Can I Keep You?
By: Starian Princess

Part 2

It was late afternoon as Mokuba Kaiba sat on his bed, carefully thinking over his situation again. After they had gotten their ice creams yesterday, he and Tea had walked all the way to the mansion. Not that he minded though. They had engaged in a conversation that went from school to girls. He sighed as he remembered how Tea had casually asked.

After talking about how awful some teachers could be like his Math teacher who loved tormenting him and how he didn't want to tell Seto since he wanted to deal with this himself, Tea had suddenly popped in, "So are there girls in your class?"

He hadn't really thought about it and answered almost immediately, "Yeah, there are. In fact, there's this dance thing next month at school where the guys are supposed to ask someone to be their partner and preferably, we haveto ask someone from our class."

"Oh? We didn't have many interactions back when we were in elementary." Tea thoughtfully stated then she'd gone further with asking, "So do you have a particular girl in mind already?"

Almost immediately did he picture the dancer beside him in a long flowing evening gown, maybe with frills or just a black one that heightened her natural curves? But of course he couldn't voice out his musings, so he'd turned to the girl and answered, "Nah, I don't think I want to go to this thing anyways."

"What! You don't mean that, do you?" The distress was so evident in her voice that he had almost decided to take back what he had stated. But no, he knew the truth. The one thing that he wanted most was to openly be able to say how much his "big sister" meant to him, and the dance was the perfect place to start. But in reality, how could he possibly ask her to it?

He really loved her, he did. Ever since the day she had helped him escape from the ghouls in Battle City, he knew in his heart that he'd do anything to make her happy.

He closed his eyes as he pictured her face with the brightest smile in the world. He would have loved to think that he was the reason for it.

He opened his eyes and as a single tear fell as he realized, 'Even if it meant that I wouldn't exactly be the person to receive it, it would still be alright.'

And with the determination still in his eyes, he jumped off the bed ready to carry out what he needed to do, what hewanted to do for the two people who would appreciate it the most.


Walking through the crowd, he finally reached the bridge and the sight that greeted him was the best thing he'd seen all day.

Waving at him, wearing a white kimono with pink sakura petals was the girl that had captivated his very soul.

He smiled boyishly as he waved back. He was happy to see her and he needn't speak for he knew it showed.

"Were you waiting long?" He inquired, fixing his gaze on her face. He used that time to take in her features; the way her hair would sway so gracefully with the wind, the way her eyes could shimmer so beautifully during the night, the way her lips curved into the perfect smile, and of course the way she blushed as she noticed his intense gaze at her.

"No, it's fine. I just got here even." She was also the cutest thing in the world, he'd added to his mental list of adjectives used to describe her with. The way she fidgeted under his stare made him feel like he was much older than his age. It made him feel that she truly regarded him as a person, hisown person.

He turned to look at the evening sky. The stars were twinkling and his smile widened for he knew, it was a perfect night. Everything seemed to be perfect today and he slightly faltered with the plan that he had imprinted in his head.

'I wonder if this is a sign for me to-' He stopped mid-thought. No, he knew it wasn't right. He had come to meet her with a mission. That's right, he had an important mission to fulfill and if he didn't hurry, he would miss his chance.

After quickly glancing at his watch for a few brief seconds, he turned to look again at the dancer and gulped.

'It's now or never!'

"Hey um… Tea, do you remember that dance we were talking about yesterday?" To this, she turned to him and nodded her head. Her eyes trained on his as she waited for where this conversation would go.

"I was wondering… Since you were disappointed about me not going and all, I was well… thinking… if maybe… you could go with me to it…" He mumbled the last part and awaited her verdict, inwardly wondering if she'd caught everything he'd said.

A giggle from his companion proved that she had. He looked up as the flush color on his cheeks grew far more evident than when he had asked her the question. He gasped softly though, as he watched her eyes glitter far brighter. That could only mean one thing.

"I would love to." He almost started to rejoice when a hand cupped his cheek.

He tentatively looked up again.

"But don't you think I'm a bit too old though?" It wasn't a refusal because he could hear the amusement clearly in her voice. So he smiled shaking his head and answering, "Of course not. You're perfect. You'dbe the perfect date."

He didn't know what her reaction would be for he knew he had hinted something there. But his eyes widened as he felt her lean forward and give him a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you Mokuba. You're the sweetest thing." She whispered in his ear before she drew back.

A few minutes passed as his face turned into one of complete seriousness. Putting the situation earlier aside, he gulped again before letting the words out.

"Could I ask you another question, Tea?"

"Sure." She answered, not facing him. And in his heart he knew, she expected that he would ask this next question.

"Honestly, do you like my big brother?"

Silence followed and he sighed, coming to the conclusion that she would not give him an answer.

"Yes, I do. Perhaps, more than he would ever realize, Mokuba, I do like him very much." Once again she had surprised him. He turned to face her.

And she turned to face him. "But that's our little secret for now, okay?" She smiled. She seemed to be taking this a lot better than he'd expected. Yes, he knew she was strong.

"Now, Mokuba, could I ask you a question?"

"Um… sure!" He answered almost immediately as he regarded her. What could there possibly be left to ask?

As he thought this, he failed to realize her coming closer and going down in a crouching position so that they were within eye level.

"Can I keep you?"

"What?" For the second time, his eyes widened. What was she saying?

"Mokuba, no matter what happens I want to always be here for you. I want to be at least one of the people you run to when you need help. So can I keep you right here?" He watched as she gestured to her chest, right over her heart.

And he smiled as tears began to fall down his cheeks.

"Always."


The sky began to grow brighter as the first wave of fireworks covered the sky. Tea stared up as she wiped away the last of her earlier tears.

"Now, where did Mokuba run off to?" She muttered, asking no one in particular. The young Kaiba had simply took off ten minutes ago saying that he needed to use the toilet. She silently prayed for him to return soon since she didn't want to be left to watch the fireworks alone.

"Gardner?"

She turned around to face none other than his older brother.

"Kaiba? What are you doing here?"

"That was what I was going to ask you." He then placed a hand in his pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled note.

"Mokuba asked me to meet him here."

"Well, that's odd. I asked Mokuba to meet me here." As she was about to add that the boy had told her that he was busy with work tonight, her eyes widened as realization dawned her.

She turned to face the other brunette and couldn't help but smile. It seemed that he had comprehended the little ploy as well. But just before any of them could say anything, the sky began to fill with more firecrackers as the second wave broke out.

They both looked up, too captivated to say anything.

Unknown to either one of them though, a boy stood hidden amongst the crowd. He brought a hand up to touch the place where he had received his first kiss from the dancer.

And he too smiled as he watched his older brother edge closer towards girl, carefully planting a hand on the small of her back and guiding her closer to stand beside him.

-OWARI-

"I'm like a child in a chocolate shop looking for the perfect piece of chocolate. And just when I'm about to cry because I can't seem to find any, you come along and I realize that I don't need chocolates. You're the sweetest thing."