A/N: Er. A lot of people were horribly confused; only one got all the last chapter (Asian Orange). I guess it didn't help it was labeled Ch.12 when it was really Ch. 14.....I've been working too hard, sorry. It'll all be explained in this one, hopefully, but basically, the situation is reversed: Now Tea's the grumpy one in bed, and Seto has to take care of her. Note the brief change in Point Of View. Enjoy !
Disclaimer: Yugioh. I don't own it.
& Chapter Fifteen: Falling in Love Again &
& Kaiba's POV &
"What do you mean? I never heard of it!"
Tea's parents looked up in surprise, no wonder; it wasn't often that I butt in such a confidential, important conversation between parents and examiner, but oh well, they'd live. "Partial amnesia?" I exclaimed, hearing the tone that spiked my voice and not caring.
After a brief glance at Mr. and Mrs. Gardener, (who nodded their okay) the snowy haired old doctor said, continuing, "Ms. Gardener does not remember the last past few weeks due to the car accident, according to our tests and exams. We do not know how," he went on, as Mr. Gardener made a outraged noise, "There is no record anywhere of such a case….."
I heard enough and pressed, "For how long?" That's what I really wanted to know.
Again, the doctor regarded me quizzically. He knew who I was, of course, but was no doubt wondering what the hell I was doing there. There was suspicion in his eyes, but also fear--thanks to my power for his job. "No telling, Mr. Kaiba. It should come back gradually, but I am correct to say that she should not be pushed to remember."
He said the last part really clear. It was obvious he knew Tea when she worked here as a volunteer, and was concerned about her. "Thanks, doctor," Tea's mother murmured for me, and he nodded and walked down the active hospital. I was standing there in something of a daze, a highly unusual, new thing for me.
Seeing the parents staring, I figured I should say something. But had no idea what. All I kept seeing was her face, when the car hit her--at least, what I imagined it must've looked like. The mom looked a lot like her, but the dad was gray-haired and fat with glasses. He regarded me with hostility, very subtle, though. But I saw it. "We. Saw. You. Stay. With. Her. When. She. Woke," he said stiffly.
"Yes…….and we thank you," Mrs. Gardener ventured.
I decided not to pursue the guy to fire him because of his daughter. He was understandably upset, even though I didn't like the way he talked at me. I nodded, turning away, when he said:
"Exactly what are you to my daughter, sir !!"
I stiffened, with a twinge of loss of patience. The belligerence of the guy--! Clearly, Tea had inherited her ruckus-causing personality from him…… "It's none of your business," I threw over my shoulder. Then for Tea's sake, I added as I went, "I'm a friend."
"Come on, dear," I heard the mother say as they left and I entered the hospital room. I was feeling a little woozy because my back had hurt this morning. Even though I promised not to take any more medications, they were so fast-acting. Now I walked extra slowly towards the chair and sat down, grimacing as I did.
Tea turned her head to me and gave me a kind of vague look, as if to say Oh. It's you. Practically, what she actually did say. "You don't have to keep visiting me, Kaiba! I'm only going to be in here for a couple of days !!"
I grimaced again in the hard hospital chair. It was hell on my back. "I. Want. To. Be. Here." I said, just as stiff as her dad had been. Maybe recognition will jog her memory.
I still couldn't believe it......All of our time we had spent together, a few weeks as it was, was erased from her mind. What are the odds?!
"Oh, yeah." She rolled her eyes, her face free of tubes from yesterday now, and I guessed the next words would be : That's real convincing. Not that I cared, I did seem insincere, even to my ears. But what she said next was even worse. "We're supposed to be in love. I forgot."
I supposed my face said it all, because then she said, more softer, "Sorry. I guess I'm just in a grumpy mood….." The cast on her foot wriggled. "…..Like, I remember you being."
That got my attention. I took my eyes off the cast and led them back to her face. "You mean…….you actually remember something?!"
