The glacial nail rose from the table, floating into the air, pausing for a single millisecond, then reversed direction and impacted against the mahogany table with an audible clack. It repeated the action monotonously, conveying all too clearly the skepticism of its owner.

The man at the other end of the table swallowed hard, his fingers clenching around the end of a pointer he was gently tapping against a presentation screen. He cleared his throat, trying to ignore the continuous sound and avoid the equally azure eyes of the nail's mistress.

"A-as you can see Madame President, this new wiring of the duel disk will eliminate the need to release projection disks from the sides of the arm piece, decreasing the potential for injury and allowing duels to take place in closer quarters. Therefore, they could happen in areas that wouldn't inconvenience the public."

The nail paused and creamy shoulders rolled under black leather. The other men around the table glanced furtively at each other but stayed silent. The head of the table spoke up.

"Quite an idea."

Each of the words were punctuated with the smallest of pauses. She wasn't smiling.

However, when the presenter's colleague met his eyes, an undercurrent of hope passed through the two men. Taking the signal to escape while he still had it, the presenter took the moment to bow to the head of the table and stuffing his presentation materials into his bag.

With a wave of that perfectly manicured hand, he was dismissed. He took the cue without complaint, rushing out of the room with his coworkers. At the head of the table, cruel red lips curved into a razor thin smirk.

The young woman leaned back in her office chair, gesturing her hand around the table to allow her staff's input. Most of them supported the idea, so many actually, that she almost wondered if her mask was cracking and they were only this supportive because they knew she was in favor of it.

The only problem the group came up with, one she had already been considering, was the issue of allowing the presenter's company in on their hologram technology. The company was small and could be bought out if not for their state-of-the-art lab facilities. Industry rumor had it that progress in the lab almost half a year ahead of her own labs, a status which she could not allow to continue.

She was reluctant to place so much responsibility in someone else's hands, but with the lab's progress the small company was simply too dangerous for her not to absorb. She needed to put her claim on them as quickly as possible without completely ridding them of their autonomy. Time was of the essence though because if any other company swiped them off the table, her company could be in trouble.

Thankfully industry rumor had also gifted her with rumblings that the head scientists of that other lab worshipped her. In honor of that and the singular circumstances of the outside lab, she had relaxed her usual intimidating aura for this meeting.

Several of her department heads were throwing around the pros and cons when she sighed loudly. They immediately shut up.

She sighed again and set a hand to her forehead.

"We have to go in on this deal with BlackOps Hologram."

One of her staffers spoke up bravely.

"But Madame President, that gives them so much power…"

She gave him a rare head tilt.

"I know, Mr. Karatuchi. But they are too dangerous, we have to snap them up. I absolutely hate to say it, but we have little choice."

Mr. Karatuchi of the engineering department mentally nodded. He trusted the President's judgment and if he was completely honest with himself, she was right.

The staff sighed and stood, resigned to the decision. They vacated the room quickly, leaving the president alone.

Once the room was clear, she leaned her elbows on the table, taking a moment to rest her chin on top of her interlaced fingers. She closed her eyes. Images and faces raced through her head, connected loosely to trailing words and phrases, her work for the day.

Her sister Mokubo had a test tomorrow that she was going to spend the entire afternoon studying for, so there was little reason to come home early. Mokubo had already assured her that she didn't need help, even going as far as to claim her older sister's presence would distract her.

A tiny, genuine smile curved the President's lips. Mokubo had lied, but it was just a white lie, hiding her true desire to prepare for the test without help as well as her knowledge of how busy her older sister's work got during this season. No doubt Mokubo was well aware of how deep the grooves under her eyes went, behind the makeup.

She stood from the table and took a rare pause to rest her hand against the cold bullet-proof glass of the window, looking down at the peons below.

It wasn't always easy being Setsuka Kaiba.

Page break~

Kiso buttoned the school uniform shirt with difficulty. They were mass produced for entire schools worth of kids, so quality control wasn't always top priority. In his case, the problem was the button holes. They weren't quite big enough and he had to really shove the gold buttons through the blue fabric, hoping sheer force would somehow make it work. Sadly, sheer force was not something Kiso generally had in spades and especially when the work required such precision.

Eventually he did manage to get the shirt on, pulling out the wrinkles in front of the mirror. His mother's voice called from downstairs, so he gave his reflection one last weak smile before rushing down the stairs, bag already in hand. She handed him his lunch with a smile and a kiss that he barely squirmed out of, her laugh the accompaniment that followed him out the door.

The name of the school loomed large in his head: Domino had known he would be attending the well-known school in the fall of his third year but it didn't make the transition from his previous school in England any easier.

It wasn't as though the school was prestigious, it was just renowned as a school frequented by some of the greatest duelists of the time. From Katsu Jounochi to the Duel Queen herself, Yui Mouto, the school was hopping. Not to mention that whenever work didn't take a higher priority, the school was also rumored to host Setsuka Kaiba, the dragon princess.

Kiso had grown up following the dueling world, as he was a reasonable duelist himself, but other than possessing a few powerful cards, he was nowhere near the level of those duelists. They were masters of the game, women steeped so deeply in mystery that their duels almost seemed to be visited by ancient magic. Kiso had never met any of them face to face but he feared he may have to, after recently winning The Queen's Tournament in England.

He had snatched first from the previous year's champion by the seat of his cotton pants, with a last resort strategy that had somehow worked. Everyone he had met after the win saw it as skill, but Kiso knew it had just been chance.

This hadn't kept him from being elated of course, but now that he was considering the possibility of having to run into the world's greatest duelists who certainly would come with their expectations of him, he almost regretted winning at all. He wasn't special, he just had good cards and lots of practice.

Before he even realized it, his stumbling footsteps had led him up the steps of Domino High, a silver metal building with nearly endless windows he had already seen many times online and in his honest opinion didn't look like much more than it had then.

Kiso stopped on the top step, out of the way of the other almost identical students walking in. He looked up at the school, eyes trailing up the length of the building all the way to the top of the clock tower. He took a deep breath, then lowered his head and walked into the school, short blue-white hair whisking the back of his slender neck.

Author's note: Special thanks to ObeliskX for suggesting this story. You've been so patient with me, thank you so much. I hope you all enjoy my first attempt at writing a genderbend of yugioh. Please let me know how I did and, as always, please R&R.