DisclaimerI don't own Yugioh, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu-Yu Hakusho, Hikaru no Go.
To be the Strongest
Chapter 8: So you want to be the strongest?
"Oh yes…the pirate shall hang!" Hiei smirked both obviously relishing the thought of Shuura finally getting a little comeuppance!
"So while we think of a way to properly deal with the pirate let us continue…" Aoshi added after a brief pause…
Chizuru did indeed return by 3 in the morning just as Victoria was completing her third round on the kids. Dr. Gensai called from the emergency room around that time saying he had a boy in the emergency room that looked like one of the kids from the night of the kidnapping but the boy was alone and had no ID on him. Victoria left Chizuru, Hannya and Katsuta (Sano's father - who had returned from searching for Shuura) with the children and went to investigate.
She was horrified to find that the unconscious child on the emergency room bed was none other than Hiei. She took responsibility for the boy and paid his hospital bill then took him home as soon as the doctor released him in her care. Hannya tried to contact his parents once they arrived. Hiei's father answered loudly and rudely. He bluntly told Hannya that he had no sons and slammed the phone on his ear. It would take them sometime to find out what happened but in the end it was decided that Hiei would stay with Hannya and Aoshi. Victoria even got his parents to sign over custody of him to Hannya some time later.
When morning came Chizuru and Victoria prepared breakfast in silence. The phone rang and it was Misao wanting again to find out if she could talk to Aoshi. Aoshi refused and Hannya made up yet another excuse. The boys slowly made their way down from their rooms and quietly sat around the table. Kurama fussed around his brother endlessly but Kenshin accepted his brother's attention with equally endless patience. Yusuke and Kazuma showed up just in time for breakfast and things livened up a bit for the boys.
Shuura eventually came down to breakfast wearing Sano's school uniform. She declared in a loud imitation of her somewhat self-righteous sister that she refused to be "Just another brick in the wall!" and decided that she would wear a boy's uniform the rest of the school year. She explained that it was her way of "sticking it to the man" and it was simply horribly sexist and so not fair that boys got to wear comfortable clothes and girls were stuck wearing stupid skirts!
"In America kids get to wear whatever they want!" she declared defiantly stuffing a slice of her blueberry pancakes in her mouth. The boys laughed, high-fived her and cheered her on! Seeing the brief smile and hearing the soft chuckle from Aoshi meant so much at that moment to Hannya that if the girl had asked him for the moon he would've bent over backwards to get it for her!
Hannya picked up the phone to call the principal and have Hiei excused for the day and give the man a heads up on Shuura's plan. He knew the principal had a soft spot for the Kamiya sisters so Shuura wouldn't get into too much trouble. So once breakfast was done Victoria pulled Shuura back upstairs for a minute to talk to her.
"You see I told you! I knew you could help them!" Victoria crowed triumphantly. Shuura beamed with joy not caring if she got in trouble at school or not. Victoria reached into her closet for a different shirt. Sano's white shirt was too big for Shuura. So with a fitted white cotton blouse and a new bra with a bit of a lift the slight girlie-fication of a boy's school uniform was done! She fixed up Shuura's hair putting a couple of tiny cat's eye pins in it and added a pink choker. Shuura bounded happily down the stairs and Sano cringed when he saw her.
"Arrgh! What have you done to my uniform?!" he shrieked horrified. Shuura just rolled her eyes…
"I personalized it!" she declared as the other boys laughed.
"You pirate! I'll never be able to wear it again!" he grumbled shaking his head. His father laughed.
"Don't worry Sano. We'll get you a new one!" he chuckled. Hannya hugged Shuura as the ones who were going to school picked up their things. Hannya's driver had arrived early this morning with Shuura's books and school bag packed with her school uniform. Shuura had discarded her uniform and jammed her books into a new bag Victoria gave her: A big pink and red over the shoulder bag with the overlapping hearts logo of Victoria's Secret!
