Chapter 29
Lies
Anna had to time this perfectly. She had the event schedule and she knew exactly when and where Yugi and Seto would be dueling. Her logical mind made it easy to determine how quickly each of them would defeat their opponents and move up in the rankings. And luck was on her side too. Most of the time they would be dueling opponents on opposite sides of the arena, so one would not see her routing for the other. Looking over the roster of registered duelists she was pretty sure that Yugi and Seto would end up in the finals, and then things might get a little more complicated. Both of them would expect her to be there supporting him. And she couldn't sit with Yugi's friends without tipping off Seto and she couldn't sit alone without alerting Yugi. But she had an ace up her sleeve. She had already told both of them yesterday that her uncle had ordered her to do some things today, so she wouldn't be able to stay for all the matches. It was a lie, but only a little one. She hated lying, but sometimes it was necessary to tell one little white lie to keep the peace and not upset anyone. Especially today, neither of them needed a distraction and she was flying to Italy with Seto and Mokuba tomorrow. She took a deep breath and collected herself before she entered the stadium. First stop, Yugi.
She made her way through the crowds of people down to one of the backstage doors. Honda was waiting there for her, just like they had planned. He saw her and waved.
"Hey Honda!" She said when she got close enough for him to hear.
"You made it!" Honda said with his normal cheery demeanor. "I was beginning to wonder, especially after Yugi told us that your uncle called you away."
"Technically I'm breaking the rules by being here, but I had to come and support my favorite duelists."
"Yugi will be so glad you came." Honda suddenly remembered the whole reason he was supposed to meet her. "Oh yeah! Here's your pass." Honda handed her a pass on a lanyard that allowed her access to the staging area where the duelists were. "We better get going or we won't be able to see Yugi before his first match."
Anna took the lanyard and they both flashed their badges at the security guard to enter.
Meanwhile little Yugi was very soporific. He stretched and yawned.
"You look tired." Anzu commented. "Too nervous to sleep?"
"No, it's not that." Yugi explained. "I've been sleeping, but lately I just haven't been able to get enough rest. When I wake up I'm just as tired as when I went to bed. I don't get it."
"That is strange. Maybe it's psychological. You have been through a lot in the last few months since Anna arrived. Perhaps you're body is just trying to tell you what you're mind can't, it's tired and it needs rest."
"If that's the case, then it's going to get a lot of rest when Anna leaves town tomorrow." Yugi looked very disappointed.
"Hey, it's not the end of the world." Anzu was trying to cheer him up. "She'll be back."
The loud speakers announced for the duelists to head for their first scheduled matches and instantly Yugi and Pharaoh changed places. It had been a long time since Anzu had seen the Pharaoh and her heart ached a little at the sight of him. She really did like him, but since he came packaged with Yugi, that meant he also belonged to Anna.
"Thank you Anzu." Pharaoh said. "You've always been a good friend to us."
"We better go, you don't want to be late."
Anzu walked with Yugi to the entrance of the arena. She couldn't go with him any further; instead she was directed by security to head to the chairs along side. Yugi was just about to step into the sunlight when he heard someone call his name. He turned and saw Anna and Honda running toward him. He backed down the ramp and caught Anna as she run up and hugged him.
"I was afraid I was going to miss seeing you before your duel." Anna said quietly between heavy breaths. She quickly kissed him on the cheek and said, "Go get 'em, Champ!"
That was the only confidence boost Yugi needed. They broke their embrace and Yugi turned and walked proudly into the arena.
Honda and Anna joined Anzu in the seating area to watch the duel. It wasn't a challenging duel for Yugi. Unfortunately for his opponent, Yugi was randomly selected to duel a lower level duelist. The poor kid didn't stand a chance, but Yugi didn't crush him immediately. He respected the boy's abilities and gave him a fair fight. From that point on he was scheduled to duel the winner of the duel next to them, and so on until only two duelists remained. Anna had never seen Yugi duel before. In reality the only person she had dueled, other than the few people at the Duel Center that day, was Seto. Yugi and Seto had a very similar dueling style, but it seemed to her that Seto was more resourceful. Yugi appeared to use the same monsters and moves repeatedly. In that he was very predictable. But Seto was constantly changing his deck and techniques. He always managed to keep her on her toes. And the more she watched Yugi the more something didn't seem right. The math was wrong. The ratio of the number of cards in his deck compared to the number of cards drawn didn't make sense. If the laws of physics still applied then Yugi should not have been able to randomly pull the same cards over and over again. Especially the specific cards he needed to win. That made Anna think. Certainly he wasn't cheating. No, it couldn't have been that. But perhaps he didn't know he was manipulating the cards. That's when it hit her, the flaw in his dueling, and the one sure-fire way to beat him. And she wanted to test her theory.
