16…. Freaking…. Pages…. BLOODY HELL'S FIRE!
Part II:
The early-morning sunlight poured into his room through the drawn blinds, which flapped around from the open windows. The round man rolled over to the other side, at an attempt to escape the lights, then tried to squeeze if from his eyes, but did not succeed. He brought a hand lazily to his face, and rubbed it sleepily, having a slight headache. He slightly lifted up his body, by sliding his elbows under his back, then used the rest of his arm's strength to fully push it upward into a sitting position. He sat there, slightly slouched, for no longer then one moment before he screamed in agony.
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A deep cry awoke them both. In complete synchronisation, they grabbed their night robes, and pulled it over their shoulders. They ran out of their rooms, and collided in the middle of the floor.
Tea grunted and fell to the ground, while Seto stared at her, with his permanent cold gaze. "Watch were you're going." He said, while gingerly patting the spot on his chest she had rammed into.
Tea looked at him in disbelief. "Me?!" she hissed, while rubbing her head. wow… he's strong… . It took a while to sizzle down. "What were you doing, coming this way anyway?"
He turned his back to her with a stubborn grunt in response, and walked towards the stairs. "That yell came from Roberto." He said, completely ignoring her question with the slightest amount of concern in his voice.
"Aren't you at least a LITTLE concerned?" she snapped, getting more then a little annoyed at his aloofness. "That was no ordinary scream. That must've hurt A LOT."
"What do you know?" the sharp cold in his voice made Goosebumps peak on her skin. He took the last few steps toward the door, then disappeared within its darkness.
She just stood there, trying her hardest to not explode at that moment, but Kaiba's distant attitude was really getting on her nerves. "WHY DON'T YOU ANSWER PROPERLY!!" she roared, taking all her anger out on that sentence.
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"OW OW OW OW OW!!" he howled, pressing his hands firmly on his ears. The pounding in his head increased dramatically, thanks to that last bit of noise. He sneezed, and pushed another yelp of pain.
Seto looked at him with slight pity, but really, he was quite annoyed at this.
"Roberto!" Tea yelled, barging into the room. Her eyes were wide with concern.
"Ack! Shht! Not so loud." He hissed, as his eyebrow twitched from the immense pain in his head.
"You shouldn't get out of bed today." She commanded as she walked closer to his bed, but an arm sturdily stopped her from getting any closer. She glared at Seto before continuing. "You're sick, and need some rest."
"But-" he started, before being interrupted.
"Don't worry, I'll cook instead." She insisted, as if she could read his exact thoughts. If only I knew how… She suddenly felt stupid. Now she knows why it's dangerous to speak before you think. Well, what is done is done. She pushed Seto's arm aside, walked up to his bed and pushed him back down. "Don't worry. Rest. I'll take care of it."
Seto cleared his throat in refusal, but before he could say a word, Tea was already pushing him out of the room.
"Rest well, Roberto." She said friendlily and gently closed the door behind her. "Well," she started energetically, with amusement painted all over her face. But, once she saw that look on his face, her expression melted into nothing.
His eyes were unreadable. The worst state they can be in. She could not tell if he was going to kill her, or silently nod her off. She waited in suspense for him to say something. By the moment's tension and that slowly burning fire in his eyes, she could feel it was not going to be pleasant.
Without a word, he turned his back to her and walked away. Not again… she grumbled inwardly.
"Say something, Kaiba." She demanded silently, eager to know what was on his mind.
"Go to work." He commanded. He did not even turn his head to say it, and walked away again. "I'll be down at eight o-clock." He finished, before disappearing through the door again.
She sighed in defeat. He'll never say anything besides commands. She peaked at the clock showing through Roberto's not-fully-closed door. She had two hours to prepare something for the Kaiba brothers, and doesn't even know how to cook… this was not going to be fun…
-0-0-0-0-0-0 In the kitchen –0-0-0-0-0-0-
"Ok, so where to start…." She whispered to herself, peering at all the kitchen appliances in the white, shiny room as her voice softly echoed. Her head sank into her shoulders. "How am I ever going to pull this off…." She mumbled more then asked.
