Disclaimer: at this point it's pretty obvious I'm doing this for free...
Clannad was a really sweet anime that I very much enjoyed. I put the happy ending in this story.
Requiem for a Princess – Part 2
Victoria turned from the screen and looked at Seto with a triumphant smirk on her face.
"I find that sometimes when you want something done, you just get yourself a Wolf," she announced with mischief sparkling in her eyes.
"Or two! Tokio's 100% Wolf these days!" Sano interjected. He was leaning on a wall playing with his Optimus Prime key chain again.
"He's right about that," agreed Kaoru with a chuckle. Mokuba didn't seem to like it any better.
"He's just so mean!" Mokuba grumbled. Victoria turned to him.
"A man willing to fly a thousand miles just to make the woman he loves smile, doesn't deserve the word mean Mokuba," she replied with a know-it-all smirk on her face.
"When did Hajime do that?!" Anzu exclaimed surprised. Sano chuckled.
"Yea, the wolf really knocked it out of the park that Christmas!" he replied not looking up from his little figure.
"Why don't you tell them that story Sano? I am going to find the recipe for those delicious little buns your maid brought us earlier Seto!" Victoria announced with a mischievous smirk. She marched out immediately, avoiding any questions about her manipulations this afternoon. Sano shrugged and agreed easily. He put his little keychain away and crossed his arms as he began. These days when it came to finding out about Tokio, the only person who knew more than Sano, was Hajime. So all questions about her were usually referred to him when Hajime wasn't around.
"You kids don't know – well except for Seto, he knows some of this – that Tokio's grandma was a certifiable nutjob," Sano began.
"Tokio's family died when she was 12 and her nutjob grandma lost what few marbles she had," Sano continued. Seto frowned at Sano's undignified story telling style but listened quietly. Tokio was an interesting person and he wanted as many details as he could get about her. Yugi and his friends settled into the various seats around the office and listened with rapt attention.
"Oh that's awful! Poor Tokio!" Serenity exclaimed.
"Yea that totally sucks!" added Jou to agreements from his friends.
"Oh, Sano just like you! Oh how awful! How come I didn't know that?!" Anzu added horrified.
"Because you were a tiny little kid when I learned this stuff! What the hell kind of brother would I be if I come home to tell a little kid all this nightmare stuff?!" Sano countered offended.
"It's not really like me anyway cuz' I had mom and dad and you, silly little chicken legs!" Sano teased.
'Sounds like Tokio isn't the only one influenced by the Wolf,' thought Seto amused as a chagrined Anzu agreed with Sano and her friends chuckled and teased her to lighten the mood.
"Anyway, Psycho-Takako…that's the crazy chick's name by the way…she figures that her son died as punishment for the crimes committed by some ancestor of theirs like literally a hundred years ago," he continued.
"That's stupid!" blurted Seto.
"Yea! Well, she was crazy! What can I say? But that's not the worse part! Crazy bitch figured that Tokio survived because she was the reincarnation of that ancestor! So she figured that it was her duty to punish her ancestor and stamp out his bloodline by destroying Tokio bit by terrible bit," Sano continued obviously struggling to keep his tone light. But Seto could see that his anger at Tokio's relatives still burned hot in Sano. Seto could understand it, but the relaxed woman he had spoken with obviously let all of that go already.
"Ugh! What a psycho!" blurted Serenity.
"Yea! Anyway, the hag figured that she would start with making Tokio forget that she had a family once…and that they loved her," Sano continued but the calm in his voice was in direct contrast to the anger burning in his eyes.
"That's impossible! Even if the memories were to fade or disappear the bond of those that loved us remains deep in our soul," Yugi intoned solemnly in a deep voice with surprising authority. Seto narrowed his eyes, he knew it was the Pharaoh who had said that, not Yugi.
"Right! What that guy said!" Sano agreed banishing the anger that clouded his face. He smirked at Yugi and Seto noticed that Sano, Kenshin and Aoshi exchanged a quick knowing glance between them. He wondered if they might be aware of the secret of the Millennium Puzzle.
