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Mamono: You rock. Thanks for helping.

Seto Kaiba didn't know why he had felt so horribly forlorn when Mazaki told him would not be visiting his brother as much. He did know that he couldn't let her do that. It was an irrational fear, a desperate need for him to continue to see her. He had no idea where that had come from. If that wasn't enough, the weird fluttering in his stomach hadn't receded whenever she was near, actually it had only intensified. He had always noted that she wasn't bad looking, even with her ceaseless babbling she had been an eye-catcher. Seto mentally shook himself; there was something very wrong with him if he started thinking about Mazaki in that way.

Dumbly, he realized that he had been gawking at Mazaki for at least five minutes, who was sitting with her idiotic friends across the cafeteria, and the retarded mutt had noticed and was now shooting an indignant glare his way. Kaiba shot one back; if he wanted to look at Mazaki, he damn well would. He watched as Anzu noticed the stare competition between him and the mutt. Kaiba gave him a satisfied smirk that had the mongrel bristling when Anzu scolded him, and Jounouchi had to retreat his gaze.

He continued to watch her discretely; she appeared to be mad at the mutt, her manner different from how she treated Yugi and Honda. Didn't she have any girl friends, Seto asked himself, as he saw Honda lean in to give her a quick hug. Must she always hang out with boys? That Ryou was making eyes at her. That poor fool, he looked like a lovesick puppy. Idiot boy.

Not that he cared or anything, he was just making some observations of his brother's friend. He didn't see Mazaki in that particular way. He ignored the voice in his head that told him the opposite. The only thing that Mazaki did to him was to drive him absolutely crazy.

She heard her laugher and thought, very much out of character, how pretty her laugh was. That girl was making him unbalanced. He was waxing poetic for goodness sake and he didn't even like her!

'Liar,' said a voice in his head that sounded remarkably like his brother.

'Am not,' he responded firmly.

'Sureeeeee,' the voice drawled.

'Shut up,' he told the voice angrily. Thankfully the voice quieted down.

Yep, Anzu Mazaki drove him absolutely insane. But she did justice to the ugly pink and blue uniform, he thought as he saw her rise from her seat. It looked much better on her than on any other girl in school. Her long legs made the skirt seem shorter and the shirt was tight across her…

She smiled at him as she passed him on the way to the exit. Had she always swung her hips in that manner? He felt his pants tightening at the sight

"Hey, Kaiba," the mutt's voice interrupted further delving into the question of Mazaki's swaying hips.

Kaiba looked bored as Jounouchi sat down in the opposite chair. He arched an eyebrow, waiting for Jounouchi to say something.

"Anzu's mad at me," he told the detached Kaiba.

"It's not my problem."

"She's mad at me because of you." Jounouchi expected him to look at least mildly surprised. Kaiba didn't even bat an eye, although his mind was whirling about what part he had played in the little drama. Well, if Anzu was pissed at the mutt, he'd happily do it again. "She seems to think that you're a decent person. It doesn't matter what we tell her, she still likes you for some reason. I just came to tell you that if you hurt her in any way I will kill you. Understood?"

Kaiba had never seen the mutt so serious and in that moment he was more than a little alarmed at the boy's lack of emotion. He didn't for one-minute think that the mongrel was joking. "How touching, mutt. I always thought that Mazaki could take care of herself…"

"She can, but I would still love to bash your head in." He got up from his seat and shot him a disgusted glare. "And I don't appreciate you checking my friend out like that. Your eyes were popping out of their sockets."

Had he been that obvious? That damn brat, just look at what she made him do!

Mokuba had a job to do; he had to give Anzu the present his brother had bought for her. He grinned impishly at that; his brother never ever bought anything for anybody except for him. Seto's secretary always took care of matters like that; associate's birthdays, promotions and the like. He knew his brother liked Anzu, and she liked him back. They just didn't know it yet. Mokuba could already imagine what it would be like if Anzu became his brother's girlfriend. She'd be his sister and maybe one day…

"What are you thinking about with that smile on your face?" Anzu asked, flicking his nose gently.

