Chapter 1
Slade Princeton heard his phone ring for the seemingly fifteenth time. This had better be important; I have a meeting coming up that I need to prepare for the agitated Slade thought. He picked up the black phone and pulled it to his ear. "What is it?" he asked rudely.
"Someone wants to see you. She says it's an urgent matter," the secretary responded hesitantly.
Slade demanded, "Didn't you tell her that I am seeing any visitors? Did you say anything about I have a very important meeting to prepare for?" He slammed his fist against the oak desk. Why did some people have to be persistent?
The secretary responded quietly, "I did, sir, but she refuses to not be seen. She says she'll stay here until you hear her out." The twenty-six year old rolled his eyes. Whoever this visitor was, Slade was going to chew them out instead of listening them to. Some people needed to learn their place in society.
"Fine," growled Slade, "Get whoever it is in here." He hung up the phone and went to back to his work. He had five minutes before the elevator reached his floor. He wondered who would be so obstinate to see him. He never had someone demand to see him no matter how busy he was.
There was a knock at his large mahogany door that could only have belonged to whoever wanted to see the long-haired Princeton. Slade yelled, "You can enter." The door opened to reveal a tall woman with grey eyes and dark brown hair. She was with her younger sister with blonde hair and the same colored eyes as he older sibling. Slade stood up in disbelief.
"Amber? Is that you?" Slade asked emotionlessly. The woman nodded in agreement. Her sister pulled out a piece of paper from Amber's bag and handed it to Slade. The twenty-six year old man looked at it and sighed, "You know I can't stop the eviction of these people."
Amber retorted with the same indignation that she had always used, "You own the complex, and it's a crappy as it is! Please, Slade, they won't have any other place to live. There are families of five or six or maybe even more in there. You own it, please help them." Her sister looked at her angry sister and then at the surprised businessman. They all knew the history between the two of them and how awful the reaction was.
"They should have paid for their own damn rent," Slade snarled. He wished that Amber was here just to have a cheerful visit instead of her mission for him to give sympathy for people he didn't give a rat's ass about.
"Then postpone the date, please," pleaded Amber, "They are trying hard to get the money. Just give them a chance."
Slade shook his head and replied, "I am trying to make money. That's my job not to care for every little thing." Amber's sister backed away from him in fear that he would get violent. She had never seen that before, but she wasn't going to risk that.
"Oh of course," Amber said sarcastically, "Because your family, friends, your pets, and the whole damn universe doesn't matter to Mr. Princeton. So tell me, why did you kick Chazz out of the family? Did he not fit the mold? Sorry, but the world doesn't revolve around you." Slade looked taken aback. How did she know about that? Has she been talking to Chazz or Jagger lately?
Slade yelled, "Keep your nose in your own fucking business, Amber." Of course, if something was at any disclosure to the public, Amber Rhodes had known about it, and it didn't help that she had two siblings, who were Chazz's friends, who went to Duel Academy.
"Not until you help those people," replied the brunette female in the room, "That's all I ask of you, and I don't think it's much for a rich man such as yourself." The eldest Princeton rolled his eyes. Some things in life never change such as Amber's goal to have world peace.
"Get out of my office," the male commanded. The girls did as followed, but Amber seemed to want to stay although she truly couldn't stand Slade at the moment, but she had something to say that Slade wouldn't understand.
"I'm sorry," whispered Amber looking back at the businessman who was returning to his work, "That we couldn't ever find that common ground when we needed it." Slade observed her delayed reaction while she left. It made him remember when they met.
Flashback
Slade looked back at Amber who was making a list of the top companies in the country of Japan. Last week it was over the top companies of America. Slade turned back around which made him grin. The jig was up for Amber Grace Rhodes.
"Miss Rhodes, what are you doing? This is a history class," asked the teacher. Amber looked up from her non school related work. She pushed her glasses closer to her eyes. Slade noticed how relaxed the girl sitting behind him was in the heat of pressure
"Miss Hatcher," Amber said calmly, "I know all of this! What else do I study during detention?" The class began to laugh. Slade reasoned it was because the brunette girl lived in detention. The eldest Rhodes stood up, "I have three siblings, Miss Hatcher, and only two are going to be accepted into society because they can duel. Are people only going to be accepted by their dueling abilities? The top politicians and CEO's are all duelists. This age is going to discriminate against people who can't duel. The top in all three areas such as Seto Kaiba are going to rule the world. Do you want a tyrant ruling the world? You can't combine the systems, but maybe the hearts of people. Someone with all the power will try to combine all the government systems of the world, and it's going to fail. The world economy will fail. Wars won't end under one man's rule. Please, understand why I am doing what I am doing." The teacher wrote up another detention slip for disrupting class. Slade wondered how Amber never managed to get into more than just a detention. He watched the girl get her slip and before she left the classroom, she faced the crowd of students.
"One of these days," Amber said quietly, "One of you will not heed my advice, and when you fail, you will have lost all that mattered to you."
End of flashback
Slade wondered if he was the person she had referred to in the past. Although he had every intention of succeeding, that memory had kept coming back to haunt him. He watched Jagger enter the room.
"It's time for the meeting," Jagger said simply. Slade nodded and followed him after he folded the piece of paper that one of Amber's younger sisters had given him, and he placed that piece of folded paper in his back pocket.
Mew Kazurinu: Yay for a new fanfic. I figured I might as well since there are maybe ten of Slade fanfics out there. I hope you liked it. By the way, the sibling that was with Amber, her name and story is revealed in later chapters, so the younger siblings will be referred to by their names.