Chapter 20: Frontier Market
Having returned to Japan a week ago from that mess of a conference he had found himself continually off balance and was berating himself up and down internally, refusing to admit he was far out of his depth. None of this would have happened if he hadn't been so careless, or so damn impulsive. He had known without a doubt Pegasus was going to try something, because he always did. No matter what that lunatic was involved in it always blew up in his face, one hundred percent of the time. But for some reason he had gone complacent the last few hours, thinking the whole thing was over and they would soon be done. He had known something was wrong within minutes of her leaving his side after dinner, and not just because Sarah wasn't one to dally. As he was sipping at his wine and wondering if he should even be drinking in front of her knowing her history, and keeping half his attention on Mokuba, who was chatting with a few other duelists, a pulse of magic snapped at him from the millennium rod, which he had tucked surreptitiously at the small of his back.
His head had come up at once as he began searching for Sarah in the throng. He didn't see her and the magic continued to pulse warnings at him. He heard his blue eyes snarling and hissing in rage in his head and knew something was amiss even as he wondered that he was able to know that, or that Sarah was somehow communicating with him through the millennium rod. As soon as he was aware there was a problem he was moving, striding purposefully across the hall in the direction she had gone and trying to ignore the panic of losing her so he could think properly. Roland had spotted him and chased after him with his brother in tow, no doubt more worried to leave him unattended than taking him with them into trouble. It took him less than fifteen minutes to find her all told, and he had never been so angry in his life, which was really saying something. He had never been so close to actually killing someone as he was in those few minutes where he could sense her fear and anger, but couldn't get to her. When he did find her, quickly knocking out several of Pegasus' men, it was easy to tell she had been unsettled. She was standing across the room from the other man, wisely keeping her distance. From the way she was holding herself when he stormed in he could see she had gone all out defiant, but there was real wariness in her eyes and he was enraged all over again as it was more than obvious Pegasus was playing mind games with her.
His only thought had been to get her out as quickly as he could. He knew the longer they stayed the worse it would become and the more power Pegasus would gain. The man thrived on chaos and knew how to use it to his advantage. After warning the man off in no uncertain terms he had hustled them all out, intent on putting as much space between them as possible and knowing damn well something had happened by the self-satisfied smirk on his face. Sarah had followed him at once, which told him a great deal, mostly that she was frightened. His anger over that, over her getting snatched right out from under his nose, of not protecting her properly, didn't diminish in the slightest as they went to the airport. When he saw the bruises on her arms he thought his head was going to explode, especially when she shrugged them off with hardly a thought. That she was used to being manhandled was loathsome and his urge to retaliate nearly overwhelmed him.
When she told him that Pegasus had threatened to inform the authorities about her identity he knew he had to get her out of the country as fast as possible, his own feelings about vengeance be damned. Oh, he was sure he had wiped her record clean, but that didn't mean Pegasus hadn't found a way around that. It also didn't mean the other man was actually going to do that, but he had been burned before and there was no way anyone was taking her away from him. He would be more than happy to drop his entire fortune to be sure that wouldn't happen, although he doubted buying people off to ensure that would cost nearly that much. It was also clear Sarah didn't believe that she was going to wiggle out of this with no repercussions, and wasn't expecting him to help her out of it either. But she hadn't argued with him, appearing too embarrassed by her past, and by his brother finding out about it, to push the issue. She had spent over an hour simply looking out the window of the plane, clearly ruminating silently. He hadn't liked that at all and once the others were asleep he had gone to her, fully intending to assure her that he would take care of this one way or another if Pegasus made good on his threat. Instead she had sidelined him with her decision to leave, meaning to protect his reputation by being nowhere near him.
The thought of losing her threw him utterly off balance and he had reacted without really thinking anything through. For several minutes on the plane he had been sure to his bones she was about to slip right through his fingers a second time. He had no idea what Pegasus had really said to her, but whatever it was it had spooked her enough to have her seriously contemplating running straight out of Japan and his life. He had acted before she could sink her teeth into the thought, knowing if she did she would be gone faster than he could blink once they landed. Panicked, he had refused to allow it, refused to let one of the few things he truly loved to get away from him. Having no solid way to logically argue her out of it, having been in no way prepared for such an action, he had simply asked her to stay. To say he had been surprised that she had agreed so readily, with no other reason or incentive other than his honest request would be an understatement. He had, by some small miracle, managed to lure Sarah right into his arms. He honestly wasn't sure how he had managed that, or what he had done to deserve it.
