner, he sighed. "Serenity," he said quietly.

"Hmm..." she said sleepily, her eyes fluttering open. When she saw him, she smiled. "Are we there already? Darn..."

"My feelings exactly," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her. She let him deepen it, and he almost pushed her down onto the seat but thought better of it.

"See you tomorrow, I guess," she said when they finally separated and she climbed out of the car.

As she walked to her house, she hummed softly and tunelessly. Seto was so perfect... She smiled, realizing that for the first time she was thinking of him by his first name. And she had total support of four of her friends, anyway... She was sure she could make Joey and even Tristian understand eventually too.

Her happy mood was abruptly shattered when she saw who was waiting in the front room of her house. "Joey?" she said uncertainly; he looked pissed.

"Hi Serenity!" he said, falsely cheerful. Their mom who was in the room raised an eyebrow; she had heard the artificialness. "You wanna go up to your room? I have something I want to ask you."

"Um, okay..." she said, her unease growing. Joey was mad at her about something, and she had a sickening feeling about what it might be...

As soon as he closed the door after them, all traces of cheerfulness disappeared. "You lied to me," he stated. "How long has this been going on?"

"Wh-what?" she faltered.

He took a deep breath. "Look, sis, I don't wanna be mad at you. But I am! You know what I'm talking about. You lied to me - twice, actually; once about not talking to Kaiba anymore, and again about going shopping with Mai and them. And who knows how many other times besides!"

Serenity sat down on her bed, willing herself not to cry. She felt so guilty... `Well,' she thought bitterly, `I tried not to think about how hurt Joey would be. Looks like I did a pretty damn good job of it...' "I'm sorry," she choked. "I'm so sorry..."

Joey softened; it was just too much to see his little sister on the verge of tears. "Don't cry, man," he said, sitting down next to her.

She did anyway, but started laughing through them. "I'm not a man!" she sniffed.

Joey grinned. "Dude, then." She swatted him playfully. "Dudett?"

She shuddered. "Lame alert; I'd rather be a dude."

"All right, all right," he said, holding up his hands in mock defeat.

"Look," she said, rubbing her eyes on the back of her hands. "I'm really, really sorry I've been... seeing Kaiba... behind your back."

"It's okay," he said gruffly. "I guess... But how long have you been going out with him, seriously?"

She blushed a little. "Well, tonight was our first real date," she admitted. "He drove me home Monday too."

"Hmm..." he said, and was silent for a minute. "Do you love him?" he asked suddenly.

"Yes," she said, startling herself with her own firmness. "And hey, how'd you find out, anyway?"

"Well... I was gonna go, but I saw Mai and Tea walking off and you said you were going with them. So I went back in the school to look for you, and... well..."

"Oh." There was silence for a minute.

"Mai and them... They say I've been being too `overprotective' of you," he admitted suddenly. "And they're right; I saw you two, um, well... When he picked you up, you know? He really does seem different when he's around you. I think he loves you too."

She smiled a little in spite of herself. "You really think so?" she said.

"Yeah," he said.

"So... you're okay with us going out together?" she asked hesitantly.

He snorted. "No way! But," he added, grinning at her expression, "if you love each other that much then I guess I can allow it. In fact, I see it as a useful opportunity. Maybe if you two were a couple, he might stop calling me a puppy..."

She snickered. "I'll see if I can talk to him about it," she said, smiling. Suddenly she hugged him. "You are such an awesome brother," she declared.

He grinned. "You too."

"HEY!" she exclaimed. "Are you calling me a guy again?!"

"Me? Never!" he said, dodging around the door just in time to miss being hit by a large airborne pillow. "Hey, listen," he said, once safe. "I'll catch you tomorrow. It's late and I gotta get home."

"Later," she said, laughing as she picked up the pillow. As soon as that was done, however, she picked up the phone and dialed Kaiba's number.

"He-hello?" a young voice said on the other end, after a few rings. There was a scream in the background that sounded suspiciously like a video game, and the boy said, "Aw darn, I died. Uh, who is this?"

"Serenity Wheeler," she started, but she never got to finish her sentence. "Is Kaiba home ye-"

"SETO!" the boy yelled at the top of his lungs. "It's your GIRLFRIEND!" In the background, she heard someone, presumably Kaiba, shouted something about, "... give it here...!" "Nope!" the boy said gleefully. "Come and get it!" There was some pounding, like someone running, then a crash like one - or two - people falling, another crash which made her wonder if the phone was broken, and some distant shouts.

