Riddles of the Heart
written by Atlantis
© 2002
Here is Part 2 for all of you lovely people who critiqued me so nicely. It's also for those of you who didn't! *grins* Thanks to all of you who took the time to answer my 'question of the week'. I got some answers that really did make sense. I would also like to say to a critiquer, who shall remain nameless, that no, the ties of royalty don't really matter all that much, they may later, but as of now, I am simply attempting to show the audience that Tea has class and gets her looks from her grandma.
Alright, you all know that I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! so let's stop pretending. It may take a bit longer for me to realize it, but I think I'll be okay. No worries.
Rating: PG-13
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Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
1 Corinthians 13:4&5
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PART 2
Seto Kaiba awoke abruptly, his hands clenching at the sheets
beneath him while his knees rose and his other hand dug into his
hair ruthlessly. His dreams tormented him so much, making him so
afraid, that he couldn't even utter the smallest scream. Death.
That was what he always dreamt about. Death and abuse... and
abandonment. Those were the only things that moved through his
mind, besides the overwhelming instinct to protect Mokuba.
"Aaarhg," he growled, throwing his sheets off and stomping
into his bathroom, staring at his pale and frightened reflection
in the mirror before shucking his clothes and jumping into the
shower. It was the same pale face he saw every morning after his
nightmares. He wanted so badly to tell someone, to take some of
the burden off of himself, but there was no one. Kaiba didn't
dare let anyone close enough to him to be allowed into his
confidences and he would never let Mokuba know; knowing that the
small boy already worried about him enough. At times he even felt
inhuman.
Yes, inhuman was accurate. He despised feeling any emotion
whatsoever, chose not to associate with people unless absolutely
necessary, and looked at the world as if it was something
imperfect and lacking instead of a wide place to live in or
discover treasures in. He had never had the blessing of having
loving parents nor having the chance to love them. Kaiba had
been robbed of their love and presences at a young age. The crash
had been horrible and he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
It had happened just a few feet beyond his own driveway.
Kaiba had been watching his baby brother when his parents had
honked the car horn as they always did. He had run to the door
and opened it to greet them happily when, right before his young
eyes, another car seemed to appear out of nowhere, barreling down
the road at somewhere around seventy-five miles per hour. His
parents hadn't even gotten a chance to scream when the other
vehicle slammed into their own, obliterating the small passenger
car and throwing its parts all across the street and off the side
of the road.
Thankfully, Mokuba had been too young to remember his
parent's death and unfortunately, he hadn't nearly begun to
experience their unconditional love. Living with Kaiba all of his
life, Mokuba didn't know what he was missing. But Kaiba knew
better because he had loved and lost... and from fear of
suffering anything like that again, he refused to make any
friends or make any attempt to have any relationship whatsoever.
The only things that Kaiba lived for were Mokuba and his job as
soul owner and executive CEO of Kaiba Corp. Even though his job
was demanding and he was almost never home because of that and
school combined, he always made sure that Mokuba came first.
He couldn't explain it. It was a strange sensation that came
over him whenever he thought of Mokuba being alone or not being
taken care of. Kaiba never failed to spend time with the little
boy, talking about his school day, playing a card game with him
(Duel Monsters or otherwise), and every night told Mokuba of his
memories of their parents. It didn't matter that the memories had
been repeated numerous times and Mokuba knew them all by heart.
It mattered that Kaiba wanted to reassure the boy of their truth
and reality, that they had been real, and they had been stolen
away.
Turning the knobs to shut off the shower, Seto Kaiba grabbed
for a towel and wrapped it around himself, wiping a hand across
the already foggy mirror. He sighed and reached for his comb,
styling his hair as he always did and then brushing his teeth,
knowing that he wouldn't be eating breakfast that morning. Soon
after, he got dressed and grabbed his bookbag, closing the door
to his room after he left. He found Mokuba in the kitchen eating
his breakfast, some type of marshmallow cereal, at the counter
quietly. Kaiba ruffled the boy's hair fondly and smirked as the
boy slurped down the last of his milk and remaining cereal before
grabbing his backpack and running to the door.
"Mokuba! Aren't you forgetting something?" Kaiba called out,
holding up a rumpled brown and bulging paper bag. Mokuba yelped
and rushed for the bag, grabbing it from his older brother's
outstretched hand and then dashing out the door again towards the
limo that was waiting in front of the house to take him to
school. Kaiba shook his head and moved towards the door as well,
though somewhat slower, and made sure to set the alarm and lock
the door behind him before getting into his own mode of
transportation to go to school. He sighed out loud as he eased
himself into the leather seat of his black Porsche and turned the
key in the ignition, listening to the steady and rhythmic hum of
the engine. Strapping his seatbelt on hurriedly, he pulled out
of the long driveway and towards the direction of the school,
unaware that someone across town was thinking of him and missing
school.
Tea shrieked as she threw her bag into the passenger seat,
banging against the window with a loud crash before she took her
place in the driver's seat and shoved the key into the ignition
as she shut her door forcefully and pulled out of the driveway
hastily, pulling her seatbelt across her body as she drove.
"Man oh man, I'm gonna catch it for being so late!" she
whined to herself. She had gotten a little too caught up in
daydreaming about Kaiba while eating breakfast to realize that
the time had flown by, her cereal had gotten soggy, and she had
missed her first class. Tea had never had this problem before and
she silently freaked-out to herself as she drove along the nearly
empty streets to the school.
As she neared it, she wondered why the administrators had
combined the high school with the college- merging some of the
classes together. That was the only reason that she had a class
with Seto Kaiba. He was in college and taking a college course,
and she was in the advanced placement program, trying to earn
college credit so that she wouldn't have to worry about it once
out of high school. It was a hard class and first she had to pass
it and then take a college exam to see if she qualified for the
credit. Tea found it hard, but she loved the challenge and gave
it all she had. From what the teacher had hinted at, and her
heart sped at this, she was at the top of the class... right
alongside Seto Kaiba.
The parking lot came into her view and she whipped into it
smoothly, pulling into the closest spot and parking her truck
hurriedly. She grabbed her bag, locked the doors and ran to the
doors to the front office, afraid of the reprimands that she was
going to get from the administrators, whom she knew well.
As she pushed against the doors, they opened easily and Tea
burst in, ready to blurt out apologies when she was greeted with
smiles.
"Tea! I'm surprised you came today. I thought perhaps that
you were sick," one of the secretaries said in a friendly manner.
"I was just about to call home. Are you alright?"
"I'm okay. I just lost track of time for some reason this
morning and... I'm so sorry for missing my first hour, I promise
I'll never do it again!" Tea promised, readying her body for the
reprimand any moment. Instead she heard a light chuckling and
opened her eyes timidly to find the other secretaries and
administrators gathered around, sending kind looks her way.
"It happens. Don't worry too much about it Tea. You've had
perfect attendance since first grade," replied an older woman who
had known her since birth. "I'm sure that none of us would mind
if it happened again and again, as long as you were staying out
of trouble and keeping up with your schoolwork. This won't even
go on your record as a truancy," the older woman winked and
turned to the others who nodded in reply. Numbly, Tea muttered a
thank you and dumbfoundedly moved down the corridor towards her
locker and then class.
