Chapter 10: Boredom part deux
Kaiba was relieved
when Pegasus and Devlin finally showed up for their meeting, and in
some ways a little agitated. This would be the second time he would
be bored to death in this conservatory in his first week here. 'How
am I going to survive another week or two of this' he asked him.
His thoughts were soon interrupted by a silky voice.
"I trust
we didn't keep you waiting to long eh? Kaiba-boy. As you know our
dear friend Devlin-boy will be joining us this time" it was Pegasus
who spoke first. The brunette teen looked up at Devlin, gave a curt
nod and looked back at his papers which were decorating the table.
"It's an honor to finally meet you Kaiba, I hope that all the
things I've been hearing from Yugi and the guys aren't true."
This time it was Duke's voice interrupting his internal monologue.
"Can't a man think to himself in peace" he muttered under his
breath. Feeling a little silly when he realized he was supposed to be
in a meeting. Letting the raven haired teen's words register before
attempting communications, Kaiba looked up and met the boy's jade
eyed stare with his own icy blue. "I'm sure it is Devlin" he
replied with a trademark smirk. He used it so often his brother had
once joked about buying him a trade mark for it for his birthday last
year. To his surprise Duke simply smirked back, then took his seat at
opposite side of the table.
"As you know Kaiba, I have a
business proposition for both your company and Industrial Illusions"
Duke began. 'Oh boy' Kaiba thought, preparing himself for yet
another few hours of boredom. 'At least he didn't bring the wine'
he realized, starting to absently doodle as he listened to Devlin.
Back in her room, Amber was finally replying to her friend's e-mail. She was delirious about it! It'd been almost a month since she'd heard from her best friend from America. The e-mail had said;
Dear Amber,
Sorry it's taken me so long to write back to you
hun, but my grandpa died recently and I've been busy with funeral
arrangements. We buried him last Thursday; it's weird to think he's
gone… We all thought he would outlive all of us!
Enough of
my bad news, lets talk about your good news! I'm glad your staying
at your uncle Max's island for summer, I wish I could be there
especially seeming as he's converted a storage room so you can
practice you dancing in. You said your uncle has a lot of meetings on
though, I hope you're not too lonely. I'd be so jealous if you
got meet Seto Kaiba though I bet his even more dark and handsome in
person. Your so lucky being the niece of the Maximillion Pegasus you
know Amber.
Anyway enough pouting! I have some fairly good
news of my own. My grandpa left me a small fortune in his will so I'm
finally going to do it. I'm moving to Japan!! We always talked
about it when we were in school, about running away to Japan to go
see the geisha and visit a hot springs place, do you remember? Those
were good times, I really miss the way we were back then, even if
working in the club together was fantastic too, its not been the same
since you left. Don't be a stranger!
Your friend,
Amethyst.She felt very sad for her friend's loss, ever
since her parents had found out bout her sexuality they'd sent her
to live with him. He was the only family she had anymore, and now he
was gone. On the other hand Amethyst had always wanted to live in
Japan, often joking bout running away to become a geisha even though
they both knew it would never happen. They'd met when Amber had
started school, and was the only friend her uncle would let see his
work on then prototype version of duel monsters. Whereas Leo had been
a little freaked out by their closer then friends, but not a real
couple relationships Pegasus had welcomed her into the family with
open arms.
Amber smiled at the memory of her uncle teasing her
about having a girlfriend. For a man in his thirties her uncle sure
could act like a born again teenager. Not that she was complaining.
Happily typing away, she congratulated her friend on the move to
Japan, saying she how much envied her, and she echoed that she missed
her too. Also adding her condolences about her grandpa, before
hitting send. Now for Leo's e-mail. Before she opened it, Yugi had
popped his head around the door.
"I hope I'm not
disturbing anything am I Amber?" his cheerful voice sounded into
the room. She'd been avoiding Yugi since the pool incident. Joey
had tried to reassure her Yugi wouldn't be mad, and had explained
everything to Yugi for her. Determined to make sure things were ok
between them Yugi had took it upon himself to track her down. First
he'd tried the pool, then with a helpful suggestion from a maid her
dance studio/storage room, then finally he'd bumped into Pegasus
who told him where to find her room. Pegasus had been on his way to a
meeting with Duke and Kaiba so hadn't been able to show him. So
poor Yugi had gone down a couple of wrong turns before finding her.
"Oh Yugi! I wasn't expecting you… No your not interrupting I
was just writing e-mails. My best friend in America finally got back
to me." She told him, closing her e-mail inbox and swiveling to
face him. The blonde gestured to Yugi that it was ok for him to come
in.
"I was hoping to talk to you bout the thing with Yami by
the pool. He didn't do anything to upset you did he? Joey told me
what you told him I just wanted to make sure you didn't leave
anything out so not to upset me", Yugi explained brightly. Once
he'd perched himself on the edge of her bed. Only now did he survey
the random piles of objects scattered throughout Amber's chaotic
bedroom. Books were piled high at the foot of the bed, a box of what
looked like a games console and games was next to them, and was that
what he thought it was sitting on top? 'It can't be' Yugi tried
to shake the idea out of his mind. However it refused to budge,
because indeed there was a pair of handcuffs hanging off the bed
post. Feeling slightly embarrassed by this, he
forced himself to look elsewhere and spotted her posters lining the
wall next the bed.
"I'm sorry Yugi I just couldn't help
myself, it was just so funny normally I'd of said he needed a cold
shower but with none around I decided the pool was best thing for
him." Amber said sounding a little dejected. She didn't want to
be dealing with this right now; she was more concerned bout Kaiba's
odd behaviour. Maybe she could ask Yugi about it?
