Chapter 13: Unexpected
"You're certainly out of it," an unwanted voice too close to his ear said, causing Kaiba to jerk out of his thoughts and back to the present situation. He was alone in the classroom except for the person behind him, causing him to stiffen when he felt Bakura's breath on the back of his neck.
"Don't start with me," Kaiba warned as he got out of his seat to prevent himself from becoming an easy target, turning to face the albino teen.
Straightening up and smirking knowingly at Kaiba, Bakura countered, "But I've never finished with you, priest."
Knowing that a confrontation would be a mistake, Kaiba was determined to escape without further issue if at all possible. Words only antagonized Bakura further, so Kaiba gathered his things and tried to slip away without saying anything; he was too tired for a real confrontation and he didn't want to be taken advantage of because he was less than one hundred percent. Unfortunately, silence infuriated Bakura just as easily as unwanted words and he questioned, "Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet."
When Bakura's hand wrapped around Kaiba's wrist and stopped him, it made the brunette growl despite his efforts not to make a sound. He burned unpleasantly at the touch, hating the whisper of ancient memories that started to stir at the contact point. "Lose your pharaoh?" Bakura taunted, narrowing his eyes at the look of Kaiba's disgust.
There were all sorts of angry and pithy answers that Kaiba could snarl at Bakura, but the thing he was struck most by was the fact that the Yuugi-tachi hadn't filled Ryou in for fear of the ancient spirit he hosted finding out about the truth. So even they can lie, Kaiba realized with a start, but he quickly focused himself. He knew that Bakura had nothing to do with Yami's disappearance, so he refused to let himself rise and take the bait—even if lashing out at someone who deserved it was more tempting than it should have been.
The silent treatment had always been effective against Bakura when the priest managed to use it against him and he was angered to see that the same was true with Kaiba in the present. Bakura liked fighting against that hot temper, but Kaiba was denying him at the very time he should have been quickest to anger; it was confusing. "Where's the pharaoh?" Bakura demanded, his grip tightening on Kaiba's wrist that he had yet to relinquish.
"Why do you care?" Kaiba asked, his voice harsh as he glared at Bakura. The need for Yami's return made Kaiba momentarily wonder if perhaps Bakura's past as a thief would be useful in stealing the former pharaoh back from Hoshino, but he couldn't let himself to think such things. Kaiba had seen Seto make that mistake in the past and he refused to take that chance with such a disgusting outcome possible; he would never allow himself to be indebted to Bakura again in any lifetime. "It's not like you're planning on doing anything about it."
"If I told you I would," Bakura challenged, taking a step closer into Kaiba's personal space.
"Then you'd be lying," Kaiba growled, wanting to take two steps back and refusing to do so on principle. "I have no use for your pathetic excuse for assistance."
"Oh yes, because you've done so much better on your own," Bakura sarcastically replied, making Kaiba's face burn from the slap of truth in his words.
The look of pained shame on Kaiba's face brought back all sorts of memories about the priest and Bakura used his free hand to brush his fingers against that heated flesh that made him burn inside as the contact shot through him. "I'll help you get him back, Seto," Bakura offered, savoring the look of shock that flitted through confused and enraged blue eyes.
"Why?" Kaiba accidentally questioned, unable to stop the word from escaping him.
"I have my reasons," Bakura cryptically answered with a shrug, not fighting it when Kaiba finally pulled away from him. "What difference does it make if you get your precious little pharaoh back?"
Free at last from Bakura's grasps, Kaiba shot back, "Stay out of it," as he started walking toward the exit.
"You'll change your mind soon enough," Bakura promised, smirking when it made Kaiba stop and turn around to face him once more.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaiba demanded, hearing the underlying threat present in Bakura's tone.
Grinning wolfishly, Bakura merely laughed it off with a cruel, "Depends on how much longer you make him wait, doesn't it?"
The words struck fear through Kaiba and he swallowed down his nervousness as he pushed aside his irrational concerns. He struggled against his soul's instinctive shiver of fear and Kaiba growled threateningly when Bakura continued, "Do you remember what happened when that man stole him back then?"
A question about what man Bakura was referring to was quick to respond, but Kaiba bit back the answer, not wanting to go any further with the conversation. "That has nothing to do with this," Kaiba harshly replied, unable to completely maintain his silence.
"I helped get him back for you then," Bakura pointed out, "so why would you think I couldn't do the same now?"
