Chapter 16

Rock and Roll

Anna was lounging around Seto and Mokuba's apartment, as was her usual custom when Seto said...

"You can't come by next Thursday."

"Why not?" Anna was disturbed by this announcement.

"I won't be here. I have to fly off to a business meeting that weekend in your old stomping grounds."

"Really?" She was relieved that it wasn't what she had thought. "With whom?"

"Sheik Amir Zakowi. I believe your both from the same region."

"Let me just tell you, there are two things wrong with that statement. First, he's Saudi and I'm Egyptian. They are completely two different things. Saudi's think they run the world, Egyptians know they do." Anna teased. "And second if Zakowi is a Sheik, then I'm the queen of England. He gave himself that title years ago. And no one dares dispute him on it."

"So you are familiar with him?"

"My dad dealt with him a lot. I've met him passing. Now a days he deals with my father's company through a representative. And I'll warn you. He's a smooth talker and a dirty dealer. He will try to get the most out of you and give you nothing in return."

"Sounds like you know him pretty well. Maybe I should take you along as my official translator and adviser?"

"You won't need a translator; Zakowi speaks better English than you do. And besides, he won't deal with women."

"For religious reasons?"

"No, he's just an ass. He's been known to turn down deals with major corporations if a woman was on their proposal team. And you can forget about taking Mokuba. He hates children more than he hates women. He refused to see my father once because he found out that he brought me into his office building. I was no where near his office, but he still threw a fit."

"Then Mokuba will have to stay at the hotel."

"Ohhh, another trip locked in a guarded hotel room? That stinks!" Mokuba chimed in. He was normally pretty quiet when Seto and Anna talked business, yet he couldn't help but show his disappointment.

"That's the way it has to be." Seto was stern with him.

"Why can't I stay here?"

"Because I can't leave you unsupervised. You know that."

"What if Anna watched me?" Mokuba argued.

Anna was a little shocked to hear him say that. And she knew Seto wouldn't allow her to take him for the weekend.

"Did you even bother to consider that Anna might already have plans for that weekend?"

"Oh, I guess not." Mokuba seemed disappointed.

"Actually, I do have plans that weekend." Seto was so glad she said that. "But I think Mokuba might enjoy tagging along."

'She lives to torment me, doesn't she?' Seto thought. He took once glance at Mokuba's smiling, happy face and knew he couldn't say no. He had a soft spot in his heart for Mokuba and he could never deny him anything. Besides, after what happened recently, he felt he could trust Anna. And with him trust doesn't come easy.

"If Anna were willing to deal with you, I might consider it." Seto said plainly.

Mokuba smiled big and about jumped for joy. Although he didn't say it, Mokuba knew he meant 'yes'.

As per their agreement Anna showed up early on Thursday to see Seto off and to take over guardianship of Mokuba. Seto was still uneasy about all of this. He had never let Mokuba out of his sight and he couldn't help but worry. Seto handed a bag to Mokuba and asked him to put it on the plane for him. Mokuba gladly obliged. Anna was following Seto out the door when he suddenly turned and propped his hand on the doorframe, blocking the exit.

"You told me once that I didn't know how lucky I was to have Mokuba. Well, I do know. And he is the most important thing in my life. Do you understand?"

"So in other words, if anything happens to him, I'm dead meat?"

Seto didn't have to respond; she knew what he was trying to say.

A few minutes later Mokuba and Anna were watching as the plane took off.

"So what do we do first?" Mokuba was excited to have Anna all to himself.

"Pack some clothes, we're taking a road trip."

A half-hour after that they were standing on a street corner with backpacks.

"Where are we going?" Mokuba asked.

"It's a surprise."

"Then how are we going to get there? You don't have a car."

"We'll do it the old fashion way, hitchhike." Mokuba realized she was serious, especially when she lifted her skirt a little to flash some leg at the on coming traffic.

A gigantic bus stopped in front of them and a guy jumped out the open door.

"Polly! Babe!" He ran over to her, picked her up and swung her around, then kissed her full on the lips. Mokuba was confused and outraged. Who was this guy and why was he kissing Anna? And why was he calling her Polly?

Anna was overjoyed to see him. After the embrace she looked him over and commented how great he looked and how much she loved his hair. Mokuba just stared at this display, and he was really glad Seto wasn't there.

"Oh, hey! This is my buddy Mokuba; he's the one I told you about." Anna brought him over to meet her friend. "Mokuba this is my old friend from school Rick Ashford."

"You speak English?" Rick asked. Mokuba just nodded. "Good, because I don't speak a word of Japanese." Rick extended his handshake and Mokuba took it. He had no clue what Anna had gotten him into.

They boarded the bus and it took off down the road. Rick introduced everyone to Anna and Mokuba.