Her second hour was already in progress when she opened up
the door and walked in, all eyes automatically shifting to her
interrupting presence. Averting her eyes from those of the
shocked teacher, Tea made her way to the far end of the room in
the back, near the windows and quietly took her seat, removing
her pencil and notepad from her bag to take notes. The class
remained silent, everyone staring at her as if she had grown
another head. It took the clearing of her throat to semi-snap the
teacher out of her stupor before she clucked at the class
reproachfully and turned towards the blackboard, her chalk
clicking sharply against it as she wrote down the lesson.
Tea still felt many stares boring into her, but she
maintained her effort to remain with her face forward. When she
felt like she was no longer being studied like a specimen under
glass, she gently placed her pencil down and looked out the
window to her left, just barely a foot away from where she sat
and large in size, like the other five or six that lined the
wall. Her teacher's voice floated away like a haze and she
drifted into the part of her mind that only focused on Kaiba.
Something was different about him and she couldn't figure out
what. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about him, but
there was just a little thought that just kept nagging at her
but she didn't know what it was. It was like an itch that she
couldn't scratch.
When she decided that thinking about his unidentified
characteristic was too complicating, she automatically switched
to how gorgeous he was. That was easy to do and she was startled
when she faintly heard the bell that ended her class. Dazedly,
she gathered her things together and left without a word to
anyone, not even saying hello to Tristan, Joey, or Yugi as they
stood and stared at her as she passed. Tea walked to her next
class with mounting excitement because he would be there.
However, a constant buzzing filled the air around her and she
found that people were staring at her as if in shock. Worriedly,
she ducked into the closest girls' room and looked at herself in
the mirror. She nearly screamed.
Tea hit her head against the wall, feeling utterly
ridiculous. First, she had come to school late, and that in
itself was bad enough because of Tea's reputation of either being
at school or dead to miss it. Then, added on top of that, she did
NOT look herself today. In her rush to get ready that morning,
Tea had grabbed her shortest skirt, a pair of heels rather than
her pumps, and had pulled on one of the tight-fitting white
button-up shirts that had been given to her as a gag gift from
her friends since she was so conservative and the shirt was so
racy, instead of a uniform regulation white blouse. She looked
good, but she looked like she was trying to flaunt everything
she had. Hesitantly, she tried to say what she looked like but
couldn't force the word off of her tongue. Sexy. That's what she
was today, and she was deathly afraid. She hardly even wore
sleeveless shirts and here she was wearing the tightest thing
she owned, which she admitted fearfully, also had its buttons
stop almost indecently low. Giving the chance to anyone who
desired to look down her shirt. And her skirt! Could it get any
shorter?
*Egads,* she thought almost tearfully. *Another stupid gag
gift that I was doomed to wear. This might not be so bad if I
wasn't wearing the heels too. They had to be black and so cute
with that strap that wraps around my ankle, didn't they?* she
asked herself as she stopped hitting her head. Giving a pitiful
cry, she stood up, straightened her appearance, and left the
girls' room to get to class. There were only stragglers left in
the halls and Tea realized that she had mere seconds to get to
class before she was tardy. She took off down the hall, moving as
fast as she could in her heels, which was actually almost
miraculously, a run. Reaching the door, she flung it open and
stepped inside just as the bell rang and moved to her seat, her
chest heaving from the run.
The teacher looked up a little stunned but marked her
present on the attendance sheet and moved on. Many of the
students had turned in her direction as she had entered so
noisily and as she feared many of them were boys. Older boys.
After a few moments, after he had finished scribbling something
down, even Kaiba had turned around after a sharp poke in the ribs
by the kid sitting next to him. Her eyes locked with his as he
turned to look at her and he froze.
Blood drummed loudly in Kaiba's ears as he cast his eyes
over the heaving beauty in front of him. She was wearing a daring
outfit that even made him feel the effects as he reached up to
pull at his collar, suddenly finding it too tight and the room
much too hot. His eyes swept over her and traveled over her legs
and up to barely see into the shirt that fit way too well and
finally into her bright blue eyes that seemed not to move from
his own. He watched as she flushed and gulped before hesitantly
sitting down in front of her computer and desperately pulling
down on her skirt.
*She's so nervous,* Kaiba reflected silently. *I wonder
why... * He stopped, then looked at her again, noticing how
different she was today from all of the other days. He almost
laughed. *Adorable. Completely adorable. The little modest girl
grabbed the wrong clothes. Good Lord those clothes! They make her
look so... sexy doesn't even cut it. Sultry, I think that works.
She... * Kaiba stopped his train of thoughts suddenly and berated
himself for caring. He didn't know her and she didn't know him
and he was going to keep it that way, no matter how edible she
looked. Kaiba gave her one last once-over before resolutely
turning to his computer screen and beginning his mad typing to
force the burning image of her from his mind.
He didn't know that as he looked away, Tea was just barely
turning from her computer to look at him.
*I can't believe that Seto Kaiba actually saw me dressed
like this. He probably thinks I'm some kind of slut or girl that
wants all of the wrong kind of attention. I'll never have him, I
knew that, but now it's definite,* Tea sighed, forcing back a
depressed little sob as she moved her attention back to the
screen and typing in the commands for the program she was
creating.
It was quite ingenious actually, her computer program. What
it did, or what Tea hoped it would do, was act as an open
communication circuit and minimized ISP connection space on a
phone line. Not just email and pictures, but live video feedback
that got transferred in the exact same manner as instant messages
and emails. And it was also supposed to function on less than a
quarter of a phone line, so that people who only owned one phone
line could be on the internet and use their phones at the same
time without having to have two separate phone lines. That was
her goal. But putting in the correct commands and configuring the
system was turning out to be a little more than she had expected.
As she sighed, she looked over at Nako who was grinning happily.
"What's with you?" Tea asked the college student. Nako
shrugged and turned to her, eyes alight with some emotion.
"I just finished my program for this class, I have a date
with this hot guy tonight, and you are actually wearing something
that shows some skin. You go girl!" Nako exclaimed quietly.
"I've got to tell you the truth, I never thought you'd have the
guts to ever wear anything like that."
"Well then you'd be right, because I don't have the guts,"
Tea confided. "I just grabbed these things this morning in my
rush to get to school. I didn't even realize what I was wearing
till just about five minutes ago. You don't understand how
embarrassing this is for me," she finished. "Especially with
Kaiba right there," she muttered quietly to herself, not knowing
that Nako had heard.
"No way! You have a thing for hot-shot Kaiba? Wow," Nako
whispered excitedly. "So do you dream about him? I mean, *really*
dream about him?" Nako asked, her eyebrows raising to exaggerate
her point. Tea's eyes flew wide open and she struggled to find
the words to fit into her mouth.
"No! I mean, nothing more than kissing, I guess," Tea said
quietly, leaning over the left arm of her chair to keep her words
only within Nako's hearing range. "But I think about his body
sometimes. He's so gorgeous!" Tea felt herself flush to the roots
of her hair with the proclamation and bit her lip nervously. Nako
pointed a finger at her.
"You've actually got a chance getting him if you act like
that. Guys totally go for coy, shy girls. Girl, you'll have him
eating out of your hand. Now all that you have to wait for him to
make the first move. Guys like him are used to having girls
throwing themselves at them and so you have to make -him- want to
go for -you-. Kapeesh?" Nako whispered conspiratorially. Tea's
bright eyes saddened and she turned back to her computer screen.
"That'll never happen Nako. Not even in my dreams." Her
response was so forlorn that Nako didn't even know what to say.
