Kaiba walked up to the front door of Tea's house later that night. With a
knot starting to form in his stomach. 'Just explain it to them. I'm sure
they'll understand, they're probably really understanding people.' He
knocked on the door lightly and was faced with the face of Tea's father a
few moments later.
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Are you Mr. Gardner?"
"Yes."
"I'm Seto Kaiba. I took your daughter out for dinner last night. I was wondering if I could talk with you and your wife to clear some things up."
Her father slowly pulled the door fully open and let him in with a slightly suspicious glare on his face. So this was Seto. The one who was trying to seduce his daughter. Come over to try and 'clear things up'.
*******************
"-so you see, really there isn't any reason for you to be mad at her. It was completely innocent and she had her own room. I never would have forced her to stay, and as soon as I was better she left." He finished telling them about the accident and why Tea had come over, even though he had told them that it was his idea instead of hers in hopes to make them easier on her. He'd left out the details of him being slightly suicidal; he didn't think that would pass over quite to well.
Her dad shook his head. "I see. How long do you say you have been seeing our daughter?" He still had a suspicious look on his face.
Treading forward carefully Kaiba answered, "Approximately two months now."
"And what have you been doing during the course of them?"
Still watching his step he continued, "She's just been coming over and we sit and talk for a couple of hours. Then she goes home."
"That's all?" More suspicious glares.
"Yes."
"And she just goes home?"
"Well if it gets too late she's welcome to stay, but that's normal."
"Oh it is, is it?"
Starting to get a little worried he glanced around. "I, think so."
Her mother tapped her fingers in her lap. "So what did your parents think of this?"
Seto stopped looking around and sat there with a worried look on his face as he replied, "They weren't there. They're dead."
Her father's face tensed at this. "There was no supervision, and she was staying the night?"
"Well, in a sense, yes." Kaiba knew this was bad. HE knew there hadn't been anything wrong with it, but with all circumstances it would be very easy for people to take it the wrong way.
Tea's mother stood up with a sullen expression on her face. "I'm afraid we have nothing more to say to you, and if you wouldn't mind, we would like to ask you to leave."
'Bad, not good, very bad, extremely bad.' He got up and nodded. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. I hope you won't be too harsh on Tea, she feels really bad." He gave an unhappy sigh as he walked out the door. 'I think I may have made it worse. Oh please don't be mad Tea. I hate it when you're upset.'
******************
Reaching home he fell down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling until.
Ringalingalingalingalingaling! Ringalingalinga-
He pulled his cell phone out and pushed the button. "Hello?"
A small whispered reply came from the other end. "Hey Seto. It's me."
He sat up on his bed. "Tea? Oh, look, I'm sor-"
"No, no, don't. I shouldn't have snapped at you earlier. I called to say that I'm sorry for doing that. It really wasn't your fault. I really should have thought about it at the time, and like you said. It's not the end of the world, right?" She continued whispering. "I really shouldn't be calling you. It's part of being grounded, but I just felt like I had to apologize."
Exhaling a breath, Kaiba let a small smile creep onto his face. "Thank you, I'm really glad you did call." The smile then sank. "Now not to make things worse or anything. but I came and talked to your parents today. and I don't think it went that well. I thought you might want to know that. I think they've gotten the impression into their minds that we're a little too close, if you know what I mean."
A little moan came from the other end. "I know. I just hope they don't do anything drastic." She then went silent for a couple of seconds. "I'll talk to you later Seto. I think they're coming up. See you tomorrow, bye." She hung up the phone.
Flipping his phone shut he shoved it back in his pocket and fell back on his bed and shook his head. 'I hope everything turns out okay.'
*****************
He sat down at the table the next day at lunch, and it was obvious that everything wasn't.
Yugi was sitting on the other side of Tea and patting her back as she was crying. "It'll be okay Tea. We'll still be able to talk. Maybe they weren't even serious. You never know. It'll all be fine, don't worry."
Seto looked at the hunched form of Tea and then Yugi and asked with a feeling of foreboding taking him. "What's wrong?"
Tea looked up from crying into her arms and took one look at Seto with her lip quivering before she burst into tears again and fell back. Yugi continued patting her back and he answered, "She's moving."
"W-what?"
Tea spoke from down on the table. "It's true. They told me last night. They said 'If you can't be responsible with your actions here then we'll have to take you someplace else.' A-and we're leaving next week, just like that. I don't even get to have a say. That's it, we're leaving."
His face froze in horror. 'No, no, this isn't happening. She's not leaving. She's joking. No she's not you idiot. She IS leaving. This is your fault.'
