A/N: I have returned. After a verrrry long break. I apologise to all those readers out there. But as I'm sure some of you know, it's hard to write something when your muse is trying to get you to write something else. I won't give any excuses. So I'll go to review replies instead.
Review Replies:
thefutureMrs.Kaiba: Thanks for your support and your review.
Miryoku: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for reviewing.
Dustbunny3: Elise should be telling Tèa about her involvement next chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for your review.
Little Atemu (reviews for chapters one and three): Poor Yami indeed. I'm missing out on a lot, it seems; we still haven't finished the Battle City season yet. Thanks for telling me what happens. This whole "Win A Date" idea is really popular, isn't it! I like Yami/Tèa pairings as well. Thanks for your review!
toboewolf7: Thanks for your support! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thanks for reviewing.
Marin M: Thanks for telling me what happened. Thanks for the review.
CWolf2: Thanks for your support. I'll make sure that they won't suddenly fall in love; I don't like fics like that. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and thanks for your review.
Obscured Illusions: I'm not a big fan of Seto/Serenity. Somehow it doesn't seem possible. But anyway, thanks for your support, and thanks for reviewing!
Azurite: I haven't seen the movie, so I have to make sure I do someday. But yes, they'll have to learn to like one another eventually. I'll try to fix the choppiness, although I'm not quite sure how. Thanks for reviewing.
Whimsical Lady: Power to the Pacific – that sounds so cool! Thanks for your supporting words; they were very nice to hear/read. I certainly took them to heart. Thanks for your review.
LuvinAnime: Sorry, I'm not very good at quick updates, as I'm sure you can see. But I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. And yes, they'll fall in love slowly (I hope I can make it slow). Thanks for reviewing.
KeikoGurl: LOL, I'm glad you liked the date! Thanks for your review!
Ana: I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for the review!
Mokuba's Official Glomper: Tèa's going to kill her pal in the next chapter (not literally, of course, we can't have the main character becoming a murderer!). Anyway, I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you enjoy this one. Thanks for reviewing!
legansimay: Thanks for your review, but did you mean 'please review' or 'please update'?
Lucifer's Lair: Thanks for your words of encouragement and your review. I hope you like this chapter! (Cool pen-name, by the way)
blah: Congratulations, blah! You are my first official flamer! Thanks for making me aware of how my story was! I hope to be given your amazing point of view on many more occasions!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! And I won't pretend to either.
And now, without further ado, please read on!
Win A Date With Seto Kaiba!
Chapter Four: The Confrontations
"Hey, look! It's Kaiba's girlfriend!"
"How come you guys didn't kiss?"
"How was life in the limelight Tèa? What's like being back in the real world?"
Tèa quickly walked through the crowds, dodging the remarks being thrown at her. It was her first day back since going on that date with Mr. Seto Kaiba himself, and so far everything had turned out just the way she had expected. Stage one: taunts from jealous fan girls.
But Tèa didn't care about those annoying jealous girls. For one thing she was late for her first class of the day, courtesy of her stupid alarm clock that ran out of battery power. Another thing was that she desperately wanted to clear the whole mess up with Yugi. She hadn't been able to talk with him since he called her and left that message on her answering machine.
Finding her locker, she searched frantically for the key (1) before realising something. She had left it behind; yet another thing to add to her list of how bad this day was going. She slammed her palm against the metal and sighed in anger. She'd have to hope that they weren't starting any major work.
Remembering how late she was, Tèa left the locker behind and hurried to the classroom. She rushed through the hallways, noticing that people already in their classrooms were staring at her. She ignored them and inwardly sighed with relief as she realised that her classroom was just around the corner. Turning said corner, she abruptly slammed into something, which knocked her backwards onto the floor.
I hope it wasn't the door! Tèa thought, and opened one eye slightly to see what she had walked into. She saw blue pants, and instantly began her angry rant. "Watch where you're walking! You could've hurt me!"
"You were the one who was practically running, Gardner. Why don't you watch where you're going?"
Tèa froze when she heard that voice. Slowly she looked up and saw the one, the only, Seto Kaiba. She had to crane her neck just so she could see his face. This must be how all his competitors feel when they challenge him. Like worthless ants in front of a giant. Tèa narrowed her eyes at her own thought and got to her feet.
"Move it, Kaiba. I don't have time to deal with you." Tèa said angrily, which made Seto smile.
"What, afraid you'll be late?" He looked over his shoulder, then at his watch. "I didn't intend on spending any more time with you anyway, Gardner. I have better places to be."
Tèa ground her teeth together as Seto moved around her and started to walk away. She watched him for a moment before shouting out at him. "I have a first name you know!"
He didn't even bother to turn around when he replied. "So do I."
Tèa ground her teeth together again to stop herself from letting out a string of swear words. She stormed through the door but stopped when she saw that the whole class had heard her little "chat" with Seto. She instantly went red, and looked over to where the teacher's desk was. There was no one sitting behind it.
Slightly confused, she walked over to where Yugi was sitting. He gave her a fleeting glance, slightly uncomfortable. "Hey, Yugi? Where's the teacher?" Tèa asked.