Not finding any use in just standing there, she searched the many drawers for a bowl, some flower, and a fork. Pots and pans clanked on the ground as she shoved them aside to find a bowl of some sort. Finally, after an unknown period of time, she found one after a lot of looking and shoving.
The flour wasn't too hard to find, but by the time she found the cutlery drawer, mounds of metallic and plastic appliances alike were piled up. Sky-high.
"I'll fix that later." She said, always to herself. "Now, better get started on those pancakes."
She dumped the flour into the bowl, and mixed it with water, then looked around for some other ingredients to add some "flavour" to it. She was at it for a while, just mixing and stirring and adding. When her mixture was finally done, she kept mixing until her hand got tired, not knowing when exactly to stop. She picked a frying pan from one of the many heaps of metal, and put it on the stove. Hmmm…. How warm should I make it…? They definitely want their breakfast hot, so…. She turned the knob all the way to the highest temperature, and waited a few minutes before splattering on the lumpy mixture.
She sighed and clapped some flour from her hands. "There, all done." She said, as if it was no big deal. She took a peak at the watch: 7:55. "And not a moment too soon." She turned back to the stove and flipped the pancakes.
"ROBERTO!" she heard Mokuba call from the dining room.
Trying to be right on queue, she swiftly turned everything off, flopped the pancakes onto newly found plates, found some fruit to put on the side of the plates, and walked out of the room with their meals.
"ROBER-" Mokuba started to yell, squeezing his eyes shut, but when he opened them while yelling his name, he realized it was not Roberto at all. "Tea?"
"Roberto is sick today." She declared, while setting the plate down in front of him, and made her way toward Seto. "So I decided to help out. I've done nothing since I came here, so, I thought it would be better to help."
Mokuba looked down at his plate suspiciously, wondering if he should eat it or not. It sure did not look too good, but sometimes looks can be deceiving. He looked up at the smiling Tea, and swallowed hard.
"You expect me to eat this?" Seto asked with a nasty bit of disbelief.
Tea's smile immediately disappeared, and gave Seto a murderous glare. "Why ask? It's in front of you, isn't it? Do you think I put it there for show?"
Seto snorted and thrust his nose in the air. "Well, Gardener, let's just say I do not eat dirt."
Her fist started to shake angrily at this last statement, but she forced herself to hold back a slap in the face. Maybe one day… but not now… "Well, Kaiba, let's just say you'll need it today. Wouldn't want me interrupting your precious work, now would you?" she smirked, knowing that the one thing he hated most was to be interrupted while he was in the middle of something important.
This seemed to keep his trap shut… well then again, he never really opened it unless it was needed. Tea sighed, and headed toward the room's exit. "I'm going to check on Roberto." She said, and left the room.
The two brothers looked at each other and gulped. "You think we should eat it, Seto?" Mokuba asked, and gulped loudly once more. "Looks CAN be deceiving, you know…"
Seto look down at his plate disgustedly. Roberto has always made such fine looking dishes, and they tasted as good as they looked, but this…. This barely even looked like food. He hesitantly leaned his face closer and closer to the dish. He closed his eyes and took a whiff. "Doesn't smell too bad…" he said quietly, but loud enough for Mokuba to hear. He lifted his head up and straightened out his posture at the same time.
"So… do you think…?" Mokuba asked, he did not finish his sentence, but the rest was quite obvious.
Seto looked at his younger brother. "Well… I guess it wont hurt…"
"I- I'm only eating it if you do!" Insisted Mokuba as he stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest.
Seto sighed. "Fine, fine…" He cleared his throat as he looked down at the plate. He slowly cut off a piece and brought the fork to his mouth. He gave it one last unsure look, before finally putting it into his mouth.
"Well?" asked Mokuba, not even a second after his older brother put the 'unknown substance' into his mouth. He didn't seem to be grossed out at all, but, then again, the taste probably hadn't registered yet…
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His face suddenly turned red and cringed and he coughed loudly, then pounded his chest with a large, heavy fist. "Thank you, Tea." Roberto said, once the coughing had ceased.