Chizuru had packed lunches for the boys and Shuura and passed them out as they finally left for school. They climbed onto Hannya's limo where the driver and two of Hannya's most trusted body guards accompanied them to school. Aoshi, Kenshin and Sano helped with the dishes in the kitchen. A small task Victoria assigned to them to keep their hands busy.
She sat them back at the kitchen table once she was done and handed out some schoolwork and some reading assignments. It was just more busy-work to keep their minds occupied and away from their issues. Tsune, Sano's mom showed up then after dropping Anzu off at school saying Kiki would pick her up when she picked up Yugi. She put a box full of donuts in the center of the table for the boys and joined the other adults in Victoria's office.
"We can't let them spend too much time in this state! We have to get their lives going again soon!" Victoria declared. Hannya sighed dejectedly.
"Aoshi's swim coach called me yesterday…he told me that there was going to be an Olympic recruiter at Aoshi's swim meet next week..." he paused with a grief stricken look on his face. Aoshi was captain of his school's swim team. He was a naturally gifted swimmer and won every meet easily despite the fact that he rarely attended practice because he disliked girls staring and giggling. It was annoyingly distracting so he practiced at home in his family's indoor swimming pool year round.
"Really! What did you tell him?" Victoria asked with a gleam in her eyes. The wheels started turning in her head as an idea came to her.
"I told him I didn't know whether Aoshi would be able to compete…I don't want lose hope but…" he paused once more and Chizuru reached out to put a comforting hand on Hannya's arm. Victoria whirled excitedly towards him!
"Call him back! Tell him Aoshi WILL be there!" she ordered excitedly. Hannya blinked a bit taken aback by Victoria's sudden enthusiasm but pulled out his phone and dialed Aoshi's school as Victoria turned her attention to Chizuru and Sano's parents.
"Chizuru, didn't you tell me Kenshin was in the track team?" she asked and Chizuru smiled sadly and nodded.
"He finally made Captain this year… He was supposed to compete in three weeks in the regionals but the concussion…"
"The concussion is mild! He'll be healed by then!" Victoria cut her off then turned to Katsuta and Tsune. Without being asked they explained their son's extracurricular activity. Sano was in the boxing club however his low grades didn't allow him the position of captain. He remained on the team however because he won every match.
"Low grades eh? Easily fixed…" Victoria mumbled to herself as she paced the office rubbing her chin thoughtfully.
"He's in the district finals next month but with his grades they might not let him compete…" Katsuta began but was cut off by a wave of her hand.
"Details! Don't worry about that!" she dismissed her mounting excitement starting to rouse their curiosity.
"Well ladies and gentlemen I think I just figured out how we're going to get the kids back into their lives!" she declared jovially and explained her plan to the eager parents…
"Heads up boys!" she declared cheerfully as she returned to the kitchen. Aoshi looked up wondering why their new teacher looked so happy. In time he would come to learn that seeing that maniacally happy smile on her face was only going to mean trouble for them…
"So you want to be the strongest?" she began gleefully a wicked gleam in her eyes. Kenshin, Sano and Hiei just looked at each other dubious but Aoshi replied without hesitation.
"Yes!" he intoned seriously in a cold hard tone his friends would come to dislike.
"Very well then…let us begin!" she smiled rubbing her hands in anticipation. Only Aoshi didn't look worried and for a moment his eyes reflected her enthusiasm.
"Yes! Let us Sensei! I am ready!" he intoned a little more enthusiastically as he stood from the table. His companions banished their doubts deciding they would stand by their friend and agreed.
"WE are ready!" Sano corrected. She smiled again 'Excellent!' she thought and explained her plan…
"So that's how you ended up in the Olympics?" Seto asked recalling what he did know about Aoshi and his friends.
"Yes while we recovered we helped Sano with his grades and I went to the swim meet…" Aoshi took it up again…
Aoshi watched from a dark hidden corner as the crowd gathered in the stands around the pool. There were rumors of Sano selling tickets to this public event and truth be told he didn't put it past Sano to exploit gullible people! He didn't care either way Sensei expected him to win and that's what he was going to do! A voice behind him suddenly jolted him out of his reverie.