"I think he's sick. We have a substitute, but she's not here yet." Yugi said quietly, while Tèa fell over anime style. She had rushed and got all worried for nothing! This was definitely turning out to be the worst day of her life.
She sighed and headed over to her desk, where she slumped in her chair and rested her head on one of her hands. She looked over at Yugi and saw him quickly looking away. I've got to talk to him and clear everything up. She opened her mouth to say his name and get his attention, but at that moment their substitute teacher decided to arrive. She was a ditzy thing that didn't seem to care about what they did; she simply sat at the desk, filing and inspecting her nails.
"Yugi, can we talk?" she asked, getting no response. She moved slightly to see what he was doing, then called him again. He looked up from the Millennium Puzzle, which had been holding his attention.
"Did you say something, Tèa?"
"Yeah. I said we have to talk. We need to straighten some things out before we end up ruining our friendship." Tèa said, never taking her eyes off Yugi. He seemed really uncomfortable. He nodded his head, but looked back at his Puzzle.
Tèa was silent for the rest of the lesson. While everybody else was talking or watching the duel between Joey and Tristan, Tèa was staring off into space. Yugi sometimes looked over her way, but she was too absorbed in her thoughts to notice. She almost didn't hear the bell when it rung.
Yugi tapped her on the shoulder, and she almost jumped out of her skin. Tèa apologised and got out of her chair, Yugi waiting for her at the classroom door. Then the two began to walk, in silence, neither looking at each other.
"We're acting like a pair of nervous teens on a date! Come on! We've gotta talk!" Tèa finally broke the silence, which made Yugi look up at her.
"Well, what do you wanna talk about?" he asked. They both turned a corner and headed out into the open areas, away from the school buildings, where students were duelling, talking and playing sports. As they passed a group of gossiping girls a few turned and saw Yugi and Tèa walking together.
"So Tèa, you have a taste for pro duellists! You've gone from Kaiba to Yugi – who's next? Joey Wheeler?" one of the girls shouted out. The rest of the group laughed while Tèa narrowed her eyes, but she managed to keep her temper under control.
As they found a place void of people, Tèa turned to look at Yugi. "We have to talk about the whole Kaiba incident."
Seto sat at a table, his laptop once again open. He was inside, knowing that if he had gone out then he wouldn't have been able to get any work done. As he casually typed away, finding his Corporation's stocks, he saw a few girls outside staring at him. He sighed to himself and shot them an angry glare, and some of the girls ducked out of sight, trying to hide but failing miserably.
He got up and approached the windows and some of the girls' faces' light up with excitement, but he only pulled down the blinds. He heard their cries of disappointment and couldn't help smiling to himself. Seto then returned to his laptop and looked at how his company was going.
That new "duellist aid" we're producing is costing us a lot, he thought, finding the statistics of their new product. If it doesn't pay off, a lot of jobs will be lost. I hope that the partners know that if we lose money from this, they'll be ones to go first.
After checking a few more things, Seto put the laptop away and headed for the cafeteria. He had to eat, of course, but he wasn't going to eat there. Too many prying eyes – no, wait, too many annoying girls with crushes who would try to throw themselves at him. He had already been close to being sick after that date with Tèa, and he knew that if any of those girls tried anything, he really would be sick.
After getting "lunch" from the cafeteria, Seto headed for one of the remote places of the school grounds. It was away from all the classrooms and the people, somewhere he could sit and think. But of course, while he was walking there he got quite a few stares from the girls.
His retreat was up on a hill under a tree, so he got to stay cool and watch what was going on around him. When he wasn't busy thinking up new strategies to destroy Yugi and the mutt with, naturally. Speaking of Yugi, the "greatest duellist" was talking with the cheerleader. He wondered what they were talking about, but eventually decided it wasn't worth his thoughts.
He leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. He was slowly relaxing when there was a sudden ringing, and Seto dug around in his bag for a few moments before finding his mobile.
"Seto Kaiba speaking."
"Hey Seto, its Mokuba." came the voice from the other end of the line.
"Mokuba? Shouldn't you be at school?" Seto asked, staring to feel concerned.
"Well, the driver called in sick and no one else was there to take me, and for some odd reason the school bus didn't come. And you've told me not to use public transport 'cause it's unsafe, so I stayed home!"
Seto ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He had told the bus driver (rather rudely) that he didn't need to come by the mansion any more because they'd have a driver take Mokuba to school. Why there wasn't a spare driver was a mystery to him. "Just…stay home today Mokuba. I'll figure out what to do when I get back."
"Seto?"
"Yes?"
"Two things: we need a new maid A.S.A.P., and try not to get too stressed. Bye!"
Seto stared at the phone for a moment before shaking his head to himself and putting it back in his bag.
Once again, he closed his eyes and hoped that he wouldn't be interrupted during his rest.
"So that's the whole, true story, Yugi. I didn't enter the competition, and I wasn't the one who hung up on you. I'd never do something like that to one of my best friends." Yugi grinned, and Tèa was glad to see him happy.
