-1The Beauty and the Duelist
Chapter Two: Man in the White Trench Coat
Note: Apologies are owed to those reading this fic. I've done a poor job in its initial writing and an even poorer job keeping it updated. I'll try to fix and improve as many chapters as quickly as possible, and I hope that I'll EVENTUALLY finish the next new chapter. Please bear with me and...sorry.
"What? That can't be correct? It shouldn't be more than a ten. May I look at it," she inquires in disbelief.
Grandpa Motou slides the bill back towards her for a closer inspection. Her eyes widen when she realizes that it is indeed such a large bill. Yugi's grandfather takes out his counterfeit pen and marks on the bill. The result clearly indicates its authenticity.
"Ure? This must be some sort of mistake. Surely that nice young man couldn't have possibly meant to have lent me so much money."
The beautiful young waitress again rushes outside of the store. This time, she is desperately scouring the surrounding area for any sign of a handsome and kind young man wearing a white trench coat. With no sign and no trace of her generous and mysterious benefactor, she returns to the inside of the store, her eyes welling up with worry.
"Oh, I don't see him anywhere," she whines beginning to gnaw nervously on the sleeve of her uniform, "and I have no idea where he's gone or even who he was. How am I supposed to return all this money to him now?"
Yugi and Joey stare at each other, a little awed and perplexed by the young lady's curious behavior. Yugi can clearly understand her concern. After all, it only seemed right to return the money to its rightful owner and that certainly no one would have purposely given a stranger a hundred dollar bill. Joey, on the other hand, is perplexed completely by the concept of returning such a large sum of money. Okay, maybe he might wonder where the money came from if he came across an incredibly large sum of money, say a thousand dollars. However, Joey Wheeler is more than glad to spend a hundred dollars no questions asked if given to him by a stranger. Of course, if that stranger happens to be Seto Kaiba, he would actually be inclined to refuse out of pride.
"Hey Yug, I'm not sure which I find more disturbing, the fact that she wants to return a hundred dollar bill a stranger gave her, or the fact that Kaiba might have been the one to give a complete stranger money," Joey comments to his friend.
"I don't see anything wrong with her wanting to return it; it IS a lot of money. However, what I find weird is that...he WOULD give a stranger money like that. A hundred dollars is almost worthless to him, but Kaiba has never struck me as the generous type."
"Hmm...this is quite a peculiar predicament we have here," Grandpa Motou remarks.
"Well, it looks like you've lost your interest in her Joey. If that's the case maybe I should..." teases Yugi.
"What do you think I should do," the young waitress asks.
"Hey! Don't tell me you're gonna ask her out then," Joey exclaims with a slight blush.
"Whatever you feel is right, at least that's this old man's piece of advice."
"Well...I certainly can't keep it. There's no way I could spend so much money. I'm sure that it must have been a mistake. However...I don't know how I'm going to return it."
"Well just relax. I'm sure you might bump into your mysterious young benefactor sooner if not later."
"Hey, uh...excuse me...uh, miss," Joey stutters briefly then begins to speak more confidently, "if I was you I'd go ahead and just spend it. Maybe he wanted you to have a hundred dollars. I couldn't blame any guy for giving such a pretty girl a fist full of cash, especially one as good lookin' as you. You deserve every bit of it."
However, inwardly Joey reflects that the exception to this rule would have to be Seto Kaiba. From his experiences with the renowned duelist, Kaiba is a cold-hearted, insensitive, all around rotten, and a long string of words that may very well be inappropriate for a fic of this rating. Of course, that's probably a little too harsh, but Joey Wheeler certainly isn't one to cut any slack or overlook any character flaws when it comes to Seto Kaiba. The thought that Kaiba had given this lovely lady so much money sends disturbing shivers down his spine. He refuses, for the moment, to share such concerns with the beautiful young waitress.
"Maybe so," she begins, "but I just don't feel right about it. Maybe I shouldn't fret so much about it. Worry leads to stress, and stress isn't very healthy."
"I'm not really sure if that's good advice though," Yugi comments.
The waitress looks slightly downwards towards the short, multi-colored and spiky haired individual.
"What do you suggest I do," she inquires.
"I'd recommend following your heart. What do you feel you should do," Yugi replies.
