Chapter 4 – I Hate Snow!

Disclaimer: Do I really have to put one up? Okay, fine. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I just like borrowing them for a while from time to time.

Kaiba finally remembers why he hates snow but will something happen to change his mind? Are things going to heat up between them and make all that bad, nasty snow melt? Hehehehe... You'll have to read and find out!

Good thing I changed the rating on this.

Peneia Teke: Thanks for the grammatical tip. That's one of the words that just confuses me when I try to use it in the past form. It just looks wrong. And thanks for the definition of shipping, too.

Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this story so far and to all of you new people who've read and reviewed it. I'll try to keep it as interesting and riveting as possible. And if you haven't guessed, I like cliff-hangers.

Here we go, let the games begin!!!

"Sure, both of us can freeze outside," she replied dryly as she pulled her coat on and grabbed a pair of mittens from the hall closet. This was going to be interesting, she thought, watching Kaiba pull on his gravity-defying coat before joining her at the front door. Never in a million years would she have expected to see Kaiba shovel snow.

"Then let's go. The sooner we get this done, the sooner I can collect payment for all of my hard work," he growled, unable to decide exactly what he wanted to collect from her. She just rolled her eyes at him and opened the front door. Snow was still falling and the air was cold and crisp as they stepped outside and shut the door behind them. No sense letting out all the heat while they were out there.

"Hard work? What hard work? You cut up some vegetables, Kaiba. Give me a break. That's not what I call hard work," she replied, exasperation and humour warring for control of her tone, her breath puffing out in a steaming cloud. Such a wimp. She'd done most of the hard work before he'd even shown up. Her schedule had been set up specifically to leave all of the little details until last. She had to admit, though, if he hadn't shown up when he did, she'd still be chopping vegetables. Only a molehill of work was left to finish, most of it being setting up the table, plates and silverware, compared to the mountain she'd had at 11 am.

"Really? Then what would you call it?" he asked, raising his eyebrow in that infuriatingly attractive way. The cold hid the beginnings of a blush as she looked him in the eyes for a second before replying.

"Helping out. Thanks, by the way." She led the way down the three front steps, the snow crunching under her feet, and turned to head towards the shed at the back of the house. Dad had built it only last year and stored all of his tools in it. The shovels and brooms were kept in there. That was the extent of his 'tools'. Kaiba's shoes crunched along behind her, following in her footsteps to avoid the ankle deep white stuff.

"I made a deal to help you. Same with this shovelling snow. I'm a businessman, remember?" His feet were already getting cold. The shoes he was wearing, Italian leather to be exact, were not meant to walk through this nasty, white stuff. His fingers were also going numb since he hadn't brought a pair of gloves with him. Manual labour with Gardner hadn't been on his agenda when he'd left the house earlier. Funny how he'd made sure that Mokuba had a hat, scarf, boots and mittens on before he left.

"You don't let us forget," she mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear, and knew that he was smirking at her back. Something about him...she still couldn't put her finger on it. Turning at the corner of the house, she crunched along a few feet further and stopped in front of the shed. The door screeched horribly when she opened it. At least Kaiba didn't comment on that. Reaching inside, she pulled out a wide shovel and handed it back to him before getting another one for herself. "Now, I'm assuming you know how to use one of those things?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him. His eyes narrowed at the smirk on her face.

"I'm not a moron," he replied, smirking back at her. He'd show her how to shovel snow. It was true, he'd never done it before but it couldn't be that hard, could it?

"Then lead on, oh great businessman," she quipped. This was going to be interesting. Seto Kaiba, CEO of KaibaCorp., most academically able student at Domino High, creator of the Duel Disk System, stood in front of her holding a shovel with no gloves on in ankle deep snow. The sight was too much for her and she giggled to herself.

He watched her shoulders shake in silent mirth, clouds of steaming breath escaping from behind the mitten covering her mouth, and grimaced. He was in trouble now. "Hmmph," was all he could manage to say before setting the business end of the shovel into the pile of white stuff in front of him and pushing it forward for a foot before lifting and dumping it off to the side. It wasn't that hard at all, he thought until he heard her outright laughter behind him. "What?!"