"Don't mention it…" she said while patting the heavy man on his back. "Would you like something to eat?"
He sniffled and sneezed, then gave a slight yelp of pain. "ehm… no, I'm ok. So, how'd it go?"
"Erm…" she started sheepishly. "I- I don't really know, actually. I guess it was all right. I'm not too sure though…"
"Well, keep up the good work." He said drowsily, and pulled the covers back over his aching head. "I'm sure you're doing fine…"
Tea blushed at this. If only he knew… she shook the last thought away as another one hit her suddenly. "One thing is puzzling me though… how did you get this cold all of a sudden? You seemed fine yesterday."
Roberto fingered his beard as he searched his thoughts and memories of what might have caused this. "I don't know, really…" he said, as if he has given up looking through his mind, when by the tone of voice, Tea could tell his mind was still focused on that.
"Well, I better get back to the Kaiba brothers, I want to see how I've done…" she said, and turned around to leave, when she heard him clap suddenly, as if a thought had just hit him smack on the head.
An old lady with a wooden cane sat down next to him, with a bunch of tissues in her hand. "Lovely day, isn't it?" she asked lively, before blowing her nose loudly.
Roberto grimaced at the viscous noise, and nodded in response.
"Yes… as I thought." The old woman replied, then pushed a heavy, wet sneeze that landed all over Roberto.
"Ok Kids," he bellowed suddenly, just wanting to get home and wash himself from the germs that were just sprayed all over him. "We're leaving in ten minutes!" He got off the bench, and attempted to wipe all the spit from him. He looked down at the elderly woman when she was too busy blowing her nose (again) and shook his head.
"So THAT'S how I got it!" he snapped. "If this is what that woman's going through, I feel sorry for her…"
"What woman?" Tea asked as she turned her head around slightly.
"Oh, nothing. Just something I've figured out…"
"Ok." She replied, and left.
-0-0-0-0-
"Hullo? Earth to Seto!" he said. Mokuba waved a hand in front of his dazed brother. His older brother did not look at him however. His face was frozen… not frozen as in cold… frozen in a weird sort of expressionless daze. His eyes were on the verge of becoming swirls, and his mouth was still clamped onto the fork, which was still being pinched so tightly between his index finger and thumb that it was trembling. Mokuba had also noticed a greenish tinge appearing on his cheeks. "Aw. Come on Seto! It can't be THAT bad?"
"Well, how is it?" came a female's voice. Tea had just walked into the room, and hadn't noticed the dazed Seto.
As if on queue, Seto suddenly shook his head violently. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU PUT IN THERE?!" He barked, his eyes quickly turning red and starting to tear fromstill having that horrid taste in his mouth. "It's despicable!" He spat the "food" out while he spoke.
Tea gulped and looked down at her feet from embarrassment. I knew this was a bad idea…
Seto huffed and puffed a bit more, then calmed down and cleared his throat. "Go wake up Roberto, tell him I want him down this instant."
"Kaiba…" Tea started, her voice was slightly more high-pitched then usual and unreadable. "HE'S SICK YOU JERK!!" she exploded in his face, yet he did not even flinch. "I'll try again."
"No need." He replied coldly, "I've got backup." He finished off, pulling out his mini cell phone. He flipped the cover open and pushed a few numbers. He pressed the small device on his ear and listened to the ringing. He tapped his foot impatiently when no one answered and hung up. He punched in a second set of numbers and repeated the routine. He started pacing when the ringing started, and to his unseen delight, someone answered.
"Yea, hi, Kaiba calling. May I speak with Maude?" he asked professionally with his back straight, looking high and mighty. He cleared his throat before saying a refined "thank you." He started pacing again while he waited for Maude to answer the phone. He listened to the ruckus of Maude's six squealing daughters at the other end of the line and had to pull the phone away from his ear at one point.
