Delicate by Sangha
Pairings: SetoxTea; TeaxYugi; YugixRebecca; RebeccaxMokuba; MokubaxSerenity; SerenityxSeto
Rating: I'll try to keep it PG 13
First of all I need to answer the questions from one of the reviews I got:
Where is Yami? Where is Bakura? Why is everybody cheating on each other?
Yami – I assumed he'd be gone be the years passed. Doesn't he leave Yugi at the end of Yu-Gi-Oh? I don't know exactly but well, in my fic he's gone. Yugi should be 24 years old by now and has a normal life after all.
Bakura – he's just not part of this fic. Just like the Ishtars. Or Duke Devlin, though he and Bakura were mentioned.
Cheating? No one is cheating so far. Tea's single. Kaiba's single. Yugi's single. Rebecca's single. Just Mokuba is with Serenity and Joey is with Mai. They're not cheating. So far... hee hee!
About the pairings... three of the above mentioned pairings I don't like myself but three of them I love. So let's see what happens... I can't tell you more but I hope it'll make sense in the end. I'd be glad you stayed with me. Thx. Btw, in the end there's a little bit JoeyxMai planned (but they won't cheat, don't worry!).
Chapter 4 – Rejected
Tea's eyes fastened on the mirror to look at her reflection. Her eyes felt sour though she hadn't been crying. She had spent almost quarter an hour locked in one of the toilet cubicles, not wanting to face anyone. But she knew, she needed to come out before someone would try to check on her. With a sigh and deep breath she made her way out of the woman's toilets and through the crowds until she approached her friends.
The pool game was on again but Tea sat down at the table in the corner. It seemed that Yugi and Rebecca were again as a team trying their luck against Tristan and Joey. Yugi and Tristan were really good players when it came to billiard and Joey wasn't so far behind. The only person who was actually playing badly was Rebecca but with Yugi's help she won repeatedly. He was laughing at her when she tried to focus her target and shook his head. Then Yugi bent over the blonde and together they even goaled.
Maybe it should be that Yugi and Rebecca found each other. So many guys were after her but she refused going out with them. She wanted Yugi. Tea instead ran with the next best guy in her bed. She was weak. She wasn't worth Yugi. Maybe she wasn't even worth Kaiba. All she was worth was Kaiba refusing even to talk to her about what had happened.
"Woah Tea, what's with the long face?"
Darting her blue-eyed gaze upwards Tea saw Mai friendly smiling at her. The blonde sat down opposite her and her look turned into a worried expression.
"It's nothing, why do you ask?" The brown haired lied and forced a smile.
"Where have you been so long by the way? I almost thought you would have been disappeared with Kaiba again for another drinking session." Mai grinned but had no clue how Tea's stomach felt the urge to churn hearing these words.
"I was looking around, then I've been in the toilets and after that I was going back here." Tea tried to convince her friend with her lie.
Mai laughed. "Okay, okay. I believe you. Still, I doubt you're enjoying yourself here tonight."
"Maybe." Tea admitted. "I'm quite bored. Isn't there any other game than pool left? Maybe I should fly over to Pegasus and inspire him for a new Duelist Kingdom?" The brown haired joked.
"Great idea Tea!" Mai chirped. "And how will you 'inspire' him?"
"I fill him up. Just like I did with Kaiba." Ironically Tea replied.
Mai laughed at her joke which wasn't really funny from Tea's point of view. "C'mon you lame woman." The blonde pulled at Tea's wrist when she stood up.
"Where to?" The brown haired asked but followed willingly until they had reached the back exit.
Without hesitation Mai pushed the door opened and pulled Tea out in the cold with her. Reaching into her tiny breast pockets the blond woman pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one for Tea, then another one for herself.
"I haven't done that for ages." Tea said and shuddered from the cold winter's air. "I thought you gave up smoking."
Mai grinned. "I did. Do you see me smoking?"
Tea laughed. "No, do you see me?"
Giggling Mai turned slightly serious. "Just don't tell Joey about it. He's going to kill me if he finds out about the cigarettes. I've just got them from the bartender."
