Chapter 10

A Stand off and Karaoke

Seto scanned through his emails as he walked into the school. There was less to answer than normal. I guess Inu-san's more capable than I thought. Maybe I could use him on that other project… A mass of blood lust hit him in waves and he instinctively scowled. What idiot is picking a fight with me? Looking up from his phone, he found a small girl with short black hair that framed her face glaring at him. She was standing in front of the entrance to his classroom. Feeling challenged he instinctively glared back and tried to walk around her, but she slid in front of him blocking his path.

"What?" He snapped, annoyed at this sudden defiance to his presence.

"What are you doing with Ana?" The girl growled not the least bit afraid of him.

He snarled at her. There was still work to do, and she was taking up his precious time. "Who are you?"

The girl sneered back, her tone was mocking, "You're dating her, but you don't even know who her best friend is?"

Seto paused and re-examined the girl. He finally remembered that she was Sakurai-san's seat neighbor.

"I don't see the relevance of your question. Move." Seto's nostrils flared.

She laughed at him. "You don't do you? Well, usually when you're dating someone you at least know the name of their best friend—"

"Watanabe Sanae," A familiar voice introduced her from behind him. He turned to find Ana walking up to them while yawning.

"You weren't supposed to tell him." Sanae pouted.

Ana rubbed her eyes. "I think a better question is how do you know we're dating? I didn't tell you yet."

Sanae blushed and mumbled under her breath, "I saw you in the park yesterday and asked your brother what was going on."

"You saw us in the park?" Ana questioned her friend.

"Well… I was in the café next to it." Her eyes flashed to Seto, and she openly glared daggers at him. "I got concerned and called Hikari-kun to ask what was going on."

"You called him after you saw us? Instead of me? You sure that was the progression of those events?" Ana crossed her arms, looking sour.

Sanae lowered her head guiltily. "Ok, fine. He asked me to keep an eye out, and I just happened to be in the café around that time."

Seto listened to the exchange as he glanced down at his watch. He needed to get this report in. When are they going to be done?

"I wished you'd just asked me." Ana crossed her arms and sulked.

Sanae put her fingers together and looked sorry. "I'm sorry. I was concerned… So, is it true, are you two really dating? This isn't Hikari-kun over reacting again, is it?"

"Again?" Seto was curious about that statement.

Sanae shrugged. "Hikari-kun overreacts every time a guy gets close to Ana, but… when he said it was you that concerned me more than usual. I didn't think he knew you were going to our school and everything I've heard about you is bad."

This girl is as blunt as Sakurai-san. Well, at least that makes things clearer.

Ana groaned. "We are."

Sanae paused to looked back and forth between them before laughing. "April fools isn't for a while Ana."

Ana looked away, pursing her lips. "It's not a joke. We're dating."

Sanae looked up at Seto, who nodded. Are we done yet?

"Can you move now? I need to finish something before the bell rings," he snapped at her.

Still in shock, Sanae moved and let him through the door. He hurried to his seat and pulled out his tablet to finish up his report. He didn't even notice when people around the class gave him strange looks. It was easier to work at that park. I didn't mean to stay that late, but I got more stuff done there than at my apartment. Is it a public park? Maybe I could buy it. When the lunch bell rang, he snapped out of his work trance. That time already? Looking up, he found that the obnoxious girl wasn't in her seat; he glanced around the room. She and the other girl who'd blocked his path weren't there either. Whatever. He took out his lunch and ate one handed while working on more reports.

"Kaiba-san?"

He looked up mid-bite to find the bright red-haired boy who'd tried to talk to him before standing next to his desk. The boy smiled at him pleasantly, his golden eyes flashing with excitement. He reminded him of someone annoying, but who?

Seto swallowed the bite and snapped, "What?"

The boy flinched, but didn't give up. "Would you like to eat lunch with us?"

"No." Seto turned his attention back to his work hoping he would go away, but he could still feel the kid standing next to him. Glancing back up at him, Seto scowled at the redhead. "What are you still doing here?"

The boy laughed nervously. "I was wondering if after school you would want to go to karaoke with a group of us."

It finally dawned on him who this boy reminded him of. Yugi. This kid is as meddlesome as Yugi.

Seto ticked his tongue against his teeth. "And why would I want to do that?"

The boy seemed surprised, but not deterred. "Aren't you and Sakurai-san dating?"

Seto blinked, confused. What does the obnoxious girl have to do with this?

The boy continued, "Ah, maybe I'm wrong? Once a month most of the class goes out to karaoke… I figured since you two are dating that she would have invited you."

Seto's eye twitched. He felt like he was being set up. He decided that a less forceful refusal was needed. "I have to meet with the teacher after class."

The boy smiled. "That's ok. We'll wait. Meet us at the gate."

"Wait at sec—" Seto didn't get another chance to refuse the invitation.

The boy hurried back over to his friends. Crap. I should have just flat out told him to buzz off. Sakurai-san didn't mention this event when we were discussing the contract. Damn it. Seto shook his head and went back to work.

When the last bell rang, he stood up, packed up his stuff and headed to the teachers' room. When he opened the door, an older man looked up from his desk and his eyes narrowed at him. It was the teacher who always called on him in class, interrupting his work. Not that he could remember his name.

