I DO NOT OWN YU-GI-OH!

Chapter 3 – I've Become so Numb

Kaiba had seen her fall, and was shocked as she had tumbled down for what seemed like eternity.

He pulled out his cell and emmediately dialed 911.

He got on the railing of the stairs, and slid down quickly to the bottom, and easily landed on his feet, and rushed over to her. He grabbed her shoulder and flipped her gently onto her back. There was a big gash on her forehead, blood trickling down her face and neck.

She groaned, and he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief she wasn't dead. He didn't particularly like her, but he still didn't like to watch people die. Suffer maybe, but not die.

He got someone on his phone and there was an ambulance on its way. He looked down at her, and frowned. Kaiba couldn't help but think about the impending lawsuit. It wasn't like he couldn't handle something as trivial as this, though. He stopped himself.

He actually found himself wincing at his own thoughts; she was hurt, and all he could think about was money and his reputation.

He waited by her side, and called someone else on his phone to assist him until the ambulance arrived. A few men came upon the scene, but were equally as dumbfounded as Kaiba slightly felt. They didn't know what to do for an unconscious girl who had just fallen down a large flight of stairs.

A part of Kaiba wanted to flee the scene, and let the others take care of this mess, but another part of him felt it was his responsibility to stay by her side.

Kaiba couldn't help but feel impatient, though. Where was the ambulance? Shouldn't they get there faster than this? There was a beep from his phone, and he brought it up to his ear and answered curtly, "What?"

"This is the ambulance you sent for Mr. Kaiba! We're stuck in traffic on the highway. There's been a major accident, but we're on our way! Just hold on!"

Kaiba growled in frustration, and hung up the phone. He looked down at her. He couldn't just leave her there, sprawled out like that. He reached under Tea and lifted her gingerly in his arms, even as others protested that he shouldn't move her. He ignored them.

If it was indeed going to be a while before the ambulance got there, might as well get her off the hard floor and clean her up. He was amazed at how light and frail she felt in his arms. He walked a short distance to a guest room and set her down on the bed.

Her head lolled to one side, and blood smeared on her forehead. One of his men brought up a wet towel, and put it in Kaiba's hands, even though he didn't ask for it. He wanted one of them to do this, not him! But somehow, he didn't feel like arguing and barking orders, and reached over and wiped the blood from her face.

It was hard to imagine that just a moment ago, she was fuming, her small body tense from the words they had spoken to eachother about the duel and the sponsorship.

He growled at her stupidity and clumsiness. If she had only waited for the damn elevator, she woudn't be in this mess. That and the fact that her shoes were big and bulky, just another catalyst to her fall.

He sighed angrily at the sudden memory of watching her roll down the steps like a glass doll, shattering and cracking with every step's impact.

He stood and threw the rag at one of his men. Maybe he would bark some orders and get the hell out of there. "Clean her up, and call me as soon as the ambulance arrives." He replied, and walked out of the room, leaving the men to clean her up and straighten things out.

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It had been almost an hour, and Kaiba was getting impatient. Even though he was in his office, trying to continue his work, his mind was wandering back to Tea and the very late ambulance.

He was about to call for another one, when his phone rang again, and he was informed that his ambulance had gotten into an accident itself enroute, and they had just found out it. It would be another few minutes before a new one arrived.

He hung the phone up on them, frustrated. What if someone was dying? The hospital, of all places, was expected to be efficient. He couldn't stand it anymore, and made his way back to the guest room where Tea was lying.

When he walked in, there were two men, sitting and talking to eachother in the corner, next to the window, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. They saw Kaiba, and froze to attention. He ignored them and went up to Tea.

Amazingly, the men had done a good bandaging job with their first aid kit. Fresh bruises were visibly coming to surface, though, and there wasn't enough bandaids to cover all of those. She was sleeping peacefully it seemed.

"We don't think anything's broken, she's just banged up, we think." Said one of his men.

"Yeah, no major injuries, except that big gash on her head, but I think we stopped the bleeding." Said the other, sounding quite proud of himself. Kaiba was a little impressed himself, although he would never acknowledge it.

Just then there was soft footsteps, and Kaiba turned to see his younger brother, Mokuba walk in cautiously. He came up to his brother. "I just got home, and I was told a girl hurt herself." He said, and leaned in, and was shocked to see it was Tea Gardner! "I didn't know it was Tea! Brother, what happened?"

"She fell down the stairs." Kaiba replied simply.

"How'd that happen?" He pressed.

Kaiba found himself very agitated, even if it was in the presence of Mokuba. "She tripped." He resorted to saying after a little while.

What he didn't say was that she was probably very upset about her failure to beat him in the duel, and the things he had said to her. He was a little surprised though, because he had insulted all of them before, he figured she was used to it by then.

