Disclaimer: *line of small Yugi's who begin to sing to the tune of the Munchkin song from the Wizard of Oz* We~ represent the YuGiOh guild, the YuGiOh guild, the YuGiOh guild. We~ represent the YuGiOh gui~~ld, and we say it don't belong to Sa or Ji.
Warnings: Shounen-ai – that means boys on boys doing things only boys on boys can do. Don't complain if you burn your eyes out, get psychological damage or inexplicably end up with a fat, bald man named Dave reading over your shoulder.
Author Notes: Yay-yay! Happy-happy that everyone likes our story so far (even if it has already gone through three major plot changes and a theoretical discussion on my comment, and belief, that sweet innocent Bakura doesn't exist and that it's just an act by Yami Bakura to give him an opportunity to slip into situations unnoticed and explains many things, like Bakura going into a coma when Yami Bakura was sent briefly to the Shadow Realm, which really had nothing to do with our plot, but I thought of it while we were discussing Seto's motivation and…I'm babbling). However, for everyone who missed it the first time, this story is being written by 2 people and we are writing chapters alternately. We don't know what the other one is going to post except for a loose idea based on our basic plot and with one expert move, Seto gave Yami a firm shove and knocked him backwards onto the bed. Pausing for a moment to admire the view of the other young man laid out before him, Seto then moved in to lightly kiss his way up Yami's stomach and chest until finally reaching his main destination; the red-eyed boy's lips and so we'd appreciate it if people didn't refer to us as a singular entity.
Enjoy the Chapter!!
Chapter Four:
By the time the sun had risen that morning, Seto had already been awake for an hour. He'd managed a bare two-hours of sleep before his need to get back to work had him up, showered, dressed and sitting before his computer and typing away waiting for the dawn to arrive.
An hour after that Mokuba was poking his head around Seto's office door.
" 'Nii-sama, it's time for breakfast."
Seto grunted slightly and shut down his computer before leaning back and stretching his arms over his head to loosen the muscles. "I'll be down in a moment."
Mokuba's head disappeared from around the door and Seto pulled himself out of his chair and followed the boy down the hall.
Breakfast was quiet, and Mokuba spent almost the entire time staring at his brother intently, probably trying to judge if his older brother really had gotten any sleep or not. Seto ignored the piercing look and finished the meal quickly, excusing himself from the table to gather his things for school as soon as he was done.
By the time Mokuba came out of the dining room, Seto had himself organized and was looking around for the younger boy.
"I'm going to school first today. Make sure you remember to pack your homework and don't forget your lunch."
Mokuba nodded at the commands, "Do I come home, or go to the office after school?"
"Office." Seto answered briskly and headed to the door, opening it and stepping out, with Mokuba trailing him like a ghost.
The car was already waiting out front, and the driver opened the door as soon as Seto approached.
"Have a good day and school." Mokuba grinned as his brother got into the car and waved slightly as Seto looked, or rather scowled, at him. "Ja ne!"
"Don't be late for school either." Seto said and pulled the door shut himself and waited for the driver to finally get the car moving.
As soon as the car was moving, Seto had the laptop computer he kept there open and was continuing his work from earlier. This morning, and now, he was working on the VR system. He'd barely had a chance to work on it, and after what had happened last time he didn't trust the system to anybody else. It was slow, agonising work, since he had no choice but to start with the basic make up of the program and work his way through it. He couldn't allow any part of it to go unchecked since he didn't know where the Big5 might have added their little 'improvements'.
He became engrossed in his work quickly and it seemed like only seconds had passed when the car came to a gentle halt outside his school.
With an annoyed sound, Seto closed off what he'd been doing and shut the computer down and put it away. He grabbed his bag and stepped out of the car as the door was opened for him and stared up at the quiet school. He was early, as he always was, and there wasn't another soul in sight except for the few students who were required to be there early to prepare their classes for the day.
Nodding imperceptibly to his driver, Seto left the car and walked through the school gates, then entered the building itself and headed up to his class. He couldn't bring his laptops to school unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, and so he had nothing much to do with his time except read. He'd never admit it, but reading before class was actually something he quite enjoyed. It let him relax slightly in an environment that didn't make him feel as if he should be issuing commands constantly or working his-self half to death to reach his goals.
Finally reaching the class, Seto stepped in and made his way to his desk, laying his bag on the desktop before pulling the chair out and slipping into it.
"Ohayou gozimasu, Kaiba-sama."
Seto's head came up immediately at the voice. He hadn't noticed anyone else in the room when he'd entered. When he saw whom it was, his mouth twitched downwards in an inadvertent frown. The class president, Uzami Kikiyou now stood before his desk, a duster in each hand from where she'd been cleaning them by the window; Seto vaguely recalled that she and Motou Yugi had monitor duty.
At the thought, Seto quickly looked around the room, his brow furrowing slightly when the shorter boy didn't immediately pop out of the woodwork.
