Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I just like it. Enjoy my fic!
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% Love Thy Neighbor? %
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"What can I do for you?"
Kaiba stood, actually sat in his bed in the hospital, taken aback by her friendliness. After what had happened between them, he expected her to be hissing and spitting like an angry cat in scorn. After all, he had accused her of "sexual harassment" in front of that old, nosy nurse who didn't have anything better to do than poke around the halls into people's rooms. Interrupting when they were alone together….
He shook his brunette head to dispel the afternoon's memories of it. Meanwhile, Tea was mentally kicking herself for sounding so perky and always having ready-to-help attitude. He didn't deserve any help, after the way he'd humiliated her this afternoon!
So, she hung up on him. Never mind!
Silence.
Tea sat, breathing hard, convincing herself that what she did was right. It didn't matter that his company was falling apart; it was no business of hers, anyway, for whatever happened to it. I-it s-serves h-him …right….!……. She sat on her comfy bed, staring down at the cell phone in her hand, expecting a hand of Doom to reach out from the mouthpiece and strangle her. Nothing. Sighing a sigh more like a groan, she fell back in her bed.
RIING! RIING!!
"Tea, honey, it's no time to talk with your friends!" Her mother called in a sleepy voice from her parent's bedroom. "You have school tomorrow. It's 2 in the morning!"
"Okay Mom!" she yelled back, in a more irritated voice than she meant to use. Luckily, her mother made no further comment. Tea urged her voice to say sweetly into the phone, "Yeeees?"
"That was not funny." A heated voice practically spat the words out, from you know who. "This is serious, Gardener!"
"Shh!" His voice was so loud, it spilled through the phone came bounced around her bedroom walls.
Long pause. "I assume you've watched the news," he said, more dejected tone than bitter.
"About your company going on strike and being shut down?" she said, blasé and blunt. Her words sliced through his pride.
"Yessssss." The hiss in his voice told of how much he hated to ask for help. "I need you….to find something out of my house."
"Kaiba, your place is a mansion!"
"I know that. But I think I know where it is. It's small, so you don't have to worry about that. But you do have to worry about getting past the security in there."
"I-I ….." She was at a loss. "Bottom line: will you get it or not? I would do it myself, but I can't move. But you already know about that."
Tea's brows furrowed over her eyes. How dare you order me like some servant! She wanted to shout. Do I have "doormat" written on my back to be stepped on?! But she let out a breath that she'd been holding. "….now?"
"No, of course not!" He laughed. "It's two in the morning! 'Now'! " He laughed again, "I'll call you later." and he was still laughing as there was the dial tone. Tea paused, staring at the phone in her hand, her left eye twitching in annoyance.
"I KNOW IT'S TWO IN THE MORNING!" she screamed at it though he wasn't there any more, "YOU WOKE ME UP! YOU ## DOOFUS! ARGH!"
Mrs. Gardner turned to her husband in their bed. "See? Boy troubles, all right!"
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After school, the next day, her friends invited her to watch the new hit movie at the Cineplex that afternoon. Tea hadn't thought about hers and Kaiba's conversation all that morning, but now it hit her like a ton of bricks. "No, sorry guys," she said wholeheartedly, shoulders drooping from fatigue of no sleep, "I um, already promised….uhhh, a friend that I'd do something for him."
Her friends raised their eyebrows at her obvious evasiveness. "Who? Tea, do you have another friend you not telling us about. A secret friend?"
They gathered around her casually, but Tea felt like they were cornering her, interrogating her, with a blinding spotlight shining down on her head. She had told no one, not even her closest friends, about 'the kiss.' She was still too ashamed……and guilty…..
Brenda was right. In her own way, she told me not to mess around with him anymore. So what I'm doing, waiting for his call? I ought to go and have fun!
But she had made a promise. Sort of…..anyway, he'd had said he needed her help, she was being a good citizen. Help thy neighbor, and all of that. Besides, I've already made up my mind! If he doesn't call, then. that's that. So Tea went to her house, and took a nap, then started her homework. She had a lot to do, a three pages long paper, front and back due the next morning. She was almost done, putting on the final touches, when her cell rang.
Thinking it was one of her friends, she said, "I told you, I can't go!"
"You ready?" Kaiba ignored her earlier greeting.
"Oh. Yeah, I guess." That's it, play it casual……..
"Are you at my house yet?"
"No, I'm at MY house."
"Then get your little ass over there!" his voice was hushed, but dripping with impatience. Tea had to bite her tongue until it bled as she got in her car obediently. "You know where it is, right?"
"Of course," she said snappishly.
He got the point and said nothing until she arrived, parking a few blocks behind, since this was supposed to be secret. Then she had to walk all the way up his long driveway, that winded like a maze.