"Yeah." A short silence fell. "….I remember your grumpiness most of all." There was a kind of weak smile forming. "But everything else is either a complete blank, or real ….fuzzy."
"'Fuzzy.'" I repeated, leaning to the side to reach behind me. "That reminds me…..here." I stuck my arm out awkwardly.
I think she left it out forever, but finally she reached out slowly out took it. 'It' being a stuffed teddy bear, identical to the one she gave me when I was the grumpy one in the hospital bed, saying it was from Mokuba. Of course, Mokuba had been in a coma then. Now, he's doing fine, thank you very much!
"What is it?" Her lovely, accusing voice cut through like a pair of thought clippers. "A cat….?"
"Bear….I think." I hadn't been paying attention when I got it. "Do you, uh…..like it?" I said, trying to think of what it was I exactly said when she gave it to me. (I was hoping the words would jog her memory).
Then I remembered. Not the exact words, but 'What the hell is that" gist. I shook my head mentally, No.
Sheesh, was I really that mean to her?
……Maybe. Most likely. Okay, I had been. But I was a changed man now!
"You know……" she said, ultra-slow, massaging her forehead with all five fingertips while staring at it, "I do remember, this……I-I gave this to you, didn't I? Or somethin' like it?"
Presently, the nurse---yes that Brenda nurse-- came in then before I could nod, and she wasn't alone. The Geek and the Freak.
Great…..
Unaware of all the obvious animosity in the air, Brenda chirped happily, "Ok! Missy! It's time for your….lunch! Mmmmmmmmm! Yummers for our tummers!!" I wondered if she were taking some of those pills. Tea didn't deserve a high nurse.
"Ooh! Your friends came to visit!" Yup. Probably so.
Brenda gave me a conspiratorial smile through thick glasses, recognizing who I was, and Yugi Motou gave me a much weaker hello smile. Then again, he was always weak. Weaker than me, that is! Mutt-boy (he had a real name, I suppose) however, glared at me. I returned the favor, standing up to my full height down at them. Still unaware, Brenda the grandmotherly nurse, continue to set the table for Tea.
"You want to feed Tea, like she did to you, handsome?" she said, winking at me. One of my pet peeves, by the way. I ground my teeth, not wanting the Nerd Herd to know the truth about mine and Tea's relationship.
"'Feed 'er?!'" the mutt yelled, waving his fists in the air, like he just didn't care. "Whaddya mean, ya ol' broad?"
"'Old!' Well, I never!" Well, at least the mutt was good for something; the nurse walked away in a huff, the mutt looking apologetical.
Just briefly. He turned back at me with equal suspicion as her parents'. Nearby, realization was dawning on Yugi's face. "Wha did dat, uh, pl-pleasant--pleasantly plum' woman mean, Kaiby?"
"None of your business." I snapped, but Yugi said :
"Ohh……so you're Tea's mystery man!" 'Mystery man?' Were we in middle school?
There was a smile on his little, childlike face, as I gave him a skull-piercing glare. There were rumors that he had a crush on Tea, first, something I wasn't really surprised to hear. I mean they hung out together everyday! Not that I listen to gossip. But his smile seemed sincere enough for my liking, like he were really happy for us. Meanwhile, Tea stared down at her untouched, disgusting hospital food.
"Ya mean……your da miss-stery guy?" Dog-face gobbled down Tea's cornbread like it was nothing, food specks flying out as he went on. "……a ha ha ha! Dat's da funniest one I've heard yet!"
Yugi just sighed and told Tea how glad he was that she was okay. How cute. I think it was time from them to go.
"W-w-wait-uh-minnute-- dis ain't true? Tea, how couldja? How couldja like da guy who ran ya ova?!" Wheeler (ah! That's his name) protested as I tried to slam the door in his drooling face. I stiffened.
"I did NOT run her over, you MUTT!" I looked over at Tea, but she didn't seemed surprised. I had to remind myself that she didn't remember any of our time together; therefore, still hated me. "A…..it was a hit-and-run accident.....!"