"Finally!" Kaiba suddenly gasped into the phone. "Mokuba, no - hey! - let go! Gerroff! Ow!" There was the sound of something, or someone more likely, being dragged across the floor, and a door slammed. Someone instantly started pounding on it, from the sounds of things, but it grew more distant as Kaiba walked away. "Serenity?" he said cautiously. "You there?"

"Yes," she said, giggling. "I take it I've met Mokuba?"

"Yes," he said darkly. "That boy needs a babysitter or *something*, I swear... So anyway, what's up? Hey, how'd you get my number?"

"Internet," she said dismissively. "Last night. It was hard to find, but I got it eventually. Anyway, I wanted to tell you something. About Joey..."

"What?" Kaiba said, worried. "Does he know?"

"Yup," she confirmed. "And... He's okay with it!"

"Really?" he said, shocked. "Now that's something I never suspected..."

"Oh, by the way, Mai, Tea, Bakura and Yugi are okay with it too," she added.

"Amazing..." he said, shaking his head in awe. "I thought they hated me."

"I guess not," she said, shrugging. "Now there's just..."

"Hmm?"

"Tristian," she explained. "He has a mega crush on me. He used to visit me all the time when I was still in the hospital and stuff. Man, I need to call Joey and warn him not to tell him anything; he'll probably be upset..."

"Ask her when I can start calling her `sis'" Mokuba's voice shouted in the background. Kaiba groaned.

"How'd you get in here?" he demanded.

"Picked the lock, of course!" his brother said proudly.

"Look," Kaiba said regretfully, "you should call your brother now. It appears I've got my own to deal with at the moment..."

"'K," she said. "I love you."

There was silence of the other end for a moment. "Love you too," he said, and hung up - though not so fast that Serenity didn't here the beginning of a joyful evil laugh from Mokuba... She smiled, lying back in bed and letting his words sink in completely before dialing her brother... Then Mai (to tell her how the date went and about her brother)... Then Tea... And so on.

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{Friday afternoon}

Over the next couple days, they made a habit of going out together after school. They went to the park for a little while on Wednesday because it was warm, to the mall on Thursday (Kaiba bought Serenity an expensive sweater, and she kissed him right there in the store), and on Friday they went to the restaurant again.

On the way to Serenity's house afterwards, they talked a little. "So, where *do* you live, anyway?" she asked curiously.

"We'll be passing it in just a minute, actually," he replied. "I'll point it out to you."

"Hey, um... Could I come in for a minute?" she said quietly. "To, um, meet Mokuba, you know?"

He smiled. "Of course. I should warn you, though; he might knock you over, or try to anyway..."

She laughed. "I'll keep that in mind," she assured him.

"Hey, big brother!" Mokuba greeted, hugging him as usual. "You're home ear- oooh!" He had caught sight of Serenity, and now he grinned mischievously. "Are you Serenity?" he asked.

"Yup," she said. "You must be Mokuba."

"Uh-huh," he agreed, and hugged her too. Kaiba mouthed, "I warned you!" over his head, and she laughed.

"So, do you want any coco or tea or something?" Kaiba asked. "It's freezing out there."

"Coco sounds good," she agreed, and the two brothers lead her to the kitchen. A few minutes later all three of them were sitting around the kitchen table and drinking while talking. Serenity and Mokuba became friends instantly.

It wasn't till about a half hour later (the coco was long finished by then) that Serenity glanced up at a clock. "Aw man," she groaned.

"Huh?" Kaiba said, then saw where she was looking, and groaned as well. "Ten?!" he exclaimed. "Man, it's late..."

"I'm gonna be in trouble," she sighed. "I'm supposed to be home by nine-thirty... Pathetic, I know... But mom might be mad."

"I'd better get you back," Kaiba said, standing up. "I'll be home soon, okay Mokuba?" He nodded, and the other two headed to the door.

"I'm sorry if I got you in trouble," Kaiba said guiltily, just before they went out.

She smiled. "Na, it was worth it," she assured him. "Anyway, I did it once before, when I was over at Mai's, and I just got yelled at a little."

"But still-" he protested.

"Oh, hush," she said, kissing him lightly. "I love you... Seto... So it's worth it."

