Elaina awoke to the bright sun shining in her eyes and she groaned. She rolled over and jumped as she felt the sheets brush against her bare skin. The memories of the previous night washed over and she wanted to crawl under the covers and hide. But she knew she couldn't do that. She had to get out of bed and go to school. School was important and no matter how badly she was feeling she needed to attend. She pulled on her school uniform and looked over at the clock and nearly jumped out of her skin. School started in ten minutes, she was late! She usually set her alarm right before bed but for obvious reasons she had forgotten.

"Thanks a lot." She muttered as she gathered her backpack and ran out the door. The Spirit awoke from his slumber as he heard his host speak directly to him.

"Well, you are welcome."

"You don't understand sarcasm very well do you?"

"Not at all." He smiled at her innocently. "Why in such a rush?"

"Your little fiasco last night made me forget to set my alarm and now I'm late."

"Thinking about me?" She nearly tripped but regained her composure.

"Wouldn't you know? You said you could hear everything I was thinking." He laughed.

"Witty. I can stop having personal interaction with you and just learn everything I want to know. But what fun would that be? You liked what I did last night. I heard it for myself. So stop denying it." She chose not to reply. She was still trying to figure that part out and she didn't have time to do so at the moment. She nearly slid into the classroom right on the bell and blushed as everyone in the room looked at her.

"Nice of you to show up, Elaina. Even if a tad later than usual. Please take your seat." She nodded without replying and quickly took her usual seat in the back corner near the windows. Seto was eyeing her and she tried her best to pretend like she didn't notice. Why did she always seem to look the worst when he was around? "Time to hand in last night's assignment." Her jaw nearly hit her desk. She hadn't finished any of her homework last night either. She wanted to hide underneath the desk as the instructor made his way down the line of students. She had never not completed an assignment before in her entire school career. She wanted to slap herself, she couldn't let her personal life problems interfere with her schooling no matter how supernatural or awkward they might be. The teacher outstretched his hand awaiting her to hand in her work.

"I don't have my work, sir." She said quietly. He gave her a stern look before turning to take someone else's outstretched papers.

"Late and without your work. I am disappointed in you, Elaina." Her shoulders slumped. That was the worst thing you could say to someone you were not happy with. Yelling was something she could take but disappointment was something she couldn't. Seto Kaiba smirked in her direction as he handed in his work. His plan was working perfectly already. He was well aware she was one of the last to leave the Kaiba Corp offices last night. She must have gone home and slept and left her work by the wayside. Too bad.

Elaina dropped her bag on the floor near her desk. It had been a long day of embarrassment. She had none of her work to hand in and a handful of surprised teachers to answer to. It seemed Kaiba would have a permanent smirk on his face for the day. She was surprised he hadn't stopped her to rub it in her face. For that she was extremely grateful. She pulled the Master Accounting book from inside of her desk and blinked. The color coded post-it notes had been moved as if placed several pages forward.

She flipped to the Purple marker indicating the last second she had completed and it was merely an empty sheet. She had placed the purple marker for Advertisements. She flipped to the front and checked every page. Everything had been in order until she arrived at the Green section. Green was for personnel expenses such as Business Credit Card spending when on a business trip. The pages were all missing. The green marker was now paired with the blue inked Building Expenses and the blue marker was placed over the purple inked Advertisements. Had someone been in her office moving around the items in the book?

She pulled the backup book she kept in her backpack and looked over it. It was more than likely illegal to have public records of a company's spending without the permission of the owner so she kept the book on her person instead of leaving it in the office. There was a good $50,000 unaccounted for in the Company Personnel Spending. Most of the charges were made on a company credit card 0567-322. She turned on the expensive computer that she rarely used seeing as it was probably worth more than the yearly rent her apartment summed up too and she didn't want to have it spontaneously combust under her watch. She opened the Kaiba Corp financial data base and looked up the credit card number. It was last issued to a man named Herbert Stanton who was terminated from the company shortly after he returned. The card was reportedly turned into Steven Brace.

