Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, this fic is for my amusement.
Author's Note: Hey everyone! First off, I want to wish everyone Happy Holidays, even though it's a bit late. Also, I want to say I'm sorry that this took so long. (I know, I've said that at the beginning of almost every chapter...) But I went through this extremely annoying stage of writer's block that I'm praying has finally worn off. I hope that you like chapter six, it took basically all of my Christmas vacation to write... Thank you for all your beautiful reviews, you really make me feel nice. And with that, here it goes!
Chapter six Complex Emotions
It was everywhere.
Like a snowstorm, only the delicate beauty of the shimmering white flakes had been replaced with deep, brooding blackness. It swallowed her entire world, shattering it into a thousand tiny pieces that were impossible to repair. She stretched out a desperate hand to reach them-but they only slashed her palm defiantly before the cold darkness engulfed them once more.
The violent winds whipped her brutally across the face, leering at her from all sides, and laughing icily at her futile attempts to free herself.
Tea Gardner was trapped in the middle of the storm.
She pressed her hands against her face and plunged into the infernal shadows, racing down endless winding paths and calling fruitlessly for someone, anyone, to help her.
Her once hot tears felt frozen on her face as she ran forward, the only answer to her pleas the moaning wind.
She stumbled.
Gasping, Tea pulled her knees tight to her chest, sobbing as broken bits of her life lashed out painfully at her.
Up ahead, she thought she saw a tall figure, hands held up against the powerful wind, struggling hopelessly to move onward.
She called out to him, but it would have been impossible for him to hear her...trapped inside a different storm entirely...
Tea jolted awake immediately, darkness greeting her wide, sapphire eyes. Her first reaction was to scream, hair still damp with sweat, body shaking uncontrollably as the same dreadful images of the nightmare flew before her eyes.
Slowly, her frantically pounding heart began to readjust to it's normal pace, and logic gradually seeped back into her mind.
It was three o'clock in the morning, and she lying safe inside her bed, not huddled in the middle of a whirling storm.
Tea let out a long, prolonged breath, sighing as she turned over to her bedroom window, the yellowish light from the street lamps slightly eerie.
Somehow, this was all Kaiba's fault.
It had been him, after all, that had caused her Christmas spirits to be downtrodden even further then the diary had already taken them.
She had awoken on Saturday morning with the argument still planted firmly in her mind, and Yugi's advice silently creeping up on her. Finally, when she had been unable to cope with the guilt any longer, she had called over to her mother she was going for walk, and had gone out with the specific thought of apologizing to Kaiba in her mind.
And yet when she had finally found him, standing alone and glassy-eyed before the huge pine tree, he had done anything but relieve her of her guilty conscious. Instead he had thrown Tea's apology back in her face, not even daring to look at her as he hissed for her to leave him alone.
Well fine. Tea had thought angrily. Let him act that way, I did all I could! I told him I was sorry...I admitted what I'd done was wrong. What else did he expect me to do?
But when Tea laid back down, throwing the sheets over her head, an insuppressible guilt crept back up her, overpowering her fury.
Through the darkness she could still see Kaiba's depressed, grief-stricken face, as if someone had glued the image in front of her tired eyes.
The memory of the journal and all it's works still rang quite clearly in her ears, haunting her mind and tormenting her soul. What with Kaiba's abrupt realization and Tea's steadfast anger and guilt, her mind had held little room to remember what exactly the book had said.
But as she lied there, darkness pressing against her opened eyes, she wondered how easily she would forgive someone if her diary had spoken of dying parents and step-fathers that beat their children.
Grief took hold of her once more, and the brunette buried her head in her pillow, longing desperately for the sun to rise.
It was a very long time before she fell back asleep.
&&&
"Come on Tea!"
Joey slammed the phone back on the receiver, fuming as he stalked towards the empty chair by Serenity's bed.
"Big brother..." Serenity sighed, frowning at him from over her numerous bed sheets. "Don't you think your taking this a little too far?"
"A little too far?" Joey fought, jumping to his feet once more. "Come on, Serenity! First, Tea tells me nothin' about findin' Kaiba's diary, then when I finally do hear about it, she hangs up on me! Since when has Tea ever done that?!"
