Emcee Entity
A Seto & Téa fanfiction
brought to you by Cherie Luster
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Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! (smuggles Seto outback) hehehe. . .
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A/Ns: (waves) Hi! Enjoy!
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"You have no idea who you're dealing with Gardner," tall, muscular, handsome, and blue-eyed Seto Kaiba was just about at his wits end, and that is saying something.
"I disagree. I know exactly who I'm dealing with. I'm dealing with a self-centered, egotistical, pompous..."
He drowned out tall, thin, tough, and pretty Téa Gardner by reclining in his desk chair and looking at his watch, waiting for the furious blue-eyed brunette to stop screeching the truth at him.
"...jerk who doesn't give a dam about anyone else but himself. Don't even get me started on how you spend..." she continued, her countenance flushed to a profound pink.
He finally decided to acknowledge her again and crossed his legs after pulling his suitsleeve over his watch.
"...all day in your mansion, pacing the length of your study. I don't understand you Seto Kaiba, I really-" she stopped talking abruptly when he pushed a folder across his desk toward her.
"What's this?" she questioned, picking up the thick, black folder, and staring at the official Kaiba Corporation logo, which was emblazoned across it's cover in silver foil.
"The reason I called you here," he replied grudgingly.
She blinked, confused.
"It's a contract," he said simply.
"But... what's it for?" she asked.
He forced himself to answer her civilly. "For Christ's sake Gardner, open it and find out for yourself if your so goddam curious."
She glared at him reproachfully but resigned to opening the folder and scanning the first page.
"Well?" he asked her when she looked up at him, her expression unreadable.
"I don't understand what it is that you would like me to do," she said, tossing the folder back onto his desk.
He drummed his fingers on his desk impatiently. "Would you like me to spell it out for you?" he snapped.
"Yes, please."
He leaned forward in his chair, laced his fingers together, and placed them on his desk. "Kaiba Corporation is about to launch a new tournament-" he began.
"I heard about that! It was all over the news!" she interrupted.
"Try and refrain from interrupting me until I am through talking to you Gardner!" he said through gritted teeth.
She smiled apologetically at the paranoid CEO.
"Like I was saying, Kaiba Corporation is about to launch a new tournament, and the stockholders are insisting that I commission you to increase the amount of female participation."
"So basically, you need my help."
"Hardly."
She raised an amused eyebrow. "Oh? Is that why you're practically begging me to-"
"I don't beg," he interrupted.
She adopted his cold persona. "Try and refrain from interrupting me until I am through talking to you Kaiba!" she joked.
"Do your kind really find your petty jokes amusing Gardner?" he questioned mockingly.
"Yes Kaiba, surprisingly my kind, or the human-not-snobby-robot kind, find them quite amusing." Her cerulean orbs glittered mischievously. "Especially my specialty jokes."
He snorted unprofessionally. "Specialty jokes? Are you training to become a professional clown now Gardner?" He smirked. "I figured working pro bono must have its drawbacks."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, haha. Very funny. On second thought... my jokes are pretty popular at school."
"You mean people actually listen to them?" he asked sarcastically.
"Yep. The entire graduating class, to be exact," she answered, with the tiniest trace of a smile.
"The entire graduating...but that's our class. What are these... specialty jokes about anyway?" He asked, dumbfounded as to why anyone would listen to something as impractical as a joke.
"Don't ask yourself what they're about Kaiba, rather... ask yourself who my jokes are about," Téa's tiny smile morphed into a taunting grin.
The teenaged CEO leapt up from his chair and slammed his fist down onto his desk. "How dare you bait me Gardner! I'm Seto Kaiba!"
Her grin faltered and she wisely began to scoot her chair away from his calculating glare.
He hastily grabbed the contract that lay discarded on his desk and strode menacingly toward the cringing girl.
Téa had to be honest with herself. She was scared shitless. Think rationally, she mentally chanted, he wouldn't kill you here, your blood might leave a permanent stain on his nice carpet!
He stopped in front of her and rested his hands on the arms of the chair, lowering himself so that they were eye level with one another.
"Uh, hehehe. Listen Kaiba, about the whole joke thing, I was only kidding around..." she trailed off, swallowing hard.
He leaned in, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Gardner," he spoke in ringing tones, "I asked you here so that you could consider a proposition I had for you, and not to waste my time, are we clear?"
She shook her head 'yes' dumbly.
"With that said," he continued, still dangerously close, "in exchange for helping Kaiba Corporation, I will personally see to it that your name is on the list of new freshman enrollees at Juilliard for next Fall."
Téa was taken aback. Had she heard him correctly? He said Juilliard, right?
He nodded, smirking. "Oh yes Gardner, you heard correct. I said Juilliard. The very same Juilliard, in fact, that you've wanted to study at since you were a little girl."
"How...?" Téa trailed off, she was not prepared to be unprepared.
Blessed with intelligence as he was, Seto Kaiba knew just what Téa wanted to ask him, and so, he asked her question for her. "You want to know how I knew that your life-long ambition has always been to study at The Juilliard School, right?"
Téa nodded again, sucking in a breath and numbly flattening herself against the back of the chair.
He continued, oblivious to her actions. "Mokuba casually mentioned your love of dancing to me after Battle City, albeit I disregarded the information as complete nonsense at the time, but it proved useful in the scheme of things."
Whoosh. Téa exhaled in relief. The word 'stalker' immediately popped into her head and she had started feverishly scanning the office for all possible escape routes.
"I should also mention that, on top of the full Juilliard scholarship, you will receive a paycheck for every business gala, photo shoot, press conference, et cetera, that you are required to attend."
Téa bowed her head. Of all people, Seto Kaiba is the one making my dreams come true. An angry employee probably spiked his java this morning... y'know, now that I think about it, the secretary that showed me in looked awfully suspicious, what with the way she was muttering and laughing to herself...
Kaiba knew that he needed to hitTéa (metaphorically speaking) with the deal clincher soon. Time was of the essence in the business world, and his company's stockholders were sure to be growing impatient.
Téa looked up and found Kaiba staring at her with mute determination. No matter what the arrogant CEO said, he needed her.
"I'm not known for my charity, Gardner-"
"That's the understatement of the millenium," Téa mumbled inaudibly.
"-but seeing as you're my only option where the company's stockholders are concerned, I sincerely hope that you're able to recognize a great opportunity when you see one." Kaiba stood up and placed the contract and a pen on Téa's lap.
Téa hesitated a fraction of a second before flipping to the last page and placing her signature neatly beneath his.
Seto Kaiba took the signed contract and pen from her. "It's official," he said, "you're mine."
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Cherie
