"Oof!" Tea fell backwards to sit down hard on the concrete sidewalk. Rubbing at her head, which was the part of her body that had banged with the oncoming person, she mumbled agitated. "Hey, watch where you're going."

When there wasn't any answer she looked up to see none other than Kaiba on the ground in front of her, since he had been knocked down as well. Sitting with his legs crossed and resting his elbows on his knees while he meshed his fingers in his hair and was staring at the sidewalk.

'I hate my life. I hate today. First Joey, then Mokuba, now Tea... Does somebody up there hate me? ... Well fine. Fine! If they're gonna play their sick little twisted games up there and screw with my head then I'm going to screw with theirs. They want to take away all that's close to me and turn it against me and abandon me? Well let's see them try!'

The next thing that happened took Tea completely off guard, as she found something unexpected pressing to her face.

********************

'What in the-? How in the-? What the heck?!' Smack!

Tea's hand rather abruptly came to meet with Kaiba's cheek and she shoved him away.

"What do you think you're doing you jerk?!"

And Seto smiled. A very slim smile that barely appeared on his face before he folded his arms and closed his eyes in a recluse manner before giving her a low and toneless response.

"Bitch..."

"Bitch?! Bitch?!?!?!!" Tea jumped up off the ground in a fury. "You have the gall to knock me down, KISS me! And then you call me a bitch?!?!?!?!!!!"

"... Yes." His eyes met with hers in the same flat way as his voice. He was pissed, really pissed, and what had started off as a good day had taken a rapid turn in the exact opposite direction and now? ... Now he wanted a fight, something that he could control and manipulate in his favor unlike the mess that seemed to be the rest of his life.

"What do you mean 'Yes'?!" In any other situation Tea would not have thrown herself into hysterics quite so easily. But this was different, this was Kaiba. The exact person who had felt like up and dumping her over the phone with no good reason she could see, and then now all of a sudden kissed her? And then, to top it all off, he was insulting her right after the fact. 'What's his PROBLEM?'

As the smile still remained across his features he stood as well and faced her. "I mean 'yes' by the fact that I am in fact calling you a bitch. You didn't seem to be sure, I should have figured as much... You're mind must be too small to comprehend such vocabulary..."

This was too much and her eyes narrowed and she shook her head from side to side steaming. "That was low... That was just low..."

And now just for the plain sake of making things worse, Kaiba moved onto the level of mocking. "Oh? Was that low? Is it possible that I hurt your oh so delicate feelings?" His face went flat and menacing. "Well I'm sorry. Maybe you'd feel like getting drunk again and going to sleep with some other poor bastard."

"What?" Tea's face was lost. 'What's he talking about?'

This only met her with more expressionless staring. "You're not telling me that you're possibly that stupid to think that it never happened? It was you in the first place who started getting all... all... THAT way!" From the brief moments he had been able to claw up from his, then intoxicated, brain, he could tell that she was in fact the one who made the first move in the physical sense. But of course he had mentioned to her that he was her 'boyfriend' in order to get her away from those others guys... But for now he was going to ignore all wrongdoings on his part. If she really didn't believe it happened then she wouldn't possibly be able to recall anything that he'd done, and if she tried then she couldn't deny that it happened any more... Either way he was safe.

'That way, that way.. by 'that way' does he mean THAT way? But.. but that was just a daydream...' For the brief moment her pupils shrank in horror. 'Oh my god.'

Her hand snapped up again to slap him across the face, hard.

Completely unintentionally however she had managed to put her nails into her slap and therefore after her hand was away, she had left him five crimson gashes across his cheek. And seeing this her hands went up to her mouth in shock.

"Oh my god... I'm sorry."

***********************

'Yes my little my little princess, you are sorry, aren't you?' His icy orbs pierced through her soul as he ignored the burning sensation that cut across his flesh. 'You're sorry for causing me such pain and turmoil when all of it really is MY fault and none of it yours. You're sorry that I let you go, cast you free, let you spread your wings and take flight and all you wanted to do was perch on my finger for the rest of eternity. And afterwards all you had left to do was hover around my head while I tried to keep you away but have secretly wanted to let you back in for the entire time... Well I'm just going to tell you right now and in full that I hate you. I hate you for being so beautiful, for being so kind, for being so caring, for being so absolutely perfect and constantly trying to brush me with your angelic divinity.'

