Chapter 7

What you don't know...

Tuesday seemed rather dull compared to the events of the past two days. Anna knew it was wrong to not tell Yugi she went to see Kaiba yesterday, but she just couldn't do it. She knew little about him other than his reputation in Duel Monsters and the scattered reports she had gotten from Joey, who obviously had a grudge against him. Either way the word was, Yugi and Kaiba were not friends. She knew she shouldn't even talk to him, Yugi might be mad. But Kaiba was a challenge and she never backed away from a challenge. He was just the mental stimulation she needed.

Anna could have sat on the steps of her apartment building all day and contemplated what she should do, but the sounds of footsteps approaching snapped her out of her daze. She looked over to see Yugi and the others walking up the sidewalk. She smiled, waved, and gathered her various possessions.

"Sorry weren't late, Joey forgot his Science project and we had to go back for it." Yugi apologized.

"You've been working on that thing all week, how could you forget it?" Anna questioned Joey.

Joey peered from around his huge molecule model, "Hey; I had a lot on my mind. I remembered the important stuff."

"Your homework and your duel deck, right?" Anna answered for him.

"How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," Anna said studying his model. "You realize if this model were real, it would blow up."

"Wha?" Was Joey's only response.

"The elements are unbalanced and that," she pointed to one of the green colored balls, "should be a Hydrogen molecule."

Joey stretched his neck see where she was pointing. "Ahhhhh!" He yelped, almost dropping the model in the process. "Quick anybody got some red paint?" Joey threw a look to Honda, like he had all the answers.

"Yeah, Joey, I always carry red paint around with me, you never know when it will come in handy." Satire consumed Honda's voice.

Joey was about to go into a major panic attack. "Oh man, oh man. I can't afford to fail this project; my Dad's already giving me grief about my grades."

"Calm down, Joey. All you need is a woman's touch." Anna reached into her satchel and pulled out a tube of red lipstick.

"You are a lifesaver!" Joey grabbed the lipstick, shoved the model into Honda's arms for him to hold as he tried to color the suspect molecule and walk at the same time.

"What would you men do without us women?" Anna nudged Anzu with her elbow. "Oh, that reminds me. Anzu, I hope you have a nice cocktail dress because the theater season opens next month and I have reserved two box seats for every Saturday performance, and I want you to go with me."

"Me?!" Anzu was ecstatic. "I can't believe you want to take me? Not that I don't totally want to, but shouldn't you be taking Yugi. Isn't that kind of a date thing?"

Yugi shuttered a bit. 'Oh no, please don't ask me to go to the theater, please don't ask me to go to the theater...' He slowed his pace a bit and managed to hide himself behind the slower moving molecule painting Joey and Honda.

"I'd love to take him," Anna began. "But I don't think I'd be able to get him into a Tux, and why take someone who is going to be completely bored out of his mind, when I know you are going to really enjoy it."

"In that case, I accept!"

"You hear that Yugi? You're off the hook; you can come out of hiding now." Anna projected her voice back to where Yugi was.

Yugi sighed with relief.

The girls chatted on and on about performers and plays, and lots of other things Yugi had no clue about. They could have been speaking in Swahili, but he didn't care, he was overjoyed that Anna and Anzu were getting along so well. And he didn't have to go to the theater. That made him happy too.

Yugi had come out from behind Honda and walked beside, ever careful to stay out of the way of Joey's painting dance. Honda couldn't help but notice how he was looking at Anna.

"Hey Yugi, you know you are a lucky guy." Honda began.

"Hmm?" Yugi seemed a little puzzled by the comment.

"You're the only one of us that doesn't have to worry about finding a date to the school dance."

Yugi's eyes got really big, Joey froze, and Anna and Anzu stopped dead and turned around to face the guys.

"Dance? What dance?" Anna asked.

"The school dance. It's the Friday after next." Honda explained.

"Why didn't you remind me sooner!?" Exclaimed Joey as he scratched his head in frustration. "Who am I going to ask? What am I going to wear?" Joey leaned his head on the model and sighed.

"Um, Joey," Honda paused. "You're squishing your molecules."

Anzu's joy over the theater invitation was completely overshadowed by new anxiety over the dance. She hadn't put much thought into who she would go with, because she was certain that Yugi was going to ask her. But that was before Anna showed up. And with everything that happened in past couple of weeks, she had forgotten. She quickly scanned her mind trying to think of date candidates, who was available, who she wouldn't mind going with, who didn't already have a date. She was drawing a blank. This was not a good sign.

"Strange," Anna pretended to think hard on the subject. "I don't recall being asked to any dance."

Another nervous smile formed on Yugi's face. He scratched the back of his head and his eyes wandered. "Well...I kinda forgot...and I...ummm...didn't know if you liked dances..."

"It's okay, Yugi, if you want me to go with you, I will."

Anna's words were a great relief to Yugi.

"On one condition," Anna added. "I don't want to see you wear those same old clothes."

"Well, we are going to have to wear different clothes; it's a costume party." Yugi told her.

"Costume party? Oh, this is going to be great!" Anna's excitement was evident to everyone. "But that only gives us a week to make costumes. We've got to come up with ideas, and I'll need your measurements..."

"Why don't you come over Thursday and we can work on all that?" Yugi was relieved that she was not only willing to go, but to help in the costumes.

"Thursday...oh, wait, I can't. I've got an appointment that afternoon."

"Oh, that's okay." Yugi tried to hide his disappointment, but it showed.

Anna took one look at him and his pathetic face, "Then again, Thursday might work. My appointment shouldn't take very long. Why don't you order a pizza and I'll be there by 7:30. How does that sound?"

"Great!"

