Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I only accept constructive criticism.
The Enchantment in Family
Chapter 7
Quite a Few Days Off
Isis paused in getting together needed items to make the boys bottles when she heard shifting blankets from the baby monitor. She held it to her ear and heard a soft coo before once more silence. The last thing she wanted was Malik or Mokuba to wake up and find her not there, along with Kaiba.
Turning back to the formula mix and milk she went to mixing the two. She read online that children there age might not want to give up formula and that you should mix the two just in case. She wasn't sure whether or not Mokuba and Malik liked formula or just milk, so mixing the two didn't seem bad.
After getting the formula made and the milk out she began opening different cabinets searching for the bottles. When she finally found them they were in perfect reach for Odion's height, but not her own. Deciding climbing on the counters was out of the question she opted for looking around for a mini-ladder or step stool.
"I suppose only people who clear six feet can access this kitchen without problems…" She mumbled when she didn't find one. Once more she stood before the cabinet and reached up high with all she had, raising to her tiptoes. A certain long pale arm extended past hers, able to reach the needed items in one large hand bringing them down on the counter before her. She turned around and found the CEO to be extremely close…too close.
"Thank you Kaiba," she gave a twitched smile before moving past him back to the counter. There she mixed the two white liquids in the clear bottles and heated them up slightly before placing them in the refrigerator. "Is the Pharaoh gone?" She asked as she closed the fridge back.
He nodded, "They decided to leave early…luckily."
Ignoring his comment she continued, "I was hoping to thank them before they did."
"Why? They'll be back tomorrow plus they've done nothing but waste time." He moved over to the bowl of fruit on the island and grabbed one of the apples there, taking a rather loud bite from it.
Her stomach then gave a small rumble alerting her she had not eaten since yesterday. She had been so wrapped up in the kids she had forgotten to feed herself. Talk about rough motherhood. She moved over to the same bowl and was going to eat an orange but didn't feel like peeling it or dealing with the juices. So she picked a banana.
Kaiba shifted his eyes over to the woman next to him and watched as one of her dainty hands held the base of the yellow fruit, while the other gracefully peeled away the outer layer. She only brought it half way down and then wrapped her lips around the top, before biting it off with a satisfied sigh.
Halfway through the fruit snack she suddenly remembered something and shoved the last half of it in. He expected her to choke on the yellow piece until she turned and he found it had disappeared. Had Isis Ishtar just deep throated a banana in his kitchen? And why was he just finding out about this?
"Kaiba, may I use your phone please?" She moved over to the garbage and disposed of the peel before moving towards the phone hanging on the wall by the doorway.
He glanced over his shoulder, "If it's important."
"Thank you," she thanked before taking the phone off the base. She moved out of the kitchen, bracing her back against wall.
After dialing in a familiar number she waited; three rings later someone answered, "Thank you for calling 'Hardback, Paperback We Got It!' what can I help you with?"
Isis rolled her eyes at what was probably the worst name for a bookstore, "Hello, is Mr. Kudo in?"
The girl on the other line paused, "Isis, is that you?"
"It is…who is this?"
"It's Tachi!" She listened to the shuffling in the background before it finally stopped; she had a feeling she knew where the girl had gone, "Sorry! I had to go to the supply closet, you know procedure." Anytime the girl hid away to talk to an employee she was going to warn them about their lovely manager, Mr. Kudo. "Mr. Kudo is quite angry today! Why? I never know but then again who does?"
Isis gave a sigh, "That's not what I needed to hear. Listen Tachi, I need to take some days…possibly weeks off…" No longer would the 'Kaiba watching them in the evening and she watching them in the day' plan work out. They couldn't leave the boys alone with one but not the other.
"WEEKS!? No offense but have you gone nuts?!" Tachi nearly squealed, "It took him till the last minute before he decided I could take a day off to go to my grandmother's funeral. You better have a good reason."
"I do! It's my brother…he's really…changed."
"Changed?"
"Sick…he's really sick," she quickly added, "I can't leave him alone."
Tachi paused, "The best way to handle this would be to ask him in person. If you do it over the phone he'll freak…" Isis then heard yelling in the background, "Listen! We close tonight at ten, it's still early why don't you come by and ask."
"Oh I don't—"
"She'll be there," Kaiba quickly assured after snatching the phone away. Before the confused girl on the other end could respond he hung up. "Get dressed; we're going to the bookstore."
"Excuse me Kaiba, but I'm sure I can handle this myself. Not to mention, the boys are sleep. And finally, why were you listening to my conversation? That's quite rude of you," she said matter-of-factly.
