Well, you ruined my life.

"Mokuba, let's go! Kick it into gear, bro!" Ren craned her head from where she stood to peer up the stairs. They were about to be late. For the second time this week. It was Tuesday.

If there was one thing that Ren had learned in her short month of working at the Kaiba estate, it was that Mokuba slept like a rock. And that he was an absolute bear when she finally did manage to wake him up. They hadn't had a problem with punctuality yet, but this week they certainly were racking up some tardy points.

"Come on, Mokuba!" She shouted up the staircase. "Pants, no pants, we gotta go!"

"You know that getting him up and to school on time is a part of your duties, don't you?"

Ren grit her teeth. This had been what she was afraid of. She had gotten lucky yesterday; Kaiba had left the manor early and hadn't been around to see them leave late. But here he was now, staring down at her with cold eyes, waiting around to watch her drop the ball. It figured. She had been off to such a good start.

"Yeah, I'm not about to burst into a fifteen year old boy's room to make him get ready for school." She shook her head and crossed her arms. "I like not being a registered sex offender. "

"I like when my nannies are competent."

Ren bit her tongue so hard she thought she might draw blood. And her girlfriends wondered why she hated him. All they ever talked about was his lithe figure and his "gorgeous eyes". She could think of a million different things that could make her forget about his pretty face. Which wasn't likely to stay pretty, the way that scowl was chiseled in there.

Though it had been just a short month, her minimal exposure to her boss had managed to multiply her loathing of him at least tenfold. She was actually surprised. Just the tiny quips and judgmental stares she had taken from Kaiba were enough to intensify her hate to a level almost unbelievable for someone her size. She honestly didn't know where she kept all of her rage sometimes. What had really killed her, though, was the fact that she couldn't fight back. They weren't in high school anymore, and she couldn't just let fly whatever snark she wanted. Kaiba had her in the palm of his hand, and she would have to hold her tongue, whether she liked it or not.

"Okay, I'm ready!" Mokuba chirped, running down the stairs to the front door. "Oh. You're still here, Seto?"

"Get in the damn car!" Ren thrust the teen his backpack and flung the door open, practically dragging him to the limousine, which had been waiting in the wings for the past ten minutes. "We have nine minutes, let's go!"

Mokuba had but a second to wave goodbye to his brother before the door of the limo slammed behind Ren and she urged the driver to "fucking step on it". She heaved a sigh and slumped back into the plush seat. "What a douche…"

The younger Kaiba arched an eyebrow and she waved a hand in the air. "Not you. You're awesome, except for the problems you have with alarm clocks." Ren smirked. "Your fuckin' brother, though…"

She paused for a moment, and nearly flung her bag across the limo when she realized what she had said. "It's not that bad though! He just has these ways about him that, like, I dunno, grate on you. It's gotta be mostly me, really, I just hold grudges and…" She frowned. "I'm sorry."

Mokuba smiled and nudged her arm. "He's not that bad. He's just… a little socially inept. And I told you; you'll grow on him. And he'll grow on you too."

"Parasitic cyst."

The boy snorted. "Progress is progress!" He exclaimed, "And you guys will learn to get along sooner or later. Besides, as long as I like you, he'll have to at least be civil. And I like you pretty well, so far."

Ren smiled softly. "You're a life saver, kiddo. How'd you get to be so awesome?"

Mokuba grinned, gathering up his backpack as the limo rolled to a halt in front of the school. "Easy!" He opened the door and stepped out into the light. "My brother raised me!"

After delivering Mokuba at the school with four minutes to spare, Ogino, Kaiba's driver, had made the mistake of taking Ren to the manor, instead of returning her to her apartment. She hadn't bothered to correct him. Ogino was nice enough; she could sympathize with him. He spent the bulk of his workweek around Kaiba too. So she bid him a good day with a nod and a wave of her hand, and was met with a tip of his driver's cap. He was a little stoic, too. She wasn't sure if he was just that way, or if years driving Kaiba around had made him like that.

Ren shook her head and unlocked the front door, promising herself that she would never let herself be trained like Ogino. She wouldn't be stifled. She had fought too hard to become the girl she was today; she had overcome her own damn parents working against her. She wasn't about to let Seto Kaiba be the death of her spunk.

