Hello~ Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I'm glad to see that you're all liking it. I really so appreciate the support, and I hope you find this Part amusing as well.

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Family Ties: Part 3

My Not Friend, Seto Kaiba

Today was Saturday. I didn't have any school, and I was happy because Daddy was home all weekend and he said that we will go to the movies and watch that new cartoon I wanted to watch. But, no. That didn't happen. Daddy sat me down before I went to sleep last night and told me that he had an important meeting that he couldn't cancel, so here I was at his workplace with him, our plans ruined.

I walked into the building, the cool blast of the AC hitting me immediately while my hand was clasped tightly in his so that I wouldn't get lost in the crowd of people that swarmed us both as soon as we stepped out of the car. I looked up at him, his nice suit already crumpled from trying to get away from the rude people with cameras. I couldn't understand what they wanted from him, but they seemed very determined to speak to him. They were all shoving their mics at him and shouting questions that I couldn't understand. Hopefully Daddy will explain it to me.

I walked with him silently as he spoke to the quiet and nice lady at the front desk for a moment. When he was done, she got up and walked into one of those doors regular people aren't allowed in, and taking my hand once more, Daddy pulled me into the elevator that took us all the way up to the twenty eighth floor. This was where his office was, and waving and saying a good morning to the other nice lady at the desk, we walked into his office after the lady gave me a big, chocolate chip cookie.

"Okay, Atem, you just wait here for a moment, alright?" he said, letting go of my hand before walking over to stand beside his big desk. "I just have to deal with something right now, but don't worry. You won't be alone." And as he spoke, I sat down on the red, pinkish couch that was against the wall and looked at him while nibbling on my cookie. He was very out of breath, and now he was just scratching his little beard anxiously as he searched around for something in the large piles of papers that surrounded him.

"I won't be alone? Who will I be with then?" I wondered out loud. I had come expecting to be put to draw or colour quietly all day until he was ready to go home, like usual. This day was starting off very differently.

"You will play with another child, around your age, I believe. Eight? Nine? Yeah… something like that," he trailed off, and his face lit up when he found what he was looking for. It was a blue folder that was hidden under all of the papers.

"My age? Who is it?" I couldn't help but ask, and I scooted off of the couch and walked up to him, peering over the desk to see what was going on and to look at him better. "And, what was with all of the people? This never happened before," and I gazed at him with curious eyes as he let out a deep sigh. He put the folder down and smoothed his hair back before picking it up again. He made his way around the desk, and this time held my hand and led me back to the couch after casting the clock above the door a serious look.

"Atem, as you know, I have a very important meeting today," he started carefully, sitting down on the edge of the couch beside me. I looked at him, trying hard to understand what he was explaining. I know that the company is very important, and sometimes he has to work late, but it worried me a little bit to see that so many people depended on Daddy to get things done. It wasn't just me he was taking care of, huh?

"I didn't think that the media was going to find out about this, but it seemed that some person leaked the news about our meeting, so that was why they were swarming us just now, trying to figure out what's going on."

"Why do they care? It's just a regular meeting, right?" I asked, and I fell quiet as he shook his head.

"It isn't a normal meeting. This meeting… I'm basically negotiating a contract, a deal of some sort with our rivals, big rivals, Kaiba Corporation. I'm meeting with their CEO, so that's why there's such a commotion. Everyone wants to know why the two biggest rivals in business are sitting down at the same table to have a chat."

"Oh…" I murmured to myself, and I looked up at him to see that he was nervous. I've never seen Daddy this nervous either. Putting down my cookie on the small table next to the chair, I scooted closer to where he was standing at the other end. "Are you happy to be making, or talking about this deal?" and at my question he looked up, startled. He smiled though and patted my head to which I responded to with a playful scowl.

"Ah, you don't worry about that. I won't let him take what he wants," he said, and just when I was about to ask when he was going to come back, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Daddy called, and I watched curiously as the lady from outside poked her head through the door. Her violet, long hair hung under her head. Seeing us, she stepped in properly and stood up straight.

