Disclaimer: Is my name Kazuki Takahashi? Because if it were, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd be out cruising the Nile.
A/N: Well.. Here's where some stuff happens. You'll see. Mentioning one more thing, I deleted my first story ETBL. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, I thought it sucked. It feels good to get it off my back once and for all...
And thanks to XvXChaosMagicianGirlXvX for her wonderful betaing! Couldn't have done it without her XD
Chapter Four: Insanely as it goes
Poor Akina had to suffer through the first half of the day at her new school. She was a total loner there, the new girl on the block, without any friends. Of course the routine was new classes and meeting new teachers and peers alike. During classes she blended in and wasn't noticed, but that wasn't the hardest part of the day. As soon as lunch break started, that's when she felt like a total outcast. At any ordinary high school the first thing you would be worried about was cliques and how to fit in there somehow. All groups were already established, and she was seen as the "newbie", an intruder that didn't belong. Maybe she wasn't interesting enough to be noticed or her peers were repulsed by her, she really didn't know. All she knew was that no one in the school cafeteria bothered to interact with her. So she ate her lunch in the stall of the girls' bathroom, hiding away, avoiding her classmates and the rest of her peers.
As for her search for Serenity, that didn't work out too well. She failed once again in finding her in the afternoon. The only other person she knew and saw during the rest of the day was Kaiba, who was in most of her classes anyway. Not that she relished in the knowledge that particular fact held. Things didn't exactly start out smooth between them, and his attitude was not something that represented potential friend material. Besides, she didn't feel like suffering through another session of being ridiculed by him. Enough was enough. Anybody would loose their cool in a matter of moments when dealing with him. You would either blow a fuse, run away while bawling your eyes out, or you would quietly endure the episode of getting to be bulldozed over royally. Take your pick.
As she was walking home, Akina saw Kaiba being picked up by a limo. Yes, a limo. She tried hard to ignore the consuming fire of envy burning in her heart, as she thought about how rich and lucky he was. She truly hated to be poor during instances like these.
Once at home, Akina napped the rest of the afternoon away, purposefully forgetting about the work she would have to do later.
The smell of dense water and the sound of wheels rolling against the carpet were the only things that could keep her awake. Akina was busy collecting shreds of recycling paper around the entire building. Not until she was finished was she allowed to take a short break. She now had to wait until the co-workers in the building assigned her any other orders. She plopped down on an armchair in the lobby.
Akina sighed deeply, wanting to go back home to her nice, soft and comfortable bed. But no, she had to work this lousy job because it was the only one that would even hire her!
She laid her head back, hitting the wall, and let her eyes travel the ceiling.
Every person that passed didn't spare her a second glance. Sure, they all recognised her face, but her attire was not the typical 'janitor look'. A red shirt with jeans and sneakers? No wonder.
'Why did I even get this stupid job in the first place!' she thought wearily, but bitter. All these changes happening in her life were stressing her out and with no expectations and without warning they were tearing her life apart.
"When things go bad, the only thing that can happen now is good," Akina said to herself, gaining a little bit of encouragement. She kept everything that bothered her inside and hoped that things would be just peachy in the future.
"Oh, just suck it up Akina! Life isn't that easy! Things come and go, so why are you wasting your time complaining? You've got to do something about it, you idiot!" She forced her body up, although her muscles were seriously over cramped.
A bunch of people had momentarily stopped with what they were doing and sent weird glances in her direction. Akina noticed all eyes were on her.
"And what are you all staring at? Haven't you ever seen someone talk to themselves before? I bet every last one of you is guilty of having talked to yourself at least once! Hey, I'm not the only one in this world, you know!" she announced, glaring at everybody.
They all seemed to have shocked expressions on their faces. 'What? Do they think I'm retarded?'
"Yeah, you all heard me! Now if once–" She felt someone tap her on the shoulder. "What the hell do you–,"
She never got to finish her sentence, as when she turned around, she was met with glowering, ice-blue eyes, ready to attack her. Nothing coherent came out of her mouth when Seto Kaiba was right in front of her face.
