Monday morning, Kaede was sitting in a room filled with blinking screens and a panel with several glowing buttons. She'd been at this position for a considerable number of weeks now, but she still wasn't sure what they all did. Yawning, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, while the other reached for the headset resting on the desk in front of her.
She was nearly immediately inclined to crumple in on herself, and sleep with her head on the desk. She hadn't cried since the funeral, but she simply found herself unable to sleep. Not that the upcoming week of work would help. Despite thorough questioning, the police hadn't been able to get much information out of the men that had been caught at the gala. However, from what they did find out, the heist to kill Seto Kaiba was planned on a large scale, and those who had organized it weren't even at the gala themselves. They had nothing to go on, and no clues to lead them to the perpetrators. Essentially, security had been considerably tightened, and very few people were being trusted near the Kaiba brothers.
Even Kaede, who usually only worked part-time, was working full shifts throughout the week. She had been so kindly alerted of such that morning as she made her way onto the Kaiba mansion's property.
With a sigh, she popped open the tab on her coffee, and started deeply gulping it down. With her lack of sleep as of late, she'd need the assistance of caffeine to stay awake throughout the day. She switched the headset on and turned her attention to the screens in front of her, each screen showing a different area of the mansion. In another room, someone would be watching the cameras to the grounds.
;
Seto sighed as Mokuba sent him those pleading eyes he found so hard to resist. He never bent to anyone's will, but Mokuba was the only exception.
"Seto, I don't want some old guy in a black suit following me everywhere! They're always really boring and never very good at their job anyways!" Kaiba had to agree to that. Countless times, he himself would have to rescue Mokuba from the clutches of another kidnapper. However, with the recent danger at hand, Mokuba needed extra protection.
"Mokuba, you know there are people after me, and they haven't been found yet. They could target you as well. Precautions need to be taken until they're caught. So far, I've just been keeping extra guards around the mansion, but it's more of a hindrance than help. So, you're going to have a bodyguard and that's final." Seto finished with a sigh, as he turned around in his chair and closed his eyes. They were in his home office, and Mokuba was sitting in front of his desk trying to plead his case. While Kaiba wasn't facing him, he could still clearly picture the pouty look Mokuba must've been wearing at that moment.
"What about you, Seto? You're in just as much danger as me!" He whined. Seto sighed again. This whole affair had effectively stressed him out over the weekend; and Seto Kaiba did not usually experience stress. He ran a company, and constantly was overworked, but stressed? It was an unusual thing for him.
"I realize that Mokuba, and I too have already picked out my own personal guard. He's standing outside the door right now." Mokuba glanced towards the closed door, but remained seated, apparently thinking.
"Anyways, I've arranged for Satoshi to accompany you for the next few weeks. He'll be driving you to school, staying with you at ho-"
"Aw man, Seto! Not Satoshi! He smells like old fish and never even talks to me!" Kaiba let out another heavy sigh as Mokuba interrupted him. It was a sighing day, it seemed.
"Mokuba, he's one of the top of our security team and has never failed. He even caught one of the men at the Gala." Kaiba turned his chair back around, his icy eyes meeting Mokuba's innocent ones, ready to finalize his decision. Not before Mokuba could protest further though.
"But he's old! And besides, I know someone who also caught someone at the gala, and would definitely talk to me!" Mokuba said, his eyes fierce. Kaiba raised an eyebrow, and Mokuba took that as a sign to continue.
"Kaede! Kaede could protect me. She's always nice whenever she bumps into me around the mansion. And she saved me from getting shot the night of the gala. AND she managed to shoot the guy who was trying to do it! AND she got us to safety!" Kaiba stayed silent in thought. Truth be told, he did consider the girl, but didn't choose her to watch Mokuba for two reasons. One being she was young and inexperienced, the other being he felt bad for her. Kaiba rarely felt sympathy for other people, but the girl had rapidly lost her father, and he had chosen her brother to be his personal bodyguard for the next few weeks as well. He didn't want to enlist both the Erizawa siblings as bodyguards so shortly after their father's death, but if Mokuba wanted it…
"… Very well. We can go tell her now, if you wish. I'll have someone else take her regular post." He said with finality, a blank look on his face. Mokuba, however, perked up with joy.
"Really? Thanks, Seto! Come on, let's go!" Mokuba exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Kaiba briskly stood up, opening the door. Hiroki, who was standing guard outside, nodded once to him, walking alongside the Kaiba brothers as they moved about the mansion, not questioning where they were going. He did, however, experience a slight jolt of nasty surprise when they reached the monitor room. He knew Kaede was in here.
