Trébuchet Chapter 6, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

I just realized, I've been underlining the chapter titles instead of emboldening them. Oh well. But yeah, chapter six yada yada. By the way, my formatting was screwy for the previous three chapters and I only JUST noticed. Sorry for the searing pain.

Chapter 6

Wednesday, December 1st, 2004, 3:34 AM

Mokuba had left a few minutes before, around the same time Kaiba had woken himself up. After a quick goodbye, Mokuba cited how early his flight was and that he needed to get going. With a quick hug, Mokuba was in a KaibaCorp limo, heading to the airport somewhere in the darkness.

Kaiba himself would not be heading to the office for another few hours. He instead moved back into the empty living area and switched on the light, and reacted momentarily to the sudden brightness. After moving to the couch, Kaiba switched the laptop laying on the table on and personally scheduled a board meeting at noon that day.

Kaiba wasn't too worried about Ms. Hermand, or Disney, in the 'personal' sense; but in the abstract one. He wondered why she had been quite so surprised to hear that Kaiba knew that she had met with Pegasus; it was as if Pegasus had called Kaiba surreptitiously, behind her back. More than likely the connection between the two companies, despite the rivalry between him and the clown on the other side, was what actually had caused her to be surprised; despite their animosity, Kaiba and Pegasus had frequent, although luckily impersonal, contact. The few times a year they met in person were mostly torturous.

Kaiba planned to officially announce KaibaCorp's plan to extend outside of Japan at the board meeting. He decided that it would be a better speech to make, coming back from the hospital and in light of current events, than the one he had been planning on scheduling for the 2nd – the next day – involving a duel academy to be built. It was now that he mentally shoved that plan aside; it would probably be months, even years, before Kaiba could realistically focus on the, well, unrealistic, again.

Going international was the first rational challenge that Kaiba had had as the chief executive officer of KaibaCorp since he first completely reversed the company from a failing weapons company to a major competitor in the gaming industry. He thought briefly about how he would start the outline he would memorize later, and then suddenly remembered the goals outline that the vice president of development had delayed until later.

Kaiba emailed her quickly, saying that if she had wanted the transcript now that he was back, it would have to wait; he had thought of some changes and would be reviewing them with the board that day. The entire thing seemed kind of rushed, even to Kaiba; but of course it was the challenge that made Kaiba simply smirk in self-satisfaction, send the message he had typed, and open the word document in question on his laptop, now fully loaded.

He flitted back over what he had written just over a week ago.

Our corporation has seen unequalled achievements over the past six years. From scratch, we developed one of the most highly sought entertainment technologies in the world and have nearly tripled the value of our stocks since they began to decline in the early nineteen-nineties. Yet we cannot simply suggest that we have reached the limit; there is still work to be done, another barrier to be breached.

As I see it, the goals for the two-thousand-five year will

Kaiba backspaced through the last part of the paragraph he had managed to write, and filled it in with some ambiguous statements to be interpreted in the opening statement of the second. It now read

As I see it, the goals for the two-thousand-five year will be to extend KaibaCorp's sphere of influence to encompass a global audience. Already, Industrial Illusions Company, our long-time partner and main distributor of our merchandise, has announced their own intentions to spread. With the recent purchase of competitor Von Schroeder Corporation by the worldwide entertainment magnate Walt Disney Company, KaibaCorp must aspire not just to equal, but to surpass, the new challenge that has been laid in front of us over the past few days (November 23 – November 27). There are several ways in which KaibaCorp will begin to move forward with this ideal.

Kaiba then continued on, barely even bothering to re-read what he had written, with several strategies he came up with off of the top of his head, but that he was rather sure would hold up under the board's scrutiny. In all, the entire finished transcript took him until around four-thirty. When he was done, he simply saved it and sent it to his own email so it could be accessed on his blackberry. He then shut his computer off, unlocked the blackberry's keypad, and then forwarded the document off to the VP of development for her 'consideration'. Of course, she was fast asleep and probably wouldn't get around to reading it until after the board meeting was through.

He browsed through what else he had to do. Kaiba glanced over the figures that had recently been filed by KaibaLand – both in Domino, and in San Fransisco – for revenue from the past month. Kaiba was pleased to see that both were experiencing solid growth; he could only expect that it would hold through the rest of the quarter, set to end in January, keeping in mind that the high season was about to begin.

A text appeared. Mokuba was on the plane and was on the runway. It was a quick goodbye message, and thank you. Kaiba responded

Sorry about what happened. Didn't mean for it to turn out like it did. Glad you were here. Love you, Seto

Mokuba wouldn't read the message for quite some time, possibly tomorrow. Kaiba got up and stretched, and decided to walk around the mansion a little bit to alleviate the sense of impending boredom.

~ X X X ~

The members of the board were mumbling amongst themselves as they were filing out of the board room. As usual, Kaiba stayed behind, watching them. Despite what he believed they thought, he did not stay to disconcert them; rather, he preferred to mentally go over what had happened in the meeting in the room in which it occurred, as a sort of mental aid to filing the buzz of information from the past few hours.

