Chapter twenty-five (or something like that): The crossroad.
Anzu sighed as she sat down behind her desk, she had an horrible evening the day before, he conscience troubled her all night, she kinda threw Kaiba away, way to go, after all the trouble she had to go through to get to him, she finally was able to get in a somewhat half stable beginning of a probable relationship and she had to ruin it, for his good she might add, but she wondered if Kaiba actually cared enough about her to listen or if he would just swipe everything away and go on with his life. She went to Kaiba Corp when after school but Kaiba had already left, but he could have just been busy, she was not really his girlfriend or anything so the secretary had no reason to let her in.
"Having a rough day?" Yugi asked, seeing her depressed look.
Anzu shrugged. "Not really, nothing special happened."
"I'll take it that things didn't go well with Kaiba yesterday." Tristan said knowingly. "We told you you shouldn't trust him." He added.
Anzu glared at him, she knew the moment Joey caught her and Kaiba together two days ago that it wouldn't be long before they connect the dots, they weren't so dense and she had no intention of denying it, yes she liked Kaiba and even if sometime she sometime doubted that he did she still wished her friends would be more supportive…though she had to admit she was expecting a much worst reaction, something more like a typhoon or an earthquake. "For your information Tristan, nothing went wrong because I simply couldn't see him, he had already left when I arrived and going to the mansion was way to much trouble so I decided to wait until today."
"I doubt Kaiba will come today." Joey sat down next to Anzu behind his own desk, he had just arrived but he easily understood what the main subject of the conversation was. Anzu discretely looked toward Kaiba's desk, effectively the young CEO wasn't there yet, usually he was there at that time.
"What makes you say that? You know his schedule?" Tristan asked.
"Don't you guys ever watch the news or read newspaper?" Joey asked them.
"Because you do?" Yugi asked with an amused look on his face.
"No…" Joey admitted looking away with slight embarrassment at being caught, however he quickly gained his composure again. "But the man sitting in front of me was reading a newspaper and it was on the front page, must be all over the world by now." He said the last part with a nod, happy to finally know something his friends didn't.
"Kaiba was shot down or something?" Tristan joked, Anzu glared at him, she would have hit him but she was too much concerned about Kaiba.
"Unfortunately…no." Joey said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"Joey!" Yugi reprimanded him, death was not something to joke about.
"Sorry Yug." Joey said, Yugi didn't like it when Joey was joking around with death, especially with such amusement, he had lost his father a few years ago after all. "Well the thing is, Kaiba sold his company, I don't know why but he sold all his parts of the company to one of his employee.
"So this means that Kaiba is poor." Tristan said with a grin.
"Are you kidding? He's richer than he ever was." Joey said. "Didn't you listen? Kaiba sold his actions, he had 51 that's a lot of money, and the guy bought them five times the price, don't ask me why or where he took all this money, but technically Kaiba have enough money to live like the queen of England for the rest of his life."
"That's weird, why would Kaiba sell his company?" Yugi wondered, Kaiba Corp was Kaiba's life, he worked all his life to get there so why would he sell it now after all the trouble he went through?
"Maybe he cracked or something." Joey said. "But with the news everywhere Kaiba is probably being swarmed by reporters so I doubt he will come here. Heck, I don't think he had any reason to come anymore, I sure wouldn't waste any time at school if I was in his place."
Anzu wasn't so sure, Kaiba had a lot of money before, he came to school to please the social worker so he could keep Mokuba, she doubted that their conditions had change because he sold Kaiba Corp. But why would he sell it? He told her not so long ago that he loved what he was doing and didn't see himself doing anything else, not to mention the huge debts left by his step father…though he probably had enough money to pay them back now. But still…could Kaiba really have given up?
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As the day continued Anzu couldn't get all these questions out of her head, she was hoping for classes to end as quickly as possible so she could go see Kaiba and get some answers. When the bell finally way went by and Anzu announced the end of class Anzu didn't waste any time to tell her friends where she was going before going to her locker and picking up her things. She quickly said goodbye to her friends and left, promising to hang out with them sometime during the week-end.
On foot Anzu took almost one hour to get to the mansion, she could have taken the bus or called a cab but she just didn't feel like it, it was such a nice day and after passing hours inside the school sitting on a chair it was a pleasure to be outside under the sun…or it might be that she wasn't really sure about going to the mansion and wanted to waste as much time as possible before facing him.
When she arrived she found that the front gate was surrounded by reporters who were trying to get a peak inside the mansion while two bodyguards where doing their best to hold them back. It was not really surprising, no one was expecting Kaiba to sell his company and they were probably trying to get some answer. She sighed, there was no way she could get inside like that, but fortunately for her, she knew another way in, she turned around and walked round the estate, going behind it where she knew the service entrance was situated. It was well hidden since the mansion was bordered by the forest and because the road to get there started far enough from the mansion, actually she wasn't sure anyone outside from the mansion knew it existed. When she arrived she found the door to be free, only one bodyguard stood there guarding the gate, which was actually unusual, actually she couldn't even remember seeing bodyguards guarding the front gate.
