Author's note: This was actually going to be delayed a little longer because I have way too many RL obligations to be spending time on fanfiction. But the need to sit my ass down and write this chapter, damnit, forced it out of me so… Homework? What is this foreign thing you speak of? You say I'm supposed to be doing that instead of this? Oh. Well, shit.
……………………
Chapter 6
Saturday morning found Anzu rising from a blissful slumber with a grin on her face. She had indulged in an extra hour of sleep and combined with the warm sun filtering in through her blinds, it went a long way to improving her spirits. That and it was her very first day off from the summer job.
No Kaiba 'til Monday!
She stabbed her fist into the air, "Yes!"
"Pleasant dreams, Anzu?"
"Ack!"
She whipped around to find Honda, Yugi, and Jou whom had spoken standing ever-so-calmly in her room. Instantly, she was suspicious. Anzu was always glad to see them, of course, but there was something odd about their little surprise visit.
For one, they looked rather cagey, standing in a tight cluster, faces a little too casual while they observed her. Yugi was bright-eyed and alert as usual, despite the early hour, but his expression was somewhat... injured. Honda looked good too, gaze clear and even, clothes neat and fresh, but his jaw was rigid. And Jounouchi… well, he looked like crap. It was pretty clear he'd been dragged from a deep sleep and rushed out of the house.
Even if Anzu didn't know for a fact he routinely slept until at least noon on the weekends, his disheveled appearance was a dead giveaway. Sporting some comically wild bed-head and slight stubble, he wore yesterday's wrinkled jeans (which he'd forgotten to zip up) obviously retrieved from his floor. His shoes were untied and his countenance was stormy.
Something was definitely up - she could cut the tension in the room with a knife.
"Dad! There's a group of hormonal boys in my bedroom!" Anzu shouted out her open door, attempting to diffuse the situation with a little levity.
"Yes, I know," he called back, "I let them in."
"Ugh," she looked down at her rumpled T-shirt and ran a hand through her tangled morning-hair. How dare her father bring the public eye to her before she had a chance to blow-dry and lip-gloss? Good thing it was just the guys. The clearly perturbed guys who were starting to freak her out with their collective solemnity.
She tried again, "Why can't you carry a shotgun and bar all of the male persuasion from venturing anywhere near my bed like a normal father?"
"Why can't you hang out with giggly girls who want nothing more than slumber parties and fashion magazines like a normal daughter?"
Touché.
"Revenge later," she decided aloud before turning to study her friends warily. Not a single smile – this was serious.
"So," Anzu aimed for a casual tone, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Just dropping off a little gift," Jou sounded anything but charitable as he tossed a thin magazine at her, "Feel free to add this to your scrapbook."
Anzu squinted at it curiously, "A tabloid? Why did you…"
She trailed off, noticing the cover photograph: it looked a little familiar. Was that… Oh God. Her eyes snapped to the headline – 'Teenage CEO Romances Classmate' – and returned swiftly to the picture. Obviously taken with a telephoto lens, the moment captured through the window of Kaiba's Porsche was one she'd never wanted to relive again. But this… this was so much worse. Because the stupid photographer picked the exact second things looked a little less than innocent. Downright naughty, actually.
While she knew all he had been doing was unfastening a stuck seatbelt, the angle made it look like he was kissing her neck. His hair brushed her shoulders, just as she remembered, but it also hid his face which seemed to be buried somewhere around her throat. Her face tipped towards his, eyes half-lidded, cheeks flushed… with humiliation, she recalled, not desire!
But what made the photo really horrific, as if it wasn't embarrassing enough, was the fact that Kaiba's hands were obscured by the dashboard. His arms were visible though, and bent towards her in a way that suggested a little below-the-waist action was going on.
NOOOOOOO!
Anzu turned ashen, "I can explain!"
"Why you were serving our sworn enemy a piece of Anzu-cake?" Honda crossed his arms over his broad chest and narrowed his eyes at her, "Please do tell."
Yugi's purple gaze was wide and hurt, "You told us nothing was going on with him."
"There isn't anything going on between us," she insisted, "Look, this is all just a big misunderstanding. That picture is a perfectly innocent moment captured and misconstrued."
