Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Arubaito ❯ Meeting ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

 

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Ch 4 (Meeting)

 

Kaiba Seto's love life was extremely important to every other person in the world but himself. Since graduating high school and moving full-time into the corporate work force, the paparazzi felt the need to press the issue more firmly. Being a high schooler, although love and dating was an apparent issue, it was an issue that had its own unspoken limitations when published in printed media. Now that the city's richest person was no longer a boy but a man, his love life could be much more openly discussed and publicized. There was always a rumor going around; one day he was said to be with one woman, the next it was heard to be someone completely different. One trashy magazine had even gone so far as to suggest that the lack of public girlfriend could only mean one other thing.

However as far as Seto was concerned, he wasn't gay, he was just utterly uninterested in a relationship at the moment. Any relationship. But it seemed that everyone else on the planet felt the opposite, he had even started having discreet calls from organizations trying to recruit him - and that was why personal assistants were handy; they told dating agencies to bugger off.

Niita, however, thought they were sweet, and put them right through to Kaiba's phone.

He wanted to storm out of his office and shout “This is the last straw!” whilst pointing his finger at her threateningly. However Seto was not without his cinematic side and knew that this would put years of effort on the part of soap operas to shame.

Instead he swiftly, but politely, told the dating agency “for the third time no” and hung up the phone.

Taking a deep, hopefully calming, breath for what felt like the hundredth time that day, he once again got up from his chair and stalked out of his office.

Niita was typing something on her personal computer. She didn't even look up as he approached.

“Niita I told you not to let those media calls through to my office anymore.” It was a statement, a reminder of a conversation he'd had with her about fifty times. Besides, he contacted the media, not the other way around. Hell, he owned shares in most of their stocks; almost every newspaper, magazine, talk show and current affairs program in the district equivalently owed him a favour. If he ever needed a political affair or business deal to go his way, he knew he had access to limitless media sources. But he also knew they still had their public to be accountable to, and he knew, grudgingly, that people all around the city wanted to know what was going on in his life all the time.

The smug part of his brain reminded him that this was hardly surprising.

Seto noticed Niita's nostrils flare, “Have you ever considered that perhaps you should be taking calls from such places?”

Seto would have gaped had he been a lesser man. She even had the audacity to raise an eyebrow at him in the kind of tone that said; “Don't even question me I'm right.”

Nobody got to be right except for him!

That and, you know, she wasn't, he reminded himself.

“Niita, you work for me, the least you could do is respect what I ask of you. In fact, that's your job!”

She was clearly as ticked off at him as he was at her; “Well maybe I don't want to work for a man who speaks so rudely to his employees!”

He felt like all his Christmas's had come at once.

With a little too much enthusiasm (although, compared to most other human life forms this was to be viewed as: little to none at all) he signed resignedly and said; “Well, if that's the way you feel…”

She looked curiously at him and suddenly stood up, huffed, and walked out in the direction of the break room.

Not the exit, he noted, but the break room. Damn.

 

Miso soup, although a favourite snack for most Japanese, was an especially favourite meal for the poor struggling student population. It was cheap, and easy to make. The instructions “Just add water!” had never been more literal. And it came in so many different varieties! They could come in packets and the packets could come in bulk, bulk buying meant less money spent on food which in turn meant a happier unpaid university student.

One could, of course, make their own miso soup from scratch (as one could with almost any microwavable dish) if only one had the effort. And the chopping and boiling and ingredient adjusting skills to go with it. In Katsuya's case, if he was let near a chopping board he was likely to come out amputated.

He sipped the soup from a cup consideringly. Hmm… it wasn't bad, he'd have to buy this brand again.

He was feeling oddly relaxed. That morning he'd gotten his first payment from work into his bank account, which had been gathering dust for quite a long time before that. Most of it he'd had to give straight to his landlord, so he was essentially still broke, but that didn't really bother him. He had a roof over his head for another month, that was all that mattered. The other reason for his contentment was that he had just finished talking to his sister, Shizuka. She still lived with his mother in another city, so he didn't get to see her all that often, which just made the times when she called him or he found the time to give her a ring that much more important to him. She was always cheerful and always sounded like she really wanted to speak to him too. It wasn't that they were without the normal and almost granted bickering of a typical brother/sister relationship, but because they practically never saw each other, when they had grown up as kids so close, it made them miss each other enough to put aside any differences they might have and simply enjoy the conversations they managed to get.

