Author's Info: Awesome news, everyone! Sando No Jigoku now has over 100 reviews and almost 6000 views!!! Needless to say, as a writer this is a wonderful feeling for me. I have to admit, I rather like this chapter just because it's a change of pace. Thank you so much everyone for making this dark week that much brighter for me. Just hope/pray/whatever it is you do for me next week! Hopefully I will retain my sanity through next Friday, because then it means three things: home, family, and VIDEO GAMES. To put this in perspective: in the past, I always de-stressed during finals week by playing video games. My consoles are all at home, hundreds of miles away, and ROMs are not the same as smashing buttons on a controller. Now that I've had my rant, I want to thank all of you who read this, especially Hikari no Hoshi, Azura Soul Reaver, TsuKaza, Jade the Grey, Toxic-Tears-123, Backlash Button, and Rikicelesius. More after the chapter!

The "what"s: Listening to Emilie Autumn, t.A.T.u., and the Yu-Gi-Oh movie soundtrack. I've been thinking only of the things I ranted about above, namely college finals, going home, and video games. I'm also thinking about my friends, who are amazing, and how I'm going to miss them over the summer, even as I'm excited to see my other friends. You college people know how it is. Pray I retain my short-term memory!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, but this does deserve a special note. To those of you who say I keep my characters in character, thank you!!! That is what I hope to maintain as much as possible. I have more comments for you later, so look there for more. Now, on to the chapter!!

Chapter Thirty-Four

Just as she was finally finishing, she noticed Kaiba leaving his office, no doubt for his meeting. His eyebrow rose as he looked at her, but he said nothing. Her eye twitched in irritation. He smirked as he went into the elevator, knowing he had won that silent exchange. She was foolish to think she could win against him, yet he found it amusing she still continued to try.

Truly, he didn't really know why he put up with her. If it had been any of his other employees challenging him, they would have been fired immediately. Perhaps it was the fact she posed an interesting challenge. Even if she couldn't defeat him, he was still being entertained. It was always amusing, putting down those who believed they were superior to him. They always lost in the end. After, he was Seto Kaiba, and he always got what he wanted.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair after he disappeared. This man was a constant irritation. He absolutely refused to believe anyone could possibly come close to him in skill and ability, not even the people who had defeated him, such as her or Yugi. The man really needed to be brought back to the reality that was the world, she thought as she pulled out her laptop. She thought now would be a good time to begin her plans of revenge.

Even with her desire to teach Kaiba humility, she found herself growing distracted. While she had been entering the appointments for Kaiba, she noticed Shinogame Electronics was having a meeting with Kaiba this Sunday. If that was true, it meant Shinogame's words were coming true sooner than she had anticipated. It also meant the possibility of seeing Kuro again. She wasn't sure if she should feel ecstatic or dreadful.

Much as she enjoyed spending time with Kuro, she knew their time now would be severely limited. He would no doubt be sitting in on the meetings while she would be stuck taking phone calls for her obnoxious boss. That meant Kuro would see exactly what she had been reduced to, and the last thing she needed was the further damage to her pride when Kuro believed she had only taken this job so she could get close to Kaiba. Kuro was known for not always going for the most likely or logical conclusion, and this was one thing she did not want to fight about with him.

She still missed the time she had spent with her friend, and she knew he would be excited to see the latest developments with her game. She hadn't been able to see him often since she had received the news they would be moving, and she still felt incredibly guilty about it. She knew he would not accept her excuse of a new job very gracefully. It had been one thing when she had worked for his father, but Kaiba was a completely different person. He would not accept such nonsense; she would have to stay focused on her work.

She stopped typing in the code she had mindlessly begun entering when she heard someone approaching. She looked up to see Mokuba, who was watching her sheepishly. She smiled reassuringly and said, "I'm guessing you're probably ready to get out of this boring place now that your brother's in a meeting, aren't you?" She closed her laptop and stood. "Why don't you get your things, and I'll call for your driver."

