Chapter 14

Tutoring and Feelings

Why? Why? Why did I bother giving her my opinion? No, focus! Seto smacked his cheeks and tried to focus on his report. He needed to get it finished before he went to school. Yesterday, Mokuba's visit to meet his "girlfriend" and his conversation with Ana had thrown him off. His mind drifted back to his conversation with Ana. It was none of his business what she did with her future. So why did it bug him that she was cowering from her own family? He could understand if they were like Gozaburo, but her brother adored her and it didn't seem like the other members disliked her. Was it this grandfather he'd never met making her act this way? His alarm went off, telling him it was time to go. Damn it! He rushed to finish up the report and headed to school.

When he got there, he found Ana's seat was empty. Is she late? That's odd. He slid into his seat and pulled out his tablet. Occasionally, he glanced up at her seat. Right before the bell rang, she and her friend wandered in. He froze when he saw how puffy and red her eyes were. That's not my fault is it? What no, of course it's not… She said nothing as she went to sit down. Sanae sat down, also looking grim. What happened?

He tried to push it out of his mind and went back to his tablet, but an uneasy feeling made it hard for him to focus. Whenever breaks occurred Ana would lay her head down and not talk to anyone. What the frick' happened! He shook his head and tried harder to focus on his work. It doesn't matter, it's none of my business.

There was never a chance to find out what had happened, because Ana even slept through lunch. At the end of the day Goda-sensei called out to him, Ana, and knock-off Yugi. Oh, right tutoring. Frick' let's just get this over with.

"Kaiba-san, you'll be tutoring Sakurai-san and Yato-san in math. If their scores go up on the next test, then I'll take them off mandatory tutoring. That would free up some time for you too, wouldn't it Kaiba-san?" Goda smiled at the three of them and left them be.

Seto groaned. "Fine, let's go to the library and get this over with."

"Oh, Kaiba-san, I never introduced myself, did I? I'm forgetful like that sometimes. I'm Yato Arata, but everyone just calls me Arata. So, feel free to call me that too," the peppy redhead offered while smiling.

"Shut up, Yugi." Seto walked out of the classroom and headed to the library.

"It's Yato, not—" Arata tried to correct him.

He glared down at the redhead. "I know what I said, Yugi."

Ana was quiet and wouldn't look up from the ground as they walked. Knock-off Yugi looked back and forth between them. When they got to the library, the redhead pulled out his phone and looked at something.

"Oh, no. I totally forgot that, uh, thing was today. I'll have to reschedule. Bye!" He ran away before Seto could say anything.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose feeling tired and looked down at Ana. She wouldn't look at him. "What, you going to run away too?"

She finally looked up at him. Her eyes were still red and puffy. He flinched and felt that unease again. Not saying anything, she went into the library and found a table at the back. Pulling out her math textbook, she sat down quietly. Seto groaned and plopped into the seat next to her. He took out his homework as well, since he needed to do it too.

"Alright, what don't you get?" Seto held out his hand, and she passed him her workbook. He looked over the problems. She had a good basic understanding of most of it. It was the more recent things that were tripping her up. He pointed to a few of the problems. "You need to use this formula here. On this one you rounded wrong."

She took her book and redid the problems. He checked her work and found that it was right. "Ok, so on this one..."

They continued like this for a while. She didn't speak to him the entire time. Is she really that mad about yesterday? She's said way meaner things to me… Actually, I don't think I was even being mean!

"You're not bad at math, why do you need a tutor?" Seto finished checking her worksheet.

"I'm not bad at it. It just takes me a little longer to do it, and lately I haven't had the time." Ana finally spoke, but she still wouldn't look at him.

He couldn't take it anymore. "Ok, why are you like this? Are you really that upset about what I said yesterday? I wasn't even being that much of an ass. Sure, I called you a coward, but I think you have plenty of courage to tell your family you want to be a teacher. Heck, your brother adores you! He'd probably be on your side no matter what, so—"

Her lip quivered as she listened to him, and her eyes filled with tears that quickly ran over. Seto froze, his mind going blank. Ana covered her face with her hands and sobbed. Panicking, Seto looked to see if anyone was around. They were alone. Wha! Did, did I really make her cry? The uneasy feeling wouldn't go away and was gnawing at his insides. Wait, is this what they call guilt? He hadn't felt bad about making someone cry since he was little.

"Um…" He didn't know what to say to make her stop. "Wh-why? Please stop…. I'm… sorry, please stop."

The word tasted funny. She removed her hands, tears still pouring down her cheeks, and laughed.