"Aoshi…hi I…" the soft sweet voice of his beloved Misao spoke hesitantly from behind him. He knew he couldn't prolong this he had to let go of her. He was no longer worthy and there was no use in her waiting around for him. He steeled his resolve for what needed to be done.
"Hello Misao. What are you doing here?" he asked in a cold detached tone.
"I came to watch you swim," she replied hesitantly. His cold tone giving her pause and making her uncertain…
"Since you are here…I have to apologize for the other night Misao it was wrong of me to mislead you," he began in a cold hard tone. Confusion and disappointment marred her pretty face but Aoshi resolutely held on to his decision.
"As you know I will be 18 soon…" he added letting the words hang for a moment as clever Misao assimilated his meaning. Disappointment and sadness flitted past her face but quickly she recovered and smiled.
"Right! That's right! I haven't even turned 15 yet! Well we were always better at being friends! Good Luck at your swim meet Lord Aoshi!" she replied cheerfully digging the dagger of grief and guilt deeper into Aoshi's heart as she turned and ran off waving cheerfully. He turned towards the pool where the announcer was calling for the competitors to go to their positions. The same cold voice from deep inside that floated up to save him at the warehouse surfaced once more:
I never want to see your face in front of me again…
"Yes…better this way…you will be safer this way…good bye my beloved Misao" he told himself as he took his position. The gun shot went off and Aoshi dove in to the water his arms and legs carving a straight path effortlessly through the pool. The tears that spilled freely from his eyes were washed away in the chlorine heavy liquid and with them the last of his innocent days…
Aoshi paused and Hiei explained that Aoshi won the meet effortlessly even creating a new record for the district. Kenshin won the regional competitions and Sensei had managed to place an Olympic recruiter at both his track meets and Sano's bouts securing places for both of them in Japan's Olympic team for the '96 Atlanta Games.
"I had been reluctant about the Olympics at first…" Aoshi began nostalgically.
"But I insisted that if he wanted to be the strongest he had to pit himself against the best that the world had to offer!" Victoria put in as she returned to the broody corner. Seto started slightly at the sound of her voice. She had not made a sound when she approached calmly and elegantly and it was disconcerting how she could so easily move completely undetected.
"The training Sensei put them through was brutal!" Hiei (who witnessed most of it) remarked a slight note of awe in his voice. Victoria smiled sadly at him but Aoshi spoke before she could reply.
"It was necessary Hiei! We were late additions to the teams and we had to catch up fast," Aoshi replied Victoria nodded her approval as she took a seat with them again.
"I gave Aoshi the hardest time of them all because I knew his teammates would believe he got a spot on the team because of his father's money," Victoria explained with a note of resentment that Aoshi's training had to ensure that he could blow any rival out of the water under any condition and without room for doubt.
"I remember I strapped on my legs and arms these weights and went in the water fully clothed. I had to beat my best times with them but the pool soon was not enough of a challenge," Aoshi reminisced with a smile on his face.
"Nice to see you smile about it now! I do recall much grumbling and stomping around when I woke you up for practice!" Victoria teased. Aoshi chuckled and nodded.
"Yes well I still do not have found memories of swimming at 5am with your little row boat tied around my chest that's for sure!" Aoshi replied but he chuckled just the same. At the shocked look on Seto's face he explained that when the pool training had become too little a challenge Sensei had moved things to the ocean.
"I had to swim 3 miles out into the ocean fully clothed with weights on my arms and legs and Sano in the rowboat out to a very small buoy," he explained a bit nostalgically that Sano's training had been an emphasis on balance and power control. He had to go through a series of punches while balancing on the tip of the moving boat. Which as time went on began moving faster and faster!
"Meanwhile Kenshin had to beat his best times on the sand wearing weights on his legs," Aoshi added as he put down his next stone on the board.
"Wow…" Seto replied softly.