"Because that was then and this is now," Kaiba answered, not wanting any part of his pasts to connect. "I'm not as weak as that idiotic priest and—"
"—and yet you are still without your pharaoh in two lifetimes," Bakura harshly interrupted, relishing the look of pain that Kaiba failed to completely repress. "You shouldn't be so quick to ignore your history, Seto. It would save you in situations like these."
Bakura was approaching him once more, a swagger in his hips that was temporarily superimposed with an image of the linen skirt outfit he was wore in the past. "That past has nothing to do with this!" Kaiba insisted, warily watching Bakura draw closer.
"Still couldn't hurt," Bakura countered as he reached out to Kaiba, only to be rebuffed. "I'm pretty sure the same methods of comfort would work, even if we don't have an excuse for a campfire."
Kaiba's first retort was lost in a flash of fire in his mind, echoes of forgotten moans drifting from the forbidden couple that dared to disturb the darkness. "Stop it," Kaiba commanded, unsure if he was telling his mind or Bakura to cease such disturbing thoughts from stirring; either way, neither was inclined to obey him. He didn't need to see the priest's transgressions of the flesh with the thief, but the memory played out with disturbing details that Kaiba fought to avoid; he didn't want to know. "I will do no such thing!"
"That's what he said," Bakura replied with a chuckle, "but we both know how well that turned out, don't we?"
Kaiba was spared from answering by Yuugi entering the room with a startled sound before he awkwardly stammered, "K-Kaiba-kun, I needed to—uhm, talk with you?"
Even though it was shameful to feel so relieved at the interruption, Kaiba rejoiced in the small victory. "I'm done here," Kaiba informed Yuugi with a hard glare at Bakura to dissuade him from further comment.
"Don't forget my offer," Bakura said, smirking at the slight snarl of Kaiba's lips.
"Stay out of it," Kaiba warned before turning around and leaving with Yuugi, his flesh crawling at the thought of Bakura's eyes raking over his form while he walked away.
"Is everything okay?" Kaiba asked once they got a safe distance from the classroom and away from Bakura.
"I don't know, is it?" Yuugi questioned, looking up at Kaiba. He was getting a little better at reading his former rival, but Bakura's interactions with him were still such a mystery to him. "Bakura-kun seems to be causing problems again."
"He's the least of my concerns," Kaiba reassured the shorter teen, speaking the truth. Bakura was nothing when compared with the real threat that Hoshino and her retinue posed to them currently. "He's just running off his mouth because he doesn't have to worry about Yami doing anything about it right now."
"Are you okay?" Yuugi asked before he could stop himself. The withering glare he received made him shrink back a little with a nervous laugh, trying not to take it too personally since he was pretty sure that Kaiba was still riled up from his encounter with Bakura. "Sorry, I just meant—"
Not interested in hearing anymore on the subject, Kaiba dismissed it, "Don't worry about it," and that was the end of it. "What did you need to talk to me about?"
"Nothing," Yuugi said, surprising Kaiba as they walked toward the lockers. "I just saw the two of you together and I thought an intervention might be useful since it looked pretty tense."
"How long were you standing there?" Kaiba asked, not knowing if he would like the answer or not. He didn't like thinking that Yuugi overheard or oversaw things that were best left alone.
Unwilling to lie to his friend, Yuugi explained, "Whenever you told him that you wouldn't do whatever it was that he wanted you to do. I really didn't see or hear anything."
It was the slightest bit of relief to hear, but Kaiba still felt deeply unsettled by the encounter and the fact that there were any witnesses involved—let alone one who could tell Yami about what had transpired. "Don't tell Yami," Kaiba ordered, not wanting to compound his boyfriend's problems, knowing how he reacted whenever the thief was involved. "I don't know how you block it from your end, but he can't know anything about it, understood?"
Even though Yuugi would normally feel bad about hiding such things from his counterpart, he understood in this situation and actually agreed with Kaiba. It would stress Yami out and accomplish nothing productive, so just this once Yuugi thought it might be okay to hide the truth under such circumstances. "I promise," Yuugi said with a small smile, hoping that it would at least ease some of Kaiba's worries.
"Thanks," Kaiba brusquely replied, grateful that Yuugi was willing to help him in such a situation. It was still uncomfortable for him to rely on anyone in such a manner, but he was gradually learning that it was okay to trust his one-time rival. After all, it was in Yami's best interests and Kaiba had no doubts that Yuugi would do anything for him.
Parting briefly at their lockers, it was a bit of a relief since it allowed Kaiba the space to collect his thoughts after such a disturbing encounter. Opening his locker, Kaiba was shocked to see a box tied in a light blue cloth with white edges. He was instantly suspicious until Yuugi came over and laughed before abruptly interrupting himself when Kaiba glared at him. "What's this?" Kaiba demanded, wondering if Yuugi had anything to do with it.