Serenity slumped back onto her pillows, defeated, but her frown remained firmly in place.
"Your right Joey, it is odd, but nothing to get yourself so worked up over. After all, it's just a book."
"That's where your wrong, Serenity." Joey corrected, throwing himself back into the chair and grinning wickedly. "It's my ultimate revenge on Kaiba. Who knows what he writes in there..."
Joey closed his eyes in wonder, clearly enjoying some outrageous fantasy, but Serenity made a stifled cough that might not have been entirely caused by her cold.
Joey peeked a brown eye from under his lid. "Yeah, sis?"
"Well if you really wanted to find out about Kaiba's journal, she explained, sitting up and leaning back on a extra fluffy pillow, why didn't you just go over Tea's house? You've been there thousand of times, and would be sure to get to her if you couldn't by phone."
For a very brief moment Joey's smile vanished, and he hung his head as blonde bangs fell before his eyes. But seconds later he brushed them aside with a smile that had fully returned, though Serenity noticed he was staring at her awkwardly.
"It would be rude, Serenity, ya know that..."
"Rude?" Serenity repeated, letting out a small laugh and smiling at her brother. "When has that stopped you before?"
When she saw that this didn't lighten the tense atmosphere, she narrowed her green eyes suspiciously.
"Joey-what's wrong?"
Her brother shifted uncomfortably in his spot. "I normally have ta wake him up to go to work in the morning." he muttered, jerking his head in the next room's direction, where loud snores where protruding through the walls. "Do ya really think he was gonna remember to take care of ya?"
A sinking sensation hit the pit of Serenity's stomach, and she pulled the blankets tighter around her.
"I think Dad's become much more self-sufficient since Mom's left-"
Joey shook his head fervently, his shoulder's hunched, eyes averted towards the floor. "Nah, he's just as lazy as before. Remember when I was four and he let me play with the stove? Hasn't got any better...sleepin's his favorite sport..."
There came a particularly loud grunt from the next room.
"He was awake when Mai came to visit me." Serenity fought defiantly, rising herself back up to full height.
Joey shrugged. "Once in a life time thing, sis."
Serenity frowned, staring at Joey nervously through pitying eyes. "Well, I'm feeling much better today." she told him with a definite nod. "So you can go over to Tea's right now and ask her all about Kaiba's journal."
Joey's eyes returned to their lively glimmer for a moment, but died back down in an instance.
"Don't try ta make me feel better, Serenity. Your still sick, and I'm gonna make sure you get better before Christmas."
Serenity grinned good-naturally at her brother, and took a sip of her tea, which had gone ice cold after sitting on the bedside for too long.
"I'm perfectly fine, big brother. Haven't coughed all day. Now go, and don't forget to tell Tea that I said hello!"
&&&
Tea groaned, collapsing onto the coach and rubbing her temples.
"I hate you, Kaiba."
Her entire body felt as heavy as lead. After waking up at three in the morning, it had taken hours to drift back into nothing more then a light sleep, and even when she had, her mind was plagued by black storms and tall figures.
If only Kaiba hadn't jumbled up all of her emotions into one giant mass of confusion, then maybe she would have gotten some more sleep... Her head was pounding horribly.
Ding, dong!
The shrill noise sent a series of vibrating throbs through her skull. "What now?" she moaned as she pulled herself slowly to her feet. She cast a groggy look out the window.
Joey's grinning image was standing outside the door, rapping hard on the glass."Joey!" Tea called out in surprise, pretending to look cheerful as the sharp pain in her head sky-rocketed.
She edged towards the door, but only pulled it open an inch, so that a small silver of Joey's face was able to be seen. She knew exactly why Joey had come. He wanted to know about the diary, the absolute last thing that she wanted to think about.
"Joey, I don't have it anymore! Kaiba took it back..." she explained through the crack in the door.
Joey's smile instantly dropped. "Ya gave it back before showin' me?" He pressed his face closer to the door, staring intently at her.
"Tea, are ya feelin' alright? Ya look like my little sister, and she'd got the flu."
Tea flushed and glanced down at her attire. With strained, red eyes, and a sloppy frizz of brown hair, she was sure that she looked less then perfect. Even Joey had been able to spot it, and Tea had barely opened to door.