"You obviously can't handle it yourself if it's not already taken care of, the boys will stay sleep most likely, and it's my house and phone you are using so I can listen to whatever I want." He then turned and headed up the stairs, Isis reluctantly following.
Thirty minutes later the boys were still sleep but in their little winter coats and hats, Isis insisted on them wearing. While she had dressed them and packed a diaper bag, Kaiba had brought his dark red Cadillac Escalade around and installed the car-seats in the back. Once the seats were in place and the heat had warmed up the car, he turned it down and closed the door.
He walked around the car just to find Isis exiting the door. She was wearing a simple pair of black flat-footed boots that came up to her calves, dark jeans, and a black coat with large black buttons down the front. She also had on black gloves, a black beanie, and a black scarf. A still sleeping Mokuba and Malik were balanced on her hips, with the diaper bag slung over her shoulder.
For a moment he dared to imagine if this whole scenario was the obvious. Oddly enough a comforting, soothing feeling filled him.
But he didn't allow it to linger long.
Moving over to her, he took Mokuba from her arms and moved around to his side where he buckled him in. Isis did the same with Malik but on her side of the car. After settling the baby bag between the still sleeping tots, she climbed in the passenger side and buckled her seatbelt. Kaiba followed suit and pulled the car out of the driveway.
"You do know where the bookstore is, don't you Kaiba?"
He rolled his eyes, "Yes Isis, I do. I've sort of lived here my whole life."
"Plenty of people have lived in New York their whole lives and don't even know how to get to the Statue of Liberty." She couldn't help but give a small smile at the huff he gave.
Shortly after that he clicked on the XM radio. A sad but darkly romantic piano resounded softly through the vehicle's sound system. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata continued reign over the sound in the car. She glanced over towards the driver and watched as his eyes constantly darted to the rearview mirror. He wasn't only watching Mokuba but Malik as well.
"They're fine Kaiba."
Quickly moving his eyes back to the road he made a snorting noise, "I know that Isis." However the light dusting of pink didn't go unnoticed to her eyes in the dashboard lighting.
Thirty minutes later they were greeted with the rush hour traffic of downtown Domino. Despite the size of the SUV, Kaiba sped and weaved through the cars like a true pro. It was obvious the CEO's driving habits were the same no matter what he drove or who was in it. By the time they reached the bookstore, Isis was sure she was on the verge of a heart-attack.
After quickly parallel parking on the curb before the establishment, Kaiba kept the engine running and motioned to Isis, "Well?"
"Right…" She undid her seatbelt and climbed out. She made her way around the front, ignoring the eyes on her. Many people recognized the large vehicle but couldn't quite place who it belonged it, especially since the windows so tinted and there was such a glare off the windshield from the setting sun.
Isis entered the bookstore and spotted the redheaded freckle-faced teen known as Tachi. She gave the girl a nervous smile and the teen motioned to where Mr. Kudo was. Slowly she made her way to the back and knocked on the office door.
"Who is it?" The deep voice demanded.
"Isis Ishtar Sir."
"Enter…"
Slowly she opened the door to find the man. The tall bulky man's dark blonde comb-over was currently ruffled along with his button down, tie, and slacks. He swiveled away from his computer and focused his scrutinizing caramel eyes on her, "Isis, what do you want?"
"Good evening Mr. Kudo," she sweetly greeted taking a seat across from him, "I come with a request for some time off. A family emergency has come up and I—"
"The only emergency I see here is you in danger of getting fired if you continue on." He cracked his neck and continued to burn his eyes into her.
"But my brother Malik really needs my extra attention since—"
"Since what? We all know your younger brother is fucking bananas. I knew that when I hired you and you did as well. I didn't expect this long term problem to interrupt your duties here."
She was taken a back, "Malik is not crazy; his influences are." Realizing how much sense that made to him she continued on, "Please Mr. Kudo…I really need a few…weeks off."
Suddenly his whole face exploded red, "Weeks?" He said calmly. She nodded. And there went his gasket; he jumped from his seat and moved around, getting right in her face while pointing quite hard against her shoulder, "WEEKS!? ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY!? THAT'S IT, YOU'RE A CRAZY BITCH JUST LIKE YOUR BROTHER. HOW ABOUT THIS—"
"No, how about you shut the Hell up," another male's voice proposed. Isis and Mr. Kudo turned to see Kaiba standing in the doorway of the small office. "Isis, go to the car now."
