Disclaimer: I own a fake pink carnation. At least Ryou's not allergic to do that. Besides, it's not like I gained ownership of Yu-gi-oh in the past week, why do I have to keep writing this? I could be reading a book or something. Sheesh.
Fairydust
PM *slinks back onto the stage, hoping nobody is going to start throwing rotten fruit at her*: Um… hi… *tries to smile as innocently as Ryou does, fails completely* I… err… hope this chapter is better than the last one. -_-;; So sorry…
Ryou *reading the last chapter*: And you thought I needed a psychiatrist, Miss I've-Got-Really-Low-Self-Confidence-But-Refuses-To-Admit-It!
PM: Shut up. I thought I should warn you people, this story goes up to 16 parts, according to the brief outline I made for the rest of the story. While 16 parts might not seem like that much to most people, it's a lot for me. I've never written anything beyond 5 parts, mainly because I don't like writing multiple chapters that much. ^^;; I tried to find parts where I can make cuts, but there really aren't any (plus my beta-reader didn't want me to… arigatou, Mariel). And speaking of beta-readers, a load of thanks to Kei-kun for her help in developing the beginning scenes of this chapter. ^_~ Arigatou gozaimasu, Kei-kun! Anyhow, all that said, this part takes place on a Wednesday morning and beginning of afternoon. Enjoy!
ANYWHO, a warm thanks to all of my reviewers! ^_^ Although my wonderful… um… uninspirational muses are half convinced that you are overinflating my ego… but there is no possibility of that, right? *innocent look* So yes, Indigo Tantarian (Ryou: YES! POOR ME! PITY ME! PM: You anime characters…), Ginny (I'm glad you thought it was good… ^_~), juvi (irony is the best policy… no, wait, isn't it supposed to be honesty? Oh well, irony is cool too!), Crystalline Maxwell (Well, that is Yami no Bakura's purpose in life, no?), Wildwolf (no bugging, just warning people… I'm very delicate and do not want any flames… it's quite depressing, actually, I got a flame for my first long story… *sniffles* ANYHOW, don't warn everybody about what's happening! And that Five God Dragon annoyed me! Although… Yami… no shirt… *droollllllll*), Mejika (Ryou hasn't exactly admited it… but we ALL know he does!!! Except Seto… so clueless they are!), Shamanic Guardian Lena (Yami no Bakura is soooo evil… but he's so cute… -_-;;; I wish I could make up my mind about that character!), *i n c o h e r e n t* (sequel? You've read my mind! I have a fic in mind but I do not know if it will be the sequel… it depends on this fic's progress and how many sodas I drink, I suppose… but I do have a fic in mind, never fear!), tuulikki (Wah ha! I do know Japanese! So those past two years WEREN'T in vain… okay, let's forget that I didn't learn about the -tachi thing in class, but… that is okay!), nell-and-paru (don't put yourself done, dangit! That's the MUSE'S job to do… well, at least my muses… they just put me down… course, they're not really muses… they're just PARASITES… but that's a different ballgame…), and sliverlaugh1155 (^_^ I got your review right when I was about to update… so I hope you're happy!). ^_^ THANK YOU ALL!
~ The Ugly Umbrella ~
True or false: It is legally permitted to strangle your 'koi' when he drags you to a charity event and confidently expects you to do all the work.
Answer: Unfortunately, it's false. But it should be true.
"Seto, get off that cell phone right now before I break it," I threaten, absolutely exasperated. For the past half-hour, Kaiba-kun has left me with a vast array of screaming, bawling kids (okay, so there are only two, and one is absolutely sweet, but that's besides the point!), and then proceeded to spend the entire same-said half-hour talking on the phone. Before he can get off the phone to object to my demand, I shove the sobbing baby into his free hand, which, interestingly enough, just causes it to start screaming louder .
Although Kaiba-kun could have just ignored my annoying request, he can't ignore this. He glares at me, then at the baby, which only causes it to scream even louder (I can relate. I would be crying too if Kaiba-kun was glaring at me like that… wait, he's glaring at me like that right now! Must resist big crocodile tears…). Covering the mouth piece, he gives me a pleading look (which is shocking coming from him), "Ryou, I'm on the phone… and either way, it's not like I know how to take care of a kid! You see the way it's screaming already, I don't deal with these types of things!"