"Are you sure you don't have any more work you want to do in the office?" he asked shyly. She laughed a little. She had to admit he was a very sweet, considerate boy. He truly was quite different from his brother.

"Mokuba, if Kaiba had given me more work, I don't think anyone would be going home tonight," she admitted. "That being said, I'm not entirely sure what you brother wants me to. I don't know if he merely wants me to ensure you reach the mansion safely, or if he wants me to stay with you until he returns. In light of this, I've decided to leave the choice entirely to you."

"You don't mind staying?" Mokuba asked incredulously.

"Of course not," she said, smiling. "I know what it's like to be at home all alone most of the time. It's nice every once in a while, but after some time you begin to wish your family would care enough to come home every once in a while." Her expression became slightly more serious. "I'll be honest with you now, though, Mokuba. I can't stay every night that Kaiba decides to stay late in the office. Given his personality, I'd say it happens a bit too often. If I stay every time, it means I won't get to spend time with my own family, and that would mean breaking my promise to them. Much as I'm sure I'll enjoy your company, it doesn't make up for a broken promise to my own loved ones."

"Don't worry about it, Yumi! I understand completely," Mokuba said, grinning happily. He was glad she had decided to stay with him and keep him company. Still, he had to wonder if she was like some of those other secretaries who had initially agreed to stay with him only because they thought it would mean they could get close to his brother. They had entirely ignored him and only stayed to flirt with his brother when he got home. After a while, though, they gave up entirely. The others hadn't even bothered to stay with him. Every single one of them ended up rejected and fired. The last thing they needed was another one of those secretaries.

"Let's get going then," she said, picking up the phone and dialing one of the numbers Kaiba had given her. When she was assured their ride would be waiting for them, she hung up and turned to see Mokuba grinning. "Alright, time to blow this popsicle stand," she said.

Mokuba started laughing. "That's a really weird saying, Yumi," he said. She chuckled.

"I suppose it is a rather strange one," she admitted. "A friend of mine from America says it every now and then. I thought it was pretty creative, so I started saying it. It's become a habit, I guess."

"Do you have a lot of friends from America?" Mokuba asked, looking at her excitedly. "Can you speak English?" She couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm.

"I have a few friends from America. I met most of them on my trips to Egypt. Actually, I meet friends from all over the world whenever I travel to Egypt. Thanks to them, I can speak English, French, and German. Japanese, as you can tell, is one of my mother languages."

"What do you mean 'one of'?" Mokuba asked, looking over at her.

"Well, my sister and I don't usually say this, but we grew up also knowing ancient Egyptian. We're not entirely sure how we learned it, since our parents aren't exactly fluent in it, but we've been speaking it as long as we've been speaking Japanese."

"Why don't you tell many people?" Mokuba asked, frowning. "I think it's pretty cool, and I'm pretty sure other people would think so too."

"People like you probably would. People like your brother, on the other hand, aren't quite so keen about the idea. The only place it has been of much use has been the excavations, and Kaiba wasn't entirely thrilled when I told him I would need a month off for the excavation this year. Business people tend to prefer skills that pertain to the job at hand," she said as they got into the limo.

"But couldn't that help with my brother's company? After all, aren't they saying Duel Monsters is based off some ancient Egyptian game?"

"That's what I believe, but that is only my opinion. My work is actually focused on finding the connections between these ancient games and today's Duel Monsters, so I admit I am probably biased. People like your brother, however, don't necessarily care about the historical context of the game. They're perfectly content to remain ignorant of the game's past and instead focus on the present. In some ways, I envy them, but that is beside the point. Now, did you still have homework you needed to finish, or was there something else you wanted to do?" She smiled when she saw Mokuba grin.

Mokuba stepped out of the limo and led Yumi inside. He saw the way she was looking around curiously. It was as if she was trying to analyze them. "Seto designed all of this himself. He put a lot of work into it. The inside is even more amazing, though! Come on!" He grabbed her arm and began pulling her inside.