"Wait here for a moment, Hiroki. I need to have a word with your sister." Kaiba growled, letting himself into the room. Hiroki gave a stiff nod, put his hands behind his back, and stood at the door as it slammed shut.
;
Kaede jumped as she heard the door open loudly. Normally, she was the only one to enter the room during her shift. She whipped around, nearly spilling the cup of coffee she was holding. Her eyes widened as she saw the Kaiba brothers standing in her midst. Mokuba waved jovially and Kaiba stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, those piercing blue eyes staring her down. She blinked.
"Hey Kaiba…. What's up?" He twitched slightly at her casual greeting towards him. Mokuba grinned wider.
"Mr. Kaiba." He stated. Kaede wrinkled her nose.
"That's what old people are called. Mister. You're not old, are ya, Kaiba?" Mokuba started laughing loudly as Kaiba glared at her. She got some slight satisfaction out of how annoyed he already was to be as she remembered how much of a jerk he seemed to be through what she'd heard from others. She grinned widely, sending Mokuba a wink. Kaiba chose to not respond to her question.
"Kaede, as you know, we're in a state of tight security. In light of the situation, Mokuba needs to be watched at all times. He requested you be the one to guard him." Kaiba's words were clipped and cold. The grin slid from her face.
"Guard… him? I'm a bodyguard now?" She settled on a befuddled look, and Kaiba found himself nearly regretting allowing Mokuba to convince him of this arrangement. In strong contrast to the night at the Gala, she didn't seem very bright.
"Yes, that's what my statement implied. You don't really have a choice in the matter. You can leave this post at once, and I'll have Hiroki find someone else for the job. From now on, you stick to Mokuba. Like Glue." Kaede blinked a few times before scowling at his cold tone.
"What the hell crawled up your ass and died?" She growled. However, she immediately regretted those words leaving her mouth. The glare Kaiba sent her pierced her soul and made it feel like the room had dropped several degrees in temperature. Mokuba looked slightly shocked with a hint of not knowing how to handle the situation. No one talked badly to Kaiba. Ever.
She gave an involuntary shudder. She was never usually intimidated, but she abruptly decided to make an exception.
"… Uh, what I meant to say is, you're especially dashing today, and I'd be honored to guard Mokuba." She said with a small cough. Kaiba's face remained unchanging, though he continued to hold her gaze. Emiko repressed another shudder, but refused to look away.
'Man... this guy knows how to loom.'
Luckily, Mokuba came to her rescue by grabbing her arm to pull her to her feet. She made a mental note to worship the black-haired boy.
"Okay, break it up you two. Come on Kaede, we should get formally introduced." She broke eye contact with Kaiba to have Mokuba tug her out of the room. Escape wasn't that easy though; Kaiba barked a short command after her as they left. "My office, eight o'clock, Erizawa."
She nearly blanched at the thought.
Mokuba tugged her to a sitting room she had seen many times on one of her blinking monitors. A large flat screen TV was mounted on the wall with seemingly every gaming console ever made placed neatly below it. On the adjacent wall were numerous glass cabinets filled with a multitude of video games and movies. Mokuba plopped himself into a chintzy armchair while Kaede collapsed onto a matching loveseat. She sent him a grin.
"Thanks for the save. I was beginning to think looks could kill- and I was about to be a smoldering pile of ash in my chair." Mokuba allowed himself a little chuckle.
"Yeah, Seto can do that. But he's not all bad, despite what people think." Kaede felt her mouth twitch. She had a hard time believing that already.
"I'll take your word for it, buddy. Now, as you said, we might as well get to know each other. I'm Kaede. You're Mokuba. You're also stuck with me for a while." She paused, looking into his violet orbs for a moment.
"… I think that's everything important." She finished decidedly, looking away. Mokuba chuckled a little.
"Aw, come on Kaede, you can't be serious! I don't know anything about you!" Kaede shrugged.
"I guess I'm not good at introducing myself. Feel free to ask any questions you have though." She said in a friendly tone, eyeing the video game cabinet. Mokuba took what she said to heart immediately. If Kaede knew what was in store for her, she never would have said those words.
"How old are you?" He asked, bouncing up slightly to fold his legs beneath him.
"Nineteen." She answered shortly, giving him a curious glance.