"Sir, Mr. Kaiba is here to see you now. He's waiting for you in conference room number seven," she said, and I glanced at Daddy to see him take a deep breath.

"Alright. Inform him that I'm on my way," Daddy told her, and she left, the door closing behind her with a tiny click.

"You have to go now?" I asked quietly, and Daddy nodded.

"Yes. I have to go now," he said, and he grinned after no doubt seeing my crestfallen face. "Don't worry. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, you can play with his son. Ah! Yes. His name is Seto."

"Seto." I twisted my mouth in thought. Was he nice? Hm, meeting new people was always so hard.

"Okay, Atem. I gotta go. See you later," and he kissed me quickly on the head and gave me back the cookie I had put aside. "If you need anything, Celine is outside."

I nodded. "Okay."

Smiling at me once more, Daddy turned around and left, the door closing behind him. I was all alone now.

Plopping down on the couch, I set the cookie on my lap and stared at the ceiling fan that slowly whirled around and around and around. I sighed. What was the other kid like? Was he eight years old like me? I sat up and looked around, my eyes falling on the little cupboard in the corner where Daddy kept my toys and colouring books whenever I had to come to the office with him. Maybe Seto would like to colour. Or, maybe we could play a game. They were a gaming company too, right?

Brushing the crumbs off of my suit, I threw the wrapper into the trash bin and stood up. When was he going to get here? As soon as the thought crossed my mind, there was another knock on the door. I turned to stare at the handle as it turned and creaked open, only to see a boy with brown hair step inside. He stopped, took a look around the room briefly before his blue eyes fell on me, and just stared. A frown was on his face, and I found myself unable to move or say anything to him. He didn't look happy, but he didn't look sad either. He just looked, angry.

Stepping behind him just a short moment later was the nice lady from outside, and I quickly looked at her while wringing my hands behind my back. I was feeling so nervous before, and seeing him, the feeling only got worse. Celine stood behind Seto and smiled at me reassuringly.

"Atem, this is Seto. Seto, this is Atem," she introduced, and just for manners sake I walked over to him and smiled as brightly as I could.

"Hi," I said. He however still stayed put and continued to stare at me. He was quite intimidating, but maybe he too was just as nervous. I lifted my hand to shake his.

"I'm Seto Kaiba," he replied, and his head straightened as he spoke. He looked down at me, and my outstretched hand disappeared behind my back when a moment passed and he didn't return the handshake. My eyes dropped down to stare at his shiny black dress shoes which I immediately started to compare with my blue and black plaid-printed sneakers. This was already starting off bad.

"Okay, so you two boys have fun. I'll be just outside if you need anything," Celine then said, and she left, closing the door behind her.

I removed my eyes from Seto's shoes and looked back up to see that we were both left staring at each other. Not wanting to stay in the awkward silence, I spoke, hoping that he would start opening up as well.

"Uh, do you want to colour?" I asked hesitantly. "I have a lot of colouring books that we could-"

"No thank you," he said curtly, and he walked away from me to sit on the couch. It wasn't until he pulled a little, brown coloured back pack on to his lap did I notice he had it with him.

"Oh, okay. Do you have something that you would like to do?" I asked as he unzipped his bag and started to look through it. He still wasn't looking at me, and at this point I started chewing the insides of my mouth nervously.

"Yes, I do, in fact," he said, and feeling relieved, a small smile made its way on to my face as I started to walk over to him. However, it was quickly wiped away when I saw that he pulled out a dark blue book with yellow writing on the cover, opened it up, and started to read silently to himself.

I really didn't know what to do at this point. Should I just leave him alone then? But, wouldn't that be rude? We were brought together to play while our fathers were in that meeting. If he wanted to do something by himself, atleast we should first get to know each other instead of sitting in awkward silence.

"What book is that?" I just went on to ask, and I slowly approached him. Seto turned a page, but I was still persistent. "I like reading books too. Daddy would read to me every night. What's that one about?" When he continued to ignore me, I couldn't understand if he just wasn't good with people, or if he was just being rude.