"Go through my hedge maze," he instructed, looking over his shoulder at the closed hospital door, to make sure there were no eavesdroppers listening on it. Meanwhile Tea blinked, when she saw it. It was like in the movies, a maze made completely of connected, overlapping bushes. "Take a left, right, go straight till up hit a dead end," he whispered, praying that she wouldn't get it right the first time.
"Yeah…..?" Tea felt sort of like a secret spy.
"Reach in the bush. There's a lever there. A trapdoor should open. But first, make sure you weren't followed."
Tea glanced idly around, listening carefully for a footstep, or heavy breathing. She had seen some suited men, like that man she had pushed down a couple of days before, hanging about the front door. Then she opened the trapdoor. A square of grass beneath her feet opened like a book. Stairs were underneath it. "Go down, and close it behind you. Don't fall or tirp over your own two feet."
It was steep, so she made her way carefully down. It was very dark, and she could feel sticky spiderwebs underneath her fingers as she touched the wall for balance. "Is there a light switch?"
"The upper left wall."
Surprisingly, she found it, and found herself looking at some sort of cellar. Bottles lined up the wall, in a wine cooler, an old wooden chair and desk sat in the crowded room. "I should have known you liked to drink wine," she mocked softly, picking her way across the mess. Kaiba froze into a statue.
"I don't drink!" he shouted, forgetting to lower his voice as memories of the medic picking his brother's lifeless, limp body from the wreckage of the car. Oh dear God, Mokuba……he ran a sweaty hand through his thick hair, shaking all over. There was a long pause.
Tea was stunned, startled, then shocked, last of all, angry. Tears of pain pinpricked under her eyelids, fast and furious, and her throat swelled up so much it hurt. It doesn't hurt….what else would you have expected from his infamous cruelty?
"I'm……sorry. Did anybody hear us?"
"….no." The apology, as insincere and monotonous as it was, made her feel a bit better, though her shoulders felt stiff and unyielding. "What else."
It was a statement not a question. Ashamed to have yelled like that, he answered, "There's another secret door behind the tall green shelf. The doorknob's near the fountain." Her hand felt numb as her fingers closed and turned around a cool metal. With a creaky squeak of old hinges, the door led to another set of winding stairs.
Tea began to think as she automatically climbed it, Was he drinking the night of the accident? Was that why he feels so guilty.......? Kaiba could hear her short breaths of air as well as her climbing footsteps on the stone walls. When she said dully, "I'm in some sort of room with a bed." He knew she must still be pissed off.
"Good. Now, be careful, there's a camera to your right." Tea saw it. "Go under it so you won't be seen, to my closet."
Tea edged underneath it, holding her breath. She saw one of those suit guys pacing in the open hall, and reported it.
"That must be Jones. Make sure he doesn't see you, and there's my closet. On the top shelf is my hand held computer, like a palm pilot, silver and green striped. Bring it to me."
"Is that all?"
"Yes….that's it."
".Okay." She hung up without saying good bye and switched off her phone, just in case it should ring and Jones should hear. What I do for him. Love thy neighbor and all that…..wait, did I just say 'love?'
Switching off her brain, she climbed up on what she thought was a small stool, but turned out to be a shaky box. Just as her fingers closed around, her ankle twisted, and she fell down with a cry. She knew from falling down from ballet that this was a small sprain, even though, tears of pain sprung into her eyes. She bit her fist to muffle her groans, and hear, to her alarm sounds of talking outside. She waited for a long time, then when all was silent, crept out again.
Strangely, the house---rather the mansion---was empty and had a foreboding air.
Her ankle still hurt but was walkable, and she slowly made her way to her car, deep in thought. She had never ever considered even doing this for anyone, except maybe her friends, much less Seto Kaiba. What had changed? Was she really trading his kisses in exchange to run his errands? That thought made her feel cheap and used. And pathetic.
Although,, she felt it was the truth. Or at least half of it.
Tea shook her head to dispel these thoughts. It's not true, anyway. Whatever our relationship is, I'm making too much of events. Making a mountain out of a molehill, as the saying goes. She climbed into her car and drove slowly, carefully down to wards the hospital. Her ankle throbbed as she stepped on the gas. Oh well, I'm going to a hospital anyway, might as well get it bandaged up…..
It was dark now, late at night, and she greeted the receptionist. "Tea, you're limping," she came around the counter in alarm, "What happened? Where were you?"
"Ah, I, uh, just twisted it," Tea explained, knowing instinctively not to tell about her whereabouts. "Sorry, I'm late …." She hedged. Without another word, her foot was bandaged up, though she tried to say she was in a hurry. He must really be worried now!
Finally, Tea took the elevator this time, the little computer thing gripped in her hand. She peered at it, there were numerous buttons on it. Don't expect a thank you, she told herself, to prepare. You know full well what he's like….don't expect that a few moments alone with him will change him.