He blinked when she called him `Seto;' it was the first time she'd called him that. He decided he liked it, and smile.

Then they opened the door.

Bad idea. The freezing wind blew a light dusting of snow in on them before they even managed to get it closed again.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Kaiba said, staring at the door. "We just came in half an hour ago, and it was fine then..."

"I remember now," she said thoughtfully. "I saw on TV on Monday that it was supposed to do this tonight... Inches, they were calling for, and all at once..."

"Hey, aren't you guys gone yet?" Mokuba hollered from the kitchen.

"Nope," Serenity said as they went back in. "There's a slight problem..."

"This," Kaiba demonstrated, pulling open the blinds on one of the kitchen windows. Mokuba's eyes went wide.

"Geez, check it out!" he said enthusiastically. "You already can't see the road... Hey," he added slyly, "I guess that means you'll be staying the night, Serenity."

There was a moment of extreme discomfort.

"There are several bedrooms," Kaiba said, more at Mokuba that at Serenity, "so I'm sure we can find you one... You might want to call your mom sometime though."

"Um, yeah," she said, still trying not to think about what Mokuba had hinted at. "Where's a phone?"

She made two phone calls, one to her mom and one to Tea, to ask her to cover for her again. Her mom scolded her, but agreed that she could stay (at Tea's), since it would be dangerous to try and drive home in the snow. After that the three of them hung out in the kitchen for a little while longer, having another round of coco. It wasn't until around eleven that Mokuba began to look sleepy.

He yawned hugely, and Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "All right, squirt, time for bed," he said firmly.

"But Seto, I'm not tired," he insisted. "Really." He yawned again, trying in vain to stop it.

"Right," he said sarcastically. "Bed."

"Oh all right," he muttered mutinously, getting up.

"Promise you'll go to bed and stay there?" Kaiba asked.

"Darn..." he complained. "All right, I promise." He sighed with exaggerated longness, and headed upstairs.

"What about you?" Kaiba asked, turning back to Serenity. "You tired?"

"Maybe a little," she said. "You mentioned something about a bedroom?"

"Yeah; follow me." He led her through a few halls, till they got to one with three doors. "You can sleep in this one," he said, gesturing to the one closest to them. "I'm in the one right down the hall from it."

"What's in the other one?" she asked curiously. She noticed that, while the other two doorknobs were polished, the brass on the third one was dusty.

He winced, as if the very mention of it hurt. "Um... It was... My step dad's." He winced again. "I don't use it now."

She studied his face, and decided not to pursue the subject.

"So, which bedroom did you say, again?" she asked, pretending she hadn't noticed anything. "This one?"

He nodded, opening the door and turning on the light for her. "Nice," she commented. "The bed's huge; what do you usually use this room for?"

He shrugged. "Nothing, usually. When Mokuba's friends come over one might sleep down here once in a while, but that's it really." He stood just inside the doorway, feeling a little awkward while she took a look around.

Suddenly she turned around, and caught him in a deep kiss. "Well, you must not see it very often then," she said impishly. "Maybe you'd like to stay a minute?"

He stared at her wonderingly. Usually she seemed so calm and... distant. But every once in a while, she'd go and surprise him like this. `Maybe that's why I love her,' he though, and grinned. "Sure, why not?" he agreed.

In one motion, she grabbed his hand and turned off the light, dragging him over to the bed. He laughed. "You're in a hurry, aren't you?" he teased.

"Uh-huh," she said cheerfully, and pulled him onto the bed, next to her. He rolled his eyes, and kissed her passionately.

Almost of its own accord, his hand explored up her side, and across her breasts. He had noticed before that she seemed to have a beautiful figure, but he had never noticed... *this* much. She moaned in pleasure as he trailed kisses down her jaw and neck, pausing at her collar bone to unbutton her shirt.

"Do you want to... hmm..." She moaned again.

He hesitated, drawing back a little. She hadn't been able to finish her sentence, but he knew what she meant... He knew he wanted to, but at the same time...

"Huh?" she asked, feeling him suddenly stop moving.

"I-" he started, frowning. He wanted to, but those memories... He shuddered.

"What's the matter?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"Look..." He sighed, and rolled off of her and on to his back. "I - I do, but... You have to understand, it's nothing to do with you. Something happened, a long time ago... I can't talk about it right now. But I... I just don't think I'm ready..."

