Setsuna kept her head down as she walked from her classroom to the shoe lockers. She could feel the gleeful eyes on her as she demurely changed out of her school shoes and swapped them with her loafers for walking to the bus stop. She couldn't get her hands to stop shaking.
Today had been hell. Well, honestly, every day was hell for her. She didn't belong here, and everyone knew it.
"Kaiba Seto's charity case," she heard whispered about her.
Tears brimmed her eyes but she closed them and took several deep breaths to keep them at bay. The tears retreated and she shut her locker. With a glance out the entrance she discovered it had started raining. That'll make walking to the bus stop a fun adventure. Before she could exit, she heard her name being called.
"Setsuna-chan!" trilled a high-pitched girlish voice, a very friendly voice in garish juxtaposition against all the needle-sharp murmurs. Setsuna smiled despite herself.
Seiki Kaiba had been her best friend since they were six years old in grade school. The girl clung to Setsuna like a magnet for reasons that remained a mystery to her. As they got older it became obvious to everyone they were not matched in social ranking. Setsuna would not be able to continue on to high school as her family could not afford it, and even if they could have, they wouldn't. Seiki wouldn't hear of it and her father, the almighty Seto Kaiba, president of Kaiba Corporation, stepped in and paid her way, to Setsuna's absolute mortification.
Now she was indebted, and there was nothing more abhorrent to Setsuna than relying on other people.
"Seiki-chan," Setsuna greeted. They weren't in the same class but every single day at lunch Seiki snuck into Setsuna's classroom to eat with her. Their personalities clashed a bit, but Seiki just kept clinging to her and despite the logical ramifications of it, Setsuna appreciated it more than anyone could know. Seiki was her only friend.
"You're not going home today! You're coming home with me! Isono is waiting," Seiki announced jubilantly when she reached her.
"Oh? And what if I don't want to?" Setsuna teased. Seiki smacked her arm playfully. This was their little joke they ran through every time Seiko "kidnaps" Setsuna.
"Then I'll have Isono pick you up and throw you in the trunk!"
Setsuna laughed loudly at her friend's unexpected answer. The other students in the lobby side eyed her, Setsuna was known for being unemotional and cold and no one understood what Seiko saw in her.
"There's the car! Let's make a run for it!" Seiko pointed at the black Mercedes that pulled up to the front gate. She threw open the door in her carefree manner and pulled Setsuna along with her. They giggled as they darted between rain drops and dove in the backseat.
"Hello, Isono!" Seiko greeted when they righted themselves. Then she noticed it wasn't Isono driving.
"Uncle Mokuba! If I had known you were picking us up I'd have sat in the front!"
The handsome man grinned at her, his violet gray eyes twinkling. "Then get up here!"
"It's too wet I'm not getting out, but here I go!" And with that, Seiko clambered into the front seat through the opening between them. She ended up face-first in the foot space and had to carefully somersault her way upright. Setsuna couldn't stop laughing.
"I didn't know you were so flexible," she teased Seiko.
"I'm gifted," she deadpanned, which made Setsuna laugh harder.
Mokuba shook his head as he pulled away. "I don't know how you came from my brother. Setsuna is more like him in personality." His eyes glanced at her in the rearview mirror and he smirked as he noticed her blush.
"ANYWAY, how's your club?" Seiko asked.
"It's doing very well. You guys haven't come in in a while."
"Yeah well tell your brother to stop riding me about my grades and sending me to all these cram schools! I never have time to do anything anymore."
"You know Seto is like that because you have a lot of potential and you just don't meet it."
"He never says anything to Setsuna," she pouted.
Mokuba sighed. "Setsuna is ranked number one in your grade and could get into any university she applies to. She works very hard."
Setsuna shifted uncomfortably in the backseat, listening to them talk about her like she wasn't there. The fact that Mokuba knew this meant that Kaiba had talked to him about it. What else had he told Mokuba?
The scenery changed from urban to tree lined curbs and large fancy houses. Soon they approached the gate of the Kaiba estate and Setsuna felt the familiar sense of home. She knew Seto Kaiba would be waiting for them in the foyer when they entered. He would ask about school, chastise his daughter about her careless attitude toward what she had learned that day, and turn to Setsuna to get a better picture of what they were learning.
Seto Kaiba was thirty-five years old. When he was eighteen, he slept with some random woman and when she came at him with a lawyer and a paternity test, he paid her off and took Seiko to raise on his own. Seiko had been sheltered and spoiled, but her IQ settled in the genius range.
Kaiba quite liked Setsuna. As far as friends for his daughter go, she was solid. She was humble and quiet and had a good work ethic. He had no qualms with helping her financial situation, especially in paying for her tuition as she was Seiko's best friend and she was a good student. Besides all that, she had grown into quite a lady. She was slender with mahogany hair in waves to her waist and gray eyes outfitting a cute heart shaped face. She didn't wear make up and he suspected it was to draw as little attention to herself as possible.
