Seto Kaiba began his day the way he usually did. Promptly rousing from bed, shutting off his alarm, and pulling back his curtains. The sun crept lazily in the sky, not yet illuminating Domino City. Only a thin strip of pink light distinguished the dawn from the darkness. He wore his usual grimace as he stepped into a scalding hot shower. The "doctor", whom Seto was fairly certain was a quack, had recommended he spend more time outdoors, to "expose himself to natural light when he could". Which was a completely absurd request considering the tycoon's work schedule and an abysmal excuse for a prescription. The entire appointment had been a complete waste of time. Had it not been for Mokuba's fussing and coercion he wouldn't have bothered.
It was true that he was no longer keeping a sleep schedule, not that he had much of one to begin with. But as of late the fatigue was enough to distract from his work and that was not acceptable. The quack doctor also pointed out his "diet" and "lack of exercise" could be contributing to his ill sleeping patterns. Seto Kaiba was no longer a teenager who could survive a sixteen hour work day fueled by nothing more than black coffee, power naps, and skittles. His body was demanding more from him now that he was peaking into adult hood. Fortunately enough, coffee still offered some of the salvation it always had. He noted this after dressing himself and making his way to Kaiba Manor's kitchen.
Pristine copper pots and state of the art appliances gleamed at him when he flipped on the lights. It was a shame. He had invested so much into a lavish home and rarely spent any time there. But at least Mokuba had everything he needed in his absence. The kitchen staff had yet to start their day, Seto had counted on it. Making breakfast for him was a waste and he didn't much like to be bothered in the wee hours of the morning. Besides, brewing his own coffee was something he always enjoyed. Such a simple task, yet oddly ceremonious. It had become a ritual. He turned on the smallest burner of the gas stove, retrieved the copper kettle, and set the water to boil. One of the kitchen girls he had hired from out of the country had turned him on to french pressing coffee. And now he always did it this way.
"Monsieur Kaiba! Let me do zis for you!", an alarmed servant girl nearly shouted at finding him in the kitchen. Babbette was French and a wonderful cook and house keeper. She had also offered to tutor Mokuba in the French language and was quickly becoming an asset to the Kaiba household.
"No", he stated flatly. He cleared his throat, suddenly becoming aware of his own rudeness.
"No thank you, Babbette. Please wake Mokuba. I'm on my way out", he tried again in what he decided was a polite tone. The young woman muttered something in her native tongue and shook her head of dark curls.
"You don't want any breakfast again, no?", she asked, knowing the answer.
The CEO didn't dignify her question with a response. He merely grabbed his travel mug, picked his briefcase up from the table, and walked out the door. Roland waited patiently out front, the limousine ready, car door open. Kaiba checked his watch, 5:30, perfect. He arrived to Kaiba Corp's headquarters every day at the same time. He was the first one in the building, and the last one to leave. This had given rise to rumors among the more idiotic of his employees that he never left at all. Or that he was a robot. Or a vampire. Which was of course ridiculous, but no more so than anything he had heard from Yugi and his lot, with their deep obsession of Egyptian history and all the strange occurrences that surrounded them. He believed for most of their school years the group of friends must have been doing large amounts of hallucinogenic drugs. Now Seto Kaiba did have to wonder, after all the things he had seen, what measure of it was fantasy and how much of it was real.
Kaiba Corp's headquarters glinted in the rising sun light. It was the tallest tower in Domino and a beacon of ingenuity and grandeur. The mirrored windows and sheer height of the thing was a clear message to any potential clients, partners, or enemies.
Don't. Fuck. With. Us.
Seto strolled though the main lobby, empty of people at this time of morning. He gave everything a sharp, judgmental eye as he made his way to the elevator. The furniture must be modern but comfortable, the floor spotless, and the cafe stocked. Everyone from the maintenance staff, to Seto Kaiba himself had to perform at the highest possible level of excellence. He had built his brand around the promise of high functioning, user friendly, cutting edge technology. And he intended to express that in every detail of his business, right down to the coffee tables. Nothing was left to chance. As he entered the elevator, Roland following closely behind, a thought struck him suddenly.
