Chapter 5

Seto staggered away from the kitchen after watching Abnore' scurry away. In his room he paced back and forth, up and down furiously trying to think of a way to keep Abnore' quiet.

'She will not tell him, she will be too afraid of what others might think, or more importantly what Yami will think. Yes this could work towards my advantage, and just in case she develops the courage to enlighten him, I need dirt on her to keep her quiet.'

Mokuba lied on his stomach still underneath his table. Even after a half an hour, he cannot believe what he just witness. He was too shaken to move from his location, so he tried sleeping. When that didn't work, he decided he needed to figure out why his brother had kissed Abnore'.

' Seto might have thought she wanted him to kiss her, or maybe she has been seducing my brother as well as the pharaoh; that would explain why Seto and Yami aren't as close as they were before he was married. They're still like brothers, but it is not the same as before.' Now matter how he said it, in his heart he knew that Abnore' was far from a seductress. He began to envision the kiss over and over until it seemed to Mokuba that Abnore' had tricked Seto into kissing her. He played the kiss over in his mind so that his brother wasn't the one who initiated the kiss.

'Seto is innocent. Abnore' was being a flirt and Seto took it the wrong way; Abnore' never thought Seto would kiss her and that explains that shocked look on her face.' These statements had become true in Mokuba's mind, and with that he headed back home.

Abnore' lied on her bed trying to sleep. Her mind was racing at a hundred miles an hour; since she couldn't sleep anyway, she rolled on her back. She was debating over whether or not to tell the pharaoh.

'Seto shouldn't have been there. He should have been able to tell that I was backing away from him.' She rolled over on her side to look at Yami and her mind was instantly made up, 'Yami considers Seto and Mokuba his brothers. If I tell I will breakup Yami's oldest friendship, and Mokuba is so close to his brother that he may act differently around Yami. If Yami loses those two he's an only child again. I can't do that.' With that Abnore' fell asleep.

Upon waking around 6 am, an idea struck, Abnore' had thought of a way to not feel strangely towards Seto while around Seto. 'I'll just avoid him; the only trouble is not making Yami think I 'm avoiding Seto.'

The day went by while Abnore' tried to avoid Seto, she eventually realized that the only place she could go to and enjoy herself while still on palace grounds was at the rose garden labyrinth.

Yami was not as blind to Seto's sudden anxiety, or to Abnore' impulsive bashfulness. Yet he couldn't put two and two together. He decided that he would plan a big palace party and invite Merrick as a surprise for Abnore'.

Yami kept Abnore' in the rose labyrinth for most of the next day. They went for a picnic, and he showed her the waterfall that she had seen from his mother's room. At the end of the day near sunset, they walked back to the now decorated palace. People both wealthy and humble filled the palace wearing their finest clothes.

Seto watched the majestic couple on the veranda from the first floor with envy and vehemence. He still hadn't found anything on the girl yet. Just then a brunette gentleman walked up from behind him, he seemed to be reading Seto's thoughts.

"Yeah she's a knockout alright, but evidently she's taken." the young man said.

"Who are you?" Seto inquired.

"I'm Merrick, and if you want to split those to up, you'll need me. I might have some leverage with Abnore'."

"What makes you think I'm trying to break them up? How do you have leverage with Abnore'?" Seto asked.

"My rod tells me so. I'm her brother."

"Why should I trust you?" Seto asked.

"Because without me, you'll never find what your looking for to split those two up. Trust me, if we team up they'll have no choice but to split up. You haven't figured out a way to because you're not looking in the right place. I'll give you till the end of this party for your answer." Merrick answered composedly.

Merrick walked towards the bottom of the stairs so that he was in view of both Abnore' and Seto. Abnore' immediately saw him and ran down the stairs quite indignantly to greet him.

After talking for half an hour Merrick excused himself to leave. He was inches away from the door when Seto's arm tapped his back, "I'm in. How can I find you?"

"I'll find you Seto Kaiba." With that Merrick left for home.