Even Yugi looked surprised; shocked. "Really?" Then he looked disgruntled. "Then, I'm going to……catch who did it!"
How, by the heart of the cards? I kept my joke to myself, though. "Actually…..Yugi…..I think you'd better leave this one alone." I said meaningfully.
"Dat's cuz HE'S da wun who did it!" Wheeler pointed one crumb-covered grubby finger at me, dramatically jabbing. I rolled my eyes.
"'Bye, and don't ever come back!" Slam! Now for Yugi….
"I brought you some homework." Yugi said shyly, offering it to her like a Faberge Egg. He nudged closer to her.
"Oh, thanks you, Yugi!" She gave him a big hug, an awkward on over the food table, and he turned as red as blood, which of there was going to be lot of, namely his, if he didn't beat it. My growls made him look up and jump, a little guiltily.
"I'll check on you later." With that, he was gone, finally. But as I shut the door, I felt a little ridiculous, at myself.
Still, when Tea said, "What's YOUR problem?!" after the door was closed, I leaned over right in her face, my hands on the edges of the table, so far she had to lean back a bit.
"He gave you your homework," I answered, angrily, glaring down at her surprised face. There was a long silence; I couldn't say what I was feeling any more. I just continued to stare down at her. I hated myself for being jealous, such a petty emotion, especially of clueless, nice-guy Yugi, but I was. But I wasn't about to admit it!
She got it anyway, and dropped her gaze, sulking a bit, to her food again. Barely moving her lips, she mumbled, "Well…..there's no need to be all jealous, you know! Considering I don't remember----!"
"Who's jealous?!" I wanted to know dangerously. Like I said, I wasn't about to admit to anything. She lowered at me through lowered eyelids, her blue-jeweled eyes quizzical. I was reminded of her folks.
"ANYWAY……" Tea picked up the fork and doubtfully sniffed her food. "As we were saying……"
"Yes." I said with a brisk nod, straightening, glad she had changed the subject. Not that I was about to admit it, either. "So……you were saying….you remember the bear, or what?"
"Kinda." Her gaze traveled over to it. "I remember……you yelling something about your brother…..? Ugh." She slapped her forehead, sending specks of food flying from the fork. "This sucks."
I was quiet, watching her, my arms folded over my blue suit, not knowing if she was talking about the food or her situation. Both did, anyway. "If you say so. Well……I did say something about Mokuba," I agreed, encouragingly taking the fork from her. She jumped a little at my touch, and kind of narrowed her eyes at me, as if I'd thought she was going to stab me with it. A greenish bruise still imprinted one cheek, but she looked a lot better. Better than having tubes and the such running out of her nose, I mean.
"I can feed myself." She ground out. Ignoring this, I dipped the fork in some applesauce……. "What, don't you hear me? I forgot," she said, ironically, watching me lift the fork, "You don't listen to anybody."
I paused, thinking……Wasn't that what she said the day of her accident….? If so, that could mean that she really does remember……and was tricking all of us. But why, I couldn't say. It was just a hunch. For now.
"That's what I said." I aimed carefully, not having done this since Mokuba was a baby, and fired. Fortunately, it went in; considering this was a pointy sharp fork. There, that made her shut up. "There, that made you shut up."
"#$! WHAT?!" Even though it came out muffled, I knew what the expletive preceding was. Whoops. Did I say that out loud? "I can't believe…..you just said that to me." She swallowed the last bit and went on, "Here I came to the hospital, because of you---"
"OH. So you do think I ran you over, then?" I got up from the chair, begging to pace around.
"I don't know! Why else would you be here, unless you were feeling guilty?!" She threw at me. "You must've done SOMETHING bad to me!! You did; I know it!!"
My face granite, I said, a little bit too slowly, "……I did nothing."
