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t u r m o i l
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by sir mocha
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chapter 09: s c a n d a l
Sunday
"Serenity!" yelled Joey. "Where have you been all day?!"
"I believe I left you a note, Joey."
"Yeah, but you said you were going out. You did not say that you wouldn't be back until two in the morning!"
"Wow, is it really that late? I fell asleep in Kaiba's helicopter, and lost track of time."
"You fell asleep in Kaiba's helicopter? Was Kaiba in there while you were sleeping? Serenity, you can't trust that bastard, you don't know what he might try—"
"For goodness' sake!" exclaimed Serenity. "He's not as bad as you think, Joey!"
"Well, he must not be. You spent the whole day with him, for crying out loud! You spent the day with Moneybags! I wish you wouldn't go out with that jerk!"
"Oh, Joey," said Serenity, exasperated. "We didn't go out. We just…went…out." Well, that sounded lame to both their ears. "And regardless of what you wish, Joey, we had a wonderful day on Kaiba's island. The water was so warm and clear!"
"Don't tell me you went in the water!" said Joey in consternation. "It's waaaay too cold to go in the water! Go to bed now, before you get sick!"
Serenity stalked off to her room, muttering about overprotective older brothers who didn't know what they were lecturing about.
But apparently, Joey did know a thing or two, because Serenity awoke the next morning with a raging headache.
"I won't say I told you so," said Joey smugly.
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Blasted labor laws! Why can't I make my employees work on a Sunday? Kaiba had had even less sleep than Serenity, and despite liberal amounts of sunscreen, Fate had deemed it fit to give him a sunburn, on his nose of all places. These factors put the CEO in a very cranky mood.
Maybe taking Rei to the park will provide entertainment on this otherwise unbearably boring Sunday. Kaiba had work that needed to be done, but he was not in the mood, and for once decided to give into sloth and indulge in laziness. Yes, I think a trip to the park would be most enjoyable.
He pulled out his cell, and dialed Serenity's apartment (conveniently set to Speed Dial No. 3). When Serenity answered (in a rather dull, listless tone), Kaiba said, "I think a trip to the park would be an apt activity for the day. Don't you agree? A limo will—"
"No, Kaiba."
"…Excuse me? I said—"
"No, Kaiba. We are not going to the park today."
"Well, why the hell not?!" Kaiba's sour mood was not improving any from Serenity's impudence.
"Kaiba, I have one hell of a headache after not getting enough sleep and being too careless. On top of that, I have to go to work in a few hours, and I can not show the customers that I'm sick, or they'll be scared away from 'unhealthy conditions'. And on top of that, I have several hours of homework to do, because unlike some people, I'm relying on a scholarship to get into college. And on top of that—"
"Ok, ok, I've heard enough of your sob story. Just phone into work and say you're too sick to work. That ought to—"
"And unlike some people, I need all the money I can get! I can't just phone in sick whenever I feel like it." She was getting quite frustrated with the fact that Kaiba just didn't seem to understand, and her frustration was made apparent by her irritated tone.
"Fine. If you need money, I'll give you money! How much do you want? $100? $1,000?" He responded with as much nastiness in his voice as she spoke to him with.
"Forget it, Kaiba. Just forget it. We hung out all day yesterday. I think you've had enough." With that assertion, she hung up the phone, happy to have gotten the last word in.
Witch, thought Kaiba. I am allowed to hang up on others, but no one hangs up on me! In rather an ill humor, he went over to his computer and began to furiously type, going back to the old Kaiba standby of work, work, work.
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Monday
"WHAT? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
The manager winced. So much for Kaiba taking the news well. "I said, sir," he repeated a little hesitantly (not wanting to evoke that nightmarish Kaiba anger), "I spent much of Saturday going over some of the finance records. I saw inconsistencies with the projected profits, so my team looked more closely at the hard copies of Kaiba Corp transactions. There were substantial differences between the accountants' records and the actual. My guess?" He took a deep breath. "Several accountants were doctoring the books, and pocketing the profits."
