A Moment in Paradise
--Chapter One
By Tomaria
Disclaimer: Right, well Takahashi-san owns Yu-Gi-Oh!, goddamned bastard—I mean, Arigato gozaimashita, Takahashi-sama. Anata no manga o daisuki desu, aishimasu. Could write in hiragana, but too lazy, so yeah, typical I love the manga, love the character, want to own him but can't. Move along.
A/N: Okay! Finally got around to publishing this. I originally wrote the first two chapters some 3 months ago, but the my computer crashed so I had to re-write it. Yes, I love TrustShipping that much. Now, R&R please, but remember: There's still more to come. It is a trilogy you know.
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"Pack your bags. I'll pick you up in 15 minutes. Pack for warm weather."
The phone clicked as it was hung up. The dark-skinned woman put the phone down while she turned back into her bedroom. She opened her closet and pulled out a suitcase and placed it on the bed: Open.
"Warm weather?" She half asked herself and half asked the man from the phone. Without a second though, she started to pull clothes off their hangers and out of drawers, fold them, and put them in the suitcase. She added shoes, a bathing suit, and her toiletries.
The woman glanced back into her closet and pulled out another outfit and laid it on the bed. She pulled off the simple tan colored dress she was already wearing and slid into the flowing white one she had laid out. She fastened a gold chain belt with a dangling sapphire around her waist, a gold armband on each arm, bracelets, and a pair of sapphire earrings. The last touch, a golden ankh necklace, and she was zipping up her bag and carrying it into the study. There she picked up a desecrated looking book along with a folder full of papers and headed for the door. She slipped into her shoes on the way out, and grabbed the key that was sitting on the table.
As she got out of the elevator ten stories below, she saw a black car waiting outside the apartment building. She walked through the automatic doors and got into the back seat which was being held open for her. The moment she sat down the car took off down the road. Without saying anything or turning her head, she raised an eyebrow at the man sitting next to her, waiting for an answer to her obvious question.
"Hawaii."
Chapter One – The Mistake
"What the hell do you mean!"
"What I said, Seto. He's already signed a contract with another company."
Ishizu Ishtahl kept in an eye lock with the currently hot-headed and rash CEO until he looked away to yell insults at his prospective client, in more than one language.
Japanese and English. I wouldn't be surprised if his ancient hieratic comes back to him.
Ishizu turned to translate anything said by the man Seto was currently degrading. Mamdouh Nagati, investor in Kaiba Corporation since Gozaburo's reign and Vice President/COO of Tanganyika Oil's Egyptian branch. Ishizu knew him well enough. They had had many disputes of excavations of both artifacts and oil, not to mention with his influential cohorts in the government with high elevation than Ishizu's Department of Archeology Director title he made her life hell more than once and a while, but Nagati wasn't one to be pushed around easily. Ishizu could tell this was over his head; somebody else was pulling the strings and she knew he was eager to get back to the box his superior had ordered him into, probably with strict instruction to not talk to anyone from Kaiba Corporation. The chairman was most likely first on his list to avoid.
"I really—I must—I have to go."
Nagati nodded at Ishizu with a scorned look in his eyes. Inside, Ishizu was reveling in the fact that Nagati had no authorization to argue back, though she showed no hint of it as she wished him a safe journey. The balding old man walked hurriedly in the direction where Seto and Ishizu had come from, with no more than a scarce glance at the young president looming over him, who was now glaring.
Ishizu and Seto stood in silence. Seto wasn't about to back to the lobby and run into his failed proposition as it was checking out, and it wasn't as if Ishizu was going to show any agitation towards the situation in front of her current employer. Instead, while the CEO fumed in the silence, Ishizu gazed out over the glimmering Pacific and recounted the day. She could hardly believe that just 6 hours ago she had been ready for just another day in the museum preparing for the opening of the new exhibit.
* * *
Ishizu stepped out of the car onto the tarmac when the door was opened for her. She recognized the airport, San Francisco International Airport, she had flown into when she arrived from Egypt, and she naturally knew the Boeing 747 with the "KC" insignia belonged to the man that just sitting next to her in the car, but why she was here and boarding this plane were only answered by a destination: Hawaii.
As she sat down in one of the luxurious first class seats, Ishizu looked expectantly at Seto when he sat down in front of her.