"It's a bento," Yuugi explained, hiding the identity of the maker. He had seen Anzu with multiple bento boxes this morning, but he hadn't realized she had made one for Kaiba as well as themselves.
"Who the hell would leave that in my locker?" Kaiba muttered, studying it without touching the package. When Yuugi answered only with a knowing grin, it made Kaiba realize that the shorter teen knew more than he was letting on about it. "What do you know about this?"
"It's safe to eat," Yuugi promised, finding it really sweet that his girlfriend cared enough about Kaiba to make him something, too.
"And you know this how?" Kaiba demanded, but didn't receive anything more than a Cheshire grin as a reply. "Wait, did your girlfriend make me lunch?"
Yuugi erupted in peals of laughter and Kaiba narrowed his eyes at him in annoyance. He was startled when Anzu's voice pointed out to him, "It's probably dinner for you at this point."
"Breakfast if you want to get technical," Kaiba muttered as he watched her lean against the lockers.
"That's even worse," Anzu chided him with a disapproving look that made even Yuugi sober up a little.
"Yeah, well," Kaiba defensively said with a shrug, not feeling as if he needed to justify himself to her.
Knowing that any speech she had about why Kaiba needed to take better care of himself would instantly be rejected and ignored, Anzu chose a different way of handling it instead. "If you hate it, I won't do it again," Anzu promised, knowing that he would react to it as if it were a challenge.
"Whatever," Kaiba said, not agreeing one way or the other. He still found the whole thing strange, but Yuugi didn't seem to have any objections to what was happening.
"Normal people say, 'Thanks,' you know," Anzu teased him, not the least bit offended. It was honestly a better answer than she had been expecting, especially since he hadn't yet questioned how she had managed to get the food in his locker without him knowing about it.
"You should know well enough by now that I'm far from normal," Kaiba sarcastically replied, taking out the bento box and grabbing the two books he needed for that night's homework.
"We wouldn't have it any other way," she replied with a fond smile that made him pause for a moment before shutting his locker door.
The whole encounter was throwing him off his pace, but Kaiba just blamed it as the fallout from Bakura's earlier conversation. "Right," Kaiba awkwardly said before he started to leave. "Later."
"Have a good day at work," Yuugi brightly said with a wave, a sentiment echoed by Anzu.
Kaiba merely said, "Mm," before walking away, trying not to think too deeply on the incident or how weird it was to be carrying a homemade lunch to his office.
To say that Kaiba was surprised that the bento was filled with nothing but food he liked would have been a monumental understatement. He was actually impressed with Anzu's thoughtfulness of meal planning and the way that she had balanced it to his tastes while still being mindful that his appetite wasn't entirely what it used to be. How she knew what his favorite type of onigiri was remained a mystery and it almost made him want to ask her about it if it wasn't so horribly embarrassing to do so. Assuming that Yami had passed along the information at some point was good enough for Kaiba, so he let it go for once.
It was moments like that when Kaiba was reminded that people like Anzu legitimately considered him a friend, something which was an exceedingly foreign concept to him. He had always been a bit kinder to her, but it was only because she had repeatedly stood up for Mokuba and protected him to an extent that made him feel like his little brother was safe with her fierce loyalty on his side. Not only that, but he had never forgotten how she had sacrificed herself to free Mokuba when the kidnappers had absconded with him to a warehouse during the Battle City tournament. Then there was the fact that Anzu wasn't afraid to stand up to him for what she believed in and he couldn't help but begrudgingly admire the sheer gumption it took to face him down and maintain their convictions. More than that, she was just such a genuinely caring person that Kaiba didn't know how to act around her; she accepted him unconditionally despite how horrible he had been to all of them originally.
He used to think Anzu as a really annoyingly loud cheerleader, but the more time he had spent over with Yami at Yuugi's place while she was there had helped reform his opinion of her. She was actually low key whenever it was just them and it wasn't nearly as painful to hold a conversation with her as he had once thought. Even though his opinion of her had improved, he still couldn't help but feel that she was an idiot for not being mad at him over Yami being kidnapped and for so long at that. Her willingness to forgive everything and look on the brighter side of things was rather astounding in its consistency.
Slowly eating the food that was better than he had anticipated, Kaiba focused on his work. He had allowed himself to get behind in his concern for Yami, but he couldn't afford to let things fall by the wayside in his grief. Besides, if he threw himself into his work, it helped distract him for at least a little while that Yami was still missing.