"Roland", he asked in a sharp tone, "When did we last renovate the main foyer?"
"Well sir I believe...", Roland trailed off, "That is to say I think it was shortly after you entered your 3rd year of high school?", he finished. Kaiba could hear the question in his voice. If it had been so long that neither he nor his best employee could recall the last update, surely it was time for a face lift. The interior of Kaiba Corp must match the building's glorious outer appearance. And being that the lobby was where most of his associates chose to wait for him, he couldn't afford to have it looking as though it were designed on the whims of a teenager.
"If you'd like sir, I can have an interior designer here within the hour. The marketing department uses one particular gentleman. I can get his information immediately sir", Roland offered helpfully.
The elevator doors gave a chime and allowed them both access to Kaiba Corp's upper most level. After a retinal scan, voice recognition, and a key card, the two were inside the CEO's office. Kaiba settled in immediately. Opening his laptop and sorting through some documents in his briefcase, he eyed his agenda for the day. A meeting with a foreign minister, licensing rights, the opening of a new Kaiba Land in Osaka, and now this. It was going to take precious time he just didn't have.
"I won't have time today, Roland. Have Mrs. Sato over see the development. She has a good eye and seems relatively updated on current fashion. Then send me whatever she puts together and I'll charge it to the necessary accounts", Seto said dismissively, delving into his work. Mrs. Sato was a middle aged woman employed at Kaiba Corp for about eight years now. Kaiba could count on one hand the employees he trusted with executive decision making. Mrs. Sato had yet to disappoint him and was everything a CEO could ask for in a secretary. She took his tantrums in stride and never gave him a reason to be angry at her personally. A skill she must have honed from being a mother. Or perhaps the competitive pay and great health benefits that came with a job at Kaiba Corp had been the driving force behind her patience and resourcefulness.
"But sir, Mrs. Sato began her maternity leave today", Roland reminded him.
"Maternity leave?", Seto questioned, looking up from his laptop.
"Yes sir, she is expecting her second child in June. I'm sure she told you, sir. You authorized her absence for six months", Roland offered.
Damn those great health benefits, Seto thought to himself. Now that he was thinking about it, he did remember, but it had been several months since she first brought it up. It definitely explained her rather large increase in size. Though he had to hand it to the woman, it never slowed her down. Then another thought played out in an aggravated look on his face.
"Who's going to do her job for six months? Did we even hire a replacement?!", Kaiba nearly shouted at Roland.
"Yyy-Yes! Yes sir, we've been sifting through several different temp agencies since Mrs. Sato put in her request. We've found five very viable candidates", Roland quickly explained.
Kaiba settled back in his chair and began typing away. Each little click of the key board was punctuated by his annoyance. A new employee was always a thorn in everyone's side. The training for the position alone would take weeks. The average person took nearly ninety days to settle in and stop making the obvious blunders that come with inexperience. By that point this new temp would be half way out the door and on to their next gig. Seto rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. He glanced over to the clock on the wall, 6:30. Shortly the doors would open, flooding the building with his employees and he wouldn't leave this room for at least six hours. Already he felt the fatigue of many sleepless nights creeping up on him. He sipped from his travel mug, letting the black, bitter liquid trickle down to warm his virtually empty stomach. A deep sigh emitted from his lips and he stood to pull back the curtains in his office. The sun hung higher in the sky now and white light that reflected against a blue sky filled his office.
"Roland", he barked as the man had nearly taken his leave, "Order me some breakfast, and get yourself something too. Whatever you think is best".
