Middle of the Summer
Chapter: 12
Title: The Losing Kind
Fiction Rated: R for language, mature themes, adult humour and just stuff that tiny little people should not be reading about.
Disclaimer: I own only the characters that I create, and have no desire to kidnap those which I do not. I haven't the time (or the money) to organize such an event. Yu-Gi-Oh! Is credited to its respective owner— Takahashi Kazuki, I am simply borrowing his creations to carry out my biddings. Any songs that are mentioned in the duration of this story belong to (unless otherwise stated) the original composers. So ch'yeah! Keep your lawsuits in your pocket!
Summary: The two of them were nothing alike, and would probably have never become involved in each other's lives by choice. However, Mokuba's aspirations forced them to put up with each other, and much to their dismay- even enjoy it from time-to-time. (A Seto/OC fic.)
NOTE: So sorry about the delay, witer's block is never kind.
Seto stared at the salad on his plate, pushing a crisp leaf of lettuce with his fork and listening intently to the words being spoken around him. It was Thursday night and rather than being home, having dinner with Mokuba he was sitting in a five-star restaurant surrounded by several important businessmen, all years older than him, but less successful.
They had been called together to discuss all the latest technological advances made by Seto's company that year, it had been a little over a month since Mokuba's twelfth birthday, and now in mid-December it was routine to have such a meeting.
It was eight o'clock sharp, and Seto remembered at Ali would probably be leaving his brother at home with the maids, he didn't like his younger brother bring left alone for too long, as he tended to get lonely.
"Well Mr. Kaiba, your patent for the earliest version of your duel disk expires in January, which will give that American company the opportunity to--"
"It doesn't matter, that technology is so old, no one could use it to create anything interesting." Seto responded emotionlessly.
The other men began agreeing with him, and the brunette groaned inwardly, these meetings were always pointless, he didn't know why he bothered with them. All of the older men sat around eating their steaks and making pointless observations while Seto sat bored out of his mind.
He continued to listen in on the men's conversation for about fifteen minutes before his ears registered something that he hadn't expected to hear, Ali's voice. Immediately his blue eyes traced the source of the voice and his jaw fell in surprise.
The blonde was indeed in the restaurant, she had just entered and was being led to a table by one of the waiters, and next to her was a man dressed in an expensive looking suit with thick brown hair. The blonde was wearing white jeans and a red t-shirt and looking entirely out of place in the room.
Seto couldn't help but watch as she sat opposite the man, she didn't look very happy as they spoke quietly to each other. Her messy hair was tucked behind her ears carelessly and she looked like she was arguing with the man, who was probably Seto's age.
The CEO was mildly confused by the scene, hadn't she been dating the mutt for a month now? Why was she in such an expensive restaurant with a man who she didn't seem to be getting along with? And why was he smiling so slyly at her?
Apparently Ali felt his gaze, because she soon turned and met his eyes, her face fell even more, and she looked as though she had just been caught doing something horrible. Immediately she tried to make it seem as though she hadn't seen him, glancing around the rest of the room before looking down into her lap. A lock of blonde hair fell in her face as she did so, and the brunette across from her reached forward and swept it back.
Usually when Seto even laid a finger on her she would lurch back, but when the other man's fingers landed on her cheek she leaned into the touch, her face still filled with dislike as she stared at him.
Seto stopped observing the two in time to continue the conversation he was having with the men at his table, but still watch from the corner of his eye as Ali continued to bicker with the brunette opposite her. His fingers were resting under her chin now, as if he would pull her into a kiss at any given moment. Instead, however he only pulled her ear to his lips, probably whispering something. The entire time, Ali's brown eyes were locked on Seto, this time fully acknowledging his presence.
Finally the man whispering in Ali's ear pulled back, and she broke her eyes from Seto and stared back to the other brunette, frowning. She said something to him and he laughed at her, patronizingly. Quickly Ali stood up and began walking quickly away from the man who only watched her leave, grinning victoriously before standing to follow her.
Seto didn't know why he did it, but he stood quickly and followed the man, leaving behind several confused businessman.