So all that, coupled with the warmth the hot soup was spreading all over his body, was making the blonde boy pretty relaxed. He slouched down into the couch and turned on the television.

And suddenly wasn't so contented anymore.

Just his luck the last station he had been watching was having their hourly news update. Kaiba had apparently been considered important again. The only reason Katsuya didn't immediately change to a different channel was that he suddenly heard the name of the company he worked for. He quickly began to pay a lot more attention to what was going on.

The footage had obviously been shot earlier today, as on screen it was sunny but outside his window it was pitch black. Kaiba could be seen on the steps of his office building, trying to make an exit. It was hard to really get a look at him however, as a whole crowd of reporters had swarmed him and were doing their best to stop him getting into his limousine.

He probably enjoys the attention, Katsuya thought with a scowl. Stupid git.

“Kaiba-san! Kaiba-san!” The voice of one reporter was amplified by the stations microphone she was holding, “Is it true you will be downsizing Shichi Corporation? Will you be getting rid of their executives? Are you seriously considering selling off their companies stock to account for the downfall this season? What of Nobita Matsuno?”

She spoke extremely quickly; it was hard to keep up with what she was saying. Katsuya could imagine it was a lot harder for Kaiba, who had to try to listen to relatively the same questions spoken at the same pace from ten different people suffocating him.

The CEO had clearly been trying to ignore them all, but when he finally reached the open door of his waiting car, he turned around. “No comment.” He announced without expression, then disappeared inside the vehicle.

Katsuya stared as the television announcer concluded her report and passed the metaphorical mike back to the news reader. There followed an article about some sort of political dribble, and then the yen balance and certainly by that time Katsuya was no longer paying any sort of attention.

Was Shichi Corporation in trouble? He knew reporters, on principle, always blew everything out of proportion; but a story was not a story without a basis in fact, on which to exaggerate.

He turned off the television and got up, having since finished his soup and looking now to get some kind of drink. He walked absent-mindedly towards his fridge, his thoughts miles away and back at the office.

 

***

 

Much to Seto's displeasure, Niita was yet to come through with her threat of quitting. He wondered whether there was any kind of mind control device that he could use to get her to hand in her resignation. He knew, of course, there was, but he doubted very much whether they were selling Millennium Rods on the street these days. Maybe he'd have someone look into that…

With gratitude it finally approached 2:00, and that meant it was time to leave to head across town to have his meeting with Nobita Matsuno, head of Shichi Corporation.

With any luck he'd be able to fire someone else today, even if he would be disappointed it wasn't Niita.

 

During the car ride over there Seto pondered briefly how information had leaked out about his short fallings with Shichi Corporation resulting in his encounter with the press the previous afternoon. He was somewhat used to attracting reporters these days, their rise in proof of their inane abilities to claw at you constantly until you paid them attention he could attribute to his finally graduating high school and throwing himself fully into the business side of his life. Once or twice had he considered whether or not he should be pursuing a university degree, but he knew that he was twice as smart as most of those other college idiots without trying. And he already had a future ahead of him, he didn't need to get a degree to start work from the bottom and climb the corporate ladder, because he was already on the highest rung. No, scratch that, he was already at the top of the cliff looking down over all the other losers desperately trying to find a foothold.

But it wasn't that he was completely unsympathetic to the masses, aspiration was important after all. So from time to time he could imagine himself reaching out and lending a hand to further someone else higher up the cliff face.

No, that wasn't right either; he usually ordered someone else to do that.

In any case, the business world was a potentially ruthless place, and you were more likely to have your ladder pushed over then to have it fastened securely at the top.

Which brought him right back to his take over of Shichi Corporation. More specifically, to speculating just what information the media had at the moment and how it had gotten there. It was not uncommon for this to happen. In fact, it always happened, it was just a matter of how soon. That was why Seto had to be a quick thinker. With any major decision it was always simply a matter of time before reporters began to ask questions about his company's future, so he had to have it all planned out, written down, signed and sealed before so much as a weather man could predict a sunny outlook.

That was why it was mildly irritating that the news teams were speculating that he was going to fire Nobita before he actually got a chance to do it. Normally he acted, and they reflected, not the other way around. Oh well, can't change the past, he reminded himself, although he also wondered whether or not he should hire a crack team of scientists to start researching into it.