"If you haven't figured it out by now, Rick is in a rock band. He's the lead singer and songwriter." Anna explained.

Mokuba took a seat and just watched the show. Anna sat next to Rick on a cushioned bench and he put his arm around her. Mokuba didn't like that.

"You two went to school together?" Mokuba finally found the courage to speak.

"Yeah, back in America." Rick answered. "Polly and me go way back."

"Why do you call her Polly?"

"She's Polly, like in 'Pollyanna.' The movie." His blank face told Rick that Mokuba had no idea what he was talking about. "It's a movie starring Halley Mills where this little orphaned girl goes to live with her stuffy aunt. And this girl is into everybody's business. Trying to turn everyone into a better person. And she knows exactly the right thing to say at the right time. And she talks all these people into doing things and they don't even know she's doing it to them. And that's Anna. Trying to save the world one person at a time." Anna was a little embarrassed by the story. "That and the name fit."

Mokuba couldn't believe these characters. They were a rag tag group. And as the bus drove on and the excitement of Anna and Rick's meeting wore off, things got calmer. Some of the guys were working on their guitars, others reading or sleeping, and Anna and Rick quietly talked. Anna wanted progress reports on all her old friends, and Rick was happy to tell her. They gossiped a lot actually. And Mokuba was glad when Rick stopped putting his arms around her and sat next to her like a normal person.

Seto finally found time to call home between his many appointments. Under normal circumstances he would have called every hour with worry about Mokuba, but he was with Anna, and that eased his worrying. His secretary answered and he requested to speak with Mokuba or Anna.

"I'm sorry sir, they aren't here. They left on Thursday and haven't been back since."

"What! Where did they go?"

"I don't know, sir, they just left."

Seto abruptly hung up the phone and started cursing under his breath.

"Didn't I tell you this was going to be fun?" Anna joyfully asked Mokuba who was sitting next to her.

"This is great! But I think Seto is going to be mad when he finds out."

"Who says he has to find out?"

"My brother knows everything. And we are going to be in big trouble." Mokuba knew it wasn't funny, but he had to laugh anyways.

A familiar ring came from Anna's bag. She did not want to deal with her uncle, she was having too much fun, but she couldn't ignore it. She pulled out the phone and checked the number of the caller.

"This isn't my uncle's number."

Mokuba leaned over and looked, "That's Seto. Oh, no, now we're going to get it."

Anna hit the talk button and asked, "How did you get this number?"

"Where have you taken my brother?"

"I asked first."

"Where is Mokuba? Is he all right?"

"Sure, he's sitting right next to me." Anna handed the phone over to Mokuba.

"Seto, this is great! You should join us; it's so much fun. There are lots of bands, and we get to sleep on a bus, and..."

"A bus?" Seto cut him off mid-sentence. "Put Anna back on the phone!"

Mokuba handed her the phone. "See, he's completely unharmed."

"You've been sleeping on a bus?"

"It's a really nice bus."

"I want you to take him home, now!"

"I can't do that; our ride doesn't leave until Monday morning."

"Then I will send a car and Mokuba can go home and you can stay."

"Now way, I'm not going to hand him off to some stranger. He's not leaving my sight; you put me in charge of him remember?"

"And I think I'm beginning to regret that." Seto could barely hear her over the phone. "What is that noise?"

"Elton John. He's playing with Billy Joel. They have about another twenty minutes left in their set, and then the C.D.B. comes on."

"Where are you?"

"We're at the three-day music fest outside of Kyoto."

"You're in Kyoto?" Anna could just imagine the frustration on his face. "I did not give you permission to take him to Kyoto."

"No, you said he could tag along with what I already had planned to do. And I planned on going to the three-day music fest in Kyoto." Anna could tell he was ready to throw the phone across the room. "Listen, if you want him home early, then you will have to come and get him yourself. Otherwise, we'll be back Monday afternoon."

A man came over and whispered something to Anna. "Oh hey, we have to go. Our presence is requested elsewhere. See ya!" And she hung up the phone.

Mokuba was just laughing at her. "You better enjoy the next couple of days, because you're probably going to be banned from the building after this."

"Yes, but isn't it worth it?" Anna and Mokuba laughed at each other.

Sunday rolled around and there was no more contact from Seto. Anna and Mokuba agreed that he must have been blowing off steam. Aerosmith was on stage and they were having a great time dancing to the music. Anna always thought the best thing about kids was they weren't self-conscious dancers. Not like adults or teenagers. They just danced and didn't care what anyone thought. The band changed the tone of the music and started playing "Don't want to miss a thing", their signature love song. Mokuba plopped down in a seat.

"Ow, a slow song. I hate slow songs. You can't dance to them." Mokuba complained.

"Sure you can, you just have to learn to slow dance."