As she arrived in front of the gate the bodyguard recognized her and let her in automatically without even asking her any question. Anzu was surprised such a special treatment but didn't complained. She walked up the small road situated on the far right end of the large backyard leading to the door, since it was the service door there was no bell, people who had access to this door were all maids or guards and they just came in at will, it was almost 5 so the maids were most likely all gone, only a few stayed later and she doubted one would be close enough to hear her so she simply opened the door and let herself in.
She walked silently in, it wasn't really like her to just come in like that. She looked around her, she was in the maid's quarters, which has not really been used in the last 5 years, Kaiba didn't feel it was necessary for the maids to live at the mansion or to have some stay for the night. Now if only she could remember how to get out and go to the living room or wherever the Kaiba brother's might be.
"Hi Anzu!" Mokuba said cheerfully, appearing from nowhere, a wide smile appearing on his face. Anzu let out a ear piercing scream, falling backward on her butt, for a second she thought she was having a stroke. Mokuba's smile disappeared to be replaced by a face full of worry and guilt. "My gosh Anzu I'm so sorry, are you alright?"
Anzu took a few deep breaths to calm her racing heart and smiled reassuringly. "Yes I'm fine, though I think I just lost 10 years of my life, how are you?" She asked. "How did you know I was here?" She asked.
"Ussey told me you were here." Mokuba said. Anzu was a little embarrassed by her question, it was obvious and normal for the guard to at least tell his boss who was coming in. "I guess you are here because of what happened." Mokuba said, his smile dropping, he led her toward the living-room and sat down on the couch.
Anzu nodded and sat beside him. "It really surprised me to learn about it this morning, to think that Kaiba would sell his company."
"He didn't sell it." Mokuba said firmly, his expression turning to one of anger. "It was taken over by Evans." He told her.
"What?" She couldn't believe what Mokuba had said, if the company was taken over, why on heart would the media be telling the world that he sold it, a takeover is a much bigger news.
"You heard me, I heard it from Roland,, it's not really a known fact, most people thinks that Seto sold it, even the employee according to what I heard." Mokuba said.
"But what's the point of lying about it, and who is Evans?" Anzu asked.
"I guess you could say that he was the second in command of the company." Mokuba said thoughtfully. "He was the one taking care of just about everything when Seto wasn't there. As for why he lied about how he got control of the company, I really don't know what he's thinking."
Anzu nodded in understanding. "And Seto, how is he?" Now that she knew that he didn't sell the company she was worried about him, she had no idea how he would react.
Mokuba shrugged. "He wouldn't talk to me, I don't think he left his room since yesterday." The little kid admitted, his head low.
Anzu suddenly stood up, surprising the smaller boy. "I'll go talk to him." She told him, putting her hand on his shoulder and smiling at him.
Leaving the younger Kaiba alone she moved quickly out of the living room and toward the stairs, she climbed them calmly and crossed the silent hallway toward Kaiba's room. It wasn't the first time she went to his room, after all she spent two weeks there taking care of him. She stopped in front of Kaiba's bedroom door, she listened quietly but no sound came from the room, she softly turned the doorknob but found out that it was locked. She raised her hand to her hair and nimbly took a pin out, hanging out with Joey had it's advantages sometimes, just as quickly she unlocked the door and opened it slowly. She could see Kaiba laying down on his bed, as she opened the door wider to enter he turned his head toward her.
"Mokuba how many times will I have to tell you-" Kaiba stopped when he saw Anzu standing at the door of his room. "Hi." He finally said after a short silence.
"Hi." She answered, smiling lightly. She answered the door and walked toward the bed. "How are you?" She sat down next to him.
Kaiba sighed. "I've been better." He said, laying back down and starring at the ceiling. "I supposed Mokuba told you what happened."
"Yes, he told me what little he knew. But why didn't you tell me instead of letting me learn about it in a newspaper? I've been worried about you all day." Anzu scolded him.
"Where you afraid I might kill myself?" Kaiba asked playfully, she worried too much about him in his opinion, just like everyone else did.
"Don't joke about those things, I'm serious, I don't really know you that much you know, I was not really thinking extreme like that but I was still worried." Anzu said, looking down at him.
"If it can make you feel better, no, I would end my life over this, I can't do that to Mokuba." Kaiba said.
"There you go again. Can't you at least once think about yourself? Are you saying that if Mokuba wasn't there you would have given up long ago?" Anzu burst out.