"We were working out every day at almost all hours," Aoshi continued as he explained that since the school year was over by the time they made the team they dedicated every hour to training. In the mornings they did various strength training in the afternoons he would end up back in the water working solely on form. He couldn't just be fast and strong certain techniques he'd gotten away with using until then were forbidden in Olympic swimming so he had train them out of his routines.
"We finally got a break a few days before we flew out with our teams to Atlanta," Aoshi continued. Victoria laughed as she too recalled what the boys had told her of the day they shipped off.
"The hardest part as I was told was getting Sano on the plane! He was afraid of them," Victoria explained amused. Aoshi as he recalled that day…
"NO WAY! There is just no way that a rust bucket like that one can stay up in the air all the way to California!" Sano protested rather loudly. "I am NOT getting on it!" he concluded adamantly. Aoshi sighed in frustration he couldn't leave Sano behind but he had to get on the plane. Explaining the finer points of aerodynamics had not done him any good either. He wished Sensei had been there but she had to return to America the day before to deal with the affairs of her company. She'd already been gone too long…
"Then how do you propose we get to Atlanta," Aoshi asked making an effort to be calm. He looked around to see if Sano's parents were still in sight but they were already gone on their way to the private runaway where one of the Shinomori Electronics private jets would take all of their families to Atlanta.
"We can take a boat!" Sano proposed stubbornly. Kenshin and Aoshi rolled their eyes then suddenly an idea struck him.
"Very well Sano one of my father's ships can accommodate us and we should reach Atlanta in time for you to make it to your bouts," Aoshi replied calmly. Sano's eyes lit up.
"Really?" Sano said hopeful he hadn't really believed that his friends would go for it.
"Yes we can definitely do that if Aoshi says so…but we will be disqualified. Aoshi and I will not arrive in time for our competitions. Sensei will be most disappointed in us," Kenshin added despondently catching on to Aoshi's plan. Sano looked crushed he grumbled and mumbled angrily to himself then picked up his bag.
"Fine! I'll get on the damn thing! But I'm telling you it's gonna plunge into the ocean like a rock!" Sano grumbled angrily and he stomped towards the boarding ramp in front of Kenshin and Aoshi. Aoshi breathed a small sigh of relief. As he got on the plane however his heart began thundering wildly with an unfamiliar excitement. As he stowed his duffel bag and Kenshin's (Kenshin couldn't reach!) in the overhead compartment he struggled to control this mounting excitement.
'What is this? I have never been nervous about airplanes so where is this coming from?' he asked himself as he took his aisle seat. He buckled his seat belt and closed his eyes in an attempt to clear his mind and analyze where this feeling was coming from. Sensei had told him that one of the most important steps to achieving greater power was to achieve mastery of your self both physically as well as mentally. As he sat there he could hear his other teammates were whispering to each other speculations on how much money his father might have paid to get him on the team.
A small momentary smirk appeared on Aoshi's lips when he understood at that moment what the feeling was about. It had nothing to do with being on the airplane. His father had several and he'd traveled the world in them since he was very small. It had to do with the fact that this was the first time that Aoshi had actually earned something on his own. His envious teammates' comments meant nothing because soon enough they would eat their words!
Thankfully Sano spent most of the trip asleep. No surprise really since he had been so nervous about the flight that he hadn't slept a wink in two days! He and Kenshin read books but occasionally Kenshin would ask him questions about America. Aoshi had been to California more than once with his uncles when he was little. They had taken him to Disneyland several times. His father took him to New York once too with his uncles to see the Statue of Liberty. It was the only time he remembered seeing his father smile.
"We should go to Disneyland! I've always wanted to go there too!" Kenshin suggested cheerfully interrupting his thoughts.
"I'll take you if you and Sano win," Aoshi countered slyly. Kenshin just smiled and nodded agreeing to the terms of the bet. Kenshin eventually did put his own book down and closed his eyes to take a nap asking Aoshi to wake him when they were above LA. He didn't want to miss seeing it from the sky. Aoshi was left alone with his thoughts again. He drifted back to that vacation in New York.