Jou looked caught somewhere between annoyed, hurt, and amused. He finally settled for an accusing glare, "I don't see anything innocent about that snake sucking on your neck… and God knows what else."
Yugi and Honda nodded in agreement, and Anzu blushed furiously.
"It's not like that!" she swore.
"Um… not to accuse you of lying," Yugi seemed almost as embarrassed as she was, "But the picture…"
"Has been grossly misinterpreted," she completed the thought, "Like I said."
Her denials were met with skeptical silence, Yugi fidgeting nervously, Honda scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, Jou warily meeting her gaze. They obviously didn't like confronting her this way, were unused to having her lie to them and about something so… inappropriate. They may have spent the past couple days teasing her about crushing on Kaiba, but that certainly didn't mean they wanted her getting busy with him – and keeping it a secret.
Anzu stared down at the wretched tabloid and almost laughed. The situation was so absurd; the picture, the accusations, the fact that it just looked so incriminating. She was perfectly innocent of what the photo suggested, but lately her mind had enjoyed a great deal of time in the gutter considering such things. In that sense she supposed she deserved their skepticism; she was guilty.
But her private thoughts were just that – private. In the meantime, she really needed to do something about publicly clearing her name.
"Look, if he was really sucking on my neck, I'd have a hickey right?" she tried to be logical in her defense, tugging her tangled hair away from her neck, "So where is it?
Yugi looked hopeful (and embarrassed. Again. Some more.), but Jou wasn't biting.
He sniffed, "That just means the moron didn't do it right."
"Yeah," Honda agreed, "The guy's a real cold fish."
"Right," Jou nodded. "So what was it Anzu? He left you so unsatisfied, you couldn't bear to talk about it?"
"NO!" She collapsed back onto fluffy pillows, pulling her blanket over her burning face, "Oh my Gawd!"
"You mean he actually did the job?" Honda was incredulous. "Okay, just so we're clear protection was involved right? Because a bunch of little Kaibas running around isn't exactly a pleasant thought."
… WHAT?
That did it. Something inside Anzu snapped as she absorbed the full weight of what her friend was implying. It was all too much. The guys thinking she'd done that with Kaiba. The whole city assuming the exact same thing. About her. And Kaiba. Her mortification vanished, quickly replaced with anger and pushing the covers away, she leaped off the bed to whap Honda across the back of his depraved little head.
"For crying out loud!" she fumed, "He was unfastening my seatbelt you jackass!"
Jou smirked, "So that's what we're calling it nowadays?"
Oh no he di'int!
"You retards!" she exploded, "One stupid suspect picture and you assume we're sleeping together? Don't you know me at all? Augh!"
Stunned silence.
"Well to be fair, Anzu," Honda was the first to hesitantly reply, "Nobody said anything about sleeping."
"MOM!"
Her anger took a new direction and snatching up her "gift", she stormed out of the bedroom, "friends" hot on her heels. She discovered her mother seated calmly at the kitchen table, sipping coffee from the mug Anzu had made for her in the fourth grade. Heiji sat next to her, mellow green eyes scanning a newspaper. If the two of them had noticed all the commotion coming from their daughter's room, they didn't show it.
Anzu found their tranquility to be very provoking and she slammed the tabloid down on the table between them in a childish attempt to dissolve it.
"You see this mom? Dad?" she pointed at the cover page she was growing to detest more than her co-star in the appalling drama. "This is what happens when you get unwanted employment for your only daughter behind her back!"
Eri very serenely picked up the trashy magazine and to her daughter's extreme dismay, had the audacity to smile with amusement.
"My daughter's very first media coverage… should I be proud?"
Heiji nodded, "I say we get out the scrapbook."
"Not helping!" Anzu glared at her folks, "My life is a circus and it's all your fault!"
"Hmm…" her father peered closely at the calamitous photograph. "You two do look awfully close. This is the same guy you swear up and down is Hell spawn?"
"He IS!"
"Well," Mrs. Mazaki suddenly grew serious, "That doesn't bode well for our future grandchildren - do you think they'll be born with horns?"
Mr. Mazaki's eyes took on a mischievous glint as he took the reigns from his wife, "We'll have to sew up some creative hats to cover them…"
"Oh of course!" she playfully replied, "And little mittens for the cloven hoofs!"