After a moment, Seto realised that the girl was still standing before his desk, obviously waiting for a reply to her greeting and he nodded at her shortly.
"Kaiba-sama," Seto resisted the urge to scowl at the girl for the condescending infliction she put on the honorific, "did you see Yugi-kun on your way up here?"
Frowning again in annoyance, Seto answered the negative.
"He's late." She declared and tapped the two dusters together, raising a light cloud of chalk; "I can't wait for his help anymore… Kaiba-sama, you'll have to help me with monitor duty."
"What?" Seto glared at the girl.
"I can't do all the monitor duties on my own." The girls said primly and tossed her head, her long black hair flying over her shoulder. "There's barely an hour before everyone starts showing up and this needs to be finished."
Seto grit his teeth slightly and silently cursed the loss of his reading time, then pushed himself out of is chair with a curt nod to the girl.
"Fine."
-----
The morning dragged.
That was all Seto could think as the teacher droned on mindlessly on a subject Seto was barely even listening too since he already knew everything there was to know about it. Around him, his classmates were dropping into a bored stooper, even falling asleep in some cases, and Seto was beginning to wonder if he should have just skipped his morning classes and worked on the VR system.
Seto blinked suddenly as a streak of white whizzed passed his head and hit one of the loudest snoring students in the head, waking him up and forcing him to look around wide eyed.
"Jounouchi-kun. Since you seem to be so interested in the class perhaps you'd care to stand up and read through page 28 for us."
"Eh…"
Seto snorted as the blond pulled himself to his feet and flicked through his book quickly to get to the right page. It served the idiot right.
"In the year 710, the first permanent Japanese capital was established in Nara, a city modelled after the Chinese capital…"
Seto zoned the voice out and went back to wishing he wasn't there.
After Jounouchi finished, the Teacher began to go around the class, getting everyone who looked even the least bit sleepy to read from the history books that lay open on every desk, in fact, Seto was just beginning to contemplate the very real reality that he was going to have to read the history of Minamoto Yoritomo and how he took over Japan to a classroom full of sleepy idiots when a discreet beep from the vicinity of his hand grabbed his attention.
Sitting up slightly, Seto pulled the cuff of his school shirt slightly higher and almost smiled as he noticed the little light on his KC cufflink blinking to get his attention. He was almost tempted to think of it as a Godsend.
Quickly he closed the book in front of him and pushed it into his schoolbag then stood up, ignoring the fact that he was suddenly the centre of attention, and walked out of the class, heading straight for the roof where he could hear what whatever the problem his company was having now was without being interrupted.
When he reached the roof he waited till the door was closed behind him, then dropped his bag and pulled his hand up closer to his face, and pushed a carefully hidden switch on the cufflink.
"What?"
"Kaiba-sama!" The voice was muddled slightly by static and unconsciously Seto moved further away from the door behind him to get rid of the interference, "We were just contacted, fifteen minutes ago, by Takayoshi Shintaro of Industrial Illusions."
Seto frowned, "And? Why?"
"Sir. He was notifying us, as a partnered company, that management of Industrial Illusions was officially changed as of midnight last night and that there was going to be a press conference announcing it at exactly six tonight at the Industrial Illusions building."
"Changed? To who?!"
"The winner of Duellist Kingdom, Motou Yugi, Sir."
Both Seto's eyebrows went straight up as he heard the name and he stared at his cufflink in shock.
"Motou Yugi?"
"Yes, Sir. Do you have any instructions?"
Yugi was taking control of Industrial Illusions? Seto barely even heard his own voice as he ordered that someone be sent to the press conference then switched off the comm.-link. Motou Yugi, newly crowned King of Games, was taking over Industrial Illusions?
After a moment, Seto shook his head and his eyes narrowed. He didn't have time to be surprised; he had to figure out what this meant in the scheme of things and, more importantly, what it meant for Kaiba Corp.
Walking slowly back to where he'd dumped his bag, Seto slid to the ground and leaned back against the door to the roof, effectively making sure he wasn't interrupted, and began to think.
----
In the end the only conclusion Seto had come to was that, so long as Yugi wasn't planning on branching Industrial Illusions out into constructing duelling arena's, it didn't concern KC at all.
Of course that didn't change the fact that Seto didn't know what the boy's intention was and if setting himself up as the president of the only other company with as much power over the game of Duel Monsters as KC had wasn't a challenge, then Seto didn't know what was.
Except that the quiet boy from Seto's class didn't seem, even to Seto, to be the type to issue such a challenge. The kid was a mouse when it came to everything except Duelling, did he even know what he was letting himself in for? Or perhaps he thought extraordinary skill in Duelling was all he needed to run a company like II.
