The Questioning Game

Grateful for your reviews.

Chapter summary: She was certain Kaiba was deliberately trying to poison her. He was certain her eloquence was a fraud. Did anyone mention slavery in China ? Uh oh.

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't bitch.


Chapter 1: Two spoons of sugar make Kaiba's coffee go down

Maybe Ryou did have a point when he mentioned that a soft pink Adidas training suit wasn't the best couture to wear for an interview. However, Jounouchi Shizuka had principles and she was bound to stick to them. So to say, the redhead stood in front of the enormous Kaiba Corp tower, dressed in a jogging suit and armed with a black handbag, to crawl inside the opened mouth of the beast and draw as much information out of him as possible. Piece of cake, right?

Wrong

"What was your name again, miss?" Shizuka resisted the urge to slam the palm of her hand onto the receptionist desk.

"Jounouchi… Shizuka Jounouchi. I have an appointment with Kaiba-sama." The woman behind the desk blinked her eyes, glanced back at the flat computer screen and scrolled down.

"Ah, of course. S Jounouchi. You're having a solicitation for the application of concierge, right? Normally Kaiba-sama doesn't accept solicitations personally but he made an exception for you." Growling lowly, she made a quick mental note to strangle Kaiba but nevertheless nodded just for the sake of the interview.

Takeru owed her… BIG.

Standing inside the cramped elevator with numerous employees, dressed in some sort of futuristic uniform, Shizuka blew a strand of reddish brown hair out of her eyesight. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, frowning at the horrible welcoming of the receptionist and thinking of countless of methods to mutilate Kaiba's handsome face. She had written for the Times for crying out loud.

The elevator doors slid open and a pack of employees rushed out of the small area, leaving one solemn and dumbfounded Jounouchi behind. Without the ancillary employees the elevator was actually quite spacious. Comfortable with the silence inside the area, she was pulled out of her possible questions-to-ask by the jingle of her cell phone.

Shake, shake, shake, shake uh shake it.

"Shizuka speaking. Who is this?" The redhead had already quickly clasped her phone open and chatted away with her friend Anzu.

"You're kidding me, right? Half the price? It's a miracle! I've been dying to get my hands on that dress ever since it came into the shops." She glanced absentmindedly towards the changing numbers above the large doors.

Suddenly a 'ping' made her body jolt and the large doors slid open to reveal a hall towards majestically wooden double doors. Next to the entrance to what was obviously Kaiba's office, Shizuka spotted a smaller desk with a girl with light purple hair behind it. Her hair was pulled in a ponytail with a yellow ribbon if her eyes didn't fail her.

"I have to go now, Anzu. I'll call you back later." She shut her phone and stepped out of the elevator, the soles of her sneakers making faint thuds on the tiles, which were decorated with some sort of ochre-colored symbol.

"Welcome, Jounouchi-san. Kaiba has been expecting you." A big fake smile was plastered onto the secretary's lips and Shizuka was honestly a bit freaked out.

"Wait a minute. Jounouchi S. as in Shizuka?" The redhead forced herself to smile and nodded in affirmation, awkwardly letting her arms drop next to her sides.

"Honda has told me so much about you! You're really pretty! I thought he mentioned you were a freelance journalist. What are you doing here at Kaiba Corp applying for such a lousy job?" Shizuka blinked in order to recuperate from all the information.

"You know Honda-san?" The woman nodded enthusiastically in response.

"I'm his fiancé, Asaka Miho." Shizuka remembered Jounouchi mentioning something about Honda getting hitched to some childhood lover. She was just happy that he wasn't after her ass anymore.

"Of course, Katsuya always mentions you when he talks about Honda." She wondered when this woman would let her talk to the asshole behind the main desk.

"I bet he does. Honda-kun is so nice to me, he even sold his motorcycle just so I could pay for my studies." Miho squealed when she reencountered those memories.

"That's good for you. Uhm, could I please talk to Kaiba-sama now? I'm kind of in a hurry to get this interview done." The purple-haired girl smiled exuberantly, put her hands underneath her desk and, or so Shizuka thought, pushed a button to make Kaiba wary of her attendance.

"Good luck, Jounouchi-san. I'm sure you'll get the job." She gave Shizuka a thumbs up while the doors were automatically opened, Shizuka just sighed in annoyance. Kaiba was sabotaging her, she was sure of it.

"Welcome, Jounouchi." His voice had an evil tune to it and despite of the fabulously decorated office, she didn't feel that assured as she normally felt.

The walls were painted in a light shade of blue, making the room seem much more open and grand. There was Kaiba's large desk in front of the windows, which were equally big as the walls and framed with black-painted metal, and a small paper bin next to the desk. From the corners of her hazel eyes, she noted a bookcase with thick maps and folders, on the other side there was a two-seated sofa, giving the office a more relaxed feeling. Shizuka took in consideration that there might be a hidden TV-screen on that side of the wall, since that was mostly the case with CEO's of his caliber.

