The nerves. It was always the nerves and Skye was wishing for once, just once, they would leave her alone. For as long as she could remember, the anxiousness she would feel often ruled her day to day business. Anything from revising for exams, meeting new people, even to making her own parents a cup of tea, would have her nerves wreak havoc. She thought that she had conquered the majority of them since going to university, but today felt like several steps backwards.

But nevertheless she would have to proceed. Finally all dressed and nearly ready to go, Skye stood by the window overlooking the grounds and tried to calm her trembling hands around her cup of tea. Only twenty minutes until she needed to meet the rest of the teachers and carers in the staff room. She sighed and took a long sip from the cup, only to find she had already emptied it. Time to go, she thought, leaving her cup in the kitchen and grabbing her pre-packed bag, onwards into uncertainty.

As Skye found the staff room, she heard voices through the closed door, mostly filled with chatter and laughter. Taking a deep breath, she entered the room as quietly as she could manage and hoped she could find a corner to sit in where she wouldn't be spotted. Alas, this wasn't meant to be, for all eyes immediately turned to her when she appeared in the doorway. However, she was readily relieved of her embarrassment when a young man stepped forward and extended his hand.

"You must be the new English teacher. Nice to meet you, I am Ricardo." His voice was slightly accented, Skye guessed that maybe he was Spanish? Wherever he was from, she felt her nerves ease when seeing his charming smile. He was a handsome man as well; tall, tanned and dark haired.

"A pleasure. I am Skye." She replied in rusty Spanish. Ricardo smiled.

"A good guess." He replied also in Spanish, his native tongue. "But you are not American or Japanese are you?"

"Irish."

"Ah, the most beautiful accent in the world, and one that belongs to such a sweet voice. You're a lucky lady."

Skye couldn't help blushing profusely. She secretly quite liked debonair looking men like Ricardo. No amount of reading romance novels could ever quite sum up being flattered by someone with a stare and a charm like Ricardo's.

"Will you be teaching here also?" She asked, tentatively tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"I am your subject's antithesis."

Finally unable to conceal a smile, Skye chuckled. "A mathematician who has a vocabulary? A rare but pleasant find."

"My parents made sure my education was as broadened as possible. I've been lucky."

"And I too." Skye reduced her voice to a murmur, following everyone else in suit, for Seto Kaiba had entered the room, looking especially sharp in a coal black suit. Stood next to him was another man, taller, broader, a lot older, yet somehow less stern looking than his employer.

"In the interest of getting things started here, I will make this quick: we have two hundred orphans arriving from Dominio State Orphanage in half an hour. I expect their rooms to be ready and pristine, and for every single of them to be checked properly by the end of today. They will begin lessons tomorrow morning, so report to the headmaster, Mr Sokolov, as soon as they are mobilised." He looked to the man stood next to him, who nodded in acknowledgment of his name. Russian? Skye guessed.

"That is all. I expect no mishaps today. Continue." Seto finished.

Skye looked around at the staff and saw that there were one of two reactions on each of their faces: some stood indifferently, clearly hoping that Seto would leave the room soon to let them get on witb their jobs; the rest looked like he had issued such a drastic threat that they might crumble to the floor at the thought of it.

Those of the second category would not last long, in Skye's view. But having thought that, those people probably didn't think they would be meeting the great and fearsome Seto Kaiba anytime soon, let alone the first day. No matter, she thought. So long as the children were the priority here, all would be well and she could do her job to the best she could.

She returned her gaze back forwards and caught Seto's eye. As the crowd dispersed to go and continue their duties, he made a beeline for her. Rooted to the spot in panic, thinking she had already cocked something up, Skye could only keep looking forwards as though he weren't there, hoping he could not see her nerves in her face.

"It would appear yours and Mokuba's little trip to Domino actually persuaded him to complete his homework." Seto stated as he came to a stop in front of her.

"Oh."

"So while I appreciate that you made his time enjoyable, I would prefer it if you avoid taking him out again. He has his studies to focus on and there cannot always be time for leisure."

It was on the tip of Skye's tongue to say that it hadn't been in fact her idea to take a whole day walk about Domino city, but of course, she kept that part silent, despite the fact that his insinuating that she was a distraction annoyed her greatly.

"Of course." She replied in a murmur. She then went to walk away but Seto stepped to one side and blocked her way.

"And I suppose that rat hasn't made trouble for any proceedings so far?" He asked, his eyes still not relieving her already burning face.

"No."

"Good. See that he doesn't in the future. It would be a shame for things to become unpleasant when you have only just started." And with that, Seto swept off away from, finally allowing Skye to breathe for a moment. Ricardo, who had stood by and watched the whole exchange, then chuckled.