"Not much to be done about the arrowed tail I'm afraid…" he gravely stroked his chin.
"Cute guys," Anzu rolled her eyes with disgust, "Real cute."
"Ha-ha!" unlike his friend, Honda was delighted by her parents' antics. "Come on Rosemary, take your meds. You want the baby to be healthy don't you?"
"Knock it off," she kicked him in the shin, then looked up to address the universe. "Why? Why can't I have normal parents?"
Eri ignored her, "Sweetie, I know this is embarrassing for you, but at least now that it's out there, you don't have to lie about your relationship anymore."
"Besides," Heiji added, "Your mother and I should know about your boyfriends."
"He is NOT my boyfriend!" she shouted. "We're not making out in that picture, never have been, never will be! This is all just a stupid misunderstanding! My seatbelt was stuck and he was helping me out of it. That's all."
Yugi sighed, "Look, nobody's angry, Anzu."
"Except for me," Jou was fully alert now thanks to the excitement, "I'm plenty angry"
Honda grinned, "Nobody important is angry."
"We're just… concerned," Yugi continued, "Why don't you come clean?"
"I have!" Anzu felt a vein throbbing somewhere on her forehead, "The seatbelt! Stuck! That's it!"
"That Porsche is brand new, Anzu." A skeptical Honda pointed out.
"Which only adds to the absurdity factor of the whole situation," Anzu replied. "Believe me, I know this all looks very… untoward. But, come on. It's a tabloid. They twist things. And I am telling you honestly as your friend and daughter, that absolutely nothing happened. I promise."
While her parents exchanged looks that showed they were coming around to her point of view, Yugi, Jou, and Honda all remained decidedly disbelieving. Although Yugi, to his credit, did appear as if he desperately wanted to accept her version of events. Of course, his superior mind won out in the end, latching on to the facts the picture so deceptively provided.
Anzu was hurt, "You guys… come on. I'm telling the truth here."
Nothing.
"Fine," she snapped, annoyed to find tears creeping towards the corners of her eyes. "I'll just be in my room if any of you come to your senses."
"Anzu-,"
But she'd already cleared half the stairs at that point in her rush to get away from them all, and she locked the door behind her once she was safely inside her bedroom.
Her life had officially surpassed disaster territory, she decided, collapsing onto the unmade bed in a frustrated heap.
And here I was hoping for a Kaiba-free day.
………………………..
"Seto," Mokuba looked up at his big brother with plaintive gray eyes, "You promised."
Tense fingers pressing against throbbing temples, Kaiba turned away from the child's wounded stare. He hated feeling guilty, despite the fact such feelings were warranted considering. He had promised Mokuba they'd spend the day together, and now he was forced to renege to go handle a crisis at the office.
Damnit! I knew Carter would get cold feet if I wasn't there to deal with things in person.
If he wanted to get anything done, he had to do it himself.
He sighed, "I know I promised, but this is important. If I don't make a personal appearance to show solidarity Omitech will pull out of the merger. And you know how hard I've been working to make this happen."
"Yeah," Mokuba dropped his gaze and chewed his lower lip, "I know."
Oh, this was just perfect. Now, not only did he feel like an asshole (something that only bothered him when it came to his little brother), his guilt-factor was on the rise. He glanced down at Mokuba's disappointed face and frowned.
Kaiba Seto – Negligent prick.
Probably the only name he hadn't been called, and the most suited label at this particular instant.
"Look," he crouched down and placed his hands on the little boy's small shoulders. "Tell me what I can do to make it up to you."
"You don't have to make it up to me," Mokuba insisted, forcing a smile. "I understand how these things work. You wouldn't go if it wasn't important."
His complete willingness to let Seto off the hook, only made the elder Kaiba feel guiltier. He shook his head, "Anything, Mokuba. Whatever you want, just tell me."
"Seto," his smile was shifting into genuine territory and he made a Mazaki-esque show of rolling his eyes. "I told you not to worry about it."
"Mokuba," he hardened his features, "I insist."
"Well," the boy smiled tentatively, "You could… you could ask Anzu if she could come spend the day with me. I mean, if she's not busy or anything. I wouldn't mind if she brought her friends along if she wanted. But only if she wants to. You have to ask nicely."