"Slow dance?" Mokuba looked at her like she was nuts.

"Trust me, the fastest way into a girl's heart is to slow dance with her. Come on, I'll show you." Anna took Mokuba by the hand and stood him up. "You'll thank me for this when you're older." She told him where to stand and how to hold his arms. "Okay, it's really simple; it's just a box step. Step forward, step over, step back, and step over again. See a box."

Mokuba practiced with Anna trying to keep in time with the music. "And when you get used to this, then you can start adding some turns and dips and stuff." Anna explained.

Mokuba was paying to much attention to the positioning of his feet, so as not to step on Anna's that he never noticed the man walk up behind him. He felt a tap on his shoulder and a familiar voice say; "do you mind if I cut in?"

"Seto! You're here." Mokuba stopped practicing and gladly gave the dance over to his brother.

Seto took Mokuba's place and while they danced he just stared at her. He was angry, and she knew it.

"So, how are things?" She flashed a big smile at him. He did not smile back.

"I'm a little frustrated and annoyed actually. Seems that someone I trusted kidnapped my brother and took him to Kyoto."

"Really?" Anna was downplaying everything.

"So I had to leave my meetings in the Middle East and fly all the way here to rescue him from sleeping on a bus and being mauled by a giant crowd."

"And how did that turn out? Is he okay?"

"He appears fine."

"And does it look like he had fun?"

"Apparently."

"And when you left town, did you specifically restrict his caretaker from removing him his abode?"

"Not exactly."

"If you didn't set down any ground rules, then the before mentioned party can not be held responsible if you are unhappy with the results."

"You can talk your way out of anything, can't you?"

Anna just smiled. The song stopped and the band moved on to something more hard rock. Anna walked away from Seto and approached Mokuba. Mokuba was waiting for the worst. Mainly yelling and screaming and perhaps telling Anna to get lost. But it didn't come. Seto just stood there and looked at the two of them.

"So what have you been up to?" Seto asked.

Mokuba's grin was as wide as the Grand Canyon. "It has been so cool! I've got to meet all these bands and..."

Mokuba jabbered on as he led Seto around showing him all the sights. Anna followed them finding the whole thing entertaining. Mokuba spotted someone he knew in the tech crew and waved and signaled to him. Seto was amazed at how happy he was. He had only been here a couple of days and had made so many friends. But then again, Mokuba easily made friends, he always had.

"Hey, how did you get backstage without a pass?" Anna asked, noticing that he was pass less.

"I have my ways."

"One of these days you're going to have explain these mysterious 'ways' to me."

"I can't they are a corporate secret."

"Well, just to make sure you don't get kicked out; we should get you a pass."

"And where would I get one of those?"

Anna reached into her bag and pulled out an extra pass. "Cha-ching!"

"You knew I would come. You planned this entire thing."

"I have my ways." She teased and handed him the pass.

Mokuba continued touring Seto around and eventually they came to a double-long bus.

"And this is where we have been staying." Mokuba explained. Rick had seen them coming and got off the bus to greet them. "Rick!" Mokuba shouted and ran over to him. Seto watched as they did some fancy handshake that Rick had taught him.

"Hey dude! Who's your friend?" Rick asked.

"This is my brother Seto."

"Good to meet you." Rick extended his handshake but Seto only stood there with his arms crossed and a stern look. "Okay..." Rick withdrew his hand.

"Come on, Seto. I'll show you the bus." Mokuba dragged Seto inside leaving Rick and Anna outside.

"He's Mr. Personality." Rick remarked.

"He's just a little shy around strangers." Anna defended him.

"Is he the guy?"

"No, he's not the guy. He doesn't know anything about that, and I'd prefer to keep it that way."

"Are you two-timing?"

"No!" Anna said in a high whisper.

"Then why won't you tell him?"

"It's complicated."

"Oh, yeah, I've heard that one before. Like when my parents told me they were sending me off to a shitty private school, 'It's complicated Ricky, you wouldn't understand'. It's a lame excuse. If he's your friend, you should tell him. Otherwise it's only going to end up bad. And you know what I'm talking about."

"I know. I'll tell him. Just not yet."

"The longer you wait, the more difficult it's going to get."

"I get it."

Rick could see that he tormented her enough for one afternoon. "We better get in there. Your friend's charming personality probably isn't winning over the other guys in the band."

They entered the bus to find Seto and the band sitting on completely different sides of the cabin. Seto was wondering what kind of parallel universe he had just stepped into and the band was wondering how such a cool kid could have such a stale brother. Mokuba, after bouncing around the bus for a few minutes, finally came to rest in the seat next to Seto. Rick and Anna sat on the bench near them, evening out the ratio of people on either side of the cabin. Seto hadn't yet had a chance to inspect Mokuba and see what he was wearing. With a disapproving face, he reached over and touched the shirt he was wearing. It was a white concert t-shirt with marks all over it.

