Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Lights, Camera, Kaiba ❯ In Debt ( Chapter 1 )

Lights, Camera, Kaiba

Chapter 1- In Debt

Luck hadn't been good to Serenity. She swore it was toying with her as she sat on the bench. She was, in her opinion, a good person devoid of any and all malice, so what did she do to deserve this? She was beautiful, had a high status job with a modeling agency and she had the brains, which was why her manager sent her out all by her lonesome on her newest project. Find him a suitable model within the week.

She had immediately conducted the interviews which were beyond belief. She had no idea that Domino City was filled with such talentless assholes. She was either sure she couldn't work with the applicant or the applicant was sure he couldn't work with her. Some were complete idiots who had no idea what job they were applying for in the first place and the rest pretty much had their Oscar speech planned out for when they became a famous model, then a singer, then and actor and so forth. Why the Hell don't they get the fact that they were needed only temporarily? And much to her surprise, some had even left after she informed them that they would be modeling underwear. What the heck was that? Men were supposed to love parading their body. Must have been some sort of religious thing or whatever.

Serenity suddenly felt sorry for all those receptionists who usually did the interviews as she drove home that night and dramatically collapsed on the sofa. Her brother looked at her sympathetically and asked her if she had a bad day.

"Understatement of the Century." She informed him, grabbing his dinner plate and shoving the food into her own mouth. Joey scoffed indignantly and left to replace his lost dinner.

"I need a model by the end of the week." She shrilled, turning on the TV. "And the interviews aren't exactly a piece of cake."

Serenity stared at the current program on TV, some stock market crap. Rolling her slate eyes, she turned to her brother hopefully. Making her eyes big and round, she pleaded. "You'll help me, won't you, big brother? You love me."

Joey raised his eyebrow skeptically. Serenity wasn't fair sometimes. But not now. As much as he loved his little sister, he wasn't going to parade his body on a studio set in front of people.

"It's a very respectable thing to model." Serenity tried again, but her brother wasn't moving. She gave up and turned toward the TV which was droning on about what market was rising. A familiar logo flashed on the screen. A bold KC glared at her through the screen before Joey changed the channel to the game. She thought back to the logo and the fact that she was aquainted with the man behind it.

Seto Kaiba. Wasn't he Joey's friend or something. Oh yeah, they were as close as Nazis and Jews. Forgetting that part, she focused on what she remembered about Kaiba physically. Damn, the man just about defined sexy. She remembered the cold blue eyes, the well sculpted body and the dignified, rigid posture. Hell yeah, he would be perfect. She might even get a raise if she could haul him in. But how? The only thing the guy even remotely cared about was his brother and his company.

His brother! She thought back to Mokuba, the happy compliment to Kaiba's muted moodiness. Mokuba, her new plan involved Mokuba! Which was why Serenity was now sitting on the bench opposite Domino High waiting for the younger Kaiba as the dismissal bell rang and students came pouring out like ants, desperate for the weekend. She wanted a weekend as well, but this had to be done.

She saw Mokuba Kaiba wave to his friends and come flying down the front stairs toward his brother's car which was parked on the opposite side.

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Seto Kaiba sat impatiently in his blue convertible watching his 15 year old brother be agonizingly slow in coming toward him. Why the Hell did Mokuba want him to collect him from school anyway? Didn't he have a car of his own? And weren't teenagers NOT supposed to be seen with family?

Seto smiled. Heh, atleast his brother wasn't ashamed to be seen with him in public. But then, who'd be ashamed to be seen with Seto Kaiba?

Ok, WAS Mokuba doing this on purpose? The younger Kaiba was now in the middle of the street, waving to some weirdo he called his friend. Laughing, Mokuba turned around and proceeded toward Seto's car. Behind him, a black car was speeding down the lane. Mokuba's books dropped to the ground as the boy stood frozen in shock as the vehicle sped toward him.

Seto leapt out of his car. "Mokuba!"

As he watched, a slim figure pulled his brother out of the danger zone. The car sped by, the driver apparently not noticing what he had just done. Kaiba growled. What the Hell did Mokuba think he was doing, lounging in the middle of the road? He sped up toward his brother and his benefactor.

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"Oh wow, thank you." Serenity smiled at Seto Kaiba's brother.

"It's alright." She assured the sophomore. "You survived, that's what counts."

"That and being a total idiot!" Seto Kaiba seethed as he checked Mokuba for any injuries. To his surprise, there wasn't a single scratch. Even so, he spent the better part of the next 5 minutes berating the raven haired boy for being slow, late and even reckless. After a final admonishing comment, the CEO turned to Serenity, who was watching him with a hint of amusement.

He took a deep breath. "Thank you." He said rigidly. "For saving my brother."

Mokuba took the opening as revenge on the last five minutes of embarrasment. "Yea, thanks. And, of course, Seto will do anything he can to repay you."