The door opened and she quickly dropped the book into her bag. Steven Brace walked through the door with his usual happy smile. Her heart was pounding at the thought of being caught before she could get this information to Kaiba.

"How is everything going?" He gave her a pointed look. Was he trying to figure out if she had discovered what he had done?

"Very well. I'm almost finished." She had never been a very good liar but she prayed that it would be enough this time. He nodded, content, and closed the door behind him. She let out a sigh of relief and shut down the computer after printing out the needed pages. She needed to get this to Kaiba straight away. She gathered her things and rushed out the door. Running in heels was not easy and she got a large amount of odd looks as she begged the elevator doors to open. The thirty floor ride up seemed to be happening in slow motion as she tapped her foot impatiently. She had to catch him before he left for the day. The doors opened and she headed towards his office. Two tall men in black suits stood guard over his door and stopped her.

"Mr. Kaiba specifically instructed he was not to be disturbed at the present." One of them said in an extremely gruff voice.

"Please, I have some extremely important information that he needs to see right away."

"Name?"

"Elaina Havert." The man pulled out a small phone and looked through it before placing it back in his pocket.

"You do not have an appointment. Please return to the lobby and make an appointment with the hostess and Mr. Kaiba will fit you in as soon as his schedule permits it."

"I need to see him now, it's important."

"Any questions or concerns are to be directed to your supervisor."

"I can't do that."

"And why not?"

"It concerns him." The door suddenly opened and an extremely irritated Seto Kaiba looked out.

"What is all this noise, Roalnd? I specifically asked not to be disturbed." She became extremely small under his harsh gaze.

"I attempted to explain the situation, Mr. Kaiba. She is being particularly stubborn." He snorted.

"Then physically remove her. I don't have time for this today." As the men moved forward and Kaiba turned to shut the door she made her move.

"Steven Brace is stealing company money." Kaiba stopped suddenly. He turned back around and gave her a stern look.

"Impossible."

"I have proof." He stepped back leaving the doorway open.

"We are not to be disturbed. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." She slipped under his arm and he shut the door.

"That is a stacked accusation. I hope you have your facts straight." He could not believe his ears.

"I walked into my office this afternoon and was about to get to work but when I opened the Master Accounting Book some of the pages were missing. Every page that held Personnel Business Expenses was gone."

"How do you know you didn't just get the pages misconstrued? They are not numbered."

"I have them color coded for easy access." He raised his eyebrow at the colorful strips of paper protruding from the sides. "Each marker corresponds with a colored pen and if you look inside when you reach the green mark the inks no longer match. There is no green ink in the book at all." He flipped through the book. She had gone above and beyond what was required of her. And she was correct. Even though it didn't seem as though any pages had been removed it seemed obvious that she was correct.

"You could have simply not used the correct pen."

"I have a second untouched account of the book that I take home with me." She handed him the small book she had used to double check her work before she went to bed. "All of the pages that are missing in the company book are still recorded in that book along with all of the receipts that correspond." She pulled the pile of envelops and set them on his desk. He looked over the receipts and checked them with the original book. None of them were accounted for.

"And how can you connect this to Steven Brace?"

"The credit card number that has been doing most of the spending in those receipts is not currently in the hands of any employee. The last known person to have been issued this credit card was a man who was fired almost a year ago. It was documented as being handed back into Steven Brace and has not been given back out sense." She handed him the database files she had printed out. "This credit card has spent nearly $50,000 in the last six months according to the transaction history in the database and all of the receipts have been accounted for. My theory is that he has been using the money for his personal benefit seeing as most of the money has been turned into cash at various ATMs across the city and he has slipped the receipts in so that the company wouldn't become alerted that there was a sum of money not accounted for." Kaiba drank in the information as he read over the papers. How had something like this been going on right under his nose and he had not seen? $50,000 was a small chunk of change compared to how much the company was worth but he could not allow someone to sit and steal the money he had worked so hard to acquire. This needed to stop now.