He sensed something was amiss with her family situation but hadn't broached the subject yet. Later tonight he knew Seiko would climb into bed to prepare for her noon lie in Saturday morning, but Setsuna would come into his study and do homework on the sofa with occasional help from him while he worked on his company's business. He would try to get it out of her then. Setsuna was very guarded around him but was comfortable since she had known him almost her whole life. She just didn't want pity over her family situation, which she took great lengths to conceal from everyone. Even in his hacking research Kaiba couldn't find much about her parents. Her father was a truck driver and gone all the time, and her mother didn't work. He knew their address and had dropped Setsuna off enough over the course of her life to know they lived in a rather run-down rental home in an unsavory part of the suburbs of Domino. Literally on the other side of the city from the mansion. In order to go to their private school, Setsuna had to walk a mile to get to a bus stop and then change several busses once in the city limits. Kaiba had offered to send a car to collect her every day but she vehemently insisted he not do that, which, if there was one thing Kaiba understood, it was pride.
The girls entered the foyer and handed the staff their school bags to be brought to their rooms. Setsuna had had her own room in the Kaiba mansion for years. Kaiba casually leaned against a table by the wall and crossed his arms as he discreetly looked Setsuna up and down. Her blue plaid skirt was the proper knee length, unaltered, unlike Seiko and nearly every other girl at school, who had them shortened: thus, more fashionable. Her white collared shirt under her blazer was buttoned all the way up and her tie was straight, where Seiko had her tie loose and the top several buttons of her shirt undone and her blazer completely removed and slung over her shoulder. Setsuna played by the rules so as to not bring embarrassment to her benefactor. Honestly, Kaiba appreciated it, but he often wondered if she could ever have a fiery moment.
"Girls," he greeted.
"Hello Mr. Kaiba," Setsuna responded. He gave her a look. He had told her to call him Seto years before but she never did.
"How was school?"
"It was school," Seiko sighed rudely. She left the foyer to go to her room and change. Kaiba's eyebrows just about flew off his face.
"Mokuba was ribbing her in the car about cram school and she didn't like it," Setsuna explained. His eyes went back to her and she suddenly felt her face heat up.
She may have developed a small crush on her best friend's dad.
"Her own careless actions landed her in cram school. If she took it more seriously like you do, she wouldn't have to go. My own daughter can't be flunking out of high school."
She didn't have a response to that. She agreed with him but she also wasn't going to throw Seiko under the bus. Kaiba knew this and it was another facet of her personality he liked.
"I'm going to work until dinner. You're welcome to join me in my study and do your own work," he offered softly. She thanked him and went to her own room to change. He watched her climb the stairs, talking himself down from certain thoughts.
In her bedroom next to Seiko's, Setsuna turned on her stereo. She found a playlist for current pop hits.
Not your barbie girl, I'm livin' in my own world
I ain't plastic, call me classic
You can't touch me there, you can't touch my body
Unless I say so, ain't your barbie, no
It wasn't a style of music she liked, but this song was catchy. She enjoyed the chorus as she changed into a pair of gray jogger bottoms and a cami under a baggy, off the shoulder long sleeve shirt. She turned her stereo off and grabbed her bookbag and laptop before stepping into the hallway and finding Seiko had the exact same thought on loungewear for the evening. They looked at each other and laughed out loud.
"This is cute," Mokuba commented as he strode by the girls on the way to his own bedroom, which often went unused since he bought the club and his own penthouse apartment near it.
"We should do our homework," Setsuna told Seiko. Seiko rolled her eyes.
"We have all weekend," she whined. "I'm going to watch TV." And before Setsuna could admonish her, she sauntered off down the stairs to the den.
Now Setsuna rolled her eyes before turning around and stalking further down the hall to the study, which was also the library. She knocked before entering and went straight to the sofa area and large coffee table and started spreading her books out. She felt a presence behind her and looked to find Kaiba standing there with a latte in a cup on a saucer from his personal espresso maker.
"Thank you so much," she murmured and accepted the drink. It found a home next to her math work, which would be the first thing she would tackle while her mind was reasonably fresh. She hated math and had to work extra hard at memorizing formulas and understanding number relations. She loved having Kaiba close by for questions, even though she always felt like she was bothering him, despite what he insisted. Seiko, on the other hand, was a math wiz like her father and that made Setsuna burn with jealousy. Setsuna was much more literature minded and artsy and musical but she wished to have an easier understanding of math and science.
Kaiba returned to his desk and eyed Setsuna again, watching her organize her piles which would be left on the table all weekend as she worked on and off. She had taken her contacts out and put her glasses on when she changed clothes, which he found cute. He watched her tie back her hair in a braid and forced himself to turn his eyes to his own screen. Every so often he stole a look at her and noticed she was having trouble concentrating. She hadn't asked for his help once, which was odd, and she stared at her notes blankly often. He wondered what happened.
A couple hours passed and soon it was time for dinner. Kaiba saved his work and wrote some post it notes and called attention to Setsuna. She looked up at him, and realized it was time to go downstairs. He beat her to the door and held it open for her.
Setsuna was trying to keep it together as he held the door for her. He made her so nervous when he stared at her like that. He wasn't aware but she knew he kept stealing glances at her the whole time they were working. Was he mad at her? He made her a latte and practically begged her to work by him so she didn't understand why the looks.
The familiar scent of his cologne hit her and it made her blush. Stop it! She chastised herself. His scent reminded her of all the nights he spent sitting next to her on the study sofa teaching her how to code. He taught her full stack web design, and figuratively gave her more cards for her deck. She learned HTML, Python, Javascript, C, C++ and a handful of others from him. If nothing else she had a skillset to land a nice paying job after high school.
She really owed him everything. And she could never repay the debt.
