A.N: This took me ages to write…#sigh#
Disclaimer: I do not own, or have ever claimed to own the rights etc. to Yuu-Gi-Ouu, its plots and characters. I've never met the people that do, or anyone who knows them. This is written out of love for the characters and admiration for the creator.
Tea Break
Masaki Anzu had no idea why she was here. You'd think she would, considering how long it took to get here. Loads of time to think of a good excuse. She could feel her feet bruising inside her shoes. Silly, she knew, to walk anywhere in these high boots. They were probably ruined now. If she'd taken a taxi, the trip would probably have taken all the money she owned. Instead, she'd walked and ruined her new shoes. Idiot. Why did he have to live all the way out here anyway?
Of course that just brought her back up to why she was here in the first place.
It wasn't like he went to her school anymore. He didn't have to. He was smarter then most people, way smarter then her, he had all the knowledge he needed, degrees included. She thought the only reason he participated in going to her school, in amongst running his 'big company', KaibaCorp., and taking University classes, he was just doing the necessary tedious work until he reached the appropriate age to quit.
Anzu figured she'd figure out what to do when the time came. He may not even be there. Then she'd have nothing to worry about. She could go home, take a nice warm bath, and snuggle into her comfy bed.
Of course, that would mean her effort to get here would be wasted, her shoes ruined for nothing and leave her feeling worthless.
Again, why was she at his house?
Walking up the stairs was an effort. There were so many. Her feet really hurt. Trust him to have so many stairs to go with such a grand house. Then again, she'd never supposed he'd been into doing anything fancy besides his brother, games and getting new coats.
Ringing the doorbell even proved an effort. Pressing one little button. Home seemed more appealing each second passing.
The door opened easily. Anzu had been expecting a butler or a servant of some sort to do such things. It surprised her that he opened his own front door. Well, like she already thought…he wasn't into fancy stuff. He wasn't disabled. He could do it himself. It was all about him.
"What do you want?"
Anzu felt her heart quiver.
'Think, Anzu, think! Anything will do!'
"I…I…I…was…w-w-won-der-I-in-g if…maybe…you'd mind…ta-a-ak-ing-ing…a bre-ak…to…hav-e…tea?"
Great. She'd walked all this way to have tea.
'Good one Anzu. Awesome thinking. Even Jou could have done better!'
He was wearing a new coat she noticed. He seemed to like wearing coats. She couldn't think of many times when he hadn't been wearing one. It was probably his one shopping hobby. Like her fascination with shoes. Like the ones on her poor feet.
It was too bad he always had a coat on really. She could tell he had a good body underneath.
"I wonder if he works out…?" she mused out loud.
"What?"
Anzu blushed. She'd gone and done it again. What an awesome day.
Why was she here again?
"Look, I have better things to do then stand out here watching you goggle at me" He said in that hard but handsome tone. The one that made her feel wobbly. Why the hell did he talk like that?
"Right then" He attempted to close the door on her but Anzu stuck in one of her feet. They would so deserve a foot spa after this…
"Wait, Kaiba-san" Anzu pleaded. He gave her a look and opened the door. Anzu wasn't sure what to make of the look. He gave lots of looks, most of them spelling impending disaster on Yugi's behalf.
"Are you coming in or am I bringing your tea out here?" Anzu blushed. He'd mentioned her tea excuse. She must sound so childish and trivial. She was only a little girl with big dreams to him. Why was she here?
Anzu stepped inside. At least he was letting her in. He wasn't going to utter something sarcastic and slam the door in her face. Then again that would have made it easier. Now she had to think of things to say.
It felt cold inside, Anzu thought rubbing her bare arms. He must have air conditioning. It had been hot outside and very light, whilst in here it was just a grey white light. Anzu observed he had all the curtains closed, through the sun managed to cast shadows on the walls. The walls were all white. Looking around Anzu could see the house was bare of personal items, photographs, nick-knacks and the usual clutter you would expect. Anzu supposed he had a maid or something to clean the house, as it was spotless. Kaiba may have been a clean organised person but there was no way the cleanliness of his huge house was all because of him.
She walked behind him, watching his tall figure as she followed behind him. Anzu wondered how he knew where he was going; they had already passed many rooms. It was like walking around in the maze of a pyramid. Anzu's parent's small suburban house was nothing like this.
After about 10 minutes, Kaiba took a left from the long hall into a brightly-lit room with a high ceiling. Anzu supposed they were in the back half of the house. Anzu bit her lip as she realised Kaiba was staring at her.
'I can't even tell if he's angry! He always looks angry and you can't be angry all the time! Why is giving me that look? Have I done something wrong? Oh, why did I even come here?'
"Sit" he ordered and left. Great. Anzu could here his footsteps walking further away. It occurred to her that he might just leave her here. Then again, not even Kaiba was that rude.
Was he? It's not like she knew him well…
Anzu sighed again. Why was she here?
This room seemed more worn then the others. Anzu couldn't tell why. It was immaculate with the same black and mahogany furniture, the same white walls. Perhaps it was the high ceiling. This was the only room she'd seen with a high ceiling. It slanted and was supported by mahogany planks.
'He must really like mahogany wood and black furniture…'
Or maybe it was the cds, tapes and DVDs sitting on the self next to the wide screen television. They had to be handpicked and were the only things that she had seen that had shown that someone actually lived in the house, it wasn't like a hotel, or a museum.
Anzu stared at the titles, trying to find something they had in common. They all seemed to be of western origin, stuff she she'd never even heard of. Too bad she was only a beginner in the English language.
Hehe. Maybe he'd tutor her!
'Oh, stop dreaming, Anzu. Like he'd even care. Besides, he's way too busy. Your lucky he even bothered to let you in'
It had been several minutes since Kaiba had left. They had walked down his long hallway in silence. Again, Anzu was having doubts about her reasons for being here and wether he was even coming back.