Don't or won't? I fold my arms and just glare back. Not that that's very impressive… Jyounouchi-kun used to laugh at me when I glared at him for stealing my stuff. Judging from his reaction, my glares have the effectiveness of throwing a model of a penguin made up nothing more than marshmallows at somebody's face. More likely to make somebody laugh rather than feel any fear whatsoever. But I have NOT endured a long lecture from Jyounouchi-kun last night about responsibility (as if he's one to talk…) simply to have Kaiba-kun drag me to this charity event just so he can talk on his phone and have me do everything for him! And I seriously intend to tell him just that!
"Seto, I'm not taking care of these kids by myself," I tell him flatly. Frankly, I do not know what could have possibly possessed him to agree to come to something like this! I mean, since when was it Seto Kaiba's duty to go to a charity event where we volunteer at a homeless shelter? And not to mention somehow mysteriously getting himself and me assigned to taking care of infants and toddlers! From what I've seen so far from him, he couldn't tell the baby's feet from its head without some sort of instruction manual! "This is your responsibility, not mine, and you can just forget it if you think I'm going to do all your work for you. You signed up for this, you got yourself into this. So take some accountability for your actions and help me before you have to get yourself a new cell phone."
He kinda stares at me for a moment, as if disbelieving that I meant every word that I said. I continue to glare at him, somehow managing to look vaguely threatening enough that he doesn't just laugh in my face. Then, silently and almost mechanically, he clicks the phone shut and places it in his jacket pocket.
I softy release the held breath I had been holding, inwardly grimacing and hope he isn't going to start to really hate me for what I just did.
"All right," he states slowly, staring at the baby as a general would stare at a nuclear weapon (with both longing and an insane need to throw it off the nearest cliff as soon as possible), "What am I supposed to do?"
I just blink at him. Does he honestly expect me to know? I'm the younger, spoiled brother, remember? "Um… I'm not really sure…" I admit sheepishly.
"Is somebody helping you?" a voice interrupts our silent staring-at-each-other-blankly-hoping-sooner-or-later-the-other-person-will-have-a-brilliant-revelation-that-will-save-us-from-humiliation-except-now-it's-too-late, "I thought Saiki was helping the two of you?"
"You mean the blonde?" Kaiba-kun frowns, obviously associating our (former) guide with Jyounouchi-kun, "He left us about half an hour ago without a word. He hasn't been back since."
She sighs, shaking her head, "Okay, so I'll just kill him later. My name is Michelle, and I guess I'll help you two out today." She kinda looks over the two of us critically, spending the most time looking at Kaiba-kun with a totally expressionless look that would have made me squirm (Kaiba-kun just looks back at her coolly). She looks middle-aged, maybe Taichi-san's age, with some white hair already creeping into her dark brown hair.
"You need to change him."
That causes him to start. "Excuse me?" Kaiba-kun asks, his voice strangely high-pitched as he demands, "Exactly what do you want me to do?"
"You need to change him," Michelle-san repeats calmly, pausing to think before adding sarcastically, "That's why he's crying like that. He needs a diaper change or he'll keep crying until he turns blue and dies. And let me tell you, that doesn't really look good on your record."
"Okay," Kaiba-kun replies a bit hastily, staring at the screeching demon in his arms, "So?"
"Don't you know how to change a diaper?" she stares at the two of us in absolute disbelief.
"No."
"Why am I always being assigned the incompetent people…" she asks herself, shaking her head and sighing while looking to the sky as a source of salvation (but sadly, not getting any), "Okay, I'll show you how to change the diaper. But then you'll be changing the next one."
From the expression on Kaiba-kun's face, he's going to make sure there is no next one. I wonder idly if I should kindly explain to him that you cannot bribe a baby to hold it, but judging from the look on his face, I'll be dead in twenty seconds flat if I dare voice that.
~ * ~
"Why is he still crying?" Kaiba-kun snaps peevishly, glaring at little Tetsuji, who is crying his head off. Michelle-san had rushed off as soon as she had changed him, thrusting him into Kaiba-kun's arms, upon which he promptly burst into a flood of tears (I mean Tetsuji, not Kaiba-kun… although I suppose that would certainly be an interesting sight).
I try to keep a perfectly straight face as I reply, "Maybe he knows you don't like him."
