Chapter 6: Debt and Equity
Having established herself solidly as a loner in her first month in Domino she found herself on her own during her lunch period. She had retreated to the far corner of the school yard, which was now her pattern. There was a small picnic table in this corner, which was at the fringe of the social area and the only place she could eat where she wouldn't be bothered. Behind her the school building shielded her from the glaring noonday sun, as she burned as easily as she breathed, and ahead of her the barred fence let her look at the world beyond the school. Having seen what was past it, she wasn't overly concerned with the view and sat doing her homework quietly as she listened to her MP3 player. She was learning Arabic, per Kaiba's demands, and it was going fairly well between the audio tapes and Bakura, her school tutor.
Getting her schedule changed had been an interesting experience, mostly because she had an audience when she did it. The first day back to school after her strange meeting of the younger Kaiba she had gone into the school office before classes started that morning. Last week she had realized too late that she should have read her schedule when it was given to her. She had been placed in an introductory German language class, which was really useless to her as she spoke it fluently. Thinking that perhaps she could change her schedule, despite being a week into the semester, she figured she could at least ask about it.
As she stood patiently waiting for the secretary to step over to her once she was done with the three students ahead of her she was surprised when Kaiba came in behind her. He made an impatient noise in the back of his throat when he saw the small line and glanced at his watch. She had been wondering how he was going to react to her after this weekend, was rather hoping the incident wouldn't come up at all, because the insecurity about not knowing what he would do made her anxious. Without thinking, and her nerves prodding her to react to him somehow, she ran her mouth. "Afraid you'll miss all that history you don't care about?" She asked.
His eyes snapped up at the sound of her voice and he spotted her in the throng. "Drake."
"Or, you know, Sarah." She told him, wishing she could shut up rather than babble when she was nervous. But instead of shutting up her mouth just kept going, as if she was under some sort of compulsion to talk to him. Sometimes she hated herself. "But seriously, are you in a rush to get to class? You seem to already know everything we talked about last week."
"I'm hardly alone in that." He told her.
That simply wasn't right. "Untrue, I know virtually nothing about Japanese history." She informed him. "That was actually almost interesting."
He eyed her, looking for insincerity. "Why are you here?" He demanded.
"Why are you here?" She threw back.
"I don't see how that's any of your business."
She smiled up at him, amused despite knowing very well she shouldn't bait a man that pretty much had her life in his hands. "Ditto then."
He rolled his eyes and then the secretary spoke. "Can I help you, dear?" She asked, looking frazzled.
She moved forward quickly, not actually caring if he knew why she was here and happy for a reason to stop talking to him despite starting the whole thing. "Yes, I think there was a mix up with my schedule. I was put in German class second period."
"Why is that a problem?" The woman queried. "You need a second language to graduate."
"I speak German." She told her. "I'm fluent in it."
That surprised the woman and she could feel Seto listening intently behind her. Clearly he wasn't bothered by blatant eavesdropping. But then, he didn't seem the type to bother with things like modesty or common curtesy. "Well, we can switch you to another language. You need four credits in one to graduate however."
That didn't really bother her. "That's fine. What other languages do you offer?"
"English and French."
She wrinkled her nose. "I speak those as well."
The secretary clearly wasn't buying that. "You speak English, French, and German?"
"Yes." She agreed. "English is my first language, I was born in the United States. And my mother taught me French."
The woman put her hand on her hip. "Are you trying to tell me you speak four languages fluently?"
She realized she was losing credibility quickly. "Yes." She said. "I don't suppose there's any chance you have Arabic? I need to learn that one." Behind her Kaiba snorted in amusement, and she wondered how often he actually found anything funny. He wasn't exactly known for his sense of humor.
"Wait here." The woman ordered.
She sighed as she watched her vanish into the bowels of the office. "She doesn't believe me at all does she?" She asked him.
"No." Seto said and she turned back around to talk to him, trying to be polite. "No one would believe that."
