Chapter 3

Aria walked into her last class of the day on Monday. History, the only class she shared with Kaiba. She had been dreading this class all weekend. Seeing him at the pizza parlour on Friday night really sent her for a loop. It wasn't his presence that shook her up, it was the fact that he was out on a Friday night, enjoying pizza like any other teenager. It almost made him seem…human. But who was the kid he was with? Does he take an orphan out for dinner once a month for some good publicity?

She gave a quick glance into his corner of the room. A breath of relief shot out when she saw that it was empty. She continued on over to where Yugi was sitting with Joey, Tristan and Téa. "Hey guys, how was your weekend?"

"Not too bad, how was yours Ari?" came Joey's reply.

"Could've been better. Riku was at home all weekend so I didn't get out much."

"He's still holding you on a tight leash eh?" asked Tristan.

Aria shrugged. "I was able to do some prep work on some programming to help better prepare me for the start of my internship today."

Téa's eyes widened in remembrance. "I forgot about that! You're going to work for Kaiba Corp right? Can't say I envy you there," she said with a wink.

Joey put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "Why would you want to work for that rich boy? If you thought Riku kept you on a tight leash, it will be nothing compared to working for that tyrant."

"Believe me, I wasn't too excited about it either," replied Aria. "But apparently it's a very sought after opportunity and will look amazing on my applications."

"Hmph, still think you're selling your soul to the devil," said Joey with a sniff.

Aria gave him a pointed look. "It's a big company, I doubt I'll even see the guy."

"Speaking of Kaiba," broke in Téa. "Wasn't it weird to see him out at the pizza parlour on Friday night?"

Aria was glad that she wasn't the only one who noticed. "I know! But who was that kid that was with him?"

Tristan answered. "Oh, that was his little brother Mokuba. Even though he's a Kaiba, he's actually a pretty sweet kid."

This new information sent Aria's mind awhirl. It really shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that Kaiba had family, but Aria just couldn't see the guy getting along well with anyone.

"He'd be a great kid," said Joey "If he didn't worship the ground that Kaiba walked on."

It was then that their teacher walked into the room and asked that everyone take their seats. Aria walked back to her seat and gave one last look at Kaiba's empty chair. Was there more to Kaiba then he was letting on? Was it all a ruse? Or was he really the cruel and blunt billionaire everyone made him out to be?

She shook her head as she tried to clear her thoughts of the blue eyed CEO. Aria had enough things to think about then trying to solve the puzzle that was Seto Kaiba.

History went by painfully slow. It didn't help that Aria was constantly looking at the clock, waiting for the bell that would signal the end of class. She had been a bundle of nerves all day, dreading the moment she had to walk into Kaiba Corp.

The bell finally did ring, and Aria was out of her desk and out the door in record time. She didn't even say a quick goodbye to her friends. She only had a certain amount of time in which to catch the city bus that would take her downtown to her new workplace.

Aria reached the bus stop within plenty of time. The bus pulled up five minutes later and she was on her way. The bus ride allowed her to collect her thoughts and slow her breathing. And her erratic pulse. The bus stopped just outside Kaiba Corp's front doors. Aria stepped out and craned her neck to look at the giant skyscraper that stood before her.

A giant steel statue shaped into the letters 'KC' stood in the middle of the forecourt. The building itself was covered in windows and looked like it must've been at least 30 stories tall. People were constantly walking in out of its revolving doors. Aria took a deep breath and headed towards them.

She joined the throng of people going in and when she came out the other side she had to stop to take it all in. She had walked into a giant foyer, the floors shimmered as if they had just been buffered. On either side were seating arrangements made up of pure black leather with ornate coffee tables in the centre. A vase of blue tiger lilies sat on top of each.

There was a desk in the shape of a circle in the middle of the foyer with three secretaries sitting in the middle. Aria looked down at her school uniform and knew she needed to go change before she could present herself. She quickly looked around, trying to find a sign for the washrooms. Sure enough, there was one along the right side of the room.

