Author Note: I'm updating early because Tuesday is my wedding anniversary. Enjoy!

Chapter 60:

The Truth Best Left Unsaid

As Ana entered the dojo and closed the door, Seto leaned back against the wall, taking a moment to collect himself. Her questions had unearthed a memory he'd buried deep. When she'd ask if he'd ever wanted a normal career, the memory had only been a flash that he'd been able to suppress, but when she'd asked him if he wanted kids… Now that he was alone the memory was pushing its way to the surface. He wanted to shove it back in the tiny box that stored information he didn't want to concern himself with, but it wouldn't go back in. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. There was only one thing he could do at this point. He'd have to face the memory. Concentrating, he drew up the hazy memory until it became clearer. He almost stopped because it was such a bright memory that he wanted to shove it back in the box. The only thing this memory would bring him was pain, but he couldn't ignore it now. So he remembered.

The kitchen was small, and the room was bright. The white laminate floor lit up with natrual light from the windows. Seto was sitting across from a teeny tiny Mokuba who's hair was baby fine and sticking out in all directions. He was chubby and cute in his blue onesie. Seto himself was small and probably about sixish years old.

"Ok, now try again." Seto instructed the tiny Mokuba. "Se."

Tiny Mokuba seemed to like this game. "Se."

"To."

"To."

Seto nodded. "Good now all together. Seto."

Mokuba threw his chubby little hands into the air and shouted, "ToTo!"

Seto chuckled at the memory. He'd forgotten that Mokuba had called him that when he was little. He bit his lip and kept remembering. It was like watching an old movie in his head. The reel was playing slowly, but it was getting clearer the longer he watched.

"No!" Seto shouted, annoyed. "Again! Se."

"Se."

"To."

"To."

"Seto!"

"ToTo!" Mokuba burst into giggles at Seto's frustration.

"What are you doing?"

Seto turned to the man who'd entered the kitchen. He was tall, with brown hair that was slightly longer than Seto's but the same color, and grey eyes the color of Mokuba's. He was strikingly handsome with a confident air. He was Seto and Mokuba's biological father.

Seto frowned at this. He couldn't remember the man's name. The image was still a little fuzzy, but Seto did remember that he'd looked like his father and that Mokuba had taken after their mother. He was more surprised that he could remember what his father had sounded like. A person's voice was supposed to be the first thing you forgot about them, but he could remember his father's voice clearly. It was powerful, and deep, with a slight vibrato. He couldn't recall his mother's voice, but his father's voice was very clear. Seto felt the sting in his chest. I should stop. This is stupid and pointless. Yet, he couldn't stop it. The memory kept playing, so Seto kept watching.

"Dad! He's doing that on purpose. I know he's doing it on purpose. I know he can say my name, but he's getting it wrong just to mess with me." Seto huffed.

His father smiled, but let out a small sigh. "Don't worry. Soon he'll be saying your name alllll the time and asking you endless questions. So much so that you'll want another little sibling. That way you can distract him with them, just so you can have a few moments of peace."

Seto looked at his father blankly. "What are you talking about? You're weird."

He just sighed again. "Put your brother in his chair and come help me with dinner."

"Oookaay." Seto picked up Mokuba with some effort and put him into a small chair with lots of gadgets on it and buckled Mokuba in. The chair was on the ground so that Seto could easily get Mokuba into it. Mokuba loved the chair that their father had made and immediately went to playing with the woozits. After Seto finished buckling Mokuba in, he grabbed a step stool and scooted it over to the counter. He climbed up, so that he was at the right height to help with cooking.

"Hey, Dad!"

His dad glanced over at him. "Yes?"

"Why do we have that chair? I told my friends at school about it, but they said their little siblings didn't have a chair like that."

His father finished washing the tomatoes and handed them to Seto who dried them with a paper towel.

"I made if for you when you were Mokuba's age because you got into everything the moment you could crawl. It was very effective until you figured out how to unbuckle yourself. Thankfully, Mokuba seems a lot easier to entertain and hasn't tried that yet."

Seto frowned at his dad. "I didn't do that. I don't remember that, and I remember everything."

"Sure, you do."

He frowned at his father before picking up his kiddy cooking knife and slowly cutting up the tomatoes.

"Hey dad!"

"Yeess?"

"Why do you cook? My friends at school said their mom's cook, not their dads."

His dad laughed at this. "You want to know a secret?"