But she had agreed, and those wide, amazingly alluring eyes of hers, the one thing he was always sure could bring him to his knees, had been so full of welcoming desire that he had finally given into the nearly constant impulse he had to kiss her. Her reaction to that had far exceeded any expectation he'd ever had. She had all but melted into him, shifting fully into his space as her warm lips pressed eagerly against his. An odd combination of absolute tenderness and raging lust slammed through him. Fully unprepared for that level of emotion, even with what she brought out of him on a daily basis by being near him, he had forced himself to gently break the kiss for fear he would lose himself in her right there. Even with his mind in a blank fog he knew that a plane with both his sleeping brother and head of security wasn't the best place to let this go further, and he was more than convinced it was a very short step indeed to losing any and all control he had and peeling his jacket right back off her. What was more, he was very sure Sarah was about as able to slow them down as he was.
And despite his wants and fears of her leaving he shouldn't have touched her, not in a place where there were other people. He knew better. He knew he couldn't control himself around her when she got too close. He could barely control himself when she was simply in the same room as him, let alone when she was pressed up against him so intimately. His mind flashed back to Egypt, to his dark bedroom in the royal palace, to the night he had with her in his last life with her blushing and moaning softly below him. He tried to banish the memory as she cuddled up against his side, because he cherished it as much as it shamed him. Kisara had been the priest's, and unlike him Sarah had no memory of their past together. It wasn't right to think of her that way, when she hadn't offered that part of herself to him in this life. He respected her too much to actively seek out the memory, because it felt wrong and invasive to him no matter how much he wanted her, but with her face nuzzled against his neck and her silky hair tickling his nose he could think of nothing else.
It took all the considerable will power he had to do no more than hold her firmly against him and tangle his fingers in her soft hair. Neither of them spoke, he wasn't sure if anything else needed to be said, and Sarah had relaxed fully against him with the sound of the engines eventually lulling her to sleep in his arms. He had held her for several hours, relishing the warm weight of her against him and breathing in the subtle smell of spices and vanilla from her perfume as his entire being down to his very soul had relaxed. Eventually, he had gently and reluctantly shifted her off him, knowing that if they stayed like this much longer either Mokuba or Roland would wake up and see them. That would have been compromising in the extreme and he wouldn't let it happen. Sarah had mumbled a dissent in her sleep as he shifted her away and he asked silently for control as he propped her carefully in her seat. Forcing himself up he had gotten a blanket out of a cabinet in the back and covered her with it before returning to his own place several feet away from her.
Less than five minutes later Roland had begun to stir and he glanced over at her one last time, regretting the separation. The rest of the trip had been uneventful, and a few hours later they were back in Japan, all of them jetlagged to some extent. Sarah had sent him several apprehensive glances on the plane after she woke up alone, and another one as they dropped her off at her apartment, and he wasn't entirely sure what to do. It had been an easy thing to react the way he had on the jet, but now that the fear of her vanishing was gone he wasn't clear on what he should be doing. It was obvious she was anxious, and he wanted to soothe her, but as much as he hated to admit it he wasn't entirely at ease either. He had no real experience with a relationship, and he knew well enough that their past lives weren't much to go on. Despite the love affair between the priest and Kisara they had been thrown together as much as anything, with no option other than to survive. Now, well they weren't exactly fighting for their lives, and he was fairly sure he should be doing something beyond what he was, which was shying around the issue.
The last few days had been strained and awkward, and he could only blame himself for it. At least twice now she had tried to initiate something, and idiot that he was he hadn't realized until several hours later after she had left his presence. When he worked out what had happened the second time he had nearly slammed his head into the nearest wall, cursing himself for being a fool. Now, it was very clear, she thought he regretted the entire incident and wanted nothing to do with her, at least not romantically. Sarah had backed off completely after the second refusal, and was walking around him on eggshells for the first time, no doubt convinced that he had toyed with her emotions to keep her at his company, or had simply changed his mind. Knowing he needed to address this before it got completely out of hand didn't have him jumping to take care of the problem the way things normally did. Instead he found himself hesitating, and badly, for fear he truly wouldn't be able to control himself once this started. Sarah certainly deserved to be treated like her own person, but in his mind she was so very much also Kisara, because she was, that he knew he wasn't being fair to her. He also knew, as much as he was loath to admit weakness, that a part of him was terrified this might end badly and he would lose what they had now, which was a deep and meaningful friendship that had no equal in his life.