"HALLO?" someone screamed into the other end with a thick, harshaccent. (Judo: WE'RE GOING WORLDWIDE, MAN!! Pyro (me): just ignore him… back to the story.) Seto had to pull his phone away again, before titling it cautiously against his ear.
He cleared his throat again. "Maude, it's Kaiba, I've got-"
"OH! Mister KAIBA!" she suddenly cut off, which made him want to pull the phone away once more, but he resisted. Any more of this spontaneous yelling, and his eardrum would surely shatter into pieces. "I haven't heard from you in a vhile now! How's it gowving?"
"Erm…it's going fine. Listen, I need-"
"SHADDAP YOU STUPID BLOND!!" he heard her yell at one of her daughters. He clenched his fists tightly and was starting to get really annoyed at how she would always cut him off. Not to mention the theory about his eardrums shattering was slowly taking effect. "NO! HE DOES NOT VANT TO TALK TO YOU! GET AVAY!"
Seto winced again at her sudden, harsh voice. This always happened whenever he would call her house. It was always loud at the other end, and she would always end up screaming at her daughters for trying to talk to him. She may have been an excellent cook, but she seemed like a very difficult mother.
"Oh. I'm sorry Kaiba dear. Now, vat vas it you vanted?" She asked him nicely, as if that woman screaming at her daughters was a completely different person.
"Roberto is sick today, and I need some help in the kitchen…" He braced himself for more yelling, but was pleasantly surprised.
Tea looked at his turned back as he explained the situation for whoever it was at the other end. He had shot a few glances at her, his cold eyes wondering what, exactly, she was staring at. She looked his way in a sort of desperate way, almost asking him to let her try once again, and that person he was now calling was taking her chances away from her.
"Ok, thank you, bye."
A beep sounded from his small phone as he turned around to face her and Mokuba again. "Maude will be here soon." He told Mokuba and completely ignored Tea.
"Maude?" he groaned. "She never lets me do anything… she nags all the time, that old bat…"
"Well, it's either that, or we'll be eating dirt for the next few days." He said, as he shot a cold stare at Tea, which sent a chill down her back and made her instantly feel like she was stranded on a block of ice in the arctic sea. "Gardener, go clean up the kitchen, and make sure it's done before Maude gets here."
"Yes, boss…" she grumbled all the way to the kitchen and disappeared through the door.
Seto put his hands on Mokuba's shoulders, and looked at him sternly in the eye. "I don't want to here that you've made any trouble for Maude, understand?" he hissed warningly.
"But I'm never able to do anything when she's here." He complained and drove his eyes away from his brother's to get a full look at his face. He noticed that he was still a little green from before.
"I don't care." He said slowly, allowing him to digest what he was saying properly. He tore his hands from his brother and whipped his back to him. "I'm going to work." He said and exited with Mokuba following close behind.
Tea groaned at the whole jumble of metal and plastic sitting provocatively before her. She felt helpless just by looking at the huge mess, and leaned on the wall for support. This is going to take a long time… she groaned inwardly as she slid down the wall and onto the floor. She took a deep breath and conjured up the strength… and willpower… to get up and going.
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"Sir Kaiba, you don't look so good today." One of the worker men said, with a hand pressed on his boss's back, and his face uncomfortably close to Seto's greenish one.
"I'm fine." He said bluntly and shoved his forearm into the man's stomach to push him away. "And I'd greatly appreciate it if you did NOT touch me! Get back to work!" he suddenly barked at the poor man. T'was quite the sight, really. A seventeen year old bossing a man of twice his age… but that's how it worked in this company.
Seto placed a hand on his stomach, and gripped it tightly as he somewhat hoped his nails digging into the skin would distract him from the queasiness. He gripped harder as he felt a gas bubble come up in his throat. He swallowed it back down and took a deep breath, hoping the fresh air would get rid of it… well, it DID make him feel better.
"The playground and haunted house are finished, sir." One of the worker men called out. (I know, the building is going way too fast, but I really haven't the time or patience to keep building and building.)