She pulled the door back a bit more, allowing the frosty winter air to breeze gently into the room. It felt strangely pleasant against her overheated face.
"Yeah, I'm fine." she replied. "A nightmare woke me up last night and I couldn't get back to sleep. Thinking about Kaiba too much..." she added as an afterthought.
It took her a few moments to realize what she had just said. Joey gaped at her, brown eyes wide as plates. "Ya...ya were thinkin...about Kaiba?" he sputtered. "But-but Yugi-"
"Calm down, Joey!" Tea shouted, finally opening the door and trying to pacify his shouts. "I wasn't day-dreaming about him! You see, Friday, we got into an argument and..."
A little while later Joey was sitting in Tea's kitchen, listening curiously as the brunette plunged into the tale of Kaiba's journal yet again. Well, more accurately, a revised version of the story, slightly different from what she had told Yugi. Far from telling Joey that she had felt like embracing Kaiba at one point, she failed to mention the fact that she had read nearly everything he'd written-or any of information that the diary contained.
A slight twinge of guilt ran through Tea as she finished her story, and it wasn't entirely caused because she was half-lying to Joey. She couldn't help but notice that her version was a bit biased, making her look like a rather innocent, unknowing girl, merely holding the journal, while Kaiba was some vicious monster, bellowing at her for no real apparent reason.
"That creep." Joey scoffed under his breath. Tea sighed, running her fingers through her knotty brown hair, and wondered why everything in the world always seemed so difficult. It was then that she remembered something.
"What about Yugi?" she asked, glancing at Joey from over the steaming cup of tea she had made.
Joey shot her a confused look. "What are ya talkin' about?"
"Before." Tea explained. "When I said I'd been thinking about Kaiba, you started saying something about Yugi, what was it?"
Joey went three different shades of purple. "It...was...nothin'..." he choked. "Nothin'..."
Tea's glare was starting to become anxious and worried. "Joey, is something wrong with Yugi?"
Joey shook his head in response, and Tea tried to relax herself. Still, the intent stare that Joey was giving her was starting to make the brunette feel awkward.
"Joey-what's wrong?" she finally asked.
"Nothin'..." Joey repeated, taking a sip of his tea, which Tea knew he was only doing to stall his answer, because as long as Tea had known him, he had always despised it. He choked as he swallowed the hot liquid, still giving Tea that same strange, almost thoughtful, look. "It's just...didn't ya...ever really notice...how Yugi feels...?"
Now it was Tea's turn to stare. "Joey, I have no idea what your talking about." she retorted, watching as Joey spooned more sugar into his already sweet tea, avoiding her eye.
"Joey..." Tea began in a scolding voice that sounded much like a teacher, "what's going on?"
But Joey had placed his mug down with a final tap, and was standing up.
"Nothin', Tea, honest. Only I better be goin' home, Serenity's still sick, and my Dad hasn't woken up yet..."
Tea sighed, but nodded, still glancing at him warily."Alright, I'll see you at the tree lighting then, right?" she exclaimed, seeing him off to the door.
Joey nodded and sped off, leaving her feeling even more confused then she had last night.
&&&
"Come on, Seto, hurry up, we're going to be late!"
"Relax, Mokuba...we're fifteen minutes early."
But Mokuba didn't want to relax. He ran five feet ahead of his brother, eyes gleaming, the icy wind whipping through his long black hair.
Seto thrust his hands into his pockets, eyes averted towards the floor as the same echoing emptiness crept up his insides.
He was doing this for Mokuba, and Mokuba alone. Nothing but his little brother would have been able to pull him away from his laptop, and bring him into this crowded mob of people, bustling around a tree in freezing weather.
He tried to keep his mind cool and empty as they trudged forward, the peek of the everlasting green coming closer into sight.
He felt his insides squirm uncomfortably, and grit his teeth as an undesired pang hit his heart.
He still remembered a lively young woman with shining black hair who had walked briskly down this exact block, her eyes, so much like Mokuba's, twinkling warmly as her fingers enclosed around a small boy's hand...