"You're about as graceful as an elephant on rollerblades. You may be smooth when you duel but you don't know the first thing about shovelling. Watch a real pro do it, Kaiba," she managed to say between giggles. "You're doing it the hard way." The only way to learn was to demonstrate, she thought as she put her shovel into the snow beside him and pushed forward. The only difference was that she didn't stop. She just kept right on going until she was ten feet in front of him before she dumped the accumulation off to the side. "If you do it your way, it'll take you forever. My way and there's enough room to walk through without getting soaked to the skin and it's done in a lot less time."

He had to admit, if grudgingly, that she was right. Trailing his shovel behind him, his footsteps kicking up much less snow on this trip, he joined her and began the task of shovelling again from where she'd stopped. She walked around him as he pushed the snow with the thrice-damned shovel and started to clear another patch further up. Grimace. He'd just remembered why he hated this white stuff. It was cold and wet. Two of the worst feelings in the world. Except maybe hunger. As testament to his realization, his shoes were soaked through, his socks were wet and his toes were probably blue from the cold. He didn't even want to look at his hands. Sighing resignedly, he pushed some more snow out of the way and caught her looking back at him. Her cheeks were red from the cold but he thought he detected a hint of...nah, probably just his imagination. Shoulders shaking again, she bent back to her work and his eyes narrowed dangerously. She was in for it now and she didn't even know it.

Setting his shovel down very quietly, his cold hands got even colder as he picked up a handful of snow and formed it into a ball. The weather was perfect for packing it together. Taking aim, he lobbed the snowball into the air and watched in supreme amusement as it landed square in the middle of her back.

"What the...?" she thought to herself as she turned around to look at Kaiba. He was grinning in triumph. Her mouth tightened to a thin line. Oh, this meant war and if there was one thing she was good at, it was payback. But not yet. It had to be a sneak attack right when he was least expecting it. She shook her head, snow falling from her hair, and the necklace he'd given her swayed against her chest, reminding her of the touch of his hands on her cheeks. Her revenge was going to be sweet, she thought and bent back to her labour.

Amazement swept across his features. She hadn't even reacted to the snowball. Hadn't said anything to him about it either. But he'd seen her eyes flare with challenge. He'd touched something there. Chuckling to himself, he began shovelling once more, ignoring the cold in his fingers and toes.

They worked quickly and silently for a few more minutes, clearing the fallen snow from the walkways and sidewalk in front of the house. The cold air had reddened both sets of cheeks as Seto leaned on the shovel to catch his breath. Her hair was full of snow again and it glittered like a halo whenever the sun peaked out from behind the clouds for a second or two. He lost himself in a daydream about her, waiting for her to finish the last foot of the sidewalk.

Téa snuck a peak back at him; saw him just standing there with a glazed look in his eyes. Perfect. She bent over and quickly scooped up some snow into her hands. Forming a ball, she turned and threw it at his chest, knowing her aim was dead on. Target practice had always been one of her strong points in gym class.

"What the...?" Seto thought, trying to figure out why everything looked so strange. It was almost as if... no, wait, he was. The only way he could see the sky so well would be if he were on his back. Which he was, he realized a second later, feeling the cold seep through his coat. A smarting pain in his chest reminded him of what had happened. She'd thrown a snowball at him. Hard. Hard enough to knock him over. A muffled giggle came from somewhere over to his left and a sudden plan formed in his mind. This was going to be good. Very good.

"Are you okay?" Téa asked breathlessly, falling to her knees on the snow-covered ground beside him. Kaiba hadn't moved for a minute or two, ever since she'd nailed him in the chest with a snowball. Maybe he'd hit his head on the way down. "C'mon, Kaiba, say something."