"What language course are you in?" She asked curiously.
"English."
She tilted her head a little. "But you already speak English, and very well."
"Yes, I know." He replied, not at all humble. "But I don't have an overabundance of time for what they call schoolwork. This makes my life markedly easier."
"I see why they consider you a genius." She replied, amused with him. "Cutting corners like the best of them."
He shrugged unapologetically. "English is the language of business. Everything else I hire for."
"Thank goodness." She said as the secretary came over with the man that had been in charge of her German class.
The older woman spoke. "This is Mr. Hiaki, as you seem to know. He teaches French and German."
"Bonjour." She said at once, realizing quickly what was about to happen. This was a test. What happened next was both entertaining for her and so fast paced the poor language teacher barely kept up with it. He asked her a question in French, which she properly responded to in German, before flipping back to French and asking him something else. He blinked and began to speak faster, clearly not expecting any sort of challenge. She wasn't put off, switching easily between the two languages for several minutes and watching him struggle to keep up with her. Behind her Kaiba was assessing her, she could feel it. When he made three grammatical errors in a single exchange she switched easily back to Japanese. "You're quite good, sir." She told him, although not altogether that good. Not that she would say that.
He shook his head ruefully. "Perhaps, but you're much better." She smiled happily, proud of this one talent she had if nothing else, and he turned to the secretary. "Let me go talk to the principal. It would be a waste of her time to sit in any of my classes. She's well past mastery." That said he turned to her. "What language were you hoping to get into? Or were you wanting to test out?"
"I'd like to learn Arabic." She told him. "But if that's not offered I suppose I need to test out to get the credits."
"Wait over there." He indicated a few seats by the door. "I'll see what we can work out."
"Thank you, Mr. Hiaki." She said gratefully, moving out of the way and sitting down. She caught Seto watching her as she sat gave him a hesitant sort of smile. Really, she did want to get along with him. He narrowed his eyes, almost offended by the friendly gesture, or suspicious of it, before turning to the secretary. He got some sort of waiver paperwork, she wasn't really sure for what, and walked out without looking at her again. Her smile fell at her failure to please or impress him, either of which she felt would be beneficial to her, as she waited. Eventually she had been sent to her first class as they tried to work out what to do with her, and at lunch time was informed there was another student who was fluent in Arabic and willing to tutor her.
It turned out Bakura, one of the boys in her class, would much rather teach to get credits than take another science course. Seeing little choice in the matter, and needing to learn Arabic one way or another she had agreed to it. When she asked how he learned it as they sat in a corner of the library he had told her his uncle, who was an archeologist, had taught him. Overall she couldn't complain. Bakura was a patient and calm tutor, and unlike the other teenagers in his group didn't seem overly interested in pressing her for anything. Generally her time learning was her favorite part of the day.
Having something to look forward to in the afternoon she worked as she ate her lunch, cramming as much into this time as possible. She was out of money completely and the small bowl of rice was all she had. Her financial situation had not improved in the slightest after her first paycheck. All of it had gone into bills, rent, her car payment, and new clothes which she had at least managed to get. It was good she could pay all her bills, but by the time she was done she'd had less than thirty yen left to feed herself for the next two weeks. She had opted for bare basics, which consisted largely of rice, some very cheap flavored noodles, and bag of low price frozen fish she was going to partition out in small slices in the evening. It would at least keep her going, and she had gone on less food for a longer time before. At least now she had food.
Letting out a sigh she continued with her small meal, wishing for nothing more than an apple, or a gift certificate to an all you could eat buffet. At least her next paycheck was coming soon. A steady income would make her life so much better. After this she wouldn't have to be worried about food, or a place to live, or anyone hurting her anymore. Everything about this was good. Her job was good. She was good at her job. Kaiba was pleased with her, even if all he did was nod at her when she did something right, she could tell. So what was two more weeks of being hungry? She'd been hungry for so long it hardly made a difference.
