*I really have no message here, so i'll keep it short and sweet... ENJOY!*

Chapter 21--Why Some Secrets Should Be Kept

October passed. November came and went. Now it was early December, and phones at KaibaCorp were ringing off the hook. Everybody who was anybody was beginning early in shopping for Christmas presents for their little gamer.

Obviously, being the chick in charge of making sure everybody was happy with their purchases, I was way stressed and ended up answering to a new caller every half-minute.

"Celeste Dawson, PR," I answered tiredly to a call that came at half-past five.

"Celeste? Oh thank God I got to you! We have to talk, now."

I sat up straight in my chair. "Who is this?"

"You've forgotten me already? Jeez, kid, I'm disappointed."

"Wait...Andrew?" I asked carefully.

"Okay. So it didn't take you long. That oughta count for something."

"Andrew! Has it been awhile. Where did you want to meet?"

"It can't be at your office under any circumstances."

I blinked. "Why?"

"Because that is where the problem is. Just be at the coffee shop across the street in five minutes, okay?"

"Okay, I'll just finish up and—"

Click.

"Asshole," I muttered to the dial tone.

I slipped on my winter coat and rode the elevator down, then told Kate I was taking a break from the insanity of the customer reviews. She smiled in sympathy and clocked me out.

At the coffee shop, I found Andrew almost immediately—how can you miss blue hair?—and embraced him warmly.

"Good to see you in one piece," he sighed, relieved, and held my face gently between his hands. "You are okay, right?"

I pushed them away, guilt flowing through me as I thought of the night at the bar not so long ago. "Yes, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh, Kaiba," he answered, as if that was the perfect explanation.

"Kaiba?" I said, slightly confused.

"Yeah! Listen, I gotta lotta stuff to tell you, just sit down, sit."

I sat hesitantly at a table, and he pulled up a chair across from me. It was then that I noticed the thick file he held under his arm. He tossed them on the table and started to paw through it.

"Andrew...what is all this?" I lifted a sheet and scanned over the text. The letterhead read KaibaCorp. I gasped, "What did you--"

"Research," he replied simply.

"Research?" I closed the file and flipped it over. Marked on the front in big, bold, red letters was the word CONFIDENTIAL. "Andrew, what the hell did you do?"

"Just be quiet and listen to me for a sec!" He pulled out a few papers. "Look. Two and a half years ago, Gozaburo Kaiba loses KaibaCorp to his adoptive son Seto when Seto buys out fifty-one percent of the company's stocks--just enought to ensure full ownership. Mere minutes later, Gozaburo's body is seen plummetting from the top of the building, down nearly twenty-five stories to the concrete below. Easy to guess, he dies.

"A few months later, Seto, a Duel Monsters prodigy, faces off against Yugi Muto and nearly loses, if not for a hasty move by Kaiba. A couple months after that, a new theme park has been built. It cost a whole shit load of money, and it's designed to kill Yugi when he loses while in it. Yugi reaches the end and beats Kaiba, who goes into a coma for four months after that. Celeste...he's insane. There's no way he's stable. It's a wonder he hasn't snapped with you around."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I demanded, outraged.

"Well, sometimes you--oh, never mind. Forget I said that. But do you get what I'm saying now? That crap he pulled could be considered assisted suicide! And if it weren't for Yugi's amazing gaming skills, Kaiba would be a murderer! The guy's not right in the head!"

"Andrew, I've spent a few months with him as my boss. He's perfectly sane. I don't see what's bugging you."

"WHAT? Celeste he's crazy! He tried to kill Yugi!"

I bit my lip, deep in thought. Yes, Kaiba was an ass. He was stuck-up and a complete prima donna. But was he capable of homicide...?

"I...I don't know what to say, Andrew."

"Say you'll quit!" he begged. "Say you'll stay as far away from that creep as possible."

I looked into his wide, dark gray eyes and couldn't help but agree with him. Well, one part of me could. The part that was actually in touch with some of reality, and that told me I should probably go back to my mediocre job at the Star. Sadly, I think that part of me is a clone of my mother's brain, so I almost always pushed that part to the farthest, darkest recesses of my subconscious.

The part of me that was the dreamer, the girl with her head up in the clouds, the optimist and the star-gazer, on the other hand, wanted to believe that there was a heart of gold under the cold, detached exterior of Seto Kaiba. I wanted to see the side of him that came out when he saved me from being raped outside the club, when he fixed my bandages in the wee hours of the morning...

I shook my head sharply, as if doing so might clear away the tender thoughts. I was getting lost again.

"I...I can't, Andrew. KaibaCorp is... It's where I think I belong. I actually do like working there."

Black storm clouds passed over the sun of his face, and he laughed without humor. "Of course you do. You wanna fuck the CEO, so why believe your friend with the cold hard facts?"

"Andrew! It's not that, it's just--"

"Just what, Celeste? Tell me. Really. I'm dying to hear it."

His sarcasm stung me. "I..." Unable to finish, I left the sentence hanging and stared at him helplessly.

"Yeah. That's what I thought." He gathered all the stuff together and started to leave. "Thanks for your time, I guess. Run along, get back to Kaiba now. You wouldn't want to disappoint him, now would you?"

That one hurt. "Andrew...I'm sorry..." I knew my face was reflecting my pain, so I wasn't surprised when he dropped the files to the table again and hugged me tightly with a muttered apology before he took his papers back and sprinted out the door.

XXX

I found myself frowning at the newspaper headlines the next day. They announced the capture of a person discovered breaking and entering into the KaibaCorp building. A photograph was posted alongside the article.

It was Andrew.

I slapped my forehead and sighed. What lengths we reporters go to for our scoops...

Then again, I wasn't really a reporter anymore.

"Seto Kaiba has yet to release a statement on the incident," the article said. "Reporters continue to batter him, but his office doors will not open, and he blatantly refuses to let anyone even get a phone call through to his PR manager, a young woman by the name of Celeste Dawson."

I blinked. Was he protecting me from the media storm?

Maybe he was. Maybe he didn't want to stress me out any more than I already was, or maybe he really did think of me as enough of a friend that he wanted to have the paparazzi leave me alone.

Still, the thought nagged at me that I could be working for a murderer, according to Andrew.

Well, I thought with a smirk, if he breaks out a chainsaw, I'll know for sure. Until then, I can only guess.

I tossed the paper into the garbage can.