His large leather seat was turned to face the window, she could faintly recognize his chestnut strands of hair. Shizuka scraped her throat and desired that he would turn so she could make eye contact. She wasn't afraid of some tall slender man with egomania and a dragon-addiction.

"What exactly did you tell those employees of yours?" An inaudible snicker could be heard if you stood close to the chair, but then again Seto Kaiba didn't snicker.

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Jounouchi." The chair screeched lightly when he faced her, his cobalt eyes grinning at her with unknown cruelty.

"Let's start, shall we?" The brunette nodded at her statement, placed his elbows on his glass desk and formed a bridge with his fingers.

Shizuka fumbled with the zipper of her handbag, opened the black accessory and pulled out a digital camera. Kaiba merely raised an eyebrow before placing his chin on top of his fingers.

"I hate to make notes and have the chance that I forget to write something important down." Her hazel eyes spotted a dark blue rug with a Blue eyes white dragon on the plain light brown tiles of the floor.

"I'll ask Miho to grab a chair for you. Want some coffee in the mean time as well?"" His offer seemed reasonable and she complied friendly.

The blue-eyed man pressed the button from his intercom and asked his secretary to fetch a chair and a tray of coffee. At the same time Shizuka was setting up the equipment, meaning putting her digital camera on the desk, next to his laptop and the intercom. He just glanced at her with poorly amused eyes.

Soon, the redhead was seated in a small, yet fashionable, black leather chair with a tray of coffee, a sugar jar and a little can of milk in front of her, it was put straight in between her and Kaiba.

"Now, Jounouchi, let's get this interview over with." Kaiba leaned back into his comfortable-looking chair and glanced expectantly at her.

"Uhum, I'll immediately begin. The recession has hit every corporation in the country, how are your stockholders coping with the losses?" While Shizuka was talking, she grabbed the cup of black coffee and brought it to her lips.

"Our stocks are having a minor setback but we aren't worried. Kaiba Corp provides entertainment to every class of society and we are quite affordable. We are actually planning to release a new type of videogame that already has a large fan base, or so our studies show. This situation is remarkable but certainly temporarily." The sun was shining radiantly and he seemed almost angelic, with devilish intentions she quickly added.

Shizuka nodded in understanding and gulped a bit of the strong coffee down. Her eyes widened to an unknown extent when the sizzling hot liquid touched her tongue and nearly burned a hole down her throat. This peculiarly tasted like acid and she knew she shouldn't have come to Kaiba, he was going to assassinate her with his coffee.

Noticing her reaction, Kaiba smirked slightly and pushed the sugar jar into her direction, mocking her a bit when he drank a large quantity of his coffee without even flinching.

Recovering rapidly, Shizuka continued her interview. She wouldn't be beaten by that stupid moneybags.

"What about the factory that will be closed down in Okinawa and moved to a badly paid region in the west of China, Kaiba-sama? Do you have any comments about that?" His eyes narrowed and she knew she hit a sore point.

"A matter of fact, yes, I have. Not one of the 1000 employees who work in Okinawa shall be fired. Indeed, it is true that we will move the manufacturing section of the factory to China but we will keep the scientific section of the factory. We are planning to re-school our employees for commercial and scientific purposes." His recuperation set her aback, but she smiled back at his triumphant smirk.

"What about the thrall-like working circumstances in the region of China? Aren't you afraid of the human rights movements?"

"I'm glad to know you even understand the word thrall, Jounouchi-san. Apparently a bad vocabulary and grammar don't run through the veins of your blood, unlike your brother."

"At least something different than ice runs through my veins, Kaiba-sama."

"It sure isn't a good fashion sense." He remarked dryly.

"Everything's better than a trench coat fetish." She took it that she won this round and recommenced the interview.

"Now would you mind answering my question, Kaiba-sama?" Kaiba grimaced at the disappointing reaction and shoved his chair closer to his desk.

"Our company has always and will always respect the rights of the human being. We will not long for our Chinese employees to work incredibly long days and perform exhausting work. On the contrary, Kaiba Corp wants to set an example towards all the other companies in the region. We will pay our employees reasonable salaries and grant them all the social securities they, and every other person, deserves."

The redhead in the pink jogging suit poured two spoons of sugar into her coffee and added a little bit cream just to create a delightful flavor. Taking a small sip, she was contented by the final result. Finally the awful taste of the poisonous coffee traded place for something more sweet. Absentmindedly the youngest Jounouchi sibling wondered if shoving sugar through Kaiba's throat would make him sweeter.

"Will there be any people laid off as a result by the economical crisis?" Shizuka crossed one leg over the other and held her coffee cup firmly in her right hand.

"No, we also won't reduce our production capacity because of the crisis. Because our company is considering to launch a new European line of merchandise and games, we of course have our American clients, who are still very interested in most of our games. Basically, we don't have any worries about the recession at the moment." He looked actually quite handsome with that smirk plastered onto his lips, Shizuka confessed to herself.

