7. Distracted

"So how is it someone so young is the CEO of an international corporation?" Sara gave up trying to concentrate on the scroll in front of her. "You can't be more than, what, twenty-five?"

Seto Kaiba didn't bother looking up from his own scroll. "Twenty-two."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Twenty-two? That's my age! How on earth did you end up in such a position at your age?"

Now he looked up, smirking at her over the top of his own scroll. "Actually, I took over Kaiba Corp from my stepfather when I was sixteen."

She felt her jaw drop. "Sixteen? Come off it! I know wealthy young heirs inherit their positions in family businesses, but so young?"

"It was less of an inheritance and more of a hostile takeover." He was completely matter-of-fact, as if he'd just told her that he'd purchased a liter of milk on his way home.

"Hostile… oh, now you must be joking!"

"I don't joke."

She eyed him, stunned. "You're saying you took over your father's company against his will? When you were sixteen?"

"My stepfather," he corrected her. "Well, actually, he was my adopted father, but we called him stepfather because there was no way in hell I wanted to be associated with him closely enough call him father."

"But a hostile takeover?"

"If you'd have known Gozaburo Kaiba, you'd be wondering why I waited so long. He was a foul, venomous snake, and that's what I call him when I'm being generous."

Sara stared at him, gaping, but he merely returned his attention to the text in front of him. She clenched her teeth and tried to go back to her own text, but was finding it increasingly difficult to not be completely distracted by Seto Kaiba. He was absolutely the most maddening person she'd ever met. A hostile takeover of his own father's company when he was only sixteen?

It was just one of the things that she was having trouble absorbing about this man. And yet, much to her consternation, she found herself utterly captivated by him to the point that she was having difficulty concentrating on the scroll she was trying to read. But why? He was attractive, true, and obscenely wealthy; a couple of hours ago they'd moved from his office, which had been pretty impressive, up to his penthouse on the top floor of the same building. If she'd been awed by the luxury of the flat Yugi and his friends shared, she was completely floored by the opulence of Seto Kaiba's home. Then, after giving her a brief tour, he'd gone and changed from his business suit into a black turtleneck shirt and black jeans, and the result was most definitely not helping lessen the distraction. He also wore a pendant that looked like one of those Duel Monsters cards on a chain around his neck. It was on odd, almost childish piece of jewelry for someone of his position and rather severe personality to be wearing, and it piqued her curiosity.

But still, it was so unlike her to react this way. She was not a romantic. Well, she was about anything to do with ancient Egypt or dragons, but not about men. She'd had her share of relationships, of course, and appreciated attractive men as much as the next girl, but she'd never felt this drawn to someone before, and certainly not within hours of meeting them. She did not believe in such notions as love at first sight or soulmates, and it was disconcerting to find herself feeling so enthralled by a man she'd only just met.

And it wasn't as if he were without flaws. He was serious to the point of emotional constipation, for one thing. She'd thought Yugi was grave, but that seemed to be a direct result of what had happened in Luxor. Seto, on the other hand, seemed to be this way all the time. She was reasonably certain his face would crack if he smiled, unless you counted smirking or the predatory grin he'd get when talking about a conquest of some sort. A genuine smile or warmth of any kind seemed completely beyond him. He also was arrogant and brittle and self-important. He complained at regular intervals that he had better things to do, and yet he continued to work with her, finding texts that he thought might be what Yugi was looking for and bringing them to her for confirmation, only to discover that he'd found a story instead of a ritual or a prayer instead of a rite. But when he did bring something to her, sliding close enough that she could smell his cologne, her breath would catch and she would flush like a schoolgirl getting an autograph from a rock star.

Stop it, Sara! You're not a schoolgirl and he's nothing special. He's an arrogant, brittle, self-important arse!

She tried to focus on her work once more, but curiosity won out and she looked up at him again. "I'm sorry, I just have to know, how on earth does a sixteen-year-old manage a hostile takeover of his father's company?"

"Stepfather. I just bought controlling shares of the company when he wasn't paying attention."

"But why? I mean, what sixteen-year-old wants to run a company? You should've been worrying about cars and girls and school dances, not stocks and shareholders."

He smirked again. "Like I said, if you'd have known Gozaburo Kaiba, you'd understand. No son of his was going to waste time on trivial things like cars and girls. I had been groomed to take over the company since I was ten. I just did it sooner than he expected."

"And where is he now?"

"Dead," Seto said flatly in a voice that made it clear there was to be no further discussion on that topic.

"So you had a horrible father—stepfather," she amended when he was about to interrupt again, "and decided instead of running away like a normal sixteen-year-old, you'd push him out instead?"

"Pretty much." He let out a huff of air and gave her a look so intense she almost backed away from him. "Look. He stole virtual reality technology I developed and used it to help train soldiers to be more effective killers, so I just took it back—and the company along with it. Now Kaiba Corp is in the gaming industry instead of creating military weapons."

"You…?" She blinked. "You developed virtual reality technology when you were sixteen, too?"

"Fifteen." He looked down at his scroll, and she thought he was going to go back to reading when he said in a much softer tone than she would expect from him, "Besides, I couldn't run away. I had my brother to think about."

"Your brother?"

"Mokuba. He's seven years younger than me. Our mother died when he was born, and our father—our real father—died three years later. That's when Gozaburo adopted us. I didn't mind the old man turning me into a corporate automaton; I was born for this sort of thing. But he sure as hell wasn't going to do it to Mokuba. I took over the company to keep Gozaburo from Mokuba."

