Chapter 30

When in Rome

"This is nice; I'll have to get me one of these." Anna commented as they flew in Seto's private jet.

"The jet is cheap; it's the fuel that's expensive." Seto said as he sat across from her on the plane.

"Ah, but I own an oil company. My fuel is free, so to speak."

"Think you could send some of that free fuel my way?" Seto joked.

"I might be able to do that. Or at least I'd give you a good discount." She devilishly smiled at him.

"I'll take what I can get."

The conversation grew silent. Anna was trying to find the best way to broach a subject with him.

"I'm sorry that you didn't win yesterday." She said.

"I'm not."

"You're not angry you lost?"

"I didn't lose, I had him beat. I had your card."

"But you didn't play it."

"You said it would only work once, if I had used it yesterday I wouldn't have gained anything by his defeat."

"You would have won the tournament and gained the title of Duel Monster Champion."

"That's all I would have gotten. I wouldn't have been able to take his God Cards. I'd rather save that card and use it later when I have more to gain."

That made perfect sense to Anna, and it confirmed Yugi's suspicion. Seto should have been the winner. "I don't know about you, but I had fun. Watching all those duels was very entertaining."

"You should have spent more time backstage, that's where all the real fun was."

"What did I miss?"

"The rumors were especially good this year."

Anna smiled; "I wouldn't have taken you for one who listens to gossip."

"I normally don't, but there was one that I couldn't help but overhear."

"Do tell."

Seto smirked; "Apparently Yugi Mouto is engaged."

"Really?" Anna was trying her best to hide her panic.

"And from what they say, she's much older and very attractive."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"He's still a child. He doesn't know what he's doing. Chances are he fell for the first woman in a tight dress that hit on him."

Anna felt a little insulted by that remark, but she forgave him because he didn't know the whole truth.

"But it did confirm one of your theories." Seto continued.

"Which one?"

"Why Yugi's friend Anzu was fishing for attention. Yugi's found someone else and she's looking to replace him with another duelist."

"Like you?"

"Can you believe she actually had the nerve to ask me out?" He scoffed.

"When did she do that?" Anna was shocked.

"Backstage at the tournament."

"Well? What did you say?"

"Don't you see the problem here? If I 'date' her then I would have to deal with Yugi and his annoying little friends, and I'm not willing to risk my sanity over a cup of coffee."

Anna giggled at him. She knew it wasn't funny, but he was so dead serious about the subject.

"Go ahead; laugh at my pathetic love life."

That made Anna laugh harder. "I'm sorry." Anna said between chuckles. "You really hate his friends that much?"

"You've never met them, you don't know what they're like."

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea."

"Mokuba seems to like them."

Seto glanced to the other side of the plane where Mokuba was asleep on a cushioned bench. "He's young, sometimes he doesn't know what's best for himself."

"And it's your job to tell him what is good and bad?"

"Until he gets old enough to understand, yes. It's my responsibility to protect him."

"You're going to have to learn to let go. He has to learn to do things on his own, make his own mistakes. Besides, you can't protect him all the time. He's bound to do something you don't know about."

"I know everything he does."

"Okay, prove it."

"All right. Do you know what he's been doing in his room every night for the past couple of weeks?"

Anna shook her head.

"He's been learning Italian. He has these foreign language books that he keeps hidden under his mattress that he thinks I don't know about."

"Under his mattress?"

"It's an old habit. He used to hide things in his mattress at the orphanage so the other kids wouldn't see them."

"Like what?"

"His favorite toy, some drawings he did, and a picture of our parents. He still keeps that picture under his mattress."

"There's no reason to keep it hidden anymore. No one is going to take it. Why don't you frame it for him? Put it on the wall."

Seto became distant and remorseful. "Because he knows I don't like to look at it."

"I know what it's like." Anna consoled him. "I couldn't face my parents for a long time. Even though I knew it wasn't true, I felt like they abandoned me. And for a whole year after they died, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It hurt too much. But then one day I realized I couldn't remember what they looked like. All the details of their faces were getting blurry. And that scared me. By forgetting I felt like I was dishonoring them. Saying I didn't love them. So I brought out their picture. I started by putting it on my nightstand, then I moved it to the end table, and now I have a larger version framed in my living room. It makes me feel good to know they are watching over me."

Anna didn't press anymore. She had given her advice and he was going to either take it or ignore it. The choice was his.

The flight was smooth all the way to Italy, even with the short stop over to refuel. Anna didn't feel nervous at all. The flight she took with Seto must have done her good. That and Seto made sure she had a chance to meet the pilot before take off. That put her mind at ease.

