Chapter 2: Uncovered Secrets

Disclaimer: I... DO... NOT OWN YU-GI-OH

"YOUR WHAT?" she exclaimed. Tea was beyond angry. She was...well...scary. And it's very hard for someone like Tea to look scary. Kaiba stared back at her, completely unfazed by her outburst.

"I hate repeating myself Gardner," he said coldly.

"Well I don't remember ANYTHING in the application that said that I would be your PERSONAL maid!"

"Next time read the fine print," he smirked, greatly amused at her temper tantrum. Tea realized that, making her even more furious than she already was.

"Urgh! I can't stand you! You're such a jerk! I don't know how Mokuba even stands you, or even looks up to you!" she spat nastily. This hit a soft spot. He glared at her with icier than normal eyes.

"You're walking on thin ice." 'Why are you lying to yourself? You know that she speaks the truth...'

"So? What does it matter? You're completely emotionless anyway! You have to be one of the most cold, cruel, horrible people I've ever met, and if your mother were still alive-!"

Unadulterated silence followed. Kaiba stared at her in disbelief, perhaps even pain. Tea's hands flew up to her mouth, a little too late.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled. His voice made Tea's blood run cold. "Don't you EVER talk about me that way! You know nothing about my life!"

He turned and swiftly stomped down the hallway, flinging the door leading to the stairs aside. He left, the door still swinging on its hinges hapzardly. Tea stared at it. She fell on her knees, hands still over the bottom half of her face.

Beep! Beep! Beep! The alarm clock on the white wicker end table rang obnoxiously, completely uncaring that it had just woken someone up from sweet sweet slumber. The figure in the bed groaned, slapping the clock into silence. Tea stretched and picked it up while stifling a yawn.

It was only 3:30.

"What the hell? Who set it so early?" she fumed, then sighed, accepting her fate. 'I least I have time to take my bath now,'

Tea slipped (or should I say fell) out of bed and stumbled sleepily to her bathroom. She stripped off her clothes and turned the hot water faucet on full blast. What she needed now was a hot bath to relax. Yep, relaxing is something that she had little of lately, and was something that she was in dire need of.

She floated in the steamy water, contemplating last night's events.

"Urgh! I can't stand you! You're such a jerk! I don't know how Mokuba even stands you, or even looks up to you!"

"You're walking on thin ice."

You have to be one of the most cold, cruel, horrible people I've ever met, and if your mother were still alive-!"

"SHUT UP!"

She sighed guiltily.

"I can't believe I said that..." she muttered while scrubbing her shoulders, oblivious to the fact that if she scrubbed any harder her skin was likely to peel off like a snake's. "That was a bit...well...very mean of you, Tea. You should go apologize to him in a few hours, make up with the guy."

But, a corner of her mind laughed at this. 'He started it! Why should I go apologize if it's HIS fault? He's always been making fun of me and the gang-"

She stopped at the mention of the gang momentarily, then shook her head and wiped shampoo lather away from her eyes.

After she took her bath she went back to her room to change.

'I don't have my maid uniform yet' she realized, giving another sigh. She opened her suitcase and found, jammed between a few pairs of jeans, her old school uniform.

"Well, it may not be a maid uniform, but it is a uniform," she said optimistically, unfolding it and examining the fabric for any rips and tears. If she found any, she didn't complain.

'This thing brings back memories of Domino... I wonder if it still fits me,' she thought. "Well anything is worth a try!"

Darkness.

"Seto!" the boy screamed. Silence...

"Is anyone there?" he yelled out into the ethereal silence. A woman appeared before him, giving him a kind smile. He stare at her bright blue eyes wonderingly.

"...Who is that?"

Mokuba woke up with a start. Wait, correction, Mokuba was woken up. That's when he saw it, Brown hair and blue eyes. Seto? But...it was a girl.

"Mommy...?"

"Mokuba, it's me Tea," the girl said. He saw that her face showed a worried expression.

"Oh." Sadness was obvious in his voice. Tea moved closer to him.

"Mokuba? If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your mother?"

Mokuba's eyes were clouded with sorrow.

"She...she died when I was born," he answered quietly. A few crystalline tears fell down his cheeks, not unoticed by Tea. Her hand moved to wipe them away.

"Oh...I'm so sorry, Mokuba. I shouldn't have even mentioned it," she said softly. He shrugged, ineffectively hiding his pain.

"It's not your fault. You wanted to know."

'So that's why Kaiba got mad when I talked about his mother.'

Tea pulled Mokuba into a tight embrace. Though shocked, he returned it. Her voice, muffled by his pajamas, floated into his ears. "Well, you don't have to worry Mokuba. I'm here for you whenever you need me. I'll never leave..."

