Chapter XIII: Things Come to a Head

Tea dreaded today's lunch, and not because they were serving fish sticks, she hated fish sticks, but because she had to come to a conclusion about her feelings for Kaiba. It seemed that way anyway, since she would have to tell them all about last night and also answer the obvious questions. The most dreaded of them being, how do you feel about him? She knew this decision would change her life, possibly for the better and equally possibly for the worse. If she decided that she loved Kaiba, no, Seto Kaiba, would she be happy with him? If she decided that she didn't love Kaiba, would she be happy at all? The vision that the Millennium Necklace showed her seemed adamant that it would be so, and the last thing anybody wants is to never be happy.

And what of her friends? She couldn't leave them out of the equation. The issue of Seto Kaiba was still a touchy subject within her circle of friends, and no doubt that if she told them that she liked him, let alone loved him, would they be accepting? He was Yugi's rival, and Joey's sworn enemy. Was happiness truly losing her friends?

"Augh! This never happens in the movies!" Tea thinks so hard that if she were a psychic the windows around her would shatter.

She smiled soon after, though, at her stupid statement. Life never was like it is shown in the movies. Was she really so distressed as to say something so dumb? No matter what shady meaning it might have had, it was still an amusing little moment that did wonders for her mental state. She felt fresh, or at least fresher than she had previously, and with her new mood she had made her decision. A decision that would change not one, but three lives. It was in this time that even Fate stood in anticipation.

Kaiba spent the entire last period ignoring his teacher, as was normal for him, seeing as he already knew what he needed to pass that course anyway. But instead of pondering about his company, Kaiba spent his entire attention on Tea. He watched from behind her as the class went on, and all the while he thought of ways to woo her. He actually couldn't think of anything else! The more he thought of it, though, the more he realized how very difficult it would be. She always hung around her friends, and with them around, well, it was safe to say that his chances of wooing her successfully were slim to nil.

He was so deep in thought, it took the teacher to remind him it was lunch, before he finally realized what time it was. He sauntered over to the lunchroom, where he would get some food and continue to think about what cards he hasn't played to achieve his goal. To gain the love of the woman that completes him.

Yugi left his last class, where he and Joey were too involved in a hushed conversation about Tea's new apparel to concentrate on the teacher's boring lecture. Yugi knew that something was up with Tea and Kaiba, it was so obvious in his eyes. Kaiba didn't seem like the kind of person to throw away money for just any girl, for some dinner; everything he did had a reason. Yugi had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that the woman he had an age-old crush on was going to find love with his rival. He truly feared that he would lose Tea; destiny, time, and his own cowardice all seemed to work against him.

Could he tell Tea all of his feelings? Could he take heartbreak if she didn't return his feelings? He had two options, and they were: tell Tea his feelings before "destiny" moved in, or just keep his feelings bottled up and be bothered by them for the rest of his life. Taking each into consideration, Yugi decided it would be the wiser to tell Tea his feelings. He hoped, no, wished that Tea would return them.

Those three young adults made their way to the cafeteria for the biggest meeting of their lives. Three lives will change, and the outcome will determine whether they will find happiness or not. It was truly destiny against one person who, while once believe it absolute, now opposes it to the full extent of his power. The destiny the Millennium Necklace showed Tea and Ishizu was not clear-cut, like Ishizu would believe. There were two destinies that could result from this meeting of these three people, these people who could mold fate and control their own destiny.

Tea met with her friends at their usual table, and the first words out of Joey's mouth were not surprising, " Tea, what's with this dinner you went to with money-bags?"

" Like I said, I was doing it so Mokuba could get some sleep. The thing went to eleven o'clock, I couldn't do that to the little guy!"

" But why are you wearing that dress today?" Joey continued.

" Ah…because after the dinner, it was too late to go back to my house, so I stayed in one of the Kaiba Corp. executive rooms."

" You stayed at Kaiba Corp.? Just what was Kaiba doing?" Joey asked, a little angrier than before.

Tea didn't much care for Joey's attitude, it wasn't up to him whether she stayed at Kaiba Corp. Headquarters or not. She wasn't a baby.

" Down boy, it's not that big a deal. Kaiba didn't do anything; he was a perfect gentleman as a matter of fact! Unlike some people around here I know." Tea said rolling her eyes at Joey.

" What was that?" Joey said annoyed at his friend for calling him ungentlemanly, that and referring to him as a dog, nothing angered him more than that.

Seto Kaiba watched the spectacle from his table with slight interest. He was very interested in Tea, but the other three people that surrounded her interested him as much as blank paper. Even though he had no real reason, he hated all three of them at the moment, because they made it difficult for him to approach her. He would never be able to have an actual conversation with her, what with Wheeler sure to bark at him. He wanted to talk to her right away, but during the school day, that was just too difficult for even him to do.

Kaiba sighs and thinks about his current predicament, " I want to let her know of my feelings immediately, but there's no way I can have a meaningful conversation with her friends near her. Especially that second-rate duelist Wheeler, who would no doubt be a great obtrusion. Come on Seto, think, you've mastered the human psyche, this should be nothing…"

Lunch was rather uncomfortable for Tea, Kaiba, and Yugi. There was a definite fact here, things were coming to a head. Yugi knew that he had no time left, he had to tell Tea his feelings, or he would never get the chance. Kaiba was getting impatient with himself, time was running out, and he was not about to let Tea slip through his fingers without a fight. And who could forget poor Tea? She was being made into a prize, and she didn't even know it. But it wasn't often when the prize's choice determined the winner of it. What was going to happen? Would anybody be happy after these events that come to a head?

