Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Points of Authority ❯ Chivalry is Dead to Corporate By-Laws ( Chapter 1 )

(A/n:) Be sure to review guys!

 

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Points of Authority

 

Chivalry is Dead to Corporate By-Laws

 

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Kenzie Ray was currently in Domino, Japan, trying to find her hotel in all but flying colors. It was unnerving her to the point that rage pricked nervously at every inch of her body, but somehow on the outside she looked cool as a cucumber, figuratively speaking. Of course, so fitful in her anger and frustration, she had forgotten the reason why she was even here in the first place!

 

Oh wait.

 

Seto Kaiba.

 

And some tournament that Kenzie had "so graciously" been invited to.

 

She grunted.

 

The only thing grateful those bastards were doing was paying for Kenzie's hotel room; they weren't even gracious enough to give her a full-expense paid trip!

 

Kenzie involuntarily cringed as she made her way down the large sidewalk, trying to avoid the heavily trafficked concrete road. Kenzie had her hair back in a loose ponytail, to keep it from getting caught in other peoples' buttons and loose clothing. It was long and black, and had that wavy affect that hair had when it was heavy enough to pull out the natural curl.

 

Her stark, green eyes caught a flashy poster on the side of a random building. She sighed in distaste when she saw it was an advertisement for an old duelists' tournament for grades kindergarten through sixth grade; it vaguely reminded her of her situation with Kaiba's upcoming tournament.

 

No, Kenzie didn't like Seto Kaiba at all, and she hadn't really found out that he was the one hosting this "Battle City Tournament" until she got here...when she couldn't turn back home. Kenzie refused to waste her hard-earned money on nothing! She was going to enjoy this tournament!

 

Seto Kaiba was for everything that Kenzie was against, in principle. In fact his strategy was a mockery of anyone who had brain cells; hit hard and don't relent, even if they beg for mercy. Kenzie believed in duping people to extreme humiliation, but the way Kaiba did it seemed so...barbaric to her. Didn't he have any honor?

 

Kenzie shook her head clear of those thoughts; the subject of Kaiba always rubbed her the wrong way, and it was better that she didn't think about it.

 

Looking around aimlessly, Kenzie noticed how different the Japanese seemed to be than Americans. Most of the people she was seeing on this sidewalk walked with reserve and purpose, and it was foreign to her since she was used to seeing people walk as aimlessly around as she felt at the moment. It was almost intimidating.

 

Suddenly, Kenzie caught the rather big building in front of her, letting the people brush by her unmoving body with ease, feeling the arm that held her suitcase being moved by the cascading crowd. Her clothes were also going with the flow of the busy people; her plain, slightly loose, purple t-shirt billowed slightly while her light, blue-jean denim shorts stayed in place. Luckily, Kenzie's sock-clad, and mostly white with black streaked sneakers were keeping her from falling over.

 

In her confused awe, she noticed atop of the building was an intertwined "K" and "C". As people still pushed past, alarms went off in Kenzie's head, like she should know what the logo stood for, but she just couldn't get it...

 

Out of no where, the crowded sidewalk thinned to nothing and Kenzie quickly felt the lack of force on her body. Searching to the sides quickly, she noticed that there was no one in sight, and she worried that maybe something had happened and she hadn't caught it? Or maybe it had been her?! But what did she--!!!

 

Something solid, cold and hard hit Kenzie's backside, making its inertia transfer to her when it hit and making her stomach churn in surprise. She wobbled dangerously momentarily before taking a grounded step to equalize herself. Once she had, the churning stopped and was replaced by a heated anger, spinning on her heel, ready to go off on whoever had hit her so harshly...

 

But Kenzie was dumbstruck when she saw a familiar mop of brown hair, and icy, blue eyes...not to mention the dramatically flared white overcoat from his black outfit...

 

This was Seto Kaiba.

 

However, just as quickly as her surprise and shock had arisen, it was beaten back down to a harsh anger, noting that a black limo was part of the perpetrator's offense. After all, this guy had hit Kenzie, and she wasn't going to just stand there and take it! Besides, knowing Seto Kaiba, he probably had seen her and done it on purpose!

 

She set her face in a determined glare, cupping her forearms in front of her waist, despite the awkwardness of the suitcase in her one hand.

 

"Excuse me, sir," Kenzie told him in a solemnly even, but insulted tone. "But you just hit me with your car door."

 

He stepped fully out of the now recognized limo, looking at Kenzie with a glance like he had looked straight through her. He simply straightened his back to make him look taller, holding a silver-white briefcase in one hand, and letting his other shut the door behind him.