"Don't you know how to read?" he suddenly said, and he snapped his eyes towards me. I froze. I didn't bother sitting next to him after that.

"I can't see the cover so I don't really know-" I stammered, backing away from him, and he continued shouting at me with a funny, teasing but mean sounding tone in his voice.

"Why does your Father have to read to you? Can't you read on your own?"

I was at a loss for words. How could he say something like that?!

"Yes, I can read," I said, my voice rising. "I just like it when he reads to me. What's wrong with that?"

"Humph," and he looked away from me after smirking. "My Father was right. You are a joke, and so is this company. It's absolutely dreadful," and he looked around the room with disgust. I didn't understand what he meant by dreadful, but from the way he said it, I was sure it was something mean.

"Thank goodness he's going to buy it," Seto then went on to mutter to himself, but I caught his words. My eyes widened and they quickly turned towards him with shock.

"What? What do you mean he's going to buy it?" I asked, and a deep frown appeared on my face when Seto turned to me and laughed, flashing me an amused, raised eyebrow.

"Of course. Why else do you think we're here? Sennen Corporation has been a nuisance for quite some time, so my father is determined to shut this joke of a company down and rid it once and for good."

"Sennen Corporation is not a joke, okay?" I yelled, and Seto chuckled, closing his book to stand and walk towards me. My eyes glared at him with annoyance.

"It is a joke," Seto restated, and he gestured around himself. "I've only been here for less than half an hour, and I can already see that my father's decision was right. This is the CEO's office, yet it's a disaster."

Who did he think he was, going around saying such things?! My heart hurt a bit as some truth sunk in, but he still couldn't say that. How can they even think of buying it because it isn't like theirs?

"Atleast I'm not behaving like a stuck up snob," I growled, and he smirked in return, his arms crossing.

"I may be a snob, as you put it, but atleast my Father is preparing me for taking over his company. Yours is reading you bed time stories and probably still tucking you into bed," he mocked, and my already clenched fists clenched even tighter. "Here you are, defending your father's company when you know nothing about it? Did it ever occur to you that one day you'll have to run everything around here?

"We're still little. Why do we have to think about taking over the company now?" I asked harshly, but he continued to smile down at me with disdain.

"Yeah, I can see that you are still a little child from your behaviour, while I'm already on my way in becoming a great CEO. You on the other hand have, what, cookie crumbs on your suit? When I take over, you're going to be an even worse joke to handle in the future. Oh well, atleast it won't be hard crushing you," and he lifted his chin, the scowl on his face looking even more prominent from this angle. However, I quickly looked down at myself and realised with dismay that there were still indeed crumbs on my shirt. Face red, I angrily brushed them away and glared at his back that was walking back towards the couch.

"We'll see," I growled, and he smirked, but said nothing.

What he said, none of that was true. If it is, and his father did want to buy it, there was no way Daddy was going to sell. Sennen Corporation was our family organisation and he loved it so much. We did so much for people through our charities and donations, and if all Seto cared about was making money and being on top, then our company was desperately needed. Seto was going to regret those words! I'll show him what my father and I could do. We weren't a joke. But yet… my face couldn't help but fall. What he said about me was right in some way. If I wanted to take over the company, I had to grow up first. I didn't know anything about running a company, or what you even do. I really didn't pay much attention to it, while Seto seems to know everything. He sure did seem smart, even though he had an attitude problem. So, what should I do? I couldn't let Seto continue to say those things.

Not wanting to deal face Seto anymore, all of my kindness towards him already being thrown out the window and only immense dislike radiating from me towards him, I turned around and just ignored him to the best of my ability. Pushing the sad thoughts to the back of my mind, I walked over to the little cupboard and grabbed my favourite animal colouring book and the box of colours before walking over to Daddy's desk, pulling the spinning chair closer to the desk and lifting it so that I would be able to sit at the desk properly. Making some room, ignoring the memory of Seto commenting on the messiness, I sat down and opened the book up to a random page and begun to colour furiously. I spared only a second long glance over at Seto to see that he went back to his book, and I silently hoped the room stayed this quiet until the meeting was over.