'I wouldn't put it past them,' thought Seto as Sano continued his tale. Tokio had been ordered by her grandmother to burn every item of sentimental value her parents and her brother and sister had ever possessed. Tokio however defied her by filling the boxes up with firewood instead and hiding safely all of her families treasured memories.
"So she saved everything! Good for her!" Anzu cheered along with her friends.
"Not everything," Seto realized. Seto knew from experience that sociopaths were very methodical and extremely paranoid. "She had to sacrifice something to throw off her grandmother's scent – something important," he deduced.
"Score another one for scary-smart Seto!" Sano laughed but there was a dark tone in his laugh that not even Anzu missed.
"But you're right. On top of the firewood she piled up all her toys and dolls, her costumes, all her pretty dresses, her games…everything that belong to her," he paused as anger furrowed his face for a moment.
"She was forced to wear large, cheap black sack-like dresses for three years," he added with a sad faraway look. Seto chewed his lip for a moment filing all of this information away. He put Tokio on a very short list of people he needed to get to know…and soon!
'I have the Shadow Broker for that though,' he thought as he listened to Sano explain how Tokio had gone the extra mile by soaking everything in lighter fluid.
"But the most loved of all the things she threw in the fire was a Princess Leia doll," Sano added as he continued…
December 26th, 1999…
Sano stoked the fire in the fireplace of the family room, while Aoshi and Kenshin arranged Hajime and Tokio's gifts under the tree at momma's new house. It was 30-something degrees outside and the wind had quieted finally. A storm had kept Tokio and Hajime from coming home last night but it was safe enough on the roads this morning to leave the mountain enclave where they worked. So the official Christmas dinner would happen today instead since momma refused to do it without them.
His Sensei had stayed in Colorado Springs this week and not surprising Night was around too. According to Tokio, ever since she started working as his assistant he always spent Christmas with her. That was not likely to ever change. Oume was in town too and the storm had kept her and Shuura from leaving an extra day.
They had teased Shuura because Lawrence – the marine she was dating from Hajime's team – invited her to Christmas dinner with his family. Looking exceedingly nervous – but trying hard to hide it – she had left a few minutes ago when his mom called that Lawrence was on his way home. Kamo had not come at all, according to Mai he had some publicity thing for his new show to attend. Sano thought this a good thing, Hajime seemed more hostile towards Kamo these days.
'Not that I blame the wolf. I didn't like how Kamo was looking at Tokio either,' he thought. During the Victoria's Secret employee reunion, Sano, Kenshin and Aoshi had caught Kamo leering at Tokio, granted Kamo only did that to get a rise out of Hajime and it worked a little too well. But he flirted with many other young women throughout the VS reunion despite Mai and Oume being in the same room. He didn't quit it until Aoshi promised him a hand to hand combat sparring session – whether he wanted one or not!
"They're here!" called Mai out from the front door.
'Finally! We'll be able to eat that ham already!' thought Sano excited. He was happy to be able to open more presents too. Yesterday, they had exchanged some presents but today they would open the gifts Tokio and Hajime had gotten for everyone – even Oume was getting a gift! Though Sano suspected Tokio was the one that got the gift and then bribed and/or threatened Hajime into signing his name on the card. And they would open the gifts they got for Hajime and Tokio. Sano couldn't wait for Tokio to open the present they got for her. He was sure she was going to love it!
'Except Mai and momma are getting a separate gift from Tokio and one from the wolf. Wonder what they got?' thought Sano as he headed to the door to greet Tokio and Hajime. Tokio's gifts were obvious, they were large framed pictures of some kind, that much you could tell despite the thick Christmas wrapping paper covering it. Hajime's gift for mom was harder to tell because the box was too ordinary to tell from the shape. Mai's was super easy to tell since the box was the size and shape of duel monster cards. Aoshi and Kenshin had gone over to Tokio's house this morning to pick up all the gifts they had under Tokio's crazy Star Wars tree and bring them over.
After a cheerful hello and cups of hot chocolate and tea to warm up, they gathered in momma's family room around the tree. Mai was on the carpet in front of the tree. She had been designated to hand out the presents so she could open hers first. To no one's surprise Mai received more duel monster cards from Hajime. She squealed in delight as she showed off the last pieces of her Harpy combo that she needed.