"I'm looking for Goda-sensei?" Seto explained.

The older man pointed to the back where his teacher was eating cup ramen. His comb-over had grown a little long, and he kept swiping it back out of his face, revealing his bald spot. Seto recognized him as their homeroom teacher. So that's what his name is. When he approached him, the man looked up from his noodles and smiled pleasantly.

"Kaiba-san! What a pleasant surprise."

Seto stopped and looked at the man suspiciously. This was normally the attitude someone gave him when they wanted something. No one was ever happy to see him.

"Right… I need to discuss something with you sensei," Seto explained most of the situation leaving out the part were Ana and him were blackmailing each other.

"I see. I see." Goda-sensei tapped his chin, thinking.

Did the obnoxious girl give me the wrong information? If he's not going to help, I need to figure something else out.

"Kaiba-san you're a good student, right?" He asked him.

Seto wanted to say something snarky, but held it back. "Yes."

"I'll get your request approved if you'll tutor a few students that are struggling. It won't interfere with your work," the teacher offered.

Frick. I already have enough going on! Goda grinned at him and Seto realized he didn't have much of a choice. Clenching his teeth, he nodded his agreement.

"Great, I'll give you the details by the end of the week," Goda-sensei went back to his ramen cheerfully.

Seto rubbed his head as he left and headed outside. He needed to go home and finish more work. Let's see, I need to send off the last info to Inu-san, get the next part of the blueprint made and—

"Kaiba-san!" The red-haired boy jumped in front of him.

Frick! I forgot about this idiot. A group of students were hanging around the gate. The obnoxious girl and her friend stood with them.

"Just in time! Come on, let's go." The boy shoved him to join the group.

"I need to go home and—" Seto tried to refuse.

"All work and no play makes jack a dull boy," the redhead interrupted him and took the lead of the group.

I should just leave.

The obnoxious girl's friend stepped up to him. "Going to bow out? Funny. You two just started dating? Don't you want to spend more time together? Maybe Hikari was right about you?"

Seto glared at her and looked over at Ana, who seemed even more tired than normal. "Fine."

Sanae snickered and followed the rest of the group. Ana fell back with him, looking exhausted.

"You didn't mention this," Seto growled under his breath.

Ana sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I forgot. I usually try not to think about things that interrupt my nap time."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. There was a little free time thanks to Inu-san, but he didn't want to use it for something like this.

"Hey, Kaiba-san can you sing?" The redhead shouted back at them excitedly, drawing the group's attention to them.

Listen, you little Yugi knock off, I will beat the shit out of you when this is all said and done.

Sanae interjected, "Yeah, Kaiba-san, I want to hear that."

The rest of the group agreed. Frick, I haven't done that since... A vague memory of a violin and a soft but masculine voice lulling him to sleep tried to seep into his mind. He quickly buried it. Those memories needed to die. They weren't useful. The group chatted excitedly among themselves, while Ana and he hung back quietly. Sanae glanced over her shoulder at them and frowned. It didn't take them long to reach the Karaoke place, and they all piled into a room. Seto pulled out his tablet and went back to work.

"Hey, hey, Kaiba-san, you need to learn to chill out sometimes. Here! You go first," the redhead held out the mic to him.

Seto glared at the mic, and the redhead flinched. "No."

The group shifted uncomfortably and Sanae smirked at him.

"Ana, don't you want to hear your boyfriend sing?" Sanae grabbed Ana's arm.

Ana looked ready to fall asleep. Her cheeks seemed a little pink. She smiled weakly at her friend. "I don't really care."

Sanae pouted at her, and the group tried to insist that Seto sing.

"No." The group quieted down when they heard the malice in his voice.

I'm not doing that ever again. They left him alone after that and treated him like an object in the room. The redhead tried a couple more times but gave up. The obnoxious girl didn't seem all that invested in karaoke either and somehow, they forgot to ask her to sing too. When they finished everyone walked out of the building and parted ways. Only he and the obnoxious girl were going the same way.

"Don't you dare do anything unsavory to her, you hear me?" Sanae warned Seto before they left.

Like I'd ever want to touch her. Ana chuckled but walked off before her best friend could say any more. They walked in silence. Seto glanced at her wondering what was up. Normally she would make fun of him, but her eyes were glued to the ground. Whatever, now I don't have to talk to her. When they got to the part where the path split, she looked up at him. Her eyes were glossy, and she smiled weakly.

"What?" He felt confused.

"Nothing. See you tomorrow, Amin-chan." A bit of her usual attitude was back, but not with as much vigor as usual.

"Right…"

He turned and headed down his street. Something about her attitude was off-putting. Why didn't she try to make me sing? Does she really not function that well without a nap? An unpleasant feeling lodged itself in his stomach. Whatever, it's none of my business. He was almost to his building, but the uneasy feeling wouldn't leave. Damn it! He turned back around and sprinted back to the main road, about a block down from the split he could see someone collapsed on the ground. Running over to the person, he found the obnoxious girl passed out. Her face was flushed and her breathing labored.

"Sakurai-san, get a hold of yourself."

Seto dropped his bag and bent down; he pulled her up and cradled her in one arm. Putting his wrist to her forehead, he checked her temp. Frick she's burning up. He looked around; the road was deserted. What now?