Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Juliet Kaiba ❯ Homecoming ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: midnight_angel
Kaiba leaves his PA to take Mokuba to the opening of an arcade in town. At the same time Juliet is sent to fetch breakfast for the band.

Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Psychological / Mystery | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.28.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.8K | Visits: 264 | Status: Completed

Chapter 2 - Homecoming
Mokuba Kaiba was bored. He had been sitting outside his brother's conference room for the best part of an hour waiting for him to emerge from an important staff meeting. It was early afternoon, and Seto had promised to take Mokuba to a new arcade that KaibaCorp had built. From what Seto had said, there was going to be virtual holographic stadiums, plus an opening parade, and Mokuba couldn't wait to go. C'mon big brother…we've all ready missed the balloon animals! The corridor was silent on this particular morning due to the meeting, giving KaibaCorp a spooky deserted feel. Nobody walked past him or even sat in the room opposite. He had nothing to do except wait, steadily getting more and more bored. After what seemed an eternity, the door the conference room opened and Mokuba immediately turned round hoping that it signalled the end of the meeting. No such luck. It simply signalled the exit of his brother's PA, Aldara.
Aldara had been Seto's PA for a number of years, but they'd known her for a lot longer than that. Aldara had resided in the same orphanage as Mokuba and Seto all those years ago, when they were children. She had known them before they were rich and knew more about them than anybody else. A short woman with long blue hair and dark eyes, Mokuba had often hoped that she and Seto would get married.
When Aldara saw Mokuba sitting in the corridor, she turned to him and smiled.
“Hi Mokie,” she said. “Waiting for Seto?”
Aldara had never called Seto `Mr Kaiba' in all the time Mokuba had known her, and she always referred to Mokuba as `Mokie', no matter who she was talking to. Mokuba smiled and nodded.
“Yeah,” he said. “He promised to take me to the Villa Arcade today…”
As Mokuba spoke, Aldara looked at the door to conference room, an awkward look across her face.
“Gee Mokie, I don't think that Seto's going to get out in time,” she said. “It's really heating up in there… I was just coming out to fetch food…”
Mokuba felt his stomach flutter with disappointment.
“But… he promised,” He wailed. “He said he'd take me!”
Aldara sighed and turned to face Mokuba properly.
“I tell you what,” she said. “How about I go and remind Seto about your arrangement? I'm sure that what with this meeting he just forgot…” Mokuba smiled up at Aldara gratefully.
“Thanks Aldara,” he said, as she went back through the conference room door and disappeared from sight. When she was gone, Mokuba slumped back down into his chair. Once again, I am back to waiting…
o0o
“Order, order!”
“This isn't a courtroom, idiot! I feel the solution to this predicament is simple…”
Never in all his time as CEO of KaibaCorp had Seto Kaiba seen anything so heated as a staff meeting. It was like watching a group of smartly dressed monkeys fight amongst themselves. Recently, KaibaCorp had been slated in a popular magazine, hence why the staff meeting had been called. KaibaCorp was a reputable business and it wouldn't do for that to be tarnished. Everyone in the room had their own ideas about how the company should bounce back - some voted for white flags, others voted for war. One thing was for sure; it was a topic sure to cause pandemonium.
“It's so simple I don't know why we didn't think of it before…” continued the previous speaker. “The media is our problem, so we use it to our advantage! We sponsor a new film; support it from the off. The media love generosity...”
Seto listened to this new idea with interest. Unlike all of the other ideas he'd heard, that one actually had a chance of working. Hmm…I'll have to give that man a raise.
As a second man stood up to speak, the conference room door opened and Aldara stepped inside. She wandered over to the only spare seat at the table, hers, but didn't sit down.
“What are you doing?” whispered Seto. “Where's my Danish?” Aldara rolled her eyes.
“Did you know that Mokie's sitting outside?” she whispered.
Seto hadn't until that moment in time and gazed at her blankly.
“Why?” he whispered. Aldara sat down.
“Villa Arcade?” she whispered. “Ring any bells?”
It did, and she knew it did. Seto sighed.