"No problem. Just tell him they're mine." Tea grinned and pulled at the cigarette in her hand.
"It's late, where's that woman of mine?" Joey exclaimed trying to stand on his toes in order to watch out for Mai.
"Freak." Tristan said and shook his head. He had successfully received the phone number of a pretty girl named Miho. He elbowed his blond friend in his ribs. "Shall I call her right when I'm back at home already? What do you think, Joey?"
Joey rolled his eyes. "Are you insane? It's after midnight! Wait till… um… let's say midday tomorrow, then invite her for cinema and maybe dinner. That's how you get her." The blond man was sure.
"Really? What do you think, Yugi?" Tristan turned to see Yugi sitting with Rebecca on his lap. She was talking like a maniac while their friend stared at her with a glint of mischief in his violet eyes. "Yuuugiii." Tristan waved his hand and finally their friend turned.
"What is it?" He asked having one of his arms around the blonde's waist.
"Tristan wants to know if you're ready to go." Joey cut in seeing that Mai and Tea were coming back. "We need to drive home."
"Yeah, sure." Yugi said. "Just a minute." Then he turned back to Rebecca who was pouting. "How do you come home tonight?"
"To be honest, I've no idea. I guess I need to watch out if one of my friends is still here and if not, I've to call a cab." She smiled sadly knowing Yugi wouldn't leave her.
"We're five in the car, so you won't be able to drive with us." Yugi explained and the blond girl's gaze dropped. "But I will be able to walk you home instead. Is that an offer?" He smiled at her flirting.
Rebecca's mood was on top. Yugi would walk her home. That was great. Finally she seemed to get what she wanted. Grabbing her coat she happily left the club with her crush.
After senselessly driving around Domino Kaiba finally decided to head home. There was nowhere he wanted to be, actually, and nothing seemed to take off his mind from these disturbing thoughts anyway. After parking the car he entered the house. It was quiet and no single noise could be heard apart from the ticking of different clocks. Seto was glad. He assumed that Mokuba and Serenity were probably already in bed.
Striding up the staircase Seto walked to his bedroom and took off his jacket as well as his shirt, leaving him in a simple t-shirt. Sleep wasn't to claim over him yet and he sat down on his small desk, switching on the laptop. It had always been helping to take his mind off unnecessary things. Things like women. Women like Tea or even Serenity. He just hoped Tea had finally understood that he had no mind to repeat anything from their spent night again with her. It had been a mistake to do so in the first place.
And Serenity – he just had to get used to her being with his brother. Seto loved the guy to bits and there was no way, he would be standing in his way to be happy with the one and only girl the older Kaiba had ever had feelings for. Mokuba came first and that was final. Serenity was a nice girl but falling in love with someone and cherishing someone were two different things in the end and who was Kaiba to know if things would turn out good between him and her if they were together. He would need a guarantee. There was no such, of course. The main reason for him being still single.
If only he could block that woman from out of his mind, or at least his heart. Then he could be cruel to her like to the rest of the world. But he might work on himself to be cruel to her and maybe so he could block her out. Seto sighed which sounded more like a low growl. He was hungry and hadn't even eaten anything so far today. If Mokuba knew, he would lecture him about healthy food for three long weeks.
Reluctantly Seto made his way down into the kitchen. Opening the fridge he immediately saw the result of Mokuba's cooking try next to an half of an ordered pizza. Why didn't he let the girl cook! Seto's stomach almost decided against food seeing the half chicken of a cooking result and cast his eyes to the half pizza. Even worse he thought and closed the fridge. Deep in thought what the hell he could eat he stood there not moving a single eyelash. It was never a good idea to eat at night when not a single maid was here to cook him something.
"Hey." A careful female voice penetrated his ears.
Seto turned with a start, so sudden that the fragile looking woman flinched. "What're you doing here?"
"I couldn't sleep." She replied carefully, again dressed in this large shirt of Mokuba. "Mokuba's sleeping like a stone and I thought I could drink a cup of tea or so." Her voice sounded so small and careful that she almost was whispering.