Seto stopped chopping the tomato and looked over at his father excitedly. "Yeah! I love secrets."

"Women like a man who can cook."

Seto frowned at him. "That's the secret? That's not a fun secret, and that doesn't make any sense."

His father smiled at this. "Is cooking hard?"

Seto went back to chopping the tomatoes. "Yeah."

"When you're tired, do you like it when I cook for you, and you don't have to help?"

Seto stopped chopping and looked up, frowning. "Of course, I don't want to cook when I'm tired."

"That's how your mom feels too."

Seto paused and mulled it over. "Oh, ok. I get it."

His father chuckled. "What did you do at school today?"

"I beat everyone in chess!" Seto puffed up his chest proudly.

His father looked at him, exasperated. "I know. Your teacher called and told me that you made the other kids cry."

"They lost. Isn't it normal for them to cry? You cry when we play." Seto looked at his dad, confused.

His father pinched the bridge of his nose. "I cry out of frustration that I only explained the rules once and have never beaten you. That's different. Don't make the kids at school cry."

Seto grumbled. "They're the ones who wanted to play. It's not my fault they stink."

"Yes, yes, you're very smart, but it's not ok to be a sore winner. If I won—"

"You've never won, though." Seto grinned and his father flicked him on the forehead. "Ow."

"If you lost, would you want the other person rubbing it in your face?" His father raised an eyebrow at him.

Seto grumbled as he rubbed his forehead. "I didn't rub it in their face."

"The teacher said you called them plebeians and to bow down to you." His father looked exhausted.

"But that's what mom said to you when you lost to her in cards the other day."

His father groaned. "Don't pick up your mother's bad habits."

Seto rolled his eyes. "But mom is really good at games. And she said that if others can't deal with losing, then they shouldn't be playing."

His dad groaned. "Seto, don't say mean things to the other kids or I won't make you cookies anymore."

"No! Not my cookies."

They stared each other down until Seto gave in.

"Fine. I won't make them cry. Just don't take my cookies." Seto grumbled. He finished up chopping the tomato and worked on the other. His father held back a laugh as he worked on cleaning the rice for dinner.

"What was your favorite class today?"

Seto grinned. "Math!"

"Ahh, yeah, of course it is. What else did you do at school?"

"We sang!"

His father's eyes lit up. "Oh? What did you sing?"

Seto stopped chopping and belted out the wheels on the bus go round in perfect pitch with an odd jazzy take. His father stopped cooking for a moment and looked at him, perplexed.

"Where did you learn to sing like that?"

Seto didn't understand why his father was surprised. "I listened to you."

"Oh." His dad gave him an awkward half smile. "Looks like you have my talent for singing. Why haven't you sung for me before?"

"You never asked." Seto looked at him blankly and his father looked a bit at a loss. He went back to cooking.

"Riiight, well, what else did you do at school?"

"We talked about what we want to be when we grow up."

"What do you want to be?"

"A dad!"

His father stopped cooking again and gave him a wide grin. "Seto, that's not a career. You don't make money from it."

Seto looked up from the tomatoes, perplexed. "But you stay home and make money."

"I work from home. I have a studio set up to record—never mind. You can't make money from being a dad. Though at this point I feel like I could take everything you say, put it into a book, and make money off of that." His father sighed loudly. His father was always sighing a lot.

Seto got excited at this. "You can make money off of what I say?"

"Yeah, probably."

"People pay for that?" His eyes lit up excitedly.

"Maybe."

Seto pumped his fist excitedly. "Then I should say a lot more. If I write down what I think too can I make money off that?"

"Maaybe."

"Cool, I have lots of thoughts. I'm going to be rich." He bubbled excitedly.

His father let out another long sigh. "Just… hand me the tomatoes."

The door to the dojo opened, interrupting the memory. Seto waited for the image to fade before he looked up. His eyes widened when he saw Ana's face. Tears were streaking down her cheeks, and she looked beyond distraught. His eyes narrowed. I'm going to beat that old man senseless.

She sniffed and looked at the ground. "He wants to talk to you."

Seto walked over and slammed the dojo door shut before turning to Ana. "Why should I talk to him?"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. He took a deep breath, calming himself.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked, trying to reign in his bloodlust.

Ana looked around, more distraught than he'd seen her since the kidnapping incident. She looked up at him and whispered, "Help me."

