Disclaimer: I'm still begging Satan to give me a break and not send me to hell. And if I can change his mind about that, maybe I can convince the Prince of Darkness I deserve "Yu-Gi-Oh!" as well.
Author's Note: Thanks go out to
Miryoku - Don't worry, you'll see what Anzu will do to make it up to him...
Azurite - "Ridiculously in-character." giggles You have no idea how much that pleased me!
Malik Fan 03 - Soon enough for ya?
Candance - Thanks. Glad you liked Honda and Jou (or Tristan and Joey, if you prefer).
Just this once - Thank you!!!
Selena Style - Well, thank you :) It's really nice to hear from you (someone who doesn't normally like this pairing) that I'm doing a good job with it.
Serenity Komoshiro - Thanks for the review!
The Truth - Aww, I love your reviews. They're long and amusing and they help me a lot.
angelus-2040 - Hmm... normally I'd say you definitely shouldn't laugh at other people's expense... but since this IS labeled "humor"...
Lady Dragon 636 - I think I already gave you permission to put this up :) I'm flattered you asked. And yeah, Kaiba will be having quite a bit of "fun"... if you want to call it that.
hieiandbotan4ever - Thanks!
Dragon Faere - Of course I'll continue!
Loyal to S/A - Glad I made you laugh .
Geniusgirl; The Original - Hey, thanks! Reviews like yours help me improve. And, yeah, I think my chapters should be longer too ;;; I should get to working on that, don't ya think?
GwenKelly - You're welcome! I liked your story! By the way, are you familiar with "Yu-Gi-Oh!" sub/Japanese names or should I explain who everyone is?
Author's Note #2: Ugh... I don't think this is as good as previous chapters, so please bear with me anyway.
Chapter 4
When Anzu and her friends walked back into the classroom, Seto was leaning against a window, talking into his cell phone, apparently making a business call. He looked up to shoot them an angry glare, but Anzu returned it with a smile. She knew exactly what to do the second he was off that phone.
By the time he'd hung up, most of the class had filed into the room and they were just waiting for the teacher. Anzu knew that was for the best; if she was going to walk over and kiss him, best to do so in front of a fairly large crowd of students, right? Because the whole reason they were even doing this was just to send a certain message, project a certain image.
She swallowed. "Wish me luck," she told her friends.
"Why?" asked Jonouchi.
"Luck," said Yugi, although he was plainly as confused as Jonouchi.
Sucking her breath in and making a valiant attempt at smiling, Anzu approached Kaiba's desk. He turned to her with an annoyed stare that quickly turned to a questioning glance when she began to slowly tug him up by the shirt collar. She wasn't strong enough to force him if he was going to resist, of course-- but fortunately, Kaiba put up very little resistance.
Not even when she tilted his head down and pressed her lips against his, fiercely, even going so far as to shove her tongue inside his mouth. Briefly, Anzu wondered what he was thinking about the whole thing but decided he'd just better be damn grateful because people were staring, wide-eyed, perplexed, and she was risking her reputation now just to save his.
And he'd never even kept his end of the bargain about being nice to her friends. Well, she'd see to he stuck to that later, and--
Anzu tried to remember just what she'd been thinking when it occurred to her that Kaiba was a pretty good kisser for somebody who'd apparently had very little practice. But... tongue... more tongue... no, less tongue! Less tongue! Was he aware he was shoving that thing down her throat? There... better... good... very good!
She was blushing furiously when she pulled away for air. She was expecting the class to titter, or giggle, or make smart comments, but nobody said anything. Even Jonouchi, Honda, and Yugi were silent, although Anzu privately suspected it wouldn't take Jonouchi and Honda long to find their voices.
Kaiba was looking at her, both brows raised, but his face was otherwise expressionless, and Anzu found herself wishing he'd blush at least a little bit too. Not that she'd ever seen Kaiba blush, she reflected, even when he seemed embarrassed or upset.
But that wasn't the point! She didn't want to be the only one affected this way. She didn't want to be the only one whose faced was flushed, whose heart was racing. Why was her heart racing, anyway?
Nerves. It had to be nerves. Nervousness.
"Miss Masaki! Mr. Kaiba! What is the meaning of this?"
The teacher. The teacher, who apparently had been standing there for at least the past few minutes.
Anzu found herself unable to look at anything other than her feet as she slowly turned to stammer in the teacher's general direction, "I... um... it's... it's not what it... I mean-- we-- it's not exactly what it looks like..."
"Oh, no?" The teacher put her hand on her hips and pursed her lips. "I think you'll have a very difficult time explaining that to the principal."
Anzu found the guts to look over her shoulder at Kaiba. His face was passive, unemotional, although an unidentifiable emotion flittered through the depths of his eyes.
