Chapter 38:

Drinks

"I didn't expect you to admit that so openly in front of other people," Sanae said to Seto after Ana had gone down the stairs.

"Why should I deny it?" Seto rolled his eyes and focused on grilling the skewers.

"Ana's going to get teased about it."

He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow. "What, why?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Because that's how people are. Anyway, if you want to win her over, you should probably be a little nicer to her friends. Girls don't like it when you're a total ass to their friends."

"If some people who's name you don't even know started asking you about your feelings for someone, would you respond kindly?" Seto glared at her, and Sanae looked thoughtful.

"No… I supposed not, but you still could have deflected it a little more politely."

Seto's eye twitched from irritation. "I've invited you all into my family's property and I'm making you all lunch. I think I'm being pretty nice. Though when you all keep asking irritating and invasive questions, you're making it hard for me to be."

"You're making lunch for all of us?" She looked down at the food, shocked.

"You think I'm really going to eat all of this by myself?"

She opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of it. Instead, she headed down the stairs to the beach and over to Ana. Seto watched them from the top while he cooked. The girls seemed to swarm Ana and Sanae. What's going… Oh, now I get it. It's because I admitted I liked her. Well, whatever. It's not like it was a condition of our agreement to keep it secret. After a few minutes, Ana and Sanae escaped to the ocean. He hadn't been given time when they'd bombarded him with questions earlier, but now that he was alone, he took in how Ana was dressed. Her suit was tight and accentuated her toned body. He liked that she'd chosen a one piece. He might have hit some of the guys if they stared, and right now he was trying to be nice.

"So, you really do like her."

"Ugh. Go away Yugi." Seto glared at Arata who'd come back up the stairs. The redhead was staring at him and smirking.

"My name's not Yugi! Why do you keep calling me that?" Arata huffed.

"Because you butt into people's business and act overly friendly, even though I obviously hate having you around me." Seto snapped. All the annoying questions and people today were getting to him. He was regretting coming. Ana wasn't even really paying much attention to him. Why is she avoiding me? I didn't pick a fight with the teachers or pick a fight with her friends, what did I do?

"Why do you hate having me around?" Arata crossed his arms.

"Because you're annoying."

Arata shrugged. "You really just have a hard time dealing with people who want to be your friend, don't you?"

Seto's eyes narrowed. "The only people who want to be friends with me are people who want something from me."

The redhead laughed. "I don't want anything from you. You've already helped me out plenty."

"What are you talking about?" Seto could feel a headache coming on.

"You burned my old home down. I'm very grateful for that." Arata grinned. "So, I figured I'd help you out with Sakurai-san, but you're the most stubborn person ever."

Seto stood there processing what he'd said. "Huh? I burned your house down? I only burn down the houses of people I have something against, and I didn't even know you existed before. So, how did I burn your house down?"

"I lived in the orphanage that you bought and demolished. It was a sucky place to live. I got transferred to a foster home after that and ended up getting lucky with foster parents. So, I'm grateful for that." Arata explained.

Oh. I just bought and burned down my old orphanage out of spite. Though I did tell them to place the kids in good homes just because. Whatever.

"If that's your reason, then I definitely don't need you paying me back. I did that for myself. So, leave me the frick' alone" Seto went back to grilling the meat.

"Gosh your such an awkward baby dragon." Arata chuckled.

Seto picked up the tongs and turned to Arata, his full rage on display. He seemed to get that he'd gone too far and fled down to the beach. Why did Ana have to spread that phrase around? Seto finished up the food and put the skewers on plates, then left it on the outside table. He figured someone would figure out the food was there and tell the rest. After taking a few skewers for himself, he left the house and went for a walk. There's no way I'm hanging out with a bunch of kids on a beach. He'd wanted to see Ana, and he had. He didn't think she wanted to see him right now, so he headed for a local convenience store to buy himself some drinks. Mokuba had had the food restocked, but not the drinks. Why the heck did he restock the food on a weekend he wasn't coming? It's not like he expected this situation to happen… Did he? Now that I think about it, why did he want a beach house in this part of japan? There were plenty of places near Domino City.