He gently reached over before wiping away her tears with his sleeve. "Alright."

Turning, he opened the door to the dojo, entered, and slammed the door shut. It rattled with the force. Dai was sitting in front of the shrine with his head bowed and a hand on his brow. He looked beyond tired, but Seto had no sympathy for him and never would. Dai looked up at him.

"Please take a—"

Seto strode over and plopped down on the cushion, not sitting formally this time. He sat with his legs crossed and glared openly at the man before him. It was taking his full self-control not to punch him.

Dai sighed. "Is rude your default setting?"

"I'm only nice to two people in this shit hole of a world and you, old man, will never be one of them." Seto's rage was making his stomach clench.

Dai frowned but didn't respond to his jab. Instead, he pointed to Ana's paper lying next to his leg. "Did you know about this?"

"Of course I knew about this. I knew last year before we were even dating. You're the only one who doesn't seem to know anything about your own granddaughter."

Dai's brow furrowed at this comment, and he looked at the ground sadly. He seemed to rebound quickly and returned his gaze to Seto, determined. "And you're ok with that?"

"Why the frick' wouldn't I be ok with it?"

"If you marry, don't you want a solid mother figure raising—"

Seto snapped. "No! It doesn't matter to me. I wasn't at any point in my life raised by a mother figure. So, no it doesn't matter to me."

Dai frowned. "If she goes to college, then you couldn't get married as soon or have children as quickly to pass your legacy onto."

"We're only seventeen. Stop trying to rush us! And I don't give a shit about passing on any legacy! The Kaiba name can die with me for all I care."

"You sure have boasted a lot about being a Kaiba for being ok with the name dying." Dai smirked.

Seto's rage boiled just under the surface. "No. I never bragged about being a Kaiba. I bragged about being Kaiba Seto. I took over Kaiba corp. I drove the Kaibas into the ground and then built the name back up as mine and mine alone. Mokuba might have the name Kaiba, but he didn't earn it the way I did. I am Kaiba Seto, and I have made that my legacy. It is not my brother's, or my children's, or their children's legacy, but mine. They can get their own. My legacy will live and die only with me."

Dai's shoulders slumped. Seto could feel that he'd won the round, but it didn't seem that the old man was going to give in just yet.

"I don't get why Ana feels the need to have your approval, old man, but apparently, it's important to her. Why do you have to force this on her? Why is it so important to pass on your legacy if it makes Ana so miserable? Why are you trying to rush her into having kids? You have two other grandchildren. Why does it have to all fall on Ana?" Seto's fists were clenched so tight he could feel his nails biting into his skin.

Dai finally broke and shouted back. "It's not worth making my family miserable! I don't give a rats ass about passing on a legacy, but at this point I'm running out of options and time!"

Seto's brain was working overtime as he looked at Dai, who was rubbing his temples. There's something more to all of this.

"You don't care about your legacy?" Seto didn't believe him.

"I wasn't even a Sakurai to begin with! I was adopted into the family." Dai took a deep breath before looking at Seto more desperately than before. "I need your help."

"Why the frick would I help you?" Seto let out a malicious laugh. "You keep making the girl I like miserable."

Dai sighed and stood up. He walked over to a wall and opened a hidden compartment. After pulling out a file, he came back over to the cushion, but this time, he sat like Seto. He handed over the file. Seto took it, confused, and opened it. It was a will of sorts. A really old one. Seto scanned through it and was horrified by what he read.

"What is this old-fashioned martial arts shit?" Seto looked up at Dai, appalled. "Is this real?"

"It's awful, isn't it. My wife and I had every lawyer and then some go over it, but there are no loopholes." Dai leaned his head against his fist, looking worn out.

Seto set the folder down and jabbed an angry finger at the paper. "This basically says that if someone challenges and beats the Sakurai family head that they not only get your Dojo, but all of the finances under the Sakurai name."

"Correct. It also states that any money made under the Sakurai name belongs to the family and not the individual person. Even if I tried to shift the money out of the family, and someone claimed it later, as long as they have the Sakurai name and are a registered family member, it would end up back with the family. It's a closely guarded secret, but I still get challenged sometimes. If I lose, then my entire family will be out on the streets."

Seto's brain was racing for a solution. One that could fix the stupid ass will.

"Why not just have Ana fight you and you throw the fight?" Seto growled.