 

"Did I?" he paused dramatically in his door-closing motion, as if to mock bow in apology. His tone was borderline mocking, and quite sarcastic to say the least. "Well, I'm sorry that you were in my way."

 

Kaiba then went to glide past Kenzie in an arrogant slide, but she slid right in front of him, hands on her hips in a cool anger.

 

"I want an apology," she said simply, like he would actually comply with it.

 

Kaiba gave her a deadpan look for a moment, and then laughed in amusement.

 

"That's nice," he finished laughing, his eyes now sparkling in near anger and amusement. He put his free hand into a fist and rested it on his hip in attitude. "But you were in my way, so I have nothing to apologize for."

 

Kaiba then tried to get past Kenzie once again, but, again, she followed him over to his new directory.

 

She folded her arms across her chest in resolution, putting her weight to one side. "I'm not letting you leave without an apology."

 

His eyes narrowed in a covered, icy rage, but it effectively froze the molecules of air in between the two of them. It made Kenzie subtlety flinch; her eyes had jerked slightly.

 

"Get out of my way," he warned darkly, not bothering to move to get Kenzie to.

 

Kenzie rolled her eyes in attitude, noticing that Kaiba's face was tightening around the jaw. "I'm not moving, I was here first," she told him stoically. "If you want to leave you can walk around me."

 

Kaiba's free hand fisted in a hard anger, his knuckles going vaguely white before he spoke in gritted teeth.

 

"Look, you--"

 

"SETO!!!" the shrill voice of a child called; it had broken the tense atmosphere of wills between the CEO and Kenzie. In fact, she was honestly now confused at what was going on, especially when a mass of black hair "WOOSH"ed by her and latched onto Kaiba's waist.

 

Kenzie blinked three times for good measure, bringing her finger up to scratch the side of her face before they spoke to clear her confusion.

 

Suddenly, the raven-haired boy let go of Kaiba quickly, folding his arms in fake contempt, and turned his back to him as he said, "You're late! You said you'd be here an hour ago!"

 

"Mokuba," he said in lidded, mild frustration. "I got held up at a client's office, I couldn't help it." Kaiba glanced past Kenzie and "Mokuba" as he said it.

 

Abruptly, the raven-haired boy caught Kenzie looking confused at the two of them, and dropped his fake-hurt act and bombarded her with attention. "Hey, you look familiar... Aren't you that American Duelist?"

 

Kenzie was caught off guard, feeling a slight heat to her cheeks as she answered hesitantly. "Who...me?" she pointed to yourself. "I am an American Duelist...but I don't think we've met..."

 

He waved off Kenzie's confusion in a light-hearted manner as she kept his eyes on him. "Oh, sorry 'bout that. I'm Mokuba Kaiba, Seto's little brother." He extended his hand, and Kenzie took it, shaking it in understanding.

 

"I wasn't aware that Kaiba had a little brother," she told him in all honesty, but introduced herself just the same. "I'm Kenzie Ray.”

 

"Wait," Kaiba interrupted in cold recognition. His eyes and tone almost seemed to jeer at Kenzie, making her suspicious of his gaze. "You're that two-bit hack that won the American Tournament by default, aren't you?"

 

…

 

Anger cascaded through Kenzie's body in tangible waves of her bloodstream as her teeth clenched in anger and frustration; that was Kenzie's weakness, having that god-awful reputation being rubbed in her face...and by someone she despised no less!

 

"By a series of unfortunate events, I did manage to win the American Tournament by...de...fault," she gritted out of her clenched mouth, her eyebrow ticking at the sensitive nerve, and choking on getting the last bit out of her mouth.

 

Kenzie could almost feel Kaiba's smirk reach out to her and stroke her already bruised ego as he continued his berating.

 

"And you had the audacity to tell me to move!" he jeered in arrogance. "You're nothing more than the dirt off of my shoe!"

 

Kenzie felt her angry, ticking eyebrow get jerkier as she stood there and listened to his laughing, feeling her knuckles go white. She eventually just snapped, yelling back at him, "Those losers before me were cheating! It's not my fault!"

 

He wasn't fazed by Kenzie's outburst, and condescendingly folded his arms across his chest, as he mentioned coolly, "Well you can't be that much of a duelist if even cheaters can beat you."

 

Trying to make her anger simmer, Kenzie thought of the best comeback, making her feel at sudden ease, "You don't have much room to talk when an international champ is beaten by a two-year player," she quipped hotly. "I'm sure Yugi Moto could see the devastation in that."

 

Kenzie grinned evilly when she saw Kaiba practically foam at the mouth from that comment.

