Chapter 9
By the time the two teenagers finished their meal, the sun was beating down on them heavily from overhead, with intense humidity. With arms over their heads shielding them from the powerful sun's rays, they searched desperately for anything that could bring them relief.
"Just...GREAT," Tea complained out loud, a little out of breath. "scorching hot and humid during the day, cold as shit at night." Yami shifted his eyes to her briefly, slightly taken aback at hearing her curse for the first time. He looked away before she noticed. Yami himself felt the heat and moisture hug his skin as it became increasingly clammy. He heard a very faint sound from the distance; sounded like a trickle of water. He hoped to Ra it wasn't a trick of his mind.
"Tea, I hear something!" Yami said. He closed his eyes, concentrated with his ears to determine where the sound was coming from, and reluctantly took gradual steps in that direction. Tea followed him, while straining to listen for the "something" that Yami was talking about. It wasn't long until, to their delight and relief, they had come across an opening in the trees, with which had a small river flowing rapidly. It wasn't very large – about 6 feet in width. The water in the river was crystal clear and its reflection of the sky matched the bright, cerulean-blue eyes on Tea's face. Even the sound of the water traveling down the waterway over the rocks, vegetation and mud soothed them and brought peace to their bodies, as if they had already taken a nice cool drink.
"I don't know how you heard that and found this," Tea started, while looking at him. " -but I officially love you." She tiredly ran to the rushing water, leaving Yami with that last comment lingering in the air for a moment.
Yami froze on the spot, momentarily forgetting his exhaustion from the heat. Did she just say she loves me? he thought to himself. No, that's stupid, she only made a sarcastically friendly remark because I found water. No need to over-think these trivial things. He had no idea why, or how, he got to hopeful thinking about Tea's intentions, or even her true feelings. He decided to discard the thought for now and joined his friend at the edge of the river.
"Yami, you have no idea how good this feels!" Tea told him excitedly once he joined her. She turned her face towards the water and splashed a cupful of cool water in her face, and rubbing the excess from her eyes.
"Sure, because you're the only one that's dying from the jungle's merciless heat," came his sarcastic reply, with a smile to match. Tea rolled her eyes at him. Yami ran his hand through the chilly water and instantly felt his whole body relieved. With a mischievous grin, he scooped up some water with his hand while she wasn't looking, and with a graceful swing, he flung the cool water at the side of her face. Tea recoiled and let out a small squeak from the sudden chilliness that collided with her face. Yami laughed out loud at her reaction – something he rarely does... though it was cut short as Tea promptly tackled him in retaliation, sending them both into the gentle currents of the flowing river.
After a few minutes of play in the water, Yami felt an overwhelming sensation course through him... he needed something, something that would be very comforting to him. As Tea broke the surface for air after their last playful encounter, he searched for her hand in the water and drew her in closer to him after he had found it. Tea was startled at this sudden gesture, and a streak of pink appeared across her cheeks. Yami held a tight grip on her hand with his own, not at all realizing what he was actually doing. He gently pulled her along with the current, and once she was close enough, he let go of her hand and gracefully slid his arm around her waist, pulling her in so their bodies touched. The feeling of his strong and fit body against hers made Tea blush profusely. At long last, Yami pulled his other arm around her, pulling her in for a tight embrace.
Tea felt that he needed this; she could tell by the way he held her tightly, as if he feared that she would leave him or be taken away from him. Confused, but compassionate nonetheless, she wrapped her own arms around his slender waist, resting her head on his chest. Unbeknownst to her, Yami was thinking about what Dark Magician Girl, in Tea's (sort of) body, told him about Tea. He looked down at her with his eyes, first tracing her scalp with his gaze, and eventually admired the full head of beautiful brown hair.
Tea wields a great power? he questioned himself. It just... doesn't seem right to me. She is a completely innocent girl – sweet, kind, playful, smart...beautiful...
Yami abruptly snapped back into reality, and had a sudden realization of what he was doing, because his heart rate picked up a bit, and he took one quick, irregular breath, as if he had been scared to death by something. After a few seconds, he seemed to calm down. For a while, not a word was spoken, just the two enjoying each other's company.
"Tea..." Yami's sudden words startled her a little bit.
"Yeah, Yami?"
"I want to thank you. You know, for being there for me, when I needed someone most. It means more to me than you may think." Tea felt his chest and throat vibrate as his deep, alluring baritone voice filled her ears with absolute comfort and warmth.
"Uh, no problem Yami! You know I'll always be here for you, no matter what. Don't ever forget that."
"Right, I won't," he assured her, while pulling her closer still. Tea felt the flock of butterflies in her stomach emerge from its inner depths. Yami closed his eyes slowly and enjoyed the moment with his other senses.
Well well well. How touching. Too bad it will end soon. There's nothing I'd love more than to forcefully break up such a tender romance...
Yami snapped back to reality. Tea felt his entire body tense up as the third-party's voice boomed across the sky. Yami's hold on her quickly changed from an affectionate embrace to a protective shield.
"Who's there?" Yami bellowed to the sky. There was no answer, only the water that surrounded their enclosed bodies suddenly started to rush faster and more furiously, causing them to lose their balance and succumb to the powerful force of the river's current. It wasn't long after fighting off the pull of the water when Yami's head collided with a large rock on the side of the river, striking a good amount of blood. The last thing he felt before blacking out was Tea's hand sliding out of his.
