AN: I know, I know, Kinslayer and Hollis Copperbright are in desperate need of an update, but I really wanted to show this story as it's the one where I really put down my headcanons about Kisara's connection to the Blue Eyes White Dragon, and who she is, that I started shaping when I began Kinslayer. It gets wild, trust me. Also, nobody told me how fun it is to write from a villain's POV! Getting into Gozaburo's head was hard (not to mention it made me irrationally angry for the next two hours) but it was really fascinating. I've worked with not-so-heroic protagonists before, but all of them either didn't understand the ramifications of what they were doing because they were children and got better or had a rigid moral code to begin with limiting how much "kick the dog" stuff I could reasonably do. Gozaburo's only going to get worse from here and the only code he follows is the dress code.
And for those of you reading this story as it comes out and thinking, "Come on, he's not that stupid!", if I had a nickel for every time Gozaburo Kaiba did something unfathomably stupid because he got arrogant or just to be a jerk to someone else, I'd be richer than he was.
One
He'd had just about enough of this.
Gozaburo paced back and forth in his office, still fuming about the ridiculous conversation he'd had at dinner that evening. He'd asked Seto about his plans for KaibaCorp, and had been thoroughly disappointed when the bleeding-heart he'd somehow adopted launched into an explanation of his dream to go into games and toys, to build a theme park that let orphans in free of charge.
Never mind that KaibaCorp was a weapon's company. Built on the back of crushing the Kaiba family's enemies. Gozaburo had said as much as he had snapped back at the boy for the utterly idiotic idea he had proposed.
"But I don't have enemies!" the naive brat had screamed back at him. "You're insane!"
"Everyone is your enemy, Seto!" Gozaburo shouted in reply. "Everyone… including me. Until you recognize that, Seto, there will be no more free time for you! Hobson! Confiscate Seto's games and toys! Perhaps the extra study time will get it into your skull that to be a Kaiba you must get rid of such naive delusions! A theme park for the poor… ridiculous…"
As much as Gozaburo scoffed at the idea, he couldn't help but worry about how much his son clashed with his worldview. Seto was brilliant, it was why Gozaburo had taken an interest in the boy at all, rather than leave him at the second-rate dump he'd found him in.
Of all the children Gozaburo could possibly bring under his roof, Seto was the one most likely to make that pipe dream of his a reality, snatching KaibaCorp right from under Gozaburo's nose.
If Seto could not come around to his vision of how the world worked and act like a proper Kaiba, Gozaburo wanted him nowhere near the ownership of KaibaCorp.
But the last thing he wanted was for Seto to give up - as unlikely as that seemed. If Seto slipped out of his clutches, ran away from home or something equally childish, there was the matter of his teaching methods getting out to the press. There would definitely be bleeding-hearts out there in the media who would get the wrong idea about his treatment of Seto.
Gozaburo's reputation rided on his PR. He was wealthy enough now he could get by with the public against him, but that was just another headache in the making. For his own health, he had to keep on the right side of the press. That meant keeping Seto by his side and too compliant to talk or plot against him.
But how should I do that? More importantly, who should he use as his tool to ensure Seto's obedience?
The boy's brother?
No, the sniveling tagalong was malleable, yes, but his loyalty already lay with Seto, and if anything happened to silence him Seto would undoubtedly kick up a fuss about it.
It had to be someone who could get close to Seto… that Seto didn't know and wasn't attached to already… that was stupid and easily manipulated… someone weak. They had to be gotten rid of once the plan was over and done with, of course.
Then Gozaburo happened to glance at the old wedding ring that he never wore, sitting in one of his desk drawers.
That ring gave him an idea. He picked it up, feeling a slow grin creep up across his face.
He had his new tool.
What was his incredibly genius plan?
A marriage.
Not for himself, no. He had no interest in taking another wife. He'd had an irritating time trying to get rid of the last one.
A corporation betrothal for Seto. The two wouldn't be strictly married until adulthood, but the betrothal would be enough to solidify a merger between the two companies and ensure she was in close enough proximity to Seto for his secret plan to work. He could find such a girl. His partners had an abundance of daughters. It wasn't as if it mattered how that boy felt about her. And the girl? All she was was a new link in the chain binding ungrateful orphan brat Seto Yasuragi to the Kaiba name. Nothing more. What could go wrong?
And it only took a quick search of his past emails to find the one he was looking for. One was from the Kamiya Group steel company, asking for the possibility of a company alliance, perhaps even a merger.