She saw one of Kaiba's servants standing at the door. He smiled and bowed when he saw Mokuba. "Welcome home, young master, and welcome miss," he said as he opened the door for them. She thanked the man and followed Mokuba inside.

"Kaiba is certainly an interesting decorator," Yumi said as she looked around. "I don't know of many who can fit the classic elements of an elegant mansion with a thoroughly contemporary style, but he has done a very good job combining these elements." She allowed herself to be pulled along by Mokuba and smiled as they went through the foyer and up a flight of stairs.

"My big brother is pretty amazing, isn't he?" Mokuba said, clearly proud of his brother's accomplishments. She couldn't help but smile. He reminded her of Tsuki when they were younger, back when she had been dueling in public circuits. It made her wish she could understand the brothers better. Maybe then she could better understand what they knew that she couldn't see, especially in the elder Kaiba.

"To be honest, Mokuba, I really don't know enough about your brother to say anything in one way or another. You'll have to give me time to get to know him through my own experiences before I can honestly answer your question. I prefer to not base my judgments on what other people say to me, especially when I don't know the person myself. I've done that far more often that I would like of late, and I think it's time I reminded myself how foolish that practice is."

"You mean you're not working for my brother because of his reputation?" Mokuba asked, surprised. She was definitely different from the other secretaries. He was rather confused when she started laughing, though. "What's so funny?"

"I wouldn't have been so adamant for a job here if he didn't have a reputation," she admitted. "I merely meant that I've based my decision to work here on his reputation as a businessman and a pioneer in the gaming industry, and on his ability to turn Kaiba Corp. into the number one gaming company. I did not base my decision, however, on Kaiba's status as 'most eligible bachelor' or the fact that he's a wealthy, young , supposedly handsome CEO. I'm not looking for anything from your brother that goes beyond the gaming business realm."

Mokuba could see she was entirely serious. It made him happy, finding someone who wanted to get to know Seto without wanting something from him personally. Who knew, maybe she would be able to get through to his brother and bring out the old Seto, the one that smiled and called him Mokie, the one Gozaburo had squashed.

"So, Mokuba, do you need any help with homework?" she asked. He nodded, thinking of the latest assignment he'd been given and grimacing. She smiled. "Why don't you show me what you're doing and I'll see what I can do to help you/" She followed him to his room, where they would be spending their time working and joking until his brother came back.

Responses to my commentators:

Azura Soul Reaver: Not much of Kaiba in this one, but I hope you liked Mokuba!

TsuKaza: I loved the Miley Cyrus story. I can honestly say my friends LOVE torturing me with her music. I hope you liked seeing Mokuba and Yumi talk, since I didn't give you the results of their wager. Forgive a poor college student? There will be more Kaiba-Yumi action next chapter, I promise!

Jade the Grey: 34 and still going strong! That's what makes this interesting, I guess! Hope you like the chapter!

Toxic-Tears-123: I am so glad you enjoy the story so far, and I cannot begin to describe how happy I am you guys think the characters are staying in character. I hope the others are in character too!

Backlash Button: I am honored you think my work deserves praising, especially considering this is a fan fiction. As for Yumi, I don't think she minds hanging out with Mokuba, but when your job has always been dealing with technology it doesn't make sense to make you babysit a job when there are numbers to crunch and programs to debug. It's more a question what her role in Kaiba Corp. should be. As for karate and TKD belts, even if they don't count, I have female friends who are stronger than some of my guy friends, and I'd honestly rather get punched by my guy friends than my gal ones. (The opposite is true when it comes to sarcasm battles... I can win against the girls... XD).

Rikicelesius: I am glad you have enjoyed my story thus far. I hope it continues to interest you, and that the promise does not prove disappointing. I am also incredibly honored about your opinion of me and Yu-Gi-Oh. That is a major compliment for me, and I cannot thank you enough.