"Rose whip and Harpy's feather dust! Ahhhhh!" She screamed joyously and hurried to her brother's lap and kissed him in the cheek with almost bruising force. Hajime didn't seem to mind though as he just laughed.
"You're the best big brother ever!" she shrieked happily as she crushed her big brother in a hug. He smiled and held his sister for a moment.
"I love you kiddo," he replied simply. Tokio smiled joyfully and Sano marveled at how easy it was for her to look so happy all the time.
'And it's not like she's only happy around the Wolf, 'cuz she's happy even when he's out of town. I refuse to give the wolf all the credit!' thought Sano as Mai got off her brother's lap.
"Open mine now Mai!" Tokio said excitedly. Mai hurried back to the tree and opened the 12 by 12 present. It was a painting of Mai. She was striking a Greek goddess pose wearing an Aphrodite costume. It was a pose from a picture she had taken at Tripp's Halloween party earlier this year. But around Mai were all of her favorite duel monsters! She seemed to preside over them with her Harpy's Pet Dragon standing guard behind her with its tail wrapped around her protectively.
"Awesome! How did you get this?!" Mai exclaimed excited. Tokio explained she had made a very poor photoshop of it on her computer and emailed it to an artist friend of hers.
"He took my really crappy photoshop job and made that!" Tokio concluded with an excited grin on her face.
"It is really cool! So who's your…AHH!" she screamed amazed at the signature on the bottom left corner of the painting.
"Is this who I think it is!?" she asked Tokio amazed. Tokio smiled, her artist friend that made the portrait was none other than Max Pegasus – the creator of Duel Monsters.
"I worked at a hospital in LA with Max's wife Cecilia – she was a nurse. We've been friends for a long time," she replied.
"Cool! Hey is that how you guys got me that invite to the tournament in San Francisco?" Mai asked excited. Tokio explained Max sent her the special invite because of her status as chess grandmaster.
"Then he sent me a note after the tournament that he was really impressed with your dueling skills and will be looking forward to seeing you in more tournaments," Tokio added. Mai hooted and danced around the room. She put her painting on her mother's lap finally and came to give Tokio a hug.
"Thanks Tokio! You're an awesome new sister!" she exclaimed hugging Tokio tight.
"I love you too Mai," she said softly…
"Ok! Now it makes sense! Now I get why your Harpy combo is so tough to beat Mai! And why its your go-to move!" Jou exclaimed.
"Indeed! The bond you have with those cards is very strong, Mai. I see why now," Yugi added in a solemn tone. Mai looked uncomfortable then and rolled her eyes. Seto came to her rescue.
"Ugh! Spare us the Heart of the Cards speech! I want to hear the rest of the story!" Seto scoffed at Yugi. Yugi only smirked amused at him.
"Our apologies… please continue Sanosuke," Yugi replied but exchanged an amused glance with Anzu as the story continued. Sano added that Oume and Mai's present to Tokio and Hajime was a crystal statue of Princess Leia looking exceedingly regal in her medal ceremony dress. The white base of the statue had a little light hidden in it that when you flipped the switch made the statue glow in a soft blue light. Oume had it custom made by some famous artist in Italy. Tokio was beside herself with joy. Tokio had given Oume a large frame with a collage of pictures, some Tokio had in her storage but most she'd gotten from Night. They were pictures of herself and Hanna from when she and Hanna first met. Oume was moved by the gift and Sano was not the only one surprised to see the soft and very human smile on Oume as she examined the pictures.
"There was a lot of picture giving that year, that there was. Momma got a picture from Tokio of Aoshi, Sano, Kenshin and herself wearing Star Wars costumes and a frame from Hajime with a picture of himself and Tokio-dono that was rather strange. He carved it himself and it was round and had some very strange symbols carved around it," Kenshin put in.
"Nii-sama told momma that day that the frame was a promise…one day he would tell us what the symbols mean and we would know what he did but in the mean time we needed to stop trying to sneak the information out of them," Aoshi added.
"Most of us continue to wait," Aoshi concluded solemnly. He cast a glance at Sano who leaned unconcerned on the wall picking at some imperfection on his nail. He looked up only when he realized that everyone was watching him.
