"Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder,
Where it's so white as snow.
Privately divided by a world so undecided,
And there's nowhere to go."
Snow (Hey Oh) by Red Hot Chili Peppers
IV
Towards the end of the last class that day, it began to rain furiously. Seto enjoyed this because it helped him to block out the whispers and giggles amongst all of his classmates whom were too excited about the three day weekend coming up to even attempt to pay attention to the lecture going on. There would be a teacher meeting day tomorrow, giving the students Friday off, and making this particular Thursday more annoying than the last. No matter, Seto was just as anxious about having an extra day for the weekend as everyone else, only that he was excited about not having to deal with those around him for an extra day and could spend more time with his younger brother.
When the bell rang, signifying that class had ended, Seto felt relief come over him as he got up and walked towards his locker. The moment he gathered his things together and walked out that front door, Seto knew he was free to put the troubles of the past week behind him and enjoy a relaxing weekend. It didn't take him long to exchange his books at his locker, though he made himself take an extra couple seconds in order for him to miss the school rush at the end of the day.
As Seto was making his way down the hall, he heard the loud sound of someone running towards him. "EXCUSE ME!" Suddenly he was shoved to the side as someone rushed by from behind him, "SORRY!" The individual yelled back, not even turning their head to see who it was that they had pushed. Seto twisted his head in the person's direction and recognized the person who had run by him instantly. The long white hair was the only cue Seto needed; it had been Kisara. Seto shook his head. What did he care? She was just another person he went to school with and soon, he could finally have a three day weekend away from her and everyone else. Seto continued to walk on like the encounter hadn't even mattered.
Seto opened up his umbrella and stepped outside when he reached the door. Before even walking down the front steps, he noticed someone standing on the sidewalk, with nothing to protect from the rain while bearing a look of defeat on their face. It was Kisara. He glanced at her, then over at his car. He could even see it… parked exactly where he had that morning. All he had to do was walk over to it, get in, and leave.
Despite every ounce of his body wanting to leave, however, Seto found he couldn't. He slowly walked down the steps and held the umbrella over Kisara's head. It was only a few seconds before she looked up at him with big, wondrous eyes. Kisara was soaked from head to toe and yet she almost didn't seem aware of it. Her body looked frail and pale, most likely a cause of the fact that she hadn't dressed properly for the weather. Yet, it was the paleness in her face that made Seto notice how blue her eyes really were.
Kisara was completely silent. It was Seto who spoke first, "I'm guessing you missed your bus." Kisara didn't say anything back. She simply looked away and nodded, the look of the defeat returned to her face. Seto felt another tinge of guilt coming on… he supposed there was nothing else he could do except offer her some help. "Well… how about I give you a lift? I have to go get my brother first and then drop him off at my place. I'll take you there so you can get dried off before I take you home." Kisara nodded again and followed Seto to his car.
The ride home hadn't been awkward but only because Mokuba had been there for the majority of it. Thankfully, Mokuba had not said anything about Kisara being in the car when he first got in. He simply started chattering on about his day like nothing had changed. Seto was thankful for this and he knew that his brother had done this precisely on Seto's behalf. It paid to have a younger brother who understood him. The entire ride home, Kisara had said nothing, while politely listening and nodding when appropriate.
When they had gotten home, Mokuba ran upstairs to his room to start on his homework while Seto handed Kisara a change of clothes to change into while he threw her clothes in the drier. Nothing had been exchanged between the two all afternoon until Kisara emerged from the bathroom and said in a quiet voice, "Thanks for lending me a change of clothes… I really appreciate it."
"No problem," Seto replied, trying to seem nonchalant about the whole thing while at the same time trying to seem busy with something in the kitchen. There was nothing to be busy with… usually Seto would busy himself by doing work but because Kisara was here, he didn't want to leave her alone in his house. He still wasn't sure he could trust this person. Seto had only met her two days earlier after all.
"Do you want some coffee?" Seto asked, filling up the pot with water.
"That would actually be really good, thank you," Kisara said, "Can I sit down on your couch while I wait?"
"Sure." Kisara walked over and let her body fall onto the couch. Though she appeared exhausted, she continued to text furiously, just as she had been ever since she had come out from the bathroom. Kisara looked stressed. "Is everything alright?" Seto asked out of curiosity.
