Once there was a little boy, so full of light and joy
He loved life and his family; he couldn't ask for more.
One day hi smom got pregnant, and he was very glad.
He'd have a little brother, to share with mom and dad.

But one day something happened; a day he won't forget.
His mom flew up to heaven, and took his brother with her.
Suddenly the sun never seemed to shine the same again,
Alone without his mom and brother; it was just his dad and him.

But then something else happened; a thing that changed his life:
His daddy had an accident; suddenly life didn't seem so bright.
And then some people came and took the lonely boy away
To a place with other little kids who had nowhere to stay.

And the little boy realized that life wasn't very bright.
It gave its share of happiness, but there was always still a price.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Just the fic and the poem. (both a product of my imagination.

o

His cold blue eyes scanned the dark figure before him.

Pathetic.

The girl couldn't even meet his gaze without flinching; what made her think that she could handle being his personal secretary? He straightened, his eyes glaring holes into the girl's lowered eye lids. Lids that held long, thick lashes resting against dark skin. She definitely wasn't from around here...any fool could see.

A foreigner, he mused with a scowl. They faced each other in silence for a few minutes until Kaiba began to grow impatient.

"Well?!," he snapped angrily. He didn't have time for this. Every minute wasted resulted in lost revenues, stock drops, money losses...all sorts of uncorrectable imbalances. The girl glanced up, startled, revealing velvet brown eyes. She fidgeted, twisting at her hands nervously, a strand of wavy dark hair falling into her face.

"I-I'm sorry...I didn't realize you were waiting for me to speak-"

"Well what did you think I was waiting for?," he replied coldly, wondering again why he was wasting his time with this idiot.

She looked flustered, and he could faintly make out a blush lining her dark skin.

"I thought I was supposed to just stand here and look down or something..." he made a noise of annoyance. No doubt she had purchased one of those 'How to be Japanese' etiquette books. Foreigners always did, and always got it wrong, to boot. And her choppy, halting accent was beginning to work his nerves.

"Look," he exclaimed impatiently, "I can speak English, so let's skip the formalities. For now, at least." She looked suddenly relieved, throwing him a grateful smile. He frowned, making made a mental note not to make things this easy for her in the future. Wouldn't want her getting too comfortable with him.

He himself didn't like the idea of having his own secretary. He liked privacy, and the thought of someone working this closely to him thoroughly disgusted and repulsed him. But he ultimately had no choice. With the sudden death of his father, the title of CEO had been thrust upon him immediately, and all at once he'd found himself swamped with paperwork, appointments, interviews. There was no possible way for him to keep up with both his school work AND his company, and as the head of a billion dollar enterprise, the heat was on him to keep his straight A record.

And so he'd grudgingly submitted to the advice of his advisors, and had begun interviewing possible secretarial candidates; all whom of which he'd found a flaw.

The first had been too eager, which had immediately aroused his suspicions. He didn't like eager people, for obvious reasons. The second had been too old. It had disgusted him to even watch the old bat talk. He didn't think he could tolerate seeing that wrinkled old face every day. The rest had just been...wrong. Not that there had been anything TECHNICALLY wrong with them, he just hadn't wanted to be bothered, hadn't wanted to consider them. But now, after a week of refusals, he was down to the last interview, and he realized that if he wanted to gain the respect of his workers, of his advisors, he'd have to choose someone. Even his late adopted-father had had secretaries...

He turned his attention back to the girl. What was her name again? Nadie? Nadia? He cringed. It was such an American sounding name. American's had a reputation for slacking off in the workplace. And everywhere else, truthfully. They were entirely too free spirited and didn't take anything seriously. He eyed her suspiciously, tuning in to whatever it was she was rambling on about.

"-just moved here from Georgia," she paused, "...um..that's in the United Sta-"

"I know where Georgia is!," he snapped. Did she think he was stupid?

She nodded slowly, biting her lip.

"Um…anyways...I can work for you after schools and on weekends. I'll be starting school tomorrow morning." She flashed him a bright and brilliant smile, but he only frowned. So she was excited to be starting a new school, eh? Well. She had better know how to balance academics and a job, because there would be no time for a social life. Not if he had anything to say about it. He would make her earn every cent he paid her. It occurred to him that would probably be better to hire someone older; someone who wasn't in school. Someone who could actually speak fluent Japanese. Then again, it was probably a good idea to have someone on more or less the same schedule as he himself was on. And if she was his secretary there would be no need for her to speak fluent Japanese, since he could speak English. Then too it would prevent the formation of work cliques; if no one could understand her, they wouldn't be inclined to include her in any of their social circles. Seto disliked social circles. Not to mention that it would leave him with some form of control; his advisors would go crazy knowing that he'd chosen a school girl as his secretary. He could use that to his advantage, proving thereby that he didn't need a secretary.

Because how useful could a school girl be to him?

Abruptly he stood, signaling the end of the interview. She looked surprised for a moment, and a bit afraid, he noticed wryly. He turned towards the huge window behind his desk, staring out at the clouds. He knew the suspense was probably eating away at her right about now.

And he liked it.

He liked to see people sweat, to see them uncomfortable before him. It accentuated his power. Drove further the fact that it was he who held the cards. He was in control.

But right now he couldn't stall, and as much as he enjoyed seeing her squirm, he had work to do.

"I'll expect you here at 4 o'clock sharp tomorrow afternoon. No later."

Silence.

And then, "Y-you mean I got it?," he didn't answer, and she let out a squeal of joy.

"Thank you so much! You don't know what this means to me! I mean, my family could really use the money and I-"

"You misunderstand."

He turned now, facing her, seeing her bright brown eyes dim slightly. She brushed at a locke of hair that had fallen into her eye and gave him a confused look.

"I don't care about you or your family. My only concern is that you don't run my company down-hill by your obvious inexperience." he said it coldly and with distaste, throwing in a narrowed eyed glare for extra emphasis. Her eyes went wide, wider than they already were, and for a moment he thought she would cry. But she only nodded, her slim figure backing away, tripping slightly over her black pumps and running out the door.

He turned back to the window, gazing again at the drifting clouds and the sky. A dark blue sky, as dark as a blue ocean; a deep clear color the same as his eyes. The same sky his father must have seen while falling to his death. That same calm blue sky with its ever changing moods. Just like the ocean. Just like him.

He smiled, but the expression held no warmth.

o

A/N: This is the 'edited' version of Turmoil, 5-3-09. The original was published 5-31-02. That's a 7 year difference! I've tried to keep it as original as possible, only correcting spelling errors, taking out unnecessary banter, and deleting pointless A/N's. I am reluctant to touch anything because admittedly my writing style has changed. Not by much, but it's definitely more descriptive and rambly than this fic was. This fic marks my first real jaunt into OC territory. I'd wanted to spread my wings, to do something besides the SM/Crossover fics I was mostly known for at the time. In many ways it was (at the time) a success, as up until this particular story I'd never really tried my hands at such. Comments are welcome and loved, of course!