She left her alone for the rest of the period, watching both
Kaiba and Tea out of the corner of her eye carefully. With a smug
grin, she noticed that even as Tea paid devoted attention to her
project, Kaiba would occasionally act like he was scratching his
head and turn to glance at Tea. Then when he turned away, Nako
watched happily as Tea would still cast an almost loving glance
in his direction before focusing once again on the task at hand.
*There's no doubt,* Nako thought, totally giddy in her frame
of mind. *Those two can't help but know they're perfect for each
other, they're just not aware of it yet. I'll give it a month
before they're inseparable and I'll bet my project on it.*
Walking out to her truck utterly embarrassed, Tea put a hand
to her red face and sighed helplessly. The day had gone horribly.
After her computer class, she had dropped her things in the
hallway, in her rush to stand up had then bashed into Kaiba and
forced a bump to raise on her forehead, she felt sick from the
leers she had gotten at lunch, and her friends hadn't spoken to
her all day to help ease the discomfort she felt in her clothes.
Tea shook her head as she reached her truck and noticed that she
had parked next to Kaiba, who, as she saw, was coming straight
towards his car.
Embarrassment etched itself onto her face again as she
reached for her keys to unlock the door. A rough pair of hands
grabbed hers from behind and shook them, letting the keys drop to
the ground. Indignantly, Tea turned to face the annoying
presence and found three guys standing there, obviously having a
fun time looking her up and down. She scowled and bent to pick
up her keys and heard three high-pitched whistles which stopped
abruptly as she placed her keys and backpack on the hood and
turned to face them angrily, arms crossing.
"What do you want?" she growled, her blue eyes narrowing
dangerously.
"Only what you're offering baby," the guy in the middle
drawled lazily, sauntering up to her and running a hand down her
arm. She jerked away and saw out of the corner of her vision that
Kaiba had stopped and then proceeded on faster towards her
direction.
"Get a life you jerk. Nothing's for sale," Tea snapped
pushing the guy away from her as he advanced again. He laughed
and his buddies joined in, their nasty looks not helping to make
the situation any more comfortable.
"Is there a problem here?" came a voice from off to the
side. Tea turned her head briefly to see Seto Kaiba standing with
his arms crossed, glaring angrily at the three morons.
"Stay out of this Kaiba, it don't concern you," the leader
sneered.
"Oh I'm afraid it does. Though I don't know this girl all
that well, nobody should have to put up with your idiotic
presence and stupidity. You'd better get away from her, asshole,"
Kaiba warned, moving closer.
"You don't scare me Kaiba. The odds are three to one and
after we trash you, nobody's going to be around to protect the
bimbo," the leader challenged, suddenly moving forward and
yanking Tea's arm sharply, bringing her up to him. She let out a
muffled protest as he moved his mouth down over his, her fists
beginning to pound into his stomach. He grunted and pressed
harder against her. Faintly, Tea could hear the sounds of a fight
off to her side but all that she could think about was getting
the monster off of her lips.
Not hesitating, she brought her knee up into his groin and
watched as he stumbled back, letting out a howl of pain before he
charged at her. Tea, thoroughly angry now, was not about to let
him touch her again and made a quick spin, side-stepping him and
ending up behind him. As he turned, she kicked up and into his
chest, thrusting him back against the door of her truck before
lashing out again and smashing his head against the window with
her shoe pressed against his neck.
"Buddy, you picked a fight with the wrong girl. I was
taught at an early age how to make the boys back off. Have a good
nights sleep," she snarled as she released his neck and stepped
forward, pinching her two fingers in a spot on his shoulder. He
lost consciousness immediately and slumped to the ground. She
glared at him and then wiped her mouth, spitting out the
contents of his spit that had been forced inside her mouth. "Most
definitely not a good first."
"That didn't count you know," Kaiba's voice said from
behind her. She turned around, surprised, and saw the other two
guys also on the ground, bruises already forming under their eyes
and blood coming from a split lip on one of them. "It only counts
if you gave the kiss." He stepped towards her over the bodies and
held out his hand to her. "I don't think that we've been
formally introduced. Yesterday in the hall wasn't the greatest
first official meeting. I'm Seto Kaiba," he said, his dark eyes
fixing themselves on her.
"Tea Gardener," Tea replied, thrusting her hand into
Kaiba's. His hand closed around hers and she felt the warmth and
softness that his grip had before he let go. "Thanks for stepping
in to help me. I really appreciate that. And I'm sorry for
bashing into you today. It was kind of hectic," she apologized.
"Yeah, I know. The clothes," he indicated with his eyes,
savoring every piece of her but guarding his eyes carefully to
hide the appreciation from her. "You really shouldn't have been
so nervous in those clothes. Even though you never wear them,
letting people know that you're uncomfortable in them will make
them ridicule you more."
"Thanks. Um, how did you know about the whole clothes
thing? Who told you I don't usually dress like this?" Tea
questioned, surprisingly anticipating his answer, wondering if
he had been watching her. Kaiba shrugged as he picked up her bag
and moved to unlock her door for her, stretching to place her bag
in the passenger seat and then turning to hand the keys to her.
"Your expression when you came into class today so
breathless," he told her, remembering how incredible she had
looked after her sprint. "You looked around the class, noticed
that all of the guys were looking at you, you looked like you had
just found out what you were wearing, and you turned a little
red," Kaiba said, trying to give her a little dignity by not
saying how read she had actually turned. Tea rolled her eyes.
"I did not turn a little red, I became an official
strawberry. But thank you for trying to be a gentleman about it,
there aren't many guys like you in this city," Tea said as she
moved to her door and stepped into her truck. Kaiba stepped back
and moved around the front of his car to get into his own car.
Leaning over the top of his car, he gave a small chuckle.
"You're welcome. Those were some pretty awesome moves you
put on that jerk. Where'd you learn?" he asked, placing his head
down into his arms on his car.
"That move was completely a mixed breed. When I was little,
I took ballet and a little while later started to take a whole
bunch of self-defense classes. My parents thought it would be
beneficial since we traveled so much and after awhile, I started
incorporating them into each other. I got kicked out of ballet
for adding in the kicks and punches and breathing exercises which
I still feel made it look better and I got about three different
black belts for putting them together in my self-defense classes.
It made my moves so much more fluid." Tea stopped and smiled a
little then looked over at Kaiba. He gave sarcastic smirk and
nodded.
"Well, I'm guessing it looked a lot nicer than what I was
doing to those two goons, so I suppose it works in multiple ways.
See you later," Kaiba said, giving her a little salute before
stepping into his car and turning it on, driving off seconds
later. Tea watched him drive off with love-sick eyes and closed
them momentarily, almost fearing that it had all been a dream.
But when she opened her eyes again, the three guys were still
laying unconscious on the ground. Giving a little squeak of
happiness, Tea closed her door and pulled on her seatbelt, making
sure that when she backed up she missed all limbs and bodies
laying on the asphalt.
When Tea got home, she was greeted by her parents who were
just unloading their luggage. Her father dropped his suitcase and
caught her in his arms with a big hug as she jumped towards him
happily. Tea's eyes looked past her father's shoulder to her
mother who looked at her disapprovingly before moving to the
front door with her luggage, not even saying hello. Tears
threatened to fall from her eyes but she forced them away as her
father pulled back and grinned at her.
"Hello Princess," he said with cheery green eyes. "How are
you?"
"I'm great Dad. And the girls are pretty good too. They
didn't argue with me once. Now I can't say the same about them
arguing with each other..." Tea joked, "but they did
substantially well. Did you enjoy being in Europe?"
