"ICOE" Stuff
Yugioh all of chp. 22 written thus far
Mokuba/Rebecca-ish; Sakura/Otogi; Seto/Anzu
Mokuba woke up the next morning, his head pounding.
"Wonderful," he murmured to himself, pulling a pillow over his head. Why was he awake? It had to be close to noon, and it was Sunday. At least, he was fairly certain it was Sunday - going on the idea that he was fairly certain the previous day was Saturday. The curtains over his small window were drawn, so there wasn't much light getting in; for that, at least, he was grateful.
However, he was fully awake - and that meant he wasn't getting back to sleep. With a weary groan, he hoisted himself out of the bed, picking up a pair of wrinkled jeans from the floor and carrying them into the bathroom.
After a long, warm shower- and pain reliever - he felt much better. He slipped on his jeans and found a clean shirt in his closet. The day had begun.
Normally wont to waste his mornings and afternoons away on the computer or in front of the television with a controller in his hand, Mokuba instead had a plan. Rebecca, that sneaky minx, was running off without giving him a proper goodbye.
And as Mokuba knew, that was just no way to be.
So grabbing his wallet and a set of Seto's keys, he set off to corner her at Yugi's and, if not win her ever-lasting love, then at least get her to accompany him to the dinner he was promised. He stopped quickly to grab some flowers to offer as a gift, then continued on towards his destination.
Yugi opened the door when he got there, obviously rather surprised to see him. "Oh, um... hi, Mokuba." Seeing the flowers, he could reasonably guess why the younger man had come. "Here to see Rebecca?" Mokuba nodded. "Ahh. Okay, then. She's in the guest room - leaving tomorrow."
"Oh, I know. And I'm here to catch her."
And Mokuba sped past him, leaving Yugi looking on in curious bemusement.
He found her, dressed in an over-sized button down and short, eye-catching shorts. She was packing.
More importantly, she was adorable.
Mokuba wore a goofy grin as he rapped gently on the door and gave her a tentative "Hello."
She looked up quickly and scowled. "I was hoping to avoid you until tomorrow."
That dampened his spirits slightly. He walked in and set the flowers down on top of a chest of drawers. "Well... Here I am! And it's still today."
Wearily, she rolled her eyes. "Yes, I can see that. And - "
"You still owe me dinner." He pointed an accusing finger at her. "Don't think I'm letting you get away without first cashing in."
For a moment, she seemed to hover, right on the edge of some decision. Then, in a clipped, no-nonsense tone she said, "I... Really don't think so."
"Why not?" he asked indignantly.
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Because you're a cocky, narcissistic little prick." She looked at him defiantly, as though daring him to try to contradict her statement. "That reason enough?"
He threw his arms up in protest. "Oh my... Rebecca, I think that's a little harsh, don't you? I mean... Well damn, I'm not that bad. You saw me at my worst - give me another chance. And actually follow through this time. I'm a good guy!"
"Mokuba... Look, you're cute, but I just don't think you're my type of guy. I want somebody mature and you're..." She sighed. "Well you just don't seem ready to grow up. I'm sorry."
"That's not fair."
"What's not fair about it? I think it's perfectly within the realm of the acceptable to have a few personal preferences. "I..." She pointed to herself. "Do not like..." She shook her head firmly a few times, then pointed at him. "You."
"You have made that abundantly clear. But I think you've been a little too quick to judge. Maybe if - "
"I know I'm judgemental," she said, going back to her packing. "It's been a flaw of mine ever since I was a child. However, since it hasn't seemed to have led me astray previously..." She threw a few pairs of folded pants into her suitcase. "I don't think I'll try to change now."
Gritting his teeth, feeling rather put out, he tried to think of any way to get past her unfortunately solid defenses. "All right, then." He watched her move about for just a second longer. "Rebecca... I'm not asking you to change. I'm asking you to dinner - to eat while in my presence. You have to eat. Why can't I just be there while you do it?"