When he left the restaurant he scanned the sidewalk and quickly found the two he had followed. Ali was leaned up against the passenger door of a sleek black car; she was slipping a tattered blue jacket on. It was mid December, and a light snow was beginning to fall over the city.
Quickly her brown eyes spotted Seto, and she lowered her eyebrows in confusion, quickly she stepped towards him. "What are you doing?"
The brunette stared at her, she looked angry but somewhat relieved, flinching lightly when the other boy came up behind her snaking an arm over her shoulders. "Who's this?" he asked looked Seto over.
"Kaiba." The brunette answered, staring calculatingly at the other brunette who gave him a toothy grin.
"Of course, I should have recognized you. I'm Mikhail Sonnath, I'm interning with one of your lawyers." Mikhail said, his voice was friendly but sophisticated and his eyes were a sharp green. He turned to Ali, "This isn't the boyfriend, is it?"
Ali shook her head, staring into the green eyes. "Never in this life."
"You really haven't changed…" the green-eyed boy replied, removing his arm from her shoulders. "But that isn't a surprise. I'll be in the car, try to hurry I have a flight to catch early tomorrow." He sauntered towards the black car slipping into the driver's seat and leaving the CEO with Ali.
"Uhm…" she started, "I know you and Joey don't talk, but if you do… don't mention this."
The brunette stared at her wondering what was going on, why was she running around behind the mutt's back with a soon-to-be lawyer? Taking the CEO's silence as a question Ali sighed.
"We all have flaws." She said, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Some of us, more than others…"
She turned away from him, sending a quick glance over her shoulder as she opened the passenger door and got in next to Mikhail. Seto turned back to the restaurant, wondering why he had followed her out in the first place. Much to his annoyance, he was itching to figure out who exactly Mikhail Sonnath was, and what Ali was doing with him.
And why she seemed so upset by whatever was going on?
--
Ali climbed the steps to the Kaiba mansion, it was after dinner and she knew she was late for Mokuba's lesson. She hadn't bothered calling Seto to inform him, seeing as he hadn't called her to check and see if she was showing up.
She had spent most of the day asleep, Mikhail had caught his flight back to America early that morning, leaving Ali still exhausted from the night. The green-eyed law student was her vice, he would find a way to get to her monthly, and she never stopped him from visiting. Ever since they had met in her sophomore year, she had become completely addicted to their ritual meetings. Even if she was in a relationship, even if she was busy, even if she was dying on the inside, she never failed to comply with his demands.
Though she would never have admitted it to him or any other person—he was the one thing that never failed her. Never failed to anger her, never failed to please her physically, and never failed to leave when she asked him to. It was nothing of a relationship, really, she hadn't even known about his internship as a lawyer until he told Seto.
She laid out the rules, and he followed them. No kissing, no 'I love you' s, no talking about anything more than what they wanted from each other, and most importantly: never assume the time spent in bed will convert to real life. Even without the rules, she knew that Mikhail was far to narcissistic to ever give himself to another person fully. It was simple, it was easy, it was exactly what kept her grounded these days.
But now Seto had seen them together, and she would need to find a decent way to explain what she was doing with someone—so like the CEO, himself—when she had an ongoing relationship with Joey. Of course, that was assuming the elder Kaiba even cared, which Ali reminded herself – he didn't, he never did. When he had followed her out of the restaurant it was just human curiosity.
The blonde smirked to herself, maybe it was just her exceptional ability to read people, or maybe Seto had been neglecting to keep his guard up… but every now and then, he would do something that was so undeniably human it would make her smile.
The way he flinched each time Mokuba jumped off the counter from getting a glass, ready to catch his younger brother should he slip, the way, occasionally—and it was on a rare occasion—he paused midsentence for only a brief second to search for the word he was looking for. Yes, the regal CEO was human. He wasn't quite as human as she was, but human nonetheless.