"Honda, you don't seem to be too worried about this dance." Anzu had noticed how confident Honda was.

"That's because I already have a date."

"You do?" The others said almost in sync.

"Which lucky girl would that be?" Anna pried.

"I'm going with Serenity."

"What?!" Joey screamed. "I didn't give you permission to date my sister!" Joey might have attacked Honda if the molecule model didn't shield him.

"I wasn't aware that was your choice. I asked Serenity and she said yes. Do you think it's just a coincidence that she's coming to visit next weekend?"

"Ahh...She said she was coming to see me. She didn't say anything about a date." Joey was caught off guard a little so he struck back. "And how often do you call my sister? You're not one of those perverts that calls and breaths heavy on the phone are you? My sister is a lady and you better not..."

Anna thought it was best to interrupt. "Joey, I'd be interested in meeting Serenity. She sounds like such a sweet girl. Is she older or younger than you?"

The conversation over the next few minutes distracted Joey enough that he didn't kill Honda.

The first warning bells were sounding, telling everyone to get to class. The group fastened their pace. Joey snatched back his model from Honda. "Oh, here!" Joey presented the obliterated lipstick to Anna. "Thanks!"

Anna just looked at it. "That's okay, keep it. You might need more hydrogen later."

Thursday couldn't come soon enough for Anna. She hadn't played chess in years, and the thought of playing against Kaiba made her giddy. She had heard the rumors about how he beat Gosaboro Kaiba, a world champion, in order to get adopted. And on top of that, he was only a child when he did it. That and his intellectual prowess were going to make this a fun match.

Anna followed the same procedure as on Monday. She went to his office, the secretary announced her and he ordered her into his office. This time he met her at the office door. He wasn't to the point of opening doors for her, but she thought it was a good start. He had added a new piece of furniture since she was last there. There was now a small chess table and two chairs. He motioned for her to sit on the side with the white pieces, while be positioned himself on the side with the black.

"I kind of half expected a giant chessboard or something grand and fancy." Anna commented.

"Chess is an art form, not a spectator sport."

She liked that answer and she grinned. She thought him quite witty; you just had to look around the rough edges. The game started and there was dead silence for the first several moves. Both players were trying to feel out the others techniques and patterns. Kaiba glanced up from the board and noticed something he hadn't before. Anna's head was still, but her eyes constantly moved as they scanned the board. It was almost like he could see her brain working out all the possible moves and combinations. In that moment he learned more about her than he had in the week since he met her. She thought like a computer. She left nothing to chance because she could predict all possible outcomes. And that is why she had been able to win. He also realized that it was going to be much harder to beat her in chess. Chess had fewer possible moves than Duel Monsters, so he had to devise a way of breaking her concentration.

"Why won't anyone play chess with you?" Kaiba started.

Anna was a little taken back. For once, he was starting the conversation. He was either mellowing or he was trying to distract her. "I used to play a lot when I was at school, but the other students and teachers didn't like losing, so they stopped playing with me."

"Are you saying you've never lost?" Kaiba moved his rook.

"Only once." Anna took his pawn with her knight.

"To who, pray tell?" Kaiba captured her knight.

"Bobby Fischer."

Kaiba looked up at her with the utmost disbelief. "You played against Bobby Fischer?"

"Yep, and he wiped the floor with me." Anna moved her bishop.

"I thought Bobby Fischer was in hiding." Kaiba moved his knight.

"He is. But just because you're in hiding doesn't mean you can't do things that make you happy. And for him, it is playing chess." Anna moved her Queen.

"Where did you meet him?" Kaiba wasn't about to believe this story. She must be trying to fool him.

"Lourdes, France. I was playing chess in a little coffeehouse. I had won against a few people and this guy comes up and challenges me. Of course, I didn't know he was Bobby Fischer at the time, I might have fainted if I did. Five minutes later, he had me at checkmate and he went on his way. He has a great mind, but no social skills."

Kaiba chuckled a little. "You couldn't come up with a better story than that?" Kaiba captured her rook.

"It's the truth, besides, I told you, I don't lie." Anna returned the favor and captured his bishop.

"You don't lie? Not at all?" Kaiba moved his King dangerously close to Anna's defenses.

"Nope, I don't believe in it. Besides, I'm not very good at it." Anna moved her King out of harm's way.

"That's not a good trait for someone who owns a business." Kaiba counter moved to meet her King with his knight.

"Technically, I don't own it yet. I inherit when I turn eighteen. So, I guess I can be as honest as I want until then." Anna slipped her Queen around the side of the field and behind his King. "Checkmate."

For some reason, he wasn't mad. It's almost as if he expected it. Those kinds of thoughts were dangerous for him. He didn't want to settle for being less than the best, and accepting defeat was never an option. But losing to this woman suddenly seemed tolerable. Why was she any different from Gosaboro, or Yugi, or any of the others he had battled against? He wasn't sure, but he wanted to find out.

"Shall we play again?" Kaiba asked plainly.

"Sorry, I can't. I've got to go." Anna stood and grabbed her bag.

Kaiba got up and followed her to the door. "You're always running off."

"So much to do, so little time. I promise I'll stick around later when I come back on Monday. We are dueling again on Monday, aren't we?"

"Monday?" Kaiba began. "I might have a few surprises for you by Monday."

"Then I'll see you Monday." With that she left.

Kaiba watched her walk down the hall and get in the elevator. With each meeting he was learning more about her. How she thought. Her strategies. Her motives. The more he knew, the easier it would be to defeat her. He always studied his opponents, but he had nothing on which to judge her, except the past three meetings. He was having to learn everything as he went, and he found that to be stimulating. He wanted her to come back.