Well, I'm in a rush, so this head note shall be brief. I finally finished this chapter! I'm glad you guys are liking this so far; I was worried the lemon would scare people away –nervous laugh- enjoy! (oh, and there's a picture to go along with this as well on my profile, so check it out if you'd like a mental picture of Iduke).
Chapter 3: Enslaved
That was a few weeks before the hell really started. I still swear that I don't know how it happened, but my mother managed to force us into another situation. It all began with a quiet summer day.
As strange as it may seem, I like classical music. I constantly stare at the ceiling of my bedroom for hours on end, listening to Mussorgsky or Debussy or random composers from the Romantic period. Yeah, most people would think that's pretty screwed up, but then again, who the hell cares what other people think? People are stupid. I prefer to be alone—works pretty well with the fact that I was home schooled. I hated my teacher, too. He was pretty young, so he'd be trying to teach me about time stretching to infinity or protein synthesis, all the while staring at my chest or trying to make a pass at me. Don't even get me started about sex ed.
That's beside the point. That day, I was just sitting and staring, minding my own business. I was still in my night slip, seeing as how it was only about 8 in the morning, and kept absentmindedly running my hand over the spot where Seto had left his mark. It looked pretty disgusting since it was healing, and I really wished it would either go away completely or just stay red—green-yellow was not something I wanted. My mom came in all of a sudden, dressed up for work.
"Iduke, you look like a whore waiting for a customer lying like that," she said, coming up to the bedside with her arms folded.
"You're one to talk," I murmured, not letting my eyes stray from a rather interesting spot on the ceiling. "You're all dressed up and not at work yet. Are you ditching it so that you can go see that macho man of yours?" She had recently found a new fuck buddy at a national business convention and would constantly go out to visit him in his big mansion on an island in the middle of Lake Biwa. I don't even think you're allowed to live there, but I'm still convinced that dirty money exchanged hands to make it allowed for Mr. Ishiyama.
"Funny you should mention work," she sneered. "I want you to get a job."
I started laughing. "Do you have any idea how stupid that made you sound?" I asked, turning my eyes to her.
Her face remained set. "You're going to get a job, Iduke."
"Why? You've paid for everything I've ever wanted up until now." I grinned. "Unless you're suggesting your company went bankrupt because KaibaCorp bought it out, then I could understand."
"You simply need to learn how the world works. I could care less about whatever money you make."
"I know how the world works. We're born, taught, enslaved by society, and then we die," I said bluntly.
"Touching," she said sarcastically. "You should know to take me seriously by now. I have a job already on the line for you, and the employer is expecting you there at 9."
I scoffed. "Just because you have something for me already doesn't mean I'll go. You should know by now that I'm not a pushover."
"Which is precisely why I've come prepared with an alternative if you do not go to meet your new boss."
"You know you can't kick me out of the house," I interjected, sitting up. "Think about what kind of publicity that would get you and your company." That was pretty much the only reason we were still living together, after all. She needed to keep up the image that she was a "wonderful, divorced single mother that was devoted to her one and only daughter", and I was more than happy to go along with it because it meant I got spoiled off my ass.
She laughed. "I'm not that foolish, Iduke. I can, however, send you to a public school if you don't feel like working. You'll get just as much exposure to the filth that's out there, and I can go either way."
My eyes narrowed. "…A public school?"
"A public school," she repeated, smirking at me like some sort of vulture. Well, she pretty much was one. I was the large piece of dead meat that really could only choose to be slowly picked apart and eaten by this new job, or to slowly rot away amongst the decay of society. "I'll leave you alone to think about it." With that, she left.
I sat on my bed for what seemed like a helluva long time, slowly letting my situation sink in. Both choices sucked. I'd rather have taken another round with psycho sadist Seto, but obviously no one knew about that except me. I finally swung my legs off my bed and stood up, glancing at the clock to discover I'd only been thinking for about five minutes. I went to my closet and wrenched it open, pushing through the coat hangers weighed down by all my trench coats and leather clothing, looking for something that was at least half-decent.
After a while, I settled with a feminine suit that my grandfather had sent me a short while before he bit the dust; it'd been stashed away in the confines of my closet, never to be seen again. I surveyed myself in the full-length mirror.
The outfit was a dark blue; the jacket opened up slightly in the front (I had a white collared shirt underneath) and flared out slightly in the back; the skirt was just above my knees. I managed to find some shoes that matched somewhat, and I snickered at the fact that high heels make my legs look about three inches longer. I clipped some of my hair back and applied a little bit of makeup, taking one last look at myself before going downstairs. I could already see the look of triumph on my mom's face, but it was worse than I expected it to be.
