The Job
Disclaimer: I don't own Boys over Flowers, Yugioh and Rurouni Kenshin.
AUTHOR NOTE: the date on the letter of recommendation is back dated to the last day of Tsukushi's internship at Shinomori Electronics. The year is 2004 when she applies at Kaiba corp. and she is hired in late January.
Chapter 2: Initiation
Mokuba walked her through the desks of the security personnel introducing her to each one then finally back down the long hallway to the other side of the penthouse level of Kaiba corp. There he formally introduced her in her new capacity to Lynn: the frazzled receptionist how was doubling as Mr. Kaiba's executive secretary.
"Welcome aboard Ms. Makino…" Lynn replied with a sad look on her face her tone suggesting she felt sorry for Tsukushi not happy. That worried Tsukushi for a second but she was determined to put her best foot forward. Tsukushi smiled confidently.
"It's nice to meet you Lynn! I'm glad to be here!" she retorted confidently. Mokuba frowned at Lynn but the overworked girl went back to her tasks exchanging the usual pleasantries. She reluctantly let Tsukushi know what her extension was if she needed anything. Mokuba informed her Lynn had been doubling for Seto's secretary because the last one quit in less then a week.
'Poor girl! He does go through them quick though!' Tsukushi thought as Mokuba led her away to show her the code she would need to punch in to gain access from the elevator to the Presidential offices of Kaiba Corp. It was a simple four digit code and she committed it to memory before they moved on.
"But Lynn can buzz you in when she's here!" Mokuba added as they passed Lynn's desk in its spot near the double glass doors just before the elevator. He pointed out the little waiting area where she had waited for her interview. To her own surprise she found herself already thinking ways to alleviate some of the work load the receptionist was having to shoulder while she could find a competent replacement for the secretary Seto should have.
'I suppose I might need one too…' she thought as Mokuba showed her the big conference room where once a month Seto had a meeting with the department heads for the status reports. He led her then to her office and she realized that it made sense that Mr. Kaiba would have the rep of a merciless hard ass considering how often the Kaiba bros were subjected to assassination attempts, kidnappings and saboteurs he would have to be pretty rough.
'But there is another side to him!' she also realized that whenever little Mokuba was near him he softened just a little in the same way Mr. Shinomori had when Misao was around. Seto Kaiba was one of the good guys she just had to get him to trust her first.
'And the only way to do that is by surviving whatever ruthless initiation he has in store for me!' she determined as Mokuba opened the door to her new office. The desk was buried under weeks worth of files and un-read reports. Boxes with more files and old reports littered the floor making it nearly impossible for anyone to walk in normally.
"Sorry we haven't been able to clean it yet! The last guy left without saying anything! I thought he was just on vacation until he faxed in his resignation!" Mokuba chuckled as Tsukushi gaped at the disheveled office. For a moment she wondered if she'd bitten off more than she could chew but then she recalled all the hard times she lived through when the F4 first targeted her.
How many times was her stuff stolen, her uniform ruined, her books damaged. She endured and triumphed over countless humiliations! And how about all those times she barely escaped being raped or the time those guys dragged her around tied to the back of their convertible. Tsukushi nodded and wadded past all the boxes and stacks of files on the floor purposefully towards her new desk.
"Well looks like I have my work cut out for me!" she declared with a determined look on her face. Tsukushi Makino was not a quitter! She had not backed down then when everyone had been against her and she most certainly would not back down now!
'Especially when there are people like Mr. Shinomori expecting me to succeed!' she thought as she dug carefully through the piles looking for the phone.
"Ok first I have to make a few phone calls…I didn't realize I'd start today I'll have to send for a few things, quit my old jobs, figure out where I'm gonna stay…" she muttered to herself running a list of the things she would need as she located the phone and asked Mokuba if she needed to dial any special digits to dial outside numbers.
"No just dial directly…and you can stay in the company housing complex. The E.A.'s penthouse is vacant and fully furnished!" Mokuba suggested cheerfully as he waded through the office and towards her desk.
"Perfect! Thank you Mr. Mokuba! I will definitely do that!" she replied cheerfully and dialed the number. The little boy smiled he seemed to be just bursting with cheer. Tsukushi thought for a second of Ms. Misao and how the two seemed to have similar personalities. It was interesting the parallels her mind was finding between the Kaiba Bros and the Shinomori family.