Kisara looked up. "Oh, yeah, everything's fine. It just looks like I'll be missing my shift at the CD store today and I needed to let my boss know… hopefully I'll have enough time to start my first day at the movie theater tonight." Seto raised an eyebrow. This was something that didn't quite add up in Seto's head.
"Not to be rude… but why do you have two jobs? And if you already had two jobs, why did you try and intern at Kaiba Corp.?"
"Oh… well, why I have two jobs is simple… I need two jobs to financially support myself. And I wanted to intern at Kaiba Corp. so that I would actually have something on my résumé that was a halfway decent job experience. I'm what you might call an overachiever." The last word Kisara said sort of drifted in the air as she sunk deeper into the couch. She lowered her hand at one point and the cell phone slipped out of her hand.
"I see…" Seto said, "Are you alright? You look like you're about to pass out."
"Yeah, I'm… fine. I just haven't slept since I've gotten here… you know, with the jet lag, I was afraid… I'd oversleep and miss school and so to make myself not have that happen I… stayed awake and…" Kisara couldn't continue her sentence, her eyes started drooping. There was a vibration that came from her phone. Seto eyed the cell phone that was lying on the ground just as Kisara began shifting her hands around in the air, looking for the cell phone.
Seto sighed and walked over to the couch, "Here, let me get that for you." Seto bent down to pick up the cell phone. When he stood back up, Kisara's eyes were completely closed with her head leaning to the side, fast asleep. Seto stood there awkwardly, looking to the phone, then to the sleeping Kisara, then back to the phone. So… what was he supposed to do now?
Seto's natural instinct would have been to shake her awake, shove the phone into her hand, and tell her to make sure she had a ride home the very second her clothes were done drying. He even leaned over, completely prepared to take such actions, but the moment his hand came near her, his body froze. She looked so… at peace. Shaking her violently awake suddenly seemed barbaric, as he stood there, staring at her. He took this opportunity to really look at her as she was lying there, clearly fast asleep in front of him.
He leaned forward and began observing little things here and there. The way her long, white hair was relatively well brushed and neat, despite how much of it there was and despite having been rained on. He observed her soft, pink lips... the way they curved at the top and formed a heart-like shape on her face. He noted her chest as it rose up and down in response to her rhythmic breathing… in watching this, he suddenly found he couldn't take his eyes off her chest. His eyes grew wide. It was the first time he had ever looked at a girl in that way…
"What is going on here?" Seto nearly lost his balance and fell on her. Somehow he had managed to catch himself in time and twirled around. Seto saw his brother standing on the other side of the room with a huge grin on his face.
"She fell asleep," Seto stated in a hurry.
"Duh! I can see that she's sleeping but what were you doing?" Seto furrowed his brow.
"Figuring out what to do with a sleeping girl on my couch, what do you think?" Seto turned around and walked past Mokuba out of the room. Mokuba followed him into the kitchen.
"Why won't you just admit that you like her?"
"I don't understand why you want so dearly to live in a reality where I cared about romance or, better yet, cared about other people. Don't you like being the only person that matters to me?" Seto went over to the counter and turned off the coffee maker. The coffee hadn't finished brewing a while ago. He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. Mokuba stood across from him.
"What I like or dislike shouldn't matter. What should matter is what you want!" Seto turned his away and scowled. He grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and filled his cup. Seto shrugged his shoulders and sighed.
"What I really want is that person out of my house but I'm pretty sure she won't be awake until the late evening and by then I'll need to feed you."
"How about she eats with us?" Seto rolled his eyes and let his head drop in annoyance.
"Mokuba, why do you continue to do this to me? You're clearly trying to annoy me!"
"Nii-sama, even you know that it would be common courtesy." Seto took a sip from his cup and sighed. Mokuba wasn't going to give up on this, he could just tell. Having some girl over was the last thing Seto had planned on doing that evening but it seemed it would be inevitable to avoid. Suddenly, he had an idea.
"You know what, Mokuba? You're right. It would be rude of me to send her off without inviting her to dinner." Now Mokuba was really confused. Seto set the cup down and took out a huge pot which he then began to fill with water. Mokuba stared at him, dumbfounded. He knew his brother must've been up to something because the words, 'you're right' never came out of Seto's mouth… ever. Mokuba said nothing, nevertheless, knowing that the truth would reveal itself over dinner.