Still, nothing could prepare her for what was to come behind his room, Rm 516……
"Did you bring it?"
Tea set it down on the table near the door. "Its' right there," she said, noticing the room was dark and reaching to flip the light switch on. Kaiba shook his head to stop her from his wheelchair, dressing in a robe and hospital gown.
"I can't have anyone know that I'm here. You didn't tell anyone about any of this?"
"No," Tea said quietly, grasping her hands together nervously.
Something about him always made her nervous. She could see what other people were talking about, now. After a long silence, she finally said, "Well if you don't need anything else…." She turned towards the door slowly.
"Hold up. I do need you for something else." With that, he started undoing the belt on his robe. She took a step back, hand clutched to her throat protectively.
"W-w-what do you mean?!" she stammered, sweating.
"Not what you're thinking!" He gave her a cynical look of scorn. "Stupid doctors won't give me a mirror to see the scar I know I have on my back. And I want you to tell me how bad it is," he finished. "So I can punish the doctors who did this to me."
Tea was about to point out that those very same doctors had saved his life he was about to punish, but then Kaiba stood up carefully, the robe sliding off him. It took effort to stand, but she was amazed that he could do it. Some willpower! She saw his jaw clench tight in pain as he turned his back to her slowly, because his back felt like it was on fire. Still, he ordered her, in a tight voice, to undo the ties on the back of the gown.
Tea hesitated, unsure of what to do. She didn't want to see him suffer any more, so she made up her mind to do as he asked and get it over with as soon as possible. Kaiba waited without impatience, feeling her knuckles brush softly on his back until the gown fell into a pool on the floor. He was still in his boxer shorts, and was blessed with not having that adolescent embarrassment of being half naked in front of a girl. "Well?" he said, the pain making beads of sweat trickle down his skin.
Tea wanted to be as indifferent as he. "Go to the window so I can see better," she managed, finding her voice. He limped over to the streetlight as she said the combined moonlight made an iridescence strong enough to see. Before she could stop it, a gasp tore out of her throat at the sight of it. The scar was thick, long, and jagged, nasty-looking, glowing silver in the moonlight, marring the perfection of his lean looking back. He certainly isn't going to be happy…..
"Well?! Is it bad?!"
"Um…." Tea was at a loss. "Yeah.....yeah, it's bad."
"Yes I can tell by your gasp of horror that it is." He hadn't expected any less. "Where to where is it at. Point with your finger."
"Um…from h-here…." She touched lightly, carefully as if she were afraid, where it started at his mid-back, "….to here," to where it ended, near the tailbone. "About….six inches…." She trailed off into silence.
Her breath caught in her throat as he turned slowly back to her. Her gaze was intense, making her pulse rapid and beat. Tea scanned her brain from some words of comfort, or anything at all, but nothing came. She just kept staring at how long and lean his legs were, bare under his boxer shorts. And so smooth! I thought guys were supposed to have hairy legs….what's the deal? "Oh my…… she muttered under her breath, furiously trying to control her heartbeat at the still eye candy.
Girls…..they're so weak at the sight of me, he thought arrogantly, stepping closer to her. He was impressed that she had the guts to tell him how bad it looked, grown men had been too scared of losing their jobs in the hospital. Now his movements were smooth, as he tipped her chin up to stop her from looking at his body and to look at his face now. Her cheek warmed under his knuckles as he brushed it, and to his surprise, she closed her eyes against him. No one had ever made themselves vulnerable to him before with just a touch, and his eyes changed from cool and calculated to something more tender. One arm snaked around her side, grabbing her around the waist, and pulling. Tea felt herself being flung to the bed, his hands at her shoulders, supporting her fall, breaking it. He was on top of her as he smirked down at her bewildered expression, her soft mouth as round as an "O". Her sore ankle hurt from being thrown like that, and she winced from the pain. "Why are you in pain?" he asked in a tone of concern.
"My….ankle. I twisted it," she tried to squirm away, trying to hide her serious blushing at being so close to him, so close she could smell his after-shave, spicy and sweet. It lulled her senses, sending her head spinning and dizzy and a nice warm feeling flood thorugh her.
"This one?" He lifted her leg, and set it across his hip, gently rubbing her ankle .Even though she was still dressed and he had shorts on, she gasped, it was such an intimate position. It frightened her, yet only an embarrassing sound that sounding like longing escaped her lips. She saw him giving her a quelling, curious glance, and Tea realized that he was to get the wrong idea.!
I have to get out of here….! Or one thing'll lead to another....!
TBC
A/n: yeah, Sorry about the Cliffhanger! =( But I'm out of ideas! Double =( . Hopefully some will come, later. I need to be more inspired, you all know how it is. =) so Review! That ought to cure me! =)