"Cheer up
Amber! Do I look mad? Yami is feeling a little embarrassed about it,
but there's no hard feelings" he looked at her with his large
violet eyes. "So we're still friends right?" he enquired. Amber
stood up and walked other to him, smiling and ruffling his hair.
"Sure we are. I'm like a bad rash. Once you got me you can't
get rid of me that easily!" the girl told him giggling. Yugi
laughed with her. "So Yugi" she interrupted the laughter, "I've
had an ace idea for surprise for your friend Duke". The young boy
found himself face to face with the playful smile Yami had warned him
about. The same smile she'd had when Yami had found himself in the
pool!
"OH! What is it Amber?" Yugi asked, getting excited
at the prospect of a surprise.
"I was thinking, knowing
Pegasus the way I do there's no way he'd of invited him here if
he wasn't going to agree to a contract. That's why I decided we
should throw him a party! I want all of you to come, even Yami."
She paused. They both shared the same body so they couldn't both be
there at the same time, how was she going to get around this?
"Yami can make an appearance, although we'd have to swap places
throughout the night Amber, not a problem is it?" Yugi asked.
"No. No of course not. However there might be one incy wincey 6ft 1
problem with brown hair and blue eyes" she continued giggling. 'If
you can call Seto Kaiba incy wincey she thought to herself giggling
at her own private joke.
"You want to invite Kaiba and you
wanted to make sure Yami and Kaiba don't get into a fight is that
it Amber?" was the enquiring response from her young friend. She
nodded in answer to his question. To her surprise Yugi beamed at the
idea!
"That's a fantastic idea Amber! He would never admit
it, but he really does need to socialise more. If you could get him
to come and enjoy himself, I know his little brother would love you
for life!" Yugi practically shouted in his merriment.
"Oh
you mean Mokuba!" she exclaimed, "Kaiba told me about him earlier
when we were talking in his room. Well we were talking before he had
to go for his meeting." Amber sighed; trying to fight away the
memory of his lips on hers, his tongue running along the roof of her
mouth had felt amazing. She was brought back to her senses by a
playful poke in the ribs by Yugi. Who was struggling to contain his
excitement and practically bouncing around. Grabbing his arm, she
half ran down the hallway with Yugi in tow.
"Come on I want to
show you where we can have it! I already asked Pegasus and he said
it's okay as long as we don't break anything." The girl
explained practically dragging the young lad up some stairs. In the
attic of the villa, Pegasus had a loft conversion. Which he'd
turned into a bar and games room, more commonly known as the den.
Meanwhile Kaiba was pleasantly surprised by Devlin's game.
Although he had no intention of actually picking the game up himself,
it might be of interest to his younger brother. Who loved board
games; Kaiba hated them never being one to leave anything to chance.
The only board game he'd ever played and enjoyed was chess. No dice
there, no chance just you and your opponent and strategy. The way the
young CEO liked it. Pegasus appeared to be having the time of his
life playing mediator; he was acting like he was a referee at a
wrestling match. The brunette didn't say anything; he'd always
considered his business rival a little odd. As such he'd come to
expect these little absurdities in the man's behaviour.
"Well Devlin based on all the facts you've given me I would be
interested in setting up a contract with you. In fact I want your
game for Kaiba Land. What do you think? You could have a Dice
monster's arena in each of my theme parks around the world,
eventually." Kaiba though it was a golden opportunity to expand the
audience and clientele for his park. Some people, who didn't enjoy
card games, would very likely enjoy Duke's version of the game.
Offering arena access at Kaiba Land would allow him to attract those
people as well as the usual duel monster's enthusiast. As we all
know Seto Kaiba never let a good opportunity slip away.
"Well
well well Kaiba." Duke responded a little surprised. He'd
expected a downright flat out refusal from Kaiba to have anything to
do with his game. Instead he was being asked to make it a tourist
attraction in a bigger tourist attraction which could rival Disney
Land?? He couldn't believe his luck. 'Well lady luck always did
favour the brave' he reminded himself.
"Looks like you've
made me a deal I can't refuse Kaiba. I'm glad I was right about
you." Duke continued. Causing Kaiba to raise an eyebrow.
"What does that mean Devlin?" Kaiba enquired of the young game
creator.
"That I was right about you being a shrewd business
man. I look forward to our next meeting Kaiba." He stood up to
leave. "Thank you Pegasus, as always a pleasure" he shook the
silver haired man's hand. Turning to Kaiba he held out his hand,
which the CEO took.
"Also a pleasure, doing business with
you Kaiba." Duke told him, before leaving the room. Once outside,
Duke punched the air in triumph. Not only had he secured a deal with
Industrial Illusions, but Kaiba was interested in negotiating for
rights to use his game in his theme parks! Life couldn't get any
better then this. Grinning from ear to ear he set of running to find
his friends and spread the good news, no idea that Amber was planning
a surprise for him.
Inside the room, Pegasus was feeling a
little stunned by Kaiba-boy's actions. "I must say I didn't
expect you to be such a push over my dear Kaiba-boy" Pegasus mused.
Half to himself, not bothered that the brunette could hear him
"Well like Devlin said Pegasus I'm business man, when I see a
sensible proposition I take it." Was his icy response. It was his
only response because a cursory glance at his pad showed him
something he didn't want to see. All over the page were small
doodles of handcuffs, and this time he'd drawn them around the
wrists of a young woman. Cursing his subconscious, he threw it in his
case before the other man could see. Even though Pegasus could find
out anyway, using his millennium eye if he had wanted to. However
he'd made a promise to his niece not to use it on Kaiba and to
Pegasus his word was his bond.
"If that's everything for
today, I think I'm going to retire to my room. There's still
important work for me to do. Tell Devlin I'll be in touch when I
have time to continue the negotiations I have to check on the
progress of Kaiba Land's construction." Finishing his
explanation, he gave the older business man a nod, and made his exit.