Dai shook his head. "Challenges are done in front of official martial arts judges. If I don't fight at full potential, then they'd say the challenge was invalid."

Seto ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Ana never mentioned any of this."

Dai straightened up and glared at him. "She doesn't know. No one in my family knows... Well, Rina found out. My wife and I kept it a secret so that only the family head would know. We wanted them to pick their own happiness and not be bound by some stupid rule."

"Instead, you've been making Ana suffer while keeping her in the dark." Seto growled.

Dai looked sad as he rubbed his eyes. "You were right. I don't know her as well as I thought."

"While I love being told I'm right, this," Seto jabbed at the folder. "Isn't something I wanted to be right about!"

They sat in silence until Seto asked, "Why only Ana? You have other grandkids."

"I never meant for it to only be Ana. I tried to train my son when he was young, but he's so clumsy. Hikari was born weak. He's still weak. He's got a good mind, but training him might kill him. He became so focused in his career path I left him alone. Aiko… doesn't have a high possibility of having children."

Seto's eyes widened. "She's not that old. How would you know that?"

Dai turned his eyes to the ground.

"You piece of shit. You had her tested. Did you have Ana tested too?" Seto was debating on hitting him.

"I didn't force her to get tested. I merely suggested it to her mother and her. Aiko agreed, but there's not a day I don't regret suggesting it after she came home bawling from the doctor's appointment. After that, I didn't suggest they get Ana tested. I honestly never meant for it all to fall on Ana, but after I started training her, I realized that she had some talent her other siblings didn't. She was to be my final back up. I was going to teach her the secret techniques if all else failed, but I was hoping to push her to marry someone strong. Someone I could adopt into the family and train to take my place, just like I was adopted and trained. I really didn't want to have to train Ana nonstop. I was hoping to push it onto her husband instead."

Seto let out an angry laugh. "Is that what Ren was about? You were going to give that piece of shit that kind of power over your family? He was weak. How could he have fought off challengers?"

Dai's eyes crinkled. "While he seemed weak, he was actually a martial arts fighter. I did multiple background checks on him and interviewed him, but.. I messed up."

"And Ana paid the price for it."

The old man flinched, but nodded in agreement.

Seto crossed his arms and glowered at him. "You said you wanted someone strong to adopt, but in what parallel universe did you ever expect me to agree to being adopted into your family?"

"I never expected that." Dai admitted. "As I said, I wanted my family to choose their own happiness. That dinner with Ren was awful. I was desperate enough, though, to overlook some issues. I was going to beat it out of him later. When you showed up though and Ana herself said she'd been dating you, I was overjoyed."

"You knew I wasn't a pleasant person, though. Why were you happy about her dating me?"

Dai smirked. "I trust my granddaughter's judgement of people. If she said she picked you, then I expected it was because she found you suitable and not a total asshole. I had no clue at the time you two were fake dating. Especially after that speech you shoved in my face, which made it so obvious you were falling for her."

Seto's face flushed, and he scowled at the old man. "How do you know we were faking it? Did Ana tell you that?"

Dai rolled his eyes. "Of course not, but I have my ways of finding things out."

"The little hacker prick?"

The old man smirked. "I have more resources than just Chimon-kun. Don't underestimate my power and networking. Where do you think Ana gets it from? I found out quickly after that first time Ana said you broke up."

Seto paused as another question crossed his mind. "If you knew it was fake, why didn't you continue pushing for Ana to get another fiancé?"

"Oh, please. You're not the type of person to let something you like go easily. I figured you'd come back for her one way or another. Though you sat on your laurels moping longer than I expected."

Seto's ears grew warm, and he growled deep in his throat. Frickin' annoying old man. Seto's eye twitched. His self-restraint and Ana's request were the only thing holding him back from beating the old man. Don't punch him. Remember Seto, Ana will be even sadder if you punch him.

Seto held back and said, "You can't have expected me to let you adopt me into this shitty family, though. Even if you were hopeful I'd come back."

Dai nodded and glanced over at his dead wife's photo. "We wanted to have all girls. Then they could have married into other families and this stupid Sakurai name could have died."

"Why didn't you just have your wife marry you and take your name?" Seto threw his hands up annoyed at the obvious solution that could have happened years before this.