A taxi took them from the airport to the house Seto had rented. Anna stood and admired the abode while the men removed the remainder of the bags from the car.

"I can't believe it." Anna said as Seto came up beside her. "This is exactly what I envisioned when I told you to come here."

"Didn't you know?" Seto smirked. "I can read your mind."

"Oh really? Then what am I thinking right now?"

"You're thinking that you should go claim the room you want before Mokuba beats you to it."

It was too late; Mokuba dashed past them into the house and searched all the rooms. Anna and Seto calmly followed him in.

Anna couldn't help but laugh as she saw Mokuba inspecting the rooms for size and bed softness.

"Don't worry, he'll pick the room farthest away from all the others." Seto explained.

"How can you be so sure?"

"He doesn't like for his room to be near mine. He says that because I don't sleep I make too much noise at night. It keeps him awake."

"So that's why his room is at the end of the hall."

"He asked me to put it there when I was designing the apartment."

Seto was correct in his estimate; Mokuba picked the one room that was away from the others. Seto pointed at the two remaining rooms. "Lady's choice."

The rooms were right next to each other, so Anna didn't think that there would be big difference. She walked into the first door. Seto was content; he really didn't care as long as it had a bed. Just as he was about to walk into his room Anna walked out of hers.

"On second thought," Anna said. "I think I'll take that one."

"What's wrong with that one?" Seto asked.

"Hideous wallpaper." She slid past him and peaked into the next room. "Much better."

"Fine," Seto teased. "Stick me with the hideous wallpaper."

It didn't take them long to look over the entire house and grounds. It was a modest little villa on the outskirts of a small Italian city. It was mainly rented out to the tourists as a retreat, but it had easy access to the railway and buses so they could visit the attractions. Anna thought the kitchen was small, but cozy. There was a maid who came and cleaned everyday, but they would have to cook their own meals. Anna knew that she would get wrangled with that job, but she didn't mind. After all she was getting a free vacation. Seto expected this place to be low tech, but he was surprised to find that there were no outlets for cable or Internet access. It even had a rotary phone. Anna would have thought that charming, but he found it to be a terrible bother. He was glad he brought his wireless connectors and had a satellite feed. He didn't tell Anna he brought such high tech gadgets because he knew she would complain. They were supposed to be on vacation, it was a chance to get away and he brought work with him. Although it was going to cause him a headache, he brought them anyways. He was too paranoid to leave the company on it's own for two whole weeks. He had to know what was going on. Mokuba on the other hand felt completely at home. In a half-hour the room he had claimed was just as big of a mess as his one at home. It looked like his suitcase exploded. His clothes were everywhere except in the drawers. Seto caught Anna touring the gardens. It was fall but all the flowers were still in bloom because the weather was unseasonably warm. Anna stopped and smelled many of the vibrant and fragrant blooms.

"I thought you didn't care for flowers?" Seto remarked as he saw how happy she was.

"I'll let you in on a secret. All girls love flowers."

"But you told me you didn't."

"That's because I didn't want you buying me flowers."

"I can't buy my friend flowers? I buy my secretary flowers."

"When you buy a girl flowers it insinuates something."

"That's not exactly true. Only red roses represent love and passion. Different colors mean different things. For instance," Seto gestured toward a row of rose bushes. "Yellow roses are for friendship. And my favorite, white roses represent loyalty."

Anna didn't realize what a romantic he could be. She defiantly didn't know he knew so much about flowers.

They were interrupted when Mokuba shouted at them from the back door. "Hey, I think we have a problem."

Not knowing the nature of the emergency they rushed inside. Mokuba lead them to a small bathroom near the bedrooms.

Seto warily walked in and looked around. By the way Mokuba had alerted them, Seto half expected a huge leak flooding the floor or a giant snake curled up in the bathtub, but there was nothing.

"Have you seen this?" Mokuba exclaimed.

Taken, it wasn't the most high tech bathroom ever and nothing like the comforts they were used to, but Seto was baffled at why Mokuba had a problem with it. "What's wrong with it?"

"What's wrong is, there's only one of them!"

"One bathroom? Are you sure?" Seto made sure he heard Mokuba correctly.

"I'm positive, I looked everywhere."

"What about that door?" Seto pointed to a door down the hall.

"I checked, it's a broom closet."

"What's the big deal?" Anna butted in. "I once lived in a dorm where I shared a bathroom with fifty other girls. I think we can work around it."

"If you haven't noticed, this isn't a dorm and we're not girls." Seto said bluntly.

