A CEO Scorned...
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Seto: WildEm regrets that she is currently unable to speak with you...
WildEm: Eh?
Seto: I am comandeering this fic so as to stop the evil authoress...
WildEm: (Whacks Seto over head with laptop transformer) No one will ever stop me!!! SxS Action here peeps!
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Agony Aunt; Emphasis on the 'Agony'.
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"Why do I even bother with this shitty school?"
Such questions are philosophical.
Once again, Seto found himself sitting amongst a classroom full of morons, his head in his hands, his ears more tuned into the passing inaudiable radio-waves than what the teacher was saying. It was a German lesson, and, in Seto's - and anyone else's who actually possessed common sense - opinion, a waste of his time. He already spoke German fluently for crying out loud! He could take the exam now, and easily get better marks than the god-damn teacher.
"Herr Kaiba, wie ist deine Meinung nach der Rauchverbot der Stadt Domino?" the teacher asked him, and he looked up. (A/N: That being German for 'Mr. Kaiba, what's your opinion on the Domino smoking ban?')
"Ich hab' keine Einwendungen davon, aber's hatte keine fantastische Auswirkung auf mich. Es wuerde keine dicke Raucher bei Arbeit geben mehr, aber eigentlich hab' ich sie jedenfalls schon entgelassen. Obwohl ich jetzt keine Kippe hab'n darf, wenn ich 'ne brauche. " (A/N: Meaning: 'I don't have any objections to it, but it has no great effect on me. There wouldn't be any more fat smokers at work, but actually I'd already fired them anyway. Although now I can't have a fag when I need one.') he answered with a cheeky smirk on his face. The class burst out in giggles and murmers, well, those who had understood, that was. The teacher scowled and continued, but Kaiba hadn't finished there.
"Du sollst's versuchen, Du siehst sich aus, wie du eine gute Kippe braucht." ('You should try it, you look like you need a good fag.') he said, crossing his legs under the desk, and all of the class burst out laughing. The teacher reddened slightly, out of anger, or embarrassment, we shall never know.
"Vielen Dank, Herr Kaiba." ('Thank you Mr. Kaiba') she said sarcastically, and he smirked. She wouldn't ask him again. He went back to his 'head in his hands' stance, and, for fun, tried to tap into the minds of his fellow classmates. It was far too easy. They were all mortals. Reading the mind of a magician was more difficult, because if they sensed you, they could force you out, if they were strong enough, and with minds of magicians, it usually depended on who was the cleverest. He continued to tap into the minds of various students around the room, and they were all thinking pretty much the same thing;
"How long is it 'til the god-damn Bell?"
Seto smirked, thinking the same himself, before he picked his next victim. He chose Elizaveta Svyatoslaevna, a tall, slim girl with long dark brown hair and dark eyes. She had transferred to Domino High from St. Petersburg in Russia a few years ago, and her voice had a slight Russian accent to it. She was almost as good as him at German, although not fluent, she was very good at it and her marks weren't far off his. What had freaked him out about her at first was that she was very vaguely famliar. He eased into her mind, but came up against a barrier. He tried again, more discreetly this time, and the barrier suddenly strengthened, and a powerful force repelled him, and he was forced back into his own consciousness, rubbing his temples and waited for the ringing to subside. His head felt like it was splitting and he willed the pain away.
"Take a trip down your own memory lane, Kaiba!!!"
Kaiba's eyes widened as he recognised the voice in his head to be Elizaveta's. He looked up, and she turned to face him with a glare that even he would have been proud of. Was it his mind playing tricks on him, or had he heard her? Was she a witch? He projected a message to her, just to check.
"What's the matter? Got something particularly embarrassing in yours?" he waited, and saw her eyes narrow as if she was listening to something.
"In your dreams! Since when do you read minds?"
"It's a recent affliction actually. You?"
"I was always better at the repelling." she projected, and turned to give him a quick sweet yet fake smile, "You, a magician? Charter preserve us!"
"What do you know about the Charter?"
"What do you know?"
"Enough to know that you shouldn't know."
"How long have you had powers?" she asked him, "Ususally I would be able to sense it, but I've never sensed anything from you."
"I couldn't sense anything from you either."