She didn't acknowledge he had spoken.
A pout was threatening to come to the surface of his lips. "Rebecca..."
She tossed him an annoyed glance over her shoulder. "You certainly are persistent, aren't you? I'll admit that maybe I shouldn't have agreed to the last date since I didn't really intend to keep my word, but if I agree to go with you today - to dinner - will you please leave me alone?"
Inside, he was leaping for joy; unable to help himself, he smiled. "That would be... Just..." His smile widened. "Great. That would be great."
Rebecca groaned a little, but continued packing. "Fine," she said, her tone clipped. "Can I at least come to a stopping point here? It's only just after lunchtime." She looked at the clock on the bedside table. "Give me about two hours, okay? Then you can... come pick me up and I suppose we'll go out."
"That sounds perfect!" Mokuba grinned broadly, clapping his hands together once. "I knew you'd see it my way - who can resist my..." He paused at the look she was giving him. He cleared his throat. "What I mean, of course, is that you are an exceptionally beautiful, kind young woman who is willing to put my atrocious behavior behind her."
That earned him a smile. "Very good. Now get out. I have to shower and get dressed before I can go out anywhere."
With a quick salute, Mokuba did exactly as he was instructed.
The time couldn't pass quickly enough. He tried sitting with Yugi, but that was just awkward. So he took the car out for a drive around Domino, stopping for a moment to buy a bottled water. Then he drove back to Yugi's. All together, he wasted about an hour and forty minutes. Just twenty minutes to go.
With innate grace, he plopped himself down onto Yugi's couch to await the arrival of his fair maiden. True, she had been dragonish once, but finally his fractured fairy-tale was straightening out. If, of course, no other princes got there first.
A moment later he heard footsteps. Rebecca appeared, a vision in purple and blue. She wore a well-tailored collared, button-down shirt in a deep shade of violet, legs set off by a straight leg, medium wash jean. Mokuba was enthralled. "Ready to go?" he asked brightly. "You... look very pretty."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She waved his words away as she led him outside to his car. "Thanks, I guess. You're paying, you know."
"Of course," he said, hurrying to open the passenger door for her. "I do come from a ver well-to-do family, after all." He grinned and - though his efforts were unnecessary - helped her into the car.
They sped away from Yugi's, off on the grand adventure of Mokuba's making. He tried to engage her in casual conversation, but though she answered in a mostly polite manner, she didn't seem truly interested in what he was saying.
He sighed and tried another tactic. "So... I heard you and Yugi dueled once. How'd you do?"
She seemed surprised he was interested. "Well, I... He would have beaten me actually, but then he forfeited."
"Really? Yeah, Yugi's noble like that - seems like something he would do."
"I was such a foolish little kid, then. I honestly thought I could beat him! I mean... I know I'm good, but Yugi's just on a whole 'nother level. He's incredible."
"Don't I know it. You didn't have to live with someone who could think about nothing besides beating him. Seto was... Well, Seto gets - shall we say - fixated. Beating Yugi was an obsession. There's still a lot of ill feeling there, too."
"You Kaibas." She shot him an unreadable look. "You're all crazy."
"Um..." He wasn't quite sure what would be an appropriate response. "Only... a little?"
She laughed and shook her head. "It was sort of a joke." Before he could look too happy, though, she said, "Don't get me wrong - I think both you and your brother are a little too close to the deep end, but there's not... much wrong with that. Even if it wasn't my first choice, I'm here with you now, aren't I?"
He smiled. "Yes. So see? No crazy here. Just..." He thought for a moment. "Ahh - too much charm. It can be a little overwhelming, I know."
Rebecca rolled her eyes, and to avoid saying anything he'd take offense to, she quickly changed the subject. "Your brother is the one obsessed with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, right?"
Mokuba groaned quietly and nodded. "Yes, that would be Seto, all right."