Kaiba buried his face in his hands. "Shit," he said, muffled. "Shit shit shit. I should have been expecting something like this coming from those greedy swine in the accounting department." He paused, and then asked bleakly, "When you say substantial…?"
"A hundred million. They've been doing this since the company was under the management of your stepfather."
"SHIT!" the frustrated CEO yelled, scaring away several birds perched on the windowsill.
"Sir…? The company has maintained itself quite well despite this adversity…"
"No," said Kaiba, who almost felt like crying. "No, this company can manage fine. What's a hundred million to a multi-billion dollar corporation?"
He brought a fist crashing down onto the desk, startling the manager. "But if our stockholders find out about this, they're going to lose confidence in the company, and sell their stock as quickly as possible. And when the value of the stock plummets, so will this company. We'll experience our very own Great Depression."
He laughed despondently. "And when this company goes belly-up, the stolen hundred million will look like nothing compared to the billions down the drain." Now Kaiba's eyes developed a desperate, fearful glint that was all too apparent to the manager.
The flustered manager tried to be reassuring. "Don't worry, sir. We'll fix this problem. I've worked for this fine company for 30 years, and I've yet to come across an insurmountable problem. And now, Mr. Kaiba, would you like me to send in those accountants? I know how you like to have your way with bad employees."
"Your overconfidence and hopefulness sicken me," said Kaiba as a way of dismissal.
Disheartened, the man turned to exit the office. He was halfway to the door before he heard, "But your devotion to the company and your commendable handling of the situation so far merit appreciation. I believe a promotion is in order, Executive Kurakane."
Kurakane could hardly believe his ears. A direct address from the CEO, and a praiseworthy promotion to boot? Unheard of! With more determination than ever, Kurakane went to the task of finding the wayward accountants, so that Kaiba could give them their just desserts.
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"Hello, Rei." said Kaiba wearily upon returning home. "Guess what I did today. I fired six scheming, conniving accountants who have pocketed a hundred million dollars among themselves. Then I began preparations to fix the company and keep the whole thing a secret from my stockholders so the company doesn't go into financial ruin. How was your day?"
Rei stared at him with big, bemused eyes.
"Yeah, that's how I feel too."
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Friday
"Gentlemen," said Kaiba in an official tone. "I have just become aware of the existing debts owed to your companies by this corporation, and—"
"You should be more on top of the vital workings of your own company," said one venerable CEO rather disapprovingly.
"I'll admit that I should have been more aware of the situation. However, you must understand, sir, that a company of this magnitude has many facets that must be continually regarded, and there is little time for each—"
"I think," said another businessman, "that a loss of a hundred million dollars is rather pertinent to the well-being of your company. And it probably requires a rather careless CEO to not recognize a problem that has continually—"
"GENTLEMEN!" thundered Kaiba, provoked by the snide comments. "I tell you, we are having problems at the moment, but I will remedy the situation. I have the capacity to accomplish this task, but the results will not be immediate. I have called this conference to inform you that you will have to be patient. When I face a problem, I refuse to back down, and this is no exception. Those that perpetrated the crime were justly punished, and now we are going to double our efforts to see that nothing of this sort happens again."
One tactful CEO said, diplomatically, "We understand this, Mr. Kaiba, but you must understand that we too will be hurt if we cannot recover our lost money."
"Kaiba Corp will work hard to see that all the lost money is recovered. You'll get your money," replied Kaiba grimly. "I'll get you your money, or I'll die trying."
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Saturday
The sleek, shiny black limo pulled up to the front of the ramshackle apartment building. Kaiba stepped out, dressed again in black tee shirt, vest, and jeans. He made his way inside the building and up to the Wheelers' apartment. Impatiently he rang the bell, eager to get going with the day.
The door was opened rather vehemently by Serenity. She looked… awful. Her eyes and nose were quite red, and her hair was a tangled mess.