She managed to let out something to bribe him out of the crude thoughts she knew he had to be thinking about her right now. "Oh, hello Mr. Kaiba. Boss. Sir. My favourite–,"
"Are you sure it isn't required for you to go to a mental institution? Because if that option still stands, I'd be ever so happy to help you get in," he rudely remarked.
Akina turned red from sheer embarrassment.
Oh, how heated she could get by hearing just one sentence from this guy! He was treating her like she was some pathetic moron. This was the last straw he had broke, and it was all that was needed to officially tick her off. She had to let her anger out one way or another.
So she slapped him, hard, right across his face. The impact was enough to leave a hefty red mark, including consuming pain.
Kaiba's head was facing to the side as a reaction to the slap. He was most definitely astonished that she would even dare do something like this. The slap was an insult to his pride. Her sheer idiocy and now blatant disrespect compelled him to get rid of her once and for all. He had, had more than enough.
He clenched his fists, his fingernails digging into the flesh of his hand palms. When he spoke it felt as if the temperature in the room dropped below zero. "Ishii, that's it, you're fired. Make sure I never see your face in this building again. Now, get out, before I will have my security guards kick you out personally," he hissed icily.
Akina, boiling with rage, roared, "So sorry, but I won't let you fire me. Because I quit! Working for you is bullshit anyways!" She turned on her heel, ready to exit Kaiba Corp forever.
There were just some lines you didn't cross, and he just did. Yes, he had been her boss, and he was the superior, but that didn't give him the right to treat her like dirt under his shoes. Even if he was higher on the status chart, she at least deserved some respect. But, of course, he was rich and had it all, and she was just a lowly commoner that wasn't worth his time and respect. Why did people like him, who were higher on the status chart, feel the need to put people like her down? It wasn't right, it just wasn't; it was just that they had more money, more opportunities in live. They had the power to waltz all over people like her, because money makes the world go round. It was sad, but the truth nonetheless. It wasn't fair, but it was the harsh reality. It didn't mean however she had to like it, and it didn't mean she had to put up with his abuse. She would cradle what was left of her torn dignity and march away proudly, feeling no regret over what she had just done. He deserved it.
Kaiba, cursing under his breath, began walking to his office, his hand soothing the sting on his left cheek. He couldn't figure out how such a woman could be so difficult to handle.
When Kaiba was inside his office, he settled down behind his desk, trying to forget everything that had just happened. He logged into his computer and tried to distract himself from the pain, but the soreness diverted his attention from what he was working on. For a girl, she could really smack hard.
He started to clear his desk to organise. A mountain of papers was in front of him and he moved them aside to make room. But when he removed them, he discovered something under the pile of papers. It was a bracelet. He examined it carefully. It was golden with citrine gems and the latch to attach the bracelet together appeared to be broken.
The only thing weird about this all was that he would never have something like this in his possession. It appeared more suitable for a woman to wear. And the only possible explanation for this would be that an unauthorised person had been inside his office. Kaiba scrutinised his office quickly to conclude if anything in his office was missing. But there was still confusion he had to clear out. He kept his office door locked at all times when he wasn't inside the building, so how could anybody have gotten in? Not to mention he was the only one in possession of the key to his office and the top notch security he had installed in Kaiba Corp should scare away or expose any possible intruders. He thought it over some more, but nothing came to mind. He decided to leave it be for the time being, since he had much more important matters to attend to, so he put the bracelet in one of the pockets of his trench coat for safe keeping.
He opened an envelope that he had received earlier. It read:
A FRIENDLY INVITATION
Dear Mr. Kaiba,
You are gradually invited to attend Hatoshi Sagara's Annual Cocktail Party as the Guest of Honour per Mr. Sagara's request. Since your company has been partners with PaC Inc. for some years now, Mr. Sagara feels that he should thank you for the things that have been accomplished between both companies due to the established partnership. May we look forward to your attendance at the party situated at the PaC Inc. building on 23 April? If you attend, an escort will be required.
Sincerely,
Midori Sagara
P.S. - And YES, you have to come with an escort. I wonder who it'll be my dear Seto Kaiba...
