Chapter 11: Growth
Bouncing energetically around the Kaiba's monstrously sized kitchen she twirled about as the music bopped around them. Mokuba was watching her with laughing violet eyes as she swayed her hips and clapped her hands in time with the beat. He had been out of the hospital for two days now and seemed to be doing as well as the doctor had anticipated. She was sure he had been sore for a couple of days, although he didn't say it, but today he appeared as well as he ever had been. Despite that Seto had asked her to be sure to be at the mansion with him as soon as he got back from school since he got out, which she would have done anyway to tutor him. She supposed it helped that the final version of the merger she had sent him right after Mokuba's surgery had passed all scrutiny from both Seto and his entire team of lawyers. That had made her feel pretty confident in herself, not to mention really competent, and now she was pretty much just waiting for the actual meetings to start next week so she could translate in real time. True, she had other day to day work to do, but Kaiba had all but excused her for that once school let out so she could stay with her brother. Besides, the actual translation was really her favorite part of her job, so while everyone else was amping up about the whole thing she was more relaxed now that the paperwork was done. "I think you're crazy." He informed her.
"Definitely." She agreed. "It's amazing your brother trusts me within a two mile radius of you." Then she clapped her hands over her head in time with the music and spun again as she sang the sappy pop tunes floating out of her computer. Mokuba started to laugh and she grinned. It was fun hanging out with Mokuba, and the English lessons she had initially dreaded had turned out to be really fun. Some days she actually ended up with five or six thirteen year olds as they flocked to the lower kitchen of the Kaiba mansion. Over the last few months she'd met most, if not all, of Mokuba's friends and found among other things, they all liked to eat. Since she was perfectly happy making snacks and experimenting with them giggling, playing, boasting, and gossiping around her she never complained. It was nice to have somewhere to go that wasn't her empty apartment.
The only rule was that once they entered the kitchen they had to speak in English to the best of their ability. They were pretty happy to comply, and while Mokuba had improved the most, a few of the others had gotten pretty good too. It helped that they were all so cheerful and accepting of her single rule. They were good kids and only made minimal fun of her when one of her experiments went wrong. She still didn't know if Kaiba was aware his mansion was systematically invaded by a horde of teenagers that ate all his food, but since they never broke, stole, left too big a mess, or got in fights, she saw no reason to inform him. He was always at work until at least seven and Mokuba needed company and a social life. She wasn't going to risk upsetting his friend time if Seto wasn't happy about it.
Unlike most days Mokuba was here alone and she was hardly bothered. When she asked him why he told her he had a project to work on, and make up work, and promptly pulled out several books and his own laptop. She didn't bother him other than a brief inquiry into what he was doing and to ask if music would bother him. When the response had been an all go for her tunes she'd turned them on and started making some chicken teriyaki. She was hungry and she was sure Mokuba was too. He always was. While it cooked she started dancing about pretty idiotically. She was a goof, always had been, and had no shame when they were alone as the younger Kaiba embraced her cheerful side. Since there was no point in pretending, and she had a ton of built up energy today after being trapped in her office with only papers as company, so she decided to have some fun.
"If you're not careful you're going to get hurt." He warned as he typed away.
"Bah! Who told you dancing around a kitchen full of knives and sharp corners was dangerous?" She asked teasingly.
"You."
She laughed as she twisted. "What do I know?"
She smashed into something warm and let out a squeak as she tumbled forward. A strong arm wrapped around her and pulled her upright with ease. "Apparently not enough to stay on your feet or differentiate musical tonality."
