NOTE: Sorry it took a while to get this chapter up. I wrote half of it in Chicago, took a break with it in writing chapters to my other fics, then re started, changing a bit of my plans with it. I intended to make this chapter contain the whole…well, never mind…you'll find out soon enough. Anywho, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Just like I don't own this laptop, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter 10: Foreign Feelings

October

Noa and Mokuba walked in the front doors at about 12:00 pm. They dropped their stuff and the door. Yet something didn't feel right….

"Hmm…it's quiet…too quiet," Noa commented.

Tea's usually about done making lunch…" Mokuba finished. They ran to the kitchen to see what had happened.

Noa entered first, and stopped abruptly. He smiled and turned around slowly, practically bumping into Mokuba. He held his brother back.

"We can have lunch later, Moke," Noa said, still smiling.

"Why?" Mokuba replied trying to peek over Noa's shoulder. Noa stepped aside and let Mokuba through.

"Oh! I see…" he whispered. Tea and Seto were still asleep with their heads resting on the counter.

Tea had her head on one of her arms. The other arm was lying loosely on the counter…nearer to Seto. Seto had his forehead on one of his arms, and the other one was on the counter as well.

"Hey Noa, let's just eat something small, and stare at them until they wake up," Mokuba tried holding back a laugh.

"Why not?" Noa shrugged his shoulders. He walked inside quietly and went for the crackers. Mokuba went for some Spagettios cans. Noa began bringing out the bowls too.

After pouring the Spaghettios in the bowls and putting them in the microwave (which didn't, somehow, wake the two up), they sat down across from them, and ate…and watched them for any of the slightest movements.

Their patience was rewarded. Seto stirred slightly and mumbled something in his sleep. His hand "flopped" over onto Tea's. He grasped it. The two brothers turned and smiled at each other, trying not to laugh. If Seto knew what he was doing…he'd probably die of shock…or embarrassment.

Mokuba turned around in his seat, "Geez, why is the TV still on? It's wrecking the moment! Who cares about Suzuki automobiles?" Mokuba muttered, turning the TV off.

Tea's head shot up at the absence of the television sound. She didn't see her hand been clutched, yet.

Tea rubbed her eyes, "Oh…you guys back so early?"

The two boys looked at each other, "Early? Tea, it's 12:00," Noa commented.

"WHAT?"

Seto's head shot up at the shout, "Geez, Gardener! What'd you have to shout for?"

"I've gotta make lunch for you guys!" Tea jumped down from the chair, and stopped. She turned around and looked at her hand, "Um, Kaiba…you can let go of my hand now."

Seto looked at her strangely, "What?" Then, he looked down. His eyes widened and he let go immediately. Tea gave a "whatever" look and ran into the kitchen, ranting on to herself about how she slept in…she had to make lunch…and Seto had held her hand for some strange reason….

Seto turned back to his brothers and saw them snickering, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," they both blurted out. Then, they erupted into laughter. "Just the look on your face when you saw you were--" more laughter followed. They couldn't finish the sentence. But Seto understood.

"Ha, ha, very funny," he said most sarcastically.

Then, Noa's voice lowered down to a whisper, "So, did you ask her? To the party?"

Seto thought for a moment, having just woke up, "Aw, crap…no I didn't."

"Well…why don't you go ask her now!" Mokuba said.

"S-she's working," Seto retorted. He felt quite uneasy, doing this, as he had never done it before. "I'll ask after lunch."

Sure enough, five minutes later, Tea came round with their lunch. They all sat down and began to eat.

"So…" Mokuba started a conversation, looking at Noa, slyly, "What, um…happened while we were gone? Anything…new?"

"No," Seto answered a little too quickly. They didn't need to know about anything that had happened yesterday.

"Are you sure?" Mokuba pressed on.

"Quite sure," Tea retorted, now she being the one too quick.

"I see," Mokuba frowned a tad.

"Well, I don't," Noa started. All three looked up at him, "I'm still puzzled as to why you two were down here and not upstairs, sleeping." Noa smiled. Tea stared at her food, moving it around. She was getting that "not hungry" feeling again.

Seto came up with a good excuse right on the spot, "It was about 9:00 or so, when I heard some racket downstairs. So, I went to check out what had happened. Sure enough, it was Gardner here, eating a snack and watching some television. It happened to be an American baseball game, and I, somehow, became interested.

