There was a thunderous bang as the doors to the conference room swung open and Seto Kaiba came storming through. He flung the files onto the long oval table while the meeting's occupants watched in utter shock as the sheets of paper scattered throughout the room.
"What the hell is this!?"
A member of the board of directors stood up, "Mr. Kaiba, calm down."
Kaiba pointed his finger at him, "Shut your goddamn mouth!"
Shana gasped from behind him as she quickly followed her boss into the conference room, her high heels clicking frantically as she moved. Mokuba caught sight of her, "What did you tell him?"
"Nothing! I just handed him the files! I didn't think he'd freak—"
"—Sit down, Shana," Kaiba demanded.
"But!" She began in a pleading voice.
"I said sit down!" He yelled.
This time she listened to him and took a seat next to Mokuba. They shared a concerned glance but kept their interaction hidden from the elder Kaiba as much as possible.
Kaiba slammed his palm down on the table, "I demand you bastards tell me why you went ahead with this project without my consent!?"
"Mr. Kaiba, we assumed that's what you wanted!" One of the board members exclaimed.
Another nodded and added, "Yes! We were under the impression that you wanted this project to succeed and move onto phase two, and it has! You should be pleased! We've even received government funding! It's sure to be a success!"
"That's not what I'm concerned about." Kaiba's voice fell into a calmer range, but his rage was still present. "What I'm concerned about is the fact that you went forward and named this project without me! Did you all somehow forget that this was my invention? Therefore, shouldn't I have the right to name said invention!?"
Mokuba's eyebrows furrowed into a confused weave, "That's what this is about? The name of the project?"
Kaiba just scowled at his younger sibling, lacking the audacity to outright yell at him.
Mokuba continued, "Seto, we moved on with this project because the board and I thought that was what you wanted. You wanted this to become a success, and it will, but to obtain additional funding from the government the project needed an official name."
Kaiba could no longer hold back, "And you chose to name the project Tea!?"
"Yes, sir," a board member spoke up, his voice a bit too cheerful for Kaiba's current mood, "we wanted to honor the first person to ever successfully test the unit. After all, she's the reason the project is moving forward."
"Whose bright idea was this?" Kaiba's eyes scanned the room, looking for someone to come forward. A few people coughed and moved uncomfortably in their seats as a wave of silence washed over the room. Kaiba growled when no one spoke and decided to add, "I hope you know that when I find out who decided to destroy the dignity of my hard-work with such a horrid name, you will never work in this town again."
"I'm sorry, Seto…" Mokuba apologized, taking one for the team.
His older brother turned to him, eyes filled with fury, "I don't believe you were the one who named this project, Mokuba." Surely his own flesh and blood would have more creativity than this.
"I didn't know naming the project was that big of a deal to you. We had to move forward and you were still recovering at the time. I'm sorry, I didn't know…."
"It's just a name, sir. The project is still pushing forward and ready for your handiwork!" Shana attempted to lighten the mood, but Kaiba was having none of it. He just stood at the head of the table, seething.
"And as a 'welcome back' surprise," Mokuba added, trying to lift his brother's spirits, "the board and I decided that it would be in your best interest, and the company's, to make you the project lead, letting this be your only focus for the next few months as you ease back into work."
"And who will run Kaiba Corp.?"
Mokuba gave his brother a half smile and shrugged, "Me."
Kaiba just glared at his brother, betrayal written across his face. He whipped around and stormed out of the room the same way he came in.
It had only been a few minutes since Kaiba had thundered out of the meeting, but he couldn't stand the idea of negotiating anything right now. His mind still felt jumbled and he couldn't quite fathom the idea of exclusively working on a project named after her.
He tore his office door open and slammed it shut behind him. With robustness, Kaiba stomped toward his desk, pulled open a side drawer, and dug around for his stress-reliever. He hardly did this anymore, and he never did it anywhere near Kaiba Corp. He didn't need his reputation as a smoker being scoffed at. But right now, he knew there was nothing else he could do to take the edge off.
With shaky hands, Kaiba grabbed a cigarette from the box and quickly lit a match, trying to hold it as sturdily as he could underneath the cigarette. The moment the paper kindled, he waved the match back and forth wildly until the flame was reduced to nothing more than a stream of smoke.
He inhaled deeply, letting smoke flow through him and into the air. He took another deep breath before exhaling into a fit of coughs. The last time he smoked was in the virtual world, which really didn't count. In real life, however, it had been years.
He walked over to the row of floor-to-ceiling windows and took a moment to soak in the view of Domino City from above. Last time he had overlooked a city was in the virtual world, on top of the Empire State Building. Her face flashed across his mind's eye. He pictured the wind in her beautiful hair and the smoke pouring out of her smooth lips as they observed New York City.
