Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Seto Kaiba's Perfect Match ❯ All Is Revealed ( Chapter 16 )

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

The room seemed to fall absolutely silent for a millennium, only punctuated by my intermittent, childish sniffles and snubs. I kept my eyes locked on Seto's, but to my disappointment saw no change in their expression, which grew colder by the second as he looked at me.
"Well," a deep voice commented. "You're not quite the Seto Kaiba we used to work for and love, but I daresay you've retained quite a bit of your detached nature." A tall man, dressed in the same type of black suit as the poor associate I had choked, appeared off to our left, sitting comfortably in a chair. I didn't understand why I had missed his presence to begin with, but then again, my mind was occupied with other things.
"Who are you?" I asked quietly, not letting go of Seto's shoulders, only turning my head to look over.
"Who am I?" he asked. "I'm just one of Seto's associates, ones that he didn't see fit to keep around. You may refer to me as Big Three. The man over there is Big Four." He gestured to the man that I had, um, dispatched, then folded his hands in his lap.
Seto's blue eyes flashed with anger, just as I had seen them earlier that morning. "What the hell are you doing back here?" He gritted his teeth and glared at Big Three. I, for one, didn't blame him.
"Oh, Seto, we didn't exactly vanish when you defeated us in the game. Did you really expect us to do so?" Seto growled softly and low in his throat at Big Three's remark.
"I see your temper is aroused just as easily as ever," Big Three said with a chuckle, rising slowly and threateningly from his seat. "You're quite a force to be reckoned with when angered. Especially when your authority is challenged." Now, this was something I could agree with; even though I loved Seto very much, his personality flaws weren't exactly invisible to my eagle eye.
"Why did you threaten me?" Seto managed to growl out through his clenched teeth. Big Three only chuckled in response.
"We simply didn't like to see you degraded in public," he said, gesturing broadly to both of us, but I knew by the tone of his voice and the direction he looked in that he meant I was the problem. I rolled my eyes and tried not to let it bother me.
"Truth be told, Seto, we are only looking out for you, and only trying to maintain your public image," Big Three said, moving closer to Seto and me as he said it. I felt Seto's shoulders stiffen under my fingers as he did so. "KaibaCorp is just that----a corporation. We are machines, technology, numbers, money. We are not emotions, or people, or friendship, and especially not love. That's why we had to get rid of your---girlfriend." He gestured to me and my lip curled in anger.
"So you pulled this stupid prank?" I asked, feeling rage climb my spine and infect my brain. I clicked my tongue derisively. "Man, you motherfuckers can't keep your goddamn hands out of anything! We were just fine, that is until you decided to fuck everything up. Now I have to hold on to him by the shoulders so that he won't walk away from me in disgust!" Seto looked down at me, the innocent little brown-eyed girl who never would say a bad word about anyone, now cursing like a sailor and speaking her honest opinion for all she was worth. I saw a look of disbelief and then a look of awe flicker across his face before he regained his composure and his solemn expression.
"Now, little girl, don't go messing in things that the big boys are supposed to handle," Big Three said condescendingly, waggling a finger at me. "You're just too dangerous to the company's image. We can't have a personal relationship destroying our reputation."
"And since when have people started caring about images more than substance?" I thought, then answered my own rhetorical question. "Well, I guess since humans started to exist. But still, to think that the company's image would be wrecked by a relationship is just ludicrous!" Another frustrated sigh escaped me. "And since when does a company have to be heartless and unemotional to be considered successful? You know, I bet you that even more people would respect KaibaCorp if its very own CEO proved himself to be as human and loving and caring as I know he is. I know I would respect it even more than I do now. It would just be another thing to add to the list of good attributes. Sure, y'all make great technology, but there needs to be a certain revealing of the humans behind the creation of the technology too."
"I never thought about it that way," I heard Seto murmur softly. I could tell by the way he was relaxing into my grip that his respect for me was slowly rising again, and I was determined to keep it going, so I released him and faced the idiot who dared challenge our relationship.
"Again, you meddle in things you shouldn't, little girl," Big Three said. "Though I have to admire your courage."
"Oh, I'm gonna be meddling with something else if you don't shut the fuck up," I said, threatening him. "Oh yes, I've got a knee and I know how to use it."
"Ooh, shit----that would hurt," Joey commented suddenly. "Good one, Robin."
I smiled. "So, do we have an understanding?" I stared Big Three in the face resolutely, brazenly challenging him to undermine my personal strength again.
"Why, we need not resort to physical violence," he instead replied smoothly. "I can clearly see that you are quite devoted to Seto indeed. Honestly, I didn't think it was possible for a woman to find Seto attractive----well, at least once she met him and truly knew his personality." I heard Seto snort contemptuously, and I couldn't help but smile a little at his reaction.
"Well, you thought wrong," I said, rolling my eyes. "I mean, he's a freakin' genius, he's rich beyond belief, he looks that sexy and has an inner personal drive to back it up----what's not to like?" I looked back over my shoulder at Seto, who admittedly blushed at my honest flattery. "Plus, he's sweet and tender when he wants to be or needs to be. Sure, he may be a little arrogant at times, and sure, he doesn't like to admit defeat. Well, that makes two of us----I have the same problems. He can be a little cruel or a little too dominating at times----and I can deal with it, because I've built up a thick skin for caustic remarks, and I can be submissive if the situation calls for it."
"So you mean to say that you accept him in his totality?" Admittedly, Big Three seemed a little surprised.
"Yes," I said honestly. "I see his flaws, but they don't matter so much. What matters more is the fact that I have found a man I care for, my---"
Big Three finished for me. "Perfect match."
I gasped. "How'd you know?"
He turned on his heel and walked back to the chair he had been sitting in, and made a few clicks on a keyboard which sat on a desk behind the chair. In the darkness of the basement lab, I hadn't seen it before.
Suddenly a screen brightened above Big Three's head, and a quite familiar image was displayed.
"Hey, that's me!" I said, looking at the screen. It was apparently a tape of earlier that day----it showed me with Yugi and Tea and Joey and Tristan, sitting around as we had. I was crying hard, and Tea was comforting me. As I watched, Yugi and Tea and Joey departed, leaving me and Tristan on the bench talking. He fast-forwarded the tape, and stopped it when he apparently felt it was appropriate.
"You might be interested in hearing this, Seto," Big Three said, turning up the volume as I talked onscreen.