"That's basically what I already suggested," Grandpa mutters quietly to himself then slinks away grumbling about "kids these days."
The beautiful young lady closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. In. Out. In. Out. What was right? In. Out. In. Out. What did she really want to do? In. Out. In. Out.
"I want," she begins as she suddenly opens her eyes with determination, "I want to find the young man who gave me this money and return it! At the very least I should more properly thank him for it and promise to return the favor one day!"
"If that's the case, I'll help you out in any way I can," Yugi offers.
"Thank you very much. I'm sure that if we work together we're bound to find him."
Yugi gives his friend a nudge with his elbow to hint that he should offer his assistance as well. After all, Joey WAS initially interested in asking her out. This would be a good opportunity to get to know her.
"Oh, uh, yah, I'll help you too! With the three of us there's no way we can't find him," Joey proclaims awkwardly, apprehensive about the fact that they are going to be looking out for Kaiba.
"Oh, you mustn't forget this before you go," Solomon Motou remarks handing her the hundred dollar bill and the starter deck.
"Eh, but I...I don't have enough of my own money to pay the full price for this, are you sure it's okay?"
"Of course, don't worry about it. Besides, my grandson here," the elderly Motou speaks then indicates who Yugi is, "will be more than glad to work off the difference. Oh, and if you need help learning how to play, he'll be more than glad to teach you all of the rules, both old and new. Won't you Yugi?"
"Of course!"
"You see, Yugi here is the world champion of Duel Monsters. His friend Joey is also a top duelist and I'm sure he'll help you learn as well. They're my best pupils."
"No prob, leave it to me. With me and Yugi on da job, you'll become almost as good as we are," Joey boasts.
"Ah, thank you very must, Mister Joey and Mister Yugi. Oh, silly me. I haven't introduced myself. My name is Mia Chibara. You may call me Mia if you'd like."
"Joey's the name. No need to call me Mister, it makes me sound old."
"Same here. Yug or Yugi is fine with me," Yugi adds.
"Okay then, Joey, Yugi," Mia speaks with a smile.
"I'm not sure, but I think I know the person you're looking for Mia," Yugi informs the young waitress.
"Really?"
"You said he was wearing a white coat?"
"Yes, and he was rather mysterious and handsome," Mia confirms.
"Was he this tall," Joey adds raising his hand up to indicate Kaiba's height "and did he have cold blue eyes and short brown hair?"
"Well...I wouldn't say they were a cold blue, but they were a dark blue and they looked kind of distant. It was as if his mind was elsewhere. That pretty much sounds like the guy I just met."
"I guess it must have been Seto Kaiba after all," Yugi notes.
"Sir Kaiba is it?"
"Heh, heh. Well, I don't think that's an appropriate title for him," Joey comments, a medium-sized sweat drop sliding down the side of his head.
"You've never heard of him before," Yugi asks.
Mia thinks for a moment. She shakes her head in response.
"No, I don't think I have," she admits.
"You're kiddin', right? You mean you've never heard of him," Joey exclaims in shock.
"No, I don't think I have."
"He's a world renowned duelist," Yugi explains, "and his the owner of Kaiba Corp. He's actually more well-known than I am."
"Oh, so he plays Duel Monsters I take it? That's probably why. Since I didn't own any of the cards, I never bothered watching any of the tournaments or anything. I didn't want to ruin the experience for me."
Mia's words cause Joey to fall over on his side. He wonders just what kind of person would avoid watching something so as not to 'ruin the experience.' Mia is quickly becoming a little too 'unique' for Joey's tastes.
"I suppose that makes sense," Yugi notes then turns to look down at his fallen comrade, "Joey, you better pick yourself up. We need to hurry and find Kaiba before it gets late. I'm sure Mia might have plans for later on today."
Joey reluctantly struggles back to his feet.
"Yah, I'm ready Yug."
"Alright! Are we all set? Let's go find Mister Kaiba," the peppy young waitress proclaims as if the trio are about to embark on a long quest to cross a forest full of monsters, and then climb to the top of a tall and terrible tower to rescue a princess fair from a fearsome dragon.
"Ya know somethin' Yug," Joey whispers, "she's kind of starting to weird me out."
"Don't say something like that Joey, it's not very nice."
