When I first drafted this story, there was a large gap between the first couple of sections, and the final few. I get the feeling that that's why I'm not really finding it necessary to change much about these later installments.


.


For a while, Mokuba sent Akiko to perform tasks around the estate that really had nothing to do with anything; he would have her help the staff with general upkeep—folding laundry, weeding the rose gardens—or bring him up his meals from the kitchen because he didn't like to leave his bedroom. The more time went on, though, the more Akiko realized that he was testing her; her patience, her aptitude, and probably a number of other factors that only mattered to him.

Akiko had met other wealthy children over the long and storied course of her career; mostly when she had been a freelance tutor during her years at university. Kaiba Mokuba acted like the worst of them: he was haughty, arrogant, lazy, and waspish. Nonetheless, Akiko sensed something in this boy that she hadn't in the others: that it was an act. The young Kaiba was putting up a front, and the only reason it took her so long to notice was because of just how tenaciously he clung to it.

"Is he usually like this?" Akiko asked Isono one day, when she happened to catch him during one of his semi-regular visits to the mansion; as head of security, he was the only man who held a position both at the Kaiba Corporation and on the Kaiba Estate. Kaiba Seto trusted this man, insofar as he trusted anyone. Part of her wondered why, thinking that it might prove to be valuable information.

She could never be sure what was valuable when the subject was this family.

"What do you mean, Yoshimi-san?" Isono asked her.

"I mean, is Mokuba-sama usually so high-strung? Is he usually so . . . angry?"

"I suppose that depends on whom you ask," Isono said. "Most of the staff would tell you that nothing at all is out of the ordinary with the young master's attitude. But no. He isn't usually like this."

"You know why he is, though, don't you?" Akiko pressed, putting on a stern face. "You know the secret around which both Mokuba-sama and Seto-sama seem to be—pardon my expression—dancing."

Isono scowled deeply, but eventually he nodded. "I do."

"I don't suppose you would be willing to tell me."

"You would be correct in not supposing that. Until the young master speaks to you on this particular matter, I will not." He paused, sighed, and added: "I know what you must be thinking, and I don't blame you. If we want you to help him, then why are we withholding potentially vital information from you?" Akiko nodded curtly. "The short of it is: if Mokuba-sama finds out that we've told you, he might well never speak to any of us again, and he will certainly demand that you be let go."

Akiko crossed her arms. "This sounds . . . delicate."

"It very much is, Yoshimi-san."

"And made all the more complicated because it involves the Kaibas, specifically."

"I'm sure."

"I've signed up for a real needle-in-a-haystack job this time, haven't I?"

Isono smiled, but it didn't look like a particularly happy expression. ". . . I'm afraid so."