Chapter 5: Assets

Adjusting her purse on her shoulder she looked around with delighted enthusiasm. After her first three days at Kaiba Corp she had her first day off, having started in the middle of the week, and needed to use her time wisely. Armed with her credit card she was ready to go buy some new clothes, per Kaiba's demand. While his criticism of her outfit had initially stung rather badly after all the thought she put into it she supposed she understand his viewpoint. It was doubtful anyone would listen to her if she didn't look like she belonged in a business meeting, and he needed them to if he was going to keep her around. Since there was very little she could do about being young all she could change were her clothes. Even with nothing but credit left to her name she knew she couldn't ignore such a blunt order about it, so here she was, ready to spend money she hadn't even made yet. It was hardly ideal, and had her stomach in knots, but she saw no way around it. Yuka, Kaiba's secretary, had emailed her a list of shops to look at, the bulk of which were in downtown Domino.

Having never been in a city this size before she was a little overwhelmed, but quickly got caught up in the excitement of such a busy place. Having spent her entire life in a small town in the far north, this bustling, warm city was like a giant playground. She soon found herself giddy with delight at not only being in such an interesting city, but being fully unsupervised with no one to tell her when to be home, what she should wear, what errands she needed to run, or what inconsequential thing she had done wrong that would no doubt result in new bruise. This was simply more fun than she could ever remember having, and while she very much intended to buy clothes at some point she found herself nearly continually sidetracked by anything and everything she encountered.

Domino's citizens boasted that while they might not be the biggest city, they were easily the most diverse and technological in the country. She had a strong suspicion Kaiba Corp had a great deal to do with that as it brought people and their money in from all over the world. She was doubtless one of many that had immigrated here for work and she saw signs of that every few blocks. This place sported all sorts of ethnic shops and restaurants that were no doubt meant to appeal to all audiences, while somehow still very much keeping a traditional Japanese identity. Ignoring the food, which was as interesting as unidentifiable, she window shopped along the causeways, enjoying the economic boom the city was having.

She noticed she was getting quite a few stares directed at her and did her best to ignore them. Even in her hometown full of those of northern European descent she had looked different from other people and drew attention. Here, well, it was so clear she was foreign she couldn't get angry. She stuck out so badly she was expecting it when she left her apartment. It probably didn't help that she was wearing jeans, which seemed to be uncommon for women here. Most of them were in dresses or skirts, and every now and then she saw one in shorts. Maybe it was just too hot today to warrant it, but jeans did bring her some amount of normalcy with so many new things all around her. So she did her level best to ignore the gawking as she window shopped.

Several hours after she started wandering around she thought it was probably time to actually get down to do what she came to do. Heading toward one of the addresses she was given she paused to gaze through the window of a furniture shop at the end of a block, thinking she really needed a mattress at the very least, as she was currently sleeping on her floor and using her backpack as a pillow, when someone blasted full force into her. She yelped and tumbled to the ground as a warm weight toppled over her, driving her further into the unrelenting cement. It rolled off her and began tugging on her arm hard. "I'm sorry! Get up! Quick!"

She looked up at a boy with a veritable mane of dark black hair and soft, violet grey eyes. He had panic written all over his face and she was immediately worried. "What's the matter with-"

His eyes darted toward the alley he'd bolted out of. "They're coming!"

She scrambled to her feet, driven up by his fear, very confused. "Who's coming?"

She heard hurried footfall and the young teenager, who couldn't be more than three or four years younger than her, yipped in alarm. "Them!"

Three large men in dark suits and non-descript sunglasses took one look at them and charged at the boy. It was her to turn to yelp even as she twisted away from them. "Are you serious?" Grabbing his hand she pulled him hard to the left and away from the obviously dangerous men. The boy was quick, she'd give him that. He had no problem keeping up with her and she was no slouch in the running department, having spent most of her middle school and high school years on the track and field team. They raced down the crowded sidewalks as they dodged people, his hand latching hard onto hers as they bolted down the crowded streets of Domino. Behind them she heard shouts and grunts as the men tried to keep up with them with people yelling and shouting as they were pushed out or knocked down out of the way. The men might have longer legs, but she and the boy could move through the crowd a lot easier, even holding onto each other the way they were. As they sprinted she panted at him, wondering what the hell was happening. "Why are they after you?"