Gozaburo had worked with Takagi Kamiya in the past. As an arms dealer, having contacts in the steel industry had its perks. But Kamiya Group had long since lost nearly all of its money in a series of bad investments. Now, the family only had their still-honored family name, their empty house, and their astronomical debts. The Kamiya family, however, were popular in the circles of high society: a still-influential family of great status and long-standing power.
They were the perfect family to consider a merger with. Gozaburo's wealth was unbelievable, but he was a first-generation billionaire, and it would be lying to say he was trusted and welcome in the upper crust of society completely. Adding to this was his son, who started out equally poor as dirt but didn't have the honor of having earned his new wealth the way Gozaburo had.
Gozaburo could easily go through with this plan and not only gain his patsy to control Seto with, but also legitimize his place in high society as he deserved with the Kamiya family's phenomenal social standing and old name.
In short, it was perfect.
Gozaburo quickly composed a reply to the email, explaining the basic outline of his plan.
I have a stepson of similar age to your daughter. He is brilliant, a prodigy even, and has vast ambitions for KaibaCorp's future. However, because of his common birth he isn't quite welcome as a legitimate member of high society, and that reflects poorly on me, in turn. His engagement to your daughter will legitimize his place in the Kaiba family, and my wealth will be more than enough to cover your debts. With your agreement, I hope to arrange for the two of them to meet before the end of the month, and I hope to let her live at the mansion after the engagement to allow her and my stepson to get acquainted prior to their marriage upon adulthood.
It was the next day that he received a reply.
Kaiba-shachou, I would be more than happy to arrange a meeting between your stepson and my daughter. You are right that it will be a mutually beneficial arrangement for both of us. However, I feel I must inform you about my daughter's "special" accommodations. My daughter was born albino and quite sickly. Because of her delicate constitution, she hasn't set foot outside of our house much. I must ask that your doctors be ready to handle it should she fall ill. I also ask that any staff who works with her be cleared in a health examination beforehand. With these accommodations, I can see no reason she cannot live in the Kaiba household.
Best,
Kamiya Takagi
Gozaburo grinned at the email. The girl was sickly and frail? All the better! That would make her easy to manipulate! This plan was coming together better than he ever imagined!
Quickly he composed his reply.
Kamiya-san, I see no reason why those accommodations can't be met. I suggest introducing the two of them as soon as possible so they can begin getting acquainted. How does next Wednesday work for you?
That evening, Gozaburo received his answer.
Next Wednesday will work splendidly. We will start preparing right away.
Gozaburo turned to his phone keypad and dialed Hobson's number. On the fourth ring, the phone was picked up.
"Hobson," he said curtly.
"Good evening, Kaiba-sama. I was just finishing up Bocchama's lesson for today."
"How is he progressing?"
"Better now that he has no distractions."
"Good. Once you're finished, bring him up to my office. There's something I need to inform him of."
"Of course, sir. I will bring him to you at once."
Gozaburo hung up, smirking to himself as he lit a cigar. This was going wonderfully.
Hobson was nothing if not prompt, and only a few minutes later the old butler was opening the door and gesturing for Seto to enter. The boy was rubbing his face, nursing a new welt from Hobson's switch. Evidently he had dozed off again.
"You wanted to see me, Father?"
Gozaburo turned to the boy. "Yes. Sit down."
Seto reluctantly sat, giving him a mistrustful look.
"I have come to a rather fortunate business arrangement over the past few days. Have you heard of the Kamiya Group steel company?"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Seto couldn't believe it. He knew full well after the argument he'd had with him that he had gotten himself adopted by a madman, but this?
Seto was engaged. As of an hour ago, Gozaburo had betrothed him to the daughter of Kamiya Takagi, the now-impoverished and debt-ridden head of Kamiya Group Steel. As soon as he turned eighteen, he would marry her.
Engaged!? Me!? To some businessman's daughter I've never met!? He threw himself onto his bed, spreadeagled, and huffed. What is this, the 1700s!?
Mokuba was of the opposite opinion.
"Nii-sama's gonna get married, married, married!" the little five-year-old chanted, doing some kind of dance in the middle of his bedroom floor.
"Not until I'm eighteen, Mokuba. Gozaburo's just having her come live with us supposedly so we can get to know each other better."
"Married! Married! Married! I'm gonna get a big sister! I'm gonna get a big sister!"
Seto rolled onto his side, barely noting Mokuba continuing to chant and dance around behind him.
