Chapter 6: Anzu's Capitulation

Note: You knew this chapter was coming.

Seto had spent a lot of time over the past month at art museums (not a hardship) and picnicking (which was for four year old girls having tea parties with teddy bears) and hiking (which was just ridiculous, since he had a personal gym at home). He'd invested a lot of time into making Anzu feel comfortable on their dates, so he was expecting a big return this night. She better make him look good at this office party, especially in front of his potential clients.

He started to get worried when he saw Rebecca's dress. "Orange? Really?" he asked, eyeing her up and down.

Mokuba held the limo door open for her. "Mokuba likes it," Rebecca said, flouncing into the car. "He helped me pick it out."

Seto doubted that Mokuba remembered or knew what color the dress was; his little brother couldn't keep his eyes off Rebecca's body. "Remember to be classy tonight," Seto warned as the driver headed for Mazaki's apartment. He feared the worst – if Anzu showed up in hot pink, Seto would probably leave her at the curb and go single after all.

But when he rang the doorbell of her apartment, Anzu answered in an elegant deep purple ball gown, her hair pinned back neatly, wearing tasteful silver jewelry and, bless her, long evening gloves. She looked-

"Perfect," Seto said, staring at her.

"Wow," Anzu blinked. "That's definitely a new one coming from you."

Seto had prepared so many insults that he couldn't use, so all he said was "Perfect" again, staring at her.

"Well, thank you," Anzu said graciously, taking his arm. "Shall we?"

Perfect, he thought again as they got into the limo with Mokuba and Rebecca. Seto was so pleased that he didn't even mind when she quipped, "You know, my office parties consist of having pizza after work."

"Uh-huh," he said, and put his arm around her.

Anzu didn't feel particularly guilty about abusing Seto's credit card, especially since Seto seemed far more upset by the existence of the Saggi plushee than the loss of one and a half million yen, but she had still planned to make it up to him by being a charming date for this office party. Now she was more determined than ever, because Seto seemed to like her outfit, and Anzu found to her astonishment that she actually liked making him happy (it was a strange thing to discover five weeks into a relationship, but there you go), and she really liked surprising him because it happened so infrequently.

"Watanabe-san, it's a real pleasure to meet you," she said, allowing Seto's employee to kiss her gloved hand.

"The same," the elderly gentleman beamed.

She offered up her hand to be kissed at least a dozen more times within the next half-hour, always with a smile and a compliment for other women ("What a beautiful dress, such interesting jewelry, you simply must tell me where you got your purse"). In return, she got to listen to Seto's disgustingly chauvinistic employees compliment him on his excellent taste in dates. She bravely endured this (staring with envy at Mokuba and Rebecca, holding court over by the food tables), but after a while her smile became frozen and her cheeks started to hurt and she began hating the whole thing, hating the fakeness, wanting a real smile back on her face, wanting to laugh with abandon instead of politely chuckle at someone important's stupid joke. The whole evening was ridiculous; she had laughed about her office's pizza parties while in the car, but really, those office parties were so much better. Seto had apparently confused "office party" with "Gone-With-The-Wind-style gala" and she was sick and tired of this pretentious-

"Don't crack now, you've been doing so well," he murmured in her ear.

"What?" she murmured back, still wearing a wide smile.

Seto smirked. "I can tell exactly what you're thinking. Don't worry, things always get better after they start the music, which they will soon. And you don't need to smile all the time… no one will be offended if you relax a little bit."

"…Oh." She tried to relax her face muscles, and it took a few seconds, but at last she could feel the lines in her face smoothing out. She turned to look at Seto. "So you don't like these parties either?"

"Are you kidding? I have to be nice to people." She started to laugh, but he was making a disgusted face and she had a feeling he was more serious than he let on. Luckily, the music picked up just then.

"Other people will ask you to dance with them," Seto said, grabbing her hand and giving it a brief squeeze. "If Ito-san asks, please be nice to him, okay?"

"I'm always nice," she reassured him.

"To everyone but me," he correctly pointed out, and she couldn't help but grin.

Anzu danced with several KaibaCorp staff and an underling from Tokyo Tech, and when she took a break for some punch, Shina joined her.