Quickly ducking into the women's, Aria let out a soft grunt at the opulence that was stated, even in a foyer bathroom. She chose a stall at the far end and changed out of her uniform and into the clothes that she had packed into her bag.

When she came out, she was wearing a buttoned-up white blouse with short sleeves that tucked into a pair of black slacks. She coiled her hair into a simple chignon at the base of her neck. To top it all off, she reached into her knapsack and pulled out a pair of horn-rimmed glasses.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Aria felt more like a computer programmer than a lowly high school student. Hopefully they'll treat her as such.

She turned around and exited the bathroom, heading towards the front desk. Stopping at a woman with a headset on, Aria waited patiently for her to acknowledge her presence. She finally stopped talking into her headset and smiled up at Aria. "Yes, may I help you?"

"Hi," Aria began hesitantly. "I'm the new high school intern reporting in for my first day." Aria nervously rubs her arms, hoping that she doesn't look as young as she sounds. She then remembers the envelope Mrs. Tanaka gave her and pulls it out of her bag to hand to the secretary.

The woman's face brightened. "Oh yes, we were told to expect you today. I have your employee pass and name tag here." The secretary pulls open a drawer and grabs a lanyard with a i.d. and key pass attached. She hands them over to Aria. "These will grant you access to the computer programming labs. You will find the elevators directly behind me, take them up to the 10th floor, it will be the first door on your right. Introduce yourself to Hubert Langley, he will be your supervisor."

Aria nodded in understanding. "Sounds simple enough, thank you."

"I hope you enjoy your first day," the secretary says with another smile.

Me too thinks Aria as she walks away and heads towards the elevators. There were five along the back wall. Aria shakes her head as she pushes the button to go up, thinking that Kaiba really doesn't spare on any expense. The door in front of her immediately opens up and she steps inside. She pushes the button for the 10th floor, but after waiting for a minute nothing happens. It was then she notices that there is a scanner which she assumes is for her key pass. Aria scans her card, making the light go green, and this time when she pushes the button, the doors immediately close.

The ride up the elevator was short and too soon Aria was walking out into a brightly lit hallway. She started walking down until she came to a long broad window on the right side that looked into a computer lab.

Three rows of long rectangular tables sat parallel to each other. On each table were four state-of-the-art computers. Programmers were seated behind each one, faces pressed close to the screen, fingers flying over the keyboard. At first Aria didn't think too much about it and then she had to do a double take. It wasn't just programmers behind the computers, but men. There wasn't a single female in the room.

Well, she wasn't going to let that deter her. Being a woman had no impact on her computer skills whatsoever. She would prove that. Aria walked over to the door, conflicted as to whether or not to knock first. She opted to go right in since knocking seemed trivial.

Upon entering the room, Aria noticed several big screens positioned at the base of each table as well as a white board at the front of the room. A gray office desk was situated on her left. A man with wispy brown hair that was plastered to his scalp sat with a bunch of paperwork, and a computer screen that was perched on the corner. Aria approached the desk and saw a gold and black name plate with the name 'Hubert Langley' engraved on it. He didn't look up at her when she stopped just a few feet in front of him.

Aria noticed that he was dressed very similar to the other workers in the room. Short-sleeved white dress shirt with a black tie. She couldn't see his legs under the desk, but she guessed that he was also wearing grey dress pants and black shoes like the rest of the men in the room.

After a few minutes of Mr. Langley still looking down at his paperwork, Aria politely cleared her throat to get his attention. When he finally looked up Aria gave a small smile and introduced herself. "Hi, my name is Aria Ito, I'm your new intern." He didn't smile back.

Mr. Langley gave a sigh that came out more like a huff then abruptly stood and walked over to the far right rectangular table. Aria followed him until he stopped at an empty computer at the farthest end.

"This is where you will be working" Mr. Langley stated. "I'll assign you some basic projects that should be more suited to your…level. They'll only require simple algorithms. I'm assuming you know C++ coding?" he asked, peering over his glasses at her.

