Something's wrong with this site… my account bio is messed up! –cries- I'll try and screw around with it a little bit so that the format is not one huge paragraph.. gr… And onto chapter 2! I'm trying really hard to work on Darker Shades Than Black, but the next chapter is so—darn—hard—to get out! Arigato to everyone who's waiting so patiently for an update; I'll try to get it up this weekend. So! Here I am, making my first update during the week, at my school's library! With about 5 minutes left in this class period. So thanks to Steph and Jon for reviewing; Jon… stop thinking :p. Email me all the questions you want to ask, alright? That doesn't mean I'll answer all of them –grin-. Ok, onwards! Before the bell rings!

Chapter 2

The confusing email only kept him up for a little while that night, as his recent sleep deprivation finally caught up with him at around 1 in the morning. He woke up with the sun in his eyes, something that caused him to jump out of bed and nearly fall over because of the rush. If the sun was up, he was late.

Not five minutes later he was in his car, dressed in a nice black suit and speeding down the road. It was nearly 8:30, and he gritted his teeth, his grip upon the stick shift tightening to the point that his knuckles turned white. As soon as he arrived at the restaurant, he pulled up in front and got out, the elongated back of his coat nearly whipping around him as he pressed his car keys and a small tip into the hand of the valet boy.

Upon entering and taking a sweeping glace over the place, he was somewhat relieved to see that the person he was meeting was not there yet. Calming down a bit, he looked at his watch to see that it was about 8:45. The meeting was at 9. A butler with a rather annoying goatee sat Seto down at the assigned place—a table somewhat removed from the hubbub of the early morning rush. Opening his menu with a flourish, Seto attempted to ignore the many noisy, yelling children that were there with their families. It was Saturday morning, after all.

Shortly after the CEO set down his menu again, another waiter came by his table. "Can I get you anything to begin your meal here, sir?" he asked. He was a bit shorter than Seto, with bright blue eyes as well, blonde highlights streaked through his black hair. As Seto looked back at him, the young worker's breath nearly caught in his throat. "We-we have several appetizers that you may choose from if you—"

"Just a glass of water," Seto cut him off.

"Y-yes, sir, right away." He bowed and left, a slight blush rising in his cheeks.

The drink arrived at the same time that the other man did—Onakajyu Shune, head of Game Corps, Inc. in Japan. With a wide, toothy smile, he sat across from Seto at the table, and the waiter greeted him warmly.

"Welcome back, Shune-san," he said, beaming.

"Morning, Maji. Be a good boy and bring us some of those wonderful rice patties you make, would you?"

"Right away, sir!" He left again, looking very happy indeed.

Shune looked back at his guest, rubbing his hands together. "I should have known you'd be here before me! Pardon me for being only—" He glanced at his watch. "—8 minutes early." His green eyes glinted out through his somewhat untidy red hair—Seto really didn't like how colorful his features were. The man was in his late twenties, and, like Seto, had risen in the business world at a young age; he was just as attractive in his youth.

"Might I inquire as to why you chose to meet in a restaurant stuffed full of queers?" the CEO asked with a slight frown, taking a sip of his water.

"Oh come now, Kaiba, it's flattering! I'm sure you noticed how Maji has already taken quite a shining to you," he replied with a wink.

"Flattering? Far from it," Seto growled. "It's disturbing."

"Don't tell me you can't take a compliment from a gay man," Shune laughed. "I get comments all the time from the guys here; it's a really great feeling. They're a sweet lot, they are."

Maji intruded at that point with the rice patties in a small basket, leaving Seto time to raise an eyebrow at the game company owner as his words sunk in. The waiter leaned over to whisper something to the redhead, and both of them gave a hearty laugh, Maji's significantly higher in pitch. It nearly made Seto shudder. Once he was gone, Seto refocused on Shune, who was slightly red in the face.

"Oh, those boys," he said more to himself. A slight coldness swept over him and he looked up to see Seto giving him a piercing, inquisitive stare. He stared back for a moment, wondering why, before giving a loud "Oh!" followed by more laughter, making Seto jump slightly. "I know what you're thinking—I'm straight as can be; when I'm around the guys here, they rub off on me a little bit."

Still somewhat unconvinced, Seto nodded stiffly. Shune smiled again and leaned forward. "Don't tell me you're frightened of gay people; that would be awful!"

"I'm not afraid of them," he said sternly. "I simply try not to think about why they're attracted to someone of their same gender, as I can never find a legitimate reason. I'm sure there is one, but I'd prefer if they kept their distance and stuck to being with people of their orientation."

The gamer clapped a few times, grinning widely. "Wonderful speech. Too bad it's the wrong idea." Seto grit his teeth and was about to rebut, but he went on. "Love is love; wherever it goes can't be controlled. You really should try opening up your mind sometime."

Quite annoyed at the man, Seto sighed and pressed a finger onto the table in front of him. "We came here to discuss the release of my virtual reality game. I need to get this over with so that I can go back to perfecting it, so if we could move on…"

"But of course."

"I sent you a small sample of the prototype a few days ago and never got a response back; did something malfunction?" the CEO asked.

"Oh no, everything was fine! Worked really well. Too bad you didn't give us part of the world as well to try it out."

"I've already explained that I will not release the virtual world to anyone until it's complete and flawless. The alternate world I sent should have given you enough information to decide whether the equipment was in check."

"Oh, by all means, it did. My point was that it was absolutely no fun at all."

"Who said business was fun?"

"No one, but I can tell you one thing right now: you really need to get that stick out of your butt," Shune sneered playfully. "Learn to enjoy life a little."

"I enjoy it enough." Seto glanced around the restaurant again, seeing the fruity waiters laughing and hugging the regular customers; with some hesitation, he requested that one come over to take their orders. After that was done and another boy was sent to the kitchens with dirty thoughts racing through his head, the two businessmen continued.

"The release date is still two weeks from yesterday, am I right?" A nod answered the game master. "Then it's all set!" he concluded, clapping his hands together. "All we do now is hope that no one hacks into the system and screws us over."

Hack. The strange email flitted through Seto's mind for only a second before he pushed it away. He was about to get up to leave when Shune started talking again.

"So, how—oh? You're going already?"

"Yes."

"Come now, we just ordered! The tab is on me this time, so relax."

"I need to get back to work."

"For God's sake, it's a Saturday. Take some time off." He gestured furtively for the CEO to sit back down, and he did so after pausing for a long moment.

"There, see? That wasn't so bad." Seto somehow took a drink of water through his tightened lips. "Now! Since business is out of the way, what shall we talk about? How's your love life?"

"Must we make noise every second?" Seto asked, annoyed even more.

"Sounds like you're pretty introverted. That probably means you've got no woman, or no man," he added with a grin.

"Listen, Onakajyu, I don't have time for this," the CEO said, standing up fully. "Our meeting is over." As he started towards the door, Shune stood up and walked him out. While they waited for Seto's car to be brought back from the lot, Shune turned to him with his brow slightly furrowed.

"You never did tell me the name of this new game. How am I supposed to advertise without it?"

"You don't need the name."

"Keep it hidden like that and someone's bound to break into your files and look it up."

The car pulled up and Seto snatched the keys from the valet guy, climbing in and driving off without another word. He watched in his rear view mirror as Shune gave a big wave and then walked back inside, the soft humming of the engines blocking out all other sounds except for the thoughts going through his head. It appears that someone already has. That someone could be anyone.

The fact that Shune had been the one to suggest the idea made Seto want to pin the identity of Hack on him, but he knew better than to jump to conclusions.