Chapter X: Toys of Fate?
Tea got home from the mall, she had only one bag this time, which was not characteristic of her. She was just too bogged down with her thoughts of Kaiba, Yugi, destiny, and why she felt helpless to it.
She put down her bags, and folded the clothes she bought and put them away. She kept thinking back to how well she got along with Kaiba, just before they had ran into Yugi. Was it a bad thing, or a good thing? She likes Yugi as a friend, but she couldn't help but feel that he was getting in the way of something. Getting in the way of what though? Her and Kaiba?
She couldn't believe it, that destiny she saw with the Millenium Necklace was slowly coming true! Was she truly helpless to destiny? She couldn't let that happen, or could she? She felt so helpless to fate, but not helpless in a very depressing way. It was like she was helpless to her own feelings, her own wants. It was peaceful, yet aggravating. And out of all this, came the very important question.
Did she love Seto Kaiba?
She lied back on her bed, and after some more thinking, she figured that maybe she was only complicating things. She just couldn't deny it; she liked the different Kaiba she saw at the mall. Seto Kaiba is a man who has a strong bond with anyone he lets into his circle, or line, seeing as it was only Mokuba and himself in that select group. But during that short period of time when he was looking for that unidentified woman, she felt like she had joined that select group of people. A stupid thing to think, maybe, but she still felt some sort of kindness from him.
After all those friendship lectures she had practically forced him to listen to, maybe one of them finally made its way through. After all, Joey and Tristian weren't the friendliest people until they met Yugi. Maybe she was like that for Seto?
" Heh, dream on Tea," She starts thinking, " Seto Kaiba is in another league of unfriendliness, it'd take me forever to get him to change.
Yet, she still felt like going against that thought. She had gotten that feeling before, but ever had it felt more powerful. She never wanted to work with Kaiba so much as she did right now, and it started to confuse her again. Nothing was simple when it came to that man, and as much as she hated complications, she still couldn't bring herself to stop thinking about it. Eventually the stress of he belief in destiny and this complex feeling got the best of her, and she shouted, " Alright destiny, if I' supposed to be happy with Kaiba, prove it!"
And then in accordance to her wishes, her cell phone rang; she picked it up and received the second biggest surprise in her life. The voice on the other end of the phone was none other than Mr. Hotshot himself, Seto Kaiba.
" Hello Tea, I have a request of you." Came his cool arrogant voice.
" Yeesh, he doesn't even say hello. Just goes off into asking his favor without even properly addressing me." Tea thinks to herself before answering Kaiba, " Hello Kaiba, I'm fine, thanks for asking." She says sarcastically into the receiver.
" You're welcome." Kaiba replies without even flinching, " My company is holding a dinner party celebrating the new advancement in virtual reality that will be available soon in Kaiba Land. Of course as the head of Kaiba Corp. I am expected to bring someone with me to the dinner. I would normally bring Mokuba, but this dinner ends too late for him."
That was, of course, wasn't the truth, but it wasn't far from it. Kaiba was not expected of anything but to reveal the new Virtual Reality Pod, but it was common practice for the person holding the party to bring at least one guest. The part about the dinner ending too late for Mokuba to stay up for was also only half-true; the dinner was scheduled to end at eleven at night, which Seto could not ask his brother to do whether Mokuba himself wanted too or not. The actual reason for this lie was so Kaiba would have a good enough excuse to be close to her again. He wanted very much so to see just what his feelings for her were, and being the ever-methodical person he is, he had to set up an experiment.
Tea was taken aback by Kaiba's request, not only for its suddenness, but also that it was Kaiba asking her out for a pseudo-date, " Ah, I don't have a dress that'd be good enough for any big Kaiba Corp. party." Tea said, she really didn't know what to think, and was trying to get out of the predicament Kaiba had just put her in.
" Don't worry, I can take care of that."
" You would buy me a dress, just to go to a dinner!" Tea exclaimed, she really shouldn't have been surprised, but she never thought that Kaiba would endow gifts to her of all people.
" Will you attend the dinner?"
" Ah…" Tea started, she couldn't turn him down now, " Okay."
" I'll send a car to get you, I'll meet you at Kami-sama's."
Tea hung up the phone, and then stepped back several steps, " Kami-sama's! That's the ritziest clothes store in all of Japan!"
Author's Note: Sorry for the weeklong unannounced vacation I took from The Most Unlikely Love Tale of All Time. I would also like to thank all of the nice people who reviewed the story, and I would not like to thank Shadow Hearts: Covenant for making me play it too much. Also, I made up Kami-sama's, I don't really know what the ritziest clothes store in Japan really is, so I threw something together. Enjoy the next chapter, Kaiba and Tea go to the dinner with surprising results!