Wrong MP3!

---

The next bus was long away when Avril arrived at the stop, thinking of the yet-to-be-cooked arroz and frijoles awaiting for her at the apartment. She sat on the bench, unrolling her earphones, feeling bothered. Probably she felt that way at least partly because the day was so hot, and at least partly because she always felt sluggish on the way home after a workout, but Kaiba really upset her today.

The last thing I need is the advice of a wanna-be therapist with an associate's degree in psychology.

As she fumbled with a knot, Avril knew he was right. She had always been too curious for her own good, and she knew she had to mind her own business sometimes. But the closeness between her and Kaiba, though still subtle, was growing stronger--slowly but surely. Ironically, he said not to long ago at the Polytech event,

You'll make a good psychologist.

Kaiba could open slowly one minute and shut himself up the next; for a fleeting second you could almost think he was your friend, and then before you knew it, you had better call him "Mr. President". That's if he gave you a couple seconds to know him better.

The ends finally came apart in her fingers and she put the phones in. She turned her iPod on, flipped through songs with her head against the bus station's glass pane and her eyes closed, and picked a song at random.

Unexpectedly she heard a lengthy piano piece with an instrumental background. It was good and would be better with some lyrics, but she didn't remember downloading it. She looked through the playlist and discovered a collection of mostly Classical works and unrecognizable titles. This isn't my iPod. Did we uses Kaiba's today? We did. Crap. Now she had to take it back to Kaiba Quarters, because she couldn't live without her music and Kaiba probably couldn't either.

---

After the lesson Kaiba took his iPod (which had miraculously buzzed dead even after charging it all), put it to charge and called Mokuba.

"Hey, bro!"

The kid was funny. Kaiba smiled rather perfunctorily at the sound of his cheerful voice. "Hey, Mokuba." His brother was out with friends for the day. "When are you coming home?"

"Seto, Jiro's mom said we could stay over; that okay?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Seto."

"See you later. Tomorrow."

"Later!"

Kaiba's smile faded. He sat at the piano and flipped through his neat folder of sheet music, picking his newest piece. It was a new song for the soundtrack of a sequel game he was making. Earlier today, after he visited Domino Orphanage, he listened to some test recordings of a some artists--the lead singer of Rin, Ayumi Hamasaki, Leona Lewis--a couple others, but he had yet to make his decision. He needed a voice that was both light and strong, and overall, very supple. Most people knew him only as a businessman and an expert Duelist, but he was also a very talented pianist.

His mother Anoush was a former ballerina and tried to encourage his artistic talents. She placed him in a ballet class at age three, perhaps hoping to immerse him in the dance while he was still too young to pick up societal gender biases. (Needless to say, ballet didn't work out.) When he turned five he took piano lessons and began a lifelong affair with the piano. By age eight, he was writing his own songs and kept the sheet music in his father's file cabinet, so his father could show it off to friends and family. In the orphanage he practically owned the keyboard and maybe composed a furious pace of two songs a week. (Later he donated several instruments, including a decent piano, for the orphanage.) But after Gozaboru adopted him, Kaiba was forbidden to play, although he still composed many songs and constructed his own mechanical piano or played the various ones in the mansion, in privacy.

At times Kaiba felt closer to the piano than he did with people. The relationship was almost intimate. He felt the power of notes building under his hands, every sound rolling cleanly from his fingertips, expressing in music what he simply could not express in words…

There was a soft humming behind him.

He stopped playing and looked over his shoulder.

Nelle. She stood behind him with her arms crossed in front of her, leaning on one leg. The slight smile on her face faded a little. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly. "I didn't mean to come in without knocking, but I was outside a while and the door was open, and I heard you playing…"

For a strange moment, Kaiba couldn't think. What?

"…and you left this."

She set an iPod on the piano top; it was identical to his. No--it was his, he realized.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

He rubbed his forehead, suppressing the wordless emotions that trembled beneath him. "Nevermind. It's okay, Nelle. Uh, I have your iPod charging there."