"What if I promise to cover my eyes?" Anna teased.

It wasn't her eyes Seto was worried about.

"Ah, come on!" Anna tried to encourage them. "You're men, you can do anything, like lift heavy objects and fix cars, this will be easy.

Anna didn't have to do much convincing because there wasn't much they could do about the situation. They also discovered that there wasn't much to eat in the house so they wandered down into the village and had diner at one of the local eateries. The rest of the night was uneventful as they tried to settle in to their new surroundings.

As usual, Anna didn't sleep; she instead found some books in her room and proceeded to read them. As soon as the sun broke Anna left her room, jumped in the bathroom and got cleaned up, then prepared to leave. Seto didn't sleep either, he had spent all night secretly hooking up his satellite links and checking on the status of Kaiba Corporation. Since his room was right next to Anna's he heard her door open and the movement in the hall. He dressed and did a quick clean up. He found her just as she was about to exit through the back door.

"Where are you going?" He asked

"To the market to get something for breakfast. Did you want to come with?"

Seto agreed and they left for town. It was a short walk; they were barely on the outskirts of the small town. The old buildings and cobblestone streets made it resembled the small towns you hear about in stories or see in picture postcards. There was little to no traffic, nothing like the hussle and bussle of Domino City.

"Isn't it a little early to be going to the market?" Seto asked as they walked.

"Not here. The vendors are up with the dawn, and if you want the best foods you have to get there first."

They turned the corner and entered the market area. The stands were vast in their sizes and varieties of food and goods. There were no cheesy souvenirs or pushy salesmen. Most of the these people sold vegetables they grew in their own gardens and backyards. They were truly the small time entrepreneurs. Seto watched as Anna went from booth to booth making selections. She greeted everyone she met with a 'hello' and a smile. Surprisingly they all responded in the same manner. Anna was in her element and she found great joy in her duties. Seto felt pretty useless. He couldn't speak the language and he knew less about how to select ripe fruits and vegetables. The most help he could be was to carry their purchases and aid in conversation.

"You really love it here, don't you?' Seto noted how radiant she was.

"There's no place in the world like Italy."

With what they gathered Anna was able to make a fine feast, and even had enough to fix dinner. Seto had left all of the traveling decisions to Anna, considering she was the one who knew the most about the country. She had decided that the first day would be a time to rest and relax. The extent of their tourist activities was restricted to exploring the little town and it's surrounding hillsides. They were delighted to find a winery and be able to wander through the grape vine fields. Anna also took the opportunity to replace the bottle of wine that she and the girls drank.

The next morning Anna was again up with the sun and beat everyone into the bathroom. Seto didn't mind, he wanted to finish his work, and Mokuba wasn't awake yet. He heard the water stop and she re-enter her room. He gave it a few minutes then claimed the bathroom for his own purposes. He showered and was lathering his face to shave when there came a knock on the door. He didn't have a shirt on, but he was wearing pants, so he figured it was all right to open the door. He signaled for the person to enter.

Anna cracked the door open and said teasingly, "are you decent?"

"Sure."

She opened the door wider and entered. "Sorry to burst in on you like this, but I think I forgot..." Anna spotted what she was looking for. "This." She squeezed around him and picked up a small make-up bag off the counter. She dug through it and pulled out a lotion bottle. She proceeded to rub lotion on her hands and bare arms. Seto took a quick glance at the yellow sundress she was wearing. He thought it looked good on her. "For some reason my skin is so dry today."

"It's the heat." He said right before he made the first swipe with his razor.

"Did you want some? It's got sunscreen in it."

"No thank you."

Anna stood behind him and looked over his shoulder in the mirror. "This is fun; I've never seen a man shave before."

Seto cleaned the blade. "You're kidding."

"Especially with a straight edge." Anna was commenting about the straight edge razor he used. Unlike modern disposable razors, a straight edge was literally a sharpened blade that could easily cut one's throat.

"Did you want to try?" Seto asked as he looked at her reflection in the mirror.

"Really?"

He took hold of her right hand and placed the blade in it. He positioned his hand over hers so he could direct her cuts. She wrapped her arm around him as he guided her through the process. Anna watched in the mirror and prayed that she wouldn't make a mistake and fillet him like a fish. Anna dared not make conversation; she didn't want her concentration to slip. When they were done Seto washed his face to reveal his whisker free facade.

"Let me see!" Anna couldn't help herself; she pulled him close so she could inspect their work. "That is so cool!" Anna said as she stroked his face. "Can I do this again tomorrow?"

"Practice makes perfect."

