War of the Roses

By: Mako-chan

(Those familiar to you I don't own – like Jin and Xiaoyu.)

Chapter 1: The Emperor and the Empress

Guangzhou

"Miss Ling, the press relations consultant is on line one… Oh, and don't forget that you have a lunch meeting with Mr. Lee at the White Swan."

Xiaoyu nodded at her secretary. "Anything else?"

Mei shook her head. "Not at the moment, but don't keep your hopes up either. You have a full week ahead of you."

Pressing the glowing red button on her phone, she answered Mr. Zhang. "Good morning Mr. Zhang! I hope I haven't gone out on a date with some self-proclaimed bad boy and then wake up in somebody else's bed. What have you got for me?"

"Well to begin with, there is no negative publicity on you. In fact, we've been receiving nothing but good words."

Xiaoyu toyed with her glasses and playfully swivelled her seat. "So, if it's not about me or the company reputation or the sales, then what? I'm assuming this is the best news I've yet to hear."

At her response, the middle-aged man wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. His sigh did not go unnoticed over the other line as he began to speak. "It's news from Japan. I have been given some potentially alarming information."

"If it's not anywhere here then when and where?" she asked in a serious tone.

"Does the Mishima Zaibatsu ring a bell?"

"Of course. So what's our 'problem' got to do with them?" Xiaoyu asked, her tone a bit lighter than the last.

"They're the problem."

A long pause.

"They're the WHAT! But how? " Xiaoyu switched to speaker mode and began to pace across her office.

"Well basically, they own Japan in terms of every conceivable business except for ours. Fiber optics, semi-conductors… not their thing at the moment…"

"But will be and we have it." Xiaoyu finished and plopped on her seat again.

Remembering the files she went through the first day she took on the job, she learned that the Mishima Group entered into an agreement with their company. Outsourcing and buying their products and then incorporating it to theirs. Ling Enterprises had a rather "modest" office in Tokyo, and a plant in Kawasaki. They remain unbeaten in their home turf. Have they fully developed their R&D? What was the Mishima planning to do, disengage?

"But why am I hearing this from you? What's the Japan office doing?"

"Well," Mr. Zhang answered reluctantly, "you must know how it is back there. No different from ours really. But this is the Mishima Conglomerate we're talking about. And I know what you're thinking. They're not letting us go."

Xiaoyu hoped that she didn't have to hear the next words. She already knew.

"They're going to try to swallow us up."

"As if I'd let them."

"I hate to break it you, kid, but they have the means. It's no secret that the company's our money tree."

She banged her fist on the oak table. "Those sharks!"

Mr. Zhang added quietly, "It only gets worse. The fact that initially they have stocks put us in a difficult – and I mean difficult – position. I think it's best to have a meeting with your board members. Ask them the holders. Rather, WHO is the biggest stockholder other than you?"

Xiaoyu knew the strategy all too well. It had been done in the past, companies are doing it now, and they will do it if given the slightest chance. She wasn't about to lose this first challenge as the newly-appointed CEO of Ling Enterprises. She'd rather eat dirt than work for some ghastly and old Japanese man. Even if the worst happens, she'll make sure to put up one hell of a fight.

"Mr. Zhang, I really owe you big for this call. I'll take you up on your suggestion."

Xiaoyu pressed a button, hanging up the phone. Feeling pensive, she buzzed Mei.

"What is it, Ms. Ling?" she asked over the intercom.

"Although I would have loved to jump on the opportunity for a buffet lunch today, I'm afraid I can't."

Mei stammered. "B-but this is twice that you've cancelled on Mr. Lee! You can't do that!"

"I'm sorry Mei but I have to. Something really important came up. And I need you to call on my board. We're going to have an emergency meeting."

"What on earth for!" the secretary blurt out before she could censor her words.

"Well, you'll call them as soon as I say that if we don't get this meeting started, you may soon find yourself either out of a high-paying job or still working, but with no assurances of a high pay… and then there's also the incentive of working for an old man whom you have to child mind. Do you understand where I'm getting at?"

Ling didn't have wait for Mei's response. In ten minutes, everybody was gathered in the boardroom.

Tokyo, Japan

The signal light turned red, forcing a sleek black Rolls Royce to come to a stop. At the back of the car, a man in his mid-twenties was seated comfortably, one hand on his lap and the other resting against his side. Far from looking awfully bored, he was almost thoughtfully watching the public train pass by. When it was gone in a flash, he turned his attention to the sea of people before them, some walking calmly, while some sprinting and beating the blinking light.

"See anyone you fancy?" Mr. Oka, the family's trusted chauffeur, casually asked his youthful employer.

Raking a hand through his "thunder-charged" hair, he managed a lop-sided smile. "I don't hunt in the morning."

"So I'll take that you want me out of a job and home?" Mr. Oka suggested, making a left turn.

He chuckled at the older man's banter. "I'm considering it."

"It's as if you've not gotten into enough trouble from your father and grandfather for sneaking when you were younger."

"I was bored out of my mind. And still am."

"I doubt it if you can get past a hundred yards from the manor gates. You don't know how popular you are and how notorious you are with rival groups."

"If the people before me were less sinister, then my head in a silver platter shouldn't have to be on every one of those men's wish lists."

Mr. Oka laughed at the young man's insipid remarks. He stopped at the grand lobby of the Mishima Headquarters "Well, you're doing well at cleaning up their acts, aren't you?"

"Disgustingly yes," he replied as he got out of the car. He buttoned his blazer and gave it a straightening tug.

"Good morning, Mr. Kazama."

At 8:30 in the morning, officers and staff stood by the automatic doors, bowing deeply as Jin Kazama, the 26-year-old CEO and sole heir to the Mishima Zaibatsu, made his way to his office.

… I'm sorry, by now I know you have the feeling you're in for a long story. I promise to try not to disappoint you. Please bear with me if some descriptions are not detailed or that accurate. I haven't been to China, but I have been to Japan. Some references are true, some are…oh well, this is fiction, and mine at that so, don't be nitpick on the details. And I'm not a business major, so I really don't have the faintest idea about how big corporations run at an everyday basis. I promise the next chapters will have Jin and Xiaoyu in the same space ;P. As I previously wrote, due to getting one of my stories pulled out, I decided to sign up with mediaminer. If you decide to take a look, my handle is Shirip3np3n.