Aria straightened her spine. "Of course, as well as JavaScript and Python," she replied. She actually also knew numerous other coding languages but didn't want to sound too boastful.

"Hmph," was all Mr. Langley said in reply. "I'll transmit over your first assignment. But there is one thing I want to be clear about and that is you are not to disturb the other programmers. Mr. Kaiba has been prepping us for a new development and thus we've been working overtime in order to meet his demands. I will not hesitate to send you down to records, inputting old files, if you get in the way. Understood?"

Aria wanted badly to give this man a piece of her mind. But she also knew that she may need him for a reference and she had no doubt he really would send her down to records. So, she swallowed her pride and answered serenely, "Perfectly".

Langley gave one curt nod and then turned around and headed back to his desk. Aria sat down and booted up her computer. As she waited for it to turn on she contemplated her new supervisor. He seemed very strict but maybe you had to be in order to work for Kaiba. What was this new development? It sounded big if Kaiba had them working overtime.

Aria let out a soft sigh. Doesn't sound like it will matter. Seems Mr. Langley was determined to keep her out of the way with menial tasks. It was very disappointing as she was looking forward to challenging herself on more advanced technology. Fenrir Inc just simply didn't work with companies that had high-level hardware.

With the computer finally operating, Aria began by familiarizing herself with the operating system. Soon enough she found the assignment that Mr. Langley had sent over electronically. She started to work away at it, getting lost in the procedures, when she heard the door open and close. A brief flash of purple caught the corner of her eye. She closed her eyes, not wanting to believe the possibility of a certain someone walking through that door.

When she finally opened her eyes and looked over to the front of the room, sure enough, there stood Seto Kaiba.

Kaiba rode the elevator down from his top floor office to the 10th level. The foundation for his new project was coming along well but he soon needed to hand over the reins to his computer programmers to start writing the software required. And if this project was everything Kaiba expected it to be, he was definitely going to need his full workforce on it. And then some.

He found that by checking in personally every once in a while allowed him to become more observant on the progress they were making. It also didn't hurt to remind the employees that he was keeping a close eye on their work.

He walked into the computer lab and stood at the front with his arms crossed. Langley immediately jumped up out of his chair and ran over to Kaiba's side, bowing profusely and asking how he could be of service.

Kaiba ignored him. He instead watched as the programmers worked, not one looking his way, either too afraid or too absorbed to acknowledge him. He frowned as one worker swiveled their head towards him, only to quickly turn back to their screen. It was then that Kaiba realized that it was a female. Funny, Kaiba thought, I can't remember the last time Langley hired on a female programmer.

"Who's the woman?" Kaiba simply asked.

Langley looked over to whom Kaiba was staring at. "Oh, that's Aria Ito. She's just a high school intern. Don't worry Mr. Kaiba, I made sure to put her on the simplest of tasks so that she doesn't get in the way of the higher priority assignments."

So, this was the high school student he approved. Every year Kaiba's school applies on behalf of a student for an internship. He believes they do it because he attends there and therefore thinks he would be more open to comply. How wrong they were. The applicant had to be extremely talented to land a position there. Kaiba Corp only accepted the best.

Kaiba never looks at the names or personal info. He just wants to know their skills and grades. So, he was very surprised to see that it was a girl who had won the internship.

"Let me know how she progresses and the quality of work she hands in. If her profile is any indication, she may make a nice addition to the team for our next project."

Langley's eyes went wide. "But Mr. Kaiba, she's just a high school student," he sputtered. "A lot of these men are vying for a spot on that team, and for a girl to take one of those spots?"

Kaiba raised a condescending eyebrow and turned his head with a cold stare. "Are you questioning me, Langley?"

Langley swallowed hard and relaxed his posture. "Of course not Mr. Kaiba."

"Good. I expect a full report by the end of this week."

Langley nodded, knowing that he had been dismissed. He turned around and went back to his desk.

Kaiba also turned around to leave but gave one last glance over his shoulder. There was something about that girl that was familiar to him, but he couldn't say what. Shaking his head, he continued out the door.