It finally came to and end, the most uncomfortable lunch in Tea's life had finally come to an end. Even though little happened, the triangle of tension that seemed to emanate from Yugi, Kaiba, and herself seemed to make that half-hour seem longer than a stay with the dental hygienist. She stood up, and brought her trash to the garbage can, and then started walking to her next class. As Fate would have it, Kaiba also got up to deliver his garbage to the same can, but as Fate would not have it, Yugi was also willing to go to that same trash can. Yugi arrived with Tea, and Kaiba was still a good few feet away. Even worse for Fate was that this was when Yugi would choose to share his feelings with Tea.

" Uh Tea, there's something I really need to tell you..." Yugi started.

" Oh, Yugi?" Tea hesitated for a reason she couldn't pin point, " What is it?"

While on his way to meet Tea, Kaiba couldn't help but wonder why Yugi was there talking with her. They were just supposed to dump off their garbage and be done with it, but from what he could see, they were doing quite the opposite. For what seemed like ten minutes, which was really just two seconds, Yugi was looking into Tea's eyes. He couldn't hear what it was that Yugi said just before that, and he didn't know why they were looking, no, staring into each other's eyes. He stopped where he was, and looked on, feeling a great rage building in within him. He had been too late! He had spent too much of what little time he had conducting little "experiments", and being too cowardly to tell her his feelings sooner. He had lost to Yugi again, but what made it worse was that it wasn't in a juvenile little game of Duel Monsters, it was in the game of love. He had lost to that "King of Games" in the most important game of them all, and he had lost the most valuable prize of all, and it wasn't a title or some card, it was the woman whom he had come to love.

Seconds before Yugi could say one word of the speech he wanted to give Tea, Kaiba felt something push him towards Tea. It didn't quite feel like a physical push, however, it was more of a push in his mind. He felt something click in the very back of his head, and his feet moved towards Tea as if they were in the middle of a life or death race with a bear. He arrived just as Yugi took his first breath to speak, and suddenly the three of them could feel a chain of electricity connect them in a triangle.

Tea instantly snapped her head to the side to see Kaiba arrive, and Yugi turned his head slowly towards him as if to say, " Oh no!"

Even Fate, with her uncanny ability to predict the future, could not see the outcome of this event. The energies emanated from Yugi and Kaiba were exactly equal, even with the extra energy lent to Yugi by the Pharaoh! That must have meant that Kaiba had also connected with his ancient self, the High Priest, the very second he saw Yugi and Tea look into each other's eyes.

Yes, it was so, The Pharaoh himself had also been infatuated with Tea's ancient alter-ego. He had met her many times whenever he met with the High Priest at his temple, and had always admired her from afar. He was an honourable and trustworthy person though, and he never let his lusts get the better of him, as she was the wife of his best friend. He would never do his friend dishonour by stealing his wife. But now, with Tea and Kaiba not together, and little Yugi free to try his chance with the Pharaoh helping him without knowing exactly why, the rivals were on equal ground. Destiny had set this up, but it could no longer chose who went where, it was now entirely up to Tea. She was faced with the biggest decision of her life, the decision that will determine her happiness for the rest of her life, and she knew that was so.

" Seto...?" Was all Tea could manage.

" Tea, I have been thinking of this ever since the mall. Thinking of my feelings towards you; I have never felt this way before in my life, and I could not find out for certain for so long, and for this I apologize. I stand here despite consequence to say this, to say, I love you."

Tea looked into Kaiba's eyes, she had finally made her decision. She had made it while Kaiba was, for the first time in his life, opening himself up. She had made the decision, and knew with perfect knowledge that it was the right one, " I love you too Seto!" She said, as she quickly moved the short distance separating her and her love, and wrapped her arms around his neck. He held her close to him, and as he did, he could feel the years of torment under Gozaboro Kaiba lifting from his mind, and his old kindness flowing back.

Yugi's head hung from where it was fixed on his body, he had lost. But it didn't hurt as much as he would have thought, he felt like something truly right had just happened. Like the world fell back into place. Tears came to his eyes, but they were not of sadness, they were of joy. Something that was meant to be had just happened, and Yugi couldn't help but feel happy for his friend and rival. He looked up with a smile on his face, which was something that had not been there for several days. There was one last thing that needed to be done.

" Tea, Kaiba, I'm happy for you." He said, and truly meant it.

Tea and Kaiba broke their hug, and Tea turned her head to Yugi, " Oh, what was it that you wanted to tell me Yugi?" She asked with a lightness to her voice that hadn't been there for too long.

" Nothing. You guys have a nice day, I need to get to class before the first bell, or my teacher would kill me!" Yugi said before walking off to his next class.

And for the first time in days, Tea laughed whole-heartily, and Kaiba, no, Seto, along with her.

The End

Author's Note: I am so very sorry for the extremely long update here everyone. Long story short, I had to erase my entire computer's harddrive due to problems that have been plaguing me for a while. Between that and school work, I've had barely anytime at all to work on The Most Unlikely Love Tale of all Time. But now its all worth it, it has reached its conclusion. I sincerely hope that everyone enjoys it. I'll work on an epilogue that will hopefully be up within twenty-four hours, and then I'll get to work on another story that's based off of Yu-Gi-Oh and this story! I can't give any details quite yet, but I may give a trailer in the epilogue. Until then, happy reading, and thank you all for reading and reviewing!

Adam Stevens (AKA The Code Cruncher)