"Yes and no," Kevin said to his daughter, slinging an arm
over her shoulder and reaching down to grab his suitcase again.
"It was the usual 'We want your business Mr. Hurikama' this and
'Do you plan on attending the Billion Dollar Ball in New York'
that. I'm telling you, I'd like to throw a bomb in the press room
and see how many of them I can rid myself of. But the sights were
breath-taking and we got to meet the Queen of England. She
seemed a little snobby though, as if she'd done nothing but
looked down her nose at people all her life. I don't know, maybe
it was just me. We didn't mesh very well and argued on numerous
subjects. I think that she was glad to see me go, but she seemed
fond of Tamoya."
"Yeah, Mom would get along with the Queen pretty well," Tea
muttered. "Did you announce anything special? You've always got
something-or-other to say at those huge conferences," Tea chirped
as she closed the door to her truck and the trunk of her parents'
car. Her father's eyes seemed to take on a more serious glow
before he opened the door that led from the carport into the
washroom and pushing the small button that closed the garage door
and secured their vehicles. Tea followed him in and said nothing
more, puzzled by his silence.
"We'll talk about that a little later, Honey. I've got
something important to tell you... How about we do it over dinner
tomorrow, huh?" Kevin asked, placing his suitcase by the washer
and dryer and leaving it there so that the laundry within could
be taken care of. They opened up the second door that led from
that room into the kitchen as Tea turned to him, only slightly
worried now from her father's tone of voice.
"That sounds fine Dad. What do you want for dinner?" Tea
asked as she moved for the fridge.
"Your mother and I ate on the plane, we won't be having
anything. I think we'll just go straight to bed. That jet-lag is
already starting to catch up on me," Tea's father sighed as he
stifled a yawn.
"Alright then," Tea said. "The girls and I will just have
the rest of the pizza that was left over from last night. You go
ahead and go to bed, the girls and I will be quiet," Tea
promised, gently pushing her father out of the kitchen and
towards the stairs. He yawned again and gave her another hug
before moving up the stairs and down the hallway to the left to
his room. After hearing the click of his door, Tea sighed and
went to the living room, sinking into the large leather recliner
and folding her feet underneath her. She grabbed a pillow that
was flopped in the corner of the chair and brought it into her
arms, placing her chin on top of it, feeling totally melancholy.
Not about her clothes or what had happened at school, she was far
past that.
It was her mother's attitude towards her that had depressed
her. She hadn't even gotten to say hello before receiving the
nasty glare and the cold shoulder. What had she done to deserve
it this time? It couldn't be her clothes because it was her
mother most of the time who bought her clothes exactly like those
that she was wearing, saying that she would look more grown-up if
she dressed like that. It was mind boggling to say the least and
Tea found that she couldn't think on it anymore for fear of
crying. She looked up suddenly as she heard her little sisters'
shrieks from upstairs and the amused laughter of her parents.
Tea could just imagine the two little girls jumping onto
their parents' bed and crawling quickly to hug them. The smiles
on both her mom and dad's faces would easily be worth more than a
million bucks to Tea, but she had only ever gotten smiles from
her father.
Shaking her head, Tea got up and walked to the bottom of the
stairs, placing a hand on the banister and one up to her mouth
like a megaphone. "Mom, Dad! I'm going out for a little while!
I'll see you later, okay?" Tea waited patiently for a response
before hearing her dad call out that that would be fine. Rushing
out the kitchen door with her keys, Tea got into her truck
hurriedly and pulled out of the garage, making sure to shut it
with the remote as she pulled away from the house.
Not even knowing where she was headed, Tea just drove. The
colorful lights of shopping centers and small stores with
blinking red signs that said 'closed' reflected against the
windows of her truck as she directed her truck down the streets,
the cab of her truck silent as she refused to turn the radio on.
Silence was more appropriate at the moment. Music would only
drown out her thoughts and keep her from spending some time alone
with her really deep feelings. The feelings that she wouldn't
dare voice to anyone... ever.
When the lights of the city faded behind her, Tea found
herself traveling in the same direction that she remembered
driving Mokuba home to the other day. She smiled silently at the
thought of the little boy, his frightened eyes changing into
bright blue pools of happiness as he shouted out at everything
he saw while sitting in the passenger seat. Since Tea hadn't
really been paying attention to anything but Mokuba that day, as
she drove past the driveway that led down to his home, she
abruptly stopped the truck, rolling down the window and gawking.
Mokuba was loaded!
The long, private driveway wound down a road that was lined
on both sides by tall green trees that threw dark shadows over
the road, their roots buried in the lush grass that grew all over
the property as far as she could see. When it ended, it looped
into a circle that enclosed a large marble fountain that spouted
crystal-clear water from the statue's raised, cupped hands. It
was beautiful. From what Tea could see, it looked like a gentle
depiction of the Greek goddess of Wisdom, Athena. In fact, Tea
was sure of it because near the statue's feet, a helmet, spear,
and shield lay haphazardly in a pile, forgotten by the goddess in
her moment of reflection. How similar Tea felt to that statue at
that very moment.
Behind the goddess, a large house rose to a staggering
height, perhaps three stories tall, elegant balconies with
carved, cushioned benches and small stone coffee tables appearing
wherever there was a door on the upper levels. On the bottom
floor, there were larger windows that stood to let great amounts
of light in for the living room and dens. Tea knew what each part
of the mansion was for. She had one herself, not far from here
that was nearly the same. Her father had gotten rather
extravagant one year for her birthday and had built her a
mansion. It was built for multiple purposes, both as a gift and
an object with which to ask forgiveness. Stupid amazement hadn't
been able to convey her feelings that day when her father had
taken her there and though he had been so eager, Tea had refused.
She had explained to him that the only thing she wanted was
his love and attention when he could give it. There had been a
little disappointment in his eyes when he realized that she
didn't care for the gift as much as he thought she would have,
but was glad that her mind was focusing on things that mattered
instead of material possessions. Nonetheless, the mansion was
still in her name and legally belonged to her. All she had to do,
if she ever wanted, was simply transfer her things to that
monster of a house and call the electricity and water companies
to get service started.
As Tea shook her head of the memory and focused on the
mansion in front of her, she watched as the bright yellow of a
light was flicked on in one of the upper rooms and a person took
a seat near the window. *Probably Mokuba's dad,* Tea thought
automatically. There were no other lights on in the house except
that one, which didn't seem all too bright, probably just a table
lamp, and Tea wondered why before noticing the figure stand up.
Though she couldn't see, she could almost feel eyes staring at
her through the darkness and distance and a warm shiver spiraled
through her body. Embarrassment crept into her face when she
realized what she might be asked if someone found her outside
just staring at someone's house and started up her truck, driving
down the road as fast as the speed limit would allow.
***
End of Part 2! I got this part out a little quicker than I thought I would, but don't think that Part 3 is going to be out as quick. First of all, I have to finish writing it and then I have to edit it, maybe even send it to my beta-reader if she's not too busy, then actually submit it and school has been getting steadily busier. I have to drop another of my numerous clubs because I'm so busy. Oh well, them's the breaks. Please keep those lovely critiques coming, they make me smile and blush.
Question of the week: Which character do you think the show should focus on a little bit more? There are obviously some that are neglected, and though I love Yugi to pieces (as well as his Yami's voice... Mmmmmmmmm), I believe the show focuses a bit too much on him. Let's just forget the fact that the show is named after him, okay..........