"Why didn't she use the elevator?" Mokuba asked. When did this become 20 questions? Kaiba frowned, and sighed in locked frustration. Mokuba was one of the few –maybe only- people he did not allow himself to get angry with.

"Let's drop it, Mokuba." He commanded softly.

"Okay. I hope she's alright. Will you get mad if I ask where the ambulance is?" Mokuba asked, and saw Kaiba's face twist into a deeper frown, and he looked to the window, as if trying to spot something.

"They're on the way, supposedly." He said, and crossed his arms and looked back to Mokuba, who was looking sadly at Tea. Just then Kaiba thought he saw Tea's eye lids flutter. He turned his attention to her, and saw her brow frown, and a soft groan escaped her chapped lips.

Her eyes opened slowly, and she looked around.

"Wha-what am I doing here? What happened?" She asked and tried to sit up, but winced and laid back down. "Kaiba?" She asked as she saw him across the room near the wall next to the window.

"Tea! You're finally awake!" Mokuba exclaimed and she looked by her side to see the young man there.

"Mokuba... what happened?" She asked and blinked a few times, the room around her spinning a little.

"You fell, Tea. How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." She reached up and touched her forehead, and found some bandages. Then she saw the bruises on her arms. She began to remember... her eyes went wide when she did.

She fell down the stairs! She was alive?

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When the ambulance finally arrived and the doctors checked Tea out, she was determined as just having a few bumps and bruises –but no fractures or broken limbs. And when the paramedics arrived -she sure seemed lively enough as she struggled and looked really pissed off at the household's owner.

They took her away to the hospital for further examination and to meet up with her parents.

Mokuba sighed when the front door closed and turned to his brother, who was standing towards the back of the lobby, his arms folded –his face plain with a slight frown.

"Brother, what was she doing here?" Mokuba asked, curious.

Kaiba scoffed and began to head back up the stairs. "She wanted me to sponsor her dance club."

"And?" Mokuba prodded, heading up after his brother.

"I told her I would if she could beat me in a duel." He laughed slightly. "She lost of course."

"And?" Mokuba asked, trying to get more info out of his brother.

"And she was so upset she left in a hurry..." He left it at that as they reached the top of the stairs.

Mokuba stopped at the top of the stairs, resting slightly on the railing as he pondered the rest. She must have been really upset and tried to use the elevator, but it wasn't fast enough, and decided to storm down the stairs –in a disasterous conclusion she had fallen and was knocked unconscious.

Mokuba looked up finally to see that Seto had disappeared from sight. He chased after him, to his bedroom, where he was taking off his jacket.

"You know, you should sponsor them. It's the least you could do." Mokuba replied, and saw his brother pause for a moment, as if the words he spoke were in a different language than his own. Mokuba knew his brother all too well. He'd just have to find a way to convince him.

"It's not like she can sue me –I have the best lawyers in all of Japan, and frankly, it was entirely her fault, so I shouldn't have to feel the need to pay her back." Kaiba ground out the last three words.

"Seto... I think you should sponsor them. At least it'll show that you feel sorry for her accident."

"But sponsoring them will only show that I'm trying to cover up for something –which I'm not."

Mokuba frowned. Geeze, his brother sure was stubborn sometimes. Mokuba lately had begun to see that his brother desperately needed something else in his life. Maybe being around people his age –and girls for that matter- would be good for him. He was always so into his work, that he never took any time off for himself.

Mokuba agreed to himself that he would convince his big brother to not only sponsor them, but also interact with them. "Big brother. Just think of it. If you sponsor their club, then that would be some good advertisement. Think of it; Kaiba Corp logos on all their unforms, teeshirts, and posters. Plus when they travel around, they'd have to spread our good name. And... also consider that once they're under your sponsorship, you could technically be their boss, threatening to pull the plug at any time... you could get them to pretty much do whatever you want."

Mokuba watched as his brother pondered this new information. He was getting to him.

"And remember, female sales have dropped considerably over the past few months. With a dance club, we could perhaps pick up our sales in that area. We could even have a contest where it was only girls allowed to attend –a dancing duelist day or something... c'mon brother, you have to realize the potential this could bring to Kaiba Corp."

Kaiba squinted and thought deeply about this. Mokuba made a good point...

A/N: Alright! This is the real beginning of the brand new plot! the revised plot will be more on Kaiba and his sponsorship to the dance club -and all the fun stuff that follows! yay! please have faith in me that this is gonna be so much better than where it was originally leading! okay, i have to go, but expect more from this story -as i have been drawn to it as of late, and the new plot is getting my creative juices flowing. Don't worry, though, fans of 'Cast Away...' it's gonna be updated soon too. till then, bye!