"That was just hurtful." She pouted, feeling very confident in her ability to differentiate tones, as she fought down her embarrassment of getting caught being an idiot in front of Seto. He was really the last person she wanted to look foolish in front of, and it was starting to occur to her that it wasn't just because he was her boss. It was something she knew she had no business thinking about at all, and yet occasionally, maybe much more than occasionally, she couldn't help herself. The sensible part of herself, the one that had kept her alive the last year, knew it was a disaster waiting to happen. She tried to ignore that part of herself because really, nothing was going to happen anyway, and surely she would get over this silly crush given some time. Seto was a nice guy, at least to her anyway, and it was fun to hang out. She liked having a friend again. She also liked that he seemingly accepted her past, something that she had never expected. Oh, she had been furious he had no doubt hacked into her background, but after that passed that very acceptance had lifted a horrible weight off her. The one that was constantly reminding her that eventually the other shoe would drop and he would reject her, or fire her, get her deported, or get her arrested. By some miracle that hadn't happened and she was not only still making a very comfortable living, but he was… she wasn't sure, almost proud of her resourcefulness. Still, none of that was an excuse for him to be home three hours early to catch her being ridiculous. "Why are you here making fun of me?"
He let her go, as if catching falling women was a casual sort of thing for him, and moved to the table Mokuba was sitting at. "I do live here. Unlike some people-" He set his briefcase down and glanced over at the stove. "-who think they do."
"I don't think I live here." She corrected easily. "I have a lovely apartment about ten minutes away."
Mokuba interrupted them. "Big brother, you have to speak English while you're in the kitchen."
He rolled his eyes at Mokuba, replying in Japanese simply to be contrary. "This is my kitchen. I can speak in whatever language I want."
"Nope." She replied in English. "This is the place of learning." She made a dramatic gesture, spoon still in hand, that had him staring at her with his, 'you aren't amusing me' expression.
"Sarah's right." Mokuba nodded sagely, still speaking in English. "You're the one that wanted me to speak English properly and have a thorough understanding of the context of any possible phrase or meaning. I can only do that if I practice." Reaching over she made a fist and Mokuba pounded it. It was there sign of her total approval and his awesomeness at grasping the material. Seto watched the interaction as she walked by to stir the food. "Besides, when we're done we get to eat."
"Too true." She inspected the chicken critically. "Ten more minutes. Are you hungry, Seto? I'm a semi decent sort of cook, although certainly not your chef."
To her shock he decided to adhere to her rules and switched to her first language. "Yes, I am." He got a bottle of water out of the fridge before sitting down next to his brother. "What are you working on?"
Mokuba never stopped typing as he talked. "I'm writing a lab report on sugar break down."
"Degradation." She corrected easily as she stirred.
"What does that mean?" Mokuba asked, glancing up from his work.
"Degradation is a different word for break down. You should use that when you're talking about something academic, especially science."
"Got it." He finished his answer to Seto. "The sugar degradation lab is one of our big projects this year."
"Do you need help?" She was always impressed with Kaiba's ability to make time in his packed day for his brother, although she was sure not having to go to school any more was really helping. She certainly had more free time. She often used it to sleep, possibly eat, or take long and relaxing baths.
"Not at the moment, but I'll let you know if I do." Mokuba smiled at him. "Why are you home so early?"
"There wasn't much for me to do until Monday and I was tired of my office."
Mokuba made an over dramatic show of shock. "You? Tired of the office?" He looked at her as she continued to sway about to the music, trying to keep it to a minimum, but the beat had her. "This isn't my big brother!"
She laughed over her shoulder and Seto glared at them both. "Mokuba, if you try to gang up on me remember I know where you sleep."
Mokuba sent Seto a cheeky grin and she started to sing again, much more softly, as she reached over and got a large bowl to toss everything in. Kaiba looked over at her. "What are you singing? It's horrible."
"No, its fun." She responded with humor. "Fun scares you. That's why you don't like it." With that she pointed her finger at him and sang the lyrics peppily, figuring it was too late and she had already shamed herself with it, so why hold back. He stared at her unblinkingly as Mokuba sniggered like mad. Dancing to the boy she grabbed Mokuba's hand and spun him about after dragging him up out of his chair. Grinning, the younger Kaiba danced around with her for a minute before flopping back down. Her eyes twinkled in amusement as she skipped back to the stove. The chicken was done and she tossed it in with the noodles and then added a heap of steamed vegetables. Honestly, it was a blatant American hybrid of what the dish should actually be, but it was what she knew how to cook. Maybe if she asked nicely Seto's chef would teach her about traditional meal preparation in this country.