"How can he know that? He's just a baby," Kaiba-kun snarls back, which of course causes Tetsuji to scream even louder (don't ask me how he managed to do that, but I swear he did), "Listen to him! You'd think I was trying to kill him!"
"It might just be the tone of your voice."
"What's wrong with it?!"
Insert louder crying.
"I… I think you're scaring him, Seto," I finally say softly, declining to mention my own feelings on the matter.
There is a long silence as he just blinks at me, giving me that stare/glare of his. I feel like a goldfish in a bowl, being stared at by a person I barely know and never will. I can feel the ever-present blush creeping up again, and I feel like hiding behind the door. Or at the very least lifting up the baby in my arms to cover my deep red face… I don't understand exactly what is it about Kaiba-kun that can get me so nervous like this, why I care so much about what he thinks…
"Your hair smells nice."
My eyes practically boggle and fall out, and I resist the urge to smack my head against a wall a couple times to make sure I'm not dreaming. Now that is a non sequitor if I've ever heard one. My throat is dry and my voice is all raspy as I finally manage to gasp out, "Na… nani? [1]"
As I stare at him in a surprised stupor, absolutely sure this is some melodramatic daydream and I'm probably really in the hospital with a coma, he just gives me an oddly relaxed grin as he casually shrugs, "Your hair. It smells like apple blossoms. It's nice."
It's dead silent. Even Tetsuji has stopped his bawling. I myself feel like screaming hysterically… exactly what on earth is going on? Even my nightmares have never been this bad…
Is this what Otogi-kun felt like when Honda-kun told him he liked him? Except that wasn't acting… right? I mean, this is just acting… I don't think Kaiba-kun really thinks that. It's just… I have this urge to strangle him. I'm not kidding. How can he do this to me, to anybody? Toying with people's emotions, making them think that something might come out of something that is really nothing at all.
"You confuse me, Kaiba-kun." The words are barely a whisper at that, so it's of no wonder that he doesn't hear me, now smiling broadly at poor Tetsuji who is probably confused on why the mean brown-haired man is suddenly being nice. Luckily for little Tetsuji, who is merely confused rather than dumbfounded and getting a headache from Kaiba-kun's maniacal mood swings, I can only stare at him, blinking back the tears of frustration.
Atsoko-chan blinks sleepily and looks at me with such innocence in her large green eyes when a stray tear plops onto her face. She looks so sweet, and I can only hope that she never gets pulled into something like this.
"You won't be as much of a baka as I am, will you?" I ask softly, voice barely audible over Tetsuji's sudden loud squeals of joy. Kaiba-kun (I'm not kidding) is swinging him around as if he was playing airplane with him… then again, that is exactly what he is doing.
Atsoko-chan's face scrunches up in confusion and I laugh, giving her a finger to play with, which she instantly reacts to by grabbing it in a tight little fist.
Such pure innocence… I've never seen so much innocence and sweetness packaged into such a cute little package.
How disgusting.
I decide to ignore my Yami on this point, seeing that he really isn't the type who should be allowed to judge anything dealing with innocence. Which I'm sure will send him into a mental sulk, and I seriously hope he's not listening into my thoughts still or I'll be eating out of traction for the rest of my life (of course, I know he really wouldn't do that, seeing that he needs an able body, but if he loses his temper, who knows what he'll remember?).
My face is feeling extraordinarily warm, which is a sure sign that somebody is watching me (yes, I realize this is a weird sensing system, but that's how it works…), causing me to look up only to come face to face with Kaiba-kun, who has stopped spinning Tetsuji around (probably because he's starting to look a little green, and I don't think Kaiba-kun wants to deal with baby vomit on his nice clothes).
We kinda look at each other for a moment, as if waiting for the other person to break the silence. I know for a fact that I will never be able to because as soon as I open my mouth, I'm sure something really stupid will come popping out, and I know for a fact that saying something extremely stupid combined with an oddly emotional Kaiba is really not a good thing right now.
Suddenly, out of the blue, the silence is broken when poor little Atsoko-chan starts crying. It's not as bad as Kaiba-kun with Tetsuji, of course, but the fact that she's crying is still there. Kaiba-kun stares at me with disbelief, a kind of 'what could you have possibly done?' look that makes me like a saint who has just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
A strange smell makes itself known, and I grimace as Atsoko-chan keeps crying. Wordlessly, I hold her out to Kaiba-kun, who also (and in record time) notices the strange smell.