"Nothing," he replied. "Hold on a second," he said as he dashed to his room. It was now or never, he thought, as he retrieved the present. Seto said that he shouldn't tell Anzu that it had been him that had bought it, but Mokuba had no intention of doing that.

"Look, Anzu, my brother got you a present from New York," he shoved the present in her face.

For a while, that sentence did not make sense to Anzu. She looked at Mokuba strangely, as if waiting for another head to sprout out.

"Open it!" Mokuba cheered on.

Carefully, she removed the paper, then opened the velvet box. "Oh," she said, once she saw the content inside it. "He really bought it for me?" Anzu still couldn't believe it.

"Yeah, he picked it out himself, not his secretary."

"Wow." It was beautiful. The gift warmed her heart; it proved that he had been thinking about her during his trip, maybe as much as she had thought of him. Maybe he had even missed her a little bit…

"You should say thank you," Mokuba advised.

"Yeah," Anzu said as she went to Kaiba's office.

The knocking came as a surprise as it was still an hour early. "Come in," he said curtly.

Anzu came in shyly, now unsure of how exactly she was going to thank him. "Hi."

"Is that why you interrupted my work? To say 'hi?'" he said irritably.

"Umm, no. I wanted to thank you for the necklace. It's very beautiful. Thanks." She smiled brilliantly at him. His stomach gave that awful flutter again.

Mokuba, I'm going to kill you.

"It's nothing," he grunted at her while going back to his computer.

"Would you put it on for me?" she asked, handing him the box.

He took it automatically, wanting to say something scathing but controlling himself. "Turn around," Seto said as he stood up from behind his desk.

His hands were shaking for some reason as he took out the necklace. Anzu grabbed her hair, taking it out of the way. His hands went around her and her knees turned to jelly. Would it be bad if I leaned against him? Before she came to a decision, Seto had clasped the necklace. Was it her imagination or had Seto brushed his hands against her neck a while longer than he should have?

"Let me see," Kaiba said in a strange tone of voice. Anzu turned around slowly, nervous, but not knowing why exactly.

It lay there, just as he predicted, between her breasts, barely grazing the low cut red shirt. Seto swallowed hard, and met Anzu's sparking eyes. "It suits you," was all he said.

"I love it," she said and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him softly on the lips. Why is he so damn tall? "Thank you." She left him to his work.

Maybe I won't kill Mokuba after all.

Anzu had worn the necklace everyday; not once since he had put it on for her had she removed it. It was such a precious gift that she didn't want to take if off for fear of losing it or misplacing it. Besides, she liked how Seto always checked if she was wearing his present. He was pleased, she knew, that she wore it. She could see it in his eyes every time he confirmed that he necklace was on. And to be completely honest she enjoyed his appreciative glances down her shirt. Anzu sniggered, the poor boy probably thought he was being discreet. It would surely hurt his feelings if she didn't wear it, so she wore all the time to preserve his tender feelings.

Anzu snorted at that, drawing attention from the other occupants of the dance studio locker rooms. She had finished perfecting her dance routine for the upcoming Friday performance and was done for the evening. When the directors had told her she would be performing, more than a month before, she had ran over to Yugi's game shop to tell the guys the good news. Everyone had been invited to come see her… except the Kaiba's.

It wasn't that she didn't want them there, quite the opposite, it was just that she knew she would feel uneasy if he was to watch her dancing. He asked her if she had done anything without the help of her friends, at the time she had been furious, but now she wanted to prove herself to him. She loved dancing and she knew, without being arrogant, that she was damn good at it.

Still, she was afraid that he would find her lacking, revert back to his hateful persona and mock her. She was being silly, she knew, but the fear was there. Every time she had tried to tell him to come the butterflies in her stomached fluttered wildly, her palms would turn sweaty and the power of speech would desert her. She was so nervous around him, and lately, ever since he'd put the necklace on for her, the nervousness had only increased.

She didn't know where her sudden affliction had come from. Well, okay, she did. She had recently developed a severe case of attraction for the overbearing and arrogant son of a bitch. Anzu was none too happy about it. It just complicated things; Seto had finally softened towards her (barely) and here she was having romantic feelings for him.

No, not romantic feelings! Just attraction, a teeny tiny little crush. It'll go away.

