Disclaimer: "I do not own yugioh"

"Talk"

'Thoughts'

...

Tea slowly opened her eyes and realized that the spot beside her on the bed was empty. She sat up and looked around the room. Seto was nowhere to be seen.

'Where is he?' She suddenly panicked, not finding him. 'Is he at his office?'

"Seto." sShe said in a little voice. The bathroom door opened and the sound of a running tap came, along with Seto's.

"I'm in here." She got up and peeked into the washroom. She found him shaving, with white cream all over his face. She smiled slightly at the sight.

"Good morning." She said. He smiled back. "I'll go downstairs and see if breakfast is ready and if Mokuba's awake." He nodded and she left. Seto finished shaving and took a shower. After that, he wore a plain shirt and jeans, and continued towards the living room to see what Mokuba and Tea were up to.

Halfway down the stairs, he could hear their voices, talking loudly, yelling, and screaming, like 3 year olds. He found them in the kitchen, each holding something different for breakfast.

"What is happening here?" He asked sternly, making them turn around and stare into his intense eyes.

"We were deciding what to eat for breakfast." Mokuba replied innocently, as if yelling in the morning was the norm.

"Then why are you yelling like you're on fire?" Seto said eying them. Mokuba frowned but Tea giggled.

"We're not yelling. " Mokuba said defensively and Seto rolled his eyes.

"You are acting like children, both of you. In fact, I think children would be a bit more mature then you." He said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hey Seto, you decide. Are waffles better then pancakes?" Tea asked him. He gulped. This wasn't an easy decision considering that Mokuba was holding waffles and Tea was holding pancakes. Who should he support? On one side was his brother and on the other side was the girl he secretly liked.

"Umm… I think we should eat cereal today." He finally managed.

"What?" Mokuba said? "Come on seto. Can't you take my side on this one?" He whined and Seto sighed again. Mokuba's face told him he better say something and soon.

"You know what, let's have waffles today. We can have pancakes some other day." Tea spoke, sensing Seto's dilemma. He shot her a thankful smile. She smiled back at him, her heart fluttering at the sight. They gazed into each other's eyes, silent messages of gratitude being delivered.

"Cool." Mokuba said, oblivious of the situation. The three sat down and ate breakfast.

Tea entered Seto's office with a cup in her hand. She found him working intently on his laptop.

"Hey." She said. "I brought you coffee." He merely nodded. She placed the coffee on his table and took a step back. He still didn't look up and continued to work. She had to get his attention let him know she was still in the room so she coughed slightly. He suddenly looked up and found her smiling meekly. He was so engrossed in work that he thought she had already left after placing his coffee before him.

"Is something wrong?" He asked her.

"No, no. Nothing is wrong. I…" She wasn't sure if she should say it, and if so, how should she say it.

"Go on. What is it you want?" All of his attention was on her now, making her blush.

"Umm, I was wondering if you could… if I could…" His eyes were making her nervous. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and quickly said. "Could you teach me how to fight?" She expected him to laugh at her but upon hearing nothing, she opened one eye, expecting to stare into his smirking face. But was disappointed again. His face was expressionless, making it impossible for her to interpret his thoughts.

"Why do you want learn how to fight?" He asked.

"I don't want what happened before to happen again. I don't want to be caught off guard. I want to be ready to defend myself incase they…. incase anyone tries to hurt me. Since you beat all of them on your own, I thought you could teach me too. I can't expect you to save me forever." He closed his eyes at that and took a deep breath. This was not completely unexpected. She had always been independant and strong, and wanted to be able to defend herself. But he wondered if she had become afraid or weary of others, more specifically, or her former friends. Was she so afraid of them that she wanted to have some sort of defence prepared to ease her mind? He wondered what had happened between them? Since her recovery, he hadn't asked her about the incident, or even mentioned her friends. He didn't want her to be emotionally hurt. But he was curious to know how the impossible had happened and she had ended up with him.

"So, can you please? I'll be really good and attentive, and won't say a single word during all of the lessons. Plus, I won't complain if the lessons get tough." She looked at him with those bright eyes shinning with hope. This would be hard.

"No." He finally answered. Her face fell, making his heart stop for a second.

"But why?" She asked him after a small pause.

"Because you're too weak. You have barely recovered from your injuries. Training would be very intense for your body. It might cause your healing injuries to worsen, or even cause you more problems." He explained. He did fear for her health. Having experienced many injuries in his past, he knew that just because it appeared that the body was healed on the outside didn't mean it was healed on the inside.

"But I'm strong now. I can walk. I can run. I was wrestling with Mokuba for the video game yesterday, and I won. I'm pretty strong." She said.

"Not strong enough." He said plainly, ending any further discussion. She lowered her head and started towards the door. His heart fluttered at the sight of her sad face.

"Wait." He said. "If you can prove to me that you are ready for it, then I'll train you." She swiftly turned around and smiled brightly at him.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you. I can show it to you right now but you're working. So I'll show you tomorrow. I have been working out lately." She said proudly.

"Not tomorrow either. I am leaving for New York tomorrow." He informed her.

"You're… leaving." She appeared shocked. Fear and disappointment were evident in her voice. "But why?" Now she sounded desperate.

"I have some important business matters to attend to and some meetings." He had been planning to tell her and Mokuba earlier, but it had slipped his mind. Mokuba was used to getting last minute updates on his brother's departures so Seto was never very careful about giving days notice. He had forgotten about Tea's reaction to this news.

"When will you be back?" She asked him.

"It will take about 3 days." He could feel guilt seeping into his mind and he couldn't understand why.