“I was supposed to take him,” he eventually whispered. “But I can't now…I don't know how long this meeting is going to take.” Aldara glared at him.
“You promised him, Seto,” she whispered sternly. Seto folded his arms.
“And you promised me a Danish,” he whispered. “Look, if it means that much to the both of you, you take him.”
Aldara shook her head in disbelief and left the conference room.
o0o
While this was happening, a black van was pulling into Domino. As it did so, Juliet, Trey and Marnie - who at the time were sleeping peacefully in the back - were thrown quite forcefully against the right hand wall of the van.
“Aaargh!” said Juliet, who had somehow managed to end up on the bottom of the pile of instruments, people and clothes. “You're all crushing me!”
Trey and Marnie dragged themselves up and lifted up all of the equipment.
“Look on the bright side Juliet,” said Trey, pulling a stinky pair of Thundercat socks away from her nose. “At least this means that we can settle down for a while…rustle up some food, buy some new clothes, flirt with the locals…”
At this remark, Marnie snorted loudly.
“Yeah right,” she said. “Who in their right mind would want to flirt with you?”
Trey turned to her, leaving Juliet pinned underneath an overturned keyboard stool.
“I'll take that as a compliment,” he said.
Moments later the back of the van slid open and Harley climbed inside. Harley was the eldest member of the band but you couldn't tell by looking at him. He had spiky emerald coloured hair and deep brown eyes. Although he had been driving the van for most of the night, he looked fresh as a daisy, and rolled his eyes at the sight of Trey and Marnie fighting. It must have been the gazillionth time since the band had started touring.
“Morning everyone,” he said, as light from the outside world hit the stage equipment and cast shadows on the inside of the van. “We're here…”
Trey turned to Harley.
“I can see that,” he said, “what's your point?”
Harley sighed.
“I'm casting votes over who goes to fetch breakfast,” he said. “I think I saw a BurgerWorld a couple of blocks from here.”
Fetching breakfast for the group was a task that nobody liked to do. It involved trailing into a random burger bar, placing a giant order and paying with coupons. Nobody liked to do it, least of all the girls.
“Now, last one to raise their hand fetches breakfast,” said Harley.
Even though he was the oldest, sometimes Harley acted even more immaturely than Trey. Harley, Trey and Marnie immediately raised their hands, but because Juliet was pinned under the stool she couldn't move her arms at all.
“Bad luck Juliet,” said Trey, though it was obvious he was trying not to laugh. Juliet scowled and made a mental note to spit in his burger.
o0o
The inside of the place proved worse. It had an aroma of BO and the wallpaper was peeling in places. Suitcases were brought through the door, and Juliet watched the driver tell a woman who obviously worked at the orphanage about their `'circumstances''. Fresh tears tickled her eyes. The lady who worked at the orphanage walked over to the three of them.
`'Hello children,'' she said. ``Welcome to Domino orphanage.''
To Juliet, the lady looked like a witch who was trying her hardest to be nice.
`'If you'll follow me,'' she said. ``You can get settled into your rooms.''
Seto, Mokuba and Juliet followed her, taking in the surroundings. The further in they went, the worse it got. Whenever they passed a child in the corridor, the witch said `good morning' but the children were reminiscent of zombies and didn't reply. Juliet passed numerous toy rooms, but she didn't think she'd want to play in them. They were full of old rag dolls missing heads that could probably be used for voodoo rituals. After what seemed an age, they reached a door. The witch knocked on it, and a younger woman answered.
`'Ah, Diane,'' said the witch. ``This is Juliet. Would you be so kind as to show her to her room?''
She grabbed Juliet's shoulders with her bony fingers and pushed her forward.
`'Hey, wait!'' said Seto. `'Why can't she stay with us?''
The woman, Diane rolled her eyes.
`'Child, this is the girls' corridor. Girls sleep up here,'' she said. ``It's part of nature.''
So that was that. The witch took Seto and Mokuba away, while the woman called Diane dragged Juliet along the girl's corridor. The corridor smelled like strong perfume mixed with bleach, and as Juliet ascended the hallway odd doors started opening. Girls of all different age groups started peeping out from behind the edges of their doors just so they could get a good look at her.