Seto narrowed his eyes. For one, he didn't ask nicely for anything. And secondly, he was relieved to be rid of Mazaki for the weekend. He didn't like the way she brought the sex appeal he'd previously been so blissfully blind to with her every day. It was unsettling how distracting she could be with the legs and smiles and curves. He didn't appreciate how she got on his nerves with her admittedly sharp wit one minute, then got under his skin with her disarmingly charming grin the next.
It was of grave importance that he purge the stupid girl from his system and build up an immunity to her attractiveness. The last thing he wanted was to call her up and beg her to give up her Saturday to come to work.
Had Kaiba thought his little brother was capable of such pettiness, he would swear Mokuba had cooked up this scheme for the sole purpose of punishing him. A sharp refusal tugged at his tongue, but he stopped himself before he could actually give voice to it.
He had said anything, after all.
He sighed, "Done."
"Great!" Mokuba beamed up at him for half a second before his expression became suddenly wary. "But I meant what I said before, you have to be nice. Don't… make her come if she doesn't want to."
"Don't worry about it," Kaiba advised, "You just leave Mazaki to me."
…………………………
Kaiba didn't dial Anzu's number until he was already in the back of a limo, legal documents pertaining to the stupid merger spread across his lap. With all the two-bit players involved in the transaction, he should have known better than to take a day off. The whole godforsaken world was cursed with idiots and he was in business with them.
Speaking of which… Mazaki's voice lacked the "chirpy" quality it usually held as she answered on the fourth ring.
"I don't care who this is," she snapped irritably, "But no, I'm not sleeping with Kaiba Seto, and yes, I would like for everybody to stop calling to ask me about it. Oh, and I'm not answering the phone again for the rest of the day, so it would be a waste of time to call back."
Click.
What the…?
Seto was relieved nobody could see him now, in the back of the limo with tinted windows, because he was certain he resembled some of the slack-jawed morons he was forced to associate with daily. It was good form to be caught by surprise when there was nobody around to witness it.
Very deliberately closing his agape mouth, and forcing his eyes back into their sockets, Kaiba did the only logical thing under the circumstances. He didn't even try to figure out just what that was all about on his own, but rather immediately called the idiot girl back to demand an explanation for her statement.
True to her word, however, she refused to answer her cell phone and the CEO was instead met with her voicemail after seven rings.
"Hi," an overly saccharine voice greeted him, "You've reached the voicemail of Mazaki Anzu. I can't come to the phone right now because I'm busy vomiting over the very thought of Kaiba Seto's lips coming anywhere near mine. If you'd like to leave a message, I'll try to get back to you the second my stomach settles but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."
Kaiba snapped his phone shut with a scowl. What in the hell was going on here? How was he supposed to convince this apparent nut job to come spend the day with his brother when she'd suddenly given up the phone for fear people would accuse her of sleeping with him? What on earth would make anybody think such a thing was actually happening? And perhaps, most importantly, why wasn't she sleeping with him anyway?
What? No! I didn't mean that.
The entire back of the limousine seemed to darken under the weight of his scowl as Kaiba absorbed it all. He was losing control of his thought processes when it came to her. Moments of irrationality continued to slip through the cracks when he least expected it, flooding his mind with these… images. Very hormonal visuals and tawdry considerations that had no business invading his otherwise logical, tactical psyche. And then there was this occasional glimmer of… of feeling that would sneak up on him unaware in the fleeting moments she occupied his brain unhindered by coherence.
Kaiba did not like this. At all. Something had to be done.
"Mr. Kaiba," the driver addressed him through the intercom and Seto was suddenly aware that they'd stopped. "We're here."
Filing his more ominous thoughts away for later consideration, he glanced out the window to find Mazaki's cheerful blue house staring back and hastily exited the vehicle without a word.
He hurried up her driveway, determined to get this over with the sooner, the better. Aside from the fact that he really had no desire to spend any more time with his brother's distracting nanny than necessary, he was kind of on a tight schedule here. He'd get her to come, no question, but he wouldn't grovel, he would not be nice, and he would get it all done as quickly as possible.