"No," she said, coughing. "No, Kaiba, go away. I'm in no mood to go out today."
"It's 11 o'clock. I let you sleep in a very long time today, after taking into consideration how much you complained the last time."
"Did you hear me, Kaiba?" she asked, coughing again. "I said NO."
Kaiba closed his eyes in vexation. "Look, Serenity, I've had a tough, difficult, frustrating week at work. All I want to do is spend a leisurely Saturday with my daughter. Is that too much to ask?"
"Life is not all about you, Kaiba! Perhaps I deserve to have my opinion considered too. I've been feeling like crap all week, and school and work have been terrible! I've been working my brain to mush all week, and I'm in no mood to stand here and be ordered around by you. I thought I could relax at home before I have work. So go away, please."
"Fine. If you don't wish to go on an outing, I'll take Rei, and we two will go out."
"The weekends are my time, as you well know. Just go away Kaiba, you're getting obsessed," she yelled, and rubbed her temples to try to chase away an oncoming headache.
"I am not obsessed!" Kaiba retorted just as loudly. Her actions were enough to give him a headache as well.
Joey appeared in the doorway behind Serenity. He glared at Kaiba, and said, "I believe she told you to get lost, Rich Kid."
"I'll 'get lost' once she accepts the fact that I am correct, and have a right to my daughter."
"Well, you don't have a right to harass my sister like that." He pulled a switchblade from his pocket. With a snap, it sprang open, and he held it in a practiced fighting position. "Don't make me make you get lost, or you'll be sorry."
Kaiba glanced scornfully at the knife. "Don't wave that toy at me, Puppy. I'm probably a good deal better in a knife fight than you. I'll leave because I don't want to get your blood on my clothes." He scowled, and stomped down the hall, thinking bitter thoughts.
"Yeah, Kaiba, just run away with your tail tucked between your legs!" jeered Joey, unable to resist taking a shot at the retreating CEO.
Livid, Kaiba seized a chunk of two-by-four from the crumbling wall. He threw it with precision at Joey's head, and it connected with a satisfying clunk. Kaiba laughed as Joey fell backwards, out cold. He took his leave as Serenity rushed over to her brother, checking to see if he was ok.
"KAIBA!" screamed Serenity. "When I told Joey that you weren't as bad as he thought, I was wrong. You're worse than either of us ever imagined!"
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july 18, 2004
Kaiba seems a little mad in this chapter. And I'm afraid that he's going to do something in the near future that you're all going to hate. Well, a couple of things, actually…
chapters 10 and 11 are The Chapters of the story. They're pivotal in the plot, and are long, important, and rather angsty! Anyone who was hoping that I was gonna give Kaiba a break, well, those chapters aren't for you. Then after chapter 11, we'll be moving on to Part III! And I might decide to do a Part IV, if the fancy strikes me. So yeah, there's an outline for the rest of the story. Cheers!
A lifesize Seto cardboard cutout for every wonderful reviewer! Cutouts to
Meii-chan (no, it automatically changes everything. Sorry, I'm not gonna add any crazy island people, though it would be interesting!)
IcyPanther (Well, as you can see, it was a rather important phone call! And my Grand Canyon TV had great channels…)
Sakura
Sesshomaru's Fan-demon(hmm… I thought I said whistle…)
Subaru the Jaguar(scary, I know. And I like Joey a whole lot more in the manga. In the show, he's meh.)
1324 (you hit the nail on the head! Look for the answer in chapter 10)
Chibi-Kari (are you a Digimon fan? Digimon ROCKS! And thank you very very much for adding me to your Favorite Authors! A glow in the dark Superball for you!)
chii-chan
Thanks a million!
I just got Vol. 5 of the YGO manga, and Kaiba is a real jerk towards Mokuba, which surprised me a great deal. On the show, he dotes constantly on Mokuba, and yet, in the manga, he calls him a loser. But, thankfully, he does redeem himself later.