"Mazaki," she said, cold as ever, and deliberately eliminating the respectful honorific. "You've cleaned up."

Anzu lifted her chin. Shina had said that just to be bitchy, although it was true that this was probably the first time the other woman had seen her in anything other than jeans. "Thank you," she said haughtily. Then, remembering Mokuba's robot jokes, she added, "You look well. Did you oil your joints?"

Shina was prevented from an indignant reply by the arrival of Ito, Tokyo Tech's CEO. "You must be Shina," he said. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person at last, after all our e-mails and phone calls!"

"The pleasure is mine, Ito-san," she said, shaking his hand briskly. "I hope to be seeing more of you in the future, as Tokyo Tech begins a profitable partnership with KaibaCorp."

"We'll see if that works out," Ito said kindly. Then he turned to Anzu and bowed. "And you must be Kaiba Seto's date, Mazaki Anzu."

"Ito-san," Anzu acknowledged, sinking into a curtsey of her own.

"May I have the honor?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"Of course." Anzu took his arm and they swept onto the dance floor.

"You dance very well," he told her with surprise.

"So do you," Anzu said with equal delight as he spun her around.

"Ah, but I have been dancing much longer than you have, my dear," the seventy-year old told her with a mischievous grin.

Across the room, Mokuba and Rebecca left the dance floor for a breather, and an exhausted Rebecca practically dove into the punch. Seto was chatting with Tanaka, who sat on KaibaCorp's board of directors. The four of them exchanged greetings, and when Rebecca had sufficiently recovered, she went back onto the dance floor with Tanaka, allowing Mokuba and Seto to talk for the first time since arriving.

"I think the evening's going well," Seto said, and he sounded positively cheerful. "I- what's going on over there?"

Mokuba turned to look at Anzu and Ito, laughing hysterically on the other side of the room. Ito made a go-on motion with his hands, and Anzu grinned, hitched up her skirts, and sank into a split.

"Oh my god, I can't watch," Seto said, turning away.

"Really? Because I'm fascinated. And kind of turned on," Mokuba said, staring. "I mean, she can bend like that!"

"I told her it was okay to relax, not to turn this dignified party into a gymnastics lesson," Seto moaned. "Okay… let me think. I can't go running over there looking like the embarrassed, overbearing boyfriend. We need to laugh this off. Mokuba, you go run interference."

"Sure, whatever," Mokuba said, shaking his head and heading off.

"What a lovely specimen you brought to this party," Shina said, coming up behind Seto, who still had his back to Anzu and Ito.

Seto almost forgot the dire situation and grinned. Shina's voice, dripping with poison, left no doubt that she absolutely loathed Anzu. Seto thought that this was actually a good thing; it proved that she was capable of emotion.

"What a spectacle!" Shina continued, shaking her head.

"Well, Ito seems to like her," Seto said, shrugging. "That'll be good for business."

"It will be," Shina said, forgetting about Anzu for a moment and getting that crazy gleam in her eye that meant she wanted to start filling out some paperwork, and pronto.

Seto sneaked a glance over his shoulder – only to find Mokuba doing an awkward, incomplete split on the ground next to Anzu. A small crowd was gathered around them, grinning and clapping. Ito tugged on his pant legs and bent his creaky knees, trying to get down himself. Seto looked away again fast.

At the end of the night, Seto was torn between killing and kissing Anzu. He still maintained on principle that it was disgraceful that she had decided to teach half the Tokyo Tech staff how to do a split (Ito's wife had been surprisingly limber and had made it the furthest into a complete split, shaming the younger employees), but Ito had been utterly captivated by Anzu, and he was talking enthusiastically about purchasing all his new computer equipment from KaibaCorp. In fact, when Shina said that she could put a contract together by Monday, he nodded and said "Send it along!" Then he thought better of it and said, "Young lady, don't you plan to work on a weekend!"

Seto had left Shina to seal the deal and he bid the rest of the guests good-bye. Finally, Ito, his wife, and Shina also left, and Seto and Mokuba piled into the limo with their dates.