Kaiba crumpled up the letter, cringing at another one of Midori's antics. Oh, he knew her alright. She happened to be the daughter of Hatoshi Sagara, a crazed seventeen year old, who was a tad bit too obsessed with him, and that was stating it lightly. He couldn't stand her one bit.
Akina was at home, sitting on her bed, relaxing. After all that had happened she just had to stay on the down-low. But what was bugging her the most, for now though, was that she had landed herself in the unemployment section.
She would have to start looking for a new job right away, because she needed to support her mother. Her mother was terribly ill and if something were to suddenly happen, they would need something, anything to fall back on.
She picked up a magazine and started flipping through it to look for any possible job offers. While she flipped she came across a lot of photos, pictures and stories featuring Seto Kaiba. When she rid herself of the magazine and checked out a tabloid she read an article that claimed that Seto Kaiba was secretly in a relationship with the daughter of Sagara Hatoshi.
"Ha! Like any girl could stand him for one minute! Even if a girl would be after him it would be because she wants to cash in on his fame or roll around in his money!"
Wadding through a few more magazines nothing she found in them could help her out. She sighed and decided to check out the news paper next. She spotted a job that donned the title, Help Wanted. It was a jewellery store that needed persuasive employees to help sell their items.
Akina thought, 'Why do they have to say that in the newspaper for? People don't have the need to buy jewellery at a jewellery store anymore? Thank god I still have my bracelet mom gave me for my 16th birthday. It costed a fortune. I'd absolutely die if I lost it.'
Right at that moment, Akina immediately stood up, realizing something. "Where the hell did I put my bracelet?" she asked herself, panicking.
The last thing she remembered was that it broke just yesterday and she put it in her pants pocket for safekeeping. Or did she? Akina raced to the laundry bin and searched for the overall she wore the other day. When she found it, she checked the pockets but found nothing inside of them. She scrambled around in her room next searching for it, and finding nothing when she checked her mother's room, the kitchen, and verily the bathroom. She looked under all of the furniture, checked her own pockets, dug through her back pack and she even looked inside the fridge! Good thing her mother wasn't home, as she would be quite curious as to why Akina was going through this ruckus.
Akina plopped down on the couch and covered her face with her hands, whining to herself. "Where is my precious bracelet?" she sobbed sadly.
Everyone says that the only way you will always lose, is if you don't at least try. She could not give up that easily.
"Okay Akina, rethink what happened. It was just yesterday after all. Okay, when it broke, you picked it up after fixing the lights at work, right? ...What did I do with it afterwards.. Oh yeah, I held it in my hand. Very sad moment indeed. Then I went to my ex boss's office to rub it in his face for me being so smart..." It took Akina a few seconds to realize the mishap. "Oh my god! I am the most stupidest girl in the world! I left it on his desk!"
And with that in mind, she dashed out of her apartment, running as fast as she could back to Kaiba Corp.
When she got there, she was hesitant about entering, conscious if she should just go in or not to claim something that belonged to her. Luckily, she still had all the keys to this building. She waited to see if anyone who happened to go in or leave the building would be able to help her.
What a coincidence when she saw Koji was about to go inside. She ran over to him before he entered.
"Koji! Wait!" Akina yelled, grabbing his arm.
The blonde haired man turned around and looked at her suspiciously. "Is there anything you need Akina?" he asked.
She smiled at him, meaning it was a definite yes. She explained everything that happened up until now.
"So, since I'm fired, I'm afraid I can't get my bracelet back and he'll kick me out as soon as he sees me, without me having a chance to explain why I even came back. So, just as a small favour, could you be a coy while I sneak into his office to retrieve my bracelet?" she asked, sweetly.
Koji shook his head a few times. "Err, I can't do that…It's too hard for me to do that…What should I even do?" He started to walk away, feeling guilty.
"Oh please, Koji! You know what they say, how a diamond is a girl's best friend? Well, actually it's an orange gem, but please! It means so much to me! I'm begging you! Please Koji, for the sake of humanity, do this small little favour for me? Please?" begged Akina. She knew she was being a bit over dramatic but it was the only way to break through to him it seemed.
Koji contorted an unsure face. "Oh, alright. But tell me what I should do?"