Atlantis *^_^*
godscartungrrl@netscape.net
Here is Part 2 for all of you lovely people who critiqued me so nicely. It's also for those of you who didn't! *grins* Thanks to all of you who took the time to answer my 'question of the week'. I got some answers that really did make sense. I would also like to say to a critiquer, who shall remain nameless, that no, the ties of royalty don't really matter all that much, they may later, but as of now, I am simply attempting to show the audience that Tea has class and gets her looks from her grandma.
Alright, you all know that I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! so let's stop pretending. It may take a bit longer for me to realize it, but I think I'll be okay. No worries.
Rating: PG-13
*****************************************************************
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
1 Corinthians 13:4&5
*****************************************************************
PART 2
Seto Kaiba awoke abruptly, his hands clenching at the sheets
beneath him while his knees rose and his other hand dug into his
hair ruthlessly. His dreams tormented him so much, making him so
afraid, that he couldn't even utter the smallest scream. Death.
That was what he always dreamt about. Death and abuse... and
abandonment. Those were the only things that moved through his
mind, besides the overwhelming instinct to protect Mokuba.
"Aaarhg," he growled, throwing his sheets off and stomping
into his bathroom, staring at his pale and frightened reflection
in the mirror before shucking his clothes and jumping into the
shower. It was the same pale face he saw every morning after his
nightmares. He wanted so badly to tell someone, to take some of
the burden off of himself, but there was no one. Kaiba didn't
dare let anyone close enough to him to be allowed into his
confidences and he would never let Mokuba know; knowing that the
small boy already worried about him enough. At times he even felt
inhuman.
Yes, inhuman was accurate. He despised feeling any emotion
whatsoever, chose not to associate with people unless absolutely
necessary, and looked at the world as if it was something
imperfect and lacking instead of a wide place to live in or
discover treasures in. He had never had the blessing of having
loving parents nor having the chance to love them. Kaiba had
been robbed of their love and presences at a young age. The crash
had been horrible and he had witnessed it with his own eyes.
It had happened just a few feet beyond his own driveway.
Kaiba had been watching his baby brother when his parents had
honked the car horn as they always did. He had run to the door
and opened it to greet them happily when, right before his young
eyes, another car seemed to appear out of nowhere, barreling down
the road at somewhere around seventy-five miles per hour. His
parents hadn't even gotten a chance to scream when the other
vehicle slammed into their own, obliterating the small passenger
car and throwing its parts all across the street and off the side
of the road.
Thankfully, Mokuba had been too young to remember his
parent's death and unfortunately, he hadn't nearly begun to
experience their unconditional love. Living with Kaiba all of his
life, Mokuba didn't know what he was missing. But Kaiba knew
better because he had loved and lost... and from fear of
suffering anything like that again, he refused to make any
friends or make any attempt to have any relationship whatsoever.
The only things that Kaiba lived for were Mokuba and his job as
soul owner and executive CEO of Kaiba Corp. Even though his job
was demanding and he was almost never home because of that and
school combined, he always made sure that Mokuba came first.
He couldn't explain it. It was a strange sensation that came
over him whenever he thought of Mokuba being alone or not being
taken care of. Kaiba never failed to spend time with the little
boy, talking about his school day, playing a card game with him
(Duel Monsters or otherwise), and every night told Mokuba of his
memories of their parents. It didn't matter that the memories had
been repeated numerous times and Mokuba knew them all by heart.
It mattered that Kaiba wanted to reassure the boy of their truth
and reality, that they had been real, and they had been stolen
away.
Turning the knobs to shut off the shower, Seto Kaiba grabbed
for a towel and wrapped it around himself, wiping a hand across
the already foggy mirror. He sighed and reached for his comb,
styling his hair as he always did and then brushing his teeth,
knowing that he wouldn't be eating breakfast that morning. Soon
after, he got dressed and grabbed his bookbag, closing the door
to his room after he left. He found Mokuba in the kitchen eating
his breakfast, some type of marshmallow cereal, at the counter
quietly. Kaiba ruffled the boy's hair fondly and smirked as the
boy slurped down the last of his milk and remaining cereal before
grabbing his backpack and running to the door.
"Mokuba! Aren't you forgetting something?" Kaiba called out,
holding up a rumpled brown and bulging paper bag. Mokuba yelped
and rushed for the bag, grabbing it from his older brother's
outstretched hand and then dashing out the door again towards the
limo that was waiting in front of the house to take him to
school. Kaiba shook his head and moved towards the door as well,
though somewhat slower, and made sure to set the alarm and lock
the door behind him before getting into his own mode of
transportation to go to school. He sighed out loud as he eased
himself into the leather seat of his black Porsche and turned the
key in the ignition, listening to the steady and rhythmic hum of
the engine. Strapping his seatbelt on hurriedly, he pulled out
of the long driveway and towards the direction of the school,
unaware that someone across town was thinking of him and missing
school.
Tea shrieked as she threw her bag into the passenger seat,
banging against the window with a loud crash before she took her
place in the driver's seat and shoved the key into the ignition
as she shut her door forcefully and pulled out of the driveway
hastily, pulling her seatbelt across her body as she drove.
"Man oh man, I'm gonna catch it for being so late!" she
whined to herself. She had gotten a little too caught up in
daydreaming about Kaiba while eating breakfast to realize that
the time had flown by, her cereal had gotten soggy, and she had
missed her first class. Tea had never had this problem before and
she silently freaked-out to herself as she drove along the nearly
empty streets to the school.
As she neared it, she wondered why the administrators had
combined the high school with the college- merging some of the
classes together. That was the only reason that she had a class
with Seto Kaiba. He was in college and taking a college course,
and she was in the advanced placement program, trying to earn
college credit so that she wouldn't have to worry about it once
out of high school. It was a hard class and first she had to pass
it and then take a college exam to see if she qualified for the
credit. Tea found it hard, but she loved the challenge and gave
it all she had. From what the teacher had hinted at, and her
heart sped at this, she was at the top of the class... right
alongside Seto Kaiba.
The parking lot came into her view and she whipped into it
smoothly, pulling into the closest spot and parking her truck
hurriedly. She grabbed her bag, locked the doors and ran to the
doors to the front office, afraid of the reprimands that she was
going to get from the administrators, whom she knew well.
As she pushed against the doors, they opened easily and Tea
burst in, ready to blurt out apologies when she was greeted with
smiles.
"Tea! I'm surprised you came today. I thought perhaps that
you were sick," one of the secretaries said in a friendly manner.
"I was just about to call home. Are you alright?"
"I'm okay. I just lost track of time for some reason this
morning and... I'm so sorry for missing my first hour, I promise
I'll never do it again!" Tea promised, readying her body for the
reprimand any moment. Instead she heard a light chuckling and
opened her eyes timidly to find the other secretaries and
administrators gathered around, sending kind looks her way.
"It happens. Don't worry too much about it Tea. You've had
perfect attendance since first grade," replied an older woman who
had known her since birth. "I'm sure that none of us would mind
if it happened again and again, as long as you were staying out
of trouble and keeping up with your schoolwork. This won't even
go on your record as a truancy," the older woman winked and
turned to the others who nodded in reply. Numbly, Tea muttered a
thank you and dumbfoundedly moved down the corridor towards her
locker and then class.