He nodded his head, and kept working on a mini roller coaster for kids. He was happy they were finally making progress. He was also pleased that he had decided to hire a lot more men, to speed up the pace a little. While he worked on that roller coaster, a few other men were working on another water slide, and he had several others work on the other rides. He took out his drill, and started building a kid-friendly cart to go around on the already finished rails.
From his ladder, he was able to see a short figure waddling toward the mansion with a slight limp in the left leg. Finally, she's here.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Tea struggled to put back all the appliances, for there were so many, and she did not know what went where. She ran this way and that, holding the same appliance for minutes before she had finally found a proper place to put it… in her eyes anyway. To her delight, though, she noticed the pile getting smaller and smaller. Yet, it still did not ease her struggle at all, and not long after, did she find herself in the same condition she was in before she started to clean: Reluctant, tired, and thought there was no way she'd be able to get this jumble cleaned.
"If this is what Roberto has to go through, I feel kind of sorry for him…" She said to herself, knowing that no one was there listening and that her echoing voice would not get passed these tiled walls. She brought her forearm to her red head and swiped a few droplets of sweat that appeared on her forehead. That's when she noticed a round, slightly lop-sided figure standing in the doorway. She instantly froze, for she had never really expected someone new to arrive, and this quickly at that.
"I am sure he does not go through zis, because Roberto actually knows vhere to put zeese sings." Said the figure with a harsh tint in her voice. "Look at the mess you've made! This'll take me long to clean!" she scolded at Tea.
Tea gulped and instantly felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry…" she said softly as her eyes instantly glued to the floor.
"So you're ze von who made mister Kaiba sick… vat's your name, girl?"
"Tea Gardener." She said instantly and straightened herself out as if speaking to an army captain, feeling way too intimidated by this woman's ruthless voice.
The lopsided woman limped stiffly into the long kitchen and walked closer and closer to the rigid and somewhat nervous Tea. As she got closer, Tea was able to see her face more clearly. She was rather old, Tea figured, with thin, lifeless grey hair and really baggy and tired looking eyes with round, large spectacles magnifying all of the imperfections around the eye area. The woman's skin looked as if it was melting off the bones of her face, and one side of her mouth drooped downward. The woman poked her face into Tea's, until it got uncomfortably close. Needless to say, Tea was much more intimidated and forced herself from slapping the old bat away.
"Hmm…. You're not too bad looking... not bad at all." She said, while adjusting her glassed, which had slipped down her nose. She then grabbed Tea's face firmly between her fingers and jerked it left and right. "Nice skin, too." She added, then finally let go of her face.
It took a lot of willpower for Tea to get up and cleaning, but keeping still while an intimidating old woman stuck her face into hers felt like it took much more. "Thank you," she said, too distracted by the woman's rotting breath to know what else to say. The spots where her face was painfully held tingled and felt like they were swelling up.
Finally, she pulled back and let Tea have her own breathing space. Tea took in a deep breath of air, and cherished it for a moment and thanked god she was no longer breathing in rotting breath. "So, vat vere you doving in here anyvay?" she asked a little nicer.
"Well, as you know, Roberto's sick-" she started off, but was brutally cut off.
"I know he's sick! Mister Kaiba explained zis to me already… go on…" Had she not just been hired by Kaiba, Tea would have thought she was schizophrenic by the way her voice had changed from harsh to soft in the same breath.
"Well, I thought I would help." Tea wanted to avoid rambling and get out of there. "I didn't think right, and I'm sorry to leave you with all this work." She politely bowed her head and slowly turned on her heels to head for the doorway, when a rough "vhere do you sink your goving?" cut her off.
"You vill help me here until zis mess is cleaned… and zen maybe I'll be able to help you make somesing for tonight's evening meal." The old woman gave a wink. "Kaiba doesn't need to know about it… does he?"
Tea was completely confused by this woman's double personality, but decided not to question it further. She had just been offered cooking lessons, how can she turn this down? She peaked over her shoulder at the short woman standing not so far behind her and nodded her head. Maybe this old bat wasn't so bad after all.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
A soft knock was heard from the door. "What?" Roberto demanded in reply from the bed as he turned off the television to properly hear what that person wanted to say.