"Still I'll need some of my things…" she thought out loud as the phone rang and her mother answered. It took a good 5 min to calm her mother down after telling her she got the job. As she tried to tell her mother what she needed Tsukushi wondered if her mother would remember anything while she was busy counting in her head all the money her daughter would receive!
'Oh I'm sure I'll have to go buy whatever she forgot!' Tsukushi sighed and shook her head. Finally after listening to more celebratory ruckus from her family she hung up the phone feeling exhausted. Her family had that effect on her sometimes! Mokuba giggled slightly as he watched her.
"My family is a bunch of nuts!" she laughed tiredly. Mokuba laughed loudly. She picked up the phone once more and called her friend Yuki. Yuki predictably shrieked her ear off with her congratulations and immediately agreed to check up on her parents and make sure all her stuff was packed. Yuki also agreed to stop by Tsukushi's jobs and let her bosses know she wasn't coming back.
"I'll try to call them later too but thank you Yuki! I'll see you soon then!" she called out cheerfully to her best friend and hung up the phone once more.
"I have one more thing to show you!" he added and walked to a door on the side of the office. Tsukushi bent down to help him move the boxes that blocked the door.
"This is Seto's private meeting room!" Mokuba explained as they walked into a room about half the size of the conference room he had showed her earlier. He explained that only the most sensitive meetings or negotiations were held in this room because it was the most secure room in the building. It had a large monitor mounted on the wall near the door they had just come through with a U-shaped table in the center facing it.
There was a small kitchen at the back of the room and Tsukushi walked towards it to examine it. Mokuba pulled out two sodas from the fridge as Mokuba opened it she took a look inside then a quick browse on the shelves. There was nothing in the pantry or the fridge except for junk food and microwave meals! Stuff only kids would eat! However aside from the microwave oven it had a very state of the art stove and oven, a dishwasher even a rice cooker and they all looked like they had never been used.
"I'm the only one who comes in here now! But whenever Seto calls you… you can use this room as a shortcut to his office!" Mokuba added explaining that Kaiba corp.'s big five used it often but Seto rarely used it anymore because it was too small. He handed one soda to Tsukushi and opened his letting her know she could help herself to whatever was in the kitchen. She smiled.
"Thanks Mr. Mokuba but if you don't mind I would like to contribute a few things to the kitchen. I can't live on microwave meals! I'll crash!" she suggested jovially.
"Sure!" Mokuba shrugged. She looked around the room some more and realized that there was also a door on the opposite side of the room near the kitchen that led directly to Seto Kaiba's office. She caught a glimpse of him studying his computer screen intently before Mokuba hurriedly closed the door.
"Ooops! Big brother doesn't like his door to be open! I must've forgotten to close it when I was in here for lunch!" Mokuba explained embarrassedly.
"That's good to know! I'll remember to close the door behind me every time I leave his office!" Tsukushi replied solemnly "anything else I need to know before I get started?" she asked. Mokuba turned serious and quiet as he thought about it.
"Some guys in the past tried to treat Seto like a dumb little kid! Big brother is a kid but he is not dumb!" he began in a resentful tone that went straight to Tsukushi's heart!
"And some women he's hired have tried to boss us around like they're our mother!" he added indignantly but Tsukushi stopped him before he could start the rampage she could see building in his eyes and his tone.
"Mr. Mokuba first of all I know very well that your brother is not dumb! You can't be dumb if you're as successful as he is! That is obvious!" she began gravely but Mokuba relaxed so she continued.
"Second: I was not hired to be anyone's mother! I was hired to be an Executive Assistant to Mr. Kaiba and I plan to be the best assistant he has ever had!" she declared proudly. Mokuba smiled with relief so she decided to lighten things up.
"Besides I'm too young to be anyone's mother! I'm only 21 you know! I'm not that much older than him!" she declared in a mock-scandalized tone. Mokuba laughed and Tsukushi was pleased that he was back to his cheerful self again.
"Well better get to earning my salary!" she declared jauntily.
"Yea good luck Tsukushi! And welcome to Kaiba Corp!" Mokuba called back cheerfully as she walked back to her office. She turned back and smiled.