Dai groaned. "I tried to convince her of that, but she loved her parents deeply. They were aging and needed someone to take care of them. Her father was also a major hard ass and very determined to pass on the Sakurai name. She wanted to please them. I suppose… Ana is a lot like her grandmother in that regard. Then Gai was born. I was going to convince him to give up the name and earn his own money. My wife and I had agreed to live simply so that our children wouldn't get spoiled and would be ok if I ever was to lose, so I thought I had a change of convincing him, but then he got his girlfriend pregnant and then Hikari was born near death. It required costly medical treatment to keep him healthy, and I couldn't tell them to earn their own money then. Hikari might have lost his life. Anyway, to your earlier statement, why bank on you…"

Seto was tiring of this roundabout. "Why?"

"I saw you as a two-fold opportunity." Dai pointed to the will. "As long as you and Ana are in a serious relationship, I can elect you as a temporary proxy that can fight in challenges. You're young and strong. Unlike Ren, you'd never trained, so I wouldn't have to beat old habits out of you. Also, unlike many of the people who approach my family, you're already successful and have your own fortune, so I knew you weren't in it for the money. Based on your personality, I also knew you weren't in it for the fame."

"I can make my own fame and money. I don't need yours." Seto rolled his eyes and the old man looked at him, exasperated. "Continue."

Dai sighed, but did so. "I figured that you'd make a good temporary successor and that you and Ana would have strong children. My hope was that I could get one of your children to challenge and beat me that way the Sakurai fortune would go to my grandkids, but not go to a Sakurai. Then the will could finally be resolved. If that failed, I figured if I got challenged and lost before that could happen that you'd take her in and that she'd be well cared for."

Take her in? If it came to that, Ana would be miserable. She'd basically be forced to be with me or be put on the streets. She's just as prideful as I am, and that would probably make her come to hate me. Heck, she might just live on the streets and try to work her way up from scratch, just so she wouldn't have to be indebted to me. Frick!

"Why the rush, old man?" Seto pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on.

"Because I'm old." Dai admitted. "Three years ago, I was challenged and almost lost. Hikari was just starting college at the time and Aiko was going to start soon, too. I panicked. I was determined to hold out until Hikari got a job. He's smart so he could easily support himself and his parents. I was hoping to get Ana and Aiko to marry quickly into good families so they wouldn't have to struggle. There's a boy who's interested in Aiko, but he's to be the next head of his family, and I knew his grandparents would be concerned about an heir. That's why I suggested the test and that backfired badly. It's all just spiraled out of control from there. Ana was my last resort."

They grew silent as Dai looked down at Ana's paper and frowned. Ugh, I might get a migraine from all this.

Dai's voice was soft. "I want to tell her yes. I want her to pursue what she loves to do, but if she does that, then I'll have to stop training her and she wouldn't start a family anytime soon."

"So, what?" Seto sneered at the man. "Are you going to cut her off if she does just like you did your daughter?"

Dai's mouth tightened, and his shoulder stiffened before he sighed. "I don't know what Ana told you about that and after talking with her, I had no idea she thought I cut Rina off. Though I guess in a way I did. Ana was young though and I don't know exactly how she's remembering that incident, plus there was more to that story outside of that dinner."

Dai let out a long sigh, and Seto could feel a throbbing in between his eyes.

The old man's voice dropped a little. "Rina found out about the will when she was in college. I had no idea. She apparently broke into my old safe at the time just to see if she could…. The little brat. Anyway, I thought she was in love with the man she was engaged to, and he'd asked for permission to marry her. I gave it that night, but I had no clue that he was scum. He'd been cheating on her and treating her terribly… She thought I agreed without considering her feelings because of the will. When I found out she'd broken into my safe, we had a huge fight and… Well, she ran away, changed her last name and built her own business from the ground up. We… are both stubborn and don't want to admit the other was in the wrong, so we just haven't talked to each other in years."

Seto was trying to listen, but when the old man had started in on about his tiff with Rina, Seto realized he really didn't give a shit. He was half listening because it was related to Ana, but he didn't really care about the old man's problems with his other family members. Only Ana mattered.

"I didn't need the whole damn sob story." Seto rubbed his temples. "You sure are sharing a lot of information with me freely."

"I want you to help me and my family by being a temporary proxy. So, I'm answering all your questions the best I can."

Seto groaned. "There's a flaw to your request. What if Ana and I stop dating? I could use all this info against you or even try to take your fortune from you."

