Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Dragoness ❯ An Arrangement ( Chapter 2 )

Kaiba looked incredulous. “Pray tell me, how do you know this?” Her eyes narrowed. She knew when she was being baited.

 

“It is an insignificant detail in the face of a very real threat.”

 

“The Hunters have been disbanded for four years now. Malik Ishtar, their leader, has long since been idle in criminal ways. Off the map. No way are the Rare Hunters back.” He folded his arms smugly.

 

Her face was deathly serious. “True. Ishtar would never lead an evil organization. He has been… purified, as the underground would call it.” She spoke as though she knew him personally. She's closer to the truth than she knows.

 

“They have a new leader.” Kaiba raised an eyebrow. Kikas dismissed it. “His name is Tyas Fullam. Undergrounder. Ex-convict. And a former henchman to the Hunters.”

 

“You've done your homework on this guy.”

 

“In a manor of speaking, yes.”

 

“So he leads them now?”

 

“Indeed. Don't be so incredulous, Mr. Kaiba. Have a little faith.” He snorted. She's beginning to sound like that mystic, Ishizu. “Patience Kaiba,” she said, almost like she read his thoughts. Or his fears…

 

“Why are they after you?” he said, turning the tables and indirectly admitting that there was a slim possibility that the Rare Hunters still existed. She looked tense, choosing her answer carefully.

 

“Technology, what else? They want my latest computer design. For what, your guess is as good as mine.” She knows something that she's not telling.

 

“What do you want me to do? You seem to have as much information as I do.” Let's see if she bites.

 

“Mister Kaiba, I came to you because I felt that I could share this with you. Not because you're a trustworthy person in any form of the word, but that you've experienced these people before.”

 

He narrowed his eyes to tiny dots of ice. “I see.”

 

“If you'll assist me in certain things- information, aid in emergency situations… et cetera et cetera, I feel we may come to… an arrangement.” She leaned forward in her chair. He leaned back, as if thinking it over.

 

“What sort of arrangement are you implying?”

 

“Mr. Kaiba, I am well aware of the, well, legal trouble your company is in.” He made no comment. “What would you think of a… merger? My company's assets are large, but I must admit that the talent levels of my staff have decreased due to the recent decease of my Vice President of Design.”

 

He began a stream of calculations in his head. The possibilities, with his technology and her resources, and of course his brain, the possibilities were endless. “I will… consider your offer,” he said, trying not to sound eager.

 

She nodded politely, outwardly showing signs of disappointment. But inwardly, she was quite relieved. She had big plans for this Seto Kaiba…

 

* * *

 

It was still raining later that night, as he entered the front door of the Kaiba Mansion. The place was quiet. It was well over midnight, and the servants had all retired to their third floor dormitories.

 

Kaiba paused as he set down his umbrella on a rack. Someone would pick it up in the morning for him. The deathly still was unearthly. The mansion had always been like this to him- at one point in his life, he had even liked it that way. Too many terrible memories were associated with his stepfather's business associates in their rumbling voices criticizing the little things that he did as much as his father did.

 

Too quiet, too loud, too cheerful, too somber. They, those foolish old men, called me all of these. And Gozaburo believed every word that dropped from their foul lips. Bastards. He thought this all in silent rage, with self righteous anger.

 

But back then, there had been Mokuba to cheer him on through the toughest lessons their stepfather could throw at them.

 

And there wasn't a Mokuba anymore.