"That was actually what my duel with Yugi was about. I thought his grandfather had stolen one of the cards from mine, and I was determined to get it back. Of course, as it turns out, Yugi didn't have it anyway - so in the end it didn't matter that his grandfather hadn't stolen it and he forfeited the duel." She smiled fondly in remembrance. "I'm so glad I got to meet him, though. What an amazing man..."
"Yeah," Mokuba mumbled into his drink, "a real pillar of virtue."
Rebecca glared. "What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. I merely made a quick comment to myself about Yugi's obvious superiority."
Her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed. "At least he's not practically in love with a duel monster."
Mokuba decided to concede. "This is true. Seto does love those cards as though they were his babies. His scaly little reptilian babies."
This, to his delight, made Rebecca chuckle in spite of herself.
***
Sakura surveyed Otogi with interest, weighing out all his attributes in her mind. He had a thriving business with good income; he was handsome. And he seemed perfectly willing to be seduced. Exactly the type of man she could see herself spending money with.
The only problem, of course, was his rather mousy little girlfriend. Sakura had no time for frivolous things like girlfriends; no, she did not support infidelity, but far greater than her disapproval of that was her desire to look out for her own interests. If the guilt didn't affect the man, then she had no trouble putting the relationship he was in out of her mind as well.
He wasn't stupid, and he did have charm. Sakura wanted a comfortable life, but a few intelligent conversations along the way didn't hurt, either. His wealth might not have been equal to the Kaiba fortune, but Otogi was certainly more personable.
She smiled.
***
It went without saying, in Seto's mind at least, that after Anzu's admission of trust, she expected him to amp up the "boyfriend" behavior. It also went without saying that, in Seto's mind, that meant a small dinner date every few weeks. And maybe while they ate he'd smile at her with a fond gleam in his eye. Maybe.
So he had asked her to accompany him to a late lunch at a very small, very exclusive restaurant he knew of. It was possible that through some channel or other he might have even owned it. She was, of course, happy to spend time with him, though he - being the ornery, self-centered bastard he was so very good at being - would only scowl and take dainty little bites of his food, any manner of fond gleams completely absent from his cold, blue eyes.
Anzu didn't care.
They ate, the majority of the meal spent in a comfortable silence. Anzu would occasionally ask a question or make an observation, and dutifully Seto would continue the thread of conversation. He wasn't averse to speaking with her, of course - but in a public place, they couldn't have the kind of conversations he preferred to have: close, comfortable, intimate talks where there were no expectations and he could be honest without being expected to be sentimental. Which was probably why, he realized, most people believed he was just an asocial, work-obsessed duelist with all the soul of a computer.
Lucky for him he didn't care what others thought.
Once the meal had winded down and Anzu was sipping the last of her tea, she looked up rather shyly and said, "You're not busy for the rest of the afternoon... are you?"
Seto frowned. "I have no particularly pressing matters to attend to." After all, he had done more work than he perhaps should have the previous night, just to insure he could afford to take the time off to eat with her. He looked at her semi-curiously. "Why?"
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and shifted her gaze down to the table. "I thought we could... spend a little more time together. You've been busy lately, so I thought maybe we could talk - and I could fix dinner for you later, too."
Anzu was not good at pretense. He had not been busy, and their relationship was built partly on Anzu's great desire to talk together as much as possible. Because of her, he was rapidly moving towards gregarious on the verbal communication spectrum. However, an invitation like that was not something he took lightly. And if she planned to have him stay until dinner...
Then perhaps there would be little talking involved.
He frowned, looking at her with something close to a scowl. "I suppose. Since I've been... so busy lately." He caught her eye; she flushed slightly. He was inclined to tease her more, but she never seemed to appreciate how delicious she looked when riled quite as much as he did. So, clearing his throat, he said, "And since you seem so eager..." She raised an eyebrow. "To catch up," he continued with a smirk, "then perhaps we ought to leave... now." Seto could tell he was making her uncomfortable; she wouldn't meet his eyes for more than a moment, and her face was bright with something like embarrassment.