So, in a complete role reversal now, with Sarah trying to be bold and him hovering around her nervously they had come to an uncomfortable and unwanted stalemate. The worst of it was all he wanted was her and he simply kept sabotaging himself. The strain of the thing was showing too, which bothered him even more. Yesterday on his way home he had been rubbing his temples tiredly, really trying to work up his nerve and feeling very guilty indeed when Sarah had invited him over for dinner and he had to refuse due to a meeting. He saw the last of the hope she had been holding onto the last few days dimming in her eyes as she gave him a falsely bright smile and let him off the hook at once. She hadn't even asked what the meeting was for, something that would normally happen, she simply gathered the paperwork they had been working on and left quietly without teasing him or looking back. He knew in that instant that she would never bring this up again, she'd been rejected too many times and was too used to being rejected. It had likely taken all the courage she had to try this a third time and she was done now, saving what was left of her self-confidence. As he tried to work out how to salvage the situation, which was rapidly spiraling downward, Roland had cleared his throat quietly as he drove. "Flowers."
He glanced up, his hand coming down away from his eyes, not understanding that statement at all. "What?"
"Flowers." Roland repeated, his eyes firmly on the driveway as they pulled up to the mansion. "Although she would probably prefer chocolate with the way she loves food." He said nothing, thrown by the unasked for input and irritated that he had been caught out. But Roland said nothing else and he got out of the car, grudgingly admitting that wasn't the worst idea. Perhaps a more traditional sort of gesture would be what she wanted. Rolling his shoulders as he handed his briefcase off to one of his staff he began to look up a place that would deliver chocolates to her apartment. While it might be nice to get them at work he was still worried about her reputation, and figured keeping this as private as possible was the wiser thing to do.
Finding a gourmet confections shop with excellent reviews in downtown Domino he quickly ordered an assortment of chocolate covered fruits he was sure she would like on rush delivery. Sarah had a fondness for all food, but a special love of fruit. It was much cheaper to buy in the states, where here it was more of a luxury item. She rarely bought it for herself, but he had seen her eating large bowls of it at breakfast while they were in San Francisco, clearly trying to sate the craving while she could. Pleased it would be at her apartment in only a few hours he hoped the gesture would smooth things over, although he'd heard nothing from her that evening or this morning once he got to work.
Turning the entire thing over in his head again, worried the gift had somehow backfired despite his best intentions as she always fought him when he tried to buy things for her, he walked up to his office from one of his labs. He had spent the last few hours replicating his new chip with one of his teams so they could do it without his help and hopefully get a few dozen made while he worked on getting a manufacturer set up to mass produce them. His demonstration at Industrial Illusions had been such a success that he had a request to demonstrate his new system to a larger audience while the product was still new. His marketing team had urged him to agree to the mass demand from multiple sources, both domestic and international, and he saw nothing to do but agree if he wanted to continue the hype. Considering his stock options had jumped up several points since the conference he knew he needed to keep pushing. Having quickly settled on holding the event at Kaiba Land, as it was the obvious choice having space, dueling arenas, and being owned by him, he had sent out several offers out for a dueling opponent. He was eager to duel, having been out of the competitive scene for well over a year and a half now, and wondered who was brave enough to accept his challenge. No matter who accepted he would be more than ready to meet them in them a week from today.
Striding past Yuka, who was typing furiously on her computer, he saw his office door was open. Knowing only a few people dared to enter his office when he wasn't there, and even fewer made it past Yuka, he was hardly surprised when he found Sarah inside. She was standing in front of the tall windows behind his desk looking out at the storm that was blowing through Domino. His office afforded her a wonderful view of the storm front as it was high above most other buildings in the city. Her attention was fully on the sky as thunder rumbled, sending a low reverberation through the entire building. As he stepped fully inside lightning flashed, lighting her up as she stood there in a knee length navy pencil skirt and white, long sleeved blouse. Her blue heels raised her height a few inches and a strand of her hair had escaped the neat bun she had it in and curved appealing behind her ear. She looked stunning.