"Right away Mr. Kaiba", Roland tentatively agreed, knowing how strange it was for Kaiba to take a meal this early in the morning. He shut the door behind him and briskly went about his task. The Kaiba brothers had been under Roland's care for a few years now. He had watched over and protected them in many strange and bizarre situations, each with a varying degree of danger. Yet here, in the face of mundane growing pains, Roland felt completely helpless to the young CEO. In all his years of service he had yet to discover how to protect Seto Kaiba from himself. Roland had children of his own close to Mokuba's age, and had come to think of the two orphan boys with the same parental protectiveness. He had to be ever vigilant but never so much as to upset the young CEO's boundaries. He did feel some relief knowing that Seto appeared to be following his physician's recommendations. Roland sighed, reaching for the take out menus in his own desk, just down the hall from the elder Kaiba's.
"Excuse me", a soft voice chirped from the door way.
Roland looked up suddenly, his eyes meeting a pair of striking blue ones. Slightly taken aback he addressed the young woman in the doorway of his office,
"This floor is off limits. How did you get up here?", Roland demanded, assuming his authoritative tone and turning to the trespasser
The young woman tightened her slender fingers around the manila envelope in her hand and clutched it to her chest.
"Please forgive me. I took the elevator. I was told to bring this to Mr. Kaiba's office immediately", she bowed in respect and offered the envelope out to Roland.
He snatched the paper from her hand, emitting a gasp from the young woman. Seto was slipping, Roland thought to himself. He never forgot to reset the security functions on the elevator. He gave the girl a quick glance over. She was quite attractive and young, but with a very pale complexion. He opened the envelope hastily, quickly scanning the neat font pressed to the documents in organized bullets. He had expected an urgent message but this was...
"This is a resume", Roland stated flatly.
"Yes sir. I'm Sara Tanaka, with the Watanabe Staffing Agency and-", the girl began.
"We've already selected the potential candidates for the position we have available here", Roland cut her off dismissively.
"Yes sir, I am aware of that. My boss recommended I bring my resume personally to be considered in the event you don't find anyone suited to your needs", the girl stated, never letting her resolve or politeness waiver.
Roland sighed and replied aggravatingly, "Yes, well it appears to have been a waste of your time. You'll have to thank your boss for that Sarah, we'll keep this on file though I can't promise any thing will come of it", he turned his back to her.
"Sara", she corrected him, "Thank you sir for your help", she chirped and bowed out of the room.
Roland scoffed and began dialing the number of the local deli he had decided on. While placing his order he began flipping through the girl's resume. She did have some impressive contacts in the business world. A few letters of recommendation, multiple certifications in office management, but Roland was confident in the candidates he selected. Rolling his eyes, he tossed the envelope and its contents into the small metal trash can by his desk. He made his way back to the young CEO's office. He knocked softly on the metal door. The door slid away from its frame and into the wall with a woosh! A technological theatrics that was typical of Kaiba Corp. The elder Kaiba stared out the large window that made up the back wall of his office.
"Yes?", he questioned his employee, not turning around.
"I've sent for your meal sir. Is there anything else you require?", Roland asked.
There was an awkward silence as Kaiba stared over the city, and down to the entrance of his empire. A wispy, silver figure was hailing a taxi right outside. He narrowed his eyes sharply, trying to examine more detail of this vaguely familiar shape of a human. What unusual coloring for a person...
"Sir?", Roland questioned, a bit worried now.
Seto turned around suddenly, pulled from his thoughts, "No, thank you Roland. That will be all"
As Roland started for the door Seto called again, "Roland. Was someone here?"
"Just an over eager temp sir", Roland snorted with sarcasm
"And how did they manage to get to this floor?", Seto asked, his eyes narrowing.
Roland thought better of telling his boss he had forgotten to reset the security measures. So he simply bowed and said, "I'm looking into it as we speak sir. It's more than likely a hardware issue with the security system, localized to the elevator"
"Very well, look into it immediately", Seto stated bored, turning back to the window.
"Right away, sir", Roland acknowledged backing out of the room.
Seto scanned the ground floor for this "over eager temp" with the strange coloring, but there was no one of interest. Just the trickling of employees beginning their day and a taxi cab making it's way across town. He rubbed his eyes and set in to his work.