"Go ahead." Kaiba moved out of the way for Serenity to put on the kettle. In elegant tiny steps she crossed the space to the counter and filled the kettle with water and finally, put it on. Seto watched her from the corner of his eyes, acting as if he was reading the paper once again.
"Where's the tea?" Serenity asked casting her hazel eyes at Kaiba, meeting his blue stare. It reminded her of the moon. She couldn't help it. If Kaiba was the night, his eyes would be the shiny bluish glistening full moon at the clear dark night sky.
Seto pointed at the cupboard above her. "Left side."
"What are you doing here? I thought you were going out." With a bit courage she asked the tall brown haired liking a bit small talk.
"First of all, I live here. Second, I was out, what's absolutely none of your business." He snapped at her in order to fulfill his thought about being cruel to her to get her out of his system.
"Sorry." She whispered. "Would you like to have a cup of tea as well?" Politeness bid her to ask while she was taking one of the packages out of the cupboard.
Kaiba shook his head in reply. He could see how nervous she got under his cold behavior and slightly it pained him even. She was taking out a teacup and waited for the water to boil. Clenching his fist he gazed at her with narrowed eyes. He hated himself for liking her and forced himself to look away when his stomach gave a growling noise which was even kind of embarrassing.
"Are you hungry?" She asked when she turned to where the noise was coming from. "I could make you something, if you want me to."
Pure innocence gazed at Kaiba and he felt weak. "You would?"
The girl nodded. "Of course. What do you like?" She opened the fridge to look inside.
"None of Mokuba's experiments and none of the pizza. Disgusting!" He crossed his arms.
"Omelets? There are plenty of eggs in there. Are you and Mokuba trying to rise your potency?" Serenity giggled at her joke but stopped immediately seeing the furrowed brows of Kaiba.
"Well, Mokuba eats a lot of them. I'm sure you've noticed." A smirk appeared on Seto's face when he stood up to get himself a plate. "I take omelet, yes, thank you." He stated and sat down at the table with his plate.
While Serenity was cooking she tried to figure out what Kaiba had meant and soon got it. He didn't mean Mokuba's habit of eating loads of eggs but his potency. Had it been a joke? Or what kind of comment had it been? Serenity didn't get it. Instead she made sure she made a well tasting meal for the older Kaiba brother in order to befriend him. When she was going to live a life with Mokuba, his brother should at least like her.
"He likes to eat cake." Quite a questioning gaze met the sitting form of Seto, not looking at her whilst speaking. "Mokuba. He likes cake, freshly baked. Didn't you know so far? He even bakes it sometimes all alone. He's really good at that. Just cooking's not his strength."
Serenity watched Kaiba talk while he was reading a magazine. How he did that was unbelievable to her but she liked his casual talk, telling her about his brother's likings and disliking. It amazed her how casual Seto could be at all. It had been many years since Battle City where she had last seen him and so far, he hadn't changed much. But being close to him like a family member she almost liked him. There he sat in his plain white t-shirt, gazing interested in his magazine and talking about his brother.
"Here you go." The auburn haired woman said when she served Kaiba's meal. Sitting down opposite him she smiled and drank from her tea.
Kaiba didn't hesitate. He was so hungry after all and actually, he liked omelets quite an awful lot. Taking the fork he began to eat the by the way very well tasting food. He couldn't deny that this awkward situation held something strange. Serenity was cooking for him while they casually held small talk. Like in marriage, Kaiba thought and immediately regretted even thinking of it when his hunger suddenly faded. He stared at the food on his plate.
"Something wrong? Does it taste bad?" The woman dared to ask.
"It's awful." Kaiba stated and shoved the plate away, heading up to leave. "I'm not hungry anymore." He cruelly stated and left the kitchen.
Serenity stared after him. She could have sworn he liked what she had cooked and tasting a bit of her own meal, she couldn't see a reason why to judge it as awful tasting. Something was really wrong with that man! Just when she thought he was normal, he made an act like that. However, she needed to get used to it whatever crazy mind was held in that big brother of her boyfriend.
"So, here we are." Yugi said when he had walked Rebecca to her front porch.