"You promise?"

"I promise. Now I want you to go back to sleep, ok?"

"Um...could you sing to me again?" he asked. She nodded and gave him a smile.

"Alright, but you have to go to sleep, do we have a deal?"

"Uh-huh." squirming back under his covers, he waited for Tea's voice to lull him back to slumber. Tea tucked him in gently, humming like before, then singing softly.

Goodbye

Funny how that's such a hard thing to say

Now it's time to let go

But I never thought I'd feel this way

Promise not to be sad

But we both knew I was lying

Gotta fight back the tears

'Cause, can't let you see me crying

You're more than just my best friend

What makes me miss you most of all

when our final curtain falls

Is knowing that I won't see you again...

Mokuba's eyes were closed by the time the song ended. Tea sighed. 'I wish that I was still as carefree as him...'

Mokuba woke up from a dreamless sleep. He made his move to get out of bed, but something was stopping him. He tried to move but it was near impossible. He heard a soft moan, and felt something on his chest snuggle into a more comfortable position. He looked down and saw Tea's soft brown hair falling over her peaceful face. Yes, it was her. But why was she in his bed of all places?

'She must have fallen asleep when after I did.' He drifted off to sleep again without another thought.

It was after six in the morning, yet Seto still had not gone to sleep. It was completely impossible, he thought, tossing around for what seemed like the seven hundreth time that night, or perhaps morning would be more accurate. All night, he had been thinking about the only two things on his mind at the moment. One was his parents.

The other was Tea Gardner.

More so of the latter.

'Hmph! That lazy and ditzy cheerleader better not be slacking off or I will fire her when I get the chance.'

Those words that she spoke to him last night...she didn't know what impact those words had.

Flashback

"Urgh! I can't stand you! You're such a jerk! I don't know how Mokuba even stands you, or even looks up to you!"

"You're walking on thin ice." 'Why are you lying to yourself? You know that she speaks the truth...'

"So? What does it matter? You're completely emotionless anyway! You have to be one of the most cold, cruel, horrible people I've ever met, and if your mother were still alive-!"

"SHUT UP!" he yelled. His voice made Tea's blood run cold. "Don't you EVER talk about me that way! You know nothing about my life!"

He turned and swiftly stomped down the hallway, flinging the door leading to the stairs aside.

Flashback

'If your mother were still alive...' the same words had been ringing through Seto's mind ever since last night.

"You have no idea of what I've been through, Gardener. If you did, you wouldn't even dare to open your mouth to me!" he growled into his pillow, mashing it into a fluffy blob of cotton and feathers.

'So why is she even here? Fire her and she won't remind you of the past you worked so hard to escape from," a voice in the back of his mind said coldly. Seto nodded, agreeing completely with its sense.

"That's right! I have to fire her or I won't ever have peace of mind..."

'But what about Mokuba, he likes her a lot... you're being selfish. And If you do fire her, she'll be without a job or a home...' another voice pleaded, intent on cahnging his mind.

'Why do you care?' the other voice came again. 'Remember, if she gets out of the way you'll have one less of Yugi's little friends to worry about.'

"I'm going to fire her!" he finally concluded, getting out of bed and putting on his clothes. "What happens to her is none of my concern!"

Seto walked down to her room only to find an empty bed. 'Probably in Mokuba's room.' He opened the door to his little brother's room. Nobody but Mokuba himself, sleeping peacefully.

'Not here either...'

He noticed a folded piece of paper on his brother's dresser and picked it up.

Dear Seto and Mokuba,

I've gone out on a walk. I don't know where I'm going, but I want to get familiar with this area.. I'll be back before daybreak!

Tea

Kaiba tched. 'Well, guess I'll have to go find her.'

Tea shivered, feeling the crisp morning air run against her arms and legs. Once again, she had made a misjudgement on the weather. Since she had gotten older, she had naturally grown taller, so her uniform skirt was even shorter than it was supposed to be. She sneezed. 'Must be getting a cold or something...'

She sneezed again. Tea's hands went up to her forehead. 'I'm so lightheaded...what is wrong with me?'

"Hey!" Seto Kaiba's raspy voice shouted at her. Coughing, she turned around to face him.

"What the HELL did you think you were doing?" he yelled at her. "Running around in that outfit, it's even colder than it was yesterday!"

"I know... I'm sorry Kaiba," she said quietly. She coughed, her face flushed.

"Don't you learn from your mistakes, Gardner? You should learn to wear your jacket when you go out!"

No reply.

"Gardner?"

"Seto..." she fell forward, caught just in time by Kaiba, not even realizing that she called him by his first name.

"GARDNER!"

Hehehehe! Sorry! I'll update soon!