"All right." She stood up and pushed her chair in. "Then let's go."
Feeling quite complacent, Seto followed her. He paid their bill - an action that seemed to embarrassed Anzu, though since she couldn't afford it anyway he didn't know why it bothered her - and then they left. The ride to Anzu's apartment was nothing but tense silence and charged atmosphere. He watched her tap her fingers against her knee, and every so often she would catch him watching and give him an intense, piercing glare. Unfortunately for her, it had the opposite effect of what she intended. He shifted in his seat, wearing a lascivious smirk.
They were almost there.
Anzu hid her nervousness well as she unlocked the door to her apartment. "Come on in," she said brightly, holding the door open for him. They both entered and she set her purse down beside her as she sat down on the couch. "I thought we could... watch television, maybe," she said, intimidated by the still-standing Seto. She looked up at him tentatively. "If you want."
He didn't respond.
She felt around the cushions, looking for the remote. "Just... let me turn it on," she said, still looking. Seto watched on with amusement as her search grew slightly more frantic. She stood and began to dig into the couch. "I know the remote's here somewhere. I just... Don't know where - "
Seto grabbed her hand. She looked up, surprised. "You're so incompetent," he said, shaking his head. "Let me look for it; I'm sure my efforts would be more rewarding."
Instead of searching with her, however, he began to tug her in the opposite direction; she was confused. "Come along," he said. She made a feeble noise of protest when he said, "Let's look in your bedroom."
Oh...
She meekly allowed herself to be led, feeling very much like the situation recquired a "yes sir". Seto seemed quite comfortable, totally oblivious to her trepidation.
***
There we go! I haven't been able to work on it for nearly a week, because I couldn't log into the website, and that was the only place that had the few new paragraphs I had written. Ahh well. I'm back! Hopefully, this will be finished very, very soon. Ta, duckies.
-ILB
***
Mokuba/Rebecca-ish; Sakura/Otogi; Seto/Anzu
Mokuba woke up the next morning, his head pounding.
"Wonderful," he murmured to himself, pulling a pillow over his head. Why was he awake? It had to be close to noon, and it was Sunday. At least, he was fairly certain it was Sunday - going on the idea that he was fairly certain the previous day was Saturday. The curtains over his small window were drawn, so there wasn't much light getting in; for that, at least, he was grateful.
However, he was fully awake - and that meant he wasn't getting back to sleep. With a weary groan, he hoisted himself out of the bed, picking up a pair of wrinkled jeans from the floor and carrying them into the bathroom.
After a long, warm shower- and pain reliever - he felt much better. He slipped on his jeans and found a clean shirt in his closet. The day had begun.
Normally wont to waste his mornings and afternoons away on the computer or in front of the television with a controller in his hand, Mokuba instead had a plan. Rebecca, that sneaky minx, was running off without giving him a proper goodbye.
And as Mokuba knew, that was just no way to be.
So grabbing his wallet and a set of Seto's keys, he set off to corner her at Yugi's and, if not win her ever-lasting love, then at least get her to accompany him to the dinner he was promised. He stopped quickly to grab some flowers to offer as a gift, then continued on towards his destination.
Yugi opened the door when he got there, obviously rather surprised to see him. "Oh, um... hi, Mokuba." Seeing the flowers, he could reasonably guess why the younger man had come. "Here to see Rebecca?" Mokuba nodded. "Ahh. Okay, then. She's in the guest room - leaving tomorrow."
"Oh, I know. And I'm here to catch her."
And Mokuba sped past him, leaving Yugi looking on in curious bemusement.
He found her, dressed in an over-sized button down and short, eye-catching shorts. She was packing.
More importantly, she was adorable.
Mokuba wore a goofy grin as he rapped gently on the door and gave her a tentative "Hello."