"Yeah, it had been nice of you to walk me home. Thank you very much, Yugi." The blonde smiled at him and fiddled within her small hand bag quite nervously.
"Welcome." He pushed his hands deeper in his coat pockets. It was cold and the night air hit his skin like needles but he didn't mind.
"Well…" She said and took a deep breath gazing up with her beautiful green eyes at the young man. "You could come inside and have a coffee to warm you up before you go." She offered with another sweet smile.
"No, thank you. I don't want to bother you." He chuckled slightly.
"You wouldn't." Finally grabbing hold of her keys she shook her head reassuringly.
"Thanks, but I'll go home considering the time now." It was far after midnight and Yugi was tired, after all.
"Okay. Will I be seeing you tomorrow?" She asked with hope in her eyes.
"Yeah. Rainmen's?"
The blonde nodded and smiled while Yugi was gazing at her pretty face. She loved those big violet eyes of his. Yugi had been really nice that evening and she felt her heart rate rise being with him. Leaning quickly closer she put her usual goodnight kiss on his cheek before she gazed into his soft big eyes. It was do or die time and she bent forward once more, kissing his lips. Carefully she had placed her soft lips against his and was lucky to find him replying to her lips' request.
Yugi felt his face flush and the heat rise within himself. He tenderly wrapped his arms around her slim waist and touched her back ever so lightly. Though the cool night breeze had made his lips quite rough, it didn't bother him to open his mouth slightly, begging with his tongue for entry between those carefully colored pink lips. The girl willingly accepted what was waiting for her and hung her arms around the young man's neck. Totally flushed she was on cloud number nine when Yugi suddenly pulled away.
"I'm…" Nervously Yugi avoided to look into the girl's eyes. "I'm sorry, Rebecca, but I can't do this."
"But you did. You wanted it, too." She pouted with a desperate expression in her sweet eyes.
"I know but…" Yugi ran a hand through the blond strands of his hair. "We shouldn't do this. It won't work out."
"But… why?" Rebecca begged with her eyes for an answer. She couldn't believe why Yugi suddenly tried to look for excuses not to be with her. "Don't you like me?"
"I do. Believe me, I do." He sighed thoughtfully and took her small hand in his. "I will be honest, okay, Becky? It won't work out between the two of us because you're too young for me. I like you and all but I really can't be with you. You're just sixteen, Becky."
"That's a lame excuse, Yugi." She wasn't convinced and Yugi smiled sadly. "You're twenty-four and that makes only eight years between us. What are eight years? Between Joey's and Mai's ages are also eight years and they're happy, even though Joey's younger than Mai. And he's a guy and I'm a girl."
"I know but I'm not Joey, nor Mai. I am who I am and you, Rebecca, are too young for me. I'm sorry." The girl suddenly pulled her hand away from his after he had tried to explain.
"I don't believe a single word." She called out to him. "Why don't you admit that you're in love with someone else?"
"What? Why should I? I'm in love with no one and that's the truth. In includes you, too, Becky and I'm sorry for that but I can't change it. Please, don't be mad at me." He begged and hoped for her to understand but it was to expect that she wouldn't. Life had its own rules and even with yet another A diploma Rebecca couldn't afford the higher life experience compared to an eight years older guy.
Rebecca was shaking her head violently and grabbed hold of the door, turning the knob to enter her house with nothing more said. Yugi stared at the closed door for a while before he finally realized that she had gone. Sighing and slightly mad at himself he turned to walk home. Again he pushed his hands deep down into his coat pocket and cursed whilst walking.
Why was he so stupid? He had rejected the probably most beautiful girl in Domino and now she was really mad at him, he supposed. Why couldn't he just let it happen, even if he wasn't in love with her. Maybe it would have come in time. But no, he just couldn't do that. He had been honest and had told her why he couldn't be with her. He hadn't lied. Not even when he said he wasn't in love with someone else. He wasn't in love with Tea!