"Wait…we have American channels?" Mokuba inquired.

"It seems so; I just found that out yesterday, myself. Well, seeing as these games take hours, and it was quite late at night, one can only imagine that we could fall asleep on the spot."

So he had lied about the time…it would cover that they were still wearing their clothes from yesterday. He wasn't about to tell them it was midnight. Otherwise, he had pretty much covered the whole thing: the television being on, the chips still out…yeah, it was pretty smooth. That is…until Noa saw a loophole.

"If what you say is true, then that game would have taken place between, say, 4:00 and 7:00 in the morning, taking into account that the Central Time Zone over there is in daylight savings now. Now, I don't know much about American customs, but don't games usually occur later?" Noa smiled.

Tea just stared at him, "How did you figure that out without an atlas or something?"

Noa leaned back in his seat, "Sometimes, virtual reality does a mind a lot of good."

Now, Seto was in trouble. He hadn't even thought of the actual time zones, or that his brother would figure it out.

"So, what's the real truth?" Noa inquired. Seto then took a look at his plate.

"It would seem I'm finished eating, so I'm going to go get ready, after starting the day much to late," Seto stood up and left.

The two turned to Tea, "Tea?"

Tea stared at her plate, "Well, what do you know? I'm finished too!" She stood up quickly and left.

Mokuba turned to Noa, "Something happened and they're not telling us what!"

"Don't worry, we'll find out eventually," Noa replied, "We'll find out…."


Tea walked out of the bathroom, having just taken a shower. She walked to her room and stopped. Kaiba was waiting in that same chair he had sat in the night before. When he noticed her in the doorway, he stood up.

"It's about time," he said.

"What do you want?" Tea inquired, tossing her old clothes into the laundry basket in her closet. Then, she turned back to face him.

"I needed to…ask you something."

"Carry on."

"Well…it just so happens that in a month, I have this major party to attend to and…." Tea then interrupted.

"And you want to know if I can look after Noa and Mokuba, right?"

"Gardner, would you just let me finish?" Seto retorted back, hotly.

"Oh…okay, sorry," she apologized, now a tad meeker.

"AND, I need to…bring an…accompaniment…so, I was wondering…if, maybe…you'd like to go…." He ended, fading off.

"Oh!" Tea said, surprised. That had been unexpected, "Well…sure, I guess…."

"Good," Seto murmured.

"What?"

"Nothing…the party is on November 7th. Got that?"

"November 7th…yeah," Tea replied. Seto walked out of the room. Tea closed the door and sat on her bed, "He asked me to accompany him? Why me? Was it just because he couldn't get anyone else…or because I'm easy to find…or because…." She chocked up. No, that answer couldn't be right. Maybe she had those feelings, but he didn't. It had to be one of the other two reasons. "Nevertheless, he did ask me."


November (7th)

Tea took out her dress from her closet, to begin getting ready for the party. It was a white dress, which was a halter-top. Near the top of the dress, the fabric came up and crossed sides, forming a sort of X with a small jewel in the middle. Then, the fabric circled around and met, allowing it to clasp around her neck. The dress came down to her knees.

First, she took a shower, to cleanse herself. Next, she put on the dress, and then styled her hair. She put it up in an elaborate bun, and took a few strands of hair, pulling them down so that they rested on her cheeks.

Finally, after a few more touch-ups, she was ready to go. She grabbed her little dressy purse, and walked down to the front hall. Seeing no one there, she sat down on a couch, and waited. She didn't have to wait long. Kaiba came down the stairs five minutes later.

Tea stood up. Kaiba reached the bottom of the stairs. He finally turned to face Tea. His eyes widened slightly, as one thought ran through his mind, "Wow." Seto couldn't help but to think that she was absolutely gorgeous! The dress…the hairstyle…her face…her eyes…everything seemed to fit together perfectly to make one, beautiful woman! He didn't know why he was thinking this way, but today it was okay. She was meant to look pretty today. Not to mention, the sparkles on her dress helped the whole attire as well.

Just as they were about to walk through the door to get to the limo, that would take them to the party, Mokuba and Noa showed up. The "couple" walked down the steps. The two brothers stood in the doorway, waving slightly.

"Have a good time!" Mokuba said, then he laughed a tad. Seto turned his head back to lightly glare at him. The two stepped into the limo, and it drove off. Noa waved.