She was silent, her face turned away from me and staring at the grimy hospital floor. My heart was pumping fast with adrenaline; I wanted to tell her that I was here because we had fallen in love with each other, and though I was the only one who remembered. But why should I have to put up with all this shit---? My fists balled, and I actually thought about striking her. Vaguely, in somewhere of my conscious, I realized, then, how much I really had changed. Before, when I had despised her, I always thought--no, fantasized---about knocking her out for good. But I would never degrade myself to do it.
Now, though, the urge flared up, brief but poignant emotion, and subsided. I tried not to think about it. But I was having serious doubts about this whole thing. Still, to be honest, I stated slowly, "Okay……we had an argument the day you were struck down."
While she absorbed this, I thought back to Mokuba. We had had an argument the day our car was struck, too, and I remember, watching him so limp in the coma bed, that the last words I would had said to him was, I hate you. And then, the last thing I would've said to her was, It's really pathetic how you follow me around in school…..
I felt really low of myself at that point. I was really such a horrible person. It was no wonder Mokuba didn't remember me afterward…..
"He did."
I looked up, surprised. Did I say that out loud? I really had to measure what I say…..more better !!
"I remember…..when he told me that he remembered you….." She avoided my gaze. "He was so sad……I knew something bad must've happened you both--- but anyway." Tea gestured for the bear, and I gave it back to her; it had fallen it to the floor. "I knew you did something to me, I just knew it." She blinked at the bear slowly. Tears started to form in her eyes, and she pushed them both away. "Why is it……that I only remember the bad things ??"
I hesitated, taking back the bear and running my thumb through it's soft fuzzy head. "I guess I'm the same way. Not that I know how you're feeling, since I've never had memory loss--or anything--!"
She looked up at me straight in the eye, then smiled. "I never thought I'd EVER see the famous Kaiba stutter." I wasn't stuttering--what was she talking about? Oh, well. Let her keep her illusions. "What sorts of good things DID happen?" she surprised me by saying, a little skeptically, eyeing me up and down. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have felt as good when she tucked a piece of hair behind one ear.
"What, you don't believe anything good could happen between us?" I challenged. She shook her head hard.
"I mean, uh…….h-how did it h-happen, then?" Tea twirled a piece of dark brown hair around one finger, shyly from the corners of her eyes. like if she were afraid of the answer. "U-us….falling in love, I mean." She held her breath, shifting her weight.
I decided to have some fun. Actually, torture by teasing was one of my favorite pastimes. I let a smile spread over my face, and cocked my head in a pantomime of thinking back to the night. "Hm. I guess I'd have to start with you throwing yourself all over me the first I was brought here in the hospital…."
That brought out the reaction I wanted: "W-WWHAT!"
"I said, ' Look, Gardener, you better take your paws off me!!' " I went on, in a pushing motion, as she continued to stammer incoherently. Now who was "But you said, 'Oh, take me, Kaiba…'" I said the last part in a whisper in her ear, in case there were eavesdroppers.
"I so DID NOT." She was blushing so hard all over, her bruise turned brown. Red plus green equals brown, I guessed; I didn't know. Gozaburo never made me take Art. "W-why would I do---see?! You're smiling, so it's a lie!" She looked very put out and sweating, as if at an interrogation. "I thought wee weren't lying to each other any more!"
"Well, maybe you didn't say those exact words…." I agreed with a grin. " Maybe. But…in one night….." I hesitated, and this time, I was the one not looking straight into her eyes. "When…..ahem, Mokuba….was in his coma….." I was actually fidgeting. Well, a little bit….I hated to be sappy! It made me feel...so common. "You went to visit him…with me….and, uh…."
& Flashback &
"You have to believe, Kaiba! You have to believe that he's okay!!" she whispered, rocking me like a baby and hugging me. I felt tears formed in my own eyes, but I refused, refused to let them fall. It wasn't fair….why did this have to happen to me? I touched her face, twisted my head for a soft, tear-flavored kiss….
&End flashback &
"….you were there," I finished, awkward as hell. It was a weird mix of heartburn and dry mouth feeling right now. I didn't want to look at her, but I found myself doing it anyway. I didn't want to even THINK about how I looked.
