Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Seto Kaiba's Perfect Match ❯ Confrontation ( Chapter 15 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"Damn, I'm still soaked from the fountain," Tristan muttered as we continued to walk.
"Well, if a certain someone hadn't started pushing me, I wouldn't have had to retaliate, now would I have?" I asked teasingly.
"Aw, you didn't have to go and shove me in the fountain, though," he said, rolling his eyes.
"No, but you needed to cool off," I said.
"Bullshit."
"Hey, I'm only telling the truth," I said, innocently licking the last of my ice cream cone. Suddenly I heard running footsteps behind us.
"Yo, Tris! Wait up!" We both turned and saw Joey, Yugi, Tea and Mokuba running towards us.
"What's up?" Tristan said breezily, waving.
"No time to talk, Tristan," Yugi said, gasping for breath. "Just follow us." He motioned us to follow Mokuba, who was leading the group. We immediately fell in step with them.
"Mind telling us where we're going?" Tristan asked through breathing hard.
"KaibaCorp's office building," Tea explained breathlessly. "Mokuba's worried that Kaiba's gone to confront the people who sent him the email."
"You mean he's already found out who sent it?" I asked.
"Yeah," Yugi said. "We found out too----it's his former associates, the same ones who trapped his mind in his virtual reality game."
"God, not them again," Tristan said. "Can't we ever get away from enemies in this city?" He shook his head wearily as he said it, reaching up to quickly wipe his brow.

Once we made it to the KaibaCorp office building, Mokuba dashed up to the front desk. The secretary, of course, recognized him.
"Well, hi!" she said kindly, looking at Mokuba. "What are you doing here?"
"Have you seen my brother today?" Mokuba asked, a little impatiently.
"Uh---yes, as a matter of fact," the secretary replied after thinking a little. "He came in about fifteen minutes ago. Why do you ask?" she asked suddenly, seeing our flushed faces and how out of breath we all were. "Is something wrong?"
"I really need to see Seto." I noticed that Mokuba had the rare talent of explaining a lot with few words. "Do you know where he went?"
"I think he went to the basement of the building, if I'm not mistaken. He seemed in more of a rush than normal---seemed quite out of sorts."
"Oh, crap," I heard Mokuba mutter under his breath. "Come on, guys, we need to go. Now." He ran down the hall next to the secretary's desk, and we quickly followed.
"I hope you find him all right!" the secretary called as we hurriedly made our way to the elevator.

"Man, Kaiba's all about keeping secrets," Joey said with a laugh as we climbed into the elevator and Mokuba pushed the button for the basement floor. "I didn't even know there was a basement to this buildin'."
"Not many people know about it," Mokuba explained. "Only Seto and his associates used to know. I only found out about it when Seto got trapped in the game."
The elevator dinged, signaling our arrival in the basement, and faintly I could hear a familiar deep voice yelling through the heavy steel of the elevator doors. "I think we're too late," I said softly. "It sounds like Seto already got to them."
As the doors opened, Seto was revealed, facing and threatening a short, balding man who appeared to be one of the associates. His back was turned to us, but our presence was soon noticed by the associate, who fearfully pointed over Seto's shoulder. He looked over his shoulder (still sexy as hell, by the way) and sighed heavily.
"Oh, great. Just who I wanted to see." He turned around and faced us. "And just what the hell do you all think you're doing here? Especially you, Robin. I thought I told you----"
"I know exactly what you told me, Seto," I said, stressing the fact that I had used his first name, and making my voice as chilly as his. Despite the fact that I was still sad and hurt over the accusations, my determination to prove my innocence in the matter made me quite bold indeed. Admittedly, he looked a bit taken aback. I put my hands on my hips and tried to match my expression to his. "Personally, I'm here to save your ass, but you know, I don't have to, seeing as how you don't care if you ever see me again. Aren't those your words, verbatim?" I asked him, challenging him with my eyes as I had done after our duel. Right now, I felt the tension in the room was equal to the tension between us when we had dueled.
"Tell me something, Seto," I said, walking smoothly around behind him and grabbing the rather short associate by the collar, as he seemed to be frozen to his place with fear. "Is this something that a woman who conspires against you would do?"
I then proceeded to choke the unfortunate guy, and stared him in the face. "How dare you try to make me out to be the bad guy," I said, anger making my voice a throaty contralto. "How dare you plant the seeds of mistrust between myself and the man I love. How dare you." When I was done proving my point, or so I thought, I tossed him aside and turned back to Seto, my chest heaving a little with the effort of being as bold and brave as I was attempting to be.
"I am not mad at you," I said, trying to stay calm. "I just want you to see that I am devoted to you. Knowing you, you need concrete proof, and so I came to show you that and also to prevent you from doing something stupid like trying to take on all these guys by yourself." I paused, steeling myself. "Do you believe me when I say I had nothing to do with this, and that I am and always will be faithful and devoted to you?" I stopped, waiting for an answer.
To my utter astonishment, Seto shrugged. "I personally don't see any point in believing anything you say anymore. Who knows but this might all be staged, and that this is yet another manipulation tactic of yours?"
"And what the hell would be accomplished?" I asked, throwing up my hands in disbelief, my voice rising wildly. "That would be, at best, counterproductive! There is no logic to your supposition, and you know it, Seto!" My eyes threatened to flood again, but I didn't let them. Biting my lip, I strode up to the man I loved and looked up into his eyes. When he tried to step back away from me in disgust, I reached up slightly and held his broad shoulders tightly, forcing him to stay with me.
"Don't you dare walk away from me, Seto Kaiba. You will stand here and listen to what I have to say."
"One thing you should have learned by now," he said with a threatening edge in his voice, "is that you don't try to control me. I will not have it."
"Well, you're going to have to put up with it," I said resolutely. "Look at me." He stubbornly refused, turning his face away abruptly. My eyes welled up with tears involuntarily. "Damn it," I thought to myself, "I don't need to be weak right now, not when I'm trying to be stronger than he is!" I tried to blink back the tears, but they kept coming back, because I was scared to death I was going to lose him.
"Seto---please look at me." It came out less authoritative and more like a whiny little girl's plea. But it worked; Seto grudgingly turned back to me, and cold, steely blue eyes met flooded, tearful brown eyes. I sobbed a quick sob, seeing how indifferent he was towards me now, and I instinctively reached up and stroked his cheek, not noticing that he visibly flinched and shrank away from my touch.
"I love you," I said intensely. "And I feel like it's my fault that you don't trust me. I'm sorry if anything I've done has fallen short of what you needed or wanted, but---" My voice broke, and I stopped and regained my composure, then spoke again.
"Please," I pleaded quietly, looking up into his eyes, my lower lip trembling and tears standing in my eyes. "Please, Seto----please let me into your heart again." A hiccuping sob escaped me. "It's much too cold out here." My control over my emotions completely failed at last, and I started to cry softly, still staring into his eyes as mine overflowed and spilled the essence of sadness down my cheeks.