He personally couldn't look at the whole thing without smelling a trap. There was no way Gozaburo was going through all this trouble to get Seto married for his happiness, no. Sure, there was the company merger that the engagement was going to solidify. But that couldn't be the only reason Gozaburo shamelessly set him up with a complete stranger.
The thing is, what was that, exactly?
Seto had a sneaking suspicion he didn't want to find out.
The next day, Gozaburo called Seto back to his office.
"I think you may have noticed the new items on your schedule. Those are skills I've seen fit to add to your curriculum in preparation for Kamiya's daughter's arrival. All things I've been told are likely to impress a lady of high standing."
Seto frowned at the new classes. Ballroom dancing, etiquette…
Piano.
"I chose an instrument I guessed you would have basic knowledge of. Is that correct?"
"Yes," Seto replied. "My biological mother taught me."
"Well, I'm sure those lessons haven't stuck; you were but five when she died according to your records. I'll tell the instructor to start you off with the basics."
"Yes, sir," Seto replied, inwardly bristling at the casual, almost blase, mention of Mom.
"I trust you will work hard to be up to snuff at these things by the time the girl arrives next Wednesday."
"I will, sir."
"Good. Now get back to work."
Seto would much rather have put his engagement out of his head entirely. However, the new lessons made it difficult to forget… among, admittedly, other things.
"Nii-sama, look what I drew!"
Seto looked at the drawing waved in front of his nose - a scribbled approximation of the Kaiba mansion with three stick figures out front of it. The smallest was Mokuba himself. The other two were a brunet boy - him, Seto guessed - and a girl in a long dress, holding hands. The words My Family were painstakingly printed across the top in red crayon.
"Who is she?" Seto asked, pointing to the girl.
"Your fee-an-see," Mokuba chirped.
Seto chuckled slightly. "Actually, it's fiance," he corrected Mokuba gently, having gotten used to interpreting his bizarre and entertaining pronunciations of large words he read in books. He sat down next to Mokuba. "I'm glad you're taking this infinitely better than me."
Mokuba frowned. "Why are you sad, Nii-sama?"
"...I just don't know what to make of this whole engagement thing. I mean, this girl's going to be my wife. My partner. Till death do us part and all that. And I've never even met her. I don't even know what she looks like. What do you think?"
"I think she's gonna be really pretty and nice and you're gonna be happy, happy, happy forever!" Mokuba cheered.
"Nice to know somebody's optimistic," Seto replied, ruffling Mokuba's hair.
"Bocchama," Hobson said evenly.
Seto whirled around to see the butler himself standing there. Hobson was holding his favorite teaching tool: the short black switch primed to swat a dozing or distracted child back to attention at a moment's notice. He was repeatedly slapping the weapon against his palm, the wood emitting a sharp thwack sound upon contact with the old butler's liver-spotted fingers.
"Leave your brother. The maids can look after him. You have quite a bit of work to do before your bride-to-be arrives."
"I'm coming. Mokuba, you stay here."
Mokuba frowned and nodded sadly. "Okay."
He doesn't even argue about it anymore.
Gozaburo had cowed them as easily as someone broke a colt, and that only served to further motivate Seto to get out from under his thumb as soon as feasibly possible.
But now he had his mysterious fiance to consider.
Would she be an ally in his plans?
Or just another patsy of his stepfather?
Seto followed Hobson back to the study, wincing, in spite of himself, at each thwack of the whip against Hobson's open palm, remembering, just as the old creep intended, all those times that cracking whip had struck his skin in punishment.
::::::::::::::::
A dilapidated grand mansion.
An overgrown, weedy rose garden, whispering with the voices of the past.
A ghost estate, empty of staff.
Empty of life.
Two ghost parents.
A name.
A legacy.
That was all Kamiya house was, ghosts. Echoes. Whispers of a past that couldn't be retrieved.
In a dusty hall with no maid to clean it, a figure rushes past.
Silk rustles against a threadbare red carpet. Small black Mary Janes click-clack across scuffed wood tile.
Around the corner, a flash of long hair. Through a double door just sliding shut, a thrice-mended dress hem disappears.
A gloved hand reaches out to part the heavy black curtains. Sensitive eyes, now unprotected, blink in pain at the noonday sun.
In a dirty mansion window, a face appears. In a house full of ghosts, a person who is half ghost herself.
A soft periwinkle silk glove reaches out and pulls a photograph from inside a pinafore pocket.
"Seto Kaiba," a soft voice muses, her words echoing through the house with no one to hear her.