Anna was so proud of her accomplishment. She was overly ecstatic when she left him to finish getting ready. She woke Mokuba. They needed to get an early start if they were to make the train and see the sites. The two of them conceived a plan while they waited in the living room for Seto to make his appearance. It didn't take Seto long before he emerged wearing his typical blue shirt and purple coat. He received some wicked stares from his counterparts.

"Are you trying to make us stand out?" Anna asked.

"What do you mean?"

"No one dresses like that here. Especially not when on vacation."

"Sorry I didn't bring my Hawaiian shirt."

"I think we need a makeover." Anna smiled devilishly.

Seto looked over at Mokuba who was grinning wildly. He knew Mokuba was in on this whole thing.

"This won't hurt a bit." Anna said as she approached him.

"I thought you liked my clothes?" Seto defended himself.

"I do. They're just not appropriate for here. We're on vacation, we need to relax, and we don't need any unwanted attention." She pulled his jacket off. "First thing, we need to get rid of the coat. It's too hot for it anyways. Then..." Anna undid the top two buttons on his shirt and pulled his shirt tail out of his leather pants. She stepped back to inspect her creation. "Good...good...but there is still something missing. May I have the final piece?" Mokuba walked up and handed her something and she handed it to Seto. It was a pair of sunglasses. Seto actually liked them; they were stylish and futuristic. She knew exactly what his likes and dislikes were. He put them on, much to the delight of Anna. "Perfect! Now we're ready to go."

"And where are we going, oh mighty tour guide?" Seto teased.

"Omnia via ducunt Roma."

After an hour train ride they found themselves in the fabled city of Rome. Anna wasted no time in dragging them to all of her favorite sites, which consisted of classical buildings and tiny street markets. She played the part of both tour guide and tourist. She would stop at every opportunity to take pictures of anything she found interesting. Today her attention was placed mainly on architecture and ancient ruins. Their travels eventually lead them to the Coliseum. Anna and Seto sat on one of the high benches as Mokuba found entertainment by running down the stairs and listening in on a tour that was passing through.

"Now this is a stadium." Anna commented. "It's perfectly designed. It could hold fifty thousand people and if an emergency occurred they could empty this entire building in thirty seconds. And I won't even mention the acoustical quality."

Seto was enjoying watching her lecture. "It is definitely impressive."

"Can you imagine what it must have looked like back in the day? With the sun roof overhead, gladiators in the arena, and the emperor deciding a man's fate by the gesture of his hand? It would rival any Duel Monster tournament."

"At least I don't have to fight to the death at a Duel Monster tournament." Seto joked.

"Well, let's certainly hope not." Anna smiled back at him. "But seriously, you should reference this place when designing the dueling arena for your theme park. That's one of the reasons I brought you here."

"What's the other reason?"

"It's just so cool!"

Seto laughed at her.

"I'm going to take some pictures; I'll be back." Anna said as she gently touched his arm.

She stood up and wandered off with her camera in hand. Almost as soon as Anna left Mokuba came bounding up the stairs to where Seto was sitting. He plopped down next to him.

"You won't believe what that guy said! He said they actually flooded the arena and had mock naval battles. Isn't that awesome!"

Seto listened as Mokuba jabbered on about all he had learned from the tour guide. Seto found it all very amusing; Mokuba even managed to get him to smile with his quirky antics. Anna on the other hand was busy snapping shots of the archways and broken stone benches when she looked back to where the others were. She was so pleased to see them having fun, especially Seto. He really needed this time and she was glad she was a part of it. Suddenly an ingenious idea popped into her mind. She took out her telephoto lens and focused in on the two as they talked. She knew these photos would come in handy.

On the way their next destination Anna made a sudden detour. Seto was confused and thought it best to correct her before they got too far off course.

"I believe The Forum is this way." Seto pointed out the proper route.

"I know, but we have to make a stop somewhere first." Anna said as she kept walking.

Seto followed, but was wary. She had something up her sleeve, and he learned to always keep a sharp eye out. She proceeded to an outdoor market. She said something to the clerk in Italian. The clerk pulled a covered basket out from behind the counter and handed it to her. Anna walked away with a smug look on her face.

As they walked back Seto had to ask, "What's in the basket?"

"What do you think is in the basket?" Anna asked back.

"It looks like a picnic basket." But Seto knew that looks could be deceiving.

"What if I told you that we were going to have a late lunch?"

"I'd say we wouldn't have time to do that and see The Forum before we have to catch our train."

"Don't tell me you've never heard of picnicking in the Roman Forum?"