If he didn't have Tetsuji in his hands, I think he would have folded his arms and tried to look as imposing as possible. Unfortunately for him, it's difficult to do that when you have a baby in your arms, so he has to settle for giving me one of his 'no WAY' looks.
"No."
"But Seto," I say in the most innocent voice I possibly can. Maybe if I add a pout and blink Bambi eyes at him, it would work better. Or maybe I should start crying too. Who knows, it might win me a free overseas ride to America.
"You saw her change him too! You can do it!" he replies heatedly, although there is a tone of pleading in his voice that I have never heard before, not even when the Ultimate Dragon was crumbling before his eyes and he was about to lose his duel to save Mokuba against Yuugi.
"But Seto," I continue as innocently as I can, "Michelle-san said you had to change the next one. Not me."
"No," he replies through gritted teeth.
~ * ~
When Michelle-san returned, it was a little after Seto… I mean Kaiba-kun… had managed to get the dirty, grimy diaper off Atsoko-chan. I suspect that she hadn't really expected him to ever have to change a diaper (seeing how she just changed Tetsuji and how I'm here…) because she burst out into a fit of hysterical laughter once she got a good look at him and his expression after he had gotten a good whiff of the mess Atsoko-chan made. That, as expected, does nothing to improve Kaiba-kun's mood whatsoever.
"I don't see what's so funny," he grumped sourly when Michelle-san finally decided to pity him and take care of Atsoko-chan, especially after he messed up repeatedly.
"Maybe when you're older," Michelle-san replied sweetly (a sarcastic sweetly, granted), "You'll start to understand the sadistic streak that runs in us, some deeper than others."
Kaiba-kun immediately gets the 'get me out of here now' look. I fully expect Michelle-san to start cackling and say something about boiling our livers and feeding it to our heads once she's decapitated us.
"I see you've got the hang of at least being gentle," Michelle-san murmurs absent-mindedly as she takes Tetsuji from us, kinda leaving us both staring.
"Excuse me?" Kaiba-kun sputters.
"Did I say something?" Michelle-san replies innocently, giving me a big wink that I'm sure Kaiba-kun couldn't have missed even if he was blind. Although I suppose it's a wasted effort, seeing that I have no idea what on earth she's trying to tell me in that gesture.
Then she effectively causes my world to crash around me with just a few simple words. "Anyhow, I'm letting the two of you go early."
"Why?" Kaiba-kun and I chorus, a hint of panic in both our voices.
"Why?" she echoes, looking genuinely surprised, "Well, it's because the two of you have done more in the past hour than most of the volunteers do in their entire lives. Despite what we try to tell them, this isn't just something they do in order to pat a couple kids on the head and look good to the reporters. Besides, this is supposed to be a learning experience, and I think you have both learned plenty."
"Learned?" I squeak out. Learned what?!?!
"It's only half an hour, you two. I'm sure you can find something to entertain yourselves," she shoos us off, the implications of her words causing her to grin insanely and me to blush madly (again with the blushing thing). Kaiba-kun is stoned, standing there staring at her in disbelief.
"The driver won't be coming for another half hour," he finally snaps, causing Michelle to turn around and look at both of us in wonder.
"So?"
"What are we supposed to do for half an hour?" Kaiba-kun's voice rises to a high-pitched demand, certainly something I've never seen before. Jyounouchi-kun will have a field day with this…
That's when I realize what is making Kaiba-kun so agitated. He doesn't want to be stuck with me for half an hour… alone. I feel the blood draining from my face, the knowledge that he just doesn't want to be stuck with me for a measly half hour enough to screw around with anybody's day. Why on earth did he ask me to do this, I really want to just scream that at him until I get an answer right now.
"Well, when I was dating my husband, we liked to goof around, sit down and talk, eat ice creams, watch sunsets… there's some tables out by the park and an ice cream vendor. Why don't you two go do that?"
"What?" Kaiba-kun repeats for the umpteenth time. I've decided to temporarily drift in a pleasant place where sound (and therefore humiliation due to something your extremely unloving koi has decided to say) does not penetrate. It's not too bad, if I say so myself.
"Out," Michelle-san jabs a finger outside with firm conviction, "Go have fun." She peers at us both critically, "You both can use it."