Mokuba walked in softly and lightly closed the door behind him. "Roberto? How are you feeling?" He asked, the concern in his eyes gleaming within the shaded room. He walked closer cautiously, making sure he did not bump or trip over anything.
"Well, I'm not fine, that's for certain." He said with a slight grunt as he shifted around, sick with that position he's been in for quite a while now.
"Oh…" said Mokuba with a slight bit of disappointment. He hoped he would have gotten better already so not he, nor Tea would have to be stuck with Maude… Just thinking about that poor girl, alone in the kitchen with her made his skin crawl. He didn't even like being around her, let alone in the same room... which is why he's decided to stay up stairs with Roberto.
"So, how did young Tea do in the kitchen today?" he asked, somewhat expecting what was coming next. He didn't really have to ask that for he had heard his young master's barks all morning long, but right now, he was getting bored and needed a little it of company.
"Er…" he started to answer, and sounded as if he were wincing rather then ansering a question. "She, er… made an, um, interesting dish…"
Roberto could practically here the boy's face cringing while he spoke. "So I guess Maude is here now?" Seeing Mokuba's shadowy head move toward the floor was a clear enough answer. "Good luck to you, then." He sniggered playfully at the kid's unfortunate situation.
"Hey!" Mokuba shot back, with that same hint of playfulness in his voice, and latched out an arm at Roberto, completely forgetting he was sick until the moment he hit him.
-0—0-0-0-0-0
Down in the kitchen, where Tea and Maude were rearranging the mess Tea had made, they both heard a deep roar from the floors above.
"Vat vas zat?" Maude asked, immediately jerking a cooking spoon over her shoulder, as if holding a sword.
This was something Tea had to laugh at… of course, Roberto's growl sounded slightly inhuman, but she didn't find it necessary to hold up a spoon for a weapon, especially since the noise came from above. Plus, she thought Maude had already known Roberto from before, and if that was the case, she was sure she had heard him growl like he did. It was something he often did… weather he was in pain, annoyed or simply growling for the heck of it, it was always the same.
"Why? Don't you know?" Tea asked with a slight hint of amusement. She knew she was being cruel, but seeing this woman paranoid was rather funny, and she had no other source of entertainment at the moment, so… why not?
"Vat to you mean 'don't you know' ?! I voulden't be asking if I did, no?" Her fists started shaking. Whether it was from rage, fear or determination to kill the beast up stairs, it was impossible to tell… well, at least until Maude had broken into a fit of violent words. "I'll smack him! I'll vack him! I'll rip his brains out! I'll…." She said this while waving the spoon around as if it were a sword and smacking and hitting tables and kitchen appliances.
"Oh boy…." Tea said silently at the pitiful scene being played out before her. She better stop this before the mess reappears and they'd have to start over again. "Maude…" she started out blankly "Maude…. MAUDE!" she finally yelled.
The woman instantly stopped and looked in the youth's direction.
"That was Roberto…" Tea pointed out.
Maude looked at the spoon she was so violently waving round then at Tea and invisibly flushed from embarrassment. "Oh…" she cleared her throat before continuing. "I- em- I knew zat… yea… NOW CLEAN ZIS MESS YOU'VE MADE!"
Tea's head and shoulders dropped as she sighed heavily. "Yes ma'am."
Maude was pointing right at the now smaller pile as the teenager followed the direction of her arm reluctantly. "Zis time, I'm not goving to do anysing. I vatch you clean, and correct you if you make mistake." She found two chairs, and sat on one of them, and used the other to support her feet. "Go."
Maude watched and scolded at Tea, who had been running around trying to find a place for each and every appliance, for a long time while she relaxed with her feet up, reading a newly found newspaper upside-down. Tea knew she was just trying to make her jealous, but seeing the old woman read upside down just made her want to laugh, yet trying to force those laughs down did not help at all. Sometimes she just froze until she was able to relax again, and that consumed quite a bit of time and caused the time to clean up to elongate.