The sun had already set when Kisara awoke. Her eyes slowly opened and the first thing that came to her mind was the fact that she felt a lot better than she did when she fell asleep. Everything she had felt gloomy about before, well… she couldn't even remember. She felt rejuvenated, alive, and ready to… figure out where it is she was.
Kisara sat up quickly, completely forgetting everything that had happened hours earlier. She rolled onto her side and fell off the couch, she didn't remember being on a couch. While falling over herself, she managed to find her cell phone. She had several unread text messages and a couple missed calls… all from work. She was late.
Not even caring to try and remember where she was, she stumbled to her feet and wondered aloud where her shoes were. As she ran into the next room, she found herself in a dining room where there were two other people present. Everything came back to her then.
"Kisara, I was just coming to wake you up. How do you feel?" Mokuba asked, gesturing Kisara to join him and his brother at the table. Kisara couldn't help but stare at the delicious meal set out in front of her on the table.
"I, uh… I need to go. I'm late for work."
"Now, now… I won't be hearing any of that. I've prepared a good meal for the three of us and I'd appreciate it if you'd eat it." Kisara eyed Seto. What was this guy's angle? He hadn't even seemed happy when she had come to his house in the first place, and yet now he was cooking meals for her and letting her sleep on his couch? It was getting too weird.
"Look, that is incredibly nice of you to do, but I really must be going. If I miss work, I may lose my job. So if you wouldn't mind…" Seto shrugged.
"Alright then, if you won't have dinner with us, at least hear me out. I have a bit of a proposition for you," Seto said, folding his hands together, "How about this… you drop both of your jobs to work for me as my assistant at Kaiba Corp." Kisara was taken off guard.
"Excuse me? You want me to drop my jobs to work for you? Is this a joke?"
"Not at all… in fact, I'm willing to pay double what the combined total of those jobs would pay you." Kisara was completely quiet for a moment. Was Seto being serious with her?
"I don't get it, why would you want to do something like that for me?"
"Oh please, it's not for you. Usually my right hand man acts as both my assistant as well as the caretaker for Mokuba at moments when I'm unable. I'd like him to spend less time in the office and more time home with Mokuba when I'm particularly busy. So what do you say? Are you up for the task?" Kisara didn't know what she was up for right then and there, but she did admit that it was a pretty good deal. Not to mention that it would be something she could put on her resume, which was what she wanted in the first place. Still, she wasn't sure.
"…I need some time to decide. For now, I'm going to catch a cab home. Thanks for making me dinner and I'll see you on Monday." With that, Kisara twisted around and left. Mokuba and Seto were completely silent until they heard the door open and then close as Kisara exited the residence. Mokuba turned to Seto.
"Yesterday you couldn't trust her, now you want her to take Isono's job? What are you plotting?" Seto leaned back in his chair with a grin as he folded his hands once more.
"I'm sure you've heard the saying that goes, 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.'" Mokuba rolled his eyes.
"She's your enemy now?"
"Anyone besides you and Isono are my enemy, Mokuba. You should know that by now." Mokuba didn't want to respond. He began eating his dinner without answering his brother, hoping instead that Seto knew what he was doing. Though Seto's approach seemed a little strange, the way Mokuba saw it at least this meant that they would be spending more time together which meant romance could blossom more easily. So in a way, Mokuba had done it! He smiled at the thought as he carried on eating dinner.
Now all he had to worry about was how to make her fall in love with him and hope that her intentions really didn't involve taking over Seto's company. As long as those two things were taken care of, there would be a happily ever after for his older brother.
A/N: Hello readers and reviewers alike! It is I, HiKari, bringing you the fourth installment of my story, "For Love's Sake" after over 6 months of absence. For those of you who are curious what happened; nothing. I just got caught up in college work, traveling, social life, love life, family, GOING TO ITALY, and so many other great things. It's been a fantastic spring/summer but all in all, I never did forget about this story. I tried multiple times to bring it back to life, but my head wasn't in the right frame of mind. For now, it seems I've got my groove back so thanks for reading and I hope to post a new chapter soon!