She did it to him again. She was the master of the unexpected. He wondered how far in advance she had planned this simple little task. Simple in his mind, but to her it was a grand adventure. It was things like this that impressed Seto the most. He had a hard time remembering what he did for fun before she came into his life. His answer was that he didn't have any fun. She was the one that made all this possible.

They found a grassy place on a tiny hill in The Forum and set up camp. There were many delectable dishes to be found in the basket, including breads, soups, and pastas. All of which were Italian specialties. They passed the dishes around and divided the spoils so that everyone would have a chance to sample everything. The food was too good, and Seto ended up stuffing himself. He laid back on the grass in an attempt to let his stomach digest. Mokuba on the other hand ate his fill and more, and he was still chalked full of energy. He bounced around annoyingly until Seto allowed him to check out the ruined columns they were near.

"I've never seen a kid ate so much in my life. Don't you feed him?" Anna joked.

"One or twice a week."

Anna chuckled, "That's how you take care of a fern, not a little brother."

"I knew I was reading the wrong manual." Seto stated in his typical dead pan voice.

"Little brothers come with manuals?"

"Gigantic thick ones."

"I'll have to borrow that sometime."

"Apparently I've misplaced mine. You might have to borrow it from someone else."

"How about older brothers? Do they come with a manual?"

"I'll trade you an 'older brother' manual for one on understanding women."

"Sorry, no such thing exists. We're one of the great mysteries of life. Even God doesn't understand us." Anna said smugly as she looked in the basket. "Oooo, they added desert." She opened the container and looked inside. "Fresh chocolate dipped strawberries, I'm in heaven."

Seto propped himself up so he could see what she was doing.

"Do you want one?" She asked him.

Seto shook his head; "I couldn't eat another bite."

"You don't know what you're missing." She took out one of the strawberries and bit into it. The expression on her face was priceless. Chewing was pure ecstasy and it showed. Being so close he could see through her sunglasses as her eyes closed and she bounced in place. Seto thought the whole scene to be very orgasmic, and if that was true, he was going to buy her strawberries everyday. It was over just as quickly as it started. She opened her eyes and mumbled something through her full mouth. She swallowed and had an expression of utter delight on her face. "Are you sure you don't want one? They are delicious." She looked in the container. "In fact, I think I have one in here with your name on it." She pulled it out and waved it in front of him. "It's saying 'eat me'" She leaned in close to him, "You know you want to." Seto took the bait and ate the strawberry out of her hand. Anna couldn't have been happier. She even wiped the juices off of his chin. "See didn't I tell you?"

"Delicious."

She held the box out and tempted him with another. He reached, but before he could touch the container she jerked it away. She smirked at him. He took that as a challenge. He sat up straight to get better leverage in this game. He reached for the box, she moved it again, but this time he was ready. His other hand grabbed her around the waist, and that was all the distraction he needed to grab hold of the box. But she wouldn't let go, and what followed was a mini wrestling match over the box. The box got tossed to the side during the incident, but neither of them paid much attention. Now the game wasn't about obtaining the box, it was about which one could dominate the other. It ended with Seto pinning Anna to the ground.

"No fair!" Anna said between heavy breaths, "You've got longer arms."

"You can't admit I beat you at something, can you?"

"Sure I can, that is if we were actually competing."

"What do you call this?"

Anna thought for a second, "Lunch."

Seto just smiled at her. The mood got tense. He stopped talking; he was just looking at her. And he didn't let go, he continued to hold her down. The fact that he was literally on top of her made her a bit uncomfortable, but she didn't resist, rebel or try to get away. She held her breath as he moved in closer to her.

"Hey Anna!" They heard Mokuba's voice call.

Seto jolted up in an almost panic. He didn't want Mokuba to see them like that. He was lucky that Mokuba didn't come into a good view of the scene until they both had sat back up and composed themselves.

"Anna!" Mokuba said as he ran breathlessly to her. "I found the neatest thing. Come tell me what it is." Mokuba grabbed her hand and pulled her away. Seto decided it would be best to stay there and clean up.

All the way back to the villa the incident at The Forum disturbed Anna. She couldn't understand why she didn't resist him when he held her down. And especially when it was so obvious he wanted to kiss her. She knew it was wrong, she was engaged. But she knew something deep down inside of her wanted to know. To know how firm his lips were. To know how good his arms felt around her. To know what his true intentions were. She told herself to forget all of that and to be more careful. It wasn't right to lead him on or give him hope that there could be something between them. But most of all she knew if they continued this trend, it was going to be a long two weeks.