Mai nearly fell off her chair at the schooled seriousness of Angela's face as the air attendant told them off for bringing her airline into disrepute.
Anzu looked down at the table a moment and then to Angela, asking in an air of pure earnest. "So they actually do allow you to carry your pets on board instead of placing them in cargo?"
Mai hiccoughed as she slid to the floor. "Taught her everything she knows." Said the voice under the table.
Seto strode into the office.
"Oswald, glad to find you here. Let's talk."
It was obvious the American had not anticipated the arrival as he fumbled his way across to shake hands.
"Kaiba, an unexpected pleasure I'm sure."
Seto smiled. "Are you?"
Oswald's eyes dashed to those around. "W-what brings you here?"
"Just checking the progress. As you know I like to be very hands on with my business."
Oswald's throat constricted. "So how's that charmin' dancer friend? Too bad about pulling out of Julliard."
Seto snorted a small laugh. "Anzu? Who said Anzu had pulled out?"
A distinct greyish tinge coloured Oswald's complexion.
"Oh ah just something Rose said in passing."
Seto held his façade. "Rose, how is she? It must be have been terribly embarrassing with her not being able to hold her drink on that flight."
Oswald fired up. "That was not Rose' fault. That little harlot deliberately dropped the contents of that bottle on her. She soon learnt her lesson though."
Seto smiled again. "Then I take it the news that the aforementioned harlot regaining her job would not please you?"
"She's what? Who the hell reinstated her?"
"I know a few people, so I put in a good word."
Oswald Price was gob smacked.
Seto watched in satisfaction as the man before him twisted himself in emotional circles. Fingering the briefcase he rested on the table beside him. Seto fixed Oswald with a cool stare.
"Let's continue this elsewhere shall we? My lawyer is currently making his way to Julliard now, and I told him we'd be there."
Here was a lifeline, and Oswald Price grabbed it with both hands. If anyone could put this tyrant in his place his father could. Weak with no power to think for himself, Oswald hungered for the protection his fathers position and money could give him at this moment.
Nodding he followed Seto back through the doors to the waiting car.
Neither spoke a word the whole journey. To say, when they arrived, that Jack Price was livid would be an understatement.
"What game are you playing boy? Your lawyer here tells me that whether I wish it or not, that girl will be coming to my school. I offered her a very handsome deal and she took it. From what I've heard she didn't have what it takes anyway."
Glancing briefly toward his lawyer Seto gave Jack his undivided attention.
"We can continue to discuss this in the hallway, I'm sure the student body would be titillated with what is about to be said, but hardly constructive to their need for utter concentration. Do you not agree? Or we can go to your office."
Jack Price just glared.
"Okay, we discuss it here then. For starters that girl has a name. Mazaki. Anzu Mazaki. Secondly playing second fiddle to someone with only half her talent is not what I had in mind when her father approached me after the concert."
Rose who had been silently fuming behind her father fixed her wide hazel eyes on Seto. "You bastard, was I there just to make her jealous and notice you?"
Seto's impassive face belied nothing. "You flatter yourself too much. Anzu's been mine for the taking since high school. I just hadn't chosen to act on it til now. As for me using you." Here he smirked. "I hardly think you're one to talk. You can't have much pride in yourself allowing your father and brother to dangle you like bait in front of men they want things from. That makes you an actress, not a dancer." Accentuating the word actress he paused a moment. "By your blank expression, I take it you have no understanding of my meaning."
Her father cut across. "I do though, and I warned you that I would tear down any who hurt my little girl. You may be a big shot back home, but you're on our turf now, and you have no power."
Opening his briefcase, Seto pulled out a worn and well-read document.
"I think you'll find that this is all the power I need. "
Handing it to Jack he waited while the older man skimmed through. With his gaze flitting occasionally toward Seto, Jack Price' face twitched and his posture grew tense as his eyes pulled the main points from the papers in his grasp.
Closing his briefcase again, Seto signalled the lawyer standing on Jack's left. The lawyer placed two equally large documents on top of the one he was already reading. Without a word the Lawyer shook Seto's hand and exited.
"What are those?" Rose spat. The cat was well and truly out of its carrier and ready to fight.
Not receiving an answer Rose drew a deep breath through her nose; pursing her mouth she shared her daggered glare equally among the men before her. "Well when is the talent less bitch arriving then?"
"Rose don't." Begged Oswald.
"Oh shut up, you never do anything you coward. You go and start these things and never have the guts to finish 'em. "
"Stop it the pair of you." It was neither shouted nor whispered, but it was nonetheless commanding.
Throwing the documents at Seto's feet Jack curled his upper lip into a sneer.
"So we let her tryout, so what! Doesn't mean she'll get in. In fact," His face breeched Seto's comfort zone as the man's nose almost touched Seto's own. "I can guarantee she won't."
Despite the extreme proximity Seto would not be intimidated and so kept his face exactly where it was. "Oh you misunderstand me. I know that Anzu won't receive a scholarship, but she will be attending this school."
"Over my dead body." Screeched Rose.
Keeping Jack within his sights Seto answered her. "Well since you obviously feel that I have overindulged Anzu and forgotten you, let me even the score and arrange it for you."