"The great Kaiba Seto is apologizing to me. Is the world ending? I don't think anyone would believe me if I told them." She took deep breaths and tried to calm down.

He held his breath, waiting for her to regain her composure. She looked tired, depressed and defeated. I hate it. I hate seeing her cry. Slowly her sobs stopped, but her tears still leaked out silently.

"I tried telling my grandpa yesterday," she mumbled, but choked up a little.

Oh, so she's crying because it didn't go well, not because of me. Why does that not make me feel any better?

She smiled sadly at the table. "I couldn't even get a word out. He shut me down, told me that he'd chosen my fiancé, and that I would meet him this weekend."

The room became very silent except for the furnace buzzing as it pushed out heat. Seto felt rather calm, and angry all at the same time. Still, what came out his mouth surprised him. "Do you want me to chase him away?"

Ana looked up at him, her eyes wide, but the rest of her face expressionless. "What? Why would you do that?"

He didn't have an answer. "I guess…. Because I feel like it."

She raised an eyebrow at him before narrowing her eyes. "In exchange for what?"

"Nothing."

"I don't believe you." She looked at him distrustfully.

Can't blame her for that. He tried to think of something, but he couldn't. "I can't think of anything right now."

Ana wiped away the rest of the tears. "Do you even know what you're saying?"

"I'm offering to chase off your fiancé by pretending that our fake relationship is serious enough to consider me a candidate for your hand in marriage. Which means meeting your grandfather and possibly getting told by him to shove off. Then Hikari could stop helping me since you'd have a real fiancé." Seto laid it out for her.

"Exactly, which means there's nothing it if for you. In fact, you'd lose more than you gain." Ana started packing up her notebooks.

"You're wrong. If your engagement goes through, then Hikari has no reason to help me." Seto countered, now realizing the problem with their current situation.

Ana's mouth pursed as it seemed she was also just realizing it. "Yeah, but I don't think you can convince my grandpa that your serious. Hikari would willingly vouch for that and tell about the blackmail."

A sly thought crossed his mind. "Then let's make him an ally."

She tilted her head until a light lit up in her eyes. "You mean get him to play along with our fake dating so that I don't have to get engaged?"

"Yes, you don't think he wouldn't help you? Surely he will hear you out?"

Placing her finger on her lips, she thought hard. "Maybe, but I still don't think we could get grandpa to change his mind. He wouldn't find you a worthy candidate."

"Then you and Hikari can prepare me to seem like a worthy candidate. Surely, you'd know what your grandfather would want in one? Plus, it seems like your mother would at least be willing to help too, though that doesn't make me happy." Seto rolled his eyes.

Ana frowned at him. "Amin-chan, that seems like a lot of work for you. Is this job you're working on really that big a deal that you'd do all that?"

Honestly, he could probably find a way around it if he really wanted to, but failing could still affect his position. He sighed and glanced around, making sure no one was in the room before leaning over the table. Beckoning her to do the same, she leaned forward, and he cupped his mouth and whispered.

"This project wasn't supposed to be done by me. Someone in my company sent it through and made it look like the marketing company was a developmental company. We were only supposed to help fund and support the project. Someone is trying to sabotage it. If this product isn't ready for market in three months, then it will be revealed to the public and my shareholders that a project I personally signed off on was fake. The board members will be able to use that to sway the share holders into calling for my resignation." Seto leaned back and crossed his arms. He let out a loud sigh. Telling her this was a huge risk, and he didn't know if he could fully trust her with this, but he'd just have to take a gamble.

The looked she gave him was clear and determined. He was a little surprised and found his heart skip a beat when she smiled. "Alright, I understand. Thank you for trusting me. I'll help and in return you can help me with the engagement. However, I still don't think grandpa will cancel it."

"As long as we can stall it, I can utilize some connections to get this so-called fiancé a different alternative." Seto admitted. "You said you could bankrupt my company at one point, but I think you've underestimated my connections too."

Ana laughed. "Are you bragging, Amin-chan?"

"I have that right don't I, Chi-san?" Seto retorted.

She scowled at him. "I really don't like that nickname."

"And I hate Amin-chan, but you don't see me complaining now, do you?"

"I can stop calling you that then if you like?" Ana smiled sweetly, but he could feel the ulterior motive behind it.

"I'm still going to call you Chi-san."

She ticked her teeth, obviously annoyed. "Do you have time to go see my brother with me?"

"Since it kind of determines my entire future, yeah, I suppose I can squeeze it in."

Ana rolled her eyes, but smiled and stood up to lead the way out of the library.