He's got such pretty blue eyes, Anzu thought before she mentally slapped herself. He did NOT have pretty blue eyes. He was Kaiba, and Kaiba and pretty anything did not belong in the same train of thought.
"Unless you can give me a good reason for why you were behaving so lewdly just now," the teacher continued hotly.
"We were-- um--" Anzu flushed deeply.
"Sociology assignment," Kaiba answered with a slight yawn. A yawn. Anzu could hardly believe it; here she was, blushing like crazy and unable to lift her eyes from the floor, and Kaiba was just yawning as though he got caught making out by a teacher and subsequently offered the lamest possible excuse in the world everyday.
The teacher glowered. "Nice try, Mr. Kaiba, but you're in sociology, and I certainly did not assign any such 'assignments'! PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE! BOTH OF YOU! NOW!"
Anzu managed a weak, "Yes, ma'am," as she nodded and, lifting her head, determined not to leave the classroom scurrying or blushing, slowly and deliberately headed for the door. She paused in the doorway to wait for Kaiba, deciding she would yell at him when they were outside, because someone needed to yell at Kaiba.
Kaiba's only response to all this was to rub his temple as though slightly annoyed and head for the door, even more slowly than Anzu had. With an irritatingly cocky swagger to his step, no less, than suggested nobody and nothing got to Seto Kaiba.
At least that was how he behaved until Yugi, Jonouchi and Honda, grinning like maniacs, stood and gave him a standing ovation, prompting the rest of the class to join in and do the same. The CEO shot them a nasty glare before he lifted a hand to his face to shield his slightly reddening cheeks from the rest of the class as he hurried to join Anzu in the doorway.
When the door slammed shut behind them and the teacher tried desperately to restore order to the rest of her students, Anzu turned to shout at Kaiba.
Except he shouted at her first.
"WHAT were you thinking?" he demanded. "I've never gotten sent to the office in my LIFE. Don't you think the media's going to have a field day with this? Instead of gay, I'll be called a womanizer, which is even WORSE!"
Anzu bit her lip. "Don't you have to kiss more than one girl to be a womanizer?" she said. "Besides... it's not like you can't say I came onto you. A whole classroom full of people saw me kiss you first." She sighed. "And it's not like I get sent to the office on a regular basis either, you know." Their eyes met and Anzu's gaze hardened into a glare. "And you seemed to be enjoying just fine in there!"
Kaiba smirked, saying nothing. Inwardly, he supposed she had something of a point... the girl wasn't a bad kisser, really.
He wondered if she'd had a lot of experience in that department before internally scolding himself that it wasn't any of his business and he didn't care anyway.
"That teacher'll never look at me the same way again," Anzu said, fighting to keep the groan out of her voice. She was embarrassed almost to the point of tears and couldn't believe she'd just done what she'd done.
She was even more disbelieving when Kaiba put a comforting arm around her shoulders, saying, "Now, would that really be such a bad thing?" He winked. "Do you want to be known as a good girl forever?"
"I'm perfectly content to be thought of as a good girl!" Anzu told him as she turned to look in his face, but she smiled appreciatively all the same. But the sight of someone smiling at him must've reminded Kaiba he was an ice-cold bastard, because he suddenly grunted, withdrew his arm and turned away.
She smiled a little. "At least nobody'll call you gay anymore," she said timidly. Kaiba didn't reply. "Kai-- Seto?" Anzu ventured, and his first name wasn't a taunt.
"They probably will," he said quietly, "at least for a few more days. Not that my sexual orientation should matter to my competitors at all, mind you, but it does." But he shrugged as though the entire ordeal was of no real importance to him. "Or, if they DO drop the entire gay rumor-- which they probably won't-- they'll twist this entire event around and my public image will go from having no interest in women to not be able to control my raging hormones when I'm around them. You've really screwed me over, you know." And he sounded once again like the Seto Kaiba she knew and, um, knew and didn't exactly love.
"I'm sorry." Anzu swallowed.
"You're forgiven," he said, looking ahead, not facing her. She expected him to apologize too, for being so mean to her friends, for not recognizing that she'd at least MEANT well, but he didn't.
Please, Anzu! This is Kaiba you're talking to. The word "sorry" is not in his vocabulary.
When they arrived at their intended destination, gently pushing open the wooden door with a plaque labeled PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE, the secretary looked up at them and blinked in obvious surprise. "Mr. Kaiba?" she asked. "And Miss...?" She squinted at the face of the unfamiliar young woman.
"Mazaki," Anzu supplied.
"Mr. Kaiba and Miss Mazaki. What brings you here?"
"Um..." Anzu looked sidelong at Kaiba, hoping he'd be gentlemanly enough to explain the situation.
And he did, sort of, or at least much as a cold, "Our teacher is a witch. That's what brings us here," explained the situation. So much for gentlemanliness, Anzu supposed. But at least Kaiba was good at always keeping a straight face.