A smirk had found it's way onto Seto's lips at that particular thought. Extraordinary Duellist he may be, but obviously Motou Yugi was just as much a fool as his friends; and since the lunch bell had rung a mere five minutes ago, and this particular rooftop was where Yugi and his friends liked to eat, Seto was going to tell him that; as well as hopefully find out exactly what the boy thought he was doing.
Seto only had to wait a few more minutes before he heard the tell-tale sounds of Yugi and his 'group' coming up the stairs, then they had burst through the door, Honda Hiroto first, quickly followed by Jounouchi Katsuya, both of them sprawling onto the ground in a tumbled heap of elbows and schoolbags.
"Jounouchi, idiot! Get off me!"
"Damnit! It's not my fault!"
"He always trips on that step, Honda. You shouldn't walk ahead of him." Mazaki Anzu came through the door next and carefully stepped around the two boys as they attempted to get unwound from each other.
Seto ignored them all. Next through the door, laughing delightedly, came Motou Yugi and Seto's eyes fixed on him like a hawk.
Clutching his backpack firmly, Yugi bounced over the obstacle in his way and then noticed Seto standing directly opposite them, leaning up against the chain fence that enclosed the roof.
"Kaiba-kun!"
Immediately, all the laughing and unsubtle insults stopped and Seto was the centre of attention.
"K'so. What the hell are you doing here, bastard?" Jounouchi said after a moment of silence.
Seto's eyes flicked briefly to where the blond was sprawled on the ground under Honda. Slowly he let his eyes look pointedly at first Honda, then Jounouchi, then he let his lips twist upwards into a derisive smirk as he met the blonde's gaze.
On some things the blond could be slow, but this time he read the expression clearly and his face went red in an instant, "Why you-!"
"Hn." Seto let his gaze slip from the enraged boy and went back to studying Yugi.
"Hey! Don't ignore m-!" Jounouchi was silenced as Honda slammed one hand over the blonde's mouth and tried to stop him from getting himself into more trouble.
"Uh-uhmm… Kaiba-kun, is there something…?" Yugi shuffled his feet nervously and looked at the ground, at where Honda was struggling to keep Jounouchi under control, anywhere really to avoid Seto's piercing expression.
"You don't stand a chance." Seto said at length.
"Wh…what?" Yugi glanced up from his shoes to stare at Seto in puzzlement.
Seto's eyes narrowed in annoyance, "Just because you beat Pegasus and have some small skill at playing the game doesn't mean you can run a company. If you attempt to take control, you will fail. You'll be snowballed within days and you'll succeed in nothing more than destroying everything it's employees worked for."
"I…"
Seto ignored Yugi and continued, "Do you even have the smallest idea of what it takes to run a company as big as Industrial Illusions? You can't just move into such a position on a whim. Don't think you stand a chance at walking into a job like that; you don't stand a chance."
Seto 'Hn'ed in annoyance as a slight breeze flicked his fringe into his eyes and he pushed it irritatedly out of the way and resumed glaring at the other boy.
Yugi had been inching backwards slightly as Seto spoke, seeming to want to cave in on himself with every word the taller boy spoke, but now he stood up taller and met Seto's glare with one of his own, putting his hands in his pockets as his shoulders straightened.
"Kaiba." Yugi growled the word and Seto blinked.
Yugi had just…changed. Suddenly he wasn't the mousy boy that laughed and smiled with his friends; he was the proud Duellist that had glared at Seto from across their many Duelling areas. Seto felt a spark of something, almost like electricity, shoot down his spine as that crimson glare was levelled at him and suddenly his desire for a real Duel came back with a vengeance.
"I never said, nor thought that running Industrial Illusions would be easy, Kaiba." Yugi's eyes narrowed further, "In fact I'm counting on that fact."
Seto lifted an eyebrow, but let Yugi continue.
"I may not know how to run a company, but I will learn. I guarantee to you that I'm going to pick it up very quickly and I know that as long as I believe in myself nothing will stand in my way."
"Hn."
Yugi smirked, "I didn't expect you to be very positive, Kaiba, but could it be you feel threatened?"
Seto was immediately standing straight, his nonchalant pose leaning against the fence left behind in an instant.
"Hn." Seto kept his voice tightly controlled, "I wouldn't feel threatened of you if you were attempting to take over Kaiba Corp. itself." Stiffly, Seto leaned down and grabbed his school bag tightly by the handle and walked determinedly to the door leading from the roof pausing only to mutter the parting words of, "Fine, if you wish to destroy the company, do as you wish." And then he was gone, the rooftop door swinging slowly shut behind him.
End of Chapter Four
After Author Notes: The boring History lesson midway through this chapter is from the Nara and Heian Periods (710 - 1185) of Japanese History. Did you notice the random S/YY moment? Send us an e-mail (with subject line 'LS yys moment') with the copy and pasted moment to prove it ^_^ and I'll send you an award to stick on your site or journal or whatever.
Remember to Read and REVIEW!!
~Sa-sama