Turning her attention to her history book she continued to read it, trying to get through it since Kaiba now had her working the weekends as well. Not that she was complaining, she didn't have much else to do and her paycheck would be better than she anticipated as he paid her overtime when she got it. She would probably be able to afford a bed frame and mattress soon, luxuries she was sorely missing. Turning the page she continued to scan the text, translating it so fast it was as if she had always been able to read Japanese. She was getting faster all the time, and was sure by the end of the month she would be as fully fluent as anyone born here.
As she worked on her homework she was violently interrupted when there was a shout and Joey, Tristan, and Duke all fell over her table in a pile. She was sure if she hadn't had her earbuds in she would have heard them approaching, but as it was she had no real warning. She let out a shout as they slid across the surface of the table, taking out her book and sending her still mostly full bowl of rice flying. They were arguing and flailing, completely ignoring her as she tried to get out of the way. Sadly, she wasn't quite fast enough and got nailed in the face as Duke's hand flew out as he tried to either hit or grab one of the other two boys. The force knocked her back over the bench, and already half up to escape she lost her balance as she tried to get out of the way of the brawl and hit the ground, landing on top of her MP3.
All at once the fight was ended when Kaiba simply appeared out of nowhere and reached into the fray, yanking Joey out by his collar and hurling him off the table in the opposite direction she had fallen. "Enough!" He yelled with such authority that all three of the teenagers, and the entire schoolyard, including several teachers, froze where they were. Kaiba's eyes were sparking with rage. "While I'm sure we'd all benefit from you killing one another go do it somewhere else!"
"What do you care, Kaiba?" Joey snapped as he got up, brushing dirt off himself as he had been hurled into a rather rough piece of ground.
Seto sent him a scathing look as he leaned over and helped her up as she tried to untangle herself from the bench. Hooking his arms under hers he set her on her feet as if she weighed nothing at all. It was an impressive show of strength. "You're bleeding." He said at a normal volume.
Reaching up she felt her forehead where she had been hit. She noted that Duke had a ring on, it must have cut her temple. "It's fine." She said, looking down at her now ruined rice. That upset her more than anything, but there was nothing to be done. "Thank you." She said distractedly, fighting off her very ingrained reaction to being hit, which was to run away or cower. Moving forward she picked her book up and brushed the dirt off, trying not to look like she was upset. Picking her bag up she wiped more blood off her temple with the back of her hand and headed inside to find a bandage.
As she walked into the school nervous chatter started up and she ignored that too, knowing there would no doubt be any number of rumors about this within the hour. Cursing the three for bringing her into it she found the nurse's office. Ten minutes later she was disinfected, bandaged, and still hungry. She had taken breakfast off her schedule completely, and knowing she wouldn't get to eat until after ten tonight made her both cranky and depressed. Sighing, she thanked the nurse and went to her next class before she needed to. Tossing her book on her desk she pulled her MP3 off her hip and grimaced when she saw the face. It was cracked horribly from where she'd landed on it. She couldn't read the screen at all. Putting one of the small speakers in her ear she tried to get it to play but it was useless. All she got was a single burst of static and then nothing.
With her temper fully frayed, she got up and hurled the ruined device in the trash. It hit the bottom with a bang and she walked angrily back to her desk, pulling her hair out of its ponytail in an effort to hide the bandage as she went. As she threw herself back down she saw Seto walk in, his eyes sliding from her to the trashcan, which was still reverberating from the attack. She said nothing as he glanced in to see what had received the brunt of her frustration, only pulled her homework out and set it aside to turn in. Other people began to file in around Kaiba, skirting him when he didn't move. After a few moments he went to his seat, saying nothing as he sat beside her at his own desk. A moment later and Joey, Tristan, and Duke came in, being pushed rather roughly by Tea. "Go apologize!" The tall brunette snapped. Yugi nodded adamantly in agreement and she hunched her shoulders up in annoyance.