She looked up quickly and scowled. "I was hoping to avoid you until tomorrow."
That dampened his spirits slightly. He walked in and set the flowers down on top of a chest of drawers. "Well... Here I am! And it's still today."
Wearily, she rolled her eyes. "Yes, I can see that. And - "
"You still owe me dinner." He pointed an accusing finger at her. "Don't think I'm letting you get away without first cashing in."
For a moment, she seemed to hover, right on the edge of some decision. Then, in a clipped, no-nonsense tone she said, "I... Really don't think so."
"Why not?" he asked indignantly.
Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Because you're a cocky, narcissistic little prick." She looked at him defiantly, as though daring him to try to contradict her statement. "That reason enough?"
He threw his arms up in protest. "Oh my... Rebecca, I think that's a little harsh, don't you? I mean... Well damn, I'm not that bad. You saw me at my worst - give me another chance. And actually follow through this time. I'm a good guy!"
"Mokuba... Look, you're cute, but I just don't think you're my type of guy. I want somebody mature and you're..." She sighed. "Well you just don't seem ready to grow up. I'm sorry."
"That's not fair."
"What's not fair about it? I think it's perfectly within the realm of the acceptable to have a few personal preferences. "I..." She pointed to herself. "Do not like..." She shook her head firmly a few times, then pointed at him. "You."
"You have made that abundantly clear. But I think you've been a little too quick to judge. Maybe if - "
"I know I'm judgemental," she said, going back to her packing. "It's been a flaw of mine ever since I was a child. However, since it hasn't seemed to have led me astray previously..." She threw a few pairs of folded pants into her suitcase. "I don't think I'll try to change now."
Gritting his teeth, feeling rather put out, he tried to think of any way to get past her unfortunately solid defenses. "All right, then." He watched her move about for just a second longer. "Rebecca... I'm not asking you to change. I'm asking you to dinner - to eat while in my presence. You have to eat. Why can't I just be there while you do it?"
She didn't acknowledge he had spoken.
A pout was threatening to come to the surface of his lips. "Rebecca..."
She tossed him an annoyed glance over her shoulder. "You certainly are persistent, aren't you? I'll admit that maybe I shouldn't have agreed to the last date since I didn't really intend to keep my word, but if I agree to go with you today - to dinner - will you please leave me alone?"
Inside, he was leaping for joy; unable to help himself, he smiled. "That would be... Just..." His smile widened. "Great. That would be great."
Rebecca groaned a little, but continued packing. "Fine," she said, her tone clipped. "Can I at least come to a stopping point here? It's only just after lunchtime." She looked at the clock on the bedside table. "Give me about two hours, okay? Then you can... come pick me up and I suppose we'll go out."
"That sounds perfect!" Mokuba grinned broadly, clapping his hands together once. "I knew you'd see it my way - who can resist my..." He paused at the look she was giving him. He cleared his throat. "What I mean, of course, is that you are an exceptionally beautiful, kind young woman who is willing to put my atrocious behavior behind her."
That earned him a smile. "Very good. Now get out. I have to shower and get dressed before I can go out anywhere."
With a quick salute, Mokuba did exactly as he was instructed.
The time couldn't pass quickly enough. He tried sitting with Yugi, but that was just awkward. So he took the car out for a drive around Domino, stopping for a moment to buy a bottled water. Then he drove back to Yugi's. All together, he wasted about an hour and forty minutes. Just twenty minutes to go.
With innate grace, he plopped himself down onto Yugi's couch to await the arrival of his fair maiden. True, she had been dragonish once, but finally his fractured fairy-tale was straightening out. If, of course, no other princes got there first.
A moment later he heard footsteps. Rebecca appeared, a vision in purple and blue. She wore a well-tailored collared, button-down shirt in a deep shade of violet, legs set off by a straight leg, medium wash jean. Mokuba was enthralled. "Ready to go?" he asked brightly. "You... look very pretty."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She waved his words away as she led him outside to his car. "Thanks, I guess. You're paying, you know."