 

"At least I'm not a default duelist!!" he landed back in a spiteful rage; she had obviously taken a sore spot...

 

...And apparently he had rubbed one on Kenzie. Feeling vengeful waves of anger course through her, Kenzie glared darkly at Kaiba, clenching the handle of her suitcase until she could feel her knuckles burn.

 

But it dissipated quickly when Kenzie recognized that familiar warm buzz streak through her head and sinuses. She closed her eyes, pinching the outer most part of her nose to ward off the annoying pangs of painful throbbing.

 

"So have you found your hotel yet?" the cheery voice of Mokuba broke through Kenzie's brooding pain.

 

Kenzie blinked in confusion at him before answering, trying to ignore the unpleasant hum in her head. "Um, no."

 

Mokuba smiled. "Well maybe we could give you a ride?" he offered.

 

Before she could answer the question, Kaiba's contempt-filled tone cut through the air sharply.

 

"Maybe in a cab," he spat, glaring at Kenzie venomously, "because you're not getting in the same vehicle as me."

 

Kenzie felt her blood exponentially grow to a boil as soon as Kaiba's implied insult had reached her ears, but she quickly let go of it as soon as a sharp pain started to dig on the top left side of her head; like a hot metal pick being swung into her skull with a patterned throb to her painfully beating sinuses. Kenzie winced, almost going to grasp the top of her head when she held her hand still, trying to keep her senses.

 

"I wasn't planning to, highness," she tried to keep a hold of the fading venom in her voice, her glare most likely confused with that of biting pain. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be going to find that hotel now..."

 

And with that Kenzie swung around contemptuously, her black hair mimicking the furious motion, and leaving the brothers in a bewildered state, and heading down the sidewalk, not really caring that she didn't know where she was going.

 

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"Se-to...!" Mokuba whined in desperation, stomping his foot to get his point across. "Kaiba Corporation invited Kenzie here! We can't just let her wander the streets!"

 

Kaiba only folded his arms in an unrelenting way. "Watch me," he said simply, like it would end the conversation.

 

Mokuba glared, throwing his hands up. "What if she's killed? How will that reflect on Kaiba Corp, Seto?" he argued tersely. Mokuba knew he wouldn't go after her for any other reason besides if it affected his company.

 

Kaiba flinched, but stayed glued to his spot on the sidewalk, not looking at Mokuba.

 

"Fine!" Mokuba fought in resolute frustration. "I'm going after her then!"

 

Mokuba had took off before Kaiba could stop him, and he shook his head in anger as he opened the limo door and got in.

 

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As Kenzie was failing to try and nurse the pain in her sinuses away by rubbing them with her forefingers, a raven-haired ball of delight had managed to get beside her.

 

"Wha...? Mokuba?" she momentarily forgot the pains in her head. "It's dangerous by yourself; you should be with your brother."

 

He gave a rueful smile, his eyes glinting in blame. "Well it's not safe for you either," he chided, putting his hands on his hips defiantly. "And that's why I'm here. Besides, you don't even know your way around!"

 

Kenzie gave a withering glare at nothing, turning her nose up and said, "Well I guess I hadn't really thought of that..."

 

"Don't let my brother get to you, Kenzie," Mokuba nudged light-heartedly. She eyed him suspiciously. "I know he can be a bit of a jerk sometimes--"

 

She grunted.

 

"--but he's okay once you get to know him," he finished with a wink.

 

"I'm sure...," Kenzie mumbled lowly to try and hide her disbelief; however, Mokuba was sharper than she had taken him for.

 

"Okay, okay," his voice waved off her brooding, like it was normal for him to do so. "So you don't like my brother! At least let us drive you to your hotel; we owe you that much."

 

Kenzie stopped in her place, turning to eye Mokuba in solemn seriousness. "As much as I like the fact that a world renowned corporation owes me something, I have to decline."

 

Mokuba's jaw had dropped open, clearly taken by Kenzie's unpredictable answer. After all, this was Kaiba Corp! It wasn't some kiddy toy shop!

 

"Why not?!" he queried in a disbelieving shriek. Kenzie had continued walking before he had answered.

 

It took a couple seconds for Mokuba to register that she had started walking again before he had sped up to Kenzie, coming in step by her side.

 

She sighed, knowing with a kid like Mokuba, his curiosity ALWAYS had to be filled.

 

"I really like you, Mokuba," she told him sincerely. "But honestly, I can't stand your brother's attitude."

 

"C'mon!" he pleaded, jumping in front of Kenzie and making her stop dead on the sidewalk. "He's like that to everyone the first he meets them! You can't hold first impressions to be true!"