Ali lifted her hand to the ring the doorbell, adjusting her bag on her shoulder as she waited for an answer. She was still wearing a slight amount of makeup from her dinner with Joey, she had met with him earlier that evening only hours after the lawyer had left the country. It always surprised her that regardless of any relationship she was in, she never felt guilt about her meetings with Mikhail. Perhaps because her boyfriends never lasted long, she was drawn to men too much like herself and they usually ended up simply being friends, or enemies in the end. So far she assumed that the Brooklyn blonde would follow that path, but she was enjoying herself while they were together.
After a few moments, Roswell answered the door giving her a knowing smirk. "Why Ali, I do believe you are late." He said in his usual tone. The man and Ali had a small game going, always seeing who could drive the other out of the room first. The blonde was generally victorious, but she guessed that the old man enjoyed her company as a break from his painfully routine life.
"Late, but worth the wait." She replied, winking and stepping into the foyer of the mansion, immediately kicking off the purple boots she always wore. She yanked off her tattered navy jacket and tossed it into the closet, not bothering with a hanger, it seemed her things were always organized by the time she was ready to leave, anyway.
"Young Kaiba is with his brother in the gaming room." Roswell said flatly, dismissing the girl as she ran up the stairs to find Mokuba and Seto.
True to promise, the CEO had been sending her the five hundred dollars a week since their agreement. It wasn't much, really but it helped Ali to do some things she couldn't afford before then. For instance, she had immediately purchased herself a new acoustic guitar because hers was warped and hard to keep tuned. Of course, she would never really see Seto as her employer.
Stepping into the gaming room she saw an extremely odd sight, Mokuba was sitting on the couch, a game controller of some sort in his hands, he was pressing buttons expertly. Over his eyes was some sort of visor. Seto sat next to his brother staring at the huge TV calculatingly, a clipboard on his lap and he was scribbling some notes down.
"Uh… hi?" Ali greeted stepping closer to the brothers. Seto glanced up at her briefly before returning to his notes.
"You're late."
"Gee, thanks. I hadn't noticed." She replied sarcastically, tossing her bag down on the coffee table. "Hey Mokie." When the black-haired boy didn't respond she looked slightly hurt.
"He can't hear you, the headset is interactive." The brunette stated, looking towards the TV again, Ali followed his eyes. The TV showed an extremely realistic creepy-forest setting, a red night-sky above they were watching it in the first person, as if they were walking through the beautiful scene.
"Wow, cool!" the Russian teen breathed, staring at the TV in awe. "That's the most amazing thing I've ever seen, what is this?"
"Mokuba is testing my latest virtual reality technology."
"Wait—what? You made this?"
"Yes."
"This?" she asked again waving her hands at the TV, as if he hadn't understood the question.
"Yes." He answered again, uninterested.
"Did you like… designed all that?" Clearly, she was still in shock.
"Yes. Now if you don't mind closing your mouth for a few minutes I would like to make sure it's as perfect as my other games." He snapped.
"Holy shit Seto, what crawled up your ass and died…" Ali muttered, annoyed by the CEOs particularly bad mood. But she quieted and continued to watch the TV, guessing that Mokuba was seeing what was on the screen but at a much more intense level.
Secretly, Ali was staring at every tree she saw, wondering how such a boring unimaginative person could have created something so amazing. After a few minutes, the forest ended and the screen went black, Mokuba pulled off the visor, smiling.
"That was so awesome Seto! Oh, hi Ali!" he greeted turning to the blonde; his eyes quickly looked her over, worry setting into the stormy pools. "Are you okay?"
Ali was taken aback for a moment. "Huh? Yeah, I'm… fine?"
"Are you sure?"
Apparently Seto was confused by his brothers sudden worry as well, because he was staring at the child questioningly.
Ali looked from the boy to his brother then back. "Mokie… why wouldn't I be okay?"
"Well Seto said you were late because Joey gave you fleas so you had to take a flea bath, and I looked it up on the internet and flea baths are dangerous for human skin." He said, genuinely concerned. Ali stared at the child; he was so intelligent… but sometimes…
"You're brother's just jealous because I'm sleeping with the puppy." She responded, her eyes set on the older Kaiba who stared back, face devoid of emotion.
"Hardly, I have standards." He retorted standing and grabbing the discarded visor from the coffee table. "Unlike you."