As if sensing his urgency, Anzu threw the door open before he even had a chance to ring the bell. She was adorable today in pajama pants and a baby tee. Her hair was still damp from a recent shower and her face was fresh and clean without makeup.
Aside from her cuteness, she also appeared rather on edge, if her blue eyes glancing furtively in every direction were any indication. Well that and her entire body really, which vibrated with unrest.
Suddenly, she ceased her perusal of their surroundings and grabbing hold of his jacket lapels with both hands, forcefully yanked him inside the house. Caught off balance, Kaiba's hands shot forward to steady him and landed on the curve of her waist. Anzu reacted by using the momentum to propel them in the opposite direction and hastily closed the open door with her back. Then, continuing their odd little dance, she started to push him towards the living room.
The whole situation had the feeling of a prequel to… to something he wasn't supposed to be thinking about. Her hands were firm against his chest, forcing him to step back rather than fall over, and his own hands were cradling her waist in an unforgivably possessive manner. He had to withdraw, but her shirt was riding up slightly, and her skin was way softer than it looked and so warm and he liked touching her too much.
Let go Kaiba, he ordered himself even while he continued to enjoy holding her, Do it now.
But before he could make his hands obey him, she was the one to break contact, shoving him aggressively away from her onto an overstuffed red couch. The impact jerked Kaiba's mind away from its little diversion to the gutter and he immediately stood, indignant at being manhandled in such a way.
"Mazaki," he growled, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
He meant it in more ways than just the obvious. The mauling was one thing, but the way she felt, looked and smelled and how it made his thoughts wander was an equally punishable offense.
Anzu ignored him, crossing her arms across her chest and matching his glare for once in terms of severity. If looks could kill, he'd be a pile of ashes on the floor.
Obviously, Kaiba decided, she wasn't any happier to have him around than he was to be there. He wondered distantly if she was similarly angry because she found him attractive.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, "You're not supposed to be here. It's my day off!"
"Yes, I'm aware of that." He looked at her pointedly, "I did call first."
"You… oh," her eyes grew larger as it suddenly dawned on her, "Oh!"
He raised an eyebrow, "Oh? That's all you have to say for yourself?"
"Well… yeah," she sat down on a worn out recliner. "I mean, I think it's important to get the word out to my friends and acquaintances that you and I aren't actually… you know, together or anything."
"But the very idea that we are is laughable. Why would anybody think otherwise?"
"Duh! Because of the – Hey!" she switched gears abruptly and rose again to look up at him with accusing eyes, "What did you think you were doing coming up to my door in broad daylight like that, anyway? You do realize this is just going to make it all look that much worse, don't you?"
"I-,"
"And having your driver park this massive limo right in front of my house?" she went on, "To borrow a term from my insolent friend Jou, how heat can you get?"
"Wh-,"
"On the very day all the rumors start circulating too, while I'm here trying my absolute best to stop them! Honestly, you're no help at all! Don't you understand it's all about damage control now? What do you think everybody's going to say when- mmph!"
It was Kaiba's turn to interrupt, though he was far more efficient about it, calmly placing one hand over her mouth to silence the tirade and using the other to support the back of her head. He was rewarded with wet strands of silky hair intertwining with one set of fingers and warm saliva coating his right palm.
Yuck.
Of course, the indignantly shocked expression on her face alone was worth it and he found himself smiling smugly in spite of his agitation.
"I should have done this a long time ago," he decided, deepening his grin when she glowered in response. "Now then, I want you to tell me what the hell you're babbling about in as few words as you can manage. Do you understand? Blink once if you do."
Long, dark lashes swept her cheeks as she silently agreed with him, although he could feel her lips (which were incidentally, softer than her skin) frowning against his hand. And was that the sound of grinding teeth?
"Good," he released her, "So talk."
"The whole universe thinks we're getting it on," she said simply.
He sighed, "A little coherence would be a welcome change."
"Oh I'm sorry," she said caustically, "Was I using too many big words? Maybe I should talk slower?"
Seto raised an eyebrow. That particular insult was just the type he dished out frequently; it was weird to be on the receiving end of it.
"I understand what you're saying, idiot. But you're leaving out the most important part."
"What?"
"Not what," he corrected her. "Why."