Her second hour was already in progress when she opened up
the door and walked in, all eyes automatically shifting to her
interrupting presence. Averting her eyes from those of the
shocked teacher, Tea made her way to the far end of the room in
the back, near the windows and quietly took her seat, removing
her pencil and notepad from her bag to take notes. The class
remained silent, everyone staring at her as if she had grown
another head. It took the clearing of her throat to semi-snap the
teacher out of her stupor before she clucked at the class
reproachfully and turned towards the blackboard, her chalk
clicking sharply against it as she wrote down the lesson.
Tea still felt many stares boring into her, but she
maintained her effort to remain with her face forward. When she
felt like she was no longer being studied like a specimen under
glass, she gently placed her pencil down and looked out the
window to her left, just barely a foot away from where she sat
and large in size, like the other five or six that lined the
wall. Her teacher's voice floated away like a haze and she
drifted into the part of her mind that only focused on Kaiba.
Something was different about him and she couldn't figure out
what. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about him, but
there was just a little thought that just kept nagging at her
but she didn't know what it was. It was like an itch that she
couldn't scratch.
When she decided that thinking about his unidentified
characteristic was too complicating, she automatically switched
to how gorgeous he was. That was easy to do and she was startled
when she faintly heard the bell that ended her class. Dazedly,
she gathered her things together and left without a word to
anyone, not even saying hello to Tristan, Joey, or Yugi as they
stood and stared at her as she passed. Tea walked to her next
class with mounting excitement because he would be there.
However, a constant buzzing filled the air around her and she
found that people were staring at her as if in shock. Worriedly,
she ducked into the closest girls' room and looked at herself in
the mirror. She nearly screamed.
Tea hit her head against the wall, feeling utterly
ridiculous. First, she had come to school late, and that in
itself was bad enough because of Tea's reputation of either being
at school or dead to miss it. Then, added on top of that, she did
NOT look herself today. In her rush to get ready that morning,
Tea had grabbed her shortest skirt, a pair of heels rather than
her pumps, and had pulled on one of the tight-fitting white
button-up shirts that had been given to her as a gag gift from
her friends since she was so conservative and the shirt was so
racy, instead of a uniform regulation white blouse. She looked
good, but she looked like she was trying to flaunt everything
she had. Hesitantly, she tried to say what she looked like but
couldn't force the word off of her tongue. Sexy. That's what she
was today, and she was deathly afraid. She hardly even wore
sleeveless shirts and here she was wearing the tightest thing
she owned, which she admitted fearfully, also had its buttons
stop almost indecently low. Giving the chance to anyone who
desired to look down her shirt. And her skirt! Could it get any
shorter?
*Egads,* she thought almost tearfully. *Another stupid gag
gift that I was doomed to wear. This might not be so bad if I
wasn't wearing the heels too. They had to be black and so cute
with that strap that wraps around my ankle, didn't they?* she
asked herself as she stopped hitting her head. Giving a pitiful
cry, she stood up, straightened her appearance, and left the
girls' room to get to class. There were only stragglers left in
the halls and Tea realized that she had mere seconds to get to
class before she was tardy. She took off down the hall, moving as
fast as she could in her heels, which was actually almost
miraculously, a run. Reaching the door, she flung it open and
stepped inside just as the bell rang and moved to her seat, her
chest heaving from the run.
The teacher looked up a little stunned but marked her
present on the attendance sheet and moved on. Many of the
students had turned in her direction as she had entered so
noisily and as she feared many of them were boys. Older boys.
After a few moments, after he had finished scribbling something
down, even Kaiba had turned around after a sharp poke in the ribs
by the kid sitting next to him. Her eyes locked with his as he
turned to look at her and he froze.
Blood drummed loudly in Kaiba's ears as he cast his eyes
over the heaving beauty in front of him. She was wearing a daring
outfit that even made him feel the effects as he reached up to
pull at his collar, suddenly finding it too tight and the room
much too hot. His eyes swept over her and traveled over her legs
and up to barely see into the shirt that fit way too well and
finally into her bright blue eyes that seemed not to move from
his own. He watched as she flushed and gulped before hesitantly
sitting down in front of her computer and desperately pulling
down on her skirt.
*She's so nervous,* Kaiba reflected silently. *I wonder
why... * He stopped, then looked at her again, noticing how
different she was today from all of the other days. He almost
laughed. *Adorable. Completely adorable. The little modest girl
grabbed the wrong clothes. Good Lord those clothes! They make her
look so... sexy doesn't even cut it. Sultry, I think that works.
She... * Kaiba stopped his train of thoughts suddenly and berated
himself for caring. He didn't know her and she didn't know him
and he was going to keep it that way, no matter how edible she
looked. Kaiba gave her one last once-over before resolutely
turning to his computer screen and beginning his mad typing to
force the burning image of her from his mind.
He didn't know that as he looked away, Tea was just barely
turning from her computer to look at him.
*I can't believe that Seto Kaiba actually saw me dressed
like this. He probably thinks I'm some kind of slut or girl that
wants all of the wrong kind of attention. I'll never have him, I
knew that, but now it's definite,* Tea sighed, forcing back a
depressed little sob as she moved her attention back to the
screen and typing in the commands for the program she was
creating.
It was quite ingenious actually, her computer program. What
it did, or what Tea hoped it would do, was act as an open
communication circuit and minimized ISP connection space on a
phone line. Not just email and pictures, but live video feedback
that got transferred in the exact same manner as instant messages
and emails. And it was also supposed to function on less than a
quarter of a phone line, so that people who only owned one phone
line could be on the internet and use their phones at the same
time without having to have two separate phone lines. That was
her goal. But putting in the correct commands and configuring the
system was turning out to be a little more than she had expected.
As she sighed, she looked over at Nako who was grinning happily.
"What's with you?" Tea asked the college student. Nako
shrugged and turned to her, eyes alight with some emotion.
"I just finished my program for this class, I have a date
with this hot guy tonight, and you are actually wearing something
that shows some skin. You go girl!" Nako exclaimed quietly.
"I've got to tell you the truth, I never thought you'd have the
guts to ever wear anything like that."
"Well then you'd be right, because I don't have the guts,"
Tea confided. "I just grabbed these things this morning in my
rush to get to school. I didn't even realize what I was wearing
till just about five minutes ago. You don't understand how
embarrassing this is for me," she finished. "Especially with
Kaiba right there," she muttered quietly to herself, not knowing
that Nako had heard.
"No way! You have a thing for hot-shot Kaiba? Wow," Nako
whispered excitedly. "So do you dream about him? I mean, *really*
dream about him?" Nako asked, her eyebrows raising to exaggerate
her point. Tea's eyes flew wide open and she struggled to find
the words to fit into her mouth.
"No! I mean, nothing more than kissing, I guess," Tea said
quietly, leaning over the left arm of her chair to keep her words
only within Nako's hearing range. "But I think about his body
sometimes. He's so gorgeous!" Tea felt herself flush to the roots
of her hair with the proclamation and bit her lip nervously. Nako
pointed a finger at her.
"You've actually got a chance getting him if you act like
that. Guys totally go for coy, shy girls. Girl, you'll have him
eating out of your hand. Now all that you have to wait for him to
make the first move. Guys like him are used to having girls
throwing themselves at them and so you have to make -him- want to
go for -you-. Kapeesh?" Nako whispered conspiratorially. Tea's
bright eyes saddened and she turned back to her computer screen.
"That'll never happen Nako. Not even in my dreams." Her
response was so forlorn that Nako didn't even know what to say.