Hiding the thought with ease he memorized the moment, storing it in great detail in his head to keep. "Enjoying the view?" He asked casually as he headed to his desk, waiting to see how she was going to react, but hopeful as she was here on her own.
She turned her attention to him and smiled in welcome, making his stomach drop pleasantly as her eyes glittered happily. "I love thunderstorms." She told him. "The lightning is beautiful."
He couldn't disagree and wasn't surprised she had a fondness for the flashing light with what she was. He wondered what she would think if she knew she could control it. "I wasn't expecting to see you this afternoon. Did you come up here just to look?" He asked casually, hoping to draw more informative out, or really just get confirmation that he had done this properly and fixed the problem.
Her eyes twinkled, no doubt sensing what he was really after the way she always did. "I won't lie, it is a fully self-serving reason, although it's not the view."
He sat down and tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair as he turned to face her. He felt his stomach unknotting at her return to cheerfulness. "Is that so?"
"Don't look at me that way." She pouted. "It's a totally innocent request." He would have been honestly shocked if it was anything else. He couldn't imagine her asking for anything crazy, despite the ease with which he could get nearly anything, and no doubt would get her despite his firm promise to himself that he would never allow such a thing to happen with anyone. He raised his eyebrow, taunting her anyway, because this was an amusing game she had started and that lip of hers was driving him mad in the best way. And by her reaction to him, which was friendly and flirtatious by any standard, he was sure his small but pointed gift had gone over well. She puffed at him, but he refused to blink and she pouted more before speaking, trying to win out. "Can I go with you to your duel?"
He blinked, having not expected that. "Go with me?"
"Mokuba said you're challenging duelists to show off the new duel disk here." He wondered who his brother's spy was to have found that out already as they had only just settled on a place and time an hour ago. He was impressed with the efficiency, and that Mokuba was using his cell phone at school. They would need to chat about that later. "Can I come and watch? I've never seen you duel, and I'm guessing tickets are going to be hard to come by once word gets out."
That stroked his ego pleasantly, although he did his best to hide it. No need for her to know that he wanted her admiration, even if it was only an exhibition match. He turned back toward his computer, pleased all the way through. "If you'd like. It won't be much of a duel unless Yugi accepts, and I doubt he will, not for an exhibition match that isn't worth ranking."
"Yay!" She chirped excitedly, somehow daintily bouncing in her heels and clearly not caring in the slightest who he dueled as long as she got to see. "How cool! I've been wanting to watch you duel for forever!"
His lips twitched up at the corners as he logged into his server, continuing the friendly goading. "I wouldn't be so excited if I were you. You'll have to sit with Mokuba at the very front. I know how the two of you dislike one another."
"Oh please." She said, moving so she could see him better. "So who are you going to duel?"
"I've extended the invitation to several people, but in all likelihood Bandit Keith. He's been out of competition too long to come back in if he doesn't bite at this. He needs the publicity." He wasn't overly excited to be honest. The man wasn't exactly what he would call a challenge. Anyone that lost to Wheeler was simply a sad excuse for a duelist. "But Keith isn't much of a duelist. The real thing on display is going to be the new duel disk and you've already seen that."
"I thought he was the number one American duelist?" Sarah said, sitting down on the other side of his desk. "Doesn't that mean he's good?"
"He was for about six months five years ago." He agreed, knowing she didn't keep up with it and guessing she had heard that on the news at some point. "But Pegasus beat him and so did Wheeler and Rebecca Hawkins. She's still the highest ranked duelist in your home country now." He shook his head. He didn't mind Rebecca, actually enjoyed her cleverness in a general sort of way, but she could be unbelievably annoying when given the chance to talk for more than three minutes about herself. He was rather surprised Mokuba spent as much time with her as he did as his brother was rarely interested in those that boasted. "Which I'm sure she'd told you at least a hundred times when she's been over. The lot of you are a loud bunch. Do they teach you to brag in school or is it bred into you?"
"I'm going to be a citizen here soon you know." She informed him proudly. "And then you can't tease me about my obnoxious American tendencies anymore."
"I assure you that I can." He smirked, knowing that would never get old even if she very rarely conformed to those stereotypes, and she huffed at him with false irritation. Still, he was very pleased with the news. If she was applying to be a citizen rather than renewing her visa it meant she was planning on staying and he had successfully convinced her not to run off. "I didn't realize you were going to change your citizenship."
