Hey all! Well this is the next chapter so have fun. . .
Cymoril Avalon- It has been a long time. I love when you review my stories because you always give me advice that I could use. About Mai's Mustang. . . I could not think of any cars. . . I blanked out seriously on cars, but she probably would have something more. . . glamorous maybe? Where can I get a beta, I could really use one. . . I'm such a horrible proofreader, I always miss stuff. . . so a beta would be great! Honestly I think you'll like some of the surprises I have planned on with my story. . .but THANKS so much for reviewing!
Disclaimer: YGO is not mine.
Rain was now drizzling all over the city. Mai was watching it from her office. She had been in there ever since she got back. She couldn't get Joey's voice out of her head.
"Why do I care?" she asked herself. Not like it would be a surprise . . . after everything that happened between them.
"No. . . I'm beyond the past now . . . I'm beyond him." she whispered as she closed the blinds. There would be no more brooding and looking out the window to a desperate city.
"Miss Valentine . . . your 2:00 is here." Jenny said over the intercom.
"I had a 2:00 . . . I didn't arrange one." Mai wondered.
"He did . . . may I send him in?" she asked. Mai sighed. She knew she never gave her consent to an appointment today. In fact she had cleared her whole schedule . . . well except for one thing, but that wasn't until later.
"I suppose." Mai replied with an annoyed sigh. She couldn't keep whoever it was waiting could she?
Mai sat in her chair and looked at the papers on her desk. She placed them in her desk and when she looked up she saw nobody else but the one and only Kaiba standing in front of her.
"You're my 2:00?" Mai asked with laughter coming out of her voice.
"You should always know your appointments." Kaiba replied coldly. Mai suddenly switched to business mode . . . two could play at this game.
''I believe that we have some business to discuss." Kaiba said. Mai was shocked by his voice, but she regained her composure.
"What business is that?" Mai asked.
"Well, we had an important business meal planned after the duel and you walked out on me." Kaiba pointed out.
"You said after you beat Yugi. You didn't beat Yugi." Mai replied. Kaiba smirked at this.
"Perhaps you need more credit than what your given. I noticed that for someone who doesn't need friends, you seem awfully upset about Wheeler." Kaiba said.
"What business is that of yours?" Mai asked.
"Hmm, to succeed in this world, you need to be alone. You need to survive on your own. Prove to me that you can do that, and I won't crush you." Kaiba commanded.
"Oh however will I live with myself?" Mai asked sarcastically. This just got a cold glare from Kaiba.
"Regardless of your little quips . . . you owe me a meal . . . and a meeting." he said as if he was bored.
"No, I don't." Mai replied. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.
"Fine sit here and wait for Wheeler to tell you that he doesn't hate you . . . we both know he won't. If you wisen up, I might be around." he said with a huge smirk on his face, knowing that somewhere deep down . . . he struck Mai hard.
She watched him get up without even glanced at her. She leaned back in her chair, and wondered what on earth his game was.
"I'll come with you." she said coldly as she grabbed her purse and followed him out of the office, locking the door behind her.
She went to leave, but Jenny called her from the front desk.
"There is an important business call on line one for you Miss Valentine." Jenny said. Mai looked at her confused.
"Take a message . . . isn't that what I pay you for?" Mai asked. Jenny shrugged.
"But it's that call you've been waiting for." Jenny replied. Mai gave a quick glance at Kaiba.
"I will call them back as soon as I can." Mai instructed and she walked out into the pouring rain.
They got out of the limo and walked into the French restaurant. A table had already been reserved.
"Did you plan this?" Mai asked.
"I'm Seto Kaiba. I can get whatever I want whenever I want it. People fear me, and from what I know people aren't too fond of you either." Kaiba said. Mai rolled her eyes. She looked around and noticed that the restaurant was decorated in maroon and gold colors. The floor was gold and marble.
''This has to be the tackiest place I've ever been in." Mai stated.
"I'm sure this is the best place you've ever been in." Kaiba replied. Mai ignored his statement. They both ordered their food. Mai was becoming bored by this time.
"Where's Mokuba?" Mai asked. Kaiba gave her a strange look.