"Ransom!" He managed to tell her between heavy breaths.

She glanced over at the kid. He wasn't dressed like someone that could be put up for any sort of ransom. He was in a pair of old, faded pants and a pretty uninteresting striped yellow shirt. Around his neck was a duel monster card hanging from nothing but a thin leather cord. Had she seen him in a crowd she would think nothing of him, other than possibly mild interest in all his shaggy hair. She supposed this wasn't the best time to ponder the fashion sense of an apparently wealthy teenaged boy. Turning her attention ahead she glanced around as they flew around a tight corner, looking for any way to avoid the men who were slowly gaining ground on them, and spotted a game shop on the other end of a very crowded square. Dodging left through a big group of people she made sure they were behind them before abruptly stopping their frantic rush forward. The boy tried to pull her forward, but she slapped her hand over his mouth as she hauled him back to her side and followed the crowd calmly. The men had lost sight of them for a few moments when they ran around the last building and she used that to their advantage. "Shhh." She hissed, thankful the crowd didn't seem to bother with them.

He nodded, his eyes alight with understanding, and pressed against her side as he tried to make them as inconspicuous as possible. Luckily, they were behind a bunch of rowdy teens and they were too short to be seen. The suited men blasted behind the group without a glance and when she saw them turn a corner at the other end of the square she shoved the boy toward the front of the game shop, which they had been walking toward since they started tailing the group. Breathing heavily she yanked the door closed behind them as she shoved him roughly inside. The bell over the door rang loudly as she frantically grabbed at the deadbolt at the top and slammed it in place. Panting heavily she backed away from the door quickly as it was all glass. She didn't want the men to see her when they realized they had been duped and circled back. "Geez, kid. You sure know how to find trouble."

Turning around she found they had stumbled into a bit of a party, one she wanted no invitation to. Four of the crazy kids from her school, the one's that kept trying to befriend her with disturbing intensity, were staring at her as she tried to catch her breath. Two of them, Duke and Bakura she thought his name was, were absent. She thought that was something to be grateful for. The boy leaned against the wall with a relieved sigh, his hands on his ribs as he panted. He waved at them in a friendly, if exhausted manner. "Hey, guys." He puffed out.

Yugi seemed alarmed. "Mokuba? Are you alright?" She looked between them, working out quickly that they all seemed more than familiar with one another.

Mokuba, as that was apparently his name, gave the older boy a cheeky smile. "You bet. Can I use your phone?"

"Of course." Yugi said at once, his eyes shifting to her. The concern in his body posture was obvious as he made room for Mokuba to get to the phone on the wall. The boy moved behind the counter and she knew he'd been here before by the way he was acting. Figuring no one was going to hurt the boy here she glanced out the window anxiously as she set her bag on the floor. She didn't see any of the men around looking for them, and moved farther into the shop. The shelves were filled with every sort of game and figurine imaginable. On the walls, in what free space there was, were at least a dozen posters, most of them of duel monsters, the most popular game in the world. Under the counter where Mokuba was speaking rapidly into the receiver to someone, were hundreds of duel monster cards. Many were in foil packets ready to be sold in a group, while others were in individual plastic sleeves, and a few even in glass cases. She supposed those must be the rarer cards, although she knew very little about the game herself.

Once her quick inspection was over she turned her attention to the small group of other teenagers.

"Hello." She greeted, feeling awkward with everyone staring at her.

A tall and extremely well endowed blond stepped out from behind Joey. She was dressed in a matching purple vest and skirt. Under the vest was a tight fitted corset that showed off everything she wanted it to. This woman was certainly not in their class and began to circle her in a predatory fashion. "What have we here?" She demanded boldly, clearly anything but a shying daisy.

She was uncomfortable with the woman's aggressive attitude and her temper came out. "Back off, blondie."