Even now, when he was trying to alleviate his mind of her, she ricocheted right back to him. He was so hurt by her. He could no longer deny it. She haunted his memory every goddamn moment. Sleep wasn't even a relief as he found himself dreaming of her smile, her voice, her touch…
Maybe the only way to rid of her would be to take her? It would be his form of revenge. He would take her and leave her, getting her out of his system for good. The only time they were intimate was in the virtual world. Maybe having her for real would be the satisfaction he needed? After that, she could go back to Yugi and all her little friends, he wouldn't care. Yes, he would have her, then he would be freed of her curse, and hopefully she'd suffer the consequences this time.
Taking the cigarette out of his mouth, he reached for his office phone and began dialing.
Grogginess…. Confusion…. That's all she felt as she woke to a constant low hum.
Urgh, where am I?
She groaned and rolled over in an unfamiliar bed. She recognized the pitch and sound sequence of the low humming and reached next to the bed, scrounging around for her purse. It had to be around here somewhere?
She finally found it, unzipping a side pocket and grabbing her vibrating cell phone. Rubbing her eyes, she sleepily checked to see who was calling her, not recognizing the number, but answering anyway.
"H-hello?" Her throat felt like sandpaper. She tried to sound composed but her vocal cords were just not having it.
"Tea?"
She snapped to attention. No…. It couldn't be?
"Tea?" The man on the other end repeated.
Tea glanced around the room, suddenly realizing where she was. She dropped her voice to a slight whisper. "Kaiba?"
"Yes…." There was a slight pause, "Are you all right?" The gruffness that his voice naturally carried faded away as confusion set in. Tea knew she was acting strange and needed to cover it up. She'd think of something, hopefully…
"Yeah, I'm fine, uhhhh," She hesitated to find the words, "my line just cut out for a moment. Sorry about that." She flinched at her own awkwardness.
"Are you sure I didn't wake you up? You sound out of it."
Oh God. He was catching on.
"Uh, no! Of course not." This time she paused, desperately glancing around the room for a clock. "Why? What time is it?"
"Twelve-thirty."
"Oh, dear God…" She mumbled as she wiped the sleep from her eyes.
"Excuse me?"
"Uh, nothing! I think my line might be cutting out again."
"Right…."
She held her hand to the receiver and took a deep breath away from her phone. This just couldn't be real. Why was he calling her? She thought she'd never hear from him again. This had to be a dream. She was obviously still dreaming. Yes, waking up in Yugi's bed to a phone call from Kaiba had to be some sort of demented dream.
Taking another moment to exhale, she dropped her hand from the receiver and asked in a more composed and serious tone, "Why did you call?"
"To let you know that the virtual world you involuntarily participated in has been approved and is moving forward onto the next step."
"And this concerns me because…?"
"The project has been named after you."
There were no words. She could've sworn the line went dead because Kaiba didn't speak up when she fell silent. She was more shocked than anything. "What!?" Anger overtook her. "After everything you go ahead and name your invention after me!? What kind of ploy is this, Kaiba?"
"I didn't name it after you. The board of directors did. Possibly with some help from Mokuba, I'm not sure on that one yet."
Her anger suddenly cooled. So Kaiba didn't name his invention after her, but why call her to tell her that? Why would she care?
"I thought you should know in case you see your named attached to Kaiba Corp."
"So, you basically called to tell me you didn't care enough about me to name your project after me, but a group of random people who don't even know who I am, did. Thanks." It came out salty but she didn't care, "Kaiba, you're wasting my time."
"Why does it matter who named the project?"
She opened her mouth to speak but realized his sentence was a trap. Of course, it mattered who, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "You're right. It doesn't matter. Is that all?"
"No, actually. Since your nomenclature is the proud recipient of the project, I wanted to see if you would want to have some input on its development."
"I'm not a techie, Kaiba, you know that."
"You wouldn't be programing a thing. All I would require is feedback on your virtual world experience."
"Ha, ha. Very funny. Go to hell, Kaiba. You know full well what my experience was like."
"Get your head out of the gutter. I wasn't referring to that."
"And I wasn't referring to that either," she bluffed.
"Look," she could hear the irritation increasing in his voice, "you can be a bitch about this, or you can cooperate."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, it's a polite demand."
She rolled her eyes, "At least you're honest."
"I'll pick you up tomorrow night. Dress nice."
"Wait, how do you know where I live?"
She could almost see his eyes rolling, "Do you really need to ask me such an obtuse question?"
"Dress nice? How? Like professionally or—?" She was thoroughly lost.