Lightning quick, he snatched his opportunity for revenge, and maybe something else. Seto reached up, grasped her arms in his hands and rolled her over onto her back. Wonder how she's going to like lying in cold snow, he thought to himself, looking down at her as he straddled her across the middle. Her hair was fanned out on the snow, looking for all the world like silk on ice, her eyes were wide with surprise and her mouth, her beautiful mouth, was releasing clouds of steam as she panted under him.

"You conniving, little..." Téa gasped before being overcome by a fit of the giggles. The situation, as she saw it, was absolutely hilarious. A dishevelled looking Seto Kaiba sat atop her stomach, his knees keeping his weight off of her, his eyes filled with mischief and a devilish grin gracing his lips. That gleam in his eyes was almost irresistible when she stopped laughing a minute later and realized the position they were in.

Amazingly enough, the same thought occurred to him at the exact same moment. The devilish grin he was sporting turned very quickly into a devilish smirk as he looked down at her. He braced his hands on either side of her head and bent closer to her, his hair framing his face in a mass of messiness, ignoring the cold contact with the snow. Her eyes were so blue at that moment that he had a hard time concentrating on what he wanted to say to her. "I think I want to collect my payment for all of my hard work," Seto whispered to her provocatively. Her lips curved up at the corners and the blue of her eyes intensified.

"Really? And what do you want?" she replied simply. There was only one direction this could take considering the position they were in and the way he was looking at her. Kaiba was so close to her that she could feel his breath on her cheek.

"This," was all he said before capturing her lips with his. Time was put on hold and nothing else existed but the two of them. His mouth caressed hers gently, tenderly exploring every millimetre of her silken lips. Téa kissed him back eagerly as one of her hands snaked around his neck, pulling him closer to her, increasing the pressure of his velvet lips on hers. A groan escaped him at the oh-so intimate contact of flesh and she seized her chance. The tip of her tongue flicked across his lower lip before slipping into his mouth to taste and tease. His own tongue danced with hers, touching, rubbing and separating, for a moment before she allowed him to taste her mouth. The kiss continued for a long, leisurely moment before the need for a deep breath forced them apart and their lips parted company grudgingly.

"Wow," she whispered, smiling up at him. His eyes, darkened to a deep sapphire with wonder and want, regarded her wickedly. His lips curved into a grin and he laughed softly.

"I think that's the best compliment I've ever gotten. I'll consider that a tip for a job well done." He'd wanted to kiss her all week and had imagined it a hundred, no, a thousand times before. Nothing had readied him for the real thing though. Mind-blowing was the only phrase that came to mind.

A simple, wicked plan formed in her mind. Payback was always fun and revenge was a dish best served cold, as they said. "Are you sure I paid you enough? I mean I don't want you going on strike or anything like that..." she started to say, both of her hands back at her sides, palms flat to the ground. He bent closer to her, his eyes starting to close, when he felt something cold and wet smear across his face. Quick as a wink, he was on his back again as she heaved him off of her. Wet flakes of snow clung to his eyelashes and slid down his cheeks as he lay there in disbelief. A giggle to his left let him know she was still nearby.

"Gotcha!" Mirth and mischief flashed across her features as she contemplated his prone form on the ground next to her. Sitting up slowly, he couldn't help but smile, one of those rare smiles of true happiness. Her smile widened and she winked at him. Getting up quickly and moving towards the front steps, she commented, "I have to check on the apple crumble in the oven. Are you getting up or are you planning on having a nap there?"

Glancing down at where they'd just lain in the snow, he was surprised to see a few blades of still green grass poking through. Either they'd moved the snow during the kiss or else they'd melted it. Hmm, he thought to himself as he got to his feet, maybe snow wasn't so bad after all. As long as he wasn't the one on the receiving end of a snow wash. He followed her back up the three short stairs to her front door and contemplated his next move.

Payback was always fun.

To be continued...

Sorry it's a little short but I hope you enjoyed this fourth instalment of my story. Chapter five will take a bit of work since I think it's about time for the rest of the gang and Mokuba to show up for the party. Yes, they're coming early. Hmmm, what's going to happen when they see Kaiba there?

Aphrael21 ;)