Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh
Author's note: This would have been updated earlier, but that new upgrade thing stopped me. Oh...and, WHOA!!! I have so many more reviews then my first story...I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! This chapter is dedicated to all of you, I hope you enjoy it! Please read and review!!!! And NO FLAMES!!!
Chapter two: Just a line or two...
"Where is it???? Where did I put it???" Seto Kaiba called out angrily. Every draw in his dresser was open, clothes was sprawled across the floor, books thrown off his desk. At the moment, however, Seto didn't care. He clenched his teeth in aggravation, blue eyes taking in every aspect of the messy room. But it still wasn't there.
"Seto, what's going on?" He heard the small footsteps of his little brother entering his room. "Nothing Mokuba." Seto answered automatically. "Are you looking for something?" the boy asked, casting all look around the dismantled room. "It's fine." Seto sighed. A somewhat compassionate smile flickered across his usually emotionless face. "Just go back downstairs..." Mokuba frowned as he looked up at his brother. After a few minutes, he left, muttering that if Seto needed any help to call him.
A frown appeared on Seto's own lips soon after Mokuba closed the door. It wasn't that he didn't trust his brother, it was just that he didn't want to pile more worries on Mokuba's already troubled mind. It was easy to see Mokuba was unhappy about something, Seto just wondered it was... Anyway, telling him about his lost journal would only make Mokuba worry about where it might be, and who could find it, and Seto was doing enough of that by himself.
He turned back to the disarrayed desk. Where had he put that stupid book? He closed his eyes and retraced his footsteps. He had been writing in it last night...and then he had put it down...in his trench coat pocket! Yes, the one that he had been wearing lately. He had hung it on the back of his chair, so had simply stuck the book in there.
Seto let out a sigh of relief and turned out his pockets. He wondered vaguely why he hadn't felt it's weight of it in his pocket before, but realized that it was probably because he had been preoccupied.
But there was nothing in his pockets.
In a frantic haze, Seto pulled out every pocket. There was nothing in any of them except a small collection of lint. His heart was pumping hard. He couldn't have...he wouldn't have...left it in school? The wave of panic broke over him. If it was at school, anyone, anyone, could pick it up, and then they'd know everything about him. All the things he refused to tell a single living soul. He felt sick as an image of Wheeler appeared before him, laughing as he flipped through every page of the book.
"No...that's impossible." Seto assured himself, shaking the image away. He was absolutely sure that it was lying somewhere on the floor of the school, just waiting for him to pick it up again. Nobody had even laid on eye on what he had written.
Nobody except a fifteen year old brunette, still standing at the street corner, gaping at his own words.
Tea snapped the book closed with shaking hands. The words were ringing in her head. Orphans. Kaiba and Mokuba were orphans. She couldn't believe it. Rich, spoiled Seto Kaiba, parentless? Her mouth went unmistakably dry.
But Kaiba had spoke about someone else in the entry too. About a man, named Gozaburo. Probably Kaiba's uncle or something. Tea barely noticed that she was moving across the street now. "Sometimes when I wake up I think I still feel the bruises I became so accustom to while I was still alive."
The girl felt like an ice cube had slipped down her throat at the thought of the line. That sentence couldn't possibly mean... No, of course not. Seto Kaiba's guardian had been a rich, perfect man, and Kaiba had lived a rich perfect childhood.
Yeah, sure.
By the time Tea reached her house, there was a group of small children, caroling in front of it. "The first Noel, the angel did say, was to certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay..." Smiling slightly, Kaiba's words were forgotten as the rushing thought of Christmas returned to her.
"Hi! You all sing so beautiful." Tea commented as she reached her house. Up close she that the most of the children's clothes looked rather patched and dirty. "Thank you!" a small child chimed. "We're trying to make money for our orphanage!" Tea's smile faded into a sympathetic one. The little boy was clutching a tin that had "Sunshine Home for parentless children" written across it.
Sunshine home had to be about the poorest orphanage in town. Tea reached inside her pocket and pulled out her leftover lunch money. The small boy gasped. "That's the most we've gotten so far! Thanks, miss!"
Grinning, Tea entered her house feeling like she had just done something worth while.
As she stepped into the living room, the smell of baking cookies overpowered her. It didn't surprise her, however, Tea's mother was most content in the kitchen. After living with the woman for sixteen years she had gotten used to it."I'm home, Mom!" Tea called from the livingroom. "Gee Tea, all it took was a few steps and you could have said that instead of screaming it." her mother scolded, walking out of the kitchen. She was dusting powder off her apron. "Sorry." Tea apologized, leaning her bag against the side of the wall. It was just then she remembered she hadn't put Seto's journal back in it. She hastily stuffed it in her pocket. She didn't know why, but she didn't want her mom to know about it.