Then before either of us are quite sure of what she's doing, let alone protest her actions, she's shoved us both outside and slammed the door in our expressionless/vaguely shocked faces.
"I guess I'll call the driver and ask him to come earlier," Kaiba-kun finally proclaims without even sparing me a glance. Am I really that detestable to him? I decline to reply as he jabs his finger into the cell's key pad, cursing softly under his breath as he brings it up to his ear and waits for somebody to pick up.
Which, I suppose rather unexpectedly, nobody does.
We just stare at each other in absolute surprise, as if waiting for somebody to shatter the scene with a mallet and have reality come crashing down on our heads.
"What the hell?" Kaiba-kun snarls, glaring at the offensive piece of technological murder, "He doesn't have his cell phone turned on!"
That's probably because you told him you would be picked up at noon, no exceptions. Although I have a feeling that the 'no exceptions' part of your loud ranting dealt mainly with no exceptions of him staying after noon, rather than the (heaven forbid) possibility of being let out early. I mean, can you honestly blame the poor guy for not having his cell phone on? Great, he's probably going to get fired too, considering how pissed Kaiba-kun looks.
"Why don't we go sit down for a while, Kaiba-kun?" I venture meekly, gesturing vaguely at the benches that Michelle-san had mentioned. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to mention that they are topped by the ugliest umbrellas I have ever seen in my life, and that includes the many different schools I went to on rainy days, beaches, books, and movies.
"…" I can sense his doubts on the ugly umbrella… it really is a hideous thing. Whoever made it must have been colorblind, I suppose, and whoever chose it must have felt extremely sorry for the creator (or perhaps was colorblind himself… or herself). It has these just plain ugly maroon strips interchanging with hot green strips. The entire thing is dotted with enough spots to make you get dizzy and puke, the dots not being a particularly pretty color themselves (not unless sewage is the newest fad, which I suppose I am in no condition to comment on).
For the second time today, he sighs and turns off the cell phone, shoving it roughly into his coat jacket with this self-suffering look on his face. I bite my lip to keep from demanding to him if he is suffering so much, why didn't he just tell Emi-san that he was gay instead of going through with this huge façade? Honestly, it would have been much easier (and not to mention a thousand times less painful) on both our behalves. Did that idea just never occur to him or something? I find that hard to stomach, for more reasons than one.
Then he just takes my hand and leads me over to the table with the ugly umbrella, his grip firm but still gentle in that way he always manages to do (somehow). My face (once again looking like something you can fry an egg on, to be cliché) burns as he seats me down, making me feel remarkably like a china doll that is about to break, a strange tenderness in his eyes that just serves to confuse me (par usual).
For a moment, we just sit there, Kaiba-kun looking much more relaxed than I as I sit there as stiffly as the wooden doll whose nose grew every time he told a lie. If my nose did that, I wouldn't be able to see anything in front of me for three meters.
Casually ignoring everybody staring at us, Kaiba-kun just sits there, seemingly impervious to the looks we're attracting. You know, despite the 'special' status I have gained as Kaiba-kun's koi, I don't really feel much different from when we weren't acting. He's still as distant as ever, although there are sides of him that I never would have expected to see. You know, if somebody ever wanted to blackmail Kaiba-kun with information on his emotional life and couldn't get a hold of Mokuba, I think they'll be coming after me… Although that certainly isn't necessarily isn't a good thing.
"We have twenty-five minutes left," Kaiba-kun jumps into my thoughts with that oh-so-startling revelation, "Maybe he'll get here early."
"…" I decide not to reply, lest I say something we all regret.
"Have you ever read Saint Tail [2]?"
I nearly fall off the bench and collapse, although a huge sweatdrop shows up on the back of my head, "Wha… WHAT?!"
Now, I don't wish to sound rude to the people who like that manga, but it's just that… well, Saint Tail is for girls. And this is Kaiba Seto who's talking about it… I don't know, it might just be me, but it just sounds really weird coming from Kaiba-kun… I mean, it was odd enough finding out that he's gay (who could ever have expected that?!), but… but… but… okay, I know I look like a girl and everything (and as for those two billion people currently laughing at me, STOP IT!), but that doesn't mean I've been reading girl comics recently!
"The main characters in that manga blush a lot," Kaiba-kun shrugs, smiling at me oddly, "You're always blushing these days too. It just reminded me of that."