Although it felt like forever, I was filled with relief when Celine walked in just an hour later with Daddy behind her. I immediately got up, leaving everything on the desk, and ran over to him while Celine ushered Seto out, telling him that his father was ready to leave. I glanced at Seto to see him looking at me as he passed by us, and that was it. He was gone, and Daddy was back. I held on to him tightly as he patted my head.

"Missed me so much?" Daddy teased, and he chuckled, walking over to his desk while I held on to his jacket. He hummed to himself, the action wracking his entire body, and all I could do was bury my head into him as my heart suddenly felt heavy and tears pricked the corners of my eyes. I closed them, feeling him wrapping and arm around my shoulders as he skimmed through the books on his desk and started gathering somethings under the arm whose hand I was clutching.

"Tired?" he asked, and once more his hand patted my head, brushing through my hair. I nodded, looking up at his tired face and then at the desk. He was closing my colouring book that I had left open and putting the colours into a pile instead of keeping them scattered all over.

"Ahh. Hang in there. We're going to go home soon, okay? You'll have a nap, and then we can go watch that movie you wanted-"

"Did you sell the company?" I blurted suddenly, gripping tight, and looking up at him I waited for an answer with pleading, desperate eyes. He looked at me, his own wide with surprise before they closed, revealing the exhaustion and stress that he tried to hide from me.

"Who told you that?" he questioned, his voice soft, and I sniffled before answering.

"Seto told me. He said that his father wants to buy our company."

"Seto said that to you?" Daddy asked, and he leaned closer to me, his face serious. I nodded once more, moving my face and wiping the tears on the other side of my face as Daddy wiped away a trail on my other cheek. Now I was crying. I really was a baby.

"Seto… he wasn't very nice either. He said so many mean things about us and he-"

"Alright, alright," Daddy hushed, and he hugged me again gently. "Don't worry about what he says," and he glance down at me again to smile reassuringly. "And, don't worry about the company. I didn't sell it to him. He got mad, insulted me, insulted the company and boasted about himself, but I didn't mind. I said no, so don't you get too scared. I won't ever sell it, especially to people like them."

"Really?" I asked, and Daddy grinned brightly.

"Really."

Feeling somewhat at ease, I let out a deep breath to calm myself down even further and held Daddy's hand as he picked up his briefcase. He winked at me as I watched, and realising that my colouring book was still out, I left his hand to quickly put it away before returning, just as he was finishing up.

"So, we'll eat, take a nap, and then watch the movie tonight, okay?" and I smiled, looking up at him as we left, closing the door behind us as we did so.

"Leaving already, Atem?" Celine asked, and she stood to take the file from Daddy that he handed to her. After listening to his instructions, she went on to smile down at me with her big, grey eyes. I nodded sheepishly is response to her question. "Would you like another cookie before you go?"

I was ready to nod my head because her cookies were to die for, but remembering Seto's spiteful words, I bit my lip and shook my head.

"Alright. See you next time," and she waved, me giving her a small wave back as she sat back down and went to work as Daddy and I continued to walk off.

"Why didn't you want it? You always wanted one of her cookies," Daddy wondered as we stepped into the elevator, and not wanting to tell him, I just shrugged.

"Silly," he whispered when I didn't answer, and we walked out of the elevator as it reached the ground floor. Things had calmed down and the media people have mostly left, so I found myself paying a closer attention to the people that worked diligently. I had to learn eventually, right?

Perhaps it wasn't too late for me to change.

Alright! That was the end of that.

I have to say though that I hope you all are paying attention to the little things that happen in these moments. Although they are in random order, they are connected to one another, changing a little bit about the characters and creating a moment that may hold significance in the future chapters. Just a little tip if you're interested!

Anyways. Please review, please tell me what you thought of this chapter, because it was a bit serious, and thank you a billion times for reading.

Bye~