She smiled brightly. "I have all my paperwork in." She informed him, happiness in her voice. "I have to pass the test next, but they only give it once a year. I have been approved to take it though."
"When is it?" He asked.
"September." She told him. "Three more months and then I can try."
He wasn't worried about that. She was good at test taking. "I'm sure you'll pass. I can help you study if you'd like."
"I'd really appreciate that. Mokuba is the worst tutor in the world."
"Imagine that." He said dryly. He would be much more serious about it than his brother. He wanted Sarah to stay here. Having her citizenship would make that easier in any number of ways. "Once the rainy season passes we can start. I doubt we need to spend three months on it. You're smarter than you look."
"Hey!" She protested, laughter in her voice. "You're lucky you let me come to your duel, you rotten thing."
His lip twitched up and he opened his e-mail, sending her a sidelong glance. He was feeling a bit more confident now, with her pleased with him and them chatting the way they always did. "Would you like to come over tonight?" He asked, trying to keep this as low risk as possible. He thought perhaps this would be better for both of them if they eased into it. He thought the gift made his intentions clear without forcing any sort of firm expectations on her. He could let her decide what pace to go at, which would make him feel much more comfortable. It was also now clear that he was interested, the traditional display of romance taking care of that. He supposed sometimes stereotypical social interactions could be beneficial.
"I, um, have an appointment right after work." She replied, looking contrite. "Would it be okay if it was later in the evening? It took me a week to get it scheduled at a time I could go."
He shrugged, not caring when she came. "That's fine."
"Okay." She agreed, relaxing again. "Maybe you could try to teach me to play duel monsters? You could at least practice on me and get warmed up again."
He raised an eyebrow, having thought she had decided against that since he hadn't heard anything about it in several months. "You want me to teach you?"
"I mean, you taught Mokuba how to play really well." She told him. "So I'm sure you can make me at least mediocre at the game." She smiled a little shyly. "It looks much more fun with the duel disks than when it's just the cards. I'd actually really like to try that."
"We can go play in one of the arenas at Kaiba Land." He told her, thinking that would be a fun way to spend a few hours. Generally they were booked weeks if not a month in advance, but they could simply go after the park closed, or he could boot someone out. Perhaps Wheeler had it reserved.
"Maybe after a few lessons with you coaching me through it." She agreed, looking pleased. "I'd like that though."
"Alright." He agreed easily, liking that idea. "We could-" His phone rang and he sighed, irritated by the interruption.
Sarah smiled at him and got up. "I have things to do too. I'll see you about seven-thirty?"
He nodded as he picked the phone up as she walked out of his office, much more chipper than he'd seen her in days. Relieved he had smoothed everything over he went back to work, more than content to see her that evening.
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Hours later and he was sitting in the kitchen waiting for her as he shuffled a deck of cards. Mokuba was half inside the refrigerator looking for he didn't know what and muttering to himself about the positive attributes of grape soda. Shaking his head he began to sort some cards out for her to use, intending to at least give her a solid starter deck. Once she was used to using it she could always build out on it, or start her own deck from scratch. As he set a trap card into a possible pile Mokuba emerged with an armful of items he was clearly intending to eat. "You shouldn't be eating this late." He told his brother, searching the pile of cards for a specific one. "You're going to have nightmares."
Mokuba grunted as he headed out of the kitchen. "It's fine as long as I don't eat after ten." He glanced up, not sure he believed that. Shortly after their parents died and they'd moved in with Gozaburo his brother had begun having night terrors. After several weeks he'd worked out they were substantially less likely to occur if his brother didn't eat late at night. After that he had cut his brother off from food after eight and the problem had resolved itself. However, he had stopped monitoring him in the last year or so, knowing Mokuba understood this happened. His brother sent him an exasperated look as he shoved the door open with his shoulder. "Nii-san, it's fine. I'm starving."
