Chapter 2

"Mr. Kaiba? Mr. Kaiba!"

"Seto!"

Kaiba opened his eyes and quickly put a hand to his forehead, which was still a bit sore. Mokuba, his little brother, came into view, along with the chopper pilot.

"What happened?" Kaiba asked.

"I should ask you the same thing," Mokuba replied. "We came to find you when you didn't come to the chopper. We've been trying to wake you for almost five minutes."

Kaiba sat up, trying to remember what had made him pass out. Then he noticed the empty glass on the floor.

"The scotch…" he muttered.

"What?" said Mokuba.

"You," Kaiba said to the pilot, "take that bottle of scotch down to the lab three floors down. Ask for Dr. Kenjo."

"Yes, sir," said the pilot and did what he was told.

"I have a meeting to get to," Kaiba continued as he stood.

"But, Seto," Mokuba said. "Are you sure? What if something's wrong?"

"Of course there's something wrong," Kaiba said. "I just wish I knew what…"

"B-but…"

"No, Mokuba. This meeting is too important for the company. If Kaiba Corp. and Saga Entertainment combine, it could greatly further technological research. No matter how annoying the CEO may be," he added, surprising himself.

"Huh?" Mokuba said, confused.

"Er… N-n…" he tried to say "nothing", but it twisted around his tongue and came out before he could stop it, "Saga is the most irresponsible, annoying, and weirdest person I've ever met! It's unbelievable he could ever be the CEO of a company!"

Kaiba clapped a hand over his mouth. Mokuba stared at his big brother.

"I thought…" he began, but Kaiba quickly said "I have to go," and immediately left the room.

Within two minutes, he was on the roof and climbing into the chopper. A guard came up to him and said, "The pilot will be up any minute."

Kaiba only nodded. He was afraid to say anything else, thinking something more would burst from his mouth.

When the guard had disappeared, Kaiba sighed and began to strap himself in.

What is wrong with me? he thought.

He didn't have any time to think anything else, however, because an arm had wrapped itself around his head, covering his mouth and holding him still. A deep, yet strangely familiar voice spoke softly in his ear.

"So, Seto Kaiba," it said. "You managed to escape me the first time, but what about now?"

Kaiba couldn't turn around to see who it was but froze when he saw the needle of a syringe glinting in the corner of his eye.

"You already had a taste of this for today," said the voice. "Let's see how you handle a third dose."

The voice sniggered and Kaiba felt the needle prick the skin on his neck, injecting him yet again with the mysterious serum. For the third time in three days, Kaiba's mind became muddled. He blinked furiously to clear his vision. How much more of this was he going to have to take? It was getting annoying.

"By the time you wake up," the voice said, and Kaiba heard it as though from a distance, "you will be on your way and I long gone."

It laughed softly again as Kaiba's head lolled over onto his shoulder, his eyes closed, and darkness overtook him once more.

- - - -

Kaiba jerked awake from the sound of the helicopter's engine revving up. The pilot had returned, unaware that Kaiba had just been asleep. He must have only been out for a few minutes. He quickly looked in the seat behind him as the chopper lifted, but it was empty. Whoever had injected him was, as they said, long gone.

Kaiba took a deep breath as he turned round, thinking carefully. Maybe it had been nothing but a dream. He could have just fallen asleep while waiting for the pilot and imagined it all. He gingerly ran a hand over his neck and felt a small sting where he had rubbed it. Pulling his hand away, his heart sank when he saw a small smudge of blood on his finger, proving he had, in fact, been injected, and ruling out the possibility of a dream.

But, what had it been? And who did it? Whatever it was, it was making him act strange, like what he had said in front of Mokuba. He seriously hoped that Dr. Kenjo had gotten farther in his research.

Fifteen minutes later, the chopper landed on the roof of the Saga Entertainment building in Tokyo. Kaiba stepped off and left the roof with a guard, keeping his mouth shut the whole time, and thinking. If he limited how much he said, and chose his words carefully, he might be able to get out of this with the deal sealed and his reputation in tact.

The meeting went fairly well for the most part. He gave simple answers and made sure things went as quickly as possible. At the end, however, it all went wrong.

Saga, a blonde haired, flamboyant young man, had just finished signing the paperwork. Kaiba muttered his thanks and stowed the papers away in his briefcase. Normally, he would have said it would be a pleasure working with Saga, but decided against it, not trusting himself to speak. He was just about to leave when Saga spoke.

"Say, Kaiba," he said. "I've heard you were quite the business man, but I didn't think you were the silent type. You've been quiet the whole meeting. Is something wrong?"

Kaiba, whose back was to Saga, froze and desperately tried not to say anything, though the words were screaming to come out and his head began to hurt again. Thinking fast, he said, "Yes, but, to tell you the truth, I'd rather not talk about it right now."

It wasn't a lie. He really didn't want to say anything in front of Saga, thinking it might hurt the business deal. But Saga wouldn't take no for an answer, and he pressed on.

"Why not?" he said casually. "Is it me?"

It kept getting harder and harder for Kaiba to keep his mouth shut and Saga kept going.

"Did I offend you somehow?" he asked. "If it'll help, then tell me what's wrong."

The words came pouring out of Kaiba's mouth before he could stop them.

"Yes, it is you," he said, turning round. "You're annoying, irresponsible, and will sign any piece of paper you see without reading the fine print! It's incredible that this company is still standing since you became head. In fact, I only proposed this deal because it would benefit my company instead of yours!"

Kaiba slapped his hand over his mouth, ceasing his flow of words. What had he done? He had just openly and deliberately insulted one of the most powerful men in the country, that's what he'd done. Saga sat with his mouth slightly open, completely taken aback. Kaiba didn't want to wait for the shock to wear off. He left the room as fast as he could and bolted down the deserted hallway, one hand still clamping his mouth shut and the other holding tightly on to his briefcase.

"Take off," he gasped at the pilot as he boarded the helicopter.

As the machine lifted, he strapped himself in and slumped over, breathing heavily, pressing his palms into his eyes.

What was going on? What on Earth could have made him screw up so badly? He had no doubt that he would arrive at his office to several messages from Saga, demanding that he tear up the contract and that he never wanted to do another deal with Kaiba Corp. again.

What a disaster, he thought miserably, looking up.

Then, he saw something he hadn't noticed when he'd first climbed in: a note attached to the back of the seat in front of him. He took it off and looked at it. It was not written, but made up of different sized letters that looked as though they'd been cut and pasted from a newspaper. It read,

ThAt Was JuSt ThE BeGInniNg.

- - - -

note: i hope this made you laugh cuz it sure made my sister laugh. the next installment may not be for a few days, so if you want to read on you'll just have to wait. Sayonara