Chapter 8: Settling the Deal

Note: I'm super sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, I've been without internet for the past two weeks. Only one more chapter (probably)!

Mokuba stomped back down the staircase after listening to Anzu's message. His depression had turned into anger; he was frustrated with the whole world. He was mad at Rebecca for being so obtuse and wanting Yuugi when he, Mokuba, was clearly the one she enjoyed spending endless time with; he was mad at Yuugi for existing; he was mad at Anzu for screwing him over on their deal; he was mad at Seto for making the original deal and for obviously messing things up with Anzu. More than that, he was furious with himself for arranging this whole mess. Luckily, there was one person around on whom he could take out some of his anger.

He tracked his older brother into the kitchen, where Seto had opened up the refrigerator and was staring at the chocolate cake.

"Way to go," Mokuba began, but Seto was ready for him.

"Remember that this was all your idea," he said, slamming the fridge and whirling around.

"At what point did I tell you that I wanted you to break Anzu's heart?" Mokuba demanded. "When did I imply that I would be happy if you got all hot and heavy with her, then dumped her and walked away?"

"What are you suggesting?" Seto asked, his eyes narrowed.

"Don't play dumb," Mokuba shot back. "You reek of sexual frustration, it's pretty obvious what happened tonight."

"What happened tonight is exactly what I have been telling you would happen ever since I agreed to this stupid deal in the first place," Seto said icily. "You knew exactly what I intended. You egged me on!"

I knew what you intended… that's why I warned Anzu, Mokuba thought. Of course, I always hoped that you would really fall for her… and I always believed that you would be a better person than someone who would callously dump her like that. Even it if WAS Anzu's plan.

But he wasn't going to tell Seto that. Telling him would be Anzu's choice – and perhaps one of her remaining weapons.

"You should have been better than that," Mokuba said aloud. "You know what I think? I think you're a jerk, big brother." Seto's eyes bulged, he looked at once hurt and angry and guilty, and he opened his mouth to argue, but Mokuba beat him to it. "Don't worry, Kaiba Mokuba is no hypocrite," he shot over his shoulder as he stalked out of the kitchen. "I think I'm a jerk too."

All right. This is it. Get yourself psyched, Hopkins.

Rebecca shook her head a few times, trying to clear it. Her heart was pounding – this was the moment she'd been preparing for. She was finally going to ask Yuugi out. He was working alone in the Game Shop right now; the setting was perfect, the timing was perfect, she'd been planning this for years, so she was just going to march in – and do it.

"Hey Yuugi," she said, entering the Game Shop. She tilted her head to the side and smiled charmingly.

"Oh, hi, Rebecca!" he said, glancing up and beaming. "Let me finish ringing these customers up, and I'll be right with you."

"Sure," she nodded, wandering off to look at the newest cards while Yuugi checked out a couple with two adorable, excited boys. "Thank you for buying us cards, mommy and daddy!" the elder one chanted, jumping up and down. The younger one stood silently by his mother's leg and stared with wide, worshipping eyes at Yuugi. He tugged on his mother's sleeve and whispered something to her.

She chuckled, glancing at Yuugi. "He wants to know if you're the one he sees on television all the time."

"Aw," Yuugi laughed, looking a little embarrassed. He grinned at the child. "Yeah, that's me." He stuck out his hand. "What's your name?"

The young boy cowered in awe. The older boy jumped in. "He's Akemi, and I'm Botan!" He grabbed Yuugi's hand and pumped it vigorously. "Can I have your autograph?"

Yuugi looked even more embarrassed, but he signed a piece of paper for the boys, chatting with them and finally coaxing Akemi into a handshake. Akemi stared at his hand in amazement, holding it in front of his face the whole time his grateful parents ushered him and his brother out the door.

"That was so cute," Rebecca laughed as they left.

Yuugi's face was still pink. "Yeah, those boys were adorable."

"Do you get that a lot? The fans worshipping you?"

"Kind of," Yuugi admitted. "It's hard to get used to."

Rebecca smiled at him again. Modest, successful, sweet, and sooo cute… gosh, was Yuugi perfect.

"Come around the counter," he said with a grin, gesturing her over. She willingly came around. He indicated a seat, but she ignored it, leaning on the counter right in front of him.