She did care for him, as a friend. Only as a friend…. that she was acutely attracted to. Anzu sighed, packing her training clothes and exiting the locker room. It was the stupid teacher's fault, if she hadn't put them together as partners then she would never have gotten to know him better and would still be blissfully indifferent to him. Not that Kaiba didn't piss her off anyway, but he did it less regularly. Or maybe she had just gotten used to his moods.

Anzu had always thought herself as forward looking woman, someone who wasn't afraid to speak her mind and would have no trepidation over asking a guy out on a date. However, it was easier said than done, for she couldn't even summon the courage to ask Seto to come watch her dance.

Not that she would ever ask Seto on date; she had absolutely no desire to make a fool out of herself. The CEO had just only recently become friendlier with her, if it could be called that. The necklace was a sure of sign of him softening toward her, but by no means implied that he liked her like that. She wouldn't be dissuaded by the sometimes-conspicuous peeks down her shirt, as she had often caught Yugi doing the same thing and he had never shown any romantic inclinations for her.

She would just have to get over her crush, just like she had done with Yami. Really, there was no help for it. If she wanted to keep seeing Mokuba she would just have to learn to keep her emotions in check. Now for the first time, Anzu wished that she had girl friends, just so that she could have bouts of girl talk without making her friends uncomfortable. The only potential friends were Shizuku and Mai. She didn't know Shizuku well enough to confide in her and Mai was… Mai. She could just imagine telling Yugi had the she had the hots for his one-time enemy…

Anzu at first had decided to go to see Mokuba and Seto after her practice and tell them about her upcoming performance. At the last minute though, she chickened out and took the cowards way; she would call them instead.

She dialed their phone number from outside the dance studio and prayed that it would Mokuba that answered the phone. Anzu had chickened out again and decided that she would tell Mokuba and he could pass the news over to his brother. It would be perfect.

"Hello," Seto's deep voiced answered. He never answers the phone!

"Umm… hey, It's me. Anzu. I just wanted to tell you that I have a dance performance this Friday at six o'clock in the Domino Performing Arts Center and wanted to ask if you and Mokuba could come."

"I'm very busy, Mazaki."

"Oh, I see."

"Mokuba will be there."

"Yes, well, I was hoping you could come…"

"As I said I'm very busy."

"Okay…bye."

She hung up the phone before he could say goodbye. That's what pissed her off and confused her about him. He'd bought her a necklace on trip, meaning he had been thinking about her and now he didn't want to go see her because he was too busy?! The thought of him refusing her invitation had never even crossed her mind; she thought their friendship had least grown enough that he would want to see her perform, not that he would ever admit it. She was hurt, but she was even angrier with him for his inconsistent behavior toward her. He was driving her completely insane.

The theatre was more crowded than he expected it to be. Apparently the school that Anzu was currently been attending was one of the most reputed and its students were hailed as being the best of the best. Seto had done his research, he also knew that Anzu was attending the school with the help of a scholarship, which meant she must be really good.

"Mokuba, Kaiba!" Seto groaned when he saw Yugi calling them and waving furiously at them, gesturing to empty seats around him. Before he could find other seats for him and his brother, Mokuba had bounced away happily to greet Yugi.

It was how he had ended up squeezed between Otogi and Honda. No one challenged his presence; even Jounouchi only gave him a mild glare. Yugi was chattering away with his brother, both were ignoring him, Ryou would glare at him and then make sad eyes and then switch back to glaring, Shizuku smiled shyly at him and Mai gave him a thorough once over that had the confident CEO fidgeting in his seat. Out of no where, Jounouchi started arguing about something or other, Otogi was trying feel Shizuku up and Mai was giving him a weird look. It was all very disconcerting to him. He settled for the easiest conclusion that all Anzu's friends were weirdos. What the hell was he doing among them?

Then the lights dimmed and the music started. Seto sat straight in his seat, expecting the oncoming dancer to be Anzu. It wasn't and the expectation to see her dance increased exponentially until he was seething in his seat because Anzu was making him wait. Finally, at the end of the program she came out from behind the curtain and started to dance to the soft ethereal music.