Figuring it was better not to argue with a ravenous teeneager he turned his attention back to the deck, although he wondered at how much his brother had been eating over the last few weeks. He had no doubt he was about to go through a growth spurt. He wasn't surprised really, both of their parents had been tall, especially their father. He had certainly sprung up at fifteen, and Mokuba was closer to that than he would like. He had no doubt Mokuba would be as tall as him given some time. No sooner did the door swing to a stop than it opened again. Sarah came in looking over her shoulder. Shaking her head as she came in she smiled at him, although she appeared distracted. "You should really just instal a fridge in his room, I think he walked out with most of the food that was in it."
His lips twitched up, pleased that she was here. "It's not a bad idea, but then when would I see him?"
"That's a good point." She replied and he reached over and pulled out the chair beside him. Sarah took the silent invitation and slid into the seat. "Sorry I'm late. That took longer than I thought it would. What's all this?" She asked, looking over the table that had a dozen neat piles of cards.
"I'm putting a deck together for you, but I'm not sure what sort of cards you like."
"Oh." She replied, her eyes moving over the cards. "I guess I never thought about it. I was using whatever Mokuba gave me."
He indicated the table, not at all surprised to hear that having looked through the deck she lost with. "Which ones do you like here?"
She looked them over for a few seconds before slowly reaching out and tapping a monster card. It was a Golem Dragon, which he found to be an interesting choice. Sarah's hand hovered over it for a moment before drifting to the left and tapping the Lady of Dragons before darting up and pointing to a Petite Dragon card. She drew her hand back, but there was something strange in her expression. He picked up the three cards and set them in front of her. "What is it?"
"Nothing." She shook her head. "Sorry, I was thinking about something else." She looked up and smiled at him, pushing whatever she was thinking about away and giving him her full attention. "What kind of cards do you like?"
"Most decks have a different variety of cards in them to balance them out, but dragons are my favorite." He told her. "It looks like we have that in common."
"Neat, you can show me how to utilize them properly." Glancing back over she picked up a magic card. "This one looks cool too." She tilted it a little so she could see the holographic background and read it. "Spell shattering arrow."
Seeing a tendency already he began to pick up cards rapidly and put them in a deck for her. "You may be a defensive player." He told her.
"Defensive?"
"You have the patience for it." He told her, thinking this might be why she wasn't doing well against Mokuba. "None of Mokuba's cards are really meant for that, he's an offensive player." He explained. "It might be why you had some difficulty against him."
Her eyes twinkled. "You mean why he trounced me?"
"I was trying to be nice about it."
She snorted at that and shifted so she was facing him, trying to see how he was organizing things. "You're going too fast. What is it you're doing?"
"Tell me how you worked out how to get here."
"Seto, I've been here like a million times now."
He rolled his eyes. "I mean how you worked out how to get a visa, how you worked out what you needed to do to falsify your records."
She frowned at the question, but answered him. "I mean, it was just a series of steps wasn't it?" She shrugged. "All you really need to do it is money and a hacker. The hacker was the hard part I suppose, only because I had to find people that knew about one that was good enough to do what I needed."
He nodded. "And how long did it take you from the time you ran to the time you walked into the school? Four months?"
"Give or take a few days." She agreed.
"A patient risk taker." He mused, having already known that but not considering how that could work for her while playing. He began to change some cards out. "That's an odd mix, but it could be very effective in the arena."
"To be clear I really have no interest in playing in the arena unless it's against you for fun, or you make me good enough to at least stand up to Mokuba."
"That's no excuse to have a poor deck." He informed her.
"Right." She agreed, clearly humoring him. "So what have you got there?" She pulled his hands over so she could see. "Yup, looks like duel monster cards."
"Are you amused with yourself?" He asked her, charmed with her silliness despite himself.
"For sure." She agreed, her thumb running lightly over his fingers as she inspected the cards. He was immediately distracted by the touch and stilled, all his senses trained on her. "Thanks for showing me how this works."
"It's not a problem." He said, trying to keep his voice steady, which he really felt shouldn't be this difficult. He had been in meetings with a dangerous and crafty assortment of people and never felt this nervous. Clearly, something was wrong with him.
"How long have you been playing?" She asked him curiously.
"Since I was ten." He replied, offering the newly made deck to her.
"Wow." She said, impressed. "I bet you have all kinds of neat cards." She began to look through what he gave her slowly, examining the script below the images to work out what all the cards did. "Do you have any of the really rare ones people talk about?"
"One." He agreed. "Although I'm sure you already know that having been to Kaiba Land."