"I'm good."
"Really?" Oh the sarcasm.
"My grandmother was Abhorsen Lirael." she projected proudly yet casually. Ah. That was it.
"I'm surprised you even know what the Abhorsen is."he projected, using sarcasm to cover up the fact that he was surprised, she would almost certainly pick it up. Abhorsen Lirael? She was his great-grandmother's half-sister and sucessor. That made Elizaveta... his half aunt three times removed!!! And she was six months younger than he was!
"I've been at this magic lark a long time, Kaiba!"she mentally snarled, "Longer than you, obviously..." then she sensed his shock, "Kaiba, you're perplexed. I can feel it." she said, freaking him out even more. His power of Psychokinesis kicked in. His phone was going to vibrate in 3... 2... 1...
buzz... buzz...
Everyone turned to look at him, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. The teacher was silently cursing. The students weren't allowed to have their phones in school, but Seto, as the CEO of a major company, was an exception. He flicked it up, and, noticing that it was 'Home' calling, pressed the 'pick up' button.
"Kaiba." he said authoritively, and nearly fell off his chair when he heard the voice.
"Master Seto, you need to come home right away!"
"Nina? What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded quietly. His next words were going to be 'using the phone', but he shut himself up just in time. Elizaveta looked up at the mention of the cat's name.
"Calling you." said the cat, who was crouched with her mouth close to the upturned receiver, "There's going to be a demon attack!"
"Can't it wait?"
"No. They only attack when Saturn is in retrograde, which is now. They're called Kinoan Demons, and you need to mix a special potion for them. Now. Orb here now!"
"Alright. I'll be there in twenty minutes." he said, flipping the phone down. Well, the class that was listening had to think it was work calling, not his talking cat. He began to pack his stuff away and grabbed his books.
"Problem at work. I'll catch up." he said stiffly to the gobsmacked teacher.
"Mr. Kaiba..."
"I said I'll catch up!!!"
No more questions asked. Seto grabbed his laptop and marched out of the classroom. He shoved his books in his locker and slammed it shut, and then was faced with another problem. CCTV. The school was watched by cameras twenty-four seven. Would it matter? No one was watching the cameras live, and what were the chances the police would want to view that exact bit of tape from that specific day? He didn't plan on orbing infront of a camera, but they if someone was doing their job properly, they would realise that there was no tape of him leaving the building or getting into a car. The CCTV was only in the corridors and on the carpark and grounds though. Not the classrooms. He turned a corner, and peered into the nearest classroom. To his relief it was empty, and he leant his weight against the door, and let it close behind him. He let out a deep sigh of satisfaction, and orbed out.
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He orbed back into the mansion lounge, and found Nina lying on the sofa. She opened one eye lazily, and saw him put his hands on his hips and scowl.
"Oh good you're here." she exclaimed, jumping onto the back of the sofa, "When you said you'd be twenty minutes I was worried you might actually have meant it. I've ordered some stuff so you can get cracking on that potion."
His face deteriorated to one of confusion. "Wait, stuff?"
"Well you can't make vanquishing potion with flour and eggs can you?" she said, "So I've got some proper ingredients in." Seto walked into the kitchen and saw all manner of boxes on the sideboards. There was a load of polystyrene bits in them, and also jars of herbs, spices, and other things he remembered seeing on the shelves in Ancient Egypt.
"You ordered this?" he spat, "How? Is there a magical mail service?" he scoffed, "And how did you pay for it?"
"Yes, there is a magical mail service, and I didn't have to pay for it. I just dropped in that I was a servant of the one and only Abhorsen, and it was all free."
"You can't be serious..." he said, picking up some black poppy seed and inspecting it.
"Yup. In comparison to what the Abhorsen does for the greater good, a few potion ingredients are hardly payment at all..." she saw Seto's face, "I've been doing this a long time. Trust me."
"But... I've never made a potion in my life! Well, not this one... But I don't even know how!" he said, slamming a jar of freeze-dried dill down on the side.
