Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Christmas Vacation ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: See 1st chap!

Christmas Vacation
By Mrs Grim

--Chapter Three--

Mokuba was fairly bursting with excitement. After all, he was sort of sick of his brother being a rather rich stick-in-the-mud. The only place Seto ever went was to his black tie formal "company parties" which really meant dressing up in uncomfortable suits and listening to the same boring people and laughing at the same bad jokes. Mokuba had never seen his brother return from such a "party" in a good mood. In fact, he was usually quite cross.

But there were worries on Mokuba's mind right now. Like--who IS this girl and what on earth do we do now?

The girl was trying to breathe quietly. Why me? Why here? She would much rather have dropped into the room of someone that no one knew.

Instead, she just HAD to run into the brother of one of the richest and well-known men in the world. So much for keeping a low profile! And--was he even trustworthy? At least he hadn't let Gregory in. But- he seemed like the kind of person who would not have allowed an intrusion in any case.

She sighed and glanced at Mokuba, who was grinning.

"What a jerk!" he confided. "You aren't really married to him, are you?" He made a face that suggested that he might throw up if she said she was.

"No. He wishes…"

Mokuba nodded. This was normal. The evil villain was chasing the pretty heroine. This was going according to plan. But it didn't seem quite so simple.

"He's desperately in love with you and won't let you alone?"

She snorted and then covered her mouth to stop from laughing.

"Gregory?" she asked sardonically. "I don't think that he is even capable of that affection!" She shook her head sadly, "He wants my money. And a wife to show off to his high society friends." She played with her hair nervously.

"But he can't possibly hold you prisoner!" Mokuba was astonished. This wasn't the 1800's, after all. People had rights.

"It's not that easy. Men like him have…well…he has more power than anyone would guess. I have nowhere to go. All I can do is run and hope I can run faster than him."

"That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard," a new voice floated in.

"Seto!" Mokuba cried, looking at the speaker hopefully. "What do you mean?" he asked curiously.

"It is ridiculous to try and elude someone if one has no money, connections or transportation." His face was quite composed. "So, I suggest that you, Miss whatever your name is, please enlighten us as to your history so that we can aid you as best we can."

She knew when she had been beat. After all--running could get her nowhere. Nowhere but back to where she had been. She lowered her eyes and bit her lip to stop from swearing and/or crying.

"My name," she said coolly, "is Arienne de Young." She observed his slight nod. "I see you recognize the name," she said with bitterness.

"Um…"

Seto held up a hand and Mokuba fell silent with a grimace. He was always out of it.

"I suppose then," she continued, "that you have heard of my father, Sylvester. And you probably know that he was quite prosperous in his day. And I assume that you also know he left all of his money to me."

"But if he left it to you, why don't you have any?" Mokuba squeezed in before anyone could stop him.

"Because, he also left a will," she explained patiently. "And it said that the money would go to my husband. If I never married, I would simply get a small, but adequate allowance per year and the money would go to charity upon my demise."

"And he wants the money…" Seto murmured.

"It makes sense," Mokuba said proudly. "If he married you, he would get the money."

"He's quite…greedy," she said, hesitating. "But--" she burst out suddenly, "he HAS money! I know he does! So WHY does he need mine so badly? Why can't he leave me alone?" A tear escaped and she brushed it away as one would shoo an irritating fly.

Seto seemed not to be listening. His eyes were focused on a point a couple feet above them on the wall.

"Hmmm…"

"This is all very strange," said Mokuba matter-of-factly. "And I thought that there was something rather sinister about that Gregory fellow anyway."

"He's not the most intelligent of men," Arienne admitted.

"No," Seto pulled himself back into the conversation, but acted as though he was only half paying attention to them. His mind was elsewhere though he was conversing quite coherently. "He is much more clever than he seems at first. He's not wise, but he is clever and potentially very dangerous."

Arienne blinked at him. "You can tell that already?"

"Can't you?"

"Yes--I mean, not right away…Hmph!" she grunted sullenly. It was not usual to find someone who was this intelligent. Gregory may be sneakily clever, but Seto Kaiba was smart. And he had to be about 20 to Gregory's 27.

Mokuba looked at them in turn, "So, she's staying, right?"

Both of them turned to stare at him.

"Yes."

"No."

Seto blinked. Had she just said no?

"I believe I have a say in this, and I am certainly not staying here."

Mokuba was stricken, "No! You have to stay! I won't let you go out there!" he firmly attached himself to her arm. "You can't go," he said flatly.

Arienne didn't know why she had said no. It wasn't that she didn't want sanctuary…Well, whatever she wanted she did not need to get it from Seto Kaiba.

Seto was observing all of this curiously, "If she doesn't want to stay, then let her go, Mokuba." His tone was detached and it sounded as if he wouldn't have objected if she'd proposed throwing herself from a convenient rooftop.

"No!" Mokuba cried, distressed. "You KNOW you can't let her go. He'll find her!"

"Hold on!" Arienne said, raising her voice over the little boy's. "I am NOT going to be found! I am perfectly capable of escaping him."

"I thought he was rich and powerful," Seto commented dryly.

Arienne sputtered, "He--he's…I mean. Hell, I am entirely able to get away from him!"

"Really?" the raised eyebrow made her want to smack him.

"Yes, really," she said through clenched teeth. And, with that, she marched out of the room and back to the front door. Throwing it open, she strode out.

Mokuba watched the door swing towards a closed position.

"Seto!" he fairly begged. "You can't! Make her come back!"

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you, Mokuba."

Mokuba glanced at his brother. Seto looked horribly self-assured and a smile was playing in his lips.

Before the door could click closed, it was hurled open and a slim form backed up against it and it shut swiftly.

Arienne pointed a trembling finger at Seto.

"You knew they were out there! How did you know? They're all over the hall!" she gasped for breath and sighed in relief.

"So I guess you're staying, huh?" Mokuba asked innocently.

Arienne's angry face relaxed and she glanced at the speaker with a wry sort of smile, "I guess so…"