Halfway through one of the matches she glanced up at the digital display. Seto had won yet another duel. He was plowing through opponents like they weren't there. Considering how fast he was going she figured he would have some time before his next duel. That was her sign to bail. She made an excuse to leave the others and headed down into the staging area. She knew approximately where Seto would be so she started walking in that direction. She found him exactly where she thought she would. be. He was standing, arms crossed, just inside the entrance of staging area. He was watching a pair of duelists battle, the winner would be his next opponent. He was obviously getting 'Intel' on them so he knew what to expect. Mokuba wasn't as sneaky about his observations. He was in the seating area so he could get a better view.
She made sure no one was looking, and Anna snuck up on him and tapped him on the shoulder. Seto glanced over. He had to fight the smile that wanted to form on his face. He had to be serious and not let other duelists know he had any kind of weakness.
"You came." Seto said quietly.
"I always keep my promises." Anna got the hint. She knew he was setting a distinct persona for himself, and she made sure to play her part. Neither of them looked at each other, instead they concentrated on the duel taking place. "I see you've been doing well."
"I haven't had any worth opponents yet. Those duels weren't even fun to watch."
"Okay, then I'll wait until you start dueling the tough people before I sit down and watch. In the mean time, I can check out your opponents."
That's not what Seto had meant by his comment. He wanted her to watch him, not wander and roam the stadium for the next hour or two. But then again, she might distract him, and he couldn't afford that.
"If that's what you want. You know where I'll be."
"At the top of the rankings like usual." Anna teased.
Seto was finding it harder and harder to fight off smiling. He finally gave in and glanced at her with a smirk. "I still say you should have played. You would have won."
"But then I would have had to duel you. Could you have endured the public humiliation of being bested by a woman?"
"Who says you would beat me? I've improved thanks to you."
"Good to know I've had some kind of positive influence on you."
"Who said it was positive?" He glared at her with those stern blue eyes. And Anna took that as a challenge. She stared back at him. This was one of the many games they played. Sometimes it was a war of wits or words, other times it was subtle physical contests like staring at each other or trying to make the other laugh first. And most of the time neither of them had to announce the game or rules; they both instinctively knew how to play. Anna struggled but ultimately failed. A smile cracked across her face and she blinked. This was one game that she never could win. Mainly because she had to look directly into those bright blue eyes of his. To others they were cold and mean, but to her they were vivid and full of life. She loved his eyes; they spoke truths about him. Sometimes she wondered what he saw when he looked her eyes.
"I'll be back. Tell Mokuba I said hello." Anna said as she turned to leave.
Seto wanted to stop her, to take her hand, but he saw some people down the corridor so he didn't. He just watched her leave.
As she walked away, Seto wanted to kick himself. None of that turned out the way he wanted it to. He wanted her to stay with him, by his side. Yes, he always tried to project a certain demeanor when dueling, a cold, harsh, attitude to intimidate the other duelists. But having Anna beside him could also work to his benefit. The other duelists wouldn't be less afraid of him, on the contrary, they would be jealous of his ability to duel and attract women. Of course, using Anna to further his dueling ambitions was not his goal. But he would have loved to see Yugi's face when he found out that he had a gorgeous and intelligent woman like Anna with him.
Unbeknown to Anna and Seto they did have an observer. Anzu was going through the hallways looking for Anna. She had been gone a while and the others were worried that she might have gotten lost, so Anzu was dispatched to find her. She had scoured the nearby hallways and now began searching the areas farther away. She turned a corner and was confronted with a sight she didn't expect. Anna was talking to Kaiba. Anzu ducked back into the hallways she just came from. She then peeked around the corner and spied on the two talking. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but their body language told her a lot.