"3 days. Can't you…. come sooner?" Her eyes studied the floor while a blush caressed her features.

"I'll try." He said honestly. She looked up to stare into his eyes for a moment and then retreated towards the door.

"Okay. I'll leave now, so you can get your work done." She didn't wait for him to respond and left quickly. He could hear her run down the stairs. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. He hadn't anticipated that Tea would get attached to his presence in such a short amount of time. But then again, she had been in a very vulnerable state, and he had offered her comfort and security. Now she was somewhat dependant on him. To be completely honest, he had grown attached to her too and didn't want to leave, but his presence in New York was needed. He couldn't send someone else in his place. He had to go. He let out another tired sigh and continued working on his project.

Tea woke up at the sound of the alarm, and felt Seto get up from beside her. She slowly opened one eye to peek at him. He stretched and walked into the bathroom. After taking a shower, he came out, dressed in a grey suit, ready to leave. He grabbed his briefcase and walked out of the room. She knew he wasn't going to leave without saying good bye to her and Mokuba. That was why she wanted to stay in bed for a while longer so he would have to stay as well. But she realized how selfish she was to do that. Reluctantly she got out of the bed.

Seto was drinking coffee when Tea came downstairs. She was still wearing her baby blue pajamas. She smiled a forceful smile and sat across from him, but didn't say anything. Soon, Mokuba came jumping as well. He sat beside him and started chatting about his trip, telling him about the things he would like Seto to bring for him. Clearly, he wasn't concerned about his brother's departure. Tea kept quiet, not looking up. Seto knew she was upset, maybe scared. Him being away from her worried her. But he had to do it. He had been delaying this meeting for a while and now the CEO's were getting upset at his excuses.

'She will be fine.' He told himself.

He finished his coffee and got up. Still, Tea didn't look up. Was she angry with him? Mokuba smiled and hugged his big brother and went upstairs to his room again. Seto sent one last glance at Tea and started walking towards the door.

"Seto." She called from behind him, causing him to stop and turn to stare at her. Her eyes were sad, with a hint of fear. "Can't you come soon?" She asked him again.

"I'll try my best." This was followed by silence. "Don't worry. Mokuba is still here to keep you company." He tried to assure her.

She nodded and walked towards him. When she was a couple of inches away from him, she stopped and gazed into his eyes, as if searching for something. Before he knew it, she was hugging him as if he was leaving forever. She never gave him a chance to think or hug her back, as she dashed out of the room, and up the stairs. He heard the door shut, indicating that she was inside his room. He just stood there like a statue, not knowing what to do. A part of him wanted to go out and try to forget what just happened, but the other part of him wanted to see if she was okay. He knew she was probably crying. The voice of the driver shook him out of his thoughts and he stepped out of the mansion.

Seto quietly opened the door and entered his mansion. He placed his briefcase on the couch and sneaked like a thief towards his room. The reason? It was 3:00am. Everyone was probably sleeping and he didn't want to wake them up. He had managed to finish his work sooner and was back, just as she wanted him to. He left on Tuesday and called up the executives as soon as he could. Of course, he had to use his power and his status for that. But he did. He worked like a dog and worked them like dogs too, trying to finish it in one day. He wanted to come back the very same day, but the people were too tired to continue on the same day. No matter. He managed to finish everything in two days.

As soon as he was done, he called up his pilot to prepare for flight. The pilot, who had been woken from a deep slumber, was worried about flying so late at night while he was so sleepy and disoriented. But one glare form seto and of course, some threats convinced him. And there he was, back in Domino, back where he longed to be. He checked on Mokuba first, and was relieved to see his little brother sound asleep. He then entered his own room. He crept into his room and found Tea lying on the bed. He smiled and took his coat off. He quickly discarded his pants and decided to sleep in boxers tonight. The sound of his belt buckle hitting a chair made Tea turn and stare at him.

"You're not asleep?" He asked her, completely surprised. He had been very quiet and couldn't have woken her up.

"Yeah." She said sleepily, smiling. "Did you just come back?"

"Yeah. I finished early and decided to come early." He said as he opened the buttons of his shirt and tossed it aside. He grabbed a T-shirt and threw it over him.

"I waited till 1:00am. Then a maid told me to go to sleep. She said you weren't coming today. But I couldn't sleep." He smiled and climbed in the bed beside her.

"You haven't gotten much sleep have you?" He asked worriedly, studying her face. There were black lines under her eyes from lack of sleep. She smiled and closed her eyes.

"I couldn't fall asleep. I tried, I really did. But it was like something was keeping me from it." He smiled as she snuggled into his chest and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her close to him.

"Well…. I'm here now. Maybe I can help you fall asleep." He whispered in her ear mischievously. He waited fro a response but got none. He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her face. He found her sound asleep, a content smile on her face. This brought a smile to his face as well. She couldn't fall asleep without him. All she needed was him. His very presence gave her a sense of protection.

He tightened his hold on her and closed his eyes. He could feel his heart beating in rhythm with her breath. He sighed in content. Nothing could be better then this. He couldn't understand how her friends could hurt someone like her, especially Yami. The very thought of that man brought anger to Seto. He acted so high and so noble, but on the inside, he was an animal, a bastard, and a heartless monster. He had Tea's trust and her love but he blew it. But Seto wasn't going to do the same. He would care for her and treasure her. Unlike them, he would never hurt her. He would never lose her.

He gently kissed her shoulder and let sleep spread it's wings upon him.

...

Thank you for reading. Please REVIEW.