It was a Thursday, and that meant there were still a number of people milling around the office when Seto arrived. From the reactions of most people, they hadn't been informed that he was coming. The receptionist seemed a little flustered when he greeted her in his usual, short, fashion. He was quite used to this by now however, and he indicated that his security guard could wait in the area. She said that he should follow her, although he remembered coming to this office once or twice before, and she led him past the whispering and staring employees. Most of them were doing an entirely unspectacular job at trying to hide the fact that they were doing so. He mentally rolled his eyes. Imbeciles.

She bowed low and politely as she finally stopped walking and indicated which office he should go into. As if it wasn't obvious enough already with the gigantic type of Nobita's name on the front of the door.

He muttered his thanks not really looking at her, then walked straight into the other CEO's office.

Nobita glanced up, slightly shocked, even though he had been expecting Seto. He almost fell over in his haste to stand. It was all he could do to keep himself from running over to Kaiba and bowing low, then shaking his hand profusely.

They exchanged greetings then the elder man indicated that Seto should take a seat. He eventually re-seated himself as well, then finally glanced up at his superior, all his worry evident on his aging features.

In contrast, Seto's face was completely blank. Showing nothing and hiding everything; although, people speculated, Seto didn't have anything to hide. There were, at any given time, no end to the emotionless zombie rumours.

Seto hated chit chat, he felt it wasted time and delayed the inevitable, so he sped directly to the point; “I can tell from your manner that you must have watched the news last night?” He watched the other man nod, however apprehensively, in acknowledgment. “Let me assure you that not all of it is true. That a problem has arisen concerning your company is true however, and that is where this meeting comes in…”

 

***

 

Katsuya and his work schedule had seemed to settle into some sort of routine over the last two weeks. If you could call two weeks long enough time to form a routine that is. He worked Saturdays, and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, once college for him had finished for the day. He had to admit he preferred the Saturday shifts; it was a lot less busy, which meant that there weren't as many people around to scowl at him or tell him he wasn't doing his job properly, and it was a lot quieter so he could concentrate on what he was doing without having to check 8 times he'd put the folders in the right alphabetical order in the filing cabinet. He just kept wanting to tell himself that J came before I and N came before M and, well, it was a vicious cycle…

He had been happy when, two days ago, Nobita had told him and that he had gotten the job - permanently that is. Katsuya had not forgotten that he was meant to be on a sort of probationary period, and that they were supposedly trying out other people at the same time. Nobita had actually confessed that while this was the case, the other two potential's they had tried had both been highly ill-fitted for the job. One had been unable to locate the toilets but had refused to ask for directions and so spent nearly an hour walking back and forth through the office aimlessly before Sasaki had finally gotten so irritated that she actually left her workstation to go and rectify whatever problem the newbie had. The other had explained with great sincerity that it was impetuous for her to call her house every fifteen minutes to make sure Pita was okay. Nobita had been slightly puzzled about this before the assistant had eagerly explained that Pita was her cat.

“Oh.” Was about all he could manage.

Although his competitive spirit was slightly dejected to hear that he had, essentially, `won by default', Katsuya was still more than happy that his job security had been confirmed. That is, unless the news report he'd seen held any truth whatsoever. But he knew that even if it did it was completely out of his hands, so he didn't try to dwell on it.

Since this time, many of the other office staff had begun to look upon Katsuya as an assistant not exclusive to Nobita himself. That was, he found himself carrying out other various odd jobs around the place rather than just the filling and some form work he was used to. It was not like they got him to install new light fittings or fix kitchen sinks or anything, it was more little things like delivering a notice to a different floor or going out to grab coffee's for at least 10 separate people.

Right now he was in the middle of re-stocking the printer which was apparently out of paper. Again. He finally finished and shut the tray closed, when a man walked past him murmuring something. The printer was no where near the elevators which one could argue was where the entrance to the office was. So he hadn't really noticed the change in atmosphere and mutterings that had been going on when an important person had strode down the hall before. Although the general office staff had had time to settle down, the man walking past still glanced over his shoulder and continued in his seemingly random mutterings as he past Katsuya without much interest and then disappeared into his own office. Brushing it off as a fairly normal case of `office-madness', Katsuya wondered what else he still had to do. He had been on his way to deliver a stack of reports from marketing to Nobita before he had been accosted with three large bundles of printer paper and assigned the job of putting them in suitable location. Nobita was a fairly understanding guy, Katsuya had found, and usually didn't worry if he wasn't back immediately with whatever he had needed. He was well aware that Katsuya was becoming just as much a general office assistant as his own.