The song ended and she smiled as she tossed a serving spoon in the bowl and set it on the table. Reaching over she shut down her music program and closed the computer. Then she went to get plates and chopsticks. Mokuba sprang up to help and they moved around each other with practiced ease. The table was set in about sixty seconds. Mokuba put his computer to sleep as well and then set it on a nearby counter along with his schoolwork. When she sat down Seto was watching them with an almost mystified expression. "Is something wrong?" She asked, thinking he must not be used to his brother doing any sort of housework since he employed a full staff of people at his mansion to take care of all these things.
"Nothing." He replied as he used the serving spoon to fill Mokuba's plate and then her own before serving himself. She thanked him as he handed her the plate and ate quietly as the two of them talked, figuring she saw both of them more in a day than they saw each other and they must want that time together. Despite her quiet it didn't feel awkward or like they were excluding her, only allowing her to do what she wanted, which set her at ease in a place where she now generally already felt that way. It was odd, she thought, to be accepted in this way. It was an experience she had little practice in.
When she was finished eating she put her dish in the sink. Seto's was over hers a few moment later and then he went back to the table and picked up her computer. She sat back down as he looked it over with a critical eye. He hadn't really had a chance to fix it since she had Mokuba ask for her, and was very pleased he hadn't forgotten as she was really too shy to ask him a second time, especially without his brother to back her up. Even so she was nervous with the way he was studying it, as if it were a problem he needed to eliminate. "Please, don't destroy my one form of entertainment." She nearly begged, fearful he was simply going to chuck the thing in the nearest waste receptacle.
"If I broke it you could watch TV." Mokuba supplied.
"I don't have a TV." She told him, thinking he should have noticed that the one time he came over. Then again maybe he assumed she got one in the last several months.
Seto's eyebrow raised but he didn't comment on that as he flipped the machine over carefully and popped it open. Mokuba, on the other hand, was appalled. "You don't? Why?"
She shrugged. "I never watch it. I didn't see a point in buying something I don't use."
"Don't you watch the news, or anything?" He seemed to be trying to get some form of reassurance that she wasn't a technological neanderthal or something.
"Sure, on the internet. I watch movies too, just on my computer." She was sure Seto was listening even as he opened his briefcase and pulled out a hard drive. "But mostly I just read." The CEO pulled out a tool kit and she was distracted from Mokuba's inquires. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to transfer your files to a better computer. This one is outdated."
She let out a yelp and grabbed her baby away from him, her body nearly completely over the table for a few moments. Glaring at him she hugged it to her chest. "I like this one! We have a history together!" This hunk of junk had been with her through a lot of bad times, and had provided her with an outlet for her fear and anxiety. Not to mention the fact she had used it to help get her here, the only place she could recall being happy in. So yeah, it meant something.
He rolled his eyes and tried to take it away from her, tugging at it insistently as she gripped it. "Please don't tell me you have an emotional attachment to a piece of hardware."
She held the device firmly to her chest, both arms crossed over it to keep the best grip on it. "Yes! I do! Go away! You are scaring her!"
"It's a computer not a person. Let go."
"No!" She threw back vehemently.
He sent her an exasperated look as they played tug of war with it. "Why do you have to fight me all the time? I'm trying to help."
"I do not fight you all the time! You are trying to steal my things and eviscerate them!" She threw back dramatically.
Mokuba took Seto's side. "He really will make that thing better. It's five years old. It would be better if you got a new computer. You could get a better DVD player." She whined, thinking that wasn't much of an incentive, and Seto tugged it out of her grasp. Mokuba shrugged as he continued to eat. "It was making weird noises."
She turned accusing eyes on the teen. "You told him?" He made his eyes bigger in response to get out of trouble. For the first time she wasn't moved by them. "Betrayer! She was fine! It's not her fault she has a cold!"