She was quiet for a moment. "I understand," she said quietly, finding his hand in the darkness and holding it. He smiled. This human contact was strange; he had denied himself of it for so long... But he felt like this girl might just be the person to heal him, to make him whole again. She leaned over then to give him a deep, loving kiss, and he pulled her close again. Well, maybe they could stay up a little longer...

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{Saturday morning}

11:00 o'clock, he read. Kaiba groaned. He had been planning to get some work done, but according to the clock across the room, he had already blown the whole morning.

He glanced down at the figure sleeping in his arms, and smiled a little. `Oh, forget it,' he thought dismissively. He decided he might as well blow the whole day; it would be worth it.

`And besides,' he added, his smile turning into a smirk, `I have the most wonderful woman in the whole world with me right now... Without a shirt on... Surely that's better than work.' Yes, they had wound up staying up for quite a bit; perhaps they'd gone farther than he'd intended... but strangely, he wasn't as bothered by that as he though he would be... He wondered idly whether they'd woken Mokuba up...

"Hmm..." Serenity's eyes fluttered open, and when she looked up at him she started snickering. "Nice view," she said, in reference to the shirt that he was also missing.

"Likewise," he said wryly, and she blushed a little. "You really are sick-minded; that's the *first* thing you think to say, even before `good morning...'"

She giggled. "Fine, fine; good morning." She wiggled a little closer to him. "I love you Seto," she whispered.

"I love you to," he said, absentmindedly running his fingers through her hair.

After a few minutes, she groaned. "What?" Kaiba asked, surprised.

"I'm hungry," she admitted. "But I don't wanna get up. Ug..."

"I could get you something," he offered.

"Na," she said, shaking her head. "Because if you got up, I wouldn't care if I was in bed or not."

"We could both get up..."

She snickered again. "Listen to us; `Getting Up: By Committee. Let's just get up already."

After they managed to find their shirts, they went out to the kitchen again to find Mokuba already awake and drinking some more coco.

"Morning!" he said perkily. "Man, you guys slept in *late*! You were making a *lot* of noise last night; it was hard to get to sleep..."

"Are you ever going to stop teasing us about this?" Kaiba demanded seriously.

"Maybe when you're married; it'll be old then..." Kaiba groaned. "Oh hey," he continued, turning to Serenity. "I just remembered; someone called for you earlier this morning. Said her name was Mai Valentine. She mentioned something about this guy called Tristian, and asked me to have you call her as soon as you woke up... What'd I say?" Mokuba blinked, staring after them; both Serenity and Kaiba had taken off towards the phone.

"Mai?" Serenity blurted, before the other girl could even finish saying hello. Kaiba leaned over so he could hear, interested.

"Serenity?" Mai said, startled. "Whew, I thought you'd *never* call... Late night?" There was a bit of mischief in the last remark.

"Yeah..." she said, embarrassed. "Hey, how'd you know I was at Kaiba's? Did Tea tell you?"

"Yup," Mai agreed. "Look, let me be blunt. Tristian knows about you and Kaiba."

Serenity groaned. "That's what I thought, from what Mokuba said," she said dismally. "How'd he find out? Is he mad?"

"One question at a time," Mai said firmly. "First of all, he found out because he called Tea. He called your mom last night because he wanted to talk to you, and she said you were at Tea's. He called Tea, and she sort of had to tell him you were there. She told him you were busy, but unfortunately he figured out that she was lying because she was trying so hard to get him off. And apparently we're not the only one's who've noticed how cute you and Kaiba have been being lately; when she wouldn't tell him where you really were that was the first thing he guessed, and... It all sort of came out from there." She took a deep breath. And another one. "So, now you know. And as to whether he's mad, well... He won't answer his phone, and he told us to go away when we went to his house. So, yeah."

Serenity sighed. "Great," she muttered. "Do you think I should go try and talk to him, or just wait for school on Monday?"

"School," Mai said firmly. "I have no idea how close Kaiba's house - or mansion, I'm assuming; you lucky girl - is to Tristian's place, but unless it's right next door I wouldn't try it in this weather."

She sighed a second time. "You're right," she admitted. "Well, I guess I should go..."

"Yes, you wouldn't want to keep your boyfriend *waiting*, now would you? If you know what I *mean*..." Mai snickered.

"Ug; Mai!" she groaned.