Akina hugged Koji, mentioning she would do anything for him if he ever asked her for a favour. "Okay, all I want you to do is just lure him out of his office by turning off the power in the storage room. Then you have to get out of the building before he sees you and hand me back the keys as you pass by. Let's just hope that Kaiba will be the one to get up and fix the damn lights himself..."
Koji went inside the building and did as he was told. Akina followed right behind him, veiling her identity with a newspaper. She grabbed the keys from him as everything turned pitch black, and she took out her janitor's flashlight from her belt. She said a low thank you and watched Koji escape.
Not until she heard Kaiba and an employee professor heading down the stairs to the third floor where the circuit room was, she camouflaged through the darkness with the newspaper again, walking along as if she were a co-worker in the building.
When she was coming up the stairs toward Kaiba's direction, she heard both of them arguing on how cheap the power in this building was for going on and off.
Kaiba held a flash light in his hand and it shone on a person heading in his direction. He flashed his only source of light at the stranger. Kaiba didn't interact with his employees much, unless they were important, but nonetheless he remarked something that came to mind, also raising his eye-brow incredulously at his employees' strange behaviour.
"It's dangerous reading in the dark if you want to end up blind."
Akina knew he was talking to her, so in the best manly voice she could muster, she replied, "It's nice to know that….," She paused after this, before she reluctantly added, while rolling her eyes at his comment, "Sir."
She timed herself on how long it would take until they figured out they didn't have the keys to the storage room. Akina ran into his office, which was gratefully left unlocked, and started to fumble all around his desk, not caring if she made a mess. It was hard to find anything since her flash light was so small.
She had gotten carried away for a good two minutes when she came across one interesting paper that was crumpled up into a ball. In its current state, it looked very inviting. She unfolded it and read it carefully.
"Attend to Hotashi Sagara's annual cocktail party? The guest of honour! And sincerely Midori Sagara... That's the-the-that girl from the magazine! Is it really true then? Ugh.. They do not look like they have anything in common. Except for being so freakin' rich!"
'He's such an arrogant ass and so rude and mean to me. What did I ever do to him? He just sends me so many mixed signals, I don't know what to think or feel…'
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"a voice spoke up behind her.
Akina, startled, turned around to face the one who had addressed her. She prayed to whatever deity up there that it was not him. But luck was so not on her side today.
She stared into his eyes, her cheeks flushing. "C-C-Can I help you?" Akina stuttered out. This was such an inconvenient time...
He had the flashlight under his chin, giving her the impression that he appeared to be some kind of scary story teller.
"I come back to my office to see if I have an extra pair of keys to the storage room and I find you here. I do believe I fired you? Explain Ishii," Kaiba firmly enquired.
Akina didn't want to reveal her reason for coming here, so she opted to lie instead. "I-I was looking for you so I could ask what math homework we got assigned,"
Kaiba furrowed his eyebrows. "Don't play games with me. I'm not surprised to find you have returned here to snoop around my office. Regardless, I want what you have stolen from here. You're not going anywhere until you have owned up," And he was deadly serious, she could see that.
Akina served him an angry stare. "I did not steal anything from your office! I never steal! So don't assume that I do!" she exclaimed heatedly, her eyes blazing. This was practically an insult, because just because she used to be the janitor here, a low class person would be blamed for stealing something valuable.
Kaiba looked intensely into Akina's eyes. After a few seconds, he decided to let her go. "Today, Ishii is your lucky day. I'll take your word for it. Now, get moving. I don't even know why you came back unless you still want your old job back? "
Akina, stupefied by his response, gaped at him openly, shock written all over her face.
"Well?" he asked impatiently. "I don't have all day," he informed her with a smirk.
Before she could stop herself, Akina said, "Yes, I would love to get my job back….," After that she paused, letting out a nervous cough. "Uh, now what was the math homework again?"
Kaiba walked away from her, back to his desk. "There isn't any," he grinned knowingly.
Akina, with her new job back, knew it was her goal now to put the power back on. "Oh, I forgot," she replied with a sheepish smile. A little dazed and confused, she exited this office, with the crumpled letter still in her hand.
Here's where it ends. You know what to do after. Fulfill it if you may...