Ali gripped her chest where she figured her heart was, "Ow my heart." She drawled sarcastically.
"That's your sternum." Was all the brunette said as he left the room, visor and notes in hand, leaving his brother and the crazy blonde behind.
The Russian teen looked back to Mokuba, who was no longer hurt by the constant bickering—it was ritual. "I have an idea."
The child looked at her suspiciously, usually when she used those four words it ended with her being reprimanded by Seto and Mokuba getting a lecture about not going along with her plans.
"Don't look at me like that; this one doesn't involve ice cream."
"Good because thanks to you Seto won't let me eat anything with chocolate in it after noon."
"Really? That's harsh…" Ali said, shaking her head. "Sorry about that."
"What was your idea?"
Brown eyes brightened and she smiled widely as she stared at Mokuba. "Christmas is in a few weeks, and I know what we have to do for your brother." She said in a hushed voice, someone had once told her the walls had ears, the thought always haunted her.
"What?" Mokuba asked, suddenly excited by her idea. He had been trying to decide what to get his brother who had everything, and could get anything at the snap of his fingers.
"We're going to write him a song."
The child frowned, his brother didn't even like music… surely Ali knew that? And she had already said many times that Mokuba's song writing skills were 'crap'. "That's not a very good idea."
Ali rolled her eyes, "You talk like your brother. Oh well, it could be worse… you could look like him…"
"What's wrong with the way Seto looks?" the boys voice was offended.
"Nothing, I guess… if you're in to pale, twiggy guys who always look like if they sit too quickly the stick in their ass will cause discomfort."
"You're so mean."
"You're so going to help me write this song if you want a referral letter to McWilliams'." The blonde grinned back, Mokuba rolled his eyes but nodded nonetheless. He had really loosened up around the girl, and seemed to have no problem talking to (or disagreeing with) her.
"Egg-salad." Ali said in her best evil-genius voice, Mokuba assumed she had meant to say 'excellent', but with her it was better to simply not ask.
"So what is this song going to be about?"
"You don't worry about that—you just take care of the music 'kay?"
"Okay…" Mokuba agreed, doubtfully.
"Sweet, now run! Run to your guitar!" she said dramatically. "I'll be there in a few seconds."
Nodding the black-haired boy left the room; as soon as he was gone Ali groaned and fell into the couch, gripping her lower back. The mild pain killers she had taken before her dinner with Joey were wearing off and reminding her about every detail of her night with Mikhail.
In the back of her mind she wondered why she insisted on having it so rough, but for now she was more concerned with finding a way to move without the horrible aching taking over her body. The blonde finally decide to get up, limping slightly to follow Mokuba from the room.
She lasted about an hour in the music room before she decided she desperately needed to get home and lay down, Mokuba had retreated to his room once she said goodbye but she hadn't made it to the door.
In her search for a glass of juice, she found herself in the kitchen crouched against the wall, her eyes watering in pain—why hadn't she just stayed in bed? She tried to move, but the dull aching had turned into sharp agonizing pains. The blonde wondered if she should find Seto and beg for a few of his industrial strength pain killers…
"Yeah right… that would go well." She muttered to herself. "Oh hi Seto, yeah I was cheating on my boyfriend last night with someone training to be one of your lawyers, and we decided to get really rough. Can I have some pills?" saying it out loud only reassured her theory that the CEO would either laugh in her face, or (seeing as he never actually laughed) forbid her to ever go near Mokuba again.
"You're honesty never fails to surprise me."
Brown eyes snapped up and she realized that the brunette had been standing over her for—how long? Obviously long enough to hear her little conversation with herself. She couldn't stop the blood from rushing to her cheeks until she was sure they were on fire.
"Oh Seto, hi…" she said slowly, realizing instantly that her position on the floor was nothing short of degrading. Quickly she moved to stand up, falling back as she did so, tears stinging her eyes against her will. "I… think I'm going to just… lay her for a while."
Seto's blue eyes watched her; calculatingly his lips were pulled into a completely blank expression. He stood over her wearing a black button-down dress shirt and a pair of black jeans. Ali was surprised when she realized this—the mighty Seto Kaiba wore jeans? They were tight, hugging his slim hips tightly but what threw her was his shoes.