"How tall are you?" He quickly retorted, mischief gleaming in his eyes. Kaede raised an eyebrow.
"Er, I guess 5 and a half feet…"
"Do you play Duel Monsters?"
"No."
"What's your favorite food?"
"Pizza."
"What's your favorite color?"
"Blue."
"What are your hobbies?"
"Video games and sports."
"What sports do you play?"
"Soccer and basketball."
"What are your favorite video games?"
"Primarily any first person shooters."
"Did you finish high school?"
"Obviously."
"Why aren't you in university?"
"I just finished my first year and realized it wasn't what I wanted."
"Oh. Why?"
"I'unno."
The interrogation continued for several minutes as Mokuba thoroughly questioned Kaede about her life, personality, past and future plans. By the end of it, she was visibly twitching above her violently tight crossed arms.
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
Twitch. Twitch. Fidget. Twitch.
"No."
Twitch. Twitch. Spasm.
Mokuba finally seemed to be content with how informed he was.
"Do you want to play some video games now?"
Twitch. Twitch. TWITCH.
"AUUUUGHHH, STOP ASKING QUESTIONS, I CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE. NO MORE QUEST- Wait, did you ask about video games?"
Mokuba laughed and jumped off the couch to grab two Xbox controllers.
"Come on, you can even pick the game. The first person shooters are on the third shelf.
;
As it turned out, while Kaede knew the Kaiba brothers were different, she wasn't very informed on how much they were polar opposite of each other. Kaede thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with Mokuba. After several hours of video games, Mokuba got them some food from the kitchen before they kicked a ball around outside for a bit. They later headed back inside and just joked around for a bit before dinner. Kaede subconsciously decided the next few weeks would likely be extremely enjoyable, save for the imminent danger that required her to spend so much time with Mokuba.
The only downer on the day came when Mokuba was quietly playing with duel monster cards in his room at eight o'clock. Kaede had left him there to go meet Kaiba; something she didn't especially want to do. She wouldn't say she was exactly scared of the young CEO… he just seemed to make her rather uncomfortable. He also annoyed her, the asshat.
Sighing to herself, she gave two sharp raps on the door, quickly followed by Kaiba's monotone "come in". She warily opened the door, taking care to shut it behind her before striding to the chair in front of his desk. He didn't invite her to sit, but she decided to make herself comfortable anyways, making a silent vow to not let him intimidate her.
So, she sent him a wide grin. "What can I do for you tonight, Kaiba dearest?" Instead of answering, he gave her another one of his famous icy glares as he leaned back in his chair, staring at the door; it seemed to Kaede as though he was waiting for someone. The grin slid from her face as an annoyed scowl took its place.
"Hey, it's rude to igno-"
Two knocks on the door interrupted her, followed by someone walking in without waiting for Kaiba's invitation. To Kaede's surprise, the new arrival was none other than her brother Hiroki. Kaiba nodded at him, gesturing for him to take a seat next to Kaede.
"I think you both know why you're here."
Hiroki nodded, but Kaede just blinked. She was under the impression she was getting a lecture, but seeing as Hiroki was here, that assumption was probably wrong. Kaiba plowed on.
"The culprits after Mokuba and I don't have a bedtime, so you shouldn't either. However, understandably, humans need rest. That doesn't mean your guard duty ends when you go to bed."
Kaede furrowed her brow. By his tone, he could be suggesting… No. That was ridiculous.
"So, to make sure you can take action at any hour, you will both be residing here."
Or maybe it wasn't so ridiculous.
Hiroki didn't seem surprised, but Kaede felt her eyes widen slightly. Live? In the Kaiba mansion?
'I suppose it won't be all bad… Kaiba disappears all day, and I get to hang around Mokuba. And hey, I bet it's a pretty nice place to live…'
She shrugged to herself as Kaiba pulled out a rather thick stack of papers and pushed them across the desk to the Erizawa siblings.
"These are the necessary contracts for your new positions, as well as the documents for living here, along with your new salaries. Tonight, I've arranged for Satoshi, Sadao and Yoshito to work overtime as guards while you both return to your home and gather anything you may need for what may turn out to be several months. A company limo is waiting outside for you for when you're done with the papers here. When you're done…"
Kaede chose this moment to space out. She chose to instead gaze blankly at Kaiba. She'd never heard him talk so much. Quite frankly, it was…. Annoying.
