God's Brew (Part 1)

DIMENSION: ANIME (The One that Pays to Save the Day)

Fifi's Restaurant

"Please, Serenity?"

Serenity sighed. Life really wasn't supposed to go this way. She felt out of the loop. She knew when she was younger she'd be pretty, but she'd been gifted with being even prettier. Downright attractive.

She didn't really get it. She had the body of a super model, and she didn't earn it. She never dieted, didn't exercise a whole lot, never had been the wrong amount of weight. Her breasts were big, but not excessively. Her butt was big, but not excessively. Women were jealous, and guys around there fancied her more and more.

Serenity was a nice person, so when it first started, she gave guys plenty of chances around there. They always tended to want more though. Some even went so far as to say she had a beauty that must have been a gift from the gods.

It wasn't easy to find guys not drooling anymore. It's part of the reason she chose Tristan Taylor to go steady with. His presence usually shooed them off, and at least she knew he would treat her well.

Too bad he wasn't around right now. "I'm just not interested," she said to the latest person asking for a date. "I'd like to finish my meal. Thanks, but I have a boyfriend." Nothing.

"That means scat."

Hm, that voice was familiar. Serenity looked toward the owner. He was familiar, but she couldn't guess where.

He sat down next to her. "Name's Seto Kaiba. Yours?"

///Serenity: Seto Kaiba. Seto Kaiba. I know him. I know that I know him. He runs Kaiba Corp. He created the cards? No, he didn't create the cards. Features of the cards Joey used to play. I think?/// There was still more. Personally. "Serenity Wheeler. Do I know you?"

"Probably. My company is famous." He waved the other man goodbye with his hand, and this time, he left. "Getting bothered much?"

Constantly. "Constantly," she actually said out loud. Maybe if she stayed more open, she'd remember who he'd been personally to her?

He wore strange clothes, but expensive. Was that a cape, who wore a cape? His hair was smoother and well taken care of. He had brought a strange bottle of whiskey or something from his own table called God's Brew.

Who was he?

"I feel like I know you," Seto Kaiba said to her. "I don't know how, and that's not a line. From the minute I came in here, I haven't been able to get you off of my mind. I know that I know you from somewhere. I hate leaving mysteries unfinished." He took off the cap of his God's Brew and poured a glass. "Do you live here in the city?"

Hm. "Yes." He was doing exactly what she really wanted to do. "Your company is here."

"Yes, it is. Are you related to anyone at my company?" He asked as he drank some of his God's Brew.

"I don't think so," she admitted.

"This is going to bug me for some time." He looked at his watch. "Are you related to someone in my Dual Academy?"

"I don't play Dual Monsters," she told him. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Would you like to take a drive in my limousine so we can talk more privately?" he asked.

For the first time, she couldn't help herself. She craved it, she had to know.

She wanted to know who he'd been. "Yes."

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It was so strange. He had offered her some of his drink while he pondered on the ride. If it hadn't been for the fact he was drinking from it, she'd never trust it. Probably. It was alluring, even the bottle. She tried a bit. It was like a sweet strawberry cream traced with what lilacs must taste like. It was amazing.

They each went through guesses as they rode around. The ride was beautiful in the limousine and he even had some exotic snacks. After an hour, they still couldn't figure it out, so he treated her to lunch instead.

Such an extravagant meal. Serenity enjoyed herself the entire day with the man she knew, but didn't. So close, the tip of her tongue. It was almost like a dream.

They both seemed to be enjoying the mystery between them as time kept running. They went out and looked around in different places she'd never been or shopped before. The places were expensive, but Seto insisted on buying something for her.

She ended up in a strange silvery dress, wearing a beautiful cape, eating hors doeuvres and drinking God's Brew by the time supper came around. Once again, he treated her.

This time, they were both waited on hand and foot. "This feels like a strange dream. I'm playing the role of a princess in a stage play." She looked at her dress.

"You are a dream," her waiter encouraged her. "A dream like you only deserves the finest things."

"Would you mind not flirting with my date?" Seto Kaiba commented.

Date? Well, the little trip certainly had turned into that. The mysterious stranger she knew, yet didn't. He just laid it out as it had eventually become. ///Serenity: Somehow, I am on a date. I can't do this to Tristan./// She drank more of the God's Brew. "Seto, um?" She was going to tell him that she had a boyfriend already. Instead, her mind went somewhere else. "Where did this come from?" she asked.

"It's rare, or I wouldn't drink it," Seto answered. "The maker keeps themselves hidden, you'll never find it out in a public store."