"You were right," Rebecca said with a contented sigh, patting her stomach. "Excellent food."

"Wasn't the parfait the best?" Mokuba asked, stretching.

"The cheesecake was better," Rebecca said, just to be contrary.

As the younger ones launched into a vigorous discussion-bordering-on-argument about the desserts, Anzu and Seto carefully avoided looking at each other. Anzu was aware that she had ventured into dangerous territory, and Seto was still debating the killing-versus-kissing thing. Finally, Anzu opened her mouth to speak, and Seto was sure that an apology was forthcoming.

"Why didn't you try to do a split? Ito was wondering."

Anzu had timed her question perfectly so that the car slid to a stop in front of her apartment just as an enraged Seto turned to her with his mouth wide open.

"You," he began, and Anzu threw open the door and scrambled out. "Bye, thanks for a lovely evening, call me!" she said hurriedly before slamming the door and scampering up the stairs and out of sight.

Seto expelled the enormous breath he had drawn and fell against the seat cushions as the car moved forward again.

"Hey, I'm pretty sure she got you the deal," Rebecca said quickly.

"That infuriating-!" Seto growled, but was apparently unable to finish his sentence through his fury.

"She got you the deal!" Rebecca reminded him.

"Ugh!" Seto threw himself against the seat cushions again and squeezed his eyes shut. "She has been driving me crazy since day one."

"She's not that bad," Mokuba ventured cautiously.

Seto opened his eyes and glared. "Tell me one good thing about her!"

"She got you the deal," Rebecca repeated, her voice now tinged with exasperation.

"A different good thing!" Seto growled.

"You saw for yourself," Mokuba said, unable to cover up his grin. "She's really flexible."

"Kaiba Mokuba!" Rebecca snapped.

"Fourteen years of dance lessons," Mokuba continued, ignoring Rebecca. "If she can spread her legs so far apart that her bottom touches the floor, think of what she could do on top of you."

Rebecca smacked him, hard, with her purse. "Stop the car, I want to get out," she said furiously. "I'll walk."

"All the times Seto has threatened to kick you out of the car, and now you want to walk?" Mokuba said reasonably, trying to defend himself from the onslaught of her purse. "Ow! Plus those are very impractical heels."

Seto didn't say a word for the rest of the car ride or, so far as Mokuba knew, the rest of the night.

Seto congratulated himself on being so mature and composed that he was able to sit through lunch with Anzu that weekend without killing her. (She was back to wearing T-shirts again, which made his task harder.)

In fact, he had become so good at ignoring her obnoxiousness that the next month flew by. She's definitely falling for me, Seto thought as they snuggled on the couch while watching old movies. I've got this under control, he told himself as they cooked dinner together and she teasingly fed him bits of chicken. Won't be long before she says she loves me, he thought as he taught Anzu how to sail. I'm going to win this deal, he knew, while Anzu showed him how to go snorkeling. Slightly to his surprise, he loved snorkeling; he liked being alone in the great quiet, moving slowly through the blue ocean, watching fish and other aquatic life meander beneath him. He was in such a good mood that he didn't even mind when Anzu silently dove, then snuck up from underneath him and tickled his stomach. Instead he laughed, and grabbed her and brought her to the surface, and then they continued exploring while holding hands.

It was only later, after Anzu was safely gone, that Seto reminded himself how annoying she was. Luckily, she did other annoying things, like laugh too much, and talk about Yuugi, and drag him to the zoo to see adorable animals, so he could keep things in perspective.

This is just for Mokuba, he reminded himself, although it wasn't really anymore. Now it was a personal mission of his – he'd boasted that he could get Anzu to fall for him, after all, and he wanted to prove himself right. When Kaiba Seto set a goal, he reached it. Period.

After two months, he was fairly sure that Anzu had indeed fallen for him. She certainly felt comfortable around him… comfortable enough to invite some of her goofy friends over to his mansion. With Mokuba and Rebecca backing her up, Seto'd had no choice but to acquiesce, and promptly glued himself to the barbecue to avoid real conversation.

"Aah, Seto, I think we have enough food," Anzu said dubiously, glancing at the heaping platter of chicken.