Kaiba didn't know how much time passed before he heard his door open and he glared at the uninvited intruder. Ogata looked at the bento box with curiosity, distracted from his main point enough to ask, "Did you get a new maid or something?"
"No," Kaiba coldly replied, feeling strangely self-conscious for being caught with the meal.
"What, got yourself a new girlfriend?" Ogata teased, instantly regretting it the second the words were out of his mouth. "Shit, I didn't mean that—"
"I don't care, get out," Kaiba ordered.
Sighing heavily, Ogata persisted, "Seriously, you know I didn't mean it like that. I was just—"
"Exercising your poor judgment yet again," Kaiba interrupted him with a fierce glare. "Leave."
Holding up his hands in surrender, Ogata explained, "I just came to give you an update on the situation." When Kaiba looked at him pointedly in silence, Ogata took it as permission to continue. "I'm still working on finding the link to Tanaka."
"And?" Kaiba harshly pressed, tired of hearing non-answers and inconclusive leads that went nowhere at all.
"And I just wanted to let you know," Ogata informed him, the words sounding lame even to his ears.
"What about the leads Sakaguchi-san provided for you?" Kaiba asked, coldly staring at Ogata and relishing the peeved look he was causing.
"I'm still looking into it, but nothing has—"
There was nothing new or useful in the information, so Kaiba once again commanded, "Then get the hell out of my sight."
Ogata started to protest, but the look of sheer exhaustion on Kaiba's face made him stop. "As you wish," Ogata finally consented with a sigh, not willing to push the point where there was nothing he could give Kaiba to act on when it came to Yami. "You know where to find me."
Kaiba didn't say anything as Ogata left and instead just focused on finishing his work, slowly eating at the bento while he passed the time by reviewing reports.
The original plan had been to pick up Mokuba and drop off the empty bento box at Yuugi's place, but Anzu had been there as well as Honda. Although Kaiba found it strange that Jounouchi was once again absent, he wasn't willing to question a good thing.
Anzu welcomed him into the house and he held out the empty bento box, informing her, "I washed it," and wondering if it sounded half as awkward as it felt.
Smiling brightly as she accepted the neatly wrapped box, she asked, "I'm assuming that means you ate it?"
"Yes," Kaiba confirmed, shutting the door behind him and sliding off his shoes and entering the house properly.
"I figured even your pride couldn't resist some of your favorite foods," Anzu teased as they headed toward the kitchen.
"How did you know?" Kaiba asked, still finding it strange.
"The powers of observation," Anzu answered in a lofty voice before giggling as she sat down the empty box on the counter next to hers and Yuugi's.
Arching an eyebrow at her comment, Kaiba informed her, "Why bother?"
"Because there's only so much Duel Monsters that I can take," she conspiratorially confided in him, her eyes bright with amusement.
"What does that have to do with knowing what I like to eat?"
"Nothing, it's just the kind of person I am," she defended with a shrug, knowing that he wouldn't get it even if she explained it plainly. "I'm just thrilled you didn't hate it."
His normal brusque and cruel attitude felt inappropriate with her, so he forced himself to say, "It was good, thank you. Unnecessary, but…"
Anzu's eyes went wide at the compliment, shocked beyond belief that he actually said anything at all, let alone something akin to praise. "I'm glad," she finally replied with a bright smile, amused by the rare glimpse of shy civility she was seeing from him.
"Mm," was all Kaiba replied with, annoyed with himself for feeling so awkward. "I still don't get why people keep trying to feed me, though…"
Kaiba was saved when Mokuba came bounding into the kitchen, hugging his older brother tightly. "Hey, nii-sama. Ready to go?" Mokuba asked, smiling up at his brother.
"Whenever you are," Kaiba replied, not minding staying a little later if his brother wanted it since Jounouchi wasn't there to irritate him.
With a final nod at Anzu, Kaiba allowed himself to be led into the living room, grateful that Mokuba sounded more like his normal, joyful self even if it was only for a little while.
A/N: Sorry for the lateness of this one. I was away all weekend and didn't have a chance to post until now. As a result, I'll be answering reviews later since it's after 4AM for me. I still look forward to your reviews, especially since I think quite a few of you have been curious about the burgeoning friendship between Anzu and Kaiba. Plus, I suspect that the Bakura exchange wasn't quite what any of us were expecting.
NEXT CHAPTER:
Gritting his teeth and reminding himself that it was too important for him to act spiteful, Ogata yelled, "Damn it, Seto! I found Yami!"
And the plot thickens!
The next update will be posted on Sunday, January 30th and things are really starting to pick up finally...