Seto huffed as he began to download her files and did something that made a bunch of data appear on the screen as he quickly typed something into a window she didn't even know how he got into. "It has a fatal virus. You're lucky it hasn't already crashed." His eyes flicked over the computer code rapidly. "There's no point fixing it on a machine this old. You need a major software update and more memory."
While the files downloaded he reached into his briefcase again and pulled out a sleek silver laptop. Her eyebrow shot up and Mokuba hummed with interest as he chewed, leaning in for a better look. When he swallowed he asked his brother a question. "Is that the new model from Kaiba Corp?"
"Yes."
"I thought they weren't being released until next month."
"They aren't. This is one of the first ones done. I made sure everything was working so you don't need to worry about any problems."
She tilted her head, confused and surprised. "It's for me?"
"Yes."
Her old black beast of a computer beeped and Seto unplugged the hard drive and hooked it to the new computer. He opened the top and she saw an amazing picture of a tree appear. It wasn't the picture that impressed her. It was the quality of the image. The thing had amazing graphics. Mokuba was leaning to the side to watch as he ate, now on his third helping, and Seto began to put her information in the correct places. All her music began to download to the proper program while her documents and video clips did the same. Less than five minutes later and Seto put the hard drive away and set the brand new computer in front of her after shutting the top.
She looked down at it then back up at him. "Thank you for your help with that. You didn't need to bring me a new computer. How much should I give you? I have my checkbook-"
"Don't be ridiculous." He told her as he put his things back in his briefcase, as if handing out fancy new laptops was no different than handing someone a tissue. Mokuba made a face that told her arguing was pointless and she wasn't sure what to make of the gift. Either it was very thoughtful, or the cost was so meaningless to him it was in fact meaningless. Considering she had scrapped, scrounged, and worked at a horrible little ice cream shop for months to afford her last computer, which hadn't even been that good when she bought it new she was rather floored by the gift. She hadn't received anything other than clothes since her parents passed, with the exception of one Christmas where child protective services was investigating and her uncle got her the MP3 player Joey and Duke had destroyed to make everything look normal.
Off balance, but feeling like this really was a gift and not a handout, which was different, she sat there in confusion for several long moments. They didn't seem to notice and went back to their conversation about some sort of upcoming duel monster tournament. When she was sure they were engaged she gingerly opened the computer and began to explore it, wondering what was on it. Other than all the basic programs most computers came with it had a very nice new version of the music program she had been using, several games for her to play, a new DVD player, and an interesting looking photography program she was really going to have to explore. Seto had even set up her desktop for her and the neat row of files on one side appeared to connect her to everything she might want, with the music program at the very top. This was leaps and bounds better than her last computer, and when she got into the system information and found out how much memory space she had on it she was pretty stunned. She could probably download music until she died and still have space.
After about fifteen minutes she shut the computer again, thinking it would be rude to stay on any longer, and got up to go clean a bit better. She really did like to leave everything in order when she left. As she wiped the counter down Mokuba left to go get his dueling deck as Seto had agreed to play with him once his work was done. She could tell it was something they both enjoyed by how easily Seto accepted the offer. For her part she figured it was time to go and she set the dishes in the dishwasher and wiped her hands with a dry towel. Finished, she was turning to go and saw Seto lounging in the doorway, blocking her way out, and clearly waiting for her to complete her self imposed task. His eyes ran over her before he nodded in approval. "I'm impressed with Mokuba's progress. He's nearly fluent and his vocabulary has expanded dramatically since you started with him."
She shrugged, thinking Mokuba had made her job easy for her. "He's smart. He picked it up fast."
His eyes hooded. "You motivated him very well."
She didn't really think she had done much when it came down to it. Actually she was fairly sure he worked so hard to impress Seto. It seemed to be a very strong motivator for him even if she had noticed some sort of tension in the air between them. That seemed to wax and wane between days, and she figured it was a normal sort of family dynamic. Certainly Seto was in no way abusive to his brother. He wasn't that sort of man despite his irritable nature, and she would have easily picked up on it. "As long as he learned." Tossing the towel on the counter she moved toward the door after gathering up both of the laptops. Kaiba didn't move out of her way and she put her free hand on her hip. "I take it by the subtle gesture that we aren't done talking."