She smiled as she looked more closely at the Golem Dragon, clearly having taken a fancy to it for whatever reason. "You mean the dragon you have all over the place? It does look pretty fearsome. What's it called?"
"The blue eyes white dragon."
Sarah stilled all over, halfway through tucking the dragon to the back of the deck to see the next card. Slowly, she looked up at him, her eyes guarded. "That's its name? The white dragon?"
He shrugged, wondering what had surprised her about that. "The blue eyes white dragon." He corrected, unsure as to why that had her full interest.
She turned her attention back down. "It must be a good card if you like it so much."
"It's one of the most powerful monsters in the game." He agreed, still watching her. "There are only three of them."
"Who has the other two?" She asked conversationally.
"I do."
She looked back up, frowning slightly. "You have all three?"
"Yes." He agreed.
"That must have been hard to do. Did you buy all of them?"
"Two of them." He agreed, having never told anyone about this. "But the first one I got came inside a small booster set that Industrial Illusions had been advertising. I had bought it on a whim right after taking over Kaiba Corp."
She shook her head in amazement. "What are the odds of that?" He opened his mouth to tell her and she laughed. "It was a rhetorical questions, Seto, I don't actually want to know the odds." He huffed and she went on, her eyes dancing. "That's pretty amazing though." She set the cards down between them. "I think you better just explain what these mean to me so we can get to the part where I beat you."
He smirked. "Where you beat me?"
She waved her hand. "There is a real possibility you could have a stroke midway through and I could take you." He laughed at that, amused, and she grinned. "So what would you do first?"
He began to walk her through what each card did and she listened attentively, nodding when she understood and asking questions when she didn't. Finding that this was rather a lot more engaging than he had expected, teaching her, he was quietly pleased when she scooted her chair closer to him so they were right next to one another. Her shoulder brushed his as they spoke and soon he was distracted from the task as her proximity drove him out of his mind. Sarah seemed oblivious to what she was doing to him and was leaning over the table slightly, moving cards about as she worked out combinations that would be helpful to her.
The smell of her perfume found him and drew him in as she shifted a card away. "What about this?"
He glanced over, barely looking at what she had out in front of her. "That would be fine."
Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Really? I don't see how-" She raised her head and froze where she was when she realized every iota of his attention was now on her rather than the game. Having been caught out didn't bother him in the slightest and he watched in fascination as her cheeks flushed pink. Bashfully she ducked her head back down, her fingers playing with one of the cards she had been studying. Utterly drawn in by her retreat he reached out and played with a strand of her hair, the same one that had been taunting him behind her ear in his office, wrapping it around one of his fingers. As he played with the silky lock, fascinated by how soft it was, he saw goosebumps tingle down her arms as his own heart rate increased noticeably.
Gathering herself she tilted her head back up so they were facing one another. Sarah's breath caught in her throat. "Seto, I need to tel-"
Whatever she had been about to say was cut off as Mokuba slammed his shoulder into the door of the kitchen. He let his hand drop at once, leaning back as he feigned a causal interaction. Sarah's face went from pink to red as she dropped her head down, pretending to be fascinated with the cards on the table. His brother took no notice of them at all as he went back to the fridge and pulled the door open, rummaging around almost desperately. "Nii-san, why are we out of arare?"
He tried to push his frustrated annoyance at the interruption down. It wasn't as if Mokuba knew what was going on, and he was sure if he did he never would have come in here. He and Sarah had been spending time alone for months now in a completely innocent and friendly way. This wasn't exactly out of the norm as far as his brother knew. "I don't know." He replied dryly. "How many pounds of it have you eaten today?"
Mokuba leaned out of the fridge and leveled him with an unimpressed stare. "I have so few needs."
He rolled his eyes. "Then tell Ando and I'm sure he'll have your body weight's worth of rice snacks here by tomorrow."
"How does that help me now?" Mokuba grumbled, shoving his head back in the fridge. "I'm dying, you have no sympathy." He threw the doors closed dramatically. "I'm ordering takeout. Do either of you want anything?"
Considering he ate less than two hours ago he was fine. "No."
"No thank you." Sarah replied, her attention still straight down.
"Killjoys." He told them as he strolled back out. "Have fun not eating."
He sighed heavily, wondering how Mokuba managed to inherit so much drama. When the door swung closed again Sarah glanced back up shyly. "It's late, maybe I should go."