"Oh right! Like Kenshin said…a lot of pictures went around that year," Sano continued ignoring Aoshi's implicating stare and pretending he had not heard them. Sano had joined the Marines about two years ago and a few months ago, he was assigned to the same post as Hajime and Tokio. Aoshi sighed and exchanged a sad glance with Kenshin that Sano ignored. Seto filed this very telling exchange away for more questions later as Sano explained Night's Christmas tradition of bringing a paintball gun to the gift exchange. If you gave a thoughtless gift or tried to prank someone with your Christmas gift to them he shot you with the gun right then and there.
'Sano isn't just a muscle guy! He's smarter than he lets people know,' thought Seto
"I wish I'd had a paintball gun too. Big Brother and I got gifts that were so bad that I wished I could throw them at Gozaburo and his buddy Kanryu!" Mokuba complained bitterly.
"At least we learned what not to give each other or anybody else…ever!" Seto agreed equally annoyed. Yugi exchanged an excited glance with Anzu but as he opened his mouth to say something Mai jumped in to the rescue this time.
"Oh just keep going Sano before these two start spewing friendship speeches!" Mai groaned loudly shooting Yugi and Anzu an annoyed look that just made them and all their friends grin. Sano quickly continued, he recounted how excited Tokio had been when he, Kenshin and Aoshi presented their gifts to her. They had made her a replica of Princess Leia's snow suit from Hoth…
Sano sat back feeling pretty smug. Sure, all the rest of Tokio's gifts were cool but there's had been the best!
'There's no way the Wolf is topping us! It's the most practical and still a Star Wars gift!' thought Sano smugly. Halloween had been so cold that Tokio couldn't wear any of her costumes.
'This way she has a costume but she'll still be warm and snug in it! Beat that Wolf!' he thought feeling pretty good. Night had put away his paintball gun now. Shuura would be dodging getting shot this year but barely! She gave Tokio a little vase with some very beautiful artificial orchids. The vase had a picture of Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie from the medal ceremony scene. Tokio quickly defended Shuura saying she had been wanting a little vase to put flowers in front of her family's picture in her Star Wars room. She even read aloud Shuura's note tied to the flowers in the box:
"This way your mom always has her favorite flowers! Your pal, Shuura"
Shuura's little note had moved Tokio in such a way that one little tiny tear escaped her eyes. So Night let Shuura slide mostly because of the note. He knew the vase was a slight prank regarding an embarrassing incident Hajime had in his teenage years at Victoria's house. But he was going to give her a pass…this time!
'It's still not better than ours!' thought Sano. Hajime got a Han Solo snow jacket and gloves from the three of them. But gift giving had come to a halt when Tokio opened the box with the pieces of her suit. She insisted on trying it on right away! She came out and showed them. Every piece – from the jacket to the boots – had been carefully tailored and fit her perfectly! She sat back down to open gifts leaving the boots and pants on. She took off the jacket and gloves and hung them by the door, she would be wearing it home. Sano noticed smugly that Hajime had been eyeing his gift for Tokio nervously through the exchange. Their gifts for each other were the last ones left.
'Probably knows he can't beat ours,' thought Sano feeling pretty good about life as Hajime opened his gift from Tokio and smiled.
"You said you wanted to upgrade your mic but since you hadn't had a chance, Sgt. Siler and Sam helped me build it in the lab," Tokio explained blushing.
"It's perfect!" Hajime replied smiling at the little device. Tokio had built him a replacement microphone for his Stormtrooper helmet. He looked really happy about it. It was small, round and very light and was completely wireless. It definitely occupied less space than the headset he usually wore and had a far smaller yet longer lasting power source. He'd been too busy to sit down and build a better one. Sano rolled his eyes as he kissed Tokio and thanked her for his gift. Haji got up then and took Tokio's gift from under the tree and handed it to her. It looked about the size and shape of an ordinary shoe box. He'd wrapped the top separate from the bottom, it was only held together by a white ribbon tied up in a simple bow.
'The wrapping job is pretty crappy,' Sano noted. It looked like he'd rushed to wrap it at the last minute with plain white wedding gift paper. Sano shook his head.
'Wolf's getting paintballed today!' he thought amused.