Rose flew screeching for blood, only to find her father blocking her way.
Oswald, who had been struggling with his own personal angst's, took this moment as his misguided attempt to gain some backbone.
"There's nothing you can possibly do to make my father and the rest of the board accept her enrolment. If using the deal you and I made as the benchmark for his reason to do so, then you're stupider than I thought. You've already signed the contract and it's been registered as legally binding. There's no way out."
Oswald stood tall, proud with his little addition to the family cause.
Seto wet his lips in preparation for what he was about to say.
"Arrogant, cold-hearted, and bastard are all names that I have been called in business, but never stupid. Only in my personal life could that title be given." His cold stare at Rose giving the statement the foundation it sought. "I'm afraid it's you who are stupid here, you forget I wrote the contract. I know every loophole available within it and when you read it again, you'll see that I could walk into the backers now and claim complete ownership, leaving you bankrupt with nothing to start again, because you tied everything you have to this deal. And before you say that it doesn't matter, I'll warn you now, that your father won't be there to support you, he'll be fighting his own financial hellhole. Creaming from the top of the vat isn't viewed that favourably when you're in charge of other people's money. Don't mistake me, I couldn't care less so long as Anzu is accepted here and gets what she wants and needs from the place. If that happens then that document." He pointed to the pile on the floor. "Will never see the light of day and you Oswald will have your deal exactly the way we agreed. Should I find though, that one hair of her head has been touched or that she is unhappy for any reason, well I leave you to draw your own conclusions on that."
Seto stepped back a bit. Retrieving the papers that littered the floor, he tidied them and returned them to his briefcase.
Jack was the first to find his voice. "Why come all the way to do this? You could easily have done it from that little backwater of yours."
Seto smirked. "Usually I'd tell you to mind your own business and not answer, but why not. I'm feeling unusually conversational today. I wanted to watch you squirm, and while you think that you were in complete control of yourself, you most definitely weren't. Above all else I wanted to belittle you in the same way you and your precious thorn over there did to Anzu. As anyone who knows me well will tell you I never let anyone take or maim what's mine. Anzu will be leaving Domino tonight their time. So if you'll excuse me I have things to do before I return to see her off. And don't think I won't know if anything untoward happens, because I will. Anzu probably won't tell me it tends to go against her nature, but I have others at my disposal."
Seto's eyes began to droop as he sat waiting for his ride. The constant noise about him, blurred away to nothing. Soon he would be home, funny to call it that now, after all the years of hating it. It had always been his house but never his home and yet when the change began it culminated so quickly. So what now then? What could he expect when he got home? Anzu was gone, his own late departure putting paid to seeing her and saying goodbye properly. All they had was a brief, but highly emotional conversation bounced across the world via satellite. Her horizons had widened considerably now, and with that came the probability that her heart would change also. He would mourn now, put the pain and tension behind him, and move on with his life.
An announcement cut through his thoughts.
"Abouttime." He grabbed his briefcase.
The drive seemed longer than ever before, but then he was more tired than he'd ever been. On reaching the house he had to be woken. Standing in the entrance hall he was flooded with memories. He cringed as flashes of childhood came, he wanted to fling open the windows and doors so the breeze would take them away forever. But if he did that, then the memories that made the house a home would also float away. And those memories were all he had now.
Grabbing a drink he collapsed onto the ottoman in his office. He let his head droop back, eyelashes fluttering to finally fall upon his cheeks. Conversations from the airport seeped through his hazy mind. He could hear them as though he were there again. On one side were children greeting their grandmother, behind a husband and wife, further away a class expedition, but it was the strident voice of a boy that caught his attention most.
"But mama, why?"
"Because girls don't want those sorts of things."
"But I like it!"
"Yes but you're a boy." Came the exasperated reply.
"Well then what do girls want?" A distinct whine now heightened his already shrill voice.
Seto smiled tiredly. He'd almost felt sorry for the woman. She obviously had no idea the path she had just laid for herself.
"Yes," he whispered, a tear slipping down his cheek. "What do girls want?"
"Someone who's kind and loving," A gentle hand caressed the tear away.
Turning his head to the side he found himself caught in the most sensual kiss he'd ever experienced. Winding his hand through her hair, his thumb traced the curve of her cheekbone.
All thoughts of the last few hours faded, as he struggled to stand without breaking the precious contact. Eventually he pulled away, or was it her, flushed and breathless.
His eyelashes shadowed the stormy blue orbs as he took in the whole of her. When he spoke his voice was low and husky.
"Why?"
She considered him quietly, reaching to trace the lines of his face. Echoes of a past conversation sounded through her mind. He closed his eyes, letting her soft touch lull him, her fingers ending their journey upon his lips. He grabbed her hand as she took it away. Kissing the fingers gently, he pulled her closer, eyes resting on her mouth. Lowering his head, he felt the warm and reassuring wispiness of her breath on his skin.
"Someone changed my game plan." She said closing the gap.
a/n - And now the end is here, and they face their final curtain. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much I have enjoyed writing it. I feel like a proud parent with my child having grown and moved away to stand on their own two feet.
cheers for all the support! ;)