"Hey, just trying to lighten the mood; that's all," she said defensively.

"Well, it's not that," she said, grinning in spite of herself. "It's just... he's listening to this."

"Um... Bu-bye!" There was a very abrupt click, and Kaiba laughed.

"That was priceless," he said, trying to get his breath back.

"Oh, stop," she said, rolling her eyes. "This is kind of serious."

"Yeah," he agreed. "But really, I wouldn't let it bother you too much. If it was just a crush - which it probably was - then he'll get over it. If he actually did love you, well, he ought to realize that the best way for him to show it is to let you be happy."

"Man, and when this started you were getting all your advice from me..." Mokuba commented from the doorway, taking a big bite out of a poptart.

Kaiba jumped, and Serenity glowered accusingly at him. "Is that so?" she said thoughtfully.

"Um..." He looked at her, then his brother. "I'll be right back," he said hurriedly, and took off after the younger boy. Serenity cracked up.

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{Monday morning}

Despite the prospect of having to talk to Tristian on Monday, Serenity still managed to have fun the rest of the weekend. Later that day they walked to a park where Mokuba started a snowball fight by throwing one at the back of his brother's head (somehow, he won), and while the snow was cleared enough for Serenity to go home by the end of the day, she came back on Sunday just to hang out for a little.

But it was Monday soon enough. She was almost happy that she didn't see Tristian until the last class of the morning, but it would actually have been better if she had gone looking for him... Seeing as she was talking to Kaiba in the hall when they noticed each other.

"Oh..." she said miserably, as Tristian looked away appearing to be twice as unhappy as when he first looked at her.

"What?" Kaiba said blankly.

"Him," she said simply, pointing.

"*Oh*," he said.

"Copycat," she accused, laughing.

He glanced up to see if Tristian was watching (he wasn't), then quickly kissed her on the cheek. "Good luck," he said.

She smirked. "And I though you would *never* willingly kiss me in public," she commented.

He groaned. "Yeah, yeah; rub it in... Hey, since when did *you* smirk?"

"I don't know," she said, faking thoughtfulness. "Maybe I've been hanging out with you too much..."

"Oh, go talk to him," he said, laughing a little.

She walked up to him, hesitating just an instant before tapping him on the shoulder. "Uh, Tristian?" she said.

"Huh...? Oh, hi." He gave her a half-hearted sort of smile.

"Look, could we go somewhere, to, um, talk for a minute?" she asked uncomfortably.

"O...kay," he said skeptically.

A few minutes later they managed to find an empty classroom. Tristian sat down at one of the desks, refusing to meet her eyes.

"You're mad about me and Kaiba, aren't you?" Serenity asked quietly.

He was silent for a minute. "Yeah, a little," he admitted. "That, and the fact that I was apparently the very last one to know..."

She winced. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's just... We knew you'd be upset; I didn't want to hurt you."

He stood up again and paced back and forth, still not looking at her. "Well, you did," he finally said. She winced again. "But... If you two really are as happy as you look... I guess I can let it go." He sat back down again, as if just saying that had been tiring.

Her eyes widened. "You mean it?" she demanded.

"Yeah," he admitted. "In fact, I'm happy for you."

She hugged him around the neck, making him go red. "Thanks," she said sincerely.

"You're welcome," he muttered, trying to fix his hair.

"Now I have just one question," she said, grinning and folding her arms.

"Huh?" he said blankly.

"Just how much hair gel *do* you use every day? I've always wondered..."

"Hey!" he said, making a face.

"I gotta go," she said finally, once she managed to stop laughing. "The cafeteria calls..."

He shuddered. "Just remember; do *not* get the Monday special... I'll go there in a minute, I guess."

Serenity smiled a few minutes late, as Kaiba waved her over. `Everything's going so perfectly...' she thought blissfully. She couldn't believe how easily that had been, especially after she'd worried so much. Now she had the support of every single one of her friends; it didn't seem like things could get any better.

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A/N: O.O LONG! [grin] Well, you *were* warned... [sweatdrop] Was it too overly crappy? I fixed it up a little, but I still just have this nagging suspicion that it was crappy... Oh well; just please don't kill me, `k? [is reading ahead to try and remember what the heck happened next] XD Yeah, you want to save the whole killing thing for after next chapter... Mwuha! [sweatdrop] Er, please review? Heh he...