Passing along back down the hall he found more heads than usual turned at the sound of someone approaching. Most of their expressions turned to disappointment when they realized who it was however. It's almost as if they're expecting someone else, Katsuya pondered.

Finally reaching his boss's office, he shifted the weight of the marketing banter onto one arm, then used his free hand to open the door.

For all his good intentions, Katsuya froze in the doorway. His hand dropped very slowly from the handle and down to his side, his eye's not leaving the sight in front of him. He thought his mouth might have been gaping, he knew at least that his eyes were probably the size of saucers. But he couldn't help staring, since he had not been ready for Kaiba to suddenly appear.

 

Katsuya would make one observative reflection later on; that, in all honestly, he really shouldn't have been surprised. He knew this company was owned by Kaiba Corp., his friends had even suggested that Kaiba might come in for an inspection or whatever. But, he argued with himself, it was entirely different from just talking about someone or knowing that they existed in the same company, to actually seeing them right there in front of you in the flesh.

So, really, he had all reason to be shocked.

One's memories of another can sometimes be quite concrete. We get a certain image of someone stuck into our brain, and it feeds our perception for as long as it is left untouched. Perhaps that was another reason why Katsuya was so shocked to see him; Kaiba looked different. He looked older, possibly taller, more business-like than Katsuya had ever seen him, and perhaps even more mature. That was his appearance in any case, his face, and his demeanor however, were telling a different story. He looked as cold as ever, staring at the other CEO quite chillingly. Katsuya wondered, in a very detached kind of way (so much that the thought was gone before it could even ground itself) whether or not this was actually true. His eyes still seemed uncaring and his arms were crossed across his chest in a defiant, superior pose. But… Katsuya couldn't quite shake off the fact that on the whole he looked different from the last time he had seen him. (which was, really, quite a long time ago). He looked… better.

Better?

Yeah, he needed to stop that train of thought before it took him into a confusing place. So, he decided to get off at the next station and walk.

Unfortunately in the physical sense, this caused his brain to shut down and he was left with only the ability to gape at the fact that the last person on Earth he had even the slightest inclination to see again was now sitting right in front of him.

Katsuya had not exactly been quiet in entering the room. Granted it would have been a hard task to sneak through the door anyway, since Nobita's desk faced it, but he hadn't expected there to be a meeting on so he had just barged right in. Despite the fact that his moment of thought had seemed to take forever, in reality both men turned at the interruption straight away.

Katsuya felt himself go slightly red; all of a sudden he was embarrassed by his position. He had been so caught up in being angry about the fact that he worked for Kaiba, he hadn't gotten around to considering that Kaiba would probably think it was hilarious that the `mutt' was finally proven to be so much lower than himself. He felt degraded and Kaiba hadn't even said anything yet.

Nobita, although completely unaware that the two boys had any prior relationship with each other, was not an idiot. He could tell that as soon as Jonouchi had walked in, the atmosphere had changed. He even noticed that Kaiba's usually cool demeanor had broken for a moment as he realized who was standing in his doorway. Then his slightly shocked expression had changed to an even deeper scowl than normal. He blinked. What was going on?

 

Seto was a fast thinker, usually able to walk into a room and assess the situation entirely and choose his next course of action in under a second. And he was doing that right now. Although his mind wanted to spend a lot longer ogling at the new development, he also realized that half of himself wanted to react by way of his usual insults and, if it came to it, beating the crap out of the shorter annoying blonde. However his smarter half realized that this was a professional environment, and as such he should treat the situation in a purely professional manner.

He ignored him.

“I believe our discussion was nearing its conclusion.” Seto stood up to emphasize the point, “Thankyou Nobita and someone from our department will be speaking to you again shortly, have no doubt.” He had already offered his hand and the somewhat perplexed Nobita who was still looking from the new expression on Katsuya's face to Kaiba's sudden reaction to high tail it, took the CEO's hand automatically and shook it. That done, he spun around and exited the room without another word.

