Magnolia Blossoms: Nine

Mokuba smirked to himself. It was precisely 7:34 on a Saturday morning. Rosie had called Callie to say that she could show up late, since she was taking Mokuba to breakfast, since the boy had murdered the Kaiba's kitchen the night before. Now, they were back at the house, and Mokuba was remembering around a week ago, when Callie told him she owed him. Her debt was about to be repaid.

He stood in the doorway of the Kaiba mansion, waiting for Callie's car to pull up. The sleek, midnight blue car showed up a few minutes later, and before Callie was even unbuckled, Mokuba was in the car with her. The girl pulled her glasses down on her nose (she was wearing them for once, having decided that her contacts were the root of all evil in the world, and were out to make her go blind), and raised one eyebrow at the boy. He gave her an innocent grin, his grey eyes sparkling.

"You owe me, remember?" he said, grinning manically. She sighed.

"Fine, Mokuba, where too? And is this something to keep hidden from your brother, or what?" she asked, pushing her glasses back up so she could see clearly. The young Kaiba nodded.

"Damn, Mokuba, are you trying to get me fired?" Callie asked, turning her car back on. He smiled sweetly at her.

"Just tell Seto we went to your house if he asks," he said. She sighed, and then turned to him. He gave her an odd look, and she sighed once more.

"I don't know where I'm going, Mokuba…" she reminded him.

"Oh yeah! Here, I'll give you directions."

Five wrong turns, two brake slams and ten minutes later, Mokuba finally got his directions right. Callie parked her car quickly, looking up at the green-roofed shop and noting the sign. "Now, why would your brother have such a problem with you going into a game shop, Mokuba?" she asked, eyeing him. He was up to something, that was for sure.

The black-haired boy got out of the car, making Callie get out as well. He grinned at her over the top of the car. "Well, it's not exactly the place, it's the people who run it." She raised an eyebrow once more, tangling some of her platinum hair around her fingers.

"What are they, addicts? Or are they normal people? Your brother seems adverse to both," she muttered, coming around the car to stand next to him, looking up at the shop. Mokuba rolled his eyes. Both Callie and Seto liked to make vicious little quips about the other, though Seto tended to be more vicious and vocal than Callie was. Luckily, he was relatively used to it, seeing as Seto made snide remarks about Yugi and his friends, and Joey did the same when Seto wasn't around.

"They're pretty normal…you'll see." Callie twitched slightly. That 'you'll see' sounded like Aidan's 'you'll see'. And the last time 'she'd seen' something…she'd ended up staying up all night with one very, very scared Aidan, who'd tricked her into taking him to see a horror movie. Needless to say…neither of them had slept, Aidan from fright, and Callie because he wouldn't let her sleep.

"Whatever," she muttered, and followed him inside the shop. The boy ran ahead, but she followed at a more sedate pace: it was still early in the morning, and she'd been up late. By the time she'd caught up to him, he'd attracted the attention of a group of teens that were by the countertop.

"Hey, Mokuba! You looking for some cards?" one of them, a blonde-haired, amber-eyed boy asked. Callie watched Mokuba light up in delight.

"Well, I wasn't, but are there any new ones?" he asked, looking at some of the other teens. Callie noted that these two were look-alikes, the only difference being that one was taller, and had bolts of blonde in his tri-colored hair. Then she realized that they had different eye colors, as well.

She stood quietly, watching the group. There were six of them altogether, including the three she'd already seen talking to Mokuba. There was a pretty girl, with brown hair and blue eyes, who was smiling at the teen she vaguely recognized as the pizza guy from the other night. The last teen was a boy with long, white hair, and kind brown eyes. Kind, brown eyes that happened to be looking straight at her.

"Mokuba, shouldn't you introduce your friend?" the boy asked softly, turning towards the eager Kaiba.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" he said, detaching from the group and grabbing Callie's hand. He pulled her forward, causing her to stumble slightly.

"Whoa, there," the blonde said, reaching out to steady her.

"Guys, this is Calandra Haveles. Don't call her that, though, or she'll hurt you. Callie, this is Yami, Yugi, Ryou, Joey, Tristan, and Tea. They're my friends," Mokuba said cheerfully, pointing to each one as he said their name.

"Hi," Callie said, smiling slightly at them. Tea frowned, looking thoughtful.

"Have we met before? You look kinda familiar." Callie winced.

"Nah, I don't think so. I've not had that much time to hit the town since moving here, sadly."

Tea's eyes lit up. "Really? We'll have to take you sometime! I can show you all the good places to shop and hang out. Sound good?" she asked. Callie grinned.

"Sounds awesome to me." She was distracted by Joey's voice a second later.

"Hey, Mokuba, how'd you get Kaiba to let you come here, huh?" Callie folded her arms and looked at the younger Kaiba, who was grinning sheepishly.

"Well, Callie owed me, and I didn't tell her how much he hates you guys…" the boy offered. Callie snorted.

"Your brother hates everyone except for you," she muttered. Wry grins appeared on Yami and Ryou's faces. Joey, however, was nodding vigorously. Callie paused. "Erm…out of plain curiosity, why does Kaiba Senior hate you all?" Joey's eyes widened.

"You don't know?" he gasped. Callie raised an eyebrow.

"Should I know?" she wondered aloud. Mokuba giggled as Joey grabbed hold of the woman and Yami, forcing the two of them to sit down as he launched into the story of Kaiba's defeat, Yami correcting him here and there. Ten minutes later, Callie was rubbing her temples. Halfway through the story, Joey and Tristan (who had been listening) had gotten into a very vocal argument. But she'd gotten the gist of the story. Kaiba Senior had been beaten, had been throwing a hissy fit ever since, and was holding a grudge. It wasn't that hard to imagine. She abandoned Yami to deal with Joey and Tristan, heading over to Ryou and Tea, who were talking quietly. Mokuba was chatting eagerly with Yugi. She began to lose track of time, finding that she enjoyed hanging out with these guys.

Her cell phone's ring cut through the conversation. She rolled her eyes, figuring it was probably her aunt calling to say that she needed her to pick up some milk or something.

"Hey, talk to me," she said, still braiding a strand of Tea's hair. She froze as she heard the familiar, icy voice.

"Calandra, where the hell are you and Mokuba?"


A/N: Here's the ninth chapter…shorter interval between updates this time! Meh.

Twilight: I hope this was fast enough. I'll probably be updating more quickly now, because I've discovered that it takes my mind off of things I'd rather not think about. Yeah, gargoyles. I want some in my room, but my mom said no, because I have the tendency to wake up and see things. Yeah. Heh. I never had a canopy bed because it would have died. As it is, I killed my last bed by jumping up and down on it with a friend. It snapped. At least it was a really cool noise….

Victoria: Thank you very much! I'm glad you like those sparks. I really wanted to ease into the relationship, but not have it be a love/hate type of thing, more like…teasing quips and such.

JewelValentine: I sound like you? Don't tell my friends-they think one of me is bad enough. Yeah. Muahahaha. Thank you for the review!

Hero Girl of Brien: Heh…so the tradition's back for now! Thanks for the review. I'm not sure about really, really big cliffhanger…that will be in a while. Giggle.

Setalina Muro: Heh…it did take a while, didn't it? Attack her? Haha. That would have been funny, I admit…but he might not have liked the results. There are a few things hidden within the annoying girl named Callie….Muahaha. No…she's not a martial artist. She would probably kill herself by mistake.