A Cup

By: Vaniti

Disclaimer: Yuugiou © Kazuki Takahashi

Synopsis: Anzu absolutely did NOT think the beginning of her Christmas break would involve telling off a certain CEO, but of course he HAD to provoke her…But she won't go quietly. Anzu x Setoish

The words had gone shooting out of her mouth like vengeful darts before she could cease their fire.

For once, she wished she could prevent it. She wanted to simply clamp her hands over her lips and take it all back. By now, other students had peered over apprehensively to assess what all the fuss was about. Yet, her words still hung heavy in the cinnamon-apple scented air.

"You don't have to degrade it just because you don't personally believe in it. Or, better yet, because you don't have anyone to buy for."

And there it was; Anzu Mazaki found herself engaged in a heated verbal battle with none other than Seto Kaiba. This was so not how she imagined the last Friday before going on Christmas break.

She had envisioned gazing eagerly at the clock. Cursing the gods of time and wondering why the next seven hours would drag by like a racing slug? In the meantime, she would text back and forth with her friends under their desks. They would all wait until they could participate in the makeshift Christmas party in the classroom. With this said Christmas party they would proceed to chow down on cookies, the classic choice of pizza, slurp eggnog. This would be completed by dashing out in blissful glee when the final bell rang.

These plans did not in the slightest, tiniest, most bizarre, delusional bit include anything about getting into a fight with the young CEO.

Well, in typical Anzu fashion, here she was severely managing to get off track.

Seto had paused here and let out a low half chuckle, half snort. He momentarily shut his eyes and shook his head. "If I wanted to, I could purchase a gift for every family in all of Domino."

And yes, she might add, she had not been able to control herself from calling him out when he had made his usual blasphemous and disdainful marks about the season. In her defensive, just because he was bitter and haggard was no excuse to strangle others with his negativity.

Presently, they were in the cafeteria, and in their temper-rising debate, had managed to step aside to avoid prying ears. The stares they could do nothing about, but that was to be expected.

"Oh, wow. Blare it from the sound system; Mister Big Shot Seto Kaiba is in the house and offering to buy Christmas gifts for every family!"

"I said that I could. Not that I would have any desire to waste my wages on poor trash."

"Poor, trash, huh? I bet you feel so important because your spoiled ass was blessed with money. It must be nice to go buy another hot tub for yourself to relax in."

The superior tone drained out of Seto's face like a rampant faucet. "Classy. And as if you would know, Mazaki."

"Get over yourself, Kaiba. Not everyone is as fortunate as you, and even if they were they wouldn't waltz around being such a ruthless prick."

Anzu nearly jumped back when he slammed his large hands down on the oak table. "I was not fortunate or blessed in the slightest bit. I earned what I have today. I had to backstab, fight, manipulate, study, compete…" He trailed off with these verbs and his Persian eyes became foggy in memory.

Anzu almost thought he had forgotten about her until his eyes lost their glossy quality; they locked onto hers and with his chin lowered, stands of his light brown hair fell into his eyes.

"I had everything to do with what I have today. And before you can make one of your snide jabs, it is still a battle I fight every day."

"For someone who claims he had to work so hard, you think you'd be a bit more sympathetic to those who were not as privileged."

Seto scoffed darkly. "I believe you should pursue a career in writing charity dialogue in seeking donations. Success is no mystery; you work. You work hard. You work harder than you thought possible. And if it's not good enough, you try harder and push envelopes you did not previously think possible."

"And I bet you feel so proud with where you've ended up," Anzu said softly.

"Meaning what, exactly, Mazaki?"

"There's nothing to read between the lines here."

Seto's gaze pierced directly into her and she shrugged indifferently.

"So you're money and have to slice necks to be where you're at. So you live in a mansion and use velvet toilet paper to wipe your ass. Who cares?"

"Excuse me, did you just say velvet toilet paper?"

"Pretty sure I didn't stutter."

Taking her by surprise Seto laughed; it was not quite warm, but it was certainly the most humane noise she'd heard out of him in awhile.

"You have been spending too much time with those male third-rate imbeciles."

"Who, my friends? Yeah, I have, and I wouldn't have it any other way. And unless you're hiding some deep, dark secret, last time I checked, you were a 'male' too, Seto Kaiba."

"Oh, have you checked now?" Seto raised his eyebrows.

For some inexplicable, stupid reason blood rushed to her face over his comment. To make matters worse, the more she tried not to think about it, the more she was aware of her face reddening. Why did she have to have a fair complexion in vital times like this?

And, of course, the pompous windbag had to point it out.

"Why, Mazaki, I do believe you're blushing."

"Your powers of logic are stunning."

"Hm, no reasoning involved. Although, yes. Yes, they are."

When Anzu pinned him with what she hoped was her most menacing look, he chuckled lightly; he was plainly enjoying himself now.

"Red is red and that is most certainly what color your face is at the moment. How… quaint."

"Quaint? That's not even a word in my vocabulary." Defiantly turning her head away she adjusted the strap from her tote on her shoulder. "Anyway, I've wasted enough time chatting with you. Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanza, Hanukah, or whatever alien holiday you celebrate. I have things to do now there's a hiatus in school."

"May I take you to dinner?"