"So what brings you by?" Yuugi asked. The night was warm, and he had shed his jacket and it lay over the back of the nearby seat. He stood before her in a black sleeveless top that showed off his muscular arms and black jeans that hugged his thighs; his hair was spiked as always but soft blonde bangs fell in front of flashing violet eyes. Rebecca swallowed. Yuugi was certainly 'cute' most of the time, but he could also be undeniably sexy.

"Actually," she said, taking a step forward so he was within touching distance. "I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner sometime?"

And… nothing. She'd expected to have huge, swooping butterflies as she waited breathlessly for his response. After all, she'd been waiting for his answer for years. But instead, she felt… nothing. She'd asked the question she told herself she would ask, mission accomplished, she was done and could go home now.

Yuugi grinned and shifted backwards ever so slightly. "You mean with our grandfathers? Like a family thing?"

Rebecca blinked. Her brain – usually so reliably efficient – was processing things sluggishly at the moment. Slowly, she smiled. This was good. This was right.

"Yeah, with our grandfathers," she nodded, relaxing. "The Mutous and the Hopkins haven't had a nice night in together in a while."

"That sounds like a great idea," Yuugi said. "Grandpa or I will call you to plan something, okay?"

"Okay," she said, and because she liked the plan so much, she repeated "Okay." She took in a deep breath and stepped back, smiling hugely at Yuugi. "Talk to you later!"

"Talk to you later, Rebecca," he called as she stepped outside and into the fresh night air.

I think you're a JERK, big brother.

Seto shook his head and tried to concentrate on his computer. There was a tentative knock on his office door, and he snarled, "Go away!"

His new secretary went away. Clearly he had heard the rumors of what happened to Seto's old secretary, who insisted on coming inside to find out what was wrong.

I think you're a JERK.

Mokuba's voice kept replaying in his head, and there was Anzu's voice playing too.

What do you have at the end of the day?

You're a JERK.

"I'm a jerk," he said miserably.

Okay, okay, that was nothing new. He'd been a jerk since the ripe old age of ten, when he was adopted by Gozaburo and had to become a jerk in order to protect himself and Mokuba. He hadn't made it to becoming CEO of his own powerful company by being a nice guy. He regularly insulted and humiliated employees, rival businessmen, Mutou Yuugi and his stupid group, and inferior duelists. He was a jerk, everyone knew he was a jerk, and a jerk had no business dating a nice girl like Mazaki Anzu, so really everything had worked out for the best. Maybe he'd even done her a favor; someone had to shatter her naïve illusion that the world was nice. She'd be tougher now. And she'd get over him fast. Who wouldn't get over a jerk?

What do you have at the end of the day?

He was a jerk. And in treating Anzu the way he had, he'd reached a new low.

I assume you can show yourself out?

His stomach gurgled. He felt sick. He hadn't eaten anything yet today, just gone through half a dozen cups of coffee.

I've won the deal, so I no longer have need of you.

Had he eaten yesterday? He couldn't remember. All that coffee was sloshing around in his stomach now. Drinking so much on an empty stomach was probably a poor choice for his digestive system.

He was a businessman. He made deals, and then followed through with them. That's what he did. He couldn't just quit if he thought feelings might be hurt.

What do you have at the end of the day?

I assume you can show yourself out?

His stomach rebelled. Seto grabbed frantically for the waste basket just as his stomach clenched, then expelled all the coffee he'd had that morning. He hung over the waste basket as his stomach continued to churn.

"It's better this way," he whispered. It was better for Anzu to stay away from him. She deserved better. At the end of the day, they should both get what they deserved.

"Thank god that class is over," Rebecca said, climbing into Mokuba's car after their day at the university was done. "Usually I like Econometric Methods, but today dragged on."

"How could two hours of linear regression possibly bore you?" Mokuba asked, but his heart wasn't in it. On the contrary, his heart was pounding so hard it actually hurt as it thudded his ears.

After a few moments, Rebecca looked over at him. "Umm… are you going to start the car?"

"Right," Mokuba said dully, reaching for the ignition. The car roared to life, and a second later he shut the engine off again. "Actually, Rebecca, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Okay…" she said slowly. No nickname? This could be serious.

Mokuba swallowed. It was all his own fault for getting into this stupid situation, he should have known better than to mess with people's emotions (especially his dumb brother's), but he had indeed made a deal with Seto, and his dumb brother would expect him to follow through. Mokuba was honor bound now; he couldn't break a deal with Seto.

"Well…" he sighed. "After you first suggested to Seto that he date Anzu, he and I made a side deal. If Anzu said that she loved him, I would have to…" his voice cracked, but he coughed and continued determinedly on. "I would have to tell you how I felt about you."

