Just Business

Similarity

Seto's POV:

"Why did you do all this for me?" Elaine looked at me with eyes full of emotion.

I smirked and whispered into her ear "That's for me to know and you to find out, Elaine."

She rolled her eyes and groaned in frustration.

I don't know why I enjoy seeing her like this. It could be because her nose crinkles adorably, or because her face goes a little red, or- I'm getting ahead of my self

Frankly I needed her to remember meeting me. It hurt me that she didn't remember the night which was the first time in my life a woman caught my attention. That night, she showed me that she didn't care about a person's wealth, or status, or fame, she just cared what you were like as a person.

Now, as this ridiculous publicity stunt has been unfolding I found myself selfishly wanting her to be all mine, perhaps in reality as well. I want her by my side to keep reminding me to see the good in people even when everything goes horribly wrong, and have someone who can understand how I am without getting frustrated.

Well, we're working on that last bit. 

Now, am I telling her that any time soon? Nope. 

"So what's next?" Elaine said as we finished our meal together. 

"Might I interest you in a walk through the garden?" I extended my arm to escort her, and to my delight, she took it and walked alongside me over the bridge.

"I'd be delighted." She smiled at me and I felt my heart begin to race. 

I took a deep breath and put one foot after another. 

"So, how was your lunch with Brendon and his wife, Sarah was it?" 

"Yeah, Sarah. Well, I found out that they're going to have a baby! They asked me and Kyoya to be the godparents."

"Congratulations." replied, sending her what I hoped resembled a smile. I'm out of practice, so I really can only hope.

She sent me a smile back, "Yeah, that child is going to be beautiful!"

"How did you meet them?"

"Brendon and Sarah?"

I nodded to confirm. 

"I was covering one of his songs at a restaurant in Tokyo." She looked into the water under the bridge. "When the orphanage found out I taught myself how to play music and sing, they wanted me to play shows and make money for the orphanage. I had to play at a small restaurant, and Brendon's band was playing a show in Tokyo later that night so he was taking Sarah out for an early dinner. I started singing The End of All Things and Brendon recognized the song and approached me after the show."

I nodded, remembering my own orphanage experience. 

She quickly finished. "He then adopted me and Kyoya, on the down low, to get me states-side and signed me to his label."

We continued walking through the garden.

"So how come you and Kyoya have different last names? Why aren't you both Uries?"

"Brendon didn't want everyone to think of us as his kids and I didn't want my success to be a direct result of his fame, even if he did discover me."

"That makes enough sense. I rebuilt Kaiba Corp. for a similar reason."

"And what would that be Mr. Kaiba?" she asked.

"Mokuba was always bullied while we were in the orphanage. I really only wanted to give him the best life I could, one day Gozaburo Kaiba, famous business man and chess champion, was visiting the orphanage on a publicity stunt. I challenged him to a game of chess with the stakes that if I won Mokuba and I got adopted. Long story short, I won."

"Congratulations."

"If only. I barely got to see Mokuba after that. Gozaburo wanted to raise me to be his perfect air to the company. I hated that man, so I destroyed his company and re-built mine in it's place."

"Ah... so similar."

"Okay, point being, I didn't want my success to be credited to him, just like you with Brendon."

"I suppose, that does make a lot more sense."

We stopped walking half way around the garden pond. The lights around us gave her an almost magical glow. After looking at the fountain in the middle for a moment, she turned and faced me, her eye sparkling from the lanterns all around. 

"Elaine?"

"Yes Seto?"

"Would you be shocked if I kissed you?"

She raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why?"

"Simple." I closed the gap between us, pressing my lips to hers.

To my surprise, she kissed back.

She pulled away after a moment looking at me, confusion and surprise written on her face.

"Well Miss Wineberry, I must now take you home lest your little brother attempt to kill me." I extended my arm to escort her.

She nodded, took my arm and followed me back to the car appearing to be deep in thought.

A/N: my apologies for never updating! Now that it's summer, I'm hoping I'll have more time to write and eventually finish this story. Thank you again for reading!
~Val