Hushpuppy24: Wow... Another day and more time for me to write another chapter. ^^ Finally a weekend of no homework...well maybe except Chinese but no school next week for that so I get extra time~! ^^ YAY~! Anyways, on with the story...but first, gotta have the summary...unless some of you don't read it then you can skip straight to the story. But I always forget what happens on the previous chapters so summaries help me remember^^ 'I'll try to keep them short but I was never really good with summaries anyways...^^|| Oh, and also to Anime Queen, yes I know the Beauty and the Kaiba fiction isn't really my style...but that's what you get when you're forced to write it...^^||

On the last chapter of Jealousy and Turmoil, Kaiba was hurt a bit from a fight he and Joey had. He didn't bother return Joey's hits out of his miseries and fell into unconsciousness. He awoke in a place, which he did not know where it is, but we later find out that it's Joey's house. His vision was still blurred but he saw someone walk away from him in view. His mind still clung onto Téa as the figure made her way down the stairs. The figure surprisingly was Mai, and she was a bit peeved because Téa wouldn't admit she still liked Kaiba. Mai pulled Téa into the kitchen to have a talk while Yugi thought worriedly of Téa's feelings. Soon after, Mai persuaded Téa enough to at least try to accept Seto again, but was teased back by being accused of liking Joey. Mai blushed crimson and suggested Téa to go check up on Kaiba, which she was about to do...

Now the actual content...

Chapter 6

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Téa and Mai stood outside the doorway of Kaiba's room, while Joey gave them the evil eye. Joey must've been furious because his face was fuming red and if he were one of those characters of Pegasus's comics, his ears totally would've been blowing out steam. However, this thought caused Mai to just giggle to herself. She quickly turned her eyes back to Téa, who seemed to be having trouble opening the door. Her hands were quivering every time it came close to the doorknob and Mai was getting quite annoyed. "Come on... Just go in..."

Téa gulped hard and looked down the stairs and into Yugi's eyes. Yugi didn't seem to be looking in her direction and instead was looking down on the ground. 'He must know...' Téa thought guiltily. She lowered her hand back and whispered to Mai. "I can't..."

"What do you mean you can't?" Mai asked confusedly. "You still like him don't you?"

"Yea I do..." Téa confessed. A silence fell across the two girls until Mai finally spoke up.

"And the problem is?"

"I just can't..." Téa said again. "I'm going to hurt Yugi... It'll be the same all over again... I've hurt him before and it's just too much... I've let him down way too many times..." She let out a small sigh. "I know you don't understand...but it's too hard..."

"Get a hold of yourself." Mai said confidently. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll go tell Yugi."

"No!" Téa shouted and with that, it grasped Yugi's attention for a short moment. She could see his eyes dart up to see what was the matter, but it quickly fell back as soon as his and Téa's eyes met.

"Then what are you going to do?" Mai asked.

"I don't know..." Téa replied.

"If you're not going in then I'm taking you in there." With that, Mai took hold of Téa's wrist in one hand and reached for the knob in the other. Téa struggled to get loose but still couldn't. Joey watched the two girls struggle upstairs, but couldn't get a word out of his mouth. He was now confused but absorbed in the event since he couldn't hear a word the two girls said except for when Téa yelled out no. And now his curiosity was overtaking him again. Tristan sudden popped up from behind Joey and asked what was going on. Joey just moaned something that couldn't be heard at all and continued staring up the stairs. Tristan followed Joey's eyes and got a better glimpse of what Joey was looking at. It was Téa and Mai! As instincts hit Tristan, another way of teasing Joey popped into his mind.

"So... Can't get your eyes off Mai huh?" Tristan joked.

Joey quickly stopped staring and gave Tristan a death glare, as his face grew red. "SHUT UP!" He yelled. But just that little phrase got him the attention of everyone in the room. All eyes turned to Joey as his cheeks heated up. He looked up the stairs and realized that Mai was staring at him and quickly turned away.

Mai who saw Joey look up also turned a nice shade of red. Téa saw her chance and slipped her hand out of Mai's grip. Mai quickly realized that and tried to get hold of Téa again.

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Inside the guestroom, Seto was trying to have his moment of peace to think about Téa, but was disturbed several times from the gigantic noise that was created outside. He held onto the ring in his hand tightly and struggled to get up off the couch. The bruises and minor cuts didn't hurt that bad, but he was still drained of his energy and standing up was a little hard at the moment. He staggered over to the door and slowly opened it to find Mai and Téa struggling with each other in front of his doorway.

The two girls froze in their place and quickly stood properly, both a little embarrassed. "Uh... Hi Kaiba..." Téa stuttered out. Mai suddenly pushed Téa from behind and she fell into Seto's weak arms. Kaiba swaggered a bit but kept a firm hold. Downstairs, Joey's mouth dropped at what Mai had just done. He would've yelled at her but Tristan was restraining him. Téa apologized and quickly turned back to yell at Mai, but Mai's motor mouth didn't stop to let Téa get one word out of her mouth.

Mai quickly spoke and the words were hardly even heard because she was speaking at such a fast pace. "Well now that you two are just right there and talking, I shouldn't be bothering you guys then. I mean, you've got so much to catch up on and Kaiba, you're still injured and I'm sure you need your rest, so Téa can be there to just watch over you and everything. Anything you need, you can just ask her because she'll be right there!" Mai stopped a quick second to take in a breath from all the words she just blabbed out, but that didn't leave enough time for Téa to speak still. "Anyways, I should be going now! Don't want to keep you two from reacquainting! See ya!" Téa opened her mouth to speak, but Mai had already closed the door on them, leaving Téa and Seto alone in the room.