"Isn't this cool! All the bands have been signing my shirt. Anna thought of it, she said it was a neat way I could remember the trip." Mokuba thus began showing off certain signatures, some recognizable, some not. In one of his twists and turns Seto noticed something and grabbed Mokuba's arm to stop his motion. He lifted his shirtsleeve.

"What is this?" Seto demanded. He was referring to the blackish barbed wire pattern painted into his arm. "You tattooed him?"

"Chill, it's only henna. It will wash out." Anna tried to explain.

"It's still a mark on his body. How could you let someone do this?"

"Well, it was that or a piercing. I chose the lesser of two evils." Anna's face was serious.

"What kind of people have you been hanging around with?"

"Dude! It's no big." Rick interrupted. "It's no worse than Anna's tattoo, but of course you can't see hers because it's on her..." Anna litterally jumped in Rick's lap in order to cover his mouth, so he wouldn't reveal her secret.

"Did I mention he was a pathological liar?" Anna smiled and tried to act innocent. All the while Rick is making muffled noises as he is trying to speak. He then started tickling Anna, making her scream and giggle. She couldn't defend herself because every time she removed her hand from his mouth he continued with his story. So she was forced to fight him one handed. Unbeknown to the observers Anna pressed her knee into Rick's groan. All they heard was her threat.

"Don't make me punish you."

Rick stopped the tickle attack and Anna removed her hand from his mouth. He was silent, but he had a huge smile on his face.

One of the roadies popped his head in the bus door. "Hey Anna, Steven Tyler just finished his set and he's looking for you."

"Steven Tyler? He hasn't signed my shirt yet." Mokuba jumped up and about ran over Anna to get out the door.

With Anna and Mokuba both gone, that left Seto alone with the band. He looked at them, they looked at him. Rick thought he should say something.

"That's a cool outfit," referring to Seto's standard white jacket and black shirt and leather pants. 'You could be a rocker in those clothes. I mean, it's a little Ziggy Stardust, but every thing's a gimmick, right?

Seto did not want to make conversation with these people. All he could think was, 'please let them come back, please let them come back, please let them come back.' And when it was obvious they weren't returning quickly, he found an excuse to leave the bus and wait for them outside.

When he left the guys in the band looked at Rick and one asked, "Where did she find this stiff?"

"He's just shy around strangers." Rick repeated Anna's explanation to the roaring laughter of the band members.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. Seto joined them for the few remaining bands. All the time he heard unending chatter from Mokuba about what they had done and seen the past few days. Seto was relieved when Mokuba stopped his talking and fell asleep in one of the sleeping compartments on the bus. Seto sat back in one of the chairs and leaned his head against the wall. He would close his eyes occasionally, but he only pretended to sleep. Mostly he was watching Anna and Rick. They were in the next compartment, but Seto could still see them from where he sat. They were huddled together in a corner and illuminated by a small light, the only light on in the entire bus. They were keeping their voices low so as not to wake anyone. Seto couldn't hear what they were saying from the dark front cabin. They were looking over some papers; it looked like sheet music. They were sitting so close; Seto had never dared sit that close to her. She never really let him. She was so comfortable around Rick. He and Anna still hadn't found a proper comfort zone. They couldn't even sit on a couch together. The more he compared himself to Rick, the more inadequacies he found in himself. And he realized what a fool he was to think that Anna might think on him as more than a friend.

The bus left early in the morning and it arrived back at Domino City by mid-afternoon. The trio departed the bus with little fanfare, only a quick kiss and hug between Rick and Anna, and waves from Mokuba. Seto was never so happy to be back.

"I can't wait to show Mrs. Wong my shirt!" Mokuba exclaimed as he ran into the building and toward the elevators.

"You know he's going to wear that until it falls off," Commented Seto.

"Hey, I got him out of that Gilligan shirt and life preserver, didn't I? Now if I can get him in a nice pair of slacks, I think my job here will be done." Anna smiled, but Seto didn't return the gesture. There was a pause between them. "It's not Mokuba's fault. He had no idea what I was going to do. So if you are mad, blame me. Don't take it out on him."

"Why should I be mad? No harm came to him and he seemed to have fun."

'Oh my gosh,' Anna thought. 'He's going to be civil about all of this.'

"But!" Seto added. "Don't you ever do that again!"

Anna gave him a timid smile and an acknowledging nod. She then handed him a CD and hailed a cab and jumped in it for home. As she drove away he inspected the CD. He realized that the band on the bus was the same band that she given him a CD of all those weeks ago. The one she suspiciously knew so much about. And this CD was signed by all the members and personalized to him.

"She always has to get in the last word, doesn't she?"