"So… you've finally finished…" said Maude more, to the clean and spotless kitchen then to Tea. "Good job."
Tea was too tired and out of breath to speak, but simply by that look in her eyes, she silently thanked her. She was completely numb and sweaty at that moment that her five sensed had not worked properly, and hadn't heard Maude walking around in the background. Finally, I'm done. She thought, with complete satisfaction. I'm not sure how long that took, but I sure am glad that's over...
"Well, I have to hand it to you, little girl, you did vell…" Maude said, still roaming around from behind.
Little girl…. Tea thought with much frustration, but figured it would be best not to confront this woman.
Suddenly, the felt two hands snake onto her stomach, and tie something around her back.She stiffened slightly, then, whenallfive senses jumped back into action, she realized she was now wearing an apron.The old woman's eyes squeezed tight as a smile on her face broadened. "Now, how about we start preparing supper?"
Tea suddenly shot her eyes towards Maude being completely surprised. "But, but! It's only mid-afternoon!" she protested, seeing that the sky was nowhere near dark.
Maude looked at her strangely "So…? It's a little late, but we can still do it… no?"
She stared blankly, completely thrown off by that last statement. "l- late……?" she squeaked. Back at her house, she would have thought it was early. At that time, she would have been out with friends, at a café right after school ended. Joey would have been eating until his stomach exploded, Tristan would have probably been fighting with Joey over who gets the last piece of cheesecake… well, unless Duke was around, then he'd be fighting over Serenity. And Yugi…. Yugi would have been laughing along with her, at the sight being played out right before their eyes.
A sudden pain lurched from her stomach and tore through her chest, making her nauseous, and causing her face to strain in a pained expression. No, not his again... Why do I hurt so much when I think of you? You made the descision, why can I not accept it? She uncontrolably dropped to the ground."Give me back my heart…" she said so silently, one would barely hear it. To her dismay, it was just loud enough for Maude to hear.
"Eh..?" she asked sympathetically, noticing the girl was about to cry and whatever it was that hurt her, must have gone really deep.
"STOP CRUSHING IT, YUGI!!" she cried, as the pain in her chest amplified and her heart seemed to swell, but she tried her best not to let a tear drop from her eye… to her surprise, she was successful.
"Tough… isn't it….?" Asked a harsh voice, yet the tone was very comforting. "Zat is vat it does to you… it doesn't let you sink (think) for yourself. Zen, it grabs your heart, and no matter vat you say, it's alvays rough to it." The chest Tea's head was being pressed against rose dramatically, and then fell. "But… you know vat? You cannot let it get to you. It's rough to your heart on purpose. It LIKES seeing you helpless… but if you ignore it, and show you don't care, it vill be less harsh."
"Thank you…" Tea whispered and took a deep, shaky breath to stop yet another wave of tears from pouring out. Her nose had turned red, as did her eyes, but there were no tears. Then an uneasy feeling came over her… she was being comforted my a total stranger! One she's just known for a few hours, and even those hours haven't been the best ones of her life. "Why are you being so kind?" she sniffled, then pulled herself from the comforting grasp.
"So no vun else vould get hurt in zat way… so one vun vould cry for zat stupid reason." A smile curved on her old, dried lips. Tea couldn't help but smile as well. "Zat's a good girl… Now, how about we continue vere vee left off. Ve haven't much time."
"RIGHT!" Tea said, now determined.
"I'll get ze ingredients, vhile you get ze pots and pans…. On second though, forget zat, I get ze pots and you get ze ingredients."
"Yes ma'am!"
The two hurried to get the stuff they needed, then Maude let Tea take the stage with the cooking… while giving her instruction, of course, so she wouldn't mess up the taste or appearance.
It was already dark when they had finally finished. Seto's muffled footsteps were heard outside the kitchen, as he audibly walked into the dining room. "Maude?" he asked loudly.