The woman sniffed even as her lip curled up at the corner. She heard Mokuba agreeing to something before he hung up the old phone. Violet eyes narrowed when her attention was drawn away from her and suddenly the woman's face was right in hers. "Spunky."

"More like annoyed." She corrected, her back going ramrod straight. "Seriously, personal space."

The woman chuckled and moved to Joey. She leaned against him in a very familiar manner and she tried not to gag at the sweetness. Mokuba was unfazed by the physical affection. "My brother's on his way. He should be here in ten minutes." The boy had clearly calmed down already and she wondered how when her adrenaline was still off the charts. "He's calling the police too. Sorry if that messes with your shop, Yugi."

"It's not a problem."

That meant she was stuck here until one of the two showed up, although she didn't really want to stick around. There was no way she was leaving the kid alone with the druggies though. She could think of no other reason for them to act like maniacs. She supposed it could have been much worse, she could be trapped with all of them at school, like she always was. Crossing her arms as she got her breath back she leaned against a display case and went still. Tea began to question the boy. "What happened, Mokuba?"

He sighed in annoyance, as if being chased down by well dressed thugs was a minor inconvenience in his day to day life. "I was at the arcade and some goons found me. I managed to wiggle away and took off." He smiled over at her. "I ran into, ummm?"

"Sarah." She supplied quietly.

"Sarah, and we ran." He smiled at her cheerfully. "Now here we are."

"Do you know who they are?" Tristan asked.

"Nope. I've never seen any of them before." He shrugged without real worry.

That wasn't very helpful. She wasn't sure what the police were going to do if there was no way to even begin to identify them. She was fairly certain that describing them as tall men dressed in black suits was all but useless unless the police here had magic to rely on. As she contemplated that she glanced back out the window and spotted one of them coming back around a corner. Her mind raced in alarm. "One is coming back." She said sharply.

"What?" Yugi asked.

"They circled back!" Racing between them she grabbed the boy and shoved him as far back into a corner as she could get him and spotted a large empty box that had clearly been emptied of merchandise and was waiting to be disposed of. Grabbing it she flipped it over and shoved it over him, it covered him completely. "Stay quiet!" She hissed as she stood up straight.

Mokuba grumbled. "You're hiding me under a box?" She felt it move as he tried to push it off. "It's not like they're going to get in here with the door lock-"

Before he could finish the sound of shattering glass filled the shop. Her head whipped up in time to see one of the men stepping through the now empty space where the glass had been, his shoes crunching over the glass. A number of things happened all at once. The man had clearly spotted her through the glass and took a step toward her as Tristan and Joey shouted at him and leapt on him. Tea dove toward the phone, no doubt to call the police to hurry them along, and Yugi yelled for his grandfather, although she had no idea how an old man was going to help. She backed away from the box and toward a door at the other end of the shop, wanting to draw he man away from the his actual target, and thankfully Mokuba had gone completely still and silent.

The man snarled as Joey and Tristan tried to knock him back and somehow threw both of them off. Joey flew backward through the now empty doorway, hitting the sidewalk outside with a grunt, as Tristan was sent crashing through the display case she had been leaning against only a few moments ago. The man growled, his eyes on here. "Where is he?"

Instead of answering she backed up farther. There was no way she wanted to tell him, but she could see the result of that was going to be very unpleasant for her. The man lunged at her and Tea screamed, no doubt nearly deafening anyone on the other end of the phone line. With nowhere left to go she stumbled back through the doorway. Instead of finding herself trapped in a storage closet she found herself in a small living room. Seeing she might have a chance she ran through it, jumping over a couch toward another hallway as a small old man came hurrying out of another room. "And what are you doing back here young lady?" She heard as she ran flat out through the house.

The man wasn't far behind, reaching out and throwing the old man out of the way as he came after her. For her part she was just thankful when she saw a door open to an alley, not doubt propped to let the air flow through to keep the whole house cool. She ran straight out, leaping over the three steps that lead down to the pavement. Landing solidly she dug her feet into the ground and really pushed herself, terrified, but pleased she had drawn the man away from the boy. The chase lasted less than five minutes, although she felt as if it she had been running for hours. Sweat coated her and her lungs burned as the footsteps behind her got ever closer.