"I'd taken that into account." she said, jumping onto the side and prodding a box with her tail, "And, I had these brought from St. Petersburg." Seto approached the box slowly, as if there was some kind of deadly creature lurking under the polystyrene bits. He plunged his hands into the box, and pulled out two books, both about A3 size, and recognised them instantly. The old-looking one with the brown-ish paper, the dark green cover and the wiccan triquertra on the front, this was the Book of Shadows. And the other, bound in thick black leather and thin, translucent white pages, and a title that only appeared when it was being touched by a necromancer or Charter Mage which looked disturbingly like it had been written in blood. This was the Book of the Dead. He had scoured both for information about personal planes when Serenity had been caught in one, he had looked for a spell or a potion to bring her back into Life, until reading a passage the Book of the Dead, and realised that the only thing that could save her was his love.
"Kinoan Demons." said Nina, jabbing the Book of Shadows with her tail, "Get cracking."
Seto quickly got the hang of potion-brewing, remembering how good Seth had been at it. It was a cross between Home Economics and Chemistry, with a magic twist. It took him about half an hour to finish it, and he put some into a potion vial that Nina had ordered. He could feel the demon attack was nearing, and went through into the lounge to find the cat sleeping. He shook his head in a mock-disappointment and used a vanishing spell on the boxes. He heard a whirring noise next door, and picked up the potions. He hid behind the door, and heard footsteps in the lounge.
"Where is he?" asked a voice, and Seto made his breathing even quieter, his grip around the potion vial tightening. How many were there...?
"He can't be too hard t'find, he's a newbie. We kill him now and we won't have to worry anymore. He can't produce an Abhorsen in Waiting if he's dead can he?"
"Still..." said another voice, "He's the Abhorsen!"
"You do realise we won't get a second chance to kill him. Next time, he'll be ready for us."
"There won't be a next time." he said in his darkest voice, walking out infront of them. There were more than he thought, about eight, and he felt his powers come to life inside him. He threw the vial into the middle of them, vanquishing the five nearest to the broken vial. They screamed as their bodies went up in flames, and the remaining three attacked. An energy ball appeared in the first one's hand, and he lobbed it at Seto.
"Energy ball!" he commanded, throwing out his hand to rebound the energy ball. There was a bashing sound, and then orbs tinkling, and the demon was vanquished. He didn't hear the tinkling behind him. He gathered his power and sent out streams of electricity bolts, and the next demon vanquished. He lifted his hands to attack the last one, but there was a sound, like smashing wood, and the demon screamed and combusted. But, he hadn't even attacked that one...
He sensed a presence behind him, and turned to see Elizaveta, clad all in black, which looked a little like what the British Royal Guard would wear - without the tassles obviously - with trousers tucked into knee high boots with small sitletto heels, and an overcoat, which was closely tailored and had two long tails which reached her calves. It was a clever yet strangely fantastic amalgamation of victorian black tie and femme fatale. She had her arms folded and was staring at him as if he had a massive spot on the end of his nose.
"A whitelighter???!!!" she scoffed, her voice a combination of disdain and disbelief, "You're a whitelighter????!!!!"
"Excuse me? What are you doing in my house?"
"I'm no idiot." she said sharply, "I could tell it wasn't a problem at work, you would have just told them t'fix it if it was. So I pulled a sicky, went home, scryed for you, and orbed here. Oh God how can you be a whitelighter...?"
"What's the problem with me being a whitelighter?" he asked her scornfully, and she gave him the same look as Nina had yesterday.
"The Abhorsens are witches!!! Don't you know that? Witches! Not whitelighters!!!" she yelled, almost in desperation.
"How did you even know I was a whitelighter?"
"You used the power of Electrokinesis, which is a whitelighter power. A Charter Mage who was primarily a witch would have blasted them with Temporal Combustion. But no! You just had to zap them! Your whitelighter powers are marginally stronger than your witch powers. I can feel it."
"What's the problem?" he snarled at her, having had just about enough of her, "Because I don't see it. And if you're gonna come here to bug me, I suggest you leave!"
"Now is that any way to talk to your aunt?" Nina injected sweetly from her post on the coffee table, waving her tail around.
"Half aunt three times removed!!!" Seto snapped, "She's six months younger than me and... How do you know anyway?"