The image changed and that same woman was lying in a hospital bed, her beautiful face reduced to a horrible, putrid gray, her eyes dull and lifeless. The only noise heard over her sputtering coughs and painful retching was the mournful beeps of the heart-rate machine. The line moved slow and tediously, struggling to move onward as her weak heart tried feebly to keep beating...
Seto almost gasped as Mokuba pulled him to a sudden halt, very narrowly missing the man in front of him.
They were there.
Seto stared up at the huge tree, still quite blank and empty, and ignored the lurching feeling that was settling painfully in his stomach. If only the image of that dying woman hadn't been burned so clearly inside of his mind-then maybe he wouldn't feel so sick...
People were swarming in on them from all sides, and Seto felt clustered, trapped, within the thick crowd. He became aware of his heart, pumping hard and fast in his eardrums.
This is stupid, he scolded himself, a mere tree shouldn't make me feel like this...nothing should make me feel like this...
An elderly man tottered to the front of the tree, a wide grin spread across severely wrinkled face, and a microphone held tight in his hand.
"Well, in all my seventy year of living in Domino City, I've never seen such a crowd!"
His hoarse voice was lost as the crowd roared in applause. Seto had his mouth clamped shut.
"Yes...yes..." the old man smiled, creasing his already lined face. "It won't be long now. In fact, I invite you all to count down with me..."
The crowd started in a mummer, whispering the number ten under their breath, voices slowly gaining volume as the numbers dwindled away.
Seto could hear Mokuba counting along with them, shivering slightly against the cold wind. He looked up at the gigantic tree. He could see the deep shadows lurking in between it's branches, and even though it's needles were sprinkled with glistening snow, the whiteness seemed to fade away into the darkness and become nothing.
"Ouch, Joey! That was my foot!" Someone hissed angrily behind him. That same person stumbled and fell into him, and Seto turned around to see who it was.
"ONE!"
The crowd suddenly broke into wild applause, cheering on all sides as the tree suddenly burst into color.
Seto felt like his insides had suddenly vanished. The rich colors of red and green illuminated the girl's face, and the warm lights were shining in her crystal blue eyes.
For a spilt second, Seto didn't know nor care who the girl was, only that she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.
And then, quite suddenly, a voice brought him back to earth with violent bump.
"Kaiba?"
&&&
Tea stood very still, clutching her pink jacket closer to her thin frame as she stared, wide-eyed, at the person before her.
She had never seen Seto Kaiba like this before.
His face was flushed, and his brown hair was flecked with tiny white snowflakes. He was gazing incredulously at her, as if she were some sort of ghost that had just recently strolled out of a graveyard.
But above all, it was his eyes that had her perplexed.
They held no loathing, no hate, as they had on Friday. Instead, they seemed almost delicate, gentle, maybe even warm in the winter's chilled air.
But the moment was broken within seconds. The crowd began to break apart, jostling her farther away from the young CEO as freezing people fought their way home.
"Kaiba, wait!"
Tea struggled through the thick crowd, but it was hopeless. Kaiba hadn't heard her, and was making his way through the townspeople in the opposite direction.
She was reminded forcefully of that horrible nightmare as she battling desperately through the storm of people, calling out to someone that couldn't even hear her...
She came to halt, defeated, as the crowd began to drain away. She heard footsteps running up to her, and moments later Mai appeared at her side, grinning as she threw her arm over the girl's shoulders.
"Hey hun!" she exclaimed. Mai turned over to her saddened friend and her smile instantly died away. "What's wrong?"
Tea didn't answer. She suddenly felt extremely empty.
Author's Note: Well, I hope all you guys liked it! Please read and review, NO FLAMES! Oh yeah, and eyeris, your comment on why Seto would bring his diary to school really got me thinking, so I've come up with an answer for you.
Seto had no real intention of bringing the book to school with him. He spends all day first at school, then working. Right before he goes to sleep, utterly exhausted, he pours out whatever he's thinking onto the book's pages, too tired to be embarrassed about what he's writing. One night he was particularly tired, and instead of putting in his draw like he normally does, he slipped it into this trench coat pocket without thinking. That's why in chapter two he rips apart his room. He opened his draw for a pen or something and saw it wasn't there, that's when he first noticed it was missing.
That was a really clever question, I hope that you found the answer to your liking. :)
Cya all!