A strangled reply tries to make its way through my throat, but gets impossibly stuck in the process.
"And they choke a lot too," he finishes, emphasizing his point with a cocky grin. It takes all my effort not to get up and cream him.
"Since when do you read girl comics?!" I finally exclaim, not even caring if he gets annoyed by the question. I mean, seriously! I wouldn't even expect Kaiba-kun to have time to read any comics, and certainly not girl comics if it came down to it!
Kaiba-kun just grins insolently, causing me to want to plaintively wail. I mean, jeez, why didn't it just occur to me that certain millionaires read shoujo manga [3] in their free time? For crying out loud, I didn't even know he was gay! So why didn't it occur to me?
"There's a lot you don't know about me, Ryou," Seto shakes a finger at me, and I clench my hands into fists to keep from ripping his finger off.
He looks almost like he's getting drunk or something. Or is this merely a natural high that he gets from freaking out his supposed koi? I wonder if he goes around freaking out the people he works with (or the people who work for him, to be more precise) by his interesting little habits? Does Mokuba know? I wonder what Jyounouchi-kun will say when he finds out (cause he will find out… par usual)… I have a feeling that the next time Kaiba-kun calls him a zako [4] or make inu or any one of those pet names he particularly enjoys calling him, he will seriously be regretting it… and if Jyounouchi-kun does not meet an untimely death at Kaiba-kun's hands, I'm pretty sure that I will.
And I mean, duh, Kaiba-kun, of course there is so much odd things about you that I never would have suspected. It's not like you've ever opened up to me, right? You weren't even that close to me in the entirety of high school. Of course, that might be because you were too busy challenging Yami-kun or making fun of Jyounouchi-kun, but I might as well have been invisible when it came to you taking the time to notice my pathetic existence. Again, I am having an unexplainable urge to yell "DIEEE!" and attack him.
"I think the same could be applied the other way around, Kaiba-kun," I answer, resting my arms on the table, trying my best to get comfortable.
He just nods absent-mindedly, not even bothering to correct me on my 'improper' use of his name, instead deciding that it was more important to take one of my hands.
Nanda?
Kaiba-kun looks lost for a second, staring blankly at a spectacularly interesting trash can behind me (at least I think there's one there… either that, or Kaiba-kun is starting to take hallucinogens again), as he tries to get his thoughts together.
"I bought Mokuba this giant stuffed Pikachu for his birthday. I don't even know why he asked for it, but I think he just wanted to see me carrying it to him," he suddenly says, rolling his eyes at the memory and causing me to grin slightly, "He had people taking pictures. If the press ever gets hold on them, I'll probably go after every one of them… although you can barely see me, just my arms wrapped around this giant stuffed electric rat."
"Oniisan's girlfriend loves unicorns. So every year, he buys her one for her birthday, but the problem is that she already has all of the ones he gives her. She told me herself," I smile sympathetically.
"Hmm, and there's Yami's insane obsession with that stuffed seal… [5]"
"Yuki," I supply innocently, causing Seto to blink at me, "Well, that is its name."
"He named it?"
"Oh yes. I heard he was toying between Yuki and Baka Kaiba…" Okay, so I got that information from Jyounouchi-kun, who was shaking his head about the spirit's lack of imagination when it came to names, and wanted Yami-kun to name Yuki 'Baka Kaiba' instead of 'snow'. Another one of those cases where I'm extremely glad that Yami-kun does not take advice on these types of matters from Jyounouchi-kun.
"I can't believe he named it…" Kaiba-kun kinda shakes his head as he tries to contemplate the concept of a 5,000 year old spirit naming a stuffed animal depicting an animal he most likely had never seen in his entire life. I have to admit, the story is a bit hard to swallow… "Wait… waitasecond! What did you say he was going to name it instead of?!"
"Nothing," I hastily reply.
"Ryou," he growls playfully, giving me a mock ferocious look that makes me want to laugh.
"He was considering naming it 'Seto is a Great and Wonderful Person'," I can't help but tease back, "But the name was simply too long, and even shortening it to 'Great and Wonderful Seto' made it a bit redundant, so he decided on Yuki."
Kaiba-kun laughs.
I can only stare as he laughs… laughs. I don't know if even I fully understand the magnitude of such an event, but he's… laughing.