"I'm not very good at wrapping babe, sorry," he apologized as he handed it to her, then stepped back and watched her open it. She just smiled at him as she put the package on her lap and undid the bow.
"Hajime that doesn't matter it's …" she stopped as she lifted the top and looked inside the box, her eyes went wide! She looked up at Hajime surprised. He smiled looking unsure for moment which was unusual for him.
"Look at the note," he said and with shaking hands she lifted the note out of the box. Sano was burning to know what was inside the box but nobody moved…everyone waited quietly. She read the note to herself and without warning she started crying. She put the box and note aside and in a flash she had her arms wrapped around Hajime, she hugged him tight as she wept. Sano frowned and wanted to know what was in the box but watching her cry he didn't know what to do. Night reached over to the love seat she and Hajime were sharing and plucked carefully the little box from the couch.
"Holy frick in a bucket!" exclaimed Night as his eyes went wide at the contents of the box. He tilted the box so, Victoria – sitting in an armchair next to him – could see the contents. Her eyes went wide with surprise. Night tilted the box towards the rest of the living room. Sano's mouth hung open with shock…
"Aw…it's Princess Leia! Do you like it Tokio?" Mai asked…
"I'm pretty sure she liked it Mai," Jou teased grinning at Mai.
"Be quiet you!" she replied slightly embarrassed and gave him a light shove that knocked him slightly off his perch on the armrest Mai was sitting on. He and his sister snickered teasingly.
"At least I said something! Everybody else just sat there opened mouthed staring like a bunch of dorks," she defended herself haughtily but it just made her friends snicker even more. Seto rolled his eyes.
"Aside from its obvious sentimental value, I assume this doll was very rare. I can't imagine you three not trying to get a replacement before Hajime went looking for it," Seto deduced very solemnly.
"Watch out! Dragon boy is on fire!" teased Sano.
"You are right, that you are Seto-kun!" Kenshin replied.
"Yes, we attempted the year before to replace the doll but we were not successful in finding one," Aoshi added. He explained Tokio had not said anything about the doll until just before she went into the Air Force.
"We took Tokio to Rancho Obi-Wan and that's when she told us about the doll," Sano added. He explained that was the birthday present they gave her before she joined the Air Force. They had the doll on display at the museum and Tokio was happy to see it.
"You have more resources than Hajime, how did he find a replacement when you couldn't?" Seto asked confused.
"Once more Seto-kun deduces correctly, that he does!" Kenshin replied cheerfully.
"Watch out Aoshi…looks like somebody's gonna knock you off your teacher's pet throne!" Kaoru teased. Misao giggled teasingly but Aoshi was not amused.
"It has become obvious to me – as it should to you Kaoru – that our sensei wishes us to stop being students and become teachers ourselves. Furthermore, I doubt very much the existence of this imaginary position as sensei treats us all equal," he replied sounding annoyed. Seto gritted his teeth trying to be patient. There was nothing more annoying to him than interruptions. He wanted an answer to his question!
"Sure Mr. Spock! You keep telling yourself that!" Kaoru countered as Misao laughed. Sano came to the rescue.
"Anyway," he began a touch annoyed at being sidetracked. Everyone's attention shifted back towards him. Seto relaxed grateful that the story was back on track.
"To answer your question Seto: Tokio told us that she tossed the doll in to the flames but nothing more. She left a crucial detail out!" Sano continued with a mischievous smirk and paused for dramatic effect.
"The doll survived! The doll Hajime gave her that Christmas was her doll!" he announced and was rewarded with gasps from Anzu and her friends. Seto tilted his head and exchanged a surprised look with his brother.
"But how?! How did it survive when nothing else did?" exclaimed Anzu.
"Well, crazy bitch Takako forgot about her neighbors. They saw a giant blaze coming from the field behind her house in the middle of a scorching, dry summer and they called the fire department!" Sano replied endlessly amused adding that the doll had been the last thing she threw in the flames. The kids in the room said a long "Oh" together as understanding seemed to hit them.
"Ok that explains how the doll survived," began Duke.
"But how did she not have the doll if it made it out of the fire?" Bakura concluded. Sano smirked then looked at Seto.