She left her alone for the rest of the period, watching both
Kaiba and Tea out of the corner of her eye carefully. With a smug
grin, she noticed that even as Tea paid devoted attention to her
project, Kaiba would occasionally act like he was scratching his
head and turn to glance at Tea. Then when he turned away, Nako
watched happily as Tea would still cast an almost loving glance
in his direction before focusing once again on the task at hand.
*There's no doubt,* Nako thought, totally giddy in her frame
of mind. *Those two can't help but know they're perfect for each
other, they're just not aware of it yet. I'll give it a month
before they're inseparable and I'll bet my project on it.*
Walking out to her truck utterly embarrassed, Tea put a hand
to her red face and sighed helplessly. The day had gone horribly.
After her computer class, she had dropped her things in the
hallway, in her rush to stand up had then bashed into Kaiba and
forced a bump to raise on her forehead, she felt sick from the
leers she had gotten at lunch, and her friends hadn't spoken to
her all day to help ease the discomfort she felt in her clothes.
Tea shook her head as she reached her truck and noticed that she
had parked next to Kaiba, who, as she saw, was coming straight
towards his car.
Embarrassment etched itself onto her face again as she
reached for her keys to unlock the door. A rough pair of hands
grabbed hers from behind and shook them, letting the keys drop to
the ground. Indignantly, Tea turned to face the annoying
presence and found three guys standing there, obviously having a
fun time looking her up and down. She scowled and bent to pick
up her keys and heard three high-pitched whistles which stopped
abruptly as she placed her keys and backpack on the hood and
turned to face them angrily, arms crossing.
"What do you want?" she growled, her blue eyes narrowing
dangerously.
"Only what you're offering baby," the guy in the middle
drawled lazily, sauntering up to her and running a hand down her
arm. She jerked away and saw out of the corner of her vision that
Kaiba had stopped and then proceeded on faster towards her
direction.
"Get a life you jerk. Nothing's for sale," Tea snapped
pushing the guy away from her as he advanced again. He laughed
and his buddies joined in, their nasty looks not helping to make
the situation any more comfortable.
"Is there a problem here?" came a voice from off to the
side. Tea turned her head briefly to see Seto Kaiba standing with
his arms crossed, glaring angrily at the three morons.
"Stay out of this Kaiba, it don't concern you," the leader
sneered.
"Oh I'm afraid it does. Though I don't know this girl all
that well, nobody should have to put up with your idiotic
presence and stupidity. You'd better get away from her, asshole,"
Kaiba warned, moving closer.
"You don't scare me Kaiba. The odds are three to one and
after we trash you, nobody's going to be around to protect the
bimbo," the leader challenged, suddenly moving forward and
yanking Tea's arm sharply, bringing her up to him. She let out a
muffled protest as he moved his mouth down over his, her fists
beginning to pound into his stomach. He grunted and pressed
harder against her. Faintly, Tea could hear the sounds of a fight
off to her side but all that she could think about was getting
the monster off of her lips.
Not hesitating, she brought her knee up into his groin and
watched as he stumbled back, letting out a howl of pain before he
charged at her. Tea, thoroughly angry now, was not about to let
him touch her again and made a quick spin, side-stepping him and
ending up behind him. As he turned, she kicked up and into his
chest, thrusting him back against the door of her truck before
lashing out again and smashing his head against the window with
her shoe pressed against his neck.
"Buddy, you picked a fight with the wrong girl. I was
taught at an early age how to make the boys back off. Have a good
nights sleep," she snarled as she released his neck and stepped
forward, pinching her two fingers in a spot on his shoulder. He
lost consciousness immediately and slumped to the ground. She
glared at him and then wiped her mouth, spitting out the
contents of his spit that had been forced inside her mouth. "Most
definitely not a good first."
"That didn't count you know," Kaiba's voice said from
behind her. She turned around, surprised, and saw the other two
guys also on the ground, bruises already forming under their eyes
and blood coming from a split lip on one of them. "It only counts
if you gave the kiss." He stepped towards her over the bodies and
held out his hand to her. "I don't think that we've been
formally introduced. Yesterday in the hall wasn't the greatest
first official meeting. I'm Seto Kaiba," he said, his dark eyes
fixing themselves on her.
"Tea Gardener," Tea replied, thrusting her hand into
Kaiba's. His hand closed around hers and she felt the warmth and
softness that his grip had before he let go. "Thanks for stepping
in to help me. I really appreciate that. And I'm sorry for
bashing into you today. It was kind of hectic," she apologized.
"Yeah, I know. The clothes," he indicated with his eyes,
savoring every piece of her but guarding his eyes carefully to
hide the appreciation from her. "You really shouldn't have been
so nervous in those clothes. Even though you never wear them,
letting people know that you're uncomfortable in them will make
them ridicule you more."
"Thanks. Um, how did you know about the whole clothes
thing? Who told you I don't usually dress like this?" Tea
questioned, surprisingly anticipating his answer, wondering if
he had been watching her. Kaiba shrugged as he picked up her bag
and moved to unlock her door for her, stretching to place her bag
in the passenger seat and then turning to hand the keys to her.
"Your expression when you came into class today so
breathless," he told her, remembering how incredible she had
looked after her sprint. "You looked around the class, noticed
that all of the guys were looking at you, you looked like you had
just found out what you were wearing, and you turned a little
red," Kaiba said, trying to give her a little dignity by not
saying how read she had actually turned. Tea rolled her eyes.
"I did not turn a little red, I became an official
strawberry. But thank you for trying to be a gentleman about it,
there aren't many guys like you in this city," Tea said as she
moved to her door and stepped into her truck. Kaiba stepped back
and moved around the front of his car to get into his own car.
Leaning over the top of his car, he gave a small chuckle.
"You're welcome. Those were some pretty awesome moves you
put on that jerk. Where'd you learn?" he asked, placing his head
down into his arms on his car.
"That move was completely a mixed breed. When I was little,
I took ballet and a little while later started to take a whole
bunch of self-defense classes. My parents thought it would be
beneficial since we traveled so much and after awhile, I started
incorporating them into each other. I got kicked out of ballet
for adding in the kicks and punches and breathing exercises which
I still feel made it look better and I got about three different
black belts for putting them together in my self-defense classes.
It made my moves so much more fluid." Tea stopped and smiled a
little then looked over at Kaiba. He gave sarcastic smirk and
nodded.
"Well, I'm guessing it looked a lot nicer than what I was
doing to those two goons, so I suppose it works in multiple ways.
See you later," Kaiba said, giving her a little salute before
stepping into his car and turning it on, driving off seconds
later. Tea watched him drive off with love-sick eyes and closed
them momentarily, almost fearing that it had all been a dream.
But when she opened her eyes again, the three guys were still
laying unconscious on the ground. Giving a little squeak of
happiness, Tea closed her door and pulled on her seatbelt, making
sure that when she backed up she missed all limbs and bodies
laying on the asphalt.
When Tea got home, she was greeted by her parents who were
just unloading their luggage. Her father dropped his suitcase and
caught her in his arms with a big hug as she jumped towards him
happily. Tea's eyes looked past her father's shoulder to her
mother who looked at her disapprovingly before moving to the
front door with her luggage, not even saying hello. Tears
threatened to fall from her eyes but she forced them away as her
father pulled back and grinned at her.
"Hello Princess," he said with cheery green eyes. "How are
you?"
"I'm great Dad. And the girls are pretty good too. They
didn't argue with me once. Now I can't say the same about them
arguing with each other..." Tea joked, "but they did
substantially well. Did you enjoy being in Europe?"
