Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Uhmmm. . .angst/romance in this chapter. Err. . .sorry about the late update by the way. This story got the most votes. Hopefully this chapter will make up for my late update.

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It had been two weeks. Two weeks and no word from him. Him, that man with the irresistible drowning blue eyes that could peer into your soul. The man who could captivate your heart, numbing your body with a contemptuous glance or a gentle smile.

Her breath caught as she tilted her head upward to gaze at the brilliant leaves swirl in a soft cool breeze. Such beautiful colors of crimson red and brilliant yellow. The sun hit her exposed shoulders and warmed the thin cotton dress that hung loosely around her shoulders. Aqua eyes slowly drifted downwards in repose.

"Head over heels," the thin girl whispered, "Head over heels in love."

How could this be? Was this destiny that ruled her heart, throwing it into the chaotic winds, the winds that stole her soul and whisked it to the very man who could not, did not have the capability to love another person. Every day her heart ached as if an immortal arrow had pierced her heart and it was slowly bleeding, ebbing. . .Every day her body trembled whenever she thought about him, that man. Seto Kaiba.

She looked like an ethereal mystical goddess from the heavens. The gleaming white dress swirled around her delicate ankles as her uplifted face received the embrace of the sun, searing white contrasting with the dappled shade of the tall trees next to her. Behind her, the lake provided a rippling background of light blue and twists of green that haloed her, flashes of the sun glinting every once in a while on the faint ripples.

Something inside of Seto's gut twisted like a knife as he remembered her walking back to her house in the comfort and safety of her friends. Ah, surely life was too unkind.

Tea whirled around. Staggered. Instantly, he was there, righting her up with his strong hands.

Stumbling backwards, Tea wrenched herself from his grip. His resolute features hardened into the familiar mask that she knew so well.

"I wanted to say thank you for what you've done for Mokuba. . .and for me as well," he said, his voice hard. He gritted his teeth, the words, ah god, the words sounded so. . .

Tea willed her body to stop that ridiculous trembling, no, she would never show any weakness to him.

"As you have told me before," she said in a clinically detached voice.

He looked down, suddenly absorbed into the leaves on the soil. The wind through teasing fingers through his hair, ruffling his clothing. Blue Armani silk.

Slowly he turned and walked away.

Tea stared at his departing back, stiff and formal. A feeling of despaired welled up inside of her. Now, now he comes and tells me that. . .

She resolutely gazed back at the lake, its cool lapping waves making a soft shushing sound on the smooth plain sand.

Suddenly her body trembled, this time in rage, a shot of adrenaline shooting through her. She suffered so much, so much, at least thing he could do, could do. . .

"Wait!" The cry tore through her lips, smashing through the tranquil air.

Kaiba looked back at her, the sinful eyes confused.

"Don't you dare, don't you dare just walk away!" Her voice rippled with anger. She approached him, each step bringing her closer to the man that she cursed and hated during the nights she could not sleep.

"How could you, you despicable fool!"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. He did not take insults lightly. "What did you want me to tell you then, girl?"

Tea stared at him, trying to pierce through his façade, that wall that he always erected. "What's going to happen to Mokuba? Two weeks, Kaiba. Two weeks and nothing. You just can't. . .you just can't feel! You can't feel! Oh god, what's wrong with you?!"

She couldn't express her strange feelings in words. It was as if this feeling she had developed was an intangible thing that could never be communicated. The closest thing possible thing that she could say was that he could not feel.

She took the last final step that brought her right up to the young man. Abruptly, she slapped him with everything she had.

His face registered shock, and then anger.

"You don't know anything, Gardener," he hissed, eyes alight with fire. "You don't know anything. Do you know what's going to happen to Mokuba? He's going to die unless I follow their orders."

"Are you just going to just give up then and listen to them?" Tea challenged back. She threw her head back and laughed mockingly, her voice hollow in his ears. "Poor Kaiba, doesn't know what to do. Is this it then?" Her voice dropped into a vehement whisper. "Why didn't you just leave me there to die then? You told me that you needed me alive so that I could help you with Mokuba. If the men already told you that they were never going to let you have Mokuba, why didn't you just let me die there on that floor?"

Her chest unsteadily rose up and down as a scream built in her. After her father's death, her life was perfect. Perfect until now.

Kaiba gripped her shoulders hard. "You dare, you dare say that to me, you-you foolish girl!"

"Kill me then!" Tea demanded, her lips sneering. "Be a man then, why don't you! Take me out of this misery."

He stared at her, and abruptly laughed, mimicking Tea's own laugh that rang out a few moments ago. "So melodramatic. Gardener, listen to me."

"No," she cut in. "You listen to me. You, you manipulated people all your life. Toying with them because they could not match you in your intelligence or wealth. And then your enemies have gotten hold of your brother and now you don't know what to do. Now you're going to be manipulated like a puppet. I would say it serves you right except for the fact that no one has the right to do that. And Mokuba is a total innocent in this affair. I thought at first, let me help this enigmatic person. Seto Kaiba, the person who always has been hurting my friends, making them suffer. Perhaps I can change him. I got to see the real you. The side that you've kept hidden under that barricade you set up for yourself. That night, you saved me. You didn't have to, but you did. Then you dropped me off. I hated you, I even thought I could kill you. You just dismissed me like one of your lackeys. Yes, perhaps you cared a little more for me because of my circumstances, but you shut me out after we went though all of that."