He couldn't look at her, so he stared down at the steering wheel. His hands clenched more tightly around the wheel with every second of silence in the still car. Finally, Mokuba couldn't stand it anymore, and quickly glanced over. What he saw made his heart flip over: Rebecca was crying.

"Wh-" he started, but she finally spoke up.

"Go ahead then," she said fiercely. "Tell me how you really feel about me, Kaiba Mokuba!" She hiccupped, and the bravado in her voice left. "Do you think I'm a prude?"

"What?" Mokuba exclaimed.

"Do you think I'm a prude for nagging at you every time you date a new girl?" she asked, wiping at her face but not doing much more than streaking the tears across it. "Do you think it's obnoxious that I'm always judging you, like I'm some kind of saint?" She sniffled. "Do you think it's pathetic that I haven't had a serious boyfriend and that I've spent years chasing after Yuugi? Do I turn you off?"

Mokuba knew that this was the time to step in and say something, but his brain was still frozen and all he could repeat was "What?"

"I must completely turn you off," Rebecca said, crying harder now. "Why else would you hit on all these other women and never me? I'm not that ugly, I look just like them, so it must be my personality and you can't stand that I'm so uptight, and-"

"Becky," Mokuba finally broke in, grabbing her by the shoulders to stop her. His brain was still lagging behind so he let the words pour from his mouth, hoping that they'd be the right ones. "I don't know where you got these crazy ideas, but you're wrong, that's not what I think of you at all. I think you're a smart woman with good moral standards, and when I made that deal with Seto, it was because I like you, I like you a lot, and Seto wanted me to confess. I've been so dumb hooking up with other women, I just did it because I was avoiding my feelings for you, which is a stupid excuse, and I've been really stupid. I know I should have told you ages ago but I was terrified that you'd reject me and I couldn't stand having anything happen to our friendship, because I care about you so much, and I want to be with you forever."

Rebecca stared at him, her tears rapidly drying, her mouth slightly open. Mokuba stared back.

"Um… can you say that again?" Rebecca managed.

Mokuba paused. "Which part?"

"All of it." Now a tiny grin crept onto her face, and Mokuba could feel himself beaming back.

"I don't remember it," he said, reaching over and taking her hand in his. "All I know is that I love you." He paused again. "A lot."

"That's really good to hear," Rebecca said softly. "Ah, you should know that I asked Yuugi out."

"What?" Mokuba exclaimed. His grip on her hand involuntarily tightened. Yuugi knew exactly how Mokuba felt, and if that scrawny little dweeb had gone behind his back, Mokuba would find him and eviscerate him…

"You look just like your brother when you're angry," Rebecca giggled. "Look, MK, Yuugi said no. Well, he didn't say it, but he meant it." She drew in a deep breath. "And I was fine with it. I was even relieved. That was when I knew I'd been chasing the wrong guy for years…"

Mokuba exhaled. "I wondered how long it would take you to figure that out. It took you a long time," he added with a smirk.

"You didn't exactly make it easy," Rebecca said pointedly.

"I screwed up," he said softly.

"No, it's okay." She squeezed his hand. "I wouldn't have been ready any time sooner, you know?"

"Are you ready now?" He released her hand and cupped her face, looking at her blue-green eyes through her glasses. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yeah," she breathed, looking up at him. "Will you kiss me?"

Mokuba knew that he'd never be able to deny her anything again.

Seto brushed his teeth in his office bathroom, staring into the mirror. He looked haggard and old.

He spat, and grimaced. He could still taste his own vomit; it lingered at the back of his throat.

For a moment, his thoughts wandered. After a bad day like this, all he wanted to do was call up Anzu; she'd come over and they'd snuggle on the couch and he would complain and she would laugh and distract him. And then they'd make plans for that weekend and spend a glorious Saturday in the country somewhere, away from all the stress of his daily life, just him and Anzu and her smile and her sunshine…

Stop it, he told himself fiercely. Those days were just a farce, and they were over. His stomach churned again, and now he was breaking out into a full-body sweat. He wiped his forehead off.

It was time to admit something to himself. Being a jerk – even a jerk who'd reached a new low – didn't bother him. It was who he'd been a jerk to that was the problem. He'd treated Anzu so badly that he'd probably pushed her away forever, and it was the worst mistake of a life that was filled with so many mistakes.