'He hasn't smiled since she died,' he realized. Any pictures of his father with his mother had always showed him laughing or smiling happily. Any pictures taken after she died had no smiles in them. His quest for strength would be one that would consume his life and he knew that his father would walk with him most of the way but eventually Aoshi would have to venture out on his own. He knew his father would be all alone then.
'I wonder if there is someone out there who can make him smile…I should ask Sensei perhaps she will know what to do,' he thought as he too drifted off into a short nap…
They all paused for a moment to laugh. Seto laughed hardest of all hardly able to believe that the big tough Sano Sagara had a fear of flying.
"Sano has since gotten over that especially since he has to fly often from California to visit his family!" Victoria assured him.
"…and speaking of families I have some pictures here that I know you want to see Aoshi!" Victoria announced cheerfully pulling a small white envelope out of her purse and handing it to Aoshi.
"I asked Yusuke to pull them out of my car when he went for my CDs," Victoria explained in a soft motherly tone. Seto watched carefully as a small wistful smile appeared on Aoshi's lips as he took out the pictures and scanned them. To Seto's surprise he passed one of the photos onto him. Curious Seto took the picture and as he opened his mouth Aoshi guessed what Seto was going to ask.
"That man in the picture is Hajime the little one is his new son Soji and the toddler is his first born Ricky," Aoshi explained.
"He's the one you told me about before right? Your dad's girlfriend's son?" he asked wanting to make sure he had his facts right. Aoshi nodded and explained that they had been there in California for New Year's Eve. The child was born in L.A. just after the holidays and he had been able to stay long enough to meet the new little one but had to leave soon afterward because of Misao's schedule.
"Correct but if Aoshi and his uncles had their way Emi would be his stepmother by now but my buddy Emi can be rather stubborn!" Victoria added and again her eyes twinkled with mischief and an air of victory.
"Sensei…what are you up to?" Aoshi asked cast a suspicious look her way. She merely smiled.
"You know life has a funny way of doing what I want it to do," she replied cryptically smiling mischievously. Aoshi frowned he knew his teacher better than most and knew from that grin on her face that she was up to some major scheming. He opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off.
"Pass him the other pictures and tell him about what happened when you got to LA!" she commanded and Aoshi knew from experience that it was best not to question Sensei. She always did what was best for them all…
He woke as the captain announced that they were over LA and would be landing in just about 20min. Kenshin made a little room for Aoshi and Sano to look out his window. Sano totally freaked out about how high they were and Aoshi switched seats with him to quiet him down. He rolled his eyes as Sano pulled up his knees to his chin and screwed his eyes tightly shut mumbling something about ghosts.
The airplane finally landed and slowly they all began to file out. As they exited the boarding ramp a woman holding a banner could be seen in the distance. She was standing next to an old man in a white shirt and dark blue pants holding a sign up for the Japanese team. He dismissed the man completely once he had a good look of the woman!
She was a tall lithe woman wearing a pair of white denim Capri-style pants, high heeled sandals on perfectly pedicured feet and a pink polo shirt with the logo of Victoria's Secret on her name tag. Her long rich brown hair held away from her beautiful face with a simple pink head band. When she spoke she did so in the most perfect Japanese he'd ever heard!
"Welcome to America! My name is Tokio…" she began and bowed formally. She explained she would be their guide while they were in California. Victoria's Secret was sponsoring teams that were arriving into the US with brief stays to get a feel for the country they were visiting. Many of the models were volunteering their time to become tour guides for the teams. Tokio was chosen by Victoria herself to guide the Japanese team since she spoke the language well.
"Whoa! Sensei didn't tell us anything about her!" Sano pointed out excited. His issues with the plane ride forgotten in the presence of a pretty girl. Kenshin laughed glad that his friend was back to his usual self. Aoshi shook his head but was glad none the less that Sano wasn't giving them any more problems. They followed her out as she explained that a bus was ready to take them to their first stop: the hotel.