As she tried to dodge into yet another alley she reached the end of her starting advantage. The man got too close, snagging her arm and yanking hard. She lost her balance and fell forward onto the dirty, garbage covered ground. He let her fall and she tumbled head over heels until she was stopped by the side wall of a building. Her back slammed into it and she grunted, feeling glass cutting into her upper arm and elbow. Throwing her legs under her she scrambled back, skidding along the wall as the man loomed over her. "I've had enough of you." He stated, breathing even harder than she was. "Where is he?"

She said nothing as her fingers brushed over the neck of a glass bottle. The alley appeared to be littered with them, and it was no doubt the reason her arm was now bleeding. Growling under his breath he reached down to grab her and she threw her hand forward. What she had meant as nothing more as a brief distraction ended rather catastrophically for him. The bottle she surreptitiously grabbed had a jagged edge from where it had no doubt shattered on the cement. One nastily pointed shard ripped across his face and straight over his left eye. The man let out a scream and fell back as blood spurted everywhere.

Terrified by the unexpected sight she dropped the bottle and scrambled up, nicking her palm on the glass as she ran out into the street. She was almost immediately swallowed up by the crowd. Ten feet into the open and she started to spot police officers around and figured someone at the shop must have told them the direction they were headed. Realizing that she might well be interrogated if she went to one of them, and not wanting her background examined too closely for obvious reasons, she quickly followed the general flow of foot traffic until she was well away from both the man and the police. Half an hour later, having convinced herself that she wasn't being followed, she got back to her apartment.

When she got to the door of her studio, which was indeed very small even without any furniture in it, she realized she didn't have a key. It was still in her purse, which she had left at the game shop. Realizing that was the easiest lead in the world, as the bag had her ID, address, and cell phone in it she cursed herself for being so stupid to not go back and get it when she had the chance. Knowing there was nothing she could do about that, and praying the police hadn't noticed it or thought it important she reached into her pocket and pulled out a hair tie that had a few bobby pins attached to it. Taking two she stretched them out until they were flat and inserted them into the lock.

In the four months she'd been on her own she'd learned several helpful tricks including picking locks, at least simple ones, and pickpocketing. While not overly proud of either of the skills they had kept her alive and at least one was helping her today. Within moments she had successfully broken into her own home and quickly shut and locked the door behind her. While her apartment was small it was in a relatively good neighborhood, at least good enough that blue collar, hard working people lived here. The rent was in the moderate range for the city, and there was no notable crime in the nearest few blocks.

Her apartment was bare of everything, because she owned nearly nothing. Her laptop was sitting in one corner plugged into the wall beside her backpack and a neat pile of school books. The few clothes she owned were hanging in the small, closed closet which was set in against the same wall as her bathroom. Her kitchen was pristine as she had only a bowl, some chopsticks which she was finding trickier to use than she anticipated, a pot, and a pan. When she had accepted the job here she had been stunned by the amount she was given to move with. It had been far more money than she had ever seen, but as soon as she got here she realized how naive that had been. It had really just been enough to get her here and into an apartment with so little left over that she had barely managed to set up some basic utilities and get the car.

It would be several weeks, until her first paycheck, for her to afford anything else. The only reason she had even considered more clothes was because Kaiba had insisted on it. She had already guessed that most of her first paycheck would go to paying those off and had resigned herself to living like this for a few months. She supposed at the moment that was the least of her worries. Going into the bathroom she tugged her shirt off and put it on the edge of the sink as she twisted her arm about. Blood had stained her shirt and was now dripping down toward her wrist. Thinking little of that other than it was possible proof she was at a crime scene where she had seriously injured someone she began to clean the cut thoroughly.

Once she had it disinfected with some soap and hot water she realized she had no bandages and sighed in frustration. Looking about for something to help she found nothing put her stained shirt. Wishing it a mental farewell she tore it into a few long strips and wrapped her arm up to stop herself from bleeding until she could get to a store to buy a small first aid kit. Once that was done she twisted her torso and looked herself over in the mirror. Other than the ragged scrape on her arm she was alright. There were a few small bruises on her back and upper right shoulder, but nothing major.