"Good to hear, Kaiba-sama." Being polite always paid off in the end, unfortunately that logic couldn't compete with Kaiba's cold glaring eyes.

"Anyways, what about the Tokinaya-scandal? Your corporation has been put underneath a lot of pressure because of the fraud in one of your daughter-companies. I have heard from reliable sources that he was directly linked to your vice-president."

"You did your homework well, Jounouchi-san. I have no comments about the scandal because my company had already distanced itself from that corrupt Tokinaya before his fraud became public. I'll settle the rest of this matter in court. Yashido-san was fired as soon as the police discovered this unfortunate mishap." His confidence to remain silent about the details of the matter aggravated her but she respected his wish.

Kaiba scratched his chin briefly before leaning with his elbows on the edge of his desk again, she just gulped another sip of coffee down. Her hazel eyes shone brightly because of all the light and she briefly had to divert her attention, not able to take the sunrays anymore. Shizuka asked Kaiba a couple more of less important questions including the relationship between his company and other entertainment-giants. At the end, she rose from the comfortable leather chair to shut her camera off.

"Thank you for the interview, Kaiba-sama. It was highly intriguing." Shizuka complimented the tall CEO, who just curtly nodded in response.

"I'm surprised that you know words that consist out of more than four syllables, Jounouchi-san." He just couldn't resist to put her down like that.

"At least I don't want to poison my guests." She sneered back at him in manner of a suitable retort.

"Miho just makes a strong coffee. You just can't take the heat." Shizuka was almost completely leaning over his desk and he sat extremely close to his glass desk, they didn't realize their closeness until she exhaled lowly.

Taking a step back, she replied offended, "I'm not an iceberg, unlike others." Her hazel orbs glanced at him directly to corroborate her opinion.

"Pointed at the person with at least four official fan clubs." Fuming at her personal attack, Kaiba was going to gloat with his popularity amongst the female population.

"I bet you get a lot of fan letters from asylum patients, because only insane individuals would ever consider to write you!" This wasn't going to end well.

He trotted from behind his desk towards her, his cobalt eyes resembling the crashing waves of the ocean and his strides, although dignified, betrayed his true emotions. Kaiba now stood next to her and she regarded him with caution, afraid she might have caused that cold interior to melt and his sanity to snap. She flung a few strands of long reddish brown over her shoulder and placed her hand onto her hip.

The brunette bended down a bit and his face was now extremely close to hers. Shizuka swallowed down a lump in her throat.

"Thanks for this enjoyable tongue twister, Jounouchi." Was that a sexual innuendo?

Shizuka felt the blood rush to her cheeks and she looked at her feet, even back at the Battle City tournament she hadn't felt this intimidated by this unpredictable personality.

"Cat got your tongue, little Jounouchi?" He laughed a short laugh and chuckled slightly when she snapped her head into his direction.

"It was my pleasure to take care of your entertainment, Kaiba-sama. I hope we'll have such an enjoyable verbal joust again." Her words seemed sincere but in reality the youngest Jounouchi sibling wished to never see this horrid man again.

Kaiba handed her the black handbag and smirked at the statement, before turning around again, his trench coat billowing with the movement.

"Miho will escort you to the elevator. Sayonara, Jounouchi-san." Huffing at his meaningless goodbye, she took her leave.

Unaware that cobalt eyes were looking secretly at her firm ass. –After all, CEO's were allowed to have their perversions as well, right?-


"He's such a complete asshole, Ryou-kun!" A certain redhead whined when the scent of noodles with fresh vegetables filled her nostrils.

"I told you so, Shizuka-chan. I'm just glad you weren't dragged out of his office by security." The white-haired man commented before adding some spices to the nurturing food.

"You know I won't go down without a fight." She lowered her head and placed it onto her crossed elbows, peeking from underneath her long curly locks at the man behind the cooker.

Ryou laughed loudly at her words, placed the bowl of noodles onto the table and turned the gas from the cooker off.

"I'm going to type the interview tomorrow, send the sketch to Takeru-sama and take a long break from writing, or at least until the annual Domino city celebration." Shizuka took a small bite from the noodles and complimented her roommate.

"Anyways, I never want to see that stupid moneybags again!" She reminded Ryou faintly of a stubborn child but he smiled that thought away and motioned her to eat.

"I highly doubt you'll never have to glance at Kaiba again. After all, he's always in every commercial from Kaiba Corp." Groaning, Shizuka glared at the white-haired man, who lifted his arms in an apologizing manner.

"Stupid moneybags, can't we turn off the television then?" Shaking his head, hair bouncing with the movement, Ryou took a bite from his homemade food.

"By the way, remember me to go shop tomorrow. That dress I told you about is finally for sale with discount." Her smile illuminated the room and Shizuka slurped her noodles down.

"Just smashing, Shizuka-chan." Her roommate said before finishing his first bowl of noodles.


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