Nina stretched, "She looks it." she yawned, "Dark hair, dark eyes, pale complexion. Up until about two generations ago they were classic Abhorsen features. In fact, if I didn't know, and I was forced to guess which one of you was the Abhorsen based on nothing but appearance, I'd say it was her." Elizaveta smiled and Seto scowled, "You have lighter hair like your father. Your mother had blue eyes though. You look ever so like her..."
"And you're Nina, the talking cat." said Elizaveta.
"Amen to that..." Seto murmered. Nina took a mock bow, and straightened up again.
"What kind of Abhorsen are you? A whitelighter, with no Bells, and no Blade. Charter help us..." Elizaveta mused, and Seto thought, he actually didn't have the Abhorsen's Blade, or any Bells. He had no idea where they were.
"You're a Charter Magistrix?" said Seto annoyedly. (A/N: 'Magistrix' is just a female Mage.)
"No. I'm a randomer who decided to orb in here because I had nothing better to do! Of course I am!!! And, you are my nephew, even though you're older than me, which is kinda freaky, but, I regret to say, I'm here to help you." she said, and he snorted;
"Yeah like I need you're help!" he snarled, "You orb in here, make a pathetic attempt to find something wrong with me, and if you think I'm about to fall on my knees and beg for your help, you're seriously mistaken!"
"Hey! I'm trying to be nice here!"
"Yeah, what a fantastic job you're doing!!!"
"Listen! I get shipped over here to Japan, yanked away from my family and friends in St. Petersburg, because a new Abhorsen was coming into power over here! I had t'learn the god-damn language from scratch!!! And, out of all the people in bloody Japan, the Abhorsen I've been sent to guide happens to be the most clueless man since Kalliel!!!" she yelled, (A/N: Kalliel was a foolish Abhorsen who was mentioned in the Old Kingdom Trilogy) and Seto stood pretty dumbstruck. Stubbornness was a family trait they both possessed. Nina watched the row for a while, before becoming bored.
"Oi, you two, we have a job to do." she said, stepping into the crossfire, "Which means a little mission."
"What? Nina, I'm not going on any missions, okay? I have an IB to study for, a company to run, amongst other stuff!" he said, holding up a hand, and Elizaveta gave a similar expression. (A/N: The 'IB' is the International Bacculaureate)
"What he said... Without the company bit..." she said.
"This can't be more important than your lives, this is your lives!" she yowled, "Anyway, I had also taken that into account, seeing how your lives mean so much to you, and we will be going to find someone called Ryou Bakura."
"WHAT???!!!" said Seto and Elizaveta in unison, their jaws dropped.
"You mean that psycho-freak albino who tried to kill everyone???!!!" Seto fumed.
"Now is that Ryou we're talking about, or his waste of space past incarnation who is so annoyingly occupying the Millennium Ring?"
"How do you know about this?"
Nina yowled. "I know lots of things." she said, "And anyway, the Millennium Items are connected with the Shadow Realm, which happens to be the stage between Life and Death, which happen to be the specialities of whom exactly?"
Seto sighed. Him. "Why the Hell are we going to find Bakura? I'd rather not have anything to do with any sick plan to destroy the world he's got going."
"See, that's the thing. I'm gonna tell you the plan. So pull up a chair and listen." she said. Elizaveta sat down neatly on the sofa and Seto leant against the arm of a nearby armchair and folded his arms.
"We're listening."
"As you know, all the spirits of the Millennium Items have been reincarnated, yes?"
"Yes."
"But Bakura was not the rightful owner of the Millennium Ring."
"Then that doesn't make that freak Shaadi the rightful owner of the Millennium Balance." said Seto, happy with his intelligent remark. Elizaveta was surprised at his knowledge of this, she thought that he didn't know anything at all.
"You are far too logical. Logic and Magic don't mix. You're correct, but that's Shaadi's problem."
"Then the Ring is Bakura's problem, not ours."