"Who wears shoes in the house?"
"I do."
"You're so screwed up."
"Said the girl lying on her employer's kitchen floor." Was Seto's response, a small smirk had made its way onto his face, small and self-satisfied, but it was enough to shock Ali. She only stared up at the brunette, scowling even as he bent slightly offering her a hand to help her up.
"No, I think I'm just going lay here." She repeated, swatting the well-boned hand away.
"It'll only be worse if you don't move." The brunette stated, grabbing the girls wrist and yanking her up from the floor.
"Ahh…" Ali hissed in pain, immediately grasping Seto's shoulders for support. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you." She murmured, quietly, of course the close proximity of her mouth to the CEO's ear didn't keep the words form being heard.
He lead her to the counter, turning her to face away from him and letting her slouch, resting her elbows on the cold marble surface.
"I'm going to check for bruising." He warned, not wanting her to freak out when he touched her, like she usually did.
"Have fun." Ali spat. She was still surprised at the sudden change in the brunette's character. Why was helping her? She felt his fingers lift the hem of the 'Black Snake Moan' t-shirt she was wearing, careful not to let his hands actually touch her skin.
The CEO's eyes widened when her lower back was revealed to him, happy that the blonde was facing away from him so she couldn't see the momentary surprise. Her back was covered in bruises and teeth marks swollen into her pink skin.
"Does the mutt bite?" he asked sarcastically.
"Hah! Yeah right, no Joey is unusually affectionate. He doesn't see sex as an animal act; he sees it as an expression of feeling." She explained slowly, resting her forehead on the counter. "That was all Mikhail."
"Hm." Seto grunted, continuing to study the extent of the bruising. "Sounds like what most women like."
He registered Ali shrugging beneath him. "I'm not most women."
"No, you're not—I'm still debating 'woman'."
Ali blinked, turning to face the CEO who had finally let her shirt drop back down. "Was that a joke?"
"Am I laughing?"
"You never laugh, douche bag."
The brunette shrugged , leaving the Russian teen propped up against the counter and moving to the massive stainless steel refrigerator, opening the freezer compartment and yanking out an icepack. Quickly, he wrapped it in a clean tea-towel and handed it to her.
"Can't you just give me pills?" she whined.
Seto shook his head. "I checked your criminal record, I'm not giving you drugs."
Brown eyes flared with anger and ignoring the sharp pain, she pulled herself up to her full height, tilting her head up to stare at the CEO. "What?" she hissed angrily.
Disregarding her anger Seto only met her glare. "Six incidents regarding possession, cocaine mostly. As well as attempting to drive a stolen car into a transformer station… you know you would have died, had the police not caught you?" he asked, smoothly. When he had requested information on her brother he had also found her criminal record, which held many mysterious incidents. As for Lancifer, there wasn't much information about him aside from that he didn't share Ali's last name, but the last name of their father.
"You're a real jerk, Kaiba." She said, usually when she used his last name it was an indication that she was genuinely angry with him. "Yes, I wasted a lot of my life doing drugs—I'm clean now. And yes, I am aware that I would have died, it was kinda the point."
That little revelation was unexpected, the CEO had assumed that the report had been inaccurate after all—no one would drive into a transformer station and expect to live, the explosion would kill anyone quickly. Why had she wanted to kill herself, she had only been thirteen at the time.
Thirteen… it had been her thirteenth birthday. She tried to kill herself on her birthday?
Her brother's birthday…
"Oh." Was all the brunette said, turning away from Ali. Why hadn't he understood it all in the beginning? The constant laughter, inability to stay faithful in a relationship, hatred of being touched in any way that implied being cared for… she was missing something.
She was half of a person, and the part to complete her was gone.
Obviously she understood his silence because she clutched her bag and began limping out of the kitchen. "Don't act like you're any less fucked up." She said as she passed the brunette, after a few minutes he heard the front door slam closed.
His blue eyes darted to the counter where she had been not too long ago.
What had she meant by that last statement? What did she think she knew?
R&R
KC.