Yugi could admit, he had feelings for Tea but was it love? He couldn't get Kaiba's words out of his mind, that was for sure. When he had heard them, he didn't know what to say or to do. He had no right to accuse Tea for something, she wasn't his girlfriend. But she was his friend and she had been lying to him. That would certainly give him the right to be mad at her but it didn't change the fact that he felt awful thinking for his best friend having spent a night with Kaiba.
Yugi even could understand if Tea felt bad about what had happened between her and Kaiba. If it had been just because they were drunk and she thought of it as a mistake, then she certainly even felt embarrassed. Though there was no need in lying to Yugi. Didn't she trust him? Wasn't she trusting him enough to tell him? However, something else was also making Yugi highly confused. What it Tea didn't feel about her night with Kaiba as a mistake? What if she was in love with him? Kaiba wasn't. So far Yugi knew. But what about Tea?
Still, thinking of Tea being possibly in love with Kaiba made Yugi feel sad. Even angry but that was secondary. Simply sad he was, considering that Tea probably preferred even Kaiba to Yugi, not just Yami. If only he would be Yami. But he wasn't. He was Yugi, Tea's best friend who she obviously didn't trust. She had been lying and Yugi was mad at her. Final.
Serenity climbed silently back into bed where Mokuba was lying peacefully asleep. She had cleaned the kitchen a bit after cooking for Seto and had drunk her tea before she finally felt tired enough to join her boyfriend. Carefully she tried not to wake him up when she laid down beside him but his hand immediately reached out to wrap itself around her. Sleepily snuggling up close the young man blinked.
"Where have you been?" He asked in a sleep filled raspy voice.
"Downstairs. I couldn't sleep and drank some tea." Serenity replied stroking across his hand softly. "I met your brother. He's some really weird guy."
Mentioning the word weird in connection with Mokuba's big brother made him wider awake than Serenity had meant to with her words.
"Why do you think he's weird?"
The woman sighed. "When I came down he was quite unfriendly but I didn't mind, really. He seemed hungry and I offered to make him something, what I did in the end after he had accepted my offer. He ate a few, then shoved it away, mentioning that it tasted 'awful', and left. If you don't call that weird, what else!"
"Hm… and? Did it taste 'awful'?" Mokuba grinned not believing that his brother was that unfriendly.
Serenity gazed at her boyfriend quite madly but her gaze softened. "I don't think it matters in the end. I've made the effort to cook in the middle of the night and he could at least be polite enough not to say, it tasted awful."
"Politeness may not be his strength."
The auburn haired sighed. "Your brother simply can't stand me, that's it."
"Bullshit. Maybe he was just tired." Mokuba could be at least as stubborn as his brother when it came to defending him.
"If you say so." Serenity yawned and snuggled closer to Mokuba. At the moment she couldn't care less about Kaiba's reasons for being such a bastard. She finally was tired and fell asleep soon after.
Tea fell in her bed dead tired and yet she couldn't stop her thoughts drifting to the latest events. Kaiba. He refused talking to her and that was her lowest problem. That arrogant and selfish human being had the most stubborn nature Tea had ever met. Did he really think she wanted to beg him to be with her? He couldn't be any more wrong. But still, Tea knew they couldn't avoid talking with each other about what had happened. It might sound stupid but the whole 'thing' hurt her honor and with that she couldn't live.
But that wasn't her biggest problem, now. Yugi knew about what had truly happened after hearing Kaiba's word. But he had ignored her. He had acted totally strange. He hadn't said a single word to the woman afterwards. Instead he clung to Rebecca as if he was suddenly on cloud number nine. Tea had disappointed Yugi. She had lied to him but acting as if he didn't even care was evidence enough that he wasn't interested in her life, anyway.
Tea sighed, staring at the dark ceiling. Why was life such a mess?
Yawning she knew what she had to do. She was to face her mistakes and make it up. She needed to talk to Yugi and apologize for lying to him. And then she needed to talk to Kaiba in order to rescue the last bit of remaining honor she had - if Kaiba wanted to or not.
(A/N: I need to heat it up again, what do you think? Maybe a little bit of Yugi and Kaiba punching each other? LOL
I love you for your reviews - keep them coming!)