"Oh. Thanks." She sounded relieved. "That's…a really good song you were playing. What's it called, if I may ask?"

"For now, 'Simple and Clean.'"

"Interesting. Did you write it?"

"Yeah. How did you know?" he asked suspiciously.

"I didn't. But you're a very natural pianist, I can tell." He looked so involved with his music. Avril was surprised yet not surprised. It took so much effort for him to reach the same comfort level with dancing, such that he relied almost too heavily on music to reach that level. When she walked in, she felt like she was intruding on a private moment, and Kaiba exhibited expressions she had never seen on him. He looked much less agitated now than he did earlier, though when he noticed her, he covered the piano keys as though hiding a shameful secret, as though afraid to appear vulnerable. His long-fingered hands were a little sweaty; perhaps they were cold, too.

"Thank you," he said at last.

"How long have you been playing?"

"About fifteen years, now. Do you play?"

He would have expected her to at least know a little instrumental music, but she shook her head No. "I can't even play a Do-Re-Mi on one of those plastic recorders."

Kaiba grinned with amusement.

Avril's fingers traced across the piano's highly-polished, black surface. "Are there no lyrics?"

"Actually, there are." He flipped to the beginning of the sheet music and showed them to her. As she studied them, Kaiba wondered--for the heck of it--if he should try out Nelle's voice. He had never heard her sing, she wasn't a professional and she probably wasn't be the voice he was looking for, but now that he was sitting at a piano with a voice at his disposal, he should use it. "Go on, give it a shot." He flipped the cover open and spread his fingers on the keys, waiting.

"Um…"

"What?"

"I don't know how to read music."

He looked at her incredulously. "How the heck can you work at your club and not know…?"

"I learn by ear," she said dismissively. "Just--just play a little, and I'll catch up. Trust me."

Now even less sure, Kaiba began to play having memorized the piece. He studied Nelle's hand, which lay across the piano's surface, the fingers tapping rhythmically. When he began again, she sang:

The daily things, like this and that

That keep us all busy

Are confusing me…

That's when you came to me...

And said

Wish I could prove myself to you

But does that mean I have to walk...on water?

When we are older you'll understand

It's enough

When I say so

And maybe, some things are that simple

He listened to her and could close his eyes without thinking. Here it was! It was light and soft enough but not too much so that it did not persevere through the notes. There were mistakes, but otherwise Nelle delivered almost every word effortlessly…

When you walk away

You won't hear me say

Please...oh baby

Don't go

Simple and clean is the way I go, tonight

It's hard to let it go--

"Enough," he said.

She lowered his sheet music. "So?"

"Very good," he said, but she was actually very, very good. How could she have managed that song in a few seconds? "You have a unique voice."

"Well, there is only one voice per person…" she shrugged a little too dismissively.

"Avril. That was a compliment. So you're welcome." He stood up. "Have you ever recorded?"

He noticed a very slight red coloring barely visible under her amber complexion. "No."

"Well, I'm offering you a chance to record this song for my new soundtrack."

Avril looked perplexed, as well as a little embarassed. "Do you sing too…?"

"No, it's a soundtrack for my new game. Are you going to take it or what?"

"Thank-you. It's just that I've--I've never done that before."

"I think you should do it." His tone hung between persuasion and coercion. "I mean, you're no professional, but you definitely had the voice I had in mind, and you can learn how to read music as well as hone your skills. It's a win-win. So enough shyness."

She smiled. "All right then. Thanks, Mr. Kaiba."

"Seto. You can say that if you want." He pushed the sheet music back to her. "Just stay a couple minutes. Let me hear that again."

And they started the music again.

---

Disclaimer: I do not, again, I do not own or profit from YuGiOh, Utada Hikaru's "Simple and Clean," both the rightful property of their respective owners.

Sorry for the long update! Sometimes things get hectic. :P