Dai tilted his head, looking thoughtful. "Does that interest you? If you and Ana stop dating, I'd assume it's because you too came to dislike each other. Though mostly it's probably because Ana came to dislike you. Do you want to waste the time and energy to destroy your ex's family?"

"I'm very vindictive." Seto hissed.

Dai smiled at his statement. "True. I don't think you would though."

"Telling me I won't just makes me even more likely to prove you wrong."

"Oh? So, you want Ana to suffer?" Dai was still smiling as he raised an eyebrow.

Seto paused with his mouth slightly open. He honestly didn't even want to be discussing Ana and him breaking up, let alone hurting Ana. Would that change if we broke up? Would I try to hurt her? The idea of hurting her at all made him feel sick. This is a stupid conversation! I'm not going to let Ana go even if she hates me. I'd chase her down to the ends of the earth if I had to. She's mine and no one else's. I'm not just going to roll over and let her break up with me. His mind blanked at his own possessiveness. There it was again. The sensation that he couldn't quite understand that had been eating at him since Domino City. It kept nagging at him ever since she went off grid and he thought he might lose her forever.

"This is a stupid conversation." Seto finally growled.

Dai was still smiling, his eyes gleaming with triumph. "Let's just say I'm desperate. I'm betting a lot on this. I want to agree to let Ana pursue her career, but I can only do that if I have another proxy. Also, I'm not ignorant. I'd have you sign a contract saying that you can't go after our family if you and Ana break up. Also, if some miracle occurs and you beat me in a challenge before you two have children, then you'll have to give all the funds back by putting them in Ana's name, not the Sakurai name."

"Not yours?"

"Would you?"

Seto glared at him. "No."

"So, yes. Ana's name."

Seto couldn't resist any longer. He needed to hit something. Pulling the pillow out from under him, he punched it aggressively a few times. Dai waited for him to calm down. Seto finally set the pillow next to him.

"What even makes you think I have time to do that? I run a billion-dollar company and I still have to finish up school too." Seto clenched the pillow with one hand while resisting punching the old man.

"Make time. You run a company, learn to delegate. You're strong and smart. Make it work." Dai crossed his arms, apparently not believing that Seto wasn't capable of it.

Well, Frick. That would mean hiring another assistant. He was really starting to see where Ana got her manipulative side from.

"Why should I do that for you?" Seto was pissed. He hated that Dai was manipulating him and using his feelings.

Dai held up Ana's paper. "It's not for me."

This annoying manipulative pain in the ass old man! A thought occurred to Seto.

"You're wanting me to keep this from Ana too, aren't you?" Seto's eyes narrowed.

"What do you think will happen if you tell her?"

Frrriick! If I tell her about the will, she'll drop her plans and agree to train. She'll train all the time, be absolutely miserable and maybe… Maybe she'd even reconsider us dating because if we did get married, then she wouldn't be a Sakurai anymore and couldn't protect her family. I'm going to find the remains of the idiot that came up with this will and have them reburied in a field of manure. Is there a way around this? Can I keep this from Ana without her coming to hate me? He sat there for a good minute, pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed. Ana's tear-stained face and the desperation in her voice as she asked him for help flooded his mind. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and looked at the paper that Dai was still holding. He straightened up and made his decision.

"Fine. I'll do it, but I just want you to know. I hate you." Seto's voice was filled with venom.

Dai let out a loud sigh and smiled. "As long as you like Ana, that's all that matters."

"Also, you need to apologize." Seto snapped, feeling very pissed.

Dai's brow furrowed, and he tensed. "To you?"

"No. To Ana for making her suffer and cry. Also, for forcing Ren on her. If I'm going to agree to this, then you need to get on your hands and knees and apologize." Seto's rage was boiling at the surface. He could see that the old man was struggling with his pride and Seto was very much enjoying seeing him squirm. "And you know what, while you're at it, go apologize to your other granddaughter and your daughter."

"Is that really—"

"Do it or I'm not agreeing." Seto honestly didn't give a flying flip if he apologized to Aiko and Rina. He really just wanted to see the old man submit. Though it seemed like Ana might be happy if he apologized to Rina, so there was that.

Dai tensed up and closed his eyes. "Very well. If it's to save my family, then I'll bow my head as much as I need to."

Dai stood up, put the files back in their hiding place, and then walked over to the dojo door. "Ana, can you come in here, please?"