Mai let out a big sigh as she shut the door as quick as possible. She turned around and started heading for the stairs when Joey's freaky face startled her stiff. "What did you think you were doing?" Joey muttered through his gritted teeth. Joey had managed to shake Tristan off his tail and was now standing face to face with Mai. Mai felt her cheeks grow a little warm and so did Joey because of the closeness, but that wasn't going to get the in way of their debate, especially not for these two.

"Téa still likes Kaiba you know." Mai stated.

"Does she really? Or are you just forcing her to like him again?" Joey accused.

"And why would I do that?" Mai asked, getting a little more irritated. There had always been something about Joey that made her just want to yell at him, but then a part of her never wants to.

"Because you're jealous!" Joey concluded.

"Me? Jealous of Téa? Yea right!" Mai said sarcastically. "I have nothing to be jealous of. Believe me, my standards are way higher than that. No offence to Yugi of course." She looked down the stairs, but Yugi didn't seem to care about their conversation. "Besides..." Mai continued as she inched towards the stairway. "I've already got someone in mind." A small smile crept onto her face as she lightly pushed Joey aside and walked down the stairs and out the front door. "I'll see ya around later!" She waved back while she left the door still opened.

'An even higher standard than Yugi?' Joey thought to himself. "Aw man, then that's DEFINITELY not me..." He whispered to himself. Joey trotted down the stairs, with Mai's perfume still wafting in the air.

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Téa looked at the closed door and the darkness of the room. There was hardly any light there except for a small crack from the pulled down curtains. She looked around some more until she finally remembered she was still in Seto's arms. Overtaken by surprise, she pushed him away. Kaiba dropped to the floor and the ring fell out of his hands, but how much Téa wanted to get away from him seemed to just hurt him more...physically and emotionally. Téa knelt by his side and helped him up, slowly leading him towards the couch where he sat down. Seto looked at Téa, but Téa's eyes were turned to the floor. He understood and turned away as well. The room fell silent and neither one of them said one word. Téa continued look through the room. Joey's guestroom had a bit of redecorating done ever since she left. Not a lot, but still a bit. The furniture had been moved a bit and some things seemed to be missing. Like the clutter of comic books that belonged to Joey were now completely gone, and instead, some sweet smelling flowers took its place. 'Those flowers definitely aren't for Seto...' Téa thought to herself. 'No way that Joey would give him those...' She looked over to Kaiba, who was sitting there quietly, staring at the closed window shades. "So..." Téa searched her mind for words to say. "...How are you feeling?"

Kaiba only gave a small shrug, but inside his heart, it ached of pain he's never felt before. Téa didn't know what to do. Her mind was still trying to decide on Seto or Yugi. She knew her feelings for Seto was much stronger, exactly what Mai had pointed out. But she just couldn't leave Yugi like that. He was just so gentle and loving...and his heart would be greatly hurt if she just left him... But then again, she's already hurt Seto too. Her mind played tricks on her and she thought things that didn't happen. She let her mind take over her heart and now it may be too late to fix it. She had tried pushing away these feelings before, but it never seemed to work. She could feel herself beginning to get warm. "It's a little stuffy here don't you think?" Téa asked as she headed towards the window. She pulled up the curtains and opened the window a tiny bit. The gentle breeze blew in, carrying away all of Téa's worries. She closed her eyes and just stood still at the window.

"You don't have to be here you know..." Seto said sternly.

"What do you mean?" Téa suddenly whirled around. Kaiba's eyes were still looking away from hers and she could feel the same hurt he felt.

Kaiba smirked. "You must hate me don't you?"

"What?! No!" Téa was completely shocked. She didn't expect him to say that.

"Heh." Seto chuckled to himself. "It's ok. You don't have to force yourself to be near me just because you feel guilty for me..." He closed his eyes to let his thoughts wander. "It was silly of me to think that we'd be together after three years anyways..."

"Seto..." Téa whispered sympathetically.

"It was probably not meant to be anyways..." Seto took in a deep breath and exhaled. Looking into Téa's blue eyes, he spoke. "I wish you and Yugi the best... You two are a much better match anyways..."

Téa's eyes widened at his words. "Seto Kaiba! Do you know what you're saying!" Kaiba only closed his eyes. "Let me ask you one thing." Téa said stiffly. "Do you still love me?" Kaiba opened his eyes, but they darted towards the opposite corner of the room. "I see..." Téa closed her eyes for a brief moment, then reopened them again. "Then there's no reason why I should be in here huh?" Téa began to walk towards the closed door, but a small object caught the glimpse of her eye. It sparkled a light shade of heavenly sky blue. Téa knelt down to pick it up. It was her ring...or it used to have been her ring. She clutched it tightly in her hand before getting up again. "Kaiba." She stated boldly. Seto's head shot up and looked at Téa. "I think this belongs to you." She then threw the ring across the room, at which Kaiba caught the precious item in the palm of his hand. He looked at it, then back at the doorway to see Téa leave...closing the door behind her with a small click.

Kaiba stared at the ring lovingly, but later placed it lightly on the coffee table in front of him. The ring now meant nothing to him...at least he tried to think that way.

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Téa leaned against the door, her eyes beginning to water. 'Mai was wrong...' Téa thought to herself. '...So wrong...'


Hushpuppy24: Another chapter completed~! Phew... Sorry if it sounds a little weird but right at this minute I'm kind of being brainwashed by my favourite song, 'Change the World' by V6... It's from Inu Yasha and even though I haven't watched the actual anime, I still love their songs. LOL~!^^ I've also been watching a lot of Fushigi Yuugi this past week so my mind is sort of wandering here and there. ^^|| Anyways, hope this chapter was still ok... Review please~!^^