"Cut the smart observations. It's become our problem recently. You guys know how the Items were created. Ninety-nine souls had to be sacrificed. The Items were created with evil in them. The Items chose their Masters, and only to their worthy Masters would they submit. A Holder, as they are called, is not designed nor intended to wield the power of an Item. Should someone come across an Item by accident or steal it, or buy it, for example, the Item will use them, the Holder, to try to return to their Master." she acknowledged Seto's raised eyebrows, "Yes Master Seto, Item's do have minds of their own, and what you don't know about, the Item does by itself. Now Items don't like it when Holders try to control them. They simply use the Holders to get from one place to another. Ryou Bakura, and his yami, are Holders. It's not Ryou's fault, it's the yami's, but the Items use the evil inside them to corrupt the Holder, giving them evil power to try to get them to discard them, but often this just turns the Holder evil. You both are very aware of what happens when someone somehow obtains power that they are not destined to have. The results are fatal. They just aren't psychologically and physically designed to have that power."
"So we're going to save Ryou." said Elizaveta, and Nina nodded.
"And, as Master Seto said, we don't know what the yami is up to, all we know is that he's not supposed to be here in the Living Realm. He was supposed to die all those years ago but it went wrong. This is where we come in. It's our job to keep Fate parallel to Destiny. So, we have to release the Ring's true Master."
"So we are looking for What's-His-Name's reincarnation?" asked Seto, and Elizaveta looked at him questioningly, "But, he's in Yugi's deck!"
"Priest Mahado is in Yugi's deck." Nina corrected, "And, as Bakura comandeered the Ring, he doesn't have a reincarnation, but he is supposed to be here, unlike Bakura. So we have to put that right."
"How exactly do we plan to boot Bakura out?" asked Elizaveta.
"Well, that's where you guys have gotta start thinking."
"Pity we have to vanquish him. He's actually a half-decent duellist." Seto inserted.
"He's also a half-decent evil person." said Nina, for the tone, she could have been his mother.
"We would have to separate Bakura from Ryou, so that Ryou didn't get hurt." Elizaveta suggested, "So we would have to combine the depossession spell with... Uh..."
"He's not possessed. We could use a Depossession slash Separation potion and a spell to draw his evil spirit, that way we could pull him out, and be sure we get Bakura and not Ryou." said Seto, "And then we can use the 'To Banish An Evil Spirit' spell. So we can kick his evil arse back to whichever stone it crawled out from under."
Nina gave a cat-smile. "You catch on quickly." Elizaveta looked like she was concealing a face which would say 'I'm gonna kill you for besting me'. Seto smirked. "So you two can get on with doing that."
"I don't have time. She can do it." he snapped, and Elizaveta raised her eybrows.
"Why?" she asked. She had secretly been looking forward to meeting the former Abhorsen, if she was allowed to.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a company to run." With that, he walked out, leaving Nina and Elizaveta dumbstruck.
"What was wrong with my plan?" asked Nina, and Elizaveta shrugged.
"They do say Hell hath no fury like a Charter Mage scorned."
"Tch. He's an Abhorsen scorned." (A/N: HINT HINT Here comes the title line!!!... Wait for it... Wait for it...)
"No!!! I'm a CEO scorned!!!!!!!!!" Seto yelled. He marched briskly out of the lounge, and was just crossing the foyer, when the the doorbell rang. Seto went to the little screen that was embedded in the wall, and pressed one of the shiny silver buttons. An image appeared, and Seto's heartbeat increased. He shut the screen off, and heard the footsteps approaching.
"It's alright Roberts I'll get it." he said.
"Very well Sir." said Roberts the butler, and returned to whatever he was doing. Seto opened the door, and smiled as a loving face looked up to greet him.
"Wow, Seto Kaiba answers his own door?" Serenity joked.
"Only in special circumstances." he said flirtaciously, and she smiled.
"I've brought your German homework, your Maths homework, your Physics homework, and some other random stuff that apparently belongs to you. I called you at the office but they said you'd never gone there. Are you okay?" she asked, and he opened the door wider.
"Come in." he said, taking the pile of papers from her and kicking the door shut behind her.
"Wow." she said, admiring the grand foyer.
"Come through." he said, gesturing to another big lounge, in the hope of avoiding Nina and Elizaveta. He pressed a button on the side of the door, and prompty, Roberts the butler arrived, coat-tails in pursuit.
"Yes Sir?" he said in a very Roberts the butler-y fashion.
"D'you want something to drink?" Seto asked her.
