Chapter 4

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"Not a bad portfolio." Kaiba said. Sakura sat with her hands respectfully on her lap as he went through her papers. "The resume needs work, but other than that I think you qualify perfectly for the position." He finished, tapping her papers into an organized stack and putting them back in her portfolio. She nodded and smiled, but decided against speaking.

"Do you have any questions?" He asked. She did before she left but now face to face with him, she was drawing a blank. It had been so easy to talk to him in class, but this was his world she was in. He had all the power here, and she could see how people would describe him as intimidating.

"Uh... The pieces I'll be doing..." She said, barely finding her voice.

"Of course. I don't see this project being complete for a few years now, so you'll have plenty of time. I'm planning on having a fully functional world. Vendors, guards, travelers, peasants and warriors. There will be key figures as well. The pay for each will vary by unit drawn. Peasants and travelers are two hundred, guards and warriors are seven hundred, Vendors are eight hundred and key figures vary between two thousand and four thousand. Landscapes are between five and ten thousand. I'll be working with you on them." He really was planning on a complete experience. She had to give him credit, the man was thorough.

"How many of each are you going to need?"

"At least twenty vendors. The guards all have the same uniform with a full helm, so if you make four variations of them, we should be able to just change the voice actors."

"As for the landscapes, will you need textures for the trees and rocks? I can do wide spread landscapes of many settings, but all of that is useless if you don't have the close up values. The flowers in the meadows, the trees in the forests, the shrubs and vines in the jungles... If you're looking for perfection, these play huge parts. And using internet searches of photos and whatnot is copyrighted and illegal." She pointed out. He quietly thought for a second, filtering through the people he trusted in the departments necessary.

"I may have an idea." She noted, making him glance up at her. " I know someone who's good at photography. If I buy her photos, for say, an art project, we'll have the rights to use them, and she wont know any better. She'll have no connection to the project or to Kaiba Corp. She'll probably kill me for it later, but for now, she'll be in the dark." Kaiba looked her over, a slight smirk playing at his lips. She thought just like him. He didn't have her art connections, as he'd only ever used the art from the cards, but other than that, they seemed to think too similarly.

"Is she trustworthy?" He asked and Sakura looked up at him a little confused.

"Yes, but I figured you would prefer her be uninformed. It doesn't strike me as a good idea to hire based on the word of someone who hasn't even been an employee for an hour." She truly thought just like him, and even more, was able to act accordingly. She would prove to be a great employee.

"Very well." He slid her a phone. "Call her." Sakura looked down at his blackberry, then up at the clock.

"She's at work. I'll text her, but she might not respond right away." He nodded and she pulled out her own phone.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to see what you write." Kaiba demanded more than asked. She nodded and showed him the text before sending it.

'Hey girl, Can I hire you to take some photos for an independent project I'm working on?' He nodded and hit send, handing the phone back to her.

"I'm trusting you not to give away anything." He said, moving on. They began discussing some of the first landscapes he required when her cell phone buzzed. She looked up at him and he nodded, allowing her to check it. After reading the reply she handed the phone to him.

'Sure thing, what do you need?' He handed the phone back to her. Waited for her to type and read over her conversation.

'I need some textures. Sand, bark, stone. Stuff like that, and I also need some plants. Really diverse plants. I'll pay.' Throughout their conversation, more texts were sent back and forth, securing the deal. They paused, he reviewed the messages and they were able to cover a great deal of information for her tasks. Finally she got one last text message, read it, shook her head and placed the phone on the table next to them. He looked at her expectantly and she glanced between him and the phone.

"Oh, the subject was changed. She was asking about something else." He held out his hand and she gave him the phone. He opened the conversation and reviewed everything said.

'You don't need to pay, I still owe you from the cards you helped me sell.'

'Yeah, but I want the rights to these photos. How much you want?'

'Same as usual. $5 per black and white. $7 for color.'

'All color. I'm gonna need a lot of them.'