"Just don't look like a damn idiot. Be ready by six-thirty." The line went dead. No goodbye. Just a dial tone.
Kaiba grinned wickedly as he hung up the phone, taking the last drag from his cigarette before abruptly putting it out under his desk and throwing the bud into the trash. His plan to get revenge on Tea was about to unfold, and he couldn't wait to get the ball rolling. The quicker he used her and tossed her aside, the faster he'd be able to forget about this whole mess of a situation. If he hadn't been so generous in letting Tea use the virtual world, then maybe she would still be stuck in a coma and not harassing his every thought.
That's just what I get for offering to help Yugi and his idiot friends…
The office door oscillated open, almost abandoning its hinges. Kaiba was thoroughly shocked to see who was standing on the other side, glaring at him.
"Mokuba? What in God's name—?"
Mokuba Kaiba stomped over to his older brother with demanding drive. Concern graced his features, only going so far until his anger struck like a storm. "I should be asking you that same question: what in God's damn name do you think you're doing? Have you gone mad?"
Kaiba was about to protest, but Mokuba wouldn't let him. "I work my ass off to get the board to not pull the plug on you, I work my ass off to get your life's work to move forward while you're recovering, and finally, I work my ass off to get you out of the hospital as soon as possible and THIS is how you repay me? By throwing a temper tantrum and walking out on one of the most important meetings of your life just because of a name?"
Kaiba attempted to speak again, but was cut off.
"The board is threatening to fire you. Shana is back there right now trying to convince them otherwise. What the hell has gotten into you, Seto?"
Truth be told, it was Tea. It always had been her since he arrived back in the real world. He just couldn't tell Mokuba that.
"I'm starting to regret having you discharged from the hospital so soon."
Kaiba crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you done?"
Mokuba mimicked him, "I don't know? Are you done acting like a child?"
"Oh? You mean like you?"
Mokuba shot back with no restraint, "Really? Is this how you're going to be? I'm trying to protect your ass and you're mocking me."
"Did you forget how you betrayed me by taking over my project and attempting to run my company for me?"
"Uh, did you forget that you just got out of the hospital? This is your first day back. No one expects you to hit the ground running, Seto."
The elder Kaiba just rolled his eyes as if he'd heard it all before. Indeed, he had. Years back, he and Mokuba had gotten into this same tizzy when they'd returned from Duelist Kingdom. Kaiba insisted he'd test out an older version of his virtual world project while Mokuba told him to take it easy. In the end, Mokuba was right, but it wasn't as if he should be taking orders from his little brother, even if it seemed like he knew what was best.
Mokuba groaned, "Look, do what you want. I tried." He threw his hands up in surrender, "I did all I could to move your project forward and now it's in your hands, so if you wanna cuss out the board because of a stupid name and let them fire you, then that's your decision."
Mokuba turned to walk out, but before he could reach the threshold of the doorway Kaiba stopped him.
"Wait…" he said, with a mellowed tone that delivered his willing defeat. Kaiba only used this tone of voice for Mokuba because he was the only human being Kaiba deemed to be deserving of his apologetic side. "You're right. You're absolutely right."
Mokuba raised an eyebrow in suspicion, not fully believing his brother just yet. "You mean that?"
Kaiba nodded, "It was stupid of me to think you were betraying my trust. I'm not going to lie, I shouldn't have come back to work so soon. You're right about that too. I've been mentally out of it for weeks."
The younger Kaiba's harsh anger cracked, and he sent his brother a sympathetic smile before asking, "What do you want me to tell the board? I can try and smooth things over as best as I can, but they're still considering firing you."
This time Kaiba was the one who turned away from his brother. He walked on over to the window, taking a moment to arrange his next plan of action.
"Tell the board I'm taking full responsibility over the project from here on out until its completion. You're in charge of all vice president and CEO duties until I can fully return to my duties."
"Seto…" Mokuba hesitated, "Are you sure?"
Kaiba grinned, his plan now falling into place. If he took this opportunity to seize control over Project Tea, then he'd be able to figure out a way to get closer to the real Tea… and bring her down. He could use his own invention to get her under his control once again.
He smirked to himself, "Yes, Mokuba. I'm sure."
A/N: Thanks for reading! There will be more Seto/Tea in the next chapter. And I totally agree with Kaiba, Tea is such a stupid name for a project. What the heck was the writer thinking!? Anyway, please let me know what you think! See ya next chapter!
(P.S. Kaiba should've been smoking something else on a day like today. What was he thinking? Kaiba has no holiday spirit! #420 #TotallyKidding #NotPromotingDrugUseISwear)