'Why is she talking to Kaiba? Do they know each other?' Anzu thought. 'It doesn't look like they know each other. He won't even look at her.' In the middle of her observations she made a startling revelation. 'Duh! Anna's doing this for me. I asked her to talk to him. She was probably walking around and saw him, so she decided to give it a try. That has to be it. I wonder how things are going? He doesn't seem to be... wait; did he just smile at her? Okay, it wasn't a big smile, but it was something. Typical Anna, she could make the Grinch smile. Wait! He must have said something terrible, she's staring him down. Boy, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Anna can be really fiery. He's in for it now.' What she saw next confounded her. 'She's smiling? What the heck is going on?' Anna turned and started down the hall. Anzu ducked for cover again. She was so excited, she was dying to hear what Anna thought of him.
As soon as Anna got close enough Anzu reached out and grabbed her arm, "Anna."
Anna jumped in surprise and instinctively jolted her arm away. She dashed a few feet to get some distance between her and the unknown. It wasn't until Anzu called for her again that Anna realized who it was and stopped. Anzu could see the panic on her face. She realized that she made a huge mistake. She didn't mean any harm, but she shouldn't have done that to someone who had been attacked.
Anna let out a sigh of relief. But she was still shaking. Her instinct was to yell for Seto. She knew he would come to her rescue. But ultimately she was glad she didn't.
"I'm so sorry!" Anzu apologized. "I forgot about..."
"It's okay." Anna caught her breath. "What's going on?"
"I could ask you the same thing."
"Excuse me?"
"You and Kaiba."
Anna's heart skipped a beat. "You saw that?"
"So?"
"So?" Anna repeated back to her, unsure of her meaning.
"What do you think of him?" Anzu was gleaming. "I need your advice. How do I approach him?"
Anna realized what Anzu was saying. "Oh well, he's interesting. Complicated even. I think he's going to be a touch nut to crack. You'll have to be bold. I don't think he's attracted to weak or silly girls, no matter how short their skirts are."
Anzu was embarrassed, she didn't realize Anna had noticed her skirt length. "But do you like him?"
Anna paused. Anzu's question was simple, but it was so profound. Anna tried to clear her mind of it. She shouldn't even be thinking like that. Not about Seto, not about anyone. "I think he's got potential," was the only thing she could come up with to say.
Anzu found her answer to be satisfactory, and they went to rejoin the group. They easily found the group of boys, which now consisted of Joey. He had a few minutes break between duels and Joey stopped by to see how Yugi was doing. As not to make Joey feel left out, the three spectators agreed to go and see Joey duel for a couple of rounds. It was pretty obvious to everyone that Yugi was going to have no trouble defeating his upcoming opponents.
As Anna watched Joey duel she couldn't help but wonder how such an idiot became a top ranked duelist. He was loud and obnoxious and apparently won mostly by luck. His deck was completely illogical and at times confusing. She could see where Yugi tried helping him with strategies and cards, but she didn't think he listened to him. It was no wonder why Seto hated him; he wasn't a classy duelist at all.
It wasn't long before Anzu decided she needed to make her move. She left the others at one of Joey's duels with the claim that she was going to check on Yugi. But she wasn't going to see Yugi. One of Kaiba's matches was about to begin and she wanted to see him. She planted herself in the front row right along side of where he would be standing. He was sure to see her. She did a quick check to make sure her hair and make-up looked good, and of course, she pulled her skirt up as high as it could go without becoming obscene. He couldn't possibly miss that. Kaiba entered the arena right on time. Mokuba trailed him but wasn't allowed near the dueling arena. He looked around for a seat and he spotted Anzu.
"Hey, Anzu!" Mokuba said when he saw her.
"Hello Mokuba, come sit next to me. This seat is free."
Mokuba did so gladly. Even if Seto didn't think so, Mokuba considered Yugi and the others his friend.
"Where are Yugi, Joey, and Honda?" Mokuba asked as he looked around.
"They're at another duel. I decided to come here alone."
"Why is that?" Mokuba was a little confused. Normally she didn't go anywhere with her friends. And she never took an interest in Seto's dueling before.
Anzu thought it was best to keep her intentions secret so she came up with an excuse. "I'm just checking out the competition."