Her voice shook as her eyes glittered with unshed tears. The words immersed themselves in his mind.

"These two weeks were torture for me. . .I didn't know what Mokuba was going through, didn't know what to feel for you-feel for you. . ."

"And then," she spoke out loud, but to herself, "My friends were worried, coming over with medicine and trying to cheer me up. And I realized that this was what you were missing. Perhaps this was why you closed yourself to the world. You had no one to trust, all you had left was Mokuba. Everyone either hated or feared you. If they were nice to you, they were always after something. But our friends, we tried to be nice to you just because. You hated that. You're all alone, Kaiba," she whispered. "You're truly alone."

He could not speak. The truth of it all, the words were all true.

"Don't," he choked out, gripping the collar of her pristine dress. "Don't presume, don't, don't!"

Cool hands touched his face, lifting his head up to meet her eyes.

"Is it to much, Kaiba? Is it to much to feel again? To care again? To wish for the feel of a warm body next to you? Release yourself."

I can't take this anymore, Kaiba shouted in his head. He pushed Tea back violently.

"No! Get away, just get away from me." His eyes burned that same unholy flame as he glared at her.

The calm that had taken over Tea was replaced once again by a surge of rage.

"You will never understand Kaiba. And because of that, you will never be the man you could be. Mokuba will always be one inch away from death if you don't follow these people's orders."

Slam!

Tea clenched her jaw as she blinked her eyes, she was seeing white stars. Kaiba had slammed her up against a tree, his eyes a few inches from her face.

"What's the matter, Kaiba? Can't handle it? I thought you were a man. I do recall you doing this before, when we first met in that district. What's wrong now? Do you want to kill me for saying what you should have known all these years you've hurt people?"

Kaiba's face contorted, and a stab of fear wormed its way through the foggy haze of anger. For once, she actually thought Kaiba was about to kill her.

So be it then. She had no regrets. She had friends that cared for her, she would last through them.

"Are you feeling now, Kaiba? Do you feel human now?"

His hand moved from her arms to her throat, gripping it firmly.

He was on the point of breaking, teetering on a precipice. One side dark, the other light. What would he choose?

"You can easily strangle me to death, why don't you. . .Kaiba-boy?"

The hand tightened, causing Tea to gasp.

"You have nobody now, Kaiba. If I die, I die gladly. When you die, no one will care."

The vise-like grip clenched even more, spots of bright white and dark green blurred in Tea's vision.

"Break, damn you!" she whispered.

Break, damn you!

"Break damn you!" the man roared as he kicked the boy on to the ground. "What's the matter, why don't you cry? That's right, if you cry, then I'll really kill Mokuba. In this world, you're dead meat if you show your emotions. With each hit I give you, keep it within yourself, remember the pain, the agony, and then repay that person back tenfold!"

"Break, damn you!"

I'm staring into my death. Odd, I never thought I would end this way, Tea thought, looking into Kaiba's clouded eyes.

He teetered on the edge, and then he fell, fell to the left of him. . .falling in to the light.

Slowly, the thundering heartbeat in Tea's head slowed as his grip lessened and then fell slack. His eyes blinked, and then refocused on the girl before him.

The thick barricade, the façade that he had built brick by brick crumbled.

The arm that held her up against the rough bark shuddered as shock replaced the red fury.

The passionate anger that had filled Tea became over washed with sympathy as Kaiba turned away from her.

She touched his shoulder. "Are you happy now, Gardener? You're right."

The breeze picked up again, blowing errant strands into her face. "No, I'm not happy."

One moment she was standing behind, the next, her lips were pressed against his, her arms encircling his waist to press her hands on his back.

He stood, not reacting, and then ever so slowly, his lips opened and he desperately kissed her back. Needing to know that he was real, that Mokuba was alive. That this girl before him was real, nightmares gone, and the childhood innocence that was stolen away at such a young age could return.

Tea was consumed as his lips twisted deftly against hers as he drew her closer to his desire, his hopes, and his fears. This was more than love, her very earth was shaking, nothing could compare through this glimpse of glory and passion with this man.

He needed more, it was as if through her, only then could he return. This blinding need, trust was dangerously intoxicating.

As their lips broke apart and then met again in an intricate dance, happiness blazed through Tea. He could break her and he could heal her. This was meant to be.

"Kaiba. . ." she whispered against his lips.

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^^ ; . . .a lot of drama. . .

Basically the next chapter will touch on how they'll deal with new relationship, the gang's reaction, and what's going to happen to Mokuba. Hopefully I'll introduce the bad guys finally. . .

And no, they are not going to sleep together. . .errrr. . .at least not at this section. Gulp. . .