Interlude #3: Anzu's Story

I am a simple girl. I come from a simple family in a simple town and all I ever wanted were simple things. A home. A husband. A child to raise. Maybe a dog. I was smart in school so I took accelerated classes and went to secretarial college when I was 16. Simple. I didn't want a fancy career; I wanted a good job while I looked for a man I could be a good wife to. I knew girls who wanted to be executives, some were friends of mine; I wished them well. Job, home, husband. Simple.

I graduated near the top of my class and because of that, I got a job immediately — a good a one at KaibaCorp. Actually, it was one of several offers I was given and my counselor told me not to take it. The secretarial pool, she said, was no place for my skills to shine. I could make more money as the Executive Assistant. I'd have more prestige as the Embassy Liaison. Secretarial Pool, she said, is for baby makers. So I took it.

For the first year, it was wonderful. I got an apartment near the office and worked every day from morning to night. I typed letters, proposals and bids. I filed contracts and briefs. I received my internal security clearance and was allowed to fill in sometimes when a junior executive assistant was out. I was even beginning to date a very nice young man in Marketing.

And then I was called to the Personnel Manager's office.

"Do you enjoy working for KaibaCorp?" She asked me.

"Yes, ma'am. Very much so." I didn't know what I had done wrong. I didn't know what I could have done wrong.

"How old are you?"

"19, ma'am."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"No, ma'am."

Her eyes narrowed at me. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

I blushed. "No, ma'am."

"So you don't mind working late? Even if it were very often?"

"Oh!" I was very relieved by the question. "No, ma'am. I live alone and I can come in very early or stay late."

"What about weekends?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She looked at the papers on her desk and considered me for a moment. Then she sighed, "Kanan-san was terminated this morning. Kaiba-san needs a replacement right away."

I couldn't even gasp. Kaiba-san? THE Kaiba-san? Even for a day — even for an hour — if anyone on the 35th floor needed a temporary assistant, one of my managers was sent to fill the desk. To send me...

"Yes, I know this is very sudden. Will you do it?"

"Me? But — I — I'm not — me?"

"You meet the standards Kaiba-san has set for his staff and it will only be until we hire a new Senior Secretary for him. A month or so at most." She must have seen the look of shocked horror frozen on my face. "I would not have chosen you if there were anyone else on staff that would fit the qualifications. It is your responsibility to be loyal to the company. Will you do it?"

I nodded. Of course I would do it. I worked for KaibaCorp and I would do whatever my job asked of me. I just never expected to be asked to do this.

"Very well. Go now, directly to the 35th floor. Give me your ID badge." I gave it to her and she handed me a new one. "This will allow you access to the suites you'll need." As I left her office, the last thing she said before the door closed was, "Good luck, Mazaki."

Kaiba Seto was something of a legend in the office. Not for the games or the tech or the things he was known for worldwide. We knew all of that, of course, but it was less relevant to the day-to-day office. He was known for his quirks. For firing people because his coffee was cold or his newspapers were old. He was very demanding in odd ways. It was rumored that one assistant had never filed a single sheet of paper for two years but was fired because he forgot to schedule Kaiba-san's routine hair appointment. I hadn't met him in person, of course, but from what I'd gathered from those that had, it wasn't that he was cruel. It was that he was focused on what he was doing and the slightest thing that disturbed his focus infuriated him. In that, he was very simple. I can do simple, I told myself.

And once I learned what he wanted and when, he was simple. He wanted his coffee, hot, when he stepped through the door. When he opened his office door, he wanted to know everything that had happened while it was closed. He wanted a hair cut every two weeks, at two pm, on Wednesday, wherever he was — even in the car. He was even open to my opinions on occasion. He wanted an honest opinion about his appearance. If he called me into his office and asked which product I used, he expected to find it in my home. His schedule was insanely busy and we traveled a lot. But it was all simple.

And then he became complicated. He wanted freedom. He wanted change. He fell in love and after months of not having a minute for my own life, he introduced me to Honda Hiroto. A simple man who wanted a simple life. A wife who cooks, a son who listens and a job that kept them comfortable. Not rich, even. Just happy. He was perfect.

But, of course, it all ended when Kaiba-sama returned. I had tried to keep Kaiba-san informed and tried to convince him that the stock price fall was not a simple flux. I'd been watching the market for him long enough to recognize a problem when I saw one. But he was too lost in infatuation to notice or care. That had happened before but usually he tired of them in a day or so. A week was the longest. A month was unheard of. And Kaiba-sama was furious.

Father and son were nothing alike in the Kaiba family. Where Kaiba-san was tightly focused, Kaiba-sama was all-seeing. He was unpredictable and unlike his son, often cruel. When he came to Kaiba-san's office I often heard him yelling. I frequently heard the slapping. Occasionally the bones breaking. I had more than once assisted in covering up Kaiba-san's bruises or deeper injuries. Treatment he didn't deserve.

Simple, I thought as I rode the elevator to what was now my office on the 35th floor. Why can't my life go back to simple?

Seto was disgraced and no longer considered part of the family. I had been moved to his job along with Bakura and Kaiba Noah. We three knew the KaibaGames market and could run the company for a while without Kaiba-san. We were barred from any contact with him.

In addition, Kaiba-sama had taken particular interest in me. He told me that with so few women in the Kaiba upper echelon, he wanted to work with me through the transition. He has since spent many hours with me. Helping me; truly. He is an extremely knowledgeable man, powerful and even innovative. But not simple.

It was Christmas Eve and I was on my way into the office to make a secret phone call on a secret phone. Not simple. But I had to call him. I had to speak to Hiroto.