"It will be looked into." He dismissed her and she headed towards the door. She had done all that she could do. The ball was in Kaiba's court now. Whether or not he wanted to pursue this was up to him. It really meant nothing to her if someone stole money from Kaiba. She looked back at Kaiba and he was staring at her intently. She blushed and rushed out the door. Kaiba leaned back and massaged the bridge of his nose. This was the last thing he could have imagined he would have to deal with today. Her logic was sound and it seemed as though there were no other explanation. And even if Brace was not behind this then someone out there was still taking money from his company.

"Roland!" The door opened immediately and one of his suited guards stepped through the doorframe.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba, sir?" Roland was his head of security and someone who had been apart of his company since the very beginning. He was tall and lean with dark green hair and a stone face. His eyes always covered in sunglasses no one ever knew where he was looking for sure.

"Get me last night's security camera footage from office 27-44 from 11pm to 7am." Roland pulled a small tablet from the inside of his jacket pocket and pointed it towards the opposing wall. A large thin screen descended from the ceiling and covered the bookcase. The screen filled with a menu of the month's dates and September 17th was selected. The screen was replaced of a list of floors and followed by a list of office numbers. Kaiba had at least one camera fitted inside every hallway, every office. This was to deter slackers or wonton teenagers using his building as a bedroom. Elaina was sitting quietly at her desk furiously working away. He raised his eyebrow, she was still in the building an hour past her allotted work hours? He kept a close eye on the speeding clock in the lower right hand corner. It was 1:30am before she finally packed up and left. She put the duplicate black book in her bag and headed out the door. He was not exactly sure how he wanted to handle that particular issue. He was not entirely comfortable with all of Kaiba Corps expenses wandering around in a fragile high schoolers backpack even though he knew it was merely meant to make sure she did not mess up in her calculations. He supposed he admired the way she put so much extra work into his company but he would never admit it to anyone.

"What exactly are we looking for if you don't mind me asking, sir?" Kaiba did not reply. They would recognize it when they saw it. For the next few hours the tape was stagnant. No movements at all, not even a janitor. His thoughts began to falter. Maybe she was wrong. And then it happened. The office doors opened and Steven Brace stepped through the door.

"There. Stop the tape." It returned to normal speed and he leaned forward. This was what it all came down too. Steve Brace rummaged through Elaina's desk before pulling out the Master Accounting Book. He flipped it through to the green marker and ripped out the pages. He rushed over to the shredder and slipped the pages inside destroying the evidence of his transgressions. Seto leaned back and laid his hands on his stomach. That was all he needed to see. Now it was time to figure out exactly what he was going to do about the situation. This man needed to be made an example of. No one tried to screw over Seto Kaiba and got away with it.

"Come, Roland. We have a stop to make." Kaiba stood up and pressed the speaker button on his desk phone.

"How may I direct your call?" A bored female voice filled the room.

"Please inform Steven Brace that he is to meet me in the lobby within the next two minutes. Also, please make an announcement that there will be free refreshments awaiting employees for the upcoming board meeting in the lobby."

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba!" She was suddenly full of life as he hung up. No need to keep something like this private. He pulled on his white trench coat and strode out the door, his two security guards in toe. This was certainly going to be interesting.

"Attention Kaiba Corporation Employees," a soothing female voice filled her office and Elaina looked up, "there will be free refreshments available to all employees in the main lobby in preparation for tonight's Board Meeting. Please enjoy on behalf of our CEO, Mr. Seto Kaiba." Elaina rushed back to her work. She was not interested in eating at the moment. And a social gathering was even farther down on her list. Telling Kaiba about her discoveries had put her behind and she knew she did not have time to eat. Her phone ringing made her jump slightly.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Seto Kaiba has requested your attendance in the Main Lobby immediately." Elaina blinked. What could he possibly want now? And why had he called her to a place the entire building was going to be at? He was her employer and she couldn't keep him waiting no matter what it was. It could involve her firing if she did. As the elevator doors opened and she slipped out she stopped. There was a large circle of suits surrounding Kaiba and Steven Brace.