It starts off small, just a bit of chuckling, but it continues to increase in volume until it is actual laughter. I cannot for the life of me remember when was the last time he was laughing like this… happily, rather than arrogantly.
I feel as if the pieces are falling into place… although the problem is that I don't really know what the pieces are, nor do I know what the picture is supposed to be.
Later, when I look back at this, I'm sure I'm going to be confused again. Although I have to admit that I'm used to it by now, what with Kaiba-kun's insane ups and downs that happen so fast that I'm still reeling from the last one while he's already on the next one.
But as for now, I feel almost… complete. Satisfied. It might have been better if there wasn't a little part of me screaming loudly, "WHY?!"
Because for a second… for one, quick, fleeting, glorious second, I believed that all of this was real…
~ * ~
The chauffeur was right on time, but he started to quake when he saw that Kaiba-kun and I were sitting at the table, looking decidedly comfortable after having been there for all too long. He continued to shake, trying to control the tremors as much as possible as Kaiba-kun swept toward him, me following like a ragged blankie.
A rather short car trip later, the inside of the car completely silent as we all tried to make ourselves invisible (except Kaiba-kun, who not only has no interest in doing such a thing, but would most likely find it impossible seeing how so many people know him), I found myself in front of my the building where my afternoon class is. And no, I have no idea how Kaiba-kun knew which one was my class, but I'm too afraid to ask.
"Arigatou, Kaiba-kun," I mumble almost incoherently as I get out of the car (I suppose 'dash' or 'flee' from the car would be more appropriate…).
Then, really on impulse, before the door gets ample opportunity to close on my face, I lean in and give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Just a peck, really, seeing that I'm really not brave enough to go any farther or longer than that. Also, something that quick could not be broken off no matter how nervous I get, seeing that it is over before I can fully realize exactly what I was doing.
Kaiba-kun looks shocked for a moment, and if his expression changed, I would never know it. Embarrassment and fluster quickly takes over, and I flee towards the building without a second glance behind me, ignoring all the stares I'm attracting from people passing by.
As I run through the door into the confining hallways of the construction, my heart beats wildly and I try to erase all the emotions I've felt in that small kiss.
Dreams are such wonderful things. Pearls and jewels are expensive and seemingly important. But I would give all the wealth in the world, trade every fancy object away simply for the pleasure of having Kaiba-kun open up to me as he did today.
Even if it would have to be under that ugly umbrella.
Translations and Notes (is it me, or does this chapter have a LOT of notes?!)
[1] What?
[2] Saint Tail is a manga by Megumi Tachikawa about an eighth grade thief who uses magic, Haneoka Meimi, who's like a modern-day Robin Hood. She likes a boy in her class, Asuka Jr., who also happens be assigned to capturing Saint Tail. ^_^ It's really cute!. I know it's really random in this fic, but I was in a bit of writer's block and couldn't think of anything to write!
[3] Manga for girls, i.e. Saint Tail and Cardcaptor Sakura. Yu-gi-oh is actually considered to be a guy comic, but a lot of girls read it.
[4] Small fish (another pet name of Seto's… -_-;;)
[5] *coughs* My one and only shameless self plug. It's from my other fic, "Kody". I don't expect you to read it, don't worry. Actually, this isn't as much of an advertisement of my old fics as a big hello to Yuki! *squeals and hugs stuffed seal* KAWAII!
Lance *points at PM, who is grinning maniacally*: What's wrong with her?
Jyou: She thinks this chapter sucked.
Keel: It might just be me, but I've noticed that when PM thinks a chapter is bad, she screeches and raves madly about how she's a bad writer and can't write for beans.
Koushiro: Maybe she got plastic surgery for the occasion…
PM: *GRINNING before taking in HUGE breath* I GOT THE SUBTITLED YU-GI-OH! Yes, I know you people already know that, but I am SO happy! 62 BEAUTIFUL EPISODES! I got to hear Ryuuji's voice! I got to watch the cuts! I got to hear Pegasus say 'Kaiba-boy' in that funny way Kei-kun imitates! I got to understand what's going on in certain parts! And I got to hear Ryou's girly voice!
Ryou *knocks PM unconscious with a huge anime mallet*
Yue: O.O Remind me never to piss you off…
Pikachumaniac (who is currently unconscious…)