Chapter 20 - For the love of shopping

For the love of shopping



Kaede and Seto were in her room at her house, just sitting on her bed chatting about stuff, when Kaede's grandmother yelled for her from downstairs.

`Kaede, come down here,' her grandmother called. Kaede jumped off the bed and ran down the stairs. Her grandmother was in the kitchen, baking what looked like cookies. She had a tray of freshly baked ones in her oven-gloved hand and some ready to be baked on a tray in her other hand. She tipped the cookies onto a plate and handed them to Kaede. `These are for you and Mr. Kaiba, and Ana called for you, here's the message.'

`Grandma, please call him Seto,' Kaede said, taking the plate and the piece of paper. `Calling him Mr. Kaiba makes him sound old.'

Kaede ran upstairs and shut the door to her room with her foot. She set the plate down on the bed beside Seto and quickly read the piece of paper.

`Ana is having another party,' Kaede said to Seto over her shoulder. `On her birthday. She says she'll pick us up at your mansion.'

`She's having another party?' Seto mumbled through the cookie in his mouth. `Are her and her brother rich or something?'

`Not as rich as you,' Kaede said, curling up on the bed next to him. `But I suppose you could call them well off.'

Seto laughed and put his arm around Kaede's shoulders, kissing the top of her head. `Well, I suppose we should go shopping tomorrow then.'

The next day they went to the mall, and went to the nearest prom shop they could find.

`Well, it's black tie,' Kaede said as she browsed through the rails of dresses. `But I want a really different dress, because I have so many plain ones, I want something totally different of once.'

Kaede shook her head at all the dresses and dragged Seto out of the shop. They spent the entire morning going from one shop to the other, Kaede occasionally trying on dresses, but putting them back, muttering about them.

At one o'clock Seto complained he was starving, and would not watch her try on any more dresses unless he had something to eat.

`No way,' Kaede shook her head. `We only have a couple more black tie shops left, and then I can make a decision based on my favourites.'

She was about to walk into the next shop on her list when Seto grabbed her around the middle, hoisted her up over his shoulder in a fireman's lift and carried her to the nearest café.

`Lunch first, before I die of hunger,' Seto said, and ordered some sandwiches before she could argue. Kaede sulked at his negativity and took a pen out of her bag, doodling on the napkin on the table she sat at. She had a picture in her mind about what she wanted her dress to be like. She imagined it two different colours, with a corset top part, and a puffed out skirt, no straps or sleeves.

Seto came back with the sandwiches, placing one in front of her and demanded that she eat it. Kaede stuffed the napkin in her bag so that Seto wouldn't think she was more obsessed about dresses than her already did, and stared down at her sandwiches. Picking it up in between her fingers, she looked at it, and took a bit out of it, chewing half-heartedly.

Kaede looked around the mall at all the shoppers. She was just thinking about how happy they looked, shopping and ignoring their aching stomachs when she heard her name being shouted from across the mall.

`KAEDE! KAEDE!' someone yelled, and Kaede swivelled around in her chair. Sakura was running towards her, dragging with her this guy who looked about 10 years older than her. Kaede was startled, thinking she was cheating on Yami, but she recognised bits of Sakura in him and stood to greet them, realising that this was Sakura's brother.

`Hi Sakura, is this your brother?' Kaede asked, standing up and hugging Sakura.

`Yeah, Kaede, this is Tom, Tom, this is Kaede,' Sakura waved her hand as she introduced them. Her brother, Tom, was tall, with sandy brown coloured hair and a very even tan, Kaede observed. She smiled at Tom, and shook his hand.

`Hi, nice to meet you,' Kaede said. They all sat down together at Kaede and Seto's table and began to chat about the party.

`What are you wearing, Sakura?' Kaede eagerly asked.

`Don't tell her,' Seto warned. `She will start a discussion about it and won't drop the conversation until she goes to yet another dress shop.'

Kaede hit him playfully on the arm. `That was a little uncalled for, I think,' she said, as pompously as she could. Turning back to Sakura, she tilted her head in a questioning manor.

`Well, it is white and strapless, with black flowers along the hem and the bust, and a really cool design up the left side,' Sakura explained, sitting up and looking really excited to be describing her dress. `I spent ages trying to find it, but we've just brought it, and now we have a whole afternoon with nothing to do.'

`Hey, great plan,' Kaede said, sitting up immediately. `How about you come with me to go and get my dress, and Seto and Tom can hang around somewhere, because Seto is getting kinda bored of all this dress shopping.'