"Um…" Seto looked around the yard. Damn; they were still here. "I'll just cook a few more pieces. The mutt is here, after all," he pointed out.

Anzu rolled her eyes but walked away.

The odd thing was, the barbecue wasn't as terrible as it could have been. Ryuji Otogi was there, and even if Seto didn't like him, the two had a lot in common and passed some time talking about business. A little red-headed girl asked him about KaibaCamp, which was all planned out and accepting pre-registration for a winter session and already wildly popular, and Seto passed a few happy minutes bragging to her until he realized that she was related to the mutt. The mutt, however, was on astonishingly good behavior and even approached Seto for a few minutes of cordial conversation before they both fled to opposite sides of the yard, feeling a little off-balance and slightly nauseous.

The reason it didn't seem terrible, Seto realized after the party, was because Anzu had brainwashed him. She had chattered at him with that disgusting bubbly energy unceasingly for the last few weeks and she was finally starting to melt his brain. Pretty soon he'd be having friendly duels and telling jokes with the rest of her pathetic crowd. He needed to get out of this farce of a relationship, and fast.

"Red or white?" Seto asked a few days later, following another snorkeling expedition. Mokuba and Rebecca were out somewhere, so for now, Seto and Anzu had the mansion to themselves.

Anzu pondered for a moment. "Red, please."

"Okay. I have a vintage Bordeaux chilling in the refrigerator. I'll be right back." Seto headed into the kitchen to fetch the wine, and when he came back out carefully balancing two glasses, Anzu was curled up on the couch, staring out the window at the sunset.

"Here you go. So… I've been meaning to ask. What's going on with Jounouchi?" he asked, handing her a glass and taking a seat next to her.

"Thanks," she said, accepting the glass. "What about Jounouchi?"

"He hasn't been his normal idiotic self," Seto said with a grimace. Ever since the barbecue, the mutt had been acting oddly.

"Oh, you mean why is he being nice to you?" Anzu sipped the wine. "Mmm, I like it. Fruity."

"If you call that nice," Seto frowned. "It's more like… pained."

Anzu laughed. "Well, he is indeed trying to be nice to you. I had a talk with him."

Seto stared at her suspiciously. "Oh? And how on earth did you convince him to be 'nice' to me?"

Anzu tried to look innocent, and Seto was actually distracted for a moment. She looked young and sweet, sinking deep into the soft couch cushions, her legs tucked beneath her and her skirt spread out across the couch. Her hair, still damp from snorkeling, was falling out of its loose updo. Then Anzu giggled, and it ruined the moment. I hate that stupid laugh.

"Well…" she took another sip of wine and placed the glass on a nearby table, turning to face Seto with a twinkle in her eye. "I told him you cried."

Seto nodded twice before her words caught up to him. "You what?"

Anzu beamed, as if Seto had praised her for being a genius. "Yeah, I told him that you and I had a fight, and I wanted to stop seeing you, but you told me that you couldn't bear to lose me and you shed some tears. Jounouchi can be surprisingly sentimental, you know. He said that you finally sounded like a real human being and that he'd try to be nice to you for my sake."

Did Mokuba and I discuss what would happen to our deal if I strangled her? Seto wondered briefly, but he reluctantly discarded the thought. I can't strangle her. That would look terrible in the tabloids. One thing was for sure, however; he couldn't put up with her any longer. This stunt was the cherry on the Anzu-is-infuriating sundae.

I can still win this deal, he thought determinedly. I can do it right now. Soften her up, get her to say she loves me, and then kick her out of my life forever.

He put his wine down. Anzu, who had reached for hers again, froze. She was still wearing that satisfied smile, but her eyes grew wary.

"You think you're so smart," he said, but in a low voice filled with mirth that he didn't actually feel. He reached for her, and for a moment contemplated strangling her after all – it was a quicker fix – but his fingers brushed against her shoulders and he pulled Anzu close.

Her eyelids fluttered closed, and he kissed her again. It was as mind-blowingly fantastic as before, which annoyed him greatly; he kept hoping that the past times were just flukes.