"Wow, what a hot piece of ass." Seto heard Otogi murmur reverently next to him. Seto elbowed him painfully and mumbled a quick 'sorry,' simultaneously. Otogi didn't respond as the breath was knocked out of him, but Seto didn't noticed as he was enthralled in watching the graceful movements of Mazaki's body.

The tempo suddenly picked up, as did Anzu's movements, his breath was stolen as he watched Mazaki. She was dancing just for him, he was sure of it. Seto knew nothing about dance or ballet or any of the crap Mazaki seemed obsessed with but at the moment none of that mattered, he just knew that Anzu looked amazing. And she's so flexible…

The spell broke when she retreated behind the curtains, the audience suddenly came to their feet and were clapping madly. He was surprised to find out he was one of them.

"Wait, don't go," Yugi called out to Seto after the show." Let's go backstage."

Seto followed the weirdos, a few steps behind them of course, a bit hesitantly. He wasn't sure how Anzu would react to his presence; he'd told her he wouldn't come. He had been busy, but Mokuba convinced him to come, saying that Anzu wanted him to come see her and he would hurt her feelings if he didn't come. And then he'd given him the pout.

If he had any doubt that Mazaki wouldn't want him there, they were assuaged when she came out and launched herself at him, kissing him on the corner of his mouth. "You came!" she said happily.

She was wearing a pair of baggy sweat pants and a baggy tee-shirt, her face was scrubbed clean of any make up and her hair was done up in a messy pony tail. He thought he looked just as pretty as she had been onstage, maybe even more so. And maybe he had finally crossed the line and was now certifiably insane.

Anzu disentangled her arms from his neck and proceeded to greet the rest of her friends. Seto noted, not without pride, that he had been the first person she greeted and the only one that she kissed aside from Ryou, who had gotten her a bouquet of pink and white roses. Seto paid him no mind, after all he had gotten her a necklace, which he noticed, she was wearing underneath her large shirt. Still, maybe he should have gotten her something for the special occasion…

"Sweetie, you were wonderful!" A middle age woman, with the same blue eyes as Anzu called from the doorway. She embraced her tightly, kissing her happily.

"Mom!" Anzu laughed but let herself be babied by her mother.

"You must want to be with your friends. I'll leave you now, but don't get home too late. Bye guys!" She left as quickly as she had entered. Now, Seto knew from where Anzu had gotten her cheerfulness and endless energy.

"That was awesome, Anzu!"

"Wow, you rocked!"

"You looked great out there."

"Man, I didn't know you could dance like that!"

He waited patiently for her friends to finished their adoration so he could ask her if she wanted to go for some dinner with him and Mokuba for a sort of celebration…

"Hey, Anzu, let's go celebrate!" One of her idiot friends said.

Anzu glowed at the idea and Seto felt like murdering every single one of her friends.

"You coming?" She asked, turning toward him.

He was tempted, very tempted to agree, but just one look at the weirdos had him shaking his head. Jounouchi was trying, unsuccessfully, to strangle Honda, Shizuku was tittering at them while Otogi checked her out from behind, Yugi was rolling his eyes and trying to stop the commotion, Ryou was brooding at the corner and that Mai woman was still giving him that odd look again.

"You could come with Mokuba and me," he asked her quietly so none of the others could hear.

"I'm sorry but I have to go with my friends," she looked genuinely disappointed.

Her friends, she has to go with her friends. I'm not one of her friends.

"Seto, can we go too?" Mokuba asked, sliding in between them.

"You go."

"Cool! Thanks, Seto!" He ran to Yugi and Jounouchi.

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Anzu asked hoping he would change his mind and come with her. "It'll be fun."

"I'm sure."

"Fine, I guess I'll see you around."

Seto watched somberly as they exited the room, his brother happily laughing and Ryou holding the door open for Mazaki, he stiffened when he saw Ryou place his hand at the small of Anzu's back, leading her out. Ryou turned and gave him a triumphant smirk, very similar to one of his own.

He stayed put for a few moments, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. Why did he care so much about who Anzu decided to spent her time with? He swept out of the room, angry with Mokuba for deserting him and at Mazaki for… for… letting that idiot touch her and leaving with her friends instead of him!

How about… some chocolate today?