"Well, he is as cheerful as they say, no?"

"Indeed." Skye replied drily, rubbing her chest to try and to stop the tightness in her chest. Ricardo's smile disappeared as a look of concern came forth.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

Grateful but desperate to leave the room which made her feel like she was gasping for air, Skye shook her head. "It was lovely to meet you. I expect I will see you for dinner later."

"The pleasure is all mine. I will look forward to it."

Smiling faintly, Skye almost ran out of the room and looked desperately for a quiet corner to control her breathing. She decided to follow the corridors towards her own classroom. When she eventually found the room, she locked the door, turned around and slid down her back down against it until her bottom reached the floor. It was a lovely classroom, big, bright, a door at the end ready to take pupils outside for their learning. The only things missing that would complete it all was for her to decorate.

"Get a grip." She whispered to herself, blowing out a heavy breath before focusing on her breathing and the other senses around her. The smell of flowers on the nearby windowsill and pen ink. The floor underneath her was carpeted, slightly rough but durable. She could hear a bird tweeting outside where someone had opened a window. Slowly, as these senses became her points of concentration, the tightness in her chest and breathing lessened and lessened.

It's just the first day, she thought, raking a hand through her hair. All she had to do was get through the first day and she could get through anything. Seto Kaiba was always going to be a tough employer.

She stood up finally, straightened her blouse, then unlocked the door of her classroom. As she proceeded down the corridors, she wondered what age group she would be assigned. For the ages of five and upwards, there were roughly ten or eleven children that were mainly looked after by one teacher. A good ratio, considering that most state schools were upwards of twenty children for every teacher.

"Miss McLaughlin, I presume?" A busybody looking woman approached Skye, her glasses perched on the end of her beaky nose, a piece paper held out to Skye in her pudgy hand. The look rather reminded Skye of Mrs Rachel Lynde from Anne of Green Gables, the sort of lady who would no doubt be in everyone's business, though at least one could argue that the fictional character was more polite than his lady here now.

"Correct."

"Your list of children for your assigned age group, they are waiting for you outside. Off you go now." The woman bustled off and left Skye seething. She saw the woman respond in a similar manner to Ricardo further down the corridor. Once he was free, he caught Skye's eye and winked. At least she wasn't the only one receiving the brunt of this woman's bizarre sense of importance in the orphanage.

Proceeding onwards until she was outside, Skye smiled when she saw that her group of children were waiting for her. They all spotted her, a mixture of excitement and nervousness on their faces. She checked her piece of paper: Age 12-13 years old. The same sort of age when Seto and I met…

Skye shook her head and focused again on the now. These children were undoubtedly tired and curious to know what would be happening to them next. It was her job now to look after them and that she would do to the best of her ability.

"Welcome everyone. My name is Miss McLaughlin." She greeted them, the smile on her face effortless, because when they all smiled back at her, eager to know and eager to please, every other worry for the day passed in that moment. She had made the right choice.

Skye McLaughlin had once again aggravated Seto, or rather, he was aggravated that he was bothering himself about her. What kind of dick move was that anyway, asking her if that creepy bastard had made an appearance since they last saw each other? Of course he probably hadn't, and if he had done, Skye was more than capable of looking after herself by now, Seto would have thought. She didn't need him asking as though he had made any thought to her well-being, especially when it wasn't his job to care.

Rubbing his face and staring out of the windows of his office, Seto calmed himself down as best he could. He had a meeting later on in the afternoon regarding the new duel disks he was planning to release. The designs and prototypes were ready, he just needed to pitch it to his main investors. Not that he would need to convince them much of course to spill their pockets. The last time one had decided it would be cute to say no in the interest of keeping his pockets lined, those pockets were emptied faster than he could have imagined. Seto knew a good idea when he thought of one. He would not accept anyone lesser to tell him otherwise.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Cursing under his breath, because why not when you are in a bad mood, Seto straightened himself out in his chair and pressed the intercom. "Enter."

The new PA that had been hired at the very least was bolder than the last one. She didn't walk around like she was tiptoeing around a volcano. But there were times that her supposed confidence was borderline disrespectful. He often caught her looking at him with an element of disdain, though she would obviously never say it if she cared about keeping her job. She was in it for the money, so long as she did a good job. That suited Seto just fine for the moment, until such a time that she messed up enough that he could be rid of her.

The PA started as she approached his desk, a file in hand. "Here are the current arrangements for the gala in New York next week -"

"A gala? When was this organised?" Seto demanded, his irritation beginning to heckle again.

"You asked for one after your meeting with your investors a couple of weeks ago, to celebrate the launching of the Kaiba Corp Orphanage."