Then, the green-haired boy brushed away a pretend tea, "They grow up so fast." The brothers shared a laugh at this, and then closed the door, anticipating the moment the two came home, so that they may pester them about what happened.


Tea looked out the window. That was the only place she wanted to look. Well…okay, there was someone else, but she wasn't about to look at him. Ever since she had given in to her feelings for Seto, she had felt tremendous amounts of stress fly away, and amounts of relief flow in to take its place. She had also been thinking about him more, and wondering if possibly…he loved her back.

No. It was impossible. She knew Seto Kaiba couldn't love. He could be nice; generous, but he couldn't love. He could only love his brothers. Still, a question nagged at her….


Seto stared out the opposite window. He was thinking deeply…or rather, feeling deeply. What was going on with him? Ever since that night that Seto had read part of Tea's journal, he had begun to feel twangs and sharp jolts in his chest when he saw, or thought about her.

Why? He had never felt this way before. Maybe…maybe it was because he…thought she was different. Yes, that was it. She was different from other girls. He had never kissed other girls, like he had kissed her.

Twang. There went that feeling again. Why had he even kissed her? The first time, yes, he had wanted to see if she liked him or not, but the second time…there was no explanation.

And his brothers now. He knew they were up to something…but what? At almost every private conversation they had, the two would somehow bring up Tea. Then, he would start perspiring lightly, stuttering a tad, and gripping things that he held, tighter. Also, his heart would start pounding. Why? WHY, WHY, WHY?

Seto sighed, and laid his head back on the leather seats. He had to relax. He needed to get away from life for a little bit. Suddenly, Tea's voice cut through the air, and again, his heart jolted.

"S-Kaiba…why did you ask me to…accompany you?" Tea inquired, now looking his way.

Seto looked her way. Aw man…those beautiful blue orbs were looking at him intently. His heart was beginning to pound. Curse that adrenalin. Wait? Why would adrenalin be pumping at this time? He wasn't worried…or stressed…was he? No. It was just Tea. But he couldn't tell her that it was mostly due to his brothers and that he couldn't find Ishizu's phone number.

No, he'd make up something. He'd tell her…he had feelings for her. Wait, no! What the heck? Where in the world did that come from? He most certainly DID NOT have feelings for Tea. As if.

Oh no, Seto thought.

Yeah, I'm back.

Curse you. Just leave me alone, and spare me the "feelings" speech. I've had enough of it. I've only heard it every day for the past month!

Of course you have. Why? I think by now you could recite it… You have….

No feelings for Gardner. There. He hadn't used her first name. That proved he didn't have feelings for Tea. Seto mentally slapped himself. He'd used her first name. God Almighty, what did he do to deserve this inner torment?

Come on, just give in.

Why should I? He rephrased that, after noticing a slight mistake. Why should I give in to feelings I don't have?

Because… His second self wanted to say that Tea had given into her feelings, but he didn't know if that was true. Let's just say that Seto was afraid: afraid of being rejected.

But why would I be afraid, if I have no feelings? Argh! I'll just come up with this excuse!

"You were…the easiest person to ask. I mean, you're right down the hall. After all, this was my first time doing this sort of thing, and I felt I needed, I don't know, to seek out someone easy to ask," was Seto's pretty lame excuse.

"Oh. Hmm, that's interesting, because I thought that the great Seto Kaiba liked challenges," Tea smirked.

"Look, Gardner, I'm not used to this sort of thing, and I don't particularly enjoy it, so just lay off." You do to enjoy it. Shut it!

"Oh," Tea ended simply, facing front. They sat in silence the rest of the ride. Finally, they arrived at the place where Steve's party was being held. The chauffeur opened the door to Seto's side. Seto got out and the door closed behind him. Tea was about to open the door on her side, when it was opened for her: by Seto Kaiba himself.

"Oh, thank you," Tea stepped out. In the moonlight, her eyes glistened, and the sparkles on her dress danced. Guess what that meant? More adrenalin flow for Seto.

He closed the door, and walked up with her to the entrance to the rented out restaurant (place…thingy…it's not entirely a restaurant…it's kind of like an auditorium…you know?).

Steve was greeting his guests at the doorway. Seto and Tea stepped up. Steve shook hands with Seto.

"It's good to see you, Mr. Kaiba. Oh, and I see this year, you decided to bring this lovely young lady to accompany you. Splendid!"