"Would you like to explain to me why $50,000 has been spent in the preceding six months while in your possession?" His voice boomed over the murmuring crowd. Brace was shaking in his overpriced shoes now.

"I do not know what you are talking about Mr. Kaiba. All of the company credit cards are accounted for in the database." Kaiba smirked and shoved some papers in his face.

"Then why is the database telling me that a card that has not been issued to anyone in nearly a year is still being charged on a consistent basis?"

"It could have been stolen, sir. I run nearly five hundred different company cards." The two guards came jogging into the room.

"We found the card in his rest drawer, sir." Kaiba never took his eyes off of Brace who continued to shrink under the gaze.

"The man who held that card was fired nearly a year ago, he could have simply written down the numbers and continued to use the card! It was never deactivated!" Kaiba outstretched his hand and the green haired guard handed him a remote. Kaiba aimed the remote at the windows which conjoined into a large wall of screens, creating a large television on the side of the building. A short clip played of Brace in an overcoat sneaking to one of the ATM machines across town and withdrawing a large stack of bills. The screen was enhanced to show the credit card number used. It was the same credit card number as the one in question.

"Care to explain?" Brace looked around in fear.

"You can't prove anything. I have been a faithful employee from the day I started working for you." Kaiba raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. The screen shifted to the scene of him tearing pages from the Master Accounting Book and discarding of them in the shredder. There was a large gasp of disbelief among the crowd.

"I have a full account of the logs you attempted to destroy in this book here. You should have been more careful. Security get this man out of my site, you are fired. Expect a call from my lawyers in the morning." Men in full police uniform walked through the door and tackled Brace to the ground as he attempted to flee the scene. Seto Kaiba's gaze shifted over the crowd and directly on Elaina. How he had found her in the crowd she had no idea. She blushed and rushed back to her office before the crowd could turn and see where he was looking. She didn't like it when Seto Kaiba stared at her that way. It made her extremely uncomfortable and she had to get back to work.

But she could not deny that there was a deep sense of self satisfaction running through her veins. She felt like she had accomplished something good for the first time in a long time. And it wasn't something only about her she had done something substantial for someone else. Why that someone else had to be Seto Kaiba, someone who would never appreciate what she had done, she had no idea. But she felt good as she sat in her chair and looked at the piles of papers on her desk. Even though she knew she had a mountain of work and was hours behind, she still felt in an extremely upbeat mood. She leaned back in her chair and childishly balanced a pencil on the end of her nose.

"Just because you removed a leech from my company doesn't mean you get to slack off, Havert." Elaina nearly tipped back in her chair as Kaiba stood in the doorway. He smirked and shut the door behind him as her hands clasped in her lap and she blushed furiously. "No matter how much I despise to admit this out loud… you did a service to my company. Don't let it go to your head!" He snapped as a small smile began to creep onto her lips. "You have however put me into a difficult spot now that I have just fired and ruined an Accounting Supervisor in the middle of a business week. However… you have put more initiative into this company than any new employee I have ever seen with such a simple task given to you. Even though it goes against my better judgment and it is only temporary I might as well give you the job for the time being. Try not to screw it up. It WILL be the end of you."

"Thank you." He kept a long gaze on her before turning around.

"That's Mr. Kaiba or sir. You are to report to me every evening at 9pm with an end of the day report. Don't be late." He kept track of her out of the corner of his eye as he walked out the door. After today he had a tad bit of faith in her that he held in very few in his life. He was hoping that she wouldn't fail in this large task that he had given to her and if she did he would ultimately be the one paying for it. But he, at the moment, did not have time to be searching for a new head of his financial department. He had a lot on his plate with the upcoming board meeting tonight. Even though his company was so large and self sustaining he no longer needed investors pouring money into his projects, more money would always be helpful. He had a grand idea in store and he would need all the help he could get. Hopefully, the simple little blonde would not be a hindrance in his plans.