'Cool. Are you still up for the game tomorrow?' The conversations ended after that. He placed the phone down and continued with his guidelines. He described the first three areas he wanted done and gave her an idea of the time and culture of the people she would be designing. Finally, the meeting was over. Sakura rose and bowed politely. When her head lifted again she saw an outstretched hand. A moment passed before she took Kaiba's hand and they shook firmly.

"Welcome aboard. I'll see you in school."

"I love this place!" Mokuba cheered, excited to be seated.

"Mr. Kaiba, welcome!" The host said. The restaurant was a small one and everyone was surprised to see them there.

"Mokuba, we've never been here." Kaiba informed him as the host placed them at a private table.

"Yeah, but some of the kids at school brought leftovers from here to lunch. If the leftovers were good, then it's gotta be amazing fresh!" Kaiba chuckled at his little brother. "Oh! I think they deliver, I'm going to grab a menu." The boy jumped from his seat, but Kaiba put a firm hand on his shoulder and rose.

"I'll go." He said, smiling at the boy. "You order drinks." Kaiba started for the greeting area, but stopped in the doorway. Sakura stood at the order out desk, giving an order. After the man wrote it down and disappeared, a noise made him smirk. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone who's ring tone was apparently 'I am a banana!' Over and over.

"Hey chickie. I'm getting food now." She said into it. Kaiba leaned against the doorway observing this strange girl. "You take some nice photos?" His smirk faded as his business was being addressed and he continued to listen, only more intently. "Awesome. I cant wait to see them. Hey, be nice. Because... I..." Sakura smirked and he could tell she was now in negotiation mode. "Well, I guess if you feel that way, I wont cook that maple cinnamon pork roast for us tomorrow. You can get pizza. Well, then be nice." She won, as he figured she would. She said goodbye to her friend, then hung up the phone.

He moved behind her and plucked a menu from the stack to her side. She jumped at his closeness and swung around to meet him face to face. Immediately she sighed and calmed herself.

"You know, you're really good at that." She paused, looking around the place then back to him. "What are you doing here?"

"Eating?" She rolled her eyes. How different she was between work, school, and play. He liked her ability to switch so easily.

"This isn't exactly where the tabloids would place you."

"That makes this the perfect place." He opened the menu, and glanced through. "What would you suggest, seeing as this doesn't appear to be your first time." She looked him over and shook her head, wearing a small smile. She took his arm, moving it out of her line of sight so she could better see the menu and he glanced down at her. Normally he wouldn't allow a girl to touch him. He didn't like how it made him look, and he didn't like getting close to others like that. But he also knew, she didn't see him that way, and if she did, she didn't show it. It was still uncomfortable, but he brushed it off as a passing thing.

"Coconut shrimp and beef low mein." She said, taking a step back and looking up at him. She didn't seem to realize the impact that physical contact had on him, but he took it as a good thing. He nodded and headed towards his own table. The man at the counter brought her the brown paper bag stuffed with Chinese food and she left as well. She didn't live far, so the drive over was short. Once inside, her guests had arrived.

"Oh, food!" One called, rushing over to the bag. Sakura opened it and pulled out a box, then left the rest to the vultures. She moved through a hall and into the bedroom in the back.

"Jiro, I brought you some pork chow mein... Jiro?" Her brother lay asleep, curled on his side and facing the wall. "Jiro." She called again, placing the box on his nightstand and tugging at his blanket. "J-Jiro?" He fell over too easily and looked pale. She put a hand to his forehead, but yanked it back after feeling how hot it was. "Someone get the phone and call an ambulance!" She yelled, rushing into the others. It didn't take long for the ambulance to show up and bring him to the hospital.

They spent the night in the emergency room, waiting on something, anything about his condition. She dismissed her friends, apologizing for their night being ruined. Most went home, but one remained.

"I'm sure the doctors will find out whats wrong." Steph circled around and sat next to her. Sakura hung her head low. Tired and sad.

"It's probably the same thing that's been killing him for the last two years."

"They said he had a year left."