A friend of mine gave me a pre-paid phone for Christmas. It was kind of her to give me just what was on my wish list. Another friend was given one just like it. I had 30 minutes — 30 precious minutes that Ryou was covering for me. My assistant — I still had trouble believing that I had an assistant — would be arriving at 6pm on the dot to help me change clothes and get me out the door on time.

I got to my office and closed the door behind me. The building was empty apart from security because it was Christmas. Only crazy people come to the office on Christmas. Crazy people with complicated lives. Simple people are at home with friends and family, eating duck and dueling with their kids.

"Hello?" I recognized Ishtarru's voice as soon as she picked up.

"Isis? Is he there?"

She hesitated. "I have to tell you something."

"What?" Her voice was strained and it scared me. "Is he ok?" but my real fear was, is he with someone else.

"He's fine. It's not him; it's Kaiba-san. He's been sick."

Seto had been sick before, like everyone. He usually took a few doses of some high-powered medication and continued about his day. In my time with him, he refused to take a day off. "Sick, how sick?"

"He was in the hospital for three weeks."

I sat down heavily. "Is he ok? Why didn't you tell me? Oh my God! What's wrong with him? Tell me where he is — I'm coming now."

"Anzu, calm down! He's fine now. I couldn't tell you, you know that. I told Kaiba-sama weeks ago. If I had told you, you would have done what you wanted to just now and he would have known that you and I are talking."

"You're right." I sniffed back a tear. You're right, I know. I'm sorry. I just — so much depends on him."

"I know."

"Is that where Bakura was, when he slipped out of here that weekend?"

"I don't know but Otogi didn't answer his e-mails until Monday night so I doubt it. He said he'd been out getting his battery recharged when he finally replied to me."

"God, I wish I could just ask him."

"I know."

"Why is it all so complicated?"

"Because it is."

"That doesn't help."

"I know."

She gave me a minute to pull myself together. "Ok. I want to talk to him. Where can I reach him?"

"He's here, at the party."

"Oh so he really is ok?"

"He was released this morning. That's where Honda was all day."

"Of course! He'd never leave Seto alone like that. Not like me."

"You are helping him in the ways you can."

"I know." I found myself crying again. "I know."

"Wait a moment. I think I hear him."

"Where is he?"

"The little boy's room." She chuckled.

"Oh." I had to laugh too. "Make sure he washes his hands before he takes the phone."

"Eww! Gross!"

We snickered about boys and bathrooms for a few seconds until I heard her hand the phone over. As soon as I heard his voice I knew his illness had been serious. Gone was the deep baritone that cut through any crowd. He sounded frail. But up-beat. Thinking still, planning still. Even comforting me until I reached for my desk drawer and broke the tip off one of my freshly manicured nails. I got off the phone quickly then — my 30 minutes was almost done anyway — and cursed for a moment the way my father used to when his baseball team lost.

Then I took a breath to clear my thoughts — a helpful suggestion from Kaiba-sama — and called my assistant. She was probably already in the building, but I called her anyway.

"Katya, where can I get a manicure at 7pm on Christmas Eve?"

"In Domino?" she laughed. "Please tell me that's a joke."

"And I need my makeup redone."

"I should have never let you go back to the office." She whined. "Give me a minute. I may know someone."

"I still have to dress. Did you bring the shoes?"

"Yes, Anzu, I have them. I'll be up shortly."

Katya and I had become relatively close very quickly. We even lived together now. It was the only way for me to remain even close to organized. I could run Kaiba-san's life in my sleep. My own, however, was a train wreck.

And getting even more complicated by the hour.

Across the room was the brand new dress I would be wearing to the office Christmas dinner. I hadn't seen it yet. It was a gift from Kaiba-sama. He had provided me with a swatch of the fabric so that I could match my shoes and other accessories to it. It wasn't the first gift he'd bought me, or our first dinner together. But it was the first gift so intimate.

At first, I believed that his help was to somehow trick me into betraying Seto. But I discovered it wasn't as simple as that. Gozaburo was a harsh man, but I found he loved his sons in his own way. The cruelties he did were often because the world was cruel to him. He wanted them to succeed over even the impossible. But I found, over the months, that he was capable of kindness and that his anger could be turned aside. At his heart, Seto was a very simple man. Gozaburo was very, very complicated.

"OK!" The door nearly burst as Katya arrived with several bags. "My cousin Mishiko. She's a stylist; just graduated. She'll met us on the way and fix everything in the car." She dropped all the packages. "So how does it look?"

"I haven't opened it yet."

"Anzu! You have less than an hour to get there!"

We opened the bag and both fell silent. We had known it was made of jade green silk but neither of us expected the garment we found. It blended traditional lines with modern shape and created a dress that was elegant. Brilliant. Complex.

"Oh my God! Where did he find this?" Katya checked for a label. "Hand stitching! Oh my God I'll bet it's a one off!"

"He wouldn't." I shook my head. "It's an office dinner, for God's sake!"

"We'd better get you in it."

My jewelry was wholly inadequate for the divine neckline, but it was the best I had. Thankfully, the new shoes were perfect. We hurried down to the waiting car — an actual limo tonight — and a roughly a mile away, picked up Mishiko. She fixed my nail and my makeup and redid my hair to better suit the dress. I looked as if I knew what I was doing by the time I stepped out of the car and onto the red carpet of the Kaiba mansion's main entrance.

I heard a low whistle behind me and turned to see Bakura Ryou looking as scrumptious as ever in a black tux with a red silk shirt and tie. His cufflinks and tie pin were green wreaths. I don't want a complicated man to marry, but I'd take him for a night anytime he offered. Not that he ever had, but a girl could always hope.