Seto sat watching the scene as the three approached her. Joey stopped in front of the other two. "Look, we're real sorry-"
"You have literally inconvenienced me in every way possible." She snapped, using anger to cover up the lingering feelings of fear and helplessness. "I don't want to hear it. Just go away."
"That's no way to accept an apology." Tristan said.
She glared up at him. "Does it appear to you like I look real open to accepting an apology right now?" She asked.
"Not especially." Tristan replied.
She clicked her cheek and pointed at him. "Well spotted."
"Look." Duke pushed in. "It was a stupid argument that got out of hand. We didn't think-"
"I really think that's a problem you all have most of the time." She interrupted.
"You're kinda unpleasant, you know that?" Joey asked, becoming annoyed.
"I can't imagine why." She said with heavy sarcasm. "Now go away."
"Whateva'." Joey said. "Come on, there's no pleasing this one. Women."
She sent him a scathing look but said nothing else, trying to rein herself in. Seto was watching her out of the corner of his eye and she knew it. She also knew he was analyzing her, judging her. She had a feeling he was compiling data on her the same way he did with computer programs and other companies. So she made herself calm down, becoming impassive again, mostly because she had no idea what it was he was searching for. As class started his eyebrow twitched up and he opened his book, turning his attention away from her. Nothing of interest happened throughout the civics and law lesson and soon they were in a science lecture, which she had before at her last school. Losing interest she felt exhaustion and hunger setting in and her body let her know about it. Her stomach growled and she shifted, beginning to doodle on her notebook, ignoring her body as best she could.
"Now let's see if you understand the basic principal of the digestive system." The teacher said, which she found fully ironic. "Pair up with the person beside you and draw an accurate diagram of what we've been talking about. I'm passing around an empty body diagram for you to sketch on. You may only work with your partner." She said firmly. "And yes, this is a test grade, so I hope you were paying attention." Most of the class groaned as she clicked her mechanical pencil a few times to get ready. "I'm sorry, what was that?" The teacher asked. "You wanted to work alone?"
"No!" Several students, including Joey and Tristan, said adamantly.
"That's what I thought." She replied. "Now pair up and put your books away."
She set her book back in her bag and when she looked up Seto had shoved his desk against hers. He seemed impassive about the whole thing and sat beside her. The teacher set a paper in front of them and he took it, putting both of their names at the top. "Were you paying attention at all?" He asked in a bored sort of way, no doubt expecting he was going to have to do this all himself.
Without a word she took the paper from him and sent him an unimpressed look. He raised an eyebrow in a silent challenge and she reached into her bag and pulled out a pen, more than willing to prove she knew this. He frowned slightly and she began to sketch at a quick clip. He watched her quietly, saying nothing as she worked. The rest of the class was talking or arguing, while they sat silently in the back corner. As she made her way past the pancreas her own stomach growled again and she continued to ignore it. Ten minutes later and she had completed the entire sketch without pause or mistakes and began to label it rapidly. She didn't stop until she got to one of the glands and then hesitated, searching her mind for the word. Kaiba was watching her intently as she hovered over the last blank space. After a moment she grabbed a piece of scrap paper and wrote the word in English in an effort to help jog her memory. Knowing how her mind worked she began to translate it in every language she knew.
She felt his interest increase exponentially as she made a list. It was clear he must have been interested in how her brain processed information, because really being able to speak as many languages as she could was extremely odd. It was also clear that he knew the answer to this, but wasn't going to help her unless she asked. After another minute she finally found the word as she made rapid connections. Feeling better she wrote the right word and circled it on the scrap paper. She was about to write it on their test when he caught her hand over the paper. She looked up at him and he spoke. "Almost." He said. "Look at it again."
Turning back to her writing she frowned. She stared at it for a long time. Finally, not detecting her error, she looked back up at him. "I don't know what I did wrong. That's the right word."