She tilted her head, scrutinizing him as he returned his attention to the text. She tried to process this new information, to fit it into the mental image she'd been forming of him, and it forced her to reassess some of her opinions. Not only was there a surprising warmth in his voice when he spoke of his brother, the fact that he described himself as an automaton showed a self-awareness she wouldn't have attributed to him moments before.

"And where is your brother now?"

"Around." He shrugged without looking up. "Downstairs in R and D, last I checked. I let him test one of the beta versions of the new Duel Disk software. He's been bored lately with school out for winter break and his little girlfriend visiting relatives in Boston."

"Then you're his guardian now?"

"I always was. Now I am legally as well, yes. Hm. Here's something about a ritual," he said, changing tracks suddenly, moving closer to her to show her what he was reading. "Something about the 'Opening of the Mouth'?"

She tried not to notice his hand resting on her shoulder. Focus, Sara. "Uh… yes, the Opening of the Mouth. It's part of the standard funeral rites to prepare the body for the afterlife. It isn't going to help us without intact bodies."

"Hm." He grunted again, looking at the text once more, but without moving away from her. "Every other thing we read is about standard funeral rites. What are the chances we're going to find something different?"

"Yugi seems to think these texts would contain information outside of the usual Egyptian scholarship."

"Why? Where'd he get them?"

"From Ishizu Ishtar. She's the Director of the Egyptian Bureau of Archaeology. Yugi believes she has sources that other scholars do not."

Seto snorted. "I'm sure that's true, knowing her."

She looked at him in surprise, trying not to flush at how close he was. "You know Ishizu Ishtar?"

"Unfortunately. She likes to spout almost as much magic mumbo-jumbo as Yugi."

Her brows furrowed as a thought occurred to her. "Have you known her long? She's the one who discovered Seto's name, you know. She didn't add the o because of you, did she?"

"I met her four or five years ago." There was an odd quality to his voice, and Sara suspected he was being evasive. It made her wonder if that wasn't exactly how her favorite pharaoh got his unusual name. It certainly made more sense than the shared name being a coincidence, especially considering it was unusual in both languages. And yet… there was something about the name, as odd as it was, that just felt right to her, as if it truly belonged to the ancient pharaoh. And, come to think of it, to the man sitting beside her as well.

But now she was curious about this Seto and his relationship with Ishizu Ishtar. Why was he being evasive? "So how is it that a businessman with absolutely no interest in ancient Egypt whatsoever knows Ishizu Ishtar and can read hieroglyphs and hieratic texts?"

"I ask myself that regularly. I seem to attract the nutjobs like a magnet. I—"

The door banged open, cutting him off, and a voice that sounded like it belonged to a teenage boy rang out. "Hey Seto, are you home? Roland said you left the office a few hours ago, and I—"

A young man rounded the corner and skidded to a stop when he saw them. He had long, black hair pulled back into a ponytail and wide gray eyes that reminded her of something she couldn't quite place. He also had an exact duplicate of the strange pendant Seto wore around his own neck.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had company," he said politely, but he gave her a curious look, and she suspected that company was not a common occurrence in this home.

Seto shifted subtly away from her. "Mokuba, this is Sara Drake. She's the Egyptologist who's helping Yugi find… whatever it is Yugi's looking for." He sniffed in disdain. "Sara, this is my brother, Mokuba."

"Pleased to meet you," the boy said, and she was struck by how different from his brother he was. He seemed a bundle of warm energy, and didn't appear to have any of Seto's haughtiness.

She smiled at him. "I'm glad to meet you, too."

"So you're going to help bring the other Yugi back?" Mokuba flopped down on a chair across from them.

She frowned, confused. "Other Yugi?"

"And how 'bout the other Seto?" Mokuba leaned forward, his face alive with curiosity. "Is he gonna have to live in Seto's head like—"

"Mokuba!"

"Well, where else is he gonna go?"

Seto bristled. "Anywhere else."

Sara looked back and forth between them, feeling the same way she'd felt back in Luxor, when she'd first offered to help and Yugi and he and the others had gone off on some bizarre tangent that had made no sense whatsoever. Before she could ask what they were talking about, Mokuba piped up again. "So you gonna work through dinner, I take it?"

Seto put aside his scroll. "Actually, I was thinking we should take a break."

Mokuba gaped at him. "You're… taking a break? Like… voluntarily?"

"Yes, Mokuba." Seto gave him an impatient look. "This isn't exactly Kaiba Corp business. I think I can justify taking a break for dinner. You must be hungry, Sara."

"I am feeling a bit peckish, actually. And I could use a break as well." Lord knows she certainly wasn't accomplishing much obsessing over the man beside her.

Mokuba looked back and forth between the two of them and then gave his brother a sly smile. "You two should go downstairs to Shiroki Ryu.

"Shiroki Ryu?" Sara asked.

"It's the sushi restaurant a couple floors down. Really nice, but not so fancy you have to dress up. And very… cozy. With fantastic views of the city."

Sara felt herself flush again as she got the distinct impression Seto's brother was trying to set them up on a date.

Seto seemed to notice as well. "And while we're at Shiroki Ryu, what would you be doing?"

Mokuba shrugged. "The usual. Hang out here, play some video games."

"For food, I mean."

"Call for takeout."

"I don't think so. Why don't we all go?"

Sara wasn't sure if she was disappointed or relieved at the teen's inclusion, but Mokuba looked exasperated. "Seto…"

Seto just glared at his brother, then turned to her, his face softening ever so slightly. "Do you like Japanese food, Sara?"

She smiled. "I adore it."

"Good. I think you'll like Shiroki Ryu in particular. It's Japanese for White Dragon."