Magnolia Blossoms: Ten

With a quick wave of her hand, Callie signaled for silence. "Mokuba and I are running some errands, Mr. Kaiba," she said calmly, a mocking undertone threading through her words. From the low growl she heard on Kaiba's end, she could tell he'd heard it. It amused her to no end that she'd been 'caught' out of the house. Really, it wasn't as if she and Mokuba were under house arrest.

"Finish up your 'errands' and then get back to the house. I know Mokuba has homework."

"Yes, sir," Callie sneered. Her only response was the click of the phone and then the soft buzzing of the dial tone. She made a face, and then flipped her phone shut, debating if she was brave (and stupid) enough to have Kaiba's number blocked from her cell. Of course, he could probably hack around it, but it would piss him off, something she thoroughly enjoyed doing.

"Hey, kid, we need to jet." Wide, pleading grey eyes sent their woeful gaze towards her. She winced. "Not gonna work. My ass is in acute danger of getting fried by your brother. And sorry, kid, but sometimes self-preservation is very important to me." With a sigh and a pouting lower lip, Mokuba hopped up. Callie awarded him with a small grin, and then turned and smiled at the gang.

"It was a pleasure meeting you all. And, Tea, I'll take you up on that offer of shopping and touring sometime, okay?" she said, throwing them a wink. Callie and Mokuba walked out of the door with the teens'(1) goodbyes ringing in their ears.

Once they were in the car, Callie turned to Mokuba, starting up the engine at the same time. "Now, Mokuba, we need to have done some 'errands'. What are some good errands that are difficult to prove happened? That way, your brother can't dig up evidence to prove that we weren't really doing these 'errands'," she mused, flicking some of her hair out of her face. After a few minutes of silence, Callie turned to look at the boy, glad that they were at a red light. He was staring at her in what looked to be amused surprise.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You're good!" he announced, grinning. She blinked, because his statement had done nothing to help her out of her state of confusion. Seeing this, Mokuba sighed. "I said that you're good. I didn't even have to tell you that we would have to have some sort of cover-up!" She smirked.

"What, you think I've never snuck out of the house or done something that warrants a cover-up?"

"Well, the thought did occur to me…" Mokuba jumped as Callie broke out into hysterical laughter. Wide-eyed, he watched as the woman tried to compose herself, only to burst into laughter again and again. Finally, she calmed down, just as the car behind them blew their horn. Callie blinked, and looked up to discover the light was green.

"Yeah, yeah, hold onto your pants, fools," she muttered, flipping them the bird. Mokuba sniggered.

"I changed my mind just now." Callie stuck her tongue out at him.

"Listen, kid, my brother and I got into more trouble than you could ever imagine. Think of a good errand, and I'll tell you some of our best times, okay?" she asked, gunning it. Mokuba nodded, a gleeful grin spreading across his face.


Seto walked into his living room, following the sound of Callie's voice. "-Well, if you're going with the red Versace(2) dress, then I would grab some light, and I mean very light, red lipstick, or you'll overdo the color. Maybe even a pink, or a coral. And for eye shadow, unless you're going runway drastic, I would suggest a light brown or cream, brushed with hint of red. Anything else?" A pause. By this time, Seto was standing in the doorway, watching the lounging woman with a raised eyebrow. "Mmmm, well, I'd definitely go with Harry Winston(3), they just have wonderful service and-" Callie said, turning slightly on the couch and coming to an abrupt halt as she noticed the CEO in the doorway. "I'll call you back, okay?" Seemingly without waiting for a response, she flipped her phone shut. As Seto took a step forward, she relinquished her reclining pose in favor of standing.

"Harry Winston? Versace?" He didn't need to ask anything more than that.

"Oh, you've heard of them?" she asked sweetly, crossing her arms, and raising an eyebrow. He scowled at her, and she just smiled.

"If you prefer, I can just check your cell phone records," he threatened. Her smile stayed, but he detected a small twitch.

"One of my friends has a good bit of money. She needed some fashion advice, that's all." He arched an eyebrow.

"It sounded like you were well-acquainted with the services," he pointed out. She was hiding something, and he wanted to know what it was.

"Just a guess, Mr. Kaiba," she said curtly, pushing a loose strand of hair over her shoulder. He looked her over, trying to see if she was lying. He quickly determined that he couldn't tell, but he was quite interested in her body, which was revealed to be quite nice by her jeans and shirt. He smirked to himself, and then directed a question at her.

"Where were you and Mokuba today?" he asked, stepping towards her. Without blinking, she replied, " I took him to an art exhibition that one of my friends told me I had to attend. Today was the last day of the show."

"You're lying," he returned, stepping even closer. He watched her eyes flicker, and wondered if it was because of his proximity. She shrugged.

"If you say so. Now, if you don't mind, since you're home, I'd like to return to my house," she said, making to move around him. He was about to let her go, and then recalled something. He grabbed her by the bicep as she passed, tugging her back to face him.

"There's a charity ball next Saturday that I need to attend. Mokuba will be there too, and I want you there to watch him. I'll provide a dress. Give your sizes to one of the maids," he ordered. She smiled at him, pulling free of his grip.

"No need, I have a dress I can wear. And thank you for telling me in advance!" she said, her eyes glittering impishly. He watched her leave the room, and shook his head, walking upstairs to his study to get some work done.


A/N: This is finally up, after a long delay. In my defense, the file got deleted by mistake…heh.

(1) I'm making all of the gang; Yugi, Yami, Ryou, Tea, Joey and Tristan, 19. So Seto and Callie are both older by a few years.

(2) A famous designer. I don't own.

(3) A famousdiamond designer. I don't own.


L.D. Kaket: Of course I had to do that. It's more fun that way. Thanks for the review!

Tolea: No huge secrets. And you'll find out! Thanks for the review!

Hero Girl of Brien: Heh. Sorry. Well, there's no cliffhanger this chapter….

ThefutureMrs.Kaiba: Thank you very much!

Twilight: I finally updated! Yes, law is hard. Both my parents are lawyers. (Lucky me.) Thanks for pointing out the mistake: I didn't even catch that. I'll go back and change that! …my mind is empty right now, so I'm just going to shut up and upload this chapter.