"Thank you Mr. Mokuba! Please tell Mr. Kaiba that I'll be in my office if either of you need me! I prefer to keep my door open so feel free to walk in any time!" she stated cheerfully. Mokuba nodded and smiled back pleased. She disappeared into her office and Mokuba chuckled as she went outside and started bossing some of the security personnel into helping her move some of the boxes.
He sat there slowly drinking his soda and listening to the hustle and bustle that erupted in her office! None of Seto's E.As had ever been as lively as her. He had a feeling he was gonna like Tsukushi! She was very different from the people Seto had hired in the past. She wasn't stuck up or mean spirited but she wasn't too sweet or weak either. He laughed as Tsukushi got into an argument with Roland – the head of Kaiba Corp Security – about the reception desk but it didn't take Tsukushi long to get her way.
'I think she's gonna do just fine!' he thought and skipped back to Seto's office to report all that he had heard…
The first thing she did upon returning to her office was pull up all the blinds. She took a moment to admire the panoramic scenery provided by the huge windows in her new corner office then turned to go outside and get some help to deal with the mess in this office.
'Clean up is the first order of business!' she thought as she went outside and bullied a few of the men in the desks playing solitaire on their computers into doing a little more to earn their salary. They glared at her and didn't move at first but Tsukushi was not was not one to back down so easily. She glared right back at them and let them know just who the new sheriff in this town was. Reluctantly they got up and began moving boxes out of the way.
"Ms. Makino why are my men in here?" Roland's gruff voice asked as he stood just outside the door.
"Being productive! As opposed to sitting there playing solitaire on the computer! If they were playing a Kaiba corp. game I could see it as mildly useful but they're not!" she declared unwilling to back down on this muscle man either. They were likely used to bullying the EA but if they thought they could push her around and do whatever they want they were dead wrong!
"But don't stand there Mr. Roland! Come in please I have something to discuss with you too!" she began as she gathered up reports and piled them quickly and neatly on the counter behind her desk. She explained she wanted Lynn to be replaced at the reception desk by one of his people. He could set up the rotation however he wanted but she wanted to see an armed and trained security officer at that desk and on those phones at all times.
"Ms. Makino that is not my men's job!" Roland intoned roughly glaring in annoyance at Tsukushi as he ordered his men to stop what they were doing. With her hackles raised now she refused to back down deciding to give this man a piece of her mind!
"Oh is your men's job to play solitaire on their computers all day?" she asked sarcastically.
"They are protecting Mr. Kaiba and his little brother!" Roland he retorted sounding insulted.
"Oh really? Well Mr. Roland if that is so then they are doing a very poor job! As of right now the only one actively protecting the Kaiba Bros is Ms. Lynn! She is the one in control of the button that lets people into this level! She is the one controlling the flow of threatening phone calls! She is the one who checks who sees Mr. Kaiba and why! In fact now that I think of it I should probably hand your job to her since she seems to be doing a better job of it!" she lectured sternly. Roland's face was red his mouth opened and closed unable to respond. Tsukushi was on a role and she wasn't stopping now!
"Your job and the job of your men Mr. Roland is to be aware of who goes in and out of this level and to be in a position to prevent any potentially hazardous situations towards the Kaiba bros, correct?" she asked her tone suggesting clearly she knew the answer! Reluctantly Roland answered in the affirmative.
"I will inform Ms. Lynn of the changes! You may take your men now and set up your rotation!" she concluded firmly.
"I have not agreed to this!" Roland intoned in a borderline angry tone. She raised her eyebrows not surprised that he would still resist.
"Very well then Mr. Roland! Would you like to go explain to Mr. Kaiba that the only one protecting him and his little brother is Ms. Lynn! I don't he'll take that very well!" she retorted confidently. Reluctantly Roland back down. No one knew better than Roland how trigger happy Mr. Seto Kaiba could be!
"Very well Ms. Makino! We'll try it your way for now!" Roland reluctantly agreed.
"Thank you Mr. Roland!" she replied pleasantly as he walked out of the office. She hit the intercom and called Ms. Lynn into her office. She explained to Lynn the changes she was effecting and Lynn was not as enthusiastic as Tsukushi had hoped.
"I was actually going to submit my two weeks notice!" Lynn replied tiredly.
"Is it because of Mr. Kaiba?" Tsukushi asked and to her surprise Lynn smiled and shook her head.