"Yes and no," Kevin said to his daughter, slinging an arm
over her shoulder and reaching down to grab his suitcase again.
"It was the usual 'We want your business Mr. Hurikama' this and
'Do you plan on attending the Billion Dollar Ball in New York'
that. I'm telling you, I'd like to throw a bomb in the press room
and see how many of them I can rid myself of. But the sights were
breath-taking and we got to meet the Queen of England. She
seemed a little snobby though, as if she'd done nothing but
looked down her nose at people all her life. I don't know, maybe
it was just me. We didn't mesh very well and argued on numerous
subjects. I think that she was glad to see me go, but she seemed
fond of Tamoya."
"Yeah, Mom would get along with the Queen pretty well," Tea
muttered. "Did you announce anything special? You've always got
something-or-other to say at those huge conferences," Tea chirped
as she closed the door to her truck and the trunk of her parents'
car. Her father's eyes seemed to take on a more serious glow
before he opened the door that led from the carport into the
washroom and pushing the small button that closed the garage door
and secured their vehicles. Tea followed him in and said nothing
more, puzzled by his silence.
"We'll talk about that a little later, Honey. I've got
something important to tell you... How about we do it over dinner
tomorrow, huh?" Kevin asked, placing his suitcase by the washer
and dryer and leaving it there so that the laundry within could
be taken care of. They opened up the second door that led from
that room into the kitchen as Tea turned to him, only slightly
worried now from her father's tone of voice.
"That sounds fine Dad. What do you want for dinner?" Tea
asked as she moved for the fridge.
"Your mother and I ate on the plane, we won't be having
anything. I think we'll just go straight to bed. That jet-lag is
already starting to catch up on me," Tea's father sighed as he
stifled a yawn.
"Alright then," Tea said. "The girls and I will just have
the rest of the pizza that was left over from last night. You go
ahead and go to bed, the girls and I will be quiet," Tea
promised, gently pushing her father out of the kitchen and
towards the stairs. He yawned again and gave her another hug
before moving up the stairs and down the hallway to the left to
his room. After hearing the click of his door, Tea sighed and
went to the living room, sinking into the large leather recliner
and folding her feet underneath her. She grabbed a pillow that
was flopped in the corner of the chair and brought it into her
arms, placing her chin on top of it, feeling totally melancholy.
Not about her clothes or what had happened at school, she was far
past that.
It was her mother's attitude towards her that had depressed
her. She hadn't even gotten to say hello before receiving the
nasty glare and the cold shoulder. What had she done to deserve
it this time? It couldn't be her clothes because it was her
mother most of the time who bought her clothes exactly like those
that she was wearing, saying that she would look more grown-up if
she dressed like that. It was mind boggling to say the least and
Tea found that she couldn't think on it anymore for fear of
crying. She looked up suddenly as she heard her little sisters'
shrieks from upstairs and the amused laughter of her parents.
Tea could just imagine the two little girls jumping onto
their parents' bed and crawling quickly to hug them. The smiles
on both her mom and dad's faces would easily be worth more than a
million bucks to Tea, but she had only ever gotten smiles from
her father.
Shaking her head, Tea got up and walked to the bottom of the
stairs, placing a hand on the banister and one up to her mouth
like a megaphone. "Mom, Dad! I'm going out for a little while!
I'll see you later, okay?" Tea waited patiently for a response
before hearing her dad call out that that would be fine. Rushing
out the kitchen door with her keys, Tea got into her truck
hurriedly and pulled out of the garage, making sure to shut it
with the remote as she pulled away from the house.
Not even knowing where she was headed, Tea just drove. The
colorful lights of shopping centers and small stores with
blinking red signs that said 'closed' reflected against the
windows of her truck as she directed her truck down the streets,
the cab of her truck silent as she refused to turn the radio on.
Silence was more appropriate at the moment. Music would only
drown out her thoughts and keep her from spending some time alone
with her really deep feelings. The feelings that she wouldn't
dare voice to anyone... ever.
When the lights of the city faded behind her, Tea found
herself traveling in the same direction that she remembered
driving Mokuba home to the other day. She smiled silently at the
thought of the little boy, his frightened eyes changing into
bright blue pools of happiness as he shouted out at everything
he saw while sitting in the passenger seat. Since Tea hadn't
really been paying attention to anything but Mokuba that day, as
she drove past the driveway that led down to his home, she
abruptly stopped the truck, rolling down the window and gawking.
Mokuba was loaded!
The long, private driveway wound down a road that was lined
on both sides by tall green trees that threw dark shadows over
the road, their roots buried in the lush grass that grew all over
the property as far as she could see. When it ended, it looped
into a circle that enclosed a large marble fountain that spouted
crystal-clear water from the statue's raised, cupped hands. It
was beautiful. From what Tea could see, it looked like a gentle
depiction of the Greek goddess of Wisdom, Athena. In fact, Tea
was sure of it because near the statue's feet, a helmet, spear,
and shield lay haphazardly in a pile, forgotten by the goddess in
her moment of reflection. How similar Tea felt to that statue at
that very moment.
Behind the goddess, a large house rose to a staggering
height, perhaps three stories tall, elegant balconies with
carved, cushioned benches and small stone coffee tables appearing
wherever there was a door on the upper levels. On the bottom
floor, there were larger windows that stood to let great amounts
of light in for the living room and dens. Tea knew what each part
of the mansion was for. She had one herself, not far from here
that was nearly the same. Her father had gotten rather
extravagant one year for her birthday and had built her a
mansion. It was built for multiple purposes, both as a gift and
an object with which to ask forgiveness. Stupid amazement hadn't
been able to convey her feelings that day when her father had
taken her there and though he had been so eager, Tea had refused.
She had explained to him that the only thing she wanted was
his love and attention when he could give it. There had been a
little disappointment in his eyes when he realized that she
didn't care for the gift as much as he thought she would have,
but was glad that her mind was focusing on things that mattered
instead of material possessions. Nonetheless, the mansion was
still in her name and legally belonged to her. All she had to do,
if she ever wanted, was simply transfer her things to that
monster of a house and call the electricity and water companies
to get service started.
As Tea shook her head of the memory and focused on the
mansion in front of her, she watched as the bright yellow of a
light was flicked on in one of the upper rooms and a person took
a seat near the window. *Probably Mokuba's dad,* Tea thought
automatically. There were no other lights on in the house except
that one, which didn't seem all too bright, probably just a table
lamp, and Tea wondered why before noticing the figure stand up.
Though she couldn't see, she could almost feel eyes staring at
her through the darkness and distance and a warm shiver spiraled
through her body. Embarrassment crept into her face when she
realized what she might be asked if someone found her outside
just staring at someone's house and started up her truck, driving
down the road as fast as the speed limit would allow.
***
End of Part 2! I got this part out a little quicker than I thought I would, but don't think that Part 3 is going to be out as quick. First of all, I have to finish writing it and then I have to edit it, maybe even send it to my beta-reader if she's not too busy, then actually submit it and school has been getting steadily busier. I have to drop another of my numerous clubs because I'm so busy. Oh well, them's the breaks. Please keep those lovely critiques coming, they make me smile and blush.
Question of the week: Which character do you think the show should focus on a little bit more? There are obviously some that are neglected, and though I love Yugi to pieces (as well as his Yami's voice... Mmmmmmmmm), I believe the show focuses a bit too much on him. Let's just forget the fact that the show is named after him, okay..........
Atlantis *^_^*
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