His lip curled slightly. "Is he better than the others?"
"What others?" She asked innocently.
"I am aware he has friends." He told her calmly. "At least fifteen of them rotate through here on a regular basis."
Figuring the cat was out of the bag, Mokuba had probably told him as soon as she allowed the first batch in, she answered. "Yes, he's the best, although Haru isn't far behind him. I'm not counting Rebecca since she was born in the states."
"You didn't have to teach them all." He pointed out unnecessarily.
"It's easier when you're in a group. They all wanted to learn. They motivated each other." She honestly wasn't bothered she had actually taught a small class rather than one student. "The boys viewed it as a competition sometimes. That helped too."
"Using psychology on fourteen year olds. Aren't you ashamed?"
She smiled. "They were thirteen when I started, and not at all."
He hummed before changing the subject. "I have…" He appeared to struggle for a moment. "A personal favor to ask."
"Okay." She replied, wondering what on earth Kaiba might need from her.
"After the merger I need to go out of town for a few days, three at the most. My secondary manufacturing facility in Northern Japan is having some managerial issues. I need to take care of it personally. If I don't it would look bad. I don't want to pull Mokuba out of school to take him with me, especially after he's already missed a week this term, and I don't want to leave him alone, that isn't safe."
She tilted her head a little. "Wouldn't Roland stay with him?"
"Roland will also be here, but he's an employee and a bodyguard, not a caregiver. If you don't want to I can make other arrangements."
"Of course I'll stay with him." She told him. She had no issue at all spending a few days with Mokuba. "I like hanging out with Mokuba."
"Yes, he seems to get on well with you." He said in a way that told her he had a lot of thoughts about something she didn't think was overly complicated. She liked Mokuba as a person and he liked her back as a person. To her that simply made sense, but maybe to Seto it didn't. It didn't take long to notice he had some difficulty getting along with most people. She knew very well she was an exception rather than a rule. "I'll have a room ready for you while you're here."
"You have spare rooms here?" She asked, feigning surprise, which had him rolling his eyes. Grinning, she adjusted the computers under her arm. "Just let me know when to be here."
"Fine." He agreed. "He's generally not hard to deal with. He'll listen to you."
"I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a problem." She told him honestly, after all he always listened to her during tutoring. "You don't need to worry. I'll look out for him." He said nothing, only shifted out of the way, his face expressionless. Smiling at him she adjusted the laptops again. "Thank you for the computer. That really helped me out a lot."
"It's only a computer."
She eyed him up and down. "Right." It wasn't worth the debate. "Have fun playing duel monsters. I'll see you in the morning." He nodded and she moved passed him. "This is the part where you say goodnight, Seto." She called over her shoulder.
"I'll do no such thing." He replied, moving back toward the table.
She knew he was just refusing to annoy her, so she annoyed him back. "Goodnight, Seto!" She chirped in her most cheerful voice. "Have a lovely evening!"
"Get out." He ordered, teasing her right back.
Laughing, she walked up out of the lower kitchen and wished Mokuba goodbye as she left the mansion. He waved her off, in good spirits, and she went home feeling calm and content. Fifteen minutes later she was unlocking her door clumsily, as she was balancing her keys, bag, and two laptops, and nearly fell inside. "For heaven sakes." She muttered as she tried to find the small table in the dark. If she could just set one thing down she could manage. However, before she could find it, or even move a foot inside, someone grabbed her roughly from behind. She didn't have time to scream before a rag was pressed hard over her face hard. Her possessions fell out of her hands, smashing into the floor, as she reached up to struggle, but no sooner did she smell something sickly sweet then everything went dark. She didn't even have a chance to feel more than startled before her entire world slipped away.
Author's Note: Hey! Sorry this one took a few extra days. My work got busy again and I have less time to write. But do not fear! I will finish this one. I actually already have the end mostly written :) It just might take me a few extra days to get chapters up.