"Alright Dragon boy! Do that Sherlock thing you've been doin' so well and answer Bakura's question!" he announced with a smirk of mischief on his face. Seto was surprised as suddenly every eye in the room was on him but he recovered quickly. He thought about it for a moment and the answer was obvious.
"Grandma was insane so that meant the doll was not safe in her possession. She obviously knew that! She gave it instead to one of the firefighters to either keep or give it to another child who would appreciate the doll," he began.
"Somebody keeping track around here? Cuz Seto isn't missing anything! Keep going!" Sano encouraged shooting a teasing smirk at Aoshi.
"By some twist of fate…or perhaps the man was sentimental enough to hope to find Tokio again one day…the doll was still in his possession 13 years later," Seto continued.
"Showing that you're paying attention…that's the quickest way to Sensei's heart!" Kaoru added with a teasing smile. Sano encouraged him to continue.
"She didn't tell anyone the real fate of the doll to keep the firefighter and her doll safe from her grandmother and her lackeys who might use it and him against her," Seto continued.
"Oh he's good," said Misao to Mokuba who grinned proudly.
"But, 13 years later, she decides to break her silence and tell her then fiancé what really happened to the doll. He – of course – understanding the significance of the doll used his military contacts to track down the firefighter and find out the fate of the doll," he paused to gather his thoughts "But sensei said he flew a thousand miles to get it so I imagine he encountered some resistance from the firefighter and had to fly out to meet him in person in order to convince the man to let him take the doll back to Tokio. He succeeded obviously and then presents it to her as a Christmas present that same year," Seto concluded confident that he had gotten all of it right.
"Seto Kaiba for the win!" Sano exclaimed as everyone in the room clapped. Mokuba glowed with pride as Kenshin gave Seto a pat on the back. Sano explained that for Tokio the doll represented the home she lost and thought she would never have again. By returning the doll to her the Wolf reassured her that she had a home and it would survive anything just as the doll had.
"Hajime managed to do all of that without any of you finding out. That was quite a feat. I imagine Sensei and Nightraven aren't very easy to surprise," Seto added pensively. He added Hajime to the short list of people he needed to meet.
"Never underestimate what my brother can do," Mai pointed out with an arrogant smirk.
"You do so at your peril if you underestimate either one of those wolves," pointed out Kaoru solemnly. She cast a meaningful glance at Kenshin and Aoshi.
"Well anyway, you're right on all counts, Seto. The Wolf bid his time and waited for everyone to be out of town," continued Sano. He had jumped on a cargo plane leaving for the Great Lakes Naval base, driven to Chicago from there then drove back and hopped back on the same cargo plane with the doll in hand.
"Did it all in under 24 hours and none of us knew what he did until Christmas," Sano ended.
"It wasn't the first time he did something like that any way! The year before he drove from LA to San Francisco and back in one weekend just to buy a couple of cards for Mai because the owner refused to sell to anyone not local!" Sano pointed out which prompted more teasing from Jou and his sister.
"Let me guess: Harpy combo cards, right?" Jou asked with a teasing smirk. Mai rolled her eyes and reluctantly added that she got Elegant Egotist and Mirror Wall along with a couple more Harpies that year.
"Called it!" Jou exclaimed cheerfully to teasing snickers from his friends. He got shoved again for his trouble but it didn't stop Jou from laughing. Serenity hugged her gushing on how lucky they both were to have awesome big brothers. Sano added that Hajime had taken the Princess Leia doll to his CO's house and asked him to hide it for him.
"To make sure Tokio didn't happen across it while cleaning out a closet or something and spoil the surprise," Seto deduced. He asked himself why Hajime didn't just keep it at the base where he worked. He reasoned that it was not likely to be safe there. Whatever Hajime and Sano did in a supposedly boring research facility 25 floors underneath a mountain, was dangerous.
"Ok Darth Kaiba, now you're just showing off!" Sano countered between amused and annoyed. Mokuba chuckled.
"Big Brother loves to show off!" Mokuba replied with a teasing smile at his brother. Seto rolled his eyes. He only half-listened though as Mokuba and Yugi teased him about the various ways Seto liked to show off. He was busy contemplating everything he had learned so far. Hajime and Tokio were interesting people but the picture was not complete. There was more to be learned. His Sensei returned and caused a stir when she came in escorted by the young daughter of his head maid.