As she was determining she would live someone knocked on her door. Her stomach sank as anxiety welled up in her. Grabbing the remains of her shirt she threw them into the shower and yanked the curtain closed so they couldn't be seen. "Just a moment!" She called in what she hoped was a calm voice. Tripping quietly out of the bathroom she grabbed a long sleeved shirt out of her closet and yanked it over her head as fast as possible so her crude bandage couldn't be seen. As she hurried to the door she pulled her hair down out of the ponytail, as it was a mess, looped the tie around her wrist, and reached up to straighten everything out.

Fearing the police, or one of the suited men, she looked out the peephole and frowned when she spotted the last person she had expected. Standing outside her door was an impatient and irritated Seto Kaiba. Why Kaiba was here was a mystery, but he wasn't the police or anyone trying to attack her. Unlocking the door she opened it slowly and gave what could only be a confused frown. "Why are you-"

"Hello!" Her eyes went to the left and she saw Mokuba standing next to Seto smiling cheerfully.

Her mind turned somersaults as she worked it out. "Uhh. Hi." She replied intelligently. Her eyes darted back up to Seto as she put the pieces together. She had heard around the office that Seto had a younger brother, one he cherished more than anything, and had been told that it would be in her best interest not to question Kaiba where that brother was concerned. She had shrugged that information off, thinking she wouldn't have much to do with him, but clearly this was an extenuating circumstance. "So… he's your brother then."

"Yes." Seto said emotionlessly, his eyes unreadable as he stared unblinkingly down at her.

She tried to block all view of the interior of her apartment with her body knowing what it looked like and not wanting him to know she was living like this as she found it rather shameful. She rather felt as if she had been hit over the head with a brick. He saved her the trouble of politely asking them inside by lifting his hand up between them. Her small bag was dangling from two of his fingers by the strap.

Reaching out she took it and held it to her chest, working out how he found her address. "Thank you." She said warily, not really sure what his motives were for bringing it to her.

Mokuba grinned up at her. "Thanks a lot for helping me. I was worried something might have happened to you what with that thug running you down."

"N-no problem." She stuttered, wondering what he had told Kaiba about their escape. This was awkward. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He replied good-naturedly.

"That's good."

Seto interrupted them, his voice clipped. "Thank you for helping Mokuba. We need to go. I'll see you Monday."

She had never been so happy for such a rude and abrupt goodbye. "Um, right, Monday. See you later." Mokuba waved jauntily and despite herself her lip twitched as his brother turned away and strode back down the hall.

His younger brother took a step closer to her and she smiled down at him. "Don't mind him. He's grumpy because I scared him."

She figured he was grumpy all the time, but let it slide. "I understand. Be careful all right?" She reached into her purse and dug out a business card she had been given on her first day, one of the ones with her personal cell phone number on it. It felt wrong to just let him go this way, and she felt a sort of kinship with him after their adventure. "If you need anything, or get in trouble again, give me a call."

He took the card and it disappeared so fast she wasn't sure she'd ever taken it out as it vanished into his pocket. "I will." He agreed, momentarily serious.

Down the hall Seto realized his brother wasn't with him. "Mokuba!" He snapped.

"Coming!" Mokuba turned back to her quickly. "It was nice to meet you, Sarah."

"It was nice to meet you too. You better follow him or I'm going to get fired."

His eyebrows drew together. "What are you-"

"Now, Mokuba!" Kaiba barked.

"Later." He took off down the hall at amazing speed and she wondered if he got so fast chasing after his long legged brother. Shaking her head she shut the door and locked it securely. Turning around she sank down with her back to the door and let out a low, measured breath. That had been crazy and horrible, and Kaiba was bound to think she was some sort of reckless fool… and she still hadn't managed to buy any clothes. It seemed as if her normal sort of luck had returned to her. She didn't know why she was surprised. Maybe the shops opened early on Sunday, then again, probably not.