*******************
His face was still frozen as he walked up into his room after work that day and fell onto his bed. 'Oh my god. She's leaving. She's really leaving, and I can't do a thing about it. Not one thing. She can't be leaving, she can't leave me all by myself. Why does this keep happening to me? Every time I get some happiness it has to be taken away from me.' Sitting up he walked downstairs into the kitchen and pulled out one of the knives.
He held it above the inside joint of his elbow with his hand shaking. Then with a dejected sigh he placed both hands down on the counter and shook his head. 'I can't do it.' He held the knife back again and then fell to leaning on the counter once more. 'I just. can't.'
Growling in frustration he whirled and slammed the knife into the wall. Falling down to the floor slowly he leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. 'Why does this keep happening? Why? Why?' He buried his head in his hands. 'Oh god, just please tell me why.'
Standing up again he yanked the knife out and started jamming it into the plaster repeatedly in frustration. "Why?! Why?! Why?!"
"Seto?"
Kaiba turned around, with his hand still on the handle of the knife in the wall, at the curios expression of Mokuba. He then looked at the knife and yanked it out as he stared at the chipped plaster briefly and then started washing the knife in the sink and avoiding Mokuba's eyes contact. "What is it Mokuba?"
"Is something wrong?"
He finished washing off the plaster and shoved the knife back into the holder. "No."
"Why were you stabbing the wall then?"
Kaiba marched past Mokuba up to his room. "I wasn't."
****************
Seto spent most of the next day at school sulking, and afterwards he was going to go home and bury his frustration in work when an idea worked its way into his head. Instead of driving home he made his way to Tea's house and stopped down the street so that he could watch the moving truck but not really be noticed. He waited there until the other vehicle started moving and then he followed it to the house of destination. He made sure to stay out of sight so as not to be noticeable, and as he looked at the house a small smile spread on his face. So he couldn't walk to her house anymore. but he knew where it was. He wasn't finished just quite yet. And he still had a week with her at school before she left.
*******************
((Little comment for a sec. I know it doesn't really take a week to move and you just up and do it, but let's just say they're special and can ok?))
Seto had spent all of that week continuing sulking, and the week after that, and even another one after that as he remained essentially silent at the lunch table at school and at home. He knew where Tea was. but it didn't seem really right to just go over there. It would probably cause problems anyway, with her parents that is. It was his fault they moved in the first place. He wouldn't want to make Tea move even further away which he was sure would be the next step if her parents found him snooping around the house.
Later that night he was going to go home after being called into Kaiba Corps' headquarters and drown his frustrations in more works when he began thinking. 'Oh I just don't care anymore. I have to go see her. Even if I don't get to talk to her, I have to see her.' And with that he drove off in his car towards Tea's new house.
He parked down the street a ways and got out as he walked down the road and stood in front of the new home. Walking around it and making sure to keep in the shadows he looked in all the downstairs windows to see if he could find Tea. He didn't see her and then started circling the house again looking in the upstairs windows.
As he was wandering around the left side he noticed the back of a familiar brown head. 'Tea.' A small smile played on his lips and he started to climb the tree that was conveniently placed directly next to Tea's open window with only one or two feet between one of its sturdier branches and the sill.
When he reached the one branch that stretched out he sat back in the foliage and stared at Tea who was working at her desk. His smile grew wider and he sighed. 'I missed her. I hope she's doing okay.' He continued staring inside until he saw her pull something that glinted out of her desk drawer. His eyes grew wide with horror but he kept staring until he clearly saw Tea turn away from her desk and walk to the other side of her room with a knife in hand.
Scrambling to the end of the branched he crawled inside he window and swung his legs over her desk that was right next to it. He then ran over and grabbed the hand Tea had the knife in and placed a hand over her mouth from behind.
She gave a muffled shriek and he pried the knife out of her hand and whispered to her soothingly. "Shhh Tea. It's me. It's just me. Calm down."
He waited a few moments and felt her body relax before he removed his hand and let her go.
She turned around and stared at him in disbelief. "Seto?"
He shook his head and stared at the knife he was now holding and then back at her. "Tea, what do you think you're doing?"
"How did you-When did you-How in the-"
"You can't do that to yourself. You-" His eyes then rested on her arms that already had a series of scabbed slashes in them. "Oh Tea." He took a couple steps forward and hugged her as he rubbed her back with his free hand. "Tea, Tea, Tea. I'm so sorry."
Tea's eyes began to water and she burrowed her face into his chest as tears started to flow. "I missed you so much."