"That's bullshit and you know it, Robin," Tristan said onscreen, patting my back. "I saw you with him----you changed him, at least for a little while. I saw him out there dancing with you and saw the way he acted when you sang to him and heard him give a glowing review of your music. Whatever this is, Robin, you have to know that this will pass."
"I hope you're right, Tristan," I said, raising my head from my hands wearily. "I just----I don't want this to turn out like every other relationship I've had, where I'm judged not right or not enough. Damn it, if they gave a prize for trying so hard to love everyone and always being kind and never being mean, would I win it or what?" My mirthless laughter sounded hollow on the tape. I watched myself sigh heavily. "I devote myself so totally to the people I truly love, and it hurts when I'm rejected. I just don't want to end up an old maid and alone, and I thought Seto was the kind of man I could spend the rest of my life with and love and care for, even when we're both old and gray." I hesitated for a second, and then spoke, even though my voice shuddered. "All I've wanted was a man who was my equal----my perfect match, you might say. I found that perfect match in him. Now if only he could see that I could be his perfect match."

The tape clicked off abruptly. Stunned silence reigned for a second. Then I heard Tristan laugh.
"Sweet! I was on TV!" Joey elbowed him.
"Dude, it was on a friggin' security camera or somethin'."
"I don't care----I was on TV!"

I shook my head, as if to say "Tsk, tsk," and turned my attention back to the matter at hand.
"Do you see your proof, Seto?" Big Three asked. I looked back over my shoulder. Seto had his arms crossed tightly, and he appeared to be lost in his own mind. Questioningly, I turned my own gaze back to the guy who had started this shit in the first place.
"Are you trying to persuade him to accept me?" I asked in disbelief.
"No," Big Three replied simply. "I am providing him with a decision to make between the company and you. If he wants one, he will have to dump the other." My shoulders immediately sagged. Knowing Seto and his passion for working on new inventions for Duel Monsters, I would most likely be dumped. My logical mind took over, and I tried to get myself used to the notion, but I couldn't help that my eyes threatened to well up with tears as I thought about it.
"So, have you decided, Seto?" Big Three prompted impatiently. A painful, long silence passed, and my heart began to ache in my chest with the heaviness of the moment. Then I heard Seto's sexy voice speak.
"Now this is one thing I know you should know by now," he said to Big Three, his deep voice filled with ice as he came up behind me. "You don't make me choose when you aren't in power anyway." He paused. "Since you have no authority anymore, I'd say you don't have any place telling me what I have to do, do you?"
Big Three gave pause, seeing how easily and calmly forceful Seto was, and I saw a fearful glint in his eye; apparently, the situation was not going according to plan. His eyes darted around the dim room anxiously----his breath shuddered and caught in his throat. One could almost see the wheels in his mind frantically turning, trying to find a way to still come out on top. Suddenly my sharp eyes caught a sudden movement----he made a quick move in Mokuba's direction, but faltered. Reflexively, I used the second he gave me and blocked his path, somehow knowing he planned to use Mokuba to get his way.
"Don't you dare threaten his family," I said angrily. "That is no way to get what you want." Mokuba gasped as I stood boldly in front of him, protecting him. When Big Three attempted to fake me out and grab Mokuba from behind me, I carried out the physical threat I had made him earlier, quite incapacitating him, if I do say so myself. He crumpled to the floor, whimpering and holding his groin in pain, and I smiled down at him.
"I told you I had a knee and knew how to use it."
Joey and Tristan groaned in sympathy. "Damn, remind me not to piss you off!" Tristan said with a laugh, and all the rest burst into giggles. I locked eyes with Seto, anticipating a frigid look, and was pleasantly surprised when I saw a gentle smile spread across his face. It was like watching a beautiful sunrise, and I smiled back.
"Seto?" I asked, and he was silent for a minute, then nodded. "You understand?" I asked. Another nod. I released a breath that felt like it had been sealed up inside me forever, and I ran up to him, threw my arms around his neck and hugged him gleefully.

