Author Note: I'm going to be rather busy today with appointments. So, I'm updating early. I'll resume normal timed updates next week. Enjoy! 😊

Chapter 26:

Conflict and Cookies

Seto sat in the waiting room of the hospital, his arms and legs crossed. He occasionally glared at the nurse sitting behind the waiting room desk. She flinched when they made eye contact. When they'd gotten to the hospital, they had made him to wait in the waiting room while they took Ana back to run some tests. Should I go back and shoot Ren? Or should I have my contacts have some fun with him? He smirked when he remembered how a few lines from Ana had turned that arrogant piece of filth into a whimpering puppy. The nurse gave him a funny look, but he ignored her as he glanced at the door they had taken Ana through. How much longer?

"Where's my daughter!"

Seto turned toward the familiar voice and watched Ana's family rush into the waiting room and head straight for the desk. The nurse pulled back a little as her mother, Kiko, nearly jumped at the counter.

"Sakurai Ana, where is my daughter?" She demanded.

"She's in testing right now. If you would sit down and wait—"

"Don't you tell me to wait! I want to see my daughter now!" Kiko looked ready to bite the poor woman's head off.

"Kiko, calm down." Ana's father tried to interject, but he received a scalding look that shut him up.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Gai. My daughter was abducted and held against her will. I want to see her, now." Kiko growled.

Oh, so that's what her father's name is… Wait, does that mean I know her entire family's names now? What a waste of brain space.

The nurse tried again and pointed at the waiting room. "If you would have a seat… Please."

Kiko glanced at the waiting room and locked eyes with Seto. "You."

Smack! Seto sat stunned as he looked up at Aiko, Ana's sister. While his attention had been on Kiko, she'd rushed him and slapped him on the cheek. Tears and black mascara stained her pretty face.

"You asshole! What where you thinking charging into the warehouse? Ana could have gotten hurt. Are you an idiot?" She screamed at him.

Seto recovered from the slap and stood up, towering over her. He glared down at her angrily. He hadn't just charged in. Seto had waited painfully with his military contacts while they observed the situation. His contacts informed him of what was about to happen to Ana. They didn't know how far the man intended to take his perversions, so they stormed the building for fear that she might not be mentally whole when the man finished.

"That's enough, Aiko." Dai strode over to them and planted himself between them. The old man's interference pissed Seto off more.

"I don't need your help, old man." Seto growled.

"I'm not helping you, I'm calming my granddaughter down," Dai replied smoothly.

Someone cleared their throat, and they turned to a middle-aged man in a white doctor's coat. "I'm Kanta Uji. The one treating Sakurai-san. Are you Sakurai-san's family? If so, you can come see her now."

Ana's family practically rushed the doctor, minus Dai and Hikari, who hung back.

"How's my daughter?" Kiko asked, nearly grabbing the man by the coat, but her husband pulled her back.

The doctor tensed up but continued despite the close proximity. "She has a couple fractured ribs, but mostly only sustained cuts and bruises. No concussion, despite being hit in the face a few times. I'm more worried about her mental state. I would advise you get her into therapy as soon as you can since she's been through something traumatic. She's currently resting, but immediate family may see her."

That was all Seto needed to hear. He turned and headed down the hallway. Should I boil him in oil or have him tied above a pit of vipers? No… that's not enough suffering. Maybe I should research torture methods?

"Kaiba-san."

Seto groaned and turned to Dai, who'd followed him. "What do you want, old man?"

Dai chuckled. "I see your polite facade is completely gone."

He felt his eye twitch in irritation. "If you have nothing of importance to say…"

Dai bowed deeply to Seto, making him pause. "Thank you for saving my granddaughter."

Seto didn't know how to respond to his sincerity. He decided not to say anything and left the old man with his head bowed.

Seto stared at the cookie on the baking paper in front of him and slowly piped on a few lines of icing. He glanced at his reference photo and nodded his head, satisfied.

"Not again!" Mokuba shouted as he ran into the Kaiba mansion's kitchen. "Nii-san, you need to stop kicking the staff out of the kitchen. We have servants who can make food for you!"

"It's my kitchen. I'll do what I please with it." Seto glared at his little brother as he cleaned off his hands.