Slowly pulling her down to the floor so they were both kneeling while continuing to rub her back he placed the knife down on the rug and then wrapped both his hands around her and sighed as he pulled her in close and whispered, "I missed you too, I missed you too."
"Hello, may I help you?"
"Are you Mr. Gardner?"
"Yes."
"I'm Seto Kaiba. I took your daughter out for dinner last night. I was wondering if I could talk with you and your wife to clear some things up."
Her father slowly pulled the door fully open and let him in with a slightly suspicious glare on his face. So this was Seto. The one who was trying to seduce his daughter. Come over to try and 'clear things up'.
*******************
"-so you see, really there isn't any reason for you to be mad at her. It was completely innocent and she had her own room. I never would have forced her to stay, and as soon as I was better she left." He finished telling them about the accident and why Tea had come over, even though he had told them that it was his idea instead of hers in hopes to make them easier on her. He'd left out the details of him being slightly suicidal; he didn't think that would pass over quite to well.
Her dad shook his head. "I see. How long do you say you have been seeing our daughter?" He still had a suspicious look on his face.
Treading forward carefully Kaiba answered, "Approximately two months now."
"And what have you been doing during the course of them?"
Still watching his step he continued, "She's just been coming over and we sit and talk for a couple of hours. Then she goes home."
"That's all?" More suspicious glares.
"Yes."
"And she just goes home?"
"Well if it gets too late she's welcome to stay, but that's normal."
"Oh it is, is it?"
Starting to get a little worried he glanced around. "I, think so."
Her mother tapped her fingers in her lap. "So what did your parents think of this?"
Seto stopped looking around and sat there with a worried look on his face as he replied, "They weren't there. They're dead."
Her father's face tensed at this. "There was no supervision, and she was staying the night?"
"Well, in a sense, yes." Kaiba knew this was bad. HE knew there hadn't been anything wrong with it, but with all circumstances it would be very easy for people to take it the wrong way.
Tea's mother stood up with a sullen expression on her face. "I'm afraid we have nothing more to say to you, and if you wouldn't mind, we would like to ask you to leave."
'Bad, not good, very bad, extremely bad.' He got up and nodded. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. I hope you won't be too harsh on Tea, she feels really bad." He gave an unhappy sigh as he walked out the door. 'I think I may have made it worse. Oh please don't be mad Tea. I hate it when you're upset.'
******************
Reaching home he fell down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling until.
Ringalingalingalingalingaling! Ringalingalinga-
He pulled his cell phone out and pushed the button. "Hello?"
A small whispered reply came from the other end. "Hey Seto. It's me."
He sat up on his bed. "Tea? Oh, look, I'm sor-"
"No, no, don't. I shouldn't have snapped at you earlier. I called to say that I'm sorry for doing that. It really wasn't your fault. I really should have thought about it at the time, and like you said. It's not the end of the world, right?" She continued whispering. "I really shouldn't be calling you. It's part of being grounded, but I just felt like I had to apologize."
Exhaling a breath, Kaiba let a small smile creep onto his face. "Thank you, I'm really glad you did call." The smile then sank. "Now not to make things worse or anything. but I came and talked to your parents today. and I don't think it went that well. I thought you might want to know that. I think they've gotten the impression into their minds that we're a little too close, if you know what I mean."
A little moan came from the other end. "I know. I just hope they don't do anything drastic." She then went silent for a couple of seconds. "I'll talk to you later Seto. I think they're coming up. See you tomorrow, bye." She hung up the phone.
Flipping his phone shut he shoved it back in his pocket and fell back on his bed and shook his head. 'I hope everything turns out okay.'
*****************
He sat down at the table the next day at lunch, and it was obvious that everything wasn't.
Yugi was sitting on the other side of Tea and patting her back as she was crying. "It'll be okay Tea. We'll still be able to talk. Maybe they weren't even serious. You never know. It'll all be fine, don't worry."
Seto looked at the hunched form of Tea and then Yugi and asked with a feeling of foreboding taking him. "What's wrong?"
Tea looked up from crying into her arms and took one look at Seto with her lip quivering before she burst into tears again and fell back. Yugi continued patting her back and he answered, "She's moving."
"W-what?"
Tea spoke from down on the table. "It's true. They told me last night. They said 'If you can't be responsible with your actions here then we'll have to take you someplace else.' A-and we're leaving next week, just like that. I don't even get to have a say. That's it, we're leaving."
His face froze in horror. 'No, no, this isn't happening. She's not leaving. She's joking. No she's not you idiot. She IS leaving. This is your fault.'