Anzu flippantly tossed her short tresses and froze as they brushed down past her cheek. Out of all the one-liners, insults, or even frosty farewell's he could have said, did he sincerely just ask the question she thought he did? Her eyes narrowed. Was he playing a messed up trick on her?

Now this conversation had officially taken a turn for the abnormal.

"No, thank you," she coolly replied, "Unlike your busy self running your stressful company, I have things to get done."

She quickly turned on her heel, her heart leaping against her ribcage. So flustered, she did not even glance to gaze behind her.

Seto smirked with undivided amusement lapping through his orbs.

"What, pray tell, was that the hell about?" Jounouchi wasted no time delivering formal introduction. His arms were folded over his heaving chest and if Anzu didn't know any better, his tone was quite comparable to an overprotective father.

"Jounouchi…" Yuugi sighed at his best friend's usual brazenness.

Honda merely nodded his head in solemn agreement to Yuugi's feeble protest.

Anzu stared at the trio for a moment and pursed her lips together.

"Hm, whatever are you talking about? You know eavesdropping isn't nice."

"It's not eavesdropping if you can hear the two parties loud as a breaking-dishes fight," Jounouchi pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

Anzu breathed through her nose in an attempt to calm herself.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Kaiba in his usual fashion had to go make snide remarks and in my typical fashion, I can't keep my mouth shut when I don't agree with someone. The end result? Fiasco that apparently captures the attention of those who have nothing better to do."

"It wasn't just us," Honda rolled his eyes.

"'It wasn't just us,'" Anzu mimicked. "Like that's an excuse. Let's just forget about it, okay? There's only a couple hours left until freedom. Let's try to enjoy it."

Without a trace of uncertainty, her tone left no room for protest.

And frankly, the three boys did not want to be on Anzu's bad side at the moment if she had the blatant nerve to tell Seto Kaiba off.

The instant of truth had arrived in a delicious package of hope and excitement; the final bell had rung. With its beautiful chime, it released Domino High's students signaling their freedom for two whole weeks. Informing them that she would be right back, Anzu parted from her friends to dash down to her student council mailbox. She had to make sure none of the staff had surreptitiously slipped a future assignment in there that she would miss until she got back weeks later. Skidding to a halt, and smoothing down her navy uniform skirt, she let out a low chuckle. Her instincts had been right.

An envelope addressed to her from Mr. Yamamoto, along with another anonymous one most likely containing a student body concern; and a slip of paper without an envelope. The note left for her was typed and that auto signed, yet the actual signature had been done in pen to personalize it. Her jaw quite literally dropped when her eyes raked over it:

I appreciate your wit. It was something else to banter with you; if you ever change your mind about my offer, I'm all ears. Besides, I still have more to my story if you'd ever be so gracious to listen.

-S.K.

Anzu remained glued to her spot and read it once; and then a second time. To be frank, she probably looked over the brief note a whooping total of more than five times. The words didn't change and she found herself self-consciously replaying their conversation over and over again in her head. She was paralyzed in the hazy ponderings of, 'Did that just really happen?'

Then, she had the ridiculous fear that she had said something ludicrous during their confrontation, and he was merely making a joke of her.

Gingerly, she folded the note in half and decided against that option.

She knew it was stupid, but perhaps she was caught in the gleeful spirit of school parting for break and the minty and baked aroma of candy canes and gingerbread wafting through the hallways. To be serious, most likely, none of that was a factor. This was all and completely her, but it was nice to make excuses for the madness of this all.

So doing it quickly, so that she wouldn't change her mind, she tore off a piece of blank computer paper from the bottom of a brisk works cited draft and wrote her reply.

I hardly remember our conversation, but see you can't say the same. Well, for sole purposes of humoring you, maybe we can arrange for coffee or spiked coffee, whatever. Or if you need help shopping for Mokuba; probably one of the rare gems who actually cares for a man like you. But thank you for your note – It's little things like that that hold sentimental value, as I'm sure a self-important CEO like yourself already knows.

Most sincerely,

Anzu

Distractedly, she pondered where she could leave it for him. The brunette then realized a good place as any with her limited time would be to start in the classroom. She knew when the bell had rung Kaiba had stepped out for a phone call so maybe that would still be the case. She could possibly slip her reply under his briefcase that he left propped on his chair (only he would be so indifferent as to leave behind potential valuables) and hurry from the classroom before she could be seen.

'Of course…'

However, when she had pushed open the classroom door in a flurry, it nearly knocked previously mentioned CEO in the face.

The two stared down one another; blue fire eyes meeting blue ice eyes.

The seconds ticked by and Anzu swallowed once. Raising her head to look him more straightforwardly, she thrust her reply out and smacked it into the palm of his hand.

She collected genuine satisfaction when he lost some composure over the gesture. Maintaining her confidence she continued walking with her head high; he could make of the note what he wanted to. And authentically, she did mean what she said in her final sentence. No matter how Seto Kaiba-esque his words had been, she knew it held some kind of value. It was thinking on that mentality that she had made her mind up.

She would not meet the CEO on his initial terms for dinner, but coffee…

Coffee she could do.

End.

A/N: I'm…sorry ;) Just a short, light, Christmas oneshot. Reviews, questions, and comments make me happy :]

~Vaniti