Kaiba strode down the corridor, not giving the girl behind him a second glance. However, the further away he went, the weaker his resolve became. His strode became a walk, the walk an amble and the amble a halt. It wasn't wise for them to split up. 'What was I thinking?' he asked himself, turning on the spot. He expected to see Tea standing there, waiting for him to come back. But she was nowhere to be seen.

A nervous feeling began to bubble in the pit of his stomach. She's bound to get herself into trouble. She's like Mokuba. If something happens to her, I'll-'

He paused. What would he do if Tea got hurt? He closed his eyes and allowed himself to think about her for a moment. She, Yugi's cheerleader, was annoying. She was loud, interfering, obnoxious, warm, kind, beautiful… His eyes shot open, a sudden realisation exploding within him.

"I like Tea Gardener" he said out loud. His words sent a warm tingling sensation run through his body.

'I like her… a lot.' He thought to himself. He thought about their past exchanges, their arguments. She was really the only person that stood up to him and his difficult ways. He smirked at the memory of these exchanges, chuckling at the insults they had in the past exchanged. 'No matter what she said I always came back for more.' He thought to himself as he began to walk down the corridor to find his newfound love interest. 'Now I realise why.'

However, before he advanced very far he heard a familiar voice calling his name from one of the doors along the corridor on his left. The disembodied voice still sent waves of anger through him even though he knew that the speaker should be – was – dead. It was his stepfather – Gozaburo Kaiba. Even though he knew this was a trick, a test, set by the perverted creator of this Virtual World he stormed through the door.

His stepfather was sitting in a large armchair, apparently waiting for him.

"Ah, there you are, I was beginning to get impatient."

"What do you want? You're supposed to be dead." He growled.

Gozaburo Kaiba chuckled darkly. "Sit down boy, we need to talk."

"I'd rather stand." Kaiba replied coldly.

"As you wish," Gozaburo said in a voice that sounded like he was trying to please a small child. This made Seto's anger reach new heights but he held his tongue and waited for Gozaburo to continue. He wasn't going to let the old man goad him into anything.

"Well Seto, I heard the company is going down the drain since I left it to you." Gozaburo said. "Such a pity. Gaming... What could have possessed you to think that-?"

"What do you want Gozaburo?" Kaiba interjected.

"Why, to talk to my stepson of course!" Gozaburo laughed,

Seto let out a dry laugh. "Oh really?" He said, "Well if it's just that then I'll be leaving, I have other more important and pressing things to do."

"Like save that girl?" Seto froze. "Yes I have seen her, she's annoying isn't she. And her looks." He clicked his tongue. "Do you really want to save her? Is she worth it?" A volcano of anger began to bubble and boil in Seto.

"Leave her out of this." Gozaburo laughed.

"My, my, the great Seto Kaiba going all soft and mushy over a girl. Who would have thought it? And such a pity you could have gone for so many other beautiful girls and you chose," Gozaburo chuckled.

Kaiba made an unintelligible snarl and stalked away from the man in front.

"Don't turn your back to me, boy" Gozaburo commanded with menace.

Seto turned back to his stepfather and sneered. "You don't scare me anymore." With that he exited the room, ignoring the insults and shouts from his stepfather behind him. He looked at his watch and was surprised when the allotted hour he had given Tea to meet him back at the crossroads was up already.

'It can't be an hour already, surely?!' He thought to himself. He huffed as he realised what might be going on. 'Another way to mess with us. When I find out who's behind all this…' he thought darkly as he walked back the corridor to where he had left Tea standing.

5 minutes had elapsed (he had counted to three hundred instead of relying on his watch) and there had been no sign of Tea. He gritted his teeth. He was an impatient man. Inaction would not do. He started to walk down the corridor to look for the girl who he couldn't help but worry about.


"Gardener." He shouted loudly, down the corridor, "Gardener, where are you?" He continued to walk down the corridor, every passing second making him more agitated. He had a feeling something was going really wrong and once again cursed himself for deciding they should split up. He froze when he heard a voice behind one of the doors along the corridor. It was a whimper. A whimper that sounded very much like Tea. His blood ran cold. As he listened, the whimper was replaced by the taunting voice of a man.

"Don't you see Tea, this is all your fault. You deserve to be in pain for what you have done. You have disappointed me and your mother. You never impressed us. You have been a disappointment from start to well now."

A dawn of realisation struck Kaiba, pulling him from his frozen state. This was what the avatar of Yugi had meant the previous day. Tea's father had been hurting her. A surge of anger bubbled through Kaiba, stronger than anything he had felt before. He ran towards the door, almost pulling it off its hinges.

"TEA." He shouted loudly as he ran into the darkness. He could no longer hear Tea's father. He couldn't see anyone or anything – he was shrouded in darkness. All he could do was continue to shout Tea's name, hoping she'd respond, that she'd be alright, that he'd reach her in time.

A light almost blinded him as it popped into existence. He ran towards it clumsily, shielding his eyes with his arm.

"TEA," He shouted again as he entered the room, frantically removing his arm from his eyes and searching for her. He followed the trail of knocked over objects. He caught sight of something glistening red on the floor. He bent down and realised to his horror that this was blood.

"TEA!" He roared even louder than before as his hands began to shake with anxiety. He ran around a corner only to see two figures leaving a room about 10 metres away. One of them, to Kaiba's relief, was Tea. But the other… the other…

"Yugi?" Kaiba asked, incredulously. The last time he had seen Yugi was when he had been verbally abusing Tea the previous day. Yet there they were now. Together. And holding hands?!

Tea noticed Kaiba's gaze boring at her and Yami's conjoined hands and she hastily untangled her fingers from Yami's and stepped slightly away from him.

"Kaiba, I'm glad you found us. I was beginning-"

"You have blood on your clothes." Kaiba stated plainly, interrupting her. He inwardly facepalmed. Of all the things he had wanted to say, stating the obvious had come out of his mouth first. Tea took a deep breath as if she was holding back her anger and then nodded.

"Yes, but Yam- I mean Yugi healed me after he made my father go away." Kaiba tightened his jaw and set it in a thin line.

"Yugi saved you." He said plainly, wishing his gaze could make someone disappear. Why was Yugi always there? Tea nodded and gave a grateful look to Yami who gave her a small smile to which Tea replied with a blush. A vein pulsed in Kaiba's head.

"Kaiba," Yami greeted him. As Kaiba expected, his voice was deeper than Yugi's normal voice. He had once been told that there were two different people. Kaiba had always scoffed at such a ridiculous notion, but seeing this Yugi stand before him, and hearing Tea's slip up of name, indicated to him that perhaps, just perhaps, he may have been wrong.

"We must leave here and continue on our journey." Yami continued. Kaiba's irritation surged. Our journey? It wasn't Yugi's journey, it was his own and Tea's. But before he could say anything, the world around them pixelated and blurred. A new challenge awaited.


A/N: I'm trying to write this story with both Tea and Seto's point of view about some of the key situations involving them both. I think that it gives a better rounding to the story. Sorry if that makes it confusing - sometimes I'll jump back in time when I'm giving the other person's perspective. I wanted to try this for this story - but if it doesn't work I won't incorporate it into my future stories. Let me know what you think about this and about the new chapter! R&R.