Chapter 38 – My Turn

Tea quickly got out of the vehicle once it was parked inside the illuminated garage and walked around to see the damage to the back. Bullet holes scattered the entire back bumper, and she could see scratches around the tires on where he had driven over the motorcycle. She was happy to see that no bullets had penetrated the window, but it still shocked her to see what they had really been through.

"How bad does it look?" Seto asked as he slowly got out of the car, shutting the door before placing his hand on the window to lean against it. His breathing still had not calmed down, indicating that his injury was either becoming worse or he was just tired out. Tea could imagine it was a mixture of the two.

"Bad…" was all she said as she scanned it one last time.

"I'll send it to the shop sometime this week," he replied, pushing himself off the car and walking towards the doorway leading inside the mansion. "Come on; I'll get you settled into a room. I'm sure you want to rest after that."

She nodded and followed him into the mansion, watching his movements carefully. He was walking just fine, yet she noticed how unfocused his eyes seemed to be. "How could he have gotten hit on the head like that and still act as though nothing happened?" she thought, examining him as if he was a patient at a hospital. "I mean, he nearly passed out during that hallway incident with Joey, but he blamed that on the illness caused by his prescription medicine." For some reason, it just irked her how Seto was behaving.

The two walked up the stairs in silence before Seto decided to be the first one to break it. "Let's try and be quiet up here," he stated as they turned a corner and began walking down the hallway. "I know Mokuba's sleeping, and the last thing he needs this late at night is to be worrying about me."

Tea nodded her head in understanding and followed him down another hallway before he opened a nearby door. She saw the room that she had used to change into her dress with the help of Lucy, and her eyes widened in surprise. "You can sleep in here if you want to," he explained. "Let me go and get you something to change into for the night. I can have the maids wash your outfit so that it's ready for tomorrow, and there should be necessities in the adjacent bathroom if you want to take a shower now."

"What about you?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I'm just going to wash up and go to sleep," he answered. Placing his hand against his cheek, he took it away and blinked in surprise at the amount of blood covering his hand. He chuckled and said, "Looks like I better get started."

Watching him turn around and begin to walk away, she quickly reached out and grabbed his arm. Ignoring his protest, she dragged him through the bedroom and into the nearby bathroom, pushing the toilet seat down and making him sit on it. She began to fill the sink up with water and grabbed a nearby towel and soap. "Just what are you doing?" he asked, eyeing her skeptically.

"You risked your life to save mine," she stated, staring intently over at him. "The least I can do is clean your wound."

"Tea, it's not that bad," he insisted.

"Your eyes look like they can't make out anything," she noted, walking in front of him and seeing his eyes widen slightly. "If I had to guess by your facial expression, you're currently seeing two or three of me. I'm not going to let you act like there's nothing wrong, Seto. You don't always have to be invincible."

Hearing the water in the background, she watched as Seto frowned and slowly closed his eyes, letting his head hang slightly. She parted her lips slightly but could find nothing to say, so she went back to the sink and began soaking the washcloth with water and soap. She turned the water off and leaned down slightly as she began to wash the blood off of Seto's cheek, noticing him shiver considerably at her touch.

An awkward silence filled the bathroom, neither one having anything to say. "Did I…upset him?" she thought as she placed the washcloth back into the sink, the red blood soaking into the water as she applied more soap and began scrubbing his cheek once again. "I guess I just worry about him too much… He's always trying to prove that he is unstoppable, but he's human too. He can't just pretend that this isn't hurting him. I guess… I guess I just don't want him to have to wear a mask in front of me…like he does to the rest of the world."

Placing the washcloth in the sink once more, she reapplied the soap for a third time and moved some strands of brown hair out of the way to reveal the cut next to his eye. It looked worse than she had imagined; it definitely wasn't a clean cut. It looked like two swollen pieces of flesh surrounded a red river that continued to flow down his cheek, and as she pressed the washcloth against it, she heard Seto emit a groan, the first sign of pain he had expressed that entire night.

"Sorry," she whispered as she began to clean it out. "He must have hit the edge of the steering wheel or something… Whatever he did, he hit it really hard. It's already turning black and blue."

"You aren't…hurt, are you?" he suddenly asked, his eyes opening the tiniest bit to reveal their unfocused beauty.

"No…thanks to you," she added, smiling down at him. He smiled slightly and nodded his head.

"Good. I wouldn't want you worrying about me like this if you were hurt."

"I'm fine, Seto. Don't worry about me; you've done enough of that for tonight. In fact, that's why you're hurt to begin with. Now it's my turn to worry and take of you."