But so far, she was surviving. Mokuba was a great kid; funny, smart, adventurous. She felt a bit like a doting mother, but she had to admit, he was really a joy to be around. She had found herself wondering on several occasions how someone so fun, so happy, could possibly be related to someone so… Kaiba.

She imagined it had something to do with the way they had been raised; the death of their stepfather, Seto taking charge of the company at such a young age, how he had to grow up so fast. It certainly explained Seto's fixation on that fucking card game; it was most likely his last grab at his childhood.

But it didn't explain Mokuba. Mokuba was disciplined, but nowhere near as rigid as Seto. They had experienced the same childhood, same upbringing, the same sorrows, hadn't they?

She shook her head. She'd done an awful lot of Googling over the past couple of weeks. But still, she hadn't found any explanation for why the Kaibas were the way they were. She flopped down onto the couch and clutched one of the plush pillows to her chest. She supposed it was just one of the mysteries of the universe, and it just wasn't worth that much of her time to figure out why Kaiba was a raging asshole. She shrugged her shoulders, settling into the deep grey couch cushions.

"Fuck 'im." She mumbled, stifling a yawn. Ren had at least another hour and a half before she had to pick things up around the manor… so that was another hour and a half she had to contemplate the potential for vampirism or exposure to Kryptonite regarding the Kaiba family. She shook her head, kicking her feet up onto the ottoman. Her eyes slid shut and her shoulders slumped. "He was probably just born that way…"

She woke with a start, eyes snapping open to an equally surprised Seto Kaiba in her face. Well, not so much in her face, but close enough proximity to jerk her out of her slumber. She stared right back into his frosty eyes, completely shocked. What the fuck was he doing here, why the fuck was he in her face, and why did he have to be so damn close? She cleared her throat, gathering her mind back together to finally speak.

"Pump the brakes, Prince Charming."

He looked stunned for maybe a few seconds before his face hardened into his familiar scowl. He pulled away and slapped an envelope onto the coffee table, folding his arms across his chest. "I can void that, you know."

Ren sat up and scowled right back, snatching up the slip of paper. "Oh, what, you were giving me the creeper eyes while I was asleep, what did you want me to s-"

She clamped down on her tongue, nearly hard enough to draw blood. Fuck. Fuck. This was the first real interaction she'd had with Kaiba without Mokuba around, and here she was, accusing him of creeping on her in her sleep. She actually liked her job at the manor, and though she was loathe to admit it, she needed Kaiba to keep signing her paychecks. She would be royally screwed if she lost her job now.

"So what's this, anyway?" She quickly changed the subject, flipping the envelope over. In fine, crisp print across the center was simply, 'Kuroki'.

"What's it look like?"

'A LOVE LETTER' was screeching through her mind, but she silenced her inner bitch, choosing simply to smirk up at him and tear open the envelope. A check and a pay stub slid into her hand, and her heart dropped into her stomach. Oh fuck. He was hand-delivering it. She flipped the check over and laid her eyes on the comma. Oh fuck. She didn't know if this was a severance package or if she'd actually earned the whole damn check.

Ren glanced back up at Kaiba, trying to keep her facial expressions under control. "This is a month?"

He stared at her, rolling his eyes. "Yes. Can't you do math?"

She stared quizzically back for another moment, before looking back down at the rather hefty check in her hand. "So… I should go get Mokuba soon, shouldn't I?"

"If you like having a job, you should." He shook his head and turned on his heel, striding off for the stairs without another word.

Ren sat with her mouth agape for but a moment, before launching herself from the couch, shoving her shoes onto her feet as she ran after him. "Hey!" She stumbled around the coffee table, but managed to make it to the staircase unscathed, placing herself right between Kaiba and the second floor. "Why'd you hand deliver the check? You scared the Hell out of me; I thought you were gonna can me."

He paused, regarding her carefully. His eyes scanned her face slowly, as though he were rehearsing his answer in his head. "I had an errand to run."

Lie. Ren was an expert liar, and though she was certain Kaiba was too, she could see a lie coming from a mile away. She leveled him with a deadpan gaze, searching his face for answers, but deep in her heart, she knew not to expect any. Though, she didn't have to search very long or very hard. The telltale clacking of high heels against hardwood floor echoed all the way down the stairs and right into Ren's nosy little ears.

She smirked at her boss, his face still completely unreadable. "Were you gonna introduce me?"