Every once in a while, Anzu would play stubborn and keep her lips tightly pressed together, and he would have to coax them open. When Seto wasn't drunk with lust, he would tell himself it was an irritating trait, but the truth was that it turned him on. He did love a challenge, after all. Anzu was being especially stubborn tonight, and he coaxed and licked and kissed her. When she still refused to part her lips, Seto left her mouth and trailed kisses down her neck, letting his fingers dance over her arms and then trail down to her stomach. He decisively slid his palm under her shirt and up her stomach, brushing it over the curve of her breast. Anzu gasped, and her hands clutched at Seto's back. He pressed more hot kisses into her neck, then just below her ear, then returned to her mouth. This time she let him slip his tongue inside, and he leaned forward until he was pressing her into the couch cushions. One hand remained on the side of her breast, and he stroked his thumb across her bra; the other hand slipped down to her thigh, where he pleasantly rediscovered that she was wearing a skirt.

Anzu, who had been raking her hands up and down Seto's back, trembled when he swept his hand up her bare thigh and settled it hotly onto her hip. She squirmed around until she brought her legs from underneath her and lay down fully on the couch; Seto also brought his legs onto the couch and lay on top of her. He started moving his hand again, rubbing it up and down her thigh, massaging her hip, and starting to sneak around towards her inner thigh.

They were no stranger to each other's bodies; they'd even gotten each other off before, when a heavy kissing session turned into heavy grinding, on this very same couch. But tonight was different. Anzu swallowed. Tonight would be different… because she'd made up her mind.

Seto had made up his mind too. "B-bedroom?" he asked in a choked voice. Choked voice, good, because I'm acting, acting, have to act turned on- he thought hazily.

Anzu nodded.

He wasn't quite sure how they made it up the stairs – and in fact, they almost didn't, because Anzu went first, and Seto was staring at her legs, and he finally reached out to touch one of them, and they paused for a few not unpleasant moments on the staircase. Then somehow they made it into the bedroom, shut the door behind them, and stumbled over to the bed.

Seto's plans of seduction were gladly put on hold for a few more minutes, because Anzu climbed on top of him at first, ripping his shirt off and kissing and touching every exposed inch of skin. Only when she slid her palm across his straining trousers did he decide to take control of the situation again, flipping her over and attacking her neck again. Once again, he moved one hand beneath her shirt – after a moment's hesitation, he wormed his hand to the small of her back and unclasped her bra, then stroked his hand up under her bra, causing Anzu to gasp and wriggle underneath him, sliding with delicious friction against him. For an instant, Seto considered scrapping his plan entirely and just having his way with her tonight – then reluctantly discarded the idea. He did have the barest vestiges of morals, after all.

He squeezed her breast with one hand, slid his other hand along the inside of her thigh and pressed hard against her panties (Anzu cried out), pressed a firm kiss to her collarbone, moved his hand to her hip, and thrust against her two times before stopping with a superhuman effort. He drew away slightly, removed his hands from her flesh (with more effort), and placed them on the bed, hovering over her, while she looked up at him through clouded eyes.

"I – we shouldn't," he said, panting heavily. "I don't want to – if you don't feel the same-" he paused for a deep gulp of air. "If you don't care for me, I don't think we should…" he let his voice trail off.

Anzu's eyes cleared, then blazed, with that firey energy he associated with her. "I do," she said, flinging her arms around his neck and arching her body up to rub against him again. For the second time that night, Seto's willpower nearly broke – and probably would have, if Anzu hadn't continued talking.

"I do want this, I do care about you…" she paused. "I love you."

That was it, then. Seto closed his eyes, took three more big gulps of air, then rolled off her.

"Thanks very much," he said coldly, rummaging around the room for his shirt. He found it and pulled it on. "That was all I needed. You see, Mokuba and I had a deal going on." He found that he couldn't quite meet her eyes so he kept his back to her, though the room was dark. He could tell that she'd sat up in bed, but she didn't say a word. "Now that you've said that you love me, I've won the deal, so I no longer have need of you."

He paused. Her silence was disconcerting. "I'll leave your purse by the back door. I assume you can show yourself out?"

Still nothing.

So, he left.