"Kaiba I—"
"Who the FUCK let you back here?" Mr. Kudo demanded moving to the brunet's face now.
"I don't need permission to go where I want," Kaiba responded quite bratty like. "Now, you won't have to worry about Miss Ishtar anymore because she quits."
"I wha—? Isis began but was once more cut off.
"Oh really?" Mr. Kudo asked shoving Kaiba.
"Actually yes and don't lay your filthy hands on me," Kaiba said in that dangerously low growl. "You should be grateful to breath the same air as me."
Mr. Kudo chuckled, "Oh really pretty boy, is that true? And what the fuck are you going to do about me touching you?" With that the very point of his finger barely grazed the collar of Kaiba's trench coat.
Isis watched in awe as the large angry man flew back over his desk, landing feet up on the other side. Before she could register his bruised jaw and bleeding nose, Kaiba grabbed Isis by her arm and drug her down the hall to his office. Once they were back in the open, people had crowded the bookstore in hopes of catching why the great Seto Kaiba was with the female Duelist Isis Ishtar.
As soon as the fans spotted them they all stood in silence catching the angry look of the CEO and the shocked one of the woman he currently had in tow. He chirped the car open and moved around to her side, opening the door and shoving her in. He then slammed the door angrily and climbed in his side, before burning rubber out of the parking spot, cutting off a car or two.
He whipped out his cell phone and spoke quickly into it before hanging up. By the time they hit the freeway, her brain once more began to function. "Kaiba, what have you done?"
"Seriously Isis, don't start with me. That guy was a bastard with no good reason for being one. He's a waste of management and doesn't deserve the position he has…had."
"I told you I could handle it," she said quite indignantly. Her eyes shifted over to his face, narrowing slightly.
"Obviously you couldn't, especially if handling it was reasoning with that asshole. You're too good of a worker to waste away at some shit-hole. I just put in to have Mr. Kudo removed and a new manager to take his place. If you still want that job you're overqualified for, fine. No doubt he'll hire you back. However, I wouldn't if I was you."
She shifted her eyes back to the road in which they were speeding down. Taking a moment to process everything he just said, she realized he was right. She really hadn't given herself that much credit about her skills. She had been too busy selling trashy romance novels. Giving a sigh she looked over and found the CEO to still be fuming a bit.
His right hand's knuckles were red and his jaw was clenched, his eyes narrowed. His foot had the pedal to the floor while the other foot was tapping impatiently against the floorboard. Oddly enough, she found his rage…attractive? She remembered how demanding his presence had been in the office, especially when his svelte form had laid out her two hundred and something pound boss.
Before she knew it the SUV came to a stop in the driveway. He angrily killed the engine and got out, moving to the back. She followed suit and they carried the still sleeping babies in, leaving the diaper bag in the Escalade just in case.
Kaiba was murmuring all the way up the stairs before removing Mokuba's jacket and hat off and settling him into his crib. Isis also removed Malik's winter wear and settled him into bed. When she turned around she found the brunet's retreating form head out of his room, already dressed back in black lounge pants and a white T-shirt. After she was once more in her pajamas and grabbed the baby monitors and headed downstairs.
Luckily she found him the first place she looked: his study. He was furiously typing away on his computer, the many monitors around him blipping and doing tasks as well. "Kaiba…"
"What?" He demanded not pausing his typing.
"I wanted to thank you."
He faltered in his report, a red jagged line forming under the misspelled word. He looked over at her, "No need, it was really my pleasure." A dangerous glow came to his eyes that gave her an odd tingling along with a blush.
"Despite the way things were handled, I would like to thank you for showing me I'm more than that job was."
He snorted, "Isis, don't flatter yourself. A monkey could do that job, you just happen to be a small step up do to your humanity."
"Truly I have the patience of Saint…" she murmured under her breath before blowing the comment off, "Thank you."
"Whatever." He turned back to his laptop, speedily typing away once more.
PLEASE READ:
Okay…if you squint a little bit you can see a few dim sparks. Ha ha. However, next chapter let me tell you, some interesting things will take place to bring these two closer. It's quite…amazing. Also, since I kept the children asleep, they will be awake next chapter.
Happy Thanksgiving! (covers Kaiba in gravy) YUM.
This was posted especially for: Mikkimikka, Amber-Kaiba, Anon-Goddess, Tru Mel Meiko Mei Ling, and Anna0405.
Still stands: If I don't get one measly review, no new chapter, however if I do get one measly review, new chapter.
REVIEW!!!
Well I'm Out.