"Why would I? She's not anyone notable. And neither are you."

That quip stabbed deep into her stomach, and Ren stood reeling, seething, absolutely burning with hatred. By the time she gathered her thoughts together and had prepared a heavy arsenal of insults to fling back, Seto had gone, probably to bang his dime-store dame. She didn't know what was more infuriating; the way that he referred to the woman he was about to run off and fuck, or if it was the way that he had put Ren on the same level as his nameless afternoon delight.

It had taken her a couple of hours, but Ren had eventually managed to cool herself off after her Kaiba encounter. She was still peeved over the 'nobody' comment, but the hefty paycheck and warm sack of Taco Bell perched on the back of her Vespa certainly were helping her mood. She had worked jobs that were far more degrading and that paid much less, so she had resolved herself to suck it up and stick with it, at least for the time being.

She rolled to a halt in front of her apartment complex and began the trek up to her home. The complex was one of the older ones in her neighborhood, seven stories high with a traditional western façade that had been dulled by time. The stairway was narrow and carpeted in a lush forest green, leading three floors up to her tiny apartment. It wasn't much, but for the past two years, it had been her home. And right in that moment, she could think of nothing better than to curl up in her beanbag chair with her chalupas and watch about twenty hours worth of Game of Thrones.

Ren frowned, remembering that Emi had taken her TV. Goddamn Emi. In the past month, she had almost forgotten that she even existed. She shrugged it off, resolving to just sit in front of her laptop for the rest of the afternoon. Nothing was going to get her down today.

Until her gaze landed on her front door. Her heart fell into her stomach and she stopped dead in her tracks. An orange, laminated notice was taped to the door, bright and aggressive, Eviction Notice bold and slapping her right in the face. Her heart rate quickened as she snatched the notice off of the door, juggling her food and drink as her eyes darted across the paper.

No. She threw the notice to the ground. No. She dug violently through her purse. No. She fumbled with her cell phone, nearly stabbing one of the keys off as she managed to dial the proper number. No. "Matsuo Shinichi."

"UM, YEAH, HI, THIS IS REN."

"Oh, Ren, good to hear from you. I take it you got the notice." Her landlord spoke softly and evenly, but with a certain firmness behind it that Ren completely disregarded and barreled right through. She and Shinichi had been amicable up until that point. But with an unwarranted eviction notice on her door, she was in no mood for pleasantries.

"I got your fucking notice! What the Hell! I have your money in my hand right now!"

"That's all well and good now, Ren, but I can't keep waiting around for you." He said, his calm demeanor only adding fuel to her fire. "You know, the coming in at all hours of the night, the late and half paid rent, those stains in the carpet from the last check-in we had… I'm very sorry, but you are a liability and you'll have to live somewhere else."

"But!" She sputtered, hear heart slamming around in her chest, "That was Emi! She doesn't—she left! It's just me now, and I have a new job, and I—"

"I'm sorry, Ren. I just can't have an unreliable renter any longer. I already have a couple set up to move in this weekend. You have two days to have all of your belongings moved out. Good luck wherever it is you may go from here."

The phone went silent and her soda slipped from her hand, hitting the ground hard and splashing over her canvas shoes. She clapped a hand over her mouth, holding in her emotions for fear that everything in her mind might burst out. Terror gripped her heart, squeezing hard until she felt it might pop. She was beyond intelligent brain functions. She was almost to the point of being beyond controlling her bodily functions. But she gripped herself tight, physically holding herself together. She shut her eyes against the world in an effort to keep everything inside. But to her dismay, tears prickled against the back of her eyes and squeezed through, catching in her eyelashes. A mangled sob burst past her lips and she tightened her grip on her mouth, fighting everything back in.

Stop it. Get your shit together, girl. She let her eyes slide open just a crack, her gaze immediately finding the angry orange notice. It was mocking her. She had to move, but she didn't have the means. She had nowhere to go, nobody to run home to. She had work the next morning. She had a month until her next paycheck. She had to call somebody. She had to do something. She had to get away from that damn notice.

"Fuck!" She hissed. She took up her cell phone once again. It rang only three times on the other end.

"Hey." Ren's voice cracked only once, struggling as hard as she could to keep herself together. She felt ashamed enough as it was. "I need a favor."