Chapter 12

Time

After that day at the museum tensions had been a bit high between Anna and Yugi. She was a little uneasy around him for a few days and she had a real hard time being near the Pharaoh. On the contrary Pharaoh had this driving need to be near her. Yugi understood why his other self wanted to see Anna; after all, they had been married, sort of. And Pharaoh seemed to still have feelings for her. Yugi didn't exactly know how that made him feel. He was happy that The Pharaoh found a key to his past, and maybe even love. But the another part of him wished that his happiness didn't revolve around Anna. Yugi had grown quite fond of Anna, her smile, her quirky sense of humor, and her kindness. And besides, Anna was engaged to him. Having his other self interested in his fiancee...well, it felt like an invasion. Like someone was trying to steal her away from him. But the Pharaoh had a claim on her too. How could Yugi deny his friend? This was all tough and very confusing for Yugi. These ideas and thoughts haunted him and all he could do to fight them was to block them out.

Yugi could never keep secrets from his friends, so when Anna wasn't around, he told them about what happened at the museum. To say that they were awestruck would be an understatement. Anzu especially took the news badly. She had always been Yugi's friend, but she had developed a crush on the Pharaoh. And now to find out that not only did Anna have claim to Yugi, but Pharaoh also, it broke her heart. She didn't show her emotions in front of the boys, but she did a lot of crying when she got home that day.

The walks to school were not as jovial anymore. Anna knew that the others had been told what happened. And the others knew Anna knew that they knew. But no one was willing to speak about it.

The group walked in near silence down the street. Yugi and Anzu were making small conversation about schoolwork and classes. Joey was leading the pack and still ignoring Honda. Honda was in the back ignoring Joey. Anna was getting fed up with the way these two were acting, it was childish. And when Joey made a smart-ass comment about Honda, she decided she had had enough.

"That's it!" Everyone was shocked; she had been so quiet lately, and now this. "You" pointing at Honda, "stay here! And you," grabbing Joey by the arm, "come with me."

She dragged Joey down a side street away from the group. The others watched, but they couldn't hear anything. From what they could see Joey started off with a lot of complaining. He was flailing his arms about wildly. Then Anna said something and he stopped dead in his tracks and just listened. Then Joey seemed to get a little embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head and looking down at the ground. After a few minutes the two returned to the group. Joey approached Honda who was a little apprehensive. Joey was reluctant to speak but Anna gestured with her head, forcing him to say something.

"Um, Honda, look...I'm sorry for the way I acted. I blew my lid, and I took it out on you. I'm just trying to protect my sister, ya know... So are we still friends?"

"Sure." Honda and Joey shook hands. "Just to let you to know, I really like Serenity, and I wouldn't hurt her."

"Yeah, I know you wouldn't."

"You're my friend, and I respect you," Honda play punched Joey on the arm. "But I'm still going to date your sister."

"Yeah, we'll see about that..." Joey's chide comment didn't sneak past Honda.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You'll see."

"Why, do you know something I don't?"

The two continued exchanging half-sided banter as they walked down the street. Yugi and Anzu were amazed at the turn around.

"Wow! What did you say to him?" Anzu asked Anna.

"I think that is between Joey and me."

Anzu accepted the answer and didn't pry.

Anna just sighed and asked Anzu, "Do you ever feel like you're babysitting and not getting paid?"

Anzu just giggled at her.

With all that was going on with Yugi, Anna was finding her visits with Seto to be relaxing, if not therapeutic. She had no trouble being herself around him. He had no predetermined expectations, and they had adult conversations. Seto has also enjoying their time together. They had a lot more in common than he would have thought. She was very much his equal in intellect and ingenuity. Their time together had evolved from challenging each other at games to just crashing in the living room. They would have the occasional meal together, or perhaps go over the latest business reports, but mostly they talked. They talked about anything and everything. Neither of them cared about what. In the beginning, Seto let Anna do most of the talking, but as he became more comfortable around her, he talked a lot more. Sometimes dominating the conversation. And all the while Mokuba was a silent observer.

As they had done many times before, their conversations had drug on late. Mokuba had sacked out on the couch and had found a headrest on a pillow in Anna's lap. Seto watched from a side chair as Anna gently stroked his hair. A small smile formed on her face.

"You now, you are lucky to have him." She said softly so not to wake Mokuba. Seto didn't respond. "I would give my right arm to have a brother or sister. Someone to tease and pick on. Someone to tell all your secrets to."

"Someone to worry about. Is he getting a good education? Is he eating all his vegetables? Always worried some lunatic will kidnap him just to get to you."

"Yeah, but you can't tell me it's not worth it."

Seto just nodded.

"Its family. He is a living, breathing reminder of your parents. All I have is a piece of paper and good-for-nothing Uncle who hates me."

"Surely he doesn't hate you?"

"No, he truly hates me. He's exiled me from the building. Did I tell you that?"

"No you didn't."

"He called me into his office the other day and told me he didn't want me working in the building. He said that my presence there upsets him because I remind him of his dearly departed brother, my father, and that he can't get any work done due to his great sorrow."

"You don't believe him?" Seto thought what she said was funny.