"Decided, I don't think, is the right word," Kaiba barely smirked to his associate, and walked inside with Tea.

They stood before the many tables, refreshment areas, and the dance floor.

"So, Kaiba, what do you exactly do at these parties?"
Tea inquired, looking around.

"Humph. I usually just stand in a corner sipping wine or something. Maybe, if I want, I'll even sit at a table and watch those pathetic fools dance," Seto replied, truthfully.

Tea rolled her eyes, but she also couldn't contain the giggle that escaped her. Seto whipped his head around and looked at her. Tea covered her mouth quickly, still trying to stifle the giggles. Why was she laughing? Usually, she glared at him for such comments. Now…she found them funny. Just the uses of his terms: "pathetic fools." It was enough, now, to make her laugh.

"I wasn't kidding, you know," Seto said, still looking at her strangely.

"I-I know that," she said in between laughs, "I-It's just that…I-I d-don't know…it seem s-sort of f-funny now!" Now, Seto was confused. She never laughed at those specific comments of his. Usually, she found them…utterly irrational.

Tea still couldn't understand her laughter. Why was she laughing? Maybe it had to do with…her feelings toward him. Tea wasn't going to fight this time. In her heart, she knew that was the reason. She had admitted it a month ago.

Seto left her to go pour some wine for himself. He still had many thoughts on his mind, and he thought a good drink would relax them. Tea was left to herself.

So, she mingled. Well, she tried to, at least. There were other ladies there to talk to. So, Tea tried her hand at talking to them. There was one girl that she seemed to like conversing with the best. Her name was Erika. Yeah, and one word is used to describe her: TALKATIVE.

"So," Erika started, (they had already introduced themselves, and talked on some other small matters, "Are you married?"

"No," Tea replied, unashamed.

"Oh, same here!" Erika replied as well, gleefully. She wanted to find someone here who wasn't married. Most of the men her who worked with Steve had wives, or the women had husbands."

"Well, you probably, at least, have a boyfriend or something," Tea retorted. She couldn't help but notice that Erika was a pretty woman. Why wouldn't a guy fall for her?

"Actually…no," Erika's head fell.

"Oh…well, me neither," Tea replied, trying to perk up Erika.

"Really?" the girl's head popped up, "However…my date…well, date's not the right word…escort maybe? I kinda…really, really…um…." Erika blushed.

"Love him?" Tea finished for her.

"Yeah. We've been friends for many years. But I'm just afraid he wouldn't love me back. He doesn't seem to feel for me that way. I think he likes someone else," Erika replied, looking a tad downcast.

"Hey, you never know," Tea tried again to help Erika's feelings, "Men hide their emotions well. I should know. Who is your escort anyway?"

Erika pointed to a man with long black hair, put up in a ponytail, "Him. It's kind of nice…he came all the way from college--"

"No way! Oh my gosh! HIM? He's your escort? He's here? Excuse me, Erika," Tea walked toward the man.

"Do you know him or something?" Erika looked Tea's way, puzzled. She never got an answer.

Tea put a hand on the man's shoulder. He turned around.

"Duke! You're here? How awesome!" Tea smiled happily. It had been so long since she had seen one of her friends. In her head, she pitied Erika. It was true. If memory served, and he hadn't changed over three years, Duke had a crush on Serenity Wheeler.

Duke looked utterly bewildered for a moment, "T-Tea? Is that you?"

"In the flesh, Devlin!"

"I can't believe it! What are you doing here? Did you…did you come to work for Steve somehow?" Duke asked, sort of ashamed at the question, thinking he had brought up an unwanted point.

"Oh no, I don't work for him. I'm an accompaniment!" Tea replied.

"Oh, well, that's nice to hear!" Duke replied, smiling.

"So, why aren't you back in college?" Tea looked at him, a little puzzled.

"I was invited, since my father and I are in close ties with Steve and his businesses. So, I came back home for the weekend," Duke explained.

"Wow, that's neat. So, how's life been?" Tea inquired.

"Aw, same old stuff…school work and all. I really don't see why I'm going to college, because I already own a company…in a way, but my dad insisted," Duke explained further.

"I see," Tea replied.

"You know, since I'm back this weekend, we should, I don't know, hang out or something, as friends, like we used to," Duke threw out the invitation.