And at that very moment he couldn't help but shed a single tear from his inner pains.

'Why am I so weak when I'm left alone to myself? Why do I have to resort to violence, or crying, or hurting those that I care for in my own sick way of trying to heal myself? Why?' He didn't know, wasn't going to know, and even if he could of... he didn't want to know.

His orbs were still cast into hers however, and as he tried to hide the conflict of himself the though dawned on him that it wasn't working... at all. So as he was sitting there thinking she was picking up his emotional fragments... And he didn't want that.

"Goodbye, Tea."

Seto turned away and went in the opposite direction as he ignored his cheek and it felt like instead, his eyes were bleeding. The tears that were welling there swelled to cut his vision as he continued stumbling forward blindly in what he was assuming was the direction of his house... Since at this point the tears were far too many for him to see anything except blurry forms.

One crystalline droplet crept out which he immediately brought his arm up to wipe away. When he brought it back down however he noticed to blood from his face and stared as more salty daggers poured across his skin to mix with the other crimson liquid before the backs of his arms went up again to try to bury them.

'Go away. Leave me alone. I don't want to cry...'

His feet kept their constant forward pattern as they dragged him forward until he made out a chain link fence that he'd have to avoid through his tearstained vision. Over which of course was a place which Seto had only been to once before in his life, since Mokuba wasn't a big fan of playgrounds.

*********************

A twelve-year-old sat in his room shoving various items of clothing and other odds and ends into a backpack. Today... he was leaving today. It didn't matter that the time was only three o'clock in the morning. What other time could he leave? This was when he was safe, when nobody was awake and nobody could catch him.

As he shoved the last thing into the bag he zipped it up and slid it on before going over to his desk where he glared at the accursed programs that were floating over his desktop.

"Stupid things..." He shut off the system and looked around the dark room one last time before he crept out the door and closed it as silently as he possibly could.

Creeping down the hall a short distance he opened another door and slid through to shut it and banish the room into darkness.

"Mokuba?" Seto made his way over to his little brother's bed and shook the sleeping form gently. "Mokuba, wake up."

"Mm-hm, what?" The sleepy figure rubbed at his eyes as he sat up and blinked a couple times in the black room. "What is it big brother?"

Kaiba uncovered him and pulled him to his feet to go over to the younger's dresser to get him some clothes as he explained things as little as possible. "We're taking off for a little while. Now as we're leaving I want you to be a very good boy and keep quiet, understand?" He placed the clothes in his brother's arms and then started pacing around the room impatiently. Seto wanted to leave NOW.

Mokuba nodded and changed into the clothes before walking over to his agitated older sibling. "Where are we going?"

The icy orbs cast over him and then ran around the room in a last check to make sure he had everything he could possibly need. "We're going out. That's all you need to know." Before Mokuba could ask any more questions he grabbed the younger's hand and dragged him out of the room and into the moonlit hallway.

Seto checked underneath all the room doors from a distance. 'No lights. Good.' Then he quickly ran down the stairs still with Mokuba in tow, but before they emerged out of the stairwell he stopped against the wall and peered out. 'Nobody.' Dragging the small one behind him he made a quiet rush to the door which as soon as he reached it he slowed down. This door would be loud, not like the indoor ports that weren't sealed from the outside weather.

Turning back he kneeled down to stare at Mokuba hard. "Brother, as soon as we're out that door I want you to run with me. Don't make any noise; I just want you to run. I'll explain all of this to you later, but right now I want you to listen to me and just do as I say. Okay?"

There was a nod to answer him, and that was all he needed. Reaching over to the door he turned the knob slowly and pulled the door open even more slowly as the creaking of the hinges made themselves very audible in the echo of the mansion. He cringed but slid out of the small crack all the same with Mokuba behind him and closed the door in the same slow painstaking manner.

