Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
The question took Anzu by surprise. Seto was always blunt and she didn't expect anything less, but she also knew that Kaiba didn't know anything about her and Mokuba yet. Over the years, she had wanted to reach out to him and tell him. As time went on and the lack of interest he showed towards her, caused her to avoid dealing with the reality of the situation. Now with the directness of his question how could she avoid it. She looked into his eyes and all they showed were kindness. He never looked at her any other way. They were always kind, she feared for the day that he would look at her with hatred.
Looking into his eyes, she couldn't help but create a mental montage of how they met. When she was 13 her mom had announced that two people would be joining them for Christmas dinner. Her mom loved bringing stragglers for all special moments, so this wasn't a big surprise. Throughout dinner Mokuba who was 10 years of age at the time went on and on about Kaibacorp who had just become a duel monster company rather than military weapon company, She remembered the eye daggers Seto kept shooting at Mokuba for talking so much. That didn't stop Mokuba, he even went on to talk about their step-father and their life at the orphanage, Seto never even uttered a word. As much as she felt sorry for the Kaiba brother's she hated how mute Seto was. She wanted him to at least act like he liked being there they were giving them holiday charity. After dinner their mom made them watch a holiday movie while she cleaned up. Anzu joined her mother and expressed her frustration at Seto's clear disrespect, and she didn't care how rich he was, they should throw them out. Her mom tried to calm her down but she wouldn't listen. She finally told her mom she was leaving and would rather spend time at her friend's christmas party than be here seeing that rude boys long face all night. Her mom told she couldn't go and they began fighting. This one of the biggest fights they ever said some pretty cruel things about her mom being a single mom and chasing away all the men in her life, she left crying leaving her and Seto in the kitchen. She didn't even know how long Seto was standing there or how much he heard. She remembered jumping down Kaiba's throat about minding his own business, even though he never actually said anything. Even then when she was being unfair, Kaiba still had a soft look in his eyes. The first thing he said that night and the first thing he ever said to her was, "If my mom was alive, I wouldn't care about a pathetic party." with that he left her alone hating her own selfishness. The rest of the night, she played with her brothers, sisters, and Mokuba board games, apologized to her mom, and thanked Kaiba for his insight. She knew that night that she loved him and always would. She never thought that her love for him would change so drastically.
Anzu took a deep breath in and said "I'm in love with someone Kaiba, and it is very serious."
Anzu held her breath, waiting for Kaiba to react. She expected many things but not this, he smiled at her. That beautiful soft smile, the same one he gave her when she first told him she loved him.
"Oh it better not be Shizuka, she was always so meddlesome in our relationship. I swear she tried breaking us up hundreds of times. I'd feel like she won if you guys got together." Kaiba said jokingly.
Anzu laughed. "Actually shortly after you left, Shizuka confessed her crush to me. I turned her down cause I didn't feel the same way. Now Shizuka is engaged to a girl named Ryu. Their wedding is next year and I'm the maid of honor."
"Good for her." Kaiba wanted to ask who it was but it actually didn't matter who it was. He truly was happy for her. "I'm really happy for you Anzu, you deserve it." He said looking straight into big green mistfilled eyes. He grabbed a napkin from the table, wiped the chocolate off his hand and got up. "I have to get back to Kaibacorp, it was good seeing you again." Kaiba was about to walk out the door when he took one last look around the room. He noticed that by the table by the door was a picture of him, Mokuba and her. He picked it up, remembered that day that they played hooky from school, it brought a frown to his face. "Piece of advice, you should get rid of this picture. If I were your boyfriend I wouldn't want to see a picture of your ex in your room. It might give him the wrong idea."
"Seto...I hope you find someone that makes you just as happy." Anzu said before Kaiba finished crossing the threshold. He didn't reply to that, he simply left. Anzu fell onto her bed and began to cry.
Kaiba headed to Kaibacorp. His head was spinning from all the new questions that his conversation with Anzu caused. He loved Anzu but he was unsure of what type of love it was. As he was driving his clouded thoughts kept causing him to miss his exit. He needed to sort out his priorities. Part of him knew he would need to talk to Tea about all of this, he was scared though. He didn't want to lose her. How could he tell her he still loved his ex. Did it even matter at all though? What were him and Tea?
When Kaiba arrived he quickly went to his office. There were still a lot of things he had to handle at work. About an hour into his work day both Tea and Mokuba came in. Mokuba slapped his tablet on his desk.
"Seto, look at this article. Everyone is excited for the new developments to come. Not to mention everyone is talking about your latest philanthropy work. Our PR team really knows how to spin the story around. Now we have a huge line out the door from more charities wanting a donation to new applicants wanting in on the new innovator positions. Our stock has risen an additional 5 percent."
Kaiba read the article. It really did make him look good, and finding new replacements for the CFO's should prove an easy task with all the free press they were getting. "This is good news."
"You got that right, I think I'll take the day off tomorrow and relax before my graduation."
"Plus you can work on your speech." Kaiba said as he began typing away at his computer.
"What speech?"
"The speech you give at the Kaibacorp reception party after your graduation." Kaiba said, still typing away."
