Chapter Nine: Reasons Why

It was the second day of the tournament and Seto Kaiba had already secured himself a spot in tomorrow's finals. The day itself was very rigorous and tiring, with only 32 duelists and all of them being top-notch. It proved to be challenging for Penelope to keep up with many of them who had been dueling for years. She had only been dueling for barely a year.

Right now Joey was in the middle of a duel, playing against Penelope's brother, Chris. And Chris was winning.

Joey had his Swordsman of Lanstar and his Rocket Warrior out on the field, and they were currently being overpowered by a giant monster that looked like a pot plant.

But then again, Chris smokes pot so nobody was surprised. Seto Kaiba and Mokuba watched from the top deck. Seto hoped that the mutt wouldn't win…he was just an amateur that was really lucky to even be in Kaiba's tournament.

"Well Mokuba, it looks like Wheeler is going to loose to a kid who has a deck full of plant monsters and naked girls. I've got other things to do, so tell me who wins," he said walking away.

"You're leaving? But why?"

"I have a tournament to run, remember?" Mokuba nodded.

"Alright Seto. I'll tell you who wins after this." Seto nodded back and went back down below to the lower deck--almost tempted to stop and stare at how hot Penelope was today. Today she was wearing a simple long sleeved black shirt, a short plaid mini skirt that was tan with black and red lines. She had black and gold chains over her skirt and her shoes were bright red high heels. Her makeup was dark, but not as dark as it was yesterday. Natalie told her to go easy on the makeup so it wouldn't overpower her outfit.

'Most girls wouldn't be allowed out of the house if they wore that,' he thought to himself. She was showing off a lot of leg today, and Seto seemed to like it.

"What the hell are you looking at?" she said putting her hands on her hips.

"Nothing," he said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do than watch Wheeler loose to a pot plant."

Penelope rolled her eyes and went back to watching Joey duel her younger brother. But every now and then her thoughts went to Seto and how he kissed her last night.

Even though she slapped him across the face, sometimes she wondered what would've happened if she let her heart lead the way.

'I probably would've slept with him,' she thought. 'Just like I did with my last boyfriend.'

During her time as a cheerleader in high school, Penelope used to go to parties and spend a lot of time with her sister and the squad.

That was how she met her first boyfriend. He was on the soccer team and he pretty much sucked her in and told her he would never hurt her and they would be together forever…and she bought it--hook, line and sinker. Last winter she gave him her virginity and he ended up breaking up with her two weeks later. Apparently she wasn't good enough and he had been seeing another girl the entire time!

After breaking up with her first boyfriend, Penelope decided she would never let that happen again, so she started rebelling and finding ways to keep guys away from her. That included playing duel monsters, getting her eyebrow pierced and changing the way she dressed.

'And people wonder why I don't trust guys,' she thought. Seto was the only one who didn't heed any of her warning signals. He found them inviting.

Penelope began thinking more and more about last night and was starting to wonder if she should give him a chance. Sure he was a jerk to a lot of people, but that was probably a front for who he really was inside. She came to learn from the kiss that maybe Seto Kaiba does have a heart.

"Time Wizard, go!" Joey said playing one of his favorite cards. Time Wizard aged all of Chris's monsters, making all the female monsters really old and saggy, and causing all of his plant type monsters to whither, cutting their attack power in half. Joey then proceeded by attacking all of his monsters and winning the duel.

"Yes! I won! I won!" Joey said doing a victory dance.

"Great job Joey!" Yugi said running over to him.

"Hey thanks, Yugi." Then Joey turned to Chris. "It was fun dueling you. You did well too."

"Thanks, bro," Chris said. "I had fun too." The two teens shook hands and Chris went back below deck to most likely pack his things. They would be dropping off all the loosing duelists at the next town in a few hours, leaving the remaining finalists to battle it out tomorrow.


Penelope dueled later in the day, defeating one of the few girls that was actually on board the boat. Her dragon came in handy once again and that evening she proved to be in a very good mood.

Tonight everyone had the night off and most of the duelists went back to their rooms to plan out their strategies for tomorrow, or socialize with their friends. Seto saw that as an advantage to see a certain orchid-haired girl.

He visited the dining room for a few minutes, but disappointed when he saw that she wasn't there. He checked upstairs and eventually found her on deck like last night. The sun was just starting to set and she was alone at the front of the ship watching the sun. Her long hair was blowing in the breeze, and Seto wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch it. He hoped that all those small spiral curls would be soft and not rough (or fake) like so many other girls he had seen.

Penelope's eyes were closed and she was so focused on the feeling of the wind that she didn't even listen to the soft footsteps that were coming up behind her.

She opened her eyes and without thinking she turned around and was very surprised to see Seto standing behind her.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be plotting your victory tomorrow like everyone else?"

"Has it occurred to you that maybe I have better things to do than sit in my room and shuffle my cards all night?"

Penelope scoffed at him and leaned forward against the railing of the deck.

"Well, when I beat you tomorrow, then you'll be wishing you would've done that."

"I don't see you preparing for tomorrow," Seto said crossing his arms and trying to intimidate her.