"I'm sorry, however, about getting you into that type of danger," he stated, looking up at her and forcing her to stop cleaning. "I probably shouldn't have done all that, but I did, and now…"

"Seto, do you not understand what you did?" she asked, setting the washcloth down and standing directly in front of him, knowing his image of her was most likely blurred to the point where she may be unrecognizable. "You saved me and yourself from two gang members after indirectly getting caught up in their schemes. If it hadn't been for you, who knows what would have happened to me."

"You wouldn't have been in a car chase—"

"And I may have been dead." The last word made Seto's eyes widen considerably before they returned to normal size, their gaze lingering towards the floor.

"I won't let you die…" he whispered, and Tea let out a small sigh and smiled.

"I know you won't. You're very protective…and I'm very appreciative. Now, can I finish cleaning your wound…please?" Noticing the small nod he gave to her, she picked up the washcloth once more and continued to clean the wound which had already begun to clot.

"How does it look?" he asked after another moment of silence passed. "Does it look worse than what Joey did to me?"

"I didn't really see what Joey gave you. I just noticed it was black and blue."

"That was all it was, really. Just a small bruise."

"Well then this is a bit worse," she replied, receiving a groan as she pressed the wet cloth against the cut.

"It feels it," he whispered, his eyes closing once again.

"Let me just clean this out a bit and put a bandage over it," she said.

"Can you honestly tell me how bad it looks?" he asked, looking over in curiosity at her. She had to admit that he was still pushing on, acting as though nothing was wrong, though his body language indicated he wanted to pass out cold.

"Can you even see straight?" she asked without thinking. His eyes…they just looked…

"That didn't answer my question."

Sighing, she opened the metal cabinet and began looking around for bandages. "It's pretty bad," she answered truthfully. "You have a cut, and it's swollen as well as black and blue all around it."

"Shit," he whispered. Sighing, he said, "I guess it's going to be fun to try and cover up tomorrow."

This made Tea stop. "You aren't…thinking of going to school tomorrow, are you?"

"I already skipped enough days this year, Tea. Don't argue with me about this, alright? I don't have the energy for it."

Even though it probably should have sounded angry, it came out as a plea, and she knew Seto was never one to beg for something. She should have been angry at him for telling her not to argue about it, for doing something that she knew was a bad idea, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Taking out a bandage, she nodded her head and whispered, "Okay. It's your choice."

Seeing a small smile appear on his face, she applied the large band-aid over the cut, moved a few strands of hair in order to cover it up, and waited for him to open his eyes. "Thanks…" he whispered as he slowly went to stand up. Grabbing onto the edge of the sink for support, he frowned at this and let out a growl.

"Hold on a sec," Tea stated as she drained the bloody water in the sink, rinsing out the washcloth and setting it on the edge of the sink to dry. "Here, let me help you." Grasping his hand, she led him into the bedroom and made him sit down on the bed.

"You know, I have my own bedroom," he said, though his eyes closed at the comfort of the mattress.

"I know, but that's probably three or four hallways away, and if you can't make it from the bathroom to the bedroom without help, I'm not letting you walk all the way around your mansion."

Seto chuckled at this. "You sound like Jade…"

"Why?"

"Every time I got hurt as a kid, I always pushed myself too hard. She'd always scold me, saying how it was dangerous and coming up with examples like you just did." Opening his eyes to stare up at the ceiling, he whispered, "I'm glad to know that…you care for me."

Tea crawled onto the bed and watched as he slowly crawled up next to her. He closed his eyes but wrapped an arm around her, as if to protect her from the outside world. "Seto…all you do is protect the ones you love… Is it really such a surprise that others return the favor?" "Are you still going to the doctor's office tomorrow?" she asked.

"Yeah…" he answered, though she could barely hear his voice even though she was lying right next to him.

"Maybe you should ask them about this." She placed her hand gently against the bandage and watched as his eyes clenched tightly in pain.

"I guess they're going to ask me about it whether I want them to or not," he replied.

"Do you want me to come along in case they ask what happened?"

Seto's eyes slowly opened at this as he shrugged his shoulder. "Only if you want to go to a boring appointment…"

"Oh, but it won't be boring," she retorted, smiling widely at him. "Not when they say you won't need anymore medication."

A small smile appeared on Seto's face, and he brought her closer to her before planting a small kiss on her lips. "No…I guess it won't." He soon closed his eyes, and Tea watched as his chest began to rise and fall in rhythm, his grip on her slowly loosening up, until she was sure he was asleep. Curling up next to him, she smiled and stared intently at his relaxed facial expression.

"You promise to protect me so much, almost to the point where it's annoying, but I know you mean it every time you say it. Just let me take care of you sometimes, okay Seto?" Closing her eyes, she thought, "Seto…learn that love goes both ways, and that if you're willing to sacrifice yourself, I'll gladly stand by your side." Chuckling, she added, "And know, too, that your mask doesn't fool me, and that you're not invincible."