They piled onto the bus and Sano was ecstatic that they got to sit up front close to their tour guide. Tokio explained that they would be taken to the Regency suites hotel in Long Beach so they could get some rest. The one of the hotel's conference rooms would be where they would gather for dinner and Victoria Stillwater would come to greet them formally. A big cheer rose in the ranks of the team as they heard that last part.
Aoshi wasn't too interested in that! They'd had plenty of time with Sensei the past few weeks. However he became unusually interested in the woman guiding them. She looked to be at least in her early twenties and she looked and acted every bit what you would expect from a beautiful model working for such a high quality company as Victoria's Secret. She took a seat at the driver's right and turned on the microphone.
She talked about LA giving a brief history of the city as well as some of its statistics. She answered questions about various highlights of the city as well as her boss Victoria Stillwater. She gave them a few pointers on the highlights of the city of Long Beach and what attractions would be near enough for them to reach from their hotel.
Aoshi watched her with growing curiosity. Though she gave no outward appearance of it she seemed to radiate a power of some sort. Different from that of Sensei's but very strong. She was not the princess she appeared to be on the outside but he wasn't sure why he was so certain of this. As he concentrated trying to figure out what it was he suddenly had an image in his mind of her in an operating room covered in the gear of a surgeon. The image was very clear and with it came the absolute certainty of what she was doing.
"You're a doctor!" he blurted out before he could stop himself astonished by how certain he was of this or how he knew that she was a very good doctor with aspirations of becoming a celebrated neuro-surgeon. Tokio stopped mid-sentence caught by surprise by Aoshi's insight.
"Wow! How did you know that?" Tokio asked truly surprised by his insight. Aoshi blinked in confusion he had no idea how he was going to explain that he'd either read her mind or saw the future!
"Maybe Sensei mentioned it!" Kenshin supplied coming to his rescue. Aoshi nodded and played along.
"Yes maybe…" Aoshi added hoping this would suffice.
"Who's Sensei?" she asked. Sano cheerfully piped up and explained that Sensei was what they called Victoria Stillwater. Kenshin further added that she often did business calls from anywhere that she might be and they often overheard much of it.
"So you might've caught my name in one of those calls you overheard?" she asked slightly amused "Small world isn't it?" she laughed and Aoshi held back a sigh of relief glad that she had bought that little fib. However the release of the knowledge that they were close to someone as big as Victoria Stillwater and the attention they were getting from their cute guide didn't win them any points with their team…
Seto had paused in his perusal of the pictures Aoshi had handed him as this new information caught him by surprise.
"That was the first time I did that…to just know something important about someone you don't know was a unique skill my mother had and apparently I inherited from her," Aoshi explained.
"Came in handy when campaigning against Kanryuu…" Hiei commented solemnly.
"Sometimes…I can't always do it…It seems to work best with people of strong willpower," Aoshi explained. This caught Seto's interest!
"Could you do it with me?" Seto asked intrigued his teenage curiosity getting the better of him. Aoshi smirked.
"I did! Years ago when we met I got an image in my mind of you older as you are now sitting at Gozaburo's desk," he began explaining he'd gotten a sense then that he would be different from Gozaburo which had in turn stayed his hand on any direct attacks against Kaiba corp. back then so as to give Seto a chance to rise to power. Takeda was his first objective anyway.
"I concentrated on Takeda because I wasn't sure whether the difference would be good or bad. If you had followed in Gozaburo's footsteps I would've shown you no mercy for your age," Aoshi declared solemnly. Seto smirked.
"Good to know! So what held you back afterwards? The underground was rife with rumors that I had killed Gozaburo," Seto pointed out unperturbed as he placed his next stone on the board. Victoria suspected he was a little flattered by Aoshi's comment. Broodies are a weird bunch!
"We knew you didn't kill him," Aoshi replied with certainty.
