NOTE: OMG! Sorry it's been SOOOO long! I mean, I have a pretty good excuse…. First, I was out for two and a half weeks. Then, I started writing other chapters for other fics while I still had writers block on this one. Okies? Sorry again! This is like, the longest I've even been from updating a certain fic! At least it was only a little over a month…unlike some fics which take multiple months to update. However, on with it!

Disclaimer: No one, 'specially me, ain't never gonna never ever not own Yu-Gi-Oh! It belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, or whatever his name is….I haven't exactly memorized how to spell it yet. Besides, all grammar left me with those double+ negatives! Confuzzling….

Chapter 22: What Project?

The ice cream had worked. Tea was as happy as could be. She spent the rest of the weekend without a single thought concerning Seto Kaiba. And if she was happy; her friends were happy. But they wanted it to stay that way. And with school coming up on Monday…they were bound to run into Kaiba somewhere…especially since they shared most classes with him.

The rest of the gang (here, we are excluding Tea) wasn't looking forward to Monday. Tea hadn't given a single thought as to seeing Kaiba at school. Yet, eventually, Monday rolled around….


Tea walked in to the entrance of the school, with some of her friends, mainly Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Duke, Ryou, Mai and Yugi.

Suddenly, they heard a voice call out behind them, "Wait, guys! I need to speak with you!"

They turned around, "Marik?" Serenity inquired.

Marik ran up behind them, panting, "Yes. I…needed…to…tell…you…" he regained his breath, "Ishizu and are…are leaving today…back for Egypt."

"WHAT?" they all spoke out.

"Yes…this might be the last time I see you all. We're moving back. Today…in about an hour. I just wanted to say goodbye…and Ishizu sends her farewell, too," Marik looked like he might cry in a minute.

For the next few minutes, hugs and handshakes were exchanged, and a few tears rolled down. Sure, he had been a piece of crap in Battle City, which hadn't been too long ago, but heck. They had become really good friends during the time. They understood the real Marik, not taking him for the freak that was his other side.

It was with heavy hearts, that they watched Marik run off, back to his "house," to finish up the moving. The gang walked inside the school slowly. Today was already starting off bad…and, as the rest of the gang thought, it would only get worse…because of Mr. Sunshine himself.

However, as everyone, except Tea, walked down the halls warily, Seto Kaiba was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe he's actually sick for once, Joey thought, smiling, then again, it's not like rich boy to get sick…

Maybe he has a business meeting, Serenity hoped.

Maybe he's skipping school…he's smart enough to do so, Duke wondered.

Maybe he's…right in front of us, Yugi pouted inwardly. There he was, his head looking about in his locker. Thus, he hadn't yet noticed the gang yet, and they quickly ushered Tea away, before she could see the head attached to the body. She hadn't quite registered who it was at their locker yet….


Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Joey sat at their desks, waiting for their Science teacher to come in. The three boys sighed in relief, knowing that Kaiba was in AP Physics, meaning that they didn't share the same class with him.

Of course, Tea had had all the potential to go into AP Physics, however, how would it help her in life, as a dancer? P.E helped her more with that…. However…after this hour and a half class came…Ancient History…a class Tea did indeed share with Seto Kaiba…with only one other friend: Mai.

This of course, did not help her chances, when the teacher explained something to them:

"Class, as we are now heading into the fourth term of school (I'm going to say that Battle City took place during spring break, or something…), and this is the last term of the year…and of your high school career, I have a large, and point-worthy project for you to work on. This project will count as most of your grade; therefore I expect top-quality work. You will be working in threes; I have already assigned the groups. Here they are:"

Tea crossed her fingers and toes (as best she could, due to her shoes). She wanted Mai in her group. As long as she got Mai in her group, she didn't care who else was their workmate. She just wanted Mai…Mai…please let her have Mai as a working partner….

"…Henri Dighit and Sherry Stevens; group three will consist of: Mai Valentine…"

Please, please, please…Tea Gardner…Tea Gardner…I really should talk to Ryou about becoming a psychic or something… Tea thought.

"…Tea Gardner…"

YES! Tea exclaimed happily in her mind. She looked over at Mai, who smiled back.

"…Seto Kaiba…" Tea's face fell at the mention of his name. He was in her group? How could this be? Mai's face became freckled with worry. How was this going to work out? She could tell you in two words: it wasn't.


Seto smirked in his seat. He had gotten just what he wanted: being partnered up with Tea Gardner. Maybe…during this three week project, he could convince Tea to come back to him…. The only problem was that Mai would be around them the whole time…. He'd work around that. The only thing that was important, was that he and Tea were together.


"I'd like you all to take the last ten minutes of class, and talk over with your group about what Ancient Civilization you are going to research, and create your report on. The report will consist of a final paper; a three-fold board, with pictures of artifacts, or ruins, and such, explanations, and maybe even some legends. Your time begins now. If you finish coming up with a topic, report it to me, and then you may begin planning. Go," Mrs. Kieyado said. She sat her desk, to grade some papers.