"Welcome to Mr. Kaiba's manor. Please let us know if we can do anything to make you feel more welcome," said the 6 year old daughter of Nagisa Okazaki – his head maid – as she was introduced by Victoria. Her father Tomoya, was Seto's driver and handyman. She curtsied and Seto rolled his eyes as every female in the room descended into utterly girly-ness, gushing on how adorable the child was.
"You are too cute!" gushed Anzu.
"Little miss Ushio has offered to give me a tour of the house. Her grandfather is the one baking those delicious tiny buns!" Victoria explained smiling at the sweet little girl. Seto decided he didn't want to endure another round of girly silliness and with an excuse in hand about dinner he stepped out of the office. The party was moving to Aoshi's house for dinner, he needed to let his limited staff know. He excused himself as the girls squealed and gushed over cute little Ushio who idolizes Mokuba. He found a cheerful chaos in the kitchen that came to a sudden halt as he walked in. Nagisa recovered first.
"Mr. Kaiba! Are your new friends staying for dinner sir?" she asked looking more cheerful than normal – which was saying a lot since Nagisa was always cheerful. Her family looked on expectantly with big hopeful smiles on their faces.
"No, they'll be leaving in an hour or so I believe," he replied and as one their faces all fell in disappointment.
"Mokuba and I will be having dinner at the Shinomori House," he added and just like that their expressions were cheerful again.
"Alright! Let's crank these last trays out Tomoya!" called out Nagisa's father enthusiastically. His driver Tomoya resumed his work as Nagisa's mother loaded trays with hors d'oeuvres. Nagisa followed Seto out of the kitchen intent on refreshing everyone's drinks.
"I don't think I've ever seen all of your family here at once Mrs. Nagisa," Seto commented on his way back from the kitchen.
"You never have parties Mr. Kaiba so I was surprised when I got your call sir! I called my family and they all came out to help!" she replied cheerfully.
"And if I may be so bold Mr. Kaiba, it's so nice to see you and Mr. Mokuba having so much fun! I haven't seen you two have this much fun since Battle City!" she remarked cheerfully.
'hmm, so they like it here,' Seto thought. He never thought of them as looking out for anything but their paychecks and expected them to leave as soon as they got a better offer. The Okazakis had outlasted any house staff Gozaburo ever had though. No maid had ever lasted more than a year and trying to get a new butler was not even a possibility anymore. It was mostly Gozaburo's stupid feud with the Shinomoris that scared any potential staffers away, though he did a fair amount of scaring staff away too after Gozaburo died. Roland had hired the Okazakis after the first duel with Yugi.
'And if Pegasus invading my home didn't scare them away then likely nothing will,' he thought intrigued by the notion of having employees loyal to more than their paychecks. He had never thought such a thing possible. They arrived at Seto's office and after they told Nagisa what they wanted to drink, he found them watching videos on the big screen from a flash drive Sano carried on his key chain. Everyone was huddled around his desk laughing at some baby videos of Anzu. Yugi and his gang stuck to the broodies though. The story of Aoshi's eighteenth birthday promised to be interesting, they wanted to hear it too.
"You're just in time! I was gonna show them a video of Tokio! It's an oldie but a goodie!" Sano exclaimed, he clicked off a video of toddler-Anzu crying over some toy she dropped in the water, to Anzu's relief. Her friends continued to snicker teasingly at her.
"So you guys remember how grandma was a nut job right?" Sano began. He waited for their collective yes.
"So she actually died a few months after her family did and Tokio would've been ok but the bitch made sure to leave some stand in psychos to finish what she started," Sano explained. And he told them then of Tokio's chief abuser: a cousin of hers named Chris.
"I thought of this video because we were telling Seto that Tokio was no damsel in distress. Sure, she had trouble with Chris 'cuz he was always sneaking up on her or bringing a couple thugs to help him out," Sano began.
"What a creep?!" Jou blurted out indignant. His friends grumbled agreements.
"How was he able to get away with that?" asked Bakura baffled. Sano explained that his grandfather was a well connected senator. Chris could've gotten away with murder if he wanted to. But the goal of torturing Tokio, was to get her to give up her inheritance.