"Oh." Mokuba couldn't blame her; Seto researched his opponents all the time. What he really wanted to do was spill the beans about Anna and Seto. He was dying to tell his friends about what had been going on, not because he wanted to be a gossip, but because he was so happy. But he was under strict orders from both Anna and Seto not to speak to anyone about them. And like always, he did what he was told.
Kaiba was standing on the platform awaiting his opponent. Anzu noticed that he was looking around at the audience, like he was trying to find someone. Of course he didn't make it obvious he was looking, but Anzu saw it because she was watching him intently to see if the two of them could make eye contact. As he scanned the crowd he came to where she and Mokuba sat. Anzu held her breath as his eyes reached her spot. But no luck. He didn't hesitate or stop for one second. His eyes just kept going. He apparently wasn't even interested in what she was doing there, and he definitely didn't have time to see how short her skirt was. That disappointed her, but she didn't give up. The day was still young. As soon as the duel started he placed all of his attention on his opponent and no longer looked at the audience. Anzu remarked to herself how different he was dueling now. He completely smashed his opponent in three rounds; Kaiba gave him no chance to fight back. That wasn't like him at all. But it was highly more effective. She knew that Yugi was going to have a much tougher time defeating him today. As soon as the duel was over Mokuba got up and ran over to Seto. Anzu followed Mokuba and Kaiba into the backstage tunnels.
"Congratulations, that was a great duel." Anzu said.
Kaiba looked over his shoulder to see Anzu coming up quickly behind them. He let out a quiet sigh and rolled his eyes. He was not in the mood to deal with her. He was still upset that Anna was being so aloof.
"I can't believe you beat him so fast. That must be some record. You've definitely improved." Anzu continued her compliments hoping something would catch his attention.
"So now you're going to run off and tell Yugi." Seto snapped at her.
"I am not." Anzu snapped back.
Now that caught his attention. He sent Mokuba ahead to retrieve the location of his next duel and he turned to face her.
"Then what are your intentions?" He asked bluntly.
"Coffee."
"Coffee?" Kaiba didn't know what the hell she was talking about.
"I was wondering if you'd like to get some coffee." Anzu couldn't believe she had the courage to say that.
'My god!' Kaiba thought. 'Anna was right, she does like me.'
"I'm in the middle of the tournament; I can't go out for coffee." Kaiba huffed.
"No, I didn't mean right this minute. Later. Maybe tomorrow. Or sometime. Whenever it's convienent for you." Anzu tried to recover her flaw.
Now this presented Kaiba with options. He could use Anzu to make Anna jealous. Just like she was doing with her 'so called' boyfriend. At least Anna would have to produce him. Then he would get to meet his competition. But then again, this could all backfire on him. Anna might be happy and not jealous. After all she had been trying to set him up on dates for a while. If he actually 'dated' Anzu, Anna might support him. And that wasn't what he wanted. No, all of this was ridiculous. If he knew anything about relationships it was the fact that the more you screw with them trying to make them into what you wanted, the more messed up they got. And eventually you end up destroying them. He wasn't about to commit relationship suicide by getting involved with Anzu. But he did believe in keeping his options open.
"I'm leaving town tomorrow on a business trip. I won't be back for weeks." Seto explained.
"Oh, that's okay. I understand, you have a business to run."
"When I get back, if I feel like getting some coffee, I will call you."
'Did he just say what I think he said?' Anzu's mind was racing. 'That was almost a 'yes.''
"Sure, that would be great!" Anzu said calmly. Her calm exterior was hiding a giggling, ecstatic girl on the inside.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have another match to attend."
Anzu watched him disappear into the tunnel and once he was completely out of sight she felt like fainting. Her heart was racing, she had butterflies in the stomach, and she felt like jumping for joy all at the same time. She stayed there and tried to calm down before meeting back up with her friends, she didn't want them to know that something fishy was going on. She still couldn't believe she just asked Kaiba out. And he might call her. 'Wait! Does her even have my number?' Anzu thought in a panic. 'Silly! Of course he does. This is Kaiba for heaven's sake, he can get any phone number he wants.'
Anzu went back to her friends and they were none the wiser.