"Maybe I should just leave…" Anzu whispered. For some reason she almost wanted to cry. She shook her head and gave a determined face.
"I'm here to...and…uh…" Anzu's face dropped. Back to square one.
He hadn't told her where to sit. There was a laptop computer sitting opposite a single black sofa. It was obvious at this point that Kaiba liked living in a western style. At home she had her computer sitting on a low table and sat on a bright pink cushion. Anzu noticed Kaiba also had a normal computer on a desk next to the media shelf, a swivel chair opposite. Anzu wouldn't be surprised if there was a computer in every room. After all, Kaiba's company was into that sort of thing. Of course the computers in this room were colour co-ordinated with the rest of the furniture.
Two large black sofas sat opposite each other on each of the sidewalls, as the other two walls were occupied with the entranceway into the room and the other taken up by the large window. There were mahogany side tables on the diagonal of the sofa corners, each with a beige coloured lamp. On the other side of the sofas were large leafy pot plants. On the entrance side, was the single chair with the laptop sitting on a small tea table in the centre of the room. The room was huge, so it didn't look cluttered.
Anzu sat upon the sofa on the right, putting her feet up. She'd take them off before Kaiba came back. If he came back. It had to have been at least 20 minutes since he'd left. She'd had plenty of time to take up the room and it's atmosphere. Anzu yawned. The walk had really taken her energy away. No way was she going to do that again. It felt good to put her poor feet up, through she knew she shouldn't. She didn't care. They were sore. She was glad she had worn thick socks with her boots. Her feet had been hot, but were slightly cushioned (she didn't want to think about how bad they might feel if they hadn't been), and they wouldn't show how awful her feet must look to the world. Anzu wouldn't dare check till she got home.
Home.
Shit, she'd have to walk back all the way across town again. The buses didn't take the route she needed to get home. She didn't want to spend all her money on a cab. Great. Maybe she could ask Kaiba to take her home?
Yeah right.
Anzu sighed again; the walk was going to make her a wreck if she wasn't one by the end of this. She might as well take advantage of her situation and prepare for it. That tea wouldn't be so bad after all.
Anzu looked up to see a small crystal chandelier. She bit her lip again. She should really be thinking about why she was he-
"Is iced green tea, ok? I figured you'd probably like a cold one, more then one hot…" Kaiba said bringing in a tray with tea cups, a glass, a pot of steaming hot tea, a mug coffee and what looked like upside down pineapple cake. Anzu looked up as he walked in and quickly dropped her feet. Then her eyes opened wide.
The bastard could actually laugh like a normal person once in a while.
Further more he was laughing at her.
Further more…he seemed…nice.
And considerate of others.
Anzu was blushing furiously and backtracking through her speeding thoughts. This didn't seem right. Did Kaiba have a clone?
This was so out of character…
"It's alright, Anzu, Mokuba puts his feet up on the sofa all the time"
Great, she was acting like his little brother.
'I've totally messed this up…' Anzu thought biting her lip. Kaiba had turned on the laptop on the table and was typing something already.
'Great. He's ignoring me. Think of something witty and interesting to say!'
"Ah…so being the president of one of the biggest company in Japan means lots of work, huh?"
Anzu blushed.
'Oh, did that come out wrong…what a stupid thing to say…please don't think I'm idiot…'
"Yes, but your lucky, what I'm working on today isn't that important" Kaiba said, glancing up at her. Anzu gave him a nervous smile and reached over for her glass.
Their fingers touched.
Electricity spread through Anzu's body. Kaiba had reached for his tea at the same moment as she did. Anzu grabbed her glass and drew away quickly, hoping he wouldn't notice that she'd spilt a little on herself or how red her face must be.
"Are you still taking dance lessons?" Anzu looked up at him, but his face was on the computer screen again.
'How did he know that?'
"Yeah, I am…" Anzu gathered and clutched a section of her skirt, hoping her nervousness wouldn't show.
"I saw you, you know…in the main production last year…you were really good"
'He saw me?' Anzu fought against wanting to choke. She'd had danced well, she'd been the main character. But…did he have to compliment her?
'Would you rather he say you were awful?'
Of course not.
"Where's Mokuba-chan? I haven't seen him," Anzu asked, changing the subject away from herself.
"He's visiting some friends of his" Kaiba said, his face now concentrating on hers. Anzu wondered if he could see right through her, it sure felt like it. Like he knew every last detail of her life and her private thoughts and feelings. Seconds past, filled with silence, just staring. He at her, her at him. Anzu felt like the butterflies in her stomach had started gnawing away at her heartstrings. Her breath, she realised had become heavy and quick, just like after a long, tiring dance…
Something told her to turn away, or lose something important. Anzu wanted to so badly. There was something else; something that would not let her…and she didn't want it to either.
Beep.
The connection broke and Anzu could finally turn away, hoping he could not see how red her face must be, how sweaty her hands must be, how all together gross she must be, how hard her heart was pumping, how much she wished…
What was she doing? Why was she here? Why did she feel like this?
The answer rushed to her head, just as quickly as Kaiba typed away at his laptop.
'I'm following my heart being here, and I know exactly what to do…'"Stop!" Anzu said suddenly, clambering over to Kaiba's side.
However, she was just as surprised as she had been when she was announced to be the lead for the dance production. She felt different, more complete, more worthwhile. Love isn't like a duel. Life isn't just about winning. And sometimes long, hot walks across town are worth it. In fact, even losing her new shoes didn't matter so much, because Kaiba, Seto, Kaiba Seto, had pressed his lips against hers.
Maybe, just maybe, those shoes would still be under warrantee…
Yes, well…
… # Rei Ant # …