Much later, after all the "treacherous associates" had been dealt with and everything had been cleared up, the rest of the gang and I parted ways for the day, seeing as how it was nearing dusk.
"Well, bye, y'all," I said cheerfully. "Thanks for everything you did for us."
"No prob," Joey said with a dismissive wave. "Any time."
"Yeah," Yugi added. "We'll be around if you need us."
"Oh, definitely," Tea said with a smile. "Call me if you need a friend, all right?"
"See you tomorrow," Tristan said, a little sadness in his voice.
"I will----I still have a tournament to win," I said, with a teasing wink directed at Seto.
"No, I have a tournament to win," he said under his breath to me, and I giggled.
"Oh, correction, he has a tournament to win," I said jovially, gesturing to him. We turned and started to leave them then, but I looked back over my shoulder. Since Seto was focused straight ahead, Yugi flashed me a little thumbs-up. I returned the gesture with the hand that was currently around Seto's waist.
"What are you doing back there?" Seto murmured teasingly, feeling my hand moving behind his back.
"Oh, nothing," I said mysteriously, and waved to everyone as we left, looking over my left shoulder. I noticed Tristan had to wipe an errant tear away from his eye.

"So, Sexy Man," I said cheerfully as we walked, "are you doing all right now?"
"Better," he said, but bit his lip. I felt the arm around me tighten a little.
"Still tense?" I asked with concern. He nodded silently, and I sighed.
"Well, it has been a kind of tense day for all of us," I said, the mirth in my voice camouflaging the pain I felt----or so I thought.
"Robin, you don't have to pretend everything's better now," he said quietly. "I know I hurt you." Well, I couldn't exactly say he was wrong.
"Yes, you did," I said honestly. "But it'll heal, just like all my other hurts have."
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice controlled. "I----was so suspicious of you. I just----it's just that nobody has ever cared about me the way you seemed to care, and the people who have said they care have betrayed me. You can't very well blame me."
"I don't blame you for anything, sweetheart," I said kindly. "You said you're sorry, I forgive you. Simple."
He shook his head, still focused straight ahead. "How you forgive so easily is beyond me. I know I wouldn't forgive so easily if I were in your position."
"It's pretty easy once you get used to doing it," I said simply. "You just have to be willing to love anyone, even if that person doesn't always love you. It's about what you can give to a person, not what you can receive."
Seto smiled a gentle smile. "You know, I'd never thought I'd ever say this about anyone, but----"
"What?" I asked, curious.
"I never thought I'd meet a person who is stronger than I am. You are----without a doubt. You knew how to handle me back there like I was a dueling novice and you were the champion." He looked down at himself shyly. "It sounds weird to hear myself say that."
"Well, you've not been one to be very, uh, self-effacing," I said, trying to tactfully let him know he had a bit of an ego sometimes. "But I don't know about me being stronger."
"I know strength when I see it," Seto said with a little smile. "Back there----you even defended Mokuba like he was part of your family as well. And you----you proved you loved me beyond any shadow of a doubt." He smiled slightly to himself. "I know it took guts to say what you did, both to my former associate and to me."
"Ah, it wasn't too hard," I said airily. "I just have to be pissed off enough to be bold." I laughed and grinned at him.
"But more than that," Seto said, turning and looking me in the eyes, "you reached into my soul and found me----the person I used to be. I could never do that for anyone."
"Maybe you did and didn't know it," I said mysteriously, and he looked down at me.
"Really?"
"Really," I replied. "We both helped each other evolve. It's not that I am perhaps stronger," I said gently, snuggling into his embrace. "It is, however, quite possible that I'm simply----your perfect match."