Shit, he'd forgotten about that, which was very unlike him. Seto rubbed his temples in annoyance.

"Coffee for you, sir?" The PA asked, sounding not in the slightest bit sympathetic. Seto looked up and glared at her

"Should I have to ask?"

"I'll get that for you now, then." She dropped the file on his desk. "I have been unable to find an escort for you so far, I'm afraid also, sir. It would appear your usual contacts have already got arrangements for that weekend, and everyone else I have contacted that might have been able to help is also booked."

"Did you write that in the file?"

The PA nodded.

"Then you don't need to tell me what I will be reading, do you?" Seto continued, his tone maybe more murderous than he intended, but at this stage in the day, he wasn't in the mood for regulating how he sounded.

The PA pursed her lips. "I will have that coffee ready for you momentarily, sir."

She walked out of the office and nearly banged the door shut. Almost instantly after, Seto threw a nearby notepad into some space in the office. Useless bitch, he seethed. He had half a mind to make her come with him as punishment for her defiance, but he knew better. She would not last the flight if he took her. No, he would have to find someone else, someone who knew how to work and behave in a formal setting such as this gala.

Once again, Skye McLaughlin plagued his thoughts. Unlike her colleagues, she came from an upper-class family and had a very advanced education, from what he remembered reading in her employee file. Attending events such as these would be almost second nature for her, and though he hated to admit it, she was the only other woman he knew remotely at all. It made him uncomfortable on most occasions having to take an escort who expected him to chatter to them. Skye would know when to keep her mouth shut and besides she was quiet anyway. That alone was a pleasant change from the chatter he often received from the Geek Squad.

As soon as the PA brought in his coffee, he gulped it down greedily. Black, hot and bitter, just how he liked it. He still considered firing her though. Getting a coffee right was hardly an outstanding feat. He then took out his pager and called for Roland.

"Yes, sir?" The security man answered almost immediately after one dial.

"Get the limo ready to go to Kaiba Corp Orphanage. I will be down in five minutes."

"Yes, sir, right away." Roland answered promptly, putting down the receiver.

When Seto arrived at the orphanage, he was pleasantly surprised to see that everything seemed to be running smoothly. Orphans and teachers were being arranged efficiently, other members of staff were busy making sure the building itself was up and running. One less aspect of the day to worry about. Good, Seto thought.

Seto saw the receptionist crossly scribbling notes as he entered the building and he couldn't help smirking when he caught some of the teachers throwing her disgusted looks. She was a most snotty and unreasonable woman, he knew, but her resume spoke for itself. She would not suffer any nonsense, nor would she allow the admin of the orphanage get behind. If it meant she was unpopular, it would seem she didn't give a damn. Seto liked that attitude very much.

"I need to speak to Miss McLaughlin. Where is she?"

The receptionist stopped her scribbling immediately when she saw her employer stood before the desk, a look of exasperation taking over from her initial look of surprise. "Mr Kaiba, oh my! A Miss McLaughlin, you say?"

She turned to her computer and tapped on the keyboard. Then a slight frown came to her face and she started muttering to herself.

"Oh yes, that slip of a girl. The sort that looks rather too quiet for my liking, if I do say so myself. Lord knows how she will cope with mostly teenage boys, I don't know."

She printed out a sheet of paper and handed it over to Seto, who had been watching her, looking uninterested in her babble.

"There is her room number, and there is the dormitory numbers for the boys and girls in her age group. Thank you, Mr Kaiba."

Not bothering to acknowledge her, Seto stomped off at speed. His first move was to try the dormitories, as it was likely that Skye was still settling her age group into their rooms. He walked for a while, remembering all the blue prints he had drawn up of the orphanage. Eventually, he came across the door he was looking for: Dormitory 1200-1300. He also saw that the year group had already chosen their representative duelling card, Ruin, Queen of Oblivion.

Interesting choice, Seto thought, opening the door without knocking. As soon as he entered, a roar of applause and laughed surprised him. In the common room, all crowded around the couches, were the ten orphans assigned to this dormitory, cheering on one of their own and none other than Skye as they played Mario Kart on the Nintendo Wii.

"Aw no fair, a mushroom!" The boy with one of the controllers exclaimed as his character hit a stop on the racetrack. Skye chuckled and continued her journey, her whole body leaning forward competitively.

"Come on, Cole, you can do it!"

"Nah, I think Miss McLaughlin is gonna win!"

As fun as that would be…Skye, unknown to most, actually quite liked being the top of the class in all things she tried her hand at. It was one of the many traits that people often underestimated in her. But this game wasn't a competition, especially against a child much younger than she. Besides also, it was the first night these children were spending at the orphanage; it was her job to make sure they were settled him. Gracefully losing was an adult obligation for this occasion. She would teach them how to accept defeat at a later date.