"Of course," he said, hurrying to open the passenger door for her. "I do come from a ver well-to-do family, after all." He grinned and - though his efforts were unnecessary - helped her into the car.
They sped away from Yugi's, off on the grand adventure of Mokuba's making. He tried to engage her in casual conversation, but though she answered in a mostly polite manner, she didn't seem truly interested in what he was saying.
He sighed and tried another tactic. "So... I heard you and Yugi dueled once. How'd you do?"
She seemed surprised he was interested. "Well, I... He would have beaten me actually, but then he forfeited."
"Really? Yeah, Yugi's noble like that - seems like something he would do."
"I was such a foolish little kid, then. I honestly thought I could beat him! I mean... I know I'm good, but Yugi's just on a whole 'nother level. He's incredible."
"Don't I know it. You didn't have to live with someone who could think about nothing besides beating him. Seto was... Well, Seto gets - shall we say - fixated. Beating Yugi was an obsession. There's still a lot of ill feeling there, too."
"You Kaibas." She shot him an unreadable look. "You're all crazy."
"Um..." He wasn't quite sure what would be an appropriate response. "Only... a little?"
She laughed and shook her head. "It was sort of a joke." Before he could look too happy, though, she said, "Don't get me wrong - I think both you and your brother are a little too close to the deep end, but there's not... much wrong with that. Even if it wasn't my first choice, I'm here with you now, aren't I?"
He smiled. "Yes. So see? No crazy here. Just..." He thought for a moment. "Ahh - too much charm. It can be a little overwhelming, I know."
Rebecca rolled her eyes, and to avoid saying anything he'd take offense to, she quickly changed the subject. "Your brother is the one obsessed with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, right?"
Mokuba groaned quietly and nodded. "Yes, that would be Seto, all right."
"That was actually what my duel with Yugi was about. I thought his grandfather had stolen one of the cards from mine, and I was determined to get it back. Of course, as it turns out, Yugi didn't have it anyway - so in the end it didn't matter that his grandfather hadn't stolen it and he forfeited the duel." She smiled fondly in remembrance. "I'm so glad I got to meet him, though. What an amazing man..."
"Yeah," Mokuba mumbled into his drink, "a real pillar of virtue."
Rebecca glared. "What was that?"
"Oh, nothing. I merely made a quick comment to myself about Yugi's obvious superiority."
Her lips thinned and her eyes narrowed. "At least he's not practically in love with a duel monster."
Mokuba decided to concede. "This is true. Seto does love those cards as though they were his babies. His scaly little reptilian babies."
This, to his delight, made Rebecca chuckle in spite of herself.
***
Sakura surveyed Otogi with interest, weighing out all his attributes in her mind. He had a thriving business with good income; he was handsome. And he seemed perfectly willing to be seduced. Exactly the type of man she could see herself spending money with.
The only problem, of course, was his rather mousy little girlfriend. Sakura had no time for frivolous things like girlfriends; no, she did not support infidelity, but far greater than her disapproval of that was her desire to look out for her own interests. If the guilt didn't affect the man, then she had no trouble putting the relationship he was in out of her mind as well.
He wasn't stupid, and he did have charm. Sakura wanted a comfortable life, but a few intelligent conversations along the way didn't hurt, either. His wealth might not have been equal to the Kaiba fortune, but Otogi was certainly more personable.
She smiled.
***
It went without saying, in Seto's mind at least, that after Anzu's admission of trust, she expected him to amp up the "boyfriend" behavior. It also went without saying that, in Seto's mind, that meant a small dinner date every few weeks. And maybe while they ate he'd smile at her with a fond gleam in his eye. Maybe.
So he had asked her to accompany him to a late lunch at a very small, very exclusive restaurant he knew of. It was possible that through some channel or other he might have even owned it. She was, of course, happy to spend time with him, though he - being the ornery, self-centered bastard he was so very good at being - would only scowl and take dainty little bites of his food, any manner of fond gleams completely absent from his cold, blue eyes.
