Chapter 12 – Lazy Afternoon
Let the fun begin once more… I loved the dream sequence in the last chapter. Hmm, I may have to do something like that again (hint hint)
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The white form stalked its way through the rapidly fading light, intent on its prey and heedless of all other concerns. It could smell its victim, warm and alive and utterly terrified, and knew it was gaining ground.
As he looked through his therm-op scope, Sgt. Antillies watched the animal gain on the woodsman. Taking careful aim he dropped a round onto it from just inside his medium effective range of 4 km. Then looked back over his shoulder at his spotter Pvt. Angstrom, she was grinning.
"Right, what's got you in the clouds then?" he rasped in the cold evening air.
"It's not like you to operate outside of objectives, even to engage targets of opportunity, let alone some random animal chasing a civilian outside our designated zone of operation." She was all but purring. "Remember, we're on the lookout for ARGO's passing through the valley floor." She loved any opportunity to poke a little fun at her stoic partner.
"Target practice. Nothing more." He shot back gruffly.
"Humph, I say you're getting soft on us." And with that she rolled over and went back to sleep.
"I say again, no one is to assist him," the voice of Group Two's CO was distorted on the squad coms, "anything we do will give our position away to the sniping team on the rise in the centre of the valley."
No sooner had his statement ended, a beam of brilliant azure light snapped into existence not half a kilometre east and down slope of the squad. It transfixed the large, shaggy predator and for a split second its fur was lit around it in a brilliant corona of light, then it was vaporized in an instant, the beam disappeared with it. The squad froze. Utter still and silence descended on the valley, and then the noises of the night returned, still no one moved. It was a half an hour before they risked continuing their journey, a treacherous route on foot at the best of times, let alone in near pitch black in an ARGO suit which stands three times the height on a soldier. But they had no choice, a breakout into the enemy's rear area was needed badly, and there was no chance of making it through the valley's centre, not with the kind of firepower opposition snipers were using here. So what other choice did they have, it was around the rim or bust…
'Damn,' he thought, 'the beast didn't get him.'
Seto looked up at the sound of a throat clearing. So engrossed was he in his book that he'd failed to hear his office door open.
"Yes, Isono?" he asked, a mild edge of amusement colouring his words. Isono looked flushed and drops of sweat still beaded on his forehead. Mokuba must have given him a rough game of basketball for him to be so out of breath that he was actually panting.
"Sir, the car is ready, as requested. Master Mokuba anxiously awaits your imminent arrival." Seto was surprised that he hadn't snapped to attention to deliver the news. Isono had been with the Kaiba brothers for a long time, almost five years in fact, and never had he let his countenance slip. He was solidly reliable, executing Seto's orders with an efficiency that awed him, ensuring Duel Monsters tournaments ran smoothly even in the face of strange happenings and saving Seto himself and his little brother from certain doom at other times. Through all of this, Seto had never seen him crack under the pressure, had never even seen the man smile…
…until now.
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The open windows of her bedroom let in a freshening breeze as the afternoon began. Anzu inhaled deeply, the smell of leaves and flowers blooming bringing a most welcome smile to her face. Her newfound knowledge of her growing crush on Seto had disrupted her daily routine. But, she found, it wasn't as nearly as upsetting as she'd thought it would be. In fact, it was kind of exciting.
The gleam in her mother's eye when she'd told her of the dream, with no specific details of course, hadn't been completely unexpected either. Her mother knew her just about better than anyone, except maybe Yugi, and she could read the exhilarated flush on her cheeks like printed words. The knowing chuckle had finished the whole thing off perfectly.
Her smile remained firmly in place as she packed a blanket, sunscreen and a trashy romance novel into her faded pink beach bag. Not that there were any beaches near Domino City but the bag was a remnant of a fantasy vacation she'd taken with her parents some years before. Fond memories of the sands and sun of Italy had kept her from ever throwing it away.
Now it served as the perfect accomplice for her Saturday afternoon routine.
Hollering goodbye to her mother, Anzu sauntered out the door, pink bag slung carelessly over her shoulder, and started a beeline for Domino Park. She deserved an afternoon of sunshine and daydreaming while she read her book, Seto taking the main male character's place of course.
Coming to terms with her feelings for him had been easy. Finding a way to express her feelings to him was a whole different game. Maybe the book would give her some insight into the scenario.
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"Man! Who knew that models could be so snooty? They saw through our act in no time," Jounouchi exclaimed, his hands raised high and head tilted back, caught between self-pity and frustration.
"We would have been fine if you'd kept your big trap shut. 'Waif-thin', 'niblets', and 'Burger King' are not words that hot girls want to overhear said about them. Haven't you learned anything about girls yet?" Honda sighed in exasperation. He'd been so close to getting digits from a girl named Sophie (a foreigner!) and then Jounouchi had blown it and opened his uncultured yap.