 

***

 

Seto usually didn't spend a laborious amount of time going over his decisions in his mind after they'd already been made. There was no point in second-guessing things, as they could no longer be changed. However now that he was safely out of the building and back in his limousine he inadvertently found his thoughts drifting back to the confrontation, if indeed it was even worthy of such a title, which he suspected it wasn't, back in Nobita's office. Certainly he felt he'd handled the situation in the most professional way possible. Seto made a noise that sounded like “tch”, while his face was still in a scowl and his arms crossed, staring intently at whatever was outside his window, however his mind was still miles away.

He just hadn't felt that anything had needed to be said. Certainly Jonouchi's appearance had raised many questions, but the answers were all fairly obvious anyway. He was probably working there, a clerk or an assistant or something, as the files he was holding were probably intended on being delivered to Nobita. Clearly he hadn't counted on

Seto being there however, as he looked as shocked as Seto had felt at suddenly being face to face with this old enemy again.

Seto found that it wasn't as amusing as it should have been. Certainly part of his brain shrieked that `wasn't it pathetic that a loser like him ended up working for someone as successful as you?' It really just proved how much more superior he was to Jonouchi, as he'd been telling him for so many years. He couldn't beat him at Duel Monsters and he certainly would never beat him in the corporate world. But perhaps, another part of him suggested, that's not what he wants anyway? The boy had certainly never seemed the type to willingly take an office job, so perhaps he just needs the money?

Seto snorted, yeah, now that he thought about it, that was almost definitely the case.

But the main reason he found himself not as worked up about this as he perhaps should have been, was that he had now spent so much time in the corporate world, he understood that some people worked at different levels of the ladder, and that was just what they did. He found he just didn't really care enough to criticize entirely Jonouchi's decision; it had been so long since he'd seen any of those babbling, game-playing, yami-worshiping idiots that he suspected they all must have at least moved on with their lives even a little. And that Jonouchi had moved onto where he was did not really concern him anyway, certainly he didn't care that he had just seen him for the first time in years.

But if that was the case, the part of himself that he didn't like listening to because it was usually right and contained feelings said to him, why are you still thinking about it?

 

Katsuya had finally finished for the afternoon, probably leaving a little earlier than he should have, and he spared no haste in getting out of the building. As soon as he was as far away as he felt necessary he pulled out his mobile phone.

“So much for never bumping into him!” He practically shrieked as the other line picked up. A few nearby birds flew away in shock.

With vague detachment he considered that he sounded rather like a whiney housewife, annoyed that the plumber had arrived two hours too early.

It took Honda a moment to work out just what the heck Katsuya was talking about. Then it hit him.

“Oh God, what happened? Did you draw blood? …You didn't kill him, did you?” His last question was said with a tone that implied he was more curious to find out than actually concerned that the answer might be `yes'.

“No, no,” Katsuya muttered, thinking that it would have been a great idea however. Then another though struck him, “And he ignored me!”

“What?”

“Nevermind.”

“Well, just remember Jou, he's not your immediate boss. Even if he does come in for inspections or whatever from time to time, you can just avoid him for those five minutes then get on with your work.”

Honda was talking very quickly and trying to be consoling, and Katsuya let it work. At least for appearance sake. “Yeah, I know, thanks.” He hung up, feeling only slightly better than he had just moments ago. Honda hadn't really helped, and he knew if he called Yugi next he would probably just say the same thing. They were right, of course, but that didn't make the situation any better.

And one thing still bugged Katsuya; the way Nobita had looked so pale and detached when he'd seen him in his office, right after his meeting with Kaiba. A sudden thought struck him; what if the news report had been accurate? What if they really were downsizing Shichi Corporation? He had a pretty much useless role, they'd probably get rid of him, right?

Katsuya had done so much worrying over the last month or so he was beginning to feel exhausted. With a heavy sigh he boarded the first train that would take him home again. Just for once, he would really love some good news.

 

 

~~

Okay so I know, their first meeting was entirely too anticlimactic, right? (Right?) But what I wanted to emphasize was the fact that they had matured enough not to see each other and scream profanities and throw punches immediately without comment anymore. Remember, in this story, they are a little older than in the anime/manga, so we need to give them some credit, ne?

-ducks-

Yeah, okay. Anyhoo, I promise they'll do more actual interacting and talkingyness next time. …Look at me, I'm so worried about this chapter I'm making up words…

Anyway, I love getting feedback, it helps me think better on how I'm going to write the next installment. I want to know your honest thoughts, so share them with me. See you next time!