Chairs scooted around. Tea took her chair over to Mai's desk, hoping, just hoping, that Seto Kaiba's "alone" attitude, would keep him away, and that he wouldn't join in the conversation. She was wrong. Seto took up his chair and moved over…with a straight line for a mouth. No smile, smirk, or frown. He was completely expressionless.

"So…" Mai started, "Any idea as to what civilization we should do?" They were al silent for a minute. Tea finally spoke up.

"I'm afraid to say," she glanced over at Seto, who was looking at her, with an eyebrow raised.

"Come on. Say it, girl. The faster we decide, the faster we plan, the faster we get this thing over with, which I think we all are looking forward too," Mai glanced between the two quarrelers.

"Well…for some reason…maybe it had to do with an event that happened about a week or two ago," Tea glared at Kaiba, not wishing to speak of his party, "Ancient Egypt rings in my head."

"I see your point. Something wacky happened at that…" she looked at Kaiba for help with a synonym for party.

"Gathering," Seto filled in.

"Yes…" Mai looked a little unsure.

"Egypt…what fun," Seto groaned. He had heard enough of that crap at Battle City. He was glad to hear the end of it, when he finally submitted to the idea of him being an ancient sorcerer, back then (I'm only guessing this. I think they're supposed to tell us that during Yugi/Yami vs Marik, and I haven't seen all of that yet, so bear with me, okay? It's a guess!).

He had heard enough of it. But…if it would make Tea happy (due to the glares he was receiving now, he assumed that she wanted to research the topic), he was all for it. Besides, happiness led to the heart…which was exactly where he wanted to roam back to.

"Fine," he gave in, not even letting on his incentive to his partners. Tea smiled, and Mai looked a little surprised.

"Thanks, Kaiba," Tea smiled a tad at him, then turned back to Mai. A light went on in Seto's head. That was the first smile he had received from her in years…. She had actually thanked…no, talked to him in a friendly manner! He was actually getting somewhere! It was the only right thing he had done in a while….

"Anyway, it'll be easy," Tea continued, "we have plenty of resources," she thought, indicating that Yami might be of a little help, and if things came to the worst, they could even resort to asking Bakura…. They could even ask Ishizu…Tea's face fell. She now remembered that Ishizu and Marik were leaving…. Tears welled up, but she didn't let them fall. She'd…just have to call them. No big task…. Sure, she'd have to get the phone number…but they had cell phones, and AIM…and she was sure Seto could figure out someway to search for the phone numbers over there.

She surprised herself. She was actually thinking of wanting Kaiba to help her? That was something she hadn't thought about in years….

"That's right…we do," Mai replied. Seto wasn't about to voice aloud his thoughts. It was about something that had happened at his party…. For some reason, Egyptian scenes were coming up clear and perfect in his head…. The Egyptian god Monsters…Sorcerers…pyramids…coffins…the Pharaoh…. Why they were even in his head was beyond him. And being that he wasn't one to like this sort of subject, he wasn't about to tell the two these thoughts. Although, he was pretty sure, for some reason that they had the same thoughts going through their head. Somehow…he distinctly saw someone that looked very much like Tea…and there was another girl too…looking like Mai.

Seto shook his head slightly, trying to clear his thoughts. However, his shake was mistaken for something else.

"You don't agree?" Tea inquired, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Huh?" Seto said, lamely. Great way to get back to her, Seto mentally scolded himself. "Disagree with what?"

Tea sighed, "Are you even listening?"

Seto wanted to say yes…but that would be lying…and another thing that he needed to do was get her to trust him. But…if he said he hadn't been listening, she would be even angrier with him.

"Um…I just missed a few bits of information, that's all. Could you repeat it?" Seto inquired.

It was Mai's turn to sigh, "We were saying, that, we could even work on…experience. We had a thought that you might just know what we're talking about…." Mai implied about the party. Seto's eyes widened a bit. Were they actually speaking aloud his thoughts?

"Humph…I have no idea what you're talking about," Seto replied, not wanting to give away his ideas yet.

"Oh come off it! You know very well that at that pa-" Tea stood up and started yapping. Suddenly, the bell ran, and all of the students rushed out of the room.

Mai stood up, "We'll discuss this later," she took Tea's arm, grabbed her books (allowing Tea to get hers as well) and dragged her out of the room. Seto stared back after them. He finally got up and left the room, as the last person to do so.


Hey! Sorry for the short chapter! But, as I've noticed, plenty of the chapters in here are short. I usually try to aim for 5 pages (without spaces in between), but this was only four. Sorry! But, hey, it was an update and idea. I just need to throw out the idea, to start the next set of chapters. Okay? Besides! You know have some new thought to look forward to! Again, sorry for a probably boring, and short chapter, but please give me some time! I'm still sorting out ideas!

Oh, and I decided to make Marik and Ishizu leave, because, well…as you noticed with BB, if you're reading that one…I'm not exactly in the mood for using them anymore. Okies? I'm pretty sure that'll make you all happy!