"It's called relaxing. It's pretty hard to relax when you have room mates."

Right now Tea had her favorite Michael Jackson songs blaring, and the two girls were bouncing around the room in t-shirts and underwear, singing into their hairbrushes. Penelope wouldn't join even if they paid her. So she came up to the deck to get some peace and quiet…except that Kaiba had just ruined it. She looked up into his eyes, and it was clear he wanted something. But what? As smart and perceptive as Penelope was, she had a difficult time reading Seto.

"I see," he said. For a while the two stood in silence, not even so much as staring each other down.

"So why did you come up here anyway?" Penelope asked him.

"I…I came to apologize for yesterday…and I was hoping we could try this again."

Penelope was taken aback at his comment.

'Is Seto Kaiba…apologizing? I was pretty sure he didn't do that.'

"So you're apologizing?" she asked him.

"Yes. I am." Seto paused and then took a breath. "I don't know how to say this…but I can't stop thinking about you."

"Me? Are you for real?" she asked him. Penelope was quite surprised that Seto (or anyone) would ever say that to her. "So do you like me?"

Seto appeared calm on the outside, but on the inside he was freaking out. It was going to be very hard to admit that he actually cared about someone else besides his younger brother.

"Yes," he said softly. "I know I haven't been that nice to you when we first met, but I want to try and change that. I want us to try this again."

Penelope and Seto stared at each other--not in awkward silence, but a sense of understanding. Sure, there were still a lot of walls they put up to keep others out, but they were beginning to break down. Their faces had little distance between them and the gap was slowly closing. Seto was hoping he would dominate her and make the first move, but her lips captured his instead, pulling him into a heated, passionate kiss.

His hands moved down to her hips and pressed her against his body, taking in how wonderful she smelled and how perfect their bodies fit together. Their kisses became hungrier each second, both of them now realizing the sexual tension that existed between them. Seto wanted nothing more than to bring her to his room, tear her clothes off and make her his. His hands moved up from her hips and underneath the sides of her shirt, touching her soft bare skin underneath. She didn't protest as his lips came in contact with the crook of her neck, sending chills down her spine and getting a good moan out of her.

"Seto…please…" she whispered in his ear. "Stop. I don't want anyone to see us."

Seto pulled away from her, not surprised she wanted to stop.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her. Penelope pulled away from him, taking a few steps back from what had just happened. "Do you not like me?" She hesitated and shook her head.

"No…it's not that at all. It's just…it's me. I don't want to talk about it right now."

Seto looked at her and then focused his eyes on the wide river that was ahead.

"Well then, I suppose I should go. Too bad…I was hoping we would get a chance to talk."

"We both know that's just an excuse to get me to sleep with you," Penelope said as she neatened out her clothes.

"Why would you say that?" he asked her. "Do you think I would do that?"

"Every guy I have dated has tried. And I doubt you're any different."

Seto went over to her and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not like those other guys. And for the record, every girl I've has tried the same tactic on me, but none of them have succeeded."

"That's because no one wants to date a guy who has a stick shoved up their ass," she said taking his hand off her shoulder.

Seto stepped back, not surprised she would do or say that. In fact, he was starting to get used to her smart remarks…no…he actually liked her feisty attitude. He stood behind her and placed his hands on her hips, pulling her body close to his.

"I don't want anyone…except for you."

Seto's lips were so close to her ear when he said that. The worst part was that Penelope was enjoying this…a lot. Right now she wanted nothing more than to have him kissing her. She turned around and ran her fingers through his silky brown hair, taking in those sapphire blue eyes that she was hypnotized by. Seto leaned in closer, so his lips were just an inch from hers and--

"Hey Penelope! Where are you?" Penelope and Seto both opened their eyes and took a few steps away from each other as soon as they saw Stephanie and Tea running towards them.

"There you are!" Tea said. "Steph and I were wondering where you had run off too."

"Nothing really, I was just leaving."

"Same here. I try to have an intelligent conversation, but it's obvious you can't even do that," Seto said crossing his arms and scowling at Penelope.

"Whatever. Why don't you go socialize with a cactus? You both have the same social capabilities," Penelope said trying to egg him on. Seto left and went back to his room.

"So I'm guessing you two were at it again?" Tea asked. "Did he insult you?"

"I don't really care," Penelope said. "I've heard better insults from a five year-old. Now, I think I'm going to go and figure out my strategy for tomorrow," she said.

"No problem," Stephanie said. "We'll give you some piece and quiet. Tea and I are going to take a walk while you do that."

Penelope nodded and went back down below to her room.

"Hey Tea?"

"What?"

"Wasn't it obvious what they were really doing?" she asked.

"It was totally obvious when I saw the purple lipstick all around Kaiba's mouth!" Both of them squealed and laughed with delight, and continued walking around the deck. Little did they know that someone was not only listening to their conversation, but had seen Seto and Penelope's makeout session.

And he certainly was not happy about it…not happy at all…


Hope you liked the chapter. I'm sorry if the updates have been slow. I've been really busy student teaching and have almost no time to write anymore. From chapter 10 and on, the story will be rated M due to a scene on a dining room table with two of your favorite main characters.

Please review! :)