"Yes." He agreed, reaching over and adding a small mark to her writing. "You forgot to add this to the letter. It changes the context of the meaning. Technically you're right, and we would get credit, but it's still incorrect."
"Oh." She said with interest, staring at the mark intently. "Does that happen on all medical terminology?"
"About half."
She processed that for several seconds, storing the information away, and he watched her as her eyes no doubt went unfocused. Then she blinked, coming back, and wrote the right answer on the paper. "Japanese is an interesting language." She remarked.
Her stomach growled yet again as she set her pen down and repressed a sigh. She was so hungry. As she thought that he pressed something into her hand under the desk. She jumped as her fingers wrapped around it on instinct. She felt cool foil and glanced down, seeing he had put a protein bar in her hand. "Don't get caught eating it in class." He said, examining the drawing critically.
She ripped into the foil quietly, nearly out of her head with relief. "Thank you." She whispered sincerely as she yanked a piece off and put it in her mouth when the teacher was looking the other direction. She wolfed the bar down in record time and then shoved the wrapper in her backpack. Seto ignored her as she ate and looked out the window, clearly bored now that this was done. It was clear the rest of the class would be working for some time and she put her head down on her desk, pillowing it in her arms as she waited. Now that her stomach was half full she was sleepy and would have loved time for a nap today, that, and she had a headache from being hit.
The teacher looked back to see both of them completely checked out and came over. She sat up at once, but Seto continued looking out the window impassively, his arms crossed. Their science teacher picked up the test and raised an eyebrow when she saw it was in pen. "Very good." She told them. She set another outline person in front of them. "I believe both of you have a firm grasp on this unit. If you can complete the circulatory system with the same accuracy you can use this class period as a study hall for the rest of the week."
That had Seto's attention snapping back and he took the paper at once, not letting her have a chance this time as he picked up her pen. The teacher shook her head as he started drawing rapidly before going back to walking around the classroom. She wondered what he wanted to work on all week instead of science, or if he was simply bored out of his mind. She watched as he went as fast as she had, and within ten minutes he was labeling. "You're a good artist." She told him as he started labeling. He grunted in reply, clearly agreeing, and exasperation tugged at her. "And humble. It's your most attractive quality."
"Are you done?" He asked sarcastically as he completed the sheet.
"Do you have any more food?" She asked. "That would for sure keep me quiet."
"No." He told her.
"Lame." She pouted.
"Why didn't you bring more than a bowl of rice for lunch then?"
"I didn't even get to eat it." She grumbled.
"That wasn't enough food to fill up a toddler." He volleyed back as he flipped the quiz over and shoved it to the edge of the desk to be collected.
She put her cheek on her hand and pouted out the window, feeling this was all very unfair. "What difference does that make? I still didn't get to eat it."
"It makes a difference because there are only two reasons you would do that."
She turned back to him, wondering what the hell went on in his head. "Enlighten me."
"Either you have an eating disorder or that's all the food you had. And since you just ate that snack bar like you've never seen food before I think we can rule out an eating disorder even if you are slim."
She tried to bluff her way out of it, and it wasn't hard as she had plenty of practice. "Or, conversely, I simply didn't have time to pack anything else this morning."
"That's the only thing you've brought to lunch since you started." He told her.
"It's creepy that you know that." She informed him, not liking that he knew that one bit. "Why are you watching me?"
He was neither embarrassed nor remorseful. "It's important to know about my employees. Why don't you have food?"
This guy was really annoying. "Why don't you have any food?" She asked.
"Mostly because you ate it." He told her. "Now stop avoiding the question."
"Ug, fine." She said sulkily, worried he would fire her if she lied about it. She was sure he hadn't been bluffing about that. "I'm budgeting if you must know."
"Most budgets include food." He pointed out.
She rolled her eyes. "God, you are annoying! I ran out of money all right? Jesus."
He frowned and stared at her. "How did you run out of money?" He asked in real confusion, as if it had never occurred to him that this was a possibility. She supposed if she were a billionaire she would have similar feelings.