"You mean why everybody thinks we're…" she buried her face in her hands, "Oh god, I don't think I can say it again."
"Focus, Mazaki!" Kaiba was growing frustrated. Time was money and he hadn't even got to the reason he was here yet. "I know your feeble little mind would rather drift back into empty space, but I'm waiting for an answer."
"You want an answer?" she stomped over to snatch something off the coffee table and hurled it at him, "Here's your stupid answer!"
Kaiba caught the object, a magazine, and studied the cover speculatively. He sighed; the picture made things appear rather incriminating and he wasn't crazy about how he came across. If one were to believe this was what it looked like, then he was the one doing all the work, giving all the pleasure. How insulting.
Even so, the photograph was printed on the same trash peddled by people who made a career of spreading lies about him. This was actually rather tame in comparison with some of the other stories they'd come up with over the years. He couldn't believe people actually bought into it all.
"Do you get it now?" Anzu demanded. "I mean that picture. Why didn't you warn me about this when I took the job?"
Seto shrugged, "Occupational hazard."
"The paparazzi?"
"Yes, and you'd better get used to it." He tossed the tabloid aside like the garbage it was, "Now that they've linked us romantically, this won't be the last cover you appear on with me."
"But… that's… That is completely unfair. One cover has already destroyed my credibility with my friends."
She glared at him accusingly, as if he had taken the picture and printed it.
"I'm not responsible for your simpleton friends. If they're dumb enough to believe this nonsense then that's their problem." He waved his hand dismissively, eager to move on from the topic that had already wasted enough valuable time.
"Anyway, I didn't come here to discuss the geek squad and their gullibility." He cut to the chase, "I need you to look after Mokuba for the day."
Anzu looked a bit confused at the sudden change of subject, "It's my day off."
"You might be figuring that out just now," he said scornfully, "But some of us have known for awhile. I came prepared to pay you extra for your trouble for that exact reason."
"I see," she studied him carefully. "But I don't understand why you need me. Can't another member of your household watch him? It's just one day after all."
"He asked for you," he admitted.
"Huh." She continued to watch him thoughtfully and Kaiba's agitation increased. The stupid, cruel girl was making him sweat it out. "And you agreed."
"Apparently," he snapped peevishly. Why was she still looking at him that way?
"You'd do a lot for your brother wouldn't you?"
What the hell was this? Just what did she think she was doing standing there with those impossibly big eyes running across his face in search of clues, asking loaded questions, and trying to read him? He inwardly answered that he'd do anything for Mokuba but he couldn't very well tell her that now. Not when it was so obvious it was precisely what she wanted to hear him say.
He settled for a sharp nod of agreement instead.
Her eyes remained affixed on his face, features stuck in that maddeningly pensive expression while she worked out some internal problem. She was inferring just how desperate he was to have her come with him, he knew, and it made him nervous. Kaiba did not like feeling nervous any more than he enjoyed finding Anzu attractive.
"Okay," she said finally, "I'll do it, but I won't accept your money."
He didn't let himself feel relief yet; as a businessman, he knew an incomplete transaction when he saw one. She wanted something else.
"State your conditions," he warily commanded.
"Drop the plural," she advised, "I have only one."
"Which is?" He was growing increasingly impatient.
"Consider it a favor to you," she said, "And I'll come with you."
Kaiba narrowed his eyes. He didn't accept favors, not ever. Accepting favors meant you were indebted to another human being and that was simply insupportable. Once again he'd underestimated the girl. She couldn't have dreamed up a better contingency had she brainstormed all night.
But the thing was… she had him. Because he didn't have time to bargain with her and he had already broken one promise to his brother today. He couldn't break another.
"Anything, Mokuba. Whatever you want, just tell me."
Anything.
"Fine," he sighed. "It's a deal."
She smiled brilliantly and he knew he was going to regret it.
…………………………
A/N: Oh god, my poor fingers! (dies) Anyhoo, here's a definition for anybody who was confused earlier: "Heat" as in "How heat can you get?" – an expression ripped off from my twin brother to describe things that are overly conspicuous especially in situations where subtly or a low profile is desired. Derived from the term, "Heat score." Make sense?
Next chapter: Anzu collects!