Chapter 10- Sewn.

"Danny boy,

don't be a fool
Take upon to break the rule
Danny boy,

you're looking so low-
You're looking like the dead grown old…
Anyway the blues may just wash away,

if you wait for a rainy day…
But you may find, the chance has past you by…"

'Sewn', by The Feeling.

This chapter is dedicated to Kate, who will never read this. I can't tell you how glad I have you as a sister in any other way.

Seto was sitting quietly on Mokuba's bed when he got out of the shower. Mokuba, unsurprised, went about the business of drying his hair, until his big brother felt like talking. He didn't have to wait very long.

"Mokuba…I thought Gardner was an Industrial Spy, and shouted at her."

Mokuba ruthlessly strangled the inner grin that threatened, and focused on helping Oni-chan.

"Ok. Did she cry?"

Seto spared him a disapproving glance at his implication, and then a tiny rueful smile flickered across his face.

"No," he sighed, "she shouted back, and then ran off. Typical weakness…" His sneer was obviously just for posterity, so Mokuba ignored it.

"Do you want to apologize? Or do you want to ignore it."

Mokuba, carefully gelling his hair into its usual spikes, surreptitiously watched his brother in the mirror. Seto looked away. A few seconds later, he grunted something that sounded like 'don't know'. Mokuba raised an eyebrow at this revelation- usually it would have been a snarl, and a glare for the implication that Seto had done something he was ashamed of. Quickly, he blanked his expression, before Seto could see, and shut himself off again. Occasions when Seto relinquished control were few and far between, and Mokuba knew not to abuse this immense privilege.

"The best thing might be to all do something fun together. She'll forget about it, and enjoy herself, so you won't have to feel bad about upsetting her. You have to show her that you are going to react as if nothing unusual happened, and then she'll follow your lead. Probably. "

Seto raised an eyebrow at him.

"Probably?"

"With girls, nothing is ever certain."

"Right."

They looked at each other for a few moments, evaluating this new turn in their relationship, this stitch in time. Seto's shoulders untensed slightly, and he sighed. Then, a second later, the façade was rebuilt, and the CEO of Kaiba Corp. glared out of cerulean eyes.

"Set something up for us this afternoon, Mokuba. From 2-4. Ok?"

Seto was almost at the door, when he spun on his heel.

"Mokuba?"

"Yes, Big Brother?"

"…Nothing. See you later."

Tea had played with the cards. She played with Ariadne, until the Kitten had given up and gone to sleep. She had looked at the stuffed toys. Even the games consoles, videogame packets and random games stacked neatly in the cupboard had been thoroughly checked out.

"I am so DONE hiding!" She yelled at herself suddenly. Embarrassed at how loudly that had come out, she listened for sounds of people coming to check out the noise, and then continued in the same vein, a little quieter.

"I can't believe I just spent the last hour hiding from Seto Kaiba! Why? He's just so…infuriating!" She mumbled to herself, hoping that 'High-Tech-Kaiba' didn't have mics rigged in every room. She paced up and down a few times.

"What is his problem? Every time I think we've managed half a step forward, he retreats 100 metres!" She sighed, and sat slowly on the sofa, clutching a pillow to her chest.

Leaning back, she breathed out, trying to clear her mind. Calm. Zen. Chilled. Relaxed. That's what she was.

She shot bolt upright.

Oh crumbs…It can't be. It isn't! It's ok, calm, xen, etc etc, come on Tea…Damnit!

Good Lord. Could she actually…Like Kaiba? As in 'Like' with a capital L? But what about her never ending crush on Yami? What about the whole 'thou shalt not date thy best friend's nemesis' issue? I mean- Yugi wouldn't mind…would he? Or would he just do his 'it's fine' thing, but be really hurt inside? Oh God.

Tea looked up.

"Joey is going to blow a gasket!"

Ten minutes later, Tea was striding out of the room, holding Ariadne, and along the corridor, back from whence she came. From the central staircase, she was able to find her way to the main hall, where she found the one thing she had been counting on. A small map. Seto's main office seemed to be a couple of rooms down from his bedroom, and she set off hurridly up the stairs, passing Mokuba quickly with a friendly smile and a dashed out- ' Hold Ari- I'm just going to see your brother for a minute!"

Mokuba froze momentarily, holding a sleepy kitten, then began to grin. In a manner that would have put Dastardly and Muttley to shame. This, he could not have predicted. Creeping up the stairs behind her, he followed, anxious to hear how this conversation went.

Tea arrived. Bracing herself outside the door, she noticed a small intercom to the right, with 'Admission' engraved upon what looked like platinum. Not leaving herself time to chicken out, she pressed the green button, hard. Kaiba's voice crackled out of the speaker.

"Yes, Roland?"

"It's Tea."

Pause.

"What do you want, Gardener?"

"To talk. Now. Please."

Pause.

"Fine. Come to the door to your left. Turn the handle twice, quickly. Hurry up- I don't have all day."

Tea paused. Little bit weird. Doing as she was told, she found the door opened smoothly, but with a loud squeak (probably a Kaiba Security Issue, she realized), and breathing out quietly, walked confidently in.

Seto was sat at a large desk in the center of the room, and as attention grabbing as the man himself was to Tea, the desk registered itself instantly in Tea's head as beautiful. It was Louis IX, and a warm mahogany wood- clearly not veneered- lined in warm navy leather, with a soft gold trim curling delicately around the edge. As she got closer, she could see it was in excellent condition, the wood gleamed with regular polish, and the gold ink well in the corner was bright yellow. She ran a finger down the edge, as she sat gracefully in the soft chair (one of two), also blue leather lined, to the right. Blue eyes met blue eyes, straight on. Kaiba smiled.

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