"Wow." She replied.
"That wasn't an answer." He told her. "What could you possibly need more than food?"
"Um, a place to live?" She said. "You know, roof over my head, light to see by?"
"I gave you plenty of money to cover rent." He told her.
"If by gave me, you mean I earned it." She corrected. "And just as an FYI for those of us that live in normal person world, you have to put a downpayment on an apartment to get it, doubling your rent in the first month. The same applies to utilities, although those tend to vary between thirty and two hundred percent of the monthly payment. So yeah, I hit the end of my paycheck all right?"
He was clearly calculating. "You still should have had-"
"Clothes." She supplied.
That completed his mental math. "I'll have money put in your account." He told her.
Her head reared up. "Um, no. I'm not taking anything from you I didn't earn."
He smirked, as if satisfied with himself. "Ah, so pride is your sin."
"Bite me." She replied sourly, disliking him in this moment.
"Touchy." He threw back. "Consider it an advance on your next pay check." He told her. "I can't have you passing out from lack of food."
"I do not need-"
"I don't care." He said, cutting her off. "And I refuse to argue with you as I'm the one in charge." She narrowed her eyes, her temper rising again. He watched her out of the corner of his eye again. He noted easily that he had angered her, and that she was silently seething in her seat. Oddly, it didn't seem to please him all that much, which she nearly a hundred percent thought it would have. Seto liked to be in control and this was control if ever there was any. "I'm not this generous with most people." He said after a few moments of her enraged silence.
"Lucky me." She replied, frustrated and furious. In less than a minutes he had put her firmly in the place he wanted her, which was under his thumb. She hated being controlled more than anything as it always led to disaster for her, and any goodwill that had been fostered with the food had been negated. She would rather be hungry than get a hand out, because it was more than that, it was a means of manipulation. Her body language went from open to closed in a heartbeat and she turned away from him as much as possible, her shoulder at a sharp angle to his front, clearly showing her dismissal.
There was a long silence and then he spoke again. "Fine, starve then, it makes no difference to me."
She said nothing, although slowly turned so she was facing the front again. She sat there silently, picking at one of her nails as they waited for class to end. Her temper was still bubbling from the whole day, and she was rather surprised he wasn't still prodding her just to get a reaction. After nearly twenty minutes of ignoring one another he spoke. "Do you have a partner for the chemistry project?"
"No, I was going to do it by myself." She told him, wondering why he cared.
"Why make more work for yourself?" He asked. "I'll let you be my partner."
"You'll let me?" She asked, exasperated with his constant feelings of superiority. It wasn't like he was her boss outside of work. "As lovely as that command was I'll pass. I can do it myself."
He huffed in disbelief. "I doubt that."
"What?" She snapped, and heads began to turn as they bickered.
"You obviously need a partner to finish it. It's complex-"
She spluttered in rage at his jab at both her intellect and abilities, and more heads began to turn. His eyes flicked to the side, but she was past caring what anyone in this damn school thought about her. She was still hungry, her head her, she was tired from working from dawn until well past midnight, she had just been hurt yet again, and his endless arrogance broke through the very last shred of her control. In that moment she lost all good sense. "Look, you overbearing pain in the ass, I don't need your help!" Now people were really paying attention. "And in case you haven't checked the scoreboard they seem to love so much in this school, my rank is the same as yours in science and writing, so you can shove that offer right up your polished ass!" Standing up she grabbed her bag, tossed it over her back, managing to clip him on the shoulder with it, and stormed to the front of the class. Stopping in front of their teacher she saw everyone staring and Yugi's mouth was hanging open. She bowed in front of her teacher and straightened, her eyes on the ceiling so she wouldn't start crying, her eyes already watering as she fought them back. "May I have permission to be excused before I commit a crime, Mrs. Eto?"
The woman's lips were pressed together, but she saw understanding in her eyes. "I expect you at your next lesson before the bell rings. I won't excuse you from your next class."