 

Kenzie looked away from Mokuba's pleading eyes thoughtfully. She admired this kid's tenacity and loyalty to his brother...even if the admiree was a jerk. And besides that, he had amazing persuasion skills for someone his age.

 

...And Kenzie really would have accepted Mokuba's gracious offer, if a certain cold-hearted someone hadn't just pulled up and ruined her good mood.

 

The limo had stopped towards the end of the vehicle next to Kenzie and Mokuba, and the automatic window had ominously traveled downward with a "BZZZZ" sound, revealing none other than Seto Kaiba himself.

 

"Get in the limo," he glared at Kenzie, his voice rough in acknowledgement.

 

Just seeing his face again set off all the pains in Kenzie's head again; that hot white pick digging just underneath her scalp and her battering sinuses going off in a fever reaction. She closed your eyes and spun on her heel, noticing how the brightness of the day was making her headache worse...

 

"I'm sorry, Mokuba," Kenzie began in a lidded anger and a regretful tone as she began to take off heatedly down the sidewalk again, "but I'll still have to decline the offer."

 

Kenzie heard a foot stomp the ground in frustration, and she could bet it was Mokuba, also giving Kaiba a chastitizing withered glare at what he had done.

 

The more she held on to her anger of the CEO the more her head began to hurt and it was becoming increasingly difficult to focus on anything but her painful headache, which in turn, only made it worse. Kenzie's stomach began to churn in a forcefully unsettling way as she noticed that her face had begun a cold sweat...

 

'Dammit...,' she cursed and gingerly put her left hand up to the left side of her head, trying to cushion the throb away. 'Why now? Stupid migraines...'

 

Breaking Kenzie out of her stupor was the sound of scurrying feet, and suddenly Mokuba was back in-step with her again. Kenzie knew from his shoes; she wasn't going to open her eyes to let the daylight make her headache worse, but she had just barely opened them to recognize who it was.

 

He gave a moment before speaking, giving the air a thick, confusing, feel. "What's wrong, Kenzie? You look kinda pale..."

 

"It's nothing," she assured him quickly, but unusually soft...although the panging in her head seemed to intensify ironically when she had said it. "Just a headache."

 

Of course, Kenzie could feel Mokuba's disbelieving stare on her raised arm, resting on her head. She quickly let it fall, turning to him momentarily for an assuring smile.

 

He hadn't bought it.

 

Kenzie sighed and kept her pace, knowing inevitably that Mokuba would keep asking, and she was ready to answer him if need be...

 

"I said get in the limo," an angry voice snapped.

 

Turning her head to the source of the voice she saw that Kaiba's head was keeping in-step to her pace by way of his limo.

 

"You're lucky I even reconsidered!" he reproached in a spiteful hiss.

 

Kenzie turned her face away from him to keep her vision diligently forward; it was her way of sticking her nose up at people.

 

"No," she said bluntly, noticing that she had momentarily forgotten her weakened state. A sickening wave of nausea ran through her whole body, making he feel slightly hot, and her headache just seem like all over white-hot sickles stabbing her brain. "I won't get into the same vehicle with someone I despise."

 

Kenzie heard growl a bit, satisfied that Kaiba was getting as angry as she felt at the moment, even though it did nothing to relieve her headache.

 

"Don't flatter yourself!" he bit out hotly. "The feeling's mutual!"

 

Spinning quickly to a stop and facing Kaiba, Kenzie's fists clenched unrelentingly to her blood flow, and she felt her eyebrows dip to a dangerously dark glare. She even felt scary.

 

"Well then if you hate me so much," she began in a deceptively steady tone, teeth gritting painfully, and almost stopping when she thought she saw Kaiba flinch. "...get. LOST."

 

Kaiba gave Kenzie a withering glare, now turning his head forward, not backing down.

 

"Mokuba, get in the limo," he said evenly.

 

"But Se-to...!"

 

"NOW, Mokuba."

 

Kenzie heard Mokuba's suck his teeth in an "unfair!" tone, hesitating before going for the other side of the limo.

 

"It's obvious she doesn't want a ride," Kaiba informed in a steady tone, almost sounding condescendingly dark. "Not that I have a problem with it."

 

Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit Kenzie so hard she stumbled in her footing, even if she was only standing. It had washed through her body quickly, dulling her headache in an out-of-body way, and muffled her hearing.

 

Kenzie saw black dots popping out of holes in front of her eyes, making her feel dizzy and miss her equilibrium, until she could feel the faint feeling of falling over...

 

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