So, leaving Seto and Tom to try and make conversation, Kaede and Sakura jumped up and went to the nearest posh dress shop. Kaede had been there already but Sakura, who had a keen eye for anything clothes related, began leafing through the rails, looking at the most flamboyant dresses. Picking a few off the rail and handing them to Kaede, she turned her around and pushed her towards the changing room. `Go and try on, NOW!' She said, and pulled the curtain behind Kaede so she couldn't protest.

After she tried on each dress, she stepped outside to show Sakura, who tutted and made a few comments on the style and the way it looked on. It wasn't until Kaede put on a red one that Sakura actually spoke directly to Kaede.

`Colour.'

`Excuse me?'

`What are your favourite colours?'

Kaede squatted on the floor of the changing room, the skirt of the dress puffed out around her. She looked at herself in the mirror as she squatted there.

`Definitely not red,' she said as she looked at the dress on her. `It clashes with my hair.'

`What doesn't,' Sakura muttered under her breath.

Kaede pretended she hadn't heard her and turned around, trying to picture what colour it should be. `Maybe pink,' she mussed. `Or black, that's a great colour.'

Sakura nodded and began to hunt around the shelves. Kaede sat down on the chair inside the changing rooms, thinking that maybe she should just wear one of the ones she already had if it was too much of a hassle, and remembered her doodle on the café napkin. She pulled it out of her bag and gazed at it. Sakura came back with an armful of dresses and Kaede handed it to her, not really thinking that it would help, but it couldn't hurt to have a little bit of a suggestion of what she wanted it to look like.

Sakura glanced at it and immediately ran off, shouting back to Kaede, `Hold on, stay there, I saw the perfect one.'

Kaede sat bewildered in the chair, and saw Sakura come running back with a dress. She hung it by the hanger from on of the clothes hooks on the wall and pulled Kaede back to look at it.

Kaede gasped in excitement. There, before her, was her perfect dress. With a pink corset top and a skirt that puffed out, not very much, but enough to give it the black tie dress feel, with two pink strips down the middle, getting wider as they went down. The rest of the skirt was completely black, and so was the tie that wrapped around the waist. Kaede grinned, hugged Sakura, and ran into the changing room to try it on.

She emerged with it on, her perfect dress, and spun in front of the mirror. She twisted her hair up into a bun thing and turned her head from side to side. She was just spinning around again when Seto and Tom walked in, tired of making boring conversation. Kaede smiled and hugged Seto as soon as she saw him, much to his surprise.

`Seto, I want this dress,' Kaede grinned happily, and kissed him lightly on the cheek before running back to the changing rooms to get dressed back in her own clothes. `Oh,' she called, poking her head through the curtain. `You have to dress to match!'

On hearing this, Seto nearly fainted.



***



On the day of the party, Kaede and Seto spent the whole of the day at the Kaiba mansion getting ready for the party. Seto was going to wear a black tuxedo with a pink rose as his corsage. Within 10 minutes he was ready, and stood around watching as Kaede did her hair and put on make up, waved her hand around to try and get her nail polish dried quicker, and finally put on her dress. She draped a black silk scarf around her arms and was finally ready. They waited in the hallway for Ana to come and pick them up, and Kaede watched through the window, thinking she would see Sakura's kombi along the driveway. She was startled by two white Rolls Royces sweeping along the drive.

`They're here,' she said, grabbing Seto by the arm. She ran down the steps with him and they climbed into the first car with Ana and Honda. Ana looked gorgeous in her strapless red dress and Honda looked like a very smart Honda wearing his tux with a red rose. They were accompanied by a girl with bubblegum coloured hair that Kaede did not know.

`Oh, Kaede, this is Yumiko, Yumiko, Kaede,' Ana introduced them. Kaede smiled at Yumiko as she was introduced, and turned back to Ana, a little confused, so Ana explained. `Yumiko is half Australian, and our parents were friends.'

The cars drove around the city, picking up each of their friends in turn. Their car was full so the other car got packed with everybody else. When finally they arrived to pick up Joey, Yami, Duke and Ryou, Kaede was looking out of the window and was startled to see that with them was a tall blonde girl, with her arms linked in Joey's. Kaede smiled at Mai as soon as she recognised her, and looked at Ana, about to ask if she had invited her too. But Ana seemed to find Mai's appearance just as odd as everybody else did.

When they set off again, the phone rang, and it was Joey apologising for not warning everybody about Mai. Ana was cool with it, just a little annoyed about not being told first, Kaede presumed that she didn't want her birthday ruined by a pathetic argument with Joey, so she didn't really go into it.