Mokuba walked over to the island counter top and glanced at what Seto had been working on. "Nii-san, please. I beg you, go see her. It's been two weeks since you rescued Sakurai-san and you haven't once gone to visit her in the hospital."

Seto raised an eyebrow at Mokuba. "I rescued her, so why should I visit her?"

Mokuba pointed to the cookies Seto had finished icing. "Don't you try to dodge the question by attempting to make this a superiority thing. You're obviously restless and want to go. Why else would you be kicking our chefs out of the kitchen and making intense mini bakes all night long? First it was a miniature Blue Eyes on a cake playing field, and now you've made a full set of cookies that are identical to every card in your deck! I know things have calmed down at work, but you can't do this instead. When was the last time you slept?"

Seto looked at the completed batch of cookies he'd spent all night painstakingly painting and icing to look like the cards in his deck. He'd just finished up the last Blue Eyes. He thought they looked realistic enough he might be able to play a game with them.

"Go see her! I can't take this anymore. Since you kick the chefs out, they have nowhere to make breakfast and I'm hungry." Mokuba whined. "You saved her life. The least you could do is check on her and see how she's doing!"

As Mokuba shouted at Seto, he found a storage tub for the cookies and packed them into it. He shoved the tub at Seto and huffed. "This works out perfectly. You have a gift for her. It's the weekend and I've already taken care of your work for you. The driver is ready and waiting, so have fun."

"What? W-Wait!" Mokuba pushed him out of the kitchen and to the main hall.

"I need a shower first!" Seto shoved the tub back into Mokuba's hands. He headed back to his room and for a fleeting moment wondered why he was letting his little brother push him around. When was the last time I slept? He quickly got ready and glanced in the mirror. There were deep circles under his eyes. Oh, well. He got into the car and the driver took off. It was a six-hour drive there, which was plenty of time for him to pass out in the back seat. When they got there, the driver woke him and gave him the tub. Seto made an annoyed noise when he saw the tub. He was sure that he'd left it back at the house. Mokuba must have given it to the driver.

He entered the hospital that Ana had been at for the last couple weeks and made his way to the nurse's station. It was the same nurse from that night. She recognized him immediately and told him which room Ana was in. Seto made his way to her room, but when he saw someone stepping out of the door, he quickly ducked into a side hall. Why am I hiding? He stayed hidden as Hikari passed him by. Ugh, if her family's here then I'm heading home. He hurried down the hall, and as quietly as possible opened the door to her room before peeking in.

Ana was sitting up in bed reading a book. There wasn't anyone else in the room with her. The swelling on her face had gone down, and she seemed in much better shape. Welp, that's all I need to know. Seto started to close the door and leave.

"Is someone there?" Ana called out.

He froze at having been caught. He debated on whether to just leave or to go in. Apparently, he debated too long because Ana's voice came out panicked this time.

"If you don't announce yourself, I'm calling security."

Seto rolled his eyes and opened the door all the way before entering. Ana looked surprised to see him. Her surprise quickly changed to annoyance.

"What do you want, Amin-chan? I'm not better yet, so whatever you need help with will have to wait." Ana put her book down in her lap and frowned at him.

Need help with? Oh, right, I did say that shit to her when I rescued her. It's not like I could just flat out tell her I like her right after we had rescued her from a kidnapping. That would have made it seem like I was trying to coerce her. Wait… Wouldn't that have been a great time to get her to agree to date me? Then again, that probably would have just made her hate me.

"Amin-chan," Ana interrupted his stream of thought.

"What? Oh, I don't need help with that thing yet." Seto felt a little groggy from his nap.

Ana tilted her head and looked at him, confused. "Then why are you here?"

I haven't slept well in two weeks wondering if you're alright but figured if I showed up to find out then your family would kick me out and not let me see you. "Boredom."

She pursed her lips and looked at him, irritated. "Don't you have work to do? Also, Domino City is a long way from here."

"I don't have any work and it's not that far." He said as he plopped down in the seat next to her. He looked at the tub he'd set in his lap. "Want to play a game?"

"If you're asking me to play duel monsters, then no. I don't even own any cards." Ana rolled her eyes at him.