"So, anything happen in school today?" Tea's mother asked, glancing curiously at her daughter. "No..." Tea trailed off. "Nothing, really. I'm gonna change out of my uniform." Tea headed up the stairs right away, the book still in her pocket.
Normally she really would be getting out of her uniform, but today she pulled out the diary. She watched as it's shiny black cover caught the light of her lamp. She was so tempted to opened it...to read just a little bit more... And that's exactly what she did. Guilt bubbled up inside of her, but what Kaiba didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?
Times were good back then, when our parents were still alive. Mother got so excited around Christmas. We had all these sacred traditions that she wouldn't dare break. Like buying a real tree, and having the youngest place the star on top. That was always me. It would have been Mokuba, but Mother died soon after he was born.
Then my parents would light a fire and read to me-normally "A Christmas Carol", or something along that line. At moments like that nothing seemed to matter. Not even how everyone in school hated me for getting top grades. Things were perfect.
My parents were modest people, they didn't ask for much. My father was so in love with my mother that I though he was on the verge of killing himself after her death. But he lived, lived to protect us. Too bad he couldn't stay that long.
A reckless driver came speeding down the road, crashing into my father's car. He was sent to the hospital, but it was too late. After that me and Mokuba was ultimately left alone.
We had no living relatives, and my parents friends didn't have enough money to support us. So instead we were sent off one of those broken down orphanages.
Sure, some promised they'd come get us, others said it was a shame, but nobody really cared. Not enough to do something about it.
Sometimes I see children from that very orphanage caroling down the block. They always skip my house. I think they might be afraid of me, or maybe they think I can' t be bothered. Either way, I suppose that they'd never guess I used to be one of them.
Tea's eyes widened as she finished the second entry. That group of scraggly children
singing on her doorstop, had come from the same orphanage as Kaiba? It seemed impossible.
Tea flicked the book closed. So Kaiba really wasn't related to Gozaburo at all... Not that it mattered. She was still sure that he had lived a perfect life as soon as he had been adopted. Well, almost sure. A small seed of doubt began to grow inside of her. Kaiba did give a lot of hints that after his parents deaths his entire life had gone downhill. It was strange, what Kaiba wrote in here sounded almost human...
She was about to continue when she heard the doorbell ring downstairs. It was followed by her mother's footsteps, and the opening of a door. "Wow, Mrs. Garden, your house is soooo cute!" Came a voice down in the living room.
Tea recognized it right away. It was Mai Valentine. Tea hadn't seen her since all the way at Battle City. She hurried to get out of her uniform, and headed downstairs, leaving the book on her dresser.
Mai had evidently made herself comfortable. She had thrown her coat on the coach, and was now inspecting the Gardner's Christmas tree. "Hey, Mai." Tea replied as she walked into the room. "Tea!" Mai squealed. She threw her arms around Tea's shoulders in a friendly hug. "We haven't seen each other in ages, girl! Where have you been?" "School?" Tea choked under Mai's tight embrace. The blonde woman laughed. "Well come on, I've got to give you your Christmas gift!" she exclaimed, finally letting go. "Oh, I was going to buy gifts next week." Tea retorted, going red at the thought that she was empty handed. "Aw, don't worry, you can get me it now. I'm bringing you shopping at my favorite mall!" "Now?" Tea asked incredulously. "It's not like you have any homework!" Mai argued. "And even if you do, too bad, my credit card's waiting." "But I couldn't possibly-" Tea started, but Mai wouldn't hear it. A second later Tea had grabbed her coat and was calling to her mother that she'd be back soon.
"You know, Tea, I've never been to your house before. It was really quite quaint." Mai stated once they entered the car. She had one hand gripping the steering wheel, while the other one lay elegantly at her side. "Thanks?" Tea answered a bit unsurely. Then a thought came to Tea. "How did you get my address?" "Asked around." Mai retorted simply. Tea only nodded, fiddling with a loose thread on her scarf. Normally she wouldn't have excepted this response, but her mind was still wondering over Kaiba's words. She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from commenting about of the things he had written.
Mai led Tea into a fancy ballroom shop as soon as they made it too the mall. It looked very expensive, decorated with sparkling snowflakes for the holidays. "I figured you'd need something to wear to that Christmas prom your classmates keep talking about."Mai replied. "How do you know all this?" Tea asked, eyeing Mai curiously. "I told you." Mai answered. "I asked around." Before Tea could question her again, her eyes caught hold of a sleeveless blue gown. She walked over to it and touched the trimming, a glistening white fabric. "Wow..." she muttered softly. "I know, ain't it gorgeous?" Mai replied behind her. Tea nodded absent- mindedly. "Is that the one you want?" her friend asked. "Oh, no!" Tea said right away. "I mean...it's beautiful and all, but it's way to expensive..." "Don't worry about it." Mai answered, waving Tea's worries away. "You don't know what being a good duelist can get you." Mai grinned, pulling out her credit card.