So she began to slow her character down just a little, enough so Cole's character could catch up, but not entirely so that it was obvious. At least not to the children who crowded around her in delight. She was blissfully unaware that her employer was watching her intently, curious about her actions.

"Yes, I won!" Cole finally exclaimed as his character passed the finish line, the rest of children cheering in tow. Skye laughed out loud joyfully and turned her head in Seto's direction. Then on cue, the smile disappeared and she was on her feet.

"Can we keep playing, Miss McLaughlin?" One of the children tugged at her shirt.

"Of course you can. I'll let you know when dinner is ready."

Then Skye made her way towards Seto.

"Hello, Seto. I assume you came to check that everything is in order?"

"You're popular with the kids, clearly." Seto replied gruffly, folding his arms. "Mr Sokolov approved of your choice in leisure time, I presume?"

"He had a go on the Wii himself after some persuasion. I'm sure he enjoyed it more than we did, he was a most competitive man during the first few rounds."

"Yet you did not follow suit."

Skye looked down at her shoes and bit her lip to herself smiling.

"So you spotted my delay in play."

"Very subtly done, I will give you that." Seto walked past her slightly and watched the children for a moment.

They all seemed quite well settled in. He would not admit it to her face, but Skye had done much better than he thought she would. He expected any child between the ages of twelve and thirteen to be quite challenging for someone who was as mild mannered as her, especially as most of them were rambunctious, energetic boys. Yet if his eyes did not deceive him, every belonging to these children was unpacked, tidied away neatly, and the current session of gaming was well contained and civilised. Yes, not bad at all, Seto thought.

"Is there something else you wished to discuss?" Skye finally cut in through his thoughts after a moment, her anxiousness beginning to surface again the longer that Seto waited to speak to her.

"Yes, there is." Seto turned back to Skye. "I need someone to accompany me to the launch of this orphanage in a week's time."

"Oh?"

"I would usually…hire someone for this sort of function, but because my PA has been less than helpful, I have been left without an escort and very little time to organise one at short notice."

"Tricky." Said Skye, her tone dry and not very sympathetic of the PA who had made this mistake. She knew what Seto was going to ask and she cursed the PA's incompetence in this occasion. She would not be able to say no to Seto, but she did not feel comfortable with the proposition at all.

"You said you can give 365 days a year of dedication to this orphanage. Can I rely on that?" Seto continued.

"Yes."

"Then consider this gala next week to be one of those times to prove that. I'll arrange everything else, just be on time for anything I organise where I require your presence."

Skye stared at Seto for a moment, a puzzled look on her face.

"Is there a problem with that?" Seto's eyes narrowed. Skye shook her head.

"No…I'm just curious as to why you have asked me of all people."

"Because you may have chosen to be a teacher, but that doesn't change your background." Seto walked back towards her, stopping just beside her where she was leaning on a wall. "And if I have to take my PA, she might not make it back as my employee."

This time, Skye didn't bother hiding her smile. "Very well, next week it is. I'll await an email."

Nodding, Seto went to leave the dormitory. Then he had one last thought.

"Why Ruin, Queen of Oblivion?"

Skye rubbed her fingers gently, hesitant to reveal the answer.

"She doesn't wait for the world to conquer her, she conquers the world first."

"Interesting sentiment."

Another awkward silence ensued. Skye was half surprised Seto hadn't dashed off again to the office to get back to his business, yet here he was, talking to her and his eyes constantly bouncing between her and the children sat playing on the Wii. It must be strange for him, I suppose. He was an orphan once… It hadn't been a best kept secret that the Kaiba brothers weren't Gozaburo's offspring, though Skye knew even when they were younger that Seto despised this fact, and often went to great lengths to distract everyone he knew from finding out about his background.

"I suppose I might see you every now and then to keep check on progress?" The question was more of a statement, but it was a necessary and polite nudge towards finishing the exchange, thankfully.

"Yes. Good afternoon, Skye."

"Good afternoon, Seto."

Both adults at the same time turned away from each other and walked away, grateful that was the end of that conversation. Skye's nerves had settled a little, knowing that Seto hadn't yet found a reason to fault her, and Seto now had someone he could trust would do the job well at the gala. Now to contact his PA and get her to finalise the arrangements. Seto then smirked when he thought of the haughty blonde bitch back at the office. He would enjoy seeing her face when he gave her lots of extra work to do that would guarantee having her stay in work till the late evening.

At last, another update completed. Now let the fun commence writing up what happens at this dreaded gala for Seto and Skye. Stay tuned!

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