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Bunny's Trinkets
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Chapter One
Fate's Ill Card
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It amazed him how something so tiny and so fragile could make him feel as if his heart was going to break open from too much love and compassion. It was the best feeling in the world and when he lay in bed thinking about how his life was and what it would of been if things didn't go the way they had-- it nearly brought the proud, tall man to his knees. Some would say that he lost everything, changing his life so, but he saw it as gaining everything.
But still, at rare points in time he thought about how it was and how it came to be, his life then and now....
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Darien Chiba woke from a pleasant dream feeling refreshed and on top of the world, no pun intended for him. The dream? He had become the most powerful businessman in the world-- a natural tycoon. But for the senior vice-president of Ogonishou Enterprises, one of the most trusted names out there in the business world, it was almost a reality for him.
He quickly showered and dressed in his usual pitch-black suit, black Italian dress shoes, and dark maroon tie; which none of was very cheap or even reasonably priced for that manner. Darien refused to dress in anything but the best to keep himself looking as sharp as his razor-like mind.
Looking himself in his full-length mirror, a raven eyebrow arched and a sly grin appeared on his startling-handsome face. 'Looking good as usual, Chiba,' he thought boastfully.
There was a bounce in his million (lots of millions actually) dollar step as he walked down his pent house stairs. It was going to be a wonderful day in his eyes, but Fate did not see eye-to-eye with Darien.
"Good morning, Mr. Chiba," a short woman in her forties smiled, "You seem to be in a chipper mood."
"That I am, Ms. Tsukisiro, that I am," He spun her around, making his maid/cook giggled.
"You're paper is on the table along with your breakfast, Mr. Chiba," Ms. Tsukisiro said with a smile on her face as she watched him go into his vast kitchen.
"Thank you," he replied with the last word a note higher than the one before.
Portly Ms. Tsukisiro had an easy job of cooking when it came to breakfast; the only thing he would eat was some assortment of grains, what looked and smelled like hay, and Kami only knew what else in there-- a Nutrigrain bar, with a side of the most influential business paper.
Darien came back out, munching on his bar of oats and reading the paper. He walked past his maid as she began to dust his black marble mantel. Thinking of something, he turned to look at her, "Ms. Tsukisiro."
His voice was stern and serious, which wasn't anything new. Darien Chiba was a very stern and serious man who could easily bowl over any obstacle or challenge that came his way. His appearance was somewhat brooding but very somber, making anyone who met him for the first time respect him highly.
"Yes?" She turned to face him and he looked worried.
"Don't you feel sick?"
"Why no. I feel absolutely fine, Sir." Ms. Tsukisiro looked at him puzzled.
He narrowed his eyes as to look more closely at her, "No, I'm pretty sure your sick."
"Mr. Chiba--" she started again but realized what he was trying to say. She smiled brightly, "Thank you, Mr. Chiba."
Darien smiled, "Have a good day, Ms. Tsukisiro."
"You too, Sir," the woman said with a silly grin plastered on her face.
---
Fate watched closely as the twenty-eight-year-old entered into the skyscraper-- the core building of the whole company-- into a meeting, and then into his huge, lavish office. She observed him sign some important papers and confirm some calls. Under her attentive eye she saw him break up with his fourth girlfriend that month over the phone, fracturing yet another young heart.
Then she moved another pawn onto the playing field. A man dressed in a brown jump suit walked up to Darien Chiba's secretary's desk, handed her an envelope, then left. The woman looked it over, stood from her desk, and walked over to Darien's open door, "Mr. Chiba?"
His deep blue eyes looked up from a few company documents he was reviewing, "Yes, Mrs. Shoji?"
"This just came for you," the tall brunette walked over to his desk and set the envelope in his hands, then left to go back to her desk.
The address was handwritten in blue ink and in the corner was the name 'Saotome.' Puzzled, though he knew whom it was from, he opened it. His eyes fell quickly across the vertical lines and could not believe what he was reading....
---- Mr. Tsukino, the head honcho at Ogonishou, stood looking over plans that had been displayed in front of him with a future partner of the company, "Yes, I like this... although we should--"
He was cut off as Darien Chiba burst into his office's double doors, "We need to talk--" his eyes darted to his boss and to the shocked man standing next to him and added formally, "Mr. Tsukino."
The man with the glasses coughed, "Mr. Mikasa, I'm sorry but--"
The other, shorter man nodded and smiled at Darien, then walked out for the two men to talk.
"What is it, Darien?" His superior sat down behind his wooden desk.
"Kenneth, I need to leave for a short while," he replied, throwing the letter on the desk.
Kenneth Tsukino picked it up, read it, then sat it back down, tossing it across his desk for Darien to pick it back up again, "I see."
"I'll be gone for a least two weeks," he said solemnly.
"Hmmm...." He thought about it and sat back in his grand leather chair, "Hell, take a month if you need. This merger is about to commence and we'll become one of the largest companies in this city, so you've done your job here for now."
Darien nodded and took back his letter, looking at it.
"Hmm... Sim, my daughter lives on the island," Kenneth said absentmindedly as Darien walked out.
----
It made him feel uncomfortable to be on such a rural island-- away from the higher standards of living. But certain circumstances had brought him back to this island that he rarely ever visited; Anthony Saotome, his cousin and only living relative, had died about two months ago. His wife, Lita Kino-Saotome, had neglected to contact him due to the onslaught of bills and legal matters after he passed away in a freak accident.
He had met Lita once or twice and they got along very well. She was a nice young woman and Anthony loved her a lot, as did she. Lita had finally remembered to write Darien when all of her hope of ever pulling out of her financial hole seemed obsolete; she had recalled that he was a whiz for such things and could help her out. So, of course being more than willing to help his very last relative (even if by marriage), he boarded a dock ferry to cross over to Sim Island, Japan.
His Porsche wove among the green hills, passing through rural and urban towns, to reach the little town of Glenbrooke. There he would stay with Lita until everything was handled, and he hoped it would be soon; clean and smooth. Nothing too messy is what he hoped, but Fate didn't see it that way, with a smug smirk across her lips.....
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* Hoshi_No_Megami@sbcglobal.net
-Published 2002
(Unedited)
-1st edit, 1-12-03