She jerked her head in understanding and whirled around, leaving the classroom and shutting the door quietly but quickly behind her. Retreating the back corner of the library she threw herself down in in a chair to wait. She sat there quietly for ten minutes until the bell rang, fighting the upset back until her eyes dried. While she didn't start crying the full impact of what she had done nearly bowled her over. Her stomach started to roll and she put her head down on the table, covering it with her arms. He would get rid of her now for sure and she would be jobless, and very soon after that homeless. It was her greatest fear, save for her uncle coming back to life, and she really thought she was going to throw up from the stress. "Hello." A kind voice said in English beside her.
She tried to muffle the wet sniff that escaped her as she kept her arms over her head, hunched over the table. She didn't want Bakura, who had very decent to her, to think badly of her. "Hey." She replied miserably.
"He has that effect on everyone if it makes you feel better." Bakura told her as he sat down beside her.
"Never would have guessed." She managed, as she forced herself to sit up.
Bakura smiled at her gently and she felt a smidgen better for a moment. No one had smiled at her like that in a long time, like she was accepted. Bakura was a genuinely nice guy. Of all the other students here she liked him the most, and appreciated his serene and patient disposition. "May I ask what he said to you?"
"He said he would let me be his science partner." She replied. "I think you can infer how the rest of the conversation went."
Bakura smiled again, because clearly he could. "I see. Well, as that's behind us would you like to start on our lesson for the day?"
She very much doubted that was behind her. She'd be paying for it dearly soon. "Joey and Duke broke my ipod." She told him, not even sure if it mattered anymore. "I won't be able to get a new one until next week at the earliest. It's going to slow me down."
His eyebrows came together. "You're really making splendid progress. I didn't realize you were also using a language program to help you. There's no need for that. I'm tracking the progress you're making and reporting it to the language department. As long as you reach the same milestones as students in other languages you'll be fine."
"I don't care about the grade." She told him. "I need to learn the language."
Bakura studied her. "You are an interesting creature. How did you manage to get them to let you learn with me? They usually shove people in German or French if they already speak English."
"I speak those already."
He laughed softly, as if she were kidding, and she sighed tiredly. Bajura saw her exhausted irritation and stopped laughing. "Oh my. Really?" He was suddenly very interested. "How wonderful. You could probably get a job at Kaiba Corp or At Dungeon Dice Monsters next year knowing all of those."
"Lucky me." She replied, thinking that maybe there was another employer that would want her to know this language too. "All right, what are you teaching me today?"
Hours later and she was in her office at Kaiba Corp working diligently on the project she had been given. She was hoping she wouldn't have to deal with Seto again today, or that he had been distracted by something and was too busy to terminate her, and it wasn't an impossible wish. She would often go days without seeing him, especially if she was working on contracts. However, today was clearly not her day, or he wanted to punish her quickly for embarrassing him at school, and called her. Seeing his name flash on her phone's screen she cringed and let her head thump onto her desk. Reaching out she picked up the headset and spoke in her most professional voice as her forehead lay on the cool wood of the furniture. "Yes, Mr. Kaiba?"
"I want to look over the contracts. Bring up what you have."
"When would you like me there?"
"Now." The phone clicked and she sat up, hanging hers up as well. Gathering her work she felt her stomach sinking and wondered if he would just fire or or if he was going to demoralize her on top of it. She was really never going to get to eat again. At least she had a place to live for at least a month while she tried to find a new job. Figuring there was no point in delaying the inevitable she headed to his office at once. Three minutes after he hung up she knocked on his door and stepped inside. He was typing quickly at his computer and she shut the door behind her. Moving to his desk she set several neat files on it and sat down.
"I have all but the last two done and reviewed by your law team. The others are in the first draft." She told him quietly.
He took the folders and read through the contracts. When he was done he slid them back to her. "Good." He went back to typing and she felt decidedly confused.
"That's it?" She asked, eyeing him.
