Chapter 25 - Stress

It had been several days since Seto had talked to Abraxas about the attack. No new demons had reappeared since then, yet Abraxas told him to be on his guard. The demons didn't understand time, and he promised Seto he would watch the boy's back at night. Seto didn't like trusting the demon's word at this point, but so far no incidents had occurred. Everything was going as it normally would...

...which was why Seto was now entering his studio. He could see outside the line of windows along the wall to his backyard, which was full of grass and flowers. It was raining outside, the water pelting down on the wildlife. The walls were white; the floor was a beige wood. There were several bookshelves lining the walls (all his books), a little work-out area in the corner, and his destination along the far wall. He walked across the room and sat down in the chair in front of the keyboard. He was stressed. Stressed out beyond belief. These past few days had kept him on edge, and his emotions were literally on a roller coaster to Hell. He never would have imagined himself in this position now, because it wasn't the demons targeting him that upset him so. No, it was something on this realm. Something close to home.

"And that something is that fucken cheerleader," he thought miserably, pulling out a few sheets of music and setting them up. "She left. She's living on her own now. She comes by to tutor Mokuba while I'm at work, so we don't see each other. That's what I wanted. I set it up. And now..." Setting out a sigh, he closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. "No. I got connected to her. Somehow or other, I made a connection with that girl, and now I can't get her out of my head. Dammit! Why did I do that to myself?! I knew she was leaving! I knew this wouldn't work out! Why did I let my guard down with her? Why did I let her in?!"

Groaning in frustration, Seto quickly shook his head once more and placed his hands on the keyboard. "Just play some music," he thought aloud, letting out a long sigh. "Stop thinking about her. Think about the music."

He slowly began moving his fingers over the keys, reading the music he had picked out in front of him. His movements were clean, almost as if he was typing on his laptop. It was soft, melodic music...soothing to him. Because that's what he needed right now. Some soothing, quiet, peaceful time. Time that was rarely given to him was what he needed most.

"How did she do it...?" he thought after a couple of minutes passed, his fingers still going on the keyboard. "I set that wall up to protect myself from people like her. I never wanted friends, let along to fall for somebody. I never needed it. Yet, in the matter of a few weeks, this girl shattered that wall. Now I can't stop thinking about her, worrying about her...caring about her. I didn't want this. I shouldn't have done this. It's all because of that fucken project! If it wasn't for that..."

Seto shook his head no, finishing the song and picking out another. This one was a bit faster than the previous one but still soft. "No, I can't blame the project. I told her everything I wanted her to know about me. I let my guard down somehow and showed her a part of me I didn't want anyone to see. That's my fault, and now I'm dealing with the consequences of it. If I'm going to deal with this properly, I need to come to terms with it. And the truth is that I wanted her to learn about me. I wanted her to penetrate that wall. If I didn't do it consciously, my subconscious was somehow doing it. She didn't purposely come after me to break down my wall. It just happened. Now I know enough about her and vice versa so that we care about one another-"

Hitting a wrong key brought Seto out of his trance. "Care about each other? Does she even care about me? She helped me when that demon attacked me...she seemed to care enough then. There's no denying that I care about her. I risked my health just to get her to pass a stupid class. But does she even care about me? Or did she use me, just like everyone else in my life, just to get a good apartment and a job? She seems genuine enough, but it's so random. There are so many variables involved in this...it hurts my head just thinking about it!"

Slamming a fist on his keyboard, Seto heard the cacophony erupt from the speakers and sighed. "This isn't working. This was supposed to stop you from thinking about her, not make things worse!" Letting out one more sigh just to calm him down, he quickly switched the pieces of music once more to another soothing song. Placing his hands on the keyboard, he quickly began to play the music, almost by memory.

He could feel the music begin entering his soul, making him relax like he originally planned. The sound of the piano mixed with the raining outside was calming him down greatly. He needed this badly. It was moments like this that made his life worth living. Mokuba was somebody to live for; these moments were something to live for. He closed his eyes for a second, taking in the sounds of his music mixed in with the rain outside and the silence that stood around him. Abraxas was in the library, which left him alone to deal with this.

Opening his eyes back up, he continued to read the music, his problems slowly drifting away. He could feel a small smile creeping up on his face and chose to let it go. The music made him feel lighter, and he wished this feeling could last. No problems to deal with, no emotional boundaries to keep in check. No, this was what he enjoyed. This tranquility that only something like this moment could bring him.

Finishing the piece, he smiled to himself and went to turn the keyboard off when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Quickly looking up in shock, he saw Tea smiling down at him, her eyes showing a hint of awe and wonder in them. "That was beautiful," she said after a moment of awkward silence. "Where did you learn to play keyboard?"

"I taught myself," he answered, brushing her hand off his shoulder. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be tutoring Mokuba?"

"We're finished for the day," she explained. "I heard the music and was wondering where it came from."

"So you thought you could just walk in and see, huh?" She nodded her head, and he chuckled. "It's okay. I was just finishing up."

"Oh, you aren't going to keep playing?" Seto looked over at her quizzical.

"You want me to keep playing?" he asked, watching her sit down in a nearby chair. She smiled brightly and nodded her head once more.

"Yeah. You play beautiful pieces of music, whether you know it or not. It's very soothing."

"Oh, I know it," he answered, smiling at his comment. Looking at the clock, he saw it was nearly dinnertime. "How about this? You stay for dinner, and I'll play you a couple of pieces on the keyboard."

"Okay," she stated. "What are you having?"

"Not sure yet. I'm sure the maid's making something good, though." Putting his music away, Seto stood up and watched Tea follow suit. She was staring at him in wonder, making him worry that something was wrong. "What?" he finally asked.

"That music..." she replied. "It was so pretty...I could never have imagined you playing it before." She looked up at him with a hint of sadness in her eyes. "You seem stressed out."

"Yeah...maybe," he answered, turning around and heading out of the room. He stopped, however, when she stepped in front of him.

"You played that music to comfort you, didn't you?" The question had been so blunt that Seto jerked back slightly.

"Yeah. Is that bad?"

"No, but..." She let out a sigh. "I...It's nothing."

"You just never pictured me dealing with my stress like that," he stated. She smiled slightly and walked up to him, wrapping her arms around him. It was awkward, and Seto felt his breath stop for a second before he wrapped his arms around her.

"I never pictured you being like this, Kaiba," she replied after awhile. "I'm sorry about the comments I made to you when we first started that project."

"It's nothing," he said, closing his eyes and feeling her body against his. "I don't know anything about you, and you don't know anything about me. I understand that. Don't take it too personally that you're learning about me, alright?"

"Alright." Seto smiled at this, and even though there was no music, he felt suddenly a bit lighter than before.