The board meeting had gone somewhat rocky, but not quite badly. The first speaker wasted everyone's time by welcoming Kaiba back, which Kaiba had to thank him for through clenched teeth before insisting that they move on. They flirted with Kaibaland for a while, and then by a quarter to one they all were discussing the takeover of Schroeder Corp. Kaiba took the opportunity to announce his plans.

After Kaiba finished his presentation, which took maybe less than ten minutes, a heated discussion followed between the various board members while Kaiba sat, arms crossed, at the head of the table, more an observer to a bunch of schoolchildren earnestly working on a project. By two they had agreed that something had to be done internationally; with this, they agreed with Kaiba. As for the specific goals he had set in mind, most had some other ideas that Kaiba had to spend time shooting down with great lack of interest. The major one had to do with KaibaCorp's budget, which despite the company's growth had the annoying of habit of staying just out of reach of being anything convenient for a massive new project on the scale of the DuelDisk back in 1999 or 2000. Kaiba cited this small piece of information, and then continued by bringing up the revenue from the theme parks again and suggesting that some of their revenue be put into investing outwards and finding new cities to put headquarters. Kaiba continued, barely realizing he was making a speech out of his response, by saying how multiple headquarters would make it far easier to have KaibaCorp itself control their own technology and have to rely less on Industrial Illusions Corporation.

Kaiba's point worked, and it was now ten minutes after three. He had two more meetings to go to that were obligatory, but the rest of the time could be spent idly calculating figures, checking voicemail, and giving blank cards to Hiroko to fill out as thank you letters. As Kaiba stood to leave the boardroom, he began thinking about the media sensation that was sure to happen by tomorrow. Grimly he could imagine the headline, "Japan's Entertainment Companies Clawing to Go International." He'd have to deal with not only more internal pressure, but external as well. This week was going to be as tough as hell.

~ X X X ~

By six people were leaving the KaibaCorp office building; at seven, Hiroko left, and Kaiba was left alone in his office for a few hours. He believed he could thrive in the stress that had been placed upon him now. Both of the people he had met with had asked about the rumors concerning Kaiba's announcement to go international, and Kaiba confirmed them before having to answer petty questions about how their positions would not, in theory, change, unless they decided to pack up and move to whatever country they chose to go to. Kaiba himself had been thinking about where KaibaCorp would extend; his first thought had been the United States and China. By the United States he meant two places; the west coast, in San Fransisco, and some place on the east coast like New York or Washington. It was too early to tell at this point.

At around seven-thirty his phone rang. He didn't recall the number that showed on his caller I.D. offhand; but since Hiroko was gone, he couldn't simply forward to his secretary. He considered ignoring it; then double-thought himself, and answered.

"Mr. Kaiba," came the voice of Ms. Hermand.

"You're calling late," was Kaiba's reply.

"My apologies. I was calling about our next meeting. I realized quite soon after I left that we had never said a precise day."

"Friday," Kaiba answered. "That's the end of the week, isn't it?"

"I suppose. Have you thought at all about our partnership?"

Kaiba hadn't. It had only been a day or two. Perhaps he had forgotten about it in all of the stress.

"Yes," Kaiba lied. "I'll go over my thoughts with you on Friday."

He heard Ms. Hermand exhale on the other end of the line. "So you don't want to talk now."

"It's seven-thirty."

"You're still at work."

Kaiba scowled. This woman was beginning to get on his nerves.

"I was packing up, actually. Thanks for your concern."

"I apologize," came the quick reply, "and I look forward to Friday. At what time do you want to meet? And where?"

"I was thinking here, at the same time as on Monday, unless you had different ideas."

"No, I'm afraid I can agree with you." Kaiba practically heard the overly-sweet smile she must have been making. "Good evening, Mr. Kaiba."

"Yeah," came the reply, and the other line hung up.

Kaiba tried to contact Hiroko by phone but her line was busy. Rather than sit in disgust for her, Kaiba came to the conclusion that he could simply do what he needed to do himself. He scheduled his own meeting, called for the chopper (which was to land in around 20 minutes for him), and then packed up and left the room, checking Hiroko's desk for anything he could personally work on before he went to bed later that night.

Nothing of particular interest was there. There was a myriad of papers strewn about in piles that Kaiba could only guess as to how they were organized, if at all; there were picture frames with pictures of people Kaiba did not know and did not care to know, as well as stress balls, cut-outs from the comic sections of various newspapers, and an extra pair of shoes hiding in the far corner underneath Hiroko's printer.

As Kaiba turned away, however, a small slip of paper, a yellow one smashed between two stacks of white, caught his eye. Kaiba moved over and examined it. It was a phone number. Probably somebody else's phone number, he thought, and none of his business. Nevertheless, the number looked somewhat familiar to him. Kaiba set the sticky note back down, took out his blackberry, and began to stroll towards the elevator doors.

~ X X X ~

Hiroko heard a small beep early during her conversation with Pegasus. They never took very long; perhaps three minutes at the maximum, in most cases. This call was different. For some reason Pegasus had kept her on the line for over an hour, and she could only barely remember what it had been about. More than likely something about Kaiba and Hermand meeting soon, and Pegasus might have said something like Hermand calling Kaiba or something.