"Roland told me! We met at his brother's wedding," Victoria answered easily. Victoria then explained at the surprised look on his face that his loyal head of security Roland was the brother of an old friend of hers. Roland's brother Joe had recently married Clarisse Renaldi who until recently had been the Queen of Genovia until her granddaughter assumed the throne less than a year ago.
"That's right! Roland took some personal time last year before battle city to travel to Genovia… I remember know…" Seto input thoughtfully.
"I simply asked him when I met him," Victoria reiterated calmly.
"I asked an old college classmate…after his wife died we had lost contact," Aoshi began.
"Please don't tell me you went to school with Maximillian Pegasus," Seto grumbled annoyed knowing instinctively that Pegasus was the only other person who knew what happened to Gozaburo and was old enough to have been married. Victoria sighed sadly and shook her head.
"That boy lost his mind I swear," she said shaking her head in disapproval.
"He was a different person when I met him but I went to his island because of some rumors in the underground that he was somehow responsible for putting Mr. Motou in the hospital and kidnapping your brother," Aoshi began a bit sadly.
"Max and Cecilia were good friends of mine and I couldn't believe that an honorable man as he had been could resort to such despicable actions but I learned of what happened at the tournament and his reasons for dealing with Kaiba Corp.'s big 5 from his own mouth," Aoshi explained and there seemed to be a slight amount of pity in his voice.
"Losing yourself to your demon is a hard thing to live with…Max has a long way to go still before he comes to terms with what he did…" Victoria lectured solemnly. Aoshi nodded in agreement.
"Lucky for me I had you to stop me Sensei…" he added gravely. Seto stared at the board his own mind going back to the Death-T incident and how he'd shamelessly tried to have Yugi and all of his friends killed. Even Mokuba nearly died in that nightmare and the guilt still weighed heavily on him.
"You had good friends to stop you Aoshi I merely provided the means through which their hearts could reach you," Victoria countered.
"Now how about we switch subjects here for a moment…Misao was just talking about the famous or should I say infamous Valentine's Day Prank Aoshi and the subject of what happened on the blimp seemed to surface," Victoria began casually Seto flinched slightly and she could see the smallest blush rising in his cheeks.
"She seemed a little too happy with the fact that you didn't tell anyone what happened," she added watching him with suspicion. He sighed heavily he had already told Aoshi he would tell Sensei what happened so he went ahead and repeated his tale of the pirate boarding his blimp.
"Seto I do believe Aoshi and Hiei are right! You definitely are a lot like them! Now if you'll excuse me I have a pirate to put on trial and a proper noose to prepare!" she exclaimed excited and rushed away towards where the rest of the partygoers were gathered listening to Misao's tale…
"Should we worry?" Seto asked at the worried look on Aoshi's face. Aoshi shook his head uncertain. He exchanged a quick glance with Hiei who wordlessly got up and followed their teacher.
"I'm not sure she sometimes has odd ways of teaching…" Aoshi replied uncertain. Seto wanted to press the issue but really he wanted to get back to Aoshi's main story. He was tiring of the sidebars. Seto Kaiba wasn't exactly known for his patience!
"Ok so going back to my previous question…" Seto began.
"Well mainly the direction you took your company in…" Aoshi answered explaining that the fact that Seto sold the weapons manufacture contracts to other companies and demolished the weapons factories on Kaiba Corp. Island was enough to reassure Aoshi that Seto would not be like Gozaburo.
"Although you had me worried a little with the Death-T incident…a lot of my men were there at the arena under Sensei's orders by the way and they were a hairsbreadth away from intervening," Aoshi added in a casual off-handed manner. Seto flinched of course he should've figured Aoshi had been watching that closely given his relationship with the cheerleader's family.
"We were about to intervene when Anzu was kidnapped during battle city too but Sensei insisted on seeing what you would do and held us back," he continued explaining that all family members of Oniwaban employees are carefully guarded. Anzu's predicament had been immediately known because her celphone transmitted a distress signal to headquarters when it was destroyed by her kidnappers.