Seto pulled out his deck that was in the card holder on the back of his belt and placed it on the side of her bed. She looked at it confused as she picked up the cards. Her eyes widened as she looked through his deck.

"Isn't this your deck?" Ana had pulled out one of his Blue Eyes and was frowning at it. Seto ignored her question and opened the tub. He carefully arranged the cookies in the tub so they were face down and "drew" his hand.

"Do you know how to play?" He asked, wondering if he was going to have to teach her the basics.

"I vaguely remember from the couple times my classmates ask me to try it." Ana seemed to give in and set the deck on the bed next to her before drawing her hand. "Who goes first?"

"I will." He played Ryu-Kishin to start. He carefully rested the cookie on the tub lid so she could see it.

Ana looked over the card in her hand and frowned. She slowly laid down Hitotsu-Me. "He… attacks?"

"He wins. So, my monster goes to the graveyard." Seto picked up the cookie and bit it in half. Ana's mouth dropped opened, and he tried hard not to laugh.

"What are those?"

"Cookies. You want one?" Seto offered her one of the cards in his hand. She just so happened to pull the Blue Eyes.

"This is a cookie?" She took out her phone and took a picture. "Woah, someone put in a lot of work on these."

"Thank you." Seto smiled smugly.

Ana frowned at him. "Did you make these? You really were bored to make cookies that looked like your deck. I'm assuming you don't really want to play dual monsters, do you?"

Seto shook his head and took back his deck, putting the cards back in his pouch. "Nope. I just wanted to see the look on your face."

Ana rolled her eyes and looked back at the Blue Eyes cookie. She was about to take a bite when something fell in the hallway, making a loud clattering sound. Ana dropped the cookie in her lap and froze, the color draining from her face. She gripped the sheet on her bed and her breathing came in gasps.

"Are you alright?" He was taken about by her sudden panic.

"F-fine."

He didn't believe her. He stood up and opened the door. It looked as if a nurse had knocked off a tray from a cart on accident. After closing the door, he went back to his seat.

"It was just a tray," he said, but despite his confirmation she didn't seem any less tense. "What, are you suffering PTSD right now?"

Ana barely glanced at him, but he could tell from her tightened lips and lowered eyes that his question annoyed her. That… was the wrong thing to say.

"Are you seeing a councilor?" He asked, and by the look on her face he'd apparently asked yet another insensitive question. He groaned. "I don't really know what to say to make you feel better, but at least as long as I'm in this room no one can hurt you."

She laughed, but it was forced. "That's a very high and mighty statement. I suppose that's very like you."

"What? You doubt me?" Seto felt irritated.

"Just because you're strong doesn't mean you can't be overpowered." Ana's eyes were locked on her clenched hands. Her knuckles had turned white. He understood from the way she said it she wasn't talking about him.

He sighed and pointed to the KC emblem on his collar. "If I pressed this, a team of highly trained guards would descend on this place in three seconds. If that still didn't work, then this button on my watch would summon my private jet. If that didn't work, then a quick phone call would summon the Japanese Defense Force here. If all that fails, then I break someone's arm, jump out a window and hijack a car to get away."

Ana looked up at him. His statement must have sounded ridiculous to her because she gave him a genuine smile, even if it was tinged with exhaustion. "That's all set up to save you. Not me."

"I will not leave you behind. You still have to help me." Seto pulled out that excuse again. It seemed she at least believed that and was calming down some.

"You can't get someone else to help you?" She looked tired as she leaned back into her pillow.

"Nope. It has to be you."

Ana sighed. "If you're needing my family's help with something, it would be better to ask my grandfather."

"I said it has to be you. No one else."

She paused as she eyed him closely, as if trying to figure out his game. She opened her mouth, but the door opened and Hikari returned with a bag.

"Hey Ana, I got your clothes—Kaiba-san?" Hikari dropped the bag in surprise and Seto sighed.

Time's up. He stood up and walked around Hikari before anymore was said. Hikari didn't chase him at least, and Seto headed back to his driver who'd been taking a break. Seto glanced up to a window he thought was around the area of Ana's room. Hmm, I think I just had an idea about what to make her do as payment. He smirked to himself and started planning in his head as his exhausted driver started the six-hour drive back to Domino city.