"I thought that was just a formality that we were giving just like the one we gave you for your graduation."
"Mokuba on the day of your graduation I'm officially handing Kaibacorp to you."
Tea was standing behind Mokuba, she put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Big Brother I thought we talked about getting a new co-ceo, you said you wanted Tristan to prove his worth before we actually gave it to him. You can't give me the company now and then assign a new co-ceo."
"Look Mokuba," Kaiba began leaning back in his chair pressing his fingertips together. "I didn't build this company so it could be run by Yugi's pep squad. I already hired Taylor so he can assist you, with all the new people the workload should lighten up, but I still expect you to do your job and run Kaibacorp."
"Seto..." Mokuba tried to find the words to tell him about his move to Switzerland but nothing was coming through. He still felt Tea's hand on his shoulder, he gave it a light squeeze. "I just need more time."
Kaiba stood up, he placed a firm grip on Mokuba's other shoulder "Mokuba you're ready for this, you've been running this company for the last five years and for the last two you have done it with minimal supervision. It's time"
"I need to think some things through. I'm taking the rest of the day off." Mokuba freed himself from both Tea and Kaiba's grasp and left.
Tea knew how hard it was going to be for Mokuba to break away from Kaiba, but he needed to do it fast, he was running out of time. Tea looked at Kaiba as he sat back down on his chair and began pinching the bridge of his nose. She walked over to him and placed her arms on his shoulders.
"You need to give Mokuba some time."
"Tea," He said as he reached for one of her hands on his shoulder. "Mokuba is ready for this, he's just scared. I was scared too, but I need him to do this. The company will undergo a lot of changes and I need someone I can trust to oversee everything going on here."
"But, what if he doesn't want all of this."
"Tea for the past seven years my brother has been here helping run Kaibacorp, coming up with new ideas to keep the company fresh and most importantly this is our dream"
"Dreams change all the time, besides you just came back and you and Mokuba are just beginning to reconnect. Don't you think it's possible that he's changed his mind."
"You weren't there in the beginning Tea, it's always been Mokuba and me against the world. He just needs a little extra push."
"You're so stubborn!" Tea stood in front of him, hands on her hips, glaring up at him. "You have been such a strong influence in his life, that of course Mokuba would follow you through the end of the earth. But, now you have to let him do what he needs to."
"Just stay out of my family business!" Kaiba said, walking away from her.
Tea walked away without another word. She couldn't believe how quickly Kaiba lost his temper at her, she was only trying to help. But he always liked being right, and he needed to realize he couldn't always be right. She headed towards Mokuba's office hoping to still catch him before he left.
Mokuba was sitting at his desk, hands on his face, and his thumbs squeezing the bridge of his nose.
"Hey Mokuba, you okay?" Tea asked as she sat across from him.
"Ya."
"I'm sure if you just explain things to Kaiba, he'll understand."
"It's not that simple, nothing ever is with my brother. He's had my whole life planned out since he first took control of Kaibacorp. I know he thinks that is what's best for me, but he's never asked me what I wanted. It's also my fault too, I've never been upfront with my brother and told him, that the plans have changed. In fact I probably would've stayed with Kaiba corp and been CEO if it wasn't for you and your friends."
"Really?" Tea asked a little surprised.
"Over the years, you guys have shown me how important it is to follow your dreams. Even though Joey and Mai aren't world class duelists like Seto or Yugi they still enter every tournament and fight for their dreams. Tristan has managed to rise as high as Kaibacorp, and you got into Julliard."
Tea's eyes widened, only Mai and Serenity knew she got in. How did he find out? "Mokuba how did you find out."
"Well a while back Serenity gave me the heads up you might be leaving soon, because you applied to Julliard. Well I reached out to a couple of people, and they informed you got in. Congratulations by the way."
"Thanks." Tea said dryly.
"I wish you would've told me, finding a good secretary is hard to come by."
"Ya, well I don't know if I might go. Some stuff in Japan I have to take care of before I make a final decision." That wasn't necessarily a lie, she needed to take care of finding money for the rest of the tuition. She couldn't tell Mokuba though, he would just offer to pay. " I was going to tell you once I made it though, I swear." Tea quickly added on.
"I see. Well if there's anything I can do to help let me know."
"Thanks Mokuba, I'll keep that in mind. So what are you going to do about your speech?"
"I will give a speech, but it'll be a resignation speech."
"Mokuba you can't!" Tea said moving around the desk to stand right next to him. "You have to give Kaiba time, and you can't do that in front of all those people" she knelt down and grabbed his hand.
"Tea, Seto will hate me no matter what, this way I can spend my last summer before school with Anzu and settle ourselves in Switzerland."
"You can't run away from your problems Mokuba, they'll always come back to haunt you. Besides if you do this he might never forgive you."
Mokuba looked into Tea's eyes. She was right, she was always right. She was always the wise one in the group.
"Ok, I'll talk to him before my speech."
"Good. Now get out of here, and have fun with Anzu."
Mokuba smiled at her. He got up, took his laptop with him and left.
Tea stayed in Mokuba's office, she looked out of the window, there was a storm brewing in more ways than one.