The two females snickered proudly as they looked into the tinfoil-wrapped pan. "You have done vell, child. I'm very proud of you." She said quietly, then heard another call for her name. "YES?" She called back. "Vee're ready ven you are!"
"We're?" Seto asked, confused. He didn't think anyone would be with Maude while cooking. If he knew Maude, which he did, she did NOT want anyone to interfere with her cooking. He shrugged. Must be her bad English… He called for Mokuba to come and eat.
"Go, child, go give it to zem." Maude said, thrusting the pan Tea's way once they were almost at the door.
"No, you!" she said. "I want to see their reaction, and THEN we could blow the cover."
"Just bring it to zem!!" Maude snapped, and shoved her out of the kitchen.
Tea came stumbling into the dining room, and almost dropped the pan. Luckily, she regained her balance just in time.
Seto spat out his already poured water at the sight of who was bringing him the food. "Not you again!" he snapped.
"Mister Kaiba, I can assure you, this is not ze bad food you've had earlier. She's vorked very hard to make zis, so at least TRY it." Maude ordered, while Tea opened the foil.
Seto had never seen a dish like this before. It had noodles, eggs, cheese and all sorts of vegetables. Although the combination sounded rather odd, it looked good… a little on the sloppy side, but somewhat commendable. The smell wasn't too bad either, but he was not ready to judge it by that, especially not after what happened earlier on.
Tea distributed the meal evenly and backed away. Being in the kitchen for so long had not deprived her of food, so she's already had her share. "I'm out." She said quickly, but her wrist was caught, and she was hauled back.
"You're staying. Don't vorry, you von;t be disappointed."
Seto looked at it cautiously, this way and that, not wanting to ruin his taste buds again. Mokuba, on the other hand, dove right into his plate. "WOW!!! This is delicious, Tea! What is it?"
"erm…." She said sheepishly while scratching the back of her neck. "I'm not too sure what it's called."
"It's a secret." Maude winked and let the other Kaiba brother taste it.
He slowly cut off a piece, looked at it from front view, both side view's, three quarter view, and under. He looked somewhatlike a cat, debating whether or not if he should step outside, examining it with it's nose and scanning the area cautiously for dangers. Finally, he decided to put that piece in his mouth, and chewed it slowly, letting the taste register.
"Could have been better." His cold words set of a reaction in Tea's brain that made her go wild. He was sitting there, his eyes closed, his back straight, with his fork and knife held in an aristocratic manner.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that, what did you say?" Tea asked, trying to calm down and hid her anger quite well.
"could have had better." He said, while turning his face to her, and opening his blue eyes, piercing the once soft atmosphere of the moment.
That's it, the last fuse had just blown up and blinded her vision with sheer rage. She stomped over to him, with a visibly sarcastic"I'm not mad at all" type of expression, and stopped right in front of him. His face was still turned to her, but as he was moving it in another direction, a painful sounding slap echoed throughout the large room. Her eyes were fierce, her hand prickled and burned as an aftermath of the hard smack, but she paid no mind to it. His face was whipped in her direction, and the cheek that was now facing her, swelled a deep red in the form of a hand.
He brought one hand to his face while the other was clenched in a tight fist. His face felt as if it swelled double its normal size, and that burning, stinging roped weretugging at his cheaks,causing the ability to speak seem rather difficult at the moment.His eyes were forcedclosed once againand his eyebrows twitched. "Get out of my sight." He said warningly, but that warning had not scared her at all, it had only libarated her.
"Gladly" she spat and walked calmly out of the room, feeling as if A LOT was taken off her chest. That felt good.
End of chapter! Yes… I had to put that last line in, it just seemed to highlight the moment. Anyway-
Judo: Man! You're writing sucks! I can do MUCH better!
Pyro: URUSEI! Let me finish! So… yea, these chapters were quite disappointing… you can tell me if they suck, I won't mind.
Judo: Ok, THEY SUCK! I can do much better!
Pyro: I know they suck… so, if you can do much better why not write something of your own?
Judo: er….
Pyro: thought so.
Just hang in there until the Festivities start… that's when things get interesting.