There were days when Honda questioned their friendship.
This happened to be one of them.
"All right, already! I'm sorry, again! Let's just forget about those girls and head to the park. There's bound to be some eye candy there. Girls are always biking or rollerblading or walking their yappy little dogs there. Hey, I'll even treat you to an ice cream cone." Jounouchi said, turning hopeful, golden eyes to his best friend.
For Jounouchi to so willingly offer to part with his hard earned money was a good indication as to the depth of guilt he was feeling over the whole mall model incident. Jounouchi could be an uncouth barbarian but he did have his brilliant moments.
Honda stopped questioning their friendship.
This happened to be a brilliant moment.
The sun shone a little more brightly as Honda smiled at his blonde friend and the two quickly began to trot towards the green space of Domino City.
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'What shall we do now, Yugi?' Yami asked, watching his smaller self with certain amusement. Playing cards were scattered around the young teenager and a house built of nothing but cards teetered precariously before him.
It had started simply enough – sheer, utter boredom. Anzu was at the park (it was Saturday, after all) and Honda and Jounouchi were probably out eating somewhere, leaving Yugi and consequently the Spirit with nothing but time on their hands. Now Yugi was occupied and the Spirit had had nothing to do but watch him place each card very precisely. The first three levels had held his attention since they were the most important. Without a good base, higher levels would have collapsed the entire structure. But it had been solidly built and withheld under the pressure of another four levels.
A puff of wind descended upon Yugi's sitting form and his eyes didn't register that he'd heard the Spirit at all. The cards shivered in their places, the wind disturbing their tenuous balance. Yugi dared not to breathe. The house had been quite a simple design, a square pyramid, but it had required a degree of concentration he usually reserved for duelling to save the world.
The pyramid shuddered once more before it sighed itself into oblivion.
'Did you say something, Pharaoh?' Yugi asked, blinking away his frustration at being defeated and focussing back to reality.
'I asked what we were to do now. My suggestion is going to join Anzu at the park and enjoying this iced cream you keep thinking about.' The last two words were stumbled over since the Spirit wasn't entirely sure what this 'iced cream' was. From the way Yugi talked about it, though, it was something he wanted to become more familiar with, especially one flavour called 'Heavenly Hash'.
Yugi pretended to ponder over the idea, completing the look by tapping his finger on his chin, but it was hard to hide his glee when the two of them shared such a deep mind link. Ice cream sounded perfect and joining Anzu sounded even better. There was a chance that they could find out more about how she felt about Kaiba without intruding too deeply to get her suspicions riled.
'Let us proceed with some haste then. I would hate to be disappointed if there were no iced cream of the Heavenly Hash kind left when we arrived at the park.'
With a surprisingly deep chuckle, Yugi scrambled to his feet and left the room in such a hurry that cards swirled in his wake.
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"Mokuba, I hope you had fun getting lunch ready with Cook this morning," Seto said, breaking the silence as he eased his tall frame into the vehicle and snapped his seatbelt in place. Today was going to be a special day for both of them. Since Seto rarely had time through the week to spend with Mokuba, the rest of the day was going to be spent together. He was actually looking forward to it.
"Yeah, getting my hands dirty like that was total fun. And Cook said that I had potential in the kitchen." Mokuba was proud of his accomplishments. It wasn't everyday that he got to help in the kitchen. This was actually the first time he'd ever been in there with Cook. Usually, he was in there sneaking cookies and milk between meals only to get caught by Isono.
"You do have potential. That was a very good hamburger and cheesy macaroni lunch." And that was the honest truth. Cook had a tendency to over dramatize every meal, making it a fancy affair with proper silverware and linen napkins, but Mokuba's idea for a Western style lunch had given him a much needed break from the heavy, creamy foods he normally had to choke down.
"Thanks, Seto. Now tell me, where are we going?"
Seto's hands twitched on the steering wheel. It had been awhile since the two of them had spent an afternoon bonding. Hopefully, Mokuba wouldn't think his idea too childish. "We're going to Domino Park." He waited for the backlash.
"Domino Park? You mean the one by your office?" Turning a suspicious eye to his older brother, he wondered about why Seto would want to go there. He needed a break from working in his office all day long. And if all worked out well, he'd have more reason to be out of his office than in it. "This isn't a cop out, is it? You're not going to get a phone call suddenly and have to go to the office to fix something?"
"It is the one by my office," Seto replied gently. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes on the road. Mokuba's face was as easy to read as a book. "And no, it's not a cop out. I'm not going near that building unless it's on fire. I haven't even brought my cell phone or laptop with me. As far as anyone knows, I am completely incommunicado."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Pinkie swear?"