"The phones stop sending their locator beacon when broken and that sends an alert to our system…" Aoshi continued. Seto caught on right away.
"I see! Once the cheerleader's phone stopped transmitting you knew something was wrong!" Seto finished for him. Aoshi nodded.
"With most of our families we don't send a rescue team out until we've confirmed that there's a problem. Most of the time its just that the phone suffered some sort of minor mishap like falling into the gutter while you're walking, etc but with Anzu because of what happened at the Death-T we didn't take any chances. Hiei and Yusuke were sent out immediately to find her," he clarified calmly.
"I assume you might've tapped into my communications network hoping to find her right?" Seto guessed. Aoshi simply nodded.
"We did and as luck would have it you did know where she was so we followed you to the docks," Aoshi concluded.
"She saved Mokuba I wasn't going to let them hurt her," Seto assured him solemnly.
"Yes, I believe that's what Sensei saw…that you have a strong sense of duty like us and like us you would repay a favor no matter what the cost," Aoshi replied calmly studying the board. Seto smirked and continued looking at the pictures glad that once again he was in the category that he so desperately wanted to be.
"Who are they?" Seto asked one picture had two women on it a beautiful young one and a nice looking older one. Aoshi smiled and leaned forward to point them out.
"The older one is Emi or wolf-momma as we like to call her and the other is Tokio Nii-sama's – I mean Hajime's wife!" Aoshi declared sounding almost cheerful to Seto's utter shock.
"Tokio…is she the same Tokio you talked about just now?" Seto inquired still a bit surprised by Aoshi's sudden cheer.
"Yes…She's in the US air force now doing some top level research into the use of nano-technology to treat cancer in the brain," Aoshi added proudly. Seto was impressed. You had to be a real brain for that kind of research!
"She was orphaned when she was 12 and had to live with some abusive relatives until she won a scholarship and left for college when she was 15. She'd just become a doctor by the time I met her. She was 21," Aoshi continued sounding quite proud of his friend.
"Wow…that's impressive," Seto admitted "Aoshi you know some very interesting people…"
"You didn't think the world had only people like the kind Gozaburo hired did you?" Aoshi asked him though his tone suggested he had gained as much insight into Seto's world as Seto learned about Aoshi's.
"No only one half of the world…idiot teenagers comprised the other half!" he joked lightly earning a chuckle from his new friend.
'Yes…he's finally coming around. Sensei was right as usual…' Aoshi thought with a touch of wonder. Excitement began to build within him. Sensei had told him on New Year's Eve that by the end of this year all the things she wanted for them would finally be achieved. She wanted him and all her students to be happy and fulfilled in their lives. She wanted Hannya to let go of the past and make a new future with Emi. All of his friends were well on their way towards that first goal the only ones left were him and his father.
He continued with his story telling him about their two day stay in LA and being isolated from the rest of the team. He did not care then and certainly didn't care now. He had shoved back into their mouths in a most humiliating way all of their disdain. As he did he thought about Sensei's recent actions. How she'd been keeping an eye on Seto and Yugi and their constant tug of war for months. She seemed like she was preparing the school for the next batch of students.
'Yes it's time for the next class to step up!' he thought at the same time realizing that what he desired most was close to his grasp. How to reach it would be the real question…
'But no doubt Sensei already has a plan well on its way to hatching!' he thought excitedly as once again he took them back into the past to the day they arrived in Atlanta and their new guide was just as pleasing to eyes as Tokio but not as interesting.
Onward we go! I am sorry this is taking so long! I didn't mean for it to take so long but I wasn't counting on the black hole that calls itself Final Fantasy 12! It really sucked what little spare time I had away from me (sigh) I became a willing slave to Basch's angsty charm! I think I still am…
Then of course there was Celebration 4 and really those storm troopers and Boba Fetts and Darth Vaders running around the LA convention center drove me to distraction!
(sigh)
In short a thousand apologies! I thank you for reading and reviewing and I will make an effort to produce more quickly the new episodes!
Thank you!