"Well I'm glad we got everything sorted out," Yugi said. "I missed you being around and keeping us all together."
Tèa smiled, and the two began walking. As they were heading towards the soccer oval, where they thought Joey and Tristan would be, they spotted Seto sitting under his tree.
"And there's Mister Sunshine now." She said under her breath, glaring up at the figure.
"I'm surprised he isn't using his laptop." Yugi said, and Tèa almost laughed.
"It looks like he's starting to become more human! Now all we need to do is get him out in the sun and talking normally with other people and we'll have a real person on our hands!"
The two continued walking to the soccer oval, not looking at Seto again. Eventually they found Joey and Tristan, who instantly noticed that their friends had made up.
"Great! Now I have someone else I can beat, 'part from Tristan o' course!" Joey had yelled, and it earned him a headlock from Tristan.
"I could beat you with my eyes closed, Joey!"
Tèa smiled and laughed along with Yugi, happy that they had sorted everything out. Joey and Tristan continued wrestling before they finally stopped and decided to settle their debate with yet another duel. While they were duelling, Tèa looked behind her and watched Seto for a moment. For some odd reason, she found his peaceful state rather mesmerizing, and she was only drawn out of her reverie by Joey's shouts of triumph; he had beaten Tristan faster than ever before.
I must've been staring at Kaiba for a few minutes then, she thought. Joey always beats Tristan in just over five minutes, and if he went quicker than before…
But Tèa brought herself out of her thoughts and concentrated on her friends. She wasn't going to let another incident involving Kaiba destroy her friendship like it almost did before.
"Hey Tèa, we're going to the arcade after school. Do you wanna come?" Yugi asked, and suddenly Joey leapt to his feet.
"Yeah! Come with us Tèa! You can whoop all our butts on tha dance machine!"
She laughed. "If I can't beat you at duelling then at least I can beat you at dancing, huh? Yeah, I guess I'll come. But I'll meet you guys there; there's some stuff I have do to at home first."
For the rest of their lunch they sat there, watching the soccer game or laughing at Joey's crazy stunts. Once or twice Tèa looked over to see if Seto had moved, but she didn't allow herself to get concerned when he hadn't changed positions. Eventually the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, and they all headed unhappily towards their classrooms.
Tèa looked over at Seto and saw that he hadn't moved at all. Suddenly feeling worried, she told the group that she'd meet them at class before she headed for the hill. As she approached she heard the sounds of him sleeping, and by the looks of it, he needed as much rest as he could get. There were dark marks under his eyes and he looked very pale.
Well there's a reason for that, Tèa thought, trying to figure out a way to gently wake him. He's a vampire! He rarely ever goes out in the sun! It can't be good for him! The only times I've seen him out in the day is when he's running around one of those stupid duelling tournaments. No wonder Mokuba gets worried about him.
She silently knelt before him and gently poked him on the shoulder. He didn't open his eyes, but merely swatted her hand away. Tèa couldn't help grinning when she thought of how childish it seemed. Perfect ammunition for blackmail, but knowing Seto Kaiba, if she tried anything she'd be facing a lawsuit or something of the like.
She poked him again, a little harder this time, and she heard him mutter something under his breath. The next moment he had opened his eyes a fraction, and was suddenly on his feet.
"What do you think you're doing, Gardner?!"
She looked up at him in shock before her anger rose. Getting to her feet, she allowed her angry rant to start. "For your information Mr Kaiba, I was waking you up so you wouldn't be late for class! I really don't know why I bother sometimes! I should stop wasting my good intentions on you!" She stormed away, leaving Seto standing there staring after her.
He checked to see if anything was missing from his bag, and finding that nothing was gone, he left his special spot and headed towards the classrooms. When he got there everyone was already inside, but the teacher hadn't arrived. Quite a few pairs of eyes went from him, looking a little bit annoyed, to Tèa, who looked completely irritated. Some of the girls put two and two together and giggled, but stopped instantly when they saw the death glare Tèa was sending them.
Tèa spent the rest of the lesson feeling very angry at Kaiba. She ignored him and didn't look at him because she knew she'd be too tempted to hurt him. She rejoiced when the end of the school day came, leaving the classroom with the gang who were just as eager to be away from Kaiba.
Tristan, Joey and Yugi all headed off to the arcade while Tèa went home. As soon as she got inside she dropped her bag and kicked it with all her strength. Kaiba pissed her off so much it wasn't funny! And those stupid giggling girls in her class…
With a sigh she headed upstairs and got changed, before heading back down to the kitchen. On the table were three envelopes that hadn't been opened, but she already knew what was inside them. Bills, bills, bills… she sighed again as she grabbed her bag and left the house, heading for the arcade and her friends.
She really needed a job. Her friends didn't know how much of a financial mess she was in.
(1) I wasn't sure if the lockers were key-locked or combination locked, so I just made it key. Sorry if it's incorrect.
A/N: Ta da! Chapter four! Sorry if it wasn't what you were expecting, but it's hard to write when your muse isn't inspiring you. Chapter five will be up soon… I promise!
Until next time, please review, but no flames!