"That little…" Seto could feel a headache coming on. He'd finished his skewers by the time he reached the store. He threw the trash away in the convenience store's trash can and then bought himself a couple sodas. The clerk seemed to recognize him and was practically shaking when he handed his items over as he paid for them. What's up with this kid?

"You're scaring him, Amin-chan."

Seto turned around and found Ana behind him. She was wearing a t-shirt over her bathing suit and flip-flops.

"I didn't say anything to him." Seto snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to get drinks for everyone," Ana replied while holding up a basket full of different drinks. "And it's your face that's scaring him."

Seto growled.

The nervous little clerk floundered as he spoke up, "I-I'm not scared. I-I-I'm a big fan. C-can I have your autograph?"

"No."

The clerk deflated at his rejection.

Ana rolled her eyes. "Well, now I see why you don't have more fans."

"I find the act of asking a random person you've never met before for them to write their name on a piece of paper to be kind of creepy. Plus, I own a billion-dollar company. I don't need anyone forging my signature later." Seto felt more irritated than usual.

Ana just sighed at his response as she placed the drinks on the counter and the dejected kid checked her out. Seto left, but waited for Ana to finish checking out. When she came out, she looked around confused.

"What?" Seto raised an eyebrow at her perplexed reaction.

"It's nothing…" She frowned as she headed back to the beach house. They walked in silence. Seto glanced over at the bags of drinks she was holding. They were bursting out the top.

"Would you like help with those?" Seto asked and held out his hand toward one of the bags.

Ana stopped and looked up at him, shocked. "You've been weird all day. It's almost like you're trying to be nice… It's freaking me out a bit."

"Ok then shorty, I'll just left you suffer." Seto pulled his hand away and continued walking.

"I'm 5' 7" damn it! I'm tall for a girl, you stupid giant. And I didn't say no." She quickly caught up to him and tried to shove a bag into his free hand.

He jerked his hand away and smirked at her. "No. I changed my mind."

Ana's eyes flashed with annoyance. "Plus 2 points."

"Plus? You're giving me points? For what?"

She turned and continued. Her tone was harsh and not her usual playful. "To your asshole score."

Wait, is she really mad right now?

"Does that mean I no longer have an A minus in assery?"

Her voice was strained and sounded truly upset. "Sure, I'll just start calling you asshole from now on instead of Amin-chan."

He walked behind her for a minute, feeling irritated at her sudden anger. "Why are you mad? You're the one who started it."

"I'm not mad."

"Bullshit."

Ana glared at him over her shoulder. She didn't see the crack in the pavement and her foot snagged on it. She flew forward. Seto dropped his bag and grabbed her around the waist, stopping her from landing on the concrete. He pulled her back, so that she was upright again and let out a sigh of relief. Good grief. I feel like she gets into a ton of accidents and why does she smell like strawberries? Smell? Seto panicked when he realized his face wasn't that far from her head and that he was still holding her. He quickly released her. She still didn't move.

He stepped around her and looked at her. "Are you alright…?"

Her face was bright red. When she noticed him looking at her, she turned away. "I'm fine. Thanks…"

His heart was racing as he observed her. What? Why is she reacting like that? Seto decided not to think about it. Before she could do anything, he snatched up his bag and took a bag from her. He hurried ahead. She caught up with him easily but wouldn't look him in the face. They walked in silence for a bit.

"Are you going to swim with us?" Ana asked.

"No."

She finally looked up at him and frowned. "You came to the beach but don't plan on swimming?"

"I don't own a bathing suit."

Her reaction to his comment was so funny that he chuckled.

"Why not? Wait, can you not swim?"

"I can swim. I wouldn't want anyone trying to throw me into water to kill me, so I know how to swim. I just don't swim for fun." Seto sighed at her questioning.

"Why not?"

He sighed again, louder this time, and gave her an irritated look. "I don't want to tell you, so stop prying."

Ana frowned, but didn't press him further. When they got back to the house, Seto handed her the bag and headed for a spare room.

"Are you not going to hang out with everyone?" She asked, though the way she asked it made it seem like she already knew the answer.

"I only came to see you. You seem to busy, so I'm going to go get some work done," He replied before locking himself in a spare room.

He groaned. Is next weekend going to be as weird? Why is she acting this way?