Kaiba was surprised by her words. "Of course not…" Was all he managed to say.
"How can you be so sure?" She countered. "When is the last time you did something for yourself, for your own pleasure? All you could tell me was that you wouldn't to that to Mokuba, but what about you?"
Kaiba took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him before she could go on. "Anzu, listen to me. I know that I'm not feeling that well lately, that I have a lot of personal problems and that everything is going wrong lately, but I can assure you that I never even considered such a thing, and not only because of Mokuba. There are too many things that I still want to do, beside I was never a quitter." She sighed and calmed down, Kaiba then removed his hands from her face. "Is there something still bothering you?" He asked.
"What makes you think something is bothering me?" Anzu asked, trying to sound anything but worried.
"When you are worried you always look down, as if you felt it was your fault." Kaiba said with a small grin. "So, what is the matter?"
Anzu stayed silent, how could Kaiba read her so well? She never had any trouble convincing her friends that she was fine so why not him? Taking a deep breath she began her raised her head to look at him and began her explanation. "That guy, Evans…you trusted him right?"
Kaiba broke eye contact with her and stared in front of him. "He has been around the company for as long as I can remember, he sure helped a lot. I was taught to never trust anyone, especially in business, yet I have to admit that I had a lot of respect for him. In a way, yes, I supposed I trusted him at some point." Kaiba admitted.
"So…does that mean that you will turn your back on me? You were betrayed again weren't you?" Anzu asked him.
Kaiba turned his head to look at her but she was staring at the wall, like he was only a few seconds ago. He raised his hand to hold her chin and gently turned her head so that she was looking at her, he could see fear in her eyes, she was afraid he might throw her away. He smiled. "This, Anzu, is what you call business, everyone works for their own good, all my employee are coming to work to get money for themselves and their family, not for me. I thrust all of them to do their job, I wouldn't hire them if I didn't, yet I don't have a break down each time one of them fails or just leaves. The same goes for Evans, he was closer to me and maybe I trusted him more than I do most of my employee, of course right now I wish I could crush him like an insect, however, on a personal level, I felt nothing for him. I put up a barrier between my work and personal life a long time ago, beside, being in his place I wouldn't have let the opportunity pass either. It's not like he betrayed me personally, we were not friend nor relatives."
Anzu sighed. "I'm relieved to hear it. But why did he lie about you selling the company to him?" Now that she was reassured, her initial question came back to her mind.
Kaiba chuckled lightly. "Well you see, the social worker, who by some 'coincidence' happened to be his cousin, decided that I wasn't able to take care of the company and Mokuba and convinced the judge to force me into giving it up, however, since Kaiba Corp was my source of income and considering all the debts left by my step father, to make sure that Mokuba would have everything he need and that I wouldn't end up losing everything the judge fixed the price of selling at a price much higher than what Evans thought, after all he was not aware of my personal financial situation. Right now, I can pay all of the debts right away and still have enough money to live more than decently, I also have rights on most of the products sold by Kaiba Corp and some other companies which also assures me a good enough income for a while."
"But couldn't you also use that money to take your company back?" Anzu asked. "Or another one? If Evans have 51 percent of the company I doubt he will be willing to sell you any."
"You are starting to think like a real businessman, or woman." Kaiba said with a smirk. "Actually yes, I could, and there is more than one way to take control of a company." (AN: Please note that I have absolutely no idea what I am talking about and I have really basic economic knowledge, I'm making things up for the story, just nothing of what I'm saying might even be possible.) "Evans made me extremely rich and he gave me a lot of his money, the finances are Kaiba Corp. dropped dramatically those last few months and are unstable, I could easily buy another company to sink him. Basically Evan is giving me reasons to not do it, by lying like that, I'd have to admit that I have been defeated in order to take him down, he knows I'm prideful, also by pretending that I sold him the company, my pride stays intact, only we know of what happened, so he believes I'll be less tempted to take revenge."
"Will you?" Anzu asked.
Kaiba shrugged. "I don't know. Before I can take over again there is a lot of things I must fix or things will just repeat themselves. That will be a lot of trouble for sure."
"Then you should ask yourself: what is it that you truly want?" Anzu said.
Kaiba smiled, he placed his hand gently on her cheek, he lowered his head until they were mere centimetres apart. "Right now I have everything that I want." He said, staring deep inside her eyes before kissing her.
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Great I can't believe I'm finally gone, I've been working on this for what…about a week I think, and I had to redo half of it because it wasn't right. Guess what, tomorrow I'm going job hunting, I'm so not looking forward to give my CV to all those people……it feels humiliating, I'm a shy person after all, I feel like everyone is staring like I was doing something stupid when I'm entering a shop or anything else…However I need money and my current job is not paying enough.
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