They arrived at the hotel and the doors of the car were opened for them, the doormen to the hotel held the doors open as they entered and they were all seated at the best table in the hotel restaurant. Kaede sat down in between Duke and Tea and laughed with them as Ana tried to speak English, her French accent completely masking her English.

After a wonderful meal, they were shown to the hotel's ballroom, and all danced together in their couples, Yumiko dancing with Duke as they were the two singletons. After a couple of dances, Kaede went to sit down in one of the chairs over to the side of the hall. She took of her huge heels as sat cross-legged in the chair, watching her friends dance together. She was just staring into space when she felt someone sit down beside her.

`Penny for your thoughts,' Mai said, as she sat down beside her.

`I wasn't thinking anything, just sort of daydreaming,' Kaede said, leaning back so her face was on the same level as Mai's.

`So how are things going with you and Joey?' Kaede asked as the conversation between them wasn't going very far.

`It's great actually, he is such a great guy,' Mai smiled as she said this. Kaede turned away, wanting to say that he really wasn't a great guy, but thought better of it. `So, you and Kaiba, huh?'

`Yeah, we've been going out for just over a month and a half, and so far nothing major has happened,' Kaede said bored, glad the conversation was away from Joey.

`Really, only a month and a half?' Mai exclaimed. `Joey told me the two of you split up ages ago because you were two timing him with Kaiba, and he went out with me a while afterwards.'

Kaede immediately stood up, fuming. She pulled on her shoes and made to walk away from Mai, but Mai grabbed her arm, pulling her back. `What's the matter, Kaede?'

Kaede whipped around to face Mai, her hands shaking with anger. She didn't want Mai to have to find out about this, but she had no choice now, not when Joey was saying things like that about her. `Okay, you listen to me Mai Valentine. Don't believe anything Joey Wheeler has to say to you, because he is a scumbag liar when it comes to me. I only stopped going out with him a month and a half ago, after I spoke to you on the phone and you told me that you were going out with Joey. That's why we split up, not because I was cheating on Joey with Seto, but because he was two-timing me with you.'

Kaede pulled her arm free and ran back onto the dance floor, and immediately got swept up by Seto in a waltz.

`Where were you, I had to dance two whole dances by myself,' Seto said with obvious fake sadness. Kaede smiled weakly at this and rested her head on his chest, anger still pulsing through her body. Seto realised something was wrong because he stopped dancing and took her hands in his. `What's the matter?'

`Nothing,' Kaede said as Ana and Honda danced past. Ana looked so happy, she really didn't want Seto to get angry with Joey, not on her birthday. So she put her arms around his waist and began to dance again, making him follow her. `Just act like nothing's wrong, and I'll tell you later.'

Seto said nothing more about it, and continued dancing as though nothing was wrong. After a couple more dances, and a surprise live singer for Ana, organised by their whole group, and making her get up and sing along with him, they all got dropped off back at their homes in the same Rolls Royces. Seto and Kaede waved goodbye to Ana, shouting happy birthday after her as the cars drove away, and then they ran back into the house to escape the cold. They went back to Seto's room and Kaede got changed into her night things that she left at Seto's house and lay on the bed with her eyes closed.

Seto came and sat on the bed next to her. `Tell me what's wrong, Kaede,' he demanded softly.

Kaede rolled over and leaned up on her elbow to face him. She frowned as she thought about what Mai had said. `Joey never told Mai that he was two timing us, or that I dumped him because of it. He just told her that I was the reason for the break up, because I was cheating on him with you, and he found out and dumped me,' Kaede looked at Seto's face and saw him become angry really fast, so she said quickly, `But it's okay, it really is nothing, I don't know why I got so mad, just please don't beat Joey up, please,' Kaede begged, changing position so she was kneeling on the bed next to him. `Please, he isn't worth it.'

Seto calmed down when she said this and sighed, lying down on the bed. Kaede lay beside him and linked arms with him. He turned his head to look at her and she beamed at him, and once more he found himself fighting to say what he had been wanting to tell her at the New Year's party, but again the words wouldn't form in his mind.

Kaede leaned over and kissed him quickly, and then wrapped the duvet around her and reached out to turn off the light. Seto sighed and turned off his bedside lamp too, and lay next to her, his arms around her, listening as her breathing became more steady and deeper. How hard was it to say those words? Seto shook his head a little and closed his eyes. As he was falling asleep he realised it wasn't that he didn't know how to say the words, because he had never said them before in his life, but it was him worrying about what she would say in reply.

What could she possibly say to, `Kaede, I love you'?

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