"It's so good. I've never tasted anything so good," she admitted. "Strange to say that about alcohol."

"I'll send you a bottle to your residence," he insisted.

She thanked him. Usually, she would never accept such a gift, but the God's Brew was incredible. The creator certainly named it right.

"In fact, why don't you come with me to my place? I can get a bottle to you right there instead," he said. "If you don't mind one more spin?"

Oh no. She enjoyed the stops, and it'd be better not to have to wait for it to arrive.

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At first, Kaiba didn't know how to treat her. She wasn't using the same kind of tactics other women who were that beautiful used. She was even polite and sweet, a trait none of them had without wanting something in return.

She was never haughty, belittling, and she . . . acted like a lower class citizen that shined like the elite. It made no sense. Of course she had a boyfriend, he heard that before he interrupted her to talk. That didn't really concern him. What did was how she could live in the middle of some apartment randomly in the city? Why was she simply employed at an office?

The hunt began when he first saw her, but it had paused when his mind couldn't place her. It would be a bad idea to get mixed up with the wrong person. As time went by though, seeking out how they knew each other, he stopped caring about associations.

It was like she said at the restaurant, but slightly different. She was the very definition of a princess, seeming almost untouched by the evils of life. Innocent, naive, yet she had the body of someone who was anything but innocent.

How could he resist that goddess of a woman?

———————————

Morning . . .

Well? This wasn't the first time this he woke up with a strange woman in his house, but it was the first time he didn't remember it. It's also the first time he found himself still dressed and lying in his bed above the covers next to someone. ///Seto: I took Serenity all around Domino City, and then what? Oh well, not a big deal. Dressed or undressed didn't matter. A weak moment of needing someone, that was all./// Maybe they did something. Maybe they talked the night away. Brought on a little stronger between them by the drinking and spending the entire day together. In the end, she was still just a woman. A woman without even any money, which definitely wasn't his type.

She was an illusion, a vision of what he wanted. As he got up, he was about to mention his usual speech of paying for a ride home when-

"I'm sorry, I have to get out of here."

Their thoughts were aligned, that always made it easier. "I'll pay for a ride if you wish."

"No, no, I'll just walk. I need to breathe, I need to move. I never do this." She looked at her clothes. They were still on as well. "I don't remember anything, I don't think anything happened, but I have to go, and I have a boyfriend, and I'm sorry."

She said sorry too much. "That's fine." How in the world was he attracted to that yesterday? Shoot, he even promised her a whole bottle of his newest acquired brew, didn't he? Well, better just hand it to her. As fast as she was moving, he wouldn't be seeing her again. He went and fetched another one, right before she got on her shoes. He left it on the bed next to her. "Here."

"Thanks." She took it, and then she was gone.

Hm. Usually, he was the one to brush them off faster than they did him.

—————————

Serenity just wanted to walk home. She didn't care how far she was, she'd call a cab soon, but for now, she just wanted to use her feet to walk out. Seto Kaiba had never done anything nice for anybody.

When her brother and Mai got injured and they needed off his blimp, he refused to take them down. It was too important to finish his games. Even his little brother Mokuba tried to convince him.

He never even noticed her back then. Did he even say two words that were nice to her? Or any for that matter? She didn't know. ///Serenity: How could I not see?/// It was impossible to see how she couldn't see, it was like she was blinded to who he had been! He wasn't even surprised she had a boyfriend! Maybe he even knew it was Tristan?///Serenity: I cheated on Tristan, I am scum! I didn't mean to, it was a friendly adventure with someone, but then it evolved. I have to tell him./// True, she was still dressed, but the fact she didn't remember anything made her nervous. She just kept walking and walking until-

She bumped into someone. "Sorry, sorry." Then, she saw who she bumped into.

Yugi Muto, Joey's best friend. This was . . .

"Hi, Serenity." As nice as ever. "Are you okay? You walked right into me. Did you need something?"

"Domino City is huge, how did I run into you?!" Then, she covered her mouth, realizing how rude that had just been. "Sorry, I mean, I'm fine!"

"You don't sound fine?" Great, now Yugi was worried. "Are you really fine?"

"I'm fine, don't worry. Hard day. I have to go, bye!" She had to get out quick. If he worried too much, he'd call up Joey. Then Joey would have to call up his little sister to figure out what was wrong. Then what was she going to say?

That she stayed over night with someone that used to be his worst enemy? No. No, to home. Home, home, home. She would tell Tristan what she did, but there's no way she was telling either of them who!