* * *

"FEE-D THE BIR-DS! TUPP-ENCE A BA-G! TUPP-ENCE! TUPP-ENCE! TUPP-ENCE A BAG!" Tea belted out the words heartily as she flung crumbs around.

Joggers and pedestrians stared at her while they passed by. She didn't seem to mind as she followed the chorus with ebullience, ducks and crumbs pooling over her feet.

Kaiba tried keeping a straight face. He had to give her credit for her well dancing; but she couldn't carry a note in a wheelbarrow. Her voice was wavered and high, a breaking point at some times as she carried on.

He never heard the lyrics to the song and understood when Tea explained that it was from a musical. Kaiba didn't liked those things and was appalled when she said it was quite popular. It sounded terrible. She promised that Julie Andrews (the actress who sang it) was much better than her and that he would have to hear it when she rented it sometime.

'If you last that long!' he thought nastily.

Tea tore off a chunk of twisty French bread, the doughy insides pouring with warmth. The fresh, hot, out-of-the-oven crust lightly burned her cold fingers. The nice, sunny day transformed cloudy gray. She tucked the other sticks of bread under her arm and began to crumble the pieces of pastry and sprinkle them into the calm lake, chewing a bite and wishing that she had brought some butter or margarine.

A few mallards quacked, flapping their wings, sending droplets of water everywhere as they dove towards the free meal. They wrestled and dipped their beaks to snag a scrap. One flipped a hunk into the air and swallowed it promptly.

She ripped off another clump and unhesitatingly shoved the rest into Kaiba's hand. He stared at it for a moment, then started to strip away the crunchy outer part and chucked them into the flock. A swarm of feathers flew into the air and the ducks fought again for the food.

"See that duck, Tea? It resembles you well, doesn't it?" Kaiba scoffed, pointing at one of the waterfowl doing almost everything to get a taste of the bread.

"Ha, ha. That one looks exactly like you." Tea acknowledged a glaring duck perched away from the bustling crowds.

She plucked a few fluffs and tossed them to the baby ducklings on the shore. One waddled to Kaiba and started to peck at his bootlaces until Tea made a bread trail back to the water.

Kaiba gazed at the soft, gray ripples in the water. His right arm tingled as a gusty wind struck his face. A storm was coming; he felt it. A honk woke him into reality. He dropped the bread into the water absentmindedly. It floated, bobbing in the breeze, before being torn into shreds by a few large drakes.

Tea noticed his eyes seemed to cloud over, becoming distant and vague. She touched his hand to see if he was alive and he jerked back as if she was a leper or something. Kaiba did that all day long- squirming from her touch.

"Hey, I'm not poisonous," she joked.

He didn't say anything.

"I can palm-read," she said mysteriously. "Want me to see your future?"

Kaiba wondered why she changed the subject completely. "Hogwash. No one can really tell the future."

She shrugged. "That's what you think . . . Okay- how about I read your fortune for fun?"

He stuck his out-stretched fist. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try even though there's no possible way you're a psychic."

Tea spread his fingers out even and lurched forward for a better look. Hunched over his hand, she ran her fingers into the deep crevices of the wrinkles leaping across his palm. While she traced her fingertip across his smooth palm, he sucked in his breath. It might've been unthinkable, but he was very ticklish. A soft feather across the neck would to wonders.

Kaiba waited impatiently as Tea murmured to herself phrases such as; "Hmm . . . Interesting-VERY interesting!'' and " I wonder!" for several minutes.

"Well?" he asked. "What does it say?"

She let go of him and grinned sheepishly. "You were right. I can't find anything about what'll happen next; but what I DID find out was that I could hold your hand for five minutes without you flinching!"

"Very clever," he said sarcastically, withdrawing his hand out of her reach. It felt prickly like it had fallen asleep from her warm touch.

* * *

"Well, I've had 23 jobs all my life," said Tea slowly, squinting as if trying to remember. "No . . . wait; 31. Yeah."

Kaiba was interviewing Tea for the job out on the bench. 'So far, so good,' he thought. "What are your good qualities that would make you best for this job?"

"Um . . . I can clean, I'm pretty obedient, I'm a lot of fun, and I'm not picky about the payment."

'Good . . .' He cleared his throat. "Bad qualities?"

"I'm kind of noisy and nosy, I'm silly, I like doing things my way, and I can't cook."

"You can't cook?" Kaiba masked his pleasure. Finally a flaw to permit her from getting the job!

Tea blushed. She didn't know he needed a cook. "Uh- what I meant was that I can't cook . . . asparagus."

"Asparagus?"

"Yep. They're too hard." Tea nodded with vigor and smiled genuinely.

"Fine then," he scowled. "What do you expect from this?"

"I expect money, I guess; experience, lo- um, lot's of responsibility!" she said quickly. Tea pretended that she didn't even think of the word 'love' and hoped that Kaiba didn't catch it.

"Okay," he said finally.

"Okay what . . .?" Tea asked, crossing her fingers, toes, legs, and tongue so it sounded like,' Ohay hut?'

With much distress, he replied," You have the job."

"YETH!" she shouted with her tongue still twisted.

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Hope you liked the chapter! :-D

Summoendksull007