Anzu didn't care.
They ate, the majority of the meal spent in a comfortable silence. Anzu would occasionally ask a question or make an observation, and dutifully Seto would continue the thread of conversation. He wasn't averse to speaking with her, of course - but in a public place, they couldn't have the kind of conversations he preferred to have: close, comfortable, intimate talks where there were no expectations and he could be honest without being expected to be sentimental. Which was probably why, he realized, most people believed he was just an asocial, work-obsessed duelist with all the soul of a computer.
Lucky for him he didn't care what others thought.
Once the meal had winded down and Anzu was sipping the last of her tea, she looked up rather shyly and said, "You're not busy for the rest of the afternoon... are you?"
Seto frowned. "I have no particularly pressing matters to attend to." After all, he had done more work than he perhaps should have the previous night, just to insure he could afford to take the time off to eat with her. He looked at her semi-curiously. "Why?"
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and shifted her gaze down to the table. "I thought we could... spend a little more time together. You've been busy lately, so I thought maybe we could talk - and I could fix dinner for you later, too."
Anzu was not good at pretense. He had not been busy, and their relationship was built partly on Anzu's great desire to talk together as much as possible. Because of her, he was rapidly moving towards gregarious on the verbal communication spectrum. However, an invitation like that was not something he took lightly. And if she planned to have him stay until dinner...
Then perhaps there would be little talking involved.
He frowned, looking at her with something close to a scowl. "I suppose. Since I've been... so busy lately." He caught her eye; she flushed slightly. He was inclined to tease her more, but she never seemed to appreciate how delicious she looked when riled quite as much as he did. So, clearing his throat, he said, "And since you seem so eager..." She raised an eyebrow. "To catch up," he continued with a smirk, "then perhaps we ought to leave... now." Seto could tell he was making her uncomfortable; she wouldn't meet his eyes for more than a moment, and her face was bright with something like embarrassment.
"All right." She stood up and pushed her chair in. "Then let's go."
Feeling quite complacent, Seto followed her. He paid their bill - an action that seemed to embarrassed Anzu, though since she couldn't afford it anyway he didn't know why it bothered her - and then they left. The ride to Anzu's apartment was nothing but tense silence and charged atmosphere. He watched her tap her fingers against her knee, and every so often she would catch him watching and give him an intense, piercing glare. Unfortunately for her, it had the opposite effect of what she intended. He shifted in his seat, wearing a lascivious smirk.
They were almost there.
Anzu hid her nervousness well as she unlocked the door to her apartment. "Come on in," she said brightly, holding the door open for him. They both entered and she set her purse down beside her as she sat down on the couch. "I thought we could... watch television, maybe," she said, intimidated by the still-standing Seto. She looked up at him tentatively. "If you want."
He didn't respond.
She felt around the cushions, looking for the remote. "Just... let me turn it on," she said, still looking. Seto watched on with amusement as her search grew slightly more frantic. She stood and began to dig into the couch. "I know the remote's here somewhere. I just... Don't know where - "
Seto grabbed her hand. She looked up, surprised. "You're so incompetent," he said, shaking his head. "Let me look for it; I'm sure my efforts would be more rewarding."
Instead of searching with her, however, he began to tug her in the opposite direction; she was confused. "Come along," he said. She made a feeble noise of protest when he said, "Let's look in your bedroom."
Oh...
She meekly allowed herself to be led, feeling very much like the situation recquired a "yes sir". Seto seemed quite comfortable, totally oblivious to her trepidation.
***
There we go! I haven't been able to work on it for nearly a week, because I couldn't log into the website, and that was the only place that had the few new paragraphs I had written. Ahh well. I'm back! Hopefully, this will be finished very, very soon. Ta, duckies.
-ILB
***