Turning from the wooden object he faced the large lawn before him and gave his little brother's hand one tight squeeze. 'One... Two... Three...' "Go!"

And he took off in a headlong run dragging the little one behind him. He inwardly wished that Mokuba could run faster, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now... And for the moment it seemed safe. There hadn't been any alarms that had gone off, no unexpected lights turning on, it had all just remained in the same still sleep of the night.

Seto kept them running ragged until they were out of the grounds and a good ways away from the gates. As soon as he thought it safe he stopped and hid behind a tree by the edge of the road with Mokuba by him and he panted trying to catch his breath.

There was a curious glance that came from the little one up at his older brother's abnormal behavior. He tried to keep his small lungs full of air but was jittering to run again at any notice. The paranoia of his sibling was making him panic himself, but he didn't want to say anything for fear of making any false noise.

Kaiba noticed this and tried to calm down slightly. "It's all right Mokuba. We don't have to run anymore. We can walk." Grabbing onto the small hand he took of at a gentle pace but kept glancing over his shoulder. "Yeah, it's fine."

After a few minutes Seto stopped walking all together since they'd reached where he wanted, at a bench with the desired sign reading: Bus Stop.

Mokuba's eyes looked up at the sign and then to his brother. "Seto, where are we going?"

The older shook his head. "We're just going to the park. It's not big deal. Don't worry Mokuba, I'll take care of you."

This was a reassuring thought and the little black head bobbed up and down and was completely content when the actual bus pulled up and Seto dragged him on.

The older Kaiba reached into his pocket to pay for the bus fee and counted the spare change. 'What?' His eyes spread wide as he counted the two nickels, three times, and four pennies in his hand. 'I swear I had more than this.'

Seto held up his finger to the impatient bus driver and took his backpack off to dig though it. 'I know I had more than that. Where is it? Where'd that other money go?'

"What are you looking for brother?" The small innocent gaze of Mokuba looked over him.

"I'm looking for change. I only need six cents. I swear I had that money..." His hands continued digging through all the spare blankets and cans of food he'd rummaged together inside his bag.

"Oh forget it kid. Just give me what you got and take your seat..."

This was not met with a relieved 'thank you' however, but rather a defiant glare. "I HAVE the money. Just give me a minute..." There was a small clinking sound and he pulled out the desired nickel and penny which he pushed into the change slot and then yanked Mokuba down to the back of the bus.

He didn't need anybody to give him a break on and he wasn't going to let anybody treat him easy just because he was young.

Both he and Mokuba sat down in the far left corner and the younger rubbed at his eyes and yawned. It was still only quarter after three in the morning. Any decent human being would be asleep at this time of day. Seto needed Mokuba to stay awake though, at least for now, until they got to the park and he could find a safe place for them to hide for the remainder of the night.

It didn't take the bus that long to reach the park and the two Kaiba brothers got off of it with the older leading the way.

Seto led him to the small one behind him and climbed up the metal ladder of the jungle gym before him. Crawling across the wooden platform he waited until Mokuba came up before he ushered his little brother into a small tunnel between another platform.

After that he crawled after him to sit next to Mokuba and he dug into his backpack to pull out a blanket that he'd brought along with him and he wrapped it around the younger's shoulders. Lying down himself he closed his eyes with a wave of relaxation washing over him as Mokuba lay down as well and he put his arm protectively over his little sibling. Right now, he was safe, and right now, no one could get him... He had nothing more to worry about, no more stupid programs, no more dictator crashing down on him to abuse his intellect and physical being. Life was good.

And with that thought drifting through his mind he fell into a relaxed slumber, the most relaxed slumber he'd had in the last couple years of his life. And the last one he'd have for a while...

((And that's another chapter for you ^^! It ended in the middle of a flashback, there's more coming for you ::evil laugh and rubs hands together:: You'll see... You'll see... Anyway! Keep up with the happy reviews! Later!))