"No actually I like working for him! I find it refreshing that he's so brutally honest!" she replied and explained she'd been doing two jobs on the pay of the lowest one with no relief in sight. She felt tired and unappreciated and that was something Tsukushi could readily agree with! Definitely not fair!
"If you'll stay Lynn I'll have you promoted to Mr. Kaiba's Executive secretary position and make sure you're retroactively compensated to the date you began doing that job!" Tsukushi intoned solemnly. Lynn mulled it over for a minute.
"And I can stop doing the front desk?" she asked tentatively. Tsukushi nodded firmly and this time Lynn smiled.
"Ok Ms. Makino! As long as Mr. Kaiba doesn't have any problems with it I accept!" Lynn said sounding a little more enthusiastic.
"Let me start moving things! I'll send some interns from the mail dept to help you clean out your office Ms. Makino!" she called back as she hurried back to the front desk to gather her work and begin moving things around. The intercom beeped and Mr. Kaiba's voice came over the speakerphone demanding her presence in his office so they could start the tour of the departments and introduce her to the heads.
'Ok time to show him what you're made of Tsukushi!' she thought determinedly and pulling her electronic agenda from her briefcase and walked purposefully to the office taking the shortcut through the small meeting room…
By the end of the day she came to realize that it wouldn't be Kaiba who would give her trouble it would be the fact that all of the department heads expected her to be gone by next week that would really make things hard for her! She had to dress down two of them because when she asked them a question instead of responding to her they looked at Mr. Kaiba and began talking to him never acknowledging that she had spoken. Boy did she let them have it! The second one had the gall to look at Mr. Kaiba to see if he would back him up but Mr. Kaiba threatened to fire him if he didn't answer her properly.
Thankfully Lynn was as good as her word! Relieved of the phones her productivity tripled and not only was she able to get Tsukushi's office cleaned but requested full fresh reports from all the departments and had them emailed to the computer on her clean desk as soon as she returned from her tour. Lynn requested the name plate for her door and desk and informed her that the building manager had the apartment ready for her when she arrived. She had also placed a new electronic agenda on her desk with a little note:
Welcome to Kaiba corp. Ms. Makino!
The note was signed by Mr. Kaiba himself and at first she wondered why he would underline the name of the company. She opened the box and pulled out the new one then she looked at her current notebook and realized it said "SE" (as in Shinomori Electronics!) in silver letters. Her new one had the letters "KC" on it in gold. She laughed of course her new boss wouldn't want her walking around with a competitor's electronic product! She transferred her numbers and notes on to her new one and moved on to catching up with the goings on at Kaiba corp.
By 6pm she felt herself starting to get a handle on things despite the million interruptions. Mr. Mokuba was a chatty noisy person and seemed intent on coming around to ask her a million quirky questions about herself but lucky for Tsukushi she could do more than one thing at once! She liked him being around though and didn't mind talking to him and letting him ask her his million questions. He was cheerful and pleasant even if he was noisy but after dealing with the F4 for so many years she was possessed of nearly infinite patience! During one of his cheerful interruptions the intercom beeped.
"Ms. Makino there is a Mr. Domyojin here to see you? Should I let him in?" came the gruff voice of one of Roland's boys.
"What? Wait I'll be right there!" she called back and hurried out of the office excusing herself from Mokuba. The little boy however followed her. When she arrived at the front desk she found two of Roland's boys glaring at someone at the door who was yelling at them. She rolled her eyes 'figures he would cause a scene!' she thought as she hurried to avert a disaster.
"Tsukasa? What are you guys doing here?" she asked incredulous still that the F4 had come all the way down from Tokyo just to see her.
"That was my question! Why are you still here? And what is it with you and working for scary psychos!" Tsukasa asked indignantly as Tsukushi let him and the rest of the F4 in.
"Hey! That's my big brother you're talking about!" Mokuba put in indignantly glaring up at Tsukasa. Tsukushi opened her mouth and was about to give Tsukasa a piece of her mind when a new voice joined them and everyone froze.
"Scary Psycho huh? I think I like it!" Mr. Kaiba said amused as he joined the ruckus at the door…
Sorry it's taking so long to put this up! This is supposed to be concurrent with the Seto story but I have to get some points down on TBS before I can put that one on so it will take a little while for me to get these chapters up!
Sorry and thank you for reading and reviewing!