The old man walked back over and took his seat in the traditional fashion. Ana entered the Dojo, looking in between Seto and Dai. She'd calmed down and had stopped crying, but her eyes were swollen and puffy. She walked over slowly and sat on the pillow next to Seto with her legs under her. The defeated look on her face made his desire to punch the old man resurfaced all over again, but he resisted. Dai picked up Ana's paper and handed it to her. She took it reluctantly and wouldn't look up from the floor.

"Your career choice is fine. Go ahead and pursue it," Dai said, smiling at her sadly.

Ana's head snapped up at this. Her voice broke a little. "Really?"

"Yes, and from now on Kaiba-san will be training with us." Dai moved onto this.

Ana looked perplexed. "What? Why?"

Dai shook his head. "I cannot tell you why, but he will be."

Ana shot Seto a look, but he didn't glance her way. Instead, he leaned on his hand and covered his mouth. You're forgetting something, old man. His eyes narrowed, and Dai seemed to understand what he was thinking.

Dai appeared to steel himself before he placed his hands on the floor and put his forehead to the ground. "Ana, I'm sorry for not communicating with you and for assuming what you want from your future. Also… I'm so sorry about Ren and for the horrible outcome it led to."

"G-Grandpa!" Ana panicked. "It's fine—"

"It is not." Dai interrupted her. "I made you suffer greatly and for that, I'll never be able to atone. I'm so sorry."

Ana's mouth tightened, and her eyes crinkled in the corners. It looked like she was about to cry again. Seto had purposefully covered his mouth. Right now, he was smirking sadistically as he watched this proud old man humble himself. He wanted to flaunt his smirk, but had decided Ana would get really pissed if she saw it.

"Grandpa…" She looked conflicted, then smiled. "Thank you, please stop now."

Seto resisted, ticking his tongue against his teeth as Dai sat back up. He'd wanted to see the old man grovel longer. I don't think that was a sufficient punishment for hurting Ana, but if I push it Ana will be pissed at me.

Dai let out a sigh and stood up. "There won't be any training today. I have some things I need to go do."

Before he left the Dojo, he turned to Seto and bowed deeply. Seto rolled his eyes and looked away. After Dai left Ana turned to him, her eyes narrowed as she glared at him.

"Amin-chan, what was that about? Why are you training with us? How did you get him to agree? What's going on?" She asked her endless stream of questions.

Crap. I can't tell her. How do I avoid this? If it was Mokuba, he would have just told him to buzz off. Or if this was about him, he could just say he didn't want to tell her. However, this was about her and her family. He debated on the best way to get her not to pry. I guess I could tell her eventually… after we're serious enough that there is no way she's getting away from me, even if she's pissed. Can I make a deal with her? Can I convince her? Threaten her? How do I get her to back down? Ana sat there waiting for him to answer. We haven't even dated for six months, and it hasn't even been a year since we first met. What's the best way to get her to not ask without pissing her off? Seto realized he was going to have to make a request of her and hope she would just agree.

"Ana." Seto felt uneasy. "I can't tell you."

She snapped. "Can't or won't?"

He took a deep breath and continued. "I can, but I don't want to. You asked me for my help, and I helped. It required making a deal with your grandfather. I can't tell you what the deal is or why the deal was necessary."

"Is it about my family?" Ana wasn't backing down.

"Yes." He admitted.

"Then I have a right to know!" Her eyes were still red from crying, and Seto hated seeing it.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Slowly, he reached out and brushed back a loose piece of hair behind her ear. She seemed a little startled by this. There it was again. That feeling that he couldn't name.

"Ana, I'll tell you someday, but not now. Right now, I need you to…" He paused, unsure he'd ever asked this of anyone. "I need you to trust me. Please, don't ask me what it was about. It will make me miserable if I have to tell you because it will make you miserable. I don't want that."

Ana calmed down and quietly mulled something over. He could practically see her train of thought.

Finally, she asked, "When can you tell me?"

"Don't know. Maybe in like four or five years?"

She didn't look happy. "That long?"

"Yeah…"

"That's." Ana put her head in her hands and covered her face. "Did grandpa ask you not to tell me?"

"No, but after listening to what's going on I… ugh, agree with him that you'd be happier not knowing about it, at least for a few more years." Seto felt like he'd choked on the word agree when he'd said it.

Ana lowered her hands and laughed at him. His heart was pounding loudly. Is she going to push it?

"Alright, I'll trust you."