"He's with Yugi. I don't know why, but Mokuba likes him. What business of it is yours?" Kaiba replied.
"He's usually following you around like a puppy dog." Mai answered. They became silent again for some time.
"He even talks like Yugi. I hate it when he starts talking about ancient Egyptian magic. In fact he talks about the weirdest things." Kaiba said.
"At least he isn't talking about friendship every five minutes." Mai said.
"Yeah, but he does seem to talk about it more. I blame Gardner." Kaiba stated. Mai laughed at this.
"Yeah he probably gets about 50 friendship speeches a day. I always hated those." Mai said.
"I think everyone hates them, well except for their little play group." Kaiba added.
"At least Mokuba seems smart. You would think that after hanging out with them, he would become stupider. I mean Wheeler has no brain at all, and I think it grows on other people. Then you have Yugi and his constant speeches about destiny." Mai said. Kaiba nodded.
"They all need to grow up and realize that friendship isn't everything." Kaiba said.
"Yeah, but it always seems to work for them. I mean every time one of them are in trouble, they always get each other out of it. Of course if you're just an acquaintance then they don't care when they lie to you. Whatever works I guess." Mai said.
"I never needed them, but they always seem to butt in." Kaiba stated.
"I know, it's like when you want to be left alone, there they all. I'm just glad I never have to talk to any of them again." Mai said.
"Why is that? You can't quit being a member of their playgroup." Kaiba replied cooly.
"Sure I can. After all Joey hates me, and Tristan has hated me for some time. Tea is mad at me for just being me. Actually, I don't have any problems with Yugi. I was never a part of their playgroup anyway. It was just that we kept bumping into each other." Mai explained. Deep down, in the darkest corners of her heart, she firmly believed this . . . and the fact that she could sit in such a casual setting and openly admit to it, somewhat bothered her.
"Enough talking . . . let's get down to business." Kaiba said, setting his laptop on the table.
"Fine . . . " Mai said, shrugging her shoulders and sitting back in her seat.
"I know that you're planning to release a new invention to perfect duel monsters.'' Kaiba said in an outright tone. He leaned forward and crossed his arms in a very matter-of-fact pose.
"Do you now?" Mai asked. He gave her a stubborn stare.
"Well between you and me . . . I'm not. But now I'm curious . . . what would you do if I did?" she asked, leaning her head to the side and giving a small smile. Kaiba gave the smallest squirm underneath her glaze.
"I'd have to eliminate you." he instructed as the food arrived. Mai gave a small laugh as she sipped from her glass of wine.
"Or what if the roles switched?" Mai asked.
"Then you'd be dreaming . . . but I assure you that it would quickly turn into a nightmare." Kaiba answered curtly. Mai shrugged and replaced her smile with a smirk.
They ate quietly for a moment before Kaiba's phone rang. Mai watched intently as he quickly ignored the call.
"Valentine . . . this playing hardball . . . it won't work out well for you. You'll just get yourself hurt." Kaiba explained.
"Thanks for caring." Mai replied sarcastically, just like she had been through the whole evening.
"You know that once you go so far. . . nobody will be able to pull you back this time. Want to know why? Because there is no one this time." Kaiba said. Mai just stared at him.
"What is it that you know Mr. Kaiba?" she asked, her voice quite calm.
"I know you're planning something against me . . . but I'm not too sure of the details . . . but honestly I don't see a threat." Kaiba said.
"You're right . . . I am planning something . . . but who and what it's against or for . . . well you don't get to find out until showtime." Mai replied.
"Let the show begin." Kaiba said . . . eager to see what she could pull off.
"Maybe it has." Mai whispered to him as she excused herself from the table and walked outside into the brisk air, leaving Kaiba to ponder her words at the table by himself.
Kaiba glanced down on his phone. The last call was one of his main employers, James.
Kaiba quickly dialed the number.
"Did you do it?" James asked. Kaiba sighed, he was the one in charge . . .
"No. . . I don't think Wheeler is her weakness any longer." Kaiba answered.
"Are you sure?" James asked.
"Positive." Kaiba answered as he hung up. Little did he know, James was smiling halfway across town.