"He will?" Serenity stared at Kaiba.

<I>I will?</I> Kaiba shot Mokuba a look as the kid nodded happily at Serenity. Damn, there was no use fighting his brother. Moreover, Kaiba figured he might as well pay the girl back as he hated being in debt.

"Fine." He conceded. What can Wheeler's sister ask for anyway?

Serenity had a look of someone who had just become aware they had won a grand prize. Her face broke into a dazzling smile. "Please meet me this Saturday at the Iwamura Studios. You can repay me there."

Seto raised an eyebrow. A modeling studio? He looked at Mokuba, who finding his raven locks fascinating and not paying any attention to the scene.

Serenity continued. "It's not far, really. Two blocks from the Kaiba Corporations, I think."

"I know where it is!" Seto snapped. "I'll be there when I feel like it." He walked off after that, dragging Mokuba behind him. He could hear Serenity behind him wishing him a good day.

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<<Saturday.>>

"Big brother, I thought you said you knew where it was." Mokuba whined as Seto pulled up in the parking lot 20 minutes later than when he intended to be there.

"It slipped my mind, ok?" Seto offered. "Besides, I had more important things to think about."

The two stepped into the tall, glassy building. A wave of softly scented air hit them as they entered a receptionist's hall. Mokuba stared at the people as Kaiba inquired the desk lady for Serenity. She pointed the brothers down a wide hall after getting over the fact that Seto Kaiba was in this building. Damn, she owed Wheeler 50 bucks now. The lady smiled slowly as Kaiba disappeared down the hall.

It was good enough place, but not as good as the KaibaCorp offices, in Kaiba's opinion. But then, nothing compared to KaibaCorp. As he walked down the seemingly endless hall, he saw basically two kinds of people. One: those who were genuinely stressed, running up and down the corridors, talking on their phones and taking quick notes. But even while they hurried about, their perfect hairdos stayed relatively in place. You wouldn't know they were about ready to rip somene's throat out. And two: there were those who claimed they were stressed when they were actually lounging around, chatting and being idiots.

Those people, Kaiba was sure, had to be the models. They came in all shapes and sizes and they all stared at him as he walked since he didn't seem to belong in the two categoried world they were used to. Kaiba couldn't care less about them no matter how well sculpted the men looked nor how haremish the women looked. In fact, he turned away in a wordless growl of disgust when one of the men actually dared to blow a kiss in his direction. He didn't have anything against gay men, it was just those people who simply preened and shamlessly flaunted themselves rather than work that ticked him off. As soon as he got home, he was going to find some excuse or the other to have this place destroyed.

"Seto, Serenity could be working here!" Mokuba said, shocked, when his brother put his thoughts in words.

"Then I'd be doing her a favor." He said sharply. If Wheeler bought him here to donate money to this hellhole, she could forget it. He'd rather be in her debt forever than actually help this place.

They finally entered their given room, which was a fair sized office with minimal furnishings complete with a plasma screened laptop and a potted plant in the corner. Seto looked around monotonously and once swatted Mokuba's head when the young one informed him that his own office looked very much like this one. It most certainly did not! It had a red carpet and some other things that weren't here that he didn't remember.

Serenity stepped out of one of the adjoining doors. Her face broke into the previous dazzling smile when she saw the Kaiba brothers. She adjusted her desinger button down shirt and dropped a file on the table. Walking up to Seto, she looked him over, eyeing each detail. He would be perfect.

"Listen, Wheeler. Just ask me your little favor so I can get the hell out of here already." Seto was feeling just little uncomfy in this place.

"Seto, don't be mean!"

Serenity smiled indulgently. "But Mr. Kaiba, you'll be here for quite some time I'm afraid."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Just as Serenity was about to answer, the office door opened and to Seto's surprise, a muscular man stepped in clad in nothing but an underwear. The man stared at Seto for an instant, making the CEO more agitated.

"He it?" the man asked Serenity.

"Yes." She answered with her eyes sparkling. "You may leave now, Hiro."

Hiro smiled. "Good luck, man." With that comment directed at Seto, he left.

"Are we playing tag?" Seto asked coldly. He promised Mokuba he would try his hardest to be nice, but that was the last straw.

"No." Serenity was trying her hardest not to burst out laughing at Kaiba's expression. He was a whole bunch uncomfortable here and thigs weren't going his way. In her studio, things would go her way. She worked too hard for this. She put on a work face. "You, Mr. Kaiba, will be taking Hiro's place."

Kaiba laughed harshly. "As what? An underwear model?"

Serenity's face didn't change. "Well, yes."

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Notes: Kaiba hates it when he's right. ^-^. I tried to bring out as much of the agitatedness in his persona, dunno whether I did or not, but whatever. R&R please.