"Mamdouh Nagati," was his answer. That and a folder he pulled out of his metal, silver briefcase. So, it did carry more than just a Duel Disk, Ishizu noted passively while she opened the folder.
"Director of Tanganyika's reserve in Egypt. What does Kaiba Corporation need with oil?" Ishizu was slightly skeptical. She knew Seto would never return to the roots of the company his stepfather had raised him to overtake, but if he was planning on creating new weapons of war, she wanted no part of it.
"I need fuel for Kaiba Land." Seto's reply was directed towards any doubt Ishizu might have, and her glance up from the documentation confirmed that all, if any, had abated. "The helicopters, the jet and this plane all need fuel. Gozaburo had an affiliation with several companies, but I destroyed everything he did. Even contracts."
"Tanganyika's the safe choice then."
"The rest of the world's destroying itself. Tanganyika's stock hasn't dropped and I won't throw Kaiba Corporation away on a bad proposal because some mediocre president can't make up his mind about how to deal with a problem that's not his to begin with."
Ishizu smiled at Seto's view on the war in Iraq. He was correct though. Tanganyika was still strong, despite problems in Israel and Pakistan as well. She had to give the company credit for staying alive and to Seto for doing his research. Closing the folder, it was full of information she all ready knew about Nagati and his branch of antiquity demolishers, she looked at Seto and asked the question she wanted an answer to the most.
"So why did you invite me, Seto?"
"I needed a translator."
"Nagati speaks English."
"Not to me. That guy has been avoiding me for the six weeks. Mokuba heard an Egyptian exhibit was showing at the Fine Arts Museums and that you were the curator. You know Nagati. You won't take his bullshit."
"You flatter me, Seto." Ishizu smiled as she ordered a drink from the stewardess that had been hovering near by for a while. "You needed an accessible translator who would you what Nagati was really saying and isn't afraid to yell back."
"Hmph." Seto smirked as his glass was placed in front of him.
"I may not be able to see the future any more Seto, but I still have insight."
"This is a business trip Ishizu, no paranormal talk or "destiny" discussion."
Ishizu sat in a staring contest for a minute before she looked away to open the book she had brought with her. "Of course not. I have work to do as well."
* * *
"Ishizu."
She looked out over the Pacific a moment longer until she head Seto's footsteps. She turned and followed the angered president out of the resort and into the car they had arrived in just 10 minutes before. Seto was still seething and Ishizu knew, though she wasn't quite sure from where, that it was best to just let him be. Somebody else, however, seemed intent on angering him more by calling his cell phone in his moment of defeat.
"Nii-sama! How's it going?"
"Nagati backed out."
"Nante?!"
"He signed with another company. We need to find another fuel source, or else..." For the first time, Ishizu heard Seto give what she could only decipher as a sigh of defeat.
"Nii-sama! Aoki-san!"
"Aoki Masa?"
"Un! He called to say he was flying into SFO this evening—"
"Mokuba!"
"Ryoukai!
Seto snapped his phone closed and yelled at the driver get to the airport faster. The two sat in silence again, but the tension in the air had changed. Now, instead to Seto simply angry, he was now angry and agitated with the chauffeur's poor driving abilities.
"Should I get a flight back to San Francisco?"
"No. This won't take long."
A/N: Sooo? You're all probably quite confused. I know! ^_^ That's my specialty, confusing the hell out of people so they feel the overwhelming need to continue reading to clear the minds from such confusion. BWAHAHHA! You are all hooked now! 0_0 What? You're not? Damn... Anyways, I took into account that of course Ishizu speaks Arabic, she is Egyptian you know. Right, well... I just realized I need another disclaimer, it will follow at the end, but first I want everyone to R&R. You don't have to, but it would be nice, especially considering I took the time to write the first chapter... Again. Okay, that's about it. I promise my A/N's will get far more wittier... Or maybe I need to make them funny. Hmm... Regardless, Chapter 2 will be out kami-sama knows when, so make sure to check back! ^_~
Jaa!
-- Tomaria
(a.k.a. Aria-chan)
Disclaimer Part II: All parties involved are purely fictional and owned by Takahashi Kazuki with the exception of Tanganyika Oil Company Ltd and Mamdouh Nagati, who are copyright and property of the respected parties and whose permission was not granted in this publication.