"What else would I want from you?" He asked dismissively.
Having braced herself for the worst she found she was once again off balance with him. "Oh." She pulled the folders to her and stood up, scrambling to do her job properly. "I'll have the other two done by the end of the evening. What do you want me to work on next? The merger paperwork or the new forms for the German branch?"
"The forms. I want to go over the merger again before anyone does anything with it." She nodded, but feeling decidedly odd about this sat back down, wondering why she was allowing herself to act insane around him. Really, she should just leave while she could, and yet she was still here. When he heard her he looked up. "You can go."
She watched him for a moment as she braced herself. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you today in school. I still feel you deserved it, but I also realize that my temper may have already had the best of me when we started to argue. So I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."
He was silent, his eyes narrowed. She waited to see what he would do, feeling better that at least this was out there even if he was going to get rid of her. Instead, he threw her by being pretty decent. "Apology accepted." He said, which seemed to surprise him as much as her. She cocked her head to the side, waiting for him to continue. "What?" He demanded, irritated.
"Now you say sorry." She blurted out.
"Excuse me?" He asked, outraged.
Welp, it was official, she was mad all the way around. "This is the part where you say sorry about being a jerk and I forgive you. Then we can talk about being lab partners in a normal and civilized way."
"You're really pushing your luck." He informed her, although she saw his eyes glitter with what she was sure was approval.
Her lips curled up at the corners as she sensed his acceptance of her defiance. It was completely unexpected. "I can sit here all night you know."
"Not if I call security." She giggled as the knot in her middle released all at once, knowing he was joking even with that hard assed delivery. She saw his lip twitch at the corner for a split second. "I suppose that it would be a bit dramatic to remove a hundred pound interpreter from my office." She ducked her head, laughing softly, and all the tension between them was gone just like that. "Very well, I'm sorry that I assumed that you needed help. You're clearly capable."
"And that you were a jerk." She prompted, looking back up at him, daring him to say it.
He huffed. "That as well."
"I forgive you." She said, feeling as if she teased him enough. "Would you like to be my science partner? I heard you were looking for one, and really, I'm quite good at it. Especially the practical portions of lab work."
"Fine." He agreed. "We can talk about what we want to do during our free time in science tomorrow. Now go away, I'm busy."
Shaking her head, and feeling remarkably light inside, she got up. "Like I'm not busy? Honestly. You say that like you pay me to sit around and do nothing."
"Out!" He barked, but not meanly. She laughed again as she left, and caught him smiling as she closed the door behind her.
Author's Note: Hello all! Having received a number of messages, both private and on the review page, I just wanted to take a quick second to address my unfinished story in another fandom. I am very aware that it has been hanging there for some time without an update and I am sincerely sorry about that. My life got very busy in the last year and a half. I finished grad school, got a full time job that keeps me busy well over forty hours a week, got married (YAY!), bought a house, and got a puppy. As wonderful as all those things are I have been run ragged and haven't had much time or energy to write until recently. My muse apparently needs a break from that story, and as I got an itch to write in this fandom I thought it would be a good transition back into things. I very much enjoy writing as it's a fun outlet for me, and giving you things to read, (I truly thrive on your happiness and reviews!) and this is just what I'm grooving on right now. And while I understand you want more in the other story, and are a little frustrated, I would like to request that you please be patient. I got a private message the was frankly both cruel and rude about my lack of update in Faith in Fiction, which was both disheartening and hurtful as I do this purely for fun. I guess what I'm really asking is that you keep your reviews on this story about this story so I have feedback on it and I will do my best to complete Faith in Fiction when I feel I can do justice to the end of the story, rather than leave it forever or half-ass it to get rid of it. Thank you all for reading what I post, I do love to entertain you! Really, I do! And I get so excited when I get an email about a new review! I appreciate your understanding and hope that this story is as well loved as my others. I think the characters deserve it :) I hope you all have a lovely day! Cheers!