Mai glanced at the cell phone in her hands. She ran her finger over each of the numbers lightly, scenarios running through her mind. Could she do it? Could she really go through with what she was planning?
She glanced at the pop-up that announced that she had one missed call. Of course she knew who it was already . . .
She stared at it for a moment, letting a few questions go through her head before she ignored them . . . like she had been ignoring everything.
She let the doubts pour out of her, just like the rain. With a half smile she started to dial the number, but somebody called her name.
Looking up curiously Mai saw one person who she didn't expect . . . Serenity.
Mai gave her a small smile and took a huge breath. She had no idea where she stood with Serenity . . . in fact she had no idea what Serenity knew.
"Mai! I haven't seen you since Battle City!" Serenity gasped as she ran across the street to embrace Mai. Mai quickly let go of her and watched her curiously.
"It's funny seeing you here . . . my school isn't very far from here. I just finished it actually . . . for today. It went so slow, but now I've got to go to Yugi's. In fact I'm an exchange student here, isn't that funny? But it was a good excuse for me to come over here." Serenity explained. Mai glanced at her confused.
"So what have you been up to Mai?" Serenity asked, her voice eager too here the answer.
"What? Oh uh . . . ya know. . . running my own company and um I've been around." Mai replied.
"You sound kind of detached . . . are you okay?" Serenity asked concerned as she stared at Mai.
"Couldn't be better." Mai muttered as she kicked a rock and watched it roll down the sidewalk.
"So. . .it's a good thing that this place has a overlap roofy thing . . . or otherwise we'd be getting soaked." Serenity said. Mai just smiled at her innocence.
"But um . . . so have you been in town long?" she asked. Mai shook her head no.
"Oh . . . well then I'll have to tell Joey that I ran into you." Serenity said. Mai's eyes opened wide.
"Um . . . let's not. Yeah . . . don't bother. It's not important or anything." Mai replied very nonchalantly. Serenity stomped her foot in disapproval.
"But . . . they told me that they've run into you and that you were gonna go to America or something." she said sourly.
"Oh . . . but I've seen them and stuff already . . . so they know . . . and there's no reason to be telling them." Mai explained, her temper cutting short.
Serenity looked at her for a moment before conceding. Suddenly she saw Kaiba walk out of the restaurant.
"Oh look it's Valentine and the mutt's sister.'' he said quite agitated.
"The name's Serenity." she replied in a bored tone . . . as if was usual for him to call her that. He shrugged, not really caring.
After all . . . he didn't.
"That wasn't a very funny stunt you pulled Valentine." Kaiba said, ignoring Serenity altogether.
"I had a good laugh." she replied, clenching on her phone.
"I don't know what game you're playing, but I will find out . . . and when I do . . . you'll lose." Kaiba replied bitterly. Mai shrugged.
"I don't think you will." she replied as she pushed off against the wall and started walking away in the rain. Kaiba watched her walk away and frowned.
"Always making me chase after her." he muttered in a low voice. He then started to walk after her, leaving Serenity alone and confused.
Mai doesn't know why she agreed to that limo ride with Kaiba. Maybe it was because the rain was cold and that it left a numb feeling to her skin. Who knows . . . she doesn't.
But the point is that she did.
The ride was quiet, but full of tension. They just stared at each other, perhaps sizing up the competition.
Mai got out of the limo as she arrived at her building, just a quietly as she got in.
Kaiba didn't even know why he offered her a ride. He threw his briefcase across his bed in frustration.
He didn't like her . . . she was competition.
She was everything about a woman that he hated . . . she was treacherous . . . a traitor . . .
She was the affection of the mutt . . . and there was no way that he could EVER bring himself down that low.
No matter what . . . no matter how powerful or rich or beautiful . . . never that low.
Besides she was planning against him . . . planning to bring him down . . . much more than Yugi ever had. He could easily read it in her eyes . . . the hunger for power, the need for it . . . the rage . . .
And she was winning.
He bit his lip and threw his briefcase again. It hit the lamp against his bedside table and it shattered into many pieces on the floor. He quietly swore.