"Some tea would be great." she said, and Roberts the butler bowed, and scurried off, knowing that his boss would be wanting some coffee, as strong as was legal. Seto sat down and nursed his head.
"Are you okay?" she repeated, and he sighed.
"If you thought that Magic couldn't possibly do much more to try and destroy my life. Think again."
"Well..." she said, curling her bottom lip and tightening her eyebrows, "You can tell me." she said softly, "I won't tell anybody." he sighed, and spilled;
"I can't do everything! Student, company CEO, Abhorsen. I can't do all this! Something's gonna have to give! And I don't want to..." Serenity wrapped her arms around him and drew him into a hug, nuzzling her cheek against his.
"It's okay... It's okay..." she soothed, kissing him just below his ear. Seto felt weak. Weaker than ever before. His heart pounded furiously in his chest, and everything else felt a world away. He began to plant gentle kisses up her neck, her jawline, her mouth... This one wasn't like before, this wasn't love and lust, this was pure, true, untainted love. If everything could just be like this, he need never have anything else. It was so strong he thought his heart was going to stop dead from the strain of it. He broke away very, very gently, and gazed deeply into her hazel eyes.
"I... I think I..." he breathed
Serenity's esteem flew sky high when these words hit her ears. They struck with a greater impact than her brother's deafening music being switched on in a quiet house, and she massaged the back of his neck, sending waves of pleasure down his spine. She now knew why Kisara had loved Seth so much. She was the Yin to his Yang, they fitted together like two pieces of a jigsaw, interlocking perfectly, there was no hope of ever pulling them apart. Last year, when Joey had first told her about him, if she, Seto and Yami Bakura had been the last three human-beings on Earth, she would have far preferred Bakura, but as his lips began to work their magic on hers again, she knew that he was perfect for her, in every way, and was the only one who was. She broke it gently, and he leant forward and captured her mouth again, and she broke it again.
"Your butler will be here with that tea." she whispered, and he nodded reluctantly. He leant back while his brain frantically tried to think of what they could talk about. Now whether this next intrusion was fortunate or not for him is quite a mystery, but the silent padding of small paws was apparent on the thick carpet. Nina jumped onto the back of the sofa and tickled their noses with her tail, making Serenity giggle and Seto purse his lips. She noticed that they were both breathing hard, and their pulses were high.
"I didn't know you had a cat." she said, "Hey puss."
"Hello." said Nina in a terribly British manner. Serenity jumped, had it just spoken?
"Uh, yeah, Nina, this is Serenity, Serenity, this is Nina, my very annoying, uh... talking cat." said Seto, narrowing his eyes discreetly at the cat.
"Honoured to make your aquaintance." said Nina, offering Serenity a paw.
"Uh, pleasure." said Serenity nervously, taking the paw and shaking it gingerly.
"Nina, where are you?" called a young, feminine voice from the foyer. Serenity's first thought was; "Who's she?"
"In here!" Nina called, and Elizaveta appeared at the doorway.
"Hey, you're Elizaveta aren't you?" asked Serenity, vaguely recognising her from school.
"Yeah, you're Serenity Wheeler." she said, and the two girls shook hands.
"So, how come you're here?" Serenity queried.
"Oh, I'm Seto's aunt." she said brightly, and Seto scowled very audiably.
"Half aunt three times removed!!!" he said through gritted teeth.
"Aren't you younger than him though?" asked Serenity, pointing to him, then to her, and then to him again.
"YES!!!" both of them yelled in unison.
"Yes she is." Nina confirmed, and Serenity nodded. Roberts the butler got his timing perfect, and entered the lounge with a silver tray laden with two cups and saucers, a coffee filter and a small teapot, a pot of cream, and a ramekin of sugar. The tray gleamed, and it even had a single red rose in a tall slim vase which glittered in what was left of the daylight. On seeing the party, his expression turned to one of hidden surprise.
"Oh..." he exclaimed in a genuinely confused manner, "Should I have brought more tea, Sir?"
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WildEm: If there are any mistakes in my German please review and tell me! I'm always looking to improve my German I don't care if you say it's crap, just R&R!!! Gotta love Roberts the butler!