*******************
His face was still frozen as he walked up into his room after work that day and fell onto his bed. 'Oh my god. She's leaving. She's really leaving, and I can't do a thing about it. Not one thing. She can't be leaving, she can't leave me all by myself. Why does this keep happening to me? Every time I get some happiness it has to be taken away from me.' Sitting up he walked downstairs into the kitchen and pulled out one of the knives.
He held it above the inside joint of his elbow with his hand shaking. Then with a dejected sigh he placed both hands down on the counter and shook his head. 'I can't do it.' He held the knife back again and then fell to leaning on the counter once more. 'I just. can't.'
Growling in frustration he whirled and slammed the knife into the wall. Falling down to the floor slowly he leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. 'Why does this keep happening? Why? Why?' He buried his head in his hands. 'Oh god, just please tell me why.'
Standing up again he yanked the knife out and started jamming it into the plaster repeatedly in frustration. "Why?! Why?! Why?!"
"Seto?"
Kaiba turned around, with his hand still on the handle of the knife in the wall, at the curios expression of Mokuba. He then looked at the knife and yanked it out as he stared at the chipped plaster briefly and then started washing the knife in the sink and avoiding Mokuba's eyes contact. "What is it Mokuba?"
"Is something wrong?"
He finished washing off the plaster and shoved the knife back into the holder. "No."
"Why were you stabbing the wall then?"
Kaiba marched past Mokuba up to his room. "I wasn't."
****************
Seto spent most of the next day at school sulking, and afterwards he was going to go home and bury his frustration in work when an idea worked its way into his head. Instead of driving home he made his way to Tea's house and stopped down the street so that he could watch the moving truck but not really be noticed. He waited there until the other vehicle started moving and then he followed it to the house of destination. He made sure to stay out of sight so as not to be noticeable, and as he looked at the house a small smile spread on his face. So he couldn't walk to her house anymore. but he knew where it was. He wasn't finished just quite yet. And he still had a week with her at school before she left.
*******************
((Little comment for a sec. I know it doesn't really take a week to move and you just up and do it, but let's just say they're special and can ok?))
Seto had spent all of that week continuing sulking, and the week after that, and even another one after that as he remained essentially silent at the lunch table at school and at home. He knew where Tea was. but it didn't seem really right to just go over there. It would probably cause problems anyway, with her parents that is. It was his fault they moved in the first place. He wouldn't want to make Tea move even further away which he was sure would be the next step if her parents found him snooping around the house.
Later that night he was going to go home after being called into Kaiba Corps' headquarters and drown his frustrations in more works when he began thinking. 'Oh I just don't care anymore. I have to go see her. Even if I don't get to talk to her, I have to see her.' And with that he drove off in his car towards Tea's new house.
He parked down the street a ways and got out as he walked down the road and stood in front of the new home. Walking around it and making sure to keep in the shadows he looked in all the downstairs windows to see if he could find Tea. He didn't see her and then started circling the house again looking in the upstairs windows.
As he was wandering around the left side he noticed the back of a familiar brown head. 'Tea.' A small smile played on his lips and he started to climb the tree that was conveniently placed directly next to Tea's open window with only one or two feet between one of its sturdier branches and the sill.
When he reached the one branch that stretched out he sat back in the foliage and stared at Tea who was working at her desk. His smile grew wider and he sighed. 'I missed her. I hope she's doing okay.' He continued staring inside until he saw her pull something that glinted out of her desk drawer. His eyes grew wide with horror but he kept staring until he clearly saw Tea turn away from her desk and walk to the other side of her room with a knife in hand.
Scrambling to the end of the branched he crawled inside he window and swung his legs over her desk that was right next to it. He then ran over and grabbed the hand Tea had the knife in and placed a hand over her mouth from behind.
She gave a muffled shriek and he pried the knife out of her hand and whispered to her soothingly. "Shhh Tea. It's me. It's just me. Calm down."
He waited a few moments and felt her body relax before he removed his hand and let her go.
She turned around and stared at him in disbelief. "Seto?"
He shook his head and stared at the knife he was now holding and then back at her. "Tea, what do you think you're doing?"
"How did you-When did you-How in the-"
"You can't do that to yourself. You-" His eyes then rested on her arms that already had a series of scabbed slashes in them. "Oh Tea." He took a couple steps forward and hugged her as he rubbed her back with his free hand. "Tea, Tea, Tea. I'm so sorry."
Tea's eyes began to water and she burrowed her face into his chest as tears started to flow. "I missed you so much."
Slowly pulling her down to the floor so they were both kneeling while continuing to rub her back he placed the knife down on the rug and then wrapped both his hands around her and sighed as he pulled her in close and whispered, "I missed you too, I missed you too."