"All of that changed once Tokio acquired high level security clearance. But you know what...I'm just gonna let the pictures tell the tale," he finished with a big grin on his face. The video opened with Tokio standing in front of a sink, her back to the camera. She moved to her right to grab a paper towel and turned towards the camera as she wiped her hands with a thoughtful look on her face. A tall blonde man appeared in the right side of the screen and Tokio turned to speak to him.
"Is that him?" asked Mokuba concerned.
"Yea! Keep watching!" Sano replied with a maniacal grin on his face. All the kids huddled together and watched. Seto observed Mai was mostly watching everyone else.
'She must've seen this already I'm sure,' thought Seto. A gasp swept through the room as the man moved to attack Tokio. Even Seto found himself clenching his fists with anger for a moment. But the moment passed as Tokio side stepped the man's attack, grabbed his fist and twisted his arm behind his back then slammed him face down on the counter. Seto laughed but realized right away he wasn't the only one. Everyone else laughed too. He realized that, while Tokio must've at first been at a physical and psychological disadvantage to Chris, that probably had changed once she was hanging around Aoshi.
'She acquired some new power being with them and sharing in their adventures. I have to have it!' thought Seto determined now to follow the same path as they. Sano disengaged his flash drive and Mokuba shut down the computer. They all filed out of the room following after the broodsters. The younger ones wanted to hear the story of Aoshi's eighteenth birthday. The all arranged themselves around Seto and Aoshi once more.
'All except Sensei whose off avoiding being questioned about her scheming,' Seto observed amused as he sat on his arm chair with his brother perched on the right arm rest of his chair. To his surprise Mai sat on his left. He just shrugged and let it be, she was likely trying to escape from being smothered by Serenity in any way she could. Seto found he didn't mind.
'I need access to her brother and Tokio,' he thought making plans to have her hang around more.
"Oh, Tokio says you can email her if you have any questions about the research your referencing on your virtua-pod," she began, reading a text on her phone. Seto raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"I left her email address on your computer," Mai added casually as she scrolled through her messages and answered a text. Seto was pleased by this but managed a very neutral sounding "Thank you". He wanted the stories to continue, not be derailed again by Yugi and his gang.
"Something occurs to me Mai," Anzu began giving Mai a suspicious look "you knew who I was when you watched Yugi duel Weevil back in duelist kingdom, didn't you?" she began but her tone gave the impression she knew the answer.
"Of course I did! At first, I thought you were just being gutsy and sneaking on to the island to duel whether Pegasus invited you or not," she began not looking up from her phone "but then I found you and you were just standing in the sidelines being captain of the cheerleading squad with a bunch of dorks. No way I was telling you who I was! I have a reputation to maintain," Mai concluded very solemnly. Seto laughed loudly, he had been wondering the same thing. He was glad he'd guessed at the answer correctly.
"You're ruthless Mai!" Anzu laughed unfazed by Mai's comments. Serenity and Jou snickered amused and gave Mai a teasing look.
"So how come you didn't tell us after, when we were camping together? No one around then," Anzu asked.
"First of all, you were surrounded by a bunch of dorks still and second if I told you your parents sent me, you would freak out. I wanted to see how you would act without parents or informants around," Mai replied.
"I wanted to see if you were gonna be any fun but you weren't…you were and still are a total goody-goody dork," Mai replied with a little teasing smirk. Anzu and her friends laughed. Sano however seemed relieved for a moment then gave Yugi a piercing look. Seto laughed as Yugi chuckled nervously and Sano mouthed the words "I'm watching you". Mai explained to Seto and Mokuba that she hadn't said anything until after Battle City either because it felt like a secret identity and it was fun!
"My cover was blown though when Shuura came to pick me up!" Mai added with a shrug. Seto laughed heartily along with Mai. He filed all this information away to dissect later. The jokes were great but Seto wanted things to get back on track so he went to the Go board and put a stone down. He realized that this would signal Aoshi that he wanted the stories to continue.
"So, getting back to our story…nii-sama wishes me to continue with my eighteenth birthday," Aoshi began and the room became quiet as everyone turned to listen...