"That'd be awesome! Oh, wait…except…I might have to get permission first," Tea replied. Duke looked at her confused. Tea wondered why he looked like that. She mentally slapped herself. Duh! She hadn't told her friends about her new job. She'd give the most vague details to Duke.

"I'm a cook now, and the work is kind of demanding…in timing, you know?"

"Oh, I understand," Duke replied, having cooks, himself.

"But maybe between…1:00 pm and 5:00 sometime?" Tea threw out her free period.

"Sure, that works," Duke replied, "Where could we go?"

"Oh, I dunno…it'll kind of seem weird without the rest of the gang," Tea said.

"Yeah…but, we'll deal with what we've got," Duke replied.

"Yeah."

"So…maybe I could drop by your house tomorrow, and we can discuss it there?" Duke offered. Tea's face almost dropped, if she hadn't learned from Seto how to hide emotions. Her house. Sure, she still owned it, but it was a mess. Have of her stuff was missing, having been relocated to Seto's mansion. There was no food there, which Duke would find weird. She had ordered the water and electricity to be stopped there, until she returned, if she returned. She was stuck.

"Um…" she had to make up something quick. Luckily, these months around Kaiba were beginning to pay off. First…hiding emotion, and now, coming up with an excuse on the spot, "My house is…having some remodeling done to it, and I don't think it'd be best to go there. Also, I'd kinda feel weird having you come into a complete pigsty, if you know what I mean."

"I understand," Duke nodded, "How about meeting at Burger World, then?"

"Okay, that works!"

"By the way…whom did you come here with?" Duke inquired, out of the blue. Tea's eyes widened. She had hoped he wouldn't ask that.


Seto stood in a corner of the room, sipping a glass of wine, slowly. He was watching Tea mingle around. He couldn't read the expression on her face: was it boredom, seriousness, or what? He smiled a tad. She had been hanging around him too long.

He finally saw her talk with some girl for quite a while. They seemed to be really engaged in conversation. The girl blushed a few times, and bowed her head. Then, she pointed to someone standing in the center of the room.

Seto saw Tea's mouth open in surprise, and she walked over to him. She tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around. Seto almost shattered the glass in his hand: it was that Duke Devlin.

What in the world was he doing here? Well, that didn't matter. Tea looked happy talking to him. Seto felt some unexplained anger rise in his chest. What was going on with him? She'd found a friend to talk to; who cared. At least she was happy.

But what was this feeling? He seemed to not want her to talk with Devlin.

You're jealous, aren't you?

What? Of course he wasn't! He had never been jealous of anyone…anything in his life! Why would he be jealous of Devlin getting to chat merrily with Tea?

Because you…come on, recite it…

I DO NOT HAVE THOSE RETARDED FEELINGS FOR HER!

Right….

I am to SO right!

You seem to speak sarcasm so fluently, yet it seems to be a foreign language to your ears. Has it never been used on you or something?

That's not the point.

See? There you go. You want to get back to talking about your feelings for Tea.

N-No I don't!

Sure.

Stop that!

Give in…you fighting a losing battle.

No I'm not!

I bet by the end of the night, you'll see it my way.

I will not! I'll NEVER see it your way!

Sure. And with that last sarcastic word, the second self turned off, momentarily.

Kaiba then felt himself walking over to the two. He finally approached them.

"Well T-Gardner…looks like you've found a friend," he said, cutting through their conversation. Tea turned around, and Duke slightly glared at him.

"Devlin."

"Kaiba." It was a silent agreement: they wanted nothing to do with each other. They just needed a slight meeting of last names, to reacquaint themselves.

"Kaiba, what do you want?" Tea inquired.

"Nothing. I just wanted to see what you two were up to, that's all," Seto replied.

"We're just talking," Tea replied, sighing.

"I noticed," and with that grim expression of stone, he walked away, to a new shadowy corner.

"What was that about?" Duke inquired.

"I don't know…why I even bothered coming with h--" she stopped, and slowly turned back to face Duke. His eyes had widened, and his mouth was slightly agape. Had he not been clutching his glass of punch tightly, it would have dropped and shattered.

"You mean to tell me, you came with Kaiba?"


Sorry people, I had to end it there. The chapter was getting too long. Worry not, though! The party will continue in the next chapter! When the next chapter will come out, I do not know…but hey, it'll be out ASAP. Okay? Okay! Review please!