"Well... I guess that's life." Sakura said brokenly. Steph put her hand on her shoulder and rubbed her back. "You should go. You have work in the morning."

"Nope." She said, hugging Sakura to her. "See? I'm stuck. I cant leave." She said childishly. Sakura smirked and leaned into her. It was going to be a long night.

The bell rang, signaling the end of her art class. Her weekend had been hell between the hospital and the new routines her and her brother had to go through. She was so happy to have quit working in the hotel and start working for Kaiba when she did. It gave her leniency to work at her own pace, at home and have a flexible enough schedule to take care of her brother. She wandered into study hall and sat in her usual spot. She was the first there, which was usual, and began working on her calculus assignment. The words before her seemed to blur and the numbers values kept changing in her mind. She knew the work, but her brain was just fuzzy. She wouldn't let it show though.

Five minutes in, she received a text message. She was cautious to answer it under her desk while no one was looking, but unfortunately she had been sitting next to one of the most observant people in the world, and his cold blue eyes were trained on her. He watched as she scribbled down the answers on her paper much more slowly than usual and answered text after text. After a few minutes she received a text from someone other than her chat partner.

'You know, they'll take it away if they catch you.' She received from her contact 'S. Kaiba'. She quickly glanced up and he was looking at her with a half smirk and a raised eyebrow.

'You're one to talk. They'll do the same to you.' She wrote back before answering her other friend. Her phone buzzed again before she finished the message, forcing her phone to save it as a draft as she opened it.

'They wouldn't dare.' She scoffed at his arrogance, but knew he was right. They wouldn't piss off the one man who had single-handedly donated the most funding towards the schools curriculum. She opened her draft, finished it and sent it, then returned to her work. After her paper was complete she went to put it away, but the shifting of her and her book bag caused her hidden phone to slip and fall off her lap, landing to her right. Some students and the aid looked up, curious as to what was dropped.

When she glanced back down the phone was gone. Before she could say anything the bell rang, letting her know it was lunch time. She packed everything up and started down the hall, following the one responsible for her phone's disappearance. He led her past the lunch room and to the school courtyard. Once under his favorite tree he turned to sit, but came face to face with her instead.

"My phone." She demanded, holding a hand out. He scoffed and reached inside his famous blue duster and pulled the small phone out, but didn't hand it to her.

"What exactly was so important that you had to talk about it in class?" He said snidely.

"I'm not playing Kaiba. Give it back." Her tone was dead serious and she held some emotion in her eyes that captivated him. He lowered the phone, allowing her to snatch it up. "It... It's personal." She held the phone to her chest, gazing at it sorrowfully. After a moment she took a step backwards, intending on turning and walking away, but his hand shot out, grabbing a hold of her arm and blocking her escape.

"What is it?" It was a question this time. His voice was uncharacteristically soft. Almost tender. It threw her off. She opened her mouth to say something but her phone buzzed, taking what little bit of her attention span she had left. She lifted the thing to read the text, but the thing continued to buzz. She slowly flipped the phone open and put it up to her ear.

"Hello?" Kaiba watched as her eyes widened and her breathing stopped. "Call an ambulance, I'll be there as soon as I can!" She cried into the thing, snapping it closed and starting to move away, but his hand remained firm on her. She looked back at him quickly, trying to free herself, but he held on. "What are you doing? I need to-"

"Yes, but you're going the wrong way. My car's this way." He said, pulling her towards the back parking lot. He took her to his shiny sports car and started the engine. She gave him the directions to her house and he sped through the town. When they arrived they could hear sirens in the distance, but no vehicle was in the driveway. Sakura rushed to the front door, fumbling with her keys to unlock it. She finally got through, and he followed her through her small house. Once in the back he learned of the urgency.

A tall skinny brunette lay unconscious, sprawled across the floor, a phone next to his head and the emergency operator still calling for him to answer.

"Jiro!" She fell next to him, turning him and Kaiba knelt beside them.

"What's wrong with him?" He asked, afraid to touch the man.

"He... He has cancer. He's dying."

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