Despite her efforts, Mai still bought Tea the dress. After Tea bought Mai's gift (a new bag; which Tea felt was meager next to Mai's gift, but she didn't have the money to buy something that expensive), Mai brought Tea to a diner for dinner. The brunette was twirling a straw inside her coke before she finally spoke up.
"Mai, can you keep a secret?" she asked. Mai leaned in, interested. "Yeah, sure Tea." "I found Seto Kaiba's journal in school today." Mai drew herself back in astonishment. "You didn't!" she exclaimed. Tea nodded. "Well, what dose he write in it?" Mai asked innocently. "I haven't read it!" Tea fought, though her eyes drifted away from Mai's, and she was blushing slightly. "Did too." Mai finished, taking a sip out of her soda. "I would have, at least. Reading his most private thoughts is probably great black mail." Tea's thoughts returned to Kaiba's deceased parents. "Your right." she sighed.
Seto fell asleep that night feeling disgruntle and uneasy. Even after admitting to himself that the book was in school, he couldn't help but spend most of the day searching for it. Even while he was working, he checked every draw he opened. But there was never anything there.
Seto tried to close his eyes, but sleep wouldn't come over him. He lay there in darkness, dreading what would happen if someone actually found it before he did. The entire book was filled with things he'd die before saying out loud. But what made Seto feel really sick was the thought that he would be able to get it back in time before someone read the last entry...
"So long, Mai! Thanks for the gift!" "You too, girl!" Mai called as the brunette walked into the house. A soon as Tea's door was shut, a grin spread across the woman's pretty face. "I love play match-maker." she murmured softly to herself. With one hand on the wheel, she used her right to fiddle with the radio.
It was just perfect. Joey Wheeler had told her about Yugi's little crush on Tea. Not that Mai hadn't already noticed, she was excellent when it came to romance. But still, Joey had told her about the upcoming prom and how Yugi secretly wished to take Tea. He had also told her Tea's address. With information like that, Mai had decided to take the situation into her own hands.
She had already gotten Tea the dress for the date, and the girl didn't suspect a thing! She knew that everything was going to fall exactly into place. There was only one thought that bothered Mai.
Finding Kaiba's journal was probably not the best thing to happen. Kaiba was such a mysterious person, and reading his deepest secrets might make Tea see some sort of different side to the CEO.
Mai shook the thoughts out of her head. She was being paranoid. Tea had said that she hadn't read it, and even though Mai had teased her over the fact, she believed that Tea was too much of a goody-goody to have actually read the CEO's private thoughts.
Besides, Mai couldn't even imagine what Kaiba would write in a diary. She was sure that the only tragedy that he had ever experienced about was losing to Yugi, which might even help Tea and Yugi's relationship.
Mai breathed in the sweet, cold air. She was sure that everything was going perfect.
Tea sipped her hot cocoa as she sat down on the coach. She had just put her gown away. Yeah, after staring at it for twenty minutes! Tea reminded herself, grinning. She couldn't believe that Mai had actually had enough money for it, but the female duelist wouldn't take no for an answer. Tea had to admit that she couldn't deny the rising pleasure she felt she thought of the beautiful satin blue dress that was hanging in her closet.
As she stirred the marshmallows into the steaming liquid, her thoughts fell upon when she was going to where it. She knew Mai had said the Christmas prom, but she hadn't even thought of who she was going with. She had figured that she'd just go with her friends as a group. Tea loved them all very much, but she still didn't think that served as a reason to dress up so much.
Tea sighed, deciding to think about it later. She flicked on the TV, and an old Christmas film came to life on the screen.
A Christmas Carol. Tea though as her eyes followed the images flashing before her. She was suddenly struck by remembrance. Kaiba said his mother used to read this story to him. Compassion so great welled up inside of Tea that for a moment she didn't know if she could even watch the movie.
But as she stared down at the rug, a thought hit her. It was so random that Tea wondered what had come over her. But still-the question remained.
She had no doubt that Kaiba hadn't even given the prom a single thought, but if he had, who would he go with?
Tea sipped her cocoa thoughtfully. She was sure that a certain book would give her all the answers she needed.
Author's Note: So...what did you think? I'm trying hard to keep it interesting. Give me your ideas and opinions. As I said up top, please read and review!