She looked like an evil, psychotic rabbit or something. "I knew you'd see things my way," she sneered, opening up the front door for me.
I didn't respond, only moving past her to climb into the car. On the way there I think I fell asleep, because before I knew it, my mom was snapping at me to get out of the car. I believe I called her something along the lines of a devil whore as I got out, but it was distorted through a yawn I tried to suppress. As soon as I closed the door, she sped off, and that surprised me a little.
I suppose she thought that I'd be hired right away. Well, why wouldn't I? I'm the smartest person I know, and I saw a big building in front of me, so that meant it probably had to do with computers. Unless, of course, she signed me up for some stupid janitor's job, in which case I'd leave. I like walking just fine, so I'd go until I found a nice restaurant or something and eat, maybe give her a little ring on her phone to let her know that they didn't want me.
"You must be Iduke."
I jumped a bit, as I hadn't exactly been trying to think about going inside just yet, but I saw a woman in front of me with a small head set on. She looked like a mannequin, the way her outfit was so orthodox, her hair parted like someone had used a slide rule so see that it was perfectly straight; I could have sworn she could easily pull off the dumb computer alerts with her soft, plain voice. Why I hated her right off the bat I didn't really know, maybe it was because she looked so fake. It had only taken me a second to make an opinion about her, so I responded with the new conclusion in my mind.
"Yes." No need to give any pleasantries to someone who could easily just spit them back out at me.
"He's expecting you; right this way, ma'am." She smiled and turned around to start towards the building.
I sure as hell didn't want to be called "ma'am" by anyone, let alone by anyone who sounded like she said the word a thousand times a day, like it was her job or something. I let my mind wander around that idea, quite amusing myself for a second before I stepped into the air–conditioned building.
Immediately I noticed how quiet it was. It was quieter than a fucking library, and the few people in the lobby were talking in voices that didn't carry at all, even though the floors were marble. That meant that my high heels were the loudest things in that huge room, and the people all looked at me for a second before resuming their business like nothing had interrupted them. They were like machines, too, the way that they were dressed, the way that they handed each other papers… the woman answering the phone at the front desk spoke lightly, sitting up in her chair like she had a stick up her ass.
It disturbed me, but then again, I wouldn't want to work somewhere where people try to be nice and friendly. I was actually a bit grateful as I climbed onto the elevator that I hadn't been sent to a stupid place that would buy me a basket of muffins because I was new in the building. There was still something a bit weird about the building, though; I wondered vaguely who could possibly command such authority over people.
We walked out of the elevator after a really long time; I assumed the guy's office was on the top floor. There was an elaborate hallway in front of us, mahogany doors lining the walls, all set with really shiny bronze doorknobs. There were small gold name tag plates on the doors, but I didn't bother to read them. I was looking ahead towards the giant double doors at the end of it.
The woman quietly, painfully quietly opened the one on the left, standing aside for me to walk in. I have to admit, I did feel a slight twinge in my gut, but I walked in anyway. I glanced around, and was really surprised when she walked in after me and shut the doors. Did she have to be present when I met whoever it was? I took another look around and realized that I was only in the secretary's office.
It was elegantly furnished, but I didn't take much time to look around, as I was watching her go to the even more fancy doors ahead to knock carefully upon the wood. I followed and stood beside her, and caught the last words of whatever the boss was saying to her. She nodded and smiled at me. "He'll be seeing you now. Good luck."
Good luck my ass. I didn't give her a response as she opened up the door for me; I merely straightened up slightly and adjusted my skirt a bit. I took a step in—and froze. There was the bastard himself, sitting at his big, sleek black desk, typing away. I must have made a slight choking noise of surprise, because his eyes snapped up to me, and he stood up, circling his desk to walk to me.
Looking past me at the woman, he pointed at her. "Katsuragi, you are now in charge of unit C; I expect you to be moved out of this office in fifteen minutes."
"Yes, Kaiba-sama." No hesitation or remorse. She had just been demoted, and she had nothing to say about it. Had I still not been in shock, I'd have cared a little more. The woman closed the door, and I was alone with him.
He wrapped his arms around me, pinning me to him in a vice-like grip. I still remember how scared I suddenly was at the look in his eyes. "Nice to see you again, Iduke. Meet your new master."