"I remember that," she said quietly, seeming like she didn't want to look at me, either, right now. I didn't mind; I knew the feeling. I didn't mind at all. Scraping my chair a bit closer, I touched her chin and willed her to look at me. She did, and I was scared.
Scared……her eyes were full of tears, and I wondered at them. It was hard to tell if she actually did remember, or maybe she just wanted to be alone. Then, she smiled, albeit shakily, and said:
"Then, what happened…?" A little bit croakily, clearing her throat afterward.
"We kissed," I said ultra softly, so much that even I didn't hear myself. But I was staring into her eyes so she'd see I was sincere and truthful. "Actually, I kissed you," I corrected, leaning back then. I decided to be generous. Women think it as sensitivity.
"Oh. Well, that sounds truthful," she said in a way that really amused me, and I began to laugh a bit. Then she was giggling a little bit, and suddenly grinned at me. "But then again, I don't remember the kiss, even if you said it's real……"
I waited, smiling at her a bit until she was blushing again and was about to turn away with a hasty, "Never mind! Not that I wanted you to jog m-my memory, or anything!" I continued to stare. I knew it was torture for her, but I couldn't help myself. She started to sweat again.
"Who said I was going to?!" I shot back. "Anyway! Anything else you want to know?" I smirked at her, my hands folded nice and neat on my thighs. I had forgotten the chair was hard, all this time we were talking, but now the feeling returned, with a vengeance.
She shook her head. "No, I think that'll be enough for today---"
It was so easy to get her all aroused. "How about when….." I thought back to a particularly juicy moment we'd had, there were a lot of them. "Ah! This is a kind of boring one, though." She sighed, and kept quiet, listening. "You returned my computer, since I was in the hospital and couldn't get it, and you left the next morning, after we'd spent the night together to thank you---"
"We WHAT?" She looked like she was about to have a heart attack, no joke. "We slept together?!"
"Mm-hm." I nodded, then had to dodge her slap. I had to admit, I wasn't expecting it and had to hold her down. What was wrong?
"PIG!" she cursed, and suddenly it hit me. The realization, not her clawing fists.
"No, we didn't DO anything……we just slept. Really." For someone who just got hit by a car, she sure knew how to fight. "We didn't have sex, or anything! I'm not stupid." I inserted a lot of disgust in my tone here.
"Oh." She calmed down, but her body posture was still rigid as a board. "Are you sure?!"
Her steely gaze got on my nerves. "Or course I'm sure! I would know, you know!" I heavily frowned on premarital sex; it was just dumb. There was always a chance that something would not go as planned, and I disliked chaos. "All we did was just make out--er, I mean, kiss. And hug." I had to remember that I loved her, now. It was hard, considering the murderous glint in her eye.
"Well, since I don't remember….." She huffed, glaring at me, still suspicious. "You'd better be telling the truth!" Her fingers tore up the sad paper napkin.
"I am. You know, sometimes, I just want to---argh!" I clenched my hands in front of myself frustratedly and shook them.
"Oh, gee thanks. That's SO romantic." She rolled her eyes, and I had enough. "Wait! We weren't…." She whispered something, but I couldn't hear because I was already headed for the door. "Wait, I said!"
"What. Speak up, I can't hear!!"
"I said, 'We're weren't naked, were we?!" she practically shouted, finally. I heard a pan drop down in the hall with a clang behind me. Blushing furiously, she added, in a soft, furious hiss, "Because I remember.....you taking off my sweater.....!!"
"Say that any louder, Gardener; I don't think Antarctica heard!" I turned away again, hissing, "And which time are you talking about?"
It wasn't nice thing to say, I know. But I couldn't help myself.
TBC
A/n: Ah, don't worry, he'll be back. Eventually. Okay, soon. Just as soon as you update. I hope things were cleared up, if y'all still have questions, I'll answer more specifically. So Review. )