That wasn't at all what he wanted even if it was getting on in the evening. They had been at the table for nearly two hours now and she hadn't gotten here until nearly eight. Unsure of how to keep her here he set his apprehension aside and set his hand on her cheek, stroking her hair back out of her face. "If that's what you want." He agreed, sticking to his internal agreement to let this go at whatever pace she wanted no matter how frustrating that might be for him. He saw her hesitating and satisfaction filled him. Clearly, she very much liked being right here with him no matter how unsure she was. Leaning in slowly in case she changed her mind he kissed her carefully, fully aware that he needed to control himself for fear of rushing her. He was sure, knowing her the way he did, that if he made her uncomfortable she could very well shut this down completely.
But instead of hesitance she reacted at once, kissing him back eagerly. A sound of surprise rose in the back of his throat and was muffled against her lips. At the sound Sarah pulled back, her cheeks flushing even brighter at her own daring, but he caught her as soon as he took a breath and pulled her face back to his, anything but bothered. She relaxed when he invited her back to him, and her hands slid up to his shoulders, holding onto him to keep her balance as she leaned forward. Disliking the awkward angle he let his hands drop to her waist and tugged her insistently toward him until she was in his lap. She settled there happily and after several mind spinning moments pulled back, breathing raggedly. He stared down at her as he tried to get his mind to start working again and she panted lightly, her eyes dark and full of lust. "I'm pretty sure everything I've ever read about anything mentions how bad an idea it is to date your boss."
"Fine." He agreed, his own breath coming out raggedly. "You're definitely fired this time."
"Seto!" She protested with laughter in her voice. "You're awful! And that's for sure sexual harassment!"
He pretended to consider that for a moment. "I can afford the lawsuit."
She shoved at his shoulder playfully, knowing he was teasing her. "You are the worst kind of person." She giggled.
Smiling, he kissed her again quickly, pulling back before he could lose himself. "And who says we're dating?" That brought her up short and she sent him a very unsure look. He soothed that over at once. "You haven't let me take you anywhere."
She tilted her head, causing her hair to slid to the side, her misgivings vanishing. "I can't very well let you if you haven't asked can I?"
He hummed, leaning in and pressing a kiss against her soft neck, which was taunting him in the best sort of way. A soft moan left her as she tilted her head back to make it easier, her fingers tightening over his shoulders. "Have dinner with me." He murmured between kisses.
"F-fine." She stuttered, clearly distracted. "But only if we go somewhere normal."
He hummed, wondering why she didn't want him to take her to any of the many nicer restaurants in Domino. But he could always bully her into something fancy later. "You just want an excuse to wear those ridiculous American jeans."
"You love the jeans." She whispered. "Admit it."
Pulling his head up he found her lips again and kissed her deeply. She sighed into him and he relaxed, tangling his hand in her hair and cradling the back of her head. It was much easier to get the angle he wanted this way. Sarah didn't seem to mind in the slightest as he experimented with the best way to kiss her, and when he finally pulled back looked as dazed as he felt. "Never." He replied, although it wasn't true in the slightest. He very much enjoyed seeing her in those pants, they hugged her hips beautifully. "We can go after my duel."
She smiled, pleased with that idea. "I would like that."
"So would I." He agreed.
Sarah turned her head, glancing at the clock on the stove. "I really should go." She told him, turning her attention back to him. "I have a meeting tomorrow at six-thirty. I'd hate to mess up your new marketing campaign for the duel disks because I was yawning my way through my translations." He understood, but was reluctant to let her go even as he nodded. Sarah darted in and kissed him again, her blush darkening as she slid off him. His hands followed her, lingering on her hips as long as they could. "I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked timidly.
He watched her with interest, baffled and charmed by her swings between shy sweetness and fiery boldness. "Yes."
She nodded, pleased. "Goodnight, Seto."
"Goodnight, Sarah." Her eyes twinkled at that and she left, slipping quietly out of the room. He sat there for a few moments gathering himself and very aware he was going to need a cold shower after that. This was certainly going to be a test of his resolve. Thankfully, he had more than his fair share of that, and this particular task was more than worth the effort.
Author's Note: Sorry about the wait! I was at a conference all last week and had no time to write. The next chapter should be out much more quickly :)