As it got later Anna knew she had to leave. As the field of duelists shrank, it was going to get harder to hide. So she had to go. She told Yugi she had to leave and go to the office. She kissed him on the cheek for luck and disappeared into the crowd. Yugi was disappointed that she couldn't stay to see him win, but he was glad that she came.
"So what did I miss?" Anna asked as she snuck up behind Mokuba.
"Everything!" Mokuba was elated that she finally showed up.
Mokuba recapped the last few duels she missed, making sure to point out all of Seto's finer attributes. Meanwhile Seto was in a bind. He had under estimated his opponent and found himself trapped by a card combo. He was getting tired, he had been dueling all day and it was taking its toll. His concentration wavered. He glanced over to wear Mokuba sat. All he needed was to see Mokuba's smiling face to give him the strength to go on. He was surprised to see Anna sitting with him. Suddenly he was revived and he threw himself back into the fight. It didn't take him long to turn the tide and defeat his rival. Afterwards he walked backstage and Anna and Mokuba quickly appeared behind him. Anna and Seto both scoped out the area to make sure there were no prying eyes or ears. Anna was especially wary considering how Anzu snuck up on her before.
When the coast was clear, Seto spoke. "So you came back."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. But I did bring a peace offering." Anna presented him with a cup of coffee.
Seto swore she could read his mind. He had been craving coffee, or to be precise, the caffeine. He took the coffee from her and inspected it.
"Cream, no sugar, just like you like it." Anna insisted.
"What, no camel milk?"
"Oh darn, I forgot to bring some." She smirked at him.
Seto gulped down the hot liquid.
"I brought you something else." Anna added as she pulled a card out of her bag.
He accepted the card she offered. "What is this?" He said as he looked at it.
"It's the only way to beat Yugi Mouto." Anna was very proud of herself.
He realized what Anna had been doing for the past hours, she had been watching Yugi looking for weaknesses, and she apparently found one. "This card?" It was a common card that not many people used because it showed the opponent your deck. Seto wondered what she knew that he didn't.
"Trust me, that's the one. But there is a trick to it. You have to wait at least four rounds before you play it, and it will only work once, so make it count."
Without any more explanation, Seto put the card in his deck.
Anna stayed with him through the next couple of duels. She did feel guilty that she didn't spend as much time with him as she did with Yugi. But at least she could make up for it when they were in Italy. She was greatly impressed by how he dueled. It had been a while since they dueled and he had learned some new moves. She made sure to take notes for the next time she would meet him in a duel arena. As it became more obvious that Seto and Yugi were going to duel in the finals, Anna had to leave. She made her excuses to Seto and Mokuba with the promise to see them bright and early the next morning for their flight. Seto appeared to be okay with the situation, but she knew he was lying to himself. Anna knew it would be best to leave the stadium, just in case she accidentally ran into someone after the match, but she couldn't resist. She planted herself way up in the stands where neither could ever possibly see her, and she watched as the duel unfolded.
That night Anna and Yugi sat on the couch. She had her arms wrapped around his shoulders and he was leaning against her.
"You know we have to stop doing this. Yugi needs his sleep. He looked exhausted today." Anna pointed out.
"I know."
"We wouldn't have to hide if you'd just tell him."
"I promise I'll tell him while you're gone. That way if he gets angry, he'll have time to cool off before you get back."
"Are you upset that I'm leaving?"
"No, I understand you have things to do."
For some reason, Anna wasn't convinced. "Well something is bothering you."
"Nothing's bothering me."
"Then why aren't you happy? You did win today's tournament."
"I don't feel like I won."
"Why?"
"It was Kaiba. I think he let me win."
Anna was shocked, she saw the duel and Kaiba did everything he could to defeat Yugi. "Why do you say that?"
"In the third round he drew a card, and the look on his face...It was a card he wanted, he was expecting it. And when he looked over at me, it was like he could see right through me. He was so confident; it was like he knew he won. But...he didn't play the card. He kept it in his hand the entire duel. If he could have defeated me, why didn't he?"
Anna gave him a comforting squeeze. "I can't tell you what he was thinking, but I'm sure he had a reason for what he did."
"That's what scares me."
Anna whispered in his ear, "put it out of your mind. Don't worry about what you can't change. Just be grateful for what you have."
"I am grateful. I have you." He took her hand and kissed it.