"If he was so grief stricken why didn't he come to my father's funeral?" There was a hint of anger in her voice.

"Some people don't like funerals."

"Oh, but he showed up for the reading of the will. I remember he got a little pissed that 'A' he didn't get all the money and 'B' he got custody of me. He shipped me off to boarding school the next day."

"So now that you are exiled, what are you going to do?"

"Apparently, he wants me to work from home. He still expects me to get everything done; he just doesn't want me around the office. Basically, he just freed up a lot of time for me. Without the distractions at the office I can get three times as much done. I can probably get all the work done on Sunday and have the rest of the week off."

"What are you going to do with your newfound freedom?"

"Let's see...I have a standing appointment on Mondays and Thursdays, other than that, I might just have to take up a hobby. Do you think my neighbors would mind if I learned how to play the drums? Or I could buy a jackhammer. I never liked those people downstairs anyway."

Seto smiled slightly but tried to hide it behind his hand, which was deftly positioned under his chin.

"Oh, no. Seto Kaiba smiled. The world is going to come to an end." His smile didn't evade her.

"If you tell anyone I'll deny it."

"Don't worry, it will be our little secret."

Although Anna was no longer required by her Uncle to go to the office building each day she continued to walk with Yugi and the others to school. She didn't want to tell them right away about it. She felt ashamed that she didn't spend more time with Yugi, and sometimes these walks were the only time the spent together all week. She couldn't take them away. So each morning she would drop them off at school, then she would wander off. Sometimes she would stop a restaurant and have breakfast, or sit in the park and read. She even restarted an old obsession, photography. She loved taking photos in Europe; there were so many interesting sights. But after a while school got in the way, and black and white photo processing got too expensive, not to mention impossible to find someone who developed black and white film that she was forced to stop. But now she was meandering through the streets snapping photos of anything and everything. Between her photography and time passing, she found it easier to deal with the events that happened at the museum. She was happy again.

Anna positioned herself at a crosswalk. She was bent down taking stop action shots of people crossing the street. She wasn't sure how these photos would come out, but she had the time and money to experiment all she wanted. She made sure to take several shots at slightly different angles, which only got her very strange looks from the passers by. She stood and brushed the dirt off her jeans when a car pulled up beside her.

The window automatically rolled down and the backseat passenger spoke, "Can I give you a lift?"

Anna grinned, she knew who it was, "Are you trying to pick me up?"

"Absolutely." The door opened and Anna slid in next to Seto. "Where can I take you?"

"Anywhere you're going."

Seto told the driver to continue. "I see you have a new hobby. Or do you just like to stand in the middle of intersections?"

"For the record I wasn't in the intersection, I was next to it. And this isn't a new hobby; it's an old one."

"You like art?"

"I adore it."

"We have an excellent museum if you would like to go."

Anna was very hesitant. "I've been there...I'm not too fond of it." Anna was half lying, she was very interested in going again, but only with Seto. If that artifact showed her one vision with Yugi, then maybe she would get a different one with Seto. She had to admit that her curiosity over her supposed past was getting the better of her.

"Too bad, because that's where we're going."

"Really?"

"You said you would go anyplace I was going, and I'm going to the museum."

"What do you have to do there?"

"I'm one of the sponsors of a special exhibit. I'm going there to sign some papers, get my appearance agenda, and drop off a check. All kinds of boring things. I'll have some time afterwards if you would like to see the museum again."

Anna agreed, and she hoped she wouldn't regret it. They entered the museum and Seto went to work. She waited for him and after he was done they walked the halls of the museum taking in the sights. She was impressed on how much he knew about the artists and styles. She was very much enjoying her time there, until they came to the Egyptian wing. Anna thought her heart might have skipped a beat or two. They walked slowly through the artifacts and eventually came up to the one that Anna dreaded.

"I saw this one the last time I was here." Anna tried to be subtle. "It has Duel Monsters on it."

"Duel Monsters originated in Ancient Egypt. The modern version is based on carvings like these." Seto was also nervous around this tablet. He was here before the Battle City Tournaments, that is when Isis gave him the Obelisk God card. The one he lost to Yugi.

As they stood before the tablet, Anna waited with baited breath. Was anything going to happen? If so, what would it show them? What she didn't know was that Seto was also waiting. He wasn't expecting a vision, but something strange happened last time he was here, perhaps it would again. After a few minutes, there was nothing, and the pair moved on.

"This sponsorship is a great bother. They can't just take the money and leave me alone, they want me to make personal appearances, give a speech, and there is a huge gallery-opening ball." Seto was quietly working up to his question. "You wouldn't be interested in attending would you?"

"The ball?"

"Well, it is considered proper to have a date, and you're the only woman I know."

"So, I win by default?"

"If you want to look at it that way."

"All right then. Hey, it might be fun."

"Good. I'll work out the details with you later." His face showed no expression, but inside her was overjoyed. Not only did he not have to go to this stupid ball alone; he got to spend more time with Anna. The night was guaranteed not to be boring.

They finished looking around the museum and departed. It was getting late so Seto dropped Anna off at her apartment building. Anna didn't invite Seto to come up stairs, it wouldn't be proper, and Seto didn't expect to be asked. Thus they departed.