He had an emotionless voice, and the way he held himself in conversation had an air of 'I'm better than you' all over it. His icy eyes held no warmth and no caring at all. Not that she expected to see any there, but it was nearly unnerving to see how evidently isolated he was; how isolated he chose to be.
It all irked her.
She had known him before only through brief glances she caught of him and rumors. She had heard he had a severe superiority complex. She had heard he was an ass to everyone. She had heard his icy glare could make you wish you were dead.
However, she had never really properly interacted with him until today; and she was now experiencing everyone else's dislike for him.
She paid little mind to what the contracts said as Hiroki pointed out where she should sign. After the rest of Kaiba's long speech about their plans, which she ignored, he watched them impassively as they signed the papers. It took a few minutes to finish, but Hiroki soon slid the papers back over to Kaiba with a nod.
"We'll return in a few hours; good night, Mr. Kaiba." He rumbled with a respectful tilt of the head. He slid out of his chair and walked to the door, clearly wanting Kaede to follow him. She leaped out of her chair with a mocking cheerful wave to Kaiba; only because she knew that was most likely to piss him off. She was quite satisfied with the dirty look he shot her as she danced after her brother.
;
"Ehh, Hiroki. I feel sorry for you." Kaede mused as they sat in the limo. He sent her a surprised look.
"Why's that?" He said, scrunching up his nose. Once away from the scrutinizing gaze of his boss, Hiroki was always much more free.
"You have to hang around with KAIBA for god knows how long. I have to say, you're a real trooper for taking on that job. At least I have Mokuba, and he's a decent kid." Hiroki chuckled lightly at her words.
"He's actually not all bad, Kaede." He chimed. Skepticism was all over her face.
"People keep telling me that, but I'm really not buying it." She stated bluntly. Hiroki guffawed warmly.
"Ahh, maybe you'll change your mind. For starters, he did send us here in his private limo. That's nice, right?" Kaede's expression didn't change. It appeared she wasn't going to be forgiving towards her nearly acquired opinion of Kaiba. Hiroki just shrugged.
"Maybe it's because you haven't encountered him as much as I have. When I first started working more closely with the man himself, I was the same as you. I thought he was an ass. Really though, we've developed a peaceful tolerance for each other. Maybe that won't happen for you though. Your personalities may, er… clash slightly."
"Slightly?"
He sent his younger sister a wide smile which made her laugh in retaliation. They soon arrived to their house to grab their stuff.
Kaede rushed to her room laden with multiple duffle bags. She didn't hesitate to stuff majority of the clothes she owned into them, along with necessary toiletries. Beyond that, she didn't have many other things to pack. She grabbed her laptop, but left the video games, knowing Mokuba probably owned anything she'd ever get the urge to play. She stuffed a few of her favorite novels and a notebook in the bag with her laptop, but besides that, decided she didn't really need anything else. As she was about to leave her room with her belongings, her eye caught the newly framed picture of her father on her nightstand. She dropped her stuff and stiffly walked over to it.
Her gaze went soft as her fingers traced his picture. His unwavering loyalty towards the Kaibas was why she wouldn't hesitate to show the same. Tatsuki had dedicated his life to the security of Kaiba Corp and the Kaiba brothers themselves; that's why Kaede didn't raise a single objection to the sudden change in her working hours or position. She'd continue his legacy by showing that same dedication to the Kaibas, despite how much of an ass the elder one could be.
She stared sadly at the frame.
"Father... I don't really give two shits about Kaiba… but I know you did. You always protected him, and I know even though he probably didn't care about you, you watched him grow up, and you cared about him. So now… me and Hiroki will continue protecting him and his brother, no matter what. You gave your life to protect them, and… I refuse to let that be in vain."
She allowed herself another moment to gaze at her father's picture before putting it face down on the nightstand. She'd continue to live in his memory, but she knew she had to let go. She hadn't allowed herself to be sad over his death since the funeral ended.
Sighing to herself, she went back to pick up her bags, a little less spring in her step.
;
I suck at updating.
Nevertheless, I hope this chapter was enjoyed by the general public. I do realize this story is starting out pretty slow… but it's going to get good. Promise. PINKY PROMISE. Anyways, feedback's greatly appreciated. I've never written anything Yu-Gi-Oh before, so if you could tell me how I'm doing, I'd love it. I'll update at some point. I know I said in the last chapter I probably wouldn't update much because of my loss of interest, but I changed my mind. Anyways, yes. Thanks for reading! -Nyx