She was under the distinct impression that Kaiba no longer blindingly trusted her. Since his seizure a week before, he didn't seem as busy, or as engrossed, in the menial tasks that he did from day to day as he had before. Instead, she had noticed that he looked almost bored with everything, as if his mind were somewhere else. She had mentioned this to Pegasus.

"But of course, Kaiba-boy has a lot on his plate right now," Pegasus had casually responded. "It's no secret that he might have some trouble concentrating now and again anyhow."

It was Pegasus that hung up on her. He said that he was getting an important call on the other line. The entire conversation – from the abnormal length, to Pegasus' droning and childish monologues, to the fact it was he who had terminated it – gave Hiroko the distinct impression that he was beginning to have far too much control over this situation. But the daily calls paid pretty nicely, so far as she could tell from this week alone. She was in bed now, her energy having been drained from her. Then she got a message sent to her beeper around nine-thirty, after having just drifted up to sleep.

Upon checking it in the morning, she would find that she had been fired.

~ X X X ~

Pegasus' "important call" was from Kaiba, calling from his chopper. Pegasus hadn't been expecting him to call at all, at least, not that night; even Kaiba-boy's greeting had been accusatory.

"Pegasus."

"Kaiba! Dear me, what troubles you to call me?"

"Who were you talking to?"

Pegasus had giggled then, knowing that he could have fun with the new opportunity that had just presented itself. "Just a friend," Pegasus had responded. "Someone who's helping my company more than almost anyone else, actually."

"Is that so?" Kaiba never took kindly to Pegasus' attempt to stay casual and friendly. Kaiba probably thought it was some twisted strategy of his, to lull rivals or something wacky like that. But no, it was the way he was! And of course, he used it to his advantage. Why wouldn't he.

"I'm calling because my secretary's line was busy."

This caused Pegasus to panic, although his vocal inflection didn't change.

"Why should you call me if you can't even run your own office?" Pegasus had asked.

"I found a number on her desk that I recognized in my Blackberry's caller I.D. as I was looking through it. It was Industrial Illusions."

"So?"

"She's been calling you, Pegasus."

Never underestimate Kaiba-boy, Pegasus thought. Oh well, he had gotten the main information he needed anyway.

"You can't prove that," Pegasus said. "Just because my number is on her desk you can't think we've been talking behind your back for the past week."

"Is that what's been happening?" Kaiba got every hint, didn't he?

"Kaiba-boy, I was being rhetorical-"

"Stop calling me that. At any rate you know as well as I do that she wouldn't have needed to hide the number on a small sticky note instead of keeping it on her phone or in a rolodex."

Pegasus growled slightly. Kaiba was digging him into a hole.

"Seriously, Kaiba-boy. I'd begin to think you were getting desperate to out-compete my company."

"Maybe," Kaiba said. "I thought I should let you know that I'm cutting back on employees."

"That's not a normal sign of growth in a company, Kaiba-b-"

"One. My secretary."

Pegasus did not distinguish the dial tone from the loud humming of helicopter rotors for several seconds; only then he knew Kaiba had hung up on him once again.

~ X X X ~

It was interesting how Kaiba had managed to piece together that his secretary was being bribed by Industrial Illusions to provide information. When Kaiba recognized the number on her desk as the number needed to call Industrial Illusions, Kaiba at first hadn't thought about it too hard. Then he realized that the number wasn't Pegasus' cell number or even Pegasus' office; it was the standard number for the layperson, the same as someone calling to complain about one of their products. Kaiba had thought this was odd and had trouble fathoming that his secretary had to push her way up through the ranks of Industrial Illusions, with several forwarded calls, each time he had spoken to Pegasus. There had to be another reason why she was calling Pegasus, first because she was calling a different number that would be far more difficult to track, and second she was hiding it under her normal workload.

Kaiba then understood why she had been acting so horrible lately, why Ms. Hermand had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. While it was annoying to Kaiba – and more than likely to Ms. Hermand – to meet at seven in the morning, there was still time in California for Pegasus to set things up, react accordingly, and then casually call both parties. It was more than likely a double set-up. And Hiroko probably would have to be bribed to fall into any of this anyway.

At around nine, Kaiba was at his home office, where he sent a quick email via computer to Hiroko, who may or may not have been asleep, that he accepted her resignation and would be looking for another secretary. Kaiba had the scarcest idea who would replace her; more than likely, he could serve as his own damn secretary. He knew that probably wouldn't be a good social tactic though.

By ten-thirty, Kaiba had finished the announcement that he was looking for a new secretary, and by eleven, there was no more work to be done for that day. He simply thought about the entire mess between him, Pegasus, and Ms. Hermand as he opened up a game of minesweeper, attempting to stave off both the gravity of how complicated everything was becoming as well as a suffocating sense of apathy and boredom.

Yay, *another* long and boring chapter! I've only written to Chapter 8, anyway, so it's okay. When I get there I might have to see who wants me to keep on posting things and who wants me to just shut up and update Target more :/ Yay for polls!