"Pinkie swear." Seto kept his hands on the wheel but thrust out his smallest finger in Mokuba's general direction. A gentle tug and a following squeeze sealed their deal.
"Great. But, Seto?" Mokuba was smiling and Seto couldn't see it.
"Yes, Mokuba?"
"Can we have ice cream? A triple scoop in a cup with hot fudge and whipped cream? And maybe a cherry on top?" Mokuba could hardly contain his excitement. A whole afternoon together, just the two of them. It had been forever since they'd done something like this and last time couldn't really be called 'together'. Seto had taken him to an amusement park for a day of riding rides and playing silly games. Mokuba hadn't realized that Seto was scoping out ideas for Kaiba Land til they had gotten home and Seto had locked himself in his office for a whole week.
"Yes, we can have ice cream although I think I'll just have a single scoop on a cone." Seto smiled at his brother as he smoothly slid his car into a parking space. "You can have my other two." He was going to pay for that decision later on when Mokuba had a stomach ache but it would be worth it.
"Awesome!"
Today was going to be a day to remember.
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The large, wide branches of the oak tree created the perfect haven for Anzu to spread out her blanket and relax with her book. A cool breeze blew over from the pond and the sun sparkled on the water as she slipped off her white tennis shoes and settled down on the comfortable green blanket. She had a few hours to enjoy some solitude until either her friends called or her father came and found her. He was due back in Domino City at about dinner time and when she'd talked to him last night, there had been mention of a surprise he was bringing back for her.
Enough of that though. It was time to lose herself in her romance novel and imagine Seto as the dark vampire lord that had stolen her breath and her heart away. The trunk of the tree dug a little into her back as she leaned against it and opened to the very first page of the book. Something about the dark sensual powers of a supernatural being stirred her mind and sent flutters through her stomach.
'Seto is about as close as I'll ever get to a real vampire,' she thought and smirked. He was truly the dark and brooding vampiric type, hell bent on making his life as miserable as possible so that his brother could lead a better life. Such self sacrifice was understandable but not necessary at all. Why should Seto force himself to work so hard and miss out on everything else that life had to offer? She was glad that he'd asked her to the ball on Friday. Maybe it would help him to come out of his shell. The two of them were already on a first name basis and he'd brought her a Japanese rose as well. She'd looked that up on the internet last night after she'd gotten off the phone with her father and had found out what it meant.
Beauty is not your only attraction.
He had to have known what it meant when he'd given it to her. Seto wasn't the kind of guy to not understand something like that. Being two steps ahead of everyone was the way he operated. Everything was meticulously planned out ahead and any and all possible variables accounted for and figured into the equation. He knew what he was doing. But, if he knew exactly what he was doing, where did she fit into that equation he called his life?
Her stomach fluttered for entirely different reasons, not the least of which was finding out that her feelings were not reciprocated.
With a grimace, she buried her nose in her book, determined not to ponder such depressing questions on such a beautiful day.
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Something about Jounouchi's tousled, couldn't-care-less appearance seemed to appeal to the girls in the park more than it had the models at the mall. No one was immune to his advances. His innocent, honey-brown eyes charmed phone numbers and email addresses out of girls walking their yappy little mutts, rollerblading down the walkways and even drinking out of the water fountain.
Honda found it absolutely disgusting.
Jounouchi had suddenly morphed into James Bond and oozed charm and sincerity. Where before he would have been met with derogatory laughs and snide remarks, he now got flirtatious giggles and sly, sexy winks.
He'd even managed to charm the sourpuss that ran the ice cream cart into giving himself and Honda an extra scoop of triple chocolate fudge ripple for free. Then the old bat had gone one better and only charged Jounouchi for one ice cream cone. She'd even smiled, her gap-toothed grin almost turning Honda's stomach. He himself was next to invisible.
Today, Jounouchi was protected from rejection by some strange, almost magical force.
There were days when Jounouchi's brilliant moments made Honda ponder their friendship again.
Licking his cone and fuming silently as he stared across the pond, Honda heard Jounouchi collect another phone number and a kiss on the cheek from a pretty, petite brunette he'd been talking to earlier.
Disgusting.
Then Honda saw something to make him freeze.
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And there we go, folks. Another chapter finished. It is a little short but as I said before I've got a social life now. I also want to apologize for the long wait for this chapter. It took a bit of work to get this to come out just right… and I think it's almost perfect…
And I would also like to give credit to my friend flyinggoomba for lending me the opening sequence of italics you read. It was awesome and it seemed to fit in with what I think Kaiba would read when he wasn't working.
Thanks again, you wonderful people, for reading and reviewing!
Aphrael21;)